of Politics, published in your Register of last Saturday; and do perfectly agree with you in the statement, which you make in. pages 94. and 95, that "we must become "a military people or slaves."-Indeed, this truth seems to have gained great ground of late, in consequence of the great alarm of invasion; and I am glad of it. The sooner that opinion becomes universal, the sooner shall we become such military people; and, I agree with you altogether, that it is only by so becoming that we can escape slavery. The reason for my troubling you at present, is not so much to press this necessity, as to give two or three hints concerning the manner of executing it, which, in reading your Register have just occurred to my mind.-One great misfortune, when a great work is to be undertaken, is for the undertaker to suppose, that his task is soon and easily accomplished. The effect of this opi nion is, that he prepares himself to go through the job without any trouble or difficulty; and at the first obstacle is startled and disheartened. I is much better for a man to magnify to himself the dangers and difficulties of his enterprise, and then, by finding the blow so much less then he expected, he is always kept alive and in spirits.-It is therefore, of the greatest consequence, that when a great work is to be undertaken, all the difficulties of it should be well weighed and well calculated, or at least, certainly not under-rated. It is o be observed, too, that the under rating difficulties of any sort or kind is seldom witnessed but in those, who either out of dread of toil and labour, wish to disguise them from themselves; or, who feeling a momentary impulse of enthusiastic courage, during the impulse of that feeling think themselves capable of performing any achievement however great; but, who the next moment sink to proportionate depression and lowness of spirits.--Neither of these persons are in my mind at all fit for any difficult enterprise. It is the cool, steady, persevering men alone, who ever can undertake such a task with any prospect of success. If the hill is long and steep, and without resting places, it is only by the help of a firm steady pull, without any springs or jerks, that we can ever hope to arrive at the summit.-Now, this reason. ing seems to me, precisely to apply to the mode, by which many seem to think, this avowed necessity of making the people of England a military people. They seem to imagine, that by admitting this necessity, and withal clapping a few red coats on peoples backs (particularly, if a bill is brought into Parliament for the purpose)

the work is already accomplished. Very different indeed, is my opinion. I am afraid it must be a work of time and much labour, and unremitting care. A work of so much time, that we may not now have time enough left; but still this is our only hope, and it must be attempted; and this dread of being too late should have no other effect but to quicken and animate our exer. tions. Now, Sir, with respect to what is, and may be called " a Military People," and the mode of making a people such an one, I perhaps, may differ from the fashionable opinion, as much as I do differ from it with respect to the difficulties of the undertaking. Every man in the kingdom may have a red coat on his back, and a musquet on his shoulder, and yet the people as unlike a military people, as light from darkness. On the other hand, they may be a people completely military, without a single military accoutrement or weapon in their hands. For it is not military arms, and military bodies that we want, but military minds. It is the mind that makes the

man.

A military mind prevailing amongst a people will make that people a military people, and without it no people, however well trained to arms, will ever become so.

To make a people, therefore, a military people, it is necessary to give them a military mind; and to do this, you must first inquire, what is such a mind? I conceive that the very first and principal ingredient, is a thorough contempt for riches, ease, and luxury. The next no less important, a high and lofty spirit dictated by a genuine sense of honour, which will brook no insult, and suffer no indignity. Thirdly, a true generous love of the country, and an abandonment of every other earthly consideration when put in competition with its interests; such a love of the country, as makes the man who feels it, look upon its general interests as immediately affecting himself personally, and takes no consideration for his own comfort, safety, or gratification, whenever his country seems likely to want the slightest sacrifice of either. Fourthly, a love of glory, a thirst for renown, an ambition of distinguishing himself by great and useful exploits.This I look upon as the feelings of a military mind; and without which no mind can so be called-and when a people generally entertain these feelings, and not till then, shall I call it a military people.

