are reduced then to this alternative: either the charges against innovation contained in this Declaration of the Allies are groundless, in which case it is incumbent on us to reprobate the hypocritical pretext under which they veil their abominable intentions: or, admitting the truth of the charges, we are in conscience bound to allow that they are applicable to the English Government:-" utrum horum mavis accipe." Let Government take their choice. Will they allow that the Allies have no ground for the censure which they pass on innovations-or will they be content that their own conduct should be held up to the execration of all supporters of legitimacy, and that they who have assumed to themselves such a high character for loyalty, should be branded as the disturbers of the tranquillity of Europe, and should be ranked with those very Carbonari whom they so strongly blame?

But are these the only instances of innovations in the states of Europe? Are there no parallels to be found to these great and crying sins, which have called down the vengeance of the high Allies?

If there were one place more than another, where we should not have expected to find the principle of innovation recognised, it would have been the Congress of Vienna. Surely such heterodox and anarchical notions, fit only for the polluted atmosphere of popular assemblies, can never have found their way into the presence-chamber, where were seated the great supporters of legitimate dynasties. Surely those who thus denounce innovation, cannot have been themselves the greatest of all innovators!

Would to God that I could meet the question with a decided negative! But the difference between the proceedings of that Congress and those of the Neapolitans, was not the difference between dignified and licentious principles, but it was the difference between those who are the authors of innovation in their own kingdom, to ensure its liberty, and those who are the authors of innovations in states with which they have not the least concern, in order to ensure their thraldom. Mockery is added to aggression; and the Allies, not satisfied with marching an army against Naples, have the effrontery to assign as a reason, that Naples has been guilty of innovations, when all the world must know how much greater innovators they have been themselves.

But probably I do injustice to the Allies. Probably they do not intend to oppose all innovations, but only such as do not originate with themselves. Alteration and change may be very requisite and proper, but they ought not to proceed from the low and vulgar herd. What pretensions can this base, degenerate multitude have to legislation? Let us gather wisdom from experience, they may say. It was by such instruments and such means that the British Constitution was established. Let us, then, guard

against such events; let us be careful how we tolerate principles which would prevent us from enjoying our old hereditary rights of taxing our subjects at pleasure, and of disposing of their persons according to our whim and caprice..

But, allow me to ask, will Europe, in the nineteenth century, calmly submit to be thus dictated to? By what right have these Sovereigns ventured to promulgate these laws for the world, and to enforce them by a recourse to arms? What authority can they adduce for their power? I know of no authority for any power except the choice of a nation, expressed or implied, or the right of conquest. These are the two modes of acquiring power mentioned by Puffendorff: "Interdum per violentiam bellicam aliqui adiguntur in victoris imperium consentire; interdum ultro ad aliquem principem constituendum cives accedunt."

When any men thus assume to themselves a power unsanctioned by law, it is impossible to say where it may stop. As long as that great bulwark of human happiness, law, prevails, whatever extent may be sometimes allowed to indiscretion, or even to passion and prejudice, still there are certain limits beyond which vice cannot pass. But when once this is removed, farewell morality! farewell all safety! The law of nature will be found but feeble and inefficient by itself, since, if it were by itself sufficiently comprehensive and powerful, where would be the necessity for municipal law? Municipal law declares and enforces those great truths which natural law enacts, and requires the performance of those other duties which the respective welfare of different states may render expedient. But this handmaid of natural law is rendered useless by a Declaration, which is so far from being made in compliance with the regulations of any municipal law, that it abrogates many of the codes at present held to be legal by various nations, and pronounces that no constitution is valid which does not happen to please the members of the Holy Alliance.

There has indeed been a report, that, in pursuance of their authority, they have already proceeded to revise the laws of this country, and have proposed as a beneficial amendment, that the law which forbids the introduction of foreign troops without the consent of Parliament, should be no longer attended to. I hope that so monstrous a proposal will not be entertained in this country for an instant, whilst there remains one spark of real English feeling. By the respect which it owes to the memory of those great men who framed the Declaration of Rights-by the sense which it ought to entertain of the blessings which that Bill has ensured to it-I conjure this country never to submit to so flagrant a violation of its fundamental laws. Better to be placed on the very verge of ruin; better to experience any disturbances, or to suffer any distresses, than to surrender our protection into such hands!

With what indignant contempt would Somers have spurned such an ignominious proposal! Could he have lived to see the day when a foreign potentate offered to take England under his protection, how would that great man's soul have glowed for his country's honor! Never, never let it be recorded in the page of history, that, after having fought the battles of Europe, after having discomfited the hostile myriads of France, and having broken the bonds of the nations;-after having beamed forth as a star of redemption to reviving empires, but a few brief years had elapsed ere we were so sunk, lost, and degraded, as to enjoy our liberties at the mercy of foreign bayonets. In vain was King William placed upon the throne-in vain have been all our exertions, all our efforts, if they are thus to terminate. I hope and believe that there is not an individual in the Cabinet who would approve of such a measure, nor a single Member of the Legislature who would hesitate to arraign the Minister who dared to approve of it. When such proposals are tolerated, England is no more! The skeleton of her Constitution may remain, the formalities may be gone through with unmeaning mummery, but the spirit of independence which has hitherto distinguished the English character will be gone for ever. For ever will be fled those high attributes, those spirit-stirring sentiments, those upright and manly qualities, which more than all our fleets and armies have raised this country to such a boasted eminence! There will be no riotous mobs, no seditious leaders; there will be perfect security from popular commotion. But it will be such security and such quiet as German slaves enjoy, in the stead of the rational Government of England. With the extravagancies of freedom we shall have lost the spirit itself; and, instead of being pointed out as the co-patriots of Russell and of Chatham, we must be ranked as the myrmidons of foreign power, and bow our necks in servitude!

