The National Register. — London, England, 1819-05-17 00:00:00

•.••••• • • / ' ll '7 -* _ • • AO/A fr P pV t , w • anal, u tt o t iitil ttr, --10 1 A •• Our Ititta, •eott£ctttutioit ant IL airt6. 'MONDAY, MAY 47, JBl9. No. 1 ISt —Vol.. XII.] Ll'alcF 94d. G 4 TIIE STATE OF THE NATION. Ttn attention of the country was newer more imperiously directed to tl.e.preceedings of the I.egis Lturo, than at the present moment. 'With a new Parliament, which has now been sitting for some ras,nths, but Alt:ling which time scarcely a qwstion Lad arisen, previous to the Catholic Claims, which seemed of sufficient importance either to. ensure the attendance of its Members, or fairly to try its senti :ro upon the general Lathers° long pursued, but both on that occasion, and again since tapun the hardly less important Question of the - Scotch Burgh., has so nobly done its duty, it- impossible got to feel a deep anxiety as to what may be its con duct and decisions upon the great Trials that arc now immediately before it. The Plot of the'Rrerna is now at its very height, and the.developement r be it happy, or be it miserable, must be soon disclosed A want of some strong and decisive measure on the part of what is called the Opposition, had Lag , . , 11 to be much complained of; but the uniform rcsistauce 'shewn to any amelioration and improvement, the notice for nn extensive Loan for the currert Service, 'ithout a symptma of Retrenchment, and the Report of the Bank Committee, nisi. h holds out no hope of any .early retur.-.• tea snore .wholesome Basis of Public Credit, or a more rational medium of com mon Barttr, has t.t length roused them. They are now rising in proportion -to rho exigence that calls Car their cxcrtiuns. Rlr. Tieracy i we are happy to r , bserve, has given notice of a motion for an Enquiry into the State of the Notion, a.moticra which to some inarporhaps savour of the character of an investigs tion of an old arta entangled account between a - spendthrift and creditor, which the thriller so na 4urally hates to contemplate and shudders to enter ,toin, but which we have yet no hesitation in affirm -mg, is due to Ministers themsolve:, if it can be the -means of proving the impossibility of avoiding the difficulties in which we arc involved, awl still more 'due to the country which has a right to .expect either that such a case should be made cut, or that all confidence sluiuid be immediately withdrawn from those.hands :n which it has been abus2d. then, his Majesty's Ministers should either directly eppofe or attempt to get rid.of it by any of those miserable expedients so Mien had recourse to as screens fin-•a bad•causr, tt hatever may be the fate of •saelt motion in the House of 'Commons, -5 , ;:t the real motives on. which .such investigation is de. -dined, cannot fail to be clearly • understnld or .pro .perly appreeiated by the whole country. In r. situation like oars it win not do to tell es that :noptiry is not needed, nor shall we readily bed eve that improvement is not lath practicable and absn lately required. In the first place, the Finances of the country are• universally admitted to be in u con dition in whieh,s nationaLbarltruptcy might almost be greeted as a blessing.. iVe have 'pent in the • last 19. months thirteen anti a holf millions of money beyond the amount of our revoune, and, contrary to every former precedent, as we proccedin the duration - of peace, we proceed also in the eleprossin of pblie credit. The :3 per Cents. are actually 12 per cent. lower than they were 18 mood's aim, -and let us not forget how confidently these funds were then appealed to Ly Ministers-es a clear end unirestioned criterion of public prosperity, and of public wealth. We owe 4300 millions of public debt, and let the lsildest speculator tell its how soon, even if Peace should be eternal, this debt at tLe present rite tan be possibly discharged. , Our army, which is the modern isentniment cf asteliating allegiance, and promoting tranquillity, costs within 2 millions and. a half of the charge of the -whole• Peace Establishment, Army, I7avy. Ordnance, Civil List, &c. &e. in the time of Mr. Pitt. Commerce is every where stagnant .and depressed. Petitions are day by day crowding the tables of the Ilouse of Com mons, stating that the persons employe Thoth in our cotton and woollen manufactories cannot by their tamest exertions earn above five shillings a week, whibt paupers, as a necessary consequence, arc multiplied Ly hundreds and thousands throughout the laud. -Agriculture, which can never prosper but in union .with Commerce, any •more than Com eter:c witheut Agriculture, is fist ikiking under the civil policy of the thric4, from the weight sof taxation, • from the depreciarion of inoney,4ll-om the gross abuses slid defects which signalize our system of parochial relief, and. above nil by the glaring mischief ;Arising from the crude and- absurd enact ments of our precut Corn Laws--. Laws, which instead of affiirdiag any 'steady and permanent support to agriculture, arc only found to encourage a spirit of gambling and