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diff --git a/15043.txt b/15043.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0d93ea8 --- /dev/null +++ b/15043.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15393 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund +Burke, Vol. I. (of 12), by Edmund Burke + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. I. (of 12) + +Author: Edmund Burke + +Release Date: March 27, 2005 [EBook #15043] +[Date last updated: May 5, 2006] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EDMUND BURKE, VOL. I. (OF 12) *** + + + + +Produced by Paul Murray, Michael Punch and the PG Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. This file was produced from +images generously made available by the Bibliotheque +nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at http://gallica.bnf.fr + + + + + + +BURKE'S WRITINGS AND SPEECHES + + + + +VOLUME THE FIRST + + +[Illustration: EDMUND BURKE.] + + + + +THE WORKS + +OF + +THE RIGHT HONOURABLE + +EDMUND BURKE + + +IN TWELVE VOLUMES + + +VOLUME THE FIRST + + +[Illustration: Burke Coat of Arms.] + + +London +JOHN C. NIMMO +14, KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND, W.C. +MDCCCLXXXVII + + + + +CONTENTS OF VOL. I. + + +ADVERTISEMENT TO THE READER, PREFIXED TO THE FIRST OCTAVO EDITION v + +ADVERTISEMENT TO THE SECOND OCTAVO EDITION xvii + +A VINDICATION OF NATURAL SOCIETY: OR, A VIEW OF THE MISERIES AND + EVILS ARISING TO MANKIND FROM EVERY SPECIES OF ARTIFICIAL SOCIETY 1 + +A PHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRY INTO THE ORIGIN OF OUR IDEAS OF THE SUBLIME + AND BEAUTIFUL; WITH AN INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE CONCERNING TASTE 67 + +A SHORT ACCOUNT OF A LATE SHORT ADMINISTRATION 263 + +OBSERVATIONS ON A LATE PUBLICATION, INTITULED, + "THE PRESENT STATE OF THE NATION" 269 + +THOUGHTS ON THE CAUSE OF THE PRESENT DISCONTENTS 433 + + + + +ADVERTISEMENT + +TO THE READER.[1] + + +The late Mr. Burke, from a principle of unaffected humility, which they +who were the most intimately acquainted with his character best know to +have been in his estimation one of the most important moral duties, +never himself made any collection of the various publications with +which, during a period of forty years, he adorned and enriched the +literature of this country. When, however, the rapid and unexampled +demand for his "Reflections on the Revolution in France" had +unequivocally testified his celebrity as a writer, some of his friends +so far prevailed upon him, that he permitted them to put forth a regular +edition of his works. Accordingly, three volumes in quarto appeared +under that title in 1792, printed for the late Mr. Dodsley. That +edition, therefore, has been made the foundation of the present, for +which a form has been chosen better adapted to public convenience. Such +errors of the press as have been discovered in it are here rectified: in +other respects it is faithfully followed, except that in one instance +an accident of little moment has occasioned a slight deviation from the +strict chronological arrangement, and that, on the other hand, a speech +of conspicuous excellence, on his declining the poll at Bristol, in +1780, is here, for the first time, inserted in its proper place. + +As the activity of the author's mind, and the lively interest which he +took in the welfare of his country, ceased only with his life, many +subsequent productions issued from his pen, which were received in a +manner corresponding with his distinguished reputation. He wrote also +various tracts, of a less popular description, which he designed for +private circulation in quarters where he supposed they might produce +most benefit to the community, but which, with some other papers, have +been printed since his death, from copies which he left behind him +fairly transcribed, and most of them corrected as for the press. All +these, now first collected together, form the contents of the last two +volumes.[2] They are disposed in chronological order, with the exception +of the "Preface to Brissot's Address," which having appeared in the +author's lifetime, and from delicacy not being avowed by him, did not +come within the plan of this edition, but has been placed at the end of +the last volume, on its being found deficient in its just bulk. + +The several posthumous publications, as they from time to time made +their appearance, were accompanied by appropriate prefaces. These, +however, as they were principally intended for temporary purposes, have +been omitted. Some few explanations only, which they contained, seem +here to be necessary. + +The "Observations on the Conduct of the Minority" in the Session of 1793 +had been written and sent by Mr. Burke as a paper entirely and strictly +confidential; but it crept surreptitiously into the world, through the +fraud and treachery of the man whom he had employed to transcribe it, +and, as usually happens in such cases, came forth in a very mangled +state, under a false title, and without the introductory letter. The +friends of the author, without waiting to consult him, instantly +obtained an injunction from the Court of Chancery to stop the sale. What +he himself felt, on receiving intelligence of the injury done him by one +from whom his kindness deserved a very different return, will be best +conveyed in his own words. The following is an extract of a letter to a +friend, which he dictated on this subject from a sick-bed. + +BATH, 15th Feb., 1797. + +"My Dear Laurence,-- + +"On the appearance of the advertisement, all newspapers and all letters +have been kept back from me till this time. Mrs. Burke opened yours, +and finding that all the measures in the power of Dr. King, yourself, +and Mr. Woodford, had been taken to suppress the publication, she +ventured to deliver me the letters to-day, which were read to me in my +bed, about two o'clock. + +"This affair does vex me; but I am not in a state of health at present +to be deeply vexed at anything. Whenever this matter comes into +discussion, I authorize you to contradict the infamous reports which (I +am informed) have been given out, that this paper had been circulated +through the ministry, and was intended gradually to slide into the +press. To the best of my recollection I never had a clean copy of it but +one, which is now in my possession; I never communicated that, but to +the Duke of Portland, from whom I had it back again. But the Duke will +set this matter to rights, if in reality there were two copies, and he +has one. I never showed it, as they know, to any one of the ministry. If +the Duke has really a copy, I believe his and mine are the only ones +that exist, except what was taken by fraud from loose and incorrect +papers by S----, to whom I gave the letter to copy. As soon as I began +to suspect him capable of any such scandalous breach of trust, you know +with what anxiety I got the loose papers out of his hands, not having +reason to think that he kept any other. Neither do I believe in fact +(unless he meditated this villany long ago) that he did or does now +possess any clean copy. I never communicated that paper to any one out +of the very small circle of those private friends from whom I concealed +nothing. + +"But I beg you and my friends to be cautious how you let it be +understood that I disclaim anything but the mere act and intention of +publication. I do not retract any one of the sentiments contained in +that memorial, which was and is my justification, addressed to the +friends for whose use alone I intended it. Had I designed it for the +public, I should have been more exact and full. It was written in a tone +of indignation, in consequence of the resolutions of the Whig Club, +which were directly pointed against myself and others, and occasioned +our secession from that club; which is the last act of my life that I +shall under any circumstances repent. Many temperaments and explanations +there would have been, if I had ever had a notion that it should meet +the public eye." + + +In the mean time a large impression, amounting, it is believed, to three +thousand copies, had been dispersed over the country. To recall these +was impossible; to have expected that any acknowledged production of Mr. +Burke, full of matter likely to interest the future historian, could +remain forever in obscurity, would have been folly; and to have passed +it over in silent neglect, on the one hand, or, on the other, to have +then made any considerable changes in it, might have seemed an +abandonment of the principles which it contained. The author, therefore, +discovering, that, with the exception of the introductory letter, he had +not in fact kept any clean copy, as he had supposed, corrected one of +the pamphlets with his own hand. From this, which was found preserved +with his other papers, his friends afterwards thought it their duty to +give an authentic edition. + +The "Thoughts and Details on Scarcity" were originally presented in the +form of a memorial to Mr. Pitt. The author proposed afterwards to recast +the same matter in a new shape. He even advertised the intended work +under the title of "Letters on Rural Economics, addressed to Mr. Arthur +Young"; but he seems to have finished only two or three detached +fragments of the first letter. These being too imperfect to be printed +alone, his friends inserted them in the memorial, where they seemed best +to cohere. The memorial had been fairly copied, but did not appear to +have been examined or corrected, as some trifling errors of the +transcriber were perceptible in it. The manuscript of the fragments was +a rough draft from the author's own hand, much blotted and very +confused. + +The Third Letter on the Proposals for Peace was in its progress through +the press when the author died. About one half of it was actually +revised in print by himself, though not in the exact order of the pages +as they now stand. He enlarged his first draft, and separated one great +member of his subject, for the purpose of introducing some other matter +between. The different parcels of manuscript designed to intervene were +discovered. One of them he seemed to have gone over himself, and to have +improved and augmented. The other (fortunately the smaller) was much +more imperfect, just as it was taken from his mouth by dictation. The +former reaches from the two hundred and forty-sixth to near the end of +the two hundred and sixty-second page; the latter nearly occupies the +twelve pages which follow.[3] No important change, none at all affecting +the meaning of any passage, has been made in either, though in the more +imperfect parcel some latitude of discretion in subordinate points was +necessarily used. + +There is, however, a considerable member for the greater part of which +Mr. Burke's reputation is not responsible: this is the inquiry into the +condition of the higher classes, which commences in the two hundred and +ninety-fifth page.[4] The summary of the whole topic, indeed, nearly as +it stands in the three hundred and seventy-third and fourth pages,[5] +was found, together with a marginal reference to the Bankrupt List, in +his own handwriting; and the actual conclusion of the Letter was +dictated by him, but never received his subsequent correction. He had +also preserved, as materials for this branch of his subject, some +scattered hints, documents, and parts of a correspondence on the state +of the country. He was, however, prevented from working on them by the +want of some authentic and official information, for which he had been +long anxiously waiting, in order to ascertain, to the satisfaction of +the public, what, with his usual sagacity, he had fully anticipated from +his own personal observation, to his own private conviction. At length +the reports of the different committees which had been appointed by the +two Houses of Parliament amply furnished him with evidence for this +purpose. Accordingly he read and considered them with attention: but for +anything beyond this the season was now past. The Supreme Disposer of +All, against whose inscrutable counsels it is vain as well as impious to +murmur, did not permit him to enter on the execution of the task which +he meditated. It was resolved, therefore, by one of his friends, after +much hesitation, and under a very painful responsibility, to make such +an attempt as he could at supplying the void; especially because the +insufficiency of our resources for the continuance of the war was +understood to have been the principal objection urged against the two +former Letters on the Proposals for Peace. In performing with +reverential diffidence this duty of friendship, care has been taken not +to attribute to Mr. Burke any sentiment which is not most explicitly +known, from repeated conversations, and from much correspondence, to +have been decidedly entertained by that illustrious man. One passage of +nearly three pages, containing a censure of our defensive system, is +borrowed from a private letter, which he began to dictate with an +intention of comprising in it the short result of his opinions, but +which he afterwards abandoned, when, a little time before his death, his +health appeared in some degree to amend, and he hoped that Providence +might have spared him at least to complete the larger public letter, +which he then proposed to resume. + +In the preface to the former edition of this Letter a fourth was +mentioned as being in possession of Mr. Burke's friends. It was in fact +announced by the author himself, in the conclusion of the second, which +it was then designed to follow. He intended, he said, to proceed next on +the question of the facilities possessed by the French Republic, _from +the internal state of other nations, and particularly of this_, for +obtaining her ends,--and as his notions were controverted, to take +notice of what, in that way, had been recommended to him. The vehicle +which he had chosen for this part of his plan was an answer to a +pamphlet which was supposed to come from high authority, and was +circulated by ministers with great industry, at the time of its +appearance, in October, 1795, immediately previous to that session of +Parliament when his Majesty for the first time declared that the +appearance of any disposition in the enemy to negotiate for general +peace should not fail to be met with an earnest desire to give it the +fullest and speediest effect. In truth, the answer, which is full of +spirit and vivacity, was written the latter end of the same year, but +was laid aside when the question assumed a more serious aspect, from the +commencement of an actual negotiation, which gave rise to the series of +printed letters. Afterwards, he began to rewrite it, with a view of +accommodating it to his new purpose. The greater part, however, still +remained in its original state; and several heroes of the Revolution, +who are there celebrated, having in the interval passed off the public +stage, a greater liberty of insertion and alteration than his friends on +consideration have thought allowable would be necessary to adapt it to +that place in the series for which it was ultimately designed by the +author. This piece, therefore, addressed, as the title originally stood, +to his noble friend, Earl Fitzwilliam, will be given the first in the +supplemental volumes which will be hereafter added to complete this +edition of the author's works. + +The tracts, most of them in manuscript, which have been already selected +as fit for this purpose, will probably furnish four or five volumes +more, to be printed uniformly with this edition. The principal piece is +an Essay on the History of England, from the earliest period to the +conclusion of the reign of King John. It is written with much depth of +antiquarian research, directed by the mind of an intelligent statesman. +This alone, as far as can be conjectured, will form more than one +volume. Another entire volume also, at least, will be filled with his +letters to public men on public affairs, especially those of France. +This supplement will be sent to the press without delay. + +Mr. Burke's more familiar correspondence will be reserved as authorities +to accompany a narrative of his life, which will conclude the whole. The +period during which he flourished was one of the most memorable of our +annals. It comprehended the acquisition of one empire in the East, the +loss of another in the West, and the total subversion of the ancient +system of Europe by the French Revolution, with all which events the +history of his life is necessarily and intimately connected,--as indeed +it also is, much more than is generally known, with the state of +literature and the elegant arts. Such a subject of biography cannot be +dismissed with a slight and rapid touch; nor can it be treated in a +manner worthy of it, from the information, however authentic and +extensive, which the industry of any one man may have accumulated. Many +important communications have been received; but some materials, which +relate to the pursuits of his early years, and which are known to be in +existence, have been hitherto kept back, notwithstanding repeated +inquiries and applications. It is, therefore, once more earnestly +requested, that all persons who call themselves the friends or admirers +of the late Edmund Burke will have the goodness to transmit, without +delay, any notices of that or of any other kind which may happen to be +in their possession or within their reach, to Messrs. Rivingtons,--a +respect and kindness to his memory which will be thankfully acknowledged +by those friends to whom, in dying, he committed the sacred trust of his +reputation. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Prefixed to the first octavo edition: London, F. and C. Rivington, +1801: comprising Vols. I.-VIII. of the edition in sixteen volumes issued +by these publishers at intervals between the years 1801 and 1827. + +[2] Comprising the last four papers of the fourth volume, and the whole +of the fifth volume, of the present edition. + +[3] The former comprising the matter included between the paragraph +commencing, "I hear it has been said," &c., and that ending with the +words, "there were little or no materials"; and the latter extending +through the paragraph concluding with the words, "disgraced and plagued +mankind." + +[4] At the paragraph commencing with the words, "In turning our view +from the lower to the higher classes," &c. + +[5] In the first half of the paragraph commencing, "If, then, the real +state of this nation," &c. + + + + +ADVERTISEMENT + +TO THE SECOND OCTAVO EDITION.[6] + + +A new edition of the works of Mr. Burke having been called for by the +public, the opportunity has been taken to make some slight changes, it +is hoped for the better. + +A different distribution of the contents, while it has made the volumes, +with the exception of the first and sixth, more nearly equal in their +respective bulk, has, at the same time, been fortunately found to +produce a more methodical arrangement of the whole. The first and second +volumes, as before, severally contain those literary and philosophical +works by which Mr. Burke was known previous to the commencement of his +public life as a statesman, and the political pieces which were written +by him between the time of his first becoming connected with the Marquis +of Rockingham and his being chosen member for Bristol. In the third are +comprehended all his speeches and pamphlets from his first arrival at +Bristol, as a candidate, in the year 1774, to his farewell address from +the hustings of that city, in the year 1780. What he himself published +relative to the affairs of India occupies the fourth volume. The +remaining four comprise his works since the French Revolution, with the +exception of the Letter to Lord Kenmare on the Penal Laws against Irish +Catholics, which was probably inserted where it stands from its relation +to the subject of the Letter addressed by him, at a later period, to Sir +Hercules Langrishe. With the same exception, too, strict regard has been +paid to chronological order, which, in the last edition, was in some +instances broken, to insert pieces that wore not discovered till it was +too late to introduce them in their proper places. + +In the Appendix to the Speech on the Nabob of Arcot's Debts the +references were found to be confused, and, in many places, erroneous. +This probably had arisen from the circumstance that a larger and +differently constructed appendix seems to have been originally designed +by Mr. Burke, which, however, he afterwards abridged and altered, while +the speech and the notes upon it remained as they were. The text and the +documents that support it have throughout been accommodated to each +other. + +The orthography has been in many cases altered, and an attempt made to +reduce it to some certain standard. The rule laid down for the discharge +of this task was, that, whenever Mr. Burke could be perceived to have +been uniform in his mode of spelling, that was considered as decisive; +but where he varied, (and as he was in the habit of writing by +dictation, and leaving to others the superintendence of the press, he +was peculiarly liable to variations of this sort) the best received +authorities were directed to be followed. The reader, it is trusted, +will find this object, too much disregarded in modern books, has here +been kept in view throughout. The quotations which are interspersed +through the works of Mr Burke, and which were frequently made by him +from memory, have been generally compared with the original authors. +Several mistakes in printing, of one word for another, by which the +sense was either perverted or obscured, are now rectified. Two or three +small insertions have also been made from a quarto copy corrected by Mr. +Burke himself. From the same source something more has been drawn in the +shape of notes, to which are subscribed his initials. Of this number is +the explanation of that celebrated phrase, "the swinish multitude": an +explanation which was uniformly given by him to his friends, in +conversation on the subject. But another note will probably interest the +reader still more, as being strongly expressive of that parental +affection which formed so amiable a feature in the character of Mr. +Burke. It is in page 203 of Vol. V., where he points out a considerable +passage as having been supplied by his "lost son".[7] Several other +parts, possibly amounting altogether to a page or thereabout, were +indicated in the same manner; but, as they in general consist of single +sentences, and as the meaning of the mark by which they were +distinguished was not actually expressed, it has not been thought +necessary to notice them particularly. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[6] London, F. and C. Rivington, 1803. 8 vols. + +[7] In "Reflections on the Revolution in France,"--indicated by +foot-note _in loco_. + + + + +A + +VINDICATION OF NATURAL SOCIETY: + +OR, + +A VIEW OF THE MISERIES AND EVILS ARISING TO MANKIND +FROM EVERY SPECIES OF ARTIFICIAL SOCIETY. + +IN A LETTER TO LORD ****, + +BY A LATE NOBLE WRITER. + +1756. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +Before the philosophical works of Lord Bolingbroke had appeared, great +things were expected from the leisure of a man, who, from the splendid +scene of action in which his talents had enabled him to make so +conspicuous a figure, had retired to employ those talents in the +investigation of truth. Philosophy began to congratulate herself upon +such a proselyte from the world of business, and hoped to have extended +her power under the auspices of such a leader. In the midst of these +pleasing expectations, the works themselves at last appeared in _full +body_, and with great pomp. Those who searched in them for new +discoveries in the mysteries of nature; those who expected something +which might explain or direct the operations of the mind; those who +hoped to see morality illustrated and enforced; those who looked for new +helps to society and government; those who desired to see the characters +and passions of mankind delineated; in short, all who consider such +things as philosophy, and require some of them at least in every +philosophical work, all these were certainly disappointed; they found +the landmarks of science precisely in their former places: and they +thought they received but a poor recompense for this disappointment, in +seeing every mode of religion attacked in a lively manner, and the +foundation of every virtue, and of all government, sapped with great art +and much ingenuity. What advantage do we derive from such writings? What +delight can a man find in employing a capacity which might be usefully +exerted for the noblest purposes, in a sort of sullen labor, in which, +if the author could succeed, he is obliged to own, that nothing could be +more fatal to mankind than his success? + +I cannot conceive how this sort of writers propose to compass the +designs they pretend to have in view, by the instruments which they +employ. Do they pretend to exalt the mind of man, by proving him no +better than a beast? Do they think to enforce the practice of virtue, by +denying that vice and virtue are distinguished by good or ill fortune +here, or by happiness or misery hereafter? Do they imagine they shall +increase our piety, and our reliance on God, by exploding his +providence, and insisting that he is neither just nor good? Such are the +doctrines which, sometimes concealed, sometimes openly and fully avowed, +are found to prevail throughout the writings of Lord Bolingbroke; and +such are the reasonings which this noble writer and several others have +been pleased to dignify with the name of philosophy. If these are +delivered in a specious manner, and in a style above the common, they +cannot want a number of admirers of as much docility as can be wished +for in disciples. To these the editor of the following little piece has +addressed it: there is no reason to conceal the design of it any longer. + +The design was to show that, without the exertion of any considerable +forces, the same engines which were employed for the destruction of +religion, might be employed with equal success for the subversion of +government; and that specious arguments might be used against those +things which they, who doubt of everything else, will never permit to be +questioned. It is an observation which I think Isocrates makes in one of +his orations against the sophists, that it is far more easy to maintain +a wrong cause, and to support paradoxical opinions to the satisfaction +of a common auditory, than to establish a doubtful truth by solid and +conclusive arguments. When men find that something can be said in favor +of what, on the very proposal, they have thought utterly indefensible, +they grow doubtful of their own reason; they are thrown into a sort of +pleasing surprise; they run along with the speaker, charmed and +captivated to find such a plentiful harvest of reasoning, where all +seemed barren and unpromising. This is the fairy land of philosophy. And +it very frequently happens, that those pleasing impressions on the +imagination subsist and produce their effect, even after the +understanding has been satisfied of their unsubstantial nature. There is +a sort of gloss upon ingenious falsehoods that dazzles the imagination, +but which neither belongs to, nor becomes the sober aspect of truth. I +have met with a quotation in Lord Coke's Reports that pleased me very +much, though I do not know from whence he has taken it: "_Interdum +fucata falsitas_ (says he), _in multis est probabilior, at saepe +rationibus vincit nudam veritatem_." In such cases the writer has a +certain fire and alacrity inspired into him by a consciousness, that, +let it fare how it will with the subject, his ingenuity will be sure of +applause; and this alacrity becomes much greater if he acts upon the +offensive, by the impetuosity that always accompanies an attack, and +the unfortunate propensity which mankind have to the finding and +exaggerating faults. The editor is satisfied that a mind which has no +restraint from a sense of its own weakness, of its subordinate rank in +the creation, and of the extreme danger of letting the imagination loose +upon some subjects, may very plausibly attack everything the most +excellent and venerable; that it would not be difficult to criticise the +creation itself; and that if we were to examine the divine fabrics by +our ideas of reason and fitness, and to use the same method of attack by +which some men have assaulted revealed religion, we might with as good +color, and with the same success, make the wisdom and power of God in +his creation appear to many no better than foolishness. There is an air +of plausibility which accompanies vulgar reasonings and notions, taken +from the beaten circle of ordinary experience, that is admirably suited +to the narrow capacities of some, and to the laziness of others. But +this advantage is in a great measure lost, when a painful, comprehensive +survey of a very complicated matter, and which requires a great variety +of considerations, is to be made; when we must seek in a profound +subject, not only for arguments, but for new materials of argument, +their measures and their method of arrangement; when we must go out of +the sphere of our ordinary ideas, and when we can never walk surely, but +by being sensible of our blindness. And this we must do, or we do +nothing, whenever we examine the result of a reason which is not our +own. Even in matters which are, as it were, just within our reach, what +would become of the world, if the practice of all moral duties, and the +foundations of society, rested upon having their reasons made clear and +demonstrative to every individual? + +The editor knows that the subject of this letter is not so fully handled +as obviously it might; it was not his design to say all that could +possibly be said. It had been inexcusable to fill a large volume with +the abuse of reason; nor would such an abuse have been tolerable, even +for a few pages, if some under-plot, of more consequence than the +apparent design, had not been carried on. + +Some persons have thought that the advantages of the state of nature +ought to have been more fully displayed. This had undoubtedly been a +very ample subject for declamation; but they do not consider the +character of the piece. The writers against religion, whilst they oppose +every system, are wisely careful never to set up any of their own. If +some inaccuracies in calculation, in reasoning, or in method, be found, +perhaps these will not be looked upon as faults by the admirers of Lord +Bolingbroke; who will, the editor is afraid, observe much more of his +lordship's character in such particulars of the following letter, than +they are likely to find of that rapid torrent of an impetuous and +overbearing eloquence, and the variety of rich imagery for which that +writer is justly admired. + + + + +A LETTER TO LORD ****. + + +Shall I venture to say, my lord, that in our late conversation, you were +inclined to the party which you adopted rather by the feelings of your +good nature, than by the conviction of your judgment? We laid open the +foundations of society; and you feared that the curiosity of this search +might endanger the ruin of the whole fabric. You would readily have +allowed my principle, but you dreaded the consequences; you thought, +that having once entered upon these reasonings, we might be carried +insensibly and irresistibly farther than at first we could either have +imagined or wished. But for my part, my lord, I then thought, and am +still of the same opinion, that error, and not truth of any kind, is +dangerous; that ill conclusions can only flow from false propositions; +and that, to know whether any proposition be true or false, it is a +preposterous method to examine it by its apparent consequences. + +These were the reasons which induced me to go so far into that inquiry; +and they are the reasons which direct me in all my inquiries. I had +indeed often reflected on that subject before I could prevail on myself +to communicate my reflections to anybody. They were generally melancholy +enough; as those usually are which carry us beyond the mere surface of +things; and which would undoubtedly make the lives of all thinking men +extremely miserable, if the same philosophy which caused the grief, did +not at the same time administer the comfort. + +On considering political societies, their origin, their constitution, +and their effects, I have sometimes been in a good deal more than doubt, +whether the Creator did ever really intend man for a state of happiness. +He has mixed in his cup a number of natural evils, (in spite of the +boasts of stoicism they are evils,) and every endeavor which the art and +policy of mankind has used from the beginning of the world to this day, +in order to alleviate or cure them, has only served to introduce new +mischiefs, or to aggravate and inflame the old. Besides this, the mind +of man itself is too active and restless a principle ever to settle on +the true point of quiet. It discovers every day some craving want in a +body, which really wants but little. It every day invents some new +artificial rule to guide that nature which, if left to itself, were the +best and surest guide. It finds out imaginary beings prescribing +imaginary laws; and then, it raises imaginary terrors to support a +belief in the beings, and an obedience to the laws.--Many things have +been said, and very well undoubtedly, on the subjection in which we +should preserve our bodies to the government of our understanding; but +enough has not been said upon the restraint which our bodily necessities +ought to lay on the extravagant sublimities and eccentric rovings of our +minds. The body, or as some love to call it, our inferior nature, is +wiser in its own plain way, and attends its own business more directly +than the mind with all its boasted subtlety. + +In the state of nature, without question, mankind was subjected to many +and great inconveniences. Want of union, want of mutual assistance, want +of a common arbitrator to resort to in their differences. These were +evils which they could not but have felt pretty severely on many +occasions. The original children of the earth lived with their brethren +of the other kinds in much equality. Their diet must have been confined +almost wholly to the vegetable kind; and the same tree, which in its +flourishing state produced them berries, in its decay gave them an +habitation. The mutual desires of the sexes uniting their bodies and +affections, and the children which are the results of these +intercourses, introduced first the notion of society, and taught its +conveniences. This society, founded in natural appetites and instincts, +and not in any positive institution, I shall call _natural society_. +Thus far nature went and succeeded: but man would go farther. The great +error of our nature is, not to know where to stop, not to be satisfied +with any reasonable acquirement; not to compound with our condition; but +to lose all we have gained by an insatiable pursuit after more. Man +found a considerable advantage by this union of many persons to form one +family; he therefore judged that he would find his account +proportionably in an union of many families into one body politic. And +as nature has formed no bond of union to hold them together, he supplied +this defect by _laws_. + +This is _political society_. And hence the sources of what are usually +called states, civil societies, or governments; into some form of which, +more extended or restrained, all mankind have gradually fallen. And +since it has so happened, and that we owe an implicit reverence to all +the institutions of our ancestors, we shall consider these institutions +with all that modesty with which we ought to conduct ourselves in +examining a received opinion; but with all that freedom and candor which +we owe to truth wherever we find it, or however it may contradict our +own notions, or oppose our own interests. There is a most absurd and +audacious method of reasoning avowed by some bigots and enthusiasts, and +through fear assented to by some wiser and better men; it is this: they +argue against a fair discussion of popular prejudices, because, say +they, though they would be found without any reasonable support, yet the +discovery might be productive of the most dangerous consequences. Absurd +and blasphemous notion! as if all happiness was not connected with the +practice of virtue, which necessarily depends upon the knowledge of +truth; that is, upon the knowledge of those unalterable relations which +Providence has ordained that every thing should bear to every other. +These relations, which are truth itself, the foundation of virtue, and +consequently the only measures of happiness, should be likewise the only +measures by which we should direct our reasoning. To these we should +conform in good earnest; and not think to force nature, and the whole +order of her system, by a compliance with our pride and folly, to +conform to our artificial regulations. It is by a conformity to this +method we owe the discovery of the few truths we know, and the little +liberty and rational happiness we enjoy. We have something fairer play +than a reasoner could have expected formerly; and we derive advantages +from it which are very visible. + +The fabric of superstition has in this our age and nation received much +ruder shocks than it had ever felt before; and through the chinks and +breaches of our prison, we see such glimmerings of light, and feel such +refreshing airs of liberty, as daily raise our ardor for more. The +miseries derived to mankind from superstition under the name of +religion, and of ecclesiastical tyranny under the name of church +government, have been clearly and usefully exposed. We begin to think +and to act from reason and from nature alone. This is true of several, +but by far the majority is still in the same old state of blindness and +slavery; and much is it to be feared that we shall perpetually relapse, +whilst the real productive cause of all this superstitious folly, +enthusiastical nonsense, and holy tyranny, holds a reverend place in the +estimation even of those who are otherwise enlightened. + +Civil government borrows a strength from ecclesiastical; and artificial +laws receive a sanction from artificial revelations. The ideas of +religion and government are closely connected; and whilst we receive +government as a thing necessary, or even useful to our well-being, we +shall in spite of us draw in, as a necessary, though undesirable +consequence, an artificial religion of some kind or other. To this the +vulgar will always be voluntary slaves; and even those of a rank of +understanding superior, will now and then involuntarily feel its +influence. It is therefore of the deepest concernment to us to be set +right in this point; and to be well satisfied whether civil government +be such a protector from natural evils, and such a nurse and increaser +of blessings, as those of warm imaginations promise. In such a +discussion, far am I from proposing in the least to reflect on our most +wise form of government; no more than I would, in the freer parts of my +philosophical writings, mean to object to the piety, truth, and +perfection of our most excellent Church. Both, I am sensible, have their +foundations on a rock. No discovery of truth can prejudice them. On the +contrary, the more closely the origin of religion and government is +examined, the more clearly their excellences must appear. They come +purified from the fire. My business is not with them. Having entered a +protest against all objections from these quarters, I may the more +freely inquire, from history and experience, how far policy has +contributed in all times to alleviate those evils which Providence, that +perhaps has designed us for a state of imperfection, has imposed; how +far our physical skill has cured our constitutional disorders; and +whether it may not have introduced new ones, curable perhaps by no +skill. + +In looking over any state to form a judgment on it, it presents itself +in two lights; the external, and the internal. The first, that relation +which it bears in point of friendship or enmity to other states. The +second, that relation which its component parts, the governing and the +governed, bear to each other. The first part of the external view of all +states, their relation as friends, makes so trifling a figure in +history, that I am very sorry to say, it affords me but little matter on +which to expatiate. The good offices done by one nation to its +neighbor;[8] the support given in public distress; the relief afforded +in general calamity; the protection granted in emergent danger; the +mutual return of kindness and civility, would afford a very ample and +very pleasing subject for history. But, alas! all the history of all +times, concerning all nations, does not afford matter enough to fill ten +pages, though it should be spun out by the wire-drawing amplification of +a Guicciardini himself. The glaring side is that of enmity. War is the +matter which fills all history, and consequently the only or almost the +only view in which we can see the external of political society is in a +hostile shape; and the only actions to which we have always seen, and +still see all of them intent, are such as tend to the destruction of one +another. "War," says Machiavel, "ought to be the only study of a +prince"; and by a prince, he means every sort of state, however +constituted. "He ought," says this great political doctor, "to consider +peace only as a breathing-time, which gives him leisure to contrive, and +furnishes ability to execute military plans." A meditation on the +conduct of political societies made old Hobbes imagine, that war was the +state of nature; and truly, if a man judged of the individuals of our +race by their conduct when united and packed into nations and kingdoms, +he might imagine that every sort of virtue was unnatural and foreign to +the mind of man. + +The first accounts we have of mankind are but so many accounts of their +butcheries. All empires have been cemented in blood; and, in those early +periods, when the race of mankind began first to form themselves into +parties and combinations, the first effect of the combination, and +indeed the end for which it seems purposely formed, and best calculated, +was their mutual destruction. All ancient history is dark and +uncertain. One thing, however, is clear,--there were conquerors, and +conquests in those days; and, consequently, all that devastation by +which they are formed, and all that oppression by which they are +maintained. We know little of Sesostris, but that he led out of Egypt an +army of above 700,000 men; that he overran the Mediterranean coast as +far as Colchis; that in some places he met but little resistance, and of +course shed not a great deal of blood; but that he found in others a +people who knew the value of their liberties, and sold them dear. +Whoever considers the army this conqueror headed, the space he +traversed, and the opposition he frequently met, with the natural +accidents of sickness, and the dearth and badness of provision to which +he must have been subject in the variety of climates and countries his +march lay through, if he knows anything, he must know that even the +conqueror's army must have suffered greatly; and that of this immense +number but a very small part could have returned to enjoy the plunder +accumulated by the loss of so many of their companions, and the +devastation of so considerable a part of the world. Considering, I say, +the vast army headed by this conqueror, whose unwieldy weight was almost +alone sufficient to wear down its strength, it will be far from excess +to suppose that one half was lost in the expedition. If this was the +state of the victorious, and from the circumstances it must have been +this at the least; the vanquished must have had a much heavier loss, as +the greatest slaughter is always in the flight, and great carnage did in +those times and countries ever attend the first rage of conquest. It +will, therefore, be very reasonable to allow on their account as much +as, added to the losses of the conqueror, may amount to a million of +deaths, and then we shall see this conqueror, the oldest we have on the +records of history, (though, as we have observed before, the chronology +of these remote times is extremely uncertain), opening the scene by a +destruction of at least one million of his species, unprovoked but by +his ambition, without any motives but pride, cruelty, and madness, and +without any benefit to himself (for Justin expressly tells us he did not +maintain his conquests), but solely to make so many people, in so +distant countries, feel experimentally how severe a scourge Providence +intends for the human race, when he gives one man the power over many, +and arms his naturally impotent and feeble rage with the hands of +millions, who know no common principle of action, but a blind obedience +to the passions of their ruler. + +The next personage who figures in the tragedies of this ancient theatre +is Semiramis; for we have no particulars of Ninus, but that he made +immense and rapid conquests, which doubtless were not compassed without +the usual carnage. We see an army of about three millions employed by +this martial queen in a war against the Indians. We see the Indians +arming a yet greater; and we behold a war continued with much fury, and +with various success. This ends in the retreat of the queen, with scarce +a third of the troops employed in the expedition; an expedition which, +at this rate, must have cost two millions of souls on her part; and it +is not unreasonable to judge that the country which was the seat of war +must have been an equal sufferer. But I am content to detract from this, +and to suppose that the Indians lost only half so much, and then the +account stands thus: in this war alone (for Semiramis had other wars) in +this single reign, and in this one spot of the globe, did three millions +of souls expire, with all the horrid and shocking circumstances which +attend all wars, and in a quarrel, in which none of the sufferers could +have the least rational concern. + +The Babylonian, Assyrian, Median, and Persian monarchies must have +poured out seas of blood in their formation, and in their destruction. +The armies and fleets of Xerxes, their numbers, the glorious stand made +against them, and the unfortunate event of all his mighty preparations, +are known to everybody. In this expedition, draining half Asia of its +inhabitants, he led an army of about two millions to be slaughtered, and +wasted by a thousand fatal accidents, in the same place where his +predecessors had before by a similar madness consumed the flower of so +many kingdoms, and wasted the force of so extensive an empire. It is a +cheap calculation to say, that the Persian empire, in its wars against +the Greeks and Scythians, threw away at least four millions of its +subjects; to say nothing of its other wars, and the losses sustained in +them. These were their losses abroad; but the war was brought home to +them, first by Agesilaus, and afterwards by Alexander. I have not, in +this retreat, the books necessary to make very exact calculations; nor +is it necessary to give more than hints to one of your lordship's +erudition. You will recollect his uninterrupted series of success. You +will run over his battles. You will call to mind the carnage which was +made. You will give a glance at the whole, and you will agree with me, +that to form this hero no less than twelve hundred thousand lives must +have been sacrificed; but no sooner had he fallen himself a sacrifice to +his vices, than a thousand breaches were made for ruin to enter, and +give the last hand to this scene of misery and destruction. His kingdom +was rent and divided; which served to employ the more distinct parts to +tear each other to pieces, and bury the whole in blood and slaughter. +The kings of Syria and of Egypt, the kings of Pergamus and Macedon, +without intermission worried each other for above two hundred years; +until at last a strong power, arising in the west, rushed in upon them +and silenced their tumults, by involving all the contending parties in +the same destruction. It is little to say, that the contentions between +the successors of Alexander depopulated that part of the world of at +least two millions. + +The struggle between the Macedonians and Greeks, and, before that, the +disputes of the Greek commonwealths among themselves, for an +unprofitable superiority, form one of the bloodiest scenes in history. +One is astonished how such a small spot could furnish men sufficient to +sacrifice to the pitiful ambition of possessing five or six thousand +more acres, or two or three more villages; yet to see the acrimony and +bitterness with which this was disputed between the Athenians and +Lacedemonians; what armies cut off; what fleets sunk and burnt; what a +number of cities sacked, and their inhabitants slaughtered and captived; +one would be induced to believe the decision of the fate of mankind, at +least, depended upon it! But those disputes ended as all such ever have +done, and ever will do; in a real weakness of all parties; a momentary +shadow, and dream of power in some one; and the subjection of all to the +yoke of a stranger, who knows how to profit of their divisions. This, +at least, was the case of the Greeks; and surely, from the earliest +accounts of them, to their absorption into the Roman empire, we cannot +judge that their intestine divisions, and their foreign wars, consumed +less than three millions of their inhabitants. + +What an Aceldama, what a field of blood Sicily has been in ancient +times, whilst the mode of its government was controverted between the +republican and tyrannical parties, and the possession struggled for by +the natives, the Greeks, the Carthaginians, and the Romans, your +lordship will easily recollect. You will remember the total destruction +of such bodies as an army of 300,000 men. You will find every page of +its history dyed in blood, and blotted and confounded by tumults, +rebellions, massacres, assassinations, proscriptions, and a series of +horror beyond the histories perhaps of any other nation in the world; +though the histories of all nations are made up of similar matter. I +once more excuse myself in point of exactness for want of books. But I +shall estimate the slaughters in this island but at two millions; which +your lordship will find much short of the reality. + +Let us pass by the wars, and the consequences of them, which wasted +Grecia-Magna, before the Roman power prevailed in that part of Italy. +They are perhaps exaggerated; therefore I shall only rate them at one +million. Let us hasten to open that great scene which establishes the +Roman empire, and forms the grand catastrophe of the ancient drama. This +empire, whilst in its infancy, began by an effusion of human blood +scarcely credible. The neighboring little states teemed for new +destruction: the Sabines, the Samnites, the AEqui, the Volsci, the +Hetrurians, were broken by a series of slaughters which had no +interruption, for some hundreds of years; slaughters which upon all +sides consumed more than two millions of the wretched people. The Gauls, +rushing into Italy about this time, added the total destruction of their +own armies to those of the ancient inhabitants. In short, it were hardly +possible to conceive a more horrid and bloody picture, if that the Punic +wars that ensued soon after did not present one that far exceeds it. +Here we find that climax of devastation, and ruin, which seemed to shake +the whole earth. The extent of this war, which vexed so many nations, +and both elements, and the havoc of the human species caused in both, +really astonishes beyond expression, when it is nakedly considered, and +those matters which are apt to divert our attention from it, the +characters, actions, and designs of the persons concerned, are not taken +into the account. These wars, I mean those called the Punic wars, could +not have stood the human race in less than three millions of the +species. And yet this forms but a part only, and a very small part, of +the havoc caused by the Roman ambition. The war with Mithridates was +very little less bloody; that prince cut off at one stroke 150,000 +Romans by a massacre. In that war Sylla destroyed 300,000 men at +Cheronea. He defeated Mithridates' army under Dorilaus, and slew +300,000. This great and unfortunate prince lost another 300,000 before +Cyzicum. In the course of the war he had innumerable other losses; and +having many intervals of success, he revenged them severely. He was at +last totally overthrown; and he crushed to pieces the king of Armenia, +his ally, by the greatness of his ruin. All who had connections with him +shared the same fate. The merciless genius of Sylla had its full scope; +and the streets of Athens were not the only ones which ran with blood. +At this period, the sword, glutted with foreign slaughter, turned its +edge upon the bowels of the Roman republic itself; and presented a scene +of cruelties and treasons enough almost to obliterate the memory of all +the external devastations. I intended, my lord, to have proceeded in a +sort of method in estimating the numbers of mankind cut off in these +wars which we have on record. But I am obliged to alter my design. Such +a tragical uniformity of havoc and murder would disgust your lordship as +much as it would me; and I confess I already feel my eyes ache by +keeping them so long intent on so bloody a prospect. I shall observe +little on the Servile, the Social, the Gallic, and Spanish wars; nor +upon those with Jugurtha, nor Antiochus, nor many others equally +important, and carried on with equal fury. The butcheries of Julius +Caesar alone are calculated by somebody else; the numbers he has been the +means of destroying have been reckoned at 1,200,000. But to give your +lordship an idea that may serve as a standard, by which to measure, in +some degree, the others; you will turn your eyes on Judea; a very +inconsiderable spot of the earth in itself, though ennobled by the +singular events which had their rise in that country. + +This spot happened, it matters not here by what means, to become at +several times extremely populous, and to supply men for slaughters +scarcely credible, if other well-known and well-attested ones had not +given them a color. The first settling of the Jews here was attended by +an almost entire extirpation of all the former inhabitants. Their own +civil wars, and those with their petty neighbors, consumed vast +multitudes almost every year for several centuries; and the irruptions +of the kings of Babylon and Assyria made immense ravages. Yet we have +their history but partially, in an indistinct, confused manner; so that +I shall only throw the strong point of light upon that part which +coincides with Roman history, and of that part only on the point of time +when they received the great and final stroke which made them, no more a +nation; a stroke which is allowed to have cut off little less than two +millions of that people. I say nothing of the loppings made from that +stock whilst it stood; nor from the suckers that grew out of the old +root ever since. But if, in this inconsiderable part of the globe, such +a carnage has been made in two or three short reigns, and that this +great carnage, great as it is, makes but a minute part of what the +histories of that people inform us they suffered; what shall we judge of +countries more extended, and which have waged wars by far more +considerable? + +Instances of this sort compose the uniform of history. But there have +been periods when no less than universal destruction to the race of +mankind seems to have been threatened. Such was that when the Goths, the +Vandals, and the Huns, poured into Gaul, Italy, Spain, Greece, and +Africa, carrying destruction before them as they advanced, and leaving +horrid deserts every way behind them. _Vastum ubique silentium, secreti +colles; fumantia procul tecta; nemo exploratoribus obvius_, is what +Tacitus calls _facies victoriae_. It is always so; but was here +emphatically so. From the north proceeded the swarms of Goths, Vandals, +Huns, Ostrogoths, who ran towards the south, into Africa itself, which +suffered as all to the north had done. About this time, another torrent +of barbarians, animated by the same fury, and encouraged by the same +success, poured out of the south, and ravaged all to the northeast and +west, to the remotest parts of Persia on one hand, and to the banks of +the Loire or farther on the other; destroying all the proud and curious +monuments of human art, that not even the memory might seem to survive +of the former inhabitants. What has been done since, and what will +continue to be done while the same inducements to war continue, I shall +not dwell upon. I shall only in one word mention the horrid effects of +bigotry and avarice, in the conquest of Spanish America; a conquest, on +a low estimation, effected by the murder of ten millions of the species. +I shall draw to a conclusion of this part, by making a general +calculation of the whole. I think I have actually mentioned above +thirty-six millions. I have not particularized any more. I don't pretend +to exactness; therefore, for the sake of a general view, I shall lay +together all those actually slain in battles, or who have perished in a +no less miserable manner by the other destructive consequences of war +from the beginning of the world to this day, in the four parts of it, at +a thousand times as much; no exaggerated calculation, allowing for time +and extent. We have not perhaps spoke of the five-hundredth part; I am +sure I have not of what is actually ascertained in history; but how much +of these butcheries are only expressed in generals, what part of time +history has never reached, and what vast spaces of the habitable globe +it has not embraced, I need not mention to your lordship. I need not +enlarge on those torrents of silent and inglorious blood which have +glutted the thirsty sands of Afric, or discolored the polar snow, or +fed the savage forests of America for so many ages of continual war. +Shall I, to justify my calculations from the charge of extravagance, add +to the account those skirmishes which happen in all wars, without being +singly of sufficient dignity in mischief, to merit a place in history, +but which by their frequency compensate for this comparative innocence? +shall I inflame the account by those general massacres which have +devoured whole cities and nations; those wasting pestilences, those +consuming famines, and all those furies that follow in the train of war? +I have no need to exaggerate; and I have purposely avoided a parade of +eloquence on this occasion. I should despise it upon any occasion; else +in mentioning these slaughters, it is obvious how much the whole might +be heightened, by an affecting description of the horrors that attend +the wasting of kingdoms, and sacking of cities. But I do not write to +the vulgar, nor to that which only governs the vulgar, their passions. I +go upon a naked and moderate calculation, just enough, without a +pedantical exactness, to give your lordship some feeling of the effects +of political society. I charge the whole of these effects on political +society. I avow the charge, and I shall presently make it good to your +lordship's satisfaction. The numbers I particularized are about +thirty-six millions. Besides those killed in battles I have said +something, not half what the matter would have justified, but something +I have said concerning the consequences of war even more dreadful than +that monstrous carnage itself which shocks our humanity, and almost +staggers our belief. So that, allowing me in my exuberance one way for +my deficiencies in the other, you will find me not unreasonable. I +think the numbers of men now upon earth are computed at five hundred +millions at the most. Here the slaughter of mankind, on what you will +call a small calculation, amounts to upwards of seventy times the number +of souls this day on the globe: a point which may furnish matter of +reflection to one less inclined to draw consequences than your lordship. + +I now come to show that political society is justly chargeable with much +the greatest part of this destruction of the species. To give the +fairest play to every side of the question, I will own that there is a +haughtiness and fierceness in human nature, which will cause innumerable +broils, place men in what situation you please; but owning this, I still +insist in charging it to political regulations, that these broils are so +frequent, so cruel, and attended with consequences so deplorable. In a +state of nature, it had been impossible to find a number of men, +sufficient for such slaughters, agreed in the same bloody purpose; or +allowing that they might have come to such an agreement (an impossible +supposition), yet the means that simple nature has supplied them with, +are by no means adequate to such an end; many scratches, many bruises +undoubtedly would be received upon all hands; but only a few, a very few +deaths. Society and politics, which have given us these destructive +views, have given us also the means of satisfying them. From the +earliest dawnings of policy to this day, the invention of men has been +sharpening and improving the mystery of murder, from the first rude +essays of clubs and stones, to the present perfection of gunnery, +cannoneering, bombarding, mining, and all those species of artificial, +learned, and refined cruelty, in which we are now so expert, and which +make a principal part of what politicians have taught us to believe is +our principal glory. + +How far mere nature would have carried us, we may judge by the example +of those animals who still follow her laws, and even of those to whom +she has given dispositions more fierce, and arms more terrible than ever +she intended we should use. It is an incontestable truth that there is +more havoc made in one year by men of men, than has been made by all the +lions, tigers, panthers, ounces, leopards, hyenas, rhinoceroses, +elephants, bears and wolves, upon their several species, since the +beginning of the world; though these agree ill enough with each other, +and have a much greater proportion of rage and fury in their composition +than we have. But with respect to you, ye legislators, ye civilizers of +mankind! ye Orpheuses, Moseses, Minoses, Solons, Theseuses, Lycurguses, +Numas! with respect to you be it spoken, your regulations have done more +mischief in cold blood, than all the rage of the fiercest animals in +their greatest terrors, or furies, has ever done, or ever could do! + +These evils are not accidental. Whoever will take the pains to consider +the nature of society will find that they result directly from its +constitution. For as _subordination_, or, in other words, the +reciprocation of tyranny and slavery, is requisite to support these +societies; the interest, the ambition, the malice, or the revenge, nay, +even the whim and caprice of one ruling man among them, is enough to arm +all the rest, without any private views of their own, to the worst and +blackest purposes: and what is at once lamentable, and ridiculous, these +wretches engage under those banners with a fury greater than if they +were animated by revenge for their own proper wrongs. + +It is no less worth observing, that this artificial division of mankind +into separate societies is a perpetual source in itself of hatred and +dissension among them. The names which distinguish them are enough to +blow up hatred and rage. Examine history; consult present experience; +and you will find that far the greater part of the quarrels between +several nations had scarce any other occasion than that these nations +were different combinations of people, and called by different names: to +an Englishman, the name of a Frenchman, a Spaniard, an Italian, much +more a Turk, or a Tartar, raises of course ideas of hatred and contempt. +If you would inspire this compatriot of ours with pity or regard for one +of these, would you not hide that distinction? You would not pray him to +compassionate the poor Frenchman, or the unhappy German. Far from it; +you would speak of him as a _foreigner_; an accident to which all are +liable. You would represent him as a _man_; one partaking with us of the +same common nature, and subject to the same law. There is something so +averse from our nature in these artificial political distinctions, that +we need no other trumpet to kindle us to war and destruction. But there +is something so benign and healing in the general voice of humanity +that, maugre all our regulations to prevent it, the simple name of man +applied properly, never fails to work a salutary effect. + +This natural unpremeditated effect of policy on the unpossessed passions +of mankind appears on other occasions. The very name of a politician, a +statesman, is sure to cause terror and hatred; it has always connected +with it the ideas of treachery, cruelty, fraud, and tyranny; and those +writers who have faithfully unveiled the mysteries of state-freemasonry, +have ever been held in general detestation, for even knowing so +perfectly a theory so detestable. The case of Machiavel seems at first +sight something hard in that respect. He is obliged to bear the +iniquities of those whose maxims and rules of government he published. +His speculation is more abhorred than their practice. + +But if there were no other arguments against artificial society than +this I am going to mention, methinks it ought to fall by this one only. +All writers on the science of policy are agreed, and they agree with +experience, that, all governments must frequently infringe the rules of +justice to support themselves; that truth must give way to +dissimulation; honesty to convenience; and humanity itself to the +reigning interest. The whole of this mystery of iniquity is called the +reason of state. It is a reason which I own I cannot penetrate. What +sort of a protection is this of the general right, that is maintained by +infringing the rights of particulars? What sort of justice is this, +which is enforced by breaches of its own laws? These paradoxes I leave +to be solved by the able heads of legislators and politicians. For my +part, I say what a plain man would say on such an occasion. I can never +believe that any institution, agreeable to nature, and proper for +mankind, could find it necessary, or even expedient, in any case +whatsoever, to do what the best and worthiest instincts of mankind warn +us to avoid. But no wonder, that what is set up in opposition to the +state of nature should preserve itself by trampling upon the law of +nature. + +To prove that these sorts of policed societies are a violation offered +to nature, and a constraint upon the human mind, it needs only to look +upon the sanguinary measures, and instruments of violence, which are +everywhere used to support them. Let us take a review of the dungeons, +whips, chains, racks, gibbets, with which every society is abundantly +stored; by which hundreds of victims are annually offered up to support +a dozen or two in pride and madness, and millions in an abject servitude +and dependence. There was a time when I looked with a reverential awe on +these mysteries of policy; but age, experience, and philosophy, have +rent the veil; and I view this _sanctum sanctorum_, at least, without +any enthusiastic admiration. I acknowledge, indeed, the necessity of +such a proceeding in such institutions; but I must have a very mean +opinion of institutions where such proceedings are necessary. + +It is a misfortune that in no part of the globe natural liberty and +natural religion are to be found pure, and free from the mixture of +political adulterations. Yet we have implanted in us by Providence, +ideas, axioms, rules, of what is pious, just, fair, honest, which no +political craft, nor learned sophistry can entirely expel from our +breasts. By these we judge, and we cannot otherwise judge, of the +several artificial modes of religion and society, and determine of them +as they approach to or recede from this standard. + +The simplest form of government is _despotism_, where all the inferior +orbs of power are moved merely by the will of the Supreme, and all that +are subjected to them directed in the same manner, merely by the +occasional will of the magistrate. This form, as it is the most simple, +so it is infinitely the most general. Scarcely any part of the world is +exempted from its power. And in those few places where men enjoy what +they call liberty, it is continually in a tottering situation, and makes +greater and greater strides to that gulf of despotism which at last +swallows up every species of government. The manner of ruling being +directed merely by the will of the weakest, and generally the worst man +in the society, becomes the most foolish and capricious thing, at the +same time that it is the most terrible and destructive that well can be +conceived. In a despotism, the principal person finds that, let the +want, misery, and indigence of his subjects be what they will, he can +yet possess abundantly of everything to gratify his most insatiable +wishes. He does more. He finds that these gratifications increase in +proportion to the wretchedness and slavery of his subjects. Thus +encouraged both by passion and interest to trample on the public +welfare, and by his station placed above both shame and fear, he +proceeds to the most horrid and shocking outrages upon mankind. Their +persons become victims of his suspicions. The slightest displeasure is +death; and a disagreeable aspect is often as great a crime as high +treason. In the court of Nero, a person of learning, of unquestioned +merit, and of unsuspected loyalty, was put to death for no other reason, +than that he had a pedantic countenance which displeased the emperor. +This very monster of mankind appeared in the beginning of his reign to +be a person of virtue. Many of the greatest tyrants on the records of +history have begun their reigns in the fairest manner. But the truth +is, this unnatural power corrupts both the heart and the understanding. +And to prevent the least hope of amendment, a king is ever surrounded by +a crowd of infamous flatterers, who find their account in keeping him +from the least light of reason, till all ideas of rectitude and justice +are utterly erased from his mind. When Alexander had in his fury +inhumanly butchered one of his best friends and bravest captains; on the +return of reason he began to conceive an horror suitable to the guilt of +such a murder. In this juncture his council came to his assistance. But +what did his council? They found him out a philosopher who gave him +comfort. And in what manner did this philosopher comfort him for the +loss of such a man, and heal his conscience, flagrant with the smart of +such a crime? You have the matter at length in Plutarch. He told him, +"_that let a sovereign do what he wilt, all his actions are just and +lawful, because they are his_." The palaces of all princes abound with +such courtly philosophers. The consequence was such as might be +expected. He grew every day a monster more abandoned to unnatural lust, +to debauchery, to drunkenness, and to murder. And yet this was +originally a great man, of uncommon capacity, and a strong propensity to +virtue. But unbounded power proceeds step by step, until it has +eradicated every laudable principle. It has been remarked, that there is +no prince so bad, whose favorites and ministers are not worse. There is +hardly any prince without a favorite, by whom he is governed in as +arbitrary a manner as he governs the wretches subjected to him. Here the +tyranny is doubled. There are two courts, and two interests; both very +different from the interests of the people. The favorite knows that the +regard of a tyrant is as unconstant and capricious as that of a woman; +and concluding his time to be short, he makes haste to fill up the +measure of his iniquity, in rapine, in luxury, and in revenge. Every +avenue to the throne is shut up. He oppresses and ruins the people, +whilst he persuades the prince that those murmurs raised by his own +oppression are the effects of disaffection to the prince's government. +Then is the natural violence of despotism inflamed and aggravated by +hatred and revenge. To deserve well of the state is a crime against the +prince. To be popular, and to be a traitor, are considered as synonymous +terms. Even virtue is dangerous, as an aspiring quality, that claims an +esteem by itself, and independent of the countenance of the court. What +has been said of the chief, is true of the inferior officers of this +species of government; each in his province exercising the same tyranny, +and grinding the people by an oppression, the more severely felt, as it +is near them, and exercised by base and subordinate persons. For the +gross of the people, they are considered as a mere herd of cattle; and +really in a little time become no better; all principle of honest pride, +all sense of the dignity of their nature, is lost in their slavery. The +day, says Homer, which makes a man a slave, takes away half his worth; +and, in fact, he loses every impulse to action, but that low and base +one of fear. In this kind of government human nature is not only abused +and insulted, but it is actually degraded and sunk into a species of +brutality. The consideration of this made Mr. Locke say, with great +justice, that a government of this kind was worse than anarchy: indeed +it is so abhorred and detested by all who live under forms that have a +milder appearance, that there is scarcely a rational man in Europe that +would not prefer death to Asiatic despotism. Here then we have the +acknowledgment of a great philosopher, that an irregular state of nature +is preferable to such a government; we have the consent of all sensible +and generous men, who carry it yet further, and avow that death itself +is preferable; and yet this species of government, so justly condemned, +and so generally detested, is what infinitely the greater part of +mankind groan under, and have groaned under from the beginning. So that, +by sure and uncontested principles, the greatest part of the governments +on earth must be concluded tyrannies, impostures, violations of the +natural rights of mankind, and worse than the most disorderly anarchies. +How much other forms exceed this we shall consider immediately. + +In all parts of the world, mankind, however debased, retains still the +sense of _feeling_; the weight of tyranny at last becomes insupportable; +but the remedy is not so easy: in general, the only remedy by which they +attempt to cure the tyranny is to change the tyrant. This is, and always +was, the case for the greater part. In some countries, however, were +found men of more penetration, who discovered "_that to live by one +man's will was the cause of all men's misery_." They therefore changed +their former method, and assembling the men in their several societies +the most respectable for their understanding and fortunes, they confided +to them the charge of the public welfare. This originally formed what is +called an _aristocracy_. They hoped it would be impossible that such a +number could ever join in any design against the general good; and they +promised themselves a great deal of security and happiness from the +united counsels of so many able and experienced persons. But it is now +found by abundant experience, that an _aristocracy_, and a _despotism_, +differ but in name; and that a people who are in general excluded from +any share of the legislative, are, to all intents and purposes, as much +slaves, when twenty, independent of them, govern, as when but one +domineers. The tyranny is even more felt, as every individual of the +nobles has the haughtiness of a sultan; the people are more miserable, +as they seem on the verge of liberty, from which they are forever +debarred; this fallacious idea of liberty, whilst it presents a vain +shadow of happiness to the subject, binds faster the chains of his +subjection. What is left undone by the natural avarice and pride of +those who are raised above the others, is completed by their suspicions, +and their dread of losing an authority, which has no support in the +common utility of the nation. A Genoese or a Venetian republic is a +concealed _despotism_; where you find the same pride of the rulers, the +same base subjection of the people, the same bloody maxims of a +suspicious policy. In one respect the _aristocracy_ is worse than the +_despotism_. A body politic, whilst it retains its authority, never +changes its maxims; a _despotism_, which is this day horrible to a +supreme degree, by the caprice natural to the heart of man, may, by the +same caprice otherwise exerted, be as lovely the next; in a succession, +it is possible to meet with some good princes. If there have been +Tiberiuses, Caligulas, Neros, there have been likewise the serener days +of Vespasians, Tituses, Trajans, and Antonines; but a body politic is +not influenced by caprice or whim, it proceeds in a regular manner, its +succession is insensible; and every man as he enters it, either has, or +soon attains, the spirit of the whole body. Never was it known that an +_aristocracy_, which was haughty and tyrannical in one century, became +easy and mild in the next. In effect, the yoke of this species of +government is so galling, that whenever the people have got the least +power, they have shaken it off with the utmost indignation, and +established a popular form. And when they have not had strength enough +to support themselves, they have thrown themselves into the arms of +_despotism_, as the more eligible of the two evils. This latter was the +case of Denmark, who sought a refuge from the oppression of its +nobility, in the strong hold of arbitrary power. Poland has at present +the name of republic, and it is one of the _aristocratic_ form; but it +is well known that the little finger of this government is heavier than +the loins of arbitrary power in most nations. The people are not only +politically, but personally slaves, and treated with the utmost +indignity. The republic of Venice is somewhat more moderate; yet even +here, so heavy is the _aristocratic_ yoke, that the nobles have been +obliged to enervate the spirit of their subjects by every sort of +debauchery; they have denied them the liberty of reason, and they have +made them amends by what a base soul will think a more valuable liberty, +by not only allowing, but encouraging them to corrupt themselves in the +most scandalous manner. They consider their subjects as the farmer does +the hog he keeps to feast upon. He holds him fast in his sty, but allows +him to wallow as much as he pleases in his beloved filth and gluttony. +So scandalously debauched a people as that of Venice is to be met with +nowhere else. High, low, men, women, clergy, and laity, are all alike. +The ruling nobility are no less afraid of one another than they are of +the people; and, for that reason, politically enervate their own body by +the same effeminate luxury by which they corrupt their subjects. They +are impoverished by every means which can be invented; and they are kept +in a perpetual terror by the horrors of a state inquisition. Here you +see a people deprived of all rational freedom, and tyrannized over by +about two thousand men; and yet this body of two thousand are so far +from enjoying any liberty by the subjection of the rest, that they are +in an infinitely severer state of slavery; they make themselves the most +degenerate and unhappy of mankind, for no other purpose than that they +may the more effectually contribute to the misery of a whole nation. In +short, the regular and methodical proceedings of an _aristocracy_ are +more intolerable than the very excesses of a _despotism_, and, in +general, much further from any remedy. + +Thus, my lord, we have pursued _aristocracy_ through its whole progress; +we have seen the seeds, the growth, and the fruit. It could boast none +of the advantages of a _despotism_, miserable as those advantages were, +and it was overloaded with an exuberance of mischiefs, unknown even to +_despotism_ itself. In effect, it is no more than a disorderly tyranny. +This form, therefore, could be little approved, even in speculation, by +those who were capable of thinking, and could be less borne in practice +by any who were capable of feeling. However, the fruitful policy of man +was not yet exhausted. He had yet another farthing candle to supply the +deficiencies of the sun. This was the third form, known by political +writers under the name of _democracy_. Here the people transacted all +public business, or the greater part of it, in their own persons; their +laws were made by themselves, and, upon any failure of duty, their +officers were accountable to themselves, and to them only. In all +appearance, they had secured by this method the advantages of order and +good government, without paying their liberty for the purchase. Now, my +lord, we are come to the masterpiece of Grecian refinement, and Roman +solidity,--a popular government. The earliest and most celebrated +republic of this model was that of Athens. It was constructed by no less +an artist than the celebrated poet and philosopher, Solon. But no sooner +was this political vessel launched from the stocks, than it overset, +even in the lifetime of the builder. A tyranny immediately supervened; +not by a foreign conquest, not by accident, but by the very nature and +constitution of a _democracy_. An artful man became popular, the people +had power in their hands, and they devolved a considerable share of +their power upon their favorite; and the only use he made of this power +was, to plunge those who gave it into slavery. Accident restored their +liberty, and the same good fortune produced men of uncommon abilities +and uncommon virtues amongst them. But these abilities were suffered to +be of little service either to their possessors or to the state. Some of +these men, for whose sakes alone we read their history, they banished; +others they imprisoned, and all they treated with various circumstances +of the most shameful ingratitude. Republics have many things in the +spirit of absolute monarchy, but none more than this. A shining merit +is ever hated or suspected in a popular assembly, as well as in a court; +and all services done the state are looked upon as dangerous to the +rulers, whether sultans or senators. The _ostracism_ at Athens was built +upon this principle. The giddy people whom we have now under +consideration, being elated with some flashes of success, which they +owed to nothing less than any merit of their own, began to tyrannize +over their equals, who had associated with them for their common +defence. With their prudence they renounced all appearance of justice. +They entered into wars rashly and wantonly. If they were unsuccessful, +instead of growing wiser by their misfortune, they threw the whole blame +of their own misconduct on the ministers who had advised, and the +generals who had conducted, those wars; until by degrees they had cut +off all who could serve them in their councils or their battles. If at +any time these wars had a happier issue, it was no less difficult to +deal with them on account of their pride and insolence. Furious in their +adversity, tyrannical in their successes, a commander had more trouble +to concert his defence before the people, than to plan the operations of +the campaign. It was not uncommon for a general, under the horrid +_despotism_ of the Roman emperors, to be ill received in proportion to +the greatness of his services. Agricola is a strong instance of this. No +man had done greater things, nor with more honest ambition. Yet, on his +return to court, he was obliged to enter Rome with all the secrecy of a +criminal. He went to the palace, not like a victorious commander who had +merited and might demand the greatest rewards, but like an offender who +had come to supplicate a pardon for his crimes. His reception was +answerable; "_Exceptusque brevi osculo et nullo sermone, turbae +servientium immixtus est_." Yet in that worst season of this worst of +monarchical[9] tyrannies, modesty, discretion, and a coolness of temper, +formed some kind of security, even for the highest merit. But at Athens, +the nicest and best studied behavior was not a sufficient guard for a +man of great capacity. Some of their bravest commanders were obliged to +fly their country, some to enter into the service of its enemies, rather +than abide a popular determination on their conduct, lest, as one of +them said, their giddiness might make the people condemn where they +meant to acquit; to throw in a black bean even when they intended a +white one. + +The Athenians made a very rapid progress to the most enormous excesses. +The people, under no restraint, soon grew dissolute, luxurious, and +idle. They renounced all labor, and began to subsist themselves from the +public revenues. They lost all concern for their common honor or safety, +and could bear no advice that tended to reform them. At this time truth +became offensive to those lords the people, and most highly dangerous to +the speaker. The orators no longer ascended the _rostrum_, but to +corrupt them further with the most fulsome adulation. These orators were +all bribed by foreign princes on the one side or the other. And besides +its own parties, in this city there were parties, and avowed ones too, +for the Persians, Spartans, and Macedonians, supported each of them by +one or more demagogues pensioned and bribed to this iniquitous service. +The people, forgetful of all virtue and public spirit, and intoxicated +with the flatteries of their orators (these courtiers of republics, and +endowed with the distinguishing characteristics of all other courtiers), +this people, I say, at last arrived at that pitch of madness, that they +coolly and deliberately, by an express law, made it capital for any man +to propose an application of the immense sums squandered in public +shows, even to the most necessary purposes of the state. When you see +the people of this republic banishing and murdering their best and +ablest citizens, dissipating the public treasure with the most senseless +extravagance, and spending their whole time, as spectators or actors, in +playing, fiddling, dancing, and singing, does it not, my lord, strike +your imagination with the image of a sort of complex Nero? And does it +not strike you with the greater horror, when you observe, not one man +only, but a whole city, grown drunk with pride and power, running with a +rage of folly into the same mean and senseless debauchery and +extravagance? But if this people resembled Nero in their extravagance, +much more did they resemble and even exceed him in cruelty and +injustice. In the time of Pericles, one of the most celebrated times in +the history of that commonwealth, a king of Egypt sent them a donation +of corn. This they were mean enough to accept. And had the Egyptian +prince intended the ruin of this city of wicked Bedlamites, he could not +have taken a more effectual method to do it than by such an ensnaring +largess. The distribution of this bounty caused a quarrel; the majority +set on foot an inquiry into the title of the citizens; and upon a vain +pretence of illegitimacy, newly and occasionally set up, they deprived +of their share of the royal donation no less than five thousand of +their own body. They went further; they disfranchised them; and, having +once begun with an act of injustice, they could set no bounds to it. Not +content with cutting them off from the rights of citizens, they +plundered these unfortunate wretches of all their substance; and, to +crown this masterpiece of violence and tyranny, they actually sold every +man of the five thousand as slaves in the public market. Observe, my +lord, that the five thousand we here speak of were cut off from a body +of no more than nineteen thousand; for the entire number of citizens was +no greater at that time. Could the tyrant who wished the Roman people +but one neck; could the tyrant Caligula himself have done, nay, he could +scarcely wish for, a greater mischief than to have cut off, at one +stroke, a fourth of his people? Or has the cruelty of that series of +sanguine tyrants, the Caesars, ever presented such a piece of flagrant +and extensive wickedness? The whole history of this celebrated republic +is but one tissue of rashness, folly, ingratitude, injustice, tumult, +violence, and tyranny, and, indeed, of every species of wickedness that +can well be imagined. This was a city of wise men, in which a minister +could not exercise his functions; a warlike people, amongst whom a +general did not dare either to gain or lose a battle; a learned nation, +in which a philosopher could not venture on a free inquiry. This was the +city which banished Themistocles, starved Aristides, forced into exile +Miltiades, drove out Anaxagoras, and poisoned Socrates. This was a city +which changed the form of its government with the moon; eternal +conspiracies, revolutions daily, nothing fixed and established. A +republic, as an ancient philosopher has observed, is no one species of +government, but a magazine of every species; here you find every sort of +it, and that in the worst form. As there is a perpetual change, one +rising and the other falling, you have all the violence and wicked +policy by which a beginning power must always acquire its strength, and +all the weakness by which falling states are brought to a complete +destruction. + +Rome has a more venerable aspect than Athens; and she conducted her +affairs, so far as related to the ruin and oppression of the greatest +part of the world, with greater wisdom and more uniformity. But the +domestic economy of these two states was nearly or altogether the same. +An internal dissension constantly tore to pieces the bowels of the Roman +commonwealth. You find the same confusion, the same factions, which +subsisted at Athens, the same tumults, the same revolutions, and, in +fine, the same slavery; if, perhaps, their former condition did not +deserve that name altogether as well. All other republics were of the +same character. Florence was a transcript of Athens. And the modern +republics, as they approach more or less to the democratic form, partake +more or less of the nature of those which I have described. + +We are now at the close of our review of the three simple forms of +artificial society; and we have shown them, however they may differ in +name, or in some slight circumstances, to be all alike in effect: in +effect, to be all tyrannies. But suppose we were inclined to make the +most ample concessions; let us concede Athens, Rome, Carthage, and two +or three more of the ancient, and as many of the modern, commonwealths, +to have been, or to be, free and happy, and to owe their freedom and +happiness to their political constitution. Yet, allowing all this, what +defence does this make for artificial society in general, that these +inconsiderable spots of the globe have for some short space of time +stood as exceptions to a charge so general? But when we call these +governments free, or concede that their citizens were happier than those +which lived under different forms, it is merely _ex abundanti_. For we +should be greatly mistaken, if we really thought that the majority of +the people which filled these cities enjoyed even that nominal political +freedom of which I have spoken so much already. In reality, they had no +part of it. In Athens there were usually from ten to thirty thousand +freemen; this was the utmost. But the slaves usually amounted to four +hundred thousand, and sometimes to a great many more. The freemen of +Sparta and Rome were not more numerous in proportion to those whom they +held in a slavery even more terrible than the Athenian. Therefore state +the matter fairly: the free states never formed, though they were taken +altogether, the thousandth part of the habitable globe; the freemen in +these states were never the twentieth part of the people, and the time +they subsisted is scarce anything in that immense ocean of duration in +which time and slavery are so nearly commensurate. Therefore call these +free states, or popular governments, or what you please; when we +consider the majority of their inhabitants, and regard the natural +rights of mankind, they must appear, in reality and truth, no better +than pitiful and oppressive oligarchies. + +After so fair an examen, wherein nothing has been exaggerated; no fact +produced which cannot be proved, and none which has been produced in +any wise forced or strained, while thousands have, for brevity, been +omitted; after so candid a discussion in all respects; what slave so +passive, what bigot so blind, what enthusiast so headlong, what +politician so hardened, as to stand up in defence of a system calculated +for a curse to mankind? a curse under which they smart and groan to this +hour, without thoroughly knowing the nature of the disease, and wanting +understanding or courage to supply the remedy. + +I need not excuse myself to your lordship, nor, I think, to any honest +man, for the zeal I have shown in this cause; for it is an honest zeal, +and in a good cause. I have defended natural religion against a +confederacy of atheists and divines. I now plead for natural society +against politicians, and for natural reason against all three. When the +world is in a fitter temper than it is at present to hear truth, or when +I shall be more indifferent about its temper, my thoughts may become +more public. In the mean time, let them repose in my own bosom, and in +the bosoms of such men as are fit to be initiated in the sober mysteries +of truth and reason. My antagonists have already done as much as I could +desire. Parties in religion and politics make sufficient discoveries +concerning each other, to give a sober man a proper caution against them +all. The monarchic, and aristocratical, and popular partisans, have been +jointly laying their axes to the root of all government, and have, in +their turns, proved each other absurd and inconvenient. In vain you tell +me that artificial government is good, but that I fall out only with the +abuse. The thing! the thing itself is the abuse! Observe, my lord, I +pray you, that grand error upon which all artificial legislative power +is founded. It was observed, that men had ungovernable passions, which +made it necessary to guard against the violence they might offer to each +other. They appointed governors over them for this reason. But a worse +and more perplexing difficulty arises, how to be defended against the +governors? _Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?_ In vain they change from a +single person to a few. These few have the passions of the one; and they +unite to strengthen themselves, and to secure the gratification of their +lawless passions at the expense of the general good. In vain do we fly +to the many. The case is worse; their passions are less under the +government of reason, they are augmented by the contagion, and defended +against all attacks by their multitude. + +I have purposely avoided the mention of the mixed form of government, +for reasons that will be very obvious to your lordship. But my caution +can avail me but little. You will not fail to urge it against me in +favor of political society. You will not fail to show how the errors of +the several simple modes are corrected by a mixture of all of them, and +a proper balance of the several powers in such a state. I confess, my +lord, that this has been long a darling mistake of my own; and that of +all the sacrifices I have made to truth, this has been by far the +greatest. When I confess that I think this notion a mistake, I know to +whom I am speaking, for I am satisfied that reasons are like liquors, +and there are some of such a nature as none but strong heads can bear. +There are few with whom I can communicate so freely as with Pope. But +Pope cannot bear every truth. He has a timidity which hinders the full +exertion of his faculties, almost as effectually as bigotry cramps those +of the general herd of mankind. But whoever is a genuine follower of +truth keeps his eye steady upon his guide, indifferent whither he is +led, provided that she is the leader. And, my lord, if it be properly +considered, it were infinitely better to remain possessed by the whole +legion of vulgar mistakes, than to reject some, and at the same time to +retain a fondness for others altogether as absurd and irrational. The +first has at least a consistency, that makes a man, however erroneously, +uniform at least; but the latter way of proceeding is such an +inconsistent chimera and jumble of philosophy and vulgar prejudice, that +hardly anything more ridiculous can be conceived. Let us therefore +freely, and without fear or prejudice, examine this last contrivance of +policy. And, without considering how near the quick our instruments may +come, let us search it to the bottom. + +First, then, all men are agreed that this junction of regal, +aristocratic, and popular power, must form a very complex, nice, and +intricate machine, which being composed of such a variety of parts, with +such opposite tendencies and movements, it must be liable on every +accident to be disordered. To speak without metaphor, such a government +must be liable to frequent cabals, tumults, and revolutions, from its +very constitution. These are undoubtedly as ill effects as can happen in +a society; for in such a case, the closeness acquired by community, +instead of serving for mutual defence, serves only to increase the +danger. Such a system is like a city, where trades that require constant +fires are much exercised, where the houses are built of combustible +materials, and where they stand extremely close. + +In the second place, the several constituent parts having their distinct +rights, and these many of them so necessary to be determined with +exactness, are yet so indeterminate in their nature, that it becomes a +new and constant source of debate and confusion. Hence it is, that +whilst the business of government should be carrying on, the question +is, Who has a right to exercise this or that function of it, or what men +have power to keep their offices in any function? Whilst this contest +continues, and whilst the balance in any sort continues, it has never +any remission; all manner of abuses and villanies in officers remain +unpunished; the greatest frauds and robberies in the public revenues are +committed in defiance of justice; and abuses grow, by time and impunity, +into customs; until they prescribe against the laws, and grow too +inveterate often to admit a cure, unless such as may be as bad as the +disease. + +Thirdly, the several parts of this species of government, though united, +preserve the spirit which each form has separately. Kings are ambitious; +the nobility haughty; and the populace tumultuous and ungovernable. Each +party, however in appearance peaceable, carries on a design upon the +others; and it is owing to this, that in all questions, whether +concerning foreign or domestic affairs, the whole generally turns more +upon some party-matter than upon the nature of the thing itself; whether +such a step will diminish or augment the power of the crown, or how far +the privileges of the subject are likely to be extended or restricted by +it. And these questions are constantly resolved, without any +consideration of the merits of the cause, merely as the parties who +uphold these jarring interests may chance to prevail; and as they +prevail, the balance is overset, now upon one side, now upon the other. +The government is, one day, arbitrary power in a single person; another, +a juggling confederacy of a few to cheat the prince and enslave the +people; and the third, a frantic and unmanageable democracy. The great +instrument of all these changes, and what infuses a peculiar venom into +all of them, is party. It is of no consequence what the principles of +any party, or what their pretensions are; the spirit which actuates all +parties is the same; the spirit of ambition, of self-interest, of +oppression and treachery. This spirit entirely reverses all the +principles which a benevolent nature has erected within us; all honesty, +all equal justice, and even the ties of natural society, the natural +affections. In a word, my lord, we have all _seen_, and, if any outward +considerations were worthy the lasting concern of a wise man, we have +some of us _felt_, such oppression from party government as no other +tyranny can parallel. We behold daily the most important rights, rights +upon which all the others depend, we behold these rights determined in +the last resort, without the least attention even to the appearance or +color of justice; we behold this without emotion, because we have grown +up in the constant view of such practices; and we are not surprised to +hear a man requested to be a knave and a traitor, with as much +indifference as if the most ordinary favor were asked; and we hear this +request refused, not because it is a most unjust and unreasonable +desire, but because this worthy has already engaged his injustice to +another. These and many more points I am for from spreading to their +full extent. You are sensible that I do not put forth half my strength; +and you cannot be at a loss for the reason. A man is allowed sufficient +freedom of thought, provided he knows how to choose his subject +properly. You may criticise freely upon the Chinese constitution, and +observe with as much severity as you please upon the absurd tricks, or +destructive bigotry of the bonzees. But the scene is changed as you come +homeward, and atheism or treason may be the names given in Britain, to +what would be reason and truth if asserted of China. I submit to the +condition, and though I have a notorious advantage before me, I waive +the pursuit. For else, my lord, it is very obvious what a picture might +be drawn of the excesses of party even in our own nation. I could show, +that the same faction has, in one reign, promoted popular seditions, +and, in the next, been a patron of tyranny: I could show that they have +all of them betrayed the public safety at all times, and have very +frequently with equal perfidy made a market of their own cause and their +own associates. I could show how vehemently they have contended for +names, and how silently they have passed over things of the last +importance. And I could demonstrate that they have had the opportunity +of doing all this mischief, nay, that they themselves had their origin +and growth from that complex form of government, which we are wisely +taught to look upon as so great a blessing. Revolve, my lord, our +history from the Conquest. We scarcely ever had a prince, who, by fraud +or violence, had not made some infringement on the constitution. We +scarcely ever had a Parliament which knew, when it attempted to set +limits to the royal authority, how to set limits to its own. Evils we +have had continually calling for reformation, and reformations more +grievous than any evils. Our boasted liberty sometimes trodden down, +sometimes giddily set up, and ever precariously fluctuating and +unsettled; it has only been kept alive by the blasts of continual feuds, +wars, and conspiracies. In no country in Europe has the scaffold so +often blushed with the blood of its nobility. Confiscations, +banishments, attainders, executions, make a large part of the history of +such of our families as are not utterly extinguished by them. Formerly, +indeed, things had a more ferocious appearance than they have at this +day. In these early and unrefined ages, the jarring part of a certain +chaotic constitution supported their several pretensions by the sword. +Experience and policy have since taught other methods. + + At nunc res agitur tenui pulmone rubetae. + +But how far corruption, venality, the contempt of honor, the oblivion of +all duty to our country, and the most abandoned public prostitution, are +preferable to the more glaring and violent effects of faction, I will +not presume to determine. Sure I am that they are very great evils. + +I have done with the forms of government. During the course of my +inquiry you may have observed a very material difference between my +manner of reasoning and that which is in use amongst the abettors of +artificial society. They form their plans upon what seems most eligible +to their imaginations, for the ordering of mankind. I discover the +mistakes in those plans, from the real known consequences which have +resulted from them. They have enlisted reason to fight against itself, +and employ its whole force to prove that it is an insufficient guide to +them in the conduct of their lives. But unhappily for us, in proportion +as we have deviated from the plain rule of our nature, and turned our +reason against itself, in that proportion have we increased the follies +and miseries of mankind. The more deeply we penetrate into the labyrinth +of art, the further we find ourselves from those ends for which we +entered it. This has happened in almost every species of artificial +society, and in all times. We found, or we thought we found, an +inconvenience in having every man the judge of his own cause. Therefore +judges were set up, at first, with discretionary powers. But it was soon +found a miserable slavery to have our lives and properties precarious, +and hanging upon the arbitrary determination of any one man, or set of +men. We fled to laws as a remedy for this evil. By these we persuaded +ourselves we might know with some certainty upon what ground we stood. +But lo! differences arose upon the sense and interpretation of those +laws. Thus we were brought back to our old incertitude. New laws were +made to expound the old; and new difficulties arose upon the new laws; +as words multiplied, opportunities of cavilling upon them multiplied +also. Then recourse was had to notes, comments, glosses, reports, +_responsa prudentum_, learned readings: eagle stood against eagle: +authority was set up against authority. Some were allured by the modern, +others reverenced the ancient. The new were more enlightened, the old +were more venerable. Some adopted the comment, others stuck to the text. +The confusion increased, the mist thickened, until it could be +discovered no longer what was allowed or forbidden, what things were in +property, and what common. In this uncertainty, (uncertain even to the +professors, an Egyptian darkness to the rest of mankind), the contending +parties felt themselves more effectually ruined by the delay, than they +could have been by the injustice of any decision. Our inheritances are +become a prize for disputation; and disputes and litigations are become +an inheritance. + +The professors of artificial law have always walked hand in hand with +the professors of artificial theology. As their end, in confounding the +reason of man, and abridging his natural freedom, is exactly the same, +they have adjusted the means to that end in a way entirely similar. The +divine thunders out his _anathemas_ with more noise and terror against +the breach of one of his positive institutions, or the neglect of some +of his trivial forms, than against the neglect or breach of those duties +and commandments of natural religion, which by these forms and +institutions he pretends to enforce. The lawyer has his forms, and his +positive institutions too, and he adheres to them with a veneration +altogether as religious. The worst cause cannot be so prejudicial to the +litigant, as his advocate's or attorney's ignorance or neglect of these +forms. A lawsuit is like an ill-managed dispute, in which the first +object is soon out of sight, and the parties end upon a matter wholly +foreign to that on which they began. In a lawsuit the question is, who +has a right to a certain house or farm? And this question is daily +determined, not upon the evidence of the right, but upon the observance +or neglect of some forms of words in use with the gentlemen of the robe, +about which there is even amongst themselves such a disagreement, that +the most experienced veterans in the profession can never be positively +assured that they are not mistaken. + +Let us expostulate with these learned sages, these priests of the sacred +temple of justice. Are we judges of our own property? By no means. You +then, who are initiated into the mysteries of the blindfold goddess, +inform me whether I have a right to eat the bread I have earned by the +hazard of my life or the sweat of my brow? The grave doctor answers me +in the affirmative; the reverend serjeant replies in the negative; the +learned barrister reasons upon one side and upon the other, and +concludes nothing. What shall I do? An antagonist starts up and presses +me hard. I enter the field, and retain these three persons to defend my +cause. My cause, which two farmers from the plough could have decided in +half an hour, takes the court twenty years. I am however at the end of +my labor, and have in reward for all my toil and vexation a judgment in +my favor. But hold--a sagacious commander, in the adversary's army, has +found a flaw in the proceeding. My triumph is turned into mourning. I +have used _or_, instead of _and_, or some mistake, small in appearance, +but dreadful in its consequences; and have the whole of my success +quashed in a writ of error. I remove my suit; I shift from court to +court; I fly from equity to law, and from law to equity; equal +uncertainty attends me everywhere; and a mistake in which I had no +share, decides at once upon my liberty and property, sending me from the +court to a prison, and adjudging my family to beggary and famine. I am +innocent, gentlemen, of the darkness and uncertainty of your science. I +never darkened it with absurd and contradictory notions, nor confounded +it with chicane and sophistry. You have excluded me from any share in +the conduct of my own cause; the science was too deep for me; I +acknowledged it; but it was too deep even for yourselves: you have made +the way so intricate, that you are yourselves lost in it; you err, and +you punish me for your errors. + +The delay of the law is, your lordship will tell me, a trite topic, and +which of its abuses have not been too severely felt not to be complained +of? A man's property is to serve for the purposes of his support; and +therefore, to delay a determination concerning that, is the worst +injustice, because it cuts off the very end and purpose for which I +applied to the judicature for relief. Quite contrary in the case of a +man's life; there the determination can hardly be too much protracted. +Mistakes in this case are as often fallen into as many other; and if the +judgment is sudden, the mistakes are the most irretrievable of all +others. Of this the gentlemen of the robe are themselves sensible, and +they have brought it into a maxim. _De morte hominis nulla est cunctatio +longa._ But what could have induced them to reverse the rules, and to +contradict that reason which dictated them, I am utterly unable to +guess. A point concerning property, which ought, for the reasons I have +just mentioned, to be most speedily decided, frequently exercises the +wit of successions of lawyers, for many generations. _Multa virum +volvens durando saecula vincit._ But the question concerning a man's +life, that great question in which no delay ought to be counted tedious, +is commonly determined in twenty-four hours at the utmost. It is not to +be wondered at, that injustice and absurdity should be inseparable +companions. + +Ask of politicians the end for which laws were originally designed; and +they will answer, that the laws were designed as a protection for the +poor and weak, against the oppression of the rich and powerful. But +surely no pretence can be so ridiculous; a man might as well tell me he +has taken off my load, because he has changed the burden. If the poor +man is not able to support his suit, according to the vexatious and +expensive manner