which had been conceived by the first founders of the French republic, and pursued with unremitting activity by all her successive rulers. By the peace of Amiens a great part of the continent of Europe was laid prostrate at the feet of France; and French influence remained predominant from the German Ocean to the Bay of Naples. In short, Jacobinism triumphed; her child and champion established his ascendency; her firmest advocates were honoured and rewarded: and the stamp of success was given to her boldest projects. Not one of the objects which the princes originally confederated against France professed to have in view was attained; on the contrary, her power was extended, her territories were enlarged, her influence was increased, and her principles had surmounted every obstacle opposed to their progress. Her government, it is. true, had assumed a new form, less terriffic in ap signed by lord Hawkesbury and M. Otto. This intelligence was immediately communicated in a note to the lord mayor, and diffused general satisfaction throughout the kingdom. At the end of eleven days the ratification of the preliminary treaty on the part of the first consul was brought from Paris by colonel Lauriston, who, as well as the French plenipotentiary, was drawn through the streets of the metropolis in his carriage by the populace. By this treaty Great Britain restored to France and her allies every possession or colony taken from them during the war, with the exception of the Spanish island of Trinidad, and the Dutch settlements at Ceylon. The Cape of Good Hope was to become a free port, and Malta was to be restored to the order; but under the express guarantee and protection of a third power, to be fixed upon in the definitive treaty. In order to bring that treaty to a speedy conclusion, lord Cornwallis was despatch-pearance than the murderous system of Robes ed to France. Amiens was the scene of negotiation appointed by the first consul; and his brother, Joseph Buonaparte, received the full power to treat with the British plenipotentiary. In the course of the discussion which ensued fresh difficulties were started by France, and fresh demands preferred, which occasioned so much delay that it was supposed by many that war would be renewed. On the twenty-fifth of March, 1802, however, matters were finally arranged, and the seal was put to the treaty of Amiens, which differed from the preliminaries only in the following points:-A part of Portuguese Guiana was given up to the French by a new adjustment of boundaries with regard to Malta, it was stipulated that no French or English langue, or class of knights, should be allowed; that one half of the soldiers in garrison should be natives, and that the rest should be furnished for a time by the king of Naples; that the independence of the island, under the sway of the knights, should be guaranteed by France, Great Britain, Austria, Spain, Russia, and Prussia; and that its ports should be free to all nations. It was agreed that the prince of Orange should receive compensation for his loss of property and of power. Persons who might hereafter be accused of murder, forgery, and fraudulent bankruptcy, were to be surrendered to the demands of each of the respective powers. Thus ended the revolutionary war, in the defeat of all the hopes and expectations which had been formed of indemnity for the past and of security for the future; and in the accomplishment of all those gigantic plans of subversion and conquest, pierre and his sanguinary associates, but in reality more despotic. A military tyranny, formed out of the elements of Jacobinism, destroyed every vestige of civil liberty, and imposed the most galling and odious fetters on the minds, as well as the persons, of the people. England, indeed, had escaped the yoke to which the powers of the continent had, in a greater or lesser degree, submitted. She had secured her constitution and her government from the effects of that revolutionary poison which had destroyed so many ancient institutions, and had subverted so many thrones. She had even enlarged her dominions by the acquisition of an important settlement in Asia, which afforded her the long sought for advantage of a safe and commodious harbour in the Eastern ocean, and by an island in the West Indies, of consequence more from its relative situation to the Spanish Main, than from its produce or probable revenue. She had also kept inviolate her faith with her allies, and had preserv ed her national character pure amidst surrounding corruption: but here ends the catalogue of her advantages; in every other point she had completely failed. None of the objects which she had pursued in common with the other powers of Europe had she been able to attain: she had bounteously opened her treasures to those who fought against revolutionary anarchy; she had made every exertion which her spirit could suggest and her resources command; and, had all her allies but displayed equal vigour and resolution, their united efforts must have been crowned with success. CHAPTER XXXIII. Meeting