632 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1805 



land h erery where vulnerable ; and, 

 without appearing to reach her, we 

 hare in reality indicted wounds upon 

 her, which may perhaps be attended 

 with a progressive atony or violent 

 convulsions.— Our fleets at Brest, 

 Toulon, and Rochefort have an- 

 nexed to tlicm armies, resolved to 

 pass the ocean with them. Our \\o. 

 tillas arc r'.>ady to depart with these 

 proud sons of war, who know no 

 impediments, because they have sur- 

 mounted all that, before them, had 

 astonished the most intrepid. Let us 

 continue to keep on our coasts sol- 

 diers inhabiting camps instead of 

 barracks, and become intrepid sai- 

 lors as well as brave warriors. Let 

 the people of England, in the mean 

 time, ami, agitate, fatigue, exhaust, 

 and discourage themselves. Let our 

 resources and our r^ vnucs suffice 

 for our expcnces, and 1 .t there be 

 no want but that of some extraor- 

 dinary resources which the richn.^ss 

 of our country insure to us. In 

 England, let the interest piid to 

 loan holders absorb, and exceed all 

 possible 'Jieans to pay those levies 

 in mass, winch exiiaust the nation 

 without defending it ; let this state 

 of things prolong itself, and let the 

 English cabinet state the advantages 

 that result from this situation, from 

 which it derives equal danger and 

 shame. Shall I speak to you of 

 those secret expeditions with which 

 the credulity of the English people 

 is every three months abused, and 

 which terminate only in ridiculous 

 and fruitless attempts. Aro they em- 

 barking some troops for the renewal 

 of the garrison of Gibraltar, cut off 

 by the pestilence ; or do they wish to 

 convey some troops to India, or some 

 reinforcements to Ceylon, where 

 England has had such losses ; oi- do 

 they prepare some millions of men 



to repair the ravages of the yellow 

 fever at Jamaica, to strengthen the 

 garrisons of the English colonies, 

 threatened by three or four thousand 

 men, which Martinique and Guada- 

 lonpc can detach against them. 

 When these ordinary measures are 

 in preparation, the government suf- 

 fers it to be believed, that formi- 

 dable armaments 'menaced France. 

 How long and with how much mys- 

 tery did they announce those ships 

 loaded with stones, to choak up our 

 ports, and those fireships so cou- 

 rageously, and at such a distance, 

 launched against our flotillas. And 

 in fact vvhat other expedition could 

 tempt the ICngiish ? Would they 

 wish a landing on our western coast, 

 to try how our national guards 

 alone, united with our peace garri- 

 sons, will receive them on their arri- 

 val, and ciit off their return ? Mas- 

 ters of the sea lor two yfars, their 

 fleets have fatigued the Ocean and 

 the Mediterranean, and their soldiers 

 have not dared on any coast ; on all 

 our shores their vc^sels have thrown 

 on them only brigands. In place of 

 these vain phantoms of expedition, 

 suppose, gentlemen, that tlie 2.5,000 

 men from iJrest, the 6000 from 

 Rochefort, the 12,000 from Toulon, 

 and the 25,000 from the Tcxel, all, 

 or even in part, reach Ireland, Ja- 

 maica, or India ; or even suppose 

 that those 200,000 men the boats of 

 our flotillas can carry and pass over 

 in one night, menaces and reach the 

 opposite coast, on which their impa- 

 tient courage keeps them for so long 

 a time ; suppose, what is still more 

 simple, that the 50 frigates, the sixty 

 ships of the line, of all rates, which 

 two years have seen created, armed, 

 and equipped, should get out in 

 small squadrons, and inundate the 

 scaSj and dry up in every quarter 



the 



