MONTHLY

MIRROR OF THE TIMES,

FOR JUNE, 1813.

THE DIALOGUE OF NATIONS.

[Continued from Page 196.]

SPAIN. How little in the scale of wrongs appear these statements compared to the living grievances of unhappy Spain.-In her calamities all others seem absorbed, lost and coufounded in the disproportion. What was the provocation she had given to France that thus she should be made the theatre of her robberies, her plunder, and ambition ?Was it that a Bourbon swayed her sceptre? Such might be her misfortune, not her crime.-Spain might still have leagued with France, have been an auxiliary to her ambition, without enduring her hatred and revenge.--Why were her Princes dragged into slavery-did this denote conciliation?-Why was a Stranger intruded on her Thrane ?-was this done in deference to the temper of the People?-And, lastly, why has a wanton persistence drenched our Country in blood, laid desolate our laud, and made our fa`r inheritance a desert waste? - France needed not such means to render Spain her friend, nor Spain such friendship to make herself respected.

PORTUGAL.-To French aggression, it is freely owned, the SisterKingdoms owe the source of their calamities.--But why does Spain so much complain, who had within her power the means of preservation, not only of herself but of her neighbour?-Had she been firm, her native barriers had been her bulwarks, and France had kept her boundary. Or had she not been jealous, and with suspicious disquietude forbid the assistance of her friends, she might have made a nobler and a better stand, and have given prostrate Europe some assurance of release.

SPAIN. It ill becomes enfeebled Portugal to talk of what her neighbours should have done, who for herself has done so little; whose Prince deserted her in her utmost need, and who has been the means of introducing into the direction of her State, and into that of Spain, a stranger-power, as disgraceful to their pride as detrimental to their interest. Had Spain not been far more desirous to maintain her native rights, her administration, and her national ascendancy, she too might long since have been dependant ou a foreign power for legislation and for rule:-and, if such must be, she can conceive no shade of difference between the slaves of conquest or of condescension.-Besides, a double weight has fallen on Spain, since the resources of the enemy, whether in its attack upon her or on her neighbours, are gathered from her plains:-it is she supports the war even against herself: let Portugal then be silent of her wrongs or sufferings, since they fall so short of those around her.

PORTUGAL. If there be a preference in condition, to what is Portugal indebted but to her own exertion?-Aided by England, she has beat back her foes, those foes, which the pusillanimity of Spain had suffered to encroach upon her territory.-Had Spain but acted with one half the energy which her own safety and her honour needed, Portugal might have been spared her troubles, and Spain her misfortunes. The same hand, which rescued one was offered to the other, and offered first: Spain proudly spurned the offer; then let her not marvel at the consequence or the contrast between herself and others. If the war has taken its course through her territories, who is to blame but those who might have prevented it and would not? How came the enemy at the gates of Portugal, but from the improvidence, the weakness, the disunion, the cowardice, of degenerate Spain?-Incapacitated in every degree from undertaking her own defence, and yet too proud to take the proffered aid of others, she has entailed a lasting infamy upon herself, a lasting grievance on her friends.-Her vapouring policy has been her bane; and dares she arraign others for their conduct?-Por tugal lost her Prince, but did not abandon his standard, or transfer their allegiance to another.-She did not desert her King and his for tunes because he was infirm or unfortunate; or inflict additional pangs on captivity by deserting him in his old age, and setting up his son in his stead. She did not cabal among her Council while the enemy was entering at the gate, and forsake the public benefit for private interest, the views of party, and the objects of ambition.-She did not waste her time in baby-quarrels while her armies were without resources in the field, her children were falling fast on every side, and her Country was becoming a prey to the rapacity of the invader.-She did not make pre tence of union and exertion, yet secretly encourage the pride and jea lousy of her Commanders, to thwart the efforts of the active and the brave. In fine, she did her duty, by doing justice to her intentions, and uniting heart and hand with those she professed to hold in concert. By such means, what Spain, with all her myriads, could not effect, Portugal, with her band of heroes, has accomplished. She has beaten back her enemy; and, were that enemy not cherished and supported by pusillanimous Spain, her independence would be yet preserved. FRANCE. To hear such States, such People, speak of Independence is at once a jest and a misfortune.-Can there be liberty of principle in the breasts of bigots ?-Shall whips and tortures, flames and fanaticism, stand forth as emblems of freedom of mind, of person, or of principle?-Independence!-Shew me the slave linked to the ceaseless var, or buried deep within the fathomless mine, let him but fear no bigot's frown, or monkish art, and he shall be free as air, compared with those who prate of independence yet know it not !-Say, is it independence to have the heart contracted by self-sufficient pride, its pleasures deadened by needless austerities, and every finer feeling of the soul banished or destroyed by a fatal and a frantic zeal?-No: the light of reason, which received its vivifying flame from the effort of French enthusiasm, will teach a better lesson. It is France that will have the proud'd stinction of having redeemed and renovated a darkened world. Yet she is called ambitious!-Be it so: the ambition that leads to such results is worthy of being cherished, of being valued, honoured, and esteemed. The spirit of fanaticism has shrunk before it, and humanity partakes the glory of the triumph. Nor yet to bigo

