We observe a disposition ...
The Times, 1824-01-31T00:00:00

lVfe observe a disposition to involve our relations with the newly established trans-Atlantic States in obscurity. It is asserted, that if we join with or assist thege in casting off the yoke or government of the mother country,-that is, of FERDINANO VIl-,-we are practisingjacobinical doctrines, and teaching nations to rise against their rightful sove- reigns. A slight attention to dates and facts will set this matter clear. It is now more than fourteen years since the war first sprung up-between Spain aun her colonies; and so long as the contest continued, we, though solicited by both parties, most religiously abstained from assisting either. The disposition of the PEOPLE of this country being fa- vourable to the South Americans, our Government, in or- der to check that disposition; to invalidate and render it useless, passed the Foreign Enlistment Bill, by wlhich it became illegal even for individulals to engage in the service of the revolted provinces: so that a neutrality more severely rigid than that observed by Eingland during the continuance of the contest between the European and American Spaniards cannot be conceiv- ed. Bu.t the aflfair has now been long decided; the Soath Americans have prevailed by their native strength; peace is practically established between the contend- ing parties; the independence of the Soith American States .has been acknowledged by. Foreign Powers,-of whombe it observed, we were nlot thle first. We arc, therefote, as free to form alliancesj whether offiensive or de- fensive, with those new States, iss 'ivth any of the old ones of Europc. However, the pblicy of England, so fat as it -has been explarned by one of her Ministers, is not likely to assume- this decisive character, gs Mr. CAN.NIxG only said, that England would not suafer Spain to trans- fer to another that rightt -which she had herself lost, over her late colonies or possessions. And certainly, the colonies having by their own long and wearisome exertions contrived to rend themsslves from the mother country, aiid standing, however-$int and feeble, in the character of inde- pendent states, it would be barbarous in a tlird Power to rush forwa4i.snnteh 'them up, and appropriate them or any of them to itself, merely because they are faint and feeble; and it would be base in us to suffer sucli n act to taUe place. - - In aprecedligpartof these re'marklls,wesaid tbat.Eng- land stobd neuter, as Was in 'trIth the case, during the con- tinua nlee of the wvar between Spain aud her tranis-Atlantr provinces; but we must not therefore. be understood as approving of such neutrality. It has always been the ptactice. among rival Sovereigns to encourage and foster disabBection and revoit'in each 'other's dominions. This was thepractice, wesay, longbefore the word "Jacobinism" was invented. Queen ETZAsBETH was any thing but a Jacobin, and yet she assisted the Dutch ini their revolt against their legitlizate Sovereign, PHILIP of Spain. The English 3Ii- nistry, towards the conclusion of Queen ANNE's reign, endeavoured to breed an insurTection in France against Louts XIV., as appears frorn Lordl AoLNGonoF s's Mfe- moirs; and France and Spain assisted the Americans in shaking of' the dominion of Englapd, and establishing their inlependence. But- the subject of one state who in- 'ites or calls in the military force of another, does it at his, own risk. He is in the legal sense of the word " a traitor:" his moral guilt, however, depends uponf the quality of that Government wlhich he endeavours thus to overthrow. The foreigner's object is usually to serve himself at -the expense of the country in the concerns of which he interferes: but he is not a traitor; his offence is not, like'that of the native subject (who l':as, perhaps. Miken.tventy oaths of allegiance), one of treason, but of open hostility; and if taken prisoner, he is spared, and kept in safety till the war terminates, or till he can be exchanged.