THE grand British problem, Of saving ourselves by our firmness, and other nations by our example, had for its author a man as much wiser than the wisest of antiquity, as these times are more enlightened than ancient times were; and as much more worthy the veneration of mankind than any of his cotemporaries, as it is evidently more meritorious to have invented, applied, and become a martyr to a grand salutary system, than either to have always opposed it, or at length abandoned it, or even to have been destined ultimately to maintain it. For a country to have defended itself so long and so successfully as this has done, against a power so gigantic and a spirit so vindictive as those of France, forms a proud distinction in favor of England: and to have effected so much good for our neighbours by a sublime example, is a trait in the national character not less honorable than the efforts by which we have saved ourselves, though it is not perhaps so generally recognised and admired.

But we have done more for our neighbours than merely demonstrate the importance of a high, resolute, unbending spirit. To some we have procured immunity from impending peril; to others we have afforded the means of deliverance from actual bondage. Sicily, through our efforts, scarce ever saw the oppressor or the instruments of his oppression, but at a distance. The Porte owes to our arms Egypt and Syria-perhaps all its dominions. To a series of victories as brilliant as to most people they were unexpected, Portugal and Spain are indebted for all they possess in either hemisphere. Russia was excited to resistance by the fame of our triumphs in the peninsula ; and her resistance became effectual through the diversion occasioned by our operations in that distant quarter. And if Prussia is, or shall presently be constituted a formidable check on the ambitious projects of faithless France, Europe owes the advantages which may thence be derived, in a principal degree, to

the depth and comprehensiveness of the British system. What now shall we say of the infant kingdom of the Netherlands? What but that it is the creature of England-the result of her policy in the cabinet, the fruit of her valor in the field? It is not supposed that the high cares of the Princess Charlotte of Wales, are all about the fortunes and the happiness of the princes of the House of Orange-some of whom are happily blessed with more fortitude than had fallen to the lot of the rejected Duke of Anjou yet, it is every way credible that but for H. R. Highness, that ancient house had not been by any meaus so much aggrandized as it has been in the course of the present year. Had there been no unwedded heiress to the crown of England, there would probably have been no king in Belgium. One powerful motive either to the cession of our conquests to France, or to the procuring of boons unexpectedly great for the illustrious family of which we speak, would have been wanting to our cabinet. The object, essential as it is, of raising up a formidable barrier against the periodic violence of the enemy, might have admitted of the diplomacy of England assuming a different complexion.

And what is to be England's reward for services in every good sense so extraordinary? In Turkey, there will be no partiality towards our government and country. We shall be admitted to the very same degree of trade which we should have enjoyed had we always been neutral, or even sometimes hostile to her and, in political affairs, we shall have more or less influence, as our minister at the Porte may happen to possess more or less address and management. But far otherwise ought the case to be, between the powers of the peninsula and Great Britain. We have been their earthy saviours. They have often acknowledged their vast obligations to us, and often thanked us; but have not yet seen it meet to manifest their gratitude. The Americans, who are not ambitious of having much of our company, say we are to have the two Floridas-but that only proves that they would rather some other power had them. Spain and Portugal will probably act thus. Our commerce they will favor in every instance in which they can promote

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their own our foreign policy they will second, if they see a probability of gaining a favorite point for themselves in their daily intercourse with one another they will pusillanimously depreciate our past transactions, and artfully misrepresent our future proposals: and, should an enemy assail our peace from without or from within, they will, from pure generosity, send to our aid-not a single man! In spite of all Mr. Canning's eloquence, the Portuguese excused themselves the other day from marching against the French, who had so lately trampled them in the dust. The Spaniards have, however, made some movements; and have been prevented from advancing through the unworthy apprehensions of the Duke D'Angouleme.-It will be by Russia and Austria, that Great Britain will be respected and honored for what she has so nobly said, done, and suffered. It will be by the King of Prussia and his Belgic Majesty, that a willing ear will be lent to her generous projects for the benefit of mankind; and it will be by the imposing attitude which these sovereigns will be enabled to maintain, that the peace and happiness of adjoining nations will be prolonged.. If so, her reward will be sufficiently gratifying.

