Etlingen, where the archduke Charles, brother of the emperor, a gallant and popular prince, now at the head of the Austrian army, contended against Moreau in persou, was long and obstinate; and, when at length the Austrians were forced to retire, it was rather before the enthusiasm than the superior skill of their adversaries. In this victorious career Moreau forced the elector of Bavaria, the duke of Wurtemburg, and the Margrave of Baden, to sue for peace; while Jourdan, seizing on Nuremberg, Iugoldstadt, and Amberg, menaced Austria on his right, as well as Bohemia in his front. The retreat of the imperial forces in Germany was contemporary with the dreadful losses which they were sustaining from Buonaparte in Italy; but their strength, though overpowered, was not broken. The archduke Charles, having received considerable supplies, determined to throw himself between the invaders and Ratisbon; but before his arrival the army of Wartensleben had fought a successful battle, and driven the French from the heights before Amberg. The archduke arrived in person, and, after defeating the enemy under Bernadotte, drove them back to Newmark. Jourdan, finding his left wing and rear thus exposed to a superior force, was driven as far as Wurtzburg, where they were again overtaken, and, being once more defeated, they were seized with a panic, and immediately disbanded. The conquests of Moreau were now become useless, in consequence of the defeat of Jourdan. The former, after conducting his victorious troops from the banks of the Rhine to those of the Danube and the Isere, and proving successful in five pitched battles, was now obliged to commence his celebrat ed retreat, which he executed with great skill and extraordinary judgment. Having completely deceived the Austrians relative to the route he intended to take, he crossed the Lech, on the eleventh of September, and retired in an orderly manner, defeating all the Austrian corps which attempted to oppose him. Having at length forced the passes of the Black Forest, and penetrated through a defile called the Valley of Hell, the name of which sufficiently expresses the nature of the country, Moreau, at the head of an army fatigued by the length of its march through a hostile country of more than three hundred miles in extent, destitute of shoes, and rendered sickly by continual rains, passed the Rhine at Huningen without molestation, and returned to Strasburg, the point whence he set out, on the twenty-sixth of October, leaving a strong garrison in Kehl, which, after a brave resistance, surrendered to the archduke. DISTURBANCES IN LA VENDEE IN La Vendée, Stofflet, the insurgent leader, who in the course of two years had defeated his opponents in more than a hundred actions, was surprised and taken by two republican officers in the village of Langreniere, and executed at Angers on the twenty-third of February. The Vendeans and Chouans still, however, remaining attached to the cause of royalty, Charette continued to embrace every opportunity of annoyance, until, at length, being totally defeated, and his followers completely dispersed, after wandering some time in the disguise of a peasant, he was discovered and taken, and, on the twenty-eighth of April, executed at Nantes. On the fall of these chiefs, all the insurgent departments readily submitted; and Hoche, who at Quiberon had acquired some distinction as a warrior, was empowered by the directory to adopt lenient methods for bringing over the remaining malecontents, and hailed as the pacificator of La Vendée. BRITISH SUCCESSES IN THE WEST INDIES-DUTCH SQUADRON CAPTURED. THE Conquests of the French in Enrope did not prevent the English from persevering in their intention to capture all their remaining colonies, as well as those of their allies, between the tropics; and they were now enabled, by their strength, to obtain successes in that quarter unknown in any former period of the war. Demerara, Issequibo, and Berbice, surrendered to the British commanders. A debarkation was effected on St. Lucia; and the enemy retired to Morne Chabot, one of the strong est positions of the island, which was carried by the gallantry of a small body under the orders of Sir Ralph Abercrombie. Morne Fortuné was next invested and taken; two thousand French soldiers were made prisoners, the insurgent negroes disarmed, and the island ceded to Britain. An expedition under general Knox, to St. Vincent's, undertaken on the twenty-fifth of May, was no less successful, where the French surrendered to the number of seven hundred: the dispersion of the Caribbs immediately followed. An attack was afterwards made on Grenada, which succeeded, with little bloodshed. A body of seven thousand troops arrived early in the spring at the Mole in St. Domingo; but the mortality of the yellow fever was so great, and the numbers of the free blacks. and mulattoes so formidable, that the war was waged with few advantages on our side. Toussaint, with his negro army, and Regaud at the head of the mulattoes, maintained a fierce, though desultory, warfare; and the British with difficulty retained their extensive chain of posts, occupying a coast three hundred miles in extent. The Dutch government, determined not to suffer the loss of the Cape of Good Hope without a struggle to regain so