the Directory itself, at least the majority of its present Members.

There is so much of conjecture in all that has reached us respecting the particulars of this intended Revolution, and of the part it is said CABARRUS was to have acted during and after its accomplishment, that our Readers will perceive that it is expedient and necessary to suppress them altogether. Without the risk (certainly without the intention) of misleading them, or of committing others, we believe it is in our power to state some circumstances respecting his dismissal. The question is said to have been discussed in the Directory with great warmth, and to have been carried at last by REUBELL, MERLIN, and LEPEAUX, against BARRAS and NEUF

CHATEAU.

The dismissal of CABARRUs has been represented to us as a great blow against BARRAS. Our accounts add, that great numbers of Troops, both Horse and Foot, are every day approaching to Paris. Their destination is said to be the Army of England; but, as they appear the principal objects of alternate hope and fear to both Parties, it is generally supposed their first business will be to bring the present dispute to an issue, in favour of one or the other.

The Councils, devoted to the majority of the Directory, with a view to gain the Troops over to their interests, have hastily, and without discussion, passed a Decree granting them the Milliard so long promised. The details of distribution are regulated, the first payments are ordered to be made without delay; but as no fund is assigned from which the money can be taken, it appears not unlikely that the Army, seeing through this artifice, may adopt some more certain and expeditious mode of collect

ing the promised reward, under the direction of those who have so often led them to conquest and plunder.

Such, we are assured, is the present state of Paris; but whether it will lead to a temporary compromise, or to an immediate explosion, we shall not hazard an opinion. We believe, however, that some material change will take place before the Elections. Between such parties, the least unfavourable issue that can be expected, borh for France and the World, is a pure Military Government, under the despotic sway of a Conquering General. And this is now the best prospect of Frenchmen, after ten years of misery and convulsion; and this is the awful warning which Englishmen should take from the French Revolution!

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

THE PRIZE EPIGRAMS, our Friends will have seen, are necessarily deferred for the present. The field is therefore yet open.

The late hour at which we received the admirable POEM (without a Signature) beginning with the words "Foe to thy Country's Foes," precludes us from giving it a place in the present Number. We shall not deny ourselves the pleasure and the pride of inserting it in our next.

The conclusion of the important Paper on the subject of NEUTRAL NAVIGATION, We were unwillingly obliged to defer, for want of room. We are aware of the impatience with which it is expected.

The same apology, and we make it with the same unwillingness, must serve for our again deferring, till the next week, the excellent Letter of DETECTOR.

N°

N° XIV.—MONDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1798.

Crede mibi quamvis contemnas murmura famæ

Hic tibi pallori, perfide, versus erit.

PROPERT.

VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS.

Quis ullius ordinis, qui se civem esse meminisset, in Clio Capitolino non fuit? Quis nomen non dedit? Quanquam nec Scribæ sufficere nec Tabula nomina illorum capere potuerunt?

WE

CIC. PHIL. 2.

E congratulate the Country on the events which have taken place during the last week. They have already, to a great degree, realized our expectations. The zeal and alacrity of the Public, in making every exertion for our common safety, are every day more conspicuous, and the spleen and mortification of the Friends of Jacobinism increase in the same proportion.

The most numerous Meeting ever known, of the opu lent Citizens of London, publicly assembled in the Royal Exchange (the centre of the Commerce of this great Empire, and of Europe) have, by Resolutions passed without a dissenting voice, testified their determination to avail themselves of their unexampled Resources, in a manner adapted to the exigency of the times, and to the magnitude of the interests which are at stake. They have themselves followed these Resolutions by an immediate and liberal Subscription, which has filled as ra

VOL. I.

Hh

pidly

pidly as the Names which offered themselves could be written into the Books; and they have opened a communication with all parts of the Kingdom, to encourage the same exertions. In many quarters, this spirit has already shown itself, without waiting for invitation or example. Numerous Corporate Bodies have shown, by the promptitude and liberality of their Contributions, that they feel what is due from them in support, at once of the Common Cause of their Country, and of the peculiar Franchises and Privileges which the ancient and established Laws of that Country have long secured to them, for the Public Benefit, but which would be swept away in a moment, by the speculations of modern Reformers.

Splendid and honourable instances of a similar feeling have appeared among the first classes of our Nobility. The same ardour has manifested itself (as far as there has yet been an opportunity) in all other ranks of Society. And nothing appears wanting to make the effort general, and worthy of a GREAT, GENEROUS, and LOYAL PEOPLE, but that method, arrangement, and concert, which the measures now adopted seem calculated to establish.

That meritorious and valuable description of men, to whom we adverted on a former occasion, those who have so often sealed with their blood, their attachment to their Country, our brave SOLDIERS and SAILORS, are continuing to vie with each other in the proofs of their Liberality and Patriotism. Numerous instances have appeared, where the Menial Servants of Families have voluntarily offered a large proportion of their moderate earnings, for the defence of a Cause in which all Ranks are interested. The Mechanic and the Labourer have proved, that they will exert their slender faculties, and

5

contribute,

contribute, from the sweat of their brow, to maintain a system which protects their industry, and secures to them the fruits of their labour. The highest and lowest among us, seem actuated by one principle, and (with the exception of a few friends to confusion and discord) all descriptions of men appear at length roused to an energy and vigour equal to the great and arduous crisis of the moment. A great and amiable character, long recommended by her virtues to the respect and veneration of the Country, has at the same time set an example to her sex, which cannot fail to ensure not the least valuable and precious addition to these funds which the liberality of individuals devotes to the Public Service.

While every friend to Great Britain must see with pride and exultation, these becoming and gratifying proofs of a true British feeling, it remains only for the sworn enemies to the prosperity and greatness of their Country, to persist in their attempts to vilify and depress it.

The Writers enlisted in the cause of France, saw nothing but the proofs of republican vigour and the spontaneous zeal of a regenerated Country, in the illusory pretence so ostentatiously held out by the Directory, of a Voluntary Loan in France (which, we believe, never exceeded a few Livres) mortgaged on the property of Great Britain, and avowedly destined to defray the expences of the intended invasion.

The same Writers now tell us, that a Voluntary Contribution in England, however liberal in the mode, however large in the amount, is a confession of weakness and inability; that it lowers us, for the first time, to the situa tion of what they are pleased to call a mendicant Country; and they ransack their invention for every term of ridicule or opprobrium by which they think they can damp the Hh 2

spirit,