occurring in France which their invaders " potentiary of his Majesty the King of choose to denominate crimes. (To be continued.) OCCURRENCES OF THE WAR.Under this head I intend in future to notice every article of public intelligence, possessing an official shape, connected with the views and operations of the Belligerents. "Denmark," both these documents have been withheld from the public eye. But if we may judge from the terms of the bulletin, the Danes seem to me to have made a better bargain than could have been expected in their circumstances. Although a considerable portion of their territory had been conquered by Sweden, at the expense of a good deal of blood and treasure, this has all been given up, and the same terms which were proposed before the sword was drawn, namely, the exchange of Norway for Pomerania, have been agreed to by Sweden. Great Britain is to retain Heligoland, and Denmark to furnish a contingent of 10,000 troops, for which she is to receive as an equivalent from this country a subsidy of £400,000 during the present year! Was it this last circumstance which occasioned the firing of the Park and Tower guns? From a dispatch of Lord Wellington's, published in last Saturday night's Gazette, it appears that the French, under Marshal Soult, had made an attack upon one of our positions near St. Jean de Luz, from which they drove our troops; but his Lordship having concentrated and moved forward a considerable portion of his army," the enemy were forthwith dislodged, without "loss on our side, and our posts replaced "where they had been." A misunderstanding having arisen between us and the Spanish Government, it has been thought necessary to withdraw our troops from Cadiz and Carthagena. A letter of Lord Wellington's has appeared upon this delicate subject in the Lisbon papers, in which his Lordship says:- "I should have "deferred this measure till the Spanish "Government had made known to me its "wish on this particular, if I had not read "the libels which are circulated in Spain "upon this subject, impeaching the honour " and good faith of his Britannic Majesty; "and if I had not perceived the efforts which "have been made to persuade the public "that the troops of his Majesty continued in "those two places with sinister views; an "assertion equally without foundation, and "contrary to the honour of his Majesty, as "clearly appears from the faithful relation "of what passed on this point when the" "English troops were destined for Cadiz "and Carthagena." There has been some trifling affairs between the troops of the Allies on the Rhine and those of the French. A dispatch from Sir Charles Stewart, mentions an action which took place between the French, under Marshal Victor, and the Bavarians, under General Wrede, in which the former, in the first instance, are admitted to have gained some advantage, but they were afterwards obliged to retire. On the whole, it does not appear that the "march to Paris" has been very progressive since the Allies entered the territories of France. I The American President's Message to Congress, which was opened on 7th December, has reached this country. It is decidedly hostile towards Great Britain. The Courier says, "From a Halifax paper of the 15th, we learn, that an act for laying an embargo has passed by a large majority. This is one of the acts of The Crown Prince of Sweden has at last" suicide, to which the American Governsucceeded in detaching the Court of Copen-"ment has so frequently had recourse.' hagen from its adherence to France, and in- should have supposed that a single suicide duced it to join the coalition against Buona- would have been sufficient for their purparté. This was announced by an official pose. bulletin, and by the firing of the Park and Tower guns. I should have thought that the particulars of an event so joyful, would have been forthwith communicated to the public; but it has been thought otherwise; for, although a Gazette Extraordinary was published, announcing the fact that Mr. Thornton and the Swedish Minister had "signed Treaties of Peace with the Pleni MR. CANNING has been, I perceive, making another Speech to the sons of war at Liverpool. I was in hopes that. I should have passed the remainder of my life without more speeches of this frothy orator to answer. But, I must, for my sins, answer › him again, which I promise to do in my next Number. Published by R. BAGSHAW, Brydges-Street, Covent-Garden. COBBETT'S WEEKLY POLITICAL REGISTER. VOL. XXV. No.6.] LONDON, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1814. [Price Is. 161] NOTICE. Some of those Gentlemen, who preserve the Register in Volumes, having expressed their regret, that the STATE PAPERS, and other important DOCUMENTS of a public nature, are, in future, to be excluded, and their representations appearing to have great weight in them, it has been determined on to continue the publication of these Official Papers; not, however, in the Weekly Num bers of the Register, but in a compilation, to be published once in 2, 3, or 6 months, as shall hereafter appear to be best adapted ANSWER (162 to the purposes in view. It is intended to print these documents in the same type, form, and size of paper with the Register itself. The price will, of course, be proportionably lower, because no stamps will be required, as it will be unnecessary to dispatch this part of the work by post. There will be, as at present, an Index-Sheet to the Weekly Numbers, and another Index to the Public Papers. The latter publication may be taken, to be bound up with the Weekly Numbers, or not, at the option of the Reader. not openly rejoice at those events, which gave pain to the sons and daughters of corTo MR. CANNING'S LIVERPOOL SPEECH. ruption; they were charged, as with a It