try alone has its efforts been confined: by a general diffusion of the principle of true liberty, which France, even in the midst of her victo ries has ever breathed forth, the ancient code of despotism has been in a great degree dissolved in every part where the valour of the French arms has been directed, all conducing to the correction of Governments and the general melioration of mankind. Such is the principle of which France is proud, of which France is ambitious: extended rule but brings extended freedom :-it is the narrow policy of States which is a check to the general happiness. It is from example and not from assertion that the effect of a principle is to be judged. The cry is raised that France by her conquests has enslaved mankind;-ask the people of Germany, of those States which she has confederated under a new system; let them declare if the yoke of slavery is rendered hea vier by the transfer of authority:-call on the population of Italy for a declaration of their wrongs; are they more oppressed in mind or person than before? Is the appearance of a French soldier in their citadel more detrimental to their happiness or prosperity, to their comfort or domestic peace, to their mental or social tranquillity and ease, than the familiars of the Holy Inquisition in all their plenitude of pride and power?-Will they exchange the tributary contribution to the exigen cies of the State, because under French direction, for the arbitrary exactments of Monkish institutes and religious oppression?-In short, will they despise the possession of liberty of conscience and the free enjoyment of religious opinions, and sigh for the gloomy reign of terror and superstition?-And if they will not do this, if they do not care to revert to old systems and principles, then has France been an instru ment of good, her ambition has benefitted mankind. A like conse quence attends her efforts in the Peninsula, namely, the overthrow of Bigotry and Superstition.-That she has done this, let the present struggle end how it may, has been fully corroborated; the dominion of the Inquisition, that combination of mischief and murder, has been destroyed, and the light of reason has beamed from the brazen Eagles of France to cheer and enlighten a depressed and goaded People.-It will not be questioned, but that for French interference, Spain had still groaned under the yoke of Priesthood and fanaticism; to France, then, he owes her freedom; but who shall say she will not relapse, unless brought under the dominion of that policy which set her free and would support her independence?—Her pretended Rulers could follow the example rather through fear of consequences than conviction of reason, therefore is their sincerity the more doubtful.-Would a certainty of commercial communication with any Power have had the effect to produce this beneficial purpose?—No: the system would have continued, and the yoke of slavery been entailed for ever.

ENGLAND. The world has yet to learn that the invasion of right is the advance to liberty; or that France, by her efforts or example, has conduced to the establishment of freedom in society, or of prosperity among the nations. It is true her shafts have been levelled against the sacred order of religion; it was one of the first principles of her revolu tion to turn apostate, and ridicule and violate the sanctity of the Church. It was a convenient theme to talk of the reformation of religious abuses, while bent on committing the most heinous of crimes, as well against humanity as the laws of heaven.-While in regard to civil liberty, she exhibits the greatest contradiction in herself that can be

imagined or believed; first throwing off her primitive allegiance and vowing eternal enmity to Thrones and Sceptres; and then with a blind and devoted zeal becoming the worshippers of a foreign Idol, which their infatuation has set up, and whom it deifies and adores beyond the example of recorded slavery. Who shall give credit for principles so adverse to realities ?-France, herself the worst of slaves, avows herself the world's deliverer!-With a government the most arbitrary, a Prince the most despotic, a principle the most ambitious, a system the most. injurious, turbulent, and destructive, she boasts of the diffusion of the light of reason and the redemption of mankind!-Is it not monstrous to frame such boastings-Is it not degrading to hear them uttered?Is it not ludicrous to see a countless host, bearing the stamp and burthen of slavery, rushing at the bidding of their lordly ruler to battle or to death, to the destruction of their fellow-creatures, and the annihilation of order and established principles, and all this with the avowed purpose of freeing the world from bondage, themselves meanwhile betraying the very badge and feature of the slave?-With the demon of discord as their ruler, shall the nations look for peace at such hands, much less example-France says she fights for freedom, and the melioration of Society. Can war and bloodshed benefit mankind Is morality recommended by oppression, or wisdom implanted by the sword?-Conquest may feed ambition but will not, cannot, give content. The Powers of Europe needed no intervention of authority and terror to set before them the advantages of a free Government; England in herself supplied the example; the blessings of Liberty are amply displayed in the effects of her envied Constitution.-The world has seen, has felt, those effects, and it was then to have reformed their own. She did not obtrude her system upon others; contented in the enjoyment of it herself, she left its influence to its own direction.—But France must dictate to her neighbours; she must be the arbiter of systems and opinions; she must, with the chain of despotism about her neck, declaim of liberty, and with the torch of discord in her hand, hold out the principles of peace, tranquillity and independence! Resistless advocate of reason and humanity!-Bright emblem of public Freedom and popular felicity!-How must the nations envy the exalted happiness of these generous Reformists!-The world is fully sensible what it owes to their benignity, and only laments the want of power to quit itself of the obligation.

(To be continued.)

EAST-INDIA CHARTER.

The Court of Directors laid before their constituents, on Tuesday, the 22d inst. an account of the proceedings which have taken place relative to the renewal of the Company's Charter, since the last Meeting of the General Court on the 24th of March; and these proceedings are exhibited by the following documents :

The Minutes at large of evidence ad

duced on behalf of the Company, before the Houses of Lords and Commons, between the 30th of March and the 27th of May last.

A letter from the Chairman and Deputy, Chairman, to the Earl of Liverpool, His Majesty's Principal Minister, dated the 27th of May last.

Minutes of a conversation between His Majesty's Ministers and a Deputation from the Court of Directors, on the 10th of the present month.

A Copy of the Resolutions which were