The next point to which I shall allude is the omission of the British Ministry to remonstrate against the invasion of Naples. It behoved the Ministers of this country to make such an effort in behalf of a people whose crime it is to have acted as our ancestors acted, and in conformity with our own recommendations in 1814. Whatever might have been the effect of the remonstrance, it should have been made. If it had been unsuccessful, yet it would have been an assurance to the world and to posterity, of our detestation of the conduct of the Allies.

It has been intimated by some, that war must have been the necessary consequence of a remonstrance, and that this country is not able to sustain a war. But, however great may be the difficulties by which we are encompassed, I feel confident that we are fully able to maintain our principles. War should be the last

resort of the wise and virtuous, but there are circumstances which supersede the ordinary motives of prudence and caution. And what circumstances should be more efficient to do so, than those of a nation fighting for independence?

66

There is too much reason to fear that the Neapolitans will not be able long to withstand the invasion of the Allies. Yet we may be allowed to cherish a hope of the contrary, when we call to mind the names of Marathon, Platæa, Salamis,-where infant freedom dawned upon mankind. May Naples have her plains of victory for future generations to contemplate; and may her valor prove not unworthy of the sacred cause in which it is enlisted! Whatever may be the issue of the contest, the attempts of the Allies to stifle the spirit of the age must prove abortive. The progress of liberal ideas is, to use Lord Bacon's words, a spark of fire that flies in the faces of those who seek to tread it out.' If there were a probability of the success of the Allies, the prospect before us would be dreary and dismal. The extinction of liberty has always been followed by the decay of genius and prosperity. Bear witness, Greece! In thy full flower of freedom, the glory of the earth, and the queen of wisdom, thy poets struck the string whose weakest note could wake the soul to high aspirings; thy sages reared the chaste and mighty structure of philosophy; thy orators

"Shook the arsenal, and fulmin'd over Greece,

To Macedon and Artaxerxes' thrones;"

thy heroes dared those wondrous feats which have been canonized in deathless verse! But when the constellation of thy freedom set, its satellites set with it. Thy orb of glory became extinct, and rude barbarians tread thy hallowed soil. Bear witness, Venice! The world gazes with delight at the works of art reared in the days of thy independence! Then, too, thy wisdom and thy valor made thee formidable to the foreign foe. But when the heaven-engendered thoughts of freedom were no longer thine, the arts quitted their once favored abode, and now thou art prostrate and disconsolate in bondage.

Do, then, the members of this Holy Alliance think it consistent with the principles of the religion of which they profess themselves the champions, to stifle the noblest sentiments which ever find place in the heart of man, and to blast the germs of talent? Do they consider the disregard of private rights, and the enforcement of absolute monarchy by military violence, to be precepts of Christian ethics?

Let the world be on its guard against these specious pretexts! Let it not be deceived by the mask of hypocrisy, nor be blind to the odious designs which are entertained! May Naples triumph,

and may she teach sovereigns to be cautious how they venture to trespass on the rights of freemen!

The transactions relating to it are of very great importance when considered by themselves. But when we reflect that they are combined with principles which are spread throughout Europe; when we cast our eyes around, and perceive in every quarter the same violent spirit in the rulers, and the same free and liberal notions diffused amongst the people, we cannot but be deeply impressed with the awful crisis. Whatever may take place, I pray God that England may not prove unworthy of the reputation which she has already obtained! Let not trivial differences and the instigations of private ambition distract our attention at such a moment. Let us remember that this is that great and glorious land which has not sanctioned the ideal theories of speculative republicans, nor owned the authority of imperial edicts. But, in the stead of these, she can boast of the noblest system of government, which secures to us all the liberty of a republic without its licentiousness-all the wisdom of an aristocracy without its feudsand all the strength and despatch of monarchy without despotism. Let us remember that we tread the land of patriot heroes, who have preserved this hallowed island unpolluted by foreign conquest. Be it not forgotten, that this is the country of upright statesmen, whose justice and whose integrity have shed around their native land bright and lasting rays

"And shall these labors and these honors die ?"

Shall we prove unworthy of our immortal forefathers, and regardless of those blessings which they have consigned to us? It must not be it cannot be!

We have, indeed, of late lost many of those eminent men, whose assistance would have been invaluable to us at the present time. Horner, arrested by the hand of death in his mid-career of virtue; Romilly, who consecrated the most splendid talents at the shrine of the purest humanity; Grattan, whom nor the shouts of the people nor the influence of power could allure from his country's service :-these are no more! But let us hope that their examples are not left to us in vain. Distant be the day when England shall be destitute of statesmen worthy of herself!

We have still left many men of great talent and unquestionable integrity. Let us hope that they will be succeeded by others of equal ability, and that there may not be wanting those who can hand down unimpaired to posterity our liberties and honor. I could mention one illustrious youth, who, descended from a long and renowned ancestry, has already obtained a distinguished academic honor, and who seems destined to shed fresh lustre on his hereditary rank by his personal merits. But I forbear to VOL. XVIII. NO. XXXV. D

Pum.