Star. — London, England, 1810-08-10 00:00:00

~~ FROM THE FRENCH PdPRRS. From the ARGUS. " At the moment when we are terminating our labours, we naturally look back upon the career we have traversed ; and the changes produced in Europe in less than nine years, appear to us, as it were, the work of nine centuries. 44 We recollect what was the origin of this. The ultimatum that preceded the rupture of the Treaty of Amiens is still tresh in our memory. The Britannic Cabinet scarcely needed pretexts to break a Treaty which it openly avowed to have been no more than a truce. Its object and policy, at that period, was to reduce the power of France, by stirring up enemies against her upon the Continent. But on comparing the situation of the belligerent parties, and consider ing what they were then, and what they are now, we are struck at seeing how far England is from having realized the hopes held out to her, and how much France has surpassed even all that her most ardent friends could have conceived. On both sides the re sults of this war are so many important lessons to be treasured up. 66 To begin this picture, with an examination of the finances of England. It is known with what emphasis the Ministers every year announce their prosperous state. Their speeches are pompous—their calculations rigorously just—but the result of their labours uniformly is, to augment the taxes, and to open fresh loans ! In 1802 the general produce of the taxes, exclusive of the interest of the debt, was estimated at £31.,000,000 sterling ; in 1809, it was R 53,000,000, and the expenditure of 1810 must carry it still higher. Men of sense are struck with this pro gressive augmentation, to which, if we add about £20,000,(X)0 sterling, for the interest of the National Debt, the whole territorial income of Great Britain is scarcely adequate. These are results that speak more plainly than the hypothetical calculations of Gentz, Ivernois, Sze. Though the system of the Sinking Fund, when subjected to mathematical exa nlittatit n, can extinguish this enormous debt in a given ~pace of time, yet this certainty has, hitherto, laaen in the hands of the English Ministry only a lure an gull the people, and to make therm support, with out murmuring, the oppressive weight of loans. At the creation of the Sinking Fund, the public debt was only £238,000,000. What then have been the results to England of this marvellous invention ? An in crease of more than £400,000,000 in 24 years. Either the calculations were false, or the Ministers have go verned ill. Mr. Pitt calculated the extinction of the debt upon the supposition of fifty years of peace, and his Ministry was remarkable only for his obstinate perseverance in a war tuitions to his country ! Ac cordingly, his fantastic calculations were constantly disappointed. His successnts have followed his sys tem, and while boasting of the wealth of the na tion, they have been daily enlarging the abysS which is open before it. The facility with which the loans are filled up, dazzles the vulgar. We have repeatedly bad occasion to shew how burthensome they are to the State. The intimate connection between the Bank and the Exchequer renders them still more dangerous. The bill, which suspended the payments at the Bank in specie, which, though it ought to have been only a few months in force, has now ex isted thirteen years, actually placed the Bank and the Government in a state of insolvency. The con fidence of individuals may certainly make them content themselves with the fictitious value they re ceive; but this confidence will have an end. The successive depreciation of the paper-money must ne cessarily lead to a crisis which the union of the Bank and Government cannot prevent. s , The administration i;f the finances of France pre sents quite another aspect. There the revenue is equal to the expenditure. Foreign and expensive war has not in the least deranged the system. The safety of the State does not rest on hypothetic calculations.— The economic regimen of this vast empire is as sim ple as that of a family ; the system of loans leaves no uneasiness for the future ; the debts of the past are provided for, and there is no intention of contracting new debts. In a word, the largest State in Europe is the least in debt ; and the institution of the Bank augments the circulation of specie, without creating silty apprehension as to the solidity of its paper. s , If, from an examination of the finances, we pro ceed to that of the internal administration of the two countries, we find every session of the British Parlia. rnent offering iresh enormities, or teeming with fruit less accusations for the punishment of past miscon duct, or unavailing complaints in order to prevent the future errors of Ministers. Still the blood and treasures of the nation are lavished in disastrous ex peditions, and the Citizens are a prey to a spirit of .faction, the forerunner of anarchical disturbances.