The National Register. — London, England, 1809-09-24 00:00:00

THE R .•;50.,•• • i ~ 1 i ~~ r • I'4. /". r ; • • - r;"*. `. i ! : i . ' • *. • urilling, Con in, 'nab Latuo: ••••'; . -. .. v • .. ' . 4 1 %. •. , ~`~ • No.: 91. .4.• SUNDAY, SEPTEMI3tit 443;1809 •, • PR CI. 9.tia .; . ~„ . • POLITICAL I , • . , ; • • - a` 111VMSER EIGRTY NTNB• • . • . • ALARMING STATE OF THE NATION. We arc supported by the highest authority when we say . , that a house .divided against itself cannot stand." What is true of individuals is not the less true when ap ,plied town Administration, or to a Country. Na man in the kingdom, however.desirous he may be : to strengthen the hands of Government, whatever may be his partialities for those who compose it, can shut-his eyes upon the dan gerous situation to which we are at length brought ; bad men may exult, good men may. deplore ; but the.wisest will deliberate with no common interest upon the-means of extricating us from our present alarming situation.— Recent events have contributed 'not a little to increase our. danger, not -merely the events abroad, .but the circum-- stances which bave,occurred at home, have snore particu larly contributed to render the prospect imminent and alarming. • • . Let us have the courage to look our real: situation in the face, and, if •a knowledge of that does- not operate to the exclusion of private discord and public animosity, oo effect would or could be produced even though one rate- from the dead. The executive government of the country, wile- . they good or bad, has ca.rried.on a war certainly just in its origin, and, perhaps, necessary, has incurred.an expense .beyond the example of all former wars, with an immense -erasion of blood, has adopted a system for the attainment '.of certain objects,..and, in -the pursuit of that system, has •bten .assisted with ,the confidence arid support of the-peo., -plea The greatest exertions have been made to assistiha: effects of Spain against thp common enemy ; and even our well-founded complaints against the conduct of Austria, have not prevented Ow ,most formidable equipment that ever left our coasts froni being sent to her assistance in the hour of her distress; and - . jet, after all these exertions, we are confessedly at a greater distance from every object that we had in view. than when we first engaged in the contest. If these thingi; be so, there is prima fade evidence that something has been wrong, and that. Wrong ought to be' inquired into at ;east. If the war has been prose cuted vigorously and wisely, if our plans have been ma--, tured by wisdom, and executed with vigour, if,* as Lord CASTLEREAGH contends, the Administration at home can not be inipeached, and; as.Mr.'CAnnssa declares the Coin- , Manderaare irreproebabte,..ihat is the situation of the ,country If.sfie bare bden and,. xiiteronsly,Jilt at: any *rate ineffectually exhausting our resources, the.sesutiCi feud , of necessity he despnii.—lf nothing cad be:hrhied . fors change 'Ten, if there be no chance' af,:b,eifer„iiii . Cells ftproAlie prosecution of other measures, what is thei situation of the country- but that of irreMediabieuniveid* : able - rit:in . ? It seems to follow from this reasoning that'. objeet,which have beeti pursued so long, and with . so much', -vigour, at such ~ a n expcnce too, are unattainable ; and if; lixpe s rienceitai shewn that they cannot be acT'omplivbed by i Fol. 11.•--No. X(1. . ~. orditiatry i,r extraordioary exertfoils, it would seem dlat . they out nio longerld be/ pursued: if this reasOn4 be just, otigbt we • not to hesitate before we proceed in a vvtlr nhich has..brought so, Many calainities, - whiCh has elitiiinita .• so MUCII blood and treasure, and which has utliiiiatelOien attended with so much sertons ... dis4raCetii the BritiSOlanie and character? (Night we not grakely to inquireWhetYir the state of our resources , and the extent of our *papilla- Con, are 'able to bear so many drains oll s itieli and Money, for the puitiose of carrying it on I—With regard to our po ,Pulatioh, it wilt 'hat be denied that it has certainly net in .creased in . an adequate proportion with our wealth and prosperity, and therefore that we cannot afford to repair the loss of men,which;fighting the battles of our allies upon their own soil, most necessarily occasion.- With respect tb the privations which it occasions, and the burdens which are necessarily imposed for its support, we will admit, for the sake of argument, that they are not at present tf l o heavy for the people to bear. But it will be necessary to inquire to what extent this system may be pursued ? How far it can be stretched without danger of snapping ? Plans have been imagined . by which the interest of the national debt, and the expences of the war, may be defrayed, with ' out any additional taxes. 'But in spite of these- theoretical schemes, if the war be continued fresh burtheus must . be laid on; and the amount of these must necessarily increase in proportion to the length of its duration. Prudent men. :will look-and ought to look to the probability of this ex penditure, and to the resources -we have' for meeting it.— Me ought to consider how far our connnerce is capable of supporting new duties, and how far our manufactures. will 'be able even to exist under the present duties, with a dimi nished, restrained, and circuitous commerce. It is only 'by comparing the object with the means, that we can form. • a proper opinion at to whether we onglit to abandon the object; or alter the . metins, or whether we ought to purse . ' the same hopeless object . by• the same hopleis means, and, .whether we are to contilne a system which has . hitherto produced nothing consoling or satisfactory: But it is said, that our - commerce and our manufacture, are in a flourishing st tte. Certainly, almost the only cora - ;pplies merce 'that is carried on is by the English s the su A necessary 'for our gait and West India markets, and the returns from these countries of whiCh we possess the • monopoly, Make a greaC fig*. at ,the .Custom-house. But,, on the,other hand, ae cannot be: insensible to the de prOated value , c . i . f . Colonial produce,. from our being tqr i dioed, Oe ma rkqt,i the Continent ‘ Cur cotton Ynallii- . . .2_ • W ti. they, .1 iStu!es, p4yo certp,io7 riceived miteriAl injury, ant i . 4forririg tpha 1111fterid Jess is, perhal,s, owinz to our figsfesfipgthe exclusive trade to Brizil, added 'to the for. intioduri: nierchaticF iiirOrded - a Odence to eveu - that • , pot, • • 4.) Of these markt, troduction of fonsiderable . qiiintities of Ifiltigh lize to the Spanish Peninsula: this has certainty ternporari relief, but can we look wi}tt any con- its duration ?—:May noti considerable pOrtion temporary a relief be °Wing - to the sanguine , tr- . of pomp yzturin4 perchantp,io cocisetuencle marketi being uneipectedif - *net te — ufF fid