We Can Clearly See
That Napoleon Has Not Now The Power He Formerly Possessed And That The
Republican Party, Into Whose Hands He Has Thrown Himself, Seem Disposed Not
Only To Remain At Peace, But To Shackle Him In Every Possible Manner.
It is
evident, too, that his last success was owing to the dislike of the people
to the Bourbons
From their injudicious and treacherous conduct; and the
threats and impossible language held by the priests and emigrants towards
the holders of property paved the way for the success of his enterprise and
enabled him to achieve a triumph unparalleled in history.
On the contrary, by forcing him to go to war, should he gain the first
victory, Belgium will be re-united to France, all the resources of that
country brought into the scale against the Allies; Napoleon will be more
popular than ever, the Republican party will be put to silence, the
enthusiasm of the army will rise beyond all restraint, and, in a word,
Napoleon will be himself again. The other Allies can do little without the
assistance of England, and our finances are by no means in a state to bear
such intolerable drains.
As to the Prussians, on minute enquiry I do not find that they were so
ill-treated by the French as is generally believed, and that, except the
burden of having troops quartered on them (no small annoyance, I allow),
they had not much reason to complain. The quartering of the troops on them
and the payment of the war contributions was the necessary consequence of
the occupation of their country by an enemy; but I have just been reading a
German work, written by a native of Berlin, shortly after the entry of the
French troops in that city after the battle of Jena in 1806.
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