important a settlement, fitted out an expedition, consisting of two sail of the line, three smaller ships of war, and three armed vessels, which anchored on the second of August in the Bay of Saldanha. Just at the critical moment when general Craig, with his small army, was marching down to the coast to meet the invaders, they perceived a British fleet of two seventy-fours, five sixty-fours, a fifty-gun ship, and six other vessels, advancing with a fair wind to the mouth of the harbour. The English admiral, aware of his superiority, anchored within cannon shot of the Dutch vessels, and sent a written summons to their commander to surrender. Rear-admiral Engelbartus Lucas, knowing that resistance must be unavailing, obeyed the summons, and on the seventeenth of August he surrendered his whole fleet without firing a gun. THE BRITISH EVACUATE CORSICA-THE FRENCH ATTEMPT TO INVADE IRELAND. THE turbulent spirit of the inhabitants of Corsica, and the arrival of a body of French under general Cazette, to co-operate with internal revolt, rendered the possession of that island no longer possible to the British. Seizing on the heights above Bastia, the invaders captured the city: Fiorenzo, Bonifacio, and the tower of Mortella, were retaken on the twentieth of October, and considerable spoils fell into the hands of the victors on the retreat of the English fleet from the adjoining bay, and on the final evacuation of the is land. The island of Elba, however, which had been seized some months before, was still retained and formed a useful arsenal and a convenient station. The state of Ireland encouraged the French government to strike blow of no common importance. On the twentieth of December, fifteen thousand chosen troops, under the command of Hoche, were embarked at Brest, intended to act, on their arrival, with a body of the disaffected Irish, who were known to be considerable in numbers, and organized for insurrection. Admiral Villaret Joyeuse sailed from Brest with eighteen ships of the line, besides frigates and transports: the wind at first was favourable, but scarcely had the expedition left the outer harbour, when a storm arose which dispersed the fleet, and separating the frigate which carried Hoche, obliged him to escape into the harbour of Rochelle, after being chased by two British vessels. Of the whole fleet only eight two-deckers reached the coast of Ireland, under admiral Bouvet, who appeared off Bantry Bay, but was forced from that station in a few days by tempestuous weather, and obliged to return to France without effecting a landing. In this expedition the French lost three ships of the line and three frigates, by stress of weather; but they had the singular good fortune to escape lord Bridport and admiral Colpoys, the former of whom, with a British fleet under his command, arrived in Bantry Bay immediately after the departure of the enemy. Such was the determined courage of British seamen at this period, that scarcely any inferiority of GEORGE III. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN FRANCE AND SCARCELY had the new government of France, under the directory, commenced its operations, when a difference arose between that country and America, originating in the treaty of amity and commerce recently executed between Great Britain and the United States. This treaty was said to discover a disposition altogether inimical to France, and its provisions to be wholly incompatible with the idea of neutrality. By the treaty of 1778, still in force, the United States guaranteed to France the possession of their West India colonies; but by the treaty of 1795 they consented that even supplies of provisions sent to those islands from America should be treated as illegal commerce. The directory, regarding the Americans in the light of secret enemies, made such depredations on their trade, under various pretences, as almost amounted to a commercial war: and an arret was issued on the third of July, enjoining French ships of war to observe the same conduct towards the vessels of neutral nations as they had hitherto suffered with impunity from the English. Thus began that op. pressive system, by which neutral nations were doomed to be persecuted in the future progress of the war, under the designation of Berlin aud Milan decrees, and British orders in council. Towards the close of the summer, Monroe, the American ambassador at Paris, was recalled from his embassy, to the great dissatisfaction of the French gov. ernment, who refused to receive his successor, Pinkney, in the same capacity; and M. Adet, the French resident in Philadelphia, notified to the American government, on the twenty-third of November, that the directory had suspended him from the exercise of his functions. Such was the situation of the foreign relations of the United States, when general Washington resigned his government, and again retired to his paternal estate on the banks of the Potowmac.. When French influence, aided by the fears of the Spanish monarch, had produced a peace between those nations, there was reason to apprehend that the artful republicans would lead that passive prince into a close alliance, and endeavour to render his arms subservient to the views of France; but the, Spaniards were not very eager to commence hos tilities against their