The National Register.
London, England, 1812-07-26 00:00:00

4.i0

NNW
against us, NAPOLEON endeavoured to obtain an Ally, still
more serviceable in the present state of affairs in the
Peninsula, the Prince of BRAZILS. It is not generally known,
but we have received the information from a respectable
quarter. that the agents of France communicated to the go
vernnient of Rio Janeiro, the terms proposed to England
i the basis of negociations for peace, about the same time
'they vivre sent to this count, y. It will be recollected that in I
These, NAPOLEON artfully offered to confirm the House of
BRAGANZA in the possession and sovereignty of Portugal.
This was a deep laid snare ; for, conscious that his overtures
could not fail to be rejected. he caused it to be relltesented
to the Court of Rio as;tteo, that if we did not agree to
his proposals, we were doing the Prince of BRAZILS an
injustice, and compelling him both to waste the lives of his
subjects, and the revenue of his European kingdom, and to
remain an exile fiom his country, for British objects, and not
in the cause of Portugal, which France was ready to restore
and secure to its lawful sovereign. These representations,
joined to the information, perhaps equally unfounded, that
3% Portuguese vessels bad been captured by our cruisers on
the coast of Africa, produced seine effect on the minds of
the people of Brazils. " Such", it is said, in letters, from Rio
Janeiro, " was the displeasure of the Portuguese at Bahia,
that they, rather unceremoniously. turned their English
lodgers into the streets. A British frigate, which had ap-
peared off that port. was sent to by the Governor, to desire
that none of the crew would land, lest they should be in-
sulted or maltreated by the mob ; but it was added, that if
they did, it would be necessary, for the security of their per-
sons, to appoint a guard to attend them. The frigate, it is
said, stood out to sea."
We trust, however, that the good sense of the Portuguese
Government never suffered itself to be blinded by these artful
misrepresentations ; and that they remain fully convinced
that BCONAPARTIS only view wa., to obtain the evacuation
of the Peninsula by our troops, in order to secure its full
possession either to himself or to.his brother. Had we ac-
cepted his terms and withdrawn our soldiers. instead of re-
tatting his armies, he would have put them in the pay of
JOSEPH, and merely changed their denomination.
. Whilst contemplating the unprincipled invasion of the
Peninsula, and the atrocious ravages committed by the French
in that country, once the seat of high chivalric boom' r, then of
indolence and effeminacy, and now of burning vengeance and
activity—W hilst viewing the invaders now flying before the
Britisii oayonets, or falling beneath the sword of the Guerillas,
loaded with execration and di.grace, who could think it pos-
. sible that the companions in arms of these cruel and discom-
fited oppressors, but lately recalled from Spain, which they
cursed with their rapine and excesses, should now he ex-
tolled in another part of Europe, as the deliverers of nations.
the friends and warriors of freedom! t such is the protean
power of ambition and its agents, that to obtain their ends,they
sometimes assume a fair shape, and even perform services to
humanity, which men, blinded by gratitude, ascribe to
motives of pure benevolence. Of such a description is the
present act of NAPOLEON. The destroyer of Holland as a
republic and a kingdom, of the independent states of Italy,
the lawless ifivaderpain and Portugal, is now the restorer
of Poland? Thiaiigdom, which sunk under the unprin-
cipled.amhition of its powerful neighbours, and disappeared
from the map of Europe; this kingdom, wrenched in three•
successive campaigns from th*hands of its spoilers, now rises
from its grave sih lace 'among the nations.
=• Yet Os! Po /4!!, A 11- de to NAPOLEON. Not
for them '7 - • .'i has be revived their

JULY (26.

national existence. The reestablishment of Poland was
necessary to him, to dazzle Europe and assist in the destruc-
tion of Russia; but bow little his heart was interested in the
restoration of that kingdom may be gatheied from the olTer
he made in his late negociations with Russia, to bind himself
never to support the Poles in any attempt to recover their
ancient territory and constitution, if the conces•ions he pre-
' posed were made. Let the Poles reruse BAss A NO.S letters,
and the ardour of their gratitude will cool. Let them con-
sider that the blessing of national exil:tence must be pur.
chased at the price of their national freedom, and the tumult-
uous transports of their joy will subside.
Resolved "to annihilate the Russian power, N 0 LEO": has
not attacked it only with the sword ; he has wielded against
lit the still more powei ftil weapon of political intrigue. lie
1 has not only' drawn both Prussia and Austria to the field
but be has contrived through the secret influence of his
agents, to dissolve the treaty of peace betwden ALEXANDER
and the Porte, which restored to the fut mei-, the use of i!'s
best exercised and bravest veterans, against his western
invaders. Directed by French counsels, the Gm and Signor
has not only refused to ratify the treaty, but strangled and
drowned those by whom it was approved, and depoqAl
others, amongst the rest, the Mufti, who bad declared
themselves in favour of peace.
Such are the interesting features of the times; yet. in
the midst of wars and revolutions, of kingdoms anniliiiated
or restored, there is no country that presents so noble and
gratifying a spectacle as the British Isles, secure amid the
ceaseless vicissitudes that affect surrounding States, the
seat of true liberty, and the avenger and supporter of injured
nation 3.