The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1807-11-12 00:00:00

BRITISH PRESS OFFICE, ONE O'CLOCK. EXPRESS FROM PARIS. INTERIOR. TAILS, OCT. 31. The Jaunted de l'Ewpire of this lay contains the following article : (We hate given some garages of the Declaration of Nis 11:taiin.c Majesty *pen the Ixpedition to Copenhagen. 'We have received au snide such more hewn int, in which.this Declaration is copied tiethe awl sou:ding to the text.) , The conduit of the English Government towards Denmark, has excited the astonishment and indig nation of Europe. We know not what could be the objet of such an attack. It would have been sought in vain in the writings of the Generals who commanded the British forces in Zealand. Tlts se pie,:es contain nothing that can gratify co in that respell. Nevertheless, there is rea son to believe that a secret motive, of primary im portance, had instigat d the British Government to that odious anion t a d which, for the very reason because it was ouicu,, could not be supposed to bays been committed without sortie Cit.!. By an official declaration, the Cabinet of St. Jamb e s has at length put an end to all conjeeure. It has given information to the nations of the Con tinent, and w the English- nati-n itself, which suredly never saspeßed that its Government ve.,s devoting it to the execration of Furope, while Lt the tame time no advantage could possibly result from its routine. The declaration in question will, for ever stamp its authors with infamy, and will loudly procLitra to posterity their unskilfulness and city. Most certainly the sovereign who possesses a ge. rtlrett slrrl, fulfils a duty which k must be pleasing to I,:m to . :11, when he renders an account to hie people of the enterptizes which he has undertaken for their prosperity and their glory ; but that a mo narch should not be afraid to make a public avowal of the motives of a ciisgrsceful •Rion, and that he should pride himself in the commission of it, is • procedure of which we should in vain seek aoutLes ex;..mple. Cruel irony ! Whit then are "the great sacri fices which Ilia tiii.annie Nlajesty W 45 disposed to make to D.lnark ?" He demand-d that twenty shkts of tiie hae, which wine in the post of Copenhagen, the city, the fortress, should be surrendered to hint. and by a ',wince, truly gene row, he consented to restore the Danish ffitet oa ;be conclusion of peace 13in is it not well known that the L.glish Ministry has established as a principle the fitness and the necei.sil of a pe penal seen ? To engags, tivrif , ;re, to restore this C.:et en the conclusion of peace, was the same thing far the F.:.glish Got ernment as to pioasiso to itwit never to restore ;t ; and %hat "arrangements" con!d he •• Jesiratile" for Denmark ? %net could she accept of tLese eel-di-minis...a traders, accus tomed to tra:11: with ir t blood and the happiress of nations ? Could ;he united wealth of the Indies, the enure caisital of the immense debt of England, wipe away the affront cffeied to the honour of the Crown of D. nmark, to the diLnity and indepfiselence of the Danish nation ? This affront cannot be c:pi ated but with English blond. V paid for with the gold of England, it would have been eternal ; the wretched nation which had :u,tait.cd it won;d never bare recovered its dignity, it, ind.pentlerice, its ho nour ; it would have beets it toLortrably dishonoured and destroyed. How is it possible thus to efface every 'swim of j nstice and injostice, and boldly substitute, into. J of the etetnal basis of the law s I nations, maxims se subversive of all civilization ? Whatever is conve nient to the English Government is just in its eyes. The clumsy authors of this declaration do not even suppose it possible to doubt if a procedure that is urjust can be useful to a nation; widely different from the Athenians, who rejected a piesposal of Themistocles, because Aristides deslated, that it might be useful to adopt it, that the adoptiin of it was even necessary to the safety Os Athens, bu• that it was unjust. :;upposiag even, according to the English 17:1111111, that considerations of utility ought to have out weighed those of justice, it would remain to be as certained whether the espectition of Denn.ar it was useful to the safety of England. Now events have proved, and will daily prove still more s;risagly, that this proceeding. so far from being accessary to the safety cf Li:gland, is she greatest misfortune that has f-ir a long time befallen her ; a misfortune snore fatal to her than the declaration of the hide penitence of 'retard would be. Why does not the Cabinet of London make known the sources from which it has derived information which it pronounces to be so positive ? The reason is snip'e ; the Cabinet of Londro never rec:ived :t .y on the ttif•jell. There has never beea airy ccininsinicathio, a^ir negotiation, soy treaty between Fiance ar4 losumatte. The Impenr of the k..ach ce&4 mei Lave any intention of making war upon Deninark : lie could not, because that would have been nijust ; and he is too great, too enlightened. not to know that the first principle of all wise policy is justice. Such ate not the sentiments of the besotted oligarchs, who di rett the agaits of England. But how happens it, that they could not see that any war between France and Denmark would have been ustle4 to the Emperor of the French ? Had he attacked Den mark, he would have thrown her into the arms of England s he would have given his enemy the em pire of the Sound ; he might, assuredly, have seised, without difficulty, both Holstein and lunen ; but the Danish army, taking refuge in its own islands, covered by i:s own fleets, and by those of England, would have been nut of the reach of every attack. Thus the only resah of an unjust aggiession, would have been to compel Denmark to make a common cause with Swe des and England. If the English Ministers rr tsun ill, tl.ay ought at least to knew,. that the Emperor of the French is a better logician than they. Another, and a still more powerful motive, Gould not but escape them. Incapable as they are of feeling its force. we cannot be astonished that they should not have divined is. All attack on Denmark would have been a s'gnal itju , tice; it would I Ave been a stain for the Emperor Napoleon in the eyes of posterity; and the opinion of pos terity is not indifferent to this great Snvere "ga. The ties of every kind which attach the Emperor of Bossia to Denmark, are known to all Europe. To attack Denmark would have been to violate the Treaty of Filsir, to recommence the war, to lose the advantages gained at Friedland, to strengths, the forces of the enemy by 40,000 Danes, and the in dignation of all Europe. The Peacs of Tilsit would therefore have been a gu.irantec for Denmark, had it been necessat y for that Power to seek a guarantee eirewbere than in the neuuahty, and tha wise con due of its Government. But perhaps the Ministers of London mey say, that a league against E gland was formed at to which Denm .rk was to have been a pare. This assertion, which would have been as tidicalcus as all the others, i , proved by the event to be false. It would leave to England nothing hut the disr ace whkch must inevitably fall upon a Govern/at:it which constantly guides its conduct by suspicions and false hypotheses; a habit which is ac once char atleriwie of weakness and tyranny. It, however, Eegland hid suffered herself to be deceived by false inteigence. she would not have failed to declare war against Keto sis. to confiscate h r vessels. to attack her fleets; she has not done it; she ccull r.et therefore hasehadsta:h a thought. Bold enough it is true to fall upon a feeble nation of the second order, she dusk out attack a powerful nation, and of the first order. Be this as it may. every past of her coodua is ill-jugged and contradiaory. She feared lest the Sound shnit!ti be shut against her, and she conceived i bis i Aisensate expedition, the only result of which is the realiza tion of her apprehensions. It is false that the French army before Helstein had been nide:tett ; it is equally false that this army was de-tioed to as against Holstein. What indeed could have hindered it ? It did nut ell, and therefore it did out choose to se. It was with a view to induce Denmark to direS her force towards that province, and thus to leave Copeuhagen unprote3erls that the English spud such reports. This Fiends army bad always bean destined to n; ;ease an ex pedition which was threatened in tat qii rter ; bur instead of incurring risk by attacking a French army, the British forces thought it less deegerous to take in the rear an allied and defenceless power ; to bombard a city without garrison ; to set tire to the habitations of peaceful citizens ; to destroy women, children, and old men ; and tt add new atir , c;ties t o the history of not , iiiies i tries; a history, of a oieh the British Government has furnished such numet eus and such hors stile pages. How ludicrous it is to hear the Briesh Cnvern mem asserting. that it was necessary to have re course to arms. As it it was not the aggress o; as if it was not endeavewing, by every possible mums. to perpetuate the war. And against whom is it that England takes up arms Is it against an enemy ? No ; she is always ready to attack neutrals. feeble powers, and allies. Such then is the true cause of the enterprise of the British Government against Denmark ! And i: dares moreover to avow it in the face of all Fornpe It was not against the French Covet nment, which intended to sei ze Copenhagen and the fleet, that this enterprise was direfted, but against Denmark; it was to punish that P ,wer fur having knce crened the epee of the world with respell to the interests of the North ; for having formerly taken part in a confederacy hostile to the despotism of thee!. Britain. Why did not the English Government likewise assert, that it seas t:etermined to rev. nge the outrage committed by the Danes when they sul.jugaied tt e Brizoas is the middle ages ? This pretest would have beret as tidicuious as the