The National Register. — London, England, 1817-09-08 00:00:00

. IlMi ■ i br P . , alio Itt- No. 500.—Vot. X. POLITICAL DISQUISITION. TO THE ELECTORS OF WESTMINSTER. GENTLEMEN-lt has been very confidently asserted, by those who are supposed to know something of the matter, that you will soon be called upon to exercise your elective franchise, one of your representatives having resolved to relinquish that great trust which you thought proper to confide to him, and which trust was but recently renewed, under circumstances as little honourab7e to himself as to von. It has, of late years, been so much the fashion with those who are called " zealous reformers," to hold you up to the rest of the nation as an example of incorruptible integrity, that whenever your elective right devolves upon you, the eyes of your countrymen are naturally directed to wards you, anxious to discover whether the wisdom of your choice will correspond with the high character which you have obtained, in the estimation of the friends of liberty. With what prudence you have exercised your im portant right at all times, but more particularly since the death of Mr. Fox, you yourselves can answer.— Mankind, generally, estimate the future by the expe rience of the past, and this is, probably, the reason why many, even of your own body, look forward with something very like apprehension, to the next object of your choice ; for they cannot help remembering, that, although uncorrupt, and enjoying the reputation of superior patriotism, you have at various times given your suffrages to men whose public, as well as private characters were not of the most immaculate descrip tion. And in the present instance they are more than usually anxious, as a report has been very industriously circulated, that a gentleman in the sister kingdom, whose name has more than once been before the public under peculiarly unfortunate circumstances, is to be come the object of your favour and protection. if you, alone, were interested in the choice of a person to represent you in Parliament, it were the height of folly and presumption in any one to offer you a syllable of advice as to the line of conduct to be pur sued; and it would look very like impertinence in uu to enquire with what discretion you had hitherto ex ercised your rights ; but as not you alone, but the kingdom at large, have a claim upon the services of your representatives, and as you are continually held up as an example of the benefits to be derived film a reform in the representaticn, I conceive that 1 . have a fair right, not only to give you my free opinion as to your future course, but also upon the example which you and your representatives have given to the other parts of the country. To do this, it will he necessary to look back a little into your history, and pass the va rious objects of your idolatry in review, by which means I shall be better able to show how far your ex ample has been beneficial to the country, and, mea suring, your patriotism and discretion by the benefits they have producA, we shall be able to appreciate the ',due of that superior freedom in your elective rights, which is so constantly held up to the admiration of the less fortunate parts of the community. It has been pretty much the practice, in Westmin ster, to choose the-two members out of the opposite parties in politics. 'ibis practice was not the result of any concerted Oen, but arose out of the nature of pub lie feeling. The lower classes of the electors being generally hostile to the existing ministry, were ever ready to choose :him who should vilify that ministry the most ; and the middle and higher classes, be tg almost always well disposed towards the esta blished order of things, and less under the influence of passion, were equally anxious to elect that man who in their estimation had deserved well of his countrv.— Hence it arose that sine of your representatives has ge- it itiittr+ Our Eting, Coniaitution anb gai33o. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1817. nerally been a man of high naval reputation, and to this practice Lord Cochrane owed his first election, facilitated, indeed, by his prudence, in not having shewn his teeth until he thought he had it in his power to bite. By this conduct of his Lordship, an entire change was produced. The ministry and their friends had supported his election, in return for the services he had rendered the State as a brave and enter prising sailor; but no sooner was he seated in his place than he became an opposer of all their measures ; and, flattered by the huzzas of a Palace-yard mob, he joined in the cry of " radical reform." Thus was the balance destroyed which had so long existed between the two parties, and, from that moment, those gentlemen among you who arrogate to