3804.) 
ammediately menaced with a defcent from 
the ports of Holland. But, the prefence 
-of the Earl of Moira, as° Commander in 
Chief of the forces in that part of Great 
Britain, infpires new zeal and confidence 
iv all clafles of the people. ‘ 
The numbers already muftered, of the 
Army of Referve, exceed 36,000 men. 
The Yeomanry and Volunteers of Ire- 
land are 82,941. 
The total number of Britifh fhips of 
war now in commiffion is 451--—Of thefe 
139 are fhips of the line ; 24, fhips of fifty 
guns each; 128, frigates; 204, floops of 
war. Admiral Cornwallis, in the com- 
mand of the fleet off Breft, has hitherto 
weathered the ftorms of the feafon with 
aftonifhing good fortune ; fo that the 
French have found it impoffible to venture 
out from that harbour without rifking an 
engagement from which they have no- 
thing but deftruétion or capture to expect. 
A Britifh fquadron of two fhips of the 
line, eight frigates and four cutters, 
now blockades the harbour of Genoa, 
from Cape delle Melle to Viareggio. 
Lord Nelfon, the Britifh Commander in 
Chief in the Mediterranean, watches the 
port of Toulon with the utmoft vigilance. 
He has lately adopted the precaution of 
fending to England, inftead of difmiffing, 
where they might immediately return into 
the enemy’s fervice, thofe feamen of neu- 
tral nations, who were found in the thips 
captured or detained by veffels of his 
{quadron. Sir Robert Caulder, with the 
divifion under his command, is now off 
the South Weft coaft of Ireland, to inter- 
cept the French, if they fhould efcape 
from Breft, and make an attempt to enter 
Bantry-bay. Eight Eaft India fhips, 
armed, and under the command of Capt. 
Goddard, are detached to eruife at the 
mouth of Lochryan, for the defence of the 
ftreight between the North Ealt coaft of 
Ireland, and the Weft coaft of Scotland. 
Lord Cathcart, in a journey to infpect 
the military pofts in Ireland, and thofe 
places which might be the firft points of 
attack to an invader, has, lately, put 
every thing, in that country, in the beft 
pofiure of defence. The meafures which 
were taken in confequence of the laft ir- 
furrection, appear to have proved com- 
paer ‘ucceistul in juppreffing the rebel. 
ion. 
Debates of confiderable ardour and im- 
portance have been excited in the two. 
Houfes of Parliament fince their meeting 
in the end of Jaft month. On the queftion 
for continuing the Sufpenfion of the 
Habeas Corpus A&, in Ireland, which 
was particularly argued in the Houle of 
' Montutry Mac, No, 109 | 
State of Public Affairs, in December 1803. 
571 
Commons, on the sth of December, Mr. 
Elliot, Mr, Francis, and Mr. Wyndham 
fuggelted a variety of confiderations to 
prove: that the conduct of government 
had not been, in refpeét to Ireland, fuf 
ficiently difcreet and vigilant ; that the 
danger of new infurrection was far from 
being fuch as to demand the renewed fu!- 
penfion of a law the moft effential to tree- 
dom ; and that a more comprehenfive {y{- 
tem of meafures, digefted according to 
more enlarged views of general policy, 
and of the true interefts of Ircland, was 
wanted to accomplifh, in regard to that 
country, what the prefent adminiftration 
laboured at ineffettually, by temporary 
expedients, at once fevere and inefficient. 
Their reafonings, were, in behalf of 
government, eloquently and fkilfully op- 
pofed by Lord Caltlereagh and others. 
December 9.—On the diicuffion of the 
Eftimate of the Expences of the Army fot 
the enfuing year, the Secrétary at War 
(Mr. Bragge) explained, in detail, the 
different items of expenditure; Mr. 
Wyndham warmly arraigned the volun- 
teer-fyftem, as dangerous and inefficient ; 
Mr. Secretary Yorke defended the conduét 
of government in accepting the fervices of 
the volunteers, as well as its meafures re- 
lative to the troops of the line. Mr. 
Pitt pronounced high encomia on the plan 
of the volunteer fervice, on the zeal with 
which fo large a proportion of the men 
able to bear arms had ftcod forth as vo- 
lunteers, and on the aétivity and fuccels 
with which they had been, in 1o fhort a 
time, fo completely difciplined. In the 
Houle of Lords, on the 12th of December, 
the queftion on the Suipenfion ef the 
Habeas Corpus Adt, in Ireland, excited a 
lively debate in which the principal fpeak- 
ers were Lord Hawkefbury, the Marquis of 
Sligo, and the Lord Chancellor, on the 
one fide; on the other, Lord Grenville. 
But, nething was fuggelted of fufficient 
importance to interrupt the progrefs of 
the bill through the Houfe, A vote ef 
credit has been paffed to enable minifters 
to iffue Exchequer-bills to the value of 
§,000,000l. for the payment of which, 
provifion will be madein the Supplies and 
the Ways and Means for the enfuing 
year. Inthe eftimates of the expendi- 
ture for 1804, the number of the feamen and 
marines has been flated at 100,000; and 
4,875,000]. fterling is the {um required 
tor their wages and {ubfilience, The 
fum for the tear and wear of the fh'pping, 
i$ 3,900,000]. and 325,000]. have been 
voted for the naval ordnance of thole fhips. 
The total amount of thole eflimates for 
the navy is, therefore, not I:fs than 
ak 9;100,0006, 
