The National Register.
London, England, 1816-05-05 00:00:00

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No. 43,1.—V0L. IX.

POLITICAL DISCIVISITION.

HIGH MATRIMONIAL ALLIANCES.

HYMEN has now set his seal to the restoration of
peace in Europe. On every side matrimonial alliances
treato flow ClAnteetiOnA between monarchs, and are fo • led
to bind the nations of the earth in concord and frater-
nity : not that fraternity preached by the sanguinary
apostles of the revolution, with cannon and with sword,
to rave's-ea cities and disfranchised generations; but that
hie:idly disposition and confidence which all the mem-
bers of the same great family ought to feel towards each
other. Were the lessons of experience blotted from the
page of history, well might the sanguine philanthropist
now dream of the near approach of that blessed period,
when war and all its horrors shall cease ; when justice
Isbell 'revisit the earth, and universal peace reign amidst
universal felicity. But the terrors of the past are still
too present to our imaginations, not to weaken the ar-
dency of hope. The fragility of the most sacred ties,
when tried by the touch of interest, has been too lately
end too clearly demonstrated, to allow us to repose much
confidence in the durability of the national connections
produced by intermarriages in the families of their rulers.
Was it not the very system adopted by Napoleon in the
plenitude of his power ? Nature had given him many
brothers and relations; Kings courted their alliance; and
the conqueror, hoping to extend and confirm his autho-
rity by an union of blood and interests with surrounding
Princes, eagerly profited by their disposition. The stock
of the Napoleons was grafted on almost every Sovereign
House on the Continent; and his own marriage with the

daughter of the Emperor of Austria, seemed to set the

key-stone to the arch of his fortunes : yet what support
and what stability did he derive from these multiplied
alliances, from the states and crowns which he bestowed
on his kindred and allies ? As Jong as he was prosper-
ous, disregarding the iniquity of his course, they moved
in his train, his most zealous assistants, his loudest ad-
mirers. At the first check, the nearest of all his rela-
tives and friends, his own father-in-law, the Austrian Em-
peror, forsook him, and swelled the ranks of his enemies.
This was the signal fur desertion. The kings whom he
had made, who had given their daughters to his brothers
and adopted son, did not hesitate to follow that example.
They had received from him all he could bestow ; they
were offered to retain it by his foes ; all ties of blood and
gratitude were broken ; without any declarations of war,
they fell off from his side, some at the moment of battle,
others at the hour of retreat, which they were pledged to
protect; and grown relentless through the dread of not
being forgiven, if he triumphed over the desertions of his
friends and the hostility of his enemies, they displayed
more bitterness against him, than those whose couutries
he had ravaged, and whose capitals he had laid low. Af-
ter such instances of their fragility, who can place any re-
liance on the security which is expected to spring from
the matrimonial alliances now concluding between Sove-
reign Houses on the Continent. In vain do the Sovereigns
of France and Naples, of Spain and Portugal, the King
of the Netherlands, and the Emperor of Russia, the Prince
Royal of Sweden, and the yet unnamed father of his
bride, hope to secure themselves by intermarriages against
future infidelity and treachery. Let but the powerful
voice of interest speak Once more, and Spain will join in
an attack upon France : Russia will consent that Spain,
II ol land and the Netherlands, shall fall under the dominion of
an Usurper, Naples will he sacrificed, and Portugal invaded.
Not so is the umion which lees this week gladdened the
eyes of Britons, and secured to the first throne in the
world, a long succession of patriotic Kings. As inde-
pendent in her choice, as her country is independent in
her institutions, and her power, the Daughter of Albion
has selected a Prince, not for the sake of continental con-
nection ; not to court the support of the mighty, and
perhaps the envious. .".".1:3 has sought for merit in the
house of the persecuted, not among the splendours of
tanpire. She has given us the only King ou the Conti-