established in civilized countries, has not the rich as +great an advantage over him as the strong has over the weak in a state +of nature? But we will not place the state of nature, which is the reign +of God, in competition with political society, which is the absurd +usurpation of man. In a state of nature, it is true that a man of +superior force may beat or rob me; but then it is true, that I am at +full liberty to defend myself, or make reprisal by surprise or by +cunning, or by any other way in which I may be superior to him. But in +political society, a rich man may rob me in another way. I cannot defend +myself; for money is the only weapon with which we are allowed to fight. +And if I attempt to avenge myself the whole force of that society is +ready to complete my ruin. + +A good parson once said, that where mystery begins, religion ends. +Cannot I say, as truly at least, of human laws, that where mystery +begins, justice ends? It is hard to say, whether the doctors of law or +divinity have made the greater advances in the lucrative business of +mystery. The lawyers, as well as the theologians, have erected another +reason besides natural reason; and the result has been, another justice +besides natural justice. They have so bewildered the world and +themselves in unmeaning forms and ceremonies, and so perplexed the +plainest matters with metaphysical jargon, that it carries the highest +danger to a man out of that profession, to make the least step without +their advice and assistance. Thus, by confining to themselves the +knowledge of the foundation of all men's lives and properties, they have +reduced all mankind into the most abject and servile dependence. We are +tenants at the will of these gentlemen for everything; and a +metaphysical quibble is to decide whether the greatest villain breathing +shall meet his deserts, or escape with impunity, or whether the best man +in the society shall not be reduced to the lowest and most despicable +condition it affords. In a word, my lord, the injustice, delay, +puerility, false refinement, and affected mystery of the law are such, +that many who live under it come to admire and envy the expedition, +simplicity, and equality of arbitrary judgments. I need insist the less +on this article to your lordship, as you have frequently lamented the +miseries derived to us from artificial law, and your candor is the more +to be admired and applauded in this, as your lordship's noble house has +derived its wealth and its honors from that profession. + +Before we finish our examination of artificial society, I shall lead +your lordship into a closer consideration of the relations which it +gives birth to, and the benefits, if such they are, which result from +these relations. The most obvious division of society is into rich and +poor; and it is no less obvious, that the number of the former bear a +great disproportion to those of the latter. The whole business of the +poor is to administer to the idleness, folly, and luxury of the rich; +and that of the rich, in return, is to find the best methods of +confirming the slavery and increasing the burdens of the poor. In a +state of nature, it is an invariable law, that a man's acquisitions are +in proportion to his labors. In a state of artificial society, it is a +law as constant and as invariable, that those who labor most enjoy the +fewest things; and that those who labor not at all have the greatest +number of enjoyments. A constitution of things this, strange and +ridiculous beyond expression! We scarce believe a thing when we are told +it, which we actually see before our eyes every day without being in the +least surprised. I suppose that there are in Great Britain upwards of a +hundred thousand people employed in lead, tin, iron, copper, and coal +mines; these unhappy wretches scarce ever see the light of the sun; they +are buried in the bowels of the earth; there they work at a severe and +dismal task, without the least prospect of being delivered from it; they +subsist upon the coarsest and worst sort of fare; they have their health +miserably impaired, and their lives cut short, by being perpetually +confined in the close vapor of these malignant minerals. A hundred +thousand more at least are tortured without remission by the suffocating +smoke, intense fires, and constant drudgery necessary in refining and +managing the products of those mines. If any man informed us that two +hundred thousand innocent persons were condemned to so intolerable +slavery, how should we pity the unhappy sufferers, and how great would +be our just indignation against those who inflicted so cruel and +ignominious a punishment! This is an instance--I could not wish a +stronger--of the numberless things which we pass by in their common +dress, yet which shock us when they are nakedly represented. But this +number, considerable as it is, and the slavery, with all its baseness +and horror, which we have at home, is nothing to what the rest of the +world affords of the same nature. Millions daily bathed in the +poisonous damps and destructive effluvia of lead, silver, copper, and +arsenic. To say nothing of those other employments, those stations of +wretchedness and contempt, in which civil society has placed the +numerous _enfans perdus_ of her army. Would any rational man submit to +one of the most tolerable of these drudgeries, for all the artificial +enjoyments which policy has made to result from them? By no means. And +yet need I suggest to your lordship, that those who find the means, and +those who arrive at the end, are not at all the same persons? On +considering the strange and unaccountable fancies and contrivances of +artificial reason, I have somewhere called this earth the Bedlam of our +system. Looking now upon the effects of some of those fancies, may we +not with equal reason call it likewise the Newgate and the Bridewell of +the universe? Indeed the blindness of one part of mankind co-operating +with the frenzy and villany of the other, has been the real builder of +this respectable fabric of political society: and as the blindness of +mankind has caused their slavery, in return their state of slavery is +made a pretence for continuing them in a state of blindness; for the +politician will tell you gravely, that their life of servitude +disqualifies the greater part of the race of man for a search of truth, +and supplies them with no other than mean and insufficient ideas. This +is but too true; and this is one of the reasons for which I blame such +institutions. + +In a misery of this sort, admitting some few lenitives, and those too +but a few, nine parts in ten of the whole race of mankind drudge through +life. It may be urged perhaps, in palliation of this, that at least the +rich few find a considerable and real benefit from the wretchedness of +the many. But is this so in fact? Let us examine the point with a little +more attention. For this purpose the rich in all societies may he thrown +into two classes. The first is of those who are powerful as well as +rich, and conduct the operations of the vast political machine. The +other is of those who employ their riches wholly in the acquisition of +pleasure. As to the first sort, their continual care and anxiety, their +toilsome days, and sleepless nights, are next to proverbial. These +circumstances are sufficient almost to level their condition to that of +the unhappy majority; but there are other circumstances which place +them, in a far lower condition. Not only their understandings labor +continually, which is the severest labor, but their hearts are torn by +the worst, most troublesome, and insatiable of all passions, by avarice, +by ambition, by fear and jealousy. No part of the mind has rest. Power +gradually extirpates from the mind every humane and gentle virtue. Pity, +benevolence, friendship, are things almost unknown in high stations. +_Verae amicitiae rarissime inveniuntur in iis qui in honoribus reque +publica versantur_, says Cicero. And indeed courts are the schools where +cruelty, pride, dissimulation, and treachery are studied and taught in +the most vicious perfection. This is a point so clear and acknowledged, +that if it did not make a necessary part of my subject, I should pass it +by entirely. And this has hindered me from drawing at full length, and +in the most striking colors, this shocking picture of the degeneracy and +wretchedness of human nature, in that part which is vulgarly thought its +happiest and most amiable state. You know from what originals I could +copy such pictures. Happy are they who know enough of them to know the +little value of the possessors of such things, and of all that they +possess; and happy they who have been snatched from that post of danger +which they occupy, with the remains of their virtue; loss of honors, +wealth, titles, and even the loss of one's country, is nothing in +balance with so great an advantage. + +Let us now view the other species of the rich, those who devote their +time and fortunes to idleness and pleasure. How much happier are they? +The pleasures which are agreeable to nature are within the reach of all, +and therefore can form no distinction in favor of the rich. The +pleasures which art forces up are seldom sincere, and never satisfying. +What is worse, this constant application to pleasure takes away from the +enjoyment, or rather turns it into the nature of a very burdensome and +laborious business. It has consequences much more fatal. It produces a +weak valetudinary state of body, attended by all those horrid disorders, +and yet more horrid methods of cure, which are the result of luxury on +the one hand, and the weak and ridiculous efforts of human art on the +other. The pleasures of such men are scarcely felt as pleasures; at the +same time that they bring on pains and diseases, which are felt but too +severely. The mind has its share of the misfortune; it grows lazy and +enervate, unwilling and unable to search for truth, and utterly +uncapable of knowing, much less of relishing, real happiness. The poor +by their excessive labor, and the rich by their enormous luxury, are set +upon a level, and rendered equally ignorant of any knowledge which might +conduce to their happiness. A dismal view of the interior of all civil +society! The lower part broken and ground down by the most cruel +oppression; and the rich by their artificial method of life bringing +worse evils on themselves than their tyranny could possibly inflict on +those below them. Very different is the prospect of the natural state. +Here there are no wants which nature gives, and in this state men can be +sensible of no other wants, which are not to be supplied by a very +moderate degree of labor; therefore there is no slavery. Neither is +there any luxury, because no single man can supply the materials of it. +Life is simple, and therefore it is happy. + +I am conscious, my lord, that your politician will urge in his defence, +that this unequal state is highly useful. That without dooming some part +of mankind to extraordinary toil, the arts which cultivate life could +not be exercised. But I demand of this politician, how such arts came to +be necessary? He answers, that civil society could not well exist +without them. So that these arts are necessary to civil society, and +civil society necessary again to these arts. Thus are we running in a +circle, without modesty, and without end, and making one error and +extravagance an excuse for the other. My sentiments about these arts and +their cause, I have often discoursed with my friends at large. Pope has +expressed them in good verse, where he talks with so much force of +reason and elegance of language, in praise of the state of nature: + + "Then was not pride, nor arts that pride to aid, + Man walked with beast, joint tenant of the shade." + + +On the whole, my lord, if political society, in whatever form, has still +made the many the property of the few; if it has introduced labors +unnecessary, vices and diseases unknown, and pleasures incompatible +with nature; if in all countries it abridges the lives of millions, and +renders those of millions more utterly abject and miserable, shall we +still worship so destructive an idol, and daily sacrifice to it our +health, our liberty, and our peace? Or shall we pass by this monstrous +heap of absurd notions, and abominable practices, thinking we have +sufficiently discharged our duty in exposing the trifling, cheats, and +ridiculous juggles of a few mad, designing, or ambitious priests? Alas! +my lord, we labor under a mortal consumption, whilst we are so anxious +about the cure of a sore finger. For has not this leviathan of civil +power overflowed the earth with a deluge of blood, as if he were made to +disport and play therein? We have shown that political society, on a +moderate calculation, has been the means of murdering several times the +number of inhabitants now upon the earth, during its short existence, +not upwards of four thousand years in any accounts to be depended on. +But we have said nothing of the other, and perhaps as bad, consequence +of these wars, which have spilled such seas of blood, and reduced so +many millions to a merciless slavery. But these are only the ceremonies +performed in the porch of the political temple. Much more horrid ones +are seen as you enter it. The several species of government vie with +each other in the absurdity of their constitutions, and the oppression +which they make their subjects endure. Take them under what form you +please, they are in effect but a despotism, and they fall, both in +effect and appearance too, after a very short period, into that cruel +and detestable species of tyranny: which I rather call it, because we +have been educated under another form, than that this is of worse +consequences to mankind. For the free governments, for the point of +their space, and the moment of their duration, have felt more confusion, +and committed more flagrant acts of tyranny, than the most perfect +despotic governments which we have ever known. Turn your eye next to the +labyrinth of the law, and the iniquity conceived in its intricate +recesses. Consider the ravages committed in the bowels of all +commonwealths by ambition, by avarice, envy, fraud, open injustice, and +pretended friendship; vices which could draw little support from a state +of nature, but which blossom and flourish in the rankness of political +society. Revolve our whole discourse; add to it all those reflections +which your own good understanding shall suggest, and make a strenuous +effort beyond the reach of vulgar philosophy, to confess that the cause +of artificial society is more defenceless even than that of artificial +religion; that it is as derogatory from the honor of the Creator, as +subversive of human reason, and productive of infinitely more mischief +to the human race. + +If pretended revelations have caused wars where they were opposed, and +slavery where they were received, the pretended wise inventions of +politicians have done the same. But the slavery has been much heavier, +the wars far more bloody, and both more universal by many degrees. Show +me any mischief produced by the madness or wickedness of theologians, +and I will show you a hundred resulting from the ambition and villany of +conquerors and statesmen. Show me an absurdity in religion, and I will +undertake to show you a hundred for one in political laws and +institutions. If you say that natural religion is a sufficient guide +without the foreign aid of revelation, on what principle should +political laws become necessary? Is not the same reason available in +theology and in politics? If the laws of nature are the laws of God, is +it consistent with the Divine wisdom to prescribe rules to us, and leave +the enforcement of them to the folly of human institutions? Will you +follow truth but to a certain point? + +We are indebted for all our miseries to our distrust of that guide which +Providence thought sufficient for our condition, our own natural reason, +which rejecting both in human and divine things, we have given our necks +to the yoke of political and theological slavery. We have renounced the +prerogative of man, and it is no wonder that we should be treated like +beasts. But our misery is much greater than theirs, as the crime we +commit in rejecting the lawful dominion of our reason is greater than +any which they can commit. If, after all, you should confess all these +things, yet plead the necessity of political institutions, weak and +wicked as they are, I can argue with equal, perhaps superior, force, +concerning the necessity of artificial religion; and every step you +advance in your argument, you add a strength to mine. So that if we are +resolved to submit our reason, and our liberty to civil usurpation, we +have nothing to do but to conform as quietly as we can to the vulgar +notions which are connected with this, and take up the theology of the +vulgar as well as their politics. But if we think this necessity rather +imaginary than real, we should renounce their dreams of society, +together with their visions of religion, and vindicate ourselves into +perfect liberty. + +You are, my lord, but just entering into the world; I am going out of +it. I have played long enough to be heartily tired of the drama. Whether +I have acted my part in it well or ill, posterity will judge with more +candor than I, or than the present age, with our present passions, can +possibly pretend to. For my part, I quit it without a sigh, and submit +to the sovereign order without murmuring. The nearer we approach to the +goal of life, the better we begin to understand the true value of our +existence, and the real weight of our opinions. We set out much in love +with both; but we leave much behind us as we advance. We first throw +away the tales along with the rattles of our nurses: those of the priest +keep their hold a little longer; those of our governors the longest of +all. But the passions which prop these opinions are withdrawn one after +another; and the cool light of reason, at the setting of our life, shows +us what a false splendor played upon these objects during our more +sanguine seasons. Happy, my lord, if instructed by my experience, and +even by my errors, you come early to make such an estimate of things, as +may give freedom and ease to your life. I am happy that such an estimate +promises me comfort at my death. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[8] Had his lordship lived to our days, to have seen the noble relief +given by this nation to the distressed Portuguese, he had perhaps owned +this part of his argument a little weakened; but we do not think +ourselves entitled to alter his lordship's words, but that we are bound +to follow him exactly. + +[9] Sciant quibus moris illicita mirari, posse etiam sub malis +principibus magnos viros, &c. See 42, to the end of it. + + + + +A + +PHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRY + +INTO THE ORIGIN OF OUR IDEAS OF + +THE SUBLIME AND BEAUTIFUL + +WITH + +AN INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE + +CONCERNING + +TASTE, + +AND SEVERAL OTHER ADDITIONS + +*** _The first edition of this work was published in 1756; + the second with large additions, in the year 1757._ + + + + +PREFACE. + + +I have endeavored to make this edition something more full and +satisfactory than the first. I have sought with the utmost care, and +read with equal attention, everything which has appeared in public +against my opinions; I have taken advantage of the candid liberty of my +friends; and if by these means I have been better enabled to discover +the imperfections of the work, the indulgence it has received, imperfect +as it was, furnished me with a new motive to spare no reasonable pains +for its improvement. Though I have not found sufficient reason, or what +appeared to me sufficient, for making any material change in my theory, +I have found it necessary in many places to explain, illustrate, and +enforce it. I have prefixed an introductory discourse concerning Taste; +it is a matter curious in itself; and it leads naturally enough to the +principal inquiry. This, with the other explanations, has made the work +considerably larger; and by increasing its bulk has, I am afraid, added +to its faults; so that notwithstanding all my attention, it may stand in +need of a yet greater share of indulgence than it required at its first +appearance. + +They who are accustomed to studies of this nature will expect, and they +will allow too for many faults. They know that many of the objects of +our inquiry are in themselves obscure and intricate; and that many +others have been rendered so by affected refinements, or false learning; +they know that there are many impediments in the subject, in the +prejudices of others, and even in our own, that render it a matter of no +small difficulty to show in a clear light the genuine face of nature. +They know that whilst the mind is intent on the general scheme of +things, some particular parts must be neglected; that we must often +submit the style to the matter, and frequently give up the praise of +elegance, satisfied with being clear. + +The characters of nature are legible, it is true; but they are not plain +enough to enable those who run, to read them. We must make use of a +cautious, I had almost said, a timorous method of proceeding. We must +not attempt to fly, when we can scarcely pretend to creep. In +considering any complex matter, we ought to examine every distinct +ingredient in the composition, one by one; and reduce everything to the +utmost simplicity; since the condition of our nature binds us to a +strict law and very narrow limits. We ought afterwards to re-examine the +principles by the effect of the composition, as well as the composition +by that of the principles. We ought to compare our subject with things +of a similar nature, and even with things of a contrary nature; for +discoveries may be, and often are made by the contrast, which would +escape us on the single view. The greater number of the comparisons we +make, the more general and the more certain our knowledge is likely to +prove, as built upon a more extensive and perfect induction. + +If an inquiry thus carefully conducted should fail at last of +discovering the truth, it may answer an end perhaps as useful, in +discovering to us the weakness of our own understanding. If it does not +make us knowing, it may make us modest. If it does not preserve us from +error, it may at least from the spirit of error; and may make us +cautious of pronouncing with positiveness or with haste, when so much +labor may end in so much uncertainty. + +I could wish that, in examining this theory, the same method were +pursued which I endeavored to observe in forming it. The objections, in +my opinion, ought to be proposed, either to the several principles as +they are distinctly considered, or to the justness of the conclusion +which is drawn from them. But it is common to pass over both the +premises and conclusion in silence, and to produce, as an objection, +some poetical passage which does not seem easily accounted for upon the +principles I endeavor to establish. This manner of proceeding I should +think very improper. The task would be infinite, if we could establish +no principle until we had previously unravelled the complex texture of +every image or description to be found in poets and orators. And though +we should never be able to reconcile the effect of such images to our +principles, this can never overturn the theory itself, whilst it is +founded on certain and indisputable facts. A theory founded on +experiment, and not assumed, is always good for so much as it explains. +Our inability to push it indefinitely is no argument at all against it. +This inability may be owing to our ignorance of some necessary +_mediums_; to a want of proper application; to many other causes besides +a defect in the principles we employ. In reality, the subject requires a +much closer attention than we dare claim from our manner of treating +it. + +If it should not appear on the face of the work, I must caution the +reader against imagining that I intended a full dissertation on the +Sublime and Beautiful. My inquiry went no farther than to the origin of +these ideas. If the qualities which I have ranged under the head of the +Sublime be all found consistent with each other, and all different from +those which I place under the head of Beauty; and if those which compose +the class of the Beautiful have the same consistency with themselves, +and the same opposition to those which are classed under the +denomination of Sublime, I am in little pain whether anybody chooses to +follow the name I give them or not, provided he allows that what I +dispose under different heads are in reality different things in nature. +The use I make of the words may be blamed, as too confined or too +extended; my meaning cannot well be misunderstood. + +To conclude: whatever progress may be made towards the discovery of +truth in this matter, I do not repent the pains I have taken in it. The +use of such inquiries may be very considerable. Whatever turns the soul +inward on itself, tends to concentre its forces, and to fit it for +greater and stronger flights of science. By looking into physical causes +our minds are opened and enlarged; and in this pursuit, whether we take +or whether we lose our game, the chase is certainly of service. Cicero, +true as he was to the academic philosophy, and consequently led to +reject the certainty of physical, as of every other kind of knowledge, +yet freely confesses its great importance to the human understanding: +"_Est animorum ingeniorumque nostrorum naturale quoddam quasi pabulum +consideratio contemplatioque naturae_." If we can direct the lights we +derive from such exalted speculations upon the humbler field of the +imagination, whilst we investigate the springs, and trace the courses of +our passions, we may not only communicate to the taste a sort of +philosophical solidity, but we may reflect back on the severer sciences +some of the graces and elegances of taste, without which the greatest +proficiency in those sciences will always have the appearance of +something illiberal. + + + + +CONTENTS. + +INTRODUCTION: On Taste 79 + + +PART I + +I. Novelty 101 + +II. Pain and Pleasure 102 + +III. The Difference between the Removal of Pain and Positive + Pleasure 104 + +IV. Of Delight and Pleasure, as opposed to each other 106 + +V. Joy and Grief 108 + +VI. Of the Passions which belong to Self-Preservation 110 + +VII. Of the Sublime 110 + +VIII. Of the Passions which belong to Society 111 + +IX. The Final Cause of the Difference between the Passions + belonging to Self-Preservation, and those which regard + the Society of the Sexes 113 + +X. Of Beauty 114 + +XI. Society and Solitude 115 + +XII. Sympathy, Imitation, and Ambition 116 + +XIII. Sympathy 117 + +XIV. The Effects of Sympathy in the Distresses of Others 119 + +XV. Of the Effects of Tragedy 120 + +XVI. Imitation 122 + +XVII. Ambition 123 + +XVIII. The Recapitulation 125 + +XIX. The Conclusion 126 + + +PART II. + +I. Of the Passion caused by the Sublime 130 + +II. Terror 130 + +III. Obscurity 132 + +IV. Of the Difference between Clearness and Obscurity + with regard to the Passions 133 + +[IV.] The Same Subject continued 134 + +V. Power 138 + +VI. Privation 146 + +VII. Vastness 147 + +VIII. Infinity 148 + +IX. Succession and Uniformity 149 + +X. Magnitude in Building 152 + +XI. Infinity in Pleasing Objects 153 + +XII. Difficulty 153 + +XIII. Magnificence 154 + +XIV. Light 156 + +XV. Light in Building 157 + +XVI. Color considered as productive of the Sublime 158 + +XVII. Sound and Loudness 159 + +XVIII. Suddenness 160 + +XIX. Intermitting 160 + +XX. The Cries of Animals 161 + +XXI. Smell and Taste--Bitters and Stenches 162 + +XXII. Feeling.--Pain 164 + + +PART III. + +I. Of Beauty 165 + +II. Proportion not the Cause of Beauty in Vegetables 166 + +III. Proportion not the Cause of Beauty in Animals 170 + +IV. Proportion not the Cause of Beauty in the Human Species 172 + +V. Proportion further considered 178 + +VI. Fitness not the Cause of Beauty 181 + +VII. The Real Effects of Fitness 184 + +VIII. The Recapitulation 187 + +IX. Perfection not the Cause of Beauty 187 + +X. How far the Idea of Beauty may be applied to the + Qualities of the Mind 188 + +XI. How far the Idea of Beauty may be applied to Virtue 190 + +XII. The Real Cause of Beauty 191 + +XIII. Beautiful Objects Small 191 + +XIV. Smoothness 193 + +XV. Gradual Variation 194 + +XVI. Delicacy 195 + +XVII. Beauty in Color 196 + +XVIII. Recapitulation 197 + +XIX. The Physiognomy 198 + +XX. The Eye 198 + +XXI. Ugliness 199 + +XXII. Grace 200 + +XXIII. Elegance and Speciousness 200 + +XXIV. The Beautiful in Feeling 201 + +XXV. The Beautiful in Sounds 203 + +XXVI. Taste and Smell 205 + +XXVII. The Sublime and Beautiful compared 205 + + +PART IV. + +I. Of the Efficient Cause of the Sublime and Beautiful 208 + +II. Association 209 + +III. Cause of Pain and Fear 210 + +IV. Continued 212 + +V. How the Sublime is produced 215 + +VI. How Pain can be a Cause of Delight 215 + +VII. Exercise necessary for the Finer Organs 216 + +VIII. Why Things not Dangerous sometimes produce a + Passion like Terror 217 + +IX. Why Visual Objects of Great Dimensions are Sublime 217 + +X. Unity, why requisite to Vastness 219 + +XI. The Artificial Infinite 220 + +XII. The Vibrations must be Similar 222 + +XIII. The Effects of Succession in Visual Objects explained 222 + +XIV. Locke's Opinion concerning Darkness considered 225 + +XV. Darkness Terrible in its own Nature 226 + +XVI. Why Darkness is Terrible 227 + +XVII. The Effects of Blackness 229 + +XVIII. The Effects of Blackness moderated 231 + +XIX. The Physical Cause of Love 232 + +XX. Why Smoothness is Beautiful 234 + +XXI. Sweetness, its Nature 235 + +XXII. Sweetness relaxing 237 + +XXIII. Variation, why Beautiful 239 + +XXIV. Concerning Smallness 240 + +XXV. Of Color 244 + + +PART V. + +I. Of Words 246 + +II. The Common Effect of Poetry, not by raising Ideas of Things 246 + +III. General Words before Ideas 249 + +IV. The Effect of Words 250 + +V. Examples that Words may affect without raising Images 252 + +VI. Poetry not strictly an Imitative Art 257 + +VII. How Words influence the Passions 258 + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + +ON TASTE. + + +On a superficial view we may seem to differ very widely from each other +in our reasonings, and no less in our pleasures: but, notwithstanding +this difference, which I think to be rather apparent than real, it is +probable that the standard both of reason and taste is the same in all +human creatures. For if there were not some principles of judgment as +well as of sentiment common to all mankind, no hold could possibly be +taken either on their reason or their passions, sufficient to maintain +the ordinary correspondence of life. It appears, indeed, to be generally +acknowledged, that with regard to truth and falsehood there is something +fixed. We find people in their disputes continually appealing to certain +tests and standards, which are allowed on all sides, and are supposed to +be established in our common nature. But there is not the same obvious +concurrence in any uniform or settled principles which relate to taste. +It is even commonly supposed that this delicate and aerial faculty, +which seems too volatile to endure even the chains of a definition, +cannot be properly tried by any test, nor regulated by any standard. +There is so continual a call for the exercise of the reasoning facility; +and it is so much strengthened by perpetual contention, that certain +maxims of right reason seem to be tacitly settled amongst the most +ignorant. The learned have improved on this rude science, and reduced +those maxims into a system. If taste has not been so happily cultivated, +it was not that the subject was barren, but that the laborers were few +or negligent; for, to say the truth, there are not the same interesting +motives to impel us to fix the one, which urge us to ascertain the +other. And, after all, if men differ in their opinion concerning such +matters, their difference is not attended with the same important +consequences; else I make no doubt but that the logic of taste, if I may +be allowed the expression, might very possibly be as well digested, and +we might come to discuss matters of this nature with as much certainty, +as those which seem more immediately within the province of mere reason. +And, indeed, it is very necessary, at the entrance into such an inquiry +as our present, to make this point as clear as possible; for if taste +has no fixed principles, if the imagination is not affected according to +some invariable and certain laws, our labor is likely to be employed to +very little purpose; as it must be judged an useless, if not an absurd +undertaking, to lay down rules for caprice, and to set up for a +legislator of whims and fancies. + +The term taste, like all other figurative terms, is not extremely +accurate; the thing which we understand by it is far from a simple and +determinate idea in the minds of most men, and it is therefore liable to +uncertainty and confusion. I have no great opinion of a definition, the +celebrated remedy for the cure of this disorder. For, when we define, we +seem in danger of circumscribing nature within the bounds of our own +notions, which we often take up by hazard or embrace on trust, or form +out of a limited and partial consideration of the object before us; +instead of extending our ideas to take in all that nature comprehends, +according to her manner of combining. We are limited in our inquiry by +the strict laws to which we have submitted at our setting out. + + Circa vilem patulumque morabimur orbem, + Unde pudor proferre pedem vetat aut operis lex. + + +A definition may be very exact, and yet go but a very little way towards +informing us of the nature of the thing defined; but let the virtue of a +definition be what it will, in the order of things, it seems rather to +follow than to precede our inquiry, of which it ought to be considered +as the result. It must be acknowledged that the methods of disquisition +and teaching may be sometimes different, and on very good reason +undoubtedly; but, for my part, I am convinced that the method of +teaching which approaches most nearly to the method of investigation is +incomparably the best; since, not content with serving up a few barren +and lifeless truths, it leads to the stock on which they grew; it tends +to set the reader himself in the track of invention, and to direct him +into those paths in which the author has made his own discoveries, if he +should be so happy as to have made any that are valuable. + +But to cut off all pretence for cavilling, I mean by the word taste, no +more than that faculty or those faculties of the mind, which are +affected with, or which form a judgment of, the works of imagination and +the elegant arts. This is, I think, the most general idea of that word, +and what is the least connected with any particular theory. And my point +in this inquiry is, to find whether there are any principles, on which +the imagination is affected, so common to all, so grounded and certain, +as to supply the means of reasoning satisfactorily about them. And such +principles of taste I fancy there are; however paradoxical it may seem +to those, who on a superficial view imagine that there is so great a +diversity of tastes, both in kind and degree, that nothing can be more +indeterminate. + +All the natural powers in man, which I know, that are conversant about +external objects, are the senses; the imagination; and the judgment. And +first with regard to the senses. We do and we must suppose, that as the +conformation of their organs are nearly or altogether the same in all +men, so the manner of perceiving external objects is in all men the +same, or with little difference. We are satisfied that what appears to +be light to one eye, appears light to another; that what seems sweet to +one palate, is sweet to another; that what is dark and bitter to this +man, is likewise dark and bitter to that; and we conclude in the same +manner of great and little, hard and soft, hot and cold, rough and +smooth; and indeed of all the natural qualities and affections of +bodies. If we suffer ourselves to imagine, that their senses present to +different men different images of things, this sceptical proceeding will +make every sort of reasoning on every subject vain and frivolous, even +that sceptical reasoning itself which had persuaded us to entertain a +doubt concerning the agreement of our perceptions. But as there will be +little doubt that bodies present similar images to the whole species, it +must necessarily be allowed, that the pleasures and the pains which +every object excites in one man, it must raise in all mankind, whilst +it operates naturally, simply, and by its proper powers only: for if we +deny this, we must imagine that the same cause, operating in the same +manner, and on subjects of the same kind, will produce different +effects; which would be highly absurd. Let us first consider this point +in the sense of taste, and the rather as the faculty in question has +taken its name from that sense. All men are agreed to call vinegar sour, +honey sweet, and aloes bitter; and as they are all agreed in finding +those qualities in those objects, they do not in the least differ +concerning their effects with regard to pleasure and pain. They all +concur in calling sweetness pleasant, and sourness and bitterness +unpleasant. Here there is no diversity in their sentiments; and that +there is not, appears fully from the consent of all men in the metaphors +which are taken, from the souse of taste. A sour temper, bitter +expressions, bitter curses, a bitter fate, are terms well and strongly +understood by all. And we are altogether as well understood when we say, +a sweet disposition, a sweet person, a sweet condition and the like. It +is confessed, that custom and some other causes have made many +deviations from the natural pleasures or pains which belong to these +several tastes; but then the power of distinguishing between the natural +and the acquired relish remains to the very last. A man frequently comes +to prefer the taste of tobacco to that of sugar, and the flavor of +vinegar to that of milk; but this makes no confusion in tastes, whilst +he is sensible that the tobacco and vinegar are not sweet, and whilst he +knows that habit alone has reconciled his palate to these alien +pleasures. Even with such a person we may speak, and with sufficient +precision, concerning tastes. But should any man be found who declares, +that to him tobacco has a taste like sugar, and that he cannot +distinguish between milk and vinegar; or that tobacco and vinegar are +sweet, milk bitter, and sugar sour; we immediately conclude that the +organs of this man are out of order, and that his palate is utterly +vitiated. We are as far from conferring with such a person upon tastes, +as from reasoning concerning the relations of quantity with one who +should deny that all the parts together were equal to the whole. We do +not call a man of this kind wrong in his notions, but absolutely mad. +Exceptions of this sort, in either way, do not at all impeach our +general rule, nor make us conclude that men have various principles +concerning the relations of quantity or the taste of things. So that +when it is said, taste cannot be disputed, it can only mean, that no one +can strictly answer what pleasure or pain some particular man may find +from the taste of some particular thing. This indeed cannot be disputed; +but we may dispute, and with sufficient clearness too, concerning the +things which are naturally pleasing or disagreeable to the sense. But +when we talk of any peculiar or acquired relish, then we must know the +habits, the prejudices, or the distempers of this particular man, and we +must draw our conclusion from those. + +This agreement of mankind is not confined to the taste solely. The +principle of pleasure derived from sight is the same in all. Light is +more pleasing than darkness. Summer, when the earth is clad in green, +when the heavens are serene and bright, is more agreeable than winter, +when everything makes a different appearance. I never remember that +anything beautiful, whether a man, a beast, a bird, or a plant, was +ever shown, though it were to a hundred people, that they did not all +immediately agree that it was beautiful, though some might have thought +that it fell short of their expectation, or that other things were still +finer. I believe no man thinks a goose to be more beautiful than a swan, +or imagines that what they call a Friesland hen excels a peacock. It +must be observed too, that the pleasures of the sight are not near so +complicated, and confused, and altered by unnatural habits and +associations, as the pleasures of the taste are; because the pleasures +of the sight more commonly acquiesce in themselves; and are not so often +altered by considerations which are independent of the sight itself. But +things do not spontaneously present themselves to the palate as they do +to the sight; they are generally applied to it, either as food or as +medicine; and from the qualities which they possess for nutritive or +medicinal purposes they often form the palate by degrees, and by force +of these associations. Thus opium is pleasing to Turks, on account of +the agreeable delirium it produces. Tobacco is the delight of Dutchmen, +as it diffuses a torpor and pleasing stupefaction. Fermented spirits +please our common people, because they banish care, and all +consideration of future or present evils. All of these would lie +absolutely neglected if their properties had originally gone no further +than the taste; but all these, together with tea and coffee, and some +other things, have passed from the apothecary's shop to our tables, and +were taken for health long before they were thought of for pleasure. The +effect of the drug has made us use it frequently; and frequent use, +combined with the agreeable effect, has made the taste itself at last +agreeable. But this does not in the least perplex our reasoning; +because we distinguish to the last the acquired from the natural relish. +In describing the taste of an unknown fruit, you would scarcely say that +it had a sweet and pleasant flavor like tobacco, opium, or garlic, +although you spoke to those who were in the constant use of those drugs, +and had great pleasure in them. There is in all men a sufficient +remembrance of the original natural causes of pleasure, to enable them +to bring all things offered to their senses to that standard, and to +regulate their feelings and opinions by it. Suppose one who had so +vitiated his palate as to take more pleasure in the taste of opium than +in that of butter or honey, to be presented with a bolus of squills; +there is hardly any doubt but that he would prefer the butter or honey +to this nauseous morsel, or to any other bitter drug to which he had not +been accustomed; which proves that his palate was naturally like that of +other men in all things, that it is still like the palate of other men +in many things, and only vitiated in some particular points. For in +judging of any new thing, even of a taste similar to that which he has +been formed by habit to like, he finds his palate affected in the +natural manner, and on the common principles. Thus the pleasure of all +the senses, of the sight, and even of the taste, that most ambiguous of +the senses, is the same in all, high and low, learned and unlearned. + +Besides the ideas, with their annexed pains and pleasures, which are +presented by the sense; the mind of man possesses a sort of creative +power of its own; either in representing at pleasure the images of +things in the order and manner in which they were received by the +senses, or in combining those images in a new manner, and according to +a different order. This power is called imagination; and to this belongs +whatever is called wit, fancy, invention, and the like. But it must be +observed, that this power of the imagination is incapable of producing +anything absolutely new; it can only vary the disposition of those ideas +which it has received from the senses. Now the imagination is the most +extensive province of pleasure and pain, as it is the region of our +fears and our hopes, and of all our passions that are connected with +them; and whatever is calculated to affect the imagination with these +commanding ideas, by force of any original natural impression, must have +the same power pretty equally over all men. For since the imagination is +only the representation of the senses, it can only be pleased or +displeased with the images, from the same principle on which the sense +is pleased or displeased with the realities; and consequently there must +be just as close an agreement in the imaginations as in the senses of +men. A little attention will convince us that this must of necessity be +the case. + +But in the imagination, besides the pain or pleasure arising from the +properties of the natural object, a pleasure is perceived from the +resemblance which the imitation has to the original: the imagination, I +conceive, can have no pleasure but what results from one or other of +these causes. And these causes operate pretty uniformly upon all men, +because they operate by principles in nature, and which are not derived +from any particular habits or advantages. Mr. Locke very justly and +finely observes of wit, that it is chiefly conversant in tracing +resemblances; he remarks, at the same time, that the business of +judgment is rather in finding differences. It may perhaps appear, on +this supposition, that there is no material distinction between the wit +and the judgment, as they both seem to result from different operations +of the same faculty of _comparing_. But in reality, whether they are or +are not dependent on the same power of the mind, they differ so very +materially in many respects, that a perfect union of wit and judgment is +one of the rarest things in the world. When two distinct objects are +unlike to each other, it is only what we expect; things are in their +common way; and therefore they make no impression on the imagination: +but when two distinct objects have a resemblance, we are struck, we +attend to them, and we are pleased. The mind of man has naturally a far +greater alacrity and satisfaction in tracing resemblances than in +searching for differences; because by making resemblances we produce +_new images_; we unite, we create, we enlarge our stock; but in making +distinctions we offer no food at all to the imagination; the task itself +is more severe and irksome, and what pleasure we derive from it is +something of a negative and indirect nature. A piece of news is told me +in the morning; this, merely as a piece of news, as a fact added to my +stock, gives me some pleasure. In the evening I find there was nothing +in it. What do I gain by this, but the dissatisfaction to find that I +had been imposed upon? Hence it is that men are much more naturally +inclined to belief than to incredulity. And it is upon this principle, +that the most ignorant and barbarous nations have frequently excelled in +similitudes, comparisons, metaphors, and allegories, who have been weak +and backward in distinguishing and sorting their ideas. And it is for a +reason of this kind, that Homer and the oriental writers, though very +fond of similitudes, and though they often strike out such as are truly +admirable, seldom take care to have them exact; that is, they are taken +with the general resemblance, they paint it strongly, and they take no +notice of the difference which may be found between the things compared. + +Now as the pleasure of resemblance is that which principally flatters +the imagination, all men are nearly equal in this point, as far as their +knowledge of the things represented or compared extends. The principle +of this knowledge is very much accidental, as it depends upon experience +and observation, and not on the strength or weakness of any natural +faculty; and it is from this difference in knowledge, that what we +commonly, though with no great exactness, call a difference in taste +proceeds. A man to whom sculpture is new, sees a barber's block, or some +ordinary piece of statuary; he is immediately struck and pleased, +because he sees something like a human figure; and, entirely taken up +with this likeness, he does not at all attend to its defects. No person, +I believe, at the first time of seeing a piece of imitation ever did. +Some time after, we suppose that this novice lights upon a more +artificial work of the same nature; he now begins to look with contempt +on what he admired at first; not that he admired it even then for its +unlikeness to a man, but for that general though inaccurate resemblance +which it bore to the human figure. What he admired at different times in +these so different figures, is strictly the same; and though his +knowledge is improved, his taste is not altered. Hitherto his mistake +was from a want of knowledge in art, and this arose from his +inexperience; but he may be still deficient from a want of knowledge in +nature. For it is possible that the man in question may stop here, and +that the masterpiece of a great hand may please him no more than the +middling performance of a vulgar artist; and this not for want of better +or higher relish, but because all men do not observe with sufficient +accuracy on the human figure to enable them to judge properly of an +imitation of it. And that the critical taste does not depend upon a +superior principle in men, but upon superior knowledge, may appear from +several instances. The story of the ancient painter and the shoemaker is +very well known. The shoemaker set the painter right with regard to some +mistakes he had made in the shoe of one of his figures, which the +painter, who had not made such accurate observations on shoes, and was +content with a general resemblance, had never observed. But this was no +impeachment to the taste of the painter; it only showed some want of +knowledge in the art of making shoes. Let us imagine, that an anatomist +had come into the painter's working-room. His piece is in general well +done, the figure in question in a good attitude, and the parts well +adjusted to their various movements; yet the anatomist, critical in his +art, may observe the swell of some muscle not quite just in the peculiar +action of the figure. Here the anatomist observes what the painter had +not observed; and he passes by what the shoemaker had remarked. But a +want of the last critical knowledge in anatomy no more reflected on the +natural good taste of the painter, or of any common observer of his +piece, than the want of an exact knowledge in the formation of a shoe. A +fine piece of a decollated head of St. John the Baptist was shown to a +Turkish emperor: he praised many things, but he observed one defect: he +observed that the skin did not shrink from the wounded part of the neck. +The sultan on this occasion, though his observation was very just, +discovered no more natural taste than the painter who executed this +piece, or than a thousand European connoisseurs, who probably never +would have made the same observation. His Turkish majesty had indeed +been well acquainted with that terrible spectacle, which the others +could only have represented in their imagination. On the subject of +their dislike there is a difference between all these people, arising +from the different kinds and degrees of their knowledge; but there is +something in common to the painter, the shoemaker, the anatomist, and +the Turkish emperor, the pleasure arising from a natural object, so far +as each perceives it justly imitated; the satisfaction in seeing an +agreeable figure; the sympathy proceeding from a striking and affecting +incident. So far as taste is natural, it is nearly common to all. + +In poetry, and other pieces of imagination, the same parity may be +observed. It is true, that one man is charmed with Don Bellianis, and +reads Virgil coldly; whilst another is transported with the AEneid, and +leaves Don Bellianis to children. These two men seem to have a taste +very different from each other; but in fact they differ very little. In +both these pieces, which inspire such opposite sentiments, a tale +exciting admiration is told; both are full of action, both are +passionate; in both are voyages, battles, triumphs, and continual +changes of fortune. The admirer of Don Bellianis perhaps does not +understand the refined language of the AEneid, who, if it was degraded +into the style of the "Pilgrim's Progress," might feel it in all its +energy, on the same principle which made him an admirer of Don +Bellianis. + +In his favorite author he is not shocked with the continual breaches of +probability, the confusion of times, the offences against manners, the +trampling upon geography; for he knows nothing of geography and +chronology, and he has never examined the grounds of probability. He +perhaps reads of a shipwreck on the coast of Bohemia: wholly taken up +with so interesting an event, and only solicitous for the fate of his +hero, he is not in the least troubled at this extravagant blunder. For +why should he be shocked at a shipwreck on the coast of Bohemia, who +does not know but that Bohemia may be an island in the Atlantic ocean? +and after all, what reflection is this on the natural good taste of the +person here supposed? + +So far then as taste belongs to the imagination, its principle is the +same in all men; there is no difference in the manner of their being +affected, nor in the causes of the affection; but in the _degree_ there +is a difference, which arises from two causes principally; either from a +greater degree of natural sensibility, or from a closer and longer +attention to the object. To illustrate this by the procedure of the +senses, in which the same difference is found, let us suppose a very +smooth marble table to be set before two men; they both perceive it to +be smooth, and they are both pleased with it because of this quality. So +far they agree. But suppose another, and after that another table, the +latter still smoother than the former, to be set before them. It is now +very probable that these men, who are so agreed upon what is smooth, and +in the pleasure from thence, will disagree when they come to settle +which table has the advantage in point of polish. Here is indeed the +great difference between tastes, when men come to compare the excess or +diminution of things which are judged by degree and not by measure. Nor +is it easy, when such a difference arises, to settle the point, if the +excess or diminution be not glaring. If we differ in opinion about two +quantities, we can have recourse to a common measure, which may decide +the question with the utmost exactness; and this, I take it, is what +gives mathematical knowledge a greater certainty than any other. But in +things whose excess is not judged by greater or smaller, as smoothness +and roughness, hardness and softness, darkness and light, the shades of +colors, all these are very easily distinguished when the difference is +any way considerable, but not when it is minute, for want of some common +measures, which perhaps may never come to be discovered. In these nice +cases, supposing the acuteness of the sense equal, the greater attention +and habit in such things will have the advantage. In the question about +the tables, the marble-polisher will unquestionably determine the most +accurately. But notwithstanding this want of a common measure for +settling many disputes relative to the senses, and their representative +the imagination, we find that the principles are the same in all, and +that there is no disagreement until we come to examine into the +pre-eminence or difference of things, which brings us within the +province of the judgment. + +So long as we are conversant with the sensible qualities of things, +hardly any more than the imagination seems concerned; little more also +than the imagination seems concerned when the passions are represented, +because by the force of natural sympathy they are felt in all men +without any recourse to reasoning, and their justness recognized in +every breast. Love, grief, fear, anger, joy, all these passions have, in +their turns, affected every mind; and they do not affect it in an +arbitrary or casual manner, but upon certain, natural, and uniform +principles. But as many of the works of imagination are not confined to +the representation of sensible objects, nor to efforts upon the +passions, but extend themselves to the manners, the characters, the +actions, and designs of men, their relations, their virtues and vices, +they come within the province of the judgment, which is improved by +attention, and by the habit of reasoning. All these make a very +considerable part of what are considered as the objects of taste; and +Horace sends us to the schools of philosophy and the world for our +instruction in them. Whatever certainty is to be acquired in morality +and the science of life; just the same degree of certainty have we in +what relates to them in works of imitation. Indeed it is for the most +part in our skill in manners, and in the observances of time and place, +and of decency in general, which is only to be learned in those schools +to which Horace recommends us, that what is called taste, by way of +distinction, consists: and which is in reality no other than a more +refined judgment. On the whole, it appears to me, that what is called +taste, in its most general acceptation, is not a simple idea, but is +partly made up of a perception of the primary pleasures of sense, of the +secondary pleasures of the imagination, and of the conclusions of the +reasoning faculty, concerning the various relations of these, and +concerning the human passions, manners, and actions. All this is +requisite to form taste, and the groundwork of all these is the same in +the human mind; for as the senses are the great originals of all our +ideas, and consequently of all our pleasures, if they are not uncertain +and arbitrary, the whole groundwork of taste is common to all, and +therefore there is a sufficient foundation for a conclusive reasoning on +these matters. + +Whilst we consider taste merely according to its nature and species, we +shall find its principles entirely uniform; but the degree in which +these principles prevail, in the several individuals of mankind, is +altogether as different as the principles themselves are similar. For +sensibility and judgment, which are the qualities that compose what we +commonly call a _taste_, vary exceedingly in various people. From a +defect in the former of these qualities arises a want of taste; a +weakness in the latter constitutes a wrong or a bad one. There are some +men formed with feelings so blunt, with tempers so cold and phlegmatic, +that they can hardly be said to be awake during the whole course of +their lives. Upon such persons the most striking objects make but a +faint and obscure impression. There are others so continually in the +agitation of gross and merely sensual pleasures, or so occupied in the +low drudgery of avarice, or so heated in the chase of honors and +distinction, that their minds, which had been used continually to the +storms of these violent and tempestuous passions, can hardly be put in +motion by the delicate and refined play of the imagination. These men, +though from a different cause, become as stupid and insensible as the +former; but whenever either of these happen to be struck with any +natural elegance or greatness, or with these qualities in any work of +art, they are moved upon the same principle. + +The cause of a wrong taste is a defect of judgment. And this may arise +from a natural weakness of understanding (in whatever the strength of +that faculty may consist), or, which is much more commonly the case, it +may arise from a want of a proper and well-directed exercise, which +alone can make it strong and ready. Besides, that ignorance, +inattention, prejudice, rashness, levity, obstinacy, in short, all those +passions, and all those vices, which pervert the judgment in other +matters, prejudice it no less in this its more refined and elegant +province. These causes produce different opinions upon everything which +is an object of the understanding, without inducing us to suppose that +there are no settled principles of reason. And indeed, on the whole, one +may observe, that there is rather less difference upon matters of taste +among mankind, than upon most of those which depend upon the naked +reason; and that men are far better agreed on the excellence of a +description in Virgil, than on the truth or falsehood of a theory of +Aristotle. + +A rectitude of judgment in the arts, which may be called a good taste, +does in a great measure depend upon sensibility; because if the mind has +no bent to the pleasures of the imagination, it will never apply itself +sufficiently to works of that species to acquire a competent knowledge +in them. But though a degree of sensibility is requisite to form a good +judgment, yet a good judgment does not necessarily arise from a quick +sensibility of pleasure; it frequently happens that a very poor judge, +merely by force of a greater complexional sensibility, is more affected +by a very poor piece, than the best judge by the most perfect; for as +everything now, extraordinary, grand, or passionate, is well calculated +to affect such a person, and that the faults do not affect him, his +pleasure is more pure and unmixed; and as it is merely a pleasure of the +imagination, it is much higher than any which is derived from a +rectitude of the judgment; the judgment is for the greater part employed +in throwing stumbling-blocks in the way of the imagination, in +dissipating the scenes of its enchantment, and in tying us down to the +disagreeable yoke of our reason: for almost the only pleasure that men +have in judging better than others, consists in a sort of conscious +pride and superiority, which arises from thinking rightly; but then this +is an indirect pleasure, a pleasure which does not immediately result +from the object which is under contemplation. In the morning of our +days, when the senses are unworn and tender, when the whole man is awake +in every part, and the gloss of novelty fresh upon all the objects that +surround us, how lively at that time are our sensations, but how false +and inaccurate the judgments we form of things! I despair of ever +receiving the same degree of pleasure from the most excellent +performances of genius, which I felt at that age from pieces which my +present judgment regards as trifling and contemptible. Every trivial +cause of pleasure is apt to affect the man of too sanguine a complexion: +his appetite is too keen to suffer his taste to be delicate; and he is +in all respects what Ovid says of himself in love, + + Molle meum levibus cor est violabile telis, + Et semper causa est, cur ego semper amem. + +One of this character can never be a refined judge; never what the +comic poet calls _elegans formarum spectator_. The excellence and force +of a composition must always he imperfectly estimated from its effect on +the minds of any, except we know the temper and character of those +minds. The most powerful effects of poetry and music have been +displayed, and perhaps are still displayed, where these arts are but in +a very low and imperfect state. The rude hearer is affected by the +principles which operate in these arts even in their rudest condition; +and he is not skilful enough to perceive the defects. But as the arts +advance towards their perfection, the science of criticism advances with +equal pace, and the pleasure of judges is frequently interrupted by the +faults which we discovered in the most finished compositions. + +Before I leave this subject, I cannot help taking notice of an opinion +which many persons entertain, as if the taste were a separate faculty of +the mind, and distinct from the judgment and imagination; a species of +instinct, by which we are struck naturally, and at the first glance, +without any previous reasoning, with the excellences or the defects of a +composition. So far as the imagination, and the passions are concerned, +I believe it true, that the reason is little consulted; but where +disposition, where decorum, where congruity are concerned, in short, +wherever the best taste differs from the worst, I am convinced that the +understanding operates, and nothing else; and its operation is in +reality far from being always sudden, or, when it is sudden, it is often +far from being right. Men of the best taste by consideration come +frequently to change these early and precipitate judgments, which the +mind, from its aversion to neutrality and doubt, loves to form on the +spot. It is known that the taste (whatever it is) is improved exactly +as we improve our judgment, by extending our knowledge, by a steady +attention to our object, and by frequent exercise. They who have not +taken these methods, if their taste decides quickly, it is always +uncertainly; and their quickness is owing to their presumption and +rashness, and not to any sudden irradiation, that in a moment dispels +all darkness from their minds. But they who have cultivated that species +of knowledge which makes the object of taste, by degrees and habitually +attain not only a soundness but a readiness of judgment, as men do by +the same methods on all other occasions. At first they are obliged to +spell, but at last they read with ease and with celerity; but this +celerity of its operation is no proof that the taste is a distinct +faculty. Nobody, I believe, has attended the course of a discussion +which turned upon matters within the sphere of mere naked reason, but +must have observed the extreme readiness with which the whole process of +the argument is carried on, the grounds discovered, the objections +raised and answered, and the conclusions drawn from premises, with a +quickness altogether as great as the taste can be supposed to work with; +and yet where nothing but plain reason either is or can be suspected to +operate. To multiply principles for every different appearance is +useless, and unphilosophical too in a high degree. + +This matter might be pursued much farther; but it is not the extent of +the subject which must prescribe our bounds, for what subject does not +branch out to infinity? It is the nature of our particular scheme, and +the single point of view in which we consider it, which ought to put a +stop to our researches. + + + + +A + +PHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRY + +INTO THE ORIGIN OF OUR IDEAS OF + +THE SUBLIME AND BEAUTIFUL + + +PART I. + + +SECTION I. + +NOVELTY. + +The first and the simplest emotion which we discover in the human mind +is curiosity. By curiosity I mean whatever desire we have for, or +whatever pleasure we take in, novelty. We see children perpetually +running from place to place, to hunt out something new: they catch with +great eagerness, and with very little choice, at whatever comes before +them; their attention is engaged by everything, because everything has, +in that stage of life, the charm of novelty to recommend it. But as +those things, which engage us merely by their novelty, cannot attach us +for any length of time, curiosity is the most superficial of all the +affections; it changes its object perpetually; it has an appetite which +is very sharp, but very easily satisfied; and it has always an +appearance of giddiness, restlessness, and anxiety. Curiosity, from its +nature, is a very active principle; it quickly runs over the greatest +part of its objects, and soon exhausts the variety which is commonly to +be met with in nature; the same things make frequent returns, and they +return with less and less of any agreeable effect. In short, the +occurrences of life, by the time we come to know it a little, would be +incapable of affecting the mind with any other sensations than those of +loathing and weariness, if many things were not adapted to affect the +mind by means of other powers besides novelty in them, and of other +passions besides curiosity in ourselves. These powers and passions shall +be considered in their place. But, whatever these powers are, or upon +what principle soever they affect the mind, it is absolutely necessary +that they should not be exerted in those things which a daily and vulgar +use have brought into a stale unaffecting familiarity. Some degree of +novelty must be one of the materials in every instrument which works +upon the mind; and curiosity blends itself more or less with all our +passions. + + +SECTION II. + +PAIN AND PLEASURE. + +It seems, then, necessary towards moving the passions of people advanced +in life to any considerable degree, that the objects designed for that +purpose, besides their being in some measure new, should be capable of +exciting pain or pleasure from other causes. Pain and pleasure are +simple ideas, incapable of definition. People are not liable to be +mistaken in their feelings, but they are very frequently wrong in the +names they give them, and in their reasonings about them. Many are of +opinion, that pain arises necessarily from the removal of some pleasure; +as they think pleasure does from the ceasing or diminution of some pain. +For my part, I am rather inclined to imagine, that pain and pleasure, +in their most simple and natural manner of affecting, are each of a +positive nature, and by no means necessarily dependent on each other for +their existence. The human mind is often, and I think it is for the most +part, in a state neither of pain nor pleasure, which I call a state of +indifference. When I am carried from this state into a state of actual +pleasure, it does not appear necessary that I should pass through the +medium of any sort of pain. If in such a state of indifference, or ease, +or tranquillity, or call it what you please, you were to be suddenly +entertained with a concert of music; or suppose some object of a fine +shape, and bright, lively colors, to be presented before you; or imagine +your smell is gratified with the fragrance of a rose; or if, without any +previous thirst, you were to drink of some pleasant kind of wine, or to +taste of some sweetmeat without being hungry; in all the several senses, +of hearing, smelling, and tasting, you undoubtedly find a pleasure; yet, +if I inquire into the state of your mind previous to these +gratifications, you will hardly tell me that they found you in any kind +of pain; or, having satisfied these several senses with their several +pleasures, will you say that any pain has succeeded, though the pleasure +is absolutely over? Suppose, on the other hand, a man in the same state +of indifference to receive a violent blow, or to drink of some bitter +potion, or to have his ears wounded with some harsh and grating sound; +here is no removal of pleasure; and yet here is felt, his every sense +which is affected, a pain very distinguishable. It may be said, perhaps, +that the pain in these cases had its rise from the removal of the +pleasure which the man enjoyed before, though that pleasure was of so +low a degree as to be perceived only by the removal. But this seems to +me a subtilty that is not discoverable in nature. For if, previous to +the pain, I do not feel any actual pleasure, I have no reason to judge +that any such thing exists; since pleasure is only pleasure as it is +felt. The same may be said of pain, and with equal reason. I can never +persuade myself that pleasure and pain are mere relations, which can +only exist as they are contrasted; but I think I can discern clearly +that there are positive pains and pleasures, which do not at all depend +upon each other. Nothing is more certain to my own feelings than this. +There is nothing which I can distinguish in my mind with more clearness +than the three states, of indifference, of pleasure, and of pain. Every +one of these I can perceive without any sort of idea of its relation to +anything else. Caius is afflicted with a fit of the colic; this man is +actually in pain; stretch Caius upon the rack, he will feel a much +greater pain: but does this pain of the rack arise from the removal of +any pleasure? or is the fit of the colic a pleasure or a pain just as we +are pleased to consider it? + + +SECTION III. + +THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE REMOVAL OF PAIN AND POSITIVE PLEASURE. + +We shall carry this proposition yet a step further. We shall venture to +propose, that pain and pleasure are not only not necessarily dependent +for their existence on their mutual diminution or removal, but that, in +reality, the diminution or ceasing of pleasure does not operate like +positive pain; and that the removal or diminution of pain, in its +effect, has very little resemblance to positive pleasure.[10] The former +of these propositions will, I believe, be much more readily allowed than +the latter; because it is very evident that pleasure, when it has run +its career, sets us down very nearly where it found us. Pleasure of +every kind quickly satisfies; and, when it is over, we relapse into +indifference, or, rather, we fall into a soft tranquillity which is +tinged with the agreeable color of the former sensation. I own it is not +at first view so apparent that the removal of a great pain does not +resemble positive pleasure: but let us recollect in what state we have +found our minds upon escaping some imminent danger, or on being released +from the severity of some cruel pain. We have on such occasions found, +if I am not much mistaken, the temper of our minds in a tenor very +remote from that which attends the presence of positive pleasure; we +have found them in a state of much sobriety, impressed with a sense of +awe, in a sort of tranquillity shadowed with horror. The fashion of the +countenance and the gesture of the body on such occasions is so +correspondent to this state of mind, that any person, a stranger to the +cause of the appearance, would rather judge us under some consternation, +than in the enjoyment of anything like positive pleasure. + + [Greek: + Hos d' hotan andr' ate pykine labe, host' eni patre, + Phota katakteinas, allon exiketo demon, + Andros es aphneiou, thambos d' echei eisoroontas.] + + Iliad, [Greek: O]. 480. + + "As when a wretch, who, conscious of his crime, + Pursued for murder from his native clime, + Just gains some frontier, breathless, pale, amazed; + All gaze, all wonder!" + +This striking appearance of the man whom Homer supposes to have just +escaped an imminent danger, the sort of mixed passion of terror and +surprise, with which he affects the spectators, paints very strongly the +manner in which we find ourselves affected upon occasions any way +similar. For when we have suffered from any violent emotion, the mind +naturally continues in something like the same condition, after the +cause which first produced it has ceased to operate. The tossing of the +sea remains after the storm; and when this remain of horror has entirely +subsided, all the passion which the accident raised subsides along with +it; and the mind returns to its usual state of indifference. In short, +pleasure (I mean anything either in the inward sensation, or in the +outward appearance, like pleasure from a positive cause) has never, I +imagine, its origin from the removal of pain or danger. + + +SECTION IV. + +OF DELIGHT AND PLEASURE, AS OPPOSED TO EACH OTHER. + +But shall we therefore say, that the removal of pain or its diminution +is always simply painful? or affirm that the cessation or the lessening +of pleasure is always attended itself with a pleasure? By no means. What +I advance is no more than this; first, that there are pleasures and +pains of a positive and independent nature; and, secondly, that the +feeling which results from the ceasing or diminution of pain does not +bear a sufficient resemblance to positive pleasure, to have it +considered as of the same nature, or to entitle it to be known by the +same name; and thirdly, that upon the same principle the removal or +qualification of pleasure has no resemblance to positive pain. It is +certain that the former feeling (the removal or moderation of pain) has +something in it far from distressing, or disagreeable in its nature. +This feeling, in many cases so agreeable, but in all so different from +positive pleasure, has no name which I know; but that hinders not its +being a very real one, and very different from all others. It is most +certain, that every species of satisfaction or pleasure, how different +soever in its manner of affecting, is of a positive nature in the mind +of him who feels it. The affection is undoubtedly positive; but the +cause may be, as in this case it certainly is, a sort of _privation_. +And it is very reasonable that we should distinguish by some term two +things so distinct in nature, as a pleasure that is such simply, and +without any relation, from that pleasure which cannot exist without a +relation, and that, too, a relation to pain. Very extraordinary it would +be, if these affections, so distinguishable in their causes, so +different in their effects, should be confounded with each other, +because vulgar use has ranged them under the same general title. +Whenever I have occasion to speak of this species of relative pleasure, +I call it _delight_; and I shall take the best care I can to use that +word in no other sense. I am satisfied the word is not commonly used in +this appropriated signification; but I thought it better to take up a +word already known, and to limit its signification, than to introduce a +new one, which would not perhaps incorporate so well with the language. +I should never have presumed the least alteration in our words, if the +nature of the language, framed for the purposes of business rather than +those of philosophy, and the nature of my subject, that leads me out of +the common track of discourse, did not in a manner necessitate me to it. +I shall make use of this liberty with all possible caution. As I make +use of the word _delight_ to express the sensation which accompanies the +removal of pain or danger, so, when I speak of positive pleasure, I +shall for the most part call it simply _pleasure_. + + +SECTION V. + +JOY AND GRIEF. + +It must be observed, that the cessation of pleasure affects the mind +three ways. If it simply ceases after having continued a proper time, +the effect is _indifference_; if it be abruptly broken off, there ensues +an uneasy sense called _disappointment_; if the object be so totally +lost that there is no chance of enjoying it again, a passion arises in +the mind which is called _grief_. Now there is none of these, not even +grief, which is the most violent, that I think has any resemblance to +positive pain. The person who grieves suffers his passion to grow upon +him; he indulges it, he loves it: but this never happens in the case of +actual pain, which no man ever willingly endured for any considerable +time. That grief should be willingly endured, though far from a simply +pleasing sensation, is not so difficult to be understood. It is the +nature of grief to keep its object perpetually in its eye, to present it +in its most pleasurable views, to repeat all the circumstances that +attend it, even to the last minuteness; to go back to every particular +enjoyment, to dwell upon each, and to find a thousand new perfections in +all, that were not sufficiently understood before; in grief, the +_pleasure_ is still uppermost; and the affliction we suffer has no +resemblance to absolute pain, which is always odious, and which we +endeavor to shake off as soon as possible. The Odyssey of Homer, which +abounds with so many natural and affecting images, has none more +striking than those which Menelaus raises of the calamitous fate of his +friends, and his own manner of feeling it. He owns, indeed, that he +often gives himself some intermission from such melancholy reflections; +but he observes, too, that, melancholy as they are, they give him +pleasure. + + [Greek: + All empes pantas men odyromenos kai acheuon, + Pollakis en megaroisi kathemenos hemeteroisin, + Allote men te goo phrena terpomai, allote d' aute + Pauomai; aipseros de koros kryeroio gooio] + + Hom. Od. [Greek: D]. 100 + + "Still in short intervals of _pleasing woe_, + Regardful of the friendly dues I owe, + I to the glorious dead, forever dear, + _Indulge_ the tribute of a _grateful_ tear." + +On the other hand, when we recover our health, when we escape an +imminent danger, is it with joy that we are affected? The sense on these +occasions is far from that smooth and voluptuous satisfaction which the +assured prospect of pleasure bestows. The delight which arises from the +modifications of pain confesses the stock from whence it sprung, in its +solid, strong, and severe nature. + + +SECTION VI. + +OF THE PASSIONS WHICH BELONG TO SELF-PRESERVATION. + +Most of the ideas which are capable of making a powerful impression on +the mind, whether simply of pain or pleasure, or of the modifications of +those, may be reduced very nearly to these two heads, +_self-preservation_, and _society_; to the ends of one or the other of +which all our passions are calculated to answer. The passions which +concern self-preservation, turn mostly on _pain_ or _danger_. The ideas +of _pain_, _sickness_, and _death_, fill the mind with strong emotions +of horror; but _life_ and _health_, though they put us in a capacity of +being affected with pleasure, make no such impression by the simple +enjoyment. The passions therefore which are conversant about the +preservation of the individual turn chiefly on _pain_ and _danger_, and +they are the most powerful of all the passions. + + +SECTION VII. + +OF THE SUBLIME. + +Whatever is fitted in any sort to excite the ideas of pain and danger, +that is to say, whatever is in any sort terrible, or is conversant about +terrible objects, or operates in a manner analogous to terror, is a +source of the _sublime_; that is, it is productive of the strongest +emotion which the mind is capable of feeling. I say the strongest +emotion, because I am satisfied the ideas of pain are much more powerful +than those which enter on the part of pleasure. Without all doubt, the +torments which we may be made to suffer are much greater in their +effect on the body and mind, than any pleasures which the most learned +voluptuary could suggest, or than the liveliest imagination, and the +most sound and exquisitely sensible body, could enjoy. Nay, I am in +great doubt whether any man could be found, who would earn a life of the +most perfect satisfaction at the price of ending it in the torments, +which justice inflicted in a few hours on the late unfortunate regicide +in France. But as pain is stronger in its operation than pleasure, so +death is in general a much more affecting idea than pain; because there +are very few pains, however exquisite, which are not preferred to death: +nay, what generally makes pain itself, if I may say so, more painful, +is, that it is considered as an emissary of this king of terrors. When +danger or pain press too nearly, they are incapable of giving any +delight, and are simply terrible; but at certain distances, and with +certain modifications, they may be, and they are, delightful, as we +every day experience. The cause of this I shall endeavor to investigate +hereafter. + + +SECTION VIII. + +OF THE PASSIONS WHICH BELONG TO SOCIETY. + +The other head under which I class our passions, is that of _society_, +which may be divided into two sorts. 1. The society of the _sexes_, +which answers the purpose of propagation; and next, that more _general +society_, which we have with men and with other animals, and which we +may in some sort be said to have even with the inanimate world. The +passions belonging to the preservation of the individual turn wholly on +pain and danger: those which belong to _generation_ have their origin in +gratifications and _pleasures_; the pleasure most directly belonging to +this purpose is of a lively character, rapturous and violent, and +confessedly the highest pleasure of sense; yet the absence of this so +great an enjoyment scarce amounts to an uneasiness; and, except at +particular times, I do not think it affects at all. When men describe in +what manner they are affected by pain and danger, they do not dwell on +the pleasure of health and the comfort of security, and then lament the +_loss_ of these satisfactions: the whole turns upon the actual pains and +horrors which they endure. But if you listen to the complaints of a +forsaken lover, you observe that he insists largely on the pleasures +which he enjoyed, or hoped to enjoy, and on the perfection of the object +of his desires; it is the _loss_ which is always uppermost in his mind. +The violent effects produced by love, which has sometimes been even +wrought up to madness, is no objection to the rule which we seek to +establish. When men have suffered their imaginations to be long affected +with any idea, it so wholly engrosses them as to shut out by degrees +almost every other, and to break down every partition of the mind which +would confine it. Any idea is sufficient for the purpose, as is evident +from the infinite variety of causes, which give rise to madness: but +this at most can only prove, that the passion of love is capable of +producing very extraordinary effects, not that its extraordinary +emotions have any connection with positive pain. + + +SECTION IX. + +THE FINAL CAUSE OF THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE PASSIONS BELONGING TO +SELF-PRESERVATION AND THOSE WHICH REGARD THE SOCIETY OF THE SEXES. + +The final cause of the difference in character between the passions +which regard self-preservation, and those which are directed to the +multiplication of the species, will illustrate the foregoing remarks yet +further; and it is, I imagine, worthy of observation even upon its own +account. As the performance of our duties of every kind depends upon +life, and the performing them with vigor and efficacy depends upon +health, we are very strongly affected with whatever threatens the +destruction of either: but as we were not made to acquiesce in life and +health, the simple enjoyment of them is not attended with any real +pleasure, lest, satisfied with that, we should give ourselves over to +indolence and inaction. On the other hand, the generation of mankind is +a great purpose, and it is requisite that men should be animated to the +pursuit of it by some great incentive. It is therefore attended with a +very high pleasure; but as it is by no means designed to be our constant +business, it is not fit that the absence of this pleasure should be +attended with any considerable pain. The difference between men and +brutes, in this point, seems to be remarkable. Men are at all times +pretty equally disposed to the pleasures of love, because they are to be +guided by reason in the time and manner of indulging them. Had any great +pain arisen from the want of this satisfaction, reason, I am afraid, +would find great difficulties in the performance of its office. But +brutes that obey laws, in the execution of which their own reason has +but little share, have their stated seasons; at such times it is not +improbable that the sensation from the want is very troublesome, because +the end must be then answered, or be missed in many, perhaps forever; as +the inclination returns only with its season. + + +SECTION X. + +OF BEAUTY. + +The passion which belongs to generation, merely as such, is lust only. +This is evident in brutes, whose passions are more unmixed, and which +pursue their purposes more directly than ours. The only distinction they +observe with regard to their mates, is that of sex. It is true, that +they stick severally to their own species in preference to all others. +But this preference, I imagine, does not arise from any sense of beauty +which they find in their species, as Mr. Addison supposes, but from a +law of some other kind, to which they are subject; and this we may +fairly conclude, from their apparent want of choice amongst those +objects to which the barriers of their species have confined them. But +man, who is a creature adapted to a greater variety and intricacy of +relation, connects with the general passion the idea of some _social_ +qualities, which direct and heighten the appetite which he has in common +with all other animals; and as he is not designed like them to live at +large, it is fit that he should have some thing to create a preference, +and fix his choice; and this in general should be some sensible quality; +as no other can so quickly, so powerfully, or so surely produce its +effect. The object therefore of this mixed passion, which we call love, +is the _beauty_ of the _sex_. Men are carried to the sex in general, as +it is the sex, and by the common law of nature; but they are attached to +particulars by personal _beauty_. I call beauty a social quality; for +where women and men, and not only they, but when other animals give us a +sense of joy and pleasure in beholding them (and there are many that do +so), they inspire us with sentiments of tenderness and affection towards +their persons; we like to have them near us, and we enter willingly into +a kind of relation with them, unless we should have strong reasons to +the contrary. But to what end, in many cases, this was designed, I am +unable to discover; for I see no greater reason for a connection between +man and several animals who are attired in so engaging a manner, than +between him and some others who entirely want this attraction, or +possess it in a far weaker degree. But it is probable that Providence +did not make even this distinction, but with a view to some great end; +though we cannot perceive distinctly what it is, as his wisdom is not +our wisdom, nor our ways his ways. + + +SECTION XI. + +SOCIETY AND SOLITUDE. + +The second branch of the social passions is that which administers to +_society in general_. With regard to this, I observe, that society, +merely as society, without any particular heightenings, gives us no +positive pleasure in the enjoyment; but absolute and entire _solitude_, +that is, the total and perpetual exclusion from all society, is as +great a positive pain as can almost be conceived. Therefore in the +balance between the pleasure of general _society_, and the pain of +absolute solitude, _pain_ is the predominant idea. But the pleasure of +any particular social enjoyment outweighs very considerably the +uneasiness caused by the want of that particular enjoyment; so that the +strongest sensations relative to the habitudes of _particular society_ +are sensations of pleasure. Good company, lively conversations, and the +endearments of friendship, fill the mind with great pleasure; a +temporary solitude, on the other hand, is itself agreeable. This may +perhaps prove that we are creatures designed for contemplation as well +as action; since solitude as well as society has its pleasures; as from +the former observation we may discern, that an entire life of solitude +contradicts the purposes of our being, since death itself is scarcely an +idea of more terror. + + +SECTION XII. + +SYMPATHY, IMITATION, AND AMBITION. + +Under this denomination of society, the passions are of a complicated +kind, and branch out into a variety of forms, agreeably to that variety +of ends they are to serve in the great chain of society. The three +principal links in this chain are _sympathy_, _imitation,_ and +_ambition_. + + +SECTION XIII. + +SYMPATHY. + +It is by the first of these passions that we enter into the concerns of +others; that we are moved as they are moved, and are never suffered to +be indifferent spectators of almost anything which men can do or suffer. +For sympathy must be considered as a sort of substitution, by which we +are put into the place of another man, and affected in many respects as +he is affected: so that this passion may either partake of the nature of +those which regard self-preservation, and turning upon pain may be a +source of the sublime; or it may turn upon ideas of pleasure; and then +whatever has been said of the social affections, whether they regard +society in general, or only some particular modes of it, may be +applicable here. It is by this principle chiefly that poetry, painting, +and other affecting arts, transfuse their passions from one breast to +another, and are often capable of grafting a delight on wretchedness, +misery, and death itself. It is a common observation, that objects which +in the reality would shock, are in tragical, and such like +representations, the source of a very high species of pleasure. This, +taken as a fact, has been the cause of much reasoning. The satisfaction +has been commonly attributed, first, to the comfort we receive in +considering that so melancholy a story is no more than a fiction; and, +next, to the contemplation of our own freedom from the evils which we +see represented. I am afraid it is a practice much too common in +inquiries of this nature, to attribute the cause of feelings which +merely arise from the mechanical structure of our bodies, or from the +natural frame and constitution of our minds, to certain conclusions of +the reasoning faculty on the objects presented to us; for I should +imagine, that the influence of reason in producing our passions is +nothing near so extensive as it is commonly believed. + + +SECTION XIV. + +THE EFFECTS OF SYMPATHY IN THE DISTRESSES OF OTHERS. + +To examine this point concerning the effect of tragedy in a proper +manner, we must previously consider how we are affected by the feelings +of our fellow creatures in circumstances of real distress. I am +convinced we have a degree of delight, and that no small one, in the +real misfortunes and pains of others; for let the affection be what it +will in appearance, if it does not make us shun such objects, if on the +contrary it induces us to approach them, if it makes us dwell upon them, +in this case I conceive we must have a delight or pleasure of some +species or other in contemplating objects of this kind. Do we not read +the authentic histories of scenes of this nature with as much pleasure +as romances or poems, where the incidents are fictitious? The prosperity +of no empire, nor the grandeur of no king, can so agreeably affect in +the reading, as the ruin of the state of Macedon, and the distress of +its unhappy prince. Such a catastrophe touches us in history as much as +the destruction of Troy does in fable. Our delight, in cases of this +kind, is very greatly heightened, if the sufferer be some excellent +person who sinks under an unworthy fortune. Scipio and Cato are both +virtuous characters; but we are more deeply affected by the violent +death of the one, and the ruin of the great cause he adhered to, than +with the deserved triumphs and uninterrupted prosperity of the other: +for terror is a passion which always produces delight when it does not +press too closely; and pity is a passion accompanied with pleasure, +because it arises from love and social affection. Whenever we are formed +by nature to any active purpose, the passion which animates us to it is +attended with delight, or a pleasure of some kind, let the +subject-matter be what it will; and as our Creator has designed that we +should be united by the bond of sympathy, he has strengthened that bond +by a proportionable delight; and there most where our sympathy is most +wanted,--in the distresses of others. If this passion was simply +painful, we would shun with the greatest care all persons and places +that could excite such a passion; as some, who are so far gone in +indolence as not to endure any strong impression, actually do. But the +case is widely different with the greater part of mankind; there is no +spectacle we so eagerly pursue, as that of some uncommon and grievous +calamity; so that whether the misfortune is before our eyes, or whether +they are turned back to it in history, it always touches with delight. +This is not an unmixed delight, but blended with no small uneasiness. +The delight we have in such things hinders us from shunning scenes of +misery; and the pain we feel prompts us to relieve ourselves in +relieving those who suffer; and all this antecedent to any reasoning, by +an instinct that works us to its own purposes without our concurrence. + + +SECTION XV. + +OF THE EFFECTS OF TRAGEDY. + +It is thus in real calamities. In imitated distresses the only +difference is the pleasure resulting from the effects of imitation; for +it is never so perfect, but we can perceive it is imitation, and on that +principle are somewhat pleased with it. And indeed in some cases we +derive as much or more pleasure from that source than from the thing +itself. But then I imagine we shall be much mistaken if we attribute any +considerable part of our satisfaction in tragedy to the consideration +that tragedy is a deceit, and its representations no realities. The +nearer it approaches the reality, and the further it removes us from all +idea of fiction, the more perfect is its power. But be its power of what +kind it will, it never approaches to what it represents. Choose a day on +which to represent the most sublime and affecting tragedy we have; +appoint the most favorite actors; spare no cost upon the scenes and +decorations; unite the greatest efforts of poetry, painting, and music; +and when you have collected your audience, just at the moment when their +minds are erect with expectation, let it be reported that a state +criminal of high rank is on the point of being executed in the adjoining +square; in a moment the emptiness of the theatre would demonstrate the +comparative weakness of the imitative arts, and proclaim the triumph of +the real sympathy. I believe that this notion of our having a simple +pain in the reality, yet a delight in the representation, arises from +hence, that we do not sufficiently distinguish what we would by no means +choose to do, from what we should be eager enough to see if it was once +done. We delight in seeing things, which so far from doing, our +heartiest wishes would be to see redressed. This noble capital, the +pride of England and of Europe, I believe no man is so strangely wicked +as to desire to see destroyed by a conflagration or an earthquake, +though he should be removed himself to the greatest distance from the +danger. But suppose such a fatal accident to have happened, what numbers +from all parts would crowd to behold the ruins, and amongst them many +who would have been content never to have seen London in its glory! Nor +is it, either in real or fictitious distresses, our immunity from them +which produces our delight; in my own mind I can discover nothing like +it. I apprehend that this mistake is owing to a sort of sophism, by +which we are frequently imposed upon; it arises from our not +distinguishing between what is indeed a necessary condition to our doing +or suffering anything in general, and what is the _cause_ of some +particular act. If a man kills me with a sword, it is a necessary +condition to this that we should have been both of us alive before the +fact; and yet it would be absurd to say that our being both living +creatures was the cause of his crime and of my death. So it is certain +that it is absolutely necessary my life should be out of any imminent +hazard, before I can take a delight in the sufferings of others, real or +imaginary, or indeed in anything else from any cause whatsoever. But +then it is a sophism to argue from thence that this immunity is the +cause of my delight either on these or on any occasions. No one can +distinguish such a cause of satisfaction in his own mind, I believe; +nay, when we do not suffer any very acute pain, nor are exposed to any +imminent danger of our lives, we can feel for others, whilst we suffer +ourselves; and often then most when we are softened by affliction; we +see with pity even distresses which we would accept in the place of our +own. + + +SECTION XVI. + +IMITATION. + +The second passion belonging to society is imitation, or, if you will, a +desire of imitating, and consequently a pleasure in it. This passion +arises from much the same cause with sympathy. For as sympathy makes us +take a concern in whatever men feel, so this affection prompts us to +copy whatever they do; and consequently we have a pleasure in imitating, +and in whatever belongs to imitation merely as it is such, without any +intervention of the reasoning faculty, but solely from our natural +constitution, which Providence has framed in such a manner as to find +either pleasure or delight, according to the nature of the object, in +whatever regards the purposes of our being. It is by imitation far more +than by precept, that we learn everything; and what we learn thus, we +acquire not only more effectually, but more pleasantly. This forms our +manners, our opinions, our lives. It is one of the strongest links of +society; it is a species of mutual compliance, which all men yield to +each other, without constraint to themselves, and which is extremely +flattering to all. Herein it is that painting and many other agreeable +arts have laid one of the principal foundations of their power. And +since, by its influence on our manners and our passions, it is of such +great consequence, I shall here venture to lay down a rule, which may +inform us with a good degree of certainty when we are to attribute the +power of the arts to imitation, or to our pleasure in the skill of the +imitator merely, and when to sympathy, or some other cause in +conjunction, with it. When the object represented in poetry or painting +is such as we could have no desire of seeing in the reality, then I may +be sure that its power in poetry or painting is owing to the power of +imitation, and to no cause operating in the thing itself. So it is with +most of the pieces which the painters call still-life. In these a +cottage, a dung-hill, the meanest and most ordinary utensils of the +kitchen, are capable of giving us pleasure. But when the object of the +painting or poem is such as we should run to see if real, let it affect +us with what odd sort of sense it will, we may rely upon it that the +power of the poem or picture is more owing to the nature of the thing +itself than to the mere effect of imitation, or to a consideration of +the skill of the imitator, however excellent. Aristotle has spoken so +much and so solidly upon the force of imitation in his Poetics, that it +makes any further discourse upon this subject the less necessary. + + +SECTION XVII. + +AMBITION. + +Although imitation is one of the great instruments used by Providence in +bringing our nature towards its perfection, yet if men gave themselves +up to imitation entirely, and each followed the other, and so on in an +eternal circle, it is easy to see that there never could be any +improvement amongst them. Men must remain as brutes do, the same at the +end that they are at this day, and that they were in the beginning of +the world. To prevent this, God has planted in man a sense of ambition, +and a satisfaction arising from the contemplation of his excelling his +fellows in something deemed valuable amongst them. It is this passion +that drives men to all the ways we see in use of signalizing themselves, +and that tends to make whatever excites in a man the idea of this +distinction so very pleasant. It has been so strong as to make very +miserable men take comfort, that they were supreme in misery; and +certain it is that, where we cannot distinguish ourselves by something +excellent, we begin to take a complacency in some singular infirmities, +follies, or defects of one kind or other. It is on this principle that +flattery is so prevalent; for flattery is no more than what raises in a +man's mind an idea of a preference which he has not. Now, whatever, +either on good or upon bad grounds, tends to raise a man in his own +opinion, produces a sort of swelling and triumph, that is extremely +grateful to the human mind; and this swelling is never more perceived, +nor operates with more force, than when without danger we are conversant +with terrible objects; the mind always claiming to itself some part of +the dignity and importance of the things which it contemplates. Hence +proceeds what Longinus has observed of that glorying and sense of inward +greatness, that always fills the reader of such passages in poets and +orators as are sublime: it is what every man must have felt in himself +upon such occasions. + + +SECTION XVIII. + +THE RECAPITULATION. + +To draw the whole of what has been said into a few distinct points:--The +passions which belong to self-preservation turn on pain and danger; they +are simply painful when their causes immediately affect us; they are +delightful when we have an idea of pain and danger, without being +actually in such circumstances; this delight I have not called pleasure, +because it turns on pain, and because it is different enough from any +idea of positive pleasure. Whatever excites this delight, I call +_sublime_. The passions belonging to self-preservation are the strongest +of all the passions. + +The second head to which the passions are referred with relation to +their final cause, is society. There are two sorts of societies. The +first is, the society of sex. The passion belonging to this is called +love, and it contains a mixture of lust; its object is the beauty of +women. The other is the great society with man and all other animals. +The passion subservient to this is called likewise love, but it has no +mixture of lust, and its object is beauty; which is a name I shall apply +to all such qualities in things as induce in us a sense of affection and +tenderness, or some other passion the most nearly resembling these. The +passion of love has its rise in positive pleasure; it is, like all +things which grow out of pleasure, capable of being mixed with a mode of +uneasiness, that is, when an idea of its object is excited in the mind +with an idea at the same time of having irretrievably lost it. This +mixed sense of pleasure I have not called _pain_, because it turns upon +actual pleasure, and because it is, both in its cause and in most of its +effects, of a nature altogether different. + +Next to the general passion we have for society, to a choice in which we +are directed by the pleasure we have in the object, the particular +passion under this head called sympathy has the greatest extent. The +nature of this passion is, to put us in the place of another in whatever +circumstance he is in, and to affect us in a like manner; so that this +passion may, as the occasion requires, turn either on pain or pleasure; +but with the modifications mentioned in some cases in Sect. 11. As to +imitation and preference, nothing more need be said. + + +SECTION XIX. + +THE CONCLUSION. + +I believed that an attempt to range and methodize some of our most +leading passions would be a good preparative to such an inquiry as we +are going to make in the ensuing discourse. The passions I have +mentioned are almost the only ones which it can be necessary to consider +in our present design; though the variety of the passions is great, and +worthy, in every branch of that variety, of an attentive investigation. +The more accurately we search into the human mind, the stronger traces +we everywhere find of His wisdom who made it. If a discourse on the use +of the parts of the body may be considered as a hymn to the Creator; the +use of the passions, which are the organs of the mind, cannot be barren +of praise to him, nor unproductive to ourselves of that noble and +uncommon union of science and admiration, which a contemplation of the +works of infinite wisdom alone can afford to a rational mind; whilst, +referring to him whatever we find of right or good or fair in ourselves, +discovering his strength and wisdom even in our own weakness and +imperfection, honoring them where we discover them clearly, and adoring +their profundity where we are lost in our search, we may be inquisitive +without impertinence, and elevated without pride; we may be admitted, if +I may dare to say so, into the counsels of the Almighty by a +consideration of his works. The elevation of the mind ought to be the +principal end of all our studies; which, if they do not in some measure +effect, they are of very little service to us. But, besides this great +purpose, a consideration of the rationale of our passions seems to me +very necessary for all who would affect them upon solid and sure +principles. It is not enough to know them in general; to affect them +after a delicate manner, or to judge properly of any work designed to +affect them, we should know the exact boundaries of their several +jurisdictions; we should pursue them through all their variety of +operations, and pierce into the inmost, and what might appear +inaccessible parts of our nature, + + Quod latet arcana non enarrabile fibra. + +Without all this it is possible for a man, after a confused manner +sometimes to satisfy his own mind of the truth of his work; but he can +never have a certain determinate rule to go by, nor can he ever make his +propositions sufficiently clear to others. Poets, and orators, and +painters, and those who cultivate other branches of the liberal arts, +have, without this critical knowledge, succeeded well in their several +provinces, and will succeed: as among artificers there are many machines +made and even invented without any exact knowledge of the principles +they are governed by. It is, I own, not uncommon to be wrong in theory, +and right in practice: and we are happy that it is so. Men often act +right from their feelings, who afterwards reason but ill on them from +principle; but as it is impossible to avoid an attempt at such +reasoning, and equally impossible to prevent its having some influence +on our practice, surely it is worth taking some pains to have it just, +and founded on the basis of sure experience. We might expect that the +artists themselves would have been our surest guides; but the artists +have been too much occupied in the practice: the philosophers have done +little; and what they have done, was mostly with a view to their own +schemes and systems; and as for those called critics, they have +generally sought the rule of the arts in the wrong place; they sought it +among poems, pictures, engravings, statues, and buildings. But art can +never give the rules that make an art. This is, I believe, the reason +why artists in general, and poets, principally, have been confined in so +narrow a circle: they have been rather imitators of one another than of +nature; and this with so faithful an uniformity, and to so remote an +antiquity, that it is hard to say who gave the first model. Critics +follow them, and therefore can do little as guides. I can judge but +poorly of anything, whilst I measure it by no other standard than +itself. The true standard of the arts is in every man's power; and an +easy observation of the most common, sometimes of the meanest things in +nature, will give the truest lights, where the greatest sagacity and +industry, that slights such observation, must leave us in the dark, or, +what is worse, amuse and mislead us by false lights. In an inquiry it is +almost everything to be once in a right road. I am satisfied I have done +but little by these observations considered in themselves; and I never +should have taken the pains to digest them, much less should I have ever +ventured to publish them, if I was not convinced that nothing tends more +to the corruption of science than to suffer it to stagnate. These waters +must be troubled, before they can exert their virtues. A man who works +beyond the surface of things, though he may be wrong himself, yet he +clears the way for others, and may chance to make even his errors +subservient to the cause of truth. In the following parts I shall +inquire what things they are that cause in us the affections of the +sublime and beautiful, as in this I have considered the affections +themselves. I only desire one favor,--that no part of this discourse may +be judged of by itself, and independently of the rest; for I am sensible +I have not disposed my materials to abide the test of a captious +controversy, but of a sober and even forgiving examination; that they +are not armed at all points for battle, but dressed to visit those who +are willing to give a peaceful entrance to truth. