The Sun.
London, England, 1823-10-04 00:00:00

PROVINCIAL JOURNALS.

[From the Dublin Correspondent.]
THE REFORMATION AND MR. COBBETT.
PART W.

What has England gained by the Reformation ?
We have endeavoured to compress answers, which, in any or,
dinary development of the Subject, would occupy volumes,
into the most brief abstract possible. We have endeavoured to
gather a subject of innumerable ramifications and collateral
accidents into a few points—in the attempting of which, per.
haps, it was impossible to avoid obscurity. Breris CM Wore
°lacers:sit.). In announcing the third volume of Laplace's int_
mortal work, a French man of letters observed as follows t—" It
is about two centuries since a man of genius, whose researches
had discoveretiand established, by irrefragable proofs, the motion
of the earth, was condemned to perpetual imprisonment, as a
heretic, by the tribunal of the Inquisition." There wee no ex-
presspanegyric upon the Reformation intended by M. Blot; yet
he could not have delivered any more emphatic. Knowledge
would have been heresy all over the world, had not the Refor.
nation taken place...and Locke and Newton may have suffer-
ed as well as Galileo. The event which freed the Itt4Mo4:olnd
front such a deadly enemy to knowledge as Roman CO • ,us
once was, could not but have brought a full share of ti us.
trious dispensations to that country, in which it struck the
deepest and the most vigorous roots for the last three centuries.
When the spirit which incarcerated the philosopher was beaten
down, and the light let in upon its dark and gloomy cloister—
liberality,. free inquiry, philosophic induction, and all
the other " tribes of mind" that are the children of
the Reformation, asserted the liberty of intellect. The
spirit of the Reformation it expreised in the 1;604 which
it produced ; and whatever evils arose while it wail strug-
gling its way, and chasing down the shades of intellectual
darkness, are to be altogether ascribed to Its antagonist powers
—to the gloomy age in which this mother of light revealed
herself, and to the chaotic principles which wore then ferment.
ing in the world. AU the passions were then in arms, and the
very worst endeavoured to obstruct the emancipation of religion
and reason—happily for .llngland, notwithstanding Air. Cob.
butt's complacency to Illonks and Friars, without etrect—un.
happily for other countries, with too much. The objects con:
templated by the tirstiteforrners, demonstrate Etta vary salience
of the Reformation ltalif, they struggled -for their frtedopt
against the infallibility of the Popes ; they disavowed all grounds
of their belief but the sacred writings; they argued, and rea-
soned, and fought to overthrow that scholastic divinity, which
was the essence and support of the Roman Theology, and
which stood between the light and religion and reason. The
liberty of thought - was the golden right to which the &forma.
don opned the way; and upon that right rests,and mustier ever

rest, as a proper and natural basis, the civil liberty of mankind,
That liberty of thought was employed in contemplating reli.
gion—in establishing the proofs of it—in the interpretation of
the Holy Scriptures—in philosophy 'in !science. It had to op..
pose the prodigious array of censures, 'prohibitions, rind ants.
tilt:MSS—as well at the active and vigilant inquisitors employed
by the Church' of Rome to ekelude light &Om the grind—and
this at a period when, -like Galileo': discovery, the establishing
of every new truth was an act-of:heresy, was sa critne, for the

