The National Register. — London, England, 1808-11-13 00:00:00

1 :1`i o • 46 . • • / POLITICAL. DISQUISITIGINe • • ..f f• _ a,,., ••••• 10 ;"‹ . ... ' ; _ - • """ . 11 0` )1 7 " •*t • SUNDAY, Ntlll i fl'Eß 13, 1808. Jr - PRICE Bd. la& . • His distinguished and almost inatchlessaalents as a soldier; his perseverance and indefatigable activity ; the wonderful versatility of his minds the lincontrouled influence he exercises over his agents, military and civil ; his great discrimination in the choice of these instruments; the terror inspired by his reputation and splendid successes; his pro found, and almost inconceivable art in keeping alive the confidence and courage of his soldiers, under the greatest privations and fatigues ; his impenetcable secrecy, the rapidity with which be executes, and the judgment with virlitch he concerts, his projects; his itithifereace to the .gratifications of the senses, and the inciLeincats of pleasure; the unlimited eontroul he exercises over the lives and for t•A • unes of sixty millions of individuals,. who are ready, vo luntarily or not, to second his wishes, and ohey implicitly his commandsf—These considerations, together with the number and discipline of his armies, the skill, services and reputation of his generals, and his sovereign indifference to the morality of the means he employs, are sufficient to excuse any degree of alarm and anxiety which the frieuda of Spanish independence may happen to feel. Such, we know, are, thy shara.cpr and resources of that dangerous individual;,- 114 4 1key...aapear : more.. alarming: when contrasted with the weakness, indecision, and want of cordial' co-operations in the washers ,composing otlwr governments ; their eternal shutting, and shifting from one expedient to another ; thelitigratat and. , cQing abase in the distribution of the mosteostensible places,. in the state and army ; the impunity skeistis to cowards •and traitors. and the preference given . to boobies of fortune and ever genius and virtue;—"these alarming symptoms . of dotage and approaching ruin, contrasted with the youthful vigour and activity displayail .. in the councils of the usurper. afford. too much reason for . bot expecting, any efficient resistance from states governed tin t such principles. -a But we a cknowledge also, it. is not from governments conducted on such principles that we expect the libe ration of Europe from the yoke of a watchful, enter prising, wary and intelligent anis-pert for mere the im pending contest - to .he decided between hen and the latter, we would ho the first to advise them to instantaneous submission, in order to avoid an useless effusion of blood and treasure, without even a prospect of advantage or honour. We have stated, we believe, fairly and conscientiously, the strongest and most serious objections that are urged against the probability of success, vu the part of the pal. triots; and in cloini: so, we have carefully avoided every appearance of acrimonious language, fur fear that. warmth and invective might appear unfit and indecorous in dis cus‘inf4 TO solemn a subject. Our opinion, however, of the individual, who, without . even the plea of advantage or provocation, isgoing to let loose two hood:a tbousso4 <~► • I 4 16 -,1141!r47%L. übturit FORTY-FlyF., ~ DEPARTURE OF BONAPARTE FOR SPAIN. Tag fulminating hrnpfe, hxoeuted, llonaparte and a considerable peopertigii.of hig two hundred thousand assailants have already pcpled the Pyrennees. We,ritel However no extraordinpo afpikty or depression. ihesans sequence of this event ; loseninses we were prepared for it. in weighing thechances of Ipanish su;:ces.; and regeneration; we threw into thskepposite scale, the whole mass of theft invader's talents. and resources. In proportion, however, es our hopes and wishes are ardent in their behalf, We must naturally feel auXtety nnd uneasinesflas long - 1N their for tunes remain iu suetesee. The Chances of war arc var . ying ; the events of ourtime' are of nature very different from those of any othe'r . period, and the mad, who is the object of our disquisition, * so frequently confounded calcu lations founded on the most plausible inferences, that too peremptory an.opption on the result of the present contest might be insppnimil to imply presumption and want of judgment. Seine of our readers, and, perhaps the great majority of them, whose expectations may not be so san guine as ours, will not be satisfied with vague declamation on this nminentoas subjeet. Whatever difference of opi nion we may however entertain, we are all equally inter ested in the result; and our wishes and prayers in favour of a cause, so closely connected with our own security, are not less sincere, though many, from an attentive ob servation of the occurrences of fifteen years, may be more inclined to portend a disastrous than a favourable issue. Those who see.gren.ter cause for despondency, than hope, have strong and plausible reasons on their side—The efforts' of three successive ettalitions, formed by tic most powerful . : states on.the . continent, and cemented by the strongest. incitement - Whitton—a sense of mutual danger—did not .oppose even a nionictita.•:. itapediment to the overwhelming torrent of Bonaparte's success and ambition ; and their resistance to his power and encroachments produced no . other effect, than the sub,jec tint) of some, and the vassalagi; of all. These are alarming truth, and. however painfu l . the co ncession, ire are forcer, to acknowledge, that the result of the most unprecedented Sacrifices and exertions, on the part of 'thin eonntry•and of the continent, hisrbeen. solely—the aggrandisement of the Oneiny,'and the transfel% ring the titles attd possessl.ons of his inert obnoxious oppo- . :rents Witt 4 of his fainity and deppudeuta.. Besides these specious objection*, which are considered by many as litefragable and conclusive, such as entertain doubt:4 of.thc ultimate success of the Sisaniards, hare others of equal tocee. to jinitify their despondency. They find them in theezttaordinary character of the french Ruler. Xl. Vl. ~~. ,11 • .rr-+ _r:. _'.~.. . • - , • • , i .,. .4, ~... ~..5