The National Register.
London, England, 1809-10-01 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

left free and unfettered by the knots or cabals of public
men, and that in the exercise of that discretion, he should
be able to do his duty to himself and his people, without be-
ing reduced in his choice, merely to determine between one
party or another, which would in effect he depriving him
of all choice of selection whatever. it is ridiculous to say
that men getting into power by such means may be punish-
ed for incapacity or misconduct. The Constitution has
given to the King the exercise of a thscretionary power,
which may prevent the occurrence of what it may be diffi-
cult to punish. This power in the King has a natural ter,-
deney (from the interest he basin the prosperity of the peo-
ple) to exclude bad men from a share in the Government.
and not to trust for the safety of the State to sohsequent
punishment alone, and which, when power is lodged in had
hands may fall upon the injured instead of the
and which, at any rate, must come too late. Besides, if
the high and responsible offices of the State are to he Olen
to one or two great men of a party, merely because they
have concentrated the means of political attack or de-
fence, and when called upon to fill these situations, they
arc allowed to dictate to their sovereign, who shall fill all'
the secondary and efficient (act's, and shall have a power
of distributing through the hous::hold of the Royal Fa-
mily their myrmidous and dependants, what will this be,
.but to enable them on the one hand to occupy all the
avenues to the Throne, and on the other to carry any
point they may wish to effect, according to their own in-
terests, without any controul on the part of the other
branch of the Constitution which would cease to be inde-
pendent. Does not this sort of conduct plainly tell us
that these gentlemen think no administration can b? per-
fect over which they do not preside, and does it not avow the
necessity of the party of which they are the heads, being a
fourth part of the Constitution, if not, more properly speak-
ing a third, since it reduces to a mere form, one of the
other constituent parts. Who are the persons which this
proscriptive party spirit (dignified by the titles of unshaken
adherence to principle and attachment to connection) are
desirous of excluding. Are they not men of the first fa-
milies, and among those who -posses the largest properties
in the kingdom. Are they not distinguished for private
worth and public abilities, are they not more distinguished
by a sober and steady attachment to the Constitution of
their country, than they can be by their birth or stations ?
We know it will be objected, that schemes of admini-
stration without sotnc bond of union, some principle of
confidence are delusive and visionary ; and however con-
tradictory the reasoning may appear, we arc told that an
administration composed of one party does not necessa-
rily imply •a proscription of any other party. Credal
Judteus I—lt will be contended that the great offices of state
require to be in the hands of men united by some tie in or•
der to secure the predominence of right and uniform princi-
pies, that they may deliberate with confidence, and execute
with fidelity, and that if this plan cannot be adhered to,
in practice to its fullest extent, we ought to pursue it as far
as we can, and approach as nearly to perfection ns possible.
That the mind of the Sovereign will never know repose,
or the business of Coverament be carried on with energy
and effect, ;inked it be entrusted to men who can trust one
another, Such have. been time arguments that, at one pe-
riod or another, have been urged upon this delicate sub-
ject ; but, for our parts, we haveno hesitation in declaring
our mamas, that to drew aline fur the F.overeign to walk

OCT. 1.

by, is to destroy his independence. That to restrict him in the
choice of ser• ants, by declaring that if he takes this man
he shall take another,, is unconstitutional and improper;
and that a party who thus force men upon their Sovereign,
who have no respect for his opinions, of which they are
independent, and who have no gratitude for favours which
they are underTno obliv,ation to him for dispensing; such a
party, we say, may deceive the ignorant by appearing to
,erve, but they cannot conceal from the intelligent and
discerning, that, iu fact and in reality, their object is Co
overn him.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

Sm.-Two alarming phenomena fix the attention of the
observer, in contemplating the occurrences of the time,
and the present state of society. He perceives, on the part
4if the people, rapidly spreading through the different
el:loses, a jealous spirit of investigation into public mea-
sures, and an unqualified distrust of public men. On that
of Government, an obstinate, wayward', adherence to pre-
tensions, extremely repulsive to the existing temper of the
former ; incompatible with their intellectual improvement ;
implying a diueet contradiction to the genuine spirt of the
constitution ; repelled by meson as well as true expediency,
and maintaiued only from the silly motive, that concession
in one case, however urgent,mighl establish a precedent for
innovation in matters of acknowledged utility. sow, Sir,
in considerin, the accumulating: dangers of our situation,
the failure of all our enterprizeo, full the incompetency of
the measures ee hitherto adopted, either to restrain the
one, or prevent the recurrence of the other, I cannot con-
ceive any thing more alarming than this discordance of
views and sentiments I have just alluded to. In ordinary
times it would give a grating, joggling motion, to the whole
machine of government ; but in a moment so perilous and
gloomy as the present is, it exposes it to overturn at every
step. lam fully aware of the danger of an indiscreet ex-
posure of certain facts ; but when the evil becomes se-
rious, and the danger imminent, it is the duty of every man
to point it out, and try to counteract it. Occasioes may
occur when silence is criminal and dangerous; and a nation
should not be treated like a stubborn patient, who rejects
the physician anti his prescription., because he is honest
enough to resist his wayward fancy, and not to conceal
from him the true state of his distemper. Our situation is
critical in the extreme; but can only he rendered desperate
by-persevering in a regimen, which the experience of six-
teen years has proved to he prejudicial. It is time to
awake from the ill-fated delusion. We have been slumber-
ing all this time in a vessel balletic' by. the rudest storm,
and when the men at the helm were neither unanimous,
nor skilful enough to direct her even in propitious wea-
ther. Providence has preserved us till now. We have
seen the ships, in which our friends were embarked, shat-
tered to pieces by the ivy of the tempest ; and their pilots
were equally ignorant and disunited. Our's is still staunch,
and she only wants a master-haed to steer her in safety. The
crew are excellent; full of mirage ; superior to panic;
103 al, persevering, and contaut. They will laugh at the
storm, should its violence, even increase, as soon es they
are s.msible that their exertions are not marred by the un-
skillfulness of the steersmen.

I should be sorry, Sir, were yon or your readers to
mistake my sentiments. I never enlisted under the ban-
ners of any political party; and disavow preposesiion in
favour of any. Perfect neutrality in a free stite is, how-
ever, impossible, and perl..ps detrimental; for the talents
and zeal of the individual, however ardent and compre-
hensive, are unequal to operate with great advantage to
the community.. but I am not so bigotted as to excom-
municate even Lord CASTLER LAGFI from the pale of ,ad-
ministration, or to think that integrity and genius are ttio
excl*sive.patrioaony of the Grarrillitti Rod Yozitos. bucik