The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1807-03-16 00:00:00

TILE WZLICLT SLANDLRER.

It has been our duty holland; to animadvert
upon the increasing and criminal virulence of the
Writer of The Belle" Resides. We were never so
sanguine or so Mistaken as to indulge the hope,
that a candid exposit ion of errors and miurstatements,
or the dignified remonstrance of a public Journal,
would produce a correspondent of cis on the dispo-
sition and conduit of this callous, cold-blooded,
and cowardly calumniator. We knew him too
well, to exped any honourahle rctradion from his
candour, much less to hope for his repentance. For-
tunately his malice is be,t defeated by its rancour ;
and on the possih;lity cf a sincere contrition, we
would be incli•ied to continue sceptics. Yet
there is a duty se feel bound to discharge to the
public, in not buff. ring them to be duped by a false
and hyper: thew of mistaken zeal, and in
bolding up to their notice and abhorrence, the deep
machinations of an artful Incendiary, whose objeet,
whether %perulating on the officious and harmless
vanity of Mr. lii-bson, or the honest, but mis-
guided ardour of Mr. Paull, is solely to raise him.
self into a criminal notoriety, by ailing as the basest
pander to the most depraved desires of an unthinl.
ing and prejudiced populace. He certainly posses.
see some talents, and has often been fortunate in
their application. He thinks strongly, and writes
Kith energy and boldness. Sn will any man of or-
dinary in-dr:standing, who, unacquainted with the
chaste refinements of classical learning, and who con-
sidering an adhcreore to the dilates of truth, and
the resti idions of gond breeding, as an oppresive
And unjust restraint, upon the rank produce of an
uncultivated mind, indulges, to use the language
of Lord Ellcnbotough, in his observations upon
the same Wiiter. " in the licentiousness of an un-
controuled pen," looking only 10 the sordid profit
which it may produce, and regardless of the
punishment, however ignominious, tliat mayensue.
Though sometimes successful in his satire, " let not
injudicious admiration mistake tlee venom of thi‘,
abaft for the vigour of the bow." If he has an-
ay.,. •-:-

THE BRITISH PRESS.

LON DON,
MONDAY, MARCH 16.

His MAJESTY left town, on Saturday, far
Windsor, after granting an Audience to LnrJ
GRENVILLE and Viscount Howtce It wti ru-
moured, immediatAy alter His Majest vii de-
pantile, that the proposed measure of admitting
Roman Catholics to Commissions in the Army and
Navy, is to undergo some modification or delay.

The Prints hos:ilc to the present Minister, and
whose creed it is to find fault with every thing, the
right, equally as the wrong, are now exercising
their patriotic zeal and laudable ingenuity upon the
case of Sir, Hoare POPHAM. "Give me a point,
UV A actsistanas, and I shall raise the world."—
Give rne 2 fl.sw io the Cabinet, give me a single
error in the conlna of Goren:m:lli, let it be but a
point, aCtliliig wit:lrtit leagth, breadth, Cr. thick-
, ness, and I sell pull down the Ministry," say the
Jacobin Print-4-o.re of this brotherhood ailuderl
to, noticing yesterday the trial, says, " Candour
obliges us to confess, that the public sentence is
any thing but in unison with that pronounced by
the Court." T:iis candour we fancy is something
a kin to that of Mr.r. Candour, in The &boot for
Sranda, and not exadly of a kin with that which
we would expeft to see in praLice, particularly
upon the Sabbath. It would be well if that day was
a little less polluted with falsehood, scandal, and
malignity, than any other day in the week. But
the fad is, the hirelings of Sir Home Povis•sr, and
the corrupt and selfih calumniators of Govern-
ment, find it their interest to Make Sir Home
POPHAM'S case a party question. Whether he
bad been honourably acquitted, sentenced to be
reprimanded, or ordered to be shct upon the
deck of the Giadreior, is in frat all one to
them. The interest of the Westminster Elec-
tion is now almost worn out, and they must
start new game. Mr. !'aunt's sun is almost set ;
and the impulse of their nature compels them to
pay their adoration to the orient beams of Sir
Mut Pores AM ; a luminary, the effulgent b: ight-
nest of whose orb is not a little increased, in their
eyes, by the brilliant rays refleCted from the to.oty
of the Rio de la Plata. Dazzled by this effulgence,
the Advocates of Sir Hosts POPNAM see not the
real merits of his Cale, and would confound it with
lases to which it bears not the slighest analogy.—
the capture of Gibraltar,hy Sir Geuaor Roortz, in