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[10] Mr. Locke [Essay on Human Understanding, l. ii. c. 20, sect. 16,] +thinks that the removal or lessening of a pain is considered and +operates as a pleasure, and the loss or diminishing of pleasure as a +pain. It is this opinion which we consider here. + + + + +PART II. + + +SECTION I. + +OF THE PASSION CAUSED BY THE SUBLIME. + +The passion caused by the great and sublime in _nature_, when those +causes operate most powerfully, is astonishment: and astonishment is +that state of the soul in which all its motions are suspended, with some +degree of horror.[11] In this case the mind is so entirely filled with +its object, that it cannot entertain any other, nor by consequence +reason on that object which employs it. Hence arises the great power of +the sublime, that, far from being produced by them, it anticipates our +reasonings, and hurries us on by an irresistible force. Astonishment, as +I have said, is the effect of the sublime in its highest degree; the +inferior effects are admiration, reverence, and respect. + + +SECTION II. + +TERROR. + +No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and +reasoning as _fear_.[12] For fear being an apprehension of pain or +death, it operates in a manner that resembles actual pain. Whatever +therefore is terrible, with regard to sight, is sublime too, whether +this cause of terror be endued with greatness of dimensions or not; for +it is impossible to look on anything as trifling, or contemptible, that +may be dangerous. There are many animals, who, though far from being +large, are yet capable of raising ideas of the sublime, because they are +considered as objects of terror. As serpents and poisonous animals of +almost all kinds. And to things of great dimensions, if we annex an +adventitious idea of terror, they become without comparison greater. A +level plain of a vast extent on land, is certainly no mean idea; the +prospect of such a plain may be as extensive as a prospect of the ocean; +but can it ever fill the mind with anything so great as the ocean +itself? This is owing to several causes; but it is owing to none more +than this, that the ocean is an object of no small terror. Indeed terror +is in all cases whatsoever, either more openly or latently, the ruling +principle of the sublime. Several languages bear a strong testimony to +the affinity of these ideas. They frequently use the same word to +signify indifferently the modes of astonishment or admiration and those +of terror. [Greek: Thambos] is in Greek either fear or wonder; [Greek: +deinos] is terrible or respectable; [Greek: ahideo], to reverence or to +fear. _Vereor_ in Latin is what [Greek: ahideo] is in Greek. The Romans +used the verb _stupeo_, a term which strongly marks the state of an +astonished mind, to express the effect either of simple fear, or of +astonishment; the word _attonitus_ (thunderstruck) is equally expressive +of the alliance of these ideas; and do not the French _etonnement_, and +the English _astonishment_ and _amazement_, point out as clearly the +kindred emotions which attend fear and wonder? They who have a more +general knowledge of languages, could produce, I make no doubt, many +other and equally striking examples. + + +SECTION III. + +OBSCURITY. + +To make anything very terrible, obscurity[13] seems in general to be +necessary. When we know the full extent of any danger, when we can +accustom our eyes to it, a great deal of the apprehension vanishes. +Every one will be sensible of this, who considers how greatly night adds +to our dread, in all cases of danger, and how much the notions of ghosts +and goblins, of which none can form clear ideas, affect minds which give +credit to the popular tales concerning such sorts of beings. Those +despotic governments which are founded on the passions of men, and +principally upon the passion of fear, keep their chief as much as may be +from the public eye. The policy has been the same in many cases of +religion. Almost all the heathen temples were dark. Even in the +barbarous temples of the Americans at this day, they keep their idol in +a dark part of the hut, which is consecrated to his worship. For this +purpose too the Druids performed all their ceremonies in the bosom of +the darkest woods, and in the shade of the oldest and most spreading +oaks. No person seems better to have understood the secret of +heightening, or of setting terrible things, if I may use the expression, +in their strongest light, by the force of a judicious obscurity than +Milton. His description of death in the second book is admirably +studied; it is astonishing with what a gloomy pomp, with what a +significant and expressive uncertainty of strokes and coloring, he has +finished the portrait of the king of terrors: + + "The other shape, + If shape it might be called that shape had none + Distinguishable, in member, joint, or limb; + Or substance might be called that shadow seemed; + For each seemed either; black he stood as night; + Fierce as ten furies; terrible as hell; + And shook a deadly dart. What seemed his head + The likeness of a kingly crown had on." + +In this description all is dark, uncertain, confused, terrible, and +sublime to the last degree. + + +SECTION IV. + +OF THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CLEARNESS AND OBSCURITY WITH REGARD TO THE +PASSIONS. + +It is one thing to make an idea clear, and another to make it +_affecting_ to the imagination. If I make a drawing of a palace, or a +temple, or a landscape, I present a very clear idea of those objects; +but then (allowing for the effect of imitation which is something) my +picture can at most affect only as the palace, temple, or landscape, +would have affected in the reality. On the other hand, the most lively +and spirited verbal description I can give raises a very obscure and +imperfect _idea_ of such objects; but then it is in my power to raise a +stronger _emotion_ by the description than I could do by the best +painting. This experience constantly evinces. The proper manner of +conveying the _affections_ of the mind from one to another is by words; +there is a great insufficiency in all other methods of communication; +and so far is a clearness of imagery from being absolutely necessary to +an influence upon the passions, that they may be considerably operated +upon, without presenting any image at all, by certain sounds adapted to +that purpose; of which we have a sufficient proof in the acknowledged +and powerful effects of instrumental music. In reality, a great +clearness helps but little towards affecting the passions, as it is in +some sort an enemy to all enthusiasms whatsoever. + + +SECTION [IV]. + +THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED. + +There are two verses in Horace's Art of Poetry that seem to contradict +this opinion; for which reason I shall take a little more pains in +clearing it up. The verses are, + + Segnius irritant animos demissa per aures, + Quam quae sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus. + + +On this the Abbe du Bos founds a criticism, wherein he gives painting +the preference to poetry in the article of moving the passions; +principally on account of the greater _clearness_ of the ideas it +represents. I believe this excellent judge was led into this mistake (if +it be a mistake) by his system; to which he found it more conformable +than I imagine it will be found to experience. I know several who admire +and love painting, and yet who regard the objects of their admiration in +that art with coolness enough in comparison of that warmth with which +they are animated by affecting pieces of poetry or rhetoric. Among the +common sort of people, I never could perceive that painting had much +influence on their passions. It is true that the best sorts of painting, +as well as the best sorts of poetry, are not much understood in that +sphere. But it is most certain that their passions are very strongly +roused by a fanatic preacher, or by the ballads of Chevy Chase, or the +Children in the Wood, and by other little popular poems and tales that +are current in that rank of life. I do not know of any paintings, bad or +good, that produce the same effect. So that poetry, with all its +obscurity, has a more general, as well as a more powerful dominion over +the passions, than the other art. And I think there are reasons in +nature, why the obscure idea, when properly conveyed, should be more +affecting than the clear. It is our ignorance of things that causes all +our admiration, and chiefly excites our passions. Knowledge and +acquaintance make the most striking causes affect but little. It is thus +with the vulgar; and all men are as the vulgar in what they do not +understand. The ideas of eternity, and infinity, are among the most +affecting we have: and yet perhaps there is nothing of which we really +understand so little, as of infinity and eternity. We do not anywhere +meet a more sublime description than this justly-celebrated one of +Milton, wherein he gives the portrait of Satan with a dignity so +suitable to the subject: + + "He above the rest + In shape and gesture proudly eminent + Stood like a tower; his form had yet not lost + All her original brightness, nor appeared + Less than archangel ruined, and th' excess + Of glory obscured: as when the sun new risen + Looks through the horizontal misty air + Shorn of his beams; or from behind the moon + In dim eclipse disastrous twilight sheds + On half the nations; and with fear of change + Perplexes monarchs." + +Here is a very noble picture; and in what does this poetical picture +consist? In images of a tower, an archangel, the sun rising through +mists, or in an eclipse, the ruin of monarchs and the revolutions of +kingdoms. The mind is hurried out of itself, by a crowd of great and +confused images; which affect because they are crowded and confused. For +separate them, and you lose much of the greatness; and join them, and +you infallibly lose the clearness. The images raised by poetry are +always of this obscure kind; though in general the effects of poetry are +by no means to be attributed to the images it raises; which point we +shall examine more at large hereafter.[14] But painting, when we have +allowed for the pleasure of imitation, can only affect simply by the +images it presents; and even in painting, a judicious obscurity in some +things contributes to the effect of the picture; because the images in +painting are exactly similar to those in nature; and in nature, dark, +confused, uncertain images have a greater power on the fancy to form the +grander passions, than those have which are more clear and determinate. +But where and when this observation may be applied to practice, and how +far it shall be extended, will be better deduced from the nature of the +subject, and from the occasion, than from any rules that can be given. + +I am sensible that this idea has met with opposition, and is likely +still to be rejected by several. But let it be considered that hardly +anything can strike the mind with its greatness, which does not make +some sort of approach towards infinity; which nothing can do whilst we +are able to perceive its bounds; but to see an object distinctly, and to +perceive its bounds, is one and the same thing. A clear idea is +therefore another name for a little idea. There is a passage in the book +of Job amazingly sublime, and this sublimity is principally due to the +terrible uncertainty of the thing described: _In thoughts from the +visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, fear came upon +me and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. Then a spirit +passed before my face. The hair of my flesh stood up. It stood still_, +but I could not discern the form thereof; _an image was before mine +eyes; there was silence; and I heard a voice,--Shall mortal man be more +just than God?_ We are first prepared with the utmost solemnity for the +vision; we are first terrified, before we are let even into the obscure +cause of our emotion: but when this grand cause of terror makes its +appearance, what is it? Is it not wrapt up in the shades of its own +incomprehensible darkness, more awful, more striking, more terrible, +than the liveliest description, than the clearest painting, could +possibly represent it? When painters have attempted to give us clear +representations of these very fanciful and terrible ideas, they have, I +think, almost always failed; insomuch that I have been at a loss, in all +the pictures I have seen of hell, to determine whether the painter did +not intend something ludicrous. Several painters have handled a subject +of this kind, with a view of assembling as many horrid phantoms as their +imagination could suggest; but all the designs I have chanced to meet of +the temptations of St. Anthony were rather a sort of odd, wild +grotesques, than any thing capable of producing a serious passion. In +all these subjects poetry is very happy. Its apparitions, its chimeras, +its harpies, its allegorical figures, are grand and affecting; and +though Virgil's Fame and Homer's Discord are obscure, they are +magnificent figures. These figures in painting would be clear enough, +but I fear they might become ridiculous. + + +SECTION V. + +POWER. + +Besides those things which _directly_ suggest the idea of danger, and +those which produce a similar effect from a mechanical cause, I know of +nothing sublime, which is not some modification of power. And this +branch rises, as naturally as the other two branches, from terror, the +common stock of everything that is sublime. The idea of power, at first +view, seems of the class of those indifferent ones, which may equally +belong to pain or to pleasure. But in reality, the affection arising +from the idea of vast power is extremely remote from that neutral +character. For first, we must remember[15] that the idea of pain, in its +highest degree, is much stronger than the highest degree of pleasure; +and that it preserves the same superiority through all the subordinate +gradations. From hence it is, that where the chances for equal degrees +of suffering or enjoyment are in any sort equal, the idea of the +suffering must always be prevalent. And indeed the ideas of pain, and, +above all, of death, are so very affecting, that whilst we remain in the +presence of whatever is supposed to have the power of inflicting either, +it is impossible to be perfectly free from terror. Again, we know by +experience, that, for the enjoyment of pleasure, no great efforts of +power are at all necessary; nay, we know that such efforts would go a +great way towards destroying our satisfaction: for pleasure must be +stolen, and not forced upon us; pleasure follows the will; and therefore +we are generally affected with it by many things of a force greatly +inferior to our own. But pain is always inflicted by a power in some way +superior, because we never submit to pain willingly. So that strength, +violence, pain, and terror, are ideas that rush in upon the mind +together. Look at a man, or any other animal of prodigious strength, and +what is your idea before reflection? Is it that this strength will be +subservient to you, to your ease, to your pleasure, to your interest in +any sense? No; the emotion you feel is, lest this enormous strength +should be employed to the purposes of[16] rapine and destruction. That +power derives all its sublimity from the terror with which it is +generally accompanied, will appear evidently from its effect in the very +few cases, in which it may be possible to strip a considerable degree of +strength of its ability to hurt. When you do this, you spoil it of +everything sublime, and it immediately becomes contemptible. An ox is a +creature of vast strength; but he is an innocent creature, extremely +serviceable, and not at all dangerous; for which reason the idea of an +ox is by no means grand. A bull is strong too; but his strength is of +another kind; often very destructive, seldom (at least amongst us) of +any use in our business; the idea of a bull is therefore great, and it +has frequently a place in sublime descriptions, and elevating +comparisons. Let us look at another strong animal, in the two distinct +lights in which we may consider him. The horse in the light of an +useful beast, fit for the plough, the road, the draft; in every social +useful light, the horse has nothing sublime; but is it thus that we are +affected with him, _whose neck is clothed with thunder, the glory of +whose nostrils is terrible, who swalloweth the ground with fierceness +and rage, neither believeth that it is the sound of the trumpet_? In +this description, the useful character of the horse entirely disappears, +and the terrible and sublime blaze out together. We have continually +about us animals of a strength that is considerable, but not pernicious. +Amongst these we never look for the sublime; it comes upon us in the +gloomy forest, and in the howling wilderness, in the form of the lion, +the tiger, the panther, or rhinoceros. Whenever strength is only useful, +and employed for our benefit or our pleasure, then it is never sublime; +for nothing can act agreeably to us, that does not act in conformity to +our will; but to act agreeably to our will, it must be subject to us, +and therefore can never be the cause of a grand and commanding +conception. The description of the wild ass, in Job, is worked up into +no small sublimity, merely by insisting on his freedom, and his setting +mankind at defiance; otherwise the description of such an animal could +have had nothing noble in it. _Who hath loosed_ (says he) _the bands of +the wild ass? whose house I have made the wilderness and the barren land +his dwellings. He scorneth the multitude of the city, neither regardeth +he the voice of the driver. The range of the mountains is his pasture._ +The magnificent description of the unicorn and of leviathan, in the same +book, is full of the same heightening circumstances: _Will the unicorn +be willing to serve thee? canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in +the furrow? wilt thou trust him because his strength is great?--Canst +thou draw out leviathan with an hook? will he make a covenant with thee? +wilt thou take him for a servant forever? shall not one be cast down +even at the sight of him?_ In short, wheresoever we find strength, and +in what light soever we look upon power, we shall all along observe the +sublime the concomitant of terror, and contempt the attendant on a +strength that is subservient and innoxious. The race of dogs, in many of +their kinds, have generally a competent degree of strength and +swiftness; and they exert these and other valuable qualities which they +possess, greatly to our convenience and pleasure. Dogs are indeed the +most social, affectionate, and amiable animals of the whole brute +creation; but love approaches much nearer to contempt than is commonly +imagined; and accordingly, though we caress dogs, we borrow from them an +appellation of the most despicable kind, when we employ terms of +reproach; and this appellation is the common mark of the last vileness +and contempt in every language. Wolves have not more strength than +several species of dogs; but, on account of their unmanageable +fierceness, the idea of a wolf is not despicable; it is not excluded +from grand descriptions and similitudes. Thus we are affected by +strength, which is _natural_ power. The power which arises from +institution in kings and commanders, has the same connection with +terror. Sovereigns are frequently addressed with the title of _dread +majesty_. And it may be observed, that young persons, little acquainted +with the world, and who have not been used to approach men in power, are +commonly struck with an awe which takes away the free use of their +faculties. _When I prepared my seat in the street,_ (says Job,) _the +young men saw me, and hid themselves._ Indeed so natural is this +timidity with regard to power, and so strongly does it inhere in our +constitution, that very few are able to conquer it, but by mixing much +in the business of the great world, or by using no small violence to +their natural dispositions. I know some people are of opinion, that no +awe, no degree of terror, accompanies the idea of power; and have +hazarded to affirm, that we can contemplate the idea of God himself +without any such emotion. I purposely avoided, when I first considered +this subject, to introduce the idea of that great and tremendous Being, +as an example in an argument so light as this; though it frequently +occurred to me, not as an objection to, but as a strong confirmation of, +my notions in this matter. I hope, in what I am going to say, I shall +avoid presumption, where it is almost impossible for any mortal to speak +with strict propriety. I say then, that whilst we consider the Godhead +merely as he is an object of the understanding, which forms a complex +idea of power, wisdom, justice, goodness, all stretched to a degree far +exceeding the bounds of our comprehension, whilst we consider the +divinity in this refined and abstracted light, the imagination and +passions are little or nothing affected. But because we are bound, by +the condition of our nature, to ascend to these pure and intellectual +ideas, through the medium of sensible images, and to judge of these +divine qualities by their evident acts and exertions, it becomes +extremely hard to disentangle our idea of the cause from the effect by +which we are led to know it. Thus, when we contemplate the Deity, his +attributes and their operation, coming united on the mind, form a sort +of sensible image, and as such are capable of affecting the +imagination. Now, though in a just idea of the Deity, perhaps none of +his attributes are predominant, yet, to our imagination, his power is by +far the most striking. Some reflection, some comparing, is necessary to +satisfy us of his wisdom, his justice, and his goodness. To be struck +with his power, it is only necessary that we should open our eyes. But +whilst we contemplate so vast an object, under the arm, as it were, of +almighty power, and invested upon every side with omnipresence, we +shrink into the minuteness of our own nature, and are, in a manner, +annihilated before him. And though a consideration of his other +attributes may relieve, in some measure, our apprehensions; yet no +conviction of the justice with which it is exercised, nor the mercy with +which it is tempered, can wholly remove the terror that naturally arises +from a force which nothing can withstand. If we rejoice, we rejoice with +trembling; and even whilst we are receiving benefits, we cannot but +shudder at a power which can confer benefits of such mighty importance. +When the prophet David contemplated the wonders of wisdom and power +which are displayed in the economy of man, he seems to be struck with a +sort of divine horror, and cries out, _fearfully and wonderfully am I +made_! An heathen poet has a sentiment of a similar nature; Horace looks +upon it as the last effort of philosophical fortitude, to behold without +terror and amazement, this immense and glorious fabric of the universe: + + Hunc solem, et stellas, et decedentia certis + Tempora momentis, sunt qui formidine nulla + Imbuti spectent. + +Lucretius is a poet not to be suspected of giving way to superstitious +terrors; yet, when he supposes the whole mechanism of nature laid open +by the master of his philosophy, his transport on this magnificent view, +which he has represented in the colors of such bold and lively poetry, +is overcast with a shade of secret dread and horror: + + His ibi me rebus quaedam divina voluptas + Percipit, atque horror; quod sic natura, tua vi + Tam manifesta patens, ex omni parte retecta est. + +But the Scripture alone can supply ideas answerable to the majesty of +this subject. In the Scripture, wherever God is represented as appearing +or speaking, everything terrible in nature is called up to heighten the +awe and solemnity of the Divine presence. The Psalms, and the +prophetical books, are crowded with instances of this kind. _The earth +shook,_ (says the Psalmist,) _the heavens also dropped at the presence +of the Lord._ And what is remarkable, the painting preserves the same +character, not only when he is supposed descending to take vengeance +upon the wicked, but even when he exerts the like plenitude of power in +acts of beneficence to mankind. _Tremble, thou earth! at the presence of +the Lord; at the presence of the God of Jacob; which turned the rock +into standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters!_ It were +endless to enumerate all the passages, both in the sacred and profane +writers, which establish the general sentiment of mankind, concerning +the inseparable union of a sacred and reverential awe, with our ideas of +the divinity. Hence the common maxim, _Primus in orbe deos fecit timor_. +This maxim may be, as I believe it is, false with regard to the origin +of religion. The maker of the maxim saw how inseparable these ideas +were, without considering that the notion of some great power must be +always precedent to our dread of it. But this dread must necessarily +follow the idea of such a power, when it is once excited in the mind. It +is on this principle that true religion has, and must have, so large a +mixture of salutary fear; and that false religions have generally +nothing else but fear to support them. Before the Christian religion +had, as it were, humanized the idea of the Divinity, and brought it +somewhat nearer to us, there was very little said of the love of God. +The followers of Plato have something of it, and only something; the +other writers of pagan antiquity, whether poets or philosophers, nothing +at all. And they who consider with what infinite attention, by what a +disregard of every perishable object, through what long habits of piety +and contemplation it is that any man is able to attain an entire love +and devotion to the Deity, will easily perceive that it is not the +first, the most natural, and the most striking effect which proceeds +from that idea. Thus we have traced power through its several gradations +unto the highest of all, where our imagination is finally lost; and we +find terror, quite throughout the progress, its inseparable companion, +and growing along with it, as far as we can possibly trace them. Now, as +power is undoubtedly a capital source of the sublime, this will point +out evidently from whence its energy is derived, and to what class of +ideas we ought to unite it. + + +SECTION VI. + +PRIVATION. + +ALL _general_ privations are great, because they are all terrible; +_vacuity_, _darkness_, _solitude_, and _silence_. With what a fire of +imagination, yet with what severity of judgment, has Virgil amassed all +these circumstances, where he knows that all the images of a tremendous +dignity ought to be united at the mouth of hell! Where, before he +unlocks the secrets of the great deep, he seems to be seized with a +religious horror, and to retire astonished at the boldness of his own +design: + + Dii, quibus imperium est animarum, umbraeque _silentes_! + Et Chaos, et Phlegethon! loca _nocte silentia_ late! + Sit mihi fas audita loqui! sit numine vestro + Pandere res alta terra et _caligine_ mersas! + Ibant _obscuri_, _sola_ sub _nocte_, per _umbram_, + Perque domos Ditis _vacuas_, et _inania_ regus. + + "Ye subterraneous gods! whose awful sway + The gliding ghosts, and _silent_ shades obey: + O Chaos hoar! and Phlegethon profound! + Whose solemn empire stretches wide around; + Give me, ye great, tremendous powers, to tell + Of scenes and wonders in the depth of hell; + Give me your mighty secrets to display + From those _black_ realms of darkness to the day." + + PITT. + + "_Obscure_ they went through dreary _shades_ that led + Along the _waste_ dominions of the _dead_." + + DRYDEN. + + +SECTION VII. + +VASTNESS. + +Greatness[17] of dimension is a powerful cause of the sublime. This is +too evident, and the observation too common, to need any illustration; +it is not so common to consider in what ways greatness of dimension, +vastness of extent or quantity, has the most striking effect. For, +certainly, there are ways and modes wherein the same quantity of +extension shall produce greater effects than it is found to do in +others. Extension is either in length, height, or depth. Of these the +length strikes least; a hundred yards of even ground will never work +such an effect as a tower a hundred yards high, or a rock or mountain of +that altitude. I am apt to imagine, likewise, that height is less grand +than depth; and that we are more struck at looking down from a +precipice, than looking up at an object of equal height; but of that I +am not very positive. A perpendicular has more force in forming the +sublime, than an inclined plane, and the effects of a rugged and broken +surface seem stronger than where it is smooth and polished. It would +carry us out of our way to enter in this place into the cause of these +appearances, but certain it is they afford a large and fruitful field of +speculation. However, it may not be amiss to add to these remarks upon +magnitude, that as the great extreme of dimension is sublime, so the +last extreme of littleness is in some measure sublime likewise; when we +attend to the infinite divisibility of matter, when we pursue animal +life into these excessively small, and yet organized beings, that +escape the nicest inquisition of the sense; when we push our discoveries +yet downward, and consider those creatures so many degrees yet smaller, +and the still diminishing scale of existence, in tracing which the +imagination is lost as well as the sense; we become amazed and +confounded at the wonders of minuteness; nor can we distinguish in its +effect this extreme of littleness from the vast itself. For division +must be infinite as well as addition; because the idea of a perfect +unity can no more be arrived at, than that of a complete whole, to which +nothing may be added. + + +SECTION VIII. + +INFINITY. + +Another source of the sublime is _infinity_; if it does not rather +belong to the last. Infinity has a tendency to fill the mind with that +sort of delightful horror, which is the most genuine effect, and truest +test of the sublime. There are scarce any things which can become the +objects of our senses, that are really and in their own nature infinite. +But the eye not being able to perceive the bounds of many things, they +seem to be infinite, and they produce the same effects as if they were +really so. We are deceived in the like manner, if the parts of some +large object are so continued to any indefinite number, that the +imagination meets no check which may hinder its extending them at +pleasure. + +Whenever we repeat any idea frequently, the mind, by a sort of +mechanism, repeats it long after the first cause has ceased to +operate.[18] After whirling about, when we sit down, the objects about +us still seem to whirl. After a long succession of noises, as the fall +of waters, or the beating of forge-hammers, the hammers beat and the +waters roar in the imagination long after the first sounds have ceased +to affect it; and they die away at last by gradations which are scarcely +perceptible. If you hold up a straight pole, with your eye to one end, +it will seem extended to a length almost incredible.[19] Place a number +of uniform and equi-distant marks on this pole, they will cause the same +deception, and seem multiplied without end. The senses, strongly +affected in some one manner, cannot quickly change their tenor, or adapt +themselves to other things; but they continue in their old channel until +the strength of the first mover decays. This is the reason of an +appearance very frequent in madmen; that they remain whole days and +nights, sometimes whole years, in the constant repetition of some +remark, some complaint, or song; which having struck powerfully on their +disordered imagination, in the beginning of their frenzy, every +repetition reinforces it with new strength, and the hurry of their +spirits, unrestrained by the curb of reason, continues it to the end of +their lives. + + +SECTION IX. + +SUCCESSION AND UNIFORMITY. + +Succession and _uniformity_ of parts are what constitute the artificial +infinite. 1. _Succession_; which is requisite that the parts may be +continued so long and in such a direction, as by their frequent impulses +on the sense to impress the imagination with an idea of their progress +beyond their actual limits. 2. _Uniformity_; because, if the figures of +the parts should be changed, the imagination at every change finds a +check; you are presented at every alteration with the termination of one +idea, and the beginning of another; by which means it becomes impossible +to continue that uninterrupted progression, which alone can stamp on +bounded objects the character of infinity. It is in this kind of +artificial infinity, I believe, we ought to look for the cause why a +rotund has such a noble effect.[20] For in a rotund, whether it be a +building or a plantation, you can nowhere fix a boundary; turn which way +you will, the same object still seems to continue, and the imagination +has no rest. But the parts must be uniform, as well as circularly +disposed, to give this figure its full force; because any difference, +whether it be in the disposition, or in the figure, or even in the color +of the parts, is highly prejudicial to the idea of infinity, which every +change must check and interrupt, at every alteration commencing a new +series. On the same principles of succession and uniformity, the grand +appearance of the ancient heathen temples, which were generally oblong +forms, with a range of uniform pillars on every side, will be easily +accounted for. From the same cause also may be derived the grand effect +of the aisles in many of our own old cathedrals. The form of a cross +used in some churches seems to me not so eligible as the parallelogram +of the ancients; at least, I imagine it is not so proper for the +outside. For, supposing the arms of the cross every way equal, if you +stand in a direction parallel to any of the side walls, or colonnades, +instead of a deception that makes the building more extended than it is, +you are cut off from a considerable part (two thirds) of its _actual_ +length; and, to prevent all possibility of progression, the arms of the +cross taking a new direction, make a right angle with the beam, and +thereby wholly turn the imagination from the repetition of the former +idea. Or suppose the spectator placed where he may take a direct view of +such a building, what will be the consequence? the necessary consequence +will be, that a good part of the basis of each angle formed by the +intersection of the arms of the cross, must be inevitably lost; the +whole must of course assume a broken, unconnected figure; the lights +must be unequal, here strong, and there weak; without that noble +gradation which the perspective always effects on parts disposed +uninterruptedly in a right line. Some or all of these objections will +lie against every figure of a cross, in whatever view you take it. I +exemplified them in the Greek cross, in which these faults appear the +most strongly; but they appear in some degree in all sorts of crosses. +Indeed, there is nothing more prejudicial to the grandeur of buildings +than to abound in angles; a fault obvious in many; and owing to an +inordinate thirst for variety, which, whenever it prevails, is sure to +leave very little true taste. + + +SECTION X. + +MAGNITUDE IN BUILDING. + +To the sublime in building, greatness of dimension seems requisite; for +on a few parts, and those small, the imagination cannot rise to any idea +of infinity. No greatness in the manner can effectually compensate for +the want of proper dimensions. There is no danger of drawing men into +extravagant designs by this rule; it carries its own caution along with +it. Because too great a length in buildings destroys the purpose of +greatness, which it was intended to promote; the perspective will lessen +it in height as it gains in length; and will bring it at last to a +point; turning the whole figure into a sort of triangle, the poorest in +its effect of almost any figure that can be presented to the eye. I have +ever observed, that colonnades and avenues of trees of a moderate length +were, without comparison, far grander than when they were suffered to +run to immense distances. A true artist should put a generous deceit on +the spectators, and effect the noblest designs by easy methods. Designs +that are vast only by their dimensions are always the sign of a common +and low imagination. No work of art can be great, but as it deceives; to +be otherwise is the prerogative of nature only. A good eye will fix the +medium betwixt an excessive length or height (for the same objection +lies against both), and a short or broken quantity: and perhaps it might +be ascertained to a tolerable degree of exactness, if it was my purpose +to descend far into the particulars of any art. + + +SECTION XI. + +INFINITY IN PLEASING OBJECTS. + +Infinity, though of another kind, causes much of our pleasure in +agreeable, as well as of our delight in sublime images. The spring is +the pleasantest of the seasons; and the young of most animals, though +far from being completely fashioned, afford a more agreeable sensation +than the full-grown; because the imagination is entertained with the +promise of something more, and does not acquiesce in the present object +of the sense. In unfinished sketches of drawing, I have often seen +something which pleased me beyond the best finishing; and this I believe +proceeds from the cause I have just now assigned. + + +SECTION XII. + +DIFFICULTY. + +Another source of greatness is _difficulty_.[21] When any work seems to +have required immense force and labor to effect it, the idea is grand. +Stonehenge, neither for disposition nor ornament, has anything +admirable; but those huge rude masses of stone, set on end, and piled +each on other, turn the mind on the immense force necessary for such a +work. Nay, the rudeness of the work increases this cause of grandeur, as +it excludes the idea of art and contrivance; for dexterity produces +another sort of effect, which is different enough from this. + + +SECTION XIII. + +MAGNIFICENCE. + +Magnificence is likewise a source of the sublime. A great profusion of +things, which are splendid or valuable in themselves, is _magnificent_. +The starry heaven, though it occurs so very frequently to our view never +fails to excite an idea of grandeur. This cannot be owing to the stars +themselves, separately considered. The number is certainly the cause. +The apparent disorder augments the grandeur, for the appearance of care +is highly contrary to our ideas of magnificence. Besides, the stars lie +in such apparent confusion, as makes it impossible on ordinary occasions +to reckon them. This gives them the advantage of a sort of infinity. In +works of art, this kind of grandeur which consists in multitude, is to +be very cautiously admitted; because a profusion of excellent things is +not to be attained, or with too much difficulty; and because in many +cases this splendid confusion would destroy all use, which should be +attended to in most of the works of art with the greatest care; besides, +it is to be considered, that unless you can produce an appearance of +infinity by your disorder, you will have disorder only without +magnificence. There are, however, a sort of fireworks, and some other +things, that in this way succeed well, and are truly grand. There are +also many descriptions in the poets and orators, which owe their +sublimity to a richness and profusion of images, in which the mind is so +dazzled as to make it impossible to attend to that exact coherence and +agreement of the allusions, which we should require on every other +occasion. I do not now remember a more striking example of this, than +the description which is given of the king's army in the play of Henry +IV.:-- + + "All furnished, all in arms, + All plumed like ostriches that with the wind + Baited like eagles having lately bathed: + As full of spirit us the month of May, + And gorgeous as the sun in midsummer, + Wanton as youthful goats, wild as young bulls. + I saw young Harry with his beaver on + Rise from the ground like feathered Mercury; + And vaulted with such ease into his seat, + As if an angel dropped down from the clouds + To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus." + + +In that excellent book, so remarkable for the vivacity of its +descriptions, as well as the solidity and penetration of its sentences, +the Wisdom of the Son of Sirach, there is a noble panegyric on the +high-priest Simon the son of Onias; and it is a very fine example of the +point before us:-- + + _How was he honored in the midst of the people, in his coming out of + the sanctuary! He was as the morning star in the midst of a cloud, + and as the moon at the full; as the sun shining upon the temple of + the Most High, and as the rainbow giving light in the bright clouds: + and as the flower of roses in the spring of the year, as lilies by + the rivers of waters, and as the frankincense-tree in summer; as + fire and incense in the censer, and as a vessel of gold set with + precious stones; as a fair olive-tree budding forth fruit, and as a + cypress which groweth up to the clouds. When he put on the robe of + honor, and was clothed with the perfection of glory, when he went up + to the holy altar, he made the garment of holiness honorable. He + himself stood by the hearth of the altar, compassed with his + brethren round about; as a young cedar in Libanus, and as + palm-trees compassed they him about. So were all the sons of Aaron + in their glory, and the oblations of the Lord in their hands, &c._ + + +SECTION XIV. + +LIGHT. + +Having considered extension, so far as it is capable of raising ideas of +greatness; _color_ comes next under consideration. All colors depend on +_light_. Light therefore ought previously to be examined; and with it +its opposite, darkness. With regard to light, to make it a cause capable +of producing the sublime, it must be attended with some circumstances, +besides its bare faculty of showing other objects. Mere light is too +common a thing to make a strong impression on the mind, and without a +strong impression nothing can be sublime. But such a light as that of +the sun, immediately exerted on the eye, as it overpowers the sense, is +a very great idea. Light of an inferior strength to this, if it moves +with great celerity, has the same power; for lightning is certainly +productive of grandeur, which it owes chiefly to the extreme velocity of +its motion. A quick transition from light to darkness, or from darkness +to light, has yet a greater effect. But darkness is more productive of +sublime ideas than light. Our great poet was convinced of this; and +indeed so full was he of this idea, so entirely possessed with the power +of a well-managed darkness, that in describing the appearance of the +Deity, amidst that profusion of magnificent images, which the grandeur +of his subject provokes him to pour out upon every side, he is far from +forgetting the obscurity which surrounds the most incomprehensible of +all beings, but + + "With majesty of _darkness_ round + Circles his throne." + +And what is no less remarkable, our author had the secret of preserving +this idea, even when he seemed to depart the farthest from it, when he +describes the light and glory which flows from the Divine presence; a +light which by its very excess is converted into a species of +darkness:-- + + "_Dark_ with excessive _light_ thy skirts appear." + +Here is an idea not only poetical in a high degree, but strictly and +philosophically just. Extreme light, by overcoming the organs of sight, +obliterates all objects, so as in its effect exactly to resemble +darkness. After looking for some time at the sun, two black spots, the +impression which it leaves, seem to dance before our eyes. Thus are two +ideas as opposite as can be imagined reconciled in the extremes of both; +and both, in spite of their opposite nature, brought to concur in +producing the sublime. And this is not the only instance wherein the +opposite extremes operate equally in favor of the sublime, which in all +things abhors mediocrity. + + +SECTION XV. + +LIGHT IN BUILDING. + +As the management of light is a matter of importance in architecture, it +is worth inquiring, how far this remark is applicable to building. I +think, then, that all edifices calculated to produce an idea of the +sublime, ought rather to be dark and gloomy, and this for two reasons; +the first is, that darkness itself on other occasions is known by +experience to have a greater effect on the passions than light. The +second is, that to make an object very striking, we should make it as +different as possible from the objects with which we have been +immediately conversant; when therefore you enter a building, you cannot +pass into a greater light than you had in the open air; to go into one +some few degrees less luminous, can make only a trifling change; but to +make the transition thoroughly striking, you ought to pass from the +greatest light, to as much darkness as is consistent with the uses of +architecture. At night the contrary rule will hold, but for the very +same reason; and the more highly a room is then illuminated, the grander +will the passion be. + + +SECTION XVI. + +COLOR CONSIDERED AS PRODUCTIVE OF THE SUBLIME. + +Among colors, such as are soft or cheerful (except perhaps a strong red, +which is cheerful) are unfit to produce grand images. An immense +mountain covered with a shining green turf, is nothing, in this respect, +to one dark and gloomy; the cloudy sky is more grand than the blue; and +night more sublime and solemn than day. Therefore in historical +painting, a gay or gaudy drapery can never have a happy effect: and in +buildings, when the highest degree of the sublime is intended, the +materials and ornaments ought neither to be white, nor green, nor +yellow, nor blue, nor of a pale red, nor violet, nor spotted, but of +sad and fuscous colors, as black, or brown, or deep purple, and the +like. Much of gilding, mosaics, painting, or statues, contribute but +little to the sublime. This rule need not be put in practice, except +where an uniform degree of the most striking sublimity is to be +produced, and that in every particular; for it ought to be observed, +that this melancholy kind of greatness, though it be certainly the +highest, ought not to be studied in all sorts of edifices, where yet +grandeur must be studied; in such cases the sublimity must be drawn from +the other sources; with a strict caution however against anything light +and riant; as nothing so effectually deadens the whole taste of the +sublime. + + +SECTION XVII. + +SOUND AND LOUDNESS. + +The eye is not the only organ of sensation by which a sublime passion +may be produced. Sounds have a great power in these as in most other +passions. I do not mean words, because words do not affect simply by +their sounds, but by means altogether different. Excessive loudness +alone is sufficient to overpower the soul, to suspend its action, and to +fill it with terror. The noise of vast cataracts, raging storms, +thunder, or artillery, awakes a great and awful sensation in the mind, +though we can observe no nicety or artifice in those sorts of music. The +shouting of multitudes has a similar effect; and by the sole strength of +the sound, so amazes and confounds the imagination, that, in this +staggering and hurry of the mind, the best established tempers can +scarcely forbear being borne down, and joining in the common cry, and +common resolution of the crowd. + + +SECTION XVIII. + +SUDDENNESS. + +A sudden beginning, or sudden cessation of sound of any considerable +force, has the same power. The attention is roused by this; and the +faculties driven forward, as it were, on their guard. Whatever, either +in sights or sounds, makes the transition from one extreme to the other +easy, causes no terror, and consequently can be no cause of greatness. +In everything sudden and unexpected, we are apt to start; that is, we +have a perception of danger, and our nature rouses us to guard against +it. It may be observed that a single sound of some strength, though but +of short duration, if repeated after intervals, has a grand effect. Few +things are more awful than the striking of a great clock, when the +silence of the night prevents the attention from being too much +dissipated. The same may be said of a single stroke on a drum, repeated +with pauses; and of the successive firing of cannon at a distance. All +the effects mentioned in this section have causes very nearly alike. + + +SECTION XIX. + +INTERMITTING. + +A low, tremulous, intermitting sound, though it seems, in some respects, +opposite to that just mentioned, is productive of the sublime. It is +worth while to examine this a little. The fact itself must be determined +by every man's own experience and reflection. I have already observed, +that night[22] increases our terror, more perhaps than anything else; it +is our nature, when we do not know what may happen to us, to fear the +worst that can happen; and hence it is that uncertainty is so terrible, +that we often seek to be rid of it, at the hazard of a certain mischief. +Now some low, confused, uncertain sounds, leave us in the same fearful +anxiety concerning their causes, that no light, or an uncertain light, +does concerning the objects that surround us. + + Quale per incertam lunam sub luce maligna + Est iter in sylvis. + + "A faint shadow of uncertain light, + Like as a lamp, whose life doth fade away; + Or as the moon clothed with cloudy night + Doth show to him who walks in fear and great affright." + + SPENSER. + +But light now appearing, and now leaving us, and so off and on, is even +more terrible than total darkness; and a sort of uncertain sounds are, +when the necessary dispositions concur, more alarming than a total +silence. + + +SECTION XX. + +THE CRIES OF ANIMALS. + +Such sounds as imitate the natural inarticulate voices of men, or any +animals in pain or danger, are capable of conveying great ideas; unless +it be the well-known voice of some creature, on which we are used to +look with contempt. The angry tones of wild beasts are equally capable +of causing a great and awful sensation. + + Hinc exaudiri gemitus, iraeque leonum + Vincia recusantum, et sera sub nocte rudentum; + Setigerique sues, atque in praesepibus ursi + Saevire; et formae magnorum ululare luporam. + +It might seem that those modulations of sound carry some connection with +the nature of the things they represent, and are not merely arbitrary; +because the natural cries of all animals, even of those animals with +whom we have not been acquainted, never fail to make themselves +sufficiently understood; this cannot be said of language. The +modifications of sound, which may be productive of the sublime, are +almost infinite. Those I have mentioned are only a few instances to show +on what principles they are all built. + + +SECTION XXI. + +SMELL AND TASTE.--BITTERS AND STENCHES. + +_Smells_ and _tastes_ have some share too in ideas of greatness; but it +is a small one, weak in its nature, and confined in its operations. I +shall only observe that no smells or tastes can produce a grand +sensation, except excessive bitters, and intolerable stenches. It is +true that these affections of the smell and taste, when they are in +their full force, and lean directly upon the sensory, are simply +painful, and accompanied with no sort of delight; but when they are +moderated, as in a description or narrative, they become sources of the +sublime, as genuine as any other, and upon the very same principle of a +moderated pain. "A cup of bitterness"; "to drain the bitter cup of +fortune"; "the bitter apples of Sodom"; these are all ideas suitable to +a sublime description. Nor is this passage of Virgil without sublimity, +where the stench of the vapor in Albunea conspires so happily with the +sacred horror and gloominess of that prophetic forest: + + At rex sollicitus monstris oracula Fauni + Fatidici genitoris adit, lucosque sub alta + Consulit Albunea, nemorum quae maxima sacro + Fonte sonat; _saevamque exhalat opaca Mephitim_. + +In the sixth book, and in a very sublime description, the poisonous +exhalation of Acheron is not forgotten, nor does it at all disagree with +the other images amongst which it is introduced: + + Spelunca _alta_ fuit, _vastoque immanis_ hiatu + Scrupea, tuta _lacu nigro_, nemorumque _tenebris_; + Quam super haud ullae poterant impune volantes + Tendere iter pennis: _talis sese halitus atris_ + _Faucibus effundens supera ad convexa ferebat_. + +I have added these examples, because some friends, for whose judgment I +have great deference, were of opinion that if the sentiment stood +nakedly by itself, it would be subject, at first view, to burlesque and +ridicule; but this I imagine would principally arise from considering +the bitterness and stench in company with mean and contemptible ideas, +with which it must be owned they are often united; such an union +degrades the sublime in all other instances as well as in those. But it +is one of the tests by which the sublimity of an image is to be tried, +not whether it becomes mean when associated with mean ideas; but +whether, when united with images of an allowed grandeur, the whole +composition is supported with dignity. Things which are terrible are +always great; but when things possess disagreeable qualities, or such +as have indeed some degree of danger, but of a danger easily overcome, +they are merely _odious_; as toads and spiders. + + +SECTION XXII. + +FEELING.--PAIN. + +Of _feeling_ little more can be said than that the idea of bodily pain, +in all the modes and degrees of labor, pain, anguish, torment, is +productive of the sublime; and nothing else in this sense can produce +it. I need not give here any fresh instances, as those given in the +former sections abundantly illustrate a remark that, in reality, wants +only an attention to nature, to be made by everybody. + +Having thus run through the causes of the sublime with reference to all +the senses, my first observation (Sect. 7) will be found very nearly +true; that the sublime is an idea belonging to self-preservation; that +it is, therefore, one of the most affecting we have; that its strongest +emotion is an emotion of distress; and that no pleasure[23] from a +positive cause belongs to it. Numberless examples, besides those +mentioned, might be brought in support of these truths, and many perhaps +useful consequences drawn from them-- + + Sed fugit interea, fugit irrevocabile tempus, + Singula dum capti circumvectamur amore. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[11] Part I. sect. 3, 4, 7. + +[12] Part IV. sect. 3, 4, 5, 6. + +[13] Part IV. sect. 14, 15, 16. + +[14] Part V. + +[15] Part I. sect. 7. + +[16] Vide Part III. sect. 21. + +[17] Part IV. sect. 9. + +[18] Part IV. sect. 11. + +[19] Part IV. sect. 13. + +[20] Mr. Addison, in the Spectators concerning the pleasures of the +imagination, thinks it is because in the rotund at one glance you see +half the building. This I do not imagine to be the real cause. + +[21] Part IV. sect. 4, 5, 6. + +[22] Sect. 3. + +[23] Vide Part I. sect. 6. + + + + +PART III. + + +SECTION I. + +OF BEAUTY. + +It is my design to consider beauty as distinguished from the sublime; +and, in the course of the inquiry, to examine how far it is consistent +with it. But previous to this, we must take a short review of the +opinions already entertained of this quality; which I think are hardly +to be reduced to any fixed principles; because men are used to talk of +beauty in a figurative manner, that is to say, in a manner extremely +uncertain, and indeterminate. By beauty, I mean that quality, or those +qualities in bodies, by which they cause love, or some passion similar +to it. I confine this definition to the merely sensible qualities of +things, for the sake of preserving the utmost simplicity in a subject, +which must always distract us whenever we take in those various causes +of sympathy which attach us to any persons or things from secondary +considerations, and not from the direct force which they have merely on +being viewed. I likewise distinguish love, (by which I mean that +satisfaction which arises to the mind upon contemplating anything +beautiful, of whatsoever nature it may be,) from desire or lust; which +is an energy of the mind, that hurries us on to the possession of +certain objects, that do not affect us as they are beautiful, but by +means altogether different. We shall have a strong desire for a woman of +no remarkable beauty; whilst the greatest beauty in men, or in other +animals, though it causes love, yet excites nothing at all of desire. +Which shows that beauty, and the passion caused by beauty, which I call +love, is different from desire, though desire may sometimes operate +along with it; but it is to this latter that we must attribute those +violent and tempestuous passions, and the consequent emotions of the +body which attend what is called love in some of its ordinary +acceptations, and not to the effects of beauty merely as it is such. + + +SECTION II. + +PROPORTION NOT THE CAUSE OF BEAUTY IN VEGETABLES. + +Beauty hath usually been said to consist in certain proportions of +parts. On considering the matter, I have great reason to doubt, whether +beauty be at all an idea belonging to proportion. Proportion relates +almost wholly to convenience, as every idea of order seems to do; and it +must therefore be considered as a creature of the understanding, rather +than a primary cause acting on the senses and imagination. It is not by +the force of long attention and inquiry that we find any object to be +beautiful; beauty demands no assistance from our reasoning; even the +will is unconcerned; the appearance of beauty as effectually causes some +degree of love in us, as the application of ice or fire produces the +ideas of heat or cold. To gain something like a satisfactory conclusion +in this point, it were well to examine what proportion is; since several +who make use of that word do not always seem to understand very clearly +the force of the term, nor to have very distinct ideas concerning the +thing itself. Proportion is the measure of relative quantity. Since all +quantity is divisible, it is evident that every distinct part into which +any quantity is divided must bear some relation to the other parts, or +to the whole. These relations give an origin to the idea of proportion. +They are discovered by mensuration, and they are the objects of +mathematical inquiry. But whether any part of any determinate quantity +be a fourth, or a fifth, or a sixth, or a moiety of the whole; or +whether it be of equal length with any other part, or double its length, +or but one half, is a matter merely indifferent to the mind; it stands +neuter in the question: and it is from this absolute indifference and +tranquillity of the mind, that mathematical speculations derive some of +their most considerable advantages; because there is nothing to interest +the imagination; because the judgment sits free and unbiassed to examine +the point. All proportions, every arrangement of quantity, is alike to +the understanding, because the same truths result to it from all; from +greater, from lesser, from equality and inequality. But surely beauty is +no idea belonging to mensuration; nor has it anything to do with +calculation and geometry. If it had, we might then point out some +certain measures which we could demonstrate to be beautiful, either as +simply considered, or as related to others; and we could call in those +natural objects, for whose beauty we have no voucher but the sense, to +this happy standard, and confirm the voice of our passions by the +determination of our reason. But since we have not this help, let us see +whether proportion can in any sense be considered as the cause of +beauty, as hath been so generally, and, by some, so confidently +affirmed. If proportion be one of the constituents of beauty, it must +derive that power either from some natural properties inherent in +certain measures, which operate mechanically; from the operation of +custom; or from the fitness which some measures have to answer some +particular ends of conveniency. Our business therefore is to inquire, +whether the parts of those objects, which are found beautiful in the +vegetable or animal kingdoms, are constantly so formed according to such +certain measures, as may serve to satisfy us that their beauty results +from those measures, on the principle of a natural mechanical cause; or +from custom; or, in fine, from their fitness for any determinate +purposes. I intend to examine this point under each of these heads in +their order. But before I proceed further, I hope it will not be thought +amiss, if I lay down the rules which governed me in this inquiry, and +which have misled me in it, if I have gone astray. 1. If two bodies +produce the same or a similar effect on the mind, and on examination +they are found to agree in some of their properties, and to differ in +others; the common effect is to be attributed to the properties in which +they agree, and not to those in which they differ. 2. Not to account for +the effect of a natural object from the effect of an artificial object. +3. Not to account for the effect of any natural object from a conclusion +of our reason concerning its uses, if a natural cause may be assigned. +4. Not to admit any determinate quantity, or any relation of quantity, +as the cause of a certain effect, if the effect is produced by different +or opposite measures and relations; or if these measures and relations +may exist, and yet the effect may not be produced. These are the rules +which I have chiefly followed, whilst I examined into the power of +proportion considered as a natural cause; and these, if he thinks them +just, I request the reader to carry with him throughout the following +discussion; whilst we inquire, in the first place, in what things we +find this quality of beauty; next, to see whether in these we can find +any assignable proportions in such a manner as ought to convince us that +our idea of beauty results from them. We shall consider this pleasing +power as it appears in vegetables, in the inferior animals, and in man. +Turning our eyes to the vegetable creation, we find nothing there so +beautiful as flowers; but flowers are almost of every sort of shape, and +of every sort of disposition; they are turned and fashioned into an +infinite variety of forms; and from these forms botanists have given +them their names, which are almost as various. What proportion do we +discover between the stalks and the leaves of flowers, or between the +leaves and the pistils? How does the slender stalk of the rose agree +with the bulky head under which it bends? but the rose is a beautiful +flower; and can we undertake to say that it does not owe a great deal of +its beauty even to that disproportion; the rose is a large flower, yet +it grows upon a small shrub; the flower of the apple is very small, and +grows upon a large tree; yet the rose and the apple blossom are both +beautiful, and the plants that bear them are most engagingly attired, +notwithstanding this disproportion. What by general consent is allowed +to be a more beautiful object than an orange-tree, nourishing at once +with its leaves, its blossoms, and its fruit? but it is in vain that we +search here for any proportion between the height, the breadth, or +anything else concerning the dimensions of the whole, or concerning the +relation of the particular parts to each other. I grant that we may +observe in many flowers something of a regular figure, and of a +methodical disposition of the leaves. The rose has such a figure and +such a disposition of its petals; but in an oblique view, when this +figure is in a good measure lost, and the order of the leaves +confounded, it yet retains its beauty; the rose is even more beautiful +before it is full blown; in the bud; before this exact figure is formed; +and this is not the only instance wherein method and exactness, the soul +of proportion, are found rather prejudicial than serviceable to the +cause of beauty. + + +SECTION III. + +PROPORTION NOT THE CAUSE OF BEAUTY IN ANIMALS. + +That proportion has but a small share in the formation of beauty is full +as evident among animals. Here the greatest variety of shapes and +dispositions of parts are well fitted to excite this idea. The swan, +confessedly a beautiful bird, has a neck longer than the rest of his +body, and but a very short tail: is this a beautiful proportion? We must +allow that it is. But then what shall we say to the peacock, who has +comparatively but a short neck, with a tail longer than the neck and the +rest of the body taken together? How many birds are there that vary +infinitely from each of these standards, and from every other which you +can fix; with proportions different, and often directly opposite to each +other! and yet many of these birds are extremely beautiful; when upon +considering them we find nothing in any one part that might determine +us, _a priori_, to say what the others ought to be, nor indeed to guess +anything about them, but what experience might show to be full of +disappointment and mistake. And with regard to the colors either of +birds or flowers, for there is something similar in the coloring of +both, whether they are considered in their extension or gradation, there +is nothing of proportion to be observed. Some are of but one single +color; others have all the colors of the rainbow; some are of the +primary colors, others are of the mixed; in short, an attentive observer +may soon conclude that there is as little of proportion in the coloring +as in the shapes of these objects. Turn next to beasts; examine the head +of a beautiful horse; find what proportion that bears to his body, and +to his limbs, and what relation these have to each other; and when you +have settled these proportions as a standard of beauty, then take a dog +or cat, or any other animal, and examine how far the same proportions +between their heads and their necks, between those and the body, and so +on, are found to hold; I think we may safely say, that they differ in +every species, yet that there are individuals, found in a great many +species so differing, that have a very striking beauty. Now, if it be +allowed that very different, and even contrary forms and dispositions +are consistent with beauty, it amounts I believe to a concession, that +no certain measures, operating from a natural principle, are necessary +to produce it; at least so far as the brute species is concerned. + + +SECTION IV. + +PROPORTION NOT THE CAUSE OF BEAUTY IN THE HUMAN SPECIES. + +There are some parts of the human body that are observed to hold certain +proportions to each other; but before it can be proved that the +efficient cause of beauty lies in these, it must be shown that, wherever +these are found exact, the person to whom they belong is beautiful: I +mean in the effect produced on the view, either of any member distinctly +considered, or of the whole body together. It must be likewise shown, +that these parts stand in such a relation to each other, that the +comparison between them may be easily made, and that the affection of +the mind may naturally result from it. For my part, I have at several +times very carefully examined many of those proportions, and found them +hold very nearly, or altogether alike in many subjects, which were not +only very different from one another, but where one has been very +beautiful, and the other very remote from beauty. With regard to the +parts which are found so proportioned, they are often so remote from +each other, in situation, nature, and office, that I cannot see how they +admit of any comparison, nor consequently how any effect owing to +proportion can result from them. The neck, say they, in beautiful +bodies, should measure with the calf of the leg; it should likewise be +twice the circumference of the wrist. And an infinity of observations of +this kind are to be found in the writings and conversations of many. But +what relation has the calf of the leg to the neck; or either of these +parts to the wrist? These proportions are certainly to be found in +handsome bodies. They are as certainly in ugly ones; as any who will +take the pains to try may find. Nay, I do not know but they may be least +perfect in some of the most beautiful. You may assign any proportions +you please to every part of the human body; and I undertake that a +painter shall religiously observe them all, and notwithstanding produce, +if he pleases, a very ugly figure. The same painter shall considerably +deviate from these proportions, and produce a very beautiful one. And, +indeed, it may be observed in the masterpieces of the ancient and modern +statuary, that several of them differ very widely from the proportions +of others, in parts very conspicuous and of great consideration; and +that they differ no less from the proportions we find in living men, of +forms extremely striking and agreeable. And after all, how are the +partisans of proportional beauty agreed amongst themselves about the +proportions of the human body? Some hold it to be seven heads; some make +it eight; whilst others extend it even to ten: a vast difference in such +a small number of divisions! Others take other methods of estimating the +proportions, and all with equal success. But are these proportions +exactly the same in all handsome men? or are they at all the proportions +found in beautiful women? Nobody will say that they are; yet both sexes +are undoubtedly capable of beauty, and the female of the greatest; which +advantage I believe will hardly be attributed to the superior exactness +of proportion in the fair sex. Let us rest a moment on this point; and +consider how much difference there is between the measures that prevail +in many similar parts of the body, in the two sexes of this single +species only. If you assign any determinate proportions to the limbs of +a man, and if you limit human beauty to these proportions, when you find +a woman who differs in the make and measures of almost every part, you +must conclude her not to be beautiful, in spite of the suggestions of +your imagination; or, in obedience to your imagination, you must +renounce your rules; you must lay by the scale and compass, and look out +for some other cause of beauty. For if beauty be attached to certain +measures which operate from a _principle in nature_, why should similar +parts with different measures of proportion be found to have beauty, and +this too in the very same species? But to open our view a little, it is +worth observing, that almost all animals have parts of very much the +same nature, and destined nearly to the same purposes; a head, neck, +body, feet, eyes, ears, nose, and mouth; yet Providence, to provide in +the best manner for their several wants, and to display the riches of +his wisdom and goodness in his creation, has worked out of these few and +similar organs, and members, a diversity hardly short of infinite in +their disposition, measures and relation. But, as we have before +observed, amidst this infinite diversity, one particular is common to +many species: several of the individuals which compose them are capable +of affecting us with a sense of loveliness: and whilst they agree in +producing this effect, they differ extremely in the relative measures of +those parts which have produced it. These considerations were sufficient +to induce me to reject the notion of any particular proportions that +operated by nature to produce a pleasing effect; but those who will +agree with me with regard to a particular proportion, are strongly +prepossessed in favor of one more indefinite. They imagine, that +although beauty in general is annexed to no certain measures common to +the several kinds of pleasing plants and animals; yet that there is a +certain proportion in each species absolutely essential to the beauty of +that particular kind. If we consider the animal world in general, we +find beauty confined to no certain measures; but as some peculiar +measure and relation of parts is what distinguishes each peculiar class +of animals, it must of necessity be, that the beautiful in each kind +will be found in the measures and proportions of that kind; for +otherwise it would deviate from its proper species, and become in some +sort monstrous: however, no species is so strictly confined to any +certain proportions, that there is not a considerable variation amongst +the individuals; and as it has been shown of the human, so it may be +shown of the brute kinds, that beauty is found indifferently in all the +proportions which each kind can admit, without quitting its common form; +and it is this idea of a common form that makes the proportion of parts +at all regarded, and not the operation of any natural cause: indeed a +little consideration will make it appear, that it is not measure, but +manner, that creates all the beauty which belongs to shape. What light +do we borrow from these boasted proportions, when we study ornamental +design? It seems amazing to me, that artists, if they were as well +convinced as they pretend to be, that proportion is a principal cause of +beauty, have not by them at all times accurate measurements of all sorts +of beautiful animals to help them to proper proportions, when they would +contrive anything elegant; especially as they frequently assert that it +is from an observation of the beautiful in nature they direct their +practice. I know that it has been said long since, and echoed backward +and forward from one writer to another a thousand times, that the +proportions of building have been taken from those of the human body. To +make this forced analogy complete, they represent a man with his arms +raised and extended at full length, and then describe a sort of square, +as it is formed by passing lines along the extremities of this strange +figure. But it appears very clearly to me that the human figure never +supplied the architect with any of his ideas. For, in the first place, +men are very rarely seen in this strained posture; it is not natural to +them; neither is it at all becoming. Secondly, the view of the human +figure so disposed, does not naturally suggest the idea of a square, but +rather of a cross; as that large space be tween the arms and the ground +must be filled with something before it can make anybody think of a +square. Thirdly, several buildings are by no means of the form of that +particular square, which are notwithstanding planned by the best +architects, and produce an effect altogether as good, and perhaps a +better. And certainly nothing could he more unaccountably whimsical, +than for an architect to model his performance by the human figure, +since no two things can have less resemblance or analogy, than a man, +and a house or temple: do we need to observe that their purposes are +entirely different? What I am apt to suspect is this: that these +analogies were devised to give a credit to the works of art, by showing +a conformity between them and the noblest works in nature; not that the +latter served at all to supply hints for the perfection of the former. +And I am the more fully convinced, that the patrons of proportion have +transferred their artificial ideas to nature, and not borrowed from +thence the proportions they use in works of art; because in any +discussion of this subject they always quit as soon as possible the open +field of natural beauties, the animal and vegetable kingdoms, and +fortify themselves within the artificial lines and angles of +architecture. For there is in mankind an unfortunate propensity to make +themselves, their views, and their works, the measure of excellence in +everything whatsoever. Therefore having observed that their dwellings +were most commodious and firm when they were thrown into regular +figures, with parts answerable to each other; they transferred these +ideas to their gardens; they turned their trees into pillars, pyramids, +and obelisks; they formed their hedges into so many green walls, and +fashioned their walks into squares, triangles, and other mathematical +figures, with exactness and symmetry; and they thought, if they were not +imitating, they were at least improving nature, and teaching her to know +her business. But nature has at last escaped from their discipline and +their fetters; and our gardens, if nothing else, declare, we begin to +feel that mathematical ideas are not the true measures of beauty. And +surely they are full as little so in the animal as the vegetable world. +For is it not extraordinary, that in these fine descriptive pieces, +these innumerable odes and elegies which are in the mouths of all the +world, and many of which have been the entertainment of ages, that in +these pieces which describe love with such a passionate energy, and +represent its object in such an infinite variety of lights, not one word +is said of proportion, if it be, what some insist it is, the principal +component of beauty; whilst, at the same time, several other qualities +are very frequently and warmly mentioned? But if proportion has not this +power, it may appear odd how men came originally to be so prepossessed +in its favor. It arose, I imagine, from the fondness I have just +mentioned, which men bear so remarkably to their own works and notions; +it arose from false reasonings on the effects of the customary figure of +animals; it arose from the Platonic theory of fitness and aptitude. For +which reason, in the next section, I shall consider the effects of +custom in the figure of animals; and afterwards the idea of fitness: +since if proportion does not operate by a natural power attending some +measures, it must be either by custom, or the idea of utility; there is +no other way. + + +SECTION V. + +PROPORTION FURTHER CONSIDERED. + +If I am not mistaken, a great deal of the prejudice in favor of +proportion has arisen, not so much from the observation of any certain +measures found in beautiful bodies, as from a wrong idea of the relation +which deformity bears to beauty, to which it has been considered as the +opposite; on this principle it was concluded that where the causes of +deformity were removed, beauty must naturally and necessarily be +introduced. This I believe is a mistake. For _deformity_ is opposed not +to beauty, but to the _complete common form_. If one of the legs of a +man be found shorter than the other, the man is deformed; because there +is something wanting to complete the whole idea we form of a man; and +this has the same effect in natural faults, as maiming and mutilation +produce from accidents. So if the back be humped, the man is deformed; +because his back has an unusual figure, and what carries with it the +idea of some disease or misfortune; So if a man's neck be considerably +longer or shorter than usual, we say he is deformed in that part, +because men are not commonly made in that manner. But surely every +hour's experience may convince us that a man may have his legs of an +equal length, and resembling each other in all respects, and his neck of +a just size, and his back quite straight, without having at the same +time the least perceivable beauty. Indeed beauty is so far from +belonging to the idea of custom, that in reality what affects us in that +manner is extremely rare and uncommon. The beautiful strikes us as much +by its novelty as the deformed itself. It is thus in those species of +animals with which we are acquainted; and if one of a new species were +represented, we should by no means wait until custom had settled an idea +of proportion, before we decided concerning its beauty or ugliness: +which shows that the general idea of beauty can be no more owing to +customary than to natural proportion. Deformity arises from the want of +the common proportions; but the necessary result of their existence in +any object is not beauty. If we suppose proportion in natural things to +be relative to custom and use, the nature of use and custom will show +that beauty, which is a _positive_ and powerful quality, cannot result +from it. We are so wonderfully formed, that, whilst we are creatures +vehemently desirous of novelty, we are as strongly attached to habit and +custom. But it is the nature of things which hold us by custom, to +affect us very little whilst we are in possession of them, but strongly +when they are absent. I remember to have frequented a certain place, +every day for a long time together; and I may truly say that, so far +from finding pleasure in it, I was affected with a sort of weariness and +disgust; I came, I went, I returned, without pleasure; yet if by any +means I passed by the usual time of my going thither, I was remarkably +uneasy, and was not quiet till I had got into my old track. They who use +snuff, take it almost without being sensible that they take it, and the +acute sense of smell is deadened, so as to feel hardly anything from so +sharp a stimulus; yet deprive the snuff-taker of his box, and he is the +most uneasy mortal in the world. Indeed so far are use and habit from +being causes of pleasure merely as such, that the effect of constant use +is to make all things of whatever kind entirely unaffecting. For as use +at last takes off the painful effect of many things, it reduces the +pleasurable effect in others in the same manner, and brings both to a +sort of mediocrity and indifference. Very justly is use called a second +nature; and our natural and common state is one of absolute +indifference, equally prepared for pain or pleasure. But when we are +thrown out of this state, or deprived of anything requisite to maintain +us in it; when this chance does not happen by pleasure from some +mechanical cause, we are always hurt. It is so with the second nature, +custom, in all things which relate to it. Thus the want of the usual +proportions in men and other animals is sure to disgust, though their +presence is by no means any cause of real pleasure. It is true that the +proportions laid down as causes of beauty in the human body, are +frequently found in beautiful ones, because they are generally found in +all mankind; but if it can be shown too that they are found without +beauty, and that beauty frequently exists without them, and that this +beauty, where it exists, always can be assigned to other less equivocal +causes, it will naturally lead us to conclude that proportion and beauty +are not ideas of the same nature. The true opposite to beauty is not +disproportion or deformity, but _ugliness_: and as it proceeds from +causes opposite to those of positive beauty, we cannot consider it until +we come to treat of that. Between beauty and ugliness there is a sort of +mediocrity, in which the assigned proportions are most commonly found; +but this has no effect upon the passions. + + +SECTION VI. + +FITNESS NOT THE CAUSE OF BEAUTY. + +It is said that the idea of utility, or of a part's being well adapted +to answer its end, is the cause of beauty, or indeed beauty itself. If +it were not for this opinion, it had been impossible for the doctrine of +proportion to have held its ground very long; the world would be soon +weary of hearing of measures which related to nothing, either of a +natural principle, or of a fitness to answer some end; the idea which +mankind most commonly conceive of proportion, is the suitableness of +means to certain ends, and, where this is not the question, very seldom +trouble themselves about the effect of different measures of things. +Therefore it was necessary for this theory to insist that not only +artificial, but natural objects took their beauty from the fitness of +the parts for their several purposes. But in framing this theory, I am +apprehensive that experience was not sufficiently consulted. For, on +that principle, the wedge-like snout of a swine, with its tough +cartilage at the end, the little sunk eyes, and the whole make of the +head, so well adapted to its offices of digging and rooting, would be +extremely beautiful. The great bag hanging to the bill of a pelican, a +thing highly useful to this animal, would be likewise as beautiful in +our eyes. The hedge-hog, so well secured against all assaults by his +prickly hide, and the porcupine with his missile quills, would be then +considered as creatures of no small elegance. There are few animals +whose parts are better contrived than those of a monkey: he has the +hands of a man, joined to the springy limbs of a beast; he is admirably +calculated for running, leaping, grappling, and climbing; and yet there +are few animals which seem to have less beauty in the eyes of all +mankind. I need say little on the trunk of the elephant, of such various +usefulness, and which is so far from contributing to his beauty. How +well fitted is the wolf for running and leaping! how admirably is the +lion armed for battle! but will any one therefore call the elephant, the +wolf, and the lion, beautiful animals? I believe nobody will think the +form of a man's leg so well adapted to running, as those of a horse, a +dog, a deer, and several other creatures; at least they have not that +appearance: yet, I believe, a well-fashioned human leg will be allowed +to far exceed all these in beauty. If the fitness of parts was what +constituted the loveliness of their form, the actual employment of them +would undoubtedly much augment it; but this, though it is sometimes so +upon another principle, is far from being always the case. A bird on the +wing is not so beautiful as when it is perched; nay, there are several +of the domestic fowls which are seldom seen to fly, and which are +nothing the less beautiful on that account; yet birds are so extremely +different in their form from the beast and human kinds, that you cannot, +on the principle of fitness, allow them anything agreeable, but in +consideration of their parts being designed for quite other purposes. I +never in my life chanced to see a peacock fly; and yet before, very long +before I considered any aptitude in his form for the aerial life, I was +struck with the extreme beauty which raises that bird above many of the +best flying fowls in the world; though, for anything I saw, his way of +living was much like that of the swine, which fed in the farm-yard along +with him. The same may be said of cocks, hens, and the like; they are of +the flying kind in figure; in their manner of moving not very different +from men and beasts. To leave these foreign examples; if beauty in our +own species was annexed to use, men would be much more lovely than +women; and strength and agility would be considered as the only +beauties. But to call strength by the name of beauty, to have but one +denomination for the qualities of a Venus and Hercules, so totally +different in almost all respects, is surely a strange confusion of +ideas, or abuse of words. The cause of this confusion, I imagine, +proceeds from our frequently perceiving the parts of the human and other +animal bodies to be at once very beautiful, and very well adapted to +their purposes; and we are deceived by a sophism, which makes us take +that for a cause which is only a concomitant: this is the sophism of the +fly; who imagined he raised a great dust, because he stood upon the +chariot that really raised it. The stomach, the lungs, the liver, as +well as other parts, are incomparably well adapted to their purposes; +yet they are far from having any beauty. Again, many things are very +beautiful, in which it is impossible to discern any idea of use. And I +appeal to the first and most natural feelings of mankind, whether on +beholding a beautiful eye, or a well-fashioned mouth, or a well-turned +leg, any ideas of their being well fitted for seeing, eating, or +running, ever present themselves. What idea of use is it that flowers +excite, the most beautiful part of the vegetable world? It is true that +the infinitely wise and good Creator has, of his bounty, frequently +joined beauty to those things which he has made useful to us; but this +does not prove that an idea of use and beauty are the same thing, or +that they are any way dependent on each other. + + +SECTION VII. + +THE REAL EFFECTS OF FITNESS. + +When I excluded proportion and fitness from any share in beauty, I did +not by any means intend to say that they were of no value, or that they +ought to be disregarded in works of art. Works of art are the proper +sphere of their power; and here it is that they have their full effect. +Whenever the wisdom of our Creator intended that we should be affected +with anything, he did not confide the execution of his design to the +languid and precarious operation of our reason; but he endued it with +powers and properties that prevent the understanding, and even the will; +which, seizing upon the senses and imagination, captivate the soul, +before the understanding is ready either to join with them, or to +oppose them. It is by a long deduction, and much study, that we discover +the adorable wisdom of God in his works: when we discover it the effect +is very different, not only in the manner of acquiring it, but in its +own nature, from that which strikes us without any preparation from the +sublime or the beautiful. How different is the satisfaction of an +anatomist, who discovers the use of the muscles and of the skin, the +excellent contrivance of the one for the various movements of the body, +and the wonderful texture of the other, at once a general covering, and +at once a general outlet as well as inlet; how different is this from +the affection which possesses an ordinary man at the sight of a +delicate, smooth skin, and all the other parts of beauty, which require +no investigation to be perceived! In the former case, whilst we look up +to the Maker with admiration and praise, the object which causes it may +be odious and distasteful; the latter very often so touches us by its +power on the imagination, that we examine but little into the artifice +of its contrivance; and we have need of a strong effort of our reason to +disentangle our minds from the allurements of the object, to a +consideration of that wisdom which invented so powerful a machine. The +effect of proportion and fitness, at least so far as they proceed from a +mere consideration of the work itself, produce approbation, the +acquiescence of the understanding, but not love, nor any passion of that +species. When we examine the structure of a watch, when we come to know +thoroughly the use of every part of it, satisfied as we are with the +fitness of the whole, we are far enough from perceiving anything like +beauty in the watch-work itself; but let us look on the case, the labor +of some curious artist in engraving, with little or no idea of use, we +shall have a much livelier idea of beauty than we ever could have had +from the watch itself, though the masterpiece of Graham. In beauty, as I +said, the effect is previous to any knowledge of the use; but to judge +of proportion, we must know the end for which any work is designed. +According to the end, the proportion varies. Thus there is one +proportion of a tower, another of a house; one proportion of a gallery, +another of a hall, another of a chamber. To judge of the proportions of +these, you must be first acquainted with the purposes for which they +were designed. Good sense and experience acting together, find out what +is fit to be done in every work of art. We are rational creatures, and +in all our works we ought to regard their end and purpose; the +gratification of any passion, how innocent soever, ought only to be of +secondary consideration. Herein is placed the real power of fitness and +proportion; they operate on the understanding considering them, which +_approves_ the work and acquiesces in it. The passions, and the +imagination which principally raises them, have here very little to do. +When a room appears in its original nakedness, bare walls and a plain +ceiling: let its proportion be ever so excellent, it pleases very +little; a cold approbation is the utmost we can reach; a much worse +proportioned room with elegant mouldings and fine festoons, glasses, and +other merely ornamental furniture, will make the imagination revolt +against the reason; it will please much more than the naked proportion +of the first room, which the understanding has so much approved, as +admirably fitted for its purposes. What I have here said and before +concerning proportion, is by no means to persuade people absurdly to +neglect the idea of use in the works of art. It is only to show that +these excellent things, beauty and proportion, are not the same; not +that they should either of them be disregarded. + + +SECTION VIII. + +THE RECAPITULATION. + +On the whole; if such parts in human bodies as are found proportioned, +were likewise constantly found beautiful, as they certainly are not; or +if they were so situated, as that a pleasure might flow from the +comparison, which they seldom are; or if any assignable proportions were +found, either in plants or animals, which were always attended with +beauty, which never was the case; or if, where parts were well adapted +to their purposes, they were constantly beautiful, and when no use +appeared, there was no beauty, which is contrary to all experience; we +might conclude that beauty consisted in proportion or utility. But +since, in all respects, the case is quite otherwise; we may be satisfied +that beauty does not depend on these, let it owe its origin to what else +it will. + + +SECTION IX. + +PERFECTION NOT THE CAUSE OF BEAUTY. + +There is another notion current, pretty closely allied to the former; +that _perfection_ is the constituent cause of beauty. This opinion has +been made to extend much further than to sensible objects. But in +these, so far is perfection, considered as such, from being the cause of +beauty; that this quality, where it is highest, in the female sex, +almost always carries with it an idea of weakness and imperfection. +Women are very sensible of this; for which reason they learn to lisp, to +totter in their walk, to counterfeit weakness, and even sickness. In all +this they are guided by nature. Beauty in distress is much the most +affecting beauty. Blushing has little less power; and modesty in +general, which is a tacit allowance of imperfection, is itself +considered as an amiable quality, and certainly heightens every other +that is so. I know it is in every body's mouth, that we ought to love +perfection. This is to me a sufficient proof, that it is not the proper +object of love. Who ever said we _ought_ to love a fine woman, or even +any of these beautiful animals which please us? Here to be affected, +there is no need of the concurrence of our will. + + +SECTION X. + +HOW FAR THE IDEA OF BEAUTY MAY BE APPLIED TO THE QUALITIES OF THE MIND. + +Nor is this remark in general less applicable to the qualities of the +mind. Those virtues which cause admiration, and are of the sublimer +kind, produce terror rather than love; such as fortitude, justice, +wisdom, and the like. Never was any man amiable by force of these +qualities. Those which engage our hearts, which impress us with a sense +of loveliness, are the softer virtues; easiness of temper, compassion, +kindness, and liberality; though certainly those latter are of less +immediate and momentous concern to society, and of less dignity. But it +is for that reason that they are so amiable. The great virtues turn +principally on dangers, punishments, and troubles, and are exercised, +rather in preventing the worst mischiefs, than in dispensing favors; and +are therefore not lovely, though highly venerable. The subordinate turn +on reliefs, gratifications, and indulgences; and are therefore more +lovely, though inferior in dignity. Those persons who creep into the +hearts of most people, who are chosen as the companions of their softer +hours, and their reliefs from care and anxiety, are never persons of +shining qualities or strong virtues. It is rather the soft green of the +soul on which we rest our eyes, that are fatigued with beholding more +glaring objects. It is worth observing how we feel ourselves affected in +reading the characters of Caesar and Cato, as they are so finely drawn +and contrasted in Sallust. In one the _ignoscendo largiundo_; in the +other, _nil largiundo_. In one, the _miseris perfugium_; in the other, +_malis perniciem_. In the latter we have much to admire, much to +reverence, and perhaps something to fear; we respect him, but we respect +him at a distance. The former makes us familiar with him; we love him, +and he leads us whither he pleases. To draw things closer to our first +and most natural feelings, I will add a remark made upon reading this +section by an ingenious friend. The authority of a father, so useful to +our well-being, and so justly venerable upon all accounts, hinders us +from having that entire love for him that we have for our mothers, where +the parental authority is almost melted down into the mother's fondness +and indulgence. But we generally have a great love for our +grandfathers, in whom this authority is removed a degree from us, and +where the weakness of age mellows it into something of a feminine +partiality. + + +SECTION XI. + +HOW FAR THE IDEA OF BEAUTY MAY BE APPLIED TO VIRTUE. + +From what has been said in the foregoing section, we may easily see how +far the application of beauty to virtue may be made with propriety. The +general application of this quality to virtue has a strong tendency to +confound our ideas of things, and it has given rise to an infinite deal +of whimsical theory; as the affixing the name of beauty to proportion, +congruity, and perfection, as well as to qualities of things yet more +remote from our natural ideas of it, and from one another, has tended to +confound our ideas of beauty, and left us no standard or rule to judge +by, that was not even more uncertain and fallacious than our own +fancies. This loose and inaccurate manner of speaking has therefore +misled us both in the theory of taste and of morals; and induced us to +remove the science of our duties from their proper basis (our reason, +our relations, and our necessities), to rest it upon, foundations +altogether visionary and unsubstantial. + + +SECTION XII. + +THE REAL CAUSE OF BEAUTY. + +Having endeavored to show what beauty is not, it remains that we should +examine, at least with equal attention, in what it really consists. +Beauty is a thing much too affecting not to depend upon some positive +qualities. And since it is no creature of our reason, since it strikes +us without any reference to use, and even where no use at all can be +discerned, since the order and method of nature is generally very +different from our measures and proportions, we must conclude that +beauty is, for the greater part, some quality in bodies acting +mechanically upon the human mind by the intervention of the senses. We +ought, therefore, to consider attentively in what manner those sensible +qualities are disposed, in such things as by experience we find +beautiful, or which excite in us the passion of love, or some +correspondent affection. + + +SECTION XIII. + +BEAUTIFUL OBJECTS SMALL. + +The most obvious point that presents itself to us in examining any +object is its extent or quantity. And what degree of extent prevails in +bodies that are held beautiful, may be gathered from the usual manner of +expression concerning it. I am told that, in most languages, the objects +of love are spoken of under diminutive epithets. It is so in all the +languages of which I have any knowledge. In Greek the [Greek: ion] and +other diminutive terms are almost always the terms of affection and +tenderness. These diminutives were commonly added by the Greeks to the +names of persons with whom they conversed on terms of friendship and +familiarity. Though the Romans were a people of less quick and delicate +feelings, yet they naturally slid into the lessening termination upon +the same occasions. Anciently, in the English language, the diminishing +_ling_ was added to the names of persons and things that were the +objects of love. Some we retain still, as _darling_ (or little dear), +and a few others. But to this day, in ordinary conversation, it is usual +to add the endearing name of _little_ to everything we love; the French +and Italians make use of these affectionate diminutives even more than +we. In the animal creation, out of our own species, it is the small we +are inclined to be fond of; little birds, and some of the smaller kinds +of beasts. A great beautiful thing is a manner of expression scarcely +ever used; but that of a great ugly thing is very common. There is a +wide difference between admiration and love. The sublime, which is the +cause of the former, always dwells on great objects, and terrible; the +latter on small ones, and pleasing; we submit to what we admire, but we +love what submits to us; in one case we are forced, in the other we are +flattered, into compliance. In short, the ideas of the sublime and the +beautiful stand on foundations so different, that it is hard, I had +almost said impossible, to think of reconciling them in the same +subject, without considerably lessening the effect of the one or the +other upon the passions. So that, attending to their quantity, beautiful +objects are comparatively small. + + +SECTION XIV. + +SMOOTHNESS. + +The next property constantly observable in such objects is +_smoothness_;[24] a quality so essential to beauty, that I do not now +recollect anything beautiful that is not smooth. In trees and flowers, +smooth leaves are beautiful; smooth slopes of earth in gardens; smooth +streams in the landscape; smooth coats of birds and beasts in animal +beauties; in fine women, smooth skins; and in several sorts of +ornamental furniture, smooth and polished surfaces. A very considerable +part of the effect of beauty is owing to this quality; indeed the most +considerable. For, take any beautiful object, and give it a broken, and +rugged surface; and, however well formed it may be in other respects, it +pleases no longer. Whereas, let it want ever so many of the other +constituents, if it wants not this, it becomes more pleasing than almost +all the others without it. This seems to me so evident, that I am a good +deal surprised that none who have handled the subject have made any +mention of the quality of smoothness in the enumeration of those that go +to the forming of beauty. For, indeed, any ruggedness, any sudden, +projection, any sharp angle, is in the highest degree contrary to that +idea. + + +SECTION XV. + +GRADUAL VARIATION. + +But as perfectly beautiful bodies are not composed of angular parts, so +their parts never continue long in the same right line.[25] They vary +their direction every moment, and they change under the eye by a +deviation continually carrying on, but for whose beginning or end you +will find it difficult to ascertain a point. The view of a beautiful +bird will illustrate this observation. Here we see the head increasing +insensibly to the middle, from whence it lessens gradually until it +mixes with the neck; the neck loses itself in a larger swell, which +continues to the middle of the body, when the whole decreases again to +the tail; the tail takes a new direction, but it soon varies its new +course, it blends again with the other parts, and the line is +perpetually changing, above, below, upon every side. In this description +I have before me the idea of a dove; it agrees very well with most of +the conditions of beauty. It is smooth and downy; its parts are (to use +that expression) melted into one another; you are presented with no +sudden protuberance through the whole, and yet the whole is continually +changing. Observe that part of a beautiful woman where she is perhaps +the most beautiful, about the neck and breasts; the smoothness, the +softness, the easy and insensible swell; the variety of the surface, +which is never for the smallest space the same; the deceitful maze +through which the unsteady eye slides giddily, without knowing where to +fix, or whither it is carried. Is not this a demonstration of that +change of surface, continual, and yet hardly perceptible at any point, +which forms one of the great constituents of beauty? It gives me no +small pleasure to find that I can strengthen my theory in this point by +the opinion of the very ingenious Mr. Hogarth, whose idea of the line of +beauty I take in general to be extremely just. But the idea of +variation, without attending so accurately to the _manner_ of the +variation, has led him to consider angular figures as beautiful; these +figures, it is true, vary greatly, yet they vary in a sudden and broken +manner, and I do not find any natural object which is angular, and at +the same time beautiful. Indeed, few natural objects are entirely +angular. But I think those which approach the most nearly to it are the +ugliest. I must add, too, that so for as I could observe of nature, +though the varied line is that alone in which complete beauty is found, +yet there is no particular line which is always found in the most +completely beautiful, and which is therefore beautiful in preference to +all other lines. At least I never could observe it. + + +SECTION XVI. + +DELICACY. + +An air of robustness and strength is very prejudicial to beauty. An +appearance of _delicacy_, and even of fragility, is almost essential to +it. Whoever examines the vegetable or animal creation will find this +observation to be founded in nature. It is not the oak, the ash, or the +elm, or any of the robust trees of the forest which we consider as +beautiful; they are awful and majestic, they inspire a sort of +reverence. It is the delicate myrtle, it is the orange, it is the +almond, it is the jasmine, it is the vine which we look on as vegetable +beauties. It is the flowery species, so remarkable for its weakness and +momentary duration, that gives us the liveliest idea of beauty and +elegance. Among animals, the greyhound is more beautiful than the +mastiff, and the delicacy of a jennet, a barb, or an Arabian horse, is +much more amiable than the strength and stability of some horses of war +or carriage. I need here say little of the fair sex, where I believe the +point will be easily allowed me. The beauty of women is considerably +owing to their weakness or delicacy, and is even enhanced by their +timidity, a quality of mind analogous to it. I would not here be +understood to say, that weakness betraying very bad health has any share +in beauty; but the ill effect of this is not because it is weakness, but +because the ill state of health, which produces such weakness, alters +the other conditions of beauty; the parts in such a case collapse, the +bright color, the _lumen purpureum juventae_ is gone, and the fine +variation is lost in wrinkles, sudden breaks, and right lines. + + +SECTION XVII. + +BEAUTY IN COLOR. + +As to the colors usually found in beautiful bodies, it may be somewhat +difficult to ascertain them, because, in the several parts of nature, +there is an infinite variety. However, even in this variety, we may mark +out something on which to settle. First, the colors of beautiful bodies +must not be dusky or muddy, but clean and fair. Secondly, they must not +be of the strongest kind. Those which seem most appropriated to beauty, +are the milder of every sort; light greens; soft blues; weak whites; +pink reds; and violets. Thirdly, if the colors be strong and vivid, they +are always diversified, and the object is never of one strong color; +there are almost always such a number of them (as in variegated flowers) +that the strength and glare of each is considerably abated. In a fine +complexion there is not only some variety in the coloring, but the +colors: neither the red nor the white are strong and glaring. Besides, +they are mixed in such a manner, and with such gradations, that it is +impossible to fix the bounds. On the same principle it is that the +dubious color in the necks and tails of peacocks, and about the heads of +drakes, is so very agreeable. In reality, the beauty both of shape and +coloring are as nearly related as we can well suppose it possible for +things of such different natures to be. + + +SECTION XVIII. + +RECAPITULATION. + +On the whole, the qualities of beauty, as they are merely sensible +qualities, are the following: First, to be comparatively small. +Secondly, to be smooth. Thirdly, to have a variety in the direction of +the parts; but, fourthly, to have those parts not angular, but melted, +as it were, into each other. Fifthly, to be of a delicate frame, without +any remarkable appearance of strength. Sixthly, to have its colors clear +and bright, but not very strong and glaring. Seventhly, or if it should +have any glaring color, to have it diversified with others. These are, I +believe, the properties on which beauty depends; properties that operate +by nature, and are less liable to be altered by caprice, or confounded +by a diversity of tastes, than any other. + + +SECTION XIX. + +THE PHYSIOGNOMY. + +The _physiognomy_ has a considerable share in beauty, especially in that +of our own species. The manners give a certain determination to the +countenance; which, being observed to correspond pretty regularly with +them, is capable of joining the effect of certain agreeable qualities of +the mind to those of the body. So that to form a finished human beauty, +and to give it its full influence, the face must be expressive of such +gentle and amiable qualities, as correspond with the softness, +smoothness, and delicacy of the outward form. + + +SECTION XX. + +THE EYE. + +I have hitherto purposely omitted to speak of the _eye_, which has so +great a share in the beauty of the animal creation, as it did not fall +so easily under the foregoing heads, though in fact it is reducible to +the same principles. I think, then, that the beauty of the eye consists, +first, in its _clearness_; what _colored_ eye shall please most, depends +a good deal on particular fancies; but none are pleased with an eye +whose water (to use that term) is dull and muddy.