punishment of which -thepower of the secular, arm was invoked.
Let us only reflect on this, end on the consequent exposures of
humanity in the sixteenth century—And what shall we think
of the intelligence or candour of that .politician by profession,
who doubts that England, gained any thing by the Reform.
tion P If this immortal event, es we are bound to: consider
it, had not flirted its way through all its restraining impe.
diments—if the art of printing had not ,given stability to
its conquests over .ignorance anti ,superstition—if the gigantic
despotism which `lorded it over fettered minds-rind enslaved
conscience*, had not iliad the circle of its tyranny con-
tracted—what would England be now ? Just what three.
fourths of Ireland exhibit—bigutted and poor, fanatic and
contentious, in love with fratulv and fables, seduced byttnira-
des, and deaf and blind to the real ,interests,of country or of
liberty—just what the South of Germany appears to our eyo at
this day just what Sicily isovhen the wooden .Saints are ex.
hibited in solemn-ceremony to stop the boiling torrents of lava
Issuing from 'Mount 'Xtna. Dlr. Cobbett can see no good in a
country'whichhas Acts of its 'Legislature to restrain' seditious
works ; but who, before the reformation of
~Englend, -dare
publish any works in which religion or
,government were die.
cussed ? It was at Rome that the first censures of hooks were
devised—sold -411 the .oovernments devoted to' the 'Holy See
have scritpulously adhered to the example. was the cele.
batted Leo X., whosk munificence and literature have been
so much • extolled by some of our liberal; - historians, that,
in 1515, promulgated 'severe - reetrictions upon the printing
and publishing of books-,:,translated from the Greek, Hebrew,
and Arabic. This wiekilse Pontiff; who, et the. time in which
Luther's writings and those of his adherents were with the
most terrible Anathemas prohibited front being read, no matter
as the subjects of *Web they may treat, 'do not scruple to
threaten with excommunication all who should condemn the
profanzpoems of Arioeto; or interrupt 'their Circulation. Is
this' hill title to the panegyric which he'reeeives 'from some of
our-British Literati ? The spirit which prohibited theyeading of
,works written upon any subject; by 'Members of the Reformed
•Chttrch-sehTeli forbade the tranekting of any works' from 'the
Greek, Hebrew, or Arabic languages, yet exints'-inSPainy even
to this day, in Italy, and in all the Austrian States, where heavy
fetters are imposed on the liberty of writing and thiuking—in
Southern Getmany, where the Goverdments are continually re-
newing the penal regulations against reading-hooks written by
heretics, or by,Wital—inlreland, where the power of the itu.
man Catholic Clergyt is exerted to prevent the reading of the
and the revelation he lies
mikknown for tire salvation of' his creatures. The spirit of Ca ,
itself,
eb ratheriryti,huganktnhoewylexialigoeultd)riutoolidi.bc; from the sseretl'fount
tholieisni is- one thing—the. spirit of the Reformation another. '
Thti 'first ahewsitself in various countries. and ii)Treland in dismal
agffritv4tht4-"Ale second manholes itself in England. The one
reeistit the propagation of knowledge, and endeavours to clog
and embarrass the freedern of instruction ,-..the other lives only
end flourishes in an annesphere of tight and knowledge. One
has made some of theflnest countries of the world poor, igno.
rant, idle, sequatious to spiritual authority, and refractory- to
every other in proportion—the other has rendered a patch in
the ocean, nq Ways celebrated for its PhYeie4 gifts, the-hap.
'Plest and the freest-74he most industrious,, wealthy, and moral,
the men titivanked in letters and science-....the most ' renoWned in
arts and tirms4 that ever existed in any age of the world. Let
Mr. Cobbett look, on both those 'Pictures„ _and them repeat, if ho
can, what hati gainettby thilieformition. Hereafter
we shall perhaps enter further Into particulars.

AN ADDRtSS OR-THANKS
TO TILE ILLUSTRIOUB, ENGLYIIHMEN, AND GENEROUS
LADIES OF iONDOE, WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO
THE LAWFUL rmuyou AND INDEPENDENCE OF THE
SPANISH MONARCHY.

