A series of attempts to establish liberal institutions in Spain may be necessary, before it be found possible to sustain them; but I believe that every new attempt will be attended with fewer obstacles. The most unsuccessful struggle against despotism, must produce good effects: accordingly, I do not agree in opinion with those who contend, that the movements of 1812 and 1820, retrograded the cause of liberty. It is certain, indeed, that the Spanish liberals then attempted impossibilities; they based the constitution upon principles of liberty, which Spain, nursed so long in despotism, was unable to support; yet the glimpse which Spain then caught of the light of freedom,--the knowledge that was conveyed through the medium of a free press to every part of the kingdom, and especially to all ranks in the metropolis,--and the unrestrained interchange of sentiment, opened the eyes of many, and prepared all, for a future and wiser attempt. Such an attempt may yet be at some distance; a more despotic, but a more vigorous government, may be able to repress, for some years, the declaration of principles hostile to those by which it is maintained: but opinion will advance nevertheless; and the epoch will certainly arrive in the history of Spain,--as it must in all countries in which government stands still,--when men’s opinions, which change, clash with institutions which change not. The attempt upon the Spanish frontier which followed the revolution in France, would scarcely deserve notice, but for the ignorance which it shewed of the state of public feeling in Spain. I was then in Madrid; and I think I may venture to say, that this movement created less sensation in Spain than in any other country in Europe. An attempt far better organized, could not at that time have met with any success. The plans of the Carlists were then advancing; and the party was becoming every day more a subject of embarrassment and alarm to the government; but the views of that party were a sufficient security against the designs of the other, whose ascendancy would at once have annihilated the hopes of the Carlists. It was therefore sufficiently obvious, that if the aspect of things on the frontier became formidable, the interest of the Carlists would lie in strengthening the hands of government. But all the well-informed classes, of whatever party, looked upon the attempt as ill advised, and certain of failure. I conversed at that time with many persons of liberal sentiments, who, with scarcely an exception, deprecated the attempt as rash and useless; and expressed deep regret that so many unfortunate men should expose themselves to the merciless policy of the government. It was well known, that both the Basque Provinces and Catalunia,--the two points at which the entry was made,--were to be depended upon for their loyalty, or their ultraism--sentiments alike hostile to the liberals. The Basque Provinces, which enjoy peculiar privileges, were the least interested in