every man: though he may exchange that right for the benefits of living under the artificial reftraints of fociety. In the prefent queftion we fuppofe, what may be in fair reafoning, the cafe of all mankind, at any given period, viz. being fet down on the earth at the fame time, by the hand of their common parent. In this cafe each individual would undoubtedly have a right to a fair portion of the foil not to be alienated but by an exprefs compact in mature age, after having been, or having had a free opportunity of actual poffeffion.-Now, what individuals are to individuals, in a ftate of fociety, an independent nation is to an independent nation. If any flate, then, feels itfelf to be circumfcribed, it has a right to a fettlement wherever it can acquire it without trefpaffing on ground already appropriated by pre-occupancy and labour. The English nation, therefore, have a right to poffefs as much of the defert coaft of America as they can cultivate; and no more. If any other European colony chufes to fettle in their neighbourhood, they have not any title to difpoffefs them, As to the policy of colonizing NOOTKA SOUND, that is a question which may, perhaps, admit of doubt. After the laft peace, by which we gave up our pretenfions to the fovereignty of America, it was the fashion to fay, that we were well rid of it. Many treatises were written to prove our loss in sustaining, nurfing and protecting our American colonies; and in reality it foon appeared that after we had loft our exclufive trade with America, that general spirit of industry and enterprize, and those capitals and commercial habits which diftinguifh England, found other and more productive channels.Shall we boaft of our advantages in giving up a tree in full bearing, and fight for the property of a plant? But, in candour and truth, the national honour of Great-Britain ought to be fupported: and in this point all parties are happily and gloriously agreed. Great and wife governments have always been jealous of national glory: it is an active principle which, properly cultivated, diffufes throughout every branch of the ftate the vital energy of virtuous actions. 2. GREAT-BRITAIN, in maintaining a conflict with Spain on the prefent ground of quarrel, appears foremost among the nations, on the fide of liberty. The Leaders of the Houfe of Bourbon make war for the purpose of drawing off the awakened and awakening fpirit of their fubjects into new channels, from whence it may be evaporated by the effufion of blood: and with the flower of the nation, called to arms, intend to turn these, after peace against the juft claims of the people. Britain is placed in a fituation in which it becomes equally her duty and intereft to proclaim to the Spanish nation the defigns of the FOREIGN family and councils by whom they are now governed. 3 It It will be good policy to declare in our manifeftoes, that we wage war, not with the nation but with the court, and that we will refer much of the matters in difpute to the judgment of the CORTEZ. 3. The rich and widely-fcattered dependencies of the Spanish monarchy, and the nature of their national wealth which expofes it to invafion at fea, prefent to a great maritime power, fuch as England, an inviting opportunity of carrying on a predatory war, which must be ill-conducted indeed if it does not, at least, fupport itself.-Even if the British government were wholly filent and inactive, there is at present such a mass of wealth, and fo high a spirit of enterprize, among the trading people of England, that the Spaniards, fingle-handed and unfupported by any other powers, would in the end be vanquished and driven from the ocean by British privateers, or letters of marque fitted out by private adventurers.- Military as well as naval adventurers, as in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, might happily unite their private reputation and fortune with the public profperity and glory of their country.-Certain projects that were formed, on very probable grounds of fuccefs, in the late war against the Spaniards, but never carried into execution, might be refumed with greater advantage.-The 98th and the 100th regiments, confifting of 1000 men each, and raised by Colonel Humberton and Colonel Fullarton, were originally deftined by Lord George Germaine, according to a plan of Fullarton's, to be fent to India, there to be joined by a number of lafcars and fepoys and fome fhips of force, and thence to proceed against the Spanish fertlements in South America. But, on the appearances of the Dutch war, an attempt was projected against the Cape of Good Hope. And to this laft, administration gave the preference, which promifed to have fhaken the Spanish empire in the fouthern hemifphere *, It may, at firft fight, and we understand that it is in fact very generally fuppofed, that the Spaniards will never be fo mad as to carry their threats of war into executio. It is fcarcely worth while to indulge fpeculation on a point which must so foon be determined. MOTIVES OF SPAIN. We shall only observe, that neither are there motives of neceffity wanting to urge the Spaniards to arms, nor rays of hope, at leaft, to invite them. Not to infift farther on the fcheme of compofing internal diffention by foreign war, we may obferve, that the English have established a colony in Botany Bay, and a fishery near the coafts of Chili. They now take poffeffion of Nootka Sound: nor will this, the Spaniards may naturally fuppofe, be the laft of their enterprizes in thofe quarters.-Other nations, the Dutch, and Danes, and Swedes, if a timely check * See memoirs of the late war in Asia. is is not given to the growing evil, may follow their example. The ~ Spaniards, furrounded and intermixed with fo many maritime powers, would lose their authority in South America,—without which, fince the decline of their industry and population in Europe, they are nothing. The king of Spain, therefore, is impelled to fight for an exclufive right to what is little better to him than a terra incognita, tanquam pro aris èt focis. AGAIN, it is more than probable that the Spanish monarch is fecretly aflured of the ftrenuous co-operation of the great northern powers, as well as of whatever aid can be fpared by France, Naples, and Sardinia. Neither the Auftrians nor Ruffians, it is true, can afford any material aid by fea, but they may damp and check much of our naval exertion by invading Hanover, and the dominions of our continental allies, and by threatening to invade, if not actually invading Great-Britain.