Englishmen ! Lovers of Liberty Ladies of London l—Re-
ceive the homage of thenks which Spanish gratitude offers -to
you. Your Meeting of the 13th of last June, and the noble
emulation with which your enlightened matrons zealously seek
to relieie the wants of our afflicted country, whilst it calls upon
us to return yoU our most grateful•thanks, evidently shews to
the world that the freemen of all nations constitute only one
family.
Let those willingly bend their knees before tyrants, who, by
converting themselves into slaves, by their acts degrade man.
• kind so far as even to drag chains, and spontaneously submit
their necks to the yoke of an infamous league. We, in the
mean while, disregarding the deceptive splendour of golden
chains, faithful to our oath, and immoveable in our resolve,
will brave death with glory, rather than allow ourselves to be
yoked to the car of infancy.
In what, Liberal Britons, does the fatal Alliance of the
Despots resemble our sympathetic and beneficent union ? They
assemble in order to decree death and exterrnination against
the human race; they consider themselves 31inisters of the
Almighty, and authorised to raise the standard of vengeance
against peaceful nations ; they laugh to scorn the sacred rights
of nations; they call themselves arbiters of the fate Of other
men, as if they themselves belonged to another species ; they
forget that it was the people who first raised them up, and since
sustain them. and that those vain titles, derived from three,
and shrouded in superstition and barbarity, when opposed toee
rights of nature, are in themselves null.
We profess the Spanish dctrie that the law is the pres...
shin of the general will ;s o
we wishn ex
that in the eye of the law all
should be equal ; that personal security and property should
be respected ; that as man is free to think, be should be equally
so to express his sentiments, under the responsibility due to
the laws and public morals; . that virtue should be honoured
and esteemed; that the guilty should not be exempted' from
the punishment due to his crimes; that no one should be the
slave of caprice, or the ambition of others ; that the. authori-
ties should be answerable for their own injustice, and that the
powers of the State, without iivality, should be occupied in
the preservation of public order.
Of these objects which is the one that can be deemed incom-
patible with the dignity of Thrones? Which is the one that
does not directly contribute to the felicity of the human race?
Which of them is opposed to the grand ends and sublime plans
of. the Author of Nature ?
Tremble, tyrants ! The die Is cast, and your own fate Is de-
cided. Your attempts to stifle the light by encouraging the
clashing of parties, and impoverishing nations in order to sub-
ject and vilify them, cannot prosper. The Public pres.s has
already shaken your power, and you will yet-be compelled to
regulate your conduct by that rule prescribed by the Eternal
'Wisdom, which protect knowledge, and avenges the wrongs of j
oppresed nations.
Even were
_you now to conpier, the inhuman • rigour of pro.
scriptions and the horrid spectacle of ecaffolds, the trophies of
your victory, would pass away as the fleeting flash of lightning.
Be assured that from our monitory graves, from each drop of
our generous blood, restoring and conquering armies in favour
of' the Representative system, will still rise up., Your effOrts
against reason and justice .cannot be lasting, and in the end
must prove unavailing. Our cause, is the
. listen and know,
cause of God. Gud protects it, under his shield the people
sustain it, and even your own deluded troops, as soon as the
charm of superstition is broken, as soon as the price of bribery
is consumed, will know that you have deceived them, by caus-1
ing them.to take up arms against themselves.
-What Government„ what civilised people, is Ignorant of the
axiom, that every nation possesses the right of choosing the in..
. "
stitutions by which.it is to be governed You despots, besides
affecting to he ignorant of this truth, declare war against that
knowledge by which the same is proclaimed, and the honour
by which it is sustained, You deny, although the same is ac-
knowledged by the public law of all nations, that on this subject,
whatever the degree, or under whatsoever pretext it may be,
to allow of any foreign interference,. is to renounce the felicity
as well as the condition of freemen. Your sophisms, therefore,
will not suffice to justify, even In the eyes of people the moot
barbarous, the present invasion of Spain. Even that phantom
of legirinurey, end that false and ridiculous defence of the Altar,l
and of the Throne, which you allege, do not even descry:Abe
name of sophisms.
Perfidy wrestiAl ft,orn our land the royal family in 1800....
Whilst King Ferdinand was e prisoner, we re-established our:
ancient and funciamentsl laws, in order to rescue him from ala-'
very. Wore we not then in a state of orphanage ? Did noel
the Princess of What is now called the Holy Alliance themselves
acknowledge the restoration of our primitive monarchical
Government.? Did they not pronounce it legal ? Did they not
see, did they not admire in it the powerful arm destined to
destroy Iluonaperte, egaites whom their own despotic power
was unable to resist?. Did we not, by the reestablishment of
our fundamentsl laws, obtain the rescue of our Monarch ? Let
those, who were witnesses of all these facts now speak oat to
the world ! Generoue-BritonS! let y ,
our own soldiers, then our
et;aillarles, -answer. Aed, whilst they exhibit to us their own
wounds, we will also add, that the strength we ourselves de-
rive from the restoration of our fundamental laws, is prayed by
the• Spanish blood that still moistens our plains. this'
t(lik In 00 httnds, could we point to the sepulcret of more,
than two hundred thousand of the enemies of our national
glory ; we could sing the endless song of battles, victories,
wisdom, :and power, geinedland evinced by you and ourselves. •
And if this should netrolfliceeive would remind Louis XVIIL of his badly re,quitted 'elevation; :and .then, perhaps, through
Shame, would he, ootlignin avail himself of the word le .ET,
the .acceptation of:winch, although,.always,einanating f she
people, Is ,greatly :at variance with the historical truth of the '
throne We•heetowed :upon:him.
And who is it now;reproanheaus 'with having profaned the
Altar ? We unswer,Princes oretsilized orations. Thisseeres
impossible, yet, unfortunately forthem, the fact is:public and
notorious. Is not this to forget the ',find elements of history.?
God nevercreated•nations;to,be sievesi ' it was the'anibition of
others that rendered them ee. ,Religion itself, .which the
despots profane `by invoicing:it to enchain mationa, reproves
this slavery, ientl-teaohes .and recommends to-mortals, great as
well as small, that common fraternit, compatible with the:
diversity otGoveroments,.claseas and hierarchies. This is, in
fact, thee basis of the coned tutinuelt system. ow. does it happen
that, tilt enreligion does not allow ofdespatiern in its own favour,
it should impose on nations the obligation of. allowing themselves
to be enchained in. thepal itical.corder ? Will the French Govern-
ment perchance pretend, by ridiculing•the canonical liberties of
their own Clergy, .now to esteblishin 'Spain, contrary to. the
Canons of our,own-Councilseultremontane opinions, which the
Court of Rome no.longer, ont.of shame, dares to sustain ? Did
Jesus. Christ, erchance teach the :religion of peace by Staining
hitowta hones ior theme his Ministers in blood? tirtil in its
derma. did he;allaw the . auitallest harm to he done to :his 'most
cruel persecutors ? Great God ! the tyTanteof thecarthateek
to represent the Monarch of the. Heavens as ambitious, as an
oppressor, as the assassin of nations, the enemy of men, and
the friend of them alone. What blindness !
• Theurrniei of Napoleon, which sought to subjugate us, scan.
delized the, Spanish . people ; they converted -the altars of the
churches into mangers for their horses—they robbed, destroyed,
burnt, • and violated, -and in a:golden cup -did they Offer to-us
reforms, .which vie refused to.receive from:their impure-411as-
Now, the armies of' the'Bourbons, the executors of the Tian of
Verona„ for a similar ptirpose, kid also tinder a ar tern, by by thawing thosreprejudioes which the othersimil lartgh&l to
scorn, seek. to bring us back to the ages of monasticism: and
barintrissi.

