The National Register. — London, England, 1812-06-14 00:00:00

1 RINE 14. VIEWS AND CONDUCT OF THE OPPOSITION._ THE EDITOR OF THE NATIONAL REGISTER. SlR,—The issue of Mr. WORTLEY'S motion hasssatis fied the Country. The good sense of the public, the dis tinguishing feature of the national character, has, upon eve ry great emergency, triumphed over the caprice of feeling. Their patriotism too, to whatever eccentricities sometimes it may be insidiously and forcibly impelled, in. variably rallies at last round the Government. Parties, their pretensions and their- creeds vary and disappear : their change, or disappearance, produces no matetial effect c abe r by way of benefit or injury ; and if memory pre serve any trace of their existence, they are recorded only as monuments of popular folly aid delusion. But it is not so with the Government—an ifivasion of its rights, .or a successful attempt to undermine its authority, or to injure its reputation, is a general calamity ; which affects the poor man, and levels the noble ; which makes the villain great, flings the man of virtue into a dungeon, and transfers tile property of the ;ndustrious into the hands of the daring adventurer. • Therefore, Sir, the vote of the House of C om mons, .in shielding the Crown against the assumptions and encroachments of a supercilious faction, not only squares with the spirit of the Constitution, but with the reason, interests, and best affections of the country. A delusion too long prevailed, and excited alarm enough in its time, relative to the increasing influence of the Crown. The Commission entrusted to Lords WELLESLEY and MoIRA, and the reception their over tures met from the Leaders of the Opposition, will re verse, I presume, the cause of apprehension ; and trans fer to the Aristocracy the odium they have attempted for fifty years to attach to the Sovereign.—Who are those Lords GREY and GRENVILLE, and their adherents, that they should assume such-a dictatorial tone, that they should prescribe such insulting conditions ? Where are those instances of commanding abilities, of immaculate disinterestedness, or of overawing patriotism, to be found in their public life, which should induce them to assume the pretensions of Spartan Ephori— to controul the RE GENT, and arrogantly affect the exclusive guardianship of the people ? Of all yokes, that of an over-rich and over proud Aristocracy is the most unsupportable and degrad ing. This is the yoke, however, which the Opposition have the insolence to pretend to impose upon the most in telligent and independent people upon earth. Under what circumstances; and in what a crisis, have they the presumption too to set up their acres, in lieu of virtue and genius, as qualifications for of f ice ! Their ponderous rent rolls, their all-grasping avidity, their alarming accumula tion of property, gave them already a dangerous weight in the State ; place, Sir, the patronage of the Government at their disposal, and they may .at discretion domineer over King and People. I think, Sir, I speak in the best spirit of the Constitu tion, when 1 assure you that I rejoice that the , imperious demands of she OppositiOn have been rejected. I am confident, Sir, that I speak in conformity to the tr.ue po licy of the Country, when I declare, that the readmis sion of men into the Cabinet, who sacrificed Prussia, alienated Russia ; who advise the abandonment of Spain and Portugal, and despair of any• fortunate change in our foreign relations, would be a serious and Yetythteat ening evil in this moment. With what confidence could the Russian Cabinet make overtures to persons, whose poli- CY five years ago i was markcciwith obliquity, narrowuessa RPM 365 and imbecility ; nho wantonly insulted the sufferings of the Allies, and refused them relief, though contending is the same vital cause, and against the same tremendous power, as we are doing, under the offensive preteit that they had neither the courage nor the virtue to resist the common enemy. Modern Opposition has contaminated all the relations of public life, and vulgarised the forms and language of diplomatic intercourse. Our new pa triots have used towards powerful and friendly Monarchs a bluntness of style, which they could not with decency have employed towards one of their own stewards. But a more serious charge may be brought home to those Gentlemen. They do not confine their asperity and contempt to Foreign Sovereigns ; they make the Head of our own Government an object of the most venemous invective. skulking behind the forms of the Constitu tion, and propped upon the impunity which these forms afford them. they let fly at that Illustrious Person slin derous reports, which, were they to circulate against a private gentleman, would procure them the honour of a horse-whipping. is this base, outrageous, and levelling treatment of the Chief Magistrate, an expos& of their political principles ; or does it contain practical proofs of their respect for the Constitution ? In proportion to the freedom of a people, they have been always found to treat the head of their Government with veneration ; in fact, by respecting him they dignify themselves. By an opposite-conduct they prove themselves as devoid of the manners of gentlemen, as they are of enlightened at tachment to their country. I consider, Sic', the attacks • which have recently appeared in the Opposition prints, on the PRINCE REGENT and his Illustrious Family, as a disgrace to the age and country we live in. The minds and hearts of the writers must be familiarized with images and feelings of the basest tendency ; apd it is a frightful proof of the confusion of moral perceptions, that no other motive of action than the most profligate or the most selfish, is now supposed to regulate the con duct of public men. Those libellers would strike an other in the face, and justly too, who should accuse_ them of half the profligacy, with which they wantonly charge the most distinguished persons in the country. The writers of the Opposition, and those who patronise their invectives, are 'therefore of opinion, that generous feelings have no.influence upon politicians, or---they are, by trade, assassins of character. It is dreadful to reflect on the levity, er design, with which the feelings of public men, of their family and friends, are excoriated by these fleaers of reputation. When will the B► itish press, which should be 'ennobled by a serve of freedom, and the dignified • rank of the country, free itself from this stigma ? Its centioasness has rendered it an object of disgust and ab horrence to the decent and moderate. There are many other serious charges which I might adduce, Sir, against the Opposition, to spew how much the c .a.intry has a right to rejoice at their not being re-ad mitted to office. There is one which I think inexcusable,- and that is the insolent irritation of tone, and the vi..lent hints they invariably employ, when their ambition is dis appointed. Even the leaders can with difficulty restrain the effusions of their spleen ; but the understrappers, who are not so circumspect, give full vent to the venom of their feelings and principles. They hint very plainly, that if they cannot enter the Cabinet in a constitutional way, they would have no objection to occupy it in a forcible manner. They mention very frequently, and very signi ficantly, the fate of Charles the First, and of James the . Second and the doctrine of resistance forms a prominent THE NATIONAL REGISTER. INIE .-,. F