Star.
London, England, 1809-11-02 00:00:00

stoy4
taking in with a single glance the present situation
of affairs, -finds it neccssarv. to order a levy-of 35;000
vier. Tins is the purport of the Decree which is to be
subrni:ttil to your deliberation, and by which the
Lew 1,..vy is in up;in the new classes of the con.
scription of the years of 1806, 1807, 1808, 1809, and
1810. Your wi',dont will already have discovered the
benefit of this.arrangement. You will soon be a:;:al:
red that it is the result of a prudent foresight, and of
the unceasing anxiety of his Majesty for the 'public'
interest.

" Whatever, Gentlemen, may be the issue of the ne-
gotiations at _Altenburg, there are strong indications
that the tni-.lish, after having been di iven back from
our territories, will endeavour to prOlong the war in
Spain. The numerous battalions which his -Majesty
opposes to them in that kingdom need only •be kept
up to their full complement, in order to base all the
attempts of the enemy.
" If the peace be renewed. between France and
Austria, it will be impossible without .great inconve-
nience suddenly to tr.:nisi-sort the brave troops,who will
have conquered it, from the banks of the Danube to
thou' the Gnadilquivir. This remark has not es-
czipedthe paternal attention of his Majesty ; and let
us be persuaded, that after such glorious exertion's he
is desirous, and with justice, that the conquerors
ehoulci receive the testimonies of public gratitude and
goneral admiration.
" These points, Gentlemen, will be explained to
you by the Orators of the Council of State, and more
particularly in the Report of the Minister of War;
which the Emperor has ordered him to communicate
it) yon.
,‘ Tile levy required is, moreover, much less than
his Majesty could draw from the classes by which it
is to be supp..ied ;, besides, it will be rendered as little
burtlionsorne as posSible.

“ In this crisis the Senate 1% ill be anxious, as on
former occasions, to forward the intentions of our au-
rust Sovereign, for the honour and glory of the
Vicnch peolle.”

PEFO:tT NIADF. TO His MAJEIFY THE IMPEROR AND
KIXG, rizoTEcTOlt OF THE. CONFEDEBATION OF THE
piHNF., BY }II: ENCeELLENCY COUNT DE. HUNEBOUGH,
111NISTER OF WAR..

•' September 15, 11609.

44 Sire—lf the numerous victories of your Ma-
jesty, and the extraordinary successes of your armies,
he :it the same time the work of your genius, the re-
sult ct" the most scientific military combinations—of
your inherent inticpidity, and of the courage of so
many brave men, these victories and successes are no
less owing w your admirable foresight.
• It is this which has inspired your Majesty with
the idea of assembling at first in the interior of the
Empire, whatever might be the complexion of affairs,
the youth of France uho are successively called to
serve their country, and of making them constantly
pay their contribution to the safety of the State, at
the same time that they accustom themselves to arms.
• The temporary dereliction of this 'system would
be productive of some danger to the Empire,- and it
would he placing rather too great a reliance uputithe
future, however flattering. appearances may be at pre-
sent, to sidle) the depots in the interior of France to
want the regular supply of recruits, whenever a part
of the young soldiers who fill them should be -called
into actual service.

