G.
CONCERNING THE RELATIONS OF GREAT BRITAIN, SPAIN, AND PORTUGAL, TO EACH OTHER, AND TO THE COMMON ENEMY, AT THIS CRISIS; AND SPECIFICALLY AS AFFECTED BY THE CONVENTION OF CINTRA: _The whole brought to the test of those Principles, by which alone the Independence and Freedom of Nations can be Preserved or Recovered_.
* * * * * Qui didicit patriae quid debeat;-------- Quod sit conscripti, quod judicis officium; quae Partes in bellum missi ducis.
* * * * * BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.
* * * * * London: PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, AND ORME, PATERNOSTER-ROW.
* * * * * 1809.
Bitter and earnest writing must not hastily be condemned; for men cannot contend coldly, and without affection, about things which they hold dear and precious.

A politic man may write from his brain, without touch and sense of his heart; as in a speculation that appertaineth not unto him;--but a feeling Christian will express, in his words, a character of zeal or love.

_Lord Bacon_.
ADVERTISEMENT.
The following pages originated in the opposition which was made by his Majesty's ministers to the expression, in public meetings and otherwise, of the opinions and feelings of the people concerning the Convention of Cintra.

For the sake of immediate and general circulation, I determined (when I had made a considerable progress in the manuscript) to print it in different portions in one of the daily newspapers.

Accordingly two portions of it (extending to page 25) were printed, in the months of December and January, in the _Courier_,--as being one of the most impartial and extensively circulated journals of the time.