WE scarcely remember a night when that vast ocean, the public mind, appeared more agitated and rising into turbulent fluctuation, than in the evening of the 24th, when this our Thirtieth Preface was preparing to be sent on board. The Speech of Buonaparte to the Senate had arrived—it had been seen by many, yet read only by a few: the preliminaries of peace had been certainly signed; and Lord Castlereagh was that very night to embark in a frigate for the Continent, and to conclude the Pacification.

Now as the same false alarm may constantly happen during the great events which both by arms and by diplomacy are likely to take place; we think it right, on firing this our Thirtieth Gun, just to ascertain our bearings, and to inform our friends afloat, how the land lies: and this we are of opinion cannot be done more effectually, than by repeating the signal, which, when the day broke, we observed flying on board that vessel called The Times:—