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But most blame attaches to them for their total inactivity, while Buonaparte was employed in active preparations for hostility. That warlike measures of a most vigorous nature should ever accompany pacific propositions, is a maxim of policy so confessedly wise, as not to admit of dispute; yet was the whole campaign suffered to pass away without a single attempt to annoy our enemies. And the Tyrant of the Continent has since been allowed to drain his country of troops, and to march them to the very extremity of Germany, without anffort on our part to create the smallest diversion, or to give him the smallest uneasiness; indeed, he acts as if he thought there was no such country as Great Britain in existence !—and are we doomed to this fatal inactivity, by a Ministry assuming to itself all the vigour and intellect, all the wealth and talents of the country? and certainly containing men who have formerly displayed a considerable portion of all these qualities. To whatever cause it may be imputed, it is a most ruinous policy, which we shall all live to feel and to rue.

In the premature dissolution of Parliament, Ministers certainly manifested their fears, though evidently without any just grounds; for never was a Parliament so completely pliant, so perfec ly servile, as the last. And on that account, they performed a meritorious act in signing its death-warrant. It supported Mr. Addington, to whom it was indebted for its birth; it then rebelled against its parent, and fostered Mr. Pitt; and, on the death of that statesman, it transferred its protection to the political enemies both of Mr. Pitt and of Mr. Addington. To its pa triotic labours the nation was indebted for the persecution, of Lord Mel. ville, in which a novel illustration of the principles of parliamentary justice was exhibited, in the condemnation of a person accused, without hearing him in his own defence, and in the infliction of punishment before trial; for the blessings of the American Intercourse Bill, in which a new principle of commercial policy was brought forth, by aid of which we robbed our friends to reward our enemies; and for the vast advantages of the new military code, which increased our expences, while it diminished our force. Such were the achievements of that respectable body whose funeral oration it has falien to us to pronounce. We trust, its suc cessors will profit by its errors, and not imitate its faults.

That purity may spring from corruption, is a fact of which too many proofs exist in the natural world, to allow any one to doubt. But certainly if one half of the circumstances recorded in the public prints, respecting the late election, be correctly stated, at no period of our history, on any similar occasion, was there such an open, dangerous, and unconsti tutional interference displayed. We should feel it our duty to enter into some detail on the subject, were we not deterred from the specification of facts, by the knowledge, that, in most instances, they are about to form the subject of parliamentary inquiry. The apathy, however, which has prevailed, in regard to these flagrant breaches of law; these gross viola. tions of a constitutional principle; these barefaced attempts to break down those fences and those barriers which the wisdom of our ancestors had erected for the preservation of our legislative purity; is a lamentable proof of the dreadful decline of public spirit, and the rapid decay of genuine patriotism. And by whom has this been done? By the Whigs, forsooth! by those very men who have asserted an almost exclusive rick

to the appellation of Patriots; who have almost assumed the exclusive Guar dianship of the Constitution; who have been the loudest advocates, for Parliamentary Reform; and the most violent declaimers against Ministerial Corruption! Well might that departed Philosopher, who charmed the world by his eloquence, and enlightened it by his wisdom, appeal from such new whigs to the whigs of ancient days! How would he have deplored the melancholy degeneracy of his former associates!—of those associates who, for the greater part of the last twenty years, have been' employed in condemning the conduct of their present colleagues in office and in reprobating the very measures which they have since adopted!"

It would be a matter of curious inquiry, to investigate the motives which have induced these Whigs, since they have come into power, to forego the pleasures of their annual festival on the fourth of November. Have they already altered their opinions on the virtues of Revolutionary Epochs Or does their conduct arise from a consciousness that some of their measures, and some of their projects, are repugnant to the princi ples of that Revolution, which professed to be founded on the exclusion of Popery and the destruction of Arbitrary Power? Has the adoption of one of their standing toasts on this memorable day, by an Anti-Jacobin, "May the Princes of the House of Brunswick never forget the princi. ples which placed their Ancestors on the Throne!" so disgusted them with the sentiment, that they are unwilling to repeat it? It has often fallen to the lot of Tories to expose the ignorance, and to chastise the presumption, of Whigs; but it was left to the present extraordinary times to afford an opportunity to Taries for reproving Whigs for the dereliction of Whiggish principles. For the suppression of this commemoration in Ireland, a rational cause may be assigned; it did not square with the conciliating policy of the new Viceroy to gratify the Protestants, while he was resolved to flatter the Papists, and while, in pursuit of this notable plan, he issued his prohibitions to the Protestants, to defend the established religion of their country, by any exposure of the radical errors of Popery, and of the mischievous use which was made of them in the country which he was sent to govern. Such is the consistency of modern Whigs!

