The National Register. — London, England, 1811-01-13 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER. No errival has taken place frorre Portugal or Spain, but as the easterly winds have ceased to ixlow, it iS expected that the packets so long.de tained on their-passage_..home will shortly arrive. Meanwhile it appears, that notwithstanding the sus- raided exercise of the Royal Power, which, it was :apprehended, would prevent the sending of any troops to Portugal, strong - reinforcements have Been collecting and embarking at Plymouth to join Lord WEe.etNo-roN's army. On Thursday U.-at a division of the first Regiment of Hussars of the German Legion left Exeter for Plymouth to embark for Portugal. They are described as very fine and effective men, of a bold and martial appearance, and in high spirits. On Wednesday the 11th Dragoons embarked, and the 13th arrived at Plymouth, and were to repair on board the transports the following day. On Thursday the Itth Dragoons. arrived for the same purpose. As these reinforcements consist entirely of cavalry, which must prove useless within lines or fortifica tions, it may be inferred that his Lordship, instead cf confining him:ell to defensive, will soon commence offensive operations. It may have Leen ascertained too that MASSENA'S intention to retreat is known, and that the increase of our cavalry in Peetugal is intended to augment our means of annoying the enemy during his march, and turning it into a flight. It is not likely, how ever, that 1011\ssENA should fall back into Spain a lter having constructed suc h strong and extensive v;(nks at S itarem, withr. - mt awaiting the return of fair weather, and attempting to bring the campaign to an issue by a single battle. The reported want c.f provisions in the French army seems, by all ac counts, to be imaginary. The last French pri soners arrived at Plymouth from Lisbon, and who have been taken since the battle of Busaco, in which they were engaged, was fought, state, that they left MASSLNA at Sautarem, and that abundance reigned in Ills ramp. Sickness, however, had car tied off many men, and continued to threaten the de,trnetion of more. They hold the Portuguese in the greatest contempt ; but speak very highly of the courage, discipline, and humanity of our soldiers. rP A NC F. We have inserted a Fiend) Senous C ons ,di u m, as it is called, which, like all the mea , nres of roLED N's government, isto entail fresh miseries on ,the unfortunate population of France. It is a new conscription to recruit tilt. French navy, or rather to create it. It is intended to supply the want 4:f fisheries, commerce, and colonies, which the tyrant, notwithstanding all his boasts, has now lost all hopes of attaining ; and the new mariners are to he taught in port, and under their batteries, to affront the rage of the ocean, and the no less tremendous encounter of British men of :var. This idea is eel% tainly richly ridiculous ; it is a mere imitation, very 111-suited to the occasionitoßEsmwiE,s mea• sures, which hate laiai the basis of his present p&Wev, and can only preserve it. But it is never theless•presented, as usual, to th. - French nation, a.s an emanation of that zenias which rresides . . _ over. their --new destinies. = This bombast would be perfectly useless, if addressed to the French people only. The French have long known how to appreciate the genius of their oppres sor and the blessings of his government ; but it is meant to be reechoed by the admirers of modern genius and greatness in countries not yet subdued by the heir of Jacobinism, and there is no doubt but, these gentlemen, for weighty reasons, will perforrn-the task to the best of their abilities. We most, however, point. out to them a contradiction, which, in their unqualified admiration, they would probably overlook, or which they might represent as one of those aberrations which form the true cha racteristics of genius. In the report of M. CRAM PAGNY, on the necessity of annexing to France the countries as far as the Elbe, he states, as one of the most cogent reasons, that his . MAJESTY'S arsenals, owing to the British Orders in Council, could not be supplied with the necessary materials for ship. building ; whilst here Count CAFARELLI roundly asserts, that the " arsenals are provided with all necessary materials." But inconsistencies like this will apear strange only to those who are unacquaint ed with the nature of the French Government, raised and supported by terror and delusion. Thus, for instance, in the late negociation for the exchange of prisoners, and even in the report to which we have before alluded, the organ of the French Government ; and, indeed, all their hired writers inveighed bitterly against our admini. stration for having commenced hostilities with out a formal declaration of war, and imme diately after the recall of Lord WIITTWORTH.-- , Now that practice is sanctioned by the Treaty of Versailles, which terminated the 'American war, and which states, that the recal rf Ambassadors shall be considered as a declaration gfwar. Nay, more than that ; the very same Mr. CHAMPAGNY, when his master wanted a pretence to despoil the POPE, of his dominions, objected to the Sovereign Pori,.'.l the recal of Cardinal CAPRARA, his Legate, from Paris, which recal," he said, " was, by the cus tom of civilised nations, considered as a declaration of war." The documents are extant and public, and a reference to them may satisfy the most scep tic. This total disregard for truth, or indeed for any established principles, pervades the whole of the French Government, or rather firms its princi pal basis ; and so careless are they of the effect those palpable falsehoods may produce on the people, that they frequently carry their inconsistencies to a height perfectly ridiculous, or to what the French would call a barefaced mystification. Thus the Paris Papers of last month, fterextolling the patronage which his Imperial and Royal Mitieqy wished to extend, and extended, to liberal sutidies, reported anew Decrce,by which he had chosen 150 young men from the Ly cetim of Besancon to be—serjeants and corporals ill the army ! To return to the Senatus Consultum, which gave rise to these loose observations, it must not be concluded, from the ambiguous wording - of the articles, that the maritime departments in which this new conscription is to take place, will be ex empted, for the present, from contributing their quota to the land service. The conscripticin of the present, and of the next year, rerrkains :untouched by the new law, and it is only the youths who Wokild • . ••••Aa‘