'££T6 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORN1 AT LOS ANGELES LETTER T o THE RIGHT HONOURABLE EDMUND BURKE. LONDON: PRINTED FOR J. DEBRETT, OPPOSITE BURLINGTON HOUSE, PICCADILLY. M DCC.XCI. „8 t 23 LETTER, K*KLJ > C T) ELONGING to no party, addicted ~*~~* to no feet, and too old not rather to fear than to invite notoriety of any fort, may I not hope from among the few in- citements which could induce fuch a man S§ in love with retirement to obtrude him- «» felf on the public eye that I mall be al- gj lowed to affume the defire of being: ufe- ful as my fole motive? " Confcious," to fpeak in the language of Lord Bacon, " that what I fhall offer arifes from no *' vein of popularity, oftentation, defire " of novelty, partiality to either fide, dif- |= B " pofition 3( )104.8 ( 2 ) " pofition to intermeddle, or any the like '* leaven -, I conceive hopes that what I " want in depth of underflanding may be ** countervailed by fimplicity and fmcerity " of affection. " Sure I am, Sir, that fuch a difpofition will find favour in your light; that I fhall meet you ready to admit that men may honeftly differ on topics where the conclufions lie at fuch a diftance from the premifes, and where the beft abilities and the bell intentions fetting out from the fame centre have been found to di- varicate into every point of the compafs. Permit me, Sir, before I proceed, to offer you the humble tribute of my ap- plaufe. I have for many years been amongft the foremoft. of your admirers. I have feen you with uninterrupted energy purfue the right, ftraight forward, and fearlefs ( I ) fearlefs of confequences. I have feen you the foul of a great enterprize, which, though " offences' gilded hand may move " bye juftice," or " the wicked prize itfelf " buy out the law," will fecure immor- tality to your name. When I differ from you in opinion, I am with you in fenti- ment. I regard you as one of the beft and ableft men of our day. You have publifhed a work abounding with eloquence, learning, knowledge, and every other excellence to be foretold of the production of a mind furnifhed like yours. Butinthemidft of fuch goodandfound doc- trine are maxims and poiitions which I think may be ufed by the worft of men for the worft of purpoles. The more you poffefs of thofe qualifications which give the opi- nion of one man authority over the rea- B 2 foil ( 4 ) Ton of others, the more I feel it a duty, thinking as I do, to combat to the beft of my power ihefe dangerous tenets 5 to warn thofc who are about to feed upon your well-flavoured and high-feafoned dim that " there is death in the pot." Anfwerers you will have in plenty of va- rious defcriptions, with various motives, fome of them mofl probably of much bet- ter abilities than I can pretend to ; but I will cede to none of them in limplicity and purity of intention, or in refpect for the perfon and character of the excellent man with whom I find myfelf fo reluc- tantly obliged to differ. To follow you, non pajjibiis cequis, over the wide and flowery field where you difport yourfelf with fo much dexterity and grace is by no means my intention. I am ( 5 ) I am not one of thofe who, having taken a part, have an anfwer ready for every thing which can he offered on the other fide. In many things I agree with you moit heartily, and the high approbation I feel of much of vour work gives me the more confidence where I am obliged to diiTent. I have ftrong doubts, and offer them as fuch in fair difcuflion. I will endeavour to be as fhort as the time allot- ted me will allow of, for it belongs only to your pen to be diffufe without being tedious. It is I think the peculiar infirmity of noble and ardent minds to run into ex- tremes, to follow even the right too far. You are difgufted with the folly and dan- ger of wild theories and extravagant pro- jects, and would therefore reduce the fcience ( 6 ) fcience of government to a mere craft and myftery ; but politics muft have fome abftracl principles * Though flavery muft * The moft meafured and technical writers have been forced to confider natural liberty and the rights of men as preceding all civil irrftitutions. Sir William Blackftone, who has never paffed for alight or fa&ious writer, fpeaks thus: " Thus much for the declaration of our rights and •« liberties. The rights themfelves, thus defined by thefe P feveral llatutes, confiit in a number of private immuni- «' ties, which will appear from what has been premifed to " be indeed no other than either that reftduum of natural ** liberty which is not required by the laws of