late allies; a treaty of confederacy, however, was at length concluded, and on the fifth of October his catholic majesty declared war against Great Britain, on frivolous and absurd pretences. In Holland, a national convention of the inhabitants of the United Provinces met at the Hague on the first of March, and formed a constitution on the model of the French republic. One of the first acts of the new government was to declare war against England. STATE OF FRANCE-MEASURES AGAINST Ar Paris the Jacobins, who had hitherto filled the principal places under government, enraged at witnessing the return of moderate principles, manifested their hostility by exercising their power, where they still remained in office, in the most cruel and oppressive manner; and insurrections in various parts of the country took place, but they were all quickly suppressed. The directory next determined to submit to the operation of the law the sanguinary perpetrators of the mas 1760-1820. brought to trial, some were executed, and others sacres of September, 1792; and, of a great number imprisoned, but a large majority were acquitted. The directory then turned their attention to the subject of finance, the rapid decline of the credit paper altogether useless; and as gold and silver of the assignats having rendered that species of ploy some other means to replace the debased had disappeared, it was judged expedient to emcurrency. A law was accordingly passed to sell the remainder of the national domains, for which fabrication, under the name of mandats, to be the nation was to receive, in payment, a new paper issued to the amount of four hundred millions of livres; but in a very few months they sunk so low as one-fifth of the price affixed by the national treasury. In the midst of these difficulties, the committee of finance presented a report, containing a general statement of the public revenue, from which it appeared that the expenditure during the last year amounted to a thousand millions of barely five hundred millions. livres, and that the ordinary annual revenue was enormous deficiency, various resources were point To make up this ed out; but the principal expedient was to be united provinces of the Netherlands. found in the sale of the church lands in the newly this country projected by the French government; Various had been the plans of annoyance against but all had hitherto been delayed or set aside, as inadequate and impracticable, till it was suggested with advantage was to attack her commerce, by that the most effectual mode of opposing England shutting out her manufactures from every port in Europe subject to French control, or under French influence. This new species of hostility was carried into execution with as much despatch as the jarring interests of the continental powers would allow, and British manufactures soon found no legal entrance into any port on the continent, from of the ports of the Hans Towns, of Portugal, and of the Elbe to the Adriatic, with the exception only Russia. Catherine the second, empress of Russia, died on will always rank among the most splendid periods the evening of the sixth of November. Her reign of Russian history: but its most glorious actions and in the accomplishment of her ends she never were blended with injustice and stained by cruelty; ceeded by her son, the emperor Paul, who, having hesitated with respect to means. She was sucthe most despotic notions of kingly right, considered the Bourbon family as iniquitously ejected from About the same time also died Victor Amadeus, a possession which they derived from heaven. king of Sardinia, at an advanced age, and his son, the prince of Piedmont, succeeded to his throne. NEW PARLIAMENT NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE UNSUCCESSFUL. To counteract the impression that the contest finite in its objects; his majesty, in his speech at was as interminable in its duration as it was indethe opening of the new parliament, on the sixth of October, 1796, declared that he had omitted no enquence of which, a way was now opened to an deavours for restoring peace to Europe; in consehonourable peace for us and our allies, or prove to immediate negotiation, which must produce an what cause alone the prolongation of the war was he would immediately send a person to Paris, with to be ascribed. For this purpose his majesty said full powers to treat for this object, and it was his anxious wish that the negotiation might lead to the restoration of general peace. But it was evident that nothing could so much contribute to give effect to the negotiation as a manifestation that we possessed both the determination and the resources to oppose, with increased activity and energy, an enemy who had openly professed a design to atpropriety of entering upon a negotiation with retempt a descent upon these kingdoms. publican France, some difference of opinion existed On the between ministers and their supporters; some of whom adhered to the published opinion of Burke, viz. that the restoration of monarchy and the ancient orders, under certain modifications, ought to be the sole and avowed purpose of the war; that no peace could be secure until that object was effected; and that we must either conquer the revo. lution, or the revolution would conquer us. In conformity