and that, to ascribe it to the weakness or wickedness of his advisers, is to burthen them with no more than a just and legitimate, though, in this case, a very heavy, responsibility."

"Since Mr. Pitt's acceptance of power, his adherents have urged the impropriety of forcing any minister upon the king; which the conduct here suggested has been repre sented as having a tendency to effect, and thus to controul the legitimate prerogative

of the crown.

"To this it is replied, that the constitution, in theory, acknowledges no such thing as forcing the king, though its spirit does authorise a refusal to support-and a continued refusal to support government till power be in the hands of persons acceptable to the people; that, strictly speaking, it cannot happen, because the wishes of the king and of the house of commons .can never, on this point, be constitutionally at variance the prerogative of the crown, to appoint ministers, being established for the purpose of giving effect to the public voice.

"But it is to be observed, the present was no extreme case to the crown, though it was to the country-It was not the caprice of the one, against the caprice of the other It was not an individual favoured by the one, against an individual favoured by the ether. For, even allowing that the crown did entertain a prejudice against one personand allowing, also, that such a prejudice would afford a constitutional ground of exclusion, still, we must insist, that the estion cannot fairly be stated to rest, in the present instance, upon an objection to an individual.

"The alternative to the crown, was not between the appointment of one inan, whom did approve as minister, and of one, whom it did not; but between an administration containing one individual disagreeable to the crown, the remainder being unobjectionable, and such an administration as we now possess. "The alternative to the country was very different-it was between an administration composed on a principle and basis wholly agreeable, or on a principle and basis wholly disagreeable. On one side, the objection was to an individual; on the other, to a sys

Mr. Pitt might have been minister as he now is, agreeably to the supposed wishes of

the crown.
Mr. Fox's admission to office
did not exclude Mr. Pitt, though Mr. Pitt's
admission has been found to exclude Mr.
Fox. Thus, on one side, a very slight
sacrifice was required; on the other, a very
great one.

"It is worth while, to pursue this point somewhat further-the more so, as this objection of forcing a minister upon the crown, has been made the apology for Mr. Pitt's conduct; and as a little investigation may distinctly point out, what degree of tenderness towards the prerogative, Mr. Pitt, in the course he has actually pursued, can fairly lay claim to.

"In the first place, it may be observed, that every refusal to support the existing ministers, is an attempt to controul the crown, in the exercise of its choice. There is no very great difference, between a continued refusal to support (we presume, Mr. Pitt's refusal to support would have been continued, as long as the same grounds had remained, which produced his opposition to Mr. Addington), and an endeavour, by lawful means, to secure such an administration as is desired.

"For the house of commons to prescribe any individual to the crown, would be indecent and unconstitutional; but to refuse its support upon good grounds, till a ministry was formed agreeable to itself, and conformable to public opinion, would be both constitutional and decorous. Perseverance in such a case, would be a question, not of constitution, but of policy.

"If the word force, however, is to be applied at all, and if a tenderness towards the crown be recognised as sound doctrine, and a salutary principle, still it is evident, that Mr. Pitt's opposition to Mr. Addington, and subsequent acceptance of power upon the basis of exclusion, cannot be justified upon any such ground; as it certainly has evinced no such tenderness."

This pamphlet is written with ability, perspicuity, urbanity, and singleness of view; it displays an intimate conversancy with the fathers of constitutional politics; it forms the acknowledged manifesto of the parties now coalesced in opposition; it will survive the present struggle, and be appealed to in succes sive emergencies.

ART. LIX. Letter to Lord A. Hamilton on the Occasion of his late Pamphlet, in which the fatal Consequences of the King's melancholy State of Health are particularly considered. Svo. pp. 50.

THIS commentary, we had almost said supplement, to lord A. Hamilton's pamphlet, drags into the discussion the

question of his majesty's health, which, from motives of personal reverence, had been avoided in the thoughts alluded to.

Thoughts on the Causes of the present Discontents.

After many particulars, valuable to the curious, about individual opinion, the writer goes on thus:

"Amidst this complication of mystery, how is it possible to believe, that the king's mind was even brought fairly to consider of a new administration; much less that it was fairly induced to determine and adhere to the exclusion of Mr. Fox? Your lordship, I perceive, like most other patriotic writers, accounts for all this, by ascribing it to the secret advisers of the crown on the contrary, I account for it, by supposing his majesty under guidance, in consequence of his recovery not being completed; and, on this point, to use your own phraseology, "it is left to the public to determine."

