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

remark. derive their knowledge of the Commercial spirit
of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Russia, from
sources we are unacquainted with,: and have only this dis-
advantage, that their information is nol founded upon FACT.
As long as the present order, or rathe► disorder, of Okla
lasts, there are tcw in any of those countries, who will b. 4ye
the hardihood to speculate largely in any tradinc, concern,
which requires much time and money, -Those who,, even
four years ago, wheii affairs wore a better, aspect, were en-
gaged in similar concerns, instead of enlarging them,
thought only of means of withdrawing their. capitals frank
the precarious and unprofitable speculation. The accounts
published id .the French! Journals, relative to the Leipsick
and Frankfort fairs, are -gross and palpable falsehoods,
which could not deceive any one, who had even a super-
ficial knowledge of the existing state of Germany.

Such is the favorabk view, which the internal state of
the empire presents in thisimportant branch of our in.
ilustry. .But it cannot be t!euiod, that a burdensome system
of taxation outweighs, in SOMS measure, the splendid ef-
fects of the national industry. and euterpvise. It presses
hard upon the middling and lower classes of the people;
and cannot be rendered much more productive, without
exciting a general discontent amongst, the
.great
of the Public. The pain, wising from this. tinavoidable
burden, becomes more acute, and occasions, louder niur-
mers, in consequence of the exorbi'.ant price of the first
and most necessary articles of consumption. The indivi-
duals, who suffer, have neither patience nor capacity, nor
perhaps candour, to investigate the real cause of these
hardships; and impute them to the mismanagement of the
government. This misapprehension generates a lamentable
distrust oh the part of a numerous class of the community,
in the justice and probity of the governmg, and a spirit of
impatience under legitimate rule. Hence these cries ant
associations about reform. Hence this rooted jealousy of
public :nee ; and pleasure expressed at the exposure of
public delinquency.
But there is another question, connected with internal
policy, upon which the future peace, perhaps the existence
of the community, hang. The Reader will easily divine,
we allude to the great question sof CATR*LIC EmAncipit-
'riot/. That respectable and numerous body of our fellow
citizens are excluded from a perticipationtin the common
benefits, because they say their prayers in Latin ; abstain
from flush on Fridays and Saturdays, and observe some ex-
,
tem.' ceremonies of worship different from their brethren.
Upon this frivolous, narrow-sighted, impolitic, and anti.
christian plot, four millions of subjects professing the same
principles of practical religion, recognizing the same pre-
cepts; adopting the same guide, adoring the same CO:11..
mors FATHER ; professing and exercising the same prin-
ciples of philanthropy with their Protestant brethren, arc
trev.ted with partial and step-motherly severity. The con-
tinuance of these restrictions is a disgrace to our Statute
Book ; an outrage upon the meek and brotherly religion
of JESUS ; an insiilt to common sense ; a violation of the
most obvious pokey; ;mil degrades us in the opinion of
the rest of mankind. if their religious dogmas, or their
private opinions, breathe a spirit hostile to the safety and
freedom- of the state; it was irrational and imprudent to
remove a single restriction under w hid) they laboured.
Bul,• if the reverse can be proved ; if they are equally in-
, te rested in the freedom and honour of their country ; if