themselves the character of " independent," have been unceasing in their en deavours to improve the adrantage which they had obtained. They argued, that it' Westminster could do so much, what could not the other parts of the kingdom do, if constituted like Westminster? And what could not be done it' all were still more free—if annual parliaments and universal suffrage were esta blished on the ruins of the prusent system.of " corrup tion and oppression." No man should set himself up as a pattern to his neighbours, without he has some pretensions to supe rior virtue himself; neither should you be fixed upon as an example of political purity, without your actions well accord with the character which is attempted to be given to you. Let us look at some of the candidates who have at various times solicited, and some of whom obtained, your favour. Horne Tooke, John Graham, Paul, Cochrane, and shall we have to add O'Connor? What a list ! p low complimentary to your judgment ! how flattering to your vanity ! Not a bold and fac tious demagogue, nut a stabber of private character, not a tricking plunderer of the unwary, be he as ignorant as Hunt, as impudent as Cobbett, but finds support among the " independent Electors of Westminster." It is not my intention in this letter to investigate how your representatives have fulf►lled the duties of their high station, or what were the precise merits of those candidates, who, though unsuccessful, fimnd favour with thousands of you. These considerations will form the subject of a future letter, in 'which I will endea vour to shew how far the plenitude of your elective rights has secured you from the attempts of factious innovators, or tricking, jobbing AN Ei.,cron. A memorial has been presented to the Board of Trade by the merchants of Kingston, Jamaica, on the state of the tradebetween that port and the Spanish Colonies.— The great advantages which Great Britain would de rive from the establishment of the independence of the Spanish Colonies are placed by this.memorial in a most striking light. It states, that since these colonies have been thrown open to the Brit;sh flag, the trade with them has multiplied beyond alt expectation ; that up wards of ten millions ster/ing of British manufitctures alicady have been introduced among a numerous but almost unknown people; and that, being now familiar ised to their use, there is every reason to believe that the increase of consumption would be incalculable were the intercourse to be kept free free interruption. The swarm of insurgent privateers which have lately infested the South seas are stated, however, to have greatly alarmed the traders and endangered their property; and a hope is expressed that his . Majesty's government will see tit to afford the interests of his subjects that protection by convoy, which is common to the trade of outlet and consumption of British manutlieturers in these parts of the world. The Duke of Devonshire, prior to his leaving Eng land, ordered several Vases of. classic tbrm to be exe cuted in the finest Amethatipe fluor of Derbyshire, with a view of assisting the nt3nut:ictory, then declin ing, from the influx of Italian alabaster, These beau tiful vases, &c so pleased the highest circles in St. Pe ter,burgh, surprising any productions of the Emperor's mines in Siberia, that several oral rs have been received from this, his Grace's introduction, PRICE 9ili FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE. FRANCE. Pants, Alio. 29.—Desbans, Chayonx, Nepven, Gnichand, and Warcigne, non-commissioned officers in the 2d regiment of the Royal Guard, were yesterday tried before the First Council of War, of the First Military Division; on a charge of having projected an attempt upon the lives of the Royal Family. The trial lasted till a late hour at night, whets Desbaos and Chayoux, were sentenced to death. Nepven to three years' imprisonment, and Guichaud and Wareigne wenn acquitted. At G. 30.—Yesterday, at half-past two o'clock, the Duke of Richelieu, and their Excellencies the Ambassadors of Austria, England. and Prussia, assembled at the Duke cf Wellington's, and hail a long conference. His Grace set off from Paris this morning at seven o'clock. The ancient regiment of Swiss Gourds was composed, on the fatal 10th of August, 1/92, of 02 officers, of whom 38 were killed on the stair-case of the Palace of the Tuileries in defending the person of the King, while 28 perished in the vicinity much about the same time ; since that period, five others have died ; and 10 only are alive at the present day. Ai G. 21.