Weekly national intelligencer., 1851-11-15
NATIONAL CHARACTERIZATION DECA-
DENCE.

NATIONAL GRANDEUR NATIONAL DECA-
DENCE.
We take the following from the Detroit Daily
Free Press OF October 30 1857
The National Laiegencer has engaged in difficult work.
In an article on the 24h instant, headed Spain and the
United that paper undertakes to prove three hngs
First. Spain has not degenefaed.
Second That che has forfeited her character for due
share Of national galantIy.
Third That i, is matter Of ind ference whether England
and France have have not guaranteed Cuba 10 tne Madd
Monarchy.
SPAIN under the Moors contained population OF forty
millions she now millions. She once had rich To-
egn possessions on this continent; she now has none
Her history in Merico and South Aneriea presents one
scene of cruelty and oppression and this picture not re-
eved by her colonial administration at the present day. DO
these facts sustain her pretensons to national gaantry
II by no means of Indifference whether France
and England have guaranteed the Island Of Cuba to SPAIN
They had power Iefhaps to contract but they cannot
fulfil such The very fact Of its existence will has
ten the day when Cuba shall be free. -
The palpable misrepresentation of the article
in the National Intelligencer of the Gath ultimo
would not have induced US TO reproduce the pre-
ceding extract did it not contain insinuaons which,
if not conradicted might lead the reader TO suppose
that we had taken upon ourselves the Quixotic task
of euIogizng the political character Of Spain. We
have, with all sincerity, endeavored to save our
own country from involving itself in war, from mo-
tives evidently influencing the conductors Of the
Free Press - an opinion, for example, of the
weakness of the Powers of Europe. We have
asked or rather advised, those who calculate so
confidently on Spanish degeneracy !" to pause and
inquire into the evidence showing Spanish dege-
neracy." In the case before us, let US examine
how far the statistics of the Free Press" does
not demand some rec,i6cation.
aSPAIs under the Moors contsined population Of forty
millions, she now has ten millions. She had rich
foreign possessions this continents she has
So says the Detroit Free Press.
Waving the extreme improbablity that Moorish
Spain ever held population Of half forty millions
it ought to be remembered that Moorish Spain
embraced Spain as at present, Portugal, the Baearit
Islands, and the Republic of Andorra.
In ALEXANDER KEITH JoHNsoN's volumnous
Gazetteer, published at London in 1850, the same
countries, as to population, stand thus
Spain l2,386,850
Balearic Islands $4,000
Portugal 3,4l2,52O
~ l6,O3O,37O
To the Census Table Of Spain, given by Mr..
Keith, the following note is appended:
"The population is only approxmative there having been
regular for half century that given in the table
is official Msez Dict Geog for s45 estimates the popu-
lation of Spain at II, 5,439, l5s."
From the tenor Of modern history, as far as ap-
piled 10 human increase in the sphere Of Chris
tianty, the present population of the ground once
embraced by the generic term g Moorish SPAIN
considerably exceeds twenty millions; and, by a
like test, the conclusion is safe that it never at any
former period reached the same amount.
Rnt in the political relations of indeparden.
tions, what has -ela>i-o population to,do with the
moral of questions as they arise? The two great
phases Of national history, grandeur or decline
sentiay depend on that upon which Individual
fortune depends. The United States of North Ame-
RIGA, as a nation, is no more independent of the
eternal laws than are the individuals whom it con-
tains. If this nation, obeying the principles OF
Justice, continues 10 influence the world by ex-
ample, most salutary must be the influence on the
progress of the human race. But in every instance
in which physical force is exerted in place of moral
influence, retrogradation must be the consequence.
The Christian World contains numerous nations
differing in manners, religion, principles of govern
ment, laws, and modes of thought, but, above all
in the means of INSTRUMENTATION by language.
To produce radical change in a national body, Of
any one of these inherent properties, must be the
effect Of time and circumstances as they arise
Premeditated efforts, even when made by any peo
pie within their own circle to produce intended
changes, history will instruct US, if we carefully
consult its pages, rarely fail Of introducing evils
in place of remedy. In fine, nations, like indi
viduals, have each its own idiosyncracy, Of which
all the others are more or less ignorant.
We perceive in some of our Northern exchange.
an announcement that Mr.. WARREN, the Second
Assistant Postmaster General has been appointed
First Assistant, and that MIR. JACOBS, First Assis
tant, has been appointed Second Assistant. This
statement, we understand, has no foundation in fact
We learn, however, that on revision Of the re-
guasions Of his Department, the Postmaster Gene
raj has determined to change the duties of his As