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with man, as he was a young woman? How often have heard persons exHas the period of 1800 years, diminished claim "I wonder how any one can be so his strength, or is he a man that he credulous as to be lead away by that should have grown imbecile through age? woman."--In the same manner I have ---How often do we call the Jews a set of heard a gaping clown, when staring at hard hearted and blood thirsty villains the lofty fabric of St. Paul, express his for not believing what took place in their astonishment, that human ingenuity could own day, but executing the Son of God plan and erect so stupendous a pile; but as an impostor. Every impartial person the skilful architect views it with far less must acknowledge, that the great bulk amazement, because he knows the prinof the English place themselves just in ciples upon which the temple was dethe same situation as the Jews, when signed, and the means by which that they ridiculed the Prophetess, and would design was carried into execution, and have persecuted her if our Prince had could himself, perhaps, raise as grand been as weak as Pontius Pilate, and had a structure, if he had the same opportuyielded to their senseless murder brea- nity of displaying his abilities.-Docs thing clamour. It would have been much not this prove, that all our wonder arises more becoming in such insignificant from our ignorance, and that the only animals as we are, to have waited with reason why we are surprised at the weakpatient submission to the Decrees of ness of the Southcoterians is, that we are Heaven, and not presumptuously attempt unacquainted with the theory of the huto scan the ways of providence by man mind in general, and with our own judging and determining before the ap- faculties in particular? If we were capointed time. We called these people pable of divesting ourselves of the presuperstitious, weak, and stupid, for cre- judices of education, the tranimels of diting that which was not more wonder- superstition, and all the shackles which ful than what we firmly believe, though surrounding circumstances impose upon it took place near 2000 years since, and us; if we could dissect our brain, anais handed down to de by tradition, thruly23 oui Adeas, and make an inventory of the dark ages and a variety of mediums which we often take a pleasure in proving to be suspicious. Does not all this open a door to the scoffs and jeers of Infidels? Does it not give them a glorious opportunity of making our foolish conduct in this respect, a powerful engine wherewith to strike at the very root of our holy religion, by shewing us how easily we can see the errors and absurdities of others, and wonder at their being so besotted, when, if we were capable of asking ourselves a few close questions, we might perhaps find that we were cherishing in our own minds dogmas equally repugnant to common sense. Our prince is aware, that if the discussion of these topics had been pushed still further by the misguided zeal of religious persecution, it would give scope to a thousand such illnatured observations and inferences as those I have just men tioned; therefore I look up to him with veneration, as an experienced Father, whose judgement is not blinded by his affection for his children, but who has the resolution to deny such of their requests as his superior knowledge, and foresight, convinces him will militate against their happiness.

our knowledge, we should find the portion of it obtained by thinking, examining, and judging for ourselves, so small as hardly to be discernible in the mass of rubbish that we have received with-', out investigation, from our nurse, our schoolmaster, and our priest.-The instruction we imbibed from these, was considered as the dictates of truth and reason by our infantine capacities. We grow up in reverence of what we have learned from parents, elders, and superiors, falsely conceiving it the result of our own conviction, and, whether right or wrong, becoming more obstinately bigotted to it the longer we continue it. Our self love, pride, and vanity, prompt us to attach a peculiar importance to our own opinions, and to attribute them to our judgment and discrimination, or to any cause but that of chance, or accident, which threw us in the way of the education we have received, whether good or bad. To set our knowledge of, or our fondness for, particular dogmas to their account, instead of to our own election, is not sufficiently flattering to human nature. Is it then to Le wondered at that the more ignorant we are, the more obstinate we shall be in adhering to any

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even though I should be thought a Southcoterian in disguise, and be loaded with every species of opprobrium. I do roundly assest, without the fear of contradiction, that the texts selected by Mrs. Southcott for the illustration of her doctrines, are as pointed and as applicable as any of those upon which we ground the christian system. To those who say that her death proved the fallacy of her scheme, and her followers will no longer exist as a sect, it is answered that her disciples know the Almighty has changed his mind before; he had repented that he had made man, that he called Jesus Christ to hea ven before he had caused the Lion and the Lamb to lay down together, and the land to flow with milk and honey; and may he not, say the true believers, have some wise and mysterious end in view in taking the holy prophetess to nimett, vichout Diessing with the Shiloh. Perhaps the crying sins of this great Babylon have offended him. But be this as it may, whatever is, is right; it is all for the best, and must at last work together for good. Let us then cordially unite in offering up those sentiments of praise, which are the emanation of a true and loyal heart, to our good and gracious Prince Regent, for his mild and generous conduct towards this new sect of christians, which, I have no doubt will flourish to the end of time;

