of the united kingdom has enjoyed, while the nations of the continent have, each in its turn, been deluged with blood. Insufferably perverse or incurably stupid must that man be, who will not acknowledge, or who does not feel, that to our undisputed command of the ocean alone it is owing that the .Peninsula is not now groaning under the iron sway of Bonaparte, and that the ports of Cadiz and Lisbon are not, at this moment, thronged with fleets for carrying the war, with all its train of horrors, into the heart of Ireland. To the free and secure passage over the ocean, must be ascribed the facility and despatch with which the army of our illustrious commander in Spain has been reinforced, and the opportunities which have been afforded, under his auspices, of establishing our military character on as firm a basis as that of our naval reputation. It was the British navy which wrested from the tyrant's grasp, and conveyed to their injured and insulted country, the gallant Romana and his brave followers; and it was the same navy which snatched from impending destruction, or captivity, worse than destruction, our own gallant army, which had so gloriously retrieved its character under the walls of Corunna, after a most harassing and disastrous retreat. If any part of the naval force could be spared from its numerous and important services, it could, in our opinion, only be employed to advantage in the conveyance of troops, in lieu of that vast mass of transport tonnage kept constantly on hire, which, we believe, at this moment is not much short of 150,000 tons, amounting to an annual expense of two millions sterling. Troop-ships fitted up from the ordinary of the navy, with reduced masts and yards, are so much superior to transports, in point of accommodation-safety-despatchfacility of landing and embarking troops and stores-so capable of defending themselves against any thing short of a lineof-battle ship-as to admit of no comparison. They may perhaps be more expensive in the outfit; but, when it is considered that an equal quantity of tonnage would be spared from the regular navy in frigates and fourth rates now employed as convoys for transports, we are quite sure that the two millions might most advantageously be transferred from the transport service to the regular navy. And if it be true, as Lord Melville stated,* that since the peace of Amiens 120 transports have been captured or lost, that 1,700 regular troops have been taken, and 1,900 perished in those vessels, the difference of expense is surely of little moment. "I reject," Printed Speech, says his lordship, "all such calculations; for I hold the life of a British sailor or soldier to be inestimable." Instead, then, of discharging 20,000 seamen, a number that could not be raised again with the utmost exertion in less than five or six years, it would be infinitely more advantageous, as well as more economical, to employ them in troop-ships, where they would always be at hand, when wanted, to man the effective navy. We rejoice to find that the present Lord Melville is following up his father's ideas on this subject, so important to the interests both of the navy and army. There is another advantage, of no trifling moment, arising out of the blockading system; it is the complete prevention of the officers and seamen of the enemy from gaining that experience in naval tactics which is indispensable for the management of ships of war in time of action. The seamen of France are in fact no longer in existence, but in our prisons. Their fleets are manned with foreigners of every descriptionDutch, Danes, Hamburghers, Genoese, and other Italians, mostly forced into the service; but the French part of their crews are a few superannuated seamen employed to teach the younger ones, fishermen reluctantly compelled to serve, and marine conscripts without any knowledge of seamanship. But though ships of war thus manned may not be competent to fight ours, they are quite sufficient to transport armies to our own shores, or to those of our colonies. From the glance which we have taken of the increasing naval force of the enemy, as well as from the various employment of our own, it may not appear quite so evident that we should begin to economize with the naval department; that is, with the professional or military part of it, in which, we will venture to assert, fewer abuses, and a better system of economy exist, than in any other great public body whatever. To the numerous and highly meritorious class of officers in his majesty's naval service, by whose exertions the discipline and economy of the fleet have reached the highest point of perfection, every attention and respect are due; and though we are persuaded that they would be the last to complain of any hardship in reducing the fleet; yet we think it would scarcely be fair to say, "You have braved every danger, you have borne with patience, fatigue, anxiety, and privationyou have driven the ships of every enemy from every sea, and now that there is nothing for you to fight, you may retire on your half pay." We well remember that the imprudent haste of paying off ships, immediately on their return from sea after the truce of Amiens, to effect a paltry saving of a few days' pay, was considered, both by officers and men, as a VOL. I. New Series. U u most ungracious act of parsimony. This is not the species of economy which will enable us to prolong the contest. Fatal, indeed, would be the delusion which should tempt our governors to reduce the navy, and transfer our reliance for protection, from its wooden walls to martello towers, subterranean shafts, and military