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THE 
 
 MODERN 
 
 BRITISH ESSAYISTS. 
 
 VOL. III. 
 
 REV. SYDNEY SMITH, 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 CAREY AND HA RT 
 
 1848. 
 
THE 
 
 WOEKS 
 
 THE RE¥. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 THREE VOLUMES, 
 
 COMPLETE IN ONE. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 CAREY AND HART. 
 
 STEREOTYPED BY L. JOHXSON. 
 
 1848. 
 
Printed by T. K. & P. G. Collins. 
 Stpreotvpi'il hy I.. Jnlinson & Co., Philadplptiia, 
 
j^R'^^SS 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 When first I went into the Church, I had a curacy in the middle of 
 Salisbury Plain. The Squire of the parish took a fancy to me, and requested 
 me to go with his son to reside at the University of Weimar ; before we 
 could get there, Germany became the seat of war, and in stress of politics 
 we put into Edinburgh, where I remained five years. The principles of 
 the French Revolution were then fully afloat, and it is impossible to con- 
 ceive a more violent and agitated state of society. Among the first persons 
 with whom I became acquainted were, Lord Jeflrey, Lord Murray (late 
 Lord Advocate for Scotland), and Lord Brougham; all of them maintaining 
 opinions upon political subjects a little too liberal for the dynasty of Dundas, 
 then exercising supreme power over the northern division of the island. 
 
 One day we happened to meet in the eighth or ninth story or flat in 
 Buccleugh-place, the elevated residence of the then Mr. Jeffrey. I proposed 
 that we should set up a Review ; this was acceded to with acclamation. 
 I was appointed Editor, and remained long enough in Edinburgh to edit 
 the first number of the Edinburgh Review. The motto I proposed for the 
 Review was, 
 
 " Tenui musam meditamur avena." 
 " We cultivate literature upon a little oatmeal." 
 
 But this was too near the truth to be admitted, and so we took our present 
 
 grave motto from Publius Syrus, of whom none of us had, I am sure, 
 
 ever read a single line ; and so began what has since turned out to be 
 
 a very important and able journal. When I left Edinburgh, it fell into 
 
 the stronger hands of Lord Jeffrey and Lord Brougham, and reached the 
 
 highest point of popularity and success. I contributed from England many 
 
 articles, which I have been foolish enough to collect and pubUsh with some 
 
 other tracts written by me. 
 
 To appreciate the value of the Edinburgh Review, the state of England 
 
 at the period when that journal began should be had in remembrance. 
 
 The Catholics were not emancipated — the Corporation and Test Acts were 
 
 unrepealed — the Game Laws were horribly oppressive — Steel Traps and Spring 
 
 3 
 
4 PREFACE. 
 
 Guns were set all over the country — Prisoners tried for their Lives could 
 have no Counsel — Lord Eldon and the Court of Chancery pressed heavily 
 upon mankind — Libel was punished by the most cruel and vindictive im- 
 prisonments — the principles of Political Economy were little understood — 
 the Law of Debt and of Conspiracy were upon the worst possible footing — 
 the enormous wickedness of the Slave Trade was tolerated — a thousand evils 
 were in existence, which the talents of good and able men have since 
 lessened or removed ; and these effects have been not a little assisted by 
 the honest boldness of the Edinburgh Review. 
 
 I see very little in my Reviews to alter or repent of: I always endea- 
 voured to fight against evil; and what I thought evil then, I think evil 
 now. I am heartily glad that all our disqualifying laws for religious opinions 
 are abolished, and I see nothing in such measures but unmixed good and 
 real increase of strength to our Establishment. 
 
 The idea of danger from the extension of the Catholic religion in Eng- 
 land I utterly deride. The Catholic faith is a misfortune to the world, 
 but those whose faith it conscientiously is, are quite right in professing it 
 boldly, and in promoting it by all means which the law allows. A phy- 
 sician does not say "You will be well as soon as the bile is got rid of;" 
 but he says, "You will not be well until after the bile is got rid of," 
 He knows after the cause of the malady is removed, that morbid habits 
 are to be changed, weakness to be supported, organs to be called back 
 to their proper exercise, subordinate maladies to be watched, secondary and 
 vicarious symptoms to be studied. The physician is a wise man — but the 
 anserous politician insists, after 200 years of persecution, and ten of emanci- 
 pation, that Catholic Ireland should be as quiet as Edmonton, or Tooting. 
 
 Not only are just laws wanted for Catholic Ireland, but the just adminis- 
 tration of just laws; such as they have in general experienced under the 
 Whig government; and this system steadily preserved in will, after a. lapse 
 of time and O'Connell, quiet, conciliate, and civilize that long injured and 
 irritable people. 
 
 I have printed in this Collection the Letters of Peter Plymley. The 
 Government of that day took great pains to find out the author; all that 
 they could find was, that they were brought to Mr. Budd, the publisher, 
 by the Earl of Lauderdale. Somehow or another, it came to be conjec- 
 tured that I was that author: I have always denied it; but finding that 
 I deny it in vain, I have thought it might be as well to include the Let- 
 ters in this Collection ; they had an immense circulation at the time, and 
 T think above 20,000 copies were sold. 
 
 From the beginning of the century (about which time the Review began) 
 
PREFACE. 9 
 
 to the death of Lord Liverpool, was an awful period for those who had 
 the misfortune to entertain liberal opinions, and who were too honest to 
 sell them for the ermine of the judge, or the lawn of the prelate : — a long 
 and hopeless career in your profession, the chuckling grin of noodles, the 
 sarcastic leer of the genuine political rogue — prebendaries, deans, and bishops 
 made over your head — reverend renegadoes advanced to the highest digni- 
 ties of the Church, for helping to rivet the fetters of Catholic and Protestant 
 Dissenters, and no more chance of a Whig administration than of a thaw 
 in Zembla — these were the penalties exacted for liberality of opinion at that 
 period ; and not only was there no pay, but there were many stripes. It 
 is always considered as a piece of impertinence in England, if a man of less 
 than two or three thousand a year has any opinions at all upon important 
 subjects; and in addition he was sure at that time to be assailed with all 
 the Billingsgate of the P'rench Revolution — Jacobin, Leveller, Atheist, Deist, 
 Socinian, Incendiary, Regicide, were the gentlest appellations used; and the 
 man who breathed a syllable against the senseless bigotry of the two Georges, 
 or hinted at the abominable tyranny and persecution exercised upon Catholic 
 Ireland, was shunned as unfit for the relations of social life. Not a murmur 
 against any abuse was permitted ; to say a word against the suitorcide delays 
 of the Court of Chancery, or the cruel punishments of the Game Laws, 
 or against any abuse which a rich man inflicted, or a poor man suffered, 
 was treason against the Plousiocracy, and was bitterly and steadily resented. 
 Lord Grey had not then taken ofT the bearing-rein from the English people, 
 as Sir Francis Head has now done from horses. 
 
 To set on foot such a Journal in such times, to contribute towards it 
 for many years, to bear patiently the reproach and poverty which it caused, 
 and to look back and see that I have nothing to retract, and no intempe- 
 rance and violence to reproach myself with, is a career of life which I must 
 think to be extremely fortunate. Strange and ludicrous are the changes in 
 human affairs. The Tories are now on the treadmill, and the well-paid 
 Whigs are riding in chariots : with many faces, however, looking out of the 
 windows, (including that of our Prime Minister,) which I never remember to 
 have seen in the days of the poverty and depression of Whiggism. Libe- 
 rality is now a lucrative business. Whoever has any institution to destroy, 
 may consider himself as a commissioner, and his fortune as made; and to 
 my utter and never ending astonishment, I, an old Edinburgh Reviewer, 
 find myself fighting, in the year 1839, against the Archbishop of Canterbury' 
 and the Bishop of London, for the existence of the National Church. 
 
 SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 a2 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 ARTICLES OHIGINAILT PUBtlSHED IN THK 
 
 "EOIKBDRGH BBVIEW." 
 
 PaB« 
 
 Dr.Parr 9 
 
 Dr. Rennel 12 
 
 John Bowles 15 
 
 Dr. Langford 17 
 
 Archdeacon Nares 17 
 
 Matthew Lewis 19 
 
 Australia 20 
 
 Fievee's Letters on England 26 
 
 Edgeworth on Bulls 28 
 
 Trimmer and Lancaster 30 
 
 Parnell and Ireland 33 
 
 Methodism 37 
 
 Indian Missions 48 
 
 Catholics 62 
 
 Methodism 65 
 
 Hannah More 70 
 
 Professional Education 73 
 
 Female Education 79 
 
 Public Schools 86 
 
 Toleration 90 
 
 Charles Fox 95 
 
 Mad Quakers 103 
 
 America 107 
 
 Game Laws 116 
 
 Botany Bay 122 
 
 Chimney Sweepers 131 
 
 America 137 
 
 Ireland 142 
 
 Spring Guns 150 
 
 Prisons 155 
 
 Prisons 162 
 
 Persecuting Bishops 172 
 
 Botany Bay 179 
 
 Game Laws 189 
 
 Cruel Treatment of untried Prisoners. . . 196 
 
 America 202 
 
 Bentham on Fallacies 209 
 
 Waterton 219 
 
 Man Traps and Spring Guns 227 
 
 Hamilton's Method of teaching Languages 233 
 
 Counsel for Prisoners 243 
 
 Catholics 253 
 
 Neckar's Last Views 263 
 
 Catteau, Tableau des Etats Danois 270 
 
 Thoughts on the Residence of the Clergy 279 
 
 Travels from Palestine 281 
 
 Letter on the Curates' Salary Bill 283 
 
 Proceedings of the Society for the Sup- 
 pression of Vice 287 
 
 Characters of Fox 292 
 
 Observations on the Historical Work of 
 the Right Honourable Charles James 
 
 Fox 295 
 
 Disturbances at Madras 304 
 
 Bishop of Lincoln's Charge 311 
 
 Madame d'Epinay 315 
 
 Poor Laws 320 
 
 Public Characters of 1801, 1802 328 
 
 Anastasius 329 
 
 Scarlett's Poor Bill 334 
 
 Memoirs of Captain Rock 338 
 
 Granby 343 
 
 Island of Ceylon 349 
 
 Delphine 354 
 
 Mission to Ashantee 356 
 
 Wittman's Travels 361 
 
 SPEECHES. 
 
 Speech on the Catholic Claims 365 
 
 Speech at the Taunton Reform Meeting. . 369 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Speech at Taunton at a Meeting to cele- 
 brate the Accession of King William IV. 372 
 
 Speech at Taunton in 1831 on the Reform 
 Bill not being passed 373 
 
 Speech respecting the Reform Bill 374 
 
 The Ballot 379 
 
 First Letter to Archdeacon Singleton 388 
 
 Second Letter to Archdeacon Singleton. . 401 
 Third Letter to Archdeacon Singleton... 408 
 Letter on the Character of Sir James 
 Mackintosh 416 
 
 Letter to Lord John Russell 4l8 
 
 Sermon on the Duties of the Queen 421 
 
 The Lawyer that tempted Christ : a Ser- 
 mon 424 
 
 The Judge that smites contrary to the 
 
 Law : a Sermon 428 
 
 A letter to the Electors upon the Catholic 
 
 Question 432 
 
 A Sermon on the Rules of Christian Cha- 
 rity 445 
 
 Peter Plymley's Letters 449 
 
WORKS 
 
 REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 DR. PAR 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 1802.] 
 
 W/»fi ER has had the good fortune to see 
 D^. Tarrs wig, must have observed, that while 
 it trespasses a little on the orthodox magnitude 
 of perukes in the anterior parts, it scorns even 
 Episcopal lintms behind, and swells out into 
 boundless convexity of frizz, the fx^ydi ^hv/xa of 
 barbers, and the terror of the literary world. 
 After the manner of his wig, the Doctorf has 
 constructed his sermon, giving us a discourse 
 of no common length, and subjoining an im- 
 measurable mass of notes, which appear to 
 concern every learned thing, every learned 
 man, and almost every unlearned man since 
 the beginning of the world. 
 
 For his text, Dr. Parr has chosen Gal, vi. 10. 
 ,3s we have therefore opportunity, let us do good to 
 all iiien, especially to those who are of the household 
 of faith. After a short preliminary comparison 
 between the dangers of the selfish system, and 
 the modern one of universal benevolence, he 
 divides his sermon into two parts: in the first, 
 examining how far, by the constitution of hu- 
 man nature, and the circumstances of human 
 life, the principles of particular and universal 
 benevolence are compatible : in the last, com- 
 menting on the nature of the charitable institu- 
 tion for which he is preaching. 
 
 The former part is levelled against the doc- 
 trines of Mr. Godwin ; and, here, Dr. Parr ex- 
 poses, very strongly and happily, the folly of 
 making universal benevolence the immediate 
 motive of our actions. As we consider this, 
 though of no very difficult execution, to be by 
 far the best part of the sermon, we shall very 
 willingly make some extracts from it. 
 
 "To me it appears, that the modern advo- 
 cates for universal philanthropy have fallen 
 into the error charged upon those who are fas- 
 cinated by a violent and extraordinary fondness 
 for what a celebrated author calls ' some moral 
 
 • Spital Sermon, preached at Christ Church upon Eas- 
 ter-Tuesday, April 15, 1800. To which are added, Notes 
 by Samuel Pabr, LL.D. Printed for J. Mavvman in the 
 Poultry. 1801. 
 
 + A great scholar, as rude and violent as most Greek 
 scholars are, unless they happen to be Bishops. He has 
 left nothing behind him worth leaving : he vvas rather 
 fitted for the law than the church, and would have been 
 a more considerable man, if he had been more knocked 
 about among his equals. He lived with country gen- 
 tlemen and clergymen, who flattered and feared him. 
 2 
 
 species.' Some men, it has been remarked, 
 are hurried into romantic adventures, by their 
 excessive admiration of fortitude. Others are 
 actuated by a headstrong zeal for disseminat- 
 ing the true religion. Hence, while the only 
 properties, for which fortitude or zeal can be 
 esteemed, are scarcely discernible, from the 
 enormous bulkiness to which they are swollen, 
 the ends to which alone they can be directed 
 usefully are overlooked or defeated ; the public 
 good is impaired, rather than increased ; and 
 the claims that other virtues equally obligatory 
 have to our notice are totally disregarded. 
 Thus, too, when any dazzling phantoms of 
 universal philanthropy have seized our atten- 
 tion, the objects that formerly engaged it shrink 
 and fade. All considerations of kindred, 
 friends, and countrymen, drop from the mind, 
 during the struggles it makes to grasp the col- 
 lective interests of the species; and when the 
 association that attached us to them has been 
 dissolved, the notions we have formed of their 
 comparative insignificance will prevent them 
 from recovering, I do not say any hold what- 
 soever, but that strong and lasting hold they 
 once had upon our conviction and our feelings. 
 Universal benevolence, should it, from any 
 strange combination of circumstances, ever 
 become passionate, will, like every other pas- 
 sion, justify itself; and the importunity of its 
 demands to obtain a hearing will be propor- 
 tionate to the weakness of its cause. But 
 what are the consequences 1 A perpetual 
 wrestling for victory between the refinements 
 of sophistry, and the remonstrances of indig- 
 nant nature — the agitations of secret distrust 
 in opinions which gain few or no proselytes, 
 and feelings which excite little or no sympathy 
 — the neglect of all the usual duties, by which 
 social life is preserved or adorned ; and in the 
 pursuit of other duties which are unusual, and 
 indeed imaginary, a succession of airy projects 
 eager hopes, tumultuous efforts, and galling 
 disappointments, such, in truth, as every wise 
 man foresaw, and a good man would rarely 
 commiserate." 
 
 In a subsequent part of his sermon, Dr. 
 Parr handles the same topic with equal 
 success. 
 
10 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 "The stoics, it has been said, were more 
 successful in weakening the Render affections, 
 than in animating men to the stronger virtues 
 of fortitude and self-command ; and possible 
 it is, that the influence of our modern reform- 
 ers may be greater, in furnishing their disciples 
 with pleas for the neglect of their ordinary 
 duties, than in stimulating their endeavours 
 for the performance of those which are extra- 
 ordinary, and perhaps ideal. If, indeed, the 
 representations we have lately heard of uni- 
 versal philanthropy served only to amuse the 
 fancy of those who approve of them, and to 
 communicate that pleasure which arises from 
 contemplating the magnitude and grandeur of 
 a favourite subject, we might be tempted to 
 smile at them as groundless and harmless. 
 But they tend to debase the dignity, and to 
 weaken the efficacy of those particular aflec- 
 tions, for which we have daily and hourly 
 occasion in the events of real life. They 
 tempt us to substitute the ease of speculation, 
 and the pride of dogmatism, for the toil of prac- 
 tice. To a class of artificial and ostentatious 
 sentiments, they give the most dangerous 
 triumph over the genuine and salutary dictates 
 of nature. They delude and inflame our minds 
 with Pharisaical notions of superior wisdom 
 and superior virtue ; and, what is the worst of 
 all, they may be used as ' a cloke to us' for 
 insensibility, where other men feel; and for 
 negligence, where other men act with visible 
 and useful, though limited, eflect." 
 
 In attempting to show the connection be- 
 tween particular and universal benevolence. 
 Dr. Parr does not appear to us to have taken a 
 clear and satisfactory view of the subject. Na- 
 ture impels us both to good and bad actions; 
 and, even in the former, gives us no measure 
 by which we may prevent them from degenerat- 
 ing into excess. Rapine and revenge are not 
 less natural than parental and filial affection: 
 which latter class of feelings may themselves 
 be a source of crimes, if they overpower (as 
 they frequently do) the sense of justice. It is 
 not, therefore, a sufiicient justification of our 
 actions, that they are natural. We must seek, 
 from our reason, some principle which will 
 enable us to determine what impulses of nature 
 we are to obey, and what we are to resist : 
 such is that of general utility, or, what is the 
 same thing, of universal good ; a principle 
 which sanctifies and limits the more particular 
 afl^ections. The duty of a son to a parent, or a 
 parent to a son, is not an ultimate principle of 
 morals, but depends on the principle of univer- 
 sal good, and is only praiseworihy because it 
 is found to promote it. At the same time, our 
 spheres of action and intelligence are so con- 
 fined, that it is better, in a great majority of 
 instances, to suffer our conduct to be guided 
 by those affections which have been long sanc- 
 tioned by the approbation of mankind, than to 
 enter into a process of reasoning, and investi- 
 gate the relation which every trifling event 
 might bear to the general interests of the world. 
 In his principle of universal benevolence, Mr. 
 Godwin is unquestionably right. That it is the 
 grand principle on which all morals rest — that 
 it is the corrective for the excess of all parti- 
 cular affections, we believe to be undeniable : I 
 
 and he is only erroneous in excluding the par- 
 ticular affections, because, in so doing, he de- 
 prives us of our most powerful means of pro- 
 moting his own principle of universal good; 
 for it is as much as to say, that all the crew 
 ought to have the general welfare of the ship 
 so much at heart that no sailor should ever 
 pull any particular rope, or hand any individual 
 sail. By universal benevolence, we mean, and 
 understand Dr. Parr to mean, not a barren 
 affection for the species, but a desire to pro- 
 mote their real happiness; and of this princi- 
 ple, he thus speaks : 
 
 " I admit, and I approve of it, as an emotion 
 of which general happiness is the cause, but 
 not as a passion, of which, according to the 
 usual order of human afl'airs, it could often be 
 the object. I approve of it as a disposition to 
 wish, and, as opportunity may occur, to desire 
 and do good, rather than harm, to those with 
 whom we are quite unconnected." 
 
 It would appear, from this kind of lan- 
 guage, that a desire of promoting the universal 
 good were a pardonable weakness, rather than 
 a fundamental principle of ethics ; that the 
 particular affections were incapable of excess; 
 and that they never wanted the corrective of a 
 more generous and exalted feeling. In a sub- 
 sequent part of his sermon, Dr. Parr atones a 
 little for this over-zealous depreciation of the 
 principle of universal benevolence ; but he 
 nowhere states the particular affections to 
 derive their value and their limits from their 
 subservience to a more extensive philanthro- 
 py. He does not show us that they exist only 
 as virtues, from their instrumentality in pro- 
 moting the general good; and that, to preserve 
 their true character, they should be frequently 
 referred to that principle as their proper crite- 
 rion. 
 
 In the latter part of his sermon, Dr. Parr 
 combats the general objections of Mr. Turgot 
 to all charitable institutions, with considerable 
 vigour and success. To say that an institution 
 is necessarily bad, because it will not always 
 be administered with the same zeal, proves a 
 little too much ; for it is an objection to po- 
 litical and religious, as well as to charitable 
 institutions; and, from a lively apprehension 
 of the fluctuating characters of those who 
 govern, would leave the world without any 
 governiuent at all. It is better there should be 
 an asylum for the mad, and a hospital for the 
 wounded, if they were to squander away )0 
 per cent, of their income, than that we should 
 be disgusted with sore limbs, and shocked by 
 straw-crowned monarchs in the streets. All 
 institutions of this kind must sufl!er the risk 
 of being governed by more or less of probity 
 and talents. The good which one active cha- 
 racter effects, and the wise order which he 
 establishes, may outlive him for a long period ; 
 and we all hate each other's crimes, by which 
 we gain nothing, so much, that in proportion 
 as public opinion acquires ascendency in any 
 particular country, every public institution 
 becomes more and more guarantied from 
 abuse. 
 
 Upon the whole, this sermon is rather the 
 production of what is called a sensible, than 
 of a very acute man; of a man certainly 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 11 
 
 more remarkable for his learning than his ori- 
 ginality. It refutes the very refutable positions 
 of Mr. Godwin, without placing the doctrine of 
 benevolence in a clear light; and it almost 
 leaves us to suppose, that the particular affec- 
 tions are themselves ultimate principles of ac- 
 tion, instead of convenient instruments of a 
 more general principle. 
 
 The style is such as to give a general im- 
 pression of heaviness to the whole sermon. 
 The Doctor is never simple and natural for a 
 single instant. Every thing smells of the rhe- 
 torician. He never appears to forget himself, 
 or to be hurried by his subject into obvious 
 language. Every expression seems to be the 
 result of artifice and intention; and as to the 
 worthy dedicatees, the Lord Mayor and Alder- 
 men, unless the sermon be done into English by 
 a person of horiour, they may perhaps be flatter- 
 ed by the Doctor's politeness, but they can 
 never be much edified by his meaning. Dr. 
 Parr seems to think, that eloquence consists 
 not in exuberance of beautiful images — not in 
 simple and sublime conceptions — not in the 
 feelings of the passions ; but in a studious ar- 
 rangement of sonorous, exotic, and sesquipedal 
 words: a very ancient error, which corrupts 
 the style of young, and wearies the patience 
 of sensible men. In some of his combinations 
 of words the Doctor is singularly unhappy. 
 We have the din of superficial cavillers, the 
 prancings of giddy ostentation, flattering vanity, 
 hissing scorn, dank clod, &c. &c. &c. The fol- 
 lowing intrusion of a technical word into a 
 pathetic description renders the whole passage 
 almost ludicrous. 
 
 " Within a few days, mute was the tongue 
 that uttered these celestial sounds, and the hand 
 which signed your indenture lay cold and mo- 
 tionless in the dark and dreary chambers of 
 death." 
 
 In page 16, Dr. Parr, in speaking of the in- 
 dentures of the hospital, a subject (as we should 
 have thought) little calculated for rhetorical 
 panegyric, says of them — 
 
 "If the writer of whom I am speaking had 
 perused, as I have, your indentures, and your 
 rules, he would have found in them serious- 
 ness without austerity, earnestness without ex- 
 travagance, good sense without the trickeries 
 of art, good language without the trappings of 
 rhetoric, and the firmness of conscious worth, 
 rather than the prancings of giddy ostenta- 
 tion." 
 
 The latter member of this eloge would not 
 be wholly unintelligible, if applied to a spirited 
 coach horse; but we have never yet witnessed 
 the phenomenon of a prancing indenture. 
 
 It is not our intention to follow Dr. Parr 
 through the copious and varied learning of his 
 notes; in the perusal of which we have been 
 as much delighted with the richness of his ac- 
 quisitions, the vigour of his understanding, and 
 the genuine goodness of his heart, as we have 
 been amused with his ludicrous self-import- 
 ance, and the miraculous simplicity of his cha- 
 racter. We would rather recommend it to the 
 Doctor to publish an annual list of worthies, as 
 a kind of stimulus to literary men; to be in- 
 cluded in which, will unquestionably be con- 
 
 sidered as great an honour, as for a commoner 
 to be elevated to the peerage. A line of Greek, 
 a line of Latin, or no line at all, subsequent to 
 each name, will distinguish, with sufficient ac- 
 curacy, the shades of merit, and the degree of 
 immortality conferred. 
 
 Why should Dr. Parr confine this eulogoma- 
 nia to the literary characters of this island 
 alone 1 In the university of Benares, in the 
 lettered kingdom of Ava, among the Mandarins 
 at Pekin, there must, doubtless, be many men 
 who have the eloquence of* Bag^oi/sc, the feel- 
 ing of TauKu^oi, and the judgment of fixx^of, of 
 whom Dr. Parr might be happy to say, that 
 they have profundity without obscurity — per- 
 spicuity without prolixity — ornament without 
 glare — terseness without barrenness — penetra- 
 tion without subtlety — comprehensiveness with- 
 out digression — and a great number of other 
 things without a great number of other things. 
 In spite of 32 pages of very close printing, 
 in defence of the University of Oxford, is it, or 
 is it not true, that very many of its Professors 
 enjoy ample salaries, without reading any lec- 
 tures at all ? The character of particular col- 
 leges will certainly vary with the character of 
 their governors; but the University of Oxford 
 so far differs from Dr. Parr in the commenda- 
 tion he has bestowed upon its state of public 
 education, that they have, since the publication 
 of his book, we believe, and forty years after 
 Mr. Gibbon's residence, completely abolished 
 their very ludicrous and disgraceful exercises 
 for degrees, and have substituted in their place 
 a system of exertion, and a scale of academical 
 honours, calculated (we are willing to hope) to 
 produce the happiest effects. 
 
 We were very sorry, in reading Dr. Parr's 
 note on the Universities, to meet with the fol- 
 lowing passage : — 
 
 " 111 would it become me tamely and silently 
 to acquiesce in the strictures of this formidable 
 accuser upon a seminary to which I owe many 
 obligations, thoush I left it, as must not be dis- 
 sembled, before the usual lime, and, in truth, 
 had been almost compelled to leave it, not by 
 the want of proper education, for I had arrived 
 at the first place in the first form of Harrow 
 School, when I was not quite fourteen — not by 
 the want of useful tutors, for mine were emi- 
 nently able, and to me had been uniformly 
 kind — not by the want of ambition, for I had 
 begun to look up ardently and anxiously to 
 academical distinctions — not by the want of at- 
 tachment to the place, for I regarded it then, as 
 I continue to regard it now, with the fondest 
 and most unfeigned affection — but by another 
 want, which it were unnecessary to name, and 
 for the supply of which, after some hesitation, 
 I determined to provide by patient toil and re- 
 solute self-denial, when I had not completed 
 my twentieth year. I ceased, therefore, to re- 
 side, with an aching heart : I looked back with 
 mingled feelings of regret and humiliation to 
 advantages of which I could no longer partake, 
 and honours to which I could no longer 
 aspire." 
 
 To those who know the truly honourable 
 
 Si Bippovov KaX 0fX(3 TaiX'tpov. See Lucian in Vita 
 Daamonact. vol. ii. p. 394.— (Dr. Parr's note.) 
 
12 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 and respectable character of Dr. Parr, the vast 
 extent of his learning, and the unadulterated 
 benevolence of his nature, such an account 
 cannot but be very affecting, in spite of the bad 
 taste in which it is communicated. How pain- 
 ful to reflect, that a truly devout and attentive [ 
 
 minister, a strenuous defender of the churcb 
 establishment, and by far the most learned 
 man of his day, should be permitted to languish 
 on a little paltry curacy in Warwickshire ! 
 
 Dii meliora, &c. &c.* 
 
 DR. RENNEL.t 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 1802.] 
 
 We have no modern sermons in the English j 
 language that can be considered as very elo- j 
 quent. The merits of Blair (by far the most l 
 popular writer of sermons within the last cen- ' 
 tury) are plain good sense, a happy applica- ! 
 tion of scriptural quotation, and a clear har- [ 
 nionious style, richly tinged with scriptural 
 language. He generally leaves his readers 
 pleased with his judgment, and his just obser- 
 vations on human conduct, without ever rising 
 so high as to touch the great passions, or kindle 
 any enthusiasm in favour of virtue. For elo- 
 quence, we must ascend as high as the days of 
 Barrow and Jeremy Taylor: and even there, 
 while we are delighted with their energy, their 
 copiousness, and their fancy, we are in danger 
 of being suffocated by a redundance which 
 abhors all discrimination; which compares 
 till it perplexes, and illustrates till it confounds. 
 
 To the Oases of Tillotson, Sherlock, and At- 
 terbury, we must wade through many a barren 
 page, in which the weary Christian can descry 
 nothing all around him but a dreary expanse 
 of trite sentiments and languid words. 
 
 The great object of modern sermons is to 
 hazard nothing : their characteristic is, decent 
 debility; which alike guards iheir authors from 
 ludicrous errors, and precludes ihem from 
 striking beauties. Every man of sense, in 
 taking up an English sermon, expects to find 
 ita tedious essay, full of commonplace morali- 
 ty; and if the fulfilment of such expectations 
 be meritorious, the clergy have certainly the 
 merit of not disappointins: their readers. Yet 
 it is curious to consider, how a body of men so 
 well educated, and so magnificently endowed 
 as the English clergy, should distinguish them- 
 selves so little in a species of composition to 
 which it is their peculiar duty, as well as their 
 ordinary habit, to attend. To solve this dilfi- 
 culty, it should be remembered, that the elo- 
 quence ol the Bar and of the Senate force them- 
 selves into notice, power, and wealth — that the 
 penalty which an individual client pays for 
 choosing a bad advocate, is the loss of his 
 cause — that a prime minister must infallibly 
 suffer in the estimation of the public, who neg- 
 lects to conciliate the eloquent men, and trusts 
 the defence of his measures to those who have 
 rot adequate talents for that purpose : whereas 
 the only evil which accrues from the promotion 
 of a clergyman to the pulpit, which he has no 
 ability to fili as he ought, is the fatigue of the 
 audience, and the discredit of that species of 
 
 public instruction ; an evil so general, that no 
 individual patron would dream of sacrificing 
 to it his particular interest. The clergy are 
 generally appointed to their situations by those 
 who have no interest that they should please 
 the audience before whom they speak; while 
 the very reverse is the case in the eloquence 
 of the Bar, and of Parliament. We by no 
 means would be understood to say, that the 
 clergy should owe their promotion principally 
 to their eloquence, or that eloquence ever could, 
 consistently with the constitution of the English 
 Church, be made out a common cause of pre- 
 ferment. In pointing out the total want of con- 
 nection between the privilege of preaching, 
 and the power of preaching well, we are giving 
 no opinion as to whether it might, or might not 
 be remedied ; but merely stating a fact. Pulpii 
 discourses have insensibly dwindled from 
 speaking to reading; a practice, of itself, suf- 
 ficient to stifle every germ of eloquence. It is 
 only by the fresh feelings of the heart, that man- 
 kind can be very powerfully afl^ected. What 
 can be more ludicrous, than an orator deliver- 
 ing stale indignation, and fervour of a week 
 old ; turning over whole pages of violent pas- 
 sions, written out in German text; reading the 
 tropes and apostrophes into which he is hurried 
 by the ardour of his mind; and so afiected at a 
 preconcerted line, and page, that he is unable 
 to proceed any farther ! 
 
 The prejudices oC the English nation have 
 proceeded a good deal from their hatred to the 
 French ; and because that country is the na- 
 tive soil of elegance, animation, and grace, a 
 certain patriotic solidity, and loyal awkward- 
 ness, have become the characteristics of this ; 
 so that an adventurous preacher is afraid of 
 violating the ancient tranquillity of the pulpit; 
 and the audience are commonly apt to consider 
 the man who tires them less than usual, as a 
 trifler, or a charlatan. 
 
 Of British education, the study of eloquence 
 makes little or no part. The exterior graces 
 of a speaker are despised; and debating socie- 
 ties (admirable institutions, under proper regu- 
 lations) would hardly be tolerated either at Ox- 
 ford or Cambridge. It is commonly answered 
 to any animadversions upon the eloquence of 
 
 * The courtly phrase was, that Dr. Parr was not a pro- 
 ducible man. The same phrase was used for the neelecl 
 ofPaley. 
 
 ^Disrniir^cs on Various Subjects. By Thomas Rek- 
 NEL, D.D. Master of the Temple. Rivington, London. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 13 
 
 the English pulpit, that a clergyman is to re- 
 commend himself, not by his eloquence, but by 
 the purity of his life, and the soundness of his 
 doctrine ; an objection good enough, if any 
 connection could be pointed out between elo- 
 quence, heresy, and dissipation; but if it is 
 possible for a man to live well, preach well, 
 and teach well, at the same time, such objec- 
 tions, resting only upon a supposed incompati- 
 bility of these good qualities, are duller than 
 the dulness they defend. 
 
 The clergy are apt to shelter themselves 
 under the plea, that subjects so exhausted are 
 utterly incapable of novelty; and, in the very 
 strictest sense of the word novelty, meaning that 
 which was never said before, at any time, or 
 in any place, this may be true enough, of the 
 first principles of morals ; but the modes of ex- 
 panding, illustrating, and enforcing a particular 
 theme are capable of infinite variety; and, if 
 they were not, this might be a very good rea- 
 son for preaching commonplace sermons, but 
 is a very bad one for publishing them. 
 
 We had great hopes, that Dr. Kennel's Ser- 
 mons would have proved an exception to the 
 character we have given of sermons in gene- 
 ral ; and we have read through his present vo- 
 lume with a conviction rather that he has mis- 
 applied, than that he wants, talents for pulpit 
 eloquence. The subjects of his sermons, four- 
 teen in number, are, 1. The consequences of 
 the vice of gaming : 2. On old age : 3. Benevo- 
 lence exclusively an evangelical virtue : 4. The 
 services rendered to the English nation by the 
 Church of England, a motive for liberality to 
 the orphan children of indigent ministers: 5. On 
 the grounds and regulation of national joy : 
 6. On the connection of the duties of loving the 
 brotherhood, fearing God, and honouring the 
 King : 7. On the guilt of blood-thirstiness : 8. On 
 atonement: 9. A visitation sermon: 10. Great 
 Britain's naval strength, and insular situation, 
 a cause of gratitude to Almighty God: 11. Ig- 
 norance productive of atheism, anarchy, and 
 superstition : 12, 13, 14. On the sting of death, 
 the strength of sin, and the victory over them 
 both by Jesus Christ. 
 
 Dr. Kennel's first sermon, upon the conse- 
 quences of gaming, is admirable for its strength 
 of language, its sound good sense, and the 
 vigour with which it combats that detestable 
 vice. From this sermon, we shall, with great 
 pleasure, make an extract of some length. 
 
 "Farther to this sordid habit the gamester 
 joins a disposition to fraud, and that of the 
 meanest cast. To those who soberly and fairly 
 appreciate the real nature of human actions, 
 nothing appears more inconsistent than that 
 societies of men, who have incorporated them- 
 selves for the express purpose of gaming, should 
 disclaim fraud or indirection, or affect to drive 
 from their assemblies those among their asso- 
 ciates whose crimes would reflect disgrace on 
 them. Surely this, to a considerate mind, is as 
 solemn and refined a banter as can well be 
 exhibited : for when we take into view the vast 
 latitude allowed by the most upright gamesters, 
 when we reflect that, according to their precious 
 casuistrj', every advantage may be legitimately 
 taken of the young, the unwary, and the ine- 
 briated, which superior coolness, skill, address, 
 
 and activity can supply, we must look upon 
 pretences to honesty as a most shameless ag- 
 gravation of their crimes. Even if it were pos- 
 sible that, in his own practices, a man might 
 be a FAIR GAMESTER, yct, for the result of the 
 extended frauds committed by his fellows, he 
 stands deeply accountable to God, his country, 
 and his conscience. To a system necessarily 
 implicated with fraud; to associations of men, 
 a large majority of whom subsist by fraud ; to 
 habits calculated to poison the source and 
 principle of all integrity, he gives efficacy, 
 countenance, and concurrence. Even his vir- 
 tues he suffers to be subsidiary to the cause of 
 vice. He sees with calmness, depredation 
 committed daily and hourly in his company, 
 perhaps under his very roof. Yet men of this 
 description declaim (so desperately deceitful is 
 the heart of man) against the very knaves they 
 cherish and protect, and whom, perhaps, with 
 some poor sophistical refuge for a worn-out 
 conscience, they even imitate. To such, let 
 the Scripture speak with emphatical decision 
 — When thou snircst a tlucf, then thou consentedst 
 ivith him." 
 
 The reader will easily observe, in this quota- 
 tion, a command of language, and a power of 
 style, very superior to what is met with in the 
 great mass of sermons. We shall make one 
 more extract. 
 
 "But in addition to fraud, and all its train of 
 crimes, propensities and habits of a very diffe- 
 rent complexion enter into the composition of 
 a gamester : a most ungovernable ferocitt of 
 DISPOSITION, however for a time disguised and 
 latent, is invariably the result of his system of 
 conduct. Jealousy, rage, and revenge, exist 
 among gamesters in their worst and most fran- 
 tic excesses, and end frequently in conse- 
 quences of the most atrocious violence and 
 outrage. By perpetual agitation the malignant 
 passions spurn and overwhelm every boundary 
 which discretion and conscience can oppose. 
 From what source are we to trace a very large 
 number of those murders, sanctioned or palli- 
 ated indeed by custom, but which stand at the 
 tribunal of God precisely upon the same 
 grounds with every other species of murder] — 
 From the gaming-table, from the nocturnal re- 
 ceptacles of distraction and frenzy, the duellist 
 rushes with his hand lifted up against his bro- 
 ther's life ! — Those who are as yet on the 
 threshold of these habits should be warned, that 
 however calm their nattiral temperament, how- 
 ever meek and placable their disposition, yet 
 that, by the events which every moment arise, 
 they stand exposed to the ungovernable fury 
 of themselves and others. In the midst of fraud, 
 protected by menace on the one hand, and on 
 the other, of despair ; irritated by a recollection 
 of the meanness of the artifices and the base- 
 ness of the hands by which utter and remediless 
 ruin has been inflicted ; in the midst of these 
 feelings of horror and distraction it is, that the 
 voice of brethren's blood ' crieth unto God from 
 the ground' — ' and now art thou cursed from the 
 earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy 
 brother's blood from thy hand.' Not only THOU 
 who actually "sheddest that blood, butTHoc wiio 
 art the artificer of death— thou who adminis- 
 terest incentives to these habits — who dissemi 
 B 
 
14 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 natest the practice of them — improvest the 
 skill in them — sharpenest the propensity to 
 them — at thy hands will it be required, surely, 
 at the tribunal of God in the next world, and 
 perhaps, in most instances, in his distributive 
 and awful dispensations towards thee and thine 
 here on earth." 
 
 Having paid this tribute of praise to Dr. 
 Rennel's first sermon, we are sorry so soon to 
 change our eulogium into censure, and to blame 
 him for having selected for publication so many 
 sermons touching directly and indirectly upon 
 the French Revolution. We confess ourselves 
 long since wearied with this kind of discourses, 
 bespattered with blood and brains, and ringing 
 eternal changes upon atheism, cannibalism, 
 and apostasy. Upon the enormities of the 
 French Revolution there can be but one opinion ; 
 but the subject is not fit for the pulpit. The 
 public are disgusted with it to satiety; and we 
 can never help remembering, that this polilico- 
 orthodox rage in the mouth of a preacher may 
 be profitable as well as sincere Upon such 
 subjects as the murder of the Queen of France, 
 and the great events of these days, it is not pos- 
 sible to endure the draggling and the daubing 
 of such a ponderous limner as Dr. Rennel, 
 after the ethereal touches of Mr. Burke. In 
 events so truly horrid in themselves, the field 
 is so easy for a declaimer, that we set liiile 
 value upon the declamation ; and the mind, on 
 such occasions, so easily outruns ordinary 
 description, that we are apt to feel more, before 
 a mediocre oration begins, than it even aims 
 at inspiring. 
 
 We are surprised that Dr. Rennel, from 
 among the great number of subjects which he 
 must have discussed in the pulpit (the interest 
 in which must be permanent and universal), 
 should have published such an empty and 
 frivolous sermon as that upon the victory of 
 Lord Nelson ; a sermon good enough for the 
 garrulity of joy, when ihe phrases, and the ex- 
 ultation of the Porcupine, or the True Briton, 
 may pass for eloquence or sense ; but utterly 
 unworthy of the works of a man who aims at 
 a place among the great teachers of morality 
 and religion. 
 
 Dr. Rennel is apt to put on the appearance 
 of a holy bully, an evangelical swaggerer, as 
 if he could carry his point against infidelity by 
 big words and strong abuse, and kick and cuff 
 men into Christians. It is a very easy thing to 
 talk about the shallow impostures, and the silly 
 ignorant sophisms of Voltaire, Rousseau, Con- 
 dorcet, D'Alembert, and Volney, and to say 
 that Hume is not worth answering. This af- 
 fectation of contempt will not do. While these 
 pernicious writers have power to allure from 
 the church great numbers of proselytes, it is 
 better to study them diligently, and to reply to 
 them satisfactorily, than to veil insolence, want 
 of power, or want of industry, by a pretended 
 contempt; which may leave infidels and 
 ■wavering Christians to suppose that such 
 writers are abused, because they are feared ; 
 and not answered, because they are unanswer- 
 able. While every body was abusing and 
 despising Mr. Godwin, and while Mr. Godwin 
 was, among a certain description of under- 
 standings, increasing every day in popularity, 
 
 Mr. Malthus* took the trouble of refuting him; 
 and we hear no more of Mr. Godwin. We 
 recommend this example to the consideration 
 of Dr. Rennel, who seems to think it more use- 
 ful, and more pleasant, to rail than to fight. 
 
 After the world has returned to its sober 
 senses upon the merits of the ancient philoso- 
 phy, it is amusing enough to see a few bad 
 heads bawling for the restoration of exploded 
 errors and past infatuation. We have some 
 dozen of plethoric phrases about Aristotle, who 
 is, in the estimation of the Doctor, ei rex et sutor 
 bonus, and every thing else; and to the neglect 
 of whose works he seems to attribute every 
 moral and physical evil under which the world 
 has groaned for the last century. Dr. Rennel's 
 admiration of the ancients is so great, that he 
 considers the works of Homer to be the region 
 and depository of natural law, and natural reli- 
 gion.f Now, if, by natural religion, is meant 
 the will of God collected from his works, and 
 the necessity man is under of obeying it ; it is 
 rather extraordinary that Homer should be so 
 good a natural theologian, when the divinities 
 he has painted are certainly a more drunken, 
 quarrelsome, adulterous, intriguing, lascivious 
 set of beings, than are to be met with in the 
 mo-sl profligate court in Europe. There is, 
 every now and then, some plain coarse morality 
 in Homer; but the most bloody revenge, and 
 the most savage cruelty in warfare, the ravish- 
 ing of women, and the sale of men, &c. &c. 
 &c. are circumstances which the old bard 
 seems to relate as the ordinary events of his 
 times, without ever dreaming that there could 
 be much harm in them ; and if it be urged 
 that Homer took his ideas of right and wrong 
 from a barbarous age, that is just saying, in 
 other words, that Homer had very imperfect 
 ideas of natural law. 
 
 Having exhausted all his powers of eulogium 
 upon the times that are gone. Dr. Rennel in- 
 demnifies himself by the very novel practice 
 of declaiming against the present age. It is 
 an evil age — an adulterous age — an ignorant age— 
 an apostate age — and a foppish age. Of the pro- 
 priety of the last epithet, our readers may per- 
 haps be more convinced, by calling to mind a 
 class of fops not usually designated by that 
 epithet — men clothed in profound black, with 
 large canes, and strange amorphous hats — of 
 big speech, and imperative presence — talkers 
 about Plato — great affecters of senility — de- 
 spisers of women, and all the graces of life — 
 fierce foes to common sense — abusive of tne 
 living, and approving no one who has not been 
 dead for at least a century. Such fops, as vain 
 and as shallow as their fraternity in Bond 
 street, differ from these only as Gorgonius dif- 
 fered from Rufillus. 
 
 In the ninth Discourse (p. 226), we read of 
 St. Paul, that he had "an heroic zeal, directed, 
 rather than bounded, by the nicest discretion — 
 a conscious and commanding dignity, softened 
 by the meekest and most profound humility." 
 
 * I cannot read the name of Malthus without adding 
 my tribute of affection for the memory of one of the best 
 men that ever lived. He loved philosophical truth more 
 than any man I ever knew,— was full of practical wis- 
 dom, — and never indulged in contemptuous feelings 
 against his inferiors in understanding. 
 
 t Page 318 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 15 
 
 This is intended for a fine piece of writing ; 
 but it is without meaning: for, if words have 
 any limits, it is a coiUradictionin terms to say of 
 the same person, at the same time, that he is 
 nicely discreet, and heroically zealous ; or that 
 he is profoundly humble, and imperatively dig- 
 nified : and if Dr. Rennel means, that St. Paul 
 displayed these qualities at different times, then 
 could not any one of them direct or soften the 
 other. 
 
 Sermons are so seldom examined with any 
 considerable degree of critical vigilance, that we 
 are apt to discover in them sometimes a great 
 laxity of assertion: such as the following: — 
 
 "Labour to be undergone, afflictions to be 
 borne, contradictions to be endured, danger to 
 be braved, interest to be despised in the best 
 and most flourishing ages of the church, are 
 the perpetual badges of far the greater part of 
 those who take up their cross and follow 
 Christ." 
 
 This passage, at first, struck us to be untrue ; 
 and we could not immediately recollect the 
 afflictions Dr. Rennel alluded to, till it occurred 
 to us, that he must undoubtedly mean the eight 
 hundred and fifty actions which, in the course 
 of eighteen months, have been brought against 
 the clergy for non-residence. 
 
 Upon the danger to be apprehended from 
 Roman Catholics in this country. Dr. Rennel is 
 laughable. We should as soon dream that the 
 wars of York and Lancaster would break out 
 afresh, as that the Protestant religion in Eng- 
 
 land has any thing to apprehend from the 
 machinations of Catholics. To such a scheme 
 as that of Catholic emancipation, which has 
 for its object to restore their natural rights to 
 three or four millions of men, and to allay the 
 fury of religious hatred, Dr. Rennel is, as might 
 be expected, a very strenuous antagonist. Time, 
 which lifts up the veil of political mystery, will 
 inform us if the Doctor has taken that side of 
 the question which maybe as lucrative to him- 
 self as it is inimical to human happiness, and 
 repugnant to enlightened policy. 
 
 Of Dr. Rennel's talents as a reasoner, we 
 certainly have formed no very high opinion. 
 Unless dogmatical assertion, and the practice 
 (but too common among theological writers) 
 of taking the thing to be proved, for part of the 
 proof, can be considered as evidence of a 
 logical understanding, the specimens of argu- 
 ment Dr. Rennel has afforded us are very in- 
 significant. For putting obvious truths into 
 vehement language; for expanding and adorn- 
 ing moral instruction ; this gentleman certain- 
 ly possesses considerable talents : and if he 
 will moderate his insolence, steer clear of 
 theological metaphysics, and consider rather 
 those great laws of Christian practice, which 
 must interest mankind through all ages, thaa 
 the petty questions which are important to the 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer for the time being, 
 he may live beyond his own days, and become 
 a star of the third or fourth magnitude in the 
 English Church. 
 
 JOHN BOWLES.* 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 1802.] 
 
 If this piece be, as Mr. Bowles asserts,f the 
 death-warrant of the liberty and power of Great 
 Britain, we will venture to assert, that it is also 
 the death-warrant of Mr. Bowles's literary re- 
 putation; and that the people of this island, 
 if they verify his predictions, and cease to read 
 his books, whatever they may lose in political 
 greatness, will evince no small improvement 
 in critical acumen. There is a political, as 
 well as a bodily hypochondriasis ; and there 
 are empirics always on the watch to make 
 their prey, either of the one or of the other. 
 Dr. Solomon, Dr. Brodum, and Mr. Bowles. 
 have all commanded their share of the public 
 attention : but the two former gentlemen con- 
 tinue to flourish with undiminished splendour ; 
 while the patients of the latter are fast dwin- 
 dling away, and his drugs falling into disuse 
 and contempt. 
 
 * Reflections at the Conclusion of the War: Bein? a 
 Sequel to Reflections on the Political and Moral Stateof 
 Society at the Close of the Eighteenth Century. The 
 Third Edition, with Additions. By John Bowles, 
 Esq. 
 
 + It is impossible to conceive the mischievous power of 
 the corrupt alarmists of those days, and the despotic 
 manner in which thev exercised their authority. They 
 were fair objects for tlie Edinburgh Review. 
 
 The truth is, if Mr. Bowles had begun his 
 literary career at a period when superior dis- 
 crimination, and profound thought, not vulgar 
 violence, and the eternal repetition of rabble- 
 rousing words, were necessary to literary 
 reputation, he would never have emerged 
 from that obscurity to which he will soon 
 turn. The intemperate passions of the public, 
 not his own talents, have given him some tem- 
 porary reputation ; and now, when men hope 
 and fear with less eagerness than they have 
 been lately accustomed to do, Mr. Bowles will 
 be compelled to descend from that moderate 
 eminence, where no man of real genius would 
 ever have condescended to remain. 
 
 The pamphlet is written in the genuine spi- 
 rit of the Windham and Burke School; though 
 Mr. Bowles cannot be called a servile copyist 
 of either of these gentlemen, as he has rejected 
 the logic of the one, and the eloquence of the 
 other, and imitated them only in their head- 
 strong violence, and exaggerated abuse. There 
 are some men who continue to astonish and 
 please the world, even in the support of a bad 
 cause. They are mighty in their fallacies, and 
 beautiful in their errors. Mr. Bowles sees 
 only one half of the precedent ; and thinks, ia 
 
16 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 order to be famous, that he has nothing to do 
 but to be in the Trrong. 
 
 War, eternal Trar, till the wrongs of Europe 
 are avenged, and the Bourbons restored, is the 
 master-principle of Mr. Bo^vles's political opi- 
 nions, and the object for -which he declaims 
 through the whole of the present pa^mphlet. 
 
 The first apprehensions which Mr. Bowles 
 seems to entertain, are of the boundless am- 
 bition and perfidious character of the First 
 Consul, and of that militarj- despotism he has 
 established, which is not only impelled by the 
 love of conquest, but interested, for its own 
 preservation, to desire the overthrow of other 
 states. Yet the author informs us, immediate- 
 ly after, that the life of Buonaparte is exposed 
 to more dangers than that of any other indi- 
 vidual in Europe who is not actually in the 
 last stage of an incurable disease; and that 
 his death, whenever it happens, must involve 
 the dissolution of that machine of government, 
 of which he must be considered not only as the 
 sole director, but the main spring. Confusion 
 of thought, we are told, is one of the truest 
 indications of terror; and the panic of this 
 alarmist is so verj^ great, that he cannot listen 
 to the consolation which he himself affords : 
 for it appears, upon summing up these perils, 
 that we are in the utmost danger of being de- 
 stroyed by a despot, whose system of govern- 
 ment, as dreadful as himself, cannot survive 
 him, and who, in all human probabilit}-, will 
 be shot or hanged before he can execute any 
 one of his projects against us. 
 
 We have a good deal of flourishing in the 
 beginning of the pamphlet, about the effect of 
 the moral sense upon the stability of govern- 
 ments ; that is. as Mr. Bowles explains it, the 
 power which all old governments derive from 
 the opinion entertained by the people of the 
 justice of their rights. If this sense of an- 
 cient right be (as is here confidently asserted) 
 strong enough ultimately to restore the Bour- 
 bons, why are we to fight for that which will 
 be done without any fighting at all? And if 
 it be strong enough to restore, why was it weak 
 enough to render restoration necessari-? 
 
 To notice every singular train of reasomng 
 into which Mr. Bowles falls, is not possible ; 
 and, in the copious choice of evils, we shall, 
 from feelings of mercy, take the least. 
 
 It must not be forgotten, he observes, that 
 " those rights of government, which, because 
 they are ancient, are recognised by the moral 
 sense as lawful, are the only one's which are 
 compatible with civil liberty." So that all 
 qaestions of right and wrong, benveen the 
 governors and the governed, are determinable 
 by chronology alone. Everj- political institu- 
 tion is favourable to liberty-, not according to 
 its spirit, but in proportion to the antiquity of 
 its date ; and the slaves of Great Britain are 
 groaning under the trial by jury, while the free 
 men of Asia exult in the bold privilege trans- 
 mitted to them by their fathers, of being tram- 
 pled to death by elephants. 
 
 In the 8th page, Mr. Bowles thinks that 
 France, if she remains without a king, will 
 conquer all Europe; and, in the 19th" page, 
 that she will be an object of Divine vengeance 
 till she takes one. In the same page, all the 
 
 miseries of France are stated to be a judgment 
 of Heaven for their cruelty to the king ; and, 
 in the 33d page, they are discovered to pro- 
 ceed from the perfidy of the same king to this 
 country in the American contest. So that cer- 
 tain misfortunes proceed from the maltreat- 
 ment of a person, who had himself occasioned 
 these identical misfortunes before he was mal- 
 treated; and while Providence is compelling 
 the French, by evert' species of affliction, to 
 resume the monarchical government, they are 
 to acquire such extraordinar}' vigour, from not 
 acting as Providence would wish, that they 
 are to trample on every nation which co-ope- 
 rates with the Divine intention. 
 
 In the 60th page, Mr. Bowles explains what 
 is meant b}' Jacobinism; and, as a concluding 
 proof of the justice with which the character 
 is drawn, triumphantly quotes the case of a 
 certain R. Mountain, who was tried for damn- 
 ing all kings and all governments upon earth ; 
 for, adds R. Mountain, " I am a Jacobin." No- 
 body can more thoroughly detest and despise 
 that restless spirit of political innovation, 
 which, Ave suppose, is meant by the name of 
 Jacobinism, than we ourselves do ; but we 
 were highly amused with this proof, ab ebriis 
 sutorihus, of the prostration of Europe, the last 
 hour of human felicity, the perdition of man, 
 discovered in the crapulous eructations of -a 
 drunken cobler. 
 
 This species of evidence might certainly 
 have escaped a common observer : But this is 
 not all ; there are other proofs of treason and 
 sedition, equally remote, sagacious, and pro- 
 found. Many good subjects are not very 
 much pleased with the idea of the Whig Club 
 dining together ; but Mr. Bowles has the merit 
 of first calling the public attention to the 
 alarming practice of singing after dinner at 
 these political meetings. He speaks with a 
 proper horror of tavern dinners, 
 
 " — where conviviality is made a stimulus 
 to disaffection — where wine serves only to in- 
 flame disloyalty- — where toasts are converter^ 
 { into a vehicle of sedition — and where the 
 I powers of harmony are called forth in the 
 j cause of Discord by those hireling singers, 
 I who are equally ready to invoke the Divine 
 I favour on the head of their King, or to strain 
 I their venal throats in chanting the triumphs of 
 j his bitterest enemies." 
 
 All complaint is futile, which is not followed 
 j up by appropriate remedies. If Parliament, 
 j or Catarrh, do not save us, Dignum and Sedg- 
 I wick will quaver away the King, shake down 
 the House of Lords, and warble us into all the 
 horrors of republican government. When, in 
 j addition to these dangers, we reflect also upon 
 I those with which our national happiness is 
 menaced, by the present thinness of ladies' 
 petticoats (p. 78), temerity- may hope our sal- 
 vation, but how can reason promise it ? 
 
 One solitar}' gleam of comfort, indeed, 
 beams upon us in'reading the solemn devo- 
 tion of this modern Curtius to the cause of his 
 King and countr}* — 
 
 " My attachment to the British monarchy, 
 and to the reigning family, is rooted in my 
 ' heart's core.' — My anxiety for the British 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 17 
 
 throne, pending the dangers to which, in com- 
 mon with every other throne, it has lately been 
 exposed, has imbittered my choicest comforts. 
 And I must solemnly vow, before Almighty 
 God, to devote myself, to the end of my days, 
 to the maintenance of that throne." 
 
 Whether this patriotism be original, or whe- 
 ther it be copied from the Upholsterer in 
 Foote's Farces, who sits up whole nights 
 watching over the British constitution, we shall 
 not stop to inquire ; because, when the practi- 
 cal effect of sentiments is good, we would not 
 diminish their merits by investigating their 
 
 origin. We seriously commend in Mr. Bowles 
 this future dedication of his life to the service 
 of his King and country ; and consider it as a 
 virtual promise that he will write no more in 
 their defence. No wise or good man has ever 
 thought of either, but with admiration and re- 
 spect. That they should be exposed to that 
 ridicule, by the forward imbecility of friend- 
 ship, from which they appear to be protected 
 by intrinsic worth, is so painful a considera- 
 tion, that the very thought of it, we are per- 
 suaded, will induce Mr. Bowles to desist from 
 writing on political subjects. 
 
 DR. LANGFOUD.* 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 1802.] 
 
 As accident which happened to the gentle- 
 man engaged in reviewing this Sermon proves, 
 in the most striking manner, the importance 
 of this charity for restoring to life persons in 
 whom the vital power is suspended. He was 
 discovered, with Dr. Langford'sf discourse 
 lying open before him, in a state of the most 
 profound sleep; from which he could not, by 
 any means, be awakened for a great length of 
 time. By attending, however, to the rules pre- 
 scribed by the Humane Society, flinging in the 
 smoke of tobacco, applying hot flannels, and 
 carefully removing the discourse itself to a 
 great distance, the critic was restored to his 
 disconsolate brothers. 
 
 The only account he could give of himself 
 was, that he remembers reading on, regularly, 
 till he came to the following pathetic descrip- 
 tion of a drowned tradesman; beyond which 
 he recollects nothing. 
 
 " But to the individual himself, as a man, let 
 us add the interruption to all the temporal 
 business in which his interest was engaged. 
 To him indeed, now apparently lost, the world 
 is as nothing : but it seldom happens, that man 
 can live for himself alone: society parcels out 
 its concerns in various connections; and from 
 one head issue waters wiiich run down in 
 many channels. — The spring being suddenly 
 cut off, what confusion must follow in the 
 streams which have flowed from its source 1 
 It may be, that all the expectations reasonably 
 raised of approaching prosperity, to those who 
 have embarked in the same occupation, may 
 at once disappear; and thelimporiant inter- 
 change of commercial faith be broken off, 
 before it could be brought to any advantageous 
 conclusion." 
 