appears, from a Liverpool news-paper, crime, of rejoicing inwardly. So that there that, a few days back, this gentleman was is no reciprocity in the case. It is not turn treated to a dinner by his partisans at Li- and turn about. The liberty to exult is all verpool, at which, it is said, nearly 400 of on one side; and, therefore, the exultation them attended. At this meeting he is said of Mr. Canning, at this time, is as cowardto have made a Speech, which, as published ly as the conduct of a man, who makes an in the Liverpool Mercury, though full of attack upon another, while he knows that offensive matter; though full of sophistry, the law shuts the mouth of the party so atand falsehood, and impudence, has on its tacked. Nay, even this speech, though side, the circumstance of its being uttered delivered at a tavern, and not shielded from in a place, which does not afford it the iron being commented on, he knows cannot be shield of privilege, but leaves it open to be freely answered: he knows, that there are commented on by those, who may think it many of his positions, which, though their duty to deny its statements and con- wholly false, no man will dare to deny in trovert its doctrines.- -After having dis- print. He knows, that he has introduced patched the local topics, Mr. Canning pro- characters and institutions, which he has ceeds, in this Speech, to those of a public eulogized, and which might easily be shown nature, beginning with congratulating his to be detestable; but, he also knows, that hearers on the happy change in the situa- he is safe here, for that the man who tion of Europe, and here he observes, that should dare to exhibit them in a true light, he and those who think with him, that is would expose himself to utter ruin and to to say, the Anti-freedom party, have a probable death. Therefore, such a right to exult; that there is nothing impro-speech is a cowardly speech; it is the act of per, nothing unbecoming, nothing base and cowardly in their exultation now; because they formerly had to endure similar exultation on the side of their opponents. This is not true. The friends of freedom were not at liberty to exult; they dared a man, who is bold behind a wall of brass; it is the bravery of a man who fights only because the hands of his adversary are tied. If the people of France, assuming the attitude and actuated by the principles of 1792, were to drive the enemy from their territory, or slaughter them on that terri- continue to oppose them? The friends of tory, and were to pursue them to the midst freedom, the American government, for of their own dominions; would any man instance, could not fail to perceive, and to dare, in England, openly to express, in regret, that the French nation had lost unprint, his exullation at the change? Mr. der Napoleon much of what it had gained Canning knows that no man would dare do of freedom; but, that government perceivthis; and, therefore, is his present exulta-ing, that the principles of English warfare tion cowardly and contemptible.His had not changed; that those principles still next topic is, the cause of the recent change continued the same, could not but still in the affairs of Europe, and of the reverses lean, in consistency, towards that, with of Napoleon. These, he says, and I agree which those principles were at war. with him perfectly, have not been produced Mr. Canning's assertion completely clears. by any change in the principles of the war. all those who have continued, since 1792, He alludes here to the observations of steady in their attachment to the cause of MR. WHITBREAD, that the allied sovereigns France. He, at any rate, ought to reproach have now got their people with them; that no one for adhering to Buonaparte as firmly the war has become a war of the people and as to the Republic; for, if the principles of not a war of courts; and that, therefore, the war, on our part, have never changed, it is that the Allies have been successful. that adherence, to be consistent, must have The same sentiments are daily rung in our been as strong towards the one as towards ears by the MORNING CHRONICLE, who is the other. -If I am to judge from the tanot willing to allow the Ministers the merit vern speeches of Mr. Canning, he, and all of success, but wishes to attribute it to the those who are with him, are the bitterests "Whig principles." When shall we see enemies of freedom. To them we may add an end of this superannuated folly!-- a herd innumerable of writers in news-paMr. Canning says, and very truly, that the pers and other publications, the mere corprinciples of the war have undergone no rupt mouth-pieces of others. Every princhange; that no change has taken place in ciple of liberty they are continually at war the motives of our government or its sup- against. They are the supporters of every porters; that the sovereigns of the conti- thing, of every act, be it what it may, in nent are actuated by, the same principles any part of the world, hostile to freedom. that actuated them at the beginning of the And, when we hear these men, at the same war against the Republicans; that, in short, time, railing, in such terms of bitterness, the motives of 1814 are those of 1792. against the present government of France, I perfectly agree with him here, and join is it not enough to make us suspect, that, at him in his protest against the claims of the the bottom, that government is not so very old dotard Whigs to a share in the honour despotic? At any rate, is it not enough to of having so far restored the good old order make us suspect, that the destruction of that of things, the regular government of 1792. government, and the substituting in its But, if I agree with him here, he place a something, no matter what, which ought to agree