The Statesman. — London, England, 1821-10-29 00:00:00

- 7Pre -~... 41,01/1 . ---T - - - -- - Tl 9 THE EDITOR OF MK STATE.SAMS. Sta—ln politics, it is ,tidirult to advance unbiassed opinions. Virulence of feeling and debasing sentimentel are too often produced by the exercise of our talents in matteill, whether marhed by slareWilness of intellect ur superiority of understanding. This irritation cannot lead to rational or sound con clusions, and our progress in knowledge becomes thwarted by a narrow and contracted judgment, the too frequent result arising from our indulgence in these our common prejudices. Commerce is too much interwoven to be entirely separated from political feel ing, hut , discussions upon its state and condition may be conducted with temper and moderation. In offering some observatiot.s upon the present stateof our trade, I may be considered as one presuming too much upon his practical experience; but, as my sentiments cannot af fect detrimentally the interest Of the mercantile com munity, 1 am buoyed up with the hope that such pre sumption, upon my part, may induce some of your mere intelligent readers to turn their talents to the consideration of this important subject—a chatge of system so essentially reqnired by the alarniing state of our trade, and the impoverished condition of our fi nances, which, (notwithstanding the flourishing state ments of our revenue, which :sing be admitted to exist only in the brain of the thencellor of the Exchequer, so long as fictitious etatemmis are issued quarterly) to use a homely expression, keeps the necks of all or ders of the community (men In office excepted) conti nually at the grindstene. A subject if this nature can not well be treated as a whole, the system must there fore he reviewed under its various and multiplied heads or:l:Tani:tents ; in the absence of official accounts, and possessing no other informaticn, than what arises from practical experience, errors may be expected to arise, and inferences be drawn from a basis which may be shaken. 1 hazard the attempt, in the hope that some one more qualified for the task, may supply that in formation which, from a limited and circumscribed knowledge, I have not the means of adducing . The repletion of our commerce has ' leen the result of eggs of experience, and still it is so dif fuse that the facuhies of few merchants can define the bearings of that policy, which has graduated our trade upon it scale favourable to our interests as a nation in some respect, yet equally so in other re spects to those cenntries, which are now monopoliz ing a vast proportion of what rely be termed our legi timate trade, and by a wiser system of policy, are rapidly with:lt-se lug from us that lucrative branches of trade, whirls our conquests ought to have made our own. We are loaded with a national debt, we can never pay off; year after year, rolls on, and the same apathy and indifference to the state of our commerce conti. nevi to exist. Sorely the enormous load of taxation which we are eompelled to hear, ought to be a suffi cient stir:mins to induce our government to study, by every prudent means, to place mercantile men upon a b -tier footing. that they may with the greater satisfac tion to themselves, and, what is more important, with more substantial benefit to the country, com plete upon terms bordering mere . rtearirwpeirequality, ith other commercial nations. The system adopted at home in collecting our Reve nue, and regulating - our expoit and import trade, is iil calculated to inspire the commercial man with ar dour, and too frequently tends to induce many an ho nourable man to abandon his profession with disgust. Sit injuriously restrictive is our policy ; so fettered by securities which are put in force at the caprice of underlines in office, actuated more by selfish motives than the desire of exposing fraud, that no honest man Carl. so long as be is engaged in trale, consider bin:- self safe. Our forefathers saw the importance of en cottraei tie our commercial relations to the greatest ex te'at, and our enterprising merchants were treated mitt' the respect due to their character and reputation. woefelly has civilization and the more enlarged views of this enlightened ag e altered our condition As our commerce extended, so ' did corruption in the State; extended commerce and extended patronage went hand ia-han,l ; corrupt practices became cominon " as the Sun at noon day." The collection of our Revenue must be divitlod forsooth, and eby ? to multiply offices, afro- 1 mare extended patronage,and encrease difficulties. Hord% of illeOtinsate offspring,hutlers and even footmen of noblemen and great Ministers, spies. informers, and