The Portland gazette., 1818-07-21
MISCELLANY.
The Spirit Of the Agc

1ti1 disid1NiVil Gu puOlSh IuilOHlys dlu
that there is great dear,h of intercaing
political events. lit is true that the Ca
zettes have ceaied TO TEEN with recitals
of grea, battles, which changed the def
Tiny of Empires. No longer do we fee
Kings detpoiled, Thrones aligned, King
doms created no ionger do we recog-
nize four brothers, three e ters, and one
adopted fon, reigning or governing at
one time at Naples, Florence, at Milan,
at Turin, in Spain, in Holland, in Wet
phalia no longer do we behold al En-
PR extending from the borders Of the
Tiber to thofc of the Baltick, and con-
queror threatening Europe with univerfal
monarchY.
But if the gigantick en,erprizes, if the
audacious follies of ambition, have ceaf-
cd TO agitate and frighten the world, fill
the world prefents ipectacle worthy of
attention and intereif. The daj of ftrife
and carnage is paf the nations of Eu-
rope are proceeding peaceably TO more
solid conquehs. After having waRed,
during 70 many ages, their blood and
their Rrength. for intereRs which were
70 often foreign to them, they are now
exer,ing themfelves to recover rights, of
which defpotifm and feudality have def
poiled them. All Germany tends to-
wards a political regeneration. Every
where public opinion pronounces itle.f In
favor Of representative fyftem. Every
where there is call for the liberty of
the prefs, which can alone guarantee all
rights. Opinion marches with boIder
frIdes than even armies-it penetrates
and makes itfelf lifteued to in the camps
and councils of Kings.
The time is come when nations will
be emancipated by the wifdom of Kings.
The great work has besn begun by The
fuppreilon of the odious trafhck in
laves even the courts of Madrid and
Lisbon have been obliged to renounce il
Still there are white fsves in the north of
Europe bur already the EmPerour AL
exander, generously yielding to the fpir-
il of the age, has aboIifhed the fervitude
of the peaiantry in Courland and Eltho
MIA. and ere long,is is to be hoped, FIN
liar emancipation will become general
The fynem of representative govern
ment 70 long enjoyed in England, is ef
tabliihed in France, in the Netherlands,
in many States of Germany, and twenty
nations are now demanding it from the
Diet of Frankfort.
The progreis is flower in Italy, in the
Peniniua, and iE the Auftrian States
but in Italy there are many minds ripe
for well regulated liberty--they have
feen the fhadow oft, and they long for
the reality. Since Spain has had its
Cortes, the Iuqui6tion has loft its autos
defe; the Clergy have been fubjccted TO
;mpofts the Mobiles and Seminarifs are
not exempt from obligatory fervice. ] he
Auftrian States have been many times
,raverfed by French armies thefe ar
mics are Withdrawn, but the fpirit of the
age travelling with them, has lett its ira
ces at Vienna, AT Venice. at Milan.
One of The grand characters of this
epoch is, tha, all Sovereigns appear a.
verfe to war, all nations to revolutions (;
that the people expect every thing from
reason, without thinking of extorting any
thing by violence that the heads of
State. appear diipofed to reh their au-
thority upon laws calculated to regulate
the exercife of it, and to prevent abufc
In France, the important discuaions
upor organick laws, the efabliihmeut OF
reprs(entative government, the remarka
bic progrefs Of the new method OF in
fruction, in spite of the obffacles oppof-
ed by ignorance, by PATTON and by pre-.
iudice the war of libels and of pamph
lets, the acts Of the tribunals for the re-
preaion Of delicts of the prefs, tie
recruitment of the army, the Concordat,
the Budget,the Si,tings of the Chambers,
with variety of other matters, mutt long
Cerve to furnith ample fsod for publick
curioGty. [ he French are no longer a
light ard frivolous people and fnce they
have rights, they deirs to undertand
them, and judge from their prefent poG-
ton, what they have 20 hope or fear for
the future"
The following eTay, ffsm the Savannah Repub-