blockade; that all commerce and correspondence with those islands are prohibited; that no letters to or from England, or Englishmen, shall be forwarded; that every Englishman found in the countries occupied by French troops shall be made a prisoner of war; and that all English property, and every article of English produce or manufacture, or of the produce of her colonies, shall be good prize. The folly and extravagance of this decree are obvious; and yet the consequences to us may be distressing. The blockade of the British islands may justly indeed excite ridicule; but it is impossible to deny that serious inconvenience may result to the mercantile world from the obstruction of all correspondence as well as commerce with the Contineut. We will not pretend to say what are the means of counterac tion which our government ought to employ; we trust however that they will be of that vigorous and decisive character which will convince the Emperor of France, that while we continue to possess, by the favour of providence, the empire of the sea, no maritime commerce can flow to the countries under his dominion, but by our permission, and under such regulations as we shall chuse to prescribe. GREAT BRITAIN. On the 15th instant the new Parliament met, when Mr. ABBOTT was reelected Speaker of the House of Commons without any opposition. On the 19th the Lord Chancellor delivered a Speech to both houses, which, after alluding to the rupture of the negotiations with France, and the resistance and subsequent calamities of Prussia, (who, it appears, entered into no previous concert, nor explanations with this country,) extols the unshaken fidelity of our allies the Emperor of Russia and the king of Sweden. Economy in the public expenditure is recommended in conjunction with such exertions as the honour and independence of the country demand. A compliment is then paid to the firmness, energy, and unanimity of the people at large, and to the valour and discipline of our fleets and armies: "with these advantages, and with an humble reliance on the protection of the Divine Providence," his Majesty expresses himself "prepared to meet the exigencies of this great crisis." On the motion for an address to his Majesty, Lord Hawkesbury in the House of Lords, and Mr. Canning and Lord Castlereagh in the House of Commons, spoke at considerable length in censure of the conduct of ministers. The topics of censure were the dissolution of parliament, and the undue influence exerted by government in the course of the elections which followed it; the errors committed in the course of the negotiation with France, as deduced from the official documents published by the French government; the tardiness of our interference in favour of Prussia; the inefficiency of the measures for increasing CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 60. our military force which were adopted in the last session; with some minor points. The right to dissolve the parliament, it was maintained in reply, was the undoubted prerogative of his Majesty; and the measure had been deemed expedient on the failure of the negotiations with France, in order that the sense of the nation with respect to the prosecution of the war might be obtained. The exercise of undue influence in the elections was denied ; and it was affirmed that not a shilling of the nation's money had been spent upon them. The documents published by the French government relative to the negotiations, it was declared, were garbled: when the whole of the correspondence came to be laid before the house, a very different impression would be produced. As for Prussia, her conduct had been so unadvised and precipitate, that before an attempt at concert with her could be made, she had already ceased to exist as an independent power. Ministers also denied that their military plans had failed; on the contrary they expected from them the most satisfactory results. It appeared from Lord Howick's speech, that so strangely infatuated was the Prus sian government, that its resolution to commence hostilities against France was not made known at St. Petersburgh till the 31st of September, only fifteen days before the fall of the Prussian monarchy was decided at Jena. Orders were immediately issued for the march of troops to its assistance, but it was already too late. This accounts for the nonappearance of the Rus. sian troops in Poland till so late a period of the war, 5 K It likewise appeared that General Baird and Sir Home Popham had been recalled on the ground of their having undertaken, without orders, the expedition which ended in the capture of Buenos Ayres, and of their having in other respects acted improperly. Lord Howick particularly animadverted on the great impropriety of which Sir H. Popham had been guilty, in addressing a kind of official letter to the different manufacturing towns. "Perhaps," he added, "this letter to seek mercantile gratitude, while offending against professional duty, was one of the bad effects to be apprehended from that mischievous system of rewards administered by the Committee at Lloyds." The papers, on the subject of the negotiation with France, which have been laid before Parliament, supply the chasms which had