The National Register.
London, England, 1811-06-16 00:00:00

SUNDAY, JUNE 16, 1811.

N° IRI .

POLITICAL DISQUISITION.

No. 167.

RUMOURS OF WAR LN THE NORTH.

The sound of arms re-echoes throughout the North,
Say most of the private letters, which, notwith-
standing the rigorous execution of BUONA PA RTE'S

Decrees, find their way to this country from almost
every quarter of Europe. Flints to the same pur-
pose are Oven in many of the Continental Papers,

and contradicted in ethers, which endeavour to

dissipate every apprehension of the renewal of war,
by specious explanations of the movement of troops_
which cannot be denied. France, they acknow-
ledge, his assembled an immese force, composed of
French, Prussians, and Austrians, in Poland' and
Prussia, but they assert that her only object is to
guard the coasts of the Baltic, threatened as they
are by powerful British armaments. According
to tethers, however, Russia has an army of no less
than 1.50,000 men collecting in the neighbourhood
of the Polish friontiers, and as the portion .of- the
• ..•,
Baltic coasts in her possession is not extensive •
enough to require the presence of such a force for
its defence, its destination, they contend, must be of
an offens;ve nature. Whilst So many rumours and
counter-statements prove how deeply the conti-
nental mind is agitated by the fear, or the hope, of
a war betweer France and Russia ; tle declaration
of one of our Ministers, whilst moving the thanks
of the Commons to the brave Army and Com-
mander who fought the battle of Albuera, deserves
particular attention, as it stamps some officiality on
what was hitherto considered as vague, and pro-
bably unfounded reports. Intending to refute the
oft renewed assertions of those who, disapp6inted at
the turn of the war in the Peninsula, always
attempt to mar the joy of every -triumph, by
threatening our victorious troops with no less than
annihilation, dealt by NAPOLtON, at . the head of all
the forces of his Empire, called together by. our very
successes ; the CHANCELLOt of the EXCHECitiER in-
. loaned us that he trusted NAPOLEON would be un-
able to crowd Spain with his boasted legions, PS
they would, most likely, be seriously employed in
diffeent quarter. Such a declaration from a.Mi-
zister in his official capacity, and addressing one of
the first assemblies in the nation, cannot
Ve4 IV.

PRICE 914.

founded on the mere rumours which have reached
the general ear. It must have been authorised by

certain information, or else he would not have

spoken so confidently ; and when we nmember the
hint which an Ex-Minister (Mr. CANNING), who
s'ill may be supposed to retain s',me knowledge of
the secrets of State, gave on a former occasion, in
the shape of the following advice to his Majesty's

Government, that be wished the triumphs of the
British arms should be allowed time to produce
their full eff.xt, before war should be re-kindled in
other parts of Europe ; and that' he hoped Russia
should nut be hurried into a contest with France,
which might terminate by a fresh Austerlitz or
Friedland ; we cannot doubt but secret negocia-
tinns have been successfully carried on with the
Court of Petersburgh, the result of which will
shortly appear.
In a former number before, we believe, Mr.
CANNING had represented the renewal of hostilities
between France and Russia, as untimely at the
present moment, and avowed his apprehension that
it might occasion the ruin of. the Russian Empire,
and the downfall of every hope of future Conti-
nental independence, we expressed a reasoned opi-
nion with which his own exactly coincides. We
said Russia had suffered the favourable opportunity
to glide by unnoticed, and that Austria had now
become too closely yoked with France not to march
in her train against any opponent who might rise in
arms in the North. We pointed out Sweden, now an
acknowledged vassal of NAPOLEON, since governed
by one of his Generals, ready at the first signal to
pour her recruited forces into Finland, and whilst
all the strength of the Russian Empire is marshalled
on the Polish frrtntiers, to threaten its very capital.
We finally observed, that if ALEXANDER went to
'war, it would be with reluctance, and only because
he should be compelled to it by NAPOLEON) who, in
order to procure a specious pretence for evacuating
the greatest part of Spain, and to redeem the honour
of his arms lost in the Peninsula, wishes to turn
them against a less dangerous enemy. Should,
therefore, the die be cast, and Russia plunged into
a new contest, the impolicy of such a step at the
present time, cannot be imputed to our Administra-
tion. Should ALEXANDER'S Throne be shattered
iii a new conflict, he cannot reproach us with hay-
him to rush into ruin. The application

'lave b, . • 1,
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36R

for assistance, if any has been made, we are per-
suaded, came from the Russian Court ; and instead
of wishing to drives a Continental Power into a de-
structive war, we should not be astonished to hear
that every thing has been done on the part of our
Administration to prevent the bursting out of the
storm until there should be a fair probability that
the tide of devastation would not overwhelm a new
Ally. At all events, should, as the reported
movements of the French and Russian armies, the
return of so many of NAPOLEON'S best Generals
from Spain, and the mission of one of them to the
Danish, and afterwards to the Swedish Court, seem
to foretell, the war will shortly break out ; we trust
that the assistance yielded by our country to ALEX-
ANDER will not consist in gold, but in steel ; and that
MASSENA, JUNOT, and Nix, will meet on the
plains of Courland a sufficient number of those
British bayonets from whom they have fled in Por-
tugal and Spain, to force them once more to quit
the field, and to teach their proud master—that
whenever he fights with Britons, he ceases to be
invincible.

Boston, M-ty O.

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