The National Register.
London, England, 1814-05-15 00:00:00

Sir ,Ezitne.s, after the trouble of preparing eing
determincd to " have hi: :ay,'' cuts rather a ludicrous I;g,tre
while reci;ing a st; ing cssap,, 1:cld to i e worth litee
,I;e;e ; th;,ll;h .e,v pa tal.)!e, ;f t d in their proper place
betw,ten tl.e " ,•n ' in :t Mortqly Magazine.
and the rtiquii.its of iirelli;,t-tit corrtspo.:d.. nis respecting
" the (;f milk and inat.krel" in church time on the Lord's
day.

With this prodigious acnnisition to their company, the
party have reccntiy ut forth their whole strcn ;th in a drama
founded on the recent Events in Norway. Here was cer-
tainly a very fine subject fur deel:mation. A whole COpn.
plc stretching eut their hands for bread and denied by this
euontry ! A Government nbo has strait e 1 every nerve to
conquer and to secure the indere olence of Spain and Por-
tugal, preparing to oppose theme.voi to the claims, set up by
the innocent Norwegians ! There Was cent Aids, a noble field
for a display of oratory. To be sure Ministers had a tolerably
' ready answer to the qoestion " why do you, who succoured
Spain engage to blockade Norway i-" if they chose to recri-
minate they might say, " and wily do you who advised us to
abandon Spain, blame us for not taking up the cudgels for Nor-
way?" It was rather dangero is to say much on the subject of
inconsistency. This by the -bye i 4 always tender ground with
The Talents. Their former speeches on the subject of the
war in the Peninsula, hung like mill stones ibout their necks.
They felt this, and this appalling ceasideration checked theirs
in the high career of their eloquence. To what dire distress
must they have been reduced before they could bring them-
selves to venture on such a question.
In both houses the supporters of the motions brought for-
ward by !,ord Grey and Mr. W. Wynne, !abou cd much to
prose what nobody cared to deny, Ilea it is iaid down by the
most esteemed writers of pub.ie law, that a nation when the
king abdicates his authority has a r'ght to declare itself in-
dependent. This is admitted, but that a monarch to whom
a country has been ceded by its legitimate Sovereign, is not
justified in forcing it to submit to his authority if he can, it
is not so easy to prove from Grotius, PuffendortY, or Vattel.
Still more difficult will the party find it to establish this
principle—that where a sovereign to save himself from utter
ruin, cedes one part of his dominions to secure the rest, he
may afterwards elude the treaty be has made by getting a
kinsman, meting as his °firer, to set himself up as king,
and by making the people declare themselves independent
cheat the power to which the cession has been made. But
this they would hardly take into their consideration. The
King of. Denmark is such a favorite with the party that they
could not not Suspect him of any underhand doings. The
cession they assumed must have been made in good faith,
and that which there is reason to believe is but a partial in-
Fnrrection, they held to be nothing less than a spontaneous
and universal rising of the people.
They contended we ought not to consider what would be
advantageous, but only what was just, and in the same
breath endeavoured to persuade us that because Sweden Was
naturally the ally of France. we ought to prevent the niedi-
-tated annexation of Norway.
Butt then it was asserted we were not bound by the treaty
to assist ie:weden if the Norwegians resisted. This was most

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