f

VOL. XXIV. No. 10.]

LONDON, SATURDAY, SEPT. 4, 1813.

[Price 1s.

[290

289]

they passed. In the battles which have been fought during this campaign, the French have been victorious; and I have never been able to discover any source whatever whence is to come the means of

here they are. -Who are they whom I SUMMARY OF POLITICS, see composing this coalition? Why, the CONTINENTAL WAR. The nation, Emperor of Russia, the Emperor of Austria, this most thinking nation, seems to be fill- and the King of Prussia; to whom we must ed, and, indeed, overflowing with joy, at add, I suppose, the Crown Prince of Swethe accounts received from the Continent of den.- The three former I have seen Europe, the principal item of which is, leagued together against Napoleon before, that the Emperor of Austria has, at last, and I have seen him defeat them all three. openly declared war against France.- As to Sweden, her army being commanded To attempt to dash this exhilarating cup; by a Frenchman, and a Frenchman, too, to attempt to excite a doubt in the public promoted by Napoleon himself, she, inmind with regard to this event; to attempt deed, may be looked upon as something to show, that it is not likely to be produc- formidable; but still the force she brings is tive of the overthrow of Napoleon; to make not very considerable, and her interests are such an attempt as this, is to ensure the openly at war with those of some of her censure, if not the execration, of all those Allies.--I can see, for my part, no cause who love to be deceived, who hug delusion whatever for any alteration to have taken as their greatest good; and these, in my place in the disposition or spirit of the peoopinion, form a decided majority of the ple of any part of Germany since the last people of this kingdom. Notwithstand- campaign; and we know very well, that ing this, however, I shall freely express my during that campaign, the armies of France thoughts upon the subject; and I think, met with no obstacle whatever from the ponot only that Napoleon will not be over-pulation of the countries through which thrown by this new coalition of old Royalfamilies, but that he will defeat the armies of this coalition; that he will break up the coalition; that he will return in triumph to Paris, having scattered and subdued those who have now combined against him.-changing their fortune.It is fresh in I pretend not to be a prophet; I pretend to no gift of second sight; I may be deceived; and if I am, I have no objection to its being clearly ascertained and well known that I have been deceived. I will qualify my opinion upon this subject with no hypothesis, with nothing conditional. I wish it to be known, and to be remembered, that I, at this moment, when every newspaper is open-mouthed in predicting the total ruin of Buonaparté, give it as my decided opinion, that he will beat and break up the coalition now formed against him; and that, like every other coalition heretofore formed against France, this coalition will end in having augmented the power and dominions of France.- -Your opinion, the reader will justly say, is worth no more than mine or that of any other man. Give us your reasons for this opinion, and then we will listen to you; that is to say, if those reasons be good.Agreed: and

the recollection of every one, that the army of Napoleon was represented as being wholly annihilated. We know that the Russians and Prussians had many months to prepare for the reception of the enemy; and we also know, that with all their preparations, they were compelled to flee before that enemy, the moment he made his appearance in the field. Upon what ground, then, is it, that I am to believe that this enemy is to be beaten when he renews the combat?The power of Austria is very considerable; but Austria has territories to defend. The armies of Naples and of Upper Italy are in motion, and Austria will doubtless be pressed on that side, while she is sallying out on the other, To see Vienna once more in the hands of the French, would be much less surprising than to see a French army defeated by a German one.- -When Murat and the Viceroy set off from the army of the North

K

on their return to Italy, our sagacious poli-
ticians told us, that they had incurred the
displeasure of Buonaparté, and that it was
likely that they would turn against him.
-We now find, that there was a reason
for their departure. There can be little
doubt that Napoleon suspected many months
ago that things would take this turn, and
there. can be as little doubt of his being
fully prepared for it. In the race of fore-
sight and preparation, I will not believe that
he has been out-run by any of the Powers
leagued against him. I dare say, that he
knew the part that Austria intended to act
within a few hours of the time of its being
known to the Emperor of Austria himself.
To take him by surprise is no easy matter;
and particularly when he has to deal with
such enemies as those who are now opposed
to him. Besides, what security have we
that the coalesced Powers will remain firm
to their declarations and to their bargains
with one another? It is not many months
since we saw two out of three of these
Powers actually fighting on the side of Na-
poleon against the third. They were sin-
cere in their junction with him, or they
were not; if the former, why should they
not join him again? If the latter, upon
what ground are we to place reliance on any
of their engagements? The Govern-
ments of Austria and Prussia are now re-
presented by us as being very wise and very
virtuous; they being now fighting on our
side, it would not be safe, perhaps, to call
either their wisdom or their virtue in ques-" alighted at the Royal Palace, where the
tion; but if they be wise and virtuous now; "Princes and Generals were in waiting to
if they be now guided by sound principles "receive him. On the next day His
of morality and of policy, why are we to "Royal Highness paid a visit to the Prince
suppose that they were not guided by the" and Princesses of the Royal Family, and
same principles a year ago, when they" afterwards dined with Prince William
were the allies instead of the enemies of" of Prussia, brother to His Majesty. In
Buonaparte?--In short, what confidence" the evening he appeared at the theatre,
is to be placed in a coalition thus composed?" where the public received him with the

