The National Register. — London, England, 1815-04-02 00:00:00

4 • V. • • ... ~J.~ ' , . NATIONAL ,' ^ ' REGISTER. - • 4: ,!, Our Zing; Constitution, aim laths. * t t '•• .• • .1 44 • PUBLISHED AT:NP. 11, NEWCASTLE-STREET ) STRAND. ~~ Yi3 No. 379. POLITICAL DIMU►SIT'ION. APPROACHING EVENTS. The morning of the year just beams upon us, and Na ture smiles in reviving beauty. Never has Spring breathed milder gales, or brighter glories blazed In an April sky.-- The earth puts forth all her buds, and material creation rejoices through all her kingdoms. How different is the state of the moral world! Consternation lowers on the brow, or indignation flashes in the eyes of mankind. Hu manity shudders without hope, and the hands of man pre pare to deface that world, arrayed in so much beauty and magnificence. Satan has once more passed the gates of id comes to blast the blossoms of opening Paradise. Hell, an( _ _ Awakened from their deceitful slumbers and nattering dreams, tue nations of Europe behold their ancient enemy standing before them ; and their first shriek of alarm is a cry for war. They see him passing from captivity to a throne, and invested With that power whic.h, ho.xo.long wielded for their ruin and 'dsegrachttiOn. Moderation sits on his lips, humitity on-hitbrow, but they know him too, wen to be once more deltteled:4 . --They , hear him—renounce, his ideas of the grand of Which, after fifteen,years' labours, and when almost all continental Europe had bowed to his sway, "he had only laid the foundations," without believing his professions. But they credit him when he speaks of consolidating the French power, because they know that it is a preliminary step to the resumption of those views of universal dominion, which he now acknow ledges he once entertained, and which he pretends to have abandoned. They, therefore, rush to arms to prevent that consolidation. They reject his pacific overtures as snares that would prove their ruin, and they proclaim him an i outlaw, with whom no peace is to be made, as having been weighed in the balance of public faith and found wanting . l They reduce him therefore to the necessity of eithe r purchasing his life by a voluntary surrender of his crown, or of engaging in ft war of conquest or death. 'What his choice will be cannot be doubtful. Even in the unfinished state of his preparations', the thunder of a battle, the shouts of contending hosts, and the joys of anticipated victory, offer too many charms not to seduce his imagination." I never an: so well." he once told his physician, " as in the midst of great commo tions." War is therefore become with him a constitutional Wants and his present anxiety for the continuance. of Peace only proceeds from the wish of obtaining time to commence the contest with more efficient means, or fiat of forcing the Ailiea to attach him, and th*" Pt I, Vii. No. CCCLYAI.I.. „...„4.. ~ ::,„ ~.... , , SUNDAY, APRIL 2, 1 the minds of the French people, throwing the appearale , e of justice on his side. Whatever be his motive, war he will and shall have. The call to arms re-echoes through every part of Europe, battalions are in march, armlet, are collecting, and May-flowers, instead of being steeped in dew, will be drowned in human blood. To pretend to announce eseetly .whet will issue of the war, would be mere presumption. So much depends on circumstances, so much on the will of that Providence, which it is now unfashionable to consider as interfering:with the destinies of the earth. ) that men must bow in humble expectation and hope. Reasonitig however, may be allowed, where decision is not. The Allies are strong in numbers and positions. They.may attack where they , please, and on several points at once. Their troops are experienced veterans who have redeemed their honour, and must support it, by triumph. They have to maintain all they have gained or to lose all they possess : for once engaged in hostilities, as they will grant no mercy if they succefel, they wilt SOO sem ekeern then If they . fail. Na poleah m 4 *seek another Fontainbleau, and not find it : Alexander may ask, u at Austerlitz, " whether his life is safe," and receive-no reply: They must conquer or fill, and ittatlotivictiou, will : double their exertions and their strength. On the other hand, Buonaparte's power even in its' unprepared state, is formidable. Those by whom he has been recalled and acknowledged, have by that act, pledged their lives to support him'. If they fail, they perish as traitors on the scaffold ; for mercy which forgives a first fault, will not spare a relapse. They are chiefly soldiers, whose laurels have been blasted and -who pant to redeem their' glories ;• prisoners, detained in nil the states of Europe; litho long to re-appear as conquerors, where they have crawled as captives ; purchasers of na tional domains, whose property is forfeited by this second rebellion against their restored Sovereign ; Marsha? , , Statesmen, S and Authorities, who cannot be suffered, even if willing, to take a third oath of fidelity, after havie4 broken two most solemnly sworn; persons of all classes, who have recovered the honours and employments whilh they enjoyed under the Imperial Government ; and. rigll who, either carried away by the example of others, or yielding to a pusillanimous fear, have committal theita selves too far safely to return. These will rally route"! Napoleon, and defend his eflllie a; their own. The former recalled him for the expren purpose of having war, and tea latter finding it their only resource, will strain every nerve to render it suceesJul. Besides these, he has called into action the prejudices of the people. It is no longer Ivapo., peelret bidding, Frcc n bleed to maintain 1% V ;•••• ; r- 4 (•t\/ ~~~~_ 15. - 3ftt' r PRICE )d. the MIN . ` Y,