The National Register. — London, England, 1808-01-17 00:00:00

( JA =OM was aspi Ulllll stra re: ii men of i tout the ugh n NM t!te mit) tuut : F nu 01 Its a awl lo'ud rent. senti hid butt anti allltl sent : 1 f u tic deel trop t rem, this any teal vont bee foam pen tiou prel wits whii coot i of 7 at p tneU Ti tion, ovnr of p coati each rep this, revol to f.t übual ruins char; uent effect of th in th f,ur pros' fated llini! enri Baba thee: in I T"" 7. JAN. 17. ;as occasionally eclipsed by the popular fiataiiiiationi of this aspiring rival ; and Yox, Sheridan, Grey, ckc. were be -praised as I/mercifully as their autagoniqs were blackguarded. In this :rain the Murniag Pole continued till Mr. Pitt and his friends e;ired from pow 4-r ; and poor Mr. Addin;qon, at the coin iencuractit of his Administration, was received by a shower of invectives, epie:ranti, burlesques, and the otiler noxious con- Itatv.of a uewlpitry magazine. But the period wa_ come when 'le Editor of tilt- Jfurniiq Post was to be visited wit h a new ght. • One morning, to the utter ainazerneut of all the Quid ones,. a.-11anitesto appeared in tliva Vapor, directly recanting !te political te►,ets which it I:ad till then so zealuu•.ly main. and assuming for its new creed every position tha •uuld be agreeable to the existing Administration ! • From that period, 'fas ,horning Poet has continued the etre mous panegyrist of the party which had before been loaded with is abuse. When Pitt returned'to power, at the head of a feeble .od administration, his arrangements had still the aid acclamations of this most olutquious paper, n hile the ta 'tits and principles of Mr. Fox, its former idol, %% ere repre 'wed, the one as useless, the other as dangerous. The Editor tad the sagacity to perceive the unpopularity of the broad- ottomed administration, both at court and with the public; therefore,like a wise rat, he did not venture to trust himself' otung the props of so totteriug a building. But when the pre !nt tuiniiters ascended to power, he agnin resumed his courtly motions; and now coatiauee to deck, ►►ith the most pompous I-thou:dims, whatever he imag Ines N 1 ill be agreeable to his pa- •ons in polder. The political writings of The Morning Poe, which has flail:. •eriounced all its former principles, without even allegiog that is was dune from conviction, would be of little importance to my oar, were it not that it is considered as the organ of minis vial sentiments, as receiving private communications from Go- moment, and as uniionnly expressing u hat Ministers N ish to be expressed. These suppositious, which scene not to be ill -landed, giie a real importance to its pontical effusions: every oerverted principle which it asserts, every improper declaina iou which it publishes, arc doubly pernicious, and doubly re- Teheasible, since they come to the public apparently fortified *tribe sanction of Ministers, and may be considered as tenets ;ilia, when occasion offers, will be acted upon. On this :le vant. we shall find it accessary to watch the tergiversations f The Morning Post with a particularly jealous eye i• and shall present expose ono of the vilest and most unjustifiable ma . - louvres of faction, of which it has ever been the tool. There is nothing'which more powerfully excites our indigna on, than to see the spirit of faction acquire such au aseendanc) , er men, as to extinguish, in their minds, esery generous feeling patriotism; as to isake them rijwice at the disasters of their ouutry, and even join itt the reprioaebes and invectives of the lolly, provided they cat), by this means, bring confusion and 'proaelics on th:te political antagonists. Of the eXCeSbed of its degraded and pernictoui spirit we have seldom seen a more 'coking instance, than in the late discussions about our neglect support our Allies. The present Minister s , anxious, as ,ual with our political parties, to exalt their own fame on the Aim of their predecissors, were very busy, last Spring, in :barging the defeat anedestruction of our Allies on the Conti 'at to the negligence of the late Cabinet, in not affording them 'ectual support. The Emperor Alexander gladly laid hold the pretext thus furnished him; and inserted it with pomp the front of his hostile declaration, In the answer of it Cabinet to that. (ice:oration, the justice of these re- ouches was tacitly ackagowledged, because to have re ted them would have been to exculpate the former inisters, a iacritce of patty to patriotism which could not he pected : but care was taken at the same time to introduce a ,badil story respecting great armament:, suddenly created by le extraordiparz vigour of our preseat Ministers. 