The National Register.
London, England, 1809-11-05 00:00:00

TUE NATIONAL REGISTER.

,XOO

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VW kingdom. nerd only hi.' kept up to their full complement,
in order to bailie all the attempts or the enemy.
" If the peace he renewee between France and Austria, it
%Hi he impassible, uithout great inconvcuience, to suddertly
irsobport the brave trnops who % ill have conquered it, from
the Banks of the Daeube to those of the Guadalquivir. This
r •mark has not escaped the paternal attention of his Majesty;
and let us he persuade:4, that after such glorious exertions, be
i desirous, and w ith justice, that the conquerors should re-
ceive the testimonies of public gratitude and general admiration.
--These .points, Gentlemen, w ill I.e explained to you by the
Orators of the Council of State, nod more particularly in the
Report of the Minister of %Via; which the Emperor has or-
dered him to communicate to you. . The levy required is, more-
over, much less than his Majesty could draw from the classes by
which it is to he supplied; besides, it will be rendered as little
burthensome as pos,ible. In this crisis the Senate will be
alxious, as on former occasions, to forward the intentions of our
aigust Sovereign, for the honour and glory of the French
people."

xr.poßT MADE Y 0 HIS MAJESTY TAE EMPEROR AND KING,
PROTEC'7OII OP THE CONFEDERATION Op, THE RHINE, BY
HIS EXCELLENCY COUNT D 1 HUNEBURGII, MINISTER OF
WAR, SEPT. 15, 1809.

"SIN f the numerous victories of your Majesty, and the
extraordinary succe,ses of your armies, he at the sn►ue time the
work of your genius, the result of the most scientific military
combinations, of your inherent intrepidity, and of the courage of
so many brave men, these victories and successes are no less ow-
ing to your forejght. his this w hick has inspired your Majes-
ty with the idea of assembling at first in the interior of the Em-
pire, whatever might be the complexion of atiairs, the youth of
France who are successively called to serve their country, and
of making them cons:V.:tidy pay their contribution to the safety
of the State, at the same time Thai they accustom themselves to
arms.

" The temporary dereliction of this system, would he pro-
ductive of some danger to the Empire, and it would he placing
rather too great a reliance on the future, however flattering ap-
pearances inay he at pre*cat, to suffer the depots in the interior
of France to want the regular supply of recruits, whatever part
of the youngsoldiers who fill them bhould he called into actual
service.

" A short glance at the state of your Majesty's armies will
be suffiAent to shew that the levy which I feel it my duty to
propose, is sufficient at present.
" Master of Vienna, and of more than half the Austrian Mo-
narchy, your Majesty is at the head of the most formidable
army France ever bad beyond tile Rhine; and to judge of what
it is capable of effectiniv, it is only necessary to mention, th•et. it
was hardly formed when it conquered Austria iri the fields of
Thaun, of A bersherg, and of Eckmuhl. Whether the negotia-
tions at Altenburgh terminate in peace, or whether the war
coutinue, your Majesty has iu your depots troops enough, fit to
take the field, to recruit your army in Germany.
" to the mon:h of January, your Majesty pursued the En-
glish a•my in callicia. 1\ bile you were eneaged in it, yonr Ma-
jesty was infixined that the Court of Vienna interded to break
116 engagements. Though such an event seemed to call the prin-
cipal part of your forces into Germany, your Majesty neverthe-
less thought proper to leave your veteran army in Spain ; not
that the whole of that army was actually necessary to complete
the subjugation of the Spanish rebels, but to deprive Englaud of
the possibility of prolonging that rebellion, of which she is the
cause. That paw er, seeing in the new system established in
Spain, the presage of her own ruin, did not, however, despair
of overturning it ; and her efforts upon this occasion have greatly
surpassed all that we have seen her make upon similar occasions.
" General Moore hail no+ been able to bring oil' from Galli-
cia the half of his troops. The immense losses which his army
sustained, did not dissuade the English Government from send-
ing a fresh army, consisting of 40,000 men, to Lisbon. It pe-
nctrated.to the centre of Spain, awl rallied around it the various
corps of insurgents. The banks of the Albert he and the Tagus
witnessed their flight and their confusion. Compelled to retreat
to the further side of that river, and pursued at the point of the
bayonet, they totally evacuated Spain, and the Portuguese saw
then return In disorder to their territory.
" At the same period, an army of equal force suddenly made
its appearance at the entrance of the Scheldt, with the intention
of burning the dock-yards at Antwerp ; there our enemies were
covered with confusion. At their approach, Flushing was pro-

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vided with a numerous garrison; 12,000 picked troops marched
from St. Omer, under the orders of the Senator General Ram-
too ; and eight demi-brigades of reserve, iv hick v. cre at Bou-
logne, Louvain, and Paris, proceeded, post, to, the points that
were menaced.