n it a few members of families who possessed po litical interest sufficient to procure the return of mem bers to Parliament, have been put into offices of trust. Oar Customs and Excise Offices throughout the King. dont swarm with these excellent Clerks, and their bright lucubrations, doubtless, have raised our present mode of collecting our revenue, and regulating our trade to its present pitch of refinement. I must, hew. ever, admit, that in these departments there are many gentlemen employed, no less conspicuous for the supe riority of their t..lents, that: their high characters and the purity of their conduct. When irregularities oc cur in exports or imports, and they do incessantly oc cur from the perplexity of our multiplied enactments, they are set down as frauds upon the revenue, and there is no possibility of being relieved from the penal cense• queaces of a prosecution at the instance of the Crown trir.t:ut a handsonw fine to t'se vigilant officer. Character is o , t of the I nestio», for since the fees scere abolished, in cstimai ion of these bright ()peers of Excise and Customs, there has nut been any honest man engaged in mercaatile ptv suits. This unnatural disgusting system, subversive of every feeling of equity, has operated ~,,, st harshly for a length of time. The in come' which these upstarts in office derive from this punishing system are enormous, and their inso lence is insutfee able; but here the evil does not stop. In Rolland, Vrance, and other continental countries, such vile policy does not exist ; the consequence is that such vessels as are not by colonial laws, compelled to return to this country, or by extraordinary demand, yes irt in numbers to the continent, where they ex perience nothing hut civility, and are never exposed to such degrading insult and suspicion. The conti nuation of this *abject and the policy which has ruined our t.ansient trade, with remarks upon the injurious consequences attending our restrictive mea sures, as applies to the colonial trade, must forte the subject of another communication: What is stated I hope will induce some more able correspondent to treat apes this, a subject of no slight itnpurtanco at the present alarming crisis. toes. 96, 192. MERCATOIL • ,i ~ Burtou Crescent, Oct. Sin,—As by certain violent proceet 14th of August last at Cninberlived‘ga , fellow-subjects were illegally put to dent consequence of those ‘ proceedings, Sir has beer, as I conceive, illegally treated being too infirm for attending you meet you my mite towards a national subscl damnifying Sir Robert, and consoling tl HoNST and FneNcls, in whose cases J one instance, brotight in a verdict of and in the other, of even Wilful Murder Respecting Sir llosewr Wt Lark, his fold, pecuniary and political. So far ! cuniary nature, it is confined to his far as its character is political, his common injury of all Englishmen ; and, ran doubt that it will by the nation be English people are not yet so degradc Ministers to insult then' by any tyraw power, without a suitable e xpression of i When I speak of a tyrannical stretch not forget that Sir Robert Wilson w; the Army, which Sir William .lonel " is under a different commaad and silk eat law" from the rest of the peop!e.• I Wilson, while attending the funeral pi late Queen, was acting, not as a member . ay, but, as one of the people : whence it follows, that on that occasion, he was not amenable to the military law, but to the common and statute only. I will not here inquire into the authority by which the Ministers of the Crown are in the habit of as suming, at their pleasure and discretion, a, power of dispensing with all the forms and checks of even that military law which Parliament annually enacts; and of inflicting punishment where there has been no trial. At all events, a power of punishing, implies a prior existence of crime. When, therefore, we t-ee an in fliction of punishment where there is no crime, we be hold naked despotism, and see it is high time that it should be put down. Now, Sir, the military law, as a rule of conduct to the Army, bath, or it ought to have for its object, the good of the nation and the conservation of the national free polity ; for, otherwise, instead of a rule to be ob served, it would be a corruption to be get rid of : Because the Legislature is necessarily limited in its authority to the enacting of" such statute law only as shall not have the nature of a /do de se, by violating any fundamental principle of the Constitution." Should we be told of prerogative, let as not be im posed on by an ambiguous word. According to John son, that word means "an exclusive or pseuliar privi lege ;" but, without