The National Register.
London, England, 1817-10-27 00:00:00

gaationat cti

No. 507.—V0L. X.

POLITICAL DISQUISITION.

THE RUSSIAN ARMAMENT.

THE public has hardly recovered from the fright occa-

aimed by Sir Robert Wilson's terrible" Statement" ofithe
power of Runia, when it is again thrown into a far greater
The alarmists, with the Morning Chronicle at their head,
see in the fleet of six ships of war, which is shortly
expected at Portsmouth to victual, in its way, it is
said, to the Mediteranean, prospective deiigns against
Spain, France, Italy, or Turkey. This armament we
are told, is probably destined to take possession of Mi-
norca, and from that Island, Alexander is hereafter
to pounce upon which ever of those kingdoms he may
chusc to select. We have already observed that
nothing seems too absurd for assertion, when ltussia
is the tleine:—" The circumstances of a Russian
fleet," says the Morning Chronicle," with ten thousand
troops on board, on the way to the Mediterancan,
receiving supplies at Portsmouth, is certainly an oc-
currence not a little calculated to excite our surprise.

Ministers must of course be apprized of the desti-
' natiou of this fleet ; and their conduct evinces either
that they approve of this destination, or that they
dare not, in the present posture of affairs, manifest
their disapprobation. Indeed with the danger that
rum menaces our Indian Empire, and circumstanced
as we are at home, we believe there is no measure short
of direct and positive insult, in which they would not
be ready to acquiesce."

This paragraph is sufficiently foalieh ; but it is ren-
dered more so by the following, which almost imme-
diately succeeds it. "We cannot conceive that Ministers
would coiticut to this Russian expedition, if it is in-
tended, as some have said, to concur in the reduction
of South America to Spain. We eanmen suppose
them ro blind to the honour and interest of the country as
nut to i..derpose without reference to the question which
cession may be the price of it, to prevent the co-oper-
*don of any power in this unjustifiable undertaking."
• Now if, as had just been said, Ministers dared
not manifest their disapprobation, why cannel
the writer supoo.w that they will consent to this
Russian expedition, or to :Lay thing else, " short of
direct and positive insult ?" We can hardly think
the two pa ,sages were written by the same person; if
they were, he must have laboured under a strange con-
fusion of intellect. But this is not all; we read a
few lines more and find the following sentence ;
" Fraut whatever source the hostile movements of the
Muhrattas have had encouragement, we can, in our
state of imped7ll informalioN, see no groundAr alarm."
And yet we had just been told that the " danger that
now menaces our Indian Empire!" was one reason
why ministers dared not oppose Russia in any " mea-
sure short of direct and positive insult." Ptak .1 pada !
But thus it ever is, when, party feelings are allowed
to usurp the place of reason and common sense.
• The demonstrations of Spain against Portugal
were made most opportnnely to increase the fears of
the alarmists. Russia standing in the menacing attitude
which they had described, lending er selling her fleets
and armies to Spain, ivould naturally make common
cause with her against her enemies, and thus should
we, as the ancient allies and guardians of Portugal, be
brought into immediate contact with this irresistable
power ! Now, however, it appears that Russia with

the other groat allied powers, amint; tipcin those noble
principles of humanity which raved .Pitris from the

flames, andlluonulx►rte from the bl►ck, becomes a peace-
., fill meiliatur between the conten:ling state•, who,
whatever may be their cause of mutual disc,nrtent,
arc but ill fit to wage a new war, all aking
as flume wounds still nrc, which the ruthless
bayonets of France had inflicted.

Our wing, Contititution anb ilato6.

MONDAY, OCTO:

il, 1817.

Those political quacks whose heated imaginations
had crambed 10,000 men into is ships of the line, are
suddenly obliged to confess that they have no troops on
board ! But a few days ago, and they saw, in the desti-
nation of this fleet and army (among other great events)
a preliminary step to the downfall of the Ottoman
power. The merited death of a Servian rebel, who a
second time had violated his faith to his Prince, was,
in their estimation ground of quarrel sufficient to
plunge half of Europe into another war. Nor can the
most authentic and circumstantial denial of any hostile
views being entertained, satisfy the minds of these be-
sotted clamourers. A late number of the German Ob-
server contained the following contradiction of all the
idle stories which have been fabricated respecting the
indignation of Russia at the death of Czerney Georges:—