been left, evidently for purposes of gross deceit, in those which were presented on the same subject to the French Senate. The offer to negotiate, it clearly appears, came from France; and the rupture of the negotiation may be very fairly ascribed to her shameless departure, during its progress, from every principle to which she had been pledged. The comluct of the two governments, as exhibited in the course of their late correspondence, (we speak of the honesty shewn in conducting it) forms a contrast which is certainly honourable to this country. We have observed with some regret, that there has been little or no recognition, in Parliament, of the increased dangers of this country, in consequence of the vast increase, during the last three months, of the power and resources of Bonaparte. He is now absolute master, with the exception of Portugal, which may not long be an exception, of every harbour from the borders of Turkey to the banks of the Vistula. The naval stores of the Baltic are now open to him; and the seamen of Venice, Genoa, Spain, Holland, the Hanse towns, and Prussia, are as much at his disposal as those of France. Provided he sustains no reverse on the continent, and ou that it would be folly to rest much of our hopes, he will have a population of at least fifty or sixty millions from which to draw his armies of invasion; and with respect to a great part of that population, he will feel few scruples either as to the extent of his compulsory levies, or the dangers to which, in the prosecution of his projects, he may expose them. If, at the commencement of the war, it was calculated that he could afford, and would be willing, to sacrifice fifty or a hundred thousand men, even to insure a landing in any considerable force on our shores; now that the whole of Italy and the whole of Germany are at his feet, no longer objects of jealousy but sources of military strength, what sacrifices may he not feel himself at liberty to make? We mean not indeed to affirm that Bonaparte, while the war lasts, can acquire the means of contending with us at sea; but this we have no hesitation in saying, that, if in the first years of the present war the danger of invasion was deemed imminent, a sentiment in which men of every party concurred, that danger is now greatly augmented. Our readers cannot forget how strongly our first political men, Mr. Pitt and Mr. Fox, Lord Grenville and Lord Sidmouth, felt the pressure of this danger. Its magnitude appeared to be such as to render it, in the opinion of parliament and of the country, the first duty of government to call forth all the energies of the people. And it was a supposed failure in the execution of this primary duty which was made the ground of a change in administration, at the time that Mr. Pitt returned to office. But let any man calmly compare the relative situation of this country and France at that period with what it is at present, and he must admit that our means of internal defence are very disproportionate to the increased magnitude of our danger. Our navy, it is true, has obtained some signal advantages since that time; but it has been agreed on all hands, that the superiority of our navy ought not to relax or dimi. nish our internal preparations; both because the utmost vigilance of our navy may be eluded, and because, if a hostile army should once land, our navy could then contribute nothing to our defence. Suppose then that a French army had obtained a footing on our shores do we possess adequate means of arresting its progress, and crushing it, as we ought to do, on its first landing? Are our regular troops sufficiently numerous to effect this, or are our volunteers sufficiently disciplined, or sufficiently capable of sus taining the fatigues and privations of actual warfare, to interpose themselves between the capital, and such an enemy as they would have to cope with? We fear that people in general mistake the sense of secu rity which pervades the country, and which is the effect of inconsideration and of familiarity with the bugbear invasion; for security itself. But if the danger be real, this insensibility to its existence will be so far from warding it off, that it will only serve to increase its amount, by leading us to neglect. the means of repelling it. Important as this subject is, we cannot at present pursue it farther. We shall be happy to find, by the close of another mouth, that it has been rendered unnecessary to resume it. A precious interval is now afforded us by the mercy of providence, in which we ought to prepare for the approaching danger; and we trust that it will not be neglected. NAVAL INTELLIGENCE. The gazettes of the present month record the capture of a number of small vessels, gunboats, and privateers, taken from the enemy. The account contained in our number for October (p. 658) of an exploit performed by two English frigates near the Havannah, is confirmed. They not only captured the Spanish frigate Pomona, though defended by batteries on shore, and by a number of gunboats, but destroyed twelve of the gunboats. During the engagement an explosion took place in a castle on shore, which mounted sixteen 36 pounders, by which it was demolished. The Bellona French