The National Register.
London, England, 1809-02-26 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

138

Boulogne. these maps were distributed to an incredible
amount, and groups of French soldiers were constantly
seen poring over them, and enjoying, in anticipation, the
spoils and plunder of the metropolis of the British Em-
pire.
To give this project a greater appearance of probabi-
lity, caricatures and songs were manufactured, in which
our Volunteers and Militia, even soldiers, were not repre-
sented in the most advantageous light; but the battles of
Vimiera and Corunna have furnished them with a more
exact and faithful specimen of the stuff our army is com-
posed. Since then they also do us the honour to say, that
the British are the o►t.lr/ soldier they ever fought against;
and from whom they have met any thing like resistance.
This'opinion has obtained among them extraordinary cir-
culation of late; and the plunder of London, as a reward
for their present hardships and prisalions, would be
tingly abandoned for the reality of a copious dinner and a
good bottle of wine.

FEB. 26.

lantly watched by her agents, abandoned by Russia, un-
supported and unencouraged by a single friendly State,
Austria began and completed her military armaments,
tilled her Ltrsenals and magazines, replenished her coffers,
new organised her army, and introduced a number of sa.
lutary innovations, in a civil, as well as military, point of
view; and her governmen I executed all these not-
withstandim: the jealousy and significant hints of the ty-
rant as to their inutility, cold inexpediency in- the present
exhausted slate of her iinutfees. ;:the procesqled delA)e-
-rately and resolutely, notwithstanding the remonstrances
of the French Ambassador at Vienna, and the menacing
paragraphs which occasionally appeared in the .11onaeur,
to the accomplishment of this great work, There was
not a single Prince in the South of Germany who had not
been instructed by IioNAPARTE to send orders to their
Ministers at Vienna, to demand from the Austrian Court
an explanation on the subject of her arming ; and the in-
solent remonstrances of the Bavarian agent are said to
hay c exceeded every hound. A ustria continued, however,
firm ; and by prakiitial concessions, iind recalling. her
Ambassador from our Court, succeeded averring. hosti-
lity on the part of France.
The unexpected occurrences in Spain enabled her to act
with more energy and spirit : and she seized the aulieions
opportunity wiih so much earnest and promptitude, that
she was able to bring to inatnrity the great plan of defence
the Archduke efixtu.vs had projected. Ile r conduct, on
the ixcasion of the insults oirered to the Poev, when prayers
we:e otlered up in ail the churches, throughout the difie-
rent provinces, for the safety of his proves that
she was not insensible to the effect this outrage would ha vu
in irritating the minds of her inhabitants against France,
and thus facilitate the raising of the Militia and /.erg CU
Mane. The result of her activity and prudence, is a well-
disciplined, well equipped, and well supplied Regular Army
of 350,000 men, besides an Army of Reserve of 60.000
men, a body of Militia amounting already to near '400,000,
exclusive of the Hungarian insurrection, which is likewise
completed and armed':

It was necessary to take this view of the present military
resources of that country, to be able to appretiate her
cha►►ces of CIeCeSS, and the prudence and vigour of her
counc►ls. Severely-bought experience has taught, her wis-
dom ; and the atrocities committed in Spain and at Hone„
anti the instructive fate of the Prussian Monarchy, must,
according to human probability, have roused, or created,
great ►natal resources in the breasts of her numerous popu-
lation. The Archduke CHARLES possesses in a supreme
degree, unchecked and unfettered by court intrigue, all
that influence which his talents, virtues, and serv►ces entitlp
him to. There is only one will and one object ; and a con-
ciliating policy has effaced provincial jealousies and dis,
tinctions ; and the Hungarian, the Gailician, the lioheinian,
the Croatian, and Moravian, vie with the Austrian in at-
tachment and devotion to the common Government and
Sovereign.

Let us now consider how France is prepared to resist this
concentration of strength and will. tier whole force, with
the exception of part of DA vousT's and BER NADOTTEN
corps, and a body of troops in the Bishoprick of Fulda,
under the command of General OtioiNoT, has been marched
into Spain. Her army in Germany we may, therefore, es-
timate at about 60,000 men, exclusive of the conscripts,
30,000 of which may have already passed the Rhine. "It
must be remarked that-nottiug iA more obscure than the
French military conscription; but from an attentive obser-
vation and comparison of facts, we are not afraid to assert,
that no more than half the number, which BONAPARTE ap-
plies for to the Senate, is raised by that mode. We risk,
therefore, nothing in. maintaining- that. the conscripts of
this year and of 1810, when called out, will not amount to
more than 80,000 at most ; instead of 160,000, as re-
quired in the Message. Such, at the highest calculation,
is the effective force which BONAPARTE can employ imme-
diately against Austria, making in' all an army of 120,000