The National Register.
London, England, 1812-01-05 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL VE(;,ISTER.

Crown and purple of the Empire, till the public mind I
shuuld have wown reeonciled to the forms of Monarchy-.
Ambition, his ruling passion—military genius and expe-
rience, inflexibility of temper, contempt for sacred and
moral aligat ions, disregard of human blood, and indefa-
tigable activity of body and mind, were its agents. By
these he had attained, and with these he resolved to secure i
his present elevation. Grasping in his hand all the en-
larged resources of France, and conscious that concen-
tration increases strength, lie deemed them irresi,tihle,
and aspired to reign—Over tl:c world. BefOre his gigantic
forttines, the spirit of Continental freedom had shrunk and
retreated to our shores. There, ha beheld it supported by
an ancient eonslitntion and equitable laws, enthroned in
every heart, and guarded by a naval arm which extended
over every sea, and struck at once both extremities of the
universe. He saw in our island, the spark that would
revive the flame of independence on the Continent,
and he determined to quench it. The sacredness of
treaties opposed his designs ; an unfounded presence re-
moved the difficuky. The faith of allieuce was broken '
and the war renewed. Equal to the importance of his
object, were his preparations for attaining it. He re-
callod his veterans from the scene of their late triumphs ;
withdrew most of the troops which he had left to over-
awe his Allies and his pacified enemies, and collecting
them on his coast, pointed out Albion and her riches, as
their seat of futute victories, and the reward of their toils.
Meanwhile fleets grew under his care, and numberless gun-
boats and flat-bottomed vessels were built to transport
his legions across the channel. His soldiers quitted the
minlet for the oar, and learnt to manage and to fight
their boats. To enlarge their field of exercise, and to
protect their evolutions, his cliffs were studded with bat-
teries, and frequent hostile demonstrations on various
points, alarmed and divided ourcruisers, and disarranged
our plans of internal defence. Stunned with the threats
of our adversary, and watching their fulfilment, or the
discomfiture of his hopes, Continental nations remained
in suspense and anxiety. No hand was raised to join
our cause, and fear suppressed even the expression of a
wish in our favour. Never, amidst the eventful ages of
the past had the world presented so interesting, so awful
a scene. Carthage and Rome :untended for universal.
empire, and from the conqueror the universe expected
but slavery. France and England fought, the one to
chain, and the other to free mankind ; and on the issue
of the contest, depended the degradation ,or the inde-
pendence of the most distant generations. No vast ex-
panse of waves divided the waning empires. On .the
sides of a nairow channel stood embattled, here the hosts
that hid desolated the Continent, and there a nation in
arms, ready to repel their hostility : in the midst, floated
,aval bulwarks loaded with British thunder, and
4, nations gazed with silent awe and breathless

:h was the respective situation of England and
!e; at the opening Of the present war. Such were

JAN. 6,

the dangers vith which we were menaced, and their
magnitude is best described w;:cr. we add, that they left
us without an Ally. The asserted invincibility of the
enemy's 1.-gions remained to be disproved, and the world
only wal:-.ed :he issue of the grand trial, to surrender
itself unresiting to its fate, or to resume hope and con•
fidencc, and one more struggle to redeem its freedom.

What line of conduct did the advocates for uninter-
rupted peace wish us to pursue, when we found ourselves
assailed w:th a force, and in a manner which showed that
our national existence was at stake ? Had the wor been.
commenced wantonly by this country, it would have
been right to reprove its origin, and to lament its conti-
nuance. But when we were compelled to arm, by an
enemy who deemed himself secure on the seat of his
usurpation, only when we should he ruined, to pretend
that we ought to have shrunk from the contest, is to
maintain that the dearest interests of man should be sacri-
ficed at the approach of danger. Such doctrine makes
patriotism a vice, and freedom a toy unworthy to be
kept. But, how could we have prevented the present
war ? What concessions must we have tendered ? What
humiliation must we have endured, and what security
could we have obtained ? The reduction of cur fleets
would have been followed by the lo:s of our naval supe-
riority; the surrender of our Colonies, by that of our pro-
sperity ; and the disgrace of purchasing peace on such
terms, and no other would our adversary have accepted ;
would have been almost forgotten, in our subsequent an-
guish and dispair, at finding that all our sacrifices were
vain, and that, by disarming and debasing ourselves, we
had only hastened and insured our ruin. Since then,
consistently with our safety and our national dignity, war
was inevitable; the only objection which can be defended
with any show of reason, is that which applies to the
manner in which it has been waged. On this question
opinions may vary without being patriotically wrong
—But as it is naturally comprised in the review of the
chief events of the contest, which alone can enable us to
ascertain whether the dangers of our present situation
have increased or dimisheti, and :Is that review must na-
turally extend to some !length. we shall defer it till cur
next. We hope then to be able to prove that few wars
have been conducted with more wisdom. and effect titan
that in which we are engaged, and that even the un-
successful additions foamed on the Continent, have work-
ed altogether for our good. We hope also we shad
clearly
.shew that the enemy has derived no lasting or real
advantage from his most brilliant campaigns on the Con-
, tinent, but has himself sown the seeds of his own ruin.

JANsENs, Governor-General of Batavia, has transmitted
his Report of the battle of Cornelis, dated the 29th of
August, to the Minister of Marine. This official account
is addressed from Tzihupendong, on the road to Cheri-
bon ; and contains a detail of his movements from the
4th to the 26th of August. He premses to do all i,e
can, but does not promise much. Cheribon is on the
same side of the island with Batavia, about 200 miles to
the eastward of that city.—JANSEN'S dispatches might
have been easily intercepted.

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