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rity of the empire was at last interrupted by the extraordinary exertions of an enemy who commanded nearly the whole of the European continent. When the people suffer, it matters little who are to blame; their resent ment vents itself indiscriminately on those who are within their reach; and the rulers of the country are made responsible for all the evils which occur during their administration. The popular spirit thus revived, and found its appropriate nourishment amid the distresses of the country. Out of the disappointment of those fond hopes, which the people had indulged on the accession of the whig party to power, that spirit arose which affected to despise the whole race of statesmen ; which proclaimed that the axe must be laid to the root of the tree, and that without some radical change, the nature of which no one could explain, the nation was undone. Of this disposition, the leaders of the popular party were in readiness to profit, and out of the inevitable distress to which the country was exposed, arose a disease which must ere this have attracted the notice of government, but for the perfect reliance which it has been enabled to place in its own strength and stability. To believe, however, that a party growing out of accidental circumstances, and wholly unconnected with any of the legitimate powers of the state, destined in good times to amuse by its eccentricities, and powerful only in a season of distress and confusion, can be essential to the British constitution, is to give way to a very unaccountable delusion.

The modern spirit of democracy appears to manifest disadvantage, when contrasted with that admirable constitution of government which has been found so well suited to the management of great affairs, and seems contemptible when compared even with the revolutionary genius, which has at

different times disturbed the repose of the world. With all the horrors of the French revolution, there was something noble and generous in its frenzy, which is not to be found in the patriotism of the popular leaders of this country. The spirit of revo lution is naturally connected with bold and extensive views of legislation,combined with an enthusiastic zeal for science, and indulging even romantic speculations concerning the progress and improvement of the human mind. But there is nothing lofty in this mo dern patriotism, no science, no philosophy, no disinterested zeal for the general welfare. It has been well observed, that it seeks merely to gratify the lowest passions of the multitude, the love of scandal, and the love of money; of scandal, which is to dis credit all those who hold any place in the administration, or have any influence in the national councils, and of economy, which discovers the salvation of the country in the abolition of a few sinecures. It is a fundamental principle with its leaders, that all public men are profligate, and all are equally so; that all public measures are alike ruinous, and that the national good is equally disregarded in the cabinet and in the senate. To a vulgar mind scandal is always welcome; abuse of the great is to many readers the most pleasing entertainment, and no composition is so palatable as that which is well seasoned with this ingredient. In amusing themselves at the expence of persons in high stations, they rise in their own estimation; they seem to become greater men than those whom they affect to treat with contempt. The influence of this spirit on the characters of public men cannot be concealed; for if a minister is certain, that, whatever be his conduct, it will be equally reprobated by the popular leaders, the dread of their censure ceases to be a check on him.

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ever his measures may be, the result is still the same; and nothing remains for him but to follow his own plans, and to treat with indifference their reproaches. All the benefits of a fair and impartial scrutiny into the conduct of statesmen are thus sacrificed to intemperance and folly.

Another tenet, (it has been remarked) inculcated by this class of politicians is, that no instruction is necessary to enable any one to form an opinion upon public affairs. The capacity for doing this is represented as a mere matter of common sense, demanding no depth of reflection, no cultivation of mind, and no philosophical habits. The crude discussions of the blacksmith's shop and the alehouse are reckoned quite sufficient to solve the most intricate problems in political economy. It is easy to see how convenient and suitable such a doctrine must be to the readers, and to the writers also, of such productions; yet of all those maintained by this sect, none are more erroneous and pernicious. There is no science whatever, in which first appearances are so de ceitful as in that of politics. No one, perhaps, presents objects so extensive, so various, so little to be comprehended by one glance of the understand ing. As it is the favourite system of nature, in all her grand operations, to extract good out of evil, so the ultimate and lasting effects of any measure are often directly opposite to those which are immediate and apparent. Those, therefore, who are capable of discriminating only what is directly before their eyes, must, on many occasions, be infallibly in the wrong. Until politics be considered as a science, and philosophical principles be applied to them, no one can hope, with any certainty, for the attainment of truth.

