The Statesman.
London, England, 1812-11-24 00:00:00

'IIIE STATESMAN.

carry his orders into execution, under specious pre-
texts : the opportunity was lost, and Cadiz remained
• besieged. The consequences of this want of obe-
dience we have thoroughly experienced; and thanks
to him who has made them cease !

Government then found a reason, and afterwards
many others, to proceed against this General ; but
conceiving that the evils which his want of concur-
rence in the general operations would diminish, if
they succeeded iu bringing him to a sense of his true
obligations, and desirous, on the other hand, that
the country might benefit from his valour and activi-
ty, continued him in his command.
But posterior events have clearly demonstrated how
useless it was to expect he should vary his conduct.
The enemy abandened the Andalusias; Gen. Ballet-
teros marched to Granada, and having there collected
the greater part of the disposable force of his army,
openly opposed the repeated °Niers which were trans.
!flitted him to march in a convenient direction, and
occupy au important position. As if in a state of
somnolency, from his entry into that city, not only
has he not obeyed their orders, but he has neglected
to pursue, or annoy the enemy in any manner; and
if at any time he awoke from the lethargy lit which
be appeared sub-merged, it was only more and more
to contravene the intentions of Government, by col-
lecting there the dispersed, who ought to have pro.
needed to another destination, as had been deter.
reined, and frustrating, by all possible means, the
best combined operations.
Whom then will this General obey ? To what na=
lion do the troops he commands' belong, if the Spa-.
uish Government cannot depend on them ? The sol-
diers of the 4th army are soldiers' of the country ;
they are not Ballasteros's soldiers.
But what has exceeded all expectation is the last
step Ile has just taken, of which neither the nation
nor Government can for a moment feign themselves
ignorant.
The situation in which the Peninsula is at present
placed, demands, that in order to reap the fruits of
the late victories, ensure and extend their effects,
and protect us against fresh irruptions from the
troops of the Continental 'Tyrant, e powerful and
uniform impulse should be given to our troops and
those of the Allies who defend us, that they should
be concentrated, and in one hand place the direc-
tion of the tsar. The General Cortes, convinced
of this necessity, and satisfied, on the other hand—
satisfied with the generous and glorious exploits
which the immortal Duke of Ciudad Rodrigo has
performed in our favour, to whom we are equally
bound by love and gratitude, determined he should
have the command of our troops—General Hallos-
tcros openly refused to obey this sovereign decree. •
Thus, says Government, in an official dispatch, 1
addressed to the Minister at War, this seditious de-
nial
it as printed and dispersed in ditferent.places. ;
In it, under the apparent veil of patriotism and ,
honour, he provokes to rebellion, exciting by false
reasoning the strongest paisions of the Spaniards, i
and excites to political convulsions at the moment j
when the utmost union is required to save the nation. !
It sass, he wishes to take the opinion of the nation;
he then does not acknowledge its representatives—
and in addition to disobeying the Government and
Congress, he denies the latter to be the national re-
presentation.
We ought not to conceal from this General, that
in our history, we have repeatedly had foreign Ge-
nerals at the head of our armies, without, on this
account, haling had the liberty and independence
of the country compromised ; such for example were
the Espinolas, Farneiscos, Piscarras, Vandamos,
4c.; neither should we hide the generosity with
which Great Britain aids us, nor the necessity we
stand in of these aids, nor of the interest that Power .
takes in the liberty and independence of Spain, to
palliate, under false principles of honour and ridi-
culous fears, so scandalous a proceeding.
When we scarcely begin to breathe, at rising !
from the painful situation in which we were ; when
the provinces begin to see the so-much-desird day •
of their liberty dawn, and to taste the sweets of a
paternal Government, and of lasts formed for their
prosperity and happiness ; when now, that nothing 1
but the union and combination of our force, to drive
the French from our soil, is wanting, now it is that
a Spaniard, the most flattered, and the most reward- ,
ed hi the nation, will not acknowledge the national
authority, and sets the scandalous example, in our
glorious revolution, of a General at the head of his
army refusing obedience. Yes, for the advantages
be has obtained, in some actions of trifling considera-
tion, lie thinks he has a right to place himself above
the laws.—What could not the conqueror of Baylen !
eay ? What the heroic defenders of Saragossa, Ge-
rona, and (Wier places who have covered Spain with
glory ?—And what the valiant Mina, Sanchez, and
many other heroic Spaniards who have spilt, and ,
are spilling their blood in defence of their beloved i
country ? No soldier can donated as the reward of
his valour the slavery of his fellow-citizens. The
national Cortes must not admit a bold soldier, under
pretence of his honour, to transgress the sanctuary
of the laws.

