The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1810-01-16

4 -
ma. this expedition originated in ignorance
ana inexperience and when, sparing OF
french blood, and directing that plan
merely defensive should be followed, YOU
wrote to me: -
-" we are happy to find the English crow
ding into the marshes ofZsaland; let them
ne merely kept in check, and their army
WIZ De speedily destroyed by the bad air,
and the epidemic fevers of that country.''-
Whi,st our troops were & distributed in COM
'ortable cantonments in the environs oeAn-
twerp, or stationed in that fortress, the Eng
lish army, encamped in the midst of marsh
es, and destitute of water fit for drinking
lost upwards of one third Of it's soldiers
Doe the Facility which the English have Of
gong oy sea from one quarter to another,
may lead us to expect that all that will have
escaped the disasters of this expedition, will
be sent to reinforce their army i'm PORTUGAL
oife, 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
snidier, one OF Your armies. from one scene
2. action 20 the other; and your majesty, so
h'ehiy satisfied with the zeal Of the troops
you command beyond the Danube, is anxious
TO spare them from the fatigues of the war in
spain. Besides, the French armies beyond
'he fyrenees, now consist Of 500 battal,ons
ana $50 squadrons. IL is therefore suliici-
snt, without sending any additional corps
tnither, TO keep up ct their full establishment
those already there. Thirty thousand men,
Collected at Bayonne. afford the means of ac
complishing this object, and of repulsing any
force which the English may cause to adj.
vance..-in this state of things. l conceived
that II correspondent with your majcsty's
views to limit the levy, necessary at this
moment, to the contingent Indispensable re
qu'sIte for replacing, in the battalions of the
interior, the drafts which are daily made
from them.
he returns which will be laid before
your majesty will inform you, that of the
CONSUMPTION for the years 1867 9 9 and
~ there still remain more than $4,000,
VINO, though balloted, have not vet been
called into actual service. This immense
reinforcement raight march against your G
nemies, should that measure be rendered
necessary by any imminent danger to the
state. propose to your majesty TO callout
only $4,000, and to declare all those classes
entirely tree from any future call. BY this
means, your armies, sire, will be maintains
ed nc their present respectable establish
ment, and a considerable number OF your
subjects will be dehnitively released from
the CONSUMPTION. Your majesty will also
have at your disposal, the IS .0oO men afford.
eu by the class of 1911, upon whom shall
not propose TO your. majesty to make any
caii, unless events should dissppont your
hopes and pacific intentions. Your males
~ armies are equally formidable from their
numbers as from their courage. But who
could advise France not to proportion her eff
forts to those of her enemiess Ia giving
such advice, the result Of the most imDru-
dent security, it would be necessary to for
get that Austria, very lately, had on fcnt
10000 men; and that to create this gigan-
tic force, that power did not hesitate to OK
pose her population t, almost total destruc-
non' and to attack the very basis Of her
prosperity.
We must equally forget, dat England
mas taken part in the continental war. by
landing, at rhe same moment. ,hree different
armies, on the coasts Of Naples, Holland
and Portugal. The agitatios of those who
are jealous of France has bSan redoubled,
because they are conscious. that the present
crisis has forever fixed her greatness Their
efforts will be impotent, because France
has oeen enabled to reach the highest pin
nacie OF success and OF glory, without ma
KING any ot those ruinous sacrifices which
destroy her enemies. In fact. not withstand
ing the successive calls. up to the present.
fsade upon the different classes of con.cripts,
scarcely has one fourth of those who com
posed them, taken the field. In consider
ing the situation of your maiesty's armies,
and the results Of the English expeditions,
can we, without degree of satisfaction,
behold England, in imitation of Austria.
making efforts disproportionate TO hermeans
and the wants of her navyt What cen
she expect from this contest upon land, and
man TO man wiki France, that shall not re-
dound to her own injury and disgrace -
Sire, the French people will have to thank
your majesty Tor the jneHprsssiblc advantage
and glory OF peace. conquered without
maritime expeditions, from an enemy, who.
by his ru5;ion, thought himself free from
attack. Every serious attempt upon the
continent, on the part Of the Fogiish. is q
sep towards general peace. The English
ministers, who preceded the members of
the present government q more able set of
men, than the latter we've we'll convinced
of this truth, and took good care not to com
mt themselves IN an unequal contest IT
dId not escape their observation. that. to
carry ON q long war, 1t was necessary that
" should press lightly upon the people who
had to support it.--Within the last twelve
mcnths, the war ms cost England more blood
than sae had previously she'd from the pc
rod Wien s"a broke the peace Of Amicns /:
committed in tic battles of Spain and Por-
tugai, whence her d0ty ana nag intere.t
forbid her 20 recede, she will see tnos- c,,-,,-
tries become the tomb of her brave war
rors. Sorrow fUr their loss. viii at length
produce in the minds of the ENGLISH peoTle
a well founded athorrcncs of those cruel
men, whose ambiiioa aud frartic hatred dsr.
ed 10 pronounce the expression q ckcr7ui
4 vi 81. ~ Il