to these sentiments, earl Fitzwilliam entered on the journals of the house of lords a protest, assigning reasons for refusing to concur in an address of thanks for his majesty's speech. the seventeenth of December, on which day his lordship submitted, in two formal and confidential memorials, that France should restore all her conquests made in any of the dominions of the emperor of Germany, or in Italy; and that Great Britain should render back all her acquisitions gained from France in the East and West Indies; that Russia and Portugal should be included in the treaty; that no obstacle would be interposed, on the part of his Britannic majesty against Spain becoming a party in the negotiation; and that in case Holland was reinstated, in all respects, in the same political situation in which she stood before the war, the colonial possessions captured by Great Britain might be restored, and the status ante bellum, with respect to territorial possessions, re-established in her favour; but if, on the contrary, Holland should remain a republic, their Britannic and Imperial majesties would be obliged to seek, in territorial acquisitions, those compensations, and that security which such a state of things would render indispensable. At the time that there memorials were delivered, a long and animated conversation took place between the negotiators, in the course of which the French minister inquired, whether, in placing the memorials before the directory, he was to state the disuniting of the Belgium from France as a sine qua non, from which his majesty would not depart. Lord Malmsbury replied that it most certainly was, and that any proposal which would have the Netherlands annexed to France, would be attended with much greater benefit to that power, and less to the allies, than the present relative situation of the belligerent powers could entitle the French government to expect. In the course of conversation, de la Croix repeatedly said, that this difficulty was one which could not be overcome; and, two days after, lord Malmsbury receiv four hours, his ultimatum, signed by himself. His lordship replied, that to demand an ultimatum, in so peremptory a manner, before the two powers had communicated to each other their respective pretensions, was to shut the door against all negotiation; but he repeated that he was ready to enter into the discussion of the proposals of his court, or of any contre projet which might be delivered to him on the part of the executive directory. The directory rejoined, in a note of the nineteenth of December, that they would listen to no proposal contrary to the constitution, to the laws, and to the treaties, which bound the republic; and as lord Malmsbury announced, at every communication, that he was in want of the opinion of his court (from which it resulted that he acted a part merely passive in the negotiation), his presence at París was rendered useless, and he was required to depart therefrom within two days, with all the persons who had accompanied and followed him; and to quit, as expeditiously as possible, the territory of the republic; but that, if the British cabinet was desirous of peace, the executive directory was ready to follow the negotiations, according to the basis laid down in the present note, by the reciprocal channel of couriers. Lord Malmsbury replied, that he was preparing to quit Paris on the morrow, and demanded the necessary passports for himself and suite: on the twentieth, he quitted the French capital, and repaired to England. In the month of March, Wickham, the British ambassador to the Helvetic States, was directed to apply to Barthelemi, diplomatic agent for France at Basle, to inquire if the government of France were disposed to enter into a negotiation with his majesty and his allies. Barthelemi war instructed to answer, that the government of France ardently desired to procure for the republic a just, honourable, and solid peace; but an indispensable condition of any treaty entered into for that purpose was the retention of those conquests which had actually been annexed to the territory of the republic. This reply, expressing a decided resolution not to surrender the Austrian Netherlands to the emperor of Germany, displayed, in the opinion of the British ministry, a temper so remote from any disposition for peace, that the correspondence between the two ministers ceased, and both parties proceeded to open the campaign. In September lord Grenville addressed a note to count Wedel Jarlsberg, the Danish ambassador in London, requesting that he would transmit, through the Danish envoy at Paris, a declaration expressive of his Britannic majesty's desire to conclude a peace on just and honourable conditions, and demanding the necessary passports for a person of confidence, whom his majesty would send to Paris with a commission to discuss, with the government there, all the measures most proper to produce so desirable an end. The Directory replied, that the executive government would not notice any overture from the enemies of the French republic transmitted through an intermediate channel; but that, if England would send persons furnished with full powers, they might, upon the frontiers, demand the passed a letter, requiring him to deliver, within twentyports necessary