the treacherous and unprincipled part which she has acted: and well may the Spanish people blush at the meanness with which they have tarnished their character by crouching under the invasion of a foreign enemy, and, at his bidding, putting their neck into a yoke which they had once thrown off; but at the same time let it not be forgotten, that the treachery of France would have been unavailing, if the party, which, for three years, had the reins of government in their hands, had acted either with common honesty or with common sense.
The inglorious triumph of the French beyond the Pyrenees, though productive of present mischief and pregnant with the seeds of much future disorder, has not, however, been entirely without its benefits to the world. It has made the separation between Spain and her late colonies still more complete; and the fears of European aggression, with which it has inspired them, have checked a spirit of disunion which might have weakened the infant states of South America. A still more important consequence of the French success is, that England has been compelled to avow explicitly the course of policy which she means to pursue towards the Transatlantic powers; and that policy is one which is little palatable to the Holy Alliance. From the principles of that alliance, indeed, England has now, openly and in the eyes of the whole world, seceded. The monarchs of the continent may continue to announce, in their circulars their mystical axioms of oppression; but the nations are now aware, that England will neither co-operate in the plans of those sovereigns, nor sanction their doctrines. This is a great gain to the cause of good government, both in respect of direct political strength, and still more in respect of influence over the public opinion of Europe.
The situation of England, in the late intricate state of Spanish affairs, was one of no ordinary delicacy; and in it our ministers have acted with a prudence and foresight which have met with universal applause at home, except from that small party of generous