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Eke other princes, is invested with a two-fold character, namely, of sovereign pontiff, and of temporal sovereign, and has given repeated evidence that he cannot, by virtue of this second qualification, euter upon engagements which would lead to results militating against his first and most important office, and injaring the religion of which he is the head, the propagator, and the avenger. His holess, therefore, cannot enter into any of fensive and defensive league, which would, by a permanent and progressive system, drag him into hostility against all those powers upon which his majesty may think proper to mike war; since the Italian States, now dependent upon his majesty, can never avoid taking part in such wars. His holiness would consequently be obliged to become a party in them by virtue of this league. Such an engagement must begin to be acted upon by the pope from this moment, and against any Catholic prince; thus waging war against him without a motive. Farther, it must be waged against all those powers, whether Catholic or not, who may, upon whatever grounds, be the enemies of any Italian prince. Thus is the head of the church, accustomed as he is to rule his estates in peace, driven in a moment to a state of warfare, offensive against hostile powers, and defensive of the others. This engagement is too repugnant to the sacred duties of his holiness, and too injurious to the interests of religion, to be entered into by the head of that religion. His holiness feels that it would be a dereliction of truth to enter into the league; be would announce, by such a resolution, his refusal of any accommodation, any peace with the emperor, and would even declare hostilities against him. How could it ever be supposed, that his holiness should be capable of declaring war against any power? He has long been enduring the most hostile treatment, and is therefore prepared to endure the threatened loss of his temporal dominions.-Heaven is witness of the purity of his holiness' intentions, and the world will judge if it was possible to have conceived so extraordinary a scheme. Ardently desiring to compromise, ar, to be in peace with his majesty, he manifested in his note of the $8th of January last, his compliance, as far as it was possible to comply; his majesty, however, does not practise all those condescensions, which he might practise towards the holy see; he persists inflexibly in demanding what his holiness neither can nor will accede to, namely, in binding him to a war, and to a perpetual and aggressive war, under the pretence of securing the tranquillity of Italy. What can Italy have to fear, if his holiness should not enter into

the proposed league?-Surrounded as the papal dominions are by those of his majesty, no rational fear could be entertained but of the ports; yet his holiness having offered to shut them, during the present war, against the enemies of France, and to guard the coast, he thus proposed to contribute, as far as was in his power, without betraying his sacred duties, to the security and tranquillity of Italy. If, in spite of all this, his majesty shall take possession, as he has threatened, of the papal dominions, respected by all, even the most powerful monarchy, during a space of ten centuries and upwards, and shall overturn the government, his holiness will be unable to prevent this spoliation, and can only, in bitter affliction of heart, lament the evil which his majesty will commit in the sight of God; trusting in whose protection, his holiness will remain in perfect tranquillity, enjoying the consciousness of not having brought on this disaster by imprudence, or by obstinacy, but to preserve the independence of that sovereignty which he ought to transmit, uninjured, to his successors, as he received it; and to maintain, in its integrity, that conduct which may secure the universal concurrence of all princes, so necessary to the welfare of religion. For this fidelity to his sacred duties, his holiness will receive consolation from the words of his divine master-Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness' sake."With respect to the article relating to the dismissal of the cardinals, his holiness, in the complaints alledged, had no need of ex--amining the principle of their allegiance. Presuming on that freedom which the rights of nations allow to every man, to live under that sky which is most congenial to him; presuming on that new allegiance acquired by the domicile of many years, his holiness remarks, that primitive allegiance cannot avail against the sacred obligations undertaken by the cardinals in the church of God, the oaths they take on receiving the purple, and their eminent office of counsellors to the sovereign pontiff in his spiritual concerns; and that, therefore they cannot be torn from his bosom.-With regard to the cessation of the functions of the legate, and to his departure, his holiness could hardly have expected that they would have been attributed to the motives assigned in M. Champagny's note. His holiness will repeat them once more. After having tried every method to recal his majesty to his previous sentiments towards the papal see, and to concert the desired reparation of so many religious innovations; after having endured, for such a length of time, with unsubdued patience, and with unalterable meekness, so many out

rages and insults; after having seen how fruitless were all the remonstrances urged against the hostile proceedings of the French; after having peaceably borne the humiliation of imprisonment; and seeing these insults, these contempts, these violations, increase with every hour. his holiness found it necessary, though with the deepest regret, to determine on the recal of his legate in order to overthrow, at least, in the face of the world, the false and scandalous opinion that whatever might occur, even the most flagrant wrongs, would receive his tacit consent..