of Parliament—Address-Sentiments on the Peace-Debts of the Civil List-Claim of the Prince of Wales to arrears of Cornish Revenues-Repeal of the Income Tax-Loan-New Taxes—— Sinking Fund-Abbot elected Speaker-Debates on the definitive Treaty of Peace-Militia Augmenta tion-Vaccine inoculation-Parliament dissolved-French Expedition to St. Domingo and Guadaloupe -Mutiny in Bantry Bay-Affairs of Switzerland-Annexation of Piedmont to France-Seizure of the Maltese property in Spain-Buonaparte elected First Consul for life-New Constitution in France -Legion of Honour-Affairs of France in the West Indies-Despard's Conspiracy-New Parliament -Symptoms of hostility between France and England-The British Ambassador leaves Paris-Grant to the Prince of Wales-Messages respecting France, and the Militia, and announcing hostilitiesMilitary preparations-Levy en masse-Finance-Volunteer associations-Preparations for Invasion by France-Act to relieve Catholics-Attempt to Murder made capital-Vote of Thanks to the Volunteers -The Prince of Wales is refused Military Promotion-Rebellion in Ireland, and Murder of Lord Kilwarden-Ireland placed under Martial Law, and Habeas Corpus Act suspended-Emmett and others executed for Treason-Capture of St. Lucia, Tobago, &c.-The French expelled from St. Domingo Movements in Europe-Invasion of Hanover-Blockade of the Elbe and Weser-War with Holland -Exactions of Buonaparte-Sale of Louisiana-English Travellers in France made Prisoners of War -Naval Operations. MEETING OF PARLIAMENT SENTIMENTS T was vehemently opposed by lord Grenville, who condemned the treaty in almost all its provisions; and, from the tenor of his lordship's remarks, it was obvious that no accommodation with the northern powers could have taken place under the administration which had recently been dissolved. The question was carried in both houses without a division. DEBTS OF THE CIVIL LIST-PRINCE OF WALES'S CLAIMS FOR ARREARS. WHEN parliament assembled, after the christmas recess, the chancellor of the exchequer called the attention of the house to certain papers before them, relative to the civil list, by which it appeared that the pecuniary affairs of the sovereign were again deeply in arrear; and a committee was ap HE imperial parliament of Great Britain and Ireland was opened on the twenty-ninth of October, 1801, by the king in person, who, in a speech from the throne, announced the conclusion of the negotiation for peace, and declared his satisfaction, that the difference which existed with the northern powers had been adjusted by a convention with the emperor of Russia, to which the kings of Denmark and of Sweden had expressed their readiness to accede, and by which the essential rights for which we contended were secured. He then proceeded to state that preliminaries of peace had also been ratified between himself and the French republic; and he trusted that this important arrangement, while it manifested the justice and moderation of his views, would also be found conducive to the sub-pointed to examine the accounts now presented to stantial interests of this country, and honourable to the British character. In the upper house the address was moved by lord Bolton; and the duke of Bedford, in a speech containing much censure of the late, and praise of the present administration, declared his cordial concurrence in the address, which was agreed to without a dissentient voice. In the house of commous Fox expressed the same sentiments of approbation respecting the peace, in which he was warmly seconded by Pitt, who de scribed it as glorious and honourable. After the continental alliance had been dissolved, he said, nothing remained for us but to procure just and honourable conditions of peace for ourselves and the few allies who had not deserted us. When it became a mere question of terms, he was much more anxious as to the tone and character of the peace, than about any particular object which should come into dispute. As long as the peace was honourable, he should prefer accepting terms even short of what he thought the country entitled to, to risking the result of the negotiation by too obstinate an adherence to any particular point. On the other hand, Windham, the late secretary at war, avowed his entire disapprobation of the treaty, and declared himself to be a solitary mourner in the midst of public rejoicings. Sheridan said he could not agree that the conditions were glorious and honourable. It was, in his opinion, a peace of which every one was glad, but no one proud. A similar address was moved in the house of commons; which, after considerable discussion, was agreed to without a division. On the thirteenth of November the articles of the treaty with Russia having been laid before the house of peers, the earl of Darnley moved an address of the house. In the course of the discussion, Man- INCOME TAX REPEALED-FINANCES. thanks and approbation to the throne. This address) gave notice of his intention to repeal the tax upon income. He acknowledged the burden of it to be very grievous, though the necessities