Having myself advanced thus far, upon what you may consider as delicate ground, and having, in a former page, censured your Jordship for not going further than you did, I shall think it my duty to say a few words upon the probability of his majesty's perfect re-establishment, and upon the wisdom of yet, though late, adopting some measure of precaution against the evils of a relapse. I am aware of the delicacy of the subject; but, in my estimation, its delicacy ought, under the present circumstances of the country, to yield to its importance. If ever the time comes, that the united empire is involved in general calamity, for want of timely precaution on this point, the delicacy of the subject will constitute but a poor excuse for those, whose duty it was to stifle sensibility, and to provide against danger.

and the

In this view of the subject, it is not solely the present state of his majesty's health, of his recovery, prospect that appears of importance; for it is equally necessary to contemplate the probability of a relapse, and to endeavour, by timely provisions, to mitigate the ill consequences of such a calamity, if it should ever happen.

"It must be recollected, as was stated before, that the very ground, on which all the physicians in attendance upon his majesty, in 1789, rested their hopes of his recovery was, that it was the first attack with which his majesty had been afflicted. However much their opinions might differ on other points, and however much they might derive their respective opinions from different impressions, this view of the case, and this ground of hope was common to them all.

"It is needless, my lord, to pursue this matter into any minute detail; but surely it will not be considered indecent or disrespectful to remark, that this ground of hope exists no longer; and that, if measures of precaution would be now premature, which is much to be doubted, there is some cause to fear that, at a future time, they may be too late."

And what-if it were to become a constitutional doctrine, that a king of England can no more become non compos mentis, than he can do any other wrong, or be made liable, in consequence, to civil disabilities? If, for every public proceeding, there is a recognized respon sible known adviser, punishable for misconduct, what inconvenience could result from the impassiveness of the sorereign, the merely nominal author of such proceeding? To hold up transient alienation of mind as incompatible with Bri tish royalty, has its danger. A seditious impatience under it, strikes at the sta bility of the dynasty. And surely par liaments are not found the less indepen dent, during any interruption of the personal influence of the monarch. Why not then quietly consent " to take the indisposed and sickly fit for the sound

man?"

ART. LX. A Reply to Lord Archibald Hamilton's Thoughts on the Formation of the late and present Administrations. 8vo. pp. 45.

THIS writer barefacedly attacks the privilege of parliament: we hold up his positions to public animadversion.

"The doctrine (and I do not here mean to confine my observations merely to his lordship's pamphlet, but also to notice one or two opinions which have been made public elsewhere) endeavoured to be inculcated is, that parliament or the people have a right to prescribe to the king in the choice of his servants; thereby rendering the prerogative a perfect nullity.

"Parliament has a right, an undoubted and constitutional right, to interfere in the removal of ministers, insufficient in weight and abilities to the exigencies of the moment; but any attempt to go further, to govern the

king in his right to chuse new servants, after the ministers no longer approved or supported are turned out, can be construed into no thing more or less than a violation of one of the principles of the constitution, let the grounds for such conduct be what they may, whether secret advisers, or too powerful court

influence."

It is only as the fountain of honour that the king can nominate ministers: now in this capacity the constitution so expressly recognizes the superior autho rity of parliament, that titles can be withdrawn by parliament, and not by the king. In the eye of the law, the king is incapable of thinking wrong i

the bill of rights recognizes in our parliaments an overawing authority. The constitutional language, or parliamenta ry diction therefore, in which Mr. Pitt's accession to place ought to be reprobated, is this;-his appointment was a mere imposition. But as Lear says: " Robes and furr'd gowns hide all.”'

ART. LXI. A short Appeal to the good Sense of the Perple of the United Kingdom; espe cially recommended to the Perusal of their Representatives in Parliament, occasioned by reading A plain Answer to the Misrepresentations and Calumnies in the Cursory Remarks of a near Observer. 8vo. pp. 63.

Addington, and which tended to favour the pretensions of the latter. Now is the day after the fair, the puffs of the auctioneer are no longer in season.

IT. LXII. Letter to Sir Francis Burdett, Bart. on the Folly, Indecency, and the dangerous Tendency of his public Conduct. By the Rev. EDWARD HANKIN, M. A. M. D. 8vo. pp. 58.

ART. LXIII.

Letter to the Right Hon. Lord Pelham, on the State of Mendicity in Metropolis. By MATTHEW MARTIN, Esq. 8vo. pp. 30.

