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religion . Sjv ^ n bas been most , miserably governed ever since it has been i : nder . the Bourbon family ; every thing belonging- to good government has been
left undone . ; the court was profligate above measure ; the people superstitious and ignorant . So base a country might want this scourge to rouse it from its lethargy , and . the example is good for ail nation * . It will teach them that , if
they grow remiss , inactive , and slothful , permit wicked and bad laws to govern them , have no care of the common good , but each one regardless of it is thinking only of his own personal interest , nothing can be expected from them , but the necessary effects of depravity , under which they must either sink , or be roused by some great and
urgent calamity . Whether Spain is conquered or not by Buonaparte , its government will be improved , and its condition meliorated ; but it may have many dreadful scenes to go through before either event takes place . Such are the effects of sin and folly : yet as in private so in public life , the door is always open for repentance .
The national Junta is actively cmployed , but we have not seen any decisive proof as yet of great energy or great ability . It seems to feel for the want of action in its generals ; but harm may now be done by urging them on too much . The summer has been lost , and the time cannot be recalled by incautious measures . We lamented to
see , that a grand Inqui ition had been appointed , and that nothing lias been done towards the call of a . general Cortez . It is in these times of conflict , that reform should fake place . Whilst the feelings . arc most alive to abuses , tjie weeds should be cut down and thrown
into the fire , if thev are MifFcred to grow , so . many will be intcre -ted in the continuance oi them , that the necessary work will be put off from day to day , when there is moie leisure to perform it . The influence of the piit-sthood also continues to be great in Spain . This country was a nii'in sray of popery .
We dread to think of its approaching ; fate , for assuredly the trumpery of that religion , and its flagrant abuses must come to an enfl . If Buonaparte in the appointed instrument , it is better that it ehould be done by him than not done at all : for crimes a ' g-aiuist nature are not to Ke tolerated , and the abominable wickedness of constraining every man to pro-
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fess a false religion is 90 great , that , i ? there is no disposition from within to reform , the reform must come from without . The position of the various armies is not easily to be ascertained . A general idea of the approaching campaign may
be taken , by drawing a line , from Bilboa to Barcelona ; the no th of this line i 9 chiefly French , and the grand French aiiny is near the middle of it , but nearest to Eilboa . A large body of English troops has been landed in Biicuy , after a very considerable < * elay , occasioned by
the negligence of the persons , who sent out the expedition , 121 not having previously obtained the license from the supreme Junta for their landing . After their landing , they werd marched to Burgos , and a junction will be formed , it
not prevented by Buonaparte , between them , and the troops from Lisbon under general Moore , who are marched through Salamanca . * A considerable army of Spaniards under general Blake watches the French near Bilboa . There
is another army to the left , and a very considerable body to the front of them , but their stations are not well defined . By this time Buonaparte has shewn his intentions , for the attack will begic with him .
In Portugal , difficulties have arisen about the government , and no small dissatisfaction has been excited by the convention of Cintra , arid the conduct of the English armies . The English in fact seein to have considered
theniselves as principals not as auxiliaries , in their intercourse with both civil and military officers . The commanders either civil or military of Portugal , w ^ re not consulted in the Convention , and ( lie m : inaj > emcnt of every thing seemed to have been taken as a right on our part , and a regency was appointed against which exceptions might be taken . The
consequence was as might be expected ; protests from Portuguese generals and civil magistrates . The regency is not acknowledged in some parts of the kingdom , and we shall learn by experience , that it would have been by far the wiser part to have gone hand in hand with the Portuguese from the beginning to " the end of the business .
The result of the meeting of the two emperors is not known . They seem to have parted with the utmost cordiality-The strongest mind without doubt . prevailed , and one certain eflccc has bco *
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512 State of Puttie Affairs ^
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1808, page 612, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2398/page/36/
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