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for digressing into subjects, and for framing resolutions, which had no connexion with the topic which they were specifically assembled to discuss. The tolerance of this irregular conduct proved either the ignorance or the profligacy of the individuals who presided over these meetings, and whose duty it was to prevent it. The second point, for which we condemn them, is for the unconstitutional violence of their language, and for their flagrant violation of every principle of justice, in impeaching the motives of others, while they insist on the purity of their own. Surely, if we take credit for the integrity of our own conduct, we cannot, without injustice, deny the same credit to others merely because they differ in opinion from ourselves. But these raving demagogues, who betray their ignorance in their violence, seem to act upon the monstrous supposition, that every minister must be a rogue; and that a man, whose moral character has never been impeached, whose integrity and virtue, public and private, have never been made the subject even of doubt, becomes dishonest and corrupt, belies all his former principles, acts in direct contradiction to the whole conduct of his life, nay, changes his very motives the moment he becomes a minister. There is something in this supposition se revolting to common sense, that it is wonderful it should obtain currency with any rational beings. Yet, true it is, that it has a great effect on the minds of the ignorant and credulous multitude, whose ears have been so long stunned, by trading patriots, with the sound of placemen, that they really are led to regard them as a species of non-descript monster, or beast of prey, a burden to society, and whom it would be laudable to extirpate! These beings never take the trouble to reflect, that a government can no more be carried on without officers to execute the duties of its various departments, than the concerns of a mercantile establishment can be managed without the assistance of clerks. They never consider that every clerk in a counting-house, every journeyman in a shop, is as inuch a placeman as an officer of the crown. They are all alike paid by their respective masters for the services which they render, are all alike accountable for their conduct, and equally subjected to dismission at the will of their employers. The office of a minister, at such a period as the present, God knows, can be little enviable; and they must have most scrdid souls and most contracted minds who can believe any pecuniary reward to be an

adequate compensation for the anxiety which he must feel, the labour which he must sustain, and the vast weight of responsibility which he must of necessity bear. We do not expect that reflexions like these will ever enter the heads of those traders who compose that motley assembly ycleped a Common Hall; or that considerations of this nature will have the smallest effect on either their feelings or their intellects. Indeed, the late meeting of the Livery of London was much more like a bear-garden than an assembly of rational beings. Every thing was carried, consistently enough, d la Française, by acclamation. To accord with them, to condemn without trial was an effect of patriotism; while to hear an accused party in his own defence, was the mark of an ignoble and uncivic mind. Indeed, so scandalous was the conduct of this senseless rabble, that we really think Mr. Wardle disgraced by their thanks, and the Lord Mayor honoured by their censures. The lead upon these occasions has been taken by a new demagogue, who may justly be called the ubiquarian patriot, for he is here, there, and every where, at the call of faction. This man, who keeps a retail shop in the city, * and daily ekes out yards of flannel, and ells of cotton, for petticoats and gowns, for the Poissardes and Dames de la Halle of the neighbouring market, bids fair to riva! the well-earned fame of the patriotic brewer, who has hitherto been the Solon of Guildhall, the Demosthenes of the London Tavern, and the Brutus › of St. Stephen's Chapel. He is, indeed, orator-general to the party, and a distinguished member of the Wiig-Club. He has, of course, received the science of legislation, and the knowledge of a statesman, which enables him to speak with decision on the most com→ plicated and difficult subjects of political economy, by intuition. For as the early, and the greater, part of his life was passed in the humble capacity of a shopman, in an obscure part of the town, and as his business must, of course, have since occupied the whole of his time, which is not appropriated to the trade of patriotism, he cannot have had much leisure, much opportunity, or much capacity, for such studies. That this man should display the most consummate ignorance of some of the rainest principles of the constitution, that he should totally misconceive and grossly misrepresent the duties of a representative, and that he should talk without reason, and vilify without argument, is as perfectly natural, as it is that he should find fools to emulate his conduct, and fool No. 130. Vol. 32. April. 1809. 2 F

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to admire it. But when we hear so many violent declamations about the corruptions of the court,, we are naturally led to expect some unequivocal proofs of the purity of the city. Now, however it may excite the indignation of these worthies of the Common-hall, we will tell them to their faces, that a greater sink of corruption, than the city of London, is not to be found. If we look at the means adopted for obtaining any situation in the gift of the corporation, we shall find as much scurrility, as much sycophancy, as much secret solicitation, as much artifice, as much intrigue, and as much sordid and interested motives, as mark any transaction of the most corrupt court. If we examine the whole system with a scrutinising eye, from the public vender of prohibited goods to the petty pilferer of sweetmeats at a city dinner, we shall find cause for resentment at any reproaches from that quarter, for corruption, dishonesty, or fraud! We may recur to this subject, hereafter, as it affords much fund for reflexion; but at present we shall confine our attention to one branch of it, which has lately become the subject of legal animadversion.

