vision as may be necessary for the service of the year. The progres sive improvement of the revenue cannot fail to encourage you to persevere in the system which has been adopted for defraying the expences of the war, with as little addition as possible to the public debt, and to the permanent burthens of the state.-I lament the heavy pressure which, under the present circumstances, must unavoidably be experienced by my people: but I am persuaded that they will meet it with the good sense and fortitude which so eminently distinguish their character, under a conviction of the indispensable importance of upholding the dignity, and of providing effectually for the safety of the empire.

My lords and gentlemen,

I have concluded a convention with the king of Sweden, for the purpose of adjusting all the differences which have arisen on the subject of the 11th article of the treaty of 1661. I have directed that a copy of this convention should be laid before you; and you will, I trust, be of opinion that the arrangement, whilst it upholds our maritime rights, is founded on those principles of reciprocal advantage which are best calculated to maintain and improve the good understanding which happily subsists between the two countries. In the prosecution of the contest in which we are engaged, it shall be, as it has ever been, my first object to execute as becomes me the great trust committed to my charge. Embarked with my brave and loyal people in one common cause, it is my fixed determination, if the occasion should arise, to share their exertions and their dangers in the defence of our

constitution, our religion, our laws, and independence. To the activity and valour of my fleets and armies, to the zeal and unconquerable spirit of my faithful subjects, I confide the honour of my crown, and all those valuable interests which are involved in the issue of this momentous contest.-Actuated by these sentiments, and humbly imploring the blessing of Divine Providence, I look forward with a firm conviction, that if, contrary to all just expectation, the enemy should elude the vigilance of my numerous fleets and cruizers, and attempt to execute their presumptuous threat of invading our coasts, the consequence will be to them discomfiture, confusion, and disgrace; and that ours will not only be the glory of surmounting the present difficulties, and repelling immediate danger, but the solid and permanent advantage of fixing the safety and independence of the kingdom, on the basis of acknowledged strength, the result of its own tried energies and resources.

Message from his Majesty to the House of Commons, March 26th, 1804, on the voluntary Offer of the Irish Militia.

His majesty thinks proper to acquaint the house of commons, that the officers, non-commissioned officers, and privates of the several regiments of the militia of Ireland have made a voluntary tender of their services, to be employed in Great Britain during the war. His majesty has received with great satisfaction this striking proof of their affection and attachment towards his person and government, and of their patriotic zeal for the general Qq3 interests

conceiving that his being enabled to avail himself of this distinguished instance of public spirit may be attended with the most important advantages at the present conjuncture, he recommends it to his faithful commons to adopt such regulations as may enable him to accept the services of such parts of the militia forces of Ireland as may voluntarily offer themselves to be employed in Great Britain, for such time and to such extent as to the wisdom of parliament may seem expedient.

His Majesty's Message to the House of Commons on the 7th of July, 1804, for a Supply by Way of Vote of Credit.

"His majesty, relying on the experienced zeal and affection of his faithful commons, and considering that it may be of the utmost importance to provide for such emergencies as may arise, is desirous that this house will enable him to take all such measures as may be necessary to disappoint or defeat any enterprize or design of his enemies, and as the exigencies of affairs may require."

Address of the Right Hon. the Speaker of the House of Com. mons to his Majesty, on the Prorogation of Parliament, July 31,

1804.

Most Gracious Sovereign, We, your majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the commons of Great Britain and Ireland in parliament assembled, approach the foot of your majesty's throne with senti

rence. The bill which I hold in my hand completes the supply of the present year. These, sire, we have appropriated to the farther support of your majesty's household, and the honour and dignity of your crown, to the military and naval defence of the realm, and to the various services of your extended empire. In providing for these grants, large in their amount, and commensurate with the extraordinary demands of the times in which we live, we have, nevertheless, steadily persevered in our former course, by raising a large proportion of our supplies within the year; and we have now the proud satisfaction to see, that the permanent debt of the nation is rapidly diminishing, at the same time that the growing prosperity of the country has strengthened and multiplied all its resources. Contemplating the war in which we are engaged, the character and the means of our enemy, and the possible duration of the contest, although we are fearless of its issue, we have nevertherless deemed it our indispensable duty to deliberate with unremitting solicitude upon the best system for our military defence; and the voluntary spirit of your people, seconding the views of parliament, has at the same time animated all ranks of men with an active desire of attaining to such a state of discipline in arms as may enable them successfully to co-operate with your majesty's regular and veteran forces. Thus formidably armed and powerfully sustained, we trust, that, with the blessing of God, we shall victoriously maintain your majesty's throne, and transmit, unimpaired, to our descendants, the most perfect form of government which the

world

world has ever experienced for the practical happiness of mankind; firmly persuaded that this empire will long outlast the storms which have overwhelmed the continent of Europe; and earnestly hoping that other nations, now fallen, may witness the destruction of a tyranny founded on fraud and violence, and cemented with innocent blood, and again recover their ancient power and independence, as the best gua.. rantees for the future welfare and tranquillity of the civilized world.

