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CHAP. sible for an impartial historian to disguise the extreme danger against which Louis XVIII. and his ministers had to guard themselves from the revolutions in the adjoining countries of Spain, Portugal, Naples, and Piedmont, from which the contagion of military revolutions and secret societies had spread into the armies, the last support of thrones. It was not the cause of the French Bourbons which tottered, it was that of all kings and of all thrones. Even more, it was the cause of all the ancient institutions which were sapped in all the south of Europe by the new ideas and institutions. The north itself—Germany, Prussia, Russia-felt themselves penetrated in their inmost veins by that passion for a renewal of things, that pouring of youthful blood into the institutions, that participation of the people in the government, which is the soul of modern times. Entire nations, which had slept for centuries in their fetters, gave symptoms of returning life, and even on the confines of Asia hoisted the signal of the resurrection of nations. All was the work of seven years of peace, and of the freedom of thought in France.

3.

observa

tions on the sub

ject.

"The Bourbons had given freedom to the press and Lamartine's to the tribune in their country; and that liberty of thought, re-echoed from Paris and London in Spain, Italy, and Greece, had occasioned the explosion of the revolutionary elements which had been accumulating for centuries in the capitals of those countries. By a natural rebound, these revolutions-restrained at Naples and Turin, fermenting and combating in Greco-Moldavia and Wallachia, triumphant and exasperated in Spain-reacted with terrible effect on the press, the tribune, the youth, and the army of France. The Constitution proclaimed at Cadiz, which left only the shadow of royalty, which surpassed in democracy the constitution of 1791 in France, and which was nothing in reality but a republic masked by a throne, threw into the shade the Charter of Louis XVIII. and the mixed constitution of Great Bri

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tain. Revolutionary France blushed for its timidity in CHAP. the career of innovation in presence of a nation which, like the Spanish, had achieved, at the first step, the realisation of all the visions of the philosophy of 1789; which had established freedom of worship in the realm of the Inquisition, vindicated the land from the priesthood in a state of monastic supremacy, and dethroned kings in a nation where absolute royalty was a dogma, and kings a faith. Every audacious step of the revolution at Madrid was applauded, and proposed to the imitation of the French army. The most vehement speeches of the orators in the Cortes, the most violent articles in the revolutionary journals, were reprinted and eagerly read in France; the insurrection, the anarchy of the Spanish revolution, were the subject of enthusiasm in Paris; every triumph of the anarchists at Madrid over the throne or the clergy was publicly celebrated as a triumph by the French revolutionists. Spain was on the verge of a republic; and a republic proclaimed on the other side of the Pyrenees could not fail to overturn the Bourbons in France. Europe was slipping from beneath the monarchies; all felt it, and most of all the revolutionists of Paris. Was it possible that the Bourbons and their partisans should alone not perceive it? War was declared between their Lamartine, enemies and themselves; the field of battle was Spain: la Restau it was there they must conquer or die. Who can blame 64, 66. them for having not consented to die?"1

Histoire de

ration, vii.

views which

Great Bri

tain.

But while the considerations here so eloquently set 4. forth demonstrate the absolute necessity of French in- Opposite, tervention in Spain, and vindicate the steps they took prevailed in accordingly, there were many reasons, equally cogent and well-founded, which caused a very different view to be taken of the subject in Great Britain. The first of these was the general, it may be said invariable, sympathy of the English with any other people struggling for freedom, and their constant conviction that the cause of insurrection is that of justice, wisdom, and ultimate

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CHAP. happiness. This is not a mere passing conviction on the part of the inhabitants of this country-it is their firm and settled belief at all times, and in all places, and under all circumstances. No amount of experience of ruin in other states, or suffering in their own, from the effect of such convulsions, is able to lessen their sympathy for the persons engaged in them, or shake their belief in their ultimately beneficial consequences. Justly proud of their own freedom, and tracing to its effects the chief part of the grandeur and prosperity which this country has attained, they constantly think that if other nations could win for themselves similar institutions, they would attain to an equal degree of felicity. They never can be brought, generally speaking, to believe that there is an essential difference in race, physical circumstances, and degree of civilisation, and that the form of government which is most beneficial in one situation is utterly ruinous in another. Their sympathy is always with the rebels; their wishes, in the outset at least, for the people and against the government. This was the case in 1789, when nearly all classes in Great Britain were carried away by the deceitful dawn of the French Revolution, and Mr Pitt himself hailed it with rapture; and the same disposition led them, with a few exceptions of reflecting men, to augur well of the Spanish revolution, and to sympathise warmly with its fortunes.

