232] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1800. 



neighbours, the expenses of war- 

 fare, multiplied by the progressive 

 complexity of the art of war, and 

 the increase of wealth, by means 

 of which those expenses wei'e de- 

 frayed. 



The armies of the first part of the 

 seventeenth century were more 

 than doubled by those of the second : 

 those of the second part more than 

 doubled by the first part of the 

 eighteenth, and those of the first 

 part of the eighteenth century, more 

 than doubled by the armies of the 

 second. The utmost force that was 

 ever on foot in the wars of Louis 

 XIV. was three hundred and fifty 

 thousand men. The French re- 

 public made war on their neigh- 

 bours with a force of eight hundred : 

 the allies were obliged to make war 

 on a similar scale. The line of bat- 

 tle extended not from one strong 

 post, in the same territory to ano- 

 ther : but, sometimes, for hundreds 

 of miles along the frontiers of differ- 

 ent countries : and invading armies, 

 making no scruple to leave strong- 

 holds in their rear, boldly marched 

 forward, in different, though im- 

 mense, divisions, to reduce, not 

 one town or fortress, but a whole 

 state, as by one assault. So mighty 

 and irresistible is the apparatus now 

 brought before a place besieged ; 

 and so easy it is with that apparatus 

 to reduce whatever is not bomb- 

 proof to ruin, that the greatest mas- 

 ters in the art of war, begin now 

 to give it as their opinion, tliat no 

 fortress should be erected, or held 

 in cities or towns in which tjiereai-e 

 inhabitants. This divorcement be- 

 tween towns and garrisons is among 

 the first changes in war, that are 

 about to mark the commencement 

 of the nineteenth century. 



It is greatly to be lamented, that 

 there is no human pursuit that has 



called to its service the whole 

 accumulated aid of all the arts and 

 sciences so much as war. War 

 not only swallows up the produce of 

 industry, but avails itself of the dis- 

 coveries and inventions of philo- 

 sophy. Buonaparte, particularly, has 

 given many proofs of this position ; 

 he has availed himself of religious 

 tolerance, and even religious versa- 

 tility, or scepticism, and sent forth 

 the magic of moral artillery, at the 

 same time that he adopted with care 

 every physical and mechanical im- 

 provement, that might contribute 

 to the maintenance of his armies, 

 and the force of his arms. It is at 

 the close of the most enlightened 

 ' age, that we find the greatest num- 

 ber of regular and disciplined troojis 

 in the field. We have seen more 

 than twelve hundred thousand men 

 in arms at one time in Europe only, 

 and on the coasts of Syriaand Egypt. 

 At a time when pious philosophers 

 began to hail the near approach of 

 the Millennium, war broke out on a 

 scale vastly more extended than any 

 before known. Whole nations of 

 men rose in arms. Whole territo- 

 ries, measured by hundreds of 

 leagues, were held, as it were, in 

 a state of siege. A general and 

 combined attack was made, by 

 contending armies, on the whole of 

 the opposite lines at once, all was 

 in motion, from the gulphof Genoa 

 to the Texel. 



The effects of printing, which 

 burst forth so conspicuously in tlie 

 sixteenth century, in religious war, 

 and had been continued, as in silent 

 and fructifying streams, for near 

 three hundredyears,brokeoutagain 

 in France : when the gentle streams 

 of progressive knowledge dashed, 

 and foamed, in dreadful cataracts, 

 like the falls of Niagara. As reli- 

 gion, in former ages, called every 



