which places barracks are to be immediately built. Almost all the troops from the frontier fortresses of Old France have been marched to the coasts of Belgium, Holland, and the northern and western parts of France. Twelve thousand men are now on their march to Utrecht, where a camp is to be established. A park of two hundred pieces of artillery is nearly completed at St. Omer's; and twelve thousand men are collecting at Cherbourg.

General Ney is expected from Swisserland, to take the command of the two camps which are forming on the right and left of Dunkirk his head-quarters will be at Salperwyk.-The combined French and Italian army, now in Italy, amounts to about fifty thousand men, besides nine thousand which are stationed at Verona and Mantua. The army which General St. Cyr commands, in the Neapolitan and Papal dominions, amounts to about thirty-six thousand men. Austria has, also, a very considerable force in the Venetian territories; but at present there is no appearance of hostilities.-The division of General D Avoust will consist chiefly of light troops, and will, previous to its embarkation for England, be increased to sixty thonsand men.-General Augereau is hastening to take the command of the troops assembling at Bayonne, and, on his way thither, stopped at Paw, on the 11th ult. and reviewed the 83d demi brigade.-Upwards of twelve thousand men are encamped in the neighbourhood of Boulogne, and large bodies of additional troops are daily arriving. The whole coast, from Etape to Calais, forms one continued line of batteries, and generals have been dispatched to the northern coast to expedite the preparations for the grand attack. All the generals holding commands in the army of England have been directed to hasten to their places of duty, and assist, by all possible means, the measures preparing for the invasion. The First Consul is, however, still at St. Cloud, and at his leisure witnesses the maneuvring of the boats at the dock of the Invalides. It is universally allowed, that he will immediately join the grand army on the coast A field lodging, said to be very portable and convenient, has been constructed for his use. A decree was published on the 4th ult. for raising a company of guides and interpreters to be employed in the invasion. It will consist of one hundred and seventeen men, including the captain, four lieutenants and subalterns. It is to be formed by voluntary enrolment at Paris, and in the sea ports from Ostend to St. Malo: the qualifications for admission are, a knowledge of speaking and translating the English language, a previous residence in England, and a topographical ac

quaintance with the country. The Irish who are in France, and the young Conscripts, who do not form part of the army, may be received into this company if they possess the requisite qualifications. The officers are to be appointed by the First Consul, but the subalterns by the Minister at War. Their uniform is to be a short green coat with red facings, and white hussar buttons, white waistcoat, leather breeches, American boots, and black bronze spurs. They are to be armed with a musket, bay. onet, and sabre.-A new organization of the French army is about to take place: The number of corps of infantry and cavalry are to be diminished, but the number of men is to remain the same. Demi-brigades are to be incorporated and receive the name of regiments, by which the expense of the staff will be greatly lessened. The heavy cavalry will be reduced to ten regiments of cuirassiers, and the dragoons will serve both as infantry and light cavalry.---On the 15th of September, the government published a decree relative to the recruiting of the army, and the organization of the Conscripts of the reserve. This decree regulates the appointment of 60,000 of them among the different veteran corps. They consist of one half of those drafted for the year 11, and one half of those for the year 12, whose active services were required by the military law passed during the last session of the legislative body.

NAVAL.-Early in the mouth of September, an expedition consisting of thirteen armed schooners, having on board upwards of seven hundred men, was fitted out at Guadaloupe, for the purpose of destroying the arsenal and port of Antigua. They were, however, met on their passage by the Emerald frigate, who succeeded in taking three of them and driving the rest back under the batteries of Guadaloupe. The Emerald sustained some loss by venturing too near to the enemy's guns on shore.On the 27th of October, captain Brenton, in his Majesty's sloop Merlin, attacked and drove on shore, near Gravelines, the French privateer Les Sept Frères, carrying two carriage guns and a great number of small arms, and manned with thirty men. Notwithstanding, a constant fire was kept up from some field-pieces on shore, the privateer was completely destroyed, and the Merlin suffered no injury whatever.-A great number of small vessels are said to have been lately purchased by the government t Liverpool, for the purpose of being converted into gun-boats, The merchant ships in Holland and Belgium are put in requisition for the expedition against England. Those who offer their ships

voluntairly are to receive ten florins for freight per last, besides a premium of two hundred florins, and some other advantages on the success of the attack: those who are compelled to yield their ships for the service, are only to receive the freight.- -All the Dutch fishing boats are to be assembled at one place, and, for the present, to be drawn on shore Letters from Holland say, that, notwithstanding the great activity with which their naval preparations have been carried on, they will not be completed before the middle of the present month. — It is reported on the coast of Italy, that lord Nelson is preparing an expedition against the Island of Elba.

