Alexandria daily gazette, commercial & political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1808-1812, 1809-07-12

cSIdenr ruin VIII tlC SiHPSIoI 1AiSA1iiaS
| be mad enough to remove the only barriel
/ between his own dominions and the ambi
tious, the powerful Napoleon?
Has he SO little knowledge, so little ex
Eperience Of this proAigate child of fortune
as to- deem his latitude security against hi:
ambition. Can he be so blind to the exam.
Iple ofstheI king of Spans who at least de-
Isdeserved s6g well 8t tlls French emperor
and heefIE ffeatS so
Such arc the rdiIe ctions which naturally
arise in the minds Of those who consider
attentively the present state of things, and
who deduce their conclusions upon the ge-
tneral course of human actions. In every
question of this kind, however, there are
certain indirect relations, which, not being
upon the surface, are not perceived till the
matter is well stirred. They are strangely
erroneous who form their judgment up
on the simplicity of external circumstan-
ces.
Every government has some particular
point-some certain and defined object, to
which it looks as to its natural policy. Now,
from the davsof the empress Catharlne,
the object of Russian ambition has been to
incorporate in its territory the European do
minions Of Turkey, and 70 have tor the
boundaries of It's empire the Baltic on the
west, and the Black Sea on the east. Rus
STA, in fact, borders on kingdoms which are
vast enough to provide her with OBJECTS OF
ambition for many centuries. China, Per-
STA, and Turkey, are the natural fund OF
Russian aggrandizement, and 1t has been
accordingly thesopinion OF many OF the
wisest of the Russian cabinet, that Russia
should keep hsfselfstrom German quarrels
that her natural interests lie ia other
quarters, and that herstrue posi Icy towards
the states of Europe issto aatsssate ana
maintain such good UNDERSTANDING -sucn
a passive amity, as may leave aer q, S1H iel-
sure to attend to interests more l1g4e1lateiy
her own.
1t has been the opinion 81 as41y o our
English statesmen, ina 1-nGl2I'2 tic'set1
had no interests in common with INC cont
nent. It has beensin tile sai'l5 amer the
opinion of the Russian statesa Mat the
most immediatr interts st OF hussiais to &C.
cupy herself irsthe due cultivate" and I'M
provement Of her territory, and mat having
nothing to fear from European coniedera-
cies she had in fact nothing 70 do with
them. Russia, said they, has nothing to
gain, and certainly nothing to loss, on the
side of Germany-her sterile frontier Is OF
itself barsof iron against any hostile ap-
proach if she could not beat her enemy,
she could starve him. Russia, therefore,
is in full safety on this side. her Just po-
licy is to be defensive in Germany. her
fund of aggrandizement liesln other quar-
tiers.
The empress Catharine always acted up
on this policy till the AGRA of the French
revolution. TWAS the unhappy nature OF
this revolution, that being warsof Princl-
pies, the contagion reached those whom 1t
could not touch, and that no distance was
a security against it. The war therefore
which Catharine meditated, and which the
Emperor Paul executed against the French
revolution, was no contradiction to the for
smer system. The war was purely defen-
sive, and had no other object than to abate
anuisance. and cut off pestilence which
corrupted every thing within 1heswide
sphere ofits influence.
Neitherswas the INVASION and partition OF
Poland any departure from the same sys-
tenn. Poland, by its situation on the. Wis
tula, was naturally a desirable oboicctSto
Russia, the acquisition OF it rounded the
Russian dominions, and completed the line
sof natural boundary. Poland, moreover,
sor at least Russian Poland, though III the
1oose and general way Of speaking amongst
Biographies it has been sometimes descrlb-
cd as part of Germany, has certainly We
" little in common with the Germansstates
Dr. character; it is rather Tartar waste and
al Asiafic emnire where a hundred miles