" WHAT WE ARE.
Ballasteros ! the celebrated Ballasteros has
fallen ! At length have his rivals triumphed. What
grief! In vain were all your exertions ; in ruin
your intrigues and machinations against this Gene-
ral, till he himself gave the victory into your hands.
You cannot glory in his fall ; nor can he charge you
with it. He has precipitated himself ; and, per-
haps, he alone could have overthrown himself with
a single blow. Gen. Ballasteros, blinded doubtless
by military fanaticism, and fighting as in a piirenzy
against a phantom, has plunged his dagger into the bo-
som of his country. Great, extremely great, is, in
our conception;the evil he has been the cause of. In
his misfortune he may boast that his extravagance does
not present him in the light of an odious delinquent,
but of an illustrious fanatic, deserving of compassion.
0 fanaticism, fanaticism, who can limit thy fury ?
How many illustrious victims have been sacrificed on
thy altars. Ballasteros resounded in the acclama-
tions of the troops—the name of -Ballasteros was
beard Kith pleasure in the towns occupied by the
enemy—the name of Ballasteros was heard and
feared by the French 'legions—to be a soldier under
Bollu‘terys. was a recommendation throughout the
peninsula; and Mina himself, that celebrated parti-
san, saw with predilection tlio soldiers of Buliasiefof.

Cadiz, that town which is not easily dazzled, saw
Ballasteros within its walls ; and gave, such proofs
of estimation, as, compared with the indifference It
manifested with respect to the famous Blake, gave a
new impulse to the blunted attacks of his enemies.—
We then feared his ruin; but the Goverment con-
ferred upon him new honours and employments.
In the mean time Ballasteros continued actively
to labour, which is what is particularly required in
this kind of warfare ; and whether his achievements
were what he stated or not, it is certain his reputation
continually increased, and nothing is of mare im-
portance than confidence in a General. In these
circumstances, only envy, or the want of political
judgment, could have asserted things which ought to
be suppressed. But among mortals, he who has
the fewest defects appears the best, as in every
thing we judge by comparison. Lord Wellington
arrived, and his fame increased with his victories.
—What wise patriot does not consider Welling-
ton as a Spaniard, as the Tutelar Divinity of Spain.
The National Congress itself has manifested its sen-
timents of him, by decorating him with titles and ho-
nours. At length it committed to him the Com-
mend-in-Chief of the Spanish Armies, with the ap-
probation of all those who prefer the liberties of their
country to a Gothic and romantic honour. Ah!
but General Ballasteros cannot condescend to sub-
mit to this determination : and can General
teros refuse to obey the command of the covern-
merit, and of the nation, represented in Its Cortes ?
Foolish vanity. What malignant genius has seduced
thee, 0 truly-deserving Getteral, flattering thy pride
and self-love to eclipse thy glory ? Hast thou not
said a thousand times, that obedience is the founda-
tion of military discipline ? What greater honour
can there be. than to do that which the country re-
quires of us, and which is the more valuable the
more it is repugnant to our feelings, and the more it
cost us. Be restored to yourself, that our enemies
may no longer exult, and patriots mourn. He is a
fool who is obstinate in error ; the wise and truly
great man will acknowledge and endeavour to repair
his fault."

IRELAND.

DUBLIN, Nov. Nov. 17.

TUE KING, AT THE PROSECUTION Or THE POLICE
MAGISTRATES, V. JOHN MAGEE.

This was a motion brought on by Counsel, on the
part of the Defendant, in arrest of judgment, and
ably urged by Mr. Hamilton, on Friday last; when
Mr. Swift, Counsel for the Prosecutors, begged the
indulgence of the Court to reply to Defendant, till
Tuesday..

In the interim, the Police Magistrates, by their
Attorney, sent a message to Mr. Swift, that they
would dispense with his services as Counsel; and
that the other Gentlemen who were not then pre-
pared to argue it, would be ready on the next law
day, and insinuated to Mr. Swift, that he got his
brief merely as a compliment.
To this extraordinary and unprofessional intima-
tion, Mr. Swift very properly said, " that he would
take no brief as a compliment, and that he OF a s re-
solved to explain the transaction to the Judges of the
Court of Ling's Bench, lest they might accuse him
with having trifled with them.