WHEN a man stretches out his hand in the street to ask alms, it is not enough to answer" Go and work;" we ought to be able to say, "Come and work." Unless there are establishments, where every necessitous individual may find, at all times, the offer of employment, at wages adequate to his mere subsistence, almsgiving is not a weakness, but a virtue. What is the worst use to which a halfpenny so given is likely to be applied, suppose the receiver as idle, as profligate, as imagination can figure? He will employ it, perhaps, as part of the purchase of a dram of gin. Even in this case it will bestow ten, twenty, minutes of imaginary health, and luxurious excitement; the cares retreat, the hopes approach; sorrow has an interval of repose, and existence an interval of value. And if it is to be employed for purposes of real necessity, to defer the pawning of a blanket, or the hunger of a child;-who would grudge--who not volunteer the petty gift?

Begging is not so objectionable on its own account, as on account of the inequality of recompense with which it is attended. A good situation, a miserable appearance, will earn a little fortune for bustling worthlessnes; while modest prince starves, unheeded, in pining humility. It was wise, therefore, in the catholics, to consolidate the fortunes of mendicants; to institute begging orders, to convene in one community the superannuated, diseased, and crippled, outcasts of industry, and to licence certain delegates of the distressed, to collect for the wants of the whole tribe of the helpless. Why not build convents, or hospitories, in which those might be fed and clad; who, after examination by appropriate surgeons, are declared incapable of earning a subsistence? Why not per mit certain members of these fraternities, or sisterhoods, to offer locked tills at convenient places to the charitable passenger, and to bring home, for the use of the household, the result of a patient unobtrusive quest? Begging has, in all ages and countries, so much abounded in thronged situations, that it may be considered as a necessary phænomenon of popular society, as a lesson of nature, as the appropriate form of providing for those, whose labour has little or no exchangeable value. The eleemosynary rashness, which

gives without inquiry and without crimination, is almost diffusive en to maintain both the pretended and real invalid. If the separation of th classes were intrusted to proper in tors, no doubt, enough might be col. to maintain all who ought to be tok as members of an order of mendic.. Piety has always delighted in the tude of mendicity, and christianity commanded us to deserve it: there sort of irreligion in attempting its tirpation.

Actuated apparently by some views, the benevolent author of t rious and instructive pamphlet underto those inquiries, concerning the ber of London, of which the result is. published, and may thus be conden

"In an early stage of my inquiry, the * "ciety for bettering the condition, 25) "creasing the comforts of the poor, instituted, of which I had the non t being nominated a member, and of prop that my plan for an inquiry into the ca stances of BEGGARS, should constitut the declared objects of that society, wh was kindly acceded to.

the undertaking becoming somewhat "When about 300 paupers had att.. duous and expensive to be carried on wi further assistance, I was induced to the support of government.

My wishes being represented to the ciety, a deputation of some of its men. of which I had the honour to be one, w upon the duke of Rutland, to expl nature of the design, which he was pe to encourage; and, in consequence d'a grace's recommendation, I received a wire for 5001. from the lords commissioners of h majesty's treasury, to enable me to proc the inquiry; and since, by the favour of va lordship, a second warrant to the sart mount, an acknowledgment of which, of lesser sums, derived from other so re nexed. When I felt myself supported b may be seen, by reference to the accounta vernment, the business of course assuad additional degree of importance; I preți to enlarge my plan of operation, and ac ingly engaged an office and assistants. It some time to digest my scheme; but whe was once sufficiently arranged, and set action, the execution went on rapidly.

"In order to induce the paupers to a and about 6000 were disposed of to myse at the office, I caused tickets to be prote and others, at the price of three-pence esta for the purpose of being distributed to 18 GARS, who were admitted to the office in c sequence of their shewing such tickets, and

teived the value, and frequently more. Thus a small fund was raised, of which the paupers had the benefiti n return for their accounts of themselves; and the tickets being lettered and numbered, and registered when disposed of, served as clues in particular cases, where required, to assist the donors in tracing the history of the parties on whom they were bestowed.

"The list of those who purchased these tickets is particularly respectable; and I am highly indebted, for the success of my plan, to the liberality with which they adopted and encouraged it. Liberality is an essential characteristic of the British nation; and is seldom or never wanting towards the support of any measure likely to contribute to an extensive relief of the poor.

2000 examinations recorded in the tables were taken; in the course of which time, above 600 other persons attended with tickets, who, though paupers, did not confess themselves to be BEGGARS; and therefore, in strictness, were not considered as proper objects of the inquiry; and accordingly their cases were not critically noted in like manner with the cases of BEGGARS, but the value of the tickets was allowed.

"The tables are forty in number; each containing abstracts of fifty examinations, disposed in columns, in order to point out the leading circumstances of the history of the parties; and the summary annexed to the tables, recapitulates their totals, for the purpose of exhibiting a general view of the whole."

"In a little more than seven months, the
Summary of 2000 Cases of Paupers, examined at the Mendicity Enquiry Offic.