The National Register. — London, England, 1813-12-26 00:00:00

DFC. 16. Tux: NATION lion, which can only be decided by the 'mit satisfactoi y of all priKeedings, a trial made in the spirit of conciliation and peace. To pretend that we must doom ourselves to encounter all the privations and dangers of eternal war, because the throne of France is filled by Napoleon, is, we think, an argument of no weight whatever in the Scales of our judgment on mat ters of such vital importance to ourselves and to the woe Id. We trust that there are means of establishing a new balance of power in Europe, by cecreasing !he number of its great . empi , es, and decreasing that of the small states, (which rriust at ali times fall an easy prey to their more powerful neighbours) which may render the views of the Allies prac ticable, and the augmentation of territory which they offer to France, consistent with the general safety. One fact, however, it is sufficient to state, to put an end to all useless controversy •on this bead. Our Allies .have been the principals in, .the prosecu- • tion of this war, and must fi ll the same rank in' the negocia tions for peace. Whatever be their decision, we. must abide, by it, or submit t o their making a separate peace, and leav ing us to bear alone the bUrdens of the war. Already have' some diffi,irences of opinion arisen between them and our Goveintneut, which Lord Castlereagh is going to Frankfort to settle. At such an important moment, therefore, the utmost caution is iequired cis the part of public writers, lest their well-intended, but unfounded strictures, should produce effects fatal to the interests of their country. - I The character of Napoleon's speed. is such as we expected. It is humb'e in proportion to his former haughtiness, and ele‘ated when compared with his present situation. It is a incoium intended to conceal the breaking down of a lofty spirit. Ile talks as usual of " splendid victories," and attri butes his i eve; ses, to the " defections without patallel, which have readered those -victories useless." " All," he a 'know. ledges, " have ten ned against him ; and Fiance itsel f 'would be in danger bOt fir the union and energy of the I rench." For the first time lie descends from his assumed super human elevation, tb court the sympathies of his people, and t declare that his " heat t has need of the preset ce and the alleetions of his subjects." Equally unmoved by prosperity and adversity, he boasts that be " has several times given pe.!ce to nations when they had lost every tiling" is not this a covered appeal to their generosity, now that he has in his tutu been the sport of *fortune ? After glancing at the abandonment of his cause by all the Kings whom be had made, and regretting that his " great designs for the pros perity and happiness of the world" cannot be realised, he once more returns to the feelings of nature, and " as a :Monarch and a Father, feels that peace adds to the security of natious and of families." Ile then states the opening of negotiations, the delay which has taken place in the as sembling of the Congress at Maulicim, and whiell is not to be attributed to France, declare, that, on his side, 41 there is pro obstacle to the re-estalitishment of peace," Ile regrets that lie should be compelled to require new sae! ifices, but will avoid a loan and paper money. Me urges the ne cessity of - having a large force on foot as the only means of obfainilsg an I onomable peace, end honours its, though wi h .subdu d actonony, with his passing Twice, in hopiog that p stern) , will not say of his *subjects !f that they have acknow edgtd the laws which England has in vain sought (luring fur milli, les to impose on France." Jle concludcs .with expressing his usual confideuce in his people. ---- asseem — . ‘‘ e learn from our Correspondent at Harwich, that a Fa eNcu GENT 1. EMAN has arrived from Holland on an im portant -miss/cm to our Government. -W e can at present say nothing in r thero.-(314q - . ' L n ECWT The Captain of an American , ve , ael flom i3ordeaux,•cap tured by the Coatilidn, says, that three days before he left that place he was at the Theatre, where placards were distri buted and hung from the hosts—Down with the Tyrant• Vivr—Louis the Eighteenth !---(Courier) French Papers to the 19th were received on Tuesday. The most important articles which they contain 'elate to a desperate attempt made by Swift, with his whole force, to repel Lord Wellington from the, banks of the Adour. It is-admitted, that on the nth, the English left had ad vanced close to the entrenched camp at ftayonne: but it is asserted, that on the 10th and 11 th, it was repulsed towards its former position at Bidart, with a loss in the two days; of 1600 or 1700 prisoners. Part of the troops that had crossed the Nive were recalled, it is said, in consequence of these 'movements; and • the two divisions remaining on the right of that river mete attacked; - and lost many prisoners. The intelligence from the Rhine is unimportant, no operations of any consequence having yet taken place in that direction. It appears by an article front Basle, of the 7th, that Russian and Austrian Deputies had repaired to Zurich ; and front the same place, under --the date of the 10th, we are informed, tlutt the Generals of the Allied troops had received orders to respect the neutrality of Switzerland.—The accounts from Holland are of the most impudeit class of fictions by which a ttation was ever insulted. Although it is. now above a month'since that country unanimously titres off the Cor iglean yoke, yet down to this moment not a word is hinted of any such revolution ; but it is positiiely :asserted that the French occupy Gorcum, and all the sarong places in Holland. —At Antwerp, 16,000 wen ate said to be assembled fur its defence...Ney is collecting an army of reserve at Besancon. —Rultiman, a deputy from the Swiss Diet, had arrived at • and been admitted to an audience Isy Buonaparte. Feich, uncle to Buonapare, and Grand Duke of • ankfot t, is stated to have written to the King of Bavaria, that he would abdicate that dignity in favour of his successor, the Prince Viceroy f Italy, son-in-law to his Bavarian Ma jesty. His Majesty, it is added, replied, that he would refer the proposition to the Allied Powers.—The French funds continue to fall; they were, son the 13th inst. below 54. Tuesdays Gazette Contains dispatches from Sir G. Prevost. They afford us the - very gratifying intelligence, that the American invading army, under General Hampton, 7,400 strong, was disgracefully repelled from the Canadian frontier.' on the 2sth of October, by the intrepid gallantry of a small body of Canadian fencibles," not a tw - entieth part of limit. number. The leader of this heroic little band was a Colonel ne Salaberry, who, by taking a judiefons position •i n th e woods, and defending himself by an abaltis, was .enabled to. frustrate the repeated attacks of the American Generali whilst, by the concealment of the Canadians, and the sound of their bugles, purposely F cat re , ed in various directions,' the latter was impressed with the idei, that he had to contend al,ainst numbers neatly equal to his own ; and 4s many of o!' his predecessors in command had suffered from precipitately running into amhushes, and other dangei oils situation. General Ilanwton took warning by their example, and deter mined on a timely retreat. The scene of this gallant . achievement was at Chateaugay, h spot which will liencefor. ward rank as the Thernrow Le of Canada, and reflect im nrotal tumour on the three hundred Canadians who main_ . tained so unequal a conflict. The consequence has been., that Sir George Prevost has felt himself at liberty to dispense w;th the set vices of the Sedentary Embodied Militia, for the remainder of the winter; considering the provincesufficientiv . safe. 1