with me, that it is extremely these known mortal enemies of freedom deunjust to blame the friends of freedom for sire, would not be likely to benefit the cause appearing to give their good wishes to all of freedom? And, if a man entertain the successive governments in France. This this reasonable, this just suspicion, or, rahas been charged upon them, and particu- ther, if he be convinced of this truth, can larly on the Americans, as a most glaring it he expected, that he will wish for the trait of inconsistency. It has been said, overthrow of the government of France, that this their adherence to all the different unless he be well assured, that a governgovernments in France, not excepting that ment more haled by these men, that is to of Napoleon, shows that it is the enemy of say, a government more free, will be estaEngland and not the cause of freedom that blished in its stead? -In short, this is they are attached to. But, if the principles the way that the friends of freedom reason. of the war have not changed; if they have continued the same from 1792 until this day; if the same principles led to war against the limited French monarchy; against the Republic; and against a despotic Emperor; if the principles were so steady, was it not natural and necessary, that those who opposed these principles at first should That person, no matter who, that is most hated and dreaded by our worst enemies, "is not a person for whose annihilation we ought to wish."What has here been said will serve as a preface to the next: topic of the Speech; namely, the instru ments by which Napoleon has been defeated. -Upon this point we will take the gens tleman's very words: 66 "Gentlemen, same principles as it was carried on against the Republic of France? "there is another question to be asked. By "what power, in what part of the world, "has that final blow been struck which has "smitten the tyrant to the ground? I "suppose by some enlightened republic. "I suppose by some nation which, in the "excess of popular freedom, considers even a representative system as defective, un"less each individual interferes directly in "the government of the national concerns. "I suppose by some nation of enlightened "patriots, every man of whom is a poli-poleon his daughter in marriage. This was "tician in the coffee-house as well as in the ❝senate. I suppose it is from such go"vernment as this that the conqueror of "despots, the enemy of monarchical Eng"land, has met his doom. I look through "the European world, Gentlemen, in vain; "I find there no such government: but in "another hemisphere I do find such a one, "which, no doubt, must be the political "David by whom the Goliah of Europe "has been brought down. What is the "name of that glorious republic to which "the gratitude of Europe is eternally due; "which, from its hatred to tyranny, has so "perseveringly exerted itself to liberate the "world, and at last has successfully closed "the contest? Alas! Gentlemen, such a "republic I do indeed find; but I find it "enlisted, and, God be thanked, enlisted "alone, under the banner of the despot -But, this is not all. America, though enlisted, as he calls it, has sent neither ships nor men to his assistance, while we know, that the Emperor of Russia, the King of Prussia, and the Emperor of Austria have been in › alliance with him, offensive and defensive; that the two latter, within a few short months, have aided him with their armies to combat and invade the former; and that the latter of the three has even given Na something like being enlisted under him; nor did the military engagements of the two latter cease, till Napoleon met with reverses of fortune. Amongst the rest of the Allies the sovereigns of Bavaria and Wurtemberg were made kings by him, and accepted of his protectorship; and, the Crown Prince of Sweden, a Frenchman, and formerly a private soldier in the revolutionary army, was by Napoleon made. heir to the throne of Sweden. -If, therefore, it were as true as it is false, that America were enlisted under his banners, would she find no apology in the example of all these our Allies? No, not in the eyes of the friends of freedom, with whom such an example would be no justification; but, one would imagine, that the eulogists of those Allies ought to hold their tongues, while that example is before the eyes of all the world.- -There is not one of those Allies, except the Crown Prince, who has not been an ally of Napoleon against us; and, therefore, if the fact had been true instead of false, what ground of reproach would it have been to America to have acted in the same way; unless we also make it a ground of reproach to the Allies?The truth, however, is, that America has fought, and is fighting, her own battles, with her own means. She has made no treaty, she has sought no treaty, she has desired no treaty, with France, for the purposes of war. We insist upon taking out of her vessels, upon the high seas, such persons as, in the dis (APPLAUSE). -- But where was the "blow struck? Where? Alas, for theory! "The blow was given in the wilds of des"potic Russia. It was followed up on the "plains of Leipzig-by Russian, Prussian, "and Austrian arms.' Now, this is all mere flippancy; for, why should any "enlightened republic;" why should any "nation loving "popular freedom;" why should any "nation of patriots," have been expected to strike the blow, or to wish to see the blow stricken, if, as Mr. Canning himself asserts, the principles of the war have not changed; if those principles are the same that they were at the outset of the war? Why should any enlightened re-cretion of our naval commanders, it shall public" have been expected to join in the war against Napoleon, if the war against him be the same in principle as was the war in 1792 against the Republic of France?