1803. ] 
tion muft efcape the vigilance of our crui- 
zers, an efcape which is almoft miracu- 
lous for a fingle fhip. Should a landing 
be attempted, before it can be accomphhh- 
ed, there is a probability that an Englifh 
fleet would appear, and throw the whole 
expedition into a fatal confufion. Should 
they even at any one point effect a land- 
ing, their flotilla will be inftantly deftroy- 
ed, and all reinforcement cut off at fea. 
The Englith peafantry would turn out 
in fuch myriads as to throw up in a fingle 
night impenetrable intrenchments. The 
regular army wouid be fupported by a 
numerous and well trained militia, and by 
a warlike people aflembled en mafe. 
What fuccefs can be expected from fo 
prepofterous a project? Where is the 
General who will undertake fuch a com- 
mand ; or under what guidance will an 
army truft themfelves in the very jaws 
of deftruction ? 
Yet we are told the invafion of Eng- 
land is popular in France. If it be really 
fo, it mutt arife from the grofs ignorance 
in which the military and the people are 
kept, from thofe fatal councils which*have 
dettroyed the liberty of the prefs. Fatal 
we inuft pronounce them, both to the Go- 
vernment and the people; for where the 
means of information’ are cautioufly with- 
held, the Government will fuffer from ig- 
norance as wellas the people. From this 
very circumftance we think i} not impro- 
bable that the invafon of England will 
be attempted ; and that attempt will be 
the deftruction of France. 
The Fir Conful, in the mean time, pro- 
fecutes his journey along the Coafts of 
France, and to the Netherlands. Thisas 
a means of acquiring popularity is not 
impolitic, and if his manners were more 
popular, it would be yet more fo. He 
travels however in fuch ftate that the ex- 
pences are enormous, and the burthens 
upon the unfortunate diftri€ts which he 
vifits, are not calculated to put the peo- 
ple in good humour. The addreffes pre- 
fented to the Firft Conful and his Lady 
exhibit a moft melancholy inftance of the 
abject ftate of flavery and degradation in 
‘which the nation is plunged. 
The Firft Conful reached:Calais on Fri- 
day July 1, in great pomp. He was.pre- 
ceded by 300 infantry, encircled by his 
corps of Mamalukes, and attended by a 
humerous train of General Officers and 
others: the whole cavalcade amounting 
_ to about 8co men, He dined at Quillac’s 
¢ late Deflin’s) hotel, after dinner infpeét- 
ed the batteries, &c. and tock a fhort 
_Monruiy Maa, No. 104. 
State of Public Affairs in Fuly, 1803. 
73 
trip in a boat round the pier. He left 
Calais the following morning. 
At Boulogne the Chief Conful was pre- 
fented with an opportunity of witneffing 
the {pirit and enterprize of the nation he 
is preparing to conquer. On his arrival 
there, it was thought neceffary'to thew 
him with what perfect fafety veffels could 
ride in the road before that place, which 
was protected by fix batteries, mounting 
30 pieces of heavy artillery. For this. 
purpofe a grand fpectacle was exhibited, 
and four or five armed veffels were hauled. 
out to bid defiance to the Englifh cruizers. 
At that moment Capt. Owen, in the Im- 
mortalité frigate made his appearance, 
attacked the armed veffels, and drove 
them all afhore under the very guns that 
were to prove their proteftion, where they 
were lett dry by the tide, and fo greaily, 
damaged that they were afterwards drawn 
into the inner harbour to be repaired. 
After vifting Dunkirk, Lifle, &c. the 
Chief Conful proceeded through Flufhing, 
Ghent, &c. on his way to Bruffels, where he 
was expected to arrive on the roth of Julys 
‘It is long fince we ftated our opinion 
that Bonaparte would not be fatisfied with” 
any tiing fhort of kingly authority. He 
has totally deftroyed the republican re- 
gime, and can expe‘t no fupport on that 
principle. A report was prevalent fome 
months ago that a propofal had been made 
to Lovis XVIII. at Warlaw, to renounce 
to the Ufurper, for himfelf and his pofte- 
rity, all right and claim to the fucceflioa 
to the throne of France. The report was 
treated as an idle fabrication, intended 
merely to throw a degree of ridicule on 
the Chief Conful. By a publication lately 
ifiued by the ci-devant Count D’Ario:s 
or Monfieur, as he ftiles himfeif, it ap- 
pears that fuch a propofal was actually 
made, and with the meannefs of a threat 
of inflicting ftill further hardthips on the 
exiled family, fhould it be refufed, The 
propofal was anfwered and rejected with 
great moderation, firmnefs, and dignity 5 
and the feveral branches of the family 
have bound themfelves by a folemn act to 
adhere to the anfwer of their fovezeign, 
and never to relinquifh their right to the 
throne, This paper throws fome light 
on the complaint made by the French 
Government, which may be feen in the 
papers relative to the negociation, of the 
protection given by England to the ex- 
iled princes, . 
- GERMANY. 
As the:French, by the occupation of the 
Elbe, had blocked up the navigation of 
\ 
that 
