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corded with the sentiments of the Spaniards at Cadiz. The Spanish General Lacy, who bad answered the publication of General Graham, we have seen selected for choice service by the Spanish government. There was, however, in the publication of General Graham itself, quite sufficient to convince any reasonable man, any man not completely hood-winked by our hired news-papers, that harmony between our people and the Spaniards was at an end. If any doubt of this fact could remain till now, it surely can remain no longer, after the reading of the documents, which are subjoined to this article, and upon which I shall now proceed to offer the reader a few observations.-The Note of our Minister, Mr. Wellesley, contains a formal complaint to the Regency of Spain against the freedom of the Press and even against the freedom of speech at Cadiz. He says, that he has hitherto forborne to complain of the rumours and writings which have for some time been circulated in Cadiz, in the belief that his forbearance and moderation might disarm the parties; but that the papers that have been published, as well as the reports that have been circulated have, at length, become so injurious to the British good name and character, that he can no longer look with indifference on the unjust and unfounded calumnies, which are daily circulated against his country. Gentle reader, it is the writing of a minister plenipotentiary, of a representative of your king, that you have just been reading; and, therefore, you are to suppose, that in such a case good name and character mean different things; for as to tautology, you are not to suppose such a person capable of using such a figure. You must bring to your aid some such principle of judging, also, with regard to the unjust and unfounded calumnies of which this gentleman is pleased to talk; for, when, amongst common mortals, did you ever hear of just calumnies, of well-founded calumnies. Calumny means, false charge, groundless accusation, and, of course, to talk of unjust and unfounded calumnies, was the same as to tell the Spanish Secretary of State, that his countrymen had uttered unjust false charges, and unfounded groundless accusations against our country. But, reader, these are liberties which I have observed frequently taken with our poor mother tongue, by the bright geniuses, who have worn black trenchers upon their heads, and long sweeping gowns upon their bodies, while they were drink

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ing at the rich fountain of the learned languages, at Oxford and Cambridge, supported there too, by the rents of very good farms and houses, commonly called college property.Well, but let us not forget the subject before us. The complaint of this our minister is pretty intelligible, I must confess. It leaves no room for doubt. It tells the world, that, at Cadiz, the language both through the press and through conversation, is too free for the English minister to tolerate, or, at least, that it is such that he can no longer hear it without complaint, and that it is levelled against the British good name; It tells the world, in short, that this country is calumniated at Cadiz to such a point, that our minister can no longer refrain from making an official complaint of it to the Government of Spain. But, what are these calumnies? our King is calumniated, we are told, and so is his government, but what are these calumnies? Mr. Wellesley says, that in order to give a specimen of the "terms in which these assertions" (meaning, I suppose the calumnies) "are conveyed, he sends the Secretary of State a paper to read." I wish Mr. Wellesley had sent the paper to us. And why do we not see it? What is the reason for keeping it from us? Ours is certainly the basest press that ever existed in this world; for it is not to be believed that those to whom these state papers were communicated, had not the means of coming at the paper in question. Aye, and they have it, too, but it does not suit their purposes to publish it. They take good care to publish every thing flattering to our government, that issues from the press at Cadiz; and their not having published this also, is a pretty clear proof, that they found it not so very easy to refute.--Mr. Wellesley, however, gives, in his Note to the Spanish Secretary of State, something in the way of description of this offensive publication. He says that it imputes to our king, to our government, and to the British Nation, intentions destitute of honour, of justice, and of good. faith, and entirely subversive of all the principles with which Great Britain has come forward to aid the cause of the Spanish Nation; that it asserts that the Spanish provinces bordering on Portugal, were placed under the command of Lord Wellington; that the Spanish army was to be placed under English officers; that it was to be formed into an army, British, in fact; and that it was the design of the British Government to send to Cadiz a

