PUBLIC

CHARACTERS

OF 1805-6.

THE RIGHT HON. LORD KEITH, K. B.

ADMIRAL OF THE BLUE, AND COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE NORTH SEA FLEET.

THE present state of Europe, although less inauspicious to England than before, is allowed by all thinking men to be critical in the extreme. France seemed but a few months since to bestride the continent like a giant; and while subject potentates crouching at her feet supplicated protection, she affected to menace our little island with immediate. destruction. Her armies, increased to an alarming size, extended from the shores of the Zuyder Zee to the confines of the Mediterranean; the liberties of the brave Swiss had been rooted up by her bayonets ; and the commerce of the industrious Hollander was paralised by her insidious embrace. Portugal, our ancient ally, intimidated by her threats, reluctantly withdrew from her former connections; the independence of Spain was swallowed up within the vortex of her power; and Austria, until of late, maintained a cautious neutrality, while Russia, instead of a foe, assumed the character of a mediator. B

1805-1806.

In

In this untoward position of affairs, luckily for us, we could still confide in our own strength, and depend on our own resources. A nation that has armed half a million of her citizens, and may fit out one hundred sail of the line, however desirous of peace, need not be terrified at the idea of subjugation. For a defensive war, our country too, if not provided like that of the enemy, with a triple barrier of fortifications, is admirably calculated to resist an invader; it abounds in resources of every kind, and presents every variety of defence. Our shores form of themselves, without the aid of man, so many regular polygons, which, when lined with cannon and with freemen, must be in no common degree formidable. Our vallies boasting a high state of cultivation, are divided into separate fields, each possessing its fosse and its abbatis; while our roads are flanked by woods and by villages, so as on every side to present the means of delay, obstruction, and death. Nor ought the ocean, which at once surrounds and secures us, to be omitted in this catalogue of advantages. Our seamen, taught from their carly infancy to "buffet the waves," are the best and most intrepid of any in Europe; while in respect to our ships, now built after the finest models of other nations, and rigged in a manner peculiar to ourselves, we may justly boast of a decisive superiority.

It would be a curious subject to trace the history of their construction, and enumerate their tonnage, swelling by almost imperceptible degrees from the man of war, no bigger than a Gravesend hoy in the time of Alficd, to the size of a collier in the days of Henry

Henry VII. and of an Indiaman in the reign of EliZabeth.

The Cinque ports, where the merchants chiefly embarked in foreign commerce resided, are to be con. sidered as the dock-yards of former times; for it was from them that our kings in periods of emergency were supplied with their navy. It is recorded to the glory of Edward IV. that he possessed several vessels of war of his own; while "the maiden queen," exclusive of those hired by her orders, could boast of a navy of about twenty-six "ships royal." But what an immense difference is there in point of size and expence between the "Great Harry" of a former period, which cost fourteen thousand pounds in the reign of Henry VII. and a first-rate of the present day, carrying one hundred and twenty guns, manned by twelve or fourteen hundred seamen and marines, and spreading out whole acres of canvas to catch the gale, so as to bring this floating castle within gun-shot of the enemy !

It is our naval power that in every age has constituted the pride, the glory, and the defence of the British isles; and it is by this alone that we are to rise or fall in the scale of nations. In the early periods of our history we combated with various success the freebooters of the north, who invaded our coasts, and made predatory incursions against the inhabitants, At length, by means of a superior fleet, we ourselves unfurled the English cross on the opposite shores of the continent, and obtained a variety of important conquests, of which the little isles of Guernsey and

Jersey alone still appertain to us. Spain, which, by the policy and good-fortune of Charles V., had become the most formidable power in Europe, braved us in vain, during the reign of his son, with her numerous armada. The Dutch also, under the auspices of a Van Tromp and a De Ruyter, attempted without effect to obtain the mastery over us; for notwithstanding they were aided by the genius of a De Witt, they failed; nor have the French, although commanding such an extensive line of seacoast, and possessed of so many local advantages, been able to cope with us in our proper element.

If it be inquired by what magic we have achieved this, the answer is obvious; our victories have sprung out of our freedom. It is those just and equal laws which regulate persons and property by the rule of right, that have made us what we are. It is they, that, by conferring security, † have expanded the wings of commerce to every breeze, and nerved the arms of our sturdy islanders with redoubled strength; it is they, that, by adding to the resources, have multiplied the strength of the country, and enabled us more than once to bid defiance to all the great maritime powers of Europe.

Under these auspicious circumstances, a wonderful race of men has been reared or rather created: in one age, a Drake and a Raleigh; in another, an Anson

"Strongest by sea, strongest by land," was a favourite maxim of this great statesman.

+ "La liberté politique dans un citoyen est cette tranquillité d'esprit qui provient de l'opinion que chacun a de sa sureté." De l'Esprit des Loix.