concluded has brought upon my faithful vassals and subjects in the said provinces, and severely as I am sensible of them, the unshaken fidelity and attachment of my subjects is still greater, as their patient endurance has proved. You have by your conduct obtained the esteem of the French, who, if you persevere in it, will, now that peace is concluded, show you still more of that, with which they endeavoured to diminish the calamities of war. "It must first be your care to satisfy, to the utmost of your power, the arrears of the contribution levied by the French army, since on that alone must depend whether we shall soon enjoy the fruits of peace, and be enabled to heal the severe wounds which war has inflicted on our country. To facilitate your performance of this, I' will endeavour to abrogate the debt which the payment of the contributions has obliged the country to contract, by every possible economy in the disbursements from the revenues of the country, for the maintenance of the civil and military state. With this view, I have already revised the pension list, and confined it to cases of the utmost necessity, and have made considerable progress in the limitation of civil and military service; for much as it may pain my heart, especially when I must separate myself from men of merit, and men who have long served me, I must at all events avoid the necessity of imposing new burdens on my subjects, at a time when it is much more my duty to support them in every possible manner. I have, by sending general Knobelsdorff to Paris, done all that depended on me to procure a diminution of the contributions, as also to facilitate the payment by the acceptance of instalments. All the other conditions of the peace I will certainly endeavour, unremittingly, to fulfil; more is not in my power; and I can only refer you to privy counsellor Geshlach, whom I have provisionally appointed to the provincial administration of the electoral marck, and appointed civil commissary-general for all offices relative to the peace, in the provinces and in the city: he will afford you every assistance." In the midst of these distressing circumstances, it is pleasing to record the generous patriotism of the remaining subjects of the Prussian monarch. A large quantity of Prussian cannon having been put up for sale at Breslaw, a number of the inhabitants came forward and contributed to purchase for the purpose of presenting them to the king of Prussia. The fact is a proof of the mildness and popularity of the Prussian government, and arraigns that dreadful system of dismemberment, which, under the dictation of the French usurper, has dislodged every social affection, and forcibly alienated subjects from their allegiance to their lawful sovereigns. RUSSIA. The present politics of this vast empire seem to be wrapt in an almost impenetrable veil of secrecy. From their versatility, I am at a loss to determine whether it would be advantageous for the public interest, that Russia should become a party with us in the war against France or not. The predominant sentiment, however, of my mind is, that it would be a benefit to this country, ultimately, if Russia were to declare war against us; and for this reason, because, after a campaign or two, she would, in conformity with her fickle policy, conclude a peace with us, and wheel about, once more, upon her French ally, in which case she would be compelled to fight con amore. If, therefore, that power should become hostile to Great Britain, I shall not feel any great degree of alarm at the circumstance, being thoroughly satisfied, that in less than twelve months she will again become our ally. The events which have sprung up since the treaty of peace between Alexander and the Corsican assassin, evince the miserable effects which arise from a want of firmness in critical conjunctures. Alexander had scarcely signed his name to the dishonourable treaty of Tilsit, ere he received intelligence of the complete overthrow of the Turkish fleet and army, by his victorious forces; a circumstance which would have enabled him, had he prosecuted the war with vigour, to have effected the ruin of the French army in Poland, by means of a Fabian war. For I have shewn, over and over again, in the course of this work, that the only method of repelling the arms of France consists, not in adopting her system, but in eluding it. However, some of our journals have been so irritated with the imperial raftsmen that they have indulged themselves in the unnatural regret, that the two heroes did not find a watery grave in the Niemen. I call this an unnatural regret in respect of "the emperor of the north," because we ought still to cherish better expectations from him, and with respect of the other," Sir, my brother" of the west, because they have palpably overlooked that old and just proverb, that he will never be drowned who is born to be hanged. It might have been supposed, however, leaving every sentiment of shame and mortification out of the question, that the successes of the Russian arms would, at least, have infused into the breast of Alexander, a sense of his own importance; and though they might not go to the extent of inducing him to violate a treaty which he had ratified, yet, that they would have influenced his subsequent conduct so far as to deter him from becoming the dupe and tool of French ambition and intrigue. But they have had quite a contrary effect. For he has not only given up Catarro, and the republic of the seven islands, to France, but he has even condescended to convey, in Russia ships of war, the French troops which are destined for the garrison of those parts! After such an infamous subserviency to France, and such mean tergiversation, Alexander cannot be surprised if Buonaparte should hail him emperor of the north; for, in the north, he may rest