 This extract will suffice for the style of the 
 sermon. The charity itself is above all praise. 
 
 a:rchdeacon naees.* 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 1802.] 
 
 For the swarm of ephemeral sermons which 
 issue from the press, we are principally in- 
 debted to the vanity of popular preachers, who 
 are puffed up by female praises into a belief, 
 that what may be delivered, with great pro- 
 priety, in a chapel full of visitors and friends, 
 is fit for the deliberate attention of the public, 
 
 * Anniversary Sermon of the Royal Humane Society. By 
 W. Lanoford, D. D. Printed for F. and C. Rivington. 
 
 ■f To this exceedingly foolish man, the first years of 
 Etonian Education were intrusted. How is it possible 
 to inflict a greater misfortune on a country, than to fill 
 up such an office with such an officer 1 
 
 XA Thanksgiving for Plenty, and Warning against 
 Avarice. A Sermon. By the Reverend Robert Naues, 
 Archdeacon of Stafford, and Canon Residentiary of 
 Litchfield. London : Printed for the author, and sold by 
 Rivingtons, St. Paul's Churchyard. 
 
 This was another gentleman of the alarmist tribe. 
 3 
 
 who cannot be influenced by the aecency of a 
 clergyman's private life, flattered by the sedu- 
 lous politeness of his manners, or misled by 
 the fallacious circumstances of voice and 
 action. A clergyman cannot be always consi- 
 dered as reprehensible for preaching an indif- 
 ferent sermon ; because, to the active piety, 
 and correct life, which the profession requires, 
 many an excellent man may not unite talents 
 for that species of composition ; but every 
 man who prints, imagines he gives to the 
 world something which they had not before, 
 either in matter or style; that he has brought 
 forth new truths, or adorned old ones; and 
 when, in lieu of novelty and ornament, we can 
 discover nothing but trite imbecility, the law 
 must take its course, and the delinquent suffer 
 B 2 
 
18 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 that mortification from which vanity can rarely 
 be expected to escape, when it chooses dulness 
 for the minister of its gratifications. 
 
 The learned author, after observing that a 
 large army praying would be a much finer 
 spectacle than a large army fighting, and after 
 entertaining us with the old anecdote of 
 Xerxes, and the flood of tears, proceeds to ex- 
 press his sentiments on the lale scarcity, and 
 the present abundance; then, stating the man- 
 ner in which the Jews were governed by the 
 immediate interference of God, and informing 
 us, that other people expect not, nor are taught 
 to look for, miraculous interference, to punish 
 or reward them, he proceeds to talk of the 
 visitation of Providence, for the purposes of 
 trial, warning, and correction, as if it were a 
 truth of which he had never doubted. 
 
 Still, however, he contends, though the Deity 
 does interfere, it would be presumptuous and 
 impious to pronounce the purposes for which 
 he interferes ; and then adds, that it has pleased 
 God, within these few years, to give us a most 
 awful lesson of the vanity of agriculture and 
 importation without piety, and that he has 
 proved this to the conviction of every thinking 
 mind. 
 
 " Though he interpose not (says Mr. Nares) 
 by positive miracle, he influences by means 
 unknown to all but himself, and directs the 
 winds, the rain, and the glorious beams of 
 heaven to execute his judgment, or fulfil his 
 merciful designs." — Now, either the wind, the 
 rain, and the beams, are here represented to 
 act as they do in the ordinary course of nature, 
 or they are not. If they are, how can their 
 operations be considered as a judgment on 
 sinsl and if they are not, what are their extra- 
 ordinary operations, but positive miracles'? So 
 that the archdeacon, after denying that any 
 body knows when, how, and why, the Creator 
 works a miracle, proceeds to specify the time, 
 instrument, and object of a miraculous scarcity; 
 and then, assuring us that the elements were 
 employed to execute the judgments of Provi- 
 dence, denies that this is any proof of a posi- 
 tive miracle. 
 
 Having given us this specimen of his talents 
 for theological metaphysics, Mr. Nares com- 
 mences his attack upon the farmers; accuses 
 them of cruelty and avarice; raises the old cry 
 of monopoly; and expresses some doubts, in a 
 note, whether the better way would not be, to 
 subject their granaries to the control of an 
 exciseman ; and to levy heavy penalties upon 
 those, in whose possession corn, beyond a cer- 
 tain quantity to be fixed by law, should be 
 I'ound. — This style of reasoning is pardonable 
 
 enough in those who argue from the belly 
 rather than the brains; but in a well-fed, and 
 well-educated clergyman, who has never been 
 disturbed by hunger from the free exercise of 
 cultivated talents, it merits the severest repre- 
 hension. The farmer has it not in his power 
 to raise the price of corn; he never has fixed 
 and never can fix it. He is unquestionably 
 justified in receiving any price he can obtain: 
 for it happens very beautifully, that the eff"ect 
 of his efforts to better his fortune is as benefi- 
 cial to the public as if their motive had not 
 been selfish. The poor are not to be supported, 
 in time of famine, by abatement of price on 
 the part of the farmer, but by the subscription 
 of residentiary canons, archdeacons, and all 
 men rich in public or private property; and 
 to these subscriptions the farmer should con- 
 tribute according to the amount of his fortune. 
 To insist that he should take a less price when 
 he can obtain a greater, is to insist upon laying 
 on that order of men the whole burden of sup- 
 porting the poor; a convenient system enough 
 in the eyes of a rich ecclesiastic; and objec- 
 tionable only, because it is impracticable, 
 pernicious, and unjust.* 
 
 The question of the corn trade has divided 
 society into two parts — those who have any 
 talents for reasoning, and those who have not. 
 We owe an apology to our readers for taking 
 any notice of errors that have been so fre- 
 quently and so unanswerably exposed ; but 
 when they are echoed from the bench and the 
 pulpit, the dignity of the teacher may perhaps 
 communicate some degree of importance to 
 the silliest and most extravagant doctrines. 
 
 No reasoning can be more radically erro- 
 neous than that upon which the whole of Mr. 
 Nares's sermon is founded. The most bene- 
 volent, the most Christian, and the most pro- 
 fitable conduct the farmer can pursue, is, to 
 sell his commodities for the highest price he 
 can possibly obtain. This advice, we think, 
 is not in any great danger of being rejected : 
 we wish we were equally sure of success in 
 counselling the Reverend Mr. Nares to attend, 
 in future, to practical rather than theoretical 
 questions about provisions. He may be a very 
 hospitable archdeacon; but nothing short of 
 a positive miracle can make him an acute 
 reasoner. 
 
 * If it is pleasant to notice the intellectual growth of 
 an individual, it is still more pleasant to see the public 
 growing wiser. This absurdity of attributing the high 
 price of corn to the combinations of farmers, was the 
 common nonsense talked in the days of my youth. I re- 
 member when ten judges out of twelve laid down this 
 doctrine in their charges to the various grand juries on 
 the circuits. The lowest attorney's clerk is now better 
 instructed. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 19 
 
 MATTHEW LEWIS.* 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 1803.] 
 
 Alfoxso, king of Castile had, many years 
 previous to the supposed epoch of the play, 
 left his minister and general, Orsino, to perish 
 in prison, from a false accusation of treason. 
 Ccesario, son to Orsino, (who by accident had 
 liberated Amelrosa, daughter of Alfonso, from 
 the Moors, and who is married to her, unknown 
 to the father,) becomes a great favourite with 
 the king, and avails himself of the command 
 of the armies, with which he is intrusted, to 
 gratify his revenge for his father's misfor- 
 tunes, to forward his own ambitious views, 
 and to lay a plot by which he may deprive 
 Alfonso of his throne and his life. •■ Marquis 
 Guzman, poisoned by his wife Ottilia, in love 
 with Csesario, confesses to the king that the 
 papers upon which the suspicion of Orsino's 
 guilt was founded were forged by him : and 
 the king, learning from his daughter Amel- 
 rosa that Orsino is still alive, repairs to his 
 retreat in the forest, is received with the most 
 implacable hauteur and resentment, and in 
 vain implores forgiveness of his injured minis- 
 ter. To the same forest Cssario, informed of 
 the existence of his father, repairs and reveals 
 his intended plot against the king. Orsino, con- 
 vinced of Alfonso's goodness to his subjects, 
 though incapable of forgiving him for his un- 
 intentional injuries to himself, in vain dis- 
 suades his son from the conspiracy; and at 
 last, ignorant of their marriage, acquaints 
 Amelrosa with the plot formed by her hus- 
 band against her father. Amelrosa, already 
 poisoned by Ottilia, in vain attempts to pre- 
 vent Caesario from blowing up a mine laid 
 under the royal palace ; information of which 
 she had received from Ottilia, stabbed by Cse- 
 sario to avoid her importunity. In the mean 
 time, the king had been removed from the 
 palace by Orsino to his ancient retreat in tke 
 forest: the people rise against the usttrper 
 Caesario; a battle takes place: Orsino stabs 
 his own son at the moment the king is in his 
 son's power ; falls down from the wounds he 
 has received in battle ; and dies in the usual 
 dramatic style, repeating twenty-two hexame- 
 ter verses. Mr. Lewis says in his preface, 
 
 "To the assertion, that my play is stupid, I 
 have nothing to object ; if it be found so, even 
 let it be so said; but if (as was most fahdy 
 asserted of Adelmorn) any anonymous writer 
 should advance that this Tragedy is immoral, 
 I expect him to prove his assertion by quoting 
 the objectionable passages. This I demand as 
 an act of justice." 
 
 We confess ourselves to have been highly 
 delighted with these symptoms of returning, 
 or perhaps nascent purity in the mind of Mr. 
 Lewis; a delight somewhat impaired, to be 
 sure, at the opening of the play, by the foUow- 
 
 * Mfonso. King of Castile. A Tragedy, 
 By M. G. Lewis. Price 2s. 6d. 
 
 ing explanation which Ottilia gives of her early 
 rising. 
 " ACT I. Scene I.— The palace-garden.— Day-break. 
 Ottilia enters in a night-dress: her hair flows dishevelled. 
 " Ottil. Dews of the morn descend ; Breathe sum- 
 mer gales : 
 My flushed cheeks woo ye ! Play, sweet wantons, play 
 'Mid my loose tresses, fan my panting breast, 
 Quench my blood's burning fever !— Vain, vain prayer! 
 Not Winter throned 'midst Alpine snows, whose will 
 Can with one breath, one touch, congeal whole realms, 
 And blanch whole seas : not that fiend's self could ease 
 This heart, this gulf of flames, this purple kingdom, 
 Where passion rules and rages 1" 
 
 Ottilia at last becomes quite furious, from 
 the conviction that Csesario has been sleeping 
 with a second lady, called Estella; whereas 
 he has really been sleeping with a third lady, 
 called Amelrosa. Passing across the stage, 
 this gallant gentleman takes an opportunity 
 of mentioning to the audience, that he has 
 been passing his time veiy agreeably, meets 
 Ottilia, quarrels, makes it up ; and so end the 
 first two or three scenes. 
 
 Mr. Lewis will excuse us for the liberty we 
 take in commenting on a few passages in his 
 play which appear to us rather exceptionable. 
 The only information which Caesario, imagin- 
 ing his father to have been dead for many 
 years, receives of his existence, is in the fol- 
 lowing short speech of Melchior. 
 
 "Melch. The Count San Lucar, long thought dead 
 but saved, 
 It seems, by Amelrosa's care.— Time presses— 
 1 must away : farewell." 
 
 To this laconic, but important information, 
 Ceesario makes no reply ; but merely desires 
 Melchior to meet him at one o'clock, under the 
 Royal Tower, and for some other purposes. 
 
 in the few cases which have fallen under 
 our observation, of fathers restored to life after 
 a supposed death of twenty years, the parties 
 concerned have, on the first intimation, ap- 
 peared a little surprised, and generally ask a 
 i'ew questions ; though we do not go the length 
 of saying it is natural so to do. This sam.i 
 Cffisario (whose love of his father is a prin- 
 cipal cause of his conspiracy against the 
 king) begins criticising the old warrior, upon 
 his first seeing him again, much as a virtuoso 
 would criticise an ancient statue that wanted 
 an arm or a leg. 
 
 " Orsino enters from the cave. 
 
 " Cesario. Now by my life 
 
 A noble ruinl" 
 
 Amelrosa, who imagines her father to havts 
 banished her from his presence for ever, in the 
 first transports of joy for pardon, obtained by 
 earnest intercessions, thus exclaims: — 
 
 " Lend thy doves, dear VentiS, 
 That I may send them where Ca?sario strays : 
 And while he smooths their silver wings, and gives them 
 For drink the honey of his lips, I'll bid them 
 Coo in his ear, his Amelrosa's happy!" 
 
 What judge of human feelings does not r«- 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 cognise in these images of silver wings, doves 
 and honey, the genuine language of the pas- 
 sions 1 
 
 If Mr. Lewis is really in earnest in pointing 
 out the coincidence between his own dramatic 
 sentiments,and the Gospel of St. Matthew, such 
 a reference (wide as we know this assertion 
 to be) evinces a want of judgment, of which 
 we did not think him capable. If it proceeded 
 from irreligious levity, we pity the man who 
 has bad taste enough not to prefer honest dul- 
 ness to such paltry celebrity. 
 
 We beg leave to submit to Mr. Lewis, if Al- 
 fonso, considering the great interest he has in 
 the decision, might not interfere a little in the 
 'long argument carried on between Csesario 
 and Orsino, upon the propriety of putting him 
 to death. To have expressed any decisive 
 opinion upon the subject, might perhaps have 
 been incorrect; but a few gentle hints as to 
 that side of the question to which he leaned, 
 might be fairly allowed to be no very unnatu- 
 ral incident. 
 
 This tragedy delights in explosions. Al- 
 fonso's empire is destroyed by a blast of gun- 
 powder, and restored by a clap of thunder. 
 After the death of Csesario, and a short exhor- 
 tation to that purpose by Orsino, all the con- 
 spirators fall down in a thunder-clap, ask par- 
 don of the king, and are forgiven. This 
 mixture of physical and moral power is 
 beautiful ! How interesting a water-spout 
 would appear among Mr. Lewis's kings and 
 
 queens! We anxiously look forward, in his 
 next tragedy, to a fall of snow three or four 
 feet deep; or expect that a plot shall gradually 
 unfold itself by means of a general thaw. 
 
 All is not so bad in this play. There is 
 some strong painting, which shows, every now 
 and then, the hand of a master. The agitation 
 which Ccesario exhibits upon his first joining 
 the conspirators in the cave, previous to the 
 blowing up of the mine, and immediately after 
 slabbing Ottilia, is very fine. 
 
 " C^sABio. Ay, shout, shout, 
 And kneeling greet your blood-anoijited king, 
 This steel his sceptre ! Tremble, dwarfs in guilt, 
 And own your master ! Thou art proof, Henriquez, 
 'Gainst pity ; I once saw thee stab in battle 
 A page who clasped thy knees : And Melchior there 
 Made quick work with a brother whom he hated. 
 But what did I this night 1 Hear, hear, and reverence ! 
 There was a breast, on which my head had rested 
 A thousand times ; a breast which loved me fondly 
 As heaven loves martyred saints; and yet this breast 
 1 stabbed, knave— stabbed it to the heart — Wine ! wine 
 
 there 1 
 For my soul's joyous ;"— p. 86. 
 
 The resistance which Amelrosa opposes to 
 the firing of the mine, is well wrought out; 
 and there is some good poetry scattered up 
 and down the play, of which we should very 
 willingly make extracts, if our limits would 
 permit. The ill success which it has justly 
 experienced, is owing, we have no doubt, to the 
 want of nature in the characters, and of proba- 
 bility and good arrangement in the incidents ; 
 objections of some force. 
 
 AUSTRALIA.* 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 1803.] 
 
 To introduce an European population, and 
 consequently, the arts and civilization of Eu- 
 rope, into such an untrodden country as New 
 Holland, is to confer a lasting and important 
 benefit upon the world. If man be destined for 
 perpetual activity, and if the proper objects of 
 that activity be the subjugation of physical 
 difficulties, and of his own dangerous passions, 
 how absurd are those systems which proscribe 
 the acquisitions of science and the restraints 
 of law, and would arrest the progress of man 
 in the rudest and earliest stages of his exist- 
 ence! Indeed, opinions so very extravagant 
 in their nature must be attributed rather to the 
 wantonness of paradox, t|han to sober reflec- 
 tion and extended inquiry. 
 
 To suppose the savage state permanent, we 
 must suppose the numbers of those who com- 
 pose it to be stationary, and the various pas- 
 sions by which men have actually emerged 
 from it to be extinct; and this is to suppose 
 man a very different being from what he really 
 IS. To prove such a permanence beneficial, 
 (if it were possible,) we must have recourse 
 
 ♦ Mcount of the Enn-Hsh Colony nf JVew South Wales. 
 By Lieutenant-Colonel Collins of the P.,-yal Marines. 
 Vol. ii. 4to. Cadell and Davies, London. 
 
 to matter of fact, and judge of the rude sfate 
 of society, not from the praises of tranquil 
 literati, but from the narratives of those who 
 have seen it, through a nearer and better me- 
 j dium than that of imagination. There is an 
 argument, however, for the continuation of 
 evil, drawn from the ignorance of good ; by 
 which it is contended, that to teach men their 
 situation can be better, is to teach them that it 
 is bad, and to destroy that happiness which 
 always results from an ignorance that any 
 greater happiness is within our reach. All 
 pains and pleasures are clearly by comparison ; 
 but the most deplorable savage enjoys a suffi- 
 cient contrast of good, to know that the grosser 
 evils from which civilization rescues him arc. 
 evils. A New Hollander seldom passes a year 
 without suffering from famine ; the small-pox 
 falls upon him like a plague ; he dreads those 
 calamities, though he does not know how to 
 avert them ; but, doubtless, would find his 
 happiness increased, if they iccre averted. To 
 deny this, is to suppose that men are recon- 
 ciled to evils, because they are inevitable ; and 
 yet hurricanes, earthquakes, bodily decay, a.nd 
 death, stand highest in the catalogue of human 
 calamities. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 SI 
 
 Where civilization gives new birth to new 
 comparisons unfavourable to savage life, with 
 the information that a greater good is possible, 
 it generally connects the means of attaining it. 
 The savage no sooner becomes ashamed of his 
 nakedness, than the loom is ready to clothe 
 him; the forge prepares for him more perfect 
 tools, when he is disgusted with the awkward- 
 ness of his own : his weakness is strength- 
 ened, and his wants supplied as soon as they 
 are discovered ; and the use of the discovery 
 is, that it enables him to derive from compari- 
 son the best proof of present happiness. A 
 man born blind is ignorant of the pleasures of 
 which he is deprived. After the restoratiop of 
 his sight, his happiness will be increased from 
 two causes ; — from the delight he experiences 
 at the novel accession of power, and from the 
 contrast he will always be enabled to make 
 between his two situations, long after the plea- 
 sure of novelty has ceased. For these rea- 
 sons it is humane to restore him to sight. 
 
 But, however beneficial to the general inte- 
 rests of mankind the civilization of barbarous 
 countries may be considered to be, in this par- 
 ticular instance of it, the interest of Great 
 Britain would seem to have been very little 
 consulted. With fanciful schemes of universal 
 good we have no business to meddle. Why 
 we are to erect penitentiary houses and prisons 
 at the distance of half the diameter of the 
 globe, and to incur the enormous expense of 
 feeding and transporting their inhabitants to 
 and at such a distance, it is extremely difficult 
 to discover. It certainly is not from any de- 
 ficiency of barren islands near our own coast, 
 nor of uncultivated wastes in the interior; and 
 if we were sutliciently fortunate to be wanting 
 in such species of accommodation, we might 
 discover in Canada, or the West Indies, or on 
 the coast of Africa, a climate malignant 
 enough, or a soil sufficiently sterile, to revenge 
 all the injuries which have been indicted on 
 society by pickpockets, larcenists, and petty 
 felons. Upon the foundation of a new colony, 
 and especially one peopled by criminals, there 
 is a disposition in Government (where any 
 circumstance in the commission of the crime 
 affords the least pretence for the commutation) 
 to convert capital punishments^into transpor- 
 tation ; and by these means to hold forth a 
 very dangerous, though certainly a very unin- 
 tentional, encouragement to offences. And 
 when the history of the colony has been atten- 
 tively perused in the parish of St. Giles, the 
 ancient avocation of picking pockets will cer- 
 tainly not become more discreditable from the 
 knowledge, that it may eventually lead to the 
 possession of a farm of a thousand acres on 
 the river Hawkesbury. Since the benevolent 
 Howard attacked our prisons, incarceration 
 has become not only healthy but elegant; and 
 a county jail is precisely the place to which 
 any pauper might wish to retire to gratify his 
 taste for magnificence as well as for comfort. 
 Upon the same principle, there is some risk 
 that transportation will be considered as one 
 of the surest roads to honour and to wealth ; 
 and that no felon will hear a verdict of "not 
 guilty" without considering himself as cut off 
 in the fairest career of prosperity. It is fool- 
 
 ishly believed, that the colony of Botany Bay 
 unites our moral and commercial interests, 
 and that we shall receive hereafter an ample 
 equivalent, in bales of goods, for all the vices 
 we export. Unfortunately, the expenses we 
 have incurred in founding the colony, will not 
 retard the natural progress of its emancipa- 
 tion, or prevent the attacks of other nations, 
 who will be as desirous of reaping the fruit, 
 as if they had sown the seed. It is a colony, 
 besides, begun under every possible disadvan- 
 tage ; it is too distant to be long governed, or 
 well defended ; it is undertaken, not by the vo- 
 luntary association of individuals, but by Go- 
 vernment, and by means of compulsory labour. 
 A nation must, indeed, be redundant in capital, 
 that will expend it where the hopes of a just 
 return are so very small. 
 
 It may be a very curious consideration, to 
 reflect what we are to do with this colony when 
 it comes to years of discretion. Are we to 
 spend another hundred millions of money in 
 discovering its strength, and to humble our- 
 selves again before a fresh set of Washingtons 
 and Franklins] The moment after we have 
 suffered such serious mischief i'rom the es- 
 cape of the old tiger, we are breeding up a 
 young cub, whom we cannot render less fero- 
 cious, or more secure. If we are gradually to 
 manumit the colony, as it is more and more 
 capable of protecting itself, the degrees of 
 emancipation, and the periods at which they 
 are to take place, will be judged of very differ- 
 ently by the two nations. But we confess our- 
 selves not to be so sanguine as to suppose, that 
 a spirited and commercial people would, in 
 spite of the example of America, ever consent 
 to abandon their sovereignty over an import- 
 ant colony, without a struggle. Endless blood 
 and treasure will be exhausted to support a 
 tax on kangaroos' skins; faithful Commons 
 will go on voting fresh supplies to support a 
 just and necfssanj war; and Newgate, then be- 
 come a quarter of the world, will evince a 
 heroism, not unworthy of the great characters 
 by whom she was originally peopled. 
 
 The experiment, however, is not less inte- 
 i-esting in a moral, because it is objectionable 
 in a commercial point of view. It is an ob- 
 ject of the highest curiositj', thus to have the 
 growth of a nation subjected to our exami- 
 nation ; to trace it by such faithful records, 
 from the first day of its existence ; and to ga- 
 ther that knowledge of the progress of human 
 affairs, from actual experience, which is con- 
 sidered to be only accessible to the conjectural 
 reflections of enlightened minds. 
 
 Human nature, under very okl governments, 
 is so trimmed, and pruned, and ornamented, 
 and led into such a variety of factitious shapes, 
 that we are almost ignorant of the appearance 
 it would assume, if it were left more to itself. 
 From such an experiment as that now before 
 us, we shall be better able to appreciate what 
 circumstances of our situation are owing to 
 those permanent laws by which all men are 
 influenced, and what to the accidental positions 
 in which we have been placed. New circum- 
 stances will throw new light upon the effects 
 of our religious, political, and economical in- 
 stitutions, if we cause them to be adopted a^ 
 
23 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 models in our rising empire; and if we do not, 
 ■we shall estinaate the effects of their presence, 
 by observing those which are produced by 
 their non-existence. 
 
 The history of the colony is at present, how- 
 ever, in its least interesting state, on account 
 of the great preponderance of depraved inha- 
 bitants, whose crimes and irregularities give 
 a monotony to the narrative, which it cannot 
 lose, till the respectable part of the community 
 come to bear a greater proportion to the cri- 
 minal. 
 
 These Memoirs of Colonel Collins resume 
 the history of the colony from the period at 
 which he concluded it in his former volume, 
 September 1796, and continue it down to Au- 
 gust 1801. They are written in the style of a 
 journal, which, though not the most agreeable 
 mode of conveying information, is certainly 
 the most authentic, and contrives to banish the 
 suspicion (and most probably the reality) of 
 the interference of a book-maker — a species 
 of gentlemen who are now almost become ne- 
 cessary to deliver naval and military authors 
 in their literary labours, though they do not 
 always atone, by orthography and grammar, 
 for the sacrifice of troth and simplicity. Mr. 
 Collins's book is written with great plainness 
 and candour : he appears to be a man always 
 meaning well ; of good, plain common sense ; 
 and composed of those well-Avearing materials, 
 which adapt a person for situations where 
 genius and refinement would only prove a 
 source of misery and of error. 
 
 We shall proceed to lay before our readers 
 an analysis of the most important matter con- 
 tained in this volume. 
 
 The natives in the vicinity of Port Jackson 
 stand extremely low, in point of civilization, 
 when compared Avith many other savages, 
 with whom the discoveries of Captain Cook 
 have made us acquainted. Their notions of 
 religion exceed even that degree of absurdity 
 which we are led to expect in the creed of a 
 barbarous people. In politics, they appear to 
 have scarcely advanced beyond famil3'-govem- 
 ment. Huts they have none ; and, in all their 
 economical inventions, there is a rudeness and 
 deficiency of ingenuity, unpleasant, when con- 
 trasted Avith the instances of dexterity Avilh 
 which the descriptions and importations of 
 our navigators have rendered us so familiar. 
 Their numbers appear to us to be very small : 
 a fact, at once, indicative either of the ferocity 
 of manners in any people, or, more probably, 
 of the sterility of their country ; but which, 
 in the present instance, proceeds from both 
 these causes. 
 
 " Gaining every day (says Mr. Collins) some 
 further knowledge of the inhuman habits and 
 customs of these peoplei their being so thinly 
 scattered through the country ceased to be a 
 matter of surprise. It was almost daily seen, 
 that from some trifling cause or other, they 
 were continually living in a state of Avarfare : 
 to this must be added their brutal treatment of 
 their women, who are themselves equally de- 
 structive to the measure of population, by the 
 horrid and cruel customs of endeavouring to 
 cause a miscarriage, which their female ac- 
 quaintances effect by pressing the body in such 
 
 a Avay, as to destroy the infant in the womb ; 
 which violence not unfrequently occasions the 
 death of the unnatural mother also. To this 
 they have recourse to avoid the trouble of car- 
 rying the infant about when born, Avhich, M-hen 
 it is A-ery young, or at the breast, is the duty 
 of the woman. The operation for this destruc- 
 tive purpose is termed Mee-bra. The burying 
 an infant (when at the breast) with the mo- 
 ther, if she should die, is another shocking 
 cause of the thinness of population among 
 them. The fact that such an operation as the 
 Mee-bru, was practised by these Avretched peo- 
 ple, was communicated by one of the natives 
 to the principal surgeon of the settlement." — 
 (p. 124, 125.) 
 
 It is remarkable, that the same paucity of 
 numbers has been observed in every part of 
 New Holland AA-hich has hitherto been ex- 
 plored ; and yet there is not the smallest rea- 
 son to conjecture that the population of it has 
 been \'ery recent ; nor do the people bear any 
 marks of descent from the inhabitants of the 
 numerous islands by which this great conti- 
 nent is surrounded. The force of population 
 can only be resisted by some great physical 
 eA'ils ; and many of the causes of this scarcity 
 of human beings, Avhich Mr. Collins refers to 
 the ferocity of the natives, are ultimately re- 
 ferable to the difficulty of support We haA-e 
 ahvays considered this phenomenon as a symp- 
 tom extremely unfavourable to the future des- 
 tinies of this coiantiy. It is easy to launch out 
 into eulogiums of the fertility of nature in par- 
 ticular spots ; but the most probable reason 
 why a country that has been long inhabited, 
 is not well inhabited, is, that it is not calcu- 
 lated to support many inhabitants Avithout great 
 labour. It is difficult to suppose any other 
 causes poAverful enough to resist the impetu- 
 ous tendency of man, to obey that mandate 
 for increase and multiplication, which has 
 certainly been better observed than any other 
 declaration of the Divine Avill ever revealed 
 to us. 
 
 There appears to be some tendency to civi- 
 lization, and some tolerable notions of justice, 
 in a practice A^eiy similar to our custom of 
 duelling; for duelling, though barbarous in 
 civilized, is a ]|ighly ciA'ilized institution among 
 barbarous people : and AA'hen compared to as- 
 sassination, is a prodigious victory gained 
 over human passions. WhocA'er kills another 
 in the neighbourhood of Botany Bay, is com- 
 pelled to appear at an appointed day before the 
 friends of the deceased, and to sustain the at- 
 tacks of their missile weapons. If he is killed, 
 he is deemed to haA^e met with a deserved 
 death ; if not, he is considered to have expiated 
 the crime for the commission of Avhich he was 
 exposed to the danger. There is in this in- 
 stitution a command over present impulses, a 
 prevention of secrecy in the gratification of 
 revenge, and a Avholesome correction of that 
 passion by the effect of public observation, 
 which evince such a superiority to the mere 
 animal passions of ordinary savages, and form 
 such a contrast to the rest of the history of 
 this people, that it may be considered as alto- 
 gether an anomalous and inexplicable fact. 
 The natives differ very much in the progress 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 23 
 
 they have made m the arts of economy. 
 Those to the north of Port Jackson evince a 
 considerable degree of ingenuity and con- 
 trivance in the structure of their houses, 
 which are rendered quite impervious to the 
 •weather, while the inhabitants at Port Jackson 
 have no houses at all. At Port Dalrymple, in 
 Van Diemen's Land, there was every reason 
 to believe the natives were unacquainted with 
 the use of canoes ; a fact extremely embar- 
 rassing to those who indulge themselves in 
 speculating on the genealogy of nations ; be- 
 cause it reduces them to the necessity of sup- 
 posing that the progenitors of this insular 
 people swam over from the main land, or that 
 they were aboriginal ; a species of dilemma, 
 which effectuall)^ bars all conjecture upon the 
 intermixture of nations. It is painful to 
 learn, that the natives have begun to plunder 
 and rob in so very alarming a manner, that it 
 has been repeatedly found necessary to fire 
 upon them ; and many have, in consequence, 
 fallen victims to their rashness. 
 
 The soil is found to produce coal in vast 
 abundance, salt, lime, very fine iron ore, tim- 
 ber fit for all purposes, excellent flax, and a 
 tree, the bark of which is admirably adapted 
 for cordage. The discovery of coal (which, 
 by the by, we do not believe was ever before 
 discovered so near the line) is probably rather 
 a disadvantage than an advantage ; because, 
 as it lies extremely favourable for sea car- 
 riage, it may prove to be a cheaper fuel than 
 wood, and thus operate as a discouragement 
 to the clearing of lands. The soil upon the 
 sea-coast has not been found to be very pro- 
 ductive, though it improves in partial spots 
 in the interior. The climate is healthy, in 
 spite of the prodigious heat of the summer 
 months, at which period the thermometer has 
 been observed to stand in the shade at 107, 
 and the leaves of garden-vegetables to fall into 
 dust, as if they had been consumed with fire. 
 But one of the most insuperable defects in 
 New Holland, considered as the future coun- 
 try of a great people, is, the want of large ri- 
 vers penetrating very far into the interior, and 
 navigable for small crafts. The Hawkesbury, 
 the largest river yet discovered, is not acces- 
 sible to boats for more than twenty miles. 
 This same river occasionally rises above its 
 natural level, to the astonishing height of fifty 
 feet; and has swept away, more than once, 
 the labours and the hopes of the new people 
 exiled to its banks. 
 
 The laborious acquisition of any good we 
 have long enjoyed is apt to be forgotten. We 
 walk and talk, and run and read, without 
 remembering the long and severe labour dedi- 
 cated to the cultivation of these powers, the 
 formidable obstacles opposed to our progress, 
 or the infinite satisfaction with which we over- 
 came them. He who lives among a civilized 
 people, may estimate the labour by which so- 
 ciety has been brought into such a state, by read- 
 ing these annals of Botany Bay, the account 
 of a whole nation exerting itself to new floor 
 the government-house, repair the hospital, or 
 build a wooden receptacle for stores. Yet the 
 time may come, when some Botany Bay Taci- 
 tus shall record the crimes of an emperor ; 
 
 lineally descended from a London pick-pocket, 
 or paint the valour with which he has led his 
 New Hollanders into the heart of China. At 
 that period, when the Grand Lahma is sending 
 to supplicate alliance ; when the spice islands 
 are purchasing peace with nutmegs ; when 
 enormous tributes of green tea and nankeen 
 are wafted into Port Jackson, and landed on 
 the quays of Sydney, who will ever remember 
 that the sawing of a few planks, and the 
 knocking together a few nails, were such a 
 serious trial of the energies and resources of 
 the nation ? 
 
 The Government of the colony, after enjoy- 
 ing some little respite from this kind of labour, 
 has begun to turn its attention to the coarsest 
 and most necessary species of manufactures, 
 for which their wool appears to be well a,dapt- 
 ed. The state of stock in the whole settle- 
 ment, in June 1801, was about 7,000 sheep, 
 1,300 head of cattle, 250 horses, and 5,000 
 hogs. There were under cultivation at the 
 same time, between 9 and 10,000 acres of corn. 
 Three years and a-half before this, in Decem- 
 ber 1797, the numbers were as follows : — 
 Sheep, 2,500 ; cattle 350 ; horses, 100 ; hogs, 
 '1,300 ; acres of land in cultivation, 4,000. 
 The temptation to salt pork, and sell it for 
 Government store, is probably the reason why 
 the breed of hogs has been so much kept 
 under. The increase of cultivated lands be- 
 tween the two periods is prodigious. It ap- 
 pears (p. 319) that the whole number of con- 
 victs imported between January 1788 and 
 June 1801 (a period of thirteen years and a 
 half) has been about 5,000, of whom 1,157 
 were females. The total amount of the popu- 
 lation on the continent, as well as at Norfolk 
 Island, amounted, June 1801, to 0,500 persons ; 
 of these 766 Avere children born at Port Jack- 
 son. In the returns from Norfolk Island, 
 children are not discriminated from adults. 
 Let us add to the imported population of 5,000 
 convicts, 500 free people, which (if we consi- 
 der that a regiment of soldiers has been kept 
 up there) is certainly a very small allowance ; 
 then, in thirteen years and a half, the imported 
 population has increased only by two-thir- 
 teenths. If we suppose that something more 
 than a fifth of the free people were women, 
 this will make the total of women 1,270; of 
 whom we may fairly presume that 800 were 
 capable of child-bearing ; and if we suppose 
 the children of Norfolk Island to bear the same 
 proportion to the adults as at Port Jackson, 
 their total number at both settlements will be 
 913; — a state of infantine population which 
 certainly does not justify the very high eulo- 
 giums which have been made on the fertility 
 of the female sex in the climate of New Hol- 
 land. 
 
 The Governor, who appears on all occasion.-i 
 to be an extremely well-disposed man, is not 
 quite so conversant in the best writings on 
 political economy as we could wish : and in- 
 deed (though such knowledge would be ex- 
 tremely serviceable to the interests which this 
 Romulus of the Southern Pole is superintend- 
 ing), it is rather unfair to exact from a super- 
 intendent of pick-pockets, that he should be a 
 philosopher. In the 18th page we have the 
 
24 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 following information respecting the price of 
 labour : — 
 
 "Some representations having been made 
 to the Governor from the settlers in different 
 parts of the colon}-, purporting that the wages 
 demanded by the free labouring people, whom 
 they had occasion to hire, were so exorbitant j 
 as to run away with the greatest part of the i 
 profit of their farms, it was recommended to I 
 them to appoint quarterly meetings among 
 themselves, to be held in each district, for the | 
 purpose of settling the rate of wages to la- 
 bourers iu every dilferent kind of work ; that, 
 to this end, a written agreement should be en- 
 tered into, and subscribed by each settler, a 
 breach of which should be punished by a 
 penalty, to be fixed by the general opinion, 
 and made recoverable m a court of civil judi- j 
 cature. It was recommended to them to apply j 
 this forfeiture to the common benefit; and j 
 they were to transmit to the head-quarters a I 
 copy of their agreement, with the rate of i 
 wages which they should from time to time j 
 establish, for the Governor's information, hold- 
 ing their first meeting as early as possible." 
 
 And again, at p. 24, the following arrange- 
 ments on that head are enacted: — 
 
 "In pursuance of the order which was 
 issued in January last recommending the set- 
 tlers to appoint meetings, at which they should 
 fix the rate of wages that it might be proper 
 to pay for the difllsrent kinds of labour which 
 their farms should require, the settlers had 
 submitted to the Governor the several resolu- 
 tions that they had entered into, by which he 
 was enabled to fix a rate that he conceived to 
 be fair and equitable between the farmer and 
 the labourer. 
 " The following pri(;es of labour were now established, 
 
 VIZ. 
 
 Fellins forest timber, per acre, 
 Ditto in brushwood, ditto 
 
 Burnins off open ground, ditto 
 Ditto brush ground, ditto 
 
 Breaking up new ground, ditto 
 Chipping fresh ground, ditto 
 Chipping in wheat, ditto 
 
 Breaking up stubble or corn sround, Ud. per rod, 
 or ditto - - 
 
 Planting Indian corn, ditto - - 
 Hilling ditto ditto - - 
 
 Reaping wheat, ditto - - 
 
 Thrashingditto,pr. bush., ditto . - 
 Pulling and husking Indian corn, per bushel 
 Splitting palinc of seven feet long, per hundred 
 Ditto of five feet long, ditto - ' - - 
 
 Sawing plank, ditto . . - 
 
 Ditching per rod. three feet wide, and ."? ft. deep 
 Carriase of wheat, per bushel, per mile - 
 Ditto Indian corn, neat _ . - 
 
 Yearly wages for labour, with board 
 Wages per week, with provisions, consisting 
 of 4 lb. of salt pork, or 6 lb. of fresh, and 21 
 lb. of wheat with vegetables 
 A day's wages with board - . - 
 Ditto without board - - . . 
 
 A government-man allowed to officers or set- 
 tlers ir. their own time . . - 
 Price of an a.\e . - . . 
 New steeling ditto . . - 
 A new hoe ----- 
 A sickle ----- 
 Hire of a boat to carry grain, per day 
 
 "The settlers were reminded, that, in order to prevent 
 any kind of dispute between the master and servant, 
 when they should have occasion to hire a man for any 
 length of time, they would find it most convenient to en- 
 gage him for a quarter, half-year, or year, and to make 
 their agreement in writing; on which, should any dis- 
 pute arise, an appeal to the magistrates would settle it." 
 
 
 
 
 
 .? 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 (1 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 in 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 (1 
 
 n 
 
 n 
 
 fi 
 
 
 
 
 s 
 
 (I 
 
 1 
 
 t> 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 This is all verj' bad ; and if the Governor 
 had cherished the iiitention of destroying the 
 colony, he could have done nothing more de- 
 trimental to its interests. The high price of 
 labour is the very corner-stone on which the 
 prosperity of a new colony depends. It ena- 
 bles the poor man to live with ease ; and is the 
 strongest incitement to population, by render- 
 ing children rather a source of riches than of 
 poverty. If the same difficulty of subsist- 
 ence existed in new countries as in old, it is 
 plain that the progress of population would be 
 equally slow in each. The very circumstances 
 which'cause the difference are, that, in the lat- 
 ter, there is a competition among the labour- 
 ers to be employed ; and, in the former, a com- 
 petition among the occupiers of land to obtain 
 labourers. In the one, land is scarce and men 
 plenty; in the other, men are scarce, and land 
 is plentv- To disturb this natural order of 
 things (a practice injurious at all times) must 
 be particularly so where the predominant dis- 
 position of the colonist is an aversion to la- 
 bour, produced bj- a long course of dissolute 
 habits. In such cases the high prices of la- 
 bour, which the Governor was so desirous of 
 abating, bid fair not only to increase the agri- 
 cultural prosperity, but to efiect the moral re- 
 formation of the colony. We observe the same 
 unfortunate ignorance of the elementary prin- 
 ciples of commerce in the attempts of the Go- 
 vernor to reduce the prices of the European 
 commodities, by bulletins and authoritative 
 interference, as if there were any other mode 
 of lowering the price of an article (while the 
 demand continues the same) but by increasing 
 its quantity. The avaricious love of gain, 
 which is so feelingly deplored, appears to us 
 a principle which, in able hands, might be 
 guided to the most salutar}^ purposes. The 
 object is to encourage the love of labour, 
 which is best encouraged by the love of money. 
 We have very great doubts on the policy of 
 reserving the best timber on the estates as go- 
 vernment timber. Such a reservation would 
 probably operate as a check upon the clearing 
 of lands without attaining the object desired; 
 for the timber, instead of being immediately 
 cleared, would be slowly destroyed, by the neg- 
 lect or malice of the settlers whose lands it en- 
 cumbered. Timber is such a drug in new coun- 
 tries, that it is at any time to be purchased for 
 little more than the labour of cutting. To se- 
 cure a supply of it by vexatious and invidious 
 laws, is surel}' a work of supererogation and 
 danger. The greatest evil which the govern- 
 ment has yet to contend with is, the inordinate 
 use of spirituous liquors ; a passion which 
 puts the interests of agriculture at variance 
 with those of morals : for a dram-drinker will 
 consume as much corn, in the form of alcohol, 
 in one day, as would supply him with bread 
 for three ; and thus, by his vices, opens an ad- 
 mirable market to the industry of a new set- 
 tlement. The only mode, we believe, of en- 
 countering this evil, is by deriving froni it such 
 a revenue as w^ill not admit of smuggling. 
 Beyond this it is almost invincible by autho- 
 rity ; and is probably to be cured only by the 
 progressive refinement of manners. 
 
 To evince the increasing commerce of the 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 25 
 
 settlement, a list is subjoined of 140 ships, 
 which have arrived there since its first foun- 
 dation, forty only of which were from Eng- 
 land. The colony at I'Jorfolk Island is repre- 
 sented to be in a very deplorable situation, and 
 will most probably be abandoned for one about 
 to be formed on Van Diemen's Land,* though 
 the capital defect of the former settlement has 
 been partly obviated, by a discovery of the 
 harbour for small craft. 
 
 The most important and curious information 
 contained in this volume, is the discovery of 
 straits which separate Van Diemen's Land 
 (hitherto considered as its southern extremity) 
 from New Holland. For this discovery we are 
 indebted to Mr. Bass, a surgeon, after whom 
 the straits have been named, and who was led 
 to a suspicion of their existence by a prodi- 
 gious swell which he observed to set in from 
 the westward, at the mouth of the opening 
 which he had reached on a voyage of disco- 
 very, prosecuted in a common whale-boat. To 
 verify this suspicion, he proceeded afterwards 
 in a vessel of 25 tons, accompanied by Mr. 
 Flanders, a naval gentleman ; and, entering 
 the straits between the latitudes of 39° and 
 40° south, actually circumnavigated Van Die- 
 men's Land. Mr. Bass's ideas of the import- 
 ance of this discovery, we shall give from hi* 
 narrative, as reported by Mr. Collins. 
 
 "The most promment advantage which 
 seemed likely to accrue to the settlement 
 from this discovery was, the expediting of 
 the passage from the Cape of Good Hope to 
 Port Jackson : for, although a line drawn from 
 the Cape to 44° of south latitude, and to the 
 longitude of the South Cape of Van Diemen's 
 Land, would not sensibly differ from one 
 drawn to the latitude of 40° to the same longi- 
 tude ; yet it must be allowed, that a ship will 
 be four degrees nearer to Port Jackson in the 
 latter situation than it would be in the former. 
 But there is, perhaps, a greater advantage to 
 be gained by making a passage through the 
 strait, than the mere saving of four degrees of 
 latitude along the coast. The major part of 
 the ships that have arrived at Port Jackson 
 have met with N. E. winds, on opening the sea 
 round the South Cape and Cape Pillar; and 
 have been so much retarded by them, that a 
 fourteen days' passage to the port is reckoned 
 to be a fair one, although the difference of lati- 
 tude is but ten degrees, and the most prevail- 
 ing winds at the latter place are from S. E. to 
 S. in summer, and from W. S. W. to S. in 
 ,winter. If, by going through Bass Strait, these 
 N. E. winds can be avoided, which in many 
 cases would probably be the case, there is no 
 doubt but a week or more would be gained by 
 it ; and the expense, with the wear and tear of 
 a ship for one week, are objects to most owners, 
 more especially when freighted with convicts 
 by the run. 
 
 *It is sinffular that Governments are not more desir- 
 ous of pusliing their settlements rather to the north than 
 the south of Port Jackson. The soil and climate would 
 probably improve, in the latitude nearer the equator ; 
 and settlements in that position would be more contigu- 
 ous to our Indian colonies. 
 
 "This strait likewise presents another ad- 
 vantage. From the prevalence of the N. E. 
 and easterly winds of the South Cape, many 
 suppose that a passage may be made from 
 thence to the westward, either to the Cape of 
 Good Hope, or to India ; but the fear of the 
 great unknown bight between the South Cape 
 and the S. W. Cape of Lewen's Land, lying in 
 about 35° south and 113° east, has hitherto 
 prevented the trial being made. Now, the 
 strait removes a part of this danger, by pre- 
 senting a certain place of retreat, should a 
 gale oppose itself to the ship in the 5rst part 
 of the essay : and should the wind come at S, 
 W, she need not fear making a good stretch to 
 ihe W. N. W., which course, if made good, is 
 within a few degrees of going clear of all. 
 There is, besides. King George the Third's 
 Sound, discovered by Captain Vancouver, 
 situate in the latitude»of 35° 30' south, and 
 longitude 118° 12' east; and it is to be hoped, 
 that a few years will disclose many others 
 upon the coast, as well as the confirmation or 
 futility of the conjecture that a still larger than 
 Bass Strait dismembers New Holland." — (p. 
 192, 193.) 
 
 We learn from a note subjoined to this pas- 
 sage, that, in order to verify or refute this con- 
 jecture, of the existence of other important 
 inlets on the west coast of New Holland, Cap- 
 tain Flinders has sailed with two ships under 
 his command, and is said to be accompanied 
 by several professional men of considerable 
 ability. 
 
 Such are the most important contents of Mr. 
 CoUins's book, the style of which we very 
 much approve, because it appears to be writ- 
 ten by himself; and we must repeat again, 
 that nothing can be more injurious to the opi- 
 nion the public will form of the authenticity 
 of a book of this kind, than the suspicion that 
 it has been tricked out and embellished by 
 other hands. Such men, to be sure, have ex- 
 isted as Julius Csesar; but, in general, a cor- 
 rect and elegant style is hardly attainable by 
 those who have passed their lives in action : 
 and no one has such a pedantic love of good 
 writing, as to prefer mendacious finery to 
 rough and ungrammatical truth. The events 
 which Mr. Collins's book records, we have 
 read with great interest. There is a charm in 
 thus seeing villages, and churches, and farms, 
 rising from a wilderness, where civilized man 
 has never set his foot since the creation of the 
 world. The contrast between fertility and bar- 
 renness, population and solitude, activity and 
 indolence, fills the mind with the pleasing 
 images of happiness and increase. Man 
 seems to move in his proper sphere, while he 
 is thus dedicating the powers of his mind and 
 body to reap those rewards which the bounti- 
 ful Author of all things has assigned to his in- 
 dustry. Neither is it "any common enjoyment, 
 to turn for a while from the memory of those 
 distractions which have so recently agitated 
 the Old World, and to reflect that its very hor- 
 rors and crimes may have thus prepared a 
 long era of opulence and peace for a people 
 yet involved in the womb of time. 
 
86 
 
 WORKS OF THE KEV. SYDNEY SMrfH. 
 
 J. EIEVEE.* 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 1809.] 
 
 Of all the species of travels, that -«-hich has 
 moral observation for its object is the most 
 liable to error, and has the greatest difhculties 
 to overcome, before it can arrive at excellence. 
 Stones, and roots, and leaves, are subjects 
 which may exercise the understanding without 
 rousing the passions. A mineralogical travel- 
 ler will hardly fall fouler upon the granite and 
 the feldspar of other countries than his own; 
 a botanist will not conceal its non-descripts ; 
 and an agricultural tourist will faithfully detail 
 the average crop per acre ; but the traveller 
 who observes on the manners, habits, and 
 institutions of other countries, must have 
 emancipated his mind from tho extensive and 
 powerful dominion of association, must have 
 extinguished the agreeable ai d deceitful feel- 
 ings of national vanity, and cultivated that 
 patient humility which builds general infer- 
 ences only upon the repetition of individual 
 facts. Every thing he sees shocks some pas- 
 sion or flatters it ; and he is perpetually se- 
 duced to distort facts, so as to render them 
 agreeable to his system and his feelings ! 
 Hooks of travels are now published in such 
 vast abundance, that it may not be useless, 
 perhaps, to state a few of the reasons why 
 their value so commonly happens to be in the 
 inverse ratio of their number. 
 
 1st, Travels are bad, from a want of oppor- 
 tunity for observation in those who write them. 
 If the sides of a building are to be measured, 
 and the number of its windows to be counted, 
 a very short space of time may suffice for these 
 operations ; but to gain such a knowledge of 
 their prevalent opinions and propensities, as 
 will enable a stranger to comprehend (what is 
 commonly called) the genius of people, re- 
 quires a long residence among them, a fami- 
 liar acquaintance with their language, and an 
 easy circulation among their various societies. 
 The society into which a transient stranger 
 gains the most easy access in any country, is 
 not often that which ought to stamp the na- 
 tional character; and no criterion can be more 
 fallible, in a people so reserved and inaccessi- 
 ble as the British, who (even when they open 
 Iheir doors to letters of introduction) cannot 
 for years overcome the awkward timidity of 
 their nature. The same expressions are of so 
 different a value in diiferent countries, the 
 same actions proceed from such different 
 causes, and produce such different effects, 
 that a judgment of foreign nations, founded on 
 rapid observation, is almost certainly a mere 
 tissue of ludicrous and disgraceful mistakes ; 
 and yet a residence of a month or two seems 
 to entitle a traveller to present the world with 
 a picture of manners in London, Paris, or 
 Vienna, and even to dogmatize upon the poli- 
 
 ■■ Lettres sur VAngUterre. Par J. Fievee. 1802. 
 
 tical, religious, and legal institutions, as if it 
 were one and the same thing to speak of ah- 
 sirad effects of such institutions, and of their 
 effects combined with all the peculiar circum- 
 stances in which any nation may be placed. 
 
 2dly, An affectation of quickness in obser- 
 vation, an intuitive glance that requires only 
 a moment, and a part, to judge of a perpetuity, 
 and a whole. The late Mr. Petion, Avho was 
 sent over into this countiy to acquire a know- 
 ledge of our criminal law, is said to have de- 
 clared himself thoroughly informed upon the 
 subject after remaining precisely two and 
 thirty minutes in the Old Bailey. 
 
 3dly, The tendency to found observation on 
 a system, rather than a system upon observa- 
 tion. The fact is, there are very few original 
 eyes and ears. The great mass see and hear 
 as they are directed by others, and bring back 
 from a residence in foreign countries nothing 
 but the vague and customary notions concern- 
 ing it, which are carried and brought back for 
 half a century, without verification or change. 
 The most ordinary shape in which this ten- 
 dency to prejudge makes its appearance 
 among travellers, is by a disposition to exalt, 
 or, a still more absurd disposition to depre- 
 ciate their native country. They are incapable 
 of considering a foreign people but under one 
 single point of view — the relation in which 
 they stand to their own ; and the whole narra- 
 tive is frequently nothing more than a mere 
 triumph of national vanity, or the ostentation 
 of superiority to so common a failing. 
 
 But we are wasting our time in giving a 
 theory of the faults of travellers, when we 
 have such ample means of exemplifying them 
 all from the publication now before us, in 
 which Mr. Jacob Fievee, with the most sur- 
 prising talents for doing wrong, has contrived 
 to condense and agglomerate every species of 
 absurdity that has hitherto been made known, 
 and even to launch out occasionally into new 
 regions of nonsense, with a boldness which 
 well entitles him to the merit of originality in 
 folly, and discover}' in impertinence. We con- 
 sider Mr. Fievee's book as extremely valuable 
 in one point of view. It affords a sort of limit 
 or mind-mark, beyond which we conceive it 
 to be impossible in future that pertness and 
 petulance should pass. It is well to be ac- 
 quainted with the boundaries of our nature on 
 both sides ; and to Mr. Fievee we are indebted 
 for this valuable approach to pessimism. The 
 height of knowledge no man has yet scanned ; 
 but we have now pretty well fathomed the gulf 
 of ignorance. 
 
 We must, however, do justice to Mr. Fievee 
 when he deserves it. He evinces, in his pre- 
 face, a lurking uneasiness at the apprehen- 
 sion of exciting war between the two coun 
 tries, from the anger to which his letters will 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 2V 
 
 give birth in England. He pretends to deny 
 that they will occasion a war ; but it is very 
 easy to see he is not convinced by his own 
 arguments; and we confess ourselves ex- 
 tremely pleased by this amiable solicitude at 
 the probable effusion of human blood. We 
 hope Mr. Fievee is deceived by his philan- 
 thropy, and that no such unhappy conse- 
 quences will ensue, as he really believes, 
 though he affects to deny them. We dare to 
 pav the dignity of this country will be satis- 
 fied if the publication in question is disowned 
 b\' the French government, or, at most, if the 
 author is given up. At all events, we have no 
 scruple to say, that to sacrifice 20,000 lives, 
 and a hundred millions of money to resent 
 Mr. Fievee's book, would be an unjustifiable 
 waste of blood and treasure ; and that to take 
 him off privately by assassination would be 
 an undertaking hardly compatible with the 
 dignity of a great empire. 
 
 To show, however, the magnitude of the 
 pi-ovocation, we shall specify a few of the 
 charges Avhich he makes against the English. 
 That they do not understand fireworks as well 
 as the French -, that they charge a shilling for 
 admission to the exhibition ; that they have 
 the misfortune of being incommoded by a cer- 
 tain disgraceful privilege, called the liberty 
 of the press ; that the opera band plays out of 
 tune ; that the English are so fond of drinking 
 that they get drunk with a certain air called 
 the gas of Paradise ; that the privilege of elect- 
 ing members of Parliament is so burthensome 
 that cities sometimes petition to be exempted 
 from it; that the great obstacle to a Parlia- 
 mentary reform is the mob ; that women some- 
 times have titles distinct from those of their 
 husbands, although, in England, any body can 
 sell his wife at market, with a rope about her 
 neck. To these complaints he adds — that the 
 English are so far from enjoying that equality 
 of which their partisans boast, that none but 
 the servants of the higher nobility can carry 
 canes behind a carriage ; that the power which 
 the French kings had of pardoning before trial 
 is much the same thing as the English mode 
 of pardoning after trial; that he should con- 
 ceive it to be a good reason for rejecting any 
 measure in France that it was imitated from 
 the English, who have no family affections, 
 and who love money so much that their first 
 queftion, in an inquiry concerning the cha- 
 racter of any man, is, as to his degree of for- 
 tune. Lastly, Mr. Fievee alleges against the 
 English, that they have great pleasure in con- 
 templating the spectacle of men deprived of 
 their reason. And, indeed, we must have the 
 candour to allow that the hospitality which 
 Mr. Fievee experienced seems to afford some 
 pretext for this assertion. 
 
 One of the principal objects of Mr. Fievee's 
 book is to combat the Anglomania which has 
 raged so long among his countrjnnen, at>4 
 which.prevailed at Paris to such an excess 
 that even M. Neckar, a foreigner (incredible 
 as it may seem), after having been twice minis- 
 . ter of France, retained a considerable share of 
 admiration for the English government. This 
 
 is quite inexplicable. But this is nothing to 
 the treason of the Encyclopedists, who, instead 
 of attributing the merit of the experimental 
 philosophy and the reasoning by induction to 
 a Frenchman, have shown themselves so lost 
 to all sense of duty which they owed their 
 country, that they have attributed it to an 
 Englishman* of the name of Bacon, and this 
 for no better reason than that he really was 
 the author of it. The whole of this passage 
 is written so entirely in the genius of Mr. 
 Fievee, and so completely exemplifies that 
 very caricature species of Frenchmen from 
 which our gross and popular notions of the 
 whole people are taken, that we shall give the 
 whole passage at full length, cautiously ab- 
 staining from the sin of translating it. 
 
 "Quand je reproche aux philosophes d' avoir 
 vante I'Angleterre, par haine pour les institu- 
 tions qui soutenoient la France, je ne hasarde 
 rien, et je fournirai une nouvelle preuve de 
 cette assertion, en citant les encyclopedistes, 
 chefs avoues de la philosophic moderne. 
 
 " Comment nous ont-ils presents I'Ency- 
 clopedie ■? Comme un monument immortel, 
 comme le depot precieux de toutes les con- 
 noissances humaines. Sous quel patronage 
 I'ont-ils eleve ce monument immortel 1 Est 
 ce sous I'egide des ecrivains dont la France 
 s'honoroitl Non, ils ont choisi pour maitre 
 et pour idole un Anglais, Bacon; ils lui on 
 fait dire tout ce qu'ils ont voulu, parce que cet 
 auteur, extraordinairement volumineux, n'etoit 
 pas connu en France, et ne Test guere en 
 Angleterre que de quelques hommes studieux; 
 mais les philosophes sentoient que leur suc- 
 ces, pour introduire des nouveautes, tenoit a 
 faire croire qu'elles n'etoient pas neuves pour 
 les grands esprits ; et comme les grands es- 
 prits Franpais, trop connus, ne ce pretoient 
 pas a un pareil dessein, les philosophes ont 
 eu recours a I'Angleterre. Ainsi, un ouvrage 
 fait en France, et offert A I'admiration de I'Eu- 
 rope comme I'ouvrage par excellence, fut mis 
 par des Frangais sous la protection du genie 
 Anglais. honte! Et les philosophes se sont 
 dit patriotes, et la France, pour prix de sa de- 
 gradation, leur a eleve des statues ! La siecle 
 qui commence, plus juite, parce qu'il a le sen- 
 timent de la veritable grandeur, laissera ces 
 statues et I'Encyclopedie s'ensevelir sous la 
 meme poussiere." 
 