of the state had rendered its adoption necessary; but, as this impost was originally proposed as a war tax, it should cease with the occasion that had given it birth. On the fifth of April the plan of finance for the year was brought forward. The income-tax had been mortgaged by Pitt for the sum of fifty-six million four hundred and forty-five thousand pounds, three per cents, for which the present minister, in consequence of the repeal of this tax, was obliged to make provision. The loan for Great Britain he stated at twenty-three million pounds; the capital in the different funds, created by the conversion of eight million five hundred thousand pounds of exchequer bills into stock, previously to the Christmas recess, was eleven millions two hundred and thirtyeight thousand and sixty-two pounds, and the aggregate sum appeared to be no less than ninety. seven million nine hundred and thirty-four thousand one hundred and thirty-seven pounds, the interest of which was stated at three million one hundred and sixty-two thousand pounds. To defray this enormous demand, very heavy additional duties were imposed on beer, malt, and hops. A considerable increase was also made to the assessed taxes; and the last article to which ministers had recourse at this crisis was a tax on imports and exports, being a modification of the convoy duty. The produce of the new duties combined he estimated at four million pounds, an excess which compensated for the deficiency of divers of the taxes imposed in the course of the war. In the progress of the business of the revenue, the chancellor of the exchequer proposed and carried into effect several important alterations in the sinking fund bills of Pitt. The last, or new fand, provided for liquidating the debt contracted since the year 1786, was much larger than the original fund established for the liquidation of the old debt. These two funds he proposed to consolidate, and to perpetuate, till the whole of the debt, both old and new, should be completely liquidated. The original fund had now arisen to two million five hundred and thirty-four thousand one hundred and eighty-seven pounds, and the new to three million two hundred and seventy-five thousand one hundred and forty-three pounds, making together five milliou eight hundred and nine thousand three hundred and thirty pounds. The debt contracted previously to the year 1786 amounted to something more than two hundred and fifty-nine million pounds, and the new debt amounted to nearly three hundred million pounds; something less than forty-million pounds having been redeemed by the old, and upwards of twenty million pounds by the operation of the new fund. The whole of the existing funded debt, including the loan of the present year, was consequently about five hundred and forty million pounds, and the interest amounted annually to the vast sum of upwards of seventeen million pounds. ABBOT ELECTED SPEAKER-DEBATE ON THE PEACE-MILITIA-VACCINATION. SIR JOHN MITFORD, the speaker of the English house of commons, having vacated his chair by accepting the office of lord chancellor of Ireland, in the room of lord Clare, deceased, with the title of lord Redesdale, the speaker's chair was conferred on Charles Abbot, esq. a lawyer of eminence and activity in business, and who had the merit of possessing an intimate acquaintance with the forms and usages of the house. On the thirteenth of May the grand debate relative to the definitive treaty of peace came on in both houses of parliament, when it was attacked and defended with more than ordinary ability. In respect to Malta, lord Grenville observed, that few things could be more absurd than to place that island under the guarantee of six powers, who could not be expected to agree on any one point relating to it; and as to restoring it to the order of St. John, that was still more absurd; for how could it be said that such an order was in existence, when almost all their funds had been confiscated? Of the revenues which supported the order, France, at the time of the suppression of the French langue, had confiscated fifty-eight thousand pounds annually, Spain twenty-seven thousand pounds, and of their former income of one hundred and thirty thousand pounds, only twenty-seven thousand pounds was In now left,-a revenue evidently insufficient to keep up the fortifications, or maintain the security of the island. The order of Malta was therefore extinct as a power, and must necessarily come under the influence and into the pay of France. adverting to other points of the treaty, he observed, that our sovereignty in India had not been recog nised, while the Cape of Good Hope, a station of the first importance to that sovereignty, had been ceded. In the Mediterranean, where our naval superiority was most important, we had dispossessed ourselves, not only of Malta, but of Minorca, and even of the isle of Elba, which France wanted, merely to exclude us from the port of Leghorn. He concluded a most severe and elaborate investigation of the terms of the treaty, by moving an address to his