of this military age, so fruitful in distinguished generals. For a most dignified encomium on the great military genius and heroism of Lord Wellington, and of the officers and men under his command, see the "General Order" on this subject, dated 1st February, 1809, and published by command of his Britannic Majesty. It is indeed most earnestly to be desired that Britain will from henceforward keep an army perpetually afloat, and either carry offensive and deadly hostility into the heart of the enemy's country, and there "memorize another Golgotha," or lay waste his long line of sea-coast and reduce it to a barren wilderness, strip him of all his foreign possessions, and capture every island in the seas and rivers and creeks and bays from which troops may be continually detached to harass and annoy his dominions, and give him the full benefit of obstinately protracting a war with the greatest naval power that the world ever saw. But if she ever coops herself up in a narrow paltry merely defensive system, she may bid an eternal adieu to the martial glory of her ancestors; she will lessen the power and lower the spirit of her brave and loyal people, and will invite herself tamely to submit to the most degrading terms of surrender which her insolent and unprincipled enemy may vouchsafe to dictate. That Britain is now far more powerful positively and relatively as a nation than she was when she beat down beneath her feet the domineering spirit of the fourteenth Louis of France, may be seen by consulting the pages of Mr. Burke, vol. 8th, pp. 151, 166. That she is more powerful now as a nation for all purposes of warfare both offensive and defensive, than she ever has been since the commencement of her career, may be known by consulting the following most important, able, and interesting state-papers contained in the "Literary Panorama," vol. 1st, pp. 226, 450, 674, the titles of these very valuable docu 1 ments collected by order of the British government in the year 1807, are 1st. "Report of the Arrangements which were made for the internal defence of these kingdoms, when Spain by its Armada projected the invasion and conquest of England, and application of the wise proceedings of our ancestors to the present crisis of public safety." Not published, 8vo. pp. 420. 2d. "Report on the arrangements which have been adopted in former periods when France threatened the invasion of Britain or Ireland, to frustrate the designs of the enemy by attacks on his foreign possessions or European ports, by annoying his coasts and by destroying his equipments." Not published, 8vo. pp. 203. 3d. "Review of the events and treaties which established the balance of power in Europe, and the balance of trade in favor of Great Britain," 8vo. pp. 181. Not published. No doubt, from the contemplation of past events and of present circumstances, Britain will determine that the existing crisis of the world demands no half measures from her, that she is now more than ever called upon to prove, what she has formerly been, the arbiter of Europe and the champion of human liberty and happiness. She must maintain with inflexible resolution her supremacy on the ocean, with forecast watch over and anticipate events, cleave to the good old maxims of sound and honorable policy by which her forefathers founded and built up the fabric of her national greatness, no longer follow but lead the circumstances of the world, maintain her most warlike attitude, sound loud and more loud her note of military preparation, and hurry onward her career of victory, until by the destruction of all her enemies, she shall be able to open wide the gates of peace and mercy to mankind. The present state of the British army and navy, exclusive of militia and volunteers, amounting to more than six hundred thousand men, is as follows. The effective force in rank and file of the regular army is 210,614; the army in India amounts to 150,000 fighting men; and the navy consists of, at sea, 95 ships of the line; 10 from 50 to 44 guns; 135 frigates; 114 sloops; and 256 brigs. Total at sea 610. In port and fitting, 24 of the line; 5 from 50 to 44 guns; 26 frigates; 57 sloops; and 49 brigs. Total 161. Guard ships, Hospital ships, &c. 41 of the line; 7 from 50 to 44 guns; 14 frigates; 6 sloops; and 2 brigs. Total 70. In ordinary and repairing, 54 of the line; 13 from 50 to 44 guns; 57 frigates; 46 sloops; and 30 brigs. Total 200. Building 50 of the line, 20 frigates; 20 sloops; and 10 brigs. Total 100. Grand total 1141. For nearly 20 years past, it has been the fashion with the French to deny all talent of any kind to Britain; and this opinion is very industriously propagated out of France also, by a large body of writers, and speakers. This assertion is not worth refuting. In the 10th volume of the Edinburgh Review, pp. 1-27, it is allowed that an abundance of talent and information is to be found in Britain, occupying all the departments of intellectual pursuit, except that of the government; into which it is contended with great force and ingenuity, that not enough of the real talents of the nation are ever admitted; owing to the extreme monopoly of power by the great leading families of the aristocracy of rank and wealth. "France," says the writer now alluded to, "has triumphed by the free and unlimited use she has made of the talents of her people; but the people of England are at this moment much more enlightened and ingenious, and capable of affording more efficient service to their government than those of France or of any other country. If a similar field were opened for competition; if the same high rewards were held out for excellence; and the same facilities afforded for its publication and display, we are perfectly satisfied that England would, in a very short time, exhibit more splendid instances of successful genius, in every department of the public service, than have yet been produced among those, the French, by their multiplication." There can be no doubt that the gentleman who is capable of writing so able a state-paper, as that from which the preceding extract is taken, must, (to use an expression of Mr. D' Israeli) amidst the ordinary occupations of life, and amidst the daily intercourse of ordinary men, whether professional or not, "droop like the melancholy eagle, amidst the meaner domestic fowls." "With ruffled plumes and flagging wing, The terrors of his beak and lightning of his eye." For no one, possessed of primary and commanding talents, if he have been well trained and disciplined by education, can long remain unconscious of their power; they will be every moment forcing themselves upon his notice; either in the common collisions of intellect with men around him; or in silent, solitary study, when he compares the written labors of others with his own more profound and comprehensive reflections. It is therefore no wonder that a man so gifted with exalted genius, so armed at all points with information, should sigh at what must indeed appear to him "wasting his vigor in obscure and ignoble drudgery;" no wonder that he should eagerly desire to guide the helm of state, as being much better adapted to his nervous grasp than the pen of a Reviewer. Yet with unfeigned respect is an opinion now offered, which, in some measure, clashes with the conclusions of this admirable writer. 1st. It is not disputed that a high bounty is perpetually offered for the greatest talents in general science, arts, and literature, speculative and practi cal, by the vast patronage public and private, of wealth and honor in Britain, and that this demand in consequence has produced the most splendid and successful effusions of genius and knowledge in all these departments of intellectual pursuit. The very eloquent and impressive "Prospectus of the Edinburgh Annual Register," opens thus: "The flourishing state of the literature of Britain, and its widely extended influence among her inhabitants, are blessings, only inferior to those of civil peace and personal liberty, with which they are so closely entwined. On the continent (of Europe) the voice of historic truth has been silenced and her researches interdicted. The progress of despotism has been as universal as rapid. From the shores of Holland to the Cimmerian regions of Tartary, light after light has been quenched, and nation after nation consigned to the darkness and apathy of ignorance. The states of Switzerland and of Holland, the smaller principalities and civic republics of Germany and of Italy have been forced to resign that independence which had been spared by former conquerors, even when defended only by an ancient and venerable name. Those free cities which cherished the earliest sparks of religious reformation and the hardly less sacred embers of classical learning, have, one by one, beheld their presses broken or fettered, their academies new modelled or dispersed, their authors awed into silence by proscription and military execution, or more shamefully bribed to plead the cause of foreign tyranny, by orders, ribands and pensions. Not only has the main current of history been intercepted, but the lesser channels of information, those journals, newspapers, and other periodical publications, whose supplies though individually scanty are as essential as those of brooks to a river, have been altogether cut off or polluted at their very source There is no voice left upon the continent to tell the tale of uni |