[26] We are pleased +with the eye in this view, on the principle upon which we like diamonds, +clear water, glass, and such like transparent substances. Secondly, the +motion of the eye contributes to its beauty, by continually shifting its +direction; but a slow and languid motion is more beautiful than a brisk +one; the latter is enlivening; the former lovely. Thirdly, with regard +to the union of the eye with the neighboring parts, it is to hold the +same rule that is given of other beautiful ones; it is not to make a +strong deviation from the line of the neighboring parts; nor to verge +into any exact geometrical figure. Besides all this, the eye affects, as +it is expressive of some qualities of the mind, and its principal power +generally arises from this; so that what we have just said of the +physiognomy is applicable here. + + +SECTION XXI. + +UGLINESS. + +It may perhaps appear like a sort of repetition of what we have before +said, to insist here upon the nature of _ugliness_; as I imagine it to +be in all respects the opposite to those qualities which we have laid +down for the constituents of beauty. But though ugliness be the opposite +to beauty, it is not the opposite to proportion and fitness. For it is +possible that a thing may be very ugly with any proportions, and with a +perfect fitness to any uses. Ugliness I imagine likewise to be +consistent enough with an idea of the sublime. But I would by no means +insinuate that ugliness of itself is a sublime idea, unless united with +such qualities as excite a strong terror. + + +SECTION XXII. + +GRACE. + +Gracefulness is an idea not very different from beauty; it consists in +much the same things. Gracefulness is an idea belonging to _posture_ and +_motion_. In both these, to be graceful, it is requisite that there be +no appearance of difficulty; there is required a small inflection of the +body; and a composure of the parts in such a manner, as not to incumber +each other, not to appear divided by sharp and sudden angles. In this +case, this roundness, this delicacy of attitude and motion, it is that +all the magic of grace consists, and what is called its _je ne scai +quoi_; as will be obvious to any observer, who considers attentively the +Venus de Medicis, the Antinous or any statue generally allowed to be +graceful in a high degree. + + +SECTION XXIII. + +ELEGANCE AND SPECIOUSNESS. + +When any body is composed of parts smooth and polished, without pressing +upon each other, without showing any ruggedness or confusion, and at the +same time affecting some _regular shape_, I call it _elegant_. It is +closely allied to the beautiful, differing from it only in this +_regularity_; which, however, as it makes a very material difference in +the affection produced, may very well constitute another species. Under +this head I rank those delicate and regular works of art, that imitate +no determinate object in nature, as elegant buildings, and pieces of +furniture. When any object partakes of the above-mentioned qualities, or +of those of beautiful bodies, and is withal of great dimensions, it is +full as remote from the idea of mere beauty; I call _fine_ or +_specious_. + + +SECTION XXIV. + +THE BEAUTIFUL IN FEELING. + +The foregoing description of beauty, so far as it is taken in by the +eye, may he greatly illustrated by describing the nature of objects, +which produce a similar effect through the touch. This I call the +beautiful in _feeling_. It corresponds wonderfully with what causes the +same species of pleasure to the sight. There is a chain in all our +sensations; they are all but different sorts of feelings calculated to +be affected by various sorts of objects, but all to be affected after +the same manner. All bodies that are pleasant to the touch, are so by +the slightness of the resistance they make. Resistance is either to +motion along the surface, or to the pressure of the parts on one +another: if the former be slight, we call the body smooth; if the +latter, soft. The chief pleasure we receive by feeling, is in the one or +the other of these qualities; and if there be a combination of both, our +pleasure is greatly increased. This is so plain, that it is rather more +fit to illustrate other things, than to be illustrated itself by an +example. The next source of pleasure in this sense, as in every other, +is the continually presenting somewhat new; and we find that bodies +which continually vary their surface, are much the most pleasant or +beautiful to the feeling, as any one that pleases may experience. The +third property in such objects is, that though the surface continually +varies its direction, it never varies it suddenly. The application of +anything sudden, even though the impression itself have little or +nothing of violence, is disagreeable. The quick application of a finger +a little warmer or colder than usual, without notice, makes us start; a +slight tap on the shoulder, not expected, has the same effect. Hence it +is that angular bodies, bodies that suddenly vary the direction of the +outline, afford so little pleasure to the feeling. Every such change is +a sort of climbing or falling in miniature; so that squares, triangles, +and other angular figures are neither beautiful to the sight nor +feeling. Whoever compares his state of mind, on feeling soft, smooth, +variated, unangular bodies, with that in which he finds himself, on the +view of a beautiful object, will perceive a very striking analogy in the +effects of both; and which may go a good way towards discovering their +common cause. Feeling and sight, in this respect, differ in but a few +points. The touch takes in the pleasure of softness, which is not +primarily an object of sight; the sight, on the other hand, comprehends +color, which can hardly he made perceptible to the touch: the touch, +again, has the advantage in a new idea of pleasure resulting from a +moderate degree of warmth; but the eye triumphs in the infinite extent +and multiplicity of its objects. But there is such a similitude in the +pleasures of these senses, that I am apt to fancy, if it were possible +that one might discern color by feeling (as it is said some blind men +have done) that the same colors, and the same disposition of coloring, +which are found beautiful to the sight, would be found likewise most +grateful to the touch. But, setting aside conjectures, let us pass to +the other sense; of hearing. + + +SECTION XXV. + +THE BEAUTIFUL IN SOUNDS. + +In this sense we find an equal aptitude to be affected in a soft and +delicate manner; and how far sweet or beautiful sounds agree with our +descriptions of beauty in other senses, the experience of every one must +decide. Milton has described this species of music in one of his +juvenile poems.[27] I need not say that Milton was perfectly well versed +in that art; and that no man had a finer ear, with a happier manner of +expressing the affections of one sense by metaphors taken from another. +The description is as follows:-- + + "And ever against eating cares, + Lap me in _soft_ Lydian airs; + In notes with many a _winding_ bout + Of _linked sweetness long drawn_ out; + With wanton heed, and giddy cunning, + The _melting_ voice through _mazes_ running; + _Untwisting_ all the chains that tie + The hidden soul of harmony." + +Let us parallel this with the softness, the winding surface, the +unbroken continuance, the easy gradation of the beautiful in other +things; and all the diversities of the several senses, with all their +several affections, will rather help to throw lights from one another to +finish one clear, consistent idea of the whole, than to obscure it by +their intricacy and variety. + +To the above-mentioned description I shall add one or two remarks. The +first is; that the beautiful in music will not hear that loudness and +strength of sounds, which may be used to raise other passions; nor notes +which are shrill, or harsh, or deep; it agrees best with such as are +clear, even, smooth, and weak. The second is; that great variety, and +quick transitions from one measure or tone to another, are contrary to +the genius of the beautiful in music. Such[28] transitions often excite +mirth, or other sudden or tumultuous passions; but not that sinking, +that melting, that languor, which is the characteristical effect of the +beautiful as it regards every sense. The passion excited by beauty is in +fact nearer to a species of melancholy, than to jollity and mirth. I do +not here mean to confine music to any one species of notes, or tones, +neither is it an art in which I can say I have any great skill. My sole +design in this remark is to settle a consistent idea of beauty. The +infinite variety of the affections of the soul will suggest to a good +head, and skilful ear, a variety of such sounds as are fitted to raise +them. It can be no prejudice to this, to clear and distinguish some few +particulars that belong to the same class, and are consistent with each +other, from the immense crowd of different and sometimes contradictory +ideas, that rank vulgarly under the standard of beauty. And of these it +is my intention to mark such only of the leading points as show the +conformity of the sense of hearing with all the other senses, in the +article of their pleasures. + + +SECTION XXVI. + +TASTE AND SMELL. + +This general agreement of the senses is yet more evident on minutely +considering those of taste and smell. We metaphorically apply the idea +of sweetness to sights and sounds; but as the qualities of bodies by +which they are fitted to excite either pleasure or pain in these senses +are not so obvious as they are in the others, we shall refer an +explanation of their analogy, which is a very close one, to that part +wherein we come to consider the common efficient cause of beauty, as it +regards all the senses. I do not think anything better fitted to +establish a clear and settled idea of visual beauty than this way of +examining the similar pleasures of other senses; for one part is +sometimes clear in one of the senses that is more obscure in another; +and where there is a clear concurrence of all, we may with more +certainty speak of any one of them. By this means, they bear witness to +each other; nature is, as it were, scrutinized; and we report nothing of +her but what we receive from her own information. + + +SECTION XXVII. + +THE SUBLIME AND BEAUTIFUL COMPARED. + +On closing this general view of beauty, it naturally occurs that we +should compare it with the sublime; and in this comparison there appears +a remarkable contrast. For sublime objects are vast in their dimensions, +beautiful ones comparatively small; beauty should be smooth and +polished; the great, rugged and negligent: beauty should shun the right +line, yet deviate from it insensibly; the great in many cases loves the +right line; and when it deviates, it often makes a strong deviation: +beauty should not be obscure; the great ought to be dark and gloomy: +beauty should be light and delicate; the great ought to be solid, and +even massive. They are indeed ideas of a very different nature, one +being founded on pain, the other on pleasure; and, however they may vary +afterwards from the direct nature of their causes, yet these causes keep +up an eternal distinction between them, a distinction never to be +forgotten by any whose business it is to affect the passions. In the +infinite variety of natural combinations, we must expect to find the +qualities of things the most remote imaginable from each other united in +the same object. We must expect also to find combinations of the same +kind in the works of art. But when we consider the power of an object +upon our passions, we must know that when anything is intended to affect +the mind by the force of some predominant property, the affection +produced is like to be the more uniform and perfect, if all the other +properties or qualities of the object be of the same nature, and tending +to the same design as the principal. + + "If black and white blend, soften, and unite + A thousand ways, are there no black and white?" + +If the qualities of the sublime and beautiful are sometimes found +united, does this prove that they are the same; does it prove that they +are any way allied; does it prove even that they are not opposite and +contradictory? Black and white may soften, may blend; but they are not +therefore the same. Nor, when they are so softened and blended with each +other, or with different colors, is the power of black as black, or of +white as white, so strong as when each stands uniform and distinguished. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[24] Part IV. sect. 20. + +[25] Part IV. sect. 23. + +[26] Part IV. sect. 25. + +[27] L'Allegro. + +[28] + + "I ne'er am merry, when I hear sweet music." + + SHAKESPEARE. + + + + +PART IV. + + +SECTION I. + +OF THE EFFICIENT CAUSE OF THE SUBLIME AND BEAUTIFUL. + +When I say, I intend to inquire into the efficient cause of sublimity +and beauty, I would not be understood to say, that I can come to the +ultimate cause. I do not pretend that I shall ever be able to explain +why certain affections of the body produce such a distinct emotion of +mind, and no other; or why the body is at all affected by the mind, or +the mind by the body. A little thought will show this to be impossible. +But I conceive, if we can discover what affections of the mind produce +certain emotions of the body; and what distinct feelings and qualities +of body shall produce certain determinate passions in the mind, and no +others, I fancy a great deal will be done; something not unuseful +towards a distinct knowledge of our passions, so far at least as we have +them at present under our consideration. This is all, I believe, we can +do. If we could advance a step farther, difficulties would still remain, +as we should be still equally distant from the first cause. When Newton +first discovered the property of attraction, and settled its laws, he +found it served very well to explain several of the most remarkable +phenomena in nature; but yet, with reference to the general system of +things, he could consider attraction but as an effect, whose cause at +that time he did not attempt to trace. But when he afterwards began to +account for it by a subtle elastic ether, this great man (if in so +great a man it be not impious to discover anything like a blemish) +seemed to have quitted his usual cautious manner of philosophizing; +since, perhaps, allowing all that has been advanced on this subject to +be sufficiently proved, I think it leaves us with as many difficulties +as it found us. That great chain of causes, which, linking one to +another, even to the throne of God himself, can never be unravelled by +any industry of ours. When we go but one step beyond the immediate +sensible qualities of things, we go out of our depth. All we do after is +but a faint struggle, that shows we are in an element which does not +belong to us. So that when I speak of cause, and efficient cause, I only +mean certain affections of the mind, that cause certain changes in the +body; or certain powers and properties in bodies, that work a change in +the mind. As, if I were to explain the motion of a body falling to the +ground, I would say it was caused by gravity; and I would endeavor to +show after what manner this power operated, without attempting to show +why it operated in this manner: or, if I were to explain the effects of +bodies striking one another by the common laws of percussion, I should +not endeavor to explain how motion itself is communicated. + + +SECTION II. + +ASSOCIATION. + +It is no small bar in the way of our inquiry into the cause of our +passions, that the occasions of many of them are given, and that their +governing motions are communicated at a time when we have not capacity +to reflect on them; at a time of which all sort of memory is worn out +of our minds. For besides such things as affect us in various manners, +according to their natural powers, there are associations made at that +early season, which we find it very hard afterwards to distinguish from +natural effects. Not to mention the unaccountable antipathies which we +find in many persons, we all find it impossible to remember when a steep +became more terrible than a plain; or fire or water more terrible than a +clod of earth; though all these are very probably either conclusions +from experience, or arising from the premonitions of others; and some of +them impressed, in all likelihood, pretty late. But as it must be +allowed that many things affect us after a certain manner, not by any +natural powers they have for that purpose, but by association; so it +would be absurd, on the other hand, to say that all things affect us by +association only; since some things must have been originally and +naturally agreeable or disagreeable, from which the others derive their +associated powers; and it would be, I fancy, to little purpose to look +for the cause of our passions in association, until we fail of it in the +natural properties of things. + + +SECTION III. + +CAUSE OF PAIN AND FEAR. + +I have before observed,[29] that whatever is qualified to cause terror +is a foundation capable of the sublime; to which I add, that not only +these, but many things from which we cannot probably apprehend any +danger, have a similar effect, because they operate in a similar manner. +I observed, too,[30] that whatever produces pleasure, positive and +original pleasure, is fit to have beauty engrafted on it. Therefore, to +clear up the nature of these qualities, it may be necessary to explain +the nature of pain and pleasure on which they depend. A man who suffers +under violent bodily pain, (I suppose the most violent, because the +effect may be the more obvious,) I say a man in great pain has his teeth +set, his eyebrows are violently contracted, his forehead is wrinkled, +his eyes are dragged inwards, and rolled with great vehemence, his hair +stands on end, the voice is forced out in short shrieks and groans, and +the whole fabric totters. Fear or terror, which is an apprehension of +pain or death, exhibits exactly the same effects, approaching in +violence to those just mentioned, in proportion to the nearness of the +cause, and the weakness of the subject. This is not only so in the human +species: but I have more than once observed in dogs, under an +apprehension of punishment, that they have writhed their bodies, and +yelped, and howled, as if they had actually felt the blows. From hence I +conclude, that pain and fear act upon the same parts of the body, and in +the same manner, though somewhat differing in degree: that pain and fear +consist in an unnatural tension of the nerves; that this is sometimes +accompanied with an unnatural strength, which sometimes suddenly changes +into an extraordinary weakness; that these effects often come on +alternately, and are sometimes mixed with each other. This is the nature +of all convulsive agitations, especially in weaker subjects, which are +the most liable to the severest impressions of pain and fear. The only +difference between pain and terror is, that things which cause pain +operate on the mind by the intervention of the body; whereas things that +cause terror generally affect the bodily organs by the operation of the +mind suggesting the danger; but both agreeing, either primarily or +secondarily, in producing a tension, contraction, or violent emotion of +the nerves,[31] they agree likewise in everything else. For it appears +very clearly to me from this, as well as from many other examples, that +when the body is disposed, by any means whatsoever, to such emotions as +it would acquire by the means of a certain passion; it will of itself +excite something very like that passion in the mind. + + +SECTION IV. + +CONTINUED. + +To this purpose Mr. Spon, in his "Recherches d'Antiquite," gives us a +curious story of the celebrated physiognomist Campanella. This man, it +seems, had not only made very accurate observations on human faces, but +was very expert in mimicking such as were any way remarkable. When he +had a mind to penetrate into the inclinations of those he had to deal +with, he composed his face, his gesture, and his whole body, as nearly +as he could into the exact similitude of the person he intended to +examine; and then carefully observed what turn of mind he seemed to +acquire by this change. So that, says my author, he was able to enter +into the dispositions and thoughts of people as effectually as if he had +been changed into the very men. I have often observed, that on mimicking +the looks and gestures of angry, or placid, or frighted, or daring men, +I have involuntarily found my mind turned to that passion, whose +appearance I endeavored to imitate; nay, I am convinced it is hard to +avoid it, though one strove to separate the passion from its +correspondent gestures. Our minds and bodies are so closely and +intimately connected, that one is incapable of pain or pleasure without +the other. Campanella, of whom we have been speaking, could so abstract +his attention from any sufferings of his body, that he was able to +endure the rack itself without much pain; and in lesser pains everybody +must have observed that, when we can employ our attention on anything +else, the pain has been for a time suspended: on the other hand, if by +any means the body is indisposed to perform such gestures, or to be +stimulated into such emotions as any passion usually produces in it, +that passion itself never can arise, though its cause should be never so +strongly in action; though it should be merely mental, and immediately +affecting none of the senses. As an opiate, or spirituous liquors, shall +suspend the operation of grief, or fear, or anger, in spite of all our +efforts to the contrary; and this by inducing in the body a disposition +contrary to that which it receives from these passions. + + +SECTION V. + +HOW THE SUBLIME IS PRODUCED. + +Having considered terror as producing an unnatural tension and certain +violent emotions of the nerves; it easily follows, from what we have +just said, that whatever is fitted to produce such a tension must be +productive of a passion similar to terror,[32] and consequently must be +a source of the sublime, though it should have no idea of danger +connected with it. So that little remains towards showing the cause of +the sublime, but to show that the instances we have given of it in the +second part relate to such things, as are fitted by nature to produce +this sort of tension, either by the primary operation of the mind or the +body. With regard to such things as affect by the associated idea of +danger, there can be no doubt but that they produce terror, and act by +some modification of that passion; and that terror, when sufficiently +violent, raises the emotions of the body just mentioned, can as little +be doubted. But if the sublime is built on terror or some passion like +it, which has pain for its object, it is previously proper to inquire +how any species of delight can be derived from a cause so apparently +contrary to it. I say _delight_, because, as I have often remarked, it +is very evidently different in its cause, and in its own nature, from +actual and positive pleasure. + + +SECTION VI. + +HOW PAIN CAN BE A CAUSE OF DELIGHT. + +Providence has so ordered it, that a state of rest and inaction, however +it may flatter our indolence, should be productive of many +inconveniences; that it should generate such disorders, as may force us +to have recourse to some labor, as a thing absolutely requisite to make +us pass our lives with tolerable satisfaction; for the nature of rest is +to suffer all the parts of our bodies to fall into a relaxation, that +not only disables the members from performing their functions, but takes +away the vigorous tone of fibre which is requisite for carrying on the +natural and necessary secretions. At the same time, that in this languid +in active state, the nerves are more liable to the most horrid +convulsions, than when they are sufficiently braced and strengthened. +Melancholy, dejection, despair, and often self-murder, is the +consequence of the gloomy view we take of things in this relaxed state +of body. The best remedy for all these evils is exercise or _labor_; and +labor is a surmounting of _difficulties_, an exertion of the contracting +power of the muscles; and as such resembles pain, which consists in +tension or contraction, in everything but degree. Labor is not only +requisite to preserve the coarser organs, in a state fit for their +functions; but it is equally necessary to these finer and more delicate +organs, on which, and by which, the imagination and perhaps the other +mental powers act. Since it is probable, that not only the inferior +parts of the soul, as the passions are called, but the understanding +itself makes use of some fine corporeal instruments in its operation; +though what they are, and where they are, may be somewhat hard to +settle: but that it does make use of such, appears from hence; that a +long exercise of the mental powers induces a remarkable lassitude of the +whole body; and on the other hand, that great bodily labor, or pain, +weakens and sometimes actually destroys the mental faculties. Now, as a +due exercise is essential to the coarse muscular parts of the +constitution, and that without this rousing they would become languid +and diseased, the very same rule holds with regard to those finer parts +we have mentioned; to have them in proper order, they must be shaken and +worked to a proper degree. + + +SECTION VII. + +EXERCISE NECESSARY FOR THE FINER ORGANS. + +As common labor, which is a mode of pain, is the exercise of the +grosser, a mode of terror is the exercise of the finer parts of the +system; and if a certain mode of pain be of such a nature as to act upon +the eye or the ear, as they are the most delicate organs, the affection +approaches more nearly to that which has a mental cause. In all these +cases, if the pain and terror are so modified as not to be actually +noxious; if the pain is not carried to violence, and the terror is not +conversant about the present destruction of the person, as these +emotions clear the parts, whether fine or gross, of a dangerous and +troublesome incumbrance, they are capable of producing delight; not +pleasure, but a sort of delightful horror, a sort of tranquillity tinged +with terror; which, as it belongs to self-preservation, is one of the +strongest of all the passions. Its object is the sublime.[33] Its +highest degree I call _astonishment_; the subordinate degrees are awe, +reverence, and respect, which, by the very etymology of the words, show +from what source they are derived, and how they stand distinguished from +positive pleasure. + + +SECTION VIII. + +WHY THINGS NOT DANGEROUS SOMETIMES PRODUCE A PASSION LIKE TERROR. + +A mode of terror or pain is always the cause of the sublime.[34] For +terror or associated danger, the foregoing explication is, I believe, +sufficient. It will require something more trouble to show, that such +examples as I have given of the sublime in the second part are capable +of producing a mode of pain, and of being thus allied to terror, and to +be accounted for on the same principles. And first of such objects as +are great in their dimensions. I speak of visual objects. + + +SECTION IX. + +WHY VISUAL OBJECTS OF GREAT DIMENSIONS ARE SUBLIME. + +Vision is performed by having a picture, formed by the rays of light +which are reflected from the object, painted in one piece, +instantaneously, on the retina, or last nervous part of the eye. Or, +according to others, there is but one point of any object painted on the +eye in such a manner as to be perceived at once, but by moving the eye, +we gather up, with great celerity, the several parts of the object, so +as to form one uniform piece. If the former opinion be allowed, it will +be considered,[35] that though all the light reflected from a large body +should strike the eye in one instant; yet we must suppose that the body +itself is formed of a vast number of distinct points, every one of +which, or the ray from every one, makes an impression on the retina. So +that, though the image of one point should cause but a small tension of +this membrane, another, and another, and another stroke, must in their +progress cause a very great one, until it arrives at last to the highest +degree; and the whole capacity of the eye, vibrating in all its parts, +must approach near to the nature of what causes pain, and consequently +must produce an idea of the sublime. Again, if we take it, that one +point only of an object is distinguishable at once; the matter will +amount nearly to the same thing, or rather it will make the origin of +the sublime from greatness of dimension yet clearer. For if but one +point is observed at once, the eye must traverse the vast space of such +bodies with great quickness, and consequently the fine nerves and +muscles destined to the motion of that part must be very much strained; +and their great sensibility must make them highly affected by this +straining. Besides, it signifies just nothing to the effect produced, +whether a body has its parts connected and makes its impression at once; +or, making but one impression of a point at a time, it causes a +succession of the same or others so quickly as to make them seem united; +as is evident from the common effect of whirling about a lighted torch +or piece of wood: which, if done with celerity, seems a circle of fire. + + +SECTION X. + +UNITY WHY REQUISITE TO VASTNESS. + +It may be objected to this theory, that the eye generally receives an +equal number of rays at all times, and that therefore a great object +cannot affect it by the number of rays, more than that variety of +objects which the eye must always discern whilst it remains open. But to +this I answer, that admitting an equal number of rays, or an equal +quantity of luminous particles to strike the eye at all times, yet if +these rays frequently vary their nature, now to blue, now to red, and so +on, or their manner of termination, as to a number of petty squares, +triangles, or the like, at every change, whether of color or shape, the +organ has a sort of relaxation or rest; but this relaxation and labor so +often interrupted, is by no means productive of ease; neither has it the +effect of vigorous and uniform labor. Whoever has remarked the different +effects of some strong exercise, and some little piddling action, will +understand why a teasing, fretful employment, which at once wearies and +weakens the body, should have nothing great; these sorts of impulses, +which are rather teasing than painful, by continually and suddenly +altering their tenor and direction, prevent that full tension, that +species of uniform labor, which is allied to strong pain, and causes the +sublime. The sum total of things of various kinds, though it should +equal the number of the uniform parts composing some _one_ entire +object, is not equal in its effect upon the organs of our bodies. +Besides the one already assigned, there is another very strong reason +for the difference. The mind in reality hardly ever can attend +diligently to more than one thing at a time; if this thing be little, +the effect is little, and a number of other little objects cannot engage +the attention; the mind is bounded by the bounds of the object; and what +is not attended to, and what does not exist, are much the same in the +effect; but the eye or the mind, (for in this case there is no +difference,) in great, uniform objects, does not readily arrive at their +bounds; it has no rest, whilst it contemplates them; the image is much +the same everywhere. So that everything great by its quantity must +necessarily be one, simple and entire. + + +SECTION XI. + +THE ARTIFICIAL INFINITE. + +We have observed that a species of greatness arises from the artificial +infinite; and that this infinite consists in an uniform succession of +great parts: we observed too, that the same uniform succession had a +like power in sounds. But because the effects of many things are clearer +in one of the senses than in another, and that all the senses bear +analogy to and illustrate one another, I shall begin with this power in +sounds, as the cause of the sublimity from succession is rather more +obvious in the sense of hearing. And I shall here, once for all, +observe, that an investigation of the natural and mechanical causes of +our passions, besides the curiosity of the subject, gives, if they are +discovered, a double strength and lustre to any rules we deliver on such +matters. When the ear receives any simple sound, it is struck by a +single pulse of the air which makes the ear-drum and the other +membranous parts vibrate according to the nature and species of the +stroke. If the stroke be strong, the organ of hearing suffers a +considerable degree of tension. If the stroke be repeated pretty soon +after, the repetition causes an expectation of another stroke. And it +must be observed, that expectation itself causes a tension. This is +apparent in many animals, who, when they prepare for hearing any sound, +rouse themselves, and prick up their ears; so that here the effect of +the sounds is considerably augmented by a new auxiliary, the +expectation. But though after a number of strokes, we expect still more, +not being able to ascertain the exact time of their arrival, when they +arrive, they produce a sort of surprise, which increases this tension +yet further. For I have observed, that when at any time I have waited +very earnestly for some sound, that returned at intervals, (as the +successive firing of cannon,) though I fully expected the return of the +sound, when it came it always made me start a little; the ear-drum +suffered a convulsion, and the whole body consented with it. The tension +of the part thus increasing at every blow, by the united forces of the +stroke itself, the expectation and the surprise, it is worked up to such +a pitch as to be capable of the sublime; it is brought just to the verge +of pain. Even when the cause has ceased, the organs of hearing being +often successively struck in a similar manner, continue to vibrate in +that manner for some time longer; this is an additional help to the +greatness of the effect. + + +SECTION XII. + +THE VIBRATIONS MUST BE SIMILAR. + +But if the vibration be not similar at every impression, it can never be +carried beyond the number of actual impressions; for, move any body as a +pendulum, in one way, and it will continue to oscillate in an arch of +the same circle, until the known causes make it rest; but if, after +first putting it in motion in one direction, you push it into another, +it can never reassume the first direction; because it can never move +itself, and consequently it can have but the effect of that last motion; +whereas, if in the same direction you act upon it several times, it will +describe a greater arch, and move a longer time. + + +SECTION XIII. + +THE EFFECTS OF SUCCESSION IN VISUAL OBJECTS EXPLAINED. + +If we can comprehend clearly how things operate upon one of our senses, +there can be very little difficulty in conceiving in what manner they +affect the rest. To say a great deal therefore upon the corresponding +affections of every sense, would tend rather to fatigue us by an useless +repetition, than to throw any new light upon the subject by that ample +and diffuse manner of treating it; but as in this discourse we chiefly +attach ourselves to the sublime, as it affects the eye, we shall +consider particularly why a successive disposition of uniform parts in +the same right line should be sublime,[36] and upon what principle this +disposition is enabled to make a comparatively small quantity of matter +produce a grander effect, than a much larger quantity disposed in +another manner. To avoid the perplexity of general notions; let us set +before our eyes, a colonnade of uniform pillars planted in a right line; +let us take our stand in such a manner, that the eye may shoot along +this colonnade, for it has its best effect in this view. In our present +situation it is plain, that the rays from the first round pillar will +cause in the eye a vibration of that species; an image of the pillar +itself. The pillar immediately succeeding increases it; that which +follows renews and enforces the impression; each in its order as it +succeeds, repeats impulse after impulse, and stroke after stroke, until +the eye, long exercised in one particular way, cannot lose that object +immediately, and, being violently roused by this continued agitation, it +presents the mind with a grand or sublime conception. But instead of +viewing a rank of uniform pillars, let us suppose that they succeed each +other, a round and a square one alternately. In this case the vibration +caused by the first round pillar perishes as soon as it is formed; and +one of quite another sort (the square) directly occupies its place; +which however it resigns as quickly to the round one; and thus the eye +proceeds, alternately, taking up one image, and laying down another, as +long as the building continues. From whence it is obvious that, at the +last pillar, the impression is as far from continuing as it was at the +very first; because, in fact, the sensory can receive no distinct +impression but from the last; and it can never of itself resume a +dissimilar impression: besides every variation of the object is a rest +and relaxation to the organs of sight; and these reliefs prevent that +powerful emotion so necessary to produce the sublime. To produce +therefore a perfect grandeur in such things as we have been mentioning, +there should be a perfect simplicity, an absolute uniformity in +disposition, shape, and coloring. Upon this principle of succession and +uniformity it may be asked, why a long bare wall should not be a more +sublime object than a colonnade; since the succession is no way +interrupted; since the eye meets no check; since nothing more uniform +can be conceived? A long bare wall is certainly not so grand an object +as a colonnade of the same length and height. It is not altogether +difficult to account for this difference. When we look at a naked wall, +from the evenness of the object, the eye runs along its whole space, and +arrives quickly at its termination; the eye meets nothing which may +interrupt its progress; but then it meets nothing which may detain it a +proper time to produce a very great and lasting effect. The view of a +bare wall, if it be of a great height and length, is undoubtedly grand; +but this is only _one_ idea, and not a _repetition_ of _similar_ ideas: +it is therefore great, not so much upon the principle of _infinity_, as +upon that of _vastness_. But we are not so powerfully affected with any +one impulse, unless it be one of a prodigious force indeed, as we are +with a succession of similar impulses; because the nerves of the sensory +do not (if I may use the expression) acquire a habit of repeating the +same feeling in such a manner as to continue it longer than its cause is +in action; besides, all the effects which I have attributed to +expectation and surprise in Sect. 11, can have no place in a bare wall. + + +SECTION XIV. + +LOCKE'S OPINION CONCERNING DARKNESS CONSIDERED. + +It is Mr. Locke's opinion, that darkness is not naturally an idea of +terror; and that, though an excessive light is painful to the sense, the +greatest excess of darkness is no ways troublesome. He observes indeed +in another place, that a nurse or an old woman having once associated +the ideas of ghosts and goblins with that of darkness, night, ever +after, becomes painful and horrible to the imagination. The authority of +this great man is doubtless as great as that of any man can be, and it +seems to stand in the way of our general principle.[37] We have +considered darkness as a cause of the sublime; and we have all along +considered the sublime as depending on some modification of pain or +terror: so that if darkness be no way painful or terrible to any, who +have not had their minds early tainted with superstitions, it can be no +source of the sublime to them. But, with all deference to such an +authority, it seems to me, that an association of a more general nature, +an association which takes in all mankind, may make darkness terrible; +for in utter darkness it is impossible to know in what degree of safety +we stand; we are ignorant of the objects that surround us; we may every +moment strike against some dangerous obstruction; we may fall down a +precipice the first step we take; and if an enemy approach, we know not +in what quarter to defend ourselves; in such a case strength is no sure +protection; wisdom can only act by guess; the boldest are staggered, and +he who would pray for nothing else towards his defence is forced to +pray for light. + + [Greek: + Zeu pater, alla su rusai up eeros uias Achaion + Poieson d' aithren, dos d' ophthalmoisin idesthai + En de phaei kai olesson....] + + +As to the association of ghosts and goblins; surely it is more natural +to think that darkness, being originally an idea of terror, was chosen +as a fit scene for such terrible representations, than that such +representations have made darkness terrible. The mind of man very easily +slides into an error of the former sort; but it is very hard to imagine, +that the effect of an idea so universally terrible in all times, and in +all countries, as darkness, could possibly have been owing to a set of +idle stories, or to any cause of a nature so trivial, and of an +operation so precarious. + + +SECTION XV. + +DARKNESS TERRIBLE IN ITS OWN NATURE. + +Perhaps it may appear on inquiry, that blackness and darkness are in +some degree painful by their natural operation, independent of any +associations whatsoever. I must observe, that the ideas of darkness and +blackness are much the same; and they differ only in this, that +blackness is a more confined idea. Mr. Cheselden has given us a very +curious story of a boy who had been born blind, and continued so until +he was thirteen or fourteen years old; he was then couched for a +cataract, by which operation he received his sight. Among many +remarkable particulars that attended his first perceptions and judgments +on visual objects, Cheselden tells us, that the first time the boy saw +a black object, it gave him great uneasiness; and that some time after, +upon accidentally seeing a negro woman, he was struck with great horror +at the sight. The horror, in this case, can scarcely be supposed to +arise from any association. The boy appears by the account to have been +particularly observing and sensible for one of his age; and therefore it +is probable, if the great uneasiness he felt at the first sight of black +had arisen from its connection with any other disagreeable ideas, he +would have observed and mentioned it. For an idea, disagreeable only by +association, has the cause of its ill effect on the passions evident +enough at the first impression; in ordinary cases, it is indeed +frequently lost; but this is because the original association was made +very early, and the consequent impression repeated often. In our +instance, there was no time for such a habit; and there is no reason to +think that the ill effects of black on his imagination were more owing +to its connection with any disagreeable ideas, than that the good +effects of more cheerful colors were derived from their connection with +pleasing ones. They had both probably their effects from their natural +operation. + + +SECTION XVI. + +WHY DARKNESS IS TERRIBLE. + +It may be worth while to examine how darkness can operate in such a +manner as to cause pain. It is observable, that still as we recede from +the light, nature has so contrived it, that the pupil is enlarged by the +retiring of the iris, in proportion to our recess. Now, instead of +declining from it but a little, suppose that we withdraw entirely from +the light; it is reasonable to think that the contraction of the radial +fibres of the iris is proportionally greater; and that this part may by +great darkness come to be so contracted, as to strain the nerves that +compose it beyond their natural tone; and by this means to produce a +painful sensation. Such a tension it seems there certainly is, whilst we +are involved in darkness; for in such a state, whilst the eye remains +open, there is a continual nisus to receive light; this is manifest from +the flashes and luminous appearances which often seem in these +circumstances to play before it; and which can be nothing but the effect +of spasms, produced by its own efforts in pursuit of its object: several +other strong impulses will produce the idea of light in the eye, besides +the substance of light itself, as we experience on many occasions. Some, +who allow darkness to be a cause of the sublime, would infer, from the +dilatation of the pupil, that a relaxation may be productive of the +sublime as well as a convulsion: but they do not, I believe, consider, +that although the circular ring of the iris be in some sense a +sphincter, which may possibly be dilated by a simple relaxation, yet in +one respect it differs from most of the other sphincters of the body, +that it is furnished with antagonist muscles, which are the radial +fibres of the iris: no sooner does the circular muscle begin to relax, +than these fibres, wanting their counterpoise, are forcibly drawn back, +and open the pupil to a considerable wideness. But though we were not +apprised of this, I believe any one will find, if he opens his eyes and +makes an effort to see in a dark place, that a very perceivable pain +ensues. And I have heard some ladies remark, that after having worked a +long time upon a ground of black, their eyes were so pained and +weakened, they could hardly see. It may perhaps be objected to this +theory of the mechanical effect of darkness, that the ill effects of +darkness or blackness seem rather mental than corporeal: and I own it is +true that they do so; and so do all those that depend on the affections +of the finer parts of our system. The ill effects of bad weather appear +often no otherwise than in a melancholy and dejection of spirits; though +without doubt, in this case, the bodily organs suffer first, and the +mind through these organs. + + +SECTION XVII. + +THE EFFECTS OF BLACKNESS. + +Blackness is but a _partial darkness_; and therefore it derives some of +its powers from being mixed and surrounded with colored bodies. In its +own nature, it cannot be considered as a color. Black bodies, reflecting +none, or but a few rays, with regard to sight, are but as so many vacant +spaces, dispersed among the objects we view. When the eye lights on one +of these vacuities, after having been kept in some degree of tension by +the play of the adjacent colors upon it, it suddenly falls into a +relaxation; out of which it as suddenly recovers by a convulsive spring. +To illustrate this: let us consider that when we intend to sit on a +chair, and find it much lower than was expected, the shock is very +violent; much more violent than could be thought from so slight a fall +as the difference between one chair and another can possibly make. If, +after descending a flight of stairs, we attempt inadvertently to take +another step in the manner of the former ones, the shock is extremely +rude and disagreeable: and by no art can we cause such a shock by the +same means when we expect and prepare for it. When I say that this is +owing to having the change made contrary to expectation; I do not mean +solely, when the _mind_ expects. I mean likewise, that when any organ of +sense is for some time affected in some one manner, if it be suddenly +affected otherwise, there ensues a convulsive motion; such a convulsion +as is caused when anything happens against the expectance of the mind. +And though it may appear strange that such a change as produces a +relaxation should immediately produce a sudden convulsion; it is yet +most certainly so, and so in all the senses. Every one knows that sleep +is a relaxation; and that silence, where nothing keeps the organs of +hearing in action, is in general fittest to bring on this relaxation; +yet when a sort of murmuring sounds dispose a man to sleep, let these +sounds cease suddenly, and the person immediately awakes; that is, the +parts are braced up suddenly, and he awakes. This I have often +experienced myself, and I have heard the same from observing persons. In +like manner, if a person in broad daylight were falling asleep, to +introduce a sudden darkness would prevent his sleep for that time, +though silence and darkness in themselves, and not suddenly introduced, +are very favorable to it. This I knew only by conjecture on the analogy +of the senses when I first digested these observations; but I have since +experienced it. And I have often experienced, and so have a thousand +others, that on the first inclining towards sleep, we have been suddenly +awakened with a most violent start; and that this start was generally +preceded by a sort of dream of our falling down a precipice: whence does +this strange motion arise, but from the too sudden relaxation of the +body, which by some mechanism in nature restores itself by as quick and +vigorous an exertion of the contracting power of the muscles? The dream +itself is caused by this relaxation; and it is of too uniform a nature +to be attributed to any other cause. The parts relax too suddenly, which +is in the nature of falling; and this accident of the body induces this +image in the mind. When we are in a confirmed state of health and vigor, +as all changes are then less sudden, and less on the extreme, we can +seldom complain of this disagreeable sensation. + + +SECTION XVIII. + +THE EFFECTS OF BLACKNESS MODERATED. + +Though the effects of black be painful originally, we must not think +they always continue so. Custom reconciles us to everything. After we +have been used to the sight of black objects, the terror abates, and the +smoothness and glossiness, or some agreeable accident of bodies so +colored, softens in some measure the horror and sternness of their +original nature; yet the nature of the original impression still +continues. Black will always have something melancholy in it, because +the sensory will always find the change to it from other colors too +violent; or if it occupy the whole compass of the sight, it will then be +darkness; and what was said of darkness will be applicable here. I do +not purpose to go into all that might be said to illustrate this theory +of the effects of light and darkness; neither will I examine all the +different effects produced by the various modifications and mixtures of +these two causes. If the foregoing observations have any foundation in +nature, I conceive them very sufficient to account for all the phenomena +that can arise from all the combinations of black with other colors. To +enter into every particular, or to answer every objection, would be an +endless labor. We have only followed the most leading roads; and we +shall observe the same conduct in our inquiry into the cause of beauty. + + +SECTION XIX. + +THE PHYSICAL CAUSE OF LOVE. + +When we have before us such objects as excite love and complacency, the +body is affected, so far as I could observe, much in the following +manner: the head reclines something on one side; the eyelids are more +closed than usual, and the eyes roll gently with an inclination to the +object; the mouth is a little opened, and the breath drawn slowly, with +now and then a low sigh; the whole body is composed, and the hands fall +idly to the sides. All this is accompanied with an inward sense of +melting and languor. These appearances are always proportioned to the +degree of beauty in the object, and of sensibility in the observer. And +this gradation from the highest pitch of beauty and sensibility, even to +the lowest of mediocrity and indifference, and their correspondent +effects, ought to be kept in view, else this description will seem +exaggerated, which it certainly is not. But from this description it is +almost impossible not to conclude that beauty acts by relaxing the +solids of the whole system. There are all the appearances of such a +relaxation; and a relaxation somewhat below the natural tone seems to me +to be the cause of all positive pleasure. Who is a stranger to that +manner of expression so common in all times and in all countries, of +being softened, relaxed, enervated, dissolved, melted away by pleasure? +The universal voice of mankind, faithful to their feelings, concurs in +affirming this uniform and general effect: and although some odd and +particular instance may perhaps be found, wherein there appears a +considerable degree of positive pleasure, without all the characters of +relaxation, we must not therefore reject the conclusion we had drawn +from a concurrence of many experiments; but we must still retain it, +subjoining the exceptions which may occur according to the judicious +rule laid down by Sir Isaac Newton in the third book of his Optics. Our +position will, I conceive, appear confirmed beyond any reasonable doubt, +if we can show that such things as we have already observed to be the +genuine constituents of beauty have each of them, separately taken, a +natural tendency to relax the fibres. And if it must be allowed us, that +the appearance of the human body, when all these constituents are united +together before the sensory, further favors this opinion, we may +venture, I believe, to conclude that the passion called love is produced +by this relaxation. By the same method of reasoning which we have used +in the inquiry into the causes of the sublime, we may likewise conclude, +that as a beautiful object presented to the sense, by causing a +relaxation of the body, produces the passion of love in the mind; so if +by any means the passion should first have its origin in the mind, a +relaxation of the outward organs will as certainly ensue in a degree +proportioned to the cause. + + +SECTION XX. + +WHY SMOOTHNESS IS BEAUTIFUL. + +It is to explain the true cause of visual beauty that I call in the +assistance of the other senses. If it appears that _smoothness_ is a +principal cause of pleasure to the touch, taste, smell, and hearing, it +will be easily admitted a constituent of visual beauty; especially as we +have before shown, that this quality is found almost without exception +in all bodies that are by general consent held beautiful. There can be +no doubt that bodies which are rough and angular, rouse and vellicate +the organs of feeling, causing a sense of pain, which consists in the +violent tension or contraction of the muscular fibres. On the contrary, +the application of smooth bodies relaxes; gentle stroking with a smooth +hand allays violent pains and cramps, and relaxes the suffering parts +from their unnatural tension; and it has therefore very often no mean +effect in removing swellings and obstructions. The sense of feeling is +highly gratified with smooth bodies. A bed smoothly laid, and soft, that +is, where the resistance is every way inconsiderable, is a great luxury, +disposing to an universal relaxation, and inducing beyond anything else +that species of it called sleep. + + +SECTION XXI. + +SWEETNESS, ITS NATURE. + +Nor is it only in the touch that smooth bodies cause positive pleasure +by relaxation. In the smell and taste, we find all things agreeable to +them, and which are commonly called sweet, to be of a smooth nature, and +that they all evidently tend to relax their respective sensories. Let us +first consider the taste. Since it is most easy to inquire into the +property of liquids, and since all things seem to want a fluid vehicle +to make them tasted at all, I intend rather to consider the liquid than +the solid parts of our food. The vehicles of all tastes are _water_ and +_oil_. And what determines the taste is some salt, which affects +variously according to its nature, or its manner of being combined with +other things. Water and oil, simply considered, are capable of giving +some pleasure to the taste. Water, when simple, is insipid, inodorous, +colorless, and smooth; it is found, when _not cold_, to be a great +resolver of spasms, and lubricator of the fibres; this power it probably +owes to its smoothness. For as fluidity depends, according to the most +general opinion, on the roundness, smoothness, and weak cohesion of the +component parts of any body, and as water acts merely as a simple fluid, +it follows that the cause of its fluidity is likewise the cause of its +relaxing quality, namely, the smoothness and slippery texture of its +parts. The other fluid vehicle of tastes is _oil_. This too, when +simple, is insipid, inodorous, colorless, and smooth to the touch and +taste. It is smoother than water, and in many cases yet more relaxing. +Oil is in some degree pleasant to the eye, the touch, and the taste, +insipid as it is. Water is not so grateful; which I do not know on what +principle to account for, other than that water is not so soft and +smooth. Suppose that to this oil or water were added a certain quantity +of a specific salt, which had a power of putting the nervous papillae of +the tongue into a gentle vibratory motion; as suppose sugar dissolved in +it. The smoothness of the oil and the vibratory power of the salt cause +the sense we call sweetness. In all sweet bodies, sugar, or a substance +very little different from sugar, is constantly found. Every species of +salt, examined by the microscope, has its own distinct, regular, +invariable form. That of nitre is a pointed oblong; that of sea-salt an +exact cube; that of sugar a perfect globe. If you have tried how smooth +globular bodies, as the marbles with which boys amuse themselves, have +affected the touch when they are rolled backward and forward and over +one another, you will easily conceive how sweetness, which consists in a +salt of such nature, affects the taste; for a single globe (though +somewhat pleasant to the feeling), yet by the regularity of its form, +and the somewhat too sudden deviation of its parts from a right line, is +nothing near so pleasant to the touch as several globes, where the hand +gently rises to one and falls to another; and this pleasure is greatly +increased if the globes are in motion, and sliding over one another; for +this soft variety prevents that weariness, which the uniform disposition +of the several globes would otherwise produce. Thus in sweet liquors, +the parts of the fluid vehicle, though most probably round, are yet so +minute, as to conceal the figure of their component parts from the +nicest inquisition of the microscope; and consequently, being so +excessively minute, they have a sort of flat simplicity to the taste, +resembling the effects of plain smooth bodies to the touch; for if a +body be composed of round parts excessively small, and packed pretty +closely together, the surface will be both to the sight and touch as if +it were nearly plain and smooth. It is clear from their unveiling their +figure to the microscope, that the particles of sugar are considerably +larger than those of water or oil, and consequently that their effects +from their roundness will be more distinct and palpable to the nervous +papillae of that nice organ the tongue; they will induce that sense +called sweetness, which in a weak manner we discover in oil, and in a +yet weaker in water; for, insipid as they are, water and oil are in some +degree sweet; and it may be observed, that insipid things of all kinds +approach more nearly to the nature of sweetness than to that of any +other taste. + + +SECTION XXII. + +SWEETNESS RELAXING. + +In the other senses we have remarked, that smooth things are relaxing. +Now it ought to appear that sweet things, which are the smooth of taste, +are relaxing too. It is remarkable, that in some languages soft and +sweet have but one name. _Doux_ in French signifies soft as well as +sweet. The Latin _dulcis_, and the Italian _dolce_, have in many cases +the same double signification. That sweet things are generally relaxing, +is evident; because all such, especially those which are most oily, +taken frequently, or in a large quantity, very much enfeeble the tone of +the stomach. Sweet smells, which bear a great affinity to sweet tastes, +relax very remarkably. The smell of flowers disposes people to +drowsiness; and this relaxing effect is further apparent from the +prejudice which people of weak nerves receive from their use. It were +worth while to examine, whether tastes of this kind, sweet ones, tastes +that are caused by smooth oils and a relaxing salt, are not the +originally pleasant tastes. For many, which use has rendered such, were +not at all agreeable at first. The way to examine this is, to try what +nature has originally provided for us, which she has undoubtedly made +originally pleasant; and to analyze this provision. _Milk_ is the first +support of our childhood. The component parts of this are water, oil, +and a sort of a very sweet salt, called the sugar of milk. All these +when blended have a great _smoothness_ to the taste, and a relaxing +quality to the skin. The next thing children covet is _fruit_, and of +fruits those principally which are sweet; and every one knows that the +sweetness of fruit is caused by a subtle oil, and such a salt as that +mentioned in the last section. Afterwards custom, habit, the desire of +novelty, and a thousand other causes, confound, adulterate, and change +our palates, so that we can no longer reason with any satisfaction about +them. Before we quit this article, we must observe, that as smooth +things are, as such, agreeable to the taste, and are found of a relaxing +quality; so on the other hand, things which are found by experience to +be of a strengthening quality, and fit to brace the fibres, are almost +universally rough and pungent to the taste, and in many cases rough even +to the touch. We often apply the quality of sweetness, metaphorically, +to visual objects. For the better carrying on this remarkable analogy +of the senses, we may here call sweetness the beautiful of the taste. + + +SECTION XXIII. + +VARIATION, WHY BEAUTIFUL. + +Another principal property of beautiful objects is, that the line of +their parts is continually varying its direction; but it varies it by a +very insensible deviation; it never varies it so quickly as to surprise, +or by the sharpness of its angle to cause any twitching or convulsion of +the optic nerve. Nothing long continued in the same manner, nothing very +suddenly varied, can be beautiful; because both are opposite to that +agreeable relaxation which is the characteristic effect of beauty. It is +thus in all the senses. A motion in a right line is that manner of +moving, next to a very gentle descent, in which we meet the least +resistance; yet it is not that manner of moving, which next to a +descent, wearies us the least. Rest certainly tends to relax: yet there +is a species of motion which relaxes more than rest; a gentle +oscillatory motion, a rising and falling. Rocking sets children to sleep +better than absolute rest; there is indeed scarcely anything at that +age, which gives more pleasure than to be gently lifted up and down; the +manner of playing which their nurses use with children, and the weighing +and swinging used afterwards by themselves as a favorite amusement, +evince this very sufficiently. Most people must have observed the sort +of sense they have had on being swiftly drawn in an easy coach on a +smooth turf, with gradual ascents and declivities. This will give a +better idea of the beautiful, and point out its probable cause better, +than almost anything else. On the contrary, when one is hurried over a +rough, rocky, broken road, the pain felt by these sudden inequalities +shows why similar sights, feelings, and sounds, are so contrary to +beauty: and with regard to the feeling, it is exactly the same in its +effect, or very nearly the same, whether, for instance, I move my hand +along the surface of a body of a certain shape, or whether such a body +is moved along my hand. But to bring this analogy of the senses home to +the eye; if a body presented to that sense has such a waving surface, +that the rays of light reflected from it are in a continual insensible +deviation from the strongest to the weakest (which is always the case in +a surface gradually unequal), it must be exactly similar in its effects +on the eye and touch; upon the one of which it operates directly, on the +other indirectly. And this body will be beautiful if the lines which +compose its surface are not continued, even so varied, in a manner that +may weary or dissipate the attention. The variation itself must be +continually varied. + + +SECTION XXIV. + +CONCERNING SMALLNESS. + +To avoid a sameness which may arise from the too frequent repetition of +the same reasonings, and of illustrations of the same nature, I will not +enter very minutely into every particular that regards beauty, as it is +founded on the disposition of its quantity, or its quantity itself. In +speaking of the magnitude of bodies there is great uncertainty, because +the ideas of great and small are terms almost entirely relative to the +species of the objects, which are infinite. It is true, that having once +fixed the species of any object, and the dimensions common in the +individuals of that species, we may observe some that exceed, and some +that fall short of, the ordinary standard: those which greatly exceed +are, by that excess, provided the species itself be not very small, +rather great and terrible than beautiful; but as in the animal world, +and in a good measure in the vegetable world likewise, the qualities +that constitute beauty may possibly be united to things of greater +dimensions; when they are so united, they constitute a species something +different both from the sublime and beautiful, which I have before +called _fine_; but this kind, I imagine, has not such a power on the +passions, either as vast bodies have which are endued with the +correspondent qualities of the sublime; or as the qualities of beauty +have when united in a small object. The affection produced by large +bodies adorned with the spoils of beauty, is a tension continually +relieved; which approaches to the nature of mediocrity. But if I were to +say how I find myself affected upon such occasions, I should say that +the sublime suffers less by being united to some of the qualities of +beauty, than beauty does by being joined to greatness of quantity, or +any other properties of the sublime. There is something so overruling in +whatever inspires us with awe, in all things which belong ever so +remotely to terror, that nothing else can stand in their presence. There +lie the qualities of beauty either dead or unoperative; or at most +exerted to mollify the rigor and sternness of the terror, which is the +natural concomitant of greatness. Besides the extraordinary great in +every species, the opposite to this, the dwarfish and diminutive, ought +to be considered. Littleness, merely as such, has nothing contrary to +the idea of beauty. The humming-bird, both in shape and coloring, yields +to none of the winged species, of which it is the least; and perhaps his +beauty is enhanced by his smallness. But there are animals, which, when +they are extremely small, are rarely (if ever) beautiful. There is a +dwarfish size of men and women, which is almost constantly so gross and +massive in comparison of their height, that they present us with a very +disagreeable image. But should a man be found not above two or three +feet high, supposing such a person to have all the parts of his body of +a delicacy suitable to such a size, and otherwise endued with the common +qualities of other beautiful bodies, I am pretty well convinced that a +person of such a stature might be considered as beautiful; might be the +object of love; might give us very pleasing ideas on viewing him. The +only thing which could possibly interpose to check our pleasure is, that +such creatures, however formed, are unusual, and are often therefore +considered as something monstrous. The large and gigantic, though very +compatible with the sublime, is contrary to the beautiful. It is +impossible to suppose a giant the object of love. When we let our +imagination loose in romance, the ideas we naturally annex to that size +are those of tyranny, cruelty, injustice, and everything horrid and +abominable. We paint the giant ravaging the country, plundering the +innocent traveller, and afterwards gorged with his half-living flesh: +such are Polyphemus, Cacus, and others, who make so great a figure in +romances and heroic poems. The event we attend to with the greatest +satisfaction is their defeat and death. I do not remember, in all that +multitude of deaths with which the Iliad is filled, that the fall of any +man, remarkable for his great stature and strength, touches us with +pity; nor does it appear that the author, so well read in human nature, +ever intended it should. It is Simoisius, in the soft bloom of youth, +torn from his parents, who tremble for a courage so ill suited to his +strength; it is another hurried by war from the new embraces of his +bride, young and fair, and a novice to the field, who melts us by his +untimely fate. Achilles, in spite of the many qualities of beauty which +Homer has bestowed on his outward form, and the many great virtues with +which he has adorned his mind, can never make us love him. It may be +observed, that Homer has given the Trojans, whose fate he has designed +to excite our compassion, infinitely more of the amiable, social virtues +than he has distributed among his Greeks. With regard to the Trojans, +the passion he chooses to raise is pity; pity is a passion founded on +love; and these _lesser_, and if I may say domestic virtues, are +certainly the most amiable. But he has made the Greeks far their +superiors in the politic and military virtues. The councils of Priam are +weak; the arms of Hector comparatively feeble; his courage far below +that of Achilles. Yet we love Priam more than Agamemnon, and Hector more +than his conqueror Achilles. Admiration is the passion which Homer would +excite in favor of the Greeks, and he has done it by bestowing on them +the virtues which have but little to do with love. This short digression +is perhaps not wholly beside our purpose, where our business is to show +that objects of great dimensions are incompatible with beauty, the more +incompatible as they are greater; whereas the small, if ever they fail +of beauty, this failure is not to be attributed to their size. + + +SECTION XXV. + +OF COLOR. + +With regard to color, the disquisition is almost infinite; but I +conceive the principles laid down in the beginning of this part are +sufficient to account for the effects of them all, as well as for the +agreeable effects of transparent bodies, whether fluid or solid. Suppose +I look at a bottle of muddy liquor, of a blue or red color; the blue or +red rays cannot pass clearly to the eye, but are suddenly and unequally +stopped by the intervention of little opaque bodies, which without +preparation change the idea, and change it too into one disagreeable in +its own nature, conformably to the principles laid down in Sect. 24. But +when the ray passes without such opposition through the glass or liquor, +when the glass or liquor is quite transparent, the light is sometimes +softened in the passage, which makes it more agreeable even as light; +and the liquor reflecting all the rays of its proper color _evenly_, it +has such an effect on the eye, as smooth opaque bodies have on the eye +and touch. So that the pleasure here is compounded of the softness of +the transmitted, and the evenness of the reflected light. This pleasure +may be heightened by the common principles in other things, if the shape +of the glass which holds the transparent liquor be so judiciously +varied, as to present the color gradually and interchangeably, weakened +and strengthened with all the variety which judgment in affairs of this +nature shall suggest. On a review of all that has been said of the +effects, as well as the causes of both, it will appear that the sublime +and beautiful are built on principles very different, and that their +affections are as different: the great has terror for its basis, which, +when it is modified, causes that emotion in the mind, which I have +called astonishment; the beautiful is founded on mere positive pleasure, +and excites in the soul that feeling which is called love. Their causes +have made the subject of this fourth part. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[29] Part I. sect. 7. + +[30] Part I. sect. 10. + +[31] I do not here enter into the question debated among physiologists, +whether pain be the effect of a contraction, or a tension of the nerves. +Either will serve my purpose; for by tension, I mean no more than a +violent pulling of the fibres which compose any muscle or membrane, in +whatever way this is done. + +[32] Part II. sect. 2. + +[33] Part II. sect. 1. + +[34] Part I. sect. 7. Part II. sect. 2. + +[35] Part II. sect. 7. + +[36] Part II. sect. 10. + +[37] Part II. sect. 3. + + + + +PART V. + + +SECTION I. + +OF WORDS. + +Natural objects affect us by the laws of that connection which +Providence has established between certain motions and configurations of +bodies, and certain consequent feelings in our mind. Painting affects in +the same manner, but with the superadded pleasure of imitation. +Architecture affects by the laws of nature and the law of reason; from +which latter result the rules of proportion, which make a work to be +praised or censured, in the whole or in some part, when the end for +which it was designed is or is not properly answered. But as to words; +they seem to me to affect us in a manner very different from that in +which we are affected by natural objects, or by painting or +architecture; yet words have as considerable a share in exciting ideas +of beauty and of the sublime as many of those, and sometimes a much +greater than any of them; therefore an inquiry into the manner by which +they excite such emotions is far from being unnecessary in a discourse +of this kind. + + +SECTION II. + +THE COMMON EFFECTS OF POETRY, NOT BY RAISING IDEAS OF THINGS. + +The common notion of the power of poetry and eloquence, as well as that +of words in ordinary conversation, is, that they affect the mind by +raising in it ideas of those things for which custom has appointed them +to stand. To examine the truth of this notion, it may be requisite to +observe that words may be divided into three sorts. The first are such +as represent many simple ideas _united by nature_ to form some one +determinate composition, as man, horse, tree, castle, &c. These I call +_aggregate words_. The second are they that stand for one simple idea of +such compositions, and no more; as red, blue, round, square, and the +like. These I call _simple abstract_ words. The third are those which +are formed by an union, an _arbitrary_ union of both the others, and of +the various relations between them in greater or lesser degrees of +complexity; as virtue, honor, persuasion, magistrate, and the like. +These I call _compound abstract_ words. Words, I am sensible, are +capable of being classed into more curious distinctions; but these seem +to be natural, and enough for our purpose; and they are disposed in that +order in which they are commonly taught, and in which the mind gets the +ideas they are substituted for. I shall begin with the third sort of +words; compound abstracts, such as virtue, honor, persuasion, docility. +Of these I am convinced, that whatever power they may have on the +passions, they do not derive it from any representation raised in the +mind of the things for which they stand. As compositions, they are not +real essences, and hardly cause, I think, any real ideas. Nobody, I +believe, immediately on hearing the sounds, virtue, liberty, or honor, +conceives any precise notions of the particular modes of action and +thinking, together with the mixed and simple ideas, and the several +relations of them for which these words are substituted; neither has he +any general idea compounded of them; for if he had, then some of those +particular ones, though indistinct perhaps, and confused, might come +soon to be perceived. But this, I take it, is hardly ever the case. For, +put yourself upon analyzing one of these words, and you must reduce it +from one set of general words to another, and then into the simple +abstracts and aggregates, in a much longer series than may be at first +imagined, before any real idea emerges to light, before you come to +discover anything like the first principles of such compositions; and +when you have made such a discovery of the original ideas, the effect of +the composition is utterly lost. A train of thinking of this sort is +much too long to be pursued in the ordinary ways of conversation; nor is +it at all necessary that it should. Such words are in reality but mere +sounds; but they are sounds which being used on particular occasions, +wherein we receive some good, or suffer some evil; or see others +affected with good or evil; or which we hear applied to other +interesting things or events; and being applied in such a variety of +cases, that we know readily by habit to what things they belong, they +produce in the mind, whenever they are afterwards mentioned, effects +similar to those of their occasions. The sounds being often used without +reference to any particular occasion, and carrying still their first +impressions, they at last utterly lose their connection with the +particular occasions that gave rise to them; yet the sound, without any +annexed notion, continues to operate as before. + + +SECTION III. + +GENERAL WORDS BEFORE IDEAS. + +Mr. Locke has somewhere observed, with his usual sagacity, that most +general words, those belonging to virtue and vice, good and evil +especially, are taught before the particular modes of action to which +they belong are presented to the mind; and with them, the love of the +one, and the abhorrence of the other; for the minds of children are so +ductile, that a nurse, or any person about a child, by seeming pleased +or displeased with anything, or even any word, may give the disposition +of the child a similar turn. When, afterwards, the several occurrences +in life come to be applied to these words, and that which is pleasant +often appears under the name of evil; and what is disagreeable to nature +is called good and virtuous; a strange confusion of ideas and affections +arises in the minds of many; and an appearance of no small contradiction +between their notions and their actions. There are many who love virtue +and who detest vice, and this not from hypocrisy or affectation, who +notwithstanding very frequently act ill and wickedly in particulars +without the least remorse; because these particular occasions never came +into view, when the passions on the side of virtue were so warmly +affected by certain words heated originally by the breath of others; and +for this reason, it is hard to repeat certain sets of words, though +owned by themselves unoperative, without being in some degree affected; +especially if a warm and affecting tone of voice accompanies them, as +suppose, + + Wise, valiant, generous, good, and great. + +These words, by having no application, ought to be unoperative; but +when words commonly sacred to great occasions are used, we are affected +by them even without the occasions. When words which have been generally +so applied are put together without any rational view, or in such a +manner that they do not rightly agree with each other, the style is +called bombast. And it requires in several cases much good sense and +experience to be guarded against the force of such language; for when +propriety is neglected, a greater number of these affecting words may be +taken into the service, and a greater variety may be indulged in +combining them. + + +SECTION IV. + +THE EFFECT OF WORDS. + +If words have all their possible extent of power, three effects arise in +the mind of the hearer. The first is, the _sound_; the second, the +_picture_, or representation of the thing signified by the sound; the +third is, the _affection_ of the soul produced by one or by both of the +foregoing. _Compounded abstract_ words, of which we have been speaking, +(honor, justice, liberty, and the like,) produce the first and the last +of these effects, but not the second. _Simple abstracts_ are used to +signify some one simple idea without much adverting to others which may +chance to attend it, as blue, green, hot, cold, and the like; these are +capable of affecting all three of the purposes of words; as the +_aggregate_ words, man, castle, horse, &c. are in a yet higher degree. +But I am of opinion, that the most general effect, even of these words, +does not arise from their forming pictures of the several things they +would represent in the imagination; because, on a very diligent +examination of my own mind, and getting others to consider theirs, I do +not find that once in twenty times any such picture is formed, and when +it is, there is most commonly a particular effort of the imagination for +that purpose. But the aggregate words operate, as I said of the +compound-abstracts, not by presenting any image to the mind, but by +having from use the same effect on being mentioned, that their original +has when it is seen. Suppose we were to read a passage to this effect: +"The river Danube rises in a moist and mountainous soil in the heart of +Germany, where, winding to and fro, it waters several principalities, +until, turning into Austria, and laving the walls of Vienna, it passes +into Hungary; there with a vast flood, augmented by the Save and the +Drave, it quits Christendom, and rolling through the barbarous countries +which border on Tartary, it enters by many mouths in the Black Sea." In +this description many things are mentioned, as mountains, rivers, +cities, the sea, &c. But let anybody examine himself, and see whether he +has had impressed on his imagination any pictures of a river, mountain, +watery soil, Germany, &c. Indeed it is impossible, in the rapidity and +quick succession of words in conversation, to have ideas both of the +sound of the word, and of the thing represented; besides, some words, +expressing real essences, are so mixed with others of a general and +nominal import, that it is impracticable to jump from sense to thought, +from particulars to generals, from things to words, in such a manner as +to answer the purposes of life; nor is it necessary that we should. + + +SECTION V. + +EXAMPLES THAT WORDS MAY AFFECT WITHOUT RAISING IMAGES. + +I find it very hard to persuade several that their passions are affected +by words from whence they have no ideas; and yet harder to convince them +that in the ordinary course of conversation we are sufficiently +understood without raising any images of the things concerning which we +speak. It seems to be an odd subject of dispute with any man, whether he +has ideas in his mind or not. Of this, at first view, every man, in his +own forum, ought to judge without appeal. But, strange as it may appear, +we are often at a loss to know what ideas we have of things, or whether +we have any ideas at all upon some subjects. It even requires a good +deal of attention to be thoroughly satisfied on this head. Since I wrote +these papers, I found two very striking instances of the possibility +there is, that a man may hear words without having any idea of the +things which they represent, and yet afterwards be capable of returning +them to others, combined in a new way, and with great propriety, energy, +and instruction. The first instance is that of Mr. Blacklock, a poet +blind from his birth. Few men blessed with the most perfect sight can +describe visual objects with more spirit and justness than this blind +man; which cannot possibly be attributed to his having a clearer +conception of the things he describes than is common to other persons. +Mr. Spence, in an elegant preface which he has written to the works of +this poet, reasons very ingeniously, and, I imagine, for the most part, +very rightly, upon the cause of this extraordinary phenomenon; but I +cannot altogether agree with him, that some improprieties in language +and thought, which occur in these poems, have arisen from the blind +poet's imperfect conception of visual objects, since such improprieties, +and much greater, may be found in writers even of a higher class than +Mr. Blacklock, and who, notwithstanding, possessed the faculty of seeing +in its full perfection. Here is a poet doubtless as much affected by his +own descriptions as any that reads them can be; and yet he is affected +with this strong enthusiasm by things of which he neither has, nor can +possibly have, any idea further than that of a bare sound: and why may +not those who read his works be affected in the same manner that he was; +with as little of any real ideas of the things described? The second +instance is of Mr. Saunderson, professor of mathematics in the +University of Cambridge. This learned man had acquired great knowledge +in natural philosophy, in astronomy, and whatever sciences depend upon +mathematical skill. What was the most extraordinary and the most to my +purpose, he gave excellent lectures upon light and colors; and this man +taught others the theory of those ideas which they had, and which he +himself undoubtedly had not. But it is probable that the words red, +blue, green, answered to him as well as the ideas of the colors +themselves; for the ideas of greater or lesser degrees of refrangibility +being applied to these words, and the blind man being instructed in what +other respects they were found to agree or to disagree, it was as easy +for him to reason upon the words as if he had been fully master of the +ideas. Indeed it must be owned he could make no new discoveries in the +way of experiment. He did nothing but what we do every day in common +discourse. When I wrote this last sentence, and used the words _every +day_ and _common discourse_, I had no images in my mind of any +succession of time; nor of men in conference with each other; nor do I +imagine that the reader will have any such ideas on reading it. Neither +when I spoke of red, or blue, and green, as well as refrangibility, had +I these several colors, or the rays of light passing into a different +medium, and there diverted from their course, painted before me in the +way of images. I know very well that the mind possesses a faculty of +raising such images at pleasure; but then an act of the will is +necessary to this; and in ordinary conversation or reading it is very +rarely that any image at all is excited in the mind. If I say, "I shall +go to Italy next summer," I am well understood. Yet I believe nobody has +by this painted in his imagination the exact figure of the speaker +passing by land or by water, or both; sometimes on horseback, sometimes +in a carriage: with all the particulars of the journey. Still less has +he any idea of Italy, the country to which I proposed to go; or of the +greenness of the fields, the ripening of the fruits, and the warmth of +the air, with the change to this from a different season, which are the +ideas for which the word _summer_ is substituted; but least of all has +he any image from the word _next_; for this word stands for the idea of +many summers, with the exclusion of all but one: and surely the man who +says _next summer_ has no images of such a succession, and such an +exclusion. In short, it is not only of those ideas which are commonly +called abstract, and of which no image at all can be formed, but even of +particular, real beings, that we converse without having any idea of +them excited in the imagination; as will certainly appear on a diligent +examination of our own minds. Indeed, so little does poetry depend for +its effect on the power of raising sensible images, that I am convinced +it would lose a very considerable part of its energy, if this were the +necessary result of all description. Because that union of affecting +words, which is the most powerful of all poetical instruments, would +frequently lose its force along with its propriety and consistency, if +the sensible images were always excited. There is not, perhaps, in the +whole AEneid a more grand and labored passage than the description of +Vulcan's cavern in Etna, and the works that are there carried on. Virgil +dwells particularly on the formation of the thunder which he describes +unfinished under the hammers of the Cyclops. But what are the principles +of this extraordinary composition? + + Tres imbris torti radios, tres nubis aquosae + Addiderant; rutili tres ignis, et alitis austri: + Fulgores nunc terrificos, sonitumque, metumque + Miscebant operi, flammisque sequacibus iras. + +This seems to me admirably sublime: yet if we attend coolly to the kind +of sensible images which a combination of ideas of this sort must form, +the chimeras of madmen cannot appear more wild and absurd than such a +picture. "_Three rays of twisted showers, three of watery clouds, three +of fire, and three of the winged south wind; then mixed they in the work +terrific lightnings, and sound, and fear, and anger, with pursuing +flames._" This strange composition is formed into a gross body; it is +hammered by the Cyclops, it is in part polished, and partly continues +rough. The truth is, if poetry gives us a noble assemblage of words +corresponding to many noble ideas, which are connected by circumstances +of time or place, or related to each other as cause and effect, or +associated in any natural way, they may be moulded together in any form, +and perfectly answer their end. The picturesque connection is not +demanded; because no real picture is formed; nor is the effect of the +description at all the less upon this account. What is said of Helen by +Priam and the old men of his council, is generally thought to give us +the highest possible idea of that fatal beauty. + + [Greek: + Ou nemesis, Troas kai euknemidas 'Achaious + Toied' amphi gunaiki polun chronon algea paschein + Ainos athanatesi thees eis opa eoiken.] + + "They cried, No wonder such celestial charms + For nine long years have set the world in arms; + What winning graces! what majestic mien! + She moves a goddess, and she looks a queen." + + POPE. + +Here is not one word said of the particulars of her beauty; nothing +which can in the least help us to any precise idea of her person; but +yet we are much more touched by this manner of mentioning her, than by +those long and labored descriptions of Helen, whether handed down by +tradition, or formed by fancy, which are to be met with in some authors. +I am sure it affects me much more than the minute description which +Spenser has given of Belphebe; though I own that there are parts, in +that description, as there are in all the descriptions of that excellent +writer, extremely fine and poetical. The terrible picture which +Lucretius has drawn of religion in order to display the magnanimity of +his philosophical hero in opposing her, is thought to be designed with +great boldness and spirit:-- + + Humana ante oculos foede cum vita jaceret, + In terris, oppressa gravi sub religione, + Quae caput e coeli regionibus ostendebat + Horribili super aspectu mortalibus instans; + Primus Graius homo mortales tollere contra + Est oculos ausus. + +What idea do you derive from so excellent a picture? none at all, most +certainly: neither has the poet said a single word which might in the +least serve to mark a single limb or feature of the phantom, which he +intended to represent in all the horrors imagination can conceive. In +reality, poetry and rhetoric do not succeed in exact description so well +as painting does; their business is, to affect rather by sympathy than +imitation; to display rather the effect of things on the mind of the +speaker, or of others, than to present a clear idea of the things +themselves. This is their most extensive province, and that in which +they succeed the best. + + +SECTION VI. + +POETRY NOT STRICTLY AN IMITATIVE ART. + +Hence we may observe that poetry, taken in its most general sense, +cannot with strict propriety be called an art of imitation. It is indeed +an imitation so far as it describes the manners and passions of men +which their words can express; where _animi motus effert interprete +lingua_. There it is strictly imitation; and all merely _dramatic_ +poetry is of this sort. But _descriptive_ poetry operates chiefly by +_substitution_; by the means of sounds, which by custom have the effect +of realities. Nothing is an imitation further than as it resembles some +other thing; and words undoubtedly have no sort of resemblance to the +ideas for which they stand. + + +SECTION VII. + +HOW WORDS INFLUENCE THE PASSIONS. + +Now, as words affect, not by any original power, but by representation, +it might be supposed, that their influence over the passions should be +but light; yet it is quite otherwise; for we find by experience, that +eloquence and poetry are as capable, nay indeed much more capable, of +making deep and lively impressions than any other arts, and even than +nature itself in very many cases. And this arises chiefly from these +three causes. First, that we take an extraordinary part in the passions +of others, and that we are easily affected and brought into sympathy by +any tokens which are shown of them; and there are no tokens which can +express all the circumstances of most passions so fully as words; so +that if a person speaks upon any subject, he can not only convey the +subject to you, but likewise the manner in which he is himself affected +by it. Certain it is, that the influence of most things on our passions +is not so much from the things themselves, as from our opinions +concerning them; and these again depend very much on the opinions of +other men, conveyable for the most part by words only. Secondly, there +are many things of a very affecting nature, which can seldom occur in +the reality, but the words that represent them often do; and thus they +have an opportunity of making a deep impression and taking root in the +mind, whilst the idea of the reality was transient; and to some perhaps +never really occurred in any shape, to whom it is notwithstanding very +affecting, as war, death, famine, &c. Besides many ideas have never been +at all presented to the senses of any men but by words, as God, angels, +devils, heaven, and hell, all of which have however a great influence +over the passions. Thirdly, by words we have it in our power to make +such _combinations_ as we cannot possibly do otherwise. By this power of +combining we are able, by the addition of well-chosen circumstances, to +give a new life and force to the simple object. In painting we may +represent any fine figure we please; but we never can give it those +enlivening touches which it may receive from words. To represent an +angel in a picture, you can only draw a beautiful young man winged: but +what painting can furnish out anything so grand as the addition of one +word, "the angel of the _Lord_"? It is true, I have here no clear idea; +but these words affect the mind more than the sensible image did; which +is all I contend for. A picture of Priam dragged to the altar's foot, +and there murdered, if it were well executed, would undoubtedly be very +moving; but there are very aggravating circumstances, which it could +never represent: + + Sanguine foedantem _quos ipse sacraverat_ ignes. + +As a further instance, let us consider those lines of Milton, where he +describes the travels of the fallen angels through their dismal +habitation: + + "O'er many a dark and dreary vale + They passed, and many a region dolorous; + O'er many a frozen, many a fiery Alp; + Rocks, caves, lakes, fens, bogs, dens, and shades of death, + A universe of death." + +Here is displayed the force of union in + + "Rocks, caves, lakes, dens, bogs, fens, and shades" + +which yet would lose the greatest part of their effect, if they were not +the + + "Rocks, caves, lakes, dens, bogs, fens, and shades--of _Death_." + + +This idea or this affection caused by a word, which nothing but a word +could annex to the others, raises a very great degree of the sublime, +and this sublime is raised yet higher by what follows, a "_universe of +death_." Here are again two ideas not presentable but by language, and +an union of them great and amazing beyond conception; if they may +properly be called ideas which present no distinct image to the mind; +but still it will be difficult to conceive how words can move the +passions which belong to real objects, without representing these +objects clearly. This is difficult to us, because we do not sufficiently +distinguish, in our observations upon language, between a clear +expression and a strong expression. These are frequently confounded with +each other, though they are in reality extremely different. The former +regards the understanding, the latter belongs to the passions. The one +describes a thing as it is, the latter describes it as it is felt. Now, +as there is a moving tone of voice, an impassioned countenance, an +agitated gesture, which affect independently of the things about which +they are exerted, so there are words, and certain dispositions of words, +which being peculiarly devoted to passionate subjects, and always used +by those who are under the influence of any passion, touch and move us +more than those which far more clearly and distinctly express the +subject-matter. We yield to sympathy what we refuse to description. The +truth is, all verbal description, merely as naked description, though +never so exact, conveys so poor and insufficient an idea of the thing +described, that it could scarcely have the smallest effect, if the +speaker did not call in to his aid those modes of speech that mark a +strong and lively feeling in himself. Then, by the contagion of our +passions, we catch a fire already kindled in another, which probably +might never have been struck out by the object described. Words, by +strongly conveying the passions by those means which we have already +mentioned, fully compensate for their weakness in other respects. It may +be observed, that very polished languages, and such as are praised for +their superior clearness and perspicuity, are generally deficient in +strength. The French language has that perfection and that defect. +Whereas the Oriental tongues, and in general the languages of most +unpolished people, have a great force and energy of expression, and this +is but natural. Uncultivated people are but ordinary observers of +things, and not critical in distinguishing them; but, for that reason +they admire more, and are more affected with what they see, and +therefore express themselves in a warmer and more passionate manner. If +the affection be well conveyed, it will work its effect without any +clear idea, often without any idea at all of the thing which has +originally given rise to it. + +It might be expected, from the fertility of the subject, that I should +consider poetry, as it regards the sublime and beautiful, more at large; +but it must be observed, that in this light it has been often and well +handled already. It was not my design to enter into the criticism of the +sublime and beautiful in any art, but to attempt to lay down such +principles as may tend to ascertain, to distinguish, and to form a sort +of standard for them; which purposes I thought might be best effected +by an inquiry into the properties of such things in nature, as raise +love and astonishment in us; and by showing in what manner they operated +to produce these passions. Words were only so far to be considered as to +show upon what principle they were capable of being the representatives +of these natural things, and by what powers they were able to affect us +often as strongly as the things they represent, and sometimes much more +strongly. + + + + +A + +SHORT ACCOUNT + +OF + +A LATE SHORT ADMINISTRATION. + +1766. + + +The late administration came into employment, under the mediation of the +Duke of Cumberland, on the tenth day of July, 1765; and was removed, +upon a plan settled by the Earl of Chatham, on the thirtieth day of +July, 1766, having lasted just one year and twenty days. + +In that space of time + +The distractions of the British empire were composed, by _the repeal of +the American stamp act_; + +But the constitutional superiority of Great Britain was preserved by +_the act for securing the dependence of the colonies_. + +_Private_ houses were relieved from the jurisdiction of the excise, by +_the repeal of the cider tax_. + +The personal liberty of the subject was confirmed, by _the resolution +against general warrants_. + +The lawful secrets of business and friendship were rendered inviolable, +by _the resolution for condemning the seizure of papers_. + +The trade of America was set free from injudicious and ruinous +impositions,--its revenue was improved, and settled upon a rational +foundation,--its commerce extended with foreign countries; while all +the advantages were secured to Great Britain, by _the act for repealing +certain duties, and encouraging, regulating, and securing the trade of +this kingdom, and the British dominions in America_. + +Materials were provided and insured to our manufactures,--the sale of +these manufactures was increased,--the African trade preserved and +extended,--the principles of the act of navigation pursued, and the plan +improved,--and the trade for bullion rendered free, secure, and +permanent, by _the act for opening certain ports in Dominica and +Jamaica_. + +That administration was the first which proposed and encouraged public +meetings and free consultations of merchants from all parts of the +kingdom; by which means the truest lights have been received; great +benefits have been already derived to manufactures and commerce; and the +most extensive prospects are opened for further improvement. + +Under them, the interests of our northern and southern colonies, before +that time jarring and dissonant, were understood, compared, adjusted, +and perfectly reconciled. The passions and animosities of the colonies, +by judicious and lenient measures, were allayed and composed, and the +foundation laid for a lasting agreement amongst them. + +Whilst that administration provided for the liberty and commerce of +their country, as the true basis of its power, they consulted its +interests, they asserted its honor abroad, with temper and with +firmness; by making an advantageous treaty of commerce with Russia; by +obtaining a liquidation of the Canada bills, to the satisfaction of the +proprietors; by reviving and raising from its ashes the negotiation for +the Manilla ransom, which had been extinguished and abandoned by their +predecessors. + +They treated their sovereign with decency; with reverence. They +discountenanced, and, it is hoped, forever abolished, the dangerous and +unconstitutional practice of removing military officers for their votes +in Parliament. They firmly adhered to those friends of liberty, who had +run all hazards in its cause; and provided for them in preference to +every other claim. + +With the Earl of Bute they had no personal connection; no correspondence +of councils. They neither courted him nor persecuted him. They practised +no corruption; nor were they even suspected of it. They sold no offices. +They obtained no reversions or pensions, either coming in or going out, +for them selves, their families, or their dependents. + +In the prosecution of their measures they were traversed by an +opposition of a new and singular character; an opposition of placemen +and pensioners. They were supported by the confidence of the nation. And +having held their offices under many difficulties and discouragements, +they left them at the express command, as they had accepted them at the +earnest request, of their royal master. + +These are plain facts; of a clear and public nature; neither extended by +elaborate reasoning, nor heightened by the coloring of eloquence. They +are the services of a single year. + +The removal of that administration from power is not to them premature; +since they were in office long enough to accomplish many plans of public +utility; and, by their perseverance and resolution, rendered the way +smooth and easy to their successors; having left their king and their +country in a much better condition than they found them. By the temper +they manifest, they seem to have now no other wish than that their +successors may do the public as real and as faithful service as they +have done. + + + + +OBSERVATIONS + +ON A LATE PUBLICATION, + +INTITULED + +"THE PRESENT STATE OF THE NATION." + + "O Tite, si quid ego adjuvero curamve levasso, + Quae nunc te coquit, et versat sub pectore fixa, + Ecquid erit pretii?" + + ENN. ap. CIC. + +1769. + + +Party divisions, whether on the whole operating for good or evil, are +things inseparable from free government. This is a truth which, I +believe, admits little dispute, having been established by the uniform +experience of all ages. The part a good citizen ought to take in these +divisions has been a matter of much deeper controversy. But God forbid +that any controversy relating to our essential morals should admit of no +decision. It appears to me, that this question, like most of the others +which regard our duties in life, is to be determined by our station in +it. Private men may be wholly neutral, and entirely innocent: but they +who are legally invested with public trust, or stand on the high ground +of rank and dignity, which is trust implied, can hardly in any case +remain indifferent, without the certainty of sinking into +insignificance; and thereby in effect deserting that post in which, with +the fullest authority, and for the wisest purposes, the laws and +institutions of their country have fixed them. However, if it be the +office of those who are thus circumstanced, to take a decided part, it +is no less their duty that it should be a sober one. It ought to be +circumscribed by the same laws of decorum, and balanced by the same +temper, which bound and regulate all the virtues. In a word, we ought to +act in party with all the moderation which does not absolutely enervate +that vigor, and quench that fervency of spirit, without which the best +wishes for the public good must evaporate in empty speculation. + +It is probably from some such motives that the friends of a very +respectable party in this kingdom have been hitherto silent. For these +two years past, from one and the same quarter of politics, a continual +fire has been kept upon them; sometimes from the unwieldy column of +quartos and octavos; sometimes from the light squadrons of occasional +pamphlets and flying sheets. Every month has brought on its periodical +calumny. The abuse has taken every shape which the ability of the +writers could give it; plain invective, clumsy raillery, misrepresented +anecdote.[38] No method of vilifying the measures, the abilities, the +intentions, or the persons which compose that body, has been omitted. + +On their part nothing was opposed but patience and character. It was a +matter of the most serious and indignant affliction to persons who +thought themselves in conscience bound to oppose a ministry dangerous +from its very constitution, as well as its measures, to find themselves, +whenever they faced their adversaries, continually attacked on the rear +by a set of men who pretended to be actuated by motives similar to +theirs. They saw that the plan long pursued, with but too fatal a +success, was to break the strength of this kingdom, by frittering down +the bodies which compose it, by fomenting bitter and sanguinary +animosities, and by dissolving every tie of social affection and public +trust. These virtuous men, such I am warranted by public opinion to call +them, were resolved rather to endure everything, than co-operate in that +design. A diversity of opinion upon almost every principle of politics +had indeed drawn a strong line of separation between them and some +others. However, they were desirous not to extend the misfortune by +unnecessary bitterness; they wished to prevent a difference of opinion +on the commonwealth from festering into rancorous and incurable +hostility. Accordingly they endeavored that all past controversies +should be forgotten; and that enough for the day should be the evil +thereof. There is however a limit at which forbearance ceases to be a +virtue. Men may tolerate injuries whilst they are only personal to +themselves. But it is not the first of virtues to bear with moderation +the indignities that are offered to our country. A piece has at length +appeared, from the quarter of all the former attacks, which upon every +public consideration demands an answer. Whilst persons more equal to +this business may be engaged in affairs of greater moment, I hope I +shall be excused, if, in a few hours of a time not very important, and +from such materials as I have by me (more than enough however for this +purpose), I undertake to set the facts and arguments of this wonderful +performance in a proper light. I will endeavor to state what this piece +is; the purpose for which I take it to have been written; and the +effects (supposing it should have any effect at all) it must necessarily +produce. + +This piece is called "The Present State of the Nation." It may be +considered as a sort of digest of the avowed maxims of a certain +political school, the effects of whose doctrines and practices this +country will fuel long and severely. It is made up of a farrago of +almost every topic which has been agitated on national affairs in +parliamentary debate, or private conversation, for these last seven +years. The oldest controversies are hauled out of the dust with which +time and neglect had covered them. Arguments ten times repeated, a +thousand times answered before, are here repeated again. Public accounts +formerly printed and reprinted revolve once more, and find their old +station in this sober meridian. All the commonplace lamentations upon +the decay of trade, the increase of taxes, and the high price of labor +and provisions, are here retailed again and again in the same tone with +which they have drawled through columns of Gazetteers and Advertisers +for a century together. Paradoxes which affront common sense, and +uninteresting barren truths which generate no conclusion, are thrown in +to augment unwieldy bulk, without adding anything to weight. Because two +accusations are better than one, contradictions are set staring one +another in the face, without even an attempt to reconcile them. And, to +give the whole a sort of portentous air of labor and information, the +table of the House of Commons is swept into this grand reservoir of +politics. + +As to the composition, it bears a striking and whimsical resemblance to +a funeral sermon, not only in the pathetic prayer with which it +concludes, but in the style and tenor of the whole performance. It is +piteously doleful, nodding every now and then towards dulness; well +stored with pious frauds, and, like most discourses of the sort, much +better calculated for the private advantage of the preacher than the +edification of the hearers. + +The author has indeed so involved his subject, that it is frequently far +from being easy to comprehend his meaning. It is happy for the public +that it is never difficult to fathom his design. The apparent intention +of this author is to draw the most aggravated, hideous and deformed +picture of the state of this country, which his querulous eloquence, +aided by the arbitrary dominion he assumes over fact, is capable of +exhibiting. Had he attributed our misfortunes to their true cause, the +injudicious tampering of bold, improvident, and visionary ministers at +one period, or to their supine negligence and traitorous dissensions at +another, the complaint had been just, and might have been useful. But +far the greater and much the worst part of the state which he exhibits +is owing, according to his representation, not to accidental and +extrinsic mischiefs attendant on the nation, but to its radical weakness +and constitutional distempers. All this however is not without purpose. +The author is in hopes, that, when we are fallen into a fanatical terror +for the national salvation, we shall then be ready to throw +ourselves,--in a sort of precipitate trust, some strange disposition of +the mind jumbled up of presumption and despair,--into the hands of the +most pretending and forward undertaker. One such undertaker at least he +has in readiness for our service. But let me assure this generous +person, that however he may succeed in exciting our fears for the public +danger, he will find it hard indeed to engage us to place any confidence +in the system he proposes for our security. + +His undertaking is great. The purpose of this pamphlet, at which it +aims directly or obliquely in every page, is to persuade the public of +three or four of the most difficult points in the world,--that all the +advantages of the late war were on the part of the Bourbon alliance; +that the peace of Paris perfectly consulted the dignity and interest of +this country; and that the American Stamp Act was a masterpiece of +policy and finance; that the only good minister this nation has enjoyed +since his Majesty's accession, is the Earl of Bute; and the only good +managers of revenue we have seen are Lord Despenser and Mr. George +Grenville; and, under the description of men of virtue and ability, he +holds them out to us as the only persons fit to put our affairs in +order. Let not the reader mistake me: he does not actually name these +persons; but having highly applauded their conduct in all its parts, and +heavily censured every other set of men in the kingdom, he then +recommends us to his men of virtue and ability. + +Such is the author's scheme. Whether it will answer his purpose I know +not. But surely that purpose ought to be a wonderfully good one, to +warrant the methods he has taken to compass it. If the facts and +reasonings in this piece are admitted, it is all over with us. The +continuance of our tranquillity depends upon the compassion of our +rivals. Unable to secure to ourselves the advantages of peace, we are at +the same time utterly unfit for war. It is impossible, if this state of +things be credited abroad, that we can have any alliance; all nations +will fly from so dangerous a connection, lest, instead of being +partakers of our strength, they should only become sharers in our ruin. +If it is believed at home, all that firmness of mind, and dignified +national courage, which used to be the great support of this isle +against the powers of the world, must melt away, and fail within us. + +In such a state of things can it be amiss if I aim at holding out some +comfort to the nation; another sort of comfort, indeed, than that which +this writer provides for it; a comfort not from its physician, but from +its constitution: if I attempt to show that all the arguments upon which +he founds the decay of that constitution, and the necessity of that +physician, are vain and frivolous? I will follow the author closely in +his own long career, through the war, the peace, the finances, our +trade, and our foreign politics: not for the sake of the particular +measures which he discusses; that can be of no use; they are all +decided; their good is all enjoyed, or their evil incurred: but for the +sake of the principles of war, peace, trade, and finances. These +principles are of infinite moment. They must come again and again under +consideration; and it imports the public, of all things, that those of +its ministers be enlarged, and just, and well confirmed, upon all these +subjects. What notions this author entertains we shall see presently; +notions in my opinion very irrational, and extremely dangerous; and +which, if they should crawl from pamphlets into counsels, and be +realized from private speculation into national measures, cannot fail of +hastening and completing our ruin. + +This author, after having paid his compliment to the showy appearances +of the late war in our favor, is in the utmost haste to tell you that +these appearances were _fallacious_, that they were no more than an +_imposition_.