Xsl'i historic 



The occasion is stated to hare 

 been as follows : 



The Corregidor of Madrid 

 had given leave to a bookseller 

 to print an edition of the French 

 constitution, on condition of 

 printing but a very small num- 

 ber of copies. Five or six thou- 

 sand were, however, printed, 

 which were instantly purchased 

 and carried off. 



Count Florida Blanca, the 

 Minister, gave . order to seize 

 the printer, the Corregidor, the 

 copies, and the buyers of the 

 work. 



This proceeding rouzed the 

 indi-jnant people; and it is also 

 stated, that the minister paid 

 very dear for his arbitrary ralh- 

 nefs. 



The letter concluded thus — 

 " Vjin}(S are goi/igforivar.-/ here 

 ivbici} I dare not trust to paper .'" 



Domestic. 



The minister, with on al- 

 lowable exultation, announced 

 to the parliament, the llourilh- 

 ing state of the nation, and the 

 pr2d>ic:ivenefs of the revenue 

 which would enable him,, he 

 said, to lake off some of the 

 taxes that proved most oppref- 

 sive to the people. This pro- 

 position y.-as received with uni- 

 versal satisfaction by all parties j 

 and if it can have the gf/od ef- 

 fect, to make any one party be 

 f illy convinced of one niomcn- 

 irofis truth, that the' universal 

 prosperity of the people, is tlis 



al chronicle. 

 only true source of an abundant- 

 revenue, it will be a blefsed 

 effect indeed j for then we 



'liiould see, not a few, but many 

 taxes repealed, and the revenue 

 by that means augmented. 



Of another truth it ought al- 

 so to convince us, viz. That 

 to lose a burthen, is to make a 

 real acquisition of wealth. Ey 

 the last war we had the good 

 fortune to lose a great portion of 

 America, and iVlinorca. These 

 were tv;o grievous loads which 

 weighed us down, and not only 

 consumed unpvolitably great 

 sums of the national treasure 

 but, by retarding our internal 

 prosperity, diminiilied all the 

 sources of revenue, andof courj* 

 loaded the nation with a num- 

 ber of ruinous and unproductive 

 taxes. We begin to feel the 

 eCects of this alleviation of our 

 expat » Jtic territorial pofsei- 

 slons •, pity, that so small an al- 

 leviation had been produced, 

 and that such a struggle Ihould 

 have been mantained before we 

 could attain it. When Ihail 

 the time come, when the peo- 

 ple of this island Oiail be con- 

 vinced, that we (hould not on- 

 ly never make war for the ac- 

 quisition of tvans-maritlme ter- 

 ritory •, nor fight with any na- 

 tion to retain it j but that our 

 interest would be greatly pro- 

 moted by giving them all up 

 voluntarily to the freedom of 

 their own wills ? The only an- 

 swer this quer^ that can now ob- 

 tain, is, that this pe-iod is not 



