5. To take measures for carrying on war in concert in the sea and on the coasts of Spain.

6. To determine if these measures should be extended to th Canaries and the Philippine isles.'

The above questions are to be submitted to the consider. ation of the belligerent powers exclusively; the following will occupy the attention of the belligerent and neutral powers in

common.

1. To decide on the best means for giving efficacy to the declaration of the President of the United States concerning any future project of colonizing the American territory, and also those for resisting every attempt to interfere in the domestic affairs of

the new states.

2. To fix in concert the disputed principles of the law of nations, and particularly those which are applicable to questions arising between belligerent and neutral powers.

3. To arrange on what footing they should place their political and commercial relations with colonies which, like Hayti, are or shall hereafter be separated from their mother countries, without being recognized by any power, American or European.'

Here, indeed, is an outline of proceedings worthy of the natural grandeur of the territories for which it has been sketched. What a change has been wrought in their destinies within a comparatively short space of time! It is but eight or ten years ago since none but a few enlightened minds evinced any degree of curiosity concerning the progress of the insurrection in those vast provinces. Now their proceedings are as generally and as keenly enquired into as those of the European nations; no important discussion arises, in which Spanish America is not directly or indirectly interested; the people every where feel a desire of being connected with the new states, and in two or three years, few will be found even to defend the miserable policy which still prevents that desire from being fulfilled on the Continent.

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With respect to the war which the new states meditate against Spain, it is not for the purpose of avenging upon the oppression which she exercised in their fine country, but simply of compelling her to give up that vexatious though feeble system of hostility, which she has so long and so hopelessly carried on against them. Nevertheless, in its consequences, such a war, if it be commenced, will only afford a fresh and a signal proof of that ever-vigilant justice, which in due season visits nations as well as individuals, exacting a full measure of retribution for the wrongs of which they have been guilty. What effect the appearance of a few Columbian and Mexican frigates on the Spanish coast, might have upon the political parties

parties in the interior, whose very breathings are at present suppressed under the iron hand of power, it is hardly possible to conjecture. Such an array of American force would be only the first step in that contest, which the complete opposition of their civil and political systems will sooner or later produce between the two hemispheres.

Thus,' observes the Abbè, America enters into the political and social world; it sees and hears every thing that is passing, the conflict of opinions, the vacillation and the contradiction that exist in the elementary principles of social order, and an immense mass of evil produced by arbitrary government in those countries which it deforms. Common sense has taught America not to trust her fortunes to such a tempestuous sea, but to establish them on that solid basis, which is to be found in the true principles of society. In a word, America claims for herself that universal right which she is willing to allow to others: at Panama, she will declare the rights of a new community in its relations with all mankind. Hitherto a few states- as yet too few-have proclaimed the rights of citizens; theirs were private acts, the effect of which was confined within their own circle: at Panama the scene will be infinitely enlarged: there one part of the globe will declare to its other divisions, that "right is a tutelar and an impartial divinity for all. Behold what the nature of things has done. I take it at its source, where it is pure and exempt from the adulteration of passion, prejudice, and interest. Right acknowledges no limitation as to time; it will be the only rule of my conduct towards you, and the only rule which I shall acknowledge in your conduct towards me."

The Congress of Panama is, therefore, in the nature of American events; it is the necesary result of a revolution that has pursued its career with a uniformity and a rapidity quite peculiar amongst all the revolutions recorded in history. The liberation of Holland and of Switzerland cost forty or fifty years of war, and ten years at the utmost have completed the vast changes in America. All its districts have attained their object almost at the same moment, and all are equally anxious for a definite solution of their interests, and a complete arrangement with all other parts of the world. Nothing is more natural in itself, or more just towards others. War without an object is an atrocity unworthy of beings endowed with reason: the instinct of destruction and carnage belongs only to the brute. An equivocal and a disputed existence is surrounded by dangers; America knows those which she has to encounter, and she feels also her strength and her value. She demands that security for herself, which is only the common right of man in relation with society, and when delivered from her external enemies, she will proceed to the consolidation of her institutions. Such is the noble and legitimate object which summons her representatives to Panama, and charges them with a mission the most extensive and the most elevated with which diplomacy has yet been acquainted.'

It hardly required a chapter such as that which M. DE PRADT has devoted to a parallel between her ancient colonies and Spain, to shew that the latter has very little chance of restoring them to her dominion. In her least embarrassed hour since her happy return to the sway of Ferdinand, she was incapable of making even a vigorous attempt against the rising independence of the new states. What can she do now when she scarcely possesses even the shadow of a regularly constituted government? Her court is nothing more than a scene of low intrigue; her cabinet, if it deserve to be so called, is continually changed, unfortunately without any alteration in its system; her army is without pay, her ports and arsenals without vessels and without arms, and her extensive coasts without trade. Such is her destitute state, that, but for the presence of the French garrison, it is impossible that her government could go on even for a day. The same obstinate folly which has lost America to Ferdinand, will separate also from his crown, the possessions of Cuba, Porto Rico, the Canaries, the Philippines, every island over which he claims authority, and, perhaps, finally, even Spain itself. The following observations upon this subject deserve to be translated :