1704, is cited as a case c f similar
'art of the 011cer, and of similar
,he paa of the British Governm,
hallowed name of NCI.SON is pre fa:.e,
.vho had been guilty of similar im;
prudence it ought to be called, am
iar censure. for his heroicsonclott
his celebrated chase of the Francl
rope to the West Indies and bacl
year 1805. NOI7, the capture of
an achievement of crier ; its tali
known and fully understood ; an,
Roosts did not stretch his discretion
It might as well be said, that he
to take an enemy's frigate, if chat
the way of his expedition. As to Lot
&NO, pnwJrs, aid discretion, were
indite& concentrated in the captor
fleet. To that purpose he was ti
his mind, and his strength, and
energies of the fl.:et tinder his cot
now at the charge ;tgainst Sir 110
the verdiel of the Court Martial
states. that" the withdrawing, without
do, the whole of any naval force
where it is direfted to be employs
ploying it in distant operations against
more especially if the success of ,
should be likely to prevent its speed'
be attended with the most serinur
to the public service; and that
Hlll. having done sn, is highly ,
this the case of Sir Geo one R
the case of the immortal Nessot
ing his discretion in the very lint
was direfted by Government, with
gacity pursued the French fleet
ating speed over the trackless ocean
Geoaos Itooice, having been or:
Jamaica, proceeded to take Gibraltar,
Ness)or, whose duty it was to watch
abandoned that care, and proceec:ed
Ayres ; they would have been cases
1-IUSIE POP!' AM might have built a,
is not a whaler that visits the Sou,
might not take and plunder a town
Spanish America, and make out as
its buccaneering enterprise., as Sir .
for his capture of Bitei.as As res.
though actuated by only avarice
plunder, might plead that it was an
and that the pos.cession opened an inlet
merce. Ilse.crew of the Whaler, no
obliged to reiwebark as soon as the ioi
recover from their surprise. The ca;
Ayres was an achievement equally
unproductive to the country. There .
for Sir Howe POPIeAM to enrich himself
prize money, and to exhilitate the -
triumphal procession from St. James'
Bank of England, under the skate
of Mr. AL ex. D•vsson ; and there
too for doing as much injury as possii
done to British commerce, by a false
impulse to mercantile speculation.
venturous spirit of British merchant
List must have felt, under every
form and caution, no small increase
Sea bubble ; but the merchants mal
every constitutional form ha; been vim,
the only result has been, to give them
possible opportunity to rein tnemsel,
ing goods for a place in the possessim
before these goods bad cleared the
Sir flour did not wait for an ore
opening the trade with Buenos Ayres,
upon that subject was not in due
transmitted to the &CULT ARY
through him, communicated to the
est. This proceeding would have
every minute of that time would
some luckless adventure to the Rij
zeal of Sir Home POPH A ae, howcyt
these authorities ; and the first nevi
of Buenos Ayres was his circular letter
cipal mercantile cities and towns of
urging them to open a trade with
an advice, too fatally, we fear, and too extensise:,
pursued. If there was any one sub's& upon which
In re than another the Prints professedly hostile to
the Mi.sister ought to have felt some delicacy and
restraint, it is the result of the late Court Martial.
Whey cannot forget their daily abuse of Government
for not sending out reinforcements toßuenos Ayres;
and how unjust and unmerited all this abuse has
proved to have been.— The voyage to that place
cannot be performed in less than two or three
months. The first intimation which Government
received of the meditated attack of it, was upon the
24th of June, and its re-capture was effeCted the
12th of August. It was therefore impossible to
send out reiaforcernents to save it ; and thus all the
virulence and abuse of Government, to„ this imputed
neglect. recoils upon the calumniators. Standing
thus rebuked and condernneJ. they might be e;

