The National Register.
London, England, 1808-05-01 00:00:00

MAY 1.

•
That no reform of a general nature is mado in,out cle-
rical state, we certainly regret : but the present Bill;•wbieb '
is intended only for the relief' of that path or tfiiineigy-
who arc performing the duties of others, is certainly„de..
serving of approbation as far as it goes : and we shall be
moit happy if we find that the only defect which now ap- ,
pears upon it, shall be removed in the course of. its pro
gross through Parliament, by the relief of all those persons
who come within its principle, Whether temporary Ciliates,
permanent Curates, or Vicars who ate virtually Curates. .
REVIEW OF POLITICAL DECLAIMERS.

-


No. XVIII.

THE INDEPENDENT WIIIG.
A. fortnight ago we erposed to our Readers the general vulga-
rity and fully displayed hy•the Conductors of the Sunday News-
riper called The Independent Whig, in their accounts of foreign
alLiirs, and its comtuents and reasoning about them. Nolv, we
shall say something of the merit they have shown in their treat-
ment of domestic concerns : and from a enmparison of their fo-
teii-rn and domestic:it-tides, our Readers will see, that whatever
;.•oad qualities this Paper may want, it certainly has the merit
of consistency. Nothing, indeed, but its di-sertations on public
proceedings at home, could any where be found, to snatch its dis-
sertations on public proceedings abroad.
We need not look over. the tiles, in order to find matter for
the exposure of this pretending print—nor, indeed, would it be
easy toad any file of it : for unless the pro nrietol•F themselves
take the trouble of trea mring its N umber,, « ho certainly would
not ,ittler us to search its sheets for such a purpose, we should
probably be unable to discover any body that would preserve
sir n retched a publication. As it contioues to appear, it of
course has readers: but if we may judge by the principles it
propagates, and the language in which those principles are pro-
pagated, they must 1w readers who take it only to laugh at it
sail burp it, or readers circumstauccd too narrowly to have
more than joint-stock -hares in a matter of nine-pence, who of
course divide each Number after having read it, and put their
separate shares in their pockets for the ordinary uses of waste
paper. The two last .Nunabers will serve us with plenty of
We will begin with a letter published in the last Number hut
one, by Crito. This Crito assumes the air of Junius, and as
junius signed his letters sometimes Junius, and soinetitnes Philo-
Jnnius, so in The Independent Whig we see a signature some-
times of Cribs, anti sometimes of Philo-Crito. The press now
groans with theke soi-disons Junii : writers, who without gene-
ral principles of constitutional learning, without knowledge even
of their individual themes, without clearness of head, without
force of imagination, without plain without common
grammar, expect to be hailed as epistolary wits, and hope by
the immortality of their names to gather, as with a curt of magic,
the volatile leaves of the Newspaper. into the permanent shape of
library volumes. This literary alchemy, this vain expectation;
of giving to base Metals the currency or gold, is indeed a deplo-
rable infatuation ! We remember how many a patron has been
deceived into ruin by golden bubble-blowers, arid we are sorry•
to see that auy of oar countrymen are misled into a faith of so ,
ridiculous a kind. In a letter to Lord Ellenhorough, this Crito
Lays: " Every creature and plant assimilates" ( according to the
rules of grammar he would hare said assimilate) " the food or
aeurishineur (is not the word food rather unnecessary, when
the word naurishneenl in its general sense is used )" which they
" receive into their own substauce." To assimilate is tim liken :
now no animal likens its
.fond into ..s own substance. • Perhaps
the writer means incorpor-tr, instead of assimilate: or perhaps
he would say, a,similate their food to the natures of their own
tiamts, not to the frainec or substances themselvm The nature
the toad i, poisonous : and if sbe toad make his food poison,
aki may perhaps he ,aid to assimilate it to his own nature. We
%L•e his own lilleitralioN, for he thus proceeds:
" The toad converts into poi:on the same juices of which the
" her makes honey : the same breath blown into ditierent in-
" strameuts makes good or: harsh music t it is no wonder there-
" fore, if that which is an corruption it,elf, should spoil and
corrupt every thing el,,' which cotne4 into contact with it."
Were eves such hassles t La *lent seem to dais as eaclu'ive