idiculous notion we may have embraced out having read her works, or examin And is it not evident, that the propered the passages in holy writ upon reason the bulk of manklad ought to which she rested her divine mission. assign for their profession of a particular I have that zeal and enthusiasm in the religion is, that I am a good Mabom-cause of truth, that I will make no scrumetau, because I was born at Constanti-ple in declaring my opinion on this case, nople, and a true Christian, because 1 was born at London? --When we reflect upon the history of mau, can we be susprised at any thing he does under the inftuence of religion?-There is no principle so powerful over the human mind as superstition, when enforced and directed by a Priest. It is quite immaterial whether it is the worship of the most hideous idol to which the poor benighted Indian bows the knee,or the more rational adoration of a Supreme Being, as the Author of Nature. Their effects will be the same wherever a Priesthood have the liberty of modifying them to answer their owa interested purposes-Let us then be moderate and charitable, and avoid exposing our shallow knowledge of self, by abusing others, even if they should Le in error. But God forbid that should say they are because they see more in my Bible than I have been is every other vvience to be extended and improved, and not that of religion?-The Jews never discovered that our system was predicted in their books and will not believe it to this day. The language of oracles and prophecies has never been direct and perspicuous, but, on the contrary, dark and mysterious. The fertile imagination of St. Augustine could see the whole of the New Testament in the Old: he discovered that even the piece of red rag held out as a signal by a harlot, was typical of the blood of our blessed Sa-it being my most serious persuasion, vibur, and the two wives of Abraham meant the synagogue and the catholic church. We protestants, in our exposttions, make the man of sin to be the pope, the Romish religion antichristian; and the more enlightened Southcoterians can see still farther than us. They find that Jesus went off without making the earth a paradise as was promised, and quote passages from scripture to prove

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that, according to critical evidence, this system and our own only holy and infallible faith must stand or fall together. ESRASMUS PERKINS.

London, Feb. 17, 1815.

his second coming in the child SHILOH, The American Documents to be continued to fulfil what he left undone. Hundreds have condemned the prophetess with

in the next Number.

Printed and Published by G. HOUSTON: No. 192, Strand; where all Communications addressed to the

Editor are requested to be forwarded,

VOL. XXVII. No. 9.] LONDON, SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 1815.

2571

DELIVERANCE OF SPAIN,

[Price 1s.

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dare say, it will be pursued all over Europe. Napoleon put down the Inquisition and drove out the Monks. Those who now suffer from having fought and wrote against Napoleon and for Ferdinand must take the fruit of thei exertions for their pains. Spain is Delivered; we were, as we say, her Deliverers. I will pity no one, who was for the Deliverance, and who yet complains of its consequences.

REFLECTIONS

On The Political Changes which have taken place in Spain since the return of Ferdinand.

The following REFLECTIONS place in a clear right the Changes, which have taken place in Spain, since the return of Ferdinand, the beloved, in consequence of the Deliverance of that country. For my part, I have very little feeling for those, who endeavoured to restore him. They well knew him and his family; they well knew the sort of government which they had under that family; they had no reason to expect better government than before; they wrote and fought for him; they have him; and much good may he do them. There were many persons, of whom I was one, who did not wish to see Europe under the sway of Napoleon, but who feared, that his being overthrown would produce evil, by replacing all the nations of Europe under their old masters, with a despotism, on the part of the latter, to rule the people with a rod of iron. As to supposing, as some men did, that the old families would be more mild in their government than formerly; that the lesson, as it was called, would make them gentle in future, and allow their people more liberty than they enjoyed before, nothing could, it appeared to me, be more foolish, nothing more opposite to the general practice of mankind. Who, as I once before asked, that has cattle or sheep which break over or through his fences, lower or weaken the fences upon bringing back the flock or the herd? Does a horse break his halter? We put a chain in its stead. I have a gang of leaping Mares and Colts, which have The Spanish Nation, invaded by Nabroken out, several times this winter, poleon and deserted by Ferdinand in a from rough pasture into my meadows and way, if not the most criminal, at least the fields, allured by the sight of better most impolitic, nobly resisted so unjust living. What have I done? Have I an aggression. That this desertion was patted them and caressed them? Have contrary to the wish of the Spaniards, is I given them a greater and farther range? evident from the means taken by the peoNot I, faith! I have sought out the places ple of Vittoria to hinder his ill-judged of their escape; and having driven them journey, for they unharnessed his carback, have constantly redoubled the bar-riage, notwithstanding his utmost remonTier; and have, at last, made it impos- strances, and those of his stupid advisers sible for them to get out with their lives. and followers. In order to oppose the Ferdinand is pursuing my plan, and, 'I'most effectual resistance to the invasion

