as
probable, to those under whom he acted, and on many occasions to
himself, that he could most annoy the enemy. But these patriots of
Galicia were not clothed alike, nor perhaps armed alike, nor had the
outward appearance of those bodies, which are called regular troops; and
the Frenchman availed himself 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