fociety to *' be facrificed to public convenience, or elfe thofe civil ** privileges which fociety hath engaged to provide «' in lieu of the natural liberties fo given up by indivi- '« duals. Thefe therefore were formerly either by inhe- " ritanee or purchafe the rights of all mankind ; but in •« mod other countries of the world, being now more or " led debafed and deitroyed, they may at prefent be faid " to remain in a peculiar and emphatical manner the " rights of the people of England." Montefquieu in his admirable Spirit of Laws treats this fubjecT; with his ufual neatnefs and perfpicuity : *f Les etres particuliers intelligenspeuvent avoir des loix qu'ils ( 7 ) be felt by the people, it may be foretold by the fage. To prophecy of fueh events, certainly much fagacity, and much ex- perience, and much moderation are re- quired, and many falfe prophets will arifc who will deceive many ; but this is equally true in morality, religion, and every thing elfe that cannot be made the immediate object of demonftration j and yet thefe are all reducible to fome great and general truths, which, when underilood, will be as univerfally aflented to as that the three " qu'ils ont faites; mais ils en ont auffi qu'ils n'ont pas ** faites. Avant qu'il y eut des etres intelligens, Us " etoient poffibles ; ils avoient dose des rapports poffibles " et par confequens des lois poffibles. Avant qu'il y (< eut des loix faites il y avoit des rapports de juftice «« poffibles. Dire qu'il n'y a rien de jufteni d'enjufte que '* ce qu'ordonnent ou defendent les loix pofitives, e'eft " dire qu'avant qu'on eut trace de circle tous les rayons ** n'etoient pasegaux." Efp. des Lois, liv. i. chap. r. angles ( 8 ) angles of a triangle are equal to two right ones. The fcience of politics may in- deed be properly enough conlidered as a fubdivifion of moral philofophy, capable of bein» treated fynthctically with much advantage at this moment. What has happened in our own view in America, in Ireland, in France, are great and pregnant experiments. A' treatife to which the proper title would be The Pbilojopby of Pq- titles, executed as I conceive it might be, would form an excellent and moft ufeful work. If the principles of the Revolution Club are as you tell us, but as I do not know that they acknowledge them to be, that the people of thefe realms are in a conilant and habitual right and practice of* " choofing Page 20. " their ( 9 ) M their own governors" — " of camiering ** them for mifconduct" — " of framing " a new government 5" fuch folecifm in reafon and fact feems fcarcelyto de- ferve a ferious anfwer. The mifchief of thefe doctrines, merges in their abfurd- ity. Is it not obvious to the flighted: obfervation that before the people (who- foever they are) can exercife the leaft of thefe powers, all thofe of the actual con- ftitution muft be fufpended or done away, a complete revolution muft have already taken place ? What do they mean by the people ? Where does this fourth eftate exift ? How is its collective voice to be taken, or its collective force to adt ? Where has it fo long lain perdue, and from whence does it now come, like the army in the Rehearfal, " to the door and C « ia ( io ) " in difguife ?" When flate quacks pre- fcribe thefe recipes, I believe if they were told, like their predecefTor in Moliere, Why, Doctor, this is a Revolution, they would anfwer as he does — a Revolution ! aye, Sir, and what is better than a Revolu- tion ! I ftrongly fufpect that all the fenfe (if they have any) of thefe unintelligible theories and vicious circles of the governed governing the governors might be com- prized in a plain proportion, to which I for one would give my hearty affent ; that when government, under any form or denomination offers oppremon in the room of protection, and injury inftead of juftice; a {tone for bread and a ferpent for a nfh, fuch government ought to be refitted with all the powers which God and nature have placed in our hands. For ( " ) For this great and grievous difeafe, a re- volution is the only true fpecific. Since I have mentioned the Revolution Club, I muft fay that I think you treat Dr. Price's nunc dimittis * with very unde- ferved afperity. If you think he errs, his errour can only be fairly attributed to a little too much ardour in a good caufe. All enthuliafm is certainly excefs, it begins where reafon ends ; but an enthufiaftic love of liberty has always been reckoned amongft the moil ufeful and refpectahle infanities of the human mind. The Doctor and many others with him will think, that to