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reinforcement of troops, sufficient to take duced any evidence or reasoning sufficient possession of the city and Island, and re- for the purpose, which he obviously had tamn it, in the name and possession of his in view, is more than I can say, but, those Britannic Majesty. The word it in denials and affirmations as they now stand. place of the word them, we owe, I sup- unsupported by proof, amount to nothing pose, to some principle of the "learned beyond assertion; and, though one aslanguages.' But, to the matter, leav- sertion is as good as another, where there ing the sound, and leaving too the deli- is nothing but assertion on either side, cious grammar of the original description, there can be no refutation. In this case, to those of a taste sufficiently refined to too, it was the more desirable to have proof relish them. To the matter, I say, and in support of our minister's assertions, be here are, it must be confessed, some pretty cause the publication is omitted which he thumping charges. They are, by no thinks it necessary to answer. He, indeed, means, of an equivocal nature. Whether gives us the substance, as he says, of a they be true or false, is what I shall not part, at least, of that publication. That pretend to determine. I leave that task which he gives us, amounts to no more to the advocates of the war for Ferdinand; than assertion, unsupported by proof; but, but this I say, that in this state paper, Mr. it does not follow that the publication itWellesley has not proved them to be false. self contained no proof in support of its asHe says, that, considering all that Great sertions. In answer to a publication conBritain has done for Spain, he ought to taining nothing but assertion without proof, "be far from being under the necessity to assertion without proof is as much as we "refute charges such as those contained in have a right to demand; but, in answer to "this paper." Now, who would not ima- a publication, of which I myself state nogine from this exordium, that he was about thing but the assertions, proof may fairly be to enter upon a regular refutation of these demanded at my hands; because by omit charges? The exordium does not stop ting to give the whole of the publication here, however, but proceeds, to say, in of which I complain, I leave the reader substance, that nothing short of the critical at liberty to infer, that the assertion of my circumstances of the moment could make opponent was backed by proof.Mr. him consent to suffer the humiliation of Wellesley, concludes his note by request"vindicating the honour of his country," ing that all proper publicity may be given against the calumnies contained in the to it by the Spanish government, in order paper in question.--Now, then, surely to prevent the serious consequences which the refutation is coming! Surely, we are must inevitably result, should the Spanish now going to hear our honour vindicated, Nation once believe the offensive publicaby this our minister, in Spain. Let us tions. But, did Mr. Wellesley imagine, hear him, then, he says, that notwithstand- that this end would be answered by the pubing the humiliation that he feels in conde-lishing of an answer containing assertions scending to enter the lists with the author of the offensive publication, his desire to preserve undiminished the sentiment of respect and esteem with which the two nations are mutually animated, makes him consider himself, "as under an obligation," to to do what, think Reader? Why to do what he talked of, to be sure, to refute the charges contained in the publication. Oh! no! To refute means, to prove the falsehood or error of any thing; and Mr. Wellesley in this, his state paper, does no such thing. He denies in the most positive and solemn manner; in other cases he affirms with equal solemnity; but he, in no case, proves, or attempts to prove, that which he denies, or that which he affirms. Proof is derived from evidence or from reasoning, and Mr. Wellesley has produced neither, in support of his denials and affirmations. Whether he could have pro

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without proof? If he did, he judges very differently from the way in which I should have judged in such a case; and, especially, when I perceive that his Note is full of reproaches and insinuations against the persons who have issued the publications complained of. If these persons were contemptible, whether in point of rank, or of character, it is obvious that no answer should have been given them, and no serious notice taken of their efforts. If their rank or character were such as to make their influence dangerous, an answer to them might become necessary; but, then, the answer should have been full and complete, carrying conviction to every impartial mind of the falsehood of the mischievous publications. Any thing short of this was calculated to do harm rather than good; to inflame rather than assuage passions at work against us; and whatever

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Cadiz do not contain the offensive publications, nor even the specific one sent to the Secretary of State by our Minister; and, as was observed before, it has, through the venality of our press, been suppressed here. Just as was the paper of General La Pena, while the answer of General Graham was published in every print in the kingdom. Therefore it is necessary to be the more particular in attending to articles of home manufacture, like this of the Courier, from which we shall easily discover what he himself (the silly fellow!) was above all things desirous to disguise from our knowledge. "We lament," says he," that "our Government should have felt itself "under the necessity of con:plaining of "the calumnious reports and publications "circulated at Cadiz against the honour

