The Speech recited yester...
The Times, 1824-02-04T00:00:00

. The Speech recited yesterday by the Royal Commission. ers, on opening the Session ot Parliamelnt, had been-already so miinutely anticipated, that it could hardly be expected to coutaj n much either to excite or wvy .eoslty. It we, in truth, what it had been represented tp be: and if Ministers should feel hurt,, or their adhefino-rpan that'-the rash and hcadstrong Press will obrtdq itseil into tbo province of Government, there is b'ut one vay 2of remedying the evil-and that is, by telliig a free people more of their own concerns than they themselves, or their. frientds, are enabled to discover by ordmnary sagacity, and a very slight degree of attention to public affair. It might; be conceived that there would' always be a certaint some- thing, which a Sovereign, desirous of inxgratiaiting hinself with his sujbjects, and yet bound by external forms and di- plomatic usages towards foreign Powers, could covamu- nicate to the former without offending the latter. In this Speech there is no communication of that descrip- tion. In fact, there is no cotnmunication of any descrip- tion; and having perused the present Speech with all the attention of which-we are capable, we cannot conceive, if all future productions of this nature are to be like that of the year 1824, why the unnecessary form should be retained. The KIG's indisposition,-the activity ofcominerce, and consequent increase, or, as it is called, -growth of the reve- nue,.-the improvement of farniing concerns, and kind regards of foreign Powers, are all circumstances which might have been learned from aniy week-ly, or daily-from any metropolitan, or provincial paper-for any given period of time now elapsed, as well as from the Speech forn the throne. But if there was a subject 'upon which any information, however slight, wight have been useful, and to which, in- deed, the country ha.l pretiously looked forward for some elucidation with interest and anxiety, that subject related to the Spanish trans-Atlantic provinces, and to our pro- bable relatioms with them; and what light the Speech throws upon that Interesting topic will be learned from the following paragraph appropriated to itt- " With respect t6 ihe provinces of America which have declared their separationfrom Spain, HigMAJEsTY'S con- "duct has becn open and consistent, and his opinions lhave e been at all times frankly avowed to Spain and to other Powers." Vhy, zouinds ! Gentlemen," we should say, a?ldrcssing the Ministers; "I if His IMAJESTY's 'conduct has been open,' " and his opinions ' avowed to Spain and the otier Powers,' " you may at least open a little of the one, and avow a " little of the otber, to us the nation and Parliamnent of " England. Surely there can be no harm in cornmuni- e" ating to a free people and their Representatives, "what is open, and avowed,and known, to such a Sovereign as FEnDI)iAxD VII. of Slpain, his enidless succession of "Mlinisters, and to the BouRiBois of Franee! Or, if yotE "will not inform us yourselves, will you tell us where, "either through bribe or favour, we can obtain the infor- "mation which you say you have so lavislhly commu- " nicatedl to others? IWe shall be content to take " the waters at their efllux, instead of their source, "though we should have preferred having them pure." It is evideint, then, that this Speech does not communicate a twentieth part so much as MIr. CANNING conmunicatec& in a more ingenuous spetch of his own, to the people iu a provineial towm; for there he informed them frankly, that wve should not suffer France to occupy those provinces in the name or in right of Spain, of which Spain herself had lost the possession. There was something, in(leetl, in such a declaration as this worth noting; and it wiU be seen in future, till some more satisfactory elucidation shali'come forth, that when our merchants in the city wish to explain to each other, or to them'elves, the state of our relations with the Colombian Stat"#, they will refer to Mr. CAN- xING's speech, and not to that of the KINr.G. The concyrns of the West In,lies OecClpy a j:st propor- tioll of the Royal Speecn. Thhe sul-ject is interesting to every frienid of bumanity and of justice; and we do not-know that any ibing more than recommendation and advice are to be expected at the present crisis.