The Sun.
London, England, 1808-12-24 00:00:00

THE MESSAGE.

It is not our intention to give a very critic-al or
tedious commentary upon this very extraordinary
te.xt. A brief notice of a few passages is all that we
have leisure or inclination to give ; and quite as
much as 'the produkaion is worth. Of all the Ales-
gages,which have been transmitted to Congress,
since messages came into fashion, this is, in our opi•

nion, the most miserable.' -It is, even for the pre-
.
sent Executive, unusually indefinite "and obscure.—
It throws ‘Try fifth tight upon our . natipriqi con-

eerps, and contains nothing proportionate to the ex-
peclati.ons of an anxious con-411,00y.

, ;In the first sentence of the Message, the-Presi-
.denr. is compelled. to acknowledge the .mortifying
,that the " strong measure," which was adopted
by a blind and pliant Congress, solely because it
was recommended by himself,. has not produced
the efred he had so fondly anticipated—that it had
failed " to awak€n the Belligerents" (" whose dis-
regard of neutral rights has been so destruaive to our
commerce"), " to the duty and true policy of re-,
yoking their Unrighteous ediEts :" that the weighty
arguments of our Embargo Laws had been addressed
in vain, bot hto their justice and their interests. -

Thisis precisely the. result long since Rrediaed.
No real Statesman ever supposed that our Embargo
would persuade or compel either France or Eng-
land to " a regard of neutral nights," or to a revo-
cation of their unrighteous eclials." Totally un-
skilled in the history of nations must be the man,
who, for a moment, could have indulged so prepos-
terous a notion. .Buonaparte has resolved on the
destrualion of England, and on assuming universal
dominion. He believes the only mode of accom-
plishing his object is to destroy the commerce of his
rival. For this he issued his Berlin Decree. Could
any one, acquainted with the ambition and temper
of Buonaparte, have been weak enough to believe
that an embargo in America would &ire him from
his purpose ?—England, equally determined .10 save
herself from the grasp of the mighty Conqueror,
issued her retaliating Orders in Council. How could
any one have supposed that any. municipal arrange-
ment in this country would Compel her to revoke
her Orders whilst the French Decree remained In
force, and thus hazard her independence, her in-
terest, and even her national existence ? The re-
sult, therefore, is, as was expeCted by every real
Statesman, that an eleven months Embargo, whilst
it has injured our own country to an incalculable
extent, has produced not the smallest effea in restor-
ing our neutral rights.

Thursday morning PrincesFes AUGUSTA and MARY
took an airing in'a .coach and four on the Maiden-
head road.

Thursday Lady JANE DUNDAS paid a visit to Her
MAJESTY and the PRINCESSES at Windsor Castle ;
afterwards her Ladyship returned to St. Leonard's
Hill, where she is on a visit to the Hon. Mrs. HAR-
COURT.

The Princess of WALES Will entertain at dinner
to-morrow, the Duke of MoNTßosE,and large party
of distinguiShed personages, at her seat at Black-
heath.

On Thursday, the Royal College of Physicians
held their Quarterly Meeting, President, Sir LUCAS
PEPYS,..Bart, When D. THOMAS GRAY, Dr.
HENRY
EDGERWORTH, Dr. EDWIN, GODDEN JONES, Dr.
ALEL HENDERSON, Dr. LAFFAN, and Dr. CHARLES
WHITTLE, were admitted. Licentiates.

Yesterday afternoon, at three o'clock, a Cabinet
Council was held at the Foreign Office, at which
were present, his Grace the Duke of PORTLAND,
the LORD CHANCELLOR, Earl• CAMDEN, BATHURST,
and CHATHAM, Lords MULGRAVE and CASTLE-
REAGH, Mr. Secretary CANNING, and Mr. PERCI-
VA L.

Yesterdy Lord CASTLEREAGH had a long audience
of the Duke of YORK, at his Office at the Horse
Guards.

On Thursday Lady JANE DUNDAS paid a visit to
her MAJESAY and the. PRINCESSES at Windsor Cas-
tle.

The Members of the Board of Inquiry met yes-
terday at the hbuse of. Mr. RYDER., the Judge=Advo-
cate-General, for the purpose of affixing their sig-
natures to the report which was .prepared for that
purpose. When the report shall have received the
signatures, it will be forwarded by the Judge-Ad-
vocate-General to his Royal Highness the Com-
mander in Chief, for the purpose of being laid be-
fore his Majesty; when, if his Majesty shall approve
of the inferences drawn by the Board•from the evi-
dence, the report will be communicated to the parties
and made ptiblic. The report will probably be pre-
sented to his Majesty by the Commander in Chief,
to-morrow, at Windsor.

A Proclamation will appear in this night's Gazette,
appointing a General Fast to be observed throughout
England on Wednesday the Bth of February anti
another Proclamation will appear in the same
Gazette, dirthing a General Fast to be observed on
Thursday, the gth of February, throughout Scot-
land.

It is said that Sir ARTHUR WELLESLEY has offered
to undertake the defence of Portugal with 24,000
infantry and 2,000 cavalry.
THE THEATRE.—Mrs. BEAUMONT, of the Theatre
Royal, Glasgow, (sister of Mrs. Mumu) last night
made her first appearance on London boards, at
the Haymarket Theatre, in the character of Belvi-
dere. Mrs. BP.AUMONT is of the middle size: Her
countenance, though not handsome, is expressive,
and she has what is termed a good stage face. Her
eyes are full and marking. Her voice is powerful,
and well toned. Her action is easy and natural.
she performed the charaCter throughout with strong
feeling, and with an evident knowledge of her pro-
fession. The audience received her whole perform-
ance in a very favourable manner, and applauded
her so much on the conclusion of the play, that the
Managers were tempted, by her success, to announce
the tragedy for repetition on Monday —CHARLES
KEMBLE never performed Jager before so well, or
with so much efied. He was dignified, tender, and
impressive, and was warmly applauded. Cool E's
Pierre .was strongly marked, and operated power-
fully on , the audience. The stage box, on the
PRINCE'S side, was so noisy:that the audience was
obliged to interfere and stop its ofii.i.nsivv gub4le,
Formerly 2000 Ships used annually to arrive at
and leave Dantzic port -but (luting last year there
were but two arrirals.r • ••• • • •