The National Register. — London, England, 1809-02-19 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER. 114 the charges against him are well-founded. tint the exan,s ple of so illustrious a personage, and so nearly allied to tilt• throne, arraigned at the bar-of his country, will el:wince the nations of - the world of the impartiality of our laws, of the practical excellency of our institutions. With what admiration will Europe read the proceedings of the present House of Commons ! There is not an honest man, from the banks of the Wolga to the Streights of Gibraltar, who will not say, ".such an assembly is worthy of a free peo ple, and if other nations possessed similar tribunals to re• strain the vices of their Generals and Ministers, they would not now writhe under the odious despotism of Bonaparte and the galling exactions of his agents." . These are our motives fur glorying in the investigation. It is so cheering a reflection to think one's country stands • high in the estimation of other states; and the idea is still . more exhileratinv s . to know that it deserves it.. The charges against his Royal Highness accuse him of having made the most unjustifiable use of his influence as Commander in Chief; and they are supported by the corroborating evi dence of several witnesses. And for what purpose, and for 'whom, is he said to have violated the duties of his of fice ? Good God ! we would blush to mention it. A Prince et the blood, the Commander in Chief of the Army, in rank the third person in the British empire, basking iii the favour, and living on the smiles of a *****. For shame ! for shame! we can never believe it. The idea is too extravagant. The letters arc unquestionably fictitious. Absent on the exercise of his professional duties, his mind impressed with the important services the troops he was reviewing., might be, from day to day, called to perform in defence of their very homes—he could find leisure, or have the inanity of fteling, to write these nauseous ex pressions of love, admiration, and eternal constancy ! 'There is no (haste zephyr would waft such sighs; there is no soldier would breathe them for such an object.— Dear! dear ! Dear what dear ! what can the,mat ter be ? True, something must be the matter with the head and heart of the prince, or the man, who could write in that nauseous strain, and on such an occasion, to the intimate friend of Mr. I)owler, and the associate of Donovan. In point of composition, pathos, and delicacy gdfeelilg, these letters are near akin to the Corporal's love epistle which Lefevre brought Sterne when in Paris, as the model of an elegant note to Madame B . . . and for pomposity and ardour, would cut no indifferent figure in the grand burlesque of n n Thumb. The Courier says the Duke of York must be brought to trial. Unquestionably he must. The charges are too grave, too positive, to admit of an alternative. No power upon earth can now acquit him in any other mode, though we wish the laws of his country and his conscience may. It would be the most cruel injustice, and an act of the most barbarous outnige against the accusf'd, were thevoceed ins to terminate without the forina:i' v of a trial. Shall the Duke of York be deprived of the b , :nefit of those laws Ivhich is granted to the most fla!;itiowz culprit? Shall an impression go abroad that favour or power screened him horn censure, for the gross offences which arc imputed to him? Shall his character he left naked and defenceless to • the poisoned shafts -of malignity, to the random shot of ,indiscretion ! The men who would advise it are no friends to his Royal nor to their country, and are un aitiestionably none to the Douse of Brunswick. • A trial must, therefor - e, be instituted, to rescue the accused •from groundless suspicion, and to avoid the painful consequences 4ofpelilibn on the part of the country ! Shall calumny rear lier.crested head, and boldly and openly stalk from county to county, casting about torches of discord, spreading disaffection, and underminino.. the attachment of the public •to the present establishment. The men who would advise any other mode of proceeding are the real Jacobins, arc -conspirators against the throne and the people. An intimation, it is said, has. been given from a ccrlain quarter, to certain persons high in office, to interfere more pointedly and decidedly in the pending investigation. A •stiore pernicious ciercise of authority, or 11101 V fatal to FEB. 10. the tranquillity of the country, or more detrimental to the interests of the Commander in Chic), could not have been -suggested. We, therefore, reject this rumour, as conveying an unjustifiable opinion of a personage we are in the habit of revering, and implying an uaconstitutioual influence where it should not, and o .ght not, to be exerted. His Royal Highness must be brought to trial ; anu any man, who opposes it in this awful crisis of our affairs, is a dangerous egotist, indifferent to the houodr or existence of the empire. This impartiality will silence secret murmurs, and stifle discontent, which would brood in private over the supposed injustice. This is no fit season for trying the dangerous experiment of relaxing public morals, and tam pering with the laws. The laws, said the heythian ANA CHARMS, are cobwebs, which catch flies, but are broken by wasps. For God's sake, let not this imputation be attach ed to ours,'which have excited, till now, the admiration of the philosopher, and the wonder of oilier nations. We ex ult, we repeat it once more, in the present investigation, it is the first step towards a radical reform, and the axe is al ready laid at the root of abuses. Enough has come out to spew that they exist to an alarming degree ; and hie pub lic begin to lay that servile and dangerous complaisance aside, which arose out of the excesses of the French Revo lution. The applause bestowed on Mr. WARDLE for his manly and patriotic conduct, will create emulation ; and all the recesses of venality will be explored with a prying inquisitorial eye. Jobbers, contractors, minions, an,i mis tresses may have cause to complain of the projected refisrm, and cry down the supporters of it as jacobins and conspi rators ; but the slang of these associates is now intelligible to the public; and Jacobin, in their cant phraseology, sig nifies a well- intentioned, zealous, and disinterested ft:cud of the constitution. Anether reason why we feel an incli nation to rejoice at the proceedings of the Committee, is, that they will enable the present and future administra tions to act with more freedom and energy. There existed a fatal clog on the exertions of the Ministry of the eity, and to that cause we may, perhaps, attribute the disasters of the Spaniards; and our own late reverses ;led disgrace. What they projected, and wished to be carried into execu tion, was marred by the jealousy and disaprointed ambi tion of a single individual. Fired with an inordinate desire to conduct a numerous army into Spain, and suffering the mortification of having his wishes frustrated by the decided opposition of the public, and the independent part of the Ministry, (their names are su ffi ciently known), he felt, we are afraid, too strong an inclination to prefer his resent ments to the interests as well as honour of the Common wealth. The courier of Friday last contains a report that the office of Commander iu Chief will be immediately put in commission, in the same manner as the Office of Lord High Admiral has been since the reign of Queen ANNE. We sincerely and ardently wish this report were trek ; for then, and only then, can we look to the same brilliant services from the army, as from the navy. Whatever the talents of the present Commander in Chief arc, however great his activity and assiduity may be, nobody will deny but his talents and exertions are inadequate to the complete per formance of the great duties which the vast increase of our military force imposes on film. Ile may possess all the genius and discernment of a TiLtaLtionorGa, with the ad ministrative. talents of a CARNOT, and he still singly incapable of the discharge of all the duties annexed to this important: office. It. is too much, and too complicated, for the exertions.of one person, and requires a mass and variety of talents and knowledge, to give it th4t vigour, life, and perfection, which our Navy go incomparably pos sesses. The British Navy !—There is not an Englishman, Whose heart does not exult at the very name I It conveys the image of victory and safety, unblemished by a single reverse. But our army, though compostd of the same mettle, and equally - brave, from Some mismanagement, or latent defect in its erganisation, or incapacity of the Com mander in Chief, has frequently disapp 'ted the lw- of the country. I ppoitited the hopes of Pi v