of this pretext, to apply to them that insolent language,
which might, I think, have been more nobly repelled
on a more comprehensive principle. For thus are
men of the gravest minds imposed upon by the presumptuous;
and through these influences it comes, that the strength
of a tyrant is in opinion—not merely in
the opinion of those who support him, but alas! even
of those who willingly resist, and who would resist
effectually, if it were not that their own understandings
betray them, being already half enslaved by shews and
forms. The whole Spanish nation ought to be encouraged
to deem themselves an army, embodied under the authority
of their country and of human nature. A military
spirit should be there, and a military action, not
confined like an ordinary river in one channel, but
spreading like the Nile over the whole face of the
land. Is this possible? I believe it is:
if there be minds among them worthy to lead, and if
those leading minds cherish a civic spirit
by all warrantable aids and appliances, and, above
all other means, by combining a reverential memory
of their elder ancestors with distinct hopes of solid
advantage, from the privileges of freedom, for themselves
and their posterity—to which the history
and the past state of Spain furnish such enviable facilities;
and if they provide for the sustenance of this spirit,
by organizing it in its primary sources, not timidly
jealous of a people, whose toils and sacrifices have
approved them worthy of all love and confidence, and
whose failing of excess, if such there exist, is assuredly
on the side of loyalty to their Sovereign, and predilection
for all established institutions. We affirm,
then, that a universal military spirit may be produced;
and not only this, but that a much more rare and more
admirable phenomenon may be realized—the
civic and military spirit united in one people, and
in enduring harmony with each other. The people
of Spain, with arms in their hands, are already in
an elevated mood, to which they have been raised by
the indignant passions, and the keen sense of insupportable
wrong and insult from the enemy, and its infamous
instruments. But they must be taught, not to trust
too exclusively to the violent passions, which have
already done much of their peculiar task and service.
They must seek additional aid from affections, which
less imperiously exclude all individual interests,
while at the same time they consecrate them to the
public good.—But the enemy is in the heart
of their Land! We have not forgotten this.
We would encourage their military zeal, and all qualities
especially military, by all rewards of honourable
ambition, and by rank and dignity conferred on the
truly worthy, whatever may be their birth or condition,
the elevating influence of which would extend from
the individual possessor to the class from which he
may have sprung. For the necessity of thus raising
and upholding the military spirit, we plead: but
yet the professional excellencies of the soldier