This, then, however difficult the task, however great the labour, we must do. It must instil into the people all these feelings, or become the slaves of France, of Buoua

parté; the slaves of the most vindictive, bloody-minded, and impious tyrant that ever disgraced an empire: the slave of an ill-begotten Corsican, atheistical rebellious usurper.

In my mind, then, we have no alternative; either we must submit to the domi. nion of France, or we must acquire generally that military mind, which I have described. There is no need for drilling and training; give a ploughman this mind, and he will be already half drilled, his zeal and goodwill, will render all the labours of his instructors unnecessary.

Before I conclude, I must again urge the absolute necessity of the first-mentioned ingredient; viz. a thorough contempt for riches. In opposition to the exultation of Mr. G. Rose, at the prospect of the people becoming rich in the stocks, I must urge, that till the people have an utter contempt for stocks and stock-holders (as such) and care as little about their prosperity and depression, as about the whistling of the wind, they can never become a military people, they can never have a chance of escaping the above-mentioned slavery. The easiest and shortest way of effecting this, will be the ruin of the stocks, or what is called a national bankruptcy; by many thought to involve the immediate ruin of the country, by me looked upon with less certainty assuredly as the salvation of it, but with equal certainty as affording the best hope of salvation. When people have then lost their money, which now they esteem above all things, they will find that their lives and liberties are worth a little fighting for.

ANNIBAL.

P. S. Since writing the above, I have seen the Morning Chronicle of the day, and finding in it some expressions perfectly consonant to my own sentiments, very well and forcibly expressed, I have copied them out, and beg leave to send them to you in the shape of a postcript.-If there are any who entertain so bad an opinion of the populace of the country as to imagine that they are not to be trusted with arms, we can only say, that if this were the case, the country must perish if danger come near it. But in truth, the best way to secure the affections and fidelity of the multitude is to make them feel that they are important members of the state. They must be attached to their country by passion. It is not enough to preach up to them bow much they would lose by invasion. This argument will not of itself convince them that it is their interest to risk their lives to repel invasion. To make men encounter danger and death on principles of profit and loss is a

notion that could only originate in the head of a drivelling financier. It is unquestionably true, that the poor, as well as the rich, would suffer by French invasion. It is right to impress on the minds of the people, that the conquest of England would plunge them in beggary and ruin. But nevertheless they must be inspired with a filial love for their country, they must feel for its honour and glory. But if they are thought unworthy of confidence, how can they be animated with any manly sentiment, or roused to any great exertion?

What the country wants most at this time is a martial spirit pervading every class of the community. If that is obtained, every military measure for arming the people will be easy in the execution. Without it the wisest will be impracticable. "Walled towns, (says Lord Bacon) stored arsenals and armouries, goodly races of horses, chariots of war, elephants, ordnance, artillery, and the like; all this is but a sheep in a lion's skin, except the breed and disposition of the people be stout and warlik.." And how is a people to be made stout and war like but by the "exercise of a just and honourable war." Since Frenchmen profess arms as their chief occupation, other nations must cease to boast of their wealth, their industry, and their manufactures. They must cultivate the profession of arms too, or they must be conquered.

on.

SUMMARY OF POLITICS.

THE BLOCKADE OF THE ELBE has drawn upon this country the rage of Buonaparté and the abuses of his hirelings, who write in the Moniteur. In proportion, however, as they are angry with us, we may rest assured, that our measures are wise and efficacious. The blockade of the Elbe is one of the best measures that ever was resolved It must tend to our good, and cannot possibly do any harm except to our enemy and to those who favour his cause; those who, either from weakness, or from hostility to us, are become, indirectly, his allies in the war. We gave it as our opinion, that, previously to the close of the last war, the war-like operations of England should be confined to the keeping of France shut up on the Continent; because, so shut up, she must sally out in quest of plunder, in quest of employment for her army, or her strength as well as her reputation must dwindle away from her inactivity. One species of continental war-fare, however, we connected with this general plan; that is, an invasion of France, in behalf, and in the name

