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in any other resource than temporizing meanness, or the chap ter of accidents, would they not, now, in common prudence, strike the blow, rather than await the issue of the contest in Spain? Their former victor is too watchful and determined, to allow them to recruit or organize their means, in the interval. He would deal with Russia now, as he did with Austria at the commencement of the Spanish war;-a moment when the South and North were more formidable than they are at present, and when, probably, he was less prepared and less able under all points of view, to encounter the hostilities of both at the same time.

We have ourselves, we must confess, but little confidence in Spanish or Portuguese heroism, and are daily, from the information we collect, confirmed in our apprehensions, for the fate of the Peninsula.-Should the present desultory war in that quarter be even protracted for some years more, France will find resources to maintain the contest there; to beat down the crest of rebellion in any of the tributary provinces, and to cripple for ever the Austrian and Russian monarchies, should it accord with her plans to goad them on to a last effort of despair. That they will continue to "faint, and creep and prostrate themselves at the footstool of ambition and crime," unless they are driven by the scowls and buffetings of their relentless Belial, to acknowledge the utter futility of every expedient for the prolongation, even of their nominal sovereignty, but a recourse to arms, we have little or no doubt, judging from what we now see, and from their recognition of Joseph as king of Spain. This act is in itself sufficient to show, that they have reached the lowest depths of humiliation;-that they are utter

of conflict glorious for France, the most extraordinary genius, whom nature in her magnificence ever formed, collects and unites in his own triumphant hands, the scattered fragments of the sceptre of Charlemagne."

"In such a struggle, of which human prudence cannot moderate the effects, the empires of the first order are shaken to their foundation, and small states disappear. We have seen the Gothic props of the European edifice fall by themselves."

"If England had not rejected the counsels of moderation, what disastrous consequences might she not have averted? and to confine ourselves to the sphere of present deliberation, (pour nous renfermer dans le circle de la deliberation presente) she would not have forced France to enrich herself with the ports and arsenals of Holland; the Ems, the Weser, and the Elbe would not now flow under our dominion."

"Where are the boundaries of what is still possible? (Où sont encore les bornes du possible?) It is for England to answer. Let her meditate upon the past, and she may learn what is to come.-France and Napoleon will not change."

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ly destitute of the elevation of spirit and strength of resolution without which, whatever might be the number of their troops, or the abundance of their treasure, they never could sustain the perils and chances of a long struggle with an enemy, who may well be styled, by an appropriate figure, the Briareus of nations.

We may say now of France what was said of it in 1796, by Mr. Burke; that, "were it but half what it is in population, in compactness, in applicability of its force, situated as it is and being what it is, it would be too strong for the states of the continent, constituted as they are, and proceeding as they proceed." We may add with the same writer, that this new system of robbery and conquest cannot be rendered safe by any art; that it must be destroyed, or that it will destroy the continent of Europe,-that to destroy such an enemy, the force opposed to it should be made to bear some analogy and resemblance to the force and spirit which that system exerts. In this view of things we see not how the fortunes of the continent are to be retrieved. If at all, it must be either by one of those unforeseen dispensations, which "the merciful but mysterious governor of the world, sometimes interposes to snatch nations from ruin;" or by the adoption there universally of the same military system as that of France, and the entire conversion both of governments and individuals, from a state of abject selfishness and despondency, to a condition of mind characterized by the same qualities of judgment, and by passions co-ordinate in vehemence and steadiness, although opposite in their nature, to those of their terrible enemy.—But in reasoning with respect to the march of human affairs, we are not intitled to calculate on "an unknown order of dispensations," or to trust to the hope of an anomaly in the usual providence of the Divinity.—And again, should the revolution to which we have alluded, in the military organization of the northern

A monstrous giant, who is said by the poets to have waged war against Heaven. We allude in this instance, to the picture drawn of him by Virgil in the tenth book of the Æneid, and which would form no bad personification of the despotism of France.

Centum cui bracchia dicunt

Centenasque manus, quinquaginta oribus ignem,
Pectoribusque arsisse.-

Or, in the loose translation of the Abbé Delille,

Tel courroit Egéon, aux cent mains, aux cent bras,
Partout le suit la gloire et partout le trépas,
Tel se multipliant sous mille aspects farouches
Il vomissoit des feux de ses cinquante bouches,
Et sous ses pieds tonnants faisant trembler la terre, &c.

powers take place, it opens a prospect full of horrors for humanity, and of danger for the cause of civilization.

The continent of Europe will then, at length, have become a camp; a catastrophe which, is in itself of a nature to be fervently deprecated. The destructive energies of France would we think, be found, in the contention for existence, and the shock of mutual despair,-to be more potent and elastic, than is now imagined, even by those who estimate them as we do; for it is certain that since the erection of the imperial throne, they never have been tried as at the commencement of her revolution. They would, although finally subdued, spread desolation and ruin on every side. It is not in one or in ten campaigns that they could be exhausted, and much time would finally be required, before the wounds both moral and physical of the continent could be healed;-before the arts of civil life would flourish again, if indeed they could at all survive the universal diffusion and the protracted action of the military spirit. It is possible, as has been contended, that, out of the chaos which would ensue, on the demolition in this way, of the French power, there might arise an order of things, more beautiful and durable, than any which has as yet prevailed in the world; that out of the total wreck of the present structure of civil society in that vast region, there might be formed another and much more perfect edifice, retaining whatever was excellent of the original Gothic, and combining at the same time, the proportions and embellishments of the Grecian and Roman models. Such is the vision which plays before the fancy of our author.

