630 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1805. 



ships that cover the seas with the 

 British flag, wc have been able to 

 provision and to place in a state of 

 security our most important and 

 most remote colonies. — INIartiniquc, 

 Guadalonpe, Cayenne, the cities of 

 Franc. . «fcc. kc. are furnished with 

 every thing in abundance. Their 

 garrisons have been more than tri- 

 pled; all the stores and provisions 

 intended for them have reached their 

 'destination. No reinforcement has 

 failed <o arrive at its intended place. 

 A great expedition would fail before 

 Martinique and the Isle of France. 

 And while our colonial territory re- 

 mains entire and sheltered from every 

 fear, the dominions of the king of 

 England, (Hanover), is entirely in 

 our power. We have lost nothing 

 of onr possessions, and we occupy 

 an important province of the enemy. 

 , — What advantage have the English 

 acquired to compensate for those 

 advantages? what has availed these 

 masters of the seas, the immense su- 

 periority of their naval strength ? 

 They have lost 15 ships or frigates, 

 that have either ran on shore, or have 

 been da&lud upon the rocks. They 

 liave scjuantlercd away immense trea- 

 sures in cruizes dictated by fear, in- 

 terrupted by the power of the winds, 

 and punished by storms and other 

 mishaps. At home the English have 

 seen the merchant forced from his 

 counting-house, the manufacturer 

 from his loom, and for want of mus- 

 kets, compelled to Consume the time 

 destined for theircommcrce and their 

 ■work, in handling cljmsy and una. 

 Tailing pikes, hastily forged, by the 

 dread of an invasion. Under the 

 pressure of that fear, ever present to 

 their minds, the English government 

 has had recourse to every possible 

 means of defence ; they have pre- 

 pared inundations and batteries ; 



they have barricaded their ports, and 

 fortified their coasts ; they have con- 

 trived Hying carriages to transport 

 their troops, and put into requisition 

 the carriages and horses, of the three 

 kingdoms ; they have purchased the 

 arming of the English nation at the 

 price of disorganization, the de- 

 rangement of its habits, and the 

 counteraction of its manners. The 

 traveller who, for these two years 

 past, goes from Paris to London, 

 and returns from London to Paris, 

 is astonished to behold in the capital 

 of the French empire profound peace 

 and security established and main- 

 tained, and in the capital of England 

 uncertainty and terror ; the agita- 

 tion that prevails at the head quar- 

 ters of a threatened camp, defended 

 by an incoherent, unorganized mass, 

 novices in the trade of war, struck 

 with the conviction of their own in- 

 ability to make war against the ve- 

 teran troops of Caesar. — If we com- 

 pare the state of opinion in some 

 parts of the two countries, we shall 

 behold in the eastern departments of 

 France that were in a state of insur- 

 rection, enlightened prelates restor- 

 ing peace to the public mind by re-^ 

 establishing tranquillity in their con- 

 science; vigilant prefects founding a 

 new and wholesome administration, 

 arresting, disarming, and punishing 

 the remnant of those brigands who 

 were cast upon our coasts, concealed 

 in our cities, or wandering in our fo- 

 rests. In those countries where not 

 long since British gold wasemployed 

 to kindle up civil war, agriculture i» 

 re-established, tranquillity is mair 

 tained, the taxes are raised withou 

 constraint, paid with punctuality 

 New cities arc seen to rise ; canals 

 are dug ; public roads are completed. 

 The conscripts summoned to our ar- 

 mies, flock to them at the same call 



which 



