Star.
London, England, 1830-09-02 00:00:00

MANIPES PO TO THE SPANISH NATION.

(By (he Conatilutionalis(s.)

Spaniards ! Semen years are just on the point of concluding, during
e Inch oppressed Spain. sunk in an abyss of evils, has patiently waited
for some relief from the Government ; but at the end of seven years, the
Government. disappointing every expectation, proving more and more
deaf to the dictates of reason and experience, becoming more and more
blind in its rage for vengeance and in its hope to extirpate all idea of
:iberty among us, does nothing but aggravate our miseries, and appears
only to desire that this beautiful country should be blotted out of the
number of civilized states. It was thought that our oppressors, feeling
their fury satiated by the sacrifice of so many victims, would have made
some concession, if for their own interest only, to the rights and neces-
sities of the nation, to the spirit of the age, to the example of other nio.
amities, and to the demand of the whole world. But yet you see that,
still thirsting for tears mid blood, as incapable of moderation as of
amendment, sooner than take measures for the public good, they prefer
co convert Spain into a vast desert of sepulchres and ruins.
When an unexampled act of violence, insulting to the most sacred
rights of all independent nations, succeeded, in 1823, in subverting the
political institutions which Spain had founded, which her Monarch had
confirmed, and under which we had been governed for three years, ac-
knowledged by all foreign Powers, the King, in the most solemn man-
ner, and while at perfect liberty to take and announce publicly, if he
chose, a determination to pass over to the head-quarters of the enemy,
spontaneously declared his desire " to banish from the kingdom ven-
geance and persecution, to unite all opinions, to re-establish among all
Spanizids tranquillity, confidence and union, so necessary for the common
good ; " and spontaneously promised, among other things, " to adopt a
government which should make the happiness of the nation complete,
giving security to person and property, and civil liberty to all
Spaniards."
how has this promise, expressly guaranteed upon the faith and se-
curity of the Royal word, been fulfilled? The pen was still wet which
signed that declaration, when another, emanating from the same King,
disclosed to us that lie had become the head of a parry; that the rest of'
the Spaniards had nothhig else to expect but persecution and misfortune;
and that his Government was intended to be more oppressive than ever.
Abandoned to passion,—the tool of faction and female intrigues—sup-
ported by a foreign Power, to the disgrace of national independence and
honour—declaring a war of extermination against patriotism and know.
ledge introducing or fomenting the most horrible anarchy, in order to
inflame us against each other—eliamelessly trampling on all law, and even
on the appearance of justice; you have seen this Government convert
Spain into a prison, sacrifice h. ndreds of victims, proscribe others by
thousands, and condemning to degradation and misery numbers of de-
serving men, who had served their country and their King with honour,
and who could only be charged with having done their duty. You have
seen the nation insulted in the persons of its representatives, who were
treated worse than criminals, because, faithful to their mission and oaths
they endeavoured to prevent the King falling into the power of the
enemy. You have seen what pains were taken to demoralize the public,
in order that they, who had sown excitement, might take advantage of
it ; and how much the church of CHRIST was profaned by being con.
vetted into a school of ferocity and barbarity.
But despotism was not satisfied with holding the scourge over those
whom it looked upon as enemies because they were lovers of liberty.
Ever ungrateful, even to its own servants, you have seen bow miserably
it rewarded those who, hesitating in their loyalty and ideas of public
good, questioned the propriety of the King possessing unlimited power.
Catalonia has flowed with their blood, and multitudes of Spaniards
lament their lost country hi prisons or in foreign countries.
Upon all calamity has fallen, excepting the few who live by public
misfortunes. All the abuses which it was endeavoured to reform have
been reestablished to a greater extent than ever, and the gates
which it was tried to open for your industry and prosperity have
been closed ; and, Spaniards ! you are placed at the mercy of judges
authorized to inflict what penalty they please, provided they blindly
lend themselves to the will of the Government- You are to be il.
legally loaded with imposts lisproportioned to your means, fall-
ing more heavily upon the poor consumer than upon the rich
man. But, besides these—besides being oppressed a thousand
ways in their collection, and in the exaction of arrears, new and
still mote illegal extortions--new monopolies, and new works, and
endless vexations,—ruinous speculations, in which those who go-
vern you, and even some of the Royal family, engage, in order to di.
vide your spoils among theme—pernicious privileges put up to sale,
or unjustly given away,—the fifths, multiplied unnecessarily and dis.
proportionately,—have caused your misery to reach its highest point.
And for what are so many sacrifices to be made ? The fruit of your
toil is dissipated among parasites, who render you no service, and who
look down with proud disdain upon you from the circle of a haughty
Court, which insults the public milieu by iniquitous intrigues against
the good of other countries, and by expeditions beyond sea, capriciously
undertaken, which can never prove of any use to the nation, and which
are the derision of both hemispheres. Your sons are, in consequence,
dragged forth either ingloriously to perish in pestilent climates, of use-
lessly to struggle with such sad results as the events which have taken
place at Tampico exhibit, to the eternal ignominy of the government.
From hatred to liberty, and to the scandal of the whole world, your