TO THE RIGHT HON. LORD FOLKESTONE.

LETTER I.

*

MY LORD,As that state of things, which is the natural offspring of the defensive system, and which was, long ago, so forcibly described by you, appears now to be very near at hand, I have chosen, as a vehicle of my sentiments on some points connected with the general subject, the form of a letter to your lordship.—Of this fatal system, the Volunteer-corps establishment, appears to me to form the characteristic feature; and, therefore, to that point I beg leave first to solicit your lordship's attention.--You, my lord, who are in the camp with General Moore and his brigade of homely coarse-dressed soldiers, can - hardly conceive what fine shows we have lately had in the neighbourhood of the metropolis; and, though you will, perhaps, have read of them in the London newspa

the more likely to be adequate to this dreaded effect, the more speedy and more certain will "be the ruin. In that case the country will perish by the weight of its own defence. It will then be exactly in the case of a man, who, when attacked by an active enemy should say, "I do not want to hurt my enemy, I only wish

to defend myself; so I will wrap myself up in "a good suit of armour, in a coat of mail, and

then I may be perfectly at case. But, what "would be the event? Not only if any of the "nails were to give way, or, if there were to be a little rust, or any weak part, or the joints were "to open, would the enemy be immediately enabled to thrust in his poignard, and give a mortal stab; but, sterhout any such accident, would - it not be certain, that this man must soon fall down 4. faint and oppressed by the weight of his cawn arms ?o -speech of 14th June, 1803. Register, Vol. III. P. 1800,

pers, it will require some additional inforination to enable you to form a correct no. tion of the degree of safety, which the country is, in case of need, likely to derive from the 30,000 men, who have been recently reviewed in Hyde Park, and to whom the Commander in Chief has been pleased to say, that the loyalty and patriotism on "which the Volunteer system was founded

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may enable us to burl back on our ene"mies, with becoming indignation, the "threats which they have presumed to rr vent against our independence and even our existence as a nation." To hurl threats back upon an enemy certainly means to threaten that enemy in the same way that he threatens you; but, I, for my part, cannot perceive, how the Volunteer system can possibly enable us to menace without exposing ourselves to ridicule and contempt, the territory of France with invasion, her government with subversion, and her people with slavery. Not to criticise, however, too minutely words, which, all circumstances considered, it may be proper to have used, on the occasion referred to, I shall, my lord, proceed to point what I regard as the principal defects of the Volunteer establishment; and, in order to give your lordship a view of both sides of the question, I shall first lay before you the arguments, which have been opposed to the opinions, which, on this subject, I have already submitted to the Public :→→

"The Gazette of Saturday contains a very flattering communication from the Com"mander in Chief by his Majesty's order "to the Volunteers of the metropolis, re"specting their appearance on Wednesday "and Friday last. It certainly is highly "creditable to the country that within little

more than three months an army of almost

30 000 men has been formed immediately "within the capital, No man in his senses "pretends to say that these corps are equal "to troops of the line, or could with pro"priety be opposed singly to veteran forces. "It is not the question, whether the Volunteers supersede an army, but whether the country is not in a better state of defence by possessing so many Volunteers who "have acquired a certain proficiency in "military exercises, and who require no"thing but what all young troops want, ex

perience and practice, to be fit for any "service. It is easy to say that the Volunteers are not good soldiers; but would the men who appeared in Hyde Park on Wednesday and Friday, have been more useful "to their country, in a military view, had "they still been sunk as they were before,

in the habits of business? Are they not now comparatively efficient? Have they not now acquired a spirit for military occupations, which, it well directed, may prove highly useful? Are they not now more qualified to defend themselves than "if on the alarm of the enemy's approach

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they had been caught behind the desk or "the counter? We are utterly at a loss, "therefore, to conceive why the system of "the Volunteers should be treated with contempt, and every effort made to induce "them to think meanly of themselves, and to render them contemptible to the enemy. --If any body were so foolish as to "think of employing the Volunteers as a separate army, if any body were so absurd as to compare them to regular troops, it "would be perfectly just to expose their

defects, and to demonstrate the necessity of a different and superior kind of force. "But nobody, we believe, ever did pretend "that the Volunteers were equal to a regu"lar army. We think, however, that with

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great propriety the Volunteers might be "called the Army of Reserve. They cannot "be the army first called upon; they can "be called upon only in small propor"tions, because they can be useful only "when called to act in small proportions

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with a number of troops much superior to themselves. But when the regular army knows that such a mass of reinforcement remains to join them if necessary, it will add new confidence to their ef"forts. Nor is there any danger that the "attention which the Volunteers experience

will excite jealousy in the army. The army cannot but see, that of all the kinds "of military force that can be devised the "Volunteers come least in competition with "them. The Volunteers will encroach nei"ther upon their honours nor their rank.

