The National Register.
London, England, 1809-09-17 00:00:00

NA

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foreign dependencies. Here it will be said, that we are
capable- of coOderable efforts against enemies at a dis!ance,
n account of our comparative swealth, and the assistance
which we are therefore abli,in detail, to obtain from every
guartpr of the globe, But we all remember, that America
was once conquered in Gerniriny! Our foreign possessions
We so widely separated and detached, that they can neither
Issist us, nor succour each other, when our enemies, no
longer fighting us at arms length, grapple with us at home,
sad confine us to our native resources.

. ,
• -It is then we must depecid lipon.the proportional stamina
of our population, opposed to the hiVes of military plun-
derers that Will swarm upon our coasts. But India has its
sope.rato danger; she has certainly been weighed in the ba•
&Neel of our enemy, and her fate is determined so far as
the will of the two Emperors are able to determincit. We
We no other solution of the conAuct of ALEXANDER, we
have no other mode of accounting for that dereliction of old
friendship and tried alliance; we cannot otherwise account
for an old friend becoming the most implacable enemy, than
by supposing that Buoxtr4aTE has offered to revive the an-
tent division of the world into the Empires of the East and
West, and that he has held out the plunder of. Turkey and
Asia to the -cupidigous avarice-of- the Autocrat of all the
Russian, We are -aware, that many very wise and 'intelli-
gent persons treat these schemes of devastation and plunder
as visionary. But it is„ perhaps, for the very reason that
grey appear to be visionary, that they actually cease to be
sot for, at no period, is our enemy so completely master
of success, as when his opponent does not expect to meet
bim ; and he is never more likely to accomplish an object,
than when his even attempting it, isconsidered as•impossi-
Met The old routine of human affairs has given way to
pae more alive. The secret has been discovered, of ob-
taining dominion by compromise and without war. BUONA•
"aim has fascinated the Powers of Europe; either by
specious promises, or real terrors, or by both ; so as to
leave those nations, whom he would hunt down, jealous
of the only power left who is capable of maintaining a
conflict with him ; he is conquering in detail. The two
EMperors are acting upon a deep plan, long concerted, and
?rofnundly secret.
Military operations are rendered almost electrical by the
improvement; of modern tactics, and the pervading genius
of a subtle and comprehensive mind? And shall we stand
like gaping idiots, staggered by the very force of our
danger, and, like children, cry out, is this possible ? Yes,
It is possible; a part of it is, perhaps, at this moment act-
ing, and the danger approaching whilst we indulge in a
post childish ineensibility. Russia has a population of
between thirty and forty millions rapidly and progressively
increasing: She is placed almost invulnerable in the NOrth-
fast porner of Europe. She has immense forces, and a
peculiar strength in light troops fOr preserving large tracts
Of country in awe and subjection. Religious prejudices
*line all her soldiers Ufa contempt ofdtath, and a ferocious
slispesition for plunder inclines them to the profession of
arms. 'She !Ids increased in population, in wealth, in
stivilization and discipline., almost unobserved by the rest
f Europe. Her territories skirt the whole No'
rth'ernfrctntier of 'Asia, and since distance is nothing to Russians,
phe is not witijost the means of attacking its rich Westere
nk from North to South, at the same time that its Eastern
uc, and even the rich Mines of Western America, arc-
pot 4:4ce‘gble. put what is of more iinportance, both to,
, •

1

her and to us, she has rid* the means of invnding oui
Eastern possessions from Ale North—because since Austria
is crippled, or kept in check by BVONAPARTE, she corn-
mand4 the navigation both of the Red Se and the Persian
Gujph.
_ _

The Russians have establishments formed in the quarter
of the Black and Caspian Seas. Her share of Poland gave
to her the entire corn countries of the Ukraine, and whole
provinces of pasture and forest, together with the navi.
gation of all the rivers East of the Danube. The obstacles,
therefore, to the progress of her arms, from a barren
frontier in Asia, and from a difficult country in Europe,
are quite removed ; she is brought to the 'gates Of Con.
stantinople, without a single fortress of any consideration
intervening. This city, celebrated ,for so many ages,` is
strong only to a maritime invader ; and politician, witho(it
brains could alone have sent a fleet to vepour epposii4, tq
the gardens of the seraglio, instead of an army to disem-
bark in its neighbourhood, and attack it by land. •
If the Russians once possess the capital, whlth we thin*
easily attainable by the Russians, what is to prevent them
from completing the conquest of Asia Minor Nill no;
the Greek Christians, who swarm throughput the TUrkish
dominions, assist to destroy and pull down the standard eir
the Prophet ? This opens the road of the Russians ,tq
India by the Persian Gulph. The ease with which a par.
eel of Matnelukes may be expelled from Egypt, or may he
bribed with the pillage of Turkey, to abandon it,,lenves no
room to doubt of the practicability of a passage to India by
the Red Sea.—For whatever may have been t,4e case with
the ancients, Surely it will not be necessary to prove, that
in the present day the engineers of Boox4eka.res army
would find no difficulty to float a Russian army across thn
Isthmus of Suer to 'the Indian Ocean. We have elreaq
noticed the Black and Caspian seas, which, with die
Southern Indian Rivers, will be no contemptible Wheel
Asia has always been the seat of wide,'extensive, and rapid
conquests, in which 114 Tartar and Persian cavalry were
principal ingredients, tq which the light troops of Russia,
assisted by the military tactics of Buospie.saTs. would form
a more than adequate opposition.
• What is there to oppose to this reasoning ? And OP more
to the purpose, what. have we to Oppose to this progrese
of the Russian armies to the East, whilst LivosArhare
keeps their Southern frontiers free from apprehensions
of any designs on the part of Austria, Prussia, or any
other of the continental powers; for we find that he has;
already began to assume the direction of Swedish politica
as well as those of Denmark. What we ask is to be op.
posed to this t The Russians abound with men, who are
hardy and poor, these will fight against the South which
is rich ; and feeble, and timid, as to its inhabitants. Our
thief fortresses in India, lie to the maritime frontier, and
inland we possess but ill-garrisoned fortresses, and puny
stations to defend oppressive tax-gathered. To keep
in Order More than twenty millions of people, and to de-
fend such an extent of country what force do we possess?
An army of natives, half alienated by our wretched policy,
and nlmost exasperated by our inattention to their preju-
dices, and perhaps still more weakened as to their allegiance
by our religious attempts. •
4re there 'besides this uncertain force, IQQ,OOO Eu-
ropeans,' men, wotrien, and children included ? In addi-
tic`n to these considerations can we disguise from pure
sclvet that the Aut9igiti can afford to void Any th.4.4i

