The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1804-08-02 00:00:00

lINGLAND AND RUSSIA mum enact or Aft •LLIAMCC serwm Tillie TO sows's. Al hough thi List communications from the Con _ *ism ha.. brought no information, from which a rupture between Russia and France can be posi tively inferred ; all the circumstances of their rela. does, the chatafter and cotiplexion of all the points in which we have lately seen them in contaa, evince the growth of an hostile spirit, and make an open rupture one of the most probable events in the world of political speculation. Another great event, if it did not precede or accompany a dechtratitts of war by Russia against trance, world be. of course, a defensive Alliance between Eaglimd and Russia, which should have for its ob. jes, to crush the mad ambition of the Corsican De spot, to deliver Europe from those chains which he has cast over her, to restore that balance of power which he has destroyed, to assert those rights which be has invaded, and, above all, to restore to the Bourbon, that throne and sceptre which he has warped and maintained by fraud, by force, by mur der, and every other crime. Indeed, such an al Fiance is considered as already concluded; but, at A events, its probability is sufficient to reader it a fair ground for speculation; and it becomes our duty to consider what advantages England and Russia have to esprit from their alliance, and the suffi..i secy of their means to attain the end proposed, and Adel the chief of their confederacy. The distance end localities between Russia and France disable Bonaparte from attacking the former by lads end ' the inferiMity of his naval force. reodeis her equal ly secure from any attack by sea. He can neither convey an army to Russia by she Baltic. or through the Continental States that intervene. An union with England adds. therefore. nothing to the seen , sky of Alexander. AU the advantage which he can impala from his Ally is a subsidy to enable him to tramp srt a unmet ous army to the frontier of France, .1 err some of her provinces. The junaion of the Rus sian with the British force can be of no importance to either in respea to their common enemy, as our i fleets am already suffic.ent to shut up in their bar ' hours both the military and commercial navy of the i French Republic. This alliance then gives no sew defcnsive advantages to the two coalesced powers, except such as they do not want. But it would I be superfluous; it would be a woak of supeterogo. titan, if it did not afford some means of off ens i ve I wart Are, some facilities for carrying war into the • territory of the enemy, of attacking him where he is vulnerable, and wounding him in those pa: ti in ' lit which alone he is mortal. It is in that view o: the subjea we wish to examine it, and here the follow lowing considerations present themselves. The Emperor of Russia has numerous armies, brave, well dibciplined, patient under hardships, of a phy- IlliCal strength and temper admirably adapted for war, and possessing every quality and requisite to dispute the palm with any other aim: ts in the world. These armies conritute a dispuseable force, • ready for every purpose of foreign enterpi ise and aggression. withal: checking the internal growth of Russia, or sompromi,ing its safety. In teed. it gray be assumed as a feet, that Alexander pos sesses more real and relative mear.s to h,vade Trance, than Bonaparte has to invade Russia ; but here the same question arises, as in the case of an attempt on the part of France to attack Russia. BM are these armies to be brougl,t into ktion How ears they be brought to bear open France, and come in collinear with French armiesl If they are to proceed by land, they have to encounter long and arduous marches ; magazines most be formed, ammunition and artillery mug be transported, the means of supplying recruits, without which even a wiaoriou army moulders away, and one def.at is tail, must be provided. All these, and many other difficulties, stand in the way of a Russian army at tempirg to invade France by marching across the western side of the Continent, and must cf neces sity its force. Permission. bender, must be cS:ained from the Emperor of Germany, the ig of Prussia, and other German Princes, to an army through their respeaive territories that intervene. Supposing, however, all these ob stacles surmounted, it is scarcely possible that more than 100,000 Russians could arrive ou the beaks of the Rhine. Supposing, also, these 100,000 Rus sians to be joined by SO or +O,OJa British troops, and we cannot go farther without incurring the censure of building a most extravagant hypo thesis, would they constitute a force sufficient to penetrate into France, opposni by the ClUakimas armies of Bonaparle an.:. ii they would the Usurper pati-artly and quietly awa:t their cora jag. or, is it more probable. that he would meet them half way. that he mar.:b out from his froatia, and make the unfartunate .and misguided country that received a Ros.ian army, wx.