The National Register. — London, England, 1812-04-19 00:00:00

r - THE NATION L REGIS ER. Out: /Mills, Concnittition, alit PRINTED AND PUBLISHED AT NO. 5, PICKETT-STREET, STRAND, NEAR TEMPLE BAR. PRICE 9d. N O 0,-).• SUNDAY, APRIL 19, 1812. r ~. POLITICAL DISQUISITION. No. 211. DISTURBANCES IN THE COUNTRY. We have long stood in a particular situation : a sepa rate people, visibly shielded against all dangers by the mercies of Omnipotence. When revolutions deluged the Continent with innocent blood, our lives were secure, for our Constitution remained unshaken. We heard the suc cessive and awful fall of empires : we lamented, but did not share their fate. The events that crowded the stage of the world, seemed to pass before us for our instruction. From the contemplation of ravaged fields and towns in Barnes we turned, and beheld our vallies teeming with abundance, our cities with industry and wealth. Nation after nation sank enslaved—Freedom dwelt fixed on our shores. Anarchy threatened to overflow every land ; but loyal power sat on the waves and checked her progress. Succeeding years confirmed us in the ex alted station which we occupied. Our prosperity en creased ; our dominions were enlarged, and Great Britain became net only the sanctuary of banished freedom, but the source of independence to others. Are we now to resign the honours of our glorious destiny ? Have we stood so long, unshaken by the hostility of a world in arms, to fall self-overthrown, self-destroyed, a dreadful instance of national. suicide ? Let those, who instead of joining in the arduous conflict with the common enemy, raise their misguided hands against the peace of their country ; let those, still more criminal, who, for the purposes of party, encourage sedition, reflect that such conduct must recall the vital blood of the State from the limbs which it now so powerfully wields against the toe, to the heart which their insubordination attempts to stab. Let them know, that such collected vigour will easily crush their blind attempts, but that the cause of our Allies must be sacrificed. Let them see, that they only turn aside the British sword from the bosom of the enemy, to plunge it into their own. And if not out of love for their injured country, and regard for their own interest; yet, out of cautious fear, let them forbear. The inflammatory speeches of our pretended patriots,' assisted by the difficultie:i of the times, have at last pro duced the effects which we anticipated. The disturb ances which broke out at first in Nottinghamshire, are no longer confined to that county. They have spread far and wide ; and if the British Senate continue to resound With the declamations of men, who politically attribute every evil we endure, even the sterility of the ground, to the i supposed mi sco ndu c t a nd impolicy of Government, the mi : guided populace, resting its justification on their authority, will endeavour to extend the sphere of its ra yages, and sink still deeper into guilt. It is not at the tale we 'are contending for all that is precious to ninn, With a powerful external enemy, that our means of de fence should be impaired by the want of unanimity at home- It is not at a period when the scarcity caused by an unfavourable harvest, both here and on the Continent, VQ/, V. No: CCXXv. begins to be felt, that patriots should induce discuisions or bring forward motions calculated to heighten the fer ment of the popular mind. They ought to be conscious that as self-preservation is both the natural impulse and the first duty of man, it is also in a tenfohl degree that of States ; because their welfare materially affects that of the thousands of whom they are composed, whose ri4hts and fortunes they are bound to maintain unimpaired. It is evident, therefore, that the Government by whim) the af fairs. of State are administered, must, in such circum stances, stretch forth the arm of power with which it has been entrusted, and by a sudden exertion put an end at once to the existing disorders. In all cases of popular commotions, weakness and indecision. on the part of the Executive, have proved its ruin. Vigour must act and punish : and when the hopes of impunity, entertained by the factious, have vanished away ; when their audacity melts into fear, and their turbulence into sorrow for the past, then alone may the loud pleadings of mercy be heard without danger. Submis ;ion mast precede pardon. But it may be s rid, if th.,t people at a not allowed to take the 1:1w into their own Kinds, and to do themselves what they conceive to be justice, what provis;on ought the Legislature to make for their relief? On this subject we shall give the following extracts from Mr. BURKE'S Treatise on the Duty of the Legislature in cases of scar city : KOf all things an indi,,crect tamper in. with the trade of provisions is•the most dangerous, and it is arrays worst in the time when men are most disposed to it ; that is, in the time of scarcity. Because there is not ling oa I , hich the passions of men are so violent, and their judgment so weak, and on which there exists such a multitude of ill founded popular prejudices. ga The great use of Government is as a rer:traint : and there is no restraint which it ought to put upon others, and upon itself too, rather than that which is imposed on the fury of speculating under circumstances of irritation. " We ought to guard more carefully on this point than on any other, against legislating overmuch. My op - nion (says Mr. Bont(E), is against an cve!.do:nz of any sort of administration, and mu: e especially against the most momentous of all meddling on the part of authority; the meddling with the subsistence of the people.' " The labouring people are only poor because they are numerous. Numbers in their nature imply povertr. In a fair distribution among a vast multitude, mme can haw: much. That class of dependent pensioners called the rich. is so extremely small, that if all their throats were cut, and a distribution made of all they consume in a year, it would not give a bit of bread and cheese for one night's supper to those who labour, and who, in reality, iced both the pensioners and themselves. " But the throats of the rich ought not to be cut, nor their magazines plundered; becausc, thliir persons they are trustees for those vrho labour, and tlL:ir hoards are the banking-houses of these latter. Whether they me.in it or not, they do, in effect, execute their t:ust—some with mole some with less, fidelity and judment. But on the wl:.•1•_•, the duty is petformet.l, re:ornE., d:du,;:pc;