of General Sarrazin, which, to speak properly, is only that of the extravagance of his mind, the errors of his character, and his numerous absurdities.

"The DUKE DE FELTRE, Minister at War."

SPAIN.-General Orders.-Fourth Division.

Head-quarters, Elche, June 12. Soldiers; Our flying parties have obtained on the 9th considerable advantages in the town of Galera. Our cavalry, to the number of 120, was attacked by 230, of which SO were killed and 19 made pri

Indies. He expressed a desire to serve in the troops of the Batavian Republic, but he fulfilled none of these resolutions, and he was still in France, when on the 10th of Vendemiaire, he was re-established on the staff of Generals of Brigade in the room of General Colli, appointed General of Division. Two months afterwards he was appointed to go to St. Domingo. He remained there only a year, the bad state of his health inducing General Rochambeau to send him back to France, where he arrived on the 22d Frimaire, year 12. General Augereau then commanded a camp; General Sarrazin applied, and obtained to be employed under his com-soners. Individual acts of valour have maud. His character, ever inclined to been performed, which shall be rewarded accusation, soon raised against him nume- accordingly; but among these we have to rous enemies. He avowed himself the ac- notice Don Gaspar de Bobadella, Captain of cuser of the Generals and Administrations the Regiment of Cavalry of Farnisco, who of the Army in a memoir which he trans- with his own hand killed one of the enemitted to the Emperor, under date of the my's officers, who in the act of offering 23d of Frimaire, year 13. The cry of him protection, returned the generous offer indignation which was raised against him, by a stroke of his sword. The defenders deprived him of the courage of supporting of Cazorla, to the number of 360, were publicly the part he had, undertaken, and attacked on the 4th instant by 1,600 foot raised such a storm against him, that he and 600 horse. The superiority of the saw himself again, for the second time, enemy obliged them to retire from that obliged to request leave to resign. He town, after having defended it with adwas nevertheless retained in his post, and mirable valour. The enemy left behind. made with that part of the army, the cam-them on this day 200 in their first attack, paigns of the year 14, or 1806.-Some and in the streets of the town; nor had disputes, which he had with General Hou- they courage to follow our valiant soldiers. delit, in whose division he served, obliged These actions are only the preludes of the Government to recal him to France. others more important, in which we are to On the 31st of October, 1806, he was em-distinguish ourselves; to destroy and teach ployed in the 24th Military Division, the enemy, that the Spanish nation will under the orders of General Chambarlhac, not cede in valour to any nation in the who confided to him the command of the department of the Lys. The misunderstanding which soon took place between the Prefect and him, evinced the necessity of giving him another destination, and he was sent to the Isle of Cadsand. His conduct continually extravagant, and his arbitrary proceedings, incensed against him the inhabitants, the authorities and General Chambarihac. The complaints which reached Government induced it again to change his residence, and he received letters of service for the 16th Mili-1. Of the Establishment of a Fund of Liquidatary Division. He served in this division from the 11th of February, 1809, and had the happiness to live there in excellent harmony with both his superiors and subalterns, till by the most disgraceful desertion he imprinted an indelible opprobrium on his name.-Such is the history

world.

FREYRE.

PETERSBURG, June 13.-The day before yesterday the most eminent merchants and bankers were sent for to the Minister of Finances, who informed them of the measures for improving the finance of the empire. A loan of 100 millions of roubles is to be opened, on which account the Emperor has published a Manifesto, of which the chief tenor is as follows:

tion of State Debts.

As the property of the State ought always to be considered as a mortgage of the public debt, part of its mass is to be taken off and publicly sold. (To be continued.)"

Published by R. BAGSHAW, Brydges-Street, Covent Garden :-Sold also by J. BUDD, Pall-Mali, LONDON :--Printed by T. C. Hansard, Peterborough-Court, Fleet-Street,

VOL. XVIII. No. 2.] LONDON, SATURDAY, JULY 21, 1810.

[Price 18.

"The Army, against whom this "Libel is m a peculiar mauner directed, calls on the Court for Justice "against its traducer."- -Attorney General's Speech.

331

TO THE READER.

[31 brains in their skulls, given to yield to the incitements of those who traduce them? I deny the fact; indeed, there is not the semblance of truth in it; but, for a moment and merely for argument's sake, admit the fact, is it to be believed, is it credible, is it possible, that the Army should look upon

In my last Number, at page 10, I stated the Three famous assertions of the Atterney General. On two of them I made my intended observations; and, if I may judge from the letters I have received upon the subject, and from other indica-me as its traducer, that, as such, it should tis not less certain, the public are of opinion, those two assertions, though so boldly made, received from me a complete refutation. It remains for me to notire the THIRD, which was that THE ARMY calied upon the Court to purish me. The words, as given in the report, were these: "THE ARMY, against whom "this libel is in a peculiar munner directed, "CALLS ON THE COURT for justice "against its traducer."