hinder the King from erecting the royal ftandard at Metz was of the lair, import- ance to the embryon liberties of France. They will think that an immediate aad * Page 96. C 2 mofl ( I« ) moit. probably a very bloody civil war was cheaply prevented by the excefles of the mob at Verfailles on the 6th of O&ober. They will confider the degradation of the King with fome fort of complacency j not as you fay by reducing him to his qualities of man or animal, for it is under thefe titles only which he holds in common with all of us that he can claim any pity at all; but becaufe they fee in his perfon the actual living reprefentative of an oppreffive and intolerable defpotifm, the defcendant cf old and the progenitor of future tyrants. A pious divine, where he thinks he beholds fo much falvation, will very naturally break out into thanks to God for what he be- lieves to have been brought about by the immediate interposition of his providence. Grave and religious men and lovers of or- der ( '3 ) der too have burfe into ejaculations on the recovery of liberty before Dr. Price. A great antient ariftocrat, whofe authority I believe you eileem more than I do, em- ploys a ftill higher {train on a much more violent occafion. Speaking of the killing of Julius in the Capitol, he fays, What was there ever performed, O holy Jupiter! not only in this city but in the whole world greater, what more glorious, what more worthy of the eternal remembrance of man- kind * ! For my own part, I cannot apprehend any fuch danger as you feem to fear from allowing men to fpeculate on the common- * Qua? enim res unquam, proti fanfte Jupiter ! non modo in hac urbe, fed in omnibus terris eft gefta major, quae gloriofior, quae commendation horainum memorice fempiternx! Cic. • wealth ( i4 ) wealth as much as they pleafe. Speeches and fennons and pamphlets will produce but little effect, except where they find the minds of men predifpofed and ripe for the fubje6l. The bufinefs is already done before they can operate to any ftrong pur- pofe. They will only be ferioufly attend- ed to when they give vent to fome paffion, or furnifh forne plaufible argument orex- cufe for what we are beforehand determined upon. While the people are happy and free they will no more be made to believe themfelves opprefTed and enflaved than all the oratory in the world will perfuade flaves and beggars that they are rich and con- tent. When you boafl to your French corre- spondent, with fuch an air of triumphant confidence of the loyalty, the " religious " zeal, ( is ) " zeal *," the obedience, the " fimplicity, " the bonhommie of the Britifli -J- charac- " ter," their " awe of Kings" and " reve- " ence for [Priefts %" their « fullen re- " fiftance of innovation ||," their unalter- able perfeverance in the «« wifdom of pre- " judice for the laft four hundred years § y' are you not a little apprehenfive left he fhould retort upon you the feven interrup- tions of the hereditary fucceffion previous to the Revolution ; the public execution of one King and the banifhment of another a little before that period, and the priva- tion and exile of a whole line of Kings im- mediately afterwards j four radical and en- tire changes of religion in three fucceflive reigns ; Papilt under Harry the firfl de- fender of the Romifh faith, and then Pro- * Page 135. f P. 133. t P. 128. ||P. 127. §P. 130. teftant ( 16 ) teftant under the fame Harry the firfl de«* fender of the Proteftant faith ; violently Papift again under his daughter the Bloody Mary, and once more Proteftant under her lifter Elizabeth -, Prelbyterian un- der Oliver and the Commonwealth, An- glican and Epifcopal at the Restoration ; High Church under Anne, and Low Church under the firft Georges ; and at this very moment feparated into as many fects as there are (hades of opinion between the wide extremes of bigotry and infidelity ? If a free and equal conflitution could have been erected in France on the foundation of the old eftabiifhment, I am ready to allow that to level all without distinction was a rafh and dangerous experiment. But this does not appear to have been the cafe. A century and half of defpotifm had fo warped and ( i7 ) and moulded every inftitution to the fup- port of the omnipotence of the Crown, and to the annihilation of the liberty of the fubject, that they could not be ufed for the contrary purpofes. If the four eftates had continued to meet in their antient form, the nobles, the church, and the crown, pof- fefling each of them powers utterly incon- fiftent with a free conftitution, would