The Sun.
London, England, 1803-09-20 00:00:00

LETTER IV.

Sllto

I never proposed'to myself to enter into a regular
onalysis ief the heterogeneous performance which
has so- sedulously been made the hubjea.matter of a
very geoeral conversation e it presents so many
frinite, which if nest imposing in their appearance,
are yet calculated to divert attention, that an oepoe
rent is for a loog time lef:.undetermined where first
to open his fire. Little entertainment and less pro•
fit can arise from an investigation of .the black
climes and foul political errors which are here laid,
Sir, to the charge 4)1 yourself and your Colleagues.
Hal ! et hand a Corps of those amphibious Females
whose vigorous temperament and turn Of mind have
.
taught them to call things by their proper names,
and ached carefully avoid all circuitous and by-ways
refuting falsehoods, I might let them loose upon
the greater part of the Line, and their ha vock would
terrible; but as I have no such disposable
Voice, I shad content myself with the means I pos.
sess and leave the discordant principles of which
this catahofrtue is made up, to militate against each
other, and by their mutual counteraCtiontO resolve
themselves'irit, rnpty
The first stilijea on which my' eye glances at this
mnnent, is worthy some little animadversion. In
referring to the gypti,'n Expedition, the writer of.
the Nlanifesto seems to have wished he could either
-Wet it out altogether, or give it a little lift into a
later period of occurrence. Thoueli he does not
say that the late Administration planned, arranged,
aod dispatched this Armament, he goes so far,
mnst be confessed !sherd/ in an adversary, as
trei'illow that it nulls prepared by them. The Fleet
of. the Baltic, destined to raise it new glory, to the
British Flag, is crammed into the same sentence,
otecniling 'altogether less titan-four scanty 'lines,
shills fourteen pages are scarcely deemed sufficient
to contain the catalogue of political high crimes and
mittlemeanoors, of which you, Sir, and your accessa-
ries are lAntil guilty. rut this is not all ; even in
this small allotment he 'is convened by his duty to
rob your Government of the most remote degree of
credit on these two points. Having had much ex.
eerienec of pelificid fowieebs since he has been a
obstr,...er of the conduct of his employers', and.
bring perfenly assured that a stone wall is as im-
pereions to the eyes of one man as, to those of ono.
tier, he with all the flippancy of Diplomatic coo.
-ftdence observes, that it were unjust to "dissemble
(tile very rhiiise croft ins the inference) that 110
• ?sister could have been sanguine enough • to expel?
sq.', !" This might all he considered very
lair io an eleCtion contest for popular sufrrage, and
as the friends of the Minister think it necessary to
king I tin forward in the line his.enemies(ifhe have,
any) would most covet to see him, that is in direct
ppoosition to his predecessor in office, it is perfectly
natural that they should wish to throw their for-
mer Patrons completely into shadow, and though
comoelleit for - the general tired of the pieture to
aclulit a few 'iglus, yet so to disperse them as to
prevent their heiog sufficiently prominent:lo await
the eye or to fix the attenti n of an observer.
But it he credited by any person who has
rot read it, that this same Elko, haying decided
that your .Vininitorition, Sir, ceeld not possibly
. shrive any etedit from the conquest of Egypt, nor
(rem the Battle of Copenhagen, can, I say, any
moderate m 11l briog his In;ltd to conceive, that he
Could possess that very teiceitimon, that superlative
of .c superlative degree of assurance, to make these
4',N*,4very owenis the groutitiwotk of glory. to the
present .‘/liitisters—the key-stone of their greatness,
ae4 the hat biller of their future success ? No
words but his own can do justice to 'Hs talent of
QHMT.II36OII , " Voter these fatal inyte,sions-,"
Ott ,T., ;,-/J quer,' male upoa the Country by your re.
tirem,nt- pool (Oce, hufaing 'rimer]. her aisles to
lir brine} ("dews:thou), " under these fatal 'in"-
says he, " of the public mind, both at
lr tin' aiel abroad, was Lond IiAWKE•4IUftY obliged
to lubwit die first overtures 1.4 a Treaty which ap.
rated to ail men altnost impossible to be obtained
upeo riny, terms short of ruin and disgrace," (Itow
these were, we have since had leisure to
observe), " but to which we were i t kiwis hap.
Pity' cowitteteft by the Pacificator of the Bltit, after
the Pan/roll Copenhagen, and by the re.
_nu<rt of the Trfary of h.rish, which was the
t.*.mNevice of it series tot nnhoinel.pe rvicrioejte

