The Sun.
London, England, 1823-07-03 00:00:00

[AIORNING CHRONICLE.]

4( We have given (says -The courier) from
The .11Ierning Chronicle, a most amusing account of the ace'_
dents that befel poor Sir Robert Wilson, on his intended journey
to Lisbon. ''. Most amusing to hear that several brave men
were on the point of falling a sacrifice to a brutal mob ! The
Courier would no doubt have been still more amused bad the
Priests succeeded in their attempt at assassination. There have
unfortunately been in all times but too many who, like The
Courier, have thought it excellent sport to see. their fellow'.
creatures in peril, when they deemed themselves secure :
Sauve, mari magno turbantibus tequora ventis
E terra magnum alterius spectare laborer.
The Courier would, we suppose, be in ecstacy to hear of an
auto daft being celebrated at "Lisbon and Madrid, at which
the Members of the Cortes should be dispatched in some of the
ingenious modes devised by the wisdom of their ancestors. A.
populace, we know from experience, may be debased; so far.
al to derive the .most exquisite pleasure from human suf.
fering. It would be vain arguing with those, who; like The
C'ourier, think there can never be too much of this, so..lbtite
as they are themselves in a whole skin. So also thought
the Bourbons of France, before the Revolutien, 'and so
they still think. But the same. populace, who are at 'one
time delighted with the sufferings of a victim of despotism,
or intolerance, ,may at another delight' in the sufferings of
Kings. The Priests of France, who saw with joy the blood
of the unOffending Calvanists, became in their turn the Sub'.
jects of cruel experiments. Louis XV. in the joys of . his
Parc aux
,Cerfs could sport with the most sacred feelings of
nature, and gave orders for sabring the mother: who rose cla-
morotrs fir the daughters torn from them to supply a sucees.
slot of objects for his lusts. The populace joked in their tarn
when Louis XVI: and' his Nobles looked out at the national
window, as the gulltitine was facetiously
.termed in ; their
brutal language. In the favourite times of Mr. Bankes,
when the lower 'orders of England were more ignorant than
they arc now, it was a great treat to the High Church Clergy
to see the mob set fire to Dissenting Meeting Ifouses. 'At a. com-
paratively recent period the funeral pile was recommended
from the pulpit for Dr. Priestley ; and even Noblemen and
Magistrates, like The Courier, chuckled at, the narrow escape
he had, when his property was consumed in the flames. Mi-
serable triumphs I We envy not the feelings of those who can
take a delight, in the contemplation of the degradation of their
fellow-creatures, who can boar enmity to the men who endea-
vour to remove the obstacles to improvement, and who can con-
template the generous deVotion.nf,Sir Robert Wilson without
admiration, anti can find in it only food for the gratification of
malevolence. These are not, however, the feelings of the great
body of the people of England, who, though they have not
been sufficiently prompt in the aid they are affording to the
Constitutionalists of the Peninsula, are enlightened enough to
appreciate the exertions of Sir Robert Wilson in their be-
half, and generous enough to wish well to their cause. No,
the people of England do not wish to see Europe again subject
to monks and despots, they do not wish to see the Inquisition
re-established in Spain and Portugal? they will never condemn
the gallant officer who first made disciplined soldiers of the Por-
tuguese, for his again dedicating his talents and experience to
their service in their exigency. They„, will not deem his-assas-
sination amusing, nor, like the Editor of the Nero Tinter, the
apologist of French interference, deem the rage of a fanaticised
rabble a just indignation. " A cashiered English officer—a
person lately rescued from poverty by a charitable subscription
at home, and since enrolled in the tanks of rebellion abroad as
a, simple .volunteer."—Shame ! Even at St. Petersburgh the
slave of the Autocrat would blush to use such language.