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    trie * . 8 lie basin a imncli greaier degree enjoyed-the liberty of the press and persooai independence . Has she availed herself in a suitable maaner of these advantages ? Has she improved her laws , corrected erroneous notions of religion , attained to the true standard of morality , which such advantages , for upwards of

    tvro centuries , ought to have produced ? Is there less o £ murder , forgery , debauchery , immorality of every kind than in other States less favoured : and if less , in what degree ? We have possessed , it is certain , greater advantages than other nations , but hare we turned these advantages to the best account ?

    The Congress ut Vienna continues its labours , and we are told , with irrdefatitagable industry . There is bustle enough < with Emperors , King-s , Embassadors and Princes ; : aud the newspapers of different < jcninti ? ies continue to amuse the public iwikh surmises on the projected changes in the state of Europe . We cannot find fault with the obscunitv that han ^ s over

    the deliberations of the Congress . The strbj ectts under tliscu ssion are-doubtless of the highest importance , and we are content towaitrin patience for the final result , which < is Ho shew us what improvement has ^ been made in political * wisdoin , and whefeber the Princes , of the Earth have been

    taught , by past experience , to entertain p < n > per notions of justice and the : true method of governing nations , > not by arbitrary caprice , but by religion 4 aod equity . In . the mean time , we cannot but observe , that DBe principle alone seems to gujdefhe political Tvjiters : namely , that mankind were made ^ br sovereigns—? not sovereigns

    for mankind . Hence their thoughts are turned only to paper schemes ; to plans , ivhieh may be formed ( easily by a set of men with maps before them , and scissors to cut out portions as suits their fancy . The good of the people is the last thing that enters the mind of these sagacious politicians . They sit down with the notion- that the

    congregated Sovereigns are little better than a set of banditti met together to divide Iheir plunders , ^ vhere eac h man is ready to quarrel with his neighbour on the size of his portion , and the whole are kept together only on sordid views of self-interest , without the least regard to honour ,

    morality or religion . But let us hope better things of the Sovereigns themselves ; *» d if we are disappointed , at least let us repose confidently in-the-great truth , that there is a God , who judgeth the earth , and wili make ovsry measure conducive to an end far different from that of the worldly politician .

    France is gradually recovering * tfvoin its distresses , and is much indebted to- 'the Sovereign < for the improvement in its situation . Tl * e great question relative to the emigrants is .-sot at rest , Uy -which » the pre-

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    sent possessors are secured in the possession of their property , and meaas tare taking to indemnify the emigrants for the losses they have sustained . The rumou « of conspiracy have subsided , and the king is received , when he goes to public places with increasing . marks of attachment . 2 > if .

    ficulties will of cojirse asiae ^ wJiere heJias such claims of gratitude for attachment from « me party , wMle tit the same time , the state of things requires that agreatdegree of confidence should be placed iu those who have had the management of affairs during his absence . In all this he

    seems to have been guided by a-spirit ' of wisdom and prudence ; and among hi » virtues he possesses one which cannot be too strongly recommended to a prince , and by which a state is soon recovered—economy . Spain , on the other hand , exhibits a

    most disgraceful picture . Arrests continue to take place every day . The laquisitioij and the prisons are filled . Past services are forgotten . All are indiscri ^ iirt nately seized . The affrighted Spaniard looks on , and no man knows , -whether the next ni »* fit will find him in his bed or a

    dungeon . In this state of confusion an armament is prepared , of ten ihonsand men , to bring back the inhabitants ^ of Buenos Ayres to-their allegiance . We are too little acquainted with . the state af South America to anticipate the result of this contest : but as the arms of Britain were so

    disgracefully foiled when the 'South Ame ^ j ricans were less prepared , we cannot doubt " that they are capable of resisting this > forc « , or any other that the mrtther country can bring * against them . Perhaps they may detach no small number of the troops ^ sent against them by similar grants of territory to that which the United States has

    offered to all who deserted the standard of the invader . ' ^ After much anxiety on tbe subject of America , the pleasing news was suddenly announced , that the Commissioners at Ghent had come to an agreement . Articles of peace were entered into , were soon signed by the Regent here , and sent forward to America for the ratification of the

    President . We have only to wish that it will l > e lasting , and that btoth parties will be impressed with the folly of settling their differences by the destruction of their fellow -creatures . The United States hwe enough to do in conquering the vast extent vof waste land that lies behind them , and the noblest trophies they can rear are those

    which arise from converting a desert into « fruitful field , instead of that miserable an'l wrenched triumph which arises from the destruction . of human life , laying waste the lands of the industrious , and destroying the mansions « rf c \ vilised life . Whilst they » if engaged in those real « triiimpliSj G rea Britain will be no lees usefully emyloyM *"

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    6 « T State of Public Affairs .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1815, page 62, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1756/page/62/