The Sun.
London, England, 1803-10-13 00:00:00

LONDON, OCTOBER s 3, 1803.

YHTIRDAY His IVIAJErry in Council signed a
Proclamation for the Meeting ,of Parliament on
Tuesday, zzd November. di* Session of Parlia.
ment will then commence, the most important and
interesting perhaps which this Country has ever
witnessed.

Sour of those Vessels ,which had. sheltered in the
Downs during the gales 'of Saturday and Sunday
last, have seemed their stations off Ortemi, Box.
lapse, &c. Our Readers will now see how un.
founded were the statements in some of the Evening
Papers, of a Squadron being assembled in Dover
Roads. Such shameful impositions upon the public
credulity cannot be too much reprobated.

THE report in one of the Paris Papers of the pro.
bability of a Peace being effeeted in consequence
of Russia having sateen Portugal' under her special
protraion, and to which some of the Papers of last
night laboured to attach something like &edibility,
reaches us under no circumstances that can entitle
it to belief. That such a Treaty respeEting Portu.
gal should have been concluded, and that no intel.
ligenee of such an .event should have arrived in this
Country until it had travelled to Berlb., from
tinned to Paris, and from thence to Husum, is a
circumstance too absurd to be worth a moment's
attention, did not some persons, for what purpose
we know not, endeavour to strain a point to clothe
it in the specious garb of authenticity, We are the
more anxious therefore to do away, as far as our
judgment leads us, any impression which may have
been made by such kind of plausible reasoning, where
the data upon which it is founded are wholly in.
sufficient. It cannot have escaped the notice of out
Readers that the report in question is extraded from
an unofficial Paris Journal of so old a date' as the
24th ult. and that so far trom being borne out by
eobsequetst circumstances, the latest intelligence of.
fats nothing but the din of War, and the clangor of
arms, increased preparation, and reiterated menaces
of hostility.

Such kind or reports ought to be treated with the
contempt which they deserve, but to found upon
tham a wire.,o4Vvo and elaborate argument to prove
the probability
.or the' possibility' of their truth,
eaftnnly tend" to inspire false hopes and to lead
astray. the public opinion.. What Russia may do,
or. what Portugal, may eventually be reduced to, is
at present filA t ter' of speculation; and surely report
which upon the face of it has travelled backwards
and forwards through the whole circuit of the Con.
tincnt, and is after all cootradificd by later
gence, is not that upon which any rational man
Would rely as authentic information,
We: cannot sufficiently condemn the .pradiee. of
catching at every Straw, at every absurd .Report
that. may' be inculcated in order to found upon it
some reason about the Russian Mediation, and the
probability of a Peace. It cannot be too often re.
}mated, that we must depend upon ourselves, and
when we have taught our haughty and implacable
foe, that we arc not only capable of fighting, but
of beating him single.hatuled, and that all his pro-
jeds of Invasion are futile and abortive, then and
not till then, we may look forward to a Peace,
fiunded upon a permanent basis, and secured by the
common interest of Europe.

WI are happy to perceive that the. Admiralty
pond have at length cow to the determinati w of
fitting out some Venal, that may be able, from their
easy draught of water and weight of metal, to get
near to, and make some impression on, the Batteries
of the Enemy, which prated their preparations for
the Invasion of this Country. Six of that &scrip.
don are advertised for,,..and we hope no time will he
lost in At ting them opt. We have at want no Vet.
stiff in readiness for sea that are.calculatecl for a SOT.
vice of that nature—Our Ships of the Line, and even
our heavy Frigates draw too much Water to get near
enough the irtertt4 Batteries to do them material
damage, and the suhdler Vessels, whose draught of
water would permit them to approach within e (fedi ve
distance, carry too light metal to make any usefui
impression. Such are the fireught, vigour and
virdoat of the present ,Board of Admiralty who
might have, thought, did they think properly at all,
that 4 service of this nature must occur, and that it
,uas their especial duty to be perkily prepared for it,

