pointed the calculation that had been made before-hand of their produce. The direct contributions have been collected with more ease. The operations which were to establish the respective proportions of the tax on property of the different departments, proceed with rapidity. The subdivision will become invariable. We shall never again witness that opposition of different interests which corrupted public justice, and that jealous rivalship which threatened the industry and prosperity of all the departments. The Prefects, the General Council, have requested that the same operation should extend to all the communes of their departments, for the purpose of ascertaining amongst them the grounds of a proportional subdivision. An arrêté of government has authorised this general operation, become more simple, more economical by the success of the partial operation. Thus, in a few years all the Communes of the Republic, will have each in a particular table, the plan of its territory, the divisions are the proportions of the properties that compose it; and the General Councils, and the Councils of the arrondisements will find in the junctions of all those plans, the elements of a division just in its principles and constant in its proportions. The sinking fund fulfils with constancy and fidelity its destination. Already in possession of a portion of the public debt, it every day accumulates a treasure, which secures to the state a speedy liquidation: a rigid responsibility and inviolable fidelity have rendered the administrators worthy of the confidence of government, and insures to them the interest of the citizens. The melting down of the coin is carried on without bustle or shock; it was a scourge while the principles were misunderstood; it is become the most simple operation, since public faith and the rules of good sense have adjusted its conditions. At the Treasury, the public credit has maintained itself in the midst of the shocks of war, and the rumours of interested individuals. The public Treasury supplied the expenses of the Colonies, either by direct remittances, or by operations on the Continent of America. The administrators were enabled, if the remittances proved insufficient, to obtain a supply by drafts on the public Treasury; but conformably to prescribed forms, and to a limited extent. A mass of drafts (amounting to two millions) had been suddenly created at St. Domingo, without the consent of government, and out of all proportion to present or future wants. Men without character have hawked them at the Havannah, at Jamaica, in the United States; they have been every where exposed in the market to shameful reduction,

delivered up to men who had not deposited either money or merchandize, and who were not to furnish value till the payment should have been made at the public treasury. Hence a scandalous reduction in America, hence a jobbing still more scandalous in Europe. Here the government imposes on itself, a rigorous duty, to put a stop to the course of this imprudent measure, to save the nation the losses with which it was menaced, and above all to redeem its credit by a just severity. An agent of the public treasury was dispatched to St. Domingo, charged to check the books, and the chest of the Pay-Master General; to a certain how many drafts had been created, on what authority, and in what form; how many had been negotiated, and on what conditions: whether they had been negotiated for real value, or without effective value; or whether to discharge real debts, or to ful51 feigned contracts.- -Eleven millions in drafts which were not yet in cir culation were cancelled; some information has been obtained as to the others. The drafts whose full value had been received, were paid off with interest from the day they became due to the day of payment. Those that were issued without effective value, have been proved false, in as much as the bills bear the words for admoney vanced, though the procès-verbal of payment proves that none had been advanced: these have been submitted to a severe examination. Thus the government will satis fy the justice which it owes to the lawful creditors, and which it owes to the nation, whose rights it is bound to defend.-Peace was in the wishes and in the intentions of the government. It had wished for it amidst the yet uncertain chances of war; it had wished for it in the midst of victories. It was to the prosperity of the republie that it henceforth attached all its glory. At home it awakened industry, it encou raged the arts, it undertook either useful works, or monuments of national grandeur. Our vessels were scattered over every sea, and reposed on the faith of treaties. They were employed only in restoring our colo nies to France and to happiness; there was no armament in our ports, nothing menacing on our frontiers. And this was the moment which the British government chose to alarm its nation, to cover the Channel with ships, to insult our commerce by injurious inspections, and our coasts and ports, as well as those of our allies, by the presence of its menacing forces.-If on the 17th Ventose of the 11th year (March 8, 1803); there existed an extraordinary ar mament in the ports of France and Hol