of, the lawful Sovereign of that country.As to the use, which the French are mak ing of the press, it is now becoming a matter of indifference. They have already got the opinions of all the people of the Continent on their side; or, at least, the opinions of all those who are liable to be misled by the press. In this country their writings can have little effect now: if they have, the fault is most assuredly with the government. We do hear, indeed, that there is, at this moment, one London press employed in printing "a justification of Buonaparté," and we are informed, that it proceeds from a pen, which has so often been employed in belying and vilifying the King. This is an object worth the attention of the government; for, men will not chearfully go forth to meet the foe, while the friends of that foe remain unpunished. Tit the insolent and hateful tyrant of France should be defended by the British press is by no means astonishing; that press has defended Robespierre and Barras, and it would have defended Caligula; but, that such infamous publications are circulated, without bringing condign punishment on the heads of those who circulate them cannot fail to excite both astonishment and indignation.

HANOVER.-The use, which the French intended to make of their conquest of this Electorate, has now been made apparent, through an official channel. "They only "seized on it till the King of England "would consent to give up Malta, and to "restore to France all that his fleets had "captured during the present war!" The answer returned by his Majesty's ministers is by no means sufficiently indignant; by no means sufficiently strong, clear, and decisive, to convince us, that no sacrifice will be made, by this country, to recover the desolated, degraded, and polluted Electorate. Madame de Pompadour, in speaking of the conduct of this country, at the breaking out of the war of 1759, observes: "Provi"dence seems to have intended HANOVER

as a bridle in the mouth of the proud "and ambitious English, who, surrounded "by the sea and defended by their fleets,

would, were it not for the dear little Elec"torate, be absolutely unassailable, except "from the clouds."-Let us hope, however, that this dear little Electorate will not, after being pillaged to the bare walls, be still a bridle in the mouth of Britain; a hope which is founded on the magnanimity of our Sovereign, rather than upon any quality, or any principles, that his servants seem to possess.It certainly was wise

not to attempt to defend Hanover by British troops. Under the present circumstances, to send British troops into the territories of our helpless friends; to attempt at this moment, to carry on, against France, a war, either by troops or subsidy, in Holland, in Germany, in Italy, or in Portugal, would be, in our opinion, to afford Buciaparté the highest of all gråtifications. By such attempts, we must ruin those whom our endeavours would be intended to relieve and sustain, and finally make them our enemies: we should waste our treasure, exhaust our army,, fatigue, fret, and wear out the public spirit of the people, and prevent the doing away of that contempt, which the treaty of Amiens has excited, in the minds of foreigners, for British policy and British prowess. No; we must so fight France as to wound her, without exposing ourselves to the reaction of our blows. We should lose no time in adding the Cape of Good Hope to the British Empire; and, it should become a sort of treason for any man to propose the surrender of that port, or of Malta, under the present distribution of European power, upon any condition whatever. Saint Domingo should, by some means or other, be rendered, for ever independent of France; unless a restoration of the monarchy took place, accompanied with a restitution of all conquests. If, after having disposed of a sufficient force to keep France and her vassals confined to the Continent, we have 20,000 or 40,000 men to spare, they should be destined for the Garonne, or some other weak part of the French territory. We should destroy Bourdeaux, and so assault every other assailable place in France, as to make the French people feel themselves disgraced. Spain should be invited to shake off the Consular yoke; she should, at any rate, be compelled to preserve a scrupalously impartial neutrality; or her valuable settlements abroad should be seized on, or rendered independent, in which case Mexico might form a tolerably good "indemnity" for Hanover. No little peddling plan of hostilities will carry us through these times : our enemy has long ago cast off all ancient rules; no ties but those of his own interest bind him; and, though we must not imitate him in injustice and perfidy, we must imitate him in boldness, or we must fall be. neath his arms.