knowing the foundation of a par ticular claim, we have here no satisfaction. The pre rogative we have to do with, is political prerogative, and, therefore, fur an explanation we must resort to the best writers on Government. Consulting Locke, (B. 11. s. 166.) we find that he expressly says, " Pre rogative is nothing but the power of doing public good without a rule." Conscious, however. that his definition - was loCo 'abstraet to be clearly 'understood . without ffittiteration, lie dilates upon the lupus in re spect, first, of the relation between the Kin; and the Parliament, and secondly, of the relation between the Parliament and the people. In s. 163, he observes, "The old question will be asked, in this matter of Prerogative.--fflo shall Page when this power is made a right use of"' lie then answers—" Between an Exeiutive Power in " being, with such a Prerogative, and a Legislative " that depends upon his will for their conveniency, " there can be no judge on earth ; as there can be none " between the Legislative and the People. Should " either the Legislative or the Executive, where, they " have got the power in their hands, design, or p " about to enslave, or destroy them, the people have " no other remedy in this, as in all other cases, where " they have no judge on earth, but to appeal to 1 " Heaven. For the rulers, in such attempts, exercising " a power the people never put into their hands, (who " can never be supposed to consent that any body " should rule over them fur their learn.,) dime rulers "do that which they have not a right to do. And " where the body of the people. or any single man, is " deprived of their right, or is under the exercise qfai " power without right, and have no appeal on earth, " then they have a liberty to appeal to Heaven, when " ever they judge the cause of suffizient moment." After some additional arguments, he thus con cludes :—" Let not any one thick, this lays a perpe " teal foundation for disorder ; for this operates not, " till the inco»veniency is so great that the majority "feel it, and find a necessity to have it amended. But " this, the Executive Power. or wise Princes, never " need come in danger of, and it is the thing of all " others the most perilous." So far Mr. Locke ; but, Sir, notwithstanding this obvious peril, the present seem to seek occasions for " the exercise-ofs power without right," as means of gradually estab lishing on the neck of Englishmen, a despotism as odious and intolerable as that of Morocco. Blackstone, in his Commentaries, (I. 252.) says, " Prerogativeconsisting (as Mr. Locke bas well defined " it,) in the discretionary power of acting for the pub " lic good, where the positive law is silent. if that dis " cretionary power be abused to the public detriment., " such prerogative is exerted in an ntmonstitutionah " manner." Suffice it then to remark. that there is no mystery it the word pferogetice, and that when we contemplate its nature and its use, we arrive at two . concln4ont : First, that prerogative is limited to the doing of some good, fur whicb the law has not made provision ; and, secondly, that where law can prescribe a rule of action, there is not any sphere for the establishment of a pros I rogative ; as, in such cases, to prescribe, would be t• usurp a legislative authority. But, in a discretionary exercise of Prerogative,' there west always be so much danger of evil, that' such exertions of power ought as necessarily to be fel lowed by a solemn. formal Parliamentary investiga tion; as the loss of any vessel in the Navy, whether in battle or otherwise. whether attrnaed with or without Asa imputation of blame. is necessarily followed by I Court-martial, for investigating the cause of the Ur- cumstance. ~. • Leg. Mo. of Stapp. Riots. 14. t App. to Na. Is 181 Y, p. 3. e. I. sion ; He is galled to see the union of feci exists between the higher classes and the torrerorders. In drawing a parallel, however, between this subscrip don, and the one fur the me;•itorions Life-guards, he appears somewhat consoled to think, that the num ber of loyal subscribers, exceeded that of the Radical. Ile affects too to feel pleasure, when dwelling web the anonymous contributions, such as a Yorkshirealin 1091. a friend 100!. and others elnally ifieiontiderable. Now in reply to these, we would just refer him to his own list of bribes to the soldiers, and ask him how many pensioners of Government appear in it; bow many bangers-on, how many expectants, how many parsons, how many of those who fatten on the taxes? We will then ask him what is the amount of the individual subscriptions of the would-be baskers in Ministerial favour; of those who get