ment of His Royal Highness the Crown
Prince of Sweden to be Generalissimo of
the armies of the Allies. This appoint-
ment fully bespeaks the fears as well as the
state of humiliation of the old Powers of
Europe. What! a man, who was only a
few years ago a private soldier in the ar-
mies of France, made commander-in-chief
of this famous alliance, which is to overset
the power of Napoleon! This is the man,
is it; this soldier of the revolution of
France; this is the man; it is a French-
man, who alone can be picked out as fit to
oppose Buonaparté in the field; it is a re-
volutionary Frenchman, to whom the deli-
verance of Europe is at last committed! Is
it possible, that the old families, and that
the anti-jacobins can hold up their heads,
while this fact is proclaimed to the world?
Aye, and not only hold up their heads, but
have the scandalous meanness to communi-
cate the fact themselves, and with exulta-
tion too; and while they thus glory in their
shame, to pretend that Buonaparté is about
to fall under the effects of the spirit of such
degraded opponents!--There is an arti-
cle from Berlin dated on the twenty-seventh
of July, and published by our news-papers
with great exultation, which article, if
they had any sense of shame left in them
must mortify them to death. It gives an
account of Bernadotte's arrival at Berlin,
and of the reception he there met with.-
"The Prince Royal of Sweden arrived at
"this capital on the 24th instant, and

-Such a coalition must, from the nature"greatest demonstrations of joy. Yesterof its materials, be a rope of sand. As" day His Highness, accompanied by the long as success is on its side, it may hold "two Princes, Henry and William, and by together; but the moment that any serious" a numerous suite of Swedish, Russian, reverse takes place, it must, from the na- "English, and Prussian Generals, held a ture of things, fall to pieces.The ge- "review on the troops, and caused them nius is all on the side of Buonaparté. The" to perform several evolutions, at which skill in making war it is that in gene- "he expressed his perfect satisfaction to ral ensures victory; and amongst all the" the Commanders. He afterwards rePowers opposed to him, there is not one "turned to the Palace, where he gave a who can boast of a man who has shewn dinner of 60 covers, to which all the Geany skill in making war. If we "nerals were invited.". -So, here we see wanted any proof of this; if we wanted him in a Palace giving a grand dinner; any proof of the deep sense which those dining with the Princes of the blood; rePowers have of their deficiency in this re-viewing the troops; having Princes and spect, it would be found in the appoint-Generals, Russian, Prussian, and English

in his suite! Here then we have found," the effect of Divine vengeance, would at last, the deliverer of Europe, in the per- "have inclined the Emperor of France to son of a Frenchman, who had been pro- "a less murderous system; and that, inmoted by Buonaparté himself, and who "structed, at last, by the example of the made a conspicuous figure in the French re- North and of Spain, he would have revolution. That very revolution, to destroy "nounced the idea of subjugating the Conthe principles of which we commenced and "tinent, and have consented to let the carried on a long and bloody war. His world be at peace; but this hope has Royal Highness has, it seems, issued a "been disappointed; and that peace which proclamation addressed to the soldiers of all Governments desire, and which every the combined army, in his quality of Gene- "Government has proposed, has been reralissimo. We will first insert this pro- 'jected by the Emperor Napoleon.clamation, and then make a few observa- "Soldiers! It is to arms, then, we must tions upon it; for, really, the sight of such have recourse to conquer repose and ina thing is well calculated to astonish us, to "dependence. The same sentiment which say nothing of its contents. guided the French in 1792, and which prompted them to assemble, and to combat the armies which entered their ter

46

PROCLAMATION.

66

66

"Soldiers!—Called by the confidence of" my King, and of the Sovereigns his Al-"ritory, ought now to animate your valies, to lead you in the career which is "lour against those who, after having in"about to open, I rely for the success of vaded the land which gave you birth, our arms on the Divine protection, the "still hold in chains your brethren, your "justice of our cause, and on your valour" wives, and your children.---Soldiers ! "and perseverance. -Had it not been" What a noble prospect is opened to you! "for the extraordinary concurrence of "The liberty of Europe, the re-establish❝events which have given to the last" ment of its equilibrium, the end of that "twelve years a dreadful celebrity, you "convulsive state which has had twenty "would not have been assembled on the years' duration; finally, the peace of the soil of Germany; but your Sovereigns world, will be the result of your efforts. have felt that Europe is a great family," Render yourselves worthy, by your ❝ and that none of the States of which it is" union, your discipline, and your courage, "composed can remain indifferent to the" of the high destiny which awaits you. "evils imposed upon any one of its mem"bers by a conquering Power. They are

