The Sun. — London, England, 1802-04-16 00:00:00

NAVAL NEWS. PORTSMOurg, APRIL IS. SAILED His Majesty's Ship regal, for the Downs, to be paid off, with the condemned Mu ttneers of the Tt mera.ire on board; God Intent, li oNct:gs, for Cherbourg ; Spider Cartel, and Nep tune, MARSHALL, forHavre,de-Grace. Arrived at the Motherbank, and put under qua_ ? amine, the Osborne, SMITR, and Scipio, .from Gibraltar. SHEERNESS, APRIL. I. THIs day was paid off at this Port, the Unite, Da phne, Hermes, Redoubt, and Alcrste. To THE EDITOR OF THE SUN. Sheerness, April 15. SIR, I h ave to inform you, that this day His Majes. 'iPs Shannon, Hermes, and some other vessels wer e Paid off here, and, without subtraaing from the Mati ng merit of any Ship's Crew, I am justified in ati i n g the very regular, steady, and altogether good tct,' l4 of the Shannon's Crew, as being worthy t on - i r„le and imitation : their sobriety and manly * as j u t' was as creditable to them, as their discipline c eno l° nourable to their Officers, who have so re it) "Y given up their command, and from whom they Parted with mutual regret. I remain, Sir, AN ADVOCATE FOR ORDER, which is seldom the case when so many men are discharged. DISTRIBUTION OF PRIZE MONEY. T o ••• _ a Seine, for the capt ure o f t h e F renc h p r i va t eer PHi iplelle, a distribution will be made on board the Seine on her Pal in port. Il.:elle Achille and Terrible, for the capture of la Sally; le bri, , (4 °re, a brig mark e d F, a s loop ( na me unknown), and a 9 41 nz unknown) ; will be paid in Plymouth, on Friday ~r!ioth instant. Centaur, for the capture of le I'emeraire, and le lion Cut be paid at the same time and place. lugg er ie iptain and the Sirius, for the capture of the French La c o , n ernerairc will be paid at the same time and place. f,e.al)islislistance and Flirt armed vessel, for the capture of the IP 01 war San Pedro (PA lcantara, and Spanish lugger °tin on the arrival of the said.ships pc;t, qin will be paid outh, the 3oth inst. Th e din a , regulations for the ship; to be laid tip in F r_ 3eal lY) Will be upon a very liberal and extensive The e, and will produce a great saving to Govern tient) while the Men of War will be kept properly static and ventilated, and a report be made of their ?he and condition weekly to the Port Admiral. f e Men of War are to be divided into divisions di2. l) ti a Captain to have the command of each k ; and on hoard each Ship there are to be ti L ieutenan t , Midshipman, and Seamen in propor :,,n,* It is also said a larger number of Frigates ' l ' he kept up, and not so many Guard_ships. terehants and Master s of Ship s w ill d o we ll to ht°llea, that the privilege gran te d by th e Aft of ve 26th of the King, cap. 60, to square-rigged tn sse i ls in time of war, not to have the name painted stern, has ceased ; and that now, unless the 4 i 6 e u 'Otions of the said Aft, as to painting them, cur "inplied w i t h, t h e p eVa lr Y of t o o l. will be i n _ A 4ed for each omission. And that also by the fo unci °f the 37th of the King, cap. 32, every boat witli.out the particulars therein required nt e d on the stern, will be liable to forfeiture. vn t Pwards of . 3 0 s hip s h ave been stopped in the ri ver e„ - d e ' for being too long in proportion to their in; t° h, and not having taken out licenses, accord- ° Aft of Parliament. Ye s Co in t erelay t h e di spatc h es f or B om bay, by t h e A Z Pa n'''s Ship Sir Edward Hughes, Captain tiltusTos, were finally ci , sed at the East •. , Rouse, and delivered to the Purser. . PASSENGERS. ir ellan t-Colonel Henry ()akes, Lady and Daughter ; t o 'e4 M ar i a and Hart i ett Bowles ; Cecilia Piera C leland ; Z4 l t t 4 W ilkins ; Susannah and Kitty Young ; Mrs. Mary 40n • .9 Lieutenants Wood and Marriott ; (ohm Mathey ter %- apt. William Young ; Mr. George Osborne, Wri )3l, Messrs Thomas Saisbury, William Chicheley tQce, Evely'n Seymour, Michael Bagnold, and Noble , ntter Colberg,Voluteers tor Bombay Marine. vv'e tas t i ci l !sclaY a Court of Direaors was held at the " louse, for the purpose of swearing in e to_ Yea rs "'"lng Gentlemen, elected to serve lour s Devaynes, Esq. G eorge S m ith, E sq . str _4 Step Grant, EiEsq,William Thornton, Esq. are,jtephen Lushington, Bart. Sweny Toone, Esq. °," ROBERTS and JACOB BOSANQUET, Esqs. eQed - Ch a i rman and Deputy-Chairman of the 'a 4t India DireEtors for the year ensuing. 