rages and indignities. Whoever has been at Paris within the few years past and has enjoyed any opportunities of observation, or any latitude of intercourse with the Parisian society, must have learned that the American government and people were held in the utmost scorn and aversion not only by the ruler of France, but by every functionary and retainer of his monstrous system of fraud and rapine.

On the score of these feelings there is no disguise affected; they are not only distinctly seen, but openly avowed. When the late French chargé des affaires to this country returned to France and pleaded in extenuation of certain offences imputed to him, his endeavours to effect a good understanding between us and his employers, he was told by the head of the foreign department, that such services connected with his mission to the United States, would be just as available with the Emperor, as if they had related to the Dey of Algiers. If there be any difference in sentiment with regard to the two powers, it is that his Algerine highness is much the less obnoxious of the two. He is not of the same importance to the views of Bonaparte on England. He has not so materially contributed to thwart them by a tenacious fondness for commerce, that bane and eye-sore of a military despot. The Dey has sent no gazettes to his dominions replete with accurate delineations of his character and unsparing animadversions on his conduct. The Dey has lost him no island of San Domingo

a circumstance to which Champagny alludes with much bitterness in the letter supposed to be spurious. It is well known in the circles which eddy about the throne of the Thuileries, that the Emperor ascribes the failure of his attempts upon that island to our cupidity;-that he has often denounced vengeance against us on this account, and that this recollection still festers in his bosom.

Necdum etiam causæ irarum sævique dolores
Exciderant animo.

These assurances of warm friendship from a determined enemy, and particularly from one of the character of Bonaparte, should, instead of inspiring confidence, excite the most lively alarms. The wretched and time-serving king of Prussia states in the manifesto which he published on the eve of the war which terminated in his ruin, that he had just then received a letter from Bonaparte full of professions of esteem and attachment. Who does not recollect the epistles of the same affectionate ally to the imbecile monarchs of Spain immediately before he laid violent hands upon their persons, and

commenced that ferocious war on their subjects which now traces, in characters of blood, the most awful lessons to us and to all mankind?*

We cannot resist the temptation of placing before our readers the whole of the letter which Bonaparte addressed from Bayonne to Ferdinand before that unhappy Prince fell into the hands of this perfidious enemy. The opinions which we have expressed in the text could have no more forcible illustration than this important document. The best comment on the letter itself is to be found in the present situation of Ferdinand and in the actual condition of Spain. We have marked in italics the passages which place the character of the writer in the highest relief.

"Brother,

"I have received your royal highness's letter. The inspection of your "royal father's papers must already have convinced you of the affection "which I ever bore him: Under the present circumstances you will allow "me to speak to your highness with frankness and candour. Í entertained a "hope that, upon my arrival at Madrid, I might persuade my illustrious "friend to make some necessary reforms in his dominions, and in some degree to gratify the public opinion. The Prince of Peace's dismission appeared to me "requisite for his happiness and that of the people. The events in the North "have retarded my journey. In the mean time the occurrences at Aranjuez "have taken place. I do not set up for a judge of what has happened, nor of the "conduct of the Prince of Peace; but what I know is, that kings should "never inure their subjects to shed blood, and to do themselves justice. "I pray to God that your royal highness may not one day experience the "ill effects of this policy. It would not suit the interests of Spain that a "prince who has married a princess of the royal family and who has so long "governed the kingdom, should be persecuted. He has no friends left; nor "would your royal highness have any, if you should one day be unfortunate. "The people gladly seize the opportunities of making themselves amends for the "homage which they pay to us. You cannot impeach the Prince of Peace, "without impeaching the Queen and the King your father. This prosecution "will nourish factious fury and hate, and the result cannot but be fatal to "the interests of your crown. Your royal highness has no titles to the throne “but those which you derive from your mother. If the prosecution should dishonour "her, your royal highnes would thereby bar your own claim. Shut your ears "to feeble and perfidious counsels; you have no right to judge the Prince "of Peace. His crimes, if he were charged with any, ought to be buried in "the rights of the throne. I have often expressed my wish that the Prince "of Peace might be dismissed: If I have not been more urgent, it has been "owing to my friendship for king Charles, from whose weak partiality I "chose to turn my eyes.-Oh wretched humanity! imbecility and error; "such is our motto! All this, however, may be reconciled: let the Prince "of Peace be banished from Spain, and I offer him an asylum in France.

"With respect to the abdication of Charles IV., it has taken place at a time "when my armies occupied Spain; and Earope and posterity might believe that I "have sent so many troops for the sole purpose of driving my friend and ally "from the throne.

