ortugueze nations.'

And was it possible that a Sovereign of a free country could be
otherwise affected? It is indeed to be regretted that his Majesty's
censure was not, upon this occasion, radical--and pronounced in a
sterner tone; that a Council was not in existence sufficiently
intelligent and virtuous to advise the king to give full expression to
the sentiments of his own mind; which, we may reasonably conclude, were
in sympathy with those of a brave and loyal people. Never surely was
there a public event more fitted to reduce men, in all ranks of society,
under the supremacy of their common nature; to impress upon them one
belief; to infuse into them one spirit. For it was not done in a remote
corner by persons of obscure rank; but in the eyes of Europe and of all
mankind; by the leading authorities, military and civil, of a mighty
empire. It did not relate to a petty immunity, or a local and insulated
privilege--but to the highest feelings of honour to which a Nation may
either be calmly and gradually raised by a long course of independence,
liberty, and glory; or to the level of which it may be lifted up at
once, from a fallen state, by a sudden and extreme pressure of violence
and tyranny. It not only related to these high feelings of honour; but
to the fundamental principles of justice, by which life and property,
that is the means of living, are secured.

A people, whose government had been dissolved by foreign tyranny, and
which had been left to work out its salvation by its own virtues, prayed
for our help. And whence were we to learn how that help could be most
effectually given, how they were even to be preserved from receiving
injuries instead of benefits at our hands,--whence were we to learn this
but from their language and from our own hearts? They had spoken of
unrelenting and inhuman wrongs; of patience wearied out; of the
agonizing yoke cast off; of the blessed service of freedom chosen; of
heroic aspirations; of constancy, and fortitude, and perseverance; of
resolution even to the death; of gladness in the embrace of death; of
weeping over the graves of the slain, by those who had not been so happy
as to die; of resignation under the worst final doom; of glory, and
triumph, and punishment. This was the language which we heard--this was
the devout hymn that was chaunted; and the responses, with which our
country bore a part in the solemn service, were from her soul and from
the depths of her soul.