" If the execution of the late Chief of the Servians,
Ceerni Georges, has excited a great sensation at St. Peters-
buirgh, it could arise only from the astonishment which must'
have been caused by an act of temerity on his part which
was neither occasioned nor supported by any power.
The Emperor of Russia. who loves peace no lest than his
powerful Allies, far fromencouragingin any state thedistorber
of politic tranquillity, has found theenterprise niCsenii George
as strange as it has appeared to the rest of Efirope. This
ancient, ambitious, and crutch Chief of the Servions, forfeited
his parole by withdrawing from the Russian territory, and
compromised, at his own peril, his life in sight of his country-
men when he pissed the Danube. As soon as the Emperor
learned his flight, he issued against him a decree of condein
nation). It is in this spirit that the amicable communications
were dictated which Russia has made totter Porte. It could
not give a more certain proof of the little influence which
this event (foreign to the political situation of these two
neighbouring Powers) could have on their mutual relat.
titan by agreeing with the Porte OR the first point of thc ne-
gotiation opened between them, viz. the rectification of the
ti outliers on the Lower Danube.

And in reply to an article which had emanated
from the alarmists of the Continent, the same paper
adds:—

" All bat the article which we refute says of the corps of
ob.oevatioal of fteniongsen is wholly erroneous. Hit4.io has
an army ; hot we know nothim: army of observation:
and there is no more question of reinforcing this unity than of
movements or its corps. Such is the exact and true state of
facts. The friends of general tranquillity will find in this ex-
planation a new reason for being cutiviticeil, that seeing the
will of the first powers in Europe, which is so strongly ex -
pressed, this tranquillity cannot be again troubled, alter 'An
years' agitation and misfortaites. If some patty men desire
the eniiirary, we know the sense of their wish ; and when
they elideavinir to give to the public their hope as facto, it
suffices to refute them by the plain and simple exposit* of
the ti utli..

But what say the alarmists here to this ? Nothing
can mitigate their dread of Russia; they therethre meet
every !wilier statement as to the purity of her inten-
tions by doubts and cold surmises. Commenting upon
the above passage, the 3forming Chronicle of Friday,
says :—" These announcements are sometimes publish-
ed to answer a temporary purpose ; and when circum-
stances are continually occurring which indicate a very
unsettled state of public afthirs, it is not at all surpris-
ing., that in spite of these formal promises of peace, the
prevalence of a hostile feeling should be contem-
plated."—

The chief " hostile feelings" are to be found in
sonic of the Journals of this country and of the conti-
nent; and were their powers commensurate with their
wicked desires, Europe would soon be plunged into a
situation worse than thatttlik which she has just been
rescued. It is impossible 00 mistake the real vlcs.,,,f
a certain class of public writers at present, disguise
them how they may, they are nothing less than to
bring about a general revolt of the people against their
rulers.—lt is the old spirit of lerallirgAlemocracy work-
ing under another form.
FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE.
FRANCE.
PARIS, Orr. B.—.Thuestlairoolle expiatory service for the
.hre Queen Marie Antoisteit&pas eelebsatett In the chapel of
the l'itileries„ at huh the Ape was preset'', tow tiler with
thr Nndiolitim aatt Spanish Arebstasitilors, the Militate's, Acc.
irior Coati were au lomirnioa. The eelettritiim also took
,place lit the alilferent elturcheauf the oretrupolts, which were
itiociteroisJvti. The cetheoli4 was aitetaitsaf by the-Prances
and Priaccvaes, the pi blic officers. etc.

If 41

PRICE oid.

In the majority of the departments, the Minnicipal Councl%
have been assembled to deliberate respecting the wands of
the poor in their respective eomanoaits, and on the means of
ensuring the subsistence of the labouring class during the ri-
gorous season, by means of public workshops, conforinably
to the instructions of the Minister of the Interior.,

SPAIN.
n Iran, dated Sept. 27, say., " Gen. O'Dea-
'bled in Andalusia a weil•organiard hely ef"
head of widely be was to have embarked -at
ober for South America. A new dispr
ged the destioatioa of these forces, ma
ected towards our frontier of &trer t:. lira,
towing Ili: real cause of this telerminaticin.—
bide, the Portuguese have sent some forces to
the envirous of that strong place. Mushal
Comunander-in-Ctrief in Portugal, has sent one
e•camp to Madrid, to demand an explanation
tding. Two battalions of thu Walloon guards,