have united to render the reprefentatives of the people, le tiers etdt, a mere nullity. The change from liberty to flavery may pro- ceed by filent lapfe, but illegitimate force muft be wrenched by violence from the ftrong hand of power. The tyranny of France could only be overturned by the great mafs of the people. When this vaft and unwieldy machine is once fet in mo- tion, no mortal arm can exactly direct its D force, ( i8 ) force, or determine its momentum. We know that mankind in the aggregate muft be forced into activity by the immediate impulfe of fome ftrong paffion, and that their action will therefore always be ac- companied with fome violence and fome excefs. We know too that change itfelf cannot be wrought without difturbance anddiforder; the decompofition and com- bination of elements will be attended with commotion and effervefcence. But where much is to be obtained much may and ought to be hazarded : the utmoft that human prudence can provide againft future contingencies is to fecure the proba- bilities, the reft muft neceffarily be left to the great arbiters time and chance, to eventual courage and eventual ability. The destruction of an inveterate tyranny, and the ( «9 ) the probable eftablifhment of a free confti- tution, muft be always conlidered as cheap- ly purchafed at the expence of a few years anarchy and diibrder. In all ages thofe citizens who (hall obtain for their country fuch advantages at fuch a price, will con- tinue to be ranked among the great bene- factors of mankind. The queftion then is reduced to this; Whether the late government of France was fuch as ought to have been endured. It mud I think appear to every man who acknowledges the ineftimable value of a free conftitution that it was not. A go- vernment where the foundation of all law is comprized in one fhort formula, for SUCH IS OUR PLEASURE — CAR TEL EST notre plaisir; where the perfonal li- berty, and confequently the property and D 2 life ( 2° ) life of every individual, is held at the ab- folute will and difpofal of one man j is a government mocking to the common fenfe and common feelings of mankind. Nei- ther the hereditary fucceiiion of ages nor the acquiefcence of millions can fanclify abufe or change evil into good. Wrong may be endured, but it cannot be eftablifh- ed. A bond in which no valuable con- lideration has been retained by one of the contracting parties is void in law as well as in equity. Poffeffion and prefcription may be good titles prima facie, but they Biuft give way when higher claims and better rights are produced. I would con- fider it as a datum confirmed by the ge- neral fenfe and experience of mankind in all ages, that an abfolute, or as you are pleafed to call it, an unqualified monarchy is ( 21 ) is no where to be fuffered. The prefer- vation of no order, no eftablifhment, can compenfate for this enormous evil. Every humane mind will anticipate with heart- felt fatisfaction the approach of that day when the race of defpots (hall have difap- peared from the face of the earth ; and when by their rufly coins and mutilated ftatues they (hall be known to have ex- ifted, it fhall be faid of them as of the giants of old, " in thofe days there were " tyrants in the land." Will you permit me, Sir, to hazard a conjecture ? Twenty years ago you would not have thought of this revolution as you do now. In the fage caution I think may be difcerned fomething of the timidity of age 3 fome traces perhaps of the ftrong impreffion made upon your vivid ima- gination - ( 22 ) gination by the violences to which you were an eve witnefs in the fummer of 1780. In your dread of diforder and mif- rule you would counfel rather to bear the ills we have of what magnitude foever, quemvis durare labor em, than fly to others that we know not of. " Your refolution " is ficklied o'er with the pale cafl of " thought. 5 ' As the fource of the revolution in France feems to have been purer, fo its procefs has hitherto appeared milder than any in an- tient or modern flory. The journal of the iiege of Londonderry furnifhes more hor- rours than ail that we know of this great event. A few obnoxious heads and fome voluntary banimments have been the only facrifices to vengeance and the infernal gods. Nor can thefe be fairly attributed to ( 23 ) to any new fpirit infufed into the people by the diforder of the times. The execu- tion of M. Foulon cannot be compared for atrocity with that of the Marechall D'Ancre, or the marTacre of the King's guards with the night of St. Bartholo- mew. And yet thefe happened before the baleful