The National Register. — London, England, 1809-02-26 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER. stitution ; and if a prince had disinterested advisers, he would have long since received from them the salutary and constitu tional counsel to submit, with deference and alacrity to those regulations and forms which hind every other inetnber of the community. The Commons, we trust, will not forget their otvn dignity, the responsibility of their situation, and the ditties they owe their constituents. They,. it is to be hoped, will watch vigilantly over the maintain: wee of the laws, and confound, by their im partiality and iodependence, the opponents of the present esta blishment. Their conduct, at the commencement of the inquiry gives every reason to conclude that they will remain consequent to the last; and as they expressed so much satisfaction at the motion of Mr. WA ROLE, as their triumph was so loud that theseaccusations were brought forward in a tangible shape, they w ill convince the country of the sincerity of their effusions, byre commending the only issue which is left the accwed ;—" to use the benefit and protection," as his Royal Highness demands, " of those sanctions, under which alone evidence is received in the ordinary administration of the law." NVe have considered the subject as yet as only relating to the Commander in Chiefof the Army, without the slightest referetice to him as Prince of the Blood. Should we iak •up the matter in this light, it becomes more serious and important. The whole transaction immediately assumes a greater degree of interest ; and what we may be inclined to palliate in the former, we dare not excuse in the latter character. It then becomes a subject of inquiry whether a member of the Royal Family is amenable to the same laws as every other individual in the country? Whe ther he has, in that capacity, any distinct privileges which secure him from responsibility, or insure him iinpuniti in ease of delinquency ? We believe the Constitution admits of to such distinction; but supposes every man who tills an eflicial situation, as responsible for the manner in which he discharges it. It is from an apprehension that any plea of this kind. might he set up, that an appearance of acri mony and bias mixed itself in the judgments of the Public. — They began, from the very beginning, to cnnsider it as an issue aright between a number of the Royal Family and the people of Great Britain, and, for fear of a dangerous and unconstituti onal precedent, anxiously insisted on the urgency of a strict and legal investigation. There was no bias, no partiality divlayed against the individual ; but all that jealousy and distrust, pe culiar to a free people were manifested, lest the accused should harbour any pretensions, as son of the Sovereign, inconsistent with the spirit of the constitution and the equality of our laws. This pertinacious adherence, on the part of the Public to a rigid maintenance of their rights, proves them deserving of the freedom they enjoy; and that every member of the community is equally amenable to the laws is the highest triumph of poli tical philosophy. We have considered the conduct of his Royal Highness only in a political point of view ; and not in a moral one. We have not adverted to the indecency and profligacy of a married man, filling one of the highest ostensible situations in the country, liv ing publicly with a concubine, and expending immense sums for her establishment, whilst thousands of honest industrious fami lies in the manufacturing towns were literally starving. Ile dis ca:ded her at last, but not from a convictiou of the irregularity of his conduct, or from a sense of the indecent example he fur nished ; but from satiety ; for he immediately associated w itli another woman, whom he stipported at the same immoderate expence ; not reflecting that the sums he expended on so despic able an object, might have clothed and educated 500 destitute children. What a godlike sensation to a liberal, generous, and feeling mind must an expenditure of the latter description have afforded ! These are gratifications for a feeling. heart, for a princely mind ! and how contemptible., how trimeon-; mist be the mere tricious 'miles of a harlot, wilco compared ‘sitig the plum:tire of rrill. 26. relieving indigence and drying the tear of affliction! What are his Royal Highness's pretensions to bur gratiude and veneration in this respect? Providence has placed him on a very exalted station, where he might be the benefactor of, and a paten' to millionst how contemptible are the allurements of pleasure, the gay frolic of the convivial board, the soft enticements of in dolence, and the wild enjoyments of a licentious appetite, com pared to the divine satisfaction arising from a rigid performance of duty ! ale has it unquestionably in his power to render great and permanent services, as well by example as action ; and what an irresistible appeal must that he to the feelings of a man (a title much more significant than that of Peince 1) to tell him that his individual exertions might contribute to the happiness andmorality of millions ! Ilis example might operate like elec. tricity ; and the people of this country would enthusiastically place him in the list of their heroes and patriots, instead of as sociating his name, as they do now, with wretches, like Al ts . Clatike, Sancho), and Donovan. NOTICES OF ROYALTY. isest men Have err'd, and by had women been deceiv'd ; And shall again, pretend they ne'er so wise ! Milton's 4 SUMSO7B DUKE OF YORK. Frtrnertrem, Duke of York and Albany in Great Britain, and Earl Zif Ulster in Ireland, is the second son of their pre sent Majesties. Ile was born on the 16th of August, in the year 176.3 ; exactly four days after the birth of his eldest brother daring the preceding year. Always beloved by his All:'11St Parent, the Duke of York succeNted rapid ly to the honours and dignities which have been conferred upon him; and which virtually, though not actually, coo %tante him, as one of our representatives in parliament, is stated to have called him, no less than the second person age in this kingdom. lie has proved, indeed, that respon sibility and authority are inseparable. Scarcely had his Royal Highness completed his fourth year, when, on the death of the Great Duke of Cumber land, he was appointed to succeed him as Grand-Master and First Knight-Compaction of the Order of the Bath. He obtained the Order of the Garter in the year 1771. He was raised to the ran's:of Colonel in the army in 1760; and on the decease of Lord Amherst, about 1799, his Royal Highness was finally entrusted with the high post of Com mander in Chief of the British Army. lie had previously enjoyed all the supposed advantages of military education, both at home and abroad ; while, by the active part which he hail taken, during the early stages of the revolution, against the enemies of this country, he was understood to have become practically, as well as theoretically, ac quainted with his professional duties. (If the military character of this Prince, it is not easy to speak with precision and intelligence. With the best pos sible intentions to serve his country, his exertions, it w i ll hardly be denied, have been singularly unsuccessful ; and have, very unauspiciously for the country as well as un happily for himself, created such prepossessions as seem completely to preclude him from attempting to retrieve his military reputation, and from establishing, as other wise he possibly might, his character. Singular though the opinion may appear. to others, I confess myself to be one of those, who, from conclusions which cannot be soon made obvious to the many, regret that the Duke of York, notwithstanding his former reverses, was not permitted to have commanded the forces lately sent from this country to the assistance of Portugal. His elevated rank, so exactly suited to the views or our new ailies, %% 0111(1 have excited all the admiration in which they ho;d legitimate supremacy ; while, on the other hand, it is im possible to qucstiou the aiaiuty vtili which hi: 'Loyal 41i• 130 II