Virginia Argus

SUMMARY OF POLITICS:

LONDON, July 20.

Austria.—Upon what grounds I know not, but it is certain, that an opinion is generally prevalent, that the emperor of Austria is getting the upper hand of his brother of France. The newspapers appear to be so full of this notion, and so gay and lively and even witty, upon the occasion, that I have been earnestly endeavoring to find out some reason for believing their hopes and expectations to be built on solid foundations. After a long and diligent enquiry, however, I can find no such foundations. I still see Napoleon at Vienna, and I know, that, if he were in London, the wretches who now pretend to believe, that he is in a state of disgrace, would lose not a moment in hastening to swear allegiance to him, or, if required, to his horse.—How men are to be found imprudent enough, to argue, that merely because he lies in the capital of the country a month without making any great advances, he must, therefore, be in a fair way of being defeated, is sufficiently astonishing : but, how any body, any six people in the world, can be found to believe them, to look upon such reasoning as sound, surpasses one's utmost notions of credulity. Were I, indeed, to hear of his having actually fallen back some score or two of leagues, I should begin to listen to hopes of his final defeat : but, while I see him still in the Capital of the Austrian empire, with a part of his army pushing on into Hungary, must I not be a fool to believe, to persuade myself, or to suffer others to persuade me, that he is in a fair way of being defeated, and driven back in disgrace? My decided opinion is, that Napoleon, so far from being on the eve of a defeat, is upon the eve of totally annihilating the authority of the House of Austria; and this opinion is founded upon the same reasoning, whereon, if Napoleon were in London with a conquering army, I should be of opinion that he was upon the eve of totally annihilating the authority of the House of Brunswick. He may be defeated; his present situation may be perilous ; and the French fleet, when it comes out again may beat the English fleet, but, as to likelihood, one is, at present, just as likely as the other.

If indeed, the philosophers, who conduct the Morning Post and the Courier, could assure me, and convince me of the truth of their assurances, that Bonaparte's army was officered with pimps, buffoons, bastards, harlot's bastards, and brothers, uncles and cousins; if, indeed, they could prove to me, that Bonaparte did not look upon brains as being necessary in the composition of a general, and was content to take any creature that was brought to him, provided it had a pair of eyes just to see, itself out of the fire, and a hole in its face wherein to put victuals and drink; if they could prove to me, that Napoleon did not see with his own eyes, but with the eyes of that mischievous monster, his Corps Legislatif, who, by their deeds, have proved themselves to be the most stupid as well as the most corrupt assembly that has ever been heard of in the civilized world : if, indeed, Bonaparte were once to fall into the practice of suffering the high stations in his army to be filled up with the booby sons, and other relations of these fellows, or of their wives and their mistresses, or, which would be' more likely, by the paramours of their wives and their mistresses; If I could be assured that he exchanged the Dukes of Rivoli, Dantzic, Abrantes, and the rest of his generals, for an equal number of besotted animals, one half of whose life has been spent over the bottle, and the other half in bed; if I could be convinced. that his army was under the command of known, proven, notorious fools and peculators, many of whom united the two characters in the same person, and who, on account of their idiocy, had a subaltern peculator sent with them to take care of their pillage; if, in short, I could be convinced, that, all of a sudden, the character of Napoleon's army was totally changed, and that, instead of exciting fear in the enemies of France, it was become formidable only to France herself : if any thing like this; which goes almost by yond the bounds of imagination, could be proven to me to exist, then, indeed, I should begin to expect, in good earnest, to see Napoleon retreat in disgrace, and though pursued like a hare, bragging that his pursuer was afraid to ace him, and when caught at last, and beaten to a mummy, I should expect to see him, by an impious mockery of religion, singing Te Deum for the victory he had gained.

Cobbett's Register.