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diff --git a/15702-8.txt b/15702-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2cddc6e --- /dev/null +++ b/15702-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11704 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund +Burke, Vol. VI. (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. VI. (of 12) + +Author: Edmund Burke + +Release Date: April 24, 2005 [EBook #15702] +[Date last updated: May 5, 2006] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BURKE VOL 6 *** + + + + +Produced by Paul Murray, Susan Skinner and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team from images generously made +available by the Bibliothèque nationale de France +(BnF/Gallica) at http://gallica.bnf.fr + + + + + + + + +THE WORKS + +OF + +THE RIGHT HONOURABLE + +EDMUND BURKE + + +IN TWELVE VOLUMES + +VOLUME THE SIXTH + + +[Illustration: Burke Coat of Arms.] + + +LONDON +JOHN C. NIMMO +14, KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND, W.C. +MDCCCLXXXVII + + + + +CONTENTS OF VOL. VI. + + +PREFACE TO THE SECOND POSTHUMOUS VOLUME, IN A LETTER TO THE RIGHT + HON. WILLIAM ELLIOT v + +FOURTH LETTER ON THE PROPOSALS FOR PEACE WITH THE REGICIDE DIRECTORY + OF FRANCE; WITH THE PRELIMINARY CORRESPONDENCE 1 + +LETTER TO THE EMPRESS OF RUSSIA, November 1, 1791 113 + +LETTER TO SIR CHARLES BINGHAM, BART., ON THE IRISH ABSENTEE TAX, + October 30, 1773 121 + +LETTER TO THE HON. CHARLES JAMES FOX, ON THE AMERICAN WAR, + October 8, 1777 135 + +LETTER TO THE MARQUIS OF ROCKINGHAM, WITH ADDRESSES TO THE KING, + AND THE BRITISH COLONISTS IN NORTH AMERICA, IN RELATION TO THE + MEASURES OF GOVERNMENT IN THE AMERICAN CONTEST, AND A PROPOSED + SECESSION OF THE OPPOSITION FROM PARLIAMENT, January, 1777 149 + +LETTER TO THE RIGHT HON. EDMUND S. PERRY, IN RELATION TO A BILL + FOR THE RELIEF OF THE ROMAN CATHOLICS OF IRELAND, July 18, 1778 197 + +TWO LETTERS TO THOMAS BURGH, ESQ., AND JOHN MERLOTT, ESQ., IN + VINDICATION OF HIS PARLIAMENTARY CONDUCT RELATIVE TO THE AFFAIRS + OF IRELAND, 1780 207 + +LETTERS AND REFLECTIONS ON THE EXECUTIONS OF THE RIOTERS IN 1780 239 + +LETTER TO THE RIGHT HON. HENRY DUNDAS: WITH THE SKETCH OF A NEGRO + CODE, 1792 255 + +LETTER TO THE CHAIRMAN OF THE BUCKINGHAMSHIRE MEETING, HELD AT + AYLESBURY, APRIL 13, 1780, ON THE SUBJECT OF PARLIAMENTARY + REFORM 291 + +FRAGMENTS OF A TRACT RELATIVE TO THE LAWS AGAINST POPERY IN IRELAND 299 + +LETTER TO WILLIAM SMITH, ESQ., ON THE SUBJECT OF CATHOLIC + EMANCIPATION, January 29, 1795 361 + +SECOND LETTER TO SIR HERCULES LANGRISHE, ON THE CATHOLIC QUESTION, + May 26, 1795 375 + +LETTER TO RICHARD BURKE, ESQ., ON PROTESTANT ASCENDENCY IN IRELAND, + 1793 385 + +LETTER ON THE AFFAIRS OF IRELAND, 1797 413 + + + + +PREFACE + +TO THE SECOND POSTHUMOUS VOLUME,[1] + +IN A LETTER TO + +THE RIGHT HON. WILLIAM ELLIOT + + +My dear sir,--As some prefatory account of the materials which compose +this second posthumous volume of the Works of Mr. Burke, and of the +causes which have prevented its earlier appearance, will be expected +from me, I hope I may be indulged in the inclination I feel to run over +these matters in a letter to you, rather than in a formal address to the +public. + +Of the delay that has intervened since the publication of the former +volume I shall first say a few words. Having undertaken, in conjunction +with the late Dr. Laurence, to examine the manuscript papers of Mr. +Burke, and to select and prepare for the press such of them as should be +thought proper for publication, the difficulties attending our +coöperation were soon experienced by us. The remoteness of our places +of residence in summer, and our professional and other avocations in +winter, opposed perpetual obstacles to the progress of our undertaking. + +Soon after the publication of the fourth volume, I was rendered +incapable of attending to any business by a severe and tedious illness. +And it was not long after my recovery before the health of our +invaluable friend began gradually to decline, and soon became unequal to +the increasing labors of his profession and the discharge of his +Parliamentary duties. At length we lost a man, of whom, as I shall have +occasion to speak more particularly in another part of this undertaking, +I will now content myself with saying, that in my humble opinion he +merited, and certainly obtained with those best acquainted with his +extensive learning and information, a considerable rank amongst the +eminent persons who have adorned the age in which we have lived, and of +whose services the public have been deprived by a premature death. + +From these causes little progress had been made in our work when I was +deprived of my coadjutor. But from that time you can testify of me that +I have not been idle. You can bear witness to the confused state in +which the materials that compose the present volume came into my hands. +The difficulty of reading many of the manuscripts, obscured by +innumerable erasures, corrections, interlineations, and marginal +insertions, would perhaps have been insuperable to any person less +conversant in the manuscripts of Mr. Burke than myself. To this +difficulty succeeded that of selecting from several detached papers, +written upon the same subject and the same topics, such as appeared to +contain the author's last thoughts and emendations. When these +difficulties were overcome, there still remained, in many instances, +that of assigning its proper place to many detached members of the same +piece, where no direct note of connection had been made. These +circumstances, whilst they will lead the reader not to expect, in the +cases to which they apply, the finished productions of Mr. Burke, +imposed upon me a task of great delicacy and difficulty,--namely, that +of deciding upon the publication of any, and which, of these unfinished +pieces. I must here beg permission of you, and Lord Fitzwilliam, to +inform the public, that in the execution of this part of my duty I +requested and obtained your assistance. + +Our first care was to ascertain, from such evidence, internal and +external, as the manuscripts themselves afforded, what pieces appeared +to have been at any time intended by the author for publication. Our +next was to select such as, though not originally intended for +publication, yet appeared to contain matter that might contribute to the +gratification and instruction of the public. Our last object was to +determine what degree of imperfection and incorrectness in papers of +either of these classes ought or ought not to exclude them from a place +in the present volume. This was, doubtless, the most nice and arduous +part of our undertaking. The difficulty, however, was, in our minds, +greatly diminished by our conviction that the reputation of our author +stood far beyond the reach of injury from any injudicious conduct of +ours in making this selection. On the other hand, we were desirous that +nothing should be withheld, from which the public might derive any +possible benefit. + +Nothing more is now necessary than that I should give a short account of +the writings which compose the present volume. + + +I. Fourth Letter on a Regicide Peace. + +Some account has already been given of this Letter in the Advertisement +to the fourth quarto volume.[2] That part of it which is contained +between the first and the middle of the page 67[3] is taken from a +manuscript which, nearly to the conclusion, had received the author's +last corrections: the subsequent part, to the middle of the page 71,[4] +is taken from some loose manuscripts, that were dictated by the author, +but do not appear to have been revised by him; and though they, as well +as what follows to the conclusion, were evidently designed to make a +part of this Letter, the editor alone is responsible for the order in +which they are here placed. The last part, from the middle of the page +71, had been printed as a part of the Letter which was originally +intended to be the third on Regicide Peace, as in the preface to the +fourth volume has already been noticed. + +It was thought proper to communicate this Letter before its publication +to Lord Auckland, the author of the pamphlet so frequently alluded to in +it. His Lordship, in consequence of this communication, was pleased to +put into my hands a letter with which he had sent his pamphlet to Mr. +Burke at the time of its publication, and Mr. Burke's answer to that +letter. These pieces, together with the note with which his Lordship +transmitted them to me, are prefixed to the Letter on Regicide Peace. + +II. Letter to the Empress of Russia. +III. Letter to Sir Charles Bingham. +IV. Letter to the Honorable Charles James Fox. + +Of these Letters it will be sufficient to remark, that they come under +the second of those classes into which, as I before observed, we divided +the papers that presented themselves to our consideration. + +V. Letter to the Marquis of Rockingham. +VI. An Address to the King. +VII. An Address to the British Colonists in North America. + +These pieces relate to a most important period in the present reign; +and I hope no apology will be necessary for giving them to the public. + +VIII. Letter to the Right Honorable Edmund [Sexton] Pery. +IX. Letter to Thomas Burgh, Esq. +X. Letter to John Merlott, Esq. + +The reader will find, in a note annexed to each of these Letters, an +account of the occasions on which they were written. The Letter to T. +Burgh, Esq., had found its way into some of the periodical prints of the +time in Dublin. + +XI. Reflections on the Approaching Executions. + +It may not, perhaps, now be generally known that Mr. Burke was a marked +object of the rioters in this disgraceful commotion, from whose fury he +narrowly escaped. The Reflections will be found to contain maxims of the +soundest judicial policy, and do equal honor to the head and heart of +their illustrious writer. + +XII. Letter to the Right Honorable Henry Dundas; with the Sketch of a +Negro Code. + +Mr. Burke, in the Letter to Mr. Dundas, has entered fully into his own +views of the Slave Trade, and has thereby rendered any further +explanation on that subject at present unnecessary. With respect to the +Code itself, an unsuccessful attempt was made to procure the copy of it +transmitted to Mr. Dundas. It was not to be found amongst his papers. +The Editor has therefore been obliged to have recourse to a rough draft +of it in Mr. Burke's own handwriting; from which he hopes he has +succeeded in making a pretty correct transcript of it, as well as in the +attempt he has made to supply the marginal references alluded to in Mr. +Burke's Letter to Mr. Dundas. + +XIII. Letter to the Chairman of the Buckinghamshire Meeting. + +Of the occasion of this Letter an account is given in the note subjoined +[prefixed] to it. + +XIV. Tracts and Letters relative to the Laws against Popery in Ireland. + +These pieces consist of,-- + +1. An unfinished Tract on the Popery Laws. Of this Tract the reader will +find an account in the note prefixed to it. + +2. A Letter to William Smith, Esq. Several copies of this letter having +got abroad, it was printed and published in Dublin without the +permission of Mr. Burke, or of the gentleman to whom it was addressed. + +3. Second Letter to Sir Hercules Langrishe. This may be considered as +supplementary to the first letter, addressed to the same person in +January, 1792, which was published in the third volume.[5] + +4. Letter to Richard Burke, Esq. Of this letter it will be necessary to +observe, that the first part of it appears to have been originally +addressed by Mr. Burke to his son in the manner in which it is now +printed, but to have been left unfinished; after whose death he probably +designed to have given the substance of it, with additional +observations, to the public in some other form, but never found leisure +or inclination to finish it. + +5. A Letter on the Affairs of Ireland, written in the year 1797. The +name of the person to whom this letter was addressed does not appear on +the manuscript; nor has the letter been found to which it was written as +an answer. And as the gentleman whom he employed as an amanuensis is not +now living, no discovery of it can be made, unless this publication of +the letter should produce some information respecting it, that may +enable us in a future volume to gratify, on this point, the curiosity of +the reader. The letter was dictated, as he himself tells us, from his +couch at Bath; to which place he had gone, by the advice of his +physicians, in March, 1797. His health was now rapidly declining; the +vigor of his mind remained unimpaired. This, my dear friend, was, I +believe, the last letter dictated by him on public affairs:--here ended +his political labors. + +XV. Fragments and Notes of Speeches in Parliament. + +1. Speech on the Acts of Uniformity. + +2. Speech on a Bill for the Relief of Protestant Dissenters. + +3. Speech on the Petition of the Unitarians. + +4. Speech on the Middlesex Election. + +5. Speech on a Bill for shortening the Duration of Parliaments. + +6. Speech on the Reform of the Representation in Parliament. + +7. Speech on a Bill for explaining the Powers of Juries in Prosecutions +for Libels. + +*7. Letter relative to the same subject. + +8. Speech on a Bill for repealing the Marriage Act. + +9. Speech on a Bill to quiet the Possessions of the Subject against +Dormant Claims of the Church. + +With respect to these fragments, I have already stated the reasons by +which we were influenced in our determination to publish them. An +account of the state in which these manuscripts were found is given in +the note prefixed to this article. + +XVI. Hints for an Essay on the Drama. + +This fragment was perused in manuscript by a learned and judicious +critic, our late lamented friend, Mr. Malone; and under the protection +of his opinion we can feel no hesitation in submitting it to the +judgment of the public. + +XVII. We are now come to the concluding article of this volume,--the +Essay on the History of England. + +At what time of the author's life it was written cannot now be exactly +ascertained; but it was certainly begun before he had attained the age +of twenty-seven years, as it appears from an entry in the books of the +late Mr. Dodsley, that eight sheets of it, which contain the first +seventy-four pages of the present edition,[6] were printed in the year +1757. This is the only part that has received the finishing stroke of +the author. In those who are acquainted with the manner in which Mr. +Burke usually composed his graver literary works, and of which some +account is given in the Advertisement prefixed to the fourth volume, +this circumstance will excite a deep regret; and whilst the public +partakes with us in this feeling, it will doubtless be led to judge with +candor and indulgence of a work left in this imperfect and unfinished +state by its author. + +Before I conclude, it may not be improper to take this opportunity of +acquainting the public with the progress that has been made towards the +completion of this undertaking. The sixth and seventh volumes, which +will consist entirely of papers that have a relation to the affairs of +the East India Company, and to the impeachment of Mr. Hastings, are now +in the press. The suspension of the consideration of the affairs of the +East India Company in Parliament till its nest session has made me very +desirous to get the sixth volume out as early as possible in the next +winter. The Ninth and Eleventh Reports of the Select Committee, +appointed to take into consideration certain affairs of the East India +Company in the year 1783, were written by Mr. Burke, and will be given +in that volume. They contain a full and comprehensive view of the +commerce, revenues, civil establishment, and general policy of the +Company, and will therefore be peculiarly interesting at this time to +the public. + +The eighth and last volume will contain a narrative of the life of Mr. +Burke, which will be accompanied with such parts of his familiar +correspondence, and other occasional productions, as shall be thought +fit for publication.[7] The materials relating to the early years of his +life, alluded to in the Advertisement to the fourth volume, have been +lately recovered; and the communication of such as may still remain in +the possession of any private individuals is again most earnestly +requested. + +Unequal as I feel myself to the task, I shall, my dear friend, lose no +time, nor spare any pains, in discharging the arduous duty that has +devolved upon me. You know the peculiar difficulties I labor under from +the failure of my eyesight; and you may congratulate me upon the +assistance which I have now procured from my neighbor, the worthy +chaplain[8] of Bromley College, who to the useful qualification of a +most patient amanuensis adds that of a good scholar and intelligent +critic. + +And now, adieu, my dear friend, + +And believe me ever affectionately yours, + +WR. ROFFEN. + +BROMLEY HOUSE, August 1, 1812. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Works, Vol. V., quarto edition, (London, F., C., & J. Rivington, +1812,)--Vol. IV. of that edition (London, F. & C. Rivington, 1802) being +the first posthumous volume,--and Vols. I., II., and III. (London, J. +Dodsley, 1792) comprising the collection published during the lifetime +of Mr. Burke. + +[2] Prefixed to the first volume, in the other editions. For the account +referred to, see, in the present edition, Vol. I., pp. xiii., xiv. + +[3] Page 86 of the present edition. + +[4] In this edition, p. 91, near the top. + +[5] In the fourth volume of the present edition. + +[6] The quarto edition,--extending as far as Book II. ch. 2, near the +middle of the paragraph commencing, "The same regard to the welfare of +the people," &c. + +[7] This design the editor did not live to execute. + +[8] The Rev. J.J. Talman. + + + + +FOURTH LETTER + +ON THE + +PROPOSALS FOR PEACE WITH THE REGICIDE DIRECTORY OF FRANCE. + +ADDRESSED TO + +THE EARL FITZWILLIAM. +1795-7. + + +PRELIMINARY CORRESPONDENCE. + +_Letter from the Right Honorable the Lord Auckland to the Lord Bishop of +Rochester_. + +EDEN FARM, KENT, July 18th, 1812. + +My dear Lord,--Mr. Burke's fourth letter to Lord Fitzwilliam is +personally interesting to me: I have perused it with a respectful +attention. + +When I communicated to Mr. Burke, in 1795, the printed work which he +arraigns and discusses, I was aware that he would differ from me. + +Some light is thrown on the transaction by my note which gave rise to +it, and by his answer, which exhibits the admirable powers of his great +and good mind, deeply suffering at the time under a domestic calamity. + +I have selected these two papers from my manuscript collection, and now +transmit them to your Lordship with a wish that they may be annexed to +the publication in question. + +I have the honor to be, my dear Lord, + +Yours most sincerely, + +AUCKLAND. + +TO THE RIGHT REV. THE LORD BISHOP OF ROCHESTER. + + * * * * * + +_Letter from Lord Auckland to the Right Honorable Edmund Burke_. + + +EDEN FARM, KENT, October 28th, 1795. + +My dear Sir,-- + +Though in the stormy ocean of the last twenty-three years we have seldom +sailed on the same tack, there has been nothing hostile in our signals +or manoeuvres, and, on my part at least, there has been a cordial +disposition towards friendly and respectful sentiments. Under that +influence, I now send to you a small work which exhibits my fair and +full opinions on the arduous circumstances of the moment, "as far as the +cautions necessary to be observed will permit me to go beyond general +ideas." + +Three or four of those friends with whom I am most connected in public +and private life are pleased to think that the statement in question +(which at first made part of a confidential paper) may do good, and +accordingly a very large impression will be published to-day. I neither +seek to avow the publication nor do I wish to disavow it. I have no +anxiety in that respect, but to contribute my mite to do service, at a +moment when service is much wanted. + +I am, my dear Sir, + +Most sincerely yours, + +AUCKLAND. + +RIGHT HON. EDMUND BURKE. + + * * * * * + +_Letter from the Right Honorable Edmund Burke to Lord Auckland_. + +My dear Lord,-- + +I am perfectly sensible of the very flattering honor you have done me in +turning any part of your attention towards a dejected old man, buried +in the anticipated grave of a feeble old age, forgetting and forgotten +in an obscure and melancholy retreat. + +In this retreat I have nothing relative to this world to do, but to +study all the tranquillity that in the state of my mind I am capable of. +To that end I find it but too necessary to call to my aid an oblivion of +most of the circumstances, pleasant and unpleasant, of my life,--to +think as little and indeed to know as little as I can of everything that +is doing about me,--and, above all, to divert my mind from all +presagings and prognostications of what I must (if I let my speculations +loose) consider as of absolute necessity to happen after my death, and +possibly even before it. Your address to the public, which you have been +so good as to send to me, obliges me to break in upon that plan, and to +look a little on what is behind, and very much on what is before me. It +creates in my mind a variety of thoughts, and all of them unpleasant. + +It is true, my Lord, what you say, that, through our public life, we +have generally sailed on somewhat different tacks. We have so, +undoubtedly; and we should do so still, if I had continued longer to +keep the sea. In that difference, you rightly observe that I have always +done justice to your skill and ability as a navigator, and to your good +intentions towards the safety of the cargo and of the ship's company. I +cannot say now that we are on different tacks. There would be no +propriety in the metaphor. I can sail no longer. My vessel cannot be +said to be even in port. She is wholly condemned and broken up. To have +an idea of that vessel, you must call to mind what you have often seen +on the Kentish road. Those planks of tough and hardy oak, that used for +years to brave the buffets of the Bay of Biscay, are now turned, with +their warped grain and empty trunnion-holes, into very wretched pales +for the inclosure of a wretched farm-yard. + +The style of your pamphlet, and the eloquence and power of composition +you display in it, are such as do great honor to your talents, and in +conveying any other sentiments would give me very great pleasure. +Perhaps I do not very perfectly comprehend your purpose, and the drift +of your arguments. If I do not, pray do not attribute my mistake to want +of candor, but to want of sagacity. I confess, your address to the +public, together with other accompanying circumstances, has filled me +with a degree of grief and dismay which I cannot find words to express. +If the plan of politics there recommended--pray excuse my +freedom--should be adopted by the king's councils, and by the good +people of this kingdom, (as, so recommended, undoubtedly it will,) +nothing can be the consequence but utter and irretrievable ruin to the +ministry, to the crown, to the succession,--to the importance, to the +independence, to the very existence, of this country. This is my feeble, +perhaps, but clear, positive, decided, long and maturely reflected and +frequently declared opinion, from which all the events which have lately +come to pass, so far from turning me, have tended to confirm beyond the +power of alteration, even by your eloquence and authority. I find, my +dear Lord, that you think some persons, who are not satisfied with the +securities of a Jacobin peace, to be persons of intemperate minds. I may +be, and I fear I am, with you in that description; but pray, my Lord, +recollect that very few of the causes which make men intemperate can +operate upon me. Sanguine hopes, vehement desires, inordinate ambition, +implacable animosity, party attachments, or party interests,--all these +with me have no existence. For myself, or for a family, (alas! I have +none,) I have nothing to hope or to fear in this world. I am attached, +by principle, inclination, and gratitude, to the king, and to the +present ministry. + +Perhaps you may think that my animosity to opposition is the cause of my +dissent, on seeing the politics of Mr. Fox (which, while I was in the +world, I combated by every instrument which God had put into my hands, +and in every situation in which I had taken part) so completely, if I at +all understand you, adopted in your Lordship's book: but it was with +pain I broke with that great man forever in that cause; and I assure +you, it is not without pain that I differ with your Lordship on the same +principles. But it is of no concern. I am far below the region of those +great and tempestuous passions. I feel nothing of the intemperance of +mind. It is rather sorrow and dejection than anger. + +Once more my best thanks for your very polite attention; and do me the +favor to believe me, with the most perfect sentiments of respect and +regard, + +My dear Lord, + +Your Lordship's most obedient and humble servant, + +EDMUND BURKE. + +BEACONSFIELD, Oct. 30th, 1795. + +Friday Evening. + + + + +LETTER IV. + +TO THE EARL FITZWILLIAM. + + +My dear Lord,--I am not sure that the best way of discussing any +subject, except those that concern the abstracted sciences, is not +somewhat in the way of dialogue. To this mode, however, there are two +objections: the first, that it happens, as in the puppet-show, one man +speaks for all the personages. An unnatural uniformity of tone is in a +manner unavoidable. The other and more serious objection is, that, as +the author (if not an absolute skeptic) must have some opinion of his +own to enforce, he will be continually tempted to enervate the arguments +he puts into the mouth of his adversary, or to place them in a point of +view most commodious for their refutation. There is, however, a sort of +dialogue not quite so liable to these objections, because it approaches +more nearly to truth and Nature: it is called CONTROVERSY. Here the +parties speak for themselves. If the writer who attacks another's +notions does not deal fairly with his adversary, the diligent reader has +it always in his power, by resorting to the work examined, to do justice +to the original author and to himself. For this reason you will not +blame me, if, in my discussion of the merits of a Regicide Peace, I do +not choose to trust to my own statements, but to bring forward along +with them the arguments of the advocates for that measure. If I choose +puny adversaries, writers of no estimation or authority, then you will +justly blame me. I might as well bring in at once a fictitious speaker, +and thus fall into all the inconveniences of an imaginary dialogue. This +I shall avoid; and I shall take no notice of any author who my friends +in town do not tell me is in estimation with those whose opinions he +supports. + +A piece has been sent to me, called "Some Remarks on the Apparent +Circumstances of the War in the Fourth Week of October, 1795," with a +French motto: "_Que faire encore une fois dans une telle nuit? Attendre +le jour_." The very title seemed to me striking and peculiar, and to +announce something uncommon. In the time I have lived to, I always seem +to walk on enchanted ground. Everything is new, and, according to the +fashionable phrase, revolutionary. In former days authors valued +themselves upon the maturity and fulness of their deliberations. +Accordingly, they predicted (perhaps with more arrogance than reason) an +eternal duration to their works. The quite contrary is our present +fashion. Writers value themselves now on the instability of their +opinions and the transitory life of their productions. On this kind of +credit the modern institutors open their schools. They write for youth, +and it is sufficient, if the instruction "lasts as long as a present +love, or as the painted silks and cottons of the season." + +The doctrines in this work are applied, for their standard, with great +exactness, to the shortest possible periods both of conception and +duration. The title is "Some Remarks on the _Apparent_ Circumstances of +the War _in the Fourth Week of October_, 1795." The time is critically +chosen. A month or so earlier would have made it the anniversary of a +bloody Parisian September, when the French massacre one another. A day +or two later would have carried it into a London November, the gloomy +month in which it is said by a pleasant author that Englishmen hang and +drown themselves. In truth, this work has a tendency to alarm us with +symptoms of public suicide. However, there is one comfort to be taken +even from the gloomy time of year. It is a rotting season. If what is +brought to market is not good, it is not likely to keep long. Even +buildings run up in haste with untempered mortar in that humid weather, +if they are ill-contrived tenements, do not threaten long to incumber +the earth. The author tells us (and I believe he is the very first +author that ever told such a thing to his readers) "that the _entire +fabric_ of his speculations might be overset by unforeseen +vicissitudes," and what is far more extraordinary, "that even the +_whole_ consideration might be _varied whilst he was writing those +pages."_ Truly, in my poor judgment, this circumstance formed a very +substantial motive for his not publishing those ill-considered +considerations at all. He ought to have followed the good advice of his +motto: "_Que faire encore dans une telle nuit? Attendre le jour_." He +ought to have waited till he had got a little more daylight on this +subject. Night itself is hardly darker than the fogs of that time. + +Finding the _last week in October_ so particularly referred to, and not +perceiving any particular event, relative to the war, which happened on +any of the days in that week, I thought it possible that they were +marked by some astrological superstition, to which the greatest +politicians have been subject. I therefore had recourse to my Rider's +Almanack. There I found, indeed, something that characterized the work, +and that gave directions concerning the sudden political and natural +variations, and for eschewing the maladies that are most prevalent in +that aguish intermittent season, "the last week of October." On that +week the sagacious astrologer, Rider, in his note on the third column of +the calendar side, teaches us to expect "_variable and cold weather";_ +but instead of encouraging us to trust ourselves to the haze and mist +and doubtful lights of that changeable week, on the answerable part of +the opposite page he gives us a salutary caution (indeed, it is very +nearly in the words of the author's motto): "_Avoid_," says he, "_being +out late at night and in foggy weather, for a cold now caught may last +the whole winter_."[9] This ingenious author, who disdained the prudence +of the Almanack, walked out in the very fog he complains of, and has led +us to a very unseasonable airing at that time. Whilst this noble writer, +by the vigor of an excellent constitution, formed for the violent +changes he prognosticates, may shake off the importunate rheum and +malignant influenza of this disagreeable week, a whole Parliament may go +on spitting and snivelling, and wheezing and coughing, during a whole +session. All this from listening to variable, hebdomadal politicians, +who run away from their opinions without giving us a month's +warning,--and for not listening to the wise and friendly admonitions of +Dr. Cardanus Rider, who never apprehends he may change his opinions +before his pen is out of his hand, but always enables us to lay in at +least a year's stock of useful information. + +At first I took comfort. I said to myself, that, if I should, as I fear +I must, oppose the doctrines of _the last week of October_, it is +probable that by this time they are no longer those of the eminent +writer to whom they are attributed. He gives us hopes that long before +this he may have embraced the direct contrary sentiments. If I am found +in a conflict with those of the last week of October, I may be in full +agreement with those of the last week in December, or the first week in +January, 1796. But a second edition, and a French translation, (for the +benefit, I must suppose, of the new Regicide Directory,) have let down a +little of these flattering hopes. We and the Directory know that the +author, whatever changes his works seemed made to indicate, like a +weathercock grown rusty, remains just where he was in the last week of +last October. It is true, that his protest against binding him to his +opinions, and his reservation of a right to whatever opinions he +pleases, remain in their full force. This variability is pleasant, and +shows a fertility of fancy:-- + + Qualis in æthereo felix Vertumnus Olympo + Mille habet ornatus, mille decenter habet. + +Yet, doing all justice to the sportive variability of these weekly, +daily, or hourly speculators, shall I be pardoned, if I attempt a word +on the part of us simple country folk? It is not good for _us_, however +it may be so for great statesmen, that we should be treated with +variable politics. I consider different relations as prescribing a +different conduct. I allow, that, in transactions with an enemy, a +minister may, and often must, vary his demands with the day, possibly +with the hour. With an enemy, a fixed plan, variable arrangements. This +is the rule the nature of the transaction prescribes. But all this +belongs to treaty. All these shiftings and changes are a sort of secret +amongst the parties, till a definite settlement is brought about. Such +is the spirit of the proceedings in the doubtful and transitory state of +things between enmity and friendship. In this change the subjects of the +transformation are by nature carefully wrapt up in their cocoons. The +gay ornament of summer is not seemly in his aurelia state. This +mutability is allowed to a foreign negotiator; but when a great +politician condescends publicly to instruct his own countrymen on a +matter which may fix their fate forever, his opinions ought not to be +diurnal, or even weekly. These ephemerides of politics are not made for +our slow and coarse understandings. Our appetite demands a _piece of +resistance_. We require some food that will stick to the ribs. We call +for sentiments to which we can attach ourselves,--sentiments in which we +can take an interest,--sentiments on which we can warm, on which we can +ground some confidence in ourselves or in others. We do not want a +largess of inconstancy. Poor souls, we have enough of that sort of +poverty at home. There is a difference, too, between deliberation and +doctrine: a man ought to be decided in his opinions before he attempts +to teach. His fugitive lights may serve himself in some unknown region, +but they cannot free us from the effects of the error into which we have +been betrayed. His active Will-o'-the-wisp may be gone nobody can guess +where, whilst he leaves us bemired and benighted in the bog. + +Having premised these few reflections upon this new mode of teaching a +lesson, which whilst the scholar is getting by heart the master forgets, +I come to the lesson itself. On the fullest consideration of it, I am +utterly incapable of saying with any great certainty what it is, in the +detail, that the author means to affirm or deny, to dissuade or +recommend. His march is mostly oblique, and his doctrine rather in the +way of insinuation than of dogmatic assertion. It is not only fugitive +in its duration, but is slippery in the extreme whilst it lasts. +Examining it part by part, it seems almost everywhere to contradict +itself; and the author, who claims the privilege of varying his +opinions, has exercised this privilege in every section of his remarks. +For this reason, amongst others, I follow the advice which the able +writer gives in his last page, which is, "to consider the _impression_ +of what he has urged, taken from the _whole_, and not from detached +paragraphs." That caution was not absolutely necessary. I should think +it unfair to the author and to myself to have proceeded otherwise. This +author's _whole_, however, like every other whole, cannot be so well +comprehended without some reference to the parts; but they shall be +again referred to the whole. Without this latter attention, several of +the passages would certainly remain covered with an impenetrable and +truly oracular obscurity. + +The great, general, pervading purpose, of the whole pamphlet is to +reconcile us to peace with the present usurpation in France. In this +general drift of the author I can hardly be mistaken. The other +purposes, less general, and subservient to the preceding scheme, are to +show, first, that the time of the Remarks was the favorable time for +making that peace upon our side; secondly, that on the enemy's side +their disposition towards the acceptance of such terms as he is pleased +to offer was rationally to be expected; the third purpose was, to make +some sort of disclosure of the terms which, if the Regicides are pleased +to grant them, this nation ought to be contented to accept: these form +the basis of the negotiation which the author, whoever he is, proposes +to open. + +Before I consider these Remarks along with the other reasonings which I +hear on the same subject, I beg leave to recall to your mind the +observation I made early in our correspondence, and which ought to +attend us quite through the discussion of this proposed peace, amity, or +fraternity, or whatever you may call it,--that is, the real quality and +character of the party you have to deal with. This I find, as a thing of +no importance, has everywhere escaped the author of the October Remarks. +That hostile power, to the period of the fourth week in that month, has +been ever called and considered as an usurpation. In that week, for the +first time, it changed its name of an usurped power, and took the simple +name of _France_. The word France is slipped in just as if the +government stood exactly as before that Revolution which has astonished, +terrified, and almost overpowered Europe. "France," says the author, +"will do this,"--"it is the interest of France,"--"the returning honor +and generosity of France," &c., &c.--always merely France: just as if +we were in a common political war with an old recognized member of the +commonwealth of Christian Europe,--and as if our dispute had turned upon +a mere matter of territorial or commercial controversy, which a peace +might settle by the imposition or the taking off a duty, with the gain +or the loss of a remote island or a frontier town or two, on the one +side or the other. This shifting of persons could not be done without +the hocus-pocus of _abstraction_. We have been in a grievous error: we +thought that we had been at war with _rebels_ against the lawful +government, but that we were friends and allies of what is properly +France, friends and allies to the legal body politic of France. But by +sleight of hand the Jacobins are clean vanished, and it is France we +have got under our cup. "Blessings on his soul that first invented +sleep!" said Don Sancho Panza the Wise. All those blessings, and ten +thousand times more, on him who found out abstraction, personification, +and impersonals! In certain cases they are the first of all soporifics. +Terribly alarmed we should be, if things were proposed to us in the +_concrete_, and if fraternity was held out to us with the individuals +who compose this France by their proper names and descriptions,--if we +were told that it was very proper to enter into the closest bonds of +amity and good correspondence with the devout, pacific, and +tender-hearted Sieyès, with the all-accomplished Reubell, with the +humane guillotinists of Bordeaux, Tallien and Isabeau, with the meek +butcher, Legendre, and with "the returned humanity and generosity" (that +had been only on a visit abroad) of the virtuous regicide brewer, +Santerre. This would seem at the outset a very strange scheme of amity +and concord,--nay, though we had held out to us, as an additional +_douceur_, an assurance of the cordial fraternal embrace of our pious +and patriotic countryman, Thomas Paine. But plain truth would here be +shocking and absurd; therefore comes in _abstraction_ and +personification. "Make your peace with France." That word _France_ +sounds quite as well as any other; and it conveys no idea but that of a +very pleasant country and very hospitable inhabitants. Nothing absurd +and shocking in amity and good correspondence with _France_. Permit me +to say, that I am not yet well acquainted with this new-coined France, +and without a careful assay I am not willing to receive it in currency +in place of the old Louis-d'or. + +Having, therefore, slipped the persons with whom we are to treat out of +view, we are next to be satisfied that the French Revolution, which this +peace is to fix and consolidate, ought to give us no just cause of +apprehension. Though the author labors this point, yet he confesses a +fact (indeed, he could not conceal it) which renders all his labors +utterly fruitless. He confesses that the Regicide means to _dictate_ a +pacification, and that this pacification, according to their decree +passed but a very few days before his publication appeared, is to "unite +to their empire, either in possession or dependence, new barriers, many +frontier places of strength, a large sea-coast, and many sea-ports." He +ought to have stated it, that they would annex to their territory a +country about a third as large as France, and much more than half as +rich, and in a situation the most important for command that it would be +possible for her anywhere to possess. + +To remove this terror, (even if the Regicides should carry their +point,) and to give us perfect repose with regard to their empire, +whatever they may acquire, or whomsoever they might destroy, he raises a +doubt "whether France will not be ruined by _retaining_ these conquests, +and whether she will not wholly lose that preponderance which she has +held in the scale of European powers, and will not eventually be +destroyed by the effect of her present successes, or, at least, whether, +so far as the _political interests of England are concerned_, she +[France] will remain an object of as _much jealousy and alarm as she was +under the reign of a monarch_." Here, indeed, is a paragraph full of +meaning! It gives matter for meditation almost in every word of it. The +secret of the pacific politicians is out. This republic, at all hazards, +is to be maintained. It is to be confined within some bounds, if we can; +if not, with every possible acquisition of power, it is still to be +cherished and supported. It is the return of the monarchy we are to +dread, and therefore we ought to pray for the permanence of the Regicide +authority. _Esto perpetua_ is the devout ejaculation of our Frà Paolo +for the Republic one and indivisible. It was the monarchy that rendered +France dangerous: Regicide neutralizes all the acrimony of that power, +and renders it safe and social. The October speculator is of opinion +that monarchy is of so poisonous a quality that a moderate territorial +power is far more dangerous to its neighbors under that abominable +regimen than the greatest empire in the hands of a republic. This is +Jacobinism sublimed and exalted into most pure and perfect essence. It +is a doctrine, I admit, made to allure and captivate, if anything in the +world can, the Jacobin Directory, to mollify the ferocity of Regicide, +and to persuade those patriotic hangmen, after their reiterated oaths +for our extirpation, to admit this well-humbled nation to the fraternal +embrace. I do not wonder that this tub of October has been racked off +into a French cask. It must make its fortune at Paris. That translation +seems the language the most suited to these sentiments. Our author tells +the French Jacobins, that the political interests of Great Britain are +in perfect unison with the principles of their government,--that they +may take and keep the keys of the civilized world, for they are safe in +their unambitious and faithful custody. We say to them, "We may, indeed, +wish you to be a little less murderous, wicked, and atheistical, for the +sake of morals; we may think it were better you were less new-fangled in +your speech, for the sake of grammar; but, as _politicians_, provided +you keep clear of monarchy, all our fears, alarms, and jealousies are at +an end: at least, they sink into nothing in comparison of our dread of +your detestable royalty." A flatterer of Cardinal Mazarin said, when +that minister had just settled the match between the young Louis the +Fourteenth and a daughter of Spain, that this alliance had the effect of +faith and had removed mountains,--that the Pyrenees were levelled by +that marriage. You may now compliment Reubell in the same spirit on the +miracles of regicide, and tell him that the guillotine of Louis the +Sixteenth had consummated a marriage between Great Britain and France, +which dried up the Channel, and restored the two countries to the unity +which it is said they had before the unnatural rage of seas and +earthquakes had broke off their happy junction. It will be a fine +subject for the poets who are to prophesy the blessings of this peace. + +I am now convinced that the Remarks of the last week of October cannot +come from the author to whom they are given, they are such a direct +contradiction to the style of manly indignation with which he spoke of +those miscreants and murderers in his excellent memorial to the States +of Holland,--to that very state which the author who presumes to +personate him does not find it contrary to the political interests of +England to leave in the hands of these very miscreants, against whom on +the part of England he took so much pains to animate their republic. +This cannot be; and if this argument wanted anything to give it new +force, it is strengthened by an additional reason, that is irresistible. +Knowing that noble person, as well as myself, to be under very great +obligations to the crown, I am confident he would not so very directly +contradict, even in the paroxysm of his zeal against monarchy, the +declarations made in the name and with the fullest approbation of our +sovereign, his master, and our common benefactor. In those declarations +you will see that the king, instead of being sensible of greater alarm +and jealousy from a neighboring crowned head than from, these regicides, +attributes all the dangers of Europe to the latter. Let this writer hear +the description given in the royal declaration of the scheme of power of +these miscreants, as "_a system destructive of all public order, +maintained by proscriptions, exiles, and confiscations without number, +by arbitrary imprisonments, by massacres which cannot be remembered +without horror, and at length by the execrable murder of a just and +beneficent sovereign, and of the illustrious princess, who with an +unshaken firmness has shared all the misfortunes of her royal consort, +his protracted sufferings, his cruel captivity, his ignominious +death_." After thus describing, with an eloquence and energy equalled +only by its truth, the means by which this usurped power had been +acquired and maintained, that government is characterized with equal +force. His Majesty, far from thinking monarchy in France to be a greater +object of jealousy than the Regicide usurpation, calls upon the French +to reestablish "_a monarchical government_" for the purpose of shaking +off "_the yoke of a sanguinary anarchy_,--_of that anarchy which has +broken all the most sacred bonds of society, dissolved all the relations +of civil life, violated every right, confounded every duty_,--_which +uses the name of liberty to exercise the most cruel tyranny, to +annihilate all property, to seize on all possessions_,--_which founds +its power on the pretended consent of the people, and itself carries +fire and sword through extensive provinces, for having demanded their +laws, their religion, and their lawful sovereign_." + +"That strain I heard was of a higher mood." That declaration of our +sovereign was worthy of his throne. It is in a style which neither the +pen of the writer of October nor such a poor crow-quill as mine can ever +hope to equal. I am happy to enrich my letter with this fragment of +nervous and manly eloquence, which, if it had not emanated from the +awful authority of a throne, if it were not recorded amongst the most +valuable monuments of history, and consecrated in the archives of +states, would be worthy, as a private composition, to live forever in +the memory of men. + +In those admirable pieces does his Majesty discover this new opinion of +his political security, in having the chair of the scorner, that is, the +discipline of atheism, and the block of regicide, set up by his side, +elevated on the same platform, and shouldering, with the vile image of +their grim and bloody idol, the inviolable majesty of his throne? The +sentiments of these declarations are the very reverse: they could not be +other. Speaking of the spirit of that usurpation, the royal manifesto +describes, with perfect truth, its internal tyranny to have been +established as the very means of shaking the security of all other +states,--as "_disposing arbitrarily of the property and blood of the +inhabitants of France, in order to disturb the tranquillity of other +nations, and to render all Europe the theatre of the same crimes and of +the same misfortunes_." It was but a natural inference from this fact, +that the royal manifesto does not at all rest the justification of this +war on common principles: that it was "_not only to defend his own +rights, and those of his allies_," but "_that all the dearest interests +of his people imposed upon him a duty still more important_,--_that of +exerting his efforts for the preservation of civil society itself, as +happily established among the nations of Europe_." On that ground, the +protection offered is to "those who, by declaring for a _monarchical +government_, shall shake off the yoke of a sanguinary anarchy." It is +for that purpose the declaration calls on them "to join the standard of +an _hereditary monarchy_,"--declaring that the _peace and safety_ of +this kingdom and the other powers of Europe "_materially depend on the +reëstablishment of order in France_." His Majesty does not hesitate to +declare that "_the reëstablishment of monarchy, in the person of Louis +the Seventeenth, and the lawful heirs of the crown, appears to him_ [his +Majesty] _the best mode of accomplishing these just and salutary +views_." + +This is what his Majesty does not hesitate to declare relative to the +political safety and peace of his kingdom and of Europe, and with regard +to France under her ancient hereditary monarchy in the course and order +of legal succession. But in comes a gentleman, in the fag end of +October, dripping with the fogs of that humid and uncertain season, and +does not hesitate in diameter to contradict this wise and just royal +declaration, and stoutly, on his part, to make a counter +declaration,--that France, so far as the political interests of England +are concerned, will not remain, under the despotism of Regicide, and +with the better part of Europe in her hands, so much an object of +jealousy and alarm as she was under the reign of a monarch. When I hear +the master and reason on one side, and the servant and his single and +unsupported assertion on the other, my part is taken. + +This is what the Octobrist says of the political interests of England, +which it looks as if he completely disconnected with those of all other +nations. But not quite so: he just allows it possible (with an "at +least") that the other powers may not find it quite their interest that +their territories should be conquered and their subjects tyrannized over +by the Regicides. No fewer than ten sovereign princes had, some the +whole, all a very considerable part of their dominions under the yoke of +that dreadful faction. Amongst these was to be reckoned the first +republic in the world, and the closest ally of this kingdom, which, +under the insulting name of an independency, is under her iron yoke, +and, as long as a faction averse to the old government is suffered there +to domineer, cannot be otherwise. I say nothing of the Austrian +Netherlands, countries of a vast extent, and amongst the most fertile +and populous of Europe, and, with regard to us, most critically +situated. The rest will readily occur to you. + +But if there are yet existing any people, like me, old-fashioned enough +to consider that we have an important part of our very existence beyond +our limits, and who therefore stretch their thoughts beyond the +_pomoerium_ of England, for them, too, he has a comfort which will +remove all their jealousies and alarms about the extent of the empire of +Regicide. "_These conquests eventually will be the cause of her +destruction_." So that they who hate the cause of usurpation, and dread +the power of France under any form, are to wish her to be a conqueror, +in order to accelerate her ruin. A little more conquest would be still +better. Will he tell us what dose of dominion is to be the _quantum +sufficit_ for her destruction?--for she seems very voracious of the food +of her distemper. To be sure, she is ready to perish with repletion; she +has a _boulimia_, and hardly has bolted down one state than she calls +for two or three more. There is a good deal of wit in all this; but it +seems to me (with all respect to the author) to be carrying the joke a +great deal too far. I cannot yet think that the armies of the Allies +were of this way of thinking, and that, when they evacuated all these +countries, it was a stratagem of war to decoy France into ruin,--or +that, if in a treaty we should surrender them forever into the hands of +the usurpation, (the lease the author supposes,) it is a master-stroke +of policy to effect the destruction of a formidable rival, and to render +her no longer an object of jealousy and alarm. This, I assure the +author, will infinitely facilitate the treaty. The usurpers will catch +at this bait, without minding the hook which this crafty angler for the +Jacobin gudgeons of the new Directory has so dexterously placed under +it. + +Every symptom of the exacerbation of the public malady is, with him, (as +with the Doctor in Molière,) a happy prognostic of recovery.--Flanders +gone. _Tant mieux_.--Holland subdued. Charming!--Spain beaten, and all +the hither Germany conquered. Bravo! Better and better still!--But they +will retain all their conquests on a treaty. Best of all!--What a +delightful thing it is to have a gay physician, who sees all things, as +the French express it, _couleur de rose!_ What an escape we have had, +that we and our allies were not the conquerors! By these conquests, +previous to her utter destruction, she is "wholly to lose that +preponderance which she held in the scale of the European powers." Bless +me! this new system of France, after changing all other laws, reverses +the law of gravitation. By throwing in weight after weight, her scale +rises, and will by-and-by kick the beam. Certainly there is one sense in +which she loses her preponderance: that is, she is no longer +preponderant against the countries she has conquered. They are part of +herself. But I beg the author to keep his eyes fixed on the scales for a +moment longer, and then to tell me, in downright earnest, whether he +sees hitherto any signs of her losing preponderance by an augmentation +of weight and power. Has she lost her preponderance over Spain by her +influence in Spain? Are there any signs that the conquest of Savoy and +Nice begins to lessen her preponderance over Switzerland and the Italian +States,--or that the Canton of Berne, Genoa, and Tuscany, for example, +have taken arms against her,--or that Sardinia is more adverse than +ever to a treacherous pacification? Was it in the last week of October +that the German States showed that Jacobin. France was losing her +preponderance? Did the King of Prussia, when he delivered into her safe +custody his territories on this side of the Rhine, manifest any tokens +of his opinion of her loss of preponderance? Look on Sweden and on +Denmark: is her preponderance less visible there? + +It is true, that, in a course of ages, empires have fallen, and, in the +opinion of some, not in mine, by their own weight. Sometimes they have +been unquestionably embarrassed in their movements by the dissociated +situation of their dominions. Such was the case of the empire of Charles +the Fifth and of his successor. It might be so of others. But so compact +a body of empire, so fitted in all the parts for mutual support, with a +frontier by Nature and Art so impenetrable, with such facility of +breaking out with irresistible force from every quarter, was never seen +in such an extent of territory, from the beginning of time, as in that +empire which the Jacobins possessed in October, 1795, and which Boissy +d'Anglas, in his report, settled as the law for Europe, and the dominion +assigned by Nature for the Republic of Regicide. But this empire is to +be her ruin, and to take away all alarm and jealousy on the part of +England, and to destroy her preponderance over the miserable remains of +Europe. + +These are choice speculations with which the author amuses himself, and +tries to divert us, in the blackest hours of the dismay, defeat, and +calamity of all civilized nations. They have but one fault,--that they +are directly contrary to the common sense and common feeling of +mankind. If I had but one hour to live, I would employ it in decrying +this wretched system, and die with my pen in my hand to mark out the +dreadful consequences of receiving an arrangement of empire dictated by +the despotism of Regicide to my own country, and to the lawful +sovereigns of the Christian world. + +I trust I shall hardly be told, in palliation of this shameful system of +politics, that the author expresses his sentiments only as doubts. In +such things, it may be truly said, that "once to doubt is once to be +resolved." It would be a strange reason for wasting the treasures and +shedding the blood of our country, to prevent arrangements on the part +of another power, of which we were doubtful whether they might not be +even to our advantage, and render our neighbor less than before the +object of our jealousy and alarm. In this doubt there is much decision. +No nation would consent to carry on a war of skepticism. But the fact +is, this expression of doubt is only a mode of putting an opinion, when +it is not the drift of the author to overturn the doubt. Otherwise, the +doubt is never stated as the author's own, nor left, as here it is, +unanswered. Indeed, the mode of stating the most decided opinions in the +form of questions is so little uncommon, particularly since the +excellent queries of the excellent Berkeley, that it became for a good +while a fashionable mode of composition. + +Here, then, the author of the Fourth Week of October is ready for the +worst, and would strike the bargain of peace on these conditions. I must +leave it to you and to every considerate man to reflect upon the effect +of this on any Continental alliances, present or future, and whether it +would be possible (if this book was thought of the least authority) +that its maxims with regard to our political interest must not naturally +push them to be beforehand with us in the fraternity with Regicide, and +thus not only strip us of any steady alliance at present, but leave us +without any of that communion of interest which could produce alliances +in future. Indeed, with these maxims, we should be well divided from the +world. + +Notwithstanding this new kind of barrier and security that is found +against her ambition in her conquests, yet in the very same paragraph he +admits, that, "for the _present_, at least, it is subversive of the +balance of power." This, I confess, is not a direct contradiction, +because the benefits which he promises himself from it, according to his +hypothesis, are future and more remote. + +So disposed is this author to peace, that, having laid a comfortable +foundation for our security in the greatness of her empire, he has +another in reserve, if that should fail, upon quite a contrary ground: +that is, a speculation of her crumbling to pieces, and being thrown into +a number of little separate republics. After paying the tribute of +humanity to those who will be ruined by all these changes, on the whole +he is of opinion that "the change might be compatible with general +tranquillity, and with the establishment of a peaceful and prosperous +commerce among nations." Whether France be great or small, firm and +entire or dissipated and divided, all is well, provided we can have +peace with her. + +But without entering into speculations about her dismemberment, whilst +she is adding great nations to her empire, is it, then, quite so certain +that the dissipation of France into such a cluster of petty republics +would be so very favorable to the true balance of power in Europe as +this author imagines it would be, and to the commerce of nations? I +greatly differ from him. I perhaps shall prove in a future letter, with +the political map of Europe before my eye, that the general liberty and +independence of the great Christian commonwealth could not exist with +such a dismemberment, unless it were followed (as probably enough it +would) by the dismemberment of every other considerable country in +Europe: and what convulsions would arise in the constitution of every +state in Europe it is not easy to conjecture in the mode, impossible not +to foresee in the mass. Speculate on, good my Lord! provided you ground +no part of your politics on such unsteady speculations. But as to any +practice to ensue, are we not yet cured of the malady of speculating on +the circumstances of things totally different from those in which we +live and move? Five years has this monster continued whole and entire in +all its members. Far from falling into a division within itself, it is +augmented by tremendous additions. We cannot bear to look that frightful +form in the face, as it is, and in its own actual shape. We dare not be +wise; we have not the fortitude of rational fear; we will not provide +for our future safety; but we endeavor to hush the cries of present +timidity by guesses at what may be hereafter,-- + + "To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow." + +Is this our style of talk, when + + "all our yesterdays have lighted fools + The way to dusty death"? + +Talk not to me of what swarm of republics may come from this carcass! It +is no carcass. Now, now, whilst we are talking, it is full of life and +action. What say you to the Regicide empire of to-day? Tell me, my +friend, do its terrors appall you into an abject submission, or rouse +you to a vigorous defence? But do--I no longer prevent it--do go +on,--look into futurity. Has this empire nothing to alarm you when all +struggle against it is over, when mankind shall be silent before it, +when all nations shall be disarmed, disheartened, and _truly divided_ by +a treacherous peace? Its malignity towards humankind will subsist with +undiminished heat, whilst the means of giving it effect must proceed, +and every means of resisting it must inevitably and rapidly decline. + +Against alarm on their politic and military empire these are the +writer's sedative remedies. But he leaves us sadly in the dark with +regard to the moral consequences, which he states have threatened to +demolish a system of civilization under which his country enjoys a +prosperity unparalleled in the history of man. We had emerged from our +first terrors, but here we sink into them again,--however, only to shake +them off upon the credit of his being a man of very sanguine hopes. + +Against the moral terrors of this successful empire of barbarism, though +he has given us no consolation here, in another place he has formed +other securities,--securities, indeed, which will make even the enormity +of the crimes and atrocities of France a benefit to the world. We are to +be cured by her diseases. We are to grow proud of our Constitution upon, +the distempers of theirs. Governments throughout all Europe are to +become much stronger by this event. This, too, comes in the favorite +mode of _doubt_ and _perhaps_. "To those," he says, "who meditate on +the workings of the human mind, a doubt may perhaps arise, whether the +effects which I have described," (namely, the change he supposes to be +wrought on the public mind with regard to the French doctrines,) "though +_at present_ a salutary check to the dangerous spirit of innovation, may +not prove favorable to abuses of power, by creating a timidity in the +just cause of liberty." Here the current of our apprehensions takes a +contrary course. Instead of trembling for the existence of our +government from the spirit of licentiousness and anarchy, the author +would make us believe we are to tremble for our liberties from the great +accession of power which is to accrue to government. + +I believe I have read in some author who criticized the productions of +the famous Jurieu, that it is not very wise in people who dash away in +prophecy, to fix the time of accomplishment at too short a period. Mr. +Brothers may meditate upon this at his leisure. He was a melancholy +prognosticator, and has had the fate of melancholy men. But they who +prophesy pleasant things get great present applause; and in days of +calamity people have something else to think of: they lose, in their +feeling of their distress, all memory of those who flattered them in +their prosperity. But merely for the credit of the prediction, nothing +could have happened more unluckily for the noble lord's sanguine +expectations of the amendment of the public mind, and the consequent +greater security to government, from the examples in France, than what +happened in the week after the publication of his hebdomadal system. I +am not sure it was not in the very week one of the most violent and +dangerous seditions broke out that we have seen in several years. This +sedition, menacing to the public security, endangering the sacred person +of the king, and violating in the most audacious manner the authority of +Parliament, surrounded our sovereign with a murderous yell and war-whoop +for that peace which the noble lord considers as a cure for all domestic +disturbances and dissatisfactions. + +So far as to this general cure for popular disorders. As for government, +the two Houses of Parliament, instead of being guided by the +speculations of the Fourth Week in October, and throwing up new barriers +against the dangerous power of the crown, which the noble lord +considered as no unplausible subject of apprehension, the two Houses of +Parliament thought fit to pass two acts for the further strengthening of +that very government against a most dangerous and wide-spread faction. + +Unluckily, too, for this kind of sanguine speculation, on the very first +day of the ever-famed "last week of October," a large, daring, and +seditious meeting was publicly held, from which meeting this atrocious +attempt against the sovereign publicly originated. + +No wonder that the author should tell us that the whole consideration +might be varied _whilst he was writing those pages_. In one, and that +the most material instance, his speculations not only might be, but were +at that very time, entirely overset. Their war-cry for peace with France +was the same with that of this gentle author, but in a different note. +His is the _gemitus columbæ_, cooing and wooing fraternity; theirs the +funereal screams of birds of night calling for their ill-omened +paramours. But they are both songs of courtship. These Regicides +considered a Regicide peace as a cure for all their evils; and so far +as I can find, they showed nothing at all of the timidity which the +noble lord apprehends in what they call the just cause of liberty. + +However, it seems, that, notwithstanding these awkward appearances with +regard to the strength of government, he has still his fears and doubts +about our liberties. To a free people this would be a matter of alarm; +but this physician of October has in his shop all sorts of salves for +all sorts of sores. It is curious that they all come from the +inexhaustible drug-shop of the Regicide dispensary. It costs him nothing +to excite terror, because he lays it at his pleasure. He finds a +security for this danger to liberty from the wonderful wisdom to be +taught to kings, to nobility, and even, to the lowest of the people, by +the late transactions. + +I confess I was always blind enough to regard the French Revolution, in +the act, and much more in the example, as one of the greatest calamities +that had ever fallen upon mankind. I now find that in its effects it is +to be the greatest of all blessings. If so, we owe _amende honorable_ to +the Jacobins. They, it seems, were right; and if they were right a +little earlier than we are, it only shows that they exceeded us in +sagacity. If they brought out their right ideas somewhat in a disorderly +manner, it must be remembered that great zeal produces some +irregularity; but when greatly in the right, it must be pardoned by +those who are very regularly and temperately in the wrong. The master +Jacobins had told me this a thousand times. I never believed the +masters; nor do I now find myself disposed to give credit to the +disciple. I will not much dispute with our author, which party has the +best of this Revolution,--that which is from thence to learn wisdom, or +that which from the same event has obtained power. The dispute on the +preference of strength to wisdom may perhaps be decided as Horace has +decided the controversy between Art and Nature. I do not like to leave +all the power to my adversary, and to secure nothing to myself but the +untimely wisdom that is taught by the consequences of folly. I do not +like my share in the partition: because to his strength my adversary may +possibly add a good deal of cunning, whereas my wisdom may totally fail +in producing to me the same degree of strength. But to descend from the +author's generalities a little nearer to meaning, the security given to +liberty is this,--"that governments will have learned not to precipitate +themselves into embarrassments by speculative wars. Sovereigns and +princes will not forget that steadiness, moderation, and economy are the +best supports of the eminence on which they stand." There seems to me a +good deal of oblique reflection in this lesson. As to the lesson itself, +it is at all times a good one. One would think, however, by this formal +introduction of it as a recommendation of the arrangements proposed by +the author, it had never been taught before, either by precept or by +experience,--and that these maxims are discoveries reserved for a +Regicide peace. But is it permitted to ask what security it affords to +the liberty of the subject, that the prince is pacific or frugal? The +very contrary has happened in our history. Our best securities for +freedom have been obtained from princes who were either warlike, or +prodigal, or both. + +Although the amendment of princes in these points can +have no effect in quieting our apprehensions for liberty on account of +the strength to be acquired to government by a Regicide peace, I allow +that the avoiding of speculative wars may possibly be an advantage, +provided I well understand what the author means by a speculative war. I +suppose he means a war grounded on speculative advantages, and not wars +founded on a just speculation of danger. Does he mean to include this +war, which we are now carrying on, amongst those speculative wars which +this Jacobin peace is to teach sovereigns to avoid hereafter? If so, it +is doing the party an important service. Does he mean that we are to +avoid such wars as that of the Grand Alliance, made on a speculation of +danger to the independence of Europe? I suspect he has a sort of +retrospective view to the American war, as a speculative war, carried on +by England upon one side and by Louis the Sixteenth on the other. As to +our share of that war, let reverence to the dead and respect to the +living prevent us from reading lessons of this kind at their expense. I +don't know how far the author may find himself at liberty to wanton on +that subject; but, for my part, I entered into a coalition which, when I +had no longer a duty relative to that business, made me think myself +bound in honor not to call it up without necessity. But if he puts +England out of the question, and reflects only on Louis the Sixteenth, I +have only to say, "Dearly has he answered it!" I will not defend him. +But all those who pushed on the Revolution by which he was deposed were +much more in fault than he was. They have murdered him, and have divided +his kingdom as a spoil; but they who are the guilty are not they who +furnish the example. They who reign through his fault are not among +those sovereigns who are likely to be taught to avoid speculative wars +by the murder of their master. I think the author will not be hardy +enough to assert that they have shown less disposition to meddle in the +concerns of that very America than he did, and in a way not less likely +to kindle the flame of speculative war. Here is one sovereign not yet +reclaimed by these healing examples. Will he point out the other +sovereigns who are to be reformed by this peace? Their wars may not be +speculative. But the world will not be much mended by turning wars from +unprofitable and speculative to practical and lucrative, whether the +liberty or the repose of mankind is regarded. If the author's new +sovereign in France is not reformed by the example of his own +Revolution, that Revolution has not added much to the security and +repose of Poland, for instance, or taught the three great partitioning +powers more moderation in their second than they had shown in their +first division of that devoted country. The first division, which +preceded these destructive examples, was moderation itself, in +comparison of what has been, done since the period of the author's +amendment. + +This paragraph is written with something of a studied obscurity. If it +means anything, it seems to hint as if sovereigns were to learn +moderation, and an attention to the liberties of their people, from _the +fate of the sovereigns who have suffered in this war_, and eminently of +Louis the Sixteenth. + +Will he say whether the King of Sardinia's horrible tyranny was the +cause of the loss of Savoy and of Nice? What lesson of moderation does +it teach the Pope? I desire to know whether his Holiness is to learn not +to massacre his subjects, nor to waste and destroy such beautiful +countries as that of Avignon, lest he should call to their assistance +that great deliverer of nations, _Jourdan Coupe-tête_? What lesson does +it give of moderation to the Emperor, whose predecessor never put one +man to death after a general rebellion of the Low Countries, that the +Regicides never spared man, woman, or child, whom they but suspected of +dislike to their usurpations? What, then, are all these lessons about +the _softening_ the character of sovereigns by this Regicide peace? On +reading this section, one would imagine that the poor tame sovereigns of +Europe had been a sort of furious wild beasts, that stood in need of +some uncommonly rough discipline to subdue the ferocity of their savage +nature. + +As to the example to be learnt from the murder of Louis the Sixteenth, +if a lesson to kings is not derived from his fate, I do not know whence +it can come. The author, however, ought not to have left us in the dark +upon that subject, to break our shins over his hints and insinuations. +Is it, then, true, that this unfortunate monarch drew his punishment +upon himself by his want of moderation, and his oppressing the liberties +of which he had found his people in possession? Is not the direct +contrary the fact? And is not the example of this Revolution the very +reverse of anything which can lead to that _softening_ of character in +princes which the author supposes as a security to the people, and has +brought forward as a recommendation to fraternity with those who have +administered that happy emollient in the murder of their king and the +slavery and desolation of their country? + +But the author does not confine the benefit of the Regicide lesson to +kings alone. He has a diffusive bounty. Nobles, and men of property, +will likewise be greatly reformed. They, too, will be led to a review of +their social situation and duties,--"and will reflect, that their large +allotment of worldly advantages is for the aid and benefit of the +whole." Is it, then, from the fate of Juigné, Archbishop of Paris, or of +the Cardinal de Rochefoucault, and of so many others, who gave their +fortunes, and, I may say, their very beings, to the poor, that the rich +are to learn, that their "fortunes are for the aid and benefit of the +whole"? I say nothing of the liberal persons of great rank and property, +lay and ecclesiastic, men and women, to whom we have had the honor and +happiness of affording an asylum: I pass by these, lest I should never +have done, or lest I should omit some as deserving as any I might +mention. Why will the author, then, suppose that the nobles and men of +property in France have been banished, confiscated, and murdered, on +account of the savageness and ferocity of their character, and their +being tainted with vices beyond those of the same order and description +in other countries? No judge of a revolutionary tribunal, with his hands +dipped in their blood and his maw gorged with their property, has yet +dared to assert what this author has been pleased, by way of a moral +lesson, to insinuate. + +Their nobility, and their men of property, in a mass, had the very same +virtues, and the very same vices, and in the very same proportions, with +the same description of men in this and in other nations. I must do +justice to suffering honor, generosity, and integrity. I do not know +that any time or any country has furnished more splendid examples of +every virtue, domestic and public. I do not enter into the councils of +Providence; but, humanly speaking, many of these nobles and men of +property, from whose disastrous fate we are, it seems, to learn a +general softening of character, and a revision of our social situations +and duties, appear to me full as little deserving of that fate as the +author, whoever he is, can be. Many of them, I am sure, were such as I +should be proud indeed to be able to compare myself with, in knowledge, +in integrity, and in every other virtue. My feeble nature might shrink, +though theirs did not, from the proof; but my reason and my ambition +tell me that it would be a good bargain to purchase their merits with +their fate. + +For which of his vices did that great magistrate, D'Espréménil, lose his +fortune and his head? What were the abominations of Malesherbes, that +other excellent magistrate, whose sixty years of uniform virtue was +acknowledged, in the very act of his murder, by the judicial butchers +who condemned him? On account of what misdemeanors was he robbed of his +property, and slaughtered with two generations of his offspring,--and +the remains of the third race, with a refinement of cruelty, and lest +they should appear to reclaim the property forfeited by the virtues of +their ancestor, confounded in an hospital with the thousands of those +unhappy foundling infants who are abandoned, without relation and +without name, by the wretchedness or by the profligacy of their parents? + +Is the fate of the Queen of France to produce this softening of +character? Was she a person so very ferocious and cruel, as, by the +example of her death, to frighten us into common humanity? Is there no +way to teach the Emperor a _softening_ of character, and a review of +his social situation and duty, but his consent, by an infamous accord +with Regicide, to drive a second coach with the Austrian arms through +the streets of Paris, along which, after a series of preparatory horrors +exceeding the atrocities of the bloody execution itself, the glory of +the Imperial race had been carried to an ignominious death? Is this a +lesson of _moderation_ to a descendant of Maria Theresa, drawn from the +fate of the daughter of that incomparable woman and sovereign? If he +learns this lesson from such an object, and from such teachers, the man +may remain, but the king is deposed. If he does not carry quite another +memory of that transaction in the inmost recesses of his heart, he is +unworthy to reign, he is unworthy to live. In the chronicle of disgrace +he will have but this short tale told of him: "He was the first emperor +of his house that embraced a regicide; he was the last that wore the +imperial purple." Far am I from thinking so ill of this august +sovereign, who is at the head of the monarchies of Europe, and who is +the trustee of their dignities and his own. + +What ferocity of character drew on the fate of Elizabeth, the sister of +King Louis the Sixteenth? For which of the vices of that pattern of +benevolence, of piety, and of all the virtues, did they put her to +death? For which of her vices did they put to death the mildest of all +human creatures, the Duchess of Biron? What were the crimes of those +crowds of matrons and virgins of condition, whom they mas sacred, with +their juries of blood, in prisons and on scaffolds? What were the +enormities of the infant king, whom they caused, by lingering tortures, +to perish in their dungeon, and whom if at last they dispatched by +poison, it was in that detestable crime the only act of mercy they have +ever shown? + +What softening of character is to be had, what review of their social +situations and duties is to be taught by these examples to kings, to +nobles, to men of property, to women, and to infants? The royal family +perished because it was royal. The nobles perished because they were +noble. The men, women, and children, who had property, because they had +property to be robbed of. The priests were punished, after they had been +robbed of their all, not for their vices, but for their virtues and +their piety, which made them an honor to their sacred profession, and to +that nature of which we ought to be proud, since they belong to it. My +Lord, nothing can be learned from such examples, except the danger of +being kings, queens, nobles, priests, and children, to be butchered on +account of their inheritance. These are things at which not vice, not +crime, not folly, but wisdom, goodness, learning, justice, probity, +beneficence, stand aghast. By these examples our reason and our moral +sense are not enlightened, but confounded; and there is no refuge for +astonished and affrighted virtue, but being annihilated in humility and +submission, sinking into a silent adoration of the inscrutable +dispensations of Providence, and flying with trembling wings from this +world of daring crimes, and feeble, pusillanimous, half-bred, bastard +justice, to the asylum of another order of things, in an unknown form, +but in a better life. + +Whatever the politician or preacher of September or of October may think +of the matter, it is a most comfortless, disheartening, desolating +example. Dreadful is the example of ruined innocence and virtue, and +the completest triumph of the completest villany that ever vexed and +disgraced mankind! The example is ruinous in every point of view, +religious, moral, civil, political. It establishes that dreadful maxim +of Machiavel, that in great affairs men are not to be wicked by halves. +This maxim is not made for a middle sort of beings, who, because they +cannot be angels, ought to thwart their ambition, and not endeavor to +become infernal spirits. It is too well exemplified in the present time, +where the faults and errors of humanity, checked by the imperfect, +timorous virtues, have been overpowered by those who have stopped at no +crime. It is a dreadful part of the example, that infernal malevolence +has had pious apologists, who read their lectures on frailties in favor +of crimes,--who abandon the weak, and court the friendship of the +wicked. To root out these maxims, and the examples that support them, is +a wise object of years of war. This