2'Ae Morning TIIE NATIONAL REGISTER. «. ~T S 5 Post, having got its cue, has continued to rail, in strict unison with Alexander, against the good faith of our country ; till at last Bonaparte has chimed in with admirable e:fect ; and we shall now bear Alexander, Bonaparte, and our demi-official journal skewing who shall be most successful in ruining our national reputation for good faith and honour. It is hard that Britain, who has ever been the dupe of her Allies; %vim, after repeated experience of their perfidy, has continued to waste her blood and treasure in support of the Con iincotal Powers ; who, for this purpose, has impaired her own prosperity, and loaded her people with intolerable burdens— should now be thus reproached not by the client v, but also by her own dry:wrote progeny. Let it nut be supposed, that we mean to advocate the cane of the last administration : their apology was sneaking and unmanly beyond all endurance. They only asserted that they had given no formal assurances of aid to our allies , and that consequently no hope of aid from us could reasonably be formed. But such an excuse was only an aggravation of their misconduct: if it was proper to render as - ,iistance to our Allies, their fault was doubled in not giving timer assurauces that it would be furnished: if it was improper to aid them, this silly and pusillanimous evasion was utterly mean and degrading. The defence of our national honour, against both our internal and external enemies, should, in our opinion, have proceeded upon much loftier grounds : it should have stated, first, that we had no common interest with toe King of Prussia, and were in no respect called upon to assist him ; secondly, that no diversion in favour of our Allies by land could have had any probability of success; thirdly, that Britain was making greater and more efficacious efforts against France than all her Allies together. It' these positions be true, w hick we shall endeavour to show in a few words, what are we to think of those Political Declaimers, who unite with our ene mies in reviling our conduct on this occasion, with the must foul and false aspersions ? What were our common interests with the Court of Prussia? After one gasconading but ineffectual campaign against France, for which be was well reimbursed by British treasure, the King of Prussia contrived first to trick us out of some further sub sidies, and then perfidiously made peace with the enemy. Ile afterwards saw the miserable ruin of the British and Austrian armies, without making the least effort to ;id them ; and sheaved himself abundantly rejoiced at the triumphs of France, since he was allowed, in the mean time, to seize treacherously on some of the defenceless smaller states, and add them to his dominions. When the Northern Confederacy united against Britain in the hour of her distress, the King of Prussia did not fail to be among the conspirators for her humiliation. Yet this same champion, after having betrayed Austria into a league by his promises of assistance, left her to be ruined at the battle of Austerlitz, while his Ambassadors were perfidiously nego tiating in the enemy's camp! But this gallant Monarch was at length roused to action : he boldly stood forth with his own forces to oppose the Conqueror of the Continent. And what incited him to this heroic resolution ? Not the cause of Uri- twin ; not the deliverance of Europe :—No ; he had tree- , cherouslv seized a defenceless portion of the territory se Britain ; of that Ally to whom Prussia owed not only Noir greatness but her very existence; and pleased with the booty of which he had so perfidiously plundered her, stood forward to maintain his right to : it by arms. And this is the Prince, and this the occasion, in behalf of which Britain s.:Juld have hasteesal to expend her blood and treasures! Had tide King of Prussia been successful, what would have been the result? Hanover would have been finally annexed to the Prussian dominiuns and Britain, had she assisted him, would have contributed to plunder herself in order to prosper his treachery. Can any but a fool or a knave maintain that we ought, in such circus:- stauces, to have assisted. Prussia We have 4se said that such asilitance would have been ire . mmmmmmmm.......L.., I - _ sr