The National Register.
London, England, 1809-03-12 00:00:00

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I MARCH 12. THE NATIONAL REGISTER. 163
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neighbours, according to the greatness and risk of their RE LAT' I '.iN SITUATIONS I 1
ifursuits, the comprehensiveness and splendour of their --eassse-
prejects. According to this principle we were esteemed iu
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proportion to the value of our colonies and trade ;—we
had that mortifying deference shewn us which riches obtain ...........-
ie Ourworld ;—but we were consulted no more as States-
TO THE RIGHT HON. SPENCER PERCEVAL.
men, nor our assistance invoked as soldiers. We were con- 'Ti. what the vicious fear, the virtuous shun !—Po PE.
w
SlR—Without knowing in what manner you will be
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sidered, in tine, in the light of a mere trading people, pleased to consider my present correspondence, or, irdecd,
whose .
friendship was exclusively cultivated in consequence whether you will condescend to bestow upon it any consi-
of their money. All the defects, peculiar to the over opu- deration, I avail myself of the freedom,_ common to mylent tradesman—the mere man of-wealth—began to mans- countrymen, of making some use of public names to corn-
lest themselves in our language and conduct ;—we grew municate my thoughts on public things. When all eyes
purse-proud, haughty; we vaunted our integrity and ac- are upon you, Sir, and while all tongues are talking of
eeirements too loudly, and evinced too indiscreet a con- you, concede to me, obscure as 1 remain, the liberty of
tempt for others. Our indefatigable and insatiable pursuit writing to you. I cannot avoid feeling rather interested o
of colonies and of mere British interests, whilst our Allies in whel yon are reported to be saying; nor can 1 refrju I
L.
I were in the most imminent want of our exertions, raised from entertaining some apprehensions as to what you may '
considerable doubts of our magnanimity as well as disin- presently be found doing. Where inclination is seconded
le terestedness; and we began to be considered in the light of by authority, where he who threathens can also perform,
at haughty, selfish nation of traders, unmindful of the in- his sentiments amount to something more consequential
[crest of others, and anxious only about our own. Thus than speculations.
the
characteristic frankness and generosity of the British All the newspapers, contradictory as they are in other 1
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cearacter was confounded, through the false policy and particulars, concur, I end, in attributing to you no ordinary
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the petty, contracted views of Government; and the opinions on the subjects of Adultery, and (1 thank plainiMr.
bravest and most enterprising nation upon earth was con- Fuller for the term !) Relative Situations ! ! Yon, Sir, it
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skinned to consume its vigour and resources in a desultory should seem, not unlike pious Lot in the very heart of So-
and petty warfare with the miserable nations of the East. dom, are found happily free from the sins of this infidel and
adulterous generation. Suffer my congratulations oil this t
If flattery to individuals be criminal, it is treason to use immunity Front trans,rression. Rulers, von know, ought
it eo communities. We love liberty beyond riches ; we m,
to be the terror of evil deers, anti the reward of those who
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prefer honour to commerce. When we know at the same do well. Hiehly proper is it, moreover, that the onl) ex-
time that trade and opulence cannot be secured without isting monarch,m whose life. as William Cowper wrote in
freedom and noble exertions, we feel the stronger incline- verse and as Spencer Perceval says in prose, exhibits 66 a
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iiir Lion to give a decided preference to the latter. A people
whose principal object is trade, and every other a second- lesson to the land he sways,"—highly !wooer is it, and truly
(rratifying, that such a Sovereieii should be surrounded by •
ary one, never retain it long ; but are forced to yield its servants, ' who, humbly imitating their august master,
profits, together with their independence, to a state whose
Covetens oidy of a virtuous praise,
policy is more liberal. In the scale of happiness we ac- i,,..
With close tiielity, and love unfeign'd,
quire nothing by an accumulation of riches; and in that can keep the matrimonial bond unstain'd!
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of power they arc rather of secondary than primary cense-
Happy is the Sovereign, therefore ! happy the Ministers,
quence. But when we reflect that their moral and politi- • -
and, ot conrse, happy tee Country, -where such purity of
cal tendency does not operate favourably on a free people, 1 l'
principle is combined with such inflexibility of practice.
we cannot but regret to behold all the energies of the -
a Away with that religious ragamuffin Napoleon Bonaparte,
state verge towards a doubtful and precarious good. whose vices, instead of virtues, seem to constitute his pro-
But fortune has been kinder and more provident towards faction ! llow has he come, as they once cried out of the
us, than we have been to ourselves; and, as if in conse- Apostles, to turn the world upside down !
41!"' *pence of our former virtues, she offers us, the last time, Well, sir, you are now in the vineyard of royalty ; and,
according to human probability, if we neglect it, an oppor- greatly to your honour, you appear determined to lay
trinity of reverting to the point we incautiously quitted. A your axe to the very roots of fornication and adultery.
new struggle, more strenuous and decisive than any which You come, indeed, at the eleventh hour; but it is better
has occurred, is preparing, or has already commenced, in than your standing idle in the market-place ; and there is
favour of the independence of the world. Let us hasten and still time enough for you to perform your portion of the
seize the auspicious moment for recovering the reputation labour, and earn
.your penny as fairly as any of your pre-
we
have iuconsiderately forfeited, for reassuming the rack decessors in employment.
we formerly possessed. We may still obliterate the recol- Reflect, however, upon what you may be about. It is
lection of our follies ; and even efface the odium and ridi- 1 the sou of the lord of the harvest himself, his beloved son,
Lille of our conduct towards Spain. The intense hatred of who is now in the hands of his father's servants. Do not,
the nations of Europe to France has absorbed every trace do not--but, you, Sir, know the relation of the
of discontent to this country; and we may, without extra- whole transaction ! Twenty eloping lords and ladies are
ordinary efforts and sacrifices, recover the pre-eminence . nothing, compared with him whom your resolutions are
we have lost. Active, conciliatory, and intelligent agents supposed to affect.
xi,
—of a character the very reverse of those we generally Adultery, we hear, is to be capitably punishable; but we i 4,
employed there—would restore our Government, both are not yet told, whether by castigation, sequestration, fla-,
at Vienna and Petersburg!), to its former respectability ; gell4 t i o n , castration, or decapitation i While Mrs. Clark,
and an army of seventy thousand men, either in Spain, is frightening all mankind, it seems the wisti of Mr. Per- ti .
Italy, or Holland, the place of their exploits is equal, ceval to terrify all womankind, from illicit amours, sur-
provided they beat the enemy, would prove that the reptitious interchanges, retativesituatitifts, and unhallowed 14
British Lion has only been asleep, and is enfeebled ebhabitations. Mrs. Clarke's example has been tremens .!f
neither by age nor sickness. Oh ! Nvr r e the Promethean dourly efficacious. What will be the result of Mr. Per-
t and theft even at their risk, practicable in our age, ceval's proposed penalties, co operating, though from other
Re would mount to the highest Heavens and steal a spark causes, to the same end, time must discover and experience
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of the divine flame, to animate the sluggish, clay-cold determine. 4
breasts of our Statesmen ; and would expose ourselves to the Much as we are regretting the prevalence of adultery,
punishment of the adventurous Greek, in ordee to We the and busied as we are in devising means to arrest its progress
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fortuuci of our country. II among us, we du not, I suspect, wisely enquire into the
it
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