" A short glance at the state of your Majesty's
armies, will. be sufficient to spew that the levy which
I feel it my duty to propose, is sufficient at present.
.1 Master of Vienna, and of more than half the
Austrian Monarchy, your Majesty is at the head of
the most formidable army that France ever had be-
yoncl_the 'Rhine ; and to judge of what it is capable
of effecting, it is only necessary to mention, that it
ivas hardly formed when it conquered Austria in the'
fields of Thaun, of Abersberg, and of Eckmuhl.—
Whether the negotiations at Altenburg terminate in
peace, or whether the war continue, your Majesty has
in your depot troops enough fit to take the field, to
recruit your army in Germany.
" In the month of January your Majesty pursued
the English army in Gallicia. While you were en-
raged in it your Majesty was informed that the Court
of Vienna intended to break its engagements.—
Though such an event seemed to call the principal
part of your forces into Germany, your Majesty, ne-
vertheless, thought proper to have your veteran army
in Spain ; not that the whole of that army was actu-
ally necessary to complete the subjugation of the
Spanish rebels, but to deprive England of the possi-
bility of prolonging that rebellion of which she is the
cause. That power, seeing in the new system estab-
lished in Spain the presage of her own ruin, did not,
however, despair of °vet turning it ; and her efforts
upon this occasion have greatly surpassed all that we'
have sect; her m .ke upon similar occasions.
" General Meore had not been able to bring off
from Gallicia the half c f his troops. The immense
losses which ht. army s.rstained, did not dissuade the
EnOish Gov r,.m nt from sending a fresh army,
consisting of 4f),(10 men, to Lisbon. It penetrated
to the centre of and rallied round it the vari-
ous corps 1.1 insurgents. The banks of the Alberche
and the T.:gits itnesstd their flight and their confu-
sien. Curnrll, to retreat to the further side of that
tiver, and putsued at the point of the bayonet, they
totally evacuated Spain, and the Pot taguese saw them
set urn in disorder to their territory.
" At the tan:e period, ,0 army of equal force sud-
det ly -.:;.t0 its appeal:ince at the entrance of the
Scheidt, w ith lie intenth.n of burning the dock-yards
at Autwerp ; then! our enemies weft covered with
contusion. At their approach, Flushing was provided
with a niunert us garrison ; 12,000 picked loops
marched from St. Outer, under the orders of the Se.
tutor General Bamboo ; and eight deati-brigades of
whisli were a: Boulogne, Louvaine, and Pa-
t is, prc.ceedel. p to the points ciatt were menaced.
'rhese t0..1s wele sulficicat for
t I.edoctue 'a Au- ;.14s.e, winch is covered
y a st,(aig tatEr.,:t, and .:11..;dvanced wo: ks which
y cur tn,eti ,:.tcd tour year ago,
is still .113t,itr 1 roft-ct:si ity s V f:.,ive inundations;
arcci n t ;cit. ',auk Lie f.lei•c;dt, the Put of /a Me
do nooks, it:tiels is hie I sistrounUPC by an iauoilstioa

....3ses in &North.
ish Expeditiotk was formed upon the
that Antwerp was only an open city,
it fortress could not be taken but after a
Independent of troops of the line, your
,w, at the first signal, 150,000 national
gt to march, Ind at their head the Majors
of yo_ur infantry, officers of the fifth battalions, and
veteran Officers ; you found in their ranks a number
of old soldiers.

" Numerous detachments of cavalry of the line were
preceded by the gens-d'armerie of France. The Eng-
lish were not aware that this branch of force alone
cotilkat, a moment's notice, assemble at any given
'point squadrons, composed of men that had seen
sixteen years of service, all equally experienced,
equally well disciplined and armed as these brave
Cuirassiers, who, under your Majesty's orders, have
brought to so high a pitch the glory of the French'
cavalry. •
• " As by enchantment, the dispositions prescribed
by your Majesty caused to appear at the same instant,.
on she banks of the Scheldt, and at the rendezvous
of the Reserve at Lisle and Maestricht, four different
armies, under the command of Marshal tlx, Prince of
Ponte Corr°, and Marshals the Dukes of Cornegliano,
Vainly, and Istria.
" The sudden developement of such a force, and
the national impulse which continued to multiply its
numbers, struck the enemy with consternation.— ,
Their enterprize, calculated upon false data, com-
pletely failed.
• " Europe has witnessed the -realization of that
which your Majesty's penetration anticipated, when
you pronounced that this Efpedition originated in
ignorarice and inexperience; and when, sparing of
French blood, arid directing that a plan merely de.
fensive should be followed, you wrote to me We
are happy to find the English crowding into the
marshes of Zealand ; let them be merely kept in
check, and their army will be speedily destroyed by
the had air, and the endemic fevers of that country.'
" Whilst our troops were distributed in comforta-
ble cantonments in the environs of Antwerp, or sta-
tioned in that fortress, the English army, encamped
in the midst of marshes, and destitute of water fit
for drinking, lost upwards of one-third of its soldiers.
But the facility which the English have of going 'by
sea from one quarter to another may lead us to ex-
pect that all that will have escaped the disasters of
this expedition will be sent to reinforce their army in
Portugal.
" Sire, the various fields of battle in which your
armies have distinguished themselves are too remote
from each other to admit of your marching, without
inconvenience to the soldier, one of your armies
from one scene of action to the other; and your Ma-
jesty, so highly satisfied with the zeal of the troops
whom you command beyond the Danube, is anxious
to spare them from the fatigues of the war in Spain.
Besides, the French armies beyond the Pyrennees now
consist of 300 battalions and 150 squadrons. It is
therefore sufficient, without sendinr, any additional
corps thither, to keep up at their full eztablishment
those already there. Thirty thousand men, collected
at Bayonne, afford the means of accoropling tail
object, and of repulsing any force which the: English
may cause to advance.