assured, that man will fix him; and he will be con-vinced of this truth in ess than twelve months, unless he evinces a more provident policy than he has shewn in his negociations at Tilsit. That treaty, according to our edition of it, is neither more nor less than a law imposed by the conqueror upon the conquered. Had the French eagles glittered upon the wails of Petersburgh, or of Moscow, greater concessions could not have been exacted from the terror, the credulity, or the misfortunes of Alexander. The lofty projects of Peter I. who may be said to have discovered the Russian empire; the steady and measured policy with which those projects were pursued by the capacious mind of Catherine, are all dissolved; and, like a midnight dream, have vanished into empty air. The work of a century has been dissipated by the stroke of a pen; and it will soon be seen by the advisers of this imperial changeling, that no prospective glories, which Buonaparte may have held out to him during the negociations, can compensate him for the dereiction of the firm holds which he had acquired upon the eastern shore of the Adriatic, and which, in his possession, formed, at once, the bulwarks of the eastern world, and an impenetrable line of defence for the left wing of his extensive empire. Through the unaccountable infatuation of the Russian cabinet, these securities have been ceded into the hands of the only power in Europe who is likely to make use of them for the curtailment of Russian power. The road into Greece is now paved, and rendered accessible to French troops; European Turkey is also placed at the discretion of Buonaparte; and while Alexander is thus serving as a jackall to the voracious lion, not the least security has been acquired for his western frontier. Brannau still remains in the hands of the French, though Catarro has been surrendered; whence we may infer, that no measures have been adopted by the cabinet of St. Petersburgh to form or strengthen its connection with Austria, against the arrival of the last great storm. In the same manner, my readers will perceive, amongst the annexed staté papers, that, instead of conciliating the esteem, and drawing closer the ancient bonds of friendship between Russia and Great Britain, his imperial majesty has issued a decree so comprehensively exclusive in its effects, that no Englishman can hereafter think of carrying on any commercial transactions in the Russian empire. For such an empire as Russia, this decree prepares the return of darkness, barbarism, and ignorance it is in direct opposition to the uniform and wholesome policy of all the preceding sovereigns of that country; and by rendering difficult all intercourse with his subjects, Alexander is not only preventing their progress in improvement, but actually eradicating the seeds of civilization and refinement, which had been successfully planted in Russia since the dawn of the last century. With the surliness of his subject bears, he appears to be discontented with the polished world, and has with drawn himself within his fortresses of everlasting ice, unknowing and unknown; there to brood over that desolation of Europe, which his fortitude and public spirit might have averted, and to bring into life that cockatrice of barbarism and ignorance which his prohibitory edict has begotten. Ye Gods! what justice rules the ball ? What now is become of that famous titulary chancery, which the liberal genius of his ancestors constituted for the ease and protection of foreigners? What is become of that municipal constitution, which attracted a concourse of strangers from every quarter of Europe, which gave them the political rights of citizens, and which made the heart of the philosopher, and the benevolent, glow with rapture?* This barbarous edict has exiled them to other lands, and left Russia to stand alone, a rude and gothic structure, unenvied by the weakest of a suffering world. The armistice, concluded between the Russians and the Turks, which will be found in our next number, seems to denote the resolution of the emperor Alexander, to do penance for all his offences against the French ruler. Every article of that armistice contains such plain marks of self-abandonment, that it is reasonable to conclude, his imperial majesty has become a saint, that he has renounced all the pomps and vanities of this world, that his soul has absconded from its fleshly mould, and that his eyes and hands are extended towards a celestial throne only, since he has strained every nerve to get rid of his earthly one, as expeditiously as possible. If this conclusion be not just, we cannot assign any motive for his late extraordinary conduct, except that he is either insant, or that there yet luks an article of that accursed Tilsit treaty, which will burst unexpectedly upon the astonished world. Otherwise, how shall we account for the lamb-like submission of that mighty power, which, like another Brianeus, once stretched out an hundred arms, but is now stripped of its branches, and reduced to the insignificant diminutiveness of dwarfish impotence. Do the shades of Ishmael, and of Praga, haunt the pillow of Alexander, guiltless of their blood? Or, does Alexander truckle to the usurper, that he may overwhelm some unsuspecting neighbour with the irresistible force of his reserved power? Whatever his motives may be, it is evident, from the tenour of his armistice with the Porte, that he acts, to all appearance, as if his fleet and armies had been routed and driven before his enemies. He has stipulated the same conditions as might have been expected from a vanquished enemy; and in the restoration of all the Farkish ships taken in battle, and of all his territorial conquests, he has obviously extinguished that martial flame which Catherine, and preceding sovereigns of Russia, had kept alive, against the setting