Every thing shears the want of co.nperation and
of union in the great departments of the State...-.
We were told in March last, through the solemn
medium of a Message from the KING to his Parris.:
ment, that great preparations were making in the
Ports of France and I/Wald for the Invasion of
this Country.—What should naturally have been
the first step of Ministers in such a Case, if they
themselves believed what they so solemnly an.
nounced to the Nation I—Why, surely, to pre-
pare, without a moment's delay, such a Force as
should be capable not only of meeting these mighty
preparations of the Enemy on the Sea, but of de.
stroying them in their own Harbours.--Have Mi-
nisters done any thing like this I,Certainly not.—
They have, with an improper and an inadequate
force, made attempts which have in every instance
failed, and in proportion to the extent of that failure,
have given encouragement to the Enemy, and that
wholly from the want of judgment' or capacity ;
from no decay most assuredly in the skill or
gallantry of our Seamen.—What it the fair in.
terence from all this I—Either that Ministers
did not believe what they themselves asserted
in March, or if they did believe it, that such
has been their criminal and disgraceful apathy
and want of capacity, that the dearest interests
and even the existence of the British Empire might
have become endangered through them. Thanks,
however, to the inborn Spirit of Englishmen which
has saved the country, routed by the eloquence,
and animated by the example of the greatest States.
man and truest Patriot it could ever boast I

We have heard it urged as a pretty general topic,
that this is not the time to consider or to condemn
the condutt of Ministers—The Country is in dan.
ger, and we should only look to that—This we un.
derstand was the feeling adopted at a late Meeting
of the Old Opposition—of Mr. Fox, Lord Mottt♦
and some others who had a Meeting for the purpose
of taking the Subjea into consideration. This is a
convenient doeirine for those who have a political
purpose to serve under a skew of Patriotism, but
it is not the sentiment of a true lover of the Coun.
try or of common sense—That the Country is
in danger, in great danger, we know and are ready
to admit ; but we likewise feel that the spirit of the
Country is raised to a pitch to meet the danger and
to vanquish it, however great it may be—Such
being the case, we feel this precisely the timmo
inve,tigate the cause of our misfortunes, and if
p, wale to remove it. We can have, in our humble
opinion, but one way of giving the Nation a chance
of emerging from its difficulties, and recovering
that, tone of animation which so much characo
terised it during almost the whole period of the
Revolutionary War—a period of difficulty and itu-
portance certainly then unprecedented in our His-
tory. We feel it our duty broadly to say, that a
change of Ministry can alone restore the proper
Confidence of the Nation, and redeem our Political
Charafter with the other Powers of Europe—a
change which we know we are fully justified in
affirming to be ardently, though hitherto only si.
lently, desired by ninety.nine out of a hundred of
the whole Population of the British Empire.

Yesterday morning, about half past nine o'clock,
IiRR, MAJESTY and the PRINC,'I?S4ES AUGUSTA, EL I.
ZABETI-I, and SOAIIIA, attended by Lady SIDNEY,
left Windsor for Kew ; on their arrival they were
met by the DUKES nig ENT and CAMS RI DG they
were followed a shit time after by the PR t NC EsSiti
MARY and AMELIA ; soon after their arrival the
ROYAL FAMILY walked and viewed the new Nine.
The Dums of Yoe arrived at Kew on a visit
to HER MAJESTY and PRINCESSES, but remained a
very shurt time.

Yesterday, about half past twelve o'clock, His
MAJESTY arrived at St. Jones's Palace from Wind.
sor, to hold a Levee, which commenced at one
o'clock, and was attended by their Royal High.
nesses the Dukes of CLARENCE and CAMBRIDGE,
their Excellencies the DANISH,
PRUSSIAN, SAXON,
WIRTEMBIEGIAN, SPANISH, IMPERIAL, Amt.
RICAN, NEAPOLITAN, PORTUGUESE, and SAR«
RINIAN Ambassadors; the Archbishop of CANTER•
the Lord CHAstest.Los, the CHANCFLLOR
of the Excitzgosx, the SECRETARIES of STATE,
the TREASURE& of the NAVY, the ATTORNEY
GENERAL, the ADVOCATE GENERAL, the LORD
MAYOR, the SHERIFFS of Lortnost. There were
present also