is that war. This is that moral war. +It was said by old Trivulzio, that the Battle of Marignano was the +Battle of the Giants,--that all the rest of the many he had seen were +those of the Cranes and Pygmies. This is true of the objects, at least, +of the contest: for the greater part of those which we have hitherto +contended for, in comparison, were the toys of children. + +The October politician is so full of charity and good-nature, that he +supposes that these very robbers and murderers themselves are in a +course of melioration: on what ground I cannot conceive, except on the +long practice of every crime, and by its complete success. He is an +Origenist, and believes in the conversion of the Devil. All that runs in +the place of blood in his veins is nothing but the milk of human +kindness. He is as soft as a curd,--though, as a politician, he might be +supposed to be made of sterner stuff. He supposes (to use his own +expression) "that the salutary truths which he inculcates are making +their way into their bosoms." Their bosom is a rock of granite, on which +Falsehood has long since built her stronghold. Poor Truth has had a hard +work of it, with her little pickaxe. Nothing but gunpowder will do. + +As a proof, however, of the progress of this sap of Truth, he gives us a +confession they had made not long before he wrote. "'Their fraternity' +(as was lately stated by themselves in a solemn report) 'has been the +brotherhood of Cain and Abel,' and 'they have organized nothing but +bankruptcy and famine.'" A very honest confession, truly,--and much in +the spirit of their oracle, Rousseau. Yet, what is still more marvellous +than the confession, this is the very fraternity to which our author +gives us such an obliging invitation to accede. There is, indeed, a +vacancy in the fraternal corps: a brother and a partner is wanted. If we +please, we may fill up the place of the butchered Abel; and whilst we +wait the destiny of the departed brother, we may enjoy the advantages of +the partnership, by entering without delay into a shop of ready-made +bankruptcy and famine. These are the _douceurs_ by which we are invited +to Regicide fraternity and friendship. But still our author considers +the confession as a proof that "truth is making its way into their +bosoms." No! It is not making its way into their bosoms. It has forced +its way into their mouths! The evil spirit by which they are possessed, +though essentially a liar, is forced by the tortures of conscience to +confess the truth,--to confess enough for their condemnation, but not +for their amendment. Shakspeare very aptly expresses this kind of +confession, devoid of repentance, from the mouth of an usurper, a +murderer, and a regicide:-- + + "We are ourselves compelled, + Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults, + To give in evidence." + +Whence is their amendment? Why, the author writes, that, on their +murderous insurrectionary system, their own lives are not sure for an +hour; nor has their power a greater stability. True. They are convinced +of it; and accordingly the wretches have done all they can to preserve +their lives, and to secure their power; but not one step have they taken +to amend the one or to make a more just use of the other. Their wicked +policy has obliged them to make a pause in the only massacres in which +their treachery and cruelty had operated as a kind of savage +justice,--that is, the massacre of the accomplices of their crimes: they +have ceased to shed the inhuman blood of their fellow-murderers; but +when they take any of those persons who contend for their lawful +government, their property, and their religion, notwithstanding the +truth which this author says is making its way into their bosoms, it has +not taught them the least tincture of mercy. This we plainly see by +their massacre at Quiberon, where they put to death, with every species +of contumely, and without any exception, every prisoner of war who did +not escape out of their hands. To have had property, to have been robbed +of it, and to endeavor to regain it,--these are crimes irremissible, to +which every man who regards his property or his life, in every country, +ought well to look in all connection with those with whom to have had +property was an offence, to endeavor to keep it a second offence, to +attempt to regain it a crime that puts the offender out of all the laws +of peace or war. You cannot see one of those wretches without an alarm +for your life as well as your goods. They are like the worst of the +French and Italian banditti, who, whenever they robbed, were sure to +murder. + +Are they not the very same ruffians, thieves, assassins, and regicides +that they were from the beginning? Have they diversified the scene by +the least variety, or produced the face of a single new villany? _Tædet +harum quotidianarum formarum_. Oh! but I shall be answered, "It is now +quite another thing;--they are all changed. You have not seen them in +their state dresses;--this makes an amazing difference. The new habit of +the Directory is so charmingly fancied, that it is impossible not to +fall in love with so well-dressed a Constitution;--the costume of the +_sans-culotte_ Constitution of 1793 was absolutely insufferable. The +Committee for Foreign Affairs were such slovens, and stunk so +abominably, that no _muscadin_ ambassador of the smallest degree of +delicacy of nerves could come within ten yards of them; but now they are +so powdered, and perfumed, and ribanded, and sashed, and plumed, that, +though they are grown infinitely more insolent in their fine clothes +even than they were in their rags, (and that was enough,) as they now +appear, there is something in it more grand and noble, something more +suitable to an awful Roman Senate receiving the homage of dependent +tetrarchs. Like that Senate, (their perpetual model for conduct towards +other nations,) they permit their vassals (during their good pleasure) +to assume the name of kings, in order to bestow more dignity on the +suite and retinue of the sovereign Republic by the nominal rank of their +slaves: _Ut habeant instrumenta servitutis et reges_." All this is very +fine, undoubtedly; and ambassadors whose hands are almost out for want +of employment may long to have their part in this august ceremony of the +Republic one and indivisible. But, with great deference to the new +diplomatic taste, we old people must retain some square-toed +predilection, for the fashions of our youth. + +I am afraid you will find me, my Lord, again falling into my usual +vanity, in valuing myself on the eminent men whose society I once +enjoyed. I remember, in a conversation I once had with my ever dear +friend Garrick, who was the first of actors, because he was the most +acute observer of Nature I ever knew, I asked him how it happened, that, +whenever a senate appeared on the stage, the audience seemed always +disposed to laughter. He said, the reason was plain: the audience was +well acquainted with the faces of most of the senators. They knew that +they were no other than candle-snuffers, revolutionary scene-shifters, +second and third mob, prompters, clerks, executioners, who stand with +their axe on their shoulders by the wheel, grinners in the pantomime, +murderers in tragedies, who make ugly faces under black wigs,--in short, +the very scum and refuse of the theatre; and it was of course that the +contrast of the vileness of the actors with the pomp of their habits +naturally excited ideas of contempt and ridicule. + +So it was at Paris on the inaugural day of the Constitution for the +present year. The foreign ministers were ordered to attend at this +investiture of the Directory;--for so they call the managers of their +burlesque government. The diplomacy, who were a sort of strangers, were +quite awe-struck with the "pride, pomp, and circumstance" of this +majestic senate; whilst the _sans-culotte_ gallery instantly recognized +their old insurrectionary acquaintance, burst out into a horse-laugh at +their absurd finery, and held them in infinitely greater contempt than +whilst they prowled about the streets in the pantaloons of the last +year's Constitution, when their legislators appeared honestly, with +their daggers in their belts, and their pistols peeping out of their +side-pocket-holes, like a bold, brave banditti, as they are. The +Parisians (and I am much of their mind) think that a thief with a crape +on his visage is much worse than a barefaced knave, and that such +robbers richly deserve all the penalties of all the black acts. In this +their thin disguise, their comrades of the late abdicated sovereign +_canaille_ hooted and hissed them, and from that day have no other name +for them than what is not quite so easy to render into English, +impossible to make it very civil English: it belongs, indeed, to the +language of the _halles_: but, without being instructed in that dialect, +it was the opinion of the polite Lord Chesterfield that no man could be +a complete master of French. Their Parisian brethren called them _gueux +plumés_, which, though not elegant, is expressive and characteristic: +_feathered scoundrels_, I think, comes the nearest to it in that kind of +English. But we are now to understand that these _gueux_, for no other +reason, that I can divine, except their red and white clothes, form at +last a state with which we may cultivate amity, and have a prospect of +the blessings of a secure and permanent peace. In effect, then, it was +not with the men, or their principles, or their polities, that we +quarrelled: our sole dislike was to the cut of their clothes. + +But to pass over _their_ dresses,--good God! in what habits did the +representatives of the crowned heads of Europe appear, when they came to +swell the pomp of their humiliation, and attended in solemn function +this inauguration of Regicide? That would be the curiosity. Under what +robes did they cover the disgrace and degradation of the whole college +of kings? What warehouses of masks and dominoes furnished a cover to the +nakedness of their shame? The shop ought to be known; it will soon have +a good trade. Were the dresses of the ministers of those lately called +potentates, who attended on that occasion, taken from the wardrobe of +that property-man at the opera, from whence my old acquaintance, +Anacharsis Clootz, some years ago equipped a body of ambassadors, whom +he conducted, as from all the nations of the world, to the bar of what +was called the Constituent Assembly? Among those mock ministers, one of +the most conspicuous figures was the representative of the British +nation, who unluckily was wanting at the late ceremony. In the face of +all the real ambassadors of the sovereigns of Europe was this ludicrous +representation of their several subjects, under the name of _oppressed +sovereigns_,[10] exhibited to the Assembly. That Assembly received an +harangue, in the name of those sovereigns, against their kings, +delivered by this Clootz, actually a subject of Prussia, under the name +of Ambassador of the Human Race. At that time there was only a feeble +reclamation from one of the ambassadors of these tyrants and oppressors. +A most gracious answer was given to the ministers of the oppressed +sovereigns; and they went so far on that occasion as to assign them, in +that assumed character, a box at one of their festivals. + +I was willing to indulge myself in an hope that this second appearance +of ambassadors was only an insolent mummery of the same kind; but, alas! +Anacharsis himself, all fanatic as he was, could not have imagined that +his opera procession should have been the prototype of the real +appearance of the representatives of all the sovereigns of Europe +themselves, to make the same prostration that was made by those who +dared to represent their people in a complaint against them. But in this +the French Republic has followed, as they always affect to do, and have +hitherto done with success, the example of the ancient Romans, who shook +all governments by listening to the complaints of their subjects, and +soon after brought the kings themselves to answer at their bar. At this +last ceremony the ambassadors had not Clootz for their Cotterel. Pity +that Clootz had not had a reprieve from the guillotine till he had +completed his work! But that engine fell before the curtain had fallen +upon all the dignity of the earth. + +On this their gaudy day the new Regicide Directory sent for that +diplomatic rabble, as bad as themselves in principle, but infinitely +worse in degradation. They called them out by a sort of roll of their +nations, one after another, much in the manner in which they called +wretches out of their prison to the guillotine. When these ambassadors +of infamy appeared before them, the chief Director, in the name of the +rest, treated each of them with a short, affected, pedantic, insolent, +theatric laconium,--a sort of epigram of contempt. When they had thus +insulted them in a style and language which never before was heard, and +which no sovereign would for a moment endure from another, supposing any +of them frantic enough to use it, to finish their outrage, they drummed +and trumpeted the wretches out of their hall of audience. + +Among the objects of this insolent buffoonery was a person supposed to +represent the King of Prussia. To this worthy representative they did +not so much as condescend to mention his master; they did not seem to +know that he had one; they addressed themselves solely to Prussia in the +abstract, notwithstanding the infinite obligation they owed to their +early protector for their first recognition and alliance, and for the +part of his territory he gave into their hands for the first-fruits of +his homage. None but dead monarchs are so much as mentioned by them, and +those only to insult the living by an invidious comparison. They told +the Prussians they ought to learn, after the example of Frederick the +Great, a love for France. What a pity it is, that he, who loved France +so well as to chastise it, was not now alive, by an unsparing use of the +rod (which, indeed, he would have spared little) to give them another +instance of his paternal affection! But the Directory were mistaken. +These are not days in which monarchs value themselves upon the title of +_great_: they are grown _philosophic_: they are satisfied to be good. + +Your Lordship will pardon me for this no very long reflection on the +short, but excellent speech of the plumed Director to the ambassador of +Cappadocia. The Imperial ambassador was not in waiting, but they found +for Austria a good Judean representation. With great judgment, his +Highness, the Grand Duke, had sent the most atheistic coxcomb to be +found in Florence, to represent at the bar of impiety the House of +Apostolic Majesty, and the descendants of the pious, though high-minded, +Maria Theresa. He was sent to humble the whole race of Austria before +those grim assassins, reeking with the blood of the daughter of Maria +Theresa, whom they sent half dead, in a dung-cart, to a cruel execution; +and this true-born son of apostasy and infidelity, this renegado from +the faith and from all honor and all humanity, drove an Austrian coach +over the stones which were yet wet with her blood,--with that blood +which dropped every step through her tumbrel, all the way she was drawn +from the horrid prison, in which they had finished all the cruelty and +horrors not executed in the face of the sun. The Hungarian subjects of +Maria Theresa, when they drew their swords to defend her rights against +France, called her, with correctness of truth, though not with the same +correctness, perhaps, of grammar, a king: "_Moriamur pro rege nostro, +Maria Theresa._" SHE lived and died a king; and others will have +subjects ready to make the same vow, when, in either sex, they show +themselves real kings. + +When the Directory came to this miserable fop, they bestowed a +compliment on his matriculation into _their_ philosophy; but as to his +master, they made to him, as was reasonable, a reprimand, not without a +pardon, and an oblique hint at the whole family. What indignities have +been offered through this wretch to his master, and how well borne, it +is not necessary that I should dwell on at present. I hope that those +who yet wear royal, imperial, and ducal crowns will learn to feel as +men and as kings: if not, I predict to them, they will not long exist as +kings or as men. + +Great Britain was not there. Almost in despair, I hope she will never, +in any rags and _coversluts_ of infamy, be seen at such an exhibition. +The hour of her final degradation is not yet come; she did not herself +appear in the Regicide presence, to be the sport and mockery of those +bloody buffoons, who, in the merriment of their pride, were insulting +with every species of contumely the fallen dignity of the rest of +Europe. But Britain, though not personally appearing to bear her part in +this monstrous tragi-comedy, was very far from being forgotten. The +new-robed regicides found a representative for her. And who was this +representative? Without a previous knowledge, any one would have given a +thousand guesses before he could arrive at a tolerable divination of +their rancorous insolence. They chose to address what they had to say +concerning this nation to the ambassador of America. They did not apply +to this ambassador for a mediation: that, indeed, would have indicated a +want of every kind of decency; but it would have indicated nothing more. +But in this their American apostrophe, your Lordship will observe, they +did not so much as pretend to hold out to us directly, or through any +mediator, though in the most humiliating manner, any idea whatsoever of +peace, or the smallest desire of reconciliation. To the States of +America themselves they paid no compliment. They paid their compliment +to Washington solely: and on what ground? This most respectable +commander and magistrate might deserve commendation on very many of +those qualities which they who most disapprove some part of his +proceedings, not more justly than freely, attribute to him; but they +found nothing to commend in him "_but the hatred he bore to Great +Britain_." I verily believe, that, in the whole history of our European +wars, there never was such a compliment paid from the sovereign of one +state to a great chief of another. Not one ambassador from any one of +those powers who pretend to live in amity with this kingdom took the +least notice of that unheard-of declaration; nor will Great Britain, +till she is known with certainty to be true to her own dignity, find any +one disposed to feel for the indignities that are offered to her. To say +the truth, those miserable creatures were all silent under the insults +that were offered to themselves. They pocketed their epigrams, as +ambassadors formerly took the gold boxes and miniature pictures set in +diamonds presented them by sovereigns at whose courts they had resided. +It is to be presumed that by the next post they faithfully and promptly +transmitted to their masters the honors they had received. I can easily +conceive the epigram which will be presented to Lord Auckland, or to the +Duke of Bedford, as hereafter, according to circumstances, they may +happen to represent this kingdom. Few can have so little imagination as +not readily to conceive the nature of the boxes of epigrammatic lozenges +that will be presented to them. + +But _hæ nugæ seria ducunt in mala_. The conduct of the Regicide faction +is perfectly systematic in every particular, and it appears absurd only +as it is strange and uncouth, not as it has an application to the ends +and objects of their policy. When by insult after insult they have +rendered the character of sovereigns vile in the eyes of their +subjects, they know there is but one step more to their utter +destruction. All authority, in a great degree, exists in opinion: royal +authority most of all. The supreme majesty of a monarch cannot be allied +with contempt. Men would reason, not unplausibly, that it would be +better to get rid of the monarchy at once than to suffer that which was +instituted, and well instituted, to support the glory of the nation, to +become the instrument of its degradation and disgrace. + +A good many reflections will arise in your Lordship's mind upon the time +and circumstances of that most insulting and atrocious declaration of +hostility against this kingdom. The declaration was made subsequent to +the noble lord's encomium on the new Regicide Constitution,--after the +pamphlet had made something more than advances towards a reconciliation +with that ungracious race, and had directly disowned all those who +adhered to the original declaration in favor of monarchy. It was even +subsequent to the unfortunate declaration in the speech from the throne +(which this pamphlet but too truly announced) of the readiness of our +government to enter into connections of friendship with that faction. +Here was the answer from the throne of Regicide to the speech from the +throne of Great Britain. They go out of their way to compliment General +Washington on the supposed rancor of his heart towards this country. It +is very remarkable, that they make this compliment of malice to the +chief of the United States, who had first signed a treaty of peace, +amity, and commerce with this kingdom. This radical hatred, according to +their way of thinking, the most recent, solemn compacts of friendship +cannot or ought not to remove. In this malice to England, as in the one +great comprehensive virtue, all other merits of this illustrious person +are entirely merged. For my part, I do not believe the fact to be so as +they represent it. Certainly it is not for Mr. Washington's honor as a +gentleman, a Christian, or a President of the United States, after the +treaty he has signed, to entertain such sentiments. I have a moral +assurance that the representation of the Regicide Directory is +absolutely false and groundless. If it be, it is a stronger mark of +their audacity and insolence, and still a stronger proof of the support +they mean to give to the mischievous faction they are known to nourish +there, to the ruin of those States, and to the end that no British +affections should ever arise in that important part of the world, which +would naturally lead to a cordial, hearty British alliance, upon the +bottom of mutual interest and ancient affection. It shows in what part +it is, and with what a weapon, they mean a deadly blow at the heart of +Great Britain. One really would have expected, from this new +Constitution of theirs, which had been announced as a great reform, and +which was to be, more than any of their former experimental schemes, +alliable with other nations, that they would, in their very first public +act, and their declaration to the collected representation of Europe and +America, have affected some degree of moderation, or, at least, have +observed a guarded silence with regard to their temper and their views. +No such thing: they were in haste to declare the principles which are +spun into the primitive staple of their frame. They were afraid that a +moment's doubt should exist about them. In their very infancy they were +in haste to put their hand on their infernal altar, and to swear the +same immortal hatred to England which was sworn in the succession of all +the short-lived constitutions that preceded it. With them everything +else perishes almost as soon as it is formed; this hatred alone is +immortal. This is their impure Vestal fire that never is extinguished: +and never will it be extinguished, whilst the system of Regicide exists +in France. What! are we not to believe them? Men are too apt to be +deceitful enough in their professions of friendship, and this makes a +wise man walk with some caution through life. Such professions, in some +cases, may be even a ground of further distrust. But when a man declares +himself your unalterable enemy! No man ever declared to another a rancor +towards him which he did not feel. _Falsos in amore odia, non fingere_, +said an author who points his observations so as to make them +remembered. + +Observe, my Lord, that, from their invasion of Flanders and Holland to +this hour, they have never made the smallest signification of a desire +of peace with this kingdom, with Austria, or, indeed, with any other +power that I know of. As superiors, they expect others to begin. We have +complied, as you may see. The hostile insolence with which they gave +such a rebuff to our first overture, in the speech from the throne, did +not hinder us from making, from the same throne, a second advance. The +two Houses a second time coincided in the same sentiments, with a degree +of apparent unanimity, (for there was no dissentient voice but yours,) +with which, when they reflect on it, they will be as much ashamed as I +am. To this our new humiliating overture (such, at whatever hazard, I +must call it) what did the Regicide Directory answer? Not one public +word of a readiness to treat. No,--they feel their proud situation too +well. They never declared whether they would grant peace to you or not. +They only signified to you their pleasure as to the terms on which alone +they would in any case admit you to it. You showed your general +disposition to peace, and, to forward it, you left everything open to +negotiations. As to any terms you can possibly obtain, they shut out all +negotiation at the very commencement. They declared that they never +would make a peace by which anything that ever belonged to France should +be ceded. We would not treat with the monarchy, weakened as it must +obviously be in any circumstance of restoration, without a reservation +of something for indemnity and security,--and that, too, in words of the +largest comprehension. You treat with the Regicides without any +reservation at all. On their part, they assure you formally and +publicly, that they will give you nothing in the name of indemnity or +security, or for any other purpose. + +It is impossible not to pause here for a moment, and to consider the +manner in which such declarations would have been taken by your +ancestors from a monarch distinguished for his arrogance,--an arrogance +which, even more than his ambition, incensed and combined all Europe +against him. Whatever his inward intentions may have been, did Louis the +Fourteenth ever make a declaration that the true bounds of France were +the ocean, the Mediterranean, and the Rhine? In any overtures for peace, +did he ever declare that he would make no sacrifices to promote it? His +declarations were always directly to the contrary; and at the Peace of +Ryswick his actions were to the contrary. At the close of the war, +almost in every instance victorious, all Europe was astonished, even +those who received them were astonished, at his concessions. Let those +who have a mind to see how little, in comparison, the most powerful and +ambitious of all monarchs is to be dreaded consult the very judicious +critical observations on the politics of that reign, inserted in the +military treatise of the Marquis de Montalembert. Let those who wish to +know what is to be dreaded from an ambitious republic consult no author, +no military critic, no historical critic. Let them open their own eyes, +which degeneracy and pusillanimity have shut from the light that pains +them, and let them not vainly seek their security in a voluntary +ignorance of their danger. + +To dispose us towards this peace,--an attempt in which our author has, I +do not know whether to call it the good or ill fortune to agree with +whatever is most seditious, factious, and treasonable in this +country,--we are told by many dealers in speculation, but not so +distinctly by the author himself, (too great distinctness of affirmation +not being his fault,)--but we are told, that the French have lately +obtained a very pretty sort of Constitution, and that it resembles the +British Constitution as if they had been twinned together in the +womb,--_mire sagaces fallere hospites discrimen obscurum_. It may be so: +but I confess I am not yet made to it: nor is the noble author. He finds +the "elements" excellent, but the disposition very inartificial indeed. +Contrary to what we might expect at Paris, the meat is good, the cookery +abominable. I agree with him fully in the last; and if I were forced to +allow the first, I should still think, with our old coarse by-word, +that the same power which furnished all their former _restaurateurs_ +sent also their present cooks. I have a great opinion of Thomas Paine, +and of all his productions: I remember his having been one of the +committee for forming one of their annual Constitutions, I mean the +admirable Constitution of 1793, after having been a chamber council to +the no less admirable Constitution of 1791. This pious patriot has his +eyes still directed to his dear native country, notwithstanding her in +gratitude to so kind a benefactor. This outlaw of England, and lawgiver +to France, is now, in secret probably, trying his hand again, and +inviting us to him by making his Constitution such as may give his +disciples in England some plausible pretext for going into the house +that he has opened. We have discovered, it seems, that all which the +boasted wisdom of our ancestors has labored to bring to perfection for +six or seven centuries is nearly, or altogether, matched in six or seven +days, at the leisure hours and sober intervals of Citizen Thomas Paine. + + "But though the treacherous tapster, Thomas, + Hangs a new Angel two doors from us, + As fine as dauber's hands can make it, + In hopes that strangers may mistake it, + We think it both a shame and sin + To quit the good old Angel Inn," + +Indeed, in this good old house, where everything at least is well aired, +I shall be content to put up my fatigued horses, and here take a bed for +the long night that begins to darken upon me. Had I, however, the honor +(I must now call it so) of being a member of any of the constitutional +clubs, I should think I had carried my point most completely. It is +clear, by the applauses bestowed on what the author calls this new +Constitution, a mixed oligarchy, that the difference between the +clubbists and the old adherents to the monarchy of this country is +hardly worth a scuffle. Let it depart in peace, and light lie the earth +on the British Constitution! By this easy manner of treating the most +difficult of all subjects, the constitution for a great kingdom, and by +letting loose an opinion that they may be made by any adventurers in +speculation in a small given time, and for any country, all the ties, +which, whether of reason or prejudice, attach mankind to their old, +habitual, domestic governments, are not a little loosened; all +communion, which the similarity of the basis has produced between all +the governments that compose what we call the Christian world and the +republic of Europe, would be dissolved. By these hazarded speculations +France is more approximated to us in constitution than in situation; and +in proportion as we recede from the ancient system of Europe, we +approach to that connection which alone can remain to us, a close +alliance with the new-discovered moral and political world in France. + +These theories would be of little importance, if we did not only know, +but sorely feel, that there is a strong Jacobin faction in this country, +which has long employed itself in speculating upon constitutions, and to +whom the circumstance of their government being home-bred and +prescriptive seems no sort of recommendation. What seemed to us to be +the best system of liberty that a nation ever enjoyed to them seems the +yoke of an intolerable slavery. This speculative faction had long been +at work. The French Revolution did not cause it: it only discovered it, +increased it, and gave fresh vigor to its operations. I have reason to +be persuaded that it was in this country, and from English writers and +English caballers, that France herself was instituted in this +revolutionary fury. The communion of these two factions upon any +pretended basis of similarity is a matter of very serious consideration. +They are always considering the formal distributions of power in a +constitution: the moral basis they consider as nothing. Very different +is my opinion: I consider the moral basis as everything,--the formal +arrangements, further than as they promote the moral principles of +government, and the keeping desperately wicked persons as the subjects +of laws and not the makers of them, to be of little importance. What +signifies the cutting and shuffling of cards, while the pack still +remains the same? As a basis for such a connection as has subsisted +between the powers of Europe, we had nothing to fear, but from the +lapses and frailties of men,--and that was enough; but this new +pretended republic has given us more to apprehend from what they call +their virtues than we had to dread from the vices of other men. Avowedly +and systematically, they have given the upperhand to all the vicious and +degenerate part of human nature. It is from their lapses and deviations +from their principle that alone we have anything to hope. + +I hear another inducement to fraternity with the present rulers. They +have murdered one Robespierre. This Robespierre, they tell us, was a +cruel tyrant, and now that he is put out of the way, all will go well in +France. Astræa will again return to that earth from which she has been +an emigrant, and all nations will resort to her golden scales. It is +very extraordinary, that, the very instant the mode of Paris is known +here, it becomes all the fashion in London. This is their jargon. It is +the old _bon-ton_ of robbers, who cast their common crimes on the +wickedness of their departed associates. I care little about the memory +of this same Robespierre. I am sure he was an execrable villain. I +rejoiced at his punishment neither more nor less than I should at the +execution of the present Directory, or any of its members. But who gave +Robespierre the power of being a tyrant? and who were the instruments of +his tyranny? The present virtuous constitution-mongers. He was a tyrant; +they were his satellites and his hangmen. Their sole merit is in the +murder of their colleague. They have expiated their other murders by a +new murder. It has always been the case among this banditti. They have +always had the knife at each other's throats, after they had almost +blunted it at the throats of every honest man. These people thought, +that, in the commerce of murder, he was like to have the better of the +bargain, if any time was lost; they therefore took one of their short +revolutionary methods, and massacred him in a manner so perfidious and +cruel as would shock all humanity, if the stroke was not struck by the +present rulers on one of their own associates. But this last act of +infidelity and murder is to expiate all the rest, and to qualify them +for the amity of an humane and virtuous sovereign and civilized people. +I have heard that a Tartar believes, when he has killed a man, that all +his estimable qualities pass with his clothes and arms to the murderer; +but I have never heard that it was the opinion of any savage Scythian, +that, if he kills a brother villain, he is, _ipso facto_, absolved of +all his own offences. The Tartarian doctrine is the most tenable +opinion. The murderers of Robespierre, besides what they are entitled to +by being engaged in the same tontine of infamy, are his representatives, +have inherited all his murderous qualities, in addition to their own +private stock. But it seems we are always to be of a party with the last +and victorious assassins. I confess I am of a different mind, and am +rather inclined, of the two, to think and speak less hardly of a dead +ruffian than to associate with the living. I could better bear the +stench of the gibbeted murderer than the society of the bloody felons +who yet annoy the world. Whilst they wait the recompense due to their +ancient crimes, they merit new punishment by the new offences they +commit. There is a period to the offences of Robespierre. They survive +in his assassins. "Better a living dog," says the old proverb, "than a +dead lion." Not so here. Murderers and hogs never look well till they +are hanged. From villany no good can arise, but in the example of its +fate. So I leave them their dead Robespierre, either to gibbet his +memory, or to deify him in their Pantheon with their Marat and their +Mirabeau. + +It is asserted that this government promises stability. God of his mercy +forbid! If it should, nothing upon earth besides itself can be stable. +We declare this stability to be the ground of our making peace with +them. Assuming it, therefore, that the men and the system are what I +have described, and that they have a determined hostility against this +country,--an hostility not only of policy, but of predilection,--then I +think that every rational being would go along with me in considering +its permanence as the greatest of all possible evils. If, therefore, we +are to look for peace with such a thing in any of its monstrous shapes, +which I deprecate, it must be in that state of disorder, confusion, +discord, anarchy, and insurrection, such as might oblige the momentary +rulers to forbear their attempts on neighboring states, or to render +these attempts less operative, if they should kindle new wars. When was +it heard before, that the internal repose of a determined and wicked +enemy, and the strength of his government, became the wish of his +neighbor, and a security, against either his malice or his ambition? The +direct contrary has always been inferred from that state of things: +accordingly, it has ever been the policy of those who would preserve +themselves against the enterprises of such a malignant and mischievous +power to cut out so much work for him in his own states as might keep +his dangerous activity employed at home. + +It is said, in vindication of this system, which demands the stability +of the Regicide power as a ground for peace with them, that, when they +have obtained, as now it is said (though not by this noble author) they +have, a permanent government, they will be _able_ to preserve amity with +this kingdom, and with others who have the misfortune to be in their +neighborhood. Granted. They will be _able_ to do so, without question; +but are they willing to do so? Produce the act; produce the declaration. +Have they made any single step towards it? Have they ever once proposed +to treat? + +The assurance of a stable peace, grounded on the stability of their +system, proceeds on this hypothesis,--that their hostility to other +nations has proceeded from their anarchy at home, and from the +prevalence of a populace which their government had not strength enough +to master. This I utterly deny. I insist upon it as a fact, that, in the +daring commencement of all their hostilities, and their astonishing +perseverance in them, so as never once, in any fortune, high or low, to +propose a treaty of peace to any power in Europe, they have never been +actuated by the people: on the contrary, the people, I will not say have +been moved, but impelled by them, and have generally acted under a +compulsion, of which most of us are as yet, thank God, unable to form an +adequate idea. The war against Austria was formally declared by the +unhappy Louis the Sixteenth; but who has ever considered Louis the +Sixteenth, since the Revolution, to have been the government? The second +Regicide Assembly, then the only government, was the author of that war; +and neither the nominal king nor the nominal people had anything to do +with it, further than in a reluctant obedience. It is to delude +ourselves, to consider the state of France, since their Revolution, as a +state of anarchy: it is something far worse. Anarchy it is, undoubtedly, +if compared with government pursuing the peace, order, morals, and +prosperity of the people; but regarding only the power that has really +guided from the day of the Revolution to this time, it has been of all +governments the most absolute, despotic, and effective that has hitherto +appeared on earth. Never were the views and politics of any government +pursued with half the regularity, system, and method that a diligent +observer must have contemplated with amazement and terror in theirs. +Their state is not an anarchy, but a series of short-lived tyrannies. We +do not call a republic with annual magistrates an anarchy: theirs is +that kind of republic; but the succession is not effected by the +expiration of the term of the magistrate's service, but by his murder. +Every new magistracy, succeeding by homicide, is auspicated by accusing +its predecessors in the office of tyranny, and it continues by the +exercise of what they charged upon others. + +This strong hand is the law, and the sole law, in their state. I defy +any person to show any other law,--or if any such should be found on +paper, that it is in the smallest degree, or in any one instance, +regarded or practised. In all their successions, not one magistrate, or +one form of magistracy, has expired by a mere occasional popular tumult; +everything has been the effect of the studied machinations of the one +revolutionary cabal, operating within itself upon itself. That cabal is +all in all. France has no public; it is the only nation I ever heard of, +where the people are absolutely slaves, in the fullest sense, in all +affairs, public and private, great and small, even down to the minutest +and most recondite parts of their household concerns. The helots of +Laconia, the regardants to the manor in Russia and in Poland, even the +negroes in the West Indies, know nothing of so searching, so +penetrating, so heart-breaking a slavery. Much would these servile +wretches call for our pity under that unheard-of yoke, if for their +perfidious and unnatural rebellion, and for their murder of the mildest +of all monarchs, they did not richly deserve a punishment not greater +than their crime. + +On the whole, therefore, I take it to be a great mistake to think that +the want of power in the government furnished a natural cause of war; +whereas the greatness of its power, joined to its use of that power, the +nature of its system, and the persons who acted in it, did naturally +call for a strong military resistance to oppose them, and rendered it +not only just, but necessary. But at present I say no more on the genius +and character of the power set up in France. I may probably trouble you +with it more at large hereafter: this subject calls for a very full +exposure: at present it is enough for me, if I point it out as a matter +well worthy of consideration, whether the true ground of hostility was +not rightly conceived very early in this war, and whether anything has +happened to change that system, except our ill success in a war which in +no principal instance had its true destination as the object of its +operations. That the war has succeeded ill in many cases is undoubted; +but then let us speak the truth, and say we are defeated, exhausted, +dispirited, and must submit. This would be intelligible. The world would +be inclined to pardon the abject conduct of an undone nation. But let us +not conceal from _ourselves_ our real situation, whilst, by every +species of humiliation, we are but too strongly displaying our sense of +it to the enemy. + +The writer of the Remarks in the Last Week of October appears to think +that the present government in France contains many of the elements +which, when properly arranged, are known to form the best practical +governments,--and that the system, whatever may become its particular +form, is no longer likely to be an obstacle to negotiation. If its form +now be no obstacle to such negotiation, I do not know why it was ever +so. Suppose that this government promised greater permanency than any of +the former, (a point on which I can form no judgment,) still a link is +wanting to couple the permanence of the government with the permanence +of the peace. On this not one word is said: nor can there be, in my +opinion. This deficiency is made up by strengthening the first ringlet +of the chain, that ought to be, but that is not, stretched to connect +the two propositions. All seems to be done, if we can make out that the +last French edition of Regicide is like to prove stable. + +As a prognostic of this stability, it is said to be accepted by the +people. Here again I join issue with the fraternizers, and positively +deny the fact. Some submission or other has been obtained, by some means +or other, to every government that hitherto has been set up. And the +same submission would, by the same means, be obtained for any other +project that the wit or folly of man could possibly devise. The +Constitution of 1790 was universally received. The Constitution which +followed it, under the name of a Convention, was universally submitted +to. The Constitution of 1793 was universally accepted. Unluckily, this +year's Constitution, which was formed, and its genethliacon sung by the +noble author while it was yet in embryo, or was but just come bloody +from the womb, is the only one which in its very formation has been +generally resisted by a very great and powerful party in many parts of +the kingdom, and particularly in the capital. It never had a popular +choice even in show: those who arbitrarily erected the new building out +of the old materials of their own Convention were obliged to send for an +army to support their work: like brave gladiators, they fought it out +in the streets of Paris, and even massacred each other in their house of +assembly, in the most edifying manner, and for the entertainment and +instruction of their Excellencies the foreign ambassadors, who had a box +in this constitutional amphitheatre of a free people. + +At length, after a terrible struggle, the troops prevailed over the +citizens. The citizen soldiers, the ever-famed national guards, who had +deposed and murdered their sovereign, were disarmed by the inferior +trumpeters of that rebellion. Twenty thousand regular troops garrison +Paris. Thus a complete military government is formed. It has the +strength, and it may count on the stability, of that kind of power. This +power is to last as long as the Parisians think proper. Every other +ground of stability, but from military force and terror, is clean out of +the question. To secure them further, they have a strong corps of +irregulars, ready-armed. Thousands of those hell-hounds called +Terrorists, whom they had shut up in prison, on their last Revolution, +as the satellites of tyranny, are let loose on the people. The whole of +their government, in its origination, in its continuance, in all its +actions, and in all its resources, is force, and nothing but force: a +forced constitution, a forced election, a forced subsistence, a forced +requisition of soldiers, a forced loan of money. + +They differ nothing from all the preceding usurpations, but that to the +same odium a good deal more of contempt is added. In this situation, +notwithstanding all their military force, strengthened with the +undisciplined power of the Terrorists, and the nearly general disarming +of Paris, there would almost certainly have been before this an +insurrection against them, but for one cause. The people of France +languish for peace. They all despaired of obtaining it from the +coalesced powers, whilst they had a gang of professed regicides at their +head; and several of the least desperate republicans would have joined +with better men to shake them wholly off, and to produce something more +ostensible, if they had not been reiteratedly told that their sole hope +of peace was the very contrary to what they naturally imagined: that +they must leave off their cabals and insurrections, which could serve no +purpose but to bring in that royalty which was wholly rejected by the +coalesced kings; that, to satisfy them, they must tranquilly, if they +could not cordially, submit themselves to the tyranny and the tyrants +they despised and abhorred. Peace was held out by the allied monarchies +to the people of France, as a bounty for supporting the Republic of +Regicides. In fact, a coalition, begun for the avowed purpose of +destroying that den of robbers, now exists only for their support. If +evil happens to the princes of Europe from the success and stability of +this infernal business, it is their own absolute crime. + +We are to understand, however, (for sometimes so the author hints,) that +something stable in the Constitution of Regicide was required for our +amity with it; but the noble Remarker is no more solicitous about this +point than he is for the permanence of the whole body of his October +speculations. "If," says he, speaking of the Regicide, "they can obtain +a practicable constitution, even for a limited period of time, they will +be in a condition to reestablish the accustomed relations of peace and +amity." Pray let us leave this bush-fighting. What is meant by a +_limited period of time_? Does it mean the direct contrary to the +terms, _an unlimited period_? If it is a limited period, what limitation +does he fix as a ground for his opinion? Otherwise, his limitation is +unlimited. If he only requires a constitution that will last while the +treaty goes on, ten days' existence will satisfy his demands. He knows +that France never did want a practicable constitution, nor a government, +which endured for a limited period of time. Her constitutions were but +too practicable; and short as was their duration, it was but too long. +They endured time enough for treaties which benefited themselves and +have done infinite mischief to our cause. But, granting him his strange +thesis, that hitherto the mere form or the mere term of their +constitutions, and not their indisposition, but their instability, has +been the cause of their not preserving the relations of amity,--how +could a constitution which might not last half an hour after the noble +lord's signature of the treaty, in the company in which he must sign it, +insure its observance? If you trouble yourself at all with their +constitutions, you are certainly more concerned with them after the +treaty than before it, as the observance of conventions is of infinitely +more consequence than the making them. Can anything be more palpably +absurd and senseless than to object to a treaty of peace for want of +durability in constitutions which had an actual duration, and to trust a +constitution that at the time of the writing had not so much as a +practical existence? There is no way of accounting for such discourse in +the mouths of men of sense, but by supposing that they secretly +entertain a hope that the very act of having made a peace with the +Regicides will give a stability to the Regicide system. This will not +clear the discourse from the absurdity, but it will account for the +conduct, which such reasoning so ill defends. What a roundabout way is +this to peace,--to make war for the destruction of regicides, and then +to give them peace in order to insure a stability that will enable them +to observe it! I say nothing of the honor displayed in such a system. It +is plain it militates with itself almost in all the parts of it. In one +part, it supposes stability in their Constitution, as a ground of a +stable peace; in another part, we are to hope for peace in a different +way,--that is, by splitting this brilliant orb into little stars, and +this would make the face of heaven so fine! No, there is no system upon +which the peace which in humility we are to supplicate can possibly +stand. + +I believe, before this time, that the more form of a constitution, in +any country, never was fixed as the sole ground of objecting to a treaty +with it. With other circumstances it may be of great moment. What is +incumbent on the assertors of the Fourth Week of October system to prove +is not whether their then expected Constitution was likely to be stable +or transitory, but whether it promised to this country and its allies, +and to the peace and settlement of all Europe, more good-will or more +good faith than any of the experiments which have gone before it. On +these points I would willingly join issue. + +Observe first the manner in which the Remarker describes (very truly, as +I conceive) the people of France under that auspicious government, and +then observe the conduct of that government to other nations. "The +people without _any_ established constitution; distracted by popular +convulsions; in a state of inevitable bankruptcy; without any commerce; +with their principal ports blockaded; and without a fleet that could +venture to face one of our _detached squadrons_." Admitting, as fully as +he has stated it, this condition of France, I would fain know how he +reconciles this condition with his ideas of _any kind of a practicable +constitution_, or _duration for a limited period_, which are his _sine +qua non_ of peace. But passing by contradictions, as no fair objections +to reasoning, this state of things would naturally, at other times, and +in other governments, have produced a disposition to peace, almost on +any terms. But, in that state of their country, did the Regicide +government solicit peace or amity with other nations, or even lay any +specious grounds for it, in propositions of affected moderation, or in +the most loose and general conciliatory language? The direct contrary. +It was but a very few days before the noble writer had commenced his +Remarks, as if it were to refute him by anticipation, that his France +thought fit to lay out a new territorial map of dominion, and to declare +to us and to all Europe what territories she was willing to allot to her +own empire, and what she is content (during her good pleasure) to leave +to others. + +This their law of empire was promulgated without any requisition on that +subject, and proclaimed in a style and upon principles which never had +been heard of in the annals of arrogance and ambition. She prescribed +the limits to her empire, not upon principles of treaty, convention, +possession, usage, habitude, the distinction of tribes, nations, or +languages, but by physical aptitudes. Having fixed herself as the +arbiter of physical dominion, she construed the limits of Nature by her +convenience. That was Nature which most extended and best secured the +empire of France. + +I need say no more on the insult offered not only to all equity and +justice, but to the common sense of mankind, in deciding legal property +by physical principles, and establishing the convenience of a party as a +rule of public law. The noble advocate for peace has, indeed, perfectly +well exploded this daring and outrageous system of pride and tyranny. I +am most happy in commending him, when he writes like himself. But hear +still further and in the same good strain the great patron and advocate +of amity with this accommodating, mild, and unassuming power, when he +reports to you the law they give, and its immediate effects:--"They +amount," says he, "to the sacrifice of powers that have been the most +nearly connected with us,--the direct or indirect annexation to France +of all the ports of the Continent from Dunkirk to Hamburg,--an immense +accession of territory,--and, in one word, THE ABANDONMENT OF THE +INDEPENDENCE OF EUROPE!" This is the LAW (the author and I use no +different terms) which this new government, almost as soon as it could +cry in the cradle, and as one of the very first acts by which it +auspicated its entrance into function, the pledge it gives of the +firmness of its policy,--such is the law that this proud power +prescribes to abject nations. What is the comment upon this law by the +great jurist who recommends us to the tribunal which issued the decree? +"An obedience to it would be" (says he) "dishonorable to us, and exhibit +us to the present age and to posterity as submitting to the law +prescribed to us by our enemy." + +Here I recognize the voice of a British plenipotentiary: I begin to feel +proud of my country. But, alas! the short date of human elevation! The +accents of dignity died upon his tongue. This author will not assure us +of his sentiments for the whole of a pamphlet; but, in the sole +energetic part of it, he does not continue the same through an whole +sentence, if it happens to be of any sweep or compass. In the very womb +of this last sentence, pregnant, as it should seem, with a Hercules, +there is formed a little bantling of the mortal race, a degenerate, puny +parenthesis, that totally frustrates our most sanguine views and +expectations, and disgraces the whole gestation. Here is this +destructive parenthesis: "Unless some adequate compensation be secured +_to us_." _To us!_ The Christian world may shift for itself, Europe may +groan in slavery, we may be dishonored by receiving law from an +enemy,--but all is well, provided the compensation _to us_ be adequate. +To what are we reserved? An _adequate_ compensation "for the sacrifice +of powers the most nearly connected with us";--an _adequate_ +compensation "for the direct or indirect annexation to France of all the +ports of the Continent from Dunkirk to Hamburg";--an _adequate_ +compensation "for the abandonment of the independence of Europe"! Would +that, when all our manly sentiments are thus changed, our manly language +were changed along with them, and that the English tongue were not +employed to utter what our ancestors never dreamed could enter into an +English heart! + +But let us consider this matter of adequate compensation. Who is to +furnish it? From what funds is it to be drawn? Is it by another treaty +of commerce? I have no objections to treaties of commerce upon +principles of commerce. Traffic for traffic,--all is fair. But commerce +in exchange for empire, for safety, for glory! We set out in our dealing +with a miserable cheat upon ourselves. I know it may be said, that we +may prevail on this proud, philosophical, military Republic, which looks +down with contempt on trade, to declare it unfit for the sovereign of +nations to be _eundem negotiatorem et dominum_: that, in virtue of this +maxim of her state, the English in France may be permitted, as the Jews +are in Poland and in Turkey, to execute all the little inglorious +occupations,--to be the sellers of new and the buyers of old clothes, to +be their brokers and factors, and to be employed in casting up their +debits and credits, whilst the master Republic cultivates the arts of +empire, prescribes the forms of peace to nations, and dictates laws to a +subjected world. But are we quite sure, that, when we have surrendered +half Europe to them in hope of this compensation, the Republic will +confer upon us those privileges of dishonor? Are we quite certain that +she will permit us to farm the guillotine,--to contract for the +provision of her twenty thousand Bastiles,--to furnish transports for +the myriads of her exiles to Guiana,--to become commissioners for her +naval stores,--or to engage for the clothing of those armies which are +to subdue the poor relics of Christian Europe? No! She is bespoke by the +Jew subjects of her own Amsterdam for all these services. + +But if these, or matters similar, are not the compensations the Remarker +demands, and that on consideration he finds them neither adequate nor +certain, who else is to be the chapman, and to furnish the +purchase-money, at this market, of all the grand principles of empire, +of law, of civilization, of morals, and of religion, where British faith +and honor are to be sold by inch of candle? Who is to be the _dedecorum +pretiosus emptor_? Is it the _navis Hispanæ magister_? Is it to be +furnished by the Prince of Peace? Unquestionably. Spain as yet possesses +mines of gold and silver, and may give us in _pesos duros_ an adequate +compensation for our honor and our virtue. When these things are at all +to be sold, they are the vilest commodities at market. + +It is full as singular as any of the other singularities in this work, +that the Remarker, talking so much as he does of cessions and +compensations, passes by Spain in his general settlement, as if there +were no such country on the globe,--as if there were no Spain in Europe, +no Spain in America. But this great matter of political deliberation +cannot be put out of our thoughts by his silence. She _has_ furnished +compensations,--not to you, but to France. The Regicide Republic and the +still nominally subsisting monarchy of Spain are united,--and are united +upon a principle of jealousy, if not of bitter enmity, to Great Britain. +The noble writer has here another matter for meditation. It is not from +Dunkirk to Hamburg that the ports are in the hands of France: they are +in the hands of France from Hamburg to Gibraltar. How long the new +dominion will last I cannot tell; but France the Republic has conquered +Spain, and the ruling party in that court acts by her orders and exists +by her power. + +The noble writer, in his views into futurity, has forgotten to look back +to the past. If he chooses it, he may recollect, that, on the prospect +of the death of Philip the Fourth, and still more on the event, all +Europe was moved to its foundations. In the treaties of partition that +first were entered into, and in the war that afterwards blazed out to +prevent those crowns from being actually or virtually united in the +House of Bourbon, the predominance of France in Spain, and above all, in +the Spanish Indies, was the great object of all these movements in the +cabinet and in the field. The Grand Alliance was formed upon that +apprehension. On that apprehension the mighty war was continued during +such a number of years as the degenerate and pusillanimous impatience of +our dwindled race can hardly bear to have reckoned: a war equal, within +a few years, in duration, and not, perhaps, inferior in bloodshed, to +any of those great contests for empire which in history make the most +awful matter of recorded memory. + + Ad confligendum venientibus undique Poenis, + Omnia cum belli trepido concussa tumultu + Horrida contremuere sub altis ætheris auris, + In dubioque fuit sub utrorum regna cadendum + Omnibus humanis esset terrâque marique.-- + +When this war was ended, (I cannot stay now to examine how,) the object +of the war was the object of the treaty. When it was found +impracticable, or less desirable than before, wholly to exclude a branch +of the Bourbon race from that immense succession, the point of Utrecht +was to prevent the mischiefs to arise from the influence of the greater +upon the lesser branch. His Lordship is a great member of the diplomatic +body; he has, of course, all the fundamental treaties which make the +public statute law of Europe by heart: and, indeed, no active member of +Parliament ought to be ignorant of their general tenor and leading +provisions. In the treaty which closed that war, and of which it is a +fundamental part, because relating to the whole policy of the compact, +it was agreed that Spain should not give anything from her territory in +the West Indies to France. This article, apparently onerous to Spain, +was in truth highly beneficial. But, oh, the blindness of the greatest +statesman to the infinite and unlooked-for combinations of things which +lie hid in the dark prolific womb of futurity! The great trunk of +Bourbon is cut down; the withered branch is worked up into the +construction of a French Regicide Republic. Here we have formed a new, +unlooked-for, monstrous, heterogeneous alliance,--a double-natured +monster, republic above and monarchy below. There is no centaur of +fiction, no poetic satyr of the woods, nothing short of the hieroglyphic +monsters of Egypt, dog in head and man in body, that can give an idea of +it. None of these things can subsist in Nature (so, at least, it is +thought); but the moral world admits monsters which the physical +rejects. + +In this metamorphosis, the first thing done by Spain, in the honey-moon +of her new servitude, was, with all the hardihood of pusillanimity, +utterly to defy the most solemn treaties with Great Britain and the +guaranty of Europe. She has yielded the largest and fairest part of one +of the largest and fairest islands in the West Indies, perhaps on the +globe, to the usurped powers of France. She completes the title of those +powers to the whole of that important central island of Hispaniola. She +has solemnly surrendered to the regicides and butchers of the Bourbon +family what that court never ventured, perhaps never wished, to bestow +on the patriarchal stock of her own august house. + +The noble negotiator takes no notice of this portentous junction and +this audacious surrender. The effect is no less than the total +subversion of the balance of power in the West Indies, and indeed +everywhere else. This arrangement, considered in itself, but much more +as it indicates a complete union of France with Spain, is truly +alarming. Does he feel nothing of the change this makes in that part of +his description of the state of France where he supposes her not able to +face one of our detached squadrons? Does he feel nothing for the +condition of Portugal under this new coalition? Is it for this state of +things he recommends our junction in that common alliance as a remedy? +It is surely already monstrous enough. We see every standing principle +of policy, every old governing opinion of nations, completely gone, and +with it the foundation of all their establishments. Can Spain keep +herself internally where she is, with this connection? Does he dream +that Spain, unchristian, or even uncatholic, can exist as a monarchy? +This author indulges himself in speculations of the division of the +French Republic. I only say, that with much greater reason he might +speculate on the republicanism and the subdivision of Spain. + +It is not peace with France which secures that feeble government; it is +that peace which, if it shall continue, decisively ruins Spain. Such a +peace is not the peace which the remnant of Christianity celebrates at +this holy season. In it there is no glory to God on high, and not the +least tincture of good-will to man. What things we have lived to see! +The King of Spain in a group of Moors, Jews, and Renegadoes; and the +clergy taxed to pay for his conversion! The Catholic King in the strict +embraces of the most Unchristian Republic! I hope we shall never see his +Apostolic Majesty, his Faithful Majesty, and the King, Defender of the +Faith, added to that unhallowed and impious fraternity. + +The noble author has glimpses of the consequences of peace, as well as +I. He feels for the colonies of Great Britain, one of the principal +resources of our commerce and our naval power, if piratical France shall +be established, as he knows she must be, in the West Indies, if we sue +for peace on such terms as they may condescend to grant us. He feels +that their very colonial system for the interior is not compatible with +the existence of our colonies. I tell him, and doubt not I shall be able +to demonstrate, that, being what she is, if she possesses a rock there, +we cannot be safe. Has this author had in his view the transactions +between the Regicide Republic and the yet nominally subsisting monarchy +of Spain? + +I bring this matter under your Lordship's consideration, that you may +have a more complete view than this author chooses to give of the _true +France_ you have to deal with, as to its nature, and to its force and +its disposition. Mark it, my Lord, France, in giving her law to Spain, +stipulated for none of her indemnities in Europe, no enlargement +whatever of her frontier. Whilst we are looking for indemnities from +France, betraying our own safety in a sacrifice of the independence of +Europe, France secures hers by the most important acquisition of +territory ever made in the West Indies since their first settlement. She +appears (it is only in appearance) to give up the frontier of Spain; and +she is compensated, not in appearance, but in reality, by a territory +that makes a dreadful frontier to the colonies of Great Britain. + +It is sufficiently alarming that she is to have the possession of this +great island. But all the Spanish colonies, virtually, are hers. Is +there so puny a whipster in the _petty form_ of the school of politics +who can be at a loss for the fate of the British colonies, when he +combines the French and Spanish consolidation with the known critical +and dubious dispositions of the United States of America, as they are at +present, but which, when a peace is made, when the basis of a Regicide +ascendency in Spain is laid, will no longer be so good as dubious and +critical? But I go a great deal further; and on much consideration of +the condition and circumstances of the West Indies, and of the genius of +this new republic, as it has operated and is likely to operate on them, +I say, that, if a single rock in the West Indies is in the hands of this +_transatlantic Morocco_, we have not an hour's safety there. + +The Remarker, though he slips aside from the main consideration, seems +aware that this arrangement, standing as it does, in the West Indies, +leaves us at the mercy of the new coalition, or rather at the mercy of +the sole guiding part of it. He does not, indeed, adopt a supposition +such as I make, who am confident that anything which can give them a +single good port and opportune piratical station there would lead to our +ruin: the author proceeds upon an idea that the Regicides may be an +existing and considerable territorial power in the West Indies, and, of +course, her piratical system more dangerous and as real. However, for +that desperate case he has an easy remedy; but, surely, in his whole +shop there is nothing so extraordinary. It is, that we three, France, +Spain, and England, (there are no other of any moment,) should adopt +some "_analogy_ in the interior systems of government in the several +islands which we may respectively retain after the closing of the war." +This plainly can be done only by a convention between the parties; and I +believe it would be the first war ever made to terminate in an analogy +of the interior government of any country, or any parts of such +countries. Such a partnership in domestic government is, I think, +carrying fraternity as far as it will go. + +It will be an affront to your sagacity to pursue this matter into all +its details: suffice it to say, that, if this convention for analogous +domestic government is made, it immediately gives a right for the +residence of a consul (in all likelihood some negro or man of color) in +every one of your islands; a Regicide ambassador in London will be at +all your meetings of West India merchants and planters, and, in effect, +in all our colonial councils. Not one order of Council can hereafter be +made, or any one act of Parliament relative to the West India colonies +even be agitated, which will not always afford reasons for protests and +perpetual interference; the Regicide Republic will become an integral +part of the colonial legislature, and, so far as the colonies are +concerned, of the British too. But it will be still worse: as all our +domestic affairs are interlaced more or less intimately with our +external, this intermeddling must everywhere insinuate itself into all +other interior transactions, and produce a copartnership in our domestic +concerns of every description. + +Such are the plain, inevitable consequences of this arrangement of a +system, of analogous interior government. On the other hand, without it, +the author assures us, and in this I heartily agree with him, "that the +correspondence and communications between the neighboring colonies will +be great, that the disagreements will be incessant, and that causes even +of national quarrels will arise _from day to day_." Most true. But, for +the reasons I have given, the case, if possible, will be worse by the +proposed remedy, by the triple fraternal interior analogy,--an analogy +itself most fruitful, and more foodful than the old Ephesian statue with +the three tier of breasts. Your Lordship must also observe how +infinitely this business must be complicated by our interference in the +slow-paced Saturnian movements of Spain and the rapid parabolic flights +of France. But such is the disease,--such is the cure,--such is, and +must be, the effect of Regicide vicinity. + +But what astonishes me is, that the negotiator, who has certainly an +exercised understanding, did not see that every person habituated to +such meditations must necessarily pursue the train of thought further +than he has carried it, and must ask himself whether what he states so +truly of the necessity of our arranging an analogous interior +government, in consequence of the vicinity of our possessions, in the +West Indies, does not as extensively apply, and much more forcibly, to +the circumstance of our much nearer vicinity with the parent and author +of this mischief. I defy even his acuteness and ingenuity to show me any +one point in which the cases differ, except that it is plainly more +necessary in Europe than in America. Indeed, the further we trace the +details of the proposed peace, the more your Lordship will be satisfied +that I have not been guilty of any abuse of terms, when I use +indiscriminately (as I always do, in speaking of arrangements with +Regicide) the words peace and fraternity. An analogy between our +interior governments must be the consequence. The noble negotiator sees +it as well as I do. I deprecate this Jacobin interior analogy. But +hereafter, perhaps, I may say a good deal more upon this part of the +subject. + +The noble lord insists on very little more than on the excellence of +their Constitution, the hope of their dwindling into little republics, +and this close copartnership in government. I hear of others, indeed, +that offer by other arguments to reconcile us to this peace and +fraternity. The Regicides, they say, have renounced the creed of the +Rights of Man, and declared equality a chimera. This is still more +strange than all the rest. They have apostatized from their apostasy. +They are renegadoes from that impious faith for which they subverted the +ancient government, murdered their king, and imprisoned, butchered, +confiscated, and banished their fellow-subjects, and to which they +forced every man to swear at the peril of his life. And now, to +reconcile themselves to the world, they declare this creed, bought by so +much blood, to be an imposture and a chimera. I have no doubt that they +always thought it to be so, when they were destroying everything at home +and abroad for its establishment. It is no strange thing, to those who +look into the nature of corrupted man, to find a violent persecutor a +perfect unbeliever of his own creed. But this is the very first time +that any man or set of men were hardy enough to attempt to lay the +ground of confidence in them by an acknowledgment of their own +falsehood, fraud, hypocrisy, treachery, heterodox doctrine, +persecution, and cruelty. Everything we hear from them is new, and, to +use a phrase of their own, _revolutionary_; everything supposes a total +revolution in all the principles of reason, prudence, and moral feeling. +If possible, this their recantation of the chief parts in the canon of +the Rights of Man is more infamous and causes greater horror than their +originally promulgating and forcing down the throats of mankind that +symbol of all evil. It is raking too much into the dirt and ordure of +human nature to say more of it. + +I hear it said, too, that they have lately declared in favor of +property. This is exactly of the same sort with the former. What need +had they to make this declaration, if they did not know that by their +doctrines and practices they had totally subverted all property? What +government of Europe, either in its origin or its continuance, has +thought it necessary to declare itself in favor of property? The more +recent ones were formed for its protection against former violations; +the old consider the inviolability of property and their own existence +as one and the same thing, and that a proclamation for its safety would +be sounding an alarm on its danger. But the Regicide banditti knew that +this was not the first time they have been obliged to give such +assurances, and had as often falsified them. They knew, that, after +butchering hundreds of men, women, and children, for no other cause than +to lay hold on their property, such a declaration might have a chance of +encouraging other nations to run the risk of establishing a commercial +house amongst them. It is notorious, that these very Jacobins, upon an +alarm of the shopkeeper of Paris, made this declaration in favor of +property. These brave fellows received the apprehensions expressed on +that head with indignation, and said that property could be in no +danger, because all the world knew it was under the protection of the +_sans-culottes_. At what period did they not give this assurance? Did +they not give it; when they fabricated their first Constitution? Did +they not then solemnly declare it one of the rights of a citizen (a +right, of course, only declared, and not then fabricated) to depart from +his country, and choose another _domicilium_, without detriment to his +property? Did they not declare that no property should be confiscated +from the children for the crime of the parent? Can they now declare more +fully their respect for property than they did at that time? And yet was +there ever known such horrid violences and confiscations as instantly +followed under the very persons now in power, many of them leading +members of that Assembly, and all of them violators of that engagement +which was the very basis of their republic,--confiscations in which +hundreds of men, women, and children, not guilty of one act of duty in +resisting their usurpation, were involved? This keeping of their old is, +then, to give us a confidence in their new engagements. But examine the +matter, and you will see that the prevaricating sons of violence give no +relief at all, where at all it can be wanted. They renew their old +fraudulent declaration against confiscations, and then they expressly +exclude all adherents to their ancient lawful government from any +benefit of it: that is to say, they promise that they will secure all +their brother plunderers in their share of the common plunder. The fear +of being robbed by every new succession of robbers, who do not keep even +the faith of that kind of society, absolutely required that they should +give security to the dividends of spoil, else they could not exist a +moment. But it was necessary, in giving security to robbers, that honest +men should be deprived of all hope of restitution; and thus their +interests were made utterly and eternally incompatible. So that it +appears that this boasted security of property is nothing more than a +seal put upon its destruction; this ceasing of confiscation is to secure +the confiscators against the innocent proprietors. That very thing which +is held out to you as your cure is that which makes your malady, and +renders it, if once it happens, utterly incurable. You, my Lord, who +possess a considerable, though not an invidious estate, may be well +assured, that, if, by being engaged, as you assuredly would be, in the +defence of your religion, your king, your order, your laws, and +liberties, that estate should be put under confiscation, the property +would be secured, but in the same manner, at your expense. + +But, after all, for what purpose are we told of this reformation in +their principles, and what is the policy of all this softening in ours, +which is to be produced by their example? It is not to soften us to +suffering innocence and virtue, but to mollify us to the crimes and to +the society of robbers and ruffians. But I trust that our countrymen +will not be softened to that kind of crimes and criminals; for, if we +should, our hearts will be hardened to everything which has a claim on +our benevolence. A kind Providence has placed in our breasts a hatred of +the unjust and cruel, in order that we may preserve ourselves from +cruelty and injustice. They who bear cruelty are accomplices in it. The +pretended gentleness which excludes that charitable rancor produces an +indifference which is half an approbation. They never will love where +they ought to love, who do not hate where they ought to hate. + +There is another piece of policy, not more laudable than this, in +reading these moral lectures, which lessens our hatred to criminals and +our pity to sufferers by insinuating that it has been owing to their +fault or folly that the latter have become the prey of the former. By +flattering us that we are not subject to the same vices and follies, it +induces a confidence that we shall not suffer the same evils by a +contact with the infamous gang of robbers who have thus robbed and +butchered our neighbors before our faces. We must not be flattered to +our ruin. Our vices are the same as theirs, neither more nor less. If +any faults we had, which wanted this French example to call us to a +"_softening_ of character, and a review of our social relations and +duties," there is yet no sign that we have commenced our reformation. We +seem, by the best accounts I have from the world, to go on just as +formerly, "some to undo, and some to be undone." There is no change at +all: and if we are not bettered by the sufferings of war, this peace, +which, for reasons to himself best known, the author fixes as the period +of our reformation, must have something very extraordinary in it; +because hitherto ease, opulence, and their concomitant pleasure have +never greatly disposed mankind to that serious reflection and review +which the author supposes to be the result of the approaching peace with +vice and crime. I believe he forms a right estimate of the nature of +this peace, and that it will want many of those circumstances which +formerly characterizes that state of things. + +If I am right in my ideas of this new republic, the different states of +peace and war will make no difference in her pursuits. It is not an +enemy of accident that we have to deal with. Enmity to us, and to all +civilized nations, is wrought into the very stamina of its Constitution. +It was made to pursue the purposes of that fundamental enmity. The +design will go on regularly in every position and in every relation. +Their hostility is to break us to their dominion; their amity is to +debauch us to their principles. In the former, we are to contend with +their force; in the latter, with their intrigues. But we stand in a very +different posture of defence in the two situations. In war, so long as +government is supported, we fight with the whole united force of the +kingdom. When under the name of peace the war of intrigue begins, we do +not contend against our enemies with the whole force of the kingdom. +No,--we shall have to fight, (if it should be a fight at all, and not an +ignominious surrender of everything which has made our country venerable +in our eyes and dear to our hearts,) we shall have to light with but a +portion of our strength against the whole of theirs. Gentlemen who not +long since thought with us, but who now recommend a Jacobin peace, were +at that time sufficiently aware of the existence of a dangerous Jacobin +faction within this kingdom. Awhile ago they seemed to be tremblingly +alive to the number of those who composed it, to their dark subtlety, to +their fierce audacity, to their admiration of everything that passes in +France, to their eager desire of a close communication with the mother +faction there. At this moment, when the question is upon the opening of +that communication, not a word of our English Jacobins. That faction is +put out of sight and out of thought. "It vanished at the crowing of the +cock." Scarcely had the Gallic harbinger of peace and light begun to +utter his lively notes, than all the cackling of us poor Tory geese to +alarm the garrison of the Capitol was forgot.