The National Register. — London, England, 1809-10-15 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER. chance of success; or terininating the present negaciatiou with more fayourable conditions.. is the result of our Co-operation. And, when we reflect what Mightliaiebeen performed, had it been more prompt and eflicient . in point of numbers and choice of commanders, it is our decided opinion, that the destinies of this country have a higher direction, and its energies can be better employed, than to permit them to languish in ignoble inactivity at home. it is not by such policy that we . have erected a mighty em pire in the two Indies. It was disclaimed . by every great statesman we.possessed, at any one period of our history ; and as we have not suffered, either in reputation, ter ritory, affluence, or freedom, under the administration of the great Lord CHATHAM, that of his illustrious son, or during the memorable reign of Queen ANN, it would be ats excess. of rashness to abandon their practical maxims, for the newfangled dcetrines and vapid speculations of modern theorists. Energetic policy has made its what we now are —powerful, opulent, and, free. deviation from it might endanger our fre4dom, and reduce us to poverty and insig nificance. 651 " wish we could say formidable from the tnients of its Cities), •: 46 has been seat by Englaud aad landed in Zealand."--Loudoa . Paper. • - The expedition agaiifstland could not have any result for England. It might occasiou s.ttne embarrassments. some fresh burdens to the people of FlaitlCe ; hut these they do not cake late, w hen any proofs of zeal or devotedness are to be given to the country ; it could give the LiOish nothing but shame; it could be attended with tio ether result than to make them lose an army, whilst it would pro •ere a new aria y to the Emperor. These prognostics have been perfectly verided. eay that the expedition colld out be at tendeda it h any re sult, because it was necessary to begin by making the siege of Flushing. Flushing, provided the istued of Walt herrn be Fun dated, must be considered by every sensible officer. as a plans impregnable, by a regular siege, or at toast as presenting eliffiL cult ics which the labour of fear malts would be unable fa van , (wish. I a this lostauce, the i:est calculations were bneled.— Flushing, when the besiegers trenches were still three !malted paces from the body of the firtress, when there was no breach, when the body of the fortress was untouctred, surrendered :;v the sole effect . of the terror of a boinhardnicat. Is this cowerdice? Is it treason ? The sequel of. be inquiry a ill prove whica. • Thus, thca, the sole opposition of Flushing, which detained the English expedition only t 0 days, ought to havedetained It three months. Oral! the chances of succeeding, certainty the one !easter pected by Ow English, must have been such a seeress Obtained by a bootbarchnent ; they required t «e a ty days fur (hat. Now, twenty days spent in the Istan t of Walcheren, in the month (if August, must have occasioned a number of sick, which cannot be computed at le.: than one In four soldiers; and to calculate otherwise would betray a total ignorance of the effects of that climate. When we say that t went% days spent in the Island of Walcherea must cost the quarter of the troops which land in it, we may add, that the health of the other three quarters must be essentially impaired, and that all the weakened men are on the point of falliu s ,,o• sick. It is therefore a most senseless attempt to land. brave soldiers in that fatal country, and we must consider the English army as destroyed, or at least what remains of it, as unable to do much duty for several months to come. But in fine, after the siege of Flushing, we had to expect the siege of fort Batz, which, communicating by water with Bergeu-op-Zoom, and with fort St. Martin, which the French have built opposite to it. could, in like manner, tiot Le taken, but after works and trenches carried on in a country, the cli mate of which is as fatal as that of Walchercn. It is true, that the English were fortunate! A Dutch General, called Bluce, the shame of the -military name, and whose head the nation must have to fill upon the scaffold, evacuated this fort through an unexemplified panic, six hours before Cie English arrived. Here then ice a;.tain beheld the English enjoying a good fJrtune upon which they could not rely : hut these fortunate evennp; purchased with ever increasing dimunition of their army, whither could they carry them ?