The Alexandria Herald

London, Dec. 28.

Extract of a letter from Madrid.

We remark with pleasure for some time past, that the English and French Journals are more impartial in the manner in which they express themselves on the subject of our war with the American insurgents. The detention of the American ship the Firebrand, in the gulph of Mexico, gave occasion to an alarming report on the part of the insurgents and their friends, in the journals of the United States. According to them the general cry in those states was "War with Spain." The persons who flattered themselves with the insane hope of being able by such artifices to lead the American senate into hostilities against us, are those restless, turbulent men, who have nothing to lose, & hope, under the favor of disorder, to obtain possession of places and wealth. But surely America, rich and happy in her laws, will not put her posterity to hazard for the sake of some miserable intriguers, who, on the downfall of revolutionary principles have been expelled from Europe as incoherent elements rejected by the social system. The United States will not espouse the cause of rebellion. That power too well knows that public assistance, granted to the insurgents of Spanish America would compromise her relations of friendship not only with Spain, but with all the maritime powers of the Old World, who are united with the interests which the future fate of their colonies involve, by the uniformity of the principles which govern them, by the analogy of the misfortunes which they have so long endured.