themselves advertised as very loyal men, and of those who are known to be receiving of the public money thousands annually? Let him then tell us how many sovereigns were divided for the sake of effect into half a-guinea, seven shillings, and half-a-crown. By that trick it was designed to make believe thatthe middling and lower orders had counte nanced the conduct of those who had appeared particu larly exasperated against them ! It would be less surprising, however, if the middling and lower orders could contribute little or nothing to Sir RONICRT sus! or to any one else. The difference in ability is great between those who pay the taxes, and such as are supported by them. When men in exalted situations of life for im proper purposes, presume upon that character to which their wealth is supposed to entitle them in society, it must proceed from motives sot the most creditable to their understandings. They become despicable by lending their name to a demoralizing junta, devoid of every principle which forms good subjects of any Govern ment, and whose business is to drill informers, and employ spies to stimulate the weak and the ignorant to l crime. This becomes a wanton corru p tion of p ublic{ morals, by leading the unfortunate involuntarily into error. The blackest acts of human nature has been committed by such means, and by such direlietion of principle men are taught to debase their nature. — They learn the most corrupt maxims. Rewards tuake them amends, and the expectation of blood-money tempts tbem on. Those who wish to retain ill gotten power, care little about the means to preserve it, how ever cruel or dishonest. Let the man who will lend himself to such a cause, be a Peer, a Prelate, or a private Gentleman, he con tributes to destroy the social intercourse between man, and to dissolie the valuable enjoyments in private life. The necessities of the times are pleaded in extenu ation, we may ask who caused those necessities? no one can say it was the people ; that question is easily solved. Swirl. said," the greatest te-- had rirtrie always appermost in her discourse :" so is i s with the, parties alluded to. The most barefaced depre dators are the loudest ranters on morality. • The employment of spies and informers is reprobated b y all sloe Statesmen and experienced Politicians, like listeners, those who set tLein loose on society are sure ItIll' • Brussels papers to the 27th instant bring a er f .t of a new Finnan, said to have been issued by re Grand Signior, in which lie openly charges " Peri dions Russia," with being the author of all the tree. hies in Greece and Moldavia. To her money and het secret intrigues he attributes all the Isaattsetiotv which have taken place against his 'power, calls upon his " faithful Mussclmanns to he night on their guard and io arms, that their perfidies enemy may not surprise them." He states eyes have been opened by the demand of Russia the Greeks should be made independent, and presses himself ready " to support a war, long or sanguinary it may be," rather than to to the concessions required. If such a document the present has really been issued by the Porte, may expect that the next intelligence will the opening of the cont. st. A letter from tinople states, that massacres there continue, another manner. Greeks front Moldavia, Walachia, the villages round Constantinople, peaceal against whom no reproach can be made. and is labourers, are brought thither accused by the' conspiracy, and dragged by executioners aweigh the quarters of the'city.—Accounts from Vienna, October 14th, announce that it had been learnt then, that the Russian Ambassador has made • nettnication to our Cabinet of the highest i and which is supposed to be decisive. The which Russia has received the Insurgent . Prince Suzzo, formerly Hospodar of Moldavia, stood to have displeased the Divan, especial! , tria was far from acting with the same i[ Al article from Berlin says, that since the Carlsbad, we heard no more of the plan of a tion ; a little before that Congress, the King stifled to the Diet at Frankfort, by his Minister , Golz, that comforusable to the 13th article of the German Confederation. a Constitution given to Prussia; but we have not heard Diet has pressed his Majesty to realise the the tenor of the article excited. On the contrary. ir known that the committee appointed to draw 51) of the Constitotion,has suspended its labours. great change Vas just taken place; his Majesty appointed a new Commission for the pittpale I Jelk Iterating on the Constitution which it m a y be Pty to introduce into Prussia. By Spanish papers which have arrived to tbz 161 it appears that in Murcia, some arrests have Os place, and that the Political Chief has 011441 Proclamation, in which he says he is perseadolliit the painful measure is founded on very seders rol et :: , and hints that plans hostile to the consti tution ore' agitation. The Cortes are still engaged ia the st/ division of the Spanish territory. The deat h s g tit celona seem to be, at last, on the decrease. • :. The Paris papers still assert that his Britsagc .. the 6 r jetty was expected in Paris on the :stls of . 