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In this very recal, the precise period of which could not have been anticipated by his holiness, he professed, along with these. constant affectionate regards which he entertained for his majesty, that could he but consent to the demand of the evacuation of Rome, and be satisfied with those concessions which are compatible with the duties of his holiness, the legate might continue, in conformity with his instructions, to exercise his functions.-But his majesty proved inflexible, and instead of receding a single step, preferred the discontinuance of the legation, and the departure of the pontifical representative. It is not, therefore, his holiness, who by this hypothetical recal of his legate, has declared war against the emperor; it is the emperor who chooses to declare war against his holiness; and not content with declaring it against his temporal sovereigny, he threatens to raise in his spiritual, a wall of division between the catholics of France and the sovereign pontiff, in the as surance, according to M. Champagny's note, that the cardinal legate having given up his functions, the Gallican church resumed its doctrine in all its integrity.-His holiness has too good an opinion of the illustrious clergy of France to doubt that the Gallican church, however jealous of its prerogatives, is yet so attached to the chair of St. Peter, that it will maintain itself unshaken in its true principies, without asserting rights, which it does not and cannot possess; nor become schismatic, by separating itself from the catholic unity-It is not then-the repetition is important-it is not his holiness who seeks the rupture. A pacific prince, notwithstanding he was obliged to witness the spoliation, indefiance of all right, of his states of Benevento and Ponte Corvo; notwithstanding his enormous expense of maintaining French troops; notwithstanding the usurpation of his capital, the usurpation of almost all his sovereign rights; notwithstanding the violent dismissal of so

many spiritual persons, composing his holy senate; and notwithstanding all the other acts, by which his dignity has been degraded, all that his holiness did was to command his people when the French army entered Rome, to shew it respect; all that his holiness did was to receive it in the most hospitable manner, and implore of his majesty, in the mean time, relief from so many aggravated evils; and all that his holiness now does in this extremity is, to mourn between the vestibule and the altar, invoking the pity of heaven upon his people, and that by a return to better counsels, the most potent em peror Napoleon will not suffer the inheri tance of the Roman see, given by provi dence to the head of the catholic church in full enjoyment, to be lost and rooted out.— Thus has his holiness made war! Thus has he conducted himself to the present hour towards his majesty, however distressing and unfortunate has been the result. Still his holiness will cherish the hope that his majesty, rejecting the counsels of the enemies of the holy see, who have had recourse to every art to change his disposition, will revert to their former friendly correspondence, and be satisfied with the concessions made in the note of the 28th of January. If, by the hi den purposes of the Most High, this should not take place, and his majesty regardless of his own glory, and deaf to the calls of justice, should put his threats in execution, and take possession of the states of the church by right of conquest, overturning the government in consequence, his hoitness will be unable to remedy such fatal Occurrences, but he solemnly declares, that the first will not be a conquest, as his holiness is in peace with all the world, but will be an usurpation more violent than history can furnish; and the second will not be the result of conquest, but of that usurpation He declares, at the same time, that it will not be the work of political genius and illu mination, but an awful visitation of that God from whom all sovereignty is derived and especially that given to the head of the church.-Bowing, in that event, with pro found adoration to the decrees of heaven, his holiness will find consolation in reflecting that the creator and redeemer willed these things, and that all concurs to accomplish his purposes when his appointed time arrives

This is the answer which the undersigned is commanded by his holiness to give to the note of M. Champagny, and to communi cale to your excellency.-CARDINAL GA

BRIELLI.

Printed by Cox and Baylis, Great Queen Street; published by K. Bagshaw, Brydges Street, Covent Garlen, where former Numbers may be had: sold also by J. Budd, Crown and Mitre, Pall-Mall.

VOL. XIV. No. 4.]

LONDON, SATURDAY, JULY 23, 1808.

[PRICE 10D.

"The commotion, more or less violent, which has taken place in the whole peninsula of Spain, has been "ef eminent service to awaken us from the state of lethargy in which we indulged; to make us acquainted "with our rights, our glory, and our duty towards our holy religion and our king. We wanted some elec❝tric stroke to rouse us from our paralytic state of inactivity. We stood in need of a hurricane, to clear the " atmosphere of the insalubrious vapours with which it was loaded."-ADDRESS OF GENERAL MORLA to the People of Cadiz, June 15, 1808.

