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company as shall be hereafter fixed

upon.

It is, however, important, that it should be clearly understood, that no expense is to be incurred by the public on account of the arms, pay, or clothing of such supernumeraries; and that they will not be considered as entitled to any exemptions from the militia, or other ballots.

I think it proper to take this opportunity of communicating his majesty's commands to your lordship, that measures should be taken without delay, in communication with the general officer commanding in the district, for fixing upon such general place or places of assembly, for the different volunteer corps and established companies of men within the county of

, as may be deemed most expedient in case of invasion, or the appearance of the enemy in force upon the coast; and I am further commanded by his majesty to desire your lordship, in communication with the general of the district, to distribute such provisional orders to such volunteer corps and established companies of men as aforesaid, with respect to their assembling together, and moving upon the general places of assembly, so to be fixed upon in the events above alluded to, as the nature of the case may appear to require.

Your lordship will likewise be pleased, in communication with the general officer commanding, to make such arrangements, if not already done, respecting beacons, and other indications of alarm, as may be thought necessary within the county of , either with a view to the conveyance of intelligence upon points merely local, or in connexion with the other neigh

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Circular Letter to the General Officers commanding Districts, sent to the Lord-Lieutenants of Counties, with a Request to take the earliest Opportunity of making the Arrangement generally known.

Horse-Guards, 17th Sept. 1803.
Sir,

The commander in chief feeling very strongly the necessity of mak ing every possible exertion, with a view to aid the instruction of the yeomanry and volunteer corps, and to bring them into a state of service with as little delay as possible, has commanded me to signify his approbation of your calling upon each regiment within your district, whether of regulars or militia, to furnish their quota to this important duty, in the proportions you may think proper, not exceeding in any instance two serjeants and two corporals per regiment; and his royal highness trusts that officers commanding regiments will be very careful in selecting non-commissioned officers perfectly competent to the discharge of this essential service.

The regiments which are at this time forming second battalions, by receiving men from the army of reserve, are exempted from the operations of this order: and if there should be any corps within your command, to which from par

ticular

ticular circumstances the requisition for this aid would be peculiarly inconvenient, his royal highness desires you will use your discretion in withholding the demand in such instances.

It is his royal highness's further pleasure that recruiting parties shall likewise be employed on this duty, wherever you find it necessary to call for their assistance, and judge that it can be afforded without any material detriment to the service on which they are employed.

The period for which the services of these non-commissioned officers are granted to the yeomanry and volunteer corps should be limited, and in general his royal highness is of opinion that six weeks or two months will be fully adequate to the purpose.

I have the honour to be, sir,
Your most obedient humble

servant,

HARRY CALVERT,
Adjutant-general.

To the General Officers com-
manding Districts.

Circular, sent by Mr. Secretary Yorke, to the Lord-Lieutenants of Counties, dated October 5.

My Lord,

As there is reason to apprchend, that his majesty's proclamation of the 31st of August, requiring the aliens therein described to depart the realm, within the period specified in the said proclamation, has been disobeyed in many instances, and that divers aliens of the description therein mentioned, still continue to reside in this country, without having received licenses for that purpose; I am to signify to your lordship his majesty's com

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GENERAL ORDERS.

Horse-Guards, Oct. 13.

It is his majesty's command, that all officers appointed to the battalions of the army of reserve, and to the second battalions of the regiments of the line which have received men from that corps, shall forthwith join their respective regiments. His royal highness the commander in chief will lay before his majesty the names of officers belonging to these battalions, who shall not have joined before the 1st of next month (whose absence is not satisfactorily accounted for through their commanding officers), in order that they may be superseded. Officers on being appointed to any of the regiments above mentioned, are required immediately to report themselves to lieutenant-general Hewitt, at his office, No. 6, Suffolk-street, Charing-cross, from whom they will receive further instructions.

By his royal highness's command,

HARRY CALVERT,

Adjutant-general.

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corps which were reviewed in Hyde Park on the 26th and 28th inst. his majesty's high approbation of their appearance, which has equalled his majesty's utmost expectation.

His majesty perceives, with heartfelt satisfaction, that the spirit of loyalty and patriotism, on which the system of the armed volunteers throughout the kingdom was originally founded, has risen with the exigencies of the times, and at this moment forms such a bulwark to the constitution and liberties of the country, as will enable us, under the protection of Providence, to bid defiance to the unprovoked malice of our enemies, and to hurl back, with becoming indignation, the threats which they have presumed to vent against our independence, and even our existence

as a nation.

His majesty has observed with peculiar pleasure that, amongst the unprecedented exertions which the present circumstances of the country have called forth, those of the capital of his united kingdom have been eminently conspicuous; the appearance of its numerous and well-regulated volunteer corps, which were reviewed on the 26th and 28th inst., indicates a degree of attention and emulation, both in officers and men, which can proceed only from a deep sense of the important objects for which they have enrolled themselves, a just estimation of the blessings we have so long enjoyed, and a firm and manly determination to defend them like Britons, and transmit them unimpaired to our posterity. The commander in chief has the highest satisfaction in discharging his duty, by communicating these his majesty's most gracious sentiments, and requests that the commanding officers will have re

course to the readiest means of making the same known to their respective corps. FREDERICK, Commander in chief.