also convinced, that when such a Power "threatens to attack and subjugate every "other, there ought to exist only one will 66 among those nations that are determined "to escape from shame and slavery. "From that moment 'you were called from "the banks of the Wolga and the Don, "from the shores of Britain, and the "mountains of the North, to unite with "the German warriors who defend the "cause of Europe. This, then, is the "" moment when rivalry, national preju"dices,and antipathies, ought to disappear "before the grand object of the independ"ence of nations.- The Emperor Napo"leon cannot live in peace with Europe, "unless Europe be his slave. His pre"sumption carried 400,000 brave men "700 miles from their country; misfor"tunes, against which he did not deign "to provide, fell upon their heads, and "300,000 Frenchmen perished on the ter"ritory of a great Empire, the Sovereign "of which had made every effort to preserve peace with France.It was to "be expected that this terrible disaster,

"CHARLES JEAN. "From my Head-quarters at Oranienburg,

"August 15, 1813."

Upon reading this proclamation one seems in doubt whether one is dreaming or actually awake!His Royal Highness Bernadotte talks about the divine protection and the divine vengeance in the usual style. There is nothing new here; but really when he is talking about the rights of Sovereigns, the rights of States, the love of Peace, and the horror of shedding blood, he does make one stare! He arraigns his people in the style of ANACHARSIS GLOOTES, the orator of the human race; and really His Royal Highness seems to have collected his followers from no small part of the habitable globe. He says, that they are come from the banks of the Wolga and Don, from the shores of Britain, and the mountains of the North; and I believe it would puzzle His Royal Highness very much to tell whence the far greater part of them really have come. But the interesting fact is, that we here, at the end of a twenty years' bloody war against the revolution of France, see a French revolutionary soldier selected as the deliverer of

in-Chief, who has had a great deal of experience, and whose talents were not given him merely for the purpose of forming re

to be a most excellent man, and to be Prince Royal of Sweden, and the real legitimate heir to the crown of that country, is, nevertheless, a FRENCHMAN; a real, sterling, born and bred Frenchman ?

-I do not like him the worse on that account, for my part; I like him a great deal better than I should if he was a Russian or a German; but what will those say to his appointment, who are everlastingly railing against Frenchmen? These are the persons who ought to hang their heads, or to give us some satisfactory reason, why all the old Powers put together could not

Europe from the power of his countrymen; and as if this were not enough, as if the cup of our humiliation were not yet full; as if the thing were to be made too flagiments here at home, which would be grant to escape the eye of even the most making him little better than a driller of undiscerning person in the world, His soldiers. I ask again, why the Duke of Royal Highness takes occasion in this very York was not selected in preference to Berproclamation, to put upon record his opi-nadotte, who, though we now know him nion of the guilt of those Powers who in vaded France in the year: 1792! He tells his army," that the same sentiment which "guided the French in 1792, ought to "animate the Allies." So that, here in the states of Prussia, is he addressing Prussian soldiers amongst others, and telling them that they ought to be animated with the same sentiment as that which opposed resistance to their own king at the beginning of the war. In short, he here justifies the French revolution; he here censures the coalition against France in 1792; and he does this in an address to Soldiers put under his command by Rus-produce a man so fit for this post as this old sía, Prussia, and England! This is the deliverer of Europe; this revolutionary Frenchman; this man, who, a few years ago, was a private soldier in the armies of France! The old Powers of Europe have heretofore experienced great humilia tion; but never until now, that I know of, has humiliation like this been heard of in the world. How many volumes were written in England in reprobation of the French revolution! How many scores, how many hundreds, how many thousands of long-winded bombastical speeches, disgusting, rauting, lying speeches, were made against the revolutionists of France! The whole English nation, with very few exceptions, set upon the French people like a mob. And now, behold, here is a revolutionary Frenchman, chosen to be the Generalissimo of the allied armies, and who, in his proclamation to his soldiers, takes occasion to reprobate by implication, the conduct of those very kings, whose soldiers he is appointed to command!

