with renovated and increased lustre.- -Senators, when at your desiré,' at the call of the whole of the French people, I placed upon my head the Imperial Crown, I received from you, from every citizen, the solemn promise to maintain its honour pure and unsullied. My people have on every occasion afforded me proofs of their confidence and affection; they will fly to the banners of their Emperor, and of his army, who in a few days, will have passed over the frontiers.Magistrates, soldiers, citizens, all are resolved to rescue the country from the influence of England, who, if she prevailed, would grant us only a peace marked with ignominy and shame; and of which the principal conditions would be to burn our fleets, to shut up our ports, and to extinguish our industry.— What promises I have made to the French people, I have fulfilled. The French people, on their part, have entered into no engagement with me which they have not more than performed. At a moment so important for their glory and for mine, they will persist in asserting the name of the Great People, a name with which I greeted them in the midst of the fields of death and of glory.-Frenchmen; your Emperor will discharge his duty; my soldiers will do theirs; you will also discharge yours.

Causes of the Decree of the Senate for raising 80,000 Conscripts, presented to the Conservative Senate, by Regnault, De St. Jean Angely, September 23, 1805.

SIRE, the eagles of your armies were about to cross the seas; the violators of the treaty of Amiens, tormented by remorse, agitated by fear, were on the point of being punished by your justice: but a few days more, and the liberty of the seas might have been conquered for the world, even in the very seat of the tyranny of the seas.There is another act of perjury, which' calls your Majesty to fresh combats. In spite of the faith pledged at Luneville, the Emperor of Germany threatens the French empire. He is marching against your frontiers both his own and the Russian troops; the broken remains of those whom your Majesty vanquished, or sent home unransomed.Your army, Sire, formed of the same legions which conquered the Austrians and the Russians, completed by French citizens taken from every class and quarter of the empire; your army, whose strength is increased by the nature of its composition, whose devotion to your person doubles its energy; your army, which knows how to feel and think, as it knows how to fight, whose indignation

will, if possible, increase its valour; your army is sufficient to fight and conquer, and he diversion so dearly paid for by England, will only have the effect of retarding her humiliation, and changing the scene of your first triumphs.But if, while preparing, on the one hand, to combat Great Britain, and confiding, on the other, on the fidelity of your allies, perhaps trusting to the plain sentiment of their interests, which at any rate should have counselled them to neutra

lity, your Majesty has not increased your army, and have not prepared, by extraordinary levies, for a successive recruitment, different circumstances demand different measures.

-In the years which followed the peace, as in those which followed the war, your Majesty has only called for the same number of conscripts: you wished to leave as many as possible for the purposes of agriculture and the arts. At present, Sire, your wisdom requires that the French youth should prepare to pay their country the whole debt, and even before the period when she would otherwise have called for the payment of it.- -The orators of your council demand your order to the Wise Men (Sages) of the empire, to arm a more considerable part of the strength of the nation; and to order a levy of 80,000 conscripts for the year 1806. Several reasons have combined to make it the duty of the Senate to decree this measure. It is true, that the raising of the conscription has been ordered up to the present time, by the acts of the Legislative Body. The proposi tion offered to the Senate, will not disturb the order, nor destroy the usage heretofore followed; it will only form an exception, which circumstances justify." And first, when his Majesty is at a distance, leading his legions to victory, prudence prescribes his preparing, before he quits the centre of his empire, all the means of success which his wisdom has conceived. The delays necessary for the convocation of the Législative Body, would retard those measures, the quick execution of which, now become necessary, is guaranteed by the intervention of the Senate.Secondly, the alteration of the Kalendar prolongs the exercise for the year 14, which will be the same as that of 1806, until the 13th of January, 1807, and it will consist of fifteen months. Hence results the necessity of a change in the period of conscription for the year 15. Following the plan of the division of the year, which France has just abolished, this conscription ought only to include those young men, who will have attained, on the 22d September 1805 (the last day of the year 14), the age

which he has raised her, is going anew to encounter fatigues and dangers.-Amongst the means that are to guarantee our success, the conscription is, without doubt, the most powerful of all, since upon that depends the renovation and the permanence of our military forces, as well as the good composition of our armies; we must then apply, with indefatigable perseverance, to cause the laws and decrees it has rendered necessary to be religiously executed. Without doubt, the youth of France, so distinguished for valour, and always so ready to march at the voice of honour and of their dountry, will crowd to follow the steps of their emperor; and amidst this sublime impulse, we must hope that there is not a Frenchman so unworthy of the name as to refuse joining in the perils and the glory of our warriors. If, notwithstanding, any should be found who, yielding to dastardly fear, or giving way to perfidious suggestions, should prefer infamy to honour, they, their abettors and accomplices may expect inevitable punishment. Thus, whilst the military tribunals shall punish refractory conscripts, you must proseeute, and cause your subordinates to prosecute, with inflexible severity, all those who, from disaffection, corruption, or even an unseasonable and false pity, shall dare, in a manner less or more criminal, to aid or to favour the coward who shuns our colours. No exception of persons, no effeminate complaisance reflect that, in a matter so grave, and with which the public safety is so intimately connected, all partiality, all relaxation in the execution of the laws, would be a great crime towards the country. Be penetrated with this salutary doctrine; impress it frequently on the minds of these magistrates before whom you exercise your functions, and make them forcibly feel that an imperious duty requires them never to depart from it. Receive, Gentlemen, the assurance of my affectionate sentiments. (Signed) REGNIER.