ENGLISH PRISONERS IN FRANCE.Some persons have been proposing an exchange of the British subjects, who have been arrested in France, for French sailors and soldiers; but, if there be one drop of

honest blood left in the nation, this will never take place, without exciting an irresistible opposition. What! put men, who left their country, for the sake of mere amusement, and who remained in the dominions of an enemy who was daily heap ing insults upon England; put such men up a level with those who are taken in battle! if such a measure could be seriously thought of by the government, we should have no scruple to say, that, for our parts, we should leave that government to defend itself. Those persons, who have been arrested, while acting there in a public capacity; we mean, in the service of his Majesty, ought to be ransomed, if it can be done upon reasonable and honourable conditions; and also such persons, being in his Majesty's service, and having been arrested in their passage through France, provided it was necessary for them to pass through France; but, all others should be left to ransom themselves, or should remain in prison, waiting the good pleasure of the tyrant, whom they went to admire.

THE FUNDS have fallen again during the last week, and the reason assigned, is, the

unfortunate failure of the mediation of "Russia" just as if that mediation has, or ever has had, any thing in it, that promised peace to this country. It was an anodyne necklace, invented by Mr. Fox and administered to the nation with the concurrent opinions of Lord Hawkesbury and Mr. Pitt. Our readers will remember with what exultations of joy, what raptures of fraternity, the proposal to have recourse to mediation was adopted; and, they will remember, too, that we, from the first moment, reprobated the step, as being calculated to lull the nation in false hopes, and finally to expose it to the sudden attacks of the enemy.Under the head of funds it might not be improper to ask Mr. Addington to give the public an account of the surplus of the Consolidated Fund for the quarter, which ended on the 5th instant! We shall, however, see it in good time; and, in the interim, we beg leave to congratulate the Omnium eaters upon the excellent bargain, which they made with their friend, the Minister of Peace and Plenty.--Mr. Corry, the Irish Chancellor of the Exchequer, does, it seems, not find such ready customers as his fellow-labourer in England found, notwithstanding the time which has elapsed since the English loan was made, and which has given people leisure to reflect on the vast benefit that public credit experiences from raising so great a portion of the taxes within the year. These remarks do not

arise from any particular pleasure which we feel at the fall in the funds; but from a desire to point out to our readers, that, when the nation is resolved on the performance of any thing, those funds will never prove a very serious obstacle.

DEFENCE BILL.--The bill now before Parliament for arming and training the people, is the most important measure that ever was taken in this country, not only within the memory of man, but at any period whatever of our history, from the first settlement of the Saxons to the present day.As to the time of bringing in this Bill much censure has been justly bestowed on the ministers; for, if it had been brought in as soon as it might have been, the men of the first class would at this moment have been fit to march against the enemy, instead of being, as yet, unenrolled. Reserving this part of the subject for another opportunity, I propose, at present, to make a few observations on what appears to me to be the most material defects of the Bill, as it now stands.

1. The time of execution is far too distant. The first class are to be called out to be trained; but, as the bill now stands, it cannot be called out till within a day or two of Michaelmas, and between Michaelmas and Lady-Day it cannot, according to the gene ral provision, be called out at all: so that, this regulation, which is intended to protect us against an invasion, which is daily expected, will not produce any effect in the way of training, till after the 25th of next March! This evil will assuredly be done away; but, it must be confessed, I should think, even by the most "bardened sinner" that ever lived, that what I have here pointed out is a striking proof, that this was at last an undigested measure.

2. The Classification is, in my opinion, injudicious, and will, if persisted in be ex tremely injurious to the whole plan. The general enrollment is good, and the partial, and, in some degree, optional, training I must approve of, unless I contradict my own opinions, as stated last week. The division into classes is excellent; and though it did, indeed, naturally present itself, yet, as governments do not always adopt measures that so present themselves, there is merit in having adopted this. But, as to the boun daries of the classes, I differ in opinion from the Secretary at War. Four is a very good number of classes; but the lines of demar cation are not drawn at the right places. The first class, which is, indeed, the only one worthy of great attention, embraces all men from 17 to 30 years of age, being un married or having no child. Now, all ibose