--I fear I must trouble the reader with a pretty long +quotation, in order to set before him the more clearly this author's +peculiar way of conceiving and reasoning: + +"Happily (the K.) was then advised by ministers, who did not suffer +themselves to be dazzled by the glare of brilliant appearances; but, +knowing them to be _fallacious_, they wisely resolved to profit of their +splendor before our enemies should also _discover the imposition_.--The +increase in the exports was found to have been occasioned chiefly by the +demands of _our own fleets and armies_, and, instead of bringing wealth +to the nation, was to be paid for by oppressive taxes upon the people of +England. While the British seamen were consuming on board our men of war +and privateers, foreign ships and foreign seamen were employed in the +transportation of our merchandise; and the carrying trade, so great a +source of wealth and marine, _was entirely engrossed by the neutral +nations_. The number of British ships annually arriving in our ports was +reduced 1756 sail, containing 92,559 tons, on a medium of the six years' +war, compared with the six years of peace preceding it.--The conquest of +the Havannah had, indeed, stopped the remittance of specie from Mexico +to Spain; but it had not enabled England to seize it: on the contrary, +our merchants suffered by the detention of the galleons, as their +_correspondents in Spain were disabled from paying them for their goods +sent to America. The loss of the trade to Old Spain was a further bar to +an influx of specie_; and the attempt upon Portugal had not only +deprived us of an import of bullion from thence, but the payment of our +troops employed in its defence was a fresh drain opened for the +diminution of our circulating specie.--The high premiums given for new +loans had sunk the price of the old stock near a third of its original +value; so that the purchasers had an obligation from the state to repay +them with an addition of 33 per cent to their capital. Every new loan +required new taxes to be imposed; new taxes must add to the price of our +manufactures, _and lessen their consumption among foreigners_. The decay +of our trade must necessarily _occasion a decrease of the public +revenue_; and a deficiency of our funds must either be made up by fresh +taxes, which would only add to the calamity, or our national credit must +be destroyed, by showing the public creditors the inability of the +nation to repay them their principal money.--Bounties had already been +given for recruits which exceeded the year's wages of the ploughman and +reaper; and as these were exhausted, and _husbandry stood still for want +of hands_, the manufacturers were next to be tempted to quit the anvil +and the loom by higher offers.--_France, bankrupt France, had no such +calamities impending over her; her distresses were great, but they were +immediate and temporary; her want of credit preserved her from a great +increase of debt, and the loss of her ultramarine dominions lessened her +expenses. Her colonies had, indeed, put themselves into the hands of the +English; but the property of her subjects had been preserved by +capitulations, and a way opened for making her those remittances which +the war had before suspended, with as much security as in time of +peace_.--Her armies in Germany had been hitherto prevented from seizing +upon Hanover; but they continued to encamp on the same ground on which +the first battle was fought; and, as it must ever happen from the policy +of that government, _the last troops she sent into the field were +always found to be the best, and her frequent losses only served to fill +her regiments with better soldiers. The conquest of Hanover became +therefore every campaign more probable_.--It is to be noted, that the +French troops received subsistence only, for the last three years of the +war; and that, although large arrears were due to them at its +conclusion, the charge was the less during its continuance."[39] + +If any one be willing to see to how much greater lengths the author +carries these ideas, he will recur to the book. This is sufficient for a +specimen of his manner of thinking. I believe one reflection uniformly +obtrudes itself upon every reader of these paragraphs. For what purpose, +in any cause, shall we hereafter contend with France? Can we ever +flatter ourselves that we shall wage a more successful war? If, on our +part, in a war the most prosperous we ever carried on, by sea and by +land, and in every part of the globe, attended with the unparalleled +circumstance of an immense increase of trade and augmentation of +revenue; if a continued series of disappointments, disgraces, and +defeats, followed by public bankruptcy, on the part of France; if all +these still leave her a gainer on the whole balance, will it not be +downright frenzy in us ever to look her in the face again, or to contend +with her any, even the most essential points, since victory and defeat, +though by different ways, equally conduct us to our ruin? Subjection to +France without a struggle will indeed be less for our honor, but on +every principle of our author it must be more for our advantage. +According to his representation of things, the question is only +concerning the most easy fall. France had not discovered, our statesman +tells us, at the end of that war, the triumphs of defeat, and the +resources which are derived from bankruptcy. For my poor part, I do not +wonder at their blindness. But the English ministers saw further. Our +author has at length let foreigners also into the secret, and made them +altogether as wise as ourselves. It is their own fault if (_vulgato +imperii arcano_) they are imposed upon any longer. They now are apprised +of the sentiments which the great candidate for the government of this +great empire entertains; and they will act accordingly. They are taught +our weakness and their own advantages. + +He tells the world,[40] that if France carries on the war against us in +Germany, every loss she sustains contributes to the achievement of her +conquest. If her armies are three years unpaid, she is the less +exhausted by expense. If her credit is destroyed, she is the less +oppressed with debt. If her troops are cut to pieces, they will by her +policy (and a wonderful policy it is) be improved, and will be supplied +with much better men. If the war is carried on in the colonies, he tells +them[41] that the loss of her ultramarine dominions lessens her +expenses, and insures her remittances:-- + + Per damna, per caedes, ab ipso + Ducit opes animumque ferro. + +If so, what is it we can do to hurt her?--it will be all an +_imposition_, all _fallacious_. Why, the result must be,-- + + Occidit, occidit + Spes omnis, et fortuna nostri + Nominis. + + +The only way which the author's principles leave for our escape, is to +reverse our condition into that of France, and to take her losing cards +into our hands. But though his principles drive him to it, his politics +will not suffer him to walk on this ground. Talking at our ease and of +other countries, we may bear to be diverted with such speculations; but +in England we shall never be taught to look upon the annihilation of our +trade, the ruin of our credit, the defeat of our armies, and the loss of +our ultramarine dominions (whatever the author may think of them), to be +the high road to prosperity and greatness. + +The reader does not, I hope, imagine that I mean seriously to set about +the refutation of these uningenious paradoxes and reveries without +imagination. I state them only that we may discern a little in the +questions of war and peace, the most weighty of all questions, what is +the wisdom of those men who are held out to us as the only hope of an +expiring nation. The present ministry is indeed of a strange character: +at once indolent and distracted. But if a ministerial system should be +formed, actuated by such maxims as are avowed in this piece, the vices +of the present ministry would become their virtues; their indolence +would be the greatest of all public benefits, and a distraction that +entirely defeated every one of their schemes would be our only security +from destruction. + +To have stated these reasonings is enough, I presume, to do their +business. But they are accompanied with facts and records, which may +seem of a little more weight. I trust, however, that the facts of this +author will be as far from bearing the touchstone, as his arguments. On +a little inquiry, they will be found as great an imposition as the +successes they are meant to depreciate; for they are all either false +or fallaciously applied; or not in the least to the purpose for which +they are produced. + +First the author, in order to support his favorite paradox, that our +possession of the French colonies was of no detriment to France, has +thought proper to inform us, that[42] "they put themselves into the +hands of the English." He uses the same assertion, in nearly the same +words, in another place;[43] "her colonies had put themselves into our +hands." Now, in justice, not only to fact and common sense, but to the +incomparable valor and perseverance of our military and naval forces +thus unhandsomely traduced, I must tell this author, that the French +colonies did not "put themselves into the hands of the English." They +were compelled to submit; they were subdued by dint of English valor. +Will the five years' war carried on in Canada, in which fell one of the +principal hopes of this nation, and all the battles lost and gained +during that anxious period, convince this author of his mistake? Let him +inquire of Sir Jeffery Amherst, under whose conduct that war was carried +on; of Sir Charles Saunders, whose steadiness and presence of mind saved +our fleet, and were so eminently serviceable in the whole course of the +siege of Quebec; of General Monckton, who was shot through the body +there, whether France "put her colonies into the hands of the English." + +Though he has made no exception, yet I would be liberal to him; perhaps +he means to confine himself to her colonies in the West Indies. But +surely it will fare as ill with him there as in North America, whilst we +remember that in our first attempt at Martinico we were actually +defeated; that it was three months before we reduced Guadaloupe; and +that the conquest of the Havannah was achieved by the highest conduct, +aided by circumstances of the greatest good fortune. He knows the +expense both of men and treasure at which we bought that place. However, +if it had so pleased the peacemakers, it was no dear purchase; for it +was decisive of the fortune of the war and the terms of the treaty: the +Duke of Nivernois thought so; France, England, Europe, considered it in +that light; all the world, except the then friends of the then ministry, +who wept for our victories, and were in haste to get rid of the burden +of our conquests. This author knows that France did not put those +colonies into the hands of England; but he well knows who did put the +most valuable of them into the hands of France. + +In the next place, our author[44] is pleased to consider the conquest of +those colonies in no other light than as a convenience for the +remittances to France, which he asserts that the war had before +suspended, but for which a way was opened (by our conquest) as secure as +in time of peace. I charitably hope he knows nothing of the subject. I +referred him lately to our commanders, for the resistance of the French +colonies; I now wish he would apply to our custom-house entries, and our +merchants, for the advantages which we derived from them. + +In 1761, there was no entry of goods from any of the conquered places +but Guadaloupe; in that year it stood thus:-- + + Imports from Guadaloupe, value, L482,179 + -------- + +In 1762, when we had not yet delivered up our conquests, the account +was, + + Guadaloupe L513,244 + Martinico 288,425 + -------- + Total imports in 1762, value, L801,669 + -------- + +In 1763, after we had delivered up the sovereignty of these islands, but +kept open a communication with them, the imports were, + + Guadaloupe L412,303 + Martinico 344,161 + Havannah 249,386 + ---------- + Total imports in 1763, value, L1,005,850 + ---------- + +Besides, I find, in the account of bullion imported and brought to the +Bank, that, during that period in which the intercourse with the +Havannah was open, we received at that one shop, in treasure, from that +one place, 559,810_l._; in the year 1763, 389,450_l._; so that the +import from these places in that year amounted to 1,395,300_l._ + +On this state the reader will observe, that I take the imports from, and +not the exports to, these conquests, as the measure of the advantages +which we derived from them. I do so for reasons which will be somewhat +worthy the attention of such readers as are fond of this species of +inquiry. I say therefore I choose the import article, as the best, and +indeed the only standard we can have, of the value of the West India +trade. Our export entry does not comprehend the greatest trade we carry +on with any of the West India islands, the sale of negroes: nor does it +give any idea of two other advantages we draw from them; the +remittances for money spent here, and the payment of part of the balance +of the North American trade. It is therefore quite ridiculous, to strike +a balance merely on the face of an excess of imports and exports, in +that commerce; though, in most foreign branches, it is, on the whole, +the best method. If we should take that standard, it would appear, that +the balance with our own islands is, annually, several hundred thousand +pounds against this country.[45] Such is its aspect on the custom-house +entries; but we know the direct contrary to be the fact. We know that +the West-Indians are always indebted to our merchants, and that the +value of every shilling of West India produce is English property. So +that our import from them, and not our export, ought always to be +considered as their true value; and this corrective ought to be applied +to all general balances of our trade, which are formed on the ordinary +principles. + +If possible, this was more emphatically true of the French West India +islands, whilst they continued in our hands. That none or only a very +contemptible part, of the value of this produce could be remitted to +France, the author will see, perhaps with unwillingness, but with the +clearest conviction, if he considers, that in the year 1763, _after we +had ceased to export_ to the isles of Guadaloupe and Martinico, and to +the Havannah, and after the colonies were free to send all their +produce to Old France and Spain, if they had any remittance to make; he +will see, that we imported from those places, in that year, to the +amount of 1,395,300_l._ So far was the whole annual produce of these +islands from being adequate to the payments of their annual call upon +us, that this mighty additional importation was necessary, though not +quite sufficient, to discharge the debts contracted in the few years we +held them. The property, therefore, of their whole produce was ours; not +only during the war, but even for more than a year after the peace. The +author, I hope, will not again venture upon so rash and discouraging a +proposition concerning the nature and effect of those conquests, as to +call them a convenience to the remittances of France; he sees, by this +account, that what he asserts is not only without foundation, but even +impossible to be true. + +As to our trade at that time, he labors with all his might to represent +it as absolutely ruined, or on the very edge of ruin. Indeed, as usual +with him, he is often as equivocal in his expression as he is clear in +his design. Sometimes he more than insinuates a decay of our commerce in +that war; sometimes he admits an increase of exports; but it is in order +to depreciate the advantages we might appear to derive from that +increase, whenever it should come to be proved against him. He tells +you,[46] "that it was chiefly occasioned by the demands of our own +fleets and armies, and, instead or bringing wealth to the nation, was to +be paid for by oppressive taxes upon the people of England." Never was +anything more destitute of foundation. It might be proved, with the +greatest ease, from the nature and quality of the goods exported, as +well as from the situation of the places to which our merchandise was +sent, and which the war could no wise affect, that the supply of our +fleets and armies could not have been the cause of this wonderful +increase of trade: its cause was evident to the whole world; the ruin of +the trade of France, and our possession of her colonies. What wonderful +effects this cause produced the reader will see below;[47] and he will +form on that account some judgment of the author's candor or +information. + +Admit however that a great part of our export, though nothing is more +remote from fact, was owing to the supply of our fleets and armies; was +it not something?--was it not peculiarly fortunate for a nation, that +she was able from her own bosom to contribute largely to the supply of +her armies militating in so many distant countries? The author allows +that France did not enjoy the same advantages. But it is remarkable, +throughout his whole book, that those circumstances which have ever been +considered as great benefits, and decisive proofs of national +superiority, are, when in our hands, taken either in diminution of some +other apparent advantage, or even sometimes as positive misfortunes. The +optics of that politician must be of a strange conformation, who beholds +everything in this distorted shape. + +So far as to our trade. With regard to our navigation, he is still more +uneasy at our situation, and still more fallacious in his state of it. +In his text, he affirms it "to have been _entirely_ engrossed by the +neutral nations."[48] This he asserts roundly and boldly, and without +the least concern; although it cost no more than a single glance of the +eye upon his own margin to see the full refutation of this assertion. +His own account proves against him, that, in the year 1761, the British +shipping amounted to 527,557 tons,--the foreign to no more than 180,102. +The medium of his six years British, 2,449,555 tons,--foreign only +906,690. This state (his own) demonstrates that the neutral nations did +not _entirely engross our navigation_. + +I am willing from a strain of candor to admit that this author speaks at +random; that he is only slovenly and inaccurate, and not fallacious. In +matters of account, however, this want of care is not excusable; and the +difference between neutral nations entirely engrossing our navigation, +and being only subsidiary to a vastly augmented trade, makes a most +material difference to his argument. From that principle of fairness, +though the author speaks otherwise, I am willing to suppose he means no +more than that our navigation had so declined as to alarm us with the +probable loss of this valuable object. I shall however show, that his +whole proposition, whatever modifications he may please to give it, is +without foundation; that our navigation had not decreased; that, on the +contrary, it had greatly increased in the war; that it had increased by +the war; and that it was probable the same cause would continue to +augment it to a still greater height; to what an height it is hard to +say, had our success continued. + +But first I must observe, I am much less solicitous whether his fact be +true or no, than whether his principle is well established. Cases are +dead things, principles are living and productive. I affirm then, that, +if in time of war our trade had the good fortune to increase, and at the +same time a large, nay the largest, proportion of carriage had been +engrossed by neutral nations, it ought not in itself to have been +considered as a circumstance of distress. War is a time of inconvenience +to trade; in general it must be straitened, and must find its way as it +can. It is often happy for nations that they are able to call in neutral +navigation. They all aim at it. France endeavored at it, but could not +compass it. Will this author say, that, in a war with Spain, such an +assistance would not be of absolute necessity? that it would not be the +most gross of all follies to refuse it? + +In the next place, his method of stating a medium of six years of war, +and six years of peace, to decide this question, is altogether unfair. +To say, in derogation of the advantages of a war, that navigation is not +equal to what it was in time of peace, is what hitherto has never been +heard of. No war ever bore that test but the war which he so bitterly +laments. One may lay it down as a maxim, that an average estimate of an +object in a steady course of rising or of falling, must in its nature be +an unfair one; more particularly if the cause of the rise or fall be +visible, and its continuance in any degree probable. Average estimates +are never just but when the object fluctuates, and no reason can be +assigned why it should not continue still to fluctuate. The author +chooses to allow nothing at all for this: he has taken an average of six +years of the war. He knew, for everybody knows, that the first three +years were on the whole rather unsuccessful; and that, in consequence of +this ill success, trade sunk, and navigation declined with it; but _that +grand delusion_ of the three last years turned the scale in our favor. +At the beginning of that war (as in the commencement of every war), +traders were struck with a sort of panic. Many went out of the +freighting business. But by degrees, as the war continued, the terror +wore off; the danger came to be better appreciated, and better provided +against; our trade was carried on in large fleets, under regular +convoys, and with great safety. The freighting business revived. The +ships were fewer, but much larger; and though the number decreased, the +tonnage was vastly augmented: insomuch that in 1761 the _British_ +shipping had risen by the author's own account to 527,557 tons.--In the +last year he has given us of the peace, it amounted to no more than +494,772; that is, in the last year of the war it was 32,785 tons more +than in the correspondent year of his peace average. No year of the +peace exceeded it except one, and that but little. + +The fair account of the matter is this. Our trade had, as we have just +seen, increased to so astonishing a degree in 1761, as to employ British +and foreign ships to the amount of 707,659 tons, which is 149,500 more +than we employed in the last year of the peace.--Thus our trade +increased more than a fifth; our British navigation had increased +likewise with this astonishing increase of trade, but was not able to +keep pace with it; and we added about 120,000 tons of foreign shipping +to the 60,000, which had been employed in the last year of the peace. +Whatever happened to our shipping in the former years of the war, this +would be no true state of the case at the time of the treaty. If we had +lost something in the beginning, we had then recovered, and more than +recovered, all our losses. Such is the ground of the doleful complaints +of the author, that _the carrying trade was wholly engrossed by the +neutral nations_. + +I have done fairly, and even very moderately, in taking this year, and +not his average, as the standard of what might be expected in future, +had the war continued. The author will be compelled to allow it, unless +he undertakes to show; first, that the possession of Canada, Martinico, +Guadaloupe, Grenada, the Havannah, the Philippines, the whole African +trade, the whole East India trade, and the whole Newfoundland fishery, +had no certain inevitable tendency to increase the British shipping; +unless, in the second place, he can prove that those trades were, or +might be, by law or indulgence, carried on in foreign vessels; and +unless, thirdly, he can demonstrate that the premium of insurance on +British ships was rising as the war continued. He can prove not one of +these points. I will show him a fact more that is mortal to his +assertions. It is the state of our shipping in 1762. The author had his +reasons for stopping short at the preceding year. It would have +appeared, had he proceeded farther, that our tonnage was in a course of +uniform augmentation, owing to the freight derived from our foreign +conquests, and to the perfect security of our navigation from our clear +and decided superiority at sea. This, I say, would have appeared from +the state of the two years:-- + + 1761. British 527,557 tons. + 1762. Ditto 559,537 tons. + 1761. Foreign 180,102 tons. + 1762. Ditto 129,502 tons. + +The two last years of the peace were in no degree equal to these. Much +of the navigation of 1763 was also owing to the war; this is manifest +from the large part of it employed in the carriage from the ceded +islands, with which the communication still continued open. No such +circumstances of glory and advantage ever attended upon a war. Too happy +will be our lot, if we should again be forced into a war, to behold +anything that shall resemble them; and if we were not then the better +for them, it is net in the ordinary course of God's providence to mend +our condition. + +In vain does the author declaim on the high premiums given for the loans +during the war. His long note swelled with calculations on that subject +(even supposing the most inaccurate of all calculations to be just) +would be entirety thrown away, did it not serve to raise a wonderful +opinion of his financial skill in those who are not less surprised than +edified, when, with a solemn face and mysterious air, they are told that +two and two make four. For what else do we learn from this note? That +the more expense is incurred by a nation, the more money will be +required to defray it; that in proportion to the continuance of that +expense, will be the continuance of borrowing; that the increase of +borrowing and the increase of debt will go hand in hand; and lastly, +that the more money you want, the harder it will be to get it; and that +the scarcity of the commodity will enhance the price. Who ever doubted +the truth, or the insignificance, of these propositions? what do they +prove? that war is expensive, and peace desirable. They contain nothing +more than a commonplace against war; the easiest of all topics. To bring +them home to his purpose, he ought to have shown that our enemies had +money upon better terms; which he has not shown, neither can he. I shall +speak more fully to this point in another place. He ought to have shown +that the money they raised, upon whatever terms, had procured them a +more lucrative return. He knows that our expenditure purchased commerce +and conquest: theirs acquired nothing but defeat and bankruptcy. + +Thus the author has laid down his ideas on the subject of war. Next +follow those he entertains on that of peace. The treaty of Paris upon +the whole has his approbation. Indeed, if his account of the war be +just, he might have spared himself all further trouble. The rest is +drawn on as an inevitable conclusion.[49] If the House of Bourbon had +the advantage, she must give the law; and the peace, though it were much +worse than it is, had still been a good one. But as the world is yet +_deluded_ on the state of that war, other arguments are necessary; and +the author has in my opinion very ill supplied them. He tells of many +things we have got, and of which he has made out a kind of bill. This +matter may be brought within a very narrow compass, if we come to +consider the requisites of a good peace under some plain distinct heads. +I apprehend they may be reduced to these: 1. Stability; 2. +Indemnification; 3. Alliance. + +As to the first, the author more than obscurely hints in several places, +that he thinks the peace not likely to last. However, he does furnish a +security; a security, in any light, I fear, but insufficient; on his +hypothesis, surely a very odd one. "By stipulating for the entire +possession of the Continent (says he) the restored French islands are +become in some measure dependent on the British empire; and the good +faith of France in observing the treaty guaranteed by the value at which +she estimates their possession."[50] This author soon grows weary of his +principles. They seldom last him for two pages together. When the +advantages of the war were to be depreciated, then the loss of the +ultramarine colonies lightened the expenses of France, facilitated her +remittances, and therefore _her colonists put them into our hands_. +According to this author's system, the actual possession of those +colonies ought to give us little or no advantage in the negotiation for +peace; and yet the chance of possessing them on a future occasion gives +a perfect security for the preservation of that peace.[51] The conquest +of the Havannah, if it did not serve Spain, rather distressed England, +says our author.[52] But the molestation which her galleons may suffer +from our station in Pensacola gives us advantages, for which we were not +allowed to credit the nation for the Havannah itself; a place surely +full as well situated for every external purpose as Pensacola, and of +more internal benefit than ten thousand Pensacolas. + +The author sets very little by conquests;[53] I suppose it is because he +makes them so very lightly. On this subject he speaks with the greatest +certainty imaginable. We have, according to him, nothing to do, but to +go and take possession, whenever we think proper, of the French and +Spanish settlements. It were better that he had examined a little what +advantage the peace gave us towards the invasion of these colonies, +which we did not possess before the peace. It would not have been amiss +if he had consulted the public experience, and our commanders, +concerning the absolute certainty of those conquests on which he is +pleased to found our security. And if, after all, he should have +discovered them to be so very sure, and so very easy, he might at least, +to preserve consistency, have looked a few pages back, and (no +unpleasing thing to him) listened to himself, where he says, "that the +most successful enterprise could not compensate to the nation for the +waste of its people, by carrying on war in unhealthy climates."[54] A +position which he repeats again, p. 9. So that, according to himself, +his security is not worth the suit; according to fact, he has only a +chance, God knows what a chance, of getting at it; and therefore, +according to reason, the giving up the most valuable of all possessions, +in hopes to conquer them back, under any advantage of situation, is the +most ridiculous security that ever was imagined for the peace of a +nation. It is true his friends did not give up Canada; they could not +give up everything; let us make the most of it. We have Canada, we know +its value. We have not the French any longer to fight in North America; +and from this circumstance we derive considerable advantages. But here +let me rest a little. The author touches upon a string which sounds +under his fingers but a tremulous and melancholy note. North America was +once indeed a great strength to this nation, in opportunity of ports, in +ships, in provisions, in men. We found her a sound, an active, a +vigorous member of the empire. I hope, by wise management, she will +again become so. But one of our capital present misfortunes is her +discontent and disobedience. To which of the author's favorites this +discontent is owing, we all know but too sufficiently. It would be a +dismal event, if this foundation of his security, and indeed of all our +public strength, should, in reality, become our weakness; and if all the +powers of this empire, which ought to fall with a compacted weight upon +the head of our enemies, should be dissipated and distracted by a +jealous vigilance, or by hostile attempts upon one another. Ten Canadas +cannot restore that security for the peace, and for everything valuable +to this country, which we have lost along with the affection and the +obedience of our colonies. He is the wise minister, he is the true +friend to Britain, who shall be able to restore it. + +To return to the security for the peace. The author tells us, that the +original great purposes of the war were more than accomplished by the +treaty. Surely he has experience and reading enough to know, that, in +the course of a war, events may happen, that render its original very +far from being its principal purpose. This original may dwindle by +circumstances, so as to become not a purpose of the second or even the +third magnitude. I trust this is so obvious that it will not be +necessary to put cases for its illustration. In that war, as soon as +Spain entered into the quarrel, the security of North America was no +longer the sole nor the foremost object. The _Family Compact_ had been I +know not how long before in agitation. But then it was that we saw +produced into daylight and action the most odious and most formidable of +all the conspiracies against the liberties of Europe that ever has been +framed. The war with Spain was the first fruits of that league; and a +security against that league ought to have been the fundamental point of +a pacification with the powers who compose it. We had materials in our +hands to have constructed that security in such a manner as never to be +shaken. But how did the virtuous and able men of our author labor for +this great end? They took no one step towards it. On the contrary they +countenanced, and, indeed, as far as it depended on them, recognized it +in all its parts; for our plenipotentiary treated with those who acted +for the two crowns, as if they had been different ministers of the same +monarch. The Spanish minister received his instructions, not from +Madrid, but from Versailles. + +This was not hid from our ministers at home; and the discovery ought to +have alarmed them, if the good of their country had been the object of +their anxiety. They could not but have seen that the whole Spanish +monarchy was melted down into the cabinet of Versailles. But they +thought this circumstance an advantage; as it enabled them to go through +with their work the more expeditiously. Expedition was everything to +them; because France might happen during a protracted negotiation to +discover the great imposition of our victories. + +In the same spirit they negotiated the terms of the peace. If it were +thought advisable not to take any positive security from Spain, the most +obvious principles of policy dictated that the burden of the cessions +ought to fall upon France; and that everything which was of grace and +favor should be given to Spain. Spain could not, on her part, have +executed a capital article in the family compact, which obliged her to +compensate the losses of France. At least she could not do it in +America; for she was expressly precluded by the treaty of Utrecht from +ceding any territory or giving any advantage in trade to that power. +What did our ministers? They took from Spain the territory of Florida, +an object of no value except to show our dispositions to be quite equal +at least towards both powers; and they enabled France to compensate +Spain by the gift of Louisiana: loading us with all the harshness, +leaving the act of kindness with France, and opening thereby a door to +the fulfilling of this the most consolidating article of the family +compact. Accordingly that dangerous league, thus abetted and authorized +by the English ministry without an attempt to invalidate it in any way, +or in any of its parts, exists to this hour; and has grown stronger and +stronger every hour of its existence. + +As to the second component of a good peace, _compensation_, I have but +little trouble; the author has said nothing upon that head. He has +nothing to say. After a war of such expense, this ought to have been a +capital consideration. But on what he has been so prudently silent, I +think it is right to speak plainly. All our new acquisitions together, +at this time, scarce afford matter of revenue, either at home or abroad, +sufficient to defray the expense of their establishments; not one +shilling towards the reduction of our debt. Guadaloupe or Martinico +alone would have given us material aid; much in the way of duties, much +in the way of trade and navigation. A good ministry would have +considered how a renewal of the _Assiento_ might have been obtained. We +had as much right to ask it at the treaty of Paris as at the treaty of +Utrecht. We had incomparably more in our hands to purchase it. Floods of +treasure would have poured into this kingdom from such a source; and, +under proper management, no small part of it would have taken a public +direction, and have fructified an exhausted exchequer. + +If this gentleman's hero of finance, instead of flying from a treaty, +which, though he now defends, he could not approve, and would not +oppose; if he, instead of shifting into an office, which removed him +from the manufacture of the treaty, had, by his credit with the then +great director, acquired for us these, or any of these, objects, the +possession of Guadaloupe or Martinico, or the renewal of the _Assiento_, +he might have held his head high in his country; because he would have +performed real service; ten thousand times more real service, than all +the economy of which this writer is perpetually talking, or all the +little tricks of finance which the expertest juggler of the treasury can +practise, could amount to in a thousand years. But the occasion is lost; +the time is gone, perhaps forever. + +As to the third requisite, _alliance_, there too the author is silent. +What strength of that kind did they acquire? They got no one new ally; +they stript the enemy of not a single old one. They disgusted (how +justly, or unjustly, matters not) every ally we had; and from that time +to this we stand friendless in Europe. But of this naked condition of +their country I know some people are not ashamed. They have their system +of politics; our ancestors grew great by another. In this manner these +virtuous men concluded the peace; and their practice is only consonant +to their theory. + +Many things more might be observed on this curious head of our author's +speculations. But, taking leave of what the writer says in his serious +part, if he be serious in any part, I shall only just point out a piece +of his pleasantry. No man, I believe, ever denied that the time for +making peace is that in which the best terms maybe obtained. But what +that time is, together with the use that has been made of it, we are to +judge by seeing whether terms adequate to our advantages, and to our +necessities, have been actually obtained. Here is the pinch of the +question, to which the author ought to have set his shoulders in +earnest. Instead of doing this, he slips out of the harness by a jest; +and sneeringly tells us, that, to determine this point, we must know the +secrets of the French and Spanish cabinets[55], and that Parliament was +pleased to approve the treaty of peace without calling for the +correspondence concerning it. How just this sarcasm on that Parliament +may be, I say not; but how becoming in the author, I leave it to his +friends to determine. + +Having thus gone through the questions of war and peace, the author +proceeds to state our debt, and the interest which it carried, at the +time of the treaty, with the unfairness and inaccuracy, however, which +distinguish all his assertions, and all his calculations. To detect +every fallacy, and rectify every mistake, would be endless. It will be +enough to point out a few of them, in order to show how unsafe it is to +place anything like an implicit trust in such a writer. + +The interest of debt contracted during the war is stated by the author +at 2,614,892_l._ The particulars appear in pp. 14 and 15. Among them is +stated the unfunded debt, 9,975,017_l._, supposed to carry interest on a +medium at 3 per cent, which amounts to 299,250_l._ We are referred to +the "Considerations on the Trade and Finances of the Kingdom," p. 22, +for the particulars of that unfunded debt. Turn to the work, and to the +place referred to by the author himself, if you have a mind to see a +clear detection of a capital fallacy of this article in his account. You +will there see that this unfunded debt consists of the nine following +articles: the remaining subsidy to the Duke of Brunswick; the remaining +_dedommagement_ to the Landgrave of Hesse; the German demands; the army +and ordnance extraordinaries; the deficiencies of grants and funds; Mr. +Touchet's claim; the debts due to Nova Scotia and Barbadoes; exchequer +bills; and navy debt. The extreme fallacy of this state cannot escape +any reader who will be at the pains to compare the interest money, with +which he affirms us to have been loaded, in his "State of the Nation," +with the items of the principal debt to which he refers in his +"Considerations." The reader must observe, that of this long list of +nine articles, only two, the exchequer bills, and part of the navy debt, +carried any interest at all. The first amounted to 1,800,000_l._; and +this undoubtedly carried interest. The whole navy debt indeed amounted +to 4,576,915_l._; but of this only a _part_ carried interest. The author +of the "Considerations," &c. labors to prove this very point in p. 18; +and Mr. G. has always defended himself upon the same ground, for the +insufficient provision he made for the discharge of that debt. The +reader may see their own authority for it.[56] + +Mr. G. did in fact provide no more than 2,150,000_l._ for the discharge +of these bills in two years. It is much to be wished that these +gentlemen would lay their heads together, that they would consider well +this matter, and agree upon something. For when the scanty provision +made for the unfunded debt is to be vindicated, then we are told it is a +very _small part_ of that debt which carries interest. But when the +public is to be represented in a miserable condition, and the +consequences of the late war to be laid before us in dreadful colors, +then we are to be told that the unfunded debt is within a trifle of ten +millions, and so large a portion of it carries interest that we must not +compute less than 3 per cent upon the _whole_. + +In the year 1764, Parliament voted 650,000_l._ towards the discharge of +the navy debt. This sum could not be applied solely to the discharge of +bills carrying interest; because part of the debt due on seamen's wages +must have been paid, and some bills carried no interest at all. +Notwithstanding this, we find by an account in the journals of the House +of Commons, in the following session, that the navy debt carrying +interest was, on the 31st of December, 1764, no more than 1,687,442_l._ +I am sure therefore that I admit too much when I admit the navy debt +carrying interest, after the creation of the navy annuities in the year +1763, to have been 2,200,000_l._ Add the exchequer bills; and the whole +unfunded debt carrying interest will be four millions instead of ten; +and the annual interest paid for it at 4 per cent will be 160,000_l._ +instead of 299,250_l._ An error of no small magnitude, and which could +not have been owing to inadvertency. + +The misrepresentation of the increase of the peace establishment is +still more extraordinary than that of the interest of the unfunded debt. +The increase is great, undoubtedly. However, the author finds no fault +with it, and urges it only as a matter of argument to support the +strange chimerical proposals he is to make us in the close of his work +for the increase of revenue. The greater he made that establishment, the +stronger he expected to stand in argument: but, whatever he expected or +proposed, he should have stated the matter fairly. He tells us that this +establishment is nearly 1,500,000_l._ more than it was in 1752, 1753, +and other years of peace. This he has done in his usual manner, by +assertion, without troubling himself either with proof or probability. +For he has not given us any state of the peace establishment in the +years 1753 and 1754, the time which he means to compare with the +present. As I am obliged to force him to that precision, from which he +always flies as from his most dangerous enemy, I have been at the +trouble to search the journals in the period between the two last wars: +and I find that the peace establishment, consisting of the navy, the +ordnance, and the several incidental expenses, amounted to 2,346,594_l._ +Now is this writer wild enough to imagine, that the peace establishment +of 1764 and the subsequent years, made up from the same articles, is +3,800,000_l._ and upwards? His assertion however goes to this. But I +must take the liberty of correcting him in this gross mistake, and from +an authority he cannot refuse, from his favorite work, and standing +authority, the "Considerations." We find there, p. 43[57], the peace +establishment of 1764 and 1765 stated at 3,609,700_l._ This is near two +hundred thousand pounds less than that given in "The State of the +Nation." But even from this, in order to render the articles which +compose the peace establishment in the two periods correspondent (for +otherwise they cannot be compared), we must deduct first, his articles +of the deficiency of land and malt, which amount to 300,000_l._ They +certainly are no part of the establishment; nor are they included in +that sum, which I have stated above for the establishment in the time of +the former peace. If they were proper to be stated at all, they ought to +be stated in both accounts. We must also deduct the deficiencies of +funds, 202,400_l._ These deficiencies are the difference between the +interest charged on the public for moneys borrowed, and the produce of +the taxes laid for the discharge of that interest. Annual provision is +indeed to be made for them by Parliament: but in the inquiry before us, +which is only what charge is brought on the public by interest paid or +to be paid for money borrowed, the utmost that the author should do, is +to bring into the account the full interest for all that money. This he +has done in p. 15; and he repeats it in p. 18, the very page I am now +examining, 2,614,892_l._ To comprehend afterwards in the peace +establishment the deficiency of the fund created for payment of that +interest, would be laying twice to the account of the war part of the +same sum. Suppose ten millions borrowed at 4 per cent, and the fund for +payment of the interest to produce no more than 200,000_l._ The whole +annual charge on the public is 400,000_l._ It can be no more. But to +charge the interest in one part of the account, and then the deficiency +in the other, would be charging 600,000_l._ The deficiency of funds must +therefore be also deducted from the peace establishment in the +"Considerations"; and then the peace establishment in that author will +be reduced to the same articles with those included in the sum I have +already mentioned for the peace establishment before the last war, in +the year 1753, and 1754. + + Peace establishment in the "Considerations" L3,609,700 + Deduct deficiency of land and malt L300,000 + Ditto of funds 202,400 + -------- 502,400 + --------- + 3,107,300 + Peace establishment before the late war, in + which no deficiencies of land and malt, or + funds are included 2,346,594 + --------- + + Difference L760,706 + + +Being about half the sum which our author has been pleased to suppose +it. + +Let us put the whole together. The author states,-- + + Difference of peace establishment before and + since the war L1,500,000 + Interest of Debt contracted by the war 2,614,892 + --------- + 4,114,892 + The _real_ difference in the peace + establishment is L760,706 + + The actual interest of the + funded debt, including + that charged on the + sinking fund L2,315,642 + + The actual interest of + unfunded debt at most 160,000 + --------- + Total interest of debt + contracted by the war 2,475,642 + --------- + Increase of peace establishment, and interest of + new debt 3,236,348 + --------- + Error of the author L878,544 + + +It is true, the extraordinaries of the army have been found considerably +greater than the author of the "Considerations" was pleased to foretell +they would be. The author of "The Present State" avails himself of that +increase, and, finding it suit his purpose, sets the whole down in the +peace establishment of the present times. If this is allowed him, his +error perhaps may be reduced to 700,000_l._ But I doubt the author of +the "Considerations" will not thank him for admitting 200,000_l._ and +upwards, as the peace establishment for extraordinaries, when that +author has so much labored to confine them within 35,000_l._ + +These are some of the capital fallacies of the author. To break the +thread of my discourse as little as possible, I have thrown into the +margin many instances, though God knows far from the whole of his +inaccuracies, inconsistencies, and want of common care. I think myself +obliged to take some notice of them, in order to take off from any +authority this writer may have; and to put an end to the deference which +careless men are apt to pay to one who boldly arrays his accounts, and +marshals his figures, in perfect confidence that their correctness will +never be examined.[58] + +However, for argument, I am content to take his state of it. The debt +was and is enormous. The war was expensive. The best economy had not +perhaps been used. But I must observe, that war and economy are things +not easily reconciled; and that the attempt of leaning towards parsimony +in such a state may be the worst management, and in the end the worst +economy in the world, hazarding the total loss of all the charge +incurred, and of everything along with it. + +But _cui bono_ all this detail of our debt? Has the author given a +single light towards any material reduction of it? Not a glimmering. We +shall see in its place what sort of thing he proposes. But before he +commences his operations, in order to scare the public imagination, he +raises by art magic a thick mist before our eyes, through which glare +the most ghastly and horrible phantoms: + + Hunc igitur terrorem animi tenebrasque necesse est. + Non radii solis, neque lucida tela diei + Discutiant, sed naturae species ratioque. + +Let us therefore calmly, if we can for the fright into which he has put +us, appreciate those dreadful and deformed gorgons and hydras, which +inhabit the joyless regions of an imagination fruitful in nothing but +the production of monsters. + +His whole representation, is founded on the supposed operation of our +debt, upon our manufactures, and our trade. To this cause he attributes +a certain supposed dearness of the necessaries of life, which must +compel our manufacturers to emigrate to cheaper countries, particularly +to France, and with them the manufacture. Thence consumption declining, +and with it revenue. He will not permit the real balance of our trade to +be estimated so high as 2,500,000_l._; and the interest of the debt to +foreigners carries off 1,500,000_l._ of that balance. France is not in +the same condition. Then follow his wailings and lamentings, which he +renews over and over, according to his custom--a declining trade, and +decreasing specie--on the point of becoming tributary to France--of +losing Ireland--of having the colonies torn away from us. + +The first thing upon which I shall observe is,[60] what he takes for +granted as the clearest of all propositions, the emigration of our +manufacturers to France. I undertake to say that this assertion is +totally groundless, and I challenge the author to bring any sort of +proof of it. If living is cheaper in France, that is, to be had for less +specie, wages are proportionably lower. No manufacturer, let the living +be what it will, was ever known to fly for refuge to low wages. Money is +the first thing which attracts him. Accordingly our wages attract +artificers from all parts of the world. From two shillings to one +shilling, is a fall in all men's imaginations, which no calculation upon +a difference in the price of the necessaries of life can compensate. But +it will be hard to prove that a French artificer is better fed, clothed, +lodged, and warmed, than one in England; for that is the sense, and the +only sense, of living cheaper. If, in truth and fact, our artificer +fares as well in all these respects as one in the same state in +France,--how stands the matter in point of opinion and prejudice, the +springs by which people in that class of life are chiefly actuated? The +idea of our common people concerning French living is dreadful; +altogether as dreadful as our author's can possibly be of the state of +his own country; a way of thinking that will hardly ever prevail on them +to desert to France.[61] + +But, leaving the author's speculations, the fact is, that they have not +deserted; and of course the manufacture cannot be departed, or +departing, with them. I am not indeed able to get at all the details of +our manufactures; though, I think, I have taken full as much pains for +that purpose as our author. Some I have by me; and they do not hitherto, +thank God, support the author's complaint, unless a vast increase of the +quantity of goods manufactured be a proof of losing the manufacture. On +a view of the registers in the West Riding of Yorkshire, for three years +before the war, and for the three last, it appears, that the quantities +of cloths entered were as follows: + + Pieces broad. Pieces narrow. + 1752 60,724 72,442 + 1753 55,358 71,618 + 1754 56,070 72,394 + ------- ------- + 172,152 216,454 + + Pieces broad. Pieces narrow. + 1765 54,660 77,419 + 1766 72,575 78,893 + 1767 102,428 78,819 + ------- ------- + 3 years, ending 1767 229,663 235,131 + 3 years, ending 1754 172,152 216,464 + ------- ------- + Increase 57,511 18,677 + + +In this manner this capital branch of manufacture has increased, under +the increase of taxes; and this not from a declining, but from a greatly +flourishing period of commerce. I may say the same on the best authority +of the fabric of thin goods at Halifax; of the bays at Rochdale; and of +that infinite variety of admirable manufactures that grow and extend +every year among the spirited, inventive, and enterprising traders of +Manchester. + +A trade sometimes seems to perish when it only assumes a different form. +Thus the coarsest woollens were formerly exported in great quantities to +Russia. The Russians now supply themselves with these goods. But the +export thither of finer cloths has increased in proportion as the other +has declined. Possibly some parts of the kingdom may have felt something +like a languor in business. Objects like trade and manufacture, which +the very attempt to confine would certainly destroy, frequently change +their place; and thereby, far from being lost, are often highly +improved. Thus some manufactures have decayed in the west and south, +which have made new and more vigorous shoots when transplanted into the +north. And here it is impossible to pass by, though the author has said +nothing upon it, the vast addition to the mass of British trade, which +has been made by the improvement of Scotland. What does he think of the +commerce of the city of Glasgow, and of the manufactures of Paisley and +all the adjacent country? Has this anything like the deadly aspect and +_facies Hippocratica_ which the false diagnostic of our state physician +has given to our trade in general? Has he not heard of the iron-works of +such magnitude even in their cradle which are set up on the Carron, and +which at the same time have drawn nothing from Sheffield, Birmingham, or +Wolverhampton? + +This might perhaps be enough to show the entire falsity of the complaint +concerning the decline of our manufactures. But every step we advance, +this matter clears up more; and the false terrors of the author are +dissipated, and fade away as the light appears. "The trade and +manufactures of this country (says he) going to ruin, and a diminution +of our _revenue from consumption_ must attend the loss of so many seamen +and artificers." Nothing more true than the general observation: nothing +more false than its application to our circumstances. Let the revenue on +consumption speak for itself:-- + + Average of net excise, since the new duties, + three years ending 1767 L4,590,734 + Ditto before the new duties, three years + ending 1759 3,261,694 + --------- + Average increase L1,329,040 + +Here is no diminution. Here is, on the contrary, an immense increase. +This is owing, I shall be told, to the new duties, which may increase +the total bulk, but at the same time may make some diminution of the +produce of the old. Were this the fact, it would be far from supporting +the author's complaint. It might have proved that the burden lay rather +too heavy; but it would never prove that the _revenue from, consumption_ +was impaired, which it was his business to do. But what is the real +fact? Let us take, as the best instance for the purpose, the produce of +the old hereditary and temporary excise granted in the reign of Charles +the Second, whose object is that of most of the new impositions, from +two averages, each of eight years. + + Average, first period, eight years, ending 1754 L525,317 + Ditto, second period, eight years, ending 1767 538,542 + ------- + Increase L613,225 + +I have taken these averages as including in each a war and a peace +period; the first before the imposition of the new duties, the other +since those impositions; and such is the state of the oldest branch of +the revenue from consumption. Besides the acquisition of so much new, +this article, to speak of no other, has rather increased under the +pressure of all those additional taxes to which the author is pleased to +attribute its destruction. But as the author has made his grand effort +against those moderate, judicious, and necessary levies, which support +all the dignity, the credit, and the power of his country, the reader +will excuse a little further detail on this subject; that we may see how +little oppressive those taxes are on the shoulders of the public, with +which he labors so earnestly to load its imagination. For this purpose +we take the state of that specific article upon which the two capital +burdens of the war leaned the most immediately, by the additional +duties on malt, and upon beer. + + Barrels. + Average of strong beer, brewed in eight years + before the additional malt and beer duties 3,895,059 + + Average of strong beer, eight years since + the duties 4,060,726 + --------- + Increase in the last period 165,667 + +Here is the effect of two such daring taxes as 3_d._ by the bushel +additional on malt, and 3_s._ by the barrel additional on beer. Two +impositions laid without remission one upon the neck of the other; and +laid upon an object which before had been immensely loaded. They did not +in the least impair the consumption: it has grown under them. It appears +that, upon the whole, the people did not feel so much inconvenience from +the new duties as to oblige them to take refuge in the private brewery. +Quite the contrary happened in both these respects in the reign of King +William; and it happened from much slighter impositions.[62] No people +can long consume a commodity for which they are not well able to pay. An +enlightened reader laughs at the inconsistent chimera of our author, of +a people universally luxurious, and at the same time oppressed with +taxes and declining in trade. For my part, I cannot look on these duties +as the author does. He sees nothing but the burden. I can perceive the +burden as well as he; but I cannot avoid contemplating also the strength +that supports it. From thence I draw the most comfortable assurances of +the future vigor, and the ample resources, of this great, misrepresented +country; and can never prevail on myself to make complaints which have +no cause, in order to raise hopes which have no foundation. + +When a representation is built on truth and nature, one member supports +the other, and mutual lights are given and received from every part. +Thus, as our manufacturers have not deserted, nor the manufacture left +us, nor the consumption declined, nor the revenue sunk; so neither has +trade, which is at once the result, measure, and cause of the whole, in +the least decayed, as our author has thought proper sometimes to affirm, +constantly to suppose, as if it were the most indisputable of all +propositions. The reader will see below the comparative state of our +trade[63] in three of the best years before our increase of debt and +taxes, and with it the three last years since the author's date of our +ruin. + +In the last three years the whole of our exports was between 44 and 45 +millions. In the three years preceding the war, it was no more than from +35 to 36 millions. The average balance of the former period was +3,706,000_l._; of the latter, something above four millions. It is true, +that whilst the impressions of the author's destructive war continued, +our trade was greater than it is at present. One of the necessary +consequences of the peace was, that France must gradually recover a part +of those markets of which she had been originally in possession. +However, after all these deductions, still the gross trade in the worst +year of the present is better than in the best year of any former period +of peace. A very great part of our taxes, if not the greatest, has been +imposed since the beginning of the century. On the author's principles, +this continual increase of taxes must have ruined our trade, or at least +entirely checked its growth. But I have a manuscript of Davenant, which +contains an abstract of our trade for the years 1703 and 1704; by which +it appears that the whole export from England did not then exceed +6,552,019_l._ It is now considerably more than double that amount. Yet +England was then a rich and flourishing nation. + +The author endeavors to derogate from the balance in our favor as it +stands on the entries, and reduces it from four millions, as it there +appears, to no more than 2,500,000_l._ His observation on the looseness +and inaccuracy of the export entries is just; and that the error is +always an error of excess, I readily admit. But because, as usual, he +has wholly omitted some very material facts, his conclusion is as +erroneous as the entries he complains of. + +On this point of the custom-house entries I shall make a few +observations. 1st. The inaccuracy of these entries can extend only to +FREE GOODS, that is, to such British products and manufactures, as are +exported without drawback and without bounty; which do not in general +amount to more than two thirds at the very utmost of the whole export +even of _our home products_. The valuable articles of corn, malt, +leather, hops, beer, and many others, do not come under this objection +of inaccuracy. The article of CERTIFICATE GOODS re-exported, a vast +branch of our commerce, admits of no error, (except some smaller frauds +which cannot be estimated,) as they have all a drawback of duty, and the +exporter must therefore correctly specify their quantity and kind. The +author therefore is not warranted from the known error in some of the +entries, to make a general defalcation from the whole balance in our +favor. This error cannot affect more than half, if so much, of the +export article. 2dly. In the account made up at the Inspector-General's +office, they estimate only the original cost of British products as they +are here purchased; and on foreign goods, only the prices in the country +from whence they are sent. This was the method established by Mr. +Davenant; and as far as it goes, it certainly is a good one. But the +profits of the merchant at home, and of our factories abroad, are not +taken into the account; which profit on such an immense quantity of +goods exported and re-exported cannot fail of being very great: five per +cent, upon the whole, I should think, a very moderate allowance. 3dly. +It does not comprehend the advantage arising from the employment of +600,000 tons of shipping, which must be paid by the foreign consumer, +and which, in many bulky articles of commerce, is equal to the value of +the commodity. This can scarcely be rated at less than a million +annually. 4thly. The whole import from Ireland and America, and from the +West Indies, is set against us in the ordinary way of striking a balance +of imports and exports; whereas the import and export are both our own. +This is just as ridiculous, as to put against the general balance of the +nation, how much more goods Cheshire receives from London than London +from Cheshire. The whole revolves and circulates through this kingdom, +and is, so far as regards our profit, in the nature of home trade, as +much as if the several countries of America and Ireland were all pieced +to Cornwall. The course of exchange with all these places is fully +sufficient to demonstrate that this kingdom has the whole advantage of +their commerce. When the final profit upon a whole system of trade rests +and centres in a certain place, a balance struck in that place merely on +the mutual sale of commodities is quite fallacious. 5thly. The +custom-house entries furnish a most defective, and, indeed, ridiculous +idea of the most valuable branch of trade we have in the world,--that +with Newfoundland. Observe what you export thither; a little spirits, +provision, fishing-lines, and fishing-hooks. Is this _export_ the true +idea of the Newfoundland trade in the light of a beneficial branch of +commerce? Nothing less. Examine our imports from thence; it seems upon +this vulgar idea of exports and imports, to turn the balance against +you. But your exports to Newfoundland are your own goods. Your import is +your own food; as much your own, as that you raise with your ploughs out +of your own soil; and not your loss, but your gain; your riches, not +your poverty. But so fallacious is this way of judging, that neither the +export nor import, nor both together, supply any idea approaching to +adequate of that branch of business. The vessels in that trade go +straight from Newfoundland to the foreign market; and the sale there, +not the import here, is the measure of its value. That trade, which is +one of your greatest and best, is hardly so much as seen in the +custom-house entries; and it is not of less annual value to this nation +than 400,000_l._ 6thly. The quality of your imports must be considered +as well as the quantity. To state the whole of the foreign import _as +loss_, is exceedingly absurd. All the iron, hemp, flax, cotton, Spanish +wool, raw silk, woollen and linen-yarn, which we import, are by no means +to be considered as the matter of a merely luxurious consumption; which +is the idea too generally and loosely annexed to our import article. +These above mentioned are materials of industry, not of luxury, which +are wrought up here, in many instances, to ten times, and more, of their +original value. Even where they are not subservient to our exports, they +still add to our internal wealth, which consists in the stock of useful +commodities, as much as in gold and silver. In looking over the specific +articles of our export and import, I have often been astonished to see +for how small a part of the supply of our consumption, either luxurious +or convenient, we are indebted to nations properly foreign to us. + +These considerations are entirely passed over by the author; they have +been but too much neglected by most who have speculated on this subject. +But they ought never to be omitted by those who mean to come to anything +like the true state of the British trade. They compensate, and they more +than compensate, everything which the author can cut off with any +appearance of reason for the over-entry of British goods; and they +restore to us that balance of four millions, which the author has +thought proper on such a very poor and limited comprehension of the +object to reduce to 2,500,000_l._ + +In general this author is so circumstanced, that to support his theory +he is obliged to assume his facts: and then, if you allow his facts, +they will not support his conclusions. What if all he says of the state +of this balance were true? did not the same objections always lie to +custom-house entries? do they defalcate more from the entries of 1766 +than from those of 1754? If they prove us ruined, we were always ruined. +Some ravens have always indeed croaked out this kind of song. They have +a malignant delight in presaging mischief, when they are not employed in +doing it: they are miserable and disappointed at every instance of the +public prosperity. They overlook us like the malevolent being of the +poet:-- + + Tritonida conspicit arcem + Ingeniis, opibusque, et festa pace virentem; + Vixque tenet lacrymas quia nil lacrymabile cernit. + + +It is in this spirit that some have looked upon those accidents that +cast an occasional damp upon trade. Their imaginations entail these +accidents upon us in perpetuity. We have had some bad harvests. This +must very disadvantageously affect the balance of trade, and the +navigation of a people, so large a part of whose commerce is in grain. +But, in knowing the cause, we are morally certain, that, according to +the course of events, it cannot long subsist. In the three last years, +we have exported scarcely any grain; in good years, that export hath +been worth twelve hundred thousand pounds and more; in the two last +years, far from exporting, we have been obliged to import to the amount +perhaps of our former exportation. So that in this article the balance +must be 2,000,000_l._ against us; that is, one million in the ceasing of +gain, the other in the increase of expenditure. But none of the author's +promises or projects could have prevented this misfortune; and, thank +God, we do not want him or them to relieve us from it; although, if his +friends should now come into power, I doubt not but they will be ready +to take credit for any increase of trade or excise, that may arise from +the happy circumstance of a good harvest. + +This connects with his loud laments and melancholy prognostications +concerning the high price of the necessaries of life and the products of +labor. With all his others, I deny this fact; and I again call upon him +to prove it. Take average and not accident, the grand and first +necessary of life is cheap in this country; and that too as weighed, not +against labor, which is its true counterpoise, but against money. Does +he call the price of wheat at this day, between 32 and 40 shillings per +quarter in London dear?[64] He must know that fuel (an object of the +highest order in the necessaries of life, and of the first necessity in +almost every kind of manufacture) is in many of our provinces cheaper +than in any part of the globe. Meat is on the whole not excessively +dear, whatever its price may be at particular times and from particular +accidents. If it has had anything like an uniform rise, this enhancement +may easily be proved not to be owing to the increase of taxes, but to +uniform increase of consumption and of money. Diminish the latter, and +meat in your markets will be sufficiently cheap in account, but much +dearer in effect: because fewer will be in a condition to buy. Thus your +apparent plenty will be real indigence. At present, even under temporary +disadvantages, the use of flesh is greater here than anywhere else; it +is continued without any interruption of Lents or meagre days; it is +sustained and growing even with the increase of our taxes. But some have +the art of converting even the signs of national prosperity into +symptoms of decay and ruin. And our author, who so loudly disclaims +popularity, never fails to lay hold of the most vulgar popular +prejudices and humors, in hopes to captivate the crowd. Even those +peevish dispositions which grow out of some transitory suffering, those +passing clouds which float in our changeable atmosphere, are by him +industriously figured into frightful shapes, in order first to terrify, +and then to govern the populace. + +It was not enough for the author's purpose to give this false and +discouraging picture of the state of his own country. It did not fully +answer his end, to exaggerate her burdens, to depreciate her successes, +and to vilify her character. Nothing had been done, unless the +situation of France were exalted in proportion as that of England had +been abased. The reader will excuse the citation I make at length from +his book; he outdoes himself upon this occasion. His confidence is +indeed unparalleled, and altogether of the heroic cast:-- + +"If our rival nations were in the same circumstances with ourselves, the +_augmentation of our taxes would produce no ill consequences_: if we +were obliged to raise our prices, they must, from the same causes, do +the like, and could take no advantage by underselling and under-working +us. But the alarming consideration to Great Britain is, _that France is +not in the same condition_. Her distresses, during the war, were great, +but they were immediate; her want of credit, as has been said, compelled +her to impoverish her people, by raising the greatest part of her +supplies within the year; _but the burdens she imposed on them were, in +a great measure, temporary, and must be greatly diminished by a few +years of peace_. She could procure no considerable loans, therefore she +has mortgaged no _such oppressive taxes as those Great Britain has +imposed in perpetuity for payment of interest_. Peace must, therefore, +soon re-establish her commerce and manufactures, especially as the +comparative _lightness of taxes_, and the cheapness of living, in that +country, must make France an asylum for British manufacturers and +artificers." On this the author rests the merit of his whole system. And +on this point I will join issue with him. If France is not at least in +the _same condition_, even in that very condition which the author +falsely represents to be ours,--if the very reverse of his proposition +be not true, then I will admit his state of the nation to be just; and +all his inferences from that state to be logical and conclusive. It is +not surprising, that the author should hazard our opinion of his +veracity. That is a virtue on which great statesmen do not perhaps pique +themselves so much; but it is somewhat extraordinary, that he should +stake on a very poor calculation of chances, all credit for care, for +accuracy, and for knowledge of the subject of which he treats. He is +rash and inaccurate, because he thinks he writes to a public ignorant +and inattentive. But he may find himself in that respect, as in many +others, greatly mistaken. In order to contrast the light and vigorous +condition of France with that of England, weak, and sinking under her +burdens, he states, in his tenth page, that France had raised +50,314,378_l._ sterling _by taxes within the several years_ from the +year 1756 to 1762 both inclusive. All Englishman must stand aghast at +such a representation: To find France able to _raise within the year_ +sums little inferior to all that we were able even to _borrow_ on +interest with all the resources of the greatest and most established +credit in the world! Europe was filled with astonishment when they saw +England _borrow_ in one year twelve millions. It was thought, and very +justly, no small proof of national strength and financial skill, to find +a fund for the payment of the interest upon this sum. The interest of +this, computed with the one per cent annuities, amounted only to +600,000_l._ a year. This, I say, was thought a surprising effort even of +credit. But this author talks, as of a thing not worth proving, and but +just worth observing, that France in one year raised sixteen times that +sum without borrowing, and continued to raise sums not far from equal to +it for several years together. Suppose some Jacob Henriques had +proposed, in the year 1762, to prevent a perpetual charge on the nation +by raising ten millions within the year: he would have been considered, +not as a harsh financier, who laid a heavy hand on the public; but as a +poor visionary, who had run mad on supplies and taxes. They who know +that the whole land-tax of England, at 4_s._ in the pound, raises but +two millions, will not easily apprehend that any such sums as the author +has conjured up can be raised even in the most opulent nations. France +owed a large debt, and was encumbered with heavy establishments, before +that war. The author does not formally deny that she borrowed something +in every year of its continuance; let him produce the funds for this +astonishing annual addition to all her vast preceding taxes; an +addition, equal to the whole excise, customs, land and malt-taxes of +England taken together. + +But what must be the reader's astonishment, perhaps his indignation, if +he should find that this great financier has fallen into the most +unaccountable of all errors, no less an error than that of mistaking the +_identical sums borrowed by France upon interest, for supplies raised +within the year_! Can it be conceived that any man, only entered into +the first rudiments of finance, should make so egregious a blunder; +should write it, should print it; should carry it to a second edition; +should take it not collaterally and incidentally, but lay it down as the +corner-stone of his whole system, in such an important point as the +comparative states of France and England? But it will be said, that it +was his misfortune to be ill-informed. Not at all. A man of any loose +general knowledge, and of the most ordinary sagacity, never could have +been misinformed in so gross a manner; because he would have immediately +rejected so wild and extravagant an account. + +The fact is this: the credit of France, bad as it might have been, did +enable her (not to raise within the year) but to _borrow_ the very sums +the author mentions; that is to say, 1,106,916,261 livres, making, in +the author's computation, 50,314,378_l._ The credit of France was low; +but it was not annihilated. She did not derive, as our author chooses to +assert, any advantages from the debility of her credit. Its consequence +was the natural one: she borrowed; but she borrowed upon bad terms, +indeed on the most exorbitant usury. + +In speaking of a foreign revenue, the very pretence to accuracy would be +the most inaccurate thing in the world. Neither the author nor I can +with certainty authenticate the information we communicate to the +public, nor in an affair of eternal fluctuation arrive at perfect +exactness. All we can do, and this we may be expected to do, is to avoid +gross errors and blunders of a capital nature. We cannot order the +proper officer to lay the accounts before the House. But the reader must +judge on the probability of the accounts we lay before him. The author +speaks of France as raising her supplies for war by taxes within the +year; and of her debt, as a thing scarcely worthy of notice. I affirm +that she borrowed large sums in every year; and has thereby accumulated +an immense debt. This debt continued after the war infinitely to +embarrass her affairs; and to find some means for its reduction was then +and has ever since been the first object of her policy. But she has so +little succeeded in all her efforts, that the _perpetual_ debt of +France is at this hour little short of 100,000,000_l._ sterling; and she +stands charged with at least 40,000,000 of English pounds on life-rents +and tontines. The annuities paid at this day at the Hotel de Ville of +Paris, which are by no means her sole payments of that nature, amount to +139,000,000 of livres, that is to 6,318,000_l._; besides _billets au +porteur_, and various detached and unfunded debts, to a great amount, +and which bear an interest. + +At the end of the war, the interest payable on her debt amounted to +upwards of seven millions sterling. M. de la Verdy, the last hope of the +French finances, was called in, to aid in the reduction of an interest, +so light to our author, so intolerably heavy upon those who are to pay +it. After many unsuccessful efforts towards reconciling arbitrary +reduction with public credit, he was obliged to go the plain high road +of power, and to impose a tax of 10 per cent upon a very great part of +the capital debt of that kingdom; and this measure of present ease, to +the destruction of future credit, produced about 500,000_l._ a year, +which was carried to their _Caisse d'amortissement_ or sinking fund. But +so unfaithfully and unsteadily has this and all the other articles which +compose that fund been applied to their purposes, that they have given +the state but very little even of present relief, since it is known to +the whole world that she is behindhand on every one of her +establishments. Since the year 1763, there has been no operation of any +consequence on the French finances; and in this enviable condition is +France at present with regard to her debt. + +Everybody knows that the principal of the debt is but a name; the +interest is the only thing which can distress a nation. Take this idea, +which will not be disputed, and compare the interest paid by England +with that paid by France: + + Interest paid by France, funded and + unfunded, for perpetuity or on lives, + after the tax of 10 per cent L6,500,000 + Interest paid by England, as stated by + the author, p. 27 4,600,000 + ---------- + Interest paid by France exceeds that + paid by England L1,900,000 + + +The author cannot complain, that I state the interest paid by England as +too low. He takes it himself as the extremest term. Nobody who knows +anything of the French finances will affirm that I state the interest +paid by that kingdom too high. It might be easily proved to amount to a +great deal more: even this is near two millions above what is paid by +England. + +There are three standards to judge of the good condition of a nation +with regard to its finances. 1st, The relief of the people. 2nd, The +equality of supplies to establishments. 3rd, The state of public credit. +Try France on all these standards. + +Although our author very liberally administers relief to the people of +France, its government has not been altogether so gracious. Since the +peace, she has taken off but a single _vingtieme_, or shilling in the +pound, and some small matter in the capitation. But, if the government +has relieved them in one point, it has only burdened them the more +heavily in another. The _Taille_,[65] that grievous and destructive +imposition, which all their financiers lament, without being able to +remove or to replace, has been augmented no less than six millions of +livres, or 270,000 pounds English. A further augmentation of this or +other duties is now talked of; and it is certainly necessary to their +affairs: so exceedingly remote from either truth or verisimilitude is +the author's amazing assertion, _that the burdens of France in the war +were in a great measure temporary, and must be greatly diminished by a +few years of peace_. + +In the next place, if the people of France are not lightened of taxes, +so neither is the state disburdened of charges. I speak from very good +information, that the annual income of that state is at this day thirty +millions of livres, or 1,350,000_l._ sterling, short of a provision for +their ordinary peace establishment; so far are they from the attempt or +even hope to discharge any part of the capital of their enormous debt. +Indeed, under such extreme straitness and distraction labors the whole +body of their finances, so far does their charge outrun their supply in +every particular, that no man, I believe, who has considered their +affairs with any degree of attention or information, but must hourly +look for some extraordinary convulsion in that whole system: the effect +of which on France, and even on all Europe, it is difficult to +conjecture. + +In the third point of view, their credit. Let the reader cast his eye on +a table of the price of French funds, as they stood a few weeks ago, +compared with the state of some of our English stocks, even in their +present low condition:-- + + French. British. + 5 per cents 63 Bank stock, 5-1/2 159 + 4 per cent (not taxed) 57 4 per cent cons. 100 + 3 per cent " " 49 3 per cent cons. 88 + + +This state of the funds of France and England is sufficient to convince +even prejudice and obstinacy, that if France and England are not in the +same condition (as the author affirms they are not) the difference is +infinitely to the disadvantage of France. This depreciation of their +funds has not much the air of a nation lightening burdens and +discharging debts. + +Such is the true comparative state of the two kingdoms in those capital +points of view. Now as to the nature of the taxes which provide for this +debt, as well as for their ordinary establishments, the author has +thought proper to affirm that "they are comparatively light"; that "she +has mortgaged no such oppressive taxes as ours"; his effrontery on this +head is intolerable. Does the author recollect a single tax in England +to which something parallel in nature, and as heavy in burden, does not +exist in France; does he not know that the lands of the noblesse are +still under the load of the greater part of the old feudal charges, from +which the gentry of England have been relieved for upwards of a hundred +years, and which were in kind, as well as burden, much worse than our +modern land-tax? Besides that all the gentry of France serve in the army +on very slender pay, and to the utter ruin of their fortunes, all those +who are not noble have their lands heavily taxed. Does he not know that +wine, brandy, soap, candles, leather, saltpetre, gunpowder, are taxed in +France? Has he not heard that government in France has made a monopoly +of that great article of _salt?_ that they compel the people to take a +certain quantity of it, and at a certain rate, both rate and quantity +fixed at the arbitrary pleasure of the imposer?[66] that they pay in +France the _Taille_, an arbitrary imposition on presumed property? that +a tax is laid in fact and name, on the same arbitrary standard, upon the +acquisitions of their _industry_? and that in France a heavy +_capitation-tax_ is also paid, from the highest to the very poorest sort +of people? Have we taxes of such weight, or anything at all of the +compulsion, in the article of _salt_? do we pay any _taillage_, any +_faculty-tax_, any _industry-tax?_ do we pay any _capitation-tax_ +whatsoever? I believe the people of London would fall into an agony to +hear of such taxes proposed upon them as are paid at Paris. There is not +a single article of provision for man or beast which enters that great +city, and is not excised; corn, hay, meal, butcher's-meat, fish, fowls, +everything. I do not here mean to censure the policy of taxes laid on +the consumption of great luxurious cities. I only state the fact. We +should be with difficulty brought to hear of a tax of 50_s._ upon every +ox sold in Smithfield. Yet this tax is paid in Paris. Wine, the lower +sort of wine, little better than English small beer, pays 2_d._ a +bottle. + +We, indeed, tax our beer; but the imposition on small beer is very far +from heavy. In no part of England are eatables of any kind the object of +taxation. In almost every other country in Europe they are excised, more +or less. I have by me the state of the revenues of many of the principal +nations on the Continent; and, on comparing them with ours, I think I am +fairly warranted to assert, that England is the most lightly taxed of +any of the great states of Europe. They, whose unnatural and sullen joy +arises from a contemplation of the distresses of their country, will +revolt at this position. But if I am called upon, I will prove it beyond +all possibility of dispute; even though this proof should deprive these +gentlemen of the singular satisfaction of considering their country as +undone; and though the best civil government, the best constituted, and +the best managed revenue that ever the world beheld, should be +thoroughly vindicated from their perpetual clamors and complaints. As to +our neighbor and rival France, in addition to what I have here +suggested, I say, and when the author chooses formally to deny, I shall +formally prove it, that her subjects pay more than England, on a +computation of the wealth of both countries; that her taxes are more +injudiciously and more oppressively imposed; more vexatiously collected; +come in a smaller proportion to the royal coffers, and are less applied +by far to the public service. I am not one of those who choose to take +the author's word for this happy and flourishing condition of the French +finances, rather than attend to the changes, the violent pushes and the +despair of all her own financiers. Does he choose to be referred for the +easy and happy condition of the subject in France to the remonstrances +of their own parliaments, written with such an eloquence, feeling, and +energy, as I have not seen exceeded in any other writings? The author +may say, their complaints are exaggerated, and the effects of faction. I +answer, that they are the representations of numerous, grave, and most +respectable bodies of men, upon the affairs of their own country. But, +allowing that discontent and faction may pervert the judgment of such +venerable bodies in France, we have as good a right to suppose that the +same causes may full as probably have produced from a private, however +respectable person, that frightful, and, I trust I have shown, +groundless representation of our own affairs in England. + +The author is so conscious of the dangerous effects of that +representation, that he thinks it necessary, and very necessary it is, +to guard against them. He assures us, "that he has not made that display +of the difficulties of his country, to expose her counsels to the +ridicule of other states, or to provoke a vanquished enemy to insult +her; nor to excite the people's rage against their governors, or sink +them into a despondency of the public welfare." I readily admit this +apology for his intentions. God forbid I should think any man capable of +entertaining so execrable and senseless a design. The true cause of his +drawing so shocking a picture is no more than this; and it ought rather +to claim our pity than excite our indignation; he finds himself out of +power; and this condition is intolerable to him. The same sun which +gilds all nature, and exhilarates the whole creation, does not shine +upon disappointed ambition. It is something that rays out of darkness, +and inspires nothing but gloom and melancholy. Men in this deplorable +state of mind find a comfort in spreading the contagion of their spleen. +They find an advantage too; for it is a general, popular error, to +imagine the loudest complainers for the public to be the most anxious +for its welfare. If such persons can answer the ends of relief and +profit to themselves, they are apt to be careless enough about either +the means or the consequences. + +Whatever this complainant's motives may be, the effects can by no +possibility be other than those which he so strongly, and I hope truly, +disclaims all intention of producing. To verify this, the reader has +only to consider how dreadful a picture he has drawn in his 32nd page, +of the state of this kingdom; such a picture as, I believe, has hardly +been applicable, without some exaggeration, to the most degenerate and +undone commonwealth that ever existed. Let this view of things be +compared with the prospect of a remedy which he proposes in the page +directly opposite, and the subsequent. I believe no man living could +have imagined it possible, except for the sake of burlesquing a subject, +to propose remedies so ridiculously disproportionate to the evil, so +full of uncertainty in their operation, and depending for their success +in every step upon the happy event of so many new, dangerous, and +visionary projects. It is not amiss, that he has thought proper to give +the public some little notice of what they may expect from his friends, +when our affairs shall be committed to their management. Let us see how +the accounts of disease and remedy are balanced in his "State of the +Nation." In the first place, on the side of evils, he states, "an +impoverished and heavily-burdened public. A declining trade and +decreasing specie. The power of the crown never so much extended over +the great; but the great without influence over the lower sort. +Parliament losing its reverence with the people. The voice of the +multitude set up against the sense of the legislature; a people +luxurious and licentious, impatient of rule, and despising all +authority. Government relaxed in every sinew, and a corrupt selfish +spirit pervading the whole. An opinion of many, that the form of +government is not worth contending for. No attachment in the bulk of +the people towards the constitution. No reverence for the customs of our +ancestors. No attachment but to private interest, nor any zeal but for +selfish gratifications. Trade and manufactures going to ruin. Great +Britain in danger of becoming tributary to France, and the descent of +the crown dependent on her pleasure. Ireland, in case of a war, to +become a prey to France; and Great Britain, unable to recover Ireland, +cede it by treaty," (the author never can think of a treaty without +making cessions,) "in order to purchase peace for herself. The colonies +left exposed to the ravages of a domestic, or the conquest of a foreign +enemy."--Gloomy enough, God knows. The author well observes,[67] _that a +mind not totally devoid of feeling cannot look upon such a prospect +without horror; and an heart capable of humanity must be unable to hear +its description_. He ought to have added, that no man of common +discretion ought to have exhibited it to the public, if it were true; or +of common honesty, if it were false. + +But now for the comfort; the day-star which is to arise in our hearts; +the author's grand scheme for totally reversing this dismal state of +things, and making us[68] "happy at home and respected abroad, +formidable in war and flourishing in peace." + +In this great work he proceeds with a facility equally astonishing and +pleasing. Never was financier less embarrassed by the burden of +establishments, or with the difficulty of finding ways and means. If an +establishment is troublesome to him, he lops off at a stroke just as +much of it as he chooses. He mows down, without giving quarter, or +assigning reason, army, navy, ordnance, ordinary, extraordinaries; +nothing can stand before him. Then, when he comes to provide, Amalthea's +horn is in his hands; and he pours out with an inexhaustible bounty, +taxes, duties, loans, and revenues, without uneasiness to himself, or +burden to the public. Insomuch that, when we consider the abundance of +his resources, we cannot avoid being surprised at his extraordinary +attention to savings. But it is all the exuberance of his goodness. + +This book has so much of a certain tone of power, that one would be +almost tempted to think it written by some person who had been high in +office. A man is generally rendered somewhat a worse reasoner for having +been a minister. In private, the assent of listening and obsequious +friends; in public, the venal cry and prepared vote of a passive senate, +confirm him in habits of begging the question with impunity, and +asserting without thinking himself obliged to prove. Had it not been for +some such habits, the author could never have expected that we should +take his estimate for a peace establishment solely on his word. + +This estimate which he gives,[69] is the great groundwork of his plan +for the national redemption; and it ought to be well and firmly laid, or +what must become of the superstructure? One would have thought the +natural method in a plan of reformation would be, to take the present +existing estimates as they stand; and then to show what may be +practicably and safely defalcated from them. This would, I say, be the +natural course; and what would be expected from a man of business. But +this author takes a very different method. For the ground of his +speculation of a present peace establishment, he resorts to a former +speculation of the same kind, which was in the mind of the minister of +the year 1764. Indeed it never existed anywhere else. "The plan,"[70] +says he, with his usual ease, "has been already formed, and the outline +drawn, by the administration of 1764. I shall attempt to fill up the +void and obliterated parts, and trace its operation. The standing +expense of the present (his projected) peace establishment, _improved by +the experience of the two last years, may be thus estimated_"; and he +estimates it at 3,468,161_l._ + +Here too it would be natural to expect some reasons for condemning the +subsequent actual establishments, which have so much transgressed the +limits of his plan of 1764, as well as some arguments in favor of his +new project; which has in some articles exceeded, in others fallen +short, but on the whole is much below his old one. Hardly a word on any +of these points, the only points however that are in the least +essential; for unless you assign reasons for the increase or diminution +of the several articles of public charge, the playing at establishments +and estimates is an amusement of no higher order, and of much less +ingenuity, than _Questions and commands_, or _What is my thought like_? +To bring more distinctly under the reader's view this author's strange +method of proceeding, I will lay before him the three schemes; viz. the +idea of the ministers in 1764, the actual estimates of the two last +years as given by the author himself, and lastly the new project of his +political millennium:-- + + Plan of establishment for 1764, as by + "Considerations," p. 43 [71] L3,609,700 + Medium of 1767 and 1768, as by + "State of the Nation," p. 29 and 30 3,919,375 + Present peace establishment, as by the + project in "State of the Nation," p. 33 3,468,161 + + +It is not from anything our author has anywhere said, that you are +enabled to find the ground, much less the justification, of the immense +difference between these several systems; you must compare them +yourself, article by article; no very pleasing employment, by the way, +to compare the agreement or disagreement of two chimeras. I now only +speak of the comparison of his own two projects. As to the latter of +them, it differs from the former, by having some of the articles +diminished, and others increased.[72] I find the chief article of +reduction arises from the smaller deficiency of land and malt, and of +the annuity funds, which he brings down to 295,561_l._ in his new +estimate, from 502,400_l._ which he had allowed for those articles in +the "Considerations." With this _reduction_, owing, as it must be, +merely to a smaller deficiency of funds, he has nothing at all to do. It +can be no work and no merit of his. But with regard to the _increase_, +the matter is very different. It is all his own; the public is loaded +(for anything we can see to the contrary) entirely _gratis_. The chief +articles of the increase are on the navy,[73] and on the army and +ordnance extraordinaries; the navy being estimated in his "State of the +Nation" 50,000_l._ a year more, and the army and ordnance +extraordinaries 40,000_l._ more, than he had thought proper to allow for +them in that estimate in his "Considerations," which he makes the +foundation of his present project. He has given no sort of reason, +stated no sort of necessity, for this additional allowance, either in +the one article or the other. What is still stronger, he admits that his +allowance for the army and ordnance extras is too great, and expressly +refers you to the "Considerations";[74] where, far from giving +75,000_l._ a year to that service, as the "State of the Nation" has +done, the author apprehends his own scanty provision of 35,000_l._ to be +by far too considerable, and thinks it may well admit of further +reductions.[75] Thus, according to his own principles, this great +economist falls into a vicious prodigality; and is as far in his +estimate from a consistency with his own principles as with the real +nature of the services. + +Still, however, his present establishment differs from its archetype of +1764, by being, though raised in particular parts, upon the whole, about +141,000_l._ smaller. It is improved, he tells us, by the experience of +the two last years. One would have concluded that the peace +establishment of these two years had been less than that of 1764, in +order to suggest to the author his improvements, which enabled him to +reduce it. But how does that turn out? + + Peace establishment[76] 1767 and 1768, medium L3,919,375 + Ditto, estimate in the "Considerations," for 1764 3,609,700 + --------- + Difference L309,675 + +A vast increase instead of diminution. The experience then of the two +last years ought naturally to have given the idea of a heavier +establishment; but this writer is able to diminish by increasing, and to +draw the effects of subtraction from the operations of addition. By +means of these new powers, he may certainly do whatever he pleases. He +is indeed moderate enough in the use of them, and condescends to settle +his establishments at 3,468,161_l._ a year. + +However, he has not yet done with it; he has further ideas of saving, +and new resources of revenue. These additional savings are principally +two: 1st, _It is to be hoped_,[77] says he, that the sum of 250,000_l._ +(which in the estimate he allows for the deficiency of land and malt) +will be less by 37,924_l._[78] + +2nd, That the sum of 20,000_l._ allowed for the Foundling Hospital, and +1800_l._ for American Surveys, will soon cease to be necessary, as the +services will be completed. + +What follows, with regard to the resources,[79] is very well worthy the +reader's attention. "Of this estimate," says he, "upwards of 300,000_l._ +will be for the plantation service; and that sum, _I hope_, the people +of Ireland and the colonies _might be induced_ to take off Great +Britain, and defray between them, in the proportion of 200,000_l._ by +the colonies, and 100,000_l._ by Ireland." + +Such is the whole of this mighty scheme. Take his reduced estimate, and +his further reductions, and his resources all together, and the result +will be,--he will _certainly_ lower the provision made for the navy. He +will cut off largely (God knows what or how) from the army and ordnance +extraordinaries. He may be _expected_ to cut off more. He _hopes_ that +the deficiencies on land and malt will be less than usual; and he +_hopes_ that America and Ireland might be _induced_ to take off +300,000_l._ of our annual charges. + +If any of these Hopes, Mights, Insinuations, Expectations, and +Inducements, should fail him, there will be a formidable gaping breach +in his whole project. If all of them should fail, he has left the nation +without a glimmering of hope in this thick night of terrors which he has +thought fit to spread about us. If every one of them, which, attended +with success, would signify anything to our revenue, can have no effect +but to add to our distractions and dangers, we shall be if possible in a +still worse condition from his projects of cure, than he represents us +from our original disorders. + +Before we examine into the consequences of these schemes, and the +probability of these savings, let us suppose them all real and all safe, +and then see what it is they amount to, and how he reasons on them:-- + + Deficiency on land and malt, less by L37,000 + Foundling Hospital 20,000 + American Surveys 1,800 + ------- + L58,800 + +This is the amount of the only articles of saving he specifies: and yet +he chooses to assert,[81] "that we may venture on the credit of them to +reduce the standing expenses of the estimate (from 3,468,161_l._) to +3,300,000_l._"; that is, for a saving of 58,000_l._ he is not ashamed +to take credit for a defalcation from his own ideal establishment in a +sum of no less than 168,161_l._! Suppose even that we were to take up +the estimate of the "Considerations" (which is however abandoned in the +"State of the Nation"), and reduce his 75,000_l._ extraordinaries to the +original 35,000_l._, still all these savings joined together give us but +98,800_l._; that is, near 70,000_l._ short of the credit he calls for, +and for which he has neither given any reason, nor furnished any data +whatsoever for others to reason upon. + +Such are his savings, as operating on his own project of a peace +establishment. Let us now consider them as they affect the existing +establishment and our actual services. He tells us, the sum allowed in +his estimate for the navy is "69,321_l._ less than the grant for that +service in 1767; but in that grant 30,000_l._ was included for the +purchase of hemp, and a saving of about 25,000_l._ was made in that +year." The author has got some secret in arithmetic. These two sums put +together amount, in the ordinary way of computing, to 55,000_l._, and +not to 69,321_l._ On what principle has he chosen to take credit for +14,321_l._ more? To what this strange inaccuracy is owing, I cannot +possibly comprehend; nor is it very material, where the logic is so bad, +and the policy so erroneous, whether the arithmetic be just or +otherwise. But in a scheme for making this nation "happy at home and +respected abroad, formidable in war and flourishing in peace," it is +surely a little unfortunate for us, that he has picked out the _Navy_, +as the very first object of his economical experiments. Of all the +public services, that of the navy is the one in which tampering may be +of the greatest danger, which can worst be supplied upon an emergency, +and of which any failure draws after it the longest and heaviest train +of consequences. I am far from saying, that this or any service ought +not to be conducted with economy. But I will never suffer the sacred +name of economy to be bestowed upon arbitrary defalcation of charge. The +author tells us himself, "that to suffer the navy to rot in harbor for +want of repairs and marines, would be to invite destruction." It would +be so. When the author talks therefore of savings on the navy estimate, +it is incumbent on him to let us know, not what sums he will cut off, +but what branch of that service he deems superfluous. Instead of putting +us off with unmeaning generalities, he ought to have stated what naval +force, what naval works, and what naval stores, with the lowest +estimated expense, are necessary to keep our marine in a condition +commensurate to its great ends. And this too not for the contracted and +deceitful space of a single year, but for some reasonable term. +Everybody knows that many charges cannot be in their nature regular or +annual. In the year 1767 a stock of hemp, &c., was to be laid in; that +charge intermits, but it does not end. Other charges of other kinds take +their place. Great works are now carrying on at Portsmouth, but not of +greater magnitude than utility; and they must be provided for. A year's +estimate is therefore no just idea at all of a permanent peace +establishment. Had the author opened this matter upon these plain +principles, a judgment might have been formed, how far he had contrived +to reconcile national defence with public economy. Till he has done it, +those who had rather depend on any man's reason than the greatest man's +authority, will not give him credit on this head, for the saving of a +single shilling. As to those savings which are already made, or in +course of being made, whether right or wrong, he has nothing at all to +do with them; they can be no part of his project, considered as a plan +of reformation. I greatly fear that the error has not lately been on the +side of profusion. + +Another head is the saving on the army and ordnance extraordinaries, +particularly in the American branch. What or how much reduction may be +made, none of us, I believe, can with any fairness pretend to say; very +little, I am convinced. The state of America is extremely unsettled; +more troops have been sent thither; new dispositions have been made; and +this augmentation of number, and change of disposition, has rarely, I +believe, the effect of lessening the bill for extraordinaries, which, if +not this year, yet in the next we must certainly feel. Care has not been +wanting to introduce economy into that part of the service. The author's +great friend has made, I admit, some regulations: his immediate +successors have made more and better. This part will be handled more +ably and more minutely at another time: but no one can cut down this +bill of extraordinaries at his pleasure. The author has given us +nothing, but his word, for any certain or considerable reduction; and +this we ought to be the more cautious in taking, as he has promised +great savings in his "Considerations," which he has not chosen to abide +by in his "State of the Nation." + +On this head also of the American extraordinaries, he can take credit +for nothing. As to his next, the lessening of the deficiency of the land +and malt-tax, particularly of the malt-tax, any person the least +conversant in that subject cannot avoid a smile. This deficiency arises +from charge of collection, from anticipation, and from defective +produce. What has the author said on the reduction of any head of this +deficiency upon the land-tax? On these points he is absolutely silent. +As to the deficiency on the malt-tax, which is chiefly owing to a +defective produce, he has and can have nothing to propose. If this +deficiency should he lessened by the increase of malting in any years +more than in others, (as it is a greatly fluctuating object,) how much +of this obligation shall we owe to this author's ministry? will it not +be the case under any administration? must it not go to the general +service of the year, in some way or other, let the finances be in whose +hands they will? But why take credit for so extremely reduced a +deficiency at all? I can tell him he has no rational ground for it in +the produce of the year 1767; and I suspect will have full as little +reason from the produce of the year 1768. That produce may indeed become +greater, and the deficiency of course will be less. It may too be far +otherwise. A fair and judicious financier will not, as this writer has +done, for the sake of making out a specious account, select a favorable +year or two, at remote periods, and ground his calculations on those. In +1768 he will not take the deficiencies of 1753 and 1754 for his +standard. Sober men have hitherto (and must continue this course, to +preserve this character,) taken indifferently the mediums of the years +immediately preceding. But a person who has a scheme from which he +promises much to the public ought to be still more cautious; he should +ground his speculation rather on the lowest mediums because all new +schemes are known to be subject to some defect or failure not foreseen; +and which therefore every prudent proposer will be ready to allow for, +in order to lay his foundation as low and as solid as possible. Quite +contrary is the practice of some politicians. They first propose +savings, which they well know cannot be made, in order to get a +reputation for economy. In due time they assume another, but a different +method, by providing for the service they had before cut off or +straitened, and which they can then very easily prove to be necessary. +In the same spirit they raise magnificent ideas of revenue on funds +which they know to be insufficient. Afterwards, who can blame them, if +they do not satisfy the public desires? They are great artificers but +they cannot work without materials. + +These are some of the little arts of great statesmen. To such we leave +them, and follow where the author leads us, to his next resource, the +Foundling Hospital. Whatever particular virtue there is in the mode of +this saving, there seems to be nothing at all new, and indeed nothing +wonderfully important in it. The sum annually voted for the support of +the Foundling Hospital has been in a former Parliament limited to the +establishment of the children then in the hospital. When they are +apprenticed, this provision will cease. It will therefore fall in more +or less at different times; and will at length cease entirely. But, +until it does, we cannot reckon upon it as the saving on the +establishment of any given year: nor can any one conceive how the author +comes to mention this, any more than some other articles, as a part of a +_new_ plan of economy which is to retrieve our affairs. This charge will +indeed cease in its own time. But will no other succeed to it? Has he +ever known the public free from some contingent charge, either for the +just support of royal dignity or for national magnificence, or for +public charity, or for public service? does he choose to flatter his +readers that no such will ever return? or does he in good earnest +declare, that let the reason, or necessity, be what they will, he is +resolved not to provide for such services? + +Another resource of economy yet remains, for he gleans the field very +closely,--1800_l._ for the American surveys. Why, what signifies a +dispute about trifles? he shall have it. But while he is carrying it +off, I shall just whisper in his ear, that neither the saving that is +allowed, nor that which is doubted of, can at all belong to that future +proposed administration, whose touch is to cure all our evils. Both the +one and the other belong equally (as indeed all the rest do) to the +present administration, to any administration; because they are the gift +of time, and not the bounty of the exchequer. + +I have now done with all the minor, preparatory parts of the author's +scheme, the several articles of saving which he proposes. At length +comes the capital operation, his new resources. Three hundred thousand +pounds a year from America and Ireland.