— Ireland, still separate, notwithstanding its union, is in a manner proscribed its to three-fourtlis of her po pulation ; and sui,ject, with regard to ltcr worship, her peasantry, and her existence, to iniquitous restric tions. co In France, on the contrary, every sess;on of the Legislative Body has buen distinguished by institu tions adapted to the interests and the manners of the nation. Every people called to make part of this vast empire have instantly entered upon the enjoy-, ments of the benefits of a legislation to all protective and equal. Thus have the arts, the sciences, and li terature every where taken a new flight ; and the dis tinguished productions which have characterised this reign will not be lost to future generations. Here agriculture, the first of arts, has made a most Tema,- kable progress ; and France, thus fertile, may barter her surplus for the commodities she wants. The well judged prohibition of English merchandize has supported the national industry ; a few years perse verance in this wise policy will secure the existence of the new manufactures that have sprung tip in the in .. tell or. The English Government, perhaps at this mo- I went, persists in making war only for the interest of its commerce, and every day diminishes its advantages —every campaign precipitates its ruin. The mane-1 few,ories of London, Birmingham, and Manchts:er, are deserted. Thousands of artisans have no . other . means of subsistence but the 00r -rates. The mar _ bets of the Continent are shut .o their productions,. whilst French merchandize every where finds ♦ent and purchasers. The interruption of colonial com merce is to France only a transient evil, from which salt per.nanent a.iv.intaget. She pays dearer for a Caw tos.ign comzuodities s but ahe abounds in the .» l -.' I ~/ necessaries of life. During this interruption of her be compelled to augment her naval expenditure, to I communications with different countries, her internal which the profits of her commerce will be inadequate. navigation is improved, and highways are in all direc. —Meanwhile, she will neither have foreign seamen, tions opening between provinces, the diversity of nor ship-timber, nor iron, and the other nraterials, whose productions presents the most advantageous I which she has hitherto procured at a low price from and solid commerce to the ingenuity of the specula- ! the North. If she designs to follow up her system of tor, the industry of the artisan, or the labour of the blockade, she will require an establishment double of agriculturist. ! what she now has ; and her cruizing squadrons, al " What are the advantages that England derives ways weak or ill-supplied, will be, at length, beaten from a monopoly odious to all nations ? A few in- or forced to shun the conflict. The loss of twenty dividuals grow rich, but the mass of the people suffer. naval engagements will not compel France to abandon To a particular speculation, that of having the bro- her system ; widths her own territory, or that of her kerage Of foregn commodities, the Government sa- allies, she will possess all the means of repairing her crifices the more solid advantage which it previously losses. If she gains a single battle, the maritime su drew from the national industry. It has reduced a per -jet-4y of England will have vanished, and 60,000 part of its population to a state of misery ; it teaches men, encamped at Boulogne, will make those lords the rest of Europe to dispense with its productions ; of the ocean tremble to all eternity. it places itself at the mercy of events ;it makes its "In the enormous extent of the colonies of Eng power and wealth subordinate to resources which are land, there is undoubtedly something to flatter the quite foreign to it. The superiority of its marine pride of those who judge superficially of the force of a dazzles its eyes. It is by having a few vessels more, State. But this colossal power carries within itself that it thinks to avert the inevitable ascendancy of the seeds of destruction. The colonial system re- France. It is by the acquisition of a few petty islands ceived a violent shock by the separation of the United that it thinks to counterbalance the incorporation of i States of America. The revolt of St. Domingo gave many large States with the great empire ! But how the second example. The bl oo dy i n t r i g ues o f the much has the relative power of England and France English Ministry in Spain, may lead to the indepen changed since 1803 ? dence of the Spanish colonies ; and this revolution, " With less pride in his pretensions, with more in which it absurdly seems to rejoice, advances the frankness in his policy, the genius of Napoleon has epoch of that which must inevitably effect, in both laid the foundations of a power henceforth immove- hemispheres—the independence of colonies powerful able. The war of 1805, which Mr. Pitt looked upon I enough to defend themselves, and rich enough to as a masterpiece of policy, gave rise to the League of jsubsist upon their own resources. The English Mi the Rhine, and the kingdoms of Westphalia, Holland, • nistry, blinded by ambition, hatred, and cupidity, and Naples. That of Prussia, extended the bnun- has, long beforehand, been preparing those calamities dories of the League of the Rhine to the Vistula ; which will prove fatal to England alone. The French and the obstinacy of the British Government, in re- Empire, where the