The National Register. — London, England, 1819-05-31 00:00:00

fr• . , . , . .: . .. 4, ..„. . ..:•... ),/,,,,,,,Z. •/_, , .• ,- - • '• • ...' , d 4 • ' . . .0 . sv •!-.1.1 , .1 r, t t r,_ . .14 L !- . . ;. . t • e. ' • : ? ettr Sing, onetttutisnotti MONDAY, MAY St, 1819. No. 1186. —VoL. XII.] LPswa Sidi• • 4•! ON THS STATE OF THE NATION. In our Postscript the week before last, we stated, and the event has fully proved our assertion to be correct, that, the pite# dr . *44 of ti!eiymPt! awn, if net the preloitttesirgainette, 104 ltreit'at * VM very acme of its progress; and that the develope nient, happy or 'miserable, would be soon unfold ed. This dewomement has proceeded with unex ampled rapidity, since that time. Mr. Tierney's motion for " un Enquiry into the State of the Na tion" has bee-1 negatived by ievery large majority, and negatived, weregret to state, without one single argument assigned why it should not have been adopted. The Defence of Ministers, seemed a task upon which no one dared to venture, and when they attempted it themselves, the course they took, would surely, any where elm brit in the House of Commons, have been thought an odd one, viz, that of admitting the whole charge of a miserable state of Finances, without any plan hitherto adopted, either for the Redemption of Debt, or the Restora tion of Credit ; of a stagnated Commerce, and a de pressed Agriculture ; of an Administration divided amongst themselves, upon Questions of vital and pa ramount importance ; and lastly of having done no• thing, originated nothing, ventured nothing for the Relief of a public crisis which damands the utmost energy. Lord Castlereagh, resting his defence upon a ground, which no man better understands, of fa vours conferred during a series of eight years of power, and a few delicate allusions to the votes of those who had formerly served him, and whom he in his turn had sta-wd, upon a flourish or two of Ithetolic which no one understood, but the Irish Members, and a long enumeration of the glories of Waterloo and the sublime arbitrators of the Con gress, threw himself, at last with pitiable humility upon the g,encral sense of Parliament, and Parlia ment has forgiven him ail his sins. I Ifs friend and ally, Mr. Canning, with a still bolder confidence in the support of those lie was addressing, treated an Enquiry into the Distresses of the country, dia..' tresses avowedly admitted on every • side, with pre cisely the same degree of gravity and . decoram es he did the suffering of " Me revered, the ruptured Og den," the continuance of the suspension -Act, and that Listing and indelible stigma of the Parliament, the Bill of Indemnity ; a Bill which honourable men would not easily have been led to ask, and which to men of any other description should not have been granted. How can a hotly of Legislators, sit ting in what ought to be a grave and solemn deli beration upon the rights awl interests of their 11:11ow creatures, allow one of the most serious and awful suljects that come befbre them, to be made day after day, fagot for the unseemly jeers and nonsense of this State Miriam. How can the People of En gland refrain from exclaiming like the poor frogs in the fable, us the boys stoned them, " Good sirs, this may be sport to you, but remember it is death to us." The Catholic Question in the .1-louse of Peers was negatived by a majority of forty-one, including all the Bishops, except those of Norwich and Rochester, the former of whom expressed himself in sentiments of unusual foe* elegance, s*l beauty, Viby should intolerance tints keep her last hold upon breasts 'which should be peculiar!? the abode of reason improved by learning, and of cluteitf fanned and fettent4 by also most ably -and -powerfully discussed amongst the Lords. The solemn and public recantation of a man like Lord Grenville, a man now entirely unconnected with any party, almost totally with drawn from the toils of public life, and political in tripe, and who, during the -eventful period in which this measure had been originated and- pur= sued, had borne so large a share of influence upon the public councils, is at once a striking and most important lesson. " Having," says he, "considered this Restriction as one of the greatest calamities under which this suffering - country has laboured, having frequently had occasion to lament and deplore the part which I myself took in it, on its original pro position, haviog.avowed my error in so doing,as becante an honest man, at the commencement of the last war ; and having propheeied but - too justly all the distress end misery which would befal the nation in consequence of it, I cannot help expressing my joy and satisfaction, that a period is now come when we may look forward to the Repeal of this injudicious and unfortunate measure." No one now seems bold enough to deny that to this we owe, at present, both commercial distress, increased prisms, and augmented taxes ; and it is not less clear that to its operation in times past, and over which we ran only now look back and mourn, we owed the maintenance of that series of political measures which have resulted in such an unparallelled Load of Debt, and the sacrifice of lives unnumbered. Why we should not instantly have returned to the tight path, it is very difficult even with all the la boor bestowed upon proving its