The National Register. — London, England, 1814-06-19 00:00:00

t , THE NATIONAL REGISTER. Our Sing, Constitution, apti tatus. PUBLISUED AT NO. 11 1 NEWCASTI.K-STREET I STILAAD. SUNDAY, JUNE 19 ? 1814. N o . 333. Pryer !l,' TIIE ERENCII CONSTITUTION. I must have withal Aa large a charter as the wiail to breathe in. Liberty is the relative term that connects and extends the public and social duties which devolve upon us in a state of society : and those nations have been found to posSess most advantages who have kept in s;gh . the sim plicity of those primitive institutions, that even in a state of nature were always found necessary to regulate the ha bits of savage life. But the moment we left these unaf fected models, and abandoned the suggestions of reason and independence, governments took a turn more or less adverse to the real liberties of manki4o, and despotic regulations flourished to the exclusion of those equal du tie, which are alone calculafcl to gibe permanence and sclidity to pol.itical establishments. Th.; loss of real liberty was in compensated by the in troduction of more polished manners„ and more compli cated systems ; and the folly of those who sought, in their own persons, to unite the rights of the whole, soon brought on these - revolutions that have filled the world with exam_ plcs, and our recent times with massacre and tears. Revolutions are, however, c:ifferent in different coun tries, according to the mantit , v awl maxims of different people, and the resalts have been uniform:y bad or good, iil proportion to the liberty they have auteedettily been accustomt•d to. The revolutioa of :England is conse qntly altogether different from that of France; and the iLlerf3e of liberty that has or may result to either, is at nt to the exclusive b::efit of England. it does not, however, follow, that the deficiencies of our usual cas.toms and LAits should exclude us from po liti-2al improvement; ou the contrary-, to stand kill, while other natic:is around us are making gigantic strides to fCmotlling like moral perfectioia, is to wake a guilty sacri fice of our time and intellect to antiquated prejudices and immoral principles. France, however, and Frenchmen, seem to be of a different opinion, and instead of ameliorat ing the condition of their Iriwz, or laying the foundations or a permanent government, they have preferred the re cog-Laic:if of ancient despotism—under different heads, true, and with new terms, but still exclusive of their c'.vn Montesquieu, and in .direct opposition to the best 311CeS .on the forms of a free government. The articit-s of the new Constitution are the monstrous union ofjacooinism and despotism—for as in morals, so in poi ticK, extrPnies meet and center lit one common axiom . There, is no novelty in a truism, and it wanted 44 no ,5490 t Ira. VII. AVu. XX Ala to tell us," who live in the eigLte men are equal in the eye of tha !aw;" I:nd it extremely difficult to know I.cw is guaranteed by the investure of a Clig absolute power to make laws, Nebo mrst airays ing Means to extend his own influene: a..-1 'woes :ty. It cer!ainly is the peculiar tai,nt of U Frotch p cpi.e to talk with more llucin7 upon tot.ics of intere s t s than many other nations. Bit ,semis to be the toachitone of their genius, flora wi'ich t 1 1 ,7 shrink with involuntary disgust the moment it approaches t.,rin; 4 is to them like a cal.risoned herse l the grandeur AN.. beauty of whose form is lost beneath the dramatic cot clings; ef a holiday exhibition. From what does th;sar':-e -c t::ey incapable of true liberty? or does their jealousy of - Eng. land exclude the beauty of lt.wF and the iro.ttiom et her constitution ? Time, which sf•-:rns to do much in every other respect, seems to make little or 110 impression upon national prvjudices ; and the ministers of Louis XVIII. seem like those of the late tyranny, mere bent upon gra. tifying the ferment of the moment, then by laying the foundations of a wise and effic 7 :nt government. We shall not have time this week to examine so mi nutely as we could wish, article by artiee, of the new Constitution; and of pointing out to our reader,. how lit. tie real pi-ogress has been made in the principles of a j..ist ailmillistration. But .we ray be allowed to state, from the exultation betrayed here by a certain class of emi grants whom we have suffered to take root in our soil, that they consider the new Constitution as eminently cal. ciliated to bring back the " golden days" of Lettres de Cachet and Bastiles, an idle and dissipated priesthood, and irresponsible ministers. We may, however, be ;)or mitted to say to these gentlemen, with a " warning voice," that France, however corrupted and debased, still series her military character, and, if they please, the seer. ticism of the new philosophy, Let them beware how they new movements in a country, Whose flame ef revo lutionary warfare is not yet extinguished, and the fury of whose desolating power still )ants for the recovery of their past glory, and only waits a new incentive to ue. • dertake the subjugation of the neighboering states. ;Mitres and erosiersjoe they arc priests who I 11 i. 12iS L ICC. trine, may dance before their eyes emit-ow:II stith the rays emitted from the triple crown, Lot the thunders (r the Vatican are heard no more, er if listeneJ to in thet distance, will scarcely Vibiliti3 to the oars of that sacred conclave, whose powers arc sunk in Ue west fleVer to rise again. If Frap.-;:e had adopted such a constitution, as s , ,aftcp ...Oar