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Mr. Wellesley may think of the powers of his pen, I scruple not to advise him, the next time he has the task of preserving harmony to perform, especially amongst such a people as the Spaniards, not to talk too much of consenting" to suffer the humi"liation of vindicating the honour of his country" against their attacks.Far better would it have been, it appears to me, if he had followed the example of the Spanish regency, so significantly pointed out to his attention by the Spanish secretary of State, in these words: "The coun"cil of regency has more than once been "the mark of calumnies, more, or less in"jurious, both in words and writings; but, "certain of its rectitude of conduct, and "thoroughly satisfied that it has its support "in the opinion of good men," far from paying attention to the attacks upon it, it" and good faith of this country. has remained perfectly tranquil, in the "had thought our efforts had been so vigoconviction that nothing but the combined rous, our motives so well understood, and efforts of both nations can bring their "our disinterestedness so manifest from the mon cause to a successful issue.—Cer- "commencement of the contest, that none tainly, this was the conduct for wise and "but the enemy could assert, what not a upright men to pursue, conscious that they "Spaniard would believe, that we were were doing the best for their country; or, "influenced by one sordid, selfish, or ungeat any rate, it is as clear as day light, that "nerous principle. That such rumours and there was no choice between silence, on the "writings have been instigated by the one hand, and a complete refutation on the "enemy there can be no doubt; but even other. The answer of the Spanish go- they, we should think, could no longer vernment is civil. It is, like most papers impose upon any one after the solemn of the kind, full of expressions of respect, pledge thus given and recorded by our friendship, and confidence; but it is dry-"Government, that we have no views of ness itself. The fairest skin in the month aggrandizement or territorial acquisiof March is not dryer. It is dry even to "tion, either in Europe or America, at chapping. And it talks too of the con "the expence of the Spanish nation; that temptibleness of the persons, whose publi- our whole and sole view is to assist Spain cations and language are complained of," in recovering her liberty and indepenand who are described as "some indivi- "dence; and that the success of these "duals," who aspire to an ephemeral cele-" efforts will be our best and most glorious brity; and it concludes by expressing a "reward. What, but the most noble princonfidence that this answer of the Regency ciples, could have influenced us in will" suffice to calm the inquietude which mo- "doing what we have done, when, if we mentarily was excited in the mind" of our "had only consulted our own interests, we Minister. This answer is, in fact, upon "might have gratified them to the utmost the score of the complaint, a gentle rebuke, "extent! What, if we had demeaned ourand as such it has been, Isee, regarded by "selves not merely as tame spectators, our hired print, the COURIER, the Editor "but as active agents against Spain! of which remarks, with manifest chagrin, "What, if we had said, you have united not to say, malice, that the Spanish" yourself with the common enemy of Regency has" omitted to promise to re"strain, by SEVERE PUNISHMENT,” such discourse and writings as have been the subject of the complaint of our Minister. But, we inust see the whole of this article of the Courier of the 17th instant," we had carried our power to the shores because it will enable us to judge of the real state of things better than any paper received from Cadiz. The papers from

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"man; you have acted as the engines of "that accursed fiend, take the reward of "your servility and folly, and follow and "feel the fate of those nations whom you "have helped him to subdue! What, if

" of the new world, invited the American "Provinces to declare themselves independent, and promised them our coun

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"tenance and protection! Here were tempt "ing baits for our interests and our com"merce, if we had looked only to them. "But we have soared above them; Spain "wanted our assistance, and we immedi"ately forgave and forgot that she had "aided the common enemy against us; "we flew to her as brothers, before almost "she had returned into the scabbard the "sword she had drawn against us.-The re"ply of the Spanish Regency to Mr. Wellesley's note is expressive of confi"dence in our good faith, and of gratitude "for our assistance. BUT we remark "the omission in that reply of all promise "to restrain by SEVERE PUNISH"MENTS practices which, in the pre"sent circumstances of Spain, amount to "HIGH TREASON of the blackest die."

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-This is a paragraph to be kept constantly before the eyes of the people; before the eyes of the people of both nations; for, we have here, we may be well assured, the sentiments of OTHERS besides the editor, or, to use Mr. Wellesley's phrase, the sentiments " of a certain class;" a class, which, God knows, all of us have long had but too good reason to know. -In our remarks upon this paragraph, let us proceed in due order, concluding with the chagrin here expressed, that no severe punishments were to be inflicted on those in Cadiz, who had made such free use of their tongues and their pens. This man talks about the vigorousness of our efforts, and the disinterestedness of our motives in a very vigorous style, but he has not condescended to give us any proofs of either. We have twice entered Spain with an army, I mean under Sir John Moore, and under the Lord Viscount Talavera; and we have twice got out of Spain again, in what manner I shall not describe; but this the Spaniards know, if we do not, that the vigour we displayed there was attended with consequences most fatal to many of them. We have seen Rodrigo taken in sight of our army, we have seen Badajoz besieged by our army, but not retaken. Tarragona has fallen in sight of our fleet, and after being, as the report of the Spanish commander states, visited by us, who declined to risk any troops in his defence. Now, it is not for me to say whether we had it in our power to do more in these several cases: perhaps, we did, in every case, all that we were able to do, but this is quite certain, that we did not do much; or, at least, that our efforts were not calculated