privateer, which had greatly annoyed our trade in India, has been taken. Our losses in that quarter have been considerable, many prizes having been made and carried into the isle of France. Among these was the Warren Hastings Indiaman, which struck to a French frigate of 48 guns, after an obstinate and well fought engagement of five hours. This action reflects the highest honour on Captain Larkins, and his brave crew, who do not appear to bave entertained a thought of yielding to the superior force of the enemy, until the fall of the mizen mast, along the deck, completely obstructed the working of the upper guns. The gallantry and determination displayed on this occasion, on which a deeply loaded merchantman withstood, for so long a time, the fire of one of the finest frigates in the French service, affords a striking and consolatory proof of our maritime superiority; and though that superiority furnishes no ground of presumption, yet surely it calls for our gratitude, and renders it incumbent on us to cherish, by every means in our power, that invaluable bulwark of all the rich blessings which providence has showered down on this favoured land-our naval force. We are concerned to state the loss of the Athenian man of war of 64 guns. She struck on a rock in the Mediterranean, on the 24th of October, and foundered. No fewer than 347 persons, including Captain Rainsford, three lieutenants, the officers of marines, and the surgeon, perished on this melancholy occasion. 123 persons have been saved. OBITUARY. THE RIGHT HON. CHARLES JAMES FOX. (Continued from page 726.) SINCE Mr. Fox, after the commencement of Mr. Pitt's administration, is principally to be contemplated as his opponent, we shall here endeavour to describe the character and parliamentary talents of the new minister. Lord North had resisted the attacks of Mr. Fox, partly by the aid of Wedderburne and Thurlow, partly by the wit and pleasantry with which he abounded, partly by the general weight of his character and by the superior intelligence which is possessed by every man who has been long invested with the highest office. Even in the vigour of his life he scarcely would have been able to descend into the plain, and to wrestle on equal terms Mr. Fox, however, found his perfect match in Mr. Pitt, The bat tering engine which appeared to have beaten down the walls of one administration, began indeed to play on the new ministry, but the building never seemed to totter. Every shaft was now driven back by an sent it; and a great majority of the arm at least as strong as that which House of Commons beheld, both with admiration and complacency, the vigour of the new combat, and were proud to shelter themselves under Mr. Pitt's ample shield, and to commit themselves to his auspices. very point in which Mr. Fox exMr. Pitt was powerful in the celled. He was masterly in argu ment. Endowed with an understanding which enabled him intuitively to discern the strong parts of every case, and not less forcible and vehement than Mr. Fox in pressing his point; to the full as acute in discerning distinctions and detecting sophisms, and a perfect master of all the topics of debate; possessing at the same time a most astonishing command of languagehe seemed to find in Mr. Fox rather a competitor, who was qualified to call forth his faculties, than an adversary who could overthrow him. In replying to Mr. Fox he occasionally employed a severity of language which was fully equal even to that with which he had been attacked; he did not stand merely on the defensive; he carried the war into the quarters of the enemy; he disdainfully repelled the accusations brought against himself; he also preferred a heavy charge of ambition, of violence, of inconsistency, and want of political principle, against his adversary. timated) to the utmost latitude of digression; he occasionally hazarded a rash opinion, or a too broad assertion, and not unfrequently pur sued a course of declamation or of reasoning better calculated for the mass of the people, or for the gal lery of the House of Commons, than for the members of it. No man however could be more fluent than Mr. Fox when his feelings were roused. No man was better able to defend his own greater as well as smaller inconsistencies. No man could more adroitly explain down his meaning, or when pressed to give up a point, could more skil fully tread back his steps without incurring the discredit of a retreat, Mr. Pitt was nearly the opposite to Mr. Fox in these particulars. He was fluent from the very commencement of his speech, and appeared always to be travelling regularly forward towards his conclusion. His arrangement was such that it was at any moment easy to perceive at what part of his course he had When Mr. Pitt led in the debate arrived. He took his ground with he shewed himself to be large and peculiar judgment, and seldom recomprehensive in his views, and he ceded from it. Though less acwas clear and orderly in his ar- quainted than Mr. Fox with the rangement. He opened his subject feelings of the common people, and with conciseness, he unfolded the less disposed to consult them, he intricacies which involved it, and most perfectly understood the tempresented it plainly