The National Register.
London, England, 1808-02-01 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL. REGISTER.

I

will be able again to recover that commerce which is now
almost annihilated. Iltrtean we in war prevent Bonaparte from
building flotillas? and was it nut &Irani; war that he built the
only flotillx which he eser built ? The same may be said sit
gisips (16 the line--Has not that fleet conrructed war
which it cost the life of Nelson to conquer It is true th"at the
deck-yards or rsance Will be mall, a rattily frplenitehed in peace;
but so will also the dock-yards of Britain. w hick are at present
debarred from their usual and most commodionis resources. The
commerce of France would revive, and the Continenti,l
commerce of Britain Nrould also recover its ristine vigour : hut
these rivals would set forward with yery unequal chances or 3tic-
reit, while the tele was possessed of capital. of skill, of un-
bounded credit, and the other obliged to straggle against the
want of all these advantages.
But, in truth, Bonaparte, if we allow him to pursue his
Course in tranquillity, has far more- momentous objects in view,
than to attempt the conquest of Britain, wliich, lie has himself
declared to be a desperate undertaking, both in express words,
and by his so long refraining from making the atteaopt. lie has
to regulate and establish that favourite plan of empire, in which
France is to be the centre and ruler of the surrounding depen-
dent kingdoms; lie has to estimate from experience, the tablets
and the fidelity of his Viceroys : he has to tranquillize the minds
of the numerous and various inhabitants of leis dominions, who
have been so long distracted by war, and are still agitated by
ancient animosities: he has to attach the people to himself, his
family, and his laws, by dillusiivs anions" them that quiet and
prosperity which can only he Atainedby the restoration of
peace. lie has no resources to spare for espensiye and des-
perate armaments, and so far is he (rota being overhurtheaed
with troops, that he has already been obliged to anticipate the
conscription of two years to provide for the defence of his ex-
tended Continental dominions. lie will build no flotillas, nor
undertake any desperate invasions, unless we compel him to it
by frustrating his favourite plans to: the consolidati (((( of his
empire.
But should he really have such attempts in view, should be
actually prefer the desperate enterprise of conqueriug Britain,
to the fulfilment of all his other great schemes; till his plans for
this purpose could not be carried on in a corner, could not even
be well commenced, before our vigilance should be aroused to
check them in the outset. During the Peace of A miens, the
very report of armaments in the harbours of Holland and
France, though now acknowledged to have been unfounded,
threw the whole nation into alarm and made them hasten to
arms. Peace must open to us the ports of the enemy, and place
continually under our eyes every symptom of hostile movement.
But though peace might both be safe and desirable to the
nation at large, vet there are men who imagine that it would be
prejudicial to their own particular interests, and yy Ito would
therefore make no scruple of entailing for ever on their country
the calamities of war. It is not long since we haves heard the
Exchange resound with the ideas that war was the means of
ru el ingile Commerce of the whole world flow into our harbours;
and that peace is fluid necessarily tend to diminish our prospe-
rity., by dividing these advantages with other nations. These
opinions are now at least consigned to silence, since Bonaparte•
has actually accomplished the gigantic scheme which was mice
accounted so chimerical, :mil has succeeded in excluding not
only our own ships, hut even the skips of neutrals laden with
our manufactures, front every port in Europe. War has lost to
us all the Commerce of Europe; it threatens to lose to us the
whole Commerce of America and surely it will not now he
alleged that war enables Great Britain to command the whole
Commerce of the World.

But it appears astonishing, Oyu the most blind speculator
could ever have maintained that war was advantageous to our
commerce, in opposition to thr most clear and best substantiated
facts, contained in the returns of the Custom-House pre-
sented to Parliament. In the years of pence preceding the com-
mencement of the last war, the exports of this country here an-
nually acquiring a considerable increase, and in the years 1701
and 1792, this annual increase amounted to upwards of two mil-
lions : Hut in the very first year of the war, 1793. ourexports were
at once diminished ; and though this falling off was afterwards
made up, the rate of our peace increase was never recovered.
Had we continued at peace, and had the increase of our exports
been only two millions a year, as was the ease in 1791 and 1792,
our exports for ISO 7 would have amounted to upwards of fifty
millions, whereas in fact they were for that year upwards of
twenty millions short of that computation. The comparative
effects of peace and war on our commerce are still more dis-
tinctly illustrated by what took place in i%io2, the only interval

