The National Register. — London, England, 1811-07-28 00:00:00

•;fig W ■ THE N°. 1 S 7. NATIONAL REGISTER eur timg, trongitutipn, anb SUNDAY, .11 POLITICAL DISQUISITION. No. 173. BUONAPARTE'S NEW DEVICES, OR THE BUBBLE OF INVASION NEWLY BLOWN. The greatness of the check which BuoxArium's ambition has received from the seriet of victories obtained by our arms, may be ascertained by the efforts whiclyhe has made to collect powerful armies and dt ive us away from the Peninsula ; and, on the repeated failure of these, by his exertions in other quarters, to compel us to recal our troops in defence of our own possessions. For that purpose, he lashed, soothed, and flattered into a complete ac quiescence with his designs the American Govern ment, the weak pusillanimity, or rather corrupt subserviency of which has lately been fully exposed by one of its own Members, the late Secretary of State, Mr. Smrru ; whose breach of trust, however, in producing documents, copies of which he must have kept with a view to such a disclosure at the time he was, by his own account, the intimate friend and confederate of the PRESIDENT, can never be deemed honourable. The consequences of this triumph ob tained by NAPOLEON over the pretended indepen dent Legislature of the United States, have not, however, hitherto answered his ends. We have re 'ceived from America, it is true, provocations equal to a declaration of war. Nay, an act of open hostility has already been committed on one of our cruisers, and sanctioned by the public approbation of the PRE SIDENT. But the apprehension of an approaching con test in America, and of an attack on the vast pro vinces vs . 'hich we still retain on the Trans atlantici_jon tinent, has not induced us to abandon our European Allies. BONAPARTE had so frequently represc:qed us in his official fulminations of impotent ven geance, as led by the sole impulse of egotism, that he had written himself into a belief that his Asser tions were true. Self-deceived, he fancie,!, that we had no other view in rescifng Portugal from his grasp, than to keep his armies at a distance li•am our shores, and that the least appearance of cto)ger, threatening any part of our dominions, would con sequently he deemed by us of far greater import ance than the territorial integrity of Powers, whose cause interested motives alone had, in his opinion, induced us so warmly to support, and Ivo' Pro!. IV. CLX..X.XkII. I,Y '2B, 1811. 7.., - s NI-- . ' .. r p lf , ‘ "-. * ';'!i.; -..• ~,,............_ A f e . 61:::: . >‘• v-+ • .14.7>, trq," PRINTED AND PUBLISHED AT NO. 5 1 rIcKETT-STREET, ST AND, NEAr. TEMPLE BAR, Pnicr. 9(/. attended by the immediate recal of cur troops. He now finds that this hope has failed. Wehave sent a squadron of .ships to erten the pride and bursting enmity of America ; but instead of withdrawing our men from Portugal and Spain, fresh embarka tions of cavalry and infantry daily take place, and cur army in the Peninsula, which now so effectually checks the collected might of France, will shortly have lest the only inferiority under which it la boured throughout the campaign, that of numbers, and be able once more to resume offensive opera tions. Aware of the fresh p::riis that gather against his Brother's usurped throne, and conscious of his inability to meet and repel the storm much longer, either in the fich.s of Estramadura, or those of Leon, llooNAPArcrE has at length publicly be trayed his military weakness. For some time a total alteration was remarked in the tone in which he spoke of the Spanish war. At the commence ment of the contest, from the height of his imperial throne, he thundered forth prophecies of instant subjugation, denouncing no less than sudden and ir remediable annihilation to our cohorts, should they dare to await the approach of his veterans. When a year had elapAid, and we had compelled Ancor to evacuate Portugal, be unblushingly continued to predict. our ruin, and attributed the delay that had occurred, and the disappointment of the expecta tions which he had awakened, net as he ought, in truth, to the genius of cur Cormnander and the valour of our troops, but to the power of our gold. Another year did the Bruish colours fly undisturbed on the towers of Lisbon, whilst al the South, and nearly the whole of d.e East of Spain remained in the possession of the Patriots. Yet the Imperial Prophet did not change his strain. Our geld and intrigues had again checked the course of fate. We had raised Austria in arms against him, and he was forced to delay the c;:m• plete subjection of Spain, to wrench the thunderbolt from the Austrian Eagle. The last struggle for indepei.,.!ence of the Emperor FRANCIS was ener getic but short. Despoiled of one of his kingdoms, and of many valuable and xtensive'provinces,he ttiij balanced the destinies of war on the banks of the Danube. His capital was in the hands of his encmy, and witnessed the last tremendous shocks of the coi.flict. Ess'iug filled her with hope; q - ram with sorrow; for on that gory Leld :7N) tAd