revenue, the expenditure, the po fusing every overture of peace, after the treaty of pulation, and the military establishment, are so corn- Tilsit, and during the conferences at Eifurtle and the i pletely harmonized, requires, in reality, nothing but intrigues carried on in Spain and Portugal against a free commerce, in order to avail herself of all the France, have put the Peninsula under the inevitable wealth of the universe. Her industry, and the sur dominion of the Empire. Finally, the last efforts of plus of her territorial produce, will procure for her the disciples of Mr. Pitt to seduce the Austrian Ca- all the enjoyments of Asiatic luxury, at a less expence binet, have hid, between two nations made to esteem than the establishment of distant (pinnies. each other, the foundations of a pe ace, of which a re- " England, on the contrary, cannot behold this re cent august alliance will perpetuate the duration. volution without sinking into a Power of the third Thus has France been successively strengthened by order. In vain would she pretend to engross the all the allies that England had at the commencement commerce of the whole world by the superiority of of the war of the Revolution ; and the English Mi- her navy. This superiority, as we have already ob- nistry, constantly blundering in the employment of its served, may be disputed with her. Besides, she eagerly military means, has shewn an equal want of foresight clings to the extent of her colonial possessions, which in its political combinations. They might have ap- s h e must d e f en d. I n t h e event o f a genera l separa peared with some advantage, or at all events with tion of the great colonies from their mother-countries, same honour, in the field of battle, when the armies they will desire commercial independence after esta- ' of the Coalitions maintained the contest with France. blishing political independence. England will then —During those memorable campaigns, there were have to maintain, in all parts of the world, that contest twenty occasions in which 40,000 English, landed which has been protracted, for these last three years,' in Italy or Germany, might have created a diversion with the United States. The terms of the contest truly beneficial. But then the English Ministry were may vary, but the substance will remain the same ; employed only in such expeditions as that of Copen- and its inevitable result must be the abolition of the hagen. They thought less of serving their allies than odious laws which Great Britain wishes to impose of weakening all of them, and of destroying even the upon the rest of the world. very shado PI of a maritime and commercial power.— " Whilst this grand epoch is in train, a change, Their conduct has discovered their secret. They be- fatal to the interests of England, is operating in the came sensible of their error, when the unexpected commerce of Europe. The Continental communica victories of France deprived them of all hope of re- tions, of one state with another, are beginning to be pairing it. From that moment, as to a war by lands, carried on with more regularity ; their industry is im they ought only to have taken a defensive attitude ; proving ; their agriculture makes remarkable progress. yet, all on a sudden, they assumed the defensive, The impolitic war in which Turkey has been involved, when they had nothing else to expect but the useless retards the epoch when new routes will be opened to loss of men and money. Out of one error they have European commerce into the very heart of Asia. But fallen into another, and put t o ha za rd their internal whatever be the issue of this struggle, Constantinople security, without re-conquering the military honour must be the rampart of the Continental system.— they had lost. The same spirit of absurdity made Great rivers form a conveyance from the extremities them undertake and misconduct the expeditions to i of Europe to the very foot of its walls; a land-locked Spain and Walcheren. They will exhibit nearly the sea carries its vessels to the centre ofAsia ; and against same results in the history of the war. Hitherto the such advantages the English navy will be absolutely English army seems only to.have kept its ground be- I inefficient. Constantinople is the terror of the British cause there was no French army to contend with it. commerce. Hence the Ministry has always endea- But the Ministers themselves have no serious inten- I voured to keep that Power in ignorance of her means, Lion of defending Portugal when it shall be regularly or to make her misapply them. But the revolution attacked. Soon they will only be embarrassed as to the I which must occur in the commerce of the world is means of saving the fragments of an army that would . approaching, and that revolution will reduce England have been better employed in the defence of their own to her proper station, if same catastrophe do not pre territory. cipitate her ruin in a more violent manner." Thus is the sum-total of the present war, that of Front the MONITEUR. having given to France all the allies that England CIUDAD RODRIGO—ALMEIDA. had at the commencement of it—having augmented On the sth, the Marshal Prince