 When to this are added the commendations that 
 have been bestowed on Newton, the magnitude 
 and the originality of the discoveries which have 
 been attributed to him, the admiration which 
 the words of Locke have excited, and the ho 
 mage that has been paid to Milton and Shak 
 speare, the treason which lurks at the bottom 
 of it 'all will not escape the penetrating glance 
 of Mr. Fievee ; and he will discern that same 
 cause from which every good Frenchman 
 knows the defeat of Aboukir and of the first 
 of June to have proceeded — the monster Pitt, 
 and his English guineas. 
 
 * "Gaul was conquered by a person of the name of 
 Julius Cssar," is the first phrase in one of Mr. New ^ 
 berry's little books. 
 
^ 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 EDGEWORTH ON BULLS.* 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 1603.] 
 
 We hardly know what to say about this | the matter. Though the question is not a very 
 rambling, scrambling book; but that we are | easy one, we shall venture to say, that a bull 
 quite sure the author, when he began any sen- 
 tence in it, had not the smallest suspicion of 
 what it was about to contain. We say the 
 author; because, in spite of the mixture of 
 sexes in the title-page, we are strongly in- 
 clined to suspect that the male contributions 
 exceed the female in a very great degree. The 
 Essay on Bulls is wiitten much with the same 
 mind, and in the same manner, as a schoolboy 
 takes a walk: he moves on for ten yards on 
 the straight road, with surprising persever- 
 ance; then sets out after a butterfly, looks for 
 a bird's nest, or jumps backwards and forwards 
 over a ditch. In the same manner, this nim- 
 ble and digressive gentleman is away after 
 every object which crosses his mind. If you 
 leave him at the end of a comma, in a steady 
 pursuit of his subject, you are sure to find him, 
 before the next full stop, a hundred yards to 
 the right or left, frisking, capering, and grin- 
 ning in a high paroxysm of merriment and 
 agility. Mr. Edgeworth seems to possess the 
 sentiments of an accomplished gentleman, the 
 information of a scholar, and the vivacity of a 
 first-rate harlequin. He i,' fuddled with ani- 
 mal spirits, giddy with con.-dtutional joy; in 
 such a state he must have written on, or burst. 
 A discharge of ink was an evacuation abso- 
 lutely necessary, to avoid fatal and plethoric 
 congestion. 
 
 The object of the book is to prove, that the 
 practice of making bulls is not more imputa- 
 ble to the Irish than to any other people; and 
 the manner ir svhich he sets about it, is to 
 quote examples of bulls produced in other 
 countries. But this is surely a singular way 
 of reasoning the question: for there are goitres 
 out of Valais, extortioners who do not wor- 
 ship Moses, oat cakes out of the Tweed, and 
 balm beyond the precincts ofGilead. If nothing 
 can be said to exist pre-eminently and em- 
 phatically in one country, which exists at all 
 in another, then Frenchmen are not gay, nor 
 Spaniards grave, nor are gentlemen of the 
 Milesian race remarkable for their disinte- 
 rested contempt of wealth in their connubial 
 relations. It is probable there is some founda- 
 tion for a character so generally diflused; 
 though it is also probable that such founda- 
 tion is extremely enlarged by fame. If there 
 Avere no foundation for the common opinion, 
 we must suppose national characters formed 
 by chance ; and that the Irish might, by acci- 
 dent, have been laughed at as bashful and 
 sheepish; which is impossible. The author 
 puzzles himself a good deal about the nature 
 of bulls, without coming to any decision about 
 
 * Essay on Irish Bulls. By RiCHAnn Lovell Edge 
 WORTH, and Maria Edgeworth. London, 1802. 
 
 is an apparent congruity, and real incongruuy, 
 of ideas, suddenly discovered. And if this 
 account of bulls be just, they are (as might 
 have been supposed) the very reverse of wit; 
 for as wit discovers real relations, that are not 
 apparent, bulls admit apparent relations that 
 are not real. The pleasure arising from wit 
 proceeds from our surprise at suddenly disco- 
 vering two things to be similar, in vv'hich we 
 suspected no similarity. The pleasure aris- 
 ing from bulls proceeds from our discovering 
 two things to be dissimilar, in which a re- 
 semblance might have been suspected. The 
 same doctrine Avill apply to wit, and to bulls 
 in action. Practical wit discovers connection 
 or relation between actions, in which duller 
 understandings discover none ; and practical 
 bulls originate from an apparent relation be- 
 tween two actions, which more correct under- 
 standings immediately perceive to have no 
 relation at all. 
 
 Louis XIV. being extremely harassed by the 
 repeated solicitations of a veteran officer for 
 promotion, said one day, loud enough to be 
 heard, " That gentleman is the most trouble- 
 some ofiicer I have in my service." " That is 
 precisely the charge (said the old man) which 
 your majesty's enemies bring against me." 
 
 "An English gentleman," (says Mr. Edge- 
 worth, in a story cited from Joe Millar,) "was 
 writing a letter in a coffee-house; and per- 
 ceiving that an Irishman stationed behind him 
 was taking that liberty which Parmenio used 
 with his friend Alexander, instead of putting 
 his seal upon the lips of the curious impertinent, 
 the English gentleman thought proper to re- 
 prove the Hibernian, if not with delicacy, at 
 least with poetical justice. He concluded writ- 
 ing his letter in these words: 'I would say 
 more, but a damned tall Irishman is reading 
 over my shoulder every word I write.' 
 
 "'You lie, you scoundrel,' said the self- 
 convicted Hibernian.'" — (p. 29.) 
 
 The pleasure derived from the first of these 
 stories, proceeds from the discovery of the 
 relation that subsists between the object he 
 had in view, and the assent of the officer to 
 an observation so unfriendly to that end. In 
 the first rapid glance Avhich the mind throws 
 upon his words, he appears, by his acquies- 
 cence, to be pleading against himself. There 
 seems to be no relation between what he says 
 and what he wishes to effect by speaking. 
 
 In the second story, the pleasure is directly 
 the reverse. The lie given was apparently the 
 readiest means of proving his innocence, and 
 really the most effectual way of establishing 
 his guilt. There seems for a moment to be a 
 strong relation between the means and the ob- 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 29 
 
 ject; Avhile, in fact, no irrelation can be so 
 complete. 
 
 What connection is there between pelting 
 stones at monkeys, and gathering cocoa-nuts 
 from lofty trees'? Apparently none. But 
 monkeys "sit upon cocoa-nut trees; monkeys 
 are imitative animals; and if you pelt a 
 monkey with a stone, he pelts you with a 
 cocoa-nut in return. This scheme of gather- 
 ing cocoa-nuts is very witty, and would be 
 more so, if it did not appear viseful: for the 
 idea of utility is always inimical to the idea 
 of M'it.* There appears, on the contrary, to 
 be some relation between the revenge of the 
 Irish rebels against a banker, and the means 
 which they took to gratify it, by burning all 
 bis notes wherever they found them ; whereas 
 they could not have rendered him a more 
 essential service. In both these cases of bulls, 
 the one verbal, the other practical, there is an 
 apparent congruity, and real incongruity of 
 ideas. In both the cases of wit, there is an 
 apparent incongruity and a real relation. 
 
 It is clear that a bull cannot depend upon 
 mere incongruity alone; for if a man were to 
 say that he would ride to London upon a cocked 
 hat, or that he would cut his throat with a 
 pound of pickled salmon, this, though com- 
 pletely incongruous, would not be to make 
 bulls, but to talk nonsense. The stronger the 
 apparent connection, and the more complete 
 the real disconnection of the ideas, the greater 
 the surprise, and the better the bull. The less 
 apparent, and the more com.plete the relations 
 established by wit, the higher gratification 
 does it afford. A great deal of the pleasure 
 experienced from bulls, proceeds from the 
 sense of superiority in ourselves. Bulls which 
 we invented, or knev/ to be invented, might 
 please, but in a less degree, for want of this 
 additional zest. 
 
 As there must be apparent connection, and 
 leal incongruity, it is seldom that a man of 
 sense and education finds any form of words 
 by which he is conscious that he might have 
 been deceived into a bull. To conceive how 
 the person has been deceived, he must sup- 
 pose a degree of information very different 
 from, and a species of character very hete- 
 
 * It must he nl)served, that all the ereat passions, and 
 many other feelings, extinffuish the relish for wit. Thus 
 lympha pudica Deum vidit et erebuit, would be witty, were 
 it not borderin? on the sublime. The resemblance be- 
 tween the sandal tree imparting (while it falls) its aro- 
 matic flavonr to the edge of the axe, and the benevolent 
 man rewarding evil with good, would be witty, did it 
 not excite virtuous emotions. There are many mechan- 
 ical contrivances which excite sensations very similar 
 to wit; but the attention is absorbed by their utility. 
 Some of Merlin's machines, which have no utility at all, 
 are quite similar to wit. A small model of a steam- 
 engine, or mere squirt, is wit to a child. A man specu- 
 lates on the causes of the first, or in its consequences, 
 and so loses the feelings of wit ; with the latter, he is too 
 familiar to be surprised. In short, the essence of every 
 species of wit is surprise ; which vi termini, must be 
 sudden ; and the sensations which wit has a tendency to 
 excite, are impaired or destroyed as often as they are 
 mingled with much thought or passion. 
 
 rogeneous to, his own ; a process which di- 
 minishes surprise, and consequently pleasure. 
 In the above-mentioned story of the Irishman 
 overlooking the man writing, no person of 
 ordinary sagacity can suppose himself be- 
 trayed into such a mistake; but he can easily 
 represent to himself a kind of character tha\ 
 might have been so betrayed. There ar<^ 
 some bulls so extremely fallacious, that any 
 man may imagine himself to have been be 
 trayed into them; but these are rare: and, ip 
 general, it is a poor, contemptible species ol 
 amusement; a delight in which evinces a very 
 bad taste in wit. 
 
 Whether the Irish make more bulls thar. 
 their neighbours, is, as we have before re 
 marked, not a point of much importance; bus 
 it is of considerable importance, that the cha 
 racter of a nation should not be degraded; and 
 Mr. Edgeworth has great merit in his verj' 
 benevolent intention of doing justice to the 
 excellent qualities of the Irish. It is not pos 
 sible to read his book, without feeling a strong 
 and a r^w disposition in their favour. Whe 
 ther the imitation of the Irish manner be accu 
 rate in his little stories we cannot determine ; 
 but we feel the same confidence in the accu- 
 racy of the imitation, that is often felt in the 
 resemblance of a portrait, of which we have 
 never seen the original. It is no very high 
 compliment to Mr. Edgeworth's creative pow- 
 ers, to say, he could not have formed anything, 
 which was not real, so like reality; but such a 
 remark only robs Peter to pay Paul; and gives 
 every thing to his powers of observation, 
 which it takes from those of his imagination. 
 In truth, nothing can be better than his imita- 
 tion of the Irish manner: It is first-rate painting. 
 
 Edgeworth and Co. have another faculty in 
 great perfection. They are eminently masters 
 of the pathos. The Firm drew tears from us 
 in the stories of little Dominick, and of the 
 Irish beggar, who killed his sweetheart : Never 
 was any grief more natural or simple. . The 
 first, however, ends in a very foolish way; 
 
 formosa superne 
 
 Desinit in piscevi. 
 
 We are extremely glad thai our avocations 
 did not call us from Bath to London on the day 
 that the Bath coach conversation took place. 
 W^e except from this wish the stt ry with which 
 the conversation terminates ; for as soon as 
 Mr. Edgeworth enters upon a story he excels. 
 
 We must confess we have been much more 
 pleased with Mr. Edgeworth in hi.? laughing 
 and in his pathetic, than in his grave and rea- 
 soning moods. He meant, perhaps, that ws 
 should ; and it certainly is not very necessary 
 that a writer should be profound on the sub- 
 ject of bulls. Whatever be the deficiencies 
 of the book, they are, in our estimation, amply 
 atoned for by its merits ; by none more than 
 that lively feeling of compassion which per- 
 vades it for the distresses of the wild, kind 
 hearted, blundering poor of Ireland. 
 
 c3 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 TEIMMER AND LANCASTER. 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 1806.] 
 
 This is a book written by a lady who has 
 gained considerable reputation at the corner 
 of St. Paul's churchyard ; who flames in the 
 van of Mr. Newberry's shop ; and is, upon the 
 whole, dearer to naothers and aunts than any 
 other author who pours the milk of science 
 into the mouths of babes and sucklings. Tired 
 at last of scribbling for children, and getting 
 ripe in ambition, she has now written a book 
 for grown-up people, and selected for her an- 
 tagonist as stiff a controversialist as the whole 
 field of dispute could well have supplied. Her 
 opponent is Mr. Lancaster,! a Quaker, who has 
 lately given to the world new and striking 
 lights upon the subject of Education, and come 
 forward to the notice of his country by spread- 
 ing order, knowledge, and innocence among 
 the lowest of mankind. 
 
 Mr. Lancaster, she says, wants method in 
 his book ; and therefore her answer to him is 
 without any arrangement. The same excuse 
 must suffice for the desultory observations we 
 shall make upon this lady's publication. 
 
 The first sensation of disgust we experienced 
 at Mrs. Trimmer's book, was from the patron- 
 izing and protecting air with which she speaks 
 of some small part of Mr. Lancaster's plan. 
 She seems to suppose, because she has dedi- 
 cated her mind to the subject, that her opinion 
 must necessarily be valuable upon it ; forget- 
 ting it to be barely possible, that her applica- 
 tion may have made her more wrong, instead 
 of more right If she can make out her case, 
 that Mr. Lancaster is doing mischief in so im- 
 portant a point as that of national education, 
 she has a right, in common with every one 
 else, to lay her complaint before the public; 
 but a right to publish praises must be earned 
 by something more ditficult than the writing 
 sixpenny books for children. This may be 
 very good; though we never remember to have 
 seen any one of them; but if they be no more 
 remarkable for judgment and discretion than 
 parts of the work before us, there are many 
 thriving children quite capable of repaying 
 the obligations they owe to their amiable in- 
 structress, and of teaching, with grateful reta- 
 liation, "the old idea how to shoot." 
 
 In remarking upon the work before us, we 
 shall exactly follow the plan of the authoress, 
 
 * A Comparative View of the JVew Plan of Education 
 promulgated by Mr. Joseph Lancaster, in his Tracts con- 
 cerning the Instruction of the Children of the Labouring 
 Part of the Community; and of the System of Christian 
 Education founded by our pious Forefathers for the Initia- 
 tion of the Young Members of the Established Church in 
 the Principles of the Reformed Religion. By Mrs. Trim- 
 mer. 1805. 
 
 t Lancaster Invented the new method of education. 
 The Church was sorely vexed at his success, endeavour- 
 
 ed to set up Dr. Bell as the discoverer, and to run down I 
 poor Lancaster. George the Third was irritated by this 
 ehabby conduct, and always protected Lancaster. He 
 was delighted with this Review, and made Sir Herbert 
 T.aylor read it a second time to him. I 
 
 and prefix, as she does, the titles of those 
 subjects on which her observations are made ; 
 doing her the justice to presume, that her quo- 
 tations are fairly taken from Mr. Lancaster's 
 book. 
 
 1. Mr. Lancaster's Preface. — Mrs. Trimmer 
 here contends, in opposition to Mr. Lancaster, 
 that ever since the establishment of the Pro- 
 testant Church, the education of the poor has 
 been a national concern in this country; and 
 the only argument she produces in support of 
 this extravagant assertion, is an appeal to the 
 act of uniformity. If there are millions of 
 Englishmen who cannot spell their own 
 names, or read a sign-po.st which bids them 
 turn to the right or left, is it any answer to 
 this deplorable ignorance to say, there is an 
 act of Parliament for public instruction? — to 
 show the very line and chapter where the 
 King, Lords, and Commons, in Parliament as- 
 sembled, ordained the universality of reading 
 and Avriting, when, centuries afterwards, the 
 ploughman is no more capable of the one or 
 the other than the beast which he drives ] In 
 point of fact, there is no Protestant countr}' in 
 the world where the education of the poor has 
 been so grossly and infamously neglected as 
 in England. Mr. Lancaster has the veiy high 
 merit of calling the public attention to this 
 evil, and of calling it in the best waj^ by new 
 and active remedies; and this uncandid and 
 feeble lady, instead of using the influence she 
 has obtained over the anility of these realms, 
 to join that useful remonstrance which Mr. 
 Lancaster has begun, pretends to deny that the 
 evil exists; and when you ask where are the 
 schools, rods, pedagogues, primers, histories 
 of Jack the Giant-killer, and all the usual ap- 
 paratus for education, the only thing she can 
 produce is the act of uniformity and common 
 prayer. 
 
 2. The Principles on which Mr. Lancaster's 
 Listitution is conducted. — " Happily for man- 
 kind," says Mr. Lancaster, " it is possible to 
 combine precept and practice together in the 
 education of youth: that public spirit, or gene- 
 ral opinion, which gives such strength to vice, 
 may be rendered serviceable to the cause of 
 virtue ; and in thus directing it, the whole se- 
 cret, the beauty, and simplicity of national edu- 
 cation consists. Suppose, for instance, it be 
 required to train a youth to strict veracity. 
 He has learnt to read at school : he there reads 
 the declaration of the Divine will respecting 
 liars: he is there informed of the pernicious 
 effects that practice produces on society at 
 large ; and he is enjoined, for the fear of God, 
 for the approbation of his friends, and for the 
 good of his school-fellows, never to tell an un- 
 truth. This is a most excellent precept ; but 
 let it be taught, and yet, if the contrary prac- 
 tice be treated with indifference by parents. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 31 
 
 teachers, or associates, ft will either weaken 
 or destroy all the good that can be derived 
 from it : But if the parents or teachers tender- 
 ly nip the rising shoots of vice ; if the asso- 
 ciates of youth pour contempt on the liar ; he 
 •will soon hide his head with shame, and most 
 likely leave off the practice." — (p. 24, 25.) 
 
 The objection which Mrs. Trimmer makes 
 to this passage, is, that it is exalting the fear 
 of man above the fear of God. This observation 
 is as mischievous as it is imfounded. Un- 
 doubtedly the fear of God ought to be the para- 
 mount principle from the very beginning of 
 life, if it were possible to make it so; but it is 
 a feeling which can only be built up by de- 
 grees. The awe and respect which a child 
 entertains for its parent and instructor, is the 
 first scaffolding upon which the sacred edifice of 
 religion is reared. A child begins to pray, to act, 
 and to abstain, not to please God, but to please 
 the parent, who tells him that such is the will of 
 God. The religious principle gains ground 
 from the power of association and the im- 
 provement of reason ; but without the fear of 
 man, — the desire of pleasing, and the dread of 
 offending those with v/hom he lives, — it would 
 be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to 
 cherish it at all in the minds of the children. 
 If you tell (says Mr. Lancaster) a child not to 
 swear, because it is forbidden by God, and he 
 finds everybody whom he lives with addicted 
 to that vice, the mere precept will soon be 
 obliterated ; which would acquire its just in- 
 fluence if aided by the effect of example. Mr. 
 Lancaster does not say that the fear of man 
 ever ought to be a stronger motive than the 
 fear of God, or that, in a thoroughly formed 
 character, it ever is.- he merely says, that the 
 fear of ma,n may be made the most powerful 
 mean to raise up the fear of God; and nothing, 
 in our opinion, can be more plain, more sen- 
 sible, or better expressed, than his opinions 
 upon these subjects. In corroboration of this 
 sentiment, Mr. Lancaster tells the following 
 story : — 
 
 " A benevolent friend of mine," sa)'S he, 
 "who resides at a village near London, where 
 he has a school of the class called Sunday 
 Schools, recommended several lads to me for 
 education. He is a pious man, and these 
 children had the advantage of good precepts 
 under his instruction in an eminent degree, but 
 had reduced them to very little practice. As 
 they came to my school from some distance, 
 they were permitted to bring their dinners; 
 and, in the interval between morning and after- 
 noon school hours, spent their time with a 
 numberof lads under similar circumstances in 
 a play-ground adjoining the school-room. In 
 this play-ground the boys usually enjoy an 
 hour's recreation ; tops, balls, races, or what 
 best suits their inclination or the season of the 
 year; but with this charge, 'Let all be kept in 
 innocence.' These lads thought themselves 
 very happy at play with their new associates ; 
 but on a sudden they were seized and over- 
 come by numbers, were brought into school 
 just as people in the street would seize a pick- 
 pocket, and bring him to the police office. 
 Happening at that time to be within, I inquired, 
 'Well, boys, what is all this bustle about?' — 
 
 'Why, sir,' was the general reply, 'these lads 
 have been swearing." This was announced 
 with as much emphasis and solemnity as a 
 judge would use in passing sentence upon a 
 criminal. The culprits were, as may be sup- 
 posed, in much terror. After the examinatioa 
 of witnesses and proof of the facts, they re- 
 ceived admonition as to the offence ; and, on 
 promise of better behaviour, were dismissed. 
 No more was ever heard of their swearing; 
 yet it was observable, that they were better 
 acquainted with the theory of Cliristianity, and 
 could give a more rational answer to questions 
 from the scripture, than several of the boys who 
 had thus treated them, on comparison as con- 
 stables ivould do a thief. I call this," adds Mr. 
 Lancaster, "practical religious instruction, and 
 could, if needful, give many such anecdotes." 
 —(p. 26, 27.) 
 
 All that Mrs. Trimmer has to observe against 
 this very striking illustration of Mr. Lancas- 
 ter's doctrine, is, that the monitors behaved to 
 the swearers in a very rude and unchristian- 
 like manner. She begins with being cruel, 
 and ends with being silly. Her first observa- 
 tion is calculated to raise the posse comiiatus 
 against Mr. Lancaster, to get him stoned for 
 impiety ; and then, when he produces the most 
 forcible example of the effect of opinion to 
 encourage religious precept, she says such a 
 method of preventing swearing is too rude for 
 the gospel. True, modest, unobtrusive reli- 
 gion — charitable, forgiving, indulgent Chris- 
 tianity, is the greatest ornament and the 
 greatest blessing that can dwell in the mind 
 of man. But if there is one character more 
 base, more infamous, and more shocking than 
 another, it is him who, for the sake of some 
 paltry distinction in the world, is ever ready 
 to accuse conspicuous persons of irreligion — 
 to turn common informer for the church — and 
 to convert the most beautiful feelings of the 
 human heart to the destruction of the good and 
 great, by fixing upon talents the indelible 
 stigma of irreligion. It matters not how trifling 
 and how insignificant the accuser; cry out 
 that the church is in danger, and your object is 
 accomplished ; lurk in the walk of hypocrisy, 
 to accuse your enem}' of the crime of Atheism, 
 and his ruin is quite certain ; acquitted or 
 condemned, is the same thing; it is only suffi- 
 cient that he be accused, in order that his 
 destruction be accomplished. If we could 
 satisfy ourselves that such were the real views 
 of Mrs. Trimmer, and that she were capable 
 of such baseness, we would have drawn blood 
 from her at every line, and left her in a state 
 of martyrdom more piteous than that of St. 
 Uba. Let her attribute the milk and mildness 
 she meets with in this review of her book, to 
 the conviction we entertain, that she knew no 
 better — that she really did understand Mr. Lan- 
 caster as she pretends to understand him — and 
 that if she had been aware of the extent of the 
 mischief she was doing, she would have tossed 
 the manuscript spelling-book in which she 
 was engaged into the fire, rather than have 
 done it. As a proof that we are in earnest in 
 speaking of Mrs. Trimmer's simplicity, we 
 must state the objection she makes to one of 
 Mr. Lancaster's punishmer .s. " When I meet/ 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 says Mr. Lancaster, " with a slovenly boy, I 
 put a label upon his breast, I walk him round 
 the school with a tin or a paper crown upon 
 his head." " Surely," says Mrs. Trimmer (in 
 reply to this), " surely it should be remember- 
 ed, that the Saviour of the world was crowned 
 toith thorns, in derision, and that this is the rea- 
 son why croioning is mi improper punishment 
 for a slovenly boy".'!.' 
 
 Rewards and Pu7iishments. — Mrs. Trimmer 
 objects to the fear of ridicule being made an 
 instrument of education, because it may be 
 hereafter employed to shame a boy out of his 
 religion. She might, for the same reason, 
 object to the cultivation of the reasoning 
 faculty, because a boy may hereafter be rea- 
 soned out of his religion : she surely does not 
 mean to say that she would make boys insen- 
 sible to ridicule, the fear of which is one curb 
 upon the follies and eccentricities of human 
 nature. Such an object it would be impossible 
 to effect, even if it were useful : Put a hundred 
 boys together, and the fear of being laughed 
 at will always be a strong influencing motive 
 with every individual among thera. If a mas- 
 ter can turn this principle to his own use, and 
 get boys to laugh at vice, instead of the old 
 plan of laughing at virtue, is he not doing a 
 very new, a very difficult, and a very laudable 
 thing 1 
 
 When Mr. Lancaster finds a little boy with 
 a very dirty face, he sends for a little girl, and 
 makes her wash off" the dirt before the whole 
 school: and she is directed to accompany her 
 ablutions with a gentle box of the ear. To us, 
 this punishment appears well adapted to the 
 off"ence; and in this, and in most other in- 
 stances of Mr. Lancaster's interference in 
 scholastic discipline, we are struck with his 
 good sense, and delighted that arrangements 
 apparently so trivial, really so important, 
 .■should have fallen under the attention of so 
 ingenious and so original a man. Mrs. Trim- 
 mer objects to this practice, that it destroys 
 female modesty, and inculcates, in that sex, a 
 habit of giving boxes on the ear. 
 
 "When a boy gets into a singing tone in 
 reading," says Mr. Lancaster, "the best mode 
 
 of cure that I have hitherto found effectual is 
 by the force of ridicule. — Decorate the offender 
 with matches, ballads, (dying speeches if 
 needful;) and in this garb send him round the 
 school, with some boys before him cr3'ing 
 matches, &c., exactly imitating the dismal 
 tones with which such things are hawked 
 about London streets, as will readily recur to 
 the reader's memory. I believe many boys 
 behave rudely to Jews more on account of the 
 manner in which they cr>' ' old clothes,' than 
 because they are Jews. I have always found 
 excellent effects from treating boys, who sing 
 or tone in their reading, in the manner de- 
 scribed. It is sure to turn the laugh of the 
 whole school upon the delinquent ; it provokes 
 risibility, in spite of every endeavour to check 
 it, in all but the offender. I have seldom known 
 a boy thus punished once, for whom it was 
 needful a second time. It is also very seldom 
 that a boy deserves both a log and a shackle 
 at the same time. Most boys are wise enough, 
 when under one punishment, not to transgress 
 
 immediately, lest it should be doubled." — (p. 
 47, 48.) 
 
 This punishment is objected to on the part 
 of Mrs. Trimmer, because it inculcates a dis- 
 like to Jews, and an indifference about dying 
 speeches! Toys, she says, given as rewards, 
 are worldly things ; children are to be taught 
 that there are eternal rewards in store for 
 them. It is very dangerous to give prints as 
 rewards, because prints may hereafter be the 
 vehicle of indecent ideas. It is, above all 
 things, perilous to create an order of merit in 
 the borough school, because it gives the boys 
 an idea of the origin of nobility, " especially in 
 times (we use Mrs. Trimmer's own words) 
 which furnish iiistances of the extinction of a 
 race of ancient iiohility, in a neighbouring na- 
 tion, and the elevation of some of the lowest peo- 
 ple to the highest stations. Boys accustomed to 
 consider themselves the nobles of the school, may, 
 in their future lives, form a conceit of their own 
 merits (imless they have very sound principles), 
 aspire to be nobles of the land, and to take place 
 of the hereditary nobility." 
 
 We think these extracts will sufhciently 
 satisfy every reader of common sense, of the 
 merits of this publication. For our part, when 
 we saw these ragged and interesting little 
 nobles, shining in their tin stars, we only 
 thought it probable that the spirit of emulation 
 would make them better ushers, tradesmen, 
 and mechanics. We did, in truth, imagine we 
 had observed, in some of their faces, a bold 
 project for procuring better breeches for keep- 
 ing out the blast of heaven, which howled 
 through those garments in every direction, and 
 of aspiring hereafter to greater strength of 
 seam, and more perfect continuity of cloth. 
 But for the safety of the titled orders we had 
 no fear; nor did we once dream that the black 
 rod which whipt these dirty little dukes, would 
 one day be borne before them as the emblem 
 of legislative dignity, and the sign of noble 
 blood. 
 
 Order. — The order of Mr. Lancaster has dis- 
 played in the school is quite astonishing. 
 Every boy seems to be the cog of a wheel — 
 the whole school a perfect machine. This is 
 
 far from being a burden or constraint to 
 the boys, that Mr^ Lancaster has made it quite 
 pleasant and interesting to them, by giving to 
 it the air of military arrangement ; not fore- 
 seeing, as Mrs. Trimmer foresees, that, in 
 times of public dangers, this plan furnishes 
 the disaffected with the immediate means of 
 raising an army ; for what have they to do but 
 to send for all the children educated by Mr. 
 Lancaster, from the different corners of the 
 kingdom into which they are dispersed, — to 
 beg it as a particular favour of them to fall 
 into the same order as they adopted in the 
 spelling class twenty-five years ago ; and the 
 rest is all matter of course — 
 
 Jamque faces, et Saxa volaiit. 
 
 The main object, however, for which this 
 book is written, is to prove that the church es- 
 tablishment is in danger, from the increase of 
 Mr. Lancaster's institutions. Mr. Lancaster 
 is, as we have before observed, a Quaker. As 
 a Quaker, he says, I cannot teach your creeds ; 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 33 
 
 but I pledge mvself not to teach my own. I 
 pledge myself (and if I deceive you, desert me, 
 and give me up) to confine myself to those 
 points of Chi'istianity in which all Christians 
 agree. To which Mrs. Trimmer replies, that, 
 in the first place, he cannot do this ; and, in 
 the next place, if he did do it, it would not be 
 enough. But why, we would ask, cannot Mr. 
 Lancaster effect his first object ? The prac- 
 tical and the feeling parts of religion are much 
 more likely to attract the attention and provoke 
 the questions of children than its speculative 
 doctrines. A child is not very likely to put 
 any questions at all to a catechising master, 
 and still less likely to lead him into subtle and 
 profound disquisition. It appears to us not 
 only practicable, but very easy, to confine the 
 religious instruction of the poor, in the first 
 years of life, to those general feelings and 
 principles which are suitable to the estab- 
 lished church, and to every sect; afterwards, 
 the discriminating tenets of each subdivision 
 of Christians may be fixed upon this general 
 basis. To say this is not enough, that a child 
 should be made an Antisocinian, or an Antipe- 
 lagian, in his tenderest years, may be very 
 just ; but what prevents you from making him 
 so ? Mr. Lancaster, purposely and intention- 
 ally, to allay all jealousy, leaves him in a state 
 as well adapted for one creed as another. Be- 
 gin ; make your pupil a firm advocate for the 
 peculiar doctrines of the English church; dig 
 round about him, on every side, a trench that 
 shall guard him from every species of heresy. 
 In spite of all this clamour you do nothing; 
 
 you do not stir a single step; you educate 
 alike the swineherd and his hog; and then, 
 when a man of real genius and enterprise 
 rises up, and says. Let me dedicate my life to 
 this neglected object ; I will do every thing but 
 that which must necessarily devolve upon you 
 alone ; you refuse to do your little, and compel 
 him, by the cry of infidel and Atheist, to leave 
 you to your ancient repose, and not to drive 
 you, by insidious comparisons, to any system 
 of active utility. We deny, again and again, 
 that Mr. Lancaster's instruction is any kind of 
 impediment to the propagation of the doc- 
 trines of the church ; and if Mr. Lancaster 
 was to perish with his system to-morrow, these 
 boys would positively be taught nothing; the 
 doctrines which Mrs. Trimmer considers pro- 
 hibited would not rush in, but there would be 
 an absolute vacuum. We will, however, say 
 this in favour of Mrs. Trimmer, that if every 
 one who has joined in her clamour, had la- 
 boured one-hundredth part as much as she has 
 done in the cause of national education, the 
 clamour would be much more rational, and 
 much more consistent, than it now is. By liv- 
 ing with a few people as active as herself, she 
 is perhaps somehow or another persuaded that 
 there is a national education going on in this 
 country. But our principal argument is, that 
 Mr. Lancaster's plan is at leastbelter than the 
 nothina; which preceded it. The authoress 
 herself seems to be a lady of respectable opi- 
 nions, and very ordinary talents; defending 
 what is right without judgment, and believing 
 what is holy without charity. 
 
 PAENELL AND IRELAND.* 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 1807.] 
 
 If ever a nation exhibited symptoms of 
 downright madness, or utter stupidity, we con- 
 ceive these symptoms may be easily recog- 
 nized in the conduct of this country upon the 
 Catholic question-! A man has a wound in 
 his great toe, and a violent and perilous tever 
 at the same time; and he refuses to take the 
 medicines for the fever, because it will discon- 
 cert his toe ! The mournful and folly-stricken 
 blockhead forgets that his toe cannot survive 
 him ; — that if he dies, there can he no digital 
 life apart from him ; yet he lingers and fondles 
 over this last part of his body, soothing it 
 madly with little plasters, and anile fomenta- 
 tions, while the neglected fever rages in his 
 
 * Historical Apology for the Irish Catholics. By Wil- 
 liam Pabnell, Esq. Fitzpatrick, Dublin, 1807. 
 
 fl do not retract one syllable (or one iota) of what I 
 have said or written upon the Catholic question. What 
 was wanted for Ireland was emancipation, time and jus- 
 tice, abolition of present wrongs ; time for forgetting past 
 wrongs, and that continued and even justice which 
 would make such oblivion wise. It is now only difficult 
 to tranquillize Ireland, before emancipation it wasimpos- 
 sible. As to the danger from Catholic doctrines, I must 
 leave such apprehensions to the respectable anility of 
 these realms. I will not meddle with it. 
 5 
 
 entrails, and burns away his whole life. If the 
 comparatively little questions of Establish- 
 ment are all that this countiy is capable of 
 discussing or regarding, for God's sake let us 
 remember, that the foreign conquest which de- 
 stroys all, destroys this beloved foe also. Pass 
 over freedom, industry, and science — and look 
 upon this great empire, by which we are about 
 to be swallowed up, only as it affects the man- 
 ner of collecting tithes, and of reading the li- 
 tnrsy — still, if all goes, these must go too; 
 I and even, for their interests, it is worth while 
 to conciliate Ireland, to avert the hostility, and 
 to employ the strength of the Catholic popula- 
 tion. We plead the question as the sincerest 
 friends to the Establishment; — as wishing to 
 it all the prosperity and duration its warmest 
 advocates can desire. — but remembering al- 
 ways, what these advocates seem to forget, 
 that the Establishment cannot be threatened 
 by any danger so great as the perdition of the 
 kingdom in which it is established. 
 
 We are truly glad to agree so entirely with 
 Mr. Parnell upon this great question ; we ad- 
 mire his way of thinking ; and most covdlaily 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 recommend his work to the attention of the ' 
 public. The general conclusion which he at- 
 tempts to prove is this ; that religious senti- , 
 ment, however perverted to bigotry or fanati- ' 
 cism, has always a tendency to moderation ; 
 that it seldom assumes any great portion of 
 activity or enthusiasm, except from novelty of 
 opinion, or from opposition, contumely and 
 persecution, when novelty ceases ; that a go- 
 vernment has little to fear from any religious 
 sect, except while that sect is new. Give a 
 government only time, and, provided it has the 
 good sense to treat folly with forbearance, it 
 must ultimately prevail. When, therefore, a 
 sect is found, after a lapse of years, to be ill 
 disposed to the government, we may be certain 
 that government has widened its separation by 
 marked distinctions, roused its resentment by 
 contumely, or supported its enthusiasm by per- 
 secution. 
 
 The particular conclusion Mr. Parnell at- 
 tempts to prove is, that the Catholic religion 
 in Ireland had sunk into torpor and inactivity, 
 till government roused it with the lash : that 
 even then, from the respect and attachment, 
 which men are always inclined to show to- 
 wards government, there still remained a large 
 body of loyal Catholics ; that these only de- 
 creased in number from the rapid increase of 
 persecution ; and that, after all, the effects 
 which the resentment of the Roman Catholics 
 had in creating rebellions had been very much 
 exaggerated. 
 
 In support of these two conclusions, Mr. 
 Parnell takes a survey of the history of Ireland 
 from the conquest imder Henry, to the rebellion 
 under Charles the First, passing very rapidly 
 over the period which preceded the Reforma- 
 tion, and dwelling principally upon the various 
 rebellions which broke out in Ireland between 
 the Reformation and the grand rebellion in the 
 reign of Charles the First. The celebrated 
 conquest of Ireland by Henry the Second, ex- 
 tended only to a very few counties in Lein- 
 ster ; nine-tenths of the whole kingdom were 
 left, as he found them, under the dominion of 
 their native princes. The influence of ex- 
 ample was as strong in this, as in most other 
 instances ; and great numbers of the English 
 settlers who came over under various adven- 
 turers, resigned their pretensions to superior 
 civilization, cast off" their lower garments, and 
 lapsed into the nudity and barbarism of the 
 Irish. The limit which divided the posses- 
 sions of the English settler from those of the 
 native Irish, was called the pale ; and the ex- 
 pression of inhabitants within pale, and with- 
 out the pale, were the terms by which the two 
 nations were distinguished. It is almost su- 
 perfluous to state, that the most bloody and 
 pernicious warfare was carried on upon the 
 borders— sometimes for something — sometimes 
 for nothing — most commonly for cows. The 
 Irish, over whom the sovereigns of Eng- 
 land aflected a sort of nominal dominion, were 
 entirely governed by their own laws ; and so 
 very little connection had they with the justice 
 of the invading country, that it was as lawful 
 to kin an Irishman, as it was to kill a badger 
 or a fox. The instances are innumerable, 
 where the defendant has pleaded that the de- 
 
 ceased was an Irishman, and that therefore 
 defendant had a right to kill him; — and upon 
 the proof of Hibernicism, acquittal followed 
 of course. 
 
 When the English army mustered in any 
 great stren-gth, the Irish chieftains would do 
 exterior homage to the English Crown ; and 
 they very frequently, by this artifice, averted 
 from their country the miseries of invasion : 
 but they remained completely unsubdued, till 
 the rebellion which took place in the reign of 
 Queen Elizabeth, of which that politic woman 
 availed herself to the complete subjugation of 
 Ireland. In speaking of the Irish about the 
 reign of Elizabeth, or James the First, we must 
 not draw our comparisons from England, but 
 from New Zealand ; they were not civilized 
 men, but savages ; and if we reason about their 
 conduct, we must reason of them as savages. 
 
 " After reading every account of Irish his- 
 tory," (says Mr. Parnell,) "one great perplexity 
 appears to remain : How does it happen, that, 
 from the first invasion of the English, till the 
 reign of James I., Ireland seems not to have 
 made the smallest progress in civilization or 
 wealth ■? 
 
 " That it was divided into a number of small 
 principalities, which waged constant war on 
 each other; or that the appointment of the 
 chieftains was elective ; do not appear sufli- 
 cient reasons, although these are the only ones 
 assigned by those who have been at the trou- 
 ble of considering the subject : neither are the 
 confiscations of property quite sufficient to 
 account for the effect. There have been great 
 confiscations in other countries, and still they 
 have flourished : the petty states of Greece were 
 quite analogous to the chiefries (as they were 
 called) in Ireland ; and yet they seemed to 
 flourish almost in proportion to their dissen- 
 sions. Poland felt the bad effects of an elec- 
 tive monarchy more than any other country ; 
 and yet, in point of civilization, it maintained 
 a very respectable rank among the nations of 
 Europe ; but Ireland never, for an instant, 
 made any progress in improvement till the 
 reign of James I. 
 
 " It is scarcely credible, that in a climate like 
 that of Ireland, and at a period so far advanced 
 in civilization as the end of Elizabeth's reign, 
 the greater part of the natives should go naked. 
 Yet this is rendered certain by the testimony 
 of an eye-witness, Fynes Moryson. ' In the 
 remote parts,' he says, ' where the English 
 laws and manners are unknown, the very chief 
 of the Irish, as well men as women, go naked 
 in the winter time, only having their privy 
 parts covered with a rag of linen, and their 
 bodies with a loose mantle. This I speak of 
 my own experience; yet remembering that a 
 Bohemian Baron coming out of Scotland to us 
 by the north parts of the wild Irish, told me in 
 great earnestness, that he, coming to the house 
 of O'Kane, a great lord amongst them, was 
 met at the door by sixteen women all naked, 
 excepting their loose mantles, whereof eight 
 or ten were very fair; with which strange 
 sight his eyes being dazzled, they led him into 
 the house, and then sitting down by the fire 
 with crossed legs, like tailors, and so low as 
 could not but offend chaste eyes, desired him 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 35 
 
 to sit down with them. Soon after, O'Kane, 
 the lord of the counlrj^ came in all naked, 
 except a loose mantle and shoes, which he put 
 off as soon as he came in ; and, entertaining 
 the Baron after his best manner in the Latin 
 tongue, desired him to put off his apparel, 
 which he thought to be a burden to him, and 
 to sit naked. 
 
 '"To conclude, men and women at night, 
 going to sleep, lye thus naked in a round cir- 
 cle about the fire, with their feet towards it. 
 They fold their heads and their upper parts in 
 •woollen mantles, first steeped in water to keep 
 them warm ; for they say, that woollen cloth, 
 wetted, preserves heat, (as linen, wetted, pre- 
 serves cold,) when the smoke of their bodies 
 has warmed the woollen cloth.' 
 
 " The cause of this extreme poverty, and of 
 its long continuance, we must conclude, arose 
 from the peculiar laws of property, which were 
 in force under the Irish dynasties. These laws 
 have been described by most writers as similar 
 to the Kentish custom of gavelkind; and in- 
 deed so little attention was paid to the subject, 
 that were it not for the researches of Sir J. 
 Davis, the knowledge of this singular usage 
 would have been entirely lost. 
 
 " The Brehon law of property, he tells us, 
 was similar to the custom (as the English law- 
 yers term it) of hodge-podge. V/hen any one 
 of the sept died, his lands did not descend to 
 his sons, but were divided among the whole 
 sept: and, for this purpose, the chief of the 
 sept made a new division of the whole lands 
 belonging to the sept, and gave every one his 
 part according to seniority. So that no man 
 had a property which could descend to his 
 children; and even during his own life, his 
 possession of any particular spot was quite 
 uncertain, being liable to be constantly shuffled 
 and changed by new partitions. The conse- 
 quence of this was that there was not a house 
 of brick or stone, among the Irish, down to 
 the reign of Henry VII.; not even a garden or 
 orchard, or well fenced or improved field, 
 neither village or town, or in any respect the 
 least provision for posterity. This monstrous 
 custom, so opposite to the natural feelings of 
 mankind, was probably perpetuated by the 
 policy of the chiefs. In the first place, the 
 power of partitioning being lodged in their 
 hands, made them the most absolute of tyrants, 
 being the dispensers of the property as well as 
 of the liberty of their subjects. In the second 
 place, it had the appearance of adding to the 
 number of their savage armies ; for, where 
 there was no improvement or tillage, war was 
 pursued as an occupation. 
 
 "In the early history of Ireland, we find 
 several instances of chieftains discountenanc- 
 ing tillage; and so late as Elizabeth's reign, 
 Moryson says, that 'Sir Neal Garve restrained 
 his people from ploughing, that they might 
 assist him to do any mischief.' " — (p. 98 — 102.) 
 
 These quotations and observations will ena- 
 ble us to state a few plain facts for the recol- 
 lection of our English readers. 1st. Ireland was 
 never subdued till the rebellion in the reign 
 of Queen Elizabeth. 2d. For four hundred 
 years before that period, the two nations had 
 been almost constantly at war; and in conse- 
 
 quence of this, a deep and irreconcileable ha 
 tred existed between the people within and 
 without the pale. 3d. The Irish, at the acces- 
 sion of Queen Elizabeth, were unquestionably 
 the most barbarous people in Europe. So 
 much for what had happened previous to the 
 reign of Queen Elizabeth : and let any man, 
 who has the most superficial knowledge of 
 human affairs, determine, v.'hether national 
 hatred, proceeding from such powerful causes, 
 could possibly have been kept under by the de- 
 feat of one single rebellion ; whether it would 
 not have been easy to have foreseen, at that 
 period, that a proud, brave, half-savage people, 
 would cherish the memory of their wrongs for 
 centuries to come, and break forth into arms 
 at every period when they were particularly 
 exasperated by oppression, or invited by op- 
 portunity. If the Protestant religion had 
 spread in Ireland as it did in England, and if 
 there never had been any difference of faith 
 between the two countries, — can it be believed 
 that the Irish, ill-treated, and infamously go- 
 verned as they have been, would never have 
 made any efforts to shake off the yoke of Eng- 
 land 1 Surely there are causes enough to 
 account for their impatience of that yoke, 
 without endeavouring to inflame the zeal of 
 ignorant people against the Catholic religion, 
 and to make that mode of faith responsible for 
 all the butchery which the Irish and English, 
 for these last two centuries, have exercised 
 upon each other. Every body, of course, must 
 admit, that if to the causes of hatred already 
 specified, there be added the additional cause 
 of religious distinction, this last will give 
 greater force (and what is of more conse- 
 quence to observe, give a name) to the whole 
 aggregate motive. But what Mr. Parnell con- 
 tends for, and clearly and decisively proves, is, 
 that many of those sanguinary scenes attributed 
 to the Catholic religion, are to be partly im- 
 puted to causes totally disconnected from reli- 
 gion ; that the unjust invasion, and the tyran- 
 nical, infamous policy of the English, are to 
 take their full share of blame with the sophisms 
 and plots of Catholic priests. In the reign of 
 Henry the Eighth, Mr. Parnell shows, that 
 feudal submission was readily paid to him by 
 all the Irish chiefs; that the Reformation was 
 received without the slightest opposition ; and 
 that the troubles which took place at that 
 period in Ireland, are to be entirely attributed 
 to the ambition and injustice of Henry. In the 
 reign of Queen Mary, there was no recrimi- 
 nation upon the Protestants: — a striking proof, 
 that the bigotry of the Catholic religion had 
 not, at that period, risen to any great height in 
 Ireland. The insurrections of the various 
 Irish princes were as numerous, during this 
 reign, as they had been in the two preceding 
 reigns, — a circumstance rather difficult of ex- 
 planation, if, as is commonly believed, the Ca- 
 tholic religion was at that period the maiu 
 spring of men's actions. 
 
 In the reign of Elizabeth, the Catholic in the 
 pale regularly fought against the Catholic out 
 of the pale. O'Sullivan, a bigoted Papist, re- 
 proaches them with doing so. Speaking of the 
 reign of James the First, he says, "And now 
 the eyes even of the English Irish" (the Ca- 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 tholics of the pale) " were opened ; and they 
 cursed their former foil}' for helping the here- 
 tic." The English government were so sen- 
 sible of the loyalty of the Irish English Catho- 
 lics, that they entrusted them with the most 
 confidential services. The Earl of Kildare 
 was the principal instrument in waging war 
 against the chieftains of Leix and Offal. Wil- 
 liam O'Bourge, another Catholic, was created 
 Lord Castle Connel for his eminent services; 
 and MacGully Patrick, a priest, was the state 
 spy. We presume that this wise and manly 
 conduct of Queen Elizabeth was utterly un- 
 known both to the Pastrycook and the Secre- 
 tary of State, who have published upon the 
 dangers of employing Catholics even against 
 foreign enemies; and in those publications 
 have said a great deal about the wisdom of our 
 ancestors — the usual topic whenever the folly 
 of their descendants is to be defended. To 
 whatever other of our ancestors they may 
 allude, they may spare all compliments to this 
 illustrious Princess, who would certainly have 
 kept the worthy confectioner to the composition 
 of tarts, and most probably furnished him with 
 the productions of the Right Honourable Sec- 
 retary, as the means of conveying those juicy 
 delicacies to an hun,gry and discerning pub- 
 lic. 
 
 In the next two reigns, Mr. Parnell shows 
 by what injudicious measures of the English 
 government the spirit of Catholic opposition 
 was gradually formed ; for that it did produce 
 nowerful effects at a subsequent period, he 
 does not denj^ ; but contends only (as we have 
 before stated), that these effects have been 
 much overrated, and ascribed solely to the 
 Catholic religion, Avhen other causes have at 
 least had an equal agency in bringing them 
 about. He concludes with some general re- 
 marks on the dreadful state of Ireland, and 
 the contemptible folly and bigotry of the Eng- 
 lish ;* — remarks full of truth, of good sense, 
 and of political courage. How melancholy 
 to reflect, that there would be still some 
 chance of saving England from the general 
 wreck of empires, bat that it may not be 
 saved, because one politician will lose two 
 thousand a year by it, and another three thou- 
 sand — a third a place in reversion, and a fourth 
 a pension for his aunt! — Alas! these are the 
 
 ♦ It would be as well, in future, to say no more of the 
 revocation of the edict of Nantz. 
 
 powerful causes which have always settled 
 the destiny of great kingdoms, and which may 
 level Old England, with all its boasted free- 
 dom, and boasted wisdom, to the dust. Nor 
 is it the least singular among the political 
 phenomena of the present day, that the sole 
 consideration which seems to influence the 
 unbigoted part of the English people, in this 
 great question of Ireland, is a regard for the 
 personal feelings of the Monarch. Nothing 
 is said or thought of the enormous risk to 
 which Ireland is exposed, — nothing of the 
 gross injustice with which the Catholics are 
 treated, — nothing of the lucrative apostasy 
 of those from whom they experience this 
 treatment : but the only concern by which we 
 all seem to be agitated is, that the King must 
 not be vexed in his old age. We have a great 
 respect for the King; and wish him all the 
 happiness compatible with the happiness of 
 his people. But these are not times to pay 
 foolish compliments to Kings, or the sons of 
 Kings, or to any body else : this journal has 
 always preserved its character for courag^e 
 and honesty ; and it shall do so to the last. 
 If the people of this country are solely occu- 
 pied in considering what is personally agree- 
 able to the King, w"ithout considering what is 
 for his permanent good, and for the safety of 
 his dominions ; if all public men, quitting the 
 common vulgar scramble for emolument, do 
 not concur in conciliating the people of Ire- 
 land ; if the unfounded alarms, and the com- 
 paratively trifling interests of the clergy, are 
 to supersede the great question of freedom or 
 slavery, it does appear to us quite impossible 
 that so mean and so foolish a people can 
 escape that destruction which is ready to burst 
 upon them ; — a destruction so imminent, that 
 it can only be averted by arming all in our 
 defence who would evidently be sharers in our 
 ruin, — and by such a change of system as 
 may save us from the hazard of being ruined 
 by the ignorance and cowardice of any gene- 
 ral, by the bigotry or the ambition of any 
 minister, or by the well-meaning scruples of 
 any human being, let his dignity be what it 
 may. These minor and domestic dangers we 
 must endeavour firmly and temperately to 
 avert as we best can ; but, at all hazards, we 
 must keep out the destroyer from among us, 
 or perish like wise and brave men in the 
 attempt. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 METHODISM.* 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 1S08.] 
 
 This is the production of an honest man, 
 possessed of a fair share of understanding. 
 He cries out lustily (and not before it is time), 
 upon the increase of Methodism ; proposes 
 various remedies for the diminution of this 
 evil ; and speaks his opinions with a freedom 
 which does him great credit, and convinces 
 us that he is a respectable man. The clergy 
 are accused of not exerting themselves. What 
 temporal motive, Mr. Ingram asks, have they 
 for exertion 1 Would a curate, who had 
 served thirty years upon a living in the most 
 exemplary manner, secure to himself, by such 
 a conduct, the slightest right or title to promo- 
 tion in the church 1 What can you expect of 
 a whole profession, in which there is no more 
 connection between merit and reward, than 
 between merit and beauty, or merit and 
 strength 1 This is the substance of what Mr. 
 Ingram says upon this subject; and he speaks 
 the truth. We regret, however, that this gen- 
 tleman has thought fit to use against the dis- 
 senters, the exploded clamour of Jacobinism ; 
 or that he deems it necessary to call into the 
 aid of the Church, the power of intolerant 
 laws, in spite of the odious and impolitic tests 
 to which the dissenters are still subjected. 
 We believe them to be very good subjects; 
 and we have no doubt but that any further at- 
 tempt upon their religious liberties, without 
 reconciling them to the Church, would have a 
 direct tendency to render them disaffected to 
 to the Stale. 
 
 Mr. Ingram (whose book, by the by, is very 
 dull and tedious) has fallen into the common 
 mistake of supposing his readers to be as well 
 acquainted with his subject as he is himself; 
 and hag talked a great deal about dissenters, 
 without giving us any distinct notions of the 
 spirit which pervades these people — the ob- 
 jects they have in view — or the degree of 
 talent which is to be found among them. To 
 remedy this very capital defect, we shall en- 
 deavour to set before the eyes of the reader a 
 complete section of the tabernacle; and to 
 present him with a near view of those secta- 
 -ries, who are at present at work upon the de- 
 struction of the orthodox churches, and are 
 destined hereafter, perhaps, to act as conspi- 
 cuous a part in public affairs, as the children 
 of Sion did in the time of Cromwell. 
 
 The sources from which we shall derive 
 our extracts, are the Evangelical and Metho- 
 distical Magazines for the year 1807; — works 
 which are said to be circulated to the amount 
 of 18,000 or 20,000 each, every month; and 
 which contain the sentiments of Arminian 
 and Calvinistic Methodists, and of the evan- 
 gelical clergymen of the Church of England. 
 We shall use the general term of Methodism, 
 
 * Causes of the Increase of Methodism and Dissension. 
 By Robert Acklem Ingbam, B. D. Hatcliard. 
 
 to designate these three classes of fanatics, 
 not troubling ourselves to point out the finer 
 shades, and nicer discriminations of lunacy, 
 but treating them all as in one general conspi- 
 racy against common sense, and rational or- 
 thodox Christianit}'. 
 
 In reading these very curious productions, 
 we seemed to be in a new world, and to have 
 got among a set of beings, of whose existence 
 we had hardly before entertained the slightest 
 conception. It has been our good fortune to 
 be acquainted with many truly religious per- 
 sons, both in the Presbyterian and Episcopa- 
 lian churches ; and from their manly, rational, 
 and serious characters, our conceptions of 
 true practical piety have been formed. To 
 these confined habits, and to our want of pro- 
 per introductions among the children of light 
 and grace, any degree of surprise is to be at- 
 tributed, which may be excited by the publi- 
 cations before us ; which, under opposite cir- 
 cumstances, would (we doubt not) have proved 
 as great a source of instruction and delight to 
 the Edinburgh reviewers, as they are to the 
 most melodious votaries of the tabernacle. 
 
 It is not wantonly, or with the most distant 
 intention of trifling upon serious subjects, that 
 we call the attention of the public to these sort 
 of publications. Their circulation is so enor- 
 mous, and so increasing, — they contain the 
 opinions, and display the habits of so many 
 human beings, — that they cannot but be ob- 
 jects of curiosity and importance. The com- 
 mon and the middling classes of the people 
 are the purchasers ; and the subject is reli- 
 gion, — though not that religion certainly which 
 is established by law, and encouraged by na- 
 tional provision. This may lead to unpleasant 
 consequences, or it may not ; but it carries 
 with it a sort of aspect, which ought to insure 
 to it serious attention and reflection. 
 
 It is impossible to arrive at any knowledge 
 of a religious sect, by merely detailing the set- 
 tled articles of their belief: it may be the 
 fashion of such a sect to insist upon some arti- 
 cles very slightly ; to bring forward others pro- 
 minently ; and to consider some portion of their 
 formal creed as obsolete. As the knowledge 
 of the jurisprudence of any country can never 
 be obtained by the perusal of volumes which 
 contain some statutes that are daily enforced, 
 and others that have been silently antiquated: 
 in the same manner, the practice, the preach- 
 ing, and the writing of sects, are comments 
 absolutely necessary to render the perusal of 
 their creed of any degree of utility. 
 
 It is the practice, we believe, with the ortho 
 dox, both in the Scotch and English churches, 
 to insist very rarely, and very discreetly, upon 
 the particular instances of the interference of 
 Divine Providence. They do not contend that 
 the world,is governed only by general laws, — 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 that a Superintending Mind never interferes 
 for particular purposes ; but such purposes are 
 represented to be of a nature very awful and 
 sublime, — when a guilty people are to be de- 
 stroyed, when an oppressed nation is to be lift- 
 ed up, and some remarkable change introduced 
 into the order and arrangement of the world. 
 With this kind of theology we can have no 
 quarrel ; we bow to its truth ; we are satisfied 
 with the moderation which it exhibits; and we 
 have no doubt of the salutary effect which it 
 produces upon the human heart. Let us now 
 come to those special cases of the interference 
 of Providence as they are exhibited in the pub- 
 lications before us. 
 
 Jin interference with respect to the Rev. James 
 Moody. 
 
 " Mr. James Moody was descended from pious 
 ancestors, who resided at Paisley; — his heart 
 was devoted to music, dancing, and theatrical 
 amusements; of the latter he was so fond, that 
 he used to meet with some men of a similar 
 cast to rehearse plays, and used to entertain a 
 hope that he should make a figure upon the 
 stage. To improve himself in music, he would 
 rise very early, even in severely cold weather, 
 and practise on the German flute: by his skill 
 in music and singing, with his general powers 
 of entertaining, he became a desirable com- 
 panion : he would sometimes venture to pro- 
 fane the day of God, by turning it into a season 
 of carnal pleasure : and would join in excur- 
 sions on the water, to various parts of the vi- 
 cinity of London. But the time was approach- 
 ing, tcheii the Lord, rcho had designs of mercy for 
 him, and for many others by his means, was about 
 to stop him in his vain career of sin and folly. There 
 were two professing servants in the house 
 where he lived ; one of these was a porter, who, 
 in brushing liis clothes, would say, 'Master 
 James, this will never do — you must be other- 
 wise employed — you must be a minister of the 
 gospel.' This worthy man, earnestly wishing 
 his conversion, put into his hands that excel- 
 lent book which God hath so much owned, 
 AUeine's Alarm to the Unconverted. 
 
