The capture of Tarifa fro...
The Times, 1824-08-28T00:00:00

The capturc of Tarifa from the Slpaniislh Scrviles is a fact unquestionable; but we are co;npflled to say, tilat as to any gcucral result or inovemient bearing upon the cause of ithc Constitutionalists or thcir eiCilnies, thtat event seams to us of littic morc coiseqmlcuce thami woul(d bc thc sailing ot- a gun-vesscl across the bay of Algesiras. (On inquirinig from thi best authlorities, we find the predominant im- pression to be, that the attack on Tarifa was an act of desperation, undertaken by a party of Constitutional rc- fugees, wlho hadl been shut out from an asylum in Gibraltar, and wvere aetually starvi4g when they sulnmonie(d the paltry garrison of Tarifa. To the stories of a rising iu Galicia, and of an cngagement in Andalusia, when 200 Royalist soldiers were said to have been carricd away wounided inito Cadiz, there is n1o sort of credit attached by well-informed Spaniards: nlor arc tlherc any proofs or well-authenticated. Eynmptoms ol' a concert b: tweeni the captors of Tarifa and the partisans of the Cortes in a;:y otherpart of Spain. So that no hope of immediate or delinite goodl can be raised uponacircumstaince thus isolated botih in place and principle, If, again, it should be asked whetlher there exists no hope of future escape from the hlorrible humiliation in wlhich the Peninsula is now held under the complex yoke of a fanati- cal Government and a foreign army, we answer only- wait a little. TIhat the sun wil1 rise to-morrow is scaucely more certain than that Spain will ultimately be free. The force that presses on her, must, from lack of sustenance, be compelled at last to prey upon its own vitals. Spaini, as now governed, produces nothing: abe pays nothing. All the civil servants abd functiona- ries arx starviug, from thc absolute mendicancy of the state. WVhat is morc important still, there cannot be a military power created to keep down the publie discontents, for there is tiot a sous to pay them. Commerce is eatinct-all the taxes are superseded by contraband-not even the ru- diments of a revenue are to be found in Spain. Trie Church and the smagglers devour every thing. In the mean time, what has France effected, andl what prospect is before her ? The UIlhra-Royalist Cabinet of the Tuileries reproacbed thc Cotnstitution anid the Cort(s with the atnar- cky which they caused or tolerated-anarchy, the cpitoine of all earthly evils, (and, in truth, it is so), was the burden of the cry againmat the Constitutional Governimenit. All the pretences, al the cxcuses, all the state-casuistry and .oratory of the tinme, by which France attempted to palliate her iniquitous, invasion, were swaUowed up in this one W=ter cbarger-tbat the disorders which prevailed through. out ~evcry provinee of Spain malde it imperative upon the Frcp< 30VRLDON8 to rcatore the internal peace and order if the Peninsula, by the absence of whiclh, the safety of France herself was endangered. AMark, theni, the consist- ency, and the success of these invadeys. They scattered incendiaries and dollars over Spain, to excite the disorders which they afttrwards pleaded as their justification. a hey restored the King-they remounted the church; for what they called legitimacy-for what they nicknamed religion -tlley did whatever triumphant violence could acconm- plish. The grand elements of their much-loved social order-King, priest, and executioner, were speedily re- enthroned: and what follows? His any thing like inter- nal peace-that peace so inlispensable to the security of France herself-been established ? Is there any efFective law obeyed tlhrouglhout any single province ? Have any two factions been taught to approximate, or to feel towards each otlher the least qualm of Clhristian charity? Is there any one central andl undisputed autlhority to be found in the centreor at eitlher extremefrontierof the kingdom? No: it is Servile still, against Constitutional--one.shade of servility againSt another, priest against layman, and all against the French. The pacificators, yerily, are not yet ealletd up1f to keep the peace; they must first make the peace, for never did animosity, never did anarclhy, or destitution, or desola. tion, rage more frightfully among- the most savage hordes than they have done sinee, anl by means of, this very pacifying, legitimatizing expedition ot the, untaught, and, we fear, unteachablQ, House of BouR- BON, against the rights of independent nations, and the liberties of the human race. How this is to end with the) French Governmlent, he must be bold who pronounces. Leave Spain to herself, away goes legitirnacy; up again with the Cortes, the finances, the national power, and con- scious free agency of the Spaniards. Continue the military occupation of Spain, and who is to pay the price of it? The French Treasury, to the last soils. But Franee rray have differenccs-slhe has already, if -we mistake not-with Foreign Powvers; then the diversion of her foree to Spain paralyzes her in every other quarter of tlie world: and if a foreign army, not French, should but show itself on the Peninsula, are the BouRBONS prepared to choose again that fatal field of combat? One more remark, and we have done. lVlatever may be the enormities of ihe present administration of Government in Spain; the power which rules the Cnurt of Spain is itself responsible for them. FERDINAND nor hiis priests would dare to budge, if the Frenchl Commander-in-Chief were to fcrbid them. Every act of monstrous despotism, every excess of hateful vengeance, must of course be sarnwtioned by him, who could, if lie pleased, prevent them. Iust we take, then, the practice of the Spanislh Go- vernment under the miiitary dictatorship of Louoi, XVIII, I as the measure of wlhat a legitimate Governmeint troldl le il France, did an equal power exist of enforcing it upon the Frenclh people, as there is unfortunately manifested in the case of the brokeni-down Spaniards?