His progress continues to be minutely described in the French Journals. After visiting Havre, Boulogne, Calais, and Dunkirk, he proceeded to Lisle, Ypres, Dismude, Nieuport, Ostend, and Bruges, where he was on the 11th instant. It was supposed he would make his entry into Brussels on the 21st instant. While at Boulogne, he had an opportunity of witnessing the attack of an English frigate on two of his gun-boats which lay in the harbour, and which, by her fire, were driven ashore under the batteries. The rage of the First Consul upon the occasion is said to have been inexpressible. Addresses of the most extravagant nature continue to be presented to the Chief Consul, on the subject of the war. The Prefect of the Somme addresses Madame Bonaparte in the following inflated language: "Exalted by your august husband to the highest rank, you have placed happiness by the side of glory, Glory! happiness! rare association, reserved for the Hero of France, as the wisest of men, and formed by you, Madame, by you who have become a model to all women. Every attribute of your sex which embellishes the life of man, personal graces, mental fascinations, sweet and sympathizing tenderness, these, and all other gifts, you have received from nature. You have cultivated them with care, and each day you employ them to the noblest ends." The extravagance of this address is far surpassed by that of the Prefect of the Pas de Calais, who, at the close of his panegyric, uses the following blasphemous expression, "God to fix at length the peace of the earth created Bonaparte, and rested from his labour." The blasphemy of the Prefect is, however, exceeded by Cambaceres, Archbishop of Rouen, who, in a pastoral letter, styles him "Le Christ de la Providence." It appears from a printed paper which has been circulated by MONSIEUR, that his brother, THE KING OF FRANCE, has been solicited by Bonoparte to resign his crown; in return for which he might expect, from the generosity of the First Consul, an amnesty for the past as well as a splendid appointment for the future. The answer of the king was calm and dignified, apparently free from fear or any view of irritation. He decidedly resisted every offer which had been made him, and declared that he would only resign his title to the crown of France with his life. To this declaration all the princes of the blood royal have signified their adherence. naparte, it would appear from this transaction, feels that, with all his power, he is not a king; that he is an usurper, as well as a tyrant. ITALY. Bo The vice-president of the Italian re public has issued orders, that goods and debts, the property of English merchants, are to be detained for a fund, out of which goods and debts, the property of Italian merchants, and detained by the English government, may be duly compensated. The same order extends to goods in English warehouses at Milan, and to goods arriving in the space of the next month from England. At the end of that time the communication will be entirely shut up. The French army under General St. Cyr has entered the Neapolitan territory. HOLLAND. The Batavian government has announced that it finds itself obliged, as an ally of France, to take part in the war with Great Britain; that nothing remains for them but to put their confidence in the divine protection, and in the justice of their cause, and to employ all their resources in defence of their country; that it has, at the desire of the First Consul, put the Batavian army under the command of the French general; and finally, that it expects the prompt co-operation of the legislature, in order to the prosecution of the war with the utmost vigour. HANOVER. In consequence of the refusal of the king to ratify the convention entered into between the French general and the Hanoverian regency, the Hanoverian troops, on the north side of the Elbe, refused to lay down their arms on the requisition of the French general. He immediately set his troops in motion, and was upon the point of forcing the passage of the river, when fresh terms were proposed by the commander of the electoral forces, and acceded to by General Mortier. In these terms it is stipulated, that the Hanoverians shall disband, and shall not serve against France during the war until exchanged, and that the arms and horses belonging to the army, together with all public property, shall be delivered up to the French. In consequence of the forcible occupation of parts of the banks of the Elbe by the French, and the exclusion of English vessels from that liver, his Majesty has caused it to be signified to the ministers of neutral powers, that the necessary measures have been taken for blockading the entrance of the Elbe, and that from this time all the measures authorized by the law of nations or by treaties, will be executed with respect to all vessels which may attempt to violate the blockade; but that whenever the French troops will evacuate the banks of the Elbe, and will leave that river free and secure to the vessels of his subjects, as well as of other nations, his Majesty will direct the blockade to be withdrawn. This measure seems greatly to have irritated the French: what effect it may produce on the councils of the northern powers, to whose commerce it must prove particularly inconvenient, remains to be known. The French are availing themselves of the ill humour which it excites among them, to