The Enquirer

Miscellaneous.

The idle pageantry of British Expeditions— the exaggerated praises of their despatches— the folly of pretending to hold the Isle of Walcheren the maritime resources of France— and the perils which now encompass G. Britain, are exposed, in the following severe lines of Truth by the pungent pen of Cobbett. As to the Island of Walcheren, the British, seem to be sufficiently apprised of the difficulty of holding it, since not satisfied with such means, as that possession imparts, of blocking up the French fleet in the River, they seem to have adopted the mischievous resolution of destroying the navigation of the Scheldt by sinking stone-ships and cheveaux-de frize in its channels.

FROM COBBETT'S WEEKLY REGISTER

THE EXPEDITION,

(For that is the name it is known by,) has, at last, taken Flushing, and made its garrison prisoners of war. As its further movements must so very soon be known, it would be useless to offer thereon any conjectures; but one may venture to assert, without waiting for any further particulars, that, if more, and a great deal more, be not done, this Armada will be the laughing stock of the world. The despatches, giving an account of what has hitherto been done, are very long, and very insipid. More than two-thirds of the matter consists of praises and compliments, without its being possible for any one to discover an adequate cause. Why, what has been done? What is it that all this talk is about? What occasions have there been for drawing forth all this wonderful stock of merit? In the taking of a place like Flushing, with such an immense force, except by storm, it appears next to impossible that there can be any ground for the bestowing of high praise on many persons. To the engineer who constructed the batteries; and to a small number of persons engaged in resisting the sallies, some particular mention may be due, but, we have here as long a list of praises as might have been expected after a battle like that of Blenheim, and, indeed, a much longer list than did actually accompany the account of that battle. The naval despatches upon this occasion, are of the same character. "Much ado about nothing." Everybody who is named, is praised. The thing, by being so common, becomes little worth. It is like the firing of the Park and Tower guns, and the illuminations at Whitehall and the gaming-houses. Surely, it is no such great thing for any of our admirals or captains to perform this or that branch of service with ability and zeal! To swell our despatches with praises in such a strain, is not calculated to add to the reputation of the navy, whose officers never, except upon occasions where their merit appears in a very conspicuous light, ought to be the object of particular praise; because to praise them for trifles, is to check, instead of encouraging emulation. In such a service a man ought to feel that to be anything at all, he must be greatly meritorious; but, according to the new system there are degrees of praise to suit all sizes of zeal, talents, and courage; so that if a man has but moderation in his views of fame, he need never despair of being satisfied. But, the worst of it is, this moderation is not at all calculated to produce that sort of deeds, which support the reputation of the service, and the renown of the country, and which, by those means, tend to the preservation of the country's independence. There is some talk of an intention to keep possession of the Island of Walcheren, and to retain it at the peace. When we speak of peace, it is like speaking of posterity; but, whether in war or in peace, I cannot think it possible long to hold this Island. The garrison must be very numerous; the provisions must be sent from England; the fuel to cook them must be sent from England; and, I think it not unlikely, that no small part of the water, for certain purposes at least, must be sent from England. The permanent possession of the island would, therefore, be attended with an enormous expense, and that too, without a probability, as far as I can see, of producing any proportionate good effect. It would, perhaps, prevent the port of Antwerp from sending forth ships of war against us; but Napoleon has so many other ports, that this would be no great injury to him, and could not much retard his naval projects, unless, indeed, we were able to block up closely all his other ports. All that he wants to do, at present, is to build ships and get them fit for sea. He may build a fleet of a hundred sail of the line in the Scheldt, in spite of our possession of Walcheren, or of the whole of Zealand. The hemp grows in abundance in the North of France, and in the whole of Belgium. Oak and other timber, of all sorts, is to be had in plenty upon the banks of the Scheldt, as well as upon those of the Meuse and the Rhine. The countries which these rivers run through, are covered with forests of hard wood; and, from the mountains of the Vosges and of the Schwartzwald, the foot of which is washed by the Rhine, there are pines as good, perhaps, as any in Norway. Hence will come the pitch and tar also; and, in short, without receiving a single article by sea, Bonaparte may build in the Scheldt, and at a comparatively trifling expense, a number of ships of war equal to that of the English fleet. Indeed. the fact of his having built thirteen ships of the line, in the port of Antwerp, while we most firmly believed that he had not the means of building a ship of the line anywhere, and while our immense naval force was employed in blockading his ports, and cutting off his commercial communications, this fact alone ought to be sufficient to convince us, that the naval resources of the Scheldt are very great. The possession, therefore, of Walcheren, by us, will not prevent Napoleon from building ships, from building a navy, in the Scheldt; and, unless we should be certain of being able to keep the island, the possession can only be of temporary use; for, the moment we give it up, or are driven from it, that moment out comes a French fleet. Some say,that Walcheren is accessible by means of the ice ; if so, it cannot be tenable against a power like that of Bonaparte. But, this point ought to have been ascertained, before any expensive attempt had been made upon it; for, if it be accessible by means of the ice, it may probably be in the hands of the enemy before next Christmas, and that too, with great loss on our part. In short, if the possession of it be at all dependent upon the frost, it would be greatly criminal in any Minister to leave a garrison in it any time later than the month of November. I dare say, that the public in general have been much surprised to find, that there were thirteen new ships of the line in the Scheldt, not dreaming that there were so many in all Napoleon's dominions; and not having, three times in their lives, heard the port of "Antwerp mentioned. There are not a few other things existing, of which the people of England hear nothing ; but, of which they will hear by-and-by. At the peace of Amiens, I. assisted by a gentleman who was more conversant in the affairs of the Continent, foretold what this port of Antwerp would become, if left in the hands of the French. The prediction was treated as a dream : but it has been realized-the " dream is out," as the old women say : and a most fearful dream it is. It does, in short, with other circumstances, render it next to impossible, that the battle for the independence of England should not be finally fought upon English ground. To this, after all our endeavors to avoid it ; after all our attempts to disguise the fact even from ourselves, it is evident that we must come at last. In this view of the war, every proof of the valor of our army is greatly valuable to us ; and, as far as the army has had opportunities of shewing its excellence, it has, I believe, shewn it upon this occasion.