The National Register.
London, England, 1809-10-15 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

cone ive what cause .4 can be that the enemy have not
ea long since ex felled from the Veninsula. Anfials:
of Nations do Uotresent a sublimer instance of heroic de-
votion thau the inhabitants of Gerona continue to offer
In the defence of theii country and city they brave all the
horrorkof famine and fire, incessant alarms, fatigue and,
consequent distemper. This is not a momilltary ebullition
of spirit and zeal; it is a pure and inext:uguishab!e
which, for months, has burned with greater and greater.
ardAir, in the breasts of thcse generous citizens,,--the
IT4rtllj and genuine descendants of that noble and free-
born race of weii, who, for two centuries, resisted the
courage and discipline of the Roman legions! They,
.svhlive.- fate aw !its their country, have laai tirt.,zuly eler-
All claim to the admiration and esteem of mankind. Their
devo:i t, and their example, their courage and persever-
ance, we still hope, will not be unavailable; and that a
spark of the divine fire, which ghi,ts so intensely in their
breasts, may still warm the rest of their countrymen.
Co.abustible matter k not wanting. The Spaniards aieuot
Ina cod, heartless, phlegmatic people, which sonic of
our writers, to their own shame and confusion, have
thought tit to represent them. They have courage; 0)(7 i„
love their counirf ; but their loyalty and bravery were not
hitherto so well direried. In a word, the talents of their
gove..nment were unadapted to the character and situation
of the people.

A nl3ll from Gottenburgh arr;ved on Friday. The let-
tiers 1)1.0,101 by that coaveyance are silent as to the pre_
vise tenours of the terms of peace, concluded at Frederick- '
bm..een Itme:ia and Sweden. The prevailing opi.
*ion, nivicYce, espresed in these letters is, that the stip-
Nina h4s been tercet' upon the latter of shutting her ports
to Brt:sh shipping, and her markets to British produce.
There is no other aethority, however, for this report, than
the supposition that the Emperor ALERANnER, from his
boStilliV to this connicy, :led his submission to the views
of tiuoN pARTI7, would not consent to peace without this
stipulation. We commiserate the necessity to which the
Court of Stockholm is reduced of purchasing a peace upon
terms as ioitirioui to its honour, as they arcs destructive to
the commercial interests of its subjects. If it has signed
the obnoxious article, it Itid so, we have no doubt, reluct-
antly ; and under the impression !bat a refusal might occa-
sion-
tire complete overthrow of the monarchy. The pre-
ii!mt King- is an intelligent and moderate man. We knors
to estimate the advantages of a free intercourse with this
country. He relies upon the good sense and generosity of
our government; Nitta the professions made by Air.
CANNING: "That our Cabinet had no objection to Sweden
treating with her enemies for a peace." But this stipu-
Jation is a dead letter in a commercial, though not in a po-
litical, point of view. The season is rapidly approaching,
when the element& would have interrupted the relations
lietyteen the two countries; and when the Baltic is again
savigahle, *llollld we occupy one of the Danish islands,
carry on as active a commerce with Sweden, and
ether parts Of the Baltic, as we did before. The Swedish
iGovernment will not he very vigorous in enforcing a con-
Aition which is prejudicial to Swedish industry.

We refrained hitherto, from motives of very 'excusable
elicacy, to comment upon the motives which led to the
late duel between Lord CAsTLIF.IItrAGH and Mr. CANxING;
or to givean opinion upon the merits, or rather demerits of
either part,. The correspondence which passed between
both, now tieslNfore the public. Lord CASTLFueArol'i letter
fully states the grievances his Lordship coinplaMed of; and
his friends .have not. been remiss in advocating, h;s cause.
Mr. CAN vt.in observed, as long as he retained the seals of
the Foreign Department, a profound silence ; and his friends
imitated ;Os d'seretion nod delicacy. The public waited.
with ;sox:eh, for the
.justification of this gentleman against
the char —el of duplicity and intrigue, which had been pro-

