314 
armies of France a decided preponderance in 
Europe. From the Ems, up the Rhine to 
Kasil and Feldkirk; from thence by Verona 
and the Adriatic-sea to Calabria, the republic 
is covered with a chain of double and triple 
lines of natural barriers and military posts. 
Secure at home, her avant departments, open 
to her armies every part of the continent from 
the Morea to Pomerania; Bonaparte’s Je- 
gions may be at the gates of Vienna and 
Berlin, before the Austrian and Prussian 
cabinets have any suspicion of the Consul’s 
hostile intention. Lord paramount of Na- 
ves, the cession of Malta, and all other mi- 
ery and naval stations in the Mediterra- 
nean, by Great Britain, puts the Turkish 
government under the immediate direction of 
the consulate. With the command of Con- 
stantinople, or only enjoying the freedom of 
navigaung the Dardanelles and Bosphorus of 
‘Thrace, the republic will cheek the opera- 
tions even of Russia itself; and may make 
that mighty empire subservient to her future 
projects.”’* 
4. Her colontes and settlements abroad; 
these are concerns of a very subordinate 
nature to Trance, considered asa source 
of revenue or a nursery for sailors, but 
to the consulate these foreign settle- 
ments are of high importance. 
«« Considering how the great sources of 
our maritime power are scattered, the whole 
island of St. Domingo, the boundless coun- 
tries of Guiana, Louisiana, and the Floridas, 
with the inyaluable settlement of the Cape, 
are, in the hands of the chief consul, oflen- 
sive stations of the most formidable nature. 
Making her armies subsetvient to the culti- 
vation of the soil, these possessions will be- 
come such military departments, that, when 
the republic shall again think proper to find 
a pretext to quarrel openly with Great Bri- 
tain, Jamaica and Brazil may be casy con- 
quests ; or, should the consulate limit its 
operations in America, as some think it will, 
to a free trade with the Spanish and Portu- 
guese colonies , France wil! in that case have 
ample means to raise and keep up a maritiine 
foree, proportionate to her military prepon- 
derance. 
««We have already stated, that the fishe- 
fies and trade of the republic, in her present 
situation, will employ and maintain 120,000 
able seanien ; the foreign possessions chosen 
by her rulers, having no boundaries, she ma 
extend. her settlements and. augment their 
produce, we may: say, to infinity; and by 
managing other powers with a pacific pru- 
dence, she may double the number of her 
* «Vhe ascendency of the consulate at Constantinople, and the free navigation of the Black, 
Sea, now allowed to France, cannot fail to produce effects of great importance ; ‘these two 
circumstances must either cementand strengthen the political ties that are already existing bor 
tween the consulate and the emperor of Russia, or they must break off the connexion, 
Should Russia and France continue friends, they,wilk co-operate and subdue Asia, as they 
have. done kurope. ‘They cannot now separate without quarrellimg, and in Bhat’ cavethey 
will grash the werld between their mighty armies.” 
HISTORY, POLITICS, AND STATISTICS. 
sailors, and secure a dominion on the occan,. 
before any of her neighbours be aware of her 
design. Commanding the powers, the 
and arsenals of Spain, Italy and Turky, 
France may very soon possess the absolute 
sovereignty of the Mediterranean ; with the 
Rhine, she has the forests of Germany for 
the use of her dock-yards ; with Holland. 
she acquires an extent of coust and a chain 
of sea-ports, which may enable her to raise a 
numerous navy in a few years.” 
The leading policy of France has ever 
been to reduce the power and political 
influence of Great Britain; with the 
same disposition she has now more power 
than she ever had. The annulment of 
the treaty of Amiens, indeed, by which 
we retain possession of Malta, and the 
consequent superiority in the Mediter- 
ranean, has abridged the consulate power 
in that quarter since these Sketches were 
written. If France, however, is mistress 
of the south-west half of continental 
Europe, Russia claims a similar domi-+ 
nion over the north and eastern parts. 
“These two mighty empires are come’ 
in contact; Berl, Vienna, and Con- 
stantinople, can only be considered as 
their neutral posts, situate in their line of 
demarcation.’ The free, secure, and 
independent communication between the 
southern provinces of Russia and the 
Mediterranean is of too great impor- 
tance to be abandoned; nor is the re- 
public of France likely to cede the navi- 
gation which it has obtained of the 
Black Sea. If these two powers then do 
not go mutual shares in the trade and go- 
verniment of the ‘Uurkish empire, an event’ 
perhaps impossible, which of the partie 
is to give up its pretension? 
‘‘ The cabinet of Petersburgh must cer- 
tainly know, that should the consulate be al- 
lowed to assume an ascendency at Constanti- 
nople, or to intermeddle in the affairs of 
Turky, the fate of Moscow may again be 
disputed at Pultava! Will the present go-. 
vernment of France retract and Jeave the se- 
raglio and St. Sophia to the desecration of 
Russians? In that case a Cossack and High- 
land army, seconded by a Russian and British, 
fleet, might yet confine the empire of Bona- 
parte to the government of his Gauls of the 
west. Or can the ambition of Russia and 
the avarice of France be satisfied with a pare 
tial partition of Turky ? It is a known fact, 
Ce 
