The National Register. — London, England, 1808-03-27 00:00:00

Ir 4 gilo6.4wove•-• F. NA VONA fa'S'locr4 may 14up . plaaj him with the mill±are advisers of his King : and his King, 'who ran view hi:n only with the eyes of thew advisers, may sentence him, on itch migrepre- agitation, to beggary and disgrarei The best monarch _ cannot help misusing such a power sometimes y what must that power be, if it fill into the. hands of a bad King ? It IS said by Ministers, that no misapplication has in fact oc curred as yet 3 that is to say, the rhlic in general knows no striking instances of such a misapplication. We firmly believe that his present Majesty would never knowingly Misapply such a power' hut, unknob:.ingly, it is almost 18possible for fallible humanity to avoid an occasional misapplication of it—and why should we leave a possibility for such an event ? But while we are desirous of restraining the arbitrary power of the Crown, because we conceive that it is not eonstitetional i we are eager to confirm to the Crown the prerogative of distributing justice, because to that preroga tive the constitution has entitled it. Let the K ing he the foun tain of military as well as of civil laws but let the law be • .1 all eases open and Certain ; let the immediate cogni zance of offences be in all cases delegated by the Crown 4o a competent tribunal. The civil law of this country k lodged by the Legislature in the King : from him it emanates, 1i id is distributed by his Judges, according to the decisions Cr fact that are given by juries of his people..Thelllilitary Law does not so constitutionally come Into the hands of the King, because the Lords and Commons have nothin g: to do in its ordinations but the defects in its origin would be greatly remedied by a regular course iu its distribution. If the King is still to frame the articles* of war, to create the crime and to create the punishment, at least let these articles be applied by a Court-Martial. Then the Office: tried will be tried according to a public code, and not ac e irding to a private caprice : then hit country will know his conduct, and if injustice should deprive him of his COM mission, public opinion will never deprive him of his cha racter. Courts-Martial are Courts of Honour : in their nature they wi.l not require tbe same proofs that are de manded in the Old Baileys their members will still have e great discretionary powers 61.4 the Judges of an Officei Mill then be his Peers, as the emeititution direct,. These arc the Courts in which points of too delicate, subtle, and eva nescent a nature for the grosser perception of the common law may be advantageously, tried s and the exception te the principles of the constitution may be tolerated in con sideration of its advantages. And when it is remenibered that the members of a Court-Martial are not bound, like a Jury, to be unanimous in their sentence, and how many . (Sines may be comprized in the sweeping diarge of un gentlemanlike conduct, no latitude of impunity can be apprehended from the universality of such a mode of trial. At present, the just and the unjust, all equally suffer. The c ruses of dismissal are not made public, and he who lose, his commission for the most scandalous fault, is in ro worse condition than h^ who may hate becu degraded hs caprice or mista:-.e, :slid who, if he had been tried by Court-Martial, miLlht perhaps have procured himself at honourable acquittal. In all cases, Where it becomes ne cessary to dismiss an Offseer, and where it would never theless be hard to eepuee him by a Court-Martial, a resig nation may be properly accepted. There is one answer which we foreve will be mado to al !►e have 9;141, namely, " that unicere arc nut unfair!. ILEGt5Ttit. MATICIT 2f. " treated by the existiug la.w4, berause the% know on en " tering the army the exact nature of the risk I hev incur ; " and may be considered in the light of all other prrsop. " holding places at But cur arguments have been directed to the injury sm.. tained by the constitution rather than to that sustain e d iudividuals $ and at any rate, if it he ad siseahle to inerea,: : our army and encourage its officers, it must surel% he on. wise to place officers of the army in a worse condition than the rest of his Majesty's guhjects. And as to t.o7s . de r i n , officers as tenants at will of their commissions, that i s th e very idea which we combat $ for it is not, and it c;:;mt be, the principle or policy of the British constitution, to e n . trust the crown with this immense mass of revocable gifts, or in other words to place in the power of the king a force that maw be employed for the overthrow of the s!:it e . In every instance where an officer's conduct be. called in question by an address from either !louse of l'arli:inicht, it is to be hoped that a Court Martial will he necesr ry for the ultimate disposal of his case : for the example of Lord Melville has proved that the sentence of a laltoltil tribunal may tuirer from that of a Parliamentary majority, On this important question we hope to find the sen , e (.f the country on our side. Let the hand of the Ring grant favours, but let it not be extended for the purposes of de. privation. The parent gives life to his child ; but has not empowered him to take that life away. The in; can distribute the blessings of the State : but the State has not authorized him to antml them. REVIEW OF POLITICAL. DECL.11311.114. No. XIII. Tilt ncirsr, OF' LORDS. The flippancy with which some of tht modern jolt/710;4s dip cuss the vital interests of the country and coostitution, cannot hot disgust those persons vi ho love oMer and 9ntind principle, and who deli;:ht to see the means proportioned to the ced. Ili our Disquisitinns we therefore intend to sustain entar%. a toter of manly yet moderate a rgument : and, as, truth is the oely object of thitsr discussions, the sophistries of IneenTi strum ion, and the antitheses of wit, must he totally tininet•sary in conducting them. But the reverrece that ti (Inert:lir la; 'he ;irinciples of British Govertnneet does not extend Own to -'ver:, body who ehamea to busy itins-eg about !hem; and He profess to feel no respect toward:, the crowd who ilerlAn. #lr the purposes of fame err of profit, either by words or on varer, whether in or out of Parlitotent--• intellectual contend upon the stage of polities a show—•bu- , 1i1,7 who make the constitution a foot-hall, and kick tr North or South to keep themselves warm. Therefore,in ono Rep'o'rt Political Declaimers. where entertainment is neeeafy as truth, we shall vary our exposures of vice and representation and inconsisteney, se jii.imes 6 an d i ;oor „ire, by 'Cr: 1 ' 4) & 1 : 01 y introducing some aftifles of %gayer alid nnore rical kind : articles which may have an operation, whore more serious Reviews cannot he brought to bear; and us;r!i• tike light vessels, may pursue the enent‘ into that sha l lo w vault 'vhere 11.1 M -rate ship- would not find depth enough to Rule !. Without murh mar preface, therefore, we shall add a inlet rom at fashiouable wit in London to hi,. friend, a ce'n't fataily, who lives in the country. We have several of ih'"r letters by us, and the 11011. Mr. to a gentleman wit I w ill fat our us %yid+ a;) !fiat are not of a pri va t e natore. The first is, letw orr , ft! a !tore *Hoes east th an uto , t w hi c h t-- future epistles "7 I! ~' no sp he an cli tu sp 'II su ' ~_..~