stn. 17.

men annually in the .attempt ? Can we doubt that she will
always have plenty of soldiers volunteering for a service
which offers the plunder of Turkey, Persia and India ? Can
she not always be a campaign before us in India, by begin-
ning to operate when our season for doubling the Cape of
:Good Rope is passed by ? And will not the distance which
separates us from her Northern frontier conceal her pre-
paration? Nay, are they not attributed even now to the
'present state of Europe, and' her war w:th Sweden? And
,how are we to account for her rigorous adoption of Bco-
NAP.ARTE'S po'icy of excluding us from all intercourse,

althpugh she is obliged to pierce us through her own sides
How, .wB.siy,,4re we to account for this measure %hich

juiprep`herfelf,giore than us, unless there exist a necessity
,or".a wish tp:cpnceal froin us a knowledge of whatever is
going an in hei..doininions? If we arc to be told that all

culatlO is novel, let.me ask is not our situation
novel ? Are .old systems nece.siarily adapted to new Posi-
tions? Can we delive securiti. froM incredulity ? Is it pru-
'lent to trust an immense stake, at ,so great a distance to
the protection of such a disproportionate force? Or do
„our politicians calculate the powers which they employ at
a distance, as mechanics do weights, on a ballancc, and
"appose that .they will have effect. in proportion as they
recede from the center ?
•

FOREIGN INTEIiIGE:VCE.

FROM GrILII4N 12.4PEkS.
AVG. 1.-=According to advices from Ipspruck, .the
;Captain of Sharpshrmters, Hofar, of Passeyer.• has the chief
.eominand an the Brenner MOuntains, where the most refractory
insurgents maintain a position near the defile of Lueg, not fat
.from Stcinach, which they defended more with beams of Wood
*and pieces of rock, which roll from the,mountaini,into the oar-
valley,than with tire gross.--Correspqadent.
•Muutcu, Atto. W.—The Director of the Past-Office, Von
Achibel, who was to oganize anew .the post concerns for the
Tyrol, at Inspruck, liact-the.good fortune to escape from ,the
jut-gents; bat his carriage was shot through in many places
with balls. He has Already akrited here. Wounded ro-
leans, taken prisorrers, arrive here daily.; hlaey unanimously de-
clare. on their esavainations, that there ate Several English
agents in their country.;
.and that every Tyrolean who lilies
the field, receives from them one .florin in ready conitention mo-
uey. The Captain of die Sharpshooters gets tt ducat per day. I
These agents appear to have gut into the Tyrol, via Switter-
UW.4l'4 same paper.
AvnsztraG, AtvG. fl.-Withist these few dayi great move- ,
.snents prevail aiming the prenah traops Batiria and Swabia,
apparently (Riveted agaiitst the Tyrol.
In the bloody action in the narrow; deAl.lei.of,the Brenper,,the
two Bavarian regiments of life guards, and two tight infantry
battalions, hake saffered much, and the contingents of the Duke
of Saxony in the same proportion. The insurgents, 'who re-
fused to deliver up their rifle guns, defend themselves like des-
peradoes. At Ibis .moment, a great part of the Tyrol resembles
'La Vendee. Landeck has 'became a prey to the dames.
BANKS oiv Tut Eqs,SCe r. I.—The rumoorsof peace and
war with Austria keep wavering; and 'iii consequence of the
arrival of a courier to the French Hambuigh, and
several est*fettes, it has been generally reported, that the day
.before yesterday. the French' 19-laister for ..Fareigri
Ceuta Chatnpagny, returned from the conference at Altenhoribt
In Hungary, to Vienna; and that the Einiteroje cif Austria,hiri
sent notice to the French camp, that Vie armistice Will be
broken off in a fortnight after notice. The Tyrolean krve, ob.
tained a signal victory over the confederate army, tinder:the'
command of the Duke of Mamie; bii4ides tt vast Omerr of.
killed, they have cut off or taken prisoners Between" apt' WOO
Men. The brave Ty ealeang are preparing to iavadrci Bavaria,
on which account the whole French and Conrider'nfqorilitary-
lorce is concentrated near NiuniCh. chti Pea gtfe. pate! te has
not till flow meatioued a syllOte farther aboi. t OW reti~wal of
the armistice.