5.

to French

tion.

In addition to this, there was another circumstance, Repugnance strongly rooted in the national feelings, which rendered interven- the thoughts of any French intervention in Spain peculiarly obnoxious to every person actuated by patriotic dispositions in Great Britain. Spain had been the battlefield of England and France during the late war; it had been the theatre of Wellington's victories-the most glorious victories her arms had ever gained. The last time the French ensigns had been seen in the Pyrenees was when they were retiring before the triumphant host

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which the English general led in pursuit; the last time CHAP. the English flag had waved in Roncesvalles was when they were preparing to carry a war of retaliation into the heart of France. To think of all this being reversed; of a hundred thousand French retracing their steps as conquerors through those defiles where they had so lately fled before a hundred thousand English, Spaniards, and Portuguese, was insupportable. Most of all did it appear so, when the invading host was now thought to be arrayed in the cause of despots against the liberties of mankind, and the defensive bands of the Spanish were united in the great cause of civil freedom and national independence.

6.

a renewal

between France and

Spain.

Add to this another consideration, not so obvious to the general feelings of the multitude, influenced by present Danger of impressions, but perhaps still more cogent with the farseeing statesman, guided by ultimate results. England had compact repeatedly, during the course of the eighteenth century, been brought to the brink of ruin by the superiority of the French and Spanish fleets, taken together, to her own : the admirable skill of her admirals, the heroic resolution of her seamen, had alone enabled her to make head against the odds. The fatal error committed by the Tories, in the days of Marlborough, in allowing the Spanish crown to remain on the head of a Bourbon prince, had become apparent to all reflecting men: it was equalled only by the error of the Whigs, in the days of Wellington, in doing their utmost to allow it to remain on the head of a brother of Napoleon. The "family compact" in either case might prove fatal to the independence of Great Britain. Such a compact was in an especial manner to be dreaded, if it became an alliance of feeling and interest, not less than blood and cabinets; and a Bourbon king, restored to his throne by the arms of a Bourbon prince, was thrown into a close alliance with our hereditary enemies by identity of cause and necessity of situation,

CHAP. not less than family connection and the danger of common enemies.

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7.

the South

ish bondholders.

These considerations must ever be entitled to respect, Influence of for they were founded on the generous feelings, a sincere, American though perhaps mistaken zeal for the happiness of manand Span- kind, and a just appreciation of our political situation, and the dangers which might ultimately come to threaten our independence. But in addition to this there were others less entitled to respect, because based entirely on selfish desires, but not on that account the less likely to guide the opinions and form the wishes of a powerful portion of society. Influenced partly by their constant sympathy with revolutionary efforts, and partly by the thirst for the extravagant gains offered for loans by the rulers of revolutionary states, the capitalists of England had largely embarked in adventures connected with the independence of South America. The idea of "healthy young republies" arising in those immense regions, and equalling those of North America in rapidity of growth and extent of consumption of our manufactures, influenced some; the prospect of seven, eight, and nine per cent, offered for loans, and for a few years regularly paid, attracted others; the idea of the cause of liberty and independence spreading over the whole of the New World carried away a still greater multitude. No one doubted that these young republics, which had been mainly rescued from the colonial oppression of Spain by the sympathising arms of England, and the valour of Wellington's disbanded veterans, would speedily become powerful states, in close alliance, political and commercial, with Great Britain, paying with regularity and thankfulness the ample interest due upon their debts, consuming an immense and daily increasing amount of our manufactures, and enriching in return the fortunate shareholders of the mining companies that were daily springing up, with a large share of the riches of Mexico and Peru.

The sums expended by the capitalists of Great Britain

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