The National Register. — London, England, 1815-09-10 00:00:00

SEPT 10. • NATIONAL R -1 581 times lit le attention is paid to discontent, and it is sy to restrain the seditious; but in our situation ev e ry kind of i giosition, every complaint will be a quarrel between th e p eo pl ean m government. The evil will be still more envenomed by the gene isery, our 6 mince= will be ruined : we must reduce the expenseturf., and take away the subsistence from thousands of families before we caw find fnuctionaries united to the state of the public mind • we must place and displace, and at every nomination the opposite, arties will still be prevent. It is always by the choi ce o f it s aux ili ' es t h at antho ii rity suffers to be discovered its most hidden desiglls. After this come- the inseparable dangers of a national representation, and those of the liberty of the press, without which, however, there can be no public liberty. The worst of all the evils will be immorality, that sad sentare which destroys nations, which vitiates the mind and the heart, and which extinguishes public spii It. Lastly, we have to combat on one side the opposition of a numerotsi and formidable party. who will suffer no authority to repose so long as there shall be any fears fur public liberty or fur themselves; and, on the other side, the pretensions of another party whom no concession will sa tisfy, who attach themselves to royalty only to share its power, and who would sap and overturn the throne only because it does not adopt them for its chief support. , I Ai. old not have thought of phasing this afflicting picture before the eyes of your Majesty, if I had not at the same time to propose some measures, and a plan of Government, which may contribute to render our situation supportable. Government cannot exist without a physical or without a moral force. The first cannot subsisj without the second, and both tail us. The manner of forming the army will implicitly decide other qurs tions. It would lead to a general overthrow. were it left to be con jectured, in consequence of this formation, that the Xing had a de sign of forming an army against the public liberty. I have already said that i; seems as it there were two nations in Trance; it must therefore be promptly decided to rout-Mate them, in order to attach both, without which a war may be lighted up which cannot be extin gnislied, and whatever happens, your Majesty must at least appear to reivii with the nation. We ran iits longer have theservices of the ancient army, it mnst even change the denominations tinder which it has hitherto been known, in other to break its habits; but would it not he tinfoil, would it not he - evidently just, in diasolving the corps, to take care as ',lnch as poioible or the interests of individuals? The disband st.l may be managed with prudence, and with a sort of family care. There would be little danger in the return to society of soldiers or officers, who themselves ask the alternative of remaining in the artily; or of quitting it ; a proposition or invitation, might be made to those who on quitting it would stand in need of any annual pen sion to make a declaration to that effect ; and others might be in vited to askonly what would be necessary to complete their means of subsistence. All those who would regret too much quitting the only profession with whirls they are acquainted, might be retained, if their fidelity can be relied %poss. If the Government adopts in all respects wise principles, it will stand in need of but a small army. It should not, however, be too much radneed. It w mid then be more easy to give it a good spirit. Your Majesty foresees many difficulties in diminishing the household troops. Public opinion witnesses with pain the employ ment of the Swiss ; the pay which is given to a foreigner is a means of subsistence taken from a subject of the State. In.general, and for a long time, it will be indispensible to reject all measures agaisrit which there is likely to be any opposition in pnbli,c two esinstitntionat reeimes very different from each other ;ii) the one the King grants the least that he ran do =- then every Wog hr comes an obstacle, because every thing becomes on one side or the other an ()liket of dispute. Several ages were occupied in England in obtain.. lug one after the other its political laws, and this contest very often overthrew the State. When the space given to the liberty of a people is restrained, their first care is to fortify immediately what they have obtained; they snrround it with new works at every new danger, and finish by making a Wore , citadel. It would be better to concede the principle at once. In the second state of Constitutional regime, there is a homoge neous and responsible Ministry ; time Monarch, who is the depo-itai y of all the power and of all the national mejesty. is placed as it were by means of such a Ministry in an enetosure impeitetrahle to the shock of all political agitations; the law is equally proposed by the Chambers and the Government, and the three branches of the leei.