The National Register. — London, England, 1818-06-29 00:00:00

~' I - '. lii /112 Vin rt Mix in '-"7-' 1'• 7-'', f - I 1;14 * + 44'0 kr.)tir litna, eoniattution anti UMW. No. 549..—V0L. XI. I'OUTICAL DISQUISITION. CONSIDERATIONS UPON IIIE PRESENT s'l A FE OF POPULAR FEELING. The pu:die spirit of the country has at length been roused. 1 he unpopular conduct of the Government has gi• birth to this spirit of opposition to their me& a.tr".;, and we trust that nothing may occur to damp its ithlour or check its generous and important exer cise. All the vices however of the Government are not the growth of one single year, or day, anti it is scarcely reasonable to expect. that they could be either reme died, or cAnpletely chan;el by one attempt, or at one especial period. Evf ry effort at political changes should be cautiously alopted, and fitted to the existing state .)f things. All stollen changes ate dangeroua, and cannot take place as affecting a nation, without the most in-minent peril to the general safety. rut n:.en the general safety is threatened by those who should be its guardian and protector—when Governments only appointed for the public good, convert the trust re.. posed in them to their pri-fate advantage. the people can loose little by any charge however sudden which may fol.ow unon tn..:11 conduct We never with to make the bulk of people dissatis fied with their condition, or hold out to them a prospect of instantaneously acemuelating an indepeudant or of becoming the legivlatiTs of the country But at the same time we have never ceased to reprobate the iniquities practised by the Government of the country towards the penceable and suffering people of this erarire. However all them: iniquities have re coiled upon themselves and they now feel the hostility of the public exhibited undisguisedly, in every quarter of the ccuntry. Friends to reform in all its whole. some latitude, we of most decisively to that wild and sweeping reform, which means little short or anar chy, and would end in little less tl..et ruin. W e would have every householder have a vole, and copy hold as well as freehold tenants enjcv the elective fran chise. But in tl.e present state of things, we do not think it would be a prod of wisdom to go farther. Every man by nature is equal to the other, '.ut whea men enter into a state of society. they roast ! c satisfied to yield up a portion of this natural a. rty, in order to have protection for that quantity which it is neces sary should remain to them. And were all men equally wise, intelligent, and just, perhaps then, there . would be some vason for c. ind:vid Jill to set up his zlaim, to be the durnsitar% of power. But as all this is directly title r.vive.i:.w. power of governing mu:t be confined t 3 ate....,swirAing them however ri spensi•-le for the manner in ahien they use it. This as the origin of Governments ; but in the pra;relli of time, they converted this pue, - deli-gat-A fur the good, to the purp me of th it oen atebiions or evil views, and have tatterly.r eumc a curie, a :I place of a tileisitt; we reant.ind.They have acted the people as if they %En , become their private property, is if ti,, y had no tic_ to le•nrod of th it :or their cculard- Ctip—in fact, as if they were bor.! In obey tls..ir oval and pleasure. minister to thei , gratiticatirti., and be- CJMN at utter the poppeti of their sport, at.d the play. Olney of their fvuey. It G _overtone:lts of Lure d ,. had not had some suelt feeling; as chi guides, th e rtistakeis of 6.4 cooduct, sho::l,± not have 'Pen, nr heard of the traieters made by the Congres• cf Vienna, the Ilrea; . iag sod the inclination to tiespotisL - . which were 1:111%, evineee.: ncr in cl rest Uri sin, OP Wl' sirlu neiun 1/i the put?lic tv. wit hout a shadow • rt.xcuse to lust ily so oppressive a pre:•efoliwi.. But liine‘ and Governments may now team that all tilose orlire'slons cannot tip continued for ever. There i. a pet;oi Hp to vs hich obcdiatce will not be gireu, anl from that period, v. ry oiteu at least, it- MONDAY, JUNE M 1818. e becomes a duty. At this moment, the pees. pie of England are exhibitini„; a glorious esamplc of struggling independatece to the woilil, and we trust they will transmit to their posterity, that spirit, cud that feeling, which are directly in opposition to the atrocities of an imbeeile and ruinous adminis trat on. In every part of the country, the friiliels of liberty and independence are gaiiiiiig the most sig nal victories, and even in those very places where government influence should be supposed of most effectual and easiest exertion, they bare been trium phantly defeated. It is quite cheering to behold the feeling which, is now operating through the country. Petty squabbles and little personal birkeritias ore no longer found actuating the great body of electors ; and if any ear. fare do exist, it is only between the liev?re of liberty as such, and the retainers or tools of thetiiivernment, who are compelled to vote for the Court candidates. No man's private hearth is disturbed on this occasion, and the whole contest • seems to turn upon the feeling which oppressive measures have engendered against the presei.t order of things. A genuine love for the constitution is every where exhibited ; and where any tnobocracy has lifted its head, it has been as instantaneously put down. If any evidence were necessary to prove the truth of this assertion, we need only t. i;:csk to the situation in which orator Meal stands us a candidate for Miestminger Ile is despised by every man of common sense ; he is even become the idiot's jest—the laughing stock of the lowest of the rabble. It was male an argument against Reform, that Hunt could lead the working and labouring classes of the people, as he pleased, but every day's experience proves the falsehood of the charge. Retimin we will have, if the people continuo to exert themselves as they have done. Wu cannot radiae mu Ai, without sacri ficing something—and rather than look for aiinual parliaments or universal suffrage, in all that extensive latitude, which some persons seek for, let us be sa tisfied if we obtain triennial parliaments, and a vote for all householders and copyhold tenants. It only requiisil to see the conduct attic persons opposite the hustings at Covent-Garden during the frst days of the election, to satisfy every reasoning mind, of the impropriety of giving cec..y man, witLcut discrimina tion, the right of exercising the elective franchise. 