The National Register. — London, England, 1808-10-30 00:00:00

.-~-- THE NATIONAL REGISTER. Our ikitig, eanOttition, dtth taw. SUNDAY, OCTOBtit 30, 180 S. Pinta Sit No. 44. POLITICAL DINGIgiTiOS: NUMiiElt FORTY-TAREk. ARRITAL OF FRENCH AND RUSSIAN MESSENGERS. As we have laid it down as a rule to ftirhiah our feadets with a disquisition on some prominent feature in the po lities of the week, we know of none which excited mare lively and extensive interest, than the arrival of French end Russian Messengers, said to be the bearers of pacific overtures to our government. As nothing has transpired which miOt enable us td pronounce decidedly Cm the nature or tendency of these proposals, we are placdd under the necessity of recurring to conjecture; in order to make up for the deficiency of positive information. 1-111tvever the public, notwithstanding the silence of government; appear to be unanimous in their opinion; that the dispatches contained proposals for a negotiation = and as we !Ave not been able to d'scover as yet.any justifiable pretext fot dis— countenancing this belief, we intend taking it fur granted that such was the object of their mission. Before We pro ceed to any discussion on the subject; we Cannot avoid expressing our admiration at the facility and indifferetiCe with which Bonaparte confers on us, one week, epithets the most insulting and proposes friendship and recoil.: ciliation in the next. lie has either a most sovereign con tempt for our feelings and understanding, or, speaking with more propriety, for those of the states he curses with filename of allies, when he imagines, by is farce of this kind to justify his conduct in the judgment of mankind. This is a most curious specimen of the effrontery and boundless insolsnce of that extraordinary individual. We have ad- Mirc:l on this, as on prior occasions of a similar nature, the same atrocious consistency. 111 finds it expedient, per haps, to gratify the weak Alexander; who, we arc still in eir 'A to hone has not lost, by the intercourse, every particle of honour and principle, to sinew an inclie;ltion to re-establish the tranquility his ambition has incessantly disturbed ; and ; as if he were willing to remove e., cry doubt of his sincerity ; he exhacsted declamation and vim-. hare, only a few days before he sent off his messengers of pcace, to insult and irritate the very ;government lic effects to conciliate. To judge from the first ostensible act after his arrival at Erfurth, he set out from Paris for the pot pg.se of proposing, in concert with the Emperor of Russia, t.r-nis et accommodation to this country ; and, a day or two before his departure; he made an unprovoked decla ration to his army and E...!r01.e, that he considered no p , .ace attainable, as long as F.ngland retained her inde pendence: if this was vet literally his lan(stias;e his nientfin; was sufficiently obvious. We are fully sensible that the honourable cause we are engaged in, is not bone , fitted by exaggeration or falsehood, we, therefore, scrvpu lowdy refrain from imputing to that dangerous man any other intentions than what he MS eoritantly dump:iced.. !lad he been serious et earnest its his propoitatt $ it it pro table that hd avoid reader their fteeeptance inadmitsible4 N V ; ,XL triar rut; le is a most eurions spec insolnce of that exti Mire:l on this, as on the same atrocious co baps, to gratify the s hr 'A to hope has particle of honour an ri-estabillii the tran disturbed; and, as if doubt of his sincerity !core, only a few da3 pcace, to insult and to conciliate. To .41 his arrival at Erfurtli pf.se of proposing, in tr-ms et accommodi two before his depart ration to his army a peace attainable, as perience. if this ' niennin; was sufficiei that the honourable fitted by exaggeratiot lously refrain from ether intentions thal Had he been serious table that hd svould No: X. L. ri-‘1'01: and entirely incompatible with notions of honour, by prei viously and wantonly instllting the government and nation he affeali to treat *all ? Ile hal given cluile enough tb dotiht of hit integrity, but hone to tawlpat hie diserition it would be, therefore, mute than gotid niturei it would be folly ih the extreme, to ascribe hi 4 proffeted degoclatiotr to motive! coast:Alia with out happinesi atilt security, br those of Oar allies: We hallo introduced this tobject with a trieltelis tintituai With us, at ofted as we wele called uittin to denlope the dingefous tesideficy of hit prOjedts, and Id propose men , Safes to kohnteriet them: We are Outfit& ho* lideus it is to irritate the national feeling against a man who avows himielf the itiettMcileahle enethy of the t`oun try audits instittitibus i but it is neeeslary to deprive egotism dad disloyalty tit every Means of turning the preteht cir etirititattee to their adirintagei We are sensible we most ontSdives to the rididule of litany, whose minds lttt &trendy made tip on &tell overture or this nature, in treating, with so Weil gravity; a subject, whose treacherous tendenCY bey dattgider as obvious to the Most ilniittedi and even biassed, underitanaing; But an attentive observance to the character of the Match littler, and oh 6310riehce of the Mischiefs that have resulted to other states; in come& quenee of having listened to his pacific pitifessiont, after they had as Malty; add faf more; proofs of hill perflay than we have received, justify any degree of seriousness we may sheiv iii the present disaisplion; Our readert cannot be ig noratit at the same time that thee exist numbers of persons, respectable for their 'tank and andities; Who; a very incon siderable tithe hack, were !butt and urgent in recommend ing a peace hetwedit the triti countrie4; and in have not observed such an extraordinary chang e in the Ithignage or actions of Bonaparte; Which might iniiire to reaouncb sentitnents, they so Warmly and pertimicU;usly professed. His contittet towards Stain, it !hay be objected, has been so flagrantly critoinal, that tio person would have the temerity to re.!:inotiend to a British public a measure; which wag loss objection :IV,: at thd tithe they proptised Was hi! conduct towards Swittetiand and f‘nice ico atro:- eions 1 Did he not del elope; on both those occasions, as much Want of principle; remoritelegs cruelty; and brutal indfference to time sufThring4 of individuals, or the laws of nations 1 Did he slim any liniiianity hr tenderheartedness towards the poor, unoffending lierdgmcn, who inhabit the tilmoit inaccessible summits of the Swiss Mountains, where they thong-lit theinsdiVes, on account of their pover ty and Yituation, seenre, at lent, against the encroach 4 menis of ambition? Fcir no other motive than thete taelnhent to at constitntion, which, during Ave eetittiriet, had secured them in the enjoyment of innocence and tram ouiWv, he gave orders, coolly and delibetately, to fifit thousand of his soldiery to scale their hill!, penetrate into the deep re:wales of their rallies, wpm thOrnatsacrad the inhabitants, burnt their vilifies; and . twirled oft their cattle. 'nig etime ivas egntilly 'atittoSintiti *ith that fohla mined against the Spaniar(l4, and leit.finctifidtole tin the plea of advantage: Mid ithdt neaciti did fie atigt ftir eotaqtg with troutaiag and datolatiob t flfibitsitidal If lbe