revive the confederacy against this country. It is to be hoped, however, that they will have the good sense to perceive that the French, by their unjust seizure of the Elbe, and the exclusion from it of all English vessels, are the real aggressors in this instance; and that it is, therefore, against the French that their resentment, if they dare to shew it, should be directed. Accounts are said to have been received of the most horrid atrocities having been committed by the French in Hanover. Heavy contributions have been laid upon the country, and the most shocking outrages committed on females of every rank by a ferocious and drunken soldiery; and whole districts have been laid waste and delivered over to military execution, in consequence of the resistance made by the peasantry to these brutal proceedings. We do not vouch for the truth of these accounts: but in whatever degree they may be correct, of this we may rest assured, that ten thousand times worse than the fate of Hanover is that prepared for England, if it be not averted by the blessing of God on our strenuous and united exertions. No articles whatever of British manufacture are to be admitted into the Hanoverian dominions. ST. DOMINGO. Several intercepted letters from persons in St. Domingo to their friends in France, give a most shocking picture of that country. The massacres that have taken place within the year, surpass belief. Thousands of innocent people have been thrown into the sea, merely to get rid of them. The blacks, who are in this letter called rebels, fight in the name of the French Republic, and tell the French troops that they are emigrants and brigands. Several engagements have taken place between the French and the Blacks, in which the latter have always had the advantage. Where ever they go they spread havoc and devastation. All the plantations in the plain of Aux Cayes have been burnt. There is not sugar enough now in the colony for the inhabitants to drink with their coffee. Several bodies of cultivators had joined the Blacks. From other letters of a late date, it appears that the coasts are infested with Black pirates, who seize every vessel they meet with. All trade and cultivation in the colony is at an end. The negroes have all fled from the plantations, and retired to the mountains, where they receive food and ammunition. The rebels keep to the woods, where they wear out the regular troops, and at last destroy them by ambuscades. It also appears, that the French generals, though defeated and disgraced in every part of the island, exercise a ferocious tyranny over the Whites. Five sail of the line and two India ships arrived at St. Domingo on the 23d of April, carrying 7000 troops for the reinforcement of the wasted forces on that island. But in the present state of internal and external hostility, it is not to be expected that the French cause will acquire a great degree of strength from this additional force; it appears, indeed, as we long ago predicted it to be, altogether hopeless. SIERRA LEONE. Dispatches have been received from Sierra Leone, which give a favourable account of the circumstances of that colony. One native chief was still industriously seeking the means of disturbing its peace, and was endeavouring to gain other chiefs to his views, but had hitherto failed in all his attempts, and every where met with the most discouraging refusals. Through the vigorous exertions, however, of Captain Day, the governor, the colony had been put in such a respectable state of defence as to dissipate all apprehension of danger from the natives. In consequence of the sense of security which had been thus induced, cultivation had revived among the settlers with a fair prospect of sue, cess. GREAT BRITAIN, PARLIAMENTARY PROCEEDINGS. On the 24th of June, the Chancellor of the Exchequer stated to the House of Commons the terms on which he had contracted for the LOTTERIES of the present year, and by which the public would obtain a profit of £.352,000. The discussion which followed this statement we shall give with more particularity of detail, than its relative importance may seem to demand; but we conceive it to be a sub ject which falls more immediately within the province of the moralist, than many of those political questions to which, in periodical publications, a larger space is usually assigned. Mr. Addington prefaced his motion respecting the lottery by observing, that the measures taken last year, for preventing low insurances, had nearly put an end to that pernicious practice; and that, therefore, there could exist no good reason for discontinuing the mode of raising money by lottery. Mr. Babington, in a speech of consider- ed into an historical detail calculated to able length, of which we can only give shew the ruinous consequences which had the outline, argued strongly against lot- uniformly attended lotteries; government, teries. He adinitted that the measures by the institution of them, first stimulating adopted last year had nearly effected the and cherishing the spirit of gambling, and prevention of low insurances; but that then by strong penal statutes endeavourpractice, he contended, formed but a small ing to restrain the excesses of that vicious part of the evils attendant on lotteries. His passion which they themselves had creatchief objection, and it was one which he ed. In the reign of King William there deemed to be