for proceeding to Paris. Passports were accordingly obtained; and lord Malmsbury, being nominated plenipotentiary to the French republic, repaired to Paris on the twenty-second of October. Two days after his arrival the negotiations were opened by a memorial from his lordship, stating that, from the uninterrupted success of her naval war, Great Britain found herself in a situation to have no restitution to demand of France; from which, on the contrary, she had taken establishments and colonies of the highest importance, and of value almost incalculable; but she was will ing to restore her own conquests in lieu of the ac quisitions which France had won from her allies, as a basis for a treaty, and therefore proposed a general principle of reciprocal restitution. The executive directory replied, that considering the British ambassador to be the agent of Great Britain only, they could not now enter into the concerns of the other states, which could tend only to multiply the combinations and increase the difficulties of the negotiation; but that, as soon as he should procure sufficient powers from those allies, they would hasten to give an answer to the specific propositions which should be submitted to them. To these observations they thought proper to add an opinion, that the British government was insincere in its overture; that its object was to prevent, by general propositions, the partial propositions of other powers, and to obtain from the people of England the means of continuing the war, by throwing the odium of a refusal to negotiate a peace upon the republic. The British minister, disdaining to reply to these insinuations, stated that he had not been commissioned to enter into a separate treaty, but that Great Britain proposed to make common cause with her allies. The directory rejoined, that, in a question of reciprocal restitution, the chief object of consideration was the relative condition of the respective parties; that, of the original confederates, some were become the friends of France, and others observed a strict neutrality; that the remaining allies of Great Britain were weakened by their losses and the desertion of their associates; and that France could not, in a negotiation for terms, forget the circumstances in which she was placed. Having thus admitted the principle of compensation, de la Croix, the French negotiator, in a note to lord Malmsbury, again requested him to point out expressly, and without delay, the objects of reciprocal compensations which he had to propose. His lordship was now obliged to consult his court, and the negotiation was suspended till Thus terminated the first negotiation for peace between Great Britain and the republic of France. The British ministry, considering its abrupt conclusion as arising totally from France, published a manifesto, on the twenty-seventh of December, enlarging upon the pacific dispositions of the British government, and setting forth the malignant bostility of the enemy. This manifesto was laid before parliament: Pitt insisted that the rupture of the late negotiations was wholly imputable to the government of France. The enemy demanded, not as an ultimatum, but as a preliminary, to retain all those territories of which the chance of war had given them a tempo rary possession, and respecting which they thought proper, contrary to the law of nations, to pass a constitutional decree, declaring that these should not be alienated from the republic. But this per verse and monstrous claim, in virtue of which ter ritories acquired by force of arms were annexed to a state during the continuance of the war in which such acquisitions were made, could never be sup. posed to supersede the treaties of other powers classes. Pitt having admitted, on moving the vote of credit, that one million two hundred thousand pounds had been advanced to the emperor without the previous consent of parliament, Fox observed, that if the measure was not reprobated, he should think that man a hypocrite who pretended to see any distinction between this government and an absolute monarchy; and the majority in favour of ministers, on the motion for a vote of censure, was smaller than usual. BANK. and the known and public obligations of the several nations in Europe. Yet this had been the pretension to which the French government laid claim, and the acknowledgment of which they held out as a preliminary of negotiation to the king of Great Britain and his allies: and, not content with setting up this claim to abrogate treaties previously concluded, they had offered a studied insult to his majesty, by ordering his ambassador to quit Paris, and proposing that the negotiation should be carried on by means of couriers. "The question then is not how much will you give for peace; but how SUSPENSION OF CASH PAYMENTS BY THE much disgrace will you suffer at the outset ? how much degradation will you submit to as a preliminary? In these circumstances, then, are we to persevere in the war, with a spirit and energy worthy of the British name, and of the British character? or are we, by sending couriers to Paris, to prostrate ourselves at the feet of a stubborn and supercilious government, to yield to what they may require, and to submit to whatever they may im pose? I hope there is not a hand in his