The National Register. — London, England, 1809-04-30 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL RE S 11 1 4 it - 4 V Cur Ring, erontitution, any Laka No. 70. POLITICAL DISQUISITION. NUMBER SIXIY-EIGIIT. PUBLIC. DELINQUE,NTS. The recent inquiry in Parliament has been attended with many happy consequenCes, and has been followed up by effects, which will produce a permanent amelioration in every branch of the Public Administration. The coun- try, as it were, had been long patient under the most in veterate abuses, and the disease, from long neglect, had, in • . fact, become a habit of tly3 system. Not only the Minis • term of the day were totally without any sense of their own personal obligAion of supervision and controul, but even the people, iu despair of being able to remedy what they • could not but feel and understand, applied themselves, to bear, what they could not cure,—they extended thai - ,in , dulgence and favourahle interpretation, to even acknow ledged corruption which is the worst. system of a declining • popular spirit. It would be, perhaps, too much to say, that • corruption had become the law oftbe land, but it had cer • tainty become a matter of very lenient consideration bath . amongst public men and the people themselves. There is an end of the possible virtue of an'individual, when he loses all respect to himself,—when he becomes de - , praKed uppn principle,---when he recognizes no difference botueen virtue and vice—and. b long inbit and indulgence , indulgence to his Ova f l aangs,.persm.des himself that they are either failiugs.a4 4,lpr Inerely,necessary infirinities s • It is the same with the people, as withnn indil,idual. There is an end of all liberty 4 ' of all `pablic vitque, and patriotic spirit, when a people perslkadt, themselves that it is a matter of ,perfect practical. indifference, whether a Government be purely ,or inqurely administered,—when they adopt, as a maxim, the necessity of torruptiouß, and the veniality of mal-admitsiiiration. They may rest assured that. the •Public OiliCers will' uot *be over virtuous where the people are over indulgent, and that those will consider their Own faults very lightly, who see them so lightly considered by others. - - trnder this state t;ci rc u mst ances, it is our sincere opi niou, t • e that-the peopiel must, at least, participate. in what appears to be the mnster-vice of the times, and thathaving so lung slept—having spiong passively suffered the grossest perversioa of the letter and spirit of the Consiitution—it is neither re3souable nor just, that they should, at length, awake to the full vigour of pi•actice. Public virtue, and ,public purity, however necessary to the well being of the state, have, iu fact, been so long dispensed with in practise, that though it is certainly time for us to return to our senses, it will be rather hard to pass at once into the con trary extreme. Somelhing should be allowed to the cha racter of the age, and something to precedent, which, by R long and unbroken course, had almost become the esta blished practice. Let it riot, howeser, be supposed. that we are here plend big the cause of corrigitiou. We Lre oe:ttes wily fur 1 - 0. IL—No. LXX. SUNDAY S APRIL 180.' , PRICE 91. that merciful couhitherationidlii; which we conceive., due to the unhappy generality 4 .the pridtice: • if Lord CAni.r. RE eel, should mike his appeaemice 111 'a certain eminent situation, .in Charir.g., Cross;we question if any of his brother iiiiilisters could justlyithror.; the iiretiatone. The ejSC--of Lord CAlrri.EalP..tan,ho'wever, his been treat ed with a .mildiie§ , which,owe had not anticipated,—and which we certainly w ill not defend.. ' The House •of Coin mons may be the Itepre:ientative. of the People, but it cer tainly is not U Representative' of Public Opinion.—This constitutional contradiction is explained by the result of the recent Enquiry—the body.of ih e people differed most essen tially from the majority of ti et House. We fear that there is the same interval .of ditrerettee between the pen7le and their representatives,. , in the - resnit of the ,debate on Lord CAST I.EItEAGet. The Hour: of Commons, Tve' feet"', hi v e been more indulgent to his fordsaio that the people. If this•(iad been the first .ofreiice. of ii+l4r/I ) (IViTLER L: %WY, we should be inclined to - Sf.4'tlle less of the leniency '4l IliCh he has experienceL But 'iord - CAsti.Eariton is at pre sent. what Lod ME.A.y,ii.i.s. ; fcomerly •wasneke . is . at the head of the system; he has :been in the ecinstant, 'ire htliti 111- most.said in the daily. tinietiee 'of the:io ilt ect. brand:63 of the . Constitution. The Ails!! t,t,io s kb was 'eficcted by. this ,Isintl of corrupt _dealing, and t iLis.notor;ous, that Lord CAS TLEREAGH wills the (hilt.!)`' irifofnm . ii..aleA.ttp4 Itt bn the oceasion. There' tras sOmeititiik,;•, a fli t oTM , ier,, : ,4 o,,c i y t t deferice . of Idrd CitiTf.E it il soJi ? . whirotiti .ace•Wdiog• •to: Lord MILTOSIS vaosti coftsiderabl; aggravated his crime. Ills equivocation, for midi it'w l d . ../ . ii i it :paS.:bikep'''' ► (I'4y reported by t. 4 NeWspap'F tS ) ,•Cao9("pli,f l ll 4l.lgine4 dm Noptiilr indig nat4)a.—" lie: was iiillatnlN . trebly, to procure I.oi-d CLA N - CLARTY a seat in the:ll-dirste,4 4 otidse he deeditt/' 4 incnin . bent upon bun to h.rint , .ki . cr:4: ?el* ffibY...l4i4 -1 49, pmblic , . 9%,...0.., . • „ • service." , l ig i ON'it Vii 4 at 11 Ae;yo WO iplciufaiirttin.AoAissigns this patriotic mitivo (Din fa 'breath otieketricoiistite tiona 1 principle. If he h&1 , 4151 , I I th':#;.:.l, 4 ( I ,c2 . .lF e ittri‘ *i i iliis Most intimate friinit,—that l 'imiinimoanpgwkii),oblig‘lini, and in this anxiety. hiuLitigithintrk-gle line of his public duty—lf:ltehgtd made thifiN Wilda:VAC/11 INV t 1 Id have praised his candohe, who el ff lrthi(?l, haye t defended hitprc eise act. But Piece is asfy , ••.. , Ailing . that is ,false, apAnio . ,oticotuder ;loch a .defesise 4 can eilher acquit or excuse Lord Citttilinlltll4; ! Incthe'Conrse of the late VEA L tl;4re ) tmo- I ' atiOpter • - • -.. rf :c *l4 has occurred, whict, • a.!i accmtap i anied by,ceztain eapastanee4 induces at.least a:41211 ;16m that there has been another discovery., It any be'tthnetesl7.r2ifo ic.!;l, that ye aitude to the!esignation of Air! X-ANbit.tri, only beyond expectation, but beyond all probability or as signable motive. The Comtnis!;ipn. arpeinteit':'VlParlia ment for the investigation of the 6feurnitaiice4, attLtling Appointnaeo in the FAtist Intlin Service is still sitting, and a ruinour is generally prettlettt, that:they have of late made some discoveries of a . itiat itn;:,PflAtt•naturejlin t de-.eloped. The.resignatioti of NssslY ILO been ge !leially imputed to the ;e riunotired dineavories, 'ma as Ulie assertion irs sat) Imblielj: mate, and has never ytt."3e;...a