On a recent trial Lord Ellenborough had occasion to reprobate the shameful manner in which the police of the city was conducted. Civic dignity could ill brook the reproach of the Chief Justice; a municipal meeting was convened; and in an advertisement, in which truth and decency were equally violated, the lie almost was given to his lordship. Now we not only coneur in the censure pronounced by Lord Ellenborough, but we plainly and unequivocally state, that a more wretched system of police than that which prevails in the city of London, does not disgrace any town or country in Europe. We maintain, that more public brothels, more known receptacles for stolen goods, and more disorderly houses of, every kind, together with more thieves and receivers, are established here, than in the whole kingdom besides. Nay, we will go still further, and assert, without fear of contradiction, that the ignorance of the individuals, who are entrusted with the administration of justice, is very frequently such, as not merely tends to a neglect to enforce an obser, ance of the laws, but even to the commission of evils contrary to law. Of the truth of these assertions, we can and will, if necessary, produce specific proofs. Let us, then, hear no more of the boasted excellence of the city police. The civic patriots would do the country more service by promoting a radical

reform in this department, and in some others, within their own. sphere and within their own knowledge, than by senseless declamations and inflammatory harangues on subjects beyond their knowledge.

We plainly descry in some of these tumultuous meetings, and in several of the publications of the day, a lurking design to renew those scenes which had nearly brought this country to the brink of ruin, or at least of a civil war, in the early periods of the Frencli revolution. The arsembling of delegates from different parts of England, so pompously announced at the Middlesex meeting, proves the existence of a settled plan for effecting some revolution in our political system. These persons are to meet at the Crown and Anchor, and though they had been properly styled delegates by one of their number, it was afterwards deemel expedient to call them only stewards; yet, in the extraordinary advertisement which proclaimed their names to the public, the counties ontowns which these sterards represented, were mentioned, evidently to show the motive of the meeting, and to induce other places to send their delegates to attend it. The professed object of this assembly is à Parliamentary Reform; but when we recollect that the same object was avowed by all the seditious societies in every part of the kingdom at the period before alluded to, and that it afterwards appeared that Reform was only sought for as a step gained on the road to Revolution; we cannot but exhort all the friends of the constitution to watch the proceedings of these new societies with a jealous and a vigilant eye.

The committees of the House of Commons have presented some voluminous reports, containing much curious and some interesting matter on various topics. But, we confess, that, in some of those reports, it seems to us, that a great deal has been sacrificed to a paltry desire of earning popularity at the expence of others. It is not our intention, at present, to enter upon an analysis of such documents, or even to extend our general observations on the subject, We cannot refrain, however, from expressing our apprehensions, that this spirit of investigation, where it has not a direct and specific object in view, if not subjected to the control of saber judg ment and sound discretion, may lead to consequences which the members do not foresee, productive of great public inconvenience and mischief. If there be any specific abuse charged upon any department, or on any individual-if there be any defaulter of

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unaccounted millions," let the most rigid scrutiny be instituted, with a view to the detection of the offence, and the punishment of the offender. But to suffer a committee to exercise inquisitorial powers and to extend their inquiries to an undefined extent, without any of these legitimate objects in view, is to establish tribunals of an extraordinary nature, calculated to keep the public mind in a state. of constant irritation, highly unfavourable to that accuracy and steadiness of conduct which are essential to the existence of social order. We cannot, for instance, conceive that a committee of the House of Commons was either properly or beneficially employed in investigating the distribution of patronage vested in the East-India directors. This body of traders have a law of their own, and a jurisdiction peculiar to themselves; and with the disposal of their patronage the public appear to us to have no concern. A great outcry has been raised, by the report of the committee on this subject, on the sale of writerships, and of the appointment of cadets in the Company's service. But, in the first place, a writer's appointment has as long as we can recollect been às marketable a commodity, and as publicly sold, as a bale of silk or a chest of tea. A cadetship, indeed, was never sold formerly, because it was not considered as worth purchasing. Admitting, however, the propriety of a similar inquiry for the sake of the argument, where, let us ask, is the. injury sustained by the public in these reprobated transactions?, Not any has been proved, nor is there the smallest reason to think that any has been sustained; and therefore all the noise which has been made on this subject has been verba et voces prætereaque nihil. For our part, we confess, that we see nothing extraordinary. in the sale of places by a company of traders, who solicit patronage for the sake of disposing of it to advantage. And whether they provide for a relation or friend by giving him 3000 guineas, or by appointing him to a place worth 3000 guineas, the advantage is the same, and, in a moral point of view, we can see no difference. As to any private regulations of their own, with those the public have nothing to do, as far at least as respects this question. And the notion of depriving cadets and writers, who have been long in India, of their situations, for an unintentional violation of any such ruies, is so monstrously iniquitous and unjust, so outrageously tyrannical, and so utterly subversive of the first principles of justice, that it should meet with public execration. We have,

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