The National Register.
London, England, 1809-01-29 00:00:00

SUNDAY, JANUARY It 9, 1809.

POLITICAL DISQUISITION.

NDMEER Fl FT Y-SI X!

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TO WHAT CAUSE ARE olnt MILITARY -FAILURES
TO BE ATTRIBUTED ?

Every engagement with the enemy afords an additional
testimony of the superiority of our troops. Every new
expedition gives an alarming proof of some latent defect
or mismanagement, which frustrates the effects of this su-
periority. Were our soldiers less disciplined, less nume
rons and intrepid, and our disasters originate in this cause;
we might, console ourselves with the prospect:of attaining
hereafter the advantages we do not possess at present. But
as our military are unrivalled in every quality which ren-
ders such a force effective, it is a subject of equal surprise
and disappointment, as it is worthy of the most serious in-
vestigation, that, with so large and expensive an esta-
blishment, all our expeditions, for the last fifteen years,
with the exception of that to Egypt, have not been pro-
ductive of advantages, equivalent to the pay of our army
for a single day. When we recal, during that interval, the
battles of Alexandria, Maida, Vimeira, and Corunna, in
which our troops have performed prodigies of valour; and
read over the history of the same period, which is only a
, are almost
the existence
elder, Fer-

rol, Buenos-Ayres, and in Spain.
There is not one among us, who has not frequently at- .
tempted to account for this contradiction. The incapacity
of the Commanders, the weakness of the Ministry, the de-
fects of oar military system, and a variety of other causes
have been assigned to explain this political phenomenon ;
remedies have been proposed, anti changes introduced; but
the mortifying inconsistency continues, and every new en-
terprise renders it more glaring and repugnant.
When an evil appears so inveterate, and alarming from
its frequency and continuation, it may appear like presump-
tiow, to indulge even in the hope of its eradication; or to
propose measures to that effect. Selfishness might recom-
mend caution, and pusillanimity, silence; for there is no
small degree of danger in combating abuses and errors too
favourable to the interests as well as passions of many.
The fatal influence, which is capable of maintaining them,
is likewise armed with the power of molesting the reformer ;
and the will is not inferior to the many; of ptinishing him
for his interference. The whole shoal of contractors, job-
bers, commissaries, and minions, who fatten in the pool of
army-patronage, will join in criminating his intentions;
and, sensible of their present advantages, resist every pro-
posal for purifying the noxious sink. As long as they en-
joy their mistresses, villas, cooks, and equipages, their di-
gestion will not he impeded, nor their tVatifitations re-
strained, in consequence of the disasters of the country, or
the disgrace of our arms.

But such of the public, as are not i_diviniihy ititerest-
ed in supporting a system of peculation, begin to
think there are other interests to be conseited, paramount
to the gratifications of a minion, or the pretensions of a pr.-
tron. The mortification of our former failures, joineti to
the senseless profusion of blood and treasure during the
present campaign, have already caused a degree of irri'a-
tion, which, we trust, will not subside!, till the catae be
rigidly investigated and removed. if we are not dead to
the honour of the country, and the increasing peril of otie
situation, if experience can benefit us, or 'misfortune in-
struct, we will speedily and efficaciously set about the work
of reform.
Should the present system continue, every Tear wil
be marked with a repetition of those blunders and d -
asters, which have of late so prominently disti!lcA
ed our military enterprises. The advantages of onr tom!
situation, the vast superiority of our nay v, and the dis-
tracted attention of the etiemy, have hitherto preserved
us from their effects. But the. fortune which has favoured
us till now may change ; and the patriotic spirit of the
country, the unrivalled bravery of our troops, be incapa-
We of resisting the pressure of the unexpected difficultiett.
If we Wish to have our destinies placed on a more solid
basis than that of chance, we must effect a chancre and a
radical one iu our military department. Past disasters,
present disappointments, and the alarming prospect !before
us, are sufficient,to rouse egotism and iodotsatie-to a
of our danger.
One or two facts convey more conviction to the mind,
than volumes of eloquent declamation. Was there eN er ail
army more compeleut for service, or animated with a
better spirit, than. that we sent to Portugal ? The Gene-
rals employed ou the occasion displayed a knowledge of
their profession, combined with the courage of a sold;et,
that the only anxiety we felt, Was dispelled ; and the pre-
tended superiority of the enemy over us in this u ie res-
pect, was no longer admitted. From that moment we
could look, with confidence, to the most brilliant re:vat
from the operations of our army. Soldiers and Gene,rds
were equally good ; and they were going to figia under
the must auspicious circumstances which fortune coast
present, or the man of honour choose. The natives, to
a man, were ardent in our favour. They had labourol
for some time, under the most oppressive and gsW.eg ser-
vitude, and, with our assistance alone they had any ra-
tional prospect of being liberated from its pressure. We
will not. attempt to refute au opinion, maintamei by mo-
dern declaimers, which only an absolute ignorance of his-
-1 tory, and an extrava6-ant predilection for general reason-
ing, unsubstantiated by fact, could have brought into cir-
culation. The people of every country, however confined
their intellectual endowments, or degraded tlieir moo-i
sense, prefer their own government, their Cott institn -
Cams, let them be ever so defective, to the most beneficent
innovations. If they are associated with the ideas of com-
pulsion and conquest. The insolence, the rapncqy, of the
French are in constant collision with their prefessions ;

catitagup and disgraces, we
inetineti to d'alrtiiptir Senses, and to doubt th(
of the reverses we sustained at Dunkirk, the 11