218 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1805. 



ed duties, bowed down his mighty 

 mind, and preyed upon a frame al- 

 ready enfeebled with care and dis- 

 ease. But the severest blow which 

 this great man, (great even in his de- 

 cline) and true patriot, received, 

 •was from the successes of the French 

 upon the continent ; that power 

 ■whom he had so long, and as far as 

 related solely to Great Britain, so 

 successfully opposed. Immediately 

 after the tidings of the surrender of 

 general Mack, at Ulm, had reached 

 England, Mr. PKt was observed to 

 droop. His health, already much 

 impaired, became daily worse, and 

 he was compelled, however reluct- 

 antly, to quit all public business, and 

 repair to Bath, the use of the waters 

 of ivhich place, it was hoped, rather 

 than expected, might give a favour- 

 able turn to his disorder. 



It is scarcely possible to conceive 

 the dismay and consternation which 

 pervaded all ranks of society in 

 Great Britain, trpon the arrival ©f 

 the news of the issue of the battle of 

 Austerlitz, and its fatal conse- 

 quences to the common cause. In 

 the capital, there was at this time 

 hardly the appearance of a govern- 

 ment. — The minister dying at Bath. 

 Scarcely any of his colleagues at 

 their posts. — It seemed as if, in this 

 distressful hour, the country was a- 

 bandoned to its fate, and all were 

 left to shift for themselves. l>or 

 was the aspect of things improved 

 by the circulation of certain accounts 

 of successes gained bv the allies, 

 posterior to '■ the battle of the three 

 *' emperors," by some of the under 

 officers of the state. A weak and 

 impolitic attempt;, which covered the 

 fabricators with ^hamcand disgrace, 

 as a few days brought their entire 



confutation, and a full confirmation 

 of the calamitous intelligence. 



From these unpleasant subje61s, 

 we turn with pleasure to a more ani- 

 mating and grateful theme ; the na- 

 val exploits of theycar, which, hap- 

 pily for Great Britain, and her ex- 

 istence as a nation, equalled, if not 

 exceeded, those of any similar pe- 

 riod in her annals ! 



The declaration of war against 

 Spain, which opened a new scene of 

 adventure to the British seamen and 

 officers, may weil be supposed to 

 have been a popular measure with 

 the navy. The increase of the French 

 fleets, by the juudlion of those of 

 Spain, would, probably, render 

 them more enlerprizing, than they 

 had of late been, and thus afford an 

 opportunity to the English of assert- 

 ing their superiority in a nobler fielil 

 than had lately been attempted in 

 the warfare of the catamaran system. 

 The last adion of the last year, the 

 attempt upon Fort Rouge, near Ca- 

 lais, by machines of the latter desig. 

 nation, although conduced under 

 the orders of the veteran lord Keith 

 and sir Home Pophara, and executed 

 by some of the most cntcrprizing 

 and aClive young officers in the ser- 

 vice, completely failed in the design 

 of blowing up the enemy's works, 

 and exposed the attempt to the de- 

 rision and contempt of the French. 

 Thus expired, with this unavailing 

 b'ast, the catamaran projeft, as idly 

 conceived, as it was expensively ex- 

 ecuted, and which will ever remain 

 a blot upon the memory of those in 

 power, who were weak enough to 

 listen to, and countenance, such a 

 wretched jumble of ignorance and 

 temerity.* As a contrast to this 

 piece of quackery and innovation in 



the 



• For a full accoHnt 

 irftto.'j' of EuBope. 



of tliis system, and its sdcccss, see our volume for tSOi, 