My object in presenting these reflections to the public, is to throw some light on a subject of the greatest importance to the tranquillity of Europe. My homage is due only to justice and to virtue, for in whatever country or individual they may be found, the friend of liberty must honour and respect them. Wishing to divest myself of all national and party spirit, which never fail to blind the eyes of those who are under their influence, I will express with the utmost frankness, my ideas on events of such importance as those which have lately happened in Spain, and which, in my opinion, have not yet been considered in their true light. For this purpose I will give a brief historical recapitulation of them, without which it will be impossible to form a just opinion of their origin and future consequences.

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monstrous phenomenon, the Treaty of Valency, a treaty so shameful and indecent, that Ferdinand himself, in order to hide the ignominy of it, pretended that he had no other intention than to outwit Bonaparte: (see the puerile and ridiculous Pamphlet of the Canon Escoiquiz, a worthy companion of Ferdinand, and his counsellor in making the above treaty) as if following Bonaparte on his throne, he who had so often degraded himself by submission, was now bold enough not to fulfil the stipulations, or as if foreseeing his fall, he would have given the world sufficient ground to suspect his veracity, merely to anticipate his freedom by 15 days, if that life can be called freedom which is spent among nuns, in passing from convent to convent.

of Napoleon, the people appointed new authorities, because the former were corrupted or intimidated by the orders of Ferdinand himself, and as such, unwilling to resist the yoke that was about to be imposed on them by the conqueror. All the authorities, established during this period of the revolution, were recognized by England and by all the other powers of Europe, who dared to oppose the arms of Napoleon, and they shewed not the least hesitation to form treaties of alliance and friendship with them. In short, to doubt the legality of the new Spanish Government, would be to condemn a revolution, more generally approved than any one of which we have any example. Nothing could more strongly prove the legitimacy of the government, than the elections for representatives which took In order to guard against the effects of place in all the provinces unoccupied by so shameful a treaty, in which Ferdinand the enemy, and among the individuals of bound himself without delay, to restore those that were, who met at Cadiz, then to Bonaparte all the prisoners made by the capital of the Spanish Empire, in the Spaniards, which were either in the order to form the extraordinary Cortes; Peninsula, England, or America, and to an assembly which the government of this cause those English troops who were then country, by its agent the Marquis of fighting so gloriously for his personal Wellesley, wisely promoted, knowing that liberty, to evacuate Spain, the ordinary the Spaniards could make no progress in Cortez issued the decree of the 2d of Fedefending their independence, without bruary, 1814,to annull the said convention. procuring at the same time their internal The decree was immediately transliberty. This assembly, notwithstanding mitted to all the Spanish authorities, the desertion of Ferdinand and his base and to Lord Wellington, who, nominated acts of submission, as those of soliciting by the Cortez generalissimo of the Spato be adopted a son of Napoleon, and nish Armies, was, above all other persons, asking him the command of a division in responsible for its being complied with; his armies for his brother Charles, while because, by a charge of such importance, Spain was suffering under every sacrifice the safety and defence of the Cortez, and to redeem him from captivity, decreed even the national liberty, were committed that he was their King, that a Regency to his care, and the representatives of should be appointed in his room, but that the Spanish people had shewn themselves on his return he should not be recognized satisfied with this confidence, inasmuch till he had sworn to the Constitution in as they had honoured him with titles, the bosom of the Cortez, and that any estates and distinctions. The decree act or treaty he might make, should be was also communicated to the English null and void, till the said condition Ambassador, and by means of the Spashould be performed. The Extraordinary nish Ambassadors, to all the Allied PowCortez ordered the Constitution to beers; they all, as well as Lord Wellington, transmitted to all the Allied Powers, and by whom the different Regencies were recognized as legitimate. Napoleon pressed by the entrance of the Allies into France, sought to diminish the number of his enemies and increase that of his friends as he well knew the meanness and baseness of Ferdinand, he took care to make him an ally of his own, and the enemy of those who were defending his cause in Spain. Hence followed that

