The National Register.
London, England, 1808-06-06 00:00:00

NATIONAL

the fairied dreams of .Mr. Cobbett cannot be realised. When
purity becomes possible, by all means let purity be preached ;
but in these times political disinterestedness would be of little
use : and to propose it is but to checquer the decayed garment
with a patch which the tatters are nut strong enough to hold
together.
Cobbett, in panegyrizing the Electors of .Westminster,
snakes use of the following sentences :
" The Electors of Westminster want no pay for voting ; they
" do not desire to thrive by the distresses and miseries of the
" nation at large : they desire representatives who will seek nu
• emolument from the national purse : and of course they desire
" that those representatives should be loaded with no burden
" but merely that of the duties imposed upon them.--Surel.%
" nothing was ever more reasonable than this."
Now really we think that nothing was ever more unreason-
able. The Electors of Westminster, of course, like all other
independent Electors, expect a man that will perform all his
duties fully, and they expect him, it seems, to perform them for
nothing. Justice Blackstone in the Introduction to his Com-
mentaries on the Laws of England, has most justly said, con-
cerning the careful education necessary for a Member of Parlia-
ment "It is really amazing that there should bents other state
" of life, no other occupation, art, or science, in which some
" method of instruction is not looked upon as requisite, except
" only the science of legislation, the noblest and most difficult
"of any. Apprenticeships are held necessary to almost every
" art, commercial or mechanical : a long course of reading and
" study must form the divine, the physician, and the practical
" professor of the laws s but every man of superior fortune
" thinks himself born a legislator. Yet Tully was of a different
" opinion : It is necessary, says he, for a senator to be
" thoroughly acquainted with the Constitution : and this, he
" declares is a knowledge of the most extensive nature : a mat-
" ter of science, of diligence, of reflex ion : without which no
" senator can possibly be fit for his office."
A knowledge of this kind it requires many years to attain :
and during those years the expenses not only of attaining the
knowledge, but also of actual maintenance, must necessarily
amount to a considerable sum. When a sufficient knowledge
has been attained, and the senator is in every way fitted for dis-
charging his duty as a representative of the people, his whole
time, during the session of Parliament, must needs be devoted
to the interests of his constitueuts and of the country at large :
and when he has devoted the whole of his time, he will not have,
been able to study half the measures that pass through the
House. And what is the motive that must induce him to take
all these pains? Why, a love of his country. But who are the
people that constitute a man's country ? Certainly his family
and his friends. They are the ties that bind him to his narks.
soil : for man has not the attribute which natural philosophers
tell us is seen in the cat, that attaches herself not so much to
the persons who have reared her, as to the place in which she
has lived. A man's country then are his family and friends:
for himself and for them it is his sluts- to exert his talents: and
when every man does (honestly) that which is best for himself, FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE.
his family, and his friends, every man will have doneahe best
possible service to his country: John Nokes and Thomas Stiles PROM TOR FRRATM, DUTCH, AND OOTTENRURGH PAPERS„
and several millions of other Johns, and Mary-s, end Thomasses,
and Elizabeths, arc of no sort of consequence to any individual FRANCE.
noconnected with them : they have no peculiar claim upon tii,
services, merely because they happen to be born only fifty or e PARIS, MA Y 17.—The alicial Journal already begins to
hundred miles from his residence. But how is a man to do good to !ts row aside part of the veil which concealed the negociat 141.11,
his country, or in other words to provide honestly for himself, his whereof Bayonne was the centre, by announcing the conclusil a
family, and his friends, if he is to receive DO reward for his or a treaty between the Emperor and the ditfereat Members of
public works ? It is certainly necessary that there be person• .ae Spanish House.
who will provide for the public at large : but will any body de y the Constitution °four Goverinnetit, it cannot he made poll. •
tills nut of attachment to the public at large? Certainty not—he I till it has been communicated to the Senate. But we pereei,
lamad be doing an injury instead of a benefit to his country, if by toe Proclamation of the King of Spain, and that of the
_he were to devote his time to public business, when he ought e. Prince of Asturias, that the Etaperor Napoleon is clothed sei.ss
be maintaining himself, and his family, and his friends. all the rights of the House of Spain. King Charles, Oar, I
There is no one who would not laugh if it were proposed to Louisa Maria, Queen Maria Louisa, add the Infant Don fMI 4
fora to devote his whole time, or even a few years of his life earn, dine to-Jay , itlt the Emperor, and set off to-morrow ft ;
lr!tinett hope of recompense, to the service of any individual Soitaleaux. They will make this journey in four dnys, •114
is
om lie had never seen. Then why should •n b t ill repair to Foutainbleau, whence times will go to Compfsi:re
y t Via t A
ti"le scone period to the service of many individuals Whom he has It is believed that this residence has been destined by his M
I!,ver ••cett, constituting what is called the public ? lo our opi- jest% to King Charles, that he may spend the remainder of is
niliai a Member of Parliament who takes an active part in the days there. The Prince of Asturias, the lefaat Don Carlo
business of the public, has a right to receive emolument from rod the Infant Don Antonio, spent the eve ink yesterday eit
the public. For surely he who is delegated to tight a nation's_ their Majesties the Emperor and Empress They Ns itl spat '
battles as a soldier, does not more amply deserve his remunera- .Iwo days at Bourdeaux, and will afterwi ds peoceed to Ir
tion, than he who is delegated to guard her interests in the lencv, whence it is probable they will go' to Navarre... It
Senate. What have the public ever done for me, in return of believed that his alajesty has ceded to Oct: that superb dotha
/5111c13 t al" expected to do so much.for the public ? Will it be _and the forest appertaining to it. •
•

