The National Register. — London, England, 1816-12-23 00:00:00

ia br j'_l No. 463.—V0r.. IX. POLITICAL DISQUISITION. NEW DISCOVERY IN POLITICAL SCIENCE. A NEW doctrine has been 'started by a philosopher yif the north, which is of so much importance to the acience of political economy, that it must be disposed of, either affirmatively or negatively, before our disputants am proceed in the path they have hitherto pursued. The doctrine is briefly this : that moral and religious and general knowledge constitute as necessary a part of - the national wealth, as a luxuriant territory, spacious .and convenient buildings, commodious roads, nay, even money itself, or any of the representatives of value in the multifarious forma in which by the avarice or in r : gsnuity of man it hat been exhibited. An individual ander this view, endowed with intellectual powers, is considered as resembling an engine possessed of mecha nical powers, each being capable of adaptation to nu merous purposes conducive to national happiness and improvement ; and an individual destitute of such in tellectual powers, is supposed to be like the log, or rough materials, out of which such a mechanical en gine was formed, and little better than an incumbrance to the ground. A nation or community in which the members are fraught with such powers, and a nation or community deprived of them, with equal external wealth, or of those things which are usually understood to constitute :Aches, on the position here maintained, is not in an equal condition of prosperity, because the latter is deprived of that moral wealth which is at least as valuable as the natural or physical wealth, inas much as it is by the former alone that the latter can be made uses of to all its beneficial purposes at present, or that it can be converted into all the shapes of rapid hereafter. Such is the principle, and nothing can be more con 41tdatory than this novelty to the science, because it ronnects itself necessarily with all the noblest propen sities, and most exalted sensibilities of the human mind. It is suited to our contemplation on this sacred day, because it skews that our rulers, in looking for. ward to the national wealth and prosperity, are as much concerned in the promotion of religion, morality and knowledge, as in the advancement of arts, manu factures and commerce ; and if such be the situation of things, the business of the legislature will be as in timately connected with the amelioration of our moral habits, the prevention of vice, and the encouragement Of virtue, as with the extension of navigation, the ob struction to foreign encroachment, and the augmentation of our native resources. We do not pretend to pass a hasty judgment upon this assumed discovery : we have been long the admirers of the talents of our countryman Adam Smith, whom we have heretofore considered as the teacher, of whatever is palpable and rational in this department of ethical science ; but we acknowledge that we see so much to admire in the new system that Las been promulgated, that we arc anxious it should meet with fair discussion among the philosophers of our land, as it will and must do in every other kingdom of Europe, now that the spirit of enquiry has been awakened on the subject. Another motive with us is dictated by a patriotic feeling, by which our readers will be influenced in common with ourselves, and they will see it to be of this nature. The subject of political economy was never reduced to any fixed principles, until, within fifty years, its leading maxims were es tablished by the distinguished professor we have named. all other writers since his time, before the appearance of this northern philosopher, have followed his steps, for to the ancients, the subject being wholly unknown, they bad no other guide to direct them in their pro ..gress. The principles, then, having received birth in this island, we arc anxious that its growth and strength should be established among us, or that we should not Ile bellittii-hatad with our ue'.gltbours in this useful en- ationat ctitittr+ Our iltna, ConiStitution anb 31.4b3d. MONDAY, DECEMBER SI, 1816. quiry, since it has commenced with ourselves, and since we have the precedence of all thew competitors in every other branch of political philosophy, and in the perfect model we have presented of its practical application in the BRITISH CONSTITUTION. B UONAPA RTE. --41 - FROM Mr. WARREN'S publication walleye further extracted the account of the transactions at Jaffa. Here be ceased to speak ; and as I was deppilined to gra. tify my curiosity as far as his pthent mamatunicative spirit would allow, I was determined to continue the conversation. —I accordingly observed, "that of all the undertakings which composed his wonderful career, no circumstance had excited sock astonishment in England as his expedition to Russia, before he bad brought the Peninsula war to a termi nation, which, at that time, appeared to be an attainable ob ject." I panted, expecting a reply on the subject ;—however be gave none ; but, as if he had not heard my observation' proceeded to a renewal, la some degree, of the former to pies!