The National Register.
London, England, 1812-10-04 00:00:00

6.10

A third writer, Who tells us his work came up like a grain
of mustard seal, and spread over the whole civilised world, i '
merely by the force of the truths it contained, is the next 1,
candidate for the honours due to the friend of truth. Ilis
claims, it tinist be admitted, are considerable, for as what-
ever
he has told us at one time he has contradicted at ano- ,
ther, he must have made sure of a good deal of truth, 00
which ever side it happened to be. ifs merits are already
so • correctly appreciated, that any lengthened comment .
.would here be superfluous. The right which he has as-
serted
of a patriot to sell the cause of the country whenever
be can make a good bargain of it, the gravity with which
he complained of not ha% in; had time to reply, through the
medium of the press, to a charge, which the single monsylla-
ble—" No !" would have ans vcred as completely as a fdio
volume, and the g.ace with which he exhibited himself
as a martyr to the cause of the liberty of the pres. 4, while
proofs, the most in cfr ag,ahle, were in existence, of his having
exerted himself to the utmost to betray it, furnish sufficient
evidence of his disinterestedness, modesty, and intezritn, to
entitle him to a high rank in that class of writers whose'
claims to pnblic support we arc now attempting to describe.
The patriot, who now advances preposterously flourishing
in one band a placard, on Nvhich the word " Independence"
a...pears in large letters, while the other is stretched out to beg
sems, ought not to be overlooked. This wurthv, who is coo-
'tautly puffing . his independence, and advertising for a sub-
scription, has lately been labouring to enlighten the public
. ,
by h:s asterisks, dashes, and initials ; and as he values himself
for his courage in broadly stating bold facts, he has lately had
the astonishing intrepidity to give us to understand that the
, " **** •). ********** was the --- of S." In addition
to this interesting statement, he has treated his readers with
a string. of hood-winked interrogatories, which arc put
to the " **** " **********, and which lie (the "" "
.•"*****")" is called upon to answer on his honour.
r.om these, he wishes it to be understood, by all but his 11a-

jesty% Attorney-General, as it apprars to rcc, (we must exprcs,k
ourselves thus cautiously, when we speak of a Tworestcd friend
to the liberty of the press, or we shall certainly be prcse-

cutcd for a libel) that the tragical event which occurred about
two years ago, when it was supposed that the life of the Duke
of Cum BERLASb was. attempted by his Yale, has never been
truly laid before the public, and further, he wishes it to be be-
lieved, thatSEI,LIs made no attempt to murder his n aster, but
that SELLlSliimself was murdored I Thk independent wl
sever finds himself at home but when he has a murder to
work upon, and it was probably his consciou6noss of this filet
that induced hint a short time.ago to oiler a bounty on ;
murder, by proposing a public subscription for the widow
of BF.Li.INGHAM, when he laboured to prove that the as-
sassin was an honourable ulf.rtunate man—a Martyr!
while he had the infamy to insinuate that the late lamented
Minister was a traitor to his country, who had heeo saved by
the pistol of BELLING/lAm from an ignominious end. Such
was the view which this friend to truth, affected to take of
that atrocious act which deprived England. of the valuable
services of a PERCEVAL, and midi, ere his remains were
eold in the grave, was the conduct which his hronanitq dic-
. tated to soothe the anguish of the Premier's disconsolate
. widow, to dry the teats of his orphan family.
We ale twt anxious to add to this list, in order to make
by its length, apil therefore will not include in
it lathe judeyendead bauhrunts who have quitted the path of
hone t iudttWy to take up the trade of patriotism. We will
licit,. on the present occasion, bring forward that blzAhing
kw.tdity which has so magnanimots/y recommended -itself to
(jre liatity of tbs. Pubic, as a proi;er objelt satisc,ip.-

0 CT
. 4.

tion, and so modes.qy up,m rt-tional munificence to
contribute to its suppoi t. Having noticed those who
are most conspicuous for the parade they make of their
love of ti uth, and anxiety • to open the eyes of the Public,
we think, from the sample we have given, nur Readers will
be able to form a tolerably correct es!imate of the merits of
the whole body.
There is another class of per Sons who conic forward to
open the eyes of the people, by means of pamphlets and
poems. These scribblers are so truly contemptible, ti!at
v..c tisk censnre, in condescending to notice them at AL
One comes forward with great imporcance, to tell us of
" The hook;" another w;th " the Spirit of the Book ;" and
a third with a " Secret history" compiled
.I.com the yez;:v-
papers. Another, inspired by the muse, advances as Peter
Pindar, junior, to inform us that .
The P----- hc promised to be good:'
and then, sublimely mall
~uous, to add a string of breats and
stars wbkh are supposed to conceal something of might,/
• impart, but which reveal nothing, and only remind us c>
the significant shake of " Ephraim Jenkins" when he bad
nothing to say, which gave " The Vicar of Wakefield," to
understand that " if he chose, he could say a great deal."
We have not only a Peter Pindar, jun. but we ate blessed
with a Junius, jun. a Philo-Junius, and a Crito, jun. who
come forward to' tell bold trial's in the same prudent way,
and who ate equally successful in opening the eyes of the
• public. Of these friends to their country it is, however, In -
tieccsary for us to say any thing faither. By describing the
(?f frith, and •' openers of eves," of more consequence,
we have enabled the public to judge to what degree of atten-
! tion'and confidence they are entitled. The miserable rabble
we have last noticed, it would be a waste of time to censure,
as we cannot but admit that their works are as harmless in
effect as they arc infamous in design, which is saying a great
deal. Anxious to make a noise in the world, as wicked wets,
their greatest efforts have only gained them the reputation
of unprincipled'for 1•, • r them all, there is
fools, mop! an.ons tem
not a single scoundrel of talent. •

FOREiGN INTELLIGENCE.