The Sun.
London, England, 1830-01-02 00:00:00

o suffer ; the one only lasts a few months, the
other is propagated for ages, and consigns whole
nations to the tomb ; the infected with the plague
recover, but Jacobins never. If we go back in
imagination to the situation of France, in the
reign of Louis XVI., it was nearly that in which
most of the monarchies of Europe are now
placed ; ancient laws which require to be ad-
justed to the spirit of the age, a dangerous philo-
sophy very universally disseminated, an excess of
ambition in the middle classes, irradiations of a new
light which is called liberty, and which dazzles all
eyes ; and lastly, little esteem for the Institutions
under which we live, and a great desire to change
them. If Louis XVI. had led the example
which God wished lie should give to the world,
if he could have foreseen that his goodness
would cause the misfortune of his subjects ; if
in the free circulation of a few dangerous writ-
ings, this good King could have discovered the
germ of all the evils which have been since pro-
pagated—Can we believe that a just severity on
his part would not have saved the lives of two
millions of men, would not have secured the
repose of two generations ?
_ _

Think of this, Kings, who are now in the situa-
tion in which the Martyr King was forty years
ago." There is much truth in the language
which the Government Gazette of the French
Ministry here addresses to the Kings of Europe.
It is much easier to prevent than to cure. One
of the first effects of the circulation of liberal
writings is, that the people acquire a taste for
them ; and when they have acquired this taste,
they have no relish for the pastures on which
they formerly fed. But opinions, like seed put
into the ground, yield fruit in time. The
Monarchies, therefore, whiCh wish to retro-
grade, or at least to remain stationary, ought
rigorously to prohibit the circulation of all Libe-
ral Journals, which tend to make people dissa-
tisfied with their condition, and to dream of
placing the laws and institutions in harmony
with their opinions. Nations may continue
generation after generation in a state of blissful
repose, if the constant stimulus of Liberal
Journals is kept from them. But the use of all
stimulants produces a constant craving for a still
stronger supply. Let no man begin dram-drinking
with the idea that he can go on with the small
allowance with which he was at first satisfied ;
let no man enter on a course of inquiry with the
idea of his not becoming gradually bolder and
bolder in his views. It was in this that the wis-
dom and the humanity of the Spanish Govern-
ment shone so pre-eminently conspicuous, that
on the breaking out of the Reformation, it at
once destroyed all the infected persons and wri-
tings within the dominions, and prevented the
entrance of all heretical writings. England,
France, and Germany, were filled with contro-
versies and bloodshed for centuries ; while Spain
remained tranquil—the people proud of the
purit-y-cf their faith, and ignorant of the abomi-
nations going on in other countries. This was
true humanity to the people. The inquisition
did its work well ;it rooted out the evil. The
allowing circulation to erroneous and bold
opinions, under the idea that they can be re-
pressed by the ordinary tribunals, is an error
dangerous to the repose of States, and cruel
to the people who become the victims of the
opinions. When opinions are suffered to take
root, it is seldom possible to extirpate them.
More lives were lost in two or three years, in an
attempt to dragoon the people of Scotland into
obedience to the Church of England, than fell
by the inquisition, since its origin to the present
day. It is much easier to exclude the entrance
of dangerous doctrines, and to retain the people
in a state of ignorance, than to arrest the pro-
gress of the doctrines where they have once
found admission. Punishment is always ineffi-
cacious when the people themselves have once
been corrupted. The very instruments for carry-
ing the laws into execution partake of the gene-
ral sympathy ; and in times of strong excite-
ment, when the arm of authority ought to be
strong, it is often found to be paralysed. There
is no medium between liberty and despotism, for
the smallest relaxation of despotism leads in-
sensibly to complete liberty. Still, after all, not-
withstanding the pathos with which the French
Gazeteer describes the pestilence of the West,
there may be found persons so obtuse of intellect
as to prefer France, England, the Netherlands,
and some of the other countries, suffering
under Liberalism, to the peaceful regions of
Spain, Portugal, Piedmont, Austria, and Po-
land. Notwithstanding the millions who have
fallen victims to Jacobinism, there seems
no lack in the Liberal countries of population.
It is found, too, that the horrors of Liberalism
have not prevented the people, in the intervals
during which they are not destroying their
Kings and each other, from building houses
and bridges, making roads and canals, inventing
and improving machinery, and, in short, ad-
vancing in all the means for adding to the enjoy-
ments of life. The nations which have obtained
a mastery over Liberalism do not seem to possess
any other advantage than the uninterrupted re-
pose thereby produced. And when we speak
of repose, it is to be borne in mind that political
repOse is not always accompanied by other kinds
of repose. If our readers will turn to an excel-
lent article on Spain, in the ninth number of the
Foreign Quarterly Review, they will find some
statements with reapect to the amount and de-
scription of crimes in Spain which are calcu-
lated to reconcile them to the political agitation '
of France and England, though in both of these
countries there have been holy martyrs and revo-
lutions. " Notwithstanding the defects in these
returns," observes the Reviewer, " the view
which they give of the state of society in Spain
is such as fortunately cannot be matched in any
other country, not even in Portugal or Tip-
perary. That there should, in a population of
only 14 miilions, be, in the course of a single
year, 1223 murders, and 1,773 attempts at mur-
der, accompanied by stabbing and wounding,
exhibits a ferocity on the part of the people,
and an imbecility on the part of government,
without a parallel, we shall not say in the history
of civilized nations, but even amongst savage
hordes. The population of England and Wales
differs very little from that of Spain ; and dur-
ing the bears 1826 and 1827, there were 74 in-
dividuals, being at the rate of 37 each year, con-
victed of murder, and of attempts at murder by
stabbing, shooting, poisoning, &c. Hence it
results that for every single individual convicted
of these crimes in this part of the British Em-
pire, there were eighty-one convicted in Spain."
Still, however, the doctrine of the Gazette de
France is unquestionably true. And as all
Kings must wish to prevent the spread of
liberalism at whatever expence, the only effectual
plan is to prevent the entrance and circulation of
liberal Journals. When the people have once
been corrupted, the remedy is too late. Prose-
tution, even when successful, only creates dissa-
tisfaction, and adds to the evil. What avail the
services even of a Sir James Scarlett, with all his
management of Juries, if the Press, BP far from .