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"Spain had risen not merely to be delivered and saved;-de. "liverance and safety were but intermediate objects. She had " risen-not merely to be free; but, in the act and process of "acquiring that freedom, to recompense herself, as it were in a " moment, for all which she had suffered through ages; to levy,

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upon the false fame of a cruel Tyrant, large contributions " of true glory; to lift herself, by the conflict, as high in honour - as the disgrace was deep to which her own weakness and "vices, and the violence and perfidy of her enemies, had sub"jected her.

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"If an angel from heaven had come with power to take the enemy from their grasp (I do not fear to say this, in spite of "the dominion which is now re-extended over so large a portion "of their land), they would have been sad; they would have " looked round them; their souls would have turned inward; " and they would have stood like men defrauded and be"trayed." P. 109, 110.

Altogether opposed to such feelings were the notions entertained by the British officers in Portugal.

"The British generals acted as if they had no purpose but that "the enemy should be removed from the country in which they

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were, upon any terms. Now the evacuation of Portugal was " not the prime object, but the manner in which that event was to " be brought about; this ought to have been deemed first both in "order and importance; -the French were to be subdued, their " ferocious warfare and heinous policy to be confounded; and in " this way, and no other, was the deliverance of that country to "be accomplished. It was not for the soil, or for the cities and "forts, that Portugal was valued, but for the human feeling which was there; for the rights of human nature which might be there conspicuously asserted; for a triumph over injustice and op. pression there to be atchieved, which could neither be con"cealed nor disguised, and which should penetrate the darkest

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corner of the dark Continent of Europe by its splendour. We " combated for victory in the empire of reason, for strong-holds " in the imagination. Lisbon and Portugal, as city and soil, were

the impudence to introduce an article, in the usual terms, in favour of the inhabitants, that they shou'd not be molested, &c.; and the British officer inadvertently granted the article. He ought to have erased it with indignation, and observed in the margin, "This is an impertinent proposal: the English are come to deliver the inhabitants, and cannot injure them." But as the capitulation was worded, the Frenchman could say to the people of Vigo, "I have forced the enemy to grant you favourable terms."

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chiefly prized by us as a language; but our generals mistook "the counters of the game for the stake played for." P. 63, 64.

In the spirit of this remark, strong and eloquent strictures are added on the circumstances which attended the convention; the recognition by Sir Arthur Wellesley of the title of Duke of Abrantes, the contemptuous disregard of the Portuguese people, &c.

"We ought to have endeavoured to raise the Portuguese in their " own estimation, by concealing our power in comparison with "their's; dealing with them in the spirit of those mild and humane "delusions, which spread such a genial grace over the intercourse, " and add so much to the influence of love in the concerns of pri"vate life."

The courtesy which took place between the French and English generals is severely reprobated; and it is intimated that such a conflict should not have been "exalted by those "triumphs of the courteous affections, and purified by those "refinements of civility, which do more than any thing re" concile a man of thoughtful mind and humane dispositions "to the horrors of ordinary war."

Such sentiments eloquently enforced by a great variety of illustrations, united to an impressive display of the power of enthusiasm and moral causes in the conduct of war, an exposure of the uncertainty and fragility of Buonaparte's monstrous power, and an exhortation to faith in the final triumph of liberty and virtue, and to the unsparing use of all the means calculated to secure triumph, constitute that part of the pamphlet which affects those who wield the public force of the country; but what respects the public opinion in the country, concerning the Spanish cause, and the character of Buonaparte's government, appears to the REVIEWER of more importance, not indeed in itself, but in reference to the probability that admonition will not be lost upon those for whom it is intended.

