Star.
London, England, 1813-12-24 00:00:00

PRAGUE, DECEMBER 4.
Our Gazette, after communicating the Senatus
Consultum of the 26th November, adds the folio siting
reflections :
_ _

If the new levy of 300,000 men be, as there is
no. reason to doubt, exclusive of that of 280,000 men,
ordered by the decree of the 1 lth of October last, the
total number of men raised in France, during the
year 1813 alone, amounts tb 1,140,000, of whom one
half at least has been anqihilated, dispersed, or taken
prisoners; in short, lost to France.
The French nation can hardly be plunged into
such blindness, or reduced to such slavery, as nest to
ask on all sides, Why these immense preparations ?
Where is the imminent danger that renders necessary
such measures of defence ? Does a spirit of madness,
or the mania of conquest, possess all the Sovereigns
leagued against us, as well as the nations whom they
govern ? Or wish they to take vengeance upon u; for
all the mischief which we have been compelled to do,
them ? In short, mist we shed the remainder of our
blood, and eicpose ourselves to lose our last sirength,
in order to ward off a destructive peace, which would
i
i brng along with it our dishonour and run ?
" But all people of sense. throughout that Mo-
isnarchy would answer itlnira:)usly—there is not the
least inundation for all this. Our serf-stied erearsies,
4vho are not so in reality,- have taken up ar
~
oppress, despoil, or tyrannize over others ; tl tit
for their own independence, which it is their g d ob-
t,.
ject to recover. , What peissible motive crAil duce
them despicably to renounce their own pre iples,
and expose their oun enterprise to danger, seek-
ing to domineer over their neighbours; Vengeance
is as little, the motive which animates them. Have
we not been their companions in misfortune Did
not the vexations, the calamities which every where
followed our steps, press with double weight ori Our-
selves ? And do we not participate their wishes for
deliverance and tranquillity, though we cannot mani-
fest them in the same manner ? Thus the only con.
sideration which could justify the sacrifices at this
Imoment demanded of us, and the danger of total
ruin to which we are exposed, would be, Nit the
peace proposed to us must bring with it still greater
calamities—must compromise the national honour,-1
and destroy our welfare and security.
" The last of these blessings is for ever guar steed
to us by our own strength, by the means of efe nc e
furnished us bc'th by nature and art, by our national
spirit and our military means. Our safety has not
been-seriously endangered at any time ; but it ciporot
be augmented by conquelts, by distant possessions,
nor by extending despotic sway over foreign nations.
Such pretended advantages, by producing endless
wars, can only hirass, weaken, and *sham us. The
molhent France shall re-enter her true and just limits
she will become strong and unassailable, tne internal
strength -of no state in Europe will exceed her's, and
no attack will place her in danger.
tg Our welfa-e is sufficiently secured by our geogra-
phical situation ; by the extent and fertility of our
country ; by our industry, our arts, and the perfec-
tion of our social institutions. It has been severely
shaken by a long succession of wars, undertaken from
caprice, ruinous in themselves, and useless to us. But
a.piece, whatever it may be, provided it renew the an-
cient relations of commerce and friendship which
united us to all our neighbours, that it open anew the
seas to our commerce, and restore to the industry
and ingenuity of our nation its ancient stimulus, will
soon, in the bosom of reviving prosperity, even under
an ordinary Administration, make us forget our false
grandeur, as well as the real misfortunes with which
it was accompanied.
"As to our national honour, it cannot be impaired
by a peace'which shall only set bouirds to our injus-
tice. If our military honour only consists in our
alone gaining battles in Europe, in n':ver suffering
any military glory but our own, and in never being
beaten, it has long been lost beyond redemption.—
Should we even gain as many new victories as in
times past, the opinion of our invincibility exists no.
longer. Nothing can efface our defeats in Spain—
our retreats from Russia and Germany ; the battles
Of Sisisimanca and Vittoria, of Smolensk and of Leip-
sic ; but, no political arrangement can deprive us of
what is irilly solid and indisputable in our military
glory. - :. _ -

"Such, douhtlessi.mugt be the language of all just
and enlightened nitit in France. Is the Elpperor
Napbleon :done, then, to be allowed to pl.ico his
glory in the misery of world, and the submitsion
of all neighbouring states to his will ? He sip, that
dis4onoured throne, and a crown without glory,
would be to him insupportable.' By what right dcel,
ht; wish to escape that imaginary humiliation, by