danger, to see any adequate reason. Lord Grenvilie's opinion is, that cash payments might have been safely resumed this year.; and we have every fear from delays, know ing how dargerous they are. Four years are now contemplated as the time to be allowed before we are to be 'quite restored to a sound and healthy circulation. What and if war should again break out during this important interval ? Will not Go vernment be again inclined to make useof the Bank of Englund; and if that Company should ever again get a controul over the pockets of the People of Englund, what is to rrevent us from being again subjected to the same degrading and unnatural state of Political, or rather Pecuniary Bondage ? What is to prevent the Bank of England from spin be coming, as they now assume themselves to be, " the Guardians of the Interest of the Nation ?"—We have heard those gentlemen repeatedly and repeat edly declaring, that they gained nothing by the Re striction, and that they were exceedingly anxious for , its removal. What credit is now due to such asser tions is but too clearly proved. The very moment that a determination was manifested by the country to roecue the Government from their trammels, re monstrances peered in like grape-shot upon our trembling and appalled Minister of Finances ; the Bank told him flatly they should call in the Debt he owed them, and Bank-stock has fallen at a rate tb4latett *lon is sho, maids otait4t re teciniier. '411 . 6 *Oh . ir stn,, 'Rd eur Basra , pups a tb.t ssatt-Wothee Pow =trio biolnk become-triumphant, and thot birbittere‘t opponents •are forced to acknowledge thitruth and wisdom of his doctrine on the snbject. Eirtunate it would have been for the empire, if they had been acknowledged and need upon when first promul gated! It would have saved this country hundreds of millions, as well as much of our most valuable blood ; for nothing can be more true, then the honest acknowledgment of Lord Grenville, that though the inconvertible .paper system gave great fatilities to Ministers, is the wor in .which they involved us, yet they were more "than counter balanced by the confusion which it introduced into our finances, and the misery it brought on the country. Thj same argument of giving great facilities to Ministers, ought in the present moment, and at all times, to make patriotic and independent Members careful haw they again trust Ministers with power that they may abuse. The revival of a Property Tav, however pressingly called for by temporary embarrassment, has this dangerous evil in itt.compl. sitimi, that it puts an engine into the hands of Ministers which may be employed ut their pleasure in extending their influence, or even in plunging us again in war. Give them once their modified tax— keep out all the inquisitorial part of it in the begin. ning—nay, make it in the first instance a coinain. Winn tax, and strive to reconcile country gentle men to it by relieving them from the vexatious bur. then of assessed taxes--ani what security can - we have, that they will not year by year add to its annoyance as tkry did before, and make it intolerable to the community ? We ought to dread its revival under any shape, and with whatever plausible con ditions it may be found, for it is certain, that with this resenrce once granted, all hopes of retrenchment, all cutting off of useless and even hurtful sinecures— all reduction of the army—all economy will vanish. Let us hope, that the voice of the people will be heard on the subject, from every part of the United Kingdom—and that the universal demand will be, retrench first—reduce establishments—and see what the reform of every branch of our expenditure will do for the nation before it is called upon fur moce taxation. It is not a vague supposition of ours, that Ministers are contemplating the return to this obnoxious tax. It is the universal belief, in the circle of ministerial adherents, - tharthey are at this moment feeling the pulse of all over whom they have influence, and arc actually canvassing fin. votes on the matter. We rejoice to see, 'tbat the artful panic, excited by the speculators, against the return to a metallic currency, has already subsided. Wednesday the funds ruse and ft.4l 21, per cent. and very large port chases were made. We have no doubt, then, be, that, if wise and prudent measures were adopted, the revenue might be made equal to the expenditure, without recuning to the alarming, expedient of a property tax. TH. Tutu —From thr Inc exhilii!irin at Yoilc, it would seem that Sir NI irk Sykes's 011, 101v:whim:ILIA, was the hiliNt auJ toast die tiliti6o.waalJout to appear. On Tuesday last a meeting of the coal-merchants of Newport, and the proprietors of collieries in its neighboorlnsal (at which every colliery working the brown ash coil, with the exception of one on' ; •, w as represented), was held at Westgate-inn, in the town of Newport ; at which distressing statements of the pretetat situation of the trade were made, and uni versal couvic!ion prevailed of the alooltite necessity of speedy relief. We are sorry to be gi.en to under stand, from the best authority, that grant numbers -f workmen have been discharged from the collieries within a short space of time, and ti - at ethers have terporarily suspended their worlings. N ` . •••••„1,: ,;. ,a sH ,,:l i . .: T. 1 4 ,--- .) - ~ ,c t