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France, and in the indulgence of which passion they are abundantly gratified by their present ruler. They love splendour too, and splendour he seems determined to give them. If there be another thing which they required to keep them in constant good humour, it is the prospect of invading, ruining, and sub duing this country; that too he has given them. Buonaparte is no longer the adven turer he was previous to Mr. Addington's peace: he has, since that time, settled the affairs of the church; he has erected a legion of honour, which, however it may be laughed at, will yield him a support that few monarchs can expect from their nobles. He who has with him the church, the aristocracy, and the army, has very little to fear from what man can do unto him; how firmly, then, must he be fixed, when it is well known that all these must live or perish with himself? when all men in power and place, and when no small portion of the holders of real property, know that their rank and influence and possessions are held by the same tenure that Napoleon wears the imperial crown ? -For these reasons I am inclined to think, that the French government never employed any body to poison Louis XVIII., being perfectly indifferent as to the life or death of that monarch, having but too certain an assurance, that his cause would never be manfully and efficiently. espoused by the great powers of Europe, and reposing a perfect confidence in the effect of that change which the last sixteen years have produced in the minds of the people of France. In speaking of the sentiments of the French people, and particularly of their attachment to the family of the Bourbons, we but too often overlook this important circumstance. Those who are now thirty years of age, were only fourteen when the French revolution began, and when notions hostile to the Bourbons began to be generally imbibed; and, we have only to look at a regiment of soldiers to be convinced, that it is upon men of five or six years on each side of thirty, that, in military countries especially, the fate of government must generally depend. As towards their rulers, the present active population of France presents a new race of men; and it must be evident, that every year will weaken those feelings from which one might hope to derive some aid in the restoration of the royal family, and which, in the early part of the last war might have been turned to such glorious account.

INVASION--The fashionable phrase, in diurnal prints, is, nothing new from const resterday. Invasion is become tegance, like that of

Ship-news, or Old Bailey, or Price of Stocks; and we go about asking one another whe ther we think Buonaparte will come and how long it will be first and what will be the consequence; just as people talk in a city besieged. In the next number of the Register will be found the French official accounts of the late skirmishes off Boulogne between our squadron and some boats of the French flotilla. This account, which does by no means diminish the dangers the flotilla has to apprehend from our ships, informs us of a fact, which we were before unacquainted with, namely, that Napoleon himself was on board the flotilla during the skirmish; that Le remained on board till late in the evening; that he visited the several divisions, and particularly examined the boat, the deck of which was injured by a ball from our ships. This circumstance, however, does not tend to convince me, that he means to invade England in person, or, that he means to send, at least for some time, an army to attempt such an enterprize. It would rather tend to persuade me, that, at present, the object is to excite alarm. to keep us in constant agitation, and to increase our expenses. Napokon is no coxcomb in military matters: he had no occasion to go on board the flotilla to amuse the French army, or to convince them that he dared meet the fire of the enemy: but, to scare the shop-keeping nation the step might be thought not altogether useless, and I will venture to say, that his having been on board has caused many a thousand pounds to be sold out of the stocks and many a thousand dollars to be locked up in chests, or put under ground. These timid wretches should, however, reflect, that Mr. Pitt and his partner in the government are continually upon the watch; that the latter of these brave gentlemen has been on board as well as Napoleon; though it remains for us to learn the effects which the terror of his name produced in France. The French people may, perhaps, laugh at the names of Pitt and Dundas; but if they knew them as well as we do, one could have little hesitation in ascribing such laughter to fool hardiness rather than valour, Napoleon little imagined that he should have met with that species of hostility, of which we have shown him we are capable. He expected, probably, that we should draw out all our soldiers and sailors, but he never dreamed, that we should fit out our hackney coaches against him; that we should have Secretaries of State serving in the ranks as privates; that our prime minister would turn colonel of foot and reviewing general; and that a Scotch lawyer would

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sally forth to take an inventory of his batteries and his fleets. These are exertions of which he could have had not the least notion, and, therefore, it is not impossible, that circumstances so unexpected may disconcert, at least, if not completely defeat, his malicious intentions against us.-Much praise is due to the managers of the places of public entertainment for the great pains they take, and, indeed, the great expense they are at, in selecting and getting up such exhibitions as are calculated to rouze the public spirit, and to incite to deeds of renown, at this momentous crisis. These gentlemen seem to vie with each other in this career of patriotism and loyalty; but particular notice is attracted by the ingenious and loyal person, who tells us, that, in his representation, we may see not only the late engagement off Boulogne, with all the fire and smoke and waves so natural as to prevent any spectator from regretting that he missed a sight of the thing itself; not ouly all this does he show, but also Buonaparté upon the top of a hill near Boulogne,