E'en now, before his favour'd eyes,
In gothic pride it seems to rise;
Yet Grecia's graceful orders join
Majestic, through the mixed design.*

For us, futurity has nothing, on the side of the Continent of Europe, we can contemplate with satisfaction.-There is however in that quarter, still enough to console and to animate, the friends of freedom and civilization.-England, although her

*Collins' Ode to Liberty.-Looking to the efforts which the British are now making for the preservation of the continent, we might add, if we permitted our imagination to dwell on this delightful phantasm, the concluding verses of the poet,

There on the walls the patriot's sight,
May ever hang with fresh delight,
And, 'grav'd with some prophetic rage,
Read Albion's fame through every age.

subsidies and her expeditions may be unavailing to rescue her neighbours from the fangs of the destroyer, is herself invulnerable to his attacks.-By maintaining the empire of the seas, which he can never wrest from her, she must always balance, and will outlive the French power, whatever may be its extent, or comparative duration on the Continent.-It is not the loss of a few thousand men, or the failure of her efforts in the Peninsula, or the privation of the commerce of the continent, that can shake the foundations of her greatness.-A wide and richer field is open to her trade in the markets of the rest of the globe;-her population is exuberant;-the patriotism of her inhabitants is enthusiastic;-her national character is can pable of the sublimest efforts of steady fortitude, and mascu line courage; her domestic wealth is immense; her naval strength such as it would take her enemy an age to equal, even were he suffered to labour unmolested for this purpose.*

While her fleets cover the channel, invasion in a formidable shape, is utterly impracticable: else it would long since have been attempted. Should an hundred thousand men be landed

• Montesquieu in speaking of the naval rivalry of the Romans and Carthaginians makes the following remarks.-"The Carthaginians had more experience at sea, and understood maneuvering better than the RomansBut it appears to me that this advantage was not as great then, as it would be in the present day.-The soldiers who fought on board of the fleets were then the great reliance of the belligerents, and sailors of but little importance. The reverse is now the case.-In three months the Romans were able to build a fleet, and with it to beat their enemies in the first engage

ment

"At present a prince is scarcely able to form in the course of a whole life, a fleet fit to appear before a power that has already the empire of the seas. This is perhaps the only thing which money alone cannot effect.”—(Gran deur et Decadence.)

Naval strength, even of the inferior kind, which existed in antiquity, was highly prized. The estimation in which it was held, may be seen by the following extract from a speech of Pericles to the Athenians, recorded by Thucidydes, and which applies still more forcibly to the English at this time. "Of vast consequence, indeed, is the dominion of the sea, for, we are better qualified for land-service by the experience we have gained in that of the sea, than our enemies for service at sea, by their experience at land. To learn the naval skill they will find to be by no means an easy task For even you, who have been in constant exercise ever since the Persian invasion, have not yet attained to a mastery in the science. How then shall men, brought up to pillage and strangers to the sea, whose practice further will be ever interrupted by us, through the continual annoyance which our larger number of shipping will give them, effect any point of éclat? Against small squadrons they might indeed be sometimes adventurous, emboldening their want of skill by multiplying their numbers But when awed by superior force, they will of necessity desist; and so, by constant interruption, the growth of their skill will be checked. The naval, like other sciences, is the effect of art. It cannot be learned by accident, nor usefully exercised at starts; or rather, there is nothing which so much requireth an uninterrupted application."

on her shores, she need not tremble. They would but serve to illustrate the invincible vigour of her free constitution, and the irresistible energy of her spirit. With a wise system of policy and with confidence in her means, her security is perfect. Bonaparte hopes more from her self-trust and her arrogance towards the nations of this hemisphere, than from the result of his own efforts for her destruction, or the insufficiency of her resources of defence.-We trust and believe, that she will soon learn, how far the arts of conciliation, with respect to ourselves, and to the inhabitants of South America, are necessary to her interests;-and that she will be, in every respect, true to her own unrivalled grandeur both of moral character and physical strength.

Under all circumstances, the United States have a plain path to pursue. To them the despotism of France, stripped as it is of all its visors, can appear in no other light than as an implacable enemy, essentially and passionately hostile to their institutions and prosperity; to be softened or propitiated by no concessions, and to be then most dreaded, when most prodigal of its declarations of friendship.-Obvious considerations, which we have more than once pressed upon the public, founded on facts, on reason, and on analogy, conduct them irresistibly to this conclusion.-To suffer themselves neither to be influenced by mere theories respecting the speedy overthrow of the French power, nor to be panic-struck by the prospect of its further and permanent aggrandizement, is therefore a part of their true policy, as is also the determination to be prepared for the worst, by collecting and organizing without delay, the means of self-defence.-To be incessantly on the watch against the wiles and intrigues of France,-to contribute in no way to the augmentation of her strength, or to the promotion of her schemes,-to cultivate industriously in the minds of the whole American population, the most lively feelings of hate and jealousy towards this deadly foe of the human race,-feelings which are in themselves powerful safeguards, to seek the friendship of the country which now shields them, and can, as long as it stands firm, continue to shield them, from the perils and calamities of French invasion, -these would appear to be sacred duties which they owe, not merely to themselves, with a view to self-preservation, but likewise, to the world at large; to the cause of freedom, of civilization, of virtue, and of knowledge, in which they are so deeply concerned, and which, under a moral code no less obligatory upon nations than upon individuals, they are bound to maintain, in preference to all other interests.

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