atmofphere of philofophy, the azote * in which no virtuous or falu- tary prejudice can continue to breathe, had poifoned the minds of men. When thofe very principles of loyalty and gal- lantry whofe fall you fo tenderly lament were yet in their meridian fplendour. The humiliation of a King and the ter- rour of a Queen form under your pencil a very pathetic picture -, a tragic and af- fecting leffon of the inability of human P.ge 132. greatnefs. ( 24 ) greatnefs. You fcem to confider thefe great perfonages, what in the day of their profperity they are always ready enough to confider themfelves, as above vulgar humanity. In their fufFerings I fear they found that they were mere mortals. For my part, fo far from looking upon thofe who are born to crowns as being of a fu- perior nature, I think they have not the common chance with the reft of man- kind. It is out of our weaknefTes and wants, the fweet intercourfe of fervices and benefits, that all the focial ties of charity and benevolence are formed. Men will feel for others what they apprehend for themfelves ; ——-Non ignara mali miferis fuccurere difco — They will labour to obtain a fuperiour rank among their fellow mortals by fupe- ricrity ( 25 ) riority in learning, or wifdom, or courage, or ufefulnefs, or virtue. But Kings as they are above the focial neceffities, fo they are above the focial feelings of life. Having no equal, they can have no friend nor no competitor -, and {landing on the pinnacle of greatnefs, to labour for any higher ele- vation by the common means of eminence muft appear to them like adding " another " hue unto the rainbow, or with taper- " light feeking the beauteous eye of hea- " ven to garnifh - 3 — a waileful and ri* " diculous excefs."— As to the unhappy beauty whofe charms fo well deferve to be recorded in the fvveet ftrain of your eloquence, I moft fincerely join with you in pitying her diure£ becaufe I conceive it muft beverypoignant. When you go forth the knight of this fair unfor- E tunate ( 26 ) tunate I mall be proud to be your fquire. In the mean time I do very truly hope that together with the dignity of fenti- ment becoming her high birth and ftation fhe alfo enjoys the heartfelt fatisfaclion to reflect that fhe has not by her own con- duct contributed to her own misfortunes ; that it is over her diftreffes only and not over her faults that her friends and ad- mirers would wifh to draw a veil. Bu t t let us turn from this fad leflbn for Kings, where we are conftrained to pity what we cannot much efteem, to the moft magnificent fpectacle that has ever prefent- ed itfelf to the human eye. A great and generous nation, animated with one foul, rifing up as one man to demand the resti- tution of their natural rights. When it was once determined that a free conftitutiori would 2 ( *7 ) would be had, I have endeavoured to (hew by a fhort argument that the Nobles and Clergy could not with any hfety, be al- lowed to enter the fortrefs in embodied ftrength. Their exclufive privileges and opprefllve territorial jurifdictions were among the grievances moil immediately felt by the people. They prefented an eternal barrier to any fubftantial amend- ment of the condition of the Commons, It is to know little of the temper of men born to high founding titles and lofty pretentions, to fuppofe that thefe bodies, poffefllng a commanding voice in the legiflature, would have made a voluntary furrender of antient powers and fplendid diftinctions derived to them through a long fuccehlon of anceflry, merely becaufe thefe powers appeared incompatible with E 2 a free ( 28 ) a free constitution. They muft, on the common principles of prudence, habit, and inclination, have fided with the Crown againft the people. In this country it had been the policy of one of our antient tyrants, under their old maxim divide & impera, to Strengthen the hands of the Commons by way of counter- balance, to the haughty and ungoverned claims of his feudal Barons *. From this * By the ftatute De donis, eftates tail were rendered unalienable, and the large domains were of courfe fettled in perpetuity. By the decifion of the judges in Talia- rumscnfe, 12 Edw. IV. common recoveries were allowed to bar an eftate tail ; and by the ftatute of 26 Hen. VIII. they were declared to be forfeited to the King in cafes of high treafon. By different ftatutes of Hen. VII. and Hen. VIII. a fine levied by a tenant in tail is al- lowed to be a complete bar to him and his heirs, and all other perfons. Sir William Blackfione obferves (zd Comm. 1 1 8), that it was the policy of Hen. VII. to lay the road as open as poffible to the alienation of landed property. 