canals. Impressed as we are with the necessity of economizing our means and husbanding our resources, we are yet convinced that the reduction of our fleet is not the most effectual mode of doing it. The saving of a million and a half annually, which is the utmost we should save by discharging 20,000 seamen, and laying up 60,000 tons of shipping to rot in ordinary, would prove but a poor compensation for giving to the enemy even a momentary superiority on the ocean. A far more important saving, as well as a more lasting benefit to the nation, would be effected by the adoption of a regular system of management in the civil departments of the navy; and by having recourse to those means of supply, and following up those improvements at which we have briefly ventured to glance. As attainable objects, we are willing to persuade ourselves that their adoption would be productive of great present saving, and, what is of much more importance, would render us independent of foreign nations, and even of our own foreign possessions, which, in the course of events, may slip through our hands. SPIRIT OF MAGAZINES. હું ARREST OF THE CHEVALIER DE ST. GERVAIS BY THE [From Stockdale's History of the Inquisitions.] AFTER dinner, I went to take a walk on that beautiful terrace which extends along the port, in that part called Barcellonette. The sides of this walk, which is named the Lonja, are adorned with fine buildings. I was tranquilly enjoying this delightful place and the serene evening of a fine day, wrapped in dreams of my projects, of my future destiny, and of the beautiful Seraphine. The sweetly pensive shades of twilight had began to veil the face of the sky, when, on a sudden, six men surrounded and commanded me to follow them. I replied by a firm refusal; whereupon one of them seized me by the collar; I instantly assailed him with a violent blow upon the face, which caused him to bellow with pain; in an instant the whole band pressed on me so closely that I was obliged to draw my sword. I fought as long as I was able, but not being possessed of the strength of Antæus or Hercules, I was at last compelled to yield. The ruffians endeavoured to inspire me with respect and dread of them by saying that they were familiars of the Holy Office, and advised me to surrender, that I might escape disgrace and harsh treatment. I submitted to force, and I was taken to the prison of the Inquisition. "As soon as I found myself within the talons of these vultures, I began to ask myself what was my crime, and what I had done to incur the censure of this hateful tribunal. Have these jacobin monks, said I, succeeded to the Druids, who called themselves the agents of the Deity, and arrogated to themselves the right of excommunicating and putting to death their fellow citizens? My complaints were lost in empty air. "On the following day, a Dominican, shrouded in hypocrisy, and with a tongue of deceit, came to conjure me, by the bowels of Jesus Christ, to confess my faults, in order to the attainment of my liberty. Confess your own faults first, said I to him, ask pardon of God for your hypocrisy and your injustice. By what right do you arrest a gentleman, a native of France, who is exempted from the jurisdiction of your infernal tribunal, and who has done nothing in violation of the laws of this country? Oh, Holy Virgin,' said he, you make me tremble! I will go and pray to God in your behalf, and I hope he will open your eyes, and turn your heart.' 'Go pray to the devil,' said I to myself, he is your only divinity.' "However, on that same day, Mr. Aubert, having in vain waited for me at the dinner hour, sent to the hotel to inquire about me. The landlord informed him that I had disappeared on the preceding evening; that my luggage still remained in his custody, but that he was entirely ignoran: what was become of me. This obliging gentleman, uneasy for my fate, made inquiries concerning me over the whole city, but without being able to gain the smallest intelligence. Astonished at this circumstance, he began to suspect that some indiscretion on my part might have drawn upon me the vengeance of the Holy Office, with whose spirit and conduct he was perfectly acquainted. He begged of the captain-general to demand my enlargement. The Inquisitors denied the fact of my detention, with the utmost effrontery of falsehood; but Mr. Aubert, not being able to discover any other probable cause for my disappearance, persisted in believing me to be a prisoner in the Holy Office. "Next day the familiars came to conduct me before the three Inquisitors; they presented me with a yellow mantle to put on, but I disdainfully rejected this satanic livery. However, they persuaded me that submission was the only means by which I could hope to recover my liberty. I appeared, therefore, clad in yellow, with a wax taper in my hand, before these three priests of Pluto. In the chamber was displayed the banner of the Holy Office, on which were represented a gridiron, a pair of pincers, and a pile of wood, with these words; Justice, Charity, Mercy. What an atrocious piece of irony! I was tempted more than once to singe, with my blazing taper, the hideous visage of one of these jacobins, but my good genius prevented me. One of them advised me, with an air of mildness, to confess my sins. My great sin,' replied I, 'is to have entered a country where the priests trample humanity under foot, and assume the cloak of religion to persecute virtue and innocence.' · "Is that all you have to say?' 'Yes, my conscience is free from alarm and from remorse. Tremble if the regiment to which I belong should hear of my imprisonment; they |