The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1822-12-03 00:00:00

reign bayonets are about to overthrow. Awed by
forte or seduced by fraud, Cnraitair and Faint.
NAND abdicated their throne, and conveyed the so-
vereignty of Spain to NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. The
people, left to themselves, first formed Provincial
Juntas of Government, then a Central Junta, and,
lastly, under the express sanction arid encouragement
of this country, convened the Cortes, framed a free
Representative Government, with a limited Monarch
at its head, and elected FERDINAND for their King.
It is al., up to be remembered, that FERDINAND
.s from the flirt, not an hereditui, but an elected
Monarch. Both his father and hinilf had formally
abdicated the throne; and if this abdicatron, obtained
by force or fraud, was not to he considered as binding,
still the hereditary right reverted to his father, and not
to him. If FERDINAND was not au elortad Moirlikthr
he was the usurper of his father', thrbne. Drigring
the lifetime of his father, he could have no conceiv-
able right to the crown, except that which the suf-
frage of the nation gave him. The nation placed
flan on the throne, but placed him there with
powers limited by law. When he overstepped those
powers—when he refused to accept the crown under
the limitations impored by those who placed it 01)
his head, lie left himself without title, either here-
ditary or elective, and could he regarded in nu
other light than that of an usurper. After a fright.
ful reign of despotism and terror, the people rose,
and re-established the Constitution of the Cotter ;
but, with a magnanimity and moderation of which
the history of the world affords no brighter ex-
ample, they forebore to punish the treason by
which that Constitution was suspended, and while
they took securities for the future, inflicted no
vengeance fur the past. The political crimes of
CHARLES I. and James 11. were as dust in the ha-
lance when weighed 'Tams( those a FERDI-
NAND VII. Yet FERDINAND was not only spared,
but re-elected to the throne. Where, then, is the
pretext (or foreign intervention in the affairs of
Spain I Abandoned by: llitli Monarchs, and left
to their own guidance, the people reverted to their
ancient institutions, and re-established that free
Conyiturion of the Cortes which their forefathers
had sojoyed. Let nut the despots of Europe touch
that Constitution. If they march a a r across
the Pyrenees, they will be the enaarei, not of
Spain, but of mankind; and as their band will he
against every man, so every man's hind will be
against than.

IRELAND.
The Doha* Evening Post of the 28th ult. con-
tains an afflicting account of a meeting of " the
Landed Proprietors and "Occupipr,s 9f Land in the
County of Galway," held at Louglicea, when it wail
resolved to present a Petition to Parliament, pray-
ing such legislative interference as the Rouse, in
its wisdom, should deem necessary to save that
county from the impending roil, with which it is
threatened, in consequence of the unprecedented
fall, as well in the prices of cattle, as of every de-
scription of agricultural produce.
From certain resolutions entered into at the same
meeting, it would seem that considerable doubts
are entertained, if not of the fidelity,; it, least of
the disposition, of the county Members Son this
occasion; and accordingly they have been called
upon to state, in express terms, whether, upon the
introduction of the Petition, they will support
in the spirit in which it is written. The result of
this application is, of coarse, not yet known ; but
we, who pretend to no knowledge of the local
politics of Galway, or of the feelings by which
its Representatives may he swayed, can con-
ceive no motives sdfflciently strong (silent of falsity
in the allegations of the Petition) to warrant those
Gentlemen in declining this imperalin4iity. A
little time, however, will settle th* of the
question—and a little further timegißsffoid the
freeholders of the county of Galway an opporkus
ui visiting any spostacy on thetortifi
ts its pre-
.. be. with that desetipticiik •rs limetit
1. .ove all others, they will be Niel) to feel
met.
Although the extreme wretchedness of one por-
tion or other of the sister kingdom has been the
chief theme of every Irish Newspaper for • long
series of years—and thoagh, of late, it has been our
painful duty, ever and over again, to harrow the
fellings of our readers with details of the rapines,
house-burnings, and murders with which these
Journals abound—still, if we may judge from pri-

vote and well-authenticated accounts, it would seem
that even yet we have but a very imperfect notion of
the distresses which universally prevail throo ut
that ill-fated country. We were aware, . d,
that these distresses were not entirely confine to
the inhabitants of those districts whirl

systrni of misrule had driven to the
flagrant and appalling crimes, and

from their len tumultuous neighbours
the first to rise to the outline iii a gei

of public iudigustion and despair.

