The National Register.
London, England, 1820-12-31 00:00:00

418

THE REV. ARCHDEACON BATHURST.

The Ministerial Papers—the part of the Press
whose censure is a certificate of virtue, recently
made a most violent attack on the Rev. Mr. Bathurst.
There is no doubt but that the Rev. Gentleman's
readiness to obey the commands of her Majesty,
which had been intimated to him, was the immediate
cause of the coarse abuse that was (so honourably to
him) heaped upon him : but whatever may have
occasioned it, we rejoice at it, as it has given him an
opportunity of adding to his celebrity by the follow-
ing refutation. Well may the Rev. Gent. say,—
Mark now how a plain tale
Shall put you down."
" About 11 years since the late Duke of Rich.
mond authorized a Rev. Gentleman now living in
Norfolk, to whom he wished to give some preferment
in Norfolk, to offer Mr. Bathurst the deanery of
Killala, in exchange for a living which he (Mr. B.)
bad in Norfolk. Just at that period Mr. Bathurst
obtained a second valuable living, where lie now
resides, and as three flittings are said to be equal
to a fire,' and he had just settled on his new living,
he declined the proposal, though very thankful to
Lord Bathurst for his kindness which had recom-
mended him to the Duke as a proper object to serve
in this instance. Some time afterwards, upon Lord
Whitworth first going to Ireland, Mr. Bathurst
altered his mind, and having received infbrmalion,
which appeared afterwards not to be altogether well
founded, that an English gentleman was likely to be
able to accommodate him with an exchange for Irish
preferment, as a quid pro quo, to his satisfaction, he
wrote to Mr. Bragge Bathurst, requesting him to
forward the object : Mr. B. Bathurst declined, under
a plea of having no acquaintance with Lord Whit-
worth, which the Archdeacon took (considering some
family circumstances with which he will not trouble
the public) as disobliging, and perhaps unnecessarily
expressed himself as disobliged, This very inter-
ference in his behalf, so far as propriety would per-
mit, and which Mr. Bragge Bathurst declined, Lord
Bathurst, to whom the Archdeacon then wrote
immediately, consented to lend, whenever the ex-
change should offer; and whatever Mr. Bathurst
may think of the general indisposition of Ministers
towards their opponents, he cannot attribute any
refusal of a suitable exchange to Ministers, whom,
if personal motives towards administration were to
operate in the political part which lie takes, lie
would, from respect and attachment to his noble
.relative, Lord Bathurst, be able to support. Cer-
tainly, for the last four or five years Mr. Bathurst
has been opposed to Ministers, and intends, while
they act towards the nation as they act at present,
to remain so; but without any of the motives attri-
buted to him.
" This is a candid and correct statement of the
facts to which the Courier appears to allude ; and it
is somewhat singular that the substance of this
attack should have been made in a printed anony-
mous letter, without the printer's name, addressed to
the Archdeacon, with other malignant misrepre-
sentations of a private nature, and threatening him
with insult the following day at the county meeting,
which he instantly showed to his father and another
friend present, the evening before the meeting of
the county of Norfolk in opposition to the Bill of
Pains and Penalties.
" Such are the means which, instead of argument,
the friends of social peace and order' resort to in
their inveteracy against an unfortunate Queen, who
might (by an act of separation conceding her rights,
and drawn up by the consent of the King awl her-
self, and the provisions sanctioned by Parliament,
together with an agreement that all discussion on
the subject should afterwards cease), be left to spend
the remainder of her days in tranquillity, and leave
the Parliament time for other most important con-
siderations of the public welfare.
" Mr. Bathurst knows that, from an occasional
warmth in his disposition, he is accused of bitterness
by some; but lie bears no man malice, nor would
he refrain from assisting his greatest enemy in any
need: and respecting the part which he has taken as
to the Queen, lie will ever repose his head on his
plloiv with undisturbed satisfaction. It is very
unwillingly that lie intrudes thus much of a
personal nature on the public, but it is certainly
fi,:sirable that the Queen's advocates should stand
frx from the suspicion or wordly ambition ; and
Mr. Bathurst is willing to leave his conduct ever to
hereafter to the test el disinterestedness, as he feels
hitherto that lie never has sacrificed, and trusts lie
never shill sacrifice, the great feelings of general
ju: tice to resentment, or even (which is much more
cxc :sable) to personal favour. His wish is peace
and public content. He has long seen an arbitrary
temper
.in the public councils, unyielding to the pro-
cress of opinion on the one hand ; and on the other,
a sense of neglet t d rights, partly at least justifiable;
and be has lung tris!telt to sc..: the independent, and
hest educated, and mum tit vated nt..ntbers of society
step !inward alai uiedi.te between the people and