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

THE NATIONAL REGISTER. . -s. Our ling, constituttort, ar.b tava.s. No. 9L SUNDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1809. PRICE 9.1. POLITICAL DISQC Nt; I.R NrN ETV. THE CA . nALS OrnlE CABINET. The disunion of the late Administration haS occasioned this country to present to Et:rope, and the world, a.spec ta—cle of tin common nature.—The degrading spectacle of a country, upon elioin the eyes of the Continckt arc directed us almost. its last hope, with an Administration so totally insensible of its danger and of its dignity, as to be quar relling and will' one another, whilst the ino::t ac tive and maligaant enemy, with which it ever had to con tend, is almost at its door. At any other period, this stale of things would have excited a degree of anxiety among the well disposed, and a degree of activity among others, that would have decidedly tharked the public opi nion of the men and the measures which occasioned it. But we discover nothing of the kind upon the present occasion. A sense of . public virtue seems be exchanged for an apathy which we cannot account. for, unless we sappose. the Public to be more willing to forgive the late Atiminis tratiou for what they have or have not done, than to risk the introduction of a pity into the Cabinet froin whom go much is to be apprehendod, and so little to be hoped. it is a matter of . some delicacy to speculate upon the real causes or this apathy—an apathy foreign to our nature as Eng-hal:men * and disgraceful to us as an enlightened people. Does this apathy proceed from a belief entertained by the people, that the intrigues and cabals of party are nothing more than a continued scuffle betweea men who are in and men who are out of power, and that which ever may al ternately yield or prevail. The whole is a series of con temptible victories, or scandalous submissions, in which the Fublic interest forms no part of the considerai ion. We know there are persons who hold this doctrine themselves, with respect to all public men, and who inculcate the same I)elief in others. The situation of the country is imminent 4ad alarming, and the neutrality of public, or even of pri vate men, at such a crisis, isa dereliction of duty. Some Legislators have gone the length of making this neutrality a crime agaiast the State; the Public are interested in the dis cussion of every topic, by the determination of which they may be either immediately or remotely affected, and par ticularly so, when difficulties of a temporary nature lead to results that ma*,' be lasting, or when they are proposed to be obviated upon principles that are likely to become permanent. The subject, therefore, most interesting at the present moment, or which ought to be so, is the situ ation of the country, and the means of extricating our selves from the probable consequences of it. In order to do this, the remains of the late .Administration have ad vised their Sovereign to send message 3 to Lords Ga CN 1.1• U and GREY, reqoiring their assistance to form an Adminis tration. The latter, it is sae, has declined the invitation, and Lord GIiCN VILLE has merely answered, that he will come to town, where he is since arrived. It is understood, that but little-hopes are entertained of Lord GIUNVILLE acceding to a plan thA. will not give him tie coke disposal Of all the offices of GoN.o onient, :iron;; the party - to which he stands pledged and Lord Glory is suited to have expressly declined, because he saw no prospect of that eatire dismiksion of the late Mioistry, winch would airord room for the same. sweeping determination. Before v, 3 proceed, we. shall merely obsuve, by the bye, that a great Statesman on ht to study, and be ;, - cll itege.i.iiited with tha temper of toe people whom he is to direct ; and that los ought not have a:i interest in being ignoraat of what it is hia duty to learn. Now, the people of this coontry feel iodi:;uani at the conduct or Lord GREY, and cortainiar do 110 gifg him credit for the patriotic grouuds which he assumes. Can his Lordship be ignorant, that the true criterion of patriotism is a noble and d;sinterested emulation, to con tribute our utmost to the pre3ervatiou and proa:sority of our country, to support th e G overnmen t which protee:3 Our lives and liberties, to le-d a cheerful itSiSlallee in the moment of dtingve, to sage it from injury or destruction, to sacrifice our dearest connections, our fortunes, or even our existence, in its defence; to discharge all these essero. tial duties, without huckstering- for remuneration-or emu meut, and to refer to a beneficent so veivign, and a grate. ful people, the reward of our services. But %that has been the conduct of his Lordship and the other Gentlemen of the united parties: They insist up on lt,;s MAJESTY excluding from his service, men who not only possess great public virtues, but the private con& ence of their Sovereign, and the good opinion of the na, tion, and this proscription is made chat there may be .room for bringing into powcr,place,and einolument,men who have been at issue with their Sovereign, in points of the great est importance, men who have forfeited (we will not say because they abused) his confideace, and what is more, important at present, men whom the public do not like, or at least for whose return to office there has not been expressed the slightest wish or inclination: But it is not to the men, butt to the system to the plan, and the princi ple of that plan we object. When a regular scheme of operation is carrying on, it is the system not the indivi duals who act in it that we object 10.—It is not the machi nery of the system, but the principle that we consider truly dangerous—That a Sovereign may sometimes, in a varticular instance, be obliged to sacrifico his private io dination to the interest of his people we may easily con ceive, and that in circumstances that are important enough to demand such a sacrifice, we are of opinion the prince may concede without such concession, implying a condition of servility or disgrace. But when a prince is by cabal, in-.. trigue and the combination of parties driven to such a conces, sion, prejudicial to the interest of his Crown, and. to the balance of the Constitution, it becomes the people to sup-t port those prerog•ntives which arc given, not for the bene fit of the individual, but for the good of the people. 11 it he true that the discretionary powers of the monarch should all he exercised upon public principles, and upon na tional grounds, and not on the likings or prejudices, the' in. trigues or politics of a Court," it is equally true and equal 1-9/ obvious to common souse, tbat the mOtiarch should be