The National Register.
London, England, 1819-08-15 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER:

SOUTH AMERICAN PATRIOTS.

We recently gave the particulars of the presenta-
tion
of a stand. of Colours, by Mrs. Purland, in
I)ublin. to the regiment under the command of
Col. M'Dermutt. be-ing one of those that brat Gen.
I)l:vereits s Legion. A dinner was given in com-
pliment to the General a kw days afterwards, and
after many appropriate toasts had been given, the
health of " Mr. Charles Phillips (of the Irish Bur)
and the Emerald Isle." having beccn rapturously
received, Mr. Phillips rose and said—s,
•My I.ord. and Gentlemen—l sincerely thank you :to be re-
membered when my countrymen are celebrating the cause of
freedom and humanity, I cannot fail to he gnitetul ; to be so
remembered. when a personal and valued friend is the objt ctlof
the celebration. carries with it a double satisfaction ; and you
will allow me to say, that if any thing meld enhance die plea-
sure of such feelings, it is the COOSCliillategi that our meeting
can give just offence to no one. Topics tom often have risen up
amongst us. where the best feelings were painfully at variance.
where silence woulti bare been guilt, and utterance was misery.
But surely here, at length. is as occasion ythere neither sect nor
inparty are opposed I where every man in the country, may clasp
s brother by the hand, and teal and beast the electric commu-
nication. .

• To unmanaele the slave, to unticeptre -the spat, to erect en
altar on the Inquisition's grave, to raise a to the attitude
of freedom, to round the temples of eciencel=l4:f commerce, to
create a constitution, beneath whose ample arch every human
creature, no matter what his sect, his colour, or his clime. may
stand sublime in the dignity of manhood—these are the glorious
objects of this enterprise. .and the soul -must he imbruted, and
the heart must he ossifies:. which does not glow with the enno-
bling sympathy. Where is the slave so abject as to deoy it ?
Where is the statesman who can rise from the page of Spanish
South America, and affect to commieserate the tall of Spain P
lien tyranny, even from its cradle to its decline, has been the in.
delible disgrace of Christianity and of Europe ; it was born in
fraud, Formed in blood, and reared by rapine; it blasphemed
all that WAS hoiy—it cankers's' all that was happy ; the most
simple habits—the most. erred institutions—the most endeared
and inet&itiiive customs escaped not inviolate the accursed in-
vader ; the hearth, the throne, the altar lay confounded in one
ooinnson ruin ; and when the innocent children of the San son.
fitted for a moment in the Christian's promise, what!--oh
shame to Spain ! oh. horror to Christianity; oh. eternal stigma
ea the name of Europe; what did they behold ?—the plunder
of their fortunes—the desolation of their homes—the ashes of
their cities—their children murdered without distinction of sex—
the ministers of their faith expiring amid torturee—the person
of their Inca, their loved, their sacred, their herein Inca, quiver-
ing in death upon a burning furnace; and the most natural
and most excusable of all idolatries, their consecrated sun-beam.
clouded by the murky smoke of an Intimation streaming with
human gore, and raievl upon the ruinseef all that they had holy!
• These were the feats of Spain in South Amy sea ! This is
the fiery and desitir sway for which an execrable tyrant solicits
British neutrality ! Ireland at least, has given her answer.—An
armed legion of her chosen yeutlebean it at this hour in thunder
on the waters. and the sails aro swelling for their brave comps-
nions. I cure not. if his tyrairoy was ten thousand times more
crafty, more vigilant, more ferocious than it is—when a people
will it, their liberation is inevitable—their very inflictions will be
converted into the instruments of their freedom—they will write
its character even ludic blood of their stripes--they will turn
tittle chains into the weapons of their emancipation.
• If it were po.sible still more to animate them. let them only
think an the tyrant they have to combat—that odious cancentia-
don of qualities at once the most opposite, aril the toast contempt-
ible—timid and sanguinary-effennate and fei orious-im prim is and
aiperstitieus--now embroidering a petticoat, now imprisoning an
hero-to-day kneeling to aGod of merey,to-morrow lighting the hell
of inquisition—at noon embracing his ministerial
his banishment—
the alternate victim of fury end his fears—faithful only to infidel
priesteraft, which excites his terrors and fattens on his crimes,
and affects to worship theanointed slave as he trembles enthroned
on the bones of his benefactors ! _

• Who can sympathise with such a monster? Who can Net
unmoved, a mighty empire writhing in the embraces of this
human Boa ? 'My very heart grows faint within me when 1
think how many thousands of my gallant countrymen lir.re fillen.
to crown him with that enranguined diadem—when I reflect
that genius wrote, and eloquence spoke, and valour fought, t.nd
fidelity died for him, while he was tasting the bitterness of cap-
tivity ; and that his ungrateful restoration has literally withered
his realm into a desert, where the widow and orphan weep his
sway, and the sceptre waves, not to govern but to crush.
"' Never. my Lord, never, whether we contemplate the good
they have to achieve, the evil they have to overcome, or-the
wrongs they have to avenge—never did warriors march in a more
sacred contest. Their success may be uncertain, hut it is not
uncertain that every age and cliMc will bless their memories
for their sword is garlanded with freedom's flowers. and patriot-
ism gives them an immortal bloom, and piety breathes on them
an undying fragrance. Let the tyrant meuace. and the hireling
bark—wherever Christianity kneels, or freedom breathes, their
deeds shall be recorded; and when their honoured duet is
gathered to its fathers, inillimai they have r.nleciiied sill be their
mourners, and an emancipated hemisphere their enduring monu-
ment. Go then, soldier of Ireland, (turning to General
D'Evereux)
• Co where glory waits thee.'
• Montuuma's spirit,' from his bed of coals, through the mist
of ages, calls to you fur vengeance; the patriot Cortes, in their
dungeon vaults, invoke your retribution ; the graves of your brave
countrymen, trampled by tyranny, where they died for freedom,
are clamorous fur revenge !"
• Go—plant the banner of green on the summit of the Andes.
May victor y guide. and mercy ever follow it! If you should
triumph, the consummation sill be liberty; and in such a contest
should you even perish. it will be as martyrs pet;sh—in the blaze
of your own glory. 1%.,1, you shall sink, like the Sun of the
Peruvians, whom you seek to liberate, amid the worship of a
people, and the tears of a world; and you will rise reanimate,
refulgent, and immortal.'
During this speech, Mr. Phillips was frequently interrupted
by the applause of the company, and after he sat down the cheer
ins continued for some time.
• Mr. Phillips here alludes to the fate of Montezuma.. the
most unfortunate and the most heroic of the sovereigns of Mexico.
The Spaniards trepanned him into their power, and stretched
him upon a bed of red hot coals! When he was expiring. he
turned to one of his followers whose tortures made 'aim shriek—
• Look at your Inca,' ...int:, du you think I am on a
bad of rums ?'