1822.] 
“the formation of any new roads and 
bridges? No. Several of your ances- 
tors haye distinguished themselves by 
warlike achievements, of which the 
order you wear might sometimes have 
reminded you. Did you appear at 
the head ofany body of troops ; did you 
in any one instance emulate their ex- 
ample? Whilst your allies were 
making every effort, both of body and 
mind, to, stop. the progress of the 
French arms, those arms that had 
driven you from your continental do- 
minions, did you arm a single man in 
the general cause? No. Then you 
have passed this eventful period in an 
ingloriousslumber in Cagliari, and you 
had no person around you who had 
sense or spirit enough to propose a 
single measure to render you worthy 
the dignity ofa king. What then are 
your claims to the high office you are 
about toassume? LeEGITIMAcY.” 
A consideration of these circum- 
stances excited the most lively alarm ; 
yet, still it was hoped that the king, 
from motives of  self-preservation, 
would found a new system with some 
regard to the spirit of the times. If 
the old institutions were ill adapted to 
the general interest in 1799, how much 
more so must they have been in 1814. 
It was expected, therefore, that some 
kind of a liberal constitution would 
have been established; some relaxation 
of the rigorous and inquisitorial po- 
lice: some share of freedom of the 
press. None! on the contrary, a sys- 
tem was began that had only force for 
its basis, and was calculated to retro- 
grade the human mind. It was 
known, that a nation could not be en- 
slaved unless it was ignorant ; that, if 
it was ignorant, it would likewise be 
vicious.; that, if it was vicious, it would 
easily be governed by arbitrary means, 
and then a few artful and unprincipled 
instruments, would be sufficient to 
direct the operations of the state, who, 
by turns, sharing in the general plun- 
der, would contribute in silent sub- 
mission to the general slavery and de- 
gradation. Upon these principles an 
administration was accordinglyscraped 
together. Austria was in military pos- 
session of the country, and the new 
body politic began its operations un- 
der these favourable auspices. The 
royalist nobility possessed themselves 
of most posts of distinction, to the 
utter disregard of every other descrip- 
tion of persons, whatever were their 
merit or claims, accompanied by a 
On the late Revolutions in Piedmont. 
485 
disdainful, overbearing spirit which 
greatly contributed to all the ills that 
ensued, There only wanted the Asiatic 
costume, to persuade oneself of being 
on the shores of the Bosphorus, instead 
of the Po; the policy was precisely 
that. of the Othmans toward the infi- 
dels. In this state of things, no condi- 
tion could be more deplorable than 
that of the king. ‘The total prohibi- 
tion of speaking or wriling on any 
subjects relative to the government, 
precluded the possibility of the sove- 
reign’s ever knowing the true state of 
public opinion, or how ill adapted his 
new government was to the spirit of 
the times, or the general interests of 
the people. Held in leading strings by 
his favourite Count Roburent, a person 
as ignorant as possible, surrounded by 
others equally ignorant as vulgar, the 
mind of the personage could not have 
failed to have taken their temper, even 
had it been composed of better mate- 
rials. Few men, it is true, are able to 
shake off the trammels of a faulty 
education, to discover truth through 
the mists it sheds over the understand- 
ing, and to chalk himself out a new 
course. Kings, of all men, should 
strive to make this effort. They must 
rise superior to little affections, if they 
are ambitious of being respected. 
They must never have but one friend, 
and that must be the nation at large. 
A king who is anxious for the public 
welfare, and is desirous of living in the 
annals of his country, must protect and 
promote the general, not particular in- 
terests, and these can only be learned 
by listening to the public voice, un- 
vitiated by the medium of aministry or 
a court. Let him unfetter the press, 
and truth will walk forth. Ministers 
will then be only the servants, and no 
longer the masters of the, sovereign and 
the people. 
To the Editor of the the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
SEND you some account of the 
recent management of the poor in 
the extensive parish of Clerkenwell; 
and, as the subject of the poor is now 
of such general interest, I hope you 
will give it place in your useful and 
extensively-circulated Miscellany. 
On the first election of the over- 
seers of CLERKENWELL, in 1818, they 
equalised the assessment of the parish 
from actual observation, which was 
much required, as many proprictors of 
Jarge houses were assessed far by 
their 
