The National Register. — London, England, 1812-10-04 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL R,tIGISTER. Ctir Coutitution, anti Eatug• ruzLts3 ED AT O. 3:►7, STRAND, CORNER OF 10.:E.TtR 'CHANGE PRICE 9.3. No. ..!49. i i " FRIENDS OF TRUTH AND OPENERS OF EYES IN FHE NINT&TEENTii CENTURY." If not edifying, it is at least diverting, to mark the airs which certain wri•ers give themselves for their love of truth and the sagacity they fancy tl , cv display in discovering it, and highly atnu , ing to observe the complacency with which they assume ciedit to themselves for the talent of cpening th e of the public. Those who are most eminent in this i line, appear all rqually anxious to diAingoish themselves by the humour r,1:(1 vivacity with which they can dilate on events which would deprive pers;ms of common unders.and_ ing, of those much valued faruities. A cal:tulle) . of uta:tni- tude never fails to make their wit flow freely, their spirits seem exhilarated in proportion as the public despondency i. great, and their readers, who have long mourned and slept ov:!1* their dullness, are all on a sudden delighted with the flippant ease and pointed raillery, with which they arc told of the *people's sorrows, the general distress, and the ruin of the country ; and, from the Manner in %%Nell they dwell on these topics, it is impossible to dtrlbt their zeal to do their lust towards opening the eyes of the public. It is, however, rather rematkablethat-this zeal s hould be always most conspicuous, when affliction and disaster arc the subjects on %%Welt then liave to treat. Their anxiety to en lighten the public mind nieways manifests it:elf most when it is in their power to awaken their readers to the contempla tion of a scene of more than common gloom, to a prospect of more than ordinary alarm. Does a may of hope illumine our political horizon ;—they will not roue us to btsk in its hrightuess : but when they think they see a continT ,twan, thet? all their energies are put forth, and 2 sereeA of e e,t-uey calls us to revel with them in all the luxury of predicted inin and anticipated horror. Foremost among those who arc thus eager to inform the nation, stands thq conductor of a morning paper, in some respects a valunbre journal, but for professions of this nature ridiculous, and fur its conduct subsequent upon them little Less than infamous. For some yews, while opening the public eyes, the general gaze of admiration was by him di rected to the " virtues of the PRI NCof V‘ A LES, the splen dour of which could not fail to shed new lustre on the throne," which, in the course of nature, he appeared destined to fill. Then all that was elegant, ail that was accomplishes:, all that vests noble and munificent, be was described as formed to he admired, and to exact obedience not by his authority, but by his suavity of tnanners and goodness of heart. Within the last year, however, something very like the reverse of this picttire has been 'presented to his readers by this friend to . trieh. When the PRINCE REGENT thought pauper to exercise his own judgment, and choose his ()WU CGLUX, POl,lll CAL DIS2VISITION. SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 181 2. Ministers, who did not happen to be of the patty of his eu logist, .‘ ail was changed in the twinkling'of an eye." longer the noble, the munificent, the elegant, aud the sccont plished ; he a! once became the ungrateful, the mean, the corpulent, the dissipated, and not only did this opener of ryes discover iu Iris conduct, defects, the existence of which,• he, till then, had never seemed to believe, but he [gong' t forward facts, which, he imagined likely to lower him in pub lic estimation, and which no one had thought of adduciog to the di.cred.t of the PRINCE before. The panegyrist of the INCF of W rs and his " early friends," not con tent animadveiting on the iod;scietions (this yeun;er d ac:atstAl cf being aml, yet nnii4, of be:ng f t ' i% a4c, thin s wEj:ll antient enemies, in the ma;ice of their heat ts, wou:d never have thought of closing to blacken his character, things which, though Cer tainly of the first intpar;akee ler the publie to be acquaintc4l with, this.fr,eiid to te.die had never previ..usly a'luded while Lbouring to e nk , liteir the rublic mild. A pert dapper Editor next appe: whose claims to public support are equally foil tultil en professions of love, of truth, and of hatred to party. Perfect impartiality is his great boast, and. in candour, it must lee admitted, that helms some . claims on that praise to which he aspires, from the manner in which he attacks without distinctien and - w:thout regard to person, friends and foes, 'whenever it appears his interest to do so. Self love, inipattial in its action, as insatiate in cravings, ensules hint the praise of consistency for an ia di ,crimittate, and, of course, public spirited sacrifice, of all may be opposed to it. lie att i acked Mr. PEUCCV liein.2; with the utmost hostility, and endeavoured to open the of tl!e people to the wcaimuss and ropacity of that illus trious Statesman. After his death, he gave him praise for viftoe of an opposite description, and told his readers that the late Crt ANC ELLott of the ExcnEvEtt should have had such plaTse before, had he (the Writer), known that it was his due. Here we ought to give him, some credit for his cats - dour in admitting that he had censured. Mr. PERCEVAL in ignorance, but what character does his -conduct merit altoge• titer as on opener of' t he e y es of the public ? la. it to be ad . mated as an excuse for throwin g unmerited obloquy • on a man, that he who does so does not know that it isunmerited Ought it to en dured, that one mad should accuse another bf a crime, because he does not know that he has not committed such a crime ? It is not enough that he who arraigns the cha racter of another does not know that the person arraigned, is innocent, he ought to know that he is guiitrhefore besets such a part, or at least before he indicts- punishisant , What shall we then say to , that friend tp truth, •#/hi!, professttig to examine, pre. sto -condemn, helot* be . lam Wiwi _exit) ~ Ti