wringing his hands, tearing his hair, "stamping and swearing like a mad-man, "while, in another part of the scene, our "gallant first Lord of the Admiralty is seen "on board the ship of Lord Keith, viewing the combat with the utmost composure " and most steady bravery!!!"-Mr. Pitt was continually exclaiming against his predecessor for want of vigour. The country had, therefore, a right to expect an improvement, in this respect, when Mr. Pitt himself became minister; but, I will venture to assert, that he has surpassed the expectations and even the wishes of the country: for, of the fifteen millions of persons, which the kingdom is said to contain, there is, perhaps, not one whose imagination ever rambled into the idea of Mr. Pitt's undertaking a survey of our coast, while Lord Melville undertook to survey that of the enemy. Were not every thing turned topsy-turvey; were we not in a state of general dislocation, the fact would appear utterly incredible; and, when one reflects on it seriously, it is impossible not to believe, that it will hereafter be cited by the historian as one of those instances of presumptuous folly that preceded the dreadful calamities, which it is to be feared, he will have to detail.-If Mr. Pitt were to spend a small part of his time in making provision against the consequences which invasion may produce with regard to bank notes, it appears to me that he would be acting rather more in conformity with what the country has a right to

demand from him. The sort of security as to the physical means of defence which he represented to be the duty of the mini, ster to provide may be seen in that part of his speech, made at the out-set of the con test, which has been chosen as a motto to the present sheet; whether he has fulfilled that duty, whether our situation is such as to enable every man to say that he can "lay down his head to rest," let those determine who hear the continual alarms that are rung in. our ears through the treasury prints, and who witness the bustle of Lord Hawkesbury and Sir, Brook. If there be no danger from invasion, why these alarms? If there be danger, why are no measures of precaution taken with regard to the consequences which may be produced by the paper-money? Of Lord Hawkesbury's late circular to lords lieutenant I cannot, of course, disapprove; because of the steps which it recommends to be taken, I suggested the far greater part nearly a twelvemonth ago, and I was then greatly blamed, I was called a libeller of the country, for earnestly beseeching the ministers to take such measures before hand as would convince the rich that their property should always be protected and the poor that they should always have a supply of provisions. To take effectual means for preventing any, even the least, interruption to the supply of the markets in London was dwelt upon with particular stress; and, I hope that that object will be, in the minds of the ministry, not inferior to the defence of the coast; for, in all human probability, a riot in London, owing to a scarcity of provisions, or to the want of a regular supply, operating in conjunction with the effects of an actual invasion, would be fatal to the monarchy and to the country, for in my mind these are never separated. A riot of even a trifling magnitude would so alarm the country, that London would be as completely cut off from all useful communication with the counties as if it were infected with the plague; and, to prevent riots strong bodies of well-armed and wellselected volunteers should be collected in every parish: and, one of the chief uses of them should be to protect the venders of provisions against the violences of the distressed as well as against those of the disaffected, if any such should unhappily be found to exist. An invasion, however inadequate as to its ultimate object, will assuredly cause a sudden and fearful depreciation of the paper-money at and near the parts invaded. We know how rapidly this effect increases and spreads; and be

must know nothing at all of the paper | system, who does not clearly percieve, that London would, in a few hours, participate in the effects produced upon any part of the coast. In the country, the labourer would wait a week or two patiently for the return of paper credit: there the people know one another for miles round: the baker would be trusted by the miller, and would trust his poor neighbours. It is quite the contrary in and about London, where the poor man must have wherewith to pay for his food before he touches it, or his family must literally starve. What, then, must be the consequence, if a sudden depreciation of the currency should unhappily take place, without efficient force at the command of the civil magistrate? But, the magistrate is not, in this case sufficient: he should, in every parish, be aided by persons of weight and respectability; persons in a great way of trade, and, of course, well known amongst the common people, That "hunger will break down stone walls is an old proverb, and it is not less true, that it will break through all other human means of restraint; it leads directly and certainly to a death, compared to which, death in any other form loses all its terrors. That the stock in hand of both bakers and butchers might, and would, be taken and distributed there can be no doubt; but, who would cause their shops to be replenished, without giving security for payment, and, indeed, without producing payment upon the spot? The venders of provisions would not, all at once, refuse to take paper-money in exchange for their commodities; but, all metal money would disappear, or would be obtained only at a great advance; the prices to take a nominal rise of a fourth, perhaps, and this to the poor man would be a real rise of so much, because his wages will not have risen; the evil will daily and hourly increase, and if there be a man who can contemplate the consequences without trembling, he must be made of more than mortal mould. In the Register of October the 8th, 1803, (vol. IV. p. 512), I gave a hasty sketch of what I thought might tend to lessen the dangers to be apprehended from this cause. It was suggested with great diffi dence, because diffidence would upon such a subject have become even the wisest and most experienced of men; but, a correspondent, who differs from me as to most other points, has thought my endeavours upon this score worthy of commendation. I have not the presumption to believe, that I am equal to the task of pointing out an