To recur again to what has been already remarked: the friends of liberty, as they call themselves, are those whom we at this day see most ready to abandon the cause of the Spaniards, and to counsel our assenting at last to a tyranny we cannot successfully oppose, and trying the experiment of peace since that of war has failed. When this degrading suggestion is replied to, as it fairly may be, by a reference to Buonaparte's character, more especially as developed in this last and most flagrant of his misdeeds, something like the following language is heard-" It is true, no man can pretend "to justify Buonaparte's conduct. He is a conqueror, and "all conquerors are very bad men; but he is not worse than "others: he is a friend to religious liberty, and improves the "condition of the people wherever he goes. He has behaved " scandalously to the royal family of Spain; but it is not " certain that he has done any injury to the people of Spain, "It is strange that we, who have been bred up to think cer"tain things very abominable, such as the papal power, the "Inquisition, despotic government, &c. should now raise " such an outcry when they are destroyed. At all events, " great evils are removed, and there is no knowing what " turn things may take: the future calamities we fear, may "never happen; the good is certain, and the evil only pos "sible." These are the phrases we hear every day, and they include a precious variety of sophisms. Buonaparte is a conqueror, and all conquerors are very bad. This is very true; and it is true, likewise, that the great mass of mankind, who cannot discern or appretiate any individual object as it is in itself, are delighted when, by the aid of some general word, they can class it with some species, by which all further trouble is spared, and the operation of judging is at an end. To designate Buonaparte by the terms conqueror, usurper, &c. is doing little towards forming an estimate of his character. This must be done by considering all who surround him, and the degrees of instruction and culture that belongs to the nations which have been the instruments or objects of his achievements. As a conqueror, he may have had predecessors, whose ambition may have been as insatiable as his; but do we know of any who has acted so like a swindler? Others may have slaughtered as many men, but who has told so many lies? The character of profligacy, impudence, and meanness, which mark his actions, and in which he has compelled so polished a people as the French to take a share, must have the most destructive influence nearly on the whole of civilized Europe. What principles of justice can be laid down, or carried into effect, by the ministers of the code which bears his name? And what lessons of religion can be promulgated by an hierarchy of cardinals and bishops, who have prostituted themselves by blasphemously sanctioning his atrocities? By the triumph of such monstrous guilt, and chiefly by the assent of those to whom the world at large look up for instruction, all moral relations and ideas are destroyed; and the evil would still be irremediable, did those benefits really arise from the new order of things, which are boasted of so falsely, or with so great exaggeration. But it is this constant reference to contingent effects, and to the physical comfort or misery promoted or occasioned by the conduct of courts and governments, which is one of the most lamentable corollaries from a degrading philosophy. It is not by an enumeration of the murders perpetrated, or the cities sacked in Spain, that the most painful and disgusting impressions are raised, but the desolation of all moral principle which we witness. The sieges of Gerona, Valencia, and Saragossa, &c. are the consolatory incidents of the revolution; for they shew how great crimes have produced great virtues. By far the most frightful feature of the horrid act is the prostitution of the whole French nation, so clearly exhibited in their assent to every act of their master. To those who dwell with complacency on the promises of good made by Buonaparte, these profound reflections are earnestly recommended.

"The true point of comparison does not lie between what the " Spaniards have been under a government of their own, and what "they may become under French domination; but between what "the Spaniards may do (and, in all likelihood, will do) for them. "selves, and what Frenchmen would do for them. But, waving "this, the sweeping away of the most splendid monuments of art, " and rifling of the public treasuries in the conquered countries,

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are an apt prologue to the tragedy which is to ensue. Strange "that there are men who can be so besotted as to see, in the de"crees of the Usurper concerning feudal tenures and a worn-out " inquisition, any other evidence than that of insidiousness and " of a constrained acknowledgement of the strength which he felt " he had to overcome. What avail the lessons of history, if men

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can be duped thus? Boons and promises of this kind rank, in "trust-worthiness, many degrees lower than amnesties after ex. "pelled kings have recovered their thrones. The fate of subju. " gated Spain may be expressed in these words, -pillage--depres "sion-and helotism-for the supposed aggrandizement of the " imaginary freeman its master. There would indeed be attempts " at encouragement, that there might be a supply of something to "pillage: studied depression there would be, that there might " arise no power of resistance: and, lastly, helotism;-but of "what kind? that a vain and impious nation might have slaves, "worthier than itself, for work which its own hands would reject "with scorn.

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"What good can the present arbitrary power confer upon "France itself? Let that point be first settled by those who are " inclined to look farther. The earlier proceedings of the French "Revolution no doubt infused health into the country; something " of which survives to this day: but let not the now-existing " tyranny have the credit of it. France neither owes, nor can owe, to this any rational obligation. She has seen decrees with. " out end, for the increase of commerce and manufactures; pom. pous stories without number, of harbours, canals, warehouses, " and bridges: but there is no worse sign in the management of affairs, than when that, which ought to follow as an effect, goes before, under a vain notion that it will be a cause. Let us " attend to the springs of action, and we shall not be deceived. "The works of peace cannot flourish in a country governed by an intoxicated despot; the motions of whose distorted benevo. "lence must be still more pernicious than those of his cruelty. ""I have bestowed; I have created; I have regenerated; I " have been pleased to organize;'-this is the language perpe. "tually upon his lips, when his ill-fated activities turn that way. "Now commerce, manufactures, agriculture, and all the peaceful "arts, are of the nature of virtues or intellectual powers: they " cannot be given; they cannot be stuck in here and there; they " must spring up; they must grow of themselves: they may be " encouraged; they thrive better with encouragement, and delight " in it; but the obligation must have bounds nicely defined, for

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