The National Register.
London, England, 1809-09-03 00:00:00

POLITICAL EVENTS OF •THE WEEK.

In our retrospective glance at the events of the last
week, we observe nothing consolatory, nothing upon which
the eye can rest with satisfaction or complacency, no ark
in which to save a remnant of our hopes, no branch of
olive on which to relit our disappointments. In our poli-
tics we have always been goverued by a sincere de-
sire to strengthen the hands of Government and to support
the honour of the country. But we fear that our feeble
attempts will be of little service to the one, as to the other.
We cannot compromise our judgment so far as not to
blame the conduct of our Commanders in the Expedition,
there has been delay, indecision, and neglect an our part,
whilst alacrity, energy, and promptitude have marked the
conduct of enemies. We do not blame because the
Expedition is unsuccessful—that conduct would he un-
feeling and unmanly; but we blame because the pro-
per means to ensure success have not been employed.,--
We have long and decidedly made up our minds upon this
subject; and if our Readers will do us the favour to pc-
ruse the columns of this Paper for the last three weeks,
they will perceive that we felt at the time what was likely
to be the effect of not taking possession of Cadsand, and of
not promptly pushing on to Antwerp.—The armament was
certainly sufficient for the purpose of reducing Flushing,
securing Cadsand, and defeating any force that could at
that period have been opposed to us at Antwerp. We give
Ministers credit for the caution with which the real desti-
nation of the armament was concealed. The French Mi-
nister of War acknowittlges that Boulogne was the
point to which BUONAPAILTE had conceived it SUIS di-
rected, and which, of course, they were best prepared to
defend. In the dispatches which have been received from
Lord CIATHAN, his Lordship has declared his own opi-
nion, supported by that of other Officers, to be, that we
must abandok the attack upon .Antwerp, the destruction
of the shipping, the arsenals, and in short all that have
been called the ulterior objects of the Expedition.—We feel
for the honour, for the importance of the country, com-
mitted as it is by this parade of endeavour, this pantomime

I. • ' '- • ..L...

SEPT. t) II
.

of attack, and by this bubble of expectation. Somet%ing
more than the understanding of Lord CnATUAM is implicated.
His vigilance, promptitude, and energy are caned iu question.
We do not condemn, but we impeach. The voice of the
country calls aloud for investigation (we hate the word in-
quiry, and the one we have used is almost as rid culous),
we only echo that voice. Wisdom and prudeece are the
resources of a great ration, are a part of its mean;, they
should be husbanded for great occasions, not to be con-
templated only but to be emplopal. The questions that.
occur to every Englishmau'are, %vas the Expedition wisely
planned ? Were the means of opposing it succt,ssfolly —anti-
cipated ? Arc the objects of it defeated by obstacles that
might have been foreseen and prevented ? Have we done
all that might have been done ? Have we by neglect, igno-
rance, or incapacity contributed to our own dis4race ?—:111
these, and a great many other questions remain to be a' cwer-
ed. At and rate " let the hoot be put upon the ten."
If Ministers, are to blame, let us know it. if
manders have been to blame, let us know it. We •,,ni oot
attack the one through the side of the other. .13,!.; we do
think, what we have alwais said, that these has been a
culpable delay.
relieve the public mind in France, which appears,
to have been very much agitated by the importance
and magnitude of our armament, the Arch Chalice&
lor has given an iniusea:ly motiest statement of the
precautions that ha s'e been taken to cei;el our invasion of
the Dutch Frontiers, au!i he speaas in a style of confidence
as to the result which is lv to be jusiined by the event,
It vexes and humbles us to obliged to eo this homage
to the talent and energy displayed by these minions of a
despot, and to contrast their exertions win what has just
passed before our eyes, The day, said HOMER; which.

makes a man a slave, takes away hal'. his ~,.):11), ly.,eause
he looses every impulse to action but tile I(4w and base one
of fear. Mr. LocKE said, and with great j!istice, that a
despotic military government is •arse than -onarehy.—but
why is all this said by poets and philosophers ? Because
they argue that on tillS Kind of government human nature
is not only alr:sed and insulted, but is. actna►ly de-
graded, and abridged of its powers, Besides these
authorities, we have those of every rational, and sensible
man in Europe, that even death is preferable to a life en.
dared under the yoke of despotism. But how stands the
proof ? Do the French Or the l)utcb chew any synap.
toms of encouragement to our army that is landed in their
neighbourhood ? Does not the tyrant. issue his directions,
from the Accidanza in Germany to his satellites. in Paris ?
And does not a sort of amor park:, accompany their exertions,
that we fondly flatter ourselves can only appear in the re-
gions of liberty and on the soil of freedomi The maxims
of liberty which we suck in wit h o!:r milk, lead us to judge
of the feelings of the Continental Nations by our own.
There must be some mistake in this. The French and the
Dutch arc not only politically but personally slaves. The
elasticity of the former requires a strong power to com-
press, and the phlegm of the latter.requires a power
equally strong to excite it. The little finger of despotism..
has more weight than the loins of a limited monarchy, and
has, therefore, produced an equal effect upon the levity of
one nation, and the sumnombulating energies of the other.
Of our affairs in Spain, we have less difficulty in speaking
than we had a few days since. At the time we received an
account of Lord WsuaswroN's victory, we hesitated to.