--Alas! alas! if that too should +fail us, what will become of this poor undone nation? The author, in a +tone of great humility, _hopes_ they may be induced to pay it. Well, if +that be all, we may hope so too: and for any light he is pleased to give +us into the ground of this hope, and the ways and means of this +inducement, here is a speedy end both of the question and the revenue. + +It is the constant custom of this author, in all his writings, to take +it for granted, that he has given you a revenue, whenever he can point +out to you where you may have money, if you can contrive how to get at +it; and this seems to be the masterpiece of his financial ability. I +think, however, in his way of proceeding, he has behaved rather like a +harsh step-dame, than a kind nursing-mother to his country. Why stop at +300,000_l._ If his state of things be at all founded, America and +Ireland are much better able to pay 600,000_l._ than we are to satisfy +ourselves with half that sum. However, let us forgive him this one +instance of tenderness towards Ireland and the colonies. + +He spends a vast deal of time[82] in an endeavor to prove that Ireland +is able to bear greater impositions. He is of opinion, that the poverty +of the lower class of people there is, in a great measure, owing to _a +want_ of judicious taxes; that a land-tax will enrich her tenants; that +taxes are paid in England which are not paid there; that the colony +trade is increased above 100,000_l._ since the peace; that she _ought_ +to have further indulgence in that trade; and ought to have further +privileges in the woollen manufacture. From these premises, of what she +has, what she has not, and what she ought to have, he infers that +Ireland will contribute 100,000_l._ towards the extraordinaries of the +American establishment. + +I shall make no objections whatsoever, logical or financial, to this +reasoning: many occur; but they would lead me from my purpose, from +which I do not intend to be diverted, because it seems to me of no small +importance. It will be just enough to hint, what I dare say many readers +have before observed, that when any man proposes new taxes in a country +with which he is not personally conversant by residence or office, he +ought to lay open its situation much more minutely and critically than +this author has done, or than perhaps he is able to do. He ought not to +content himself with saying that a single article of her trade is +increased 100,000_l._ a year; he ought, if he argues from the increase +of trade to the increase of taxes, to state the whole trade, and not one +branch of trade only; he ought to enter fully into the state of its +remittances, and the course of its exchange; he ought likewise to +examine whether all its establishments are increased or diminished; and +whether it incurs or discharges debts annually. But I pass over all +this; and am content to ask a few plain questions. + +Does the author then seriously mean to propose in Parliament a land-tax, +or any tax for 100,000_l._ a year upon Ireland? If he does, and if +fatally, by his temerity and our weakness, he should succeed; then I say +he will throw the whole empire from one end of it to the other into +mortal convulsions. What is it that can satisfy the furious and +perturbed mind of this man? is it not enough for him that such projects +have alienated our colonies from the mother-country, and not to propose +violently to tear our sister kingdom also from our side, and to convince +every dependent part of the empire, that, when a little money is to be +raised, we have no sort of regard to their ancient customs, their +opinions, their circumstances, or their affections? He has however a +_douceur_ for Ireland in his pocket; benefits in trade, by opening the +woollen manufacture to that nation. A very right idea in my opinion; but +not more strong in reason, than likely to be opposed by the most +powerful and most violent of all local prejudices and popular passions. +First, a fire is already kindled by his schemes of taxation in America; +he then proposes one which will set all Ireland in a blaze; and his way +of quenching both is by a plan which may kindle perhaps ten times a +greater flame in Britain. + +Will the author pledge himself, previously to his proposal of such a +tax, to carry this enlargement of the Irish trade? If he does not, then +the tax will be certain; the benefit will be less than problematical. In +this view, his compensation to Ireland vanishes into smoke; the tax, to +their prejudices, will appear stark naked in the light of an act of +arbitrary power and oppression. But, if he should propose the benefit +and tax together, then the people of Ireland, a very high and spirited +people, would think it the worst bargain in the world. They would look +upon the one as wholly vitiated and poisoned by the other; and, if they +could not be separated, would infallibly resist them both together. Here +would be taxes, indeed, amounting to a handsome sum; 100,000_l._ very +effectually voted, and passed through the best and most authentic forms; +but how to be collected?--This is his perpetual manner. One of his +projects depends for success upon another project, and this upon a +third, all of them equally visionary. His finance is like the Indian +philosophy; his earth is poised on the horns of a bull, his bull stands +upon an elephant, his elephant is supported by a tortoise; and so on +forever. + +As to his American 200,000_l._ a year, he is satisfied to repeat +gravely, as he has done an hundred times before, that the Americans are +able to pay it. Well, and what then? does he lay open any part of his +plan how they may be compelled to pay it, without plunging ourselves +into calamities that outweigh tenfold the proposed benefit? or does he +show how they may be induced to submit to it quietly? or does he give +any satisfaction concerning the mode of levying it; in commercial +colonies, one of the most important and difficult of all considerations? +Nothing like it. To the Stamp Act, whatever its excellences may be, I +think he will not in reality recur, or even choose to assert that he +means to do so, in case his minister should come again into power. If he +does, I will predict that some of the fastest friends of that minister +will desert him upon this point. As to port duties he has damned them +all in the lump, by declaring them[83] "contrary to the first principles +of colonization, and not less prejudicial to the interests of Great +Britain than to those of the colonies." Surely this single observation +of his ought to have taught him a little caution; he ought to have begun +to doubt, whether there is not something in the nature of commercial +colonies, which renders them an unfit object of taxation; when port +duties, so large a fund of revenue in all countries, are by himself +found, in this case, not only improper, but destructive. However, he has +here pretty well narrowed the field of taxation. Stamp Act, hardly to be +resumed. Port duties, mischievous. Excises, I believe, he will scarcely +think worth the collection (if any revenue should be so) in America. +Land-tax (notwithstanding his opinion of its immense use to agriculture) +he will not directly propose, before he has thought again and again on +the subject. Indeed he very readily recommends it for Ireland, and +seems to think it not improper for America; because, he observes, they +already raise most of their taxes internally, including this tax. A most +curious reason, truly! because their lands are already heavily burdened, +he thinks it right to burden them still further. But he will recollect, +for surely he cannot be ignorant of it, that the lands of America are +not, as in England, let at a rent certain in money, and therefore +cannot, as here, be taxed at a certain pound rate. They value them in +gross among themselves; and none but themselves in their several +districts can value them. Without their hearty concurrence and +co-operation, it is evident, we cannot advance a step in the assessing +or collecting any land-tax. As to the taxes which in some places the +Americans pay by the acre, they are merely duties of regulation; they +are small; and to increase them, notwithstanding the secret virtues of a +land-tax, would be the most effectual means of preventing that +cultivation they are intended to promote. Besides, the whole country is +heavily in arrear already for land-taxes and quit-rents. They have +different methods of taxation in the different provinces, agreeable to +their several local circumstances. In New England by far the greatest +part of their revenue is raised by _faculty-taxes_ and _capitations_. +Such is the method in many others. It is obvious that Parliament, +unassisted by the colonies themselves, cannot take so much as a single +step in this mode of taxation. Then what tax is it he will impose? Why, +after all the boasting speeches and writings of his faction for these +four years, after all the vain expectations which they have held out to +a deluded public, this their great advocate, after twisting the subject +every way, after writhing himself in every posture, after knocking at +every door, is obliged fairly to abandon every mode of taxation +whatsoever in America.[84] He thinks it the best method for Parliament +to impose the sum, and reserve the account to itself, leaving the mode +of taxation to the colonies. But how and in what proportion? what does +the author say? O, not a single syllable on this the most material part +of the whole question! Will he, in Parliament, undertake to settle the +proportions of such payments from Nova Scotia to Nevis, in no fewer than +six-and-twenty different countries, varying in almost every possible +circumstance one from another? If he does, I tell him, he adjourns his +revenue to a very long day. If he leaves it to themselves to settle +these proportions, he adjourns it to doomsday. + +Then what does he get by this method on the side of acquiescence? will +the people of America relish this course, of giving and granting and +applying their money, the better because their assemblies are made +commissioners of the taxes? This is far worse than all his former +projects; for here, if the assemblies shall refuse, or delay, or be +negligent, or fraudulent, in this new-imposed duty, we are wholly +without remedy; and neither our custom-house officers, nor our troops, +nor our armed ships can be of the least use in the collection. No idea +can be more contemptible (I will not call it an oppressive one, the +harshness is lost in the folly) than that of proposing to get any +revenue from the Americans but by their freest and most cheerful +consent. Most moneyed men know their own interest right well; and are as +able as any financier, in the valuation of risks. Yet I think this +financier will scarcely find that adventurer hardy enough, at any +premium, to advance a shilling upon a vote of such taxes. Let him name +the man, or set of men, that would do it. This is the only proof of the +value of revenues; what would an interested man rate them at? His +subscription would be at ninety-nine per cent discount the very first +day of its opening. Here is our only national security from ruin; a +security upon which no man in his senses would venture a shilling of his +fortune. Yet he puts down those articles as gravely in his supply for +the peace establishment, as if the money had been all fairly lodged in +the exchequer. + + American revenue L200,000 + Ireland 100,000 + +Very handsome indeed! But if supply is to be got in such a manner, +farewell the lucrative mystery of finance! If you are to be credited for +savings, without showing how, why, or with what safety, they are to be +made; and for revenues, without specifying on what articles, or by what +means, or at what expense, they are to be collected; there is not a +clerk in a public office who may not outbid this author, or his friend, +for the department of chancellor of the exchequer; not an apprentice in +the city, that will not strike out, with the same advantages, the same, +or a much larger plan of supply. + +Here is the whole of what belongs to the author's scheme for saving us +from impending destruction. Take it even in its most favorable point of +view, as a thing within possibility; and imagine what must be the wisdom +of this gentleman, or his opinion of ours, who could first think of +representing this nation in such a state, as no friend can look upon but +with horror, and scarcely an enemy without compassion, and afterwards +of diverting himself with such inadequate, impracticable, puerile +methods for our relief! If these had been the dreams of some unknown, +unnamed, and nameless writer, they would excite no alarm; their weakness +had been an antidote to their malignity. But as they are universally +believed to be written by the hand, or, what amounts to the same thing, +under the immediate direction, of a person who has been in the +management of the highest affairs, and may soon be in the same +situation, I think it is not to be reckoned amongst our greatest +consolations, that the yet remaining power of this kingdom is to be +employed in an attempt to realize notions that are at once so frivolous, +and so full of danger. That consideration will justify me in dwelling a +little longer on the difficulties of the nation, and the solutions of +our author. + +I am then persuaded that he cannot be in the least alarmed about our +situation, let his outcry be what he pleases. I will give him a reason +for my opinion, which, I think, he cannot dispute. All that he bestows +upon the nation, which it does not possess without him, and supposing it +all sure money, amounts to no more than a sum of 300,000_l._ a year. +This, he thinks, will do the business completely, and render us +flourishing at home, and respectable abroad. If the option between glory +and shame, if our salvation or destruction, depended on this sum, it is +impossible that he should have been active, and made a merit of that +activity, in taking off a shilling in the pound of the land-tax, which +came up to his grand desideratum, and upwards of 100,000_l._ more. By +this manoeuvre, he left our trade, navigation, and manufactures, on the +verge of destruction, our finances in ruin, our credit expiring, Ireland +on the point of being ceded to France, the colonies of being torn to +pieces, the succession of the crown at the mercy of our great rival, and +the kingdom itself on the very point of becoming tributary to that +haughty power. All this for want of 300,000_l._; for I defy the reader +to point out any other revenue, or any other precise and defined scheme +of politics, which he assigns for our redemption. + +I know that two things may be said in his defence, as bad reasons are +always at hand in an indifferent cause; that he was not sure the money +would be applied as he thinks it ought to be, by the present ministers. +I think as ill of them as he does to the full. They have done very near +as much mischief as they can do, to a constitution so robust as this is. +Nothing can make them more dangerous, but that, as they are already in +general composed of his disciples and instruments, they may add to the +public calamity of their own measures, the adoption of his projects. But +be the ministers what they may, the author knows that they could not +avoid applying this 450,000_l._ to the service of the establishment, as +faithfully as he, or any other minister, could do. I say they could not +avoid it, and have no merit at all for the application. But supposing +that they should greatly mismanage this revenue. Here is a good deal of +room for mistake and prodigality before you come to the edge of ruin. +The difference between the amount of that real and his imaginary revenue +is, 150,000_l._ a year at least; a tolerable sum for them to play with: +this might compensate the difference between the author's economy and +their profusion; and still, notwithstanding their vices and ignorance, +the nation might he saved. The author ought also to recollect, that a +good man would hardly deny, even to the worst of ministers, the means of +doing their duty; especially in a crisis when our being depended on +supplying them with some means or other. In such a case their penury of +mind, in discovering resources, would make it rather the more necessary, +not to strip such poor providers of the little stock they had in hand. + +Besides, here is another subject of distress, and a very serious one, +which puts us again to a stand. The author may possibly not come into +power (I only state the possibility): he may not always continue in it: +and if the contrary to all this should fortunately for us happen, what +insurance on his life can be made for a sum adequate to his loss? Then +we are thus unluckily situated, that the _chance_ of an American and +Irish revenue of 300,000_l._ to be managed by him, is to save us from +ruin two or three years hence at best, to make us happy at home and +glorious abroad; and the actual possession of 400,000_l._ English taxes +cannot so much as protract our ruin without him. So we are staked on +four chances; his power, its permanence, the success of his projects, +and the duration of his life. Any one of these failing, we are gone. +_Propria haec si dona fuissent!_ This is no unfair representation; +ultimately all hangs on his life, because, in his account of every set +of men that have held or supported administration, he finds neither +virtue nor ability in any but himself. Indeed he pays (through their +measures) some compliments to Lord Bute and Lord Despenser. But to the +latter, this is, I suppose, but a civility to old acquaintance: to the +former, a little stroke of politics. We may therefore fairly say, that +our only hope is his life; and he has, to make it the more so, taken +care to cut off any resource which we possessed independently of him. + +In the next place it may be said, to excuse any appearance of +inconsistency between the author's actions and his declarations, that he +thought it right to relieve the landed interest, and lay the burden +where it ought to lie, on the colonies. What! to take off a revenue so +necessary to our being, before anything whatsoever was acquired in the +place of it? In prudence, he ought to have waited at least for the first +quarter's receipt of the new anonymous American revenue, and Irish +land-tax. Is there something so specific for our disorders in American, +and something so poisonous in English money, that one is to heal, the +other to destroy us? To say that the landed interest _could_ not +continue to pay it for a year or two longer, is more than the author +will attempt to prove. To say that they _would_ pay it no longer, is to +treat the landed interest, in my opinion, very scurvily. To suppose that +the gentry, clergy, and freeholders of England do not rate the commerce, +the credit, the religion, the liberty, the independency of their +country, and the succession of their crown, at a shilling in the pound +land-tax! They never gave him reason to think so meanly of them. And, if +I am rightly informed, when that measure was debated in Parliament, a +very different reason was assigned by the author's great friend, as well +as by others, for that reduction: one very different from the critical +and almost desperate state of our finances. Some people then endeavored +to prove, that the reduction might be made without detriment to the +national credit, or the due support of a proper peace establishment; +otherwise it is obvious that the reduction could not be defended in +argument. So that this author cannot despair so much of the +commonwealth, without this American and Irish revenue, as he pretends to +do. If he does, the reader sees how handsomely he has provided for us, +by voting away one revenue, and by giving us a pamphlet on the other. + +I do not mean to blame the relief which was then given by Parliament to +the land. It was grounded on very weighty reasons. The administration +contended only for its continuance for a year, in order to have the +merit of taking off the shilling in the pound immediately before the +elections; and thus to bribe the freeholders of England with their own +money. + +It is true, the author, in his estimate of ways and means, takes credit +for 400,000_l._ a year, _Indian Revenue_. But he will not very +positively insist, that we should put this revenue to the account of his +plans or his power; and for a very plain reason: we are already near two +years in possession of it. By what means we came to that possession, is +a pretty long story; however, I shall give nothing more than a short +abstract of the proceeding, in order to see whether the author will take +to himself any part in that measure. + +The fact is this; the East India Company had for a good while solicited +the ministry for a negotiation, by which they proposed to pay largely +for some advantages in their trade, and for the renewal of their +charter. This had been the former method of transacting with that body. +Government having only leased the monopoly for short terms, the Company +has been obliged to resort to it frequently for renewals. These two +parties had always negotiated (on the true principle of credit) not as +government and subject, but as equal dealers, on the footing of mutual +advantage. The public had derived great benefit from such dealing. But +at that time new ideas prevailed. The ministry, instead of listening to +the proposals of that Company, chose to set up a claim of the crown to +their possessions. The original plan seems to have been, to get the +House of Commons to compliment the crown with a sort of juridical +declaration of a title to the Company's acquisitions in India; which the +crown on its part, with the best air in the world, was to bestow upon +the public. Then it would come to the turn of the House of Commons again +to be liberal and grateful to the crown. The civil list debts were to be +paid off; with perhaps a pretty augmentation of income. All this was to +be done on the most public-spirited principles, and with a politeness +and mutual interchange of good offices, that could not but have charmed. +But what was best of all, these civilities were to be without a farthing +of charge to either of the kind and obliging parties. The East India +Company was to be covered with infamy and disgrace, and at the same time +was to pay the whole bill. + +In consequence of this scheme, the terrors of a parliamentary inquiry +were hung over them. A judicature was asserted in Parliament to try this +question. But lest this judicial character should chance to inspire +certain stubborn ideas of law and right, it was argued, that the +judicature was arbitrary, and ought not to determine by the rules of +law, but by their opinion of policy and expediency. Nothing exceeded the +violence of some of the managers, except their impotence. They were +bewildered by their passions, and by their want of knowledge or want of +consideration of the subject. The more they advanced, the further they +found themselves from their object.--All things ran into confusion. The +ministers quarrelled among themselves. They disclaimed one another. They +suspended violence, and shrunk from treaty. The inquiry was almost at +its last gasp; when some active persons of the Company were given to +understand that this hostile proceeding was only set up _in terrorem_; +that government was far from an intention of seizing upon the +possessions of the Company. Administration, they said, was sensible, +that the idea was in every light full of absurdity; and that such a +seizure was not more out of their power, than remote from their wishes; +and therefore, if the Company would come in a liberal manner to the +House, they certainly could not fail of putting a speedy end to this +disagreeable business, and of opening a way to an advantageous treaty. + +On this hint the Company acted: they came at once to a resolution of +getting rid of the difficulties which arose from the complication of +their trade with their revenue; a step which despoiled them of their +best defensive armor, and put them at once into the power of +administration. They threw their whole stock of every kind, the revenue, +the trade, and even their debt from government, into one fund, which +they computed on the surest grounds would amount to 800,000_l._, with a +large probable surplus for the payment of debt. Then they agreed to +divide this sum in equal portions between themselves and the public, +400,000_l._ to each. This gave to the proprietors of that fund an annual +augmentation of no more than 80,000_l._ dividend. They ought to receive +from government 120,000_l._ for the loan of their capital. So that, in +fact, the whole, which on this plan they reserved to themselves, from +their vast revenues, from their extensive trade, and in consideration of +the great risks and mighty expenses which purchased these advantages, +amounted to no more than 280,000_l._, whilst government was to receive, +as I said, 400,000_l._ + +This proposal was thought by themselves liberal indeed; and they +expected the highest applauses for it. However, their reception was very +different from their expectations. When they brought up their plan to +the House of Commons, the offer, as it was natural, of 400,000_l._ was +very well relished. But nothing could be more disgustful than the +80,000_l._ which the Company had divided amongst themselves. A violent +tempest of public indignation and fury rose against them. The heads of +people turned. The Company was held well able to pay 400,000_l._ a year +to government; but bankrupts, if they attempted to divide the fifth part +of it among themselves. An _ex post facto_ law was brought in with great +precipitation, for annulling this dividend. In the bill was inserted a +clause, which suspended for about a year the right, which, under the +public faith, the Company enjoyed, of making their own dividends. Such +was the disposition and temper of the House, that although the plain +face of facts, reason, arithmetic, all the authority, parts, and +eloquence in the kingdom, were against this bill; though all the +Chancellors of the Exchequer, who had held that office from the +beginning of this reign, opposed it; yet a few placemen of the +subordinate departments sprung out of their ranks, took the lead, and, +by an opinion _of some sort of secret support_, carried the bill with a +high hand, leaving the then Secretary of State and the Chancellor of the +Exchequer in a very moderate minority. In this distracted situation, the +managers of the bill, notwithstanding their triumph, did not venture to +propose the payment of the civil list debt. The Chancellor of the +Exchequer was not in good humor enough, after his late defeat by his own +troops, to co-operate in such a design; so they made an act, to lock up +the money in the exchequer until they should have time to look about +them, and settle among themselves what they were to do with it. + +Thus ended this unparalleled transaction. The author, I believe, will +not claim any part of the glory of it: he will leave it whole and entire +to the authors of the measure. The money was the voluntary, free gift of +the Company; the rescinding bill was the act of legislature, to which +they and we owe submission: the author has nothing to do with the one or +with the other. However, he cannot avoid rubbing himself against this +subject merely for the pleasure of stirring controversies, and +gratifying a certain pruriency of taxation that seems to infect his +blood. It is merely to indulge himself in speculations of taxing, that +he chooses to harangue on this subject. For he takes credit for no +greater sum than the public is already in possession of. He does not +hint that the Company means, or has ever shown any disposition, if +managed with common prudence, to pay less in future; and he cannot doubt +that the present ministry are as well inclined to drive them by their +mock inquiries, and real rescinding bills, as he can possibly be with +his taxes. Besides, it is obvious, that as great a sum might have been +drawn from that Company, without affecting property, or shaking the +constitution, or endangering the principle of public credit, or running +into his golden dreams of cockets on the Ganges, or visions of +stamp-duties on _Perwannas_, _Dusticks_, _Kistbundees_, and +_Husbulhookums_. For once, I will disappoint him in this part of the +dispute; and only in a very few words recommend to his consideration, +how he is to get off the dangerous idea of taxing a public fund, if he +levies those duties in England; and if he is to levy them in India, what +provision he has made for a revenue establishment there; supposing that +he undertakes this new scheme of finance independently of the Company, +and against its inclinations. + +So much for these revenues; which are nothing but his visions, or +already the national possessions without any act of his. It is easy to +parade with a high talk of Parliamentary rights, of the universality of +legislative powers, and of uniform taxation. Men of sense, when new +projects come before them, always think a discourse proving the mere +right or mere power of acting in the manner proposed, to be no more than +a very unpleasant way of misspending time. They must see the object to +be of proper magnitude to engage them; they must see the means of +compassing it to be next to certain; the mischiefs not to counterbalance +the profit; they will examine how a proposed imposition or regulation +agrees with the opinion of those who are likely to be affected by it; +they will not despise the consideration even of their habitudes and +prejudices. They wish to know how it accords or disagrees with the true +spirit of prior establishments, whether of government or of finance; +because they well know, that in the complicated economy of great +kingdoms, and immense revenues, which in a length of time, and by a +variety of accidents have coalesced into a sort of body, an attempt +towards a compulsory equality in all circumstances, and an exact +practical definition of the supreme rights in every case, is the most +dangerous and chimerical of all enterprises. The old building stands +well enough, though part Gothic, part Grecian, and part Chinese, until +an attempt is made to square it into uniformity. Then it may come down +upon our heads altogether, in much uniformity of ruin; and great will be +the fall thereof. Some people, instead of inclining to debate the +matter, only feel a sort of nausea, when they are told, that "protection +calls for supply," and that "all the parts ought to contribute to the +support of the whole." Strange argument for great and grave +deliberation! As if the same end may not, and must not, be compassed, +according to its circumstances, by a great diversity of ways. Thus, in +Great Britain, some of our establishments are apt for the support of +credit. They stand therefore upon a principle of their own, distinct +from, and in some respects contrary to, the relation between prince and +subject. It is a new species of contract superinduced upon the old +contract of the state. The idea of power must as much as possible be +banished from it; for power and credit are things adverse, incompatible; +_Non bene conveniunt, nec in una sede morantur_. Such establishments are +our great _moneyed_ companies. To tax them would be critical and +dangerous, and contradictory to the very purpose of their institution; +which is credit, and cannot therefore be taxation. But the nation, when +it gave up that power, did not give up the advantage; but supposed, and +with reason, that government was overpaid in credit, for what it seemed +to lose in authority. In such a case to talk of the rights of +sovereignty is quite idle. Other establishments supply other modes of +public contribution. Our _trading_ companies, as well as individual +importers, are a fit subject of revenue by customs. Some establishments +pay us by a _monopoly_ of their consumption and their produce. This, +nominally no tax, in reality comprehends all taxes. Such establishments +are our colonies. To tax them would be as erroneous in policy, as +rigorous in equity. Ireland supplies us by furnishing troops in war; and +by bearing part of our foreign establishment in peace. She aids us at +all times by the money that her absentees spend amongst us; which is no +small part of the rental of that kingdom. Thus Ireland contributes her +part. Some objects bear port-duties. Some are fitter for an inland +excise. The mode varies, the object is the same. To strain these from +their old and inveterate leanings, might impair the old benefit, and not +answer the end of the new project. Among all the great men of antiquity, +_Procrustes_ shall never be my hero of legislation; with his iron bed, +the allegory of his government, and the type of some modern policy, by +which the long limb was to be cut short, and the short tortured into +length. Such was the state-bed of uniformity! He would, I conceive, be a +very indifferent farmer, who complained that his sheep did not plough, +or his horses yield him wool, though it would be an idea full of +equality. They may think this right in rustic economy, who think it +available in the politic: + + Qui Bavium non odit, amet tua carimna, Maevi! + Atque idem jungat vulpes, et mulgeat hircos. + + +As the author has stated this Indian taxation for no visible purpose +relative to his plan of supply, so he has stated many other projects +with as little, if any distinct end; unless perhaps to show you how full +he is of projects for the public good; and what vast expectations may be +formed of him or his friends, if they should be translated into +administration. It is also from some opinion that these speculations may +one day become our public measures, that I think it worth while to +trouble the reader at all about them. + +Two of them stand out in high relievo beyond the rest. The first is a +change in the internal representation of this country, by enlarging our +number of constituents. The second is an addition to our +representatives, by new American members of Parliament. I pass over here +all considerations how far such a system will be an improvement of our +constitution according to any sound theory. Not that I mean to condemn +such speculative inquiries concerning this great object of the national +attention. They may tend to clear doubtful points, and possibly may +lead, as they have often done, to real improvements. What I object to, +is their introduction into a discourse relating to the immediate state +of our affairs, and recommending plans of practical government. In this +view, I see nothing in them but what is usual with the author; an +attempt to raise discontent in the people of England, to balance those +discontents which the measures of his friends had already raised in +America. What other reason can he have for suggesting, that we are not +happy enough to enjoy a sufficient number of voters in England? I +believe that most sober thinkers on this subject are rather of opinion, +that our fault is on the other side; and that it would be more in the +spirit of our constitution, and more agreeable to the pattern of our +best laws, by lessening the number, to add to the weight and +independency of our voters. And truly, considering the immense and +dangerous charge of elections; the prostitute and daring venality, the +corruption of manners, the idleness and profligacy of the lower sort of +voters, no prudent man would propose to increase such an evil, if it be, +as I fear it is, out of our power to administer to it any remedy. The +author proposes nothing further. If he has any improvements that may +balance or may lessen this inconvenience, he has thought proper to keep +them as usual in his own breast. Since he has been so reserved, I should +have wished he had been as cautious with regard to the project itself. +First, because he observes justly, that his scheme, however it might +improve the platform, can add nothing to the authority of the +legislature; much I fear, it will have a contrary operation; for, +authority depending on opinion at least as much as on duty, an idea +circulated among the people that our constitution is not so perfect as +it ought to be, before you are sure of mending it, is a certain method +of lessening it in the public opinion. Of this irreverent opinion of +Parliament, the author himself complains in one part of his book; and he +endeavors to increase it in the other. + +Has he well considered what an immense operation any change in our +constitution is? how many discussions, parties, and passions, it will +necessarily excite; and when you open it to inquiry in one part, where +the inquiry will stop? Experience shows us, that no time can be fit for +such changes but a time of general confusion; when good men, finding +everything already broken up, think it right to take advantage of the +opportunity of such derangement in favor of an useful alteration. +Perhaps a time of the greatest security and tranquillity both at home +and abroad may likewise be fit; but will the author affirm this to be +just such a time? Transferring an idea of military to civil prudence, he +ought to know how dangerous it is to make an alteration of your +disposition in the face of an enemy. + +Now comes his American representation. Here too, as usual, he takes no +notice of any difficulty, nor says anything to obviate those objections +that must naturally arise in the minds of his readers. He throws you his +politics as he does his revenue; do you make something of them if you +can. Is not the reader a little astonished at the proposal of an +American representation from that quarter? It is proposed merely as a +project[85] of speculative improvement; not from the necessity in the +case, not to add anything to the authority of Parliament, but that we +may afford a greater attention to the concerns of the Americans, and +give them a better opportunity of stating their grievances, and of +obtaining redress. I am glad to find the author has at length discovered +that we have not given a sufficient attention to their concerns, or a +proper redress to their grievances. His great friend would once have +been exceedingly displeased with any person, who should tell him, that +he did not attend sufficiently to those concerns. He thought he did so, +when he regulated the colonies over and over again: he thought he did so +when he formed two general systems of revenue; one of port-duties, and +the other of internal taxation. These systems supposed, or ought to +suppose, the greatest attention to and the most detailed information +of, all their affairs. However, by contending for the American +representation, he seems at last driven virtually to admit, that great +caution ought to be used in the exercise of _all_ our legislative rights +over an object so remote from our eye, and so little connected with our +immediate feelings; that in prudence we ought not to be quite so ready +with our taxes, until we can secure the desired representation in +Parliament. Perhaps it may be some time before this hopeful scheme can +be brought to perfect maturity, although the author seems to be in no +wise aware of any obstructions that lie in the way of it. He talks of +his union, just as he does of his taxes and his savings, with as much +_sang froid_ and ease as if his wish and the enjoyment were exactly the +same thing. He appears not to have troubled his head with the infinite +difficulty of settling that representation on a fair balance of wealth +and numbers throughout the several provinces of America and the West +Indies, under such an infinite variety of circumstances. It costs him +nothing to fight with nature, and to conquer the order of Providence, +which manifestly opposes itself to the possibility of such a +Parliamentary union. + +But let us, to indulge his passion for projects and power, suppose the +happy time arrived, when the author comes into the ministry, and is to +realize his speculations. The writs are issued for electing members for +America and the West Indies. Some provinces receive them in six weeks, +some in ten, some in twenty. A vessel may be lost, and then some +provinces may not receive them at all. But let it be, that they all +receive them at once, and in the shortest time. A proper space must be +given for proclamation and for the election; some weeks at least. But +the members are chosen; and if ships are ready to sail, in about six +more they arrive in London. In the mean time the Parliament has sat and +business far advanced without American representatives. Nay, by this +time, it may happen that the Parliament is dissolved; and then the +members ship themselves again, to be again elected. The writs may arrive +in America, before the poor members of a Parliament in which they never +sat, can arrive at their several provinces. A new interest is formed, +and they find other members are chosen whilst they are on the high seas. +But, if the writs and members arrive together, here is at best a new +trial of skill amongst the candidates, after one set of them have well +aired themselves with their two voyages of 6000 miles. + +However, in order to facilitate everything to the author, we will +suppose them all once more elected, and steering again to Old England, +with a good heart, and a fair westerly wind in their stern. On their +arrival, they find all in a hurry and bustle; in and out; condolence and +congratulation; the crown is demised. Another Parliament is to be +called. Away back to America again on a fourth voyage, and to a third +election. Does the author mean to make our kings as immortal in their +personal as in their politic character? or whilst he bountifully adds to +their life, will he take from them their prerogative of dissolving +Parliaments, in favor of the American union? or are the American +representatives to be perpetual, and to feel neither demises of the +crown, nor dissolutions of Parliament? + +But these things may be granted to him, without bringing him much nearer +to his point. What does he think of re-election? is the American member +the only one who is not to take a place, or the only one to be exempted +from the ceremony of re-election? How will this great politician +preserve the rights of electors, the fairness of returns, and the +privilege of the House of Commons, as the sole judge of such contests? +It would undoubtedly be a glorious sight to have eight or ten petitions, +or double returns, from Boston and Barbadoes, from Philadelphia and +Jamaica, the members returned, and the petitioners, with all their train +of attorneys, solicitors, mayors, selectmen, provost-marshals, and above +five hundred or a thousand witnesses, come to the bar of the House of +Commons. Possibly we might be interrupted in the enjoyment of this +pleasing spectacle, if a war should break out, and our constitutional +fleet, loaded with members of Parliament, returning-officers, petitions, +and witnesses, the electors and elected, should become a prize to the +French or Spaniards, and be conveyed to Carthagena, or to La Vera Cruz, +and from thence perhaps to Mexico or Lima, there to remain until a +cartel for members of Parliament can be settled, or until the war is +ended. + +In truth the author has little studied this business; or he might have +known, that some of the most considerable provinces of America, such, +for instance, as Connecticut and Massachusetts Bay, have not in each of +them two men who can afford, at a distance from their estates, to spend +a thousand pounds a year. How can these provinces be represented at +Westminster? If their province pays them, they are American agents, with +salaries, and not independent members of Parliament. It is true, that +formerly in England members had salaries from their constituents; but +they all had salaries, and were all, in this way, upon a par. If these +American representatives have no salaries, then they must add to the +list of our pensioners and dependents at court, or they must starve. +There is no alternative. + +Enough of this visionary union; in which much extravagance appears +without any fancy, and the judgment is shocked without anything to +refresh the imagination. It looks as if the author had dropped down from +the moon, without any knowledge of the general nature of this globe, of +the general nature of its inhabitants, without the least acquaintance +with the affairs of this country. Governor Pownall has handled the same +subject. To do him justice, he treats it upon far more rational +principles of speculation; and much more like a man of business. He +thinks (erroneously, I conceive; but he does think) that our legislative +rights are incomplete without such a representation. It is no wonder, +therefore, that he endeavors by every means to obtain it. Not like our +author, who is always on velvet, he is aware of some difficulties; and +he proposes some solutions. But nature is too hard for both these +authors; and America is, and ever will be, without actual representation +in the House of Commons; nor will any minister be wild enough even to +propose such a representation in Parliament; however he may choose to +throw out that project, together with others equally far from his real +opinions, and remote from his designs, merely to fall in with the +different views, and captivate the affections, of different sorts of +men. + +Whether these projects arise from the author's real political +principles, or are only brought out in subservience to his political +views, they compose the whole of anything that is like precise and +definite, which the author has given us to expect from that +administration which is so much the subject of his praises and prayers. +As to his general propositions, that "there is a deal of difference +between impossibilities and great difficulties"; that "a great scheme +cannot be carried unless made the business of successive +administrations"; that "virtuous and able men are the fittest to serve +their country"; all this I look on as no more than so much rubble to +fill up the spaces between the regular masonry. Pretty much in the same +light I cannot forbear considering his detached observations on +commerce; such as, that "the system for colony regulations would be very +simple, and mutually beneficial to Great Britain and her colonies, if +the old navigation laws were adhered to."[86] That "the transportation +should be in all cases in ships belonging to British subjects." That +"even British ships should not be _generally_ received into the colonies +from any part of Europe, except the dominions of Great Britain." That +"it is unreasonable that corn and such like products should be +restrained to come first to a British port." What do all these fine +observations signify? Some of them condemn, as ill practices, things +that were never practised at all. Some recommend to be done, things that +always have been done. Others indeed convey, though obliquely and +loosely, some insinuations highly dangerous to our commerce. If I could +prevail on myself to think the author meant to ground any practice upon +these general propositions, I should think it very necessary to ask a +few questions about some of them. For instance, what does he mean by +talking of an adherence to the old navigation laws? Does he mean, that +the particular law, 12 Car. II. c. 19, commonly called "The Act of +Navigation," is to be adhered to, and that the several subsequent +additions, amendments, and exceptions, ought to be all repealed? If so, +he will make a strange havoc in the whole system of our trade laws, +which have been universally acknowledged to be full as well founded in +the alterations and exceptions, as the act of Charles the Second in the +original provisions; and to pursue full as wisely the great end of that +very politic law, the increase of the British navigation. I fancy the +writer could hardly propose anything more alarming to those immediately +interested in that navigation than such a repeal. If he does not mean +this, he has got no farther than a nugatory proposition, which nobody +can contradict, and for which no man is the wiser. + +That "the regulations for the colony trade would be few and simple if +the old navigation laws were adhered to," I utterly deny as a fact. That +they ought to be so, sounds well enough; but this proposition is of the +same nugatory nature with some of the former. The regulations for the +colony trade ought not to be more nor fewer, nor more nor less complex, +than the occasion requires. And, as that trade is in a great measure a +system of art and restriction, they can neither be few nor simple. It is +true, that the very principle may be destroyed, by multiplying to excess +the means of securing it. Never did a minister depart more from the +author's ideas of simplicity, or more embarrass the trade of America +with the multiplicity and intricacy of regulations and ordinances, than +his boasted minister of 1764. That minister seemed to be possessed with +something, hardly short of a rage, for regulation and restriction. He +had so multiplied bonds, certificates, affidavits, warrants, +sufferances, and cockets; had supported them with such severe penalties, +and extended them without the least consideration of circumstances to so +many objects, that, had they all continued in their original force, +commerce must speedily have expired under them. Some of them, the +ministry which gave them birth was obliged to destroy: with their own +hand they signed the condemnation of their own regulations; confessing +in so many words, in the preamble of their act of the 5th Geo. III., +that some of these regulations had laid _an unnecessary restraint on the +trade and correspondence of his Majesty's American subjects_. This, in +that ministry, was a candid confession of a mistake; but every +alteration made in those regulations by their successors is to be the +effect of envy, and American misrepresentation. So much for the author's +simplicity in regulation. + +I have now gone through all which I think immediately essential in the +author's idea of war, of peace, of the comparative states of England and +France, of our actual situation; in his projects of economy, of finance, +of commerce, and of constitutional improvement. There remains nothing +now to be considered, except his heavy censures upon the administration +which was formed in 1765; which is commonly known by the name of the +Marquis of Rockingham's administration, as the administration which +preceded it is by that of Mr. Grenville. These censures relate chiefly +to three heads:--1. To the repeal of the American Stamp Act. 2. To the +commercial regulations then made. 3. To the course of foreign +negotiations during that short period. + +A person who knew nothing of public affairs but from the writings of +this author, would be led to conclude, that, at the time of the change +in June, 1765, some well-digested system of administration, founded in +national strength, and in the affections of the people, proceeding in +all points with the most reverential and tender regard to the laws, and +pursuing with equal wisdom and success everything which could tend to +the internal prosperity, and to the external honor and dignity of this +country, had been all at once subverted, by an irruption of a sort of +wild, licentious, unprincipled invaders, who wantonly, and with a +barbarous rage, had defaced a thousand fair monuments of the +constitutional and political skill of their predecessors. It is natural +indeed that this author should have some dislike to the administration +which was formed in 1765. Its views, in most things, were different from +those of his friends; in some, altogether opposite to them. It is +impossible that both of these administrations should be the objects of +public esteem. Their different principles compose some of the strongest +political lines which discriminate the parties even now subsisting +amongst us. The ministers of 1764 are not indeed followed by very many +in their opposition; yet a large part of the people now in office +entertain, or pretend to entertain, sentiments entirely conformable to +theirs; whilst some of the former colleagues of the ministry which was +formed in 1765, however they may have abandoned the connection, and +contradicted by their conduct the principles of their former friends, +pretend, on their parts, still to adhere to the same maxims. All the +lesser divisions, which are indeed rather names of personal attachment +than of party distinction, fall in with the one or the other of these +leading parties. + +I intend to state, as shortly as I am able, the general condition of +public affairs, and the disposition of the minds of men, at the time of +the remarkable change of system in 1765. The reader will have thereby a +more distinct view of the comparative merits of these several plans, and +will receive more satisfaction concerning the ground and reason of the +measures which were then pursued, than, I believe, can be derived from +the perusal of those partial representations contained in the "State of +the Nation," and the other writings of those who have continued, for now +nearly three years, in the undisturbed possession of the press. This +will, I hope, be some apology for my dwelling a little on this part of +the subject. + +On the resignation of the Earl of Bute, in 1763, our affairs had been +delivered into the hands of three ministers of his recommendation: Mr. +Grenville, the Earl of Egremont, and the Earl of Halifax. This +arrangement, notwithstanding the retirement of Lord Bute, announced to +the public a continuance of the same measures; nor was there more reason +to expect a change from the death of the Earl of Egremont. The Earl of +Sandwich supplied his place. The Duke of Bedford, and the gentlemen who +act in that connection, and whose general character and politics were +sufficiently understood, added to the strength of the ministry, without +making any alteration in their plan of conduct. Such was the +constitution of the ministry which was changed in 1765. + +As to their politics, the principles of the peace of Paris governed in +foreign affairs. In domestic, the same scheme prevailed, of +contradicting the opinions, and disgracing most of the persons, who had +been countenanced and employed in the late reign. The inclinations of +the people were little attended to; and a disposition to the use of +forcible methods ran through the whole tenor of administration. The +nation in general was uneasy and dissatisfied. Sober men saw causes for +it, in the constitution of the ministry and the conduct of the +ministers. The ministers, who have usually a short method on such +occasions, attributed their unpopularity wholly to the efforts of +faction. However this might be, the licentiousness and tumults of the +common people, and the contempt of government, of which our author so +often and so bitterly complains, as owing to the mismanagement of the +subsequent administrations, had at no time risen to a greater or more +dangerous height. The measures taken to suppress that spirit were as +violent and licentious as the spirit itself; injudicious, precipitate, +and some of them illegal. Instead of allaying, they tended infinitely to +inflame the distemper; and whoever will be at the least pains to +examine, will find those measures not only the causes of the tumults +which then prevailed, but the real sources of almost all the disorders +which have arisen since that time. More intent on making a victim to +party than an example of justice, they blundered in the method of +pursuing their vengeance. By this means a discovery was made of many +practices, common indeed in the office of Secretary of State, but wholly +repugnant to our laws, and to the genius of the English constitution. +One of the worst of these was, the wanton and indiscriminate seizure of +papers, even in cases where the safety of the state was not pretended in +justification of so harsh a proceeding. The temper of the ministry had +excited a jealousy, which made the people more than commonly vigilant +concerning every power which was exercised by government. The abuse, +however sanctioned by custom, was evident; but the ministry, instead of +resting in a prudent inactivity, or (what would have been still more +prudent) taking the lead, in quieting the minds of the people, and +ascertaining the law upon those delicate points, made use of the whole +influence of government to prevent a Parliamentary resolution against +these practices of office. And lest the colorable reasons, offered in +argument against this Parliamentary procedure, should be mistaken for +the real motives of their conduct, all the advantage of privilege, all +the arts and finesses of pleading, and great sums of public money were +lavished, to prevent any decision upon those practices in the courts of +justice. In the mean time, in order to weaken, since they could not +immediately destroy, the liberty of the press, the privilege of +Parliament was voted away in all accusations for a seditious libel. The +freedom of debate in Parliament itself was no less menaced. Officers of +the army, of long and meritorious service, and of small fortunes, were +chosen as victims for a single vote, by an exertion of ministerial +power, which had been very rarely used, and which is extremely unjust, +as depriving men not only of a place, but a profession, and is indeed of +the most pernicious example both in a civil and a military light. + +Whilst all things were managed at home with such a spirit of disorderly +despotism, abroad there was a proportionable abatement of all spirit. +Some of our most just and valuable claims were in a manner abandoned. +This indeed seemed not very inconsistent conduct in the ministers who +had made the treaty of Paris. With regard to our domestic affairs, there +was no want of industry; but there was a great deficiency of temper and +judgment, and manly comprehension of the public interest. The nation +certainly wanted relief, and government attempted to administer it. Two +ways were principally chosen for this great purpose. The first by +regulations; the second by new funds of revenue. Agreeably to this plan, +a new naval establishment was formed at a good deal of expense, and to +little effect, to aid in the collection of the customs. Regulation was +added to regulation; and the strictest and most unreserved orders were +given, for a prevention of all contraband trade here, and in every part +of America. A teasing custom-house, and a multiplicity of perplexing +regulations, ever have, and ever will appear, the masterpiece of finance +to people of narrow views; as a paper against smuggling, and the +importation of French finery, never fails of furnishing a very popular +column in a newspaper. + +The greatest part of these regulations were made for America; and they +fell so indiscriminately on all sorts of contraband, or supposed +contraband, that some of the most valuable branches of trade were driven +violently from our ports; which caused an universal consternation +throughout the colonies. Every part of the trade was infinitely +distressed by them. Men-of-war now for the first time, armed with +regular commissions of custom-house officers, invested the coasts, and +gave to the collection of revenue the air of hostile contribution. About +the same time that these regulations seemed to threaten the destruction +of the only trade from whence the plantations derived any specie, an act +was made, putting a stop to the future emission of paper currency, which +used to supply its place among them. Hand in hand with this went +another act, for obliging the colonies to provide quarters for soldiers. +Instantly followed another law, for levying throughout all America new +port duties, upon a vast variety of commodities of their consumption, +and some of which lay heavy upon objects necessary for their trade and +fishery. Immediately upon the heels of these, and amidst the uneasiness +and confusion produced by a crowd of new impositions and regulations, +some good, some evil, some doubtful, all crude and ill-considered, came +another act, for imposing an universal stamp-duty on the colonies; and +this was declared to be little more than an experiment, and a foundation +of future revenue. To render these proceedings the more irritating to +the colonies, the principal argument used in favor of their ability to +pay such duties was the liberality of the grants of their assemblies +during the late war. Never could any argument be more insulting and +mortifying to a people habituated to the granting of their own money. + +Taxes for the purpose of raising revenue had hitherto been sparingly +attempted in America. Without ever doubting the extent of its lawful +power, Parliament always doubted the propriety of such impositions. And +the Americans on their part never thought of contesting a right by which +they were so little affected. Their assemblies in the main answered all +the purposes necessary to the internal economy of a free people, and +provided for all the exigencies of government which arose amongst +themselves. In the midst of that happy enjoyment, they never thought of +critically settling the exact limits of a power, which was necessary to +their union, their safety, their equality, and even their liberty. Thus +the two very difficult points, superiority in the presiding state, and +freedom in the subordinate, were on the whole sufficiently, that is, +practically, reconciled; without agitating those vexatious questions, +which in truth rather belong to metaphysics than politics, and which can +never be moved without shaking the foundations of the best governments +that have ever been constituted by human wisdom. By this measure was let +loose that dangerous spirit of disquisition, not in the coolness of +philosophical inquiry, but inflamed with all the passions of a haughty, +resentful people, who thought themselves deeply injured, and that they +were contending for everything that was valuable in the world. + +In England, our ministers went on without the least attention to these +alarming dispositions; just as if they were doing the most common things +in the most usual way, and among a people not only passive, but pleased. +They took no one step to divert the dangerous spirit which began even +then to appear in the colonies, to compromise with it, to mollify it, or +to subdue it. No new arrangements were made in civil government; no new +powers or instructions were given to governors; no augmentation was +made, or new disposition, of forces. Never was so critical a measure +pursued with so little provision against its necessary consequences. As +if all common prudence had abandoned the ministers, and as if they meant +to plunge themselves and us headlong into that gulf which stood gaping +before them; by giving a year's notice of the project of their Stamp +Act, they allowed time for all the discontents of that country to fester +and come to a head, and for all the arrangements which factious men +could make towards an opposition to the law. At the same time they +carefully concealed from the eye of Parliament those remonstrances which +they had actually received; and which in the strongest manner indicated +the discontent of some of the colonies, and the consequences which might +be expected; they concealed them even in defiance of an order of +council, that they should be laid before Parliament. Thus, by concealing +the true state of the case, they rendered the wisdom of the nation as +improvident as their own temerity, either in preventing or guarding +against the mischief. It has indeed, from the beginning to this hour, +been the uniform policy of this set of men, in order at any hazard to +obtain a present credit, to propose whatever might be pleasing, as +attended with no difficulty; and afterwards to throw all the +disappointment of the wild expectations they had raised, upon those who +have the hard task of freeing the public from the consequences of their +pernicious projects. + +Whilst the commerce and tranquillity of the whole empire were shaken in +this manner, our affairs grew still more distracted by the internal +dissensions of our ministers. Treachery and ingratitude were charged +from one side; despotism and tyranny from the other; the vertigo of the +regency bill; the awkward reception of the silk bill in the House of +Commons, and the inconsiderate and abrupt rejection of it in the House +of Lords; the strange and violent tumults which arose in consequence, +and which were rendered more serious by being charged by the ministers +upon one another; the report of a gross and brutal treatment of the +----, by a minister at the same time odious to the people; all conspired +to leave the public, at the close of the session of 1765, in as +critical and perilous a situation, as ever the nation was, or could be, +in a time when she was not immediately threatened by her neighbors. + +It was at this time, and in these circumstances, that a new +administration was formed. Professing even industriously, in this public +matter, to avoid anecdotes; I say nothing of those famous +reconciliations and quarrels, which weakened the body that should have +been the natural support of this administration. I run no risk in +affirming, that, surrounded as they were with difficulties of every +species, nothing but the strongest and most uncorrupt sense of their +duty to the public could have prevailed upon some of the persons who +composed it to undertake the king's business at such a time. Their +preceding character, their measures while in power, and the subsequent +conduct of many of them, I think, leave no room to charge this assertion +to flattery. Having undertaken the commonwealth, what remained for them +to do? to piece their conduct upon the broken chain of former measures? +If they had been so inclined, the ruinous nature of those measures, +which began instantly to appear, would not have permitted it. Scarcely +had they entered into office, when letters arrived from all parts of +America, making loud complaints, backed by strong reasons, against +several of the principal regulations of the late ministry, as +threatening destruction to many valuable branches of commerce. These +were attended with representations from many merchants and capital +manufacturers at home, who had all their interests involved in the +support of lawful trade, and in the suppression of every sort of +contraband. Whilst these things were under consideration, that +conflagration blazed out at once in North America; an universal +disobedience, and open resistance to the Stamp Act; and, in consequence, +an universal stop to the course of justice, and to trade and navigation, +throughout that great important country; an interval during which the +trading interest of England lay under the most dreadful anxiety which it +ever felt. + +The repeal of that act was proposed. It was much too serious a measure, +and attended with too many difficulties upon every side, for the then +ministry to have undertaken it, as some paltry writers have asserted, +from envy and dislike to their predecessors in office. As little could +it be owing to personal cowardice, and dread of consequences to +themselves. Ministers, timorous from their attachment to place and +power, will fear more from the consequences of one court intrigue, than +from a thousand difficulties to the commerce and credit of their country +by disturbances at three thousand miles distance. From which of these +the ministers had most to apprehend at that time, is known, I presume, +universally. Nor did they take that resolution from a want of the +fullest sense of the inconveniences which must necessarily attend a +measure of concession from the sovereign to the subject. That it must +increase the insolence of the mutinous spirits in America, was but too +obvious. No great measure indeed, at a very difficult crisis, can be +pursued, which is not attended with some mischief; none but conceited +pretenders in public business will hold any other language: and none but +weak and unexperienced men will believe them, if they should. If we were +found in such a crisis, let those, whose bold designs, and whose +defective arrangements, brought us into it, answer for the consequences. +The business of the then ministry evidently was, to take such steps, not +as the wishes of our author, or as their own wishes dictated, but as the +bad situation in which their predecessors had left them, absolutely +required. + +The disobedience to this act was universal throughout America; nothing, +it was evident, but the sending a very strong military, backed by a very +strong naval force, would reduce the seditious to obedience. To send it +to one town, would not be sufficient; every province of America must be +traversed, and must be subdued. I do not entertain the least doubt but +this could be done. We might, I think, without much difficulty, have +destroyed our colonies. This destruction might be effected, probably in +a year, or in two at the utmost. If the question was upon a foreign +nation, where every successful stroke adds to your own power, and takes +from that of a rival, a just war with such a certain superiority would +be undoubtedly an advisable measure. But _four million_ of debt due to +our merchants, the total cessation of a trade annually worth _four +million_more, a large foreign traffic, much home manufacture, a very +capital immediate revenue arising from colony imports, indeed the +produce of every one of our revenues greatly depending on this trade, +all these were very weighty accumulated considerations, at least well to +be weighed, before that sword was drawn, which even by its victories +must produce all the evil effects of the greatest national defeat. How +public credit must have suffered, I need not say. If the condition of +the nation, at the close of our foreign war, was what this author +represents it, such a civil war would have been a bad couch, on which +to repose our wearied virtue. Far from being able to have entered into +new plans of economy, we must have launched into a new sea, I fear a +boundless sea, of expense. Such an addition of debt, with such a +diminution of revenue and trade, would have left us in no want of a +"State of the Nation" to aggravate the picture of our distresses. + +Our trade felt this to its vitals; and our then ministers were not +ashamed to say, that they sympathized with the feelings of our +merchants. The universal alarm of the whole trading body of England, +will never be laughed at by them as an ill-grounded or a pretended +panic. The universal desire of that body will always have great weight +with them in every consideration connected with commerce: neither ought +the opinion of that body to be slighted (notwithstanding the +contemptuous and indecent language of this author and his associates) in +any consideration whatsoever of revenue. Nothing amongst us is more +quickly or deeply affected by taxes of any kind than trade; and if an +American tax was a real relief to England, no part of the community +would be sooner or more materially relieved by it than our merchants. +But they well know that the trade of England must be more burdened by +one penny raised in America, than by three in England; and if that penny +be raised with the uneasiness, the discontent, and the confusion of +America, more than by ten. + +If the opinion and wish of the landed interest is a motive, and it is a +fair and just one, for taking away a real and large revenue, the desire +of the trading interest of England ought to be a just ground for taking +away a tax of little better than speculation, which was to be collected +by a war, which was to be kept up with the perpetual discontent of those +who were to be affected by it, and the value of whose produce even after +the _ordinary_ charges of collection, was very uncertain;[87] after the +_extraordinary_, the dearest purchased revenue that ever was made by any +nation. + +These were some of the motives drawn from principles of convenience for +that repeal. When the object came to be more narrowly inspected, every +motive concurred. These colonies were evidently founded in subservience +to the commerce of Great Britain. From this principle, the whole system +of our laws concerning them became a system of restriction. A double +monopoly was established on the part of the parent country; 1. A +monopoly of their whole import, which is to be altogether from Great +Britain; 2. A monopoly of all their export, which is to be nowhere but +to Great Britain, as far as it can serve any purpose here. On the same +idea it was contrived that they should send all their products to us +raw, and in their first state; and that they should take everything from +us in the last stage of manufacture. + +Were ever a people under such circumstances, that is, a people who were +to export raw, and to receive manufactured, and this, not a few +luxurious articles, but all articles, even to those of the grossest, +most vulgar, and necessary consumption, a people who were in the hands +of a general monopolist, were ever such a people suspected of a +possibility of becoming a just object of revenue? All the ends of their +foundation must be supposed utterly contradicted before they could +become such an object. Every trade law we have made must have been +eluded, and become useless, before they could be in such a condition. + +The partisans of the new system, who, on most occasions, take credit for +full as much knowledge as they possess, think proper on this occasion to +counterfeit an extraordinary degree of ignorance, and in consequence of +it to assert, "that the balance (between the colonies and Great Britain) +is unknown, and that no important conclusion can be drawn from premises +so very uncertain."[88] Now to what can this ignorance be owing? were +the navigation laws made, that this balance should be unknown? is it +from the course of exchange that it is unknown, which all the world +knows to be greatly and perpetually against the colonies? is it from the +doubtful nature of the trade we carry on with the colonies? are not +these schemists well apprised that the colonists, particularly those of +the northern provinces, import more from Great Britain, ten times more, +than they send in return to us? that a great part of their foreign +balance is and must be remitted to London? I shall be ready to admit +that the colonies ought to be taxed to the revenues of this country, +when I know that they are out of debt to its commerce. This author will +furnish some ground to his theories, and communicate a discovery to the +public, if he can show this by any medium. But he tells us that "their +seas are covered with ships, and their rivers floating with +commerce."[89] This is true. But it is with _our_ ships that these seas +are covered; and their rivers float with British commerce. The American +merchants are our factors; all in reality, most even in name. The +Americans trade, navigate, cultivate, with English capitals; to their +own advantage, to be sure; for without these capitals their ploughs +would be stopped, and their ships wind-bound. But he who furnishes the +capital must, on the whole, be the person principally benefited; the +person who works upon it profits on his part too; but he profits in a +subordinate way, as our colonies do; that is, as the servant of a wise +and indulgent master, and no otherwise. We have all, except the +_peculium_; without which even slaves will not labor. + +If the author's principles, which are the common notions, be right, that +the price of our manufactures is so greatly enhanced by our taxes; then +the Americans already pay in that way a share of our impositions. He is +not ashamed to assert, that "France and China may be said, on the same +principle, to bear a part of our charges, for they consume our +commodities."[90] Was ever such a method of reasoning heard of? Do not +the laws absolutely confine the colonies to buy from us, whether foreign +nations sell cheaper or not? On what other idea are all our +prohibitions, regulations, guards, penalties, and forfeitures, framed? +To secure to us, not a commercial preference, which stands in need of no +penalties to enforce it; it finds its own way; but to secure to us a +trade, which is a creature of law and institution. What has this to do +with the principles of a foreign trade, which is under no monopoly, and +in which we cannot raise the price of our goods, without hazarding the +demand for them? None but the authors of such measures could ever think +of making use of such arguments. + +Whoever goes about to reason on any part of the policy of this country +with regard to America, upon the mere abstract principles of government, +or even upon those of our own ancient constitution, will be often +misled. Those who resort for arguments to the most respectable +authorities, ancient or modern, or rest upon the clearest maxims, drawn +from the experience of other states and empires, will be liable to the +greatest errors imaginable. The object is wholly new in the world. It is +singular; it is grown up to this magnitude and importance within the +memory of man; nothing in history is parallel to it. All the reasonings +about it, that are likely to be at all solid, must be drawn from its +actual circumstances. In this new system a principle of commerce, of +artificial commerce, must predominate. This commerce must be secured by +a multitude of restraints very alien from the spirit of liberty; and a +powerful authority must reside in the principal state, in order to +enforce them. But the people who are to be the subjects of these +restraints are descendants of Englishmen; and of a high and free spirit. +To hold over them a government made up of nothing but restraints and +penalties, and taxes in the granting of which they can have no share, +will neither be wise nor long practicable. People must be governed in a +manner agreeable to their temper and disposition; and men of free +character and spirit must be ruled with, at least, some condescension to +this spirit and this character. The British, colonist must see something +which will distinguish him from the colonists of other nations. + +Those seasonings, which infer from the many restraints under which we +have already laid America, to our right to lay it under still more, and +indeed under all manner of restraints, are conclusive; conclusive as to +right; but the very reverse as to policy and practice. We ought rather +to infer from our having laid the colonies under many restraints, that +it is reasonable to compensate them by every indulgence that can by any +means be reconciled to our interest. We have a great empire to rule, +composed of a vast mass of heterogeneous governments, all more or less +free and popular in their forms, all to be kept in peace, and kept out +of conspiracy, with one another, all to be held in subordination to this +country; while the spirit of an extensive and intricate and trading +interest pervades the whole, always qualifying, and often controlling, +every general idea of constitution and government. It is a great and +difficult object; and I wish we may possess wisdom and temper enough to +manage it as we ought. Its importance is infinite. I believe the reader +will be struck, as I have been, with one singular fact. In the year +1704, but sixty-five years ago, the whole trade with our plantations was +but a few thousand pounds more in the export article, and a third less +in the import, than that which we now carry on with the single island of +Jamaica:-- + + Exports. Imports. + Total English plantations in 1704 L488,265 L814,491 + Jamaica, 1767 467,681 1,243,742 + + +From the same information I find that our dealing with most of the +European nations is but little increased: these nations have been pretty +much at a stand since that time, and we have rivals in their trade. This +colony intercourse is a new world of commerce in a manner created; it +stands upon principles of its own; principles hardly worth endangering +for any little consideration of extorted revenue. + +The reader sees, that I do not enter so fully into this matter as +obviously I might. I have already been led into greater lengths than I +intended. It is enough to say, that before the ministers of 1765 had +determined to propose the repeal of the Stamp Act in Parliament, they +had the whole of the American constitution and commerce very fully +before them. They considered maturely; they decided with wisdom: let me +add, with firmness. For they resolved, as a preliminary to that repeal, +to assert in the fullest and least equivocal terms the unlimited +legislative right of this country over its colonies; and, having done +this, to propose the repeal, on principles, not of constitutional right, +but on those of expediency, of equity, of lenity, and of the true +interests present and future of that great object for which alone the +colonies were founded, navigation and commerce. This plan I say, +required an uncommon degree of firmness, when we consider that some of +those persons who might be of the greatest use in promoting the repeal, +violently withstood the declaratory act; and they who agreed with +administration in the principles of that law, equally made, as well the +reasons on which the declaratory act itself stood, as those on which it +was opposed, grounds for an opposition to the repeal. + +If the then ministry resolved first to declare the right, it was not +from any opinion they entertained of its future use in regular +taxation. Their opinions were full and declared against the ordinary use +of such a power. But it was plain, that the general reasonings which +were employed against that power went directly to our whole legislative +right; and one part of it could not be yielded to such arguments, +without a virtual surrender of all the rest. Besides, if that very +specific power of levying money in the colonies were not retained as a +sacred trust in the hands of Great Britain (to be used, not in the first +instance for supply, but in the last exigence for control), it is +obvious, that the presiding authority of Great Britain, as the head, the +arbiter, and director of the whole empire, would vanish into an empty +name, without operation or energy. With the habitual exercise of such a +power in the ordinary course of supply, no trace of freedom could remain +to America.[91] If Great Britain were stripped of this right, every +principle of unity and subordination in the empire was gone forever. +Whether all this can be reconciled in legal speculation, is a matter of +no consequence. It is reconciled in policy: and politics ought to be +adjusted, not to human reasonings, but to human nature; of which the +reason is but a part, and by no means the greatest part. + +Founding the repeal on this basis, it was judged proper to lay before +Parliament the whole detail of the American affairs, as fully as it had +been laid before the ministry themselves. Ignorance of those affairs had +misled Parliament. Knowledge alone could bring it into the right road. +Every paper of office was laid upon the table of the two Houses; every +denomination of men, either of America, or connected with it by office, +by residence, by commerce, by interest, even by injury; men of civil and +military capacity, officers of the revenue, merchants, manufacturers of +every species, and from every town in England, attended at the bar. Such +evidence never was laid before Parliament. If an emulation arose among +the ministers and members of Parliament, as the author rightly +observes,[92] for the repeal of this act, as well as for the other +regulations, it was not on the confident assertions, the airy +speculations, or the vain promises of ministers, that it arose. It was +the sense of Parliament on the evidence before them. No one so much as +suspects that ministerial allurements or terrors had any share in it. + +Our author is very much displeased, that so much credit was given to the +testimony of merchants. He has a habit of railing at them: and he may, +if he pleases, indulge himself in it. It will not do great mischief to +that respectable set of men. The substance of their testimony was, that +their debts in America were very great: that the Americans declined to +pay them, or to renew their orders, whilst this act continued: that, +under these circumstances, they despaired of the recovery of their +debts, or the renewal of their trade in that country: that they +apprehended a general failure of mercantile credit. The manufacturers +deposed to the same general purpose, with this addition, that many of +them had discharged several of their artificers; and, if the law and the +resistance to it should continue, must dismiss them all. + +This testimony is treated with great contempt by our author. It must be, +I suppose, because it was contradicted by the plain nature of things. +Suppose then that the merchants had, to gratify this author, given a +contrary evidence; and had deposed, that while America remained in a +state of resistance, whilst four million of debt remained unpaid, whilst +the course of justice was suspended for want of stamped paper, so that +no debt could be recovered, whilst there was a total stop to trade, +because every ship was subject to seizure for want of stamped +clearances, and while the colonies were to be declared in rebellion, and +subdued by armed force, that in these circumstances they would still +continue to trade cheerfully and fearlessly as before: would not such +witnesses provoke universal indignation for their folly or their +wickedness, and be deservedly hooted from the bar:[93] would any human +faith have given credit to such assertions? The testimony of the +merchants was necessary for the detail, and to bring the matter home to +the feeling of the House; as to the general reasons, they spoke +abundantly for themselves. + +Upon these principles was the act repealed, and it produced all the good +effect which was expected from it: quiet was restored; trade generally +returned to its ancient channels; time and means were furnished for the +better strengthening of government there, as well as for recovering, by +judicious measures, the affections of the people, had that ministry +continued, or had a ministry succeeded with dispositions to improve that +opportunity. + +Such an administration did not succeed. Instead of profiting of that +season of tranquillity, in the very next year they chose to return to +measures of the very same nature with those which had been so solemnly +condemned; though upon a smaller scale. The effects have been +correspondent, America is again in disorder; not indeed in the same +degree as formerly, nor anything like it. Such good effects have +attended the repeal of the Stamp Act, that the colonies have actually +paid the taxes; and they have sought their redress (upon however +improper principles) not in their own violence, as formerly;[94] but in +the experienced benignity of Parliament. They are not easy indeed, nor +ever will be so, under this author's schemes of taxation; but we see no +longer the same general fury and confusion, which attended their +resistance to the Stamp Act. The author may rail at the repeal, and +those who proposed it, as he pleases. Those honest men suffer all his +obloquy with pleasure, in the midst of the quiet which they have been +the means of giving to their country; and would think his praises for +their perseverance in a pernicious scheme, a very bad compensation for +the disturbance of our peace, and the ruin of our commerce. Whether the +return to the system of 1764, for raising a revenue in America, the +discontents which have ensued in consequence of it, the general +suspension of the assemblies in consequence of these discontents, the +use of the military power, and the new and dangerous commissions which +now hang over them, will produce equally good effects, is greatly to be +doubted. Never, I fear, will this nation and the colonies fall back upon +their true centre of gravity, and natural point of repose, until the +ideas of 1766 are resumed, and steadily pursued. + +As to the regulations, a great subject of the author's accusation, they +are of two sorts; one of a mixed nature, of revenue and trade; the other +simply relative to trade. With regard to the former I shall observe, +that, in all deliberations concerning America, the ideas of that +administration were principally these; to take trade as the primary end, +and revenue but as a very subordinate consideration. Where trade was +likely to suffer, they did not hesitate for an instant to prefer it to +taxes, whose produce at best was contemptible, in comparison of the +object which they might endanger. The other of their principles was, to +suit the revenue to the object. Where the difficulty of collection, from +the nature of the country, and of the revenue establishment, is so very +notorious, it was their policy to hold out as few temptations to +smuggling as possible, by keeping the duties as nearly as they could on +a balance with the risk. On these principles they made many alterations +in the port-duties of 1764, both in the mode and in the quantity. The +author has not attempted to prove them erroneous. He complains enough to +show that he is in an ill-humor, not that his adversaries have done +amiss. + +As to the regulations which were merely relative to commerce, many were +then made; and they were all made upon this principle, that many of the +colonies, and those some of the most abounding in people, were so +situated as to have very few means of traffic with this country. It +became therefore our interest to let them into as much foreign trade as +could be given them without interfering with our own; and to secure by +every method the returns to the mother country. Without some such scheme +of enlargement, it was obvious that any benefit we could expect from +these colonies must be extremely limited. Accordingly many facilities +were given to their trade with the foreign plantations, and with the +southern parts of Europe. As to the confining the returns to this +country, administration saw the mischief and folly of a plan of +indiscriminate restraint. They applied their remedy to that part where +the disease existed, and to that only: on this idea they established +regulations, far more likely to check the dangerous, clandestine trade +with Hamburg and Holland, than this author's friends, or any of their +predecessors had ever done. + +The friends of the author have a method surely a little whimsical in all +this sort of discussions. They have made an innumerable multitude of +commercial regulations, at which the trade of England exclaimed with one +voice, and many of which have been altered on the unanimous opinion of +that trade. Still they go on, just as before, in a sort of droning +panegyric on themselves, talking of these regulations as prodigies of +wisdom; and, instead of appealing to those who are most affected and the +best judges, they turn round in a perpetual circle of their own +reasonings and pretences; they hand you over from one of their own +pamphlets to another: "See," say they, "this demonstrated in the +'Regulations of the Colonies.'" "See this satisfactorily proved in 'The +Considerations.'" By and by we shall have another: "See for this 'The +State of the Nation.'" I wish to take another method in vindicating the +opposite system. I refer to the petitions of merchants for these +regulations; to their thanks when they were obtained; and to the strong +and grateful sense they have ever since expressed of the benefits +received under that administration. + +All administrations have in their commercial regulations been generally +aided by the opinion of some merchants; too frequently by that of a few, +and those a sort of favorites: they have been directed by the opinion of +one or two merchants, who were to merit in flatteries, and to be paid in +contracts; who frequently advised, not for the general good of trade, +but for their private advantage. During the administration of which this +author complains, the meetings of merchants upon the business of trade +were numerous and public; sometimes at the house of the Marquis of +Rockingham; sometimes at Mr. Dowdeswell's; sometimes at Sir George +Savile's, a house always open to every deliberation favorable to the +liberty or the commerce of his country. Nor were these meetings confined +to the merchants of London. Merchants and manufacturers were invited +from all the considerable towns in England. They conferred with the +ministers and active members of Parliament. No private views, no local +interests prevailed. Never were points in trade settled upon a larger +scale of information. They who attended these meetings well know what +ministers they were who heard the most patiently, who comprehended the +most clearly, and who provided the most wisely. Let then this author and +his friends still continue in possession of the practice of exalting +their own abilities, in their pamphlets and in the newspapers. They +never will persuade the public, that the merchants of England were in a +general confederacy to sacrifice their own interests to those of North +America, and to destroy the vent of their own goods in favor of the +manufactures of France and Holland. + +Had the friends of this author taken these means of information, his +extreme terrors of contraband in the West India islands would have been +greatly quieted, and his objections to the opening of the ports would +have ceased. He would have learned, from the most satisfactory analysis +of the West India trade, that we have the advantage in every essential +article of it; and that almost every restriction on our communication +with our neighbors there, is a restriction unfavorable to ourselves. + +Such were the principles that guided, and the authority that sanctioned, +these regulations. No man ever said, that, in the multiplicity of +regulations made in the administration of their predecessors, none were +useful; some certainly were so; and I defy the author to show a +commercial regulation of that period, which he can prove, from any +authority except his own, to have a tendency beneficial to commerce, +that has been repealed. So far were that ministry from being guided by a +spirit of contradiction or of innovation. + +The author's attack on that administration, for their neglect of our +claims on foreign powers, is by much the most astonishing instance he +has given, or that, I believe, any man ever did give, of an intrepid +effrontery. It relates to the Manilla ransom; to the Canada bills; and +to the Russian treaty. Could one imagine, that these very things, which +he thus chooses to object to others, have been the principal subject of +charge against his favorite ministry? Instead of clearing them of these +charges, he appears not so much as to have heard of them; but throws +them directly upon the administration which succeeded to that of his +friends. + +It is not always very pleasant to be obliged to produce the detail of +this kind of transactions to the public view. I will content myself +therefore with giving a short state of facts, which, when the author +chooses to contradict, he shall see proved, more, perhaps, to his +conviction, than to his liking. The first fact then is, that the demand +for the Manilla ransom had been in the author's favorite administration +so neglected as to appear to have been little less than tacitly +abandoned. At home, no countenance was given to the claimants; and when +it was mentioned in Parliament, the then leader did not seem, at least, +_a very sanguine advocate in favor of the claim_. These things made it a +matter of no small difficulty to resume and press that negotiation with +Spain. However, so clear was our right, that the then ministers resolved +to revive it; and so little time was lost, that though that +administration was not completed until the 9th of July, 1765, on the +20th of the following August, General Conway transmitted a strong and +full remonstrance on that subject to the Earl of Rochfort. The argument, +on which the court of Madrid most relied, was the dereliction of that +claim by the preceding ministers. However, it was still pushed with so +much vigor, that the Spaniards, from a positive denial to pay, offered +to refer the demand to arbitration. That proposition was rejected; and +the demand being still pressed, there was all the reason in the world to +expect its being brought to a favorable issue; when it was thought +proper to change the administration. Whether under their circumstances, +and in the time they continued in power, more could be done, the reader +will judge; who will hear with astonishment a charge of remissness from +those very men, whose inactivity, to call it by no worse a name, laid +the chief difficulties in the way of the revived negotiation. + +As to the Canada bills, this author thinks proper to assert, "that the +proprietors found themselves under a necessity of compounding their +demands upon the French court, and accepting terms which they had often +rejected, and which the Earl of Halifax had declared he would sooner +forfeit his hand than sign."[95] When I know that the Earl of Halifax +says so, the Earl of Halifax shall have an answer; but I persuade myself +that his Lordship has given no authority for this ridiculous rant. In +the mean time, I shall only speak of it as a common concern of that +ministry. + +In the first place, then, I observe, that a convention, for the +liquidation of the Canada bills, was concluded under the administration +of 1766; when nothing was concluded under that of the favorites of this +author. + +2. This transaction was, in every step of it, carried on in concert with +the persons interested, and was terminated to their entire satisfaction. +They would have acquiesced perhaps in terms somewhat lower than those +which were obtained. The author is indeed too kind to them. He will, +however, let them speak for themselves, and show what their own opinion +was of the measures pursued in their favor.[96] In what manner the +execution of the convention has been since provided for, it is not my +present business to examine. + +3. The proprietors had absolutely despaired of being paid, at any time, +any proportion, of their demand, until the change of that ministry. The +merchants were checked and discountenanced; they had often been told, by +some in authority, of the cheap rate at which these Canada bills had +been procured; yet the author can talk of the composition of them as a +necessity induced by the change in administration. They found themselves +indeed, before that change, under a necessity of hinting somewhat of +bringing the matter into Parliament; but they were soon silenced, and +put in mind of the fate which the Newfoundland business had there met +with. Nothing struck them more than the strong contrast between the +spirit, and method of proceeding, of the two administrations. + +4. The Earl of Halifax never did, nor could, refuse to sign this +convention; because this convention, as it stands, never was before +him.[97] + +The author's last charge on that ministry, with regard to foreign +affairs, is the Russian treaty of commerce, which the author thinks fit +to assert, was concluded "on terms the Earl of Buckinghamshire had +refused to accept of, and which had been deemed by former ministers +disadvantageous to the nation, and by the merchants unsafe and +unprofitable."[98] + +Both the assertions in this paragraph are equally groundless. The treaty +then concluded by Sir George Macartney was not on the terms which the +Earl of Buckinghamshire had refused. The Earl of Buckinghamshire never +did refuse terms, because the business never came to the point of +refusal, or acceptance; all that he did was, to receive the Russian +project for a treaty of commerce, and to transmit it to England. This +was in November, 1764; and he left Petersburg the January following, +before he could even receive an answer from his own court. The +conclusion of the treaty fell to his successor. Whoever will be at the +trouble to compare it with the treaty of 1734, will, I believe, confess, +that, if the former ministers could have obtained such terms, they were +criminal in not accepting them. + +But the merchants "deemed them unsafe and unprofitable." What merchants? +As no treaty ever was more maturely considered, so the opinion of the +Russia merchants in London was all along taken; and all the instructions +sent over were in exact conformity to that opinion. Our minister there +made no step without having previously consulted our merchants resident +in Petersburg, who, before the signing of the treaty, gave the most full +and unanimous testimony in its favor. In their address to our minister +at that court, among other things they say, "It may afford some +additional satisfaction to your Excellency, to receive a public +acknowledgment of _the entire and unreserved approbation of every +article_ in this treaty, from us who are so immediately and so nearly +concerned in its consequences." This was signed by the consul-general, +and every British merchant in Petersburg. + +The approbation of those immediately concerned in the consequences is +nothing to this author. He and his friends have so much tenderness for +people's interests, and understand them so much better than they do +themselves, that, whilst these politicians are contending for the best +of possible terms, the claimants are obliged to go without any terms at +all. + +One of the first and justest complaints against the administration of +the author's friends, was the want of rigor in their foreign +negotiations. Their immediate successors endeavored to correct that +error, along with others; and there was scarcely a foreign court, in +which the new spirit that had arisen was not sensibly felt, +acknowledged, and sometimes complained of. On their coming into +administration, they found the demolition of Dunkirk entirely at a +stand: instead of demolition, they found construction; for the French +were then at work on the repair of the jettees. On the remonstrances of +General Conway, some parts of these jettees were immediately destroyed. +The Duke of Richmond personally surveyed the place, and obtained a +fuller knowledge of its true state and condition than any of our +ministers had done; and, in consequence, had larger offers from the Duke +of Choiseul than had ever been received. But, as these were short of our +just expectations under the treaty, he rejected them. Our then +ministers, knowing that, in their administration, the people's minds +were set at ease upon all the essential points of public and private +liberty, and that no project of theirs could endanger the concord of the +empire, were under no restraint from pursuing every just demand upon +foreign nations. + +The author, towards the end of this work, falls into reflections upon +the state of public morals in this country: he draws use from this +doctrine, by recommending his friend to the king and the public, as +another Duke of Sully; and he concludes the whole performance with a +very devout prayer. + +The prayers of politicians may sometimes be sincere; and as this prayer +is in substance, that the author, or his friends, may be soon brought +into power, I have great reason to believe it is very much from the +heart. It must be owned too that after he has drawn such a picture, such +a shocking picture, of the state of this country, he has great faith in +thinking the means he prays for sufficient to relieve us: after the +character he has given of its inhabitants of all ranks and classes, he +has great charity in caring much about them; and indeed no less hope, in +being of opinion, that such a detestable nation can ever become the care +of Providence. He has not even found five good men in our devoted city. + +He talks indeed of men of virtue and ability. But where are his _men_ of +virtue and ability to be found? Are they in the present administration? +Never were a set of people more blackened by this author. Are they among +the party of those (no small body) who adhere to the system of 1766? +These it is the great purpose of this book to calumniate. Are they the +persons who acted with his great friend, since the change in 1762, to +his removal in 1765? Scarcely any of these are now out of employment; +and we are in possession of his desideratum. Yet I think he hardly means +to select, even some of the highest of them, as examples fit for the +reformation of a corrupt world. + +He observes, that the virtue of the most exemplary prince that ever +swayed a sceptre "can never warm or illuminate the body of his people, +if foul mirrors are placed so near him as to refract and dissipate the +rays at their first emanation."[99] Without observing upon the +propriety of this metaphor, or asking how mirrors come to have lost +their old quality of reflecting, and to have acquired that of +refracting, and dissipating rays, and how far their foulness will +account for this change; the remark itself is common and true: no less +true, and equally surprising from him, is that which immediately +precedes it: "It is in vain to endeavor to check the progress of +irreligion and licentiousness, by punishing such crimes in _one +individual_, if others equally culpable are rewarded with the honors and +emoluments of the state."