They come forward in a moment of pecu"liar danger to the public' defence, and "having performed this duty they will re"turn to their former occupations.--We "are far from wishing to flatter the Volun

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teers, or attempting to make them think "themselves, or make others think them, " what they are not. We do not believe "Sir William Curtis, or Alderman Le Mesurier, to be any thing like so good officers as General Massena or General Lecourbe. We see very well, however, that the Volunteers may be useful to a certain degree, and we see no reason to quarrel with them "because they are not calculated to be as ef"ficient as any military force can be. They ❝ do not interfere with the regular army, at least those of the metropolis do not, If

they did, it would in the present circumstances be a serious objection to them. Then why endeavour to depreciate them? Nothing is more true than that men act "well in war, particularly in proportion as they think well of themselves. Possunt quia posse videntur. Is it then very patrio "tic or very politic to teach the Volunteers "to despise themselves, and teach the army "likewise to despise them excessively, "which might at some future period be the source of infinite dispute and disorders? Surely it would be more wise to cherish "a military spirit among the people, even though that spirit might show itself in "many fopperies and foilics. Every man "in this country cannot at present be alto"gether a soldier. But why, at such a mo "ment, laugh at those who endeavour, as "much as their situation allows, to catch

cause they are not what nobody ever ex"pected them to be equal to troops of the "line. It is not too much to say, however, "that they add greatly to the national security: that they give the government an "entire command of the regular army, and by this means they prodigiously increase "the active disposable force of the country. They may therefore greatly facilitate any "offensive operations which it may be thought proper to undertake, and in this way perhaps may be understood the expression in the general orders of the Commander in Chief, that the spirit of loyalty "and patriotism, on which the Volunteer "system was founded, may enable us to hur! back on our enemies, with becoming indignation, the threats which they have "presumed to vent against our indepen"dence, and even existence as a nation."

which these writers are very fond of preferring against me, of " treating the Volun"teers with contempt, and making every "effort to induce them to think meanly of "themselves, and to render them contemp"tible to the enemy." Now, it so happens, my lord, that most of the noblemen and gentlemen, with whom I agree in politics, and for whom I have, on every account, the highest possible respect, belong to vo lunteer corps, there being no other way left, wherein they could contribute towards the defence of the country. And, here I cannot refrain from observing on the contrast which the conduct of these persons exhibits, when compared with that of some of their opponents. The former were accused of holding the language of despondency, of disheartening the people, of inviting invasion, and of sacrificing the safety of their country to the indulgence of political and party animosity. Has this charge been corroborated by the conduct of the Duke of Richmond, of the Marquis of Buckingham, of Earls Fitzwilliam, Radnor, and Spencer, of Lords Grenville, Carysfort, and Minto, of Mr. Windham, Mr. Grenville, Lord Temple, Mr. Elliot? These, and every other of the new Opposition, that I can now call to mind, are, and have been, during the whole summer constantly and earnestly employed in organizing and training men for the defence of the country, while no very small proportion of their patriotic accusers have been engaged in party intrigues, or in courting the rabble of the metropolis, seeking, in short, for private emolument and the gratification of personal vanity.

The writer of the above-quoted remarks first states, or at least alludes to it, as an unquestioned fact, that an army of 30,000 men has, within the space of three months, been formed immediately within the capital, and, that, such an exertion is highly creditable to the country, that is to say, including the ministry. The conclusion would certainly be very fair, ard even very modest, were not the premises untounded. It would, indeed, be not only a creditable, but a glorious circumstance, had 30,000 soldiers been raised, in the space of three months, by the voluntary exertions of the metropolis; but, alas! my lord, the 30,000 persons alluded to are not soldiers, and as without soldiers there can be no army, these persons are not an army. Then, as to time, as far as relates to the ministers, three mouths is not the space; it is now, my lord, six months since the war was resolved ch by them, and eight months it is since his

Majesty announced to Parliament the necessity of providing for the protection of his dominions against the force, which was even then assembling on the coast of France. Having pointed out the fallacy of this statement, I shall reserve, for another part of my letter, what I have to say as to the dispatch that might have been made in this space of time.