[11] There was enough of +indemnity before. Now a complete act of oblivion is passed about the +Jacobins of England, though one would naturally imagine it would make a +principal object in all fair deliberation upon the merits of a project +of amity with the Jacobins of France. But however others may choose to +forget the faction, the faction does not choose to forget itself, nor, +however gentlemen may choose to flatter themselves, it does not forget +them. + +Never, in any civil contest, has a part been taken with more of the +warmth, or carried on with more of the arts of a party. The Jacobins are +worse than lost to their country. Their hearts are abroad. Their +sympathy with the Regicides of France is complete. Just as in a civil +contest, they exult in all their victories, they are dejected and +mortified in all their defeats. Nothing that the Regicides can do (and +they have labored hard for the purpose) can alienate them from their +cause. You and I, my dear Lord, have often observed on the spirit of +their conduct. When the Jacobins of France, by their studied, +deliberated, catalogued files of murders with the poniard, the sabre, +and the tribunal, have shocked whatever remained of human sensibility +in our breasts, then it was they distinguished the resources of party +policy. They did not venture directly to confront the public sentiment; +for a very short time they seemed to partake of it. They began with a +reluctant and sorrowful confession; they deplored the stains which +tarnished the lustre of a good cause. After keeping a decent time of +retirement, in a few days crept out an apology for the excesses of men +cruelly irritated by the attacks of unjust power. Grown bolder, as the +first feeling of mankind decayed and the color of these horrors began to +fade upon the imagination, they proceeded from apology to defence. They +urged, but still deplored, the absolute necessity of such a proceeding. +Then they made a bolder stride, and marched from defence to +recrimination. They attempted to assassinate the memory of those whose +bodies their friends had massacred, and to consider their murder as a +less formal act of justice. They endeavored even to debauch our pity, +and to suborn it in favor of cruelty. They wept over the lot of those +who were driven by the crimes of aristocrats to republican vengeance. +Every pause of their cruelty they considered as a return of their +natural sentiments of benignity and justice. Then they had recourse to +history, and found out all the recorded cruelties that deform the annals +of the world, in order that the massacres of the Regicides might pass +for a common event, and even that the most merciful of princes, who +suffered by their hands, should bear the iniquity of all the tyrants who +have at any time infested the earth. In order to reconcile us the better +to this republican tyranny, they confounded the bloodshed of war with +the murders of peace; and they computed how much greater prodigality of +blood was exhibited in battles and in the storm of cities than in the +frugal, well-ordered massacres of the revolutionary tribunals of France. + +As to foreign powers, so long as they were conjoined with Great Britain +in this contest, so long they were treated as the most abandoned +tyrants, and, indeed, the basest of the human race. The moment any of +them quits the cause of this government, and of all governments, he is +rehabilitated, his honor is restored, all attainders are purged. The +friends of Jacobins are no longer despots; the betrayers of the common +cause are no longer traitors. + +That you may not doubt that they look on this war as a civil war, and +the Jacobins of France as of their party, and that they look upon us, +though locally their countrymen, in reality as enemies, they have never +failed to run a parallel between our late civil war and this war with +the Jacobins of France. They justify their partiality to those Jacobins +by the partiality which was shown by several here to the Colonies, and +they sanction their cry for peace with the Regicides of France by some +of our propositions for peace with the English in America. + +This I do not mention as entering into the controversy how far they are +right or wrong in this parallel, but to show that they do make it, and +that they do consider themselves as of a party with the Jacobins of +France. You cannot forget their constant correspondence with the +Jacobins, whilst it was in their power to carry it on. When the +communication is again opened, the interrupted correspondence will +commence. We cannot be blind to the advantage which such a party affords +to Regicide France in all her views,--and, on the other hand, what an +advantage Regicide France holds out to the views of the republican party +in England. Slightly as they have considered their subject, I think this +can hardly have escaped the writers of political ephemerides for any +month or year. They have told us much of the amendment of the Regicides +of France, and of their returning honor and generosity. Have they told +anything of the reformation and of the returning loyalty of the Jacobins +of England? Have they told us of _their_ gradual softening towards +royalty? Have they told us what measures _they_ are taking for "putting +the crown in commission," and what approximations of any kind _they_ are +making towards the old Constitution of their country? Nothing of this. +The silence of these writers is dreadfully expressive. They dare not +touch the subject. But it is not annihilated by their silence, nor by +our indifference. It is but too plain that our Constitution cannot exist +with such a communication. Our humanity, our manners, our morals, our +religion, cannot stand with such a communication. The Constitution is +made by those things, and for those things: without them it cannot +exist; and without them it is no matter whether it exists or not. + +It was an ingenious Parliamentary Christmas play, by which, in both +Houses, you anticipated the holidays; it was a relaxation from your +graver employment; it was a pleasant discussion you had, which part of +the family of the Constitution was the elder branch,--whether one part +did not exist prior to the others, and whether it might exist and +flourish, if "the others were cast into the fire."[12] In order to make +this Saturnalian amusement general in the family, you sent it down +stairs, that judges and juries might partake of the entertainment. The +unfortunate antiquary and augur who is the butt of all this sport may +suffer in the roistering horse-play and practical jokes of the servants' +hall. But whatever may become of him, the discussion itself, and the +timing it, put me in mind of what I have read, (where I do not +recollect,) that the subtle nation of the Greeks were busily employed, +in the Church of Santa Sophia, in a dispute of mixed natural philosophy, +metaphysics, and theology, whether the light on Mount Tabor was created +or uncreated, and were ready to massacre the holders of the +unfashionable opinion, at the very moment when the ferocious enemy of +all philosophy and religion, Mahomet the Second, entered through a +breach into the capital of the Christian world. I may possibly suffer +much more than Mr. Reeves (I shall certainly give much more general +offence) for breaking in upon this constitutional amusement concerning +the created or uncreated nature of the two Houses of Parliament, and by +calling their attention to a problem which may entertain them less, but +which concerns them a great deal more,--that is, whether, with this +Gallic Jacobin fraternity, which they are desired by some writers to +court, all the parts of the government, about whose combustible or +incombustible qualities they are contending, may "not be cast into the +fire" together. He is a strange visionary (but he is nothing worse) who +fancies that any one part of our Constitution, whatever right of +primogeniture it may claim, or whatever astrologers may divine from its +horoscope, can possibly survive the others. As they have lived, so they +will die, together. I must do justice to the impartiality of the +Jacobins. I have not observed amongst _them_ the least predilection for +any of those parts. If there has been any difference in their malice, I +think they have shown a worse disposition to the House of Commons than +to the crown. As to the House of Lords, they do not speculate at all +about it, and for reasons that are too obvious to detail. + +The question will be concerning the effect of this French fraternity on +the whole mass. Have we anything to apprehend from Jacobin +communication, or have we not? If we have not, is it by our experience +before the war that we are to presume that after the war no dangerous +communion can exist between those who are well affected to the new +Constitution of France and ill affected to the old Constitution here? + +In conversation I have not yet found nor heard of any persons, except +those who undertake to instruct the public, so unconscious of the actual +state of things, or so little prescient of the future, who do not +shudder all over and feel a secret horror at the approach of this +communication. I do not except from this observation those who are +willing, more than I find myself disposed, to submit to this fraternity. +Never has it been mentioned in my hearing, or from what I can learn in +my inquiry, without the suggestion of an Alien Bill, or some other +measures of the same nature, as a defence against its manifest mischief. +Who does not see the utter insufficiency of such a remedy, if such a +remedy could be at all adopted? We expel suspected foreigners from +hence; and we suffer every Englishman to pass over into France to be +initiated in all the infernal discipline of the place, to cabal and to +be corrupted by every means of cabal and of corruption, and then to +return to England, charged with their worst dispositions and designs. In +France he is out of the reach of your police; and when he returns to +England, one such English emissary is worse than a legion of French, who +are either tongue-tied, or whose speech betrays them. But the worst +aliens are the ambassador and his train. These you cannot expel without +a proof (always difficult) of direct practice against the state. A +French ambassador, at the head of a French party, is an evil which we +have never experienced. The mischief is by far more visible than the +remedy. But, after all, every such measure as an Alien Bill is a measure +of hostility, a preparation for it, or a cause of dispute that shall +bring it on. In effect, it is fundamentally contrary to a relation of +amity, whose essence is a perfectly free communication. Everything done +to prevent it will provoke a foreign war. Everything, when we let it +proceed, will produce domestic distraction. We shall be in a perpetual +dilemma. But it is easy to see which side of the dilemma will be taken. +The same temper which brings us to solicit a Jacobin peace will induce +us to temporize with all the evils of it. By degrees our minds will be +made to our circumstances. The novelty of such things, which produces +half the horror and all the disgust, will be worn off. Our ruin will be +disguised in profit, and the sale of a few wretched baubles will bribe a +degenerate people to barter away the most precious jewel of their souls. +Our Constitution is not made for this kind of warfare. It provides +greatly for our happiness, it furnishes few means for our defence. It +is formed, in a great measure, upon the principle of jealousy of the +crown,--and as things stood, when it took that turn, with very great +reason. I go farther: it must keep alive some part of that fire of +jealousy eternally and chastely burning, or it cannot be the British +Constitution. At various periods we have had tyranny in this country, +more than enough. We have had rebellions with more or less +justification. Some of our kings have made adulterous connections +abroad, and trucked away for foreign gold the interests and glory of +their crown. But, before this time, our liberty has never been +corrupted. I mean to say, that it has never been debauched from its +domestic relations. To this time it has been English liberty, and +English liberty only. Our love of liberty and our love of our country +were not distinct things. Liberty is now, it seems, put upon a larger +and more liberal bottom. We are men,--and as men, undoubtedly, nothing +human is foreign to us. We cannot be too liberal in our general wishes +for the happiness of our kind. But in all questions on the mode of +procuring it for any particular community, we ought to be fearful of +admitting those who have no interest in it, or who have, perhaps, an +interest against it, into the consultation. Above all, we cannot be too +cautious in our communication with those who seek their happiness by +other roads than those of humanity, morals, and religion, and whose +liberty consists, and consists alone, in being free from those +restraints which are imposed by the virtues upon the passions. + +When we invite danger from a confidence in defensive measures, we ought, +first of all, to be sure that it is a species of danger against which +any defensive measures that can be adopted will be sufficient. Next, we +ought to know that the spirit of our laws, or that our own dispositions, +which are stronger than laws, are susceptible of all those defensive +measures which the occasion may require. A third consideration is, +whether these measures will not bring more odium than strength to +government; and the last, whether the authority that makes them, in a +general corruption of manners and principles, can insure their +execution. Let no one argue, from the state of things, as he sees them +at present, concerning what will be the means and capacities of +government, when the time arrives which shall call for remedies +commensurate to enormous evils. + +It is an obvious truth, that no constitution can defend itself: it must +be defended by the wisdom and fortitude of men. These are what no +constitution can give: they are the gifts of God; and He alone knows +whether we shall possess such gifts at the time we stand in need of +them. Constitutions furnish the civil means of getting at the natural: +it is all that in this case they can do. But our Constitution has more +impediments than helps. Its excellencies, when they come to be put to +this sort of proof, may be found among its defects. + +Nothing looks more awful and imposing than an ancient fortification. Its +lofty, embattled walls, its bold, projecting, rounded towers, that +pierce the sky, strike the imagination and promise inexpugnable +strength. But they are the very things that make its weakness. You may +as well think of opposing one of these old fortresses to the mass of +artillery brought by a French irruption into the field as to think of +resisting by your old laws and your old forms the new destruction which +the corps of Jacobin engineers of to-day prepare for all such forms and +all such laws. Besides the debility and false principle of their +construction to resist the present modes of attack, the fortress itself +is in ruinous repair, and there is a practicable breach in every part of +it. + +Such is the work. But miserable works have been defended by the +constancy of the garrison. Weather-beaten ships have been brought safe +to port by the spirit and alertness of the crew. But it is here that we +shall eminently fail. The day that, by their consent, the seat of +Regicide has its place among the thrones of Europe, there is no longer a +motive for zeal in their favor; it will at best be cold, unimpassioned, +dejected, melancholy duty. The glory will seem all on the other side. +The friends of the crown will appear, not as champions, but as victims; +discountenanced, mortified, lowered, defeated, they will fall into +listlessness and indifference. They will leave things to take their +course, enjoy the present hour, and submit to the common fate. + +Is it only an oppressive nightmare with which we have been loaded? Is +it, then, all a frightful dream, and are there no regicides in the +world? Have we not heard of that prodigy of a ruffian who would not +suffer his benignant sovereign, with his hands tied behind him, and +stripped for execution, to say one parting word to his deluded +people,--of Santerre, who commanded the drums and trumpets to strike up +to stifle his voice, and dragged him backward to the machine of murder! +This nefarious villain (for a few days I may call him so) stands high in +France, as in a republic of robbers and murderers he ought. What +hinders this monster from being sent as ambassador to convey to his +Majesty the first compliments of his brethren, the Regicide Directory? +They have none that can represent them more properly. I anticipate the +day of his arrival. He will make his public entry into London on one of +the pale horses of his brewery. As he knows that we are pleased with the +Paris taste for the orders of knighthood,[13] he will fling a bloody +sash across his shoulders, with the order of the holy guillotine +surmounting the crown appendant to the riband. Thus adorned, he will +proceed from Whitechapel to the further end of Pall Mall, all the music +of London playing the Marseillaise Hymn before him, and escorted by a +chosen detachment of the _Légion de l'Échafaud_. It were only to be +wished that no ill-fated loyalist, for the imprudence of his zeal, may +stand in the pillory at Charing Cross, under the statue of King Charles +the First, at the time of this grand procession, lest some of the rotten +eggs which the Constitutional Society shall let fly at his indiscreet +head may hit the virtuous murderer of his king. They might soil the +state dress which the ministers of so many crowned heads have admired, +and in which Sir Clement Cotterel is to introduce him at St. James's. + +If Santerre cannot be spared from the constitutional butcheries at home, +Tallien may supply his place, and, in point of figure, with advantage. +He has been habituated to commissions; and he is as well qualified as +Santerre for this. Nero wished the Roman people had but one neck. The +wish of the more exalted Tallien, when he sat in judgment, was, that his +sovereign had eighty-three heads, that he might send one to every one of +the Departments. Tallien will make an excellent figure at Guildhall at +the next Sheriff's feast. He may open the ball with my Lady Mayoress. +But this will be after he has retired from the public table, and gone +into the private room for the enjoyment of more social and unreserved +conversation with the ministers of state and the judges of the bench. +There these ministers and magistrates will hear him entertain the worthy +aldermen with an instructing and pleasing narrative of the manner in +which he made the rich citizens of Bordeaux squeak, and gently led them +by the public credit of the guillotine to disgorge their +anti-revolutionary pelf. + +All this will be the display, and the town-talk, when our regicide is on +a visit of ceremony. At home nothing will equal the pomp and splendor of +the _Hôtel de la République_. There another scene of gaudy grandeur will +be opened. When his Citizen Excellency keeps the festival, which every +citizen is ordered to observe, for the glorious execution of Louis the +Sixteenth, and renews his oath of detestation of kings, a grand ball of +course will be given on the occasion. Then what a hurly-burly! what a +crowding! what a glare of a thousand flambeaux in the square! what a +clamor of footmen contending at the door! what a rattling of a thousand +coaches of duchesses, countesses, and Lady Marys, choking the way, and +overturning each other, in a struggle who should be first to pay her +court to the _Citoyenne_, the spouse of the twenty-first husband, he +the husband of the thirty-first wife, and to hail her in the rank of +honorable matrons before the four days' duration of marriage is +expired!--Morals, as they were, decorum, the great outguard of the sex, +and the proud sentiment of honor, which makes virtue more respectable, +where it is, and conceals human frailty, where virtue may not be, will +be banished from this land of propriety, modesty, and reserve. + +We had before an ambassador from the most Christian King. We shall have +then one, perhaps two, as lately, from the most Anti-Christian Republic. +His chapel will be great and splendid, formed on the model of the Temple +of Reason at Paris; while the famous ode of the infamous Chénier will be +sung, and a prostitute of the street adored as a goddess. We shall then +have a French ambassador without a suspicion of Popery. One good it will +have: it will go some way in quieting the minds of that synod of zealous +Protestant lay elders who govern Ireland on the pacific principles of +polemic theology, and who now, from dread of the Pope, cannot take a +cool bottle of claret, or enjoy an innocent Parliamentary job, with any +tolerable quiet. + +So far as to the French communication here:--what will be the effect of +our communication there? We know that our new brethren, whilst they +everywhere shut up the churches, increased in Paris, at one time at +least fourfold, the opera-houses, the playhouses, the public shows of +all kinds; and even in their state of indigence and distress, no expense +was spared for their equipment and decoration. They were made an affair +of state. There is no invention of seduction, never wholly wanting in +that place, that has not been increased,--brothels, gaming-houses, +everything. And there is no doubt, but, when they are settled in a +triumphant peace, they will carry all these arts to their utmost +perfection, and cover them with every species of imposing magnificence. +They have all along avowed them as a part of their policy; and whilst +they corrupt young minds through pleasure, they form them to crimes. +Every idea of corporal gratification is carried to the highest excess, +and wooed with all the elegance that belongs to the senses. All elegance +of mind and manners is banished. A theatrical, bombastic, windy +phraseology of heroic virtue, blended and mingled up with a worse +dissoluteness, and joined to a murderous and savage ferocity, forms the +tone and idiom of their language and their manners. Any one, who attends +to all their own descriptions, narratives, and dissertations, will find +in that whole place more of the air of a body of assassins, banditti, +housebreakers, and outlawed smugglers, joined to that of a gang of +strolling players expelled from and exploded orderly theatres, with +their prostitutes in a brothel, at their debauches and bacchanals, than +anything of the refined and perfected virtues, or the polished, +mitigated vices of a great capital. + +Is it for this benefit we open "the usual relations of peace and amity"? +Is it for this our youth of both sexes are to form themselves by travel? +Is it for this that with expense and pains we form their lisping infant +accents to the language of France? I shall be told that this abominable +medley is made rather to revolt young and ingenuous minds. So it is in +the description. So perhaps it may in reality to a chosen few. So it may +be, when the magistrate, the law, and the church frown on such manners, +and the wretches to whom they belong,--when they are chased from the +eye of day, and the society of civil life, into night-cellars and caves +and woods. But when these men themselves are the magistrates,--when all +the consequence, weight, and authority of a great nation adopt +them,--when we see them conjoined with victory, glory, power, and +dominion, and homage paid to them by every government,--it is not +possible that the downhill should not be slid into, recommended by +everything which has opposed it. Let it be remembered that no young man +can go to any part of Europe without taking this place of pestilential +contagion in his way; and whilst the less active part of the community +will be debauched by this travel, whilst children are poisoned at these +schools, our trade will put the finishing hand to our ruin. No factory +will be settled in France, that will not become a club of complete +French Jacobins. The minds of young men of that description will receive +a taint in their religion, their morals, and their politics, which they +will in a short time communicate to the whole kingdom. + +Whilst everything prepares the body to debauch and the mind to crime, a +regular church of avowed atheism, established by law, with a direct and +sanguinary persecution of Christianity, is formed to prevent all +amendment and remorse. Conscience is formally deposed from its dominion +over the mind. What fills the measure of horror is, that schools of +atheism are set up at the public charge in every part of the country. +That some English parents will be wicked enough to send their children +to such schools there is no doubt. Better this island should be sunk to +the bottom of the sea than that (so far as human infirmity admits) it +should not be a country of religion and morals! + +With all these causes of corruption, we may well judge what the general +fashion of mind will be through both sexes and all conditions. Such +spectacles and such examples will overbear all the laws that ever +blackened the cumbrous volumes of our statutes. When royalty shall have +disavowed itself,--when it shall have relaxed all the principles of its +own support,--when it has rendered the system of Regicide fashionable, +and received it as triumphant, in the very persons who have consolidated +that system by the perpetration, of every crime, who have not only +massacred the prince, but the very laws and magistrates which were the +support of royalty, and slaughtered with an indiscriminate proscription, +without regard to either sex or age, every person that was suspected of +an inclination to king, law, or magistracy,--I say, will any one dare to +be loyal? Will any one presume, against both authority and opinion, to +hold up this unfashionable, antiquated, exploded Constitution? + +The Jacobin faction in England must grow in strength and audacity; it +will be supported by other intrigues and supplied by other resources +than yet we have seen in action. Confounded at its growth, the +government may fly to Parliament for its support. But who will answer +for the temper of a House of Commons elected under these circumstances? +Who will answer for the courage of a House of Commons to arm the crown +with the extraordinary powers that it may demand? But the ministers will +not venture to ask half of what they know they want. They will lose half +of that half in the contest; and when they have obtained their nothing, +they will be driven by the cries of faction either to demolish the +feeble works they have thrown up in a hurry, or, in effect, to abandon +them. As to the House of Lords, it is not worth mentioning. The peers +ought naturally to be the pillars of the crown; but when their titles +are rendered contemptible, and their property invidious, and a part of +their weakness, and not of their strength, they will be found so many +degraded and trembling individuals, who will seek by evasion to put off +the evil day of their ruin. Both Houses will be in perpetual oscillation +between abortive attempts at energy and still more unsuccessful attempts +at compromise. You will be impatient of your disease, and abhorrent of +your remedy. A spirit of subterfuge and a tone of apology will enter +into all your proceedings, whether of law or legislation. Your judges, +who now sustain so masculine an authority, will appear more on their +trial than the culprits they have before them. The awful frown of +criminal justice will be smoothed into the silly smile of seduction. +Judges will think to insinuate and soothe the accused into conviction +and condemnation, and to wheedle to the gallows the most artful of all +delinquents. But they will not be so wheedled. They will not submit even +to the appearance of persons on their trial. Their claim to this +exemption will be admitted. The place in which some of the greatest +names which ever distinguished the history of this country have stood +will appear beneath their dignity. The criminal will climb from the dock +to the side-bar, and take his place and his tea with the counsel. From +the bar of the counsel, by a natural progress, he will ascend to the +bench, which long before had been virtually abandoned. They who escape +from justice will not suffer a question upon reputation. They will take +the crown of the causeway; they will be revered as martyrs; they will +triumph as conquerors. Nobody will dare to censure that popular part of +the tribunal whose only restraint on misjudgment is the censure of the +public. They who find fault with the decision will be represented as +enemies to the institution. Juries that convict for the crown will be +loaded with obloquy. The juries who acquit will be held up as models of +justice. If Parliament orders a prosecution, and fails, (as fail it +will,) it will be treated to its face as guilty of a conspiracy +maliciously to prosecute. Its care in discovering a conspiracy against +the state will be treated as a forged plot to destroy the liberty of the +subject: every such discovery, instead of strengthening government, will +weaken its reputation. + +In this state things will be suffered to proceed, lest measures of vigor +should precipitate a crisis. The timid will act thus from character, the +wise from necessity. Our laws had done all that the old condition of +things dictated to render our judges erect and independent; but they +will naturally fail on the side upon which they had taken no +precautions. The judicial magistrates will find themselves safe as +against the crown, whose will is not their tenure; the power of +executing their office will be held at the pleasure of those who deal +out fame or abuse as they think fit. They will begin rather to consult +their own repose and their own popularity than the critical and perilous +trust that is in their hands. They will speculate on consequences, when +they see at court an ambassador whose robes are lined with a scarlet +dyed in the blood of judges. It is no wonder, nor are they to blame, +when they are to consider how they shall answer for their conduct to the +criminal of to-day turned into the magistrate of to-morrow. + +The press------ + +The army------ + +When thus the helm of justice is abandoned, an universal abandonment of +all other posts will succeed. Government will be for a while the sport +of contending factions, who, whilst they fight with one another, will +all strike at her. She will be buffeted and beat forward and backward by +the conflict of those billows, until at length, tumbling from the Gallic +coast, the victorious tenth wave shall ride, like the bore, over all the +rest, and poop the shattered, weather-beaten, leaky, water-logged +vessel, and sink her to the bottom of the abyss. + +Among other miserable remedies that have been found in the _materia +medica_, of the old college, a change of ministry will be proposed, and +probably will take place. They who go out can never long with zeal and +good-will support government in the hands of those they hate. In a +situation of fatal dependence on popularity, and without one aid from +the little remaining power of the crown, it is not to be expected that +they will take on them that odium which more or less attaches upon every +exertion of strong power. The ministers of popularity will lose all +their credit at a stroke, if they pursue any of those means necessary to +give life, vigor, and consistence to government. They will be considered +as venal wretches, apostates, recreant to all their own principles, +acts, and declarations. They cannot preserve their credit, but by +betraying that authority of which they are the guardians. + +To be sure, no prognosticating symptoms of these things have as yet +appeared,--nothing even resembling their beginnings. May they never +appear! May these prognostications of the author be justly laughed at +and speedily forgotten! If nothing as yet to cause them has discovered +itself, let us consider, in the author's excuse, that we have not yet +seen a Jacobin legation in England. The natural, declared, sworn ally of +sedition has not yet fixed its head-quarters in London. + +There never was a political contest, upon better or worse grounds, that +by the heat of party-spirit may not ripen into civil confusion. If ever +a party adverse to the crown should be in a condition here publicly to +declare itself, and to divide, however unequally, the natural force of +the kingdom, they are sure of an aid of fifty thousand men, at ten days' +warning, from the opposite coast of France. But against this infusion of +a foreign force the crown has its guaranties, old and new. But I should +be glad to hear something said of the assistance which loyal subjects in +France have received from other powers in support of that lawful +government which secured their lawful property. I should be glad to +know, if they are so disposed to a neighborly, provident, and +sympathetic attention to their public engagements, by what means they +are to come at us. Is it from the powerful states of Holland we are to +reclaim our guaranty? Is it from the King of Prussia, and his steady +good affections, and his powerful navy, that we are to look for the +guaranty of our security? Is it from the Netherlands, which the French +may cover with the swarms of their citizen-soldiers in twenty-four +hours, that we are to look for this assistance? This is to suppose, too, +that all these powers have no views offensive or necessities defensive +of their own. They will cut out work for one another, and France will +cut out work for them all. + +That the Christian religion cannot exist in this country with such a +fraternity will not, I think, be disputed with me. On that religion, +according to our mode, all our laws and institutions stand, as upon +their base. That scheme is supposed in every transaction of life; and if +that were done away, everything else, as in France, must be changed +along with it. Thus, religion perishing, and with it this Constitution, +it is a matter of endless meditation what order of things would follow +it. But what disorder would fill the space between the present and that +which is to come, in the gross, is no matter of doubtful conjecture. It +is a great evil, that of a civil war. But, in that state of things, a +civil war, which would give to good men and a good cause some means of +struggle, is a blessing of comparison that England will not enjoy. The +moment the struggle begins, it ends. They talk of Mr. Hume's euthanasia +of the British Constitution gently expiring, without a groan, in the +paternal arms of a mere monarchy. In a monarchy!--fine trifling +indeed!--there is no such euthanasia for the British Constitution. + + * * * * * + +The manuscript copy of this Letter ends here. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[9] Here I have fallen into an unintentional mistake. Rider's Almanack +for 1794 lay before me; and, in troth, I then had no other. For variety, +that sage astrologer has made some small changes on the weather side of +1795; but the caution is the same on the opposite page of instruction. + +[10] _Souverains opprimés_.--See the whole proceeding in the +_Procès-Verbal_ of the National Assembly. + +[11] + + Hic auratis volitans argenteus anser + Porticibus GALLOS in limine adesse canebat. + + + +[12] See debates in Parliament upon motions made in both Houses for +prosecuting Mr. Reeves for a libel upon the Constitution, Dec., 1795. + +[13] "In the costume assumed by the members of the legislative body we +almost behold the revival of the extinguished insignia of knighthood," +&c., &c.--See _A View of the Relative State of Great Britain and France +at the Commencement of the Year_ 1796. + + + + +A + +LETTER + +TO + +THE EMPRESS OF RUSSIA. + +NOVEMBER 1, 1791. + + +Madam,--The Comte de Woronzow, your Imperial Majesty's minister, and Mr. +Fawkener, have informed me of the very gracious manner in which your +Imperial Majesty, and, after your example, the Archduke and Archduchess, +have condescended to accept my humble endeavors in the service of that +cause which connects the rights and duties of sovereigns with the true +interest and happiness of their people. + +If, confiding in titles derived from your own goodness, I venture to +address directly to your Imperial Majesty the expressions of my +gratitude for so distinguished an honor, I hope it will not be thought a +presumptuous intrusion. I hope, too, that the willing homage I pay to +the high and ruling virtues which distinguish your Imperial Majesty, and +which form the felicity of so large a part of the world, will not be +looked upon as the language of adulation to power and greatness. In my +humble situation, I can behold majesty in its splendor without being +dazzled, and I am capable of respecting it in its fall. + +It is, Madam, from my strong sense of what is due to dignity in +undeserved misfortune, that I am led to felicitate your Imperial Majesty +on the use you have lately made of your power. The princes and nobility +of France, who from honor and duty, from blood and from principle, are +attached to that unhappy crown, have experienced your favor and +countenance; and there is no doubt that they will finally enjoy the full +benefit of your protection. The generosity of your Imperial Majesty has +induced you to take an interest in their cause; and your sagacity has +made you perceive that in the case of the sovereign of France the cause +of all sovereigns is tried,--that in the case of its church, the cause +of all churches,--and that in the case of its nobility is tried the +cause of all the respectable orders of all society, and even of society +itself. + +Your Imperial Majesty has sent your minister to reside where the crown +of France, in this disastrous eclipse of royalty, can alone truly and +freely be represented, that is, in its royal blood,--where alone the +nation can be represented, that is, in its natural and inherent dignity. +A throne cannot be represented by a prison. The honor of a nation cannot +be represented by an assembly which disgraces and degrades it: at +Coblentz only the king and the nation of France are to be found. + +Your Imperial Majesty, who reigns and lives for glory, has nobly and +wisely disdained to associate your crown with a faction which has for +its object the subversion of all thrones. + +You have not recognized this universal public enemy as a part of the +system of Europe. You have refused to sully the lustre of your empire by +any communion with a body of fanatical usurpers and tyrants, drawn out +of the dregs of society, and exalted to their evil eminence by the +enormity of their crimes,--an assemblage of tyrants, wholly destitute of +any distinguished qualification in a single person amongst them, that +can command reverence from our reason, or seduce it from our +prejudices. These enemies of sovereigns, if at all acknowledged, must be +acknowledged on account of that enmity alone: they have nothing else to +recommend them. + +Madam, it is dangerous to praise any human virtue before the +accomplishment of the tasks which it imposes on itself. But in +expressing my part of what I hope is, or will become, the general voice, +in admiration of what you have done, I run no risk at all. With your +Imperial Majesty, declaration and execution, beginning and conclusion, +are, at their different seasons, one and the same thing. + +On the faith and declaration of some of the first potentates of Europe, +several thousands of persons, comprehending the best men and the best +gentlemen in France, have given up their country, their houses, their +fortunes, their professional situation, their all, and are now in +foreign lands, struggling under the most grievous distresses. Whatever +appearances may menace, nobody fears that they can be finally abandoned. +Such a dereliction could not be without a strong imputation on the +public and private honor of sovereignty itself, nor without an +irreparable injury to its interests. It would give occasion to represent +monarchs as natural enemies to each other, and that they never support +or countenance any subjects of a brother prince, except when they rebel +against him. We individuals, mere spectators of the scene, but who sock +our liberties under the shade of legal authority, and of course +sympathize with the sufferers in that cause, never can permit ourselves +to believe that such an event can disgrace the history of our time. The +only thing to be feared is delay, in winch are included many mischiefs. +The constancy of the oppressed will be broken; the power of tyrants +will be confirmed. Already the multitude of French officers, drawn from +their several corps by hopes inspired by the freely declared disposition +of sovereigns, have left all the posts in which they might one day have +effectually served the good cause abandoned to the enemy. + +Tour Imperial Majesty's just influence, which is still greater than your +extensive power, will animate and expedite the efforts of other +sovereigns. From your wisdom other states will learn that they who wait +until all the powers of Europe are at once in motion can never move at +all. It would add to the unexampled calamities of our time, if the +uncommon union of sentiment in so many powers should prove the very +cause of defeating the benefit which ought to flow from their general +good disposition. No sovereign can run any risk from the designs of +other powers, whilst engaged in tins glorious and necessary work. If any +attempt could be feared, your Imperial Majesty's power and justice would +secure your allies against all danger. Madam, your glory will be +complete, if, after having given peace to Europe by your moderation, you +shall bestow stability on all its governments by your vigor and +decision. The debt which your Imperial Majesty's august predecessors +have contracted to the ancient manners of Europe, by means of which they +civilized a vast empire, will be nobly repaid by preserving those +manners from the hideous change with which they are now menaced. By the +intervention of Russia the world will be preserved from barbarism and +ruin. + +A private individual, of a remote country, in himself wholly without +importance, unauthorized and unconnected, not as an English subject, +but as a citizen of the world, presumes to submit his thoughts to one of +the greatest and wisest sovereigns that Europe has seen. He does it +without fear, because he does not involve in his weakness (if such it +is) his king, his country, or his friends. He is not' afraid that he +shall offend your Imperial Majesty,--because, secure in itself, true +greatness is always accessible, and because respectfully to speak what +we conceive to be truth is the best homage which can be paid to true +dignity. + +I am, Madam, with the utmost possible respect and veneration, + +Your Imperial Majesty's + +Most obedient and most humble servant, + +EDM. BURKE. + +BEACONSFIELD, November 1st, 1791. + + + + +A + +LETTER + +TO + +SIR CHARLES BINGHAM, BART., + +ON THE + +IRISH ABSENTEE TAX. + +OCTOBER 30, 1773. + + +NOTE. + + + From authentic documents found with the copy of this Letter + among Mr. Burke's papers, it appears that in the year 1773 a + project of imposing a tax upon all proprietors of landed + estates in Ireland, whose ordinary residence should be in + Great Britain, had been adopted and avowed by his Majesty's + ministers at that time. A remonstrance against this measure, + as highly unjust and impolitic, was presented to the + ministers by several of the principal Irish absentees, and + the project was subsequently abandoned. + + +LETTER. + +Dear Sir,--I am much flattered by your very obliging letter, and the +rather because it promises an opening to our future correspondence. This +may be my only indemnification for very great losses. One of the most +odious parts of the proposed Absentee Tax is its tendency to separate +friends, and to make as ugly breaches in private society as it must make +in the unity of the great political body. I am sure that much of the +satisfaction of some circles in London will be lost by it. Do you think +that our friend Mrs. Vesey will suffer her husband to vote for a tax +that is to destroy the evenings at Bolton Row? I trust we shall have +other supporters of the same sex, equally powerful, and equally +deserving to be so, who will not abandon the common cause of their own +liberties and our satisfactions. We shall be barbarized on both sides of +the water, if we do not see one another now and then. _We_ shall sink +into surly, brutish Johns, and _you_ will degenerate into wild Irish. It +is impossible that we should be the wiser or the more agreeable, +certainly we shall not love one another the better, for this forced +separation, which our ministers, who have already done so much for the +dissolution of every other sort of good connection, are now meditating +for the further improvement of this too well united empire. Their next +step will be to encourage all the colonies, about thirty separate +governments, to keep their people from all intercourse with each other +and with the mother country. A gentleman of New York or Barbadoes will +be as much gazed at as a strange animal from Nova Zembla or Otaheite; +and those rogues, the travellers, will tell us what stories they please +about poor old Ireland. + +In all seriousness, (though I am a great deal more than half serious in +what I have been saying,) I look upon this projected tax in a very evil +light; I think it is not advisable; I am sure it is not necessary; and +as it is not a mere matter of finance, but involves a political question +of much, importance, I consider the principle and precedent as far worse +than the thing itself. You are too kind in imagining I can suggest +anything new upon the subject. The objections to it are very glaring, +and must strike the eyes of all those who have not their reasons for +shutting them against evident truth. I have no feelings or opinions on +this subject which I do not partake with all the sensible and informed +people that I meet with. At first I could scarcely meet with any one who +could believe that this scheme originated from the English government. +They considered it not only as absurd, but as something monstrous and +unnatural. In the first instance, it strikes at the power of this +country; in the end, at the union of the whole empire. I do not mean to +express, most certainly I do not entertain in my mind, anything +invidious concerning the superintending authority of Great Britain. But +if it be true that the several bodies which make up this complicated +mass are to be preserved as one empire, an authority sufficient to +preserve that unity, and by its equal weight and pressure to +consolidate the various parts that compose it, must reside somewhere: +that somewhere can only be in England. Possibly any one member, +distinctly taken, might decide in favor of that residence within itself; +but certainly no member would give its voice for any other except this. +So that I look upon the residence of the supreme power to be settled +here: not by force, or tyranny, or even by mere long usage, but by the +very nature of things, and the joint consent of the whole body. + +If all this be admitted, then without question this country must have +the sole right to the imperial legislation: by which I mean that law +which regulates the polity and economy of the several parts, as they +relate to one another and to the whole. But if any of the parts, which +(not for oppression, but for order) are placed in a subordinate +situation, will assume to themselves the power of hindering or checking +the resort of their municipal subjects to the centre, or even to any +other part of the empire, they arrogate to themselves the imperial +rights, which do not, which cannot, belong to them, and, so far as in +them lies, destroy the happy arrangement of the entire empire. + +A free communication by _discretionary residence_ is necessary to all +the other purposes of communication. For what purpose are the Irish and +Plantation laws sent hither, but as means of preserving this sovereign +constitution? Whether such a constitution was originally right or wrong +this is not the time of day to dispute. If any evils arise from it, let +us not strip it of what may be useful in it. By taking the English Privy +Council into your legislature, you obtain a new, a further, and possibly +a more liberal consideration of all your acts. If a local legislature +shall by oblique means tend to deprive any of the people of this +benefit, and shall make it penal to them to follow into England the laws +which may affect them, then the English Privy Council will have to +decide upon your acts without those lights that may enable them to judge +upon what grounds you made them, or how far they ought to be modified, +received, or rejected. + +To what end is the ultimate appeal in judicature lodged in this kingdom, +if men may be disabled from following their suits here, and may be taxed +into an absolute _denied of justice_? You observe, my dear Sir, that I +do not assert that in all cases two shillings will necessarily cut off +this means of correcting legislative and judicial mistakes, and thus +amount to a denial of justice. I might, indeed, state cases in which +this very quantum of tax would be fully sufficient to defeat this right. +But I argue not on the case, but on the principle, and I am sure the +principle implies it. They who may restrain may prohibit; they who may +impose two shillings may impose ten shillings in the pound; and those +who may condition the tax to six months' annual absence may carry that +condition to six weeks, or even to six days, and thereby totally defeat +the wise means which have been provided for extensive and impartial +justice, and for orderly, well-poised, and well-connected government. + +What is taxing the resort to and residence in any place, but declaring +that your connection with that place is a grievance? Is not such an +Irish tax as is now proposed a virtual declaration that England is a +foreign country, and a renunciation on your part of the principle of +_common naturalization_, which runs through this whole empire? + +Do you, or does any Irish gentleman, think it a mean privilege, that, +the moment he sets his foot upon this ground, he is to all intents and +purposes an Englishman? You will not be pleased with a law which by its +operation tends to disqualify you from a seat in this Parliament; and if +your own virtue or fortune, or if that of your children, should carry +you or them to it, should you like to be excluded from the possibility +of a peerage in this kingdom? If in Ireland we lay it down as a maxim, +that a residence in Great Britain is a political evil, and to be +discouraged by penal taxes, you must necessarily reject all the +privileges and benefits which are connected with such a residence. + +I can easily conceive that a citizen of Dublin, who looks no further +than his counter, may think that Ireland will be repaid for such a loss +by any small diminution of taxes, or any increase in the circulation of +money that may be laid out in the purchase of claret or groceries in his +corporation. In such a man an error of that kind, as it would be +natural, would be excusable. But I cannot think that any educated man, +any man who looks with an enlightened eye on the interest of Ireland, +can believe that it is not highly for the advantage of Ireland, that +this Parliament, which, whether right or wrong, whether we will or not, +will make some laws to bind Ireland, should always have in it some +persons who by connection, by property, or by early prepossessions and +affections, are attached to the welfare of that country. I am so clear +upon this point, not only from the clear reason of the thing, but from +the constant course of my observation, by now having sat eight sessions +in Parliament, that I declare it to you as my sincere opinion, that (if +you must do either the one or the other) it would be wiser by far, and +far better for Ireland, that some new privileges should attend the +estates of Irishmen, members of the two Houses here, than that their +characters should be stained by penal impositions, and their properties +loaded by unequal and unheard-of modes of taxation. I do really trust, +that, when the matter comes a little to be considered, a majority of our +gentlemen will never consent to establish such a principle of +disqualification against themselves and their posterity, and, for the +sake of gratifying the schemes of a transitory administration of the +cockpit or the castle, or in compliance with the lightest part of the +most vulgar and transient popularity, fix so irreparable an injury on +the permanent interest of their country. + +This law seems, therefore, to me to go directly against the fundamental +points of the legislative and judicial constitution of these kingdoms, +and against the happy communion of their privileges. But there is +another matter in the tax proposed, that contradicts as essentially a +very great principle necessary for preserving the union of the various +parts of a state; because it does, in effect, discountenance mutual +intermarriage and inheritance, things that bind countries more closely +together than any laws or constitutions whatsoever. Is it right that a +woman who marries into Ireland, and perhaps well purchases her jointure +or her dower there, should not after her husband's death have it in her +choice to return to her country and her friends without being taxed for +it? If an Irish heiress should marry into an English family, and that +great property in both countries should thereby come to be united in +this common issue, shall the descendant of that marriage abandon his +natural connection, his family interests, his public and his private +duties, and be compelled to take up his residence in Ireland? Is there +any sense or any justice in it, unless you affirm that there should be +no such intermarriage and no such mutual inheritance between the +natives? Is there a shadow of reason, that, because a Lord Rockingham, a +Duke of Devonshire, a Sir George Savile, possess property in Ireland, +which has descended to them without any act of theirs, they should +abandon their duty in Parliament, and spend the winters in Dublin? or, +having spent the session in Westminster, must they abandon their seats +and all their family interests in Yorkshire and Derbyshire, and pass the +rest of the year in Wicklow, in Cork, or Tyrone? + +See what the consequence must be from a municipal legislature +considering itself as an unconnected body, and attempting to enforce a +partial residence. A man may have property in more parts than two of +this empire. He may have property in Jamaica and in North America, as +well as in England and Ireland. I know some that have property in all of +them. What shall we say to this case? After the poor distracted citizen +of the whole empire has, in compliance with your partial law, removed +his family, bid adieu to his connections, and settled himself quietly +and snug in a pretty box by the Liffey, he hears that the Parliament of +Great Britain is of opinion that all English estates ought to be spent +in England, and that they will tax him double, if he does not return. +Suppose him then (if the nature of the two laws will permit it) +providing a flying camp, and dividing his year as well as he can +between England and Ireland, and at the charge of two town houses and +two country-houses in both kingdoms; in this situation he receives an +account, that a law is transmitted from Jamaica, and another from +Pennsylvania, to tax absentees from these provinces, which are +impoverished by the European residence of the possessors of their lands. +How is he to escape this _ricochet_ cross-firing of so many opposite +batteries of police and regulation? If he attempts to comply, he is +likely to be more a citizen of the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish Sea than +of any of these countries. The matter is absurd and ridiculous, and, +while ever the idea of mutual marriages, inheritances, purchases, and +privileges subsist, can never be carried into execution with common +sense or common justice. + +I do not know how gentlemen of Ireland reconcile such an idea to their +own liberties, or to the natural use and enjoyment of their estates. If +any of their children should be left in a minority, and a guardian +should think, as many do, (it matters not whether properly or no,) that +his ward had better he educated in a school or university here than in +Ireland, is he sure that he can justify the bringing a tax of ten per +cent, perhaps twenty, on his pupil's estate, by giving what in his +opinion is the best education in general, or the best for that pupil's +particular character and circumstances? Can he justify his sending him +to travel, a necessary part of the higher style of education, and, +notwithstanding what some narrow writers have said, of great benefit to +all countries, but very particularly so to Ireland? Suppose a guardian, +under the authority or pretence of such a tax of police, had prevented +our dear friend, Lord Charlemont, from going abroad, would he have lost +no satisfaction? would his friends have lost nothing in the companion? +would his country have lost nothing in the cultivated taste with which +he has adorned it in so many ways? His natural elegance of mind would +undoubtedly do a great deal; but I will venture to assert, without the +danger of being contradicted, that he adorns his present residence in +Ireland much the more for having resided a long time out of it. Will Mr. +Flood himself think he ought to have been driven by taxes into Ireland, +whilst he prepared himself by an English education to understand and to +defend the rights of the subject in Ireland, or to support the dignity +of government there, according as his opinions, or the situation of +things, may lead him to take either part, upon respectable principles? I +hope it is not forgot that an Irish act of Parliament sends its youth to +England for the study of the law, and compels a residence in the inns of +court hero for some years. Will you send out with one breath and recall +with another? This act plainly provides for that intercourse which +supposes the strictest union in laws and policy, in both which the +intended tax supposes an entire separation. + +It would be endless to go into all the inconveniences this tax will lead +to, in the conduct of private life, and the use of property. How many +infirm people are obliged to change their climate, whose life depends +upon that change! How many families straitened in their circumstances +are there, who, from the shame, sometimes from the utter impossibility +otherwise of retrenching, are obliged to remove from their country, in +order to preserve their estates in their families! You begin, then, to +burden these people precisely at the time when their circumstances of +health and fortune render them rather objects of relief and +commiseration. + +I know very well that a great proportion of the money of every +subordinate country will flow towards the metropolis. This is +unavoidable. Other inconveniences, too, will result to particular parts: +and why? Why, because they are particular parts,--each a member of a +greater, and not an whole within itself. But those members are to +consider whether these inconveniences are not fully balanced, perhaps +more than balanced, by the united strength of a great and compact body. +I am sensible, too, of a difficulty that will be started against the +application of some of the principles which I reason upon to the case of +Ireland. It will be said, that Ireland, in many particulars, is not +bound to consider itself as a part of the British body; because this +country, in many instances, is mistaken enough to treat you as +foreigners, and draws away your money by absentees, without suffering +you to enjoy your natural advantages in trade and commerce. No man +living loves restrictive regulations of any kind less than myself; at +best, nine times in ten, they are little better than laborious and +vexatious follies. Often, as in your case, they are great oppressions, +as well as great absurdities. But still an injury is not always a reason +for retaliation; nor is the folly of others with regard to us a reason +for imitating it with regard to them. Before we attempt to retort, we +ought to consider whether we may not injure ourselves even more than our +adversary; since, in the contest who shall go the greatest length in +absurdity, the victor is generally the greatest sufferer. Besides, when +there is an unfortunate emulation in restraints and oppressions, the +question of _strength_ is of the highest importance. It little becomes +the feeble to be unjust. Justice is the shield of the weak; and when +they choose to lay this down, and fight naked in the contest of mere +power, the event will be what must be expected from such imprudence. + +I ought to beg your pardon for running into this length. You want no +arguments to convince you on this subject, and you want no resources of +matter to convince others. I ought, too, to ask pardon for having +delayed my answer so long; but I received your letter on Tuesday, in +town, and I was obliged to come to the country on business. From the +country I write at present; but this day I shall go to town again. I +shall see Lord Rockingham, who has spared neither time nor trouble in +making a vigorous opposition to this inconsiderate measure. I hope to be +able to send you the papers which will give you information of the steps +he has taken. He has pursued this business with the foresight, +diligence, and good sense with which he generally resists +unconstitutional attempts of government. A life of disinterestedness, +generosity, and public spirit are his titles to have it believed that +the effect which the tax may have upon his private property is not the +sole nor the principal motive to his exertions. I know he is of opinion +that the opposition in Ireland ought to be carried on with that spirit +as if no aid was expected from this country, and here as if nothing +would be done in Ireland: many things have been lost by not acting in +this manner. + +I am told that you are not likely to be alone in the generous stand you +are to make against this unnatural monster of court popularity. It is +said, Mr. Hussey, who is so very considerable at present, and who is +everything in expectation, will give you his assistance. I rejoice to +see (that very rare spectacle) a good mind, a great genius, and public +activity united together, and united so early in life. By not running +into every popular humor, he may depend upon it, the popularity of his +character will wear the better. + + Non ponebat enim rumores ante salutem; + Ergo postque magisque viri nunc gloria claret. + +Adieu, my dear Sir. Give my best respects to Lady Bingham; and believe +me, with great truth and esteem, + +Your most obedient and most humble servant, + +EDM. BURKE. + +BEACONSFIELD, 30th October, 1773. + +TO SIR CHARLES BINGHAM. + + + + +A + +LETTER + +TO + +THE HON. CHARLES JAMES FOX, + +ON THE AMERICAN WAR. + +OCTOBER 8, 1777. + + +My Dear Charles,--I am, on many accounts, exceedingly pleased with your +journey to Ireland. I do not think it was possible to dispose better of +the interval between this and the meeting of Parliament. I told you as +much, in the same general terms, by the post. My opinion of the +infidelity of that conveyance hindered me from being particular. I now +sit down with malice prepense to kill you with a very long letter, and +must take my chance for some safe method of conveying the dose. Before I +say anything to you of the place you are in, or the business of it, on +which, by the way, a great deal might be said, I will turn myself to the +concluding part of your letter from Chatsworth. + +You are sensible that I do not differ from you in many things; and most +certainly I do not dissent from the main of your doctrine concerning the +heresy of depending upon contingencies. You must recollect how uniform +my sentiments have been on that subject. I have ever wished a settled +plan of our own, founded in the very essence of the American business, +wholly unconnected with the events of the war, and framed in such a +manner as to keep up our credit and maintain our system at home, in +spite of anything which may happen abroad. I am now convinced, by a long +and somewhat vexatious experience, that such a plan is absolutely +impracticable. I think with you, that some faults in the constitution +of those whom we must love and trust are among the causes of this +impracticability; they are faults, too, that one can hardly wish them +perfectly cured of, as I am afraid they are intimately connected with +honest, disinterested intentions, plentiful fortunes, assured rank, and +quiet homes. A great deal of activity and enterprise can scarcely ever +be expected from such men, unless some horrible calamity is just over +their heads, or unless they suffer some gross personal insults from +power, the resentment of which may be as unquiet and stimulating a +principle in their minds as ambition is in those of a different +complexion. To say the truth, I cannot greatly blame them. We live at a +time when men are not repaid in fame for what they sacrifice in interest +or repose. + +On the whole, when I consider of what discordant, and particularly of +what fleeting materials the opposition has been all along composed, and +at the same time review what Lord Rockingham has done, with that and +with his own shattered constitution, for these last twelve years, I +confess I am rather surprised that he has done so much and persevered so +long, than that he has felt now and then some cold fits, and that he +grows somewhat languid and desponding at last. I know that he, and those +who are much prevalent with him, though they are not thought so much +devoted to popularity as others, do very much look to the people, and +more than I think is wise in them, who do so little to guide and direct +the public opinion. Without this they act, indeed; but they act as it +were from compulsion, and because it is impossible, in their situation, +to avoid taking some part. All this it is impossible to change, and to +no purpose to complain of. + +As to that popular humor which is the medium we float in, if I can +discern anything at all of its present state, it is far worse than I +have ever known or could ever imagine it. The faults of the people are +not popular vices; at least, they are not such as grow out of what we +used to take to be the English temper and character. The greatest number +have a sort of an heavy, lumpish acquiescence in government, without +much respect or esteem for those that compose it. I really cannot avoid +making some very unpleasant prognostics from this disposition of the +people. I think that many of the symptoms must have struck you: I will +mention one or two that are to me very remarkable. You must know that at +Bristol we grow, as an election interest, and even as a party interest, +rather stronger than we were when I was chosen. We have just now a +majority in the corporation. In this state of matters, what, think you, +have they done? They have voted their freedom to Lord Sandwich and Lord +Suffolk!--to the first, at the very moment when the American privateers +were domineering in the Irish Sea, and taking the Bristol traders in the +Bristol Channel;--to the latter, when his remonstrances on the subject +of captures were the jest of Paris and of Europe. This fine step was +taken, it seems, in honor of the zeal of these two profound statesmen in +the prosecution of John the Painter: so totally negligent are they of +everything essential, and so long and so deeply affected with trash the +most low and contemptible; just as if they thought the merit of Sir John +Fielding was the most shining point in the character of great +ministers, in the most critical of all times, and, of all others, the +most deeply interesting to the commercial world! My best friends in the +corporation had no other doubts on the occasion than whether it did not +belong to me, by right of my representative capacity, to be the bearer +of this auspicious compliment. In addition to this, if it could receive +any addition, they now employ me to solicit, as a favor of no small +magnitude, that, after the example of Newcastle, they may be suffered to +arm vessels for their own defence in the Channel. Their memorial, under +the seal of Merchants' Hall, is now lying on the table before me. Not a +soul has the least sensibility, on finding themselves, now for the first +time, obliged to act as if the community were dissolved, and, after +enormous payments towards the common protection, each part was to defend +itself, as if it were a separate state. + +I don't mention Bristol as if that were the part furthest gone in this +mortification. Far from it: I know that there is, rather, a little more +life in us than in any other place. In Liverpool they are literally +almost ruined by this American war; but they love it as they suffer from +it. In short, from whatever I see, and from whatever quarter I hear, I +am convinced that everything that is not absolute stagnation is +evidently a party-spirit very adverse to our politics, and to the +principles from whence they arise. There are manifest marks of the +resurrection of the Tory party. They no longer criticize, as all +disengaged people in the world will, on the acts of government; but they +are silent under every evil, and hide and cover up every ministerial +blander and misfortune, with the officious zeal of men who think they +have a party of their own to support in power. The Tories do +universally think their power and consequence involved in the success of +this American business. The clergy are astonishingly warm in it; and +what the Tories are, when embodied and united with their natural head, +the crown, and animated by their clergy, no man knows better than +yourself. As to the Whigs, I think them far from extinct. They are, what +they always were, (except by the able use of opportunities,) by far the +weakest party in this country. They have not yet learned the application +of their principles to the present state of things; and as to the +Dissenters, the main effective part of the Whig strength, they are, to +use a favorite expression of our American campaign style, "not all in +force." They will do very little, and, as far as I can discern, are +rather intimidated than provoked at the denunciations of the court in +the Archbishop of York's sermon. I thought that sermon rather imprudent, +when I first saw it; but it seems to have done its business. + +In this temper of the people, I do not wholly wonder that our Northern +friends look a little towards events. In war, particularly, I am afraid +it must be so. There is something so weighty and decisive in the events +of war, something that so completely overpowers the imagination of the +vulgar, that all counsels must in a great degree be subordinate to and +attendant on them. I am sure it was so in the last war, very eminently. +So that, on the whole, what with the temper of the people, the temper of +our own friends, and the domineering necessities of war, we must quietly +give up all ideas of any settled, preconcerted plan. We shall be lucky +enough, if, keeping ourselves attentive and alert, we can contrive to +profit of the occasions as they arise: though I am sensible that those +who are best provided with a general scheme are fittest to take +advantage of all contingencies. However, to act with any people with the +least degree of comfort, I believe we must contrive a little to +assimilate to their character. We must gravitate towards them, if we +would keep in the same system, or expect that they should approach +towards us. They are, indeed, worthy of much concession and management. +I am quite convinced that they are the honestest public men that ever +appeared in this country, and I am sure that they are the wisest, by +far, of those who appear in it at present. None of those who are +continually complaining of them, but are themselves just as chargeable +with all their faults, and have a decent stock of their own into the +bargain. They (our friends) are, I admit, as you very truly represent +them, but indifferently qualified for storming a citadel. After all, God +knows whether this citadel is to be stormed by them, or by anybody else, +by the means they use, or by any means. I know that as they are, +abstractedly speaking, to blame, so there are those who cry out against +them for it, not with a friendly complaint, as we do, but with the +bitterness of enemies. But I know, too, that those who blame them for +want of enterprise have shown no activity at all against the common +enemy: all their skill and all their spirit have been shown only in +weakening, dividing, and indeed destroying their allies. What they are +and what we are is now pretty evidently experienced; and it is certain, +that, partly by our common faults, but much more by the difficulties of +our situation, and some circumstances of unavoidable misfortune, we are +in little better than a sort of _cul-de-sac_. For my part, I do all I +can to give ease to my mind in this strange position. I remember, some +years ago, when I was pressing some points with great eagerness and +anxiety, and complaining with great vexation to the Duke of Richmond of +the little progress I make, he told me kindly, and I believe very truly, +that, though he was far from thinking so himself, other people could not +be persuaded I had not some latent private interest in pushing these +matters, which I urged with an earnestness so extreme, and so much +approaching to passion. He was certainly in the right. I am thoroughly +resolved to give, both to myself and to my friends, less vexation on +these subjects than hitherto I have done,--much less, indeed. + +If _you_ should grow too earnest, you will be still more inexcusable +than I was. Your having entered into affairs so much younger ought to +make them too familiar to you to be the cause of much agitation, and you +have much more before you for your work. Do not be in haste. Lay your +foundations deep in public opinion. Though (as you are sensible) I have +never given you the least hint of advice about joining yourself in a +declared connection with our party, nor do I now, yet, as I love that +party very well, and am clear that you are better able to serve them +than any man I know, I wish that things should be so kept as to leave +you mutually very open to one another in all changes and contingencies; +and I wish this the rather, because, in order to be very great, as I am +anxious that you should be, (always presuming that you are disposed to +make a good use of power,) you will certainly want some better support +than merely that of the crown. For I much doubt, whether, with all your +parts, you are the man formed for acquiring real interior favor in this +court, or in any; I therefore wish you a firm ground in the country; and +I do not know so firm and so sound a bottom to build on as our +party.--Well, I have done with this matter; and you think I ought to +have finished it long ago. Now I turn to Ireland. + +Observe, that I have not heard a word of any news relative to it, from +thence or from London; so that I am only going to state to you my +conjectures as to facts, and to speculate again on these conjectures. I +have a strong notion that the lateness of our meeting is owing to the +previous arrangements intended in Ireland. I suspect they mean that +Ireland should take a sort of lead, and act an efficient part in this +war, both with men and money. It will sound well, when we meet, to tell +us of the active zeal and loyalty of the people of Ireland, and contrast +it with the rebellious spirit of America. It will be a popular +topic,--the perfect confidence of Ireland in the power of the British +Parliament. From thence they will argue the little danger which any +dependency of the crown has to apprehend from the enforcement of that +authority. It will be, too, somewhat flattering to the country +gentlemen, who might otherwise begin to be sullen, to hold out that the +burden is not wholly to rest upon them; and it will pique our pride to +be told that Ireland has cheerfully stepped forward: and when a +dependant of this kingdom has already engaged itself in another year's +war, merely for our dignity, how can we, who are principals in the +quarrel, hold off? This scheme of policy seems to me so very obvious, +and is likely to be of so much service to the present system, that I +cannot conceive it possible they should neglect it, or something like +it. They have already put the people of Ireland to the proof. Have they +not borne the Earl of Buckinghamshire, the person who was employed to +move the fiery committee in the House of Lords in order to stimulate the +ministry to this war, who was in the chair, and who moved the +resolutions? + +It is within a few days of eleven years since I was in Ireland, and then +after an absence of two. Those who have been absent from any scene for +even a much shorter time generally lose the true practical notion of the +country, and of what may or may not be done in it. When I knew Ireland, +it was very different from the state of England, where government is a +vast deal, the public something, but individuals comparatively very +little. But if Ireland bears any resemblance to what it was some years +ago, neither government nor public opinion can do a great deal; almost +the whole is in the hands of a few leading people. The populace of +Dublin, and some parts in the North, are in some sort an exception. But +the Primate, Lord Hillsborough, and Lord Hertford have great sway in the +latter; and the former may be considerable or not, pretty much as the +Duke of Leinster pleases. On the whole, the success of government +usually depended on the bargain made with a very few men. The resident +lieutenancy may have made some change, and given a strength to +government, which formerly, I know, it had not; still, however, I am of +opinion, the former state, though in other hands perhaps, and in another +manner, still continues. The house you are connected with is grown into +a much greater degree of power than it had, though it was very +considerable, at the period I speak of. If the D. of L. takes a popular +part, he is sure of the city of Dublin, and he has a young man attached +to him who stands very forward in Parliament and in profession, and, by +what I hear, with more good-will and less envy than usually attends so +rapid a progress. The movement of one or two principal men, if they +manage the little popular strength which is to be found in Dublin and +Ulster, may do a great deal, especially when money is to be saved and +taxes to be kept off. I confess I should despair of your succeeding with +any of them, if they cannot be satisfied that every job which they can +look for on account of carrying this measure would be just as sure to +them for their ordinary support of government. They are essential to +government, which at this time must not be disturbed, and their +neutrality will be purchased at as high a price as their alliance +offensive and defensive. Now, as by supporting they may get as much as +by betraying their country, it must be a great leaning to turpitude that +can make them take a part in this war. I am satisfied, that, if the Duke +of Leinster and Lord Shannon would act together, this business could not +go on; or if either of them took part with Ponsonby, it would have no +better success. Hutchinson's situation is much altered since I saw you. +To please Tisdall, he had been in a manner laid aside at the Castle. It +is now to be seen whether he prefers the gratification of his resentment +and his appetite for popularity, both of which are strong enough in him, +to the advantages which his independence gives him, of making a new +bargain, and accumulating new offices on his heap. Pray do not be asleep +in this scene of action,--at this time, if I am right, the principal. +The Protestants of Ireland will be, I think, in general, backward: they +form infinitely the greatest part of the landed and the moneyed +interests; and they will not like to pay. The Papists are reduced to +beasts of burden: they will give all they have, their shoulders, readily +enough, if they are flattered. Surely the state of Ireland ought forever +to teach parties moderation in their victories. People crushed by law +have no hopes but from power. If laws are their enemies, they will be +enemies to laws; and those who have much to hope and nothing to lose +will always be dangerous, more or less. But this is not our present +business. If all this should prove a dream, however, let it not hinder +you from writing to me and tolling me so. You will easily refute, in +your conversation, the little topics which they will set afloat: such +as, that Ireland is a boat, and must go with the ship; that, if the +Americans contended only for their liberties, it would be +different,--but since they have declared independence, and so forth-- + +You are happy in enjoying Townshend's company. Remember me to him. How +does he like his private situation in a country where he was the son of +the sovereign?