-ther 'Germany or Prussis, the theatre of war To annoy France upon h2r F , -tern and .i , ulthern points is considered a more ilausiisse scheme, and, according to report, has been already adopted. The Reagan forces now colleCting in Corfu, although oA!nstlili for the:protedion of the Seven Islands, are suppo;ed'to be ultimately intended for that purpose. But, in the present situation of Italy, we do not sec upon what ground the Emperor of Russia could ex peft to make a greater impression upon France, in that country, than he could in Germany. Were even Eng land to succeed in an attempt to make a diversion in his favour, by threatening the southern or western shores of France, or by a landing in Holland, the enter prise we should still consider as desperate. The at. tempt to convey a Russian army of any great mag nitude into the Mediterranean, down the Black Sea, would he attended with an incalculable expence; but, supposing that and every other difficulty surmounted, and a Russian army, after a campaign as brilliant as that of Field Marshal Sewer row in Italy, upon the banks of the Var, it is impossible that it should be able to penetrate into France, or maintain itself upon the territory of the Republic. Hence it irresistibly follows, that the joint power of Russia and England, unsupported by the other great Continental States, is inadequate to the measure of an offensive war against Bonaparte. It cannot reduce the monstrous power of France, nor restore Europe to its long lost quiet and independence. The present war, if we trust merely to force cf arms, and do not call in the assistance of another kind of weapons, even though Russia shall throw her whole weight into the English scale, may continue to sap our strength, and waste our resources, for ten years longer, without changing the position of the belli gerent powers—and. at the end of it, we may find, that treasures have been expended, and seas of blood have flowed, but the objeft cf the war as distant as ever. We will find no greater security than we are in possession of at the present moment—and that a peace with Bonaparte is only a hollow truce . The joint force of Ragland and Russia, therefore, cannot be brought to bear with effeft upon France to an extent from which we may Ratter ourselves with the subversion of foreign or domestic tyranny. A general confederacy of all the great states upon theCuntinent alone could atchieve that objet ; but of that we see no probable chance. In this state of things, so afflicting to liberty and humanity, we find but one expedient, upon which we can found a hop* of success. The edifice of the Corsican's ty relay and power has been raised by fraud and force. Fraud and address alone can decompose it, and lay the strulture in ruins. In vain would Frh troops have combated in the dykes of Hol land, and on the mountains of Switzerland, if their arms had not been seconded by (adjoin and in trigues. France never invaded a country by her arms. until she had first subdued it by internal dis union :and cabal. France has used men's own 1 1 passions for their ruin. She makes them wage war against themselves ; and when the citadel of the heart and spirit k corrupted and de bauched from within, the revolutionary assail ant without soon complete: its de-mu:lion. We must. in like manner, avail ourselves of the pas. sions of the French, cf thtir various principles and parties, to undermine and sap the foundation of that despotism which we cannot b-nnharsi and carry by siege it assault from without. This is not mere ly a justifiable course. It is a course the most ho nourable and liberal. France invited freemen in Switzerland, in Italy, in Germany. and Holland, to become slaves. She called noon the loyal sub jects of foreign states to become traitors. She in vited the low, the base. and infamous, to become great, noble, and prosperous ; its fall, she called upon every vice to exchange place in human happiness and estimation, with every virtue.— In soliciting Frenchmen to rise against their op pressor, we, upon the contrary, plead the cause of virtue.We call upon traitors to return to loyalty ; up. on slaves to break their chains and be free ; upon atheists to turn to their God, and rebels tq acknow ledge their 1 iwful Sovereign ; upon wicked men to becomeigood; and upon the good to assert those rights, of which they have been deprived by the wicked. It was the opinion of a competent judge, the late great and gond General l'ichegru, that it the com bined powers in 1793 had proclaimed Louis the XVII. King of France and Navarre, acknowled7e: his Uncle Regent, and concluded with him in that quality, subsidiary, offensive, and defensive tie sties ; if they h.td, in an address to the French nation, re nounced .111 conquests, all internal persecutions, and measures ofrevenge, neither famine nor the guillotine could then have prevented the restoration of mo narchy in France,and with it order and repose in all the rest of Europe. It may be objected that the oppor. tanity to which Irschegru alluded. has gone by. The times certainly have changed; but all the changes are in favour of the sentiment of Pichegra. The people of France were then in the crisis of their re volutionary fever. They bare now come to their sober senses, and see that all their boasted liberty and equality have ended in the personal aggrandi.e ment of a Corsican Adventurer. and eair own hu miliation. This change in the public sentiment ought to be encouraged and cueivated. The dis appointed Republican, and die redue_el Loyalist, should be taught to look forwaid to justice and retribution. That such elements exist in France, the late Manifesto of the French Govern ment clearly evinces. It speaks of