The National Register. — London, England, 1814-03-20 00:00:00

HE N TIONAL REGISTE No 323. POLITICAL DISQUI.S . 12 COMPLEXION OF TH E TE"Iw.S ANL) CAUSES OF PEACV• TIN VEILEb. We live in times when the most stupendous events aut. political changes, are beeotne ordinary occurrences, What .seoold have soffieed to 'illustrate an age, is now compress d, within the limits of a week, and the task of the Journalist is grown as compendious ,as that of the historian of former periods. It is even more difficult, and far more dangerous. %%lieu tile -recorder of the past' takes .tbe pen, years form a rampatt betwixt him and all the interests and prejudices of the tines which,he deicribcs. The tempestUatls agitation of life haiseeased, its features and colouring remain. All (hose events whicli had, excited such hopes and fears, had-brought ' into action so many varied characters, and affected so rum princes and nations, are now become as many splendid but Atilt pictures, hung in the of memory aed tradition They are perused with interest, but with calm attention. They may create admiration, they may awaken horror; but that admiration end horror will be impartial and moderate. It will guide, not blind.thejudgmeet. Hew different is Hie tiituation of pie ruoderh Journalist ! He f' rides on the .! whirlwind," though, like the ADO, he does not " direct the storm." I.:lncertainty; prejudices, clashing hopps, interests end fears, contradictory rumours, curtailed or perverted in formation, Are the elements in which. he moves. Flatters . end Anse eoetinually try to push 4is temper and his judge ment out of their seat : comiption and menace, to deprive prim of his honesty ; avd to crown the list of his misfortunes, the freits Of so much labour, so muck anxiety, so touch cell.. tention, and so touch courage, are perishable sheets read fet one day with gelidity by thousands and forgyiten the next ! At ao period was the difficulty of iceeping a clear and liepartirg euurse its recording and reason* ou passing events 'rester than at the . present. 'Deafened -by like storms that Kurz,; atot:fld us, misled by the coletradktory inforinatioe ppliefi by our hundred writers of dispatches, vexed by' a unfo,unded, though not improhafvle reports, we have besides to conteud with the prejudices of the land, which are aow ranged under tbe two banners of War and Peace. All inleor distinctions of party 'are supk in these. l‘feti and Papers of the most oppesite principles are feend fighting side by side for peace or war. The Courier be patters the Times with praise (now that Yews i s te l ei s eee from its pages) for calling istenaeity eat ." execrable .cant,' and bravely proclaims the doctrine of unceasing desolation whilst the Morning Post sees itself supported by the C,Lireni cle in its love of a peace, safe and honourable to England and Europe, because founded on the total reduction of the enemy's power. To vary from the principles r a t tv. f-y.,..,1Ei!, k . .."-',l :;;;; 44;N i 'A - tr._ ' - • Our ding, Constitution, anD Late. rUBLISUED AT NO. 11, NEWCASTLE-STREET, STRAND. SUNDAY, MARCH 20, 1814. PRlni .bese !*()of publications is to set at defiance the whole na tion. There is now n 5 medium in opinion, no nook for ho nest impartiality to find a shelter in. Between the *heck of these two mighty hosts, who could hope to stand ? It must a political. Don Quixote who would take his post withirl he cross fire of those two hostile batteries. Leaving, therefore ) the field of controversy to the exasperated zealots who fill it with tumult and confusion, we shall not at present attempt to . enter into the merits of the question for which they con tend, but examine the probability of its being speedil)r hi ought to an issue. NlThen the last week cloned, every prospect of an imtnet diate peace had disappeared. War blazed with renewed fierceness, and the tide of success having turned towards the Allies, they seemed bent on the total exhaustion of Fiance bef ire they would give her peace. A few days have produced .an entire revolution in the expectations of the world. Balance 4 successes, at first represented as decisive victories that had for ever broken the sceptre of the French Ruler, are considered as the causes pf the settlement of terms, which is now understood to have taken place. V/9 think we can trace this sudden return #q pacific principles to a different source. Austria, so often the victim, hal at last becnine the shield of Napoleon. She headed the tianfeoe racy of Europe, not only to restore thp eitOlipTinm of power, but to save Per son-its•law from the destructive cola- Treace, of his own ambition. Towards him, she acted the part of a mother, who , takes from her child the dangerous weapons w;th which be sports, lest he should hurt himself. At her rising in artn, the world thought other wise, and many dull sighted politicians maintained that she would prove t h e Most bitter enemy to France and to Napo leon. We dived at once into her intentkons, and the event has jus.t.irted the opinion which wee then expressed, and. which We have ue.ver since ceased to support. As soon as the towering hopes of the enemy were 'beaten down at Leipsic, ni vet :al donritrion * second time escaped from his 60p, the intentions Of the Emperor Francis would have been ful filled, had Napoleon listened to the voice of moderation and accepted the highly advantageous conditions then oared him: 'When the Rhine for Med the only barrier to the Con federated Vowers, Austria would again have d:i•erted the blow, had he immediately and heartily act... Jed to :he `err s proposed. Iler Allies pressed her pwn, but some cleotaace. .vas visible in her conduct before she consented to the French terri,t.ou„ When once within its iwi.ts, how UM she use the influence which her gent ford gave her? Not to put down at once the man who bad mar. ried the daughter of her Emperor, but rather to show til the extent of his perils, and restrain the vengeance d . °f mist-, She insisted oftcongressicing B. - • • 4 j'