4List of the DireEtor:,• of the United Company di tcharlts of E ng l an d, tra di ng to t h e E ast In s. es, for the Year 180 z : si.tii;n9is Baring, P , art. Sir Stephen Lushington, Bart. Bensley Bart. lohn Manship Esq. LSir s nquet, Esq. Theophilus Metcalfe, Esq. os e L'rt,nth B urges,l3act. Edward Parry, Esq. 1).,1 Cotton Es q.pi ll ., nel John Roberts, Dare'll, Bart. George Smith, Esq. Esq. D evaynes, Esq. .WoodfordTheiluSSon, •;hari he °11 ; W Elphinstone, Robert Thornton, Esq. john „unter es (irant, Esq. William Thornton, Esq. Esq. Pa la u gh Inglis, Bart. Sweny Toone, Esq. john Travers, Esq. hi L er e rnan M es , crier, E sq. and Stephen Williams, Esq. to tlle I\ILeW-York P apers to the 14th, and Boston Papers d 16 th ult. w ere on W ednesday received. They tail several considerable fires which have taken place in diff erent parts of the United States—eleven r lyres were de stroye d i n Boston on the roth o f chiefly up on L ong W har f . But the fire :ich s eems to h ave occas i oned the most general itink,eern and s urpr i ze, is that of Princeton College, w a "ew Jersey, whi c h i s reduced to the ground. It trlo 3 an elegant edifice, and considered one of the Thi s j re speciable C o lle ges in the United States.— log ascribed to some unknown incendiary. in buQ At , 4 . l \leeti ng of th e P ropr i etors of Bank Stock, h otse l l n, it was agree d to purchase the Parliament to .00 Tor a Nati ,yer aonal Bank' they arc to pay Qa• and 2401. tHE o&vcoPhA2-. Is the Sitting of the Legislative Body of Fiance of the sth of this month, PORTAL IS, (as we have already stated) made his Report, which had been so long expected, on the Agreement entered into between the Popt and the French Republic; and which we mean to give at length to our Readers. This Report, the longest and the : mbst important which we have ever seen in the Mogiteur, has been drawn up, it seems, with a good deal of attention, and deserves to be read with no less by those whom it is peculiarly likely to interest. The Orator of the Council of State exerts himself successively to prove, that some Religion was necessary to every Political Society ; that the Catholic Religion was that best suited to the French Peo ple ; that the exercise of any mode of Worship should be organized and paid by the Government ; that in order to establish this Religion solidly and advantageously for the State, it had been necessary to come to a proper understanding with the Spi ritual Head' of the Church. The proof of the first Proposition does not seem to have admitted of much difficulty ; and there would have been room for surprize at the pains taken by PORTALIS to establish it, had it not been known that the execution of the Concordat had long since experienced much opposition at Paris, and even in the Government itself, from two or three persons, who might perhaps be consilered as interested in the disbelief of the Eternity of Punish ments. The Orator determined to destroy, at the out-set, their Philosophical Arguments and Revo lutionary Principles. Every species of Belief had besides been so entirely eradicated from some minds in France, for many years past, as to render it necessary, to endeavour to revive it in those who had lost it, and to confirm it in such as had not altogether abjured it. It is besides to be observed, that the Orator of the Government has rather pre sented Religion as a Political Means than a Natu- - ral Duty, and seems.racher to have had his eyes fixed on Earth, than raised towards Heaven. The same observation suggests itself on what he has said of the Christian Religion in general, and of the Catholic Religion in particular. He seems to speak rather as a Statesman than as a Christian, as an enlightened Philosopher, than as a sincere Believer. All his Arguments are drawn from the Lessons of History, or the Precepts of the Sages of the Earth. The Divine Legislator has been for gotten in his own cause. A single perusal of the Discourse is enough to demonstrate that its Author pronounced it before men, to whose Faith he could not address himself, but simply to their Reason : and we apprehend that he told them in vain— That if the force of Laws is derived from what we fear, the force of Religion proceeds alone from what we believe." That which presented the . greatest difficulty to the Orator to prove, and which consequently re quired, on his part the most address, was to make it appear that the Catholic Religion was adopted by the Government in stri& concert with the POPE, and that its Ministers were paid by the Nation.