Speech of his Majesty on the Prorogation of Parliament, July 31, 1804.

My Lords and Gentlemen, Before I put an end to the present session of Parliament, I am desirous of expressing my entire approbation of the zeal and assiduity with , which you have applied yourselves to the great objects of public concern which have come under your consideration. You have wisely continued to direct your attention to the encouragement and improvement of that respectable and powerful force, which the ardour and spirit of my subjects have enabled me to establish to an extent hitherto unexampled. You have at the same time endeavoured to combine an additional establishment for our domestic defence with the means of augmenting our regular army, and of maintaining it on such a scale as may be proportioned to the circumstances of the times, and to the rank which this country ought ever to hold among the powers of Europe.

Gentlemen of the house of

commons,

You are entiled to my warmest acknowledgments for the fresh proof

which you have given me of your constant and affectionate attachment to my person and family, and your regard to the honour and dig nity of my crown, by the liberal provision which you have made for the payment of the debt on my civil list revenues, and for furnishing me with the additional means of defraying the increase which has unavoidably taken place in different branches of my expenditure.

I must also return you my warmest thanks for the extensive provi sion which you have made for the exigencies of the public service; and especially for the just and prudent attention which you have shewn to true economy, and to the permanent credit and welfare of the country, by the great exertions you have made for preventing, as far as possible, the accumulation of debt, and for raising so large a proportion of the expences of the war within the year.

My lords and gentlemen,

I have now only to recommend to you, to carry into your respective counties the same zeal for the public interest which has guided all your proceedings. It will be your particular duty to inculcate, on the minds of all classes of my subjects, that the preservation of all that is most dear to them requires the continuance of their unremitted exertions for the national defence.

The preparations which the enemy has long been forming for the declared purpose of invading this kingdom are daily augmented, and the attempt appears to have been delayed only with the view of procuring additional means for carrying it into execution.

Relying on the skill, valour, and discipline of my naval and military Qq4

force,

force, aided by the voluntary zeal and native courage of my people, I look with confidence to the issue of this great conflict; and I doubt not that it will terminate, under the blessing of Providence, not only in repelling the danger of the moment, but in establishing, in the eyes of foreign nations, the security of this country on a basis never to be shaken.

In addition to this first and great object, I entertain the animating hope that the benefits to be derived from our successful exertions will not be confined within ourselves; but that, by their example and their consequences, they may lead to the re-establisment of such a system in Europe, as may rescue it from the precarious state to which it is reduced; and may finally raise an effectual barrier against the unbounded schemes of aggrandizement and ambition which threaten every independent nation that yet remains on the Continent.

Extract of a Letter from Lord Harrowby, his Britannic Majesty's Secretary of State for the Foreign Department, to P. Colquhoun Graf, Esq. relative to the Navigation of small Craft, between Tonningen and Hamburgh.-Dated Downing-street, July 8, 1804.

That the lighters be permitted to navigate between the rivers Weser and the Elbe.. Orders have accordingly been sent to his majesty's ships of the blockade, to permit the passage of lighters, barges, and other small craft, answering the above description, and carrying unexceptionable goods for neutral account, and to suffer the same to pass

without molestation to and fro, along the Danish side of the Elbe, through the Watten, between Tonningen and Hamburgh. His majesty hopes, that this permission will be properly attended to, and not abused, and that no unfair advantages shall be taken of it, by which his majesty should see himself forced to order the blockade to be resumed with greater strictness. I have the honour to be, &c.

(Signed) Harrowby.

Circular Note from Lord Hawkesbury, principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, to the Ministers of Foreign Courts, resident at the Court of London.

Downing-street, April 30, 1804.
Sir,

The experience which all Europe has had of the conduct of the French Government would have induced his Majesty to pass over in silence, and to treat with contempt, all the accusations which that go. vernment might have made against his majesty's government, if the very extraordinary and unauthorized replies which several of the ministers of the foreign powers have thought proper to make to a recent communication from the minister for foreign affairs at Paris, had not given to the subject of that communication a greater importance than it would otherwise have possessed. His majesty has, in consequence, directed me to declare, that he hopes he shall not be reduced to the necessity of repelling, with merited scorn and indignation, "the atrocious and utterly unfounded calumny, that the government of his majesty have been a party to plans

of