The National Register. — London, England, 1813-02-14 00:00:00

j THE NATIONAL REGISTER. Cur Xing, Constitution, aim tabus. BLISHED AT NO. 11, NEWCASTLE-STREET, STRAND. No DA. SUNDAY. FEBRUARY 14, ISI3. PRICE 9.i POLITICAL DIS 2U THE PRINCESS OF WALES's LETTER, AND 4 , THE BOOK." Those writers who, if they can but elude the laws, think it no disgrace to rob their countrymen, while condoling with them on the general d.stress, and affecting to commiserate the burdens impostA upon them by the State, have long been in the habit of pi( king the pockets of their readers, by talking of " The Book," and pretending to disclose Royal secrets, (commonly printed R--I "*"") of which they knew nothing. The shallow gulls who have been weak enough to pay the* money for the unmeaning and unintelligible trash, which has thus been spread abroad by a few scurrilous im postors, have long been in expectation of seeing the work which they have so often heard of, under the title of " The Book." In this, however, they have been long disappointed. Though about a dozen of the patriotic writers, who were always mentioning of it, had each of them the only copy extant, for certain important reasons, its substance was never given to the world. It was spoken of as a work containing much information, which it was the interest of the public to be ac quainted with; yet those who had the means (if they were entitled to any credit,) of imparting that information, always thought proper to withhold it. Some of these gentry, by pretending to have - it, were weak enough to think it would be their good fortune not to be brought to trial ; and others, when such an idea could no longer be cherished, still thought by noticing " The Book," as if they knew something about its contents, they might have a chance not to be called up for judgment. These, unluckily, reckoned without their host. They forgot, whilst talking of that of which they knew nothing, that instead of imposing on those they wished to intimidate, as they did on the senseless rabble they had been accustomed to delude by a display of extraordinary knowledge, they only make their ignorance apparent, and their pretensions ridiculous. Their expectations were baulked; and, instead of being permitted to swagger at large With impunity, they found their boasts, their menaces, and their supplications insufficient to save them from trial, conviction, and punishment. It was impossible for a rational being to contemplate these things without being led to conclude, that the writers al luded to, were strangers to the contents of " '1 he Book ;" or that " The Book" contained nothing of that important nature which many had been led to believe would he found in it. While Mr. PERCEVAL lived, howev , - some use. Its having been written, pr; by him, enabled the party scribblers ter with some slyny of reason. His col was certainly ettginatical, and of course V.T. No, CCLXVIII. that g change of conduct must necessarily involve a derelic tion of principle. Their candour could not extend so far as to suppose, that it might he perfectly consistent with virtue, for actions to vary with circumstances, and as the Premier despised the slanders that were abroad, too much to reply to them, it was affected to be taken for granted, by those from whom they proceeded, that as they were unanswered, they were unanswerable. It never entered into their contempla tion, that what they wished to believe inability, might be contempt. With Mr. PERCEVAL " The Book" seemed to die. The Royal Secret gentry were as much confounded, as the nation at large was shocked, by the lamentable event which unhappily closed his life. They hailed his murderer as a patriot, be fore the tears of his family had ceased to flow on his mangled remains; but even they, though estranged from sensibility as from honour, could but feel some regret arising from the apprehension that the bubble of " The Book" would serve their purpose no more. From that period little had been heard of this mysterious Book. Within these few weeks, however, the former ru mours and insinuations were revived, and, with these, a. report of a letter having been wiitten by the Princess of WALES to the PRINCE REGENT (which letter was reterned unopened) got into circulation. This report has, unfortu nately, received confirmation by the publication of the letter and now for the first time we have it on respect Able authority that ,‘ The Book" is likel} to appear. The course of this letter (which will be found in another part of this day's paper) is described to have been as fullows: " It was transmitted on the I.lth ult. to Lord Liv Eit POOL and Lcrd ELDON, sealed, by Lady CoAaLovre CAMPBELL, as Lady in Wait ing for the month, expressing her Royal Highness's pleasure that it should be presented to the PRINCE REGENT ; and there was an open copy for their perusal. " On the 15th, the Earl of LIVERPOOL vmsented bis compliments to Lady CBARLOTTE CAMPBELL, and returned the letter unopened, as we have stated. " . On the 16th, it was returned by Lady CHARLOTTE, intimating, that as it contained matter of importance to tint S;P , e, relied on their laying it before his Royal Highness. It was aga:n returned un. opened, with the Ea►l of LIVERPOOL'S tromp!illenti to L 4.1 C HAR. LOTTE, saying that the Prince saw no reason to depart from his de termination. ...... " On the 17th, it was returned in the same way by command abet Royal Highness, expressing het confidence, that the two Noble Lords would not take tti.on theirFelves the responsibility of not communi. eating the letter to his Royal Highness, and that she should not be the only subject of the empire, whose Petition wai; ant to be permitted to reach the Throne. To this an answer was given, thatthe CON TENTS of it had been made known to the Prince. " On the 19th her Royal Highness directed a letter to be addre,sect however, " The Boole was of, to the two Noble Lords, ()miring to know whether it had been n~j lc ritten, printed, and suppressed known to his Royal Highness, by being read to hiin, and to know his bblers to arra:gii his charic- P leasure thereon. " No answer was given to this letter, and therefore on the 2.5 th she His conduct in this respect di rectod air :ter to be written, expressing her surprise, that nu answer of course his enemies assumed j Ilia been givin to her app an iota whole week. • • • ' r t •