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nerous, to ravish from a brother-in-law in distress a third of his dominions; that an emperor of Russia had employment enough at home, without undertaking to govern Poland, and control the politics of all the independent nations in Europe; and finally, that a friend of liberal principles was very inconsistently employed in attempting to put these principles down, by force of arms, wherever they made their appearance.

I reserve for a separate chapter on the balance of power, the consideration of the influence of Russia in the general politics of Europe.

Of Sweden and Denmark, it is unnecessary to speak in much detail in so general a sketch as this. Denmark has long been wholly passive in its politics, both foreign and domestic; although it has possessed in the family of Bernstorff, a succession of the ablest and most enlightened ministers that have ever presided over the destinies of any European kingdom. Its fortunes during the late war were similar in this to those of the United States, that it was at times the object of the unjust attacks of both the great belligerent parties: but Denmark was not, as we were, in a situation to oppose a manly and effective resistance to their insolent pretensions. Her capital was bombarded, as ours was burned, in defiance of the civilized modes of warfare, and common humanity*: but

* The author of a work lately published in England, entitled "An Account of the Campaigns at Washington and New Orleans,

with us this outrage only roused the indignation of the people, and led to a more vigorous and successful conduct of the war; while Denmark was compelled to sign an ignominious peace by the light of her burning palaces, and upon the ruins of her shattered monuments of art. At a later period, she lent her flag to France, as an instrument of aggression upon neutral commerce, and in particular upon that of the United States. As a punishment for having been, during the preceding struggles, the weakest and most unfortunate of the European powers, she was despoiled of half her territory by the congress of Vienna, in order that Sweden might obtain an indemnity for the loss of

by a British Officer," has undertaken to represent this outrage as a just retaliation upon the Americans for the murder of General Ross's horse, shot, as he says, from a window in the city of Washington, observing at the same time, that all the persons found in the house were previously put to the sword, to satisfy the manes of this implacable animal. A British officer has other things to study beside the law of nature and nations, and may not be aware that had General Ross himself been shot from a window, instead of his horse, those proceedings would not have been a whit more justifiable either in right or usage. But any man of common humanity, however ignorant of law, would have revolted at the idea of sacrificing a house full of innocent people, and burning down several magnificent public buildings, to expiate the death of a quadruped. This would have been something worse than the madness of the Roman emperor, who appointed his horse consul. There is reason to hope, and even to believe, that the motive assigned by the British officer was not the real one; but as he has undertaken to justify the measure on this ground, he is entitled to an equal degree of credit for good sense and good feelings,

whether his account is correct or not.

Finland. It would seem that Russia could better have afforded to restore Finland, than Denmark to surrender Norway; and it is worth remark, that Russia, in order to add to her immeasureable territory this little corner, was thus guilty of a double robbery; first, by plundering Sweden of this province without the slightest pretence of a claim, and secondly, by plundering Denmark of Norway, in an equally unjustifiable way, to indemnify Sweden; for although the honourable task of starving the Norwegians into consent devolved upon the British fleet, the obstinacy of Russia in retaining Finland, without regard to the great services and just pretensions of the king of Sweden, was the real cause of the dismemberment of Denmark,

This act of injustice has somewhat embarrassed the internal politics of Sweden since the peace, notwithstanding the great talent and truly generous spirit of the present administration. The reluctance of the Norwegians to perform the part which devolved upon them in satisfying the pretensions of Denmark, under the treaty of cession, made it extremely difficult for Sweden to execute this treaty, and seemed at one moment to threaten a rupture with Denmark. The emperor Alexander, who had some right to be regarded as impartial, having plundered both kingdoms in succession, exhibited a disposition to favour the claim of Denmark; and treated the king of Sweden with marked incivility, returning even, without opening

it, a letter written to him by the king with his own hand. About the same time Prince Gustavus, the son of the dethroned monarch, was sent for to Petersburgh, and thence despatched to England for his education, under the protection of his imperial uncle and in another quarter, a marriage was contracted between the heirs of the crown of Baden, relations of the emperor, and the sisters of young Gustavus. All this wore rather an ominous aspect, and taken in connection with the prevailing fanaticism in favour of legitimacy, gave room for apprehension respecting the stability of the dynasty of Bernadotte. By the intervention of England, the affair was amicably adjusted; but the internal feuds between Sweden and Norway still continue upon this and other subjects.

It has been the fortune of Sweden, one of the least considerable states in Europe, to take a leading part in the adjustment of the balance of power, at the two most critical and important epochs in modern history. At the period of the thirty years' war, the interference of the Swedish arms, under the direction of the great Gustavus Adolphus, and the school of illustrious military chiefs which he had formed, decided the politics of Europe; and Sweden was in a manner the dominant power at the conclusion of the peace of Westphalia. At the late crisis her influence was far from being equally conspicuous; but if any one

separate event more than another gave the turn to this momentous struggle while its issue was yet doubtful, it was perhaps the diversion made in the rear of the French armies, in the year 1813, by the entry of Bernadotte into Prussia, and his victory over Marshal Ney at Dennewitz. The Swedes, though forming politically a secondary state, are individually one of the noblest branches of the great German race which peopled the whole north of Europe, and is now spreading itself over the whole of North America. They possess in an eminent degree the qualities which peculiarly belong to this race, such as temperance, industry, hardihood, courage, kindness, and a strong sentiment of moral obligation. They are excellent soldiers; and, however small their resources, experience has uniformly shewn that their alliance is useful and their enmity dangerous. Their institutions are sufficiently liberal, and the population in general has a fuller enjoyment of property and personal rights than perhaps any other in Europe; far more certainly than that of England, with all her wealth and power, and notwithstanding the boast of the present lord chancellor, that the meanest subject in Great Britain, is better than the first in any other * country. Their savans have

* "He felt, from the bottom of his heart, that the meanest subject of this country was better than the highest of any other country under heaven." Extract from a speech by the Lord Chancellor, reported in the London Times of Nov. 24, 1819.

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