The Sun.
London, England, 1806-05-27 00:00:00

ED INBURCH, MAY 22.

OPENING OF THE WET DOCK AT.I.EITH,
On Tuesday the LORD PROVOSI, MagiStYoo7 0,t14.
Council.of this City,' and a numerous company of
Ladies and Gentlemen, met at the Assembly-Room;
' Leith, and about threeo'clock move.d in procession
to the Ferry-Boat-stairs, preceded by a band of,
music, where two. Very fine SMacks, decorated with
the colours of the different European Nations, lay
ready to receive their).
The Magistrates and Company having gone on
board, a gun was' fired as a signal to unmoor, when
the Vessels proceeded towards the. Dock, and at 1
twenty minutes past three, the Fifeshire, belonging
to the Union Shipping Company, entered,followed
by the Buccleugh, .belonging to the Edinburgh and
Leith Shipping Company, amidst the reiterated ac-
clarnations Of an immense number •of
and. repeated discharges of artillery fromiithe I.4'ort,
at Leith, His Majesty's Ships of War ityLeith Roads,
and guns stationed on the Quays of the Dock.—.
The two Vessels were attended by the Barge of
Admiral VAsHoN, commanding On this station,
with that of -Mr. BRUCE.of the Naval Yard, .and se-
veral others, ail:manned by their, respe&ive crews,,
and. finely decorated for the occasion, and followed
by another Smack belonging to•the' Union Shipping
COMpany,. and 'a fine Brig, called the Prescott, be-
longing to Mr. JOUN HAY. ';
The two Smacks were afterwards moored on the
South-side of the Dock, when the Lord Provost and.
Magistrates were addressed by the Master of the
Merchant Company as follows :
" MY'LO'RD PROVOST,
" In the name of the Merchants. of Edinburgh,
and the Chamber of COmmerce of Edinburgh, and
the Traffickers of Leith, who have the deepest in-
terest in the splendid work which we have been con-
templating; I her leave; Upon this occasion, to offer
our most cordial congratulations to your Lordship.
We now; my Lord, .behold :the completion of
an undertaking from which the greatest advantages
must accrue to the City. of Edinburgh. and its Port
of Leith.; and it is a pleasing anticipation, that thege
advantages will, not be confined to ourselves and our
posterity while the Wet-Dock of Leith offers
safety and every accommodation to the Ships of all
Nations resorting .to. our Port, the benefits arising
from it, according to the beneficent nature and ten-
dency of honourable commerce, must be diffused to
the most distant regions, as extensively as are the
commercial connections of our industrious and enter.;
prising Traders.
" I have only to add, my Lord, what I ,am sure
has_ been felt by every 'one who has witnessed the
solemnities 'of this day, that the magnitude and'uti-
lity of the undertaking, and the perfeaion of the
execution, retie& the greatest honour upon, and will,
I trust, to latest ages, remain a monument of the
wisdom, the spirit, and 'the patrioisln, of the Ma-
gistraCy of Edinburgh."
To which his Lordship made -the following
repiy::—

" GENTLEMEN,

" I return you my sin -.?re thanks' for the honour
you have done me in your. congratulations Upcin the
accomplishment of a work of such general utility as
the Wet Ddck of Leith. •

" When so much of the prosperity and strength '
pf this Country depends upon the extension of 111
commerce, and the facility with which navigation is
carded on, the accomplishment of a measure ,so
.well calculated to.answer these important ends, as the.
admirable work we have just beheld, will he looked.
upon as no inconsiderable advantage towards the ac-
commodation of individuals, and- the 'gradual in-
crease 'of the wealth and prosperity of the United
Kingdom. •
" Other Nations, also, will participate in the ad-
vantages of such a work ; and we shall have the
pleasure, I. hope, soon to behold an increase of the
Shipping to this Port, from the comparatively great
accommodation which the Wet Dock oilers over the
present Harbour of Leith."
The Company afterwards returned to the Assem-
bly Rooms, where. an elegant Entertainment had
been prepared, and the evening was spent with the
. utmost conViViality. •
This Dock, the first of the kind in North Britain,
has been wholly executed within high-water mark,
which added greatly to the difficulty and expence
of the undertaking. The Space occupied by the
Dock. is above live acres, but including the,ground-
on its sides and ends, upwards of fifteen acres have
been taken from the sea ; on these parts it is pro-
posed to construct Graving-docks, Building Slips,
Sheds, and -Warehouses.
The sea-wall of this Dock being exposed to. the
accumulated swell from the German Ocean, re-
quired to be very strong ; it is accordingly one of
the strongest pieces of masonry We have seen,
.and
is wholly composed of large Ashler stones,
.from a
,quarry at Rospth, belonging to the Earl of HoPi-
TOWN, laid in a mortar of pozzolano. The stones
on the outside of the wall are bound' together by
chain-bars of iiOn, inserted in the different courses
horizontally; and connected by vertical bars Of the
same metal; thus uniting the whole in one -coin-
1 mon mass.

