The National Register. — London, England, 1820-04-30 00:00:00

Pike Bank Stock 3 per Cent. Red. GBl per teut. Cunt. G9l 3} per Cent. 4 per Cent. En a 5 per Cet.t. rid% y ICSJ Long Ann. THE NATIONAL REGISTER. OnbOn. SUNDAY. APRIL 50. We some time since alluded with pleasure to the assurance given by Sir F. Burdett of his support to the new VOlig Candidate for Middlesex, because we hoped it was a proof of a wish for a re• union between the party known as WHIGS and the Ultra- Reformers. This hope is strengthened by daily occurrences, and we have confident reliance on our seeing the two parties unite for the one great end of REFORM. There are points, undoubtedly, in the condust of Mr. Cobbett respecting Thomas Paine, and an external countenance, (though, probably, merely intended with reference to politics) given to the deli:nee adopted by Mr. Carlile, too pain ful to our feelings to dwell upon. But, as political writers and speakers, we have merely to do with their arguments; and these arguments, if pressed, as they are, with resolution and ability, we would either refute, sr reduce to the standard of reason and propriety, rather than attempt to run them down by abuse, or silence them by force : and we are more apprehensive lest from prejudice to per sons and inferences, that which is reasonable in their argument, should be rejected altogether, than that the objectionable parts of those writings, or speeches, or particular points of their conduct should have many admirers. Of Mr. Cobbett we have nothing further to say, than that whatever we may think of him, it is nei ther safe, nor can be just or prudent, to neglect those topics of public grievance alleged by him, or to spurn at those convictions on those topics, which, to a con siderable extent (and modified more or less according to the conditions, acquirements, and understanding of those who think generally that some efficient improvements in the representation of the people are necessary and proper), pervade a very large, and, in point of number and talent, a very formidable part of the British community; and if it be objected that the multitude cannot reason, yet it cannot be denied that they may feel the evil effects of any thing se riously unsound in the provisions for the happiness and freedom of all. With regard to Mr. Hunt, we should withhold the tribute due to him, and fairly to be inferred from the acknowledgment as to his behaviour upon his trial at York, if we did not acknowledge, that the tem perate, manly, and respectful behaviour which he evinced during the continuance of it, is a proof that reformers who are violent, if treated with the urbanity and propriety due to them as assertors of a public question ;:tirly open to discussion, may, in return, treat, with respect and gratitude, institutions and authorities, attended with moderation and jus tice. We leave Mr. Hunt and Mr.Cobhett now to repose, and to Lord Castlereagh, and to that which is :done important, the opinion of mankind: but we must re mark,with reference to reformers in general,that the calamities in which mankind have been involved, the death ,eta dethronement of kings, and the ruin of thousands have been high and mighty ones, has been owing to a vain and silly notion of lir a ness, as it' firmness consisted in rejecting change or alteration, because smmthing suspicious or ofleusive existed ia t! a: characters of those by whom that change m alteration may have been recommended At all v, utr , when resistanc.: to changes and mo difications, the necessity of which is insisted upon by a great part of a community, has so often proved the cause of that very wreck of revolution, with the f Stocks. tH • o. Imp. 3 per Cent. Lydia Bout); 22x. die. ln.iia Snick Exchequer Bilk fix. dis. Coux. for A. tin Lottery Ticket; .C2l 18s. THE NATIONAL REGISTER. y -• ~ ..ems ... r . T ~r .~ -~.{'• intention of which those who advised concessions to time and circumstance were always uecusal,it is surely worth while, for once, to try what a manly and honourable line of conciliation, and an open admission of the principle of Parliamentary Reform at present, with respect to the United Kingdom, may efket. h was not, we do decidedly give it as our opinion, the concession of the King of France, Louis XVI., in culling together the States Generel, or any other act of concession, that ruined that King. It was the fault of not having adopted con ciliating measures with a gaud grace, and in suffi cient time. It was a want of sincerity manifested in his advisers and adherents; and may we not say, a want of steadiness to his people in himself, which most materially contributed to the fall of his throne and the excesses of the revolution. It was the want of manly and just concession which lost America, and they who treat these great subjects as matters of party struggle in England, and who accuse the genuine Whigs, who espouse the cause of the people in a constitutional manner, of nothing but a wish to get into power, do, we trust, a great injustice to the Whigs in general, and (certainly) assist flit:illy, by withholding from them their support towards the acceleration of a crisis when the struggle is no longer between parties, but between the governots and the governed, the rich and the poor; between power clinging to its seat on one hand, and on the other the convulsive struggles of a population writhing and wrenching themselves from the grip:: of power. It is commonly asked, by witty ministetialists, whether reform will make bread cheap? We may sty, Yes! it will--.because a rectiti.,d system of administration of public affairs would, sooner or later, bring about that natural state of things when labour would find a good market and fair wages ; and whether this would happen as soon as could be wished, or not, anodic:- event most certainly seems near, and that is, a serious crisis in the finances of the country, and agiinst the arrival of such a crisis, we arc anxious to conciliate that vast body of refor mers who have so long foretold and remonstrated against the consequences of the present system of conducting public affairs, and not, under such cir cumstances, to