 " About this time, it pleased God to visit him 
 with a disorder in his eyes, occasioned, as it 
 was thought, by his sitting up in the night to 
 improve himself in drawing. The apprehen- 
 sion of losing his sight occasioned many seri- 
 ous reflections; his mind was impressed with 
 the importance and necessity of seeking the 
 salvation of his soul, and he was induced to 
 attend the preaching of the gospel. The first 
 sermon that he heard with a desire to profit, 
 was at Spa-fields Chapel ; a place where he had 
 formerly frequented, when it was a temple of 
 vanity and dissipation. Strong convictions of 
 sin fixed on his mind; and he continued to at- 
 tend the preached word, particularly at Totten- 
 ham-court Chapel. Every sermon increased 
 his sorrow and grief that he had not earlier 
 sought the Lord. It was a considerable time 
 before he found comfort from the gospel. He 
 has stood in the free part of the chapel, hear- 
 ing with such emotion, that the tears have 
 flowed from his eyes in torrents ; and, when 
 he has returned home, he has continued a great 
 
 part of the night on his knees, praying over 
 what he had heard. 
 
 " The change effected by the power of the 
 Holy Spirit on his heart now became visible to 
 all. Nor did he halt between two opinions, as 
 some persons do ; he became at once a decided 
 character, and gave up for ever all his vain 
 pursuits and amusements; devoting himself 
 with as much resolution and diligence to the 
 service of God, as he had formerly done to folly." 
 Ev. Mag. p. 194. 
 
 Jin interference respecting Cards, 
 
 "A clergyman not far distant from the spot 
 on which these lines were written, was spend- 
 ing an evening — not in his closet wrestling 
 with his Divine Master for the communication 
 of that grace which is so peculiarly necessary 
 for the faithful discharge of the ministerial 
 function, — not in bis study searching the sacred 
 oracles of divine truth for materials v/herewith 
 to prepare for his public exercises and feed the 
 flock under his cafe, — not in pastoral visits to 
 that flock, to inquire into the state of their souls, 
 and endeavour, by his pious and affectionate 
 conversation, to conciliate their esteem, and 
 promote their edification, — but at the card table." 
 — After stating that when it was his turn to 
 deal, he dropped down dead, "It is worthy of 
 remark (says the writer), that within a very 
 tew years this was the third character in the 
 neighbourhood which had been summoned 
 from the card table to the bar of God."—Ev. 
 Mag. p. 262, 
 
 Interference respecting Swearing — a Bee the instru- 
 ment. 
 " A young man is stung by a bee, upon which 
 he buffets the bees with his hat, uttering at the 
 same time the most dreadful oaths and impre- 
 cations. In the midst of his fury, one of these 
 little combatants stung him upon the tip of tha* 
 unruly member (his tongue), which was then 
 employed in blaspheming his Maker. Thus 
 can the Lord engage one of the meanest of his 
 creatures in reproving the bold transgressor 
 who dares to take his name ia vain." — Ev, 
 Mag. p. 363. 
 
 Interference with respect to David White, who was 
 cured of Atheism and Sa-ofula by one Sermon of 
 Mr. Coles. 
 
 This case is too long to quote in the lan- 
 guage and Avith the evidences of the writers. 
 The substance of it is what our title implies. — 
 David Wright was a man with scrofulous legs 
 and atheistical principles ; — being with diffi- 
 culty persuaded to hear one sermon from Mr. 
 Coles, he limped to the church in extreme pain, 
 and arrived there after great exertion; — dur- 
 ing church time he v\'as entirely converted, 
 walked home with the greatest ease, and never 
 after experienced the slightest return of scro- 
 fula or infidelity. — Ev. Mag. p. 444. 
 
 The displeasure of Providence is expressed at Cap- 
 tain Scott^s going to preaeh in Mr. Romaine's 
 Chapel. 
 The sign of this displeasure is a violent 
 
 storm of thunder and lightning just as he came 
 
 into town,— £r, Mag, p. 537, 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 Interference with respect to an Innkeeper, who was 
 
 destroyed for having appointed a cock-fight at the 
 
 very time that the service was beginning at the 
 
 Methodist Chapel. 
 
 " ' Never mind,' says the innkeeper, ' I'll get a 
 greater congregation than the Methodist par- 
 son ;— we'll have a cock-fight.' But what is 
 man ! how insignificant his designs, how im- 
 potent his strength, how ill-fated his plans, when 
 opposed to that Being who is infinite in wisdom, 
 boundless in power, terrible in judgment, and 
 who frequently reverses, and suddenly renders 
 abortive, the projects of the wicked ! A few 
 days after the avowal of his intention, the inn- 
 keeper sickened," &c. &c. And then the nar- 
 rator goes on to state, that his corpse was car- 
 ried by the meeting-house, "on the day, and 
 exactly at the lime, the deceased had fixed for the 
 cock-fight."— ilfc</(. 3Iag. p. 126. 
 
 In page 167, Melh, Mag., a father, mother, 
 three sons, and a sister, are destroyed by par- 
 ticular interposition. 
 
 In page 222, Mcth. Mag., a dancing-master is 
 destroyed for irreligion, — another person for 
 swearing at a cock-fight, — and a third for pre- 
 tending to be deaf and dumb. These are call- 
 ed recent and authentic accounts of God's aveng- 
 ing providence. 
 
 So much for the miraculous interposition of 
 Providence in cases where the Methodists are 
 concerned: we shall now proceed to a few spe- 
 cimens of the energy of their religious feelings. 
 Mr. Roberts's feelings in the month of May, 1793. 
 
 " But, all this lime, my soul was stayed upon 
 God ; my desires increased, and my mind was 
 kept in a sweet praying frame, a going out of 
 myself, as it were, and taking shelter in Him. 
 Every breath I drew, ended in a prayer. I felt 
 myself helpless as an infant, dependent upon 
 God for all things. I was in a constant daily 
 expectation of receiving all I wanted; and, on 
 Friday, May 31st, under Mr. Rutherford's ser- 
 mon, though entirely independent of it, (for I 
 could not give any account of what he had 
 been preaching about,) I was given to feel that 
 God was waiting to be very gracious to me ; 
 the spirit of prayer and supplication was given 
 me, and such an assurance that I was accepted 
 in the Beloved, as I cannot describe, but which 
 I shall never (orgeC'— Mcth. Mag. p. 35. 
 Mrs. Elizabeth Price and her attendants hear sacred 
 music on a sudden. 
 
 "A few nights before her death, while some 
 neighbours and her husband were sitting up 
 with her, a sudden and joyful sound of music 
 was heard by all present, although some of than 
 were carnal people : at which time she thought 
 she saw her crucified Saviour before her, speak- 
 ing these words with power to her soul, 'Thy 
 sins are forgiven thee, and I love thee freely.' 
 After this she never doubted of her acceptance 
 with God ; and on Christmas day following was 
 taken to celebrate the Redeemer's birth in the 
 Paradise of God. Michael Cocsis." — Melh. 
 Mag. p. 137. 
 
 T. L., a Sailor on board of the Slag frigate has a 
 special revelation from our Saviour. 
 
 " October 26th, being the Lord's day, he had 
 a remarkable manifestation of God's love to 
 
 his soul. That blessed morning, he was much 
 grieved by hearing the wicked use profane 
 language, when Jesus revealed himself to him, 
 and impressed on his mind those words, 'Fol- 
 low Me.' This was a precious day to him." 
 Meth. Mag. p. 140. 
 
 The manner in which Mr. Thomas Cook was accus- 
 tomed to accost S. B. 
 
 "Whenever he met me in the street, his 
 salutation used to be, 'Have you free and 
 lively intercourse with God to-day"? Are you 
 giving your whole heart to God?' I have 
 known him on such occasions speak in so 
 pertinent a manner, that I have been as- 
 tonished at his knowledge of my state. Meet- 
 ing me one morning, he said, 'I have been 
 praying for you ; you have had a sore conflict, 
 though all is well now.' At another time he 
 asked, ' Have you been much exercised these 
 few days, for I have been led to pray that you 
 might especially have sufiering grace.'" — Meth. 
 Mag. p. 247. 
 
 Mr. John Kestin on his death-bed. 
 
 "'Oh, my dear, I am now going to glory, 
 happy, happy, happy. I am going to sing 
 praises to God and the Lamb ; I am going to 
 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I think I can see 
 my Jesus without a glass between. I can, I 
 feel I can, discern 'my title clear to mansions 
 in the skies.' Come, Lord Jesus, come ! why 
 are thy chariot-wheels so long delaying]'" 
 Ev. Mag. p. 124. 
 
 The Reverend Mr. Mead's sotrow for his sins. 
 
 "This wrought him up to temporary despe- 
 ration; his inexpressible grief poured itself 
 forth in groans : 'Oh, that I had never sinned 
 against God ! I have a hell here upon earth, and 
 there is a hell for me in eternity !' One Lord's 
 day, very early in the morning, he was awoke by 
 a tempest of thunder and lightning; and ima- 
 gining it to be the end of the world, his agony 
 was great, supposing the great day of divine 
 wrath was come, and he unprepared : but hap- 
 py to find it not so." — Ev. Mag. p. 147. 
 
 Similar case of Mr. John Robinson. 
 "About two hours before he died, he was in 
 great agony of body and mind : it appeared. 
 that the enemy was permitted to struggle with 
 him ; and being greatly agitated, he cried out, 
 ' Ye powers of darkness begone !' This, how- 
 ever, did not last long: 'the prey was taken 
 from the mighty, and the lawful captive de- 
 livered,' although he was not permitted to tell 
 of his deliverance, but lay quite still and com- 
 posed." — Ev. Mag. p. 177. 
 
 The Reverend William Tennant in an heavenly 
 trance. 
 " ' While I was conversing with my brother,* 
 said he, ' on the state of my soul, and the fear;; 
 I had entertained for my future welfare, I found 
 myself in an instant, in another state of exist- 
 ence, under the direction of a superior being, 
 who ordered me to follow him. I was wafted, 
 along, I know not how, till I beheld at a dis- 
 tance an ineffable glory, the impression of 
 which on my mind it is impossible to commu- 
 nicate to mortal man. I immediately reflected 
 on my happy change ; and thought, WtlL, 
 
40 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 blessed be God ! I am safe at last, notwith- 
 standing all my fears. I saw an innumerable 
 host of happy beings surrounding the inex- 
 pressible glory, in acts of adoration and joy- 
 ous worship ; but I did not see any bodily shape 
 or representation in the glorious appearance. 
 I heard things unutterable. I heard their songs 
 and hallelujahs of thanksgiving and praise, 
 with unspeakable rapture. I felt joy unutter- 
 able and full of glory. I then applied to my 
 conductor, and requested leave to join the 
 happy throng.' " — Ev. Mag. p. 251. 
 
 The following we consider to be one of the 
 most shocking histories we ever read. God 
 only knows how many such scenes take place 
 in the gloomy aiinals of Methodism. 
 
 " A young man, of the name of S. C , 
 
 grandson to a late eminent Dissenting minister, 
 and brought up by him, came to reside at 
 
 K g, about the year 1803. He attended at 
 
 the Baptist place of worship, not only on the 
 Lord's day, but frequency at the week-day 
 lectures and prayer-meetings. He was sup- 
 posed by some to be seriously inclined; but 
 his opinion of himself was, that he had never 
 experienced that divine change, without which 
 no man can be saved. 
 
 " Hov/ever that might be, there is reason to 
 believe he had been for some years under 
 powerful convictions of his miserable condi- 
 tion as a sinner. In June, 1806, these convic- 
 tions were observed to increase, and that in a 
 more than common degree. From that time 
 he went into no company; but, when he was 
 not at work, kept in his chamber, where he 
 was employed in singing plaintive hymns, and 
 bewailing his lost and perishing state. 
 
 " He had about him several religious peo- 
 ple ; but could not be induced to open his mind 
 to them, or to impart to any one the cause of 
 his distress. Whether this contributed to in- 
 crease it or not, it did increase, till his health 
 was greatly atfected by it, and he was scarce- 
 ly able to Avork at his business. 
 
 "While he was at meeting on Lord's day, 
 September 14th, he was observed to labour 
 under very great emotion of mind, especially 
 Avhen he heard the following words : ' Sinner, 
 if you die without an interest in Christ, you 
 will sink into the regions of eternal death.' 
 
 " On the Saturday evening following, he in- 
 timated to the mistress of the house where he 
 lodged, that some awful judgment was about 
 to come upon him; and as he should not be 
 .able to be at meeting next day, requested that 
 An attendant might be procured to stay with 
 him. She replied, that she would herself stay 
 at home, and wait upon him ; which she did. 
 
 " On the Lord's day he was in great agony 
 of mind. His mother was sent for, and some 
 religious friends visited him ; but all was of 
 no avail. That night was a night dreadful 
 beyond conception. The horror which he en- 
 dured brought on all the symptoms of raging 
 madness. He desired the attendants not to 
 come near him, lest they should be burnt. He 
 said that ' the bed-curtains were in flames, — 
 that he smelt the brimstone, — that devils were 
 ■come to fetch him, — that there was no hope 
 f'jr bim, for that he had sinned against light 
 
 and conviction, and that he should certainly 
 go to hell.' It was Math difficulty he^ could be 
 kept in bed. 
 
 " An apothecary being sent for, as soon as 
 he entered the house, and heard his dreadful 
 bowlings, he inquired if he had not been bicten 
 by a mad dog. His appearance, likewise, 
 seemed to justify such a suspicion, his coun- 
 tenance resembling that of a wild beast more 
 than of a man. 
 
 " Though he had no feverish heat, yet his 
 pulse beat above 150 in a minute. To abate 
 the inania, a quantity of blood was taken from 
 him, a blister was applied, his head was shaved, 
 cold water was copiously poured over him, 
 and fox-glove was administered. By these 
 means his fury Avas abated ; but his mental 
 agony continued, and all the symptoms of 
 madness wliich his bodily strength, thus re- 
 duced, Avould allow, till the following Thurs- 
 day. On that day he seemed to have recovered 
 his reason, and to be calm m his mind. In 
 the evening he sent for the apothecary ; and 
 wished to speak with him by himself. The 
 latter, on his coming, desired every one to 
 leave the room, and thus addressed him: 
 
 ' C , have j'ou not something on your 
 
 mindl' ' Ay,' answered he, ' Ma/ is it J' He 
 then acknowledged that, early in the month 
 of June, he had gone to a fair in the neigh- 
 bourhood, in company with a number of wicked 
 young men : that they drank at a public-house 
 together till he was in a measure intoxicated; 
 and that from thence they went into other com- 
 pany, Avhere he was criminally connected with 
 a harlot. 'I have been a miserable creature,' 
 continued he, ' ever since ; but during the last 
 three days and three nights, I have been in a 
 state of desperation.' He intimated to the 
 apothecary, that he could not bear to tell this 
 story to his minister: 'But,' said he, 'do you 
 inform him that I shall not die in despair; for 
 light has broken in upon me ; I have been led 
 to the great Sacrifice for sin, and I now hope 
 in him for salvation.' 
 
 " From this time his mental distress ceased, 
 his countenance became placid, and his con- 
 versation, instead of being taken up as before 
 with fearful exclamations concerning devils 
 and the wrath to come, was now confined to 
 the dying love of Jesus ! The apothecary was 
 of opinion, that if his strength had not been so 
 much exhausted, he would now have been in 
 a state of religious transport. His nervous 
 system, however, had received such a shock, 
 that his recovery was doubtful ; and it seemed 
 certain, that if he did recover, he would sink 
 into a state of idioc)'. He survived this inter- 
 view but a few days." — Ev. Mag. p. 412, 413. 
 
 A religious observer stands at a turnpike 
 gate on a Sunday, to witness the profane crowd 
 passing by ; he sees a man driving very clum- 
 sily in a gig ; the inexperience of the driver 
 provokes the following pious observations. 
 
 " ' What (said I to myself) if a single un- 
 toward circumstance should happen ! Should 
 the horse take fright, or the wheel on either 
 side get entangled, or the gig upset, — in either 
 case what can preserve theml And should a 
 morning so fair and promising bring on evil 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 41 
 
 before night, — should death on his pale horse 
 appear, — what follows ? My mind shuddered 
 at the images I had raised.' " — Ev. Mag. p. 558, 
 559.. 
 
 Miss Louisa Cooke's rapturous state. 
 " From this period she lived chiefly in retire- 
 ment, either in reading the sacred volume on 
 her knees, or in pouring out her soul in prayer 
 to God. While thus employed, she was not 
 unfrequently indulged with visits from her 
 gracious Lord ; and sometimes she felt herself 
 to be surrounded, as it were, by his glorious 
 presence. After her return to Bristol, her frame 
 of mind became so heavenly, that she seemed 
 often to be dissolved in the love of God her 
 Saviour."— ry. Mag. p. 576, 577. 
 
 Objection to Almanacks. 
 
 " Let those who have been partial to such 
 vain productions, only read Isaiah xlvii. 13, 
 and Daniel ii. 27; and they will here see what 
 they are to be accounted of, and in what com- 
 pany they are to be found ; and let them learn 
 to despise their equivocal and artful insinua- 
 tions, which are too frequently blended with 
 profanity; for is it not profanity in them to at- 
 tempt to palm their frauds upon mankind by 
 Scripture quotations, which they seldom fail to 
 do, especially Judges v. 20, and Job xxxviii. 
 31 1 neither of which teaches nor warrants 
 any such practice. Had Baruch or Deborah 
 consulted the stars 1 No such thing." — Ev. 
 Mug. p. 600. 
 
 This energy of feeling will be found occa- 
 sionally to meddle with, and disturb the ordi- 
 nary occupations and amusements of life, and 
 to raise up little qualms of conscience, which, 
 instead of exciting respect, border, we fear, 
 somewhat too closely upon the ludicrous. 
 
 A Methodist Footman. 
 " A gentleman's servant, who has left a good 
 place because he was ordered to deny his mas- 
 ter when actually at home, wishes something 
 on this subject may be introduced into this 
 work, that persons who are in the habit of 
 denying themselves in the above manner may 
 be convinced of its evil." — Ev. Mag. p. 72, 
 
 Doubts if it is right to take any interest for 
 money. 
 " Usury. — Sir, I beg the favour of you to in- 
 sert the following case of conscience. I fre- 
 quently find in Scripture, that Usury is parti- 
 cularly condemned; and it is represented as 
 the character of a good man, that ' he hath not 
 given forth upon usury, neither hath taken any 
 increase,' Ezek. xviii. 8, &c. I wish, there- 
 fore, to know how such passages are to be un- 
 derstood ; and whether the taking of interest 
 for money, as it is universally practised among 
 us, can be reconciled with the word and will 
 of God 1 Q."— £t>. Mag. p. 74. 
 
 Danang ill suited to a creature on trial for 
 eternity 
 "If dancing be a waste of time ; if the pre- 
 cious hours devoted to it may be better em- 
 ployed; if it be a species of trifling ill suited 
 to a creature on trial for eternity, and hasten- 
 ing towards it on the swift wings of time ; if it 
 be incompatible with genuine renentance, true 
 
 faith in Christ, supreme love to God, and a 
 state of genuine devotcdness to him, — then 
 is dancing a practice utterly opposed to the 
 whole spirit and temper of Christianity, and 
 subversive of the best interests of the rising 
 generation." — Meth. Mag. p. 127, 128. 
 
 The Methodists consider themselves as con- 
 stituting a chosen and separate people, living 
 in a land of atheists and voluptuaries. The 
 expressions by which they designate their own 
 sects, are the dear people — tlie elect — the people 
 of God. The rest of mankind are carnal peo- 
 ple, the people of this world, &c. &c. The chil- 
 dren of Israel were not more separated, through 
 the favour of God, from the Egyptians, than 
 the Methodists are, in their own estimation, 
 from the rest of mankind. We had hitherto 
 supposed that the disciples of the Established 
 churches in England and Scotland had been 
 Christians; and that, after baptism, duly per- 
 formed by the appointed minister, and partici- 
 pation in the customary worship of these two 
 churches, Christianity was the religion of 
 which they were to be considered as mem- 
 bers. We see, however, in these publications, 
 men of twenty or thirty years of age first called 
 to a knowledge of Christ under a sermon by the 
 Rev% Mr. Venn, — or first admitted into the 
 church of Christ under a sermon by the Rev. 
 Mr. Romaine. The apparent admission turns 
 out to have been a mere mockery; and the 
 pseudo-christian to have had no religion at all, 
 till the business was really and effectually done 
 under these sermons by Mr. Venn and Mr. 
 Romaine. 
 
 .'in aivftd and general departure from the Christian 
 Faith in the Church of England. 
 "A second volume of Mr. Cooper's sermons 
 is before us, stamped with the same broad seal 
 of truth and excellence as the former. Amidst 
 the awful and general departure from the faith, 
 as once delivered to the saints, in the Church 
 of England, and sealed by the blood of our 
 Reformers, it is pleasing to observe that there 
 is a remnant, according to the election of grace, 
 who continue rising up to testify the gospel of 
 the grace of God, and to call back their fellows 
 to the consideration of the great and leading 
 doctrines on which the Reformation was built, 
 and the Church of England by law established. 
 The author of these sermons, avoiding all 
 matters of more doubtful disputation, avowedly 
 attaches himself to the great fundamental 
 truths; and on the two substantial pillars, ihe 
 Jachin and Boaz of the living temple, erects 
 his superstructure. 1. Justification by faith, 
 without works, free and full, by grace alone, 
 through the redemption which is in Jesus 
 Christ, stands at the commencement of the 
 first volume ; and on its side rises in the beauty 
 of holiness," &c. — Ev. Mag. p. 79. 
 
 Mr. Robinson called to the knoidedge of Christ under 
 Mr. Venn's Sermon, 
 " Mr. Robinson was called in early life to the 
 knowledge of Christ, under a sermon at Su 
 Dunstan's, by the late Rev. Mr. Venn, from 
 Ezek. xxxvi. 25, 26 ; the remembrance of which 
 greatly refreshed his soul upon his death 
 bed."— £i7. Mag p. 176. 
 
 d2 
 
42 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 Christianity introduced into the Parish of Launlon, 
 near Bicester, in the year 1807. 
 
 "A very general spirit of inquiry having ap- 
 peared for some time in the village of Launton, 
 near Bicester, some serious persons were ex- 
 eited to communicate to them the word of life." 
 Ev. Mag. p. 380. 
 
 We learn in page 12S, Meth. Ma^., that twelve 
 months had elapsed from the time of Mrs. 
 Cocker's joining the people of God, before she 
 obtained a clear sense of forgiveness. 
 
 jl religious Hoy sets off every u-cek for Margate, 
 "Religious Passengers accommodated. — To the 
 Editor. — Sir, it afforded me considerable plea- 
 sure to see upon the cover of your Magazine 
 for the present month, an advertisement, an- 
 nouncing the establishment of a packet, to sail 
 ■weekly between London and Margate, during 
 the season ; which appears to have been set on 
 foot for the accommodation of religious cha- 
 racters; and in which 'no profane conversa- 
 tion is to be allowed.' 
 
 " To those among the followers of a crucified 
 Redeemer, who are in the habit of visiting the 
 Isle of Thanet in the summer, and who, for the 
 sea air, or from other circumstances, prefer 
 travelling by water, such a conveyance must 
 certainly be a desideratum, especially if they 
 have experienced a mortification similar to that 
 of the writer, in the course of the last summer, 
 when shut up in a cabin with a mixed multi- 
 tude, who spake almost all languages but that 
 of Canaan. Totally unconnected with the con- 
 cern, and personally a stranger to the worthy 
 owner, I take the liberty of recommending this 
 vessel to the notice of my fellow-Christians ; 
 persuaded that they will think themselves bound 
 to patronise and encourage an undertaking that 
 has the honour of the dear Redeemer for its 
 professed object. It ought ever to be remem- 
 bered, that every talent we possess, whether 
 large or small, is given us in trust to be laid 
 out for God ; — and I have often thought that 
 Christians act inconsistently with their high 
 profession, when they omit, even in their most 
 common and trivial expenditures, to give a 
 decided preference to the friends of their Lord. 
 I do not, however, anticipate any such ground 
 of complaint in this instance ; but rather believe 
 that the religious world in general will cheer- 
 fully unite with me, while I most cordially wish 
 success to the Princess of Wales Yacht, and 
 pray that she may ever sail under the divine 
 protection and blessing; — that the humble fol- 
 lowers of Him who spoke the storm into a 
 calm, when crossing the lake of Gennesareth, 
 may often feel their hearts glowing with sacred 
 ardour, while in her cabins they enjoy sweet 
 communion with their Lord and with each 
 other; — and that strangers, who may be provi- 
 dentially brought among them, may see so much 
 of the beauty and excellency of the religion of 
 Jesus exemplified in their conduct and conver- 
 sation, that they may be constrained to say, 
 ' We will go with you, for we perceive that 
 God is with you. — Your God shall be our God, 
 and his people shall henceforth be our chosen 
 companions and associates.' I am, Mr. Editor, 
 your obliged friend and sister in the gospel, 
 E T."— £i'. Mag, p. 268. 
 
 Ji religious newspaper is announced in the Ev, M. 
 for September. — It is said of common newspa- 
 pers, " That they are absorbed in temporal concerns, 
 while the consideration of those ivhich are eternal is 
 postponed; the business of this life has super- 
 seded the claims of immortality; and the 
 monarchs of. the world have engrossed an at- 
 tention which would have been more properly 
 devoted to the Saviour of the universe." It is 
 then stated, " that the columns of this paper 
 {The Instructor, price 6d.) will be supplied by 
 pious reflections; suitable comments to im- 
 prove the dispensations of Providence will be 
 introduced ; and the whole conducted with an 
 eye to our spiritual, as well as temporal, wel- 
 fare. The work will contain the latest news 
 up to four o'clock on the day of publication, 
 together with the most recent religious occur- 
 rences. The prices of stock, and correct 
 market-tables, will also be accurately detailed." 
 Ev. Mag. September Advertisement. The Eclectic 
 Review is also understood to be carried on upon 
 Methodistical principles. 
 
 Nothing can evince more strongly the influ- 
 ence which Methodism now exercises upon 
 common life, and the fast hold it has got of the 
 people, than the advertisements which are cir- 
 culated every month in these very singular 
 publications. On the cover of a single num- 
 ber, for example, we have the following: — 
 
 " Wanted, by Mr. Turner, shoemaker, a 
 steady apprentice ; he will have the privilege 
 of attending the ministry of the gospel ; — a 
 premium expected, p. 3. — Wanted, a serious 
 young woman, as servant of all work, 3. — 
 Wanted, a man of serious character, who can 
 shave, 3. — Wanted, a serious woman to assist 
 in a shop, 3. — A young person in the millinery 
 line wishes to be in a serious family, 4. — Wants 
 a place, a young man who has brewed in a se- 
 rious family, 4. — Ditto, a young woman of 
 evangelical principles, 4. — Wanted, an active 
 serious shopman, 5. — To be sold, an eligible 
 residence, with sixty acres of land; gospel 
 preached in three places within half a mile, 5. — 
 A single gentleman may be accommodated 
 with lodging in a small serious family, 5. — To 
 let, a genteel first floor in an airy situation near 
 the Tabernacle, 6. — Wanted, a governess, of 
 evangelical principles and corresponding cha- 
 racter, 10." 
 
 The religious vessel we have before spoken 
 of, is thus advertised : — 
 
 " The Princess of Wales Yacht, J. Chapman, 
 W. Bourn, master, by divine permission, will 
 leave Ralph's Quay every Friday, 11," &c.«&c. 
 —July Ev. Mag. 
 
 After the specimens we have given of these 
 people, any thing which is said of their activity 
 can very easily be credited. The army and 
 navy appear to be particular objects of their 
 attention. 
 
 "British Navy.—ll is with peculiar pleasure 
 we insert the following extract of a letter from 
 the pious chaplain of a man-of-wai", to a gen- 
 tleman at Gosport, intimating the power and 
 grace of God manifested towards our brave 
 seamen. " Off Cadiz, Nov. 26, 1806.— My dear 
 friend — A fleet for England found us in the 
 night, and is just going away. I have only to 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 43 
 
 tell you that the work of God seems to prosper. 
 Many are under convictions ;— sonne, I trust, 
 are converted. I preach every night, and am 
 obliged to have a private meeting afterwards 
 with those who wish to speak about their souls. 
 But my own health is suffering much, nor shall 
 I probably be able long to bear it. The ship is 
 like a tabernacle; and really there is much 
 
 external reformation. Capt. raises no 
 
 objeclion. I have near a hundred hearers 
 every night at six o'clock. How unworthy am 
 I !— Pray for us.' "—Ev. Mag. 84. 
 
 The Testimony of a profane Officer to the worth of 
 Pious Sailors. 
 "Mr. Editor — In the mouth of two or three 
 witnesses a truth shall be established. I re- 
 cently met with a pleasing confirmation of a 
 narrative, stated sometime since in your Maga- 
 zine. I was surprised by a visit from an old 
 acquaintance of mine the other day, who is 
 now an officer of rank in his Majesty's navy. 
 In the course of conversation, I was shocked 
 at the profane oaths that perpetually interrupted 
 his sentences; and took an opportunity to 
 express my regret that such language should 
 be so common among so valuable a body of 
 men. 'Sir,' said he, still interspersing many 
 solemn imprecations, 'an officer cannot live at 
 sea without swearing; — not one of my men 
 would mind a word without an oath ; it is com- 
 mon sea-language. If we were not to swear, 
 the rascals would take us for lubbers, stare in 
 our faces, and leave us to do our commands 
 ourselves. I never knew but one exception; 
 and that was extraordinary. I declare, believe 
 me 'lis true (suspecting that I might not credit 
 it), there was a set of fellows called Methodists, 
 on board the Victory, Lord Nelson's ship (to 
 be sure he was rather a religious man him- 
 self!), and those men never wanted swearing 
 at. The dogs were the best seamen on board. 
 Every man knew his duty, and every man did 
 his duty. They used to meet together and sing 
 hymns; and nobody dared molest them. The 
 commander would not have suffered it, had 
 they attempted it. They were allowed a mess 
 by themselves ; and never mixed with the other 
 men. I have often heard them singing away 
 myself; and 'tis true, I assure you, but not one 
 of them was either killed or wounded at the 
 battle of Trafalgar, though they did their duty 
 as well as any men. No, not one of the psalm- 
 einging gentry was even hurt; and there the 
 fellows are swimming away in the Bay of Bis- 
 cay at this very time, singing like the d . 
 
 They are now under a new commander; but 
 still are allowed the same privileges, and mess 
 by themselves. These were the only fellows 
 that ever I knew do their duty without swear- 
 ing; and I will do them the justice to say they 
 do it.' J. C."— £w. Mag. p. 119, 120. 
 
 These people are spread over the face of the 
 whole earth in the shape of missionaries. — 
 Upon the subject of missions we shall say very 
 little or nothing at present, because we reserve 
 it for another article in a subsequent Number. 
 But we cannot help remarking the magnitude 
 of the collections made in favour of the mis- 
 sionaries at the Methodistical chapels, when 
 compared with the collections for any common 
 
 object of charily in the orthodox churches and 
 chapels. 
 
 " Religious Trad Society.— K most satisfac- 
 tory report was presented by the committee ; 
 from which it appeared that, since the com- 
 mencement of the institution in the year 1799, 
 upwards of four millions of religious tracts 
 have been issued under the auspices of the 
 society; and that considerably more than one- 
 fourth of that number have been sold during 
 the last year."— £«. Mag. p. 284. 
 
 These tracts are dropped in villages by the 
 Methodists, and thus every chance for con- 
 version aflforded to the common people. There 
 is a proposal in one of the numbers of the 
 volumes before us, that travellers, for every 
 pound they spend on the road, should fling one 
 shilling's worth of these tracts out of the chaise 
 window; — thus taxing his pleasures at 5 per 
 cent, for the purposes of doing good. 
 
 "Every Christian who expects the protec- 
 tion and blessing of God ought to take with 
 him as many shillings' ivorth, at least, of 
 cheap ti-acts to throw on the road, and leave 
 at inns, as he takes out pounds to expend on 
 himself and family. This is really but a tri- 
 fling sacrifice. It is a highly reasonable one; 
 and one which God will accept."— £u. Mag. 
 p. 405. 
 
 It is part of their policy to have a great change 
 of Ministers. 
 
 " Same day, the Rev. W. Haward, from Hox- 
 ton Academy, was ordained over the Indepen- 
 dent church at Rendhara, Suffolk. Mr. Pic- 
 kles, of Walpole, began with prayer and read- 
 ing; Mr. Price, of Woodbridge, delivered the in- 
 troductory discourse, and asked the questions; 
 Mr. Dennant, of Halesworth, offered the ordi- 
 nation prayer ; Mr. Shufflebottom, of Bungay, 
 gave the charge from Acts xx. 28 ; Mr. Vincent, 
 of Deal, the general prayer; and Mr. Walford, 
 of Yarmouth, preached to the people from 
 2 Phil. ii. lG."~Ev. Mag. p. 429. 
 
 Chapels opened. — " Hambledon, Bucks, Sept. 
 22. — Eighteen months ago this parish was des 
 titute of the gospel ; the people have now one 
 of the Rev. G. Collison's students, the Rev. 
 Mr. Eastmead, settled among them. Mr. Eng- 
 lish, of Wooburn, and Mr. Frey, preached on 
 the occasion ; and Mr. Jones, of London, Mr. 
 Churchill, of Henley, Mr. Redford, of Windsor, 
 and Mr. Barratt, now of Petersfield, prayed." — 
 Ev. Mag. p. 533. 
 
 Methodism in his Majesty's ship To7mant — i 
 Letter from the Sail-maker. 
 " It is with great satisfaction that I can now 
 inform you God has deigned, in a yet greater 
 degree, to own the weak efforts of his servant 
 to turn many from Satan to himself. Many 
 are called here, as is plain to be seen by their 
 pensive looks and deep sighs. And if they 
 would be obedient to the heavenly call, in- 
 stead of grieving the Spirit of grace, I dare 
 say we should soon have near half the ship's 
 company brought to God. I doubt not, how- 
 ever, but, as I have cast my bread upon the 
 waters, it will be found after many days. Our 
 13 are now increased to upwards of 30. Surely 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 the Lord delighteth not in the death of him 
 that dieth."— Me^A. Mag. p. 188. 
 
 It appears, also, from p. 193, 3Ieth. Mag., 
 that the same principles prevail on board his 
 Majesty's ship Sea-horse, 44 guns. And in 
 one part of Evan. Mag. great hopes are enter- 
 tained of the 25th regiment. We believe this 
 is the number; but we quote this fact from 
 memory. 
 
 We must remember, in addition to these 
 trifling specimens of their active disposition, 
 that the Methodists have found a powerful 
 party in the House of Commons, who, by the 
 neutrality which they affect, and partly adhere 
 to, are courted both by ministers and opposi- 
 tion ; that they have gained complete posses- 
 sion of the India-House ; and under the pre- 
 tence, or perhaps with the serious intention 
 of educating young people for India, will take 
 care to introduce (as much as they dare with- 
 out provoking attention) their own particular 
 tenets. In fact, one thing must always be 
 taken for granted respecting these pebple, — 
 that wherever they gain a footing, or whatever 
 be the institutions to which they give birth, 
 proselytism will he their main object; every 
 thing else is a mere instrument — this is their 
 principal aim. When every proselyte is not 
 only an addition to their temporal power, but 
 when the act of conversion which gains a vote, 
 saves (as they suppose) a soul from destruc- 
 tion, — it is quite needless to state, that every 
 faculty of their minds will be dedicated to this 
 most important of all temporal and eternal 
 concerns. 
 
 Their attack upon the Church is not merely 
 confined to publications ; it is generally under- 
 stood that they have a very considerable fund 
 for the purchase of livings, to which, of course, 
 ministers of their own profession are always 
 presented. 
 
 Upon the foregoing facts, and upon the spi- 
 rit evinced by these extracts, we shall make a 
 few comments. 
 
 1. It is obvious that this description of 
 Christians entertain Very erroneous and dan- 
 gerous notions of the present judgments of 
 God. A belief that Providence interferes in all 
 the little actions of our lives, refers all merit 
 and demerit to bad and good fortune; and 
 causes the successful man to be always con- 
 sidered as a good man, and the unhappy man 
 as the object of divine vengeance. It fur- 
 nishes ignorant and designing men with a 
 l)ower which is sure to be abused : — the cry 
 of s. judgment, a. judgment, it is always easy 
 to make, but not easy to resist. It encourages 
 the grossest superstitions ; for if the Deity 
 rewards and punishes on every slight occa- 
 sion, it is quite impossible, but that such an 
 helpless being as man will set himself at work 
 to discover the will of Heaven in the appear- 
 ances of outward nature, to apply all the phe- 
 nomena of thunder, lightning, wind, and every 
 striking appearance to the regulation of his 
 conduct; as the poor Methodist, when he rode 
 into Piccadilly in a thunder storm, and ima- 
 gined that all the uproar of the elements was 
 a mere hint to him not to preach at Mr. Ro- 
 maine's chapel. Hence a great deal of error, 
 
 and a great deal of secret misery. This doc- 
 trine of a theocracy must necessarily place an 
 excessive power in the hands of the clergy: 
 it applies so instantly and so tremendously to 
 men's hopes and fears, that it must make the 
 priest omnipotent over the people, as it always 
 has done where it has been established. It 
 has a great tendency to check human exer- 
 tions, and to prevent the employment of those 
 secondary means of effecting an object which 
 Providence has placed in our power. The 
 doctrine of the immediate and perpetual inter- 
 ference of Divine providence is not true. If 
 two men travel the same road, the one to rob, 
 the other to relieve a fellow-creature who is 
 starving; will any but the most fanatic con- 
 tend that they do not both run the same chance 
 of falling over a stone and breaking their legs 1 
 and is it not matter of fact, that the robber 
 often returns safe, and the just man sustains 
 the injury 1 Have not the soundest divines, of 
 both churches, always urged this unequal dis- 
 tribution of good and evil, in the present state, 
 as one of the strongest natural arguments for 
 a future state of retribution 1 Have not they 
 contended, and well, and admirably contend- 
 ed, that the supposition of such a state is ab- 
 solutely necessary to our notion of the justice 
 of God, — absolutely necessary to restore order 
 to that moral confusion which we all observe 
 and deplore in the present world 1 The man 
 who places religion upon a false basis is the 
 greatest enemy to religion. If victory is al- 
 ways to the just and good, — how is the fortune 
 of impious conquerors to be accounted for] 
 Why do they erect dynasties and found fami- 
 lies Avhich last for centuries 1 The reflecting 
 mind Avhom you have instructed in this man- 
 ner, and for present effect only, naturally 
 comes upon you hereafter with difficulties of 
 this sort ; he finds he has been deceived ; and 
 you will soon discover that, in breeding up a 
 fanatic, you have unwittingly laid the founda- 
 tion of an atheist. The honest and the ortho- 
 dox method is to prepare young people for the 
 world as it actually exists ; to tell them that 
 they will often find vice perfectly successful, 
 virtue exposed to a long train of afflictions ; 
 that they must bear this patiently, and look to 
 another world for its rectification. 
 
 2. The second doctrine which it is necef> 
 sary to notice among the Methodists, is the 
 doctrine of inward impulse and emotions, 
 which, it is quite plain, must lead, if univer- 
 sally insisted upon, and preached among the 
 common people, to every species of folly and 
 enormity. When an human being believes 
 that his internal feelings are the monitions of 
 God, and that these monitions must govern his 
 conduct ; and when a great stress is purposely 
 laid upon these inward feelings in all the dis- 
 courses from the pulpit; it is impossible to 
 say to what a pitch of extravagance mankind 
 may not be carried, under the influence of 
 such dangerous doctrines. 
 
 3. The Methodists hate pleasure and amuse- 
 ments ; no theatre, no cards, no dancing, no 
 Punchinello, no dancing dogs, no blind fid- 
 dlers; — all the amusements of the rich and 
 of the poor must disappear wherever these 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 45 
 
 gloomy people get « footing. It is not the 
 abuse of pleasure which they attack, but the 
 interspersion of pleasure, however much it is 
 guarded by good sense and moderation ; — it is 
 not only wicked to hear the licentious plays 
 of Congreve, but wicked to hear Henry the 
 Vth, or the School for Scandal : — it is not only 
 dissipated to run about to all the parties in 
 London and Edinburgh, — hut dancing is 7iot 
 Jit for a being who is preparing liimself for 
 Eternity. Ennui, wretchedness, melancholj^ 
 groans and sighs, are the offerings which 
 these unhappy men make to a Deity Avho 
 has covered the earth with gay colours, and 
 scented it with rich perfumes *, and shown us, 
 by the plan and order of his works, that he 
 has given to man something better than a 
 bare existence, and scattered over his creation 
 a thousand superfluous joys, which are totally 
 unnecessary to the mere support of life. 
 
 4. The Methodists lay very little stress upon 
 practical righteousness. They do not say to 
 their people, do not be deceitful; do not be 
 idle ; get rid of your bad passions ; or at least 
 (if they do say these things) they say them 
 very seldom. ISTot that they preach faith with- 
 out works ; for if they told the people that they 
 might rob and murder with impunity, the civil 
 magistrate must be compelled to interfere with 
 such doctrine : — but they say a great deal 
 about faith, and very little about works. What 
 are commonly called the mysterious parts of 
 our religion, are brought into the foreground 
 much more than the doctrines which lead to 
 practice; — and this among the lowest of the 
 community. 
 
 The Methodists have hitherto been accused 
 of dissenting from the Church of England. 
 This, as far as it relates to mere subscription 
 to articles, is not true; but they difter in their 
 choice of the articles upon which they dilate 
 and expand, and to which they appear to give 
 a preference, from the stress which they place 
 upon them. There is nothing heretical in say- 
 ing, that God sometimes intervenes with his 
 special providence; but these people differ 
 from the Established Church, in the degree in 
 which they insist upon this doctiine. In the 
 hands of a man of sense and education, it is 
 a safe doctrine ; — in the management of the 
 Methodists, we have seen how ridiculous and 
 degrading it becomes. In the same manner, a 
 clergyman of the Church of England would 
 not do his duty, if he did not insist upon the 
 necessity of faith, as well as of good works; 
 but as he believes that it is much more easy to 
 give credit to doctrines than to live well, he 
 labours most in those points where human 
 nature is the most liable to prove defective. Be- 
 cause he does so, he is accused of giving up 
 the articles of his faith, by men Avho have 
 their partialities also in doctrine; but parties, 
 not founded upon the same sound discretion, 
 and knowledge of human nature. 
 
 5. The Methodists are always desirous of 
 making men more religious than it is possible, 
 from the constitution of human nature, to make 
 them. If they could succeed as much as they 
 wish to succeed, there would be at once an end 
 of delving and spinning, and of every exertion 
 of human industry. Men must eat, and drink, 
 
 and work; and if you wish to fix upon them 
 high and elevated notions, as the ordinary fur- 
 niture of their minds, you do these two things : 
 you drive men of warm temperaments mad, — 
 and you introduce in the rest of the world, a 
 low and shocking familiarity with words and 
 images, which every real friend to religion 
 would wish to keep sacred. The friends of the 
 dear Redeemer, who are in the habit of visiting 
 the Isle of Thanet — (as in the extract we have 
 quoted) — Is it possible that this mixture of the 
 most awful with the most familiar images, so 
 common among Methodists now, and with the 
 enthusiasts in the time of Cromwell, must not, 
 in the end, divest religion of all the deep and 
 solemn impressions which it is calculated to 
 produce 7 In a man of common imagination 
 (as Ave have before observed), the terror, and 
 the feeling which it first excited, must neces- 
 sarily be soon separated: but, where the fer- 
 vour of impression is long preserved, piety 
 ends in Bedlam. Accordingly, there is not a 
 mad-house in England, Avhere a considerable 
 part of the patients have not been driven to 
 insanity by the extravagance of these people. 
 We cannot enter such places without seeing 
 a number of honest artisans, covered with 
 blankets, and calling themselves angels and 
 apostles, who, if they had remained contented 
 with the instruction of men of learning and 
 education, would have been sound masters of 
 their own trade, sober Christians, and useful 
 members of society. 
 
 6. It is impossible not to observe how di- 
 rectly all the doctrine of the Methodists is cal- 
 culated to gain power among the poor and 
 ignorant. To say, that the Deity governs this 
 Avorld by general rules, and that we must wait 
 for another and a final scene of existence, be- 
 fore vice meets with its merited punishment, 
 and virtue with its merited reward; to preach 
 this up daily, would not add a single votary to 
 the Tabernacle, nor sell a Number of the 
 Methodistical Magazine : — but to publish an 
 account of a man who was cured of scrofula by 
 a single sermon — of Providence destroying the 
 innkeeper at Garstang for appointing a cock- 
 fight near the Tabernacle ; — this promptness 
 of judgment and immediate execution is so 
 much lilie human justice, and so much better 
 adapted to vulgar capacities, that the system 
 is at once admitted as soon as any one can be 
 found Avho is impudent or ignorant enough to 
 teach it; and being once admitted, it produces 
 too strong an effect upon the passions to be 
 easily relinquished. The case is the same 
 with the doctrine of inward impulse, or, as 
 they term it, experience. If you preach up 
 to ploughmen and artisans, that every singular 
 feeling Avhich comes across them is a visita- 
 tion of the Divine Spirit — can there be any 
 difiiculty, under the influence of this nonsense, 
 in converting these simple creatures into ac- 
 tive and mysterious fools, and making them 
 your slaves for life '? It is not possible to 
 raise up any dangerous enthusiasm, by telling 
 men to be just, and good, and charitable ; but 
 keep this part of Christianity out of sight — 
 and talk long and enthusiastically before igno- 
 rant people, of the mysteries of our religion, 
 and you will not fail to attract a crowd of fol 
 
46 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 lowers : — verily the Tabernacle loveth not that 
 which is simple, intelligible, and leadeth to 
 good sound practice. 
 
 Having endeavoured to point out the spirit 
 which pervades these people, we shall say a 
 few words upon the causes, the effects, and 
 the cure of this calamity. — The fanaticism so 
 prevalent in the present day, is one of those 
 evils from which society is never wholly ex- 
 empt ; but which bursts out at different periods, 
 with peculiar violence, and sometimes over- 
 whelms every thing in its course. The last 
 eruption took place about a century and a 
 half ago, and destroyed both Church and 
 Throne with its tremendous force. Though 
 irresistible, it was short; enthusiasm spent its 
 force — the usual reaction took place ; and 
 England was deluged with ribaldry and inde- 
 cency, because it had been worried with fana- 
 tical restrictions. By degrees, however, it was 
 found out that orthodoxy and loyalty might be 
 secured by other methods than licentious con- 
 duct and immodest conversation. The public 
 morals improved ; and there appeared as 
 much good sense and moderation upon the 
 subject of religion as ever can be expected 
 from mankind in large masses. Still, how- 
 ever, the mischief which the Puritans had 
 done was not forgotten ; a general suspicion 
 prevailed of the dangers of religious enthusi- 
 asm; and the fanatical preacher wanted his 
 accustomed power among a people recently 
 recovered from a religious war, and guarded 
 by songs, proverbs, popular stories, and the 
 general tide of humour and opinion, against 
 all excesses of that nature. About the middle 
 of the last centur)', however, the character of 
 the genuine fanatic was a good deal forgotten, 
 and the memory of the civil wars worn away; 
 the field was clear for extravagance in piety; 
 and causes, which must always produce an 
 immense influence upon the mind of man, 
 were left to their own unimpeded operations. 
 Religion is so noble and powerful a consider- 
 ation — it is so buoyant and so insubmergi- 
 ble — that it may be made, by fanatics, to carry 
 with it any degree of error and of perilous 
 absurdity. In this instance Messrs. Whitefield 
 and Wesley happened to begin. They were 
 men of considerable talents ; they observed the 
 common decorums of life ; they did not run 
 naked into the streets, or pretend to the pro- 
 phetical character; — and therefore they were 
 not committed to Newgate. They preached 
 with great energy to weak people ; who first 
 stared — then listened — then believed — then felt 
 the inward feeling of grace, and became as 
 foolish as their teachers could possibly wish 
 them to be ; — in short, folly ran its ancient 
 course, — and human nature evinced itself to 
 be what it always has been under similar cir- 
 cumstances. The great and permanent cause, 
 therefore, of the increase of- Methodism, is the 
 cause which has given birth to fanaticism in 
 all ages, — the facility nf mingling human errors 
 with the fundamental truths of religion. The 
 formerly imperfect residence of the clergy 
 may, perhaps, in some trifling degree, have 
 aided this source of Methodism. But unless 
 a man of education, and a gentleman, could 
 stoop to such disingenuous arts as the Metho- 
 
 dist preachers, unless he hears heavenly musia 
 all of a sudden, and enjoys sweet experiences, — 
 it is quite impossible that he can contend 
 against such artists as these. More active 
 than they are at present the clergy might per- 
 haps be : but the calmness and moderation of 
 an Establishment can never possibly be a 
 match for sectarian activity. — If the common 
 people are emiui'd with the fine acting of Mrs. 
 Siddons, they go to Sadler's Wells. The sub- 
 ject is too serious for ludicrous comparisons : 
 — but the Tabernacle really is to the Church, 
 what Sadler's Wells is to the Drama. There 
 popularity is gained by vaulting and tumbling, 
 — by low arts, which the regular clergy are 
 not too idle to have recourse to, but too digni- 
 fied: their institutions are chaste and severe, — 
 they endeavour to do that which, upon the 
 whole, and for a great 7iumber of years, will be 
 found to be the most admirable and the most 
 useful : it is no part of their plan to descend 
 to small artifices for the sake of present popu- 
 larity and effrct. The religion of the common 
 people undei the government of the Church 
 may remain as it is for ever; — enthusiasm 
 must be progressive, or it will expire. 
 
 It is probable that the dreadful scenes 
 which have lately been acted in the world, and 
 the dangers to which we are exposed, have 
 increased the numbers of the Methodists. To 
 what degree will Methodism extend in this 
 country 1 — This question is not easy to an- 
 swer. That it has rapidly increased within 
 these few j'ears, we have no manner of doubt ; 
 and we confess we cannot see what is likelv 
 to impede its progress. The party which it 
 has formed in the legislature ; and the artful 
 neutrality with which they give respectability 
 to their small number, the talents of some of 
 this party, and the unimpeached excellence of 
 their characters, all make it probable that 
 fanaticism w'ill increase rather than diminish. 
 The Methodists have made an alarming inroad 
 into the Church, and they are attacking the 
 army and navy. The principality of Wales, 
 and the East India Company, they have already 
 acquired. All mines and subterraneous places 
 belong to them ; they creep into hospitals and 
 small schools, and so work their way upwards. 
 It is the custom of the religious neutrals to beg 
 all the little livings, particularly in the north 
 of England, from the minister for the time 
 being; and from these fixed points they make 
 incursions upon the happiness and common 
 sense of the vicinage. We most sincerely 
 deprecate such an event; but it will excite in 
 us no manner of surprise, if a period arrives 
 when the churches of the sober and orthodox 
 part of the English clergy are completely de- 
 serted by the middling and lower classes of 
 the communit)% We do not prophesy any 
 such event ; but we contend that it is not im- 
 possible, — hardly improbable. If such, in fu- 
 ture, should be the situation of this country, it 
 is impossible to say what political animosities 
 may not be ingrafted upon this marked and 
 dangerous division of mankind into the godly 
 and the ungodly. At all events, we are quite 
 sure that happiness will be destroyed, reason 
 degraded, sound religion banished from the 
 world ; and that when fanaticism becomes too 
 
WORKS OF THE HEy. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 *7 
 
 foolish and too prurient to be endured, (as is 
 at last sure to be the case,) it will be suc- 
 ceeded by a long period of the grossest immo- 
 rality, atheism, and debauchery. 
 
 We are not sure that this evil admits of any 
 cure, — or of any considerable palliation. We 
 most sincerely hope that the government of 
 this country will never be guilty of such in- 
 discretion as to tamper with the Toleration 
 Act, or to attempt to put down these follies by 
 the intervention of the law. If experience has 
 taught us any thing, it is the absurdity of con- 
 trolling men's notions of eternity by acts of 
 Parliament. Something may perhaps be 
 done, in the way of ridicule, towards turning 
 the popular opinion. It may be as well to ex- 
 tend the privileges of the dissenters to the 
 members of the Church of England; for, as the 
 law noAV stands, any man who dissents from 
 the established church may open a place of 
 worship where he pleases. No orthodox cler- 
 gyman can do so, without the consent of the 
 parson of the parish, — who always refuses, 
 because he does not choose to have his mono- 
 poly disturbed; and refuses in parishes where 
 there are not accommodations for one half of 
 the persons who wish to frequent the Church 
 of England, and in instances where he knows 
 that the chapels from which he excludes the 
 established worship will be immediately oc- 
 
 cupied by sectaries. It may be as well to en- 
 courage in the early education of the clergy, 
 as Mr. Ingram recommends, a better and more 
 animated method of preaching; and it may be 
 necessary, hereafter, if the evil gets to a great 
 height, to relax the articles of the English 
 Church, and to admit a greater variety of 
 Christians within the pale. The greatest and 
 best of all remedies is perhaps the education 
 of the poor ; — we are astonished, that the Es- 
 tablished Church of England is not awake to 
 this mean of arresting the progress of Method- 
 ism. Of course, none of these things will be 
 done; nor is it clear, if they were done, they 
 would do much good. Whatever happens, we 
 are for common sense and orthodoxy. Inso- 
 lence, servile politics, and the spirit of perse- 
 cution, we condemn and attack, whenever we 
 observe them ; — but to the learning, the mode- 
 ration, and the rational piety of the Establish- 
 ment, we most earnestly wish a decided vic- 
 tory over the nonsense, the melancholy, and 
 the madness of the Tabernacle.* 
 
 God send that our wishes be not in vain. 
 
 * There is one circumstance to which we have neglect- 
 ed to advert in the proper place, — the dreadful pillage of 
 the earnings of the poor which is made by the Methodists. 
 A case is mentioned in one of the Numbers of these two 
 magazines for 1807, of a poor man with a family, earn- 
 ing only twenty-eight shillines a week, who has made 
 two donations of ten guineas each to the missionary fund I 
 
WO^<:S OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 INDIAN MISSIONS. 
 
 (Edinburgh Review, 
 
 At two o'clock in the morning, July the 10th, 
 1806, the European barracks, at Vellore, con- 
 taining then four complete companies of the 
 69th regiment, were surrounded by two battal- 
 ions of Sepoys in the Company's service, who 
 poured in an heavy fire of musketry, at every 
 door and window, upon the soldiers : at the 
 same time the European sentries, the soldiers 
 at the main-guard, and the sick in the hospital, 
 were put to death; the officers' houses were 
 ransacked, and every body found in them mur- 
 dered. Upon the arrival of the 19th Light 
 Dragoons under Colonel Gillespie, the Sepoys 
 •were immediately attacked ; 600 cut down upon 
 the spot; and 200 taken from their hiding 
 places, and shot. There perished, of the four 
 European companies, about 164, besides offi- 
 cers ; and many British officers of the native 
 troops were murdered by the insurgents. 
 
 Subsequent to this explosion, there was a 
 mutiny at Nundydroog ; and, in one day, 450 
 Mahomedan Sepoys were disarmed, and turned 
 out of the fort, on the ground of an intended 
 massacre. It appeared, also, from the infor- 
 mation of the commanding officer at Tritchi- 
 nopoly, that, at that period, a spirit of disaffec- 
 tion had manifested itself at Bangalore, and 
 other places; and seemed to gain ground in 
 every direction. On the 3d of December, 1806, 
 the government of Madras issued the follow- 
 ing proclamation : — 
 
 "A Proclamation. — The Right Hon. the 
 Governor in Council, having observed that, in 
 some late instances, an extraordinary degree 
 of agitation has prevailed among several 
 corps of the native army of this coast, it has 
 been his Lordship's particular endeavour to 
 ascertain the motives which may have led to 
 conduct so different from that which formerly 
 distinguished the native army. From this 
 inquiry, it has appeared that many persons of 
 evil intention have endeavoured, for malicious 
 purposes, to impress upon the native troops a 
 belief that it is the wish of the British govern- 
 
 * Considerations on the Policy of communicating the 
 Knowledge of Christianity to the J^atives in India. By 
 a late Resident in Bengal. London. Hatchard, 1807. 
 
 An Address to the Chairman of the East India Com- 
 pany occasioned by Mr. Twining's Letter to that Gentle- 
 man. By the Rev. John Owen. London. Hatchard. 
 
 A Letter to the Chairman of the East India Company, 
 on the Danger of interfering in the religious Opinions of 
 the JVatives of India. By Thomas Twining. London. 
 Uidgevvay. 
 
 Vindication of the Hindoos. By a Bengal Officer. 
 London. Rodwell. 
 
 Letter to John Scott Waring. London. HatcViard. 
 
 Cunningham's Christianity in India. London. Hatch- 
 ard. 
 
 Ansicer to Major Scott Waring. Extracted from the 
 Christian Observer. 
 
 Observations on the Present State of the East IndiO, 
 Company. By Major Scott Waring. Ridgeway. Lon- 
 don. 
 
 ment to convert them by forcible means to 
 Christianity; and his Lordship in Council has 
 observed with concern, that such malicious 
 reports have been believed by many of the 
 native troops. 
 
 "The Right Hon. the Governor in Council, 
 therefore, deems it proper', in this public man- 
 ner, to repeat to the native troops his assur- 
 ance, that the same respect which has been 
 invariably shown by the British government 
 for their religion and for their customs, will be 
 always continued; and that no interruption 
 will be given to any native, whether Hindoo 
 or Mussulman, in the practice of his religious 
 ceremonies. 
 
 "His Lordship in Council desires that the 
 native troops will not give belief to the idle 
 rumours which are circulated by enemies of 
 their happiness, who endeavour, with the basest 
 designs, to weaken the confidence of the troops 
 in the British government. His Lordship in 
 Council desires that the native troops will te- 
 member the constant attention and humanity 
 which have been shown by the British govern- 
 ment, in providing for their comfort, by aug- 
 menting the pay of the native officers and 
 Sepoys ; by allowing liberal pensions to those 
 who have done their duty faithfully; by mak- 
 ing ample provisions for the families of those 
 who may have died in battle ; and by receiving 
 their children into the service of the Honour- 
 able Compan)', to be treated with the same care 
 and bounty as their fathers had experienced. 
 
 "The Right Hon. the Governor in Council 
 trusts, that the native troops, remembering 
 these circumstances, will be sensible of the 
 happiness of their situation, which is greater 
 than what the troops of any other part of the 
 woi'ld enjoy; and that they will continue to 
 observe the same good conduct for which they 
 were distinguished in the days of Gen. Law- 
 rence, of Srr Eyre Coote, and of other renowned 
 heroes. 
 
