STATE PAPERS. 



70S 



in arms arc deprived of the swords 

 .they knew how to wield, and are 

 carried to a remote island, where 

 they will either perish with hunger, 

 or be constrained to unite with the 

 ranks of the detested foe. Re- 

 member, then, your sacred obliga- 

 tions. Generous Spaniards, a few 

 innocent and defenceless fishermen 

 are reduced to tlie lowest step of 

 human misery, and their afflicted 

 wives and deserted offspring implore 

 your pity, and demand your pro- 

 tection. In line, thousands of fa- 

 milies, expecting support from the 

 "wisdom of the state, in a season of 

 famine, are brutally deprived of the 

 subsistence provided for them, and 

 exclaim, with the voice of thunder — 

 Vengeance! Vengeance! Let us 

 then, my countrymen, obey ; the 

 king expects it, and honour and 

 justice re<.]uire it at our hands. If 

 the English have forgotten that the 

 blood which circulates in t^e veins 

 of Spaniards is the same which 

 ■ flowed ill the breasts of those who 

 triumphed over the Carthaginian, 

 the Roman, the Vandal, and the 

 Saracen, it is time that the recol- 

 Icdtioii should be revived: it is time 

 to convince them that we will pre- 

 serve the fame of our ancestors un- 

 sullied, and shew to them that we 

 will perform our duty to posterity, 

 if it require that our ranks should 

 be thinned to add to the glorious 

 catalogue of Castillian heroism. If 

 these distant islanders have attri- 

 buted our desire to preserve tran- 

 quillity within our borders to la- 

 mentable weakness, or to dishonour- 

 able fear, let them at leasf be taught 

 that the latter can never disgrace 

 the bosom of a Spaniard, glowing 

 with all the ardent and liberal im- 

 pressions peculiar to his country. 

 Quickly will we teach them, that a 



loyal, virtuous, and brave people, 

 attached to religion, and enamoured 

 of true glory, can never be insulted 

 with impunity, much less can it en- 

 dure an instance of sanguinary vio- 

 lence directed against its dignity and 

 independence. If the English, un- 

 mindful of the principles of huma- 

 nity respected among civilized na- 

 tions, abandoning all shame and re- 

 morse, have only sought to obtain 

 possession of our treasures, which 

 we should have peaceably delivered 

 to them, had they been entitled to 

 the property, we will recal to their 

 memory a fact which we trusted had 

 been universally acknowledged — 

 that the abuse of power, the viola- 

 tion of public right, and the mad 

 excesses of despotism, have ever 

 been the awful presage of the fall of 

 empires. Let them hide their dis- 

 honoured heads ; let them tremble 

 in the contemplation of this ill-got- 

 ten wealth ; let them shudder before 

 the bloody victims of their aggres- 

 sion ; and let an eternal mark of in- 

 famy be impressed, and universal 

 detestation be excited for these ex- 

 amples of public atrocity. 



Valiant Spaniards ! the nobleness 

 of your character no longer admits 

 you to be inactive witnesses of these 

 disgracehd-*eenes. The Fove of our 

 king for his people is perfectly 

 known, and leaves no doubt that 

 his numerous vassals will coincide 

 in his wishes, and gratify his ex- 

 pectations. To arms, then, my fel- 

 low soldiers and countrymen, and 

 engage in the war in the way most 

 likely to hurl a terrible destruction 

 upon our enemies ; but while we 

 spread the terrors of battle, let us 

 not, in imitation of our enemies, 

 desert those general maxims of liu- 

 manity, which are respected by all 

 regular governments. In order that 



the 



