The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-08-17 00:00:00

LI TE RA TURF.

REFLECTION:4 I'voN TIIE LATE REVOLUTIONS
IN Ellllol3/1.
By the Martio;s de Salvo.

This work contains a calm at, ! temperate review of the!
actual condition of Europe, and the consequences which I
have followed the late revolutionary movements in Italy
and the Peninsula. The Noble Writer also communicates!
a good deal of useful political information, which he has in
great part, we Irelieve, gathered front his own observation.
Ile is the creature of no party, but equally the friend of
social order and public liberty. .defter al l i 11l adve rfng on the
weakness and inefficiency of the Government of the Spa-
nish Cortes, lie makes the following remarks with respect to
their feeble struggle with the French :
The affairs of Spain terminated in a manner that was to he ex-
pected. Tne extent of resistance had been inilculateil from the first
moment. In every direction was found a party which, so far from
swelling the constiti ll ill nal foyers, was effectual in paralysing, and
perhaps destroying them. 'fhere was en longer to be seen that na-
tional enthusiasm which bore a stamp of feria iousness during the
war of 10011, when independence front, a foreign power was the ob-
ject of the content; and the cause of the Cortes now reined foe its
defence upon a mere party, and not upon the malts of the nation.
After a lapse of nearly three years, the people had yet to discover
the advantage to them of a representative assembly formed into one
body, and of the undue power of its members. 'I hey had attended
with cagertiesa to the speechea end the arguments of many leaders
who were very far front sharing the obstinacy evinced by the repre-
sentative in the ('.,rtes ; and the evident Indifference and apathy
of the nation aliiirited to the French armies a sore pledge of success.
The Cortes, by their conduct. hail sunk in public opinion; their
obstinacy, and their ?clonal to come to terms. In from creat-
ing imitation against the aggressors, had displeased their
warmest adherents. The people, unable to comprehend the ad-
vantage of a cause winch they were called upon to defend, remained
quiet 'p stators of patsing events ; and the most distinguished mili-
tary eharactera, unwilling to lend their aid to ideas of an exaggerat-
ed nature, anticipated the public feeling, and prevented the conse-
quences of an unavailing rests:once, which would have had no other
effect than to swell the number of the victims, and reduce the nation
to a state of complete anarchy and disorder.
The autlior rt tlections on the state of Portugal are
rendered interititig by the recent agitations of that coun-
try, and the applica:ion to the British Government for
military aid, to uphold the King's authority. The fac-
tious rage for innovation which chatacterised the proceed-
ings of the Portuguese Cortes is well described ; and
justice is done to the admirable forbearance by which the
policy of the British Government has been distinguished
in relation to that country.
The l'ortugucse, in the absence of their court, hail followed the
generous impulse" deco by the Spanish nation in repelling a foreign
power; not only load they taken a share in the campaigns of 180th
and 1810, they hail even gathered some of the first laurels.
After five years of military achievements and of patriotism, the
Poetuguye nation had secured for their King the possession of his
dominions, which hid become as it were an appendage to the
Brasile. A political improvement was perhaps meditated by the
people, and by those who had done so much for the national inde-
penitence; hut they always looked forward to the monarch's re.
tun : fur it ought Lot to be disguised, that the l'ortuguese were
discontented at h :ding that the court should continue to fix its
residence in a completed country, and. notwithstanding the resto-
ration of order in 11111, should prefer Rio Janeiro to the banks of
the Tagus. The de:ire for a change was not lessened by thin kind
of jealousy :—but instead of endeavouring to consult the interests
of the country, or the wiahes of everyday, and concerting with
the ruling authorities the best means of submitting to the supreme
power a respectful demand for reform, the course of sin insurrec-
tion was adopted in preference, and, in imitation of Spain, the
armed force was resorted to.
The lashon Regency was taken by surprise—it stttanpted to
resist ; main- a protest, but was compelled to give way ; and the
name of Pinto, which is ever connected with great events in that
kingdom, war Wen conspicuous in the early part of the struggle ;
though its b fluence was not of sufficient avail to elect a change iii
the rev direction which affairs had assumed in its country. By
borrowing the constitution of the Cortes, the existing powers, the
habits Om much an "laic t importance with religious people),
the influence of the nobility and clergy, every thing wan about to
disappear at a moment when the different bodies of the state were
kept to alarm, and were dismissed, if we may so express ourselves,
by • single class, that of persons holding no property, and by au.
thoritics suddenly created.
Never did a more favourable opportunity present itself fur ob-
taining salutary changes than the existing one. The court, which
was absent and far removed, would hare been willing to grant
reasonable concesnions, as the reward due to a nation for having
supported the crown by every kind of sacrifice. The necessity of
flattering a generous people, when it la intended to govern them
from a great distance, rendered it almost imperative upon the
King of Portugal to espouse the interests of his subjects with
sincerity, if they were founded upon a solid, a rational, and a
prudent basis.
Portugal neither knew how to profit by the absence of the court,
by the advantage which its sacrifices might have afforded to it, nor
by the claims which it hail upon the generosity of its Sovereign.
By adopting an absurd constitution it hail to encounter the same
obstacles, and would derive the same results as were expericnc.al
by those from ahem it had been borrowed. The discontent of the
nobility wm only exceeded by that 44 the religious corporations ;
those two powerful bellies pledged themselves to conquer in the
struggle. and 'meccas crowned their efforts.
The King received in the Brazils the news of the revolution of
Portugal, and foresaw the consequer.ces of it, and the effete which
it would produce over his Antillean dominions ; he, perhaps, re-
gretted his absence as one of the causes to which the change was
to be ascribed, a change that would infallibly occasion the
heaviest calamities, although it had been effected without dia.
oiler.

