Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/144

112 MEXICO. this unanimity certainly prevails ; and I believe that any hos- tile demonstration on the part of Spain, would, every where, be found a sovereign remedy of domestic feuds. These feuds too, however embarrassing in their effects, ought to be rather matter of regret, than surprise, to those who reflect that no nation has ever yet attained any reasonable portion of civil liberty without them. They are a part of that fearful pro- cess, by which it appears that, while human nature remains what it is, abuses, even when past endurance, can alone be corrected. Our own history, as well as that of our neigh- bours, attests this melancholy truth ; and, after the lapse of more than a century, the party distinctions of the day still bespeak the fury of the party-spirit of our ancestors. The same scene, modified only by differences of climate, and ren- dered less interesting by the want of early education amongst the principal actors, is now representing in the New World. The struggle, like every one in which the passions of the people are engaged, has been accompanied by its usual at- tendants, bloodshed and desolation ; but humanity may con- sole itself with the hope that the storm is now gone by, and that future prosperity, however dearly purchased, will afford a compensation for all past sufferings. The extent of these sufferings throughout Spanish Ame- rica, (for, in every part of it the contest has borne the same character,) a precis of the Mexican Revolution will enable us more fully to appreciate.