spread far and wide, but not the slightest mischief was done either to the ships or the batteries. A second, a third, and a fourth, succeeded no better: at length, after twelve had been exploded, the engagement ceased about four o'clock on the fol lowing morning; and the English smaller vessels withdrew in perfect order, and without the loss of a man. No mischief whatever was ascertained to be done to the flotilla, but, from the missing two brigs and some smaller vessels in their line, the next day, lord Keith thought it possible they might be destroyed. The French reports acknowledge the loss of twenty-five men in killed and wounded. Thus terminated, to the confusion of the projectors, and the bitter disappointment of the public, an enterprize, in the preparation of which much time, expence, and ingenuity were wasted, and which fully committed the reputation of the government of the country to derision and contempt, both at home and abroad *.

The invention on which so much reliance had been placed, was not new: it had been experimented during the American war, by the rebel force against some English ships, in situations much more calculated to secure success to such a mode of attack, than those at Boulogue, and had completely failed. It evinced, therefore, a great absence of common knowledge, as well as of professional information in the admiralty, to countenance, for a moment, this base and contemptible species of warfare, which henceforward was, in derision, termed "The

CATAMARAN PROJECT," and which most deservedly fell into utter discredit after the first attempt had been made; nor were the public surprised or disappointed when a subsequent attack, by the same means, upon Fort Rouge, and the flotilla protected by it, in the harbour of Calais, was thoroughly unsuccessfult. The public were now divided in sentiment, whether "The Stone Expedition," of the last year,

or

The Catamaran" of the present, had most imposed upon their credulity, or were most deserving of reprobation. But it was recol-. lected, that the latter was planned under the auspices of a man utterly ignorant of nautical affairs, whilst the former had its origin under those, of one of the first naval characters of the age.

It is scarcely necessary to detail some further attempts which were made, late in the year, to prevent the junction of various portions of the enemy's flotilla at Boulogne, by the British cruizers, as they were not only ineffectual, but are given in their official form in another part of this work. In those efforts, the usual gallantry of the English character was uniformly, though unsuccessfully displayed, and many valuable lives were fruitlessly sacrificed.

The last transaction of the year which we have to notice, was the attack upon, and capture of the Spanish homeward-bound treasure ships, which was effected by capt. Moore of the Indefatigable, and three other frigates under his commaud, off Cadiz. On the 5th of

October,

October, captain Moore, who had been detached from the channel fleet for the purpose, fell in with four large Spanish frigates, which, upon being hailed (to induce them to shorten sail) without effect, were fired upon by the English force. A parley then ensued, when captain Moore informed the Spanish rearadmiral, that he had orders to detain his squadron, and earnestly wished to execute them without blood-shed, but that his determination must be immediate. The officer dispatched on this message, returning with an unsatisfactory answer, an engagement immediately ensued, each of the English frigates taking an antagonist. In less than ten minutes, one of the enemy's frigates blew up with a tremendous explosion. In half an hour more, two more of the Spaniards surrendered, and the fourth, after an attempt to escape, was captured long before sun-set. The loss, on the part of the English squadron, was very trifling; that of the Spaniards was (independently of 240 lives lost by the explosion of the frigate) nearly 100 in killed and wounded. The ships thus captured, were convoyed to England in perfect safety, and their lading was found to be of immense value, in coined and uncoined gold and silver, and precious merchandize, the produce of Spanish America*.

As no parliamentary enquiry took place into the causes of this infrac tion of the peace with Spain without any previous declaration of war, we are precluded in our present volume, from taking further notice of the transaction, reserving to the following year our discussion (upon a most important point to our national character) whether it were excusable, upon the spirit and principle of the public law of Europe, or whether that law was, in the present instance, grossly violated. In every event, as men, we must deeply regret, that such a force was not employed upon this occasion, as the Spanish admiral might have submitted to, without an imputed stain on his own honour, or that of his country.

We shall here terminate our do mestic history for the year; in the transactions of which, with the solitary exception of the capture of Surinam, we have little cause to glory, and proceed (after bestowing a few pages on the affairs of Ireland) to consider those of France during the same period, in which the spirit of enterprise and vigorous councils of her ruler, formed a striking contrast to the apparent supineness and want of resource of the English government.

424.

CHAP

İN

N reviewing the state and circumstances of Ireland, we lament to have still before our eyes a disgusting picture of besotted bigotry and faction.

The history of the present year is the continued tale of these follies, which, exploded and expelled from every other quarter of the civilized world, seem to have found a sort of permanent asylum in that unfortunate island: its government, state of society, and condition, exhibit the foulest, perhaps the only reproach, which has ever stigmatised the name of Britain; for it were idle trifling to impute the distractions and general backwardness of that country, to any other cause, than the circumstances in which she has been placed; and the example or wish of those, to whose management she has been entrusted.

In our former volume, we had occasion to mention the wild scheme of the enthusiast Emmett; who, with an exchequer of not more than 30001. and an undisciplined, perhaps reluctant band of about eighty adventurers, conceived himself equal to the enterprise of giving a new form and constitution to the Irish nation. The attempt was of course crushed by its own impotence; but it was VOL. XLVI.

fertile in consequences, which it becomes our duty to record under the year which the present volume undertakes to lay before the public. In itself, the matter deserved no further notice, than almost any other trivial riot; but it became, in the event, a very serious disaster to the British empire, and an incident peculiarly fortunate to the enemy; it, in a moment, rendered ineffectual the prudent measures by which lord Hardwicke, the viceroy of Ireland, had advanced in the desirable work of conciliating and harmonising the people, and of directing a general effort of zeal to the service of the empire.