The Portuguese possessed evert menus of averting the evils
which were-likely to molt fee-) the vices of the constitution ; it
was in their power, in some measure, to make the limeade &mow.
Ile for any devution in their fealty, as no obstacles were offerer! to
their political Labours. The English Government exemplified on
thus oce.asion how much they respected the principle of indepen-
dence asserted by other nations, and conducted itself with a re-
markable degree of moderation ; but moderation was a virtue to
'bleb the government of the Portuguese (tortes were insensible.
They began to quarrel upon words, as is the case in all tumultuous
mer.ithes ; they waged open war against religious corporations,
and attacked the absolute veto of the King, reserving • conditional
vents the executive power ; they thus presented the shadow of an
authority without any reality.
The King discovered, upon his return, that he could not 'vent,
st the nionnent, a system winch had sprung out of the exaggerated
Ideas of a people who hail erred, hr attempting to adopt the errors
d its neighbours : he yielded to the force of necessity. The Por.
taguese fancying o,n:wives secured, by their geographical poen.
tioa,frnm the reach of all foreign ir.Nuence, disregarded the opposi-
tuna which were naturally fonning in the interior. Thus the edi-
fice was no sooner erected, titan it threatened to give way for want
of a more solid foundation.
Instead of obstinately proscribing the Queen in the most diere-
speetful anus inc miiilerate manner, instead of irritating the feelings
of those whose at tachtitent might to have been secured, the Cortes
eiliattugal should have derived a lesson front the discontent which
&enema of Spain had given to foreign cabinets, and have presented
&salutary reform that would have had the effect of baffling all the
tram of the approaching opposition. The Portuguese Govern.
meet could not object, as • reason, that • foreign power was
threatening to elictatelaws to them ; and they would have had the
double adtantage of acting with Independence, and of setting an
eaten; le of nioferation and of wisdom ; the opportunity was fa-
reurahle for repairing the evils produced by political disunion, and
they were already threatened with a storm which, however con-
cealed, was ready to burst upon them at • moment. But such
writhe blindness of men, who, because they were the partial re.
posenutures of the people, fancied themselves stronger than the
united stetiment of Europe, despise,! all advice, and disdaining
Istr messier that moduation pointed out, compromised their own
patty %stria of tuning it. What wits the result of this helpless
security of the Portuguese Cortes ? The same army which took
lead in the insurrection of August, IMO, and had so hastily
taken upon itself to represent the nation, row thought proper to act
sdlirtitelt instead of protecting the institutions which It had
re:Lnetetf. it c uric forw.ird to overturn them ; and those who had
km coot died to obey the will of the army, had gained authority
I' that torn, and commanded it with a view to exact their revenge.
he of the revolution of Portugal, like that of Naples,
and of Spain, gives rise to the same reflections upon
tine of a constitution without • balance of power,
Aptcm, at defective as it is unlawful and absurd, of
destroy institutions without knowing how to raise a
upon their ruins. Revolutions ars the medium
the ambition of a few individuals works upon the
....num of the people, in order to obtain a power
thsolute titan any winch preceded it.
its then proceeds to discuss the present state
after chewing that the accusations brought
4 patties against each other are either nbso-
Alai or greatly exaggerated, he goes on to
assertion, that the final object of the French
in undertaking the Spanish war, was to
free institutions of France. lie begins by dis-
Ictween the origin of the Spanish constitution
eh charter.
C0114414i00 was announces' by an Insurrection of
obliged the King to accept it. The French charter
the Ring,•••l the nation was invited to the enjoy-
therefore, fee the very reason that the recognition of
,efused, the sectrui, which guarantees the principles
and the privikges of the crown, will always be te-
nanted. llas any one an interest to abolish the
4 the King. the 31inistry, or any party such a wish?
be the King's interest in preferring an absolute audio.
national representation renders him more powerful',
Inn" "'limed, giving him greater weight, greater re.
I without responsibility attaching to him ? I ask, it
Hid" her Kuir, before t:te revolution, or during the
hem, paid to the State and to the Crown so coned-
nue as at the present? Acid it any Minister, in the
thwilute monarchy, would ever have dared to demand
lies of t.ie nation as under the representative govern-
':iifyed in France? Lastly. I ask, ii the King of
enabled to exercise all the rights of the !'town
responsibility for the acts of Gov vcrinnent, is not

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