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    meting as heads , found it necessary to explain to their respective partizans the grounds pf their actions , lest they should lose any of their consequence , and thus every thing became public , and the meanest individual was thoroughly acquainted with the state « f parties in this kingdom and of the degree of their influence in public affa . rs .

    To judge rightly of these proceedings we must consider what was meant by the first vote of the house under the term of a strong and efficient administration , and this will not be well understood without adverting to the influence

    by which its votes are directed . The terms ministry and opposition are familiar to our ears , and besides these parties there are some stragglers not belonging to either party , but voting according to the circumstances of the case ; some

    of them , like Sir Francis Burdett , with avowed principles , which , if the advocates for them were numerous enough , would be considered as a strong efficient third party . In the late contest these stragglers counted for nothing , and the whole matter rested between the two

    parties > the opposition and the ministry , and the question was to form a union of these two bodies , by making the leaders of each the principal members of an administration . This attempt not succeeding , the question then was , whe * ther the house of Commons would stand

    with the old ministry , filling up its own vacancies , or persist in petitioning the Prince to discard them : and it was clearly seen that the opposition were not sufficiently strong to force a ministry upon him .

    In fact , the whole scene presented a melancholy view of the state of party in this country ; for our constitution clearly leaves the crown in possession of appointing its own servants ; and if a party can make arrangements to place men in the cabinet , it can also keep then * there , and the due influence of sovereign and people may be set at nought . The eval

    death o ^ Mr . Perc created a vacancy : why should there be so much difficulty in filling it up ? Where is the necessity of so many arrangements ? We are brought to the question of a true representation of the people and annual parliaments , and such proceedings as we have lately witnessed could not take place . The ministry is still supposed to be inr eal £ .. In tht ? v perhaps , there is i a © great harm . They must look more to

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    the rectitude pf their measures , and the country has little reason to congratulate itself on strong administrations , or , in other words , the implicit confidence of the house of Commons in the cabinet . Already some benefit has been experienced by the change An interruption has been made in the barrack system ,

    the orders in council have been shaken , the language towards the Catholics is more soothing and satisfactory , and the disputes with America are likely to be discussed with greater calmness . They have negociated a loan of upwards of

    twenty-two mihons of money , and don « it upon very tolerable terms , and the question is , whether they look to the expenditure and how far they will tread in the footsteps of the most extravagant of ministers .

    While these embarrassments in the political world at home have occupied the public mind , convulsions in the natural world have excited many serious thoughts . The Carraccas have been laid desolate by an earthquake , and the island of Barbadoes has experienced a

    shower of dust . By the awful catastrophe on the Southern continent of America , several thousand persons lost their lives : houses , « public bvildings and ch&rche * were mingled in ' one common ruin . Sympathy for the sufferers was excited in those minds which

    contemplate without emotion the conflict of two armies : yet , what are the ravages of nature to the desolation of many a field of battle , which the history of the last twenty years must record to the disgrace of the Christian world . The o _ _ _ _ ^

    earth shook , and consigned above five thousand to death , and the mangled limbs of half-expiring persons were seen in tbe ruins . The . shock was instantaneous , the slaughter sudden . In another place the sun shone bright > every thing around smiled with the benefits of

    nature : a hundred thousand men on each side appear on an extensive plain , glittering in all the splendour of military apparel . On a sudden , the air is rent by the discharges of cannon , smoke ob ~ vcrs the fields , the cries of thousands and tens of thousands are heard , and the plain presents the horrid spectacle of myriads of carcases butchered with relentless fury * t Think ye , who conteiriplatc with . horror the rare instances of destruction by nature * and are shocked at the act of one assassin * reflect bn the carnag * # f a battle and weep for the

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    State of Public Affairs . 4 Of

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1812, page 407, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1749/page/63/