• What would a plain Country Gentlernan,auppose
this to he, in a fair statement, hut that, on the en.
tr met, 'of Mr.. Anot !,19'itlt.1 anti Frien.ls into
Adminioration, they found .the Enemy in quiet on.
interrupted posEnsion of Egypt ? 'and. that the con.
flita of the I) Ines had been .s:o aggressive, that,though
their fridaessors in -Offia, from their Weakness
an & want of reso rces,.bad been incapable of taking
up the quarrel, the barb still rankled in our.hreastt
but not to be tictraaed t I say, would not
it calm clispassionate reader of the varagraph.l have
rnted imagine, that at such a crisis a. Saviour of
Iris Country hiOt sprungs,up, like a new Minerva,
!trilled at all points,- to hurl a set of impotent and
incapable men (tom the Seat of Government ? and
(1.4( lu:yins, bY a yigottr peculiar to himfelf, equip.
re,! 4 fleet; an.i launched it into the adtie, and
hov log difipao,:;,ed the gallant Sir RALF II ABM.
P or to the shores of Egypt, vittory had de.
F%kr,d try an instantaneous chiral in favour of both
expeditious i that blooming laurels had 'crowned
:their first nurse; I that the luitre of the Administra.
ti was lighted up from the Levant to the Sound
av,i that, At use the 'language of the romantic Edi.
hi, n.df, they were as fortunate us they proved'
en..3r1.c..5 able and virroiyi ? When we relied that
the,e are the sent iirrois and assertions of Ministers
ihenitercs; it is scarcely possible to. determine
which is tilost worthy of admiration, their want of
or the impolicy of their conduit. It is a
4;.;':t confi.mitko oldie weakness which every other
4*iaft of (heir procAure hos fended to impress upon
Tht li;40, of men. What must the relleOing Mind
experien;.:e when takes 'a survey of our pre,ent
r,tate Must 'it nor ahnost hi persuaded that some
ficavy fatality bangs over us? Will I,t pot "rpti4

that I-Teaven itself prepares to pour out its vengefitt
wrath upon cm. devoted Country fot.: some aberra.
tion from its high 4"crees, or for grimes unatoned
for or unropented ? When thus arrived at the -
mos, awful crisis of our history, the most perilous
and thrtattning period of our existence as a nation,
we are left to ride out the storm without talent
to direa, Concert to adopt—or energy to pursue
any of those great measures which the necessity pf.
the times dgmands.