--Mrs. Burke and the two Richards salute you cordially. + +E.B. + +BEACONSFIELD, October 8th, 1777. + + + + +A + +LETTER + +TO + +THE MARQUIS OF ROCKINGHAM, + +WITH + +ADDRESSES TO THE KING, + +AND + +THE BRITISH COLONISTS IN NORTH AMERICA, + +IN RELATION TO + +THE MEASURES OF GOVERNMENT IN THE AMERICAN CONTEST, AND A PROPOSED +SECESSION OF THE OPPOSITION FROM PARLIAMENT. + +JANUARY, 1777. + + +NOTE. + + + This Letter, with the two Addresses which follow it, was + written upon occasion of a proposed secession from Parliament + of the members in both Houses who had opposed the measures of + government, in the contest between this country and the + colonies in North America, from the time of the repeal of the + Stamp Act. It appears, from an indorsement written by Mr. + Burke on the manuscript, that he warmly recommended the + measure, but (for what reasons is not stated) it was not + adopted. + + +LETTER + +TO THE MARQUIS OF ROCKINGHAM. + +My Dear Lord,--I am afraid that I ought rather to beg your pardon for +troubling you at all in this season of repose, than to apologize for +having been so long silent on the approaching business. It comes upon +us, not indeed in the most agreeable manner, but it does come-upon us; +and I believe your friends in general are in expectation of finding your +Lordship resolved in what way you are to meet it. The deliberation is +full of difficulties; but the determination is necessary. + +The affairs of America seem to be drawing towards a crisis. The Howes +are at this time in possession of, or are able to awe, the whole middle +coast of America, from Delaware to the western boundary of Massachusetts +Bay; the naval barrier on the side of Canada is broken; a great tract of +country is open for the supply of the troops; the river Hudson opens a +way into the heart of the provinces; and nothing can, in all +probability, prevent an early and offensive campaign. What the Americans +_have_ done is, in their circumstances, truly astonishing; it is, +indeed, infinitely more than I expected from them. But having done so +much, for some short time I began to entertain an opinion that they +might do more. It is now, however, evident that they cannot look +standing armies in the face. They are inferior in everything, even in +numbers,--I mean, in the number of those whom they keep in constant duty +and in regular pay. There seem, by the best accounts, not to be above +ten or twelve thousand men, at most, in their grand army. The rest are +militia, and not wonderfully well composed or disciplined. They decline +a general engagement,--prudently enough, if their object had been to +make the war attend upon a treaty of good terms of subjection; but when +they look further, this will not do. An army that is obliged at all +times and in all situations to decline an engagement may delay their +ruin, but can never defend their country. Foreign assistance they have +little or none, nor are likely soon to have more. France, in effect, has +no king, nor any minister accredited enough either with the court or +nation to undertake a design of great magnitude. + +In this state of things, I persuade myself Franklin is come to Paris to +draw from that court a definitive and satisfactory answer concerning the +support of the colonies. If he cannot get such an answer, (and I am of +opinion that at present he cannot,) then it is to be presumed he is +authorized to negotiate with Lord Stormont on the basis of dependence on +the crown. This I take to be his errand: for I never can believe that he +is come thither as a fugitive from his cause in the hour of its +distress, or that he is going to conclude a long life, which has +brightened every hour it has continued, with so foul and dishonorable a +flight. On this supposition, I thought it not wholly impossible that the +Whig party might be made a sort of mediators of the peace. It is +unnatural to suppose, that, in making an accommodation, the Americans +should not choose rather to give credit to those who all along have +opposed the measure of ministers, than to throw themselves wholly on the +mercy of their bitter, uniform, and systematic enemies. It is, indeed, +the victorious enemy that has the terms to offer; the vanquished party +and their friends are, both of them, reduced in their power; and it is +certain that those who are utterly broken and subdued have no option. +But, as this is hardly yet the case of the Americans, in this middle +state of their affairs, (much impaired, but not perfectly ruined,) one +would think it must be their interest to provide, if possible, some +further security for the terms which they may obtain from their enemies. +If the Congress could be brought to declare in favor of those terms for +which one hundred members of the House of Commons voted last year, with +some civility to the party which held out those terms, it would +undoubtedly have an effect to revive the cause of our liberties in +England, and to give the colonies some sort of mooring and anchorage in +this country. It seemed to me that Franklin might be made to feel the +propriety of such a step; and as I have an acquaintance with him, I had +a strong desire of taking a turn to Paris. Everything else failing, one +might obtain a better knowledge of the general aspect of affairs abroad +than, I believe, any of us possess at present. The Duke of Portland +approved the idea. But when I had conversed with the very few of your +Lordship's friends who were in town, and considered a little more +maturely the constant temper and standing maxims of the party, I laid +aside the design,--not being desirous of risking the displeasure of +those for whose sake alone I wished to take that fatiguing journey at +this severe season of the year. + +The Duke of Portland has taken with him some heads of deliberation, +which were the result of a discourse with his Grace and Mr. Montagu at +Burlington House. It seems essential to the cause that your Lordship +should meet your friends with some settled plan either of action or +inaction. Your friends will certainly require such a plan; and I am sure +the state of affairs requires it, whether they call for it or not. As to +the measure of a secession with reasons, after rolling the matter in my +head a good deal, and turning it an hundred ways, I confess I still +think it the most advisable, notwithstanding the serious objections that +lie against it, and indeed the extreme uncertainty of all political +measures, especially at this time. It provides for your honor. I know of +nothing else that can so well do this. It is something, perhaps all, +that can be done in our present situation. Some precaution, in this +respect, is not without its motives. That very estimation for which you +have sacrificed everything else is in some danger of suffering in the +general wreck; and perhaps it is likely to suffer the more, because you +have hitherto confided more than was quite prudent in the clearness of +your intentions, and in the solidity of the popular judgment upon them. +The former, indeed, is out of the power of events; the latter is full of +levity, and the very creature of fortune. However, such as it is, (and +for one I do not think I am inclined to overvalue it,) both our interest +and our duty make it necessary for us to attend to it very carefully, so +long as we act a part in public. The measure you take for this purpose +may produce no immediate effect; but with regard to the party, and the +principles for whose sake the party exists, all hope of their +preservation or recovery depends upon your preserving your reputation. + +By the conversation of some friends, it seemed as if they were willing +to fall in with this design, because it promised to emancipate them from +the servitude of irksome business, and to afford them an opportunity of +retiring to ease and tranquillity. If that be their object in the +secession and addresses proposed, there surely never were means worse +chosen to gain their end; and if this be any part of the project, it +were a thousand times better it were never undertaken. The measure is +not only unusual, and as such critical, but it is in its own nature +strong and vehement in a high degree. The propriety, therefore, of +adopting it depends entirely upon the spirit with which it is supported +and followed. To pursue violent measures with languor and irresolution +is not very consistent in speculation, and not more reputable or safe in +practice. If your Lordship's friends do not go to this business with +their whole hearts, if they do not feel themselves uneasy without it, if +they do not undertake it with a certain degree of zeal, and even with +warmth and indignation, it had better be removed wholly out of our +thoughts. A measure of less strength, and more in the beaten circle of +affairs, if supported with spirit and industry, would be on all accounts +infinitely more eligible. We have to consider what it is that in this +undertaking we have against us. We have the weight of King, Lords, and +Commons in the other scale; we have against us, within a trifle, the +whole body of the law; we oppose the more considerable part of the +landed and mercantile interests; we contend, in a manner, against the +whole Church; we set our faces against great armies flushed with +victory, and navies who have tasted of civil spoil, and have a strong +appetite for more; our strength, whatever it is, must depend, for a good +part of its effect, upon events not very probable. In such a situation, +such a step requires not only great magnanimity, but unwearied activity +and perseverance, with a good deal, too, of dexterity and management, to +improve every accident in our favor. + +The delivery of this paper may have very important consequences. It is +true that the court may pass it over in silence, with a real or affected +contempt. But this I do not think so likely. If they do take notice of +it, the mildest course will be such an address from Parliament as the +House of Commons made to the king on the London Remonstrance in the year +1769. This address will be followed by addresses of a similar tendency, +from all parts of the kingdom, in order to overpower you with what they +will endeavor to pass as the united voice and sense of the nation. But +if they intend to proceed further, and to take steps of a more decisive +nature, you are then to consider, not what they may legally and justly +do, but what a Parliament omnipotent in power, influenced with party +rage and personal resentment, operating under the implicit military +obedience of court discipline, is capable of. Though they have made some +successful experiments on juries, they will hardly trust enough to them +to order a prosecution for a supposed libel. They may proceed in two +ways: either by an _impeachment_, in which the Tories may retort on the +Whigs (but with better success, though in a worse cause) the +proceedings in the case of Sacheverell, or they may, without this form, +proceed, as against the Bishop of Rochester, by a bill of pains and +penalties more or less grievous. The similarity of the cases, or the +justice, is (as I said) out of the question. The mode of proceeding has +several very ancient and very recent precedents. None of these methods +is impossible. The court may select three or four of the most +distinguished among you for the victims; and therefore nothing is more +remote from the tendency of the proposed act than any idea of retirement +or repose. On the contrary, you have, all of you, as principals or +auxiliaries, a much better [hotter?] and more desperate conflict, in all +probability, to undergo, than any you have been yet engaged in. The only +question is, whether the risk ought to be run for the chance (and it is +no more) of recalling the people of England to their ancient principles, +and to that personal interest which formerly they took in all public +affairs. At any rate, I am sure it is right, if we take this step, to +take it with a full view of the consequences, and with minds and +measures in a state of preparation to meet them. It is not becoming that +your boldness should arise from a want of foresight. It is more +reputable, and certainly it is more safe too, that it should be grounded +on the evident necessity of encountering the dangers which you foresee. + +Your Lordship will have the goodness to excuse me, if I state in strong +terms the difficulties attending a measure which on the whole I heartily +concur in. But as, from my want of importance, I can be personally +little subject to the most trying part of the consequences, it is as +little my desire to urge others to dangers in which I am myself to have +no inconsiderable a share. + +If this measure should be thought too great for our strength or the +dispositions of the times, then the point will be to consider what is to +be done in Parliament. A weak, irregular, desultory, peevish opposition +there will be as much too little as the other may be too big. Our scheme +ought to be such as to have in it a succession of measures: else it is +impossible to secure anything like a regular attendance; opposition will +otherwise always carry a disreputable air; neither will it be possible, +without that attendance, to persuade the people that we are in earnest. +Above all, a motion should be well digested for the first day. There is +one thing in particular I wish to recommend to your Lordship's +consideration: that is, the opening of the doors of the House of +Commons. Without this, I am clearly convinced, it will be in the power +of ministry to make our opposition appear without doors just in what +light they please. To obtain a gallery is the easiest thing in the +world, if we are satisfied to cultivate the esteem of our adversaries by +the resolution and energy with which we act against them: but if their +satisfaction and good-humor be any part of our object, the attempt, I +admit, is idle. + +I had some conversation, before I left town, with the D. of M. He is of +opinion, that, if you adhere to your resolution of seceding, you ought +not to appear on the first day of the meeting. He thinks it can have no +effect, except to break the continuity of your conduct, and thereby to +weaken and fritter away the impression of it. It certainly will seem +odd to give solemn reasons for a discontinuance of your attendance in +Parliament, after having two or three times returned to it, and +immediately after a vigorous act of opposition. As to trials of the +temper of the House, there have been of that sort so many already that I +see no reason for making another that would not hold equally good for +another after that,--particularly as nothing has happened in the least +calculated to alter the disposition of the House. If the secession were +to be general, such an attendance, followed by such an act, would have +force; but being in its nature incomplete and broken, to break it +further by retreats and returns to the chase must entirely destroy its +effect. I confess I am quite of the D. of M.'s opinion in this point. + +I send your Lordship a corrected copy of the paper: your Lordship will +be so good to communicate it, if you should approve of the alterations, +to Lord J.C. and Sir G.S. I showed it to the D. of P. before his Grace +left town; and at his, the D. of P.'s, desire, I have sent it to the D. +of R. The principal alteration is in the pages last but one. It is made +to remove a difficulty which had been suggested to Sir G.S., and which +he thought had a good deal in it. I think it much the better for that +alteration. Indeed, it may want still more corrections, in order to +adapt it to the present or probable future state of things. + +What shall I say in excuse for this long letter, which frightens me when +I look back upon it? Your Lordship will take it, and all in it, with +your usual incomparable temper, which carries you through so much both +from enemies and friends. My most humble respects to Lady R., and +believe me, with the highest regard, ever, &o. + +E.B. + +I hear that Dr. Franklin has had a most extraordinary reception at Paris +from all ranks of people. + +BEACONSFIELD, Monday night, Jan. 6, 1777. + + + + +ADDRESS TO THE KING. + + +We, your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, several of the peers +of the realm, and several members of the House of Commons chosen by the +people to represent them in Parliament, do in our individual capacity, +but with hearts filled with a warm affection to your Majesty, with a +strong attachment to your royal house, and with the most unfeigned +devotion to your true interest, beg leave, at this crisis of your +affairs, in all humility to approach your royal presence. + +Whilst we lament the measures adopted by the public councils of the +kingdom, we do not mean to question the legal validity of their +proceedings. We do not desire to appeal from them to any person +whatsoever. We do not dispute the conclusive authority of the bodies in +which we have a place over all their members. We know that it is our +ordinary duty to submit ourselves to the determinations of the majority +in everything, except what regards the just defence of our honor and +reputation. But the situation into which the British empire has been +brought, and the conduct to which we are reluctantly driven in that +situation, we hold ourselves bound by the relation in which we stand +both to the crown and the people clearly to explain to your Majesty and +our country. + +We have been called upon in the speech from the throne at the opening of +this session of Parliament, in a manner peculiarly marked, singularly +emphatical, and from a place from whence anything implying censure falls +with no common weight, to concur in unanimous approbation of those +measures which have produced our present distresses and threaten us in +future with others far more grievous. We trust, therefore, that we shall +stand justified in offering to our sovereign and the public our reasons +for persevering inflexibly in our uniform dissent from every part of +those measures. We lament them from an experience of their mischief, as +we originally opposed them from a sure foresight of their unhappy and +inevitable tendency. + +We see nothing in the present events in the least degree sufficient to +warrant an alteration in our opinion. We were always steadily averse to +this civil war,--not because we thought it impossible that it should be +attended with victory, but because we were fully persuaded that in such +a contest victory would only vary the mode of our ruin, and by making it +less immediately sensible would render it the more lasting and the more +irretrievable. Experience had but too fully instructed us in the +possibility of the reduction of a free people to slavery by foreign +mercenary armies. But we had an horror of becoming the instruments in a +design, of which, in our turn, we might become the victims. Knowing the +inestimable value of peace, and the contemptible value of what was +sought by war, we wished to compose the distractions of our country, not +by the use of foreign arms, but by prudent regulations in our own +domestic policy. We deplored, as your Majesty has done in your speech +from the throne, the disorders which prevail in your empire; but we are +convinced that the disorders of the people, in the present time and in +the present place, are owing to the usual and natural cause of such +disorders at all times and in all places, where such have +prevailed,--the misconduct of government;--that they are owing to plans +laid in error, pursued with obstinacy, and conducted without wisdom. + +We cannot attribute so much to the power of faction, at the expense of +human nature, as to suppose, that, in any part of the world, a +combination of men, few in number, not considerable in rank, of no +natural hereditary dependencies, should be able, by the efforts of their +policy alone, or the mere exertion of any talents, to bring the people +of your American dominions into the disposition which has produced the +present troubles. We cannot conceive, that, without some powerful +concurring cause, any management should prevail on some millions of +people, dispersed over an whole continent, in thirteen provinces, not +only unconnected, but, in many particulars of religion, manners, +government, and local interest, totally different and adverse, +voluntarily to submit themselves to a suspension of all the profits of +industry and all the comforts of civil life, added to all the evils of +an unequal war, carried on with circumstances of the greatest asperity +and rigor. This, Sir, we conceive, could never have happened, but from a +general sense of some grievance so radical in its nature and so +spreading in its effects as to poison all the ordinary satisfactions of +life, to discompose the frame of society, and to convert into fear and +hatred that habitual reverence ever paid by mankind to an ancient and +venerable government. + +That grievance is as simple in its nature, and as level to the most +ordinary understanding, as it is powerful in affecting the most languid +passions: it is-- + +"AN ATTEMPT MADE TO DISPOSE OF THE PROPERTY OF A WHOLE PEOPLE WITHOUT +THEIR CONSENT." + +Your Majesty's English subjects in the colonies, possessing the ordinary +faculties of mankind, know that to live under such a plan of government +is not to live in a state of freedom. Your English subjects in the +colonies, still impressed with the ancient feelings of the people from +whom they are derived, cannot live under a government which does not +establish freedom as its basis. + +This scheme, being, therefore, set up in direct opposition to the rooted +and confirmed sentiments and habits of thinking of an whole people, has +produced the effects which ever must result from such a collision of +power and opinion. For we beg leave, with all duty and humility, to +represent to your Majesty, (what we fear has been industriously +concealed from you,) that it is not merely the opinion of a very great +number, or even of the majority, but the universal sense of the whole +body of the people in those provinces, that the practice of taxing, in +the mode and on the principles which have been lately contended for and +enforced, is subversive of all their rights. + +This sense has been declared, as we understand on good information, by +the unanimous voice of all their Assemblies: each Assembly also, on this +point, is perfectly unanimous within itself. It has been declared as +fully by the actual voice of the people without these Assemblies as by +the constructive voice within them, as well by those in that country who +addressed as by those who remonstrated; and it is as much the avowed +opinion of those who have hazarded their all, rather than take up arms +against your Majesty's forces, as of those who have run the same risk to +oppose them. The difference among them is not on the grievance, but on +the mode of redress; and we are sorry to say, that they who have +conceived hopes from the placability of the ministers who influence the +public councils of this kingdom disappear in the multitude of those who +conceive that passive compliance only confirms and emboldens oppression. + +The sense of a whole people, most gracious sovereign, never ought to be +contemned by wise and beneficent rulers,--whatever may be the abstract +claims, or even rights, of _the supreme power_. We have been too early +instructed, and too long habituated to believe, that the only firm seat +of all authority is in the minds, affections, and interests of the +people, to change our opinions on the theoretic reasonings of +speculative men, or for the convenience of a mere temporary arrangement +of state. It is not consistent with equity or wisdom to set at defiance +the general feelings of great communities, and of all the orders which +compose them. Much power is tolerated, and passes unquestioned, where +much is yielded to opinion. All is disputed, where everything is +enforced. + +Such are our sentiments on the duty and policy of conforming to the +prejudices of a whole people, even where the foundation of such +prejudices may be false or disputable. But permit us to lay at your +Majesty's feet our deliberate judgment on the real merits of that +principle, the violation of which is the known ground and origin of +these troubles. We assure your Majesty, that, on our parts, we should +think ourselves unjustifiable, as good citizens, and not influenced by +the true spirit of Englishmen, if, with any effectual means of +prevention in our hands, we were to submit to taxes to which we did not +consent, either directly, or by a representation of the people securing +to us the substantial benefit of an absolutely free disposition of our +own property in that important case. And we add, Sir, that, if fortune, +instead of blessing us with a situation where we may have daily access +to the propitious presence of a gracious prince, had fixed us in +settlements on the remotest part of the globe, we must carry these +sentiments with us, as part of our being,--persuaded that the distance +of situation would render this privilege in the disposal of property but +the more necessary. If no provision had been made for it, such provision +ought to be made or permitted. Abuses of subordinate authority increase, +and all means of redress lessen, as the distance of the subject removes +him from the seat of the supreme power. What, in those circumstances, +can save him from the last extremes of indignity and oppression, but +something left in his own hands which may enable him to conciliate the +favor and control the excesses of government? When no means of power to +awe or to oblige are possessed, the strongest ties which connect mankind +in every relation, social and civil, and which teach them mutually to +respect each other, are broken. Independency, from that moment, +virtually exists. Its formal declaration will quickly follow. Such must +be our feelings for ourselves: we are not in possession of another rule +for our brethren. + +When the late attempt practically to annihilate that inestimable +privilege was made, great disorders and tumults, very unhappily and very +naturally, arose from it. In this state of things, we were of opinion +that satisfaction ought instantly to be given, or that, at least, the +punishment of the disorder ought to be attended with the redress of the +grievance. We were of opinion, that, if our dependencies had so outgrown +the positive institutions made for the preservation of liberty in this +kingdom, that the operation of their powers was become rather a pressure +than a relief to the subjects in the colonies, wisdom dictated that the +spirit of the Constitution should rather be applied to their +circumstances, than its authority enforced with violence in those very +parts where its reason became wholly inapplicable. + +Other methods were then recommended and followed, as infallible means of +restoring peace and order. We looked upon them to be, what they have +since proved to be, the cause of inflaming discontent into disobedience, +and resistance into revolt. The subversion of solemn, fundamental +charters, on a suggestion of abuse, without citation, evidence, or +hearing,--the total suspension of the commerce of a great maritime city, +the capital of a great maritime province, during the pleasure of the +crown,--the establishment of a military force, not accountable to the +ordinary tribunals of the country in which it was kept up,--these and +other proceedings at that time, if no previous cause of dissension had +subsisted, were sufficient to produce great troubles: unjust at all +times, they were then irrational. + +We could not conceive, when disorders had arisen from the complaint of +one violated right, that to violate every other was the proper means of +quieting an exasperated people. It seemed to us absurd and preposterous +to hold out, as the means of calming a people in a state of extreme +inflammation, and ready to take up arms, the austere law which a rigid +conqueror would impose as the sequel of the most decisive victories. + +Recourse, indeed, was at the same time had to force; and we saw a force +sent out, enough to menace liberty, but not to awe opposition,--tending +to bring odium on the civil power, and contempt on the military,--at +once to provoke and encourage resistance. Force was sent out not +sufficient to hold one town; laws were passed to inflame thirteen +provinces. + +This mode of proceeding, by harsh laws and feeble armies, could not be +defended on the principle of mercy and forbearance. For mercy, as we +conceive, consists, not in the weakness of the means, but in the +benignity of the ends. We apprehend that mild measures may be powerfully +enforced, and that acts of extreme rigor and injustice may be attended +with as much feebleness in the execution as severity in the formation. + +In consequence of these terrors, which, falling upon some, threatened +all, the colonies made a common cause with the sufferers, and proceeded, +on their part, to acts of resistance. In that alarming situation, we +besought your Majesty's ministers to entertain some distrust of the +operation of coercive measures, and to profit of their experience. +Experience had no effect. The modes of legislative rigor were construed, +not to have been erroneous in their policy, but too limited in their +extent. New severities were adopted. The fisheries of your people in +America followed their charters; and their mutual combination to defend +what they thought their common rights brought on a total prohibition of +their mutual commercial intercourse. No distinction of persons or merits +was observed: the peaceable and the mutinous, friends and foes, were +alike involved, as if the rigor of the laws had a certain tendency to +recommend the authority of the legislator. + +Whilst the penal laws increased in rigor, and extended in application +over all the colonies, the direct force was applied but to one part. Had +the great fleet and foreign army since employed been at that time called +for, the greatness of the preparation would have declared the magnitude +of the danger. The nation would have been alarmed, and taught the +necessity of some means of reconciliation with our countrymen in +America, who, whenever they are provoked to resistance, demand a force +to reduce them to obedience full as destructive to us as to them. But +Parliament and the people, by a premeditated concealment of their real +situation, were drawn into perplexities which furnished excuses for +further armaments, and whilst they were taught to believe themselves +called to suppress a riot, they found themselves involved in a mighty +war. + +At length British blood was spilled by British hands: a fatal era, which +we must ever deplore, because your empire will forever feel it. Your +Majesty was touched with a sense of so great a disaster. Your paternal +breast was affected with the sufferings of your English subjects in +America. In your speech from the throne, in the beginning of the session +of 1775, you were graciously pleased to declare yourself inclined to +relieve their distresses and to pardon their errors. You felt their +sufferings under the late penal acts of Parliament. But your ministry +felt differently. Not discouraged by the pernicious effects of all they +had hitherto advised, and notwithstanding the gracious declaration of +your Majesty, they obtained another act of Parliament, in which the +rigors of all the former were consolidated, and embittered by +circumstances of additional severity and outrage. The whole trading +property of America (even unoffending shipping in port) was +indiscriminately and irrecoverably given, as the plunder of foreign +enemies, to the sailors of your navy. This property was put out of the +reach of your mercy. Your people were despoiled; and your navy, by a +new, dangerous, and prolific example, corrupted with the plunder of +their countrymen. Your people in that part of your dominions were put, +in their general and political, as well as their personal capacity, +wholly out of the protection of your government. + +Though unwilling to dwell on all the improper modes of carrying on this +unnatural and ruinous war, and which have led directly to the present +unhappy separation of Great Britain and its colonies, we must beg leave +to represent two particulars, which we are sure must have been entirely +contrary to your Majesty's order or approbation. Every course of action +in hostility, however that hostility may be just or merited, is not +justifiable or excusable. It is the duty of those who claim to rule over +others not to provoke them beyond the necessity of the case, nor to +leave stings in their minds which must long rankle even when the +appearance of tranquillity is restored. We therefore assure your Majesty +that it is with shame and sorrow we have seen several acts of hostility +which could have no other tendency than incurably to alienate the minds +of your American subjects. To excite, by a proclamation issued by your +Majesty's governor, an universal insurrection of negro slaves in any of +the colonies is a measure full of complicated horrors, absolutely +illegal, suitable neither to the practice of war nor to the laws of +peace. Of the same quality we look upon all attempts to bring down on +your subjects an irruption of those fierce and cruel tribes of savages +and cannibals in whom the vestiges of human nature are nearly effaced by +ignorance and barbarity. They are not fit allies for your Majesty in a +war with your people. They are not fit instruments of an English +government. These and many other acts we disclaim as having advised, or +approved when done; and we clear ourselves to your Majesty, and to all +civilized nations, from any participation whatever, before or after the +fact, in such unjustifiable and horrid proceedings. + +But there is one weighty circumstance which we lament equally with the +causes of the war, and with the modes of carrying it on,--that no +disposition whatsoever towards peace or reconciliation has ever been +shown by those who have directed the public councils of this kingdom, +either before the breaking out of these hostilities or during the +unhappy continuance of them. Every proposition made in your Parliament +to remove the original cause of these troubles, by taking off taxes +obnoxious for their principle or their design, has been +overruled,--every bill brought in for quiet rejected, even on the first +proposition. The petitions of the colonies have not been admitted even +to an hearing. The very possibility of public agency, by which such +petitions could authentically arrive at Parliament, has been evaded and +chicaned away. All the public declarations which indicate anything +resembling a disposition to reconciliation seem to us loose, general, +equivocal, capable of various meanings, or of none; and they are +accordingly construed differently, at different times, by those on whose +recommendation they have been made: being wholly unlike the precision +and stability of public faith, and bearing no mark of that ingenuous +simplicity and native candor and integrity which formerly characterized +the English nation. + +Instead of any relaxation of the claim of taxing at the discretion of +Parliament, your ministers have devised a new mode of enforcing that +claim, much more effectual for the oppression of the colonies, though +not for your Majesty's service, both as to the quantity and application, +than any of the former methods; and their mode has been expressly held +out by ministers as a plan not to be departed from by the House of +Commons, and as the very condition on which the legislature is to accept +the dependence of the colonies. + +At length, when, after repeated refusals to hear or to conciliate, an +act dissolving your government, by putting your people in America out of +your protection, was passed, your ministers suffered several months to +elapse without affording to them, or to any community or any individual +amongst them, the means of entering into that protection, even on +unconditional submission, contrary to your Majesty's gracious +declaration from the throne, and in direct violation of the public +faith. + +We cannot, therefore, agree to unite in new severities against the +brethren of our blood for their asserting an independency, to which we +know, in our conscience, they have been necessitated by the conduct of +those very persons who now make use of that argument to provoke us to a +continuance and repetition of the acts which in a regular series have +led to this great misfortune. + +The reasons, dread Sir, which have been used to justify this +perseverance in a refusal to hear or conciliate have been reduced into a +sort of Parliamentary maxims which we do not approve. The first of these +maxims is, "that the two Houses ought not to receive (as they have +hitherto refused to receive) petitions containing matter derogatory to +any part of the authority they claim." We conceive this maxim and the +consequent practice to be unjustifiable by reason or the practice of +other sovereign powers, and that it must be productive, if adhered to, +of a total separation between this kingdom and its dependencies. The +supreme power, being in ordinary cases the ultimate judge, can, as we +conceive, suffer nothing in having any part of his rights excepted to, +or even discussed before himself. We know that sovereigns in other +countries, where the assertion of absolute regal power is as high as the +assertion of absolute power in any politic body can possibly be here, +have received many petitions in direct opposition to many of their +claims of prerogative,--have listened to them,--condescended to discuss, +and to give answers to them. This refusal to admit even the discussion +of any part of an undefined prerogative will naturally tend to +annihilate any privilege that can be claimed by every inferior dependent +community, and every subordinate order in the state. + +The next maxim which has been put as a bar to any plan of accommodation +is, "that no offer of terms of peace ought to be made, before Parliament +is assured that these terms will be accepted." On this we beg leave to +represent to your Majesty, that, if, in all events, the policy of this +kingdom is to govern the people in your colonies as a free people, no +mischief can possibly happen from a declaration to them, and to the +world, of the manner and form in which Parliament proposes that they +shall enjoy the freedom it protects. It is an encouragement to the +innocent and meritorious, that they at least shall enjoy those +advantages which they patiently expected rather from the benignity of +Parliament than their own efforts. Persons more contumacious may also +see that they are resisting terms of perhaps greater freedom and +happiness than they are now in arms to obtain. The glory and propriety +of offered mercy is neither tarnished nor weakened by the folly of those +who refuse to take advantage of it. + +We cannot think that the declaration of independency makes any natural +difference in the reason and policy of the offer. No prince out of the +possession of his dominions, and become a sovereign _de jure_ only, ever +thought it derogatory to his rights or his interests to hold out to his +former subjects a distinct prospect of the advantages to be derived from +his readmission, and a security for some of the most fundamental of +those popular privileges in vindication of which he had been deposed. On +the contrary, such offers have been almost uniformly made under similar +circumstances. Besides, as your Majesty has been graciously pleased, in +your speech from the throne, to declare your intention of restoring +your people in the colonies to a state of law and liberty, no objection +can possibly lie against defining what that law and liberty are; because +those who offer and those who are to receive terms frequently differ +most widely and most materially in the signification of these words, and +in the objects to which they apply. + +To say that we do not know, at this day, what the grievances of the +colonies are (be they real or pretended) would be unworthy of us. But +whilst we are thus waiting to be informed of what we perfectly know, we +weaken the powers of the commissioners,--we delay, perhaps we lose, the +happy hour of peace,--we are wasting the substance of both +countries,--we are continuing the effusion of human, of Christian, of +English blood. + +We are sure that we must have your Majesty's heart along with us, when +we declare in favor of mixing something conciliatory with our force. +Sir, we abhor the idea of making a conquest of our countrymen. We wish +that they may yield to well-ascertained, well-authenticated, and +well-secured terms of reconciliation,--not that your Majesty should owe +the recovery of your dominions to their total waste and destruction. +Humanity will not permit us to entertain such a desire; nor will the +reverence we bear to the civil rights of mankind make us even wish that +questions of great difficulty, of the last importance, and lying deep in +the vital principles of the British Constitution, should be solved by +the arms of foreign mercenary soldiers. + +It is not, Sir, from a want of the most inviolable duty to your Majesty, +not from a want of a partial and passionate regard to that part of your +empire in which we reside, and which we wish to be supreme, that we +have hitherto withstood all attempts to render the supremacy of one part +of your dominions inconsistent with the liberty and safety of all the +rest. The motives of our opposition are found in those very sentiments +which we are supposed to violate. For we are convinced beyond a doubt, +that a system of dependence which leaves no security to the people for +any part of their freedom in their own hands cannot be established in +any inferior member of the British empire, without consequentially +destroying the freedom of that very body in favor of whose boundless +pretensions such a scheme is adopted. We know and feel that arbitrary +power over distant regions is not within the competence, nor to be +exercised agreeably to the forms or consistently with the spirit, of +great popular assemblies. If such assemblies are called to a nominal +share in the exercise of such power, in order to screen, under general +participation, the guilt of desperate measures, it tends only the more +deeply to corrupt the deliberative character of those assemblies, in +training them to blind obedience, in habituating them to proceed upon +grounds of fact with which they can rarely be sufficiently acquainted, +and in rendering them executive instruments of designs the bottom of +which they cannot possibly fathom. + +To leave any real freedom to Parliament, freedom must be left to the +colonies. A military government is the only substitute for civil +liberty. That the establishment of such a power in America will utterly +ruin our finances (though its certain effect) is the smallest part of +our concern. It will become an apt, powerful, and certain engine for the +destruction of our freedom here. Great bodies of armed men, trained to +a contempt of popular assemblies representative of an English +people,--kept up for the purpose of exacting impositions without their +consent, and maintained by that exaction,--instruments in subverting, +without any process of law, great ancient establishments and respected +forms of governments,--set free from, and therefore above, the ordinary +English tribunals of the country where they serve,--these men cannot so +transform themselves, merely by crossing the sea, as to behold with love +and reverence, and submit with profound obedience to, the very same +things in Great Britain which in America they had been taught to +despise, and had been accustomed to awe and humble. All your Majesty's +troops, in the rotation of service, will pass through this discipline +and contract these habits. If we could flatter ourselves that this would +not happen, we must be the weakest of men; we must be the worst, if we +were indifferent whether it happened or not. What, gracious sovereign, +is the empire of America to us, or the empire of the world, if we lose +our own liberties? We deprecate this last of evils. We deprecate the +effect of the doctrines which must support and countenance the +government over conquered Englishmen. + +As it will be impossible long to resist the powerful and equitable +arguments in favor of the freedom of these unhappy people that are to be +drawn from the principle of our own liberty, attempts will be made, +attempts have been made, to ridicule and to argue away this principle, +and to inculcate into the minds of your people other maxims of +government and other grounds of obedience than those which have +prevailed at and since the glorious Revolution. By degrees, these +doctrines, by being convenient, may grow prevalent. The consequence is +not certain; but a general change of principles rarely happens among a +people without leading to a change of government. + +Sir, your throne cannot stand secure upon the principles of +unconditional submission and passive obedience,--on powers exercised +without the concurrence of the people to be governed,--on acts made in +defiance of their prejudices and habits,--on acquiescence procured by +foreign mercenary troops, and secured by standing armies. These may +possibly be the foundation of other thrones: they must be the subversion +of yours. It was not to passive principles in our ancestors that we owe +the honor of appearing before a sovereign who cannot feel that he is a +prince without knowing that we ought to be free. The Revolution is a +departure from the ancient course of the descent of this monarchy. The +people at that time reentered into their original rights; and it was not +because a positive law authorized what was then done, but because the +freedom and safety of the subject, the origin and cause of all laws, +required a proceeding paramount and superior to them. At that ever +memorable and instructive period, the letter of the law was superseded +in favor of the substance of liberty. To the free choice, therefore, of +the people, without either King or Parliament, we owe that happy +establishment out of which both King and Parliament were regenerated. +From that great principle of liberty have originated the statutes +confirming and ratifying the establishment from which your Majesty +derives your right to rule over us. Those statutes have not given us +our liberties: our liberties have produced them. Every hour of your +Majesty's reign, your title stands upon the very same foundation on +which it was at first laid; and we do not know a better on which it can +possibly be placed. + +Convinced, Sir, that you cannot have different rights and a different +security in different parts of your dominions, we wish to lay an even +platform for your throne, and to give it an unmovable stability, by +laying it on the general freedom of your people, and by securing to your +Majesty that confidence and affection in all parts of your dominions +which makes your best security and dearest title in this the chief seat +of your empire. + +Such, Sir, being, amongst us, the foundation of monarchy itself, much +more clearly and much more peculiarly is it the ground of all +Parliamentary power. Parliament is a security provided for the +protection of freedom, and not a subtile fiction, contrived to amuse the +people in its place. The authority of both Houses can still less than +that of the crown be supported upon different principles in different +places, so as to be for one part of your subjects a protector of +liberty, and for another a fund of despotism, through which prerogative +is extended by occasional powers, whenever an arbitrary will finds +itself straitened by the restrictions of law. Had it seemed good to +Parliament to consider itself as the indulgent guardian and strong +protector of the freedom of the subordinate popular assemblies, instead +of exercising its powers to their annihilation, there is no doubt that +it never could have been their inclination, because not their interest, +to raise questions on the extent of Parliamentary rights, or to +enfeeble privileges which were the security of their own. Powers evident +from necessity, and not suspicious from an alarming mode or purpose in +the exertion, would, as formerly they were, be cheerfully submitted to; +and these would have been fully sufficient for conservation of unity in +the empire, and for directing its wealth to one common centre. Another +use has produced other consequences; and a power which refuses to be +limited by moderation must either be lost, or find other more distinct +and satisfactory limitations. + +As for us, a supposed, or, if it could be, a real, participation in +arbitrary power would never reconcile our minds to its establishment. We +should be ashamed to stand before your Majesty, boldly asserting in our +own favor inherent rights which bind and regulate the crown itself, and +yet insisting on the exercise, in our own persons, of a more arbitrary +sway over our fellow-citizens and fellow-freemen. + +These, gracious sovereign, are the sentiments which we consider +ourselves as bound, in justification of our present conduct, in the most +serious and solemn manner to lay at your Majesty's feet. We have been +called by your Majesty's writs and proclamations, and we have been +authorized, either by hereditary privilege or the choice of your people, +to confer and treat with your Majesty, in your highest councils, upon +the arduous affairs of your kingdom. We are sensible of the whole +importance of the duty which this constitutional summons implies. We +know the religious punctuality of attendance which, in the ordinary +course, it demands. It is no light cause which, even for a time, could +persuade us to relax in any part of that attendance. The British empire +is in convulsions which threaten its dissolution. Those particular +proceedings which cause and inflame this disorder, after many years' +incessant struggle, we find ourselves wholly unable to oppose and +unwilling to behold. All our endeavors having proved fruitless, we are +fearful at this time of irritating by contention those passions which we +have found it impracticable to compose by reason. We cannot permit +ourselves to countenance, by the appearance of a silent assent, +proceedings fatal to the liberty and unity of the empire,--proceedings +which exhaust the strength of all your Majesty's dominions, destroy all +trust and dependence of our allies, and leave us, both at home and +abroad, exposed to the suspicious mercy and uncertain inclinations of +our neighbor and rival powers, to whom, by this desperate course, we are +driving our countrymen for protection, and with whom we have forced them +into connections, and may bind them by habits and by interests,--an evil +which no victories that may be obtained, no severities which may be +exorcised, ever will or can remove. + +If but the smallest hope should from any circumstances appear of a +return to the ancient maxims and true policy of this kingdom, we shall +with joy and readiness return to our attendance, in order to give our +hearty support to whatever means may be left for alleviating the +complicated evils which oppress this nation. + +If this should not happen, we have discharged our consciences by this +faithful representation to your Majesty and our country; and however few +in number, or however we may be overborne by practices whose operation +is but too powerful, by the revival of dangerous exploded principles, +or by the misguided zeal of such arbitrary factions as formerly +prevailed in this kingdom, and always to its detriment and disgrace, we +have the satisfaction of standing forth and recording our names in +assertion of those principles whose operation hath, in better times, +made your Majesty a great prince, and the British dominions a mighty +empire. + + + + +ADDRESS + +TO THE + +BRITISH COLONISTS IN NORTH AMERICA. + + +The very dangerous crisis into which the British empire is brought, as +it accounts for, so it justifies, the unusual step we take in addressing +ourselves to you. + +The distempers of the state are grown to such a degree of violence and +malignity as to render all ordinary remedies vain and frivolous. In such +a deplorable situation, an adherence to the common forms of business +appears to us rather as an apology to cover a supine neglect of duty +than the means of performing it in a manner adequate to the exigency +that presses upon us. The common means we have already tried, and tried +to no purpose. As our last resource, we turn ourselves to you. We +address you merely in our private capacity, vested with no other +authority than what will naturally attend those in whose declarations of +benevolence you have no reason to apprehend any mixture of dissimulation +or design. + +We have this title to your attention: we call upon it in a moment of the +utmost importance to us all. We find, with infinite concern, that +arguments are used to persuade you of the necessity of separating +yourselves from your ancient connection with your parent country, +grounded on a supposition that a general principle of alienation and +enmity to you had pervaded the whole of this kingdom, and that there +does no longer subsist between you and us any common and kindred +principles upon which we can possibly unite, consistently with those +ideas of liberty in which you have justly placed your whole happiness. + +If this fact were true, the inference drawn from it would be +irresistible. But nothing is less founded. We admit, indeed, that +violent addresses have been procured with uncommon pains by wicked and +designing men, purporting to be the genuine voice of the whole people of +England,--that they have been published by authority here, and made +known to you by proclamations, in order, by despair and resentment, +incurably to poison your minds against the origin of your race, and to +render all cordial reconciliation between us utterly impracticable. The +same wicked men, for the same bad purposes, have so far surprised the +justice of Parliament as to cut off all communication betwixt us, except +what is to go in their own fallacious and hostile channel. + +But we conjure you by the invaluable pledges which have hitherto united, +and which we trust will hereafter lastingly unite us, that you do not +suffer yourselves to be persuaded or provoked into an opinion that you +are at war with this nation. Do not think that the whole, or even the +uninfluenced majority, of Englishmen in this island are enemies to their +own blood on the American continent. Much delusion has been practised, +much corrupt influence treacherously employed. But still a large, and we +trust the largest and soundest, part of this kingdom perseveres in the +most perfect unity of sentiments, principles, and affections with you. +It spreads out a large and liberal platform of common liberty, upon +which we may all unite forever. It abhors the hostilities which have +been carried on against you, as much as you who feel the cruel effect of +them. It has disclaimed in the most solemn manner, at the foot of the +throne itself, the addresses which tended to irritate your sovereign +against his colonies. We are persuaded that even many of those who +unadvisedly have put their hands to such intemperate and inflammatory +addresses have not at all apprehended to what such proceedings naturally +lead, and would sooner die than afford them the least countenance, if +they were sensible of their fatal effects on the union and liberty of +the empire. + +For ourselves, we faithfully assure you, that we have ever considered +you as rational creatures, as free agents, as men willing to pursue and +able to discern your own true interest. We have wished to continue +united with you, in order that a people of one origin and one character +should be directed to the rational objects of government by joint +counsels, and protected in them by a common force. Other subordination +in you we require none. We have never pressed that argument of general +union to the extinction of your local, natural, and just privileges. +Sensible of what is due both to the dignity and weakness of man, we have +never wished to place over you any government, over which, in great, +fundamental points, you should have no sort of check or control in your +own hands, or which should be repugnant to your situation, principles, +and character. + +No circumstances of fortune, you may be assured, will ever induce us to +form or tolerate any such design. If the disposition of Providence +(which we deprecate) should even prostrate you at our feet, broken in +power and in spirit, it would be our duty and inclination to revive, by +every practicable means, that free energy of mind which a fortune +unsuitable to your virtue had damped and dejected, and to put you +voluntarily in possession of those very privileges which you had in vain +attempted to assert by arms. For we solemnly declare, that, although we +should look upon a separation from you as an heavy calamity, (and the +heavier, because we know you must have your full share in it,) yet we +had much rather see you totally independent of this crown and kingdom +than joined to it by so unnatural a conjunction as that of freedom with +servitude,--a conjunction which, if it were at all practicable, could +not fail, in the end, of being more mischievous to the peace, +prosperity, greatness, and power of this nation than beneficial by any +enlargement of the bounds of nominal empire. + +But because, brethren, these professions are general, and such as even +enemies may make, when they reserve to themselves the construction of +what servitude and what liberty are, we inform you that we adopt your +own standard of the blessing of free government. We are of opinion that +you ought to enjoy the sole and exclusive right of freely granting, and +applying to the support of your administration, what God has freely +granted as a reward to your industry. And we do not confine this +immunity from exterior coercion, in this great point, solely to what +regards your local establishment, but also to what may be thought proper +for the maintenance of the whole empire. In this resource we cheerfully +trust and acquiesce, satisfied by evident reason that no other +expectation of revenue can possibly be given by freemen, and knowing +from an experience uniform both on yours and on our side of the ocean +that such an expectation has never yet been disappointed. We know of no +road to your coffers but through your affections. + +To manifest our sentiments the more clearly to you and to the world on +this subject, we declare our opinion, that, if no revenue at all (which, +however, we are far from supposing) were to be obtained from you to this +kingdom, yet, as long as it is our happiness to be joined with you in +the bonds of fraternal charity and freedom, with an open and flowing +commerce between us, one principle of enmity and friendship pervading, +and one right of war and peace directing the strength of the whole +empire, we are likely to be at least as powerful as any nation, or as +any combination of nations, which in the course of human events may be +formed against us. We are sensible that a very large proportion of the +wealth and power of every empire must necessarily be thrown upon the +presiding state. We are sensible that such a state ever has borne and +ever must bear the greatest part, and sometimes the whole, of the public +expenses: and we think her well indemnified for that (rather apparent +than real) inequality of charge, in the dignity and preeminence she +enjoys, and in the superior opulence which, after all charges defrayed, +must necessarily remain at the centre of affairs. Of this principle we +are not without evidence in our remembrance (not yet effaced) of the +glorious and happy days of this empire. We are therefore incapable of +that prevaricating style, by which, when taxes without your consent are +to be extorted from you, this nation is represented as in the lowest +state of impoverishment and public distress, but when we are called upon +to oppress you by force of arms, it is painted as scarcely feeling its +impositions, abounding with wealth, and inexhaustible in its resources. + +We also reason and feel as you do on the invasion of your charters. +Because the charters comprehend the essential forms by which you enjoy +your liberties, we regard them as most sacred, and by no means to be +taken away or altered without process, without examination, and without +hearing, as they have lately been. We even think that they ought by no +means to be altered at all, but at the desire of the greater part of the +people who live under them. We cannot look upon men as delinquents in +the mass; much less are we desirous of lording over our brethren, +insulting their honest pride, and wantonly overturning establishments +judged to be just and convenient by the public wisdom of this nation at +their institution, and which long and inveterate use has taught you to +look up to with affection and reverence. As we disapproved of the +proceedings with regard to the forms of your constitution, so we are +equally tender of every leading principle of free government. We never +could think with approbation of putting the military power out of the +coercion of the civil justice in the country where it acts. + +We disclaim also any sort of share in that other measure which has been +used to alienate your affections from this country,--namely, the +introduction of foreign mercenaries. We saw their employment with shame +and regret, especially in numbers so far exceeding the English forces as +in effect to constitute vassals, who have no sense of freedom, and +strangers, who have no common interest or feelings, as the arbiters of +our unhappy domestic quarrel. + +We likewise saw with shame the African slaves, who had been sold to you +on public faith, and under the sanction of acts of Parliament, to be +your servants and your guards, employed to cut the throats of their +masters. + +You will not, we trust, believe, that, born in a civilized country, +formed to gentle manners, trained in a merciful religion, and living in +enlightened and polished times, where even foreign hostility is softened +from its original sternness, we could have thought of letting loose upon +you, our late beloved brethren, these fierce tribes of savages and +cannibals, in whom the traces of human nature are effaced by ignorance +and barbarity. We rather wished to have joined with you in bringing +gradually that unhappy part of mankind into civility, order, piety, and +virtuous discipline, than to have confirmed their evil habits and +increased their natural ferocity by fleshing them in the slaughter of +you, whom our wiser and better ancestors had sent into the wilderness +with the express view of introducing, along with our holy religion, its +humane and charitable manners. We do not hold that all things are lawful +in war. We should think that every barbarity, in fire, in wasting, in +murders, in tortures, and other cruelties, too horrible and too full of +turpitude for Christian mouths to utter or ears to hear, if done at our +instigation, by those who we know will make war thus, if they make it at +all, to be, to all intents and purposes, as if done by ourselves. We +clear ourselves to you our brethren, to the present age, and to future +generations, to our king and our country, and to Europe, which, as a +spectator, beholds this tragic scene, of every part or share in adding +this last and worst of evils to the inevitable mischiefs of a civil war. + +We do not call you rebels and traitors. We do not call for the vengeance +of the crown against you. We do not know how to qualify millions of our +countrymen, contending with one heart for an admission to privileges +which we have ever thought our own happiness and honor, by odious and +unworthy names. On the contrary, we highly revere the principles on +which you act, though we lament some of their effects. Armed as you are, +we embrace you as our friends and as our brethren by the best and +dearest ties of relation. + +We view the establishment of the English colonies on principles of +liberty as that which is to render this kingdom venerable to future +ages. In comparison of this, we regard all the victories and conquests +of our warlike ancestors, or of our own times, as barbarous, vulgar +distinctions, in which many nations, whom we look upon with little +respect or value, have equalled, if not far exceeded us. This is the +peculiar and appropriated glory of England. Those who _have and who +hold_ to that foundation of common liberty, whether on this or on your +side of the ocean, we consider as the true, and the only true, +Englishmen. Those who depart from it, whether there or here, are +attainted, corrupted in blood, and wholly fallen from their original +rank and value. They are the real rebels to the fair constitution and +just supremacy of England. + +We exhort you, therefore, to cleave forever to those principles, as +being the true bond of union in this empire,--and to show by a manly +perseverance that the sentiments of honor and the rights of mankind are +not held by the uncertain events of war, as you have hitherto shown a +glorious and affecting example to the world that they are not dependent +on the ordinary conveniences and satisfactions of life. + +Knowing no other arguments to be used to men of liberal minds, it is +upon these very principles, and these alone, we hope and trust that no +flattering and no alarming circumstances shall permit you to listen to +the seductions of those who would alienate you from your dependence on +the crown and Parliament of this kingdom. That very liberty which you so +justly prize above all things originated here; and it may be very +doubtful, whether, without being constantly fed from the original +fountain, it can be at all perpetuated or preserved in its native purity +and perfection. Untried forms of government may, to unstable minds, +recommend themselves even by their novelty. But you will do well to +remember that England has been great and happy under the present limited +monarchy (subsisting in more or less vigor and purity) for several +hundred years. None but England can communicate to you the benefits of +such a constitution. We apprehend you are not now, nor for ages are +likely to be, capable of that form of constitution in an independent +state. Besides, let us suggest to you our apprehensions that your +present union (in which we rejoice, and which we wish long to subsist) +cannot always subsist without the authority and weight of this great and +long respected body, to equipoise, and to preserve you amongst +yourselves in a just and fair equality. It may not even be impossible +that a long course of war with the administration of this country may be +but a prelude to a series of wars and contentions among yourselves, to +end at length (as such scenes have too often ended) in a species of +humiliating repose, which nothing but the preceding calamities would +reconcile to the dispirited few who survived them. We allow that even +this evil is worth the risk to men of honor, when rational liberty is at +stake, as in the present case we confess and lament that it is. But if +ever a real security by Parliament is given against the terror or the +abuse of unlimited power, and after such security given you should +persevere in resistance, we leave you to consider whether the risk is +not incurred without an object, or incurred for an object infinitely +diminished by such concessions in its importance and value. + +As to other points of discussion, when these grand fundamentals of your +grants and charters are once settled and ratified by clear Parliamentary +authority, as the ground for peace and forgiveness on our side, and for +a manly and liberal obedience on yours, treaty and a spirit of +reconciliation will easily and securely adjust whatever may remain. Of +this we give you our word, that, so far as we are at present concerned, +and if by any event we should become more concerned hereafter, you may +rest assured, upon the pledges of honor not forfeited, faith not +violated, and uniformity of character and profession not yet broken, we +at least, on these grounds, will never fail you. + +Respecting your wisdom, and valuing your safety, we do not call upon you +to trust your existence to your enemies. We do not advise you to an +unconditional submission. With satisfaction we assure you that almost +all in both Houses (however unhappily they have been deluded, so as not +to give any immediate effect to their opinion) disclaim that idea. You +can have no friends in whom you cannot rationally confide. But +Parliament is your friend from the moment in which, removing its +confidence from those who have constantly deceived its good intentions, +it adopts the sentiments of those who have made sacrifices, (inferior, +indeed, to yours,) but have, however, sacrificed enough to demonstrate +the sincerity of their regard and value for your liberty and prosperity. + +Arguments may be used to weaken your confidence in that public security; +because, from some unpleasant appearances, there is a suspicion that +Parliament itself is somewhat fallen from its independent spirit. How +far this supposition may be founded in fact we are unwilling to +determine. But we are well assured from experience, that, even if all +were true that is contended for, and in the extent, too, in which it is +argued, yet, as long as the solid and well-disposed forms of this +Constitution remain, there ever is within Parliament itself a power of +renovating its principles, and effecting a self-reformation, which no +other plan of government has ever contained. This Constitution has +therefore admitted innumerable improvements, either for the correction +of the original scheme, or for removing corruptions, or for bringing its +principles better to suit those changes which have successively happened +in the circumstances of the nation or in the manners of the people. + +We feel that the growth of the colonies is such a change of +circumstances, and that our present dispute is an exigency as pressing +as any which ever demanded a revision of our government. Public troubles +have often called upon this country to look into its Constitution. It +has ever been bettered by such a revision. If our happy and luxuriant +increase of dominion, and our diffused population, have outgrown the +limits of a Constitution made for a contracted object, we ought to bless +God, who has furnished us with this noble occasion for displaying our +skill and beneficence in enlarging the scale of rational happiness, and +of making the politic generosity of this kingdom as extensive as its +fortune. If we set about this great work, on both sides, with the same +conciliatory turn of mind, we may now, as in former times, owe even to +our mutual mistakes, contentions, and animosities, the lasting concord, +freedom, happiness, and glory of this empire. + +Gentlemen, the distance between us, with other obstructions, has caused +much misrepresentation of our mutual sentiments. We, therefore, to +obviate them as well as we are able, take this method of assuring you of +our thorough detestation of the whole war, and particularly the +mercenary and savage war carried on or attempted against you,--our +thorough abhorrence of all addresses adverse to you, whether public or +private,--our assurances of an invariable affection towards you,--our +constant regard to your privileges and liberties,--and our opinion of +the solid security you ought to enjoy for them, under the paternal care +and nurture of a protecting Parliament. + +Though many of us have earnestly wished that the authority of that +august and venerable body, so necessary in many respects to the union of +the whole, should be rather limited by its own equity and discretion, +than by any bounds described by positive laws and public compacts,--and +though we felt the extreme difficulty, by any theoretical limitations, +of qualifying that authority, so as to preserve one part and deny +another,--and though you (as we gratefully acknowledge) had acquiesced +most cheerfully under that prudent reserve of the Constitution, at that +happy moment when neither you nor we apprehended a further return of the +exercise of invidious powers, we are now as fully persuaded as you can +be, by the malice, inconstancy, and perverse inquietude of many men, and +by the incessant endeavors of an arbitrary faction, now too powerful, +that our common necessities do require a full explanation and ratified +security for your liberties and our quiet. + +Although his Majesty's condescension, in committing the direction of his +affairs into the hands of the known friends of his family and of the +liberties of all his people, would, we admit, be a great means of giving +repose to your minds, as it must give infinite facility to +reconciliation, yet we assure you that we think, with such a security as +we recommend, adopted from necessity and not choice, even by the unhappy +authors and instruments of the public misfortunes, that the terms of +reconciliation, if once accepted by Parliament, would not be broken. We +also pledge ourselves to you, that we should give, even to those +unhappy persons, an hearty support in effectuating the peace of the +empire, and every opposition in an attempt to cast it again into +disorder. + +When that happy hour shall arrive, let us in all affection, recommend to +you the wisdom of continuing, as in former times, or even in a more +ample measure, the support of your government, and even to give to your +administration some degree of reciprocal interest in your freedom. We +earnestly wish you not to furnish your enemies, here or elsewhere, with +any sort of pretexts for reviving quarrels by too reserved and severe or +penurious an exercise of those sacred rights which no pretended abuse in +the exercise ought to impair, nor, by overstraining the principles of +freedom, to make them less compatible with those haughty sentiments in +others which the very same principles may be apt to breed in minds not +tempered with the utmost equity and justice. + +The well-wishers of the liberty and union of this empire salute you, and +recommend you most heartily to the Divine protection. + + + + +A + +LETTER + +TO + +THE RIGHT HON. EDMUND S. PERY + +SPEAKER OF THE IRISH HOUSE OF COMMONS, + +IN RELATION TO + +A BILL FOR THE RELIEF OF THE ROMAN CATHOLICS OF IRELAND. + +JULY 18, 1778. + + +NOTE. + + This Letter is addressed to Mr. Pery, (afterwards Lord Pery,) + then Speaker of the House of Commons of Ireland. It appears, + there had been much correspondence between that gentleman and + Mr. Burke, on the subject of Heads of a bill (which had + passed the Irish House of Commons in the summer of the year + 1778, and had been transmitted by the Irish Privy Council of + [to?] England) for the relief of his Majesty's Roman Catholic + subjects in Ireland. The bill contained a clause for + exempting the Protestant Dissenters of Ireland from the + sacramental test, which created a strong objection to the + whole measure on the part of the English government. Mr. + Burke employed his most strenuous efforts to remove the + prejudice which the king's ministers entertained against the + clause, but the bill was ultimately returned without it, and + in that shape passed the Irish Parliament. (17th and 18th + Geo. III cap. 49.) In the subsequent session, however, a + separate act was passed for the relief of the Protestant + Dissenters of Ireland. + + +LETTER. + +My Dear Sir,--I received in due course your two very interesting and +judicious letters, which gave me many new lights, and excited me to +fresh activity in the important subject they related to. However, from +that time I have not been perfectly free from doubt and uneasiness. I +used a liberty with those letters, which, perhaps, nothing can +thoroughly justify, and which certainly nothing but the delicacy of the +crisis, the clearness of my intentions, and your great good-nature can +at all excuse. I might conceal this from you; but I think it better to +lay the whole matter before you, and submit myself to your +mercy,--assuring you, at the same time, that, if you are so kind as to +continue your confidence on this, or to renew it upon any other +occasion, I shall never be tempted again to make so bold and +unauthorized an use of the trust you place in me. I will state to you +the history of the business since my last, and then you will see how far +I am excusable by the circumstances. + +On the 3rd of July I received a letter from the Attorney-General, dated +the day before, in which, in a very open and obliging manner, he desires +my thoughts of the Irish Toleration Bill, and particularly of the +Dissenters' clause. I gave them to him, by the return of the post, at +large; but, as the time pressed, I kept no copy of the letter. The +general drift was strongly to recommend the _whole_, and principally to +obviate the objections to the part that related to the Dissenters, with +regard both to the general propriety and to the temporary policy at this +juncture. I took, likewise, a good deal of pains to state the difference +which had always subsisted with regard to the treatment of the +Protestant Dissenters in Ireland and in England, and what I conceived +the reason of that difference to be. About the same time I was called to +town for a day; and I took an opportunity, in Westminster Hall, of +urging the same points, with all the force I was master of, to the +Solicitor-General. I attempted to see the Chancellor for the same +purpose, but was not fortunate enough to meet him at home. Soon after my +return hither, on Tuesday, I received a very polite and I may say +friendly letter from him, wishing me (on supposition that I had +continued in town) to dine with him as [on?] that day, in order to talk +over the business of the Toleration Act, then before him. Unluckily I +had company with me, and was not able to leave them until Thursday, when +I went to town and called at his house, but missed him. However, in +answer to his letter, I had before, and instantly on the receipt of it, +written to him at large, and urged such topics, both with regard to the +Catholics and Dissenters, as I imagined were the most likely to be +prevalent with him. This letter I followed to town on Thursday. On my +arrival I was much alarmed with a report that the ministry had thoughts +of rejecting the whole bill. Mr. M'Namara seemed apprehensive that it +was a determined measure; and there seemed to be but too much reason for +his fears. + +Not having met the Chancellor at home, either on my first visit or my +second after receiving his letter, and fearful that the Cabinet should +come to come unpleasant resolution, I went to the Treasury on Friday. +There I saw Sir G. Cooper. I possessed him of the danger of a partial, +and the inevitable mischief of the total rejection of the bill. I +reminded him of the understood compact between parties, upon which the +whole scheme of the toleration originating in the English bill was +formed,--of the fair part which the Whigs had acted in a business which, +though first started by them, was supposed equally acceptable to all +sides, and the risk of which they took upon themselves, when others +declined it. To this I added such matter as I thought most fit to engage +government, as government,--not to sport with a singular opportunity +which offered for the union of every description of men amongst us in +support of the common interest of the whole; and I ended by desiring to +see Lord North upon the subject. Sir Grey Cooper showed a very right +sense of the matter, and in a few minutes after our conversation I went +down from the Treasury chambers to Lord North's house. I had a great +deal of discourse with him. He told me that his ideas of toleration were +large, but that, large as they were, they did not comprehend a +promiscuous establishment, even in matters merely civil; that he thought +the established religion ought to be the religion of the state; that, in +this idea, he was not for the repeal of the sacramental test; that, +indeed, he knew the Dissenters in general did not greatly scruple it; +but that very want of scruple showed less zeal against the +Establishment; and, after all, there could no provision be made by human +laws against those who made light of the tests which were formed to +discriminate opinions. On all this he spoke with a good deal of temper. +He did not, indeed, seem to think the test itself, which was rightly +considered by Dissenters as in a manner dispensed with by an annual act +of Parliament, and which in Ireland was of a late origin, and of much +less extent than here, a matter of much moment. The thing which seemed +to affect him most was the offence that would be taken at the repeal by +the leaders among the Church clergy here, on one hand, and, on the +other, the steps which would be taken for its repeal in England in the +next session, in consequence of the repeal in Ireland. I assured him, +with great truth, that we had no idea among the Whigs of moving the +repeal of the test. I confessed very freely, for my own part, that, if +it were brought in, I should certainly vote for it; but that I should +neither use, nor did I think applicable, any arguments drawn from the +analogy of what was done in other parts of the British dominions. We did +not argue from analogy, even in this island and United Kingdom. +Presbytery was established in Scotland. It became no reason either for +its religious or civil establishment here. In New England the +Independent Congregational Churches had an established legal +maintenance; whilst that country continued part of the British empire, +no argument in favor of Independency was adduced from the practice of +New England. Government itself lately thought fit to establish the Roman +Catholic religion in Canada; but they would not suffer an argument of +analogy to be used for its establishment anywhere else. These things +were governed, as all things of that nature are governed, not by general +maxims, but their own local and peculiar circumstances. Finding, +however, that, though he was very cool and patient, I made no great way +in the business of the Dissenters, I turned myself to try whether, +falling in with his maxims, some modification might not be found, the +hint of which I received from your letter relative to the Irish Militia +Bill, and the point I labored was so to alter the clause as to repeal +the test _quoad_ military and revenue offices: for these being only +subservient parts in the economy and execution, rather than the +administration of affairs, the politic, civil, and judicial parts would +still continue in the hands of the conformists to religious +establishments. Without giving any hopes, he, however, said that this +distinction deserved to be considered. After this, I strongly pressed +the mischief of rejecting the whole bill: that a notion went abroad, +that government was not at this moment very well pleased with the +Dissenters, as not very well affected to the monarchy; that, in general, +I conceived this to be a mistake,--but if it were not, the rejection of +a bill in favor _of others_, because something in favor of _them_ was +inserted, instead of humbling and mortifying, would infinitely exalt +them: for, if the legislature had no means of favoring those whom they +meant to favor, as long as the Dissenters could find means to get +themselves included, this would make them, instead of their only being +subject to restraint themselves, the arbitrators of the fate of others, +and that not so much by their own strength (which could not be prevented +in its operation) as by the coöperation of those whom they opposed. In +the conclusion, I recommended, that, if they wished well to the measure +which was the main object of the bill, they must explicitly make it +their own, and stake themselves upon it; that hitherto all their +difficulties had arisen from their indecision and their wrong measures; +and to make Lord North sensible of the necessity of giving a firm +support to some part of the bill, and to add weighty authority to my +reasons, I read him your letter of the 10th of July. It seemed, in some +measure, to answer the purpose which I intended. I pressed the necessity +of the management of the affair, both as to conduct and as to gaining of +men; and I renewed my former advice, that the Lord Lieutenant should be +instructed to consult and cooperate with you in the whole affair. All +this was, apparently, very fairly taken. + +In the evening of that day I saw the Lord Chancellor. With him, too, I +had much discourse. You know that he is intelligent, sagacious, +systematic, and determined. At first he seemed of opinion that the +relief contained in the bill was so inadequate to the mass of oppression +it was intended to remove, that it would be better to let it stand over, +until a more perfect and better digested plan could be settled. This +seemed to possess him very strongly. In order to combat this notion, and +to show that the bill, all things considered, was a very great +acquisition, and that it was rather a preliminary than an obstruction to +relief, I ventured to show him your letter. It had its effect. He +declared himself roundly against giving anything to a confederacy, real +or apparent, to distress government; that, if anything was done for +Catholics or Dissenters, it should be done on its own separate merits, +and not by way of bargain and compromise; that they should be each of +them obliged to government, not each to the other; that this would be a +perpetual nursery of faction. In a word, he seemed so determined on not +uniting these plans, that all I could say, and I said everything I could +think of, was to no purpose. But when I insisted on the disgrace to +government which must arise from their rejecting a proposition +recommended by themselves, because their opposers had made a mixture, +separable too by themselves, I was better heard. On the whole, I found +him well disposed. + +As soon as I had returned to the country, this affair lay so much on my +mind, and the absolute necessity of government's making a serious +business of it, agreeably to the seriousness they professed, and the +object required, that I wrote to Sir G. Cooper, to remind him of the +principles upon which we went in our conversation, and to press the plan +which was suggested for carrying them into execution. He wrote to me on +the 20th, and assured me, "that Lord North had given all due attention +and respect to what you said to him on Friday, and will pay the same +respect to the sentiments conveyed in your letter: everything you say or +write on the subject undoubtedly demands it." Whether this was mere +civility, or showed anything effectual in their intentions, time and the +success of this measure will show. It is wholly with them; and if it +should fail, you are a witness that nothing on our part has been wanting +to free so large a part of our fellow-subjects and fellow-citizens from +slavery, and to free government from the weakness and danger of ruling +them by force. As to my own particular part, the desire of doing this +has betrayed me into a step which I cannot perfectly reconcile to +myself. You are to judge how far, on the circumstances, it may be +excused. I think it had a good effect. You may be assured that I made +this communication in a manner effectually to exclude so false and +groundless an idea as that I confer with you, any more than I confer +with them, on any party principle whatsoever,--or that in this affair we +look further than the measure which is in profession, and I am sure +ought to be in reason, theirs. + +I am ever, with the sincerest affection and esteem, + +My dear Sir, + +Your most faithful and obedient humble servant, + +EDMUND BURKE. + +BEACONSFIELD, 18th July, 1778. + + +I intended to have written sooner, but it has not been in my power. + +To the Speaker of the House of Commons of Ireland. + + + + +TWO LETTERS + +TO + +THOMAS BURGH, ESQ., + +AND + +JOHN MERLOTT, ESQ., + +IN VINDICATION OF HIS PARLIAMENTARY CONDUCT RELATIVE TO THE AFFAIRS OF +IRELAND. + +1780. + + + + +LETTER + +TO THOMAS BURGH, ESQ.