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SUMMARY OF POLITICS. SPANISH REVOLUTION From what has been published under official authority, there appears good reason to hope, that the French army under General DUPONT has been worsted, if not made prisoners of war, by an unconditional surrender. This event, if it should have taken place, together with the unconditional surrender of Rosilly's fleet, at Cadiz, will have a wonderful effect upon the minds of men both in France and Spain, and, indeed, in every other part of Europe. But, auspicious as these events must be conside.ed, I derive less satisfaction from them, than from the sentiments expressed by the revolutionists, and the evident moral efect, which the contest is producing, and has already produced in Spain. Amongst the regulations, contained in the edict, issued by the revolutionary government, for calling forth the exertions of the people, one is, that all the people, women as well as men, of whatever rank they may be, who are not employed in military service, shall assist in getting in the harvest, with the exception of such women as are aged, or infirm, or of weak constitutions, and these are called on to employ themselves in preparing lint and bandages for the use of the hospitals. What a change! What a train of new and noble ideas must be created! What a sweeping and fatal scythe to luxury and all its endless train of vices! Smash, all to atoms, go the fashions and follies of the cities. The swarms of players, buffoons, musicians, makers of false hair, false eyes, false teeth, faise shoulders, and false breasts; the pimps, parasites, bawds; the toad-eaters, whether in red, blue or black. The whole of this numberless swarm are dispersed; are driven, by the first rustle of the storm, from the fruits upon which they were gorging; and, are compelled either to fight, or to help to get in the harvest. If this be not a revolution, I want to know what the word revolution means. When the air is foul and unwholesome, those qualities arise from its being full of noxious creatures; and, as General Morla

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well observes, when this is the case, a hurricane is necessary.As to any hope of the French being resisted without a total change of the government, and even a very considerable shifting of property, it is downright folly to entertain it. Already is there a paper-money, and a scheme for selling part, at least, of the property of the church. If this be the case before the contest is well begun, what must take place before it be ended?The Courier newspaper, of the 15th instant, has an article upon the subject of Spain, which demands particular notice. The Morning Chronicle, of the same day. contained the following paragraph: "We cannot contemplate this project of an attack on Austria without dread, "when we think of the debasing preju "dices, and debilitating system of the court "of Vienna. All their sufferings have not "served to open their eyes to the impolicy "of their principles of government. May we cherish a hope that in this, the extremity of their fortune, they will make a virtue of necessity, and begin by giving to "the people a country for which to fight."

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Nothing can be more reasonable; and, ex- ́
This is, surely, very sound doctrine.
perience, to kings woeful experience, has
proved, that nothing can be more true. Yet,
does the Courier take great offence at it;
and, as if it, or its masters, were a party
deeply interested, flies in a passion, and
falls into the foulest of misrepresentation
and abuse." This, it will be remem-
"bered," says the Courier, was
the dis-
gusting and detestable language of a fac-
tion at the beginning of the present war.
According to them Britons had nothing
"to fight for.-Nothing! fighting to avoid.

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subjugation by Buonaparte was fighting "for nothing!! It was by such abomina"bie language and doctrines circulated in "Germany by writers styling themselves "philosophers, who endeavoured to phi

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losophize mankind into an indifference to

country, constitution, and climate, to "make them look upon themselves not as "citizens belonging to a particular state,

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rope-the Calabrian peasantry and the Spanish people. They lived under con"stitutions perfectly despotic; yet when "they were invaded by the French they did 46 not listen to the Burdettites and cold "calculating politicians, who told them

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they had nothing to fight for-they flew "to arms and resistance; for they felt that no curse can be so great as being a con"quered nation, and conquered, too, by "the French. Yet upon the principles of "the Burdett party, and of the late ministers, who say now, that the Austrian government, before they resist Bonaparte, should begin by giving the people a country to fight for," the Spaniards "and the Calabrians should have said, give us a country first, before we fight against those who are attempting to 65 66 conquer it." Among the Spaniards we saw none of these men attempting to "damp the ardour and heart of the nation, "by such dispiriting doctrines--No-no

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"balance, when weighed against the preponderating and imperious necessity of preventing their country from falling "under the yoke of France.-Doctrines "and language such as those to which we "have alluded, we had hoped never to "have heard again; they cannot be too deeply deprecated, they cannot be too strongly reprobated; they are most execrable; they are the doctrines that are admirably calculated to do service to the enemy; make but a people believe that they have no country to fight for, and "they are half conquered to Bonaparte's "hands already."- -This article sets out with a falshood, which has been a hundred times refuted, but which has still preserved its malice in the breast of the foul propagator, though he himself has experienced at change of place.- -With respect to the Germans being now in a worse situation, than they were in under their former government, that is a point upon which men differ; but, supposing it to be granted to this outrageous assertor, he forgets, that men will very willingly suffer much themselves, in order to bring suffering upon their oppressors; and, he also forgets, that the sufferings of the Germans, though we were to allow them to be more acute, are not so firmly settled, and so likely to be permanent, as they were before. The hurricane as General Morla says, was necessary; and, though there be a sort of pause, the hurricane is not yet over in Germany. If the Germans should, by and by, rouse themselves, shake off the yoke of France, and, which will follow as a matter of course, establish freedom in their country, will the Courier deny, that the French invasion was