advanced age. There cannot be any thing very fatiguing in a British campaign; and, if there were, boys would support it better than men, as must be evident to every one who recollects how many things he bore at seventeen, either of which would have killed him at thirty. But, I am not for leaving untrained that material part of the population to be found between 20 and 30. No; the men falling within this space should be trained too; but they should be trained not so often as the First Class, and should never be mixed along with it. My great objection to the present classification, is, that it is calculated to damp the ardour of the youth; to stifle in its birth that generous feeling, that military spirit, which is so much wanted in the country. Bring together, under arms, a band of young men, divested of all care, leaving behind them neither wife, nor child, nor house, and you will find them pushing each other forward to deeds of danger and of glory; but, couple each of them with a man who has a wife, a shop, a farm, who has chalked out his plan of life, who has settled on the course and stages of his career of interest and happiness; couple every lad with a man like this, and let him, always when he is called out to drill, hear the complaints of his unwilling, discontented, not to say factious, companion, and, will he not participate in his sentiments, will he not imitate his conduct? In short, it appears to me, that, to huddle together in the first class lads of seventeen and men of thirty, single and married, apprentices and masters, nephews and uncles, must create great disgust amongst the elder part of the class, and, which is of still more importance, must inevitably keep down that youthful ardour, which would otherwise be formed into a flame.

who are well acquainted with a military life, and particularly with the induction and training of soldiers, will, I am certain, agree with me, that this class is very injudiciously formed. To put together boys of seventeen and men of thirty, persons destitute of all possessions with others who have a house, goods, and a wife, would be a very good regulation, if, as in the case of coupling dogs, the object were to restrain the ardour of yarth, and, for the very reason that it would then be good, it is now lamentably bad. -1 would have had the first class begin at sixteen and end at twentytwe, excluding all married persons. Sixteen is by no means too early an age: I myself carried a musket at sixteen; and, the best battalion I ever saw in my life was composed of men, the far greater part of whom were enlisted before they were sixteen, and who, when they were first brought up to the regiment, were clothed in cats made much too long and too large, in order to leave room for growing. These boys learnt their exercise instantly; they were indissolubly attached to each other, and to the service; they had no hankering after any other state of life; and, in short, from their sentiments and behaviour compared with those of men enlisted at a more advanced period of life, I made up my opi o, that youth was the stuff wherewith to make soldiers, an opinion, which, I should think, would be universal after the experience that the world has had in the eats of the "jeunes gens' of France.Youth is the season for pliability of body as well as for docility of mind. A man of any will not like to place himself in a Petre, which shall expose him to what he locks upon as ridicule; nor will be very pa tity submit to the controul of those who Ey have to command him, espécially Wuen, as must be frequently the case, they are not only his inferiors 13 point of proparty, but also in age: whereas, lads will experience none of these disagreeable feelag They will not be abashed at the aughter excited by their awkwardness: theirs are the days of mirth; and, as to dence, every one knows, that the younger led or directed by those whom we kow willingly we submit to be to be our inferiors in society --I am aware, that I shall be told, that it is immedote service that we are looking to.

we are the more

Be it

so, and in that case even, were to choose between a class like that of the bill and a Cass such as I propose, I would prefer the latter, relying much more on the enthuasm of youth than on the strength of more

2. To pay the men for their time spent at drill appears to me to be bad in its principle; but, it arises out of the afore-mentioned error as to the classification, which, indeed, if it be not corrected, will prove to be a source of evils unnumbered. Lads from 16 to 20, being unmarried, want no pay they have fathers or masters, to support them; but poor married men, or men grown out of the protection of relations and masters, must be paid, if they are called out on the week-days, or the hardship and / the clamour will be very great. If, therefore, the First Class were confined to unmarried persons from 16 to 20, to be drilled three or four times a week, and the Second Class to all the rest of those now included in the first, to be drilled only on Sundays,