We long to hear how Napoleon will brook confinementwhether he will submit with dignity, or give way, as he used to do, now to ungovernable passion, and then to testy humor. We shall be glad to be told what his ordinary pastimes are, and what his serious pursuits. An account of the former, if of a cheerful nature, will please some of our London and Westminster citizens of the world, who "love their enemies," and therefore wish Napoleon well with all their hearts: the latter, if he has any thing in him of that greatness which his admirers have so liberally attributed to him, may be useful both to himself and to society. But to be the one, he must repent, which nothing but the actual presence of death can induce him to do to be the other, he must be what he is not, candid and benevolent. He is not a philosopher of any description. His want of taste and of extensive reading unfits him for treating of general literature; and the gentlemen at Woolwich understand Gunnery just

as well as he does. In politics, a science which, if a man of veracity, he might handle so as to interest, instruct, and astonish the world, he is likely to produce nothing on which a prudent statesman can set any value. For if he narrate facts, he will think of what he used to call his glory, and that will lead him to distort them; if he affect to develope motives, a natural wish to palliate the vices of his system and redeem his forfeited character, will make him conceal some and feign others; so that in any work of his, nothing will be less seen than the real springs of action, nothing less felt than the force of genuine truth. Yet no work can appear for which there would be so extensive a demand as for his, the attention of every nation on earth having been so frequently fixed on him through the infamy of his ambition; so large a space in men's minds having been filled by the rumour, or the sad experience, of his successes and his crimes.

But though Napoleon's account of his own policy could not be expected to gratify the curiosity of sensible men, his military life, written by himself, might be interesting. It doubtless would be so, but merely because he had been the author. For if he attempted to deliver the truth, nature would oppose him with all her might. And there is no civilized country in Europe in which there are not men far better qualified to write of the French wars, than he who conducted them with so high a hand.

All these things we say about Napoleon, because he perseveres in asserting, that he certainly will write Commentaries. But mark for what purpose he says he shall write them-the two-fold one of proving the rectitude of his own public conduct, and the obliquity of that of the sovereigns by whom he has been overthrown. The purpose would be commendable if it were not obviously unattainable. But being unattainable, the only good to be expected from an attempt will be, that he practise a little delusion on himself; confirm the bad opinion entertained of him by those who have always condemned his principles; and remove the prejudices of those unhappy mortals, who have often rendered themselves ridiculous by talking of him as if they had discovered something supernatural in his

resolves and actions. Hundreds of well-known military men are his equals in tactics, almost every Statesman in Europe his superior in policy. Would you know the amount of his sagacity in the cabinet, and the field? Recollect what he was three years ago; and then mark what he is now.

All accounts, public and private, concur in representing the state of France as lamentably perturbed. What else can be expected, while Jacobin Ministers tolerate the rankest jacobinism throughout all the departments. The removal of Napoleon was but the excision of one of the monster's many heads-any one of which is sufficient to poison human happiness. The new Chambers of the Legislature are about to be convoked, and it will be well indeed if they inspire the King with resolution to do his duty effectually. The disbanding, for a few months, of the military tools of despotism, is an important step towards a more settled state of things. If due discrimination be employed in officering and filling up the new levies-that is, if not one in ten of the officers, and very few of the petty officers of the army of the tyrant be recalled to the service; and if the more abandoned, even of the privates be excluded, while those who are admitted are mixed with a considerable majority of men of some character; the nation will be freed from terror, the King will sit secure upon his throne, France and Europe will enjoy a respite from toil and bloodshed.

But this happier state of things can be of no considerable duration, if jacobinism be not nearly uprooted; and if, on the allies retiring, striking memorials be not left of the vain-glorious soldiery of France having been not only beaten, but degraded and disgraced beyond any former example. Jacobinism is a pest, which never quits individuals but with life; and hence the propriety-the necessity of disposing finally of those who are the most deeply tainted. If the devils cannot be cast out, the possessed must perish. As to nations, the experience of mankind does not warrant them in believing, that jacobinism can be completely extirpated, in any one age, from any country where it has once been in vigor. It will lurk under every roof, and insinuate itself into every crevice, as well of the cottage, as of