The National Register.
London, England, 1812-04-12 00:00:00

the part of Russia, which justified ,hiickending his legions
to the banks of the Vistula. For,;witli his usual disre-
gard of truth, he will, as in the case of the Berlin and,
Milan Decrees and Orders in Council, desciibe the conse-
quence of his obnoxious conduct, as its cause, and throw
on ALEXANDER all the blame of a rupture to which he
obliges him to have recourse. By his coalition with
Prussia, his announced interview with the Emperor of
Nuscera, the actual junction of his troops with those of
the former, and the avowed expectation of a powerfulco-
operation on the part of the latter, he deprived Russia of
all hopes of an amicable arrangement. He showed he;
the might of three States assembling against her, and that.,
her only mode of defence was an appeal to the sword.
1 Under such circumstances he knew what line of conduct
I she must adopt. Unable to prevent war, it became her
duty to secure every advantage within her reach, in order
to wage it with success.—Memel had been made a depot
of military stores. It was a kind of bait to invite Russia
to an open act of hostility, and its occupation by the
Russian corps will enable NAPOLEON to tell his people
that the territory of his Ally, the King of PRUSSIA, has
been lawlessly invaded : that our gold has bought the
Cabinet of St. Petershugh, although we have had no
communication whatever with that Court, and that it is
incumbent orr him to avenge the insult thus offered to his
dignity, and the injury inflicted on his friends. Armed
with this frivolous pretext, which, notwithstanding its
shallowness, will be sufficient to deceive, if not to satisfy,
the unthinking people whom he oppresses, he will instantly
repair to his army, :aid as it is already on the field, within
a short distance of the enemy it has to encounter, will
commence his operations without loss of time, and at the
opening of the most feveurable season of the year.
It is probable that ALEXANDER having once acted in so
decisive a manne,, will hasten to coneteract the Misr e.
presentations of the French, by publishing to the world,
in a solemn Manifesto, the reasons that have compelled
him to take up arms against his late Ally. According
to all appearances, if his spirit did nut shrink once more
before the power and nts of his antagonist, and he
maintains the att.tude of defimce which he had assumed,
this Declaration -viil have been issued immediately after
the occupation of Memel, as a justification for that act.
This must have taken ph,ce about the commencement ht
March. Previous to that period, we find the French
and Prussians had already reached Koningsberg, and the
rest of the army was advancing rapidly towards the
banks of the Niemen. Active hostilities might therefore
commence in the course of a few days, and from the
comparative force which the two chief Belligerents
are understood to bring into the field, but little hope
of a successFul resistance on the part of ALEXANDER eau
be entertained. He fights, it is true, on the confines,
and probably ere long within the frontiers of his native
land. He contends, not for the possession of a province,
but for the existtnce of his Crown. The war is not one of
ambition, but of self-defence on his part. But he stands
at the head of a nation of slaves, groaning under the
heavy yoke of yasolge, rithout pul;lic spirit) MA whits