Retrospect of the last Twenty-five Years: 
and will advance; we shall not reproach 
it for advancing so slowly; if this slow- 
ness be the effect of prudence, and, it 
avoids’ thereby the hazard of effecting 
nothing, by the multiplicity of the inno- 
vations it attempts. The portion of 
America heretofore Spanish’ has no 
longer any obstacle, in the nature of its 
government, to its progression; but it 
still has nitich in the-unformed ‘charac- 
ter of the people, Ignorance, intole- 
rance and ferocity, are not instantly re- 
formed bythe overthrow of the govern- 
ment -by;which they were engendered; 
and. it iste be expected, that they will 
long repel:many of the benefits of \civi- 
lization: which their newly-acquired 
liberty offers to them. But let us not, 
therefore, be alarmed or discouraged. 
The) tree) is planted: on.a fertile soil; it 
must ' grow—it «must blossom, and the 
fruit will eventually mature. 
Such) is ithe aggregate picture which 
the great tablet of the world exhibits, of 
the’ progress of the recent eventful quar- 
ter of a century, and the present state of 
the struggle ‘between the Progressive 
and the Retrograde systems: 
_ But it will, perhaps, be said, that»it 
has not been the object, and cannot 
have-been the object, even cf the great 
leaders: of ‘the: retrograde system, ‘to 
wage war throughout the universe with 
knowledge; liberty and morality. 
Perhaps it'was not so. Perhaps the 
evil that isodone is never the object, 
even of the most evil'doer. His object 
is only the imagined good, which he 
hopes to obtain through the means of 
the evil deed); and the evil, or the de- 
gree of the evil, of the deed ‘itself, is 
‘obseured from his perception, by the 
eagerness) with which he seeks hisend. 
Inmany instances, it isnot to be doubted 
that the ‘delusions of self-love, and the 
mi ‘proportions of the: nearer 
objects of ‘attachment and intercourse, 
as of the eye, shut out the perception 
of what*is more remote, and produceia 
perverse partiality, even of the under- 
standing itself; and the seeming good 
of what isnearestto our thoughts, ap- 
pears to be the good’of all.) The court 
and his courtiers) are the monarch’s 
world; their happiness: is to him the 
happiness of nintkihd and when they 
increase in luxury, pompand splendour, 
the nation, to histhought, is wealthy, and 
the people prosper: though, perhaps,the 
‘magnificence ‘of the former has»been 
wrung, by:spoil and oppression; from the 
latter. Perhaps, also, some of the master- 
Moncury Mac, No, 412,.—Supp. 
601 
movyers:of the retrograde system have 
deceived themselves, as they have fre- 
quently deceived. their simple followers, 
and have affirmed what ought to be true, 
tillthey believed it to be so,—that they 
are not enemies either to the happiness 
or theprogress of the human race ; that 
they are only enemies to. precipita- 
tion; that they. only require time to do 
deliberately and. wisely the good they ~ 
intend; that so it may be done well. 
But then, unfortunately, the time, even 
for: beginning todo. it, never comes. 
Eternity would not suffice for the de- 
liberation of their process., The greater 
part of them, however, loudly declare, 
that the liberty: established among them 
is sufficient, if not too great, already. 
They approve of knowledge, provided it 
be confined to the upper classes ;, thus 
destroying emulation even among them, 
and refusing the exercise of reason to 
the: people. .. They profess, also, their 
zeal for morality, and ‘talk about, reli- 
gion’; but) always: modify the:one,, so 
that: those: only :who, govern; may profit 
byoit;; and the obligations of)it. bind 
only the. governed ;) while the other is 
to: preach resignation’ and. submission 
to the people, and to impose no re- 
strictions ‘on their own gratifications, 
indulgences and aggressions. 
** Speak to the people of their duties, 
but “never of their rights,’ said one of 
Napoleon’s ministers to. the compiler of 
a sort of village newspaper, “Since: you 
will write:upon polities,” said the same 
minister, on another occasion, “take 
care “-how you speak of the duties of 
government towards the people; but 
insist upon the rights of the chief, and 
of his delegates, to the respect and obe- 
dience of his)\subjects.’ Do not our 
ministers and: scribes, nay,our ministers 
of religion, and the compilers, too often, 
of what are ¢alled. religious .tracts, 
preach the same, doctrines ? . But the 
upholders. of this (retrograde doctrine 
are neither — counsellors fit | for the 
throne, mor ministers fit for the altar. 
Both the one, and, the other ought to 
knowhow to:teach both kings and cour- 
tiers, aye, and the people too, that rights 
and duties are reciproeal ; that the, ob- 
jects alike of government, of morality 
and of religion, are to advance the pro- 
ess of man, to assist the. progress, of 
Enowlease, and. the improvement. of 
morals—-to elevate man_ still higher 
above the servile brute, and bring him 
nearer to perfection—to make him 
wiser, happier and better,’ 
If monarchs, however, have perverted 
4H their 