-S.. .At

FEB. 1.

of peare whirls we have egjoyed for the last fifteen years. In
that fortunate year, our exports made a sudden start of nearly
tour millions above those of the preceding year of war; hut iiz
the following year, in which the mournful renewal of hostilities
took place, our exports suddenly fell nearly ten millions below
thow of Itsln, and have not yet recovered this rapid diteiontion.
Such striking facts require neither eoinment nor illustration.
Hut it' it can he thus demonstrated that peace would be so ad-
vantageous to the commercial world, it w ill not be denied that it
A ould be still more esseatinl to other classes of the community,
to the manufacturer who is ruined by the accumulation of unsold
stock nn his hands, or to his starving workmen, whom his own
exigencies comp! him to dismiss.
Such, then, is the result of our enquiry into this important
subject, that peace might be obtained, and might he attended
with safety and numerous advantages. Such is the result of
calm reflection, in Iv hick we feel that we are not biassed either
by pusillanimous opprehensions, or by factious clamours. Were
we convinced that the nation really had any great interest at
stake ; that there was any object c:sential to its prosperity
is hick could better be obtained by war than by peace, we should
1w amour the tirst_to rouse up all its energies : we should then
Only tell our countrymen of their former triumphs ; of the lofty
rights and privileges which they have to defend ; of the inex-
haustible resources of their industry and magnanimity. But.
convinced as we are that no great interest is at stake ; that
there is no object in dispute which may not better be obtained
by peace than by war, we shall continue to lift up our hand..
to our emintry, and to heaven, against the wanton effusion or
human blood ; against wasting and dispiriting the nation by the
protraction of unnecessary disasters. Let the first opportunity
for opening negotiation be seized ; and, if the enemy prove un-
reasonable, then, and not till then, shall our voice be heard
alum% the loudest invitors to War.

REVIEW OF POLITICA L DECLA IM ER‘.

No. V.

CORBETT'S POLITICAL REGISTER.

-
For some vv‘eksartst, this gentleman has been amusing him.
welt' with repo % it*Vpon his old friends the A merieau
Beans, the wrongs as eieh wem formerly sustained by Pder Per
rupiur. lie has earnestly laboured to set this country upon
them, and was not a little angry with our Ministers fur lint ap-
plauding the affair of the Chesapeake, and asserting the prin.
disks on which our officers acted : but he declares that he
su-pect the J ankles are too cowardly, and can never he brought
to face us fairly either by sea or land. No wonder indeed, that
they should be a little backward; for he assures us, that they
have not ass instrument to fight with, except wooden pikes ant
a few Birmingham fowling-pieces: nay, vs hat is ball more, that
they must inevitably be obliged, in a short time, to run naked in
the midst of the snow, from the want of our manufactures, and
thus peri,h to a muss without our having occasion to strike a
single blow ! This helpless state of the Americans, however,
appears to Mr. Cobbett only an additional inducement to hector
and belabour them without mercy ; and after having blown tho
trumpet of war in that quarter, he has last week begun to sound
a still louder note towards the Continent of Lumps%
Mr. Cobbett seems to glory in being thought of the trite Eng-
lish bull-dog breed ; and certainly no one will deny him the dis-
tinction of having as keen an appetite for blood and carnage,
any canine hero in Leadenhall-market. On his arrival in this
country, be began to blow the flames of war with a vehemence
that astonished even the Anti Jacobins; and when the people,
tired of a fruitless and disasterous contest, at length hailed with
transport and illuminations the restoration of the blessings of
Peace, Mr. Cobbett, trae to his ferocious propensities, pre-
ferred to have his house half demolished by the mob, rather than
set up a single rush-light in his window. - During the interval of
tranquillity procured by the pram of Amiens, he left no means
untried to set France awl Britain again by the ears; and in the
meantime he amused himself with defending and panep rising
bull-baiting, prize-fighting, the Slave Trade, and every other
scene where bloodshed and domineering were found in consider-
able perfection. The renewal of hostilities gave fresh scope to
his natural propensities ; and he continued by the most stinging
reproaches to incite Ministers to form new coalitions, and again
set the Contruent in a conflagration.
Sometime ago, his sentiments appeared to have undergone a
wuuderful revolution. lu the course of declahning against all is

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