Star.
London, England, 1814-01-15 00:00:00

the fact that sovereliges WI their people at ident;fiad
But they who say that this has been effectrd by,
change of, principles, let them specify the *badge.
What change has taken plate atnong the nations of
Europe ?We are the best Judges of ourselves what
change has taken place here ? Ts the constitution other
than it was when we were told, as we often were in.
the bad times, that it was a doubt if it was worth_ de-
fending ? Is the eonstitutior other than it was when
it was supposed that peace OR any terms mast be'
made as the only hope of saving if from popular in-
dignation and popular reform ?
44 Gentlemen, there is another question to be ask-
ed; By what power, in what part of the world has
that final blow been struck which has smitten the ty- ,
rant to the ground? I suppose, by some enlightened
republic, I suppose by some nation which, in the ex-
cess of popular freedom, considers even a representa-
tive system as defective, unless each individual inter-
feres directly in the government of the national ton-
cerns. I suppose by some nation of enlightened pa-
triots, eves), man of whom is a politician in the coffee-
house as well as in the senate. I suppose it is from
some such government as this that the conqueror of
despots, the enemy of monarchial England has met
his doom. I look through the European worhi, Gen-
tlemen, in vain ; I find there no such government ;
but in another hemisphere I do find such a one, which
no doubt must be the political David by whom the
Goliah of Europe has been brought down. What is
Ibinanse of that glorious republic to which the gri-
tinkle of Europe is eternally due; which from its ha-
tred to tyranny, has so perseveringly exerted itself to
liberate the world, and at last has.successfolly closed
the contest ? Alas 1 Gentlemen, such a republic I do

indeed find, but I find it enlisteci.. and God be thank-
ed, enlisted alone, under the banners of the despot.—,
(Apple:um) But where was the blow struck f Where ?-
Alas, for theory ! The bldw was given in the wilds of
despotic Russia. It was followed up on the plains
of Leipsig—by Russian, Prussian, and Austrian arms.
But let me not be mistaken. Do I therefore argue,
—do I therefore give it to our antagonists the advan
cage of arguing—:that an absolute monarchy is bet-
ter than a free government ? God forbid ! What 1
mean is this—that in appreciating the comparative
excellence of political institutions it is idle—it is mere
pedantry— to overlook the feelings of nature.
" The order of nature could not subsist among
mankind if there were not an instinctive patriotisin ; a
love of national independence, I do not gay uncon-
nected with, but prior and paramount to the desire of
politicalatmeliorAtion.. It may be very wrong that
this should be so. I cannot help it. Our business is
with the fast. And surely i( is not to be regretted
That tyrants and conquerors should have learned from
experience, that the first consideration suggested to
the inhabitants of any country by a foreign invasion,
is not whether the political constitution of the state is
perfect, but wLether Ike altar, at which he has wor-
shipped, and the home .in which he has dwelt from.
his infancl, whether his wife and. his chilciren,.whe,
they the tombs of his forefathers, whether the palace,
of the sovereign under whom he area bolt, ana;t!„.+'
whorit'hi may owe, or fancy that he owes allegiance,
—should be abandoned to. Isolence and profalus-•

tion ? • • - •
That in the infancy of the French Revolution.
maay.:saliow►.Au. Europe were..onfurtunately led. to
belie :e* and to act upon a different persuasion, is un-
doubtedly true ;—that whole countries were over-run
by reforming conquerors, and -flattered themselves
with being proscilytes till they found themielves vic-
tims. Even in this coutittry, as I have already said,
there have been times when wetave been called upon
to consider whether there was not something at home
which must be mended b. tore we could hope to re-
pel a foreign invader with success.
" Gentlemen, it is happy for the world that this
sort of question should have been tried, if I may so
say, to a disadvantage; that it should have been tried
in countries where no man in hii senses will say that
the frame of political society is such, as according to
the most moderate principles of regulated freedom it
ought to be, where I will venturd to say, without ha-
zarding the imputation of being myself a visionary
reformer, political society is not •such, as after the
success of this war and from the happy contagion of
the example of Great Britain, it is sure gradually to
become. It is happy for the world that this question
as to the value of national independence should thus
have been tried on its own merits; that after twenty
years of controversy we should be authorised by un-
doubted results to revert to truth and nature, and to

disentangle the genuine feelings of the heart from the
obstructions which a generalizing philosophy had
wound around them.
" One of the most delightful poets of this country,
in describing the differences of soil and climate and
the various proportions of natural blessings and ad-
vantages dispensed by PROVIDENCE
,to the various na-
tions of Europe, turns from the beautiful vallies and
cloudless skies of Italy to the rugged mountains of
Switzerland, and inquires whether there also in those
severe and unkindly regions the patriot passion is
found equally to prevail, he decides the question
truly in the affirmative, and he says of the inhabitants
Uf those hard climes :
" Dear is that shed to which his soul conforms,
And dear that hill which lifts him to the storms ;
And as a child, whorl scaring sounds molest,
Clings close and closer to the mother's breast,
So the loud torrent, and the whirlwind's roar,
But bind hint to his native mountalnii more!"
" What Goldsmith has thus beautifully applied to
the physical varieties and disadvantages of a country
has been found to be not less true with respect to po.
litical institutions. The sober desire of improvement,
the rational endeavour to redress wrong or correct
imperfection in the political frame of a Government,
are not only natural but laudable in man : but it is
well that it should have been shewn by irrefragable
proof that these sentiments, where they exist, super-
sede not that' devotion to native soil which is the
foundation of national independence. And it is right
that it should be understood and remembered that
this sentiment of national • independence alone:—
aroused where it had slumbered—enlightened where
it had been deluded—and kindled into enthusiasm by
the insults and provocations of the enemy, has been
found sufficient, without internal changes, or com-
promises, of sovereigns and Governments with their
people, without relaxations. of allegiance' or abjura.
tions of authority, to connect the nations of the Con-
tinent in one common cause, to lead them against