The National Register.
London, England, 1808-08-28 00:00:00

'HE NATIONAL RECISTI

546

mercial

0

we will suppose, but after the ratification, she would al-
ways find some pretext to keep possession of the principal
birbours of the Baltic and the Mediterranean. Those per-
sons who may be inclined to doubt this, we take the liberty
of referring to the conduct she pursued subsequent to the
Peace of Amiens. In this Treaty it was particularly sti-
pulated that she should withdraw her troops from Holland
and other countries. However, instead of conforming to
this stipulation, she continued to keep in them consider-
able armies, and to throw restrictions on our trade. As
Cie has not ince that time displayed greater respect for
treaties, or pursued a more equitable mode of ionduct, it
would be rather imprudent to reject experience for specu-
lation, and bestow too much confidence on any future
prote•tations she may make. if precedent and example
should have any vreight on the conclusions of men, there
is strong reason to presume, that in the event of a new
Peace, she would, notwithstanding any stipulations we
may make, continue to keep military possession of the
countries she now occupies. We should be exposed to the
same difficulties and vexations, throughout this large tract
of Europe, as we had been in the ports of Holland and
lia y, atter the Peace of Amiens. Should ever Bonaparte
be prevailed on to abandon the States of the King of
Prussia, and by this means open to us the Oder, there is
no reason to conclude that he will withdraw his troops
from the Hanse Towns, and from the Duchy of War-
,saw. As long as his two brothers retain .the sovereignty
• of Holland and Vi'estphalia, we shall he as effectually shut
out from the Rhine, the Elms, the Weser, the Elbe, and
the Vistula, as we are at present. Peace offers us then no
prospect of regaining our former commercial superiority ;
for it would be absurd to conclude that the present Ruler
of Frtince, to the detriment of his own subjects, would al-
low us our former free intercourse with Italy, Holland,
and the different States of Germany. This advantage we
can alone derive from the successful efforts we make in
rescuing those States from the grasp of the Common Ty-
rant. Every thing portends that an opportunity will be
soon afforded us for trying the experiment; and vihen the
benefits we shall gain, in case of seems, are weighed
against the sacrifices we may be called on to make, no
false motives of economy, nor remembrance of former
disasters, should prevent us from seconding, to the utmost
extent of our resources, military and pecuniary, any fu-
ture efforts of the Continent, which may contribute to re-
410nblish the ancient connexion.


REVIEW OF POLITICAL DECLAINIERS.


No. XXX.

NNW

TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE DUKE OF YORK.
S:R,—Though an English Public may continue for a few days
to be the dupes of an insolent and even ignorant impostor, and to
be biassed by the unwarrantable and injudicious comments of
some ,4*our daily prints, this infatuation cannot long resist their
characteristic good sense, and aversion to injusLice. The treat-
ment you nave suffered has been ungenerous, unprincipled, and
almost unprecedented. Your name has been used as a mark fo►
tb • • -tarts of the malignant and indiscreet, and for the shields of
the sellias and the canning. Though on have already suffered
more from the insidious defence of pretended friends, t: an from
the acrimony and malignity of your detractors, your cause is at
present so connected with that of justice, that we would consider

~.~+~.

,

'

a •

ex.

4asenee stsrneeitraitty Ia a trontest, w here innocence is opposed
to Caditinay, impudence, and indiscretion, as marks of as mat
cowardice and hascnessTailf we entered the lists in favour of your
antagonists. In-advocating your cause, we come forward in sup-
port of our own dearest and most Meted rights. When a single
lividunl, whatever he his rank or station, is attacked, without
a justifiable canoe being assigned, without even a plausible pre.
teat, being given, the *bole eommunitylis as much aggrieved as
the single megfbee against whom the attack is directed
• Our
silence would be particularly criminal; because we know the
man, and we know his motives. Though mistaken zeal, and per-
haps something worse than levity on the one hand, and a sincere
attachment to the interests of the country on the other, have iu.
dueed some Writers to discuss, perhaps with too much freedom,
the pretensions of the seseral candidates for the supreme com-
mand of the army destined to co-operate with the Spaniards, a
vile writer has the audacity, in the presence of his astonished
Country, to publish, with your supposed connivance, and under
!the sanction of your name, the mint daring and the most libel-
lose accusations against the worthiest and most distinguished
tisaracters in the country. IV hil,t the whining hypocrite affects
.to commiserate the injustice done to your Royal Highness, he
has the effrontery to associate the respectable name of a Mr.
Canning with that of a Cohbett, as united in the same plan of
obloquy and persecution. No other man but a 11—t could be
guilty of the blundering insolence as to suppose that a British
Public would believe that a Statesman, *hose genius is only iu-
ferior to his integrity, would associate with an individual, whose
very name, without the necessity of further proof, would stamp
a stigma on the cause.
The noblest institutions are not free from abuses. The Press,
which is the securest fence against the encroachments of power,
serves also as a cover to the ruffian who lies in w nit for the dis-
tinguished and the honest. Though your Royal Highness may
disdain dragging a Wretch of this description to justice, we are
not restrained by similar motives from undertaking that office.
He may still glory in his imagined security, and laugh at the
success of his imposture, but we will draw the caitiff from his
cover, and expose him trembling and naked to the detestation
of the public.
Your Royal Highness must naturally feel both surprise and
indignation that any man in this country could he so weak and
unreflecting as to suppose you capable of countenancing stub a
production. But the error was natural, if the Closet and l'aini!,;
Council had any where existence out of the shallow head of this
bungling scribbler, that some individuals should suppose th;it
such a production could wily proceed from the influence of a
mysterious and invisible party, the existence of which is so re-
pugnant to the feelings of a free people, and in such disrini:-
ance with the principles of a free government. "1 lie Mten.-
perance and want of candour manifested by the daily Priiit- on
this disgraceful subject, unfortunately contributed to fo,ter the
delusion. In exculpating your Royal Highness of any I,tio
ledge of this writer, we will expose the dangerous tendei.,-) rf
his constitutional principles, and the impudence with «bit h I.e
intrudes himself on the public as y, our defender.
Whatever difference of opinion may be expressed by the tv.
parties in this country, relative to some constitutional questiet:s,
and the execution of rattle measures, will any man hate the
audacity to declare that they do not coincide in ;In ardent love
of their country, a profound veneration for her institutions, and
a respectful attachment for their Sovereign. The existence of
those very parties is inseparable from :t free government, and it
cannot, in fact, exist without them. What does this fellow then
mean with his Domestic Party—a kind of Family and Ciu.sct
Council, whom he inly uccasionatly interpose &;ticcen can his
Ministi y and himself. Our Sovereign surrounded w itli a secret
party to whom no responsibility is attached!—Whose suggestions
cannot fail to counteract the ostensible advice of Ministers, and
to separate the interests of the Monarch from those of bit yea-
.