majesty's councils which would sign the proposal; that there is not a heart in this house that would sanction the measure; and that there is not an individual in the British dominions who would act as the courier." Fox, in reply, maintained that the whole amount of the minister's oration was, to admit that we had been four years engaged in a war, unprecedented in expense, both in men and in money, and that we had done nothing; that, in fact, the enemy, instead of being humbled and ruined, as bad been so often and so confidently foretold, had now become more unreasonable and dictatorial in their pretensions than ever. Fox then moved an address to the throne, recommending that his majesty's faithful commons should proceed to investigate the conduct of his ministers, who had involved this nation in her present misfortunes, and produced the failure of the late negotiations. This amendment was negatived by a great majority and a similar fate attended a similar motion made by the earl of Oxford in the house of lords. INCREASE OF THE NATIONAL FORCE- In addition to the naval force now actually employed, and which the premier declared to be more formidable than had ever existed at any former period of our history, the minister proposed, first, a levy of fifteen thousand men from the different parishes for the sea service, and for recruiting the regular regiments of the line: his second proposal was to raise a supplementary militia, to consist of sixty thousand men, not to be immediately called out, but to be enrolled, officered, and completely trained, so as to be ready in a moment of danger; and his third military project was to raise a force of twenty thousand irregular cavalry. These propositions were passed into laws early in the session; but the plan for raising the irregular cavalry force being found difficult of application, the measure was superseded, in a great degree, by the numer ous volunteer corps of yeomanry cavalry which pressed forward in the service of their country. During this session, also, a bill was introduced, for raising and embodying a militia force in Scotland, which was much resisted in that part of the king. dom. One hundred and ninety-five thousand men were voted for the land service for the year 1797, and, soon afterwards, one hundred and twenty thousand seamen and marines for the navy. By the annual financial statement, it appeared that eighteen million pounds would be wanted by way of loan, exclusive of five million five hundred thousand pounds of exchequer bills, and about thirteen million five hundred thousand pounds of victualling, transport, and navy bills, which he proposed to fund. This loan was followed by a second during the same session of parliament, amounting also to eighteen million pounds, comprehending a great variety of deficiencies, and including a vote of credit for three million pounds, to be remitted to the emperor of Germany. The terms of the loan were highly advantageous to the monied interest, being funded at less than the price of fifty pounds for each hundred pounds, of three per cents. To defray the interest on these loans, permanent taxes were imposed to the amount of three million four hundred and sixteen thousand pounds, and the pressure of the war was now severely felt by many 1797.-THE rapid and enormons increase of the national debt had created an alarm among many of the proprietors of the public funds, and, under this impression, sums to a great amount were sold out of the stocks, and vested in other securities. The bank had, in the course of the war, advanced immense sums to the government, far beyond its usual aid to the public treasury; and as a considerable part of these advances consisted of remittances to foreign powers, especially to the emperor of Germany, made in coin, the gold and silver in the bank were greatly diminished. The consequences of this had been long foreseen by the directors, and, so early as the year 1795, they had expressed to Pitt their expectations that he would arrange his finances for the year in such a manner as not to depend on any further assistance from them. This remonstrance they repeated in October of the same year, and again in 1796, but they still continued to afford accommodation to the treasury. In the beginning of 1797 the minister requested still further advances, and intimated, at the same time, that a loan amounting to the sum of one million five hundred thousand pounds, beyond the accommodation to the English treasury, would be wanted for Ireland. On the ninth of February the governor of the bank informed Pitt that, under the present state of their accommodation to government here, to agree with his request of making a further advance of one million five hundred thousand pounds as a loan to Ireland, would threaten ruin to the bank, and most probably bring the directors to shut up their doors. Another cause powerfully co-operated to produce an alarming derangement in the affairs of the national bank. The dread of invasion had induced the capitalists, as well as the more opulent farmers and traders, at a distance from the metropolis, to withdraw their money from the hands of the country bankers, with whom they had been accustomed to deposit it; and the run upon the provincial banking-houses soon extended to the capital. On the twentieth