He insinuated that a change so great must have been
prompted by motives of a singular and momentous kind.
No answer, or an answer wide of the purpose, was generally made to
these insinuations. Britons and Spaniards, he said, are votaries
of the same Deity, and square their faith by the same precepts;
their ideas are drawn from the same fountains of literature, and
they speak dialects of the same tongue; their government and laws
have more resemblances than differences; they were formerly
provinces of the same civil, and, till lately, of the same
religious, empire.
As to the motives which induce men to change the place of their
abode, these must unavoidably be fleeting and mutable. If not
bound to one spot by conjugal or parental ties, or by the nature of
that employment to which we are indebted for subsistence, the
inducements to change are far more numerous and powerful than
opposite inducements.
He spoke as if desirous of showing that he was not aware of the
tendency of Pleyel's remarks; yet certain tokens were apparent that
proved him by no means wanting in penetration.
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