majesty, acknowledging his prerogative to make peace and war, but declaring it impossible for the house to see without alarm the circumstances that had attended the conclusion of the present treaty, by which sacrifices had been made on the part of this country, without any corresponding concessions on that of France; that in the moment of peace France had exhibited indubitable proofs of the most ambitious projects; that these considerations imposed on government the necessity of adopting measures of precaution; and that, whilst that house relied on his majesty's wisdom to be watchful of the power of France, they thought it necessary to assure him of their ready and firm support in resisting every encroachment on the rights of the British empire. The treaty was censured also by the duke of Richmond, earl Darnley, and lord Caernarvon; and defended by lords Auck land, Pelham, and Hobart, the lord chancellor, and the earls of Westmoreland and Rosslyn. The motion of lord Grenville was at length nega tived. The terms of the definitive treaty underwent a discussion equally animated in the house of commons. Windham attacked the stipulations of the treaty in all their parts, concluding by moving an address similar to that proposed in the house of peers by lord Grenville. The debate was prolonged to a very late hour, in the course of which Sheridan remarked that the discussion of the necessary, though disgraceful treaty of peace, furnished the best defence of the conduct of those who had uniformly opposed the war. For his part he support. ed the peace, because he supposed it the best that ministers could obtain. Their predecessors had left them to choose between an expensive, bloody, fruitless war, and a hollow perilous peace. The late minister told us that the example of a jacobin government in Europe, founded on the ruins of a holy altar, and the tomb of a martyred monarch, was a spectacle so dreadful and infectious to Christendom, that we could never be safe while it existed, and it was our duty to put forth our last effort for its destruction. For these fine' words, which had at last given way to security and indemnity, we had sacrificed nearly two hundred thousand lives, and expended three hundred million pounds of money-and had gained Ceylon and Trinidad, which might henceforth be named the Indemnity and Security Islands. He admitted the splendid talents of the late minister, but he had misapplied them in the government of this country. The house at length divided against Windham's address by an immense majority. An important act was passed for consolidating the existing militia laws, and for augmenting that force to seventy thousand men, the proportion for Scotland being fixed at ten thousand. The sum of ten thousand five hundred pounds was voted to Dr. Edward Jenner, for the promulgation of his inyaluable discovery of the system of vaccine inoculation, by which it was hoped ultimately to extir pate the small-pox. A reward of twelve hundred pounds was also voted to Henry Greathead, for the invention of the life-boat; and five thousand pounds to Dr. James Carmichael Smith, for his discovery of the nitrous fumigation, for preventing the progress of contagious disorders. On the twenty-ninth of June parliament was dissolved by proclamation. EXPEDITION TO ST. DOMINGO-MUTINY IN BANTRY BAY. THE French government determined to attempt the recovery of their colonies of St. Domingo and Guadaloupe from the armed negroes by whom they own authority, forty of the one hundred and twenty members composing the senate; and of prescribing to that body the subjects on which alone it was competent to deliberate. The other departments of the stats were cqually subservient to his will; so that, having utterly destroyed the liberty of the press, he might be said to govern the republic by means of an enormous standing army, and a numerous inqui. sitorial police. Aware that to the former he was indebted for his present elevation, he had for some time contemplated the formation of a military order of nobility, under the designation of the Legion of Honour, and the legislature decreed its establishment. The legion was to be composed of fifteen cohorts, and a council of administration; each cohort to consist of seven grand officers, twenty commanand fifty legionaries; the first consul always to be the chief, and the members to be appointed for life, each with proportionate salaries. Joseph Buonaparte, the brother of the first consul, was elected grand master. were at present held. For this purpose, a strong military and naval force had been for some time preparing at the ports of Brest, Rochefort, and L'Orien', and the British ministry consented to the sailing of the armament before the conclusion of the definitive treaty, on receiving Buonaparte's express assurances that its purpose was to take possession of the colonies, and suppress the insurrection. He sought to quell the revolutionary spirit which his democratic predecessors had propagated in that quarter, and which had animated the negroes of St. Domingo under Toussaint