That duty is not doubtful; France is menaced, insulted, and attacked in the possessions of her allies, the enemies' armies are, marching against our frontiers; the emperor puts himself at the head of our troops to drive them back to their own territories. What sacrifice can it cost to imitate this example of devotion! Let those who have not the good fortune to participate in his dangers, concur at least to his glory, by an eager obedience to the orders of government. The emperor seconded by his people, will obtain successes which will be the inheri tance of all; the prosperity of France, her, independance, and a solid and honourable peace, will be the result of his labours, of his perils, and of our efforts."

Second Letter." Sir, The Emperor would, at all times, have reckoned on your zeal for his service, and your love for your country. He is now in a situation to require, in a particular manner, a proof of this double sentiment. An unexpected eircumstance changes the position of France, and demands new efforts which will conduct to new glory, and to a repose which shall be no more troubled. The Powers of Europe interfere in our quarrel with England; they have armed to prescribe disadvantageous conditions of Peace to France, which was of itself a Declaration of War; for undoubt edly they did not expect of her that condescending weakness. Their armies have invaded the territory of her allies, and are marching against our frontiers: the peace of the Continent exists no longer! Thus the blow which was about to strike England is turned aside, or rather suspended. It is still on the Continent, and by new victories that we must seek peace. The Emperor sees with regret this sad necessity; but he does not hesitate, when the national interest and honour leave no other choice. The war must be brisk in order to be short! The nation must make a grand effort, and destroy, by its all-powerful unanimity, by its invincible courage, and especially by its activity, this new Coalition, no less odious than the others, because its object is to bring her under the yoke of a rival nation, which will not be satisfied until she shall have destroyed, without the possibility of their recovery, our marine, our commerce, our industry, our riches, and our means of prosperity. The menaces of the enemy command above every thing, a prompt and unanimous determination.

(To be continued.

VOL. VIII. No. 16.]

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SUMMARY OF FOLITICS.

LORD MELVILLE AND HIS SUPPORTERS. -Upon the origin of the scandalous performace, whence my motto is taken, sufficient has already been said, and, as to that topic, I have only now to say, that, from information recently received, I have reason to suppose, that the person, whom, from the matter, as well as the manner of the work, I naturally suspected to be the principal conductor of it, has had nothing to do with it.

-The object of the work obviously is to mislead the public, and thereby to produce a feeling that may tend to produce, or to sanction when produced, an unjust decision; an object, which every one, who considers the character of the august assembly, before whom Lord Melville is to be tried, will confidently rely upon seeing frustrated; but which is not therefore the less to be detested. The means hade use of are, in part, a reassertion of falsehoods already, over and over again, detected and exposed; such, for instance, as, that the public has lost nothing by the malversations of Lord Melville and Trotter; that Lord Melville never partici pated with Trotter; that no delay in payments ever took place; that Mr. Pitt did not believe, though informed by Mr. Raikes, that any thing improper was going on; that the loan to Boyd and Benfield was necessary to the support of the credit of the nation; and the like. But, the principal means resorted to, the main ground of defence, the grand rampart drawn round Lord Melville and Mr. Pitt, is, a justification of an unlawful use of the public money, or, to express it in two words, of peculation and corruption; and, as in the instance given in my motto, the checks upon the public expenditure are accordingly represented as amongst "the dis" advantages of our excellent constitution,” while we are, at the same time, forewarned, that we shall have to "lament the effects of "the inquiries" into the conduct of Lord Melville and Mr. Pitt. There is, in this, something so impudent; so audaciously proBigate; so insulting to the people from