—We learn from Rouen, that on the 28th of this month, about three o'clock in the afternoon, a new steam , - boat, called the Duchess of Berry, was launched there in presence °laic Duke of Tfeviso and the principal civil and military authorities of thc'place. A long and painful malady has deprived his family of M. J. P. Duval Chevalk r of the Legion of Honour, and Minister of General Police under the Directory. Called to the Conven tion, he formed part of that courageons minority who vainly strove to save the life of the best of Kings. _ . General Debelle, whose sentence, bi the clemency of the King was commuted into imprisonment for ten years, sod who was confined in the citadel of Besancon, has jest its eeived a free pardon from the inexhaustible goodness of the Monarch, and has been set at liberty. We ought to add, he liVfeh his liberty as well as Isis life to the intercession or the Doke d'Augouleine, who allowed him, out of his own pri vate purse, u pension to mitigate his 'instill/me* dui lug bit imprisonment. SEtrrionii.m. I.—Yesterday, on the King's retnreing front Mass, the Minister of War presented to Ids Majesty the Mar shal Davonst, Prince of F.cknisiiil, who immediately took the oath, as a Marshal of France, In•twecto the hands of the King, when his Majesty delivered to him the baton of his rank ; and the Marshal had afterwards the honour to be pi cheated to the Royal Family. SPAIN. MADRID, AUG 23.—Thc birth of the Princess of which her Majesty was delivered yesterday, has heel) announced by 12 discharges of canyon, and by the hoisting of a white fla t ; at one of the corners of the palace. The bells of the city have been ringiog. To-day, the Grandees of Spain, the Ministers of State, the Foreign Ambassadors, ‘Sic. have presented their eun..rainlations at the palace. Te Deism will be sung. (cti he Ist inst. was to be opened to the public at Madrid, a course of Spanish tarlisgraphy, or the art of w riting as quickly as a person speaks, and forming elimacieis as dia. tinct and legible as those of ordinary writing. An order from the King lea, directed the Economical Society of Madrid to superintend the establishment. GERM AN Y. VIENNA, At . e. 16.—A few days ago there was discovered, some leaguers from this 'dace, a sect of the nature of the ad. herents of Pieseliel. These sectaries met in the neighbour hood of. Wedding, on all eminence in the forest, vs lice e there has been for many sears a smtll ge of the Virgin Mary upon an old cak. 'lke head of this sect is said to he a Conn. teas. Their exalted fancy led them to consider this place as their Church, and they w a ated to compel the Clergyman of the neighbouring village of Sitfcring to re ad Mass there, and upon his refusal the Conntess is said to have threatened t.) du it herself it' he would net agree to it. Government has been informed in tinie ,by the Clergy of the surround ing villages of these disorders, see that by the employment at energetic measures this unsound excrescence has also been destroyed in the beginning. Aic. 21.—The Ifuening ('hremide of the sth fills two of its columns with a pretended Protest, said to have been est'llt•. cd by her Majesty the Archduchess Maria Lcni.a , llnelie s e of Parma, to the Vienna Congress, on the 19th of Febritary, 1815, against placing the Bourbons on the Throne of nuns e„' This document, says the Morning Chronicle, written originally in French, is translated into English front a German transla. tion, deposited in the archives of the city ofFrant. fort ! We should tint 11:IVC thought it %I. I tic while to 'newton this new. Icing production, had nut the other papers, beside s the Mornfug Chronicle, and his friend the reel Li!, reel, e. g. the Journal de hi Belgique, inserted it " as ri t 'iiiivoity w ow: j a i to history," W e hereby declare, that this piece, framed by the efl'emies of peace and order in Europe, is a forgery from the beginning to the end.— (..114Ntriam (Asc.:Ter.) i~ '"~ N ETIIERLA N 1)3. GHENT. Aix. 31.—The action of the Duke of Wollingtios •• \ - against the Editor of the Juin•ll.ll of East and West Flanders, : ..- I, came on to-day, as we hail announced. • .es *.Al s , The Counsel tor his Grace, Nlessrs. Tarte, sen. and Jon. • ,:t "A, hand, after reasonings, in which the public thought the re stiis --,- more sophistry than logic, endesvom IA to prose not only !' i that the article in question contained a ea!1111111y, but also that it called down on lii. Grace the public contempt and .O , A hatred. Mr. Beyaus, the Editor's Counsel, refuted (:td ib t ~• I, public thought lie did it successfully) the reasonings of these , gentli men. lie maintained, that they were founded ou Vt. : , .....` ..„. nothing positive, lint on indications.. . - A--1P,at1a.....1.,;^, lie c•pLititil the article which gave rise to the complaint - .U,, of hi. (unto, in the hats alien of the Editor. lie divitle-i I ‘ lO ib, part., ninth are very distinct, and assigned to c eh or thew the only attase ih which they can be uudeittoodi .Ltd -tl;4--