The Statesman.
London, England, 1809-11-02 00:00:00

• :

AtOYMEURsa OF rirgl4i;) OCTOBER.

CONSMVATIVE sr,NATE.
4 lITTINO OF ins INIIID OW 0t.101411..

ADM( FAS 01/ HIS MUST SCRENIti lIIIGHNESS Till
?RING& AKCII.CII►MCELLUR OF TIDE EMPIRE.
`•` IC.; 11/111.1:11111N - lIIS Ilnln•lial anti ►`Loyal Ma.
jesty, taking in with a single glance the present
situation of alf.sirs, finds it necessary to order a
levy of 38,000 oleo. • •
" This is the purport of the Decree which is to
be submitted to your deliberation, and by which
the new levy is imposed upon the new classes of
the conscript' of theyears of 1806, 1807, 1808,
1809, mid 1810.

•` Your wisdom will already hive discovered
the benefit of this arrangement. You will doun
be assured that it it the result of a prudent fore.
sight, and of the unceasing anxiety of his Majesty
tor the public interest.
" Whatever, Gentlemen, may be the issue of
the negotiations at Altenburgh, there are strong
indications that the English, after having been
driven back (ruin unr territories, will endeavour
to prolung the %vas. in Spain. 'The numerous bat.'
taliuns which his Majesty opposes to them in that
kiugdutnt'►teed only be kept up to their full com-
plement, to order to baffle all the attempts of the
enemy._

" If the peace be renewed between France and
Austria, it Mill he impossible, witliont great incon-
venience, to suddenly transport the brave troops
who will have conque.--4 it, froot the Banks of the
Dtunbe to those of the Guadalquivir. This remark
has not escaped the paternal attention of his Majes.
ty ; and let us be persuadcd,that after such glorious
exertion 4, he is desirous, and with justice, that
the conquerors should receive the testimonies of
public gratitude and general 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
IV.Ir ; which the Emperor has ordered him to com-
municate to you.
" The levy required is, moreover, much less
than his lajesty could draw from the classes by
which it is to be supplied ; besides, it will be ren-
dered as little burthensonse as possible.
" In this crisis the Senate will be anxious, as on
former occasions, to forwards the intentions of our
ungtist Sovereign, for the honour and glory of the
French name.

R' ?JR? M tOE TO HIS MAJESTY Tilt ESIpEROR ARO
Is I NUJ, PitOTECTOR OF THE COPIFEDERITIO,I OF
Tilt MUNE, BY HIS £XCVLLENCY COUNT DE
utntrauncu, MIRISTLII OF WA 11, SEPT. lb,
1809.

" SIRE,— If the numeross victories of your
Maje,ty, and the eztraordittary successes of yore
armies, be at the same time the work of your ge-
nius, the result of the must stientitic military
combinations, or your inherent intrepidity, and
of the eeersiF of .110.meny brave men, those vie.
tortes and successes are no less owing to your ad.
mirable foresight. It is this which has inspired
your Majetity with the idea of assembling at first
I:8 the interior of the Empire, whatever might be
the complexion of affairs, the youth of France
uho are snecessively called to serve their country,
and of making them constantly pay their contri-
bution 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 Em-
pire, and it would ho placing rather too great a
reliance upon the future, however flattering ap.
pearances may he at present, to sutier the depots
in the interior of France to want the regular sup.
ply of recruits, whenever a part of the young
suldiers who fill them should be called into actual
service.

" A short glance at the state of your Majesty's
armies will be sufficient to shcw that the levy
which I feel it my duty to propose, is sufficient at
present.
" 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
beyond the Rhine; and to judge of what it is ca-
pable of effecting, it is only necessary to mention,
that it was hardly formed when it conquered Aus-
tria in the fields of Thaun, of Abersberg, and of
Eckmuhl. Whether the negociations at Alten.
burgh terminate in peace, or whether the. war con-
tinue, your ►Majesty has in your depots 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 Galicia. 11thile you
were engaged 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 Germa-
ny, your Majesty. nevertheless thought proper to
leave your veteran army in Spain ; not that the
whole of that army was actually necessary to
complete Ihkt subjugation of the Spanish rebels,
bat to deprive England of the possibility of pro.
longing th.►t rebellion, of which she is the cause.
That power, seeing in the new system established
in Spain the presage of her own ruin, did not,
however, despair of overturning it ; and her ef-
forts upon this occasion heave greatly sit:imaged
all that xe have seen her make upon similar occa.
:ions.

