Alexandria daily gazette, commercial & political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1808-1812, 1809-10-04

to the Americans at Paris that the govern
ment of the United States must soon deter
mine to join the French Or the British in
the war, as it would no longer be possible
to maintain a neutrality between the two
belligerent powers.
august 9.
We congratulate the public on the pros
porous and successful commencement OF the
military and naval operators, undertaken
on the opposite shores Ct Holland. Nor
do we desire to damp the general satis!ac-
ton by any animadversions or reflections,
calculated to diminish or detract from the
importance of the service and its utility
However meanly we profess to think OF the
talen.s, information or measures Of the pre-
sent administration however culpable, and
even criminal, we consider them, in not
having concentered their means of attack,
and applied them to one point, instead of
dispensing them all over Europe however
it is to be regretted, that the present eXpe-
diton was not sent before the subsection of
Austria, instead Of subsequent to it; ne
vertheless, we readily embrace any occasion
of commencing their intentions, even when
we most condemn their actions. Even tho
the power of the Austrian family and mo-
narchy should, as we too much apprehend
will Happen, be crushed and overturned;
though Trieste and Fiunle should be swal-
lowed up in the territories Of France, and
every possible means Of sending succors by
sea 10 Francis the Second be>hencrforward
precluded; yet may the continent be elcc-
trhed and recovered, If we can conquer,
and can retain, the province of Zealand.-
In fact, by the possession Of that insular,
maritime, and projecting portion ofthe Low
Countries, we become a continental state,
occupying that part Of the German Ocean
intersecting and discovering France from
Holland, commanding the mouths of the
Scheldt and of the Nleuse, ovsrhanging the
Netherlands, and formidable from cur VI
cinity to the usurper, whose capital is on the
Seine. We do not hesitate to assert, that
it we can garrison the Z principal islands
that constitute Zealand, Napoleon's throne
may yet be subverted, and all his gigantic
projects ofinvasion from Flashing and from
Antwerp will dissolve. But, it is not by
any temporary occupation, or predatory ex-
petition; it is rot by merely destroying his
fleets, or bun ming his dock yards and arse
nails, that we can check his progress +; we
must hold Zealand as we hold Kent and
Essex, in defiance of his armies, and his
fotillas, and his utmost force. 1t may be
SO held. We mean the islands from Voorn
to Cadsand, inclusively, because thsy are
all separated, though by narrow channels,
from the main land. The danger Of frost
is not such as to prevent it Did we not,
during the late war, occupy the little rocks
or islands of St. Marcou, scarcely seParal-
ed from the coast of Normandy, for sue
cessive years? To this subject we shall le-
turn; but we wish previously to know that
Flushing has surrendered, and to form some
opinion upon the Interior plans and intcn-
tons Of administration, in their present en-
terprize against Zealand.
An article dated Tarragona, the 9TH last
month, announces the recci pit of letters from
lord Collingwood, stating, that the combin-
ed Sicilian and English army, to the amount
of $4,000 men, had landed at Salerno. Sa.
lerno is town with good harbor, about
&c miles E. S. E. of Naples. The Toulon
feet lately manifested a disposition to put
to sea, but its fears prevailed, and Ii remain
ed in port.
Orders have very properly been given to
prepare hospitals, at Deal and Ramsgate,
for 1900 sick and wounded this is intend
ed as precautionary only, $50 of the latter
being the utmost number at present expect
ed from the Dutch coast.
The ship called the Dominica Packet, has
lately returned to Liverpool, from South
America where she had been seventy miles
up the river, to the port of Para, being the