 " The native troops must at the same time 
 be sensible, that if they should fail in the duties 
 of their allegiance, and should show themselves 
 disobedient to their officers, their conduct will 
 not fail to receive merited punishment, as the 
 British government is not less prepared to 
 punish the guilty, than to protect and distin- 
 guish those who are deserving of its favour. 
 
 "It is directed that this paper be translated 
 with care into the Tamul, Telinga, and Hin- 
 doostany languages; and that copies of it be 
 circulated to each native battalion, of which 
 the European officers are enjoined and ordered 
 to be careful in making it known to every na- 
 tive officer and Sepoy under his command. 
 
 " It is also directed, that copies of the paper 
 be circulated to all the magistrates and collect- 
 ors under this government, for the purpose of 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 49 
 
 being fully understood in all parts of the 
 country. 
 
 " Published by order of the Right Hon. the 
 Governor in Council. 
 
 " G. BucHAjr, Chief Secretary to Government. 
 ''Dated in Fort St. George, 3rf Dec. 1806." 
 
 Scott Waring's Preface, iii — v. 
 
 So late as March 1807, three months after 
 the date of this proclamation, so universal was 
 the dread of a general revoU among the native 
 troops, that the British officers attached to the 
 native troops constantly slept with loaded pis- 
 tols under their pillows. 
 
 It appears that an attempt had been made 
 by the military men at Madras, to change the 
 shape of the Sepoy turban into something 
 resembling the helmet of the light infantry of 
 Europe, and to prevent the native troops from 
 wearing, on their foreheads, the mari<s cha- 
 racteristic of their various castes. The sons 
 of the late Tippoo, with many noble Mussul- 
 men deprived of office at that time, resided in 
 the fortress of Yellore, and in all probability 
 contributed very materially to excite, or to 
 inflame those suspicions of design against 
 their religion, which are mentioned in the pro- 
 clamation of the Madras government, and 
 generally known to have been a principal 
 cause of the insurrection at Yellore. It was 
 this insurrection which first gave birth to the 
 question upon missions to India; and before 
 we deliver any opinion upon the subject itself, 
 it will be necessary to state what had been 
 done in former periods towards disseminating 
 the truths of the gospel in India, and what new 
 exertions had been made about the period at 
 which this event took place. 
 
 More than a century has elapsed since the 
 first Protestant missionaries appeared in India. 
 Two young divines, selected by the University 
 of Halle, were sent out in this capacity by the 
 king of Denmark, and arrived at the Danish 
 settlement of Tranquebar in 1706. The mis- 
 sion thus begun, has been ever since continued, 
 and has been assisted by the Society for the 
 Promotion of Christian Knowledge established 
 in this country. The same Society has, for 
 many years, employed German missionaries, 
 of the Lutheran persuasion, for propagating the 
 doctrines of Christianity among the natives of 
 India. In 1799, their number was six; it is 
 now reduced to five. 
 
 The Scriptures translated into the Tamulic 
 language, which is vernacular in the southern 
 parts of the peninsula, have, for more than 
 "half a century, been printed at the Tranquebar 
 press, for the use of Danish missionaries and 
 their converts. A printing press, indeed, was 
 established at that place by the two first Danish 
 missionaries ; and, in 1714, the Gospel of St. 
 Matthew, translated into the dialect of Malabar, 
 was printed there. Not a line of the Scriptures, 
 in any of the languages current on the coast, 
 had issued from the Bengal press on September 
 13, 1806. 
 
 It does appear, however, about the period of 
 the mutiny at Yellore, and a few years previous 
 to it, that the number of the missionaries on 
 the coast had been increased. In 1804, the 
 Missionary Society, a recent institution, sent a 
 new mission to the coast of Coromandel ; from 
 
 whose papers, we think it right to lay before 
 our readers the following extracts.* 
 
 " March 3lst, 1805.— Waited on A. B. He 
 says. Government see7ns to be very willing to for- 
 ward our views. We may stay at Madras as 
 long as we please ; and when we intend to go 
 into the country, on our application to the 
 governor by letter, he would issue orders for 
 granting us passports, which would supersede 
 the necessity of a public petition. — Lord's 
 Day."— Trams, of Miss. Society, II. p. 365. 
 
 In a letter from Brother Ringletaube to Bro- 
 ther Cran, he thus expresses himself; — 
 
 " The passports Government has promised 
 you are so valuable, that I should not think a 
 journey too troublesome to obtain one for my- 
 self, if I could not get it through your inter- 
 ference In hopes that your application will 
 suffice to obtain one for me, I enclose -you my 
 Gravesend passport, that will give you the par- 
 ticulars concerning my person." — Trans, of 
 Miss. Society, II. p. 369. 
 
 They obtain their passports from Govern- 
 ment : and the plan and objects of their mis- 
 sion are printed, free of expense, at the Gov- 
 ernment press. 
 
 " 1805, June 27, Dr. sent for one of us 
 
 to consult with him on particular business. 
 He accordingly went. The Doctor told him, 
 that he had read the publications which the 
 brethren lately brought from England, and was 
 so much delighted with the report of the 
 Directors, that he wished 200 or more copies 
 of it were printed, together with an introduction, 
 giving an account of the rise and progress of 
 the Missionary Society, in order to be distri- 
 buted in the different settlements in India. He 
 offered to pnnt them at the Government press free 
 of e.rpcyise. On his return, we consulted with 
 our two brethren on the subject, and resolved 
 to accept the Doctor's favour. We have begua 
 to prepare it for the press." — Trans, of Miss. 
 Society, II. p. 394. 
 
 In page 89th of the 18th Number, Vol. IH., 
 the Missionaries write thus to the Society ia 
 London, about a fortnight before the massacre 
 at Yellore. 
 
 "Every encouragement is offered us by the 
 established government of the country. Hi- 
 therto they have granted us every request, 
 whether solicited by ourselves or others. "Their 
 permission to come to this place ; their allow- 
 ing us an acknowledgment for preaching in the 
 fort, which sanctions us in our work ; together 
 with the grant which they have lately given us 
 to hold a large spot of ground every way suited 
 for missionary labours, are objects of the last 
 importance, and remove every impediment 
 which might be apprehended from this source. 
 We trust not to an arm of flesh ; but when we 
 reflect on these things, we cannot but behold 
 the loving kindness of the Lord." 
 
 * There are six societies in England for converting 
 Heathens to the Christian religion. 1. Society for Jl/ja- 
 sions to Africa and tfie East ; of which Messrs. ^Vilber- 
 force, Grant, Parry, and Thorntons, are the principal 
 encouragers. 2. Methodist Society for Missions. 3. 
 Anabaptist Society for Missions. 4. Missionary Soci- 
 ety. 5. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. 
 6. Moravian Missions. They all publish their proceed- 
 ings. ^ 
 
50 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 In a letter of the same date, we learn, from 
 Brother Ringletaube. the following fact :— 
 
 "The Dewan ot Travancore sent me word, 
 that if I despatched one of our Christians to 
 him, he would give me leave to build a church 
 at Magilandy. Accordingly, I shall send in a 
 short time. For this important service, our 
 
 society is indebted alone to Colonel , 
 
 without whose determined and fearless interposition, 
 none of their missionaries would have been able to 
 set afoot in that country." 
 
 In page 381, Vol. II., Dr. Kerr, one of the 
 chaplains on the Madras establishment, bap- 
 tizes a Mussulman who had applied to him for 
 that purpose; upon the first application, it 
 appears that Dr. Kerr hesitated; but upon the 
 Mussulman threatening to rise against him on 
 the day of judgment. Dr. Kerr complies. 
 
 It appears that in the Tinevelly district, 
 about a year before the massacre of Vellore, 
 .not only riots, but very serious persecutions of 
 the converted natives had taken place, from 
 the jealousy evinced by the Hindoos and Mus- 
 sulmen at the progress of the gospel. 
 
 " ' Rev. Sir, — I thought you sufficiently ac- 
 quainted with the late vexations of the Chris- 
 tians in those parts, arising from the blind zeal 
 of the Heathens and Mahometans ; the latter 
 viewing with a jealous eye the progress of the 
 gospel, and trying to destroy, or at least to clog 
 it, by all the crafty means in their power. I 
 therefore did not choose to trouble you ; but as 
 no slop has been put to these grievances, things 
 go on from bad to worse, as you will see from 
 what has happened at Hickadoe. The Catechist 
 has providentially escaped from that outra- 
 geous attempt, by the assistance of ten or 
 twelve of our Christians, and has made good 
 his flight to Palamcotta ; wliilst the exasperated 
 mob, coming from Padeckepalloe, hovered 
 round the village, plundering the houses of the 
 Christians, and ill-treating their families, by 
 kicking, flogging, and other bad usage; these 
 monsters not even forbearing to attack, strip, 
 rob, and miserably beat the Catechist Jesuadian, 
 who, partly from illness and partly through 
 fear, had shut himself up in his house. I have 
 heard various accounts of this sad event; but 
 yesterday the Catechist himself called on me, 
 and told me the truth of it. From what he 
 says, it is plain that the Manikar of Wayrom 
 (a Black peace-officer oi that place) has con- 
 jrived the whole affair, with a view to vex the 
 Christians. I doubt not that these facts have 
 been reported to the Rev. Mr. K. by the country- 
 priest; and if I mention them to you, it is with 
 a view to show in what a forlorn state the poor 
 Christians hereabout are, and how desirable 
 a thing it would be, if the Rev. Mr. Ringle- 
 taube were to come hither as soon as possible ; 
 then tranquillity would be restored, and future 
 molestations prevented. I request you to com- 
 municate this letter to him with my compli- 
 ments. I am, sir, &c. Manapaar, June 8, 1805.' 
 
 " This letter left a deep impression on my 
 mind, especially when I received a fuller ac- 
 count of the troubles of the Christians. By the 
 Black underlings of the Collectors, they are 
 frequently driven from their homes, put in the 
 stocks, and exposed foe a fortnight together to 
 
 the heat of the raging sun, and the chilling 
 dews of the night, all because there is no 
 European Missionary to bring their ccinplaints 
 to the ear of Government, who, I am liappy to 
 add, have never been deficient in their duty of 
 procuring redress, where the Christians have 
 had to complain of real injuries. One of the 
 most trying cases, mentioned in a postscript of 
 the above letter, is that of Christians being 
 flogged till they consent to hold the torches to 
 the Heathen idols. The letter says ' the Cat- 
 echist of Collesigrapatuam has informed me, 
 that the above Manikar has forced a Christian, 
 of the Villally caste, who attends at our church, 
 to sweep the temple of the idol. A severe flog- 
 ging was given on this occasion.' — From such 
 facts, the postscript continues, ' You may 
 guess at the deplorable situation of our fellow- 
 believers, as long as every Manikar thinks he 
 has a right to do them what violence he 
 pleases.' 
 
 " It must be observed, to the glory of the Sa- 
 viour who is strong in weakness, that many of 
 the Neophytes in that district have withstood 
 all these fiery trials with firmness. Many also, 
 it is to be lamented, have fallen off in the evil 
 day, and at least so far yielded to the importu- 
 nity of their persecutors, as again to daub 
 their faces with paint and ashes, after the man- 
 ner of the Heathen. How great this falling 
 ofl' has been I am not yet able to judge. But 
 I am happy to add, that the Board of Revenue 
 has issued the strictest orders against all un- 
 provoked persecution." — Trans.of Miss. Society, 
 11.431, 433. 
 
 The following quotations evince how far from 
 indifferent the natives are to the progress of 
 the Christian religion in the East. 
 
 " 1805. Oct. 10 A respectable Brahmin in 
 
 the Company's employ called on us. We endea- 
 voured to point out to him the important object 
 of our coming to India, and mentioned some 
 of the great and glorious truths of the gospel, 
 which we wished to impart in the native lan- 
 guage. He seemed much hurt, and told us 
 the Gentoo religion was of a divine origin as 
 well as the Christian ; — that heaven was like 
 a palace which had many doors, at which peo- 
 ple may enter ; — that variety is pleasing to God, 
 &c. — and a number of other arguments which 
 we hear every day. On taking leave, he said, 
 ' the Company has got the country, (for the 
 English are very clever,) and, perhaps, they 
 may succeed in depriving the Brahmins of 
 their power, and let you have it.' " 
 
 ^^ November IQth. Received a letter from the 
 Rev. Dr. Taylor; we are happy to find he is 
 safely arrived at Calcutta, and that our Baptist 
 brethren are labouring with increasing success. 
 The natives around us are astonished to hear 
 this news. It is bad news to the Brahmins, 
 who seem unable to account for it ; they say 
 the world is going to ruin." — Trans, of Miss. So- 
 ciety, 11. 422 & 426. 
 
 " Wliile living in the town, our house was 
 watched by the natives from morning to night, 
 to see if any person came to converse about 
 religion. This prevented many from coming 
 who have been very desirous of hearing of 
 the s:ood way." — Trans, of Miss. Society, No. 16, 
 p. 87. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 61 
 
 "If Heathen, of great influence and connec- 
 tions, or Brahmins, were inclined to join the 
 Christian church, it would probably cause 
 commotions and even rebellions, either to pre- 
 vent them from it, or to endanger their life. In 
 former years, we had some instances of this 
 kind at Tranquebar ; where they were protect- 
 ed by the assistance of government. If such 
 instances should happen now in our present 
 times, we don't know what the consequence 
 would he"— Trans, of Miss. Society, U. 185. 
 
 This last extract is contained in a letter from 
 Danish Missionaries at Tranquebar, to the 
 Directors of the Missionary Society at London. 
 
 It is hardly fair to contend, after these ex- 
 tracts, that no symptoms of jealousy upon the 
 subject of religion had been evinced on the 
 coast, except in the case of the insurrection at 
 Vellore ; or that no greater activity than com- 
 mon had prevailed among the missionaries. 
 We are very far, however, from attributing that 
 insurrection exclusively, or even principally, 
 to any apprehensions from the zeal of the mis- 
 sionaries. The rumor of that zeal might pro- 
 bably have more readily disposed the minds of 
 the troops for the corrupt influence exercised 
 upon them ; but we have no doubt that the 
 massacre was principally owing to the adroit 
 use made by the sons of Tippoo, and the high 
 Mussulmen living in the fortress, of the abomi- 
 nable military foppery of our people. 
 
 After this short sketch of what has been 
 lately passing on the coast, we shall attempt to 
 give a similar account of the missionary pro- 
 ceedings in Bengal ; and it appears to us, it 
 will be more satisfactory to do so as much as 
 possible in the words of the missionaries them- 
 selves. In our extracts from their publications, 
 we shall endeavour to show the character and 
 style of the men employed in these missions, 
 the extent of their success, or rather of their 
 failure, and the general impression made upon 
 the people by their efforts for the dissemination 
 of the gospel. 
 
 It will be necessary to premise, that the mis- 
 sions in Bengal, of which the public have 
 heard so much of late years, are the mis- 
 sions of Anabaptist dissenters, whose peculiar 
 and distinguishing tenet it is, to baptize the 
 members of their church by plunging them 
 into the water when they are grown up, instead 
 of sprinkling them with water when they are 
 young. Among the subscribers to this society, 
 we perceive the respectable name of the De- 
 puty Chairman of the East India Company, 
 ^who, in the common routine of office, will suc- 
 ceed to the chair of that Company at the en- 
 suing election. The Chairman and Deputy 
 Chairman of the East India Company, are also 
 both of them trustees to another religious so- 
 ciety for 7nissio)is to Jfrica and the East. 
 
 The first number of the Anabaptist Missions 
 informs us that the origin of the societv will be 
 found in the ivorkings of Brother Carey's mind, 
 whose heart appears to have been set upon the con- 
 version of the Heathen in 1786, before he came to re- 
 side at Moullon. (No. I. p. 1.) These workings 
 produced a sermon at Northampton, and the 
 sermon a subscription to convert 420 millions 
 of Pagans. Of the subscription we have the 
 following account: "Information has come 
 
 from Brother Carey that a. gentleman from 
 Northumberland had promised to send him 30i. 
 for the Society, and to subscribe four guineas 
 annually." 
 
 " At this meeting at Northampton two other 
 friends subscribed, and paid two guineas apiece, 
 two more one guinea each, and another half a 
 guinea, making six guineas and a half in all. 
 And such members as were present of the first 
 subscribers, paid their subscriptions into the 
 hands of the treasurer; who proposed to put 
 the sum now received into the hands of a 
 banker, who will pay interest for the same." 
 —Dapt. Mis. Soc. No. I. p. 5. 
 
 In their first proceedings they are a good deal 
 guided by Brother Thomas, who has been in 
 Bengal before, and who lays before the Society 
 an history of his life and adventures, from 
 which we make the following extract: — 
 
 " On my arrival in Calcutta, I sought for re- 
 ligious people, but found none. At last, how 
 was I rejoiced to hear that a very religious 
 man was coming to dine with me at a house ia 
 Calcutta ; a man who would not omit his closet 
 hours, of a morning or evening, at sea or on land, 
 for all the world. I concealed my impatience 
 as well as I could, till the joyful moment came: 
 and a moment it was, for t soon heard him take 
 the Lord's name in vain, and it was like a cold 
 dagger, with which I received repeated stabs 
 in the coarse of half an hour's conversation; 
 and he was ready to kick me when I spoke of 
 some things commonly believed by other hypo- 
 crites, concerning our Lord Jesus Christ; and 
 with fury put an end to our conversation, by 
 saying I was a mad enthusiast, to suppose that 
 Jesus Christ had any thing to do in the creation 
 of the world, who was born only seventeen 
 hundred years ago. When I returned, he went 
 home in the same ship, and I found him a . 
 strict observer of devotional hours, but an 
 enemy to all religion, and horribly loose, vain, 
 and intemperate in his life and conversation. 
 
 "After this / advertised for a Christian; and 
 that I may not be misunderstood, I shall sub- 
 join a copy of the advertisement, from the 
 Indian Gazette of November 1, 1783, which 
 now lies before me." — Bapt. Mis. Soc. No. I. p. 
 14, 15. 
 
 Brother Thomas relates the Conversion of a» 
 Hindoo on the Malabar Coast to the Society. 
 "A certain man, on the Malabar coast, had 
 inquired of various devotees and priests, how 
 he might make atonement for his sins; and at 
 last he was directed to drive iron spikes, suf- 
 ficiently blunted, through his sandals, and on 
 these spikes he was to place his naked feet, 
 and walk (if I mistake not) 250 coss, that is 
 about 480 miles. If, through loss of blood, or 
 weakness of body, he was obliged to halt, he 
 might wait for healing and strength. He un- 
 dertook the journey; and while he halted under 
 a large shady tree where the gospel was some- 
 times preached, one of the missionaries came, 
 and preached in his hearing from these words, 
 The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin. 
 While he was preaching, the man rose up, 
 threw off his torturing sandals, and cried out 
 aloud, ' This is lohat I want!' " — Bapt. Mis. Soc 
 No. I. p. 29. 
 
52 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 On June 13, 1793, the missionaries set sail, 
 carrying with them letters to three supposed 
 converts of Brother Thomas, Parbotee, Ram 
 Ram Boshoo, and Mohun Chund. Upon their 
 arrival in India, they found, to their inexpres- 
 sible mortification, that Ram Ram had relapsed 
 into paganism: and we shall present our 
 readers with a picture of the present and 
 worldly misery to which an Hindoo is subject- 
 ed, who becomes a convert to the Christian re- 
 ligion. Every body knows that the population 
 of Hindostan is divided into castes, or classes 
 of persons ; and that when a man loses his 
 caste, he is shunned by his wife, children, 
 friends, and relations ; that it is considered as 
 an abomination to lodge or eat with him ; and 
 that he is a wanderer and an outcast upon the 
 earth. Caste can be lost by a variety of means, 
 and the Protestant missionaries have always 
 made the loss of it a previous requisite to ad- 
 mission into the Christian church. 
 
 "On our arrival at Calcutta, we found poor 
 Ram Boshoo waiting for us : but, to our great 
 grief, he has been bowing down to idols again. 
 When Mr. T. left India, he went from place to 
 place ; but, forsaken by the Hindoos, and ne- 
 glected by the Europeans, he was seized with 
 a flux and fever. In this state, he says, 'I had 
 nothing to support me or my family ; a relation 
 offered to save me from perishing for want of 
 necessaries, on condition of my bowing to the 
 idol; I knew that the Roman Catholic Chris- 
 tians worshipped idols ; I thought they might 
 be commanded to honour images in some part 
 of the Bible which I had not seen ; I hesitated, 
 and complied; but I love Christianity still.' " 
 — Bapl. Mis. Soc. Vol. I. p. 64, 65. 
 
 "Jan. 8, 1794. We thought to write to you 
 long before this, but our hearts have been bur- 
 thened with cares and sorrows. It was very 
 afflicting to hear of Ram Boshoo's great perse- 
 cution and fall. Deserted by Englishmen, and 
 persecuted by his own countrymen, he was 
 nigh unto death. The natives gathered in 
 bodies, and threw dust in the air as he passed 
 along the streets in Calcutta. At last one of 
 his relations offered him an asylum on condi- 
 tion of his bowin? down to their idols." — BajU. 
 Mis. Soc. Vol. I. p.^ 78. 
 
 Brother Carey^s Piety at Sea. 
 "Brother Carey, while very sea-sick, and 
 leaning over the ship to relieve his stomach 
 from that very oppressive complaint, said his 
 mind was even then filled with consolation in 
 contemplating the wonderful goodness of God." 
 —Ibid. p. 76. 
 
 Extracts from Brother Carey's and Brother Tho- 
 mas's Journals, at sea and by land. 
 
 « 179.*). June 16. Lord's Day. A little recovered 
 from my sickness ; met for prayer and exhorta- 
 tion in my cabin ; had a dispute with a French 
 deist." — Ibid. p. 15S. 
 
 " 30. Lord's Day. A pleasant and pro- 
 
 Utable day : our congregation composed of ten 
 persons." — Ibid. p. 159. 
 
 «' July 7. Another pleasant and profitable 
 Lord's day; our congregation increased with 
 one. Had much sweet enjoyment with God." — 
 Ibid. 
 
 " 1794. Jan. 26. Lord's Day. Found much 
 pleasure in reading Edwards' Sermon on the Jus- 
 tice of God in the damnation of Situiers." — lb. Tp. 165, 
 
 " jjpril 6. Had some sweetness to-day, espe- 
 cially in reading Edwards' Sermon." — Ibid. p. 
 171. 
 
 " June 8. This evening reached Bowlea, 
 where we lay to for the Sabbath. Felt thankful 
 that God had preserved us, and wondered at 
 his regard for so mean a creature. I was un- 
 able to wrestle with God in prayer for many of 
 my dear friends in England." — Ibid. p. 179. 
 
 " 16. This day I preached twice at 
 
 Malda, where Mr. Thomas met me. Had much 
 enjoyment ; and though our congregation did 
 not exceed sixteen, yet the pleasure I felt in 
 having my tongue once more set at liberty, I 
 can hardly describe. Was enabled to be faith- 
 ful, and felt & sweet affection for immortal 
 souls." — Ibid. p. 180. 
 
 " 1796. Feb. 6. I am now in my study; and 
 oh, it is a sweet place, because of the presence 
 of God with the vilest of men. It is at the top 
 of the house ; I have but one window in it." — 
 Ibid. p. 295. 
 
 " The work to which God has set his hand 
 will infallibl}' prosper. Christ has begun to 
 bombard this strong and ancient fortress, and 
 will assuredly carry it." — Bapt. Miss. Vol. I. p. 
 328. 
 
 " More missionaries I think absolutely neces- 
 sary to the support of the interest. Should any 
 natives join us, they would become outcast im- 
 mediately, and must be consequently supported 
 by us. The missionaries on the coast are to 
 this day obliged to provide for those who join 
 them, as I learn from a letter sent to brother 
 Thomas bv a son of one of the missionaries." 
 —Ibid. p. 334. 
 
 In the last extract our readers will perceive 
 a new difficulty attendant upon the progress of 
 Christianity in the East. The convert must 
 not only be subjected to degradation, but his 
 degradation is so complete, and his means of 
 providing for himself so entirely destroyed, 
 that he must be fed by his instructor. The 
 slightest success in Hindostan would eat up 
 the revenues of the East India Company. 
 
 Three )'ears after their arrival these zealous 
 and most active missionaries give the follow- 
 ing account of their success. 
 
 " I bless God, our prospect is considerably 
 brightened up, and our hopes are more en- 
 larged than at any period since the commence- 
 ment of the mission, owing to very pleasing 
 appearances of the gospel having been made 
 effectual to four poor labouring Mussulmen, 
 who have been setting their faces towards Zion 
 ever since the month of August last. I hope 
 their baptism will not be much longer deferred ; 
 and that might encourage Mohun Chund, Par- 
 bottee, and Cassi Naut (who last year appeared 
 to set out in the ways of God), to declare for 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, by an open profession 
 of their faith in him. Seven of the natives, jce 
 hope, are indeed converted." — Bapt. 3Iiss. Vol. I. 
 p. 345, 346. 
 Effects of Preaching to an Hindoo Congregation. 
 
 " I then told them, that if they could not tell 
 me, I would tell them,- and that God, who had 
 
WORKS OF THE KEV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 permitted the Hindoos to sink into a sea of 
 darkness, had at length commiserated them; 
 and sent me and my colleagues to preach life 
 to them. I then told them of Christ, his death, 
 his person, his love, his being the surety of 
 sinners, his power to save, &c., and exhorted 
 them earnestly and affectionately to come to 
 him. Effects were various; one man came 
 before I had well done, and wanted to sell 
 stockings to me."-^Bapl. Miss. Vol. I. p. 357. 
 
 Extracts from Journals. 
 ••After worship, I received notice that the 
 printing-press was just arrived at the Ghat from 
 Calcutta. Retired, and thanked God for fur- 
 nishmg us with a press." — Ibid. p. 469. 
 
 Success in the Sixth Year. 
 ""We lament that several who did run well 
 are now hindered. We have faint hopes of a 
 few, and pretty strong hopes of one or twc ; but 
 if I say more, it must either be a dull recital 
 of our journeying to one place or another to 
 preach the gospel, or something else relating 
 to ourselves, of which I ought to be the last to 
 speak."— /6irf. p. 488. 
 
 EXTKACTS FHOlVt Mr. WaHd's JoUn«fAL, A NEW 
 ANABAPTIST MlSSIGXART SENT OUT IN 1799. 
 
 3L: ]Vard admires the Captain, 
 " Several of our friends who have been sick 
 begin to look up. This evening we had a most 
 precious hour at prayer. Captain Wickes read 
 from the 12th verse of the 33d of Exodus, and 
 then joined in prayer. Our hearts were all 
 warmed. We shook hands with our dear 
 captain, and, in design, clasped him to our 
 bosoms." — Ibid. Vol. II. p. 2. 
 
 Mr. Ward is frightened by a Privateer. 
 " June 1 1. Held our conference this evening. 
 A vessel is still pursuing us, which the Cap- 
 tain believes to be a Frenchman. I feel some 
 alarm : considerable alarm. Oh Lord, be thou 
 our defender ! the vessel seems to gain upon 
 us. (Quarter past eleven at night.) There is 
 no doubt of the vessel being a French priva- 
 teer: when we changed our tack, she changed 
 hers. We have, since dark, changed into our 
 old course, so thai possibly we shall lose her. 
 Brethren G. and B. have engaged in prayer: 
 we have read Luther's psalm, and our minds 
 are pretty well composed. Our guns are all 
 loaded, and the captain seems very low. All 
 hands are at the guns, and the matches are 
 .lighted. I go to the end of the ship. I can 
 just see the vessel, though it is very foggy. A 
 ball whizzes over my head, and makes me 
 tremble. I go down, and go to prayer with our 
 friends." — Bapt. Miss. Vol. II. p. 3, 4. 
 
 Mr. Ward feels a regard for the Sailors. 
 "July 12. I never felt so much for any men 
 as for our sailors ; a tenderness which could 
 weep over them. Oh, Jesus ! let thy blood 
 cover some of them ! A sweet prayer meeting. 
 Verily God is here."— Ibid. p. 7. 
 
 Mr. Ward sees an American Vessel, and longs to 
 preach to the Sailors. 
 "Sept. 27. An American vessel is along-side, 
 
 and the captain is speaking to their captain 
 through his trumpet. How pleasant to talk to 
 a friend! I have been looking at them through 
 the glass ; the sailors sit in a group, and are 
 making iheir observations upon us. I long to 
 go and preach to them." — Ibid. p. 1 1 . 
 
 Feelings of the Natives upon hearing their Religion 
 attacked. 
 « 1800. Feb. 25. Brother C. had some con- 
 versation with one of the Mussulmen, who 
 asked, upon his denying the divine mission of 
 Mahommed, what was to become of Mussul- 
 men and Hindoos ! Brother C. expressed his 
 fears that they would all be lost. The man 
 seaced as if he would have torn him lo 
 pielbs." — Ibid. p. 51. 
 
 "3iar. 30. The people seem quite anxious 
 to get the hymns which we give away. The 
 Brahmins are rather uneasy. The Governor 
 advised his Brahmins to send their children to 
 learn English. They replied, that we seemed 
 to take pains to make the natives Christians; 
 and they were afraid that, their children being 
 of tender age, would make them a more easy 
 conquest" — Ibid. p. 158. 
 
 " Jpril 27. Lord's Day. One Brahmin said, 
 he had no occasion for a hymn, for ihey were 
 all over the countn,'. He could go into any 
 house and read one." — Ibid. p. 61. 
 
 " 3Iay 9. Brother Fountain was this even- 
 ing at Buddabarry. At the close, the Brahmins 
 having collected a number of boys, they set up 
 a great shout, and followed the brethren out of 
 the village with noise and shoutings." — Ibid. 
 
 " 3Iay 16. Brother Carey and I were at Bud- 
 dabarry this evening. No sooner had we be- 
 gun, than a Brahmin went round to all the rest 
 that were present, and endeavoured to pull 
 them away." — Bapt. 3Iifs. Vol. IL p. 62. 
 
 " 30. This evening at Buddabarr}', the 
 
 man mentioned in my journal of March 14th 
 insulted Brother Carey. He asked why we 
 came ; and said, if we could employ the natives 
 as carpenters, blacksmiths, &c. it would be 
 verj' well; but that they did not want our holi- 
 ness. In exact conformity with this sentiment, 
 our Brahmin told Brother Thomas when here, 
 that he did not want the favour of God." — Ibid. 
 p. 63. 
 
 "June 22. Lord's Day. A Brahmin has been 
 several times to disturb the children, and to 
 curse Jesus Christ ! Another Brahmin com- 
 plained to Brother Carey that, by our school 
 and printing, we were now teaching the gospel 
 to their children from their infancy."— 26i</. 
 p. 65. 
 
 " June 29. Lord's Day. This evening a 
 Brahmin went round amongst the people who 
 were collected to hear Brother Carey, to per- 
 suade them not to accept of our papers. Thus 
 ' darkness struggles with the light.' "—Ibid. p. 
 66. 
 
 "It was deemed advisable to print 2000 
 copies of the New Testament, and also 500 
 additional copies of Matthew, for immediate 
 distribution; to which are annexed some of 
 the most remarkable prophecies in the Old 
 Testament respecting Christ. These are now 
 distributing, together with copies of several 
 evangelical hymns, and a very earnest and 
 e3 
 
64 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 pertinent address to the natives, respecting the 
 gospel. It was written by Ram Boshoo, and 
 contains a hundred lines in Bengalee verse. 
 We hear that these papers are read with much 
 attention, and that apprehensions are rising in 
 the minds of some of the Brahmins whereunto 
 these things may grow." — Ibid. p. 69. 
 
 " We have printed several small pieces in 
 Bengalee, which have had a large circulation." 
 —Jbid. p. 77. 
 
 Mr. Fountain's gratitude to Hervey. 
 
 " When I was about eighteen or nineteen 
 jears of age, Hervey's Meditations fell into my 
 hands. Till then I had read nothing but my 
 Bible and the prayer book. This ushered me 
 as it M-ere into a new world! It expanded my 
 mind, and excited a thirst after knowledge : 
 and this was not all ; I derived spiritual as 
 well as intellectual advantages from it. I shall 
 bless God for this book while I live upon earth, 
 and when I get to heaven, I will thank dear Hervey 
 himself:'— Bapt. Miss. Vol. H. p. 90. 
 
 Hatred of the Natives to the Gospel. 
 
 "Jan. 27. The inveterate hatred that the 
 Brahmins every where show to the gospel, and 
 the very name of Jesus, in which they are 
 joined by many lewd fellows of the baser sort, 
 requires no common degree of self-possession, 
 caution, and prudence. The seeming failure 
 of some we hoped well of is a source of con- 
 siderable anxiety and grief." — Ibid. p. 110. 
 
 "Aug. 31. Lord's Day. We have the honour 
 of printing the first book that was ever printed 
 in Bengalee ; and this is the first piece in which 
 Brahmins have been opposed, perhaps for thou- 
 sands of years. All their books are filled with 
 accounts to establish Brahminism, and raise 
 Brahmins to the seat of God. Hence they are 
 believed to be inferior gods. All the waters 
 of salvation in the country are supposed to 
 meet in the foot of a Brahmin. It is reckoned 
 they have the keys of heaven and hell, and 
 have power over sickness and health, life and 
 death. O pray that Brahminism may come 
 down !" — Ib)d. p. 111. 
 
 " Oct. 3. Brother Marshraan having directed 
 the children in the Bengalee school to write 
 out a piece written by Brother Fountain (a 
 kind of^ catechism), the schoolmaster reported 
 yesterday that all the boys would leave the 
 school rather than write it ; that it was de- 
 signed to make them lose caste, and make them 
 Fcringas ; that is, persons who have descerwled 
 from those who were formerly converted by 
 the papists, and who are to this day held in 
 the greatest contempt by the Hindoos. From 
 this you may gather how much contempt a 
 converted native would meet with." — Ibid. p. 
 113, 114. 
 
 " Oct. 26. Lord's Day. Bharratt told Brother 
 Carey to-day what the people talked among 
 themselves — ' Formerly,' say they, ' here were 
 no white people amongst us. Now the English 
 have taken the country, and it is getting full 
 of whites. Now also the white man's shaster 
 is publishing. Is it not going to be fulfilled 
 which is written in our shasters, that nil shall 
 he of one cast e ; and will not this caste be the 
 gospeir " — Ibid. p. 115. 
 
 "Nov. 7. He also attempted repeatedly to 
 introduce Christ and him crucified; but they 
 would immediately manifest the utmost dislike 
 of the very name of him. Nay, in their turn 
 they commended Creeshnoo, and invited Bro- 
 ther C. to believe in him." — Ibid. p. 118. 
 
 " Dec. 23. This forenoon Gokool came to 
 tell us that Kristno and his whole family were 
 in confinement ! Astonishing news ! It seems 
 the whole neighbourhood, as soon as it was 
 noised abroad that these people had lost caste, 
 was in an uproar. It is said that two thou- 
 sand people were assembled pouring their 
 anathemas on these new converts." — Bapt. 
 Miss. Vol. II. p. 125. 
 
 "Jan. 12. The Brahmins and the yoang 
 people show every degree of contempt ; and 
 the name of Christ is become a by-word, like 
 the name methodist in England formerly." — Ibid. 
 p. 130. 
 
 " Sept. 25. I then took occasion to tell them 
 that the Brahmins only wanted their money, 
 and cared nothing about their salvation. To 
 this they readily assented."— /iicf. p. 134. 
 
 " Nov. 23. Lord's Day. Went with Brother 
 Carey to the new pagoda, at the upper end of 
 the town. About ten Brahmins attended. They 
 behaved in the most scoffing and blasphemous 
 manner, treating the name of Christ with the 
 greatest scorn ; nor did they discontinue their 
 ridicule while Brother Carey prayed with them- 
 No name amongst men seems so offensive to 
 them as that of our adorable Redeemer !" — 
 Ibid. p. 138. 
 
 " Dec. 24. The Governor had the goodness 
 to call on us in the course of the day, and de- 
 sired us to secure the girl, at least within our 
 walls, for a few days, as he was persuaded the 
 people round the country were so exasperated 
 at Kristno's embracing the gospel, that he could 
 not answer for their safety. A number of the 
 mob might come from twenty miles distant in 
 the night, and murder them all, without the per- 
 petrators being discovered. He believed, that 
 had they obtained the girl, they would have 
 murdered her before the morning, and thought 
 they had been doing God service !" — Ibid. p. 
 143, 144. 
 
 "Jan. 30. After speaking about ten minutes, 
 a rude fellow began to be very abusive, and, 
 with the help of a few boys, raised such a cla- 
 mour that nothing could be heard. At length, 
 seeing no hope of their becoming quiet, I re- 
 tired to the other part of the town. They fol- 
 lowed, hallooing, and crying, ' Hurree boll !' 
 (an exclamation in honour of Veeshno). They 
 at last began to pelt me with stones and dirt. 
 One of the men, who knew the house to which 
 Brother Carey was gone, advised me to accom- 
 pany him thither, saying, that these people 
 would not hear our words. Going with him, I 
 met Brother C. We were not a little pleased 
 that the devil had begun to bestir himself, in- 
 ferring from hence that he suspected danger." 
 —Ibid. p. 148, 149. 
 
 Feelings of an Hindoo Boy upon the eve of Con- 
 version. 
 
 "Nov. 18. One of the boys of the school, 
 called Benjamin, is under considerable con- 
 cern • indeed there is a general stir amongst 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 55 
 
 are children, which affords us great encourage- 
 ment. The following are some of the expres- 
 sions used in prayer by poor Benjamin.- — 
 
 "'Oh Lord, the day of judgment is coming: 
 the sun, and moon, and stars will all fall down. 
 Oh, what shall I do in the day of judgment! 
 Thou wilt break me to pieces, [literal.] The 
 Lord Jesus Christ was so good as to die for us 
 poor souls : Lord, keep us all this day ! Oh 
 hell I gnashing, and beating, and beating ! One 
 hour weeping, another gnashing ! We shall 
 stay there for ever! I am going to hell I am 
 going to hell ! O Lord, give me a new heart; 
 give me a new heart; and wash away all my 
 sins ! Give me a new heart, that I may praise 
 Him, that I may obey Him, that I may speak 
 the truth, that I may never do evil things ! Oh, 
 I have many times sinned against thee, many 
 tunes broken thy commandments, oh, many 
 times;. and what shall I do in the day of judg- 
 ment!'"— Ba;;/. Mhs. Vol. II. p. 162, 163. 
 
 Marm of the Natives at the preaching of the Gos- 
 pel. 
 
 "From several parts of Calcutta he hears 
 of people's attention being excited by reading 
 the papers which we have scattered among 
 them. Many begin to wonder that they never 
 heard these things before, since the English 
 have been so long in the country." — Ibid. p. 223. 
 
 " Many of the natives have expressed their 
 astonishment at seeing the converted Hindoos 
 sit and eat with Europeans. It is what they 
 thought would never come to pass. The priests 
 are much alarmed for their tottering fabric, and 
 rack their inventions to prop it up. They do 
 not like the. institution of the college in Cal- 
 cutta, and that their sacred shasters should be 
 explored bv the unhallowed eyes of Euro- 
 peans."— Jiir/. p. 233. 
 
 " Indeed, by the distribution of many copies 
 of the Scriptures, and of some thousands of 
 small tracts, a spirit of inquiry has been ex- 
 cited to a degree unknown at any former 
 period." — Ibid. p. 236. 
 
 "As he and Kristno walked through the 
 street, the natives cried out, 'What will this 
 joiner do 1 (meaning Kristno.) Will he de- 
 stroy the caste of us all] Is this Brahmin 
 going to be a Feringa V " — Ibid. p. 245. 
 
 Account of success in 1802. — Tenth year of the 
 Mission. 
 
 "Wherever we have gone we have uni- 
 formly found, that so long as people did not un- 
 derstand the report of our message, they appeared to 
 listen; but the moment they understood something of 
 it, they either became indifferent, or began to ridi- 
 cule. This in genercd has been our reception." — 
 Bapt. Miss. Vol. I. p. 273. 
 
 Hatred of the Natives. 
 
 « Sept. 27. This forenoon three of the peo- 
 ple arrived from Ponchetalokpool, who seemed 
 very happy to see us. They inform us that 
 the Brahmins had raised a great persecution 
 against them ; and when they set out on their 
 journey hither, the mob assembled to hiss 
 them away. After Brother Marshman had 
 left that part of the country, they hung him in 
 effigy, and some of the printed papers which 
 he had distributed amongst them." — Ibid. p. 314. 
 
 Dijjiculty which the Mission experiences from not 
 being able to get Converts shaved. 
 "Several persons there seemed willing to be 
 baptized ; but if they should, the village barber, 
 forsooth, will not shave them ! When a na- 
 tive loses his caste, or becomes unclean, his 
 barber and his priest will not come near him; 
 and as they are accustomed to shave the head 
 nearly all over, and cannot well perform this 
 business themselves, it becomes a serious in- 
 convenience." — Ibid. p. 372. 
 
 Hatred of the Natives. 
 "Jpr.24. Lord's Day. Brother Chamberlain 
 preached at home, and Ward at Calcutta; Bro- 
 ther Cai-ey was amongst the brethren, and 
 preached at night. Kristno Prisaud, Ram Ro- 
 teen and others, were at Buddabafty, where they 
 met with violent opposition. They were set 
 upon as Feringas, as destro)^ers of the caste, 
 as having eaten fowls, eggs, &c. As they at- 
 tempted to return, the mob began to beat them, 
 putting their hands on the back of their necks, 
 and pushing them forward ; and one man, even 
 a civil ofiicer, grazed the point of a spear 
 against the body of Kristno Prisaud. When 
 they saw that they could not make our friends 
 angry by such treatment, they said, You salla; 
 you will not be angry, will you 7 They then in- 
 sulted them again, threw cow-dung mixed in 
 gonga water at them; talked of making them 
 a necklace of old shoes; beat Neeloo with 
 Ram Roleen's shoe, &c..; and declared that if 
 they ever came again, they would make an end 
 of '\hQm."—Bapti'Miss. Vol. II. p. 378. 
 Apian for proairing an order from Government to 
 shave the Converts. 
 
 " After concluding with prayer, Bhorud 
 Ghose, Sookur, and Torribot Bichess, took me 
 into the field, and told me that their minds 
 were quite decided ; there was no necessity for 
 exhorting them. There was only one thing 
 that kept them from being baptized in the name 
 of Jesus Christ. Losing caste in a large town 
 like Serampore, was a very different thing from 
 losing caste in their village. If they declared 
 themselves Christians, the barber of their vil- 
 lage would no longer shave them ; and, without 
 shaving their heads and their beards, they 
 could not live. If an order could be obtained 
 from the magistrate of the district for the bar- 
 ber to shave Christians as well as others, they 
 would be immediately baptized." — Ibid. p. 397. 
 
 We meet in these proceedings with the ac- 
 count of two Hindoos who had set up as gods, 
 Dulul and Ram Dass. The missionaries, con- 
 ceiving this schism from the religion of the 
 Hindoos to be a very favourable opening for 
 them, wait upon the two deities. With Dulol, 
 who seems to have been a very shrewd fellow, 
 they are utterly unsuccessful ; and the follow- 
 ing is an extract from the account of their con- 
 ference with Ram Dass : — 
 
 " After much altercation, I told him he might 
 put the matter out of all doubt as to himself; 
 he had only to come as a poor, repenting, sujv 
 pliant sinner, and he would be saved, whatever 
 became of others. To this he gave no other 
 answer than a smile of contempt. I then ask 
 ed him in what way the sins of these his fol 
 
56 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV, SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 lowers would be removed ; urging it as a mat- 
 ter of the last importance, as he knew that 
 they were all sinners, and must stand before 
 the righteous bar of God 1 After much eva- 
 sion, he replied that he had fire in his belly, 
 which would destroy the sins of ail his follow- 
 ers."— JSa;;/. Miss. Vol. II. p. 401. 
 
 ^ Brahmin Converted. 
 
 " Dcr. 1 1. Lord's day. A Brahmin came from 
 Nuddea. After talking with him about the gos- 
 pel, which he said he was very willing to em- 
 brace, we sent him to Kristno's. He ate with 
 them without hesitation, but discovered such a 
 thirst for Bengalee rum, as gave them a dis- 
 gust." 
 
 "Dec. 13. This morning the Brahmin decamped 
 suddenly"— Bap'. Miss. Vol. 11. p. 424. 
 Exlent of Printing. 
 
 " Sept. 12. We are building an addition to our 
 printing office, where we employ seventeen 
 printers and five book-binders. The Brahmin 
 from near Bootan gives some hope that he has 
 received the truth in love." — Ibid. p. 483 
 
 "The news of Jesas Christ, and of the church 
 at Serampore, seems to have gone much fur- 
 ther than I expected ; it appears to be known 
 to a few in most villages." — Ibid. p. 487. 
 
 Hatred to the Gospel. 
 " The caste (says Mr. W.) is the great mill- 
 stone round the necks of these people. Roteen 
 wants shaving ; but the barber here will not do 
 it. He is run away lest he should be compel- 
 led. He says he will not shave Yesoo Kreest's 
 people ! " — Ibid. p. 493. 
 
 Success greater by importunity in prayer. 
 
 " With respect to their success, there are seve- 
 ral particulars attending it worthy of notice. 
 One is, that it icas preceded by a spirit of importu- 
 nate prayer. The brethren had all along com- 
 mitted their cause to God; but in the autumn 
 of 1800, they had a special weekly prayer- 
 meeting for a blessing on the work of the mis- 
 sion. At these assemblies, Mr. Thomas, who 
 was then present on a visit, seems to have been 
 more than usually strengthened to wrestle for 
 a blessing; and writing to a friend in America, 
 he speaks of 'the holy unction appearing on 
 all the missionaries, especially of late ; and of 
 times of refreshing from the presence of the 
 Lord, being solemn, frequent and lasting.' In 
 connecting these things, we cannot but remem- 
 ber that previous to the outpouring of the 
 Spirit in the days of Pentecost, the disciples 
 'continued with one accord in prayer and sup- 
 plication.' "—Bapt. Miss. Pref. Vol. III. p. vii. 
 
 What this success is, we shall see by the fol- 
 lowing extract: 
 
 " The whole number baptized in Bengal since 
 the year 1795, is forty-eii;ht. Over many of 
 these we rejoice with great jo}'; for others we 
 tremble ; and over some we are compelled to 
 yveei\"—Bapt. 3Iiss. Vol. III. p. 21, 22. 
 
 Hatred to the Gospel. 
 " .dpril 2. This morning, several of our chief 
 printing servaats presented a petition, desiring 
 they might have some relief, as they were com- 
 pelled, in our Bengalee worship, to hear so 
 many blasphemies against their gods ! Brother 
 
 Carey and I had a strong contention with them 
 in the printing-office, and invited them to argue 
 the point with Petumber, as his sermon had 
 given them offence; but they declined it; 
 though we told them that they were ten, and 
 he was only one; that they were Brahmins, 
 and he was only a sooder!" — Ibid. p. 36. 
 
 "The enmity against the gospel and its pro- 
 fessors is universal. One of our baptized 
 Hindoos wanted to rent a house: after going 
 out two or three days, and wandering all the 
 town over, he at last persuaded a woman to let 
 him have a house : but though she was herself 
 a Feringa, yet when she heard that he was a 
 Brahmin who had become a Christian, she in- 
 sulted him, and drove him away : so that we 
 are indeed made the ofTscouring of all things." 
 —Ibid. p. 38. 
 
 "I was sitting among our native brethren, at 
 the Bengalee school, hearing them read and 
 explain a portion of the word in turn, when an 
 aged, gray-headed Brahmin, well-dressed, came 
 in; and standing before me, said, with joined 
 hands, and a supplicating tone of voice, 'Sa- 
 hib ! I am come to ask an alms." Beginning 
 to weep, he repeated these words hastily^ ; ' I am 
 come to ask ... an alms.' He continued standing, 
 with his hands in a supplicating posture, weep- 
 ing. I desired him to say what alms; and told 
 him, that by his looks, it did not seem as if he 
 wanted any relief. At length, being pressed, 
 he asked me to give him his son, pointing with 
 his hand into the midst of our native brethren. 
 I asked him which was his son ? He pointed 
 to a young Brahmin, named Soroop; and set- 
 ting up a plaintive cry, said, that was his son. 
 We tried to comfort him, and at last prevailed 
 upon him to come and sit down upon the ve- 
 randa. Here he began to weep again; and 
 said that the voung man's mother was dying 
 with grief."— fi-/;)/. Miss. Vol. III. p. 43. 
 
 "This evening Buxoo, a brother, who is 
 servant with us, and Soroop, went to a market 
 in the neighbourhood, where they were disco- 
 vered to be Yesoo Khrecstare Lokc (Jesxis Christ's 
 people). The whole market was in a hubbub: 
 they clapped their hands, and threw dust at 
 them. Buxoo was changing a rupee for cow- 
 ries, when the disturbance began ; and in the 
 scuffle, the man ran away with the rupee with- 
 out giving the cowries." — Ibid. p. 55. 
 
 ''Nov. 24. This day Hawnye and Ram 
 Khunt returned from their village. They re- 
 late that our brother Fotick, who lives in the 
 same village, was lately seized by the chief Ben- 
 galee man there; dragged from his house; his 
 face, eyes and ears clogged with cow-dung — 
 his hands tied — and in this state confined seve- 
 ral hours. They also tore to pieces all the 
 papers, and the copy of the Testament, which 
 they found in Fotick's house. A relation of 
 these persecutors being dead, they did not mo- 
 lest Hawnye and Ram Khunt; but the towns- 
 folk would not hear about the gospel: they 
 only insulted them for becoming Christians." 
 —Ibid. p. 57. 
 
 " Cutwa OH the Ganges, Sept. 3, 1804. This place 
 is about seventy miles from Serampore, by the 
 Hoogley river. Here I procured a spot of 
 ground, perhaps about two acres, pleasantly 
 situated by two tanks, and a fine grove of man- 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 go trees, at a small distance from the town. It 
 ■was with difficulty I procured a spot. I was 
 forced to leave one, after I had made a begin- 
 ning, through the violent opposition of the 
 people. Coming to this, opposition ceased; 
 and therefore I called itKEiioBOTH; for Jehovah 
 halh made room for us. Here I have raised a 
 spacious bungalo." — Ibid. p. 59. 
 
 It would perhaps be more prudent to leave 
 the question of sending missions to India to the 
 effect of these extracts, which appear to us to be 
 quite decisive, both as to the danger of insurrec- 
 tion from the prosecution of the scheme, the ut- 
 ter unfitness of the persons employed in it, and 
 the complete hopelessness of the attempt while 
 pursued under such circumstances as now ex- 
 .st. But, as the Evangelical party who have 
 got possession of our eastern empire have 
 brought forward a great deal of argument upon 
 the question, it may be necessary to make it 
 some sort of reply. 
 
 We admit it to be the general duty of Chris- 
 tian people to disseminate their religion among 
 the pagan nations who are subjected to their 
 empire. It is true they have not the aid of 
 miracles; but it is their duty to attempt such 
 conversion by the earnest and abundant em- 
 ployment of the best human means in their 
 power. We believe that we are in possession 
 of a revealed religion; that we are exclusively 
 in possession of a revealed religion ; and thai 
 the possession of that religion can alone confer 
 in)mortality, and best confer present happiness. 
 This religion, too, teaches us the duty of general 
 benevolence : and how, under such a system, the 
 conversion of heathens can be a matter of indif- 
 ference, we profess not to be able to understand. 
 
 So much for the general rule: — now for the 
 exceptions. 
 
 No man (not an Anabaptist) will, we pre- 
 sume, contend that it is our duty to preach the 
 natives into an insurrection, or to lay before 
 them, so fully and emphatically, the scheme of 
 the gospel, as to make them rise up in the dead 
 of the night and shoot their instructors through 
 the head. If conversion be the greatest of all 
 objects, the possession of the country to be 
 converted is the only mean, in this instance, 
 by which that conversion can be accomplished ; 
 for we have no right to look for a miraculous 
 conversion of the Hindoos; and it would be 
 little short of a miracle, if General Oudinot was 
 to display the same spirit as the serious part 
 of the Directors of the East India Company. 
 Even for missionary purposes, therefore, the 
 utmost discretion is necessary; and if we wish 
 to teach the natives a better religion, we must 
 take care to do it in a manner which will not 
 inspire them with a passion for political change, 
 or we shall inevitably lose our disciples alto- 
 gether. To us it appears quite clear, from the 
 extracts before us, that neither Hindoo nor Ma- 
 homedan is at all indifferent to the attacks 
 made upon his religion ; the arrogance and 
 the irritability of the Mahomedan are univer- 
 sally acknowledged ; and we put it to our read- 
 ers, whether the Brahmins seem in these ex- 
 tracts to show the smallest disposition to behold 
 the encroachments upon their religion with 
 passiveness and unconcern. A missionary 
 who converted only a few of the refuse of so- 
 
 ciety, might live for ever in peace in India, and 
 receive his salary from his fanatical masters 
 for pompous predictions of universal conver- 
 sion, transmitted by the ships of the season; 
 but, if he had any marked success among the 
 natives, it could not fail to excite much more 
 dangerous specimens of jealousy and discon- 
 tent than those which we have extracted from 
 the Anabaptist Journal. How is it in human 
 nature that a Brahmin should be indifferent to 
 encroachments upon his religion ] His repu- 
 tation, his dignity, and in great measure his 
 wealth, depend upon the preservation of the 
 present superstitions; and why is it to be sup- 
 posed that motives which are so powerful with 
 all other human beings, are inoperative with 
 him alone ] If the Brahmins, however, are 
 disposed to excite a rebellion in support of their 
 own influence, no man, who knows any thing 
 of India, can doubt that they have it in their 
 power to effect it. 
 
 It is in vain to say, that these attempts to 
 diffuse Christianity do not originate from the 
 government in India. The omnipotence of 
 government in the East is well known to the 
 natives. If government does not prohibit, it 
 tolerates ; if it tolerates the conversion of the 
 natives, the suspicion may be easily formed 
 that it encourages that conversion. If the 
 Brahmins do not believe this themselves, they 
 may easily persuade the common people that 
 such is the fact ; nor are there wanting, besides 
 the activity of these new missionaries, many 
 other circumstances to corroborate such a ru- 
 mor. Under the auspices of the College at 
 Fort William, the Scriptures are in a course 
 of translation mto the languages of almost the 
 whole continent of Oriental India, and we per- 
 ceive, that in aid of this object the Bible So- 
 ciety has voted a very magnificent subscription. 
 The three principal chaplains of our Indian 
 settlements are (as might be expected) of prin- 
 ciples exactly corresponding with the enthusi- 
 asm of their employers at home ; and their 
 zeal upon the subject of religion has shone 
 and burnt with the most exemplary fury. These 
 circumstances, if they do not really impose 
 upon the minds of the leading natives, may 
 give them a very powerful handle for misre- 
 presenting the intentions of government to the 
 lower orders. 
 
 We see from the massacre of Yellore, what 
 a powerful engine attachment to religion may 
 be rendered in Hindostan. The rumors might 
 all have been false; but that event shows they 
 were tremendously powerful when excited. 
 The object, therefore, is not only not to do any 
 thing violent and unjust upon subjects of re- 
 ligion, but not to give any stronger colour to 
 jealous and disaffected natives for misrepie 
 senting your intentions. 
 
 All these observations have tenfold force, 
 when applied to an empire which rests so en- 
 tirely upon opinion. If physical force could 
 be called in to stop the progress of error, we 
 could afford to be misrepresented for a season ; 
 but 30,000 white men living in the midst of 
 70 million sable subjects, must be always in 
 the right, or at least never represented as 
 grossly in the wrong. Attention to the preju- 
 dices of the subject is wise in all governments, 
 
WORKS OF THE KEV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 but quite indispensable in a government con- 
 stituted as our empire in India is constituted; 
 where an uninterrupted series of dexterous 
 conduct is not only necessary to our prosperity, 
 but to our existence. 
 
 'i'hese reasonings are entitled to a little more 
 consideration, at a period when the French 
 threaten our existence in India by open force, 
 and by every species of intrigue with the 
 native powers. In all governments, every 
 thing takes its tone from the head; fanaticism 
 has got into the government at home ; fanati- 
 cism will lead to promotion abroad. The 
 civil servant in India will not only not dare to 
 exercise his own judgment, in checking the 
 indiscretions of ignorant missionaries ; but he 
 will strive to recommend himself to his holy 
 masters in Leadenhall Street, by imitating Bro- 
 ther Cran and Brother Ringletaube, and by 
 every species of fanatical excess. Methodism 
 at home is no unprofitable game to play. In 
 the East it will soon be the infallible road to 
 promotion. This is the great evil ; if the man- 
 agement was in the hands of men who were as 
 discreet and wise in their devotion as they are 
 in matters of temporal welfare, the desire of 
 putting an end to missions might be premature 
 and indecorous. But the misfortune is, the 
 men who wield the instrument, ought not, in 
 common sense and propriety, to be trusted with 
 it for a single instant. Upon this subject, they 
 are quite insane and ungovernable; they would 
 deliberately, piously, and conscientiously ex- 
 pose our whole Eastern empire to destruction, 
 for the sake of converting half a dozen Brah- 
 mins, who, after stuffing themselves with rum 
 and rice, and borrowing money from the mis- 
 sionaries, would run away and cover the gospel 
 and its possessors with every species of im- 
 pious ridicule and abuse. 
 
 Upon the whole, it appears to us hardly pos- 
 sible to push the business of proselytism in 
 India to any length without incurring the 
 utmost risk of losing our empire. The danger 
 is more tremendous, because it maybe so sud- 
 den ; religious fears are very probable causes 
 of disaffection in the troops ; if the troops are 
 generally disaffected, our Indian empire may be 
 lost to us as suddenly as a frigate or a fort; 
 and that empire is governed by men who, we 
 are very much afraid, would feel proud to lose 
 it in such a cause. 
 
 "But I think it my duty to make a solemn 
 appeal to all who still retain the fear of God, 
 and who admit that religion and the course of 
 conduct which it prescribes are not to be ban- 
 ished from the affairs of nations — now when 
 the political sky, so long overcast, has become 
 more lowering and black than ever — whether 
 this is a period for augmenting the weight of 
 our national sins and provocations, by an ex- 
 clusive tolehation of idolatry ; a crime which, 
 unless the Bible be a forgery, has actually 
 drawn forth the heaviest denunciations of ven- 
 geance, and the most fearful inflictions of 
 Divine displeasure." — Considerations, ^c. p. 98. 
 