1,1 and that be intended to alight at the hotel o f *tit tisk Ambassador. This assertion. though ttsads most confident manner, seems hardly row with the official annoancensent in Wardell Co ..,1 . ' s . . • . 44 id ,te o nn t in:on es mi:ch ' i c e t ; g el , „ -:- .t i i TI-!1 i: !..0-ATESNIAN: _ ... .. .., ... ... .. . ' ttse t n u : rsre .. ._. —.L.—.. _. _ . .—_ • 11l ‘4ll TO ''O THE if, however , according to a prevailing fashion o b o ec s ome CHAT of f , the)! RETINd AT THE CITY OP LONDON 7wriroN, perverting good words to an ill meaning, we are to II sheer de- 'Oß PROMOTING A SUBSCRIiOTION .T 9 INDEM- understand the word prerogative to sign ify think there are sufficie • Sti l et 41 NIFY SIR ROBERT WILII4II, &Ir. i - ..s 'potions, then ? would not the Midisters of such a system nt Laws, sufficient Lawyers eel s.. Law O ffi cers t 3 stem the torrentof ' • a _ ........-, e ,_ • thin!: they had hronglit their army to the climax of per popu.ar meow,. lei , Curtest Crescent, Oct. 23. Int. fection for their purpose, when day saw it to oeii_sist4if went, and should such neglect their duties, • st thrill" ..1 SIR,—As by certain violent proceedings on the privates, subject to the degrading brutality of h av in g comes imperious upon their employers t s • ~1 14th of August last at Cninheilaudsgate, two of ou r the flesh torn from their bones by a Ithotted eat-o'-nine- them by others better calculated to • : o re i -„„.. L: fellow-subjects were illegally put to death;- and as, in 011. s—regimental officers, having no income but' for -the a Rive an teiniej cst The enormous saiaries and perittisit consequence of those ‘ proceedings, .§ir Robert Wilton their pay, reduceable at any moment to beggary; and es s e er s ti has beer, as I conceive, illegally treated; I beg leave, their office its Generals, whose commissions had cost them thou-- to . . . as, No subsidiary, insulionlistate, wit -I being too infirm for attending you meetimg, to inclose sands, liable, at the capric.• of some malignant wretch elected ,tribunals are known to the law or the critic. e. You my mite towards a national subscription for In- in the dark, to be fleeced of his property, as well as lotion. If these do their duty and the 1.; ; l e , demnifying Sir Robert, and cons o l in g the families of cut off from the p ossibilit y of any longer gathering sources of just' hi ; W , justice be not polluted, the 2 .; - op.'s sm . , . Hostels and FRANCIS, in whose rase s J uries have, in the fruit of their studies i their toils, and services? be well-go v erned. They want nothing more • 1 one instance, brought in a verdict of Manslaughte r ; What a picture of slavery have we here ! Could• lb.: • and in the other, of even Wilful Murder. any earthly condition be more degrading, or more an want only those rights all otted by that l' ' -mishit. Respecting Sir Roemer Wit-snit, his injury is two- object of poignant commisseration, than such an army lion which their enemies wantonly call the adosirok fold, pecuniary and political. So far as it is of a pe- as here imagined.—l have the honor to be, Sir, your of the world, at the moment they are end • ' eayounez cuniary nature, it is confined to himself; but so obedient, JOHN CARTWRIGHT• to render its mast valuable privil eges nn gatose„ fee as its character is political, his injury is the men ; and,heing so, who o'Ci OCK PRICE OF STOCKS THIS DAY S AS' O NE . . , nettrrection of I i9S, in liel an d, t h; * common injury of all English • can doubt that it will by the nation be felt ?—for the fi g ank Stock India tk abominable gangs were seen parading t' ae street s ti t. err Cent. Red 76 R 1 Dattoßnnda —4 '''' s 694 ' P"' Dublin, English people are not yet so degraded, as to suffer • p er Cent. Con. 774114 South-Sea Stock privately armed. In London, they a re • it Ministers to insult them by any tyrannical stretch of et per Cert. 87 South Ss* Old inn. smaller parties, in twos, threes, and fours. 'f twy power, without a suitable expressi on of p ublic o p inion. 6 per Cents. 