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to give the Spaniards any very high notion of our vigour.--We must not forget, too, that, upon various occasions, the Spaniards have not derived much credit from fighting in company with us.. At the Battle of Talavera, we know what was said of Cuesta; we know what our newspapers called him and his soldiers, though it is perfectly notorious that we left the care and protection of our sick and wounded to them, and, that they afterwards were upon the same route between us and the French. At the battle of Barrosa our language with respect to them was still less equivocal; our newspapers called the Spanish General a traitor, who was called not much better by some of the speeches elsewhere; our commander, General Graham, appears to have sent home to England, the eagle taken from the French in that battle, though he himself was under the command of a Spanish General; and, at last, we' saw him engaged in a paper war with the Spanish officers commanding at, and in the neighbourhood of Cadiz. At the battle of Albuera, the case was not much better. The Spaniards committed errors; commander was unable to tell the state of them after the battle was over, and in a few days afterwards, our commander in chief is unable to tell what is become of them. I do not choose to give my opinion as to the truth or falshood of what was said of the Spaniards upon these different occasions; but this all the world knows, that in the defence of many of their towns the Spaniards have shewn great and most obstinate bravery, and, that there is abundant proof that their Guerillas, as they are called, have, in numerous instances, displayed a degree of courage and perseverance hardly to be equalled. Indeed, it is notorious, that our newspapers are conti nually representing these Guerillas as composed of men ready to devote themselves to destruction for the sake of their country, and they go so far as to tell us that we may expect from the efforts of these Guerillas alone the final extirpation of the French. These Guerillas are composed of Spaniards, and how has it happened, then, that the Spaniards, when engaged in company with us, have acted in the manner, in which they have been described in our newspapers to have acted? This is, to say the least of it, extremely unfortunate; and, whatever we may think of the matter, the Spaniards, especially those in Cadiz, have not read with complacency the remarks of our newspapers upon their

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conduct of the Spaniards, and about her drawing the sword against us, is something too impudent to merit an answer.--We now come to the complaint of this writer against the Spanish regency for omitting, in their answer to Mr. Wellesley, "all pro"mise to restrain, by SEVERE PUNISH"MENTS, practices which, in the pre

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conduct when engaged in company with But, this writer tells us that our disinterestedness must have been so manifest to the Spaniards, that they must have been so well satisfied that we have not been influenced by one.sordid or selfish principle. Verily this is a very foolish writer; for in another part of this very paper of the 17th inst. he says in answer to the Morning" sent circumstances of Spain, amount to Chronicle, who had asserted that the war "HIGH TREASON of the blackest dye." in Spain was of no utility to us; in an---So, reader! This is the sort of treatswer to this, he says, that the war is of ment that this hired writer in England, great utility to us, because it compels points out for those who make what our Buonaparté to " employ his main force minister in Spain deems too free a use of against Spain, instead of directing the their tongues and pens at Cadiz. A law "whole against Ireland!" Aye, I know of libel, informations ex officio, jail for very well that this is the notion; and the years, heavy fines, harrassing prosecu Spaniards know it too; for it has been said tions, bail for a man's life; all these a thousand and a thousand times over, in the Parliament and in the public prints, and yet this man in this very same newspaper of the 17th instant, tells us that none but a Frenchman could ever assert, that we have been actuated by one selfish principle, and that the Spaniards must now be stupid indeed if they do not believe that our whole and sole view is to assist them, and that the success of these efforts will be our best and most glorious reward! -But, says he, if we had consulted our own interests we might have gone to South America and invited the provinces there to declare themselves independent. And what should we have got by that, unless, indeed, we had resolved to carry liberty into South America? And if we had done that, a declaration of independence would, by no means, have cut off the connection between Old and New Spain, both countries being inhabited by Spaniards, and being so closely connected, by all the ties of interest and of blood. Spain, in that case, would have yielded to Napoleon without a struggle. There would have been no ravages and no bloodshed, and the whole force of Spain would have been directed against us, if peace had not taken place. By the war in Spain we have, hitherto, prevented this; but, we might have prevented it for ever by giving liberty to Spain; by a war for the people, instead of a war for Ferdinand. It is, therefore, not at all owing to our disinterestedness that we forebore that which the Courier threatens with respect to Spanish South America, which were no tempting baits, or, if they were, they were beyond our reach, or, at least, not to be made use of for our own purposes. What he says about our forgetting and forgiving the

not sufficient for this prostituted English writer. He is for dragging the Spaniards to a scaffold or a gallows for writing, aye, and for speaking that which our minister there deems improper ! This is the way that he and those who think like him, and of whose words he is merely the repeater, would insure to the people of Spain the blessings of liberty! High treason, of the blackest dye, too, for men to utter their apprehensions about the introduction of foreign troops into their country; about placing part of their country under the military command of a foreign General; about placing their native Soldiers under the command of foreign Officers; to express their apprehensions of these things is here deemed a crime amounting to High Treason of the blackest dye, and, of course, meriting the punishment of an ignominious death, a punishment for not promising to inflict which the Spanish government is reproached by this venal English writer! This is the liberty, is it, which we flew " like brothers" to insure to the people of Spain; the liberty of being swung from a gallows-tree, if they dare to express their fears at seeing their sea ports, their provinces, and even their armies, put under the command, and into the hands of foreigners.It is possible that the suspicions, and fears of which we have been speaking might be groundless. For my part I believe that they were groundless. But am I to represent a Spaniard as a wretch worthy of death, am I to call him a traitor and censure his government for not punishing him as such, merely because he entertained such suspicions and fears? But, why do I ask these questions? There is no man, who is not at bottom the enemy of all liberty amongst men, who

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