The National Register.
London, England, 1809-11-12 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

it is of almost inestimable advantage. We bail it as a good
omen of the ultimate success of that brave and injured
people. Their efforts have been hitherto misrepresented,
and their character misunderstood. Prejudice and folly,
party spirit and ignorance, have taken the pencil alter-
nately, and having daubed a caricature, ushered it to the
world as a perfect likeness of the Spanish nation. It is a
duty incumbent upon every honest writer, and every ho-
nest man, to expose this gross imposture, and rescue the
character of that injured country from the indecent out-
rages, which some cotemporary prints here at home, vieing
with the Paris Journals, have offered to her govern-
ment, armies, institutions, and manners. The Spaniards,
in order to insure success to the noble cause they arc nobly
contending for, only wanted arms, officers of experience,
and habits of discipline. Their courage was nevercalled in
question. Their devotion to their soil, their government,
and captive Sovereign ; their invincible sense of the trea-
chery, ingratitude, low cunning, and rapacity of the enemy,
were visible to every man not willfully blind, or perversely
ignorant. These qualities enabled them, under every dis-
advantage, to oppose, for eighteen months, the disci-
plined and numerous armies which the tyrant had succes-
sively detached, for their subjection. With regard to men
and things there is no other accurate standard of judgment
than comparison. If we compare the resistance made in
the Peninsula, with that which the veteran armies of Aus-
tria and Prussia offered to the same enemy, we shall be
able to appreciate the exertions of the Spanish Patriots.
They have now maintained their independence, for more
than a year and a half, contending with all the disadvan-
tages of a very defective military system, incompetent
leaders, and, perhaps, incompetent Government. Their
courage and their patriotism enabled them to sustain this
arduous contest, and supported them during all its reverses.
But a change incalculable in its consequences, and decisive,

we trust, of their fortunes, has imperceptibly introduced
itself into their armies: they have been beiten into dis-
cipline, and they may boast like CZAR PETER, of having
learned the art of war, from those dreadful defeats, which,
at the time, were regarded as the death-blow of their free-
dom. They were only stunned, and, ANTEUS like, rose
from the parent earth, with renovated vigour. Another
salutary innovation is likewise perceptible,—time and
opportunity have developed those talents, which con-
stitute a capacity to command and they may now
boast of possessing Officers of merit and intelligence. The
Duke del PAagnie, who obtained the late victory, learned

the art of war under Moactu, and served under that Ge-

tieral during his memorable retreat in the year 1796. BAL.
LASTEROS9 who now commands the Gallician army, enjoys
the highest estimation amongst his countrymen, and pos-
sesses the reputation of being a very intelligent, brave, and
enterprising Officer, BLAKE enjoys and merits the same
character ; and YENZGAS, who commands the army. in La
Mancha, possesses experience, and unites boldness with
caution in his operations, Whatever be the result of this
memorable contest,—whether the tyrant succeed, or not,
in his nefarious project,—the Spaniards have already per-
formed enough, to command the esteem and sympathy of
every man•who Wes free um, virtue, and courage.

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Ttl

The Peace, concluded between France and Austria, has
been published with the usual formalities at Paris ; and
the conditions communicated, through the medium of the
papers. to the French people. There was no extraordib
nary assemblage of the Senate convened ; no orators upon
this occasion tort open anew the scars of the vanquished,
by the insolence of their declamation ; or flattered the
national vanity, and the pride of the tyrant himself, by a
pompous enumeration of the victories which conquered
this Peace. No : every thing was performed with a de-
gree of modesty and simplicity, which would remind us
of the unostentatious grandeur of the Si artamms ; but
which we were not prepared to sec revived in time French
capital. Let us, if possible, account for this cham;e in
the tone and manner of the vainest and most insolent in-
dividual breathing.

There are few of our Readers, who do not recollect the
menaces hurled by BUONAPARTE against the Empercr
FRANCIS, after the first advantages he had gained at
Ecmuhl, and
,in the neighbourhood of Ratisboa. There
are few, we believe, who at that time did not anticipate
the fulfilment of these threats. In proportion as the ty-
rant advanced, in his rapid march, towards the Austrian
Capital, his presumption and bravadoes seemed to. increase;
and, previous to his arrival there, he addressed the welt
known Proclamation to the Hungarians, in which he in-
vited them to assert their independence, and cheese a King
of their own. All these things occurred before his ar-
rival at Vienna. He had not bee in that capital a week,
when a complete revolution was perceptible in his lan-
guage. Instead of re-commencing his youthful trade of
Jacobin, and exciting Subjects to rebellion against their
lawful Sovereign, he thought it more adviseable to look
for success to the resources of his military genius. Not a
single deputy, poor .or rich, noble or vassal, arrived in the
mean time from Hungary, to solicit the protection of NA-
rocEore ; though the country was completely open, and
the subjection of the Austrian Empire already anticipated
in every part of Europe. What a noble and deserved cc-
logy does this single circumstance confer upon the loyalty
and magnanimity of the Hungarian People ! What a mor-
tification must it have been at the same time to the wretch
who had the meanness to tamper with their fidelity ! The
Hungarians remained the same great and good peep!a
they were at the death of Charles VI. when his illustri-
ous daughter appealed to their protecting arm against the.
persecution of her enemies. Who has not read their /1/0-.
riamur pro rege nostro, Maria Theresa I Who ever read it,.
that did not feel admiration and tenderness for those gem_
rous magnates ? On the approach of a more terrible (mem%
the Hungarians have once more re-asserted their character
for courage and loyalty ; and their conduct, as well as that of
the other provinces, during the late campaigno.is the best
reply to the savage sarcasms, which s(nee brutal, stupid
wretches, in this country, were molt to indulge in, dnrii g
the late campaign, against the subjects of the Emperor
FRANCIS. In this age of desolation, rapine, disorder, amid
revolution, it must afford the friend of order and huma.,
nity a vast source of consolation, whenever he recall the
conduct displayed by the Austrian people in general, during

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