[100] I am not in the secret of the author's +manner of writing; but it appears to me, that he must intend these +reflections as a satire upon the administration of his happy years. Were +over the honors and emoluments of the state more lavishly squandered +upon persons scandalous in their lives than during that period? In these +scandalous lives, was there anything more scandalous than the mode of +punishing _one culpable individual_? In that individual, is anything +more culpable than his having been seduced by the example of some of +those very persons by whom he was thus persecuted? + +The author is so eager to attack others, that he provides but +indifferently for his own defence. I believe, without going beyond the +page I have now before me, he is very sensible, that I have sufficient +matter of further, and, if possible, of heavier charge against his +friends, upon his own principle. But it is because the advantage is too +great, that I decline making use of it. I wish the author had not +thought that all methods are lawful in party. Above all he ought to have +taken care not to wound his enemies through the sides of his country. +This he has done, by making that monstrous and overcharged picture of +the distresses of our situation. No wonder that he, who finds this +country in the same condition with that of France at the time of Henry +the Fourth, could also find a resemblance between his political friend +and the Duke of Sully. As to those personal resemblances, people will +often judge of them from their affections: they may imagine in these +clouds whatsoever figures they please; but what is the conformation of +that eye which can discover a resemblance of this country and these +times to those with which the author compares them? France, a country +just recovered out of twenty-five years of the most cruel and desolating +civil war that perhaps was ever known. The kingdom, under the veil of +momentary quiet, full of the most atrocious political, operating upon +the most furious fanatical factions. Some pretenders even to the crown; +and those who did not pretend to the whole, aimed at the partition of +the monarchy. There were almost as many competitors as provinces; and +all abetted by the greatest, the most ambitious, and most enterprising +power in Europe. No place safe from treason; no, not the bosoms on which +the most amiable prince that ever lived reposed his head; not his +mistresses; not even his queen. As to the finances, they had scarce an +existence, but as a matter of plunder to the managers, and of grants to +insatiable and ungrateful courtiers. + +How can our author have the heart to describe this as any sort of +parallel to our situation? To be sure, an April shower has some +resemblance to a waterspout; for they are both wet: and there is some +likeness between a summer evening's breeze and a hurricane; they are +both wind: but who can compare our disturbances, our situation, or our +finances, to those of France in the time of Henry? Great Britain is +indeed at this time wearied, but not broken, with the efforts of a +victorious foreign war; not sufficiently relieved by an inadequate +peace, but somewhat benefited by that peace, and infinitely by the +consequences of that war. The powers of Europe awed by our victories, +and lying in ruins upon every side of us. Burdened indeed we are with +debt, but abounding with resources. We have a trade, not perhaps equal +to our wishes, but more than ever we possessed. In effect, no pretender +to the crown; nor nutriment for such desperate and destructive factions +as have formerly shaken this kingdom. + +As to our finances, the author trifles with us. When Sully came to those +of France, in what order was any part of the financial system? or what +system was there at all? There is no man in office who must not be +sensible that ours is, without the act of any parading minister, the +most regular and orderly system perhaps that was ever known; the best +secured against all frauds in the collection, and all misapplication in +the expenditure of public money. + +I admit that, in this flourishing state of things, there are appearances +enough to excite uneasiness and apprehension. I admit there is a +cankerworm in the rose: + + Medio de fonte leporum + Surgit amari aliquid, quod in ipsis floribus angat. + +This is nothing else than a spirit of disconnection, of distrust, and of +treachery among public men. It is no accidental evil, nor has its effect +been trusted to the usual frailty of nature; the distemper has been +inoculated. The author is sensible of it, and we lament it together. +This distemper is alone sufficient to take away considerably from the +benefits of our constitution and situation, and perhaps to render their +continuance precarious. If these evil dispositions should spread much +farther, they must end in our destruction; for nothing can save a people +destitute of public and private faith. However, the author, for the +present state of things, has extended the charge by much too widely; as +men are but too apt to take the measure of all mankind from their own +particular acquaintance. Barren as this age may be in the growth of +honor and virtue, the country does not want, at this moment, as strong, +and those not a few examples, as were ever known, of an unshaken +adherence to principle, and attachment to connection, against every +allurement of interest. Those examples are not furnished by the great +alone; nor by those, whose activity in public affairs may render it +suspected that they make such a character one of the rounds in their +ladder of ambition; but by men more quiet, and more in the shade, on +whom an unmixed sense of honor alone could operate. Such examples indeed +are not furnished in great abundance amongst those who are the subjects +of the author's panegyric. He must look for them in another camp. He who +complains of the ill effects of a divided and heterogeneous +administration, is not justifiable in laboring to render odious in the +eyes of the public those men, whose principles, whose maxims of policy, +and whose personal character, can alone administer a remedy to this +capital evil of the age: neither is he consistent with himself, in +constantly extolling those whom he knows to be the authors of the very +mischief of which he complains, and which the whole nation feels so +deeply. + +The persons who are the objects of his dislike and complaint are many +of them of the first families, and weightiest properties, in the +kingdom; but infinitely more distinguished for their untainted honor, +public and private, and their zealous, but sober attachment to the +constitution of their country, than they can be by any birth, or any +station. If they are the friends of any one great man rather than +another, it is not that they make his aggrandizement the end of their +union; or because they know him to be the most active in caballing for +his connections the largest and speediest emoluments. It is because they +know him, by personal experience, to have wise and enlarged ideas of the +public good, and an invincible constancy in adhering to it; because they +are convinced, by the whole tenor of his actions, that he will never +negotiate away their honor or his own: and that, in or out of power, +change of situation will make no alteration in his conduct. This will +give to such a person in such a body, an authority and respect that no +minister ever enjoyed among his venal dependents, in the highest +plenitude of his power; such as servility never can give, such as +ambition never can receive or relish. + +This body will often be reproached by their adversaries, for want of +ability in their political transactions; they will be ridiculed for +missing many favorable conjunctures, and not profiting of several +brilliant opportunities of fortune; but they must be contented to endure +that reproach; for they cannot acquire the reputation of _that kind_ of +ability without losing all the other reputation they possess. + +They will be charged too with a dangerous spirit of exclusion and +proscription, for being unwilling to mix in schemes of administration, +which have no bond of union, or principle of confidence. That charge too +they must suffer with patience. If the reason of the thing had not +spoken loudly enough, the miserable examples of the several +administrations constructed upon the idea of systematic discord would be +enough to frighten them from such, monstrous and ruinous conjunctions. +It is however false, that the idea of an united administration carries +with it that of a proscription of any other party. It does indeed imply +the necessity of having the great strongholds of government in +well-united hands, in order to secure the predominance of right and +uniform principles; of having the capital offices of deliberation and +execution of those who can deliberate with mutual confidence, and who +will execute what is resolved with firmness and fidelity. If this system +cannot be rigorously adhered to in practice, (and what system can be +so?) it ought to be the constant aim of good men to approach as nearly +to it as possible. No system of that kind can be formed, which will not +leave room fully sufficient for healing coalitions: but no coalition, +which, under the specious name of independency, carries in its bosom the +unreconciled principles of the original discord of parties, ever was, or +will be, an healing coalition. Nor will the mind of our sovereign ever +know repose, his kingdom settlement, or his business order, efficiency, +or grace with his people, until things are established upon the basis of +some set of men, who are trusted by the public, and who can trust one +another. + +This comes rather nearer to the mark than the author's description of a +proper administration, under the name of _men of ability and virtue_, +which conveys no definite idea at all; nor does it apply specifically +to our grand national distemper. All parties pretend to these qualities. +The present ministry, no favorites of the author, will be ready enough +to declare themselves persons of virtue and ability; and if they choose +a vote for that purpose, perhaps it would not be quite impossible for +them to procure it. But, if the disease be this distrust and +disconnection, it is easy to know who are sound and who are tainted; who +are fit to restore us to health, who to continue, and to spread the +contagion. The present ministry being made up of draughts from all +parties in the kingdom, if they should profess any adherence to the +connections they have left, they must convict themselves of the blackest +treachery. They therefore choose rather to renounce the principle +itself, and to brand it with the name of pride and faction. This test +with certainty discriminates the opinions of men. The other is a +description vague and unsatisfactory. + +As to the unfortunate gentlemen who may at any time compose that system, +which, under the plausible title of an administration, subsists but for +the establishment of weakness and confusion; they fall into different +classes, with different merits. I think the situation of some people in +that state may deserve a certain degree of compassion; at the same time +that they furnish an example, which, it is to be hoped, by being a +severe one, will have its effect, at least, on the growing generation; +if an original seduction, on plausible but hollow pretences, into loss +of honor, friendship, consistency, security, and repose, can furnish it. +It is possible to draw, even from the very prosperity of ambition, +examples of terror, and motives to compassion. + +I believe the instances are exceedingly rare of men immediately passing +over a clear, marked line of virtue into declared vice and corruption. +There are a sort of middle tints and shades between the two extremes; +there is something uncertain on the confines of the two empires which +they first pass through, and which renders the change easy and +imperceptible. There are even a sort of splendid impositions so well +contrived, that, at the very time the path of rectitude is quitted +forever, men seem to be advancing into some higher and nobler road of +public conduct. Not that such impositions are strong enough in +themselves; but a powerful interest, often concealed from those whom it +affects, works at the bottom, and secures the operation. Men are thus +debauched away from those legitimate connections, which they had formed +on a judgment, early perhaps, but sufficiently mature, and wholly +unbiassed. They do not quit them upon any ground of complaint, for +grounds of just complaint may exist, but upon the flattering and most +dangerous of all principles, that of mending what is well. Gradually +they are habituated to other company; and a change in their habitudes +soon makes a way for a change in their opinions. Certain persons are no +longer so very frightful, when they come to be known and to be +serviceable. As to their old friends, the transition is easy; from +friendship to civility; from civility to enmity: few are the steps from +dereliction to persecution. + +People not very well grounded in the principles of public morality find +a set of maxims in office ready made for them, which they assume as +naturally and inevitably, as any of the insignia or instruments of the +situation. A certain tone of the solid and practical is immediately +acquired. Every former profession of public spirit is to be considered +as a debauch of youth, or, at best, as a visionary scheme of +unattainable perfection. The very idea of consistency is exploded. The +convenience of the business of the day is to furnish the principle for +doing it. Then the whole ministerial cant is quickly got by heart. The +prevalence of faction is to be lamented. All opposition is to be +regarded as the effect of envy and disappointed ambition. All +administrations are declared to be alike. The same necessity justifies +all their measures. It is no longer a matter of discussion, who or what +administration is; but that administration is to be supported, is a +general maxim. Flattering themselves that their power is become +necessary to the support of all order and government; everything which +tends to the support of that power is sanctified, and becomes a part of +the public interest. + +Growing every day more formed to affairs, and better knit in their +limbs, when the occasion (now the only rule) requires it, they become +capable of sacrificing those very persons to whom they had before +sacrificed their original friends. It is now only in the ordinary course +of business to alter an opinion, or to betray a connection. Frequently +relinquishing one set of men and adopting another, they grow into a +total indifference to human feeling, as they had before to moral +obligation; until at length, no one original impression remains upon +their minds: every principle is obliterated; every sentiment effaced. + +In the mean time, that power, which all these changes aimed at securing, +remains still as tottering and as uncertain as ever. They are delivered +up into the hands of those who feel neither respect for their persons, +nor gratitude for their favors; who are put about them in appearance to +serve, in reality to govern them; and, when the signal is given, to +abandon and destroy them in order to set up some new dupe of ambition, +who in his turn is to be abandoned and destroyed. Thus living in a state +of continual uneasiness and ferment, softened only by the miserable +consolation of giving now and then preferments to those for whom they +have no value; they are unhappy in their situation, yet find it +impossible to resign. Until, at length, soured in temper, and +disappointed by the very attainment of their ends, in some angry, in +some haughty, or some negligent moment, they incur the displeasure of +those upon whom they have rendered their very being dependent. Then +_perierunt tempora longi servitii;_ they are cast off with scorn; they +are turned out, emptied of all natural character, of all intrinsic +worth, of all essential dignity, and deprived of every consolation of +friendship. Having rendered all retreat to old principles ridiculous, +and to old regards impracticable, not being able to counterfeit +pleasure, or to discharge discontent, nothing being sincere, or right, +or balanced in their minds, it is more than a chance, that, in the +delirium of the last stage of their distempered power, they make an +insane political testament, by which they throw all their remaining +weight and consequence into the scale of their declared enemies, and the +avowed authors of their destruction. Thus they finish their course. Had +it been possible that the whole, or even a great part of these effects +on their minds, I say nothing of the effect upon their fortunes, could +have appeared to them in their first departure from the right line, it +is certain they would have rejected every temptation with horror. The +principle of these remarks, like every good principle in morality, is +trite; but its frequent application is not the less necessary. + +As to others, who are plain practical men, they have been guiltless at +all times of all public pretence. Neither the author nor any one else +has reason to be angry with them. They belonged to his friend for their +interest; for their interest they quitted him; and when it is their +interest, he may depend upon it, they will return to their former +connection. Such people subsist at all times, and, though the nuisance +of all, are at no time a worthy subject of discussion. It is false +virtue and plausible error that do the mischief. + +If men come to government with right dispositions, they have not that +unfavorable subject which this author represents to work upon. Our +circumstances are indeed critical; but then they are the critical +circumstances of a strong and mighty nation. If corruption and meanness +are greatly spread, they are not spread universally. Many public men are +hitherto examples of public spirit and integrity. Whole parties, as far +as large bodies can be uniform, have preserved character. However they +may be deceived in some particulars, I know of no set of men amongst us, +which does not contain persons on whom the nation, in a difficult +exigence, may well value itself. Private life, which is the nursery of +the commonwealth, is yet in general pure, and on the whole disposed to +virtue; and the people at large want neither generosity nor spirit. No +small part of that very luxury, which is so much the subject of the +author's declamation, but which, in most parts of life, by being well +balanced and diffused, is only decency and convenience, has perhaps as +many, or more good than evil consequences attending it. It certainly +excites industry, nourishes emulation, and inspires some sense of +personal value into all ranks of people. What we want is to establish +more fully an opinion of uniformity, and consistency of character, in +the leading men of the state; such as will restore some confidence to +profession and appearance, such as will fix subordination upon esteem. +Without this, all schemes are begun at the wrong end. All who join in +them are liable to their consequences. All men who, under whatever +pretext, take a part in the formation or the support of systems +constructed in such a manner as must, in their nature, disable them from +the execution of their duty, have made themselves guilty of all the +present distraction, and of the future ruin, which they may bring upon +their country. + +It is a serious affair, this studied disunion in government. In cases +where union is most consulted in the constitution of a ministry, and +where persons are best disposed to promote it, differences, from the +various ideas of men, will arise; and from their passions will often +ferment into violent heats, so as greatly to disorder all public +business. What must be the consequence, when the very distemper is made +the basis of the constitution; and the original weakness of human nature +is still further enfeebled by art and contrivance? It must subvert +government from the very foundation. It turns our public councils into +the most mischievous cabals; where the consideration is, not how the +nation's business shall be carried on, but how those who ought to carry +it on shall circumvent each other. In such a state of things, no order, +uniformity, dignity, or effect, can appear in our proceedings, either at +home or abroad. Nor will it make much difference, whether some of the +constituent parts of such an administration are men of virtue or +ability, or not; supposing it possible that such men, with their eyes +open, should choose to make a part in such a body. + +The effects of all human contrivances are in the hand of Providence. I +do not like to answer, as our author so readily does, for the event of +any speculation. But surely the nature of our disorders, if anything, +must indicate the proper remedy. Men who act steadily on the principles +I have stated may in all events be very serviceable to their country; in +one case, by furnishing (if their sovereign should be so advised) an +administration formed upon ideas very different from those which have +for some time been unfortunately fashionable. But, if this should not be +the case, they may be still serviceable; for the example of a large body +of men, steadily sacrificing ambition to principle, can never be without +use. It will certainly be prolific, and draw others to an imitation. +_Vera gloria radices agit, atque etiam propagatur_. + +I do not think myself of consequence enough to imitate my author, in +troubling the world with the prayers or wishes I may form for the +public: full as little am I disposed to imitate his professions; those +professions are long since worn out in the political service. If the +work will not speak for the author, his own declarations deserve but +little credit. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[38] History of the Minority. History of the Repeal of the Stamp Act. +Considerations on Trade and Finance. Political Register, &c., &c. + +[39] Pages 6-10. + +[40] Pages 9, 10. + +[41] Page 9. + +[42] Page 9. + +[43] Page 6. + +[44] Page 9. + +[45] + Total imports from the West Indies in 1764 L2,909,411 + Exports to ditto in ditto 896,511 + ---------- + Excess of imports L2,012,900 + +In this, which is the common way of stating the balance, it will appear +upwards of two millions against us, which is ridiculous. + +[46] Page 6. + +[47] + 1754. L _s. d._ + Total export of British goods value, 8,317,506 15 3 + Ditto of foreign goods in time 2,910,836 14 9 + Ditto of ditto out of time 559,485 2 10 + ------------------ + Total exports of all kinds 11,787,828 12 10 + Total imports 8,093,479 15 0 + ------------------ + Balance in favor of England L3,094,355 17 10 + ------------------ + + 1761. L _s. d._ + Total export of British goods 10,649,581 12 6 + Ditto of foreign goods in time 3,553,692 7 1 + Ditto of ditto out of time 355,015 0 2 + ------------------ + Total exports of all kinds 14,558,288 19 9 + Total imports 9,294,915 1 6 + ------------------ + Balance in favor of England L5,263,373 18 3 + ------------------ + +Here is the state of our trade in 1761, compared with a very good year +of profound peace: both are taken from the authentic entries at the +custom-house. How the author can contrive to make this increase of the +export of English produce agree with his account of the dreadful want of +hands in England, page 9, unless he supposes manufactures to be made +without hands, I really do not see. It is painful to be so frequently +obliged to set this author right in matters of fact. This state will +fully refute all that he has said or insinuated upon the difficulties +and decay of our trade, pages 6, 7, and 9. + +[48] Page 7. See also page 13. + +[49] Pages 12, 13. + +[50] Page 17. + +[51] Page 6. + +[52] "Our merchants suffered by the detention of the galleons, as their +correspondents in Spain were disabled from paying them for their goods +sent to America."--State of the Nation, p. 7. + +[53] Pages 12, 13. + +[54] Page 6. + +[55] Something however has transpired in the quarrels among those +concerned in that transaction. It seems the _good Genius_ of Britain, so +much vaunted by our author, did his duty nobly. Whilst we were gaining +such advantages, the court of France was astonished at our concessions. +"J'ai apporte a Versailles, il est vrai, les Ratifications du Roi +d'Angleterre, _a vostre grand etonnement, et a celui de bien d'autres_. +Je dois cela au bontes du Roi d'Angleterre, a celles de Milord Bute, a +Mons. le Comte de Viry, a Mons. le Duc de Nivernois, et en fin a mon +scavoir faire."--Lettres, &c., du Chev. D'Eon, p. 51. + +[56] "The navy bills are not due till six months after they have been +issued; six months also of the seamen's wages by act of Parliament must +be, and in consequence of the rules prescribed by that act, twelve +months' wages generally, and often much more are retained; and there has +been besides at all times a large arrear of pay, which, though kept in +the account, could never be claimed, the persons to whom it was due +having left neither assignees nor representatives. The precise amount of +such sums cannot be ascertained; but they can hardly be reckoned less +than thirteen or fourteen hundred thousand pounds. On 31st Dec, 1754, +when the navy debt was reduced nearly as low as it could be, it still +amounted to 1,296,567_l._ 18_s._ 11-3/4_d._ consisting chiefly of +articles which could not then be discharged; such articles will be +larger now, in proportion to the increase of the establishment; and an +allowance must always be made for them in judging of the state of the +navy debt, though they are not distinguishable in the account. In +providing for that which is payable, the principal object of the +legislature is always to discharge the bills, for they are the greatest +article; they bear an interest of 4 per cent; and, when the quantity of +them is large, they are a heavy incumbrance upon all money transactions" + +[57] + Navy L1,450,900 + Army 1,268,500 + Ordnance 174,600 + The four American governments 19,200 + General surveys in America 1,600 + Foundling Hospital 38,000 + To the African committee 13,000 + For the civil establishment on the coast of Africa 5,500 + Militia 100,000 + Deficiency of land and malt 300,000 + Deficiency of funds 202,400 + Extraordinaries of the army and navy 35,000 + ---------- + Total L3,609,700 + +[58] Upon the money borrowed in 1760, the premium of one per cent was +for twenty-one years, not for twenty; this annuity has been paid eight +years instead of seven; the sum paid is therefore 640,000_l._ instead of +560,000_l._; the remaining term is worth, ten years and a quarter +instead of eleven years;[59] its value is 820,000_l._ instead of +880,000_l._; and the whole value of that premium is 1,460,000_l._ +instead of 1,440,000_l._ The like errors are observable in his +computation on the additional capital of three per cent on the loan of +that year. In like manner, on the loan of 1762, the author computes on +five years' payment instead of six; and says in express terms, that take +5 from 19, and there remain 13. These are not errors of the pen or the +press; the several computations pursued in this part of the work with +great diligence and earnestness prove them errors upon much +deliberation. Thus the premiums in 1759 are cast up 90,000_l._ too +little, an error in the first rule of arithmetic. "The annuities +borrowed in 1756 and 1758 are," says he, "to continue till redeemed by +Parliament." He does not take notice that the first are irredeemable +till February, 1771, the other till July, 1782. In this the amount of +the premiums is computed on the time which they have run. Weakly and +ignorantly; for he might have added to this, and strengthened his +argument, such as it is, by charging also the value of the additional +one per cent from the day on which he wrote, to at least that day on +which these annuities become redeemable. To make ample amends, however, +he has added to the premiums of 15 per cent in 1759, and three per cent +in 1760, the annuity paid for them since their commencement; the fallacy +of which is manifest; for the premiums in these cases can he neither +more nor less than the additional capital for which the public stands +engaged, and is just the same whether five or five hundred years' +annuity has been paid for it. In private life, no man persuades himself +that he has borrowed 200_l._ because he happens to have paid twenty +years' interest on a loan of 100_l._ + +[59] See Smart and Demoivre. + +[60] Pages 30-32. + +[61] In a course of years a few manufacturers have been tempted abroad, +not by cheap living, but by immense premiums, to set up as masters, and +to introduce the manufacture. This must happen in every country eminent +for the skill of its artificers, and has nothing to do with taxes and +the price of provisions. + +[62] Although the public brewery has considerably increased in this +latter period, the produce of the malt-tax has been something less than +in the former; this cannot be attributed to the new malt-tax. Had this +been the cause of the lessened consumption, the public brewery, so much +more burdened, must have felt it more. The cause of this diminution of +the malt-tax I take to have been principally owing to the greater +dearness of corn in the second period than in the first, which, in all +its consequences, affected the people in the country much more than +those in the towns. But the revenue from consumption was not, on the +whole, impaired; as we have seen in the foregoing page. + +[63] + Total Imports, value, Exports, ditto. + 1752 L7,889,369 L11,694,912 + 1753 8,625,029 12,243,604 + 1754 8,093,472 11,787,828 + --------- ---------- + Total L24,607,870 35,726,344 + 24,607,870 + ---------- + Exports exceed imports 11,118,474 + ---------- + Medium balance L3,706,158 + ---------- + + Total Imports, value, Exports, ditto. + 1764 L10,818,946 L16,104,532 + 1765 10,889,742 14,550,507 + 1766 11,475,825 14,024,964 + ----------- ----------- + Total L32,685,513 44,740,003 + ----------- 32,683,613 + ----------- + Exports exceed 12,054,490 + ----------- + Medium balance for three last years L4,018,163 + + +[64] It is dearer in some places, and rather cheaper in others; but it +must soon all come to a level. + +[65] A tax rated by the intendant in each generality, on the presumed +fortune of every person below the degree of a gentleman. + +[66] Before the war it was sold to, or rather forced on, the consumer at +11 sous, or about 5_d._ the pound. What it is at present, I am not +informed. Even this will appear no trivial imposition. In London, salt +may be had at a penny farthing per pound from the last retailer. + +[67] Page 31. + +[68] Page 33. + +[69] Page 33. + +[70] Page 33. + +[71] The figures in the "Considerations" are wrongly cast up; it should +be 3,608,700_l._ + +[72] "Considerations," p. 43. "State of the Nation," p. 33. + +[73] Ibid. + +[74] Page 34. + +[75] The author of the "State of the Nation," p. 34, informs us, that +the sum of 75,000_l._ allowed by him for the extras of the army and +ordnance, is far less than was allowed for the same service in the years +1767 and 1768. It is so undoubtedly, and by at least 200,000_l._ He sees +that he cannot abide by the plan of the "Considerations" in this point, +nor is he willing wholly to give it up. Such an enormous difference as +that between 35,000_l._ and 300,000_l._ puts him to a stand. Should he +adopt the latter plan of increased expense, he must then confess that he +had, on a former occasion, egregiously trifled with the public; at the +same time all his future promises of reduction must fall to the ground. +If he stuck to the 35,000_l._ he was sure that every one must expect +from him some account how this monstrous charge came to continue ever +since the war, when it was clearly unnecessary; how all those +successions of ministers (his own included) came to pay it, and why his +great friend in Parliament, and his partisans without doors, came not to +pursue to ruin, at least to utter shame, the authors of so groundless +and scandalous a profusion. In this strait he took a middle way; and, to +come nearer the real state of the service, he outbid the +"Considerations," at one stroke, 40,000_l._; at the same time he hints +to you, that you may _expect_ some benefit also from the original plan. +But the author of the "Considerations" will not suffer him to escape it. +He has pinned him down to his 35,000_l._; for that is the sum he has +chosen, not as what he thinks will probably be required, but as making +the most ample allowance for every possible contingency. See that +author, p. 42 and 43. + +[76] He has done great injustice to the establishment of 1768; but I +have not here time for this discussion; nor is it necessary to this +argument. + +[77] Page 34. + +[78] In making up this account, he falls into a surprising error of +arithmetic. "The deficiency of the land-tax in the year 1754 and +1755,[80] when it was at 2_s._, amounted to no more, on a medium, than +49,372_l._; to which, if we add _half the sum_, it will give us +79,058_l._ as the peace deficiency at 3_s._" + + Total L49,372 + Add the half 24,686 + ------- + L74,058 + +Which he makes 79,058_l._ This is indeed in disfavor of his argument; +but we shall see that he has ways, by other errors, of reimbursing +himself. + +[79] Page 34. + +[80] Page 33. + +[81] Page 43. + +[82] Page 35. + +[83] Page 37. + +[84] Pages 37, 38. + +[85] Pages 39, 40. + +[86] Page 39. + +[87] It is observable, that the partisans of American taxation, when +they have a mind to represent this tax as wonderfully beneficial to +England, state it as worth 100,000_l._ a year; when they are to +represent it as very light on the Americans, it dwindles to 60,000_l._ +Indeed it is very difficult to compute what its produce might have been. + +[88] "Considerations," p. 74. + +[89] "Considerations," p. 79. + +[90] Ibid., p. 74. + +[91] I do not here enter into the unsatisfactory disquisition concerning +representation real or presumed. I only say, that a great people who +have their property, without any reserve, in all cases, disposed of by +another people, at an immense distance from them, will not think +themselves in the enjoyment of freedom. It will be hard to show to those +who are in such a state, which of the usual parts of the definition or +description of a free people are applicable to them; and it is neither +pleasant nor wise to attempt to prove that they have no right to be +comprehended in such a description. + +[92] Page 21. + +[93] Here the author has a note altogether in his usual strain of +reasoning; he finds out that somebody, in the course of this +multifarious evidence, had said, "that a very considerable part of the +orders of 1765 transmitted from America had been afterwards suspended; +but that in case the Stamp Act was repealed, those orders were to be +executed in the present year, 1766"; and that, on the repeal of the +Stamp Act, "the exports to the colonies would be at least double the +value of the exports of the past year." He then triumphs exceedingly on +their having fallen short of it on the state of the custom-house +entries. I do not well know what conclusion he draws applicable to his +purpose from these facts. He does not deny that all the orders which +came from America subsequent to the disturbances of the Stamp Act were +on the condition of that act being repealed; and he does not assert +that, notwithstanding that act should be enforced by a strong hand, +still the orders would be executed. Neither does he quite venture to say +that this decline of the trade in 1766 was owing to the repeal. What +does he therefore infer from it, favorable to the enforcement of that +law? It only comes to this, and no more; those merchants, who thought +our trade would be doubled in the subsequent year, were mistaken in +their speculations. So that the Stamp Act was not to be repealed unless +this speculation of theirs was a probable event. But it was not repealed +in order to double our trade in that year, as everybody knows (whatever +some merchants might have said), but lest in that year we should have no +trade at all. The fact is, that during the greatest part of the year +1755, that is, until about the month of October, when the accounts of +the disturbances came thick upon us, the American trade went on as +usual. Before this time, the Stamp Act could not affect it. Afterwards, +the merchants fell into a great consternation; a general stagnation in +trade ensued. But as soon as it was known that the ministry favored the +repeal of the Stamp Act, several of the bolder merchants ventured to +execute their orders; others more timid hung back; in this manner the +trade continued in a state of dreadful fluctuation between the fears of +those who had ventured, for the event of their boldness, and the anxiety +of those whose trade was suspended, until the royal assent was finally +given to the bill of repeal. That the trade of 1766 was not equal to +that of 1765, could not be owing to the repeal; it arose from quite +different causes, of which the author seems not to be aware: 1st, Our +conquests during the war had laid open the trade of the French and +Spanish West Indies to our colonies much more largely than they had ever +enjoyed it; this continued for some time after the peace; but at length +it was extremely contracted, and in some places reduced to nothing. Such +in particular was the state of Jamaica. On the taking the Havannah all +the stores of that island were emptied into that place, which produced +unusual orders for goods, for supplying their own consumption, as well +as for further speculations of trade. These ceasing, the trade stood on +its own bottom. This is one cause of the diminished export to Jamaica, +and not the childish idea of the author, of an impossible contraband +from the opening of the ports.--2nd, The war had brought a great influx +of cash into America, for the pay and provision of the troops; and this +an unnatural increase of trade, which, as its cause failed, must in some +degree return to its ancient and natural bounds.--3rd, When the +merchants met from all parts, and compared their accounts, they were +alarmed at the immensity of the debt due to them from America. They +found that the Americans had over-traded their abilities. And, as they +found too that several of them were capable of making the state of +political events an excuse for their failure in commercial punctuality, +many of our merchants in some degree contracted their trade from that +moment. However, it is idle, in such an immense mass of trade, so liable +to fluctuation, to infer anything from such a deficiency as one or even +two hundred thousand pounds. In 1767, when the disturbances subsided, +this deficiency was made up again. + +[94] The disturbances have been in Boston only; and were not in +consequence of the late duties. + +[95] Page 24. + +[96] "They are happy in having found, in your zeal for the dignity of +this nation, the means of liquidating their claims, and of concluding +with the court of France a convention for the final satisfaction of +their demands; and have given us commission, in their names, and on +their behalf, most earnestly to entreat your acceptance of their +grateful acknowledgments. Whether they consider themselves as Britons, +or as men more particularly profiting by your generous and spirited +interposition, they see great reasons to be thankful, for having been +supported by a minister, in whose public affections, in whose wisdom and +activity, both the national honor, and the interests of individuals, +have been at once so well supported and secured."--Thanks of the Canada +merchants to General Conway, London, April 28, 1766. + +[97] See the Convention itself, printed by Owen and Harrison, +Warwick-lane, 1766; particularly the articles two and thirteen. + +[98] Page 23. + +[99] Page 46. + +[100] Page 46. + + + + +APPENDIX. + + +So much misplaced industry has been used by the author of "The State of +the Nation," as well as by other writers, to infuse discontent into the +people, on account of the late war, and of the effects of our national +debt; that nothing ought to be omitted which may tend to disabuse the +public upon these subjects. When I had gone through the foregoing +sheets, I recollected, that, in pages 58, 59, 60, I only gave the +comparative states of the duties collected by the excise at large; +together with the quantities of strong beer brewed in the two periods +which are there compared. It might be still thought, that some other +articles of popular consumption, of general convenience, and connected +with our manufactures, might possibly have declined. I therefore now +think it right to lay before the reader the state of the produce of +three capital duties on such articles; duties which have frequently been +made the subject of popular complaint. The duty on candles; that on +soap, paper, &c.; and that on hides. + + Average of net produce of duty on soap, + &c., for eight years ending 1767 L264,902 + Average of ditto for eight years ending 1754 228,114 + -------- + Average increase L36,788 + + Average of net produce of duty on candles + for eight years ending 1767 L155,789 + Average of ditto for eight years ending 1754 136,716 + -------- + Average increase L19,073 + + Average net produce of duty on hides, + eight years, ending 1767 L189,216 + Ditto eight years, ending 1754 168,200 + -------- + Average increase L21,016 + +This increase has not arisen from any additional duties. None have been +imposed on these articles during the war. Notwithstanding the burdens of +the war, and the late dearness of provisions, the consumption of all +these articles has increased, and the revenue along with it. + +There is another point in "The State of the Nation," to which, I fear, I +have not been so full in my answer as I ought to have been, and as I am +well warranted to be. The author has endeavored to throw a suspicion, or +something more, on that salutary, and indeed necessary measure of +opening the ports in Jamaica. "Orders were given," says he, "in +_August_, 1765, for the free admission of Spanish vessels into all the +colonies."[101] He then observes, that the exports to Jamaica fell +40,904_l._ short of those of 1764; and that the exports of the +succeeding year, 1766, fell short of those of 1765, about eighty pounds; +from whence he wisely infers, that this decline of exports being _since_ +the relaxation of the laws of trade, there is a just ground of +suspicion, that the colonies have been supplied with foreign commodities +instead of British. + +Here, as usual with him, the author builds on a fact which is +absolutely false; and which, being so, renders his whole hypothesis +absurd and impossible. He asserts, that the order for admitting Spanish +vessels was given in _August_, 1765. That order was not _signed at the +treasury board until the 15th day of the November following_; and +therefore so far from affecting the exports of the year 1765, that, +supposing all possible diligence in the commissioners of the customs in +expediting that order, and every advantage of vessels ready to sail, and +the most favorable wind, it would hardly even arrive in Jamaica, within +the limits of that year. + +This order could therefore by no possibility be a cause of the decrease +of exports in 1765. If it had any mischievous operation, it could not be +before 1766. In that year, according to our author, the exports fell +short of the preceding, just _eighty_ pounds. He is welcome to that +diminution; and to all the consequences he can draw from it. + +But, as an auxiliary to account for this dreadful loss, he brings in the +Free-port Act, which he observes (for his convenience) to have been made +in spring, 1766; but (for his convenience likewise) he forgets, that, by +the express provision of the act, the regulation was not to be in force +in Jamaica until the November following. Miraculous must be the activity +of that contraband whose operation in America could, before the end of +that year, have reacted upon England, and checked the exportation from +hence! Unless he chooses to suppose, that the merchants at whose +solicitation this act had been obtained, were so frightened at the +accomplishment of their own most earnest and anxious desire, that, +before any good or evil effect from it could happen, they immediately +put a stop to all further exportation. + +It is obvious that we must look for the true effect of that act at the +time of its first possible operation, that is, in the year 1767. On this +idea how stands the account? + + 1764, Exports to Jamaica L 456,528 + 1765 415,624 + 1766 415,544 + 1767 (first year of the Free-port Act) 467,681 + +This author, for the sake of a present momentary credit, will hazard any +future and permanent disgrace. At the time he wrote, the account of 1767 +could not be made up. This was the very first year of the trial of the +Free-port Act; and we find that the sale of British commodities is so +far from being lessened by that act, that the export of 1767 amounts to +52,000_l._ more than that of either of the two preceding years, and is +11,000_l._ above that of his standard year 1764. If I could prevail on +myself to argue in favor of a great commercial scheme from the +appearance of things in a single year, I should from this increase of +export infer the beneficial effects of that measure. In truth, it is not +wanting. Nothing but the thickest ignorance of the Jamaica trade could +have made any one entertain a fancy, that the least ill effect on our +commerce could follow from this opening of the ports. But, if the author +argues the effect of regulations in the American trade from the export +of the year in which they are made, or even of the following; why did he +not apply this rule to his own? He had the same paper before him which I +have now before me. He must have seen that in his standard year (the +year 1764), the principal year of his new regulations, the export fell +no less than 128,450_l._ short of that in 1763! Did the export trade +revive by these regulations in 1765, during which year they continued in +their full force? It fell about 40,000_l._ still lower. Here is a fall +of 168,000_l._; to account for which, would have become the author much +better than piddling for an 80_l._ fall in the year 1766 (the only year +in which _the order_ he objects to could operate), or in presuming a +fall of exports from a regulation which took place only in November, +1766; whose effects could not appear until the following year; and +which, when they do appear, utterly overthrow all his flimsy reasons and +affected suspicions upon the effect of opening the ports. + +This author, in the same paragraph, says, that "it was asserted by _the +American factors and agents_, that the commanders of our ships of war +and tenders, having custom-house commissions, and the strict orders +given in 1764 for a due execution of the laws of trade in the colonies, +had deterred the Spaniards from trading with us; that the sale of +British manufactures in the West Indies had been greatly lessened, and +the receipt of large sums of specie prevented." + +If the _American factors and agents_ asserted this, they had good ground +for their assertion. They knew that the Spanish vessels had been driven +from our ports. The author does not positively deny the fact. If he +should, it will be proved. When the factors connected this measure, and +its natural consequences, with an actual fall in the exports to Jamaica, +to no less an amount than 128,460_l._ in one year, and with a further +fall in the next, is their assertion very wonderful? The author himself +is full as much alarmed by a fall of only 40,000_l._; for giving him +the facts which he chooses to coin, it is no more. The expulsion of the +Spanish vessels must certainly have been one cause, if not of the first +declension of the exports, yet of their continuance in their reduced +state. Other causes had their operation, without doubt. In what degree +each cause produced its effect, it is hard to determine. But the fact of +a fall of exports upon the restraining plan, and of a rise upon the +taking place of the enlarging plan, is established beyond all +contradiction. + +This author says, that the facts relative to the Spanish trade were +asserted by _American factors and agents_; insinuating, that the +ministry of 1766 had no better authority for their plan of enlargement +than such assertions. The moment he chooses it, he shall see the very +same thing asserted by governors of provinces, by commanders of +men-of-war, and by officers of the customs; persons the most bound in +duty to prevent contraband, and the most interested in the seizures to +be made in consequence of strict regulation. I suppress them for the +present; wishing that the author may not drive me to a more full +discussion of this matter than it may be altogether prudent to enter +into. I wish he had not made any of these discussions necessary. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[101] His note, p. 22. + + + + +THOUGHTS + +ON + +THE CAUSE OF THE PRESENT DISCONTENTS. + + Hoc vero occultum, intestinum, domesticum malum, non modo non + existit, verum etiam opprimit, antequam perspicere atque explorare + potueris. + CIC. + +1770. + + + +It is an undertaking of some degree of delicacy to examine into the +cause of public disorders. If a man happens not to succeed in such an +inquiry, he will be thought weak and visionary; if he touches the true +grievance, there is a danger that he may come near to persons of weight +and consequence, who will rather be exasperated at the discovery of +their errors, than thankful for the occasion of correcting them. If he +should be obliged to blame the favorites of the people, he will be +considered as the tool of power; if he censures those in power, he will +be looked on as an instrument of faction. But in all exertions of duty +something is to be hazarded. In cases of tumult and disorder, our law +has invested every man, in some sort, with the authority of a +magistrate. When the affairs of the nation are distracted, private +people are, by the spirit of that law, justified in stepping a little +out of their ordinary sphere. They enjoy a privilege, of somewhat more +dignity and effect, than that of idle lamentation over the calamities of +their country. They may look into them narrowly; they may reason upon +them liberally; and if they should be so fortunate as to discover the +true source of the mischief, and to suggest any probable method of +removing it, though they may displease the rulers for the day, they are +certainly of service to the cause of government. Government is deeply +interested in everything which, even through the medium of some +temporary uneasiness, may tend finally to compose the minds of the +subject, and to conciliate their affections. I have nothing to do here +with the abstract value of the voice of the people. But as long as +reputation, the most precious possession of every individual, and as +long as opinion, the great support of the state, depend entirely upon +that voice, it can never be considered as a thing of little consequence +either to individuals or to governments. Nations are not primarily ruled +by laws: less by violence. Whatever original energy may be supposed +either in force or regulation, the operation of both is, in truth, +merely instrumental. Nations are governed by the same methods, and on +the same principles, by which an individual without authority is often +able to govern those who are his equals or his superiors; by a knowledge +of their temper, and by a judicious management of it; I mean,--when +public affairs are steadily and quietly conducted; not when government +is nothing but a continued scuffle between the magistrate and the +multitude; in which sometimes the one and sometimes the other is +uppermost; in which they alternately yield and prevail, in a series of +contemptible victories, and scandalous submissions. The temper of the +people amongst whom he presides ought therefore to be the first study of +a statesman. And the knowledge of this temper it is by no means +impossible for him to attain, if he has not an interest in being +ignorant of what it is his duty to learn. + +To complain of the age we live in, to murmur at the present possessors +of power, to lament the past, to conceive extravagant hopes of the +future, are the common dispositions of the greatest part of mankind; +indeed the necessary effects of the ignorance and levity of the vulgar. +Such complaints and humors have existed in all times; yet as all times +have _not_ been alike, true political sagacity manifests itself in +distinguishing that complaint which only characterizes the general +infirmity of human nature, from those which are symptoms of the +particular distemperature of our own air and season. + +Nobody, I believe, will consider it merely as the language of spleen or +disappointment, if I say, that there is something particularly alarming +in the present conjuncture. There is hardly a man, in or out of power, +who holds any other language. That government is at once dreaded and +contemned; that the laws are despoiled of all their respected and +salutary terrors; that their inaction is a subject of ridicule, and +their exertion of abhorrence; that rank, and office and title, and all +the solemn plausibilities of the world, have lost their reverence and +effect; that our foreign politics are as much deranged as our domestic +economy; that our dependencies are slackened in their affection, and +loosened from their obedience; that we know neither how to yield nor how +to enforce; that hardly anything above or below, abroad or at home, is +sound and entire; but that disconnection and confusion, in offices, in +parties, in families, in Parliament, in the nation, prevail beyond the +disorders of any former time: these are facts universally admitted and +lamented. + +This state of things is the more extraordinary, because the great +parties which formerly divided and agitated the kingdom are known to be +in a manner entirely dissolved. No great external calamity has visited +the nation; no pestilence or famine. We do not labor at present under +any scheme of taxation new or oppressive in the quantity or in the mode. +Nor are we engaged in unsuccessful war; in which, our misfortunes might +easily pervert our judgment; and our minds, sore from the loss of +national glory, might feel every blow of fortune as a crime in +government. + +It is impossible that the cause of this strange distemper should not +sometimes become a subject of discourse. It is a compliment due, and +which I willingly pay, to those who administer our affairs, to take +notice in the first place of their speculation. Our ministers are of +opinion, that the increase of our trade and manufactures, that our +growth by colonization, and by conquest, have concurred to accumulate +immense wealth in the hands of some individuals; and this again being +dispersed among the people, has rendered them universally proud, +ferocious, and ungovernable; that the insolence of some from their +enormous wealth, and the boldness of others from a guilty poverty, have +rendered them capable of the most atrocious attempts; so that they have +trampled upon all subordination, and violently borne down the unarmed +laws of a free government; barriers too feeble against the fury of a +populace so fierce and licentious as ours. They contend, that no +adequate provocation has been given for so spreading a discontent; our +affairs having been conducted throughout with remarkable temper and +consummate wisdom. The wicked industry of some libellers, joined to the +intrigues of a few disappointed politicians, have, in their opinion, +been able to produce this unnatural ferment in the nation. + +Nothing indeed can be more unnatural than the present convulsions of +this country, if the above account be a true one. I confess I shall +assent to it with great reluctance, and only on the compulsion of the +clearest and firmest proofs; because their account resolves itself into +this short, but discouraging proposition, "That we have a very good +ministry, but that we are a very bad people"; that we set ourselves to +bite the hand that feeds us; that with a malignant insanity, we oppose +the measures, and ungratefully vilify the persons, of those whose sole +object is our own peace and prosperity. If a few puny libellers, acting +under a knot of factious politicians, without virtue, parts, or +character, (such they are constantly represented by these gentlemen,) +are sufficient to excite this disturbance, very perverse must be the +disposition of that people, amongst whom such a disturbance can be +excited by such means. It is besides no small aggravation of the public +misfortune, that the disease, on this hypothesis, appears to be without +remedy. If the wealth of the nation be the cause of its turbulence, I +imagine it is not proposed to introduce poverty, as a constable to keep +the peace. If our dominions abroad are the roots which feed all this +rank luxuriance of sedition, it is not intended to cut them off in order +to famish the fruit. If our liberty has enfeebled the executive power, +there is no design, I hope, to call in the aid of despotism, to fill up +the deficiencies of law. Whatever may be intended, these things are not +yet professed. We seem therefore to be driven to absolute despair; for +we have no other materials to work upon, but those out of which God has +been pleased to form the inhabitants of this island. If these be +radically and essentially vicious, all that can be said is, that those +men are very unhappy, to whose fortune or duty it falls to administer +the affairs of this untoward people. I hear it indeed sometimes +asserted, that a steady perseverance in the present measures, and a +rigorous punishment of those who oppose them, will in course of time +infallibly put an end to these disorders. But this, in my opinion, is +said without much observation of our present disposition, and without +any knowledge at all of the general nature of mankind. If the matter of +which this nation is composed be so very fermentable as these gentlemen +describe it, leaven never will be wanting to work it up, as long as +discontent, revenge, and ambition, have existence in the world. +Particular punishments are the cure for accidental distempers in the +state; they inflame rather than allay those heats which arise from the +settled mismanagement of the government, or from a natural indisposition +in the people. It is of the utmost moment not to make mistakes in the +use of strong measures; and firmness is then only a virtue when it +accompanies the most perfect wisdom. In truth, inconstancy is a sort of +natural corrective of folly and ignorance. + +I am not one of those who think that the people are never in the wrong. +They have been so, frequently and outrageously, both in other countries +and in this. But I do say, that in all disputes between them and their +rulers, the presumption is at least upon a par in favor of the people. +Experience may perhaps justify me in going further. When popular +discontents have been very prevalent, it may well be affirmed and +supported, that there has been generally something found amiss in the +constitution, or in the conduct of government. The people have no +interest in disorder. When they do wrong, it is their error, and not +their crime. But with the governing part of the state, it is for +otherwise. They certainly may act ill by design, as well as by mistake. +"_Les revolutions qui arrivent dans les grands etats ne sont point un +effect du hazard, ni du caprice des peuples. Rien ne revolte _les +grands_ d'un royaume comme _un gouvernement foible et derange_. Pour la +_populace_, ce n'est jamais par envie d'attaquer qu'elle se souleve, +mais par impatience de souffrir._"[102] These are the words of a great +man; of a minister of state; and a zealous assertor of monarchy. They +are applied to the _system of favoritism_ which was adopted by Henry the +Third of France, and to the dreadful consequences it produced. What he +says of revolutions, is equally true of all great disturbances. If this +presumption in favor of the subjects against the trustees of power be +not the more probable, I am sure it is the more comfortable speculation; +because it is more easy to change an administration, than to reform a +people. + +Upon a supposition, therefore, that, in the opening of the cause, the +presumptions stand equally balanced between the parties, there seems +sufficient ground to entitle any person to a fair hearing, who attempts +some other scheme beside that easy one which is fashionable in some +fashionable companies, to account for the present discontents. It is not +to be argued that we endure no grievance, because our grievances are not +of the same sort with those under which we labored formerly; not +precisely those which we bore from the Tudors, or vindicated on the +Stuarts. A great change has taken place in the affairs of this country. +For in the silent lapse of events as material alterations have been +insensibly brought about in the policy and character of governments and +nations, as those which have been marked by the tumult of public +revolutions. + +It is very rare indeed for men to be wrong in their feelings concerning +public misconduct; as rare to be right in their speculation upon the +cause of it. I have constantly observed, that the generality of people +are fifty years, at least, behindhand in their politics. There are but +very few who are capable of comparing and digesting what passes before +their eyes at different times and occasions, so as to form the whole +into a distinct system. But in books everything is settled for them, +without the exertion of any considerable diligence or sagacity. For +which reason men are wise with but little reflection, and good with +little self-denial, in the business of all times except their own. We +are very uncorrupt and tolerably enlightened judges of the transactions +of past ages; where no passions deceive, and where the whole train of +circumstances, from the trifling cause to the tragical event, is set in +an orderly series before us. Few are the partisans of departed tyranny; +and to be a Whig on the business of an hundred years ago, is very +consistent with every advantage of present servility. This retrospective +wisdom, and historical patriotism, are things of wonderful convenience, +and serve admirably to reconcile the old quarrel between speculation and +practice. Many a stern republican, after gorging himself with a full +feast of admiration of the Grecian commonwealths and of our true Saxon +constitution, and discharging all the splendid bile of his virtuous +indignation on King John and King James, sits down perfectly satisfied +to the coarsest work and homeliest job of the day he lives in. I believe +there was no professed admirer of Henry the Eighth among the instruments +of the last King James; nor in the court of Henry the Eighth was there, +I dare say, to be found a single advocate for the favorites of Richard +the Second. + +No complaisance to our court, or to our age, can make me believe nature +to be so changed, but that public liberty will be among us as among our +ancestors, obnoxious to some person or other; and that opportunities +will be furnished for attempting, at least, some alteration to the +prejudice of our constitution. These attempts will naturally vary in +their mode according to times and circumstances. For ambition, though it +has ever the same general views, has not at all times the same means, +nor the same particular objects. A great deal of the furniture of +ancient tyranny is worn to rags; the rest is entirely out of fashion. +Besides, there are few statesmen so very clumsy and awkward in their +business, as to fall into the identical snare which has proved fatal to +their predecessors. When an arbitrary imposition is attempted upon the +subject, undoubtedly it will not bear on its forehead the name of +_Ship-money_. There is no danger that an extension of the _Forest laws_ +should be the chosen mode of oppression in this age. And when we hear +any instance of ministerial rapacity, to the prejudice of the rights of +private life, it will certainly not be the exaction of two hundred +pullets, from a woman of fashion, for leave to lie with her own +husband.[103] + +Every age has its own manners, and its politics dependent upon them; +and the same attempts will not be made against a constitution fully +formed and matured, that were used to destroy it in the cradle, or to +resist its growth during its infancy. + +Against the being of Parliament, I am satisfied, no designs have ever +been entertained since the revolution. Every one must perceive, that it +is strongly the interest of the court, to have some second cause +interposed between the ministers and the people. The gentlemen of the +House of Commons have an interest equally strong in sustaining the part +of that intermediate cause. However they may hire out the _usufruct_ of +their voices, they never will part with the _fee and inheritance_. +Accordingly those who have been of the most known devotion to the will +and pleasure of a court have, at the same time, been most forward in +asserting a high authority in the House of Commons. When they knew who +were to use that authority, and how it was to be employed, they thought +it never could be carried too far. It must be always the wish of an +unconstitutional statesman, that a House of Commons, who are entirely +dependent upon him, should have every right of the people entirely +dependent upon their pleasure. It was soon discovered, that the forms of +a free, and the ends of an arbitrary government, were things not +altogether incompatible. + +The power of the crown, almost dead and rotten as Prerogative, has grown +up anew, with much more strength, and far less odium, under the name of +Influence. An influence, which operated without noise and without +violence; an influence, which converted the very antagonist into the +instrument of power; which contained in itself a perpetual principle of +growth and renovation; and which the distresses and the prosperity of +the country equally tended to augment, was an admirable substitute for a +prerogative, that, being only the offspring of antiquated prejudices, +had moulded in its original stamina irresistible principles of decay and +dissolution. The ignorance of the people is a bottom but for a temporary +system; the interest of active men in the state is a foundation +perpetual and infallible. However, some circumstances, arising, it must +be confessed, in a great degree from accident, prevented the effects of +this influence for a long time from breaking out in a manner capable of +exciting any serious apprehensions. Although government was strong and +flourished exceedingly, the _court_ had drawn far less advantage than +one would imagine from this great source of power. + +At the revolution, the crown, deprived, for the ends of the revolution +itself, of many prerogatives, was found too weak to struggle against all +the difficulties which pressed so new and unsettled a government. The +court was obliged therefore to delegate a part of its powers to men of +such interest as could support, and of such fidelity as would adhere to, +its establishment. Such men were able to draw in a greater number to a +concurrence in the common defence. This connection, necessary at first, +continued long after convenient; and properly conducted might indeed, in +all situations, be an useful instrument of government. At the same time, +through the intervention of men of popular weight and character, the +people possessed a security for their just proportion of importance in +the state. But as the title to the crown grew stronger by long +possession, and by the constant increase of its influence, these helps +have of late seemed to certain persons no better than incumbrances. The +powerful managers for government were not sufficiently submissive to the +pleasure of the possessors of immediate and personal favor, sometimes +from a confidence in their own strength, natural and acquired; sometimes +from a fear of offending their friends, and weakening that lead in the +country which gave them a consideration independent of the court. Men +acted as if the court could receive, as well as confer, an obligation. +The influence of government, thus divided in appearance between the +court and the leaders of parties, became in many cases an accession +rather to the popular than to the royal scale; and some part of that +influence, which would otherwise have been possessed as in a sort of +mortmain and unalienable domain, returned again to the great ocean from +whence it arose, and circulated among the people. This method, +therefore, of governing by men of great natural interest or great +acquired consideration was viewed in a very invidious light by the true +lovers of absolute monarchy. It is the nature of despotism to abhor +power held by any means but its own momentary pleasure; and to +annihilate all intermediate situations between boundless strength on its +own part, and total debility on the part of the people. + +To get rid of all this intermediate and independent importance, and _to +secure to the court the unlimited and uncontrolled use of its own vast +influence, under the sole direction of its own private favor_, has for +some years past been the great object of policy. If this were +compassed, the influence of the crown must of course produce all the +effects which the most sanguine partisans of the court could possibly +desire. Government might then be carried on without any concurrence on +the part of the people; without any attention to the dignity of the +greater, or to the affections of the lower sorts. A new project was +therefore devised by a certain set of intriguing men, totally different +from the system of administration which had prevailed since the +accession of the House of Brunswick. This project, I have heard, was +first conceived by some persons in the court of Frederick Prince of +Wales. + +The earliest attempt in the execution of this design was to set up for +minister, a person, in rank indeed respectable, and very ample in +fortune; but who, to the moment of this vast and sudden elevation, was +little known or considered in the kingdom. To him the whole nation was +to yield an immediate and implicit submission. But whether it was from +want of firmness to bear up against the first opposition; or that things +were not yet fully ripened, or that this method was not found the most +eligible; that idea was soon abandoned. The instrumental part of the +project was a little altered, to accommodate it to the time and to bring +things more gradually and more surely to the one great end proposed. + +The first part of the reformed plan was to draw _a line which should +separate the court from the ministry_. Hitherto these names had been +looked upon as synonymous; but for the future, court and administration +were to be considered as things totally distinct. By this operation, two +systems of administration were to be formed; one which should be in the +real secret and confidence; the other merely ostensible to perform the +official and executory duties of government. The latter were alone to be +responsible; whilst the real advisers, who enjoyed all the power, were +effectually removed from all the danger. + +Secondly, _A party under these leaders was to be formed in favor of the +court against the ministry_: this party was to have a large share in the +emoluments of government, and to hold it totally separate from, and +independent of, ostensible administration. + +The third point, and that on which the success of the whole scheme +ultimately depended, was _to bring Parliament to an acquiescence in this +project_. Parliament was therefore to be taught by degrees a total +indifference to the persons, rank, influence, abilities, connections, +and character of the ministers of the crown. By means of a discipline, +on which I shall say more hereafter, that body was to be habituated to +the most opposite interests, and the most discordant politics. All +connections and dependencies among subjects were to be entirely +dissolved. As, hitherto, business had gone through the hands of leaders +of Whigs or Tories, men of talents to conciliate the people, and to +engage their confidence; now the method was to be altered: and the lead +was to be given to men of no sort of consideration or credit in the +country. This want of natural importance was to be their very title to +delegated power. Members of Parliament were to be hardened into an +insensibility to pride as well as to duty. Those high and haughty +sentiments, which are the great support of independence, were to be let +down gradually. Points of honor and precedence were no more to be +regarded in Parliamentary decorum than in a Turkish army. It was to be +avowed, as a constitutional maxim, that the king might appoint one of +his footmen, or one of your footmen for minister; and that he ought to +be, and that he would be, as well followed as the first name for rank or +wisdom in the nation. Thus Parliament was to look on as if perfectly +unconcerned, while a cabal of the closet and back-stairs was substituted +in the place of a national administration. + +With such a degree of acquiescence, any measure of any court might well +be deemed thoroughly secure. The capital objects, and by much the most +flattering characteristics of arbitrary power, would be obtained. +Everything would be drawn from its holdings in the country to the +personal favor and inclination of the prince. This favor would be the +sole introduction to power, and the only tenure by which it was to be +held; so that no person looking towards another, and all looking towards +the court, it was impossible but that the motive which solely influenced +every man's hopes must come in time to govern every man's conduct; till +at last the servility became universal, in spite of the dead letter of +any laws or institutions whatsoever. + +How it should happen that any man could be tempted to venture upon such +a project of government, may at first view appear surprising. But the +fact is that opportunities very inviting to such an attempt have +offered; and the scheme itself was not destitute of some arguments, not +wholly unplausible, to recommend it. These opportunities and these +arguments, the use that has been made of both, the plan for carrying +this new scheme of government into execution, and the effects which it +has produced, are, in my opinion, worthy of our serious consideration. + +His Majesty came to the throne of these kingdoms with more advantages +than any of his predecessors since the revolution. Fourth in descent, +and third in succession of his royal family, even the zealots of +hereditary right, in him, saw something to flatter their favorite +prejudices; and to justify a transfer of their attachments, without a +change in their principles. The person and cause of the Pretender were +become contemptible; his title disowned throughout Europe; his party +disbanded in England. His Majesty came, indeed, to the inheritance of a +mighty war; but, victorious in every part of the globe, peace was always +in his power, not to negotiate, but to dictate. No foreign habitudes or +attachments withdrew him from the cultivation of his power at home. His +revenue for the civil establishment, fixed (as it was then thought) at a +large, but definite sum, was ample without being invidious. His +influence, by additions from conquest, by an augmentation of debt, by an +increase of military and naval establishment, much strengthened and +extended. And coming to the throne in the prime and full vigor of youth, +as from affection there was a strong dislike, so from dread there seemed +to be a general averseness, from giving anything like offence to a +monarch, against whose resentment opposition could not look for a refuge +in any sort of reversionary hope. + +These singular advantages inspired his Majesty only with a more ardent +desire to preserve unimpaired the spirit of that national freedom, to +which he owed a situation so full of glory. But to others it suggested +sentiments of a very different nature. They thought they now beheld an +opportunity (by a certain sort of statesmen never long undiscovered or +unemployed) of drawing to themselves by the aggrandizement of a court +faction, a degree of power which they could never hope to derive from +natural influence or from honorable service; and which it was impossible +they could hold with the least security, whilst the system of +administration rested upon its former bottom. In order to facilitate the +execution of their design, it was necessary to make many alterations in +political arrangement, and a signal change in the opinions, habits, and +connections of the greatest part of those who at that time acted in +public. + +In the first place, they proceeded gradually, but not slowly, to destroy +everything of strength which did not derive its principal nourishment +from the immediate pleasure of the court. The greatest weight of popular +opinion and party connection were then with the Duke of Newcastle and +Mr. Pitt. Neither of these held their importance by the _new tenure_ of +the court; they were not therefore thought to be so proper as others for +the services which were required by that tenure. It happened very +favorably for the new system, that under a forced coalition there +rankled an incurable alienation and disgust between the parties which +composed the administration. Mr. Pitt was first attacked. Not satisfied +with removing him from power, they endeavored by various artifices to +ruin his character. The other party seemed rather pleased to get rid of +so oppressive a support; not perceiving, that their own fall was +prepared by his, and involved in it. Many other reasons prevented them +from daring to look their true situation in the face. To the great Whig +families it was extremely disagreeable, and seemed almost unnatural, to +oppose the administration of a prince of the House of Brunswick. Day +after day they hesitated, and doubted, and lingered, expecting that +other counsels would take place; and were slow to be persuaded, that all +which had been done by the cabal was the effect not of humor, but of +system. It was more strongly and evidently the interest of the new court +faction, to get rid of the great Whig connections, than to destroy Mr. +Pitt. The power of that gentleman was vast indeed and merited; but it +was in a great degree personal, and therefore transient. Theirs was +rooted in the country. For, with a good deal less of popularity, they +possessed a far more natural and fixed influence. Long possession of +government; vast property; obligations of favors given and received; +connection of office; ties of blood, of alliance, of friendship (things +at that time supposed of some force); the name of Whig, dear to the +majority of the people; the zeal early begun and steadily continued to +the royal family: all these together formed a body of power in the +nation, which was criminal and devoted. The great ruling principle of +the cabal, and that which animated and harmonized all their proceedings, +how various soever they may have been, was to signify to the world that +the court would proceed upon its own proper forces only; and that the +pretence of bringing any other into its service was an affront to it, +and not a support. Therefore when the chiefs were removed, in order to +go to the root, the whole party was put under a proscription, so general +and severe, as to take their hard-earned bread from the lowest officers, +in a manner which had never been known before, even in general +revolutions. But it was thought necessary effectually to destroy all +dependencies but one; and to show an example of the firmness and rigor +with which the new system was to be supported. + +Thus for the time were pulled down, in the persons of the Whig leaders +and of Mr. Pitt (in spite of the services of the one at the accession of +the royal family, and the recent services of the other in the war), the +_two only securities for the importance of the people; power arising +from popularity; and power arising from connection_. Here and there +indeed a few individuals were left standing, who gave security for their +total estrangement from the odious principles of party connection and +personal attachment; and it must be confessed that most of them have +religiously kept their faith. Such a change could not however be made +without a mighty shock to government. + +To reconcile the minds of the people to all these movements, principles +correspondent to them had been preached up with great zeal. Every one +must remember that the cabal set out with the most astonishing prudery, +both moral and political. Those, who in a few months after soused over +head and ears into the deepest and dirtiest pits of corruption, cried +out violently against the indirect practices in the electing and +managing of Parliaments, which had formerly prevailed. This marvellous +abhorrence which the court had suddenly taken to all influence, was not +only circulated in conversation through the kingdom, but pompously +announced to the public, with many other extraordinary things, in a +pamphlet[104] which had all the appearance of a manifesto preparatory to +some considerable enterprise. Throughout it was a satire, though in +terms managed and decent enough, on the politics of the former reign. +It was indeed written with no small art and address. + +In this piece appeared the first dawning of the new system: there first +appeared the idea (then only in speculation) of _separating the court +from the administration_; of carrying everything from national +connection to personal regards; and of forming a regular party for that +purpose, under the name of _king's men_. + +To recommend this system to the people, a perspective view of the court, +gorgeously painted, and finely illuminated from within, was exhibited to +the gaping multitude. Party was to be totally done away, with all its +evil works. Corruption was to be cast down from court, as _Ate_ was from +heaven. Power was thenceforward to be the chosen residence of public +spirit; and no one was to be supposed under any sinister influence, +except those who had the misfortune to be in disgrace at court, which +was to stand in lieu of all vices and all corruptions. A scheme of +perfection to be realized in a monarchy far beyond the visionary +republic of Plato. The whole scenery was exactly disposed to captivate +those good souls, whose credulous morality is so invaluable a treasure +to crafty politicians. Indeed there was wherewithal to charm everybody, +except those few who are not much pleased with professions of +supernatural virtue, who know of what stuff such professions are made, +for what purposes they are designed, and in what they are sure +constantly to end. Many innocent gentlemen, who had been talking prose +all their lives without knowing anything of the matter, began at last to +open their eyes upon their own merits, and to attribute their not having +been lords of the treasury and lords of trade many years before, merely +to the prevalence of party, and to the ministerial power, which had +frustrated the good intentions of the court in favor of their abilities. +Now was the time to unlock the sealed fountain of royal bounty, which +had been infamously monopolized and huckstered, and to let it flow at +large upon the whole people. The time was come, to restore royalty to +its original splendor. _Mettre le Roy hors de page_, became a sort of +watchword. And it was constantly in the mouths of all the runners of the +court, that nothing could preserve the balance of the constitution from +being overturned by the rabble, or by a faction of the nobility, but to +free the sovereign effectually from that ministerial tyranny under which +the royal dignity had been oppressed in the person of his Majesty's +grandfather. + +These were some of the many artifices used to reconcile the people to +the great change which was made in the persons who composed the +ministry, and the still greater which was made and avowed in its +constitution. As to individuals, other methods were employed with them; +in order so thoroughly to disunite every party, and even every family, +that _no concert, order, or effect, might appear in any future +opposition_. And in this manner an administration without connection +with the people, or with one another, was first put in possession of +government. What good consequences followed from it, we have all seen; +whether with regard to virtue, public or private; to the ease and +happiness of the sovereign; or to the real strength of government. But +as so much stress was then laid on the necessity of this new project, it +will not be amiss to take a view of the effects of this royal servitude +and vile durance, which was so deplored in the reign of the late +monarch, and was so carefully to be avoided in the reign of his +successor. The effects were these. + +In times full of doubt and danger to his person and family, George II. +maintained the dignity of his crown connected with the liberty of his +people, not only unimpaired, but improved, for the space of thirty-three +years. He overcame a dangerous rebellion, abetted by foreign force, and +raging in the heart of his kingdoms; and thereby destroyed the seeds of +all future rebellion that could arise upon the same principle. He +carried the glory, the power, the commerce of England, to a height +unknown even to this renowned nation in the times of its greatest +prosperity: and he left his succession resting on the true and only true +foundations of all national and all regal greatness; affection at home, +reputation abroad, trust in allies, terror in rival nations. The most +ardent lover of his country cannot wish for Great Britain a happier fate +than to continue as she was then left. A people, emulous as we are in +affection to our present sovereign, know not how to form a prayer to +heaven for a greater blessing upon his virtues, or a higher state of +felicity and glory, than that he should live, and should reign, and when +Providence ordains it, should die, exactly like his illustrious +predecessor. + +A great prince may be obliged (though such a thing cannot happen very +often) to sacrifice his private inclination to his public interest. A +wise prince will not think that such a restraint implies a condition of +servility; and truly, if such was the condition of the last reign, and +the effects were also such as we have described, we ought, no less for +the sake of the sovereign whom we love, than for our own, to hear +arguments convincing indeed, before we depart from the maxims of that +reign, or fly in the face of this great body of strong and recent +experience. + +One of the principal topics which was then, and has been since, much +employed by that political[105] school, is an affected terror of the +growth of an aristocratic power, prejudicial to the rights of the crown, +and the balance of the constitution. Any new powers exercised in the +House of Lords, or in the House of Commons, or by the crown, ought +certainly to excite the vigilant and anxious jealousy of a free people. +Even a new and unprecedented course of action in the whole legislature, +without great and evident reason, may be a subject of just uneasiness. I +will not affirm, that there may not have lately appeared in the House of +Lords, a disposition to some attempts derogatory to the legal rights of +the subject. If any such have really appeared, they have arisen, not +from a power properly aristocratic, but from the same influence which is +charged with having excited attempts of a similar nature in the House of +Commons; which House, if it should have been betrayed into an +unfortunate quarrel with its constituents, and involved in a charge of +the very same nature, could have neither power nor inclination to repel +such attempts in others. Those attempts in the House of Lords can no +more be called aristocratic proceedings, than the proceedings with +regard to the county of Middlesex in the House of Commons can with any +sense be called democratical. + +It is true, that the peers have a great influence in the kingdom, and +in every part of the public concerns. While they are men of property, it +is impossible to prevent it, except by such means as must prevent all +property from its natural operation: an event not easily to be +compassed, while property is power; nor by any means to be wished, while +the least notion exists of the method by which the spirit of liberty +acts, and of the means by which it is preserved. If any particular +peers, by their uniform, upright, constitutional conduct, by their +public and their private virtues, have acquired an influence in the +country; the people, on whose favor that influence depends, and from +whom it arose, will never be duped into an opinion, that such greatness +in a peer is the despotism of an aristocracy, when they know and feel it +to be the effect and pledge of their own importance. + +I am no friend to aristocracy, in the sense at least in which that word +is usually understood. If it were not a bad habit to moot cases on the +supposed ruin of the constitution, I should be free to declare, that if +it must perish, I would rather by far see it resolved into any other +form, than lost in that austere and insolent domination. But, whatever +my dislikes may be, my fears are not upon that quarter. The question, on +the influence of a court, and of a peerage, is not, which of the two +dangers is the more eligible, but which is the more imminent. He is but +a poor observer, who has not seen, that the generality of peers, far +from supporting themselves in a state of independent greatness, are but +too apt to fall into an oblivion of their proper dignity, and to run +headlong into an abject servitude. Would to God it were true, that the +fault of our peers were too much spirit. It is worthy of some +observation that these gentlemen, so jealous of aristocracy, make no +complaints of the power of those peers (neither few nor inconsiderable) +who are always in the train of a court, and whose whole weight must be +considered as a portion of the settled influence of the crown. This is +all safe and right; but if some peers (I am very sorry they are not as +many as they ought to be) set themselves, in the great concern of peers +and commons, against a back-stairs influence and clandestine government, +then the alarm begins; then the constitution is in danger of being +forced into an aristocracy. + +I rest a little the longer on this court topic, because it was much +insisted upon at the time of the great change, and has been since +frequently revived by many of the agents of that party; for, whilst they +are terrifying the great and opulent with the horrors of mob-government, +they are by other managers attempting (though hitherto with little +success) to alarm the people with a phantom of tyranny in the nobles. +All this is done upon their favorite principle of disunion, of sowing +jealousies amongst the different orders of the state, and of disjointing +the natural strength of the kingdom; that it may be rendered incapable +of resisting the sinister designs of wicked men, who have engrossed the +royal power. + +Thus much of the topics chosen by the courtiers to recommend their +system; it will be necessary to open a little more at large the nature +of that party which was formed for its support. Without this, the whole +would have been no better than a visionary amusement, like the scheme of +Harrington's political club, and not a business in which the nation had +a real concern. As a powerful party, and a party constructed on a new +principle, it is a very inviting object of curiosity. + +It must be remembered, that since the revolution, until the period we +are speaking of, the influence of the crown had been always employed in +supporting the ministers of state, and in carrying on the public +business according to their opinions. But the party now in question is +formed upon a very different idea. It is to intercept the favor, +protection, and confidence of the crown in the passage to its ministers; +it is to come between them and their importance in Parliament; it is to +separate them from all their natural and acquired dependencies; it is +intended as the control, not the support, of administration. The +machinery of this system is perplexed in its movements, and false in its +principle. It is formed on a supposition that the king is something +external to his government; and that he may be honored and aggrandized, +even by its debility and disgrace. The plan proceeds expressly on the +idea of enfeebling the regular executory power. It proceeds on the idea +of weakening the state in order to strengthen the court. The scheme +depending entirely on distrust, on disconnection, on mutability by +principle, on systematic weakness in every particular member; it is +impossible that the total result should be substantial strength of any +kind. + +As a foundation of their scheme, the cabal have established a sort of +_rota_ in the court. All sorts of parties, by this means, have been +brought into administration; from whence few have had the good fortune +to escape without disgrace; none at all without considerable losses. In +the beginning of each arrangement no professions of confidence and +support are wanting, to induce the leading men to engage. But while the +ministers of the day appear in all the pomp and pride of power, while +they have all their canvas spread out to the wind, and every sail filled +with the fair and prosperous gale of royal favor, in a short time they +find, they know not how, a current, which sets directly against them: +which prevents all progress; and even drives them backwards. They grow +ashamed and mortified in a situation, which, by its vicinity to power, +only serves to remind them the more strongly of their insignificance. +They are obliged either to execute the orders of their inferiors, or to +see themselves opposed by the natural instruments of their office. With +the loss of their dignity they lose their temper. In their turn they +grow troublesome to that cabal which, whether it supports or opposes, +equally disgraces and equally betrays them. It is soon found necessary +to get rid of the heads of administration; but it is of the heads only. +As there always are many rotten members belonging to the best +connections, it is not hard to persuade several to continue in office +without their leaders. By this means the party goes out much thinner +than it came in; and is only reduced in strength by its temporary +possession of power. Besides, if by accident, or in course of changes, +that power should be recovered, the junto have thrown up a retrenchment +of these carcasses, which may serve to cover themselves in a day of +danger. They conclude, not unwisely, that such rotten members will +become the first objects of disgust and resentment to their ancient +connections. + +They contrive to form in the outward administration two parties at the +least; which, whilst they are tearing one another to pieces, are both +competitors for the favor and protection of the cabal; and, by their +emulation, contribute to throw everything more and more into the hands +of the interior managers. + +A minister of state will sometimes keep himself totally estranged from +all his colleagues; will differ from them in their councils, will +privately traverse, and publicly oppose, their measures. He will, +however, continue in his employment. Instead of suffering any mark of +displeasure, he will be distinguished by an unbounded profusion of court +rewards and caresses; because he does what is expected, and all that is +expected, from men in office. He helps to keep some form of +administration in being, and keeps it at the same time as weak and +divided as possible. + +However, we must take care not to be mistaken, or to imagine that such +persons have any weight in their opposition. When, by them, +administration is convinced of its insignificancy, they are soon to be +convinced of their own. They never are suffered to succeed in their +opposition. They and the world are to be satisfied, that neither office, +nor authority, nor property, nor ability, eloquence, counsel, skill, or +union, are of the least importance; but that the mere influence of the +court, naked of all support, and destitute of all management, is +abundantly sufficient for all its own purposes. + +When any adverse connection is to be destroyed, the cabal seldom appear +in the work themselves. They find out some person of whom the party +entertains a high opinion. Such a person they endeavor to delude with +various pretences. They teach him first to distrust, and then to quarrel +with his friends; among whom, by the same arts, they excite a similar +diffidence of him; so that in this mutual fear and distrust, he may +suffer himself to be employed as the instrument in the change which is +brought about. Afterwards they are sure to destroy him in his turn, by +setting up in his place some person in whom he had himself reposed the +greatest confidence, and who serves to carry off a considerable part of +his adherents. + +When such a person has broke in this manner with his connections, he is +soon compelled to commit some flagrant act of iniquitous, personal +hostility against some of them (such as an attempt to strip a particular +friend of his family estate), by which the cabal hope to render the +parties utterly irreconcilable. In truth, they have so contrived +matters, that people have a greater hatred to the subordinate +instruments than to the principal movers. + +As in destroying their enemies they make use of instruments not +immediately belonging to their corps, so in advancing their own friends +they pursue exactly the same method. To promote any of them to +considerable rank or emolument, they commonly take care that the +recommendation shall pass through the hands of the ostensible ministry: +such a recommendation might however appear to the world, as some proof +of the credit of ministers, and some means of increasing their strength. +To prevent this, the persons so advanced are directed, in all companies, +industriously to declare, that they are under no obligations whatsoever +to administration; that they have received their office from another +quarter; that they are totally free and independent. + +When the faction has any job of lucre to obtain, or of vengeance to +perpetrate, their way is, to select, for the execution, those very +persons to whose habits, friendships, principles, and declarations, such +proceedings are publicly known to be the most adverse; at once to +render the instruments the more odious, and therefore the more +dependent, and to prevent the people from ever reposing a confidence in +any appearance of private friendship or public principle. + +If the administration seem now and then, from remissness, or from fear +of making themselves disagreeable, to suffer any popular excesses to go +unpunished, the cabal immediately sets up some creature of theirs to +raise a clamor against the ministers, as having shamefully betrayed the +dignity of government. Then they compel the ministry to become active in +conferring rewards and honors on the persons who have been the +instruments of their disgrace; and, after having first vilified them +with the higher orders for suffering the laws to sleep over the +licentiousness of the populace, they drive them (in order to make amends +for their former inactivity) to some act of atrocious violence, which +renders them completely abhorred by the people. They, who remember the +riots which attended the Middlesex election, the opening of the present +Parliament, and the transactions relative to Saint George's Fields, will +not be at a loss for an application of these remarks. + +That this body may be enabled to compass all the ends of its +institution, its members are scarcely ever to aim at the high and +responsible offices of the state. They are distributed with art and +judgment through all the secondary, but efficient, departments of +office, and through the households of all the branches of the royal +family: so as on one hand to occupy all the avenues to the throne; and +on the other to forward or frustrate the execution of any measure, +according to their own interests. For with the credit and support which +they are known to have, though for the greater part in places which are +only a genteel excuse for salary, they possess all the influence of the +highest posts; and they dictate publicly in almost everything, even with +a parade of superiority. Whenever they dissent (as it often happens) +from their nominal leaders, the trained part of the senate, +instinctively in the secret, is sure to follow them: provided the +leaders, sensible of their situation, do not of themselves recede in +time from their most declared opinions. This latter is generally the +case. It will not be conceivable to any one who has not seen it, what +pleasure is taken by the cabal in rendering these heads of office +thoroughly contemptible and ridiculous. And when they are become so, +they have then the best chance for being well supported. + +The members of the court faction are fully indemnified for not holding +places on the slippery heights of the kingdom, not only by the lead in +all affairs, but also by the perfect security in which they enjoy less +conspicuous, but very advantageous situations. Their places are in +express legal tenure, or, in effect, all of them for life. Whilst the +first and most respectable persons in the kingdom are tossed about like +tennis-balls, the sport of a blind and insolent caprice, no minister +dares even to cast an oblique glance at the lowest of their body. If an +attempt be made upon one of this corps, immediately he flies to +sanctuary, and pretends to the most inviolable of all promises. No +conveniency of public arrangement is available to remove any one of them +from the specific situation he holds; and the slightest attempt upon one +of them, by the most powerful minister, is a certain preliminary to his +own destruction. + +Conscious of their independence, they bear themselves with a lofty air +to the exterior ministers. Like janissaries, they derive a kind of +freedom from the very condition of their servitude. They may act just as +they please; provided they are true to the great ruling principle of +their institution. It is, therefore, not at all wonderful, that people +should be so desirous of adding themselves to that body, in which they +may possess and reconcile satisfactions the most alluring, and seemingly +the most contradictory; enjoying at once all the spirited pleasure of +independence, and all the gross lucre and fat emoluments of servitude. + +Here is a sketch, though a slight one, of the constitution, laws, and +policy of this new court corporation. The name by which they choose to +distinguish themselves, is that of _king's men_ or the _king's friends_, +by an invidious exclusion of the rest of his Majesty's most loyal and +affectionate subjects. The whole system, comprehending the exterior and +interior administrations, is commonly called, in the technical language +of the court, _double cabinet_; in French or English, as you choose to +pronounce it. + +Whether all this be a vision of a distracted brain, or the invention of +a malicious heart, or a real faction in the country, must be judged by +the appearances which things have worn for eight years past. Thus far I +am certain, that there is not a single public man, in or out of office, +who has not, at some time or other, borne testimony to the truth of what +I have now related. In particular, no persons have been more strong in +their assertions, and louder and more indecent in their complaints, than +those who compose all the exterior part of the present administration; +in whose time that faction has arrived at such an height of power, and +of boldness in the use of it, as may, in the end, perhaps bring about +its total destruction. + +It is true, that about four years ago, during the administration of the +Marquis of Rockingham, an attempt was made to carry on government +without their concurrence. However, this was only a transient cloud; +they were hid but for a moment; and their constellation blazed out with +greater brightness, and a far more vigorous influence, some time after +it was blown over. An attempt was at that time made (but without any +idea of proscription) to break their corps, to discountenance their +doctrines, to revive connections of a different kind, to restore the +principles and policy of the Whigs, to reanimate the cause of liberty by +ministerial countenance; and then for the first time were men seen +attached in office to every principle they had maintained in opposition. +No one will doubt, that such men were abhorred and violently opposed by +the court faction, and that such a system could have but a short +duration. + +It may appear somewhat affected, that in so much discourse upon this +extraordinary party, I should say so little of the Earl of Bute, who is +the supposed head of it. But this was neither owing to affectation nor +inadvertence. I have carefully avoided the introduction of personal +reflections of any kind. Much the greater part of the topics which have +been used to blacken this nobleman are either unjust or frivolous. At +best, they have a tendency to give the resentment of this bitter +calamity a wrong direction, and to turn a public grievance into a mean, +personal, or a dangerous national quarrel. Where there is a regular +scheme of operations carried on, it is the system, and not any +individual person who acts in it, that is truly dangerous. This system +has not arisen solely from the ambition of Lord Bute, but from the +circumstances which favored it, and from an indifference to the +constitution which had been for some time growing among our gentry. We +should have been tried with it, if the Earl of Bute had never existed; +and it will want neither a contriving head nor active members, when the +Earl of Bute exists no longer. It is not, therefore, to rail at Lord +Bute, but firmly to embody against this court party and its practices, +which can afford us any prospect of relief in our present condition. + +Another motive induces me to put the personal consideration of Lord Bute +wholly out of the question. He communicates very little in a direct +manner with the greater part of our men of business. This has never been +his custom. It is enough for him that he surrounds them with his +creatures. Several imagine, therefore, that they have a very good excuse +for doing all the work of this faction, when they have no personal +connection with Lord Bute. But whoever becomes a party to an +administration, composed of insulated individuals, without faith +plighted, tie, or common principle; an administration constitutionally +impotent, because supported by no party in the nation; he who +contributes to destroy the connections of men and their trust in one +another, or in any sort to throw the dependence of public counsels upon +private will and favor, possibly may have nothing to do with the Earl of +Bute. It matters little whether he be the friend or the enemy of that +particular person. But let him be who or what he will, he abets a +faction that is driving hard to the ruin of his country. He is sapping +the foundation of its liberty, disturbing the sources of its domestic +tranquillity, weakening its government over its dependencies, degrading +it from all its importance in the system of Europe. + +It is this unnatural infusion of a _system of favoritism_ into a +government which in a great part of its constitution is popular, that +has raised the present ferment in the nation. The people, without +entering deeply into its principles, could plainly perceive its effects, +in much violence, in a great spirit of innovation, and a general +disorder in all the functions of government. I keep my eye solely on +this system; if I speak of those measures which have arisen from it, it +will be so far only as they illustrate the general scheme. This is the +fountain of all those bitter waters of which, through an hundred +different conduits, we have drunk until we are ready to burst. The +discretionary power of the crown in the formation of ministry, abused by +bad or weak men, has given rise to a system, which, without directly +violating the letter of any law, operates against the spirit of the +whole constitution. + +A plan of favoritism for our executory government is essentially at +variance with the plan of our legislature. One great end undoubtedly of +a mixed government like ours, composed of monarchy, and of controls, on +the part of the higher people and the lower, is that the prince shall +not be able to violate the laws. This is useful indeed and fundamental. +But this, even at first view, is no more than a negative advantage; an +armor merely defensive. It is therefore next in order, and equal in +importance, _that the discretionary powers which are necessarily vested +in the monarch, whether for the execution of the laws, or for the +nomination to magistracy and office, or for conducting the affairs of +peace and war, or for ordering the revenue, should all be exercised upon +public principles and national grounds, and, not on the likings or +prejudices, the intrigues or policies, of a court_. This, I said, is +equal in importance to the securing a government according to law. The +laws reach but a very little way. Constitute government how you please, +infinitely the greater part of it must depend upon the exercise of the +powers which are left at large to the prudence and uprightness of +ministers of state. Even all the use and potency of the laws depends +upon them. Without them, your commonwealth is no better than a scheme +upon paper; and not a living, active, effective constitution. It is +possible that through negligence, or ignorance, or design artfully +conducted, ministers may suffer one part of government to languish, +another to be perverted from its purposes, and every valuable interest +of the country to fall into ruin and decay, without possibility of +fixing any single act on which a criminal prosecution can be justly +grounded. The due arrangement of men in the active part of the state, +far from being foreign to the purposes of a wise government, ought to be +among its very first and dearest objects. When, therefore, the abettors +of the new system tell us, that between them and their opposers there is +nothing but a struggle for power, and that therefore we are no ways +concerned in it; we must tell those who have the impudence to insult us +in this manner, that, of all things, we ought to be the most concerned +who, and what sort of men they are that hold the trust of everything +that is dear to us. Nothing can render this a point of indifference to +the nation, but what must either render us totally desperate, or soothe +us into the security of idiots. We must soften into a credulity below +the milkiness of infancy to think all men virtuous. We must be tainted +with a malignity truly diabolical to believe all the world to be equally +wicked and corrupt. Men are in public life as in private, some good, +some evil. The elevation of the one, and the depression of the other, +are the first objects of all true policy. But that form of government, +which, neither in its direct institutions, nor in their immediate +tendency, has contrived to throw its affairs into the most trustworthy +hands, but has left its whole executory system to be disposed of +agreeably to the uncontrolled pleasure of any one man, however excellent +or virtuous, is a plan of polity defective not only in that member, but +consequentially erroneous in every part of it. + +In arbitrary governments, the constitution of the ministry follows the +constitution of the legislature. Both the law and the magistrate are the +creatures of will. It must be so. Nothing, indeed, will appear more +certain, on any tolerable consideration of this matter, than that _every +sort of government ought to have its administration correspondent to its +legislature_. If it should be otherwise, things must fall into an +hideous disorder. The people of a free commonwealth, who have taken such +care that their laws should be the result of general consent, cannot be +so senseless as to suffer their executory system to be composed of +persons on whom they have no dependence, and whom no proofs of the +public love and confidence have recommended to those powers, upon the +use of which the very being of the state depends. + +The popular election of magistrates, and popular disposition of rewards +and honors, is one of the first advantages of a free state. Without it, +or something equivalent to it, perhaps the people cannot long enjoy the +substance of freedom; certainly none of the vivifying energy of good +government. The frame of our commonwealth did not admit of such an +actual election: but it provided as well, and (while the spirit of the +constitution is preserved) better for all the effects of it than by the +method of suffrage in any democratic state whatsoever. It had always, +until of late, been held the first duty of Parliament _to refuse to +support government, until power was in the hands of persons who were +acceptable to the people, or while factions predominated in the court in +which the nation had no confidence_. Thus all the good effects of +popular election were supposed to be secured to us, without the +mischiefs attending on perpetual intrigue, and a distinct canvass for +every particular office throughout the body of the people. This was the +most noble and refined part of our constitution. The people, by their +representatives and grandees, were intrusted with a deliberative power +in making laws; the king with the control of his negative. The king was +intrusted with the deliberative choice and the election to office; the +people had the negative in a Parliamentary refusal to support. Formerly +this power of control was what kept ministers in awe of Parliaments, and +Parliaments in reverence with the people. If the use of this power of +control on the system and persons of administration is gone, everything +is lost, Parliament and all. We may assure ourselves, that if Parliament +will tamely see evil men take possession of all the strongholds of their +country, and allow them time and means to fortify themselves, under a +pretence of giving them a fair trial, and upon a hope of discovering, +whether they will not be reformed by power, and whether their measures +will not be better than their morals; such a Parliament will give +countenance to their measures also, whatever that Parliament may +pretend, and whatever those measures may be. + +Every good political institution must have a preventive operation as +well as a remedial. It ought to have a natural tendency to exclude bad +men from government, and not to trust for the safety of the state to +subsequent punishment alone; punishment, which has ever been tardy and +uncertain; and which, when power is suffered in bad hands, may chance to +fall rather on the injured than the criminal. + +Before men are put forward into the great trusts of the state, they +ought by their conduct to have obtained such a degree of estimation in +their country, as may be some