The National Register.
London, England, 1809-01-22 00:00:00

SUNDAY, JA WARY 22,

POLITICAL DisecurioN.

NUMBER FIFTY-FOUR.
ER CO-OPERATION IN FAVOUR OF THE
SPANIARDS UNAVAILING ?

hopes which ought never to be abandoned:
a cause which should never be considered as
is that of justice and freedom. It betrays as
,wardice as it dots perversity of heart and head, to
refuse to eo-operate in such a cause. Let us
any individual who acts from other motives
of vulgar selfishness, if the chances of failure
prevent him from making great efforts and great
support of what he considers equally advan-
the score of personal utility, as on the cOmpre-
'of justice. lie answers, without hesitation,
negative.
.ly one opinion as to the advantage of res.
from the grasp of the enemy ; and the justice
measure was, we believe, never called in question.
honour, and sympathy, in the unmerited suffer-
people, encourage .us to make the most
vi-
efforts to that effect ; and the atrocity of the ag.
together with the vast accumulation of means of
it places at the disposal of the enemy, ie
oisnecesa, are :motives powerful enough to induce nes
have an arm to raise, or a shilling to spend,

in our exertimis.

It is painful to be

recommend over and over again what is obvious 'to
who is not wilfully blind, or perversely igno.
notwithstanding the reverses the Spaniards
,fined of late, a.single example will clearly de-•
that we have still the uscaps in our
.power, if
iployed, of effectinLtheir deliverance,
tuation of Rome lifter the battle of Cannae, and
Of uninterrupted disasters, in which she lost

ialf her active population, aud, in fact, every
courage and virtues of her citizens, was, ac
lilgar estimation, the most desperate and it
within the range of possibility. The most en-
.t&priOng, intelligent, and wary General, according to the
unanimous testimony of historians, recorded in ancient an‘
mbdern annals, had encamped under her walls, with a nu.:
merous and highly-disciplined army, elate with constant
success, and the most unlimited confidence in their own
prowess and the skill of their oommaader. She had 1011, al
few days previous to this event, 70;000 of her citizens in a I
pitched battle, and, in the course of the three preceding
campaigns, all the acquisitions she had matte during five
centuries of success and the most heroic exertions. In this
dreadful juncture of her affairs, so far from proposing a
compromise with the enemy! the very field on which he
was encamped was bought in a public auction, at the ordi-
nary price it would have sold for in times of the greatest
p -osperity. This magnanimity. had its effect. Every class f
citizens, the two sexes, the youug and the old, vied with each
rel.

Lother in zeal as well as disiuterestedness, .0.041 in the deter-
• • • •
ciination to bury themselves ,i uclq,t4e. burning ruins of
their houses and temples, so.oner:th*lN concede a particle of
their former rights, or cowntt9;the of a single
acre of their former acquisitions.. Ther.drOca, as might
be expected, this dreadful enemy from theic shores; re-
covered,. by never riesponaing in
,the worst crisis 9f their,
ialfairi, all. they. had lost, aud. 'puler the guidance.
Of a hero whom occurrent:es; ,stiA.As, "heirs, inevitably:
create, a mighty army,ontlie very tesriltury of their zivals,
reduced them, (or ever,4.9the ipauleolcupcnvisjpg them.
alarm or, jealousy. • • • A, -f: Jo;

'• .

Our situation, through the interposition-of Providence;.
lls neither so try iagi nor so despiessite: Local advastageiti
and incidental circuinstanees have preserved our habitation.'
from the visitation of war • and its calamities; and oUr •
courage and patriotism have not been .as yet put to the.
severe trial of barring, with your, ',ululated carcases, thes
entrance into our vapital. Should the vicissitudes ot...war,
however, expose our beloved country, our .wives, an our •
daughters to the licentious brutality, the; insatiable very.
geauce and avidity of 200,000 Frenchmen, accustomed, fort
eighteen years, to every species of crime and excess, em:.
ducted by the ruffian, who has so fatally succeeded in re-
ducing the greater part of tho.continent to one iaexpres-
sible scene of poverty,: desolation and carnage, there are,
we believe, confideatly, few among us, who would think of,
inditillb/inl- -safety at-,tho:e.iteisur or I OM.
• avoid',

i'personal inconvestiesice. [tramples of Roinan maguaii.- I
tuity would not be wanting: Jittery town and village
would arm its population, and fohn of them a sacred pha- •
thina of desperate patriots, determined *to-defend, with their I
Ayes, every fence and avenue, street and house, against the
ferocious invaders. Our fields may be ravaged, our cities
;levelled with the ground, •our.naval arsenals consumed by
Cre, the monunientsof our national greatness and opulence
!Wed, our defenceless parents and females outraged, and
everyexcess, which implacable hatred, bast, sad rapine are
capable of itommitting or inspiring, be wildly indulged in ;
but the last Englishman we trust would die free and in-
voking his country, rather than become the abject slave of
an insolent unprincipled tyrant.

'truly as we deprecate the possibility of such an occur-
rence, this arduous trial of our fortitude and patriotism
unavoidably awaiti us, should the enemy obtain voluntary or
forced possession of Spain and Portugal. Let us not deceive
ourselves, the invasion of our shores is not so impracticable as
we fondly imagine. Men, who are now averse to our sending
efficacious assistance to the Spaniards, and whose irregular
ambition may see a prospect of gratification in the dis-
asters of their country, tell us that the enemy can never
escape the vigilance of our navy. Those men impose upon
the public, and we arc afraid intentionally. For they can-
:not but know, that if BOVAPARTE succeed. in subjugating
our allies, that every hope of successful resistance to his
power is extinguished for the future. By thnt one act he
becomes absolute arbiter' of the destinies of the Continent.