insuperable, arose from the had been only one state lottery, notwithimmorality of the practice. That lotteries standing his many difficulties and the were a species of gambling could not be low state of public credit at that time, but denied; that gambling was contrary to such was the mischief found to arise from good morals was equally incontrovertible: it that the experiment was not repeated. this argument appeared to him decisive, From the ninth year of Queen Anne, even if no other could be produced; for he however, to the present time, lotteries have trusted, that no one in that House would been almost constantly resorted to by the maintain that it was allowable, in any state, and from that time, in order to secase, to make the rules of morality, given cure to government the monopoly of this us by the Almighty, to bend to times and mischievous trade, there had been a concircumstances. The measure of a lottery stant struggle between the state, the probeing thus vicious and criminal, he should prietors of the great lottery; and those who believe that bad effects would flow from it by instituting little lotteries imitated and even if he were unable to point them out: interfered with their plans. He likewise its mischievous effects, however, were pointed to a number of statutes, wherein plain and palpable. The prevention of the principle of lotteries had been strongly low insurances was, no doubt, an impor- and pointedly condemned; and in one tant object attained; but this evil had passed in the tenth and eleventh of Wilbeen confined to the metropolis, while the liam III. ch. 17. they were branded in pernicious influence of the lottery itself terms the most unequivocal, as mischievous extended to every corner of the kingdom. and unlawful, contrary to the welfare and The chief purchasers of lottery tickets be- peace of the kingdom, and tending to the longed, as he understood, to the lower part utter ruin of many families. In that act of the middle classes of society, with a all lotteries are declared, for these reasons, large proportion, particularly in manufac- to be "common and public nuisances," turing towns, of the lowest class. The in- and all licences for lotteries are said to be jurious effects of such a practice to the void and against law, and provisions are comforts and to the morals of these per- accordingly enacted for putting an end to sons could not but be very apparent. The them. He then adverted to the act of lottery was a gulph which swallowed up last year against low insurances and little those hard-earned savings, which ought to goes, and shewed, with great force, that go to form or increase their little capital, the principle of that act applied equally to or to add to their comforts; while the ha- the state lottery. The House, he said, was bits engendered by it were directly op- mistaken in supposing, that while it sancposed to those habits of virtuous and regu- tioned the principle of gambling by its lar industry, which equally contributed to own conduct, it could eradicate the practhe welfare of the individual and of the tice, or produce any sentiment of its cricommunity. Speculators in the lottery minality in the minds of the lower classes. were apt to indulge an extravagance of He, for his part, thought the guilt of parhope and desire, which were very un- liament greater than that of those against friendly to contentment and to a course whom they had framed the severe proviof honest, persevering, and cheerful exer- sions of that act. There was not a syllable tion: and when their expectations were in its preamble which did not apply with frustrated, as must necessarily be the case full force to the condemnation of great in a great majority of instances, they lotteries: these were, equally with little would be apt to resort to unjustifiable means goes, "mischievous games," and were emof replenishing the purse which had been ployed in the same manner "to induce drained, partly by the lottery and partly servants, children, and unwary persons, by those habits of inconsiderate expence, to play at such games, and thereby most that seldom fail to go hand-in-hand with fraudulently to obtain great sums of mothe spirit of gambling. Alieni appetens sui ney, &c. to the great impoverishment and profusus, was a character fairly applicable utter ruin of many families." Mr. Babingto gamblers in general. Mr. Colquhoun ton then proceeded to combat the arguhad stated, that among the immense num- ments drawn from the necessity of the bers who in this town subsist by plunder- measure. Even if this plea could have any ing the public, are many who have been weight in sanctioning the violation of a moled to engage in that wretched mode of ral duty, yet, in the present case, there was life from having failed in their adventures no plausible ground whatever for employin the lottery. Mr. Babington then entering it. The sum to be raised by lottery was £.352,000. A direct tax to the same amount, he maintained, while it avoided those various evils which he had pointed out, would fall far more lightly on the people, as in the case of lotteries they not only paid the profit which government obtained, but all the suns, amounting to a large aggregate, which were made by all the lottery office keepers in the kingdom: in short, there was no doubt that an equal sum might be raised in a less objectionable way and with far less burden to the