of February an unusual demand was made by the holders of notes upon the bank of England for specie; and this run, which increased on the twenty-first, became so rapid and urgent on the four following days as to excite the most serious alarm, and to oblige the directors to submit their situation to the consideration of the chancellor of the exchequer. On the twenty-sixth government found it necessary to interfere; and on that day an order of the privy council was issued, prohibiting the directors of the bank from issuing any cash in payment till the sense of parliament should be taken. The consideration of this important subject was brought, with as little delay as possible, before the two houses of parliament, and the first step taken was to appoint two secret committees to ascertain the assets of the bank. The public apprehension was materially allayed by their reports, delivered early in March, from which it appeared that on the fifteenth of February, the last day of paying gold and silver at the bank, the amount of the demands upon the company was thirteen million seven hundred and seventy thousand three hundred and ninety pounds; that their assets, exclusive of the permanent debt due from government, amounted to the sum of seventeen million five hundred and ninety-seven thousand two hundred and eighty pounds, so that there remained a surplus of three million eight hundred and twenty-six thousand eight hundred and ninety pounds; to which must be added the sum of eleven million six hundred and sixty-six thousand eight hundred pounds three per cent. stock, lent at different times to government on parlia mentary security, which being estimated at fifty per cent. agreeably to the actual price at that time of the three per cent. consols, the whole of the capital vested in the corporation of the bank, after the payment of all demands, amounted, at its then current value, to the enormous sum of nine million six hundred and sixty thousand two hundred and ninety pounds. On these reports Pitt grounded a bill, enabling the bank to issue notes in payment of demands upon them instead of cash, agreeably to the late order of council to that effect; and a clause of the utmost importance was introduced into the act, for preventing any person from being held to bail who offered bank of England notes in discharge of a debt; though this law, by leaving the creditor the option of demanding cash in payment instead of notes, did not actually constitute them a legal tender From this time the circulation of gold coin in a great measure ceased; and notes, from twenty shillings and upwards, became the general medium of circulation. the extinction of this dangerous spirit of disaffection; but a new mutiny in another quarter, which for boldness and extent is without a parallel in the naval history of Britain, soon converted their pleasure into alarm and consternation. The concessions made to the seamen were unfortunately enforced, not granted, and the same method lay open for obtaining further claims. The north sea fleet, as well as the ships lying at the Nore, imitating the dangerous conduct of the crews at Spithead, but greatly exceeding them in the extent of their demands, chose delegates from every ship, and appointed Richard Parker, a bold and enterprising seaman, as their president. The demands of these mutineers comprehended a greater freedom of absence from ships in harbour, a more punctual discharge of arrears of pay, a more equal distribution of prize money, and a general abatement of the rigours of discipline. On the twenty-third of May the flag of admiral Buckner was struck on board the Sandwich, and the red flag, the symbol of mutiny, hoisted in its stead. Each man of war sent two delegates, and, there was a committee of twelve in every ship, who determined not only all affairs relating to the internal management of the vessel, but instructed their delegates, and decided upon their merits The delegates went on shore daily, and, after hold ing their meetings, paraded the streets and ramparts with music and flags. The arrival of lord Keith and Sir Charles Grey at Sheerness at length put an end to these audacious processions. The mutiny had then risen to the most alarming height, and it was intimated to the seamen that no further concessions than what had already been made by the legislature would be granted. Some of the most desperate of their number suggested the idea of carrying the ships into an enemy's port; but the majority revolted at so treacherous a proceedtheir primary, so it should be their ultimate object. For the purpose of extorting compliance with their demands, they proceeded to block up the Thames, by refusing a passage either up or down the river to the London trade; and, to supply their present wants, they took from a vessel three hundred sacks of flour, which they distributed throughout the fleet. ALARMING MUTINY IN THE NAVY. THE alarm caused by the stoppage of cash payments at the bank was not much abated when a spirit of mutiny and disaffection broke out among the fleet at Spithead. Great dissatisfaction had for some time prevailed respecting the pay and provisions of the sailors; and, in the month of February, several anonymous letters were received by lord Howe from the fleet, praying for his lord. ship's influence