Ernest, and the Duke of Gloucester, formed in crescent within, the church; and opposite to their Royal Highnesses, were the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, Sheriffs, and Admirals, waiting to receive their Majesties. The Common Council of London, in their mazarine gowns, were ranged, with their ladies, in two galleries, which filled the semicircle of the dome.

The King, on his alighting at the church, was received by the Bishops of London and Lincoln, who walked one on each side, preceded by the heralds at arms, and prebendaries of the church. The Queen, followed with her suite, and the other members of the Royal Family, with their attendants, closed the procession. On their arrival within the circle, the colours were lowered; and the royal party made their obesience to the company assembled which were returned with acclamations.

The service then began; and, at the end of the first lesson, the flag-officers entered in two divisions, right and left of the King's chair, the end of the flags supported by those officers who immediately followed the bearers in regular succession advancing to the altar to deposit the naval trophies. The King was observed to be much affected by this ceremony, and the whole assembly participated in his feelings.

The Bishop of Lincoln, dean of St. Paul's, then preached an appropriate sermon from the first three verses of the twentythird of the second book of Samuel. The whole concluded with the anthem that had been sung when Queen Anne went to St. Paul's, to return thanks for the victories gained by the immortal Marlborough.

In returning, the order of the procession was reversed, their Majesties going first.

The naval exploits celebrated in this scenic display were those of Lord Howe, on the 1st of June, 1794-of Lord Hotham, on the 14th of March, 1795-of Lord Bridport, on the 23d of June, 1795-of Lord St. Vincent, on the 14th of February, 1797-of Rear Admiral Harvey, at Trinidad, the 17th of February, 1797-of Lord Keith, at the Cape of Good Hope, the 17th of August-and of Lord Duncan, the 11th of October, 1797.

About this time the Legislative Union with Ireland was on the carpet. The Lords carried the resolution in favour of that measure immediately, for Pitt was their creature through whom they ruled the nation; and every measure he carried into effect was in unison with the boroughmongering party there, whose influence over the House of Commons was paramount. By accident Pitt was left in a minority on the first debate, being outvoted by five; but the Minister was victorious in the future stages of the measure, and at length carried it triumphantly.

The King was fired at in Hyde Park, at a review of the Guards on the 15th of May, 1800; and in the evening of the same day, a man discharged a pistol at the royal box in Drury Lane, but fortunately without effect. In the first case, a young man near the King on the ground was struck by the shot, which, however, did no other harm; in the second instance, the offender proved to be an old soldier, who had been with the Duke of York on the Continent. His name was James Hatfield, but he was acquitted on the ground of insanity. The Duke of Clarence was active in the examination of the culprit, having been in the theatre. His Royal Highness also aided in conducting him to the Coldbath Fields prison.

That which had not been witnessed for a long time before took place the day after these attempts on the King's life. The Royal Dukes and the Prince of Wales went to Buckingham House, and took breakfast with the King, Queen, and other branches of their family: a touching proof how very little had been acquired on the part of the King to call his children around him. The danger from which the King had escaped induced the members of his Majesty's house to rally around him with feelings of filial gratefulness for his preservation. A levee was held the same day, which was crowded by those who came to congratulate the King on his escape. No one of the royal sons more feelingly expressed himself on seeing his Majesty on this occasion than the Duke of Clarence. The Duke complained about this time of the loss of his old

friends Macbride and Barrington, of the navy, both brave officers. Admiral Macbride was a very whimsical character, but a thorough seaman.