- -Mr. Canning thanks God, that he finds the American Republic enlisted under the banners of the despot. Suppose this to be as true as it is false, where would be the wonder, if the American Republic were to be enlisted on the side of him, against whom war was carried on upon the seem meet to take, America being at peace with all the world. She says, that we shall not do this. Thereupon we go to war. And how can she be said to have, by such war, enlisted herself under the banners of Napoleon? Was there ever a more false or a more impudent assertion? The notion of this Gentleman, and of all the war faction, is this: that, in order to succeed in a war against France, we have a right to do towards other nations whatever we find best suited to answer our views; some of the countries whose governments and that, if any one of those nations com- he appears to admire, there may be found plain, or, at least, if it resist, we have a millions of these "instinctive" or cattleright to consider it as enlisted under the like patriots, these patriots of the earth, or banners of France. The same mode of ar- the dirt; though I do not deny, but am guing they have adopted at home amongst afraid it is but too true, that millious of men ourselves, where every man, who has quesare to be found in this state, so degrading tioned the principles or policy of the war, to human nature; yet I do deny the fact as has, without hesitation, been denominated applied to any society deserving the epithet a friend of France, and, by inference, an civilized.In such a society men, who enemy of, and traitor to, England. are strongly attached to their country, have But, to whatever degree this notion may their attachment founded in their love of prevail here, in America it will make no the laws, the institutions, the fame of that progress. There the people understand country, or in that interest, which arises their rights; they are made acquainted with out of the property they own or the profesthe acts and the real motives of their go- sion they follow in it. Take all these from. vernment; they know what they are at war them, and then ascertain the amount of for; they have real representatives, who their attachment to the mere earth where speak their voice, and who, if they were so they were born. What sends so many minded, could not delude them. The thousands annually from Ireland, and ScotAmerican people will not want the avowal land, and England, to America? Why do. of Mr. Canning to convince them, that the we make roads and build bridges in the principles of the war, on our part, are the Highlands, but in consequence of a report. same now as they were in 1792, when we to the parliament, that it was necessary to. were at war with the Republic of France. lay out money in this way, in order to preThey know very well what those principles vent the inhabitants from emigrating to. are, and, it would be strange indeed to see America? Why have we laws to punish. them, in support of those principles, enlist- artizans for attempting to leave the king, ed on the same side with those, who, Mr. dom, and for punishing commanders of Canning tells us, gave the blow" in the vessels who afford them shelter? What,. wilds of despolic Russia,"- -The next in short, is it that has peopled North Ame-. topic of Mr. Canning is that of " instinctive rica, given eight millions of citizens to that "patriolism," or an attachment to the soil, Republic, which is the object of Mr. Canprior and paramount to all political consi- ning's deadly hatred, and has made her derations. This is always a favourite doc- our rival in commerce, manufactures, and trine with the enemies of political freedom. maritime war? Not, surely, that "in"No matter," they say, "what oppres-"stinctive patriotism,' that love of one's. "sions you suffer; if you be stripped of the "fruits of your labour and your genius; if, "instead of comfort and ease, you be clad "in rags, half-starved, worked like horses, "and beaten like asses if you dare to com"plain; if your Lords buy and sell you as "a chattel: no matter, you must still cling "to the soil, or earth, where you were "born, or you are unnatural wretches.". This they denominate " instinctive patriot-. "ism;" and, wherever it prevails, it is very properly so called; for, most assuredly, it is precisely that of the more stupid sort of beasts. Thus neat cattle and pigs, though better fed and lodged in a new situ ation, are always hankering after the place where they were bred. An "instinctive "patriot" of the former sort lately found its way from Botley to Ringwood, in spite of hedges and turnpike gates.- -But, as to the fact, which Mr. Canning takes for granted as being applicable to all communities, though I by no means deny, that, in breeding place; not, surely, that patriotism, which induced the Ringwood cow to elope from Botley. No: but that desire, which every rational being has to get rid of some evil, or to mend his situation. Canning, in confirmation of his degrading doctrine, quotes Goldsmith, who, speaking of the Swiss, peasant, says: Mr. Dear is that shed, to which his soul conforms, And dear that hill which lifts him to the storms. That is to say, that a poor creature, living on a bleak hill in a hovel, sets great value upon the hovel and its contents, and likes the hill, in as much as it is the site of the hovel. But, what does this amount to, at last, but his attachment to what he calls his, and which, miserable as it is, is his all? However, a more unhappy illustration could not have been found, it being notorious, that the Swiss get out of their country as fast as they can find shoes to bear them away; that they become lackeys, and butlers, and por ters all over Europe; and that, to complete |
