The National Register. — London, England, 1809-10-01 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER. Wars that ever the country had been engaged in ; that all the wis;e:as of the war, aoil America itself, were lost ; and that the debt of this country was increased to a prodigious extent. Ile could say more—that he believed that all the evils which have ever:un the Continent of Europe, and reduced this country to great danger, might he directly traced to the wicked policy which dictated the American war. He therefore could not sips room :or cong ratulating his Majesty on that portion of his reti which went down to the dismetithertnent of the Empire and the loss of America. If we were to come to more modern times, and look at the history of the last sixteen years, we should find that this country has been involved in a most bloody and cala mitous war, for an object which the people never understood. The country knew when their Teets were in port, and when they were not ; bat they never kt.ew what it was they were lighting far. The calamitous events pf these bloody, expensive, and disastrous wars, were certainly net subjects to congratulate ltls Majesty upon. Were they to cougratulate his Majesty upon the frequent suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act and of the Constitution during his reign ? Could we congratulate his Ma wsty upon the Treason aid Sedition Bills, in consequence of which many unfortunate young men suffered the most severe punishment for merely repeating what had been said with greater force at a former period, by the very Ministers who re commended the prosecution ? If we were to return thanks to Al mighty God, merely for prolonging the life of his Majesty, we could not congratulate our Sovereign for having escaped bodily foArmity, nor yet mild we conoratulate him on his family, or an the silk - Tess of the measures his Government. After such unexampled failures as the country has lately witnessed, it should rather be a time for the city to go up and point out to his Majesty the cause of those failures, than to 0x this as a time to have a day of rejoicing. At the coticlasion of the last war againit France, after hsying incurred a fresh debt of 20:) mil lions, the station was informed by the Secretary at War, (Mr. York), that although we had gained battles, the akjeets Of the war were lost, and that Europe was gone." Was it then Yoe a war, attended with such e xpense; and )1 . 1 trofortunate in its results, that his Majesty should be congratulated ? or was it for tile events of the present war—the Convention of Cintra, the unfoetunate occurences in Spain, or the Expedition to Walches 3h. the most disgraceful one that was to he found in the annals .of the country—that a congratulation was to be voted ? He inie.nt, however. ask what portion was it of his Majesty's long ra;gn, which we could fix upon as the period 'ear a compliment ary Address. If the Address of the city had teen attended to Oil a f .rarer occasion, and a proper inquiry instituted respecting the Sltameful Convention of Cintra, the country would, probably, not have had now to lament the loss which we have sustained ill Spain, from the hasty advance and precipitate retreat of Lord Viscount Wellingtou. No w, although the Convention of (Antra bad been fel disgraceful to this country, yet there was to stand up and say, that in this, or ich is recorded in the annals of British his !ar so disgraceful and calamitous, as the Expedition, which was intrusted to Lord nobody that would say, that the Income in of the Excise haws, were subjects upon ould be corgratttlated. As to the conduct , it was so extremely had, that :slam:SO anger pf Generals on our Staff than Buo ained, probably, at four times the ex ones to select Generals for the command select a W hitelocke, a Dalrymple, or a Court see, with indifference, the waste of 'as occasioned by the fully of those who he execution of the objects of our E pe said, and very truly, that the valour of , rs had been conspicuoes in the late wars. lame rested upon the Government. If we id not fight, the wisest Govermnent might when it is known that we have a brave execute well whatever they are called will rest exclusively on the Goverusaent, .y of it; plans, and its selection . ofotlicers, isele)s, end causes torrents Of British blood Ainong the many faulis of the Govern ,in, that although we had 3& Ambassadors, per annum in 'pensions, in addition to cry fess'Courts in which they would he ul tvayi found that they were eons letely We had lately an example Of this in len s although evezy other man Ia the • 1. country knew that a revolution was probable, the British Ain, assador alone appeared to know nothing of the matter. There never was a great country whose affairs had hems so ill managed as the affairs of this country : and yet Ministers spewed great abilities in some things. They could easily discover all the means that would prevent surcharges from being evaded; and yet they never could discover the means by which the country'i affairs in other respects could be managed with honour. • A( the very time that the - taxes' were to be levied_ with the utmost rigour, accounts to the amount of nine millions of money %sere vet unsettled at the Victualling Office; and above seven millions of West India accounts were yet unexamined, notwithstanding the expence of the Commissioners appointed for that purpose. In the very last year, above nine millions were added to this yearly expenditure; and when it was considered, that from the year 1797 to the pi sent year, the taxes hart encreased from 23 to id millions annually, without gaining a single object for which weentered inns the war. * He could not see how his Majesty could he congratuland on such calamitous events. It was impossible the country could l go on much longer under such a progressive and e normous aA mulatioresifpublic burdens. Those Gentlemen on the other side, o were al wifys'eallito;• for unanimity in that Court, were acting ensistently when they brought forward perpe tually motions which must necessarily disturb that unanimity. He' had himsAf for the whole of his political life, opposed, at far as he was able, the system which had brought so many- . Cal amities on the country. For the greater part of that time, he had been buffeted and bunted down as a jaeobin, and for many years he could only prevail on five ioemhers to divide with him. He however had never turned to the right hand or the left ; but regardles;i of whatever odium the gentlemen on the other side might excite against hint, he had fearlessly pursued through life, and lie should al ways continue to do it, that line of conduct which his sense of publiedisty pointed out. (Lind applausse from below the bar. "Pie Lord Mayor called the gentlemen to order.) These applaisses were certainly irregular, and he was happy to say thitKit was an irregularity which did not often take place. There ware, however, oceasion::,avhen it wns hard for men to conceal Coarieelings ; and suchlernonstrations had been heard, sometimes, in the House of Commons itself.' There were many gentlemen in that court, who agreed with him in the most essential points; and yet, because there were some shades of difference, they, upon many occasions; threw themselves intei the arms of the enemy. Nothing could be more mischieyous or dangerous than such a course. Mr. Fox had elegantly observed, in his history, that " it was much better to concede something to a friend, than every thing to an enemy." • lie wished that those, who on important poitns- thought as _he did, were pressed with the truth of this sentiment. As to many of the gentlemen on the other side, he might as well talk to. stocks or stones, as to address them with any hopes of convincing them. They were evidently playing a game of their. own; they were evidently fishirmfor themselves, while he had nothing to hope for or to fear from any government, and had never obtained or sought any favours. He was astonished that a gentleman who had given notice of a motion for the present day ( Mr. Deputy tremble), should now feel different from what he did upon the Convention of Cintra : On that occasion he mentioned, " that his blood boiled with indignation, and that he was ready to go up to his Majesty every week with a remonstrance on the sub ject." That burning zeal, however, must have now consi derably cooled. The City of London • could show no better proof of, its loyalty to its Sovereign upon the present oc casion, than by pointing out to him those enemies who had broug4t such disgrace: and dangers upon the country. An 1-lo nom-able and Loyal. Baronet (Sir Wm. Curtis), had, npou a former occasion, complained of his personality ; hut he did not at that time recollect for what 4 number of yearS he, (M r. Waith man) had been exposed to the personalities of that Honorable Baronet and his friends. He had, perhaps, forgotten, that When he was in - a majority on the-Treason and Sedition Bills, Gentlemen insisted upon a division, in order that it might be seen " who were the enemies of the country." As to what was called the monied interest, although he was himself a tradesman, he would never took much to the monied interest 'to support constitutional principles; nor to Bank Directors, who can get Acts of Parliament to prevent their paying their notes in cash, and who receive five per cent. far interest on a bit of paper intrinsically not worth a penny. On this subject he reads long passage from a speech of Lord Chathain,t,' which had been often quoted, in which s.is Lordship says, " that be had the must per. Ica mutt - alit for the Asiatic: plunderers in Leadenhal I-street, un4 fur tit. jobbers ileCkaup-Aticy ; thai.they wore tenerully bad been felt as most di ~ • ~ pa man liaaly enough k• I any other liilore, nide .4 et tory, was any thing nea 1 0 last and most infamous . 9 1 Chatham. There was 'ax, and the extention f 9 'w hi ch . ii is ".11;•jesty shot 1 , pfour military affairs, • 'we have double the nut , ? • go 1 r.4.parte has, and nriinta 4 . p••ce; 3 et when it cor f . % ' 'four Expeditions, we thailiam. Could the C 134 fr4l blood which int p:ann •d, or who had th ilitit s ps ? 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