The Sun.
London, England, 1822-11-08 00:00:00

LITERARY NOTICE.

We request the attention of our Readers to
the following additional extract from the pam-
phlet entitled " Observations on the Appointment
of Mr. CANNING," recently published by Mr.
GOLDSMITH. We make the present extract for
the purpose of laying .before our Readers the
Secret Treaty of Tilsit, of which Mr. GOLDSMITH
had the merit of obtaining possession, and which
betrays the vast projects that were entertained
by BUONAPARTE and ALEXANDER :
But this country not only lost the fine opportunity pre-
sented by the Congress of Vienna, of settling her commercial
relations with Europe.
Lord Londonderry neglected to avail himself of the immense
advantages which might have been derived from an early re-
cognition of the South American Colonies. The tremendous
blow which was struck at Algiers might likewise have been
rendered permanently conducive to the commercial prosperity
and poltical power of Great Britain, and at the same time to
the security and interest of every maritime state in the world.
I do not mean to say that this country should have been pre-
cipitate in acknowledging the independence•of the South Ame-
ricans.

But, after it had become manifest that they were lost to the
mother country, and more especially immediately after the oc-
currence of the Spanish Revolution, there be no goOd
reason for hesitation.

It was obviously the interest of England to recognize and to
enter into close commercial relations with the new States of
America.

And what were the considerations of a contrary nature,
which prevented her from pursuing a path leading to so many
important advantages ?
There were none—there could be none,—but such as arose
out of our presumed relation of amity with Spain, and the ob-
ligations of treaties which bound us to her interests.
But, all relations with Spain terminated,—all treaties with
her necessarily ceased, when she herself put an end to the Go-
vernment with which the connection had been formed and the
treaties had been concluded.

Until the Spanish Revolution was acknoiviedged by us, we
were of course free from every preceding obligation.
The Government of Spain was as much a Revolutionary Go-
vernment as the Governments of South America ; and there
must have been as good reasons for acknowledging the latter as
for acknowledging the former.
Indeed, there were better reasons : for the revolutions in
America were effected tOr the bona fide purpose of establishing
their national independence.
The new American Government did not profess to be
influenced by different principles from those upon which
they acted.
The Spanish Revolutionists, on the other hand, pretended to
be favourable to the principles of Monarchy, while it was no-
torious that they were constituting themselves a despotic, be-
cause a successful faction.

They retained the shadow of a King, it is true; but it was
for the purposes of deceit; and of employing the name of a
King whom they had shorn of his power, as the instrument of
their own deSigns.
So far from. acknowledging such a government, we ought to
have sanctioned its deposition.
Yet we not only acknowledged it, but have been guilty of the
unpardonable folly of neglecting to acknowledge other inde-
pendent Governments for its sake, and even of suffering our
national dignity to be insulted, our commerce to be interrupted,
our ships plundered, and our seamen barbarously murdered, by
pirates claiming the protection of its flag !
The commercial advantages and political power which we
have lost by this incongruous system of policy are incalculable !
As for the opportunity lost at Algiers, that error may in some
respects be more easily recovered than some of the others into
which we have fallen.
I beg leave to state, that I was the first public writer in this
country, who recommended the expedition against that nest of
barbarians, the success of which added another page to the
splendid history of our naval triumphs.
In a Letter addressed to his Royal Highness the Prince Re-
gent, and inserted in the Anti,gallican Monitor of April 21,
1816, I stated the motives and principles which required that
the Sovereigns of Europe should unite for the purpose of chas-
tising the Corsairs, for declaring against them interminable
war, and for establishing a new order of things in the North of
Africa.

shewed to his Royal highness that Great Britain was
bound, by the positions which she occupied, by her naval pre-
eminence, by her national honour, and by her interests, to take
the lead in that just, that generous, that necessary enterprise,
which even Buonaparte bad resolved on accomplishing. So
long hack as the peace of Tilsit, he, in the Secret Treaty with
the Emperor of Russia, Tilsit,
his determination to take to
himself the States of Barbary.*
In my Letter, I appealed even to the personal feelings of the
Prince Regent ; and implored him to give effect to those feel-
ings, by overpowering, if necessary, the cold and calculating
political objections which might be offered to such an enterprise
on the part of his Ministers in the Cabinet.
I leave the Reader to imagine the feelings of pride and
pleasure which I enjoyed, when this holy expedition was un-
dertaken four months after, and when the news arrived of the
glorious success with which it was crowned,—when I knew that
the insolence of the ferocious barbarians had been humbled to the
dust, and that amongst the terms of the convention granted to
them by the victor, was the restoration of several thousands of
European slaves to freedom, to their countries, and to their fa.
milies,—and that the pirates had been forced to renounce the
practice of enslaving white men for ever !
But, I was not entirely contented with the signal punishment
and humiliation inflicted upon this harbarious power, nor with
the partial advantage to the cause of humanity, and to.the inte-
rests of some of the lesser maritime states carr;ing on trade in
the Levant, which was gained from our victory.
In a series of articles on the subject, in my Journal, I had
strenously recommended the utter destruction of the Algerine
Government, the occupation of its territory by Great Britain,---:
and the colonization, and annexation to the British Crown, of
the Barbary States.
That was arid continues to be a favourite project in my esti-
mation.

• Having been the first in this country to give publicity to the
Secret Treaty of Tilsit, in my publication entitled " The Secret
History of the Cabinet of Buonaparte," I think proper to give
it a place here.