The Sun.
London, England, 1809-09-22 00:00:00

THE FREIVCII PROCLAMATIONS, &c.
`ikELATIVE TO THE EXPEDITION.

(FROM THE ANEIGU.)

•
Every thing • that Buonaparte's Government has '
published upon the Expedition, tire measures he has
adopted, the details be has circulated relative to the
extent of Coe means of resistance, or the enthusiasm
with which the French have.marched to the defence •
c 4 their menaced coasts, prove. on ~one side, that he
wishes to disguise from the French nation the etfeets
of his imattovideoce ; and on the other, to..persuade
the English that the whole population of France is '
cages to arm against them, it her territory
.be me-
naced. But if this disposition really existed, it there
be in• that nation a spontaneous movement to oppose
every attempt, and defend the authority .of the man .
who is the author, of her miseries and her slavery, •
why -all these Preclainatiens of Mayors, Prefetts,
• Ministers, and Generals,? 'Why all those appeals,
.which appear destined rather to give rise to the sen-
timent
that products resistance, than to, tined the.
impulse of enthusiasm, and whiCh exaggerate the
danger, in order. to operate by fear what could not
be obtained by affeaion ? Never were there so many
Reports, Addresses, and Proclamation's ; and we.
may well say that the pen of Buonaparte's writers
has been more employed than the sword of his Ge-
uerals ; yet some of hiS Agents have telt, that by
giving to their prcclamattons so lively a coleuring,
so animated a tone,, they would give the he to that
ardour which is said to have. been excited in France
by the appearance of an. English ahoy, and, that it
would be concluded from the warmth of their ap-
. peals,' that there really is • much apathy- among the
people. Hence, more adroit or more impudent
than the other, they announced that the decrees, by
which they order in the instant the•formation of the
• National Guard, who are to march in, e-f hours,
were rendered necessary to avoid the disorder and
confusion which might arise from the eagerness with
which the.inhabitants' have proffered their ser'vice's,
and flown. to the defenCe of the Country. On this
account they 'announce that Napoleao wished to re-
gulate the zeal and ardour of the frenelrby deter-
mining the number of the National Guards who
might give themselves up to their noble enthusiasm
---that is to say, the Tyrant profited by this circum-
stance to enrol by violence the parents of the Con-
scripts, whom he had.sent Chained to the Banks of
the Danube or the Tagus; and whilst the latter
leave their native land without arms to defend or
cultivate it, and dye with their blood, or bleach with
their pones, a foreign soil, he forces the parents to
take tin arms also, and abandon their homes, to re-
place the regular 'army, which is making distant
. conquests,
.whilst France is operi.to the attempts of
the sthallest army that might be landed on her coasts.
Buonaparte well knows that this is the first idea that
must strike.t,he French, when they were informed
of the landing-of the English army; and to prevent
-the reflections or discontents that. might result- from
it, he takes care to tell the Senate, through Clarke
and Carnbaceres, that " before he ei!.ted. France,.
his paternal solicitude for his subjects to-esaw every
thing; and disposed of his reserve in such a manner,
that the French territory could Slot be insulted." Yet
such were the .effects of this. solicitude, that Aht-
werp. and the whole surrounding. country,„„all the
neighbouring coasts .were defended, as le has since
avowed, only by a few garrisons and national guards
inexperienced. in war. It suited: him at the begin-
ning of the invasion of Zealand, to pro% e that his
foresight,had rendered- the attempt or the English
useless and. impotent, bat now that the Expedition
has not had the result he feared, he wisnes to sliew
that the English dared not attack national guards
without experience.
_Fouche Was wanting iii pru-
dence and discretion, when he said to the -en) of
Paris--" Our enemies have too often accused us of
115.0 rig no energy, except in tumult."' It is easy to
perceive that this expression was dielated by the dis-:
satisfaCtion which the apathy of the Parisians had on
this occasion excited in the mind of the Minister of
the dud that. he attributed to the enemies of
France a censure which sprang from his own heart,
but the, whole odium of which he ,was.atraid to in-
cur. If the Parisians were so zealous, why endea-
vour to ‘vound their self-love.by.reminding thesis
of the insulting language of their enemies 3.