The National Register.
London, England, 1809-06-25 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

cessarily and do invariahty terminate military
Om. Besides, has not the decision of Monday night in
House of Conunons, given the lie to all the out-cries that
4ave been raised against the incompetency of the present
IParliantent, or of one so constituted, to remedy such abuses
of a partial nature as may have crept into the practice of
the Constitution I
But we cannot omit to observe, however cursorily, upon
the idea that has been excited as to the possibility of the
Emperor of AUSTRIA so far forgetting the danger and
dignity of his situation as to think for a nioNent of making
peace With BUONAPAttTE.
The Emperor FRANCIS, previous to the battle of Aspern
received prOposals from NAPOLEON, to conclude a truce on
eertain conditions, which overture he instantly forwarded
to the Archduke CHLKLES, who returned it with the follow-
ing note Brother, take my Marshal's stair from me,
and let me rather know the Austrian name no more, nor

. .
yours, but let me retire with my brotners to ITtingary."
Although this correspondence between tho brothers,
places the Emperor's pacific wishes and intentions be-
yond all possibility of doubt, previous to the declara-
tion of war, yet it is absurd and ridiculous to draw
from this any argument to rapport the idea that any
thing. short of the loss of life, or the annihilation of his
army, and *with it all his hopes, eau place him in the de-
grading situation of patching up a precarious peace with
his enemy- .
• In that sawful moment when the danger of the Empire,
and the feeiiiigs tif its Sovereign have been displayed in
their real and tearful extent, is it possible I hat he will permit
any compromise so contaminating alai so fatal, as that
With the universal robber. The most puerile politician who
condescends to refer to acknowledged first principles, must
lee that a continuance of the war is imperiously commanded 1,
by the most weighty of all political considerations. If Ans. f'
trig, adeptieg.ttie inferior policy of punishing Bavaria and
Saxony, or of endeavouring; to attach the little spots of ter-
ritory• which compose the Federation of the !thine, should
neglect to concentrato her force for the protection of Hun-
gary, and of what is left to her in Germaay, this conduct
will he destructive; she ought to adopt even from het
enemy his pplitical as well as military tactics. If France
sh mid fail .in her present z:igantic attempt, all these lesser
powers, like floating lee islands that lie forlorn in the ocean,
will melt into and augment the hotly that surrounds them.
What security can Austria have for peace 2 What is the
nature of that security whic.h•arises out of the moderation
of the most arbitrary tyrant that ever existed 2 Can Austria
ever be considered as secure from attack, till she is despised
for her weakness 2 She tan be secure only when she is be-
come a lonely power in the wilderness of Europe, which
her own credulity and folly will hive assisted to create ; in
this state she will easily pass into the throng 'of the van.
quished.
With -respect to Prussia,wheilter the reports of the KING
having joined the cause of Austria be true or false. it ceases
to excite either sympathy or interest. His egregious folly
has taken away all pity for his distress. He has acted liko a
Jew broker in politics ; and if we could separate the fuffer-
ings of his subjects from those of the monarch, we should
have but little concern how, or in what manner he may act
Upon the present occasion. But we cannot Ant our eyes to
the' moral efrect which (more that in a military point of
view) We think will be produced by the.yistory of the Arch-
duke CHARLES,' If the Hungarians are vftsiiillating, it will
determine them if. the • Tyrolese are arready in anusit
Will confirm and inspire theirs; and if the 'hope og
der or even of security has bound the Federation pf the
Rhine together, this will probably excite the fear of punish-
rent, which may prove a sufficient antagonist-power, and
ultimately, perhaps, destroy the rope • of sand by which
the Lessor Powers in german', are cennected.

In our Paper of to day wilt he found, the speech of the
rresideat of the American Congress, at the opeaiug of thq

. 41!

scot,. If any thing it iii bee.. ‘santing to satisfy us of
the degrading effect of the poutiesviiiich Mr. ERSKINE has
adopted in direct contravention of iii.' instructions, this in-
suiting speech would_ furnistlus with ample prooL--•"rhe
hritish Government, anticipating the state our laws,
which has had the effect of placing the two I.elligereat
powers on a footing of equal restrictions."—ls tees true, or
rather is not this a deliberate and an ins,iting misrepresent.
tation ? Is not Holland one of the Belligerent Powers, and
s not the Berlin Decree adopted by the government et that
country in its fullest extent?
Is it not a vile mockery of our feelings as a nation, to
talk in this w.'y ? ‘• But his Britannic Majesty has not only
offeree satisfaction fur the Ails of the Chesapeaitee and io
send an Envoy Extraordinary to cenclede a treaty, but has
expressed his willingness in the mean lime to withdraw hie
Cleibso in Council."
The-first part of the sentence may be American, but it is
scarcely English. It would appear, taken literally, that
our anticipating the state of their laws, had had the effect
of placirg the Belligerent Powers on au equal footing of
restricti:,
And weal is it we coleeted in return fur this anti-
cipating precipitancy—nothing, absolutely nothing !I
We good oeui.le are to be satisfied with " the prelims-
siun that Gee intercourse would be renewed on t!,• part cif
!he United States.-0 t shame where is thy blush. Are
have given up our pre-requisite, and have substituted iris
course which has hated thus amcably.—Tne ?resident can
eh no less than refer to the proposal heretofore maces
as a proof of the spirit of accommodation, which (he
says) has at no time hecn intermitted. This aioertiosi is
either true or false, but which of the two it may be, no
Englishman, and no American, we believe, Call hesitate to
determine. Bold, unfounded, and unwarrantable declara-
tious of this nature athird very unequivocal roofs of the
II crooked politics of the new President. We should have
thought et would have required a longer apprenticeship to
French politics, to have enabled Mr. MADDINUN toe owe
forward in his maiden speech, with an assertion, at which
*he common sense of his ov..n country men, and of all
gurepe, must unquestionably revolt. But what is to be
the consequence of these degradieg pwlitico vseli to be
sure that if France does not unmedraieiy rescind the Ber-
lin Decree, America will unite itseif more firmly to Great
Britain. Fair and softly—an Englishman may be fool
enough to think so. It• is the plain and unsophisticated
meaning of their own propositions. But we have been too
much in a hiirrv, the Yankee politician finds that his pre-
decessor " was toe quick upon the tide." Ile did not
know how much the " trafficking Administration, of a
trading people, would concede, in order to be persuaded
that the intercourse with Great Britain wvulil be renewea."
And our foolish concessions are io hr forwarded to the
American Minister at Paris, NVlth instructions 66 to avail
iiimself of the important addition thereby made to the
considerations which press on the justice of the trench
Government *evocation of its cic cr 'es " BUONAPARTc
may net bear) flexible as Mr.tErskiiie; he may say, 44 Perv,ll
Commerce !" What I have done I have done, and I wilt
not alter inz determination—l care not a rush about transs
atlantic politicians--America has bet n conquered in Ger-
many before to-day. In this event, which is• not at all
unlikely, what is the American Minister do de ? Why he
is to press on the justice of the French Government tor
such a MoDuccwriom (modification, amiable word !” of
its decrees, that they shall cease to violate the neutral
commerce of the United States.
Then our mernature withdrawing of the. Orders in Coml./
cif are possibk to procure a modification of the Frei:ch
Decrees, only so far as-they respect the neutral commerce
of America. 4tut this is not all ; it is unequivocally recoil,-
mended to the American Congress to make such further
alterations their laws and fosli the
braneltekof
recently)

i

in their law as may encourage and foster the I
f mantffacturewhich have been RP CFNTLY (rnl
inititeded or extended by the laudable exer•