The National Register.
London, England, 1809-03-19 00:00:00

ISO

THE NATION

bands or fathers !—imploring fleaven in vain ! Their
shrieks, their anguish, are useless appeals to their fero-
cious pursuers. '1 hey are torn from the arms of their dis-
tracted mothers, and forced to endure what lust has ino:it
horrid, fury most unbridied,—perhaps in the presence of
tkir pinioned husbands or fathers.
Eternal execrations light oa the head of the callous ruf-
fian, who has produced, by his mad ambition, this dreadfu!
scene of woe and misery ;—who has filled with mourning.,
diStraeion, and want, so many respetable
have In.st all, their relatives, their country and fortune,
one day ; and, what is wore d;siracting, are now compelled
to do homage to the very famil —thecause of all their losses!
NArot.F.ox M. 1; rAI ! th'zcietis and just God ! how are the
feefias and principles of [lie present age reversed ; when a
!monster. who unites. in the highest dep-ee the worst qualities
of a eagliqsiro, a iiarring:dtt, and a „,Chinderhannes, cou:d
find wrote!' :-!:; so hrulatized as to rank him among the
heroes and the patricts, who have honoured and enlitth'-
eaed mankind ! Ye m..rderers, pickpockets, and poisoners!
beak n &o die temple of lame !—tear from !heir s
the farmer statues !—besmear and mutikte them ; aro'
boldly place yourselves and NAPOLEON BONAPARTE
those. (lIICe occupied by TRAJAN, EPAMINONDAS, CATO, 1.11(
yonr.l44Cr BrAyrus, Sir TROMAS MOORE, and PALAPoX !

Centm ries shall revolve, and revolutions change the form
and order of our globe ;• and the name of PALAFOX wi!'
acquire new s?lendiuir through every successive hoc of
a, ,es. The name of that hero will cease to be associate:
r•
with the love and veneration of mankind, when public and
private virtue shall have abandoned our globe for eve...
There is still a country left, which can openly revere his
virtues and proclaim his worth. Where the bayonets of his
persecutor cannot awe its population into silence. Where
)'ALAFOX, should ►leaven have reserved him for future
eceds of heroism, will find another native country, proud
to class him among the most distinguished of her pa-
&riots and statesmen. _ _ _

This is the triumph of moral justice over secial arrange-
ments; fe.(l ieconciles us to the imperfections and disorders
which appear in the dispensations of fortune.—The virtu-
ous man, the ardent patriot, can never be unhappv.—ln
n dungeon, or on a throne ; in the circle of his family and
friends, or on the sc;itild; he is still the same; and the
conviction of his worth preserves the serenity of his mind
unimpaired amidst the horrors of the situation. PALA FON
is no object of our pity ;—whatever be his fate,--a fugi-
tive or a prisoner,—we think him the most enviable man
on the fare of our globe. If he feels any anxiety ; it is for
his country ! but when he looks to himself, he must find
there motives of satisfaction more cheering than all the
intoxication of a Roman triumph.
But the career of his virtues and exploits, we shudder to
think, is already completed. Ths fate of the hero has
boon denounced in the last Bulletin, PA LA FOi is dan-
gcrously ill." Cold, relentless murderer! Yon have taken
assay a life, which outweighed in moral worth, in real
nobility of soul, your own and that of the present gene-
ralion of Frenchmen. We cannot conceive what incom-
prehensible accident threw PALarox into the present ten-
tun ;—he belonged to an age and a country, which have
been long no more. His affections and sentiments were
suGcated in the narrow cell of modern society. Rome,
in her most glorious period, was his country., No other
community presented a theatre sufficiently wide for the
expansion of his feelings. for the comprehensiveness of his
v iews.
From that sublime picture, let us now cast our eyes on
that of BONAPARTE%—surrounded with all the glare of
human grandeur,—counting Kings and Princes among his
vassals anti servants ;—and behold him tortured with
jealousy and fear ;—a stranger on the face of the earth ;
an outlaw in society ;—labouring incessantly and anxiously
to be completely miserable ;—distrusting and hating all
mankind, particularly the honest and the good ; because
lie is conscious that he possesses and merits the full measure

AL REGISTER.