war, it has augmented its monstrous code by the pretended right of blockading rivers and canals. If the King of England has sworn to continue the war till he shall have reduced France to sign such dishonourable treaties as ill fortune and weakness formerly signed, then the war will be long. France consented in the treaty of Amiens to moderate conditions; she will never acknowledge any less favourable-nay more, she will never acknowledge in the British government the right of fulfilling its engagements only as may suit the progressive calculations of its ambition, nor the right of requiring further guarantees after the guarantee of faith plighted. But if the treaty of Amiens has not been executed, how can we expect, in regard to a new one, a faith more holy, or oaths more sacred? Louisiana is henceforth united to the American States; we shall preserve friends there whose remembrance of a common origin will always attach them to our interest, while favourable commercial relations will unite their prosperity with ours. The United States are indebted to France for their independence; they will henceforth owe to us their strength and grandeur. Spain remains neutral. Helvetia is re-established in her constitution, which has suffered no change, but what has been rendered neces sary by lapse of time, and change of opinions. The retreat of our troops from that country is a proof of its internal security, and of the end of i's dissentions. The ancient treaties have been renewed, and France has regained her oldest and most faithful ally. reigns in Italy; a division of the army of the Italian Republic is at this time crossing France to encamp with our own on the sea coast. These battalions will there meet with innumerable vestiges of that patience, bravery, and heroism which distinguished their ancestors. The Ottoman Empire, fatigued by undermining intrigues, will gain by the interests of France the support which ancieat alliances, a recent treaty, and its geographical position give it a right to demand. The tranquillity given to the Continent by the treaty of Luneville, is secured by the last acts of the Diet of Ratisbon. The enlight ened interest of the great powers, the fidelity of the French Government, in cultivat ing with them relations of good will and friendship; the justice, the energy of the nation, and the forces of the Republic will guarantee it. (Signed) Buonaparte. By order of the First Consul, H. B. Marut. Legislative Body,

land; if a single preparation was made in them to which the most remote suspicion could give a sinister interpretation, then we are the agressors; the message of the King of England, and his hostile attitude have been rendered necessary, by a legitimate. precaution; and the English people had a right to believe that we threatened their independence, their religion, their constitution: but if the assertions of the message were false, if they were contradicted by the opinion of Europe, as well as by the conscience of the British government, then that government have deceived their nation; they have deceived it by precipitating it, without reflection, into a war, the terrible effects of which now begin to be felt in England, and the results of which may be decisive of its future destiny. The aggressor, however, ought alone to answer for the calamities which afflict humanity. Malta, the cause of this war, was in the power of the English; it remained with France to arm to effect its independence; France waited in silence for the justice of England; and it was England who began the war, even without a declaration.-By the dispersion of our ships, and the security of our commerce, our losses might have been immense: we foresaw these circumstances, and we would have supported them without discouragement or weakness, but happily they have been less than we apprehended: our ships of war have returned to European ports, one only excepted, which had long been employed merely as a transport, has fallen into the hands of the enemy. Of two hundred millions, which the English Cruizers might have ravished from our commerce, more than two-thirds have been preserved. Our privateers have avenged these losses by important captures, and they will complete their revenge by others more important. Tobago and St. Lucia were defenceless, and were obliged to surrender to the first force which appeared; but our great colonies are yet preserved, and the attacks made against them by the enemy have proved fruitless. Hanover is in our power; 25,000 of the best troops of the enemy have laid down their arms and become prisoners of war. Our cavalry has been remounted at the expense of that of the enemy; and a possession which was dear to the King of England, is in our hands, a pledge of that justice which he will be compelled to render to us.-On the seas, British despotism daily adds to its usurpation; in the last war it struck terror into the neutral nations, by arrogating to itself an inimical and revolting pretension of declaring whole coasts in a state of siege: in the present

Peace

Presidency of Fontanes, Jan. 17. After the adoption of the proces verbal, the Counsellors of State, Bergouen, Dauchry, and Sainte Suzanne, were introduced as org

tors of the Government, charged to present to the Legislative Body the Exposé of the state of the Republic.

