The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1808-02-20 00:00:00

THE BRITISH PRESS.

LONDON,
SATURDAY. Freimfore

RUSSIA AND SWEDEN.

• Three Gottenburgh Mails arrived yesterday,
including the Mail due on Wednesday. They
bring the important, but not unexpected, intent-

puce. that RUSSIA has DECLARED WAR
AGAINST SWEDEN. It was reported, at Gut-
tenburgh, that the Russian troops had actually
•otered Swedish Finland ; but the rumour, we
think, is premature. The Rusaiasi force, in that
quarter, in the month of December, was e't),ooo ;
bat it was found necessary to reduce it to 35,000,
on account of the difficulty of procuriug provisions.
The defiles, and the poverty of the t ountry nu that
side of Sweden, oppose a very formidable barrier
to an invading afmy. If well supplied with ships,
money, and provisions, the Kin.; of SWEOLN will
be able to make a stand even ag:tituit Russia. We
do not believe that Ministers will send a single
regiment to his assisteuce. This may appear ex-
traordinary, when it is considered that on the
vigour have censured their predecessors for not
seotiteg an English army to defeat BONAPARTE
upon the Continent, when Russia and Pi cassia were
found unequal to the task.

The majority which the Opposition displayed
in the Hove of Lords, w Thuredify .004 on Lord
Ciazsvit.it's nonion, has sorely vexed the Minis-
tete' JoUrnals. With the total disregard for all

trail thiit daily distinguishes their columns, they
assert that the flotue use taken by surprise,' and
that it Was " a dextrous inaLteuvre of Oppoeition,

taking advantage of a thin Roux, and an early
hour."' To refute this impudent and lia:efaced.

falsehood, a short answer will be sittlicient.—ft
was Lord HAWICESIWILT, who, tint :ilatting
victory. loudly caleil for the division ; and the
question was not one casually arising in the
course of debate, but a formal, regular mo-
tion, of which long previous notice had been
given by Lord Gassaysts.a.--So ouch for the

inisreprew abalone of the rotten and corrupt part
of the public prom, which has long since bartered
away any little credit that it may have possessed
with the public. Oue of this fraternity, and by
far the most bear and disgusting, adds, ',Expresses
were• seat sR, we understand, to different parts,
and the scene between Falstaff and Pistol, at
Master Shallow's seat in Glo'stershire, after the
death of lister the Pot RTII,. did not betray
more exaltation than the party being once
again in a majority;' and this observation it
follows up with a quotation from the play.--
Expresses, we admit, were sent off, but by whom ?
Were they sent by the victorious party ? No; every
Peer in die House, every stranger who attended
the debate, knows, that the expresses were sent by
the defeated party to bring op his friends, and
secure a majority against the motion that followed.
This is a notorious fact ; bat if any proof were ne-
cessary, the increased number of Peers oa
the Ministerial side of the House, in the sub-'
sequent part of the night, would he an
answer. We come now to the quotation from
the first part of King Henry the Fourth, the
scene between Falstaff, Pistol, and Bardolph, at
Master Shallow's seat in Gloucestershire. We
have observed, in a former paper, the facility and
fidelity with which Mr. CAN N I NG'S Parasites adapt
themselves to the tone and manner of their em-
ployer. Indeed the copy is so perfect, it might
pass as the original. It is dif►cult to discriminate
between the pupil and the master, the slave and
the employer. A q'uotatinn from Lord H UTLUIN•
son's dispatch by the one could not fail of drawing
forth a quotation from the other ; and here we are
promoted with one from /fen the Fourth. Now
that we knew the favourite study of these Gentle-