[14] + + +My Dear Sir,--I do not know in what manner I am to thank you properly +for the very friendly solicitude you have been so good as to express for +my reputation. The concern you have done me the honor to take in my +affairs will be an ample indemnity from all that I may suffer from the +rapid judgments of those who choose to form their opinions of men, not +from the life, but from their portraits in a newspaper. I confess to you +that my frame of mind is so constructed, I have in me so little of the +constitution of a great man, that I am more gratified with a very +moderate share of approbation from those few who know me than I should +be with the most clamorous applause from those multitudes who love to +admire at a due distance. + +I am not, however, Stoic enough to be able to affirm with truth, or +hypocrite enough affectedly to pretend, that I am wholly unmoved at the +difficulty which you and others of my friends in Ireland have found in +vindicating my conduct towards my native country. It undoubtedly hurts +me in some degree: but the wound is not very deep. If I had sought +popularity in Ireland, when, in the cause of that country, I was ready +to sacrifice, and did sacrifice, a much nearer, a much more immediate, +and a much more advantageous popularity here, I should find myself +perfectly unhappy, because I should be totally disappointed in my +expectations,--because I should discover, when it was too late, what +common sense might have told me very early, that I risked the capital of +my fame in the most disadvantageous lottery in the world. But I acted +then, as I act now, and as I hope I shall act always, from a strong +impulse of right, and from motives in which popularity, either here or +there, has but a very little part. + +With the support of that consciousness I can bear a good deal of the +coquetry of public opinion, which has her caprices, and must have her +way. _Miseri, quibus intentata nitet_! I, too, have had my holiday of +popularity in Ireland. I have even heard of an intention to erect a +statue.[15] I believe my intimate acquaintance know how little that idea +was encouraged by me; and I was sincerely glad that it never took +effect. Such honors belong exclusively to the tomb,--the natural and +only period of human inconstancy, with regard either to desert or to +opinion: for they are the very same hands which erect, that very +frequently (and sometimes with reason enough) pluck down the statue. Had +such an unmerited and unlooked-for compliment been paid to me two years +ago, the fragments of the piece might at this hour have the advantage of +seeing actual service, while they were moving, according to the law of +projectiles, to the windows of the Attorney-General, or of my old +friend, Monk Mason. + +To speak seriously,--let me assure you, my dear Sir, that, though I am +not permitted to rejoice at _all_ its effects, there is not one man on +your side of the water more pleased to see the situation of Ireland so +prosperous as that she can afford to throw away her friends. She has +obtained, solely by her own efforts, the fruits of a great victory, +which I am very ready to allow that the best efforts of her best +well-wishers here could not have done for her so effectually in a great +number of years, and perhaps could not have done at all. I could wish, +however, merely for the sake of her own dignity, that, in turning her +poor relations and antiquated friends out of doors, (though one of the +most common effects of new prosperity,) she had thought proper to +dismiss us with fewer tokens of unkindness. It is true that there is no +sort of danger in affronting men who are not of importance enough to +have any trust of ministerial, of royal, or of national honor to +surrender. The unforced and unbought services of humble men, who have no +medium of influence in great assemblies, but through the precarious +force of reason, must be looked upon with contempt by those who by their +wisdom and spirit have improved the critical moment of their fortune, +and have debated with authority against pusillanimous dissent and +ungracious compliance, at the head of forty thousand men. + +Such feeble auxiliaries (as I talk of) to such a force, employed +against such resistance, I must own, in the present moment, very little +worthy of your attention. Yet, if one were to look forward, it scarcely +seems altogether politic to bestow so much liberality of invective on +the Whigs of this kingdom as I find has been the fashion to do both in +and out of Parliament. That you should pay compliments, in some tone or +other, whether ironical or serious, to the minister from whose +imbecility you have extorted what you could never obtain from his +bounty, is not unnatural. In the first effusions of Parliamentary +gratitude to that minister for the early and voluntary benefits he has +conferred upon Ireland, it might appear that you were wanting to the +triumph of his surrender, if you did not lead some of his enemies +captive before him. Neither could you feast him with decorum, if his +particular taste were not consulted. A minister, who has never defended +his measures in any other way than by railing at his adversaries, cannot +have his palate made all at once to the relish of positive commendation. +I cannot deny but that on this occasion there was displayed a great deal +of the good-breeding which consists in the accommodation of the +entertainment to the relish of the guest. + +But that ceremony being past, it would not be unworthy of the wisdom of +Ireland to consider what consequences the extinguishing every spark of +freedom in this country may have upon your own liberties. You are at +this instant flushed with victory, and full of the confidence natural to +recent and untried power. We are in a temper equally natural, though +very different. We feel as men do, who, having placed an unbounded +reliance on their force, have found it totally to fail on trial. We +feel faint and heartless, and without the smallest degree of +self-opinion. In plain words, we are _cowed_. When men give up their +violence and injustice without a struggle, their condition is next to +desperate. When no art, no management, no argument, is necessary to +abate their pride and overcome their prejudices, and their uneasiness +only excites an obscure and feeble rattling in their throat, their final +dissolution seems not far off. In this miserable state we are still +further depressed by the overbearing influence of the crown. It acts +with the officious cruelty of a mercenary nurse, who, under pretence of +tenderness, stifles us with our clothes, and plucks the pillow from our +heads. _Injectu multæ vestis opprimi senem jubet_. Under this influence +we have so little will of our own, that, even in any apparent activity +we may be got to assume, I may say, without any violence to sense, and +with very little to language, we are merely passive. We have yielded to +your demands this session. In the last session we refused to prevent +them. In both cases, the passive and the active, our principle was the +same. Had the crown pleased to retain the spirit, with regard to +Ireland, which seems to be now all directed to America, we should have +neglected our own immediate defence, and sent over the last man of our +militia to fight with the last man of your volunteers. + +To this influence the principle of action, the principle of policy, and +the principle of union of the present minority are opposed. These +principles of the opposition are the only thing which preserves a single +symptom of life in the nation. That opposition is composed of the far +greater part of the independent property and independent rank of the +kingdom, of whatever is most untainted in character, and of whatever +ability remains unextinguished in the people, and of all which tends to +draw the attention of foreign countries upon this. It is now in its +final and conclusive struggle. It has to struggle against a force to +which, I am afraid, it is not equal. The _whole_ kingdom of Scotland +ranges with the venal, the unprincipled, and the wrong-principled of +this; and if the kingdom of Ireland thinks proper to pass into the same +camp, we shall certainly be obliged to quit the field. In that case, if +I know anything of this country, another constitutional opposition _can +never_ be formed in it; and if this be impossible, it will be at least +as much so (if there can be degrees in impossibility) to have a +constitutional administration at any future time. The possibility of the +former is the only security for the existence of the latter. Whether the +present administration be in the least like one, I must venture to +doubt, even in the honey-moon of the Irish fondness to Lord North, which +has succeeded to all their slappings and scratchings. + +If liberty cannot maintain its ground in this kingdom, I am sure that it +cannot have any long continuance in yours. Our liberty might now and +then jar and strike a discord with that of Ireland. The thing is +possible: but still the instruments might play in concert. But if ours +be unstrung, yours will be hung up on a peg, and both will be mute +forever. Your new military force may give you confidence, and it serves +well for a turn; but you and I know that it has not root. It is not +perennial, and would prove but a poor shelter for your liberty, when +this nation, having no interest in its own, could look upon yours with +the eye of envy and disgust. I cannot, therefore, help thinking, and +telling you what with great submission I think, that, if the Parliament +of Ireland be so jealous of the spirit of our common Constitution as she +seems to be, it was not so discreet to mix with the panegyric on the +minister so large a portion of acrimony to the independent part of this +nation. You never received any sort of injury from them, and you are +grown to that degree of importance that the discourses in your +Parliament will have a much greater effect on our immediate fortune than +our conversation can have upon yours. In the end they will seriously, +affect both. + +I have looked back upon our conduct and our public conversations in +order to discover what it is that can have given you offence. I have +done so, because I am ready to admit that to offend you without any +cause would be as contrary to true policy as I am sure it must be to the +inclinations of almost every one of us. About two years ago Lord Nugent +moved six propositions in favor of Ireland in the House of Commons. At +the time of the motions, and during the debate, Lord North was either +wholly out of the House, or engaged in other matters of business or +pleasantry, in the remotest recesses of the West Saxon corner. He took +no part whatsoever in the affair; but it was supposed his neutrality was +more inclined towards the side of favor. The mover being a person in +office was, however, the only indication that was given of such a +leaning. We who supported the propositions, finding them better relished +than at first we looked for, pursued our advantage, and began to open a +way for more essential benefits to Ireland. On the other hand, those +who had hitherto opposed them in vain redoubled their efforts, and +became exceedingly clamorous. Then it was that Lord North found it +necessary to come out of his fastness, and to interpose between the +contending parties. In this character of mediator, he declared, that, if +anything beyond the first six resolutions should be attempted, he would +oppose the whole, but that, if we rested there, the original motions +should have his support. On this a sort of convention took place between +him and the managers of the Irish business, in which the six resolutions +were to be considered as an _uti possidetis_, and to be held sacred. + +By this time other parties began to appear. A good many of the trading +towns, and manufactures of various kinds, took the alarm. Petitions +crowded in upon one another, and the bar was occupied by a formidable +body of council. Lord N. was staggered by this new battery. He is not of +a constitution to encounter such an opposition as had then risen, when +there were no other objects in view than those that were then before the +House. In order not to lose him, we were obliged to abandon, bit by bit, +the most considerable part of the original agreement. + +In several parts, however, he continued fair and firm. For my own part, +I acted, as I trust I commonly do, with decision. I saw very well that +the things we had got were of no great consideration; but they were, +even in their defects, somewhat leading. I was in hopes that we might +obtain gradually and by parts what we might attempt at once and in the +whole without success,--that one concession would lead to another,--and +that the people of England discovering by a progressive experience that +none of the concessions actually made were followed by the consequences +they had dreaded, their fears from what they were yet to yield would +considerably diminish. But that to which I attached myself the most +particularly was, to fix _the principle_ of a free trade in all the +ports of these islands, as founded in justice, and beneficial to the +whole, but principally to this, the seat of the supreme power. And this +I labored to the utmost of my might, upon general principles, +illustrated by all the commercial detail with which my little inquiries +in life were able to furnish me. I ought to forget such trifling things +as those, with all concerning myself; and possibly I might have +forgotten them, if the Lord Advocate of Scotland had not, in a very +flattering manner, revived them in my memory, in a full House in this +session. He told me that my arguments, such as they were, had made him, +at the period I allude to, change the opinion with which he had come +into the House strongly impressed. I am sure that at the time at least +twenty more told me the same thing. I certainly ought not to take their +style of compliment as a testimony to fact; neither do I. But all this +showed sufficiently, not what they thought of my ability, but what they +saw of my zeal. I could say more in proof of the effects of that zeal, +and of the unceasing industry with which I then acted, both in my +endeavors which were apparent and those that were not so visible. Let it +be remembered that I showed those dispositions while the Parliament of +England was in a capacity to deliberate and in a situation to refuse, +when there was something to be risked here by being suspected of a +partiality to Ireland, when there was an honorable danger attending the +profession of friendship to you, which heightened its relish, and made +it worthy of a reception in manly minds. But as for the awkward and +nauseous parade of debate without opposition, the flimsy device of +tricking out necessity and disguising it in the habit of choice, the +shallow stratagem of defending by argument, what all the world must +perceive is yielded to force,--these are a sort of acts of friendship +which I am sorry that any of my countrymen should require of their real +friends. They are things not _to my taste_; and if they are looked upon +as tests of friendship, I desire for one that I may be considered as an +enemy. + +What party purpose did my conduct answer at that time? I acted with Lord +N. I went to all the ministerial meetings,--and he and his associates in +office will do me the justice to say, that, aiming at the concord of the +empire, I made it my business to give his concessions all the value of +which they were capable, whilst some of those who were covered with his +favors derogated from them, treated them with contempt, and openly +threatened to oppose them. If I had acted with my dearest and most +valued friends, if I had acted with the Marquis of Rockingham or the +Duke of Richmond, in that situation, I could not have attended more to +their honor, or endeavored more earnestly to give efficacy to the +measures I had taken in common with them. The return which I, and all +who acted as I did, have met with from him, does not make me repent the +conduct which I then held. + +As to the rest of the gentlemen with whom I have the honor to act, they +did not then, or at any other time, make a party affair of Irish +politics. That matter was always taken up without concert; but, in +general, from the operation of our known liberal principles in +government, in commerce, in religion, in everything, it was taken up +favorably for Ireland. Where some local interests bore hard upon the +members, they acted on the sense of their constituents, upon ideas +which, though I do not always follow, I cannot blame. However, two or +three persons, high in opposition, and high in public esteem, ran great +risks in their boroughs on that occasion. But all this was without any +particular plan. I need not say, that Ireland was in that affair much +obliged to the liberal mind and enlarged understanding of Charles Fox, +to Mr. Thomas Townshend, to Lord Midleton, and others. On reviewing that +affair, which gave rise to all the subsequent manoeuvres, I am convinced +that the whole of what has this day been done might have then been +effected. But then the minister must have taken it up as a great plan of +national policy, and paid with his person in every lodgment of his +approach. He must have used that influence to quiet prejudice, which he +has so often, used to corrupt principle: and I know, that, if he had, he +must have succeeded. Many of the most active in opposition would have +given him an unequivocal support. The corporation of London, and the +great body of the London West India merchants and planters, which forms +the greatest mass of that vast interest, were disposed to fall in with +such a plan. They certainly gave no sort of discountenance to what was +done or what was proposed. But these are not the kind of objects for +which our ministers bring out the heavy artillery of the state. +Therefore, as things stood at that time, a great deal more was not +practicable. + +Last year another proposition was brought out for the relief of Ireland. +It was started without any communication with a single person of +activity in the country party, and, as it should seem, without any kind +of concert with government. It appeared to me extremely raw and +undigested. The behavior of Lord N., on the opening of that business, +was the exact transcript of his conduct on the Irish question in the +former session. It was a mode of proceeding which his nature has wrought +into the texture of his politics, and which is inseparable from them. He +chose to absent himself on the proposition and during the agitation of +that business,--although the business of the House is that alone for +which he has any kind of relish, or, as I am told, can be persuaded to +listen to with any degree of attention. But he was willing to let it +take its course. If it should pass without any considerable difficulty, +he would bring his acquiescence to tell for merit in Ireland, and he +would have the credit, out of his indolence, of giving quiet to that +country. If difficulties should arise on the part of England, he knew +that the House was so well trained that he might at his pleasure call us +off from the hottest scent. As he acted in his usual manner and upon his +usual principle, opposition acted upon theirs, and rather generally +supported the measure. As to myself, I expressed a disapprobation at the +practice of bringing imperfect and indigested projects into the House, +before means were used to quiet the clamors which a misconception of +what we were doing might occasion at home, and before measures were +settled with men of weight and authority in Ireland, in order to render +our acts useful and acceptable to that country. I said, that the only +thing which could make the influence of the crown (enormous without as +well as within the House) in any degree tolerable was, that it might be +employed to give something of order and system to the proceedings of a +popular assembly; that government being so situated as to have a large +range of prospect, and as it were a bird's-eye view of everything, they +might see distant dangers and distant advantages which were not so +visible to those who stood on the common level; they might, besides, +observe them, from this advantage, in their relative and combined state, +which people locally instructed and partially informed could behold only +in an insulated and unconnected manner;--but that for many years past we +suffered under all the evils, without any one of the advantages of a +government influence; that the business of a minister, or of those who +acted as such, had been still further to contract the narrowness of +men's ideas, to confirm inveterate prejudices, to inflame vulgar +passions, and to abet all sorts of popular absurdities, in order the +better to destroy popular rights and privileges; that, so far from +methodizing the business of the House, they had let all things run into +an inextricable confusion, and had left affairs of the most delicate +policy wholly to chance. + +After I had expressed myself with the warmth I felt on seeing all +government and order buried under the ruins of liberty, and after I had +made my protest against the insufficiency of the propositions, I +supported the principle of enlargement at which they aimed, though short +and somewhat wide of the mark,--giving, as my sole reason, that the more +frequently these matters came into discussion, the more it would tend +to dispel fears and to eradicate prejudices. + +This was the only part I took. The detail was in the hands of Lord +Newhaven and Lord Beauchamp, with some assistance from Earl Nugent and +some independent gentlemen of Irish property. The dead weight of the +minister being removed, the House recovered its tone and elasticity. We +had a temporary appearance of a deliberative character. The business was +debated freely on both sides, and with sufficient temper. And the sense +of the members being influenced by nothing but what will naturally +influence men unbought, their reason and their prejudices, these two +principles had a fair conflict, and prejudice was obliged to give way to +reason. A majority appeared, on a division, in favor of the +propositions. + +As these proceedings got out of doors, Glasgow and Manchester, and, I +think, Liverpool, began to move, but in a manner much more slow and +languid than formerly. Nothing, in my opinion, would have been less +difficult than entirely to have overborne their opposition. The London +West India trade was, as on the former occasion, so on this, perfectly +liberal and perfectly quiet; and there is abroad so much respect for the +united wisdom of the House, when supposed to act upon a fair view of a +political situation, that I scarcely ever remember any considerable +uneasiness out of doors, when the most active members, and those of most +property and consideration in the minority, have joined themselves to +the administration. Many factious people in the towns I mentioned began, +indeed, to revile Lord North, and to reproach his neutrality as +treacherous and ungrateful to those who had so heartily and so warmly +entered into all his views with regard to America. That noble lord, +whose decided character it is to give way to the latest and nearest +pressure, without any sort of regard to distant consequences of any +kind, thought fit to appear, on this signification of the pleasure of +those his worthy friends and partisans, and, putting himself at the head +of the _posse scaccarii_, wholly regardless of the dignity and +consistency of our miserable House, drove the propositions entirely out +of doors by a majority newly summoned to duty. + +In order to atone to Ireland for this gratification to Manchester, he +graciously permitted, or rather forwarded, two bills,--that for +encouraging the growth of tobacco, and that for giving a bounty on +exportation of hemp from Ireland. They were brought in by two very +worthy members, and on good principles; but I was sorry to see them, +and, after expressing my doubts of their propriety, left the House. +Little also [else?] was said upon them. My objections were two: the +first, that the cultivation of those weeds (if one of them could be at +all cultivated to profit) was adverse to the introduction of a good +course of agriculture; the other, that the encouragement given to them +tended to establish that mischievous policy of considering Ireland as a +country of staple, and a producer of raw materials. + +When the rejection of the first propositions and the acceptance of the +last had jointly, as it was natural, raised a very strong discontent in +Ireland, Lord Rockingham, who frequently said that there never seemed a +more opportune time for the relief of Ireland than that moment when Lord +North had rejected all rational propositions for its relief, without +consulting, I believe, any one living, did what he is not often very +willing to do; but he thought this an occasion of magnitude enough to +justify an extraordinary step. He went into the closet, and made a +strong representation on the matter to the king, which was not ill +received, and I believe produced good effects. He then made the motion +in the House of Lords which you may recollect; but he was content to +withdraw all of censure which it contained, on the solemn promise of +ministry, that they would in the recess of Parliament prepare a plan for +the benefit of Ireland, and have it in readiness to produce at the next +meeting. You may recollect that Lord Gower became in a particular manner +bound for the fulfilling this engagement. Even this did not satisfy, and +most of the minority were very unwilling that Parliament should be +prorogued until something effectual on the subject should be +done,--particularly as we saw that the distresses, discontents, and +armaments of Ireland were increasing every day, and that we are not so +much lost to common sense as not to know the wisdom and efficacy of +early concession in circumstances such as ours. + +The session was now at an end. The ministers, instead of attending to a +duty that was so urgent on them, employed themselves, as usual, in +endeavors to destroy the reputation of those who were bold enough to +remind them of it. They caused it to be industriously circulated through +the nation, that the distresses of Ireland were of a nature hard to be +traced to the true source, that they had been monstrously magnified, and +that, in particular, the official reports from Ireland had given the lie +(that was their phrase) to Lord Rockingham's representations: and +attributing the origin of the Irish proceedings wholly to us, they +asserted that everything done in Parliament upon the subject was with a +view of stirring up rebellion; "that neither the Irish legislature nor +their constituents had signified any dissatisfaction at the relief +obtained in the session preceding the last; that, to convince both of +the impropriety of their _peaceable_ conduct, opposition, by making +demands in the name of Ireland, pointed out what she might extort from +Great Britain; that the facility with which relief was (formerly) +granted, instead of satisfying opposition, was calculated to create new +demands; these demands, as they _interfered_ with the commerce of Great +Britain, were _certain_ of being opposed,--a circumstance which could +not fail to create that desirable confusion which suits the views of the +party; that they (the Irish) had long felt their own misery, _without +knowing well from whence it came_; our worthy patriots, by _pointing out +Great Britain_ as the _cause of Irish distress_, may have some chance of +rousing Irish resentment." This I quote from a pamphlet as perfectly +contemptible in point of writing as it is false in its facts and wicked +in its design: but as it is written under the authority of ministers, by +one of their principal literary pensioners, and was circulated with +great diligence, and, as I am credibly informed, at a considerable +expense to the public, I use the words of that book to let you see in +what manner the friends and patrons of Ireland, the heroes of your +Parliament, represented all efforts for your relief here, what means +they took to dispose the minds of the people towards that great object, +and what encouragement they gave to all who should choose to exert +themselves in your favor. Their unwearied endeavors were not wholly +without success, and the unthinking people in many places became +ill-affected towards us on this account. For the ministers proceeded in +your affairs just as they did with regard to those of America. They +always represented you as a parcel of blockheads, without sense, or even +feeling; that all your words were only the echo of faction here; and (as +you have seen above) that you had not understanding enough to know that +your trade was cramped by restrictive acts of the British Parliament, +unless we had, for factious purposes, given you the information. They +were so far from giving the least intimation of the measures which have +since taken place, that those who were supposed the best to know their +intentions declared them impossible in the actual state of the two +kingdoms, and spoke of nothing but an act of union, as the only way that +could be found of giving freedom of trade to Ireland, consistently with +the interests of this kingdom. Even when the session opened, Lord North +declared that he did not know what remedy to apply to a disease of the +cause of which he was ignorant; and ministry not being then entirely +resolved how far they should submit to your energy, they, by +anticipation, set the above author or some of his associates to fill the +newspapers with invectives against us, as distressing the minister by +extravagant demands in favor of Ireland. + +I need not inform you, that everything they asserted of the steps taken +in Ireland, as the result of our machinations, was utterly false and +groundless. For myself, I seriously protest to you, that I neither wrote +a word or received a line upon any matter relative to the trade of +Ireland, or to the polities of it, from the beginning of the last +session to the day that I was honored with your letter. It would be an +affront to the talents in the Irish Parliament to say one word more. + +What was done in Ireland during that period, in and out of Parliament, +never will be forgotten. You raised an army new in its kind and adequate +to its purposes. It effected its end without its exertion. It was not +under the authority of law, most certainly, but it derived from an +authority still higher; and as they say of faith, that it is not +contrary to reason, but above it, so this army did not so much +contradict the spirit of the law as supersede it. What you did in the +legislative body is above all praise. By your proceeding with regard to +the supplies, you revived the grand use and characteristic benefit of +Parliament, which was on the point of being entirely lost amongst us. +These sentiments I never concealed, and never shall; and Mr. Fox +expressed them with his usual power, when he spoke on the subject. + +All this is very honorable to you. But in what light must we see it? How +are we to consider your armament without commission from the crown, when +some of the first people in _this_ kingdom have been refused arms, at +the time they did not only not reject, but solicited the king's +commissions? Here to arm and embody would be represented as little less +than high treason, if done on private authority: with you it receives +the thanks of a Privy Counsellor of Great Britain, who obeys the Irish +House of Lords in that point with pleasure, and is made Secretary of +State, the moment he lands here, for his reward. You shortened the +credit given to the crown to six months; you hung up the public credit +of your kingdom by a thread; you refused to raise any taxes, whilst you +confessed the public debt and public exigencies to be great and urgent +beyond example. You certainly acted in a great style, and on sound and +invincible principles. But if we in the opposition, which fills Ireland +with such loyal horrors, had even attempted, what we never did even +attempt, the smallest delay or the smallest limitation of supply, in +order to a constitutional coercion of the crown, we should have been +decried by all the court and Tory mouths of this kingdom, as a desperate +faction, aiming at the direct ruin of the country, and to surrender it +bound hand and foot to a foreign enemy. By actually doing what we never +ventured to attempt, you have paid your court with such address, and +have won so much favor with his Majesty and his cabinet, that they have, +of their special grace and mere motion, raised you to new titles, and +for the first time, ill a speech from the throne, complimented you with +the appellation of "faithful and loyal,"--and, in order to insult our +low-spirited and degenerate obedience, have thrown these epithets and +your resistance together in our teeth! What do you think were the +feelings of every man who looks upon Parliament in an higher light than +that of a market-overt for legalizing a base traffic of votes and +pensions, when he saw you employ such means of coercion to the crown, in +order to coerce our Parliament through _that_ medium? How much his +Majesty is pleased with _his_ part of the civility must be left to his +own taste. But as to us, you declared to the world that you knew that +the way of bringing us to reason was to apply yourselves to the true +source of all our opinions and the only motive to all our conduct! Now, +it seems, you think yourselves affronted, because a few of us express +some indignation at the minister who has thought fit to strip us stark +naked, and expose the true state of our poxed and pestilential habit to +the world! Think or say what you will in Ireland, I shall ever think it +a crime hardly to be expiated by his blood. He might, and ought, by a +longer continuance or by an earlier meeting of this Parliament, to have +given us the credit of some wisdom in foreseeing and anticipating an +approaching force. So far from it, Lord Gower, coming out of his own +cabinet, declares that one principal cause of his resignation was his +not being able to prevail on the present minister to give any sort of +application to this business. Even on the late meeting of Parliament, +nothing determinate could be drawn from him, or from any of his +associates, until you had actually passed the short money bill,--which +measure they flattered themselves, and assured others, you would never +come up to. Disappointed in their expectation at [of?] seeing the siege +raised, they surrendered at discretion. + +Judge, my dear Sir, of our surprise at finding your censure directed +against those whose only crime was in accusing the ministers of not +having prevented your demands by our graces, of not having given you the +natural advantages of your country in the most ample, the most early, +and the most liberal manner, and for not having given away authority in +such a manner as to insure friendship. That you should make the +panegyric of the ministers is what I expected; because, in praising +their bounty, you paid a just compliment to your own force. But that you +should rail at us, either individually or collectively, is what I can +scarcely think a natural proceeding. I can easily conceive that +gentlemen might grow frightened at what they had done,--that they might +imagine they had undertaken a business above their direction,--that, +having obtained a state of independence for their country, they meant to +take the deserted helm into their own hands, and supply by their very +real abilities the total inefficacy of the nominal government. All these +might be real, and might be very justifiable motives for their +reconciling themselves cordially to the present court system. But I do +not so well discover the reasons that could induce them, at the first +feeble dawning of life in this country, to do all in their power to cast +a cloud over it, and to prevent the least hope of our effecting the +necessary reformations which are aimed at in our Constitution and in our +national economy. + +But, it seems, I was silent at the passing the resolutions. Why, what +had I to say? If I had thought them too much, I should have been accused +of an endeavor to inflame England. If I should represent them as too +little, I should have been charged with a design of fomenting the +discontents of Ireland into actual rebellion. The Treasury bench +represented that the affair was a matter of state: they represented it +truly. I therefore only asked whether they knew these propositions to be +such as would satisfy Ireland; for if they were so, they would satisfy +me. This did not indicate that I thought them too ample. In this our +silence (however dishonorable to Parliament) there was one +advantage,--that the whole passed, as far as it is gone, with complete +unanimity, and so quickly that there was no time left to excite any +opposition to it out of doors. In the West India business, reasoning on +what had lately passed in the Parliament of Ireland, and on the mode in +which it was opened here, I thought I saw much matter of perplexity. +But I have now better reason than ever to be pleased with my silence. If +I had spoken, one of the most honest and able men[16] in the Irish +Parliament would probably have thought my observation an endeavor to sow +dissension, which he was resolved to prevent,--and one of the most, +ingenious and one of the most amiable men[17] that ever graced yours or +any House of Parliament might have looked on it as a chimera. In the +silence I observed, I was strongly countenanced (to say no more of it) +by every gentleman of Ireland that I had the honor of conversing with in +London. The only word, for that reason, which I spoke, was to restrain a +worthy county member,[18] who had received some communication from a +great trading place in the county he represents, which, if it had been +opened to the House, would have led to a perplexing discussion of one of +the most troublesome matters that could arise in this business. I got up +to put a stop to it; and I believe, if you knew what the topic was, you +would commend my discretion. + +That it should be a matter of public discretion in me to be silent on +the affairs of Ireland is what on all accounts I bitterly lament. I +stated to the House what I felt; and I felt, as strongly as human +sensibility can feel, the extinction of my Parliamentary capacity, where +I wished to use it most. When I came into this Parliament, just fourteen +years ago,--into this Parliament, then, in vulgar opinion at least, the +presiding council of the greatest empire existing, (and perhaps, all +things considered, that ever did exist,) obscure and a stranger as I +was, I considered myself as raised to the highest dignity to which a +creature of our species could aspire. In that opinion, one of the chief +pleasures in my situation, what was first and-uppermost in my thoughts, +was the hope, without injury to this country, to be somewhat useful to +the place of my birth and education, which in many respects, internal +and external, I thought ill and impolitically governed. But when I found +that the House, surrendering itself to the guidance of an authority, not +grown out of an experienced wisdom and integrity, but out of the +accidents of court favor, had become the sport of the passions of men at +once rash and pusillanimous,--that it had even got into the habit of +refusing everything to reason and surrendering everything to force, all +my power of obliging either my country or individuals was gone, all the +lustre of my imaginary rank was tarnished, and I felt degraded even by +my elevation. I said this, or something to this effect. If it gives +offence to Ireland, I am sorry for it: it was the reason I gave for my +silence; and it was, as far as it went, the true one. + +With you, this silence of mine and of others was represented as +factious, and as a discountenance to the measure of your relief. Do you +think us children? If it had been our wish to embroil matters, and, for +the sake of distressing ministry, to commit the two kingdoms in a +dispute, we had nothing to do but (without at all condemning the +propositions) to have gone into the commercial detail of the objects of +them. It could not have been refused to us: and you, who know the nature +of business so well, must know that this would have caused such delays, +and given rise during that delay to such discussions, as all the wisdom +of your favorite minister could never have settled. But, indeed, you +mistake your men. We tremble at the idea of a disunion of these two +nations. The only thing in which we differ with you is this,--that we do +not think your attaching yourselves to the court and quarrelling with +the independent part of this people is the way to promote the union of +two free countries, or of holding them together by the most natural and +salutary ties. + + * * * * * + +You will be frightened, when you see this long letter. I smile, when I +consider the length of it myself. I never, that I remember, wrote any of +the same extent. But it shows me that the reproaches of the country that +I once belonged to, and in which I still have a dearness of instinct +more than I can justify to reason, make a greater impression on me than +I had imagined. But parting words are admitted to be a little tedious, +because they are not likely to be renewed. If it will not be making +yourself as troublesome to others as I am to you, I shall be obliged to +you, if you will show this, at their greatest leisure, to the Speaker, +to your excellent kinsman, to Mr. Grattan, Mr. Yelverton, and Mr. Daly: +all these I have the honor of being personally known to, except Mr. +Yelverton, to whom I am only known by my obligations to him. If you live +in any habits with my old friend, the Provost, I shall be glad that he, +too, sees this my humble apology. + +Adieu! once more accept my best thanks for the interest you take in me. +Believe that it is received by an heart not yet so old as to have lost +its susceptibility. All here give you the best old-fashioned wishes of +the season; and believe me, with the greatest truth and regard, + +My dear Sir, + +Your most faithful and obliged humble servant, + +EDMUND BURKE. + +BEACONSFIELD, New year's Day, 1780. + + +I am frightened at the trouble I give you and our friends; but I +recollect that you are mostly lawyers, and habituated to read long, +tiresome papers--and, where your friendship is concerned, without a fee; +I am sure, too, that you will not act the lawyer in scrutinizing too +minutely every expression which my haste may make me use. I forgot to +mention my friend O'Hara, and others; but you will communicate it as you +please. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[14] Mr. Thomas Burgh, of Old Town, was a member of the House of Commons +in Ireland.--It appears from a letter written by this gentleman to Mr. +Burke, December 24, 1779, and to which the following is an answer, that +the part Mr. Burke had taken in the discussion which the affairs of +Ireland had undergone in the preceding sessions of Parliament in England +had been grossly misrepresented and much censured in Ireland. + +[15] This intention was communicated to Mr. Burke in a letter from Mr. +Pery, the Speaker of the House of Commons in Ireland. + +[16] Mr. Grattan. + +[17] Mr. Hussey Burgh + +[18] Mr. Stanley, member for Lancashire. + + + + +LETTER + +TO JOHN MERLOTT, ESQ.[19] + + +Dear Sir,--I am very unhappy to find that my conduct in the business of +Ireland, on a former occasion, had made many to be cold and indifferent +who would otherwise have been warm in my favor. I really thought that +events would have produced a quite contrary effect, and would have +proved to all the inhabitants of Bristol that it was no desire of +opposing myself to their wishes, but a certain knowledge of the +necessity of their affairs, and a tender regard to their honor and +interest, which induced me to take the part which I then took. They +placed me in a situation which might enable me to discern what was fit +to be done, on a consideration of the relative circumstances of this +country and all its neighbors. This was what you could not so well do +yourselves; but you had a right to expect that I should avail myself of +the advantage which I derived from your favor. Under the impression-of +this duty and this trust, I had endeavored to render, by preventive +graces and concessions, every act of power at the same time an act of +lenity,--the result of English bounty, and not of English timidity and +distress. I really flattered myself that the events which have proved +beyond dispute the prudence of such a maxim would have obtained pardon +for me, if not approbation. But if I have not been so fortunate, I do +most sincerely regret my great loss,--this comfort, however, that, if I +have disobliged my constituents, it was not in pursuit of any sinister +interest or any party passion of my own, but in endeavoring to save them +from disgrace, along with the whole community to which they and I +belong. I shall be concerned for this, and very much so; but I should be +more concerned, if, in gratifying a present humor of theirs, I had +rendered myself unworthy of their former or their future choice. I +confess that I could not bear to face my constituents at the next +general election, if I had been a rival to Lord North in the glory of +having refused some small, insignificant concessions, in favor of +Ireland, to the arguments and supplications of English members of +Parliament,--and in the very next session, on the demand of forty +thousand Irish bayonets, of having made a speech of two hours long to +prove that my former conduct was founded upon no one right principle, +either of policy, justice, or commerce. I never heard a more elaborate, +more able, more convincing, and more shameful speech. The debater +obtained credit, but the statesman was disgraced forever. Amends were +made for having refused small, but timely concessions, by an unlimited +and untimely surrender, not only of every one of the objects of former +restraints, but virtually of the whole legislative power itself which +had made them. For it is not necessary to inform you, that the +unfortunate Parliament of this kingdom did not dare to qualify the very +liberty she gave of trading with her _own_ plantations, by applying, of +her _own_ authority, any one of the commercial regulations to the new +traffic of Ireland, which bind us here under the several Acts of +Navigation. We were obliged to refer them to the Parliament of Ireland, +as conditions, just in the same manner as if we were bestowing a +privilege of the same sort on France and Spain, or any other independent +power, and, indeed, with more studied caution than we should have used, +not to shock the principle of their independence. How the minister +reconciled the refusal to reason, and the surrender to arms raised in +defiance of the prerogatives of the crown, to his master, I know not: it +has probably been settled, in some way or other, between themselves. But +however the king and his ministers may settle the question of his +dignity and his rights, I thought it became me, by vigilance and +foresight, to take care of yours: I thought I ought rather to lighten +the ship in time than expose it to a total wreck. The conduct pursued +seemed to me without weight or judgment, and more fit for a member for +Banbury than a member for Bristol. I stood, therefore, silent with grief +and vexation, on that day of the signal shame and humiliation of this +degraded king and country. But it seems the pride of Ireland, in the day +of her power, was equal to ours, when we dreamt we were powerful too. I +have been abused there even for my silence, which was construed into a +desire of exciting discontent in England. But, thank God, my letter to +Bristol was in print, my sentiments on the policy of the measure were +known and determined, and such as no man could think me absurd enough to +contradict. When I am no longer a free agent, I am obliged in the crowd +to yield to necessity: it is surely enough that I silently submit to +power; it is enough that I do not foolishly affront the conqueror; it is +too hard to force me to sing his praises, whilst I am led in triumph +before him,--or to make the panegyric of our own minister, who would put +me neither in a condition to surrender with honor or to fight with the +smallest hope of victory. I was, I confess, sullen and silent on that +day,--and shall continue so, until I see some disposition to inquire +into this and other causes of the national disgrace. If I suffer in my +reputation for it in Ireland, I am sorry; but it neither does nor can +affect me so nearly as my suffering in Bristol for having wished to +unite the interests of the two nations in a manner that would secure the +supremacy of this. + +Will you have the goodness to excuse the length of this letter? My +earnest desire of explaining myself in every point which may affect the +mind of any worthy gentleman in Bristol is the cause of it. To yourself, +and to your liberal and manly notions, I know it is not so necessary. +Believe me, + +My dear Sir, + +Your most faithful and obedient humble servant, + +EDMUND BURKE. + +BEACONSFIELD, April 4th, 1780. + + +To JOHN MERLOTT, Esq., Bristol. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[19] An eminent merchant in the city of Bristol, of which Mr. Burke was +one of the representatives in Parliament.--It relates to the same +subject as the preceding Letter. + + + + +LETTERS AND REFLECTIONS + +ON THE + +EXECUTIONS OF THE RIOTERS + +IN 1780. + + + + +LETTERS. + + + + + +_To the Lord Chancellor_. + + +My Lord,--I hope I am not too late with the inclosed slight +observations. If the execution already ordered cannot be postponed, +might I venture to recommend that it should extend to one only? and then +the plan suggested in the inclosed paper may, if your Lordship thinks +well of it, take place, with such improvements as your better judgment +may dictate. As to fewness of the executions, and the good effects of +that policy, I cannot, for my own part, entertain the slightest doubt. + +If you have no objection, and think it may not occupy more of his +Majesty's time than such a thing is worth, I should not be sorry that +the inclosed was put into the king's hands. + +I have the honor to be, my Lord, + +Your Lordship's most obedient humble servant, + +EDMUND BURKE. + +CHARLES STREET, July 10, 1780. + + + * * * * * + + + + +_To the Earl Bathurst, Lord President of the Council_ + + +My Lord,-- + +I came to town but yesterday, and therefore did not learn more early the +probable extent of the executions in consequence of the late +disturbances. I take the liberty of laying before you, with the +sincerest deference to your judgment, what appeared to me very early as +reasonable in this business. Further thoughts have since occurred to me. +I confess my mind is under no small degree of solicitude and anxiety on +the subject; I am fully persuaded that a proper use of mercy would not +only recommend the wisdom and steadiness of government, but, if properly +used, might be made a means of drawing out the principal movers in this +wicked business, who have hitherto eluded your scrutiny. I beg pardon +for this intrusion, and have the honor to be, with great regard and +esteem, + +My Lord, + +Your Lordship's most obedient humble servant, + +EDMUND BURKE. + +CHARLES STREET, July 18, 1780. + + + * * * * * + + +_To Sir Grey Cooper, Bart_.[20] + + +Dear Sir,-- + +According to your desire, I send you a copy of the few reflections on +the subject of the present executions which occurred to me in the +earliest period of the late disturbances, and which all my experience +and observation since have most strongly confirmed. The executions, +taking those which have been made, which are now ordered, and which may +be the natural consequence of the convictions in Surrey, will be +undoubtedly too many to answer any good purpose. Great slaughter +attended the suppression of the tumults, and this ought to be taken in +discount from the execution of the law. For God's sake entreat of Lord +North to take a view of the sum total of the deaths, before any are +ordered for execution; for by not doing something of this kind people +are decoyed in detail into severities they never would have dreamed of, +if they had the whole in their view at once. The scene in Surrey would +have affected the hardest heart that ever was in an human breast. +Justice and mercy have not such opposite interests as people are apt to +imagine. I saw Lord Loughborough last night. He seemed strongly +impressed with the sense of what necessity obliged him to go through, +and I believe will enter into our ideas on the subject. On this matter +you see that no time is to be lost. Before a final determination, the +first thing I would recommend is, that, if the very next execution +cannot be delayed, (by the way, I do not see why it may not,) it may be +of but a single person, and that afterwards you should not exceed two or +three; for it is enough for one riot, where the very act of Parliament +on which you proceed is rather a little hard in its sanctions and its +construction: not that I mean to complain of the latter as either new or +strained, but it was rigid from the first. + +I am, dear Sir, + +Your most obedient humble servant, + +EDMUND BURKE. + +Tuesday, 18th July, 1780. + + +I really feel uneasy on this business, and should consider it as a sort +of personal favor, if you do something to limit the extent and severity +of the law on this point. Present my best compliments to Lord North, and +if he thinks that I have had wishes to be serviceable to government on +the late occasion, I shall on my part think myself abundantly rewarded, +if a few lives less than first intended should be saved [taken?]; I +should sincerely set it down as a personal obligation, though the thing +stands upon general and strong reason of its own.[21] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[20] One of the Secretaries of the Treasury. + +[21] It appears by the following extract from a letter written by the +Earl of Mansfield to Mr. Burke, dated the 17th July, 1780, that these +Reflections had also been communicated to him:--"I have received the +honor of your letter and very judicious thoughts. Having been so greatly +injured myself, I have thought it more decent not to attend the reports, +and consequently have not been present at any deliberation upon the +subject." + + + + +SOME THOUGHTS + +ON THE APPROACHING EXECUTIONS, + +HUMBLY OFFERED TO CONSIDERATION. + + +As the number of persons convicted on account of the late unhappy +tumults will probably exceed what any one's idea of vengeance or example +would deliver to capital punishment, it is to be wished that the whole +business, as well with regard to the number and description of those who +are to suffer death as with regard to those who shall be delivered over +to lighter punishment or wholly pardoned, should be entirely a work of +reason. + +It has happened frequently, in cases of this nature, that the fate of +the convicts has depended more upon the accidental circumstance of their +being brought earlier or later to trial than to any steady principle of +equity applied to their several cases. Without great care and sobriety, +criminal justice generally begins with anger and ends in negligence. The +first that are brought forward suffer the extremity of the law, with +circumstances of mitigation of their case; and after a time, the most +atrocious delinquents escape merely by the satiety of punishment. + +In the business now before his Majesty, the following thoughts are +humbly submitted. + +If I understand the temper of the public at this moment, a very great +part of the lower and some of the middling people of this city are in a +very critical disposition, and such as ought to be managed with firmness +and delicacy. In general, they rather approve than blame the principles +of the rioters, though the better sort of them are afraid of the +consequences of those very principles which they approve. This keeps +their minds in a suspended and anxious state, which may very easily be +exasperated by an injudicious severity into desperate resolutions,--or +by weak measures on the part of government it may be encouraged to the +pursuit of courses which may be of the most dangerous consequences to +the public. + +There is no doubt that the approaching executions will very much +determine the future conduct of those people. They ought to be such as +will humble, not irritate. Nothing will make government more awful to +them than to see that it does not proceed by chance or under the +influence of passion. + +It is therefore proposed that no execution should be made until the +number of persons which government thinks fit to try is completed. When +the whole is at once under the eye, an examination ought to be made into +the circumstances of every particular convict; and _six_, at the very +utmost, of the fittest examples may then be selected for execution, who +ought to be brought out and put to death on one and the same day, in six +different places, and in the most solemn manner that can be devised. +Afterwards great care should be taken that their bodies may not be +delivered to their friends, or to others who may make them objects of +compassion or even veneration: some instances of the kind have happened +with regard to the bodies of those killed in the riots. The rest of the +malefactors ought to be either condemned, for larger [longer?] or +shorter terms, to the lighters, houses of correction, service in the +navy, and the like, according to the case. + +This small number of executions, and all at one time, though in +different places, is seriously recommended; because it is certain that a +great havoc among criminals hardens rather than subdues the minds of +people inclined to the same crimes, and therefore fails of answering its +purpose as an example. Men who see their lives respected and thought of +value by others come to respect that gift of God themselves. To have +compassion for oneself, or to care, more or less, for one's own life, is +a lesson to be learned just as every other; and I believe it will be +found that conspiracies have been most common and most desperate where +their punishment has been most extensive and most severe. + +Besides, the least excess in this way excites a tenderness in the milder +sort of people, which makes them consider government in an harsh and +odious light. The sense of justice in men is overloaded and fatigued +with a long series of executions, or with such a carnage at once as +rather resembles a massacre than a sober execution of the laws. The laws +thus lose their terror in the minds of the wicked, and their reverence +in the minds of the virtuous. + +I have ever observed that the execution of one man fixes the attention +and excites awe; the execution of multitudes dissipates and weakens the +effect: but men reason themselves into disapprobation and disgust; they +compute more as they feel less; and every severe act which does not +appear to be necessary is sure to be offensive. + +In selecting the criminals, a very different line ought to be followed +from that recommended by the champions of the Protestant Association. +They recommend that the offenders for plunder ought to be punished, and +the offenders from principle spared. But the contrary rule ought to be +followed. The ordinary executions, of which there are enough in +conscience, are for the former species of delinquents; but such common +plunderers would furnish no example in the present case, where the false +or pretended principle of religion, which leads to crimes, is the very +thing to be discouraged. + +But the reason which ought to make these people objects of selection for +punishment confines the selection to very few. For we must consider that +the whole nation has been for a long time guilty of their crime. +Toleration is a new virtue in any country. It is a late ripe fruit in +the best climates. We ought to recollect the poison which, under the +name of antidotes against Popery, and such like mountebank titles, has +been circulated from our pulpits and from our presses, from the heads of +the Church of England and the heads of the Dissenters. These +publications, by degrees, have tended to drive all religion from our own +minds, and to fill them with nothing but a violent hatred of the +religion of other people, and, of course, with a hatred of their +persons; and so, by a very natural progression, they have led men to the +destruction of their goods and houses, and to attempts upon their lives. + +This delusion furnishes no reason for suffering that abominable spirit +to be kept alive by inflammatory libels or seditious assemblies, or for +government's yielding to it, in the smallest degree, any point of +justice, equity, or sound policy. The king certainly ought not to give +up any part of his subjects to the prejudices of another. So far from +it, I am clearly of opinion that on the late occasion the Catholics +ought to have been taken, more avowedly than they were, under the +protection of government, as the Dissenters had been on a similar +occasion. + +But though we ought to protect against violence the bigotry of others, +and to correct our own too, if we have any left, we ought to reflect, +that an offence which in its cause is national ought not in its effects +to be vindicated on individuals, but with a very well-tempered severity. + +For my own part, I think the fire is not extinguished,--on the contrary, +it seems to require the attention of government more than ever; but, as +a part of any methodical plan for extinguishing this flame, it really +seems necessary that the execution of justice should be as steady and as +cool as possible. + + + + +SOME ADDITIONAL REFLECTIONS + +ON THE EXECUTIONS. + + +The great number of sufferers seems to arise from the misfortune +incident to the variety of judicatures which have tried the crimes. It +were well, if the whole had been the business of one commission; for now +every trial seems as if it were a separate business, and in that light +each offence is not punished with greater severity than single offences +of the kind are commonly marked: but in reality and fact, this +unfortunate affair, though diversified in the multitude of overt acts, +has been one and the same riot; and therefore the executions, so far as +regards the general effect on the minds of men, will have a reference to +the unity of the offence, and will appear to be much more severe than +such a riot, atrocious as it was, can well justify in government. I pray +that it may be recollected that the chief delinquents have hitherto +escaped, and very many of those who are fallen into the hands of justice +are a poor, thoughtless set of creatures, very little aware of the +nature of their offence. None of the list-makers, the assemblers of the +mob, the directors and arrangers, have been convicted. The preachers of +mischief remain safe, and are wicked enough not to feel for their +deluded disciples,--no, not at all. I would not plead the ignorance of +the law in any, even the most ignorant, as a justification; but I am +sure, that, when the question is of mercy, it is a very great and +powerful argument. I have all the reason in the world to believe that +they did not know their offence was capital. + +There is one argument, which I beg may not be considered as brought for +any invidious purpose, or meant as imputing blame anywhere, but which, I +think, with candid and considerate men, will have much weight. The +unfortunate delinquents were perhaps much encouraged by some remissness +on the part of government itself. The absolute and entire impunity +attending the same offence in Edinburgh, which was over and over again +urged as an example and encouragement to these unfortunate people, might +be a means of deluding them. Perhaps, too, a languor in the beginning of +the riots here (which suffered the leaders to proceed, until very many, +as it were by the contagion of a sort of fashion, were carried to these +excesses) might make these people think that there was something in the +case which induced government to wink at the irregularity of the +proceedings. + +The conduct and condition of the Lord Mayor ought, in my opinion, to be +considered. His answers to Lord Beauchamp, to Mr. Malo, and to Mr. +Langdale make him appear rather an accomplice in the crimes than guilty +of negligence as a magistrate. Such an example set to the mob by the +first magistrate of the city tends greatly to palliate their offence. + +The license, and complete impunity too, of the publications which from +the beginning instigated the people to such actions, and in the midst of +trials and executions still continues, does in a great degree render +these creatures an object of compassion. In the Public Advertiser of +this morning there are two or three paragraphs strongly recommending +such outrages, and stimulating the people to violence against the houses +and persons of Roman Catholics, and even against the chapels of the +foreign ministers. + +I would not go so far as to adopt the maxim, _Quicquid multis peccatur +inultum_; but certainly offences committed by vast multitudes are +somewhat palliated in the _individuals_, who, when so many escape, are +always looked upon rather as unlucky than criminal. All our loose ideas +of justice, as it affects any individual, have in them something of +comparison to the situation of others; and no systematic reasoning can +wholly free us from such impressions. + +Phil. de Comines says our English civil wars were less destructive than +others, because the cry of the conqueror always was, "Spare the common +people." This principle of war should be at least as prevalent in the +execution of justice. The appetite of justice is easily satisfied, and +it is best nourished with the least possible blood. We may, too, +recollect that between capital punishment and total impunity there are +many stages. + +On the whole, every circumstance of mercy, and of comparative justice, +does, in my opinion, plead in favor of such low, untaught, or ill-taught +wretches. But above all, the policy of government is deeply interested +that the punishments should appear _one_, solemn, deliberate act, aimed +not at random, and at particular offences, but done with a relation to +the general spirit of the tumults; and they ought to be nothing more +than what is sufficient to mark and discountenance that spirit. + +CIRCUMSTANCES FOR MERCY. + + Not being principal. + Probable want of early and deliberate purposes. + Youth where the highest malice does not appear. + Sex where the highest malice does not appear. + Intoxication and levity, or mere wantonness of any kind. + + + + +A + +LETTER + +TO + +THE RIGHT HON. HENRY DUNDAS, + +ONE OF HIS MAJESTY'S PRINCIPAL SECRETARIES OF STATE. + +WITH THE + +SKETCH OF A NEGRO CODE. + +1792. + + +Dear Sir,--I should have been punctual in sending you the sketch I +promised of my old African Code, if some friends from London had not +come in upon me last Saturday, and engaged me till noon this day: I send +this packet by one of them who is still here. If what I send be, as +under present circumstances it must be, imperfect, you will excuse it, +as being done near twelve years ago. About four years since I made an +abstract of it, upon which I cannot at present lay my hands; but I hope +the marginal heads will in some measure supply it. + +If the African trade could be considered with regard to itself only, and +as a single object, I should think the utter abolition to be on the +whole more advisable than any scheme of regulation an reform. Rather +than suffer it to continue as it is, I heartily wish it at an end. What +has been lately done has been done by a popular spirit, which seldom +calls for, and indeed very rarely relishes, a system made up of a great +variety of parts, and which is to operate its effect in a great length +of time. The people like short methods; the consequences of which they +sometimes have reason to repent of. Abolition is but a single act. To +prove the nature of the trade, and to expose it properly, required, +indeed, a vast collection of materials, which have been laboriously +collected, and compiled with great judgment. It required also much +perseverance and address to excite the spirit which has been excited +without doors, and which has carried it through. The greatest eloquence +ever displayed in the House has been employed to second the efforts +which have been made abroad. All this, however, leads but to one single +resolve. When this was done, all was done. I speak of absolute and +immediate abolition, the point which the first motions went to, and +which is in effect still pressed; though in this session, according to +order, it cannot take effect. A _remote_, and a _gradual_ abolition, +though they may be connected, are not the same thing. The idea of the +House seems to me, if I rightly comprehend it, that the two things are +to be combined: that is to say, that the trade is gradually to decline, +and to cease entirely at a determinate period. To make the abolition +gradual, the regulations must operate as a strong discouragement. But it +is much to be feared that a trade continued and discouraged, and with a +sentence of death passed upon it, will perpetuate much ill blood between +those who struggle for the abolition and those who contend for an +effectual continuance. + +At the time when I formed the plan which I have the honor to transmit to +you, an abolition of the slave trade would have appeared a very +chimerical project. My plan, therefore, supposes the continued existence +of that commerce. Taking for my basis that I had an incurable evil to +deal with, I cast about how I should make it as small an evil as +possible, and draw out of it some collateral good. + +In turning the matter over in my mind at that time and since, I never +was able to consider the African trade upon a ground disconnected with +the employment of negroes in the West Indies, and distinct from their +condition in the plantations whereon they serve. I conceived that the +true origin of the trade was not in the place it was begun at, but at +the place of its final destination. I therefore was, and I still am, of +opinion that the whole work ought to be taken up together, and that a +gradual abolition of slavery in the West Indies ought to go hand in hand +with anything which, should be done with regard to its supply from the +coast of Africa. I could not trust a cessation of the demand for this +supply to the mere operation of any abstract principle, (such as, that, +if their supply was cut off, the planters would encourage and produce an +effectual population,) knowing that nothing can be more uncertain than +the operation of general principles, if they are not embodied in +specific regulations. I am very apprehensive, that, so long as the +slavery continues, some means for its supply will be found. If so, I am +persuaded that it is better to allow the evil, in order to correct it, +than, by endeavoring to forbid what we cannot be able wholly to prevent, +to leave it under an illegal, and therefore an unreformed existence. It +is not that my plan does not lead to the extinction of the slave trade, +but it is through a very slow progress, the chief effect of which is to +be operated in our own plantations, by rendering, in a length of time, +all foreign supply unnecessary. It was my wish, whilst the slavery +continued, and the consequent commerce, to take such measures as to +civilize the coast of Africa by the trade, which now renders it more +barbarous, and to lead by degrees to a more reputable, and, possibly, a +more profitable connection with it, than we maintain at present. + +I am sure that you will consider as a mark of my confidence in yours and +Mr. Pitt's honor and generosity, that I venture to put into your hands +a scheme composed of many and intricate combinations, without a full +explanatory preface, or any attendant notes, to point out the principles +upon which I proceeded in every regulation which I have proposed towards +the civilization and gradual manumission of negroes in the two +hemispheres. I confess I trust infinitely more (according to the sound +principles of those who ever have at any time meliorated the state of +mankind) to the effect and influence of religion than to all the rest of +the regulations put together. + +Whenever, in my proposed reformation, we take our _point of departure_ +from a state of slavery, we must precede the donation of freedom by +disposing the minds of the objects to a disposition to receive it +without danger to themselves or to us. The process of bringing _free_ +savages to order and civilization is very different. When a state of +slavery is that upon which we are to work, the very means which lead to +liberty must partake of compulsion. The minds of men, being crippled +with that restraint, can do nothing for themselves: everything must be +done for them. The regulations can owe little to consent. Everything +must be the creature of power. Hence it is that regulations must be +multiplied, particularly as you have two parties to deal with. The +planter you must at once restrain and support, and you must control at +the same time that you ease the servant. This necessarily makes the work +a matter of care, labor, and expense. It becomes in its nature complex. +But I think neither the object impracticable nor the expense +intolerable; and I am fully convinced that the cause of humanity would +be far more benefited by the continuance of the trade and servitude, +regulated and reformed, than by the total destruction of both or either. +What I propose, however, is but a beginning of a course of measures +which an experience of the effects of the evil and the reform will +enable the legislature hereafter to supply and correct. + +I need not observe to you, that the forms are often neglected, penalties +not provided, &c., &c., &c. But all this is merely mechanical, and what +a couple of days' application would set to rights. + +I have seen what has been done by the West Indian Assemblies. It is +arrant trifling. They have done little; and what they have done is good +for nothing,--for it is totally destitute of an _executory_ principle. +This is the point to which I have applied my whole diligence. It is easy +enough to say what shall be done: to cause it to be done,--_hic labor, +hoc opus_. + +I ought not to apologize for letting this scheme lie beyond the period +of the Horatian keeping,--I ought much more to entreat an excuse for +producing it now. Its whole value (if it has any) is the coherence and +mutual dependency of parts in the scheme; separately they can be of +little or no use. + +I have the honor to be, with very great respect and regard, + +Dear Sir, + +Your most faithful and obedient humble servant, + +EDMUND BURKE. + +BEACONSFIELD, Easter-Monday night, 1792. + + + + +SKETCH OF A NEGRO CODE. + + +This constitution consists of four principal members. + +I. The rules for qualifying a ship for the African trade. + +II. The mode of carrying on the trade upon the coast of Africa, which +includes a plan for introducing civilization in that part of the world. + +III. What is to be observed from the time of shipping negroes to the +sale in the West India islands. + +IV. The regulations relative to the state and condition of slaves in the +West Indies, their manumission, &c. + + +[Sidenote: PREAMBLE.] + +Whereas it is expedient, and comformable to the principles of true +religion and morality, and to the rules of sound policy, to put an end +to all traffic in the persons of men, and to the detention of their said +persons in a state of slavery, as soon as the same may be effected +without producing great inconveniences in the sudden change of practices +of such long standing, and during the time of the continuance of the +said practices it is desirable and expedient by proper regulations to +lessen the inconveniences and evils attendant on the said traffic and +state of servitude, until both shall be gradually done away: + +And whereas the objects of the said trade and consequential servitude, +and the grievances resulting therefrom, come under the principal heads +following, the regulations ought thereto to be severally applied: that +is to say, that provision should be made by the said regulations, + +1st, For duly qualifying ships for the said traffic; + +2nd, For the mode and conditions of permitting the said trade to be +carried on upon the coast of Africa; + +3rd, For the treatment of the negroes in their passage to the West India +islands; + +4th, For the government of the negroes which are or shall be employed in +his Majesty's colonies and plantations in the West Indies: + +[Sidenote: Ships to be registered.] + +Be it therefore enacted, that every ship or trading vessel which is +intended for the negro trade, with the name of the owner or owners +thereof, shall be entered and registered as ships trading to the West +Indies are by law to be registered, with the further provisions +following: + +[Sidenote: Measured and surveyed.] + +1. The same entry and register shall contain an account of the greatest +number of negroes of all descriptions which are proposed to be taken +into the said ship or trading vessel; and the said ship, before she is +permitted to be entered outwards, shall be surveyed by a ship-carpenter, +to be appointed by the collector of the port from which the said vessel +is to depart, and by a surgeon, also appointed by the collector, who +hath been conversant in the service of the said trade, but not at the +time actually engaged or covenanted therein; and the said carpenter and +surgeon shall report to the collector, or in his absence, to the next +principal officer of the port; upon oath, (which oath the said collector +or principal officer is hereby empowered to administer,) her +measurement, and what she contains in builder's tonnage, and that she +has ---- feet of grated portholes between the decks, and that she is +otherwise fitly found as a good transport vessel. + +[Sidenote: Number of slaves limited.] + +2. And be it enacted, that no ship employed in the said trade shall upon +any pretence take in more negroes than one grown man or woman for one +ton and half of builder's tonnage, nor more than one boy or girl for one +ton. + +[Sidenote: Provisions.] + +3. That the said ship or other vessel shall lay in, in proportion to the +ship's company of the said vessel, and the number of negroes registered, +a full and sufficient store of sound provision, so as to be secure +against all probable delays and accidents, namely, salted beef, pork, +salt-fish, butter, cheese, biscuit, flour, rice, oat-meal, and white +peas, but no horse-beans, or other inferior provisions; and the said +ship shall be properly provided with water-casks or jars, in proportion +to the intended number of the said negroes; and the said ship shall be +also provided with a proper and sufficient stock of coals or firewood. + +[Sidenote: Stores.] + +4. And every ship entered as aforesaid shall take out a coarse shirt and +a pair of trousers, or petticoat, for each negro intended to be taken +aboard; as also a mat, or coarse mattress, or hammock, for the use of +the said negroes. The proportions of provision, fuel, and clothing to be +regulated by the table annexed to this act. + +[Sidenote: Certificate thereof.] + +5. And be it enacted, that no ship shall be permitted to proceed on the +said voyage or adventure, until the searcher of the port from whence the +said vessel shall sail, or such person as he shall appoint to act for +him, shall report to the collector that he hath inspected the said +stores, and that the ship is accommodated and provided in the manner +hereby directed. + +[Sidenote: Guns for trade to be inspected.] + +6. And be it enacted, that no guns be exported to the coast of Africa, +in the said or any other trade, unless the same be duly marked with the +maker's name on the barrels before they are put into the stocks, and +vouched by an inspector in the place where the same are made to be +without fraud, and sufficient and merchantable arms. + +[Sidenote: Owners and masters to enter into bonds.] + +7. And be it enacted, that, before any ship as aforesaid shall proceed +on her voyage, the owner or owners, or an attorney by them named, if the +owners are more than two, and the master, shall severally give bond, the +owners by themselves, the master for himself, that the said master shall +duly conform himself in all things to the regulations in this act +contained, so far as the same regards his part in executing and +conforming to the same. + + * * * * * + +II. And whereas, in providing for the second object of this act, that is +to say, for the trade on the coast of Africa, it is first prudent not +only to provide against the manifold abuses to which a trade of that +nature is liable, but that the same may be accompanied, as far as it is +possible, with such advantages to the natives as may tend to the +civilizing them, and enabling them to enrich themselves by means more +desirable, and to carry on hereafter a trade more advantageous and +honorable to all parties: + +And whereas religion, order, morality, and virtue are the elemental +principles, and the knowledge of letters, arts, and handicraft trades, +the chief means of such civilization and improvement: for the better +attainment of the said good purposes, + +[Sidenote: Marts to be established on the coast.] + +1. Be it hereby enacted, that the coast of Africa, on which the said +trade for negroes may be carried on, shall be and is hereby divided into +marts or staples, as hereafter follows. [Here name the marts.] And be it +enacted, that it shall not be lawful for the master of any ship to +purchase any negro or negroes, but at one of the said marts or staples. + +[Sidenote: Governors and counsellors.] + +2. That the directors of the African Company shall appoint, where not +already appointed, a governor, with three counsellors, at each of the +said marts, with a salary of ---- to the governor, and of ---- to each +of the said counsellors. The said governor, or, in his absence or +illness, the senior counsellor, shall and is hereby empowered to act as +a justice of the peace, and they, or either of them, are authorized, +ordered, and directed to provide for the peace of the settlement, and +the good regulation of their station and stations severally, according +to the rules of justice, to the directions of this act, and the +instructions they shall receive from time to time from the said African +Company. And the said African Company is hereby authorized to prepare +instructions, with the assent of the Lords of his Majesty's Privy +Council, which shall be binding in all things not contrary to this act, +or to the laws of England, on the said governors and counsellors, and +every of them, and on all persons acting in commission with them under +this act, and on all persons residing within the jurisdiction of the +magistrates of the said mart. + +[Sidenote: Ships of war stationed.] + +3. And be it enacted, that the Lord High Admiral, or commissioners for +executing his office, shall appoint one or more, as they shall see +convenient, of his Majesty's ships or sloops of war, under the command +severally of a post-captain, or master and commander, to each mart, as a +naval station. + +[Sidenote: Inspectors appointed.] + +4. And be it enacted, that the Lord High Treasurer, or the commissioners +for executing his office, shall name two inspectors of the said trade at +every mart, who shall provide for the execution of this act, according +to the directions thereof, so far as shall relate to them; and it is +hereby provided and enacted, that, as cases of sudden emergency may +arise, the said governor or first counsellor, and the first commander of +his Majesty's ship or ships on the said station, and the said +inspectors, or the majority of them, the governor having a double or +casting vote, shall have power and authority to