Citizen Dauchy read this Exposé as above; when it was concluded, the President replied to the orators of the Government in the following terms:

"Citizens Counsellors of State, the Legislative Body has never looked to any thing but the interests of the country, and those of the Government which at this day can no longer be different. It has constantly sought, in the constitution, its duties rather than its privileges; it occupied itself about the nation, and not about itself; and it thought itself sufficiently great as often as it was useful. It promises never to change. Gratitude can add nothing to its zeal; and of all the advantages it can derive from a new organization, it is the first in its eyes, to display, with more splendour and authority, those principles by which it was always governed. The picture which you have drawn of our internal situation, is encouraging as it is faithful. The Government does not deceive the French people. Its deputies who hear you, assembled here from all the departments, acknowledge individually the benefits of which you have presented to us the sum. They have seen what you have depicted, and all the voices of France raise themselves in some measure in this assembly to bear testimony to the truth of your discoveries. Citizens Counsellors of State, the Legislative Body, in conformity with the terms of the 30th article of the 5th head of the organic Senatus Consultum of the 18th of December last, is about to form itself into a general committee to examine the importance of the message which you have submitted to it, and to come to resolutions worthy of itself, and of the Government which sends you,"

It was moved, that the Exposé which had been communicated to the Legislative Body, should be ordered to be printed. The printing was ordered.

Correspondence between the Lord Chancellor of Ireland and the Earl of Fingall.

Dublin, 15th Aug. 1803.

MY LORD,According to your lord ship's request I have signed, with great pleasure, a warrant for your lordship's ap pointment to be justice of the peace for the County of Meath. At this moment, my lord, it is peculiarly important that every person entrusted specially with the preservation of the public peace, should know and conscientiously pursue the strict line of his duty. Your lordship's distinguished loyalty at all times, and on all occasions,

| leaves me no room to doubt that you will exert yourself to the best of your judgment for this important purpose, and the same distinguished loyalty that probably marked your lordship, as one to whom nothing could be safely uttered, tending to demonstrate any disposition towards the rebellious outs rages which have of late produced such dreadful effects, and excited so much alarm. But, I fear there have been too many in whose presence and hearing demonstrations have been made and uttered, which ought to have alarmed the minds of loyal men, and induced them to communicate the ground of that alarm to those in authority under the government, and especially to the justices of the peace in their several dis tricts, but who have thought fit to retain the impression made on their minds within their own breasts, and to leave the chance of dis covery to other means. The persons to whom I allude, have principally been per sons professing to hold the same religious faith with your lordship-and over whom I most sincerely hope your lordship's high character may give that influence which justly belongs to it. It would be highly important, therefore, that your lordship, in the discharge of your duty as a magistrate,. should take every opportunity of clearly stating, and most strongly inculcating and enforcing the great duty of allegiance, and that, that duty is not confined to forbear ance from open rebellion, or even from acts tending towards rebellion, that true alle giance is an active duty, requiring every man not only to suppress rebellion when it shall shew itself in violence, but to disclose to that government under which he lives, whether he be a natural born subject of that government or sojourner only under its protection, every thing which can raise ground for suspicion of disloyalty in others; and it is particularly important that your lordship should, as a magistrate, state and enforce, that persons knowing of a treasonable purpose who do not disclose it, are guilty in the eye of the law of that crime which has been denominated misprision of treason, and if they yield any kind of assent to the intended treason, they become trai tors themselves. Your lordship's enlarged and liberal mind, distinguishing clearly between spiritual and temporal concerns, must feel that there can be no duty of reli gion contrary to the duty of allegiance, and indeed no man, however ignorant or prejudiced, can read the holy scriptures without finding that the duty of allegiance to a Pagan government, was strongly and repeatedly enforced by Christ and his apostles, and especially by the latter, who found the