people than by a lottery. Mr. Babington concluded with a strong appeal to the House, and to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, calling upon them maturely to weigh what had been said, and not to persist in this mode of raising a revenue. The Chancellor of the Exchequer defended the measure chiefly on the ground of precedent. He likewise argued, that as a spirit of gambling existed in the nation, it was right and expedient that government should avail itself of that spirit, and turn it to the advantage of the state. Mr. William Smith exposed the weakness of the first argument, which went to the prevention of all improvement of our system, and Mr. Wilberforce successfully combated the second, which, it was evident, had its foundation in a principle of the most mischievous tendency. He likewise placed many of Mr. Babington's arguments in a new and convincing light, After some farther conversation, the motion of the Chancellor of the Exchequer for a lottery was carried. In the different discussions which took place in the House of Commons respecting the ARMY OF RESERVE BILL, and other necessary measures of defence, it seemed to be admited on all bands that the First Consuf of France had it fully in his intention to attempt the invasion and subjugation of this island. The practicability of his effecting a landing in row-boats, under cover of a fog, or during a calm, without any interruption from our fleets, was also admitted. It was even affirmed that however a few frigates might disarrange and impede the movement of his boats, and destroy some or even many of them, they could not prevent the greater number from reaching the shore: the possibility also of eluding the vigilance of our ships of war had been proved by frequent experience. Supposing then that an army of 50 or 60,000 men had effected á landing in Essex or Kent, it would evidently require an army of at least equal numbers to stop their progress, and a defeat being possible, it was equally evident that unless a second army could almost immediately be brought to act against the enemy, nothing could prevent his reaching the capital. It was further allowed, that in a close country like this neither many cannon nor much cavalry would be wanted in the first instance, and that there would be no possibility of starving an enemy by re moving or destroying provisions. The plain result of all these admissions was, that nothing which was practicable should be left unattempted, in order to prevent the landing or the progress of the enemy; and that, besides a large regular and militia force, there should be prepared and train ed, and placed in a state of efficiency in all parts of the kingdom, at as small cxpence to the state as possible, a force of such an amount as would be sufficient to overwhelm an invading army. On this ground no sooner had the Army of Reserve Bill been disposed of, (by which, as has been already stated, 50,000 men are to be raised by ballot for a term of five years or during the war, to be officered from the half-pay, and to be drafted at his Majesty's pleasure during the term of their service into such regular regiments as do not go beyond Great Britain and Ireland) than a most extensive and efficient plan of national defence was produced in the House of Commons by the Secretary at War. His Majesty by the constitution has the power of calling out every man in the kingdom, capable of bearing arms, to assist in its defence. The present Bill was intended to render that constitutional prerogative more effectual towards its object. Its general provisions are, that, with some exceptions, there should be an enrolment of every male in the kingdom between the age of seventeen and fifty-five, who should be divided into four classes; the first, consisting of all from the age of seventeen to thirty who are unmarried or widowers, and have no child or children under ten years of age; the second, of the same description of persons from thirty to fifty; the third, of those who are married from seventeen to thirty, and have not more thian two children under ten years of age; and the fourth, of all who do not come within the above descriptions. His Majesty may order the three first classes to be exercised, and for that purpose arms will be furnished to the different parishes, and proper officers will be appointed. The penalties for not attending the drill are one shilling for the labouring poor, to be encreased on the third offence to five shillings; and five shillings to others, to be encreased on the third offence to forty shillings. His Majesty may order all persons enrolled under this act to be assembled, embodied, and incorporated with other corps, in case of invasion or insurrection; and while embodied they shall be subject to martial Iaw, being paid as other infantry, the maimed and wounded' being entitled to the benefit of Chelsea Hospital, and their wives and children being also entitled to the usual relief. When ordered out they are to receive two guineas cach, and upon the total repulse of the enemy they shall return home, receiving over and above their pay, a guinea each. The proposed measure, in all these re spects, seemed to meet with general concurrence in the House of Commons. Difficulties, however, arose as to the most proper time for training the persons thus enrolled. It was, at length agreed, that his Majesty should have power to train them for