1806.] 
ftorm ;°’ but this does not in the fmalleft 
degree leflen the duty of every power re- 
filing, to the uttermoft, the attacks that: 
are made upon their liberty and indepen- 
dence. Nocountry has fo much reafon, 
as this happy one, to be jealous, in the- 
extreme, of fo dreadful a neighbour, and 
whofe peculiar vengeance is whetted 
againft it. It is our manifeft duty to 
Kope that the providence of God will be 
in our favour, and enable us to refift a 
torrent that has overwhelmed every thing 
elfe, and left this ifland the latt refuge of 
liberty, property, and religion.” It is the 
duty of every fubjeét of this realm to ex- 
ert whatever power, influence, or talent, 
he may poffefs, in the fervice of the pub- 
He, at the moft fearful moment Europe. 
has feen for many ages. He that. can 
gtafp a weapon, fhould wield one; and 
he that can only reffeét on the means of 
refiftance, fhould well confider them, and 
give his thoughts to thofe whofe flations 
may make them ufefuls I with I could 
fay that all can pray ; but all-that know 
what prayer is, fhould pray fervently for 
their king, their country, their alrars, 
their liberty, and the fafety of their fami- 
lies. Well would it be for us were this 
mean of fafety more relied on and better 
practifed. But thanks to the gracious 
mercy of the Supreme Ruler of events, 
true Chriftians do*abound in this king- 
dom; and they furnifh no inconfiderable 
reafon to hope that we fhall {till be pre- 
ferved. 
Of alh the political evils that can befal 
a nation, that of foreign conqueft is, be- 
yond comparifon, the wor; and of all 
the clafles of a ftate to whom this mifery 
comes, to none is it fo ruinous as to the 
Janded -in‘ereft. ~ Merchants, manufactu- 
rers, monied men, and profeffions, can 
convey their property and their {kill to 
other countries ; but thofe who depend on 
land lofe all if they fly, and ‘are ruined if 
they itay. In the prefent ftate of things 
between France and England, a conquelt 
would transfer the foil of the kingdom to 
French Jandlords : Bonaparte would por- 
tion it out gradually with more than 
Norman rapacity ; anc the farmers would 
_ be the flaves, the willains, of the new pof- 
{eflors. The conlequences of fuch a revo- 
jution cannot be forcfeen with too clear an 
eye, nor make too deep an impreffion’ 
on every beart. Whatever meafures: of 
prevention are adopted, fhould be obeyed 
and promoted with an unfleeping vigi- 
Jance ; for the evil of final defeat would 
be fuch as this country never yet experi- 
enced, : 
Monruty Mac., No. 143. 
Communicated by Mr. Arthur Young. . 
409 
In reflecting upon the refult of all the 
wars that have taken place fince the 
French Revolution, the fact moft promi- 
nent is, the miferable infufficiency of a re- 
gular army to defend a countty: not ane 
in Europe has trufted to it, that has not 
been ruined. The expence of fupporting 
an army in a marching fate, and actually 
ready for a campaign, is fo great, that one 
or two hundred thoufand men fwallow up 
the public revenue of twenty miilions of 
people ; and if this army is defeated, a 
kingdom is conquered. Five millions ca- 
pabie of bearing arms are as fo many 
fheep driving to flaughter ; if it be the 
will of the vitor, they lick the duit. 
There wants no military knowledge to _ 
enable us to fee that there muft be fome- 
thing radically rotten in fuch a fpecies of 
defence. 
If it be faid that the attack is hy @ re- 
gular army, I reply, that it muft be fo; it 
is of neceffity. “No general can march 
a whole peopie out of their country ; but 
the queftion is, whether a whole people 
cannot he brought to act at home. : 
But the regular troops, of the neceffity 
of which in this country we have heard fa 
much in Parliament, have littl more de- 
pendence placed in them, ii the hour of | 
need, than if they were armed peafantry. 
The Emperor of Germany latc down his 
neck to be trodden on, while the Archduke 
Charles was at the head of ninety thou- 
fand men, and the Archduke Ferdinand 
had forty or fifty thoufand more. He had 
more tioops in the field than fought for 
him at Auferlitz, And if the King of 
Proffia, with two hundred and fifty thou- 
fand men, were, at the head of eighty or 
ninety theufand,* to be defeated, there is 
not a manin this country but would fay, 
There is an end of Pruffia! What, then, 
is the efficiency of that defence which is 
annihilated by afingle battle? But what- 
ever our reafoning may be, the fact re- 
mains great and glaring: Europe has 
trutied her defence to troops of the line, 
and Europe is conquered. Forty millions 
of men, ten millions of whom are able to 
bear arms, are now trampled on, as if they 
were fheep and pigs, by two hundred thou. 
fand Frenchmen | 
Are we to truft the tremendous adven- 
ture of the lives, liberty, and property, of 
this country, on the fame broken reed that 
has deceived every neighbour we have up- 
on earth ? ; 
In converfation on the late events, it 
*® Written before the Peace of Preiburg. 
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