It is not necessary to advance far into this paper,
to discover the strange proneness to error which is
observable in the conded, and is • indeed the cha.
raleristic of almost every individual conneded•
with the present ruling powers. As a man of hu.
nour, I speak more with regret, more from appre.
!tension for the safety of my loved country, than
from any feeling of party or of anger. The only
approximation to the latter sentiment, arises front a
conviction, that men, who have, in every transadion,
proved themselves so invariably unequal•to the duty
they have undertaken, cannot be so blinded by self-
love, 'or infatuated by self.interest, as not to feel
their own incapacity, and the heavy responsibility
they are incurring; a responsibility of which, per.
haps, alas, their own temerity may put it out
of the power of a lost people to avail themselves..
But to the point. In the coutse of twenty pars
this Writer has told us that the Administrannu
formed upon your retiring, were of course inex.
perienced, but that the Country had confidence in
and rested on• your support of them—arid regarded
your-advice as the best hope of the State; and yet,
almost in the same breath it is asserted, that your
support of these very Ministers, was perhaps off.
clout. In one place you are described as being so
popular and ao looked up to by the People, that
their despondency arose from their persuasion that
'Troy could be defended by no other arm than yours,
and yet with equal consistency as in the former in-
stance, our Editor a little further on, assures us
that the People were convinced that despair of sue-
cess and want of talent alone drove you, Sir, front
the Councils of His MAJEs-ry, and upon this he
makes a sort of Slough of Despond, the difficulty of
extrication 'from which is enlarged upon and most
pathetically exhibited. The zealous endeavours
and alive enterprize of the: new COMM, however,
were not
..to be checked even by the formidable dls.
play 'of impending danger; and what presumption,
observes the Observer, could there be in-succeeding
to these men (the late Ministers), when they (the •
Public) did nothelieve that things had of late been
so wisely or so prosperously. concluded as to render
it presumptuous in any set of Ministers to hope they
be able to conduft the business of Government
with equal Prudence, Economy, or Success
Nothing could give this Gentleman (or the Junto)
more satisladionin the present (admitted) difficulty
aid most arduous crisis of the State, than to have
your support, Sir, for the present hlinistry,—,-
Great condescension l l —he even presupposes the
pke,sure of the Country in seeing you, Sir, once'
more in the Caninet ; but lest this well-ti Med piece
of flattery sh,old aired so weak and vacillating a
mind as you have ever been found to possess, he bids
you beware of opposing them, for that then you must
needs go to the wall—lour talents are not caleultteci.
to meet , the present formidable phalanx of Mini-
sterial Powers—you arc described rather as a sort of
Posture Master, or Comp/eartemtarirte useful enough
to in 'kr up their company complete, but who,
standing alone, and as a Ptivate, can hope neither
for an Audience, nor a licence even to perform.
Your mere gilt of Eloquence is here i.xposed in a
most humiliatingcontrast to the Judgment, Know.
ledge, Firmness, and Equanimity of our present
Minister l—thou'gh strange to say, in the very
preceding 'page we are assured, that this same do.
quence might turn to great account on the other
side of the question. " His financial skill (speak-
, ing of you, Sir, the Editor, proceeds) his corn-
. mantling Eloquence, and his mill great to fluence in
the Couutry, would be a Tower of Strength to His
-Majesty's Government."
Thus, Sir, you perceive there- is an opening for
you to make your peace with these Gentlemen, and
of once more raising yOursell from the obscurity into
which the brightness of- theirermontide sun has sunk
.you. Shine with a borrowed light, caught front
their patronizing rays, and you will resume your
former bpleudour—oppose them, and their dark side
will soill•be turned to you, and the little popularity
dory have left you, and still charitably allow you
to posses%, will be withered and blasted before the
breath of their nostrils. These incongruities, it
must be confessed, throw an air of suspicion over •
every part of this notable produdion, and we can
only account for the assemblage ut sach.discortfaat
and cootradidory opinions in the course of about
8o octavo pages, by referring to the different poioti
of view, and consequent
.variety of feeling and eon.
ohatic expression D
of each Contributor of the ee
claration. The want of judgment in the Collettnr,
and the ill assortment of the materials 'veli•icli"
he has so confidently, and yet so injudiciously
put together, have induced a suspicion even of :the
many simple truths contained in the Pamphleri'whiell
by being counteraded, have more the appearance,
in their present shape, of invented calumnies and
interested misrepresentations. I had expected that
these would have been dune away in the new edi-
tion, 1 have been credibly informed indeed, that
such a corredion was adually to !wire taken place,
and that the pruning-knife was especially to he ap.
plied to a particular paragraph, that reflects upon a
certain Leader of a Party, upon the suggestion anti
at the earnest request of a 'subaltern of the same
were, at present in the •
Party, but who is, as it
middle of the floor of the House, unattached to any,
but open to all Parties. I should hope that a recent
occurrence in Bedfordshire did nut in•luce the lion.
Gentleman to give up the cause of his Cotyph,rus.
The paragraph' however remains ! Being myself
only a distant Observer, I am willing to admit that
I may often be deceived by false reports ami un-
founded insinuations ; hut, like others in the world,
I may sometinies stumble uP("' fall,of a very. pc"
culiar anti interesting nature ; and I think, should
the Subjed of she toregoing paragraph become a
topic of geoeral eonversatioo, it
.may lead tti in.
quiries of a nature morrtunding to SOITIC
and I shotslti conceive satiSfjetorY to none concereed
its

I have already, I fear, transgressed the bounds
have prescribed to myself, and shall therefore
for the present, beg leave to subscribe myself,
with the highest respea,
Sir, your's, Bec.
FITZ-ALBION.