46 These troops were of themselves sufficient for the defence
of Antwerp. That place, which is covered by a strong rampart,
and the advanced works which your Majesty caused to he con-
structed four years ago, is still further protccted by extensive
inundations; and on the left bank of the Scheldt, the fort of La
'lee de FlandreN which is itself surrounded by an inundation of
2000 toises, secures the communication of .Antwerp o itit our
fortresses in the North.
" The English Expedition was formed upon the supposition.
that Antwerp was only at, open city, whereas that fortress
could not be taken but after a long siege. Independent of troops
of the line, your Majesty saw, at the first signal, 150,009 na-
tional guards ready to march, :Ind at their head the Alajors of
your infantry, officers of the fifth battalion, and veteran offi-
cers; you found in their ranks a number of old soldiers.
" Numerous detachments of cavalry of the line were pre-
ceded by the Gens-d/armerie of Frame. The English were not
aware that this branch of force alone could, at a moment's no-
tice, assemble at any given point 60 squadrons, compo,ed of
men that had seen sixteen years of service, all equally experi-
enced, equally well disciplined and armed. as these brave
cuirassiers, who, under your Majesty's orders, have brought to
so high a pitch the glory of the French cavalry.
" As by enchantment, the dispositions prescribed :by your
Majesty caused to appear, at the same-instant, on the hanks of
the Schelt, and at the rendezvous of the Reserve at Lisle and
Maestricht, four different armies, under the comand of Mar-
shall
the Prince of Ponte Corvo, and Marshals the Dukes of
Cornegliano, Valmy, and Istria.
" The sudden developement of such a force, and the national
impulse which continued to multiply its numbers, struck the
enemy with cotoaernation. Their enterprize calculated upon
false data, completely failed.
" Europe has witnessed the realization of that which your
Majesty's penetration anticipated, when you pronouneed that
this Expedition originated in ignorance and inexperience ; and
when, sparing of French blood, and directing that a plan
merely defensive should be followed, you wrote to me;--` We
are happy to find the English crowding into tht! marshes of
Zealand ; let them he merely kept in check, and their army will
be speedily destroyed by the had air, and the epidemic fevers of
that country.
" Whilst our troops were distributed in comfortable canton-
' ments in the environs of Antwerp, or stationed in that fortress,
the English army, encamped in the midst of marshes, and desti-
tute of water fit for drinking, lost upwards of one-third of its
soldiers. But the facility which the English have of going by
sea from one quarter to another may lead us to expect that all
that will have escaped the disasters of this expedition will be
sent to reinforce their army in Portugal.
46 Sire, the various fields of battle in which your armies have
distinguished themselves are ton remote from each other to ad-
mit of your marching, without inconvenience to the soldier,
one of your armies from one scene of action to the other ; and
your Majesty, so highly • satisfied with the zeal of the troops
•, whom you command beyond the Danube, is anxious to spare
them from the fatigues of the war in Spain. Besides, the
French armies beyond the Pyrennees now consist of 300 bat-
talions and 150 squadrons. It is therefore sufficient, without
sending any additional corps thither, to keep up at their full
establishment those already there. Thirty 0,4 p sand men, o
col-
lected at Bayonne, afford the means.of acct. thing this ob-
ject, and of repulsing any force which the nglish may cause
to advance. _ _

" In this state of things, 'I conceived that it corresponded
ith your Maje.ity's views to limit the levy necessary at this mo-
ment to the contingent indispensably requisite for replacing in
the battalions of the interior, the drafts which are daily made
from them. The returns which will h,! laid before your Majesty
will inform you, that of the conscriplioa for the years Ibo 6 7-84
and 10, there still remain more than 80,000 men, who, though
balloted, have not yet been called into actual service. This im-
mense reinforcement might march against your enemies,
should
that measure be rendered necessary by any imminent danger to
the State. t propose to your Majesty to call out only 56,000,
and to declare all those classes entirely free from any future
call.
" By Allis means, your armies, Sire, w ill. be maiotaiacd at
• . • • .