The National Register. — London, England, 1811-12-22 00:00:00

800 value in merchandise, i n silver, and even in gold, except when gold itself ceases to be a medium of exchange, and becomes an article of trade, the public mind, however easily deceived, will not cre dit. the supposed depreciation, contrary to the evi dence of every sense, the experience,of every day. The whole sum of the evils we endure, setting aside those that are trifling or imaginary, amounts only to these, heavy taxes, and a diminution of our Eu ropean continental trade. Nov let us lay in the opposite scale, the evils ts..hich we have avoided, by submitting to these. I-lad a parsimonious fear of expense prevented us from incurring those of war, and induced us to bear the insults and aggressions of the French government, without resorting to the sword, we should ere now have lamented, amidst the ruins of our constitution, of otir prosperity, and our independence, the folly that would have dic tated a conduct so devoid of true policy, and so de structive in its effects. A prolongation of peace with a man, whose friendship is a snare, and who only respects treaties as long as it is not his interest to infringe them, would have enabled him, by sur prise, to carry his plan of invasion into execution. Like PFUSSIA, who might still exist in all her great ness, had she acted on her knowledge of his faith lessness, and armed ere it was too late, we should have suddenly found the invaders in the heart of our territory. Unprepared, we should have had to contend, not only for our rights, but for our lives. In the midst of our wives and children, and of our cities in flames, we should have had to learn dis cipline and to repel veterans ; and should the native spirit of British heroism, labouring under every disadvantage, have ultimately succeeded in redeem ing our laud, how dear would not such a triumph have cost us? What devastation of our fields ! what destruction of our property ! what overflow of our blood ! Let those who find the weight of taxation knsupportabfle, let those who deem the curtailment of their commercial gains national ruin, glance at the provinces of Portugal, lately occupied and eva cuated by the French ; and let them compare their own state, confirmed in their freedom, and secured in their possessions, with that of the wretched inha bitants for whose support they are still able so li berally to subscribe. Let them determine then, whether those can be called evils, which have ward ed off, and continue to repel, such calamities ; and whether it be preferable, in order to maintain the independence of their country, merely to lighten their purses, or to drain their veins. We now come to the losses which we are said to have sustained. These, in an extended sense, are all imaginary. Individuals have indeed lost, but the State has gained. The exclusion of our trade THE N from the vast tract of territory under the controul of France and her Allies, although far from total s has occasioned the failure of some houses, and im poverished others ; yet our national trade has ex. perienced no decrease, but rather an augmentation of revenue. It has flowed into new channel's. 'Whilst the ports of the North were partially closed, those of Spain and Portugal were opened to our vessels ; and should those countries fall at last under the power of NAPOLEON, and the whole European Continent be hermetically shut against us, which is 'utterly impossible, the Southern portion of the New World, now the theatre of great events, and surpassing in extent the whole of Europe, is no longer barred against our trade. In this vast Conti nent, where nations and empires are rapidly forming, we have already found a vent for our commodities, which more than repays the -loss undergone in other quarters. Thus whilst old houses have sunk, both in business and riches, new ones have risen in wealth and commercial enterprise. The fall of an established concern is instantly published in all the Newspapers, and becomes an event of the greatest notoriety, whilst the rise of a prosperous one is silent, and it is only publicly noticed when it experiences some unexpected change in its fortune. Hence arises the mistaken idea that our national commerce has suffea-ed from the system adopted by the enemy ; and, as it snits the purposes of many declaimers, to present only the unfavourable side of the picture,' hence springs the necessity, by a true statement of facts, of correcting the wrong im pression they have made on the public mind, and dissipating the unfounded alarm they have endea voured to excite. In every point of view, far from having been losers by this war, we have obtained the most important advantages, and gathered the richest gems of military glory. Our acquisitions in valuable colonies have been immense, and these conquests are doubly useful, as they encrease our means, and weaken our opponent. Were all the islands and settlements we bare captured from the enemy," during the present war, joined together, it would be seen that we have deprived him of an extent of territory nearly equal to that which forms the European dominions of France. Neither is this encrease of insular possessions subjected to the same dangers as the addition of conquered provinces to a continental empire. In the latter case, extension only occasions weakness, whilst in the former, the more islands are reduced, the more firmly is their possession secured. Scattered among the waves, they form the only points of defence for each other; and in those which he retains, the enemy must col lect the means and force he destines to retake those he has lost. When deprived of every insular ma- ATIONAL REGISTER.