Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1819-11-27
FOREIGN.
PROCLAMATION OF COL. MELCHoR.
Translated from printed cobu.


SpANIARDs ALI men who respect
Virtue, and venerate Justice, cannot fai
clearly to know that Ferdinand VII. in.
stead of acting as father to us Spaniards
who saved him from voluntary captivi-
ty--instead of putting down the spirit oil
the party which, at his return, prevailed
throughout the nation--and instead oil
forming the Spanish people, who might
have idolized him, into one family, has
conducted himselfas tyrant, worse than
a Caligula or Tiberius, who, under
such circumstances as those in which
Ferdinand was placed, would no doubt
have been less ungrateful and less inhu-
man than this Tiger, still thirsting after
human blood, as If those torrents which
have been shed in his cause were not suf-
acient to satisfy his furious appetite.
AS self-preservation and that of our
country is the supreme law of nature,
and inspired into men by God himself,
the Spanish people would be wanting to
their fame and heroism, if they allow
Ferdinand de Bourbon to complete the
ed this fierce usurper any longer to abuse
that excess of patience with which he
has hitherto been tolerated. The dis
dam with which he has beheld all the
reyerent petitions which, from within
s,iIa aitaout OF Span, have been address.
ed to him, the barefaced manner in which
he trafnples on our property and our
iives; that insolence, in short, with which
he sells to foreigners considerable por-
lions of the great Spanish nation, have
gone on building up barrier of brass
between him and the people--the same
heroic people who through the medium
OF their representatives, were pleased to
acknowledge him Constitution King,
but not as an absolute monarch; and
since he himself hath broken our oaths,
as well as all the bands which united him
TO the nation, it is clear that he has de-
throned himself
'Spaniards lin the face of God and
the whole universe, we proclaim that
Ferdinand is Tyrant and Usurper.-
You are therefore relieved from your
obedience to him, by every law, human
and divine. In order to save our coun-
try, it is indispensable that you should
Immediately, since he has forfeited his
own WORD, assemble the general and ex-
5raordinary Cortes, in conformity to the
constitution. All the brave military,
faithful to their oaths, will aid in the noble
steps you take to redeem the Just and ra-
tional liberty of the Spanish people,
Many of them have already Joined nv
Constitutional Division and the banners
OF their country, abandoning those of a
tyrant, in Port Mary's, and preferrinp
rather TO fight for the re-establishment of
the constitution in their own country,
than to stain their swords with the blood
OF their companions and brethren in
America. We declare to be traitor to
his country every Spaniard, of whatso-
ever class or condition he may be, who,
by word, writing, or armed force, NAV
attempt to impede the election and as
sembling of the Cortes. If in ten or
twelve points of the peninsula as many
constitutional champions like myself
ehould rise up, for the purpose of re-
establishing the laws OF our ancestors,
which thankless King has perfdiously
trampled to the ground, do not doubt it,
Spain will be saved from all the horrors
of anarchy, and will recover for ever her
august Cortes, and her holy constitution.
In the name of our country is granted
the rank of officer to every sereant who
may enlist under our banners, or under
those of any other of the constitutional
champions of the peninsula; and two
additional grades to his officers from
brigadiers downwards) who may fly to |
the succor of their country in the divi-
eions of the constitutional troops.
Spaniards Where is the man who
does not prefer honor and liberty to the
infamous yoke that weighs down with
agnominy the slaves of Ferdinand? Va
dor, union, and consistency, in time of diff
ticulty, made you invincible, and crown
ed your heroic heads with triumph when
Sighting against the armies of the most
proud of comprehensive same whose
feet the efeminate captive of Valancv
cowardly kissed. Valor, union, and con-
stancy, will again make the empire ofthe
law, and the cause of freedom appear
triumphant in the whole of the extended
regions of the Spanish monarchy.
Camp of Liberty, ON the banks of the
Guadiana, July is, 1919.
MELCHOR,
fl Constitutional Chamhion.
We are often indebted for interesting
Intelligence from Spain and the Medi-
terranean coasts, to the Gibraltar cor
respondent of the Norfolk Herald. The