of defenders : his recent elevation, so far from being a motive for esteeming him less, will, on the contrary, double his glory, on account of the obstacles he has had to conquer, and which his merit alone has enabled him to surmount. So much as his reign acquires eclat by the good laws which he has established, by the institution of a national militia, the valuable friends he has made, and by brilliant exploits, so much he who loses hereditary states, and through his own fault; is inconsiderate and disgraceful.
If we examine the conduct of the King of Naples, the Duke of Miļan, and others, who have lost their dominions in aur tine, we shall find they have all committed a grand fault in neglecting to institute a national militia. Nay, more, they appeared to give themselves no trouble to gain the
called, immense sums of money and a formidable army, which bad to perform an inglorious and harassing march of upwards of a thousand miles in the worst country of Europe for travelling, without the co-operation of a single Spanish battalion. How many thousand widows and orphans of murdered British heroeş must curse the madness of the British Ministry, and the guilty apathy of the Spanish nation! If we apply the reasoning of Machiavelli, in the conclusion of this chapter, to the Prince Regent of Portugal, we shall find him unworthy of recal. How can a prince expect a people to do every thing for him, when he will do nothing for them; and who, on the first approach of danger, ignobly flies and leaves to its fate his bleeding country?