66

disgust; to tell them that they were hardly, "cruelly and tyrannically dealt with." That i said, that the affair at Ely was. "not to be called a mutiny, and that it was a mere squabble between the men and, "their officers for a trifle of money." Well, no matter what was the fact, here, the effect was not, surely, to excite anger and resentment in the bosoms of the army, and to induce them to call for punishment upon my head. Here was nothing of truduction at any ra e. But, in this as in every other respect, assertion was quite. secure; there being no answer on my part allowed.

call for punishment on my head, and yet, that, at the very same time, my efforts obviously tended to seduce them from their lawful obedience, and to invite them to follow my wishes in works of iny. That this should be true is impossible. I was accused of representing the Local Militia at Ely of being too hardly dealt with, But, let us take the Attorney General's own words. The former, in the Speech now referred to, which see, in the last Number Now, in the first place, in what way at page 3, said, that the tendency of my. have 1, in writing and publishing the publication was, "to encourage the solarticle in question, deserved the appel-diers to impatience, insubordination and lation here given to me? In what way have 1 traduced the army? Where is there, in that article, an expression leyelled at the character of the army, or at the interest of the army? I was accused," indeed, by the Attorney General, of endearouring to injure the military service; but, what proof; what fact; whit argumeat, was produced, in support of this assertion of my having traduced the army Not a word did I utter against the army, or against the military profession. Nay, that this assertion might not yield to any of the others in point of consistency, it is made in the same speech, in which I am accused of endeavours to seduce the army. I am represented as being, at one and the same moment, and with reference to one and the same act, both a traducer and a seducer. The audience were told of the dreadful consequences that might have ensued from my acts of seduction. I was represented as deserving of peculiarly heavy punishment on account of the dan gerousness of my efforts, which efforts did, as was asserted, directly tend to excite the army to mutiny. Well? But was this to be done by traducing that army? Are men, or at least, men with

Let us

now view this assertion in.. another light. We have, of late years, grown wonderfully familiar with military notions and influence. From some cause or other; from the fear of invasion or of revolution, or from some cause that we ourselves, perhaps, do not clearly perceive, we have become most miraculously reconciled to military means. A bookseller advertises for sale "A Digest of the Military Law of England." I could not help remarking, that, during the debates upon the petition of poor CAPTAIN FosKETT, the phrase military government of

B

to

inflict a

most base of all mankind, I never having, in all my life, done or said any thing respecting the Army, that was not intended for its good.

Those who have been in the habit of reading the Register for some years, must have witnessed the pains that I have taken, upon numerous occasions, to exalt the cha racter of the soldier, to remove the prejudices that existed against his profession, and to make those engaged in the mili tary service an object of respect and affec tion amongst the people in general. Many are the instances, in which I have been blamed for this; many are the instances, in which I have been most grossly abused for this, aye, and by those, too, who are now my assailants upon the opposite ground. It will be recollected, that I have constantly objected to every thing, which tended to lower the military charac ter; that every scheme (and schemes enough we have had) which had a tendency to degrade the profession of a soldier by giving of the military dress and rank to those who were not soldiers, has received my marked disapprobation; that the tinker and pas try-cook race of officers have always been an object of ridicule with me, not because I disapproved of them in their proper pluce, but because they were put forward in a way to do wrong to the really military, men.