Mr. Swirl- accordingly, at the sitting of the Court
yesterday, appeared before their Lordships, to re-
deem his pledge. He stated, that in the case of the
King v. Magee, he was ready to reply to Mr. Ha-
milton, and mentioned the treatment he had received
from the Police Magistrates. _ _ _

The CHIEF JUSTICE, and the other three JUDGES,
expressed great indignation, and declared it as their
opinion, that Mr. Swift was extremely ill-treated.—
They also observed, that it appeared to them extra-
ordinary, " that Counsel, who were appointed to
argue the case by the Magistrates, did not attend ;
and that the Gentleman, who had taken the trouble
of preparing himself, would not be suffered to go
on."

Mr. Swirr threw up his brief, and the case stands
for judgment._

The Police Magistrates having thus abandoned their
cause, no doubt can be entertained of the judgment's
being arrested ; and thus has the Proprietor of an
Independent Print been relieved from an oppressive
and vexatious prosecution.—( Dublin Evening Putt.)

111 R. BROUGHAM.
[FROM THE DUBLIN EAININD HERALD.]
We have given insertion to Mr. BROUGHAM'S ad-
mirable Address to the Electors of Liverpool—a
pretliiction which does equal honour to his head awl
to his heart, and which we wish to put upon record,
As a document that draws the great and decisive line
between freedom and factiousness, between the ge-
nuine principles of the Constitution and tlae,glosses
that have been put upon it by party. We recommend
it to the serious perusal of our Readers, and trust
that its principles and its feelings will sink into their
hearts, and work there that Reform of their preju-
{bees and their predilections, which must precede all
Other Reforms. It is in vain for a man to prate of Li-
berty till he has learned the true value of his suffrage,
•and has determined not to sell it. It is absurd to talk
of the corruption of others till we have rescued our
own minds from the contagion. That being alone, who
is impregnable to the temptations of a Court, and
prefers the cheering approbation of his own mind
before Place and Pension, unfairly earned, can pre-
sume to class himself amongst those intrepid assertors
of Public Liberty, who, like BaouotiAm, can make
their Electiou sure, to their own conscience and to
their Country's Ccup, and give the history of their
political life as the test of their adherence and con-
sisteuey.—Surely ouch a man will not be lost to the
representation :—The miserable pqrporation of Li-
verpool may have been influenced to exclude him,
but if there is not spirit in the Empire to place him
in Parliament, the Empire deseryes to sink into the
arms of the weak and wicked crew whose miserable
shiftings gull expedieuts are brining it to inevitable
ruin.

During the uncommonly dull and dense fog on
the morning of Sunday settnight William Page, con-
fined in Lingoilli Castle Qt► the charge df bigamy, con-
trived to make his escape, and has not been since
heard of. The' name of the keeper of the Castle is
Merryaccaiher—a circumstance whitli renders this
escape the more uffseosonabie.

JOHN B. TROTTER, Ese.
PRIVATE SECRETARY
Tv the late Right Hon. GUAR LES LIMES FOX.