"It is," says this writer, "not the ques"tion whether the volunteers supercede an army" [just before he had called them an army], but whether the country is not "in a better state of defence by possessing so many volunteers, who have acquired a certain proficiency in military exercise, " and who require nothing but what all

young troops require, experience and prac"tice, to fit them for service." Here again is a conclusion without admitted premises, and even, without any attempt to establish the premises from which it is drawn. Yes, the country would most assuredly be in a better state of defence if its volunteers were such as are here described, than if it had no volunteers at all, nor any other sort of force in their stead; but, will any one assert, that this is a fair description of the generality of the Volunteer-corps à Will any one at all acquainted with mili tary affairs, say, that the proficiency in military exercise acquired by these corps is not more than overbalanced by the injury which they derive from the spirit of indiscipline. infused into them by their club-like constitution? Will any man say, that the Volun teer-corps of the metropolis, or of any large town or towns; that corps composed gene-rally of men of all ages, of delicate constitu tions, of an inactive way of life, many of themof corpulent bodies, and, not a few, of decre pid limbs; will any man say, that such corps, governed by committees and sub-commit tees, often assembled en masse to debate and pass resolutions: will any man of common sense and common modesty seriously say, that such corps require nothing but what "all young troops require; " nothing but what is required to perfect, for the field of battle, young men, who have no hope but in the army, who have, from the moment of their enlistment, been subject to martial law, and whose bodily capability has been ascertained by the review of a commanding officer, and by the scrutinizing examination of a surgeon? The description here given, then, not applying to the London. volunteers, nor, indeed, to those of any other of those corps in the kingdom, it follows of course, that the argument founded thereon, can be nothing worth, and that the question

is altogether mistated. "The question is," says the writer, "whether the country is "not in a better state of defence by pos"sessing these volunteers, than it would "bave been without them." No; this is not the question. The question is, whether the country, by having these volunteers, is in a better state of defence than it would have been, if the exertions and expense, bestowed on the volunteers, had been bestowed on any other species of force. There was a mass of means to be applied to the defence of the country; and, we are not to content ourselves with asking, whether the ministers have made any application at all of these means, but are to push our inquiries further, and ascertain whether they have made, as to quantity, manner, and time, the best application that the means would admit of. There are numerous objections to the establishment of corps upon the plan of the present volunteers, a few only of which shall be now stated. At the head of all the rest stands the want of martial law. This law would not, it is true, have been acted on in the drilling under the General Defence Bill; but, the men assembled under that bill would not have had the same liberty of chasing their own officers, of absenting themselves at pleasure, and of quitting, with impunity, the class or company or other division, in which they might have been enrolled; and, above all, there would have been no committees and sub committees, and general meetings for debating and resolving. The General Defence or General Training Bill was very defective, particularly with regard to the regulations respecting age. The assembling in one class of persons from seventeen to thirty years of age was very unwise; but, in the corps of volunteers, boys of fourteen and men of threescore, lisping infancy and tottering old-age are both in the same rank.. -The men most fit for a soldier's life, and, indeed, almost the only men, who are fit for that life, are those who have been chiefly employed in agriculture and in occupations bearing an affinity thereunto; but, the volunteer corps, from their very nature, necessarily exclude almost all men of this description. Every hundred or district, had so many men to furnish, in order to avoid the operation of the general training law: each parish should, of course, bave furnished its share; but, the viles and hamlets, the places of abode of the farmers and labourers, were found too widely scattered, and possessing too little proueness to foppery; so that, the town or the largest village generally furnished almost all the men wanted in the windred or dis

appeared in Hyde Park on Wednesday "and Friday, have been more useful to "their country, in a military point of view, "had they still remained totally sunk in "habits of business? and, are they not "now more qualified to defend themselves "than if an alarm of an enemy's approach "had found them behind the desk or the "counter?" Supposing there to have been no other men in the country, than those of whom the volunteer corps are composed, these questions would be pertinent, reasonable, and fair enough: if the nation had been literally and entirely what the French have contemptuously termed it, a shopkeeping nation, why then, the corps mast, if they had been formed at all, have been made up of shop-keepers: but, there were other men, my lord; and, if 1 am told that those other men did not come forward, my answer is, that they would, by another sort of regulation, have been brought forward, and would have constituted a force easily managed, always at hand, and safely to be relied cn. The question, therefore, is not, whether" the men, who appeared in Hyde "Park, would, in a military point of view, “ have been more useful to their cosmury, " and more able to defend themselves, if the "enemy had found them behind the desk "and the counter; but whether they would not have been more useful to their country, in a civil point of view, by re maining behind the desk and the counter, and by paying ten thousand real soldiers to defend both their country and themselves. It is allowed, that the volunteers are not fit to meet the enemy. "No man in his senses

pretends to say, that those corps could "with propriety be opposed singly to veteran troops;" and, in another place. this writer says, "if any body were so foolish as to think of employing volunteers as a "separate army, it would be perfectly just to expose their defects, and to demonstrate "the necessity of a different and superior

kind of force." But, are not the volunteers brigaded separately? Has not this error, which Mr. Windham, in his speech of the 10th of August endeavoured to prevent, been given into in its fullest extent ? And, if they are to act in brigades, must they not