the country," was frequently made use of; and, I believe, in one or two instances, even by MR. WHITBREAD. But, I must confess, that, when the Attorney General told the Judges in so many words, that "THE ARMY called upon them" to do justice upon me, I was surprized. He had said every thing else that he could think of to induce them t heavy punishment upon me; and, as if nothing was sufficient without it, he concluded with a declaration, that I was a traducer of the Army, and that, as such, the army called upon the Judges to punish me. Very strange things have, at different times, been witnessed in that court; but, I believe, this was the very first time, that English Judges fiad been told to their teeth, many plain words, that the in so army, that the military, that men with arms in their hands, called upon them for such or such a sentence on a man "standing at their bar. A great deal has been said about the Constitution prohibiting a standing army in time of peace, without consent of Parliament: such is our dread of the precious "freedom of "election" being violated by the military, that soldiers are kept at a distance from places where elections are going on: the changes have, indeed, been rung upon the perfect subserviency of the military to the civil power: but, what, in the name of common sense, does all this mean, if In the defence of injured officers, who is the Judges, when sitting to are to be told, and by officer of the self, that has devoted one single page of king too, that the army calls upon them for their works? And, when have I refused such or such a judgment? The prosecu- the application of any such officer? I tion was by information of the Attorney have, at various times, urged the propriety eneral; that is, the Attorney General, of making legal provision that no commisan officer appointed by the king and sioned officer should be cashiered without holding his office during pleasure, com-a previous sentence of a court-martial to mences the prosecution in the king's name, and, when he comes to apply for judg. ment, he tells the Judges, that the army calls upon them to punish the person prosecuted, because that person is a traducer of that army! I will not ask what this is like, or what it is not like..I will make no comparisons, and, indeed, to make any, or to observe further upon this point would be quite useless. Every reader will turn the thing over in his mind, and will, I am sure, come to a proper conclusion.

king too, that the army ss judgment, there belonging to the press, besides my

But, let no one suppose, for a moment, that I believe, that it was true that the ARMY called on the Judges to punish me. Let no one suppose, that I believe this to be true; for, I must first believe, that the Army are the nrost ungrateful and

that effect. This proposition might be thought very foolish by the officers of the army, who might like it best to be liable to cashiering at pleasure; but, it will, I think, be looked upon as very improbable, if not as quite impossible, that the officers of the Army should harbour any resent ment against me on this account; and, indeed, that they should not feel, for this cause alone, some small degree of gratitude towards me. It is impossible, that they should feel anger towards a person, who, with all his means, endeavoured to render them somewhat more independent than they were.

Upon several occasions, I have recommended an advance in the pay of the Com missioned Officers particularly; and, in one

instance, I shewed the justice of this, upon much ill-blood existed against the Army, the same principle that the salaries of the especially in this metropolis, did I join judges and other persons in office with those, whose pens or tongues were at fixed salaries, had been raised, I remind- work against the military? On the coned the late Ministry of this, when they trary, every word that I said manifestly brought forward the proposition for aug- tended to allay the resentment that had menting the pecuniary allowances to the been excited against the soldiers. I allude several branches of the king's family. to the time of Sir Francis Burdett's com The great argument in support of such mitment to the Tower, and to my Register augmentation was, that provisions of every (Vol. XVII. p. 564.) where I endeavoured sort, and, indeed, every article necessary to allay this popular resentment. In to support life or to give splendour to speaking of the blood that had been spilt, rank, had almost doubled in price, since the I said: "I cannot help exhorting such of salaries then in existence were fixed. It was the people as my Register may reach, not said, that money had depreciated one half." to reflect well before they fix upon the But, that was no matter. To vulgar" objects of their blame in this respect. minds a rise in prices is the clearest idea." Soldiers are but mere machines; they Well, said I (without now questioning the" are bound to implicit obedience; a repropriety or, rather, without making that" fusal to obey is mutiny; mutiny is pua matter of discussion), if the rise of prices" nished with death. The people should, be a good ground for augmenting the al-" therefore, upon such occasions, bear this lowances to the Duke of Cumberland, for" in their minds; and should, besides, coninstance, it is surely as good a ground for "sider, that men in red coats have feelaugmenting the pay of the army, and espe- ings as well as other men, and cannot be cially of the commissioned officers, who "expected to bear without resentment, are not, like the non-commissioned officers" the scoffings and peltings of the people, and private men, protected, in some mea- "whom, in fact, they can have done nosure, against this rise in prices, by the ra- "thing to offend. The people should tions of bread and meat, which they al- bear in mind, that the soldiers are their ways have at a fixed price. I do not on countrymen; that they have, in reknow, whether the commissioned-officers "ality, all the same interests, as to public have this allowance also; but, if they have," matters, that the people have; that they their mere eatables, their mere bread and "are their sons and their brothers and meat, make but a very small portion of their nephews; and, though there may their expences, Here again I might be be, and doubtless are, persons, who mistaken; there might be no analogy in may, upon some occasions, endeavour the cases of the officers of the army and to persuade the soldiers, that they have the members of the king's family; it an interest separate und different from that might be quite fit to augment the allow of the people, the fact is not so; for all ances of the latter, upon an argument of" of us, whether clad in red coats or in a rise in prices, and not to augment the brown coats, must, in the end, be equally pay of the former: all this might be, and, affected by every public measure. of course, I might be wrong, and what I Was this spoken like an enemy of the said extremely foolish; but, I am sure, army? Could the man, who wrote and that no one will believe it possible that published and sent these words to the the Army should dislike me for it; no one ends of the earth, be a traducer of the will believe it possible, that what I said army? And, will the reader believe, that upon that occasion could be construed into any single soul in that army, worthy of traduction of the army; no one will believe the name of soldier or of Englishman, has it possible, that I, by the augmentation I now called upon the Judges to punish me then proposed to be made to the pay of the as the traducer of the army? Read my army, wished to render that army inefficient work from the first page to the last, and, and mutinous; no; nor will any one ever if you therein find a single instance of my believe, that the man, from whom that having attempted, though in the slightest proposition came, was a seeker after " base way, to detract from the character or prolucre, seeing that part of that augmenta- fession of a soldier, and especially from tion must have been borne by himself, the character of the English army, I will without the possibility of his ever deriving give you leave to treat me even worse any individual benefit therefrom. than I have already been treated. It has been my constant endeavour, as often as

