Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1826-04-05
rEor the Phenfr Gazette |

f0f INe THe7ltL UuzcIe
Messrs. EDrroRs-My object in addressing
you is to solicit the attention Of the literary and
commercial gentlemen of Alexandria more par
ticularly to the subject of Mr.. CARRAsco's Card,
published for several days in the Gazette. The
language Of Spain, more than any other dialect
Of Southern Europe, resembles that OF the an
cient Romans, which is the parent Of them all.
Spain, originally colonized by the Ph9nicians,
subsequently invaded and subdued by the Car
thageniaas, fell at length under the authority
of the Romans, about two hundred years before
the Christian ara.
This polite people, soon after taking pos
session Of the country, established there their
own form of government, introduced their own
language, and -habituated the natives to their
manners and customs, for the space of Sic years,
during which period they kept this territory
under absolute subsection. When, in the year
4l6 after Christ, the Roman Empire fell under
the repeated assaults of the Northern nations,
Ostrogoths.-These conquerors, sensible of the
inferiority Of their own unre6ned dialect, were
not solicitous to impart il to their newly acquir-
ed subjects. For themselves to acquire the Ian
guagc of the country, however, was necessarily
task of much labor and difficulty. The deelen-
sions of nouns, in addition 10 other peculiari-
ties of the Latin language, opposed an insur-
mountable barrier to their progress; for which
reason it was determined to abolish them
entirely, and to substitute propositions in their
place, after the fashion Of the Northern idioms.
This apparently trivial alteration in the struc-
ture Of the language, while it diminished the
Iabors Of the student contributed more than
any other cause TO the destruction of the Latin
language in Spain; for in the year 623, not long
after the rejection of the declensions, we find a
new idiom prevailing over the whole Peninsula,
which received the name of Romance. This
language, in which we're written the first tales
Of chivalry, became the vernacular language of
Spain.
In the year ia, when the Arabians (Saracens
or Moors, as they are also called invaded and
'overran the Peninsula, the Romance underwent
new notifications. 1t was then that it receiv-
ed those palatical intonations and sonorous ex-
pressions, which induced the Emperor Charles
the Fifth to pronounce il more suitable than any
dialect for the language of prayer and inter
course with Heaven.
To the commercial world, it is scarcely ne
cessary to say, that the Southern portion OF our
Continent, in which this language is vernacu-
lar is increasing in interest every day, and that
the inter course between the Southern and North
ern sections will render a knowledge OF Spanish
an useful as well an ornamental accomplish
>ment
The gentleman who presents himself 10 their !
patronage is in possession of the most ample
testimonials Of competency to redeem his pledge
10 the public. He has also ether claims to
sympathy and patronage. Mr.. {. was an Off
Ger in the late Const itutional army Of Spain -
Though native of Madrid and bred TO literary
pursuits, he abandoned his home and his peace
full occupation to fight the battles of liberty
but having seen the Spanish constitution tram
pied under foot by French legitimacy-having
witnessed the execution of his brother, and the
dispersion of his family,-he preferred volunta-
ry exile to continuance under the sway Of for
sign tyrants.
Such man deserves the sympathy and assis-
lance Of frecmen. A.
Documents accompanying the Presidents Message
on The Panama O,,psf;o0 r nnrluded