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whose property and whose labour the taxes are drawn, that, were it not for one curious argument connected therewith, I should pass it over in silent disdain. This argument is drawn from experience; and, we are told by these " gentlemen" supporters of Lord Melville and Mr. Pitt, that "it was by in"quiring into abuses, and by pursuing persons in power who had been obliged to give into them, that the French revolution began, and that, eventually, the most an"cient monarchy in Europe was destroyed;" and then we are significantly asked, whether "similar causes are not likely to produce si"milar effects." So that here an entire new ground of defence is taken. The me

rits, or demerits, of Lord Melville and Mr. Pitt are thrown aside, as having little or nothing to do with the matter. The existence of the abuse is acknowledged; but, it is represented as a necessary evil; as something so closely interwoven with the monarchy, that there is no destroying or checking the former, without destroying, or, at least, materially endangering the latter.- -First, one might oppose to this, another argument drawn from experience, and that, too, of cases much more analogous; to wit; those of the Lords Verulam and Macclesfield, two High Chancellors of England, convicted, at two different epochs of our history, of the crime of corruption, of a magnitude inferior to that of which Lord Melville is charged, the former expelled from the House (of Peers, the latter fined and imprisoned; and yet, we have never heard, that the inquiries relative to their conduct, or that the subsequent proceedings thereon, had the effect now so feelingly apprehended by the loyal

was no respect of persons; and, thereby did tend to confirm, and to increase, their love of the constitution, and, of course, their love of the monarchy. Indeed, if we talk of seditious libels, what libel can be more seditious and more infamous than that which tells the people, that the monarchy stands upon the foundation of violated law; that to inquire into a misapplication of the public money is to endanger the existence of the monarchy; that monarchy is, in short, what PAINE SO falsely termed it, "the MASTER

FRAUD," and that it cannot be supported without the aid of peculation and corrup-. tion! What might be the situation of France, in this respect, I know not; but, it is not without great regret, that I have observed, in the only two French periodical publications in this country, a steady bias, not only in favour of Lord Melville and Mr. Pitt, but in favour of their conduct, as developed in the Tenth Report and in the subsequent reports and discussions. Nay, I have perceived in those publications, which must be intended to circulate upon the Continent and to operate against Buonaparté, a constant endeavour to gloss over acts of corruption, and to misrepresent the motives and character of those members of parliament, who have, upon this occasion, espoused the cause of the country, some of whom have been compared to the democratical orators, who began the attack upon the monarchy of France. Under whose influence these writers may immediately act, I shall not pretend to say; but, I think, the reader will lament, with me, that, as far as their publications go, the cause of the Bourbons should appear to be identified with that of public robbery; and that the most decided enemies of Buo

naparté should be also the most decided enemies of those who have been labouring in the cause of the country against peculation and corruption. The fair inference from such facts no one will fail to draw; and, therefore, it is our duty to maintain, that such writers are not the friends of monarchy. It is, too, the duty of kings and prinçes to shake out the vermin, who have nestfed in the folds of the royal robe, and to show that the cause of monarchy and of the people are one. I know not what was the situation of France in this respect; and I now reject the argument made use of by the supporters of Lord Melville: but, if it be true, that the French revolution began by inquiries into abuses in the expenditure of the public money; if it be true, that abuses, like those lately discovered in England, did exist in France, and to a similar extent; and, if it be true, that those abuses were ab

solutely necessary to the existence of the ancient monarchy; if all this be true, which, however, I do not believe; but, if it be true, then, had I known it fourteen years ago, I should not, I hope, ever have let fall one expression of regret for the overthrow of that monarchy, though it had been as ancient as the foundations of the world. PAINE, indeed, had told me, that monarchy was the "master fraud," and, with additions and improvements, the democratical writers of America repeated his assertion. But I denied the fact, and upon that ground defended monarchy, never imagining, of course; never dreaming, that my defence of monarchy would be construed into a defence of peculation, and that the day would come, when my then defence of Kings, compared with my subsequent attacks upon peculators, would be urged against me as a proof of inconsistency! Never was I a defender of peculation or corruption; but, on the contrary, from the time, when, at eighteen years of age, I stood forward and procured justice for my brother-soldiers, whom the quarter-master of the regiment, by means of short weights and measures, cheated of their rice and peas and butter; from that day to the present, I have always, when occasion presented itself, shown my enmity to every species of public fraud or robbery, and have used my utmost endeavours to bring to shame and disgrace all those who were guilty of it. At the very time, when, in America, I was defending the cause of monarchy, I was assailing men guilty of corruption; and, one of my pamplilets then published is wholly taken up with an exposure of the conduct of the then principal Secretary of State, who, it was discovered, from an intercepted correspondence, had asked a bribe from the Ambassador of France. Am I told, that I then sang the praises of the very mes, whom I am now censuring? I answer, that, if I ever did praise Mr. Dundas, and I do not recollect that I ever did, it was the prosecutor of Sir Thomas Rumbold and others that I praised, and not the violator of the law, not the conniver at the practices of Trotter, not the Mr. Dundas, who, when asked what he had done with ten thousand pounds of the public money, declares that he never will tell, and who when questioned by legal authority as to any profits that he may have made from a misapplication of the public money, refuses to answer, upon the ground openly alleged, of fear of criminating himself. If I praised Mr. Pitt, it was Mr. Pitt the heaven-born" minister, with regard to whose character I had participated in the adoption of those notions so prevalent.