love of him in the people; while, in almost the same breath, these same men will tell you, that the people have no business to meddle with the family affairs of the Prince and the Princess. Just as if the King's do a husband, were not also an affair of family! Yes, but these we are permitted to meddle with; we are permitted to praise these, and even to consider them as a compensation to us for the misfortunes of the reign; for the loss of America, and for a Debt of countless millions. But, if we should descry, in any quarter, upon any occasion, qualities of a rather opposite kind, in any branch of the Royal Family, we are by no means, I suppose, to open our lips upon the subject. water that has passed under the sanctified the censorship of the public.——It is curipaws of a priest.- -What, then, can pos-ous enough to hear men talk about the dosibly keep the Clergy back upon this occa-mestic virtues of the King, as a ground for sion? An occasion when they might gratify both Prince and Ministry in the highest degree, and might, at the same time, give encouragement to virtue, and anathematize perjury, subornation, and all the base and black arts of the most cowardly and execra-mestic virtues, the qualities as a father and ble conspiracy that ever was heard of in the world.What can keep them back? What have their fine noses smelt out? Do they suspect, that they should displease any body, whom it is their interest to please? However, be this as it may, they have not yet come forward; and, if they do not, they shall hear of it, upon proper occasions, as long as I hold a pen to write for the public perusal.I am decidedly of opinion with SIR FRANCIS (whose present Letter, at any rate, can hardly have been written by MR. HORNE TOOKE!); I agree with him decidedly, that policy as well as justice call for these movements on the part of the people.In the first place, there is a right to exercise, and the exercise of a political right is, ninety-nine times out of a hundred, a good of itself. It becomes the people to let the Prince, to let his ministers, to let the aristocracy and the Clergy see that they (the people) have not forgotten, that they have rights. If the people were to be kept silent, at this time, by being told, that they have no business with the matter, why not keep them silent another time upon the same ground? It is a family affair; and so was the marriage of the Prince, and so was the birth of the Princess; and yet court sycophants could see nothing improper in Addresses upon those occasions.- -The object of an Address now is to applaud the conduct of the Princess, and to reprobate her base enemies. Justice, bare justice, skin-flint justice, demands this; but, it is also demanded by policy; for, it is of great consequence, that the people should cause it to be kept fresh in the minds of all the branches of the Royal Family, that the former have a right, at all times, when they deem it proper, to express, in this solemn manner, their opinions and their wishes as to the conduct or treatment of the latter. The Royal Family are amenable to no law as other people are. They are not exempted, indeed, by the letter of the law; but, it is impossible, in practice, to subject them, in all cases, to common rules; nor would it be desirable to do it. There is, therefore, the greater necessity that they should feel them lves continually liable to -This is too degrading; one cannot bear the thought of this; and, the people do very right in showing, that they know how and when to exercise the only right, that, in such cases, they have.I made the remark before, but I will not deny myself the pleasure of making it again: that the persons, who have appeared most prominent in doing justice to the Princess of Wales, are those who have been denominated Jacobins; those who have been accused of being enemies of the Royal Family; enemies of all law, government, and order men who wished for universal confusion and a consequent scramble for property. If this were true with regard to Sir Francis Burdett, whom the vile hired news-papers have put at the head of this desperate set of men, he must have a very high opinion of his powers at scrambling; for, unless he saw himself in this light, he could hardly hope to gain by a scramble. Mr. WHITBREAD, too, who has been put pretty nearly upon the same level, must scramble hard to get back again what would slip out of his hands by universal confusion. However, be this as it may, it does so happen, that those, who have been thus stigmatized by the tools of corruption, have been the most forward, and, indeed, have been the only persons, who have appeared at all in support of the Princess of Wales. COCHRANE JOHNSTONE has not till now been much known in politics, and has, therefore, not been honoured much with the abuse of the tools of corruption; but, Sir Francis Burdett, Mr. Whitbread, Mr. Alderman, Wood, Mr. Thompson, Major Cartwright, Mr. Wishart, Mr. Harris, have all been long-numbered amongst the men of despe Mr. 2 Wales received the Citizens of London; a rate politics; nor do I believe, that I shall be thought to arrogate too much to myself, if I take it for granted, that the tools of corruption have done me the honour to put me, however low down, in the same list. -Now, then, let the nation observe, and bear well in mind, that it is this "desperate 'faction" who have appeared alone to do public justice to the Princess of Wales. The whole nation have declared her to be an innocent and most injured woman; the whole nation have felt her wrongs, and have also felt that she merited support; never was there any person, whose case called forth so universal a wish in favour of the oppressed. How comes it, then, that the "Jacobins" only should have really made any movement, any public demon-upon various occasions; some on marstration in her favour? The truth is this: the "Jacobins," as they are insultingly called, have no views but such as are consonant with