In Answer to a Letter written to the Transport-Office by General Mazan, on his Parole at Bishop's Waltham, the following Letter was forwarded to him, by the Secretary to the Transport-Board.

Transport-Office, Oct. 31, 1803.

Sir,

I have it in command from the commissioners entrusted with the management of transports for his majesty, as well as with the care and custody of prisoners of war, to inform you, that it is by order of my lord St. Vincent that you have had the option of going to one of the three cities mentioned in your letter.

I am authorised, besides, to acquaint you, that the transportoffice, seconding the views of government, has ever been desirous of treating the prisoners of war, taken during actual hostilities, in the same manner as they had been treated in all former wars between the two countries, with all the humanity consistent with the public security; but that, in the existing circumstances, it has deemed it expedient to remove prisoners of war on parole, from places situated near the coast, and to send them to the cities in the interior of the kingdom. You will observe, then, that the order which has been made on this subject, is not confined to you, but applies, in gene ral, to all other prisoners on parole; and as to the comparison you make between the treatment of prisoners in this country, and that of the En

glish prisoners in France, the commissioners think it sufficient to remark that the distance, to which it is now proposed to remove you, does not exceed 70 miles, whereas the English prisoners in France are sent into the interior to the distance of 500 miles from some of the ports to which they had been brought.

As to your application for permission to return to France on parole, I have orders to inform you that above two months have elapsed since captain Jurieu, late commander of the French frigate La Franchise, had permission to go to France on his parole, as bearer of a special proposition to the French minister of marine, for the establishment of a general cartel of exchange, on the basis of that which subsisted between the two countries during the last war; but that no answer has yet been received to that proposition; and, inasmuch as not a single British prisoner has been hitherto permitted to return to England; and that such permission has been granted yet but to five British subjects, who had been detained in France at the commencement of hostilities, though above 400 French prisoners, taken at sea since the commencement of the war, have returned to France; the commissioners are of opinion that if there be any subjects of complaint, they do not arise from the conduct of this country, but solely from that of the first consul.

I have the honour to be, &c.
(Signed) ALEX. M'LEAY,

Sec.

Letter from Lord Hobart to the Lords of the Admiralty.

Downing-street, Nov. 5.

My Lords,
Mr. Sullivan having communi

cated to me sir Evan Nepean's letter of the 31st ult. containing the demand of citizen Noguez, general of brigade, to obtain permission to return to France on his parole, I am to acquaint your lordships, thait will be expedient to represent to general Noguez, that, as the island of St. Lucia has been surrendered at discretion to his majesty's forces, he can have no right to make the demand of permission to return to France. The indulgence with which the English commanding officers were disposed to treat him, and the other French prisoners of war taken at St. Lucia, in giving them permission, as a simple act of favour, to return to France, was founded on the supposition that the war should be carried on by the French government on the known principles of former wars.

But the first consul having, in open violation of the established usage of all civilised nations, thought proper to detain, as prisoners of war, those of his majesty's subjects who had gone to France during an interval of peace, general Noguez ought to know, that, until such subjects shall be released, no persons taken in arms, except those who may be regularly exchanged, can have permission to leave the British territories: and that, for this reason, he and all the other officers of the army and navy of France, actually prisoners in England, should attribute their detention solely to the measures adopted by the first consul towards his majesty's subjects.

I am, my lords, &c.
(Signed)

HOBART.

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of the maritime Counties of Great lordship will particularly point the

Britain.

My Lord,

As there is reason to think that aliens landing in this kingdom, from the continent, neglect in many instances to make their declaration to the magistrates of the places where they reside, as required by the provisions of the 9th and 10th clauses of the alien act, a copy of which I enclose, I am to request that your lordship will be so good as to call the particular attention of the magistrates in the county of to this circum

stance, and to desire them to enforce the provisions of the abovementioned clauses, with respect to such aliens within their several jurisdictions as have neglected to comply therewith, and at the same time to return to me a list of such aliens.

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Circular, to the Lord-Lieutenants of

the Maritime Counties.

Whitehall, Dec. 24, 1803. My Lord,

It having appeared that Dutch vessels from Holland, under Prussian colours, have been in the practice of resorting to the east coast of England, for the double purpose of carrying on contraband trade, and conveying intelligence to the enemy, it has been judged proper to direct that they should in future be prevented from so doing between the Humber and the Downs, Yarmouth Roads and the Downs excepted. As, however, the measures taken for this purpose may in some instances be eluded, by their putting persons clandestinely on shore, where the coast will permit of it, I am to desire that your

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As nothing would be more contrary to his majesty's intention than the imposing unnecessary re straint on the navigation of neutral vessels, I have the honour of informing you, in addition to what I notified in my letter of the 23d inst. that the limitation to Yar mouth Roads and the Downs is applicable to no other vessels than to those which may come to our coast directly from the ports of Holland, or of countries occupied by the arms of France. The necessity which exists for laying down a distinction of this nature, will of course render ships of every description liable to such search or inquiries as may enable the commanders of his majesty's ships of war to ascertain that the regulation now established is in no instance evaded; but this will cause no detriment whatever to the trade of neutral nations, as the whole of our coast will continue to be open to all such vessels as may be engaged in

the

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