COs 
England. ‘The Dutch troops did not 
furrender without refiftance ; and blood- 
thed enfued ; yet the conque%t was effeét- 
ed without-any confiderable lof: of lives. 
At home, the contentions for minife- 
rial power have been again fiercely renew- 
ed. ‘Inftead of thofe military meafures 
by which the late moderate and refpect- 
able adminiftration endeavoured effediu- 
ally to provide for the defence of the 
country and the future fupport of its 
greatnefs, Mr. Pitt, immediately after his 
return to office, introduced into Parlja- 
ment, a bill for what he calls the general 
defence ; of which it is the objeé, to re- 
duce our whole military force to the three 
{pecies, of militia, referve, and trocps of 
the line; to confine the ftrength of the 
Englifh militia to the old number of 
40,0003; to add to the referve, the excefs 
of the prefent full complement of the mi- - 
litia, over that number; to allow the ‘cl 
diers from the referve, a bounty of ten 
guineas a man for enliftment into the lire; 
to oblige the different parifhes to raife fer 
bounties of twelve guineas a man, the 
recruits necefjary to fupply that. diminu- 
Fion in the numbers of the referve, which 
foall be annually occafioned by death, en- 
Lijbment ia the line, or other cufualties ; 
and, to carry on the ordinary Tecruiting 
for the line at a bounty that muft not ex- 
ceed fixteen guineas a man; but to accent 
fines from thofe parifhes which fhall fail - 
to raife of themfelves their refpeétive 
quotas of recruits. His plan was in:ro- 
duced into the Honfe cf Commons with 
extisordinary parade. Tt ‘was, however, 
fhewn, in the difcuffions which it excited, 
ta be neither new in its general concep- 
tions, nor free from many remarkable 
imperfefions. Its author, to remove the 
objections of thole who oppofed it, has 
amended it almoft to the entire change of 
its efiential nature, and, certainly, fo as 
to deftroy {eme part of its merits in its 
er:iginal fate. Jet has pafled through the 
Houle of Commons, after the fharpett 
debates that have lately taken place; and 
aiter a divifion, in the firtt inflance, of 
214 againlt 186, and of 265 againfi 223, 
in the fecond, which ran fo near againit 
the minifier, that a man lefs tenacious than 
Mr, Pirr ef his opinions and power, 
would have been driven from cffice. In 
the Houfe of Lords, the fame b']l has 
been the fubjeét -lfo cf warm debate, ard 
of a divifion cf 154 againft 69. No 
doubt remains of the certainty thet, un- 
popular as it is, it will now pafs into a 
law. 
Mr. Wiibsrforce has moft honourably re- 
State of Public Affairs in June, 1804. 
[Joly 1, 
newed his exertions in parliament, to pro- 
cure an abolition of the flave trade. By 
the voice of a refpeétable majority, a bill 
to authorize the termination of that infa- 
mous traffic in the month of Oétober, this 
very year, has been brought into the Houfe 
-of Commons, and is now in its progrefs into 
a law. We believe, that it is encouraged 
chiefly on account of the danger of in- 
creafing the number of the Negroes now in 
the Weft Indies, while the great ifland of 
St. Domingo remains, as at prefent, in 
the independe: t poffeffion of that race. 
The health of his Majefty has been 
of late fomewhat convalefcent, but is fill 
in a conditicn in .which it is, by his phy- 
ficians, thought fit that he thould live as 
much in retirement as may be poffible, 
from the anxiety and fatigue of ftate af- 
fairs. 
By the iffue of the contefts in pariia- 
ment, on the fubjectiof Mr. Pirr’s De- 
fence biil,-it has become probable, that 
this country may not immediately obtain 
the advantages of the official -fervices of 
the exalted, penetrating, and experienced 
mind of CHaRLES JAMES Fox. © The 
diiappoivtment has, for the momen: chil- 
Iced the patriotiim of many ofthe met 
zea‘ous and virtuous friends to their 
country, into a fallen, defjonding indif- 
ference. 
Along the coafts of Britain and France, 
our fice's are in conftant vigilance and 
activity. Ip a fate engagement on the 
Dutch coalt, with a great number of thofe 
{mall armed veffels, which the French and 
their allies have prepared to invade us, Sir 
SIDNEY SMITH drove them back upea 
their own ihores with great lofs, and in 
an exceedingly fha:tered condition. » It 
f-ems to have clearly fhewn, that all the 
{mall ¢raft, gun-boats, and otber armed 
velfels, which the enemy have prepared 
fer the threatened invafion, can never be 
put to any other ufe againft us, with any 
confiderable effedt, than that of floating 
batteries, mercly for the defence of the 
bafons of their own ports, and the fhal- 
jows on their own coafts. 
RUSSIA, DENMARK, SWEDEN, AUSTRIA, 
PRUSSIA, ! 
And all the other powers of Ger- 
many and the North, are much diffatis- 
fied with France, and with the outrage 
on the Duke D’Enghien, yet reluétant 
to renew a continental war ; perhaps in- 
capable of effective coalition ; and likely: 
to prefer reconciliation with Bonaparte, 
if they may find their advantage in it, to 
any chance of fuccels in hoftilities againit 
him. 
4 An 
. 
