The Sun.
London, England, 1803-07-07 00:00:00

and -sea*. of confining ourselveS• to defensive., peers-
lions, Ile proposed to strengthen o or, Regz'otents
of .;he line, asthe hest trieaus,or . tr,i,lo
of ensiVely aga.inst the , If the Eneriirtottld
•by a threat of lovasion make us direct all Our force
to the purt,ose of defeuee, it was a threat he would
always -make, He wished to state his opinion upon
the probability of an attempt at Invasion, though
he' knew -it was one which differed materially from
those of persons for whom he had the highest_ re.
sped. It appeared to him that without &fleet the
Enemy cunki not make the attempt with.the 'slight-
est chance of success. :But it Was, said that though
the Enemy had trtt fler,, they would make the at.
tempt in flat-bottomed, boats. laquage
had been used ;o our ancestors, they would have
laughed at it, and-he' was sure the Country could
not' now be so despondent as to apprehend ar.y ciao. •
ger from an Invasion under such circienstances. He
would appeal to any Officer, whether it would be
possible to pass a broad river with the disadvantages
under which the French now laboured. He would
ask, whether a number of boats sufficient to bring
:over so large an Army as was necessary. could be
collected ? Were not our :frigates hourly peeping
'into the' nmost recesses of their harbours ? He
might be told that though the attempt would be very
dangerous, Still it was possible; he did, not
putt the bare possibility, ,he 'was merely arguing
toxin then great improbability of its being attended
with success.. In, the first I.)lace. he 'begged to ob.
serve, that Boats for such art Expediticm as this,
could not be 'colleeted on the shore, they most he-
solleCted in harbours Which would be constantly
blocked up. There were many other circumstances
which must concur to render such an attempt prac..,
ticable—there must be an unruffled sea, e'dead calm,
a. dark night, succeeded by a day of thick fog, and
lastly, our Frigatei must be Off their station, which
could only happen in case of a, hard gale, which
would leave such a swell in the
.sea as would effec-
tually prevent any boats from coming out. He
would. appeal to any Naval Officer whether he was
not correct in his opinion of the improbability
of Such an attempt. But even if -it
,was pos.
sihle to transport the 'men, it would be impossi-
. ble 'to bring over .Cavalry and Artillery.. Under
all these eircuthatances, it 'would be little short of
madness in the French to make the attempt. He
was, however, far from wishing that this Country
should lay aside its defensi Ve preparations; he wished
them to be continued and augmented, because they
Would, in tithe, afford the -best means of offence,
and enable us fa alarm
,the Enemy on his Oust,
stead of permitting him to attack.ours. He begged'
to ask, whether the state- of Switzerland,. of Hoh;
land; Of Germany, and even of• Spain, was not such,
that there was not every, probability. that they
would take :the first opportunity of throwing off
stile yoke by which they Were oppressed. It tkre
was at any thne-any probability- of success it
an
attack upon these Kingdorns, it was during the
fortunate Re)ellion in Ireland. But cireumsrariCei-
were materially altered since t4iat, time, aild-etten. .that park of the people of, Ireland who had been de.
luded, now were convinced that they had nothing.to expett from' the' success of `,the.Feeneh, but' the
most, ruinous cootributioos, and the most degrali
t n
skkverSe.' The spirit of this Country was'now Tenzer! :; •he -thanked the Ministers fOr the mea-
shoarveisngti:tedyoptield. rni.'irrius.P.°:!;4themiltinppraorvteicrtuseanrrlsy sulgb.r.
gestcct by, his Right Hor. Friend (Mr. WIND:
HAM). Upon all these grounds he looked to an
Invasion without 'any "apprehension ; if it 'should
take place, he was Fore there was not a man who would not stand forward in the,Cominan cause. He
Concluded with giving his approbation to the Bill..
General LOFTUS said' he' approved of this
measure, because it would give Security to Ireland,'
without which this Country could not be perfrqtly•
secure: He by no means affeCted to despise
,the
Enetny ; they had in their Army, many uhf Corps
who had seen,much service, obtri that ought not. to.
diminish our c,efidence in our own Army, The
French had many able Officers, Cap,;,ble Of. •manu..
vritig an Army with great ability in an open coon.
try, or on a plain; but a cruse Country like this would
afford, means of defcnce which Would compensate
even for the want of skill--
' Sir RU B ERT BUXTON interrupted the Hon. Mem..
' thi ep
or ,n' a4l scat:. doitch erew
Galleryere Strangers in the House f
was cleared, and Strangers
were not re-admitted. However, we understood,
after a discusaionOlsome length, in which several
Gentletnerr delivered their sentiments, the Bill was
agreed to by the Committee, and the atuse resum.
ing, the,Report was, received, and, the Bill ordered
to he read a,third time to-morrow, -
The:remaining Orders of the` Day were then dis-
posel of, and at t I o'Clock the Htipse adjoutoed.