TOPICS OF THE DAY.
THE NEW REIGN.
THE sway of WILLIAM the Fourth commences under happy auspices. He comes to supreme power with a mind well trained to its popular exercise ; his personal character is respected ; his domestic relations are undisturbed by folly or vice ; he is at peace with his brethren and with Ins subjects. The nation enjoys the most perfect tranquillity ; io foreign foe, no internal enemy llireatens injmy to it.
-While the late King, as heir-apparent, was a prey to the evils to which the luxury of courts exposes those that are within the circle of its influence; while his va.iities were flattered, and his desires pampered, by the herd of sycophants that naturally gather round greatness ; while the second in the succession was fluttering in scarlet and gold, the least useful of social creatures, a soldier at home—the companion of his brother's pleasures, and courted by every one who soughthis brother's patronage,--Prince -WILLIAM VMS working his way to distinction in a profession where his rank could procure him but few filyours ; where hardships and privations were the companions of fame ; where unrestrained in-. diligence, the grand corrupter of the understandim, as \veil as oi ilia heart, was shut out by the indispensible severities of discipline ; and where forbearance was taught, not by the feeble rides of a despised tutor, but by the irresistible demand of necessity. lf, in consequence of his early devotion to the hardy life of a sailor, ihe scholastic, education of Prince WILLIAM WaS it.'SS corehilly at- tended to than that of Prince GEORGE or of Prince Par.nimi ex, he 0-ained in an enlarged knowledge of human nature ialvantages which books and tuition do not always bestow.
The benefit of his :Majesty's training when a boy, has been manill!sted in his conduct as a man. He has lived within the limits of a moderate income. The nation lus not been called on to supply his necessities or his extravagance. lie has en- couraged no corrupt and cormorant favourites, with their herd of needy relations, to speculate on his proepeets of power, and to beggar the generosity of an affectionate people lW ent ciliated drafts. The ofkpring of an early connexion, whieli have been reared with affectionate kindness, and neither obtruded upon imblic notice, nor coldly and selfishly disowned, have long mann timed themselves in honourable independence. If it be appre- hended that the families with which the Miniarch is Connected Illay exercise an undue influence in his Court—end we do not deny that there may be grounds for such an apl;reit,llsion—let it at least be recollected, that it will be the mute no virtue. The !etc reign afforded sufficient proof of the injuriiitis tenCency of that law which sends the Princes of England to seek kir uartners among the despots of Continental Eurepe, and which. cuts them off from all honourable connexion with the nobles of their own ft-ac land. We confess we look on the existing relations or the -Mon:Ireli wit h the FOXES, WYNDUAMS, and SYnNin-s, illC HAYS, BOYLES, satd KENNEDIES, as any thine- lot it subject of regret. The last reign had no Queen. Tito brier aml troubled career of CAROLINE, " the childless mother and widowed Nvifo,"Ive have no desire to dwell on. She neither did nor could he expected to ex- ercise any of that influence which in the case of the consort of GEORGE the Third had been so beneficially felt, not only. among the higher ol*I's of si wiyly, but, by reileetion, throughout allranks. The reign of CTEURGE the Fourth, from virtual coin-
xrimcement iti 1,s11 to its termination, was a Lai:helm. reign, \\ jilt. all its vices and defects. It was in tint power of the Monarch to
aggravate the evils of such ii slate, but ii was not in his power wholly to remove them, No vigilance of superietenih.nce in a .sister could bestow on ills cO1111 that regularity of (I( e(mini which necessarily acccanpunies the presence of a elitist t, modest, and grave, yet affable Queen Consort. In this resi:cat his present Blajesly has a high superiority over his departed brother. The court of th! King will in future exhibit not only nothim, to repel, but evervillingto attract. Levity cannot fail to he al;ashed and vita to he asiunned, in the lavsence (,cainincess so far above cciii sm it or reproach as the present Q neat ; a hide vi ItOn ;IOUS VIY- tues would have dignified thi2 lowest :Is adorn i he I ii!,;11est stal ion.
Descended from tI it iii usi lions 11(III!.W
of it ee:rily and honour not lass 1 hail of killdne.s and pat,:rnity of government have long been 11S,;oal;11 oil, Queen At brings to the throne a character such as no Queen of England has pos- sessed since the days of ELIZABETH. Other Queens have been content at their accession to draw on the hopes and the belief of their subjects, but Queen ADELAIDE'S fame rests on the substan- tial evidence of fact and experience, gathered during years of residence in the midst of us.
The perfect harmony which now happily subsists among the different members of the Royal Family, is another marked advan- tage of his present Majesty's reign ; an advantage which has long been unknown and unenjoyed by the monarchs of Great Britain. Indeed, we can hardly fix on a period since the junctiim of the crowns which holds up so perfect an example as the present does of the beauty of unity among brethren which the divine poet so eloquently eulogizes : certainly there is none in the previous history of the House Of Brunswick. The jealousy of GEORGE the First, the hatred of his offspring so openly displayed by GEORGE the Second, the quarrels of GEORGE the Third and the late King, are historical filets, but the unfortunate differences between GEORGE the Fourth and the members of his family are matter of painful and recent recollection. Nor did it diminish the regret
with which the subjects of the late King regarded his prejudices,. that they had been excited by very slight causes, and cherished with indefensible pertinacity against a Prince whose dispositions and whose intellect alike reflect credit on his royal house. We believe there are few of the effects of the recent change that will give more unmixed satisfaction to all parties in the kingdom, than the re-introduction to court of one who is now so universally esteemed as his Royal Highness the Duke of SUSSEX.
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