The National Register. — London, England, 1820-07-24 00:00:00

••_ e'lleier.i:DlNG.S AGAINST THE QUEEN. How every principle el English jurisprudence seems to be inverted in t'►e progress of the proceed ings ►gai►ist the Queen ! The meanest ofTender against the laws is confronted with his accusers before commitment, he hears the time and place def►nitive:r stated at which he is charged with the ofllnice ; he hears the depositions of the witnesses against him, and he is at liberty to qneetion them. Being thus fully acquainted with the evidence in tended to be brought against him, he has every op portunity (if falsely accused) of proving his innocence. The time when the alleged crime was committed being distinctly painted out in the indictment against him, he is prepared, probably, to prove a complete and satisfactory alibi —or knowing the whole charge to be a base and wicked conspiracy, founded on the depositions of perjur«l and worthless wretches, he is al de to sheen that their testimony is wholly unworthy of belief. But in the case of the Queen there is nothing resembling all this. She knows neither the time nor place where she is charged with guilt. It may be any time in the space of six years: it may be in Italy, or Greece, or Constantinople. Then, the witnesses against her, who and what are they ? That she is expressly for bidden to know. Report certainly does not speak very favourably of them, and she may be able to shew that they are suborned and perjured villains; but how is she to do this while kept in ignorance even of their names, until the very moment they arc called into Court? Coming from a country where daggers are to be hired, such evidence should be looked upon with some suspicion ; at any rate the person who is to be tried upon such testimony ought to have (and according to the principles of English law she has) a right sift into their characters; and if they arc the viprous and loathsome spawn of Sir John Leach's Milan Commission—if the 123,0001. has been expended in teaching these reptiles their lesson, and in making it worth their while to come to England, nothing but a full conviction that their testimony would not bear examination, and that their characters would not stand the test of inquiry, could have urged Ministers to the desperate act of refusing Lord Erskine's constitutional and just demand—that the Queen be allowed to know who arc the witnesses against her. The base conduct of the ministerial press was never more fully developed than on this occasion. The Italian gang call forth their loudest expressions of commiseration—any attempt to question the purity of their motives or the correctness of their testimony strikes them with horror.—" Why," exclaims the Courier, " does the law sleep? Why does not the Attorney General prosecute the calumnia tors of these injured men? " But towards the Queen they scruple not to use the must atrocious language. The Morning Post calls her "an .11ien " and unworthy 01#ect, a person nut of sufficient importance to create division," and recommends " as " she alone stands in the way of arrangement, that " shu should yield to the universal good, whether " as a Criminal or a Martyr." It is pretty well known who and what arc the supporters of this Paper, and the source whence this most unparal lelled and atrocious paragraph HMV have proceeded. Now suppose any man had written such a paragraph of the King—would he, we ask, have been out of prison twenty-tinir hour: , after its publication? If these words Lire any meaning, they compass and imagine the Qacen's death. We theref4e, in our turn, say " Why dues the law s!cev?" Why does hut the Attorney General discharge his duty ? "Jt is equally Treason" says Blackstone, by"the statute 25th ki,dward 111. to compass or imagine the Queen's death, a.‘ tkat ty . the King himselj." Now if any mau had asserted that the King was "an unworthy object"—that he was " not essential to our nationa: iiAcrest—that he stood in the I.vay of our happMess, and iliac he ought to to the THE NATIONAL REGISTER. nniversal good, as ,a Maityr, or a Criminal'—if any man had used such expressions towards the King, would he not justly subject himself to a trea sonable charge ? Undoubtedly be would. If them the author of this atrocious paragraph be not prosecuted by the Attorney General, the people of England will be at no loss to conjecture the reason. Such conduct is in perfect consistency with that before adopted by ministers, whenever a victim was to be hunted down. The base conductors of their press have always been ready to discharge their poisoned arrows at every