This DoCk is only the first part of a most mag-
nificent Plan, extending to Newhaven, where the
principal entrance is intended to be made to the
largest Dock, which will have a depth of water suf7
ficient to 'contain Frigates of the first site ; and the
whole, when completed, will form one of 'the finest
.
ranges of Docks-in the world. - -
The present' Dock, and other works conne&ed
with it, have occupied five years in the execution.
A Guard of the Ars.eyleshire, Aberdeenshire, and
Galloway lilitia lined the 'streets, and 'kept the
cinays':of the Docks ; 'and it giveS us much plea-
sure to add, that no accident happened' on the oc.-
casion.

The business commenced yesterday in the new
Wet Dock at Leith, which was opened on Tues.!
day.. The Edinburgh and Leith Shipping Com=
patty's Smack Hazard, from London, JAMES BLYTH,
Master, arrived in Leith Roads on Tuesday after-
noon, shortly after the procosion at -opening the
Dock ended. Upon her -arrival in- the Roads she
fired a salute, which was retu*ned by the Vaccleugh,
one of the same'Coinpany's Vessels, WILLIAM BAL-
LINGA LL, Master,• Hying within the Dock. The
Hazard hauled into it yesterday, discharged her
cargo, and is, therefore, the first loaded Vessel that
entered the Dock, and paid duda.

OP 1171,:sDE,

FROM tlig ARdVS CiF fiXi" 15,
thd Manifesto of the Kipg of '3ureden agait4t
Prussia is the sequel, and fortris the fellow VA unit
of hiS Pfitannie Majesty. The slime

throughout it ; but, what is excss a:al-alit:on in
the one, can only appeftr extrav rga.it in the other.

The honour of Sv.- eden rnuat'Sbuct-Jer se(bg itself •'
itius proStiituted to foreign inter.fsts or ri,ticolou4
caprices. The fall of some Allies of England is theff,
an useless lesson! Sweden is proyWonally reduced

to an English Province ;- she is irrevo6bly devoted
to a cause not her oWn ; she no lo.l7°er ptiduces any
soldiers but basely to sell them ti Great
liritait .--
Where now are the brave fellows of GUSTAVUS

ADOLPHUS ? Their posterity is groaning; and Swe-
den is tottnented with the sentiinent of her .pest
greatness, arid the spe6tacle of her present

-generacy. ,
Nations bast also their dignity, and what might
be called their pudor. This is the source froui
,
whence they draw eyery thing great or useful they
do and notwithstanding the madness of te:la;11
people always to accuse Ole present generation and
the present manners, the impartial observer is forced
tb acknowledge, that never'- did the mind of
make hi_ this regard a greater ' progress.
,". ''+lere it
necessary to develope:tno pr6alB of this aSsi..rtion,
we should only be embarrassed with their multitude ;
'but we write only one article, we relate bUt
fad}-L-ab uno

