The National Register. — London, England, 1811-08-11 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTFR. GENERAL SARRAZIN. TO THE EDITOR OF THE NATIONAL REGISTER. SlR—The interest which this ci-devant republican chief still endeavours to excite in his behalf, through the medium of the daily Journals, is neither prudent nor becoming a man who sub sists by the bounty of this country. When obligations are volun tarily conferred, the bestower of the gift and he that receives it, are viewed with the same gracious eye by the public. But when the receiver afterwards obtrudes himself upon his benefactor, and, under the. specious pretence of rendering him a public ser vice, succeeds in gaining additional favours, the obligation then assumes a very different character. It becomes the wages of a hireling who is willin, upon any terms, to retain the counte nance of his benefactor. Such appears to me to be the conduct of General Sarrazin. He sought an asylum in this country from the pretended persecution of his master —He found that asylum ; he was protected; he was cherish,. d ; he was provided with an establishment equal to his rank by a brave and generous nation. This ought to have animated his bosom with sentiments of gra titude; and modesty, in our acknowledgements, we all know, the true criterion of a grateful heart. Instead, however, of General Sarrazin enjoying the liberal gifts of his friends is con tenement and silence, he has never ceased, since he arrived in this country, of annoying the public with his petulant complaints against Buonaparte and his native land, as if he expected, by these means, to acquire an eminence and a fortune, to which he is no way entitled either by his public or private conduct. In order properly to appreciate the real merits of a question of this niture, it is necessary to take into view the relative situ ation in which General Sarrazin stood with the Emperor Napo leon, before he abandoned France.—From his own writings, it is a;certained, that he had gone hand and hand with Buonaparte in all his schemes of ambition ; that, in fact, he had been a very active instrument in procuring his election as First Consul for life, and in bringing about his elevation to the Imperial purple. In both situations, he also admits, that he had swoon to protect and maintain his power.—lt cannot be doul)ted then, that what ever may have teen General Sarrazites original political prix si pies, he had gone a-. far in his apostacy, by aiding Buonaparte in bis places, as that chief himself.—This feature in his conduct grill enable us to decide pry tty correctly as to his true character : An apostate from Republicanism, he became the votary of arbi trary power; he unreservedly devoted himself to the wild ambi thus projects of his matter. Having inlisted under his banner, and sworn eternal fidelity to him, his interes.s became so interwoven with those of Buonaparte, that any attempt of their enemies to avarate them, would have proved unsuccessful. Yet, in a very short time—only a few months after Sarrazin bad given the most satisfactory proofs of his fidelity to his master, we find him aban doning his cause, flying to his avowed enemy for protection, without assigning any tangible reason for his conduct, and there venting all his spleen through the medium of a British press, against his former friend, his confident, and his acknowledged Sovereign. Surely, if a trifling deviation from moral rectitude, demands explanation as a small atonement, the conduct of Ge neral Sarrazin will not be excused upon slight grounds. Buona parte owes his elevation, if not to the people over whom I e rules, at least to his soldiers; and let it be remembered that Ge enral Sarrazin was not the least active among them in promot ing Napoleon's views. His subsequent declamations against his usurpations and power, cannot be considered a very genuine pledge that he will not in future play the same game in this country to effect the purposes of his master, as he did in Prance, to procure his elevation to a Throne. Having been guilty of a second apostacy in renouncing the regal authority of Buonaparte, where is the security that be will not commit a ittird, and betray Britain, should .he by anti-republican wiles Jug malts, made- UMW Man of its watt? Lf Gentsat•Sar . razin is sincere in the disclosures he makes, it is char ttat he has been led to this step only in consequence of his being disapp Hint ed in sharing the p: incely rewards Buoraparte confers upon his followers. For this, from his account, I apprehend the General has himself alone to, blame: something like reserve always marked his devotion to Napoleon, who is too :enetrating not to discover where any thing like want of sincerity appears in his ci tizens. Unbounded in his ambition—unacquained with half mea, surer, he calculates upOn none but those who are influenced by similar motives. From the whole complexion of Sarrazm's write tings it appearsthat the terms on which he stood with liuonaparte, whatever they may have been originally, were not always of the most conciliating nature. His frequent memorials to the Em peror evince a dissatisfied mind ; and however well founded his complaints, •he ought to have been aware, that his late Master has nut only always pridtd himself upon being the planner and executor of all his important schemes, but claims the exclusive light of conferring rewards when and where he thinks them due. In fine, in reference to such men as General Sarrazin,who once held compar.tively high and respectable ranks, and aban don their country from supposed injury they have sustained to throw themselves into the arms of its avowed enemy, I have no hesitation in saying, that, from the very nature of the step, they must lose mitare in the estimation of the world for their rashness than they can ever gain by unnecessarily obtruding themselves upon th• notice of those who might even feel disposed to pity their misfortunes. 10th August, 1811. ARISTIDES. A SCOTCH BALLAD. TO THE EDITOR OF THE NATIONAL REGISTER. SlR—During my last visit to the Highlands of Scotland, I met with the following truly interesting ballad, the melancholy ending of which very sensibly aff..cted the old man who recited it. The evident marks of antiquity it bear=, may induce you ro insert it. As the poor old fellow could neither read nor write, I wrote the words as he pronounced them.-The admirers of true ancient Scottish poetry will therefore excuse the orthography of AN EncLismmlut. Wha's he that's tane my lad awa ? The lad who lo'ed Aa true, Wha's he that's tane fra me the lad, The lad wi bonnet blue Thus cried a maiden in despair, Beside the =miring Spey, She spoke unto IVl'Donald young, Dressed out in plumes so gay. I took thy lad, MiDonald cried, The I Id wi bonnet blue, And I did slay him wi my dirk, All for the love of you. But if I slew the lad ye lo'cd, Na loss is that to thee ; For if thy husband he'd ha been—. Thy husband I will be. Na na! the mourning lassie cried, That cannot, shall not be; So-ner than wed a murderer, l'd lay me down and die. Yet I did loe thee better far, (IVl'Donald cried) than he; On which the Maiden either did, Or seem d, consent to gie. And he has tane her to the kirk, And she's become his bride ; Aad she bas lain her in her bed, And he lies by her side. And In her right-hand, as she lies, She grasps M'Donald's dirk; Which to the hilt, into his side, She drives with vengefu' jerk. Die! Die! she cries, thou munrrOUS VAX t On which he gave a groan ; Espied soon, and busied was, So now the &giant!!! I lIP I