must fall. The King of England has promised, by Treaty, to evacuate that place, and who is to violate the faith of Treaties?"

Lord Whitworth (surprised on finding himself questioned in this manner, and before so many persons)" But you know, General Consul, the circumstances which have hitherto delayed the evacuation of Malta. The intention of my Sovereign is to fulfil the Treaty of Amiens; and you know

also"

Bonaparte (with impetuosity)." You know that the French have carried on the war for ten years, and you cannot doubt but that they are in a condition to wage it again. Inform your Court, that if, on the receipt of your dispatches, orders are not issued for the immediate surrender of Malta, then War is declared.-I declare my firm resolution is to see the Treaty carried into effect, and leave it to the Ambassadors of the several Powers, who are present, to say who is in the wrong. You Aattered yourselves that France would not dare to shew her resentment whilst her squadrons were at St. Domingo, I am happy thus publicly to undeceive you on that head."

Lord Whitworth." But, General, the Negotiation is not yet broken, and there is even reason to believe-→→→

Bonaparte.-"Of what Negotiation does your Lordship speak? Is it necessary to negotiate what is conceded by Treaty-to negotiate the fulfilment of engagements and the duties of good faith."

Lord Whitworth was about to replyBonaparte made a sign with his hand, and continued in a less elevated' tone"My Lord, your Lady is indisposed. She may probably breathe her native air rather sooner than you or I expected. I wish most ardently for Peace, but if my just demand be not instantly complied with, then War must follow, and God will decide. If Treaties are not sufficient to bind to Peace, then the vanquished must not be left in a' condition to offer injury."

Here this unexpected conversation terminated.

Bonaparte afterwards walked up and down the hall, and discoursed with several persons with an assumed air of gaiety. To the English, however, who met his eye, bis regards were limited to a cold salute,

SWITZERLAND.

The new constitution prepared for Switzerland, under the mediation of the First Consul, has been made public. The government is federal; but a different constitution has been given to each canton, and many of the ancient aristocratical rights have been abolished. In the act of mediation, wherein Bonaparte guarantees, what he calls, the independence of Helveha, he uniformly assumes the style of royalty, we and us.

CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 15.

/A letter addressed by General Ney to the Swiss Prefects, demonstrates the injustice of the measures adopted by the First Consul towards that country. It is acknowledged, that the mass of the people are enemies to French interference, that they look upon the French soldiers with detestation, and eagerly watch the moment of escape from their galling yoke. The picture given of the Swiss is that of a people kept in subjection by the immediate pressure of powerful tyranny, but determined to persevere in their efforts to recover their lost freedom. Emissaries from England, are, as usual, represented to be at the bottom of every threatened disturbance.

slaves.

In consequence of a late act of our Parliament, relative to the repeal of discriminating and countervailing duties on American vessels and goods, a resolution. has been adopted by Congress, conditionally repealing those which had been imposed by them on foreign vessels and goods.

Great hopes are entertained that an amicable arrangement will take place be tween America and Spain, with respect to the navigation of the Mississippi, and in the mean time that navigation is left open as formerly. The cession of Louisiana and Florida to France has caused a great sensation in the Southern and Western States.

An Act to prevent Duelling passed last

A a

Session in the Assembly of North Carolina, by which it is enacted, that no person sending, or accepting a challenge, or fighting a duel, though no death ensues, shall ever after be eligible to any office of trust, honour, or profit in this State, any pardon or reprieve notwithstanding; and shall further be liable to be indicted, and, on convic tion before any of the courts, shall forfeit and pay the sum of £.100. to the use of the state. And if any fight a duel, by which either of the parties shall be killed, then the survivor, on conviction thereof, shall suffer death, without benefit of clergy; and their second or abettors shall be considered accessaries before the fact, and likewise suffer death. This act reflects great credit on the wisdom and enlightened policy of the legislature of North Carolina.

ST. DOMINGO,

The accounts published in France represent the affairs of this colony to be in an improving condition, since the time of

the accession of General Rochambeau to the chief command; but we have ourselves seen a letter written by a very respectable gentleman, resident in St. Domingo, to a house in town, dated the 1st of January last, which directly contradicts this statement. The negroes were said to be at that time en pleine insurrection; and the circumstances of the colony the most pitiable which can be conceived, and more desperate than at any period since the revolution. The whole of the open country, it was added, is in the hands of the Brigands, who closely invest all the towns, and even threaten them continually with attack, We may learn, from this circumstance, that little or no dependance is to be placed on the official accounts published in France respecting the state of St. Domingo.

