at the same time the work of your genius, the result of the most scientific military combinations, of your inherent intrepidity, and of the courage of so many brave men, these victories and successes are no less owing to your admirable foresight. It is this which has inspired your Majesty with the idea of assembling at first, in the interior of the empire, whatever might be the complexion of affairs, the youth of France who are successively called to serve their country, and of making them constantly pay their contribution to the safety of the State, at the same time that they accustom themselves to arms. The temporary dereliction of this system would be productive of some danger to the empire, and it would be placing rather too great a reliance upon the future, however flattering appearances might be at present, to suffer the depots in the interior of France to want the regular supply of recruits, whenever a part of the young soldiers who fill them, should be called into actual service. A short glance at the state of your Majesty's armies will be sufficient to shew, that the levy, which I feel it my duty to propose, is sufficient at present. Master of Vienna, and of more than half the Austrian Monarchy, your Majesty is at the head of the most formidable army that France ever had beyond the Rhine; and to judge of what it is capable of effecting, it is only necessary to mention, that it was hardly formed when it conquered Austria, in the fields of Thaun, of Abersberg, and of Eckmuhl. Whether the negociations of Altenburgh terminate in peace, or whether the war continue, your Majesty has in your depots troops enough, fit to take the field, to recruit your army in Germany. In the month of January your Majesty pursued the English army in Gallicia. While you were engaged in it, your Majesty was informed that the Court of Vienna intended to break its engagements. Though such an event seemed to call the principal part of your forces into Germany, your Majesty nevertheless thought proper to leave your veteran army in Spain; not that the whole of that army was actually necessary to complete the subjugation of the Spanish rebels, but to deprive England of the possibility of prolonging that rebellion, of which she is the cause. That power, seeing in the new system established in Spain, the presage of her own ruin, did not, however, despair of overturning it; and her efforts upon this occasion have greatly surpassed all that we have seen her make upon similar occasions. General Moore had not been able to bring off from Gallicia the half of his troops. The immense losses which his army sustained, did not dissuade the English government from sending a fresh army, consisting of 40,000 men, to Lisbon. It penetrated to the centre of Spain, and rallied round it the various corps of insurgents.The banks of the Alberche and the Tagus witnessed their flight and their confusion. Compelled to retreat to the further side of that ri ver, to superintend this business consist of some members of the Council of Finances, and several deputies nominated by such of the cities of Spain as have authority to vote for representatives (Procuradores) in the Cortes.] ver, and pursued at the point of the bayonet, they totally evacuated Spain, and the Portuguese saw them return in disorder to their territory. At the same period, an army of equal force suddenly made its appearance at the entrance of the Scheldt, with the intention of burning the dock-yards at Antwerp; there our enemies were covered with confusion. At their approach, Flushing was provided with a numerous garrison; 12,000 picked troops marched from St. Omer, under the orders of the Senator General Rampon; and eight demi-brigades of reserve, which were at Boulogne, Louvaine, and Paris, proceeded post, to the points that were menaced. These troops were of themselves sufficient for the defence of Antwerp. That place, which is covered by a strong rampart, and the advanced works which your Majesty caused to be constructed four years ago, is still further protected by extensive inundations; and on the left bank of the Scheldt, the fort of La Tete de Elandre, which is itself surrounded by an inundation of 2,000 toises, secures the communication of Antwerp with our fortresses in the north. The English expedition was formed upon the supposition, that Antwerp was only an open city, whereas that fortress could not be taken but after a long siege. Independent of troops of the line, your Majesty saw, at the first signal, 150,000 national guards ready to march, and at their head the majors of your infantry, officers of the fifth battalions, and veteran officers; you found in their ranks a number of old soldiers. Numerous detachments of cavalry of the line were preceded by the gens-d'armerie of France. The English were not aware that this branch of force alone could, at a moment's notice, assemble at any given point 60 squadrons, composed of men that bad seen sixteen years of service, all equally experienced, equally well disciplined and well armed as those brave cuirassiers, who, under your Majesty's orders, have brought to so high a pitch the glory of the French cavalry. As if by enchantment, the dispositions prescribed by your Majesty, caused to appear, at the same instant, on the banks of the Scheldt, and at the rendezvous of the reserve at Lisle and Maestricht, four different armies, under the command of Marshal the Prince of Ponte Corvo, and Marshals the Dukes of Cornegliano, Valmy, and Istria. The sudden developement of such a force, and the national impulse which continued to multiply its numbers, struck the enemy with consternation. Their enterprise, calculated upon false data, completely failed. Europe has witnessed the realization of that which your Majesty's penetration anticipated, when you pronounced that this expedition originated in ignorance and inexperience; and when, sparing of French blood, and directing that a plau merely defensive should be followed, you wrote to me: We are happy to find the English crowding into the marshes of Zealand; let them be merely kept in check, and their army will be speedily destroyed by the bad air, and the epidemic fevers of that country.' Whilst our troops were distributed in comfortable cantonments in the environs of Antwerp, or stationed in that fortress, the English army, encamped encamped in the midst of marshes, and destitute of water fit for drink ing, lost upwards of one-third of its soldiers. But the facility which the English have of going by sea from one quarter to another, may lead us to expect that all that will have escaped the disasters of this expedition, will be sent to reinforce their army in Portugal. Sire, the various fields of battle in which your armies have distinguished themselves, are too remote from each other, to admit of your marching without inconvenience to the soldier, one of your armies, from one scene of action to the other; and your Majesty, so highly satisfied with the zeal of the troops you command beyond the Danube, is anxious to spare them from the fatigues of the war in Spain. Besides, the French armies beyond the Pyrenees, now consist of 300 battalions and 150 squadrons. It is therefore sufficient, without sending any additional corps thither, to keep up at their full establishment those already there. Thirty thousand men, collected