5 ) iidence with which your Majefty is plea- fed to honour me if I did not give you my opinion with truth and fincerity. If your Majefty will deign to confider your people not as your private property but as a truft committed to your charge, your good fenfe and the goodnefs of your heart will I think eafily lead you to perceive that you can have no claim to take away or abridge any of their rights or to alter any of their fundamental laws ', your Majefty knows that the good of the people is the end, the fupreme law, the only true founda- tion of all government. In the excellent constitution of this kingdom it has been carefully provided to feparate the execu- tive from the legijlative, becaufe whenever thefe two powers came to be held by the fame hands either directly or indirectly P laws ( io6 ) laws will be made not for the advantage or fecurity of the public, but for the eafe or fafety or aggrandifement of the go" vernirig power. Your Majefty pofleffes in right of your Crown the whole of the executive power over your realms in its utmoft extent, and as much of the legifla- tive only as is necerTary for the preferva- tion of the rights of your Crown. For this purpofe you are entrufted with a ne- gative voice upon all new laws, but with no power to alter or originate laws be- caufe every law being a renunciation of fome portion of natural liberty to obtain fome advantage at leaft equivalent to what is given up, this fort of exchange can only be made by the perfons to whom the property belongs ; by the nation or its agents and reprefentatives, Your Majefty will ( I0 7 ) will I am fure perceive that it is the pc- fitive and immediate duty of thefe agents to take the utmofl care of the iriterefts of their employers, and efpecially to fee that in no cafe whatfoever more liberty is given up than is fairly purchafed by th<* protection or other advantages obtained in exchange. In the common proceedings of life an agent who mould a£t othervvife would incur that fort of infamy which renders a man unlit for the fociety of people of character and honour, and this infamy would extend alfo to any perfons of what rank foever who mould tamper with thefe agents, to endeavour to feduce them by perfonal influence or bribes or threats to give up the rights and proper- ties of their principals upon terms of un- equal exchange or for the exprefs pur- P 2 pofes ( io8 ) pofes of being ufed to their detriment or annoyance. I will therefore venture hum- bly to flate to your Majefty that your rights are ftri&ly confined to the exercife of the executive power and to the fimple nega- tion on all propofed laws ; and that you have no claim in juftice or reafon either by yourfelf or your Minifters to govern and direct the legiflation. Having with great humility ftated to your Majefty what I take to be the rights of a King of Great Britain, I will venture to affert that your interejis exactly coincide with them. To the fuperior excellence of the government this country is in- debted for its fuperior rank among the nations far above its proportion of num- bers or extent. Men are encouraged to every ufeful exertion by the certainty of enjoying ( *°9 ) enjoying the fruits of their induftry or ingenuity. The arts, the commerce, the riches, the profperity of your Majefty's people are owing to the fecurity of their perfons and properties under a free con- ftitution. Remove this fecurity and ta- lents and induftry will inftantly feek it where it is elfewhere to be found. Inftead of the Monarch of a great and powerful nation confident againft a world in arms, holding in your hand the balance among the powers of the world, you would fink into the petty prince of a petty people, the dependant of fome great ftate or the confederate of a fmall one ; fo that your Majefty's greatnefs is owing to the in- fluence of thefe very laws now in queftion before us. Nor is the bappinefs of your Majefty lefs concerned in the prefervation of ( 11° ) of the conftitution than your greatnefs. You ftand in a fituation perhaps unmatched in the relative pofitions of men. You have unlimited authority to do good and none to do harm ; every faculty to create reverence and love and no power to ex- cite envy or anger ; with lefs effort than is neceffary to fill the loweft offices of life you are fecure of a perpetual empire over the hearts of a naturally loyal and gene- rous people. After the right and expe- diency we come to confider the point of fact; whether your Majefty could