The' whole Continent has read with indigre:tion
those documents lately published by England. it
'has been scandalized at the: systematic indiscretion
with which that Power rent the veil which still co
vered the principal -circurnstatices of the ridiculous
Coalition. of Austria and Russia against France. It
has seen 40 the one hand Se ?reigns cardially con-
dealing from the knew-led-6e of their people connec-
tions which they haci to ultt.'l" ate. and paying by
this silence 'ail involuntary homage to thepudOr and
dignity of Nations. It has on the other hoed beheld
Citi2ens of every class, and Soldiers Of all ranks, in-
dignant that their repose and their blood shoulti be
the price of ashaineful bargain;" they felt themselves
'vanquished before-hand by the opprobrium :vvineit
these miserable transaLtiuns carried a;onie with
them.
. .
Europe,-.has then learnt; that the first Conditioh
requiredl2y twe poWertitl Monarchs in forming this
was, that a profound mystery co—
ver for two months its intrigues and its op':atiuus
that the subsidies should be delivered in such a man-
ner as•not to betray it ;- and that the secret shotild
not be divulged before the moment when success,.
Which, 'in the Morality of political sophists, justifies
even crimes, should at :least impOse sdcuce on the
public con-3ciencf6. •
-Vain ! it is not !):.- concealing engagenients
contrary to the that
avoid blau, He Al-
liance had been good, honest, or usettn,
it not have been declared ? The silence required-
proved that it had neither leg;tirhate motive nor no,
nourable view. They blushed at it as at a 'crime.
The hope. of impusing Upon • Nations Was disap=
pointed. England was the depthaary of thoe se-
crets, and as she blushes at nothing, they were to
be violated. She was so piqued at
.tneir not daring
to avow her Alliance, thai she imposed the condi-
tion of a Public Dedaratien, as soon As the colours.
of the : Coalesce.! •Powz.trS should. appear on the
Banks of the Rhine. It is from herself that ),‘ e
learn it, and it is even by this circumstance that she
pretends to justify her indiscreet revelations. •
For the rest, this indiscretion has nut been use-
less to France and. her It seems as if it
were the tifte of England labour for the great e,s
of her Enemies, and ty conspire the ruin of her
Allies. There are between these revelations atld the
last ,Manifestoes of Their Britannic, and Swedish'
Majesties, contradielions which it may not be im-
proper here to point out. By certain Papers which
they have published, it would seem that the King of
Prussiahad signed the Pa& of
.the Coalition; by
otherS, they inrorm us that the attempts made to
bring him to it having failed, it was determined that
he should be constrained to it by force of arms. The,
King of Sweden himself corroborates this, WA; by
openly avowing that he never had any reliance oh
the co-operation of Prussia. Thus, the able cal-
culators bad promised themselves both to destroy
France and to reduce Prussia; and having taught.
these two Powers that their interests were common,
that their cause was the same, they are now dissa-
tisfied that the two Cabinets should take advantages
and securities against Combinations N\ hiCll may be
renewed.
It will be asked what reasonable aim the Eng-
lish Government could have had in plotting the
ruin of Prussia: It was thereby to complicate still
farther the, strife of the Continent, whose advan-
tage it is far from consulting. It speculates on the
fall of 'thrones and the depreciation of Kiogs as on
the blood of their people, and in_ this sense it has
neither Allies nor Friends—it purchases its repose
with-their misfortunes It is certainly impossible to
believe at preSent that it thinks, seriously that Swe-
den can defend herself, or that it is able to afford
her any effe&ual assistance against the armies of
France and PrUssia: But it does not the less pursue
its system, however fatal it rnay'prove to its Allies.
It will think itself sufficiently compensated for their
ruin if it can thereby gain time—for time is of the
utmost value to whoever is in an imminent danger.
But this odious system is already tdo well known to
be long dangerous. The English Government., has
been .able to corrupt Ministers and to debase Sove-
reigns—but no means have yet been found to stifle
in the breast of nations the respe& of themselvesr--.'
that sentiment which survives all others: They
have never raised more loudly the cry of national ho-
hour outraged—they have grown indignant- at the
affronts they have been made to undergo, and this-
instill& of national propriety, this moraldelieacy, the
public pudor in a word, is, at least, a remedy against
the degradation of Cabinets.

'Sunday morning, between three and four o'clock,
a ina-fi and woman were ohs2rved walking together.
In Bridge-street, Blackfriars, towards the bridge,
where they separated, and the woman walked out-
side of the balustrades as. tar as the third lamp, and
then- fell into the, bed of the river. It was low wa-
ter, and she was dashed to pieces. The body was
taken to Blackfriars Workhouse to be owned, and to
be submitted to a Coroner's inquest.