The Statesman.
London, England, 1809-08-24 00:00:00

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44 411.11' WELCog A GLOBAL aND arneto.ll. RE-
roust. \'':k a.
" Little more tlititObree MO have elapsed
since Siiain could call hectelf a whole nation, her
•arious provinces being only ellen united under
.iiie goverumesit and authority. These years
would hive suffices) to gather in the fruits which
wilOitruulised by the consolidation of so powerful
u kingdom, if fortune, which hat pleased to are
r 'lige the successive tittermarrieges and inheritances
isCled Monarchs, had given to them the will and
viewer to cement so megnificent an edifice, in.
stml of leeving it to time to undermine what
t*..ey had raised. The nation was distracted
by the factions of the powerful grandees, who,
avediks themselves of the debility of the Kings,
emended the independence of the throne. Thu
tele" wearied by this species of domestic ty.
II inlay, a thousand times more grievous than the
remoter tietiputism of a court, knit their arms to an
aetive sad artful Mitiister, in order to destroy the
petty rival. of Fertleialil the Catholic; and trona
t-tfat moment, no vuice was been! in Spain, hut
that of the nmarcS. His will was restrained by
eic priril-ges (►Olen's) of some provinces; and
s.itrafieuutroul, though weak, was forme.l by the
precarious and vague influence of the Cortes of
Castile. Ferditesail was fur a time checked by
the desire to possess that crown, in ease of the
lath of his Quern, to whom it. belonged ; and
Otis accident placed obstacles in the way of des-
potism, for a periois, so that tree people did nut
ritinark the fate ii hielt threatened them.
. Arbitrary p.ssrcr had shot deep and intricate
reefs, when one of those capricious family eon.
et etities net which the welfere or ruin of whole
iettions depends, put the sceptre of Spain into' the
henels of a foreigner, andeuatle it the inheritance
..1. a German house. From thence our firmament
was overshadowed liv a cloud of evils which is
still discharging itlJelf open our heads. This
seas perceived, '6l those generous Spaniards who
i•ivulted the)nstour of their nation to avert it;
Inn they
,ou learned, by fatal calamities,
that slaver? s Tepidly townies, when it seizes on
e divided ea ea, They a ere doomed to suffer this
through the grins of their fellow.eenntryinest ; and
the scaffold was raised up by the same hands which
bad sought triitheak the chaise. Who could feel
rpm passion for an infatuated people who sacrificed
their youth..-telki ran to shed their blood in fu..
r-izii lands, ill -iforiVer tie impose the yoke upon
other nations tt spoils they did nut even en.
joy. The brilliant reign of Charles V. passed
away : in that school was formed a Philip 11.
who, adding new pretensions to those of his fa-
ther, had to supply by intrigue that strength
a hich had b .en unprofitably lavished, and who
degraded himst•lf before Foropc, % nich had for-
merly trembled at his r res,iire. At leugth the ut.
most debility was uaited to the utmost despotism ;
and the Spanish nation descended from King to
King, as from abyss to abyss, to the profundity of
degradation and oesery.
•4 Spain than bereene the legacy of a weak too.
narch to the anieiticats.goert of f renct: ; tied she
s,
Was torn to pieCES, being the prize set up to be
eon tended for :fir-fiver foreigners. Ex Ito uoted by
fresh wars, site slumbered its the interval, during
which the intrigues of other Cabinets allot' el her
to lay slovell the arms the had scarcely strength to
*sestaire, did in our clays falling into thee hands of
•an atitenturer who cowered her with sheets:, she
was 03 the point of bevonlist; the prey of another
odventarer still more audacious, who availed him.
self of,Sltt ibaseness of his predecessor to subdue
bee. . 0,
" This !Mete!' comprises the pctiud of our glory.
:gut•what influence had this on the happiness of
the country ? Was she rendered mote happy, by
.the discovery of Win, world, whose riches were
the price of the blood shed iii Flakier' and Ger-
...litany, for interests which were not her own ? Or
could her felicity sprite; from the barrel' triumphs
of her arms, joined to these of other steams /
Glory was doubtless thee gained! by our ancestors;
a glory which showed what tee valour of this
• brave people tesisid effect ; but the glory perished
with them, and left to their descendants vain re.
collections, mingled with incalculable evils.
*4 What then shalt we say or former ageit—ages
of everlasting war ; at one time time against the
*serial:re of our evil ; at another tints against
'Princes, whose renewed conflicts were CSC!' Spring.
. iblg from successive victories? No firm and per.
• Malicia bases or goverment were established,.
. when the Peninsula formed one kingdom. And
• shall we seek for precedents, when every province.
was an independt.et state—when war was nuw ear.
ried on against the Moors, now waged by Chris-
tians, who slatightereil each either ?
' " Nu, Spaniards; we will nut deceive our.
, v.
seles, concerning the present state of our coun-
try. We )'assess venerable monument.; of gran.
. deur and power, and derive them directly from
• ow ancestors. We possess laws, m huh at one
ppiiod were better (base any Europe then enjoyed;
hat we do nut retails the shadow of what our ac-
tual situation requires, nor any resemblaece of
what can feeder us happy, being what we now
are. Our ancestors heaped together the fragments
de ;lac/icor eelitis ; we, ha%c to form the plait of an
ediliee; • adapted to our actual exigencies; we
.eizht /lot to destroy what we hare inherited from
VAI,' hot to till up the emboli in what is re.

TO:kitting .
14' If we add to all this the embarrassments
ig.frum an isorri:llo iny.o.lios, and a deflated un-
tip:taken when the Art, of Ih:spittoon lead laid us
pi'plitrata and almost we may contemplate
'• 104Atei: the lolls who ti %maroo' sad men,ice
• al 'au .•flizreious remedy.
Spain a twitgritts amid preetple,;s, col with
the 'mute of nucatam lights for her preset-.
ration. She has a Keog who:n etc tin leiiy lovt.s,
~,,t whether the day wiii Cler at.
Nt 4;1 roljny the delight ctf re.possrs.
slut; hint: .sita kilos s 'tot what shu'ije to do, should
she lose him ; stoat ahe has to aik of hint, ihoald
.t.:tftri;i 'Or what to an .ire
aub-
atatowil low Slit: ruzsysses hi6h tribauali,