The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1819-01-01 00:00:00

To the EDIT:IR of The BRITISH PRESS.

cannot retire for eve► without leaving a
short memorial of some of the happy and glorious
event. of which I have been witness in this country.
!inch a document will efrectoilly silence all false
and clamorous libellers of our present Constitution
and Government—all reformers, annual and trien-
nial—and demon►tratively prove that England (the
only Italian %soffit city reg,ird•) is not only the
hest and mildest goverired—the most contented
nod happy of any nation on earth—but that she
has more re•'ott to bo.ist of her administration,
mid rejoice in her condition in every respect,
than at •iy former period. I was born, indeed,
at a time when the political horizon was a little
iivercird by the Puspesmion of act old-fashioned
law, called the set of Habeas Corpus. But this
was an event of such common occurrence during
the lives of my twenty-live last predecessors, as
to cause but little alarm or uneasiness. The lie..

cram), of it was evidenced by the existence of plots
and conspiracies, commending agents and Mitt u-
means of such superlative and magical potency,
as to entertain well-grounded hopes of storming
the metropolis with a stocking full of ammuni-
tion, and to dispatch bullets through windows
of plate glass without leaving a hole. Besides
it was known that merciful and religious meta
would never commit such an abuse of power as
to keep people in prison on light and insufficient
grounds. But, in my infancy, l had the satisfitc-
tiou to see M Misters voluntarily resign all the un-
usual powersi with which they had been intrusted
woe of the noblest sacrifices ever made by governors
to the governed—an act which throws into the shade
the antiquated exploits of your Decii and Regulii,
your Codruses and Leonidases ; for, as all the
traitorous confederacies winch had required the
Executive to be armed with extraordinary vigour,
still had existence, ruck a spontaneous renuncia-
tion of what is most dear to the human heart,
could only have originated from a scrupulous
anxiety to avoid any thing, nay, the appearance of
ally thing severe, arbitrary, or unconstitutional ; and
is . positive proof that, in the midst of sedition,
treason, and Spenceanship, they thought hottest in.
teutions and uncorrupted integrity the strongest
shield; and deemed themselves most secure its the
affections of a people full of admiration for their
talents, amid gratitude for their disinterested and
CCOIIOIIIICBi administration, and the long tram of

prosperity and plenty it had introduced. This in-
fereuce is confirmed beyond all doubt by the candid
and ample exposition in the papers laid before the
House of Commons, of the grounds and motives
of their acting; and by their disdaining to protect
themselves, or their subordinates, as less honest
Statesmen would, from t he consequences of their pro.
ceedings, by any thing but their inherent propriety
and justice. The next instance of public felicity
I have to relate took place a little after the former,
on the occasion of the intended marriage of the
Dukes of the Blood Royal. Whet a glorious ex-
ample fur the servants of Royalty throughout the
world is the part which ours then pursued ! How
will it excite the wonder of posterity to learn, that
the additions proposed by them to be made to the
incomes of these exalted personages, whose good-
will or dislike they had such variouimotives to cul-
tivate or fear, appeared to the guardians of the
public purse to have been dictated by narrow and
niggardly maxims of retrenchment; and absolutely
inconsistent with the dignity and splendour that
ought to be maintained by the possible parents
of the future Monarchs of the realm ! How delight.
fill will it he to hear of the amicable contest on this
point, fur four or Live nights carried on between the
Treasury Bench and their adherents, and the ad.
verse but affectionately loyal and liberal part of the
House ; the former, with more than Spartan virtue,
obstinately resisting all enlargment of the proposed
grants, the latter insisting on it, and finally tri-
umphing ! But the story grows in grandeur ; for
uliquestionably the most heroic scene of it was
the rejection, by one of the illustrious indivi-
duals concerned, of the proffered income, pure•
ly out of a spirit of benevolence and consider-
ation for the imaginary distressed state of the
country !• I shall now describe the upright con-
duct of our Ministers, with regard to the investiga-
tion of the abuses of Charitable Institutions. The
inointut the measure was proposed, their tender
hearts were instantly touched with the injuries done
to the poor and helpless—their quick-sighted intel.
!tett' perceived how desirable it was, that the large
funds, computed at about seven or eight hundred
thousand pounds • year, destined to the educe.
tion of the poor, should be, to the last farthing,
eatimated, and scrupulously applied to their
Canute object. Accordingly, though the Bill was
introduced by a formidable political opponent,
and though the intended inquiry might prove dis-
agreeable to many political friends, the ministry at
once entered into the views and spirit of its author,
and carried it unaltered, unmutilated, and in origi.
nal vigour and efficacy through both [louses
!
Uninfluenced by party feeling-, or any but those
for the public good, they selected the parent of the
proceeedings, and all whom the Committee pointed
out, as Commissioners, nor placed among them one
individual incapacitated by profesvional or other
avocations from giving his undivided time and
powers of mind to the prescribed duty; and few will
deny that this was the only fair, liberal, and wise
coolie. After this accumulated evidence of the wis-
dom and goodness of his Majesty's advisers, I need
scarcely advert to the continuation of the restriction
oo CYah payments, which keeps our gold so snug
within the coffers of the Back, safe from the touch
of native or foreigner; or to the Alien Bill, which
will prevent a parcel of Frenchmen and Flemings
Riming away with one of our men-of-war, and car..
' eying Bonaparte out of St. Helens t, and save the
Hero of Talavera from being .hot in his carriage.
It has also been my Formby list to see the " winding
up" of the comprehensive anal vast schemes of these
mighty geniuses for general and lasting peace at
Aix-la-Chapelle, and the consummation of their
pacific plans in the evacuation of the French terri-
tory ; that country being, as every school-boy
know,, entirely regenerated. restored to habits of
tranquillity, perfectly purified from revolutionary
opinions, and feeling gratefully attached to all Eu-
rope, and to England especially, for her pliiliiialwnpic

• Vide Mr. Brougham's letter to the late Sir f. R•milly.
1, PH. Lord Castlereagh's Speech uu proposing • te.
*wit of the Alicu Bill.