_ " Your country," be said, "has ',tensed me of having mur dered the sick sod wounded of soy armyat Jaffa. Be assured that if I bad committed such a horrid act, my very soldiers themselves would have execrated awl and I might have looked to their ceasing to obey me. There is no occurrence of life to which I gave more publicity than this. Yon have an (Alcor, a Sir Robert Wilson, who has written very co piously on the subject of my campaign in Egypt." As he repeated the last sentence, lie assumed au air and tone bf sarcastic jocularity; and then asked me, if I had read Sir Robert's publication. I rept.ied in the affirmative It is possible," he said, " that he wrote from the testimony of other people equally prone to error as himself: be cannot pretend to have done it from his own observation. Can you tell ine," continued Napoleon, " whether Sir Sydney IS in any otacial conaniuuicatioas to your gov , ye any way, to corroborate the testimony Wilson 1" I could Dot, at the moment, sufficiently, lest the purport of his dispatches, to determine the point, but I replied. as I felt, "That he had not." This reply, however, indecisive as it was, appeared to afford him considerable satisfaction, as he instantly repeated—" I believe so : for Sir Syducy Smith is a brave and just man." " On raising the siege of St. Jean de Acre, the amity retired upon Jaffa. It had become a matter of urgent necessity. The occupation of this town for any length of time Was totally impracticable, from the fiarce that Jesse Pacha was enabled to briug tarward. The sick and wonoded were nutnerons and their removal was my first consideration. Carriages,the most convenient that could be formed. were appropriated to the purpose. Some of them were sent by water to Damietta, and the rest were accommodated, in the best possible man ner, to accompany their comrades in their march through the desert. Seven men, however, occupsd a quarantine hospi tal, who were infected with the plants ; whose report was made me by the chief of the medical staff; (1 think it was Denegette). He further added, that the disease had gained such a state of malignancy, that there vas not the least pro bability of their continuing alive heyorid forty-eight hours." —I here exclaimed in a dubious tone, the.word—seven I cud immediately asked whether I was to understand that there were no more than seven.—t'.lpereeive,7 he replied, " that you have heard a different account."—" Most assuredly,General: Sir Robert Wilson states fifty-seven or seventy-seven and ' speaking more collectively, your whole sick and wounded." tie then proceeded- 4 The Turks were numerous sad powerful, and their cruelty proverbial throughout the army. Their practice of niutilatlug and barbarously treating their Christian prisoners, in particular, was well kuowu among my troops, and had a_preservative influences's+ my mind and con duct: and I do affirm, that there were only seven men whom circumstances compelled me to leave as shert lived sufferers at Jaffe. They were in that stage of the 4,sease which ren deied their removal utterly impracticable, exclusive of the dissensinatiun of the disease among the healthy troops. Si tuated us I was, I could not place then tinder the protection of the Euglish ; I, therefore, desired tat see the senior medical officer, and °Users lug to him, that the afflictions of their dis ease would be cruelly aggraveted by the conduct of the Turks I towards them ; and that it was Impossible to continue in pos. session of the town, 1 desired hint to give me his hest advice on the occasion. I said, tell me what le to be dune He lie skated for some time, and then repeated, that these men, who were the objects of my very painful solicitude, could not war vire furtpeight hours.-1 accoribugly suegeste.l, (what ap peared to he his opinion, though lie alight uut choose to de clare it, but wait with the trembling hope to receive it from me;) the propriety, because I felt it would be humanity, to shorten the sufferings of these seven men by ediniuistering opium. Such a relief, I added, in *similar ocoasion, I should anxiously solicit for myself. —But, rather contrary to my ex pectation, the proposition was opposed, and constapiently abandolied. I therefore halted the army one day longer than I intended; and on my quitting Jaffs,lefl it strung rear guard, who continued in that city till the third day. At the expira tion of that period, an iiificer's report' recited me, that the men were dyad."—" Then, Gencrer I could not resist ex , t "no opium was g:s - en." We emphatic answer I Pilot 90. received was, " No: none !—A report was brou g ht me th a w the me. died before the rear geoid had eva e n a ted th e city. I again Interrupted him, by mentioning that Sir Sydeer Smith, when he afterwards entered Jaffa , found one or tsse7 Frenchmen alive.