to the house; per of the house, and, to borrow an he anticipated objections, balanced expression applied by Mr. Burke the arguments on the one side, to a very different minister*, he against those on the other, and hav-hit them precisely between wind ing pointed out the preponderance, he seemed authoritatively to demand the assent of the understand ings of his hearers, without much appealing to their passions or feelings, and without having deviated for one moment from the point. When he spoke in reply he for the most part followed the course, often an irregular one, in which his opponent had proceeded, and though he scarcely ever assisted his memory by notes, he omitted no material point. Mr. Pitt as a speaker was uniformly great. Mr. Fox hesitated and laboured in the commencement of a speech; and sometimes ran into repetition; he claimed a right (as we before in and water." He seldom or never digressed. He measured his expressions with care, and in consequence of this accuracy and cau tion was thought by some to be less open and honest than his competitor; as if openness and honesty consisted in not regarding or defining those distinctions and qualifications which occur to a statesman exercised in the conduct of affairs. But we must confess our incapacity to give an adequate idea of the oratory of Mr. Pitt. Our difficulty indeed arises in a great measure from the very perfection of it. In * Mr. C. Townshend, him nothing was disproportionate, nothing defective, nothing redundant; nothing unsuitable to the subject of which he treated, or to the place in which he spoke. His taste was simple. There was in him, as Mr. Fox observed after his death, no puerile, ambitious, or even studied ornament. His ordinary style indeed was elevated; his expressions, however, adapted themselves to his subject,and his subject was usually great. He seemed to be most himself when he was treating of the largest interests of mankind and of the most important concerns of state.. But no topic was so minute as to escape his attention. His mind has been likened by Mr. Windham to the proboscis of an elephant, which is alike capable of picking up a pin, and of tearing down the trees of the forest. He manifested the superiority of his intellect no less perhaps by the surprising facility with which he rectified in a committee the little errors which had crept into the clauses of a bill, than by the ability with which he retorted a bold invective, or overthrew a formidable argument. His manner, though not graceful, indicated at least the vigour of his mind, and his voice was articulate and loud as well as commanding and majestic. When a subject occurred which was calculated to try his utmost strength, and to call forth all his fire, he seemed to possess powers not of elocution alone, but of mind, which no other man could ever hope to equal. He appeared on these occasions (we speak of his intellectual powers) not only to belong to the very highest order of men, but to be a being elevated by Providence above men of every order. It has been objected to the oratory of Mr. Pitt, that it was less natural than that of Mr. Fox, and had too much sameness. It has also been said, that he shewed less philosophi cal and theoretical knowledge, and a less extensive acquaintance with human life than his competitor, Some of these observations apply chiefly, perhaps, to his later days. Many of his first speeches were enriched by classical quotations and allusions, and it has been questioned by some, whether in his early life he was not too theoretical in his views, and too bold a reformer. By others it has undoubtedly been thought that he afterwards deviated to the contrary side. These are points on which we shall not presume to deliver any judgment. We nevertheless may safely pronounce, that the habits which he must have acquired by long continuance in office were obviously unfavourable to that ge neral expansion of mind and variety of ideas which distinguished some of his opponents. At the time of which we now speak, he undoubtedly was inferior in some points to each of his antagonists. Less natural and familiar, less ardent than Fox, less good humoured than North, less flowery, less various, less learned and philosophical than Burke, he on the whole nevertheless was greater than each, and he sustained the conflict with them all. The eloquence indeed both of Mr. Pitt and Mr. Fox suited the two characters in which they now appearedthe one the accomplished servant of the crown; the other the practised assailant of the ministry; the one the dignified champion of prerogative; the other the impassioned leader in popular debate. But it is time to proceed with our narrative of Mr. Fox's life. At the period of the dissolution of parliament, a large part of the country had been led to believe that Mr. Fox had formed a most un principled coalition with Lord North; that by means of this coalition he had condemned a peace which he had himself demanded, and which Lord North had render ed necessary; that he had thus overthrown the preceding ministry, and had taken the government by storm; that his India Bill was a device by which he meant to strengthen himself in his usurpation; that moreover when Mr. Pitt |