The National Register. — London, England, 1819-08-09 00:00:00

br 01 NO. 1.106.—V0z.. XII.] Volittcal Vat vosspect. THE wretched and discontented state of so large a portion of the Community, and the organized assemblages of their almost countleas numbers, throughout the mast populous districts of the Em pire, rani," thr the purposes of complaint, and partly from the hope of nutling such an impression upon the minds of their rulers us may procure fur them some alleviation of the pressure under which they struggle, 'constitute a subject too important not to force itself slain the reflections of every lover of Peace, of Order,.asnlaif his Country. The Revolu tions of States,. like the convulsions of Nature, are things awful•to be contemplated, even at a distance ; because !levee and desolation arc their usual attend ants, and because they are apt to involve the inn°. cent.and the guilty in one common ruin. Yet, at .he same time, us nothing can be more weak or foolish in common, life than to shudder at every blast as the forerunner of a hurricane, and to bear in every noire the presage of an earthquake, so in politics nothing can be snore unworthy a free and manly spirit, uotking more fatal to public Liberty, than a morbid sensiliility of . public danger it is also the part only of the weakest and worst•Gevern meats to tremble at every symptom of popular com motion, as it is the part of the most wicked to use yuck opportunities of grasping, at despotic power, and subverting the established institutions. Such a line of conduct can only admit of two interpre tations ; it most either be an acknowledgement of imbecility, or a declaration of guilt. The wise and honest statesman will remember that the whole range of history can scarcely furnish a single in stance of any Revolution, or even important com motion in a State, whiclt has not been brought on by some gross corruption and abuse of power. The great bulk of any civilized and enlightened Society will always be lovers of social order. Man is natu rally a social being, and therefure naturally disposed to acquiesce in sacrificing a considerable portion both of his labour, his property, and his frdom. of action as the price of public protection and ge neral good. tie feels also a pride and a glory in' supporting such institutions as he finds calculated to advance the solid interests and character of the Country to which he belongs, and will even shut his eyes to defects which are not too glaring. It :s only when he sees or believes that these institu are either incompetent to their object, or per • erred and abased in their application that lie be comes restless and uneasy. If men suffer, they will complain ; if they are convinced that their rights are invaded, or that evil policy has caused their misery, it is neither natural nor desirable that they should either brood in silence ever their situation, or tamely sink down in hopelessness and despair. That there is nothing formidable in the state of feeling which pervades our manufacturing districts, we by no means wish to inculcate. But the most formi dable feature is that there is much of truth in their complaints, with, we fear, b , At very little incline 'tient to probe the evils on the part of those whose ditty it is, and to apply their proper remedy. Amidst .all the wild and foolish nonsense about Annual l'arliatnents and Universal Soffiale, their 'declara tions and resolves are still found to contain many inclaucholy truisms which no sophistry .7411 evade. The unparalleled weight of ourTimation is a plain ' r /., 1 • /I '''. ' , /I ' / / // • , A ationail ~ t . 1„ tott , r+ 4. Our Bins, eon ltitution anb ilabA. . f'"" MONDAY, AUGUST 9, 1819. sensible fact that no wan can deny; and very few are prepared to assert that all that could be, has been, done to relieve it. No man can look back to the means by which, and the ol6octs for which, the accumuletion of debt that is now pleaded as the apology for our barthens has taken place, without sighing over the fortunes of his country—and ex clai►ning with the Poet " Itter ripprnt rin nobis " Et didi p-tuisoc, rt emu imitvene refelli. No man, again, cast.say that these evils would not, most pnibably, have been prevented if the House of Commons had more fairly and fully represented the sentiments of the ulsole People of England.—At all events no stein can sleny that the theory and practicoof the Constitution are in this poissegmssly at variance with each other. Again, in asking as these people do far a more fair and equal Represen tation than exists at present. even Mr. Calming cannot deny that they are asking but for that which his own great master once proposed to give them. lassuntd then of directing all their thoughts and con trivances to find out smnesnetbed of extinguishing this spirit of truth as welkae error, would it not be better,• would it not be more worthy both of honest meat and wise Politicians, if all reasonable grounds of murmur were first carefully considered, and an honest endeavour made to remove t4.em. Their follies and absurdities would then find no advocates, and even Hunt himself would mourn or declaim in solitude. His Majesty's Ministers might have been long ago convinced how ineffectual are their own miserable positions. To tell them of "an igno rant impatience of Taxation," will not do ; to disre gard their cries and their sufferings will not do ; to invite them to quit the land of their fathers will not do ; to suspend at once their liberties and to scatter them in distant dungeons will not do ; chains and fetters are alike ineffectual, and we would•earnestly implore that they may not again be tried. The organization is, we really believe, firm, solid, and extensive, but it has hitherto observed a quiet and decorum which defies the interference of those who might perhaps wish fir more tangible materials to work upon. They are bodies of strong and resolute Petitioners, but they are not Rioters, and Petition is the right, the inalienable right of Englishmen. We would beg again and again that" no means may be used, that no rash and ill-advised councils may be adopted, which may render these, men desperate, mid make them as 11°r:dims void to the tyrannical I)ecernvirate of Rome, " Esteem their rulFerings as greater than their feen."