The National Register. — London, England, 1820-11-06 00:00:00

I V• THE QUEEN'S TRIAL. We await with an ansi:ty which no language can describe, the issue of the present proceedings in the Lords, It will point out to the public the de gree of confidence it would be prudent on their part to place hereafter on the deliberations of that House. The Queen'e innocence is fully established, and nine tenths of the public, including all the vir tue and independence of the country, are perfectly satisfied with the defence she has made. They moreover consider her as a grossly injured woman, possessing qualities of mind and heart, which end. tied her to expect a life of happiness instead of suffer ing ; and whose peace of mind has been sacrificed at the shrine of private caprice, or on the altar of po litical treachery. The idea of her long and unmerited wrongs, added to the deep conviction of her innocence have not only excited in her behalf an unparalleled share of sym pathy, but have made her cause that of the nation at largo. If the Bill were unfortunately to pass, it would leave an indelible impression on the public mind, that innocence has no security in the present practice of the Constitution, if it happen as give umbrage to the Crown. It would also bo regarded as a deliberate insult to the great body of the people, as a defiance flung at them, and a sort of manifesto, preparatory to the hostilities which it is proposed to wage against the remaining 'rights and liberties of the people, Such is the light in which the public would view the passing of the Bill. Are Ministers pre pared to carry this detestable and impolitic act under each circumstances ? We cannot believe it ; for it would not only prove them to be the most desperate and unprincipled politicians, that ever governed this or any other country ; but it would convict them of treachery towards their royal master, and of a con- spiracy to throw on parliament as much of the odium as possible. Ministers have no higher powers of per eeption than other men—they cannot pretend to see guilt, where it is hidden from the eyes of thousands, as moral, as enlightened, and infinitely mon disin terested than themselves. They have laid all the sharps they could collect, and all the evidence which by dint of money and influctuxt they could promo, before the country. The public say, the *barges are false, because the depositions against bier Majesty aro not only grossly defective, but have a taint of subornation and perjury throughout.— If the accusers pronounce a different opinion; if they attach guilt, where others see clear proofs of innocence, they will infallibly incur the suspicion of endeavouring Ito sacrifice a human being—that being too their Queen, to their inordinate ambi tion. But if they actually condemn her,Alajesty, upon such testimony as has been brought forward. they plainly say that the first principles of law and justice form no check upon their conduct, and that the constitution is a good thing in theory, but utterly worthless in practice. Thcy will also de clare to the people Wc will do this unexampled act of injustice and tysenny in spite of all your rausiturs ; and if you offer to rcsist, we will thew the means we have of coercing your refractory spirit, and punishing your insolence." This would be the Lilian of this unprecedented act of state expediency. as the supporters of the bill call it, or of state-tyranny, as it is termed by the lovers of justice. However, it would soon bring matters between the governing and the governed to au issue Will the aristocracy. of the country, with the vast stake they have in it, many of them descended from the great men who perfected the glorious scheme of Englia4 liberty, and consequently counting public spirit ataongst their hereditary honours—will they, we say, suffer so detestable a Bill to pass their House, and thus prove that they have not inherited a single virtue with the estates of their :ancestors ? Will they at the same time connect their fate with that of Ministry, who have undertaken to manage this odious prosecution, in opposition to their better THE NATIONAL REGISTER judgment, sod who have endangered the monarchy to gratify the Monarch. Will they also be guilty of the base crime to make themselves a party to the ruin of an illustrious female, against whom every proof of guilt has failed, and whose indiscretions, if any, are to be ascribet: to the neglect of her hus band, and to the treachery of her former friends.— if they will evince this contempt of all divine and h►,man obli g ations, they must not express any sur prise should their dependents display the same inde pendence. The safety of the State is evidently in their hands at this moment ; and woe to them, when they sink from the proud elevation of Noblemen and hereditary legislators, to the crouching posture of courtiers: Should they degrade the Queen, what security would they have for their own `honours? Are they held by a better title? and would a profligate Minister feel more remorse in tearing off a coronet than a crown? The foregoing observations have been suggested by a sincere wish to preserve the established form of Government; which, notwithstanding the many and gross abuses that have been introduced into it of late years, we do not wish to see overturned and which we are willing, even at the risk of our lives, to up. hold, as long Is it respects those laws by which ma persons and property are secured But the first and ' most sacred duty of a subject is to see that his own rights, and those of his fellow-subjects, are protected from violence. His attachment to the Government is founded upon that principle, and no other; and to love it, after it has been convicted of an attempt to violate those securities, is impossible; and, to obey it, becomes a question of expediency, and not of morals. However, to punish any individual, contrary to law and established practice, is a crime against the whole body of the people; and every one is bound to resist it, as much as if the violence were committed on himself: What constitutes the essence of political liberty, but the utter impossibi lity on the part of the Government to inflict the slightest punishment on the meanest individual without the sanction of law ? If it could but once, at its own discretion, assail him, however slightly, in his person or property, it would by degree, at last make death or