- lature defend with the same came the rights of the people anti the Hovel prerogatives. The Constitutional law is formed in the same manner as the ordi nary laws, and the basis of the edifice is a constitution in which Is • scrupulously included all the guarantees of liberty. Under these different points ot view, I cannot dissemble, that the new Chamber which is about to be formed may cause disquietude. There remains no means of safety if it is inn constitutional, and if the opinions of the ultra-Royalists should prevail. Under the relations of internal mitt() and pacification, your Ma jesty will have great measures to take ; all union will be otterly impossible with plans of re-actiou. There has been ordoonances of exile ; your Majesty owed those acts of repression to your own dig nity, and every one felt that other circumstances rendered that pu nishment necessary. It is certain, however, that the Constitutional party were afraid they saw in those first acts of at: t o t►ty the colour of the whole reign, as they might have fancied they saw its princi ples in the ordosmances of the Electoral Colleges. The different ideas which I have had the honour of submitting to yonr Majesty dater little from those which might have been more easily adopted in 1814, and the whole world eau joisice of the change which such a system would have wrought in our situation. and in that of all Europe, whet evils WOlllll bane been prey/ wed. The saute Career is now to run, and the same couLeds sic nefore Heaven seems to have reserv e d to your 110. sty the gicottsi of ad glories, that of putting an end to all our revolutions. In 11114, the men who now agitate us wished also to strike the past, dreaming neither of the present nor the future. Let us dare to say that the past has never been of any consideratiott amongst great princes or great statesmen. except to ;,thiril lessons. The present and the future ate the only cares of government. It is not what has been done, but what three is to do. It is not IA hat 1e46 been said, but; what is to be said with which we ought to be prin cipally occupied. He-actions ate no longer in our manners, and if' one drop ot blood runs in a political revolution, there is no cer tainty but that torrents will Mow. If, after the measures which I propose, there should be still some partial resistances, they may be restrained by vieilatsee and firm ness. The latter quality was always that of great King.. Another quality is, however, superior to that—prudence. Sovereigns. what ever maybe their power, are subject to the common law of neces sity. There are times when they must traminillize insti ad of excite; when they most conciliate all, anti promote hope and confidence.. Two doctrines rike opposed—let us begin by deciding which of the two should be followed; and whether we should remount against the torrent, or descend easily. If it is wished to remount, there is nothing to expect from firmness—despotism itself would be pow. r less. The bands of the South, and of the revived La Vendee, cannot he suffered to subsea; they most be no longer considered but as in dividuals and fellow-citixeris. The Vendran corps have principles irreconcilable with the tranquillity of France. an inveterate doe trine of absolute power, of the spoliation of national property, and of the re.establishnient of the ancient regime. The public fume, therefore, cannot be suffered to be in their hands. It would t.c an armed faction in the State, which would prevent the grant ing of favours and places to those who would be deserving of therm The Government might summon to its aid some of the Chiefs, and employ them with success in motoring the countries of the West to their accustomed order. The organization of the moral force demands that your Majesty should adopt a firm and unalterable resolution. The principle must he acted npon, that public opinion be received as a new de "lent in the art of governing, and that it most enter into all its combinations. France can no longer be governed but by a consti tutional regime; the question is no Linger the extent of power— the great question is to preserve tend to regulate power. After this (trot resolution, a secood nut be come to. There are Firmness is Nothing, except in moderation. The immortal Catherine found that the word jusi c e was t oo s t rong for man, and that she only could support equity. Once let the limit be establnihed, and e'er) one will feel that indulgence• for the past cannot extend to the present. The same firmness under its double relation of force and moderation will apply itself to all the acts of Government, to all the [ruts of public order ; it will nqt suffer any deviation, any negligence, all the parts . will be restrained, all the grievances will be redressed, till the ind►vi duals will he punished with severity, oho place themselves iii a state of hostility towards the Governmen►. These first successes will not finish here, ere may apprised, Clearer and nearer to the nioilel of England. With regard to the extent dl our civil and political liberty, we have the advantage of 14iproximattng to ►t in our social distinctions, some of which attach theinveives to the forty and the strength of a Government, and others to the etterior eclat of t nation. There is nothing saved from the French Hevolation but the. rights and principles which time has consecrated, in put us in harmony with all Europe. We must have the mcaus of taking part its ail the M