PCT. 15%

fusel.), bestowed upon him; and, at last, as teaplanetion
appeared on his part, of the Inotives. which induced him
to insist upon the removal of his Lordship; and an attempt
to justify the concealment. He did not answer, certainlyo
the abuse and misrepresentation which a Secretary of one of
the parties had employed against him ;—be knew and de-
spised the partial source, whence these charges originated
—but he gave a simple, Uiseasstouate, and unornamented
statement of facts; .and left it to the ca :dour of the public
to judge his conduct and motives. This, at least, was ho-
norable; aed, coatrasted will the vielence,lndeceucy, par-
aad acrimony of Lord CASTLEREAGH'S friends,
throws a favourable light upou his conduct in the late trans-
act,on. We thought lit :o make a distinction in the above
passage, when he imputed violent and indecent conduct
to the friends of Lord CAST LEREAGH ; for we cannot be-
lieve that the latter would counteeance such an indecorous
moue of proceeding.
The-principal complaint alleged by Lord CASTLERF.AG/1
against Mr. CANNING, is contained in the foilw.ving passaee
of his Lortlihip's letter I have no right, as a public
man, to resent your demanding,. upon public grounds, my
removal from the particular °lice 1 have held, or even
.from the administration, as a condition of your continuing
a Memb:r of the Clovernmeut. Bet I have a distinct right
to expect that a, ropasition, justiciable in itself, shall. not
be executed in an unjestiliabie muanuer, and at the expellee
of .my honour and reputation. And 1 consider that
you were beund, at .tease, to avail yourself of the
R same alternative, namely, your OLI re:fl.ip:at:oe, to take
yourself out of the predicament of practising such a
deceit towards me, which you did exercise in demaedizig a
decision for my removal." This is ; though we do not
entirely agree with the latter part of the reposition.
Let us now see what Mr. CANNING opposes to this charge
of deceit. " With respect to the concealment, Mr. CA N..
N 'NG, some short time previous to the date of Lord CA S..
TLER EMIR'S letter, without the smallest suspicion of the
existence of any intention of. the part of Lord CASTLE..
R FA(:/1 to make such an appeal to Mr. CANNING as that
letter contains, but upon information that some misappre-
sion did exist, as to Mr. CAN N ti's supposed concurrence
in the reserve which had been
pracut,ed towards Lord
Caereeiteac ir, transmitted to one of Lord CASTLEREAGH'S
most intimate friends, to be communicated whenever be
might think proper, the copy of a letter addressed by Mr,
CANNING to the Duke of PORTLAND, in the month of
July, in which Mr. CAN Ni .!'n request, in justice to him-
self, that it may he remembered, whenever hereafker this
concealment shall be alleged ias he doubts not that it will)
against him, as an act of injustice towards Lord CASTLE.
It I.AG/I, that it did not originate in his suggestion; that so
far from desiring it, he conceived, however erroneously,
Lord CAMDEN to be the sure chaueel of cinmuunicatioa to
Lord CAiTLER EAG I/ ; and that up to a very lateperiod,
he believed such commuu:cation to have been actually
made," Air. CANN iNG concludes with the following passage:
What may have been the reasons which reveille(' Lord
CASTLEREAGH'S friends from fulfilling the assurances given
to Mr. CANNING, that Lord CAST ELLSLE AG LI'S mind should
he prepared by their cornmunicat'ons for the arrangement
intended to he carried into etli!ct ; and what the motives
for the disclosure to Lord CASTLER EAGII after that arrange
ment had ceased to be in contemplation, it is not for Mr.
CANNING. tp explain." Such is the purport of Lord CASTLE•
C A Gli'S accusation and of Mr. CANNien's defence. We
must observe, however, that the explanation, which has
already appeared in the. papers, has not been published,
as far as we can learn, with the :Approbation, orpermissii.in
of Mr. CA N N !NG. It is 11t) more than a bulletin, whte had
circulated a considerable time in the higher civelea, and was
written to satisfy the curiosity of that gentlenum's frierk,
in order not to incommode him during the fryer oil-fish/li-
ed by his wound, by answers to their inquiries. It may
therefore, be &Assumed that be has not stated his case Awc