The National Register. — London, England, 1812-12-27 00:00:00

. THE NATIONAL Vo Or, 1. POLITICAL 1)IS2UISITION. RttnosrEur OF THE YEAR 183!. At the close of a year like the present, which mist long I stand distinguished as one of the most eventful of that extra i ordinary period in which it is our lot to live, it must neceg- I sarily be a subject of interesting reflection to mal k the i changes wrought Tifitie progress oF events, and Cfleir effects on - . 1 .e country to which we belong. It is natural that we should Ee: anxious to compare our situation at the end of oue year, 'with illat in which we found ourselves at the termination Gf the last, and a pleasing task do it-Ives upoU 1 the Journalist, w;:ose duty it is to d'.'irw the compvison. 1 when the result is as gratifying as that presented to him, (.7 1 li wind up the history of the year One Thousand Eight Hun dred and Twelve. It has, we know, been stated by come, that no improve ment has taken place in our affairs. Thk, however, will not deter us from confidently asserting the contrary to be the fact. Those very persons who now contend that our situa tion has not changed for the better,. would, a year ago, have been the first to rail against the inanity and folly of the " Ministerial hirelings," as they call those who happen to ditrer from them, if any journal had been bold enough to pre dict, that by this time the ci use of England and of Europe would be so much benefited. What expression of contempt or of ridicule would have appeared to them sufficiently strong, to characterise the fond intoxication of those sanguine dreamers, who had presumed to prophecy, or even ventured to surmise, that in one short veai so much of glory would be acquired by England in the Peninsula, and so much of disgrace by France wherever her arms wet e carried. What would have been thot'ight of those who dared to express a hope founded t.n the then state of things, that within a period so short, Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz would be in our possession, that the enemy would be completely defeated in a general battle, and finally compelled to raise the siege of Cadiz, after be sieging it for two years and a half; and yet more, that in the same! year Russia, from being at war with this country, would be so actively engaged iiihostilities with France as she DOW l'. and, to consummate all, that the mi,jity, all-conquering BUONAPARTE,CODOCteIy routed, wculd be happy to con sult his own safety by thing fi mu the wreck of his army, a wretched fugitive, to give to the world a catalop, - ,ue of disas ters, and a detail of misery, zlinost unexampled in the history of war ! Yet all these things, wild and improbable as the supposi tion would then have appeared, have actually taken place. WhP.e the discomfited lejons of France, fled, or fell, before the warriors of England in the Peninsula, the avenging !thunder of Russia aas heard in the North, and her immense Va. No. CCLX/. Cur ging, Constitution, anb tatrg. PCOLTSiIED AT NO. I I, NUWCASTI.E-STRLEr, STRAND. ' - s v NDAY, DECENT EI? '27, NIT. REGISTER. r ICE ntl.• population rose to overwhelm the t . ‘ rant of the Continent with confusion and disgrace, and to teach the other nations of Europe, that to he independent it was only nfTessary to be united. With patriotism and otion almost un precedented, Russia resi.ted the invader in the most ef fectual manner, and exhibi•ed him to the world a melan choly picture of distracted insiolence and blasted ambiti n. Dispassionate men, comparing the twenty- (lin! h bulletin with former documents of the same nature, and both with those well established facts, to which a ready reference cart be made, will see in it nothing of candour,- nothing of a re gard for truth, to entitle it to a greater respect than those which preceded it. The admissions it contains, important as they arc, ought not to be regarded as einat'..rvng front -5, manly disposition, to avow the worst They arc ex torter' by dire necessity, by the impossibility of cone eallng all . 4 /10 1 ,:alandty to which N A POL res wretched fol the havoei.. lowers have been expou :d. From beginning to end, it is an art isasters which have *educed his ful attempt to gloss over the n :famished v;igal.onds. In once numerous army to a handful every instance inwhich it can I!4> corneal e(I ' het. au " u nts ' ad the losses of the tyrant are ditninisht-d, and sonietiille' h*. e vantages claimed where defeats have ht en experienced. this, the statemeots relative toDu MEROWSKI, N Y, and BEAU.• 14 A aNOls, atThrd sufficient proofs, and demon,t rate that this bulletin contains as much falsthood and mi:representation as any which preceded it, and shat must that calamity be of which this is but a favourable sketch, a flatterii:g outline or When we take this into consideration, and see the enemy so far humbled, we cannot but think that we are iustified in regarding the situation of this country a 3 much Unproved since the close of the year 1511. In making a general com parison like this, we disclaim taking for rur data tern pory triumphs or transient reverses, but. we are justified in assuming the recent overthrow of BCONAPART C, to be an advantage as permanent as it is splendid Supposing it possible th:_t he could instantly find himself at the ln..ad of an army equal in strength and numbers, to that which he lately led to destruction (which is utterly improbable), still would his si tuation be greatly inferior to. that in• which we saw him a few months hack. No longer the paten', the invi.ncA)le, would his followers think they - m4rched under a Gene al who knew but to lead them to victory!. Tllt•y would 'ce in him the dastard who deserted his soldiers in the hour of d:stress, to consult hi; own talety in ignomi nious flight. The splendour of Conner triumphs would no longer light them to new conquests, bur ,the grim spectres of murdered thousands immolated in the cantpagn of 1r319. to tl.eir leallei's brutality and rashness, ~o uid cross their pith.and giro to m^inory a mournful retrospect, —to anticipation a horrible. prospect. These :lie 1:1,11 'test IWO tan% 153 i vet; ; , iipi %Ion!. ..........._,„ low'