The National Register. — London, England, 1808-12-11 00:00:00

786 half _ TIM NATIONAL REGISTER. " man comedy, taking Ina elderly consort by the hand , " and addressing her in these touching words :—Mariu " Louisa, we will retire to one qf' the provinces, where ice " will pass our drys in tranquillity ; and Ferdinand, who " is a young man, will lake upon !aimed' the burden of the 44 government. The innocence of the galleries might per "" baps tolerate ihis trait of Bucolic sublimity ; but there " is no pit in Europe that would endure it even in a play."• • Such are the sensations which the simple unaflected narra tive of Don Pedro Cevallos produced in the s‘riters of the Edinburgh Review—a narrative, which, to the honour of Englishmen. excited such universal pity and indignation in this country—this narrative, which exposes the successful machinations of a dark, intriguing, remorseless ruffian, against the unfortunate Royal Family of ripain,by which they were deprived in a moment of throne and liberty, and their lives placed at the discretion of a capricious sanguinary tyrant; by which they were flung from the summit of earthly grandeur to the lowest stage of human misery and degradation. This narrative excites no !:‘yinpathy, no in. asa•ar.avr•• • _ _ _ dignation, no horror in the Reviewer ; but with the moss •s"--- - sovereign defiance of moral and social obligations, with the most supreme contempt of what others thought or felt on the occasion, he notices it with no other intention than to gratify the worst and basest passions of the human heart, and to expose the excesses, rancour, infatuation, and inconsistency of mere party-writers. A little reflection might have taught them that. their sarcastic insinuations tended to repress the zeal of the public in support of a cause, which thoy acknowledge themselves is so closely connected with the security and happiness of this country. This acknowledgment points out, in the clearest light, their total want of principle, and their indifference, not only to the ultimate success of the Spaniards, but to the future security of the British islands. They could not certainly have the cause of the Spaniards at heart, when they resorted to the most unwarrantable and unfounded allusion., to render the principal and most ostensible.actors odious and contemptible, and the sangui nary catastrophe itself a sutoject of derision and pleasantry. Let us suppose even that t!,. it attack on the candour and integrity of Cev ailos and his associates were as just as it is unprincipled anti iniquitous, and we will entreat them to explain their motives for making it ; for they must have known that it injures the common cause, and contributes, however minutely, to weaken the confidence existing be tween the two countries. The triumph of virtue, or the promotion of the reciprocal alvantage of the !two cona• tries, could not have been their object, for they cannot be ignorant that facts might exist, the exposition of which could offer the most vital blow to the interests of society. This was unquestionably one of that kind, and when we consider that the men they have been calumniating are now flying before a ruthless, savage invader, we cannot but execrate the cold unfeeling pride, and the dogmatic obduracy, which induced these Reviewers to deprive; as far as lay in their power, these generous fugitives of the only stay they will perhaps soon have under Heaven—the sympathy and veneration of Britons. i'nprincillcd and un feeling dogmatists while \on are ranting and declaiming, without exposing your property or persons, about freedoo, and rights, those men, whom you basely asperse, are risk ing fortune, life, and country, in their defence. This is fact, and the best refutation of your malevolent impu tations. DEC. 11 We cannot closes Luis arucie, w‘taout ad% , 0 th e disastrous intelligence received on 'fliucsday lag, of the se vere defeat sustained by Castavos, tuieniig into any details of this loss, or ilazlrding any coiut eture; as to its extent or ininied.ate consequences, we %111 old,/ give our decided opinion, that were it as true as runimir represents it, it would be far from extingo'shing the sued tiame of lijierty which has burst Out so spont.ineolsty, will still continue to glow in every prow . aice of Span.. The lemorseless ruffian, 'r ho is now deluging that country mini the blood of her children, has perhaps before now execi:terl his menace of placin; the crown of tne much-injisied . t - dinand on the head of his brollicr ; bat the cervoton) of the coronation, performed amidst, the execrations of the inhabitants of the capital, is far from sec •-* h.s h -rota; the possession of the peninsula. Not a to ntlt part of .41 work is performed. The spirit of the Pat:iots is not yet broke down. Their mouutaias O'er now, as it Out in ;C:: the Romans and Moors, a retreat to persecuted le 1,- . • 110.:S .Z. The invaders may ravage the country front one extremity to another, and the inhabitants be reduced to forced sill:- mission, as loug as the whole force of the invaders occa. pies their country. But their hatred is too inveterate, the injuries they sustained too grievous, to admit the Doss:- bility of their being reconciled to the usurpation, or siitn ;Bitting, in despondent apathy, to the subjugation of their country. The seeds of resistance and insurrection are too deedly planted, to be eradicated ; and the immense faNei which the constrained submission of Spain will require, gives Austria an advantageous opportunity of inakiag some efforts for her own preservation and that of Europe. 'l'he Spaniards have already furnished a great example of pa tience, under privations the most cruel ;—The Nobles, the Priests, the Members of the Pros incial Juntas, and those of the difkrent Councils, have taken too decided a part, to hope for pardon or reconciliation ;—They have all coin. promised themselves too much to expect security from submission; and when we reflect on their numbers and in. tint:nee; when we take into consideration the desperate state of their fortunes, and the impossibility they are placed in of retrieving it but by the most heroic coura,;e and per severance, we feel no dirticultv in declaring that the subju gation of that country is absolutely impracticable: Wr will make here no professions of the profound regret we felt on receiving the account of the rouses sustained by Castanos; but our opinion of the ultimate sticciss of the Patriots is unalterable. It is not to the military force on the Ebro that we looked for this reseit ; it ... Was from the unconquerable spirit of the whole male population that is, expected it. Toe operations of the inexorahle cotiveror will be bold, rapid, and executed with his tisnal still u'c: • but. the Spaniards have orieoded too flinch, to trust lo :leniency or moderation. The distrust on 1:011. sides is too profound at.al too just, the abhorrence of t he 1 y rant too inveterate, to leave an.openim; lot r , et'nr►l a o The gates of mercy and pacdon are shut for e'er , 0 'he inhabitants, in their own opinion ; and, for Fix " I " l '''' towns and villages, the pelpit, and tile bar, have resouli with execrations and cries of vengeance 3.;:lialSi 130.,11)11V I'o remove from their minds this impression, neilhcr nixes nor intri , rue will avail; ;oat whei% l'a" . ► l,ot ''eSied, to use the language of their oppressor , seek, in their owa tieniroi.;e and perseveran(e , they despair and abhor to receive GUM the invader. ~ ~,.... __.. - ti%r -