MAILS.

Due. AR, Iflift.
Cottenbmti o -
Ihmhtirgli S 2
Lisbon o 0 - • • • • • - I

PRICE OF STOCKS,
sliss DAY AT -rwsz.v. o'eLon.K. •
Consols - • - • = S3>l I Omnitun - ;le 8 dis.

THE SUN.

icaim GUIS DiCtlti PA tstird ADDIAT

LONDON, SEPTEMBER 20, 1803.

• -THREE Ilaniburgb Mail:, the tst, 2d, and 4th
of the six that were due, arrived ttis 'morning.
Their contents principally relate to the prepare.
Lions making for the Invasion of this Coun.
try. All the Ship.carpenters in Flanders are
put in requisition, and were to enrol thernitelves
by the 4th of this month, or be sent by force to
the Ports, there to work under the inspeftion of
the Grns.d'armer. Several thousand Artificers
were expetted to be procured by this arbitrary
Mandate ; but these representations of the.state4S
things, if they be correct, serve to prove that the
preparations fat the Itiva,ion are.onfy in their corn.
inencement. At Brunel:, the first Gun.boat 'out of
twenty-eight, is stated' to have liter) launched only
on the Ist inst. If they have been so long in corn,
pleting one Boat, when are the twenty.eight,to.be
ready for Sea The Naval Force, however, which
Admiral BIIVIX, it is said, is to have under his
command from the Ports of Flanders and the North.
ern French • Coast, is rated at T,svoThindred Armed .1
Ships, beside, Transports and Fishing-boats Ge.
nerals MAbligNA and AUGPREA-V, it is Slated,
received orders to repair to their respalire
mantis. • •

An article from the Hague of the 7th inst, states
that preparations are making at, Amsterdam, &c,
but nut in a way that leads us to believe them to be
in any degree Icrmidable. ,
The accounts from Hanover are, as may tie ex.
petted, truly deplorable. The daily expellee. of
maintaining the French Troops, amounting to
35,000 men, is more than ;he Country
.can pos.
sihly bear, exceeding nearly three times it, wlyile
Revenue. A hope is expressed of their being re.
lieved from this intolerable burden, but it is a hope
which does not seem very likely to be speedily
realized.

The Great Assembly or the States has been con.
venekt at Hanover, for the purpose, no doubt, of
giving a colour of legislative sanflion to the mon.
strong extortions of the French. It is expeaed
that some proposition will be made for disuniting
ilanovey from any future rule of its legitimate
Sovereign.

Flopes are entertained at Berl;ps, that the Nego.
tiation carrying on here, for raking the Blockade
of the Elbe and Weser, will he successful. We are
rather inclined to believe that it will.

French Troops continue to assemble in Lower
Italy, from whence it may he interred that the
views of the Chief Consul upon F,gypt, however
unpromising, are not abandoned.

its morning Mails front Lisbon, the Leeward
Mandl, New-York and Liphfax, arrived in Town,
which had reached Falmouth on Sunday. .From
bon there are no accounts of particular interest ;
things remained in the same : state as they had
been for some tone pAt, and no incteased
prehensions prevailed of a visit from the French.
From the other sine of the Atlantic there is no in.
tetciting
Thc Baltic Fleet may 'be hourly expeEted to sr.
rive in our Ports. One of them arrived yesterday
morning in Yarmouth Roads, horn St, retei-burgh,
bound to London, which parted from the Fleet in
a gale of wind on the Ittli instant.

The Leeward Island Fleet may liketVise anon be
expened. It sailed from 4ntigasa on the 28th of,
July, under convoy of the Courageux, of 74 guns.

AN American Vessel is brought into Portsmouth
by the Ant Schooner, bound from Bahimore to Am.
sierdam, on board of which it was supposed that
of his servants are on boat!, anti it is still
JEstotste BONAPARTE Was coming to Europe. se.
ver4l
conjeaured that JEROME is concealed in the Vessel.
A titti t search will of course be made, before she is
permitted to prosecute her voyage.

This morning the P1441;4 Mail of the 16th at.
rircd. It brings IA intelligence whatever, the
Special Commission having ailjournato yesterday,
when the Trial of Emmn came op,