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

366 feature of their politicdl creed, when they wish to bully the Sovereign into excessive, or unconstitutional conces sionc. Are those violent men proper servants of a limit ed Monarchy ? We uld they not reduce the Sovereign to a mere pageant, and transform the present government into the vilest oligarchy ? T. v----• a TIM GLORIOUS SPIRIT OF WHIGGISM." TO THE EDITOR OF THE NATIONAL REGISTER. SIR—As amidst the struggles of contending parties, you have dis dained to sell yonrscif to any faction, and as impartiality has ever dis tinguished your paper, I trust, though a man of no party, you will give this communication a place in it. lam the more confident you will do this from a conviction that you must participate in those feelings of ab horrence which I shall have to express, while exposing the atrocity of one who has had the effrontery to offer himself to public notice as a pa triot, while , throughout his iniquitous career, it has been his apparent object to work on the worst feelings of the mob, by endeavouring to in flame their passions, under the pretence of calling for a reform. The mis-rable help s .; to whom I allude is, the Editor of a contempti ble weekly pco.t, entitled the " Independent Whig." He has lately contrived to get a stib,cription set on foot for him, in order, I suppose, to satisfy the world of his Indtpendence, but this is so common with those who engage in the Trade of Patrioas„z B that it was hardly worth while to notice it in his case on the present occasion. That to which I wish to call your attention, is a part of the diabolical and infamous contents of his last publication. Cn the death of the late lamented Mr. PERCEVAL, those Journals who had her, n most opposed to his political course, seemed to join the public with honest warmth in doing justice to the virtues, and in mourning the loss of the departed Statesman. The sympathies of the Independent Whig, however, were reserved for the case of BELLING SAM. This friend to the Constitution, apparently exulting in tlyt act of atrocity which spread horror and consternation throughout the land, could only fee' compassion for the monster who committed it, and those belonging to'im. lam aware, Sir, that as BELLINGHAM has paid for his crime with his life, it may appear unfeeling to speak harshly of the dead ; but, Sir, those who provoke such language, ought also to have re inenihered that, and had they acted not with forbearance, but common decency to- ards the memory of Mr. Peacevot., who is also no more, I would never have attempted to disturb the manes of his murderer. The columns of Tine Whig have, however, been thrown open to the most infamous calumnies on the late Premier, and swelled with the praise. , of his assassin ! I shlll, without loss of time, introduce to your notice a part of what has appeared on this subject, just olserving by the way, that this is the Journal which has always professed to be most anxiou • for reform, and of course most friendly to reformers, and to that staunch reformer Mr. Hunt, who last year so handsomely de clared, tha• the head of Sir Arlen RY Gloss would look well on a lamp post. Speaking of the death of Mr. PERCEVAL, The Wittig of last Sunday says— " We ought to lament, that we have lived to see the day, when there bath b-en found a wrong without a remedy;—to lament that a British snbject, despairing to get relief even from that avernhly ex pressly instituted for the redress of all grievances, should think himself entitled to do himself justice by an act of violence—and above all we must lament, that he by whose means such injuries have been done to our rights, should have escaped without being called to an ac count for them. in short, either we have been led into strange errors by the great authorities before quoted, or PERCEVAL was a breaker of the KiNc's oath, which, is plain English, is called a ' traitor.' " Either that is not the law and constitution, which is here laid down by these grave and great authorities (writers previously quoted) or Nit er:Nat. appears to have broken the KING'S oath, which is an act of high treason. But if PERCEVAL acted the part of a traitor, at least he vs as fortunate in not dyin the death of one, and consequently the act of R/ILLINGHAId may have saved both the Minister, his family, and friends, from a greater degree of affliction !" Here, Sir, you will see it is not indirectly stated, that Mr. PERM. lIAL was a traitor to his country, and as a traitor would probably have suffered an ignominious death, had not BELLINGHAM enabled him to escape. But, the late Minister is stigmatised as a criminal who de- THE NATIONAL REGISTER. JUN' 14. served the gallows, while his murder appears to be a humane tac , per. petrated to save both the Minister, his finally, and friends, from the pain and disgrace of such a catastrophe. Continuing its eulogy on BE LLts:GRA M ) it tells us that " shortly aftot the act was committed he even shed tears for him (Mr. P.) though Ise shed none for his own misfortunes, or felt the least dismay on his ow n account; and with his dying lips be requested PERCEVAL'S family might know the sorrow he felt on their account. How different is tins conduct front that barbarous joy, which the vindictive man feels when his victim lies bleeding at his feet ! No foul passion of this kind die. graced the honourable bosom of BELLINGHAM ; and therefore we can- not refuse him credit for his own declaration, 4 that Justice—and Jut. lice only was his oldect."