After the preliminary treaty of peace with France was signed, it came on to be debated in the House Lords. On the 3rd of November, Lord Grenville opposed the terms on which the peace had been brought about; while the Duke of Bedford, Earl St. Vincent, and the Duke of Clarence, defended it. His Royal Highness asserted that there was nothing in the way of security which we had not obtained from the French Government which it was in the nature of a republican government to afford. His Royal Highness contended, that the conduct of our navy and army was no way compromised by the peace. He pronounced a high eulogium upon both services, and declared that the bravery of our land forces was equal to the French, though some contended that our superiority was only in our seamen, which he maintained was miserable slander. If the campaign of 1793 were examined, the conduct of the British troops was equal in glory to that of their ancestors; and in 1794 they had displayed qualities fully as brilliant. In India they had won their way to honour and distinction, the details of which were too recent and memorable to require repeating. The Marquis Wellesley had overthrown the despot Tippoo Saib. These plans, so happily executed, were likely to have received some interruption by the projects of Buonaparte, who, it is well known, had forty thousand of the best French troops in the expedition to Egypt. This measure, grand in its conception, and immense in its execution, menaced our power and territories in the East, besides endangering the Turkish Government: it was the revival of the plan of Louis XIV.; and which, by the spirit and enterprise of the First Consul, enforced by such a numerous body of chosen troops, inured to every hardship of the field, appeared at first very formidable. The resistance which these invaders experienced from a handful of soldiers, under Sir Sidney Smith, long before the landing of that army which afterwards became in their turn the conquerors of Egypt, could not be too

highly extolled. It was, not, however, till the 21st of March, 1801, that Egypt had an opportunity of throwing off the French yoke, by the triumph of the British arms, which engaged with the Republicans, proved superior to them in courage and capacity. The glorious achievements of the 42nd regiment, who destroyed Buonaparte's Invincibles, could not but be remembered by England with pride and exultation.We were inferior far in number to the enemy, and the victory was gained by courage, ability, and military address. Having surveyed the meritorious conduct of the army, his Royal Highness enumerated the exploits of the navy, which, on account of his own close connexion and professional partiality, he glanced at in a very cursory manner. The inestimable services of the British seamen were beyond all praise. Our transactions on the ocean, by which we had raised the character and name of our country to the greatest and most enviable eminence, were too numerous to particularise, but they would remain to the latest posterity glorious to our naval history. The Duke made some remarks on the relative situation of France and England, so far as regarded the objects of the war. Finding that each, from its peculiar predicament in which no blow could be given with effect, he had no hesitation in saying, that the best plan that could be adopted was an adjustment of differences, and a reconciliation of parties. France had completely overcome every contending power on the Continent, and therefore could have no new conquests in which to employ her numerous armies.

Great Britain, so far as regarded maritime affairs, was in a similar state. The two great powers of Europe, therefore, having no other objects of peculiar attack, except the invasion of each other's territories, were reduced to the necessity either of protracting an unavailing war, with the accumulation of debt and and its concomitant calamities, or negotiating a peace. Nor was it a common peace, but a reconciliation of differences between the two first nations of the world; and he maintained that it was both a fair and honourable peace. Ministers had deserved the warmest thanks for the

judicious selection of the particular settlements which they had retained. Ceylon was of the greatest importance to our East India possessions; it was an island whose productions were highly valuable to our commerce, consequently to our revenue; its spiceries and its harbours were extremely convenient to our merchandise, and the addition to our East India territories was inestimable. To specify minutely the advantages derivable from the possession of Trinidad would engross too much of their lordships' time; but its qualities as an island were known, and well appreciated, as they deserved to be. The Cape of Good Hope being no place of trade, had not the commercial advantages attributed to its situation, and, therefore, its surrender was no considerable loss. His Royal Highness concluded with observing that the interests of France was its continental conquests; of England, its commerce. The former was a military government; the strength of the latter was in its navy. In our views of aggrandizement, we place the cultivation of the arts of peace, and the nurseries of seaman; in theirs was the preservation of that warlike system. which had overcome every opposition on the continent. France was by necessity impelled to act upon that principle; and wisdom would induce England to adopt a plan diametrically opposite. Peace, from every view of the subject, must be very acceptable to both, and doubly so to the philanthropist; because it afforded both nations an opportunity of repairing the ravages of war. He hoped and believed it would be permanent, and therefore sincerely supported the motion. Lord Nelson seconded his friend in a short speech, and declared that in his opinion the island of Malta was not of much consequence to us compared to a sound and good peace. His lordship would even resign the Cape, providea the colony were not given up to the French.

During the administration of that wretched minister, the imbecile Mr. Addington, the Duke of Clarence supported Lord St. Vincent in most of his measures, particularly in the reform of our naval arsenals, to which his Royal Highness

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