pad

'e
fror

."' •
lar proers,,s Pe4
lar ingratite ire
meet. Ey for
rcfa:.ed, a$ t (pi
mprudence, ;aft
nd deserviee lee
1 an Tener:i pad
ch flaet, frorx
,ck again, is Wll
Gibraltar s. We
slue was one fror
and Sir G, Poi
on by attsci;- ng
Wall not ar ave
haute threw,, t;.r •
Lordl~ttra,l, t
fore all. direft . :(
tore ot the Fr.
to dire& hi,!:Sire
the stre
not
command. , 1 ,tti
051 t Poruar, can
tial.—The Tee rep
ithout orden, we
rte from the .
eyed, and Le Lir
gainst the et.,
1 such °peer-, per
reedy return, , pit
sus incomes; bc,
t Sir Hone P. jet)
y censurable" evi
Roost.? Is t ser
ON, who, ex,. pi(
line in whira a
ith won ter; vet
lent with uri. us
ocean ? f'ad err
ordered :3 pr• no
they, or had ' wh
ch the French*. DOI
red to Like Bat. sae
ties oo which s of
a defence. ire rej
;out;i,•rn Sea:, t'
upon the toll;:
s R led a ease
it Haste P Mai
res. Ti.e whirr
e and a thirst ills
an enemy's tow
nlet Brie;sh e.
ea,
so doubt, would . to
brs
inhabitants shook
capt nee ot Buceos
luny transient • ua
here was ;Mt :ICIX
himself with sae- w;
be populace by i Tr
nests-square to the
ilful management sk
,ere was just time
posaibly could be an
False and illusory w;
so. From the ad-
GI
sots, the Bahkry
y circumstance ci
ise from this Sous
say compLun the s!.
violated, and th..: bo
them the esrli,i:
selves, by freigl,l. th
,lion of the enemy. s
t!:
e British Channel. tie
ord,:r of Connell,
,ores. His advise
e and proper fors
of Srsre, an.% br
le mercantile int.:. t 4
re taken time, sad
r.,
Id have prevented ts'
iJ do la Plata. To
ver,
rt
cte
letter to
pt
theoerst
the
eea ppdtr
irra
of Great Britain,
this new colony ;
rod too extensive,'

rtial.
neat

peeled to exercise a lit:1 • moderation in their pre.
sent attacks, but of this they appear incapable.
ffnme little forbearance towards the Minister is rt-
q tired by gratitude ; but of this they OWI not the
inflo:nce. They would repair their disgrace and
lcsses by the fury of their new assaults.—They im-
pudently assert, that the public sentiment is not in
unison with the verdict ; and ho.v is this proved
Wily, a Morning Paper made a second ecii.. in, on
Wednesday, announcing the arrival of an express,
from Portsmouth, with an account that Sir sloe
Pore Ass was honourably aryanted. Most of the Even-
ng Papers `copied the intelligence, thus positively
averred, and the report of course became general,
through the town in the course of the night. This
is a nntorious fa& ; and yet those p ray writers, who
3.lck at nothing that answers their purpose, gravely
tell us, that people speak as they wish ; and asTall
fhe town rang on Wednesday night with the ho.
otourable acquittal of Sir Howe POPHAM, it fol.
1 ,ws, of course, that all the town wished it. There
cannot be a more wilful misrepresentation. The
report originated and spread precisely in the way
we have stated. The progress of a falsehood was
rover more clearly traced and defined. That
:fir HOME POPHAM is a man cf ability, of
spirit, and of enterprise, is unquestionable.—
pssessing snch a chara4ter, a severe sentence and
punishment infUled upon him, would not have
been a popular measure. We might appeal to the
joy manifested by the populace, at Portsmnuth, as
evidence that they prefer the present, to a severer
sentence; and, on the other hand, the charges being
proved, an honourable acquittal would have been
a verdizt, in dire& contradidlion to the fats. A
verdia more cAlculated to answer all the ends of
:;:-'ice and policy, by sheaving that Government had
grounds of disapprobation, and, at the same time,
not falbng too severely upon a meritorious officer,
wet) had done the ItA:e some service, we Can.
not conceive or desire. Rut Admiral Bvsio was
sacrificed to the popular frenzy, and the Advocates
of Commodare Poru•st, in tie exuberance of their
regar.l, insi.t, that Government ought to have; had
him tried by a packed. Jury, and sh-t, to satisfy
the public that he had fairly incurred their dis
111.a.ure.