expressed themselves satisfied with a decree so honorable to the representatives who had issued it, as well as useful to the powers who were interested in the independence of Europe. And how could it be otherwise, when they saw themselvesfreed from so shameful and dangerous a compromise, as that of furnishing Napoleon with a numerous and warlike army, diminishing the number of his enemies and increasing that of his allies, com

pelling Lord, Wellington either to retire to assist in making prisoners the regents from the Peninsula or to fight with that and the members of the Cortez, and to very Spanish army then under his com-execute the other orders of Ferdinand, mand, and the united forces of Soult and It is lamentable to reflect that such a Suchet? On the 26th of March, after commission was executed by an officer having secretly ratified the Treaty of born in a free country; such a commis Valency, Ferdinand arrived on the fron- sion he ought to have disdained to actiers of Spain. Napoleon was deprived cept, and he accepted it no doubt with of his throne on the 6th of April, and Fer- a view to that command which he afterdinand stopping at Valencia, where he wards received from Ferdinand. These received the foreign Ambassadors, Gene- facts being established, I conceive it is rals and Chiefs of a faction hostile to the allowable to make such reflections as Cortez, without the nation having ex- naturally arise on these great political pressed any determination contrary to changes in Spain, on the violent means that which it had sworn to follow, Fer- by which Ferdinand has been raised to dinand having concerted his scheme, an empire above that of the law, as well and provided the means for its execution, as on the injustice with which the Spa on the 4th of May, published that fatal nish nation is censured for submitting to decree for the destruction of that com- so detestable a despotism, without consi pact, by which the nation had granted dering the difficulty of getting rid of a him the Crown. Not satisfied with the yoke once imposed, nor of the many sacrifices which the people had volun- circumstances which have conspired a tarily undergone in order to secure him against Spanish liberty. throne, more honorable than that which It is not my intention to make all the he had lost both by desertion and by his reflections on the subject that might be resignation, prepossessed with the idea expected from a historian; the limits of that he owed every thing to heaven, and a pamphlet will not allow it; a few renothing to men, and educated in ideas marks will be sufficient to throw light on which made him wish to reign only over this business, and my principal intention slaves; after having formed a party from is to place it in a point of view in which among those who were stained with the it may be duly examined and appreciated foul crime of having all more or less con- by others. I forbear to agitate the ques tributed to support the throne of Joseph, tion, whether the legitimacy of the Spahe declared for the extermination of all nish Government being acknowledged by those who had shewn the smallest dispo- other nations, they ought to acknowledge sition to unite the interests of the throne Ferdinand, in opposition to the constituto those of the people; thus giving an tion sauctioned by the representatives example, not only of the most complete of Spain. I will content myself with incapacity, and the basest malevolence, saying, that if this is answered in the but of the most monstrous and horrible affirmative, it will go so far as to shake the ingratitude. Like all tyrants in similar throne of every sovereign in Europe, and circumstances, his first means of ven- give room to perpetual convulsions. Pergeance were the imprisonment of all haps, in order to confound the Spanish those disaffected to his government, the constitution with the recognition of destruction of the freedom of the press, Ferdinand, they will say that no nation in order to conceal the atrocity of his has a right to interfere with the interconduct, and represent things as suited nal government of another. But this is his purpose, promising the people a sem- not the matter under consideration. blance of future freedom, the more ef- Without meddling with the Spanish fectually to dazzle their eyes, and those constitution, they had no right to ac of all Europe, impudently pretending knowledge Ferdinand till he had been ac that he had published to the Cortez the knowledged by the Spanish Nation,unless act of their dissolution, at a time when they will maintain that a monarch being their principal members were shut up in acknowledged to day under one state of -separate prisons without communication. circumstances, and these circumstances Having taken these measures, a division remaining the same, he may be acknow of ten thousand men, whose van guard ledged to-morrow in a light totally differwas commanded by General Whitting-ent. For other nations to have acknowham, was sent from Valencia to Madrid, ledged Ferdinand at so unseasonale

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