~..

MARCH 19.

Of their detestation. He :nay call PAL A rox a coward, and
die people of Saragossa a miserable rabble ; but if he re-
tain any trace of former impressions, he has the mortifi-
;iition to feel,• that even the vilest and most obdurate of
his own minions laugh at the extravagance of his rage,
and condemn the gross impudence of his falsehood.
We hope there arc no more admirers in this country of
that ruffian. If there arc, and they should have the effron-
tery to disclose that admiration, they should be kicked
from every society. Their admiration is complicated trea-
son;—they are traitors to their country as well as to all
mankind. The journal which should evince a single word in
extenuation of his crimes, deserves to be burnt by the hands
gif the hangman.
The defence of Saragossa is, unquestionably, the noblest
monument of modern warfare. We find even in antient
records only two examples, and those in the very Peninsula
where this has been gisen,—Saguntum and Numantia. In
sousequence of the perfection to which the art of
is brought at present, fortresses of the first order
unahle to sastain a siege 'of two months. Two
rend) armies, concluded by three Marshals, have been
.uriployed for three months, against a place, which was no
mtter than au open town. Et.ery house, every church,
oat street were defended, to the last extremity, by the
;onerous inhabitants. A numerous and formidable artil-
LI was kept playing night and day on the city. Mines
vere incessantly sprung, which blew up whole quarters to-
.;ether with the people ho rcs!ded theme, into the air ; and
!Rise complicated horrors could not subdue the spirit of
he Sarnessans ! W:vat a sublime picture I What a unity
•)f will and action in so large a body The longer me ex-
mine it, the more we admire, love and commiserate that
magnanimous people; the more execrations do we call
:town on the head of the Monster who has wantonly exer-
cised on them so much savage ferocity.

Dutch Gazettes to the 12th instant arrived on Friday in
town. Their contents extinguish even the shadow of a
doubt which might have been still entertained of a rupture
between France and Austria. As we always anticipated,—
the latter is the aggressor. We hail this circumstance as
an auspicious symptom ;—it is an earnest of the resolution
with which she has determined to carry on the contest.
Notwithstanding the artifice, subterfuges, and affected
depreciation which mark the articles in the ,4enitrur, that
advert to the financial and military resources of Austria, it
is easy to perceise that BoNAPARTE enters with great re-
luctance on the present contest. We miss a strong feature
in his conduct,—that promptitude and rapidity, which
characterised his former operations. Almost two months
have already elapsed since his departure from Spain ; and
notwithstanding the menacing demonstrations which
Austria continued to make since that time; notwithstand-
ing the jealousy and irritation he displayed at the conduct
of that power, he still continued his efforts to compromise
the subject of dispute by negociation. We are justified to
draw two conclusions on the occasion,—that his present
means arc inadequate to carry on the contest with a cer-
falnty of success.; and that a new war is extremely wipo.
pular in France. These conclusions, if well founded, will
account for that tissue of falshood and abuse which are so
prominent in the remarks of the French and Dutch Jour•
mils. Previous to the two last campaigns on the Danube
and the Saal, when the tyrant was sure of his prey, he
glaringly affected the very reverse of this conduct; and em-
ployed a nauseous strain of sympathy and regret when he
adverted to the infatuation of the courts of Vienna and
Berlin. This detectable cant was never used with more un-
blushing insolence, than during the short interval of a few
days, which intervened between the time of his arrival at
Wurtzburg and the battle of Jena. After he had already
decreed the doom of the Prussian monarchl ; after his
armies had begun their march in every direction ; and in
proportion as they approached the frontiers of Saxony,—
the language of the wily ruffian became more conciliatory

anu naminb ail
armies had begun their march in every direction ; and in 14
the good ; because
proportion as they approached the frontiers of Saxony,—
rits the full measure
the language of the wily ruffian became more conciliatory ;