The National Register. — London, England, 1811-01-20 00:00:00

'HE NATIONAL REGISTER.' • 1 .4 ut Wing, Congtitution , anD Lall4. PRICE 9• SUNDAY, JANUARY 2,0, 1811. _~i - •. N°. 160 . a...r. POLL •-ii NEW POLI This is the a the Constitutio the King, the l months, or p the present syst be composed 'found, it will apprehended tt ties, and so sin should suffer th by any change A few observe in the good Set be led by every of patriotism, reduce into pre We lately 1 walks of our to be popular, i without any of watchful goal Between his tical body ha forefathers in the laud, and i execution of i alarming than rau,k, the sp ties, always minds of mal deceitful glare of their erro' Parliament It tional interfei rity of their stitutionality leaders, the n suunity have I tempt at chec of their Repr against the et .4 what were ti o X a ' encre ftl s ativ V IV. ti tam. LITICAL DISQUISITION. No. 152. ILITICAL BODIES IN THE STATE. age of political novelty. Formerly ton consisted only of three bodies : Peers, and the Commons. In a few perhaps a few weeks, . should not system of innovation be checked, it will of five.—" Where are they to be be said ? And how can it be - even that a people so jealous of their liber-, ,ncerely attached to their Constitution, the former to be invaded and restrained ges or additions effected in the latter ?" Ibservations will dissipate this confidence 'sense of a people which allows itself to every political adventurer Who talks aloud equally ignorant of, or unwilling to practice, its true principles. beheld an innovation in the highest Constitution, which, as it happened has passed into a dangerous precedent , opposition on the part of the pretended guardians of the British Constitution. MAJZSTY and the Peers, a new poli has started up, totally unknown to our all ages. Composed of the Princes of intended to overawe Parliament in the its duty, its expressed aim is no less ill its power. The dignity of elevated plendour of Royal wealth and ti txert a strong influence over. the mo. They are dazzled, and follow the glare wherever it leads, almost unconscious error. The wisdom and independence of have this time defeated the unconstitu interference of the Princes I but the autho ir high example has shaken the con of the people. Deluded by their middling and lower classes of the corn considered it, not as an improper at checking the freedom of debate and action Representatives, but as a noble stand made encroachments of Administration. But , these encroachments ? Did they teid to vo p ,cre *alarming weight Of the Royal Prero- Mist which our patriotic writers so.fre- IV No. CLX. 0 , r ,~. quently warned us ? To the curtailment of our rights ? To an unlawful infringement of our liber ties ?--No : they fixed and defined the limits of the Royal Prerogative; they secured the respective rights of the King and his subjects, and by main taining the just equilibrium of the Constitution, preserved unimpaired our national liberties. Were they encroachments then ? The voice of party called them so ; true patriotism considered them as wise and efficient measures, springing from an accurate knowledge of, and an ardent love for, the Constitution.--“ If wise and efficient, why were they opposed ?"--,Because when the interest of men wars with right and justice, right and justice, and with them common sense and consistency are trod den under foot.—" But instead of increasing the weight of the Royal Prerogative, they went to the other extreme, and threatened to diminish'it in an alarming degree." This charge is unfounded : they kept the Royal Prerogative inviolate, by limit ing that of the Regent, the only method which could, be adopted to prevent the possibility of its unconstitutional extension or decrease. But • who are those who express so „much alarm at the very thought of curtailing the Royal Prero gative ?—Those violent declaimers, who for months and years have been poisoning the minds and loy alty of their readers, with tales of its undue and pernicious increase ! who have published laboured statements of the number of offices, created, they asserted, for the sole purpose of. extending the alariniag influence of The Crown, and who now, un blushingly contend, that it is insulting the Regent, and injuring the Public . Service, to deprive him of the command of those very offices ! Such incon sistency is less than criminal ;it is ridiculous. It betrays such a want of principle—such a marked disregard for truth and justice ;—such glaring cor ruption and thirst after bribes, that were not this nation struck with mental blindness, one would think the time for 'delusion were past, and the triumph of imposture at an end. To hope that truth will suddenly Mame the public mind, is, how ever, too much. Its film of error is too gross. Has not this cheated people seen Corporate Bodies one year petitioning Parliament sc against the alarm ing influence of the Crown,": and the next against the restriction of tha t influence v4ien it ceased to be exer cised by the aged pilot of the state, in whose expect ..: ._.. rc,r . ; ~ - ...4.401.