The National Register. — London, England, 1809-07-02 00:00:00

TilE .NATIONAL REGISTER. gather from these dispaiclies is, that a destructive fever has broke out in the army of General Victou. The French Bulletin limply confirms the distressed situa tion of tht ir army, and time complete derangement of their attempt upon Portegal—;.haLall cominnuication be tween the respective clops has be , ..n eut off for some time, a: , d that their situalio:: is periloiii iii ;he extreme. We sincerely hope the 16g.mr of our Ocrrtra Is, and the co:ope ration of the Spanish Patriots, enable us, to purge the Spanish Peninsula of every oar of these enemies to the human race. Soucy is said to have arrived in Qallicia, in other worthy, lie has effected a disgrncetill retreat, before a pursuirg English army. Letters from Portugal state, that Sir A. 11 7 ;:LLEst,ET is closely pursuing VlCTOR—that Soutr's army was in the North of Spain, and the Marquis de ROMA NA. was expected to make an immediate attack upon him. Indeed it was r,llio;•ted at Lisbon oh the 6th that he had surrendered to tic Marquis, but was aftetwards shut whilst endeavouring to :nake his escape. Ev a Got tenburgh Mail we arc informed, that the Norwe ians are in a state of insurrection, and have refused to shut their ports against the Fwedes.—Another report has prevailed, which, however probable, does not seem entitled to much credit, that the principal Nobility of Russia have menaced the Emperor with deposition unless ha recalls the :mules destined to act against Austria, and renews the re- Hioos of amity and peace with England.--lt is said that Si i• JAMES SACMATtr.Z has detained about thirty vessels bound for and Prussian ports, in consequence of hiving received information that out of ninety-eight vessels which had arrived at Riga, only three had escaped condemnation.—The Britis:t feet ofi' Carlscrona is imme diately to proceed to the Ctilph of Finland, the measures adopted by the Covernment of that Country being un use 1 ily vigorous and severe. The coronation of the new KING of SwieorN was expect ed to lake place on the 20th instant. The circumstances tinier which this Crown has been received, do not promise a loAg continuance o;* stability to the wearer, cir anv extent o r amelioration to, the people. They must continue to light for 111;:ir indepentlem.e, or we fear they must resign it. in short, man is the same animal, ambition the same seducing motive, and politics the same treacheroui. and cruel school, that we read of in TACITU4, in MAciriAvEL, and in ItETz. JULY 2. Hanover to be buried in the convulsions of the Continent. —We do not mean to defend the policy of our becoming principals in a war for the defence of a little ;pot of no entrinsic value to this country. The question has now assumed another shape, we have no longer to debate (Ten the propriety of interfering, it is merely the extent and s nature of our interference, and of the assistance that we can and ought to render, which deserves our consideration for a momeut.,---To prove that the Continent should be re leased from the' vassalage of BCON PA RTE requires no ar gument; that'it is material to our safety, nay more, that it IS perhaps necessary to our existence as an independent and commercial nation, will he conceded without dispute, Is this then the moment %%hen we ought to call forth the arduous exertion iof our utmost ability, when wc are im, periously urged by every feeling of humanity as well es policy, and when to the hope of success is superadded the impelse of duty ? We think it is the moment.—Even if it were otherwise, if all our plans had failed, if hope were almost gone, soul if in point of fact the great eileiny of Europe awl of man Lind n't4C stronger in reputation, in credit, and even in SIICCCii titan the wildest imagination fy ready to ascribe either to his power or to his au;hition, we should still say we must oppose him with the last and with the last man we can spare ; we had better do this upon the Continent than at home. If this be not assented to by every man who is capable of understanding the language in which this proposition is conveyed, we should exhaust our own strength and the patience of our reader: by endeavouring to prove it. Let the Administra, Lion of this Cous.try then take a survey of the Continent, let them look to our Allies, the dependence that may be placed upon them, to their present situaton, and the pro bability both in respect to their will anti their power to act, so as to bsnelit, 4 n4 reader the common cause ultimately successful. When they have done this * let them consider the prin , emit!, upon which the war has hitherto been carried on, and on which it is likely to he carried on ; a war on which the eyes of mankind are peculiarly fixed, and whatever may be the ulterior event, let them be able to say to God and to their country, " we have done our duty, me have faithfully eud conscientiously discharged the important trust that has bcen reposed inns," In this crisis, Ministers are called npott to act not only with yigour and exertion, but they are called upon to act with wisdom and prudence, Wisdom and prudence arc a part (and not the least important) of the re , sources of the country. The actual resources of men, and the actual amount of money we are able to employ upon this great occasion, and the manner in which they are to be used, arc not to be considered merely by themselves; we must look at them in their relation to other considerations, to the state of our population, of our manufactures and commerce, and of the general prosperity of the country, which are the foimtains from which these resources flow. W should endeavour to satisfy ourselves whether the coun try is able to bear such drains of men for the purposes of Continental war, as are talked of. We all know that the population of the country has increased of late years, but it certainly is a matter of doubt whether it has increased in proportion to the increase of its wealth and the extent of its possessions. It is not only the number of men we are able to support en the Continent, but in the East and in the Westindies, at Gibraltar, and in our different set, tlernents. But upon taking such a view, in the most exten sive sense, we are still of opinion that this country is im periously called upon to go the full length of 'assisting the Continent, which is said to be proposed. In every un dertaking, there are two points to be considered, the object and the means. We have talked about the means first, because we think there cannot exist two opinions about the object and with respect .to the employment of the means, let us persist in 'our efforts to obtain the object by varying than, and by by encreasing, if we may be allowed the expression, the means of employing our means. Our armaments are es. THB BRITISH _EXPEDITION. It is impossible to contemplate the great and arduous .exertions mak►ng by this Country in order to support the cause of Austria and of Spain, without lamenting- the fatal apathy of a former Administration to the affairs of the ( - ontinent. To this unfortunate policy may in some mea sure he attributed the success, and perhaps it is not going. too far to ;:oasider it, as the principal encourage ment of HUUNAPARTE to make the attempt-of subjugating the Continent. The boldness of his designs, or even the improbability of their succeeding, is no reason against the possibility of . his attempts; and the vast objects which his comprehensive mind has embraced, do not sutler him to throw out of his calculations the assistance either negative of positive which he is likely to receive from the ignorance or imbecility of the Statesmen of other Countries.—The names of PITT and were for ever in the mouths of BuoNApAitTE himself and of his satellites. It was the highast compliment he could pay to their abilities. Their successors, who possessed neither the vigour of in tellect, or the boldness of conception which distinguished and illumined the intrepid politics of PITT,• were afraid of having thefr fame sullied by the imputation of employ ing British gold to etnct the deliverance of Enrope I and , vrapt in the snlky dignity of fancied security, held them •,!.ves aloof from the affairs of Europe, and *uttered i,. r );" c am '• .:}l.ll P,