The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1810-01-11
IMPORTANT.

From. The Gibraltar Chronicle Of Nov. IL.
,SEyILLx, Nov. 3.
His majesty has been pleased to issue the
following manifesto appointing the days on
| which the General Cor,es of Spanish mo-
nsrchy are to meet and begin to transact
| business:
| SPANIARps,
BY combination Of events, no less
singular than happy, Providence has or
| dainetl, that, in this dreadful crisis. you
cannot make the least progress towards in
dependence, without advancing also towards
| liberty. Tyranny, already dccrepit, and 10
| longer able to rivet your letters. or render
them more intolerable, paved the way for
French despotism, which, by the terrible
display of it's arms and victories, is esdea
voring to lay you under its abominable yoke
of iron. At first it showed itself, like eve
| ry new tyranny, under enticing forms; and
its political impostors attempted to gain
your good will by promising reforms in the
| standardization, and announcing the reign of
| the law, under a constitution of their own
! making. A barbarous and absurd contra
diction, certainly worthy of their insolence.
To attempt to persuade US, that the moral
| fabric of che liberty and fortune of nation,
| can be raised upon foundations made up of
usurpatioD, iniqnity and treachery. But
the Spanish people, amongst whom the true
principles of social equilibrium had flourish
ed sariier than among any other modern
nation; that people, who, first of all, enjoyed
the prcrogatives and advantages of civil Ii.
berty, and knew how 20 oppose, to arbitra-
riness, the eternal barrier which justice has
assigned to it; that people was not to beg.
OF any other, maxims of political prudence
and foresight, and had right TO answer
those impudent lawgivers. that. To them, the
articles OF intriguers, or the commands OF
| tyrsnts, were nolaws.
| Animated by this generous instinct, and
| warmed by the indignation excited in your
breasts, by the unprecedented perfidy with
which you were invaded, you few TO arms
without apprebending the dreadful vicissi
tudcs OF so unequal contest; and fortune.
SUBSIDIZED by your enthusiasm, did you no.
mage, and rewarded your boidness with vic
tory. The immediate result Of these first
| advantages was the reorganization of the
State, 1t that time divided into as many
fractions as provinces. Our enemies fanci-
| ed, that they had sown amongst us the de ad
'y seeds of anarchy, and did not observe,
that Spanish prudence and circumspection
were still more powerful than French ma
chiaveiism. A Supreme Authority was es
taoiished without opposition, without vic.
lence; and the nation, whose sublime enthu
world with establishment, obtained its ADM.
ration and respect By her moderation and
| wisdom.
| The Central Board was installed, and It's
hFst care was to announce to you, that, II
tue expulsion OF the enemy was the first OBJ
Ject of its attention, in point Of time, the
internal and permanent welfare of the state,
was the principal one in point of Importance,
because, to suffer the numerous abuse,
| which arbitrary power had cherished for
lime ruin OF the state, to continue to prey
npon its vitais, would be, in the eyes of your
| present government, no less heinous an of
fence, than to deliver you up into Bonaparte's
hands And accordingly, no sooner did the
rapid succession Of military events allow it.
than it made the name Of your Cortes re
sound in your ears, name, which has ever
| been the bulwark Of our civil liberty. and
tue throne of the national majesty name,
formerly pronounced by the learned with a
degree OF mystery, by politicians, with APP.
IDrehenslOn, and by tyrants, with horror ;
but which, from this moment, must import
the indestructible basis of the monarchy
the most solid proPlof the rights OF Fcrdi.
nand VII. and his fAmily--one cf the rights
| OF the pecple-ano one Of the obligations of
government.
! Nothing short oft could revard the moral
4 iS"''Nd'NS' 90 bCtsC'dl as sublime, which
coniounds our enemies, and drive them 10
despair III the midst of their victories. Those
battles lost, those armies DESTROYED. those
towns set on FIRE; and. for all that, fresl;
battles fought, new armies created, and the
standard OF loyalty erected again over the
ruins and ashes abandoned by the enemy
those soldiers who dispense in one action
and come forward again in another those
Inultitudes who, stripped of almost every
thing they had. hasteR to their homes to di
vide the miserable remnants of their fortune
with the defenders Of the country; that mix.
ture OF the groans of grief and despair, with
patriotic songs; that struggle, in short, oi
ierociry and righteousness on the one hand
with resistance and unconquerabe constan-
cy OF the other; all this presents an ensem
bic equally awful and magnificent, which
hnrops is contemplating with wonder, and
winch, on some future day, history will re
cord III letters OF gold. for the admiration
asa limitation OF posterty.
30 magDsuimous and so generous nation
should, henceforth. be governed by real
laws only, such as bear the great stamp Of
the public consent and common utility, a
stamp which noihlng can impress npcr
then but their being enacted bv the angus,
assembly which has been announced to you
lae boards intention was, that it should