 Can it be credited that this is an extract from 
 a pamphlet generally supposed to be written by 
 a noble Lord at the Board of Control, from 
 
 i-f^f oflicial interference the public might 
 
 have expected a corrective to the pious temer- 
 ity of others 1 
 
 The other leaders of the party, indeed, make 
 at present great professions of toleration, and 
 express the strongest abhorence of using vio- 
 lence to the natives. This does very well for 
 a beginning; but we have little confidence in 
 such declarations. We believe their fingers 
 itch to be at the stone and clay gods of the 
 Hindoos ; and that, in common with the noble 
 Controller, they attribute a great part of our 
 national calamities to these ugly images of 
 deities on the one side of the world. We again 
 repeat, that upon such subjects, the best and 
 ablest men, if once tinged by fanaticism, are 
 not to be trusted for a single moment, 
 
 2dl>j, Another reason for giving up the task 
 of conversion, is the want of success. In 
 India, religion extends its empire over the 
 minutest actions of life. It is not merely a law 
 for moral conduct, and for occasional worship; 
 but it dictates to a man his trade, his dress, his 
 food, and his whole behaviour. His religion 
 also punishes a violation of its exactions, not 
 by eternal and future punishments, but by pre- 
 sent infamy. If an Hindoo is irreligious, or, 
 in other words, if he loses his caste, he is 
 deserted by father, mother, wife, child, and kin- 
 dred, and becomes instantly a solitary wan- 
 derer upon the earth ; to touch him, to receive 
 him, to eat with him, is a pollution producing a 
 similar loss of caste ; and the state of such a 
 degraded man is worse than death itself. To 
 these evils an Hindoo must expose himself 
 before he becomes a Christian ; and this diffi- 
 culty must a missionary overcome, before he 
 can expect the smallest success ; a difficulty 
 which, it is quite clear, they themselves, after 
 a short residence in India, consider to be insu- 
 perable. 
 
 As a proof of the tenacious manner, in 
 which the Hindoos cling to their religious 
 prejudices, we shall state two or three very 
 short anecdotes, to which any person who has 
 resided in India might easily produce many- 
 parallels. 
 
 "In the year 1766, the late Lord Clive and 
 Mr. Verelst employed the whole influence of 
 Government to restore a Hindoo to his caste, 
 who had forfeited it, not by any neglect of his 
 own, but by having been compelled, by a most 
 unpardonable act of violence, to swallow a 
 drojT of cow broth. The Brahmins, from the 
 peculiar circumstances of the case, were very 
 anxious to comply with the wishes of Govern- 
 ment ; the principal men among them met once 
 at Kishnagur, and once at Calcutta; but after 
 consultations, and an examination of their 
 most ancient records, they declared to Lord 
 Clive, that as there was no precedent to justify 
 the act, they found it impossible to restore the 
 unfortunate man to his caste, and he died soon 
 after of a broken heart." — Scott Waring's Pre- 
 face, p. Ivi. 
 
 It is the custom of the Hindoos to expose 
 dying people upon the banks of the Ganges. 
 There is something peculiarly holy in that 
 river; and it soothes the agonies of death to 
 look upon its waters in the last moments. A 
 party of English were coming down in a boat, 
 and perceived upon the bank a pious Hindoo, 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 59 
 
 in a state of the last imbecility— about to be 
 drowned by the rising of the tide, after the 
 most approved and orthodox manner of their 
 religion. They had the curiosity to land; and 
 as they perceived some more signs of life than 
 -were at first apparent, a young Englishman 
 poured down his throat the greatest part of a 
 bottle of lavender water, which he happened 
 to have in his pocket. The effects of such a 
 stimulus, applied to a stomach accustomed to 
 nothing stronger than water, were instantane- 
 ous and powerful. The Hindoo revived suffi- 
 ciently to admit of his being conveyed to the 
 boat, was carried to Calcutta, and perfectly re- 
 covered. He had drunk, however, in the com- 
 pany of Europeans ;— no matter whether vo- 
 luntary or involuntary, — the offence was com- 
 mitted: he lost caste, was turned away from 
 his home, and avoided, of course, by every re- 
 lation and friend. The poor man came before 
 the police, making the bitterest complaints upon 
 being restored to life ; and for three years the 
 burden of supporting him fell upon the mis- 
 taken Samaritan who had rescued him from 
 death. During that period, scarcely a day 
 elapsed in which the degraded resurgent did 
 not appear before the European, and curse 
 him with the bitterest curses— as the cause of 
 all his misery and desolation. At the end of 
 that period he fell ill, and of course was not 
 again thwarted in his passion for dying. The 
 writer of this article vouches for the truth of 
 this anecdote; and many persons who were at 
 Calcutta at the time must have a distinct recol- 
 lection of the fact, which excited a great deal 
 of conversation and amusement, mingled with 
 compassion. 
 
 It is this institution of castes which has pre- 
 served India in the same state in which it ex- 
 isted in the days of Alexander ; and which 
 ■would leave it without the slightest change in 
 habits and manners, if we were to abandon the 
 country to-morrow. We are astonished to ob- 
 serve the Inte resident in Bengal speaking of the 
 fifteen millions of Mahomedans in India as 
 converts from the Hindoos; an opinion, in 
 support of which he does not offer the shadow 
 of an argument, except by asking, whether the 
 Mahomedans have the Tartar face ] and if not, 
 how they can be the descendants of the first 
 conquerors of India 1 Probably not altogether. 
 But does this writer imagine, that the Mahome- 
 dan empire could exist in Hindostan for 700 
 years without the intrusion of Persians, Ara- 
 bians, and every species of Mussulmen adven- 
 turers from every part of the East, which had 
 embraced the religion of Mahomed 1 And let 
 them come from what quarter they would, 
 could they ally themselves to Hindoo women 
 without producing in their descendants an ap- 
 proximation to the Hindoo features! Dr. 
 Robertson, who has investigated this subject 
 with the greatest care, and looked into all the 
 authorities, is expressly of an opposite opinion ; 
 and considers the Mussulman inhabitants of 
 Hindostan to be merely the descendants of 
 Mahomedan adventurers, and not converts 
 from the Hindoo faith. 
 
 "The armies" (says Orme) "which made 
 the first conquests for the heads of the respect- 
 .'ve dynasties, or for other invaders, left behind 
 
 them numbers of Mahomedans, who, seduced 
 by a finer climate, and a richer country, forgot 
 their own. 
 
 " The Mahomedan princes of India naturally 
 gave a preference to the service of men of 
 their own religion, who, from whatever country 
 they came, were of a more vigorous constitu- 
 tion than the stoutest of the subjected nation. 
 This preference has continually encouraged 
 adventurers from Tartary, Persia, and Arabia, 
 to seek their fortunes under a government from 
 which they were sure of receiving greater en- 
 couragement than they could expect at home. 
 Fi-om these origins, time has formed in India a 
 mighty nation of near ten millions of Mahome- 
 dans." — Orme's Inclostan, I. p. 24. 
 
 Precisely similar to this is the opinion of Dr. 
 Robertson, Note xl. — Indian Disquisiiion. 
 
 As to the religion of the Ceylonese, from 
 which the Bengal resident would infer the faci- 
 lity of making converts of the Hindoos, it is to 
 be observed, that the religion of Boudhou, in 
 ancient times, extended from the north of Tar- 
 tary to Ceylon, from the Indus to Slam, and (il 
 Foe and Boudhou are the same persons) over 
 China. That of the two religions of Boudhou 
 and Brama, the one was the parent of the other, 
 there can be very little doubt; but the compa- 
 rative antiquity of the two is so very disputed 
 a point, that it is quite unfair to state the case 
 of the Ceylonese as an instance of conversion 
 from the Hindoo religion to any other: and 
 even if the religion of Bramd is the most an- 
 cient of the two, it is still to be proved, that the 
 Ceylonese professed that religion before they 
 changed it for their present faith. In point of 
 fact, however, the boasted Christianity of the 
 Ceylonese is proved by the testimony of the 
 missionaries themselves, to he little better than 
 nominal. The following extract from one of 
 their own communications, dated Columbo, 
 1805, will set this matter in its true light: — 
 
 "The elders, deacons, and some of the mem- 
 bers of the Dutch congregation, came to see us, 
 and we paid them a visit in return, and made a 
 little inquiry concerning the state of the church 
 on this island, which is, in one word, miserable! 
 One hundred thousand of those who are called 
 Christians (because they are baptized) need 
 not go back to heathenism, for they never have 
 been any thing else but heathens, worshippers of 
 Budda: they have been induced, for worldly 
 reasons, to be baptized. O Lord have mercy 
 on the poor inhabitants of this populous island!" 
 —Trajis. Miss. Soc. II. 265. 
 
 What success the Syrian Christians had in 
 making converts ; in what degree they have 
 gained their numbers by victories over the 
 native superstition, or lost their original num- 
 bers by the idolatrous examples to which for 
 so many centuries they have been exposed ; are 
 points wrapt up in so much obscurity, that no 
 kind of inference, as to the facility of convert- 
 ing the natives, can be drawn from them. Their 
 present number is supposed to be about 
 150,000. 
 
 It would be of no use to quote the example 
 of Japan and China, even if the progress of the 
 faith in these empires had been much greater 
 than it is. We do not say it is difficult to con- 
 vert the Japanese, or the Chinese; but the 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 Hindoos. We are not saying it is difficult to 
 convert human creatures; but difficult to con- 
 vert human creatures with such institutions. 
 To mention the example of other nations who 
 have them not, is to pass over the material ob- 
 jection, and to answer others which are merely 
 imaginary, and have never been made. 
 
 3f//i/, The duty of conver.sion is less plain, 
 and less imperious, when conversion exposes 
 the convert to great present misery. An Afri- 
 can or an Otaheite proselyte might not perhaps 
 be less honoured by his countrymen if he be- 
 came a Christian; an Hindoo is instantly sub- 
 jected to the most perfect degradation. A 
 change of faith might increase the immediate 
 happiness of any other individual; it annihi- 
 lates for ever all the human coinforts which an 
 Hindoo enjoys. The eternal happiness which 
 you proffer him, is therefore less attractive to 
 him than to any other heathen, from the life of 
 misery by which he purchases it. 
 
 Nothing is more precarious than our empire 
 in India. Suppose we were to be driven out 
 of it to-morrow, and to leave behind us twenty 
 thousand converted Hindoos, it is most proba- 
 ble they would relapse into heathenism; but 
 their original station in society could not be 
 regained. The duty of making converts, 
 therefore, among such a people, as it arises 
 from the general duty of benevolence, is less 
 strong than it would be in many other cases; 
 because, situated as we are, it is quite certain 
 we shall expose them to a great deal of misery, 
 and not quite certain we shall do them any 
 future good. 
 
 4:'kly, Conversion is no duty at all, if it mere- 
 ly destroys the old religion, without really and 
 effectually teaching the new one. Brother 
 Ringletaube may write home that he makes a 
 Christian, when, in reality, he ought only to 
 state that he has destroyed an Hindoo. Foolish 
 and imperfect as the religion of an Hindoo is, 
 It is at least some restraint upon the intemper- 
 ance of human passions. It is better a Brah- 
 min should be respected, than that nobody 
 should be respected. An Hindoo had better 
 believe that a deity with an hundred legs and 
 arms, will reward and punish him hereafter, 
 than that he is not to be punished at all. Now, 
 when you have destroyed the faith of an Hin- 
 doo, are you quite sure that you will graft upon 
 his mind fresh principles of action, and make 
 him any more than a nominal Christian? 
 
 You have 30,000 Europeans in India, and 
 fiO millions of other subjects. If proselytism 
 were to go on as rapidly as the most visionary 
 Anabaptist could dream or desire, in what man- 
 ner are these people to be taught the genuine 
 truths and practices of Christianity 1 Where 
 are the clergy to come from? Who is to de- 
 fray the expense of the establishment? and 
 who can foresee the immense and perilous dif- 
 ficulties of bending the laws, manners, and in- 
 ^iitutions of a country to the dictates of a new 
 leligioni If it were easy to persuade the Hin- 
 doos that their own religion was folly, it would 
 be indefinitely difficult effectually to teach them 
 any other. They would tumble their own idols 
 into the river, and you would build them no 
 churches : you would destroy all their present 
 motives for doing right and avoiding wrong, 
 
 without being able to fix upon their minds the 
 more sublime motives by which you profess to 
 be actuated. What a missionary will do here- 
 after with the heart of a convert, is a matter of 
 doubt and speculation. He is quite certain, 
 however, that he must accustom the man to see 
 himself considered infamous; and good prin- 
 ciples can hardly be exposed to a ruder shock. 
 Whoever has seen much of Hindoo Christians 
 must have perceived, that the man who bears 
 that name is very commonly nothing more than 
 a drunken reprobate, who conceives himself 
 at liberty to eat and drink anything he pleases, 
 and annexes hardly any other meaning to the 
 name of Christianity. Such sort of converts 
 may swell the list of names, and gratify the 
 puerile pride of a missionary ; but what real, 
 discreet Christian can wish to see such Chris- 
 tianity prevail? But it will be urged, if the 
 present converts should become worse Hindoos, 
 and very indifferent Christians, still the next 
 generation will do better; and by degrees, and 
 at the expiration of half a century, or a century, 
 true Christianity may prevail. We may apply 
 to such sort of Jacobin converters what Mr. 
 Burke said of the Jacobin politicians in his 
 time, — "To such men a whole generation of 
 human beings are of no more consequence than 
 a frog in an air-pump." For the distant pros- 
 pect of doing what most probably after all, 
 they will never be able to effect, there is no de- 
 gree of present misery and horror to which 
 they will not expose the subjects of their expe- 
 riment. 
 
 As the duty of making proselytes springs 
 from the duty of benevolence, there is a priority 
 of choice in conversion. The greatest zeal 
 should plainly be directed to the most desperate 
 misery and ignorance. Now, in comparison to 
 many other nations who are equally ignorant 
 of the truths of Christianity, the Hindoos are a 
 civilized and a moral people. That they have 
 remained in the same state for so many centu- 
 ries, is at once a proof that the institutions 
 which established that state could not be highly 
 unfavourable to human happiness. After all 
 that has been said of the vices of the Hindoos, 
 we believe that an Hindoo is more mild and 
 sober than most Europeans, and as honest and 
 chaste. In astronomy the Hindoos have cer- 
 tainly made very high advances; — some, and 
 not an unimportant progress in many sciences. 
 As manufacturers, they are extremely in- 
 genious—and as agriculturists, industrious. 
 Christianity would improve them ; (whom 
 would it not improve ?) but if Christianity can- 
 not be extended to all, there are many other na- 
 tions who want it more.* 
 
 The Hindoos have some very savage cus- 
 toms, which it would be desirable to abolish. 
 Some swing on hooks, some run knives through 
 their hands, and widows burn themselves to 
 death : but these follies (even the last) are quite 
 voluntary on the part of the sufferers. We dis- 
 like all misery, voluntary or involuntary ; but 
 the difference between the tormetits which a 
 man chooses, and those which he endures from 
 
 * We are here, of course, arguing the question only 
 in a worldly point of view. This is one point of view 
 in which it must be placed, though certainly the lowest 
 and least important. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 Gl 
 
 the choice of others, is very great. It is a con- 
 siderable wretchedness that men and women 
 should be shut up in religious houses ; but it is 
 only an object of legislative interference, when 
 such incarceration is compulsory. Monasteries 
 and nunneries with us would be harmless in- 
 stitutions; because the moment adevotee found 
 he had acted like a fool, he might avail himself 
 of the discovery and run away ; and so may an 
 Hindoo, if he repents of his resolution of run- 
 ning hooks into his flesh. 
 
 The duties of conversion appear to be of less 
 importance, when it is impossible to procure 
 proper persons to undertake them, and when 
 such religious embassies, in consequence, de- 
 volve upon the lowest of the people. Who 
 wishes to see scrofula and atheism cured by a 
 single sermon in Bengal! who wishes to see 
 the religious hoy riding at anchor in the Hoogly 
 river? or shoals of jumpers exhibiting their 
 nimble piety before the learned Brahmins of 
 Benares'? This madness is disgusting and 
 dangerous enough at home: — Why are we to 
 sendoutlittledetachmentsof maniacs to spread 
 over the fine regions of the world the most un- 
 just and contemptible opinion of the gospel! 
 The wise and rational part of the Christian 
 ministry find they have enough to do at home 
 to combat with passions unfavourable to human 
 happiness, and to make men act up to their 
 professions. But if a tinker is a devout man, 
 he infallibly sets off for the East. Let any 
 man read the Anabaptist missions : — can he do 
 so without deeming such men pernicious and 
 extravag-ant in their own country, — and with- 
 out feeling that they are benefiting us much 
 more by their absence, than the Hindoos by 
 their advice 1 
 
 It is somewhat strange, in a duty which is 
 stated by one patty to be so clear and so indis- 
 pensable, that no man of moderation and good 
 sense can be found to perform it. And if no 
 other instruments remain but visionary enthu- 
 siasts, some doubt may be honestly raised 
 whether it is not better to drop the scheme en- 
 tirely. 
 
 Shortly stated, then, our argument is this ; — 
 We see not the slightest pros-pect of success ; — 
 we see much danger in making the attempt; — 
 and we doubt if the conversion of the Hindoos 
 would ever be more than nominal. If it is 
 a duty of general benevolence to convert the 
 Heathen, it is less a duty to convert the Hin- 
 doos than any other people, because they are 
 already highly civilized, and because you must 
 infallibly subject them to infamy and present 
 degradation. The instruments employed for 
 these purpo,ses are calculated to bring ridicule 
 and disgrace upon the gospel ; and in the dis- 
 cretion of those at home, whom we consider as 
 their patrons, we have not the smallest reli- 
 ance ; but, on the contrary, we are convinced 
 they would behold the loss of our Indian em- 
 pire, not with the humility of men convinced of 
 erroneous views and projects, but with the 
 pride, the exultation, and the alacrity of martyrs. 
 Of the books which have handled this sub- 
 ject on either side, we have little to say. Ma- 
 jor Scott Waring's book is the best against the 
 Missions ; but he wants arrangement and pru- 
 
 dence. The late resident writes well ; but is 
 miserably fanatical towards the conclusion. 
 Mr. Cunningham has been diligent in looking 
 into books upon the subject : and though an 
 evangelical gentleman, is not uncharitable to 
 those who differ from him in opinion. There 
 is a passage in the publication of his reverend 
 brother, Mr. Owen, which, had we been less 
 accustomed than we have been of late to this 
 kind of writing, would appear to be quite m- 
 credible. 
 
 " I have not pointed out the comparative in- 
 difference, upon Mr. Twining's principles, be- 
 tween one religion and another, to the welfare 
 of a people ; nor the impossibility, on those 
 principles, of India being Christianized by any 
 human means, so long as it shall remain under 
 the dominion of the Company; nor the alternu' 
 live to which Providence is by consequence reduced, 
 of either giving up that anintry to everlasting su- 
 perstition, or of tcorking some miracle in order to 
 accomplish its conversion." — Owenh Address, p. 28. 
 
 This is really beyond any thing we ever re- 
 member to have read. The ho}', the cock-fight, 
 and the religious newspaper, are pure reason 
 when compared to it. The idea of reducing 
 Providence to an alternative ! ! and, by a motion 
 at the India House, carried by ballot ! We 
 would not insinuate, in the most distant man- 
 ner, that Mr. Owen is not a gentleman of the 
 most sincere piety; but the misfortune is, all 
 extra superfine persons accustom themselves to 
 a familiar phraseology upon the most sacred 
 subjects, which is quite shocking to the com- 
 mon and inferior orders of Christians. Provi- 
 dence reduced to an alternative.'!!!! Let it be 
 remembered, this phrase comes from a member 
 of a religious party, who are loud in their com- 
 plaints of being confounded with enthusiasts 
 and fanatics. 
 
 We cannot conclude without the most pointed 
 reprobation of the low mischief of the Christian 
 Observer ; a publication which appears to have 
 no other method of discussing a question fairly 
 open to discussion, than that of accusing their 
 antagonists of infidelity. No art can be more 
 unmanly, or, if its consequences are foreseen, 
 more wicked. If this publication had been the 
 work of a single individual, we might have 
 passed it over in silent disgust; but as it is 
 looked upon as the organ of a great political 
 religious party in this country, we think it right 
 to notice the very unworthy manner in which 
 they are attempting to extend their influence. 
 For ourselves, if there were a fair prospect of 
 carrying the gospel into regions where it was 
 before unknown, — if such a project did not 
 expose the best possessions of the country 
 to extreme danger, and if it was in the hands of 
 men who were discreet, as well as devout, we 
 should consider it to be a scheme of true piety, 
 benevolence, and wisdom : but the baseness and 
 malignity of fanaticism shall never prevent us 
 from attacking its arrogance, its ignorance, and 
 its activity. For what vice can be more tre- 
 mendous than that which, while it wears the 
 outward appearance of religion, destroys the 
 happiness of man, and dishonours the name of 
 Godi 
 
ti 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 CATHOLICS.^ 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 
 
 The various publications which have issued 
 from the press in favour of religious liberty, 
 ftave now nearly silenced the arguments of 
 their opponents; and, teaching sense to some, 
 and inspiring others with shame, have left 
 xhose only on the field who can neither learn 
 nor blush. 
 
 But, though the argument is given up, and the 
 justice of the Catholic cause admitted, it seems 
 to be generally conceived, that their case, at 
 present, is utterly hopeless ; and that, to advo- 
 cate it any longer, will only irritate the op- 
 pressed, without producing any change of 
 opinion in those by whose influence and autho- 
 rity that oppression is continued. To this 
 opinion, unfortunately too prevalent, we have 
 many i-easons for not subscribing. 
 
 We do not understand what is meant in this 
 country by the notion, that a measure, of con- 
 summate wisdom and imperious necessity, is 
 to be deferred for any time, or to depend upon 
 any contingency. Whenever it can be made 
 clear to the understanding of the great mass 
 of enlightened people, that any system of poli- 
 tical conduct is necessary to the public welfare, 
 every obstacle (as it ought) will be swept away 
 before it; and as we conceive it to be by no 
 means improbable, that the country maj', ere 
 long, he placed in a situation where its safety 
 or ruin will depend upon its conduct towards 
 the Catholics, we sincerely believe we are 
 doing our duty in throwing every possible light 
 on this momentous question. Neither do we 
 understand where this passive submission to 
 ignorance and error is to end. Is it confined 
 to religion 1 or does it extend to war and peace, 
 as weil as religion 1 Would it be tolerated, if 
 any man were to say, "Abstain from all argu- 
 ments in favour of peace ; the court have 
 resolved upon eternal war; and, as you cannot 
 have peace, to what purpose urge the necessity 
 of itl" We answer, — that courts must be pre- 
 sumed to be open to the influence of reason ; 
 or, if they were not, to the influence of pru- 
 dence and discretion, when they perceive the 
 public opinion to be loudly and clearly against 
 them. To lie by in timid and indolent silence, 
 — to suppose an inflexibility, in which no court 
 ever could, under pressing circumstances, per- 
 severe — and to neglect a regular and vigorous 
 appeal to public opinion, is to give up all 
 chance of doing good, and to abandon the 
 only instrument by which the few are ever 
 prevented from ruining the many. 
 
 It is folly to talk of any other ultimatum in 
 government than perfect justice to the fair 
 claims of the subject. The concessions to the 
 Irish Catholics in 1792 were to be the ne plus 
 ultra. Every engine was set on foot to induce 
 
 * Hiittory of the Penal Laws against the Irish Catho- 
 lics, from the Treaty of Limerick to the Union. By 
 Henry Parnell Esq. M.P. 
 
 the grand juries in Ireland to petition against 
 further concessions ; and, in six months after- 
 wards, government were compelled to intro- 
 duce, themselves, those further relaxations of 
 the penal code, of which they had just before 
 assured the Catholics they must abandon all 
 hope. Such is the absurdity of supposing that 
 a few interested and ignorant individuals can 
 postpone, at their pleasure and caprice, the 
 happiness of millions. 
 
 As to the feeling of irritation with which 
 such continued discussion may inspire the 
 Irish Catholics, we are convinced that no opi- 
 nion could be so prejudicial to the cordial 
 union which we hope may always subsist be- 
 tween the two countries, as that all the eflbrts 
 of the Irish were unavailing, — that argument 
 was hopeless, — that their case was prejudged 
 with a sullen inflexibility which circumstances 
 could not influence, pity soften, or reason sub- 
 due. 
 
 We are by no means convinced, that the 
 decorous silence recommended upon the Ca- 
 tholic question would be rewarded by those 
 future concessions, of which many persons 
 appear to be so certain. We have a strange 
 incredulity where persecution is to be abo- 
 lished, and any class of men restored to their 
 indisputable rights. When we see it done, we 
 will believe it. Till it is done, we shall always 
 consider it to be highly improbable — much too 
 improbable — to justify the smallest relaxation 
 in the Catholics themselves, or in those who 
 are well-wishers to their cause. When the 
 fanciful period at present assigned for the 
 emancipation arrives, new scruples may arise 
 — fresh forbearance be called for — and the ope- 
 rations of common sense be deferred for an- 
 other generation. Toleration never had a 
 present tense, nor taxation a future one. The 
 answer which Paul received from Felix, he 
 owed to the subject on which he spoke. When 
 justice and righteousness were his theme, 
 Felix told him to go away, and he would hear 
 him some other time. All men who have 
 spoken to courts upon such disagreeable topics, 
 have received the same answer. Felix, how- 
 ever, trembled when he gave it; but his fear 
 was ill-directed. He trembled at the subject — 
 he ought to have trembled at the delay. 
 
 Little or nothing is to be expected from the 
 shame of deferring what it is so wicked and per- 
 ilous to defer. Profligacy in taking office is so 
 extreme, that we have no doubt public men may 
 be found, who, for half a century, would postpone 
 all remedies for a pestilence, if the preservation 
 of their places depended upon the propagation 
 of the virus. To us, such kind of conduct 
 conveys no other action than that of sordid 
 avaricious impudence : — it puts to sale the best 
 interests of the country for some improvement 
 in the wines and meats and carriages which a 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 '3 
 
 man uses, — and encourages a new political 
 morality which may always postpone any other 
 great measure — and every other great measure 
 as well as the emancipation of the Catholics. 
 We terminate this apologetical preamble 
 with expressing the most earnest hope that the 
 Catholics will not, from any notion that their 
 cause IS effectually carried, relax in any one 
 constitutional effort necessary to their purpose. 
 Their cause is the cause of common sense 
 and justice ; — the safety of England and of the 
 ■world may depend upon it. It rests upon the 
 soundest principles ; leads to the most import- 
 ant consequences; and therefore cannot be too 
 frequently brought before the notice of the 
 
 pu 
 
 blic. 
 
 The book before us is written by Mr. Henry 
 Parnell, the brother of Mr. William Parneil, 
 author of the Historical Apology, reviewed in 
 one of our late numbers; and it contains a 
 very well written history of the penal laws en- 
 acted against the Irish Catholics, from the 
 peace of Limerick, in the reign of King 
 William, to the late Union. Of these we shall 
 present a very short, and, we hope even to 
 loungers, a readable abstract. 
 
 The war carried on in Ireland against King 
 William cannot deserve the name of a re- 
 bellion: it was a struggle for their lawful 
 Prince, whom they had sworn to maintain ; 
 and whose zeal for the Catholic religion, what- 
 ever effect it might have produced in England, 
 could not by them be considered as a crime. 
 This war was terminated by the surrender of 
 fjimerick. upon conditions by which the Catho- 
 lics hoped, and very rationally hoped, to secure 
 to themselves the free enjoyment of their re- 
 ligion in future, and an exemption from all 
 those civil penalties and incapacities which the 
 reigning creed is so fond of heaping upon its 
 subjugated rivals. 
 
 By the various articles of this treaty, they 
 are to enjoy such privileges in the exercise of 
 their religion, as they did enjoy in the time of 
 Charles II. : and the King promises upon the 
 meeting of Parliament, " to endeavor to pro- 
 cure for them such further security in that par- 
 ticular, as may preserve \\\em from any disturb- 
 ance on account of their said religion." They 
 are to be restored to their estates, privileges, 
 and immunities, as they enjoyed them in the 
 time of Charless II. The gentlemen are to be 
 allowed to carry arms ; and no other oath is to 
 be tendered to the Catholics who submit to 
 King William than the oath of allegiance. 
 These and other articles, King William ratifies 
 for himself, his heirs and successors, as far as in 
 him lies ; and confirms the same, and every other 
 clause and matter therein contained. 
 
 These articles were signed by the English 
 general on the 3d of October, 1691 ; and dif- 
 fused comfort, confidence, and tranquillity 
 among the Catholics. On the 22d of October, 
 the English Parliament excluded Catholics 
 from the Irish Houses of Lords and Commons, 
 hy compelling them to take the oaths of su- 
 premacy before admission. 
 
 In 1695, the Catholics were deprived of all 
 means of educating their children, at home or 
 abroad, and of the privilege of being guardians 
 to their own or to other persons' children. 
 
 Then all the Catholics were disarmed, — and 
 then all the priests banished. Jfer this (proba- 
 bly by way of joke), an act was jiassed to con- 
 firm the treaty of Limerick, — the great and 
 glorious King William totally forgetting the 
 contract he had entered into of recommending 
 the religious liberties of the Catholics to the 
 attention of Parliament. 
 
 On the 4th of March, 1704, it was enacted, 
 that any son of a Catholic who would turn 
 Protestant, should succeed to the family estate, 
 which from that moment could no longer be 
 sold, or charged with debt and legacy. On the 
 same day, Popish fathers were debarred, by a 
 penalty of 500?., from being guardians to their 
 own children. If the child, however young, 
 declared himself a Protestant, he was to be 
 delivered immediately to the custody of some 
 Protestant relation. No Protestant to marry a 
 Papist. No Papist to purchase land, or take a 
 lease of land for more than thirty-one years. 
 If the profits of the lands so leased by the 
 Catholics amounted to above a certain rate 
 settled by the act, — farm to belong to the first 
 Protestant who made the discovery. No Papist to 
 be in a line of entail ; but the estate to pass on 
 to the next Protestant heir, as if the Papist were 
 dead. If a Papist dies intestate, and no Pro- 
 testant heir can be found, property to be equally 
 divided among all the sons ; or, if he has none, 
 among all the daughters. By the I6th clause 
 of this bill, no Papist to hold any office civil or 
 military. Not to dwell in Limerick or Galway, 
 except on certain conditions. Not to vote at 
 elections. Not to hold advowsons. 
 
 In 1709, Papists were prevented from hold- 
 ing an annuity for life. If any son of a Papist 
 chose to turn P^rotestant, and enrol the certifi- 
 cate of his conversion in the Court of Chan- 
 cery, that court is empowered to compel his 
 father to state the value of his properly upon 
 oath, and to make out of that property a com- 
 petent allowance to the son, at their own dis- 
 cretion, not only for his present maintenance, 
 but for his future portion after the death of his 
 father. An increase of jointure to be enjoyed 
 by Papist wives upon their conversion. Papists 
 keeping schools to be prosecuted as convicts. 
 Popish priests who are converted, to receive 
 307. per annum. 
 
 Rewards are given by the same act for the 
 discovery of the Popish clergy ; — 50/. for dis- 
 covering a Popish bishop ; 20/. for a conimon 
 Popish clergyman; 10/. for a Popish usher! 
 Two justices of the peace can compel any 
 Papist above eighteen years of age to disclose 
 every particular which has come to his know- 
 ledge respecting Popish priests, celebration of 
 mass, or Papist schools. Imprisonment for a 
 year if he refuses to answer. Nobody can 
 hold property in trust for a Catholic. Juries, 
 in all trials growing out of these statutes, to 
 be Protestants. No Papist to take more than 
 two apprentices, except in the linen trade. All 
 the Catholic clergy to give in their names and 
 places of abode at the quarter-sessions, and to 
 keep no curates. Catholics not to serve on 
 grand juries. In any trial upon statutes for 
 strengthening the Protestant interest, a Papist 
 juror may be peremptorily challenged. 
 In the next reign, Popish horses were at- 
 
64 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 tached, and allowed to be seized for the militia. 
 Papists cannot be either high or petty consta- 
 bles. No Papists to vote at elections. Papists 
 in towns to provide Protestant watchmen ; — 
 and not to vote at vestries. 
 
 In the reign of George II., Papists were pro- 
 hibited from being barristers. Barristers and 
 solicitors marrying Papists, considered to be 
 Papists, and subjected to all penalties as such. 
 Persons robbed by privateers, during a war 
 with a Popish prince, to be indemnified by 
 grand jury pi-esentments, and the money to be 
 levied on the Catholics only. No Papist to 
 marry a Protestant; — any priest celebrating 
 such a marriage to be hanged. 
 
 During all this time there was not the slight- 
 est rebellion in Ireland. 
 
 In 1715 and 1745, while Scotland and the 
 north of England were up in arms, not a man 
 stirred in Ireland ; yet the spirit of persecution 
 against the Catholics continued till the 18th of 
 his present Majesty, and then gradually gave 
 way to the increase of knowledge, the huma- 
 nity of our Sovereign, the abilities of Mr. 
 Grattan, the weakness of England struggling 
 in America, and the dread inspired by the 
 French revolution. 
 
 Such is the rapid outline of a code of laws 
 which reflects indelible disgrace upon the Eng- 
 lish character, and explains but too clearly 
 the cause of that hatred in which the English 
 name has been so long held in Ireland. It 
 would require centuries to eflace such an im- 
 pression ; and yet, when we find it fresh, and 
 operating at the end of a few years, we explain 
 the fact by every cause which can degrade the 
 Irish, and by none which can remind us of our 
 own scandalous policy. With the folly and 
 the horror of such a code before our eyes, — 
 with the conviction of recent and domestic 
 history, that mankind are not to be lashed and 
 chaimed out of their faith, — we are striving to 
 teaze and worry them into a better theology. 
 
 Heavy oppression is removed; light insults 
 and provocations are retained; the scourge 
 does not fall upon their shoulders, but it sounds 
 in their ears. And this is the conduct we are 
 pursuing, when it is still a great doubt whether 
 this country alone may not be opposed to the 
 united efl^orts of the whole of Europe. It is 
 really difficult to ascertain which is the most 
 utterly destitute of common sense, — the capri- 
 cious and arbitrary stop we have made in our 
 concessions to the Catholics, or the precise 
 period we have chosen for this grand eflfort of 
 obstinate folly. 
 
 In whatsoever manner the contest now in 
 agitation on the Continent may terminate, its 
 relation to the emancipation of the Catholics 
 will be very striking. If the Spaniards succeed 
 in establishing their own liberties, and in res- 
 cuing Europe from the tyranny under which it 
 at present labours, it will still be contended, 
 within the walls of our own Parliament, that 
 the Catholics cannot I\ilfil the duties of social 
 life. Venal politicians will still argue that the 
 time is not j'et come. Sacred and laj' syco- 
 phants will still lavish upon the Catholic faith 
 their well-paid abuse, and England still pas- 
 sively submit to such a disgraceful spectacle 
 of ingratitude and injustice. If, on the con- 
 trary (as may probably be the case), the Spa- 
 niards fall before the numbers and military 
 skill of the French, then are we left alone ia 
 the world, without another ray of hope ; and 
 compelled to employ against internal disaffec- 
 tion that force which, exalted to its utmost en- 
 ergy, would in all probability prove but barely 
 equal to the external danger by which we 
 should be surrounded. Whence comes it that 
 these things are universally admitted to be 
 true, but looked upon in servile silence by a 
 country hitherto accustomed to make great 
 efforts for its prosperity, safety and indepen- 
 dence 1 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 METHODISM.* 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 1809.] 
 
 In routing out a nest of consecrated cobblers, 
 and in bringing to light such a perilous heap 
 of trash as we were obliged to work through, 
 in our articles upon the Methodists and Mis- 
 sionaries, we are generally conceived to have 
 rendered an useful service to the cause of ra- 
 tional religion. Every one, however, at all 
 acquainted with the true character of Method- 
 ism, must have known the extent of the abuse 
 and misrepresentation to which we exposed 
 ourselves in such a service. All this obloquy, 
 however, we were very willing to encounter, 
 from our conviction of the necessity of expos- 
 ing and correcting the growing evil of fanati- 
 cism. In spite of all misrepresentation, we 
 have ever been, and ever shall be, the sincere 
 friends of sober and rational Christianity. We 
 are quite ready, if any fair opportunity occur, 
 to defend it, to the best of our ability, from the 
 tiger-spring of infidelity ; and we are quite de- 
 termined, if we can prevent such an evil, that 
 it shall not be eaten up by the nasty and nu- 
 merous vermin of Methodism. For this pur- 
 pose, we shall proceed to make a few short 
 remarks upon the sacred and silly gentleman 
 before us, — not, certainly, because we feel any 
 sort of anxiety as to the effect of his strictures 
 on our own credit or reputation, but because 
 his direct and articulate defence of the princi- 
 ples and practices which we have condemned, 
 affords us the fai-rest opportunity of exposing, 
 still more clearly, both the extravagance and 
 the danger of these popular sectaries. 
 
 These very impudent people have one ruling 
 canon, which pervades every thing they say 
 and do. Whoever is unfriendly to Methodistn, is 
 an infidel and an atheist. This reasonable and 
 amiable maxim, repeated, in every form of 
 duluess, and varied in every attitude of malig- 
 nity, is the sum and substance of Mr. Styles's 
 pamphlet. Whoever wishes to rescue religion 
 from the hands of didactic artisans, — whoever 
 prefers a respectable clergyman for his teacher 
 to a delirious mechanic, — whoever wishes to 
 keep the intervals between churches and luna- 
 tic asylums as wide as possible, — all such men, 
 in the estimation of Mr. Styles, are nothing 
 better than open or concealed enemies of 
 Christianity. His catechism is very simple. 
 In what hoy do you navigate 1 By what shoe- 
 maker or carpenter are you instructed 1 What 
 miracles have you to relate 1 Do you think it 
 sinful to reduce Providence to an alternative, &c. 
 &c. &c. Now, if we were to content ourselves 
 with using to Mr. Styles, while he is dealing 
 about his imputations of infidelity, the un- 
 courtly language which is sometimes applied 
 to those who are little curious about truth 
 
 ♦ Strictures on two Critiques in the Edinburgh Review, 
 on the Subject of Methodism and Missions ; with Remarks 
 on the Influence of Reviews, in general, on Morals and 
 Happiness. By Johk Styles. 8vo. London, 1809. 
 
 or falsehood, what Methodist would think the 
 worse of him for such an attack? Who is 
 there among them that would not glory to lie 
 for the tabernacle ] who that would not believe 
 he was pleasing his Maker, by sacrificing 
 truth, justice and common sense, to the inte- 
 rests of his own little chapel, and his own de- 
 ranged instructor? Something more than con- 
 tradiction or confutation, therefore, is necessary 
 to discredit those charitable dogmatists, and to 
 diminish their pernicious influence; — and the 
 first accusation against us is, that we have 
 endeavoured to add ridicule to reasoning. 
 
 We are a good deal amused, indeed, with the 
 extreme disrelish which Mr. John Styles ex- 
 hibits to the humour and pleasantry with which 
 he admits the Methodists to have been attacked; 
 but Mr. John Styles should remember, that it 
 is not the practice with destroyers of vermin 
 to allow the little victims a veto upon the wea- 
 pons used against them. If this were other- 
 wise, we should have one set of vermin banish- 
 ing small-tooth combs; another protesting 
 against mouse-traps ; a third prohibiting the 
 finger and thumb; a fourth exclaiming against 
 the intolerable infamy of using soap and wa- 
 ter. It is impossible, however, to listen to such 
 pleas. They must all be caught, killed and 
 cracked, in the manner, and by the instruments 
 which are found most eflicacious to their de- 
 struction ; and the more they cry out, the 
 greater plainly is the skill used against them. 
 We are convinced a little laughter will do 
 them more harm than all the arguments in the 
 world. Such men as the author before us 
 cannot understand when they are out-argued ; 
 but he has given us a specimen, from his irri- 
 tability, that he fully comprehends when he 
 has become the object of universal contempt 
 and derision. We agree with him, that ridi- 
 cule is not exactly the weapon to be used ia 
 matters of religion ; but the use of it is ex- 
 cusable, when there is no other which can 
 make fools tremble. Besides, he should re- 
 member the particular sort of ridicule we have 
 used, which is nothing more than accurate 
 quotation from the Methodists themselves. It 
 is true, that this is the most severe and cutting 
 ridicule to which we could have had recourse; 
 but, whose fault is that? 
 
 Nothing can be more disingenuous than tne 
 attacks Mr. Styles has made upon us for our 
 use of Scripture language. Light and grace 
 are certainly terms of Scripture. It is not to 
 the words themselves that any ridicule caa 
 ever attach. It is from the preposterous ap- 
 plication of those words, in the mouths of the 
 most arrogant and ignorant of human beings; 
 — it is from their use in the most trivial, low 
 and familiar scenes of life ; — it is from the 
 illiterate and ungrammatical prelacy of Mr. 
 John Styles, that any tinge of ridicule ever is 
 f2 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 or ever can be imparted to the sacred language 
 of Scripture. 
 
 We admit also, with this gentleman, that it 
 would certainly evince the most vulgar and 
 contracted heart, to ridicule any religious 
 opinions, methodistical or otherwise, because 
 they were the opinions of the poor, and were 
 conveyed in the language of the poor. But 
 are we to respect the poor, when they wish to 
 step out of their province, and become the 
 teachers of the land? — when men, whose pro- 
 per "talk is of bullocks, pretend to have wis- 
 dom and understanding," is it not lawful to tell 
 them they have none? An ironmonger is a 
 very respectable man, so long as he is merely 
 an ironmonger, — an admirable man if he is a 
 religious ironmonger; but a great blockhead 
 if he sets up for a bishop or a dean, and lec- 
 tures upon theology. It is not the poor we 
 have attacked, — but the writing poor, the pub- 
 lishing poor, — the limited arrogance which 
 mistakes its own trumpery sect for the world: 
 nor have we attacked them for want of talent, 
 but for want of modesty, want of sense, and 
 want of true rational religion, — for every fault 
 which Mr. John Styles defends and exemplifies. 
 
 It is scarcely possible to reduce the drunken 
 declamations of Methodism to a point, to grasp 
 the wriggling lubricity of these cunning ani- 
 mals, and to fix them in one position. We 
 have said, in our review of the Methodists, that 
 it is extremely wrong to suppose that Provi- 
 dence interferes with special and extraordinary 
 judgments on every trifling occasion of life : 
 that to represent an innkeeper killed for pre- 
 venting a Methodist meeting, or loud claps of 
 thunder rattling along the heavens, merely to 
 hint to Mr. Scott that he was not to preach at 
 a particular tabernacle in Oxford-road, appear- 
 ed to us to be blasphemous and mischievous 
 nonsense. With great events, which change 
 the destiny of mankind, we might suppose 
 such interference, the discovery of which, 
 upon ever}' trifling occasion, we considered to 
 be pregnant with very mischievous conse- 
 quences. To all which Mr. Styles replies, 
 that, with Providence, nothing is great, or no- 
 thing little, — nothing difficult, or nothing easy; 
 that a worm and a whale are equal in the esti- 
 mation of a Supreme Being. I3ut did any hu- 
 man being but a Methodist, and a third or 
 fourth rate Methodist, ever make such a reply 
 to such an argument 1 We are not talking of 
 what is great or important to Providence, but 
 to us. The creation of a worm or a whale, a 
 Newton or a Styles, are tasks equally easy to 
 Omnipotence. But are they, in their results, 
 equally important to us ? The lightning may 
 as easily strike the head of the French empe- 
 ror, as of an innocent cottager; but we are 
 surely neither impious nor obscure, when we 
 say, that one would be an important interfer- 
 ence of Providence, and the other compara- 
 tively not so. But it is a loss of time to reply 
 to such trash; it presents no stimulus of diffi- 
 culty to us, nor would it offer any of novelty to 
 our readers. 
 
 To our attack upon the melancholy ten- 
 dency of Methodism, Mr. Styles replies, " that 
 a man must have studied in the schook of Hume, 
 'ioltairc, and Koizebue, who can plead in be- 
 
 half of the theatre ; that, at fashionable ball- 
 rooms and assemblies, seduction is drawn out 
 to a system ; that dancing excites the fever of 
 the passions, and raises a delirium too often 
 fatal to innocence and peace ; and that, for the 
 poor, instead of the common rough amuse- 
 ments to which they are now addicted, there 
 remain the simple beauties of nature, the 
 gay colours, and scented perfumes of the 
 earth." These are the blessings which the 
 common people have to expect from their 
 Methodistical instructors. They are pilfered 
 of all their money, — shut out from all their 
 dances and country wakes, — and are then sent 
 pennyless into the fields, to gaze on the clouds, 
 and to smell dandelions ! 
 
 Against the orthodox clergy of all descrip- 
 tions, our sour devotee proclaims, as was to 
 have been expected, the most implacable war, 
 — declaring that, " in one century, they would 
 have ohUteraied all the remaining practical reli- 
 gion in the church, had it not been for this 7iew 
 sect, everywhere spoken against." Undoubtedly, 
 the distinction of mankind into godly and un- 
 godly — if by godly is really meant those who 
 apply religion to the extinction of bad pas- 
 sions — would be highly desirable. But when, 
 by that word, is only intended a sect more de- 
 sirous of possessing the appellation than of 
 deserving it, — when, under that term, are com- 
 prehended thousands of canting hypocrites 
 and raving enthusiasts — men despicable from 
 their ignorance, and formidable from their 
 madness, — the distinction may hereafter prove 
 to be truly terrific ; and a dynasty of fools may 
 again sweep away both church and state in 
 one hideous ruin. There may be, at present, 
 some very respectable men at the head of 
 these maniacs, who would insanify them with 
 some degree of prudence, and keep them only 
 half mad, if they could. But this won't do ; 
 Bedlam will break loose, and overpower its 
 keepers. If the preacher sees visions, and 
 has visitations, the clerk will come next, and 
 then the congregation ; every man will be his 
 own prophet, and dream dreams for himself: 
 the competition in extravagance will be hot 
 and lively, and the whole island a receptacle 
 for incurables. There is, at this moment, a 
 man in London who prays for what garments 
 he wants, and finds them next morning in his 
 room, tight and fitting. This man, as might 
 be expected, gains between two and three 
 thousand a year from the common people, by 
 preaching. Anna, the prophetess, encamps in 
 the woods of America, with thirteen or four- 
 teen thousand followers, and has visits every 
 night from the prophet Elijah. Joanna South- 
 cote raises the dead, &c. &c. Mr. Styles will 
 call us atheists, and disciples of the French 
 school, for what we are about to say ; but it is 
 our decided opinion, that there is some fraud 
 in the prophetic visit ; and it is but too pro- 
 bable, that the clothes are merely human, and 
 the man measured for them in the common 
 way. When such blasphemous deceptions 
 are practised upon mankind, how can remon- 
 strance be misplaced, or exposure mischiev- 
 ous 1 If the choice rested with us, we should 
 say, — give us back our wolves again, — restore 
 our Danish invaders,— curse us with any evil 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 but the evil of a canting, deluded, and Metho- 
 distical populace. Wherever Methodism ex- 
 tends its baneful influence, the character of 
 the English people is constantly changed by 
 it. Boldness and rough honesty are broken 
 down into meanness, prevarication, and fraud. 
 
 While Mr. Styles is so severe upon the in- 
 dolence of the Church, he should recollect 
 that his Methodists are the ex-party ; that it is 
 not in human nature, that any persons who 
 quietly possess power can be as active as 
 those who are pursuing it. The fair way to 
 state the merit of the two parties is, to esti- 
 mate what the exertions of the lachrymal and 
 suspirious clergy would be, if they stepped 
 into the endowments of their competitors. 
 The moment they ceased to be paid by the 
 groan, — the instant that Easter oflerings no 
 longer depended upon jumping and convul- 
 sions, — Mr. Styles may assure himself, that 
 the character of his darling preachers would 
 be totally changed ; their bodies would become 
 quiet, and their minds reasonable. 
 
 It is not true, as this bad writer is perpe- 
 tually saying, that the world hates piety. That 
 modest and unobtrusive piety which fills the 
 heart with all human charities, and makes a 
 man gentle to others, and severe to himself, is 
 an object of universal love and veneration. 
 But mankind hate the lust of power when it 
 is veiled under the garb of piety; — they hate 
 canting and hypocrisy ; — they hate advertisers 
 and quacks and piety ; — they do not choose to 
 be insulted; — they love to tear folly and im- 
 prudence from that altar which should only 
 be a sanctuary for the wretched and the good. 
 
 Having concluded his defence of Method- 
 ism, this fanatical writer opens upon us his 
 Missionary battery, firing away with the most 
 incessant fury, and calling names, all the time, 
 as loud as lungs accustomed to the eloquence 
 of the tub usually vociferate. In speaking 
 of the cruelties which their religion entails 
 upon the Hindoos, Mr. Styles is peculiarly 
 severe upon us for not being more shocked at 
 their piercing their limbs with kimes. This is 
 rather an unfair mode of alarming his readers 
 ■with the idea of some unknown instrument. 
 He represents himself as having paid consi- 
 derable attention to the manners and customs 
 of the Hindoos; and, therefore, the peculiar 
 stress he lays upon this instrument is na- 
 turally calculated to produce, in the minds of 
 the humane, a great degree of mysterious 
 terror. A drawing of the liime was impe- 
 riously called for; and the want of it is a 
 subtle evasion, for which Mr. Styles is fairly 
 accountable. As he has been silent on this 
 subject, it is for us to explain the plan and 
 nature of this terrible and unknown piece of 
 mechanism. A kime, then, is neither more 
 nor less than a false print in the Edinburgh 
 Review for a knife ,■ and from this blunder of 
 the printer has Mr. Styles manufactured this 
 Dasdalean instrument of torture, called a 
 kime ! We were at first nearly persuaded 
 by his arguments against kimes ; — we grew 
 frightened ; — we stated to ourselves the hor- 
 ror of not sending missionaries to a nation 
 w^hich used kimes ,- — we were struck with the 
 nice and accurate information of the Taber- 
 
 nacle upon this important subject: — but vre 
 looked m the errata, and found Mr. Styles to 
 be always Mr. Styles, — always cut off from 
 every hope of mercy, and remaining for ever 
 himself. 
 
 Mr. Styles is right in saying we have abo- 
 lished many practices of the Hindoos since 
 the establishment of our empire ; but then we 
 have always consulted the Brahmins, whether 
 or not such practices were conformable to 
 their religion ; and it is upon the authority of 
 their condemnation that we have proceeded 
 to abolition. 
 
 To the whole of Mr. Styles's observations 
 upon the introduction of Christianity into 
 India, we have one short answer : — it is not 
 Christianity which is introduced there, but 
 the debased mummery and nonsense of Metho- 
 dists, which has little more to do with the 
 Christian religion than it has to do with tha 
 religion of China. We would as soon con- 
 sent that Brodum and Solomon should carry 
 the medical art of Europe into India, as that 
 Mr. Styles and his Anabaptists should give to 
 the Eastern World their notions of our reli- 
 gion. We send men of the highest character 
 for the administration of justice and the re- 
 gulation of trade, — nay, we take great pains 
 to impress upon the minds of the natives the 
 highest ideas of our arts and manufactures, 
 by laying before them the finest specimens of 
 our skill and ingenuity, — why, then, are com- 
 mon sense and decency to be forgotten in re- 
 ligion alone ] and so foolish a set of men 
 allowed to engage themselves in this occupsr 
 tion, that the natives almost instinctively duck 
 and pelt them 1 But the missionaries, we are 
 told, have mastered the languages of the East. 
 They may also, for aught we know, in the 
 Same time, have learnt perspective, astrono- 
 my, or any thing else. What is all this to us 1 
 Our charge is, that they want sense, conduct, 
 and sound religion ; and that, if they are not 
 watched, the throat of every European in 
 India will be cut : — the answer to which is^ 
 that their progress in languages is truly asto 
 nishing ! If they expose us to eminent peril, 
 what matters it if they have every virtue 
 under heaven 1 We are not writing disserta' 
 tions upon the intellect of Brother Carey, bti* 
 stating his character so far as it concerns us 
 and caring for it no further. But these pious 
 gentlemen care nothing about the loss of the 
 countrj'. The plan, it seems, is this : — We 
 are to educate India in Christianity, as a pat- 
 rent does his child ; and, when it is perfect in 
 its catechism, then to pack up, qujt i'. entirely, 
 and leave it to its own management This is 
 the evangelical project for separating; a colony 
 from the parent country. They see nothing 
 of the bloodshed, and massacres, and devasta- 
 tions, nor of the speeches in parliament, squan- 
 dered millions, fruitless expeditions, jobs and 
 pensions, with which the loss of our Indip 
 possessions would necessarily be accompar 
 nied ; nor will they see that these consequences 
 could arise from the attempt, and not from the 
 completion, of their scheme of conversion. 
 We should be swept from the peninsula by Par 
 gan zealots; and should lose,among other things, 
 all chance of ever really converting thea. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 What is the use, too, of telling us what these I 
 men endure 1 Suffering is not a merit, but 
 only useful suffering. Prove to us that they 
 are fit men, doing a fit thing, and we are ready 
 to praise the missionaries ; but it gives us no 
 pleasure to hear that a man has walked a 
 thousand miles with peas in his shoes, unless 
 we know why, and wherefore, and to what 
 good purpose he has done it. 
 
 But these men, it is urged, foolish and ex- 
 travagant as they are, may be very useful pre- 
 cursors of the established clergy. This is 
 much as if a regular physician should send a 
 quack doctor before him, and say, do you go 
 and look after this disease for a day or two, 
 and ply the patient well with your nostrums, 
 and then I will step in and complete the cure; 
 a more notable expedient we have seldom 
 heard of Its patrons forget that these self- 
 ordained ministers, with Mr. John Styles at 
 their head, abominate the established clergy 
 ten thousand times more than they do Pagans, 
 who cut themselves with cruel kimes. The 
 eflbrts of these precursors would be directed 
 with infinitely more zeal to make the Hindoos 
 disbelieve in bishops, than to make them be- 
 lieve in Christ. The darling passion in the 
 soul of eveiy missionary is, not to teach the 
 great leading truths of the Christian faith, but 
 to enforce the little paltry modification and 
 distinction which he first taught from his own 
 tub. And then what a way of teaching Chris- 
 tianity is this ! There are five sects, if not six, 
 now employed as missionaries, every one in- 
 structing the Hindoos in their own particular 
 method of interpreting the Scriptures ; and, 
 when these have completely succeeded, the 
 Church of England is to step in, and convert 
 them all over again to its own doctrines. 
 There is, indeed, a very fine varnish of proba- 
 bility over this ingenious andplausible scheme. 
 Mr. John Styles, however, would much rather 
 see a kime in the flesh of an Hindoo than the 
 hand of a bishop on his head. 
 
 The missionaries complain of intolerance. 
 A vreasel might as well complain of intoler- 
 ance when he is throttled for sucking eggs. 
 Toleration for their own opinions, — toleration 
 for their domestic worship, for their private 
 groans and convulsions, they possess in the 
 fullest extent; but who ever heard of tolera- 
 tion for intolerance? Who ever before heard 
 men cry out that they were persecuted, be- 
 cause they might not insult the religion, shock 
 the feelings, irritate the passions of their fel- 
 low-creatures, and throw a whole colony into 
 bloodshed and confusion? We did not say 
 that a man was not an object of pity who 
 tormented himself from a sense of duty, but 
 that he was not so great an object of pity as 
 one equally tormented by the tyranny of an- 
 other, and without any sense of duty to sup- 
 port him. Let Mr. Styles first inflict forty 
 lashes upon himself, then let him allow an 
 " Edinburgh Reviewer to give him forty more, — 
 he will find no comparison between the two 
 flagellations. 
 
 These men talk of the loss of our posses- 
 sions in India, as if it made the argument 
 against them only more or less strong ; where- 
 a.s, in our estimation, it makes the argument 
 
 against them conclusive, and shuts up the 
 case. Two men possess a cow, and they quar- 
 rel violently how they shall manage this cow. 
 They will surely both of them (if they have a 
 particle of common sense) agree, that there is 
 an absolute necessity for preventing the cow 
 from ninning away. It is not only the loss 
 of India that is in question, — but how will it 
 be lost 1 By the massacre of ten or twenty 
 thousand English, by the blood of our sons 
 and brothers, who have been toiling so many 
 years to return to their native country-. But 
 what is all this to a ferocious Methodist! 
 What care brothers Barrel and Ringletub for 
 us and our colonies 1 
 
 If it were possible to invent a method by 
 which a few men sent from a distant cotintry 
 could hold such masses of people as the Hin- 
 doos in subjection, that method wottld be the 
 institution of castes. There is no institution 
 which can so effectually curb the ambition of 
 genius, reconcile the individual more com- 
 pletely to his station, and reduce the varieties 
 of human character to such a state of insipid 
 and monotonous tameness ; and yet the re- 
 ligidn which destroys castes is said to render 
 our empire in India more certain ! It may be 
 our duty to make the Hindoos Christians, — 
 that is another argument : but, that we shall 
 by so doing strengthen our empire, we utterly 
 deny. What signifies identity of religion to a 
 question of this kindl Diversity of bodily 
 colour and of language would soon overpower 
 this consideration. Make the Hindoos enter- 
 prising, active, and reasonable as yourselves, 
 — destroy the eternal track in which they have 
 moved for ages — and, in a moment, they would 
 sweep you off the face of the earth. Let us 
 ask, too, if the Bible is universally diffused in 
 Hindostan, what must be the astonishment 
 of the natives to find that we are forbidden to 
 rob, murder, and steal ; — we whg^ in fifty years, 
 have extended our empire from a few acres 
 about Madras over the whole peninsula, and 
 sixty millions of people, and exemplified in 
 our public conduct every crime of which hu- 
 man nature is capable. What matchless im- 
 pudence to follow up such practice with such 
 precepts ! If we have common prudence, let 
 us keep the gospel at home, and tell them that 
 Machiavel is our prophet, and the god of the 
 Manicheans our god. 
 