L'Ouverture, and those of Guadaloupe under Pelagie, to assert and vindicate their claims to liberty and equality, as members of the indivisible French republic. He was desirous to put an end to a state of anarchy, which was pregnant with the most appalling dan-dants, thirty subordinate officers, and three hundred gers, not only to the French colonists, but to those of every other European power; and the fleet, consist ing of eighteen French and five Spanish ships of the line, having on board twenty-five thousand troops, under general Le Clerc, put to sea on the fourteenth of December. Admiral Mitchell, who was then sta tioned at Bantry Bay, with seven sail of the line, was ordered to follow them, and observe their mo tions; but, on learning whither they were destined, a mutiny broke out in some of the vessels, which however, was soon suppressed, and the squadron proceeded to the West Indies, to reinforce the protecting fleets on that station. Fourteen of the ringleaders were capitally condemned and executed. AFFAIRS OF SWIZERLAND-MALTESE PROPERTY IN SPAIN SEIZED. On In the West Indies Buonaparte recovered Guadaloupe, after a sanguinary resistance, and had at first met with some success in St. Domingo, Toussaint L'Ouverture having been induced to submit under promise of pardon: scarcely, however, had he signed the capitulation, when, on a vague and improbable charge of conspiring against the French government, he was seized in the midst of his family, and with them immediately sent to France. his arrival he was, without trial or examination, thrown into prison, where in the following year he died, and it has been asserted that he was privately put to death by order of the first consul. On the seizure of Toussaint, the negro generals Dessalines and Christophe, who had also surrendered, justly fearing the fate of their unfortunate colleague, saved themselves by flight; the insurgents again every where assembled; the climate effectually aided their efforts, and general Le Clerc himself at length fell a victim to its malignity. General Rochambeau succeeded to the command early in November, when a furious and bloody conflict recommenced; the negro generals recovered possession of the whole island excepting a few maritime towns, of which the French with extreme difficulty maintained possession; and a country of inestimable value, which, by measures of moderation and conciliation, might in all probability have been preserved to France, ap IN Switzerland a new constitution was accepted by one party and resisted by the other, and bloodshed having ensued, the Helvetic government was induced to solicit the mediation of France; when Buonaparte, availing himself of so plausible a pretext, sent an army into the country, and issued an arrogant proclamation, commanding the senate to assemble at Berne, and to send deputies to Paris; ordering at the same time all authorities constituted since the commencement of the troubles to cease to act, and all armed bodies to disperse. The diet of Schweitz, however, as the supreme representative body of the Swiss union, remained at their post, hoping for the interference of foreign powers; butGreat Britain alone manifested an interest in their behalf. An English resident was sent to Constance, empow-peared irrecoverably lost. "In Tobago, when intelliered to promise pecuniary assistance if the people were determined to defend their country; but the approach of the French troops had compelled the diet to dissolve; Aloys Reding, and other patriots, were arrested and imprisoned; and the independence of Switzerland, which had been guaranteed in the treaty of Luneville, was annihilated by the power whose mediation she had solicited. In September Piedmont was formally annexed to France, and Turin, its capital, was degraded into a provincial city of the republic. In October the king of Spain annexed to the royal domains all the property of the knights of Malta in his dominions, and declared himself grand master of the order in Spain. This step was supposed to have been taken at the suggestion of the French government. Thus the order of St. John was diminished by the suppression of three langues, those of Arragon, Castile, and Navarre; and thus was the treaty of Amiens vitiated, because that order was now no longer the same body to whom the island of Malta was to be ceded in full authority. BUONAPARTE FIRST CONSUL FOR LIFE- BUONAPARTE, anxious to strengthen his power at home, caused a proposal to be made in the conservative senate that he should be declared first consul for life; the question was referred to the people, and carried by an immense majority. A second question, whether he should have the power of appointing his successor, was decided in the affirmative, and he was now an hereditary monarch in every thing but the name. He imposed a new constitution on France, by which he invested himself with the right of making war or peace; of ratifying treaties; of pardoning in all cases; of presenting the names of the other two consuls to the senate; of nominating all inferior officers: of appointing, by his gence arrived that the island was to be restored to France, the people of colour flew to arms, and determined to attack the British troops under brigadiergeneral Carmichael, who had under his command only two hundred men; but, having gained intelligence of the plot, he seized thirty of the ringleaders, and the French took possession of the island, in virtue of the treaty of Amiens. In Dominica a serious alarm was created by the mutiny of an entire regi ment of blacks, who put to death captain Cameron and several other officers; but they were at length totally routed. Whilst these contests prevailed, the French legislative body abrogated the decree of the national convention, abolishing slavery, and the inhuman traffic was renewed with all the encouragement which it enjoyed under the old French government. DESPARD'S CONSPIRACY. IN October of this year a treasonable plot was discovered, of which colonel Edward Marcus Despard, who had distinguished himself in the service of his country, was the head, and indeed the only individual of any consideration in the conspiracy. The object was the death of the king, and the subversion of the constitution; but the means by which these traitorous designs were to be effected were so little adapted to the magnitude of the enterprise, that it seemed scarcely possible that the design should have originated with any man in a sane state of mind. On the sixteenth of November the colonel and twenty-nine labouring men and soldiers were apprehended at the Oakley Arms in Lambeth; and on the seventh of February, 1803, the former was arraigned before a special commission for high treason. After a trial which lasted nearly eighteen hours, and in which very honourable testimony was given to the conduct of the colonel, while in the army, by Lord Nelson, Sir Alured Clarke, and Sir Evan Nepean, he was found guilty, but earnestly recommended to mercy, on account of the high testimonials to his character and eminent, services. On the ninth the court proceeded to the trials of twelve other prisoners, and, after an investigation which continued till the following morning, the jury returned a verdict of guilty against nine; two were acquitted, and the charge against the other was abandoned. On the twenty-first colonel Despard and the six accomplices not recommended to mercy were executed with the usual forms in cases of high treason. NEW PARLIAMENT. written against the first potentate in Europe, he must, in order to punish the offender, have recourse to the same modes of proceeding which are prescribed to Englishmen themselves, under similar circumstances. In the autumn of 1802, he directed his agent, Otto, to prefer charges against certain English public writers; and against Peltier, who conducted a journal in the French language, entitled L'Ambigu. Although, as lord Hawkesbury had pertinently observed, in his instructions to Mr. Merry, who was then at Paris, the French press poured forth constant libels against the English government; libels, too, authorized by the French cabinet; although Rheinhardt, the Jacobin representative of Buonaparte at Hamburgh, had violated the neutrality of the senate, and had compelled them to insert a most virulent attack upon the English government in the Hamburgh paper; although Buonaparte himself had publicly uttered similar libels; and although, to use the words of lord Hawkesbury, it might, indeed, with truth be asserted, that the period which had clapsed since the conclusion of the definitive treaty had been marked with one continued series of aggression, violence, and insult, on the part of the French government; so averse were the British ministers from any conduct which could have even a tendency to produce a renewal of hostilities between the two countries, that they instructed the attorneygeneral to file a criminal information against Peltier. The cause was tried on the twenty-first of February, 1803, and the defendant was convicted; but the renewal of hostilities was allowed to secure him from punishment. At the very time when this trial was pending, the difference between the two governments was such as to render hostilities unAt the latter end of February lord Whitworth had an interview with Buonaparte, in which the latter so far forgot himself as personally to insult the British ambassador, and to threaten his government in the presence of other diplomatic characters. On this occasion he openly avowed his ambitious designs, and clearly developed his views upon Egypt, whither he had despatched Sebastiani, a Corsican officer, in the ostensible character of a commercial agent, to seize every opportunity for promoting the French interest in the Levant; be boldly justified his unprincipled usurpations in Switzerland, Piedmont, and Italy; and peremptorily insisted on the immediate evacuation of Malta, as the sine qua non of continued peace. By the treaty of Amiens, the king had stipulated to restore the island within a given time to the order of St. John, under the express guarantee of its independence and neutrality by