reports of plots, and mutinies, and discontent, but it affeas to treat them as idle rumours. Be it so. These idle ru mours prove the existence of disaffe&ed persons in France, of spirits, ;salve and hostile to the usurpa , Lion and disgusting Vanity of Bonaparte. But it is, perhaps, conceding more than we ought to rate these reports as idle rumours. Who are the per soas charged with propagating them ? the representatives of foreign powers : the only men in France who dare to speak truth, are the men whom Bonaparte charges with misrepresenting the public feeling and spirit in France. But why charge to the account of Foreign Ministers and Neutrals as idle rumour, a representation which his own condua proves to be true. The recal of Fouche to the place of Minister of Police, and every other measure of internal econo. my, give a distill& view of a trembling tyrant, sur rounded with insulted, disappointed, and ilisaffeaed sl:tves, waiting only all opportunity to break their fetters, and to re-assert the sight of injured !erne ' nity. llis Majesty's Speech on Wednesday in the House of Peers upon the close of the hessian almost hints at an alliance upon the tapis, if not already concluded, between England and It llCsia, and a con fident hope that the arrangements now making may circa the deliverance of Europe. NVe cannot pre tend to say what these arrangments are, but we hope, that in them Louis the XVIIIth is no longer treated as a private person, or the dependent of a generous foreigner. Louis the XVlllth is confess. edly the only rallying point that remains for all loyal Frenchmen ; and the history of the world, even our own history, chews that the distance be tween a King de jure, and a King de .odo, ap pears great only to vulgar eyes. We hope then Cut Louis the XVIIIth will be brought forward upon the political stage, and to see him a party in all new alliances, having,for their objea, destruc tion, not of France, hot of Bonaparte, its tyrant, usurper, and oppressor. Let it not be said, that he is disqualified by the want of money and men. See to what a length Bonaparte went, to deprive of life His Majesty's kinsman, the Duke of Enghien, and judge from this one wicked aft, the immense importance of a league, combating with the lawful Sovereign of France, and under his banners, against a Corsican Adventurer, who, reserving to himself the rank of Emperor of the French, has appoi for his satraps, Italians, Egyptians, and renege. does, of all the nations of the earth. Were Louis the XV Illth to be thus taken from the back ground, where his cl tines, his rights, and his un merited sufferings, remain unsupported and =re venged, because unseen; it must have a great effe& upon public opinion in France; And, however nume rous the spies and Assassins of Bonaparte may be, nothing can stand long against public opinion. Let us not be charged with too great a partiality for the cause of the Bourbons. Supposing no thing but disaster and defeat to follow the advice which we offer in their favour, the abandon ment of their cause would be the means of obtaining greater sacrifices from Bonaparte, than we could otherwise ask, or he would grant. — Hitherto we have been fighting the Usurper by force alone. We see no chance of success, unless we do something more. We would, therefore, press every species of force, physical or moral, real or imaginary, into our service. We know, be cause we have sources of information which our Contemporaries do not possess, that the French people in general are indifferent with resped to their form of Government, and the person of their Chief. But this apathy, and this imEfference, we also know to be the effeets of repeated disappointment and de spair ; the result of the fruitless, foolish, and Made. q tiAte ettern pts to produce a change. But, with every al lowance for the liveliness of the French cb :traveler, after :he mummery which the Frencfi daily witness in the conde& of the tsurper ; after the insults that have been offered, and the wrongs flies endure, give, Frenchmen a fair chance of restoring their antient Government, and human nature assures they will cease to be tracers, beggars, and slaves, because there can be no ottitation in chasing between to substance and the shadow, between a real King an.l a Sancho Panza. We do not pretend to infalli si lky; we only offer an humble advice; and if we feel confident in that advice, it is because it ema nates front one of the greatest generals of his time, and accords with the sentiments of some of the first statesmen in Eurcpe. It is because experience, and the evidence of fans, are upon our side, and no good argument can be adduced against the system which we recommend. it is because the history of the French revolution proves, in every page, that, like a fire. it blazes more fiercely by compression ; and, that it can be best subdued by dividing and sub:reeling those elements which constitute its nutriment. Coaltk.SruSli/EN, In answer to our worthy faced , 014,,Nick, 're undid! f ad. emit, twat, though we belie, of jhe were busy at Brentforil, we did not that ilia lnf 'nal Majesty would waste hie time upon a %object of such minor importance, considering dal vast extent of His Ntaieity's miubns I'Ve really did suppose that His Infernal Mai cit , wat.ocets : .ial with tusking preparations fur the Conetatinn of .lack Emperor of