with fafety to your Crown overturn the funda- mental laws of the conftitution, and I am firmly of opinion that you could not. Though the people are luxurious and pro- fligate and apparently indifferent to pub- lic meafures, if your Majefty 's Minifters were ( III ) ^vere to put forth their hands and touch any of thofe laws which the people have been ufed to confider as the palladia of their liberties, another order of things would prefently take place. " It would " operate as a call upon the nation." The people would roufe from their lethargy; men would aflbciate and combine and con- vene; the found of " To your tents, O If- c< rael !" would be propagated in low mur- murs from the Hebrides to the Land's End, Your Majefty well knows what parled in 1688, and there is no reafon in the world to believe that the fame caufe would not again produce the fame effect. The re- finance of the people would indeed be much more eafy and direct than it was at that time, becaufe a grand precedent has been eftablifhed ; there is now a leading cafe ( H2 ) cafe in point j they have tracks and guide- polls and land-marks which they had not before ; befides the more recent examples of America and France and even Ireland before their eyes. Thefe, Sire, are," the opinions of a plain man fincerely attached to your Majefty's perfon and government, but holding a ftill flronger bond of attach- ment to the laws and conftitution of my country. The Tories of that day would not fail to take the oppofite ground. They would obferve that there is all the difference in the world between obtaining a repeal of thefe fundamental laws by the good-will and confent of Parliament and endeavour- ing to carry on government without the aid of Parliament. That liberty- may be a fine thing but that politenefs and gal- lantry ( "3 ) lantry and loyalty are infinitely finer. That the Revolution about which a few- factious republicans made fuch a rout went much more upon the prefervation of the Proteftant hierarchy of the church of England and the privileges of Parliament than upon any nonfenfical abftract notions of the rights of the people. That if the na- tion did upon that occafion fee??i to elect a King, they well knew that they were doing what they had no right to do, they did it as if they were afhamed of it, keep- ing it from the eye with a fort of pick- pocket addrefs, and the moment it was over renouncing any fuch right in future for ever j that provided the ecclefiaftical and civil eftabliihments are preferved, and above all provided the /oaves and Jifies can continue to be diftributed fo that the Q^ " multitude ( **4 ) cc multitude may eat and be filled" all will be well ; that men are tired of alter- cation aridwifh only for enjoyment; that indeed what has been done in America and France has mace the people almoft fick of the very name of liberty. Before I conclude let me protefl againfl: being mifunderftood. I am no abettor of fa&ion. You, Sir, cannot love peace and order and fubordination and tranquil- lity more than I do. Anarchy and con- fufion and civil difcord cannot be more your abhorrence than they are mine *. I only infift that we have confiitutional rights and fundamental laws, all attacks upon which the nation has as much right to * Nee privates focos, nee publicas leges, nee liberta- tis jura cura habere poteft, quem difcordia, quern c civium, quem bellum civile deleftat; eumque ex numero hominum ejeciendum, ex finibus humans naturs exter- minandum puto. Cic. refift ( "5 ) refill: as every individual has to repd the force of a highwayman ; refinance is no more rebellion in one cafe than killing is murder in the other. Thefe are extreme cafes and require extreme remedies. — Why, Sir, do you call upon us to moot points on thefe delicate and dangerous topics ? The very confideration of them is omenous; it tends to fill the mind with vain fears and falfe alarms. God avert them from thefe kingdoms ! with very little reliance on human wifdom and virtue we may hope and truft that Government will ever be as backward to provoke violence as the people ought to be to recur to it. d man in the world would hear what you fo em- phatically term " a call of the nation *" with more dread and horrour than I mould * Lc'.t^r to ' . Farr and Harris, p. 16. Q 2 do. ( "6 ) do. But ftill I hope I mould obey that call if the occafion really demanded it. I am fure if I did not I muft for ever after live a coward in mine own efteem. I was born and nurtered in the old- fafhioned defpifed principles of Whig- gifm, and in thefe principles I (hall