The National Register. — London, England, 1817-10-27 00:00:00

lIMIRIP- act CI gin '4's neumwfpr.." gaationat cti No. 507.—V0L. X. POLITICAL DISQUISITION. THE RUSSIAN ARMAMENT. THE public has hardly recovered from the fright occa- aimed by Sir Robert Wilson's terrible" Statement" ofithe power of Runia, when it is again thrown into a far greater The alarmists, with the Morning Chronicle at their head, see in the fleet of six ships of war, which is shortly expected at Portsmouth to victual, in its way, it is said, to the Mediteranean, prospective deiigns against Spain, France, Italy, or Turkey. This armament we are told, is probably destined to take possession of Mi norca, and from that Island, Alexander is hereafter to pounce upon which ever of those kingdoms he may chusc to select. We have already observed that nothing seems too absurd for assertion, when ltussia is the tleine:—" The circumstances of a Russian fleet," says the Morning Chronicle," with ten thousand troops on board, on the way to the Mediterancan, receiving supplies at Portsmouth, is certainly an oc currence not a little calculated to excite our surprise. Ministers must of course be apprized of the desti ' natiou of this fleet ; and their conduct evinces either that they approve of this destination, or that they dare not, in the present posture of affairs, manifest their disapprobation. Indeed with the danger that rum menaces our Indian Empire, and circumstanced as we are at home, we believe there is no measure short of direct and positive insult, in which they would not be ready to acquiesce." This paragraph is sufficiently foalieh ; but it is ren dered more so by the following, which almost imme diately succeeds it. "We cannot conceive that Ministers would coiticut to this Russian expedition, if it is in tended, as some have said, to concur in the reduction of South America to Spain. We eanmen suppose them ro blind to the honour and interest of the country as nut to i..derpose without reference to the question which cession may be the price of it, to prevent the co-oper *don of any power in this unjustifiable undertaking." • Now if, as had just been said, Ministers dared not manifest their disapprobation, why cannel the writer supoo.w that they will consent to this Russian expedition, or to :Lay thing else, " short of direct and positive insult ?" We can hardly think the two pa , sages were written by the same person; if they were, he must have laboured under a strange con fusion of intellect. But this is not all; we read a few lines more and find the following sentence ; " Fraut whatever source the hostile movements of the Muhrattas have had encouragement, we can, in our state of imped7ll informalioN, see no groundAr alarm." And yet we had just been told that the " danger that now menaces our Indian Empire!" was one reason why ministers dared not oppose Russia in any " mea sure short of direct and positive insult." Ptak . 1 pada ! But thus it ever is, when, party feelings are allowed to usurp the place of reason and common sense. • The demonstrations of Spain against Portugal were made most opportnnely to increase the fears of the alarmists. Russia standing in the menacing attitude which they had described, lending er selling her fleets and armies to Spain, ivould naturally make common cause with her against her enemies, and thus should we, as the ancient allies and guardians of Portugal, be brought into immediate contact with this irresistable power ! Now, however, it appears that Russia with the other groat allied powers, amin t ; tipcin those noble principles of humanity which raved .Pitris from the flames, andlluonulx►rte from the bl►ck, becomes a peace ., fill meiliatur between the conten:ling state•, who, whatever may be their cause of mutual disc,nrtent, arc but ill fit to wage a new war, all aking as flume wounds still nrc, which the ruthless bayonets of France had inflicted. Our wing, Contititution anb ilato6. MONDAY, OCTO: il, 1817. Those political quacks whose heated imaginations had crambed 10,000 men into is ships of the line, are suddenly obliged to confess that they have no troops on board ! But a few days ago, and they saw, in the desti nation of this fleet and army (among other great events) a preliminary step to the downfall of the Ottoman power. The merited death of a Servian rebel, who a second time had violated his faith to his Prince, was, in their estimation ground of quarrel sufficient to plunge half of Europe into another war. Nor can the most authentic and circumstantial denial of any hostile views being entertained, satisfy the minds of these be sotted clamourers. A late number of the German Ob server contained the following contradiction of all the idle stories which have been fabricated respecting the indignation of Russia at the death of Czerney Georges:— " If the execution of the late Chief of the Servians, Ceerni Georges, has excited a great sensation at St. Peters buirgh, it could arise only from the astonishment which must' have