---" Welt," he answered, "that, after angles may be posaibler —lt was, I think, et this period of the con versation' that he stated his being in pos s es s i o n of a l e tt e r from Air Sydney Smith, written in very complimentary Ma gnetise, which expressed the writer's astonhhanent, as well aw praise, or the accouunodetioes which were contrived and exe cuted to transport the French sick and wounded from Acre to Jaffa, and thence across the Desart. I here took *melon to observe, " that a tate of traveller, a distinguished scholar and le arne d professor . the University of Cambridge, had excited a very general doubt respecting the accuracy Of this particular part of Sir Robert Wilson's narrative. Dr. Clark, the person to chant I alliided. had" I said," travelled throttgb Turkey, and as I believed.' by the route of Aleppo and Damascus to Jerusalem, and lions thence to Jaffa, where he remained souse time. This' gentlensadrehose character stands high in the world, may he said to cohtradict the testimony of his countryman Sir Robert, respecting the charge which the former niarbe said to have brought forward against yon. Though he merely states that he never heard of the cruel transaction ; but very naturalli observes, that if such an extraordinary event had occurred, as the murder of such a number of Frenchmen by their own' General, 1101118 traces or recollection of so horrid an event. and of such recent occurrence, must have transpired, and been communicated to him during his residence there." A. question instantaneously followed—" 11.14 this traveller said any thing of El Arish?"—My memory did not serve me sra. cieutly to give au answer. " Well," be continued," you dud also bear the particulars of El Arab and the garrison of Jaffa. You have read, without doubt, of my having ordered the Turks to be shot at Jaffa." " Yes, indeed," I replied, " g have often heard of that massacre in England: it was sr general topic at the time, and treated as a Britielt mind never fails to consider subjects of that description."—" At the period in question. General Desalt was left in flipper Egypt) and Kleber in the vicinity of Damietta. I let Cairo, and traversed the Arabian Desert, in order to unite my force witk that of the latter at El Arish. The town was attacked, and a capitulation succeeded. Many of the prisoners were found, on examination, to be natives of the mountains, and tants of Mount.Tabor ' but chiefly from Nazareth. They wer e immediately released, on their engaging to return quietly to their houses, children, and wives: at the same time, they were recommended to acquaint their conntrymee, the Names lese, that the French were no longer their enemies, melee sy were foetid ie arms assisting the Packs. When this es rf~ minty was concluded, the army proceeded on its march toward, Jaffa. Gaza surrendered on the route.—That city, on the first view of it, bore a formidable appearance, and the garrison was considerable. It was summoned to surreuder, when the °flit er, who bore my flag of truce, no sooner passed the city wall, than his head was inhumanely struck off,, in. stantly . ifixed on a pole, and insultiagly exposed to the view of the French army. At the sight of this horrid and unex pected object, the indignation of the soldiers knew no bounds: they were perfectly infuriated; and, with th e mo s t eager impatience demanded to b e l e d on to the storm. I did not hesitate, under such circumstances, to eonimand it. The attack was dreadful and tbe carnage exceeded any action- I had then witnessed. We carried the place, cad it tegtrired all my efforts and influence to restrain the fiery of the enraged soldiers. At length I succeeded, and night closed the sae. gninary scene. At the dawn of the following morning, a report was brought me, that five hundred men, chiefly Napolese, who had funned a part of the garrison of El Arish, and tie whom I bad a few days before given liberty, on condition that they should return to their homes, were actually found a:ld recognised amongst the prisoners. On this fart being hide. Wieldy ascertained, I ordered the five hundred men to b drawn out and instantly shot."--In the Course of our con versation, his anxiety appeared to be extreme, that I should be satisfied of the truth of every part of his mutative, and be continually interrupted it, by asking me if I perfectly comprehended him. He was, however, patience itself, whet I made any observations expressive of doubts I had previously , entertained respecting any part of the subjects agitated between us, or any mat Isle opinion entertained or p r e. 'invited in England. Tee GRAND Duce NlcuotAs.—(From a counter paper.)—On Saturday the 14th instant, his Imperial Highness the Grand Duke NichoLis arrived in News. castle-upon-Tyne. He had slept the night before at Sun.. dedand, where he next morning viewed the pier, the east iron bridge over the river Wear, the coal straith of 111zslirs. Neshatn and Co., and afterwards took refre3h. went at Biahopweannouth Rectory. Almost immediate. ly after his arrival, he priireeded to the Royal Jubilee Laactisterian School, where he' remained more than an hour, and expreased himself highly delighted. Before leaving tke school he inscribed with his own hand, in the visitor's book, his name in the Russ character, to re. main as a testimonial of his visit. From the school the Prince proceeded to Wall's-end colliery, whcr3 Mr. Buddel explained the whole process of ventilating and working the mines, and the shipping of caul. Mr. Bewick hail afterwards the honour of laying before the Grand Duke specimens of his skill in the art of engray. in;; upon wood. On Sunday morning his Meiners set of for Alnwick-castle, and thence to Belford, where we understand he was to pass the aight, and rowed c* blonda7 to Edinburgh. 4 » .:4 *V Id Ylor. N4IN ~s~