— He got out of this cleverly enough, and found the means of making these measures appear necessarily to result from the principles which he had already established in the first part of his Discourse. He anticipated the obje&ion, that this would be to make the Catholic ReligiOn the commanding one, by saying, that it would be neither commanding, nor exclusive, but simplyproteaed. The intervention of the POPE he has considered as the only means of put. ting an end to Schisms, and, of course, as absolutely necessary. . The Salaries granted to Bishops and Priests is insisted on as being likely, beyond every thing, to keep them in a state of dependance on Government, and to interest them in its support. In order to satisfy all the world, and to silence the Enemies of the Court of Rome, it is even proposed to_ pay tke Ministers of the Protestant form of Worship.—With respea to the Jews, PORTALIS observes, that there could be no question about pay ing them, since they formed less a Religion than a People. The liberty of Worship is consequently all that is left to them. Such are the principal traits of the Plan agreed upon between the French Government and the POPE, and of which this discourse of Po RTAL IS is at once the exposition and the apology. One impression which this Leaure is calculated to produce is, that of the precaution and even timidity with which he ap pears to present this Plan to the Legislative Body. His turns of phrase, his exprcssions, and his argu ments may be said to be continual excuses for what be proposes and requires. Could one have believed that he should have taken pains to justify the Go vernment from its not having created a new Reli gion in the room of Christianity, from its having ceased to persecute the faithful Priests, and that the strongest motive which he holds out for a preference to Christianity is, that 9f all the positive is the b - e'st adapted to our Plllo7tyhy and our Manners ?" Such phrases sufficiently slim, descriptidn of men this Preacher had to per. .;;aade,,who was thus recommending Religion in the language of Philosophy. If their Belief had had the start of his mode of reasoning, he would not have had occasion to tell them, " that it never can be right, unreasonably, to change an Established Religion"—and before,." Take away Religion from the mass of mankind, and what remains to them i" Surely, when any question arises on the subject o the Christian Religion in our Parliament, it is in different words that an homage is paid to it, worthy of its sacred. tharader, and by no means in negative terms of its advantages and merits. Here, we bring down Religion from Heaven to the Earth —at Paris, the reverse seems to be the fashion. We are far, however, from meaning to criticize this prodation too severely. Things cannot be exile led to change all at once from what is de. plorably bad, to what is eminently good ;—tior Atheism to be converted in a .day to the most pure Belief: We respea the Author of it, and•are dis posed to do full justice to the truth and beauty of a great many of the maxims scattered through his Report, which seems to have been the result of much refleaion and great labour. " It is better that a People should sometimes abuse a Religion than be without any." " There is no question between false systems of Philosophy and false systems of Reli. gion." "It is necessary that men should be believers, that they may not be credulous ; they require a form of Worship to avoid superstition." These phrases, and many others, prove, that the faults of this Report belong rather to the Audience than to the Orator ; and that, like SOLON, he pre sented to them, not that which was best, but what they were most capable of assenting to, and most likely to adopt. THE ARTS. AMONG the works which the PRESIDENT of the Royal Acadeiny has prepared for the annual display, is a scene including the new juiniion Canal, which he has treated with great skill and taste, exhibiting on the whole a pleasing and interesting landscape. The Canal, of course, forms a conspicuous objet in the piece, and Mr. WEST has, in this respea, produced a very agreeable junaion.between the use_ ful and`the ornamental arts. SHEE also has amply provided for the ensuing Exhibition. He has produced a fine whole-length of the Duke of LEINSTER, and Portraits of the Marquis of EXETER, Earl SPENCER, and his Lady. One of his best works, however, will Le a Por trait of a Lady in a Winter Scene. LIvEEAY has finished a large pieture repre. senting His MAJESTY Reviewing the Hertford and Hatfield Volunteers.