As to Irand, unless more wisdom and more vigour be displayed in the government of it, it will shortly be exposed to all the horrors of ke bellion. For six months a spirit of insurrection, which has broken forth into acts of open violence, has manifested itself in various parts. And while that country has been represented, in virtue of a regular system for keeping us in total ignorance of its real situation, as in a state of perfect tranquility, it has been a prey to intestine disorders of the most serious and alarming nature. That evils, and great evils, subsist in Ireland, is most certain; but the causes of them are generally mistaken, and it is therefore no matter for wonder that wrong remedies should be applied. Many of these evils would not have existed at present, or at least would have existed in a much smaller degree, had a man, who, after labouring for years to overthrow the Constitution, has received the open support of the present Government, never been born. He is a man held in execration by every loyal Protestant in Ireland, and therefore no doubt patronised by a Ministry which professes a friendship for the Papists. The necessity we are persuaded will speedily be felt and acknowledged, for adopting the most vigorous measures, for subduing the rebellious dis

position

position which unhappily prevails in that ill-fated country in which the bounty of Providence is impiously counteracted by the misconduct of man. Had the Reformation but extended its blessings to Ireland, it had long since been the seat of industry, happiness, and peace.

We cannot finish this sketch, without adverting to a transaction, which, though for some time it was the general topic of conversation, seems to have been consigned to oblivion, as if it were a mere matter of curiosity, and not a subject of the first importance to the people of the United Kingdom. We mean the inquiry which, some months ago, was instituted into the Conduct of Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales. We are fully aware of the delicacy of entering upon such a subject. But it is one involving so many points of constitutional importance, that we should ill discharge our duty, if we did not avail ourselves of every opportunity for calling the public attention to it. If it were deemed; indispensably necessary to make a perfect mystery of the transaction, not one circumstance relating to it should ever have been suffered to meet the public eye. But, is it to be endured, that, while enough is published to cast suspicions upon the conduct of one, who ought to be placed above, all suspicion, and whom we, in our conscience, believe to be as pure as any one of the daughters of Eve, every thing which leads to her complete justification is withholden? Is this Justice? Is it Equity? Is it fair, or even honest? Would not any humble individual have a right to complain of such conduct? What cause of complaint then must she have, every one of whose actions is of great public importance? who is more peculiarly responsible to the nation for those parts of her Conduct to which this inquiry was directed? Feeling, as we do, the highest respect, and the greatest sympathy, for this illustrious personage, who, since her arrival in this country, where she ought to have found every thing that could afford her comfort and happiness, has experienced treatment that must have pierced her gentle bosom with the most poignant anguish ;-feeling, we say, as we do, for this much injured, insulted, and persecuted Lady, we must condemn the unfeeling indifference which our countrymen, at least a majority of them, have shewn to her cause. But it is not, from feeling for an individual, however amiable, however deserving, however illus trious, that we are anxious to promote a full discussion of this subject; but from a sense of duty to our Sovereign, to our Country, and to our posterity. Can any man acquainted with history, be ignorant of the danger attending the suppression of circumstances of this nature? of involving such a transaction in mystery? Does it require any extraordinary degree of sagacity to devise a case, for which such conduct might supply a very plausive and specious foundation, and which might expose the country to all the horrors of a civil war? If such an incident were barely possible, it would be a sufficient reason for rendering all the circumstances of this strange inquiry public :—when then we know that it is more than possible, when we couple that possibility with the flying rumours which have been circulated for some time past, and which have very much the appearance of having been propagated for the purpose of sounding the public feeling and opinion, about the introduction of the Salic Law, the proposal to give validity, by an Act of Parliament, to marriages at present illegitimate, &c. &c.; there appears to us an absolute necessity for bringing the whole business before the public.