The union which took effect in 1801, tended essentially to impair the consequence, and manifestly exasperated the feelings of that description of the Irish, who cherished protestantism as a political designation, and a claim to pre-eminence; it considered itself to have been over-reached; or, in the eagerness of party spirit, to have been self-betrayed to its ruin. Many relinquished that principle altogether; and the fervour, with which it had been pursued, abated very consi derably since lord Hardwicke assumed the reins of government. Without L

offending

offending the prejudice, or exciting the jealousy of the dominant party, his lordship, as far as the information, or vigilance of government, could extend, afforded indiscriminate and efficient protection to all the king's subjects. He repressed intemperate zeal, the excesses of authority, the arrogance of prosperous faction, the follics of the weak, and the vices of the wicked; which, covering themselves for a few years back under the cloak of loyalty, seemed, in Ireland, to throw disrepute upon that elevated principle of action. The Catholics, for the most part a money-making and industrious people, with very little of political pretention, were well pleased at their condition under his auspices. The country began to feel the effects of this conduct, in the return and diffusion of harmony, and, what seldom has occurred, and, perhaps would not in the present instance, if the union had not left the viceroy at liberty to pursue the course suggested by his own policy and feelings, THE GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND WAS GREETED WITH THE BLESSINGS OF THE PEOPLE. The faction to which we have alIuded, and whose adherents, as well to distinguish themselves from the protestants of milder and more liberal views, as from an affected reverence for the memory of William the 3d, the modern conqueror of Ireland, were self-denominated, Orangemen, and strenuously maintained the policy of rendering the professors of their religion a garrison of superintendance over the far more nume rous Roman catholic population. The component parts of this faction were, a few gentlemen of feeble minds, or narrow education; some others who sought an occasion to

render their zeal conspicuous, in the hope of profiting by the fears, or from the reliance upon them, of the English government; of malignant men fond of acting upon the weak or wicked propensities of their neighbours, and of the whole lower classes of protestants, with inconsiderable exception. If the Roman catholics are not to be reputed enemies, they are not to be guarded against or watched, and thus fall to the ground all the pretensions, by which so many active or interested individuals pursue the game of ambition or avarice, and thus the dream of personal importance terminates for all the adherents of this system.

The enterprize of Emmett, which the melancholy but unpremeditated murder of the chief justice had swelled into a sort of affair of state, occupying the thoughts, and reviv ing the apprehensions of the public, was by these persons seized on with avidity. Although the tumult was obviously local, alarm and mistrust were very generally extended. Notwithstanding it was concerted and conducted by protestants, the first fervor of jealousy was made to include the total of the catholic body; and rebellion and popery again became a prevalent or fashionable combination of expression.

On the breaking out of the war with France, in 1803, so far as property extended, and as a deliberate and reflecting mind was to be presumed among the catholics, so far an ardent zeal in the cause of their country was conspicuous. When the peace of the metropolis was violated, and that the external enemy seemed to combine his exertions with those of partizans at home, a general and indiscriminate burst of indignation

indignation arose. All descriptions were eager to enrol themselves in the voluntary associations, which had been disused since the peace of Amiens: but the catholics were in many places openly and avowedly refused; in most they were coldly and hesitatingly accepted. These two circumstances, the sentiment of blame and jealousy on the occasion of Emmett's attempt, which seemed to prevail among the protestants, and the disinclination observable in the same quarter, to admit the catholics to the defence of the country, rankled in the minds of the latter with considerable asperity. Although the causes were laid in the preceding year, the effects became conspicuous in the present; we' are, therefore, less out of order in re-tracing matters which may seem to have been disposed of under the head of a former volume.

Another incident of the year 1803, on which we expressed some sentiments, recurs also on this occasion. The letters addressed to earl Fingall, by the lord chancellor Redesdale, found their way, about January, 1804, into the public papers, and appeared to contain a wild, un qualified, and indiscriminate censure, upon all ranks and classes of that great body of the Irish, who continue in religious communion with the Latin Primate. This was, indeed, the first regular attack which had, since the revolution, been made upon the superior catholics; in fact, they had hitherto been treated, by every successive administration, with great external appearance of decorum. The sentiments contained in this correspondence, having been necessarily divulged, had already been the subject of indignant reprehension in private circles; but, the resentment nearly exceeded all bounds, when,

by a complete disclosure, it was found, that a minister of great trust and power, the second person in that part of the united kingdom, had adopted, as the result of his deliberate judgment, opinions thus obstinately and irreconcileably hostile to the great mass of the Irish public, and that he sanctioned accusations, which sate hitherto more lightly, because they were considered as the giddy and ludicrous effusions of a few hot-brained enthusiasts.

It was the more extraordinary that these charges should have been preferred at that parlicular moment, as the principal Roman catholics manifested an extreme anxiety not to distract the attention of government by their own immediate concerns. Such, indeed, was the for bearance of that party, and such the good temper diffused by Lord Hardwicke's popular administration, that this people were universally disposed to wave the consideration of its interests, and to submit to the privations which the law still imposed upon it, rather than perplex the public councils with what was known to be an intricate and embarrassing question. It was not above two months previous to the date of these invectives, and previous to the disgusting doubts of their fidelity, which we have noticed, that the catholics of different counties in Ireland, having been convened for the purpose of preferring applications, for thorough emancipation (as it was termed) to parliament, in every instance refused compliance with the requisition.

Like every strain of outrageous violence, the letters of Lord Redesdale, when they came before the public, produced the very temper of which they seemed to deprecate L 2

the