seen has embraced those scenes and occasions where every man, first or last, from one cause or another, owes the preservation of his all, health and life not excepted, to the kindness, the generosity, the fellow feeling, of his comrades. A community of monks hate one another, because they are compelled to live together, and do not stand in need of each other's voluntary assistance in the procuring of the things necessary to health and life. It is precisely the contrary with soldiers. And, a soldier has not only a regard of all the men of his own corps, but, in a degree a little fainter, for all the soldiers in the army. Nay, the soldiers of two hostile armies have a feeling of friendship for each other; and, this feeling and the acts arising from it, have, when occasion has

opportunity has offered, to remove from the minds of the people all prejudices against the army, being of opinion that those prejudices must, in every way in which they can operate, be injurious to the country, and may, possibly, endanger its independence; for after all, in any case of great emergency, what would any army be able to do without the people were with them? The people are the country, and no country, as Prussia and Austria and Italy and Naples and many other nations can tell, was ever yet defended without its own aid, without its own native and cordial exertions. For these reasons I have constantly inculcated a regard and affection for those of our countrymen who are kept in arms; as far as my influence has been able to reach there is no prejudice existing against soldiers; I have en-offered, always been found to exist in prodeavoured to shew, and I have shown, that it is to be very stupid as well as ungenerous, to consider a man as being the worse because he has entered upon a way of life that exposes him to bleed in defence of his country; and, that, if there were no other reason for combatting this prejudice, it would be a quite sufficient reason, that the Existence of it must of necessity be desired by every enemy of the liberties of the country, To such persons it must be gratifying in the highest degree to see an animosity existing between the people and the soldiery. It has made part of the system of every despot to keep the soldiers and the people in a state of hostility, in a state of constant suspicion and haired of one another. Let the reader judge, then, whether I, who am accused of a desire to introduce revolution, am a likely man to traduce the army to the people; or to do any other act, calculated to make the people dislike the army. Were there not a single fact to shew the contrary, reasoning upon general principles would forbid any man to believe, that I disliked the army, or that the army could possibly dislike me. }

To the army, to every soldier in it, I have a bond of attachment quite independent of any political reasonings or considerations, I have been a soldier myself, and for no small number of years, at that time of life when the feelings are most ardent and when the strongest attachments are formed. Once a soldier always a soldier," is a maxim, the truth of which I need not insist on to any one who has ever served in the army for any length of time, and especially if the service he has

portion to the bravery with which they have fought against each other.-Of this military feeling I do not believe that any man ever possessed a greater portion than myself. I was eight years in the army, during which time I associated less with people out of the army than any soldier that I ever knew, This partiality I have always retained. I like soldiers, as a class in life, better than any other description of men. Their conversation is more pleasing to me; they have generally seen more than other men; they have less of vulgar prejudice about them; to which may be added, that, having felt hardships themselves, they know how to feel for others. This does not, indeed, apply to such as those of whom Mrs. Clarke was the protectress; but to those who have seen service, or who depend solely upon their merit for their success. Amongst soldiers, less than amongst any other description of men, have I observed the vices of lying and hypocrisy. I do not recollect a single instance of a soldier in any corps, having betrayed, or given up, or exposed, another soldier, even for the sake of saving himself from most terrible punishment; and, as for selfishness, a soldier, who would not give his dinner, his day's provisions, to a comrade in want, would be looked upon as an unnatural brute. It is not to be expected that such generosity of feeling should be found amongst the mass of mankind: those who have not known the vicisitudes and the many wants of the soldier's life, cannot be expected to have the soldier's feeling: I have known the one, and I possess the other; and, notwithstanding I have now been accused of hankering