The National Register.
London, England, 1809-08-13 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTBR..

to be made, by endeavourin to defend such. posts ass.,_Wecre
*4:idltarnmekins ? Another error, (at least it appears sijsti
'to us), is the waste of his zarrison iu fruitless sorties against
' an enemy so very superior. iu numbers. If aay hope ofrel•
lief present itself to the mind of this Officer, we should
conceive it must arise kola a protracted, rather than
Woody defence.
: • The enemy'* fleet ;ma retired above Antwerp, bul we
have great doubt if it will be possible to prevent its cap.
titre or destruction. Sir Jonlv Flom; was said to be half
way upon his road on Thursday. The Marijuis of lioturT
Lay has proceeded to South Beveland with his division, so
that 30,000 men are before this time in the neighbourhood
Antwerp. The garris,on of Bergen-op-Zoom consists.of
.ibout 7000 men, to these we may ads! about 30,000 more,-
‘‘ Isla. BERNADOTTE is said to have colk'tcd.—Some fort*,
Poorly garrisoned, lie oa the banks of the river; but the
town Ls too large and populous for defence, were tbe army
more numerous, or of a description more military or in-
timidating. BERNADOTTE, we 114 heard, went from Vienna
to paris, hut we did not hear of any troops following him.
We :are net aware from what quarters succours can be sent
to augment this army. The Flemish coast 1.5 almost, bare
of soldiers, if we .except the untrained, and, perhaps we
may add, disaffected Conscripts,
The Duke of Aatt.wras is said to be expected with
thirty thousand men. Now JUNOT commanded in Saxony
the troops of JEROME BEDNAPARIVE, which could scarcely
make head against .the little corps of General Aca-Evoc„
and the Duke of BRUNSWICK Ori.s, and King Jr.aos,ta
is obliged to hasten back to his own territories to quell
the growing spirit of insurrection. LE FEVRE is also-said .
to be marching to Antwerp at the head of twenty thou-
sand men. We do nut recollect that LE FEVRE, who
was t Ikea prisoner in Spain„ has been yet exchanged. if
the Duke of liiktv•rzic be meant, he was very lately with th. 7.
grand ariey near Vienna, and it does not appear that the
negociationt; with the Emperor of AL:64IIA have attaiaed
that point which will enable BEONAPATE to .direct hie
attention to the mouth of the Scheldt,. or to detach any
considerable part of his army to its protection. rt
has been intimated that Government propose to retain
permanent possession of Witicharen. 11 is certainly
most important station, comsnanciing the mouths of the
Scheldt, the Meuse, and the Rhine, and capable e(
interrupting the extensive coasting trade of France
and Holland. It is, on the other hand, objected to this
supposition, and to the practicability of this scheme, that
the Dutch waters weile frozen during the winter, when
Holland was invaded by the,French ;butt, surely we are not
to calulate upon the eternal subserviency of the elements to
the designs of the enemy! !
The Danube has not been very complaisant to the Em-
peror in person ! ! Our Expedition has certainly succeed-
ed iu its first object, and as to its final success, we risk but
little in asstnning, that it will accomplish whatever British
valour can effect. But if any hopes have been entertainei of
exciting the fallen spirit of Holland and the north of Ger-
many, we-conceive that there hopes must now be relin•
quished. The Dutch, we fear, will neither take up arms
for themselves nor for us. They have been squeezed,
plundered, and exhausted of their ,public spirit. They
expect nothing from war, and.are perhaps generally wit.
ling to wit:loge the fluctuation; of a republic fog the nut.