The National Register.
London, England, 1808-12-11 00:00:00

r

DEC. 11,

401101.
ing countermanded orders for the sailing of transports with
artillery and other reinforcements fur Spain. Such impu-
tations of incapacity, want of spirit, and ignorance of the
simplest principles Of policy, arc only a trifling consequence
of this imprudent reserve. The public, when they hear
bnzzed about, that the men why have the best means of
ascertaining the extent of the calamity, begin already to
despond, will think the state of affairs desperate. Is
this, then, the result of all our loud hopes ? Is this
the promised dawn of a happier day ? Is tlis the use
made of the resources and energies of Great Britain ?
arc those the blustering promises of Salvation to Sain, in,
dependence to Europe, of 4 check to the inroads of ambi-
tion, and of permanant proscperity to this country 1 We
blush for shame and indignation at the base and dastardly
reports circulated at present ; which, if verified, throw an
eternal stigma on eur name,
,justify the most violent im-
plations of 11w enemy, and leave the fortunes of Great
Britain a: prev to folly, and fluctuating between fear and
despondency. • Nu man, who is a friend to the honour and
independence of his country, could have beard these re-
ports without blushing at the credulity believed
them, and execrating the folly and cowardice vs hich sug-
gested
them. They went so far as to advance that our
whole army was to quit Spain, and to abandon that gallant
community to the gripe of its remorseless invaders, The
Minister, who would have the pusillanimity to sign or con-
sent to a similar order, deserves to be impeached, and may
be certain of not escaping the punishment dive to his cow-
ardice. It is riot for the purpose of parading an army of
;$5,000 men from the Taens to one of the frontier provinces
of Spain, or marching another of 15,000 from Corunna to
Astorga, that the public left them, at unrestrained discre-
tion to wield their energies and employ their resources.
But they confided to their prudence and abilities the ho-
;iambic task of repelling the French from Spain, and li-
berating her brave inhabitants. Should they have the
weakness, in a moment of surprise, to debate on the expe-
,licncy of recalling oar troops ignominiously to our own
shores, scouted at their departure by the enemy, for not
:taring to face them, and execrated by the Spaniards fur
abandoning them to their merciless invaders ; we implore

them to renounce the ill-fated resolution, to entertain a
ii:ster opinion of their country, and of the bravery of a
British army; not to despond so easily and in so nuwarrant-
4hie a manner, of the noble cause we have embarked in.
We wig exclaim to them as the Spartan Hero did to the

jt-!sponding Lacedemonians, who fled from the protection
;f their country Gentlemen, you are mistaken, you
nave taken a wrong post." The English shores are not the
places assigned our army ; fly and seize the sierra Morena,
lour a large additional force into Andalusia ; instead of
countermanding the force ready for embarkation, double.
treble their numbers ; and, before the expiration of
four weeks, let au army of seventy thousand men form
11 the South of Spain an impregnable bulwark to the en-
croachments of the enemy, and a rallying point to the Pa-
triots who will crown to our standards from every province
41 the peninsula. Act with the same energy, and employ
the same means, as if the enemy had landad at Porhanouth.
NU Nr the liberties of Great Lr;t:kin on the plai.us of An-