The National Register. — London, England, 1812-11-01 00:00:00

674 landed proprietors, who, ousted by the superior wealth of the one, and the patronage or turbulence of the others, shrink from entering into a doubtful contest for a share in the Legislature, which they must purchase with the ruin of their fortune, or the abandonment of their principles. Thus a class whieh..composes,the life guard of the empire, is pro gressively deprived of its due weight in the Constitution, by the very beings whom it cherishes and supports. Trade brings riches and enervating luxury; it encreases our com forts, but also our wants; it gives.us magniscence, but not strength. It gilds the walls and furnishes the chambers of our palaces, but the solid structure itself is a native of our fields, and the work of our own industry. Law assists in re gulating the order of society, of which it but too often de stroys the peace. It provides for the direction and mainte nance of our moral and civil establishments, but does not give them birth. They spring from the preceding class whose wants create and nourish trade, and by whom and for whose protection and security laws were originally made and governments erected. Officers (and let not the name be pronounced without reverence and admiration, for those who shed their blood for the safety and honour of their country are entitled to its most enthusiastic gratitude,) direct our native energies to the support of that Constitution from which they derive all their rights as freemen, and with the fall of which, our liberties and,..national existence must ex pire. To secure the integrity of our soil, to extend, when provoked by unjust aggressions, the limits of our empire; to raise oppressed nations from the dust, and on the humiliation of our enemies to plant the inviting banner of universal inde pendence, such is the task, and such have been the deeds of our chieftains and our warriors. They are the guardians, but ought .they also to be the priests of our constitutional temples? Their scene of action and of triumph is the boundless expanse of the ocean, or *the territory of injured nations. The rights of mankind are to be regained by their valour, and is it . to he chained, when war rages throughout the globe, because civil duties require their presence at home . At the same time are the latter to go unperformed, because the Legislators, are also the soldiers, of the country ? To exclude officers from Parliament would be an individual but an honourahle and only a temporary hardship. It would even prepare a new mode of repaying their services : for the veteran,crowned with the laurels and retiring from the fatigues of war, would find in the Senate afield more suited to his age ; where his wisdom and experience would prove as bene ficial to the State, as the youthful vigour he exerted in battle against its enemies His most glorious reward would be to sit among the legislators of the land for whom his sword had purchased security and prosperity, and to , watch from the sapctostFy of the Constitution at once over the interests of his constituents and of his companions or successors in arms who, esiAtioye to uphold the honour of their country. These observations may be considered as preliminary to a snore - extended view.of the consequences likely tosesult from the ,s .oprietoik in Parliament,. and Imam - af the -cortner 44ial, NOV. 1. MAR: 1S WELLES:4: V'S ADVOCATES, '• 'WORDS,',): DS, WORD,!!!" TO DIE El)lioit. SIR—A blunt, plain, and, I flatter myself, an lione,t man, now addresses you, wishing, through the medium of your valuable publication, to vent his ind gnation against the mischievous f.tction, who so abs:todlv rtul thcmkel‘e- the advocates of Marquis WELL Est. r.r. when in fact they prove themselves his greatest enetnics ; I mean The Times," and its idolized Cori espoodent V t:Tus. But thi n k not, Sir, that when I take up the cudgels against them, I mean to follow theil lung strings of hyoerbnlical invertive on the present conductors of public affairs, step by s'ep, nr attempt to answer them ; no, such a ta , k would be b, von a my talents, for I cannot pretend to reply t o whit is i n it self incomprehensible, or to reason against a firia. 4 o of bitter wilds, which are neither backed by any thiog like ar gument, nor - depend on any thing like facts. I have al ways heard that scurrility and abuse betiayed either an im potency of mind in the person who uses them, or a great weakness in the cause which he supports; and I doubt not that in the present instance, every thinking, and I will add, every candid mind, all whose reasoning powers are neither warped by interest, nor blinded by partiality, will be inclined to attribute the bitter and vituperative strains which I com plain of in the writings of VETUS, to both these causes. I was once willing to look upon the Noble M A moils, the i.b ject of their adoration, as upon one whose transcendent abi lities were well fitted for sitting at the Irlat, and directing the affairs of England. But I will catidid'v confuss, that though I have not changed the opinion I had of hi& ta!ent, I think he has lately shown such a spirit of arrog.int in flexibility, and of stickling for pretended consistenev, such an irritability of temper, and lacability in his r, sentments, as to render him, in my estimation, with all his al skill, the man the most unfit to be trusted with the reins of Government ; for how can he pretend to direct ofters, who knows not how to subjugate himself? flow can he expect others to make sacrifices to the Comman \Veal, who. lather than give up one tittle of his self-importance, could, with frigid apathy, refuse to co-operate in the preservation of his country unless, for the sake of upholding his consistency or rather pride, all the measures he advised were to be adopted ? and yet this is the image which The Times and VLTIrs have set up for all nations and languages to bow the knee before !-Does he suppose that others had not also their consistencies at heart, or did he expect that the majority were to yield to one who nearly stood alone in the Cabinet? Such an idea would indeed prove him a man of supei ior ar rogance, but by no means convince the world of his superior abilities to all his former colleagues. What will V.ETUS, who is so angry about the " treacherous disclosures" of 1806, say to the man who, in 1814, is guilty of the same pe:Ady ? flow mile V eir us to know the secrets of the Austrian and Swedish Cabinets, unless he either be a mem ' ber of the Privy Council, in-which case he is guilty of perjury or, unless •he learnt them. (if such there be, which we much dottbt) from others, perhaps (tom the object of his venera tion, who then must have committed the same clime. _ When I say that I doubt the truth of his statetnent, I do SP from its extreme absurdity : for is it probable that the AuStrian Cabinet, having united itself both politically and na turally to the House of NAPOLEON, and, no doubt, being highly bribed by his perfidious Court, should depart from the self-interested system which throughout the Continental wars it has pursued either openly or covertl - , to joie us, 110 disnimutlon .of the landed .pro APP.!: ..ihrtkidAtlifilg the en law • •''' ' ' - ls . i - real -1-7•-, • ',.?,„ .. li ~ - •., , ; 'T.' • . f #' - "4 ''‘i -• tr . '..' "I •L; = ' .lO 1 ..1 • ' _ _ .t- -I_L .._ _ THE NATIONAL REGISTER.