____
We know you, yeatithors of ottrmiSfortunes.; intdi-as,then,
you shall now experience the effects of our religious honour,
of our virtue and constancy. On us you essay thelttuick, am-
ninglyprepared against. the irnpreseriptible• rights of .ell na.
tions ; the war of ignorance against barbarism—of superstition
against true religion, by shamelessly lying hr the face of, Eu rope.
Watch, nations ; be on'yourguard ; moderate monarehies and
free states of ti:e earth, to you would theanrigeons And seallblds
of tyranny reach, if it should triumph in• Spain. What have
ye therein done who boast ye are'the protectors of legitimacy?
—The army whiehitirider the laughable title of Saaiterry, you
stationed on our frentiers, let loose the fury-of
.parasites, -per-
jurers, avaricious and fanatical-Curates and Friars ; , tuid with
the regret of the enlightened and loyal portion .of our clergy,
they rimed brothers againstbrothers, brrneans of bribery and
falsadoctrinea. 'Afterwards feignin il-and mad_preten.
Mons, you, then in a vile manner profaned land. For this
purpose you purrhased, and continue to 'purchase, weak
gpaniards, unaware, of your But, undeceive your.
selves, by means so, sordid and infamous you will not
triumph.
And what hos hitherto been your pr ? An army which
with glory had oonquvred to Malty-Kings, has degradeditself
so far us. to become an auxiliary of traitors ; 31arshals.who were
'tin honour to the Empire, .co-operate with and obey vile ruffians,
who, by their disgusting immorality, disgrace the national tha-,'
ratter and civili2ation of their 'country ; .Princes who aspire to
crowns are seen to support a Ite,gency, divested of union,-and
-composed only of rebels andtliMatics. These- are thy beatify
Oh unhappy France!
'We tranquilly rely on the holiness -of our eause—in-the- ree.
titudeofvur intentions and our acts. We.do not interfere-in
the government'of others ; `we do not seek that any other Stare
should aelopt our fundamental laws ; mueh d we intend,
or even think,,' as-France once did, to converMonarchies-into -
Republics.
iOar only plan is, to repel the a;greslim of our

