The National Register.
London, England, 1809-08-20 00:00:00

every of these things, most outrageously, at what was said
of you. But there is this difference, Mister COBBETT, be-
tween you and the persons I haye alluded to. Sir 111CHAIRD
is notoriously a very weak man, and strong impressions
are but seldom made upon fools. Colonel WARDLIg is no
fool, though a little roguish; and yet till his acquaintance
with -the Reformers—till his initiation into a certain :shoot
of Politics, he passed for a good sort of man, though not
a very moral one. When he ascended the pedestal of poll.:
tics, he bid farewell to the calm, retired. enjoyments of
dome4tic life; and what has he acquired by the exchange?
Elevated beyond his hopes, unsupported -by abilities, cha-
racter, or even a conscious rectitude of means, I:e finds
himself unable to retain his situation, and has sunk even
below the negative infirmity of his former situation. Can
you wonder then, that he should feel angry ? Is it nothing
to find himself exposed, derided, pointed at by the finer
of scorn, and to fe..el himself under a necessity of associating
with such characters, for instance, as yourself? The indul-
gence, even of anger upon such an occasion, leaves a fa-
vourable impression upon the mind, as it spews that he
has not lost all sensibility -of character, in the same manner
that the occasional blush of a prostitute discovers her not
to be entirely without a sense of shame. But dismissing
the Colonel and yourself for the present, I shall make thy.
Letter the vehicle of some (observations upon the plant of
Reform which have unfortunately been associated with
such characters. The • slight acquaintance you have with
history, and the particular avocat;sn which has employed /
the greater part of your own tifLi has made you master
of the secret, that the .people in- all ages have been, first
the dupes, and not unfrequently the- vietimi of weak or
-wicked men who have pretended to have their welfare at
heart. The politician or the. philosopher in the retirement
of his closet may form imaginary systems for the govern:
meat of inaukind, which if reduced to practise would
produce nothing but anarchy, confusion,-and bloodshed.
_lt is scarcely possible to effect considerablelilteration in the
constitution of any country, Where habit has canonized even
defects, and almost sanctified abuses, andwhere thig second,
nature has become (what it generally does) more powerfui
than the first. It is almost impossible, I say,, to effect such
a change without such consequences. If it be asserted on
one hand that every government, however perfect, will
necessarily require some alterations, if it be only from the
corruption or the vissicitudes of human affairs, it.may be
as fairly affirmed on the other, that mope ever was so bad,
that in order to ame, d, it was ecessary first to subvert
and destroy it. The skilful physician and the bold empi-
' rical impostor act very differently. The former endeavours
by cooling medicines to allay the inflammation which Ails-
tresses the patient, he endeavours by corroborauts to
strengthen the Weaker parts, and by restoratives to give
new vigour and efficiency to the vital principles, and to
. heal the diseased members. He will not madly order the
surgeon to amputate the ann for a whitloe on the finger.
The empiric on the contrary, leaves nothing to the vis
dicatrix ?laurel', but administers exasperatiug irritants, and