of Essling sent a the direct dominion of France by a population of from 1 party of 8(K) horse to drive in all the English posts 25 to 30,000,000 of inhabitants—having given her , which were before him, and to reconnoitre tge position an extent of more than 1200 leagues of coast, many iof the English army. These posts all fell back, and maritime ports of the first rank, and several new dock . only a few skirmishes took place. The enemy had yards on the North sea, the Ocean, Mediterranean,' his left wing supported by Fort Conception, and his and Adriatic—having given her a Continental coin. ; line extended along the rugged mountain which Woks mercy which the whole British navy cannot obstruct;' toward; Almeida. On observing our reconnoitring an influence which nothing ran henceforwarddiminish. party he drew out eleven battalions, eight squadrons, As to England, the result of eight years of war has and seven pieces of cannon. been such an increase of her debt and expenditure, The accounts of the peasants make the enemy's that she can no longer do without paper-money, the I army to be withdrawing beyond the frontiers of Por first step towards Bankruptcy—the augmentation, and tugal ; that the English left the defence of Almeida the necessity of a still greater augmentation of a ma- 1 to the Portuguese ; and that Lord Wellington had ritime establishment, which is out of all proportion I placed the Spaniards on his flanks and in his front. to her population and her demand for the defence of i Parties have been sent to reconnoitre the English her colonies—that of being left, as to her foreign Con- : army. The 3d company of grenadiers of the 22d cerns, in the same insulated state in which she wished ; regulars, which was sent to support one of these par to place France, with the loss of all her commercial : ties, was surrounded on leaving a village, by a party relations with the Continent of Europe, (for the alli. ! of 400 English horse. Captain Gouache immediately ance she'still maintains with Turkey will be as short- formed his company into a square, received three suc lived as the alliance which prolongs the calamities of cessive discharges from all the cavalry, and killed 24 the Spanish peninsula)—that of soon having to watch men and 20 horses belonging to the enemy, who then 2000 leagues of coast, and 60 maritime ports, whence . left him, without any of hi s g ren a di ers h av i ng b een in defiance of her, will sally forth numerous fleets ea- . even wounded. The sabres of the enemy were all pable of'disputing with her the freedom of the seas : warded off by the bayonets or muskets. Captain when that moment shall have arrived, England will Gouache and Serjeant Patris were particularly dis. be struck with terror at the abyss dug by a succession tinguished in this action by their presence of mind of weak or perfidious Ministers. : and bravery. If the present can supply any certain data for cal. ! Ciudad Rodrigo is putting in a state of defence, cillating the future, this war must gradually produce and preparations are making for speedily undertaking the absolute ruin of that once flourishing nation.— the siege of Almeida. Hitherto she has supported her financial system by , ASTURIAS—BISCAY. uncommon efforts and extraordinary advantages that - The English had embarked on board one of their are daily diminishing. She has supported her marl- light squadrons two or three thousand robbers from time and military establishment by the divisions she the Asturias and Gallicia, for the purpose of making has fostered among the Continental Powers—by the landings on the coast of Bi sca y, i n concert with some I treachery and desertion of foreign soldiers and sailors detachments of the troops. They were successively 1 whom she has taken into her pay. She has, for a put on shore at Santona and Bermeo, where the vigi ltime, prolonged the existence of her commerce by lance and activity of. the French commanders did not smuggling. She had no fear for her colonies, owing give them time to act. They nevertheless succeeded Ito the necessity to which she reduced France, of at- in destroying two or three small batteries, and in car ; tending exclusively to the affairs of the Continent.— rying off some fishi ng b oats . ' Bat, at length, a general tranquillity is on the point T it such a feat was confined that expedition from of being established ; and England, which hitherto which the greatest restil!s were expected. They has had to defend only foreign interests, is on the eve found every point so well guarded that they could not of fighting pro aril et foci,; and then it is that her even send on shore arms, ammunition, and clothing, weakness will become manifest. The actual superio- which had been demanded by several chiefs of bands. trity of her marine, and the vast eatent of her cola its Th ey expecte d that the i r appearance o• this coast ' cannot save her. We have just :hewn that she will would have occasioned an insurrection, but they was: once more mistaken I their landings did not pr e d ict the smallest degree of sensation—on the contrary, the inhabitants of Biscay observed, with contempt, t h e employment of such wretched means. This was o h e a new proof for them of the absolute impotency o f the insurgents and their allies to undertake any thi ng serious against the points which are occupied by our THE EVENING STAIt LONDON. FRIDAY. AUGUST 10. PRICE OF STOCKS THIS DAY AT ONE O'CLOCK. per Ct. Coos. money, 64 611.