The National Register. — London, England, 1808-09-26 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGIS'r4al • n .. Our fling, ConOtitution, anb /1,11114. No. 39. MONDAY, SEPT EMBER 26, 1808. PRICE Bd. POLITICAL DISQUISITION. NUMBER TillltTli-NINE4 THE CONVENTION. We arc once more reduced to the mortifying, but impe rious, necessity of resuming our strictures on the Conven tion signed by our Commanders in Portugal. The task is painful, but indispensable. It is far from our character, and perfectly repugnant to our feelings, to swell the tide of popular indignation, or to irritate the public feelings to unnecessary acrimony, against men, on whose innocence or criminality the laws of their country must speedily de cide. Such severity would not be justice ; it would be the most wanton and unwarrantable barbarity. But the pre sent subject is of so alarming a nature ; affording so dan gerous a precedent; involving so many and complicated interests; implicating so strongly the whole army in the infamous transaction, and so degrading to the national character, that we would deserve to be branded as traitors and cowards towards our country, Europe and posterity, if motives of personal consideration, if fear of consequences, or principles of false and dangerous humanity, encouraged us to be silent and neutral. When we reflect on the circum stances which preceded this dishonourable compromise ; on the object of the Expedition ; the triumphant malignity of the enemy ; the confusion of our allies, and the stigma offered to our national character, we indignantly demand if those individuals be Englishmen :—if there was no treach ery in the transaction ;—if we are to consign it among those acts which occasioned the destruction of the Austrian army at Ulm,• and the surrender of Madgeburg t It is in vain that we are called on by justice, by reason, by hu manity, to wait for a more satisfactory explanation of the circumstances :--our feelings snpersede the operations of our understanding ; and when the fact is so base, so gla ringly criminal, we are afraid of suspending our judgments, for fear of sinking in our esteem, and betraying coolness and apathy, when our friends, and every one we meet, call down vengeance and imprecations on the vile betrayers of 'I our country's honour. Such is the predicament we are I►laced in. We are afraid to excuse, almost to investigate, from an apprehension we should, in a certain measure, participate in the atrocity and baseness of the act. When our passions begin io swell ; when our feelings begin to enonuce themselves only by execrations, we endeavour to banish the subject from our minds, and wish to defer the examination, till familia rity has blunted the acuteness of our sensations, weakened the horror of the action, and perhaps reconciled us to ils infamy. Such is the tranquillity we, as well as the inas , of our countrymen, may one day attain. A repetition Of this business, another Buenos Ayres, and another Portugal Convention, with a Capitulation or two► iu and Italy, may break down the inflexible pride of oar national in tegrity. Then our Whitelockes, our Dalrymples, our Bur rants, our Wellesleys, will find a people adapted to their character and wishes, equally indifferent to intam) and ho -1b0• XXXI T. —vnl. .1. ~ .. nonr, to ictory or defeat, and ranking them as high in their estimation, and perhaps higher in their consideration, than Lord Nelson. Pardon us, shndc of a hero and patriot ! The loathsome association of such characters with your immortal name, was wrung from our wounded feelings. We know how you would have acted had you been sta tioned before the Tagus ; and wi9e the arm, which .was so often wielded in the service of your country, capable of signing such a Convention, you would, like another Sete vola, havL. made it expiate in the flames the ignominy of the service. Shall we analyse this Convention ? Shall we examine it article for article ? Shall we begin with No. 1,2, 3, 4 ? Shall we find courage to go through the abominable cata logue ? The second is infamous, the third is equally so, and the fourth, we believe, is unparalleled. The fifth is a con nivance on our part, a treacherous sanction of the plunder of the unfortunate Portuguese. We furnish the robbers with ships to carry home the pilfered effects of our Allies. fins there been another example in the annals of history of such meanness ? Those very rubiana, the sworn enemies of our name, our country, our liberty, o'ir institutions and prosperity ; who plundered the Portuguese of their pro perty ; who made their provinces a scene of devastation, rape, and murder, from no other motives hut because they were our friends ; who forced their Sovereign, on the same account, to abandon his throne and countn, are permitted by Dalrymple, &ward, and Wellesley, not oily to carry off, but are assisted with the means of convevin away the property of the very people, who itecatne victims to their attachment to us. In the long catalogue of human vices and atrocities, if' a parallel example •of baseness can Le pointed out, we will become the panegyrists of their con duct. The sixth and seventh articles are a mean, paltry, despicable acquiescence in the arrogant pretensions of the enemy. They are worded so obsequiously ; they evince so much politeness, that it is visible,' that the fellows, who signed it, felt. a kind of awe and terror in the presence of this psuedo Duke. "It is, howaver, fully understood that " the means of conveyaece iOr horses, at the disposal of "the British Commanders are very limited ; some (feta ,' Ilona canreyvnee moy'be proepeed of Me port of Lisbon; " at all events es ery facility will tie giy en to the French " arm to dispeie of the horses brloeging to it, &c."— Where is our vaim'ed pride ? 11 hat is become of that re peldicen lemehtiness we are accused of ? Every line in these. te•o articles resembles more the nauseous complai sance of an (,id, court-retainee, then the simp'e, energetic language of a soldier. So much anxiety is ma nifested to provide for Ilee wants, aed anticipate the neces sities of annot atet savally rellowees ; SO mech com placency ; so mech honied sweetness, that we grew sick on reatime if. !•!::1!oe on voer feeliegs and your politeness! We wish y ou bad in vow: composii;on more English blunt ness and infleeihilitv. The eieiith mill ninth are in the same shin as the prece.',ieg. The tenth, which stipulates the safe return of our s!,ips, aLer having conveyed the French home, has been adverted to in our last Number; -. ; ‘,• 1