money has been squandered, in order to ferment civil war in a friendly
country, on which its King had bestowed free institutions; and your
governors, not content with working evil in secret, have openly projected
rebellion, forced you into war, and made the name of Spain be pronounced
with hatred throughout all Europe.
Look at your agriculture ruined in the n idst of abundance by this
pernicious Government. Look at the mournful state of commerce, and
the other branches of industry. The capital which should give It life
has partly vanished from this disgraced soil, in consequence of fierce
persecution; and has, from fear of despotism, partly sought employ-
ment in foreign countries, where a great number of our capitalists, in the
enjoyment of security, are so many living proofs of the fatal effects of
the system which rannizes over the country.
And in the mean time, Spaniards, the national credit,—that credit
which is the honour and principal wealth of states,_to what a dis-
graceful state has it not been reduced by the utter incapacity and im.
morality of your rulers, who, not regarding any obligation, have con-
sidered the most unjust measures as indifferent, provided greater means
were supplied for their dissipation ! Cheated by the deceitful appear.
acmes exhibited by extravagance, you do not perceive within the king.
doh, perhaps, the whole extent of this most serious evil. But go
forth and make your enquiries in other countries, especially in the
neighbouring one of France, and you will weep teats of blood to learn
that your government is looked upon as a band of robbers ; your
credit expressly excluded from mercantile transactions in all the prin.
cipal commercial places, and the idea that was formerly entertained of
Spanish faith and probity, now every where destroyed.
Every thing—every thing has this calamitous Government made us
lose; independence, liberty, national honour, and pride; security of
person and property, the comforts and bonds of society, and many, very
many of the virtues which have always characterised Spaniards. They
are now disunited, impoverished, oppressed, and miserably enslaved
within the kingdom, and the Spanish name, which was a short
time since repeated with so much glory and respect in other 133.•
lions, is now a taunt, a sad object of comparison or mockery with all
the world ; and the title of King of Spain, the reputation of which is of
such high importance to the subjects—that title which has been ever-
lastingly dishououred by those who surround the throne—has become
despised and hated among the people, no less to the prejudice of the
nation than:to the discredit of the majesty of all other Alonarchs.
Behold here, Spaniards the fatal fruits of arbitrary power—of power,
which, destroying those who endure it, is generally not less unfortunate
to those who exercise, or rather to those in whose name it is exercised •
for in such case, princes, possessed of less liberty and effective control than
ever, become nothing else but the instruments of the wicked persons
who surround them. Arbitrary power reduced the monarchy from the
high and powerful condition in which it formerly stood, to the state in
which it was left by Godoy. Arbitrary power destroyed Charles IV.
notwithstandingp, his goodness of heart, and launched Spain into a sea
of troubles. The favourers of this power convened Ferdinand into a
bad son, a conspirator against his King and country; and scarcely
had he occupied the throne when they made him lose it, and so far
dishonour it as to throw himself at the feet of an implacable enemy.
They then abandoned him in the disgrace to which they had precipitated
him ; and if some still accompanied him, it was only tor the purpose of
degrading him still more, to congratulate the usurper of his throne, to
beg as a mendicant for a family alliance with his oppressor, to boast of
the title of vassal to that oppressor ; and to felicitate him on the advan-
tages he gained over us, while we, with unbroken and unexampled
loyalty, were spilling our blood to preserve the throne to the King, who
had forsaken, and who then ungratefully disavowed us.
Meanwhile the nation desolate and bereaved, in order to prevent bad
government from still further injuring her, re-assembled the Cortes,
conformably with what public necessity required, and accordingly, as
her King had resolved, at Bayonne, when he saw himself ruined from
the want of them ; and in the most legitimate mannerre-established and
reduced to a regular and uniform system her ancient and fundamental
law,the oblivion of which had brought us to the brink of a precipice. Those
laws were proclaimed and sworn to with enthusiasm and rejoicings, as
you well remember, and were solemnly recognized by foreign powers.
Under that system we began to prosper, and with the help of GOD and
.hat of our allies, we triumphed over the enemy, and succeeded
in rescuing our King. But they who six years before had led him
on to destruction, the ominous satellites of arbitrary power, again
surrounded him, and, employing treason and the vilest calumnies,
abusing the enthusiasm with which the Spaniards had received their
desired monarch, they make him exhibit himself before the whole
'aorld as the most ungrateful of men, begin his reign with decrees of
!loud and proscription, end reward our heroic loyalty with chains, and
:Le patriotism and energy which had just preserved him with dungeons
Ind persecutions.
In order once again to enthrone arbitrary power, it was thought ne.
ee.sary to add to crime and violence the most hateful mockery, and a
toyid decree, which its anchors had filled with the most impudent false-
mals, in announcing to the nation the subversion of' its institutions, so-
ismnly declared that the King abhorred and detested despotism, and pro.
seised the reestablishment of the Cortes, and also of " laws !reined with
their consent, which should for the future govern the country; and that
secure'teeny and security, both individual and royal," should be firmly
d. How the case has turned out, how the words of the King