the Almighty, whose wisdom appeared in the government of the world, ❝chose rather to worship a deity whom they denominated Fortune.... This sacrilege, has not only been the crime of pagans; we behold it in "the midst of christianity, and more particularly at the court, where it is a "vice the most predominant! Yes, my dear hearers, and you know this "truth better than I do, the idol of the court is fortune; it is at the court "she is adored; it is at the court where every thing is sacrificed to this "idol;-tranquility, health, liberty, and even conscience and salvation. At the court fortune is the regulator of friendship, esteem, civility, ser“vice, and even duty. The man richly endowed by fortune, becomes a " divinity in our eyes, his vices become virtues, his words are oracles, and his will is law. Yes, I will be bold to say, were a demon sent from the in"fernal regions, and advanced to á state of high elevation and favour, there "would be found men to offer him incense! But if the man thus idolized, "falls from his elevation, and we find him no more in place, how little is "be regarded! All his false worshippers disappear, and they are the "first to forget him. He is no longer the representative of the idal they * adore"!"

In our last Review we intimated the necessity of popular meetings to take into consideration the important subjects of PUBLIC ABUSES, and of REFORM in the various departments of government, and more particularly of REFORM IN THE REPRESENTATIVE BODY. The late resolutions of the House of Commons tend most forcibly to prove this necessity. Several gentlemen, and on different sides of the house, have in the course of the late discussions predicted-"That although the house, might shut their eyes against "the evidence on the table, the PEOPLE WOULD NOT SHUT THEIRS." Mr. PERCEVAL indeed assures us of his perfect conviction,--" That in no period of the history of this country, were "the times more free from corruption than the present" !!! It is to be wished that the right hon. placeman, sinecure holder, and reversionary expectant, had informed us, whether such a thing as "corruption," could possibly exist under any administration? For, unless language has lost its primitive meaning, we can scarcely imagine, judging from facts incontrovertible, that corruption more gross, or more barefaced, was ever practised in the worst times of England, or in the most despotic governments on the continent, than has been practised in modern times. What scenes have lately been exposed to the view of a crowded House of Commons? There is not a member of that house, who has expressed his opinion in the late debates,however he may have voted ; but has branded those scenes with eternal infamy! A select committee of that house is now inquiring into abuses of long standing, in one extensive department, (the East India company) abuses respecting which one of the directors assured the house, an inquiry was seven years since commenced

Select Sermons of Bourdaloue, translated from the French. p, 246,7.

at the proper place, the India house, when it was "stopped by "orders from a superior power." Even Mr. 'PERCEVal the pa negyrist of the purity of the times, finds himself at length com peiled, for common decency's sake to bring in a bill for lopping off one or two minor branches of corruption. Our public prints have for many years past abounded with advertisements, proving the traffic in public offices civil and ecclesiastical, by place brokers, army brokers, and church brokers. The same prints, at the period of a general election equally abound in advertisements proving the traffic for seats in the House of Commons by borough brokers. Evidence has been offered to the house to prove that "its seats are bought and sold in the same manner as cattle at a "fair;" an expression which ought to be rung in the ears of the members every tune they assemble, until they seriously, and in good earnest resolve to set about the work of RADICAL REFORM. We most sincerely hope, that the prediction lately uttered within the walls of that house,-THAT THE PEOPLE WILL NOT SHUT THEIR EARS AGAINST EVIDENCE, is about to be verified. Our conntrymen have not only facts to warn them of the danger of supineness, and indifference, but likewise to arouse them to assert those rights, to which as Britons, they have a constitutional claim. The resignation of the King's second son, of an office of the highest importance, which he had so long held, affords proof that the OPINION OF THE PEOPLE, founded on reason and evidence, is paramount to that of any delegated authority in the empire.

The subscription set on foot for Miss TAYLOR, and the encouragement it meets with, reflects honour on public justice, and humanity. This persecuted female, so far " from being "engaged in a conspiracy against the Duke of YORK," as accused by the hireling writers of the day, expressed " her unwillingness to "be brought forward as an evidence," and predicted" that she "should be ruined for telling the truth." If the design of her implacable enemies could have prevailed, her prediction would have been speedily verified. Although several members of the house, on perceiving the unfeeling usage she met with at the bar, have done justice to her evidence and her character, both of which stand unimpeached, yet in consequence of her having appeared as a witness, the evidence she gave, and her being related to Mrs. CLARKE, her school has been broken up, her effects seized by her creditors, and herself compelled to seek an asylum in the house of a friend. Her grand offence has been the relating evidence which pro duced conviction in the mind of the public, and of 200 members of the House of Commons, of the knowledge and connivance of the Duke of YORK respecting the scandalous circumstances attending Col. FRENCH's levy. For this the Editor of the Morning Post

has with a want of feeling peculiar to himself, and which would have disgraced a savage, exulted in her misfortunes; and with that notorious disregard to truth and decency which mark the effusions of this hireling, he has dared to charge those who have had the virtue to rescue her from ruin (and who previously made those eareful inquiries respecting her character which have turned out so much to her honour) as "men whose minds are intent on revelling "on the plunder of a nation" [surely he was describing the character of his employers] " overthrown to aid their projects, and "accomplish their plans." Such malignant falsehoods will we trust serve no other purpose, than to quicken that spirit of patriotism, which has languished till it was almost extinct, but which at length appears to be reviving.

