The National Register. — London, England, 1813-01-03 00:00:00

HE NATIONAL POLITICAL DlS2rusnlom BONA PA RT E'S RECEPTION AT PARTS. PRICE 9d. No 262. The farce performed in France, on the 20th ult. the par ticulars of which have reached this country in the course of ' the week, cannot fail to afford a high treat to the lovers of the ridiculous - . The pomp with which those miserable poli tical puppets, the Senate and the Council of State, have been danced before their master to congratulate NAPOLEON the Great on his escape, is really in itself too absurd not to be diverting. The joy the Parisians must feel at seeing their tyrant again, and the sincerity of their congratulations on His MAJEs`r Z's "happy arrival," may be easil)sconceived. It must certainly be equally grateful to their vanity and their feelings. To behold their mighty Emperor return in disguise, like a murderer of less note, only anxious to elude the (deers of Justice, must furnish much to gratify the one, and to know that the mighty army which he lately led to the North, to " fulfil the destinies of Russia," has been destroyed, without ;effecting any one object for which the war was commenced, must administer indescribable comfort to the other. The t Addresses, therefore, of the Senate, and Council of State to DIJON P A wrt, on his arrival, it cannot be doubted, are as iffectidnate as they arc rational. Ludier,:us however as all this is to us, it is not entirely devoid of interest. The silly parade about their affection to the Kingi i of ROME is worth something, as it -should seem the Tyrant.keels that some new demonstration of attachment to his dynasty should be made, to induce a belief on the part of other nations, that his late discomfiture has not destroyed his authority. Ilis resorting to such an expedient, at this time, to give his power the appearance of stability, may rea sonably be attributed to a conscious apprehension, that the recent events in the North are calculated to give it a fatal blow. In no other way can we account for his putting such language into the mouth of his creatures on the present occa sicn. Immediately after this edifying expression of attach, anent to the King of Rotas, the Russian•campaign is no ticed in these words:— Sire., your Majesty has waved the Trench eagles over " the towers of Moscow. The enemy could neither arrest " your success nor thwart your plans, but by resorting to " tip! frightful resources of despotic governments —creating " deserts on all his frontiers, carrying conflagration Into his " provinces, and delivering to the flames his capital—the " centre of his riches;and the growth of so many ages. " Those, Sire, who renewed thCse barbarous tactics of " their savage ancestors, were ill acquainted with the heart " of your Majesty. It would have voluntarily renounced " the trophies which were to be purchased by so much blood " and so many woes to humanity." Vol. VI, No. CCLXII, oliom4m • REGlbi=a; . , • • Our lung, Conaitittion, aim Labs. PUBLISHED AT NO. 11, NEWCASTLE-STREET, STRAND. SUNDAY, JANUARY 3, 1813. The statement that those who had resorted to the barba tons tactics of their savage ancestors were ill acquainted with the heart of the Trench Ruler, and the assertion that he would voluntarily have renounced trophies to be purchased by so much blood, and so many woes to humanity, are very fine. But for the use made of the conditional tense and suhjiinc. tire mood here, in the declaration, that under the circums stances described, NAPOLEON would voluntarily have res nounced the trophies of victory, which must be regarded as an admission, that he did not voluntarily renounce them, we might have been led to suppose, that be had stopped in his career of conquest, merely in kindness to the Ressians, as his tender heart could not bear the thought of ad , vancing further into their country, lest St. Petersburgh should share the fate of Moscow. This certainly accords very well with the information we already possess of the be nevolence of his disposition, and furnishe; an admirable supplement to the catalogue of horrors with which his mercy has enriched history, and a suitable comment on that huma nity which, within these few reeks, was so amiably displayed in butchering the unarmed defenceless inhabitants of Mos-, cow, whose alleged offence was—that they bad obeyed the orders of their Governor. The corresponding part of BCONAPARTE'S answer, is equally worthy of attention:— " Tlie war which I maintain with Russia is a war of pos " licy. I have waged it without animosity; I could have wished to spare her the . misfortunes whicfi she has caused " herself. I should have been able to arm the greater part " of her population against her, by proclaiming liberty to " the slaves; a great number of villages demanded it of me; " but when I perceived the brutality of that numerous class of the Russian people, I refused to accede to a measure " which would have devoted many families to death, and " the most horrible punishments. My army has sustained " losses, but they arose from the premat4te . severity of the. 66 season." That it is a war of policy, we should have thought it was hardly necessary for him to tell his people, any more than: it was necessary to inform them that it had been most politi- , cally conducted. The declaration, that he had " waged it without animosity," was certainly a piece of intelligence' eqvally interesting and novel: if this humane chieftain., does not consider ravaging a country with fire and sword" and murdering its population in cold blood, as partaking of t the nature of avimouty, it would be worth something to know the precise meaning attached by this 66 father of soldiers" to that word. What follows, perhaps, may fur nish a clue to discover its import, in the vocabulary of NA... POI EON. lie had it in his power to arm th e greater I ,a t f t the subjtcts of Russia against their master, by proelain in `~