Private Letters from Iloliand, but none of a
later date than tie Journals which arrived on
Thursday, were received yesterday. 'limy state,
that the French head quarters have been removed
to Thorn, and that till the French trot'ps have
been withdrawn from the :shrew. It is almost super-
ri !11l to observe, that this is a speculation flonciLd
utlon the last French Bulletins. Letters have been
ai•) received from Stettin, dated the 2ath February,
wiiaa state, that at that date, no account 1..k1
re r:hcd that city, of any serious aftion subsea
silent to the Rth of February. Some smart
skitmidvor, howev-..r, are to have taken
place on the le:h, at lieilsberg, on the Alle,
and Rossockin, on the following day, in both of
which the Russians were successful. The Russian
General VOl4 ESIMPS, who was at Poppen on the
Lakes the IS,h, is stated to have joined the army of
bess►o.nt on the Ally.

A Paper of yesterday states, that the two French
stips of the line, and the frigate of shitty-two guns,
isMich had taken shelter in the Chesapeak, have
been captured by a division of the Reet under Ad-
miral Sir A. CocxaaNC, cansisring of three ships of
the hese and a sloop of war. l'he French ships, it is
said, had ventured out of the Chesapeak, thinking
the English were not on the look.out, but fell into
the mare to judiciously l i. 7 for them by Admiral
CowilltAPE. We do not know the authorily for
this statement.

A letter from Constamianple, dated the 13th of
January, states, that the Atli*, frigate had taken on
Dead the 1/mstan Asts►ss►ooa to the Porte, and
:OA for Smyrrs, where she was to touch. for the
purpose of inquiring about the convoys, and steer•
uining the ewe of our shipping in that quarter.—
She was afterwards to proceed with his Excellency
to Corfu.

The transport, Na. 64, with part of the 89th Re-
giment on board, bound for South America, on
Thursday pot into Falmouth.
I'he Kirin vas beets pleased to appoint FRANCtS
K 11,1117.. i.sq. to he His Maitsvv's Consul in the
Duchy of Courland —(siarsgtei)
Ilse KING has beets pleased to grant unto a-
.. 41) Jonas, Esq. Resident of the East India Corn-
,:anti at Bagdad, and Member of the Ottoman Or-
iier of the Crescent, of the second class, his rolfal
lizense and permission to receive and wear the En-
i•.:risof the superior class of the said '..trder. which the
Cs sett Sine wirishath I +rely. as a mark of his fur-
ther favour, c.:Werred upon the said Hanscom
Joh, j
The K tac has been pleased to nominate and sp-
rint Sir E o MOND Sr AI4L Er to Is,: Recorder of His
Ma fear v's Court of Judicature in Prince of Waher's
Isi Ind in the East Indies.—/ fe411.1
The Kowa has been pleased to constitute and ap-
point the Right Hen. Taita as Earl of Eresirr and
Kt:magmas to be Flis sl Ai "-A- v's Lieutenant and
Sheriff Principal of
A notice was on Saturday posted up at LI °Yrs'',
informing the owners of ships, drat eighty anchors
and several cables had been pick sl up iu the Downs,
supposed to belong to ships wrecked in the late har..
bean.. on the lath ult.: o.lt they were now an POS.
SYYSIGtt of the Depnty Wrrilen nt the Cinque Ports ;
and were ready to he restored to the owners, on m-
ots the salvage.

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