" General Moore had not been able to bring
off from Gallicia the half of his troops. The im.
incise losses which his army sustained, (lid not
dissuade the English Government from sending a
fresh army, consi►ting of 40,000 men, to Lisbon.
It penetrated to the centre of Spain, and rallied
around it the various corps of insurgents. The
banks of the Alberchc and the Tagus witnessed
their flight and their confusion. Compelled to
retreat to the further side of thit river, and pm.
sued at the point of the bayonet, they totally eva- '
cuated Spain, and the Portuguese saw them return
iu disorder to thole teeriuscy.
At the seem period, an army of equal force
suddenly made its appearance at the entrance of
the Scheldt, with the intention of burssia4 the
dock-yards at Antwerp ; there etre enemies were'
covered with confusion. At their appv,iaelt,


t
g. ST ATESM AN.
._--

Flushing was provided with a nom sroes garrison ;
[4,000
.picked troops marched from St. Omer,
'under the orders of the Senator General R tarpon
and eight demi-brigades of reserve, n'birh were ai
Boulogne, Lonvaine, and Rail, proceeded, post,
to the pariah that were menaced.
" These troops were of themselves sufficient for
the defence of Antwerp. That place, which is
covered by a strong rampart, and the advance,.
works which your Majesty caused to be construe t.
ed four years ago, is still further protected b)
extensive inundations; and on the left bank of the
Scheldt, the fort of La Tete de Flandre, which
is itself surrounded by an inundation of 200()
Wises, secures the communication of Antwerp
with our fortresses in the North.

" The English Expedition was formed upon the
supposition, that Antwerp Was only an open city,
whereas that fortreas could not be taken but after
a long siege. Independent of troops of the line,
your Majesty saw, at the fiat signal, 150,000 tia.
tional guar ready to march, and at their head
the Majors of your infantry, officers of the fifth
battalions, and veteran officers; you found in their
ranks a number of old soldiers.

44 Numerous detachments of cavalry of the line
were preceded by the Gens.d'ara►erie of France.
The English were ant aware that this branch of

force alone could, at a moment's notice, assemble
at any given point 60 squadrons, composed of men
that had seen sixteen years of service, all equally
etperienced, equally well-disciplined and armed
as these brave cuirassiers, who, tinder your Ma-
jesty's orders, have brought to so high a pitch the
glory of the French cavalry.
" As by enchantment, the dispositinns pre-
scribed by your Majesty caused to appear, at the
same instant, on the batiks of the SelAtlt, anfl at
the rehdetvons of the Reserve at Lisle and Macs..

tricht, four different armies, under the command
of Marshal the Prince of Polite Corso, and Mar.
'dials the Dukes of Cornegliano, Vainly, and
Istria.

" The sudden deeelopement of such a force,
and the national impulse which continued to mu I.
tiely its numbers, struck the enemy with con-
sternatidte Their enterprise, calculated upon
false data, completely failed.
" Europe has witnessed the realization of that
which your Majesty's penetration anticipated,
when von pronounced that this Expedition urigi.
nated in ignorance and inexperience; and when,
searing of French blood, and directing that a
teen merely defensive should be followed, you
rote .to me :—4 We are happy to find the Eng-
lish crowding into 'the marshes of Zealand ; let
them be mer •ly kept in check, and their army
will be speedily destroyed by the bad air, anti the
esetemic fevers of that country.'
64 Whi!st our troops were distributed in com-I
fortabte cantonments in the environs of Antwerp,'
or stationed in that fortress, the English army,
encamped In the midst of marshes, mod destitute
of water it for drinking, lost upwards of one.
third d r But the facility which the
Etiglish have of 'rang by sea from one quarter to
latiother, may lead us to expect that all that will
have escaped the disasters of this Expedition will
be sent to reinforce their army in Portugal.
66 Sire, the various fields of battle in which
your armies have distinguished themselves are too
remote
.from each other to admit of your march.
ing, without inconvenience to the soldier, one of
.your armies from one scene of action to the
other; and your Majesty, 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 theri.-
fore sufficient, without sending any additional
corps thither, to keep up at their full establish.
meat those already there. Thirty thousand men,
collected at Bayonne, afford the means of accom-
plishing this object, and of repulsing any force
which the English may cause to advance.
" In this state of things, I conceived that it cor-
responded with your Majesty's views to limit the
levy necessary at this moment, to the contingent
indispensably requisite fur replacing in the butts.
lions of the interior, the drafts which arc daily
made from them. Thu retort's 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 mete who,
though balloted, have nut yet been called into sc.
teal 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 means, your armies, Sire, will be
maintained at their present respectable establish-
ment, and a considerable number of your sus.
jests will be definitively released from the con-
scription. Your Majesty will also have at your
disposal, the 25,000 men afforded by the class of
1811, upon whom I shall not propose to your
Majesty to make any call, unless events should
disappoint your hopes and pacific intentions.
" Your Majesty's armies are equally formide.
ble 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 se.
Parity, it would be necessary to forget that Aus-
tria, very lately, had on foot 700,000 men ;
and that to create this gigantic force, that Power
did not hesitate to expose her population to almost
total destruction, and to attack the very basis of
her prosperity. We must equally forget, that
England has taken part in the Continental war,
by landing, at the same moment, three dilfereat
armies, on the coasts of Naples, Holland, and
Portugal.
" The agitation of those wile are jealous of
France, has been redoubled, because they are con-
%cit'', that the present crisis has for ever fixed her
greatness. Their efforts will be impotent, be.
cause France has been enabled to reach the high.
est pinnacle of success and of glitry, without
making any of those ruinous sacrifices which de.
stray her enmities. In rice notwithstanding the
sus:cessive calls, up to the preseut tuoutent, made