"As a neighbouring sovereign, I am bound to inquire into what has "taken place, previous to my acknowledging this abdication. I declare it to your royal highness; to all Spaniards,-to the whole world: if the abdication. "of king Charles be voluntary, if he have not been driven to it by the insurrection "of Aranjuez, I shall not hesitate to admit it, and to acknowledge your royal highness as king of Spain. I therefore wish to converse with your royal highness "upon the subject. The caution, with which I have hitherto proceeded in "these affairs, ought to convince you of the support you will find in me, if

But it is not with the absurdity or the falsehood of these benevolent professions, or with the immediate dangers which they portend, that we are most powerfully struck. We are most affected and disgusted with the base hypocrisy inherent in these proceedings, with that vile spirit of dissimulation which they display, and which dishonours human nature even more than all the wanton ravages of the sword. When we read such assertions as those which close this letter of the duke of Cadore,-when we recollect the circumstances under which they are made, and consider that the individual from whom they come is the absolute master of a large portion of the globe, we blush for the age in which we live, and feel ourselves still farther removed from the era of true civilization, than were the cotemporaries of feudal despotism. It is justly said by the author of the travels of Anacharsis that the truly barbarous age is not that in which there is the greatest ferocity of manners, but that in which there is the most hypocrisy in sentiment. "Le siecle véritablement barbare n'est "pas celui où il y a le plus de ferocité dans les mœurs, mais "celui où il y a le plus de fausseté dans les sentimens."

We cannot conclude this article to which the importance of the subject has induced us to give an extension not contemplated by our general plan, without repelling an accusation which will, in all likelihood, be preferred against us. We expect to be called the blind apologists of Great Britain, and the zealots of a party. These epithets we disclaim because we know that in denouncing the views of France and in reprobating the measures of our administration we have but one object;-and that is, the good of this country-to the institutions of which we are as ardently attached as any of those who may think fit to asperse our motives. We bear no enmity or malice to the men in power,-but we will protest against their ability to manage the affairs of this nation

factions, of any description, ever disturb your reign.-When king Charles "informed me of the events of October last, I was deeply afflicted at them, "and I flatter myself that I have contributed by my suggestions to the "happy issue of the business of the Escurial. Your royal highness should "dread the consequences of popular commotions; some of my scattered "soldiers may be assassinated, but such excesses could only bring ruin upon Spain. Your royal highness knows all the recesses of my heart; you may see that I am agitated by various ideas which require to be fixed. You may be certain, that at all events, I will deal with you as I have done with "your royal father: rely upon my wish to reconcile every thing, and to find opportunities to give you proofs of affection and high regard.-And so I pray "God may keep you, brother, under his holy and worthy protection."

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and must express our fears for her safety and publish our warnings,

"While such as these

"Presume to lay their hand upon the ark

"Of her magnificent and awful cause."

Great Britain, we know, has heretofore often abused her power in her relations with the United States, and may, hereafter, abuse it. At any other time, we should be as vehement in our opposition to her, and as indignant at her injustice as the most clamorous of her revilers are now. But we are overpowered by the sense of evils impending from another quarter more formidable and pressing than any which she is either able or disposed to inflict upon us. The love of our own security urges us to feel a lively sympathy for her in her present struggle; to waive the discussion of the wrongs which she may have done us, even to make allowances for those which may spring out of the line of conduct which she may think imposed upon her by the necessities of her situation. We should,-in laying claim to the most enthusiastic glow of patriotism, feel like impostors, if we hesitated to acknowledge our firm belief that every other political consideration is now secondary,-nay absolutely insignificant, when compared with the evils with which France menaces the whole civilized world.

The proclamation of the president has excited a very serious alarm in our minds. We cannot suppose that it is the intention of our government to revive the non-intercourse law, with a view to its continuance for any length of time. This expedient has been already tested to the conviction of all parties. We, therefore, can find no solution for the language held by our administration on the subject of the new attitude which France affects to have assumed, but in the conjecture that they are at least half inclined to risk the experiment of provoking a war with Great Britain. Against this ruinous experiment we shall exert our most strenuous efforts, careless of the epithets which may be applied to us; and we earnestly exhort the minority in congress to do the same.-They should recollect that forbearance in such a case is, in fact, treason to the country;— that the most animated opposition is not faction, but sound patriotism.

"Whenever," says Bolingbroke, "any scheme ruinous to "the general interest of a nation is pursued, the best service "that can be done to such a nation, is to commence an early "and vigorous opposition. The event will always show that "those who thus act are the best patriots, however they may

"be stigmatized with odious names. If the opposition begins late, or be carried on more faintly than the exigency re"quires, the evil will grow until it becomes too inveterate for "the ordinary methods of cure. The most plausible objection "to such proceedings, by which well meaning men are fre66 quently made the bubbles of those who have the worst designs, arises from a false notion of moderation. True politi"cal moderation consists in not opposing the measures of government except when great and national interests are "at stake; and when that is the case, in opposing them with "such a degree of warmth as is adequate to the nature of the "evil. To oppose things which are not blame-worthy, or "which are of no material consequence to the national in"terest with such violence as may disorder the harmony of government,-is certainly faction; but it is likewise faction, "and faction of the worst kind either not to oppose at all, or not "to oppose in earnest when points of the greatest importance "to the nation are concerned."

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