Their writers are no less distinguished by a violent outcry against

taxation, and a perpetual clamour for its reduction. They make the immediate saving of money, not only a great, but the sole criterion of the merits of administration; they make patriotism dwindle into parsimony. Yet, in the eye of the enlightened politician, honour, ultimate security, public order, the power even of giving aid to suffering neighbours, hold a still higher rank. The authors alluded to confine themselves, besides, to vague charges of embezzlement, and clamours for radical reform, without examining and fixing upon those points which would truly admit of amendment. Errors and inequalities prevail in the British system of taxation to a less extent perhaps than in any other; but they are still considerable; and he who, scru tinizing every arrangement according to sound principles of political economy, should point out and press them upon the attention of the legislature, would do a real and great service. Little, however, can be done by mere loose and vague generalities, and by calling for violent measures, which could not perhaps, and certainly would not, be adopted.

But we must now close this rapid sketch of the general character of the different parties, and hasten to relate the momentous transactions in which they were engaged in the course of the present year.

In the choice which was to be made of ministers on the expiration of the restrictions, a very deep interest was of course felt by the great parties into which the country is divided. The political attachments of his royal highness the Prince Regent, had in early life connected him with the leaders of the opposition; and it was supposed, that on assuming the sovereign authority, and when left at liberty to act according to his own opinions, he would of course be guided by the predilections of his youth. When he

was first called to the regency, under the restrictions which the legislature thought it expedient to impose, he seemed still to retain the attachments which he had indicated in a different condition; and the early friends of his royal highness had little doubt that they would be called to the management of public affairs so soon as the prince might feel himself entitled to act freely, and for himself, in the choice of his ministers.-Before the prince was called on to discharge the functions of the sovereign, he was perhaps but little acquainted with the principles of the men who had guided the councils of his father; and as he probably derived from their enemies any knowledge which he had of them, it can excite little surprise that he should have formed no very accurate estimate of their characters. When he was first nominated to the regency, therefore, he discovered some dislike towards his councillors, whom he retained only from the most generous and laudable motives; but on a nearer acquaintance with them, and (it may be fairly presumed) on a more accurate knowledge of the merits and pretensions of the different parties, he was led to change his opinion. When call ed to the exercise of the sovereign authority, and to a more serious consideration of the politics of the country, he discovered that the men in whom his father had reposed confidence, acted on principles which were best calculated to secure the honour and safety of the empire. Even if it were becoming, therefore, to bring any charge against his royal highness, who in the capacity of sovereign is not constitu. tionally responsible for his actions, it surely would be no reproach to say of him, that he changed his sentiments on mature reflection. If the change was honourable and sincere, about which there can be no doubt; if he preferred the ministers of his father, because he

was convinced that they were best qualified to serve the country, his conduct must demand the warmest approbation. Acting upon the most honourable and enlightened views, and influenced by the experience which he had acquired during the restricted regency of the character and talents of his minister, he determined not to sacrifice the country to any system of favouritism. He found that under the ministers of his father's choice, events had occur. red which threw around the British arms a lustre unequalled since the days of Blenheim and Ramilies. In these successes, and in the hopes which they afforded to sinking Europe, he saw the triumph of that system which had been supported by his ministers against the unremitting opposition of their adversaries. This opposition had not been merely theoretical or parliamentary; the professors of it had been in office, and had acted steadily on the prin ciples which they had avowed. There could be no doubt, therefore, that if the reins of power had been committed to their hands, the war in the peninsula would either have been altogether a bandoned or maintained with languor. Unless it be supposed, therefore, that the prince should have conde scended to the spirit of party; that he should have indulged his own predilections at the expence of the public interests, over which he was called to preside; there can be no meaning in the charge so indecently brought against him for deserting his early favourites. It ought to be recollected also, that the persons who were truly included under this appellation, were no longer among the candidates for power. Fox was no more, and Sheridan had in a great measure ceased to take a share in the public business. The present leaders of the whig party possessed few of those qualities which had recommended their departed friend to the favour of the Prince Regent; they had

of course no claims on his friendship, which even in a matter of private arrangement, might have justified a marked partiality. Those who ascribed the change which had taken place in the sentiments of his royal highness, to the influence of his private friends, forgot that these friendships were of long standing, and existed in equal strength, before any change of opinion on public affairs was indicated.