European governments fear revolutions and republics as the consequences of revolutions; an apprehension justly founded on the manner in which public affairs are governed by men who have all the appearance of secretly desiring the diffusion of democracy. Does not Spain seem to play such a part by her unfortunate desire of governing every thing? By her obstinate perseverance in endeavouring to keep possession of America by force of arms, she drove that country into republicanism. From this lesson, however, Spain has derived no instruction; she still goes on in her old career, and will not deviate from it until she brings the enemy to her door. And should such a case arrive, who can calculate the effects of a call to independence, addressed to millions of men harassed by a system of misrule which is deeply injurious, not only to themselves and their country, but to mankind in general. Spain, by her inconsiderate conduct, has thus become a sort of conductor, by means of which independence and republicanism pass from country to country.'

In perfecting their plans of domination, arbitrary governments appear seldom to consider, that there is such a thing as reaction constantly preparing or operating in the moral world. The more solid and the more refined the schemes of their policy seem to the judgment of those who arrange them, the more deeply and the more extensively sown are the seeds of resistance, and the more certain they are to bear abundance of fruit in the proper season. In this respect the Congress of Panama will utter principles, differing in no slight

degree

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degree from those propounded at Laybach. For example, it will not have the folly to declare that "to princes alone appertain the right of modifying the institutions of their states by spontaneous acts of their own will, and that for their conduct they are responsible only to God!" Such an outrage as this upon the common sense of mankind sinks deeper into the mind, than the most inflammatory declamations of the most practised demagogues.

Among the subjects to be discussed at the approaching Congress, we have mentioned that of giving efficacy to the declaration of the President of the United States, against permitting the establishment of any new colonies in the territory of the Union. This prohibition of course implies no more than the assertion of exclusive sovereignty over the countries now comprehended within the circle of the United States. The declaration seems to have been principally intended" for the information" of Russia, which had evinced a disposition to extend its settlements on the northwestern coast of the new continent. The introduction of this question into the list of those which are to be discussed at Panama, will probably be followed by the admission of a minister from the United States into the Congress, and perhaps prepare the way for an extension of the new league beyond the limits which were originally contemplated.

It is to be hoped that the commercial regulations which are to be agreed upon at the Congress, will be framed on a sound and liberal basis. The immense extent of their coast, and the innumerable rivers which intersect their continent in all directions, will necessarily render the inhabitants active and enterprising in maritime pursuits. It were pity if their exertions should be embarrassed by any of those ill-advised restrictions, which so long fettered the commerce of this country, and which, now that they are, in principle, exploded, we hope never again to see revived in any shape, or under any circumstances. The recognition of Hayti by France will probably induce the Congress to review the narrow basis, upon which the question concerning it appears to have been framed by the Colombian minister. It is a singular fact that the United States and England have long treated that island as an independent power, and that neither has yet received an envoy from it. It seems that the slave-system pursued in our West Indian colonies, and in the United States, has interposed to prevent Hayti from being treated in the same manner as other independent states, lest too much encouragement to revolt might thereby be afforded to the black population.

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lation. But the Spanish American states have no cause for entertaining a jealousy of this description, as slavery never assumed, amongst them, any of those cruel features which have marked it out elsewhere for the detestation of mankind. It would well become them to give their neighbours a generous example on this subject, and even to go farther by joining with England in declaring the slave-trade piracy.

Such are the most important of those questions which are to be submitted to the Congress of Panama, in the discussion of which we have not uniformly followed M. De Pradt, for, in truth, his ideas are in general so vague, and they are clothed in such a mass of verbiage, that it is often difficult to discover what the ex-prelate is about. We thank him, however, for calling public attention to a subject so novel, and, in many respects, so important, as that which he has treated in this little work. It tends, in some degree, to prepare us for the events which are to come, and it opens a field of speculation, that enables us to imagine at least some portion of the splendid destinies, which seem to await the new states of Spanish America.

ART. II. William Tell; a Drama. Translated from the German of FREDERIC SCHILLER. London. 1825.

HISTORY furnishes few subjects which leave a more defined

and lasting impression on the memory, than the dreadful trial of his skill in archery which Willian Tell was wantonly compelled to make, and the noble vengeance which impelled him to achieve the freedom of his country. It is a theme worthy of the proudest period of Greek or Roman story; to either of which it would seem rather to belong than to that of the pastoral mountains of Switzerland. Yet, interesting as it assuredly is, in every point of view, whether we regard the facts or the consequences connected with it, we hardly know of any subject less fitted for dramatic representation. The principal incident, which exhibits the father striking down with his arrow the apple from the head of his child, cannot be transferred to the stage, on account of the mechanical difficulties attending it. Yet it is this scene which, in the narrative, awakens the deepest sympathy of the reader. We watch the preparations, the placing of the child, the arrangement of the soldiery, the bending of the bow, with breathless anxiety; and when the arrow has sped, and left the innocent untouched, we are as much relieved as if the occurrence had actually taken place be

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