11 it were given so generally, it wiaild soon become matter of traffic amongst the poor, and would only be purchased by the rich, in order to sceure to them a greater interest under the Goverament for the expendi ture of their capital. 1: we could once eff , ct snine alteration in the law; of printogenitare ; if we eniild huve a sort of gavel-kind law, or an equal distribution of property of the nobles and other estated persons between their children, once out into active and wholesome operation, we sl o soon find that disposition wliich has so long existed, of sup porting Ministers, very s:•eedi)y wasted, lessened, or ; and Ift.corin with every other blessing soon tQ.AJW in its train. As long, ho wever, as a Peer or untitled cstated man, with a large family, is allowed to leave his property in land to one of his children, to the exclusion of all the rest ; we shall have the others looking _tiny plums in the army, the navy and the church—The elder brother will suprit the Govern ment wis•iprt:-. - ides L.: !lisyoungcr hr , then.—henee,from rct:ltiplieution of these instances day after day—Goverianents, however b•ise and iniquitous, are ••s -elorted. The mechanic anti the labourer have a tlitTerent intt.rest in their families, and naturally ob ject to that taxation which falls upon them, for the rurposeofsupporting those who, but for the law of primogeniture, should elsewhere have had support. i Lis as the g:a:.3 secret of Ministerial patronage on PRICE 94 the one hand, and the support which they drive on the other ; but take away the causes which give than improper patronage, take away the nouessity of appli cations for place ; you will have the public interests attended to, and the welfare of the community prefer red to the little feelings of individual interest. We wish not to shake the foundation of landed property, nor to detract from it, its proper weight in the scale of estimation. It should have a proportion of influence, corresponding to its real importance towards the hap piness of the state ; but beyond this, it should have nothing. In txmcbnion, We entreat the people is persevere—• to be moderate—to' be calm—to consult the nation's safety—and their childrens freedom—and by acting in unison together, they must inevitably succeed. The Gennese ship Mitericordia, having been plun dered by the late I)cy of Al,;iers of considerable pro perty, awl at the same time the Genoese Vice-Consul being treated with great indignity, and dismissed fermi Algiers, a complaint was made to the British Govern ment of this oatrage, in direct violation of the treaty which had been concluded with Algiers by Admiral Lord Exmouth. On this eel retentation the Spartan frigate, commanded by Captain Wise, was dispatched to demand an explunatitm, and to remonstrate against these violent proceedings. She returned a few days ago to Plymouth, where she still remains under guar nantine on anount of the phtgue that was raging at Algiers. Captain %Vise has been completely successful ir. the object of his misshat. Immediately on his ar rival he entered, m conjunction with his Majesty's Consul, into a negotiation with the Dev ; the result of which was, the payment of :0,000 dollars us a com pensation for the property plundered on hoard the Mi. scricordia, and an unqualified disavowal, on the pan of the reigning bey, of the act oi" his predecessor (who iiel of the plague on the Ist March), in sending away from Algiers !he Vice-Consul of his Sardinian Majesty. No violence appears to have been committed on the per. sons of any of his Majesty's subjects, as was stated in the French papers. The celebrated Madame Manson is reconciled to her family, who consider her conduct at Albi a sufficient atonement fur the errors committed at Modes. Con ceiving herself released, since the execution ofJausion, from her engagement of secrecy, she now positively asserts him to be one of those who took an active part in the assassination of Fualdes. Her evidence upon the new trial which is about to take place will, it is expected, disclose some very interesting and circum stantial particulars respecting this horrid transanien, The woman Rascal has received a respite during plea sure, having, it is said, made a full confession of all the circumstanees attending the murder. Iler disco veries, exclusive of their serving to fi,rin the basis of the indictments against the accomplices now in custody. throw such light upon the conduct of those who has-, already setlitred, as leaves no doubt of their guilt, and deprives them of all ,claim to the commiseration of man kind. .lausion, who was previously supposed to have, with reluctance and timidity, struck the first blow, w a s, according to flamers account, more deficient in dexterity than in strength and inclination to perpetrate the murder. Instead of using the point, he endeavourd to dispatch Fualdes with the edge f,f his poignanl.— Bastide, indignant at his awkwardness, snatched .th , daror from his hand, and with a ferocious smile es clattned.—" Why the d—l do you go to work so? Lee me have it, and l will show you how to pr seed."— The discoveries of Bancal deeply implicate Bessicra Veynae and the notary Fence. it is said, evinced a disposition to reveal all he knew of the *disk, previous to his execution, but was prevented by the dread of his intended discoveries sending his chcec umie, Anne Benoit, to the scatlidd. . `ir Murray. Maxwell, whose intropid conduct has excited so great a share of ',Alic attention, was b orn at Maxwell Land, in Scotland. lle is descended in a direct line Ivan the great Sir Eustnce Maxwell, who commanded one of the wings of Bruee's army at the lawic of Bannockburn.. Mr. Lethi 4 .!ge having Ntlatlenly offered himself 114 a c indif!ute for the cram)! of Somerset, on Wednes d.i„, l ast a subscription was set on foot at Welk, to sup port the IN'tlirn Of Me. I)ickinson, (the old Member), wh‘n :a,t)oo were subscribed is a few hours. Ai k s ," 14 , 4 _ , qp e *14 . : s," ?), s4:3si‘