The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1809-11-14
= FROM cosnrrr's WEEKLY REGISTER.
THE EYpElIELnM

soners of war. AS its further movements must
80 very soon be known, it would be useless to of.
fer thereon any conjectures but one may ven
ture TO assert, without waiting for any further
particulars, that, ifnnore, and great deal more,
be not done, this Armada viii be. the laughing
stock of the world, The dispatches, giving an
account OF what has hitherto been done, are
Very, fosS, and very inspil. More than thirds
ofthe matter consists of praises and bii,nents
without ita being possible for any one to discover
an adequate cause. Why, what has been done
Whatisit that all this talk is about What occa.
sions have there been for drawing forth all this
wonderful stock ofTerit ! In the taking OF a place
IKE Flushing, with such an immense force, ex.
cept by Storm, it appears next to impossible that
there can be any ground for the bestowine ofhivh
praise on many persons. To the engineer who
constructed the batteries, and to a small number
OF persons engaged in resisting the sallies, some
particular, ention may be due but, we have
mere as long list of praises a. might have been
expected after battle like that of Blcnheim.
and, indeed, much longer list than did ACTUALLY
accompany the account of that battle The nav
Al dispatches upon, this OCCASION, are cfthe same
character !" Much ado about nothing" Evc-
~ body WHO'S named, is praised. The thing,
ny beng SO common, becomes little worth It is
ike the tiring OF the Park and Tower guns, and
the Examinations at Whitehall and the gaming
houses. Surely, it is no such great thing for anv
OF our adnIrals or captains to perform this or that
branch OF service with ability and zeal To
swell our dispatches with praises in such strain.
Il mot calculated to add to the reputation of the
navy. whose officers never, except upon occas-
ons where their merit appears in a very consp;c-
uous light, ought to be the object of particular
Praise; because to prai: them for trihes, is to
ehsck, instead OF encouraging emulation. In
such service imam ought to feel that to be ony
fh'ng at all, be must be greatly meritorious but.
a0c;cerding to the new system thcre are degrees
efPraise to suit all sizes of zeal, talents and cou
rage; so that if a man has but moderation in his
views OF fame, he need never despair of being,
satisfied. But, the worst of it is, this moderate
on IS not at all calculated produce that sort of
deeds, which support the reputation of the SER
wee, and the renown OF the country, and which,
py those means, tend to the preservation of the
country's independence. There is some talk of
an intention to keep possession of the Island of
Waichercn, and to retain it at the peacc. When
we speak fPeace, it is like speaking ofposteri,y
but, whether in war or in peace, I cannot think
At possible long to hold this Island The garri-
son must be very numerous the bropisiens must
be sent from England; the .tuei to cook them
must be sent from England and think it not
unlikely, that no small part of the 1oatey for GER
tam purposes at least, must be sent from Eng
land. The permanent possession of the island
would, therefore, be attended with an enormous
expense, and that too, without probability, as
TAR as can see, of producing any proportionate
good effect 1t would, perhaps, prevent the port
OF Antwerp from sending forth ships of war a
gainst US but Napoleon has SO many other
ports, that this would be no great injury to him,
ana could aot much retard his naval projects, un-
less, indeed, we ware able to block UP closely all
his other ports. All that he wants to do. at pre-
sent, is to build ships and get them fit for sea.
He may build feet of hundred sail of the line
IN the Scheldt, in spite of our possession of Wal.
cheren, or ofthe whole of Zealand The hemp
grows IN abundance in the North of France, and
IN the whole OF Belgium. Oak and other timber
OF all sorts, is to be had in plenty upon the banks
OF the Scheldt, as well as upon those of the
Mouse and the Rhine. The countries which
these rivers run through, are covered with for
ests OF hard wood and, from the mountains of
he Vosges and OF the Schwartzwad, the foot of
which Is washed by the Rhine, there are pines ~
good, perhaps, as any in Norway. Hence will
come tho pitch and tar also and, in short, with
out receiving single article by sea, Bonaparte
may build in the Scheldt, and at comparatively
trihing expense, number of ships of w.r equal
TO that Of the English fleet. Indeed, the fact of
his having built thirteen ships of the line, in the
port of Antwerp, while we most firmly believed
that he had not the means of building ship of
the line any where, and while our immense naval
force wae employed in blockadiug his ports aud
cutting off his commercial communications this
fact atone ought to be sufficient to convince us,
tbat the naval resources of the Scheldt are very
great. The possession, therefore, Of Walcheren,
by US, viii not prevent Napoleon from building
shr,s, from building navy, IN the Schedt and,
unless we should be certain Of being able TO Eeee
The island, the possession can only be of tempo
rery use I; for, the moment give il up, or are
SrIven from it, that moment out comes a French
fset. Some say, that Walcheren is accessible
by means of the ice so, it cannot be tenabe a
gainst power like that of Bonaparte. But, this
point ought to have been asceyidiued, before any
expensive attempt had been made upon it /; for
it be accessible by means Of the ice it may pro-
baby be in the bands of the enemy before next
Christmas, and that too, with great loss on our
part. In short, it the possession Of it be at all
dependent upon the frost, it would be greatly
criminal in any Minister to leave garrison in il
any time later than the month of November
dare say, that the public in general have been
much surprised to find, that there were thirteen
new ships Of the Inc in the ScheIdt, not dream
ing that there were so many IN all NapoleOn's
dominions and not having, three times in their
lives, heard the port of Antwerp mentioned
There are not a few other things existing, of
which the people Of England hear nothing but,
Of which they aUU hear by and-by. At the peace
Of Amiens, /, assisted by gentleman who was
more conversant in the affairs of the Continent
foretold what this port Of Antwerp would be-
come, II left in the Iands Of the French. The
prediction was treated as q dream but it has
been realized--the " dream is out" as the old
women say and most fearful dream it u.s. I'll
does, in short, with other circumstances, render
II next to- impossible that the battle for the inde-
pcndence Of England should not be GndIlg |oaghf
upon EnyiSh ground. To this, after all our en-.
Ok ayors 20 avoid il after all attempts 10 dis.
guise the fact even from ourselves, il is evident
That we must come ct last. In this view Of the
war, oyery proof Of the vslor Of our army is
greatly Valuable to as and. az far az the arm ~