towards obtaining an increase of the seamen's pay, and an improvement in the quality and quantity of their provisions; at the same time a correspondence was going on, by letter, between the crews of the different ships, and a committee of delegates was appointed to obtain a redress of grievances. These proceedings were conducted with so much secrecy, that it was not till the fifteenth of April, when lord Bridport made a signal to prepare for sea, that they began to be suspected among the superior officers of the fleet. Instead of weighing anchor, as the signaling, alleging that a redress of grievances, as it was imported, the seamen of the admiral's ship all ran up the shrouds, and saluted the crews of the ad. joining ships with three cheers, which being instantly answered in the same manner, it became manifest that the spirit of disobedience was general. The delegates then assembled in the cabin of the admiral's ship, and placed the officers in custody. A petition to the admiral was drawn up, and presented on the spot, accompanied with an intimation that, till the prayer of the petition for an increase of wages and a regulation in the ratio of provisions took place, they should not quit their present station "unless the enemy was known to be at sea." A committee of the admiralty, with Earl Spencer at their head, immediately repaired to Portsmouth to induce the refractory scamen to resume their duty; and the admiral returned to his ship, when, after hoisting his flag, he informed the crew that he had brought with him a redress of all their grievances, accompanied by his majesty's pardon for the offenders. After some deliberation these offers were cheerfully accepted, and it was now supposed that all cause of dissatisfaction was removed; but when lord Bridport made the signal to put to sea, every ship at St. Helen's refused to obey. This second mutiny arose, it appeared, from a groundless apprehension on the part of the seamen that government did not mean to accede to their demands. A meeting of the delegates was again convened, to be held on board the London; but vice-admiral Colpoys, having determined to prevent the illegal assembly from being held on board his ship, ordered the marines to fire upon the boats as they approached, and five seamen were killed in the skirmish which ensued. The crew of the London, irritated by this resistance on the part of the admiral, now turned their guns towards the stern, and threatened to blow all aft into the water unless the commander submitted; and admiral Colpoys and captain Griffiths were both taken into custody by their crew, and confined for several hours in separate cabins. In this state of mutiny the sailors at Portsmouth remained till the fourteenth of May, when lord Howe arrived from the admiralty with plenary powers to settle all differences; and as his lordship was the bearer of an act of parliament which had passed on the ninth, granting an additional allowance of pay to the seamen, and also of his majesty's proclamation of pardon, the flag of insurrection was struck, and the fleet prepared to put to sea to encounter the enemy. The public saw with infinite satisfaction On the fourth of June the whole fleet at the Nore celebrated his majesty's birth day by a royal salute; and on the sixth they were joined by four men of war and a sloop, which had deserted from the fleet of admiral Duncan, then in Yarmouth roads. This accession of strength swelled the mutinous fleet to twenty-four sail, consisting of eleven ships of the line and thirteen frigates. The appearance of such a fleet under the command of a set of common sailors, in a state of insubordination, formed a singular and awful spectacle. Government, in the mean time, were not inattentive to the obligations imposed upon them by the perilous situation of the country, and a proclamation was issued, offering his majesty's pardon to all such of the mutineers as should immediately return to their duty. This was speedily followed by two acts of parliament, the former for more effectually restraining the intercourse from the shore with the ships in a state of mutiny, and the latter for punishing with the utmost severity of the law any attempt to seduce seamen or soldiers into mutinous practices; but the master-stroke of policy was in the removal of all the buoys from the mouth of the Thames, and the neighbouring coast, by which any large ship that should attempt to sail away would be exposed to the rust imminent danger of running aground; while furnaces and red-hot balls were kept in readiness at Sheerness, to repel any attack that might be made on that place by the mutineers. The last attempt at reconciliation by treaty was made through the Earl of Northesk, who commanded the Monmouth, to whom the delegates communicated the terms on which alone they would give up the ships, and requested that he would submit them to the king, and return on board with a clear and positive answer within fifty-four hours; intimating that the whole must be complied with, or they would immediately put the fleet to sca. These terms, which were submitted the next day to the king in council, were rejected, and the intelligence of their refusal was communicated by captain Knight, of the Inflexible. All hopes of accommodation being thus at an end, preparations |