The National Register. — London, England, 1816-01-07 00:00:00

Ittratcpowe on the first year of PEACE ) the CONQUEST of Fit Aims, and the FAILURE of TRADE; with the evils of the piper sYsTiss, and the NncEsslTT of destroying thoroughly ; or increasing plentifully, the ONE POUND NOCEI. • IMMMINIIIIII, THE TEAR 1116 commences in PEACE, of the disturbance 4;tf which lh;sre is not, at present, the slightest probability. lt suc ceeds t 6 ayear of triumph unexampled in history. A war of near ly es years duration has terminated with the corn plete submissionl of the enemy. Every government raised by the French Revo lution has been overthrown by the energies of the British arms; and though the only King whom GREAT BRITAIN deigns to acknowledge as the Sovereign of FRANCE (and without the ac knowledgment of BRITAIN, FRANCE would have no King) cannot feel that his - throne is abed of roses; yet it is plain, that, supported by 150,000 foreign bayonets; quartered en and paid by pi AXC E, with 700.000 men, if necessary, always ready again to be called• forth to check all revolutionary mealsres on the sc.*, he fine indemnity be meant a return for the pecuniary expences of the war, which have amounted, as some calculate, to a 1,500,000.000 (see the Edinburgh Review, No. 50), it is quite certain that no part of theie expeoces are paid, or will, under the treaty of pates, be Aid by FR ANC E t ihrOllgh whose obstinate pertinacity alone they have been incurred. In justice, if these expences could not be paid instantly, they should have bden charged on FS ANC& by way of annuity, so as to have paid, at least, the in terest of our national debt ; and then we might have been said not only to have gained our suit, but to have gained it with the costs. We have, however, obtained at least one half of what we asked for, and in a hard bargain, with what is called a rough customer, we ought to be content. It is probable that few of us have for many years ventured to hope that we should have got so much. It is due to the perseverance of the present Mi nistry, and to the firmness of the Pathct REGENT. in daring to escape from the trammels of the Opposition, that we are enabled, on experience, and the evidence of facts, to retort the ridicule of Mr. Fox on himself, and to say that the conquest of FRANCE is no Quixotic dream of a disordered imagination, but an event of actual history, an article of record in our own Gazettes, and, whatever labour it may have required, the achievement is per formed, FR A.NCE is vanquished; her neck bath bowed to the yoke, and WELLINGTON? the British hero, doth bestride her like a Colossus. Let us now turn awhile tom " .ftatec e, the vanquished, and enquire what is the It . Ywr a. =CI Villa - • .4 40. it is impossible to avoid some mutual injury ; and _ must . expect, after so rich a harvest of glory, to be without wound& It is in peace alone that we can hope to heal or to assuage them ; andit is the duty of those who presume to watch over the public welfare, first to probe and then to bind them. We shall exa mine them with a careful eye ; we shall direct' the applications that may be necessary with a calm mi9d ; it is for others - to apply them-if they please with a steady hand; we have devoted our- . selves to the public service in undertaking to conduct the ICA.f i t v TIottAL REGIsTEA, and our readers shall find that we shrink' ' ' not from the task. The approach of Peace was justly hailed as a blessing by all who knew how to valuiPeace ; but yet, in the midtt of our joy, - there is not merely a murmur, but an absolute - out -. ry of distress. Instead of returning with the streamers of victory i the full tide of success, one would think that the vessel of tit . state were foundering, Such is the gloom that sumurnis u • and sopneasy are our countrymen, that ire often bear the svi repeated that war again may comjpence, to give life to coin= so merce which in war appeared to flourc,sh. We do not poiltlitelt ' -W r - ' -- - ft so Much our death( ~ he world, (and. we . sine ry A its,. 'aticf . we begin to vteop4hat ' _ I s true, and we have been called a Nation of Shopkeepers ; but such is onr passion for War, that it would almost lead one to suspect that our only trade was War, and our commerce mere appendage,•like a suttler's booth to the camp. Call iii what they will, it is evi dent we are not a contented nation. Is there any cause for discontent, and where does it lie We have not suffered by the War as other nations have. We saw no capital burnt to protect the Throne, as the people of Moscow did, when RASTOPCHIN fired the KREMLIN to keep ALEXANDER safe at PETERSBURON. We heard no . powder magazines explode as .at DRESDEN-110 bridge tumble as at LEIPSIC. No hostile Armies trampled on our fields, as at WATERLOO—no invader traced his steps with fire and carnage, as did BLUCHER from GENAPPE to PARIS finally, our monuments of art are un touched, and no CossAc Ks have destroyed our parks, as they have in France. What is then the cause of our dissatisfactibn. We have a lalge national debt, and our trade is lane uishing; but corn is plentiful and cheap, and ail articles are fallen in price. Taxes have borne hard, and credit is gone. Bankrupt cies increase—insolvency is universal. Farmers are surren dering their leases—landlords can get no rents—houses are empty—tradesmen are contracting their business for fear of making bad debts; and the gentry, who were their customers, are running abroad to live cheap, and avoid paying what e the first fruits of Peace; such it the fulkiltevat of ~: i ' .~ ~s.~s~ - • • ,{ 4 - • • " " • •I's°* -2 , - -,r.1..r.•- -'. . •': `"•,' -' 7 r• v i al _ v , • .. . • N . , .. L .. ATION* ItIPIGISTER. iii , ..... . .3, tisU, .inwitution an 'Wu. . , * PUBLISHED AT 10. 89, CHANCERY-LANE, LONDON. • '.. - • . ~ No. 419. ' SUNDAY, JANUARY 7, Me. . Pang gid. ....., Aar _ POLITICAL DISQUISITION. BRI T•IN, the victor, retires from the field. In all rencontieg it is impossitle to avoid some mutual injury ; and we must not -- , , • part of the people of FaANCX, he inah we hope, rest in safety. - metre wumu 111 w., lapvcaa %As aso ...v• v ... • - regret Peace ; yet War seems to have been so • " Sandi* for Aefature;" one of the main and avowed ob• ,- of late, that like Alexander , having subdued 4 jests of the war, is therefore, certainly obtained. Another ' have signal treaties as Conquerors in En , abjacet *at ship even to the wet, " kr/molly for tits past;" but AMERICA. in one and the same year) we bl by this it is extremely difficult to ascertain what was ever meant, we have no more enemies to vanquish. and it is quite certain that we have not yet procured it. If by We area commercial people, it is true, .he view of her owe. ate 4,.. • atl . ~•-• - , , • .• ..,„ a • - . 4 :!:•cet . ' II C • t; 41_41- - :.., , ' q s , • 1!4 X • - i ~:~~ I