been caused by an act of temerity on his part which was neither occasioned nor supported by any power. The Emperor of Russia. who loves peace no lest than his powerful Allies, far fromencouragingin any state thedistorber of politic tranquillity, has found theenterprise niCsenii George as strange as it has appeared to the rest of Efirope. This ancient, ambitious, and crutch Chief of the Servions, forfeited his parole by withdrawing from the Russian territory, and compromised, at his own peril, his life in sight of his country men when he pissed the Danube. As soon as the Emperor learned his flight, he issued against him a decree of condein nation). It is in this spirit that the amicable communications were dictated which Russia has made totter Porte. It could not give a more certain proof of the little influence which this event (foreign to the political situation of these two neighbouring Powers) could have on their mutual relat . titan by agreeing with the Porte OR the first point of thc ne gotiation opened between them, viz. the rectification of the ti outliers on the Lower Danube. And in reply to an article which had emanated from the alarmists of the Continent, the same paper adds:— " All bat the article which we refute says of the corps of ob.oevatioal of fteniongsen is wholly erroneous. Hit4.io has an army ; hot we know nothim: army of observation: and there is no more question of reinforcing this unity than of movements or its corps. Such is the exact and true state of facts. The friends of general tranquillity will find in this ex planation a new reason for being cutiviticeil, that seeing the will of the first powers in Europe, which is so strongly ex - pressed, this tranquillity cannot be again troubled, alter 'An years' agitation and misfortaites. If some patty men desire the eniiirary, we know the sense of their wish ; and when they elideavinir to give to the public their hope as facto, it suffices to refute them by the plain and simple exposit* of the ti utli.. But what say the alarmists here to this ? Nothing can mitigate their dread of Russia; they therethre meet every !wilier statement as to the purity of her inten- tions by doubts and cold surmises. Commenting upon the above passage, the 3forming Chronicle of Friday, says :—" These announcements are sometimes publish ed to answer a temporary purpose ; and when circum stances are continually occurring which indicate a very unsettled state of public afthirs, it is not at all surpris ing., that in spite of these formal promises of peace, the prevalence of a hostile feeling should be contem plated."— The chief " hostile feelings" are to be found in sonic of the Journals of this country and of the conti nent; and were their powers commensurate with their wicked desires, Europe would soon be plunged into a situation worse than thatttlik which she has just been rescued. It is impossible 00 mistake the real vlcs.,,,f a certain class of public writers at present, disguise them how they may, they are nothing less than to bring about a general revolt of the people against their rulers.—lt is the old spirit of lerallirgAlemocracy work ing under another form. FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE. FRANCE. PARIS, Orr. B.—.Thuestlair o olle expiatory service for the .hre Queen Marie Antoisteit&pas eelebsatett In the chapel of the l'itileries„ at huh the Ape was preset'', tow tiler with thr Nndiolitim aatt Spanish Arebstasitilors, the Militate's, Acc. irior Coati were au lomirnioa. The eelettritiim also took ,place lit the alilferent elturcheauf the oretrupolts, which were itiociteroisJvti. The cetheoli4 was aitetaitsaf by the-Prances and Priaccvaes, the pi blic officers. etc. If 41 PRICE oid. In the majority of the departments, the Minnicipal Councl% have been assembled to deliberate respecting the wands of the poor in their respective eomanoaits, and on the means of ensuring the subsistence of the labouring class during the ri gorous season, by means of public workshops, conforinably to the instructions of the Minister of the Interior., SPAIN. n Iran, dated Sept. 27, say., " Gen. O'Dea- 'bled in Andalusia a weil•organiard hely ef" head of widely be was to have embarked -at ober for South America. A new dispr ged the destioatioa of these forces, ma ected towards our frontier of &trer t:. lira, towing Ili: real cause of this telerminaticin.— bide, the Portuguese have sent some forces to the envirous of that strong place. Mushal Comunander-in-Ctrief in Portugal, has sent one e•camp to Madrid, to demand an explanation tding. Two battalions of thu Walloon guards, A letter from _ nell lied assembled troops, at the head the end of October has since changed have been disc— without our knowing , On the other side, the Elva•, and to the Boresford y the of his Aides-decamp of this proceeding. . of* .4 guards, and Spanish guards, have also arrived in the kid does of Lena ; and we are assured that several other corps wilt also proceed thither. These dispositions give rise to a crowd of conjectures which lime alone can clear tip." TURKEY. According to the accounts from Constantinople, the result of the conference between the Rnssi,an Minister, the Baron rte Strogonoll. and the Reis E ff endi, was, that the left arm of the Danube is no longer to form the froutier between Turkey and Russia, which is henceforth to be indicated by the second arm of the river, called Salina, to its junction with the Kilia, below the river Ismael. The intermediate land almost con tinually devastated brimindations, will remain desert for the breadth of from one to five German leagues. The hatsita. 