05 13) ( Ex S'ilv2d. 10001.45. Os. p• u • the t., • ------5001. os. 4s. M. pat. dispatched to e different at mg pubiie.houses• 1 ,to, When I speak of a tyrannical stretch Of power, I do :1):r r ectt•nNtavY 1101 111 —Small ss. is. pm. and through the booksellers' by day. They seems not forget that Sir Robert Wil son was a member of d m A . a 1911 India for ditto the Army. which Sir William Jones has observed. iMp.iperCent. Con. tar Aect 77iii before they go in, and, if any thing happens, th ee ese. .77 is under a different cumnasad and subject to a dip.- Irish b per Cent. Lott. Tuesets ltti. Iris. pare notes, and take care to be in the same lIIDr. eat law" from the rest of the peop!e.• But Sir Robert HIGH WATER AT LON UUN-Bitintili TiNII.OItROW. Their repart is heard, and entered in the minntes st Wilson, while attending the funeral procession of the Morning 15min. after 4.—Evening 33 min after 4. their employers. They are encouraged—are toil, I,s a., late Queen, was acting, not as a member of the Army, THIRTY THOUSAND POUNDS WILL BE DRAWN but, as one of the people: whence it follows, that on TO-MORROW MORN INUt AT NINE O'CLOCK. contr ibute to the same cause: they are Nisi, even,i4, that occasion, he was not amenable to the military law, _ _______ _IIIPP.MNIETMINI.WOMI 10100 • 0•1. but to the common and statute only. et) ar fotattginan , tect them. should they become act ive and efficient. Aye., I will not here inquire into the au thorit y by which " THR DOLTISH 'TAUBMAN" Is INCORPORATED MITI " THE then, With restraint, the game is in view, and must Ser e the Ministers of the Cr.•wn are in the hahit of as- STATRRHAN. " down. Dexter*, bookstalls. and private firesides,ate ON sumiog, at their pleasure and discretion, a, power of - - ._.—_ -- - - . - -- ••=ss••••••=s•=...'" fit:vied by these Tigers in human dispensing with all the forms and cheeks of even that shape, th e organ oftle LONDON: military law which Parliament annually enacts ; and Gang eulogizes their ma nceurres and abuses therie MONDAY EVENING, OCIODER 29, 1921. time of their monstrosities. of inflicting punishment where there has been no trial. --ease-. At all events, a power of punishing, implies a prior The pestion has become, how is this harbaron STOCK EXCIL•tYGE, TWELVE O'CLOCK. ay ten of misrule to be got rid of ? If the ministers of existence of crime. When , therefore , we see an in- There was snitch fiction of punishment where there is n o crime, we be- b ust l e in the Market this morn - the crown allow it to become a part of their own me• hold naked despotism, and see it is high time that it ing, at the commencement of the business, and Con- sures, it is only by public exposition, that the relith should be put down. , so l e were d une at the opening of the Market at various . Now, Sir, the military law. as a rule of conduct to prices, 77# for Money ; .771 for the Account ; Mit is to he sonelst and in the of e i ii , honesty FAO sh duties the Army, bath, or it ought to ',eve for its object, the for t he Account ; at the latter of which prices they an II;• good of the nation and the conservation of the national h prover, or one who came before a Court in a pre free polity ; for, otherwise, instead of a rule to be ob- remain. There were a number of buyers, with tunc . tsonahle shape, is not entitled to credit, miles served, it would be a corruption to be gut rid of : business transacting. Because the Legislature is necessarily limited in its __.---.....—. his evidences is corroborated, in circumstance at authority to the enacting of" such stetute law only as With what zeal and ingenuity the apostate Slop la- least, by a good and responsible witness. To there shall not have the nature of *Po de se, by violating hours, to convince his readers, that the successful sub- Juries the people of the United Kingdom must lei any fundamental principle of the Constitution." scription list for the indemnification of . Sir Rote Wm. for protection, and for the breaking up of one of the Should we be told of prerogative, let lIA not be im- son, is no indication of the public feeling on the occa- worstAssociations,except that of the Grait; - c If arreeke'rs posed on by an ambiguous word. • According to John- _,:__ __!....: *inn ! He is trailed to see the union of feeling which that ever disgraced any country. ULM) all./ Inc iamtection slyer, Lad bt he day al eir perfidies, fates that lon of au soil titst t, and he w• war, boom han to accede i document $ the Porte, re Rill announce from Condit it i n ne, bat is Walachia, sal peaceable tile and in rent y the larks tf ra through all Vienna, dial cca learnt jig made a ce . t est importance , The manna .ents, espetiall! dicta, is ander. secislly as A* iodulgearte the Cosgrew of a Coate& e King loaLl di de of the Add tion wadi* that the Gets" the hope' which contrary, it we draw sp a plw I.iumrS. Bare ...MI , IIMI