The National Register.
London, England, 1819-08-30 00:00:00

lol►i ca[ Ilet toOpect.

atservations last week on the lamentable
o.,..aTences at Manchester were written while in-
dif.r.iation was boiling in the blood, and we might
have been pardoned if our expressions hod been
stronger than our cooler reflection would justify ;
the very reverse, however, is the ease. Every time
we revert to the sulject, our feelings of horror are
increased ; every fact we learn respecting the meet-
ing itself adds bitterness to the conviction, that those
dio have perished have fallen victims to the most
wanton exercise of power placed in the hands of
ii;narance and cowardice that ever disgraced the
page of History. We rejoiced last week, amid all
our griefs, that Government was not at all identified
with these transactions, and we anticipated the pos-
sibility of those with whom they had originated
expiating their crime on the scaffold. The letter of
Lord Sidmouth to the Earl of Derby has removed
this source of gratulation, for by that letter Govern-
ment has become the espousers of those acts which
we hoped would have been left to their own justifi-
nation—acts which are anathematized by every ho-
nest man, acts that are declared on all hands to have
been unsupported by even the necessity of the case;
acts that are at variance with every thing that we
are taught to respect as the laws of our country, are
boldly approved by an administration whose incon-
sistency is glaringly displayed by their allowing a
meting to take place the very game day as
this notable letter is published, in the heart of the
e.l,2tropulis, which meeting separated in perfect peace
-;.d order, and just as that at Manchester, doubtless,
-oultl have done, but that the Magistrates deter-
. Lined to prevent such a conclusion. To have pro-
..rvetl their consistency, Ministers should have
imitated the Lancashire Magistrates—they should
have ordered the City Light Horse to have chervil
and sabred the unoffeeding, unarmed, peaceable,
though misguided men. This letter of approval
really appears to us to be the most uncalled fur and
gratuitous act of gross folly that has ever signalised
the present Ministers—et c' beaucoup a dire. Be-
sides, lot us look at the situation in which the exe-
cutive may yet be placed by this ridiculous document
—suppose that a Jury of honest men be found in
Lancashire, who, in conformity to their oaths, on
hearing the evidence, should pronounce a verdict of
Wilful Murder, and this is by no means a hyperbn-
ical supposition; why, in such case the executive
would be obliged either to sign a death warrant for
an net it had approved, or extend the Royal cle-
meney to a crime which never ought to be par-
doned. We tremble when we look at the effect that
might be produced on the public mind by the exten-
sion of mercy under such circumstances. Moreover,
imbecility itself might have remembered that the
statements Ministers have hitherto received have
been entirely ex parte, and furnished by those who
probably, feeling they had gone too far, have, under
the united influence of remorse and fear, suppressed
the worst features of the business, and substituted in
their place those of a very different complexion.
Our readers will perceive that Ministers were
determined the approbation to be expressed should
Le pure and unmixed. The intrusion of the slightest
expression of regret that so many Englishmen had
Leen killed or mutilated, was not to be tolera'ed.

The " Nun-rep:estnted People," as they call
themselves. are asaociated, and we call upon those
who are represented to unite, not to oppose Rational
Ref •••1. nor to promote L'niversal Suffrage and
AnT d Parliaments, but to call meetings all over
the .;!oin, to address his Royal Highness to

foon his Councils for ever" Owe Ministers

• ho, '. : total disregard and contempt of the
Dishes, wants, ulid sufferings of the
i l'enduced such as irritation in the pub.
• . Al, as n ing tise can allay. Let, then, no
• be lost—it is not yet too late, and whenever
shall consist of men in whom a well-

kOnbeli.
MONDAY, AVOIIbT 30.

ski,* We have received, in a blank envelope, by the
Twopenny Post, a printed copy of one of the most
infamous incitements to open rebellion that we
have ever read. We would gladly lend our aid
towards refor.ning the abuses that have crept into
our Government, but those persons are entirely
mistaken who suppose that every thing in our
power wnyld not be done to b.-;ng to justice
any one who should attempt to subvert what
we would willingly help to restore to its pris-
tine excellence.

