pen, have they ever
overlooked the sword, the symbol of their power, and the appropriate
instrument of their success and glory? I notice this assumption of a
double character on the part of the French, not to lament over it and
its consequences, but to render somewhat more intelligible the conduct
of our own Generals; and to explain how far men, whom we have no reason
to believe other than brave, have, through the influence of such
example, lost sight of their primary duties, apeing instead of
imitating, and following only to be misled.

It is indeed deplorable, that our Generals, from this infirmity, or from
any other cause, did not assume that lofty deportment which the
character and relative strength of the two armies authorized them, and
the nature of the service upon which they were sent, enjoined them to
assume;--that they were in such haste to treat--that, with such an enemy
(let me say at once,) and in such circumstances, they should have
treated at all. Is it possible that they could ever have asked
themselves who that enemy was, how he came into that country, and what
he had done there? From the manifesto of the Portugueze government,
issued at Rio Janeiro, and from other official papers, they might have
learned, what was notorious to all Europe, that this body of men
commissioned by Bonaparte, in the time of profound peace, without a
declaration of war, had invaded Portugal under the command of Junot, who
had perfidiously entered the country, as the General of a friendly and
allied Power, assuring the people, as he advanced, that he came to
protect their Sovereign against an invasion of the English; and that,
when in this manner he had entered a peaceable kingdom, which offered no
resistance, and had expelled its lawful Sovereign, he wrung from it
unheard-of contributions, ravaged it, cursed it with domestic pillage
and open sacrilege; and that, when this unoffending people, unable to
endure any longer, rose up against the tyrant, he had given their towns
and villages to the flames, and put the whole country, thus resisting,
under military execution.--Setting aside all natural sympathy with the
Portugueze and Spanish nations, and all prudential considerations of
regard or respect for _their feelings_ towards these men, and for _their
expectations_ concerning the manner in which they ought to be dealt
with, it is plain that the French had forfeited by their crimes all
right to those privileges, or to those mo