two or more hours of twenty days, either consecutively or otherwise, between the passing of the act and Christmas next; but that in future years once a week, between Lady-day and Michaelmas, would be sufficient. It was also agreed, that persons who were called out to exercise on other days than Sundays, should be entitled to be paid one shilling each day. But a discretion is left to the Privy Council and Lord Lieutenants to appoint Sunday for "the drill, even in ordinary times. In the clause which respects Scotland, the mention of Sunday is wholly omitted, and an exemption is also allowed in favour of those in England who may have religious scruples on the subject, on making application to that effect, to exercise separately on some other day: they not receiving, in that case, any compensation for their loss of time. We can not but regard the indifference which is here manifested to the sacredness of the sabbath with deep conceru, and we must confess that it greatly damps our hope of the divine protection and succour in the hour of danger. It was ably argued by some gentlemen in the House of Commons, that hitherto our legislature had considered Sunday as a day of rest, except with respect to works of necessity and mercy. If the necessity in the present case had been such as to render it proper to exercise on every day, there might have been a valid plea for exercising even on Sunday. But that no such necessity existed was apparent from the exemption in favour of Scotland, and from the discretion given as to the frequency of exercise and the choice of days even for this year in England. But in following years, when one day in the week was thought by parliament sufficient for military exercise, there could not be a shadow of reason for alleging necessity as the ground of selecting Sunday for that purpose. Economy, it was said, must, without doubt, be the motive for such selection, as exercising on another day would be attended with some expence to the state. Indeed this motive appeared to be avowed in the general strain of what had passed in the House. But might not any individual, especially if in low circumstances, justify, on similar grounds, the following of his ordinary occupations on part at least of the sabbath? If a plea of this sort were once admitted, it was to be feared that the great line of distinction between Sunday and other days would be broken down, and that we should see successive encroachments on the rest of that day, which would put it on a level or near1y so with the days appropriated to worldly CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 19. business. At all events, it appeared to them that there was, in the present instance, a departure from the law of God respecting the sabbath for the purpose merely of saving money to the state: and what would be saved? As it was only in the present year that any pay was to be allowed for exercising on ordinary days, nothing would be gained in future years by appointing Sunday as the day of exercise. In the present year, however, pay was to be allowed. Supposing, therefore, that of the twenty days of exercise eight should be Sundays, and that 200,000 men should claim pay, the whole amount of the saving would only be £.80,000. But surely were the sum twenty times as large, it would no more justify the unnecessary appropriation of the sabbath to secular purposes by government, than the desire of gain would justify the mechanic in pursuing his trade on that day. But while the advantages arising from the measure were so minute, the evils attending it, it was argued, were great and numerous. It was never to be forgotten, that the total apostacy of the French nation had been always dated from the period of their abolishing the sabbath: in so far then as by legislative acts we applied any part of that day unnecessarily to worldly purposes, we imitated their example; and if, without a strong necessity, two hours of the Sunday should be thus applied, a precedent would be formed, and a principle established, which might be indefinitely extended. It was a noble testimony in favour of the people of Scotland, that the known impracticability of carrying such a measure into effect in that country, should have led to the omission of the mention of Sunday in the clause which respected them. That the people of England should be supposed to feel less reverence for the positive institutions of the Almighty was certainly not to their praise. In considering the effect of the clause of exemption in favour of those in England, whose consciences would not suffer them to be trained to arms on a Sunday, except in cases of necessity, it was observed, that this exemption would certainly include almost all the Dissenters and all the Methodists. How many belonging to the Church might feel it their duty to decline the Sunday exercise it was impossible to say, but whatever their number might be, they would be regarded with much jealousy and dislike by the mass of those who felt no religious scruples upon the point, and who having been always used to regard the Sunday as a holiday, in the corrupted sense of that word, saw no harm in employing it in military exercises. The great increase of profligacy which this measure was calculated to produce, not only as it would lessen the general respect for the sacredness of the sabbath, but as it would serve to collect together all the loose and 3 L |