public liberty; with justice; with the support of the rights of the people and of the throne. They are under no corrupt influence; they are not goaded on by the hopes of gain, or, held in check by the fear of losing a share of the public money. They seek for no places, pensions, contracts, or any other thing for their own emolument; and they possess none of either. -Having, therefore, nothing to hope for, nothing to lose, nothing to fear for themselves, they are under no influence, in such a case, but that of their reason and their sense of justice; and this being the case, they have stepped forward to speak their sentiments freely; they have stepped forward to give utterance to the national feeling.Is it too much, then, for us to hope, that those persons, those men who are really good and disinterested, but who have been misled by the calumnies of the tools of corruption, will now, upon perceiving that it has been reserved for the Parliamentary Reformers to act this honourable part, a part so necessary to the fair reputation of the country; is it too much to hope, that good men, thus misled, will now hesitate before they give their further countenance to these calumnies? Is it too much to hope, that they will now begin to think, that the Parliamentary Reformers are not the men who have no sense of law and justice? The Princess of Wales, and also the Princess Charlotte, will, too, now be able to form an estimate of the real character of the different descriptions of politicians. They will be able to judge of the value of the people's good opinion. When the Princess of riages, some on births, some on recoveries from dangerous disorders, and some on escapes from attempts at assassination; but, did any man living ever before hear of an Address, an Address of loyally and affection, escorted by hundreds of thousands of the people, and the mover of it, in approbation of his conduct, drawn in his carriage for many miles by the people themselves? When, I ask, was such a thing heard of before? And, must it not be little mortifying to our calumniators to be obliged to acknowledge, that this address, this loyal and affectionate" Address, the "noble sentiments" of which even the Morning Post has been compelled to applaud, was brought forward by, was the work of, was begun and carried into execution through the sole agency of, those who have been called Jacobins and Levellers? If this fact be lost upon the obdurate tools of corruption, it will not, I am convinced, be lost upon the Princess of Wales and upon her Daughter, our future sovereign. They will see, that, after all, it is the people on whom alone any safe reliance can be placed. They will see, that real loyalty is the associate of an attachment to popular rights; and that those who are the friends of the people are also the best friends of the throne. They will not, I am sure, forget the conduct of the two great political factions upon this occasion. Not a word, in the way of support, has the Princess received from either of them. How they have acted towards her she need not be told; what they have done in her case she well knows; and, indeed, she will want no one to remind her of what they have now left undone.It will appear strange to posterity; and, indeed, it does now strike every one with great force, that, while her Let-cophant will ever be able to remove it from ter, that excellent Letter which she ad- her mind. Her love for her mother; the dressed to the two houses of parliament, joy, the exultation, which she must exthrough the Lord Chancellor and the Speak-perience, at these spontaneous, these uner; while that Letter lies wholly unno- purchased, these unfeigned movements on ticed by the two Houses, the people have the part of the people, must implant in taken up the matter, publicly and constitu- her heart feelings of gratitude towards tionally discussed it, and pronounced their them. She will now, I dare. say, see decision, in the most decided and most re- them in a light in which she never before gular manner.- -She will, herein see, saw them. Those notions of contempt for and her Daughter will also see, the value the people, which court sycophants are but of the people's rights; they will reflect on too apt to inculcate, she will now be in the awkward state in which Her Royal much less danger of imbibing. She has Highness the Princess of Wales, would had a striking proof of the great imporeven now have been, if the people, accord- tance of the people, of the great weight of ing to the wish of the enemies of liberty, public opinion; and, I trust, that it had been possessed of no rights. She will will, through her whole life, serve to see, that the eyes, not only of this nation, guard her against the insidious counsels of but of the world, were fixed upon her. those, who would teach her, that the Her case was become as notorious as any people are nothing; that they have no great question between nations; and, if rights that are of any use, and that they the English people, whose love of justice ought always to be an object of Royal jeaand fair-play is their best characteristic, lousy.