". In this state of things, I conceive that it corres-
ponded with your Majesty's views to limit the levy
necessary at this moment, to the contingent indis-
pensably requisite for replacing in the battalions of
the interior, the drafts which are daily made from
them. The returns which will be laid before your
Majesty will inform you, that of the conscription for
the years 1806-7-8-9 and 10, there still remain more
than 80,000 men, who, though ballotted, have not
yet been called into actual service. This immense
reinforcement might march against your enemies,
should that measure be rendered necessary by any
imminent danger to the State. I propose to your
Majesty to call out only 36,000, and to declare all
those classes entirely free from any future call.
" By this weans, your armies, Sire, will be main-
tained at their present respectable establishment, and
a considerable number of your subjects will be defi-
nitively released from the conscription. Your Ma-
jesty will also have at your disposal, the 25,000 men
afft,rded by the class of 1811, upon whom I shall not
propose to your Majesty to make any call, unless
events should disappcint your hopes and pacific in-
tentions.

" Your Majesty's armies are equally formidable
from their numbers as from their courage. But who
could advise France not to proportion her efforts to
those of her enemies In giving such advice, the
result of the most imprudent security, it would be
necessary to forget that Austria, very lately, had on
foot 700,000 men ; and that to create this gigantic
force, that Power did not hesitate to expose her po-
pulation to almost total destruction, and to attack
the very basis of her prosperity. We must equally
forget, that England.has taken part in the Continen-
tal war, by landing, at the same moment, three dif-
ferent armies, on the coast of Naples, Holtuid, and
Portugal.
le The agitation of those who are jealous of France
has been redoubled, because they arc conscious that
the present crisis has for ever fixei her greatness.—
Their efforts will be impotent, because France has
been enabled to reach the highest pinnacle of suc-
cess and of glory, without making any of those rui.
nous sacrifices which destroy her enemies. In fact,
notwithstanding the successive calls, up to the pre-
sent moment, made upon the different classes of
conscripts, scarcely have one.fourth of those who
composed them taken the field.
‘. In considering the situation of your Majesty's
armies, and the results of the English Expeditions,
can we, without a degree of satisfaction, beheld
England, in imitation of Austria, making efforts
disproportionate to her means, and the wants of her
navy f What can she expect from this contest upon
land, and man to man, with France, that shall not
redound to her own injury and disgrace ?
Sire, the French people will have to thank your,
Majesty for the inexpressible advantage and glory of
a peace, conquered without maritime expeditions,
from an enemy who, by his situation, thought himself
free from all attack. Every serious attempt upon the
Continent, on the part of the English, is a sten to-
wards a general peace.
" The English Ministers who preceded the Mem-
bers of the present Government, a more able set of
SHIM Lima the lat*r, were well rouviacedif,..Ni truth,

isrewurvarr-ramttl voMITIIt
unequal contest. It did not escape their observation,
that to carry on a long war, it was necessary that it
'should press lightly upon the people who had to sup-
port it.
" Within the last twelve months the war has cost
England more blood than she had previously shed
from the period when she broke the peace of Amiens.
Committed in the battles of Spain and Portugal,
whence her duty and her interest forbid her to recede,
she will see those countries become the tomb of her
hr avest warriors. Sorrow for their loss will at length
produce in the minds of the English people a well-
founded abhorrence of those cruel men, whose ambi-
tion and frantic hatred dared to pronounce the ex-
pression of eternal war. It will excite in that people
the wish for a general peace, which evezy man of
good sense niay predict to be near at hand, if the
English persist in a continental contest. I am, with
respect, &c. (Signed)
ds The Minister at War, Count de HUNIBURCM."
Report of the Motives of the Projet of the Senatus Cansultura
relative to a Levy of 26,000 Conscripts, an the Classes ei
1806, 1807, 1808, 1809, and 1810, by the Count de Cessic,
Orator of the Council of State.