meet them in a state of mind exas perated by insult and injury. And such men, in any part of the kingionLit is unwise,in any Government not to conciliate ; but to reckon thc:n enemies, be cause they wish to be in politics what, in the pulpit, men are told every Sunday they ought to be in mo rals, " radically reformed from all vicious tenden cies." Is it not almost impiety is a common cant, in answer to a cry tbr reform, that " people should reform themselves;" but these good people, with ail tleir pretet:ce of personal goodness, seem to forget that one of the finest parts of that perfect prayer, which our Redeemer has taught us, is, " Lead us not into temptation ;" and to keep men at all secure from vice and error, it is necessary to remove temptation as far from them as possible; and why this necessity should not apply to political ar rangements, where our country, as well as to social arrangements, where individuals are concerned, we are at a loss to guess. It is a stale trick invented by knaves in time of danger to ill-gotten power, or gains, and made cur rent thols, to cry out that Government and Re ligion are in danger, because some who cry out retbrut may prove worthless and dangerous men. Was there never a Tory long? There must be good and baci of all parties. Our frame of Government is not so iveak as to be incapable of bearing medi eines highly corrective ; and because, among the espousers of =limn, there a 1.,: sonic who trust reli gion with contempt, does this affect the justice of the general question of refimn ? By no means. We might with much stronger colour of reason charge all Tories with hypocrisy, because it is notorious that the greatest champions and writers of Atheism and enemies or Christianity !lava I ccn Tories ; and seriously to affirm, that the cause of eltristian truth is essentially in danger because of the a.:saults of impiety, although we would certainly warn and protect all'our fellow-countrymen from the efibcts thereof, as far as possible by those aids, which are 141 most likely to be effectual, of encreased zeal and soun.lremon ,--to affirm, we repeat, that christia nity, aluitist which " the gates of bell," we are assured, " shall never prevail," is in danger, can be nothing cis:: but impudence and impiety. We have received the Paris Papers up to Saturday last. The Censeur Europeen states, that the Cabinet of St. James's has replied to the official notification of the changes recently produced in the Government of Spain, that it secs with pleasure the adoption of a system which England had long considered useful, and even necessary, for the welfare of the Spanish nation. The intelligence from Paris is uninterest ing. The Journal de Paris says, "We can inform certain propagators of disastrous reports, that their efforts are useless; no one believes either their affected good intentions or their bad news. What.. ever they may do or think, France enjoys in every quarter the most perfect tranquillity." We are unacquainted with the circumstances to which this mysterious paragraph alludes, except they are the rumours of discontents and troubles in Braanny. The accounts limn Corfu in the Paris papers arc of the 3th instant. The Lord Commissioner, Sir THOMAS NIAITLAND, has opened the third Session of the legislature of the lonian isles, in which he congratulates them on their perfect tranquillity, which had been momentarily interrupted by the tumult at Santa Manra, the instigators of which had been detected and brought to justice. Allud ing to the cession of Parga, he observed, that it took place by virtue of treaties to which England had ever been faithful. She had indemnified the Per guinots and granted them the rights of Citizenship in the lonian isles. This subject, however, we believe, will again come under the consideration of the Par liament of the United Kingdom. The Madrid Gazelle has published an order front the Minister at War, by command of hi, Majesty ; • calling on all military men, especially those nearest the King's person, to abstain from disturbing the public tranquillity ; and to pay a due regard to the solemn compact entered into between the King and his People, by his spontaneous adoption of the poll- • cal Constitution. This order arose from a tu mult which took place at the political club Lorencino, where one of the Kiag's body guard, inadvertently protested against his sovereign's ad.' he:don to the charter. It is said that the prime movers of the Revolution correspond together from Pampeluna to Castile, but that they are not altoge. ther in accord with the Central ,Junta. The lust arrival of l'aris Papers is before us, from them we learn that on Tuesday the Spanish Am. bassadur had a private audience of tat. King, to deliver two letters from Ferdinand : the first wns letter of condolence on the death of the Duke of Berri; the second informed the King of the re establishment of the Constitutiou of 1812. Fa.. dinand, it is said, desiring to continan to the wishes of several provinces of the kingdom, has ruinmoned. the Cortes for the 9th of June, instead of the 9th of July, the time previously appointkl. The King ;old Queen often appear in public, and, it is as serted, arc always received with loud acclamations. Count Abisbal, notwithstanding the defence of his conduct uhich he has published, has been turned out of the Club Lorencini, as a• person unworthy the co7ltidence of the Patriots :' and report says, he dare not appear at Court. The Royal Vales are in. good credit, and the Consolidated Funds are at 60 per cent. The Royalist Journals assert, that in. Navarre, Mina, the Captain-General, refuses to re cognize the authority of Esendero, the new Civil Governor of the Province, and that in Catalonia the people " desire neith,:r a constitutional nor an unconstitutional King." 11onday sennight a lad named Bigmore, for a wager, engaged to run 16 utiles in two hours, in Nlr. Finch's Gard, n, in Norwich, which he accom plished within a minute and a half of the time. On Monday last he undertook to go, at the same place, 24 miles in three successive hours, but the time ex-• pired when he had perfmued I.i rai!cs. ._::~