confiscation the penalty of hav ing provoked its displeasure. If it can condemn illegally in any instance, it is in fact despotic; and the isw, when the Crown is the prosecuting party, is a shield for oppression, and the name and forms of liberty serve as a cover to plunder the people. The more elevated the rank of the person, thus mai fieed to the violence of power„ the more reason the Ipublic have to be alarmed ; and it must strike the dullest capacity, that if the 'Queen could be de. graded on such evidence as has been produced at the bar of the House of Lords, there will be an end to any legal controul over the Crown, and our vaunted Co n stitution would be a dead letter, or rather a nuisance. The people might submit to such an outrage, and repose quietly, after some violent struggles, under the deadly shade of tyranny. It is prnbable that the prosecutors of the Queen think they would, but in that case they have none of the old English spirit left; and this country, so famed for anus and policy, would soon become the sink of Europe, is infamous for its vices and poverty, u it was fors merly distinguished thr its public virtue and national wealth. But thinuthors of this detestable Bill, probably, under-rate the energies of the nation ; and if they do, woe to then', should they persevere.... However, they would have to blame themselves for all the couseqocums, and let them reflect, that as they have wantonly east the first flaming torch into the bosom of the country, they would be alone answerable, should a general conflagration ensue. It is still is their power to prevent it ; and are they so infatuated as to hesitate; or have they the wild presumption to think, titat having once set fire to the inflammtble materials with which this L.,uaLy ..bounds, they could extinguish it at plea sure. The people are nn: so very Ilaiviug in their circumstances, and so cm.tented, with tl.c mole of administering the national affairs, that they ma, is irritated, and again soothed at the wiU of tht.r rulers. Oa the contrary they feel sore, almost desperate, in consequence of the general and rapid decay of trade, as well as from a strong and growing Conviction that the loss they have sustained in their private affairs, proceeds entirely from the mismanage. meat of the public affairs. Would it be wise or sore to play with such feelings ? And would it not be an unexampled instance of political levity, er ratlcze brutality to invade the most sacred rights of the people,after having incredibly straitened t;:eir means of subsistence and pinioned their industry ? The 4c. ge adation of the Queen, upon such proofs, or rather want of all proof, as have marked her trial, would Le as daring an assumption of illegal power as was ever attempted in this country, and would leave the people only the alternative of submitting to an un. qualified tyranny, or following the example of their brave ancestors. We implore the authors of the Bill not to try the hazardous experiment of compelling so high spirited a people to chum between the duty they owe to themselves, as freemen, and their habitual respect for their governors. If they carry it in the teeth of public opinion, they will fix a deep stain upon the national character; unnerve what was before vi. gams, and make those cowardly and crouching, who new display thequalities of a noble indepen. deuce. Only a fiend would derive gratification from such n change, and the poverty that would follow in the train of despotism would be the penalty imposed upon the oppressors and the oppressed. But to this state of degradation the country can never be made to submit; and the at. tempt would call forth the national energies,so pow. erful and irresistible, that the lightning of heaven would not be more quick in its action, nor the fall of a great aralariche more destructive in its progress. Those two extremes may be avoided by throwing out the Bill; and will the aristocracy of the coun try, whose proudest distinction it once was to be considered the guardians of the Constitution, and the conservators of public liberty, lend themselves to the horrible design of oppressing innocence, levelling the highest rank, and consigning themselves and their fellow - subjects to a ruthless and debilitating tyranny ; or, will they provoke the other extreme-.a civil war. Tnc Accoansv GiNERAL.-Sir Robert Gifford, is a native of Exeter,where he was born in 1779. His father kept a grocer's shop for many years in that city, and died almost in a state of insolvency. His elder sons, Wearman and Charles, succeeded to the business, and carried it on with considerable suc cess • and, by their gencro ns assistance, enabled Robert to pursue his studies in the profession which be bad entered. Sir Roberts' mother was a woman in a . low station of life. Several of her family were, not many years ego, in menial situations in the neighbourhood of Exeter. The writer of this remembers well Sir Robert when he was in the daily habit of frequenting a certain house of enter tainment in an obscure alley not far from Temple. bar, where persons whose finances admit of no better fare, are regaled with a plate of wholesome food for the moderate sum of Bd.. *hick with a penny for bread, three halfpence foe porter, and a penny for the waiter, comprised the hole expense of Sir Robert's dinner at that hunibid and incur. paious . • period of life. Sir Robert's education was ,of the most confined description ; the whole of it was neared under the well-known 'Dr. Halloran, who kept an academy about a mile from Exeter. His intellectual acquirements are but few, and he owes his present elevation, not so much►. to , any par ticular merit in his profession as to the friendly recommendation of the late Sir Vickery Gibbs , a native likewise of Exeter, and between whose family and that of Mr. Gifford there existed a distant connexion. The Minister of Finance at Brussels has presented to the States-General the budget for the ensuing year. It includes three prvjeis de loi--one for the expen diture, one for the ways so 4 omens, and the thud for a loan of eight pillions, to meet tox4illgeut expenses. ---- - The Rev. Samuel Colby Smith, M.A. Fellow of Gonville and Cahn college, Cambridge, was on Wed nesday last presented, by the Master and Fellows of that Society, to the Ructory of Denver, in Nor oil, vacant by the death of the Rev. C. R. Dade, -_.,..il ~-~~~..r _-...•=m1.1ad