adequate preventive of the terrible evil that invasion and a sudden depreciation of currency may conjointly produce, but I hope that I may contribute towards inducing others of more influence to turn their attention to the subject; for, if Mr. Pitt had under his command four hundred millions instead of four hundred thousand volunteers, if Lord Melville were to live on board instead of sailing over to take a survey of the enemy's force, and if there were a thousand Lords Hawkesbury and Castlereagh instead of only two of them, I should never lay my head down to rest in perfect security as to invasion, unless I could see) adopted some efficient measure of precaution with regard to the consequences which such invasion might produce through the means of the paper money. The enemy may, probably, not invade the country, and then such precaution would be useless. True; but this observation will apply to every other measure of precaution, of whatever nature it may be; it will surely apply equally well to the preparations for inundating the land at only a few miles from London, and to the fortifying of London' itself! It is something truly strange and whimsical, that a minister of finance should be making military surveys, should be examining every inch of the coast, should be trying experiments of inundation, should be assisting at councils of war held over machines for the conveyance of troops, should be performing alternately every office from? that of drill-serjeant to that of commander in chief, while not one single measure of precaution as to the currency of the coun try is ever so much as talked of! Timely precaution upon this head is infinitely more necessary than upon any other; because, without a real effective currency, the war, if the enemy should land, cannot be carried on. The soldiers and sailors must be paid in a currency that will bring them what they stand in need of, or they will either disband themselves, or plunder. This has uniformly been the consequence in similar cases, and upon what can Mr. Pitt ground a hope, that it would not be the consequence now? Timely and wise precaution as to the currency might, too, prevent an attempt at invasion; for, with more truth than ever night the minister now assert, that the national debt (that is to say the paper-money) "is the best ally of France." I am confident, that the French place greater reliance upon the ef fect of that money than upon the force of their arms; and, therefore, it is of the utmost importance, unless indeed Mr. Pitt

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MILITARY PROJECT.- -This project, as far as relates to the obtaining of men, will, when parliament meets, be found to have failed In many of the parishes neither men nor fines have ben raised, and it is probable that the project will be given up. It has been stated, in some of the public prin's, that great difficulties had arisen in attempting to execute the law in Ireland; other prints have stated, and, as far as I know, more correctly, that no such diffi cuties had arisen in that country. Tine, the decider of all disputes of this sort, will show which of the parties have truth on their side But, certain it is, that no number of men have, in virtue of the military project, been raised in England; and this was the measure, in which we were to see the proofs of Mr Pitt's superiority over his "imbecile inefficient predecessor !". The military project has numerous faults, but the chief, if we consider it with reference to the necessities of the times, is, its inefficiency To obtain men was the main object, and, failing in that, it is nugatory. If a parochial levy was to be determined on, the best way would have been to make the fine so heavy as to render the levy certain. The whole number of men might have been smaller, too; and it would have been as well to demand them for the regular army at once as for that mongrel species of service, the army of reserve. There are about twelve thousand parishes in Great-Britain: they might have been obliged to furnish, upon an averge, two men each, in the space of thirty days from the promulgation of the act, or to pay, in case of default, a hundred pounds fiue for each man wanting to complete their re spective quotas. This would have been a strong measure; but it would have been efficient. It would soon have been over, and the regular army would have been relieved at once from all competition. In this manner twenty four thousand soldiers would have been instantly produced, a number that will not now be recruited in two years, unless regulations very different indeed from the recent ones are adopted. If you are to have a strong measure, you should be sure to secure its efficiency: the present is just strong enough to vex and disgust, and just weak enough to be useless. Such ever were, and ever will be, the measures of a minister of "existing circumstances,"

of shifts and expedients; of a minister who proceeds upon no fixed principles, who has no general scheme of policy either in war or in peace, and who always acts as if the preserving of his own power in the country, and not the power of his country in the world, were the principal object in view.- Whether we shall have a new project next year, or whether the amazing proficiency acquired by the volunteers will be held out as sufficient to enable us to dispense with any further increase of the regular army, it would be very hard to foretell with more than an even chance of being wrong; for, really, every step seems to be so much the result of momentary impression, the opinions of the minister seem to waver backwards and forwards, to vary according to the sight be has last seen or the person he has last conversed with, that there is no guessing what he will say or do from any thing he has said or done. Say or do what he will, however, we know that it is our duty to defend our king and country against the enemy, if ever he should attempt to invade us; and from the perform ance of this duty nothing should turn us aside. This is not a duty to be performed by talking Men should make up their minds to act. To serve in their persons and with their property as far as either can be useful. To send, not old rambling hackney coaches and other useless lumber to meet the foe, but to go themselves and send their sons to assist the army, to perform any duty that may tend to obstruct and destroy those, who, it unobstructed, would, most assuredly, destroy them and erase even the name of England from the list of nations. The crown which Napoleon will receive at AixLa Chapelle, though formed of the contributions of tributary republics and kingdoms, will not content him; he looks forward to that crown of glory, wherewith the conquest of England is to decorate his brow, may defer his enterprize, and there is little. doubt but his intention is to weaken us by long suspense; but his design will not be abandoned. Of this we may be assured, even though he should grant a peace to those supplications, which he will, in all likelihood, receive from Mr. Pitt in about eighteen. months time. He will never desist either from his design or his preparations, till we defeat him, or till death takes him from the world. If this opinion be correct, and I think it would be difficult to find arguments to combat it either in the character or situation of our enemy, or in our own character or situation, does it not behove us to look well into our means of maintaining this awful, contest ?