-An invafion, let it be obferved, is not, as is by many fuppofed, to be prevented by the fuperiority of our fleet, While the Englifh navy is kept at bay by the combined fleet, we fhall fuppofe, of Spain, France, Ve nice, and Ruffia, a thoufand tranfports land men, on the coaft of Britain. The liberty and political independency of Great-Britain, we cheerfully grant, is not to be fubdued by foreign invafion. But why may not projects of invafion be formed now by the Auftrians and Ruffians, as well as formerly by Charles XII. of Sweden? Farther; a spirited attack on Great Britain by Spain, would produce a general war in Europe. But the iffue of war is extremely uncertain; and the crown of Spain, tottering on the head of a young and ambitious fovereign, may be fixed, not loft, by an appeal, to arms.-If A GENERAL WAR fhould indeed take place, á more magnificent, or rather, if we fuffer ourselves to reflect on the miferies of war, a more awful fpectacle will be difplayed than was ever difplayed to the world. The fcene of action will be more extended, the parties contending more numerous, the ftratagems and machinations of war more various and effective. No quarter of the globe, and fcarcely any kingdom in Europe, will be unengaged in the wide conflict. On the one fide, we may arrange TIPPOO SULTAN, Who has already commenced war on our good ally the King of Travancore, the French, the Spaniards, the Italians, the Auftrians, with their German allies, and the Ruffians; on the other, Turkey, Sweden, Holland, Poland, the Pruffians, with their German allies, Great-Britain, and probably the Anglo-Americans, between whom and the Spaniards there are irreconcileable caufes of oppofition and difcord. Who are to be the great leaders on either fide, to give the general impulfe and direction to the confederacies, cannot, at this moment, be afcer tained; though it would have been impoffible to err in our conjectures and anticipations relative to one of them, before the death of the late Pruffian monarch. How great a part would Frederic have had to act on this grand occafion! Though nothing was wanting, either to the measure of his years or his glory, yet our imagination delights to dwell on the idea of the great politician, philofopher, and hero, at the age of eighty, by his counfels and arms, faving the Turkish empire, which, about thirty years ago, would fcarcely deign to enter into a negociation for the falvation of Pruffia, refifting the confederacy among the great continental powers, and maintaining the liberties of Europe!While THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF FRANCE Are bufied in settling a new order of affairs, the proteftants of Montauban, and many other fufferers, confefs the fupreme bleffing of established government of some kind, and with tears of blood deplore the prefent interregnum. The Affembly have, by affuming the power of making peace and war, reduced the grand monarque to the fituation of the Ram-rajah of the Marattàs; a nominal king, wearing royalty in fetters. The refult of this act who can prognofticate? What foreign power can treat with twelve hundred men? or how can twelve hundred men give unity and consistency to the operation of internal go vernment? NETHERLANDS. The counter-revolution that is threatened in the Netherlands by the vigorous preparations of the Auftrians, and the difunion of the aristocratical and republican parties, occafions the lefs regret among all moderate men, that the states aim plainly at the establishment of themselves into a number of petty fovereigns, or, as a Greek or Roman would have faid, of tyrants. Who, without indignation, can behold the treatment of VANDERMERSCH, the faviour of his country, confined in the citadel of Antwerp? What friend of human nature but is anxious for his fafety? What reasonable man, that contemplates his fituation, but must acknowledge that the tyranny of ariftocracy is equal to that of a fingle defpot! ENGLAND. Amidst all the viciffitudes of human affairs the British parliament is regularly diverted, once every week, from the laudable and important business of the political epopaia to that everlafting episode the trial of MR. HASTINGS. General Burgoyne complains that Major Scott has brought a railing accufation against what was determined by a majority of the House of Commons. The Major fhews that there is nothing more common than for Mr. Fox, Mr. Burke, and other leaders leaders of oppofition, to arraign decifions of the House of Commons with the greatest freedom. This argumentum ad hominem" is unanswerable. It is rather unfortunate that General Burgoyne fhould have stood forth as an indirect profecutor of Mr. Haftings. Is there no character in which Sir W. H▬▬e or Sir H. Cn could appear in this comedy? It is now neceffary to introduce fome new actors, for it has confeffedly degenerated, in the hands of the prefent manager, into a moft miferable monotony. How long fhall we wait for its termination? till Mr. D-s cease to worship the powers that be! Mr. P-t: have no private views to ferve by haraffing the faviour of India! Till Mr. Wyndham is unable to make a logical diftinction! Mr. Fox incapable of turning an argument into different modes and forms! and Mr. Burke of inventing new analogies, and making amusing digreffions! Rufticus expectat dum defluat amnis at ille I To CORRESPONDENTS. We return the Rev. Mr. Vince our thanks for his very polite letter. We were miflaken in the price of his Treatise on Practical Aftronomy, it being only 15s. At the fame time we cannot retract what we have faid of his account of Vernier's fcale. We do not deny that fuch a divifion as be defcribes might exift; but, with all fubmiffion to our refpectable author, we maintain that it would not be accommodated to practice. If the difference between the two Scales were expressed, as he afferts, by the fraction the divifor would be the product of two contiguous numbers, an even and an uneven. But it is obvious that this contrivance would admit of a very limited application. There are no two adjacent factors, for infance, of the numbers 60, 100, 500, or 1000; and it would therefore be impoffible, by Mr. Vince's method, to divide the unit into these parts, though nothing is more common in the fubdivifion of the degree or the inch. The denominator of the fraction which we have n.n+1 I flated as the difference between the parts of the proximate fcales, is produced by the multiplication of any two factors indifcriminately, and confequently offers a great variety of choice. We shall confefs, however, that our analyfis is but a novel attempt, and that our age and fituation have afforded but few opportunities of examining aftronomical inflruments. 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