- From the scene now before the had remained silent; if they had taken no eyes of Her Royal Highness, who is of an notice of her treatment; if they had shun- age to form a correct judgment, she will ned her cause, what would have been the not, I am persuaded, fail to gather most conclusion of the world? The documents useful knowledge. She will see what it is were, indeed, all published; her inno- to deserve and to receive the people's love eence was clear to all those who had the and admiration; and she may easily form means of reading these documents; her an idea of the condition of a Queen, as she cause had been espoused by public writers; one day will be, who should be an object but, with the silence of parliament upon of the people's hatred, or, still worse, of her remonstrance; and with a people si- their contempt. She will, I hope, contently looking on; with both these before clude, that, to reign over a people without their eyes, the unreading mass of the na- reigning in their hearts; that to command tion and the world at large would still their unwilling and sullen obedience; that have had their doubts. The step taken by to possess a life about the preservation of the City of London, followed, as it has which, even for a single day, her people been, by the City of Westminster, have would not care a straw; that thus to regu settled the point for ever. She has ob- and thus to live, though surrounded with tained a glorious triumph over all her hundreds of flatterers, would be intolerable enemies, a triumph for which she is, in existence. This, I hope, will be her conthe first place, indebted to her own inno-clusion; and then, in striving to make hercence, sense, and courage, but which could not have been sealed to the satisfaction of the world without that exercise of popular rights, which led to her palace the Lord Mayor, Sheriffs, and Citizens of London, accompanied by ten thousand times more people than, probably, ever before accompanied an Address to any king, queen, prince, or princess in this country. self beloved, she will make her people happy; she will watch over their rights as the best, and, indeed, as the only, secu rities of her own; she will set the example of a love of freedom, in casting from her the trammels of faction; she will be indeed a Queen, and the nation will be great, happy, and free.It is the constant endeavour of courtiers to persuade princes, that -The benefit, which the people will the people are their natural enemies. receive from these memorable occurrences, Princess of Wales is now able to contradict will naturally proceed from the impression, this wicked doctrine, which has its rise in which, at an age of susceptibility, will be a desire to make the prince and people produced on the mind of Her Royal High- hate each other, to keep them at perpeness the Princess Charlotte of Wales. tual variance, and, by that means to subThat impression must be in favour of the due both to the will of those who hold people's rights; and, I trust, that no sy-such doctrine. They terrify the Prince The with the hostility of the people, and they use his power to keep the people in awe. Let the Princess Charlotte search all history through, and she will find, that this has been the great source of plots, conspiracies, rebellions, and civil wars. Sometimes the misguided sovereigns have fallen, and sometimes thousands of their people; but, in every case gain to themselves has been the object of those who have fomented the differences between them. Those persons, who, in this country, seek for a reform, have been represented, always represented as the enemies of the throne, as if the throne depended for its existence, upon the practice of corruption. The reformers have been most insolently termed "a low, degraded crew." These reformers it is, who have now come forward with a "loyal and affectionate" address to the Princess of Wales. Nay, when a motion, in the late parliament, was made for the giving proof at the bar of the House of Commons of the sale of seats in that House, the actual sale of seals, there were persons of both the parties to cry out, that it was time to put a stop to POPULAR EN"CROACHMENT!"—I trust, that the Princess Charlotte of Wales will not want for right notions upon this all-important subject; I trust, that the specimen which she has now seen of the effect of popular rights, will be sufficient to guard her against those, who would persuade her that the people encroach too far, when they complain of the sale, the actual sale, of seats in that House, which is spoken of as containing the people's representatives. It appears to me something truly surprising, that any sovereign in England should be made to believe, that a reform of Parliament would be hostile to the throne. The contrary is so evident, that I cannot conceive how it can be doubted. The powers of the king are so great; they are so effectually guarded against every thing but unconstitutional combinations of corrupt men, that he can have nothing to fear from a parliament freely chosen by the people. But, from such combinations, from corrupt trafficking in seats, from the influence which naturally arises out of that, a king of England has every thing to fear; that is to say, if he fears being made a mere cipher in the government.If the people at large, or, at least, all those who pay taxes, were to choose the Members of the House of Commons, it is certain, that they would choose men in the first place whom they know; their choice would very seldom, if ever, fall upon needy men, or men of questionable character. And, if the House of Commons were filled with men of good character and of good fortune, how is it possible to suppose, that they would wish to overthrow the king and his family? How is it possible to suppose, that such a House of Commons, being the actual owners of no inconsiderable portion of the country, would wish to plunge that country into confusion and anarchy ?--Such a House of Commons, independent: in point of property, free from all tempta tion to invade the public purse, and having no view upon any thing derivable from a misuse of its power of voting, would leave the king to the full enjoyment of all his prerogatives; it would not want to seize from him any part of that which he would have to bestow; and, at the same time, that it took care of the nation's purse, it would have a plenty to leave at his discretion.A king of England, with such a House of Commons, would be exposed to none of the mortifications, which must inevitably arise from having servants or pensioners or any thing forced upon him. He would be, as far as the law allowed, his own master; and, such he should be. The law prescribes bounds to his authority, and that authority ought to have no other restraint.