T RAV

MILITARY IMPORTANCE OF SPAIN. 165the case,here.Spainhas three quarters in which to dread hostility; bythe sea, the pYrenees, and from Portugal with British support.In nopoint of vielv has the polar star of politics, Adam Smith, beéh morelucid thau on thislast; but he 'ihities, alas! only to make more 'visiblethe darkness t11at reigns around. ft is well known, how c1early he provesit is withSpain and notwithPortugal that British connexion should'belinked; how clearly he provesthat no sacrifice shouldbe thought toogreat for its maintenance-in fact, for what is so demonstratively mutuaIinterest, that it could not faLI to maintain itself.-lt is useless tadilate on this.But an old leaven of prejudice, it i'S mUGh, to be fèared rstiH Imrks8it lwme to baBle ail those just and wise caleulations. Indeed"hadit Dot been so, rhey must long ene now have been acted on.Frenelai connexionleads. d:irectl:'y to the deterioration, British to the aggrandizement,ofSpain.as they are pleasing!Wo.uld that sueh speeulatioos\vere a~ hopefulFrance is.a powerful euemy by ph~sical,.an op,.pressive fri.t~nd hy mOlial,. fo,rce. If even Just policyestablish itself, andregain that independence she seems for the present to have totally 108t,.she must'extend her froutier to the north of the Pyrenee5, and extort{rom france a line of defence there as 5tl'ong as thatofth,e barriertownsof Flandcl's.acleqtla.te;to supply it.And the t,>pngraphy of' this mountaÏ:nQus· tract is. fully,Thé P)~rene{lsatprresetl;t are no moreth31n:an.outline,:pervious ast1te,are in 50 man,.; pJaces, and. fromtheir extent admittingof: any defensivearmY,being turnèd;,. and consequently. ohlitged,to abandon;thell'h Then,t1tèQccupa:tio,u ofN.a:varre by tàe inv;ading pmverfollows,oî course, andt\lis is the key of Spain, at the heads" of t;.he Ebeo" for it is liot by fortresses,the wretched works· of men:;' hands, thatcountries are securedQr held.; The Ehro, a~beretofore obsi'rved." is also but au outline. Thelnountains of the interior are only posts,; and, to be effectuaUy defended