The National Register.
London, England, 1811-04-21 00:00:00

'flit NATIONAL REGISTER.

render a new invasion Of.' rartugai PraeticabLe-
The. Moniteur Vainly ,leAsted that he would main-
tain himself in the 'lnonniiiins of Gnarda. He
*ogle: hut a
_weak effort to retain that place, and '
continued His retreat- foesafdi'the Spinitkfrontiers,
Which, it ib more than probable he has already pas-
'sea. 'Meanwhile our army was on the eve of re.
surning its former positions, and lining the Portu-
griese territory with bayonets which the French
Marshals and soldiers • will pause long before they
venture once more to enconnter. No reason-
able doubt can therefore exist respecting the issue
of-• the campaign. •It has been most honour-
able to the talents of our Commander, and the
courage faf the allied forces, and most decisive in its
es nature. • It hes settled an important point on which
ss"- the opinion of the world had been long divided.—
It haS brought to the test the relative.power of En-
:" gland and France, at the end of a contest of nearly
twenty years' duration, commenced by the latter,
for the acknowledged purpose of dissolving the po-
litical
constior.iens of Europe ; in order to restore
freedom to mankind ; but for no other object than
the establishMent of a gigantic, arid resistless, if not
universal empire. How have her vast designs been
accomplished ? The independent dynasties of the
Continent have been chained : Some have been
swept away; States have perished, and nations like
conquered tribes, have been added to the list of her
• subjects. But in the midst of her proudest triumphs,
the fetters which she imposed on her neighbours
have been wreathed by the strong hand of ambition
•round her own limbs. Enslaved, and in the midst of
slaves, -she could not call the spirit of freedom
,Aehich she had quenched to her aid. Oppress-
ed in lief turn, she'only• became a more relentless
oppressor,' and whilst spreading devastation over
_ the surface of the earth, in the contemplation of the
'accumulated suirerisigs she created, she forgot her
•owu. Her excesses, rather than her victories,
armed her name with terrors, which, by withering
•the hope•Of a secoessful resistance to her encroach-
- menu, in every continental heart, rendered every at-
*
•temet to sheke off her pike eugatery. Wars
• commenced with the imprudent haste of fear, which
•by rushing blindly into dsoger, thinks it will be the
in re Freedilq overcome, only served to increase the
siumber of hz• -triumphs, enlarge her dominions; and

• s.sirengthen The belief that she had becc,rne
invinci-
ble. • Thus her prmer,;although. really weakened
by -extension, continued to grow in the popular
and deceiVed by the terror which she saw her
-name inspired, she fancied she should attain the
Treat end she had in view, ,as soon as •she should
have removed the only bar to universal dominion
thrlt rrrl i1,1,1),-Ildence and i:ivy rf .Nitain.

Hencearoie the bitterness of her eumit* sr,z, .st
us. Hence, regardless of her ow-a int ri,
hurled her deadliest.bolts against our tr
recoiled and destroyed her own. Hence • .

voured to pervert in the estimation of the woik.l ~.
motives of our conduct, the nature of oitr Mawr; Er,
of our resources and our. power, She reproented
England with her navy, as .a dwarf arroed with a
destructive weapon, too unwieldy for her hand, and
which fatigue Inuit soon coMPLI him to drop. She
boasted that her forbearance alone allowed 'us to
exist unsubdued to her •.will, and that as soon as she
should think proper to inflict the blow we must fall
helpless at her feet. Overawed or deceived, Con-
tinental nations gave ear to her tales, and lent her
their strength. Her rigorous measures against our
trade were enforced with equal severity on the shores
of the Baltic, as on the coast of France ; and she
began to anticipate, and indeed to announce our
downfall, when the sudden burst of the_ Spanish
War threw a flash of light across the darkness in
which she had involved the Continent. Instead of
shrinking into our ships, or tamely awaiting her
attack on cnr shores, we had no sooner found a
footing for our troops, than we embraced the cause
1 of the Peninsula as our own. Our warriors, panting
after glory, not that which is plucked from the
wreck of empires, but that which makes triumphs
guiltless, and springs from revived freedom
and restored order, hastened to meet
.fier veterans
on the fields of Spain and Portugal. Europe beheld
the mighty conflict from afar, and . learnt Pith
astonishment that the French eagles: cotdd be
brought captive to. the ground. Vimiera,the mourn,
and Talavera, dyed with the invaders' blood, ro
claimed the .superiority of our arms 4, but foiled at
her best weapon, France had recourse*,rnisrepre-
sentations, and threw a veil over our ariuMphs which
concealed their 'magnitude from the eyes of the
-world. The late campaign in Portugal, is however,
of too decisiv.c, a nature to be obscured by .. all the
arts she will not fail to employ. She cannot Pretend
that our troops have been driven into the sea, when
they arc encamped on the Spanish frontier.: she
cannot boast that Lisbi ii has yielded to her army,
when her fugitive legions are colkcting round
Ciudad Rodrigo. These are facts too
i.plain not to
be understood.; they ,have a v.rice -vlaich:wili awl
must be -heard,,. They prove that tl3e-lpienitnde of
her power, with all her means directed-atainSt only
one -enemy, FranCe hai been defeata "and. by
whom ? By an inferior force of those very.l.4ritons
whose ruin, her nod, she told rnartkied, was. ;bye
sufficient to effect, and before whose resolute, •eild
well directed valour, her ablest Generalsand hia-lot
warriors have been compelled to fly ! 'The'?.;elti'tiltli
*rliich she -enslaved nations .is ..dinfilid.- 11 Ille
'Peninsula her power, as well as- ,her..arnties *Di
fame, will find a (-tray. .• • ' )(1' u— '''' '...
•
s.) ; :. ' It tr.iiii•

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