make such occasional +rules and orders relating to the said trade as shall not be contrary to +the instructions of the African Company, and which shall be valid until +the same are revoked by the said African Company. + +[Sidenote: Lands may be purchased.] + +5. That the said African Company is hereby authorized to purchase, if +the same may conveniently be done, with the consent of the Privy +Council, any lands adjoining to the fort or principal mart aforesaid, +not exceeding ---- acres, and to make allotments of the same; no +allotment to one person to exceed (on pain of forfeiture) ---- acres. + +[Sidenote: Churches and schoolhouses, and hospitals to be erected.] + +[Sidenote: Chaplain and assistant.] + +[Sidenote: Clerk and catechist.] + +6. That the African Company shall, at each fort or mart, cause to be +erected, in a convenient place, and at a moderate cost, the estimate of +which shall be approved by the Treasury, one church, and one +school-house, and one hospital; and shall appoint one principal +chaplain, with a curate or assistant in holy orders, both of whom shall +be recommended by the Lord Bishop of London; and the said chaplain or +his assistant shall perform divine service, and administer the +sacraments, according to the usage of the Church of England, or to such +mode not contrary thereto as to the said bishop shall seem more suitable +to the circumstances of the people. And the said principal chaplain +shall be the third member in the council, and shall be entitled to +receive from the directors of the said African Company a salary of ----, +and his assistant a salary of ----, and he shall have power to appoint +one sober and discreet person, white or black, to be his clerk and +catechist, at a salary of ----. + +[Sidenote: Schoolmaster.] + +[Sidenote: Carpenter and blacksmith.] + +[Sidenote: Native apprentices.] + +[Sidenote: Surgeon and mate.] + +[Sidenote: Native apprentice.] + +7. And be it enacted, that the African Company shall appoint one +sufficient schoolmaster, who shall be approved by the Bishop of London, +and who shall be capable of teaching writing, arithmetic, surveying, and +mensuration, at a salary of ----. And the said African Company is hereby +authorized to provide for each settlement a carpenter and blacksmith, +with such encouragement as to them shall seem expedient, who shall take +each two apprentices from amongst the natives; to instruct them in the +several trades, the African Company allowing them, as a fee for each +apprentice, ----. And the said African Company shall appoint one surgeon +and one surgeon's mate, who are to be approved on examination, at +Surgeons' Hall, to each fort or mart, with a salary of ---- for the +surgeon, and for his mate ----; and the said surgeon shall take one +native apprentice, at a fee to be settled by the African Company. + +[Sidenote: How removable.] + +8. And be it enacted, that the said catechist, schoolmaster, surgeon, +and surgeon's mate, as well as the tradesmen in the Company's service, +shall be obedient to the orders they shall from time to time receive +from the governor and council of each fort; and if they, or any of them, +or any other person, in whatever station, shall appear, on complaint and +proof to the majority of the commissioners, to lead a disorderly and +debauched life, or use any profane or impious discourses, to the danger +of defeating the purposes of this institution, and to the scandal of the +natives, who are to be led by all due means into a respect for our holy +religion, and a desire of partaking of the benefits thereof, they are +authorized and directed to suspend the said person from his office, or +the exercise of his trade, and to send him to England (but without any +hard confinement, except in case of resistance) with a complaint, with +inquiry and proofs adjoined, to the African Company. + +9. And be it enacted, that the Bishop of London for the time being shall +have full authority to remove the said chaplain for such causes as to +him shall seem reasonable. + +[Sidenote: No public officer to be concerned in the negro trade.] + +10. That no governor, counsellor, inspector, chaplain, surgeon, or +schoolmaster shall be concerned, or have any share, directly or +indirectly, in the negro trade, on pain of ----. + +[Sidenote: Journals and letter-books to be kept and transmitted.] + +11. Be it enacted, that the said governor and council shall keep a +journal of all their proceedings, and a book in which copies of all +their correspondence shall be entered, and they shall transmit copies of +the said journals and letter-book, and their books of accounts, to the +African Company, who, within ---- of their receipt thereof, shall +communicate the same to one of his Majesty's principal secretaries of +state. + +[Sidenote: Chaplain to report to the Bishop of London.] + +12. And be it enacted, that the said chaplain or principal minister, +shall correspond with the Bishop of London, and faithfully and +diligently transmit to him an account of whatever hath been done for the +advancement of religion, morality, and learning amongst the natives. + +[Sidenote: Negroes to be attested before sale.] + +13. And be it enacted, that no negro shall be conclusively sold, until +he shall be attested by the two inspectors and chaplain, or, in case of +the illness of any of them, by one inspector, and the governor, or one +of the council, who are hereby authorized and directed, by the best +means in their power, to examine into the circumstances and condition of +the persons exposed to sale. + +[Sidenote: Causes for rejection.] + +14. And for the better direction of the said inspectors, no persons are +to be sold, who, to the best judgment of the said inspectors, shall be +above thirty-five years of age, or who shall appear, on examination, +stolen or carried away by the dealers by surprise; nor any person who is +able to read in the Arabian or any other book; nor any woman who shall +appear to be advanced three months in pregnancy; nor any person +distorted or feeble, unless the said persons are consenting to such +sale; or any person afflicted with a grievous or contagious distemper: +but if any person so offered is only lightly disordered, the said person +may be sold, but must be kept in the hospital of the mart, and shall not +be shipped until completely cured. + +[Sidenote: Traders to be licensed by the governors.] + +15. Be it enacted, that no black or European factor or trader into the +interior country, or on the coast, (the masters of English ships only +excepted, for whose good conduct provision is otherwise herein made,) +shall be permitted to buy or sell in any of the said marts, unless he be +approved by the governor of the mart in which he is to deal, or, in his +absence or disability, by the senior counsellor for the time being, and +obtaining a license from such governor or counsellor; and the said +traders and factors shall, severally or jointly, as they shall be +concerned, before they shall obtain the said license, be bound in a +recognizance, with such surety for his or their good behavior as to the +said governor shall seem the best that can be obtained. + +[Sidenote: Offences how to be tried and punished.] + +16. Be it enacted, that the said governor, or other authority aforesaid, +shall examine, by duty of office, into the conduct of all such traders +and factors, and shall receive and publicly hear (with the assistance of +the council and inspectors aforesaid, and of the commodore, captain, or +other principal commander of one of his Majesty's ships on the said +station, or as many of the same as can be assembled, two whereof, with +the governor, are hereby enabled to act) all complaints against them, or +any of them; and if any black or white trader or factor, (other than in +this act excepted,) either on inquisition of office or on complaint, +shall be convicted by a majority of the said commissioners present of +stealing or taking by surprise any person or persons whatsoever, whether +free or the slaves of others, without the consent of their masters, or +of wilfully and maliciously killing or maiming any person, or of any +cruelty, (necessary restraint only excepted,) or of firing houses, or +destroying goods, the said trader or factor shall be deemed to have +forfeited his recognizance, and his surety to have forfeited his; and +the said trader or factor, so convicted, shall be forever disabled from +dealing in any of the said marts, unless the offence shall not be that +of murder, maiming, arson, or stealing or surprising the person, and +shall appear to the commissioners aforesaid to merit only, besides the +penalty of his bond, a suspension for one year; and the said trader or +factor, so convicted of murder, maiming, arson, stealing or surprising +the person, shall, if a native, be delivered over to the prince to whom +he belongs, to execute further justice on him. But it is hereby provided +and enacted, that, if any European shall be convicted of any of the said +offences, he shall be sent to Europe, together with the evidence against +him; and on the warrant of the said commissioners, the keeper of any of +his Majesty's jails in London, Bristol, Liverpool, or Glasgow shall +receive him, until he be delivered according to due course of law, as if +the said offences had been committed within the cities and towns +aforesaid. + +[Sidenote: Negroes exposed to sale contrary to the provisions of this +act, how to be dealt with.] + +17. Be it further enacted, that, if the said governor, &c, shall be +satisfied that person or persons are exposed to sale, who have been +stolen or surprised as aforesaid, or are not within the qualifications +of sale in this act described, they are hereby authorized and required, +if it can be done, to send the persons so exposed to sale to their +original habitation or settlement, in the manner they shall deem best +for their security, (the reasonable charges whereof shall be allowed to +the said governor by the African Company,) unless the said persons +choose to sell themselves; and then, and in that case, their value in +money and goods, at their pleasure, shall be secured to them, and be +applicable to their use,-without any dominion over the same of any +purchaser, or of any master to whom they may in any colony or plantation +be sold, and which shall always be in some of his master's [Majesty's?] +colonies and plantations only. And the master of the ship in which such +person shall embark shall give bond for the faithful execution of his +part of the trust at the island where he shall break bulk. + +18. Be it further enacted, that, besides the hospitals on shore, one or +more hospital-ships shall be employed at each of the said chief marts, +wherein slaves taken ill in the trading ships shall be accommodated, +until they shall be cured; and then the owner may reclaim and shall +receive them, paying the charges which shall be settled by regulation to +be made by the authority in this act enabled to provide such +regulations. + + * * * * * + +III. And whereas it is necessary that regulations be made to prevent +abuses in the passage from Africa to the West Indies: + +[Sidenote: Slave ships to be examined on the coast.] + +1. Be it further enacted, that the commander or lieutenant of the king's +ship on each station shall have authority, as often as he shall see +occasion, attended with one other of his officers, and his surgeon or +mate, to enter into and inspect every trading ship, in order to provide +for the due execution of this act, and of any ordinances made in virtue +thereof and conformable thereto by the authorities herein constituted +and appointed; and the said officer and officers are hereby required to +examine every trading ship before she sails, and to stop the sailing of +the said ship for the breach of the said rules and ordinances, until the +governor in council shall order and direct otherwise: and the master of] +the said ship shall not presume, under the penalty of ----, to be +recovered in the courts of the West Indies, to sail without a +certificate from the commander aforesaid, and one of the inspectors in +this act appointed, that the vessel is provided with stores and other +accommodation sufficient for her voyage, and has not a greater number of +slaves on board than by the provisions of this act is allowed. + +[Sidenote: Governor to give special instructions.] + +2. And be it enacted, that the governor and council, with the assistance +of the said naval commander, shall have power to give such special +written instructions for the health, discipline, and care of the said +slaves, during their passage, as to them shall seem good, + +[Sidenote: Presents and musical instruments to be provided.] + +3. And be it further enacted, that each slave, at entering the said +ship, is to receive some present, not exceeding in value ----, to be +provided according to the instructions aforesaid; and musical +instruments, according to the fashion of the country, are to be +provided. + +[Sidenote: Table of allowances.] + +4. And be it further enacted, that the negroes on board the transports, +and the seamen who navigate the same, are to receive their daily +allowance according to the table hereunto annexed, together with a +certain quantity of spirits to be mixed with their water. And it is +enacted, that the table is to be fixed, and continue for one week after +sailing, in some conspicuous part of the said ship, for the seamen's +inspection of the same. + +[Sidenote: Negro superintendents to be appointed.] + +5. And be it enacted, that the captain of each trading vessel shall be +enabled and is to divide the slaves in his ship into crews of not less +than ten nor more than twenty persons each, and to appoint one negro man +to have such authority severally over each crew, as according to his +judgment, with the advice of the mate and surgeon, he and they shall see +good to commit to them, and to allow to each of them some compensation, +in extraordinary diet and presents, not exceeding [ten shillings]. + +[Sidenote: Communication with female slaves, how punished.] + +6. And be it enacted, that any European officer or seaman, having +unlawful communication with any woman slave, shall, if an officer, pay +five pounds to the use of the said woman, on landing her from the said +ship, to be stopped out of his wages, or if a seaman, forty shillings: +the said penalties to be recovered on the testimony of the woman so +abused, and one other. + +[Sidenote: Premium to commanders of slave-ships.] + +7. And be it enacted, that all and every commander of a vessel or +vessels employed in slave trade, having received certificates from the +port of the outfit, and from the proper officers in Africa and the West +Indies, of their having conformed to the regulations of this act, and of +their not having lost more than one in thirty of their slaves by death, +shall be entitled to a bounty or premium of [ten pounds]. + + * * * * * + +IV. And whereas the condition of persons in a state of slavery is such +that they are utterly unable to take advantage of any remedy which the +laws may provide for their protection and the amendment of their +condition, and have not the proper means of pursuing any process for +the same, but are and must be under guardianship: and whereas it is not +fitting that they should be under the sole guardianship of their +masters, or their attorneys and overseers, to whom their grievances, +whenever they suffer any, must ordinarily be owing: + +[Sidenote: Attorney-General to be protector of negroes.] + +[Sidenote: To inquire and file information _ex officio_.] + +1. Be it therefore enacted, that his Majesty's Attorney-General for the +time being successively shall, by his office, exercise the trust and +employment of protector of negroes within the island in which he is or +shall be Attorney-General to his Majesty, his heirs and successors; and +that the said Attorney-General, protector of negroes, is hereby +authorized to hear any complaint on the part of any negro or negroes, +and inquire into the same, or to institute an inquiry _ex officio_ into +any abuses, formations and to call before him and examine witnesses upon +oath, relative to the subject-matter of the said official inquiry or +complaint: and it is hereby enacted and declared, that the said +Attorney-General, protector of negroes, is hereby authorized and +empowered, at his discretion, to file an information _ex officio_ for +any offences committed against the provisions of this act, or for any +misdemeanors or wrongs against the said negroes, or any of them. + +[Sidenote: Power to challenge jurors.] + +2. And it is further enacted, that in all trials of such informations +the said protector of negroes may and is hereby authorized to challenge +peremptorily a number not exceeding ---- of the jury who shall be +impanelled to try the charge in the said information contained. + +[Sidenote: To appoint inspectors of districts.] + +[Sidenote: who are to report to him twice in the year the number and +condition of the slaves.] + +3. And be it enacted, that the said Attorney-General, protector of +negroes, shall appoint inspectors, not exceeding the number of ----, at +his discretion; and the said inspectors shall be placed in convenient +districts in each island severally, or shall twice in the year make a +circuit in the same, according to the direction which they shall receive +from the protector of negroes aforesaid; and the inspectors shall and +they are hereby required, twice in the year, to report in writing to the +protector aforesaid the state and condition of the negroes in their +districts or on their circuit severally, the number, sex, age, and +occupation of the said negroes on each plantation; and the overseer or +chief manager on each plantation is hereby required to furnish an +account thereof within [ten days] after the demand of the said +inspectors, and to permit the inspector or inspectors aforesaid to +examine into the same; and the said inspectors shall set forth, in the +said report, the distempers to which the negroes are most liable in the +several parts of the island. + +[Sidenote: Instructions to be formed for inspectors.] + +4. And be it enacted, that the said protector of negroes, by and with +the consent the governor and chief judge of each island, shall form +instructions, by which the said inspectors shall discharge their trust +in the manner the least capable of exciting any unreasonable hopes in +the said negroes, or of weakening the proper authority of the overseer, +and shall transmit them to one of his Majesty's principal secretaries of +state; and when sent back with his approbation, the same shall become +the rule for the conduct of the said inspectors. + +[Sidenote: Registry.] + +5. And be it enacted, that the said Attorney-General, protector of +negroes, shall appoint an office for registering all proceedings +relative to the duty of his place as protector of negroes, and shall +appoint his chief clerk to be registrar, with a salary not exceeding +----. + +[Sidenote: Ports where negroes are to be landed. Vessels to be +inspected.] + +[Sidenote: Masters or officers offending to be fined.] + +6. And be it enacted, that no negroes shall be landed for sale in any +but the ports following: that is to say, ----. And the collector of each +of the said ports severally shall, within ---- days after the arrival of +any ship transporting negroes, report the same to the protector of +negroes, or to one of his inspectors; and the said protector is hereby +authorized and required to examine, or cause to be examined by one of +his inspectors, with the assistance of the said collector, or his +deputy, and a surgeon to be called in on the occasion, the state of the +said ship and negroes; and upon what shall appear to them, the said +protector of negroes, and the said collector and surgeon, to be a +sufficient proof, either as arising from their own inspection, or +sufficient information on a summary process, of any contravention of +this act, or cruelty to the negroes, or other malversation of the said +captain, or any of his officers the said protector shall impose a fine +on him or them, not exceeding ----; which shall not, however, weaken or +invalidate any penalty growing from the bond of the said master or his +owners. And it is hereby provided, that, if the said master, or any of +his officers, shall find himself aggrieved by the said fine, he may +within ---- days appeal to the chief judge, if the court shall be +sitting, or to the governor, who shall and are required to hear the said +parties, and on hearing are to annul or confirm the same. + +[Sidenote: Rates respecting the sale of negroes.] + +7. And be it enacted, that no sale of negroes shall be made but in the +presence of an inspector, and all negroes shall be sold severally, or in +known and ascertained lots, and not otherwise; and a paper containing +the state and description of each negro severally sold, and of each lot, +shall be taken and registered in the office aforesaid; and if, on +inspection or information, it shall be found that any negroes shall +have, in the same ship, or any other at the same time examined, a wife, +an husband, a brother, sister, or child, the person or persons so +related shall not be sold separately at that or any future sale. + +[Sidenote: Every island to be divided into districts.] + +[Sidenote: A church to be built in each.] + +8. And be it enacted, that each and every of his Majesty's islands and +plantations, in which negroes are used in cultivation, shall be, by the +governor and the protector of negroes for the time being, divided into +districts, allowing as much as convenience will admit to the present +division into parishes, and subdividing them, where necessary, into +districts, according to the number of negroes. And the said governor and +protector of negroes shall cause in each district a church to be built +in a convenient place, and a cemetery annexed, and an house for the +residence of a clergyman, with ---- acres of land annexed; and they are +hereby authorized to treat for the necessary ground with the proprietor, +who is hereby obliged to sell and dispose of the same to the said use; +and in case of dispute concerning the value, the same to be settled by a +jury, as in like cases is accustomed. + +[Sidenote: Appointment of a priest and clerk.] + +9. And be it enacted, that in each of the said districts shall be +established a presbyter of the Church of England as by law established, +who shall appoint under him one clerk, who shall be a free negro, when +such properly qualified can be found, (otherwise, a white man,) with a +salary, in each case, of ----; and the said minister and clerk, both or +one, shall instruct the said negroes in the Church Catechism, or such +other as shall be provided by the authority in this act named; and the +said minister shall baptize, as he shall think fit, all negroes not +baptized, and not belonging to Dissenters from the Church of England. + +[Sidenote: Owner to deliver a list of negroes to the minister, and to +cause them to attend divine service.] + +10. And the principal overseer of each plantation is hereby required to +deliver annually unto the minister a list of all the negroes upon his +plantation, distinguishing their sex and age, and shall, under a penalty +of ----, cause all the negroes under his care, above the age of ---- +years, to attend divine service once on every Sunday, except in case of +sickness, infirmity, or other necessary cause, to be given at the time, +and shall, by himself or one of those who are under him, provide for the +orderly behavior of the negroes under him, and cause them to return to +his plantation, when divine service, or administration of sacraments, or +catechism, is ended. + +[Sidenote: Mister to direct punishment for disorderly conduct.] + +11. And be it enacted, that the minister shall have power to punish any +negro for disorderly conduct during divine service, by a punishment not +exceeding [ten] blows to be given in one day and for one offence, which +the overseer or his under agent or agents is hereby directed, according +to the orders of the said minister, effectually to inflict, whenever the +same shall be ordered. + +[Sidenote: Spirituous liquors not to be sold.] + +12. And be it enacted, that no spirituous liquors of any kind shall be +sold, except in towns, within ---- miles distance of any church, nor +within any district during divine service, and an hour preceding and an +hour following the same; and the minister of each parish shall and is +hereby authorized to act as a justice of the peace in enforcing the said +regulation. + +[Sidenote: Register of births, burials, and marriages.] + +13. And be it enacted, that every minister shall keep a register of +births, burials, and marriages of all negroes and mulattoes in his +district. + +[Sidenote: Synod to assemble annually, and to form regulations,] + +14. And be it enacted, that the ministers of the several districts shall +meet annually, on the ---- day of ----, in a synod of the island to +which they belong; and the said synod shall have for its president such +person as the Bishop of London shall appoint for his commissary; and the +said synod or general assembly is hereby authorized, by a majority of +voices, to make regulations, which regulations shall be transmitted by +the said president or commissary to the Bishop of London; and when +returned by the Bishop of London approved of, then, and not before, the +said regulations shall be held in force to bind the said clergy, their +assistants, clerks, and schoolmasters only, and no other persons. + +[Sidenote: and to report to the Bishop of London.] + +15. And be it enacted, that the said president shall collect matter in +the said assembly, and shall make a report of the state of religion and +morals in the several parishes from whence the synod is deputed, and +shall transmit the same, once in the year, in duplicate, through the +governor and protector of negroes, to the Bishop of London. + +[Sidenote: Bishop of London to be patron of the cures.] + +16. And be it enacted and declared, that the Bishop of London for the +time being patron of the shall be patron to all and every the said +cures in this act directed; and the said bishop is hereby required to +provide for the due filling thereof, and is to receive, from the fund in +this act provided for the due execution of this act, a sum not exceeding +---- for each of the said ministers, for his outfit and passage. + +[Sidenote: and to have power of suspending and removing ministers.] + +17. And be it enacted, that, on misbehavior, and on complaint from the +said synod, and on hearing the party accused in a plain and summary +manner, it shall and may be lawful for the Bishop of London to suspend +or to remove any minister from his cure, as his said offences shall +appear to merit. + +[Sidenote: Schools for young negroes.] + +18. And be it enacted, that for every two districts a school shall be +established for young negroes to be taught three days in the week, and +to be detained from their owner four hours in each day, the number not +to be more or fewer than twenty males in each district, who shall be +chosen, and vacancies filled, by the minister of the district; and the +said minister shall pay to the owner of the said boy, and shall be +allowed the same in his accounts at the synod, to the age of twelve +years old, three-pence by the day, and for every boy from twelve years +old to fifteen, five-pence by the day. + +[Sidenote: Extraordinary abilities to be encouraged.] + +19. And it is enacted, that, if the president of the synod aforesaid +shall certify to the protector of negroes, that any boys in the said +schools (provided that the number in no one year shall exceed one in the +island of Jamaica, and one in two years in the islands of Barbadoes, +Antigua, and Grenada, and one in four years in any of the other islands) +do show a remarkable aptitude for learning, the said protector is hereby +authorized and directed to purchase the said boy at the best rate at +which boys of that age and strength have been sold within the year; and +the said negro so purchased shall be under the entire guardianship of +the said protector of negroes, who shall send him to the Bishop of +London for his further education in England, and may charge in his +accounts for the expense of transporting him to England; and the Bishop +of London shall provide for the education of such of the said negroes as +he shall think proper subjects, until the age of twenty-four years, and +shall order those who shall fall short of expectation after one year to +be bound apprentice to some handicraft trade; and when his +apprenticeship is finished, the Lord Mayor of London is hereby +authorized and directed to receive the said negro from his master, and +to transmit him to the island from which he came, in the West Indies, to +be there as a free negro, subject, however, to the direction of the +protector of negroes, relatively to his behavior and employment. + +[Sidenote: Negroes of Dissenters.] + +[Sidenote: their marriages, &c., to be registered.] + +20. And it is hereby enacted and provided, that any planter, or owner of +negroes, not being of the Church of England, and not choosing to send +his negroes to attend divine service in manner by this act directed, +shall give, jointly or severally, as the case shall require, security to +the protector of negroes that a competent minister of some Christian +church or congregation shall be provided for the due instruction of the +negroes, and for their performing divine service according to the +description of the religion of the master or masters, in some church or +house thereto allotted, in the manner and with the regulations in this +act prescribed with regard to the exercise of religion according to the +Church of England: provided always, that the marriages of the said +negroes belonging to Dissenters shall be celebrated only in the church +of the said district, and that a register of the births shall be +transmitted to the minister of the said district. + +[Sidenote: Regulations concerning marriage.] + +21. And whereas a state of matrimony, and the government of a family, is +a principal means of forming men to a fitness for freedom, and to become +good citizens: Be it enacted, that all negro men and women, above +eighteen years of age for the man and sixteen for the woman, who have +cohabited together for twelve months or upwards, or shall cohabit for +the same time, and have a child or children, shall be deemed to all +intents and purposes to be married, and either of the parties is +authorized to require of the ministers of the district to be married in +the face of the church. + +[Sidenote: Concerning the same.] + +22. And be it enacted, that, from and after the ---- of ----, all negro +men in an healthy condition, and so reported to be, in case the same is +denied, by a surgeon and by an inspector of negroes, and being +twenty-one years old, or upwards, until fifty, and not being before +married, shall, on requisition of the inspectors, be provided by their +masters or overseers with a woman not having children living, and not +exceeding the age of the man, nor, in any case, exceeding the age of +twenty-five years; and such persons shall be married publicly in the +face of the church. + +[Sidenote: Concerning the same.] + +23. And be it enacted, that, if any negro shall refuse a competent +marriage tendered to him, and shall not demand another specifically, +such as it may be in his master's power to provide, the master or +overseer shall be authorized to constrain him by an increase of work or +a lessening of allowance. + +[Sidenote: Adultery, &c., how to be punished.] + +24. And be it enacted, that the minister in each district shall have, +with the assent of the inspector, full power and authority to punish all +acts of adultery, unlawful concubinage, and fornication, amongst +negroes, on hearing and a summary process, by ordering a number of +blows, not exceeding ----, for each offence; and if any white person +shall be proved, on information in the supreme court, to be exhibited by +the protector of negroes, to have committed adultery with any negro +woman, or to have corrupted any negro woman under sixteen years of age +he shall be fined in the sum of ----, and shall be forever disabled from +serving the office of overseer of negroes, or being attorney to any +plantation. + +[Sidenote: Concerning marriage.] + +25. And be it enacted, that no slaves shall be compelled to do any work +for their masters for [three] days after their marriage. + +[Sidenote: Concerning pregnant women.] + +26. And be it enacted, that no woman shall be obliged to field-work, or +any other laborious work, for one month before her delivery, or for six +weeks afterwards. + +[Sidenote: Separation of husband and wife, and children, to be avoided.] + +27. And be it enacted, that no husband and wife shall be sold +separately, if originally belonging to the same master; nor shall any +children under sixteen be sold separately from their parents, or one +parent, if one be living. + +[Sidenote: Concerning the same.] + +28. And be it enacted, that, if an husband and wife, which before their +intermarriage belonged to different owners, shall be sold, they shall +not be sold at such a distance as to prevent mutual help and +cohabitation; and of this distance the minister shall judge, and his +certificate of the inconvenient distance shall be valid, so as to make +such sale unlawful, and to render the same null and void. + +[Sidenote: Negroes not to work on Saturday afternoon or Sunday.] + +29. And be it enacted, that no negro shall be compelled to work for his +owner at field-work, or any service relative to a plantation, or to work +at any handicraft trade, from eleven o'clock on Saturday forenoon until +the usual working hour on Monday morning. + +[Sidenote: Other cases of exemption from labor.] + +30. And whereas habits of industry and sobriety, and the means of +acquiring and preserving property, are proper and reasonable +preparatives to freedom, and will secure against an abuse of the same: +Be it enacted, that every negro man, who shall have served ten years, +and is thirty years of age, and is married, and has had two children +born of any marriage, shall obtain the whole of Saturday for himself and +his wife, and for his own benefit, and after thirty-seven years of age, +the whole of Friday for himself and his wife: provided that in both +cases the minister of the district and the inspector of negroes shall +certify that they know nothing against his peaceable, orderly, and +industrious behavior. + +[Sidenote: Huts and land to be appropriated.] + +31. And be it enacted, that the master of every plantation shall provide +the materials of a good and substantial hut for each married field +negro; and if his plantation shall exceed ---- acres, he shall allot to +the same a portion of land not less than ----: and the said hut and land +shall remain and stand annexed to the said negro, for his natural life, +or during his bondage; but the same shall not be alienated without the +consent of the owners. + +[Sidenote: Property of negroes secured.] + +32. And be it enacted, that it shall not be lawful for the owner of any +negro, by himself or any other, to take from him any land, house, +cattle, goods, or money, acquired by the said negro, whether by +purchase, donation, or testament, whether the same has been derived from +the owner of the said negro, or any other. + +33. And be it enacted, that, if the said negro shall die possessed of +any lands, goods, or chattels, and dies without leaving a wife or issue, +it shall be lawful for the said negro to devise or bequeath the same by +his last will; but in case the said negro shall die intestate, and leave +a wife and children, the same shall be distributed amongst them, +according to the usage under the statute, commonly called the Statute of +Distributions; but if the said negro shall die intestate without wife or +children, then, and in that case, his estate shall go to the fund +provided for the better execution of this act. + +34. And be it enacted, that no negro, who is married, and hath resided +upon any plantation for twelve months, shall be sold, either privately +or by the decree of any court, but along with the plantation on which he +hath resided, unless he should himself request to be separated +therefrom. + +[Sidenote: Of the punishment of negroes.] + +35. And be it enacted, that no blows or stripes exceeding thirteen, +shall be inflicted for one offence upon any negro, without the order of +one of his Majesty's justices of peace. + +[Sidenote: Of the same.] + +36. And it is enacted, that it shall be lawful for the protector of +negroes, as often as on complaint and hearing he shall be of opinion +that any negro hath been cruelly and inhumanly treated, or when it +shall be made to appear to him that an overseer hath any particular +malice, to order, at the desire of the suffering party, the said negro +to be sold to another master. + +37. And be it enacted, that, in all cases of injury to member or life, +the offences against a negro shall be deemed and taken to all intents +and purposes as if the same were perpetrated against any of his +Majesty's subjects; and the protector of negroes, on complaint, or if he +shall receive credible information thereof, shall cause an indictment to +be presented for the same; and in case of suspicion of any murder of a +negro, an inquest by the coroner, or officer acting as such, shall, if +practicable, be held into the same. + +[Sidenote: Of the manumission of negroes.] + +38. And in order to a gradual manumission of slaves, as they shall seem +fitted to fill the offices of freemen, be it enacted, that every negro +slave, being thirty years of ago and upwards, and who has had three +children born to him in lawful matrimony, and who hath received a +certificate from the minister of his district, or any other Christian +teacher, of his regularity in the duties of religion, and of his orderly +and good behavior, may purchase, at rates to be fixed by two justices of +peace, the freedom of himself, or his wife or children, or of any of +them separately, valuing the wife and children, if purchased into +liberty by the father of the family, at half only of their marketable +values: provided that the said father shall bind himself in a penalty of +---- for the good behavior of his children. + +[Sidenote: Of the same.] + +39. And be it enacted, that it shall be lawful for the protector of +negroes to purchase the freedom of any negro who shall appear to him to +excel in any mechanical art, or other knowledge or practice deemed +liberal, and the value shall be settled by a jury. + +[Sidenote: Free negroes how to be punished.] + +40. And be it enacted, that the protector of negroes shall be and is +authorized and required to act as a magistrate for the coercion of all +idle, disobedient, or disorderly free negroes, and he shall by office +prosecute them for the offences of idleness, drunkenness, quarrelling, +gaming, or vagrancy, in the supreme court, or cause them to be +prosecuted before one justice of peace, as the case may require. + +[Sidenote: Of the same.] + +41. And be it enacted, that, if any free negro hath been twice convicted +for any of the said misdemeanors, and is judged by the said protector of +negroes, calling to his assistance two justices of the peace, to be +incorrigibly idle, dissolute, and vicious, it shall be lawful, by the +order of the said protector and two justices of peace, to sell the said +free negro into slavery: the purchase-money to be paid to the person so +remanded into servitude, or kept in hand by the protector and governor +for the benefit of his family. + +[Sidenote: Governor to receive and transmit annual reports.] + +42. And be it enacted, that the governor in each colony shall be +assistant to the execution of this act, and shall receive the reports of +the protector, and such other accounts as he shall judge material, +relative thereto, and shall transmit the same annually to one of his +Majesty's principal secretaries of state. + + + + +LETTER + +TO + +THE CHAIRMAN OF THE BUCKINGHAMSHIRE MEETING, + +HELD AT AYLESBURY, APRIL 13, 1780, + +ON THE SUBJECT OF + +PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. + + + + +NOTE. + + The meeting of the freeholders of the County of Buckingham, + which occasioned the following Letter, was called for the + purpose of taking into consideration a petition to Parliament + for shortening the duration of Parliaments, and for a more + equal representation of the people in the House of Commons. + + +Sir,--Having heard yesterday, by mere accident, that there is an +intention of laying before the county meeting _new matter, which is not +contained in our petition_, and the consideration of which had been +deferred to a fitter time by a majority of our committee in London, +permit me to take this method of submitting to you my reasons for +thinking, with our committee, that nothing ought to be hastily deter +mined upon the subject. + +Our petition arose naturally from distresses which we _felt_; and the +requests which we made were in effect nothing more than that such things +should be done in Parliament as it was evidently the duty of Parliament +to do. But the affair which will be proposed to you by a person of rank +and ability is an alteration in the constitution of Parliament itself. +It is impossible for you to have a subject before you of more +importance, and that requires a more cool and more mature consideration, +both on its own account, and for the credit of our sobriety of mind, who +are to resolve upon it. + +The county will in some way or other be called upon to declare it your +opinion, that the House of Commons is not sufficiently numerous, and +that the elections are not sufficiently frequent,--that an hundred new +knights of the shire ought to be added, and that we are to have a new +election once in three years for certain, and as much oftener as the +king pleases. Such will be the state of things, if the proposition made +shall take effect. + +All this may be proper. But, as an honest man, I cannot possibly give my +rote for it, until I have considered it more fully. I will not deny that +our Constitution may have faults, and that those faults, when found, +ought to be corrected; but, on the whole, that Constitution has been our +own pride, and an object of admiration to all other nations. It is not +everything which appears at first view to be faulty, in such a +complicated plan, that is to be determined to be so in reality. To +enable us to correct the Constitution, the whole Constitution must be +viewed together; and it must be compared with the actual state of the +people, and the circumstances of the time. For that which taken singly +and by itself may appear to be wrong, when considered with relation to +other things, may be perfectly right,--or at least such as ought to be +patiently endured, as the means of preventing something that is worse. +So far with regard to what at first view may appear a _distemper_ in the +Constitution. As to the _remedy_ of that distemper an equal caution +ought to be used; because this latter consideration is not single and +separate, no more than the former. There are many things in reformation +which would be proper to be done, if other things can be done along with +them, but which, if they cannot be so accompanied, ought not to be done +at all. I therefore wish, when any new matter of this deep nature is +proposed to me, to have the whole scheme distinctly in my view, and full +time to consider of it. Please God, I will walk with caution, whenever I +am not able clearly to see my way before me. + +I am now growing old. I have from my very early youth been conversant in +reading and thinking upon the subject of our laws and Constitution, as +well as upon those of other times and other countries; I have been for +fifteen years a very laborious member of Parliament, and in that time +have had great opportunities of seeing with my own eyes the working of +the machine of our government, and remarking where it went smoothly and +did its business, and where it checked in its movements, or where it +damaged its work; I have also had and used the opportunities of +conversing with men of the greatest wisdom and fullest experience in +those matters; and I do declare to you most solemnly and most truly, +that, on the result of all this reading, thinking, experience, and +communication, I am not able to come to an immediate resolution in favor +of a change of the groundwork of our Constitution, and in particular, +that, in the present state of the country, in the present state of our +representation, in the present state of our rights and modes of +electing, in the present state of the several prevalent interests, in +the present state of the affairs and manners of this country, the +addition of an hundred knights of the shire, and hurrying election on +election, will be things advantageous to liberty or good government. + +This is the present condition of my mind; and this is my apology for not +going as fast as others may choose to go in this business. I do not by +any means reject the propositions; much less do I condemn the gentlemen +who, with equal good intentions, with much better abilities, and with +infinitely greater personal weight and consideration than mine, are of +opinion that this matter ought to be decided upon instantly. + +I most heartily wish that the deliberate sense of the kingdom on this +great subject should be known. When it is known, it _must_ be prevalent. +It would be dreadful indeed, if there was any power in the nation +capable of resisting its unanimous desire, or even the desire of any +very great and decided majority of the people. The people may be +deceived in their choice of an object; but I can scarcely conceive any +choice they can make to be so very mischievous as the existence of any +human force capable of resisting it. It will certainly be the duty of +every man, in the situation to which God has called him, to give his +best opinion and advice upon the matter: it will _not_ be his duty, let +him think what he will, to use any violent or any fraudulent means of +counteracting the general wish, or even of employing the legal and +constructive organ of expressing the people's sense against the sense +which they do actually entertain. + +In order that the real sense of the people should be known upon so great +an affair as this, it is of absolute necessity that timely notice should +be given,--that the matter should be prepared in open committees, from a +choice into which no class or description of men is to be excluded,--and +the subsequent county meetings should be as full and as well attended as +possible. Without these precautions, the true sense of the people will +ever be uncertain. Sure I am, that no precipitate resolution on a great +change in the fundamental constitution of any country can ever be called +the real sense of the people. + +I trust it will not be taken amiss, if, as an inhabitant and freeholder +of this county, (one, indeed, among the most inconsiderable,) I assert +my right of dissenting (as I do dissent fully and directly) from any +resolution whatsoever on the subject of an alteration in the +representation and election of the kingdom _at this time_. By preserving +this light, and exercising it with temper and moderation, I trust I +cannot offend the noble proposer, for whom no man professes or feels +more respect and regard than I do. A want of concurrence in _everything_ +which _can_ be proposed will in no sort weaken the energy or distract +the efforts of men of upright intentions upon those points in which they +are agreed. Assemblies that are met, and with a resolution to be all of +a mind, are assemblies that can have no opinion at all of their own. The +first proposer of any measure must be their master. I do not know that +an amicable variety of sentiment, conducted with mutual good-will, has +any sort of resemblance to discord, or that it can give any advantage +whatsoever to the enemies of our common cause. On the contrary, a forced +and fictitious agreement (which every universal agreement must be) is +not becoming the cause of freedom. If, however, any evil should arise +from it, (which I confess I do not foresee,) I am happy that those who +have brought forward new and arduous matter, when very great doubts and +some diversity of opinion must be foreknown, are of authority and weight +enough to stand against the consequences. + +I humbly lay these my sentiments before the county. They are not taken +up to serve any interests of my own, or to be subservient to the +interests of any man or set of men under heaven. I could wish to be able +to attend our meeting, or that I had time to reason this matter more +fully by letter; but I am detained here upon our business: what you have +already put upon us is as much as we can do. If we are prevented from +going through it with any effect, I fear it will be in part owing not +more to the resistance of the enemies of our cause than to our imposing +on ourselves such tasks as no human faculties, employed as we are, can +be equal to. Our worthy members have shown distinguished ability and +zeal in support of our petition. I am just going down to a bill brought +in to frustrate a capital part of your desires. The minister is +preparing to transfer the cognizance of the public accounts from those +whom you and the Constitution have chosen to control them, to unknown +persons, creatures of his own. For so much he annihilates Parliament. + +I have the honor, &c. + +EDMUND BURKE. + +CHARLES STREET, 12th April, 1780. + + + + +FRAGMENTS OF A TRACT + +RELATIVE TO + +THE LAWS AGAINST POPERY + +IN IRELAND. + + +NOTE. + + The condition of the Roman Catholics in Ireland appears to + lave engaged the attention of Mr. Burke at a very early + period of his political life. It was probably soon after the + year 1765 that he formed the plan of a work upon that + subject, the fragments of which are now given to the public. + No title is prefixed to it in the original manuscript; and + the _Plan_, which it has been thought proper to insert here, + was evidently designed merely for the convenience of the + author. Of the first chapter some unconnected fragments only, + too imperfect for publication, have been found. Of the second + there is a considerable portion, perhaps nearly the whole; + but the copy from which it is printed is evidently a first + rough draught. The third chapter, as far as it goes, is taken + from a fair, corrected copy; but the end of the second part + of the first head is left unfinished, and the discussion of + the second and third heads was either never entered upon or + the manuscript containing it has unfortunately been lost. + What follows the third chapter appears to have been designed + for the beginning of the fourth, and is evidently the first + rough draught; and to this we have added a fragment which + appears to have been a part either of this or the first + chapter. + + In the volume with which it is intended to close this + posthumous publication of Mr. Burke's Works, we shall have + occasion to enter into a more particular account of the part + which he took in the discussion of this great political + question. At present it may suffice to say, that the Letter + to Mr. Smith, the Second Letter to Sir Hercules Langrishe, + and the Letter to his Son, which here follow in order the + Fragment on the Popery Laws, are the only writings upon this + subject found amongst his papers in a state fit to appear in + this stage of the publication. What remain are some small + fragments of the Tract, and a few letters containing no new + matter of importance. + + + + +TRACT + +ON THE POPERY LAWS + + +THE PLAN. + + +I propose, first, to make an Introduction, in order to show the +propriety of a closer inspection into the affairs of Ireland; and this +takes up the first chapter, which is to be spent in this introductory +matter, and in stating the Popery laws in general, as one leading cause +of the imbecility of the country. + +CH. II. states particularly the laws themselves, in a plain and popular +manner. + +CH. III. begins the remarks upon them, under the heads of, 1st, The +object,--which is a numerous people; 2ndly, Their means,--a restraint on +property; 3rdly, Their instruments of execution,--corrupted morals, +which affect the national prosperity. + +CH. IV. The impolicy of those laws, as they affect the national +security. + +CH. V. Reasons by which the laws are supported, and answers to them. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +In order to lay this matter with full satisfaction before the reader, I +shall collect into one point of view, and state as shortly and as +clearly as I am able, the purport of these laws, according to the +objects which they affect, without making at present any further +observation upon them, but just what shall be necessary to render the +drift; and intention of the legislature and the tendency and operation +of the laws the more distinct and evident. + +I shall begin with those which relate to the possession and inheritance +of landed property in Popish hands. The first operation of those acts +upon this object was wholly to change the course of descent by the +Common Law, to take away the right of primogeniture, and, in lieu +thereof, to substitute and establish a new species of Statute Gavelkind. +By this law, on the death of a Papist possessed of an estate in fee +simple or in fee tail, the land is to be divided by equal portions +between all the male children; and those portions are likewise to be +parcelled out, share and share alike, amongst the descendants of each +son, and so to proceed in a similar distribution _ad infinitum_. From +this regulation it was proposed that some important consequences should +follow. First, by taking away the right of primogeniture, perhaps in the +very first generation, certainly in the second, the families of Papists, +however respectable, and their fortunes, however considerable, would be +wholly dissipated, and reduced to obscurity and indigence, without any +possibility that they should repair them by their industry or +abilities,--being, as we shall see anon, disabled from every species of +permanent acquisition. Secondly, by this law the right of testamentation +is taken away, which the inferior tenures had always enjoyed, and all +tenures from the 27th Hen. VIII; Thirdly, the right of settlement was +taken away, that no such persons should, from the moment the act passed, +be enabled to advance themselves in fortune or connection by marriage, +being disabled from making any disposition, in consideration of such +marriage, but what the law had previously regulated: the reputable +establishment of the eldest son, as representative of the family, or to +settle a jointure, being commonly the great object in such settlements, +which was the very power which the law had absolutely taken away. + +The operation of this law, however certain, might be too slow. The +present possessors might happen to be long-lived. The legislature knew +the natural impatience of expectants, and upon this principle they gave +encouragement to children to anticipate the inheritance. For it is +provided, that the eldest son of any Papist shall, immediately on his +conformity, change entirely the nature and properties of his father's +legal estate: if he before held in fee simple, or, in other words, had +the entire and absolute dominion over the land, he is reduced to an +estate for his life only, with all the consequences of the natural +debility of that estate, by which he becomes disqualified to sell, +mortgage, charge, (except for his life,) or in any wise to do any act by +which he may raise money for relief in his most urgent necessities. The +eldest son, so conforming, immediately acquires, and in the lifetime of +his father, the permanent part, what our law calls the reversion and +inheritance of the estate; and he discharges it by retrospect, and +annuls every sort of voluntary settlement made by the father ever so +long before his conversion. This he may sell or dispose of immediately, +and alienate it from the family forever. + +Having thus reduced his father's estate, he may also bring his father +into the Court of Chancery, where he may compel him to swear to the +value of his estate, and to allow him out of that possession (which had +been before reduced to an estate for life) such an immediate annual +allowance as the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper shall judge suitable to +his ago and quality. + +This indulgence is not confined to the eldest son. The other children +likewise, by conformity, may acquire the same privileges, and in the +same manner force from their father an immediate and independent +maintenance. It is very well worth remarking, that the statutes have +avoided to fix any determinate age for these emancipating conversions; +so that the children, at any age, however incapable of choice in other +respects, however immature or even infantile, are yet considered +sufficiently capable to disinherit their parents, and totally to +subtract themselves from their direction and control, either at their +own option, or by the instigation of others. By this law the tenure and +value of a Roman Catholic in his real property is not only rendered +extremely limited and altogether precarious, but the paternal power is +in all such families so enervated that it may well be considered as +entirely taken away; even the principle upon which it is founded seems +to be directly reversed. However, the legislature feared that enough was +not yet done upon this head. The Roman Catholic parent, by selling his +real estate, might in some sort preserve the dominion over his substance +and his family, and thereby evade the operation of these laws, which +intended to take away both. Besides, frequent revolutions and many +conversions had so broken the landed property of Papists in that +kingdom, that it was apprehended that this law could have in a short +time but a few objects upon which it would be capable of operating. + +To obviate these inconveniences another law was made, by which the +dominion of children over their parents was extended universally +throughout the whole Popish part of the nation, and every child of every +Popish parent was encouraged to come into what is called a court of +equity, to prefer a bill against his father, and compel him to confess, +upon oath, the quantity and value of his substance, personal as well as +real, of what nature soever, or howsoever it might be employed; upon +which discovery, the court is empowered to seize upon and allocate, for +the immediate maintenance of such child or children, any sum not +exceeding a third of the whole fortune: and as to their future +establishment on the death of the father, no limits are assigned; the +Chancery may, if it thinks fit, take the whole property, personal as +well as real, money, stock in trade, &c, out of the power of the +possessor, and secure it in any manner they judge expedient for that +purpose; for the act has not assigned any sort of limit with regard to +the quantity which is to be charged, or given any direction concerning +the means of charging and securing it: a law which supersedes all +observation. + +But the law is still more extensive in its provision. Because there was +a possibility that the parent, though sworn, might by false +representations evade the discovery of the ultimate value of his estate, +a new bill may be at any time brought, by one, any, or all of the +children, for a further discovery; his effects are to undergo a fresh +scrutiny, and a now distribution is to be made in consequence of it. So +that the parent has no security against perpetual inquietude, and the +reiteration of Chancery suits, but by (what is somewhat difficult for +human nature to comply with) fully, and without reserve, abandoning his +whole property to the discretion of the court, to be disposed of in +favor of such children. + +But is this enough, and has the parent purchased his repose by such a +surrender? Very far from it. The law expressly, and very carefully, +provides that he shall not: before he can be secure from the persecution +of his children, it requires another and a much more extraordinary +condition: the children are authorized, if they can find that their +parent has by his industry, or otherwise, increased the value of his +property since their first bill, to bring another, compelling a new +account of the value of his estate, in order to a new distribution +proportioned to the value of the estate at the time of the new bill +preferred. They may bring such bills, _toties quoties_, upon every +improvement of his fortune, without any sort of limitation of time, or +regard to the frequency of such bills, or to the quantity of the +increase of the estate, which shall justify the bringing them. This act +expressly provides that he shall have no respite from the persecution of +his children, but by totally abandoning all thoughts of improvement and +acquisition. + +This is going a great way, surely: but the laws in question have gone +much further. Not satisfied with calling upon children to revolt against +their parents, and to possess themselves of their substance, there are +cases where the withdrawing of the child from his father's obedience is +not left to the option of the child himself: for, if the wife of a Roman +Catholic should choose to change her religion, from that moment she +deprives her husband of all management and direction of his children, +and even of all the tender satisfaction which a parent can feel in their +society, and which is the only indemnification he can have for all his +cares and sorrows; and they are to be torn forever, at the earliest age, +from his house and family: for the Lord Chancellor is not only +authorized, but he is strongly required, to take away all his children +from such Popish parent, to appoint where, in what manner, and by whom +they are to be educated; and the father is compelled to pay, not for the +ransom, but for the deprivation of his children, and to furnish such a +sum as the Chancellor thinks proper to appoint for their education to +the age of eighteen years. The case is the same, if the husband should +be the conformist; though how the law is to operate in this case I do +not see: for the act expressly says, that the child shall be taken from +such Popish parent; and whilst such husband and wife cohabit, it will be +impossible to put it into execution without taking the child from one as +well as from the other; and then the effect of the law will be, that, if +either husband or wife becomes Protestant, both are to be deprived of +their children. + +The paternal power thus being wholly abrogated, it is evident that by +the last regulation the power of an husband over his wife is also +considerably impaired; because, if it be in her power, whenever she +pleases, to subtract the children from his protection and obedience, she +herself by that hold inevitably acquires a power and superiority over +her husband. + +But she is not left dependent upon this oblique influence: for, if in +any marriage settlement the husband has reserved to him a power of +making a jointure, and he dies without settling any, her conformity +executes his powers, and executes them in as large extent as the +Chancellor thinks fit. The husband is deprived of that coercive power +over his wife which he had in his hands by the use he might make of the +discretionary power reserved in the settlement. + +But if no such power had been reserved, and no such settlement existed, +yet, if the husband dies, leaving his conforming wife without a filed +provision by some settlement on his real estate, his wife may apply to +Chancery, where she shall be allotted a portion from his leases, and +other personal estate, not exceeding one third of his whole clear +substance. The laws in this instance, as well as in the former, have +presumed that the husband has omitted to make all the provision which he +might have done, for no other reason than that of her religion. If, +therefore, she chooses to balance any domestic misdemeanors to her +husband by the public merit of conformity to the Protestant religion, +the law will suffer no plea of such misdemeanors to be urged on the +husband's part, nor proof of that kind to be entered into. She acquires +a provision totally independent of his favor, and deprives him of that +source of domestic authority which the Common Law had left to him, that +of rewarding or punishing, by a voluntary distribution of his effects, +what in his opinion was the good or ill behavior of his wife. + +Thus the laws stand with regard to the property already acquired, to its +mode of descent, and to family powers. Now as to the new acquisition of +real property, and both to the acquisition and security of personal, the +law stands thus:-- + +All persons of that persuasion are disabled from taking or purchasing, +directly or by a trust, any lands, any mortgage upon land, any rents or +profits from land, any lease, interest, or term of any land, any +annuity for life or lives or years, or any estate whatsoever, chargeable +upon, or which may in any manner affect, any lands. + +One exception, and one only, is admitted by the statutes to the +universality of this exclusion, viz., a lease for a term not exceeding +thirty-one years. But even this privilege is charged with a prior +qualification. This remnant of a right is doubly curtailed: 1st, that on +such a short lease a rent not less than two thirds of the full improved +yearly value, at the time of the making it, shall be reserved during the +whole continuance of the term; and, 2ndly, it does not extend to the +whole kingdom. This lease must also be in possession, and not in +reversion. If any lease is made, exceeding either in duration or value, +and in the smallest degree, the above limits, the whole interest is +forfeited, and vested _ipso facto_ in the first Protestant discoverer or +informer. This discoverer, thus invested with the property, is enabled +to sue for it as his own right. The courts of law are not alone open to +him; he may (and this is the usual method) enter into either of the +courts of equity, and call upon the parties, and those whom he suspects +to be their trustees, upon oath, and under the penalties of perjury, to +discover against themselves the exact nature and value of their estates +in every particular, in order to induce their forfeiture on the +discovery. In such suits the informer is not liable to those delays +which the ordinary procedure of those courts throws into the way of the +justest claimant; nor has the Papist the indulgence which he [it?] +allows to the most fraudulent defendant, that of plea and demurrer; but +the defendant is obliged to answer the whole directly upon oath. The +rule of _favores ampliandi,_ &c., is reversed by this act, lest any +favor should be shown, or the force and operation of the law in any part +of its progress be enervated. All issues to be tried on this act are to +be tried by none but known Protestants. + +It is here necessary to state as a part of this law what has been for +some time generally understood as a certain consequence of it. The act +had expressly provided that a Papist could possess no sort of estate +which might affect land (except as before excepted). On this a +difficulty did, not unnaturally, arise. It is generally known, a +judgment being obtained or acknowledged for any debt, since the statute +of Westm. 2, 13 Ed. I. c. 18, one half of the debtor's land is to be +delivered unto the creditor until the obligation is satisfied, under a +writ called _Elegit_, and this writ has been ever since the ordinary +assurance of the land, and the great foundation of general credit in the +nation. Although the species of holding under this writ is not specified +in the statute, the received opinion, though not juridically delivered, +has been, that, if they attempt to avail themselves of that security, +because it may create an estate, however precarious, in land, their +whole debt or charge is forfeited, and becomes the property of the +Protestant informer. Thus you observe, first, that by the express words +of the law all possibility of acquiring any species of valuable +property, in any sort connected with land, is taken away; and, secondly, +by the construction all security for money is also cut off. No security +is left, except what is merely personal, and which, therefore, most +people who lend money would, I believe, consider as none at all. + +Under this head of the acquisition of property, the law meets them in +every road of industry, and in its direct and consequential provisions +throws almost all sorts of obstacles in their way. For they are not only +excluded from all offices in Church and State, which, though a just and +necessary provision, is yet no small restraint in the acquisition, but +they are interdicted from the army, and the law, in all its branches. +This point is carried to so scrupulous a severity, that chamber +practice, and even private conveyancing, the most voluntary agency, are +prohibited to them under the severest penalties and the most rigid modes +of inquisition. They have gone beyond even this: for every barrister, +six clerk, attorney, or solicitor, is obliged to take a solemn oath not +to employ persons of that persuasion,--no, not as hackney clerks, at the +miserable salary of seven shillings a week. No tradesman of that +persuasion is capable by any service or settlement to obtain his freedom +in any town corporate; so that they trade and work in their own native +towns as aliens, paying, as such, quarterage, and other charges and +impositions. They are expressly forbidden, in whatever employment, to +take more than two apprentices, except in the linen manufacture only. + + * * * * * + +In every state, next to the care of the life and properties of the +subject, the education of their youth has been a subject of attention. +In the Irish laws this point has not been neglected. Those who are +acquainted with the constitution of our universities need not be +informed that none but those who conform to the Established Church can +be at all admitted to study there, and that none can obtain degrees in +them who do not previously take all the tests, oaths, and declarations. +Lest they should be enabled to supply this defect by private academies +and schools of their own, the law has armed itself with all its terrors +against such a practice. Popish schoolmasters of every species are +proscribed by those acts, and it is made felony to teach even in a +private family. So that Papists are entirely excluded from an education +in any of our authorized establishments for learning at home. In order +to shut up every avenue to instruction, the act of King William in +Ireland has added to this restraint by precluding them from all foreign +education. + +This act is worthy of attention on account of the singularity of some of +its provisions. Being sent for education to any Popish school or college +abroad, upon conviction, incurs (if the party sent has any estate of +inheritance) a kind of unalterable and perpetual outlawry. The tender +and incapable age of such a person, his natural subjection to the will +of others, his necessary, unavoidable ignorance of the laws, stands for +nothing in his favor. He is disabled to sue in law or equity; to be +guardian, executor, or administrator; he is rendered incapable of any +legacy or deed of gift; he forfeits all his goods and chattels forever; +and he forfeits for his life all his lands, hereditaments, offices, and +estate of freehold, and all trusts, powers, or interests therein. All +persons concerned in sending them or maintaining them abroad, by the +least assistance of money or otherwise, are involved in the same +disabilities, and subjected to the same penalties. + +The mode of conviction is as extraordinary as the penal sanctions of +this act. A justice of peace, upon information that any child is sent +away, may require to be brought before him all persons charged or even +suspected of sending or assisting, and examine them and other persons +on oath concerning the fact. If on this examination he finds it +_probable_ that the party was sent contrary to this act, he is then, to +bind over the parties and witnesses in any sum he thinks fit, but not +less than two hundred pounds, to appear and take their trial at the next +quarter sessions. Here the justices are to reexamine evidence, until +they arrive, as before, to what shall appear to them a probability. For +the rest they resort to the accused: if they can prove that any person, +or any money, or any bill of exchange, has been sent abroad by the party +accused, they throw the proof upon him to show for what innocent +purposes it was sent; and on failure of such proof, he is subjected to +all the above-mentioned penalties. Half the forfeiture is given to the +crown; the other half goes to the informer. + +It ought here to be remarked, that this mode of conviction not only +concludes the party has failed in his expurgatory proof, but it is +sufficient also to subject to the penalties and incapacities of the law +the infant upon whose account the person has been so convicted. It must +be confessed that the law has not left him without some species of +remedy in this case apparently of much hardship, where one man is +convicted upon evidence given against another, if he has the good +fortune to live; for, within a twelvemonth after his return, or his age +of twenty-one, he has a, right to call for a new trial, in which he also +is to undertake the negative proof, and to show by sufficient evidence +that he has not been sent abroad against the intention of the act. If he +succeeds in this difficult exculpation, and demonstrates his innocence +to the satisfaction of the court, he forfeits all his goods and +chattels, and all the profits of his lands incurred and received before +such acquittal; but he is freed from all other forfeitures, and from all +subsequent incapacities. There is also another method allowed by the law +in favor of persons under such unfortunate circumstances, as in the +former case for their innocence, in this upon account of their +expiation: if within six months after their return, with the punctilious +observation of many ceremonies, they conform to the Established Church, +and take all the oaths and subscriptions, the legislature, in +consideration of the incapable age in which they were sent abroad, of +the merit of their early conformity, and to encourage conversions, only +confiscates, as in the former case, the whole personal estate, and the +profits of the real; in all other respects, restoring and rehabilitating +the party. + + * * * * * + +So far as to property and education. There remain some other heads upon +which the acts have changed the course of the Common Law; and first, +with regard to the right of self-defence, which consists in the use of +arms. This, though one of the rights by the law of Nature, yet is so +capable of abuses that it may not be unwise to make some regulations +concerning them; and many wise nations have thought proper to set +several restrictions on this right, especially temporary ones, with +regard to suspected persons, and on occasion of some imminent danger to +the public from foreign invasion or domestic commotions. + +But provisions in time of trouble proper, and perhaps necessary, may +become in time of profound peace a scheme of tyranny. The method which +the statute law of Ireland has taken upon this delicate article is, to +get rid of all difficulties at once by an universal prohibition to all +persons, at all times, and under all circumstances, who are not +Protestants, of using or keeping any kind of weapons whatsoever. In +order to enforce this regulation, the whole spirit of the Common Law is +changed, very severe penalties are enjoined, the largest powers are +vested in the lowest magistrates. Any two justices of peace, or +magistrates of a town, with or without information, at their pleasure, +by themselves or their warrant, are empowered to enter and search the +house of any Papist, or even of any other person, whom they suspect to +keep such arms in trust for them. The only limitation to the extent of +this power is, that the search is to be made between the rising and +setting of the sun: but even this qualification extends no further than +to the execution of the act in the open country; for in all cities and +their suburbs, in towns corporate and market-towns, they may at their +discretion, and without information, break open houses and institute +such search at any hour of the day or night. This, I say, they may do at +their discretion; and it seems a pretty ample power in the hands of such +magistrates. However, the matter does by no means totally rest on their +discretion. Besides the discretionary and occasional search, the statute +has prescribed one that is general and periodical. It is to be made +annually, by the warrant of the justices at their midsummer quarter +sessions, by the high and petty constables, or any others whom they may +authorize, and by all corporate magistrates, in all houses of Papists, +and every other where they suspect arms for the use of such persons to +be concealed, with the same powers, in all respects, which attend the +occasional search. The whole of this regulation, concerning both the +general and particular search, seems to have been made by a legislature +which was not at all extravagantly jealous of personal liberty. Not +trusting, however, to the activity of the magistrate acting officially, +the law has invited all voluntary informers by considerable rewards, and +even pressed involuntary informers into this service by the dread of +heavy penalties. With regard to the latter method, two justices of +peace, or the magistrate of any corporation, are empowered to summon +before them any persons whatsoever, to tender them an oath by which they +oblige them to discover all persons who have any arms concealed contrary +to law. Their refusal or declining to appear, or, appearing, their +refusal to inform, subjects them to the severest penalties. If peers or +peeresses are summoned (for they may be summoned by the bailiff of a +corporation of six cottages) to perform this honorable service, and +refuse to inform, the first offence is three hundred pounds penalty; the +second is _præmunire_,--that is to say, imprisonment for life, and +forfeiture of all their goods. Persons of an inferior order are, for the +first offence, fined thirty pounds; for the second, they, too, are +subjected to _præmunire_. So far as to involuntary;--now as to voluntary +informers: the law entitles them to half the penalty incurred by +carrying or keeping arms; for, on conviction of this offence, the +penalty upon persons, of whatever substance, is the sum of fifty pounds +and a year's imprisonment, which cannot be remitted even by the crown. + +The only exception to this law is a license from the Lord Lieutenant and +Council to carry arms, which, by its nature, is extremely limited, and I +do not suppose that there are six persons now in the kingdom who have +been fortunate enough to obtain it. + + * * * * * + +There remains, after this system concerning property and defence, to say +something concerning the exercise of religion, winch is carried on in +all persuasions, but especially in the Romish, by persons appointed for +that purpose. The law of King William and Queen Anne ordered all Popish +parsons exercising ecclesiastical jurisdiction, all orders of monks and +friars, and all priests, not then actually in parishes, and to be +registered, to be banished the kingdom; and if they should return from +exile, to be hanged, drawn, and quartered. Twenty pounds reward is given +for apprehending them. Penalty on harboring and concealing. + +As all the priests then in being and registered are long since dead, and +as these laws are made perpetual, every Popish priest is liable to the +law. + + * * * * * + +The reader has now before him a tolerably complete view of the Popery +laws relative to property by descent or acquisition, to education, to +defence, and to the free exercise of religion, which may be necessary to +enable him to form some judgment of the spirit of the whole system, and +of the subsequent reflections that are to be made upon it. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +PART I. + + +The system which we have just reviewed, and the manner in which +religious influence on the public is made to operate upon the laws +concerning property in Ireland, is in its nature very singular, and +differs, I apprehend, essentially, and perhaps to its disadvantage, from +any scheme of religious persecution now existing in any other country in +Europe, or which has prevailed in any time or nation with which history +has made us acquainted. I believe it will not be difficult to show that +it is unjust, impolitic, and inefficacious; that it has the most unhappy +influence on the prosperity, the morals, and the safety of that country; +that this influence is not accidental, but has flowed as the necessary +and direct consequence of the laws themselves, first on account of the +object which they affect, and next by the quality of the greatest part +of the instruments they employ. Upon all these points, first upon the +general, and then on the particular, this question will be considered +with as much order as can be followed in a matter of itself as involved +and intricate as it is important. + + * * * * * + +The first and most capital consideration with regard to this, as to +every object, is the extent of it. And here it is necessary to premise, +this system of penalty and incapacity has for its object no small sect +or obscure party, but a very numerous body of men,--a body which +comprehends at least two thirds of that whole nation: it amounts to +2,800,000 souls, a number sufficient for the materials constituent of a +great people. Now it is well worthy of a serious and dispassionate +examination, whether such a system, respecting such an object, be in +reality agreeable to any sound principles of legislation or any +authorized definition of law; for if our reasons or practices differ +from the general informed sense of mankind, it is very moderate to say +that they are at least suspicious. + +This consideration of the magnitude of the object ought to attend us +through the whole inquiry: if it does not always affect the reason, it +is always decisive on the importance of the question. It not only makes +in itself a more leading point, but complicates itself with every other +part of the matter, giving every error, minute in itself, a character +and significance from its application. It is therefore not to be +wondered at, if we perpetually recur to it in the course of this essay. + +In the making of a new law it is undoubtedly the duty of the legislator +to see that no injustice be done even to an individual: for there is +then nothing to be unsettled, and the matter is under his hands to mould +it as he pleases; and if he finds it untractable in the working, he may +abandon it without incurring any new inconvenience. But in the question +concerning the repeal of an old one, the work is of more difficulty; +because laws, like houses, lean on one another, and the operation is +delicate, and should be necessary: the objection, in such a case, ought +not to arise from the natural infirmity of human institutions, but from +substantial faults which contradict the nature and end of law +itself,--faults not arising from the imperfection, but from the +misapplication and abuse of our reason. As no legislators can regard the +_minima_ of equity, a law may in some instances be a just subject of +censure without being at all an object of repeal. But if its +transgressions against common right and, the ends of just government +should be considerable in their nature and spreading in their effects, +as this objection goes to the root and principle of the law, it renders +it void in its obligatory quality on the mind, and therefore determines +it as the proper object of abrogation and repeal, so far as regards its +civil existence. The objection here is, as we observed, by no means on +account of the imperfection of the law; it is on account of its +erroneous principle: for if this be fundamentally wrong, the more +perfect the law is made, the worse it becomes. It cannot be said to have +the properties of genuine law, even in its imperfections and defects. +The true weakness and opprobrium of our best general constitutions is, +that they cannot provide beneficially for every particular case, and +thus fill, adequately to their intentions, the circle of universal +justice. But where the principle is faulty, the erroneous part of the +law is the beneficial, and justice only finds refuge in those holes and +corners which had escaped the sagacity and inquisition of the +legislator. The happiness or misery of multitudes can never be a thing +indifferent. A law against the majority of the people is in substance a +law against the people itself; its extent determines its invalidity; it +even changes its character as it enlarges its operation: it is not +particular injustice, but general oppression; and can no longer be +considered as a private hardship, which might be borne, but spreads and +grows up into the unfortunate importance of a national calamity. + +Now as a law directed against the mass of the nation has not the nature +of a reasonable institution, so neither has it the authority: for in all +forms of government the people is the true legislator; and whether the +immediate and instrumental cause of the law be a single person or many, +the remote and efficient cause is the consent of the people, either +actual or implied; and such consent is absolutely essential to its +validity. To the solid establishment of every law two things are +essentially requisite: first, a proper and sufficient human power to +declare and modify the matter of the law; and next, such a fit and +equitable constitution as they have a right to declare and render +binding. With regard to the first requisite, the human authority, it is +their judgment they give up, not their right. The people, indeed, are +presumed to consent to whatever the legislature ordains for their +benefit; and they are to acquiesce in it, though they do not clearly see +into the propriety of the means by which they are conducted to that +desirable end. This they owe as an act of homage and just deference to a +reason which the necessity of government has made superior to their own. +But though the means, and indeed the nature, of a public advantage may +not always be evident to the understanding of the subject, no one is so +gross and stupid as not to distinguish between a benefit and an injury. +No one can imagine, then, an exclusion of a great body of men, not from +favors, privileges, and trusts, but from the common advantages of +society, can ever be a thing intended for their good, or can ever be +ratified by any implied consent of theirs. If, therefore, at least an +implied human consent is necessary to the existence of a law, such a +constitution cannot in propriety be a law at all. + +But if we could suppose that such a ratification was made, not +virtually, but actually, by the people, not representatively, but even +collectively, still it would be null and void. They have no right to +make a law prejudicial to the whole community, even though the +delinquents in making such an act should be themselves the chief +sufferers by it; because it would be-made against the principle of a +superior law, which it is not in the power of any community, or of the +whole race of man, to alter,--I mean the will of Him who gave us our +nature, and in giving impressed an invariable law upon it. It would be +hard to point out any error more truly subversive of all the order and +beauty, of all the peace and happiness of human society, than the +position, that any body of men have a right to make what laws they +please,--or that laws can derive any authority from their institution +merely, and independent of the quality of the subject-matter. No +arguments of policy, reason of state, or preservation of the +constitution can be pleaded in favor of such a practice. They may, +indeed, impeach the frame of that constitution, but can never touch this +immovable principle. This seems to be, indeed, the doctrine which Hobbes +broached in the last century, and which was then so frequently and so +ably refuted. Cicero exclaims with the utmost indignation and contempt +against such a notion:[22] he considers it not only as unworthy of a +philosopher, but of an illiterate peasant; that of all things this was +the most truly absurd, to fancy that the rule of justice was to be taken +from the constitutions of commonwealths, or that laws derived their +authority from the statutes of the people, the edicts of princes, or +the decrees of judges. If it be admitted that it is not the black-letter +and the king's arms that makes the law, we are to look for it elsewhere. + +In reality there are two, and only two, foundations of law; and they are +both of them conditions without which nothing can give it any force: I +mean equity and utility. With respect to the former, it grows out of the +great rule of equality, which is grounded upon our common nature, and +which Philo, with propriety and beauty, calls the mother of justice. All +human laws are, properly speaking, only declaratory; they may alter the +mode and application, but have no power over the substance of original +justice. The other foundation of law, which is utility, must be +understood, not of partial or limited, but of general and public +utility, connected in the same manner with, and derived directly from, +our rational nature: for any other utility may be the utility of a +robber, but cannot be that of a citizen,--the interest of the domestic +enemy, and not that of a member of the commonwealth. This present +equality can never be the foundation of statutes which create an +artificial difference between men, as the laws before us do, in order to +induce a consequential inequality in the distribution of justice. Law is +a mode of human action respecting society, and must be governed by the +same rules of equity which govern every private action; and so Tully +considers it in his Offices as the only utility agreeable to that +nature: "_Unum debet esse omnibus propositum, ut eadem sit utilitas +uniuscujusque et universorum; quam si ad se quisque rapiat, dissolvetur +omnis humana consortio_." + +If any proposition can be clear in itself, it is this: that a law which +shuts out from all secure and valuable property the bulk of the people +cannot be made for the utility of the party so excluded. This, +therefore, is not the utility which Tully mentions. But if it were true +(as it is not) that the real interest of any part of the community could +be separated from the happiness of the rest, still it would afford no +just foundation for a statute providing exclusively for that interest at +the expense of the other; because it would be repugnant to the essence +of law, which requires that it be made as much as possible for the +benefit of the whole. If this principle be denied or evaded, what ground +have we left to reason on? We must at once make a total change in all +our ideas, and look for a new definition of law. Where to find it I +confess myself at a loss. If we resort to the fountains of +jurisprudence, they will not supply us with any that is for our purpose. +"_Jus_" (says Paulus) "_pluribus modis dicitur: uno modo, cum id, quod +semper æquum et bonum est, jus dicitur, ut est jus naturale"_;--this +sense of the word will not be thought, I imagine, very applicable to our +penal laws;--"_altero modo, quod omnibus aut pluribus in unaquaque +civitate utile est, ut est jus civile_." Perhaps this latter will be as +insufficient, and would rather seem a censure and condemnation of the +Popery Acts than a definition that includes them; and there is no other +to be found in the whole Digest; neither are there any modern writers +whose ideas of law are at all narrower. + +It would be far more easy to heap up authorities on this article than to +excuse the prolixity and tediousness of producing any at all in proof of +a point which, though too often practically denied, is in its theory +almost self-evident. For Suarez, handling this very question, _Utrum de +ratione et substantia legis esse ut propter commune bonum feratur_, does +not hesitate a moment, finding no ground in reason or authority to +render the affirmative in the least degree disputable: "_In quæstione +ergo proposita"_ (says he) "_nulla est inter authores controversia; sed +omnium commune est axioma de substantia et ratione legis esse, ut pro +communi bono feratur; ita ut propter illud præcipue tradatur_"; having +observed in another place, "_Contra omnem rectitudinem est bonum commune +ad privatum ordinare, seu totum ad partem propter ipsum referre_." +Partiality and law are contradictory terms. Neither the merits nor the +ill deserts, neither the wealth and importance nor the indigence and +obscurity, of the one part or of the other, can make any alteration in +this fundamental truth. On any other scheme, I defy any man living to +settle a correct standard which may discriminate between equitable rule +and the most direct tyranny. For if we can once prevail upon ourselves +to depart from the strictness and integrity of this principle in favor +even of a considerable party, the argument will hold for one that is +less so; and thus we shall go on, narrowing the bottom of public right, +until step by step we arrive, though after no very long or very forced +deduction, at what one of our poets calls the _enormous faith_,--the +faith of the many, created for the advantage of a single person. I +cannot see a glimmering of distinction to evade it; nor is it possible +to allege any reason for the proscription of so large a part of the +kingdom, which would not hold equally to support, under parallel +circumstances, the proscription of the whole. + +I am sensible that these principles, in their abstract light, will not +be very strenuously opposed. Reason is never inconvenient, but when it +comes to be applied. Mere general truths interfere very little with the +passions. They can, until they are roused by a troublesome application, +rest in great tranquillity, side by side with tempers and proceedings +the most directly opposite to them. Men want to be reminded, who do not +want to be taught; because those original ideas of rectitude, to which +the mind is compelled to assent when they are proposed, are not always +as present to it as they ought to be. When people are gone, if not into +a denial, at least into a sort of oblivion of those ideas, when they +know them only as barren speculations, and not as practical motives for +conduct, it will be proper to press, as well as to offer them to the +understanding; and when one is attacked by prejudices which aim to +intrude themselves into the place of law, what is left for us but to +vouch and call to warranty those principles of original justice from +whence alone our title to everything valuable in society is derived? Can +it be thought to arise from a superfluous, vain parade of displaying +general and uncontroverted maxims, that we should revert at this time to +the first principles of law, when we have directly under our +consideration a whole body of statutes, which, I say, are so many +contradictions, which their advocates allow to be so many exceptions +from those very principles? Take them in the most favorable light, every +exception from the original and fixed rule of equality and justice ought +surely to be very well authorized in the reason of their deviation, and +very rare in their use. For, if they should grow to be frequent, in what +would they differ from an abrogation of the rule itself? By becoming +thus frequent, they might even go further, and, establishing themselves +into a principle, convert the rule into the exception. It cannot be +dissembled that this is not at all remote from the case before us, where +the great body of the people are excluded from all valuable +property,--where the greatest and most ordinary benefits of society are +conferred as privileges, and not enjoyed on the footing of common +rights. + +The clandestine manner in which those in power carry on such designs is +a sufficient argument of the sense they inwardly entertain of the true +nature of their proceedings. Seldom is the title or preamble of the law +of the same import with the body and enacting part; but they generally +place some other color uppermost, which differs from that which is +afterwards to appear, or at least one that is several shades fainter. +Thus, the penal laws in question are not called laws to oblige men +baptized and educated in Popery to renounce their religion or their +property, but are called laws to prevent the growth of Popery; as if +their purpose was only to prevent conversions to that sect, and not to +persecute a million of people already engaged in it. But of all the +instances of this sort of legislative artifice, and of the principles +that produced it, I never met with any which made a stronger impression +on me than that of Louis the Fourteenth, in the revocation of the Edict +of Nantes. That monarch had, when he made that revocation, as few +measures to keep with public opinion as any man. In the exercise of the +most unresisted authority at home, in a career of uninterrupted victory +abroad, and in a course of flattery equal to the circumstances of his +greatness in both these particulars, he might be supposed to have as +little need as disposition to render any sort of account to the world of +his procedure towards his subjects. But the persecution of so vast a +body of men as the Huguenots was too strong a measure even for the law +of pride and power. It was too glaring a contradiction even to those +principles upon which persecution itself is supported. Shocked at the +naked attempt, he had recourse, for a palliation of his conduct, to an +unkingly denial of the fact which made against him. In the preamble, +therefore, to his Act of Revocation, he sets forth that the Edict of +Nantes was no longer necessary, as the object of it (the Protestants of +his kingdom) were then reduced to a very small number. The refugees in +Holland cried out against this misrepresentation. They asserted, I +believe with truth, that this revocation had driven two hundred thousand +of them out of their country, and that they could readily demonstrate +there still remained six hundred thousand Protestants in France. If this +were the fact, (as it was undoubtedly,) no argument of policy could have +been strong enough to excuse a measure by which eight hundred thousand +men were despoiled, at one stroke, of so many of their rights and +privileges. Louis the Fourteenth confessed, by this sort of apology, +that, if the number had been large, the revocation had been unjust. But, +after all, is it not most evident that this act of injustice, which let +loose on that monarch such a torrent of invective and reproach, and +which threw so dark a cloud over all the splendor of a most illustrious +reign, falls far short of the case in Ireland? The privileges which the +Protestants of that kingdom enjoyed antecedent to this revocation were +far greater than the Roman Catholics of Ireland ever aspired to under a +contrary establishment. The number of their sufferers, if considered +absolutely, is not half of ours; if considered relatively to the body of +each community, it is not perhaps a twentieth part. And then the +penalties and incapacities which grew from that revocation are not so +grievous in their nature, nor so certain in their execution, nor so +ruinous by a great deal to the civil prosperity of the state, as those +which we have established for a perpetual law in our unhappy country. It +cannot be thought to arise from affectation, that I call it so. What +other name can be given to a country which contains so many hundred +thousands of human creatures reduced to a state of the most abject +servitude? + +In putting this parallel, I take it for granted that we can stand for +this short time very clear of our party distinctions. If it were enough, +by the use of an odious and unpopular word, to determine the question, +it would be no longer a subject of rational disquisition; since that +very prejudice which gives these odious names, and which is the party +charged for doing so, and for the consequences of it, would then become +the judge also. But I flatter myself that not a few will be found who do +not think that the names of Protestant and Papist can make any change in +the nature of essential justice. Such men will not allow that to be +proper treatment to the one of these denominations which would be +cruelty to the other, and which converts its very crime into the +instrument of its defence: they will hardly persuade themselves that +what was bad policy in France can be good in Ireland, or that what was +intolerable injustice in an arbitrary monarch becomes, only by being +more extended and more violent, an equitable procedure in a country +professing to be governed by law. It is, however, impossible not to +observe with some concern, that there are many also of a different +disposition,--a number of persons whose minds are so formed that they +find the communion of religion to be a close and an endearing tie, and +their country to be no bond at all,--to whom common altars are a better +relation than common habitations and a common civil interest,--whose +hearts are touched with the distresses of foreigners, and are abundantly +awake to all the tenderness of human feeling on such an occasion, even +at the moment that they are inflicting the very same distresses, or +worse, on their fellow-citizens, without the least sting of compassion +or remorse. To commiserate the distresses of all men suffering +innocently, perhaps meritoriously, is generous, and very agreeable to +the better part of our nature,--a disposition that ought by all means to +be cherished. But to transfer humanity from its natural basis, our +legitimate and home-bred connections,--to lose all feeling for those who +have grown up by our sides, in our eyes, the benefit of whose cares and +labors we have partaken from our birth, and meretriciously to hunt +abroad after foreign affections, is such a disarrangement of the whole +system of our duties, that I do not know whether benevolence so +displaced is not almost the same thing as destroyed, or what effect +bigotry could have produced that is more fatal to society. This no one +could help observing, who has seen our doors kindly and bountifully +thrown open to foreign sufferers for conscience, whilst through the same +ports were issuing fugitives of our own, driven from their country for a +cause which to an indifferent person would seem to be exactly similar, +whilst we stood by, without any sense of the impropriety of this +extraordinary scene, accusing and practising injustice. For my part, +there is no circumstance, in all the contradictions of our most +mysterious nature, that appears to be more humiliating than the use we +are disposed to make of those sad examples which seem purposely marked +for our correction and improvement. Every instance of fury and bigotry +in other men, one should think, would naturally fill us with an horror +of that disposition. The effect, however, is directly contrary. We are +inspired, it is true, with a very sufficient hatred for the party, but +with no detestation at all of the proceeding. Nay, we are apt to urge +our dislike of such measures as a reason for imitating them,--and, by an +almost incredible absurdity, because some powers have destroyed their +country by their persecuting spirit, to argue, that we ought to +retaliate on them by destroying our own. Such are the effects, and such, +I fear, has been the intention, of those numberless books which are +daily printed and industriously spread, of the persecutions in other +countries and other religious persuasions.--These observations, which +are a digression, but hardly, I think, can be considered as a departure +from the subject, have detained us some time: we will now come more +directly to our purpose. + +It has been shown, I hope with sufficient evidence, that a constitution +against the interest of the many is rather of the nature of a grievance +than of a law; that of all grievances it is the most weighty and +important; that it is made without due authority, against all the +acknowledged principles of jurisprudence, against the opinions of all +the great lights in that science; and that such is the tacit sense even +of those who act in the most contrary manner. These points are, indeed, +so evident, that I apprehend the abettors of the penal system will +ground their defence on an admission, and not on a denial of them. They +will lay it down as a principle, that the Protestant religion is a thing +beneficial for the whole community, as well in its civil interests as in +those of a superior order. From thence they will argue, that, the end +being essentially beneficial, the means become instrumentally so; that +these penalties and incapacities are not final causes of the law, but +only a discipline to bring over a deluded people to their real interest, +and therefore, though they may be harsh in their operation, they will be +pleasant in their effects; and be they what they will, they cannot be +considered as a very extraordinary hardship, as it is in the power of +the sufferer to free himself when he pleases, and that only by +converting to a better religion, which it is his duty to embrace, even +though it were attended with all those penalties from whence in reality +it delivers him: if he suffers, it is his own fault; _volenti non fit +injuria_. + +I shall be very short, without being, I think, the less satisfactory, in +my answer to these topics, because they never can be urged from a +conviction of their validity, and are, indeed, only the usual and +impotent struggles of those who are unwilling to abandon a practice +which they are unable to defend. First, then, I observe, that, if the +principle of their final and beneficial intention be admitted as a just +ground for such proceedings, there never was, in the blamable sense of +the word, nor ever can be, such a thing as a religious persecution in +the world. Such an intention is pretended by all men,--who all not only +insist that their religion has the sanction of Heaven, but is likewise, +and for that reason, the best and most convenient to human society. All +religious persecution, Mr. Bayle well observes, is grounded upon a +miserable _petitio principii_. You are wrong, I am right; you must come +over to me, or you must suffer. Let me add, that the great inlet by +which a color for oppression has entered into the world is by one man's +pretending to determine concerning the happiness of another, and by +claiming a right to use what means he thinks proper in order to bring +him to a sense of it. It is the ordinary and trite sophism of +oppression. But there is not yet such a convenient ductility in the +human understanding as to make us capable of being persuaded that men +can possibly mean the ultimate good of the whole society by rendering +miserable for a century together the greater part of it,--or that any +one has such a reversionary benevolence as seriously to intend the +remote good of a late posterity, who can give up the present enjoyment +which every honest man must have in the happiness of his contemporaries. +Everybody is satisfied that a conservation and secure enjoyment of our +natural rights is the great and ultimate purpose of civil society, and +that therefore all forms whatsoever of government are only good as they +are subservient to that purpose to which they are entirely subordinate. +Now to aim at the establishment of any form of government by sacrificing +what is the substance of it, to take away or at least to suspend the +rights of Nature in order to an approved system for the protection of +them, and for the sake of that about which men must dispute forever to +postpone those things about which they have no controversy at all, and +this not in minute and subordinate, but large and principal objects, is +a procedure as preposterous and absurd in argument as it is oppressive +and cruel in its effect. For the Protestant religion, nor (I speak it +with reverence, I am sure) the truth of our common Christianity, is not +so clear as this proposition,--that all men, at least the majority of +men in the society, ought to enjoy the common advantages of it. You +fall, therefore, into a double error: first, you incur a certain +mischief for an advantage which is comparatively problematical, even +though you were sure of obtaining it; secondly, whatever the proposed +advantage may be, were it of a certain nature, the attainment of it is +by no means certain; and such deep gaming for stakes so valuable ought +not to be admitted: the risk is of too much consequence to society. If +no other country furnished examples of this risk, yet our laws and our +country are enough fully to demonstrate the fact: Ireland, after almost +a century of persecution, is at this hour full of penalties and full of +Papists. This is a point which would lead us a great way; but it is only +just touched here, having much to say upon it in its proper place. So +that you have incurred a certain and an immediate inconvenience for a +remote and for a doubly uncertain benefit.--Thus far as to the argument +which would sanctify the injustice of these laws by the benefits which +are proposed to arise from them, and as to that liberty which, by a new +political chemistry, was to be extracted out of a system of oppression. + +Now as to the other point, that the objects of these laws suffer +voluntarily: this seems to me to be an insult rather than an argument. +For, besides that it totally annihilates every characteristic and +therefore every faulty idea of persecution, just as the former does, it +supposes, what is false in fact, that it is in a man's moral power to +change his religion whenever his convenience requires it. If he be +beforehand satisfied that your opinion is better than his, he will +voluntarily come over to you, and without compulsion, and then your law +would be unnecessary; but if he is not so convinced, he must know that +it is his duty in this point to sacrifice his interest here to his +opinion of his eternal happiness, else he could have in reality no +religion at all. In the former case, therefore, as your law would be +unnecessary, in the latter it would be persecuting: that is, it would +put your penalty and his ideas of duty in the opposite scales; which is, +or I know not what is, the precise idea of persecution. If, then, you +require a renunciation of his conscience, as a preliminary to his +admission to the rights of society, you annex, morally speaking, an +impossible condition to it. In this case, in the language of reason and +jurisprudence, the condition would be void, and the gift absolute; as +the practice runs, it is to establish the condition, and to withhold the +benefit. The suffering is, then, not voluntary. And I never heard any +other argument, drawn from the nature of laws and the good of human +society, urged in favor of those proscriptive statutes, except those +which have just been mentioned. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[22] Cicero _de Legibus_, Lib. L 14,15 et 16.--"O rem dignam, in qua non +modo docti, verum etiam agrestes erubescant! Jam vero illud stultissimum +existimare omnia justa esse, quæ scita sint in populorum institutis aut +legibus," etc. "Quod si populorum jussis, si principum decretis, si +sententiis judicum jura constituerentur, jus esset latrocinari, jus +adulterare, jus testamenta falsa supponere, si hæc suffragiis aut scitis +multitudinis probarentur." + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +PART II. + + +The second head upon which I propose to consider those statutes with +regard to their object, and which is the next in importance to the +magnitude, and of almost equal concern in the inquiry into the justice +of these laws, is its possession. It is proper to recollect that this +religion, which is so persecuted in its members, is the old religion of +the country, and the once established religion of the state,--the very +same which had for centuries received the countenance and sanction of +the laws, and from which it would at one time have been highly penal to +have dissented. In proportion as mankind has become enlightened, the +idea of religious persecution, under any circumstances, has been almost +universally exploded by all good and thinking men. The only faint shadow +of difficulty which remains is concerning the introduction of new +opinions. Experience has shown, that, if it has been favorable to the +cause of truth, it has not been always conducive to the peace of +society. Though a new religious sect should even be totally free in +itself from any tumultuous and disorderly zeal, which, however, is +rarely the case, it has a tendency to create a resistance from the +establishment in possession, productive of great disorders, and thus +becomes, innocently indeed, but yet very certainly, the cause of the +bitterest dissensions in the commonwealth. To a mind not thoroughly +saturated with the tolerating maxims of the Gospel, a preventive +persecution, on such principles, might come recommended by strong, and, +apparently, no immoral motives of policy, whilst yet the contagion was +recent, and had laid hold but on a few persons. The truth is, these +politics are rotten and hollow at bottom, as all that are founded upon +any however minute a degree of positive injustice must ever be. But they +are specious, and sufficiently so to delude a man of sense and of +integrity. But it is quite otherwise with the attempt to eradicate by +violence a wide-spreading and established religious opinion. If the +people are in an error, to inform them is not only fair, but charitable; +to drive them is a strain of the most manifest injustice. If not the +right, the presumption, at least, is ever on the side of possession. Are +they mistaken? if it does not fully justify them, it is a great +alleviation of guilt, which may be mingled with their misfortune, that +the error is none of their forging,--that they received it on as good a +footing as they can receive your laws and your legislative authority, +because it was handed down to them from their ancestors. The opinion may +be erroneous, but the principle is undoubtedly right; and you punish +them for acting upon a principle which of all others is perhaps the most +necessary for preserving society, an implicit admiration and adherence +to the establishments of their forefathers. + +If, indeed, the legislative authority was on all hands admitted to be +the ground of religious persuasion, I should readily allow that dissent +would be rebellion. In this case it would make no difference whether the +opinion was sucked in with the milk or imbibed yesterday; because the +same legislative authority which had settled could destroy it with all +the power of a creator over his creature. But this doctrine is +universally disowned, and for a very plain reason. Religion, to have +any force on men's understandings, indeed to exist at all, must be +supposed paramount to laws, and independent for its substance upon any +human institution,--else it would be the absurdest thing in the world, +an acknowledged cheat. Religion, therefore, is not believed because the +laws have established it, but it is established because the leading part +of the community have previously believed it to be true. As no water can +rise higher than its spring, no establishment can have more authority +than it derives from its principle; and the power of the government can +with no appearance of reason go further coercively than to bind and hold +down those who have once consented to their opinions. The consent is the +origin of the whole. If they attempt to proceed further, they disown the +foundation upon which their own establishment was built, and they claim +a religious assent upon mere human authority, which has been just now +shown to be absurd and preposterous, and which they in fact confess to +be so. + +However, we are warranted to go thus far. The people often actually do +(and perhaps they cannot in general do better) take their religion, not +on the coercive, which is impossible, but on the influencing authority +of their governors, as wise and informed men. But if they once take a +religion on the word of the state, they cannot in common sense do so a +second time, unless they have some concurrent reason for it. The +prejudice in favor of your wisdom is shook by your change. You confess +that you have been wrong, and yet you would pretend to dictate by your +sole authority; whereas you disengage the mind by embarrassing it. For +why should I prefer your opinion of to-day to your persuasion of +yesterday? If we must resort to prepossessions for the ground of +opinion, it is in the nature of man rather to defer to the wisdom of +times past, whose weakness is not before his eyes, than to the present, +of whose imbecility he has daily experience. Veneration of antiquity is +congenial to the human, mind. When, therefore, an establishment would +persecute an opinion in possession, it sets against it all the powerful +prejudices of human nature. It even sets its own authority, when it is +of most weight, against itself in that very circumstance in which it +must necessarily have the least; and it opposes the stable prejudice of +time against a new opinion founded on mutability: a consideration that +must render compulsion in such a case the more grievous, as there is no +security, that, when the mind is settled in the new opinion, it may not +be obliged to give place to one that is still newer, or even, to a +return of the old. But when an ancient establishment begins early to +persecute an innovation, it stands upon quite other grounds, and it has +all the prejudices and presumptions on its side. It puts its own +authority, not only of compulsion, but prepossession, the veneration of +past age, as well as the activity of the present time, against the +opinion only of a private man or set of men. If there be no reason, +there is at least some consistency in its proceedings. Commanding to +constancy, it does nothing but that of which it sets an example itself. +But an opinion at once new and persecuting is a monster; because, in the +very instant in which it takes a liberty of change, it does not leave to +you even a liberty of perseverance. + +Is, then, no improvement to be brought into society? Undoubtedly; but +not by compulsion,--but by encouragement,--but by countenance, favor, +privileges, which are powerful, and are lawful instruments. The coercive +authority of the state is limited to what is necessary for its +existence. To this belongs the whole order of criminal law. It considers +as crimes (that is, the object of punishment) trespasses against those +rules for which society was instituted. The law punishes delinquents, +not because they are not good men, but because they are intolerably +wicked. It does bear, and must, with the vices and the follies of men, +until they actually strike at the root of order. This it does in things +actually moral. In all matters of speculative improvement the case is +stronger, even where the matter is properly of human cognizance. But to +consider an averseness to improvement, the not arriving at perfection, +as a crime, is against all tolerably correct jurisprudence; for, if the +resistance to improvement should be great and any way general, they +would in effect give up the necessary and substantial part in favor of +the perfection and the finishing. + +But, say the abettors of our penal laws, this old possessed superstition +is such in its principles, that society, on its general principles, +cannot subsist along with it. Could a man think such an objection +possible, if he had not actually heard it made,--an objection +contradicted, not by hypothetical reasonings, but the clear evidence of +the most decisive facts? Society not only exists, but flourishes at this +hour, with this superstition, in many countries, under every form of +government,--in some established, in some tolerated, in others upon an +equal footing. And was there no civil society at all in these kingdoms +before the Reformation? To say it was not as well constituted as it +ought to be is saying nothing at all to the purpose; for that assertion +evidently regards improvement, not existence. It certainly did then +exist; and it as certainly then was at least as much to the advantage of +a very great part of society as what we have brought in the place of it: +which is, indeed, a great blessing to those who have profited of the +change; but to all the rest, as we have wrought, that is, by blending +general persecution with partial reformation, it is the very reverse. We +found the people heretics and idolaters; we have, by way of improving +their condition, rendered them slaves and beggars: they remain in all +the misfortune of their old errors, and all the superadded misery of +their recent punishment. They were happy enough, in their opinion at +least, before the change; what benefits society then had, they partook +of them all. They are now excluded from those benefits; and, so far as +civil society comprehends them, and as we have managed the matter, our +persecutions are so far from being necessary to its existence, that our +very reformation is made in a degree noxious. If this be improvement, +truly I know not what can be called a depravation of society. + +But as those who argue in this manner are perpetually shifting the +question, having begun with objecting, in order to give a fair and +public color to their scheme, to a toleration of those opinions as +subversive of society in general, they will surely end by abandoning the +broad part of the argument, and attempting to show that a toleration of +them is inconsistent with the established government among us. Now, +though this position be in reality as untenable as the other, it is not +altogether such an absurdity on the face of it. All I shall here observe +is, that those who lay it down little consider what a wound they are +giving to that establishment for which they pretend so much zeal. +However, as this is a consideration, not of general justice, but of +particular and national policy, and as I have reserved a place +expressly, where it will undergo a thorough discussion, I shall not here +embarrass myself with it,--being resolved to preserve all the order in +my power, in the examination of this important, melancholy subject. + +However, before we pass from this point concerning possession, it will +be a relaxation of the mind, not wholly foreign to our purpose, to take +a short review of the extraordinary policy which has been held with +regard to religion in that kingdom, from the time our ancestors took +possession of it. The most able antiquaries are of opinion, and +Archbishop Usher, whom I reckon amongst the first of them, has, I think, +shown, that a religion not very remote from the present Protestant +persuasion was that of the Irish before the union of that kingdom to the +crown of England. If this was not directly the fact, this at least seems +very probable, that Papal authority was much lower in Ireland than in +other countries. This union was made under the authority of an arbitrary +grant of Pope Adrian, in order that the Church of Ireland should be +reduced to the same servitude with those that were nearer to his see. It +is not very wonderful that an ambitious monarch should make use of any +pretence in his way to so considerable an object. What is extraordinary +is, that for a very long time, even quite down to the Reformation, and +in their most solemn acts, the kings of England founded their title +wholly on this grant: they called for obedience from the people of +Ireland, not on principles of subjection, but as vassals and mesne lords +between them and the Popes; and they omitted no measure of force or +policy to establish that Papal authority, with all the distinguishing +articles of religion connected with it, and to make it take deep root in +the minds of the people. Not to crowd instances unnecessary, I shall +select two, one of which is in print, the other on record,--the one a +treaty, the other an act of Parliament. The first is the submission of +the Irish chiefs to Richard the Second, mentioned by Sir John Davies. In +this pact they bind themselves for the future to preserve peace and +allegiance to the kings of England, under certain pecuniary penalties. +But what is remarkable, these fines were all covenanted to be paid into +the Apostolical Chamber, supposing the Pope as the superior power, whose +peace was broken and whose majesty was violated in disobeying his +governor. By this time, so far as regarded England, the kings had +extremely abridged the Papal power in many material particulars: they +had passed the Statute of Provisors, the Statute of _Præmunire_,--and, +indeed, struck out of the Papal authority all things, at least, that +seemed to infringe on their temporal independence. In Ireland, however, +their proceeding was directly the reverse: there they thought it +expedient to exalt it at least as high as ever: for, so late as the +reign of Edward the Fourth, the following short, but very explicit, act +of Parliament was passed:-- + + IV. ED. Cap. 3. + + "An act, whereby letters patent of pardon from the king to + those that sue to Rome for certain benefices is void. Rot. + Parl. + + "Item, At the request of the commons, it is ordeyned and + established, by authority of the said Parliament, that all + maner letters patents of the king, of pardons or pardon + granted by the king, or hereafter to be granted, to any + provisor that claim any title by the bulls of the Pope to any + maner benefices, where, at the time of the impetrating of the + said bulls of provision, the benefice is full of an + incumbent, that then the said letters patents of pardon or + pardons be void in law and of none effect." + +When, by every expedient of force and policy, by a war of some +centuries, by extirpating a number of the old, and by bringing in a +number of new people full of those opinions and intending to propagate +them, they had fully compassed their object, they suddenly took another +turn,--commenced an opposite persecution, made heavy laws, carried on +mighty wars, inflicted and suffered the worst evils, extirpated the mass +of the old, brought in new inhabitants; and they continue at this day an +oppressive system, and may for four hundred years to come, to eradicate +opinions which by the same violent means they had been four hundred +years endeavoring by every means to establish. They compelled the people +to submit, by the forfeiture of all their civil rights, to the Pope's +authority, in its most extravagant and unbounded sense, as a giver of +kingdoms; and now they refuse even to tolerate them in the most moderate +and chastised sentiments concerning it. No country, I believe, since +the world began, has suffered so much on account of religion, or has +been so variously harassed both for Popery and for Protestantism. + +It will now be seen, that, even if these laws could be supposed +agreeable to those of Nature in these particulars, on another and almost +as strong a principle they are yet unjust, as being contrary to positive +compact, and the public faith most solemnly plighted. On the surrender +of Limerick, and some other Irish garrisons, in the war of the +Revolution, the Lords Justices of Ireland and the commander-in-chief of +the king's forces signed a capitulation with the Irish, which was +afterwards ratified by the king himself by _inspeximus_ under the great +seal of England. It contains some public articles relative to the whole +body of the Roman Catholics in that kingdom, and some with regard to the +security of the greater part of the inhabitants of five counties. What +the latter were, or in what manner they were observed, is at this day of +much less public concern. The former are two,--the first and the ninth. +The first is of this tenor:--"The Roman Catholics of this kingdom +[Ireland] shall enjoy such privileges in the exercise of their religion +as are consistent with the laws of Ireland, or as they did enjoy in the +reign of King Charles the Second. And their Majesties, as soon as +affairs will permit them to summon a Parliament in this kingdom, will +endeavor to procure the said Roman Catholics such farther security in +that particular as may preserve them from any disturbance upon the +account of their said religion." The ninth article is to this +effect:--"The oath to be administered to such Roman Catholics as submit +to their Majesties' government shall be the oath abovesaid, and no +other,"--viz., the oath of allegiance, made by act of Parliament in +England, in the first year of their then Majesties; as required by the +second of the Articles of Limerick. Compare this latter article with the +penal laws, as they are stated in the Second Chapter, and judge whether +they seem to be the public acts of the same power, and observe whether +other oaths are tendered to them, and under what penalties. Compare the +former with the same laws, from the beginning to the end, and judge +whether the Roman Catholics have been preserved, agreeably to the sense +of the article, from any disturbance upon account of their religion,--or +rather, whether on that account there is a single right of Nature or +benefit of society which has not been either totally taken away or +considerably impaired. + +But it is said, that the legislature was not bound by this article, as +it has never been ratified in Parliament. I do admit that it never had +that sanction, and that the Parliament was under no obligation to ratify +these articles by any express act of theirs But still I am at a loss how +they came to be the less valid, on the principles of our Constitution, +by being without that sanction. They certainly bound the king and his +successors. The words of the article do this, or they do nothing; and so +far as the crown had a share in passing those acts, the public faith was +unquestionably broken. In Ireland such a breach on the part of the crown +was much more unpardonable in administration than it would have been +here. They have in Ireland a way of preventing any bill even from +approaching the royal presence, in matters of far less importance than +the honor and faith of the crown and the well-being of a great body of +the people. For, besides that they might have opposed the very first +suggestion of it in the House of Commons, it could not be framed into a +bill without the approbation of the Council in Ireland. It could not be +returned to them again without the approbation of the King and Council +here. They might have met it again in its second passage through that +House of Parliament in which it was originally suggested, as well as in +the other. If it had escaped them through all these mazes, it was again +to come before the Lord Lieutenant, who might have sunk it by a refusal +of the royal assent. The Constitution of Ireland has interposed all +those checks to the passing of any constitutional act, however +insignificant in its own nature. But did the administration in that +reign avail themselves of any one of those opportunities? They never +gave the act of the eleventh of Queen Anne the least degree of +opposition in any one stage of its progress. What is rather the fact, +many of the queen's servants encouraged it, recommended it, were in +reality the true authors of its passing in Parliament, instead of +recommending and using their utmost endeavor to establish a law directly +opposite in its tendency, as they were bound to do by the express letter +of the very first article of the Treaty of Limerick. To say nothing +further of the ministry, who in this instance most shamefully betrayed +the faith of government, may it not be a matter of some degree of doubt, +whether the Parliament, who do not claim a right of dissolving the force +of moral obligation, did not make themselves a party in this breach of +contract, by presenting a bill to the crown in direct violation of those +articles so solemnly and so recently executed, which by the +Constitution they had full authority to execute? + +It may be further objected, that, when the Irish requested the +ratification of Parliament to those articles, they did, in effect, +themselves entertain a doubt concerning their validity without such a +ratification. To this I answer, that the collateral security was meant +to bind the crown, and to hold it firm to its engagements. They did not, +therefore, call it a _perfecting_ of the security, but an _additional_ +security, which it could not have been, if the first had been void; for +the Parliament could not bind itself more than the crown had bound +itself. And if all had made but _one_ security, neither of them could be +called _additional_ with propriety or common sense. But let us suppose +that they did apprehend there might have been something wanting in this +security without the sanction of Parliament. They were, however, +evidently mistaken; and this surplusage of theirs did not weaken the +validity of the single contract, upon the known principle of law, _Non +solent, quæ abundant, vitiare scripturas_. For nothing is more evident +than that the crown was bound, and that no act can be made without the +royal assent. But the Constitution will warrant us in going a great deal +further, and in affirming, that a treaty executed by the crown, and +contradictory of no preceding law, is full as binding on the whole body +of the nation as if it had twenty times received the sanction of +Parliament; because the very same Constitution which has given to the +Houses of Parliament their definite authority has also left in the crown +the trust of making peace, as a consequence, and much the best +consequence, of the prerogative of making war. If the peace was ill +made, my Lord Galmoy, Coningsby, and Porter, who signed it, were +responsible; because they were subject to the community. But its own +contracts are not subject to it: it is subject to them; and the compact +of the king acting constitutionally was the compact of the nation. + +Observe what monstrous consequences would result from a contrary +position. A foreign enemy has entered, or a strong domestic one has +arisen in the nation. In such events the circumstances may be, and often +have been, such that a Parliament cannot sit. This was precisely the +case in that rebellion in Ireland. It will be admitted also, that their +power may be so great as to make it very prudent to treat with them, in +order to save effusion of blood, perhaps to save the nation. Now could +such a treaty be at all made, if your enemies, or rebels, were fully +persuaded, that, in these times of confusion, there was no authority in +the state which could hold out to them an inviolable pledge for their +future security, but that there lurked in the Constitution a dormant, +but irresistible power, who would not think itself bound by the ordinary +subsisting and contracting authority, but might rescind its acts and +obligations at pleasure? This would be a doctrine made to perpetuate and +exasperate war; and on that principle it directly impugns the law of +nations, which is built upon this principle, that war should be softened +as much as possible, and that it should cease as soon as possible, +between contending parties and communities. The king has a power to +pardon individuals. If the king holds out his faith to a robber, to come +in on a promise of pardon, of life and estate, and, in all respects, of +a full indemnity, shall the Parliament say that he must nevertheless be +executed, that his estate must be forfeited, or that he shall be +abridged of any of the privileges which he before held as a subject? +Nobody will affirm it. In such a case, the breach of faith would not +only be on the part of the king who assented to such an act, but on the +part of the Parliament who made it. As the king represents the whole +contracting capacity of the nation, so far as his prerogative +(unlimited, as I said before, by any precedent law) can extend, he acts +as the national procurator on all such occasions. What is true of a +robber is true of a rebel; and what is true of one robber or rebel is as +true, and it is a much more important truth, of one hundred thousand. + +To urge this part of the argument further is, indeed, I fear, not +necessary, for two reasons: first, that it seems tolerably evident in +itself; and next, that there is but too much ground to apprehend that +the actual ratification of Parliament would, in the then temper of +parties, have proved but a very slight and trivial security. Of this +there is a very strong example in the history of those very articles: +for, though the Parliament omitted in the reign of King William to +ratify the first and most general of them, they did actually confirm the +second and more limited, that which related to the security of the +inhabitants of those five counties which were in arms when the treaty +was made. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +In the foregoing book we considered these laws in a very simple point of +view, and in a very general one,--merely as a system of hardship +imposed on the body of the community; and from thence, and from some +other arguments, inferred the general injustice of such a procedure. In +this we shall be obliged to be more minute; and the matter will become +more complex as we undertake to demonstrate the mischievous and +impolitic consequences which the particular mode of this oppressive +system, and the instruments which it employs, operating, as we said, on +this extensive object, produce on the national prosperity, quiet, and +security. + +The stock of materials by which any nation is rendered flourishing and +prosperous are its industry, its knowledge or skill, its morals, its +execution of justice, its courage, and the national union in directing +these powers to one point, and making them all centre in the public +benefit. Other than these, I do not know and scarcely can conceive any +means by which a community may flourish. + +If we show that these penal laws of Ireland destroy not one only, but +every one, of these materials of public prosperity, it will not be +difficult to perceive that Great Britain, whilst they subsist, never can +draw from that country all the advantages to which the bounty of Nature +has entitled it. + +To begin with the first great instrument of national happiness and +strength, its industry: I must observe, that, although these penal laws +do, indeed, inflict many hardships on those who are obnoxious to them, +yet their chief, their most extensive, and most certain operation is +upon property. Those civil constitutions which promote industry are such +as facilitate the acquisition, secure the holding, enable the fixing, +and suffer the alienation of property. Every law which obstructs it in +any part of this distribution is, in proportion to the force and extent +of the obstruction, a discouragement to industry. For a law against +property is a law against industry,--the latter having always the +former, and nothing else, for its object. Now as to the acquisition of +landed property, which is the foundation and support of all the other +kinds, the laws have disabled three fourths of the inhabitants of +Ireland from acquiring any estate of inheritance for life or years, or +any charge whatsoever on which two thirds of the improved yearly value +is not reserved for thirty years. + +This confinement of landed property to one set of hands, and preventing +its free circulation through the community, is a most leading article of +ill policy; because it is one of the most capital discouragements to all +that industry which may be employed on the lasting improvement of the +soil, or is any way conversant about land. A tenure of thirty years is +evidently no tenure upon which to build, to plant, to raise inclosures, +to change the nature of the ground, to make any new experiment which +might improve agriculture, or to do anything more than what may answer +the immediate and momentary calls of rent to the landlord, and leave +subsistence to the tenant and his family. The desire of acquisition is +always a passion of long views. Confine a man to momentary possession, +and you at once cut off that laudable avarice which every wise state has +cherished as one of the first principles of its greatness. Allow a man +but a temporary possession, lay it down as a maxim that he never can +have any other, and you immediately and infallibly turn him to temporary +enjoyments: and these enjoyments are never the pleasures of labor and +free industry, whose quality it is to famish the present hours and +squander all upon prospect and futurity; they are, on the contrary, +those of a thoughtless, loitering, and dissipated life. The people must +be inevitably disposed to such pernicious habits, merely from the short +duration of their tenure which the law has allowed. But it is not enough +that industry is checked by the confinement of its views; it is further +discouraged by the limitation of its own direct object, profit. This is +a regulation extremely worthy of our attention, as it is not a +consequential, but a direct discouragement to melioration,--as directly +as if the law had said in express terms, "Thou shalt not improve." + +But we have an additional argument to demonstrate the ill policy of +denying the occupiers of land any solid property in it. Ireland is a +country wholly unplanted. The farms have neither dwelling-houses nor +good offices; nor are the lands, almost anywhere, provided with fences +and communications: in a word, in a very unimproved state. The +land-owner there never takes upon him, as it is usual in this kingdom, +to supply all these conveniences, and to set down his tenant in what may +be called a completely furnished farm. If the tenant will not do it, it +is never done. This circumstance shows how miserably and peculiarly +impolitic it has been in Ireland to tie down the body of the tenantry to +short and unprofitable tenures. A finished and furnished house will be +taken for any term, however short: if the repair lies on the owner, the +shorter the better. But no one will take one not only unfurnished, but +half built, but upon a term which, on calculation, will answer with +profit all his charges. It is on this principle that the Romans +established their _emphyteusis_, or fee-farm. For though they extended +the ordinary term of their location only to nine years, yet they +encouraged a more permanent letting to farm with the condition of +improvement, as well as of annual payment, on the part of the tenant, +where the land had lain rough and neglected,--and therefore invented +this species of engrafted holding, in the later times, when property +came to be worse distributed by falling into a few hands. + +This denial of landed property to the gross of the people has this +further evil effect in preventing the improvement of land, that it +prevents any of the property acquired in trade to be regorged, as it +were, upon the land. They must have observed very little, who have not +remarked the bold and liberal spirit of improvement which persons bred +to trade have often exerted on their land-purchases: that they usually +come to them with a more abundant command of ready money than most +landed men possess; and that they have in general a much better idea, by +long habits of calculative dealings, of the propriety of expending in +order to acquire. Besides, such men often bring their spirit of commerce +into their estates with them, and make manufactures take a root, where +the mere landed gentry had perhaps no capital, perhaps no inclination, +and, most frequently, not sufficient knowledge, to effect anything of +the kind. By these means, what beautiful and useful spots have there not +been made about trading and manufacturing towns, and how has agriculture +had reason to bless that happy alliance with commerce! and how miserable +must that nation be, whose frame of polity has disjoined the landing and +the trading interests! + + * * * * * + +The great prop of this whole system is not pretended to be its justice +or its utility, but the supposed danger to the state, which gave rise to +it originally, and which, they apprehend, would return, if this system +were overturned. Whilst, say they, the Papists of this kingdom were +possessed of landed property, and of the influence consequent to such +property, their allegiance to the crown of Great Britain was ever +insecure, the public peace was ever liable to be broken, and Protestants +never could be a moment secure either of their properties or of their +lives. Indulgence only made them arrogant, and power daring; confidence +only excited and enabled them to exert their inherent treachery; and the +times which they generally selected for their most wicked and desperate +rebellions were those in which they enjoyed the greatest ease and the +most perfect tranquillity. + +Such are the arguments that are used, both publicly and privately, in +every discussion upon this point. They are generally full of passion and +of error, and built upon facts which in themselves are most false. It +cannot, I confess, be denied, that those miserable performances which go +about under the names of Histories of Ireland do, indeed, represent +those events after this manner; and they would persuade us, contrary to +the known order of Nature, that indulgence and moderation in governors +is the natural incitement in subjects to rebel. But there is an interior +history of Ireland, the genuine voice of its records and monuments, +which speaks a very different language from these histories, from Temple +and from Clarendon: these restore Nature to its just rights, and policy +to its proper order. For they even now show to those who have been at +the pains to examine them, and they may show one day to all the world, +that these rebellions were not produced by toleration, but by +persecution,--that they arose not from just and mild government, but +from the most unparalleled oppression. These records will be far from +giving the least countenance to a doctrine so repugnant to humanity and +good sense as that the security of any establishment, civil or +religious, can ever depend upon the misery of those who live under it, +or that its danger can arise from their quiet and prosperity. God forbid +that the history of this or any country should give such encouragement +to the folly or vices of those who govern! If it can be shown that the +great rebellions of Ireland have arisen from attempts to reduce the +natives to the state to which they are now reduced, it will show that an +attempt to continue them in that state will rather be disadvantageous to +the public peace than any kind of security to it. These things have in +some measure begun to appear already; and as far as regards the argument +drawn from former rebellions, it will fall readily to the ground. But, +for my part, I think the real danger to every state is, to render its +subjects justly discontented; nor is there in polities or science any +more effectual secret for their security than to establish in their +people a firm opinion that no change can be for their advantage. It is +true that bigotry and fanaticism may for a time draw great multitudes of +people from a knowledge of their true and substantial interest. But upon +this I have to remark three things. First, that such a temper can never +become universal, or last for a long time. The principle of religion is +seldom lasting; the majority of men are in no persuasion bigots; they +are not willing to sacrifice, on every vain imagination that +superstition or enthusiasm holds forth, or that even zeal and piety +recommend, the certain possession of their temporal happiness. And if +such a spirit has been at any time roused in a society, after it has had +its paroxysm it commonly subsides and is quiet, and is even the weaker +for the violence of its first exertion: security and ease are its mortal +enemies. But, secondly, if anything can tend to revive and keep it up, +it is to keep alive the passions of men by ill usage. This is enough to +irritate even those who have not a spark of bigotry in their +constitution to the most desperate enterprises; it certainly will +inflame, darken, and render more dangerous the spirit of bigotry in +those who are possessed by it. Lastly, by rooting out any sect, you are +never secure against the effects of fanaticism; it may arise on the side +of the most favored opinions; and many are the instances wherein the +established religion of a state has grown ferocious and turned upon its +keeper, and has often torn to pieces the civil establishment that had +cherished it, and which it was designed to support: +France,--England,--Holland. + +But there may be danger of wishing a change, even where no religious +motive can operate; and every enemy to such a state comes as a friend to +the subject; and where other countries are under terror, they begin to +hope. + +This argument _ad verecundiam_ has as much force as any such have. But I +think it fares but very indifferently with those who make use of it; for +they would get but little to be proved abettors of tyranny at the +expense of putting me to an inconvenient acknowledgment. For if I were +to confess that there are circumstances in which it would be better to +establish such a religion.... + + * * * * * + +With regard to the Pope's interest. This foreign chief of their religion +cannot be more formidable to us than to other Protestant countries. To +conquer that country for himself is a wild chimera; to encourage revolt +in favor of foreign princes is an exploded idea in the politics of that +court. Perhaps it would be full as dangerous to have the people under +the conduct of factious pastors of their own as under a foreign +ecclesiastical court. + + * * * * * + +In the second year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth were enacted several +limitations in the acquisition or the retaining of property, which had, +so far as regarded any general principles, hitherto remained untouched +under all changes. + +These bills met no opposition either in the Irish Parliament or in the +English Council, except from private agents, who were little attended +to; and they passed into laws with the highest and most general +applauses, as all such things are in the beginning, not as a system of +persecution, but as masterpieces of the most subtle and refined +politics. And to say the truth, these laws, at first view, have rather +an appearance of a plan of vexatious litigation and crooked +law-chicanery than of a direct and sanguinary attack upon the rights of +private conscience: because they did not affect life, at least with +regard to the laity; and making the Catholic opinions rather the subject +of civil regulations than of criminal prosecutions, to those who are +not lawyers and read these laws they only appear to be a species of +jargon. For the execution of criminal law has always a certain +appearance of violence. Being exercised directly on the persons of the +supposed offenders, and commonly executed in the face of the public, +such executions are apt to excite sentiments of pity for the sufferers, +and indignation against those who are employed in such cruelties,--being +seen as single acts of cruelty, rather than as ill general principles of +government. But the operation of the laws in question being such as +common feeling brings home to every man's bosom, they operate in a sort +of comparative silence and obscurity; and though their cruelty is +exceedingly great, it is never seen in a single exertion, and always +escapes commiseration, being scarce known, except to those who view them +in a general, which is always a cold and phlegmatic light. The first of +these laws being made with so general a satisfaction, as the chief +governors found that such things were extremely acceptable to the +leading people in that country, they were willing enough to gratify them +with the ruin of their fellow-citizens; they were not sorry to divert +their attention from other inquiries, and to keep them fixed to this, as +if this had been the only real object of their national politics; and +for many years there was no speech from the throne which did not with +great appearance of seriousness recommend the passing of such laws, and +scarce a session went over without in effect passing some of them, until +they have by degrees grown to be the most considerable head in the Irish +statute-book. At the same time giving a temporary and occasional +mitigation to the severity of some of the harshest of those laws, they +appeared in some sort the protectors of those whom they were in reality +destroying by the establishment of general constitutions against them. +At length, however, the policy of this expedient is worn out; the +passions of men are cooled; those laws begin to disclose themselves, and +to produce effects very different from those which were promised in +making them: for crooked counsels are ever unwise; and nothing can be +more absurd and dangerous than to tamper with the natural foundations of +society, in hopes of keeping it up by certain contrivances. + + * * * * * + + + + +A + +LETTER + +TO + +WILLIAM SMITH, ESQ., + +ON THE SUBJECT OF + +CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. + +JANUARY 29, 1795. + + +LETTER.[23] + + +My Dear sir,--Your letter is, to myself, infinitely obliging: with +regard to you, I can find no fault with it, except that of a tone of +humility and disqualification, which neither your rank, nor the place +you are in, nor the profession you belong to, nor your very +extraordinary learning and talents, will in propriety demand or perhaps +admit. These dispositions will be still less proper, if you should feel +them in the extent your modesty leads you to express them. You have +certainly given by far too strong a proof of self-diffidence by asking +the opinion of a man circumstanced as I am, on the important subject of +your letter. You are far more capable of forming just conceptions upon +it than I can be. However, since you are pleased to command me to lay +before you my thoughts, as materials upon which your better judgment may +operate, I shall obey you, and submit them, with great deference, to +your melioration or rejection. + +But first permit me to put myself in the right. I owe you an answer to +your former letter. It did not desire one, but it deserved it. If not +for an answer, it called for an acknowledgment. It was a new favor; and, +indeed, I should be worse than insensible, if I did not consider the +honors you have heaped upon me with no sparing hand with becoming +gratitude. But your letter arrived to me at a time when the closing of +my long and last business in life, a business extremely complex, and +full of difficulties and vexations of all sorts, occupied me in a manner +which those who have not seen the interior as well as exterior of it +cannot easily imagine. I confess that in the crisis of that rude +conflict I neglected many things that well deserved my best +attention,--none that deserved it better, or have caused me more regret +in the neglect, than your letter. The instant that business was over, +and the House had passed its judgment on the conduct of the managers, I +lost no time to execute what for years I had resolved on: it was, to +quit my public station, and to seek that tranquillity, in my very +advanced age, to which, after a very tempestuous life, I thought myself +entitled. But God has thought fit (and I unfeignedly acknowledge His +justice) to dispose of things otherwise. So heavy a calamity has fallen +upon me as to disable me for business and to disqualify me for repose. +The existence I have I do not know that I can call life. Accordingly, I +do not meddle with any one measure of government, though, for what +reasons I know not, you seem to suppose me deeply in the secret of +affairs. I only know, so far as your side of the water is concerned, +that your present excellent Lord Lieutenant (the best man in every +relation that I have ever been acquainted with) has perfectly pure +intentions with regard to Ireland, and of course that he wishes +cordially well to those who form the great mass of its inhabitants, and +who, as they are well or ill managed, must form an important part of its +strength or weakness. If with regard to that great object he has +carried over any ready-made system, I assure you it is perfectly unknown +to me: I am very much retired from the world, and live in much +ignorance. This, I hope, will form my humble apology, if I should err in +the notions I entertain of the question which is soon to become the +subject of your deliberations. At the same time accept it as an apology +for my neglects. + +You need make no apology for your attachment to the religious +description you belong to. It proves (as in you it is sincere) your +attachment to the great points in which the leading divisions are +agreed, when the lesser, in which they differ, are so dear to you. I +shall never call any religious opinions, which appear important to +serious and pious minds, things of no consideration. Nothing is so fatal +to religion as indifference, which is, at least, half infidelity. As +long as men hold charity and justice to be essential integral parts of +religion, there can be little danger from a strong attachment to +particular tenets in faith. This I am perfectly sure is your case; but I +am not equally sure that either zeal for the tenets of faith, or the +smallest degree of charity or justice, have much influenced the +gentlemen who, under pretexts of zeal, have resisted the enfranchisement +of their country. My dear son, who was a person of discernment, as well +as clear and acute in his expressions, said, in a letter of his which I +have seen, "that, in order to grace their cause, and to draw some +respect to their persons, they pretend to be bigots." But here, I take +it, we have not much to do with the theological tenets on the one side +of the question or the other. The point itself is practically decided. +That religion is owned by the state. Except in a settled maintenance, it +is protected. A great deal of the rubbish, which, as a nuisance, long +obstructed the way, is removed. One impediment remained longer, as a +matter to justify the proscription of the body of our country; after the +rest had been abandoned as untenable ground. But the business of the +Pope (that mixed person of polities and religion) has long ceased to be +a bugbear: for some time past he has ceased to be even a colorable +pretext. This was well known, when the Catholics of these kingdoms, for +our amusement, were obliged on oath to disclaim him in his political +capacity,--which implied an allowance for them to recognize him in some +sort of ecclesiastical superiority. It was a compromise of the old +dispute. + +For my part, I confess I wish that we had been less eager in this point. +I don't think, indeed, that much mischief will happen from it, if things +are otherwise properly managed. Too nice an inquisition ought not to be +made into opinions that are dying away of themselves. Had we lived an +hundred and fifty years ago, I should have been as earnest and anxious +as anybody for this sort of abjuration; but, living at the time in which +I live, and obliged to speculate forward instead of backward, I must +fairly say, I could well endure the existence of every sort of +collateral aid which opinion might, in the now state of things, afford +to authority. I must see much more danger than in my life I have seen, +or than others will venture seriously to affirm that they see, in the +Pope aforesaid, (though a foreign power, and with his long tail of _et +ceteras_,) before I should be active in weakening any hold which +government might think it prudent to resort to, in the management of +that large part of the king's subjects. I do not choose to direct all my +precautions to the part where the danger does not press, and to leave +myself open and unguarded where I am not only really, but visibly +attacked. + +My whole politics, at present, centre in one point, and to this the +merit or demerit of every measure (with me) is referable,--that is, what +will most promote or depress the cause of Jacobinism. What is +Jacobinism? It is an attempt (hitherto but too successful) to eradicate +prejudice out of the minds of men, for the purpose of putting all power +and authority into the hands of the persons capable of occasionally +enlightening the minds of the people. For this purpose the Jacobins have +resolved to destroy the whole frame and fabric of the old societies of +the world, and to regenerate them after their fashion. To obtain an army +for this purpose, they everywhere engage the poor by holding out to them +as a bribe the spoils of the rich. This I take to be a fair description +of the principles and leading maxims of the enlightened of our day who +are commonly called Jacobins. + +As the grand prejudice, and that which holds all the other prejudices +together, the first, last, and middle object of their hostility is +religion. With that they are at inexpiable war. They make no distinction +of sects. A Christian, as such, is to them an enemy. What, then, is left +to a real Christian, (Christian as a believer and as a statesman,) but +to make a league between all the grand divisions of that name, to +protect and to cherish them all, and by no means to proscribe in any +manner, more or less, any member of our common party? The divisions +which formerly prevailed in the Church, with all their overdone zeal, +only purified and ventilated our common faith, because there was no +common enemy arrayed and embattled to take advantage of their +dissensions; but now nothing but inevitable ruin will be the consequence +of our quarrels. I think we may dispute, rail, persecute, and provoke +the Catholics out of their prejudices; but it is not in ours they will +take refuge. If anything is, one more than another, out of the power of +man, it is to _create_ a prejudice. Somebody has said, that a king may +make a nobleman, but he cannot make a gentleman. + +All the principal religions in Europe stand upon one common bottom. The +support that the whole or the favored parts may have in the secret +dispensations of Providence it is impossible to tell; but, humanly +speaking, they are all _prescriptive_ religions. They have all stood +long enough to make prescription and its chain of legitimate prejudices +their main stay. The people who compose the four grand divisions of +Christianity have now their religion as an habit, and upon authority, +and not on disputation,--as all men who have their religion derived from +their parents and the fruits of education _must_ have it, however the +one more than the other may be able to reconcile his faith to his own +reason or to that of other men. Depend upon it, they must all be +supported, or they must all fall in the crash of a common ruin. The +Catholics are the far more numerous part of the Christians in your +country; and how can Christianity (that is now the point in issue) be +supported under the persecution, or even under the discountenance, of +the greater number of Christians? It is a great truth, and which in one +of the debates I stated as strongly as I could to the House of Commons +in the last session, that, if the Catholic religion is destroyed by the +infidels, it is a most contemptible and absurd idea, that this, or any +Protestant Church, can survive that event. Therefore my humble and +decided opinion is, that all the three religions prevalent more or less +in various parts of these islands ought all, in subordination to the +legal establishments as they stand in the several countries, to be all +countenanced, protected, and cherished, and that in Ireland particularly +the Roman Catholic religion should be upheld in high respect and +veneration, and should be, in its place, provided with all the means of +making it a blessing to the people who profess it,--that it ought to be +cherished as a good, (though not as the most preferable good, if a +choice was now to be made,) and not tolerated as an inevitable evil. If +this be my opinion as to the Catholic religion as a sect, you must see +that I must be to the last degree averse to put a man, upon that +account, upon a bad footing with relation to the privileges which the +fundamental laws of this country give him as a subject. I am the more +serious on the positive encouragement to be given to this religion, +(always, however, as secondary,) because the serious and earnest belief +and practice of it by its professors forms, as things stand, the most +effectual barrier, if not the sole barrier, against Jacobinism. The +Catholics form the great body of the lower ranks of your community, and +no small part of those classes of the middling that come nearest to +them. You know that the seduction of that part of mankind from the +principles of religion, morality, subordination, and social order is the +great object of the Jacobins. Let them grow lax, skeptical, careless, +and indifferent with regard to religion, and, so sure as we have an +existence, it is not a zealous Anglican or Scottish Church principle, +but direct Jacobinism, which will enter into that breach. Two hundred +years dreadfully spent in experiments to force that people to change the +form of their religion have proved fruitless. You have now your choice, +for full four fifths of your people, of the Catholic religion or +Jacobinism. If things appear to you to stand on this alternative, I +think you will not be long in making your option. + +You have made, as you naturally do, a very able analysis of powers, and +have separated, as the things are separable, civil from political +powers. You start, too, a question, whether the civil can be secured +without some share in the political. For my part, as abstract questions, +I should find some difficulty in an attempt to resolve them. But as +applied to the state of Ireland, to the form of our commonwealth, to the +parties that divide us, and to the dispositions of the leading men in +those parties, I cannot hesitate to lay before you my opinion, that, +whilst any kind of discouragements and disqualifications remain on the +Catholics, an handle will be made by a factious power utterly to defeat +the benefits of any civil rights they may apparently possess. I need not +go to very remote times for my examples. It was within the course of +about a twelvemonth, that, after Parliament had been led into a step +quite unparalleled in its records, after they had resisted all +concession, and even hearing, with an obstinacy equal to anything that +could have actuated a party domination in the second or eighth of Queen +Anne, after the strange adventure of the Grand Juries, and after +Parliament had listened to the sovereign pleading for the emancipation +of his subjects,--it was after all this, that such a grudging and +discontent was expressed as must justly have alarmed, as it did +extremely alarm, the whole of the Catholic body: and I remember but one +period in my whole life (I mean the savage period between 1781 and 1767) +in which they have been more harshly or contumeliously treated than +since the last partial enlargement. And thus I am convinced it will be, +by paroxysms, as long as any stigma remains on them, and whilst they are +considered as no better than half citizens. If they are kept such for +any length of time, they will be made whole Jacobins. Against this grand +and dreadful evil of our time (I do not love to cheat myself or others) +I do not know any solid security whatsoever; but I am quite certain that +what will come nearest to it is to interest as many as you can in the +present order of things, religiously, civilly, politically, by all the +ties and principles by which mankind are held. This is like to be +effectual policy: I am sure it is honorable policy: and it is better to +fail, if fail we must, in the paths of direct and manly than of low and +crooked wisdom. + +As to the capacity of sitting in Parliament, after all the capacities +for voting, for the army, for the navy, for the professions, for civil +offices, it is a dispute _de lana caprina_, in my poor opinion,--at +least on the part of those who oppose it. In the first place, this +admission to office, and this exclusion from Parliament, on the +principle of an exclusion from political power, is the very reverse of +the principle of the English Test Act. If I were to form a judgment from +experience rather than theory, I should doubt much whether the capacity +for or even the possession of a seat in Parliament did really convey +much of power to be properly called political. I have sat there, with +some observation, for nine-and-twenty years, or thereabouts. The power +of a member of Parliament is uncertain and indirect; and if power, +rather than splendor and fame, were the object, I should think that any +of the principal clerks in office, to say nothing of their superiors, +(several of whom are disqualified by law for seats in Parliament,) +possess far more power than nine tenths of the members of the House of +Commons. I might say this of men who seemed, from their fortunes, their +weight in their country, and their talents, to be persons of figure +there,--and persons, too, not in opposition to the prevailing party in +government. But be they what they will, on a fair canvass of the several +prevalent Parliamentary interests in Ireland, I cannot, out of the three +hundred members of whom the Irish Parliament is composed, discover that +above three, or at the utmost four, Catholics would be returned to the +House of Commons. But suppose they should amount to thirty, that is, to +a tenth part, (a thing I hold impossible for a long series of years, and +never very likely to happen,) what is this to those who are to balance +them in the one House, and the clear and settled majority in the other? +For I think it absolutely impossible, that, in the course of many years, +above four or five peers should be created of that communion. In fact, +the exclusion of them seems to me only to mark jealousy and suspicion, +and not to provide security in any way.