—for ate. 19 191. S per Ct. Redoe.ea 6911-4 per Cent. ale. Navy 5 per Cent. 99, —Exch. Bills, 3 to 6a. pre. Bonds 251. preen.—Oranlunt lf I dla. PRICE OF STOCKS YESTERDAY. Bank Stock *66k 217 lndia Stock 3 per C. Red. 6911 India Bonds 235. Ns. pr., 3 per C. Con. Cl* Exc. Bills, N. 51. prem. 4 per Cent. 851 if Omniunt If dis. I per C. Navy 9914 Lottery Tickets X 22. Long Aon. lb 9-1 6} Cons. for sec. 64 6si Another Cartel has arrived at Plymouth from Morlaix, with dispatches from Mr. MACKENZIE, which reachei town this morning. They relate to the ne. gociation for an exchange of prisoners, which is nct yet completely settled. The intelligence received by this conveyance adds but little to prior accounts. During the last month no troops had passed through France in the direction of Spain. The general opinion at Paris was, that the war in that country would be much protracted. New orders had been given for the speedy equipment of the fleets in the Scheldt and the Texel. The Molinari last received represent Mama as putting Ciudad Rodrigo in a state of defence, and as making preparations for the siege of Almeida, the de. fence of which has been left entirely to the Portuguese; and add, on the report of the peasants, that the Bri. fish army is retiring from the frontier of Portugal.— We believe it is true that the garrison of Almeida contains only one Portuguese regiment of regulars. commanded by a British Officer; who has two or three more British Officers under him, and that the remain. der consists of some regiments of Portuguese militia —making in the whole about 5000 men. With such means, it cannot be expected to hold nut long, as a very considerable force, under 1.01.905 1 is advancing to besiege it. It is likewise not improbable that our army is retiring towards Lisbon, to take up another strong position, where it is likely to wait the attack of the enemy, if they be disposed to venture on an attack. We yesterday announced to our Readers the de. cease of the Paris paper, called the Apr. This day we give its concluding address—a pitiful and con. temptible diatribe against England. It is unworth/ of the smallest comment. The latest accounts from Spain all agree in repro• senting the affairs of the Patriots as in a more pro. rinsing state than for a considerable time before. In other words, the French are in a worse state, their foraging parties being constantly harassed by the pea santry, which makes it difficult for them to get sup plies, and has reduced them to such distress that num bers desert daily. These desertions are not confined to men in subordinate stations ; an officer of consi derable rank being said to have lately deserted from MASSENA% army, bringing with him intelligence of so great importance, that Lord WELLINQTON has thought proper to send him to England, and he is now stated to be in London. A private letter from a Spanish General of inte• grity and courage states, that at no time have the affairs of Spain been viewed by him in so favourable a point of view as at present. He says, that if Lord WELLINGTON, with the Anglo-Portuguese army, can maintain their positions, and if the English make a formidable exertion in favour of the Peninsula, it may yet be saved. The people are every where well dip posed, and if they can only obtain nine or ten millions of dollars from South America, and a proper supply of arms from England, he has no doubt of the ulti mate succest. That our Government will exert itself to furnish a suitable supply of arms, we think, cannot be doubted. after the exertions which Ministers have already made in favour of the oppressed Spaniards. Report says. that Sir WILLIAM ERSICINg, General Loutsv. Brie dier-General HAT, and other Officers of Distinction. are ordered to proceed forthwith to Cadiz, with every soldier in England who shall be judged fit for service; and the plan is, if Lord Wuctatrros shall be torced to retreat, to form an army in the South of Spain, and to keep considerable detachments afloat to harass the French at every point. EXTRACT OF A LETTER RECEIVED FROM CAM, DATED JULY 5, 1810. Four ships have lately come in here from Lima and Buenos Ayres ; and, notwithstanding the precautions which have evidently been taken fcr.- preventing the accounts from Soath America from transpiring, it is not difficult to observe, that there prevails an unusnel sensation in that part ut the world, arising from the recent events in the mother country. It:effects have been most felt in the kingdom of Chili, where the in. habitants, whose mental energies are greater than those in the more northern provinces, begin serioubly to reflect on the absurdity of depending upon a dis' tant and imbecile Government—powerless from the nature of its local situation and confined posses' —vaccilating and divided by the secret intrigues and mysterious designs of certain of its members. You will derive from other sources, Raiff% bi tier