The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1809-01-20 00:00:00

hihty of thereby enabling them to keep the flail
agaiust their powerful enemy. We have had in-
stances in our history of our being before in it simi-
lar predicament, The independence of the Ijoited
Provinces was effected principally by the assist-
ance of England. Queen Elizabeth, for heir
own safety, u)raiust the designs of Spain, audited
those who revolted against its tyranny Rad oppres-
sion ; and 1 wish that Ministers ha 4 adverted, in
the present instance, to the conduct of that wise
Princess, and her wise adnaiuistratiou. None of the
preseut Miuiatry can think themselves disgraced by
a comparison with Lord Surbigh ; and yet we find
that Queen Elizabeth, pretend as she was by
the power, the rancour, the persevering hostility of
Spain, did not hazard the whole force of her
dominion*, nor proceed to send uny uniober of
troops shroud, wltheut some assu,..inue of safety
iu case of disasters. She, by the advice of her 31i-
rioters, took care to possess what were called cau-
tionary towns, owl thereby assured herself of a
tq.t.eut, and a sure place to said reinforeements, as
well as a secanty to iirr, that tie united pro-
vw.mis should not ab.indou her in the contest

tii r hick they were: engaged. 1 know not
wit it has been said betwixt the English and
Governments upon that subject ; but,
I perceive, that in His Maje.ty's late declaru-
'nit, it is stated, that there are certain oblige-
teiati which are considered a. equally lauding
as the most voltam' treaty. From what 1 yet know
of the matter, l ....moot agree in the propriety of
til:y town sentiment; I should not, however, think
of allilltiollittg them in the hour of misfOrtuale ;
bat I cannot admit, that we ehalild consider our
.preseut obligatiollll in the light cola molenin Treaty ;
for What is the nature of suet' an engeteeineut ? It
is entered into in u moment of hurry and precipi-
tatioit ; it has not been laid before us, and, there-
fore, is, as yet, unauthorised by Parliament ; and,
tionsequeetly, Yoe may approve or disapprove, you
iney erant or refuse supplies. Upon the whole,
thee:fire, I knot not how an eingi 'gement of this
sect is to be considered as equally feuding as the
i.Ost it:Aetna treaty. But we now undenstand,
there tt tOrmal tamps has heel' negociated,
which it is intended to lay before the !louse, and.
until that he cline I eanuot decide. I dare say the
Holism: would naturally, he ineliited to receive, with
the fon:test partmlity, every thing apparently tend-
tag to this nlv,intisge of the Simlitisb cause; hut,
tier, the state of rear warfare. udder such eircutu-
staii as I have already stated, and as Ilia Ma-
jesty's 'Ministers have directed, is truly 'striate-
dinery. If the Speniarile preferred that mule of
warfare, which was cf a desulterneature, hatted
of a continued warfare, then the British army
cant] not have been of the least use in Spain; for
a Ihrit.,4l 'army; there must necessarily have pursued
a plan wholly different from that of the. Spaniards.
I ;view not which system of warfare was proper to
he adopted ; but I say the two systems are cum-
p -tely incompatible. The Spaniards, in their own
country, anditursatie; a desultory mode of attaiik,
have the power of ilispeisime and rallying ague',
ot:cosion might requite ; but this was unt the
case with e regular army. If you introduce the
one amongst the other, you must necessarily de-
stroy the celerities and efficacy of one of them.
We have already seen this exemplified in the Spa-
pint-Its—we have rem their regular army defeated,
and *boost destroyed by the enemy; while in ano-
ther quarter we have fonnd their irregularforee very
onecessfu!, winch spews that the two modes of
fighting are perfectly inconsistetet. Now, Sir, let
us lee what has been the vigour of Ministers upon
this oceasion. By vigour, I presume, is meant a
rompt energetic use and application of the public
force. Will you tell us of one imitative of such
promptitUde and energy. I presume you cannot
ray it was displayed iitPortugal, nor in Spain, by
Sir John Sioore's toiniug into the field after the
Spanish army had been defeated ? It was not then
useful, because it was unable to keep the field by
itself. It is Cu extraorilinavi circumstance, that
the Convention of Portugal is made to rest in a
great degree upon the speedy applicability of that
wrinV in Spain, and yet the General of that army,
Str Hew Delrymple, tells you there was no pre-
paration made for its reception in that country
for some considerable time after the Conven-
t ett was co ..chided. Can it then be said, that the
ettlect of tile Convention was carried into effect, or
that ally time was gamed by it ? if inch measures
deserve the name of being energetic, or useful, I sin
at a loss to know what sort of measures world be
deemed the contrary. As to that part of the
Speech which relates to Sweden, this country is
placed in such a situation that I do not see how we
eau refuse to give the stipulated supply; but I
Cannot h..lp lamenting, that there is not the smallest
probability of any yawl arkine., fro.n Sweden con-
tenting to persevere. We are told that the King
afSwedeu deserves oar support the more, because'
Is refused the overtures made te' Men at Edited's,
relative to excluding the Spaniards frAn the newt-
'anon. Perhaps herleservesthe applauseofuisiskistil
for his bravery and pt 'severance ; but what gerid, I
tray ask, can he thereby render to Spain or Eng-
land ? When this vote of supply was proposed
lust year. I ventured to say that the moat prudent
use Sweden could make tee the money. was to
procure a peace for herself, as it was totally
Impossible for ker to resist tier enemies, or tie of the
least *chanter to her Allies. 'Nothing can be
more hurtful to us it: the eves of the world than
rudeavottring to involve the smaller countries in
Eutove in hostilities with France. The immense
superiority of our Herat power, our commerce, and
prodigious wealth, enable as to look to a long (ma-
tt Mantle of war, perhope with safety ; but what is
t sett to the Purees of the Continent ? their re-
ro.irkes are not great ; they have no means of of-
fence against France ; 1104 nhat advantage can we
derive from the inisfortones cf other countries ?
la,trat of being time arbiter and protector of the
Cinitinent, we oboultl, by so doing, be holding up
ourselves as the cause of their . !levity said
that; emelt upon what comes and •r our notice iu
the Speech itself, 1 most now take the liberty 'of
swag ig an obeervation or two upon what the
Silets.:a omits to state—f Mr:Mitt regard to what re-
lates to tivijiiited States of A inericat. Mi4h cone-
Goa tr!eatie has taken place betwixt the teaseriean
(lover sod this coo:dry, vs well as between
Attriertril and FratOlCe; and we know that a direct
overture issii lately made by that power to us. seal
Isl to rejected. When dtt last Stirlen of Puha-