—" A noble object! And much it is to be desir ed, that it were always attainable by strait and even ways! Nor will it prove any excuse for man, that Providence himself sometimes accuse. plishes that end by indirect means. In that courage which raises the mind superior to the fear of death, BELLINGHAM may be compared to Sir THOMAS MOORE ; but the CHANCELLOR giving way tO his pleasan. tries upon the scaffold, may be said to have died beneath himself; whilst BELLINGHAM exhibiting a happy combination of mildness aad dignity towards his tormentors, anxious to draw from him an avowal that would have blasted his own character and justified that of others, may be said to have died greatly beyond himself." If there be any one thing more than another that must make the friends of BELLINGHAM lament that he was unfortunately cut off when he hie only committed one murder, it must be the regret the lovers of fine writing must feel when they reflect that the departed hero cannot have the pleasure of reading the above delectable article. How qv!! beautiful is the eulogium there given on his dignified deportment at the gallows.. It must be beautiful, because it is not easy to understand half of it. Vulgar readers may, from this circumstance, be at first in duced to consider it as rank nonsense, for they, not entering into the author's spirit, may not be able to guess what is meant by BELLING• HAM'S 46 exhibiting a happy combination of mildness and dignity to wards his tormentors, anxious to draw from him an avowal that would have blasted his own character and justified that of others." They will. perhaps, not admire the English of this elegantly turned period, any more than its apparent meaning. They will perhaps ask, who were Ins tormentors l What avowal could have blast4d his own character 1 And still more anxiously may they ask how, doing this, was he to justify that (the character) of others. This we say, by common readers may be te• garded as nonsense, some will perhaps be uncharitable enough to think that the whole paragraph has the appearance of having come from ths pen of some associate villain, equally incapable of suppressing his grati tudefise, and his rapture at, the conduct of the hero, now no more, who forbore to disclose the names of any of his friends in his last mo ments. It is unnecessary for me to point out how ridiculous such ideas must be. All I will say on the subject is, that the article is very fh,e, and as there can be no doubt that the author meant it to be so, I hope something equally solemn and consoling to his friends, will come from some other pen, when his patriotism has gained the notoriety which I tru st it will one day gain: a notoriety only second to that which has crowned the exertions of the illustrious BELLINGHAM. When on the subject of the 66 honoweable bosom of BE LLI aHA m," I think the wri. ter might with great propriety have indulged in a short digression, for the purpose of treating us with something about aise " honourable bo soms" of JERRY ABER SuAw, and other heroes of the Newgate Ca. lendar. Having gone so far, the Editor appears to have thought it expedient, for the purpose of working a reform and of holding future Ministers in proper constitutional dread of the pistol of an assassin, to reward as far as he could the act of BELLIN GII Am. Those who know that person well perhaps think it a most exquisite joke that I should imagine for a Ino• ment that a subscription set on foot by him, and received by him, vouid ever find its way to the Widow of BELLINGHAM. This, however, re gardless of those sneers, I shall still suppose would have been the case. If the honesty of this Patriot would not ensure its safe conveyance, his love of murder (which I infer from his writings) would beyond all I cannot bring myself to think that he would let slip so favourable an opportunity of encouraging assassination. The following article on this subject from " The Constitutional Corner" will, I trust, be again given to the world in italics. SUBSCRIPTIONS FOR MRS. BELLINGHAM 8c HER FAMILY. " We have readily given publicity to several communications which we have received on this interesting subject; and as we undoubtedlY • - 4, (II ._ i _. . .- On! cleft t!los War con V.:IT :3t. Pzi Ird sui, the, enl