individual whom they had marked for destruction. Every day before her trial, will produce some infamous lie, some slanderous whisper, some malicious rumour, or some treason able attack. Her majesty's enemies hope that after long; agitation, the public mind will become weary ; • that the public spirit will ev.iporate, and that the public will be weaned from her cause by de;rzes. They deceive themselvess. Every fresh outrage upon justice will but the more endear her to them. The English people are more united in their determination to support her claim to a fair and legal trial, than on any public question that ever occupied their attention. Surely never were heard of persecutions so implacable as those which have pursued her. She has been pursued by a spirit of persecution of the lowest and most malig nant description. It was not enough to shut her out of courts, of which she was " the grace and orna ment." to exclude her from all circles of splendour, to drive her from the cheers of an affectionate people, and the embraces of an affectionate child : bereft of father, mother, brother, child, and country, she was still thought to enjoy too much happiness. She was thought to be too happy in foe !enjoyment of that gratitude and those feelings of affection which it was well known she would elicit from those by o hom she might ba surrounded. Nothing, however, has been able, we trust nothing will be able to subdue her gallant and noble spirit. Her couduct since her return to England ; the circum stances under which she came ; the spirit her coming has excited; the feelings she has awakened, all these will secure her safety. The zeal, the anxiety, which the people feel in her 11.1ajesty's cause are wholly without a parallel, and the more her enemies strive against her, the more heavily and severely will their machinations recoil on their own heads. PARIS PAPERS. Psats, Juts• 15.—The King heard mass yester day in his apartments, after which he transacted business with the President of the Council of Mi nisters, and his Excellency the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Almost all the towns and cities of France have begun to offer up prayers to Heaven for the safe deliverance of the Duchess of Berry of a Prince, to perpetuate the stock of the Lithos. Several journals have snnounecd that M. Barth°. lomeo Bergami set out from Paris, where he had been seen in some public places, on his way to Lon don. The passports of Bergaini was filled up for Rome, at the office of the Prefect of Police, the day before yesterday, as also the passports of all the Italians in the suite of the Queen of England. About three years ago the Prince de Castelcicala, AtubasFailor from Naples to the Court of France, on his return from London to l'aris, wss robbed be tween Beaumont and St, Denis. The rubbers car ried off from behind his carriage a trunk containing a great quantity of silver plate, jewellery, and other valuable property. They escaped detection until within these few (Lys, when they were arrested by the Police of Palls, They are three in number, vix. Al. Cossard, and two brothers named Langlois, resident at St. Brice, near St. Denis. The greater part of the property h►s been lin►nd with them, they having been atiaid to dispose of it. M. Frediani, an Italian traveller, writes from Egypt that he ha.: sw:ceeded, after days of ex cessive fatigue across the deserts of INLiu and Mar 'perique, in reaching the famous temple of Jupiter Ammon, called the Great Temple, which no person appears to have visited since the time of Alexander the Great. M. Frediani had with him an escort of 2,000 men, and had to tight his way to this Lele hrated monument. GUARDIAN SOCIETY. Wednesday a Meeting of this excellent Society for the preservation of the public morals, took place at the Eeyptiati Bell hi the Mansion House, for the purpose ,i 1 receiving the Report of the COuntrittee, and contri bating to the fonds of the Institution. A great ouitibcr of ladies were present. The Lord Mayor took the Chair at half-past nue. His Lordship having briefly informed the Meeting of the occasion upon which they were assembled, and urged the necessity of making liberal contributions, the Secretery read the Revue It stated, that two years had elapsed since the last General Meeting of the Society, and that during the time the Committee had not been unfaithful of the trust reposed in them. Since the last Report, 141 heti des haul beru admitted 11,10 the Guar dim Asylum on their own application, 42 been then in the 110 else, nuking together 183, of whom 35 had teem pith ided for in service, seven sent to their respec tive parishes, two died, 6I dismissed, 46 are now in the House, making the total number received into the Asylum since its tormation 57e, of whom 153 hail been placed in ste vice; 183 restored to their friends, .3'.1 5:111 their parishes, igB discharged or wiihdrawn, seven have died, and 46 are now in the pious.. Many of those who have gone from the Institutiou lust Leconte valuable members of society. Mr. Warm. WILSON said, that at the first appear ance there was something o. a tepolsne nature in the u.idertakiug, but the greater uys the merit in aiding coorse which was divested of the ordinary attractions.