The Rhode-Island Republican. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1809-1841, 1815-07-05
From the Virginia H,,gu8.


The present posture of fairs, Oh the conti-
ncnt Of Europe, is such as TO excite an infer
esl in the coolest bosom, 10 dispense the va
pors OF apathy, and TO iniuse the general
Wa, m,h OF life into even to'por itself 1t will
be recollec,ed that the war recently terminal.
ed between the United States and Great. Bri-
tain, a war which has poured in flood of
glory OH our infan, Republic, grew out OF the
s,upendous conflict, which, leng before its
commend men,, had agitated Europe. The
two grea, belligeren,s in this bloody contest,
feeling power and forgetting right" had
violated our national sovereignty, and set at
naugh,, thar digest of laws, whose aphorlsms
had become venerable, not only from their
Antiquity, 5u, from the practical benefits they
had so universally dispensed.
Outraged TO that points hey ond which for.
bearsnce would cease 10 be virtue" we en-.
tered upon the arena with Great Britain. At
length by singular yicissludc in human sf-
fairs the coalition against France triumphed
---and her ruler whose standard had success
sivsly waved on the towers of Rome, Berlin,
Madrid and Vienna, and whose prowess, had
struck with terror and dismay, the Autocrat
Of all the Russias, is hurled from the throne
of France, and driven into exile The Bour-
bons restored, and in the courtly language of
tho times, the wrongs of Kings avenged, by
their re-estabiisment into the possession of
their "legilimatc rights" the war is ended in
Europe and the causes which had drawn US
in,o.i,s vortex ceasing TO exist, combined with
our own valor, and other auxiliary circum-
stances, an honorable peace is obtained by US.
BY events still more astonishing than the one
before alluded to, aud which have no parallel
in tho annals Of the world, Bonapartc escaped
from Elba, and now Yields tho sceptrc over
one of the most cnlig ghtened, martial, and en-
tsrprizing people on earth.
The same coalition Of crowned heads, which
had vanquished him, after wisdom had desert.
ed his eouneils,and when maddening ambition,
had filled his braip, with ehimeiica ideas, Of
universal empire, is revived, and Eliminates
its ana,hcmes against him, again seated on the
throne. cnshrined in the affections of.the
French nation, and with mind illuminated,
by experience, and the salutary lessons which
adversity seldom fails to incuca,c. Can the
people of America, with whom ii is reduced
to a political axiom, that man has right to
self government, bc Indifferent 10 the passing
scenes! They cannot. On the contrary, we
venture to assert, that the league against
France, is league against one OF the funda-
meutal principles Of their own Government,
which recognizes the people as the source Of
all legitimate power, who have tight TO dis
place them, whenever they abuse the trust
which hus been rcposed IN them. On this
topic we shall dwell moro q, large hereafter.
win the same consciousness OF power and
foree,funcss of right, promp, Great Britain,
after having experienced the energies Of a
free people, to similar aggressions and usurpa-
,ions on our sovereignty. in the wild crusade
she has now undertaken for the Legitimate
rights Of kings This is problem, whose
solution is yet in the bosom OF Fate. Should
she, however, again feel power and forget
right" she will find that our sworcs have not
rusted in their scabbards, although they have
been crimsoned and drenched in Ihe blood OF
her most intrepid heroes.
In taking rapid survey Of The sPlendor ot
Napoleon's former military exploits, connect.
ed with the grandeur OF his movements hon
the shores of the Mediterranean to Paris, we
are compelled to pronounce hin cue OF the
Z. - a