and large armies,
brought a great part of Spain to acknowledge a sovereign of the House of
Austria. We have _now_ a vast military force; and,--even without a
Peterborough or a Marlborough,--at this precious opportunity (when, as
is daily more probable, a large portion of the French force must march
northwards to combat Austria) we might easily, by expelling the French
from the Peninsula, secure an immediate footing there for liberty; and
the Pyrenees would then be shut against them for ever. The disciplined
troops of Great Britain might overthrow the enemy in the field; while
the Patriots of Spain, under wise management, would be able to consume
him slowly but surely.

For present annoyance his power is, no doubt, mighty: but liberty--in
which it originated, and of which it is a depravation--is far mightier;
and the good in human nature is stronger than the evil. The events of
our age indeed have brought this truth into doubt with some persons: and
scrupulous observers have been astonished and have repined at the sight
of enthusiasm, courage, perseverance, and fidelity, put forth seemingly
to their height,--and all engaged in the furtherance of wrong. But the
minds of men are not always devoted to this bad service as strenuously
as they appear to be. I have personal knowledge that, when the attack
was made which ended in the subjugation of Switzerland, the injustice of
the undertaking was grievously oppressive to many officers of the French
army; and damped their exertions. Besides, were it otherwise, there is
no just cause for despondency in the perverted alliance of these
qualities with oppression. The intrinsic superiority of virtue and
liberty, even for politic ends, is not affected by it. If the tide of
success were, by any effort, fairly turned;--not only a general
desertion, as we have the best reason to believe, would follow among the
troops of the enslaved nations; but a moral change would also take place
in the minds of the native French soldiery. Occasion would be given for
the discontented to break out; and, above all, for the triumph of human
nature. It would _then_ be seen whether men fighting in a bad
cause,--men without magnanimity, honour, or justice,--could recover; and
stand up against champions who by these virtues were carried forward in
good fortune, as by these virtues in adversity they had been sustained.
As long as guilty actions thrive, guilt is strong: it has a giddiness
and transport of its