soldier of the French revolution.What! has all the high blood ceased to flow? All the high blood! Is there none of the blood left in the veins of any of these numerous and powerful nations, now leagued against Buonaparte? What would Burke say of this, if he were now alive? If he were raised from the dead, would not shame, at the hearing of this news, and the reading of this proclamation, hurry him back into the grave, with all his essays against the French in his wallet?- -I should like to hear the sentiments of John Bowles upon this subject. I should like to hear what John has to say upon the propriety of vesting Bernadotte with this command. At different epochs different deliverers have appeared in John's works. At one time there was the Duke of Brunswick, at another Marshal Clairfayt, at another General Wurmsur, at another the Arch-Duke Charles, at another the Duke of York, at another General Mack, and God knows how many dozens more; and now, after But, to take another view of the matter, all, after the endeavours of all the royal was there nobody but a Frenchman; no- and noble generals in Europe, out comes a body but an old French soldier, thought Frenchman, a French revolutionary solcapable of the task of delivering Europe? dier, as the chosen instrument for perCould not Germany, could not Russia, forming the mighty work!--This work alas! could not England furnish a deliver- is not easy for any man to perform. I do er? There was the Duke of Cumberland, not think that the Prince Royal will perfor instance; he was upon the spot, I be- form it; but, if he can, and with such a lieve. Why could he not have been Noah's ark of an army, I shall allow him chosen as the deliverer of Europe? If it to be a most wonderful man, and shall alwas supposed that he had not had suffi-ways recollect that he is a FRENCHcient experience in war, there was his bro- MAN.. › ther the Duke of York, our Cominander

low two Letters upon these subjects, to which I request the attention of iny readers. I have nothing to add upon these subjects myself at present; but, when R. F. comes to the point upon the subject of Tithes (with regard to which, by the by, he seems to hang fire), I am his man. His definition of right may be very good, but, it may not be amiss to remind him that the words by which he has defined it, will also require a clear definition before he advances into his subject.

WM. COBBETT.

Botley, 2d September, 1813.

16

TRINITY.

TRINITY AND TITHES.I insert behave the hardihood and wickedness to deny any part of Divine Revelation. The pil lorying and incarceration of Mr. Eaton, and the passing by unpunished any one who has the temerity to assert that the Bible contains "forgeries and lies," or that it only contains "SOME divine truths," ap pears to me not dealing out justice with an equal hand. Indeed, I have read in some very modern publications such wholesale abuse of the sacred Scriptures, that, the diction excepted, I will venture to say, was never exceeded by that infidel wretch Thomas Paine. The writers of these works, as well as the whole tribe of Unitar rians and Free Thinking Christians, I know not for what reason, and by what means, have escaped prosecution, fine, and imprisonment. Surely it does strike an ordiSIR-Notwithstanding I cannot altoge-nary mind, that the operation of the exist ther agree with you in opinion on the late ing laws on this head, has been either too Trinity Bill, I am much pleased with the lenient in the one case, or too oppressive manner in which you discuss the subject; in the other-in cases too, where the crime and although you may be accused of "self- as to moral turpitude appears to be exishness" on the one hand, and of imitating actly alike. It would, I think, be well if the ranting, roaring, bellowing Me- some "Honorable Member" in the " Hothodist" on the other, it cannot fail to in-norable House" would endeavour to bring duce those liberal and extended views, in a Bill, defining as accurately as possible, which it is equally the duty of a public to what extent an unbeliever may go in writer to promote, and the interest of a his avowed disbelief of the religion of the community to regard. Perhaps some of Bible; and whether, if couched in plain your readers, who, not having directed unvarnished language, or in the style of much of their attention to the influence of embellished erudition, it makes any, and religion on the polity of states, and the what shades of difference in the crime. general concerns of life, may suppose the To say, for instance, bluntly, that St. discussion useless or uninteresting; but those Matthew, or the writer of that part of his who, on the contrary, have marked through Gospel, told a lie, where it is said, that ancient and modern history, that empires Jesus was begotten by the Holy Ghost, and and families, the monarch and the peasant, born of a Virgin; or to say, that the author have been alike affected by its dictates in merely committed a mistake in communialmost every nation,-every age will hail cating an unauthenticated tradition to the reeven the faint glimmerings of that period, tigious world. A statute of the nature I am however distant, when the opposing dog- recommending, might mark almost the mas of a subtle or deluded imagination precise boundaries, in which infidelity may shall cease to sow the seeds of discord broach its pernicious principles. Its comshall cease to deluge the world with human manding and determining voice should say, blood, and the amiable union of reason," Hitherto shalt thou go, and no further," science, and fair truth, reverse the declara- and, or at thy peril to exceed," here shall tion, "I came not to send peace on the thy proud waves be stayed.", Paine, in earth, but a sword."Whether Mr. his "Age of Reason," (oh! do not be Smith were, or were not, actuated by laud- horror-struck, Mr. Cobbett, because I able motives, or whether he has, or has have read Paine; I am not going to defile not, accomplished a real good by the re- the pages of your orthodox journal, or subpeal of the penal statute affecting anti-ject you to a prosecution by citing any of trinitarians, I am not now about to inquire; my object in the present epistle being to direct your attention, and through your Register, the attention of the public, principally, to what I conceive, a partial operation of the laws against those who

66

his vulgar abuse of the sacred pages, but) Paine, if I recollect right, in his attempt to overthrow the Scriptures, employs all the coarsest epithets his vocabulary furnished him with, to render the writers and writings of the sacred books contempti