glory of the Crescent. The light which played over the northern henrisphere, will no longer illumine the regions of barbarism, and "darkness visible," will cloud a reign, which might have shone out in meridional splendour. Hitherto, we have not obtained any information relative to the manner in which the account of the reduction of Copenhagen, and the surrender of the Danish fleet, has been received by the court of St. Petersburgh. I am impatient to learn the conduct which Russia will observe towards this country, in consequence of those events: for, by that conduct, we shall ascertain, with precision, in what light we are hereafter to consider our old ally. If it be true, that Russian ships of war have transported the French troops to Catarro, and the Ionian islands, the unfriendly and treacherous subterfuge will not only prove an hostile mind against Great Britain, but it will have happened most opportunely to render the necessity of our demand of the Danish Acet, additionally conspicuous and forcible. When we see a power under the cover of neutrality, convey our enemies in ships of war to occupy positions which increase their inordinate influence, and lengthen our line of operations, surely, it is high time that we should avail ourselves of every opportunity within our reach, to anticipate such fraudulent collusions, and to prevent neutrals from shrouding under their flags, the enemies of Great Britain. The Russian ships were no more justified in carrying men than in carrying forbidden goods; for both are contraband of war. Were we to permit this practice, our fleets might have met the Danish, or Portuguese fleet, upon the sea, laden with French troops; destined to England or Ireland, and our men of war, instead of attacking them, would be compelled to fire a civil salute to the flag, which transported the fiends of havock, to lay waste our fields and to butcher our countrymen. In my opinion, we should be justified in seizing and detaining every Russian ship of war, and mercantile vessel, by way of redress, as well as chas * Where 500 foreigners are in one town, they have liberty to choose, from their own body, as many persons o the town magistracy as there are already Russian mem. bers of the magistracy. They can set up trades and manufactories, and quit at their option. See Tooke's View of the Russian Empire, vol. 2, p. 414. tisement, upon the Russian government, for daring to offend against the laws of neutrality, and the majesty of our maritime dominion. At all events, let the fact be recorded; let it be treasured up in the catalogue of our griefs, that when the hour of retributive vengeance shall arrive, it may swell the tide of public indignation, and redouble our ardour in launching our bursting thunders on the perfidious auxiliary of our implacable foe. TURKEY. The manifesto of the rebellious Janissaries who deposed their late sovereign, is worthy of the turbulent, fanatical, and brutal herd from whom it issued. In their thoughts, as well as their actions, they are the reverse of every thing observable in the rest of Europe. When every other people are impressed with the necessity of increasing their growth, in order to maintain their footing in society, the Turks conceive it to be the perfection of policy to contract their size, and to diminish their moral strength in proportion as that of their neighbours augment. Upon the very principle which, in Christendom, would surround a monarch with the love and confidence of his subjects, these besotted Mohammedans tear their sovereign from his throne, and place his nephew on the vacant seat. Unmoved by the rapid approaches of that storm which is gathering around, and will soon compress their European power; unappalled by the fate of disciplined and warlike nations, which have fallen the victims of their superannuated prejudices, the Turks disdainfully revolt at the idea of the introduction of order and economy into their domestic adıministration, and of science and discipline into the constitution and movements of their armies. The crime of the dethroned sovereign consisted in a temperate endeavour to meliorate the condition of his troops, and to qualify them to meet the disciplined tactics of Europeans with a correspondent degree of discipline. A project so salutary gave offence to the Janissaries, and the triumph of barbarism was completed by the deposition of their ruler. This circumstance is not new in the history of mankind, since we can hardly discover amongst the records of nations, one people who have not been adverse at the beginning to the very plans of improvement which they afterwards adopted with zeal. An attempt to make the Russians shave their beards, occasioned a general revolt among the people; and when, in a former reign, muskets were put into the hands of the Janissaries, in order that they might be drilled in the European system of wartare, they threw them down with indignation, and drawing their sabres, declared, that as their empire had been gained by the sword, with the sword only it should be maintained. In fact, the unruly spirit of the Janissaries is so great, that they are more formidable to their sovereign than to his enemies. Accordingly, we have seen them renew the drama of Mohammed IV. and they have consigned the Sultaun to an habitation within the iron doors of the Seraglio, and raised his relative to the throne. The same principle continues to operate now, which operated in the 17th century. No sooner is the nephew of the Sultaun proclaimed, than the deposed prince acknowledges the will of the prophet through the voice of the people. And thus, when Mohammed IV. abdicated the empire in 1687, and left it to his brother, Solyman, he told Cuprogli, and the keeper of the sacred standard, "God's will be done; since his anger has fallen upon my head; go and tell my brother that