PRl^FACE. V 



liberty in that country, and the restoration of ihe. 

 Court of Inquisition, and all the other supports of 

 civil and ecclesiastical despotism. They will also 

 derive no favourable augury Irom the zeal which the. 

 head of the Roman-catholic religion, on his re- 

 sumption of the seat of authority, has displayed for 

 the re-establishment of every institution tending to 

 enslave the mind, and particularly from the revival 

 of an order rendered odious to all the liberal of their 

 own communion, by their servile devotion to the 

 pontifical court, and their dark and subtle policy. 



On the whole, however, the Philanthropist will 

 gratefully record the yearlSM, as the era of a respite 

 from those evils, with which so large a portion of the 

 civilized world has so long been afflicted ; and if 

 the clouds are not yet dispersed, and a boding mind 

 may alarm itself with presages of new tempests, 

 sorriething is gained to the cause of humanity by a 

 quiet interval. This country has an additional cause 

 of rejoicing, in the restoration of amity with a people 

 destined, it may be hoped, to be durably con- 

 nected with it by all the ties of origin, kindred, 

 and mutual interest. The peace with the United 

 States of America was peculiarly welcome, as it 

 came, somewhat unexpectedly, at the conclusion of 

 a year of more extended and destructive warfare 

 than had hitherto been witnessed in this unhappy 

 quarrel. It had, indeed, become evident that the 

 continuance of hostilities could have no other con- 

 sequence than the aggravation of reciprocal loss. 



The return of peace has hitherto been more effica- 

 cious in reviving the spirits, than in alleviating the 

 burdens, of the inhabitants of , these islands. The 

 latter effect was indeed scarcely to be expected 

 whilst the accounts of a war expensive beyond all 

 former precedent remained unliquidated, and the yet 

 unsettled state of affairs rendered the maintenance 

 of a large force on the continent a necessary measure 