„ To burn the French squadron ? To effect this, it was necessary to .take Antwerp. But in fine, • the French squadron being taken and burned, it remains to he knoWn whether such an operation was worth w hat it has cost, and whether it he very prudent to go to an expellee of many amen and of 40 or 50 millions, in order to occasion one's enemy a loss of between 15 and millions. • But the ships at Antwerp could not he taken. They did not d.-pend upon the occupation of Flushing, upon that of 14 al= cheren, nor of any island : they depeeded upon the Continent, It was necessary to take Antwerp The English, who for this long time past have not travelled upon the Continent, coo. stilted information collected six years ago, and imagined that Antwerp was still an open town as, it was whet) it was only a trading port ; they did not take into their CalCUlatiall. the wurkt of these latter years, especially chose which the Emperor has caused to be raised, since his Journey to Ai twerp. Upon es tahlishinga dock-yard in that town,, he ordered its fortis cat land to be again rained; it is now surrounded with a bastioned ram: put. The ditch filled with water which coven this rampart, - has. been repaired; the left of the town is covered by an intense. inundation which removes. the approaches upwards of: 15902fathoins ; the right is supported by the. citadel, which 1st& fl .e piece, of fortification; upon this front, several warka have been established; among ntheraa half-moon with its couute•as carp. Upon be left bank ofl he. Soiled r there are no hoaxes, t the Head of Flanders has been re-established, and•its works. at* pcosectecl by a i a inundation of, bliott fftkitoins iiT ex t teige,....Th e could olio, therefore, take. Antwerp without besieging T, FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE. THE Win BETWEEN AUSTRIA AND PRINCE, 4ND THE EXPEDITION TO THE SCHELDT* __a•__ OBSERVATIONS. (Note from the Moniteur on Articles published in the London Papers upon the above subject.) 46 We cannot consider the Austrian Monarchy, its Sovereign, 4C and its armies, so entirely 1)1mill:wed as they were after the " battle of Austerlitz; there is no talk of an interview in a 41 w indmill."—Loadon Papers. Afore . by the Ifonitear.—lf there has been no interview, it is herliuse the Emperor Napoleon would have none. The first in lOrvieve_ in which the Emperor Napoleon gave peace to his ene my having left, no, remembrance of gratitude in the breast of the atter, it became evident that a fresh interview would be to no purpose. • • With regard to the difference between the situations of Austria, after the iattles of Austerlitz and Wagram, it is this;—After after battle of Austerlitz, Russia was still allied with Austria; She had upoa the Vistula a. second army, which she might march; Prussia, w ho had signed the Convention of the 21. of November, high( take part in the war; short, the army of Prince Charle s • vas still, untouched, and the whole of it might march. On the other hand., the important fortress of Raab and the Circles of Hungary had 'not been occupied; Saxony did not yet form part of 'Ole Confederation; and, however, tile position of Dresden ?lust he considered as of some importance; in fine, the Duchy of Warsaw belonged to Prussia, and the army of Gallicia, which now menaces Aforay in, did not exist. At, present, on the con trary, all•th;! Austrian armies, all the Austrian fortresses have been attacked and vanquished. There are hardly any vestiges tetnainingOf the army which the Archduke John brought from Italy ,• rind if it can still muster ten thousand men under arms, most of these men are only recruits. The grand army of Prince Charle,Cheing beaten at Egginulh, at Katisboa f at Esling, and at Wagraai, t hh§ lest his best soldiere, and be himself, fi ightened at the spirit of intrigue and division which reigns in the. Cabinet, has thrown up the command and retired. The difference is not less great in the internal situation of the Monarchy; after the Pe:tee of Presburg, the French had only passed through the hereditary states; upon the present occasion, they have already sande a stay in them oily wards of four months. At that time Austria had not made the least efforts;' her population was still entire; at present many pros laces have been so much depopu lated by Car levies in mass, that no other inhabitant's are to he found in the villages than women and children. 41 that time all the revolutionary means which had 'been taken existed, and might he employed; at present they have been taken,; and have been taken in vain; the conatry is eithaubtVihil tßea 'veil sis of things.. • • -• • " An army formidable from the smosber •of 'Me' so/diets (we OCT. 15. ... 111 I