This report, after many adulations on the genius
of the Emperor and King, and a high-coloured pane-
gyric on the loyalty and exertions of the French na-
tion, proceeds to explain the causes of the levy—
" The enemies of France," says the Orator, " ob-
serving that we levied the classes of 1809 and 1819 1
before the period in which they were to be called into
action, thought, without doubt, that we had recourse
to that mode, because none of the resources of former
years were left to us. How great was their mistake!
If the French Government had adopted that line of
conduct, it was because it coud never be brought to
think that the English Government had determined
to wage perpetual war with France ; it was because ,
it could never be brought to think that the Aw'trian
Government, to which peace was so important, so
necessary, that that Government, to which a liberal
and unexpected peace had been granted, had a right
to cope again with the French armies, directed by
Napoleon the Great, and electrified by his presence. ,
" Our Emperor, therefore, calculating upon a '
speedy and long peace, was willing to divide the
weight of the war among several classes, in order that
it might press the lighter upon each of them. He was
also desirous that the French, v, ho constituted these
two classes, and who, according to the proper esti-
mate of public duties, might have been deprived of
their share of military glory, should be furnished
with an oppoytunity of acquiring it.
" Disappointed In his first expectations, the Em-
peror had recourse to those supplies of men which he
had, from principles of prudence, leit in reserve.
Twice did he apply for succours, and twice were the
contingents which he deemed necessary furnished with
r ipidity.
Our moderation had thrown a veil over our
strength, but our moderation is desirous now of ma-
nifesting our strength. Let us put an end to an error
so fatal to our enemies, and which may become still
more disastrous to them ! When they shall 1:o well
acquainted with our resources, they will re) doubt be
convinced that a frank and solid peace is the only
part, the only post in which they can find safety.
" It belongs to weak Governments to seek for se-
curity in the concealment of their weakness, and the
exaggerations of their strength. It is the duty of
France to make known to her friends and enemies her
true situation. That situation is such as to inspire
the former with more energy, and to warn the latter,
that in taking up arms they must expose themselves
to certain loss.

" The following, Senators, is the precise state of
the conscriptional force of France, and I can pledge
myself for ►ts accuracy :
" The class of 1806, consisted of 423,000, ac.
cording to the lists of conscription.

That class comprising 1.1 moptiTs - 42n,000
That of 1907 - - - - - 145‘2,0110
1808 - - - -1: '..1,41,X)
3809 - - - 262,000
1840 - -- - :;62,000

Total - 1,867,000
Of these classes, until the present moment, there
have been raised but 520,000 men.
1606 - - - - 102,500
Ifio7 - - - 102,500
• 1808 - - - - 102,501
ISO 9 - - - - 102,500
1610 - - - 110,000

520,000
There consequently remains still at home of the
five classes 1,347,000 men."

• The Orator next proceeds to shew the great facility
with which the new levy must be raised, leaving an
immense number still behind, and argues that such
resources will be the most efficacious means of re-
ducing the English to the necessity of demanding a
peace, which, however necessary to France, is indis-
pensable to them, because their very existence may
perhaps depend upon it.

4.0 vs usr-77rvi, rzcZNUJi PAPERS. werP with our f
" The Engli;
CONSERVATIAT SENATF—SITTINO OF TIIE THIRD supposition, the
OF OCTOBER. whereas that fo
ADDBEt-s of His iosr 31;:u.::NE HIGHNESS THE PRINCE Icing siege.
ARCH CIIANZ7I.; OR OF THE EMPIRE. Majesty saw, a
" Gentlemen--Hislinlwrial and Royal Majesty, guards ready to

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