-- The Country will not sutler itself to be again pieced at the arbitrary dispose.' of the :servants of the Crown, they will natiwain suffer their.l.iberties to be suspended wieliout remembering that a crisis may occur in which submission becomes treasonable and resistance ade ty. The Constitution of England was not made for fair weather only ; it has strength and energy enough •to struggle with a storm, and our .Laws .are both better and safer pilots than any Mia:sterial-Oligarchy, be they who they may. The spirit of our people is awakening indeed to abuses and corruptions, and the march of this spirit is not to be resisted. Those übuses and corruptions must be v.ione awar, and the vessel will then puss on with her wunted course. The }smile of linglaitd hive and revere their Laws and know hew to respect those authorities shtick are their appointed guar diens, but their fie a is full, set against oppression and wrong, mid it highly coa:Lres (.er know wed Lee this truth. .-✓~. '/ VlitcE 94d. ' Extraordinary Wine flifsber.—A vine dresser, from the neighlieurhood of Nl•irly le Itoi, laid a wager • some flays hack with another vine dresser, that he would arink half a hogshead of n inc in 2. hours. After the lapse of hours there remained only three gents to be drank, and he easily won the wager. which was MO franca. As considerable arxiety was created in this city by a report, that a vessel, conveyiug.out a number of tmopatlestined tiff South Ameriea,liad been sei. at Dunleery, and as different causes were assigned fir the circumstance, we consider ourselves fortunate in being enabled to state the fact precisely us it oc curred —The vessel being a foreign one, was not entitled to oan-y above one half the number of men which a British bottom of the same dimensions would be allowed.to take out. The captain, however, im prudently regulated his arrangements rather by the 4MOUIIt °lbis tonnage than the provisions of the law, and an information having been lodged against him, the revenue cutter t t Donleary followed and arrested the vessel for a breach of the Navigation Act, in re-. ceiving on board a greater a amber of persons than that act permits. This was the sole grour.d of the seizure; the Foreign Enlistment Bill had nothing whatsoever to do with it, nor will the occurrence alter at all the course of the individual/1 concerned: this our readers may rely upon.—Dublin Paper. The following is extracted , from a Paris paper:— " A private letter from London gives reason to believe, that an old process, which derives its im portance more particularly from the elevated rank of the parties interested, and which is of a nature to call for the intervention of the English Parlia ment, is soon to be revived. The new proceedings are said to be the result of an investigation lately instituted in Italy, by means of which information and evidence regarded us decisive have been ob tained." An official despatch 'was received on Tueidey, dated Angostura, May 2fe, from ltoscio, successor to Palacio, in the Ministry -for Foreign Affairs to the republic of Venezuela; contirmin , * the account of e re defeat of a•reinfercetnent of 3, 5 0 men, sent from. Santa Fe to join Morino. This victory %vas achieve 4 by the division Of the Patriots under the cinuml^.4 of Gen. Santander. The Exeter:Paper of Thursday says, this C . .y was yesterday visited with one of the most trenter. does storms of thunder, lightning, rain, and hr.ii, within-the recollection attic oldest inhabitant. '1•::e rain poured down in torrents, and hailstones of int tuense•size fell Avid' tech force as to break the glass of many windows. The frequent peals of thunder were so loud as to render the voice of the Counsel, pleading at the Assizes, inaudible. A ball of lire fell .on one of the houses in High-S'rect, Avliat shivered the chimney top in pieces. flu' marlA t people were forced to fly into the diarent shcpt for shelter, where they had the mortification of see ing their commodities washed off the puniers the street, without being able, sa.great was the vin. knee of the tempest, to save them. On Wednesday a young man etitrred the Court of Chlo - between twelve arid tine o'clock, and taking wp a Gentleman's hat departed. Information was :oily given and Mr. Baker, the otli,:er, pursued awl to&i. him into custody. Having conveyed him in j 110l1Se iu the neighbourhood for the purpose of searching him, ha was found to be wholly without linen, or waistcoat, and in tact with nothing to cover the upper part of his person, save his great cost, which was butionesi tip so as to conceal the distres. under which he laboured. 11c drelate.l that he had not been aide to obtain a 114.41, With the exception of two or three nights, for the whole of the last and present month, and that fur the last two or three (lays lie harl.not broken his fast. His story excited the compassion of all present, and a few shillings were ttttt ediately raised, among the coirtributurs to which was the gentleman whose hat had Leer stolen, who gas• him 2s. 6tl. ;He was recoaaiized to irate been formed/ an attorney's clerk. •He was set at liberty strongly ex pressing his gratitude. The Proprietor/tor the Hurk-frrward coach which 1113.1 bet%een lialira* and Wakefield, hare met with a moat ea traordtuary, but hinuoitahle siiii•lurtune. Symptoms of aurfuit IiEVIII4 Iflade their appearance 14.04 of the hares hrh.ut iu t to tlita coach, 4 Writ - ailing Fa,ller ss °soot for; hr 111mo:taut , I) proet riled lit rub thrtii all pr. - rOsvly isi haatttmg preparation of nut hich t roved local to evety one ur them. N e t em . mold horses have tl.ns realm victim• in ton Al f3re.• .14%41 to It.. ..erpe:rto Loldu.as dud viuraitti: i. 4 84 4.l.ijer• • , ,