When an appeal is to be m...
The Times, 1824-09-07T00:00:00

When an appeal is to be made to t'he humanity of Eng- lishmen, whether in or out of office, wve think it best to state the case witlhout much prefatory observation. T'he Spanish refugees, lost to their country for freedom's sake, are again in danger of perishing by famine, after having been once saved from that fate. These estimable and ill-fated men had at one time raised the compassion of our Govern- ment, andI penisions were regularly ass!gnea to tue'Rl, whleh pensions continued to be punctually paid ttntil the 21st ult; when thepoor Spaniarls, on applying as usual, were in- formed that no orders had beeii giveni for any issue in their favour, andl hints were throwni out, that the applicants would not be likely to receive any further sutms of money. Up to this dlay nearly half of anotlier month has elapsed, yet not a farthing of the pittance is fortlh. coming, nor is any day for its future payment fixed. The numnber of refuigee Spaniards (loes not exceed 300. The ,allowances granted to them have varied from 21. up to 51. per nmontil ! WVhat doubles the wretchedness of their suf- fering is, that the Spanish Committee, who had un- dertaken the cause of' these unhappy men, were in- dluced to sur,pend their effbrts, and afterwards to dissolve themselves as a body, on the strengthof representations from the Foreign-office that the Spanish Patriots would be sup- pcrted by Governiment. The public mnay well understand the agony of the poor foreigners at this new reversc in their condition. 'l'hey are despised by those for whose cause they were devoted-they are cast off with more ignominy than if they had never been received, since hospitality withdrawn is at all times a double mortification-they have not even the nmeans of getting baek to their own ge- graded country, where the executioner might release them from the pangs of lunger. In England, the land of liberty, these virtuous cxiles may stay and starve. Let no man dleceive himself or others, by asserting that it was not in the cause of un)iversal liberty, the Spanish constitution, and( its honest, though not perhaps wise, defenders were sacri- ficed. It was for the revolution of England, and the House of BRauNswic-in abho-rrence of that odious despotism with wlhich (under Louis's or NAPOLEONS it matters not) France had besieged this coUY,try for whole ages-that the Spanish Constitution of 1812 was framed. It was in disgust at BoURBoON despotism that the same Constitution was revived in 1820, and inl hatred and terror of the Holy Alliance-that bandl of conspirators who have sworn de. struction to England, to English laws and institittions, and Tights, and habits, and principles, that the Cortes per- sisted in pious and upright, though unavailing adherence ,.o the constitution aud the laws of Spain, so long as one spotof theirniative soileyisted,on which the name of 'reedom could be uttered or breathed with inpunity. The Ministers of England weTe not slow to perceive on which side of the late unnatural conflict lay the interests of the British monarchy, or on which side the sympathies of the people; and, unfa- vourable as were the circumstances of the time to a parti- cipation in the war on the part of this country, the same Ministers, to their credit we recall the fact, made no scruple in offering uip their own fervent prayers for the success of the Spaniards against their treacherous and un- principled enemy. It is advisedly, therefore, and without exaggeration, that we pronounce the cause of England to have been involved in that of the Spanish Constitutional Monarchy. It is for the principles which seated George IV. upon his throne-for those by force of whiclh the con- stitution of England was established, and in defence of whiclh, while itexists at all, it can never cease to act but writh peril of extinction-that the Spanish patriots took up arms: for the Lords atnd Commons, and liberty and property of Eng. land,-nay, for the support of the Ministers themselves in all their rightful attributes and powers-that these persecuted Spaniards have ueen exposed to vengeancein their own fallen country, and now to destitution out of it. WVe blame nq person-we point at none: the cruel (leatln with which they fanvcy themselves threatened may be an illusion arising from some mistake of an official subaltern speaking without authority from his chief. From the Secretary,for Foreigni Affairs we sincerely believe that no measure so baibarous. as the discontinuance of this cnawity could have emanated. Thirty thousand French partisans of. the House of Boun- Box were waintaiued by England for twenty years, at an expense of severalihdnred thousand.p'6unds sterling per anraim- while thejublic burdenA.w'ee eibibiting an. liourly increase.; but 800 SpariardsA,victiihs of the same Boux.- uops1'aid partisans -of British eierty, died of hunger, while 10,0001. a year would have saved them, and when thc sole embarrassmaent the nation suffered was from a re- diindtncy of gold!