The National Register.
London, England, 1817-01-27 00:00:00

POLITICAL DISQI*I.SITI(LV.

THE POLICY OF ENGLAND TriWARDS FRANCE
VINDICATED FROM THE ASPERSIONS OF 'f HE
TdoDERN REFoRNIERS.

There is a broad distinction between that solid prac-
tical liberty which England has enje, el since her Re-
volution, and that system of freedom which the Jacobins
of France and the enthusiasts of this country, have been
for some time labouring to promulgate. They do not
attempt to sit,tain their chosen opinitais upon any ra-
tional foundation—they collect &Aliso the view a :cries
of Cads which cannot be disputed—they complain of the
annihilation of trade, the decline of commerce, the deso-
lation which has come upon agriculture, and the ex-
istence of these misfortunes they conclude must be im-
puted to a defective state of our constitution, undo zeal
for despotism among our rulers. If such a conclusion
were possessed of a single shade of truth, our ardour in
the cause of real liberty would prompt us instantly to
subscribe to it, anti to repent it to the ears of the coun-
try until her injuries were vindicated. But standing
its this conclusion does, a specimen of the grossest so-
phistry, we Ebel it our duty to repel it. N 1 herever it
is believed, it harrows up the public mind, it eradicates
the tin: and sabitary principles of civil freedom, and
plants in Avis room new germs, pregnant with a poi-
son which is fatal to the rights of society.
These enthusiasts style themselves patriots and re-
formers: anti they announce that the prosperity of the
land, and the regeneration of the Govorament are the
only objects of their pursuit. In order to accomplish
such important purposes how do they proceed? All the
evils which at present afflict this cou:ury, they impute
to the late war, and arguing that that was a contest
solely undertaken for the extinction of the liberties of
France, and for the revival of tyranny in that portion
of the continent, they assert that it was unjust, and
that it ought never to have been waged by alive state.
It is granted fin- a moment that the war was unjusti-
fiable. It is granted also, and we do not mean to deny,
that the privations under which we are now suffering,
were the necessary results of such extensive and pro-
tracted hostilities. But it is meet, in the first instance,
to inquire, it, when no adequate remedy is proposed,
when no immediate relief is practicable, it be any con-
solation to a man bowed down with calamities, to hold
the picture of them perpetually before him ? If his
attention must be constantly occupied in brooding over
past felicity, and lamenting his present degradation ;
how can he ever hope to rise again from the earth, or
to recover any portion of his former fbrtune ?
The channel in which human affairs were destined
to roll, is too vast and too full, to present invariably
an nitrated surface. Distinct and contrasted inter-
ests, tle ambition of some, the cupidity of others, the
vanity and the envy of more, must frequently en-
counter each other, and the conflict is felt through the
remotest extremities. It is the general destiny; the
history of nations is but a series of vicissitudes ; anti it
would be monstrous that any community should expect
from Providence a peculiar dispensation from the esta-
blished 'and universal laws of nature. The inhabit-
ants of this Island have had upon the whole, asabundant
a share of happiness, as was ever yet allotted to any
country. Their admirable system of government re-
cognizes and protects their original rights as men; and
it is nut given to any superior under Heaven to violate
them with impunity. Successful warriors, wise and
honourable statesmen, wealthy and respected citizens,
zealous, uncorrupted assertors of civil and roligious 11-
laTty, is there any character which can dignify or de-
tswate a chosen congregation of men, which they have
not worn at some period of their national existence ? If
in the order of the world after the enjoyment of such
ai.snal blessings, =hour of adversity should arrive, are
they to be beaten down to the lowest degree of desper-
ation, by the prowling adventurous outcasts of Society?
Are we to be told, that a crisis has arrived in our af-
fairs beyond which we cannot pass? As if we had lost
the fire anti energies of our forefathers—as if we were
not the descendants of that people who made this island
the emporium of the world, and extended her empire
limo Canada to Coromandel !
Now with reference to the assertion that the war
has extinguished the liberties of France, we beg to know
at what time, la,fore that war was commenced or ma-
eluded, did those liberties exist. Did the French possess
them under Murat, or Robespierre? Under the Direc-
tory, or under the Consulate of Buonaparte ? Did they
possess them under the Imperial rule of Napoleon ? We
appeal to history for an emphatic negative to these
questions. It wits the boast of the Emperor that
he sappressed the bloody contentions of the Republic,
that he dissipated the factions which oppressed it, that
he reunited the distracted provinces, and substituted
public security for undistinguishing rapine. If while
cleansing that nation of its evils, he had been also able
to purify his own heart front an extravagant and un-
principled ambition ; if while he chained down the
dragons which affrighted and desolated that country,
he had also kept his oval hands free from spoliation,
. within a rational limit, unques-
have promoted the repose, the hap.

and confined his power
tionahly he would laar