--But I return to the old ground. +The danger is not there: these are things long since done away. The +grand controversy is no longer between you and them. + +Forgive this length. My pen has insensibly run on. You are yourself to +blame, if you are much fatigued. I congratulate you on the auspicious +opening of your session. Surely Great Britain and Ireland ought to join +in wreathing a never-fading garland for the head of Grattan. Adieu, my +dear Sir. Good nights to you!--I never can have any. + +Yours always most sincerely, + +EDMUND BURKE. + +Jan. 29th, 1795. Twelve at night. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[23] William Smith, Esq., to whom this Letter is addressed, was then a +member of the Irish Parliament: he is now (1812) one of the Barons of +the Court of Exchequer in Ireland. + + + + +SECOND LETTER + +TO + +SIR HERCULES LANGRISHE + +ON THE + +CATHOLIC QUESTION. + +MAY 26, 1795. + + +My Dear Sir,--If I am not as early as I ought to be in my +acknowledgments for your very kind letter, pray do me the justice to +attribute my failure to its natural and but too real cause, a want of +the most ordinary power of exertion, owing to the impressions made upon +an old and infirm constitution by private misfortune and by public +calamity. It is true, I make occasional efforts to rouse myself to +something better,--but I soon relapse into that state of languor which +must be the habit of my body and understanding to the end of my short +and cheerless existence in this world. + +I am sincerely grateful for your kindness in connecting the interest you +take in the sentiments of an old friend with the able part you take in +the service of your country. It is an instance, among many, of that +happy temper which has always given a character of amenity to your +virtues and a good-natured direction to your talents. + +Your speech on the Catholic question I read with much satisfaction. It +is solid; it is convincing; it is eloquent; and it ought, on the spot, +to have produced that effect which its reason, and that contained in the +other excellent speeches on the same side of the question, cannot +possibly fail (though with less pleasant consequences) to produce +hereafter. What a sad thing it is, that the grand instructor, Time, has +not yet been able to teach the grand lesson of his own value, and that, +in every question of moral and political prudence, it is the choice of +the moment which renders the measure serviceable or useless, noxious or +salutary! + +In the Catholic question I considered only one point: Was it, at the +time, and in the circumstances, a measure which tended to promote the +concord of the citizens? I have no difficulty in saying it was,--and as +little in saying that the present concord of the citizens was worth +buying, at a critical season, by granting a few _capacities_, which +probably no one man now living is likely to be served or hurt by. When +any man tells _you_ and _me_, that, if these places were left in the +discretion of a Protestant crown, and these memberships in the +discretion of Protestant electors or patrons, we should have a Popish +official system, and a Popish representation, capable of overturning the +Establishment, he only insults our understandings. When any man tells +this to _Catholics_, he insults their understandings, and he galls their +feelings. It is not the question of the places and seats, it is the real +hostile disposition and the _pretended_ fears, that leave stings in the +minds of the people. I really thought that in the total of the late +circumstances, with regard to persons, to things, to principles, and to +measures, was to be found a conjuncture favorable to the introduction +and to the perpetuation of a general harmony, producing a general +strength, which to that hour Ireland was never so happy as to enjoy. My +sanguine hopes are blasted, and I must consign my feelings on that +terrible disappointment to the same patience in which I have been +obliged to bury the vexation I suffered on the defeat of the other +great, just, and honorable causes in which I have had some share, and +which have given more of dignity than of peace and advantage to a long, +laborious life. Though, perhaps, a want of success might be urged as a +reason for making me doubt of the justice of the part I have taken, yet, +until I have other lights than one side of the debate has furnished me, +I must see things, and feel them too, as I see and feel them. I think I +can hardly overrate the malignity of the principles of Protestant +ascendency, as they affect Ireland,--or of Indianism, as they affect +these countries, and as they affect Asia,--or of Jacobinism, as they +affect all Europe and the state of human society itself. The last is the +greatest evil. But it readily combines with the others, and flows from +them. Whatever breeds discontent at this time will produce that great +master-mischief most infallibly. Whatever tends to persuade the people +that the _few_, called by whatever name you please, religious or +political, are of opinion that their interest is not compatible with +that of the _many_, is a great point gained to Jacobinism. Whatever +tends to irritate the talents of a country, which have at all times, and +at these particularly, a mighty influence on the public mind, is of +infinite service to that formidable cause. Unless where Heaven has +mingled uncommon ingredients of virtue in the composition,--_quos +meliore luto finxit præcordia Titan,_--talents naturally gravitate to +Jacobinism. Whatever ill-humors are afloat in the state, they will be +sure to discharge themselves in a mingled torrent in the _Cloaca Maxima_ +of Jacobinism. Therefore people ought well to look about them. First, +the physicians are to take care that they do nothing to irritate this +epidemical distemper. It is a foolish thing to have the better of the +patient in a dispute. The complaint or its cause ought to be removed, +and wise and lenient arts ought to precede the measures of vigor. They +ought to be the _ultima_, not the _prima_, not the _tota_ ratio of a +wise government. God forbid, that, on a worthy occasion, authority +should want the means of force, or the disposition to use it! But where +a prudent and enlarged policy does not precede it, and attend it too, +where the hearts of the better sort of people do not go with the hands +of the soldiery, you may call your Constitution what you will, in effect +it will consist of three parts, (orders, if you please,) cavalry, +infantry, and artillery,--and of nothing else or better. I agree with +you in your dislike of the discourses in Francis Street: but I like as +little some of those in College Green. I am even less pleased with the +temper that predominated in the latter, as better things might have been +expected in the regular family mansion of public discretion than, in a +new and hasty assembly of unexperienced men, congregated under +circumstances of no small irritation. After people have taken your +tests, prescribed by yourselves as proofs of their allegiance, to be +marked as enemies, traitors, or at best as suspected and dangerous +persons, and that they are not to be believed on their oaths, we are not +to be surprised, if they fall into a passion, and talk as men in a +passion do, intemperately and idly. + +The worst of the matter is this: you are partly leading, partly driving +into Jacobinism that description of your people whose religious +principles, church polity, and habitual discipline might make them an +invincible dike against that inundation. This you have a thousand +mattocks and pickaxes lifted up to demolish. You make a sad story of the +Pope. _O seri studiorum_! It will not be difficult to get many called +Catholics to laugh at this fundamental part of their religion. Never +doubt it. You have succeeded in part, and you may succeed completely. +But in the present state of men's minds and affairs, do not flatter +yourselves that they will piously look to the head of our Church in the +place of that Pope whom you make them forswear, and out of all reverence +to whom you bully and rail and buffoon them. Perhaps you may succeed in +the same manner with all the other tenets of doctrine and usages of +discipline amongst the Catholics; but what security have you, that, in +the temper and on the principles on which they have made this change, +they will stop at the exact sticking-places you have marked in _your_ +articles? You have no security for anything, but that they will become +what are called _Franco-Jacobins_, and reject the whole together. No +converts now will be made in a considerable number from one of our sects +to the other upon a really religious principle. Controversy moves in +another direction. + +Next to religion, _property_ is the great point of Jacobin attack. Here +many of the debaters in your majority, and their writers, have given the +Jacobins all the assistance their hearts can wish. When the Catholics +desire places and seats, you tell them that this is only a pretext, +(though Protestants might suppose it just _possible_ for men to like +good places and snug boroughs for their own merits,) but that their real +view is, to strip Protestants of their property To my certain knowledge, +till those Jacobin lectures were opened in the House of Commons, they +never dreamt of any such thing; but now the great professors may +stimulate them to inquire (on the new principles) into the foundation of +that property, and of all property. If you treat men as robbers, why, +robbers, sooner or later, they will become. + +A third point of Jacobin attack is on _old traditionary constitutions_. +You are apprehensive for yours, which leans from its perpendicular, and +does not stand firm on its theory. I like Parliamentary reforms as +little as any man who has boroughs to sell for money, or for peerages in +Ireland. But it passes my comprehension, in what manner it is that men +can be reconciled to the _practical_ merits of a constitution, the +theory of which is in litigation, by being _practically_ excluded from +any of its advantages. Let us put ourselves in the place of these +people, and try an experiment of the effects of such a procedure on our +own minds. Unquestionably, we should be perfectly satisfied, when we +were told that Houses of Parliament, instead of being places of refuge +for popular liberty, were citadels for keeping us in order as a +conquered people. These things play the Jacobin game to a nicety. + +Indeed, my dear Sir, there is not a single particular in the +Francis-Street declamations, which has not, to your and to my certain +knowledge, been taught by the jealous ascendants, sometimes by doctrine, +sometimes by example, always by provocation. Remember the whole of 1781 +and 1782, in Parliament and out of Parliament; at this very day, and in +the worst acts and designs, observe the tenor of the objections with +which the College-Green orators of the ascendency reproach the +Catholics. You have observed, no doubt, how much they rely on the +affair of Jackson. Is it not pleasant to hear Catholics reproached for a +supposed connection--with whom?--with Protestant clergymen! with +Protestant gentlemen! with Mr. Jackson! with Mr. Rowan, &c, &c.! But +_egomet mî ignosco_. Conspiracies and treasons are privileged pleasures, +not to be profaned by the impure and unhallowed touch of Papists. +Indeed, all this will do, perhaps, well enough, with detachments of +dismounted cavalry and fencibles from England. But let us not say to +Catholics, by way of _argument_, that they are to be kept in a degraded +state, because some of them are no better than many of us Protestants. +The thing I most disliked in some of their speeches (those, I mean, of +the Catholics) was what is called the spirit of liberality, so much and +so diligently taught by the ascendants, by which they are made to +abandon their own particular interests, and to merge them in the general +discontents of the country. It gave me no pleasure to hear of the +dissolution of the committee. There were in it a majority, to my +knowledge, of very sober, well-intentioned men; and there were none in +it but such who, if not continually goaded and irritated, might be made +useful to the tranquillity of the country. It is right always to have a +few of every description, through whom you may quietly operate on the +many, both for the interests of the description, and for the general +interest. + +Excuse me, my dear friend, if I have a little tried your patience. You +have brought this trouble on yourself, by your thinking of a man forgot, +and who has no objection to be forgot, by the world. These things we +discussed together four or five and thirty years ago. We were then, and +at bottom ever since, of the same opinion on the justice and policy of +the whole and of every part of the penal system. You and I, and +everybody, must now and then ply and bend to the occasion, and take what +can be got. But very sure I am, that, whilst there remains in the law +any principle whatever which can furnish to certain politicians an +excuse for raising an opinion of their own importance, as necessary to +keep their fellow-subjects in order, the obnoxious people will be +fretted, harassed, insulted, provoked to discontent and disorder, and +practically excluded from the partial advantages from which the letter +of the law does not exclude them. + +Adieu! my dear Sir, + +And believe me very truly yours, + +EDMUND BURKE. + +BEACONSFIELD, May 26, 1795. + + + + +A + +LETTER + +TO + +RICHARD BURKE, ESQ., + +ON + +PROTESTANT ASCENDENCY IN IRELAND. + +1793. + + +My dear son,--We are all again assembled in town, to finish the last, +but the most laborious, of the tasks which have been imposed upon me +during my Parliamentary service. We are as well as at our time of life +we can expect to be. We have, indeed, some moments of anxiety about you. +You are engaged in an undertaking similar in its principle to mine. You +are engaged in the relief of an oppressed people. In that service you +must necessarily excite the same sort of passions in those who have +exercised, and who wish to continue that oppression, that I have had to +struggle with in this long labor. As your father has done, you must make +enemies of many of the rich, of the proud, and of the powerful. I and +you began in the same way. I must confess, that, if our place was of our +choice, I could wish it had been your lot to begin the career of your +life with an endeavor to render some more moderate and less invidious +service to the public But being engaged in a great and critical work, I +have not the least hesitation about your having hitherto done your duty +as becomes you. If I had not an assurance not to be shaken from the +character of your mind, I should be satisfied on that point by the cry +that is raised against you. If you had behaved, as they call it, +discreetly, that is, faintly and treacherously, in the execution of your +trust, you would have had, for a while, the good word of all sorts of +men, even of many of those whose cause you had betrayed,--and whilst +your favor lasted, you might have coined that false reputation into a +true and solid interest to yourself. This you are well apprised of; and +you do not refuse to travel that beaten road from an ignorance, but from +a contempt, of the objects it leads to. + +When you choose an arduous and slippery path, God forbid that any weak +feelings of my declining age, which calls for soothings and supports, +and which can have none but from you, should make me wish that you +should abandon what you are about, or should trifle with it! In this +house we submit, though with troubled minds, to that order which has +connected all great duties with toils and with perils, which has +conducted the road to glory through the regions of obloquy and reproach, +and which will never suffer the disparaging alliance of spurious, false, +and fugitive praise with genuine and permanent reputation. We know that +the Power which has settled that order, and subjected you to it by +placing you in the situation you are in, is able to bring you out of it +with credit and with safety. His will be done! All must come right. You +may open the way with pain and under reproach: others will pursue it +with ease and with applause. + +I am sorry to find that pride and passion, and that sort of zeal for +religion which never shows any wonderful heat but when it afflicts and +mortifies our neighbor, will not let the ruling description perceive +that the privilege for which your clients contend is very nearly as much +for the benefit of those who refuse it as those who ask it. I am not to +examine into the charges that are daily made on the administration of +Ireland. I am not qualified to say how much in them is cold truth, and +how much rhetorical exaggeration. Allowing some foundation to the +complaint, it is to no purpose that these people allege that their +government is a job in its administration. I am sure it is a job in its +constitution; nor is it possible a scheme of polity, which, in total +exclusion of the body of the community, confines (with little or no +regard to their rank or condition in life) to a certain set of favored +citizens the rights which formerly belonged to the whole, should not, by +the operation of the same selfish and narrow principles, teach the +persons who administer in that government to prefer their own +particular, but well-understood, private interest to the false and +ill-calculated private interest of the monopolizing company they belong +to. Eminent characters, to be sure, overrule places and circumstances. I +have nothing to say to that virtue which shoots up in full force by the +native vigor of the seminal principle, in spite of the adverse soil and +climate that it grows in. But speaking of things in their ordinary +course, in a country of monopoly there _can_ be no patriotism. There may +be a party spirit, but public spirit there can be none. As to a spirit +of liberty, still less can it exist, or anything like it. A liberty made +up of penalties! a liberty made up of incapacities! a liberty made up of +exclusion and proscription, continued for ages, of four fifths, perhaps, +of the inhabitants of all ranks and fortunes In what does such liberty +differ from the description of the most shocking kind of servitude? + +But it will be said, in that country some people are free. Why, this is +the very description of despotism. _Partial freedom is privilege and +prerogative, and not liberty._ Liberty, such as deserves the name, is +an honest, equitable, diffusive, and impartial principle. It is a great +and enlarged virtue, and not a sordid, selfish, and illiberal vice. It +is the portion of the mass of the citizens, and not the haughty license +of some potent individual or some predominant faction. + +If anything ought to be despotic in a country, it is its government; +because there is no cause of constant operation to make its yoke +unequal. But the dominion of a party must continually, steadily, and by +its very essence, lean upon the prostrate description. A constitution +formed so as to enable a party to overrule its very government, and to +overpower the people too, answers the purposes neither of government nor +of freedom. It compels that power which ought, and often would be +disposed, _equally_ to protect the subjects, to fail in its trust, to +counteract its purposes, and to become no better than the instrument of +the wrongs of a faction. Some degree of influence must exist in all +governments. But a government which has no interest to please the body +of the people, and can neither support them nor with safety call for +their support, nor is of power to sway the domineering faction, can only +exist by corruption; and taught by that monopolizing party which usurps +the title and qualities of the public to consider the body of the people +as out of the constitution, they will consider those who are in it in +the light in which they choose to consider themselves. The whole +relation of government and of freedom will be a battle or a traffic. + +This system, in its real nature, and under its proper appellations, is +odious and unnatural, especially when a constitution is admitted which +not only, as all constitutions do profess, has a regard to the good of +the multitude, but in its theory makes profession of their power also. +But of late this scheme of theirs has been new-christened,--_honestum +nomen imponitur vitio_. A word has been lately struck in the mint of the +Castle of Dublin; thence it was conveyed to the Tholsel, or City-Hall, +where, having passed the touch of the corporation, so respectably +stamped and vouched, it soon became current in Parliament, and was +carried back by the Speaker of the House of Commons in great pomp, as an +offering of homage from whence it came. The word is _ascendency_. It is +not absolutely new. But the sense in which I have hitherto seen it used +was to signify an influence obtained over the minds of some other person +by love and reverence, or by superior management and dexterity. It had, +therefore, to this its promotion no more than a moral, not a civil or +political use. But I admit it is capable of being so applied; and if the +Lord Mayor of Dublin, and the Speaker of the Irish Parliament, who +recommend the preservation of the Protestant ascendency, mean to employ +the word in that sense,--that is, if they understand by it the +preservation of the influence of that description of gentlemen over the +Catholics by means of an authority derived from their wisdom and virtue, +and from an opinion they raise in that people of a pious regard and +affection for their freedom and happiness,--it is impossible not to +commend their adoption of so apt a term into the family of politics. It +may be truly said to enrich the language. Even if the Lord Mayor and +Speaker mean to insinuate that this influence is to be obtained and held +by flattering their people, by managing them, by skilfully adapting +themselves to the humors and passions of those whom they would govern, +he must be a very untoward critic who would cavil even at this use of +the word, though such cajoleries would perhaps be more prudently +practised than professed. These are all meanings laudable, or at least +tolerable. But when we look a little more narrowly, and compare it with +the plan to which it owes its present technical application, I find it +has strayed far from its original sense. It goes much further than the +privilege allowed by Horace. It is more than _parce detortum_. This +Protestant ascendency means nothing less than an influence obtained by +virtue, by love, or even by artifice and seduction,--full as little an +influence derived from the means by which ministers have obtained an +influence which might be called, without straining, an _ascendency_, in +public assemblies in England, that is, by a liberal distribution of +places and pensions, and other graces of government. This last is wide +indeed of the signification of the word. New _ascendency_ is the old +_mastership_. It is neither more nor less than the resolution of one set +of people in Ireland to consider themselves as the sole citizens in the +commonwealth, and to keep a dominion over the rest by reducing them to +absolute slavery under a military power, and, thus fortified in their +power, to divide the public estate, which is the result of general +contribution, as a military booty, solely amongst themselves. + +The poor word _ascendency_, so soft and melodious in its sound, so +lenitive and emollient in its first usage, is now employed to cover to +the world the most rigid, and perhaps not the most wise, of all plans of +policy. The word is large enough in its comprehension. I cannot +conceive what mode of oppression in civil life, or what mode of +religious persecution, may not come within the methods of preserving an +_ascendency_. In plain old English, as they apply it, it signifies +_pride and dominion_ on the one part of the relation, and on the other +_subserviency and contempt_,--and it signifies nothing else. The old +words are as fit to be set to music as the new: but use has long since +affixed to them their true signification, and they sound, as the other +will, harshly and odiously to the moral and intelligent ears of mankind. + +This ascendency, by being a _Protestant_ ascendency, does not better it +from the combination of a note or two more in this anti-harmonic scale. +If Protestant ascendency means the proscription from citizenship of by +far the major part of the people of any country, then Protestant +ascendency is a bad thing, and it ought to have no existence. But there +is a deeper evil. By the use that is so frequently made of the term, and +the policy which is engrafted on it, the name Protestant becomes nothing +more or better than the name of a persecuting faction, with a relation +of some sort of theological hostility to others, but without any sort of +ascertained tenets of its own upon the ground of which it persecutes +other men: for the patrons of this Protestant ascendency neither do nor +can, by anything positive, define or describe what they mean by the word +Protestant. It is defined, as Cowley defines wit, not by what it is, but +by what it is not. It is not the Christian religion as professed in the +churches holding communion with Rome, the majority of Christians: that +is all which, in the latitude of the term, is known about its +signification. This makes such persecutors ten times worse than any of +that description that hitherto have been known in the world. The old +persecutors, whether Pagan or Christian, whether Arian or Orthodox, +whether Catholics, Anglicans, or Calvinists, actually were, or at least +had the decorum to pretend to be, strong dogmatists. They pretended that +their religious maxims were clear and ascertained, and so useful that +they were bound, for the eternal benefit of mankind, to defend or +diffuse them, though by any sacrifices of the temporal good of those who +were the objects of their system of experiment. + +The bottom of this theory of persecution is false. It is not permitted +to us to sacrifice the temporal good of any body of men to our own ideas +of the truth and falsehood of any religious opinions. By making men +miserable in this life, they counteract one of the great ends of +charity, which is, in as much as in us lies, to make men happy in every +period of their existence, and most in what most depends upon us. But +give to these old persecutors their mistaken principle, in their +reasoning they are consistent, and in their tempers they may be even +kind and good-natured. But whenever a faction would render millions of +mankind miserable, some millions of the race coexistent with themselves, +and many millions in their succession, without knowing or so much as +pretending to ascertain the doctrines of their own school, (in which +there is much of the lash and nothing of the lesson,) the errors which +the persons in such a faction fall into are not those that are natural +to human imbecility, nor is the least mixture of mistaken kindness to +mankind an ingredient in the severities they inflict. The whole is +nothing but pure and perfect malice. It is, indeed, a perfection in that +kind belonging to beings of an higher order than man, and to them we +ought to leave it. + +This kind of persecutors without zeal, without charity, know well enough +that religion, to pass by all questions of the truth or falsehood of any +of its particular systems, (a matter I abandon to the theologians on all +sides,) is a source of great comfort to us mortals, in this our short, +but tedious journey through the world. They know, that, to enjoy this +consolation, men must believe their religion upon some principle or +other, whether of education, habit, theory, or authority. When men are +driven from any of those principles on which they have received +religion, without embracing with the same assurance and cordiality some +other system, a dreadful void is left in their minds, and a terrible +shook is given to their morals. They lose their guide, their comfort, +their hope. None but the most cruel and hardhearted of men, who had +banished all natural tenderness from their minds, such as those beings +of iron, the atheists, could bring themselves to any persecution like +this. Strange it is, but so it is, that men, driven by force from their +habits in one mode of religion, have, by contrary habits, under the same +force, often quietly settled in another. They suborn their reason to +declare in favor of their necessity. Man and his conscience cannot +always be at war. If the first races have not been able to make a +pacification between the conscience and the convenience, their +descendants come generally to submit to the violence of the laws, +without violence to their minds. As things stood formerly, they +possessed a _positive_ scheme of direction and of consolation. In this +men may acquiesce. The harsh methods in use with the old class of +persecutors were to make converts, not apostates only. If they +perversely hated other sects and factions, they loved their own +inordinately. But in this Protestant persecution there is anything but +benevolence at work. What do the Irish statutes? They do not make a +conformity to the _established_ religion, and to its doctrines and +practices, the condition of getting out of servitude. No such thing. Let +three millions of people but abandon all that they and their ancestors +have been taught to believe sacred, and to forswear it publicly in terms +the most degrading, scurrilous, and indecent for men of integrity and +virtue, and to abuse the whole of their former lives, and to slander the +education they have received, and nothing more is required of them. +There is no system of folly, or impiety, or blasphemy, or atheism, into +which they may not throw themselves, and which they may not profess +openly, and as a system, consistently with the enjoyment of all the +privileges of a free citizen in the happiest constitution in the world. + +Some of the unhappy assertors of this strange scheme say they are not +persecutors on account of religion. In the first place, they say what is +not true. For what else do they disfranchise the people? If the man gets +rid of a religion through which their malice operates, he gets rid of +all their penalties and incapacities at once. They never afterwards +inquire about him. I speak here of their pretexts, and not of the true +spirit of the transaction, in which religious bigotry, I apprehend, has +little share. Every man has his taste; but I think, if I were so +miserable and undone as to be guilty of premeditated and continued +violence towards any set of men, I had rather that my conduct was +supposed to arise from wild conceits concerning their religious +advantages than from low and ungenerous motives relative to my own +selfish interest. I had rather be thought insane in my charity than +rational in my malice. This much, my dear son, I have to say of this +Protestant persecution,--that is, a persecution of religion itself. + +A very great part of the mischiefs that vex the world arises from words. +People soon forget the meaning, but the impression and the passion +remain. The word Protestant is the charm that looks up in the dungeon of +servitude three millions of your people. It is not amiss to consider +this spell of potency, this abracadabra, that is hung about the necks of +the unhappy, not to heal, but to communicate disease. We sometimes hear +of a Protestant _religion_, frequently of a Protestant _interest_. We +hear of the latter the most frequently, because it has a positive +meaning. The other has none. We hear of it the most frequently, because +it has a word in the phrase which, well or ill understood, has animated +to persecution and oppression at all times infinitely more than all the +dogmas in dispute between religious factions. These are, indeed, well +formed to perplex and torment the intellect, but not half so well +calculated to inflame the passions and animosities of men. + +I do readily admit that a great deal of the wars, seditions, and +troubles of the world did formerly turn upon the contention between +_interests_ that went by the names of Protestant and Catholic. But I +imagined that at this time no one was weak enough to believe, or +impudent enough to pretend, that questions of Popish and Protestant +opinions or interest are the things by which men are at present menaced +with crusades by foreign invasion, or with seditions which shake the +foundations of the state at home. It is long since all this combination +of things has vanished from the view of intelligent observers. The +existence of quite another system of opinions and interests is now plain +to the grossest sense. Are these the questions that raise a flame in the +minds of men at this day? If ever the Church and the Constitution of +England should fall in these islands, (and they will fall together,) it +is not Presbyterian discipline nor Popish hierarchy that will rise upon +their ruins. It will not be the Church of Rome nor the Church of +Scotland, not the Church of Luther nor the Church of Calvin. On the +contrary, all these churches are menaced, and menaced alike. It is the +new fanatical religion, now in the heat of its first ferment, of the +Rights of Man, which rejects all establishments, all discipline, all +ecclesiastical, and in truth all civil order, which will triumph, and +which will lay prostrate your Church, which will destroy your +distinctions, and which will put all your properties to auction, and +disperse you over the earth. If the present establishment should fall, +it is this religion which will triumph in Ireland and in England, as it +has triumphed in France. This religion, which laughs at creeds and +dogmas and confessions of faith, may be fomented equally amongst all +descriptions and all sects,--amongst nominal Catholics, and amongst +nominal Churchmen, and amongst those Dissenters who know little and care +less about a presbytery, or any of its discipline, or any of its +doctrine. Against this new, this growing, this exterminatory system, all +these churches have a common concern to defend themselves. How the +enthusiasts of this rising sect rejoice to see you of the old churches +play their game, and stir and rake the cinders of animosities sunk in +their ashes, in order to keep up the execution of their plan for your +common ruin! + +I suppress all that is in my mind about the blindness of those of our +clergy who will shut their eyes to a thing which glares in such manifest +day. If some wretches amongst an indigent and disorderly part of the +populace raise a riot about tithes, there are of these gentlemen ready +to cry out that this is an overt act of a treasonable conspiracy. Here +the bulls, and the pardons, and the crusade, and the Pope, and the +thunders of the Vatican are everywhere at work. There is a plot to bring +in a foreign power to destroy the Church. Alas! it is not about popes, +but about potatoes, that the minds of this unhappy people are agitated. +It is not from the spirit of zeal, but the spirit of whiskey, that these +wretches act. Is it, then, not conceived possible that a poor clown can +be unwilling, after paying three pounds rent to a gentleman in a brown +coat, to pay fourteen shillings to one in a black coat, for his acre of +potatoes, and tumultuously to desire some modification of the charge, +without being supposed to have no other motive than a frantic zeal for +being thus double-taxed to another set of landholders and another set of +priests? Have men no self-interest, no avarice, no repugnance to public +imposts? Have they no sturdy and restive minds, no undisciplined habits? +Is there nothing in the whole mob of irregular passions, which might +precipitate some of the common people, in some places, to quarrel with a +legal, because they feel it to be a burdensome imposition? According to +these gentlemen, no offence can be committed by Papists but from zeal to +their religion. To make room for the vices of Papists, they clear the +house of all the vices of men. Some of the common people (not one, +however, in ten thousand) commit disorders. Well! punish them as you do, +and as you ought to punish them, for their violence against the just +property of each individual clergyman, as each individual suffers. +Support the injured rector, or the injured impropriator, in the +enjoyment of the estate of which (whether on the best plan or not) the +laws have put him in possession. Let the crime and the punishment stand +upon their own bottom. But now we ought all of us, clergymen most +particularly, to avoid assigning another cause of quarrel, in order to +infuse a new source of bitterness into a dispute which personal feelings +on both sides will of themselves make bitter enough, and thereby involve +in it by religious descriptions men who have individually no share +whatsoever in those irregular acts. Let us not make the malignant +fictions of our own imaginations, heated with factious controversies, +reasons for keeping men that are neither guilty nor justly suspected of +crime in a servitude equally dishonorable and unsafe to religion and to +the state. When men are constantly accused, but know themselves not to +be guilty, they must naturally abhor their accusers. There is no +character, when malignantly taken up and deliberately pursued, which +more naturally excites indignation and abhorrence in mankind, especially +in that part of mankind which suffers from it. + +I do not pretend to take pride in an extravagant attachment to any sect. +Some gentlemen in Ireland affect that sort of glory. It is to their +taste. Their piety, I take it for granted, justifies the fervor of their +zeal, and may palliate the excess of it. Being myself no more than a +common layman, commonly informed in controversies, leading only a very +common life, and having only a common citizen's interest in the Church +or in the State, yet to you I will say, in justice to my own sentiments, +that not one of those zealots for a Protestant interest wishes more +sincerely than I do, perhaps not half so sincerely, for the support of +the Established Church in both these kingdoms. It is a great link +towards holding fast the connection of religion with the State, and for +keeping these two islands, in their present critical independence of +constitution, in a close connection of _opinion and affection_. I wish +it well, as the religion of the greater number of the primary +land-proprietors of the kingdom, with whom all establishments of Church +and Stats, for strong political reasons, ought in my opinion to be +firmly connected. I wish it well, because it is more closely combined +than any other of the church systems with the _crown_, which is the stay +of the mixed Constitution,--because it is, as things now stand, the sole +connecting _political_ principle between the constitutions of the two +independent kingdoms. I have another and infinitely a stronger reason +for wishing it well: it is, that in the present time I consider it as +one of the main pillars of the Christian religion itself. The body and +substance of every religion I regard much more than any of the forms and +dogmas of the particular sects. Its fall would leave a great void, which +nothing else, of which I can form any distinct idea, might fill. I +respect the Catholic hierarchy and the Presbyterian republic; but I +know that the hope or the fear of establishing either of them is, in +these kingdoms, equally chimerical, even if I preferred one or the other +of them to the Establishment, which certainly I do not. + +These are some of my reasons for wishing the support of the Church of +Ireland as by law established. These reasons are founded as well on the +absolute as on the relative situation of that kingdom. But is it because +I love the Church, and the King, and the privileges of Parliament, that +I am to be ready for any violence, or any injustice, or any absurdity, +in the means of supporting any of these powers, or all of them together? +Instead of prating about Protestant ascendencies, Protestant Parliaments +ought, in my opinion, to think at last of becoming patriot Parliaments. + +The legislature of Ireland, like all legislatures, ought to frame its +laws to suit the people and the circumstances of the country, and not +any longer to make it their whole business to force the nature, the +temper, and the inveterate habits of a nation to a conformity to +speculative systems concerning any kind of laws. Ireland has an +established government, and a religion legally established, which are to +be preserved. It has a people who are to be preserved too, and to be led +by reason, principle, sentiment, and interest to acquiesce in that +government. Ireland is a country under peculiar circumstances. The +people of Ireland are a very mixed people; and the quantities of the +several ingredients in the mixture are very much disproportioned to each +other. Are we to govern this mixed body as if it were composed of the +most simple elements, comprehending the whole in one system of +benevolent legislation? or are we not rather to provide for the several +parts according to the various and diversified necessities of the +heterogeneous nature of the mass? Would not common reason and common +honesty dictate to us the policy of regulating the people, in the +several descriptions of which they are composed, according to the +natural ranks and classes of an orderly civil society, under a common +protecting sovereign, and under a form of constitution favorable at once +to authority and to freedom,--such as the British Constitution boasts to +be, and such as it is to those who enjoy it? + +You have an ecclesiastical establishment, which, though the religion of +the prince, and of most of the first class of landed proprietors, is not +the religion of the major part of the inhabitants, and which +consequently does not answer to _them_ any one purpose of a religious +establishment. This is a state of things which no man in his senses can +call perfectly happy. But it is the state of Ireland. Two hundred years +of experiment show it to be unalterable. Many a fierce struggle has +passed between the parties. The result is, you cannot make the people +Protestants, and they cannot shake off a Protestant government. This is +what experience teaches, and what all men of sense of all descriptions +know. To-day the question is this: Are we to make the best of this +situation, which we cannot alter? The question is: Shall the condition +of the body of the people be alleviated in other things, on account of +their necessary suffering from their being subject to the burdens of two +religious establishments, from one of which they do not partake the +least, living or dying, either of instruction or of consolation,--or +shall it be aggravated, by stripping the people thus loaded of +everything which might support and indemnify them in this state, so as +to leave them naked of every sort of right and of every name of +franchise, to outlaw them from the Constitution, and to cut off +(perhaps) three millions of plebeian subjects, without reference to +property, or any other qualification, from all connection with the +popular representation, of the kingdom? + +As to religion, it has nothing at all to do with the proceeding. Liberty +is not sacrificed to a zeal for religion, but a zeal for religion is +pretended and assumed to destroy liberty. The Catholic religion is +completely free. It has no establishment,--but it is recognized, +permitted, and, in a degree, protected by the laws. If a man is +satisfied to be a slave, he may be a Papist with perfect impunity. He +may say mass, or hear it, as he pleases; but he must consider himself as +an outlaw from the British Constitution. If the constitutional liberty +of the subject were not the thing aimed at, the direct reverse course +would be taken. The franchise would have been permitted, and the mass +exterminated. But the conscience of a man left, and a tenderness for it +hypocritically pretended, is to make it a trap to catch his liberty. + +So much is this the design, that the violent partisans of this scheme +fairly take up all the maxims and arguments, as well as the practices, +by which tyranny has fortified itself at all times. Trusting wholly in +their strength and power, (and upon this they reckon, as always ready to +strike wherever they wish to direct the storm,) they abandon all pretext +of the general good of the community. They say, that, if the people, +under any given modification, obtain the smallest portion or particle of +constitutional freedom, it will be impossible for them to hold their +property. They tell us that they act only on the defensive. They inform +the public of Europe that their estates are made up of forfeitures and +confiscations from the natives; that, if the body of people obtain +votes, any number of votes, however small, it will be a step to the +choice of members of their own religion; that the House of Commons, in +spite of the influence of nineteen parts in twenty of the landed +interest now in their hands, will be composed in the whole, or in far +the major part, of Papists; that this Popish House of Commons will +instantly pass a law to confiscate all their estates, which it will not +be in their power to save even by entering into that Popish party +themselves, because there are prior claimants to be satisfied; that, as +to the House of Lords, though neither Papists nor Protestants have a +share in electing them, the body of the peerage will be so obliging and +disinterested as to fall in with this exterminatory scheme, which is to +forfeit all their estates, the largest part of the kingdom; and, to +crown all, that his Majesty will give his cheerful assent to this +causeless act of attainder of his innocent and faithful Protestant +subjects; that they will be or are to be left, without house or land, to +the dreadful resource of living by their wits, out of which they are +already frightened by the apprehension of this spoliation with which +they are threatened; that, therefore, they cannot so much as listen to +any arguments drawn from equity or from national or constitutional +policy: the sword is at their throats; beggary and famine at their door. +See what it is to have a good look-out, and to see danger at the end of +a sufficiently long perspective! + +This is, indeed, to speak plain, though to speak nothing very new. The +same thing has been said in all times and in all languages. The language +of tyranny has been invariable: "The general good is inconsistent with +my personal safety." Justice and liberty seem so alarming to these +gentlemen, that they are not ashamed even to slander their own titles, +to calumniate and call in doubt their right to their own estates, and to +consider themselves as novel disseizors, usurpers, and intruders, rather +than lose a pretext for becoming oppressors of their fellow-citizens, +whom they (not I) choose to describe themselves as having robbed. + +Instead of putting themselves in this odious point of light, one would +think they would wish to let Time draw his oblivious veil over the +unpleasant modes by which lordships and demesnes have been acquired in +theirs, and almost in all other countries upon earth. It might be +imagined, that, when the sufferer (if a sufferer exists) had forgot the +wrong, they would be pleased to forget it too,--that they would permit +the sacred name of possession to stand in the place of the melancholy +and unpleasant title of grantees of confiscation, which, though firm and +valid in law, surely merits the name that a great Roman jurist gave to a +title at least as valid in his nation as confiscation would be either in +his or in ours: _Tristis et luctuosa successio_. + +Such is the situation of every man who comes in upon the ruin of +another; his succeeding, under this circumstance, is _tristis et +luctuosa successio_. If it had been the fate of any gentleman to profit +by the confiscation of his neighbor, one would think he would be more +disposed to give him a valuable interest under him in his land, or to +allow him a pension, as I understand one worthy person has done, without +fear or apprehension that his benevolence to a ruined family would be +construed into a recognition of the forfeited title. The public of +England, the other day, acted in this manner towards Lord Newburgh, a +Catholic. Though the estate had been vested by law in the greatest of +the public charities, they have given him a pension from his +confiscation. They have gone further in other cases. On the last +rebellion, in 1745, in Scotland, several forfeitures were incurred. They +had been disposed of by Parliament to certain laudable uses. Parliament +reversed the method which they had adopted in Lord Newburgh's case, and +in my opinion did better: they gave the forfeited estates to the +successors of the forfeiting proprietors, chargeable in part with the +uses. Is this, or anything like this, asked in favor of any human +creature in Ireland? It is bounty, it is charity,--wise bounty, and +politic charity; but no man can claim it as a right. Here no such thing +is claimed as right, or begged as charity. The demand has an object as +distant from all considerations of this sort as any two extremes can be. +The people desire the privileges inseparably annexed, since Magna +Charta, to the freehold which they have by descent or obtain as the +fruits of their industry. They call for no man's estate; they desire not +to be dispossessed of their own. + +But this melancholy and invidious title is a favorite (and, like +favorites, always of the least merit) with those who possess every other +title upon earth along with it. For this purpose they revive the bitter +memory of every dissension which has torn to pieces their miserable +country for ages. After what has passed in 1782, one would not think +that decorum, to say nothing of policy, would permit them to call up, by +magic charms, the grounds, reasons, and principles of those terrible +confiscatory and exterminatory periods. They would not set men upon +calling from the quiet sleep of death any Samuel, to ask him by what act +of arbitrary monarchs, by what inquisitions of corrupted tribunals and +tortured jurors, by what fictitious tenures invented to dispossess whole +unoffending tribes and their chieftains. They would not conjure up the +ghosts from the ruins of castles and churches, to tell for what attempt +to struggle for the independence of an Irish legislature, and to raise +armies of volunteers without regular commissions from the crown in +support of that independence, the estates of the old Irish nobility and +gentry had been confiscated. They would not wantonly call on those +phantoms to tell by what English acts of Parliament, forced upon two +reluctant kings, the lands of their country were put up to a mean and +scandalous auction in every goldsmith's shop in London, or chopped to +pieces and out into rations, to pay the mercenary soldiery of a regicide +usurper. They would not be so fond of titles under Cromwell, who, if he +avenged an Irish rebellion against the sovereign authority of the +Parliament of England, had himself rebelled against the very Parliament +whose sovereignty he asserted, full as much as the Irish nation, which +he was sent to subdue and confiscate, could rebel against that +Parliament, or could rebel against the king, against whom both he and +the Parliament which he served, and which he betrayed, had both of them +rebelled. + +The gentlemen who hold the language of the day know perfectly well that +the Irish in 1641 pretended, at least, that they did not rise against +the king: nor in fact did they, whatever constructions law might put +upon their act. But full surely they rebelled against the authority of +the Parliament of England, and they openly professed so to do. Admitting +(I have now no time to discuss the matter) the enormous and unpardonable +magnitude of this their crime, they rued it in their persons, and in +those of their children and their grandchildren, even to the fifth and +sixth generations. Admitting, then, the enormity of this unnatural +rebellion in favor of the independence of Ireland, will it follow that +it must be avenged forever? Will it follow that it must be avenged on +thousands and perhaps hundreds of thousands of those whom they can never +trace, by the labors of the most subtle metaphysician of the traduction +of crimes, or the most inquisitive genealogist of proscription, to the +descendant of any one concerned in that nefarious Irish rebellion +against the Parliament of England? + +If, however, you could find out those pedigrees of guilt, I do not think +the difference would be essential. History records many things which +ought to make us hate evil actions; but neither history, nor morals, nor +policy can teach us to punish innocent men on that account. What lesson +does the iniquity of prevalent factions read to us? It ought to lesson +us into an abhorrence of the abuse of our own power in our own day, when +we hate its excesses so much in other persons and in other times. To +that school true statesmen ought to be satisfied to leave mankind. They +ought not to call from the dead all the discussions and litigations +which formerly inflamed the furious factions which had torn their +country to pieces; they ought not to rake into the hideous and +abominable things which were done in the turbulent fury of an injured, +robbed, and persecuted people, and which were afterwards cruelly +revenged in the execution, and as outrageously and shamefully +exaggerated in the representation, in order, an hundred and fifty years +after, to find some color for justifying them in the eternal +proscription and civil excommunication of a whole people. + +Let us come to a later period of those confiscations with the memory of +which the gentlemen who triumph in the acts of 1782 are so much +delighted. The Irish again rebelled against the English Parliament in +1688, and the English Parliament again put up to sale the greatest part +of their estates. I do not presume to defend the Irish for this +rebellion, nor to blame the English Parliament for this confiscation. +The Irish, it is true, did not revolt from King James's power. He threw +himself upon their fidelity, and they supported him to the best of their +feeble power. Be the crime of that obstinate adherence to an abdicated +sovereign, against a prince whom the Parliaments of Ireland and Scotland +had recognized, what it may, I do not mean to justify this rebellion +more than the former. It might, however, admit some palliation in them. +In generous minds some small degree of compassion might be excited for +an error, where they were misled, as Cicero says to a conqueror, _quadam +specie et similitudine pacis_, not without a mistaken appearance of +duty, and for which the guilty have suffered, by exile abroad and +slavery at home, to the extent of their folly or their offence. The best +calculators compute that Ireland lost two hundred thousand of her +inhabitants in that struggle. If the principle of the English and +Scottish resistance at the Revolution is to be justified, (as sure I am +it is,) the submission of Ireland must be somewhat extenuated. For, if +the Irish resisted King William, they resisted him on the very same +principle that the English and Scotch resisted King James. The Irish +Catholics must have been the very worst and the most truly unnatural of +rebels, if they had not supported a prince whom they had seen attacked, +not for any designs against _their_ religion or _their_ liberties, but +for an extreme partiality for their sect, and who, far from trespassing +on _their_ liberties and properties, secured both them and the +independence of their country in much the same manner that we have seen +the same things done at the period of 1782,--I trust the last revolution +in Ireland. + +That the Irish Parliament of King James did in some particulars, though +feebly, imitate the rigor which had been used towards the Irish, is true +enough. Blamable enough they were for what they had done, though under +the greatest possible provocation. I shall never praise confiscations or +counter-confiscations as long as I live. When they happen by necessity, +I shall think the necessity lamentable and odious: I shall think that +anything done under it ought not to pass into precedent, or to be +adopted by choice, or to produce any of those shocking retaliations +which never suffer dissensions to subside. Least of all would I fix the +transitory spirit of civil fury by perpetuating and methodizing it in +tyrannic government. If it were permitted to argue with power, might one +not ask these gentlemen whether it would not be more natural, instead of +wantonly mooting these questions concerning their property, as if it +were an exercise in law, to found it on the solid rock of +prescription,--the soundest, the most general, and the most recognized +title between man and man that is known in municipal or in public +jurisprudence?--a title in which not arbitrary institutions, but the +eternal order of things, gives judgment; a title which is not the +creature, but the master, of positive law; a title which, though not +fixed in its term, is rooted in its principle in the law of Nature +itself, and is indeed the original ground of all known property: for all +property in soil will always be traced back to that source, and will +rest there. The miserable natives of Ireland, who ninety-nine in an +hundred are tormented with quite other cares, and are bowed down to +labor for the bread of the hour, are not, as gentlemen pretend, plodding +with antiquaries for titles of centuries ago to the estates of the great +lords and squires for whom they labor. But if they were thinking of the +titles which gentlemen labor to beat into their heads, where can they +bottom their own claims, but in a presumption and a proof that these +lands had at some time been possessed by their ancestors? These +gentlemen (for they have lawyers amongst them) know as well as I that in +England we have had always a prescription or limitation, as all nations +have, against each other. The crown was excepted; but that exception is +destroyed, and we have lately established a sixty years' possession as +against the crown. All titles terminate in prescription,--in which +(differently from Time in the fabulous instances) the son devours the +father, and the last prescription eats up all the former. + + * * * * * + + + + +A + +LETTER + +ON + +THE AFFAIRS OF IRELAND. + +1797. + + +Dear Sir,--In the reduced state of body and in the dejected state of +mind in which I find myself at this very advanced period of my life, it +is a great consolation to me to know that a cause I ever have had so +very near my heart is taken up by a man of your activity and talents. + +It is very true that your late friend, my ever dear and honored son, was +in the highest degree solicitous about the final event of a business +which he also had pursued for a long time with infinite zeal, and no +small degree of success. It was not above half an hour before he left me +forever that he spoke with considerable earnestness on this very +subject. If I had needed any incentives to do my best for freeing the +body of my country from the grievances under which they labor, this +alone would certainly call forth all my endeavors. + +The person who succeeded to the government of Ireland about the time of +that afflicting event had been all along of my sentiments and yours upon +this subject; and far from needing to be stimulated by me, that +incomparable person, and those in whom he strictly confided, even went +before me in their resolution to pursue the great end of government, the +satisfaction and concord of the people with whose welfare they were +charged. I cannot bear to think on the causes by which this great plan +of policy, so manifestly beneficial to both kingdoms, has been +defeated. + +Your mistake with regard to me lies in supposing that I did not, when +his removal was in agitation, strongly and personally represent to +several of his Majesty's ministers, to whom I could have the most ready +access, the true state of Ireland, and the mischiefs which sooner or +later must arise from subjecting the mass of the people to the +capricious and interested domination of an exceeding small faction and +its dependencies. + +That representation was made the last time, or very nearly the last +time, that I have ever had the honor of seeing those ministers. I am so +far from having any credit with them, on this, or any other public +matters, that I have reason to be certain, if it were known that any +person in office in Ireland, from the highest to the lowest, were +influenced by my opinions, and disposed to act upon them, such an one +would be instantly turned out of his employment. Yon have formed, to my +person a flattering, yet in truth a very erroneous opinion, of my power +with those who direct the public measures. I never have been directly or +indirectly consulted about anything that is done. The judgment of the +eminent and able persons who conduct public affairs is undoubtedly +superior to mine; but self-partiality induces almost every man to defer +something to his own. Nothing is more notorious than that I have the +misfortune of thinking that no one capital measure relative to political +arrangements, and still less that a new military plan for the defence of +either kingdom in this arduous war, has been taken upon any other +principle than such as must conduct us to inevitable ruin. + +In the state of my mind, so discordant with the tone of ministers, and +still more discordant with the tone of opposition, you may judge what +degree of weight I am likely to have with either of the parties who +divide this kingdom,--even though I were endowed with strength of body, +or were possessed of any active situation in the government, which might +give success to my endeavors. But the fact is, since the day of my +unspeakable calamity, except in the attentions of a very few old and +compassionate friends, I am totally out of all social intercourse. My +health has gone down very rapidly; and I have been brought hither with +very faint hopes of life, and enfeebled to such a degree as those who +had known me some time ago could scarcely think credible. Since I came +hither, my sufferings have been greatly aggravated, and my little +strength still further reduced; so that, though I am told the symptoms +of my disorder begin to carry a more favorable aspect, I pass the far +larger part of the twenty-four hours, indeed almost the whole, either in +my bed or lying upon the couch from which I dictate this. Had you been +apprised of this circumstance, you could not have expected anything, as +you seem to do, from my active exertions. I could do nothing, if I was +still stronger, not even _si meus adforet Hector_. + +There is no hope for the body of the people of Ireland, as long as those +who are in power with you shall make it the great object of their policy +to propagate an opinion on this side of the water that the mass of their +countrymen are not to be trusted by their government, and that the only +hold which England has upon Ireland consists in preserving a certain +very small number of gentlemen in full possession of a monopoly of that +kingdom. This system has disgusted many others besides Catholics and +Dissenters. + +As to those who on your side are in the opposition to government, they +are composed of persons several of whom I love and revere. They have +been irritated by a treatment too much for the ordinary patience of +mankind to bear into the adoption of schemes which, however +_argumentatively_ specious, would go _practically_ to the inevitable +ruin of the kingdom. The opposition always connects the emancipation of +the Catholics with these schemes of reformation: indeed, it makes the +former only a member of the latter project. The gentlemen who enforce +that opposition are, in my opinion, playing the game of their +adversaries with all their might; and there is no third party in Ireland +(nor in England neither) to separate things that are in themselves so +distinct,--I mean the admitting people to the benefits of the +Constitution, and a change in the form of the Constitution itself. + +As every one knows that a great part of the constitution of the Irish +House of Commons was formed about the year 1614 expressly for bringing +that House into a state of dependence, and that the new representative +was at that time seated and installed by force and violence, nothing can +be more impolitic than for those who wish the House to stand on its +present basis (as, for one, I most sincerely do) to make it appear to +have kept too much the principle of its first institution, and to +continue to be as little a virtual as it is an actual representative of +the commons. It is the _degeneracy_ of such an institution, _so vicious +in its principle_, that is to be wished for. If men have the real +benefit of a _sympathetic_ representation, none but those who are heated +and intoxicated with theory will look for any other. This sort of +representation, my dear Sir, must wholly depend, not on the force with +which it is upheld, but upon the _prudence_ of those who have influence +upon it. Indeed, without some such prudence in the use of authority, I +do not know, at least in the present time, how any power can long +continue. + +If it be true that both parties are carrying things to extremities in +different ways, the object which you and I have in common, that is to +say, the union and concord of our country _on the basis of the actual +representation_, without risking those evils which any change in the +form of our legislature must inevitably bring on, can never be obtained. +On the part of the Catholics (that is to say, of the body of the people +of the kingdom) it is a terrible alternative, either to submit to the +yoke of declared and insulting enemies, or to seek a remedy in plunging +themselves into the horrors and crimes of that Jacobinism which +unfortunately is not disagreeable to the principles and inclinations of, +I am afraid, the majority of what we call the Protestants of Ireland. +The Protestant part of that kingdom is represented by the government +itself to be, by whole counties, in nothing less than open rebellion. I +am sure that it is everywhere teeming with dangerous conspiracy. + +I believe it will be found, that, though the principles of the +Catholics, and the incessant endeavors of their clergy, have kept them +from being generally infected with the systems of this time, yet, +whenever their situation brings them nearer into contact with the +Jacobin Protestants, they are more or less infected with their +doctrines. + +It is a matter for melancholy reflection, but I am fully convinced, that +many persons in Ireland would be glad that the Catholics should become +more and more infected with the Jacobin madness, in order to furnish new +arguments for fortifying them in their monopoly. On any other ground it +is impossible to account for the late language of your men in power. If +statesmen, (let me suppose for argument,) upon the most solid political +principles, conceive themselves obliged to resist the wishes of the far +more numerous, and, as things stand, not the worse part of the +community, one would think they would naturally put their refusal as +much as possible upon temporary grounds, and that they would act towards +them in the most conciliatory manner, and would talk to them in the most +gentle and soothing language: for refusal, in itself, is not a very +gracious thing; and, unfortunately, men are very quickly irritated out +of their principles. Nothing is more discouraging to the loyalty of any +description of men than to represent to them that their humiliation and +subjection make a principal part in the fundamental and invariable +policy which regards the conjunction of these two kingdoms. This is not +the way to give them a warm interest in that conjunction. + +My poor opinion is, that the closest connection between Great Britain +and Ireland is essential to the well-being, I had almost said, to the +very being, of the two kingdoms. For that purpose I humbly conceive that +the whole of the superior, and what I should call _imperial_ politics, +ought to have its residence here; and that Ireland, locally, civilly, +and commercially independent, ought politically to look up to Great +Britain in all matters of peace or of war,--in all those points to be +guided by her.--and, in a word, with her to live and to die. At bottom, +Ireland has no other choice,--I mean, no other rational choice. + +I think, indeed, that Great Britain would be ruined by the separation of +Ireland; but as there are degrees even in ruin, it would fall the most +heavily on Ireland. By such a separation Ireland would be the most +completely undone country in the world,--the most wretched, the most +distracted, and, in the end, the most desolate part of the habitable +globe. Little do many people in Ireland consider how much of its +prosperity has been owing to, and still depends upon, its intimate +connection with this kingdom. But, more sensible of this great truth, +than perhaps any other man, I have never conceived, or can conceive, +that the connection is strengthened by making the major part of the +inhabitants of your country believe that their ease, and their +satisfaction, and their equalization with the rest of their +fellow-subjects of Ireland are things adverse to the principles of that +connection,--or that their subjection to a small monopolizing junto, +composed of one of the smallest of their own internal factions, is the +very condition upon which the harmony of the two kingdoms essentially +depends. I was sorry to hear that this principle, or something not +unlike it, was publicly and fully avowed by persons of great rank and +authority in the House of Lords in Ireland. + +As to a participation on the part of the Catholics in the privileges and +capacities which are withheld, without meaning wholly to depreciate +their importance, if I had the honor of being an Irish Catholic, I +should be content to expect satisfaction upon that subject with +patience, until the minds of my adversaries, few, but powerful, were +come to a proper temper: because, if the Catholics did enjoy, without +fraud, chicane, or partiality, some fair portion of those advantages +which the law, even as now the law is, leaves open to them, and if the +rod were not shaken over them at every turn, their present condition +would be tolerable; as compared with their former condition, it would be +happy. But the most favorable laws can do very little towards the +happiness of a people, when the disposition of the ruling power is +adverse to them. Men do not live upon blotted paper. The favorable or +the hostile mind of the ruling power is of far more importance to +mankind, for good or evil, than the black-letter of any statute. Late +acts of Parliament, whilst they fixed at least a temporary bar to the +hopes and progress of the larger description of the nation, opened to +them certain subordinate objects of equality; but it is impossible that +the people should imagine that any fair measure of advantage is intended +to them, when they hear the laws by which they were admitted to this +limited qualification publicly reprobated as excessive and +inconsiderate. They must think that there is a hankering after the old +penal and persecuting code. Their alarm must be great, when that +declaration is made by a person in very high and important office in the +House of Commons, and as the very first specimen and auspice of a new +government. + +All this is very unfortunate. I have the honor of an old acquaintance, +and entertain, in common with you, a very high esteem for the few +English persons who are concerned in the government of Ireland; but I am +not ignorant of the relation these transitory ministers bear to the +more settled Irish part of your administration. It is a delicate topic, +upon which I wish to say but little, though my reflections upon it are +many and serious. There is a great cry against English influence. I am +quite sure that it is Irish influence that dreads the English habits. + +Great disorders have long prevailed in Ireland. It is not long since +that the Catholics were the suffering party from those disorders. I am +sure they were not protected as the case required. Their sufferings +became a matter of discussion in Parliament. It produced the most +infuriated declamation against them that I have ever read. An inquiry +was moved into the facts. The declamation was at least tolerated, if not +approved. The inquiry was absolutely rejected. In that case, what is +left for those who are abandoned by government, but to join with the +persons who are capable of injuring them or protecting them as they +oppose or concur in their designs? This will produce a very fatal kind +of union amongst the people; but it is an union, which an unequal +administration of justice tends necessarily to produce. + +If anything could astonish one at this time, it is the war that the +rulers in Ireland think it proper to carry on against the person whom +they call the Pope, and against all his adherents, whenever they think +they have the power of manifesting their hostility. Without in the least +derogating from the talents of your theological politicians, or from the +military abilities of your commanders (who act on the same principles) +in Ireland, and without derogating from the zeal of either, it appears +to me that the Protestant Directory of Paris, as statesmen, and the +Protestant hero, Buonaparte, as a general, have done more to destroy +the said Pope and all his adherents, in all their capacities, than the +junto in Ireland have ever been able to effect. You must submit your +_fasces_ to theirs, and at best be contented to follow with songs of +gratulation, or invectives, according to your humor, the triumphal car +of those great conquerors. Had that true Protestant, Hoche, with an army +not infected with the slightest tincture of Popery, made good his +landing in Ireland, he would have saved you from a great deal of the +trouble which is taken to keep under a description of your +fellow-citizens obnoxious to you from their religion. It would not have +a month's existence, supposing his success. This is the alliance which, +under the appearance of hostility, we act as if we wished to promote. +All is well, provided we are safe from Popery. + +It was not necessary for you, my dear Sir, to explain yourself to _me_ +(in justification of your good wishes to your fellow-citizens) +concerning your total alienation from the principles of the Catholics. I +am more concerned in what we agree than in what we differ. You know the +impossibility of our forming any judgment upon the opinions, religious, +moral, or political, of those who in the largest sense are called +Protestants,--at least, as these opinions and tenets form a +qualification for holding any civil, judicial, military, or even +ecclesiastical situation. I have no doubt of the orthodox opinion of +many, both of the clergy and laity, professing the established religion +in Ireland, and of many even amongst the Dissenters, relative to the +great points of the Christian faith: but that orthodoxy concerns them +only as _individuals_. As a _qualification_ for employment, we all know +that in Ireland it is not necessary that they should profess any +religion at all: so that the war that we make is upon certain +theological tenets, about which scholastic disputes are carried on _æquo +Marte_, by controvertists, on their side, as able and as learned, and +perhaps as well-intentioned, as those are who fight the battle on the +other part. To them I would leave those controversies. I would turn my +mind to what is more within its competence, and has been more my study, +(though, for a man of the world, I have thought of those things,)--I +mean, the moral, civil, and political good of the countries we belong +to, and in which God has appointed your station and mine. Let every man +be as pious as he pleases, and in the way that he pleases; but it is +agreeable neither to piety nor to policy to give exclusively all manner +of civil privileges and advantages to a _negative_ religion, (such is +the Protestant without a certain creed,) and at the same time to deny +those privileges to men whom we know to agree to an iota in every one +_positive_ doctrine which all of us who profess the religion +authoritatively taught in England hold ourselves, according to our +faculties, bound to believe. The Catholics of Ireland (as I have said) +have the whole of our _positive_ religion: our difference is only a +negation of certain tenets of theirs. If we strip ourselves of _that_ +part of Catholicism, we abjure Christianity. If we drive them from that +holding, without engaging them in some other positive religion, (which +you know by our qualifying laws we do not,) what do we better than to +hold out to them terrors on the one side, and bounties on the other, in +favor of that which, for anything we know to the contrary, may be pure +atheism? + +You are well aware, that, when a man renounces the Roman religion, +there is no civil inconvenience or incapacity whatsoever which shall +hinder him from joining any new or old sect of Dissenters, or of forming +a sect of his own invention upon the most anti-christian principles. Let +Mr. Thomas Paine obtain a pardon, (as on change of ministry he may,) +there is nothing to hinder him from setting up a church of his own in +the very midst of you. He is a natural-born British subject. His French +citizenship does not disqualify him, at least upon a peace. This +Protestant apostle is as much above all suspicion of Popery as the +greatest and most zealous of your sanhedrim in Ireland can possibly be. +On purchasing a qualification, (which his friends of the Directory are +not so poor as to be unable to effect,) he may sit in Parliament; and +there is no doubt that there is not one of your tests against Popery +that he will not take as fairly, and as much _ex animo_, as the best of +your zealot statesmen. I push this point no further, and only adduce +this example (a pretty strong one, and fully in point) to show what I +take to be the madness and folly of driving men, under the existing +circumstances, from any _positive_ religion whatever into the irreligion +of the times, and its sure concomitant principles of anarchy. + +When religion is brought into a question of civil and political +arrangement, it must be considered more politically than theologically, +at least by us, who are nothing more than mere laymen. In that light, +the case of the Catholics of Ireland is peculiarly hard, whether they be +laity or clergy. If any of them take part, like the gentleman you +mention, with some of the most accredited Protestants of the country, in +projects which cannot be more abhorrent to your nature and disposition +than they are to mine,--in that case, however few these Catholic +factions who are united with factious Protestants may be, (and very few +they are now, whatever shortly they may become,) on their account the +whole body is considered as of suspected fidelity to the crown, and as +wholly undeserving of its favor. But if, on the contrary, in those +districts of the kingdom where their numbers are the greatest, where +they make, in a manner, the whole body of the people, (as, out of +cities, in three fourths of the kingdom they do,) these Catholics show +every mark of loyalty and zeal in support of the government, which at +best looks on them with an evil eye, then their very loyalty is turned +against their claims. They are represented as a contented and happy +people, and that it is unnecessary to do anything more in their favor. +Thus the factious disposition of a few among the Catholics and the +loyalty of the whole mass are equally assigned as reasons for not +putting them on a par with those Protestants who are asserted by the +government itself, which frowns upon Papists, to be in a state of +nothing short of actual rebellion, and in a strong disposition to make +common cause with the worst foreign enemy that these countries have ever +had to deal with. What in the end can come of all this? + +As to the Irish Catholic clergy, their condition is likewise most +critical. If they endeavor by their influence to keep a dissatisfied +laity in quiet, they are in danger of losing the little credit they +possess, by being considered as the instruments of a government adverse +to the civil interests of their flock. If they let things take their +course, they will be represented as colluding with sedition, or at least +tacitly encouraging it. If they remonstrate against persecution, they +propagate rebellion. Whilst government publicly avows hostility to that +people, as a part of a regular system, there is no road they can take +which does not lead to their ruin. + +If nothing can be done on your side of the water, I promise you that +nothing will be done here. Whether in reality or only in appearance I +cannot positively determine, but you will be left to yourselves by the +ruling powers here. It is thus ostensibly and above-board; and in part, +I believe, the disposition is real. As to the people at large in this +country, I am sure they have no disposition to intermeddle in your +affairs. They mean you no ill whatever; and they are too ignorant of the +state of your affairs to be able to do you any good. Whatever opinion +they have on your subject is very faint and indistinct; and if there is +anything like a formed notion, even that amounts to no more than a sort +of humming that remains on their ears of the burden of the old song +about Popery. Poor souls, they are to be pitied, who think of nothing +but dangers long passed by, and but little of the perils that actually +surround them. + + * * * * * + +I have been long, but it is almost a necessary consequence of dictating, +and that by snatches, as a relief from pain gives me the means of +expressing my sentiments. They can have little weight, as coming from +me; and I have not power enough of mind or body to bring them out with +their natural force. But I do not wish to have it concealed that I am of +the same opinion, to my last breath, which I entertained when my +faculties were at the best; and I have not held back from men in power +in this kingdom, to whom I have very good wishes, any part of my +sentiments on this melancholy subject, so long as I had means of access +to persons of their consideration. + +I have the honor to be, &c. + + + + +END OF VOL. VI. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of the Right Honourable +Edmund Burke, Vol. VI. 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