God declares his will by the voice of the people." That the French have been extremely active in the events that have occurred at Constantinople, is sufficiently evident, both from their declarations, and their excessive joy, at the downfal of the late Sultaun. But unless they obtain possession of the Turkish provinces in Europe, through their usual arts of fraud, they will find it a matter of greater difficulty than they are aware of, to reduce the Othman power under their yoke. In the Morea, they will, no doubt, be successful; but they will find in the Mohammedans, as they have already experienced with Buonaparte at their head, a much more stubborn resistance than they have found from any other continental power, Russia excepted. Although the fanaticism of the Turks has long been smothered, yet is it not extinguished. When their vigour shall be roused by the consideration that they are fighting for religion, as well as empire, they will display a desperate valour, heightened by the rekindled glow of religious fanaticism; and before the standards of France shall have reached the mouth of the Bosphorus, a copious deluge of French blood will signalize the fall of their European empire. From these reflections, it will be readily perceived, that I contemplate the over throw of European Turkey, as the necessary consequence of the Russian armistice, and the cession of the Catarro and Ionian islands to the French. This event may not take place this year, but it will be accomplished before the expiration of the ensuing one. Rapid and decisive measures are already in preparation. Numerous emissaries of France, inundate the Turkish provinces, and serve as the pioneers of her revolutionary legions. An ambassador has already reached Persia, with a view to strengthen the interest of France in that quarter, and to explore the track that leads to India. Our government have judiciously dispatched Sir Harford Jones, who, from long residence, is conversant with the languages and manners of the east, to counteract the designs of the French at that court; and the vigorous and enlightened policy adopted by lord Wellesley in India, which he bequeathed to his successors as a solid basis of public security, has so concentrated our force in that region of the world, that if it be pursued in the spirit with which it was framed; no apprehension need be entertained for the safety of Hindustan. Upon the whole, the eastern horizon begins to be obscured, and the storm of war is evidently moving in that direction. What mighty changes, what sanguinary convulsions, what undreamt-of wonders are yet to be unfolded in that hitherto untrodden scene of European ambition, are concealed in the womb of time. Imagination may pourtray scenes of delight or woe, according to the sanguine or melancholy dispositions of men; but human reason is baffled in the enquiry. They who see in all the astonishing events of our age, so many attestations of the immediate interference of the Supreme Being, and the course of human affairs bending towards the fulfilment of those prophecies which are recorded in Holy Writ, are now furnished with abundant scope for the exercise of their learning and ingenuity. It is not admitting too much to affirm, that there never was a period in the history of man, since the death of Christ, in which circumstances corresponded, with such striking similitude, to the predictions transmitted to us from age to age, as the genuine productions of the inspired writers. But I am deviating from my peculiar province; and, therefore I leave the consideration of this subject to those, who, by their profession and learning, are best fitted to examine it with care, sobriety, and attention. N. B. It was my intention to have inserted the article upon the Defence of the Country in this week's number; but, on account of the necessity of carrying on regularly the chain of historical narrative, I have thought it better to postpone it until our next, provided no momentous intelligence shall arrive from the continent, which may call for our immediate judgment. The Continuation of the Review of Political Literature, though printed, cannot be inserted until next week, for want of room. STATE PAPERS. (Continued from page 304, Dated Warsaw, August 17.) After experiencing so many humiliations and misfortunes under a foreign despotism, the powerful and generous protection of Napoleon the great at length restores us to existence; and this breath of life, with which he has just re-animated our body politic, will become the source of that lasting prosperity which the God of our fathers had destined for us in his eternal decrees. He has given us the first pledge of it, by appointing for our sovereign, a monarch who is venerated by the happy inhabitants of the borders of the Elbe; and all other nations will doubtless envy us, under his wise and beneficent government. The Polander will be able to display, in all his enterprizes, that unalterable firmness of which our ancestors have left us so many examples; that harmony, that constant agreement of hearts and minds which the first of heroes has so often recommended to us; that manly courage which makes us support, with constancy, transitory evils, and which, can alone render us worthy of attaining the glorious end that we propose to ourselves, the nation's felicity': in fine, that unanimity of views and labours which all will have for their object-the general good and prosperity of the nation. It is thus that we shall be able to eternize both the celebrity of the age in which we shall have lived, and the happiness of future generations. We enjoin the directors of the police to publish the present ordinance by the usual means, Done at Warsaw, in the sitting of the 13th of August, 1807. (Signed) "STANISLAUS MALACKOWSKı, President, **JOHN LUSZEZEWSKI, Secretary genetal.” |