About the beginning of this month it was asserted in the Moniteur, that the administration of this country, sincerely attached to peace, had consented to afford every facility to the French in re-conquering St. Domingo, except in the actual co-operation of troops and supply of arms; that our government had authorised the French West India merchants to procure what transports they could in this country; and that the French armies would find ali necessary provisions in the ports of Jamaica. We are not much disposed to credit the assertions of the Moniteur; but in this instance they have acquired the sembrance of probability, in consequence of several British ships having been engaged by the French Government to convey troops and stores to St. Domingo, and being at this moment actually employed in that service. We are willing to believe, however, that these contracts have not been sanctioned by the approbation of our government; for to say nothing of the duty of guarding Gur seamen from all unnecessary exposure

to the arts which may be employed by a vigilant and insidious enemy to corrupt their loyalty, it ought to be remembered, that we are bound by treaty not to assist in the subjugation of the negroes of St. Domingo. It is likewise worthy of remark, that a large body of the people, whom Bonaparte is now endeavouring to enslave, had cutered into the service and pay of Great Britain on a promise of receiving their freedom at the end of a few years. They were enregimented and disciplined by us, and on our evacuating St. Domingo, they were transferred to Toussaint, with whom we made a treaty of alliance, by which he bound himself, among other things, to fulfil the promises we had made to these men. Both our treaty with Toussaint, therefore, and our engagements with the negro army, seem to require of us that, at least, we should not afford any active aid to the French in subjugating St. Domingo. It may be doubted whether good faith did not rather demand of us some interference in behalf

of those whom we had flattered with the express promise of liberty.

We alluded in a former number to a letter said to have been written by Toussaint to Bonaparte, on the arrival of Leclerc at St. Domingo. We insert it without at all vouching for its authenticity.

"CITIZEN CONSUL,

"Your letter of the 27th Brumaire, has been transmitted to me by Citizen LECLERC, your brother-in-law, whom you have appointed Captain-general of this island, a title not recognized by the constitution of St. Domingo. The same messenger has restored two innocent children to the fond embraces of a doating father. What a noble instance of European humanity! But, dear as those pledges are to me, and painful as our separation is, I will owe no obligations to my enemies, and I therefore return them to the custody of their gaolers.

"The forces necessary to make the sovereignty of the French people respected, have effected a landing also, and they are spreading slaughter and desolation around them. Why is it thus? For what crimes, and by what authority, are a rude, but inoffensive people to be consumed by fire and by the sword? We have dared, it seems, to form a constitution adapted to our circumstances; containing, as you admit, many good things, but containing others, forsooth, derogatory from the sovereignty of the French people, What is the sovereignty of the French people? In whom does it reside, and how far is it to extend? Is it to be beyond controul, without measure, and without bounds?

St. Domingo, a colony forming an integral part of the French Republic, airas

at independence, it is said. Why should it not? The United States of America did the same, and with the assistance of monarchical France they succeeded and established it. But there are defects as well as presumption in our constitution. I know there are. What human institution is without them? Yet I will challenge that system you have imposed upon the Republic you govern, to shew a greater regard to personal or political liberty, to the freedom of speech, or the freedom of man. The high situation I fill is not of my own choosing; it has been forced upon me by imperious circumstances. I have not overturned a constitution I had sworn to maintain. I saw this wretched isle a prey to frantic and contending factious. My character, my complexion, gave me some influence with the people who inhabit it, and I was almost by their unanimous voice called to authority. I crushed sedition; I put down rebellion; I restored tranquillity; I established order in place of anarchy; I gave them peace, and I gave them a constitution. Have you, Citizen Consul, another or a better title to the commanding situation you occupy? If they enjoy not under it as great a portion of liberty as is to be found under other governments, the cause is in their habits of life, and in the ignorance and barbarity inseparable from a state of slavery. I established for an unfortunate race of beings, that were just loosened from the yoke, the only system of rule that was suited to their conditions or capacities. That it leaves room, in many instances, for coercion and despotism, cannot be denied; but is the constitution of the Republic of France-the most enlightened part of enlightened Europe-quite free from them? If thirty millions of Frenchmen find their happiness and security, as I am told, in the Revolution of the 18th Brumaire, surely I should not be envied the love and confidence of the poor blacks, my countrymen. It will be for posterity to decide whether we have ruled through affection, or through apathy and fear.

"You offer freedom to the blacks, and say, that in all the countries you have been in, you have given it to the people who had it not.' I am not perfectly acquainted with the circumstances that have recently happened in Europe, but the reports that have reached me do not accord with this assertion. In fact, it is of little consequence. The liberty that is to be found in France, or Belgium, or Helvetia, or in the Republics, Batavian, Ligurian, or Cisalpine, would never be cordially received, or cheerfully acquiesced in by the people of St. Domingo. Such changes, or such freedom, are far, very far, from being. desired even by us.

"You ask me, do I desire consideration, honours, and fortune? Most certainly I do, but not of thy giving. My consideration is placed in the respect of

my countrymen, my honours in their attachment, my fortune in their disinterested fidelity. Has this mean idea of personal aggrandizement been held out, in the hope that I would be induced thereby to betray the cause I have undertaken? You should learn to estimate the moral principle in other men by your own. If the person

who claims a right to that throne on which you are seated, were to call on you to descend from it, what would be your answer? The power I possess has been as legitimately acquired as your own, and nought but the decided voice of the people of St. Do mingo shall compel me to relinquish it.

