A few words more on our defensive system, and I shall have done. We have now attained the

began his march. He arrived on Presbury-hills in a few days, and the King withdrew his forces. On the 20th of Sept. the battle of Newbury was fought; and Whitelock says, in his memors, p. 70, that "Essex, finding his men full of mettle, and pesolved to foce their way, led them in person, and first charged the enemy with his own regiment, and the Lord Robert's brigade of horse; the fight began about 6 o'clock in the morning, and held, with very hot service, till 10 or 11 at night." Prince Rupert charged the Parliamentary infantry, new levies, at the head of above five thousand horse, consisting mostly of gentlemen, but could make no impression on "their stand." The decisive battle of Naseby, Jan. 14th, 1645, was fought on the one part by London volunteers, raw in discipline, but who, according to Clarendon, v. 2. p. 658, "if they prevailed, or though they were beaten, presently rallied again, and stood in good order, till they received new orders."

During the rebellion of 1745, the battle of Prestonpans was fought on the 16th of Sept. in which, at the head of about 3000 undiciplined and half armed highlanders, the young Pretender defeated general Cope with a well appointed army of five thousand men. The victory was complete; the military chest, cannon, coulours, camp equipage, and baggage of the royal army fell into the hands of the rebels. There were few regulars in the country, the nobility and gentry therefore, voluntarily raised a number of new regiments, and the militia of every county were assembled, arms were liberally distributed to the people; volunteer companies were encamped on Finchley common; the the militia of the maritime countries were drawn towards the coast, and signals fixed for a general alarm, as great preparations were making in France for an invasion in favour of the

eleventh month of the war, and the wolf is not within our doors; we have, therefore, five minutes leisure to enquire what is the principle of this contest; I answer, it is purely DEFENSIVE, But, let me not be misunderstood by this expression. I do not mean that we are to sneak into our houses, and after having barricaded the doors and windows of each story, to peep out of the garret window, and cry, all's well below! but, that the war not being undertaken with any view to aggrandizement, and solely for the protection of what we possessed before its com. imencement, our primary object was, and still is,

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Pretender. The enrbarkation was to have been made at Boulogne, Calais, and Dunkirk, in large boats (one may almost suppose we lived in those days) and a landing attempted in the neighbourhood of Dover, under the cover of night. But the vigilance of admiral Vernon, (transmigrated into admiral Cornwallis) who was stationed with a fleet in the channel, effec tually blocked up all the French ports, and prevented the projécted invasion. Had the landing been effected (this is a point to which I earnestly call the attention of the alarmists) all supe plies by sea were obstructed by a powerful fleet. Such were the measures of that ministry, which was emphatically called the BROAD BOTTOM, because it comprehended honest, able, and good men of all parties, and numbered in its first ranks a Pelham; a Chesterfield, and a Lyttleton: and though such names as Grenville and Windham are not to be found in its ranks, yet, it 'saved the country.

security of that possession. The most inviting opportunities; the most confident assurance of temporary success, ought not to blind us against a just sense of this necessity. None can doubt that the ferocious demoniac with whom we are contending, commands vast and even extraordinary means of exertion; which, an inflammatory mind, filled with mischief, and delighting in blood, can certainly employ to more destructive ends, than a regulated government, softened by social relations, habituated to the urbanity of civilized manners, and less embittered by personal rancour. But, strange as it may seem to your chivalrous nature, I maintain, that the most effectual way of meeting, and of frustrating all the designs of such an enemy, is, to take him coolly. Calmness, temper, uninterrupted preparation conducted with order, judgment and tranquillity, he does not understand; they embarass and annoy him; they are out of his line, and therefore, they cannot fail to derange his plans. While, on the other hand, noise, treats of invading France, of forcing the unhappy house of Bourbon upon its throne; sudden and expensive expeditions, which cast a transient glare of glory over our arms, without adding one atom to public security; would only have provoked his con

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tempt. Bluster and fury excite sensations not unlike those we feel on hearing the distracted Lear.

I will do such things

What they are, yet I know not; but they shall be ters
The terrors of the earth.
Homeroo

According to the wise principles of conser! vative policy, his Majesty's ministers seem to have been governed in all their operations ; and, it is obvious this wisdom has been justified by the event. The foe has been evidently deterred, and It must be felt by the rational part of France. For, on the 23d of May,"last year, it was solemnly announced in the Tribunate, that if they had but a favourable wind, and we did not sign an ignominious peace, we should see what the First Consul would do in thirty-six hours." The wind has been favourable for them two hundred days since that vaunting menace, and they still lurk in their harbours!

The engine of popular opinion which ministers had raised by their patriotic administration, they had to direct to patriotic purposes. A military spirit had been created in the Empire, which had never been known before, and the emergency indicated that it ought not to be suffered to subside. It formed a new era in our do

mestic politics, and its novelty necessarily defied a perfect application of all its parts to a complete system. Hence, though the superstructure was raised on solid foundations; but its conveniences, order, beauty, and embellishment, within and without, were left to the finishing hand of experience. The people themselves were aware of its complexity, while they admired with exultation its solid magnificence. As the ministers had never dictated to them in an imperious tone, nor imposed on their good nature, they cheerfully reconciled themselves to any modification or extension of the measure which the circumstances of the country might demand. Hence, in censuring the ministers, you condemn the whole nation for acting in unison with their judgment. Never had any government a more powerful combination of talents to contend against, or a greater mass of disorganized matérials to fashion and mould into a substantial form. Pressed at the same time, by a thousand conflicting duties, foreign and domestic; harassed, impeded and even insulted by a fretful opposition, their situation was really such as to have disgusted, if not confounded the wisest heads. The nation, however, is on their side, and the fact itself is victory.

The judicious blockade of all the ports of the