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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 1809, Edition 1 of 1, Page 166, MONTHLY RETROSPECT OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS; OR, TJie Christian's Survey erf the Political World.

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    • MONTHLY RETROSPECT OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS; OR, TJie Christian's Survey erf the Political World.
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      Untitled Article

      War has reigned triumphant in all its horrors , and new scenes of devastation are bursting- open to the view before its' dreadful career can be stopped . Who can look on Spain "without coin- ?

      passion on the fate of suffering humanity , and melancholy reflections on , t ^ ie miseries , which a bad government brings * jpon a country . The new sovereign i . s in possession of half of the country , and his tenure is still not comvletelv affirmed .

      Not that there is any probability of his "feeing dismissed from his capital , but the evils of civil war must be for a long time endured , and his subjects must be held iii subjection by the terror of l > i $ arms . From the siege of Saragossa , % he Christian would willingly turn aWay his eyes . As far as the arts of destruction can confer glory , both besiegers and .- besieged are entitled to no small share of honour : the one for skill in the

      attack , the other f&r perseverance in the deforce of this unhappy city . The numbers of lives lost , and the . ruin of houses , churches , convents and splendid buildings are the triumphs of the destroying angel , and . in vain did the Lady of St . Pillar afford her sheltering " arms to the miserable and deluded inhabitants .

      To what purpose , it maybe asked , is this desolation and this-waste of human fylood ? If we can believe the accounts brought home by our unfortunate army , which traversed so large a portion of Spain , ( and we can have no reason to do ^ bt their veracity , ) the Spaniards are far from being united in qne common .

      ^ ause . Oar men were received with -great hospitality in the convents and monasteries , but the people at large were by no means ready to contribute to their relief . Wlxat indeed does it signify to the common Spaniard , that a Bourbon is as it is commonly said his legitimate monarch ? What benefit could he trace to that source ! The re-movalof

      many evils is held out to him by the new dynasty , while from the old nothing was to be expected but the continuation of that miserable system , by which Spain has been so degraded below

      Untitled Article

      its level among the nations of fiiirope * The war appears to be more that of the : priest than of the nation ; yet the inveterate jealousy between . the two countries may make it of long continuance , and the greater will be the crush of it& monasteries and its convents , its idols and various abominations .

      The numbers that bave perished a ^ Saragossa are not fey any means ascertained . On both sides it must have been very considerable , from th € desperation with which the conflict was urg- * ed . The possession of every street was . contended lor ; a ? nd the miners were strU

      at work whilst the enemy was m possession of a great part of * the town . The natural love of independence will go a great way ; and , when it is aidddF by the powers of superstition , the mind ; s raised to a degree of rage and strength , little short of that which the plirensies of madness inspire . The holy pillar

      • was , we doubt not , often invoked : the priests would bring forth their idols and their wafer go 4 s tp inspirit the populace . The besiegers relied on their strength and s&iU , so of ^ en tried in battles ; and the shame of being baffled

      in other attempts would re-animate * their efforts . By taking possession of Saragossa they have broyght' a very * large province into subjection , and thq conquerors are not likely to estimate at a very great rate the * cost of the undertaking , either to themselves ^ or to the *

      enemy . One event is likely to follow from this determined resistance . The spvereign will perceive that his throne can never be in safety whilst the power of the priesfcand the monk remains . Thus the horrible anti-christian system of persecution and fraud which has been

      so long predominant in Spain , will receive its proper check from worldly policy . The politician of other countries may grieve that this cannot be dpne > without increasing the influence of France ; and the sentiment has been expressed strongly in a quarter , whence better things might have t > een appret

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      Monthly Retrospect Of Public Affairs; Or, Tjie Christian's Survey Erf The Political World.

      MONTHLY RETROSPECT OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS ; OR , TJie Christian ' s Survey erf the Political World .

  • Citation
    • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1809, page 166, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1734/page/46/