Christians of their time too much disposed to consider their faith in Christ, as absolving them from their allegiance to the country in which they lived. I am truly sorry to say, that I fear in this country all who profess to be ministers of the gospel of Christ, do not teach Christ's doctrine of allegiance to their Rocks, and I particularly lament to find in the minds of men who assume the highest rank amongst the ministers of the Roman persuasion, the frequent use of language tending to raise in the minds of the ignorant, an opinion that none are to be considered as members of the Catholic Church of Christ, that none are therefore to be esteemed as brethren in Christ, but those who profess adherence to the See of Rome. Until the minds of men are brought to a different temper-until the priests of the Roman persuasion shall cease to inculcate to those under their instruction, doc"trines so repugnant to their temporal allegiance-until they shall cease to inculcate that all who differ from them in religious opinions, are to be considered as guilty of defection from the See of Rome, that is as guilty of rebellion (including his Majesty's sacred person in that description), it cannot be expected that vulgar men should think themselves bound by any tie of allegiance to a king thus represented to them, as himself guilty of a breach of what is termed a higher duty of allegiance. That liberty of conscience which those of the Roman persuasion desire for themselves, they ought to allow to others, and they do not allow that liberty of conscience, but on the contrary sanction the worst of persecu tions wherever they treat any man sincerely believing in Christ the Redeemer of Mankind, as not a member of the Catholic or Universal Church founded by Christ and his apostles, because that man does not believe all that they believe of the See of Rome and of the doctrines taught by it. I can consider no man (whatever his profession of loyalty may be) as truly the loyal subject of a king whom he thus holds up to his people as the object of disaffection, nay of hatred, because that king holds a different opinion in matters of religion from those who adhere to the See of Rome, and because he refuses any obedience in matters temporal to that See. It will be your duty, my lord, as a justice of the peace, with the most anxious attention, to respect no man whose conduct shall tend to disturb it; to exhort all men by patience and forbearance, as well as by exertion, to use their utmost endeavour to preserve it, and however anxiously they may wish for a change in the establishmeat provided for by the law of the land for

the maintenance of religion, however conscientiously they may think that the ends of religion would be better answered by put ting those of the Romish persuasion in place of those of the Catholic faith, they cannot, consistently with the duty of their allegiance, pursue that purpose by abetting, or even by declining to resist and suppress the rebellious conspiracy formed for that purpose.

-I have no doubt that the firm and dis tinguished loyalty which has marked your lordship's character in every other situation. of life, will guide your steps in the discharge of your duties as a magistrate.--May God, to whom all our errors and imperfec tions are known, protect and guard you, and lead you to that end which will most accord with the beneficent purposes for which the office of magistracy were intended, and for which alone, I am persuaded, you prevail on yourself to undertake so arduous a charge under circumstances of so much difficulty.- I have the honour to be," with the most sincere respect and esteem. My lord, your lordship's faithful hum, ble servant, (Signed) REDESDALE. Aug. 15, 1803. MY LORD, I have the honour to receive your Lordship's letter, and am much obliged to you for appointing me a magistrate of the county of Meath, at a time when the task is so arduous. I must beg leave to assure you, that nothing but my most anxious desire to be useful by every means in my power, would have induced me to solicit the commission of the peace. Permit me to return your Lordship my best thanks for the very able and excellent instructions contained in your letter-it shall be my unceasing endeavour to prove myself not unworthy the post of trust confided to me, for which I should feel myself very ill qualified if I did not understand the duties of active loyalty to be such as are laid down by your Lordship. I have always been taught that, that man was a traitor and violated his allegiance who concealed any plot against the state-to this opinion all those who profess the same religious faith that I do are bound by the most solemn pledge. I am sorry any have deviated from it, they cannot be, I am persuaded, those remarkable for their relilious and good conduct.- -It gives me much concern, and I should be very sorry it were generally conceived, that your Lord ship, the person to whom the Catholics of another part of the United Kingdom never cease expressing their obligations; with your superior talents, enlightened and liberal mind, holding the high situation you do int this country, with so much credit to yourself and advantage to the public, should have