Mary ;eh Salisbury.
Harrington, Sandwich, Camden ux.
bridge, and Malmeabury.
Viresoats—Hood, and Duneannon.
Lardr—Hotharn, 'Hawkesbury, Chetwynd, Radstock, Man.
tyre, Heathheld, and Mahon.
151.4411 Honipi:sch.
4irr—P. Hales, H. Popham F. Hartwell, R. Welch,
R. Ford, W. Leighton, I; Popham,
and R. C. Boughton.
ifwbai.tado..4 —Danish, Prussian, Saxon, Wirternnergim,
Spanish, Imperial, American, Neapolitan, Portuguese,
and Sardinian.
oostrata.--Manners, Balfour, Edmondson, Dundas, Wilford,
Gascoyiw Bromfield, Leslie, Floyd, and Huokeney.
Coirinda—Calvert' Vansittart, Cotton, Itainie, Fitzroy, Co.
burn, Boodle, Erskine, Beaumont, lenkinson, M'Kenzie,
and Phillimore.
At Vert , Stewart, M'Combe, Campbell, and Allen.
Capralars—M Atlners, Sutton, fenkinson, Chambers., Work-
house, Cambers, Bryan, Tranatiti, and Ponsonbe
Morkurs—Stanhope, Aust, Yorke, Addington, Brook Wat.,
son, Bradyll, Pole, A. Paget, Reynolds, Hayot, Fawkener,
Shaw, Knox, Percival, and Tierney.
Among the Presentations were—
Lord Blantyre, on his 4rrival from Fgypt : his Lorihihip se.
tititnyanied the Mairreluke Chict, Eiti Bey; to England g
his f.acellency WI prevented neing present at she Levee,
to deliver his Credentials us:His Majesty, as exploded.

The Hon. Thomas Erskine, on his brang.appointed Colonel
of •the Law Association.
Lord /Viscount Duncannon, on being appointed Colonel of
the Miry-le-Bone Volunteer Corps.
Lord Chetwyndion being appointaColonel of the Duke of
c -
Gloucester's corps
Sirlichard Ford, on his being appointed Captain in the Pim-
lico Volunteer Corps.
Cot Cotton, Capt. Chambers, and Bradyll, by Col. Dal.
tymple, on their appointments in the Teddington Corps,
commanded by His Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence.
Col. Phillimore, Col. M,Kenzie, and Capt. Ponsonby, •on
—theh-appointments In the Mary-le.Bone Association.
Major M'Combe, Major Dal zel, and Major Stewart, on their
'appointments, by General Leslie.
Aldermen Shaw and Sit William Leighton, the new Sheriff's
of London, by the' Lord Mayor.
Lieutenant-Colonel enkinson, Inipeeling Field Officer of
the London Distri.l, by the Earl of Harrington.
General Kookeney, by Lord Heathrield. •
Captain Bryan, of the MAry.le.bone Association, by Sir
trandis Hartwell.
Colonel I3oodle by the Lord in Waiting.
Major Campbell, b' ditto.
Captain Trapaud, of the Mary.le.bone Association, by ditto.

The Levee closed soon after two o'clock, when
His MAMMY held a Privy Council, at which the
Right Hon.CliAltLlS YORK presided in the room of
the Duke of PORTLAND) who was prevented from
attending through indisyosition. It sat a consider.
able time, after which tilt MAJCITY gave private
audience to the Marquis of SALISIIIIkY, Mr. Ap.
DINCTON, Mr. YOWL, anti Lord HAWILIII•SVII,T.

At half.past four His MAptstr left the Palace
for Kew, where the ROYAL F*MTLY will remain
till Saturday.

His Royal Highness the nvite of CLAnit no it was
to have presented the Officers belonging to the
Teddington Association, but was prevented by his
Uniform not being completely finished.
The report that the Matneluke Chief was, to be
at Court attrated several hundred persons ito Sr.
James's, and the avenues leading to the 'Palace were
so extremely thronged, that it whs with vent did.
cubit the Mete could keep the passage clear.

Lord Wit ITWOltill said the Duchess of DORIS*/
have left Know'. in Kent, and are at present in
town.

