Printed for J. GINGER, 169, Piccadilly, 1804. CK. FACTS, &c. SIR, IN the present conjuncture of public affairs, when union and fortitude are indispensably ne cessary to our safety, it is universally acknowledged that those who encourage their opposite qualities, betray a perversion of the head and heart, disgraceful to the character, and pernicious to the cause of the country. The glow of thought, the energy of feeling which formed the basis of those generous acts of public devotion, that marked the spirit of the nation at the commencement of the war; which have ever since given confidence to its hopes, and resolution to its conduct, deserve a more honourable return from its statesmen, than the rancorous contentions of party rivalships. An union so extensive, continued and deter B It mined, among all classes of men, who are reconciled to suffer, but never to despair, cannot have been produced by common causes. must have originated in something capable of reaching the whole soul of man, and of arming it with perpetual energy. In vain shall we refer to precedents deduced from the events of former ages, to solve, by comparison, the causes of this, confederation of talents, strength, and virtues, which exalts the character of human nature, while it proves its best security. The source, the progress, the object, the consequences, nay, the men, their habits of thinking, and all the circumstances of the country, are different from what they were, and have prodigiously improved in their change. For this war is the war of the public; the war of the country; the war of the people. It is their independence that is at stake, and which must be supported; their property, which must be secured; their country, which must be saved. Other quarrels have been, in general, distinguished by no important feature in the annals of events: mixed in the mass of general affairs, they occupy but a common page. Triumph on the one side, and misery on the other, disclose the fatal effects of ambitious disputes, and constitute the chief oc currences that fill the melancholy pages of his tory, War has been too often the business of governments; here it is the offspring of neces sity, and the business of the people. Hence,! as the principles of the present war differ from all those which preceded it, so likewise does our conduct both in government and war; for the government, the armed force, and the people, are mutually and reciprocally ONE. Every man being sensible of this great truth, he is prepared to take the field, or pay his portion of the charge, as the sovereign of his own possessions; and if he fall, a monarch falls. With this impression deeply fixed on their minds, the people of this Empire entered on the war with an air of triumph, and they have hitherto persevered in it with the glowing serenity of innocence and fortitude. However trying and severe the conflict may prove, it will never produce, while such a virtuous disposition prevails, the most distant idea of yielding it up either by force, fraud, distress, or persuasion, until its ends shall have been completely accomplished. Looking forward to happier days, and scenes of rest, the people qualify their personal inconveniences with the contem plation of permanent security, as the natural |