Let

Let it not be forgotten, that the Royal Personage who has been the ob ject of this inquiry is a high public character; that the public have an interest in every thing which relates to her; and have, consequently, a right to be made acquainted with the grounds on which any one has presumed to impeach her rectitude, or to cast a suspicion upon her conduct. The publication of such grounds, then, we assert, and without fear of contradiction, is a DUTY on the part of those persons, whoever they be, who have the power and the means of publishing them. It is, indeed, an act of justice, both to the PRINCESS herself, and to the British Nation, to which she has given a FUTURE SOVEREIGN. Some reasons, or rather pretexts, have been privately assigned, for the mysterious silence observed on this occasion; but they were so preposterously frivolous and absurd, that no man could believe them to be seriously urged. Be that as it may, there can exist no reasons for silence, which are not overpowered by the re sistless motives which may be assigned for the publication of these im. portant documents. We trust, then, that the voice of the country will be raised to call for them; or that some honest, upright, and truly independent senator, will render the inquiry a subject for the cognizance of Parliament *.

Our Sketch has already exceeded the limits assigned to it; though the subject expands so much as we pursue it, as to supply ample materials for the completion of a finished picture. We reluctantly, therefore, lay down the pencil; though the task of exhibiting distorted figures and deformed shapes to the view, cannot be very pleasing;-can, indeed, only be sub. mitted to from a conviction of its public utility.

P. S. It will easily be perceived, that the foregoing Sketch was written before the reception of the important intelligence from the scene of action in Poland. That intelligence, however, rather strengthens than weakens the force of our general observations, and rather confirms than destroys the legitimacy of our deductions. But on this subject we can only, at present, congratulate our countrymen; our remarks on it, as well as on other topics which call for attention, must be reserved for a future time.

* We have touched but slightly on this subject; but unless some steps be taken, and that speedily, for satisfying the public mind upon it (which cannot be done without doing the most complete justice to the calumniated Princess), we shall soon advert to it again, and treat it much more fully, and in a tone of much greater decision.

THE

THE

ANTI-JACOBIN

Review and Magazine,

&c. &c. &c.

For SEPTEMBER, 1806.

La plus glorieuse, mais le plus penible de toutes nos fonctions c'est le Ministere de la Censure Publique. Nous sommes nés dans un siecle, ou la genereuse liberté de nos Peres est traitée d'indiscretion, ou le zele du bien publique passe pour l'effet d'un chagrin aveugle, & d'un ardeur temeraire, & ou les hommes etant devenus egalement incapables de supporter & les maux, & leurs remedes, la Censure est inutile, et souvent la personnè du Censeur odieuse.

D'AGUESSEAU SUR LA CENSURE PUBLIQUE,

ORIGINAL CRITICISM.

The Works of Edmund Spenser, with the principal Illustrations of various Commentators. To which are added, Notes, some Account of the Life of Spenser, and a Glossarial and other Indexes. By the Rev. Henry John Todd, M. A. F. A. S. &c. &c. 8vo. 8 vols. Rivingtons, &c.

IT

T is so much the fashion of the present day to load the pages of our early poets with the various opinion of different critics and commentators, that the original meaning of the author is often buried under the strange, and sometimes absurd conjectures of tasteless, or fanciful annotators; this has been peculiarly the case with our great dramatic poet, though, we understand, there is a hand now employed in trying to relieve him from some part of the enormous burthen.When a man of genius and learning, such as Mr. Todd undoubtedly is, undertakes a work like this now before us, we not only expect, (what we are certain to find), real merit in his own original observation, but also a selection only of such remarks of former commentators, as fall under the same description, and a total discarding of all those that owe their existence to pedantry, to ostentatious display of black-letter reading, or to an affectation of peculiar penetration which tries to discover mystery when none is meant, and to draw personal or political allusions from plain narrative and description. How far Mr. Todd has fulfilled the last part of his duty, will appear in the course of our observations as we examine the work. The

NO. XCIX. VOL. XXV.

B

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