The Figtish. Government, therefore. avows that it WAS Denmark it deigned to attack ; it assists itself to purse, that the ohjeZt of its disqraceful expedi tion was not to prevent France from seizing Den ma. k. England, allnated by that spirit of revenge which she purposely discloses to terrify all who niil not submit to be her slaves, has employed her usual perfidy. While the English fleet was steering to wards Copenhage::, and was proceeding to crown a deed the most unc:-.3mpled, the Danish Ambassador still remained in London, where marks of the greatest confidence were profuselylavished upon him. Tke English Ambassador was still in ”enmark ; he there repeated, in the name of his Court. the empty declamations with which the Ca'rinet of St. James': has for ten years stunned all the Courts of Europe: declamations always so fa:al t., those who were imprudent enough to listen to them f Had not Dennrark been fall of good faith, had she nor indulged a blind conffdence, she would have armed her batteries, sad drawn her army to Copen hagen. Then, the r. 5,000 men, whom England vomited upon the coasts of Zealand, would have been driven back into Oa: s• Ip at the English troops were at goiberno, at Tonkel, in Holland, at !In vite, at Buenos Ayres; as they will be wherever they dare to show their faces. The Cabinet of St James's reproaches Franc* wish having larsernhLtd under her standards the po rtal Iti , sn of several n einns. But what obliged France te assume the imposing attitude which she preserv?s, and to extend her influence upon the Co -time, ? It is the hatted and the perpetual in rigtics est England. What right has it to reproach Peens, Meth having opposed the extent of her power and the valour of her arms to the incessantly re ;sewed intrigues, and to the efforts cf the unfortu nate Princes, who, sedated by English gold, fell upon her Sr. tear her in pieces ? The English Government threatens the world with the drea:'- lid spenade of a perpetual war. And what would be the consequence ? nana wool,: become more pewerful than she is. The moment it shall be confirmed, that the !nisch& cf a p rrpetnal war is adopted at London, then will no longer he any neutral pewees on the Ceatiaest ; they will recal all their A mbessasfors, they will send back the Ambas s•d ire cf England s they wi:i drive their out of their Lousus, as the polies expels es, d: ,:.e, aof psi sdns. This condua will be Fistaeritetd .iera by their honour, awl by their own intent.: ; they willnot draw upon their pee:4o the ~:'amities which are reserved for every power so ill-advised as to ' keep up any eonnetlion wish Eng!and. History already proves, by examples sucnci, . By striking, that the moment in which a F. ieee . 'satiates hire. self with that perfidious Govcrn nent,: - recedes but a few days that of his abdication. It is for the inhatieants of Ha:taboret to tell at what prioil the French army emoted within sawn walls ; it is for the wretched inLabitants of Lubeck to medial the moment when Cale territory was violated by the Prussians. 'rhos, for nearly a year do,ooo French have be, as in the I lanseatic towns, and yet Ilolttein, the island of Zealand, and the Danish fleet, were not at the disposal of France. In all nese arguments there is a want of sense and r. fl 4lion, which is apparent in every line. Had a the Danish nation been so destitute of honour,. as wibingly to deliver up its arms, would France. in that cue, have hesitated to seise the continental ter ritury of that power ? And if the ices of winter hid ,!epriveul Zealand of its :littoral means of fence, what would have prevented Copenhazen from fall ing into the hands of brace? Thus the English Mitustry, blind enough to form an erterprize by w:.ielt it can gain nothing but a few hulls of vessels, has turntshed Fiance with a strong reason, in the eyet. :Al F.urope, for seizing the passage of the Sound and the Danish dominions. As to the military forces which England might 'rave sent to defend Denmark by land, if, however, she would h ire given this first e::ample of a real assistance afforded to an ally, r et y bAy knows how it ought to be appreciates!. It English troops duns• venture to set t.e•t on the C t, their ar rival would produce the most sincere joy among those destined to attach sieem s and they would not long remain there. And Cee Cabinet of St. limes's still dares to talk of 5 , 141 antic ! What continental power is these, that has ventured to accept this fatal guarantee, but what has lost every thing together with it ? ft it necessary to reckoa up here the flovereigas who have beheld their political existence for ever anni hilated, for leaving trusted to the hie! and the gua rantee of Eugland What right has the Fatalist' G.evernment tot xi:eft hericcfarward to inspire con. fidence, and to find Princes who will trust to its guarantee; What guarantee cast be offered by a power whose policy is as much disgraced as its arms? 11A England been desirous of proving her zeal in behalf of Lae all.n, in behalf of the Princes whose ettars site had eepns-J, thelz 26 OM men, whom I British Ministry se:lr to Copenhagen, should ha been landed at Dant-tic, at Stralsund, at the mou of the Weser, and lace endearraired to make diversion. It was expeeltd ; for it was irnpossi to exited so much had faith. Fifty 'bons English would certainly not have turned t scale long ou the Elbe, on the Weser, en t Vistula ; the Cuntinent w uld not have trernMel neath their steps ; but at any rate the undertakini would have been glorious, and England would is once at least have proved faithful to bet romises. ___ ,~.