The National Register. — London, England, 1814-07-31 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER. - JIILY SI. - - _, The [ b in. J. W. Ward, a Privy Councillor, and a Mem ber of the Board of Controul. This accesion of Mr. Canning's friends to the support, as it is called,•Of . Adr»inistration, is one of those events which it is didicult to reconcile to any known policy on the .pait of Government, and can only be speculated upon as connected w ith Lord (2astlereagli's elevation to the Peerage, and the necessity of finding a leader capable of directing the debate in the Lower House. Situated as that house now is, such a leader may be competent to the aggregate of public business, and may suit the triumphant Stone of present successes, but we by no means deem him capable of a great crisis, and . bis present acceptance of power reduceS his character to . a level with his talents. 4ma►►tiani ire, ST. may be a good poetical sentiment, but a bad maxim for political union. The Moniteur to the 27th inst. tai ,given a long extract from a work on the liberty of the press, from which we present our readers with the following paragraph; the wishes and dispositions of the Government who allows such libels without contradiction or comment cannot but be higtily fa vourable to the liberty of the subject. " Few spars pass by without the newspapers and Nth ex citing in England seditious movements, whic,i, no: dangerous to the state, arc . fa:al to those engaged ia the insurrections.' When, we would ask the editor of the Moniieur, has this been the case in Eng!and ? And what ate we to think of these falsehoods, published under the eyes and with the sanction of the Government? The King has been long enough in Eng!and to know the character ef our law .upon this head, though it way not suit the nature of the Policy which signalises his return, to acknowledge its wisdom and superiority. To our minds there is little or no dial ence between a Government that brutalizes and one who de ceives a great peOple, so long as the powers of the mind arc made subservient to cajole and corrupt, 'to destroy or over turn the freedom which ennobles it. We are such lovers of rational freedom, that every cir cumstance, however trifling, that may appear to affect its security, excites our alarm. This observation we mean to apply lather to Spain than any other country. since -the at tempts to reform the new institutions are passiedy e.rtul/ed those. who accept their orders, and admit their congratula tfons, and besides people seldom applaud a system without a lurking wish to see it successful, or to follow its example. At present (the time is certainly shot t) nothing Las been tit on foot that can give the true friend of mankind the least lore of any extewive - amelioration in the condition of the governments on the continent, and we filar, from what we know of their internal organization, that the same narrow policy continues to prevail notwithstanding the experience of tl:e past. In the mean while the fervor of the people has been al lowed to subside into the same state of hopeless indifference as first induce:them to submit their necks to the iron yoke of Buonaparte, and they are either insensible to, or incapable of, that sv,teni which can alone elevate and su•'ain the une qual conflict, between the desiieolpersonal ei►francbitement' a ud t ie designs of bereditary despotism. 489 Our opinion of the state of the Funds has beenjustified by the results. °opium has been done at par, and Consols at 66 1 , and it is impossible to contemplate the expenses we now incur, without apprehensions of the most serious .na ture ; since, exclusive of the floating debt, which must be% disposed of in some way or other, the demand for our manufactures is very trifling in comparison with the hopes which have been excited, and the want understood io be felt all over the Continent. In the mean while, as if change of 'men would produce change of measures, Mr. Huskisson is about to succeed Mr. Vansittart, a n►an understood to be fruitful of resource, daring in experiment, and suited to the declining and dangerous situation of our finances. How far Mr. Iluskissou is calculated to repair the waste, when exhaus tion exists amongst all ranks of people, remains to be proved by those whom the philosophy of numbers have seduced. to quit the plainness of Cocker, and who expect to find in the plausible theorists of modern .times the wholesoine limit, security and circulation of the precious metals. There can be but one result, which we think peace will rather acce. !crate than retard, and prove that nations are like individuals. who, if they spend more than their estates, must at least reap difficu!ties, the effects of their extravagance and imprudence. We should forbear to notice any further those delicate topics which hare excited so much public discussion, if we could close our o b servations with satisfaction. But all that we apprehendended has come to pass, and the voluntail re tirement of the Princess of Wales has left her friends nothing to deplore but the triumph of her enemies—Lone to censure but the Councils she has followed. It is, however, creditable to the country, that the first grounds of their interference continue the same—and that the Princess, not the public, has abandoned her own cause, to what unhappy fatality this is owing need not be asked in these degenerate days, when even the Duke of Sussex shrunk ftom the duty he bad imposed upon himself, and allowed the venial audacity (the term libellously applied by The Cou• riir to his Royal highness) of a Ministerial Paper to impugn the sacred motives of his inquiry. We shall not nosy ask what may be the situation of the Princess Charlotte, but If ' his Royal highness was to solicit another interview, would it he granted to him ? Is he allowed to correspond with his niece? We can only s3y there is a falling off . in th e public spirit of individuals which threatens ultimate evil to the I:berty of the country. I We are again compelled t ' the attention of Minister& to the state of Ireland, and feel certain, from Which letters we have received from the irbost tesnec.able quarters, that con- ' ciliation is more wanted than .fotce, •nd that the deprivation of the law is more likely t•, produce the violation, than the full benefit of the - Constitution. I.t•t its not deform the peace by domestic inquietilde, but communicate to Ireland what ;t is no longer our interest or duty to w ihhold. If we are to believe the foreign journals, the affairs of Norway draw tow.'rds a crisis—for our parr we do not believe !hetn— but as the struggle, we fear, %mold be nnavaiktig, we this gallant people will be alowed to retain Ilieit .. indrpel —and Sweden indenoii,ii , (I in s, the other nuarte'r—we indcmiu/y iuMe uloderu uu4eistanding of the let m. i hope 11 , -ore rneau - • , • 4 - •