cer- tainly die. They are the prejudices of my infancy confirmed by the reafon of my riper age. One of the fundamental arti- cles of the fymbol of political faith in which I received my firft rudiments of inftruction is, that the prefent Royal Fa- mily were called by the nation to the throne of thefe kingdoms to defend and fupport our religion and liberties and laws -, that they have entered into a folemn contrast to this effect, and receive the allegiance of the people upon thefe terms and thefe terms only. ( JI 7 ) only. In the Declaration of Rights the u people" " claim demand and injifi upon" " all and Angular the premifes as their " undoubted rights and liberties." In the Bill of Rights " all and lingular the rights (< and liberties afferted and claimed in the " faid Declaration are recognized to be ft the true, antient and indubitable rights " of the people" In the Act of Settlement limiting the crown to the prefent Royal Family, they are declared to be ft the (t birthright of the people of England." Thefe were the doctrines by which I was early taught a loyal attachment to the iU luflrious Houfe of Hanover. Thefe were the doctrines of the Courts of George the Firft and George the Second. They were proud to be told that they reigned by the free choice of a free people. Hereditary right ( »8 ) rieht and unlimited fubmifiion were then the watch-words of faction and rebellion. Thefe, Sir, are the doctrines for which I contend becaufe I believe them to be per- fectly constitutional. I go no farther. I fufpect I was tempted to anfwer your let- ter merely upon account of that paffage where you feem to fay that the nation ab- dicated and renounced at the Revolution the right of claiming demanding and injijl- ing upon their undoubted rights and liberties, the birthright of the people of England by any future interruption of the fuccefiion. I will now take my leave. It is high time to put an end to this defultory letter already I fear much too long. I will finifh as I began with the mod fincere affurances of refpcct and efteem. I think I have feen it fomewhere mentioned that you have ( "9 ) have been or are to be prefented with ho- nary degrees in our univerfities ; and that your work is admired and praifed by the highefl perfonages. I fincerelyhope fome- thing more folid will follow. Honours cannot be placed on a more deferving head or truft committed into purer hands. I am perfuaded that there is not a man in the nation whofe elevation would be re- ceived with lefs envy or more univerfal approbation. To give a dignified repofe to the evening of a life like yours would equally honour the receiving and the con- ferring hand. My clients have nothing of this fort to difpofe of; they have nothing to give but barren applaufe ; and they commonly be- flow that with fuch incapacity of judg- ment that a wife man will not be much flattered with the acquisition. There is - i. .„j ( 120 ) indeed another fort of applaufe of which I confefs myfelf more ambitious, an ap- plaufe which the world can neither give nor take away, and which cannot be bought with darts of patriotifm or hypocritical grimace ; an applaufe, Sir, of which I am perfuaded no man knows the value better than you do, and which will not fail to gild your fetting day with more cheering rays than ever emanated from the fmiles of Minifters or Kings, I mean the applaufe of our own confciences. — Adieu then, good Sir — accept my fmcere falutations, and the regard and confideration with which I am Your faithful and moft humble fervant, BROOKE BOOTHBY. Alhborne Hal!, Dec. ±~, 1790. FINIS. ERRATA. Page 3, !• 4» f° r b e > reacl *> . - o, 1. 13, for fuck, read wwc//. . 13, note, for prctf; 'read proh. _— - 24, 1. 8, for being, read £«'««; . 31, 1. 7, for contripetal, read centripetal. . -jg y 1. 1, for imprimaturs, read imprimaturs^ « 40, 1. 14, for continues, read continue. ■ 42, 1. 2, for drawn, read driven. . 4^ 1. 7, for concertable, read convertible* . 46, 1. 2, before reafon, add own. . 48, 1. 5, before Hierarchy, add y*. r ; 6, 1 the laft, for /oo/i, read loofer. 68, 1. 14, for cx-bijhops, read cxbtjhop. • 81 , 1. 1 4, for BaftJ, read pad. . 99) I; it, for afpetlantb, read afpetlantes. , 103,1. 7, for JurmJlied,re.i&JurmJkes. — 104, 1. 1 7, for on, read 0/, _ 105, 1. 18, for came, read come. . 115,1. 8, for omenous, read ominous — — u6, 1. ,5, for. nurUrcd, read nurtured- 9 08 2 6 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA " T " „„tcJil»»" UW " TttsbooVisD* 35 HBg^.'Tihte ma\er»a» w^ed. 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