The Sun.
London, England, 1826-12-28 00:00:00

hints, and the hair of his head dare not be tettehedk-Let
us suppose the Jesuit emissaries-of Rome to obtain the
establishment of,sitnilar institutions in the other cities of
Italy, and in Paris, Vienna, and other Roman Catholic,
cities and towns,it would be necessary for a man who had
decent clothes on his back, or ,who carried any property, or
who happened to •be a heretic, to walk with a loaded pistol
or a drawn sword in his hand, in open day, because the
Infallible Church thought fit to open sanctified dens for
gangs of ruffians, whence they -might dart out, like wild
beasts, upon the passers by for deeds of rapine and blood!
We arc told that the populace of Rome received the Pa-
pal order restoring these sanctuaries with the moat lively
joy—and no wonder. They 'repaid this benevolent pro-
vision for their future crimes with anticipated gratitude.
How deplorably circumstanced are the thieves and ruffians
who infest this metropOlis, compared with those of the
immaculate Rome ! Here there is a Recorder, and an ad
'Bailey, and something like the terrors of a future life to
.haunt their guilty minds—hut there the same class of man-
kind 1111%4 impunity for crime as a vested right, and Heaven
in reversion !--4bid.
If the interest and welfare of the great body of the
people were only to be consulted, we believe wars
would be rarely undertaken. But, as Dr. Franklin
observes in one of his Letters, " it is wonderful how
preposterously the affairs of this, world are managed.---
Naturally, one should imagine that the interests of a
few particulars should give way to general interest.—
But particulars manage their affairs with so much more
application, industry, .and address, than thepublic do
theirs, that general interest most commonly gives wayto
particular. We assemble Parliamenta and Councils to
have the benefit of their collected wisdom, but we rie
cessarily have, at the same time, the inconvenience of
their collected passions, prejudices, and private inte-
,rests. ,By the help of these, artful men overpower the
wisdom and dupe its possessors ; and, if we may judge
.by the acts, decrees, and edicts, all the world over, for
1 regulating commerce, an assembly of wise men is the
greatest fool upon earth." If the interests of France
and England were to be consulted at present, it is
certain that the statesmen of the two countries would
()lan things wish them to continue at peace with. each
other. The course of wisdom is simple and easily an-
ticipated ; but who can anticipate the course which
folly may resolve on ? Folly only could have dictated
the intrigues which led to the invasion of Spain, the
overthrow of its Constitutional Government, and the
subsequent, occupation of that country. From that
measure France has reaped only disgrace and expence.
Folly alone would prescribe the interference with the
affairs of another nation of the Peninsula, more espe-
cially when the relation in which that stands to Great
Britain is considered. The French Government, at
this time, are loud in their expressions of a wish to
co-operate with England, in preserving the peace of
.the Peninsula, i. e. in preventing the Spanish
Government ' from affording aid to the Portu-
guese Insurgents. Are the, declarations of the French
Ministry believed to be sincere in this country? it
must be owned, that, notwithstanding the confidence
in the ,pacific intentions of M. de Villele, who has
all alongntanifested an indisposition to warlike mea-
sures, there is a fear that he will be over•-ruled, and
that the policy which dictated the occupation of Spain
may still obtain an ascendancy in the Councils of
France. That war *mild be attended with the most
serious consequences to the French Nation,ls certain ;
and that these consequences might!.ultimately endanger
even the existence oftl le GOVOYMOSi IS *tweed it igly pro-
bable. France can matt, ' '',: ' ' lour on Britain,
hut Britain can wound 1, '' . 7 Itiii, :' to -ways. In
%MU
otillyei4,
the first place, the exteriils 7h:' N France would
be almost annihilated ; its mantfactures' and internal
commerce would feel the shock intensely; and the
French Nation, now controuled by a Government
possessing little of its confidence, and not wielding,
like that of England, the resources of an all-powerful
Aristocracy, would, on the cessation of the prosperity
which is the cause of the present tranquillity and obe.
'dience, in spite 'of the irritating attempts of the fanatics,
'be retained in subjection with great difficulty ; and
the probability is, that a change, 'admitting of a stron-
ger sympathy between the People and the Legislature,
would be effected. The only injury which France
could do to this country would be the swelling the
National Debt, and consequently increasing the natio-
nal burthens 1 but this would only render the condi-
tion of the working classes more hard and miserable, and
force the most toil-worn people in the world' to undergo
still greater exertions. The extent to which a people,
through competition for subsistence, can be made to
submit to toil, can with difficulty be conjectured. If any
one, a hundred years ago, had said that Englishmen
would consent to work for a scanty subsistence fourteen
hotirs a day the year round, he' would not have been
believed. lint the necessities of the lower orders make
what is 'called ,a glorions end powerful nation ; and, in
truth, putting Ireland out of the question, the Govern-
ment of England is at this moment, from the power of
exertion winch it can command, much stronger even
for aggression than the Government of Prance. War,
at the same time, if it added to the toil and privations,
of the people of England, would he attended with an-,
advantage ; that it would extort from the fears of, the
Aristocracy a measure that would lay the foundation
for a better Government of Ireland, which, by improv-
hag the resources of that country, might in time re eve
the working classes of England finin the shoals of emi-
mulls by which they are tst present oppressed. But„,
r, considerations,
whatever foree there may be in these
will they produce any effect on , those who succeeded
in earrymg the' invasum of Spain, and who, not satis,
tied with the melancholy ' result of ' it, seek, to extend
their system to Portugal ? If M. de Villele prevails,
all may yet be well ; but if the Ultras prevail, we may
be sure that the very reasons urged by Mr. Canning
Will be an additional inducement to their recurring to !
hostilities. Mr. Canning says that the Recognition
-of the South American States is the result of the French
interference with Spain. This is holding them up as 1
the causes of the dismemberment and the ruin of Spain.
On this subject, Mr. Canning says, in the revised
edition' of his speech, lately published by authority, " It
would be disingenuous, indeed, not to admit that the entry
of the French army into Spain was, in a certain sense, a
disparagement--.-an affront to the pride--a blow to the feel-
ings of England i and it can hardly be supposed th.at the
Government ilid not sympathize on that occasion with the
feelings of the people. But I deny, that questienable or
censurable as the act might be, it was one, which neces-
sarily called for our direct and hostile opposition. Was
nothing then to be done ? Was there pp other mode of
resistance than by a direct attack upon France, or by a war
to be tindertako on the sell of Spain ? What if the pos-
-8"14011 of Spain might be rendered harmless in rival
baudeHatrittless as - regarded us—and valueless to the
possesson ? :
Mighti poat - compensation for disparagement
be obtained, wind the ti
of our ancestors_ be vindicated
by means better adapted to the present time ? If France
occupied Spain, Was it necessary, in order to avoid the
.consiviencei or dm occupation, that we should blockade.
Cadiz ? NO ; 100104 snottier way ; I sought materials
Of compensation in another hemisphere. Contemplating
Spain, such as our ancestors bed known her, I resolved
that if France had Spain, it slietild not be Spain with the
Indies. I called the New World into existence to redress
the balance of the Old." Thii is distinctly telling the