sort of pledge and security to the public, +that they will not abuse those trusts. It is no mean security for a +proper use of power, that a man has shown by the general tenor of his +actions, that the affection, the good opinion, the confidence of his +fellow-citizens have been among the principal objects of his life; and +that he has owed none of the gradations of his power or fortune to a +settled contempt, or occasional forfeiture of their esteem. + +That man who before he comes into power has no friends, or who coming +into power is obliged to desert his friends, or who losing it has no +friends to sympathize with him; he who has no sway among any part of the +landed or commercial interest, but whose whole importance has begun with +his office, and is sure to end with it, is a person who ought never to +be suffered by a controlling Parliament to continue in any of those +situations which confer the lead and direction of all our public +affairs; because such a man _has no connection with the interest of the +people_. + +Those knots or cabals of men who have got together, avowedly without any +public principle, in order to sell their conjunct iniquity at the higher +rate, and are therefore universally odious, ought never to be suffered +to domineer in the state; because they have _no connection with the +sentiments and opinions of the people_. + +These are considerations which in my opinion enforce the necessity of +having some better reason, in a free country, and a free Parliament, for +supporting the ministers of the crown, than that short one, _That the +king has thought proper to appoint them_. There is something very +courtly in this. But it is a principle pregnant with all sorts of +mischief, in a constitution like ours, to turn the views of active men +from the country to the court. Whatever be the road to power, that is +the road which will be trod. If the opinion of the country be of no use +as a means of power or consideration, the qualities which usually +procure that opinion will be no longer cultivated. And whether it will +be right, in a state so popular in its constitution as ours, to leave +ambition without popular motives, and to trust all to the operation of +pure virtue in the minds of kings, and ministers, and public men, must +be submitted to the judgment and good sense of the people of England. + +Cunning men are here apt to break in, and, without directly +controverting the principle, to raise objections from the difficulty +under which the sovereign labors, to distinguish the genuine voice and +sentiments of his people, from the clamor of a faction, by which it is +so easily counterfeited. The nation, they say, is generally divided into +parties, with views and passions utterly irreconcilable. If the king +should put his affairs into the hands of any one of them, he is sure to +disgust the rest; if he select particular men from among them all, it is +a hazard that he disgusts them all. Those who are left out, however +divided before, will soon run into a body of opposition; which, being a +collection of many discontents into one focus, will without doubt be hot +and violent enough. Faction will make its cries resound through the +nation, as if the whole were in an uproar, when by far the majority, and +much the better part, will seem for a while as it were annihilated by +the quiet in which their virtue and moderation incline them to enjoy the +blessings of government. Besides that the opinion of the mere vulgar is +a miserable rule even with regard to themselves, on account of their +violence and instability. So that if you were to gratify them in their +humor to-day, that very gratification would be a ground of their +dissatisfaction on the next. Now as all these rules of public opinion +are to be collected with great difficulty, and to be applied with equal +uncertainty as to the effect, what better can a king of England do, than +to employ such men as he finds to have views and inclinations most +conformable to his own; who are least infected with pride and self-will; +and who are least moved by such popular humors as are perpetually +traversing his designs, and disturbing his service; trusting that, when +he means no ill to his people, he will be supported in his appointments, +whether he chooses to keep or to change, as his private judgment or his +pleasure leads him? He will find a sure resource in the real weight and +influence of the crown, when it is not suffered to become an instrument +in the hands of a faction. + +I will not pretend to say, that there is nothing at all in this mode of +reasoning; because I will not assert that there is no difficulty in the +art of government. Undoubtedly the very best administration must +encounter a great deal of opposition; and the very worst will find more +support than it deserves. Sufficient appearances will never be wanting +to those who have a mind to deceive themselves. It is a fallacy in +constant use with those who would level all things, and confound right +with wrong, to insist upon the inconveniences which are attached to +every choice, without taking into consideration the different weight and +consequence of those inconveniences. The question is not concerning +_absolute_ discontent or _perfect_ satisfaction in government; neither +of which can be pure and unmixed at any time, or upon any system. The +controversy is about that degree of good humor in the people, which may +possibly be attained, and ought certainly to be looked for. While some +politicians may be waiting to know whether the sense of every individual +be against them, accurately distinguishing the vulgar from the better +sort, drawing lines between the enterprises of a faction and the efforts +of a people, they may chance to see the government, which they are so +nicely weighing, and dividing, and distinguishing, tumble to the ground +in the midst of their wise deliberation. Prudent men, when so great an +object as the security of government, or even its peace, is at stake, +will not run the risk of a decision which may be fatal to it. They who +can read the political sky will see a hurricane in a cloud no bigger +than a hand at the very edge of the horizon, and will run into the first +harbor. No lines can be laid down for civil or political wisdom. They +are a matter incapable of exact definition. But, though no man can draw +a stroke between the confines of day and night, yet light and darkness +are upon the whole tolerably distinguishable. Nor will it be impossible +for a prince to find out such a mode of government, and such persons to +administer it, as will give a great degree of content to his people; +without any curious and anxious research for that abstract, universal, +perfect harmony, which while he is seeking, he abandons those means of +ordinary tranquillity which are in his power without any research at +all. + +It is not more the duty than it is the interest of a prince, to aim at +giving tranquillity to his government. But those who advise him may have +an interest in disorder and confusion. If the opinion of the people is +against them, they will naturally wish that it should have no +prevalence. Here it is that the people must on their part show +themselves sensible of their own value. Their whole importance, in the +first instance, and afterwards their whole freedom, is at stake. Their +freedom cannot long survive their importance. Here it is that the +natural strength of the kingdom, the great peers, the leading landed +gentlemen, the opulent merchants and manufacturers, the substantial +yeomanry, must interpose, to rescue their prince, themselves, and their +posterity. + +We are at present at issue upon this point. We are in the great crisis +of this contention; and the part which men take, one way or other, will +serve to discriminate their characters and their principles. Until the +matter is decided, the country will remain in its present confusion. For +while a system of administration is attempted, entirely repugnant to the +genius of the people, and not conformable to the plan of their +government, everything must necessarily be disordered for a time, until +this system destroys the constitution, or the constitution gets the +better of this system. + +There is, in my opinion, a peculiar venom and malignity in this +political distemper beyond any that I have heard or read of. In former +times the projectors of arbitrary government attacked only the liberties +of their country; a design surely mischievous enough to have satisfied a +mind of the most unruly ambition. But a system unfavorable to freedom +may be so formed, as considerably to exalt the grandeur of the state; +and men may find, in the pride and splendor of that prosperity, some +sort of consolation for the loss of their solid privileges. Indeed the +increase of the power of the state has often been urged by artful men, +as a pretext for some abridgment of the public liberty. But the scheme +of the junto under consideration, not only strikes a palsy into every +nerve of our free constitution, but in the same degree benumbs and +stupefies the whole executive power: rendering government in all its +grand operations languid, uncertain, ineffective; making ministers +fearful of attempting, and incapable of executing any useful plan of +domestic arrangement, or of foreign politics. It tends to produce +neither the security of a free government, nor the energy of a monarchy +that is absolute. Accordingly the crown has dwindled away, in proportion +to the unnatural and turgid growth of this excrescence on the court. + +The interior ministry are sensible, that war is a situation which sets +in its full light the value of the hearts of a people; and they well +know, that the beginning of the importance of the people must be the end +of theirs. For this reason they discover upon all occasions the utmost +fear of everything, which by possibility may lead to such an event. I do +not mean that they manifest any of that pious fear which is backward to +commit the safety of the country to the dubious experiment of war. Such +a fear, being the tender sensation of virtue, excited, as it is +regulated, by reason, frequently shows itself in a seasonable boldness, +which keeps danger at a distance, by seeming to despise it. Their fear +betrays to the first glance of the eye, its true cause, and its real +object. Foreign powers, confident in the knowledge of their character, +have not scrupled to violate the most solemn treaties; and, in defiance +of them, to make conquests in the midst of a general peace, and in the +heart of Europe. Such was the conquest of Corsica, by the professed +enemies of the freedom of mankind, in defiance of those who were +formerly its professed defenders. We have had just claims upon the same +powers: rights which ought to have been sacred to them as well as to us, +as they had their origin in our lenity and generosity towards France and +Spain in the day of their great humiliation. Such I call the ransom of +Manilla, and the demand on France for the East India prisoners. But +these powers put a just confidence in their resource of the _double +cabinet_. These demands (one of them at least) are hastening fast +towards an acquittal by prescription. Oblivion begins to spread her +cobwebs over all our spirited remonstrances. Some of the most valuable +branches of our trade are also on the point of perishing from the same +cause. I do not mean those branches which bear without the hand of the +vine-dresser; I mean those which the policy of treaties had formerly +secured to us; I mean to mark and distinguish the trade of Portugal, the +loss of which, and the power of the cabal, have one and the same era. + +If by any chance, the ministers who stand before the curtain possess or +affect any spirit, it makes little or no impression. Foreign courts and +ministers, who were among the first to discover and to profit by this +invention of the _double cabinet_, attend very little to their +remonstrances. They know that those shadows of ministers have nothing to +do in the ultimate disposal of things. Jealousies and animosities are +sedulously nourished in the outward administration, and have been even +considered as a _causa sine qua non_ in its constitution: thence foreign +courts have a certainty, that nothing can be done by common counsel in +this nation. If one of those ministers officially takes up a business +with spirit, it serves only the better to signalize the meanness of the +rest, and the discord of them all. His colleagues in office are in haste +to shake him off, and to disclaim the whole of his proceedings. Of this +nature was that astonishing transaction, in which Lord Rochford, our +ambassador at Paris, remonstrated against the attempt upon Corsica, in +consequence of a direct authority from Lord Shelburne. This remonstrance +the French minister treated with the contempt that was natural: as he +was assured, from the ambassador of his court to ours, that these orders +of Lord Shelburne were not supported by the rest of the (I had like to +have said British) administration. Lord Rochford, a man of spirit, +could not endure this situation. The consequences were, however, +curious. He returns from Paris, and comes home full of anger. Lord +Shelburne, who gave the orders, is obliged to give up the seals. Lord +Rochford, who obeyed these orders, receives them. He goes, however, into +another department of the same office, that he might not be obliged +officially to acquiesce, in one situation, under what he had officially +remonstrated against, in another. At Paris, the Duke of Choiseul +considered this office arrangement as a compliment to him: here it was +spoken of as an attention to the delicacy of Lord Rochford. But whether +the compliment was to one or both, to this nation it was the same. By +this transaction the condition of our court lay exposed in all its +nakedness. Our office correspondence has lost all pretence to +authenticity: British policy is brought into derision in those nations, +that a while ago trembled at the power of our arms, whilst they looked +up with confidence to the equity, firmness, and candor, which shone in +all our negotiations. I represent this matter exactly in the light in +which it has been universally received. + +Such has been the aspect of our foreign politics, under the influence of +a _double cabinet_. With such an arrangement at court, it is impossible +it should have been otherwise. Nor is it possible that this scheme +should have a better effect upon the government of our dependencies, the +first, the dearest, and most delicate objects, of the interior policy of +this empire. The colonies know, that administration is separated from +the court, divided within itself, and detested by the nation. The +_double cabinet_ has, in both the parts of it, shown the most malignant +dispositions towards them, without being able to do them the smallest +mischief. + +They are convinced, by sufficient experience, that no plan, either of +lenity, or rigor, can be pursued with uniformity and perseverance. +Therefore they turn their eyes entirely from Great Britain, where they +have neither dependence on friendship, nor apprehension from enmity. +They look to themselves, and their own arrangements. They grow every day +into alienation from this country; and whilst they are becoming +disconnected with our government, we have not the consolation to find, +that they are even friendly in their new independence. Nothing can equal +the futility, the weakness, the rashness, the timidity, the perpetual +contradiction in the management of our affairs in that part of the +world. A volume might be written on this melancholy subject; but it were +better to leave it entirely to the reflections of the reader himself, +than not to treat it in the extent it deserves. + +In what manner our domestic economy is affected by this system, it is +needless to explain. It is the perpetual subject of their own +complaints. + +The court party resolve the whole into faction Having said something +before upon this subject, I shall only observe here, that, when they +give this account of the prevalence of faction, they present no very +favorable aspect of the confidence of the people in their own +government. They may be assured, that however they amuse themselves with +a variety of projects for substituting something else in the place of +that great and only foundation of government, the confidence of the +people, every attempt will but make their condition worse. When men +imagine that their food is only a cover for poison, and when they +neither love nor trust the hand that serves it, it is not the name of +the roast beef of Old England, that will persuade them to sit down to +the table that is spread for them. When the people conceive that laws, +and tribunals, and even popular assemblies, are perverted from the ends +of their institution, they find in those names of degenerated +establishments only new motives to discontent. Those bodies, which, when +full of life and beauty, lay in their arms, and were their joy and +comfort, when dead and putrid, become but the more loathsome from +remembrance of former endearments. A sullen gloom and furious disorder +prevail by fits; the nation loses its relish for peace and prosperity; +as it did in that season of fulness which opened our troubles in the +time of Charles the First. A species of men to whom a state of order +would become a sentence of obscurity are nourished into a dangerous +magnitude by the heat of intestine disturbances; and it is no wonder +that, by a sort of sinister piety, they cherish, in their turn, the +disorders which are the parents of all their consequence. Superficial +observers consider such persons as the cause of the public uneasiness, +when, in truth, they are nothing more than the effect of it. Good men +look upon this distracted scene with sorrow and indignation. Their hands +are tied behind them. They are despoiled of all the power which might +enable them to reconcile the strength of government with the rights of +the people. They stand in a most distressing alternative. But in the +election among evils they hope better things from temporary confusion, +than from established servitude. In the mean time, the voice of law is +not to be heard. Fierce licentiousness begets violent restraints. The +military arm is the sole reliance; and then, call your constitution what +you please, it is the sword that governs. The civil power, like every +other that calls in the aid of an ally stronger than itself, perishes by +the assistance it receives. But the contrivers of this scheme of +government will not trust solely to the military power; because they are +cunning men. Their restless and crooked spirit drives them to rake in +the dirt of every kind of expedient. Unable to rule the multitude, they +endeavor to raise divisions amongst them. One mob is hired to destroy +another; a procedure which at once encourages the boldness of the +populace, and justly increases their discontent. Men become pensioners +of state on account of their abilities in the array of riot, and the +discipline of confusion. Government is put under the disgraceful +necessity of protecting from the severity of the laws that very +licentiousness, which the laws had been before violated to repress. +Everything partakes of the original disorder. Anarchy predominates +without freedom, and servitude without submission or subordination. +These are the consequences inevitable to our public peace, from the +scheme of rendering the executory government at once odious and feeble; +of freeing administration from the constitutional and salutary control +of Parliament, and inventing for it a _new control_, unknown to the +constitution, an _interior cabinet_; which brings the whole body of +government into confusion and contempt. + +After having stated, as shortly as I am able, the effects of this system +on our foreign affairs, on the policy of our government with regard to +our dependencies, and on the interior economy of the commonwealth; +there remains only, in this part of my design, to say something of the +grand principle which first recommended this system at court. The +pretence was, to prevent the king from being enslaved by a faction, and +made a prisoner in his closet. This scheme might have been expected to +answer at least its own end, and to indemnify the king, in his personal +capacity, for all the confusion into which it has thrown his government. +But has it in reality answered this purpose? I am sure, if it had, every +affectionate subject would have one motive for enduring with patience +all the evils which attend it. + +In order to come at the truth in this matter, it may not be amiss to +consider it somewhat in detail. I speak here of the king, and not of the +crown; the interests of which we have already touched. Independent of +that greatness which a king possesses merely by being a representative +of the national dignity, the things in which he may have an individual +interest seem to be these:--wealth accumulated; wealth spent in +magnificence, pleasure, or beneficence; personal respect and attention; +and, above all, private ease and repose of mind. These compose the +inventory of prosperous circumstances, whether they regard a prince or a +subject; their enjoyments differing only in the scale upon which they +are formed. + +Suppose then we were to ask, whether the king has been richer than his +predecessors in accumulated wealth, since the establishment of the plan +of favoritism? I believe it will be found that the picture of royal +indigence, which our court has presented until this year, has been truly +humiliating. Nor has it been relieved from this unseemly distress, but +by means which have hazarded the affection of the people, and shaken +their confidence in Parliament. If the public treasures had been +exhausted in magnificence and splendor, this distress would have been +accounted for, and in some measure justified. Nothing would be more +unworthy of this nation, than with a mean and mechanical rule, to mete +out the splendor of the crown. Indeed I have found very few persons +disposed to so ungenerous a procedure. But the generality of people, it +must be confessed, do feel a good deal mortified, when they compare the +wants of the court with its expenses. They do not behold the cause of +this distress in any part of the apparatus of royal magnificence. In all +this, they see nothing but the operations of parsimony, attended with +all the consequences of profusion. Nothing expended, nothing saved. +Their wonder is increased by their knowledge, that besides the revenue +settled on his Majesty's civil list to the amount of 800,000_l._ a year, +he has a farther aid from a large pension list, near 90,000_l._ a year, +in Ireland; from the produce of the duchy of Lancaster (which we are +told has been greatly improved); from the revenue of the duchy of +Cornwall; from the American quit-rents; from the four and a half per +cent duty in the Leeward Islands; this last worth to be sure +considerably more than 40,000_l._ a year. The whole is certainly not +much short of a million annually. + +These are revenues within the knowledge and cognizance of our national +councils. We have no direct right to examine into the receipts from his +Majesty's German dominions, and the bishopric of Osnaburg. This is +unquestionably true. But that which is not within the province of +Parliament, is yet within the sphere of every man's own reflection. If +a foreign prince resided amongst us, the state of his revenues could not +fail of becoming the subject of our speculation. Filled with an anxious +concern for whatever regards the welfare of our sovereign, it is +impossible, in considering the miserable circumstances into which he has +been brought, that this obvious topic should be entirely passed over. +There is an opinion universal, that these revenues produce something not +inconsiderable, clear of all charges and establishments. This produce +the people do not believe to be hoarded, nor perceive to be spent. It is +accounted for in the only manner it can, by supposing that it is drawn +away, for the support of that court faction, which, whilst it distresses +the nation, impoverishes the prince in every one of his resources. I +once more caution the reader, that I do not urge this consideration +concerning the foreign revenue, as if I supposed we had a direct right +to examine into the expenditure of any part of it; but solely for the +purpose of showing how little this system of favoritism has been +advantageous to the monarch himself; which, without magnificence, has +sunk him into a state of unnatural poverty; at the same time that he +possessed every means of affluence, from ample revenues, both in this +country, and in other parts of his dominions. + +Has this system provided better for the treatment becoming his high and +sacred character, and secured the king from those disgusts attached to +the necessity of employing men who are not personally agreeable? This is +a topic upon which for many reasons I could wish to be silent; but the +pretence of securing against such causes of uneasiness, is the +corner-stone of the court-party. It has however so happened, that if I +were to fix upon any one point, in which this system has been more +particularly and shamefully blamable, the effects which it has produced +would justify me in choosing for that point its tendency to degrade the +personal dignity of the sovereign, and to expose him to a thousand +contradictions and mortifications. It is but too evident in what manner +these projectors of royal greatness have fulfilled all their magnificent +promises. Without recapitulating all the circumstances of the reign, +every one of which is, more or less, a melancholy proof of the truth of +what I have advanced, let us consider the language of the court but a +few years ago, concerning most of the persons now in the external +administration: let me ask, whether any enemy to the personal feelings +of the sovereign could possibly contrive a keener instrument of +mortification, and degradation of all dignity, than almost every part +and member of the present arrangement? Nor, in the whole course of our +history, has any compliance with the will of the people ever been known +to extort from any prince a greater contradiction to all his own +declared affections and dislikes, than that which is now adopted, in +direct opposition to everything the people approve and desire. + +An opinion prevails, that greatness has been more than once advised to +submit to certain condescensions towards individuals, which have been +denied to the entreaties of a nation. For the meanest and most dependent +instrument of this system knows, that there are hours when its existence +may depend upon his adherence to it; and he takes his advantage +accordingly. Indeed it is a law of nature, that whoever is necessary to +what we have made our object is sure, in some way, or in some time or +other, to become our master. All this however is submitted to, in order +to avoid that monstrous evil of governing in concurrence with the +opinion of the people. For it seems to be laid down as a maxim, that a +king has some sort of interest in giving uneasiness to his subjects: +that all who are pleasing to them, are to be of course disagreeable to +him: that as soon as the persons who are odious at court are known to be +odious to the people, it is snatched at as a lucky occasion of showering +down upon them all kinds of emoluments and honors. None are considered +as well-wishers to the crown, but those who advise to some unpopular +course of action; none capable of serving it, but those who are obliged +to call at every instant upon all its power for the safety of their +lives. None are supposed to be fit priests in the temple of government, +but the persons who are compelled to fly into it for sanctuary. Such is +the effect of this refined project; such is ever the result of all the +contrivances, which are used to free men from the servitude of their +reason, and from the necessity of ordering their affairs according to +their evident interests. These contrivances oblige them to run into a +real and ruinous servitude, in order to avoid a supposed restraint, that +might be attended with advantage. + +If therefore this system has so ill answered its own grand pretence of +saving the king from the necessity of employing persons disagreeable to +him, has it given more peace and tranquillity to his Majesty's private +hours? No, most certainly. The father of his people cannot possibly +enjoy repose, while his family is in such a state of distraction. Then +what has the crown or the king profited by all this fine-wrought scheme? +Is he more rich, or more splendid, or more powerful, or more at his +ease, by so many labors and contrivances? Have they not beggared his +exchequer, tarnished the splendor of his court, sunk his dignity, galled +his feelings, discomposed the whole order and happiness of his private +life? + +It will be very hard, I believe, to state in what respect the king has +profited by that faction which presumptuously choose to call themselves +_his friends_. + +If particular men had grown into an attachment, by the distinguished +honor of the society of their sovereign; and, by being the partakers of +his amusements, came sometimes to prefer the gratification of his +personal inclinations to the support of his high character, the thing +would be very natural, and it would be excusable enough. But the +pleasant part of the story is, that these _king's friends_ have no more +ground for usurping such a title, than a resident freeholder in +Cumberland or in Cornwall. They are only known to their sovereign by +kissing his hand, for the offices, pensions, and grants, into which they +have deceived his benignity. May no storm ever come, which will put the +firmness of their attachment to the proof; and which, in the midst of +confusions, and terrors, and sufferings, may demonstrate the eternal +difference between a true and severe friend to the monarchy, and a +slippery sycophant of the court! _Quantum infido scurrae distabit +amicus._ + +So far I have considered the effect of the court system, chiefly as it +operates upon the executive government, on the temper of the people, and +on the happiness of the sovereign. It remains that we should consider, +with a little attention, its operation upon Parliament. + +Parliament was indeed the great object of all these politics, the end +at which they aimed, as well as the instrument by which they were to +operate. But, before Parliament could be made subservient to a system, +by which it was to be degraded from the dignity of a national council +into a mere member of the court, it must be greatly changed from its +original character. + +In speaking of this body, I have my eye chiefly on the House of Commons. +I hope I shall be indulged in a few observations on the nature and +character of that assembly; not with regard to its _legal form and +power_, but to its _spirit_, and to the purposes it is meant to answer +in the constitution. + +The House of Commons was supposed originally to be _no part of the +standing government of this country_. It was considered as a _control_ +issuing _immediately_ from the people, and speedily to be resolved into +the mass from whence it arose. In this respect it was in the higher part +of government what juries are in the lower. The capacity of a magistrate +being transitory, and that of a citizen permanent, the latter capacity +it was hoped would of course preponderate in all discussions, not only +between the people and the standing authority of the crown, but between +the people and the fleeting authority of the House of Commons itself. It +was hoped that, being of a middle nature between subject and government, +they would feel with a more tender and a nearer interest everything that +concerned the people, than the other remoter and more permanent parts of +legislature. + +Whatever alterations time and the necessary accommodation of business +may have introduced, this character can never be sustained, unless the +House of Commons shall be made to bear some stamp of the actual +disposition of the people at large. It would (among public misfortunes) +be an evil more natural and tolerable, that the House of Commons should +be infected with every epidemical frenzy of the people, as this would +indicate some consanguinity, some sympathy of nature with their +constituents, than that they should in all cases be wholly untouched by +the opinions and feelings of the people out of doors. By this want of +sympathy they would cease to be a House of Commons. For it is not the +derivation of the power of that House from the people, which makes it in +a distinct sense their representative. The king is the representative of +the people; so are the lords; so are the judges. They all are trustees +for the people, as well as the commons; because no power is given for +the sole sake of the holder; and although government certainly is an +institution of divine authority, yet its forms, and the persons who +administer it, all originate from the people. + +A popular origin cannot therefore be the characteristical distinction of +a popular representative. This belongs equally to all parts of +government and in all forms. The virtue, spirit, and essence of a House +of Commons consists in its being the express image of the feelings of +the nation. It was not instituted to be a control _upon_ the people, as +of late it has been taught, by a doctrine of the most pernicious +tendency. It was designed as a control _for_ the people. Other +institutions have been formed for the purpose of checking popular +excesses; and they are, I apprehend, fully adequate to their object. If +not, they ought to be made so. The House of Commons, as it was never +intended for the support of peace and subordination, is miserably +appointed for that service; having no stronger weapon than its mace, +and no better officer than its serjeant-at-arms, which it can command of +its own proper authority. A vigilant and jealous eye over executory and +judicial magistracy; an anxious care of public money; an openness, +approaching towards facility, to public complaint: these seem to be the +true characteristics of a House of Commons. But an addressing House of +Commons, and a petitioning nation; a House of Commons full of +confidence, when the nation is plunged in despair; in the utmost harmony +with ministers, whom the people regard with the utmost abhorrence; who +vote thanks, when the public opinion calls upon them for impeachments; +who are eager to grant, when the general voice demands account; who, in +all disputes between the people and administration, presume against the +people; who punish their disorders, but refuse even to inquire into the +provocations to them; this is an unnatural, a monstrous state of things +in this constitution. Such an assembly may be a great, wise, awful +senate; but it is not, to any popular purpose, a House of Commons. This +change from an immediate state of procuration and delegation to a course +of acting as from original power, is the way in which all the popular +magistracies in the world have been perverted from their purposes. It is +indeed their greatest and sometimes their incurable corruption. For +there is a material distinction between that corruption by which +particular points are carried against reason, (this is a thing which +cannot be prevented by human wisdom, and is of loss consequence,) and +the corruption of the principle itself For then the evil is not +accidental, but settled. The distemper becomes the natural habit. + +For my part, I shall be compelled to conclude the principle of +Parliament to be totally corrupted, and therefore its ends entirely +defeated, when I see two symptoms: first, a rule of indiscriminate +support to all ministers; because this destroys the very end of +Parliament as a control, and is a general, previous sanction to +misgovernment: and secondly, the setting up any claims adverse to the +right of free election; for this tends to subvert the legal authority by +which the House of Commons sits. + +I know that, since the Revolution, along with many dangerous, many +useful powers of government have been weakened. It is absolutely +necessary to have frequent recourse to the legislature. Parliaments must +therefore sit every year, and for great part of the year. The dreadful +disorders of frequent elections have also necessitated a septennial +instead of a triennial duration. These circumstances, I mean the +constant habit of authority, and the unfrequency of elections, have +tended very much to draw the House of Commons towards the character of a +standing senate. It is a disorder which has arisen from the cure of +greater disorders; it has arisen from the extreme difficulty of +reconciling liberty under a monarchical government, with external +strength and with internal tranquillity. + +It is very clear that we cannot free ourselves entirely from this great +inconvenience; but I would not increase an evil, because I was not able +to remove it; and because it was not in my power to keep the House of +Commons religiously true to its first principles, I would not argue for +carrying it to a total oblivion of them. This has been the great scheme +of power in our time. They, who will not conform their conduct to the +public good, and cannot support it by the prerogative of the crown, have +adopted a new plan. They have totally abandoned the shattered and +old-fashioned fortress of prerogative, and made a lodgment in the +stronghold of Parliament itself. If they have any evil design to which +there is no ordinary legal power commensurate, they bring it into +Parliament. In Parliament the whole is executed from the beginning to +the end. In Parliament the power of obtaining their object is absolute; +and the safety in the proceeding perfect: no rules to confine, no +after-reckonings to terrify. Parliament cannot, with any great +propriety, punish others for things in which they themselves have been +accomplices. Thus the control of Parliament upon the executory power is +lost; because Parliament is made to partake in every considerable act of +government. _Impeachment, that great guardian of the purity of the +constitution, is in danger of being lost, even to the idea of it._ + +By this plan several important ends are answered to the cabal. If the +authority of Parliament supports itself, the credit of every act of +government, which they contrive, is saved; but if the act be so very +odious that the whole strength of Parliament is insufficient to +recommend it, then Parliament is itself discredited; and this discredit +increases more and more that indifference to the constitution, which it +is the constant aim of its enemies, by their abuse of Parliamentary +powers, to render general among the people. Whenever Parliament is +persuaded to assume the offices of executive government, it will lose +all the confidence, love, and veneration, which it has ever enjoyed +whilst it was supposed the _corrective and control_ of the acting powers +of the state. This would be the event, though its conduct in such a +perversion of its functions should be tolerably just and moderate; but +if it should be iniquitous, violent, full of passion, and full of +faction, it would be considered as the most intolerable of all the modes +of tyranny. + +For a considerable time this separation of the representatives from +their constituents went on with a silent progress; and had those, who +conducted the plan for their total separation, been persons of temper +and abilities any way equal to the magnitude of their design, the +success would have been infallible: but by their precipitancy they have +laid it open in all its nakedness; the nation is alarmed at it: and the +event may not be pleasant to the contrivers of the scheme. In the last +session, the corps called the _king's friends_ made a hardy attempt, all +at once, _to alter the right of election itself_; to put it into the +power of the House of Commons to disable any person disagreeable to them +from sitting in Parliament, without any other rule than their own +pleasure; to make incapacities, either general for descriptions of men, +or particular for individuals; and to take into their body, persons who +avowedly had never been chosen by the majority of legal electors, nor +agreeably to any known rule of law. + +The arguments upon which this claim was founded and combated, are not my +business here. Never has a subject been more amply and more learnedly +handled, nor upon one side, in my opinion, more satisfactorily; they who +are not convinced by what is already written would not receive +conviction _though, one arose from the dead_. + +I too have thought on this subject: but my purpose here, is only to +consider it as a part of the favorite project of government; to observe +on the motives which led to it; and to trace its political consequences. + +A violent rage for the punishment of Mr. Wilkes was the pretence of the +whole. This gentleman, by setting himself strongly in opposition to the +court cabal, had become at once an object of their persecution, and of +the popular favor. The hatred of the court party pursuing, and the +countenance of the people protecting him, it very soon became not at all +a question on the man, but a trial of strength between the two parties. +The advantage of the victory in this particular contest was the present, +but not the only, nor by any means the principal object. Its operation +upon the character of the House of Commons was the great point in view. +The point to be gained by the cabal was this; that a precedent should be +established, tending to show, _That the favor of the people was not so +sure a road as the favor of the court even to popular honors and popular +trusts_. A strenuous resistance to every appearance of lawless power; a +spirit of independence carried to some degree of enthusiasm; an +inquisitive character to discover, and a bold one to display, every +corruption and every error of government; these are the qualities which +recommend a man to a seat in the House of Commons, in open and merely +popular elections. An indolent and submissive disposition; a disposition +to think charitably of all the actions of men in power, and to live in a +mutual intercourse of favors with them; an inclination rather to +countenance a strong use of authority, than to bear any sort of +licentiousness on the part of the people; these are unfavorable +qualities in an open election for members of Parliament. + +The instinct which carries the people towards the choice of the former, +is justified by reason; because a man of such a character, even in its +exorbitances, does not directly contradict the purposes of a trust, the +end of which is a control on power. The latter character, even when it +is not in its extreme, will execute this trust but very imperfectly; +and, if deviating to the least excess, will certainly frustrate instead +of forwarding the purposes of a control on government. But when the +House of Commons was to be new modelled, this principle was not only to +be changed but reversed. Whilst any errors committed in support of power +were left to the law, with every advantage of favorable construction, of +mitigation, and finally of pardon; all excesses on the side of liberty, +or in pursuit of popular favor, or in defence of popular rights and +privileges, were not only to be punished by the rigor of the known law, +but by a _discretionary_ proceeding, which brought on _the loss of the +popular object itself_. Popularity was to be rendered, if not directly +penal, at least highly dangerous. The favor of the people might lead +even to a disqualification of representing them. Their odium might +become, strained through the medium of two or three constructions, the +means of sitting as the trustee of all that was dear to them. This is +punishing the offence in the offending part. Until this time, the +opinion of the people, through the power of an assembly, still in some +sort popular, led to the greatest honors and emoluments in the gift of +the crown. Now the principle is reversed; and the favor of the court is +the only sure way of obtaining and holding those honors which ought to +be in the disposal of the people. + +It signifies very little how this matter may be quibbled away. Example, +the only argument of effect in civil life, demonstrates the truth of my +proposition. Nothing can alter my opinion concerting the pernicious +tendency of this example, until I see some man for his indiscretion in +the support of power, for his violent and intemperate servility, +rendered incapable of sitting in Parliament. For as it now stands, the +fault of overstraining popular qualities, and, irregularly if you +please, asserting popular privileges, has led to disqualification; the +opposite fault never has produced the slightest punishment. Resistance +to power has shut the door of the House of Commons to one man; +obsequiousness and servility, to none. + +Not that I would encourage popular disorder, or any disorder. But I +would leave such offences to the law, to be punished in measure and +proportion. The laws of this country are for the most part constituted, +and wisely so, for the general ends of government, rather than for the +preservation of our particular liberties. Whatever therefore is done in +support of liberty, by persons not in public trust, or not acting merely +in that trust, is liable to be more or less out of the ordinary course +of the law; and the law itself is sufficient to animadvert upon it with +great severity. Nothing indeed can hinder that severe letter from +crushing us, except the temperaments it may receive from a trial by +jury. But if the habit prevails of _going beyond the law_, and +superseding this judicature, of carrying offences, real or supposed, +into the legislative bodies, who shall establish themselves into _courts +of criminal equity_ (so the _Star Chamber_ has been called by Lord +Bacon), all the evils of the _Star Chamber_ are revived. A large and +liberal construction in ascertaining offences, and a discretionary +power in punishing them, is the idea of _criminal equity_; which is in +truth a monster in jurisprudence. It signifies nothing whether a court +for this purpose be a committee of council, or a House of Commons, or a +House of Lords; the liberty of the subject will be equally subverted by +it. The true end and purpose of that House of Parliament, which +entertains such a jurisdiction, will be destroyed by it. + +I will not believe, what no other man living believes, that Mr. Wilkes +was punished for the indecency of his publications, or the impiety of +his ransacked closet. If he had fallen in a common slaughter of +libellers and blasphemers, I could well believe that nothing more was +meant than was pretended. But when I see, that, for years together, full +as impious, and perhaps more dangerous writings to religion, and virtue, +and order, have not been punished, nor their authors discountenanced; +that the most audacious libels on royal majesty have passed without +notice; that the most treasonable invectives against the laws, +liberties, and constitution of the country, have not met with the +slightest animadversion; I must consider this as a shocking and +shameless pretence. Never did an envenomed scurrility against everything +sacred and civil, public and private, rage through the kingdom with such +a furious and unbridled license. All this while the peace of the nation +must be shaken, to ruin one libeller, and to tear from the populace a +single favorite. + +Nor is it that vice merely skulks in an obscure and contemptible +impunity. Does not the public behold with indignation, persons not only +generally scandalous in their lives, but the identical persons who, by +their society, their instruction, their example, their encouragement, +have drawn this man into the very faults which have furnished the cabal +with a pretence for his persecution, loaded with every kind of favor, +honor, and distinction, which a court can bestow? Add but the crime of +servility (the _foedum crimen servitutis_) to every other crime, and the +whole mass is immediately transmuted into virtue, and becomes the just +subject of reward and honor. When therefore I reflect upon this method +pursued by the cabal in distributing rewards and punishments, I must +conclude that Mr. Wilkes is the object of persecution, not on account of +what he has done in common with others who are the objects of reward, +but for that in which he differs from many of them: that he is pursued +for the spirited dispositions which are blended with his vices; for his +unconquerable firmness, for his resolute, indefatigable, strenuous +resistance against oppression. + +In this case, therefore, it was not the man that was to be punished, nor +his faults that were to be discountenanced. Opposition to acts of power +was to be marked by a kind of civil proscription. The popularity which +should arise from such an opposition was to be shown unable to protect +it. The qualities by which court is made to the people, were to render +every fault inexpiable, and every error irretrievable. The qualities by +which court is made to power, were to cover and to sanctify everything. +He that will have a sure and honorable seat in the House of Commons must +take care how he adventures to cultivate popular qualities; otherwise he +may remember the old maxim, _Breves et infaustos populi Romani amores_. +If, therefore, a pursuit of popularity expose a man to greater dangers +than a disposition to servility, the principle which is the life and +soul of popular elections will perish out of the constitution. + +It behoves the people of England to consider how the House of Commons, +under the operation of these examples, must of necessity be constituted. +On the side of the court will be, all honors, offices, emoluments; every +sort of personal gratification to avarice or vanity; and, what is of +more moment to most gentlemen, the means of growing, by innumerable +petty services to individuals, into a spreading interest in their +country. On the other hand, let us suppose a person unconnected with the +court, and in opposition to its system. For his own person, no office, +or emolument, or title; no promotion, ecclesiastical, or civil, or +military, or naval, for children, or brothers, or kindred. In vain an +expiring interest in a borough calls for offices, or small livings, for +the children of mayors, and aldermen, and capital burgesses. His court +rival has them all. He can do an infinite number of acts of generosity +and kindness, and even of public spirit. He can procure indemnity from +quarters. He can procure advantages in trade. He can get pardons for +offences. He can obtain a thousand favors, and avert a thousand evils. +He may, while he betrays every valuable interest of the kingdom, be a +benefactor, a patron, a father, a guardian angel to his borough. The +unfortunate independent member has nothing to offer, but harsh refusal, +or pitiful excuse, or despondent representation of a hopeless interest. +Except from his private fortune, in which he may be equalled, perhaps +exceeded, by his court competitor, he has no way of showing any one good +quality, or of making a single friend. In the House, he votes forever in +a dispirited minority. If he speaks, the doors are locked. A body of +loquacious placemen go out to tell the world that all he aims at is to +get into office. If he has not the talent of elocution, which is the +case of many as wise and knowing men as any in the House, he is liable +to all these inconveniences, without the _eclat_ which attends upon any +tolerably successful exertion of eloquence. Can we conceive a more +discouraging post of duty than this? Strip it of the poor reward of +popularity; suffer even the excesses committed in defence of the popular +interest to become a ground for the majority of that House to form a +disqualification out of the line of the law, and at their pleasure, +attended not only with the loss of the franchise, but with every kind of +personal disgrace.--If this shall happen, the people of this kingdom may +be assured that they cannot be firmly or faithfully served by any man. +It is out of the nature of men and things that they should; and their +presumption will be equal to their folly if they expect it. The power of +the people, within the laws, must show itself sufficient to protect +every representative in the animated performance of his duty, or that +duty cannot be performed. The House of Commons can never be a control on +other parts of government, unless they are controlled themselves by +their constituents; and unless those constituents possess some right in +the choice of that House, which it is not in the power of that House to +take away. If they suffer this power of arbitrary incapacitation to +stand, they have utterly perverted every other power of the House of +Commons. The late proceeding I will not say _is_ contrary to law; it +_must_ be so; for the power which is claimed cannot, by any possibility, +be a legal power in any limited member of government. + +The power which they claim, of declaring incapacities, would not be +above the just claims of a final judicature, if they had not laid it +down as a leading principle, that they had no rule in the exercise of +this claim, but their own _discretion_. Not one of their abettors has +ever undertaken to assign the principle of unfitness, the species or +degree of delinquency, on which the House of Commons will expel, nor the +mode of proceeding upon it, nor the evidence upon which it is +established. The direct consequence of which is, that the first +franchise of an Englishman, and that on which all the rest vitally +depend, is to be forfeited for some offence which no man knows, and +which is to be proved by no known rule whatsoever of legal evidence. +This is so anomalous to our whole constitution, that I will venture to +say, the most trivial right, which the subject claims, never was, nor +can be, forfeited in such a manner. + +The whole of their usurpation is established upon this method of +arguing. We do not _make_ laws. No; we do not contend for this power. We +only _declare_ law; and as we are a tribunal both competent and supreme, +what we declare to be law becomes law, although it should not have been +so before. Thus the circumstance of having no _appeal_ from their +jurisdiction is made to imply that they have no _rule_ in the exercise +of it: the judgment does not derive its validity from its conformity to +the law; but preposterously the law is made to attend on the judgment; +and the rule of the judgment is no other than the _occasional will of +the House_. An arbitrary discretion leads, legality follows; which is +just the very nature and description of a legislative act. + +This claim in their hands was no barren theory. It was pursued into its +utmost consequences; and a dangerous principle has begot a correspondent +practice. A systematic spirit has been shown upon both sides. The +electors of Middlesex chose a person whom the House of Commons had voted +incapable; and the House of Commons has taken in a member whom the +electors of Middlesex had not chosen. By a construction on that +legislative power which had been assumed, they declared that the true +legal sense of the country was contained in the minority, on that +occasion; and might, on a resistance to a vote of incapacity, be +contained in any minority. + +When any construction of law goes against the spirit of the privilege it +was meant to support, it is a vicious construction. It is material to us +to be represented really and _bona fide_, and not in forms, in types, +and shadows, and fictions of law. The right of election was not +established merely as a _matter of form_, to satisfy some method and +rule of technical reasoning; it was not a principle which might +substitute a _Titius_ or a _Maevius_, a _John Doe_ or _Richard Roe_, in +the place of a man specially chosen; not a principle which was just as +well satisfied with one man as with another. It is a right, the effect +of which is to give to the people that man, and _that man only_, whom, +by their voices actually, not constructively given, they declare that +they know, esteem, love, and trust. This right is a matter within their +own power of judging and feeling; not an _ens rationis_ and creature of +law: nor can those devices, by which anything else is substituted in the +place of such an actual choice, answer in the least degree the end of +representation. + +I know that the courts of law have made as strained constructions in +other cases. Such is the construction in common recoveries. The method +of construction which in that case gives to the persons in remainder, +for their security and representative, the door-keeper, crier, or +sweeper of the court, or some other shadowy being without substance or +effect, is a fiction of a very coarse texture. This was however suffered +by the acquiescence of the whole kingdom, for ages; because the evasion +of the old statute of Westminster, which authorized perpetuities, had +more sense and utility than the law which was evaded. But an attempt to +turn the right of election into such a farce and mockery as a fictitious +fine and recovery, will, I hope, have another fate; because the laws +which give it are infinitely dear to us, and the evasion is infinitely +contemptible. + +The people indeed have been told, that this power of discretionary +disqualification is vested in hands that they may trust, and who will be +sure not to abuse it to their prejudice. Until I find something in this +argument differing from that on which every mode of despotism has been +defended, I shall not be inclined to pay it any great compliment. The +people are satisfied to trust themselves with the exercise of their own +privileges, and do not desire this kind intervention of the House of +Commons to free them from the burden. They are certainly in the right. +They ought not to trust the House of Commons with a power over their +franchises; because the constitution, which placed two other co-ordinate +powers to control it, reposed no such confidence in that body. It were a +folly well deserving servitude for its punishment, to be full of +confidence where the laws are full of distrust; and to give to a House +of Commons, arrogating to its sole resolution the most harsh and odious +part of legislative authority, that degree of submission which is due +only to the legislature itself. + +When the House of Commons, in an endeavor to obtain new advantages at +the expense of the other orders of the state, for the benefit of the +_commons at large_, have pursued strong measures; if it were not just, +it was at least natural, that the constituents should connive at all +their proceedings; because we were ourselves ultimately to profit. But +when this submission is urged to us, in a contest between the +representatives and ourselves, and where nothing can be put into their +scale which is not taken from ours, they fancy us to be children when +they tell us they are our representatives, our own flesh and blood, and +that all the stripes they give us are for our good. The very desire of +that body to have such a trust contrary to law reposed in them, shows +that they are not worthy of it. They certainly will abuse it; because +all men possessed of an uncontrolled discretionary power leading to the +aggrandizement and profit of their own body have always abused it: and I +see no particular sanctity in our times, that is at all likely, by a +miraculous operation, to overrule the course of nature. + +But we must purposely shut our eyes, if we consider this matter merely +as a contest between the House of Commons and the electors. The true +contest is between the electors of the kingdom and the crown; the crown +acting by an instrumental House of Commons. It is precisely the same, +whether the ministers of the crown can disqualify by a dependent House +of Commons, or by a dependent Court of _Star Chamber_, or by a dependent +Court of King's Bench If once members of Parliament can be practically +convinced that they do not depend on the affection or opinion of the +people for their political being, they will give themselves over, +without even an appearance of reserve, to the influence of the court. + +Indeed a Parliament unconnected with the people is essential to a +ministry unconnected with the people; and therefore those who saw +through what mighty difficulties the interior ministry waded, and the +exterior were dragged, in this business, will conceive of what +prodigious importance, the new corps of _king's men_ held this principle +of occasional and personal incapacitation, to the whole body of their +design. + +When the House of Commons was thus made to consider itself as the master +of its constituents, there wanted but one thing to secure that House +against all possible future deviation towards popularity: an _unlimited_ +fund of money to be laid out according to the pleasure of the court. + +To complete the scheme of bringing our court to a resemblance to the +neighboring monarchies, it was necessary, in effect, to destroy those +appropriations of revenue, which seem to limit the property, as the +other laws had done the powers, of the crown. An opportunity for this +purpose was taken, upon an application to Parliament for payment of the +debts of the civil list; which in 1769 had amounted to 513,000_l._ Such +application had been made upon former occasions; but to do it in the +former manner would by no means answer the present purpose. + +Whenever the crown had come to the commons to desire a supply for the +discharging of debts due on the civil list, it was always asked and +granted with one of the three following qualifications; sometimes with +all of them. Either it was stated, that the revenue had been diverted +from its purposes by Parliament; or that those duties had fallen short +of the sum for which they were given by Parliament, and that the +intention of the legislature had not been fulfilled; or that the money +required to discharge the civil list debt was to be raised chargeable on +the civil list duties. In the reign of Queen Anne, the crown was found +in debt. The lessening and granting away some part of her revenue by +Parliament was alleged as the cause of that debt, and pleaded as an +equitable ground, such it certainly was, for discharging it. It does not +appear that the duties which were then applied to the ordinary +government produced clear above 580,000_l._ a year; because, when they +were afterwards granted to George the First, 120,000_l._ was added to +complete the whole to 700,000_l._ a year. Indeed it was then asserted, +and, I have no doubt, truly, that for many years the net produce did not +amount to above 550,000_l._ The queen's extraordinary charges were +besides very considerable; equal, at least, to any we have known in our +time. The application to Parliament was not for an absolute grant of +money; but to empower the queen to raise it by borrowing upon the civil +list funds. + +The civil list debt was twice paid in the reign of George the First. The +money was granted upon the same plan which had been followed in the +reign of Queen Anne. The civil list revenues were then mortgaged for the +sum to be raised, and stood charged with the ransom of their own +deliverance. + +George the Second received an addition to his civil list. Duties were +granted for the purpose of raising 800,000_l._ a year. It was not until +he had reigned nineteen years, and after the last rebellion, that he +called upon Parliament for a discharge of the civil list debt. The +extraordinary charges brought on by the rebellion, account fully for the +necessities of the crown. However, the extraordinary charges of +government were not thought a ground fit to be relied on. + +A deficiency of the civil list duties for several years before was +stated as the principal, if not the sole ground on which an application +to Parliament could be justified. About this time the produce of these +duties had fallen pretty low; and even upon an average of the whole +reign they never produced 800,000_l._ a year clear to the treasury. + +That prince reigned fourteen years afterwards: not only no new demands +were made; but with so much good order were his revenues and expenses +regulated, that, although many parts of the establishment of the court +were upon a larger and more liberal scale than they have been since, +there was a considerable sum in hand, on his decease, amounting to about +170,000_l._ applicable to the service of the civil list of his present +Majesty. So that, if this reign commenced with a greater charge than +usual, there was enough and more than enough, abundantly to supply all +the extraordinary expense. That the civil list should have been exceeded +in the two former reigns, especially in the reign of George the First, +was not at all surprising. His revenue was but 700,000_l._ annually; if +it ever produced so much clear. The prodigious and dangerous +disaffection to the very being of the establishment, and the cause of a +pretender then powerfully abetted from abroad, produced many demands of +an extraordinary nature both abroad and at home. Much management and +great expenses were necessary. But the throne of no prince has stood +upon more unshaken foundations than that of his present Majesty. + +To have exceeded the sum given for the civil list, and to have incurred +a debt without special authority of Parliament, was _prima facie_, a +criminal act: as such, ministers ought naturally rather to have +withdrawn it from the inspection, than to have exposed it to the +scrutiny of Parliament. Certainly they ought, of themselves, officially +to have come armed with every sort of argument, which, by explaining, +could excuse, a matter in itself of presumptive guilt. But the terrors +of the House of Commons are no longer for ministers. + +On the other hand, the peculiar character of the House of Commons, as +trustee of the public purse, would have led them to call with a +punctilious solicitude for every public account, and to have examined +into them with the most rigorous accuracy. + +The capital use of an account is, that the reality of the charge, the +reason of incurring it, and the justice and necessity of discharging it, +should all appear antecedent to the payment. No man ever pays first, and +calls for his account afterwards; because he would thereby let out of +his hands the principal, and indeed only effectual, means of compelling +a full and fair one. But, in national business, there is an additional +reason for a previous production of every account. It is a check, +perhaps the only one, upon a corrupt and prodigal use of public money. +An account after payment is to no rational purpose an account. However, +the House of Commons thought all these to be antiquated principles: +they were of opinion, that the most Parliamentary way of proceeding was, +to pay first what the court thought proper to demand, and to take its +chance for an examination into accounts at some time of greater leisure. + +The nation had settled 800,000_l._ a year on the crown, as sufficient +for the support of its dignity, upon the estimate of its own ministers. +When ministers came to Parliament, and said that this allowance had not +been sufficient for the purpose, and that they had incurred a debt of +500,000_l._, would it not have been natural for Parliament first to have +asked how, and by what means, their appropriated allowance came to be +insufficient? Would it not have savored of some attention to justice, to +have seen in what periods of administration this debt had been +originally incurred; that they might discover, and if need were, +animadvert on the persons who were found the most culpable? To put their +hands upon such articles of expenditure as they thought improper or +excessive, and to secure, in future, against such misapplication or +exceeding? Accounts for any other purposes are but a matter of +curiosity, and no genuine Parliamentary object. All the accounts which +could answer any Parliamentary end were refused, or postponed by +previous questions. Every idea of prevention was rejected, as conveying +an improper suspicion of the ministers of the crown. + +When every loading account had been refused, many others were granted +with sufficient facility. + +But with great candor also, the House was informed, that hardly any of +them could be ready until the next session; some of them perhaps not so +soon. But, in order firmly to establish the precedent of _payment +previous to account_, and to form it into a settled rule of the House, +the god in the machine was brought down, nothing less than the +wonder-working _law of Parliament_. It was alleged, that it is the law +of Parliament, when any demand comes from the crown, that the House must +go immediately into the committee of supply; in which committee it was +allowed, that the production and examination of accounts would be quite +proper and regular. It was therefore carried, that they should go into +the committee without delay, and without accounts, in order to examine +with great order and regularity things that could not possibly come +before them. After this stroke of orderly and Parliamentary wit and +humor, they went into the committee; and very generously voted the +payment. + +There was a circumstance in that debate too remarkable to be overlooked. +This debt of the civil list was all along argued upon the same footing +as a debt of the state, contracted upon national authority. Its payment +was urged as equally pressing upon the public faith and honor; and when +the whole year's account was stated, in what is called _the budget_, the +ministry valued themselves on the payment of so much public debt, just +as if they had discharged 500,000_l._ of navy or exchequer bills. +Though, in truth, their payment, from the sinking fund, of debt which +was never contracted by Parliamentary authority, was, to all intents and +purposes, so much debt incurred. But such is the present notion of +public credit, and payment of debt. No wonder that it produces such +effects. + +Nor was the House at all more attentive to a provident security against +future, than it had been to a vindictive retrospect to past +mismanagements. I should have thought indeed that a ministerial promise, +during their own continuance in office, might have been given, though +this would have been but a poor security for the public. Mr. Pelham gave +such an assurance, and he kept his word. But nothing was capable of +extorting from our ministers anything which had the least resemblance to +a promise of confining the expenses of the civil list within the limits +which had been settled by Parliament. This reserve of theirs I look upon +to be equivalent to the clearest declaration, that they were resolved +upon a contrary course. + +However, to put the matter beyond all doubt, in the speech from the +throne, after thanking Parliament for the relief so liberally granted, +the ministers inform the two Houses, that they will _endeavor_ to +confine the expenses of the civil government--within what limits, think +you? those which the law had prescribed? Not in the least--"such limits +as the _honor of the crown_ can possibly admit." + +Thus they established an _arbitrary_ standard for that dignity which +Parliament had defined and limited to a _legal_ standard. They gave +themselves, under the lax and indeterminate idea of the _honor of the +crown_, a full loose for all manner of dissipation, and all manner of +corruption. This arbitrary standard they were not afraid to hold out to +both Houses; while an idle and unoperative act of Parliament, estimating +the dignity of the crown at 800,000_l._ and confining it to that sum, +adds to the number of obsolete statutes which load the shelves of +libraries, without any sort of advantage to the people. + +After this proceeding, I suppose that no man can be so weak as to think +that the crown is limited to any settled allowance whatsoever. For if +the ministry has 800,000_l._ a year by the law of the land; and if by +the law of Parliament all the debts which exceed it are to be paid +previously to the production of any account; I presume that this is +equivalent to an income with no other limits than the abilities of the +subject and the moderation of the court; that is to say, it is such an +income as is possessed by every absolute monarch in Europe. It amounts, +as a person of great ability said in the debate, to an unlimited power +of drawing upon the sinking fund. Its effect on the public credit of +this kingdom must be obvious; for in vain is the sinking fund the great +buttress of all the rest, if it be in the power of the ministry to +resort to it for the payment of any debts which they may choose to +incur, under the name of the civil list, and through the medium of a +committee, which thinks itself obliged by law to vote supplies without +any other account than that of the mere existence of the debt. + +Five hundred thousand pounds is a serious sum. But it is nothing to the +prolific principle upon which the sum was voted: a principle that may be +well called, _the fruitful mother of an hundred more_. Neither is the +damage to public credit of very great consequence, when compared with +that which results to public morals and to the safety of the +constitution, from the exhaustless mine of corruption opened by the +precedent, and to be wrought by the principle, of the late payment of +the debts of the civil list. The power of discretionary disqualification +by one law of Parliament, and the necessity of paying every debt of the +civil list by another law of Parliament, if suffered to pass unnoticed, +must establish such a fund of rewards and terrors as will make +Parliament the best appendage and support of arbitrary power that ever +was invented by the wit of man. This is felt. The quarrel is begun +between the representatives and the people. The court faction have at +length committed them. + +In such a strait the wisest may well be perplexed, and the boldest +staggered. The circumstances are in a great measure new. We have hardly +any landmarks from the wisdom of our ancestors, to guide us. At best we +can only follow the spirit of their proceeding in other cases. I know +the diligence with which my observations on our public disorders have +been made; I am very sure of the integrity of the motives on which they +are published; I cannot be equally confident in any plan for the +absolute cure of those disorders, or for their certain future +prevention. My aim is to bring this matter into more public discussion. +Let the sagacity of others work upon it. It is not uncommon for medical +writers to describe histories of diseases very accurately, on whose cure +they can say but very little. + +The first ideas which generally suggest themselves, for the cure of +Parliamentary disorders, are, to shorten the duration of Parliaments; +and to disqualify all, or a great number of placemen, from a seat in the +House of Commons. Whatever efficacy there may be in those remedies, I am +sure in the present state of things it is impossible to apply them. A +restoration of the right of free election is a preliminary indispensable +to every other reformation. What alterations ought afterwards to be made +in the constitution, is a matter of deep and difficult research. + +If I wrote merely to please the popular palate, it would indeed be as +little troublesome to me as to another, to extol these remedies, so +famous in speculation, but to which their greatest admirers have never +attempted seriously to resort in practice. I confess then, that I have +no sort of reliance upon either a triennial Parliament, or a place-bill. +With regard to the former, perhaps it might rather serve to counteract, +than to promote the ends that are proposed by it. To say nothing of the +horrible disorders among the people attending frequent elections, I +should be fearful of committing, every three years, the independent +gentlemen of the country into a contest with the treasury. It is easy to +see which of the contending parties would be ruined first. Whoever has +taken a careful view of public proceedings, so as to endeavor to ground +his speculations on his experience, must have observed how prodigiously +greater the power of ministry is in the first and last session of a +Parliament, than it is in the intermediate period, when members sit a +little firm on their seats. The persons of the greatest Parliamentary +experience, with whom I have conversed, did constantly, in canvassing +the fate of questions, allow something to the court side, upon account +of the elections depending or imminent. The evil complained of, if it +exists in the present state of things, would hardly be removed by a +triennial Parliament: for, unless the influence of government in +elections can be entirely taken away, the more frequently they return, +the more they will harass private independence; the more generally men +will be compelled to fly to the settled systematic interest of +government, and to the resources of a boundless civil list. Certainly +something may be done, and ought to be done, towards lessening that +influence in elections; and this will be necessary upon a plan either +of longer or shorter duration of Parliament. But nothing can so +perfectly remove the evil, as not to render such contentions, too +frequently repeated, utterly ruinous, first to independence of fortune, +and then to independence of spirit. As I am only giving an opinion on +this point, and not at all debating it in an adverse line, I hope I may +be excused in another observation. With great truth I may aver, that I +never remember to have talked on this subject with any man much +conversant with public business, who considered short Parliaments as a +real improvement of the constitution. Gentlemen, warm in a popular +cause, are ready enough to attribute all the declarations of such +persons to corrupt motives. But the habit of affairs, if, on one hand, +it tends to corrupt the mind, furnishes it, on the other, with the means +of better information. The authority of such persons will always have +some weight. It may stand upon a par with the speculations of those who +are less practised in business; and who, with perhaps purer intentions, +have not so effectual means of judging. It is besides an effect of +vulgar and puerile malignity to imagine, that every statesman is of +course corrupt; and that his opinion, upon every constitutional point, +is solely formed upon some sinister interest. + +The next favorite remedy is a place-bill. The same principle guides in +both; I mean, the opinion which is entertained by many, of the +infallibility of laws and regulations, in the cure of public distempers. +Without being as unreasonably doubtful as many are unwisely confident, I +will only say, that this also is a matter very well worthy of serious +and mature reflection. It is not easy to foresee, what the effect would +be, of disconnecting with Parliament the greatest part of those who hold +civil employments, and of such mighty and important bodies as the +military and naval establishments. It were better, perhaps, that they +should have a corrupt interest in the forms of the constitution, than +that they should have none at all. This is a question altogether +different from the disqualification of a particular description of +revenue-officers from seats in Parliament; or, perhaps, of all the lower +sorts of them from votes in elections. In the former case, only the few +are affected; in the latter, only the inconsiderable. But a great +official, a great professional, a great military and naval interest, all +necessarily comprehending many people of the first weight, ability, +wealth, and spirit, has been gradually formed in the kingdom. These new +interests must be let into a share of representation, else possibly they +may be inclined to destroy those institutions of which they are not +permitted to partake. This is not a thing to be trifled with; nor is it +every well-meaning man that is fit to put his hands to it. Many other +serious considerations occur. I do not open them here, because they are +not directly to my purpose; proposing only to give the reader some taste +of the difficulties that attend all capital changes in the constitution; +just to hint the uncertainty, to say no worse, of being able to prevent +the court, as long as it has the means of influence abundantly in its +power, of applying that influence to Parliament; and perhaps, if the +public method were precluded, of doing it in some worse and more +dangerous method. Underhand and oblique ways would be studied. The +science of evasion, already tolerably understood, would then be brought +to the greatest perfection. It is no inconsiderable part of wisdom, to +know how much of an evil ought to be tolerated; lest, by attempting a +degree of purity impracticable in degenerate times and manners, instead +of cutting off the subsisting ill-practices, new corruptions might be +produced for the concealment and security of the old. It were better, +undoubtedly, that no influence at all could affect the mind of a member +of Parliament. But of all modes of influence, in my opinion, a place +under the government is the least disgraceful to the man who holds it, +and by far the most safe to the country. I would not shut out that sort +of influence which is open and visible, which is connected with the +dignity and the service of the state, when it is not in my power to +prevent the influence of contracts, of subscriptions, of direct bribery, +and those innumerable methods of clandestine corruption, which are +abundantly in the hands of the court, and which will be applied as long +as these means of corruption, and the disposition to be corrupted, have +existence amongst us. Our constitution stands on a nice equipoise, with +steep precipices and deep waters upon all sides of it. In removing it +from a dangerous leaning towards one side, there may be a risk of +oversetting it on the other. Every project of a material change in a +government so complicated as ours, combined at the same time with +external circumstances still more complicated, is a matter full of +difficulties: in which a considerate man will not be too ready to +decide; a prudent man too ready to undertake; or an honest man too ready +to promise. They do not respect the public nor themselves, who engage +for more than they are sure that they ought to attempt, or that they are +able to perform. These are my sentiments, weak perhaps, but honest and +unbiassed; and submitted entirely to the opinion of grave men, +well-affected to the constitution of their country, and of experience in +what may best promote or hurt it. + +Indeed, in the situation in which we stand, with an immense revenue, an +enormous debt, mighty establishments, government itself a great banker +and a great merchant, I see no other way for the preservation of a +decent attention to public interest in the representatives, but _the +interposition of the body of the people itself_, whenever it shall +appear, by some flagrant and notorious act, by some capital innovation, +that these representatives are going to overleap the fences of the law, +and to introduce an arbitrary power. This interposition is a most +unpleasant remedy. But, if it be a legal remedy, it is intended on some +occasion to be used; to be used then only, when it is evident that +nothing else can hold the constitution to its true principles. + +The distempers of monarchy were the great subjects of apprehension and +redress, in the last century; in this the distempers of Parliament. It +is not in Parliament alone that the remedy for Parliamentary disorders +can be completed; hardly indeed can it begin there. Until a confidence +in government is re-established, the people ought to be excited to a +more strict and detailed attention to the conduct of their +representatives. Standards for judging more systematically upon their +conduct ought to be settled in the meetings of counties and +corporations. Frequent and correct lists of the voters in all important +questions ought to be procured. + +By such means something may be done. By such means it may appear who +those are, that, by an indiscriminate support of all administrations, +have totally banished all integrity and confidence out of public +proceedings; have confounded the best men with the worst; and weakened +and dissolved, instead of strengthening and compacting, the general +frame of government. If any person is more concerned for government and +order, than for the liberties of his country; even he is equally +concerned to put an end to this course of indiscriminate support. It is +this blind and undistinguishing support, that feeds the spring of those +very disorders, by which he is frightened into the arms of the faction +which contains in itself the source of all disorders, by enfeebling all +the visible and regular authority of the state. The distemper is +increased by his injudicious and preposterous endeavors, or pretences, +for the cure of it. + +An exterior administration, chosen for its impotency, or after it is +chosen purposely rendered impotent, in order to be rendered subservient, +will not be obeyed. The laws themselves will not be respected, when +those who execute them are despised: and they will be despised, when +their power is not immediate from the crown, or natural in the kingdom. +Never were ministers better supported in Parliament. Parliamentary +support comes and goes with office, totally regardless of the man, or +the merit. Is government strengthened? It grows weaker and weaker. The +popular torrent gains upon it every hour. Let us learn from our +experience. It is not support that is wanting to government, but +reformation. When ministry rests upon public opinion, it is not indeed +built upon a rock of adamant; it has, however, some stability. But when +it stands upon private humor, its structure is of stubble, and its +foundation is on quicksand. I repeat it again,--He that supports every +administration subverts all government. The reason is this: The whole +business in which a court usually takes an interest goes on at present +equally well, in whatever hands, whether high or low, wise or foolish, +scandalous or reputable; there is nothing therefore to hold it firm to +any one body of men, or to any one consistent scheme of politics. +Nothing interposes, to prevent the full operation of all the caprices +and all the passions of a court upon the servants of the public. The +system of administration is open to continual shocks and changes, upon +the principles of the meanest cabal, and the most contemptible intrigue. +Nothing can be solid and permanent. All good men at length fly with +horror from such a service. Men of rank and ability, with the spirit +which ought to animate such men in a free state, while they decline the +jurisdiction of dark cabal on their actions and their fortunes, will, +for both, cheerfully put themselves upon their country. They will trust +an inquisitive and distinguishing Parliament; because it does inquire, +and does distinguish. If they act well, they know, that, in such a +Parliament they will be supported against any intrigue; if they act ill, +they know that no intrigue can protect them. This situation, however +awful, is honorable. But in one hour, and in the self-same assembly, +without any assigned or assignable cause, to be precipitated from the +highest authority to the most marked neglect, possibly into the greatest +peril of life and reputation, is a situation full of danger, and +destitute of honor. It will be shunned equally by every man of prudence, +and every man of spirit. + +Such are the consequences of the division of court from the +administration; and of the division of public men among themselves. By +the former of these, lawful government is undone; by the latter, all +opposition to lawless power is rendered impotent. Government may in a +great measure be restored, if any considerable bodies of men have +honesty and resolution enough never to accept administration, unless +this garrison of _king's men_, which is stationed, as in a citadel, to +control and enslave it, be entirely broken and disbanded, and every work +they have thrown up be levelled with the ground. The disposition of +public men to keep this corps together, and to act under it, or to +co-operate with it, is a touchstone by which every administration ought +in future to be tried. There has not been one which has not sufficiently +experienced the utter incompatibility of that faction with the public +peace, and with all the ends of good government: since, if they opposed +it, they soon lost every power of serving the crown; if they submitted +to it, they lost all the esteem of their country. Until ministers give +to the public a full proof of their entire alienation from that system, +however plausible their pretences, we may be sure they are more intent +on the emoluments than the duties of office. If they refuse to give this +proof, we know of what stuff they are made. In this particular, it ought +to be the electors' business to look to their representatives. The +electors ought to esteem it no less culpable in their member to give a +single vote in Parliament to such an administration, than to take an +office under it; to endure it, than to act in it. The notorious +infidelity and versatility of members of Parliament, in their opinions +of men and things, ought in a particular manner to be considered by the +electors in the inquiry which is recommended to them. This is one of +the principal holdings of that destructive system, which has endeavored +to unhinge all the virtuous, honorable, and useful connections in the +kingdom. + +This cabal has, with great success, propagated a doctrine which serves +for a color to those acts of treachery; and whilst it receives any +degree of countenance it will be utterly senseless to look for a +vigorous opposition to the court party. The doctrine is this: That all +political connections are in their nature factious, and as such ought to +be dissipated and destroyed; and that the rule for forming +administrations is more personal ability, rated by the judgment of this +cabal upon it, and taken by draughts from every division and +denomination of public men. This decree was solemnly promulgated by the +head of the court corps, the Earl of Bute himself, in a speech which he +made, in the year 1766, against the then administration, the only +administration which he has ever been known directly and publicly to +oppose. + +It is indeed in no way wonderful, that such persons should make such +declarations. That connection and faction are equivalent terms, is an +opinion which has been carefully inculcated at all times by +unconstitutional statesmen. The reason is evident. Whilst men are linked +together, they easily and speedily communicate the alarm of any evil +design. They are enabled to fathom it with common counsel, and to oppose +it with united strength. Whereas, when they lie dispersed, without +concert, order, or discipline, communication is uncertain, counsel +difficult, and resistance impracticable. Where men are not acquainted +with each other's principles, nor experienced in each other's talents, +nor at all practised in their mutual habitudes and dispositions by +joint efforts in business; no personal confidence, no friendship, no +common interest, subsisting among them; it is evidently impossible that +they can act a public part with uniformity, perseverance, or efficacy. +In a connection, the most inconsiderable man, by adding to the weight of +the whole, has his value, and his use; out of it, the greatest talents +are wholly unserviceable to the public. No man, who is not inflamed by +vainglory into enthusiasm, can flatter himself that his single, +unsupported, desultory, unsystematic endeavors are of power to defeat +the subtle designs and united cabals of ambitious citizens. When bad men +combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an +unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle. + +It is not enough in a situation of trust in the commonwealth, that a man +means well to his country; it is not enough that in his single person he +never did an evil act, but always voted according to his conscience, and +even harangued against every design which he apprehended to be +prejudicial to the interests of his country. This innoxious and +ineffectual character, that seems formed upon a plan of apology and +disculpation, falls miserably short of the mark of public duty. That +duty demands and requires, that what is right should not only be made +known, but made prevalent; that what is evil should not only be +detected, but defeated. When the public man omits to put himself in a +situation of doing his duty with effect, it is an omission that +frustrates the purposes of his trust almost as much as if he had +formally betrayed it. It is surely no very rational account of a man's +life, that he has always acted right; but has taken special care, to act +in such a manner that his endeavors could not possibly be productive of +any consequence. + +I do not wonder that the behavior of many parties should have made +persons of tender and scrupulous virtue somewhat out of humor with all +sorts of connection in politics. I admit that people frequently acquire +in such confederacies a narrow, bigoted, and prescriptive spirit; that +they are apt to sink the idea of the general good in this circumscribed +and partial interest. But, where duty renders a critical situation a +necessary one, it is our business to keep free from the evils attendant +upon it; and not to fly from the situation itself. If a fortress is +seated in an unwholesome air, an officer of the garrison is obliged to +be attentive to his health, but he must not desert his station. Every +profession, not excepting the glorious one of a soldier, or the sacred +one of a priest, is liable to its own particular vices; which, however, +form no argument against those ways of life; nor are the vices +themselves inevitable to every individual in those professions. Of such +a nature are connections in politics; essentially necessary for the full +performance of our public duty, accidentally liable to degenerate into +faction. Commonwealths are made of families, free commonwealths of +parties also; and we may as well affirm, that our natural regards and +ties of blood tend inevitably to make men bad citizens, as that the +bonds of our party weaken those by which we are held to our country. + +Some legislators went so far as to make neutrality in party a crime +against the state. I do not know whether this might not have been rather +to overstrain the principle. Certain it is, the best patriots in the +greatest commonwealths have always commended and promoted such +connections. _Idem sentire de republica_, was with them a principal +ground of friendship and attachment; nor do I know any other capable of +forming firmer, dearer, more pleasing, more honorable, and more virtuous +habitudes. The Romans carried this principle a great way. Even the +holding of offices together, the disposition of which arose from chance, +not selection, gave rise to a relation which continued for life. It was +called _necessitudo sortis_; and it was looked upon with a sacred +reverence. Breaches of any of these kinds of civil relation were +considered as acts of the most distinguished turpitude. The whole people +was distributed into political societies, in which they acted in support +of such interests in the state as they severally affected. For it was +then thought no crime to endeavor by every honest means to advance to +superiority and power those of your own sentiments and opinions. This +wise people was far from imagining that those connections had no tie, +and obliged to no duty; but that men might quit them without shame, upon +every call of interest. They believed private honor to be the great +foundation of public trust; that friendship was no mean step towards +patriotism; that he who, in the common intercourse of life, showed he +regarded somebody besides himself, when he came to act in a public +situation, might probably consult some other interest than his own. +Never may we become _plus sages que les sages_, as the French comedian +has happily expressed it, wiser than all the wise and good men who have +lived before us. It was their wish, to see public and private virtues, +not dissonant and jarring, and mutually destructive, but harmoniously +combined, growing out of one another in a noble and orderly gradation, +reciprocally supporting and supported. In one of the most fortunate +periods of our history this country was governed by a _connection_; I +mean, the great connection of Whigs in the reign of Queen Anne. They +were complimented upon the principle of this connection by a poet who +was in high esteem with them. Addison, who knew their sentiments, could +not praise them for what they considered as no proper subject of +commendation. As a poet who knew his business, he could not applaud them +for a thing which in general estimation was not highly reputable. +Addressing himself to Britain,-- + + "Thy favorites grow not up by fortune's sport, + Or from the crimes or follies of a court. + On the firm basis of desert they rise, + From long-tried faith, and friendship's holy ties." + + +The Whigs of those days believed that the only proper method of rising +into power was through hard essays of practised friendship and +experimented fidelity. At that time it was not imagined, that patriotism +was a bloody idol, which required the sacrifice of children and parents, +or dearest connections in private life, and of all the virtues that rise +from those relations. They were not of that ingenious paradoxical +morality, to imagine that a spirit of moderation was properly shown in +patiently bearing the sufferings of your friends; or that +disinterestedness was clearly manifested at the expense of other +people's fortune. They believed that no men could act with effect, who +did not act in concert; that no men could act in concert, who did not +act with confidence; that no men could act with confidence, who were not +bound together by common opinions, common affections, and common +interests. + +These wise men, for such I must call Lord Sunderland, Lord Godolphin, +Lord Somers, and Lord Marlborough, were too well principled in these +maxims upon which the whole fabric of public strength is built, to be +blown off their ground by the breath of every childish talker. They were +not afraid that they should be called an ambitious junto; or that their +resolution to stand or fall together should, by placemen, be interpreted +into a scuffle for places. + +Party is a body of men united for promoting by their joint endeavors the +national interest upon some particular principle in which they are all +agreed. For my part, I find it impossible to conceive, that any one +believes in his own politics, or thinks them to be of any weight, who +refuses to adopt the means of having them reduced into practice. It is +the business of the speculative philosopher to mark the proper ends of +government. It is the business of the politician, who is the philosopher +in action, to find out proper means towards those ends, and to employ +them with effect. Therefore every honorable connection will avow it is +their first purpose, to pursue every just method to put the men who hold +their opinions into such a condition as may enable them to carry their +common plans into execution, with all the power and authority of the +state. As this power is attached to certain situations, it is their duty +to contend for these situations. Without a proscription of others, they +are bound to give to their own party the preference in all things; and +by no means, for private considerations, to accept any offers of power +in which the whole body is not included; nor to suffer themselves to be +led, or to be controlled, or to be overbalanced, in office or in +council, by those who contradict the very fundamental principles on +which their party is formed, and even those upon which every fair +connection must stand. Such a generous contention for power, on such +manly and honorable maxims, will easily be distinguished from the mean +and interested struggle for place and emolument. The very style of such +persons will serve to discriminate them from those numberless impostors, +who have deluded the ignorant with professions incompatible with human +practice, and have afterwards incensed them by practices below the level +of vulgar rectitude. + +It is an advantage to all narrow wisdom and narrow morals, that their +maxims have a plausible air: and, on a cursory view, appear equal to +first principles. They are light and portable. They are as current as +copper coin; and about as valuable. They serve equally the first +capacities and the lowest; and they are, at least, as useful to the +worst men as to the best. Of this stamp is the cant of _Not men, but +measures_; a sort of charm by which many people get loose from every +honorable engagement. When I see a man acting this desultory and +disconnected part, with as much detriment to his own fortune as +prejudice to the cause of any party, I am not persuaded that he is +right; but I am ready to believe he is in earnest. I respect virtue in +all its situations; even when it is found in the unsuitable company of +weakness. I lament to see qualities, rare and valuable, squandered away +without any public utility. But when a gentleman with great visible +emoluments abandons the party in which he has long acted, and tells you, +it is because he proceeds upon his own judgment; that he acts on the +merits of the several measures as they arise; and that he is obliged to +follow his own conscience, and not that of others; he gives reasons +which it is impossible to controvert, and discovers a character which it +is impossible to mistake. What shall we think of him who never differed +from a certain set of men until the moment they lost their power, and +who never agreed with them in a single instance afterwards? Would not +such a coincidence of interest and opinion be rather fortunate? Would it +not be an extraordinary cast upon the dice, that a man's connections +should degenerate into faction, precisely at the critical moment when +they lose their power, or he accepts a place? When people desert their +connections, the desertion is a manifest _fact_, upon which a direct +simple issue lies, triable by plain men. Whether a _measure_ of +government be right or wrong, is _no matter of fact_, but a mere affair +of opinion, on which men may, as they do, dispute and wrangle without +end. But whether the individual _thinks_ the measure right or wrong, is +a point at still a greater distance from the reach of all human +decision. It is therefore very convenient to politicians, not to put the +judgment of their conduct on overt acts, cognizable in any ordinary +court, but upon such matter as can be triable only in that secret +tribunal, where they are sure of being heard with favor, or where at +worst the sentence will be only private whipping. + +I believe the reader would wish to find no substance in a doctrine which +has a tendency to destroy all test of character as deduced from conduct. +He will therefore excuse my adding something more, towards the further +clearing up a point, which the great convenience of obscurity to +dishonesty has been able to cover with some degree of darkness and +doubt. + +In order to throw an odium on political connection, those politicians +suppose it a necessary incident to it, that you are blindly to follow +the opinions of your party, when in direct opposition to your own clear +ideas; a degree of servitude that no worthy man could bear the thought +of submitting to; and such as, I believe, no connections (except some +court factions) ever could be so senselessly tyrannical as to impose. +Men thinking freely, will, in particular instances, think differently. +But still as the greater part of the measures which arise in the course +of public business are related to, or dependent on, some great, +_leading_, _general principles in government_, a man must be peculiarly +unfortunate in the choice of his political company, if he does not agree +with them at least nine times in ten. If he does not concur in these +general principles upon which the party is founded, and which +necessarily draw on a concurrence in their application, he ought from +the beginning to have chosen some other, more conformable to his +opinions. When the question is in its nature doubtful, or not very +material, the modesty which becomes an individual, and, (in spite of our +court moralists) that partiality which becomes a well-chosen friendship, +will frequently bring on an acquiescence in the general sentiment. Thus +the disagreement will naturally be rare; it will be only enough to +indulge freedom, without violating concord, or disturbing arrangement. +And this is all that ever was required for a character of the greatest +uniformity and steadiness in connection. How men can proceed without any +connection at all, is to me utterly incomprehensible. Of what sort of +materials must that man be made, how must he be tempered and put +together, who can sit whole years in Parliament, with five hundred and +fifty of his fellow-citizens, amidst the storm of such tempestuous +passions, in the sharp conflict of so many wits, and tempers, and +characters, in the agitation of such mighty questions, in the discussion +of such vast and ponderous interests, without seeing any one sort of +men, whose character, conduct, or disposition, would lead him to +associate himself with them, to aid and be aided, in any one system of +public utility? + +I remember an old scholastic aphorism, which says, "that the man who +lives wholly detached from others, must be either an angel or a devil." +When I see in any of these detached gentlemen of our times the angelic +purity, power, and beneficence, I shall admit them to be angels. In the +mean time we are born only to be men. We shall do enough if we form +ourselves to be good ones. It is therefore our business carefully to +cultivate in our minds, to rear to the most perfect vigor and maturity, +every sort of generous and honest feeling, that belongs to our nature. +To bring the dispositions that are lovely in private life into the +service and conduct of the commonwealth; so to be patriots, as not to +forget we are gentlemen. To cultivate friendships, and to incur +enmities. To have both strong, but both selected: in the one, to be +placable; in the other immovable. To model our principles to our duties +and our situation. To be fully persuaded, that all virtue which is +impracticable is spurious; and rather to run the risk of falling into +faults in a course which leads us to act with effect and energy, than to +loiter out our days without blame, and without use. Public life is a +situation of power and energy; he trespasses against his duty who sleeps +upon his watch, as well as he that goes over to the enemy. + +There is, however, a time for all things. It is not every conjuncture +which calls with equal force upon the activity of honest men; but +critical exigencies now and then arise; and I am mistaken, if this be +not one of them. Men will see the necessity of honest combination; but +they may see it when it is too late. They may embody, when it will be +ruinous to themselves, and of no advantage to the country; when, for +want of such a timely union as may enable them to oppose in favor of the +laws, with the laws on their side, they may at length find themselves +under the necessity of conspiring, instead of consulting. The law, for +which they stand, may become a weapon in the hands of its bitterest +enemies; and they will be cast, at length, into that miserable +alternative between slavery and civil confusion, which no good man can +look upon without horror; an alternative in which it is impossible he +should take either part, with a conscience perfectly at repose. To keep +that situation of guilt and remorse at the utmost distance is, +therefore, our first obligation. Early activity may prevent late and +fruitless violence. As yet we work in the light. The scheme of the +enemies of public tranquillity has disarranged, it has not destroyed us. + +If the reader believes that there really exists such a faction as I have +described; a faction ruling by the private inclinations of a court, +against the general sense of the people; and that this faction, whilst +it pursues a scheme for undermining all the foundations of our freedom, +weakens (for the present at least) all the powers of executory +government, rendering us abroad contemptible, and at home distracted; he +will believe also, that nothing but a firm combination of public men +against this body, and that, too, supported by the hearty concurrence of +the people at large, can possibly get the better of it. The people will +see the necessity of restoring public men to an attention to the public +opinion, and of restoring the constitution to its original principles. +Above all, they will endeavor to keep the House of Commons from assuming +a character which does not belong to it. They will endeavor to keep that +House, for its existence, for its powers, and its privileges, as +independent of every other, and as dependent upon themselves, as +possible. This servitude is to a House of Commons (like obedience to the +Divine law) "perfect freedom." For if they once quit this natural, +rational, and liberal obedience, having deserted the only proper +foundation of their power, they must seek a support in an abject and +unnatural dependence somewhere else. When, through the medium of this +just connection with their constituents, the genuine dignity of the +House of Commons is restored, it will begin to think of casting from it, +with scorn, as badges of servility, all the false ornaments of illegal +power, with which it has been, for some time, disgraced. It will begin +to think of its old office of CONTROL. It will not suffer that last of +evils to predominate in the country: men without popular confidence, +public opinion, natural connection, or mutual trust, invested with all +the powers of government. + +When they have learned this lesson themselves, they will be willing and +able to teach the court, that it is the true interest of the prince to +have but one administration; and that one composed of those who +recommend themselves to their sovereign through the opinion of their +country, and not by their obsequiousness to a favorite. Such men will +serve their sovereign with affection and fidelity; because his choice of +them, upon such principles, is a compliment to their virtue. They will +be able to serve him effectually; because they will add the weight of +the country to the force of the executory power. They will be able to +serve their king with dignity; because they will never abuse his name to +the gratification of their private spleen or avarice. This, with +allowances for human frailty, may probably be the general character of a +ministry, which thinks itself accountable to the House of Commons; when +the House of Commons thinks itself accountable to its constituents. If +other ideas should prevail, things must remain in their present +confusion, until they are hurried into all the rage of civil violence, +or until they sink into the dead repose of despotism. + +END OF VOL. I. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[102] Mem. de Sully, tom. i. p. 133. + +[103] "Uxor Hugonis de Nevill dat Domino Regi ducentas Gallinas, eo quod +possit jacere una nocte cum Domino suo Hugone de Nevill."--Maddox, Hist. +Exch. c. xiii. p. 326. + +[104] Sentiments of an Honest Man. + +[105] See the political writings of the late Dr. Brown, and many others. + + + + +*** Transcriber's notes, corrections *** + +p329 behindhand : was "behind-hand", inconsistent with p442 +p403 pernicious : was "prenicious" + +(see HTML version for pagenumbers) +*** End Transcriber's notes *** + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of the Right Honourable +Edmund Burke, Vol. I. (of 12), by Edmund Burke + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EDMUND BURKE, VOL. I. 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