The private letters by the Dutch Mail state, that
the recent additional duty on coffee is becoming
every day more odious, and the manner of collecting

it is still more unpopular than the imposition itself
The public feeling on this subject was strongly ma-
nifested at the Vauxhall of Rotterdam on the 14th
instant, where the Minister, Appelins, with whom.
the measure originated, happened to be present.
The instant he was discovered he was surrounded,
severely beaten, and driven oat of the place ; had he
not been near the gate, and thus enabled to make
his es.l very suddenly, so irritated were his assail-
ants, that he would not have escaped without serious.
personal injnry. lie his made retreat from Rotter-
dam the next day, taking the circuitous route of
Vaarding and Ketel to the I lague, to avoid notice.
A letter from Rotterdam of the 21st inst., remark-
ing on the tax upon coffee, observes—" Every means
was used to prevent the imposition of this burden ;
but the King would nut hear any reasons against it,
and even employed his influence to procure a ma-
jority for it in the Chambers : he hos caused b) this
a general di•gust, and roused anew the dislike for-
merly so fatal to his father. Had the geed old
Datch system been adapted and followed, all could
have gone on well, and trade would have flourished;
but his advisers have served their apprenticeship
under the French, and " all goes wrong."
The difficulties to winch our commerce is subjec-
ted in the transit of goods through Holland to the
interior of Germany have turned the attention of
merchants towards a plan for establishing a different

route, and,for avoiding the Dutch provinces altoge.
ther. Thi3 is proposed to be effected by cutting a
canal from Minden, through the territories of the
Elector of Hesse, to the Rhine, thus forming ano-
ther communication by which goods may be convey-
ed from the sea to all.parts of Germany by uninter.
rupted inland navigation. An eminent British en-
gineer has already been applied to; and it is in con-
templation to institute an actual survey for this rnr-
pose early in the spring of next year.

A great sensation was excited on Friday at the
Stock -Exchange by the failure of an eminent Lot-
tery-office-keeper, whose differences are stated to
amount to 60,0001. The alarm, however, was
greatly lessened on ascertaining that the individual
in question was likely in the end to fulfil all his en-
gagements. and that an indulgence in point of time
was ad that he required. Another casualty which
occurred durit°, the day was of a far less honourable
character. A broker who, like many others, had
bceome involved by the disastrous situation of th'
market, without disclosing his difficulties, demanded
checks for the differences in his favour, and drew
others for those against him. He received the mo-
ney for the former, but when the latter were taken,
in the usual way, to the clearin.,-house, it was found
that he had no effects. In the mean time he ab-
sconded. The Stock Excnange was in a considerable
ferment during the whole of Friday, but it was
caused chiefly lay the adjustment of its own per-
plexed transactions. Though very few new bar-
gains were transacted, the prices of stock underwent
material variation; the highest price of Oinniuto
during the day was 4i, and the lowest 3 premium ;
Consols for October varied from 72 to 71,3,, and
closed at 71,1.

The following requisition, signed by a great
number of respectable inhabitants of Westminger,
has been presented to Arthur Morris, Esq. the High
Bailiff, requesting him to call a Meeting in Palace-
yard, fur the purpose of taking into considerat►on
Parliamentary Reform, and the late proceedings at
Manchester.

TO ARTHUR.MORRIS, ESQ. 111011 BAILIFF" OF TIIE CITY

♦NU LINERTIES or WESTMINSTER.

We, the undersigned electors of Westminster, request you to
call an early meeting of the electors of Mis city and liberty, to
to.lo into their consideration the propriety of addressini4 tne
Prince Regent and the nation on the conduct of the magistrates
and Yeomen toward the people at their late public meeting at
Manchester, held for the purpose •• of considering the propriety
of adopting the roust legal and etfectual means of obtaining a re-
form in the Commons llouse of Parliament." _ .

The answer of the High HAM' to the Requisition
was, a positive refusal to call any Meeting ; but it
is understood that it will take place uotwi►hstan'ing
this refusal, Mr. Morita waited, on Friday morn-
ing, upon Mr. Birnie, the magistrate, at Boa -
street, li.r the purpose, it is understood, of consult-
ing with hint on the arrangements to be made for
the preservation of the peace in the event of a pub-
lic meeting. All the Police will be on the alert,
an uuditiuual number of n►ilittuy are already in the
Metropois. The meeting, it is confidently antic)•
ciliated, will take place sonic day next week, and
there is no doubt, that in point of respectability, it
will equal any assembly of the kind ever !mem.
bered in this country.