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Does it not behove us to betake ourselves, while yet there is tiine, to something better, something more dignified, something more solid and permanent, than the wretched expedients, by which we are now attempting to deceive the world, but by which we succeed in deceiving nobody but ourselves?

THE CAR-PROJECT.

This youngest born of our follies appears still to be cherished with the utmost affection. Merely to allude to an advertisement from the office of a Commissary General, inviting persons to come and put their names down as contributors towards equipage for the army, in ease of a descent on our shores; to allude to such an invitation as being published in the diurnal prints of the metropolis, amongst the advertisements of auctioneers, showmen and quack-doctors, is not sufficient; it must be quoted entire, or, a few years hence, we ourselves it is to be hoped shall hardly believe the thing possible: "Commissary

General's Office, 5th September, 1804. "The nobility, gentry, and others are in"formed that the subscription papers for horses, carriages, &c. are withdrawn "from the Thatched-house Tavern, the "Mansion House, and Golden Cross, Cha

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ring Cross, and lay at the Commissary "General's Office, in Great George Street, " for such further subscriptions as may be tendered, and that machines for hanging on the carriages of coaches, chariots, and post chaises, will be delivered to those who have subscribed, on application to "Mr. Hall, Hamilton-street, Hyde Park"Corner." This is exactly in the pauper style; exactly in the style of a gentleman of good family gone to decay, Subscription papers lying at the bar of taverns and ions, thumbed by the waiters and potgirls, to come at last, stained with beer and stinking with tobacco, into the clean hands of the Commissary General! And is this the way in which a great national purpose is to be provided for? We are told, that, by means of the car-project the government will be able to convey "two hundred thou"sand men to any given point of the coast in the space of thirty-six hours." This is an assertion which would have been hazarded in no country where the people's minds were not thought to be stupified by a soccession of alarms; but, if we allow the as-ertion to be true, there can be no doubt but that the car project is the most importaut measure that ever was conceived in this country; and, if so, must we not admire the mode that has been pursued of coming a the means of execution? Must we not

admire the speeches and advertisements of Sir Brook, the deliberative assemblies of coach-makers and coach-masters, and the consultations of worshipful hair-dressers and taylors relative to the means of conveying an army to the coast? "Twas pitiful! "'twas wondrous pitiful!"In former numbers of the Register, I have shown, that this project, if attempted to be put in execution, would produce no good, and might produce great mischief. Much abuse has been poured out against me and against others who are of my opinion; but not one argument has been made use of to remove the impression that we have made. Το bring scattered companies, or small corps, together in parts of the country very distant from the enemy, cars might be of some little use in here and there an instance; but, in vehicles of any sort, no body of men, above three or four hundred in number, can be conveyed from one point to another point, upon one and the same road, so swift as they can march on foot, to say nothing of lumbering up the road and of taking so many horses to within a day's march of the enemy, In answer to the calculations upon this subject, the defenders of the project have exclaimed: "what do you assert, that men

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can go faster on foot than in a carriage and "four!" This is the way they answer us: and the conclusion they draw, is, the charitable one that we maintain this proposition, because the carriages are the invention of the minister, and that thus it is evident, that itis the man and not the measure that we are opposing; nay, they go further, and conclude, that we should oppose any measure of his, though we were certain it would save the country. This, it must be allowed, is spinning a pretty long thread out of such scanty materials; but, the misfortune is, it will not hold; it breaks somewhere or other, and the labour of the manufacturer is lost. At first sight, it does scem strange to say, that men can go faster on foot than in a carriage and four, relays of horses being prepared on the road. Peo ple know that they go from London to Dover in a single night, and they feel that they could not walk the same distance in three days and three nights. No thought is, by the mass of the public, bestowed, at first, upon the difference between the travelling with one carriage and with several hundred carriages; they take no time to think of the length of road which a procession of such a number of carriages must occupy; of the slow pace in which processions of every sort, but particularly of carriages, must necessarily move; of the

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