ignorant that the agricultural intern
were at a lower rbb than many supposed
possibly ever sink to, without leaving

perish. We
us to believe
to corornuoity
mechanical and
letual ptinper:,,
_ _von our minds,
as to the condition of the Irish people, it ,Aill oat
' tsupposed that we entertained any very sanguias
ectations of a speedy amelioration of their state.
But, deceiving that the nobility and gentry of
Ireland, though necessarily affected to a certain ex-
tent by the drp inferior orders of
society, had still stamina left to enable
them to afford at leek partial support to their to!.
tering dependants, we were willing to believe that
the situation of Ireland, desperate as it appear,
ed, wet not altogether hopeless. ll'lien we re.,
II reit ti, moreover, that this enduring people
were under the guardianship of a Government,
whose supreme wisdom is the glory of English-
men, and " the a tins of surrounding na-
tions," we could Art, with all the evidence of
post misdeeds before our eyes, persuade ourselves
that it was the serious intentiml of these sage rulers
to employ words instead of deeds, upon an occa-
stool so momentous, or to leave the regeneration of
tint iniportapt branch of the empire to the rude
hands of saptasperated multitude. Yet this our
worthy MiniiWe seem determined to du! and to
this, rse fear, the thing must come at last ; foe
it is inconceivable that the aff.irs of Ireland ca
Il s
ke . much longer in their present poi.ition.
. lito
le population of that county'; is involvid
common ruin:—throughout 'the vplige
OHAK. of society, from its centre to its cirri*
Ilfereoce, nothing is to be found, but either e:-
1 turate distress or abject poverty—nothing to be

heir but unavailing complaint. If there be
any amongst them who, upon the meeting of
Parbanient, shill ape. themselves to be pre-
vailed upon to wiss) contrary, we can only say
that' they will -tell a very different story here from
that which they era Its the habit of enteriaming
their cedfulous tradesmen on the other site of the
Chlrite!. The testimony of such partisans, however,
is, in fact, no more a proof that the pressing evils of
heisted are of a local and partial nature, or that
they are remediable by half-measures, than the pri-
vilege of exemption from arrest, enjoyed by some
Honourable Gentlemen, is of the punctual fulfil-
ment of their pecuniary engagements; and so long
as Ireland continues to furnish living evidence of
the mal-administration of her affairs, Ministers may
rest assured that the world will pay eery little at-
tention to what placemen, pensioners, and expect-
ants may soy noon the subject. To enumerate all
the ills which beset the people of that unfortunate
nation, would require a much greater space than we
can now devote to the discussion. They complain,
arid justly embidain, that they labour under griev-
and turpreelhed oppressions; that the exactions
of the State bear no proportion to their means of
defravissg them; that their remonstrances, however
urgent or respectful, are either wholly neglected or
ariswered by tedious ~!speeches in Parliament,
which mean nothing, and end In what they mean ;
sod that now, after years of ineffectual appeal
to the justice of their rulers, their country pre-
sents a scene of woe and suffering unparal-
leled in the history of civilized Europe. But
the constant cry raised by the conscientious sup-
porters of the present hopeful system, whenever
an attempt is made to obtain relief for the people,
is—What can the Government do ? Do you want
Ministers to perform miracles? ‘ithat you say may
be true cnotsgh, but where is the remedy ? To till
which, were we disposed to evade the question, we
might fairly answer-kit is not for us to tell yogi'
patrons what they ought to do. We apprize them
of4he evil, and it is their business, not ours, to find
the'remedy. They are well paid for their servil,
and if they are incapable of devising any means
remove, or at least lighten, the load that now
presses the people of Ireland to the earth, they are,
unfit for the p!aces which they hold. Will the-
pretend to attribute the deplorable condition
fine country to any errors of her own, or to
peculiarity in her soil, her climate, or her geog
pineal situation ? Or can they allege any-on
satisfactory reason, moral or physical, why two-
thirds of the population of one of the most fertile
countries in the world should necessarily be starving
in a season of profound peace, and while her ware-
houses and granaries are choked with provision?
The reiteration of such question!, however, by
the champions of corruption, is mere trifling; for
Ministers 'have- been toll* 'again and again, what
they ?night do, sod what they should do, sod what
at last they west do, if they would preserve the
country : and ego now, for the thousandth time, re-
peat the principal part of the lesson in two words—
reduce tazaheo! Without thie, England will never
be happy—beheld will never be quiet—the Coo.
stituttou can never be safe.
We regret to find, that advice. from Calcutta to
from Madras to the 10th, confirm
published a few days since, of a
ma of the Ganges, by which it is
fd thousand souls perished, who
inhabitants of the treighbourhebd
loorslredebad. The indigo crop, it
previously been destroyed by the
article of commerce had conse-
grail price. These advice. also


any

moderatio t the Span' They have so like strodtd tilmie. 1, to pine away and
conduct es nokretext for had, betides, imam reasons to induce
fo • i 61 attire, that, white the isercontile part of the
and s tr o exiis nd cause, was verging Tastinto bankruptcy, them.
exec !the fret *lu bear to liber4. labouring claw. were alt., sunk in at
Let us trace for a moment the origin of that gpre- ism, and with this genets! impression up.
sentative constitution which the Courier tells as fo. as to the condition of the Irish people,

ch au titiatel.the 6th July, and I
per on of the statement we r.
I ered dreadful inundate
rs eiog said one hundrec
;en merit were principally is
Nor were we of Patois and Moo
eats of Ireland' is added, had pr
oiled they could rains, sod that
log the pcople, fluently risen to a