said that they have given me protection and freedom ? Certainly
they have t but is not every individual entitled to protection
and freedom, who pays his contributions, holds himself subject
to levies, and performs all the private duties that individuals owe
to the State ? Does it follow, that because any one man may
happen to be gifted wish talents particularly -formed for the
service of the State, therefore he is bound to employ those ta.
louts gratuitously for the State ? if that were the case, his
talents would he a misfortune to him rather than a blessing, fur
Cory would prevent him from maintaining himself.
But perhaps it will be urged that none but rich melt, who can
afford the time, ought to be Members of Parliament. What?
will you select the repretentatives of the poor exclusively from •
the rich ? Then the democratic branch of your Government be-
comes an aristocracy.

BeAdes,.even among the rich, no man would serve the public •
for nothing. If he did not want money as his reward, he would
expect honour : and even that, Mr. Cobbett, in the zeal of pure.
patriotism, wishes to withhold from the benefactors of the State ;
for after declaiming upon the misfortunes that must accrue to
the country from the corruption of Parliament, he draws to 0,,
conclusion by declaring :
" Some may prefer baubles to hard solid cash : but the effect,
" rrs to the nation, will be-pretty nearly the same in the end."
Is Mr. Cobbett as ignorant of human nature as he hoasts him-
self to be of the learned languages ? For he actually seems to
think that men will make great efforts without a motive. But
those who have studied inankind most deeply:, decide otherwise
they allow that the love of money and the love of distinction,
are the two great spurs of active life: the only spurs that can'
generally and permanently goad the natural indolence of human
beings to a proper exertion. Does Sir Francis Burdett declaim
:in Parliament, and on the hustings, from pure love of his coun-
try ? No it is from the love of distinction. Did the ancient
'Romans, of whom so many vaunts are constantly uttered by peo-
ple of Mr. Cobhett's way of thinking, did they perform their
acts of public service from motives purely patriotic ? N u ! their
affectation in a thousand instances displays that the love of their
country, in the general sense of that phrase, was but another
way of denominating their love of distinction.
When the fabled age of gold returns, and all men are good, and
live in constant plenty, then we may expect the disinterested
greatness that Mr. Cobbett requires. In the mean time we are
content to get greatness at any rate, and do not trouble ourselves
to enquire whether it be disinterested. It is one of the w isa
dispensations of Providence that great actions shall not be so:,
attended with the rewards of wealth and distinction. By this
iispensation, virtue becomes lovely from the associated charta
and many a man who would never have eserted himself without
a hope of reward, is by that hope rendered a valnable member
of the community, As long, therefore, as the world goes on in
its present course, we shall never be sorry to see merit rewarded .
either with profit or with fame,