'lens of the small town of Kiliastara are to be rebuilt on the right bank of the Danube in two years, and the frontlet line on-the soil marked by me/mints 18 feet in height. Respeeting navigation, there is nothing determined upon. The woven. lion is considered a good initiative for the demurs:alias of frontiers and it affords reason to hope that the other two ciations will be happily terminated. It is untrue that the building of the new hotel for the Russian Embassy at Con stantinople has been countermanded. The death of Cattail George will cause no misunderstanding. NETHERLANDS. HAGUE, OCT. 20.—Tu-day the ordinary annual session of the States-General was opened with the usual solemnities. The King delivered from the throne a speech, of which the lowing iv the substance : His Majesty began by noticing the happy event of the birth of a sun to the Prince of Orange, and added, that 4 41.- rams tion should be so directed as to inspire him from kis earliest childhood with a sense of his duties, and with the most &Oat zeal liar the freedom and welfare a his ceasstrymea. The general peace, said Ms Majesey, has been undisturbed, and every day proves that the governments, as well as the people are unanimous in th e desire of maintaining it. Ott my side I have neglected notletig that can tend to ensure to this king. dom and its inhabitants the good will of fureign Powers. His Majesty noticed at length difficulties caused by the unfavourable season, but which the rich harvest of this Near will put an end to. The distresses' have been relieved 'Airily by finding them work, partly by giving them assistance; the local authorities have done their utmost, and private cha rity, the fairest trait in the national character, has kept pace with the increasing distress. His Majesty observes, that some effectual regulations relative to the poor are necessary, Lend hopes to see the basis laid in this session. Sonic measures will be proposed that experience shows to be useful to dudes. fry (meaning probably manufactures.) Nothing has been more injurions to this than the dearness of provisions, which has checked the consumption of manulactured goods among the most numerous classes of people. His Majesty states, that the government itself has felt the influence of this state of things, by the great increase of its expenses, and the dimi notion edits receipts. Besides this, a great deficit hes been caused by the nut levying of a tax upon inherited property, or a legacy tax. The law respecting the militia has been pat in execution for the first time, and hits answered every expectation. Agri culture is Nourishing. The fisheries, the colonial trade, and all branches connected with them, have improved ; and the freedom of the corn trade by sea, while it secured the king. dont from scarcity at home, and kept the price of bread in the country lower than amongst its neighbours, hasconfined to the ports of the Netherlands the privilege of being the granaries of all Europe. His Majesty notices the great expense caused by the fortis tication of the southern ft ontier. A great many public works, of harbours, a‘c. have been begun and continued, and even completed ; and in some provinces treat roods ligve been made, which the most enlightened inhabitants have fox years devise u ire vain. His Majesty speaks with satisfaction of the great joy w bids has been displayed at the installioloo of the Univt rsines; and expects the happiest results for the whole kingdom. His Majesty concludes as follows : " Thus the numbet of objects is ronsidenthle on which we Can look with sistssfact'on, aud se can with the more tran quillity attend to the means of extricating ourselves from tempo' ary difficulties which "Pt re indepeudent of the human will. But the surest pledge of ibis is sought by the tuition in the col dial comperation of the Kiug and the States Crew sal. Neither I nor your High Mightin , sses, whose sentiments and example have so powerful an intisitlice, will ilisappsint its confidence ; And the fort ther confirmation of a social system founded on principles of libel ty And miler. weld br, with the blessing of God, the reward as well as the fruit of our indeft. lgahte efforts." TRADE OF OnES•..t. —[n 1816, 805 ships arrived at that port ; of them under 34itish _colours. TMa year, op tt) the 19th 41t. above 600-had 'arrived goat 100 of them under lkitiah colours. tittr+ ,