•
. TO THE EDITOR OF THE WEXFORD JOIJaNA.E.
' SIR,—I feel impelled to lay the following short
, I statement before the public to prevent exaggeration,
1 ;or correct misapprehension. An assault, with intent
1 i to seize me for debt, having been unsuccessfully made
[ ! on the morning of the 29th ult., some persons in the
: neighbourhood of my residence, near Loftus-hall,
• were alarmed, and came to me to desire to know
l I
whether this proceeding was for any thing important,
1 las they had heard that I was accused of attending
• 'Secret Meetiligs. In a little time after, Mr. Tier-
' • TENHAM'S coachman placed himself as a guard on my
' ! house, and, armed with a gun and bayonet, used the
' i most violent and alarming expressions : among others,
: ! that 44 the house should be burned down;" that
i 64 I should be picked out for my Loyalty;" and that
. : Mr. WMANus, a CATIIOLIC young man residing
• : with me, and A PARTICULAR OBJECT OF HIS INSULT,
64 should be transported." It was equally necessary
for me to restrain the impulse of the young man's
wounded feelings, and to protect myself and family
. from the insults of this armed Servant who declared
. 1I
' ! that he acted by ma MASTER'S ORDERS. I succeeded
I in both, although agitated by this unexpected insult,
I; and ignorant of the motive which could urg? any
t ! man to treat me as a suspicious and disloyal charac-
. ter. No Sheriff appearing, we thought of the affair
• no more. Shortly after, however, Mr. Torree-
dHAM, arid the Rev. Mr. HANDCOCK, appeared at
the back of the house, attended by a number of per-
-1 I
sons, aud summoned me to open the doors and stir.
L ,
, i render as a violater of the laws. I denied that any
. ! legal step had been taken against myself, but offer-
ed
that bail should be get for any person sworn 1
I against, for assault.—that they should go out to the i
Magistrates for the purpose ; and I requested that 1
the Servant (who in the mean time had by force pre-
vented a letter passing to the Magistrate), might be
withdrawn. Mr. TOTTENHAM seemed to feel all the'
i reasonableness of my conduct, and here the affair, I
'as I concrived, was about to terminate—when
i the Reverend Mr. HANecocx, whose residence is
ten miles from my late abode, interposed—in- i.
sisted that there had been 'flagrant violation of the
laws ; and although I denied the fact, (as hastily
1 sworn to by a man inflamed with passion, and igno-
I rant of the import of legal terms), declared he would I
Igo for a Military force if I did not open the door. I
I declined doing so. The Military to the amount of
six or seven, with a corporal, were in some time
brought by Messrs. TorreNnas and Il.tencoce.
They had bayonets fixed, and muskets loaded.— ,
The door was calmly thrown open to them. The :
paternal feelings 'his Royal Highness the Duke of
YORK has manifested to my family since Major ,
TROTTER'S death, have filled me with gratitude—a
Soldier always appears to me the symbol of honour
—the memorial of a brother's courage and vir-
tues,
and pledge of a Royal benefactor's protection.
The Military, Mr. TOTTENHAM, his son Mr. T.
TOTTENHAM, High Sheriff of the County of Wick-
low, the Rev. Mr. 114tencocx, and others, then
entered my peaceful abode. Myself and family
were arrested for an assault and rescue by Mr.
TOTTENHAM, and consigned to a Constable and Mi-
litary Guard. The Bailiff now came forward, and,
for the first time, produced his writ. I learned from
Mr. CHARLES TOTTENHAM (and not till then) that I
was proceeded against for debt. I had mistaken him for
the Sub-Sheritf of Wexford, who did not at all appear. ,
I then stated to the Magistrates, in the presence of
Mr. TOTTENHAM'S Sons, whose conduct was uni-
formly
polite, that I had recently suffered by a se- 1
vere fall from a rock, and was ill able to walk the
High Sheriff of Wicklow offered the use of a car- 1
riage for the following morning, which I accepted
with thanks. Mr. HANncorrt then proceeded to 1
seize a borrowed fowling-piece, and ordered it to
be sent to the King's stores. Mr. WMANus, for
remonstrating, was collared by the Reverend Ma- ,
gistrate, and threatened to be 64 lied neck and heels
and sent tojail.",My efforts wore successful to pre-
serve the peace and prevent riot. The young man
I became patient, though justly indignant. Mr.
HANDCOCK proposed to search the house for arms,
but thought it proper to retract. To my offer of
giving bail in the evening, Mr. TOTTENHAM assent-
ed. In the same evening he declined taking it. ALL
NIGHT MY MOUSE WAS FILLED WITH ARMED MEN- I
the following morning we tendered two competent i
landholders as bail—they were refused. A common
car, hired by Mr. TorrvellAst, was driven to my
door, with an arm full of straw in it—l dismissed it—
no
carriage appeared ! Mr. TOTTENH A m retracted the 1
offer of his son. 11l able to walk, I prepared to sub- i
mit, rather than create disturbance by resistance, or I
inflame the minds of the people in my cause. How-
ever, I previously and publicly requested the Rev.
Magistrate, to search my house before I went—
I held my papers ready to the last, and though no
authority from Government appeared, I courted the
exercise of this extraordinary step to vindicate m 3 self
aud satisfy the Magistrates and the Public. Mr.
HANDcocx declined this, and to my renewed expres-
sign pf uneasiness in regard to the imputed Secret
Meeting!, remarked, that he knew of none, unless 1
teas conscious of them myself! ! !—and said, "had it
not been for obliging us to bring ;14e Military, this
would not have been ro!!!"—I replied, then, Sir,
you avow the last motive which ought to actuate a
oilmistratn in the. n4akinistratio4; of Janice...4s-
. ......