American Affairs.-The subject of the British Orders of Council as they relate to America, has been discussed with considerable ability by Mr. WHITBREAD, who moved an address to "his Ma"jesty that he would be pleased to adopt conciliatory measures, "&c." The orders were defended by ministers; and Mr. WHITBREAD's motion met with the fate which we predicted at the commencement of the session, would befall every motion of a similar nature;-it was rejected by a considerable majority. We refer our readers to the debate on this occasion, which affords additional evidence of the obstinacy of our ministers in rejecting the fair and just offers of the American government to repeal her embargo laws, if England would annul her orders of council. The Americans persevere in their determination to maintain their just rights against the encroachments of both Britain and France; and we hope they will be able to preserve them, and at the same time avoid, what they have hitherto appeared to hold in just abhorrence, WAR with any country; thus following the admirable advice of the great founder of their independence, WASHINGTON," who just before his death exhorted them in the strongest and most im"pressive manner, as the grand foundation of their happiness, reli"gion, and morality, to live in peace with all mankind, and in their decisions and conduct to be alone guided by the strictest justice "and impartiality!"

The important REVOLUTION which has just taken place in Sw EDEN, the expected renewal of the war between AUSTRIA and FRANCE, the affairs of SPAIN, and the TREATY formed by our ministers, with a party in that country,, by which we are pledged to carry on the war till FERDINAND VII. shall be restored to the Spanish throne, and never to make peace with France without the consent of his imprisoned Majesty, call for a variety of observations, but which we must defer till the following month.

Harlow, March 30.

B. F.

POLITICAL REVIEW.

No. XXVIII.]

FOR APRIL, 1809.

[Vol. V.

REVIEW OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS.

PARLIAMENTARY PROCEEDINGS.

Inquiry into Public Abuses.-As this subject has already pro duced effects of considerable importance; as it has proved the means of awakening the people from that sleep, resembling the sleep of death, in which they had sunk for so many years past; as the spirit of patriotism now beginning to exert itself, will we ardently hope, spread over the whole nation, and produce conse quences the most beneficial, we have devoted a larger portion than usual of our Register for the past and present month, to those parliamentary proceedings which may be considered as the ground work of that RADICAL REFORM which our countrymen appear at length, after having acquired much dear bought experience, to consider as the only means of saving us from that ruin which has overwhelmed so many of the nations on the continent. At such a period, the language and the conduct of those who are called our representatives in parliament, demand our most serious attention.

The leading statesmen both in and out of administration, appear somewhat apprehensive of the consequences to which we have alluded; and the popular meetings that have already taken place, although they have been conducted on the strictest principles of the constitution, begin to excite the fears, not only of ministers, but of their opponents. The motion of Lord FOLKESTONE brought for ward in the house of Commons on the 18th instant,- "That

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"committee be appointed to inquire into the existence of the corrupt disposal of offices in the state, of the disposal of com"missions in the army, contrary to the regulations; and into the "practice of levies; and to report the minutes of their evidence "from time to time to the house :"This motion so just, so reasonable in itself, and so imperiously demanded by circumstances which have lately transpired, proving to demonstration the existence of the most flagrant abuses, in almost every department of the state, received the support of thirty two members only, and was negatived by a majority of 148, or five to one! We are not surprised that the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Secretaries of State, and

their associates and dependants should oppose the motion, on the pretence" that such inquiries were of too general a nature, and "that instituting them would have the dangerous tendency of "keeping the public mind in a ferment;" but that such men as Lord HENRY PETTY, Mr. PONSONBY, Mr. TIERNEY, and Mr. BRAND should, under such miserable pretences, join the ministerial side of the house, in crushing a motion for inquiry into the subject of abuses, must serve to strengthen those suspicions which have been raised in the public mind, respecting the conduct of the parties both in and out of administration, and forcibly impress the people with a conviction that nothing but their own efforts, their declared sense of the absolute necessity of REFORM in the various departments of government, and more especially of PARLIAMENTARY REFORM, can bring about those measures so absolutely necessary to the salvation of the empire.

Mr. TIERNEY and Mr. PONSONBY appear to have felt peculiarly sore at the suspicion, that the house of Commons may occasionally act from "corrupt motives;" the former indignantly observed, that "although there was such a cry out of doors, no such "cry should deter him from doing his duty;" which language was explained by his vote to mean, that he considered it as " his duty" to stifle the motion before the house. The grand leader of opposition, Mr. PONSONBY was so terribly irritated that he could not command his temper. "I find it impossible" said the right hon. gentleman," on the occasion of so extraordinary a proposition to " content myself with giving a silent vote; and more especially "when I see a disposition in some persons, not in the house, to charge every public man in the kingdom with corruption. This "is a charge of a most serious nature; and particularly when it is "considered how readily and with what avidity every thing that "is charged against this house is received out of doors: the people

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are even industriously told in some places, that there is no dise "tinction whatever in this house, and that we are all knaves and "rogues alike. These Sir, are most foul, impudent, bærefaced and infamous calumnies; for I will venture to maintain, that there are in this house, men as honest, as upright, as uncorrupt, and possessing as great integrity, as those who make these gross and "unfounded charges. The right hon. gentleman modestly added "Be the accuser who he may, I do assert and maintain, that he "is not an honester public man than I AM, nor do I see the " smallest reason, why I, or any other member of this house, "should hesitate for one moment to repel this unmerited and

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general stigma." Lord FOLKESTONE, and Mr. WHITBREAD ably defended the motion, and the latter declared it to be "his "firm conviction that the refusal or hesitation of the house to grant.