Spain was formally declared on the 7th of March; but letters or marque against that nation had, it appears, issued since the 26th of the preceding month; and even previously to that, Spanish vessels had been both captured at sea and embargoed in port. The manifesto and counter-declaration of the Catholic king issued on the 23d of March; and shortly afterwards Spain's neighbour, Portugal, declared herself a willing ally in the cause. The subsequent irruptions of the republican forces into the territories of the King of the two Sicilies made him also a party in the war. With Austria, Prussia, and Sardinia, war had existed, as already in part stated, for some time previous to the declaration against England and the United Netherlands.

We are now arrived at an epoch that calls for a more particular account of the State of the British Navy, than we have hitherto deemed it necessary to give. It was this that suggested the formation of a series of annual abstracts, the first of the kind that have ever appeared in print; and which, being the result of a careful investigation of official and other records, are submitted, with some degree of confidence, to the public attention. The first abstract of the series shows not only the number of individuals, but the aggregate tonnage and established force in guns and men, of every class of ship belonging to the British navy at the commencement of the year 1793.* It also contains many other particulars, that will be found useful in drawing comparisons, as well between the British navy and the navy of any foreign power, as between the former itself at different periods. Were the "tons" not introduced, that acknowledged sign of improvement, the increasing size of the ships of any particular class would not discover itself; and we should be likely to form a very erroneous estimate of the comparative strength of the British navy at any two periods at which its numbers were summed up. The tonnages it may be observed, are precisely those inserted in the official register ; and, being all the product of one mode of casting, afford a tolerably fair criterion of the relative size of the ships.

The propriety of placing "cruisers " in a separate, and that the most conspicuous, compartment of the table will be evident, when it is considered, that they constitute the sole aggressing force of a navy. Of the "stationary harbour ships," some are usefully employed; but the generality have no existence as fighting ships, and ought, strictly speaking, to have their names expunged from the published lists of the navy. So far, however, from sanctioning any curtailment, the monthly lists insert the name of every unseaworthy ship, as well as of every transport, yacht, and sheer-hulk. It does certainly seem very absurd, to consider a vessel, constructed solely for pleasurable purposes, as a ship of war; yet Steel ranks the large yachts with 20-gun

* See Appendix, Annual Abstract, No. 1.