good thing for Germany?-We are next desired to bear in mind, that it has been only amongst those who were the least enlightened, and who lived under governments che most despotic, that the French have met with any thing like manly resistance; which is a pretty broad hint, that it is best for people to be kept in this state. The Calabrians and Spaniards, we are told, "did not listen "to the cold calculations of the Burdettites; they flew instantly to arms and resistance; "for they felt, that no curse could be so great as being a conquered nation; yet, "upon the principles of the Burdett party, they should have said: " give us a coun

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try to fight for, before we fight against ""those who are attempting to conquer "it." No, Sir, there would have been no sense in their saying this; for, though, seemingly, you would wish the world to forget the very important and valuable fact,

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they had a country to fight for, before they drew a single sword from the scabbard. Before they drew the sword, their country was left to themselves; they had neither king nor prince; and, in the case of Spain, so far from having a sharer in their country, they took up arms to defend it for themselves, agst the declared will, and in defiance of the coinmands of the sovereign, whose authority, until then, they had implicitly obeyed. The Burdettites would not have been so foolish as to say: give the Spaniards a country to defend." They had got a country. They had it entirely in their own hands. If its government was bad, it was their own fault. They had a country, and, therefore, they took up arms to fight. No, Sir. It was not because the Calabrians and the Spaniards were under the most despotic governments; this was not the cause of their taking op arms in resis tance to the general invader; it was from a cause of precisely an opposite nature; it was because, they felt that they might, by fighting, now obtain their freedom. Their shackles had been, all of a sudden, broken, or, rather, they had been let loose. through the imbecility of their masters. They once more felt the use of their limbs; they tasted the sweels of freedom, and they were ready to die rather than again become slaves. No, Sir, I pray you look not in the Spanish revolution for a compliment to despotic government. While that government existed, not a noble deed or a noble sentiment did any mou ever hear of in Spain, formerly so renowned for her valour. The French troops came unresisted to Madrid; the French fleet domineered in Cadiz; the people, in all parts of Spain where the French appeared, gave up their dinners to feed and their coats to cloth, those very troops, whom, since that government has ceased to exist, they have been preparing to fight to extermination. No, Sir, we must not suffer you to persuade your readers, that the most effectual way of rendering a country invulnerable against the French, is to make its government desponc. This is a very pernicious doctrine, however well it may suit your purposes to promulgate it, and however palatable, to some persons, it might be. We contend, that the Spaniards are now free men, fighting for the preservation of their freedom; we hear them declaring, that the Cortes, or real representatives of the people, shall be restored; that there shall be a reform of the abuses, existing under the late government, which they term base and infamous;" we, therefore heartily wish then success. But, you obstinately

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persist in considering them as moved to action by the principles of despotism, and as baving in view no other object than the preservation of that despotism. Napoleon, for once, outwitted himself. He should have suffered the king to remain in the country, and brought in his brother softly, without any interregnum He should have suffered no cessation of the despotism. The new master should have come in, before the old one quitted the house. There should have been not a moment's suspension of the use of the rod. When a German birdcatcher sells you one of the poor little creatures whom he has enslaved, he takes a special care to put him out of his hand safely into yours; but, king Charles, as if he had meant to defraud his "intimate "friend," Napoleon, let the bird fly, and left his intimate friend to catch him and tame him again. The bird, delighted with the enjoyment of his native freedom, bas hitherto withstood all the temptations of the decoy at Bayonne, though the old birdcatcher has lent it his assistance; and, Napoleon, in a rage, has sent out his marksmen to destroy what he fears he cannot possess. No, Sir, you will never persuade the world, that the energy, the wisdom, the bravery, now displayed in Spain, are the fruit of despotic government. I can easily conceive reasons for your wishing to cause this to be believed; but, in this, at least, you make up your mind to a complete want of success.--

Make a people but believe, "that they have no count y to fight for, "and they are already half conquered to "Buonaparte's hands." Make a people believe, Sir? Why, do you think it possible to make a man believe that he is cold when he feels the sweat pouring down his forehead? If the belief was produced, in Germany, for instance, by artificial means, bad not the government the use of ample means wherewith to counteract the philoso phers? It was done by printing, was it? And cannot governments employ the press, Sir; cannot they keep hireling writers and hireling printers in their pay; cannot they expend a considerable part of the taxes for the purpose of producing a belief in the public mind? Had the philosophers of Germany greater powers of this sort than the several governments had? No, Sir, phi

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