—ln this Pidure all the ROYAL FAMILY are introduced, the Mar quis of SALISBURY, and most of the distin_ Fished charaters of the County of Hertford.— The view is taken from a neighbouring eminence, and the subjed is represented with great spirit and beauty. This Pilure is intended for the Marquis of SALISBURY, whose hospitality was honourably signalized on the occasion. CORN EXCHANGE, T 6. THIS day we had little or no business done here. —the Prices of Grain continue as per our last. LOTTERY.—It is understood that a material change will take place this year in the mode of drawing the Lottery; and that the following, or some similar plan, will be adopted. There will be three Lotteries, to raise 300,0001. each, to be drawn between the Ist of July, lEOz, and the Ist of July, 1803, the Prizes to be paid in Money. Each Lottery will be drawn in eight days, at the rate of twc days in a week. Each Lottery will contain any number of tickets that the Contradors may require, provided its draw ing is not extended to more than eight days. There will be no Irish Lottery. . . _ _ _ By the adoption of this plan, it is expeled that a much larger sum will be raised - for the benefit of Government, and that the low insurance, which has produced such fatal effels on the morals and the comforts of the people, will be effedually pre vented. Mr. ERSKINE, it is Said, purposes to attend His Royal Highness the PRINCE of WALES to the Mansion-House on Monday, in the costume of his new office. Every means is used that Republican malice can suggest, to injure one of the Representatives for the County of Middlesex, and an wive and up right Magistrate, in the opinion of his Consti tuents. We trust, however, that such mean arts will be defeated by the good sense of the great majority of the Freeholders of the County. The Heralds seem to have more work in hand than to proclaim rite Peace. They appear, by their want of attention, to have got into a kind of war fare with an unbaronetted Baronet. The consolidation of Table and Small Beer will, we hope, be the means of rendering both beverages leis meagre and thin than heretofore. If Mr. SH ER IDAN should really think of bringing the Pic-Nits on the boards of Drury, it will be the only Entertainment which they are capable of afford ing. Yesterday being the last day of drawing the State Lottery, the 4rst.drawn was entitled to wool. The fortunate Ticket, No. 23,976, was divided into one quarter, one eighth, and ten six teenth shares, and sold at the Office of SWIFT and Co. in the Poultry, where several other Capital Prizes have been lately shared and sold. PARL7, Af , Rit /2, LEGISLATI IS GERMINAL, APRIL 7. PRESIDENCE OF MARCOREL. The sitting announced for eleven o'clock WAS' opened at one. .flesides the u;alleries and area of the hall filled with speftators,‘fOur rows of benches, destined for the Memhers of the Legislative Body, were occupied by strangers of all ranks and of both sexes. An officer requested the company to leave the fourth bench empty, bat as they did not seen disposed to comply, it was necessary to introduce five fusilleers, upon which the bench was imme diately left free. Among the spcaators were a great number of foreigners of distiilaion, English, Ger mans, Dutchmen, Russians, &c. ; the Hereditary Prince of ORANGE and his suite, the Ambassador of Russia, and Mr. JAcKsoN, the Minister Plenipo tentiary of Great a - itain. After some time the Orators of the Tril• unate arrived, and then those of the Government. Theie were, on the one hand, SIN:EON ; LUCIEN BONA PARTE; and jApCOURT ; On the other, POI:TM:ISi REQNAUT-DE.ST.-JEAN-IYANGELY,and REGNIER. The President read a Message, announcing the wish of the Tribunate for adopting the Convention agreed on between the French Government and his Holiness Pius VII. LUCIF,N Bo NAL , ART F. mounted the Tribune—" I come said he, to carry to the Legislative Body the wish. of the Tribunate in fat our of the Con- cord:it agreed on between the French Government and the Pope Pius VII. together with the Organic Laws of the Catholic and Protestant Worship.