The National Register.
London, England, 1809-11-26 00:00:00

SUNDAY, N 0 E M U:F4 R 1809.

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No. 100:

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• POLtricAL DISQUISITION.
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Wingigibit WIN ICTIr•ICIGhtT.
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11.11 lISTERIAL ARRA!*GEMENTB.
-• The Earthquake, which freqesenay spares the cottage,
levels the proud dome, and the stupendous palace in the
dust. Laws, exmitly similar, ,Itlet*: to govern the moral
world ; and the great marls of men are nut excessively af-
fected by'cbnvolsiOns, which sweep 'away every trace of
genius and public spirit. • This is:illustrated by the History
of the French;' English, and Roman Revolutions. They
were ushered in by an uncommon, display of talents and
Virtue; and may, perhaps, be as much attributed to a
imperabendanste of abilities, as to a complication 'of abuses.
GOverninent, under its present form, almost in any coun-
tryi .could not satisfy the wishes, or the wants, of a very
enlightened community. The most perfect. were formed
in a rude ageoufa calculated fot the necessities of rude men:
As this is the origin of nearly every political establishment,
on unusual concourse of extraordinary men, out of the
pale, within which, the efficient members of Government
are generally chosen, are extremely dangerous to a barrier,
they consider injurious to their pretensions. This was the
pritieipat'enuse-of 'the memorable Revolution of 1789,
Whith4rilittu.rired not only the French Throne, but threa-
tened to subvert the established, forms of polity, in every
ether country. • Fortunately, for our olvn constitution, the
talents of the governing, at that time, were so transcend-
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ant, ants outshine the great mass of light, which was
spread through the several classes of the community. This
was the reverse in France, where men of the . first genius,
appertaining to the, body of the people, by birth ; and se-
- eluded from office, by prejudice and intrigue, overturned,
-in o. moment, the Altar and the Throne. But, of all the
-eminent men, who impelled, or were impelled, by the
vortex of that dreadful Revolution, and whose genius
tempered iteexcessive violence, few exist in this moment ;
and this disappearance may be termed the last act of that
•memetable drama. This is .by far the most lamentable
•effect of political convulsions ;—they destroy, or disfigure
• the nobler organs of the social body, and leave behind a
-bloated,fputrid mass, and languid inefficient members. We
may safely assert, that there never was, sincethe commence-
- meat of society, a greater display of talents of every descrip-
tion, but particularly, in the science of goversussenkthan at
the beginning of the Revolution ; And, after an interval of
twenty years, we can scarcely discover four or five persons
of that description,. scattered over the wide surface •f
Europe.—" Bari nantes iu Gurgile vasio." The danger
and the storm have not decreased ; but, we look, in vain,
for pilots, who, like BURKE, Fox, and PITT, joined hardi-
hood to experience,• an all inspiring confidence to the most
consummate skill.
This dearth of distinguished abilities is deplorably visible,
in this moment, amongst the leaders of both parties ; but
in examining the present Mithsterie/ Arrangements, we are
Poi. ll.—Ne. C.

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Pn Ick 942.

appalled with terror, at seeiug, to whose hands, the helm
of the State, in thiS awful crisis, is con tided. We are no
alarmists; and have no personal objection to the members
of the present Cabinet; bet feel an unutterable anxiety,
when we reflect on the consequences that may result front
their continuance in office. Let us take the range of a
Century, and it is impossible, to discover au Administra-
tion, so deplorably defective, so miserably constituted, so
destitute of public contidencei—as the present. Taking
ten times that range, or the whole course of our instruc-
tive annals, we shall not discover a single period, in which
transcenthuit abilities were more imperiously requisite,.
This is a most alarming contradiction I Danger swells about
us. It assumes, every hour, a more menacing, a more.
gigantic form. Our friends, our neighbours, have been
successively ingulphed in its vortex. All their efforts, sup-
ported. by desperate firmness, and repeated with unex-
ampled obstinacy, aided by our pecuniary, military, and
naval resources, have not bees sufficient to save them front
the calamity r• and they now contribute, by their accessary
streams, to swell the torrent, whose devastating violence
be. soon directed, exclusively, against this country.—
Confidence, under perilous circumstances, implies magma-
mity, superior to every danger; or betrays foslhardieess,
the surest symptom of impending ruin. It merits the,
former appellation, when a people, thungb,aresaesi,by ask't
extraordinary accumulation of difficulty and dangers', Inca- •
fice remoter views to the urgency of the moment; associate
cordially their common energies, by agreeing to renounce •
vexatious distinctions, which one. province,-or a particular
sect, may arrogate over another; and thus co-operating
with one hand and one heart, are-guided. by a governMent,
which has wisdom enough to encourage this unanimity ;
and talents, as well as popularity, to employ it effectuakr.
Under such circumstances, that people are superior to every
contingency of fortune;, and display magnanimity in re-
posing the most unlimited confidence in their own exer-
tions, and the wisdom of their leaders. But, reverse the
position, and suppose the Government, on the contrary,
actuated by the blindest prejudices, and, whilst every other
member of the coirsvnunity, whose of inion has any weight
in moral and political questions, scot is and abhors every
degma tending to disunite,—so devoid .of the liberal and.
-enlarged spirit of true policy and genuine philanthropy, as
to express apprehension and doubt, about the expediency
-of cancelling grievances, which oppose au insurmountable
barrier to unataimity,—stippose them, at the same time,
labouring, under a strong suspicion of similar narrowness in
-every branch of administrative science, and practical wis-
.dotn;—then confidence, under the guidance of such men,
and in a crisis of unprecedented danger, betrays, on the
part of the community, the blindest rashness, and the most
- thoughtless levity.
. To illustrate these general remarks, and to apply them to
ourselves and to our own situation, let us take a dispassion-

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ate view of the internal state and foreign rflations of the
eznp:r.e. We d;srlairn, in the strungest terms, and the widest
sense, a subserviency to Ova vicovs or a.‘y.,party,;. mad, in

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