Yesterday a Court of Directors was held at the
East India House, which adjourned at six o'clock
till Thursday next. _
The late Duke of* tiltAUFOlt? will be very much
lamented by his family, his friends, his neighbours,
and his numerous tenknity in-the counties of Glou.
center and Monm ,wh.—fie maintained the dignity
of his station rather by the noble simplicity of his
manners, and his rrovincial hospitality, than by at.
tentions to exterior *splendour, and the display of
fashion...-It was not to his taste, nor did it suit with
his habits, to solicit notice by any of those aurae.
dons at which the public gaze with temporary ad.
miration. Grosvenor.square was not disturbed by
his festivities ; hut, at Badminton and Troy. House,
every visitor felt the honour of his reception, and
was delighted with the satisfaftion that accompanied
it. In politics, he supported a tranquil, dignified
independence. He never engaged in the ranks of
opposition; and the support he generally gave to
His Majesty', Ministers, could never be justly at.
tribured to any motives, but such as were pettedly
consistent with the integrity which distinguished
his honourable life.

On Tuesday the Bishop of Lottbox was pleased
to appoint Mr. J. B. SAL'', one of the Gentlemen
of His MAJESTY'S Chapel Royal, in the room of
Mr. SAMUEL CHAMPWIII4) deceased, who some years
since was celebrated on Dsury.lane Stage for his
very powerful bass voice, particularly in the cha.
reeler of Hecate, and kept up his fame for several
years after his retirement from the Stage as a Con.
cert Singer.... The unsucces4ful- Candidates were
Messrs. JAMES WELCH, GONE, PAO,, CHAMPNESS,
FIEND, from atm a number of others,
but the contest was between M. W 11.04 and the
successful Candidate ; the former could not succeed
although he had the interest of a certain great per.
image. The death of Mr. CHAtitrtitil has caused
a vacancy in We,imi 1 the place has
been offered to Mr. BAKTLFMAN.
Yesterday morning the Staffordshire Militia had
a grand field day in Windsor Little Park.
Cite Fuutch
,Regiment of the Loyal London
Volunteers, are, it is said, to take the Tower duty
on Saurday next.

The PRINC It of W,►r,ss's Loyal Volunteers had
a Grand Field-day, in the Green Park, yesterday
afiernono.

O►► Wednesday se'nnight the Earl of Mot/ tDO•
comas reviewed on Maker Heights, as Lord Lieu►
tenant ►►t' the County of Cornwall, the fine Regi.
ment of the Royal Cornwall Militia, commanded
by Sir WM. LEMON. His Lor►lship was highly
pleased with the -steady and.soldiel.like appearance
of both the Officers and Men under arms. After
thr re% iew, the Colonel and Officers gave an eft.
dejeuld in the Camp to his L ,rdship anti suite.—
There were present, Lord VALLETORTI Colonel
LEMON, of the Royal Cornish Miners, Lady Lamont,
the Miss LiMoN+, &c.

The Third Regiment of Loyal London Vo
teens, c unmanded by JOHN POOLEY KEN,INGTON,
Esq, Lieutenant-Colonel, had a grand field day, at
Kennington yesterday. They marched from their
drill ground at Bridewell, about eight o'clock, and
returned about twelve.

The Eighth Regiment of Loyal London Volun.
terra, from the Wards of Broad.street, Cripplegate,
Bassishaw, and Coleman.street, with HENRY CAN.
NINO, Esq. Lieutenant.Colonel-C-mtnandant, at
their head, marched from Moor&lds at about eight
o'clock yesterday. They proceeded from thence to
Highbury Barn, and had a grand field day.
The Brigade of Royal East In lia Volunteers are
to have a Grand Field-day, near Lay tonstone, next
Tuesday.
The subscription at Leeds for the encouragement
of Volunteers amounts to upwards of 27,0001.
General DUNNE it indefatigable in his exertions
to instrud' the Yeomanry 'of Dublin in the exercise
and discipline of Light Infantry.
On Tuesday sennight, the detachment of the 3d
Dragoon Guards, the Artillery, and the Ayrshire
Militia, quartered at Perth, and the Perthshire
Gentlemen Yeomanry Cavalry, were inspeded there
by General MACDONALD.
The Duke of ATHOL, with a spirit worthy the
veneration of every Friend io Great Britain and her
Interests, has_ put himself to the expence of `,or

tirl gas ■ifVilds7a ;OIL *L.. T.A... ....r w,.

iool.