any opinion in any degree unfavourable of the Irish Catholics. My Lord, the Catholic religion is the same every where; I very reJuctantly enter upon the subject. Religious disputes I have always considered the greatest misfortunes any country could experience. I must, however, beg leave to state to your Lordship what I have always found to be the conduct and faith of the Catholic. I need not speak of his attachment to and respect for an oath; were he less delicate, why should he labour under any exclusion now, or have suffered many years of penal restriction. I must say I never heard a Catholic wish for the overthrow of the Protestant establishment, and setting up in its place one of his own religion-this was not, as is well ascertained, the object of the promoter of the rebellion in 1798; nor do I believe it was of the ruffians and murderers who disgraced this country on a late occasion.The Catholic is ready at this moment to sacrifice his life, his property, every thing dear to him in support of the present constitution, in defence of that beloved Sovereign to whom your Lordship does not seem to think we look up with that veneration and gratitude which I assure you we do.—The Catholic wishes no other family on the throne, no other constitution, but certainly wishes to be admitted, whenever it shall be deemed expedient, to a full share in the benefits and blessings of that happy constitútion under which we live-a participation which, I trust, we have and shall continue to prove ourselves not undeserving of. Catholic loyalty and allegiance, I need not tell your Lordship, would oblige every one of that persuasion to resist or repel even the head of the see of Rome, were it possible to that the usurper, who now disturbs suppose the peace of the world, would send him here with his invading army. My Lord, the doctrine of allegiance is perfectly understood, and unceasingly preached by the Catholic clergy. I have just seen an address in the newspapers, from Dr. Coppinger to his flock at Cloyne, in which Catholic principles and allegiance are much more fully explained and inculcated than I could attempt doing. The late exhortation of the Rev. Dr. Troy, in Dublin, your Lordship has probably seen, and his character for distinguished loyalty is known to every one. In 1796, when Hoche's fleet were in Bantry Bay, the Rev. Dr. Moylan published an address to his people in Cork, for whieh, had the French landed, he would undoubtedly have lost his head. Surely, my Lord, solemn pledges and distinguished acts of loyalty are the best proofs that can be given.

I have, my Lord, taken the liberty of

stating to your Lordship what I consider Catholic principles and Catholic conduct. Standing in the situation I do, I feel it my duty to vindicate the Catholics from any unfavourable opinion entertained. That your Lordship should know and properly appreciate their sentiments and conduct is my only aim, and would be, I am sure, highly gratifying to them.I beg pardon for trespassing so long on your Lordship; but when there is a question of the conduct aud opinions of so large a portion of his Majesty's subjects, at a time that every man is wanting to defend the empire, you will, I trust, excuse me; and I think I could not give your Lordship a better proof that I shall endeavour to merit the good opinion you are so kind as to entertain of me, which I hope I shall never forfeit.- -&c. &c. &c. (Signed) FINGALL. Dublin, Aug 21, 1803.

MY LORD-Many parts of your Lordship's fetter have given me much pain. I have no doubt that your Lordship has every feeling of Christian charity towards those who differ from you in religious opinion; but I have daily experience, that the same charity does not prevail amongst a great many who profess to be of the same religious persuasion as your Lordship. I am fully persuaded that the want of true Christian charity, one towards the other, has been the real cause of all the unfortunate events which have of late disgraced' this country; and I think it the duty of every man, however he may differ in points of faith from others, to endeavour to impress the great doctrine of Christian charity on the minds of all, as the only means of restoring peace to this distracted country. Your Lordship scems to imagine that those inhabitants of Ireland, who adhere in matters of faith to the doctrines of the See of Rome, are disposed to discontent; because, as your Lordship is pleased to express yourself, they are not admitted to a full share of the benefits and blessings of the happy constitution under which they live. If your Lordship means they are discontented, because they are not admitted to be members of either house of Parliament; or to hold certain great offices; or because they are excluded from the throne; I must confess, I cannot believe that the lower orders of the people in Ireland, amongst whom the ferment principally prevails, have any anxiety on the subject, except as it may be raised in their minds by others; and your Lordship must allow that no disturbances, of the same description, are excited amongst the Quakers, who certainly are liable to more disabilities, for conscience sake, than those of which your Lordship complains. I am afraid, or rather, I am persuaded, that the difference arises from the different temper given to their minds by their religious instructors: that the Quaker is taught to live in charity with all men, whilst those who follow the Sec of Rome are unfortunately taught a very confined charity, being told they are exclu sively members of the church of Christ and those whose minds have not been enlarged by education or habit, feel it dificult to conceive how those whom they are taught to consider as not members of the church, can be deemed Chris tians; and accordingly, your Lordship will find, upon inquiry, that the appellation of heathen is