--The doctrine, preached by the Whigs, of the necessity of a combination of great families as a check upon the crown, is a most wicked doctrine. It is directly in the teeth of the letter, as well as the spirit of our government. It transforms the limited kingly government into a detestable aristocracy, or something even worse than that. It sets the people at nought. It considers them as little better than cattle. Check upon the Crown! What check do we want other than that imposed by our own voices, by the mouths of real representatives? What an insult is this doctrine both to the Crown and the people! Great families, indeed! And who are they? Have they not power enough in their own House? Quite enough in all conscience, without forming any combinations against the king. But, this is another of those devices, which shallow men have resorted to, in order to supply the place of that real, that effectual, that natural and undegrading check, which a Commons' House of Parliament, freely chosen, forms to all the powers of the Crown, or, rather, to the abuse of those powers.- -The aristocracy would, I must confess, lose power by a reform of parlia ment; but, then, it is only that power, which it has taken from the Crown and the people. The king ought, in reason, to be at the head of the reformers, for, I am sure, he would gain most. As things now stand, we see several sinecure placemen, each of whom has greater emoluments than the whole that one of the sons of the king has to live upon. I cannot tell what it is that blinds them; but, it appears to me, that the Members of the Royal Family ought to be the very loudest in the kingdom for a parliamentary reform. The Duke of Sussex, for instance, has £18,000 a year, while Lord Arden's places are stated at about double the sum. Could this be with a reformed parliament? Is there amongst the people one single man, who would give his vote for such a distribution of the public money? No; not one. Perhaps the Duke of Sussex, with all his encumbrances, has not enough to enable him to keep a carriage and three or four horses. Not a man in all England would wish to see a son of the King in this state. Yet, some how or other it is contrived to persuade the members of the Royal Family, that the reformers are their enemies.The notion that the enemies of reform always endeavour to inculcate, is, that, if the people were left to choose whom they please, they would choose men of no property and no principle, and that, during the very first session of parliament, they would abolish the kingly part of the government. -This is saying, in effect, that a decided majority of the people do now wish the kingly part of the government to be destroyed.But, this our enemies dare not say in plain words. On the contrary, they assert, that a vast majority of the nation are perfectly loyal and well-disposed, and that they prefer this form of government to any other.Well, then, if that be the case, why are you afraid to trust them? Why not let them all vote for members of parliament? Why object to a reform upon the principles of the Constitution.--But, as I said before, the people, if left to themselves, would always choose persons of the greatest weight and respectability in their own neighbourhoods. They would be sure to do this. It is not in the nature of things that they should prefer strangers and adventurers; and what danger, I pray, could possibly arise from the seating of all the most respectable gentlemen in the kingdom in the House of Commons? What danger to any one, except those who unmeritedly pocket the public money? Would such an assemblage of gentlemen have any motive for producing "anarchy and confusion," which is always most impudently held forth as the object of the reformers? The Members of such a House would have no motive; they could have no motive, for degrading the Royal Authority, upon the due support of which the possession of their own fortunes and estates must depend. I know, that there are some persons, who are for a reform, as the means of bringing forward what are called men of talents. It is not talents that we want. We want independence of fortune; we want good principles; we want probity more than we do talents, of which latter we have enough. We want, in short, honest men, who shall not be exposed to any of the temptations attending poverty; and such men a reform of Parliament would certainly give us.I desire the reader to consider, for a moment, what the effect would be of the people's seeing the House of Commons filled with gentlemen, all distinguished in their several districts for their fortunes and their probity. I beg him to consider what weight this would give to all their proceedings; with what respect it would stamp all their measures. If there be a man so blind as not to perceive this, I pity his want of political insight. Such a change would certainly mar the game of wrangling adventurers, who live by their wits; for, most assuredly, not a man of them would ever see the inside of the House, A foolish, or an unprincipled ministry would, indeed, find such a parliament very intractable; but, would it be an injury to the king that the parliament should, in such a case, be found intractable? The king would have no care upon his mind. Such a House of Commons would not be led much; but it would never be far from doing what was perfectly right.-Away we might sweep all the mass of election laws; for there would be, and there could be, neither bribery nor corruption. There would need no law about qualifications ; for, as I said before, you have in the heart of man the best guarantee for a district never choosing a person of questionable fortune. Men do not go and pick out their equals to put them to make laws for them. Leave them only free to choose, and their choice will always fall upon persons, whom they know to be a great deal richer than themselves.The people (and I cannot repeat it too often), the people, if left to their free choice, would never choose |