"It is not cemented by blood, or maintained by the artifices of European policy. 'The ferocious men whose persecutions I put a stop to,' have confessed my clemency, and I have pardoned the wretch whose dagger has been aimed at my life. If I have removed from this island certain turbulent spirits, who strove to feed the flames of civil war, their guilt has been first established before a competent tribunal, and finally confessed by themselves. Is there one of them who can say that he has been condemned unheard or untried? And yet these monsters are to be brought back once more, and, aided by the bloodhounds of Cuba, are to be uncoupled and hallooed to hunt us down and devour us; and this by men who dare to call themselves Christians. Why should it excite your praise and surprise that I have upheld 'the religion and worship of God, from whom all things come.' Alas! that allbounteous Being, whose Holy Word has but lately found favour in your republic, by me has ever been honoured and glorified. In his protecting care I have sought for safety and consolation, amidst dangers and difficulties, when encompassed by treachery and treason, and I was never disappointed.

Before Him and you I am,' as you say, to be the person principally responsible for the massacres and murders that are perpetrating in this devoted isle.' Be it so. In his all just and dread disposal be the issue of this contest. Let him decide between me and my enemies; between those who have violated his precepts, abjured his holy name, and one who has never ceased to acknowledge and adore him. (Signed) "TouSSAINT LOUVERTURE."

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

This important station is still in the hands of Great Britain, The Dutch troops destined to take possession of it, were landed in the month of December, and measures were immediately taken for removing the English garrison. The First of January, 1803, at five in the afternoon, was fixed for finally delivering the fort to the Dutch; but at one o'clock of the same day, the Imogene frigate arrived from England with orders to retain it. The troops which had been embarked were landed with the

utmost celerity; and before the Dutch were aware that any new movement was intended, the fortifications were again in

PARLIAMENTARY PROCEEDINGS. In consequence of a message from his Majesty, recominending it to the House of Commons to take into their consideration, the situation of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, a bill was introduced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for enabling the Prince to resume the establishment which became his rank, but which, the arrangements made in 1795 for the payment of his debts, had obliged him to reduce. The annual income of the last Prince of Wales had been fixed at £.100,000. exclusive of £.13,000, arising from the revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall; that of the present Prince had been raised to £.138,000, including the £.13,000 just mentioned. By an act of parliament passed in the year 1795, £.73,000 of this annuity had been appropriated to the liquidation of the Prince's debts. The object of the present measure was to place the Prince in the same situation as before the passing of that act, by enabling his Majesty to grant him an additional £.60,000. a-year, and by repealing such part of the act of 1795, as directed the revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall to be applied to the liquidation of his debts. The Prince expressed himself perfectly satisfied with this arrangement, but intimated, at the same time, that as he owed debts for which no provision had been made, but which he felt himself bound to discharge, it would be impossible for him to resume the dignities appropriate to his station for a considerable time. This intimation gave birth to several motions, the object of which was to enquire into the state of the Prince's debts, with the view of granting him the means of discharging them, and at once resuming his establishment. These motions were, however, very properly over-ruled by the House, and the measures proposed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer were adopted, and they have since received the sanction of the House of Lords.

A Bill has passed both Houses which enacts, that in time of peace the militia shall be called out for twenty-eight instead of twenty-one days in each year, to be trained and disciplined.

We have already inserted (p. 182), the message of his Majesty to Parliament, on the subject of the military preparations carrying on in the ports of France and Holland. On the 9th instant, this message

was taken into consideration by both Houses, and an address couched as usual in terms exactly corresponding to those of the message, was unanimously agreed to. In the House of Lords, Earl Spencer and Lord Grenville heartily concurred in the address, which they hailed as an indication of returning firmness and vigour in the government. Earl Moira complained of the want of explicit information with respect to the causes of alarm, but he likewise approved of the address, and made a speech upon the occasion which was calculated to rouse the spirit of the country to resist the encroachments of the First Consul of France. We lament, however, that not only by Lord Moira, but by almost every other speaker upon this occasion in both Houses, the appeal was made to the pride and self-confidence of the people rather to their sober judgment, and to their sense of duty. In the House of Commons Mr. Windham and his friends, though they did not vote against the address, alleged that government had afforded the House no light to direct its deliberations, and they, therefore, strongly called upon ministers to communicate, without reserve, the circumstances which had produced the present hostile aspect of affairs. The Chancellor of the Exchequer and Lord Hawkesbury, supported by Mr. Sheridan and the Attorney-General, very satisfactorily justified the conduct of ministers in withholding, for the present, the information which was so vehemently called for. Lord Hawkesbury assured the House, that "should the differences now existing between this country and France unfortunately lead to the renewal of war, Ministers would consider it as their duty to lay before the House all the causes of those differences, all the motives by which government had been actuated, and all the satisfactory information, even in its most minute details, which can be obtained. They will eagerly court a complete investigation of their conduct, from the conclusion of the definitive treaty to the latest moments of peace."

On the 10th instant it was announced to Parliament, that his Majesty intended to order the militia to be forthwith embodied; and on the following day 10,000 sea. men were voted in addition to our present naval force.

On the 14th instant, the India Budget was opened by Lord Castlereagh in the