— By co n to this chatity the Meeting connected iii selves mere s• roogly with their own families and with society il, general. Those who were acquainted with the history Of kingdoms were aware of the politi cal miseries which grew out of tl.e state of - society, to which their attention was called. The dlstinion of States was to be traced to the progress of this vice, which spread its baleful poison through the whole mass of a people, .and rendered them an easy prey to AU invading enemy. (Applause.) To check the growth of such an enemy to the human race, was the proper business of those who thus associated. To remove lions the public eye these examples of horror and shame, became the members of the Guardian Society. %Vim could with hold his compassiou from the lititelreds of poor children who from the age of 13 to that of 16 were to be seen engaged in prostitution, corrupted by flattery and the most malignant arts. Mr. Sheriff ItornwELL moved the Thanks of the Meeting to the Lord Mayor. He had, he said, fre quently witnessed the efforts of the worthy Chief Ma gstrate upon oec.isions of charity, and could bear testi mony to the excellence of his views towards the unfor tunate. _ _ . lie LORD MAYOR called upon the Meeting in the most impressive manner to secoixl the labour: of the Con iiii ittee by their lib,r,thty. 11r concluded by return ing his most hearty thanks. The meeting then departed.. The Report of the Committee appointed in the House of Lot& to search fur Precedeuts oa the best mode of compelling the Peers to attend the second reading of the Pains and Penalties Bill, will proba bly be made on Monday, and proceedings adopted thereon. A general opinion is entertained by his Majesty's Ministers that the attendance of Lords during the important proceeding against her Ma jesty will not be numerous, unless some compulsory measure is resorted to. The advanced period of thu ycar at which this unfortunate business is to come on, is inconvenient to the Members of both Houses, who naturally look for relaxation, and retirement to their estates, after a very arduous oral bustling Session of Parliament. They would no doubt feel much satisfaction, could they avoid the painful duty, imposed on them, a duty rendered unpleasant by the knowledge, that the public weal is not involved in the enquiry. The point in difference between the Queen and Ministers, as to the right of omitting her Majesty's • name in the Liturgy, appears to allow of judicial decision, by any friend of her Majesty proceeding against any clergyman fin such omission, in breach of the Ist of Eliz. cap. 2, sec. 2.—" That all and singular Ministers in any cathedral or parish church, or other places, shall, from and after, Sce. be bounden to say and use the Mat tins, Evening.song, celebra tion of' the Lord's Supper, administration of each of the Sacrameuts,and all the common and open prayers, in such order and form as is mentioned in the said book, so authorized by Parliament in the said sth and 6th years of the reign of King Edward the Sixth." Any clergyman transgressing this statute is liable to the forfeiture of one year's profit of his spirit ual benefices, and six month's imprisonment, without bail. The defendant would of course rely on the proclamation, the legal validity of which would depend on the construction ot' the 14th Car. 11. cap. 4, sec. 25—" Provided always, and be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That in all those • Prayers, Litanies, and Collects, which do any way relate to the King, Queen, or Royal Progeny, the names be altered and changed from time to time, and fitted to the present occasion, according to the direction of lawful authority." A Brazil packet has brought advices from Rio Janeiro ttp to the ith of May. Lord lk resfhrd arrived on the 3d, in the , Varian frigate, having male the voyage front Lisbon in the short period of . 129 days. No intelligence fro nt Buenos-Ayres had tt.en n.eeived at Rio Janeiro.