~ ii Da% be it No col coast' pip a The rac cc A iiri *Ng What maritime law" is here alluded to ? it the maritime law which England has arrogated herself, or the maritime law common to all natio France arms for the latter against the former. if the history if the four coali:ions has proved they have always turned. to the advantage France, was it rational of England to augment t influence or France still more by the forces of mark? Was it wise to give fresh lustre to justice of our cause? Was it at a time wb England had occasion to calm the minds of peo irritated by the outrageous praiftiee of her multi code, when she felt the necessity of keeping moderation certain powers in a system which nut contrary to her inset ear, that she ought to b threatened the independence of all Sovereigns, affright the Continent by a bloody catastrophe, to endeavour to involve other States in her o ruin? She would have ruined Denmark, had' yielded to fear. It it thus that she will ruin Pot gat, that the House of lhaganza, if it make sommoo cause with her, will cease to reign. It is impossiale, without a smile of pity, to etj serve tl.e English hliaisters espetling results " pre portionate to the magnitude of the danger," fro an oreration which increases it a hundred fold which Sit. s France new geographical pasitiam which augments her political and military infi ence ; which obliges Russia no longer to keep measures ; which draws that power from the state which she was placed by a simple may of peace, engage her to make a common cause with Franc which causes all Europe to resound with elecratio against that piratical people, against that GOvel moot, destitute of morality, proclaiming with as much audacity as the tyrant of the devei Mountains. And it is by such arguments that 1.1 misters cape.% to convince the English, that haugtu nation, wilco their every a& is consigning to d contempt of Europe. P°°(' s:as u Rem y r ;est EI llis 6! E•J i b tf Ht w :.!ms ries, Ciosi Cere ele The cor .luding paragraph proves, like all rut of the Declar .tion that a spirit of madness seized she Councils of Great Britain. Denmark cannot make race with England : now makes, and will henceforward make, a c mon cause with the Continent. Either t'•,t English will remain some time Zeal ind, and :ilea they will not fail in be dig. eased, And 20,000 prisoners will avenge the loss Mtn , b;ps carried off, an 3 an arsenal pillage or. they will fly like cowards; and then the Soun Touningen. and Norway, will be for ever sh against them ; and these inevita! :e results will an additional illustration of that incontestihie coati that whatever is unjust cannot be useful to a natio. It is in vain to seek, not an muse, but a prete for the attack of the English upon Denmark, in 1/:claration, which is a flesh insult offered Europe. The Ministers of the King of Engin. impatient to undertake some enterprise, to area the restless spirit of their nation, were overjoyed find one which requited neither valour, nor ski vor genius ; they shut their eyes to the situation o Europe ; they mistook the charafter of the Pr• Royal ; they listened only to their own passim Woe to the country. in the councils of which ig ranee, imprudence, and hatred, are alone permitt to raise their voice I AU that is passing in England, proves the ad vantages of a moderate monarchical government, an the dangers of an oligarchy. A Monarch has f • ings ; under such a guide Ministers are just and lightened. But an oligarchy considers neither interests of the country, nor the rights of humanity nor the rules of justice. Happy England. when 4 ' will again become a monarchy ! We express our selves thus, because that country History teaches us, that when the Government a stare has taken the last step towards an oligarchy it is en the brink of ruin. What means of p servatton are left for England ? Will she find them in that Parliament which is purchased, which prorogued and dissolved at pleasure ? Will she find them in that club of Ministers, headed by that LorJ Melville. whose malversation and rapine wereso lately denounced to his country and to all Europe ? When this oligarchic club shall perceive that it ha wearied the fates and tired out the patience of th! people. it will behold only its Galt danger, and ml abandon the salvation of the State to other bands A Mune& does not thus separate his interestsfron these of his country ; with it he determines either preserve Lis existence, or to perish... , Meaame•l T'