The National Register.
London, England, 1811-01-20 00:00:00

LITICAL DISQUISITION.

No. 152.

ILITICAL BODIES IN THE STATE.

age of political novelty. Formerly
ton consisted only of three bodies :
Peers, and the Commons. In a few
perhaps a few weeks, . should not
system of innovation be checked, it will
of five.—" Where are they to be
be said ? And how can it be-even
that a people so jealous of their liber-,
,ncerely attached to their Constitution,
the former to be invaded and restrained
ges or additions effected in the latter ?"
Ibservations will dissipate this confidence
'sense of a people which allows itself to
every political adventurer Who talks aloud
equally ignorant of, or unwilling to
practice, its true principles.
beheld an innovation in the highest
Constitution, which, as it happened
has passed into a dangerous precedent
, opposition on the part of the pretended
guardians of the British Constitution.
MAJZSTY and the Peers, a new poli-
has started up, totally unknown to our
all ages. Composed of the Princes of
intended to overawe Parliament in the
its duty, its expressed aim is no less
ill its power. The dignity of elevated
plendour of Royal wealth and
ti-
txert a strong influence over. the
mo. They are dazzled, and follow the
glare wherever it leads, almost unconscious
error. The wisdom and independence of
have this time defeated the unconstitu-
interference of the Princes I but the autho-
ir high example has shaken the con-
of the people. Deluded by their
middling and lower classes of the corn-
considered it, not as an improper at-
checking the freedom of debate and action
Representatives, but as a noble stand made
encroachments of Administration. But

, these encroachments ? Did they teid to
vop ,cre *alarming weight Of the Royal Prero-
Mist which our patriotic writers so.fre-
IV No. CLX. 0

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quently warned us ? To the curtailment of our
rights ? To an unlawful infringement of our liber-
ties ?--No : they fixed and defined the limits of the
Royal Prerogative; they secured the respective
rights of the King and his subjects, and by main-
taining the just equilibrium of the Constitution,
preserved unimpaired our national liberties. Were
they encroachments then ? The voice of party
called them so ; true patriotism considered them
as wise and efficient measures, springing from an
accurate knowledge of, and an ardent love for, the

Constitution.--“ If wise and efficient, why were

they opposed ?"--,Because when the interest of men
wars with right and justice, right and justice, and
with them common sense and consistency are trod-
den under foot.—" But instead of increasing the
weight of the Royal Prerogative, they went to the
other extreme, and threatened to diminish'it in an
alarming degree." This charge is unfounded :
they kept the Royal Prerogative inviolate, by limit-
ing that of the Regent, the only method which
could, be adopted to prevent the possibility of
its unconstitutional extension or decrease. But
• who are those who express so „much alarm
at the very thought of curtailing the Royal Prero-
gative ?—Those violent declaimers, who for months
and years have been poisoning the minds and loy-
alty of their readers, with tales of its undue and
pernicious increase ! who have published laboured
statements of the number of offices, created, they
asserted, for the sole purpose of. extending the
alariniag influence of The Crown, and who now, un-
blushingly contend, that it is insulting the Regent,
and injuring the Public. Service, to deprive him of
the command of those very offices ! Such incon-
sistency is less than criminal ;it is ridiculous. It
betrays such a want of principle—such a marked
disregard for truth and justice ;—such glaring cor-
ruption and thirst after bribes, that were not this
nation struck with mental blindness, one would
think the time for 'delusion were past, and the
triumph of imposture at an end. To hope that
truth will suddenly Mame the public mind, is, how-
ever, too much. Its film of error is too gross.
Has not this cheated people seen Corporate Bodies
one year petitioning Parliament sc against the alarm-
ing influence of the Crown,": and the next against the
restriction of tha t influence v4ien it ceased to be exer-
cised by the aged pilot of the state, in whose expect

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