As soon as the restrictions expired, the prince addressed a letter to the Duke of York, in which he began by stating his anxiety to communicate his sentiments on public affairs, which he had been restrained from doing at an earlier period of the session of parliament, by a desire that the catholic question might undergo the most deliberate discussion, unmixed with other considerations. His royal highness then stated that he had been called upon when he was nominated to the regency, and at a moment of great difficulty and danger, to choose his ministers; that a sense of duty to his royal father had decided that choice; and that his conduct on that occasion had obtained the approbation of those for whom his royal highness entertained respect. That in various instances where the law of the last session had left the prince at full liberty, he had renounced all personal gratifications, that his majesty might resume on his restoration to health every power and prerogative belonging to his crown. The prince then expressed a sentiment which did him infinite honour. am certainly the last person," said he, "to whom it can be permitted to despair of our royal father's recovery." He proceeded to say that a new era had arrived; that the events which had distinguished the period of his restricted regency were calculated to give great satisfaction; that the most important acquisitions had in this short space been made to the British em

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pire; that the national faith had been preserved inviolate, and that the glory of the British arms had been exalted. He expressed his fixed determination to avoid any measure which might have led his allies to suppose, that he meant to depart from the present system; he stated that perseverance alone could achieve the great object in view; and that he could not withhold his approbation from those who had honourably distinguished themselves in support of wise measures. The letter then contains the following generous declaration: " I have no predilections to indulge, no resentments to gratify, no objects to attain, but such as are common to the whole empire. If such is the leading principle of my conduct, and I can appeal to the past in evidence of what the future will be, I flatter myself with the support of par liament, and of a candid and enlightened nation."--His royal highness expressed a wish that some of those persons with whom the habits of his early life had been formed, would strengthen his hands, and constitute a part of his government; and that a vigorous and united administration on the most liberal basis might be formed. The letter concluded by autho rising the Duke of York to communicate the sentiments of the Prince Regent to Lord Grey, who would make them known to Lord Grenville; and a copy of the letter was at the same time sent to Mr Perceval.

Lords Grey and Grenville confined their answer to those passages of the letter which they supposed to have a more immediate reference to themselves. They expressed an earnest desire to assist in healing the divisions of the country, and uniting both the government and the people. They disclaimed all personal feelings; but, on public grounds, they declared, without reserve, the impossibility of their uni ting with the administration. The dif

ferences of opinion betwixt them and the ministers were, they said, too many and too important to admit of such an union; and they had acted in the same manner on two former occasions when their advice had been required. They declared, that the reasons which then influenced their conduct had been strengthened by the increasing dangers of the times, and that, down to the date of the letter, there had not appeared any approximation towards such an agreement of opinion on the public interests, as could alone form a basis for the honourable union of parties previously opposed to each other. The differences betwixt themselves and the administration, they said, embraced almost all the leading features of the present policy of the empire: the catholic question was, above all others, important in itself, and connected with the most pressing dangers; and on this subject they entertained opinions directly opposite to those of the ministers. They were firmly persuaded of the necessity of a total change in the government of Ireland, and of the immediate repeal of those civil disabili ties under which so large a portion of his majesty's subjects still laboured on account of their religious opinions. That the first advice which it would be their duty to offer to his royal highness, would be to recommend to parliament this repeal; nor could they even, for the shortest period, make themselves responsible for any farther delay in the proposal of a measure, without which they could entertain no hopes of rendering themselves useful to the prince or to the country.

This answer was decisive as to the views of Lords Grey and Grenville, and the utter hopelessness of any attempt to accomplish a fair and honourable union betwixt them and the ministers. Such an answer might

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perhaps have been expected; yet was the conduct of the Prince Regent deserving of the highest approbation. He himself had set a noble example; he had found that the unfavourable impressions on his mind against his minister were erroneous; that Mr Perceval had conducted the public affairs on principles best adapted to secure the honour and interests of the country, and was therefore entitled to his confidence. The prince therefore acted as became his high station. He found that it would ill befit that station to carry to the

government of a great empire party views, and jealousies, and suspicions; to look at every measure of the minister with doubt and distrust, and to suppose that nothing could be done well because done by Mr Perceval. He resolved to govern the country for the interest of the people, and not for the interest of a party; he determined to judge of his minister from actual observation, to try him by facts, and to decide by experience alone. The result was, as his royal highness's letter proved, the most perfect satisfaction with, and confidence in, that minister. Finding that so great a change had been produced in his own mind, by a knowledge of the integrity and talents of his ministers, and of the great public benefits of which they had been the instruments, he might reasonably have supposed that a similar change had taken place in the minds of others; and that, after an experience of the system, from which so many advantages had sprung, the breach betwixt the contending parties might have been healed. Influenced by these generous considerations, his royal highness was desirous of giving his early friends that opportunity which they had so long desired, of turning their best talents to some use in the public service. But in this hope he was mis

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