The National Register. — London, England, 1820-02-27 00:00:00

irticc Bank Stock 3 I.er Cent. Red. 38} 3 per Cent. Lou.. 6SI 31 per Cent. 4 per Colt. 871 S per Cent. Nay) 1031 Long Anu. TILE NATIONAL REGISTER. SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 27. -...._ Jx the midst of so much official and ceremonious mourning fur the death of our late Sovereign, we cannot help feeling real affliction, when we contem plate the rapid decline of freedom in this country The removal of our late Sovereign from this sublu nary scene, we consider as a gracious dispensation of Providence, us he had long outlived all hope of recovery from a state of mental darkness: his pri vate virtues were many, Lut, to the false policy pursued during his reign, we have to truce the principal calamities of this country. Witness the loss of America, the Rebellion in Ireland, the fruit of disappointed hopes, and of just claims denied. IVitness, above all, the war with France ; so unjust in its origin, so glorious and expensive in its career, and so ruinous in its termination and consequence s to the finances of the Empire.—During the con test our sailors and soldiers atchieved unparalleled deeds of heroism and of conquest, and furnished matter for a splendid record of valour in the annals of history. In the outset Burke displayed almost super-human eloquence, as the advocate of an un hallowed warfare ; and Pitt, backed by over whelming majorities, got money without stint fr , m those venal Parliaments, whose wisdom he panegy rized as little short of omniscience itself. We, however, who have lived throughout the piece, who have witnessed its Origin, progress, and terming. tion, may be allowed to pronounce the late war us partaking of the must pernicious character. What Solon said to Crcesus, that he whom heaven blesses with success to the last, is in our estimation the happy man, dicique bealux, Ante obilum now, supreme:re fitneral debel, may with justice be applicil,as to the sentence of hap piness or of misery which we must pronounce, from a survey of the situation in which the termination of the lute contest has left us— " The wine of life is drawn, And nought is left the vault But lees and dregs to brag of." The n..tional debt is intolerable, the tax ;s are intolerable, commerce stagnates, agriculture lan guishes.—Trade is nearly paralized ; and, above all, such breaches have been male in the freedom of the country, that to some men constitutional resis tance appears us inefficacious, as to roll up hill the stone of Sisyphus; and they are content to sit down in tame acquiescence, and exercise rather the patience of philosophy, than the zeal of patriotism. To us, however, vigilance and alacrity, indispen sable at all times, appear particularly requisite at the present moment ; and however mutilated the fair Corm of freedom has been by the barbarous Lands of our Goths and Vandals, we will still cling with affection to the defaced fragments of so much excellence; and, as the statuary gazes with enthusiastic, but imitative admiration on the Torso, we never cease to attempt the restoration of the original form, from the emulation kindled in us by a view of the disfigured relies. The approaching dissolution of Parliament invites the country at large to make a great stand agaiast corruption and despotism•--It culls upon every fireman of the empire to weigh accurately, and scrutinize strictly the political conduct of their representatives, and to make it the criterion of senatorial integrity in every man, to ascertain whether the trust reposed in him has been exercised to improve and protect, or to diminish and degrade the liberties of the people. This simple test, it applied at the present moment, will be of essential service in regulating the choice of the Freeholders of this country at the next electicn, and will of •techo. (►nuiiuut o. 'inv..; per Cent. twilit IS )ai,l; 15%. India Stud: Exchequer Bilk 3'. di:. Colts. for Ac. 691 Lottery Ticket.. £23 26. TIIE NA TIONAL REGISTER. enable them to distinguish accurately the friend of the people, from the supporter of arbitrary power. Upon a review of the late measures in Parlia ment, what strikes us with the greatest surprise is, the cry raised against blasphemy in this very religious country, which deserves to be termed at the present day, par excellence, hasula Sanetoruna. " As well, to use a comparison of Dr. Johnson's, might they have raised a cry of fire in the time of the flood"—but the success with which the cry was received in the country, while it proved the deep religious sensibilities of the people, proved at the same time the injustice of the imputation to any serious extent—the alarm was sounded—the forti fication 3 were manned, and instead of a besieging army, only a few contemptible stragglers were des cried. That very sensible men could conscientiously put faith in the cry of blasphemy is to us incredible, and it is accordingly with great satisfaction that we find many of our Whig representatives man fully and strenuously resisting and exposing the absurd cries of blasphemy and sedition, and uni formly voting ag..inst all those harsh and severe, restrictive measures, which have been erected on so flimsy a foundation. In conformity with the principles of Mr. Fox, and of the Revolution of 1688, the IVhigs in Parliament pursued a singularly consistent career, invariably defending the liberties of the people against the encroachments of power, and acting upon those broad principles of equity, which arc not the segments of a circle, but the circle itself. The feelings and :he sentiments of the hh:pen ' dent Freeholders in general arc quite alive on the point; and we are fully persuaded that they require no exhortations from us to stimulate them in their exertions to resist the dogmatical edicts, and defeat the presumptuous attempts Ulan aristocratical junto. Those who contend fur freedom against arbitrary power, ought always to recollect that "fI t,e is he uiui 1, w ho halls hii tinarrd just " Our anxiety fbr the success of the Patriot cause in