— Legislators, the revolutions of Empires resemble those great and violent shocks, which, by tearing the bosom of the earth, lay open its foundations and display the causes of these dreadful convulsions. It is after similar political commotions that the observer studies the causes of them, and endeavours to discover and check their fatal effeas." After proceeding some time in this figurative strain— " It is in the presence of the Dr t - rv." said he, " that nations are civilized, that people aid each other, and that men become brethren—Temples are their common asylum—Goo is their first happiness. Religion forms man to individual virtues ; it pro tei!ls him from his cradle—it tranquillizes him at the sight of the grave—it inspires him with a salu tary dread of wickedness—it supports persecuted virtue—it consoles the good man under misfortunes says to some, tremble, and to others, be ecm ortedohere exists a GOD on high, who punishes and who rewards. " The destruaive doarine of the . Atheist gives up the human heart to its passions, renders it a sport and a viftim to them. Atheism flatters itself with the hope of analysing every thing, while it only dissolves every thing. Miserable Sophists ! in vain do you accumulate arguments and oblations to prove that morality and religion are impraCticable, and that its doctrine is incomprehensible. The one is inconceivable only to minds blinded by error, and the other is impracticab:e only to hearts dried up by the scorching breath of the passions. "It has been proved in this - tribune that the ablest .and wisest founders of empires made religion the basis of them. Rousse At: the author of the So cial ContraCt, did not think,otherwise—" said he, " ought to be class. among the first af fe&ions of a State." Even Mut AB EAU, who will, not be suspeCled of ignorance and superstition, one of the first movers of the Revolution, suffered the following wolds to escape from him in the Consti tuent Assembly—" Let us declare loudly, in the face of all nations, that the acknowledgment of a GOD is necessary.to the French people. Let us plant the sign of the Cross on the summit of all the Departments : and let us not suffer ourselves to be reproached with having attempted to break down the restraints of vice, or to dry up the last resource of distressed virtue." After shoving in the new organic laws of the Catholic worship the annihilation or old abuses, and the recal of the Ministers to their primitive in stitution; the Orator traced out the conduct of the Constituent Assembly, which, wishing to force the Priests to take the civic oath, and to acknowledge the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, pursued only 'intemperate and ill-timed measures. The Legisla ture which succeeded it said he, " were desirous of pursuing measures still more severe, and no less imprudent, The Convention went still farther than the Legislative Assembly. It transported to Guiana those Priests who refused to take the oath ; it pronounced death against those who in twenty four hours did not comply with the law in regard to transportation. The demon of destru6tion soon arose in France. The Priests who took the oaths, became also necessary vklims to the rage of -innovators. The cry of death was extended to all the ministers of religious worship. It was thought They could not be annihilated but by, massacring them. There was. then no medium left to them between the scaffold and abjuring the Gospel.— Infamous courtesans were introduced into the sanc tuary,. and seated on the marble of the altars.— Satisfied with their work, fanatics thought they had annnihilated Religion in its foundations ; after hav ing overturned the temples and proscribed their ministers, the band of demagogues proposed sharing their lan&. On all sides the State was verging to ruin. Several Departments, however shuddered to see that fanatics had changed the mild manners of the French into ferocity.—Atheism was frightened at their excesses. It changed its language. It re called from that oblivion in which they had been buried, the ideas of the existence of a God, and of the Immortality of the Soul. The Atheists them selves became the preachers of a morality which they had disowned in so indignant a manner. The Direc tory made war against Religion in a manner less open, but no less cruel than the Convention: It pro claimed the liberty of conscience and worship, yet caused its Ministers to be imprisoned. It entered into an accommodation with the insurgent Priests of la Vendee, and tyrannised over those who had submit ted. It established Theoph:/anthropy, which served only to pEove, that Christianity-was the only religion suited to France. In a word, the 18th of Brumaire arrived, and the people were permitted to acknow. ledge a GOD, a Religion, and a form of Worship without danger. The Government soon after ad dzessed itself to the head of the church, The coo, i 1