The National Register.
London, England, 1809-07-30 00:00:00

REGISTER.

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.TO COLONEL WARDLE.

_MO' 'el": 'l'
Situ:t .
I hare trot been wholly Without expectation that some of
the friends or enemies 14 whom you suffer yourself to be
bceasionally advised, Would have induced you ere this to
hake published the Letter yOu received from Mrs. CLARKE 4
upon the /subject of your promises and her remuneration;
but experience keeps a dear School in which even fools
learn Wisdom; you have thought proper to keep the Letter
in your pocket, and we wait with some anxiety for the com-
pletion of Mrs. CLARK promise. She it, at least, a woman
of her word ; the Duke of YORK has found her so. You
'nab-led the Public to make a similar discovery, and they
will not alter their opinion upon the testimony of Colonel
WA ROLE, OT Messrs. Donn and GINN fr. I ought not to
tisk fatiguing the public attention by calling it to a subject
whisk has long been onridered as tmwOrthy of it; but the
giddy height to Which you were raised, the space Which
you occupied in the eye of the public, and above all the
*font advantage that that public may derive from looking at
our Conduct on every point of view, will plead my excuse
for dwelling upon it. Assure yourself I have no personal
malignity to gratify, for I never saw you but 'Once, and
never exchanged a word with you, in public or private; and #
I would add, that nothing but considerations of a public
nature 'should induce me to continue M your company
but that a similar declaration, once made by yourself, with
respect to Mrs. CLARKE, has been so completely falsified,
that whilst that is in recollection, every netn Who 'wishes
to preserve a character for veracity will be very cautious
how he excites suspicion by repeating it. Neither is the
subject so inviting as to gratify our personal feelings in
pursuing it.--The historian, by selecting the brilliant cir-
cumstances private life or public events, and by unfold-
ing the characters of dignified and eminent personages, by
tracing well known effects through all the obliquities of
their secret tauses, not only engages our feelings but gra-
tifies his own.—The more puny biographer, from the ordi-
nary occurrences of the private life of great and extraor-
Aliniry characters, collects :he scattered rays which contri-
bute to one bright assemblage, and derives pleasure from
the employment. The novellist throws the enchantment of
fancy round his pictured representations, and embellishes
his heroines with beauty, or exalts their lovers into dignity. '
But very different, Sir, is the situation of a writer who has
,`to follow devious coarse of your politics,—N‘ho has to
ferret your political obliquities, since you received the
horn-hook from GLEN MEI or the more matured Lessons of
conduct from the Co-operator of your illustrious patron.—
The writer of your Life, Sir, can ascend no eminence ; in
the noon day of politics he MI repose under no dignified
shaiic ; he must be content to go ou without even the cheer-
ing consolation of conscious progression, oppressed with
taughor and fatigue from the dulluesa and very sameness of
the scenes by which he is surrounded, from which he can
only he cents onally roused into exertion by the noxious weeds
Or vapours that assail his senses, or p4d pricked by
1.V.Y.X111.

(Sin fling, constitution, ants Latuo.

SUNDAY, JULY 30, 1809.

Ai

PRICE 94.

the vermin that attend his steps and impede his labours. In
short, there is nothing but a consciousness of public utility
that can induce him to go on, and that 1 will do till the
perishable infamy of your conduct has been gibbetted with
iheNiNt's, the Cosa ETT'S) and the other political miscreants
of the day. But there are other vermin, Sir, who attend your
heels as well as mine, who are eulitled merely to that sort
of notice which a sportsman bestows upon a pole cat, when
he is in the ardent pursuit of a fox. 1 need hot bring to
the recollection of my readers the intemperate Address
which yOR published; it is remembered, to your disgrace
and confusion, by every honest man who has read it. This
has produced a masterly Address from Mrs. CLARKE, and a
plain unvarnished Statement from Mr. Witicivr.—lt is but
seldom that appeals of this nature can be brought before the
tribunal of the public with propriety. One of the.cases in
Which they are least exceptionable is when a party appears in
the situation of a defendant.—lf outrage of a public nature
b added to personal injustice, the person so attached, and so
injured, has a claim to candour, and even benevolence, if
his statement be offered with decency and temper, and sup-
ported with reason and probability.-111 the present case
railing has not been retorted with in eetive,. nor have the
judges to whom the appeal has been made, been treated as if
their decision were to be extorted by clamour. The cause
was obviously too good for such means to be resorted to, atkd
at any rate the judges were too respectable
.and the awl..
ser too contemptible. In private life we acknowledge, that
if an individual speaks uninvited in the concerns of ano-
ther, it is impertinent, and still more so if he acts in them;
but epithets are wanting to describe the character of a man,
who, uninvited and unsolicited, offers his meddling advice
upon every occasion, and ultroniously intertereswhere he has
scarcely an acquaintance with the parties,—ibr, if we are to
believe Sir RICHARD PHILLIPS, his acquaintance with you,
Sir, is of a very recent date ; for he says, in his silly Letter
dated from the Literary Manufactory in Bridge-street,
" Never: having- seen Mr. WARDLE, at the period alluded to,
or had any conversation with. that Gentleman' —lf tho
former partof this sentence be true, the latter is unnecessary,
unless some conversations in the dark came across the recol-
lection of the doughty Knight, at this instant. But. we bat,
quoted the passage,not to criticise, but merely to note that
Sir R. PuiLLirs declares, he had not even seen Mr. WARDLi
at the period alluded to.—But to avoid circumlocution
would address this part of my Letter to Sir RICHARD. At
your next conversation you may chew it to him. In what
respect is the introduction of your name " unaccountaple
Mr. WARDLE told ViramanT he would apply to you, and wag
it not very matural, and necessary too, that he should state
this fact ?—lloes Mr. WRIGHT state, that you were a party,
or even that the application had been made ?—He merely
says, that WARDLE said, " 1 will go down to Sir Rianany
PHILLIPS to-morrow morning, and he and some one else
will give you their bill without my name appearing." '
r Nobody doubts Mr. WitiouT's assertion, that WASIDLN
said this, but 1 will corroborate the probability by another
fact, -which if Mr. W.kantu dares to deny I pledge. myself
tO prove.—When Wate;ux pressed Wsains to pay Wei tkie