Spain, and the horror excited by the assassination of the Duke de Berri, have both been superseded by the discovery of a most extensive plan of massacre in our own metropolis,—tire particulars we have given at length in another part of our Paper, yet prmed as we are for time and room, we cannot leave the subject without again recording our detestation of the crime of assassination under any circumstance, in any situation whatever ; in so doing we o:tly echo we arc sure the opinion of every Whig in the Empire.. Politically, tin' present Ministers :we of necessity abhorred by the and yet, we are convinced, that there could not be found one among them who would hesitate to oppose his sword, at the risk of his life, to the uplifted dagger of the assassin, if aimed at any of the Administration. We have received the Paris Papers of Friday last. the assassination of the Duke de Berri. The pro ceedings in the Chambers of l'eers and Deputies (the French Houses of Lords and Comnions) arc too long for us :o attempt an abridgment of them. The Mi nisters of France, like the Ministers of England, embrace with avidity any occurrence, however me lancholy, if tiny can pervert it, to the purpose of the curtailment of the liberties of the people, or to the addition of the excessive power of the Crown that is, the Ministers of the moment), and this they mo destly call the necessary strengthening the hands of Government. We lament the full of the Doke de Berri, not because we believe that he was by any means an estimable Prince, but because we are chilled by the horror of homicide under any, and especially under so terrible, circumstances; but we execrate that cool calculating political feeling which can equally avail itself of the discontents produced by stamtion, or the murder of a Prince, as the means of depriving the people of their unquestioned rights. The French Ministers have dared to intro duce to their doubtless equally pliant Parliament • _ measures strongly resetnblant to those which Lord Castlereagh dared to propose to, and had the power to carry through, the English House of Commons. We hope, on the approaching election, every Mem ber will be recompensed who voted away the best palladium of English liberty, when he assisted to wards the recent destruction of the liberties of the press. It is worth observing, and it is an observa tion easily confirmed by any one who has the power, like ourselves, of reference to the original French Papers, not only that the CANT of the . Ministers cf France, as to the necessity of the restrictive Itws they are about to hAve enacted, is precisely the same as that we lately heard from the Treasury Benches in the Chapel of St. Stephen, but that the speechet of MM. Cazes, Latour-Maubourg, Pasquier, &e. appear to be literal translations of those pro nounced in December last by the Earl of Liverpool, Lord Castlereagh, Mr. Canning, &c. &c. tut " There is more in this than is dreamt of in our philosophy." M. de Cases exclaimed from the Tribune— " (.entl.• n ten, in this alarming crisis, we demand of you fur tine y ear, the renewal of the law of the 11th of Fs bruary, 1817. We demand the means of watching, in particular, over the safety of the King, of his family, und of the ►tate. All these are menaced. We demand of you, t herefure, t. e power to arrest, w it hunt being compelled to go through any pi climinaryjudicial fee, any isidividnal suspected of plots or machinations against the person of the King, the safety of the state, or that of the Itoyal Family. We hope not to have occasion to u-e it, hut we ought to he invested with it, that we may not he unarmed before opinions, plots, and crimes of the same natm e, which might have the same sourer, lush which we must turn aside or present. The tens. parlay power which we demand a ill he exercised with all the circumspection which its importance minims ; the warrants of arrest will not be delivered but in the ccmticil of ministers, and signed by thr, r of divot." We need not remind our political readers hew nearly this resembles the late jargon of the House of Commons ! The French Papers of Saturday arrived on Tuc-!.. day. The Quulidienne and the Journal des Debuts mention as a report, that Count Decazes ha:. given in his resignation. The state of politics in France seems critical. The new measures proposed • will meet with m►uch opposition, particularly if the Ministers do not establish strong and substantial ;rounds to show their necessity. The ministerial papers are anxious to have it believed that Louvel had accomplices, and that the assassination of the Duke de Berri was planned by the assassin and other conspirators. If so, it will be urged us an argument in favour of the suspension of the French Halmos Corpus law, and we shall hear of the arrest probably of several suspected persons. The. Minis ters di , et to be very much alarmed. With i•espect to Spanish affairs, it appears, that on the 3d inst. the g.ttcs of' Cadiz had not bten thrown open to the Constitutional Army. The report of the capitulation of that city to the troops, is in a good nwasure amounted lot by the Bishop having visited the Staff of Patriots, in hopes of haranguing them into compliance with the terms n. submission which had been devised by the authori ties of' Cadiz. It is said, in new& front Madrid, (but intelligence from thence is least to be depen ded upon), that a provisioning party, going out from the Isla, on the side of Vexer and G.mel, was cut off by the troops tinder the command of Gen. Jos. O'Donnel, and obliged to separate and take to flight in the direction of the Gibraltar camp.— Catlin is represeLted us very tranquil, which may be the case ; but it is unquestionable, that several persons of consequence are every day arrested, and who have heretlirc tilled high offices. "Mcichoir, it scents, has been executed. Thursday, Prince Esterhazy, the Austrian Aru ba's:oot, was introduced t..) his 'l4:sly, ut his Va i:tee in Pull Mull, upon his rcturn to England front Vienna His Excellency had the honour of a pri vate audrence of the King. I