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270 State of Public Affairs.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Lit Various Period , Different Questions...
a committee to take the representation into consideration , and to suggest those corrections which the necessity of the case required . s In this motion he was but feebly supported , and it was rejected by a very great majority . His arguments were strong and potent , and borne out by a number of facts . But on the other
hand , it was opposed to him , that England had gone on exceedingly well with such a state of representation , that the close boroughs produced men of great talent , and as much independence as those of towns and counties , that no benefit could arise from the change , and
that the influence of government was necessary , and that , if the representation were made complete , this branch 'would become democratical , and there would not be sufficient security for the other branches of the legislature . Repeated aliusions were made to . the Italian proverb , on the danger of change , and innovation was cried down as a
thing of horror , that must be followed by the most distressing consequences . It was not recollected by these gentlemen , that Christianity itself was once an innovation , the Reformation was an innovation * and , as Lord Bacon says , time is the great innovator , and , if his steps are not attended to , destruction is the inevitable consequence . Time has now discovered what our boasted constitution
really is ; and a foreigner , who forms an idea of it from the encomiums bestowed on it in books and in Parliament , would be astonished at discovering what it really is in actual practice . On the Continent , except in Spain and the south-eastern banks of the
Danube , peace is healing the wounds of the late distractions , and the new governments are gaining solidity , and aiming at restoring comfort to the people under them . Buonaparte has carried his imperial bride to Antwerp , and received every where the hem age of a grateful people . This town is reviving under
his auspices , and its splendid establishments promise not only great future advantages to the town , but much inconvenience to us . A ship of the line was launched in honour of the imperial visitor ? , and an aquatic excursion presented to them the scenes of our disgrace at Walcheren , and the speedy restoration of all the mischief we had done to the island . Austria is reported to have received great benefit by the alliance , in a
Lit Various Period , Different Questions...
release from all claims upon it ; but the imperial bride is hot clearly ascertained to have produced such a change on the mind of the conqueror . She will not fail of receiving a profusion of compliments , and all the satisfaction that grandeur can afford ; but the policy of her lord is founded on very extensive views , and not easily shaken .
His views towards Spain have not yet been realised , but every day adds to his probability of success in that country . Our attempts to oppose him seem to be as weak and ineffectual as those to release the king of Spain from his confinement in France . An . Irishman , it seems , has been sent from hence with sufficient
sums of money for the undertaking , and proper credentials to the Spanish king , and every thing was planned for his escape : but at the moment the plot was detected , the papers of the Irishman were seized . He gave a detailed account of the "whole , which was published in all
the papers , and the story concludes with his execution on the shores of Quiberon Bay . If the latter fact is true , he seems to have engaged heartily in the cause . But on the first appearance in the papers , we concluded rather that he had been an agent of the French , and that our administration had been his dupes .
Spain does not entirely acknowledge the authority of its Gallic king , yet every day he is establishing his throne ; and , in spite of the various rumours of Spanish victories , he is pursuing his course with determined resolution ; The south of Spain is nearly his , and at thi » moment Cadiz is said to betaken . We
have every reason to believe that it will fall ; for it is closely beset , and the French lately surprised a fort which commands the harbour , and took it in a manner that presages a fatal catastrophe to the city . The fort "was kept by Spaniard *
and English , and the French seemed to be so inert , that no apprehensions were entertained for the security of the place . On a sudden , a prodigious battery was erected within gunshot of the place , which opened upon the fort , and in a short time it became untenable . We lost
several brave officers and soldiers , and the remainder took refuge in Cadiz . Massena is said to be marching into Portugal with a great army ; and thus , if Cadiz is taken , little prospect is open of that country being preserved . . Lord Wellington is with an army of English arid Portuguese on the western border ,.
270 State Of Public Affairs.
270 State of Public Affairs .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1810, page 270, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/mrp_02051810/page/54/
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