at Bayoune, afford the means of accomplishing this object, and of repulsing any force which the English may cause to ad vance. In this state of things, I conceived that it corresponded with your Majesty's views to limit the levy, necessary at this moment, to the contingent indispensably requisite for replacing, in the battalions of the interior, the drafts which are daily made from them. The returns which will be laid before your Majesty, will inform you, that of the conscription for the years 18067-8-9 and 10, there still remain more than 80,000, who, though ballotted, have not yet been called in to actual service. This immense reinforcement might march against your enemies, should that measure be rendered necessary by any imminent danger to the State. I propose to your Majesty to call out only 36,000, and to declare all those classes entirely free from any future call. By this means, your armies, Sire, will be maintained at their present respectable establishment, and a considerable number of your subjects will be difinitely released from the conscription. Your Majesty will also have at your disposal, the 25,000 men, afforded by the class of 1811, upon whom I shall not. propose to your Majesty to make any call, unless events should disappoint your hopes and pacific intentions. Your Majesty's armies are equally formidable from their numbers as from their courage. But who could advise France not to proportion her efforts to those of her enemies? In giving such advice, the result of the most imprudent securi-. ty, it would be necessary to forget that Austria, very lately, had on foot 700,000 men; and that to create this gigantic force, that power did not hesitate to expose her population to almost total destruction, and to attack the very basis of her prosperity. We must equally for get, that England has taken part in the Contimental war, by landing, at the same moment, three different armies, on the coasts of Naples, Holland and Portugal. The agitation of those who are jealous of France has been redoubled, because they are conscious that the present crisis has for ever fixed her greatness. Their efforts will be impotent, because France has has been enabled to reach the highest pinnacle of success and of glory, without making any of those ruinous sacrifices which destroy her enemies. In fact, notwithstanding the successive calls, up to the present moment, made upon the different classes of conscripts, scarcely have one-fourth of those who com posed them, taken the field. In considering the situation of your Majesty's armies and the results of the English expeditions, can, we, without a degree of satisfaction, behold England, in imitation of Austria, making efforts disproportionate to her means, and the wants of her navy? What can she expect from this contest upon land, and man to man, with France, that shall not redound to her own injury and disgrace? Sire, the French people will have to thank you Majesty for the inexpressible advantage and glory of a peace, conquered without maritime expeditions, from an enemy who, by his situation, thought himself free from all attack. Every serious attempt upon the Continent, on the part of the English, is a step towards a general peace. The English ministers, who preceded the members of the present government, a more able set of men than the latter, were well convinced of this truth, and took good care not to commit themselves in an unequal contest. It did not escape their observation, that, to carry on a long war, it was necessary that it should press lightly upon the people who had to support it. Within the last twelve months, the war has cost England more blood than she had previously shed from the period when she broke the peace of Amiens: committed in the battles of Spain and Portugal, whence her duty and her interest forbid her to recede, she will see those countries become the tomb of her bravest warriors. Sorrow for their loss will at length produce in the minds of the English people a well-founded abhorrence of those cruel men, whose ambition and frantic hatred dared to pronounce the expression of eternal war. It will excite in that people the wish for a general peace, which every man of good sense may predict to be near at hand, if the English persist in a continental contest. I am with respect, &c. The Minister at War, Report of the Motives of the Project of the Senatus Consultam, relative to a Levy of 36,000 Conscripts, on the classes of 1806, 1807, 1808, 1809 and 1810, by the Count de Cessac, Orator of the Council of State. This Report, after many adulations on the genius of the Emperor and King, and a high-coloured panegyric on the loyalty and exertions of the French nation, proceeds to explain the causes of the levy: "The enemies of France," says the Orator," observing that we levied the classes of 1809 and 1810, before the period in which they were to be called into action, thought, without doubt, that we had recourse to that mode, because none of the resources of former years were left to us. How great was their mistake! If the French government had adopted that line of conduct, it was because it could never be brought to think that the English government had determined to wage perpetual war with France; it was because it could never be brought to think that the Austrian government, to which peace was so important, so necessary-that that government, to which a liberal and unexpected peace had been granted, had a right to cope again with the French armies, directed by Napoleon the Great, and electrified by his presence. "Our Emperor, therefore, calculating upon a speedy and long peace, was willing to divide the weight of the war among several classes, in order that it might press the lighter upon each of them. He was also desirous that the French, who constituted these two classes, and who, according to the proper estimate of public duties, might have been deprived of their share of military glory, should be furnished with an opportunity of acquiring it. Disappointed in his first expectations, the Emperor had recourse to those supplies of men, which he had, from principles of prudence, left in reserve. Twice did he apply for succours, and twice were the contingents which he deemed necessary furnished with rapidity. Our moderation had thrown a veil over our strength, but our moderation is desirous now of manifesting our strength. Let us put an end to an error so fatal to our enemies, and which may become still more disastrous to them! When they shall be well acquainted with our resources, they will no doubt, be convinced that a frank and solid peace is the only part, the only post in which they can find safety. It belongs to weak governments to seek for security in the concealment of their weakness, and the exaggerations of their strength. It is the duty of France to make known to her friends and enemies her true situation; that situation is such as to inspire the former with more energy, and to warn the latter, that, in taking up arms, they must expose themselves to certain loss. "The following, Senators, is the precise state of the conscriptional force of France, and I can pledge myself for its accuracy: The class of 1806 consisted of 423,000, according to the lists of conscription. That class comprising fifteen 1808. 1809 1810. 423,000 -352,000 • 361,000 ..362,000 362,000 |