speculation, 'to throw the make's into eternal and violent fluctuations, and to produce to landlords, do tenants, and to 'the ',nix, a total derangement of those first priocildes upon which their respective connections can-alone prosper. How, for instance, - in a year like this, is any fair average o; ilia virlue of land to be &an n from the value of its produce? Iloty is the landlord to fix an equitable rent ? How is the occupier even to guess what he can afford to pay ? How is the poor man to value his labour, or to Lox;.: that his wages will keep pace with the perpetually varying price of that upon production 'of which his labour is employed? How, again, does this horrible state of uncertainty in the first necessaries of • life, operate upon their price to tirm general consium r, even beyond the actual variation of of the market ? Great profits rust necessarilY be imposed by the merchant, or dealer, as the- only means of enabtirg I.:in to guard against the sntbim reverses.: to which he . knows and feels himself expneed. That such a state -of things is wrong, that if left without investigation, and without remedy, its consequences must coon be drerdful, no one, surely, reeds be to!d. Time last Corn Bill was a measure of his Majesty's Ministers; and ithas all the character nr.d.fruits of their common policy. Now With these and a thonsand miler:aggravations which we have not time to enter upon, what •is there on the other hand to soften the harshness of this picture ? Alas ! nothing. What has been dune to conei:iate attach ment, to protect morality, to relieve the pressure of cur burdens? Alas! nothing. Nay, as if their seats should endure for ever, nril their very names were above .-reprrrtrh, - the:- have, in the compass •ef this short Session, resisted the revision of our san goiirnry•Crimiral Code with nil their might, they intvo continutd she-infamous gains scraped from the Lottery, atuls7sasr 'Lave moved and carried a grant to the Duke of*:orl:, - of ten thoutemd pounds * year, fur a weekly visit to. his aged atve afilicted ipher. Mr. Grenfell, on Thursday rtgnt, brought wan: his motion fin. a Committee Tif the whale Ho :se, to consider the expediency of *Ascribing thst Sinking Fund of the year to any loan which may be necessary for the year's public service. It tees opposed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer ; end if the que.;tion depended upon evidence and argument, kir opposition would Lave been feeble indeed. He suc ceeded, however, in •persueding the aouse to reject the motion by a mAjoritrof . 117 to - 99. 'Hie prin cipal grounds urged by him weie,-she inexpediency of interfering, by •theauthorisy of an Act of Par:ig- Cut, with •the discretion vcstel lily the former Act - in this Cominksioners, mid the dangur of leaving the inorket at themturcy of the Jobbers, by-withdrawing the Commissioners from the market. With • respect to the first, iris difficult to see why the , LOslature should - not d.itoct• the application of the'Sinling Fund from its ordinary 'impose to the atirrent set. vice of the , year, if the public interest demand is; and we , think the dealers in• neck (for stock is lie ctanc e commodity like any otlier)Ausy be safely left to their own wits; sharpened h. , 'their interests, to guard them agairAt gamy attcMyt at deception b' the Jobber. The same night the Attorney-General obtained leave to brin!.; to prevent enlistments int," fin-eign service, and the eeluipment of vessels of war -without lice-!ee. This hill may, we think, act in its progress us a test of attachment to gene-r,d principk , . elliberty. We regret that the learned gentleman dii not cm,ress intentioismore fully to the Hous-:-.ri one pint; we mean, whether he proposes to give a retrospective action to his Bill—whether he mean 3 to give Xiini.it,.rs the powo: of recalling, wider pi, 'ink? ! of ail those wiriiilave already ergaf , ed in the latriut war.—Sir ,Tames Machintorh most truly de:erica it " as an enactment to repress the rising liberty of the South' Americans, and to ena ble Spain to re-impose that yoke•of tyranny which they were unable to bear, which th e y 1, 8 ,1. f10 b1y shaken off, and fiem-which he truste3 in. Gig they wmfla finally lie enuVed to free themseivi %elm:- ever attempts were male by the minierers of this or tiny other coontry to counteetnec or assist their oppreasors." Anil if the -retrospective clause We have above alluded to ho inerodueed, we think lie might linvc added to hi:' description " that it was a -manitesvattempt to continue the fyster of perse cution agniest an enOrpriting nobleman, where services had shed brilliancy over our own naval uri nals, and 'whose 'ans7ec!:s in the patriot cause was vl.dently wished for by • v.-cry lover of the revel rights of Men." The hitter part which relates to shipping, is deslrtictive of a considerable branch of commerce. and our already half-starved manufac. torero of Birming-,tram, will doubtless feA grate': to the imposer -of a measure which wi,! ;ertoln . ; drive their cttonzers to other :nal-Lets. 1 • . # 2,::Rit \ k , '