The National Register. — London, England, 1809-06-04 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER. in the ordinary way. Lord noncom ;so, and the Earl of WESTMURCLAND, his rather, may have done some public services, though we confess, that me have never heard of them. But, surely, heither Lord Bo aciiißS it nor Earl Wp.s.r3toant.Arto could have any claim to this long string of favours. It may be here, possibly aegued, that these nt.;i.p.:s and : ittGoi.sTioics were merely the private regulations of his I.s.lisors7, that he had no intention to fetter his own pre togdtite, that he merely issued them as General Rules, but had no purpose of binding himself within their strict letter. That he might see various occasions to depart from them, and that it could not be supposed that he intended to re strict himself from acting according to these occasions.— The plain point and substance of this argument amounts to this—that these nimrs and REGULATIONS are no nuta:s and rttotyr.sttosiq at all—that they may be violated at the plea- Sure of buy Cabinet Minister—that to. of without in -ilitence, they arc bars of iron ; but to the favourites of the . Court or Minister, are only so many whisps of straw.— ] t is unnecessary, we shouted 11:7pe, to eliter at any length into the necessary evils of either leaving promotion with out a system, or leaving it with such a system as !nay ena ble any Minister or any Commander to dispense with it at his pleasure. Better have Mrs. CLARKE, who had some discretion, bectutse site made it her study, iu her military : appointments, than a Minister or a Cabinet Counsellor, who cannot be supposed to have either sympathy or knowledge in military concerns. An army without such ORDERS and Itr..“frdittons, is totally within the mercy, the caprice, and the influence of a Court and Ministry. The fact is, that The main utility of having a - Prince of the Blood at the head of the army was, that he stood as a kind of bulwark .of the artily against a Court and Ministry. The ORDERS and • REGULATIOriII were the law and system by which he administered the army. As he interposed his personal weight and influence between the Army and the Ministry, so he interposed, as it were, the 012 P =its and ItEcULATIONS between the Army and himself. As long as he acted on a system, so long he necessarily restrained himself. if any •ene•hereafter should seek military promotion, let him not trouble himself with either military service, or military skill, let him recontmend himself to a Minister or Cabinet Counsellors and the ORDERS and REctiLATxomt will bend bar to his promotion. It is but justice taadd, that the 1 1 ;lajdrity anti the Lieut.- Coloneley of Lord BURGHERRU have been recently super ceded, and that by this tacit confession the Ministers have In some degree. compensated for their previous violation of the standiug order; It cannot, however, but give every vnan of public spirit a most lively concern, that such prac tices have been allowed, and were even defended in Parlia tnent : yet what is there in fact, which Lord CASTLEREAGH would not find defensible ? We must confess ourselves t° Le truly sarprized that the candid and ingenuous nature of Mr. Patteevair. could say a word upon a subject thus fla grant. We have only to express our hopes, that, within the few last weeks of this scansions of Parliament, Ministers have received a lesson which they will not soon forge. The name of Mr. WARDLE should never be mentioned unac tompaniad by some testimony of public( gratitude, The people will wow understand how much 'hey are indebted to this upright members 14e has opened the vein, which Otero tire following into the tery boort of the mins. TO MR. WILLIAM COBBEIT. LETTER I. :JUNE 4. It is ileithc,r an approbation of your principles, nor an acliniration of your abilities which induces mo to address you thus publicly, for I dittst the former, and 1. colisider the latter as only furnishing you with the means of being inofe extensively misch'evous. In my eitimination of your letters, I shall endeavour to folltyi;: the sort of plan 3on have proposdd, and take 3 our paragraphs one after the other, both because this'arrangement suits a nvidtrate parity, and because it will assist to drive ingenuity from that refuge which it seldom fails to discover in the laby rinth cif desultory argument. But as I do not propose to rely upon the ini•aric.ble practice rf your' politic.zt (credat Judanis) and trust to you for the circulation of opi nions, from your own, so I shall not consider my self bound to confine my replies to Your para;raphs others, not (.rcecding in any instance double the tcngih (f those which they profess to answer. If you should assert, " There is no God," (and what is there however absurd, treasonable, or even impious that yo may not be sup posed capable of asserting) is the angrier to be confined only to eight words? It is true, that None bu 4 a fool would erike the assertion, perhaps, the only answer teat can with propriety be given. The object of your letters is to contineo the inde pendent People of Hampshire, " That it would be ex.; pedient for them to meet on a future day, to consider of the propriety of a petition to the King, praying his Majesty to be graciously pleased to afford his royal countenance and support in obtaining a Reformation in the Commons House of Parliament." Are you prepared to assert that meeting for such a purpose is legal or constitutional? Are you prepared to assert that the King has a right to let about a reformation ofthc Commone House of Parliament?' ! Would not such an attempt amount to an endeavour to sub vert the constitution? Has the King d right of himself even to begin an alteration of any mie law of the land ? Are not his powers merely confined to rejecting what is proposed by the other branches of the legislature, and of preventing wrong from being done ? What is the alternative to which the King would be reduced, if the other counties of England should follow the example which you propose the county of Hamp shire should set them, and petition the King to afford his royal countenance to a reformation of the House of Com mons? He must either appear in the ungracious light of refusing the prayers of the petitioners, or of involving him self in a dispute with the House of Commons; by interfer ing, in an illegal and uuconstitutional manner, with their undoubted privileges. I cannot persuade myself that yott are either blind te the possibility, or indifferent to the probability, of such an event. It would bely the confidence yet: entertain of your own powers not to hive calculated upon this ; for upon your own priaciples t and upon your own reLsoningi the present House of Commons are net likely to vu:e . themselves corrupt ; or toy commit a suicidal act upon their OM power. ("refers the exteutive can h prevail-ad