France, Citizen Bonaparte, the sooro ....et:: of Egare'llir. Ilawever, Lew that we have found iiill fiend, Old Ni-k, and that he has fooad his old and grateful fliciti, Tut BRITIsI4 Pease, we hype they v.ll 'ae constant companions. liis presence cannot fail to enliven the dell hours of totemic and parliamentary mations, in com pany with several other pleasant fellows, who have pr..nni e j their constant attendance in its columns. E 1311 I TTSII 11 3 RESS WNDON, THCPSDAY, AUGUST 2. Three Cottenburgh Mails arrived yest following is the only article of insportAnct: wh•sh they have brought: CUTTINBLIGH, JUL V private iwt-rs from Prtersburgh, received by the vv.l of Ilarn lapgh this morning, it appears, that a war betwet a the RusNians and Turks is determined upon, in Which Cat! it is thought France will assist the latt may lead to very impel - tam consequences. Tte Emperor of IL.SSI • has set off for the Crimea, to inspe4 the armaments going on there. The Rut. sian Charge d'Affaires has left Paris." We even that we do not see any reason to apprehend a war between Ru . ssii and Turkey. They are much mere likely to be closer friends than enemies lilt! ar maments which the Emperor cf Russia is gon: inspedt in the Crinn:a are destined, not agai%st Turkey, but for the Mediterranean. T c nide, however, is of importance, as it announces Cm cl,- parture of Mr. D'Ocnittc from Paris ; an t -nt which the French Papers have carefully coma': .1. Letters have been received from our fl.et of Brest. of the 224 h nit. which state. that since the tempt of Admiral GA>TaSAUMt, of the day 1 .: . fore, to escape with five ships of the line, two fri gates, and a corvette. every French ship continl:cd qaiet in the outer road. There were, honzvet., t 3 the number of :22 men of war, "ready for sza, at least to appearance; though, from G A "'VIC ‘t: 4 endeavours to sail with su few ships , •nly, it is sz;•- poseJ, by one cruisers, that the remainder ar: f.tr from having their ciimplement of sailors. An Arn-- rican ship from Rochelle has been spoken with, 1:-.e Master of which as.erts., that the squadron under Admiral VILLENEUVE, which has so long been at anchor by Isle d'Aix, eapetted to be joined by Ad miral GANTIII4IPME, with the ships under command; and that they alltogether intenielto sail td the coast of Spain, defeat our blockading sqtradron there. and, with the French shi psat Ferrol a n Corunna, proceed to the Mediterranean, attac! Lord Nets-2r:, and try to make therns.lves masters of that sea .! - J of the navigation in the Archipelago. This 2!.1:t-• tion is generally believed by our Adasiraltr . , because it is not only probable, but praeticable should the enemy, be seconded by weather and wind, and other favourable circumstances. It is, besides, to be remembered, that the destruflion if the Turkish empire a.:d the conquest of Egypt re Dom AAAAA favourite ohjzas ; and as be is, pet haps, convinced of the necessity to adjourn for sortie time the conquest of the Pried; islands, he thinks it more easy by stza:th and by fzis to be viCtorious in the Mediterranean, that ;71 the Atlantic, or in the Channel. Should he remain for some time longer upon the el:fen sire, in the Mediterranean, the United Ru,si.in and Englida forces will probably soon be more LEI 2 sufficient to defeat all his plans of invasion in the East. But at present a viflory over our fleet wouLl be followed by the conquest of the Russian nary. near Corfu, of the Seven Islands, of Egypt, ahi perhaps of Constantinople. At least it would re qiire some time before we should be able to put s stop to the enters rues of the revolutionary Eurt-- 113 n in that part of the world. Let us also retr that all preparations and threats of the Fe! Government, and of BONAP•ItTS, in 179 8 . ' rule this count i rrended in the conquest of Mll'l .ind Egypt. It is true, he had sot at the t•—• either 190,000 men opposite our shores, nor I.! armed vessels and transports at Boulogne. 11 r have, therefore, in trying to counteras his &sty"t schemes to n:in us, not to forget that the comp , of the world may, and can only be made in England. Tuesday Ministers rec:ived Jisratches from Earl Lord Lieutenant et . Ireland. %%bile His MAJCS y WAS rerdirg Most G": dons Speech from the 11 rr. , re on Tuesday. Ili° e : she Lavei happening to stick toacther were to he read s but a, there WAS Co bt:Ak in the sei s the omission was not noticed. A Ntrrni-z ct yester2ly Las wri t ten a most grave an.: artcle upon th.s accident. Had Magna been torn to pines, the Editor could not ...a trcated the subje3 mcre aetiously. 1 Sir oat 1 apolc dam were fain been, Breiti, I h -.7 s:reipo P. I my a a• Las Ballet, andj inteses love wi the ill Marcel tricks his f•rr in the irides with g for rep' The pI2C2 h.411-pa Old Sew won by ing to 'I attraFte was CCI Tun the Ter Yeste Win du Yeste the Dul anemic( and Fr Windup Her to Frogs The F ton Pail The d the Non , wade ;le Yestel comm an Sir \at Tne E for - hTs se— Lord J this Jar f The C litootrie. M-. p, in DaStir Cons fqr in:lndinq and The fir the pe.- r Frenc'l to which 1•8311/1LR1 SIT Fit colt- for, Srvetil t 3 pl,e4sz der they aii;eil tilt Perci r ) •of • ril) hit ! as no ' ..‘ vied L = it spri the :av w4y to k. s* inllttung The c.ii a jp %l ied %Tie xi ll•e — °derll Ar •-• 4 -.6,,,„, 1 rr w Tents of " , teed of K 0 , 1: j 4 ft tn • - . .tatron, x!:11 first •L.eu