 There is nothing which disgusts us more 
 than the familiarity which these impious cox- 
 combs affect with the ways and designs of Pro- 
 vidence. Every man, now-a-days, is an Amos 
 or a Malachi. One rushes out of his chambers, 
 and tells us we are beaten by the French, be- 
 cause we do not abolish the slave trade. An- 
 other assures us, that we have no chance of 
 victor)^ till India is evangelized. The new 
 Christians are now come to speak of the ways 
 of their Creator with as much confidence as 
 they would of the plans of an earthly ruler. 
 We remember when the ways of God to man 
 were gazed upon with trembling humility, — 
 when they were called inscrutable, — when 
 piety looked to another scene of existence for 
 the true explanation of this ambiguous and 
 distressing world. We were taught in our 
 childhood that this was true religion; but it 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 69 
 
 tarns out now to be nothing but atheism and 
 infidelity. If any thing could surprise us from 
 the pen of a Methodist, we should be truly sur- 
 prised at the very irreligious and presump- 
 tuous answer which Mr. Styles makes to some 
 of our arguments. Our title to one of the an- 
 ecdotes from the Methodist Magazine is as 
 follows: — "A sinner punished — a Bee the in- 
 strument," to which Mr. Styles replies, that we 
 might as well ridicule the Scriptures, by re- 
 lating their contents in the same ludicrous 
 manner. An interference with respect to a tra- 
 velling Jew,- blindness the consequence. Acts, 
 the ninth chapter, and first nine verses. The 
 account of Paul's conversion, Sfc. c^-c. <^c. page 38. 
 But does Mr. Styles forget that the one is a 
 shameless falsehood, introduced to sell a two- 
 penny book, and the other a miracle recorded 
 by inspired writers ] In the same manner, 
 when we express our surprise that sixty mil- 
 lions of Hindoos should be converted by four 
 men and sixteen guineas, he asks, what would 
 have become of Christianity if the twelve 
 Apostles had argued in the same way'? It is 
 impossible to make this infatuated gentleman 
 understand that the lies of the Evangelical 
 Magazine are not the miracles of Scripture; 
 and that the Baptist Missionaries are not the 
 Apostles. He seriously expects that we should 
 speak of Brother Carey as we would speak of 
 St. Paul; and treat with an equal respect the 
 miracles of the Magazine and the Gospel. 
 
 Mr. Styles knows very well that we have 
 never said, because a nation has present hap- 
 piness, that it can therefore dispense with im- 
 mortal happiness ; but we have said that, where 
 of two nations both cannot be made Christians, 
 it is more the duty of a missionary to convert 
 the one, which is exposed to every evil of bar- 
 barism, than the other possessing every bless- 
 ing of civilization. Our argument is merely 
 comparative : Mr. Styles must have known it 
 to be so: — but who does not love the Taber- 
 nacle better than truth 1 When the tenacity 
 of the Hindoos on the subject of their religion 
 is adduced as a reason against the success of 
 the missions, the friends of this understanding 
 are always fond of reminding us how patiently 
 the Hindoos submitted to the religious perse- 
 cutions and butchery of Tippoo. The infer- 
 ence from such citations is truly alarming. 
 It is the imperious duty of Government to 
 watch some of these men most narrowly. — 
 There is nothing of which they are not capa- 
 ble. And what, after all, did Tippoo effect in 
 the way of conversion 1 How many Mahome- 
 dans did he makel There was all the car- 
 nage of Medea's Kettle, and none of the trans- 
 formation. He deprived multitudes of Hindoos 
 of their caste, indeed; and cut them off from 
 all the benefits of their religion. That he did, 
 
 and we may do, by violence; but, did he make 
 Mahomedansi — or shall we make Christians T 
 This, however, it seems, is a matter of plea- 
 santry. To make a poor Hindoo hateful to 
 himself and his kindred, and to fix a curse 
 upon him to the end of his days ! — we have no 
 doubt but that this is very entertaining; and 
 particularly to the friends of toleration. But 
 our ideas of comedy have been formed in 
 another school. We are dull enough to think, 
 too, that it is more innocent to exile pigs than 
 to offend conscience, and destroy human hap- 
 piness. The scheme of baptizing with beef 
 iDroth is about as brutal and preposterous as 
 the assertion that you may vilify the gods and, 
 priests of the Hindoos with safety, provided] 
 you do not meddle with their turbans and 
 toupees, (which are cherished solely on a 
 principle of religion,) is silly and coiitemptible. 
 After all, if the Mahomedan did persecute the 
 Hindoo with impunity, is that any precedent 
 of safety to a government that offends every 
 feeling both of Mahomedan and Hindoo at the 
 same timel You have a tiger and a buffalo 
 in the same enclosure; and the tiger drives 
 the buffalo before him ; — is it therefore prudent, 
 in you to do that which will irritate them both,' 
 and bring their united strength upon you? 
 
 In answer to the low malignity of this au- 
 thor, we have only to reply, that we are, as we 
 always have been, sincere friends to the con- 
 version of the Hindoos. We admit the Hin- 
 doo religion to be full of follies, and full of 
 enormities; — we think conversion a great 
 duty ; and should think, if it could be effected, a 
 great blessing; but our opinion of the mis- 
 sionaries and of their employer is such, that 
 we most firmly believe, in less than twenty 
 years, for the conversion of a few degraded 
 wretches, who would be neither Methodists 
 nor Hindoos, they would infallibly produce the 
 massacre of every European in India;* the 
 loss of our settlements ; and, consequently, of 
 the chance of that slow, solid, and temperate 
 introduction of Christianity, which the supe- 
 riority of the European character may ulti- 
 mately effect in the Eastern world. The Board 
 of Control (all Atheists, and disciples of Vol- 
 taire, of course) are so entirely of our way of 
 thinking, that the most peremptory orders have 
 been issued to send all the missionaries home 
 upon the slightest appearance of disturbance. 
 Those who have sons and brothers in India 
 may now sleep in peace. Upon the transmis- 
 sion of this order, Mr. Styles is said to have 
 destroyed himself with a kime. 
 
 ♦Every opponent says of Major Scott's book, "What 
 a dangerous book! the arrival of it at Calcutta may 
 throw the whole Indian empire into confusion ;" and yet 
 these are the people whose religious prejudices may bo 
 insulted with impunity. 
 
70 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH, 
 
 HANNAH MOEE. 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 1809.] 
 
 This book is written, or supposed to be writ- 
 ten, (for we would speak timidly of the mys- 
 teries of superior beings,) by the celebrated 
 Mrs. Hannah More ! We shall probably give 
 great offence by such indiscretion; but still we 
 must be excused for treating it as a book 
 merely human, — an uninspired production, — 
 the result of mortality left to itself, and de- 
 pending on its own limited resources. In tak- 
 ing up the subject in this point of view, we so- 
 lemnly disclaim the slightest intention of in- 
 dulging in any indecorous levity, or of wound- 
 ing the religious feelings of a large class of very 
 respectable persons. It is the only method in 
 which we can possibly make this work a pro- 
 per object of criticism. We have the strong- 
 est possible doubts of the attributes usually 
 ascribed to this authoress; and we think it 
 more simple and manly to say so at once, than 
 to admit nominally superlunary claims, which, 
 in the progress of our remarks, we should vir- 
 tually deny. 
 
 Coelebs wants a wife: and, after the death 
 ©f his father, quits his estate in Northumber- 
 land to see the world, and to seek for one of 
 its best productions, a woman, who may add 
 materially to the happiness of his future life. 
 His first journey is to London, where, in the 
 midst of the gay society of the metropolis, of 
 course, he does not find a wife; and his next 
 journey is to the family of Mr. Stanley, the 
 head of the Methodists, a serious people, where, 
 of course, he does find a wife. The exaltation, 
 therefore, of what the authoress deems to be 
 the religious, and the depreciation of what she 
 considers to be the worldly character, and the 
 influence of both upon matrimonial happiness, 
 form the subject of this novel, — rather of this 
 dramatic sermon. 
 
 The machinery upon which the discourse is 
 suspended is of the slightest and most inarti- 
 ficial texture, bearing every mark of liaste, and 
 possessing not the slightest claim to merit. 
 Events there are none ; and scarcely a charac- 
 ter of any interest. The book is intended to 
 convey religious advice; and no more labour' 
 appears to have been bestowed upon the story, 
 than was merely sufficient to throw it out of 
 the dry, didactic form. Lucilla is totally un- 
 interesting; so is Mr. Stanley; Dr. Barlow still 
 worse; and Coelebs a mere clod or dolt. Sir 
 John and Lady Belfield are rather more inte- 
 resting — and for a very obvious reason: they 
 have some faults; they put us in mind of men 
 and women ; they seem to belong to one com- 
 mon nature with ourselves. As we read, we 
 seem to think we might act as such people 
 act, and therefore we attend; whereas imita- 
 
 * C(rJebs in Search nf a Wife ; comprehending Oiserva- 
 tions on Domestic Habits and Manners, Religion and Mo- 
 rals. 2 vols. London, 1809. 
 
 tion is hopeless in the more perfect characters 
 which Mrs. More has set before us; and 
 therefore they inspire us with very little inte- 
 rest. 
 
 There are books, however, of all kinds ; and 
 those may not be unwisely planned which set 
 before us very pure models. They are less 
 probable, and therefore less amusing, than or- 
 dinary stories; but they are more amusing 
 than plain, unfabled precept. Sir Charles 
 Grandison is less agreeable than Tom Jones; 
 but it is more agreeable than Sherlock and 
 Tillotson; and teaches religion and morality 
 to many who would not seek it in the produc- 
 tions of these professional writers. 
 
 But, making every' allowance for the diffi- 
 culty of the task which Mrs. More has pre- 
 scribed to herself, the book abounds with marks 
 of negligence and want of skill ; with repre- 
 sentations of life and manners which are either 
 false or trite. 
 
 Temples to friendship and virtue must be 
 totally laid aside, for many years to come, in 
 novels. Mr. Lane, of the Minerva Press, has 
 given them up long since; and we were quite 
 surprised to find such a writer as Mrs. More 
 busied in moral brick and mortar. Such an 
 idea, at first, was merely juvenile; the second 
 time, a little nauseous; but the ten thousandth 
 time it is quite intolerable. Coelebs, upon his 
 first arrival in London, dines out, — meets with 
 a bad dinner, — supposes the cause of that bad 
 dinner to be the erudition of the ladies of the 
 house, — talks to them upon learned subjects, 
 and finds them as dull and ignorant as if they 
 had piqued themselves upon all the mysteries 
 of housewifery. We humbly submit to Mrs. 
 More, that this is not humorous, but strained 
 and unnatural. Philippics against frugivo- 
 rous children after dinner are too common. 
 Lady Melbur}' has been introduced into every 
 novel for these four years last past. Peace to 
 her ashes ! 
 
 The characters in this novel which evince 
 the greatest skill are unquestionably those of 
 Mrs. Ranby and her daughters. There are 
 some scenes in this part of the book extremely 
 well painted, and which evince that Mrs. More 
 could amuse, in no common degree, if amuse- 
 ment was her object. 
 
 "At tea I found the young ladies took no 
 more interest in the conversation than they 
 had done at dinner, but sat whispering and 
 laughing, and netting white silk gloves, till 
 they were summoned to the harpsichord. 
 Despairing of getting on with them in com 
 pany, I proposed a walk in the garden. I now 
 found them as willing to talk as destitute of 
 any thing to say. Their conversation was 
 vapid and frivolous. They laid great stress 
 on small things. They seemed to have no 
 shades in their understanding, but used the 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 71 
 
 strongest terms for the commonest occasions ; 
 and admiration was excited by tilings hardly 
 worthy to command attention. They were 
 extremely glad and extremely sorry on sub- 
 jects not calculated to excite affections of 
 any kind. They were animated about trifles, 
 and indifferent on things of importance. They 
 were, I must confess, frank and good-na- 
 tured ; but it was evident that, as they were 
 too open to have any thing to conceal, so 
 they were too uninformed to have any thing 
 to produce; and I was resolved not to risk 
 my happiness with a woman who could not 
 contribute her full share towards spending 
 a wet winter cheerfully in the country." — (I. 
 54, 55.) 
 
 This trait of character appears to us to be 
 very good. The following passage is still 
 better. 
 
 "In the evening, Mrs. Ranby was lamenting 
 in general, in rather customary terms, her own 
 exceeding sinfulness. Mr. Ranby said, ' You 
 accuse yourself rather too heavily, my dear; 
 you have sins to be sure.' ' And pray what 
 sins have I, Mr. Ranby V said she, turning upon 
 him with so much quickness that the poor 
 man started. ' Nay,' said he, meekly, ' I did 
 not mean to offend you ; so far from it, that, 
 hearing you condemn yourself so grievously, 
 I intended to comfort you, and to say that, 
 
 except a few faults ' ' And pray what 
 
 faults V interrupted she, continuing to speak, 
 however, lest he should catch an interval to 
 tell them. ' I defy you, Mr. Ranby, to produce 
 one.' ' My dear,' replied he, ' as you charged 
 yourself with all, I thought it would be letting 
 you off cheaply, by naming only two or three, 
 
 such as ' Here, fearing matters would 
 
 go too far, I interposed ; and, softening things 
 as much as I could for the lady, said, ' I con- 
 ceived that Mr. Ranby meant, that though she 
 
 partook of the general corruption ' Here 
 
 Ranby, interrupting me with more spirit than 
 I thought he possessed, said, ' General corrup- 
 tion, sir, must be the source of particular cor- 
 ruption. I did not mean that my wife was 
 worse 'han other women.' — ' Worse, Mr. 
 Ranby, worse 1' cried she. Ranby, for the 
 first time in his life, not minding her, went on, 
 'As she is always insisting that the whole 
 species is corrupt, she cannot help allowing 
 that she herself has not quite escaped the infec- 
 tion. Now, to be a sinner in the gross, and a 
 saint in the detail — that is, to have all sins, 
 and no faults — is a thing I do not quite com- 
 prehend.' 
 
 « After he had left the room, which he did 
 as the shortest way of allaying the storm, she, 
 apologizing for him, said, 'he was a well- 
 meaning man, and acted up to the little light 
 he had ;' but added, ' that he was unacquainted 
 with religious feelings, and knew little of the 
 nature of conversion.' 
 
 " Mrs. Ranby, I found, seems to consider 
 Christianity as a kind of free-masonry; and 
 therefore thinks it superfluous to speak on 
 serious subjects to any but the initiated. If 
 they do not return the sign, she gives them up 
 as blind and dead. She thinks she can only 
 make herself intelligible to those to whom 
 
 certain peculiar phrases are familiar: and 
 though her friends may be correct, devout, and 
 both doctrinally and practically pious ; yet, if 
 they cannot catch a certain mystic meaning, — 
 if there is not a sympathy of intelligence 
 between her and them, — if they do not fully 
 conceive of impressions, and cannot respond 
 to mysterious communications, she holds them 
 unworthy of intercourse with her. She does 
 not so much insist on high moral excellence 
 as the criterion of their worth, as on their 
 own account of their internal feelings." — (I. 
 60—63.) 
 
 The great object kept in view, throughout 
 the whole of this introduction, is the enforce- 
 ment of religious principle, and the condemna- 
 tion of a life lavished in dissipation and 
 fashionable amusement. In the pursuit of this 
 object, it appears to us that Mrs. More is much 
 too severe upon the ordinary amusements of 
 mankind, many of which she does not object 
 to in this or that degree, but altogether. 
 Coelebs and Lucilla, her opfimus and optima, 
 never dance, and never go to the play. They 
 not only stay away from the comedies of 
 Congreve and Farquhar, for which they may 
 easily enough be forgiven ; but they never go 
 to see Mrs. Siddons in the Gamester, or in 
 Jane Shore. The finest exhibition of talent, 
 and the most beautiful moral lessons, are in- 
 terdicted at the theatre. There is something 
 in the word Playhouse which seems so closely 
 connected, in the minds of these people, with 
 sin and Satan, — that it stands in their vocabu- 
 lary for every species of abomination. And 
 yet why? Where is every feeling more roused 
 in favour of virtue than at a good play? 
 Where is goodness so feelingly, so enthusias- 
 tically learnt 1 What so solemn as to see the 
 excellent passions of the human heart called 
 forth by a great actor, animated by a great poet 1 
 To hear Siddons repeat what Shakspeare wrote 1 
 To behold the child and his mother — the noble 
 and the poor artisan — the monarch and his 
 subjects — all ages and all ranks convulsed 
 with one common passion — wrung with one 
 common anguish, and, with loud sobs and 
 cries, doing involuntary homage to the God 
 that made their hearts ! What wretched infa- 
 tuation to inter(jlict such amusements as these I 
 What a blessing that mankind can be allure(?. 
 from sensual gratification, and find relaxation 
 and pleasure in such pursuits ! But the excel- 
 lent Mr. Stanley is uniformly paltry and nar- 
 row, — always trembling at the idea of being 
 entertained, and thinking no Christian safe 
 M'ho is not dull. As to the spectacles of im- 
 propriety which are sometimes witnessed in 
 parts of the theatre, such reasons apply, in a 
 much stronger degree, to not driving along the 
 Strand, or any of the great public streets of 
 London, after dark; and, if the virtue of well- 
 educated young persons is made of such very 
 frail materials, their best resource is a nun 
 nery at once. It is a very bad rule, however, 
 never to quit the house for fear of catching 
 cold. 
 
 Mrs. More practically extends the same 
 doctrine to cards and assemblies. No cards 
 — because cards are employed in gaming; no 
 assemblies — because many dissipated persons 
 
7S 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 pass their lives in assemblies. Carry this but 
 a little further, and vre must say, no wine — 
 because of drunkenness ; no meat — because 
 of gluttony; no use, that there may be no 
 abuse ! The fact is, that Mr. Stanley wants, 
 not only to be religious, but to be at the head 
 of the religious. These little abstinences are 
 the cockades by which the party are known, — 
 the rallying points for the evangelical faction. 
 So natural is the love of power, that it some- 
 times becomes the influencing motive with the 
 sincere advocates of that blessed religion 
 whose very characteristic excellence is the 
 humility which it inculcates. 
 
 We observe that Mrs. More, in one part of 
 her work, falls into the common error about 
 dress. She first blames ladies for exposing 
 their persons in the present style of dress, and 
 then says, if they knew their own interest, — if 
 they Avere aware how much more alluring 
 they were to men when their charms are less 
 displayed, they would make the desired altera- 
 tion from motives merely selfish. 
 
 " Oh ! if women in general knew what was 
 their real interest, if they could guess with 
 what a charm even the uppearmice of modesty 
 invests its possessor, they would dress deco- 
 rously from mere self-love, if not from prin- 
 ciple. The designing would assume modesty 
 as an artifice ; the coquette would adopt it as 
 an allurement; the pure as her appropriate 
 attraction ; and the voluptuous as the most 
 infallible art of seduction." — (I. 189.) 
 
 If there is any truth in this passage, nudity 
 becomes a virtue ; and no decent woman, for 
 the future, can be seen in garments. 
 
 We have a few more of Mrs. More's opinions 
 to notice. — It is not fair to attack the religion 
 of the times, because, in large and indiscri- 
 minate parties, religion does not become the 
 subject of conversation. Conversation must 
 and ought to grow out of materials on which 
 men can agree, not upon subjects which try 
 the passions. But this good lady wants to see 
 men chatting togetlier upon the Pelagian 
 heresy — to hear, in the afternoon, the theolo- 
 gical rumours of the day — and to glean pole- 
 mical tittle-tattle at a tea-table rout. All the 
 disciples of this school uniformly fall into the 
 same mistake. They are perpetually calling 
 upon their votaries for religious thoughts and 
 religious conversation in every thing ; inviting 
 
 I them to ride, walk, row, wrestle, and dine out 
 I religiously ; — forgetting that the being to whom 
 this impossible purity is recommended, is a 
 being compelled to scramble for his existence 
 ! and support for ten hours out of the sixteen he 
 is awake ; — forgettmg that he must dig, beg, 
 read, think, move, pay, receive, praise, scold, 
 command, and obey ; — forgetting, also, that if 
 men conversed as often upon religious subjects 
 as they do upon the ordinary occurrences of 
 the world, thej^ would converse upon them 
 with the same familiarity and want of respect, 
 — that religion would then produce feelings not 
 more solemn or exalted than any other topics 
 which constitute at present the common furni- 
 ture of human understandings. 
 
 We are glad to find in this work some strong 
 compliments to the efficacy of works, — some 
 distinct admissions that it is necessary to be 
 honest and just, before we can be considered 
 as religious. Such sort of concessions are 
 very gratifying to us ; but how will they be 
 received by the children of the Tabernacle 7 
 It is quite clear, indeed, throughout the whole 
 of the work, that an apologetical explanation 
 of certain religious opinions is intended; and 
 there is a considerable abatement of that tone 
 of insolence with whicli the improved Chris- 
 tians are apt to tieat the bungling specimens 
 of piety to be met with in the more ancient 
 churches. 
 
 So much for the extravagances of this lady. 
 — With equal sincerity, and with greater plea- 
 sure, we bear testimony to her talents, her good 
 sense, and her real piety. There occur every 
 now and then, in her productions, very original, 
 and very profound observations. Her advice 
 is very often characterized by the most amiable 
 good sense, and conveyed in the most brilliant 
 and inviting style. If, instead of belonging to 
 a trumpery faction, she had only Avatched over 
 those great points of religion in which the 
 hearts of every sect of Christians are interest- 
 ed, she would have been one of the most useful 
 and valuable writers of her Aay. As it is, 
 every man would wish his wife and his children 
 to read Calebs ,- — watching himself its effects ; 
 — separating the piety from the puerility ; — 
 and showing that it is very possible to be a 
 good Christian, without degrading the human 
 understanding to the trash and folly of Me- 
 thodism. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION.* 
 
 [Edinbukgh Review, 1809.] 
 
 There ar<" two questions to be asked respect- 
 ing every new publication. Is it worth bu3'ing 1 
 Is it worth borrowing] and we would advise 
 our readers to weigh diligently the importance 
 of these interrogations, before they take any 
 decided step as to this work of Mr. Edgeworth ; 
 the more especially as the name carries with 
 it considerable authority, and seems, in the 
 estimation of the unwary, almost to include 
 the idea of purchase. For our own part, we 
 would rather decline giving a direct answer to 
 these questions; and shall content ourselves 
 for the present with making a few such slight 
 observations as may enable the sagacious to 
 conjecture what our direct answer would be 
 ■were we compelled to be more e.vplicit. 
 
 One great and signal praise we think to be 
 the eminent due of Mr. Edgeworth: in a cant- 
 ing age, he does not cant; — at a period when 
 hypocrisy and fanaticism will almost certainly 
 insure the success of any publication, he has 
 constantly disdained to have recourse to any 
 such arts; — without ever having been accused 
 of disloyalty or irreligion, he is not always 
 harping upon Church and King, in order to 
 catch at a little popularity, and sell his books; — 
 he is manly, independent, liberal — and main- 
 tains enlightened opinions with discretion and 
 honesty. There is also in this work of Mr. 
 Edgeworth an agreeable diffusion of anecdote 
 and example, such as a man acquires M'ho 
 reads with a view to talking or writing. With 
 these merits, we cannot say that Mr. Edgeworth 
 is either very new, very profound, or very apt 
 to be right in his opinion. He is active, enter- 
 prising, and unprejudiced ; but we have not 
 been very much instructed by what he has 
 ■written, or always satisfied that he has got to 
 the bottom of his subject. 
 
 On one subject, however, we cordially agree 
 with this gentleman ; and return him our thanks 
 for the courage with which he has combated 
 the excessive abuse of classical learning in 
 England. It is a subject upon which we have 
 long wished for an opportunity of saying 
 something; and one which we consider to be 
 of the very highest importance. 
 
 "The principal defect," says Mr. Edgeworth, 
 "in the present system of our great schools is, 
 that they devote too large a portion of time to 
 Latin and Greek. It is true, that the attainment 
 of classical literature is highly desirable ; but 
 it should not, or rather it need not, be the ex- 
 clusive object of boys during eight or nine 
 years. 
 
 " Much less time, judiciously managed, would 
 give them an acquaintance with the classics 
 sufficient for all useful purposes, and would 
 make them as good scholars as gentlemen or 
 
 f * Essays on Professional Education. By R. I,. Edge- 
 WOETH, Esq., F. R. S., &c. London, 1809. 
 10 
 
 professional men need to be. It is not requi- 
 site that every man should make Latin or 
 Greek verses ; therefore, a knowledge of pro- 
 sody beyond the structure of hexameter and 
 pentameter verses, is as worthless an acquisi- 
 tion as any which folly or fashion has intro- 
 duced amongst the higher classes of mankind. 
 It must indeed be acknowledged that there are 
 some rare exceptions ; but even party prejudice 
 would allow, that the persons alluded to must 
 have risen to eminence though they had never 
 written sapphics or iambics. Though precep- 
 tors, parents, and the public in general, may be 
 convinced of the absurdity of making boys 
 spend so much of life in learning what can be 
 of no use to them ; such are the difficulties of 
 making any change in the ancient rules of 
 great establishments, that masters themselves, 
 however reasonable, dare not, and cannot make 
 sudden alterations. 
 
 "The only remedies that can be suggested 
 might be, perhaps, to take those boys, who are 
 not intended for professions in which deep 
 scholarship is necessary, away from school 
 before they reach the highest classes, where 
 prosody and Greek and Latin verses are 
 required. 
 
 " In the college of Dublin, where an admira- 
 ble course of instruction has been long esta- 
 blished, where this course is superintended by 
 men of acknowledged learning and abilities, 
 and pursued by students of unco.mmon in- 
 dustry, such is the force of example, and such 
 the fear of appearing inferior in tritles to En- 
 glish universities, that much pains have been 
 lately taken to introduce the practice of writ- 
 ing Greek and Latin verses, and much solici- 
 tude has been shown about the prosody of the 
 learned languages, without any attention being 
 paid to the prosody of our own. 
 
 "Boarding-houses for the scholars at Eton 
 and Westminster, which are at present mere 
 lodging houses, might be kept by private tutors, 
 who might, during the hours when the boys 
 were not in their public classes, assist them in 
 acquiring general literature, or such know- 
 ledge as might be advantageous for their re- 
 spective professions. 
 
 " New schools, that are not restricted to any 
 established routine, should give a fair trial to 
 experiments in education, which afford a ra- 
 tional prospect of success. If nothing can be 
 altered in the old schools, leave them as they 
 are. Destroy nothing — injure none — but let 
 the public try whether they cannot have some- 
 thing better. If the experiment do not suc- 
 ceed, the public will be convinced that they 
 ought to acquiesce in the established methods 
 of instruction, and parents will send their 
 children to the ancient seminaries with in- 
 creased confidence." — (p. 47 — 49.) 
 
 We are well aware that nothing very ntvf 
 G 
 
H 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 can remain to be said upon a topic so often j 
 debated. The complaints we have to malce . 
 are at least as old as the time of Locke and | 
 Dr. Samuel Clarke; and the evil which is the | 
 subject of these complaints has certainly 1 
 rather increased than diminished since the j 
 period of those two great men. An hundred 
 years, to be sure, is a very little time for the 
 duration of a national error; and it is so far 
 from being reasonable to look for its decay at 
 so short a date, that it can hardly be expected, 
 within such limits, to have displayed the full 
 bloom of its imbecility. 
 
 There are several feelings to which attention 
 must be paid, before the question of classical 
 learning can be fairly and temperately dis- 
 cussed. 
 
 We are apt, in the first place, to remember 
 the immense benefits which the study of the 
 classics once conferred on mankind; and to 
 feel for those models on which the taste of 
 Europe has been formed, something like senti- 
 ments of gratitude and obligation. This is all 
 well enough, so long as it continues to be a 
 mere feeling; but, as soon as it interferes with 
 action, it nourishes dangerous prejudices about 
 education. Nothing will do in the pursuit of 
 knowledge but the blackest ingratitude; the 
 moment we have got up the ladder we must 
 kick it down; — as soon as we have passed 
 over the bridge, we must let it rot; — when we 
 have got upon the shoulders of the ancients, 
 we must look over their heads. The man who 
 forgets the friends of his childhood in real life, 
 is base: but he who clings to the props of his 
 childhood in literature, must be content to re- 
 main as ignorant as he was when a child. His 
 business is to forget, disown, and deny — to 
 think himself above every thing which has 
 been of use to him in time past — and to culti- 
 vate that exclusively from which he expects 
 future advantage : in short, to do every thing 
 for the advancement of his knowledge which 
 it would be infamous to do for the advancement 
 of his fortune. If manlcind still derive advan- 
 tage from classical literature proportionate to 
 the labour they bestow upon it, let their labour 
 and their study proceed; but the moment we 
 cease to read Latin and Greek for the solid 
 utility we derive from them, it would be a very 
 romantic application of human talents to do so 
 from any feeling of gratitude, and recollection 
 of past service. 
 
 To almost every Englishman up to the age 
 of three or four and twenty, classical learning 
 has been the great object of existence ; and no 
 man is very apt to suspect, or very much 
 pleased to hear, that what he has done for so 
 long a time was not worth doing. His clas- 
 sical literature, too, reminds every man of the 
 scenes of his childhood, and brings to his fancy 
 several of the most pleasing associations 
 which we are capable of forming. A certain 
 sort of vanity, also, very naturally grows 
 among men occupied in a common pursuit. 
 Classical quotations are the watchwords of 
 scholars, by which they distinguish each other 
 from the ignorant and illiterate; and Greek 
 and Latin are insensibly become almost the 
 only test of a cultivated mind. 
 
 Some men through indolence, others through 
 
 ignorance, and most through necessity, submit 
 to the established education of the times ; and 
 seek for their children that species of distinc- 
 tion which happens, at the period in which 
 they live, to be stamped with the approbation 
 of mankind. This mere question of conve- 
 nience every parent must determine for him- 
 self. A poor man, who has his fortune to 
 gain, must be a quibbling theologian, or a 
 classical pedant, as fashion dictates ; and he 
 must vary his error with the error of the times. 
 But it would be much more fortunate for man- 
 kind, if the public opinion, which regulates 
 the pursuits of individuals, were more wise 
 and enlightened than it at present is. 
 
 All these considerations make it extremely 
 difficult to procure a candid hearing on this 
 question; and to refer this branch of educa- 
 tion to the only proper criterion of every 
 branch of education — its utility in future life. 
 
 There are two questions which grow out of 
 this subject: 1st, How far is any sort of clas- 
 sical education useful 1 2d, How far is that 
 particular classical education adopted in this 
 country useful ] 
 
 Latin and Greek are, in the first place, use- 
 ful, as they inure children to intellectual diffi- 
 culties, and make the life of a young student 
 what it ought to be, a life of considerable 
 labour. We do not, of course, mean to con- 
 fine this praise exclusively to the study of 
 Latin and Greek; or to suppose that other 
 difficulties might not be found which it would 
 be useful to overcome : but though Latin and 
 Greek have this merit in common with many 
 arts and sciences., still they have it ; and, if 
 they do nothing else, they at least secure a 
 solid and vigorous application at a period of 
 life which materially influences all other pe- 
 riods. 
 
 To go through the grammar of one language 
 thoroughly is of great use for the mastery of 
 every other grammar; because there obtains, 
 through all languages, a certain analogy to 
 each other in their grammatical construction. 
 Latin and Greek have now mixed themselves 
 etymologically with all the languages of mo- 
 dern Europe — and with none more than our 
 own ; so that it is necessary to read these two 
 tongues for other objects than themselves. 
 
 The two ancient languages are, as mere in- 
 ventions — as pieces of mechanism — incompa- 
 rably more beautiful than any of the modern 
 languages of Europe : their mode of signifying 
 time and case by terminations, instead of aux- 
 iliary verbs and participles, would of itself 
 stamp their superiority. Add to this, the co- 
 piousness of the Greek language, with the 
 fancy, majesty, and harmony of its com- 
 pounds ; and there are quite sufficient reasons 
 why the classics should be studied for the 
 beauties of language. Compared to them, 
 merely as vehicles of thought and passion, 
 all modern languages are dull, ill-contrived, 
 and barbarous. 
 
 That a great part of the Scriptures has 
 come down to us in the Greek language, is of 
 itself a reason, if all others were wanting, why 
 education should be planned so as to produce 
 a supply of Greek scholars. 
 
 The cultivation of style is very justly made 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 75 
 
 a part of education. Every thing which is 
 written is meant either to please or to instruct. 
 The second object it is difficult to effect, with- 
 out attending to the first; and the cultivation 
 of style is the acquisition of those rules and 
 literary habits which sagacity anticipates, or 
 experience shows to be the most effectual 
 means of pleasing. Those works are the best 
 which have longest stood the test of time, and 
 pleased the greatest numbers of exercised 
 minds. Whatever, therefore, our conjectures 
 may be, we cannot be so sure that the best 
 modern writers can afford us as good models 
 as the ancients;— we cannot be certain that 
 they will live through the revolutions of the 
 world, and continue to please in every climate 
 — under every species of government — through 
 every stage of civilization. The moderns 
 have been well taught by their masters ; but 
 the time is hardly yet come when the necessity 
 for such instruction no longer exists. We 
 may still borrow descriptive power from Ta- 
 citus ; dignified perspicuity from Livy ; simpli- 
 city from Csesar ; and from Homer some por- 
 tion of that light and heat which, dispersed 
 into ten thousand channels, has filled the world 
 with bright images and illustrious thoughts. 
 Let the cultivator of modern literature addict 
 himself to the purest models of taste which 
 France, Italy, and England could supply, he 
 might still learn from Virgil to be majestic, 
 and from TibuUus to be tender; he might not 
 yet look upon the face of nature as Theocritus 
 saw it; nor might he reach those springs of 
 pathos with which Euripides softened the 
 hearts of his audience. In short, it appears to 
 us, that there are so many excellent reasons 
 why a certain number of scholars should be 
 kept up in this and in every civilized country, 
 that we should consider every system of edu- 
 cation from which classical education was 
 excluded, as radically erroneous and com- 
 pletely absurd. 
 
 That vast advantages, then, may be derived 
 from classical learning, there can be no doubt. 
 The advantages which are derived from clas- 
 sical learning by the English manner of teach- 
 ing, involve anbther and a very different ques- 
 tion ; and we will venture to say, that there never 
 was a more complete instance in any country 
 of such extravagant and overacted attachment 
 to any branch of knowledge as that which ob- 
 tains in this country with regard to classical 
 knowledge. A young Englishman goes to 
 school at six or seven years old; and he re- 
 mains in a course of education till twenty-three 
 or twenty-four years of age. In all that time, 
 his sole and exclusive occupation is learning 
 Latin and Greek :* he has scarcely a notion 
 that there is any other kind of excellence; and 
 the great system of facts with which he is the 
 most perfectly acquainted, are the intrigues of 
 the heathen gods : with whom Pan slept ? — 
 with whom Jupiter? — whom Apollo ravished? 
 These facts the English youth get by heart the 
 moment they quit the nursery; and are most 
 sedulously and industriously instructed in 
 them till the best and most active part of life 
 
 * Unless he goes to the University of Cambridge ; and 
 then classics occupy him entirely ifbr about ten years; 
 and divide bim with matheaiatics for four or five more. 
 
 is passed away. Now, thts long career of 
 classical learning, we may, if we please, de- 
 nominate a foundation; but it is a foundation 
 so far above ground, that there is absolutely 
 no room to put any thing upon it. If you 
 occupy a man with one thing till he is twenty- 
 four years of age, you have exhausted all his 
 leisure time : he is called into the world, and 
 compelled to act; or is surrounded with plea- 
 sures, and thinks and reads no more. If you have 
 neglected to put other things in him, they will 
 never get in afterwards ; — if you have fed him 
 only with words, he will remain a narrow and 
 limited being to the end of his existence. 
 
 The bias given to men's minds is so strong, 
 that it is no uncommon thing to meet with 
 Englishmen, whom, but for their gray hairs 
 and wrinkles, we might easily mistake for 
 schoolboys. Their talk is of Latin verses ; 
 and it is quite clear, if men's ages are to be 
 dated from the state of their mental progress, 
 that such men are eighteen years of age, and 
 not a day older. Their minds have been so 
 completely possessed by exaggerated notions 
 of classical learning, that they have not been 
 able, in the great school of the world, to form 
 any other notion of real greatness. Attend, 
 too, to the public feelings — look to all the terms 
 of applause. A learned man ! — a scholar ! — a 
 man of erudition ! Upon whom are these epi- 
 thets of approbation bestowed! Are they 
 given to men acquainted with the science of 
 government! thoroughly masters of the geo- 
 graphical and commercial relations of Europe ? 
 to men who know the properties of bodies, and 
 their action upon each other 1 No : this is not 
 learning: it is chemistry, or political economy 
 — not learning. The distinguishing abstract 
 term, the epithet of Scholar, is reserved for 
 him who writes on the (Eolic reduplication, 
 and is familiar with the Sylburgian method of 
 arranging defectives in a> and /xi. The picture 
 which a young Englishman, addicted to the 
 pursuit of knowledge, draws — his beau ideal of 
 human nature — his top and consummation of 
 man's powers — is a knowledge of the Greek 
 language. His object is not to reason, to 
 imagine, or to invent; but to conjugate, de- 
 cline, and derive. The situations of imagina- 
 ry glory which he draws for himself, are the 
 detection of an anaprest in the wrong place, or 
 the restoration of a dative case which Cranzius 
 had passed over, and the never-dying Ernesti 
 failed to observe. If a young classic of this 
 kind were to meet the greatest chemist or the 
 greatest mechanician, or the most profound 
 political economist of his time, in company 
 with the greatest Greek scholar, would the 
 slightest comparison between them ever come 
 across his mind! — would he ever dream that 
 such men as Adam Smith and Lavoisier were 
 equal in dignity of understanding to, or of the 
 same utility as, Bentley and Heyne ! We are 
 inclined to think, that the feeling excited would 
 be a good deal like that which was expressed 
 by Dr. George about the praises of the great 
 King of Prussia, who entertained considerable 
 doubts whether the king, with all his victories, 
 knew how to conjugate a Greek verb in /ut. 
 
 Another misfortune of classical learning, a.% 
 taught ia England, is, that scholars have come 
 
76 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 in process of time, and from the effects of asso- 
 ciation, to love the instrument better than the 
 end; — not the luxury which the ditficulty en- 
 closes, but the difficulty; — not the filbert, but 
 the shell ; — not what may be read in Greek, 
 but Greek itself. It is not so much the man 
 who has mastered the wisdom of the ancients, 
 that is valued, as he who displays his know- 
 ledge of the vehicle in which that wisdom is 
 conveyed. The glory is to show I am a scho- 
 lar. The good sense and ingenuity I may gain 
 by my acquaintance with ancient authors is 
 matter of opinion ; but if I bestow an immen- 
 sity of pains upon a point of accent or quan- 
 tity, this is something positive ; I establish my 
 pretensions to the name of scholar, and gain 
 the credit of learning, while I sacrifice all its 
 utility. 
 
 Another evil in the present system of classi- 
 cal education is the extraordinary perfection 
 which is aimed at in teaching those languages ; 
 a needless perfection; an accuracy which is 
 sought for in nothing else. There are few 
 boys who remain to the age of eighteen or 
 nineteen at a public school, without making 
 above ten thousand Latin verses ; — a greater 
 number than is contained in the JFlneid: and 
 after he has made this quantity of verses in a 
 dead language, unless the poet should happen 
 to be a very weak man indeed, he never makes 
 another as long as he lives. It may be urged, 
 and it is urged, that this is of use in teaching 
 the delicacies of the language. No doubt it 
 is of use for this purpose, if we put out of 
 view the immense time and trouble sacrificed 
 in gaining these little delicacies. It would be 
 of use that we should go on till fifty years of 
 age making Latin verses, if the price of a 
 whole life were not too much to pay for it. 
 We effect our object ; but we do it at the price 
 of something greater than our object. And 
 whence comes it, that the expenditure of life 
 and labour is totally put out of the calculation, 
 when Latin and Greek are to be attained ] In 
 every other occupation, the question is fairly 
 stated between the attainment, and the time 
 employed in the pursuit ; — but, in classical 
 learning, it seems to be sufficient if the least 
 possible good is gained by the greatest possible 
 exertion ; if the end is any thing, and the means 
 every thing. It is of some importance to speak 
 and write French ; and innumerable delicacies 
 would be gained by writing ten thousand 
 French verses : but it makes no part of our 
 education to write French poetry. It is of 
 some importance that there should be good 
 botanists ; but no botanist can repeat, by heart, 
 the na.mes of all the plants in the known 
 world ; nor is any astronomer acquainted with 
 the appellation and magnitude of every star in 
 the map of the heavens. The only department 
 of human knowledge in which there can be no 
 excess, no arithmetic, no balance of profit and 
 loss, is classical learning. 
 
 The prodigious honour in which Latin verses 
 are held at public schools, is surely the most 
 absurd of all absurd distinctions. You rest all 
 reputation upon doing that which is a natural 
 gift, and which no labour can attain. If a lad 
 won't learn the words of a language, his de- 
 gradation in the school is a very natural pun- 
 
 ishment for his disobedience, or his indolence; 
 but it would be as reasonable to expect that all 
 boys should be witty, or beautiful, as that they 
 should be poets. In either case, it would be 
 to make an accidental, unattainable, and not a 
 very important gift of nature, the only, or the 
 principal, test of merit. This is the reason 
 why boys, who make a very considerable 
 figure at school, so very often make no figure 
 in the world ; — and why other lads, who are 
 passed over without notice, turn out to be va- 
 luable, important men. The test established in 
 the world is widely different from that esta- 
 blished in a place which is presumed to be a 
 preparation for the world; and the head of a 
 public school, who is a perfect miracle to his 
 contemporaries, finds himself shrink into ab- 
 solute insignificance, because he has nothing 
 else to command respect or regard, but a talent 
 for fugitive poetry in a dead language. 
 
 The present state of classical education cul- 
 tivates the imagination a great deal too much, 
 and other habits of mind a great deal too little- 
 and trains up many young men in a style of 
 elegant imbecility, utterly unworthy of the 
 talents with which nature has endowed them. 
 It may be said, there are profound investiga- 
 tions, and subjects quite powerful enough for 
 any understanding, to be met with in classical 
 literature. So there are; but no man likes to 
 add the difliculties of a language to the dilfi- 
 culties of a subject; and to study metaphysics, 
 morals, and politics in Greek, when the Greek 
 alone is study enough without them. In all 
 foreign languages, the most popular works are 
 works of imagination. Even in the French 
 language, which we know so well, for one 
 serious work which has any currency in this 
 country, we have twenty which are mere works 
 of imagination. This is still more true in 
 classical literature; because what their poets 
 and orators have left us, is of infinitely greater 
 value than the remains of their philosophy ; 
 for, as society advances, men think more ac- 
 curately and deeply, and imagine more tamely; 
 works of reasoning advance, and works of 
 fancy decay. So that the matter of fact is, that 
 a classical scholar of twenty-three or twenty- 
 four years of age, is a man principally conver- 
 sant with the works of imagination. His feel- 
 ings are quick, his fancy lively, and his taste 
 good. Talents for speculation and original 
 inquiry he has none ; nor has he formed the 
 invaluable habit of pushing things up to their 
 first principles, or of collecting dry and un- 
 amusing facts as the materials of reasoning. 
 All the solid and masculine parts of his under- 
 standing are left wholly without cultivation; 
 he hates the pain of thinking, and suspects 
 every man whose boldness and originality call 
 upon him to defend his opinions and prove his 
 assertions. 
 
 A very curious argument is sometimes em- 
 ployed in justification of the learned minutias 
 to which all young men are doomed, whatever 
 be their propensities in future life. What are 
 you to do with a young man up to the age of se- 
 venteen 1 Just as if there was such a want of 
 difficulties to overcome, and of important 
 tastes to inspire, that from the mere necessity 
 of doing something, and the impossibility of! 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 77 
 
 doing any thing else, you were driven to the 
 expedient of metre and poetry; — as if a young 
 man within that period might not acquire the 
 modern languages, modern history, experimen- 
 tal philosophy, geography, chronology, and a 
 considerable share of mathematics ; — as if the 
 memory of things was not more agreeable 
 and more profitable than the memory of words. 
 
 The great objection is, that we are not mak- 
 ing the most of human life, when we consti- 
 tute such an extensive, and such minute clas- 
 sical erudition, an indispensable article in 
 education. Up to a certain point we would 
 educate every young man in Latin and Greek ; 
 but to a point far short of that to which this 
 species of education is now carried. After- 
 wards, we would grant to classical erudition as 
 high honours as to every other department of 
 knowledge, but not higher. We would place 
 it upon a footing with many other objects of 
 study ; but allow it no superiority. Good 
 scholars would be as certainly produced by 
 these means as good chemists, astronomers, 
 and mathematicians are now produced, with- 
 out any direct provision whatsoever for their 
 production. Why are we to trust to the diver- 
 sity of human tastes, and the varieties of human 
 ambition in every thing else, and distrust it in 
 classics alone"! The passion for language is 
 just as strong as any other literary passion. 
 There are very good Persian and Arabic 
 scholars in this country. Large heaps of trash 
 have been dug up from Sanscrit ruins. We 
 have seen, in our own times, a clergyman of 
 the University of Oxford complimenting their 
 majesties in Coptic and Syrophcenician verses; 
 and yet we doubt whether there will be a sufli- 
 cient avidity in literary men to get at the beau- 
 ties of the finest writers which the world has 
 yet seen ; and though the Bagvat Ghecta has 
 (as can be proved) met with human beings to 
 translate, and other human beings to read it, 
 we think that, in order to secure an attention 
 to Homer and Virgil, we must catch up every 
 man — whether he is to be a clergyman or a 
 duke, — begin with him at six years of age, and 
 never quit him till he is twenty; making him 
 conjugate and decline for life "and death ; and 
 so teaching him to estimate his progress in 
 real wisdom as he can scan the verses of the 
 Greek tragedians. 
 
 The English clergy, in whose hands educa- 
 tion entirely rests, bring up the first young 
 men of the country as if they were all to keep 
 grammar schools in little country towns ; and 
 a nobleman, upon whose knowledge and libe- 
 rality the honour and welfare of his country 
 may depend, is diligently worried, for half 
 his life, with the small pedantry of longs and 
 shorts. There is a timid and absurd appre- 
 hension, on the part of ecclesiastical tutors, 
 of letting out the minds of youth upon difficult 
 and important subjects. They fancy that men- 
 tal exertion must end in religious scepticism; 
 and, to preserve the principles of their pupils, 
 they confine them to the safe and elegant im- 
 becility of classical learning. A genuine Ox- 
 ford tutor would shudder to hear his young 
 men disputing upon moral and political truth, 
 forming and pulling down theories, and indulg- 
 ing in all the boldness of youthful discussion. I 
 
 He would augur nothing from it hut impiety to 
 God and treason to kings. And yet, who vili- 
 fies both more than the holy poltroon who care- 
 fully averts from them the searching eye of 
 reason, and who knows no better method of 
 teaching the highest duties, than by extirpating 
 the finest qualities and habits of the mind"? 
 If our religion is a fable, the sooner it is ex- 
 ploded the better. If our government is bad, 
 it should be amended. But we have no doubt 
 of the truth of the one, or of the excellence of 
 the other; and are convinced that both will be 
 placed on a firmer basis in proportion as the 
 minds of men are more trained to the investi- 
 gation of truth. At present, we act with the 
 minds of our young men as the Dutch did with 
 their exuberant spices. An infinite quantity of 
 talent is annually destroyed in the universities 
 of England by the miserable jealousy and lit- 
 tleness of ecclesiastical instructors. It is in 
 vain to say we have produced great men under 
 this system. We have produced great men 
 under all systems. Every Englishman must 
 pass half his life in learning Latin and Greek; 
 and classical learning is supposed to have pro- 
 duced the talents which it has not been able to 
 extinguish. It is scarcely possible to prevent 
 great men from rising up under any system of 
 education, however bad. Teach men demono- 
 logy or astrology, and you will still have a cer- 
 tain portion of original genius, in spite of these 
 or any other branches of ignorance and folly. 
 
 There is a delusive sort of splendour in a 
 vast body of men pursuing one object, and 
 thoroughly obtaining it; and j-et, though it is 
 very splendid, it is far from being useful. 
 Classical literature is the great object at Ox- 
 ford. Many minds so employed have produced 
 many works and much fame in that depart- 
 ment; but if all liberal arts and sciences use- 
 ful to human life had been taught there, — if 
 some have dedicated themselves to chemistry, 
 some to mathematics, some to experimental 
 philosophy, — and if every attainment had been 
 honoured in the mixed ratio of its difficulty 
 and utility, — the system of such an University 
 would have been much more valuable, but the 
 splendour of its name something less. 
 
 When an University has been doing useless 
 things for a long time, it appears at first de- 
 grading to theiu to be useful. A set of lectures 
 upon political economy would be discouraged 
 in Oxford,* probably despised, probably not 
 permitted. To discuss the inclosure of com- 
 mons, and to dwell upon imports and exports, 
 — to come so near to common life, would seem 
 to be undignified and contemptible. In the 
 same manner, the Parr, or the Bentlcy of his 
 day, would be scandalized in an University to 
 be put on a level with the discoverer of a neu 
 tral salt; and yet, what other measure is there 
 of dignity in intellectual labour, but usefulness 
 and difficulty 1 And what ought the term Uni- 
 versity to mean, but a place where eveiy 
 science is taught which is liberal, and at the 
 same time useful to mankind"? Nothing 
 would so much tend to bring classical litera- 
 ture within proper bounds, as a steady and 
 invariable appeal to these tests in our appre- 
 
 ■ They have since been established. 
 G 2 
 
78 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 elation of all human knowledge. The puffed 
 up pedant would collapse into his proper size, 
 and the maker of verses, and the rememberer 
 of words, would soon assume that station which 
 is the lot of those who go up unbidden to the 
 upper places of the feast. 
 
 We should be sorry if what we have said 
 should appear too coniemptuous towards clas- 
 sical learning, which we most sincerely hope 
 will always be held in great honour in this 
 country, though we certainly do not wish 
 to it that exclusive honour which it at pre- 
 sent enjoys. A great classical scholar is an 
 ornament, and an important acquisition to 
 nis country ; but, in a place of education, we 
 would give to all knowledge an equal chance 
 for distinction ; and would trust to the varieties 
 of human disposition that every science worth 
 cultivation would be cultivated. Looking al- 
 ways to real utility as our guide, we should 
 see, with equal pleasure, a studious and inqui- 
 sitive mind arranging the productions of na- 
 ture, investigating the qualities of bodies, or 
 mastering the difficulties of the learned lan- 
 guages. Wei^hould not care whether he were 
 chemist, naturalist, or scholar; because we 
 know it to be as necessary that matter should 
 be studied, and subdued to the use of man, as 
 that taste should be gratified, and imagination 
 inflamed. 
 
 In those who were destined for the church, 
 we would undoubtedly encourage classical 
 learning more than in any other body of men ; 
 but if we had to do with a young man going 
 out into public life, we would exhort him to 
 contemn, or at least not to affect, the reputa- 
 tion of a great scholar, but to educate himself 
 for the offices of civil life. He should learn 
 what the constitution of his country really was, 
 — how it had grown into its present state, — the 
 perils that had threatened it, — the malignity 
 that had attacked it, — the courage that had 
 fought for it, and the wisdom that had made it 
 great. We would bring strongly before his 
 mind the characters of those Englishmen who 
 have been the steady friends of the public hap- 
 piness ; and by their examples, would breathe 
 into him a pure public taste which should keep 
 
 him untainted in all the vicissitudes of politi- 
 cal fortune. We would teach him to burst 
 through the well paid, and the pernicious cant 
 of indiscriminate loyalty; and to know his 
 sovereign only as he discharged those duties, 
 and displayed those qualities, for which the 
 blood and the treasure of his people are con- 
 fided to his hands. We should deem it of the 
 utmost importance that his attention was di- 
 rected to the true principles of legislation, — 
 what effect laws can produce upon opinions, 
 and opinions upon laws, — what subjects are fit 
 for legislative interference, and when men 
 may be left to the management of their own 
 interests. The mischief occasioned by bad 
 laws, and the perplexity which arises from 
 numerous laws, — the causes of national wealth, 
 — the relations of foreign trade, — the encou- 
 ragement of manufactures and agriculture, — 
 the fictitious wealth occasioned by paper cre- 
 dit, — the laAvs of population, — the management 
 of poverty and mendicity, — the use and abuse 
 of monopoly, — the theory of taxation, — the 
 consequences of the public debt. These are 
 some of the subjects, and some of the branches 
 of civil education to which we would turn the 
 minds of future judges, future senators, and 
 future noblemen. After the first period of life 
 had been given up to the cultivation of the 
 classics, and the reasoning powers were now 
 beginning to evolve themselves, these are some 
 of the propensities in study which we would 
 endeavour to inspire. Great knowledge, at 
 such a period of life, we could not convey ; 
 but we might fix a decided taste for its acqui- 
 sition, and a strong disposition to respect it in 
 others. The formation of some great scholars 
 we should certainly prevent, and hinder many 
 from learning what, in a few years, they would 
 necessarily forget ; but this loss would be well 
 repaid, — if we could show the future rulers of 
 the country that thought and labour which it 
 requires to make a nation happy, — or if we 
 could inspire them with that love of public 
 virtue, which, after religion, we most solemnly 
 believe to be the brightest ornament of the 
 mind of man. 
 
WORKS OF -THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 FEMALE EDUCATION.* 
 
 Edinburgh Review, 1810. 
 
 Mr. Broadhurst is a very good sort of a 
 man, who has not written a very bad book upon 
 a very important subject. His object (a very 
 laudable one) is to recommend a better system 
 of female education than at present prevails in 
 this country — to turn the attention of women 
 from the trifling pursuits to which the)tare now 
 condemned — and to cultivate faculties which, 
 under the actual system of management, might 
 almost as well not exist. To the examination 
 of his ideas upon these points, we .shall Y^ry 
 cheerfully give up a portion of our time at^at* 
 tention. 
 
 A great deal has been said of the original 
 difference of capacity between men and wo- 
 men; as if women were more quick, ^d men 
 more judicious — as if women were mor^'re- 
 markable for delicacy of association, and men 
 for stronger powers of attention. All this, we 
 confess, appears to us very fanciful. That there 
 is a difference in the understandings of the men 
 and the women we every day meet with, every 
 body, we suppose, must perceive : but there is 
 none surely which may not be accounted for 
 by the difference of circumstances in which 
 they have been placed, without referring to any 
 conjectural difference of original conformation 
 of mind. As long as boys and girls run about 
 in the dirt, and trundle hoops together, they are 
 both precisely alike. If you catch up one half 
 of these creatures, and train them to a particu- 
 lar set of actions and opinions, and the other 
 lialf to a perfectly opposite set, of course their 
 understandings will differ, as one or the other 
 sort of occupations has called this or that ta- 
 lent into action. There is surely no occasion 
 to go into any deeper or more abstruse reason- 
 ing, in order to explain so very simple a phe- 
 nomenon. Taking it, then, for granted, that 
 nature has been as bountiful of understanding 
 to one sex as the other, it is incumbent on us 
 to consider what are the principal objections 
 commonly made against the communication of 
 a greater share of knowledge to women than 
 commonly falls to their lot at present : for though 
 it may be doubted whether women should learn 
 all that men learn, the immense disparity which 
 now exists between their knowledge we should 
 hardly think could admit of any rational de- 
 fence. It is not easy to imagine that there can 
 be any just cause why a woman of forty should 
 be more ignorant than a boy of twelve years of 
 age. If there be any good at all in female ig- 
 norance, this (to use a very colloquial phrase) 
 is surely too much of a good thing. 
 
 Something in this question must depend, no 
 doubt, upon the leisure which either sex en- 
 joys for the cultivation of their understand- 
 ings: — and we cannot help thinking, that wo- 
 men have fully as much, if not more, idle time 
 upon their hands than men. Women are ex- 
 cluded from all the serious business of the 
 
 * Advice to Young: Ladies on the Improvement of the 
 Mind. By Thomas Broadhurst. 8vo. London, 1808. 
 
 world ; men are lawyers, physicians, clergy- 
 men, apothecaries, and justices of the peace — • 
 sources of exertion which consume a greal deal 
 more time than producing and suckling child- 
 ren ; so that, if the thing is a thing that ought 
 to be done — if the attainments of literature are 
 objects really worthy the attention of females, 
 they cannot plead the want of leisure as an ex- 
 cuse for indolence and neglect. The lawyer 
 who passes his day in exasperating the bicker- 
 ings of Roe and Doe, is certainly as much en- 
 gaged as his lady who has the whole of the 
 morning befffre lier to "correct the children and 
 pay the bills. The apothecary, who rushes 
 from an act of phlebotomy in the western parts 
 of the town to insinuate a bolus in the east, is 
 sij^«ly%s eompletely^fibsorbed as that fortunate 
 JkmaAe who is daftiing tWf garment, or prepar- 
 "ing the repast of her ^^sculapius at home; 
 and, in every degree and situation cf life, it 
 seems that men inust necessarily be exposed to 
 more serious demands upon their time and at- 
 tention tlian can possibly be the case with re- 
 spect to the other sex. We are speaking al- 
 ways of the fair demands which ought to be 
 made upon the time and attention of women; 
 for, as the matter now stands, the time of wo- 
 men is considered as worth nothing at all. 
 Daughters are kept to occupations in sewing, 
 patching, mantua-making, and mending, by 
 which it is impossible they can earn tenpence 
 a day. The intellectual improvement of wo- 
 men is considered to be of such subordinate 
 importance, that twenty pounds paid for needle- 
 work would give to a whole family leisure to 
 acquire a fund of real knowledge. They are 
 kept with nimble lingers and vacant under- 
 standings till the season for improvement is ut- 
 terly passed way, and all chance of forming 
 more important habits completely lost. We 
 do not therefore say that women have more 
 leisure than men, if it be necessary that they 
 should lead the life of artisans ; but we make 
 this assertion only upon the supposition, that it 
 is of some importance women sliould be in- 
 structed ; and that many ordinary occupations, 
 for wliich a little money will find a better substi- 
 tute, should be sacrificed to this consideration. 
 We bar, in this discussion, any objection 
 which proceeds from the mere novelty of teach 
 ing women more than they are already taught. 
 It may be useless that their education should 
 be improved, or it may be pernicious ; and 
 these are the fair grounds on which the ques- 
 tion may be argued. But those who cannot 
 bring their minds to consider such an unusual 
 extension of knowledge, without connecting 
 with it some sensation of the ludicrous, should 
 remember that, in the progress from absolute 
 ignorance, there is a period when cultivation of 
 mind is new to every rank and description of 
 persons. A century ago, who would have be- 
 lieved that country gentlemen could be brought 
 to read and spell with the ease and accuracy 
 which we now so frequently remark, — or sup- 
 posed that they could be carried up even to t)i»! 
 
