The National Register. — London, England, 1812-01-12 00:00:00

N REGIS 'TE: • ..• THE NATIONAL • AIL - ciDuc Uing, Consstitution, anti T,,ettiA. • PRINTID AND PUBLLSIIED AT NO. r , IsICKETT-STEEET, STRAND) NEAR TEMPLE BAN. SUNDAY73ANIT ARV 12, 1812. r . 211. POLLI IC AL DI.- QUISI I lON. No. 198. - - POLICY AND CONSEQUEN ES OF THE PRESENT WAR EXAMINED. (Continued from our Lest.) Accustomed by painful experience to behold and to lament the triumphs of France, the world considered the fulfilment of her denunciations against us within the range of her power. This opinion strengthened the ene my, by depriving us of all foreign assistance. To con firm it, was his most important object ; to prove it fal , ;e, curs. The former could only be attained by a speedy and successful exertion, to realize his threats ; the latter by preventing or defeating the attempt. But prevention seemed impossit'le, and defeat doubtful. For who could check such resolute enterprise ? who could repel such m'ghty hostility ? Triumphant, the world lay at his feet, and all earthly opposition mint cease. Stopped in his career, after the anticipated successes which he had so loudly and confidently proclaimed, he must be disarmed of half his terrors, and the spirit of resistance, encou raged by the least sign of impotency on his part, must revive in other quarters. It was universally known, that the whole force that had subdued the bravest armies of the Continent was directed against us ; and should we be . ..able to survive the tremendous shock, our power must be deemed a rock on which nations might lean for sup port, and freedom stand unconquerable, whilst that of our adversary would be greatly reduced in the scale of public estimation.—We did more than resist the storm ; ' we dissolved it. We did more than overthrow the phy sical strength collected against us : Without a battle we conquered the moral energies of France. That vast con centration of means was rendered useless : those nu merous hosts that darkened the opposite shores, and be gan to invade the waves ; and still more that gigantic ambition which, armed with so many engines hitherto found irresistible, had planned, prepared, and proclaimed our ruin, were paralised without a blow—by the apprehen sion of defeat. Though placed in a defensive attitude, and single among the nations, we presented such a front of calm intrepidity, and undaunted heroism ; such a mass of native power, and such an unanimity of patriotic feel ing, as to melt the temerity of our assailant into fear, his activity into inaction. Conscious, hut too late, that an attempt at invasion would be attended with the annihilation of his flotillas, and the ruin of his army ; he also felt, that to abandon his enterprise would be a public acknowledgment of weakness, which would not fail to rouse the Continental Nations from their despondency, 79/. P. No. CCM. PRICIP, 9d• and to involve him in fresh hostilities. He reflected that we were no longer the same Power with whom he had to contend in former wars. Our Navy had hitherto been our strongest arm ; but his threats and- demonstrations had made us a Military State, and thus doubled our effi ciency not only for defensive but fur offensive (Tema ions. Our weip;llt, in the scale of Continental warfale, would henceforth be far more considerable, and might prove sufficient to turn its fate. Thus, his hatred had cherished, his passion to destroy had enlarged, our influence. To repress its exertion, and to avoid the encreased perils which it would occasion, it was necessary that he should rernairt at peace with his Continental Neighbours. However inconsistent this might be with his future plans, it was a line of conduct requisite to ward off immediate evils ; and he adopted it in the hope, that a continued state of alarm would confine our thoughts and our troops to the defence of our island, and that tired out by constant ap prehensions, we should at length agree to terms which re..luce us beneath our former level, and remove all his grounds of fear. To prev , :nt hostile commotions among die Powers in his rear, he laboured to conceal his impo tence, and endeavoured to attract the attention of the world by a renewal Of those demonstrations against us, which 'he bud firmly resolved should not lead to a serious attempt. Many months had been spent in teaching and exercising his soldiers to.row and manage their boats. This delay being so well accounted for, bad excited no surprise. Naval evolutions, within port, had occupied a still longer portion of time, without creating any suspicion of the true cause that detained the invaders on their shores. But when it was known that every preparation was com pleted, and yet nothing was undertaken ; when the oar had grown as familiar to the French veterans as the mus ket, and yet they were not called into action ; when the troops bad been several times embarked, and the vet sels afzer proceeding.as far as the mouth of their har bours, had fled back in disorder at the appearance of our distant cruizers, the world began to view the con test with deeper interest and less despondent feelings. __When it was afterwards perceived, that instead of wrenching the sceptre of the waves from our grasp, and redeeming the « independence of the seas," the assembled hosts of France had performed no other feat than that of investing a tyrant with the Imperial Purple, his delay was attributed to the wish of securing one of the chief objects. of his ambition, before he ventured on the desperate en terprize which was to obtain the other. But when it was found that the EMPEROR seemed as little disposed as the FIRST CONSUL to carry his threats into execution, tl.e cause was no longer looked for amongst his ambitious views, and the supposed mysteries of his policy. A glance tlr;xsa