The National Register.
London, England, 1813-09-19 00:00:00

TIIE NATIONAL REGISTER.

combating for the independence and integrity of their. country,
could not successfully Foist ?
General MUCH evinced great bravery in the actions which pre
retied the affair of Gross Becrcn. Although wounded, he continued
to c onmand in person General O'Rourke displayed in all the ac•
tions with the enemy, a great deal of coolness and talent.—Since
the renewal of hostilities, the enemy's force opposed to that of Ilk
Allies in the North of Germai.y, has lost more than 11,w,', men.
According to the reports of the General.:, 7000 prisoners have been
made, of %.hom 2,a ,arc Officers, including several Colonels and
Lieu Mum t- Colonels.

August 29, Nine o'clock, a. m.
•Lieutenant-General Count de Tauvritzein has detached General
Wone,er t.► take possession of the city of Ltickatt. The latter sum-
moned the Commandant yesterday, and having met with a refusal,
lie I►ombarded the I:l,►cq. At the moment he was about to give the
assault, the entinnandant capitulated ; rine pieces of cannon, 1000
prisoners, and a cou,Mierable quantity of ammunition and stores,
arc the rrsults of this brilliant operation.

SEPT 19.

ple ; free from all ambitious thoughts of conquest and aggrandisement;
his Majesty has only taken up arms when called by the urgent necessity
of self-preservation, by an anxiety fur the fate of contiguous States in-
separable from his own, or by Ow danger of beholding-die entire social
system of Europe, a prey to a lawless and absolute Power. To pro.
_mote-justice and order have been the object of his Majesty's life and
reign ; fur these alone have Austria coetended. in these frequently
unsuccessful coetests deep wounds have been inflicted on the Moiiiirchy,
still his Majesty had time consolation to reflect, that the fate 0f m_
Aire had nct been hazarded upon heedless and violent enterprises; that
all his decisions were justifiable before lion, his People, his C .mem.
poraries, and Posterity. .
Notwithstanding the most ample preparations, the war in 1809 would
have brought the State to ruin, had not the ever-memorable bravery
of the army and the spirit of true patrio,isro which aniwated all parts
of the Monsichy overbalanced every adverse occurrence. The honour
of the nation and its ancient renown in arms, were liappay upheld
dining all the mischances of this war ; but valuable pioviaces were lust ;
and lustria, by the cession of the countries bordering upon the Adriatic,
was deprived of ell share in maratime_commerce one of the most effi-
cient means of promoting her industry; a blow whidi would have been
still more sensibly telt, had not at the same tune the wht.le Continent
beet. closed by a general and destructive system, preventing all com-
mercial intercourse, and almost Suspending all conimunicattenumningst
nations.

The progress and result of tlais war fully satisfied his Majesty ; and
that the obvious impossibility of an immediate and thorough improve•
ment of the political condition of Europe, shaken as it was to i:s very
foundation, the exertions of individual States in Orris owl' defence, in-
stead of setting bound- to the general distress, would only tend to de-
stroy the little strength they stid retained, would hasten the fall of the
whole, at d even destroy all hopes of future and better times. Under
this conviction, his Majesty foresaw the important advantage that would
result irons a peace, which, if secured fur some years, might check this
overgrown and hitherto irresistible power, might allow his Monatchy
that repose which was indispensable to the restoration of his finances
and his army, and, at the same time, procure to the neighbouring
States a period of relaxation, which if improved with prudence and ac.
tivity, nught prepare the way to more fortunate times. Such a peace,
under the existing circumstances of danger, was only to be obtained by
an extraordinary effort. The Emperor was sensible of it, mid made
this effort : fin the preservation of the empire, for the most sacred in-
terests of mankind, as a security against immeasurable evils, as a pledge
of a better order of thiegs, his Majesty sacrificed what was dearest to
his heatt. With this view, exalted above all common sertudes, armed
against .every misconstructitai of the moment, an alliance was formed,
whit h was intended by a sense of sonic security to reanimate the
weaker and score suffering patty, after the miseries of an unsuccessful
struggle, to incline the stronger and victoi ions One to a cou-se of ma_
deration and justice, without which, the community of States can wily
be considered as a community of misery.
Ills ALsjesty was the more jucified-in these expectations, because at
the time of the consummation of this union the Emperor Napoleon had
attained that point of his career when the preservation of his conquests
was a more natural and desirable object, than a restless struggle after
new posses.ious. Any farther extension of his dominions, long since
outstretching their proper limits, was attended with evident danger, rot
only to France, already sinking under the borthen of his compiest-,
but even to his own real personal interest. - What his authority gained
to extent, it necessarily last iu point of seenity. By all uniun w nth
the most ancient Imperial Fatuity in ('hristendom, the edifice of his
grratoess acquired in the eyes of the French natio), end of the wtrld,
such an addition of strength and perfection, that any Hitt rior scheme
of aggrandisement must only weaken and destroy its stability. What
France, what rurope, what so mazy oppressed and daspairing natiors
earnestly demanded of Heaven, a sound policy prescribed to the tri-
umphant ruler as a law of self preservation—and it was allowed to !aye
that so many groat and united motives wou'd prevail over the ambition
of an individual.

If these flittering prospects were destroyed, it is not to be imputed to
Austria. After many years' fritities cxmtions, after I,opeless sacrifices
of every description, (her:. e‘i,ted stitlieltnt motives for the aftemo to
procure a b?tter order of things by confidence and conctssicn,
stieuint of bkod had hitherto produced nothi!;g but mi.icry find tbs.
tt tleti ; nor tun his Alajesty
ever regret thut he itas Imeett inductd to
attempt it.
_ _ .

The year IF$lO was not vet closvd, the war still raged in Spain, the
people of (;.!rinany had scarce bc-n allo%itd a suCcient time to recover
from the devastalinn• of the former war,, when, in an c%ii hour, I"
Emperor Nilrileuii resolved to unite a considerable portion of the
North of (lemony with the mass of countries which bore the name of
the Frei E opire, and to rob the anciunt free commercial cities of
liatn;A:r1!!), Bremen, and Lubeck, hcbt 9f their politica], and ,horny