the principal powers of Europe. Circumstances, however, tending to destroy the independence of the order itself, by depriving it of a considerable portion of its reyenue, had subsequently arisen, which rendered it highly imprudent to carry that article of the treaty into effect. Be sides, the stipulation had been made with a reference to the relative situation of the contracting parties at the time of concluding the treaty. That situation had experienced a material change by the fresh acquisitions of territory which Buonaparte had afterwards made, and by the consequent addition of power which he had secured. His intentions, too, to dismember the Turkish empire, and to monopolize the commerce of the Levant, objects against which specific provisions were made in the treaty, were too notorious not to call for measures of adequate precaution on the part of Great Britain, whose ministers, indeed, were almost to blame for having carried a system of conciliation and concession to so great a length. At last the inutility of every attempt to induce Buonaparte to listen to the claims of justice became so obvious, that the British ambassador received orders to return to England; and he accordingly left Paris on the twelfth of May, 1803. On the twenty-third the new parliament was opened by a speech from the throne, in which the king observed that, in his intercourse with foreign powers, he had been actuated by a sincere desire for the maintenance of peace; but that it was nevertheless impossible to lose sight of that established and wise system of policy by which the interests of other states are connected with our own; and that he could not be indifferent to any material change in the relative condition and strength of those states. He expressed his conviction that parliament would concur in the opinion that it was necessary to adopt those means of security which were best calculated to afford the prospect of preserving the blessings of peace. The presage conveyed in this intimation was soon afterwards confirmed by proposals for augmenting the naval and military force of the country. The attention of parliament until the Christmas recess was chiefly occupied by financial arrangements, and by a bill introduced into the house of peers by lord Pelham, for appointing commissioners to inquire into frauds and abuses existing in the naval departments. SYMPTOMS OF HOSTILITY WITH FRANCE-avoidable. BRITISH AMBASSADOR LEAVES PARIS. THE extent of Buonaparte's authority at home only served to render him more impatient of contradiction abroad; and as he had succeeded in subduing all opposition in his own territories, he imagined that he could as easily silence the reproaches of foreign countries. Having brought his negotiations in Germany, consequent on the peace of Luneville, to a successful termination, he had plundered at his pleasure the ecclesiastical princes of the empire, to indemnify those whose territories he had seized on the French side of the Rhine, and taken care amply to reward those wretched potentates who had displayed the most cowardly subserviency to his interests. Among these the petty sovereigns of Baden and Wirtemberg were raised by him to the dignity of electors, as preparatory to their subsequent elevation to the rank of kings. He had been equally successful in reviving the ancient jealousy between the Prussian monarch and the emperor of Germany; the former of whom was imprudently seduced by hopes of personal aggrandizement, to enlarge the influence and power of an implacable enemy, and thus prepared the way for his own destruction. In Italy, also, Buonaparte had as sumed the sovereignty under the denomination of President of the Italian republic; for such was the title now adopted by the Cisalpine republic. He had united the kingdom of Sardinia and the dutchy of Parma to France; and he had taken effectual means for rivetting the chains of Switzerland. Little solicitous to afford proofs of a pacific disposition to the only enemy who had resisted him with effect, Buonaparte betrayed, in all his communications with the British cabinet, an overbearing and insupportable pride. First to Otto, and afterwards to his ambassador, general Andreossi, he sent instructions to complain of the freedom of those animadversons which the public writers of Great Britain passed on his character and conduct; and those complaints were reiterated as well by Talleyrand, as by the first consul himself, to lord Whitworth, who, in November, 1802, repaired to Paris as ambassador to the French court. He could not be persuaded that the British government was unable to exercise over the press the same unlimited power, the same boundless tyranny, which he himself exercised over every public writer throughout his vast dominions. It was impossible to make him understand that, in England, the ministers were subject to the same legal restraints as the lowest subject of the realm; that they could proceed only according to the forms of law; and that, if what the law decmed a libel should be uttered or GRANT TO THE PRINCE OF WALES-MES- |