•
invaders, in every respect wicked. antkunwarrsntable ; we tea
to preserve and profess the religion of our ancestors, . and be
faithful to the other articles of the fundamental law of the
Monarchy, to the observance of which we have sworn; topree
serve the dignity of a Constitutional Throne; to pweserve3l4
honour of the nation unblemished, and not to allow its lege;
liberties and essential independence to be trodden underfoot. • .
We despise the imputations of those who attack us with
arms derived from falsehood and calumny. They accuse us of
holding our King a captive • whereas the public, as well as the
free and spontaneous acts of his lilajesty, ofthemselves, destroy
this foolish imposture. The very aggression of the•Fretielleite
binet confines him, together with ourselves, in the °Witting=
Island—and there unites us by the most sacred ties ? Why do
they not fairly publish what the whole of Europe already
knows, that they sought to wrest him from us, in order toren,
der him tributary ; or convert him into a despot ? Their 1$
the crime, and in order to gild it over, they seek to defame
by false allegations. That we guard and preserve our
King is most true; but for what purpose ? In order that he
may not be robbed from us by those who, being our enernieat cannot be his friends. We maintain him independent of It fo-
reign dominion, because we dread the slavery to which he was
borne away by the advice of weak and unwary counsellors
during the first French irruption. We gave him freedom in Se-
ville by preserving him from the French armies, which sought
to wrest him from us, and tear him from the arms of loyalty,
in order to consummate their perfidious plans ; and we are re-
solved to bestow the same freedom upon him now, in spite of
the fresh attacks which hypocrisy sought to hide and Provi-
dence has been pleased to discover. We, therefore, alone pre,
serve our Monarch in a state of freedom, in opposition to per.
fidious invaders ; we alone preserve for him that glorious sceptre
unstained which he derived from his people's love. Who can
pledge to Spain that our beloved Monarch would, by the rivele
of his glory, be allowed to sit on his throne, if they could
once get him into their own hands ? We appeal to public re-
port—hut we will draw a veil over what it may not be pro-
per to divulge. Napoleon once deceived the badly advised'
Prince ; and we Spaniards should be fool-hardy indeed,
if, after that lesson, we were to consent to see him betrayed and
sported with by others not less invidious than the above tyrant,
of Ins prosperity and ours. It is the obligation of faithful sub..
jects to guard their Princes from actions which implicate hie,
own dignity, ag. well as the security of the State. Even if we
were not bound to this, as we in facture by our ancient laws, it
would he sufficient for us to know that the rights of nations, as
well as nature herself, ordain the preservation of honour, of in.
dependence, and liberty. in both Kings and kingdoms.
Can you deny this, infamous eggressors! You will not doe
to do it, because you are unable. Po attempt it, were to IfOr
der you the objects of scorn. You aspire, at all hazards, to
consummate your plan, without being dismayed by its injus-
tice, or withheld by the iniquity and vileness of the mean* you
are compelled to employ. Yet, after all, you will not sue-
ceed. Nations fighting for those rights bestowed upon them
by the Author of Society, cannot be conquered. Defence in
this case is an impulse derived from that Providence which
governs the world, to whose throne the cries and tears
of the oppressed have already reached. Slaves, headed by
robbers, cannot triumph over free men, much less by trampling
upon and destroying the oppressed; much lens by paying, ds
price of disloyalty and perjury; much less by calling in to
their aid the deluded, who soon may be undeceived and recover
themselves, and discover the disasters which a deceptive hypo-
crisy had hidden from them.
Let us leave to their own degradation those who seem satisfied
with it, as well as those who aspire to nothing else. The British,
as lovers of freedom, and the Ladies of London, whose heroic
acts and sentiments do honour to the cause of moderate (lover*.
meats, will ever live in our grateful memories, and from us, set
well as our children,...-from the whole of Spanish posterity will
they receive the praise due to virtue.
We return you the tribute of our thanks ; tie Prize the
worthy example you hold forth to civilized nations; we are
certain you will continue to us the aid ofyour wisdom, of yottr
manly mind, and of your moral power, and that you will net*
lose sight of, but rather cherish, our determination never tie
suffer the Fundamental Code and the Monarchy to be wrested
from us.—Cadir, &c. &c.

MAIDSTONE nATINO idANK.--TllO sums 'wrest-
ed in this institution, up to last Saturday evening, which, tvsli-
pleted the year since its formation, amounted to 6,3891. 6s. 6d.
rveturned to depositors 424/. 18s. 7d. Invested in Govern-
meta Securities, 8,8081; in Tesastleer's Israg, 431. 12*.
Number of depositors, 36.1.

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