WORKS OF THE REV/"SY©^EY SMITH. 
 
 elements of ancient and modern history ? No- 
 thinjj is more common, or more stupid, than to 
 take the actual for the possible — to believe that 
 all which is, is all which can be ; fim to l^ugh^ 
 at every proposed deviation from practice as 
 impossible — then, when it is carried into effect, 
 to be astonished that it did not take place 
 before. . 
 
 It is said, that the effect of kn0.wledg#fs to 
 make women pedantic and affected ; and that 
 nothing can be more offensive than to see a 
 woman stepping out of the natural modesty of 
 her sex to make an ostentatious display of her 
 literary attainments. This may be tri^ enough ; 
 but the answer is so trite and obvious, that we 
 are almost ashamed to make it. All affectation 
 and display proceed from the sujMiosition of ' 
 possessing something better tRurr'the "rest of 
 the world possesses. Nobody is vain of pos- 
 sessing two legs and two arms; — because that 
 is the precise quantity of either^or^ of liiTilii»b 
 which every body p(jg^^ses. WRo ever heard 
 a lady boast that she understood French? — for 
 no other reason, that we know of, but because 
 every body in these days does unders^nd 
 French; and though tl^e-ftiay»bei sftm**»%is- 
 grace in being ignoffnt of that language, thfte 
 is little or no merit in its acquisition. Diffuse 
 knowledge generally among women, and you 
 will at once cure the conceit which knowledge 
 occasions while it is rare. Vanity and conceit 
 we shall of course witness in men and women 
 as long as the world endures : but by multiply- 
 ing the attainments upon which these feelings 
 are founded, you increase the difficulty of in- 
 dulging them, and render them much more to- 
 lerable, by making them the proofs of a much 
 higher merit. When learning ceases to be un- 
 common among women, learned women will 
 cease to be affected. 
 
 A great many of the lessar and more obscure 
 diujes of life necessarily devolve upon the fe- 
 male sex. The arrangement of all household 
 matters, and the care of children in their early 
 infancy, must of course depend upon them. 
 Now, there is a very general notion, that the 
 moment you put the education of women upon 
 a better footing than it is at present, at that mo- 
 ment there will be an end of all domestic econo- 
 my; and that, if you once suffer women to eat 
 of the tree of knowledge, the rest of the family 
 will very soon be reduced to the same kind of 
 aerial and unsatisfactory diet. These, and all 
 such opinions, are referable to one great and 
 common cause of error; that man does every 
 thing, and that nature does nothing ; and that 
 <!very thing we see is referable to positive insti- 
 tution rather than to original feeling. Can any 
 thing, for example, be "more perfectly absurd 
 than to suppose that the care and perpetual so- 
 licitude which a mother feels for her children, 
 depends upon her ignorance of Greek and ma- 
 thematics ; and that she would desert an infant 
 for a quadratic equation? We seem to ima- 
 gine that we can break in pieces the solemn 
 institution of nature, by the little laws of a 
 boarding-school ; and that the existence of the 
 human race depends upon teaching women a 
 a little more or a little less ; — that Cimmerian 
 ignorance can aid paternal affection, or the cir- 
 cle of arts and sciences produce its destruction. 
 In the same manner, we forget the principles 
 upon which the love of order, arrangement, 
 and all the arts of econonny depend. They de- 
 pend rot upon ignorance nor idleness ; but 
 
 upon the poverty, confusion, and rum \^'hich 
 would ensue fbr neglecting them. Add to 
 these principle" the love of what is beautiful 
 and magnificent, and the vanity of display ; — • 
 and there can surely be no reasonable doubt 
 but that the order and economy of private life 
 is amply secured from the perilous inroads of 
 knowledge. 
 
 We would fain know, too, if knowledge is to 
 produce such banefid effects upon the materia, 
 and the household virtues, why this influence 
 has not already been felt? Women are much 
 better educated now than they were a century 
 ago ; but they are by no means less remarka- 
 ble for attention to the arrangements of their 
 houjelwld, or less inclined to discharge the of- 
 fices "of parental affection. It would be very 
 easy to show, that the same objection has been 
 made at all times to every improvement in the 
 e^ication of both sexes, and all ranks — and 
 as uniformly and completely refuted by 
 experience. A great part of the objections 
 made to the education of women, are rather 
 objections made to human nature than to the 
 femal^ sex : for it is surely true, that knowledge, 
 u^tSre it produces any bad effects at all, does as 
 much mischief to one sex as to the other,^- 
 and gives birth to fully as much arrogance, in- 
 attention to common affairs, and eccentricity 
 among men, as it does among women. But it 
 by no means follows, that you get rid of vanity 
 and self-conceit because you get rid of learn- 
 ing. Self-complacency can never want an ex- 
 cuse; and the best way to make it more tolera- 
 ble, and more useful, is to give to it as high and 
 as dignified an object as possible. But at all 
 events it is unfair to bring forward against a 
 part of the world an objection which is equally 
 powerful against the whole. When foolish wo- 
 men think they have any distinction, they are 
 apt to be proud of it ; so are foolish men. But 
 we appeal to any one who has lived with culti- 
 vated persons of either sex, whether he has not 
 witnessed as much pedantry, as much wrong- 
 headedness, as much arrogance, and certainly 
 a great deal more rudeness, produced by learn- 
 ing in men, than in women; therefore, we 
 should make the accusation general — or dis- 
 miss it altogether; though, with respect to pe- 
 dantry, the learned are certainly a little unfortu- 
 nate, that so very emphatic a word, which is 
 occasionally applicable to all men embarked 
 eagerly in any pursuit, should be reserved ex- 
 clusively for them : for, as pedantry is an osten- 
 tatious obtrusion of knowledge, in which those 
 who hear us cannot sympathize, it is a fault of 
 which soldiers, sailors, sportsmen, gamesters, 
 cultivators, and all men engaged in a particular 
 occupation, are quite as guilty as scholars; but 
 thay have the good fortune to have the vice 
 only of pedantry, — while scholars have both the 
 vice and the name for it too. 
 
 Some persons are apt to contrast the acquisi- 
 tion of important knowledge with what they 
 call simple pleasures ; and deem it more be- 
 coming that a woman should educate flowers, 
 make friendships with birds, and pick up plants, 
 than enter into more difhcult and fatiguing 
 studies. If a woman has no taste and genius 
 for higher occupation, let her engage in these 
 to be sure rather than remain destitute of any 
 pursuit. But why are we necessarily to doom 
 a girl, whatever be her taste or her capacity, to 
 one unvaried line of petty and frivolous occu- 
 pation ^ If she is full of strong sense and ele- 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 81 
 
 vated curiosity, can there be any reason why 
 she should be dihited and enfeebled down to a 
 mere culler of simples, and fancier of birds? — 
 why books of history and reasoning are to be 
 torn out of her hnnd, and why she is to be sent, • 
 lilce a butterfly, to hover over the idle flowers 
 of the field? Such amusements are innocent 
 to those whom they can occupy; but tltey are 
 not innocent to those who have too powerful 
 understandings to be occupied by them. Light 
 broths and fruits are innocent food only to j 
 weak or to infant stomachs ; but they are poison 
 to that organ in its perfect and mature state. | 
 But the great charm appears to be in the word 
 sunplinty— simple pleasure ! If by a simple j 
 pleasure is meant an innocent pleasure, the ob- i 
 ser^^ltion is best answered by showing, that i 
 the pleasure whirdi results from tlie acquisition j 
 of important knowledge is quite as innocent as 
 any pleasure whatever : but if by a simple 
 pleasure is meant one, the cause of which can 
 be easily analyzed, or which does not last long, 
 or which in itself is very faint, then simple plea- 
 sures seem to be very nearly synonymous with 
 small pleasures ; and if the simplicity were to 
 be a little increased, the pleasure would vanish 
 altogether. 
 
 As it is impossible that every man should 
 have industry or activity sufficiently to avail '. 
 himself of the advantages of education, it is | 
 natural that men who are ignorant themselves, 
 should view, with some degree of jealousy and 
 alarm, any proposal for improving tlie education 
 of women. But such men may depend upon 
 it, however the system of female education 
 may be exalted, that there will never be want- , 
 ing a due proportion of failures; and that after ' 
 parents, guardians, and preceptors have done , 
 all in their power to make every body wise, 
 there will still be a plentiful supply of women 
 who have taken special care to remain other- ; 
 ■wise ; and they may rest assured, if the utter . 
 extinction of ignorance and folly is the evil 
 they dread, that their interests will always be 
 effectually protected, in spite of every exertion 
 to the contrary. 
 
 We must in candour allow that those women 
 who begin will have something more to over- 
 come than may probably hereafter be the case. 
 We cannot deny the jealousy which exists 
 among pompous and foolish men respecting the 
 education of M'omen. There is a class of pe- 
 dants who would be cut short in the estimation 
 of the world a whole cubit if it were generally 
 known that a young lady of eighteen could be 
 taught to decline the tenses of the ntiddle voice, 
 or acquaint herself with the .^olic varieties of 
 that celebrated language. Then women have, 
 of course, all ignorant men for enemies to their 
 instruction, who being bound (as they think.) 
 in point of sex, to know more, are not well 
 jileased, in point of fact, to know less. But, 
 among men of sense and liberal politeness, a 
 woman who has successfully cultivated her 
 mind, without diminishing the gentleness and 
 propriety of her manners, is always sure to meet 
 with a respect and attention bordering upon en- 
 thusiasm. 
 
 There is in either sex a strong and perma- 
 nent disposition to appear agreeable to the 
 other : and this is the fair answer to those ^\•ho 
 are fond of supposing, that an higher degree of 
 knowledge would make women rather tlie rivals 
 than the companions of men. Presupposing 
 such a desire to please, it seems much more 
 11 
 
 probable, that a common pursuit should be a 
 fresh source of interest than a cause of conten- 
 tion. Indeed, to suppose that any mode of edu- 
 cation can create a general jealousy and rivalry 
 between the sexes, is so very ridiculous, that it 
 requires only to be stated in order to be refuted. 
 The same desire of pleasing secures all that de- 
 licacy and reserve which are of such inestima- 
 ble value to women. We are quite astonished, 
 in hearing men converse on such subjects, to 
 find them attributing such beautiful effects to 
 ignorance. It would appear, from the tenour 
 of such objections, that ignorance had been the 
 great civilizer of the world. Women are deli- 
 cate and refined only because they are igno- 
 rant ; — they manage their household, only be- 
 cause they are ignorant ; — they attend to their 
 children, only because they know no better. 
 Now, we must really confess, we have all our 
 lives been so ignorant as not to know the value 
 of ignorance. We have always attributed the 
 modesty and the refined manners of women, to 
 their being M'ell taught in moral and religious 
 duty, — to the hazardous situation in which they 
 are placed, — to that perpetual vigilance which it 
 is their duty to exercise over thought, word, and 
 action,^and to that cultivation of the mild vir- 
 tues, which those who cultivate the stern and 
 magnanimous virtues expect at their hands. 
 After all, let it be remembered, we are not say- 
 ing there are no objections to the diffusion of 
 knowledge a.inong the female sex. We would 
 not hazaid such a proposition respecting any 
 thing ; but we are saying, that, upon the whole, 
 it is the best method of employing time; and 
 that there are fewer objections to it than to any 
 other method. There are, perhaps, 50,000 fe- 
 males in Great Britain who are exempted by 
 circumstances from all necessary labour: but 
 every human being must do something with 
 their existence ; and the pursuit of knowledge 
 is, upon the whole, the most innocent, the most 
 dignified, and the most useful method of fillinpf 
 up that idleness, of wliich there is always s». 
 large a portion in nations far advanced in civil 
 ization. Let any man reflect, too, upon the soli 
 tary situation in which women are placed, — 
 the ill treatment to which they are sometimes 
 exposed, and which they must endure in silence, 
 and without the power of complaining, — and 
 he must feel convinced that the happiness of a 
 woman will be materially increased in propor- 
 tion as education has given to her the liabit and 
 the means of drawing her resources from her- 
 self. 
 
 There are a few common phrases in circula- 
 tion, respecting the duties of women, to which 
 we wish to pay some degree of attention, be- 
 cause they are rather inimical to those opinions 
 1 which we have advanced on this subject. In- 
 I deed, independently of this, there is nothing 
 which requires more vigilance than the current 
 I phrases of the day. of which there are always 
 some resorted to in every dispute, and from tho 
 I sovereign authority of which it is often vain to 
 I make any appeal. '• The true theatre for a wo- 
 j man is the sick-chamber;'' — '-Nothing so ho- 
 i nourable to a woman as not to be spoken of at 
 all."' These two phrases, the delight oi' Noodle- 
 dom, are grown into common-places upon the 
 I subject ; and are not unfrequently employed tu 
 j extinguish that love of knowledge in women, 
 I which, in our humble opinion, it is of so mucli 
 \ importance to cherish. Nothing, certainly, is s<.> 
 ornamental and delightful in women as the bt- 
 
82 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 nevolent fiffections; but time cannot be filled 
 up, and life employed, with high and impas- 
 sioned virtues. Some of these feehngs are of 
 rare occurrence — all of short duration — or na- 
 ture would sink under them. A scene of dis- 
 tress and anguish is an occasion where the 
 finest qualities of the female mind may be dis- 
 played ; but it is a monstrous exaggeration to 
 tell women that they are born only for scenes 
 of distress and anguish. Nurse father, mother, 
 sister, and brother, if they want it; — it would 
 be a violation of the plainest duties to neglect 
 them. But, when we are talking of the com- 
 mon occupations of life, do not let us mistake 
 the accidents for the occupations; — when we 
 are arguing how the twenty-three hours of the 
 day are to be filled up, it is idle to tell us of 
 those feelings and agitations above the level of 
 common existence, which may employ the re- 
 maining hour. Compassion, and every other 
 virtue, are the great objects we all ought to 
 have in view; but no man (and no woman) can 
 fill up the twenty-four hours by acts of virtue. 
 J3ut one is a lawyer, and the other a plough- 
 man, and the third a merchant ; and then, acts 
 of goodness, and intervals of compassion and 
 fine feeling, are scattered up and down the 
 common occupations of life. We know women 
 are to be compassionate; but they cannot be 
 compassionate from eight o'clock in the morn- 
 ing till twelve at night : — and what are they to 
 do in the interval? This is the only question 
 we have been putting all along, and is all that 
 can be meant by literary education. 
 
 Then, again, as to the notoriety which is in- 
 curred by literature. — The cultivation of know- 
 ledge is a very distinct thing from its publica- 
 tion; nor does it follow that a woman is to be- 
 come an author merely because she has talent 
 enough for it. We do not wish a lady to write 
 books, — to defend and reply, — to squabble about 
 the tomb of Achilles, or the plain of Troy, — any 
 more than we wish her to dance at the opera, 
 to play at a public concert, or to put pictures 
 in the exhibition, because she has learned music, 
 dancing and drawing. The great use of her 
 knowledge will be that it contributes to her 
 private happiness. She may make it public : 
 but it is not the principal object which the 
 friends of female education have in view. 
 Among men, the few who write bear no com- 
 parison to the many who read. We hear most 
 of the former, indeed, because they are, in ge- 
 neral, the most ostentatious part of literary 
 men ; but tliere are innumerable persons who, 
 without ever laying themselves before the pub- 
 lic, have made use of literature to add to the 
 strength of theirunderstandings, and to improve 
 the happiness of their lives. After all, it may 
 be an evil for ladies to be talked of: but we 
 really think those ladies who are talked of only 
 as Mrs. Marcet, Mrs. Somerville, and Miss Mar- 
 tineau are talked of, may bear their misfortunes 
 With a very great degree of Christian patience. 
 
 Their exemption from all the necessary busi- 
 ness of life is one of the most powerful motives 
 for tlie improvement of education in women. 
 Lawyers and phy?-.„ians have in their profes- 
 sions a constant motive to exertion ; if you ne- 
 glect their education, they must in a certain 
 degree educate themselves by their commerce 
 with the world : they must learn caution, accu- 
 racy, and judgment, because they must incur 
 responsibilhy. But if you neglect to educate 
 ■•the mind of a woman, by the speculative diffi- 
 
 culties which occur in literature, it caft never be 
 educated at all : if you do not effectually rouse 
 it by education, it must remain for ever languid. 
 Uneducated men may escape intellectual degra- 
 dation ; uneducated women cannot. They have 
 nothing to do ; and if they come untaught from 
 the schools of education, they will never be in- 
 structed in the school of events. 
 
 Women have not their livelihood to gain by 
 knowledge ; and that is one motive for relaxing 
 all those efforts which are made in the educa- 
 tion of men. They certainly have not ; but 
 they have happiness to gain, to which know- 
 ledge leads as probably as it does to profit; 
 and that is a reason against mistaken indul- 
 gence. Besides, we conceive the labour and 
 fatigue of accomplishments to be quite equal to 
 the labour and fatigue of knowledge ; and that 
 it takes quite as many years to be charming as 
 it does to be learned. 
 
 Another difference of the sexes is, that women 
 are attended to, and men attend. All acts of 
 courtesy and politeness originate from the one 
 sex, and are received by the other. We can 
 see no sort of reason, in this diversity of condi- 
 tion, for giving to women a trifling and insig- 
 nificant education ; but we see in it a very pow- 
 erful reason for strengthening their judgment, 
 and inspiring them with the habit of employing 
 time usefully. We admit many striking differ- 
 ences in the situation of the two sexes, and 
 many striking differences of understanding, pro- 
 ceeding from the different circumstances in 
 which they are placed : but there is not a single 
 difference of this kind which does not afford a 
 new argument for making the education of wo- 
 men better than it is. They have nothing se- 
 rious to do ; — is that a reason why they should 
 be brought up to do nothing but what is tri- 
 fling 1 They are exposed to greater dangers ; — 
 is that a reason why their faculties are to be 
 purposely and industriously weakened? They 
 are to form the characters of future men ; — is 
 that a cause why their own characters are to 
 be broken and frittered down as they now are ? 
 In short, there is not a single trait in that diver- 
 sity of circumstances, in which the two sexes 
 are placed, that does not decidedly prove the 
 magnitude of the error we commit in neglect- 
 ing (as we do neglect) the education of 
 women. 
 
 If the objections against the better education 
 of women could be overruled, one of the great 
 advantages that would ensue v/ould be the ex- 
 tinction of innumerable follies. A decided and 
 prevailing taste for one or anothe- mode of 
 education there must be. A centary past, it 
 was for housewifery — now it is for accomplish- 
 ments. The object now is, to make women 
 artists, — to give them an excellence in drawing, 
 music, painting and dancing, — of which, per- 
 sons who make these pursuits the occupation 
 of their lives, and derive from them their sub- 
 sistence, need not be ashamed. Now, one great 
 evil of this is, that it does not last. If the whole 
 of life were an Olympic game, — if we could go 
 on feasting and dancing to the end, — this might 
 do ; but it is in truth merely a provision for the 
 little interval between coming into life, and set- 
 tling in it; while it leaves a long and dreary 
 expanse behind, devoid both of dignity and 
 cheerfulness. No mother, no woman who haa 
 passed over the few first years of life, sings, or 
 dances, or draws, or plays upon musical instru- 
 ments. These are merely means for displaying 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 the grace and vivacity of youth, which every I 
 woman gives up, as she gives up the dress and 
 manners of eighteen: she has no wish to retain | 
 theui , or, if she has, she is driven out of them i 
 by diameter and derision. The system of fe- i 
 male education, as it now stands, aims only at j 
 embellishing a few years of life, which are in | 
 themselves so full of grace and happiness, that 
 they hardly want it ; and then leaves the rest of 
 existence a miserable prey to idle insignificance. 
 No woman of understanding and reflection can 
 possibly conceive she is doing justice to her 
 children by such kind of education. The object 
 is, to give to children resources that will en- 
 dure as long as life endures, — habits that time 
 will ameliorate, not destjoy, — occupations that 
 will render sickness tolerable, solitude pleasant, 
 age venerable, life more dignified and useful, 
 and therefore death less terrible : and the com- 
 pensation which is offered for the omijsion of 
 all this, is a short-lived blaze, — a little tempo- 
 rary effect, which has no other consequence 
 than to deprive the remainder of life of all 
 taste and relish. There may be women who 
 have a taste for the fine arts, and who 
 evince a decided talent for drawing, or for 
 music. In that case, there can be no objection 
 to the cultivation of these arts ; but the error is, 
 to make such things the grand and universal 
 object, — to insist upon it that every woman is 
 to sing, and draw, and dance — with nature, or 
 against nature, — to bind her apprentice to some 
 accomplishment, and if she cannot succeed in 
 oil or water-colours, to prefer gilding, varnish- 
 ing, burnisliing, box-making, to real solid im- 
 provement in taste, knowledge, and under^^^ 
 standing. 
 
 A great deal is said in favour of the social 
 nature of the fine arts. Music gives pleasure 
 to others. Drawing is an art, the amusement 
 of which does not centre in him who exercises 
 it, but it is diffused among the rest of the world. 
 This is true ; but there is nothing, after all, so 
 social as a cultivated mind. We do not moan 
 to speak slightingly of the fine arts, or to depre- 
 ciate thegoodhumourwithwhichthey are some- 
 times exhibited; but we appeal to any man, 
 whether a little spirited and sensible conversa- 
 tion — displaying, modestly, useful acquirement^ 
 — and evincing rational curiosity, is not w*i1 
 worth the highest exertions of musical or gra- 
 phical skill. A woman of accomplishments 
 may entertain those who have the pleasure of 
 knowing her for half an hour with great brillian- 
 cy ; but a mind full of ideas, and with that elas- 
 tic spring which the love of knowledge only can 
 convey, is a perpetual source of exhilaration 
 and amusement to all that come within its reach ; 
 — not collecting its force into single and insu- 
 lated achievements, like the effort made in the 
 fine arts — but diffusing, equally over the whole 
 of existence, a calm pleasure — better loved as 
 it is longer felt — and suitable to every variety 
 and every period of life. Therefore, instead of 
 hanging the understanding of a woman upon 
 walls, or hearing it vibrate upon strings, — in- 
 stead of seeing it in clouds, or hearing it in the 
 wind, we would make it the first spring and or- 
 nament of society, by enriching it with attain- 
 ments upon which alone such power depends. 
 
 If the education of women were improved, 
 the education of men would be improved also. 
 Let any one consider (in order to bring the 
 matter more home by an individual instance) 
 of what immense importance to society it is, 
 
 whether a nobleman of first-rate fortune and 
 distinction is well or ill brought up ; — what a 
 taste and fashion he may inspire for private and 
 for political vice ! — and what misery and mis- 
 chief he may produce to the thousand human 
 beings who are dependent on him ! A country 
 contains no such curse within its bosom. Youth, 
 wealth, high rank, and vice, form a combina- 
 tion which baffies all remonstrance and beats 
 down all opposition. A man of high rank who 
 combines these qualifications for corruption, is 
 almost the master of the manners of the age, 
 and has the public happiness within his grasp. 
 But the most beautiful possession which a coun- 
 try can have is a noble and rich man, who loves 
 virtue and knowledge ; — who without being 
 feeble or fanatical is pious — and who withouc 
 being factious is firm and independent ; — who, 
 in his political life, is an equitable mediator be- 
 tween king and people ; and in his civil life, a 
 firm promoter of all which can shed a lustre 
 upon his country, or promote the peace and or- 
 der of the world. But if these objects are of 
 the importance which we attribute to them, 
 the education of women must be important, as 
 the formation of character for the first seven or 
 eight years of life seems to depend almost en- 
 tirely upon them. It is certainly in the power 
 of a sensible and well-educated mother to in- 
 spire, within that period, such tastes and pro- 
 pensities as shall nearly decide the destiny of 
 the future man ; and this is done, not only by 
 the intentional exertions of the mother, but by 
 the gradual and insensible imitation of the child ; 
 for there is something extremely contagious in 
 greatness and rectitude of thinking, even at 
 that age ; and the character of the mother with 
 whom he passes his early infancy, is always an 
 event of the utmost importance to the child. 
 A merely accomplished woman cannot infuse 
 her tastes into the minds of her sons ; and, if 
 she could, nothing could be more unfortunate 
 than her success. Besides, when her accom- 
 plishments are given up, she has nothing left 
 for it but to amuse herself in the best way she 
 can ; and, becoming entirely frivolous, either 
 declines altogether the fatigue of attending to 
 her children, or, attending to them, has neither 
 talents nor knowledge to succeed ; and, there- 
 fore, here is a plain and fair answer to thosp 
 who ask so triumphantly, why should a woman 
 dedicate herself to this branch of knowledge ? 
 or why should she be attached to such science? 
 — Because, by having gained information on 
 these points, she may inspire her son with valu- 
 able tastes, which may abide by him through 
 life, and carry him up to all the sublimities of 
 knowledge ; because she cannot lay the founda- 
 tion of a great character, if she is absorbed in 
 frivolous amusements, nor inspire her child with 
 noble desires, when a long course of trifling 
 has destroyed the little talents which were left 
 by a bad education. 
 
 It is of great importance to a couritry, that 
 there should be as many understandings as pos- 
 sible actively employed within it. Mankind 
 are much happier for the discovery of barome- 
 ters, thermometers, steam-engines, and all the 
 innumerable inventions in the arts and sciences. 
 We are every day and every hour reaping thii 
 benefit of such talent and ingenuity. The same 
 observation is true of such works as those of 
 Dryden, Pope, Milton and Shakspeare. Man- 
 kind are much happier that such individuails 
 have lived and written ; they add every day to 
 
84 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 the stock of public enjoyment — and perpetually 
 gladden and embellish life. Now, the number 
 of those who exercise their understandings to 
 any good purpose, is exactly in proportion to 
 those who exercise it at all ; but, as tlie matter 
 s^tands at present, half the talent in the universe 
 runs to waste, and is totally unprofitable. It 
 would have been almost as well for the world, 
 hitherto, that women, instead of possessing the 
 capacities they do at present, should have been 
 born wholly destitute of wit, genius, and every 
 other attribute of mind, of which men make so 
 eminent a use : and the ideas of use and pos- 
 session, are so united together, that, because it 
 has been the custom in almost all countries to 
 give to women a difierent and a worse educa- 
 fion than to men, the notion has obtained that 
 they do not possess faculties which they do 
 not cultivate. Just as, in breaking up a com- 
 mon, it is sometimes very difficult to make the*' 
 poor believe it will carry corn, merely because 
 they have been hitherto accustomecl to see it 
 produce nothing but weeds and grass — they 
 very naturally mistake present condition for 
 general nature. So completely have the talents 
 of women been kept down, that there is scarcely 
 a single work, either of reason or imagination, 
 w^ritten by a woman, which is in gerieral cir- 
 culation either in the English, French, or Ita- 
 lian literature ; — scarcely one that has crept 
 even into the ranks of our minor poets. 
 
 If the possession of excellent talents is not a 
 conclusive reason why they shoukl be im- 
 proved, it at least amounts to a very strong 
 presumption; and, if it can be shown that wo- 
 men may be trained to reason and imagine as 
 well as men, the strongest reasons are certainly 
 necessary to show us why we should not avail 
 ourselves of such rich gifts of nature ; and we 
 have a right to call for a clear statement of those 
 perils which make it necessary that such talents 
 should be totally extinguished, or, at most, 
 very partially drawn out. The burthen of 
 proof does not lie with those who say, increase 
 the quanity of talent in any country as much 
 as possible — for such a proposition is in con- 
 formity with every man's feelings: but it lies 
 with those who say, take care to keep that un- 
 derstanding weak and trifling, which nature 
 has made capable of becoming strong and 
 powerful. The paradox is with them, not with 
 us. In all human reasoning, knowledge must 
 be taken for a good, till it can be shown to be 
 an evil. But now, nature makes to us rich and 
 magnificent presents ; and we say to her — 
 You are too luxuriant and munificent — we 
 must keep you under, and prune you ; — we 
 have talents enough in the other half of the 
 creation ; — and, if you will not stupefy and en- 
 feeble the mind of women to our hands, we 
 ourselves must expose them to a narcotic pro- 
 cess, and educate away that fatal redundance 
 with which the world is afflicted, and the order 
 of sublunary things deranged. 
 
 One of the greatest pleasures of life is con- 
 versation ; — and the pleasures of conversation 
 are of course enhance^ by every increase of 
 knowledge: not that we should meet together 
 to talk of alkalies and angles, or to add to our 
 stock of history and philology — though a little 
 of these things is no bad ingredient in conver- 
 sation ; but let the subject be what it may, there 
 is always a prodigious difference between the 
 conversation of those who have been well edu- 
 L-ated and of those who have not enjoyed this 
 
 advantage. Education gives fecundity of 
 thought, copiousness of illustration, quickness, 
 vigour, fancy, words, images and illustrations; 
 — it decorates every cotnmon thing, and gives 
 the power of trifling without being undignified 
 and absurb. The subjects themselves may not 
 be wanted, upon which the talents of an edu- 
 cated man have been exercised; but there is 
 always a demand for those talents which his 
 education has rendered strong and quick. 
 Now, really, nothing can be further from our 
 intention than to say any thing rude and un- 
 pleasant ; but we must be excused for observing, 
 that it is not now a very common thing to be 
 interested by the variety and extent of female 
 knowledge, but it is a very common thing to 
 lament, that the finest faculties in the world 
 have been confined to trifles utterly unworthy 
 
 their richness and their strength. 
 
 ursuit of knowledge is the most inno- 
 cent and interesting occupation %vhich can be 
 given to the female sex ; nor can there he a 
 better method of checking a spirit of dissipation 
 than by difiusing a taste for literature. The 
 true way to attack vice, is by setting up some- 
 thing else against it. Give to women, in early 
 youth, something to acquire, of sufficient in- 
 terest and importance to command the appli- 
 cation of their mature faculties, and to excite 
 their perseverance in future life; — teach them 
 that happiness is to be derived from the acqui- 
 sition of knowledge, as well as the gratification 
 of vanity: and you will raise up a much more 
 formidable barrier against dissipation than a 
 host of invectives and exhortations can supply. 
 *f It sometimes happens that an unfortunate 
 man gets drunk with very bad wine, — not to 
 gratify his palate, but to forget his oares: he 
 (loes not set any value on what he receives, 
 but on account of what it excludes; — it keeps out 
 something worse than itself Now, though it 
 were denied that the acquisition of serious 
 knowledge is of itself important to a woman, 
 still it prevents a taste for silly and pernicious 
 works of imagination ; it keeps away the horrid 
 trash of novels; and, in lieu of that eagerness 
 for emotion and adventure which books of that 
 isort inspire, promotes a calm and steady tem- 
 Wrament of mind. 
 
 A man who deserves such a piece of good 
 fortune, may generally find an excellent com- 
 panion for all the vicissitudes of his life, but 
 it is not so easy to find a coinpanion for his uri- 
 derstanding, who has similar pursuits with 
 himself, or who can comprehend the pleasure 
 he derives from them. We really can see no 
 reason why it should not be otherwise ; nor 
 comprehend how the pleasures of domestic life 
 can be promoted by diminishing the number 
 of subjects in which persons who are to spend 
 their lives together take a common interest. 
 
 One of the most agreeable consequences of 
 knowledge is the respect and importance which 
 it communicates to old age. Men rise in cha- 
 racter often as they increase in years ; — they 
 are venerable from what they have acquired, 
 and pleasing from what they can impart. If 
 they outlive their faculties, the mere frame it- 
 self is respected for what it once contained; but 
 women (such is their unfortunate style of edu- 
 cation) hazard every thing upon one cast of the 
 die ; — when youth is gone, all is gone. No hu 
 man creature gives his admiration for nothing 
 either the eye must be charmed, or the under 
 standinir gratified. A woman must talk wisely 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 83 
 
 or look well. Every human being must put 
 up with the coldest civility, who has neither 
 the charms of youth nor the wisdom of age. 
 Neither is there the slightest commiseration for 
 decayed accomplishments ; — no man mourns 
 over the fragments of a dancer, or drops a tear 
 on the relics of musical skill. They are flowers 
 destined to perish; but the decay of great 
 talents is always the subject of solemn pity; 
 and, even when their last memorial is over, 
 their ruins and vestiges are regarded with pious 
 affection. 
 • '^There is no connexion between the igno- 
 rance in which women are kept, and the pre-i 
 servation of moral and religious principle; and 
 yet certainly there is, in the minds of some 
 timid and respectable persons, a vague, indefi- 
 nite dread of knowledge, as if it were capable 
 of producing these elibcts. It might also be 
 supposed, from the dread which the propagation 
 of knowledge has excited, that there was some 
 great secret which was to be kept in impene- 
 trable obscurity, — that all moral rules were a 
 species of delusion and imposture, the detection 
 of which, by the improvement of the under- 
 standing, would be attended with the most fatal 
 consequences to all, and particularly to women. 
 If we could possibly understand what these 
 great secrets were, we might perhaps be dis- 
 posed to concur in their preservation; but be- 
 lieving that all the salutary rules which are 
 imposed on women are the result of true wis- 
 dom, and productive of the greatest happiness, 
 we cannot understand how they are to become 
 less sensible of this truth in proportion as their 
 power of discovering truth in general is in- 
 creased, and the liabit of viewing questions 
 with accuracy and comprehension established 
 by education. There are men. indeed, who are 
 always exclaiming against every species of 
 power, because it is connected with danger : 
 their dread of abuses is so much stronger than 
 their admiration of uses, that they would cheer- 
 fully give up the use of fire, gunpowder, and 
 printing, to be freed from robbers, incendiaries, 
 and libels. It is true, that every increase of 
 knowledge may possibly render depravity more 
 depraved, as well as it may increase the strength 
 of virtue. It is in itself only power; and its 
 value depends on its applicalion. But, trust to 
 the natural love of good where there is no temp- 
 tation to be bad — it operates no where more 
 forcibly than in education. No man, whether 
 he be tutor, guardian, or friend, ever contents 
 himself with infusing the mere ability to ac- 
 quire; but giving the power, he gives with it a 
 taste for the wise and rational exercise of that 
 
 power; so that an educated person is not only 
 one with stronger and better faculties than 
 others, but with a more useful propensity — a 
 disposition better cultivated — and associations 
 ola higher and more important class. 
 
 In short, and to recapitulate the main points 
 upon which we have insisted : — Why the dis- 
 proportion in knowledge between the two 
 sexes should be so great, when the inequality 
 in natural talents is so small ; or why the un- 
 derstanding of women should be lavished upon 
 trifles, when nature has made it capable of 
 higher and better things, we profess ourselves 
 not able to understand. The affectation charged 
 upon female knowledge is best cured by making 
 that knowledge more general: and the economy 
 devolved upon women is best secured by the 
 ruin, disgrace, and inconvenience which pro- 
 ceeds from neglecting it. For the care of child- 
 ren, nature has made a direct and powerful 
 provision ; and the gentleness and elegance of 
 women is the natural consequence of that de- 
 sire to please, which is productive of the greatest 
 part of civilization and refinement, and which 
 rests upon a foundation too deep to be shaken 
 by any such modifications in education as we 
 have proposed. If you educate women to at- 
 tend to dignified and important subjects, you 
 are multiplying beyond measure the chances 
 of human improvement, by preparing and me- 
 dicating those early impressions, which always 
 come from the mother ; and which, in a great 
 majority of instances, are quite decisive of 
 character and genius. Nor is it only in the 
 business of education that women would influ- 
 ence the destiny of men. If women knew more, 
 men must learn more — for ignorance would 
 then be shameful — and it would become the 
 fashion to be instructed. The instruction of 
 women improves the stock of national talents, 
 and employs more minds for the instruction 
 and amusement of the world ; — it increases the 
 pleasures of society, by multiplying the topics 
 upon which the two sexes take a common in- 
 terest ; and makes marriage an intercourse of 
 understanding as well as of affection, by giving 
 dignity and importance to the female character. 
 The education of women favours public mo- 
 rals ; it provides for every season of life, as well 
 as for the brightest and the best : and leaves a 
 woman when she is stricken by the hand of 
 time, not as she now is, destitute of every thing, 
 and neglected by all; but with the full power 
 and the splendid attractions of knowledge, — 
 diffusing the elegant pleasures of polite litera- 
 ture, and receiving the just homage of learned 
 and accomplished men. 
 
 H 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 PUBLIC SCHOOLS.* 
 
 (Edinburgh Review, 1810.) 
 
 There is a set of wdl-dressed, prosperous 
 gentlemen, who assemble daily at 5lr. Hatch- 
 ard's shop ; — clean, civil personages, well in 
 with people in power, — delighted with every 
 existing institution — and almost with every ex- 
 isting circumstance : and, every now and then, 
 one of these personages writes a little book ; — 
 and the rest praise that little book — expecting 
 to be praised, in their turn, for their own little 
 books : — and of these little books, thus written 
 by these clean, civil personages, so expecting to 
 be praised, the pamphlet before us appears to 
 be one. 
 
 The subject of it is the advantage of public 
 schools ; and the author, very creditably to him- 
 self, ridicules the absurd clamour, first set on foot 
 by Dr. Rennel, of the irreligious tendency of 
 public schools : he then proceeds to an investiga- 
 tion of the eifects which public schools may 
 produce upon the moral character ; and here 
 the subject becomes more difficult, and the 
 pamphlet worse. 
 
 In arguing any large or general question, it 
 is of infinite importance to attend to the first 
 feelings which the mention of the topic has a 
 tendency to excite ; and the name of a public 
 school brings with it immediately the idea of 
 brilliant classical attainments : but, upon the 
 importance of these studies, we are not now 
 oflering any opinion. ' The only points for con- 
 sideration are, whether boys are put in the way 
 of becoming good and wise men by these 
 schools ; and whether they actually gather there 
 those attainments which it pleases mankind, 
 for the time being, to consider as valuable, and 
 to decorate by the name of learning. 
 
 By a public school, we mean any endowed 
 place of education, of old standing, to which 
 the sons of gentlemen resort in considerable 
 numbers, and where they continue to reside, 
 from eight or nine, to eighteen years of age. 
 We do not give this as a definition which would 
 have satisfied Porphyry or Duns-Scotus, but as 
 one sufficiently accurate for our purpose. The 
 characteristic features of these schools are, their 
 antiquity, the numbers, and the ages of the 
 young people who are educated at them. We 
 beg leave, however, to premise, that we have 
 not the slightest intention of insinuating any 
 thing to the disparagement of the present dis- 
 cipline or present rulers of these schools, as 
 compared with other times and other men : we 
 have no reason whatever to doubt that they are 
 as ably governed at this as they have been at 
 any preceding period. Whatever objections we 
 may have to these institutions, they are to 
 faults, not depending on prnsent administration, 
 but upon original construction. f 
 
 At a public school (for such is the system es- 
 
 * Remarks on the System of Education in Public 
 Schools. 6vo. Hatchard. London, 1809. 
 
 + A public school is thought to be the best cure for 
 the insolence of youthful aristocracy. This insolence, 
 however, is not a little increased by the homaire of mas- 
 ters, and would soon meet with its natural check in the 
 
 tablished by immemorial custom) , every boy ia 
 alternately tyrant and slave. The power which 
 the elder part of these communities exercises 
 ipver the younger is exeedingly great — very dif- 
 ficult to be controlled — and accompanied, not 
 unfrequently, with cruelty and caprice. It is 
 the common law of the place, that the young 
 should be implicitly obedient to the elder boys; 
 and this obedience resembles more the submis- 
 sion of a slave to his master, or of a sailor to 
 his captain, than the common and natural de- 
 ference which would always be shown by one 
 boy to another a few years older than himself. 
 Now, this system we cannot help considering as 
 an evil, — because it inflicts upon boys, for two or 
 three years of their lives, many painful hardships, 
 and much unpleasant servitude. These suffer- 
 ings might perhaps be of some use in military 
 schools ; but, to give a boy the habit of enduring 
 privations to which he will never again be called 
 upon to submit — to inure him to pains which 
 he will never again feel — and to subject him to 
 the privation of comforts with which he will 
 always in future abound — is surely not a very 
 useful and valuable severity in education. It 
 is not the life in miniature which he is to lead 
 hereafter — nor does it bear any relation to it : — 
 he will never again be subjected to so much in- 
 solence and caprice ; nor ever, in all human 
 probability, be called upon to make so many sa- 
 crifices. The servile obedience which it teaches 
 might be useful to a menial domestic; or the 
 habits of enterprise which it encourages prove 
 of importance to a military partisan; but we 
 cannot see what bearing it has upon the calm, 
 regular, civil life, which the sons of gentlemen, 
 destined to opulent idleness, or to any of the 
 three learned professions, are destined to lead. 
 Such a system inakes many boys very misera- 
 ble ; and produces those bad effects upon the 
 temper and disposition, which unjust suffering 
 always does produce ; — ^but what ^od it does 
 we are much at a loss to conceive. Reasonable 
 'obedience is extremely useful in forming the 
 disposition. Submission to tyranny lays the 
 foundation of hatred, suspicion, cunning, and a 
 variety of odious passions. We are convinced 
 that those young people will turn out to be the 
 best men, who have been guarded most effec- 
 tually in their childhood, from every species of 
 useless vexation ; and experienced, in the 
 greatest degree, the blessings of a wise and 
 rational indulgence. But even if these effects 
 upon future character are not produced, still 
 four or five years in childhood make a very 
 considerable period of human existence ; and it 
 is by no means a trifling consideration whether 
 they are passed happily or unhappily. The 
 wretchedness of school tyranny is trifling 
 enough to a man who only contemplates it in 
 
 world. There can be no occasion to brin? five hun- 
 dred boys together to teach to a young noblemen that 
 proper demeanour which he would learn so much better 
 from the first English gentleman whom he might think 
 proper to insult. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 87 
 
 ease of body and tranquillity of mind, through 
 the medium of twenty intervening years ; but 
 it is quite as real, and quite as acute, while it 
 lasts, as any of the sulTerings of mature life: 
 and the utility of these sutferings, or the price 
 paid in compensation for them, should be clear- 
 ly made out to a conscientious parent before he 
 consents to expose his children to them. 
 
 This system also gives to the elder boys an 
 absurd and pernicious opinion of their own 
 importance, which is often with difficulty ef- 
 faced by a considerable commerce with the 
 world. The head of a public school is gene- 
 rally a very conceited young man, utterly igncf- 
 rant of his own dimensions, and losing all that 
 habit of conciliation towards others, and that 
 anxiety for self-improvement, which result from 
 tlie natural modesty of youtli. Nor is this con- 
 ceit very easily and speedily gotten rid of; — we 
 have seen (if we mistake not) public school 
 importance lasting through the half of after 
 life, strutting in lawn, swelling in ermine, and 
 displaying itself, both ridiculously and offen- 
 sively, in the haunts and business of bearded 
 men. 
 
 There is a manliness in the athletic exercises 
 of public schools which is as seductive to the 
 imagination as it is utterly unimportant in it- 
 self Of what importance is it in after life 
 Mdiether a boy can play well or ill at cricket ; 
 or row a boat with the skill and precision of a 
 waterman? If our young lords and esquires 
 were hereafter to wrestle together in public, or 
 the gentlemen of the Bar to exhibit Olympic 
 games in Hilary Term, the glory attached to 
 these exercises at public schools would be ra- 
 tional and important. But of what use is the 
 body of an athlete, when we have good laws 
 over our heads, — or v'hen a pistol, a postchaise, 
 or a porter, can be hired for a few shillings ? 
 A gentleman does nothing but ride or walk ; 
 and yet such a ridiculous stress is laid upon the 
 manliness of the exercises customary at public 
 schools — exercises in which the greatest Ijlock- 
 heads commonly excel the most — which often 
 render habits of idleness inveterate — and often 
 lead to foolish expense and dissipation at a 
 more advanced period of life. 
 
 One of the supposed advantages of a public 
 school is the greater knowledge of the world 
 which a boy is considered to derive from those 
 situations ; but if, by a knowledge of the world, 
 is meant a knowledge of the forms and man- 
 ners which are found to be the most pleasing 
 and viseful in the world, a boy from a public 
 school is almost always extremely deficient in 
 these particulars ; and his sister, who has re- 
 mained at home at the apron-strings of her 
 mother, is very much his superior in the science 
 of manners. It is probably true, that a boy at 
 a public school has made more observation on 
 human character, because he has had more op- 
 'lortunities of observing than luave been en- 
 joyed by young persons educated either at 
 home or at private schools : but this little ad- 
 vance gained at a public school is so soon over- 
 taken at college or in the world, that, to liave 
 made it, is of the least possible consequence, 
 and utterly underserving of any risk incurred 
 in the acquisition. Is it any injury to a man 
 of thirty or tliirty-five years of age — to a learned 
 Serjeant or venerable dean — that at eighteen 
 they did not know so much of the world as 
 some other boys of the same standing? They 
 liave probably escaped the arrogant character 
 
 so often attendant upon this trifling superiority ; 
 nor is there much chance that they have ever 
 fallen into the common and youthful error of 
 mistaking a premature initiation into vice for 
 a knowledge of the ways of mankind ; and, in 
 addition to these salutary exemptions, a winter 
 in London brings it all to a level ; and offers to 
 every novice the advantages which are sup- 
 posed to be derived from this precocity of con- 
 fidence and polish. 
 
 According to the general prejudice in favour 
 of public schools, it would be thought quite as 
 absurd and superfluous to enumerate the illus- 
 trious characters who have been bred at our 
 three great seminaries of this description, as it 
 would be to descant upon the illustrious cha- 
 racters who have passed in and out of London 
 over our three great bridges. Almost every con- 
 spicuous person is supposed to have been edu- 
 cated at public schools; and there are scarcely 
 any means (as it is imagined) of making an 
 actual comparison; and yet, great as the rage 
 is, and long has been, for public schools, it is 
 very remarkable, that the most eminent men in 
 every art and science have not been educated 
 in public schools ; and this is true, even if we 
 include, in the term of public schools, not only 
 Eton, Winchester, and Westminster, but the 
 Charter-House, St. Paul's School, Alerchant 
 Tailors', Rugby, and every school in England, 
 at all conducted upon the plan of the three first. 
 The great schools of Scotland we do not call 
 public schools; because, in these, the mixture 
 of domestic life gives to them a widely different 
 character. Spenser, Pope, Shakspeare, Butler, 
 Rochester, Spratt, Parnell, Garth, Congreve, 
 Gay, Swift, Thomson. Shenstone, Akenside, 
 Goldsmith, Samuel Johnson, Beaumont and 
 Fletcher, Ben Jonson, Sir Philip Sydney, Savage, 
 Arbuthnot, and Burns, among the poets, were 
 not educated in the system of English schools. 
 Sir Isaac Newton, ]Maclaurin, Wallis, Hamstead, 
 Saunderson, Simpson, and Napier, among men 
 of science, were not educated in public schools. 
 
 The three best historians that the English 
 language has produced. Clarendon, Hume, and 
 Robertson, were not educated at public schools. 
 Public schools have done little in England for 
 the fine arts — as in the examples of Inigo Jones, 
 Vanbrugh, Reynolds, Gainsborough, Garrick, 
 &c. The great medical writers and discoverers 
 in Great Britain, Harvey, Cheselden, Hunter, 
 Jenner, Meade, Brown, and CuUen, were not 
 educated at public schools. Of the great writers 
 on morals and metaphysics, it was not the sys- 
 tem of public schools which produced Bacon, 
 Shaftesbury, Hobbes, Berkeley. Butler, Hume, 
 Hartley, or Dugald Stewart. The greatest dis- 
 coverers in chemistry have not been brought 
 up at public schools ; — we mean Dr. Priestley, 
 Dr. Black, and Mr. Davy. The only English- 
 men who have evinced a remarkable genius, in 
 modern times, for the art of war, — the Duke of 
 JVIarlborough, Lord Peterborough, General 
 Wolfe, and Lord Clive, were all trained in pri- 
 vate schools. So were Lord Coke, Sir ]\Iatthew 
 Hale, and Lord Chancellor Hardwicke, and 
 Chief Justice Holt, among the lawyers. So- 
 also, among statesmen, were Lord Burleigh.. 
 Walsingham, the Earl of Slraiford, Thurlut;, 
 Cromwell, Hampden, Lord Clarendon, Sir Wa! 
 ter Raleigh, Sydney, Russel, Sir W. Temple, 
 Lord Somers, Burke, Sheridan, Pitt. In addi- 
 tion to this list, we must not forge^ the names 
 of such eminent scholars and men of letters, as 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 Cndworth. Chillingworth, Tillotson, Archbishop 
 King, Selden, Conyeis, MidJleton, Bentley, Sir 
 Thomas More, Cardinal Wolsey, Bishops Sher- 
 lock and Wilkius, Jeremy Taylor, Isaac Hooker, 
 Bishops Usher, StillingUeet, and Spelman, Dr. 
 Samuel Clarke, Bishop Hoadley, and Dr. Lard- 
 iier. Nor must it be Ibrgotten, in this examina- 
 tion, that none of the conspicnous writers upon 
 political economy which this country has as 
 yet produced, have been brought up in public 
 schools. If it be urged that pulilic schools have 
 only assumed their present character within 
 this last century, or half century, and that what 
 are now called public schools partook, before 
 this period, of the nature of private schools, 
 there must then be added to our lists the names 
 of Milton, Dryden, Addison, &c., &c.: and it 
 will follow, that the Enslish have done almost 
 all that they have done in the arts and sciences, 
 "without the aid of that system of education to 
 which they are now so much attached. Ample 
 as this catalogue of celebrated names already 
 is. it would be easy to double it ; yet. as it 
 stands, it is obviously sulhcient to show that 
 great eminence may be attained in any line of 
 fame without the aid of public schools. Some 
 more striking inferences might perhaps be 
 drawn from it; but we content ourselves with 
 the simple fact. 
 
 The most important peculiarity in the consti- 
 tulion of a public school is its numbers, which 
 art so great, that a close inspection of the mas- 
 ter into the studies and conduct of each indi- 
 vidual is quite impossible. We must be al- 
 lowed to doubt, whether such an arrangement 
 is favourable either to literature or morals. 
 
 Upon this system, a boy is left almost entirely 
 to himself, to impress upon his own mind, as 
 well as he can, the distant advantages of know- 
 ledge, and to withstand, from his own innate 
 resolution, the examples and the seductions of 
 idleness. A firm character survives this brave 
 neglect; and very exalted talents may some- 
 times remedy it by subsequent diligence : but 
 schools are not made for a few youths of pre- 
 eminent talents, and strong characters; such 
 prizes can, of course, be drawn but by a very 
 few parents. The best school is that which is 
 best accommodated to the greatest variety of 
 characters, and which embraces the greatest 
 number of cases. It cannot be the main ob- 
 ject of education to render the splendid more 
 splendid, and to lavish care upon those who 
 would almost thrive without any care at all. 
 A public school does this effectually; but it 
 commonly leaves the idle almost as idle, and the 
 dull almost as dull as it found them. It dis- 
 dains the tedious cultivation of those middling 
 talents of which only the great mass of human 
 beings are possessed. When a strong desire of 
 improvement exists, it is encouraged, but no 
 pains are taken to inspire it. A boy is cast in 
 among five or six hundred other boys, and is 
 left to form his own character: — if his love of 
 knowledge survives this severe trial, it, in gene- 
 ral, carries him very far: and. upon the^ame 
 principle, a savage, who grows up to manhood, 
 's, in general, well made, and free from all 
 bodily defects: not because the severities of 
 such a state are favourable to animal life, but 
 because they are so much the reverse, that 
 none but the strongest can survive them. A 
 few boys are incorrigibly idle, and a few incor- 
 rigibly eager for knowledge ; but the great mass 
 uie in a state of doubt and fluctuation ; and they 
 
 come to school for the express purpose, not of 
 being left to themselves — for that could be done 
 any where — but that their wavering tastes and 
 propensities should be decided by the interven- 
 tion of a master. In a forest, or public school 
 for oaks and elms, the trees are left to them- 
 selves; the strong plants live, and the weak 
 ones die : the towering oak that remains is ad- 
 mired; the saplings that perish around it are 
 cast into the flames and forgotten. But it is 
 not surely to the vegetable struggle of a forest, 
 or the hasty glance of a forester, that a bota- 
 nist would commit a favourite plant; he would 
 riaturally seek for it a situation of less hazard, 
 and a cultivator whoie limited occupations 
 would enable him to give to it a reasonable 
 share of his time and attention. The very mean- 
 ing of education seems to us to be, that the old 
 should teach the young, and the wise direct the 
 weak: that a man who professes to instruct, 
 should get among his pupils, study their cha- 
 racters, gain their atfections, and form their in- 
 clinations and aversions. In a public school, 
 the numbers render this impossible ; it is im- 
 possible that suflicient time should be found for 
 this useful and aflectionate interference. Boys, 
 therefore, are left to their own crude concep- 
 tions and ill-formed propensities; and this ne- 
 glect is called a spirited and manly education. 
 
 In by far the Greatest number of cases, we 
 cannot think puljlic schools favourable to the 
 cultivation of knowledge ; and we have equally 
 strong doubts if they be so to the cultivation of 
 morals, — though we admit, that, upon this point, 
 the most striking arguments have been pro- 
 duced in their favour. 
 
 It is contended by the friends to public schools, 
 that every person, before he comes to man's 
 estate, must run through a certain career of dis- 
 sipation ; and that if that career is, by the means 
 of a private education, deferred to a more ad- 
 vanced period of life, it will only be begun 
 with greater eagerness, and pursued into more 
 blameable excess. The time must, of course, 
 come when every man must be his own master ; 
 when his conduct can be no longer regulated 
 by the watchful superintendence of another, 
 but must be guided by his own discretion. 
 Emancipation must come at last; and we ad- 
 mit, that the object to be aimed at is, that such 
 emancipation should be gradual, and not pre- 
 mature. Upon this very invidious point of the 
 discussion, we rather wish to avoiil otferlng- any 
 opinion. The manners of great schools vary 
 considerably from time to time ; and what may 
 have been true many years ago. is very possi- 
 bly not true at the present period. In this in- 
 stance, ever}' parent must be governed by his 
 own observations and means of informaticn. 
 If the license which prevails at public schools 
 is only a fair increase of liberty, proportionate 
 to advancing age, and calsulated to prevent 
 the bad eflects of a sudden transition from tute- 
 lary thraldom to perfect self-government, it is 
 certainly a good rather than an evil. If, on the 
 contrary, there exists in these places of educa- 
 tion a system of premature debauchery, and if 
 they only prevent men from being corrupted 
 by the world, by corrupting them before their 
 entry into the world, they can then only be 
 looked upon as evils of the greatest magni- 
 tude, however they may be sanctioned by opi- 
 nion, or rendered familiar to us by habit. 
 
 The vital and essential part of a school is thf> 
 master ; but, at a public school, no boy, or, at 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 89 
 
 the best, only a very few. cati see enough of 
 him to derive finy coiisidfialile benefit iVom 
 his character, manners, an.l iiiti>rnr,ii.ion. It is 
 certainly ot'eminent use. pari i<'iilarly tea young 
 man of rank, that he sliouid have Hved among 
 boys ; but it is only so when they are all mo- 
 derately watehed by some superior understand- 
 ino-. The niorality of boys is generally very im- 
 perfect; their iicitions of honour extremely mis- 
 taken; and their objects of ambition frequently 
 very absurd. 'I'lie probability then is, that the 
 kind of discipline they exercise over each other 
 will produce (when left to itself) a great deal of 
 mischief; and yet this is the discipline to which 
 every child at a public school is not only ne- 
 cessarily exposed, but principally confined. 
 Our objection (we again repeat) is not to the 
 interference of boys in the formation of the 
 character of boys; their chavacter, we are per- 
 suaded, will be very imperfectly formed without 
 their assistance; but our objection is to that 
 almost exclusive agency which they exercise 
 in ]5ublic schools. 
 
 After liaving said so much in opposition to 
 the general prejudice in favour of public schools, 
 we maybe expected to state what species of 
 scliool we think preferable to them; for if pub- 
 lic schools, with all their disadvantages, are 
 the best that can actually be found, or easily 
 attained, the objections to them are certainly 
 made to very little purpose. 
 
 We have no hesitation, however, in saying, 
 that that education seems to us to be the best 
 which mingles a domestic with a school lile ; 
 and which gives to a youth the advantage 
 which is to be derived from the learning of a 
 master, and the emulation w^hicli results from 
 the society of other boys, together with the 
 affectionate vigilance which he must experience 
 in the house of his parents. But where this 
 species of education, from peculiarity of circum- 
 
 stances or situation, is not attainable, v/e are 
 disposed to think a society of twenty or thirty 
 boys, under the guidance of a learned man, 
 and, above all, of a man of good sense, to be a 
 seminary the best adapted for the education of 
 youth. The numbers are sufficient to excite a 
 considerable degree of emulation, to give to a 
 boy some insight into the diversities of the 
 human character, and to subject him to the ob- 
 servation and control of his superiors. It by no 
 means follows, that a judicious man should al- 
 ways interfere with his authority and advice be- 
 cause he has always the means ; he may con- 
 nive at many things which he cannot approve, 
 and suffer some little failures to proceed to a 
 certain extent, which, if indulged in wider 
 limits, would be attended with" irretrievable 
 mischief: he will be aware, that his object is to 
 fit his pupil for the world; that constant con- 
 trol is a very bad preparation for complete 
 emancipation from all control; that it is not 
 bad policy to expose a young man, under the 
 eye of superior wisdom, to some of those dan- 
 gers which will assail him hereafter in greater 
 number, and in greater strength — when he has 
 only his own resources to depend upon. A 
 private education, conducted upon these prin- 
 eijiles, is not calculated to gratify quickly the 
 vanity of a parent who is blest with a child of 
 strong character and pre-eminent abilities: to 
 be the first scholar of an obscure master, at an 
 obscure place, is no very splendid distinction; 
 nor does it afford that opportunity, of which so 
 many parents are desirous, of forming great 
 connexions for their children: but if the ob- 
 ject be, to induce the young to love knowledge 
 and virtue, we are inclined to suspect, that, lor 
 the average of hinnan talents and characters, 
 these are the situations in which such tastes 
 will be the most effectually formed. 
 
90 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 TOLERATION.* 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, ISll.] 
 
 If a prudent man sees a child playing with a 
 porcelain cup of great value, he takes the ves- 
 sel out of his hand, pats him on the head, tells 
 him his mamma will be sorry if it is broken, 
 and gently cheats him into the use of some less 
 precious substitute. Why will Lord Sidmouth 
 meddle with the Toleration Act, when there are 
 so many other subjects in which his abilities 
 might be so eminently useful — when enclosure 
 bills are drawn up with such scandalous negli- 1 
 gence — turnpike roads so shamefully neglected 
 — and public conveyances illegitimately loaded 
 in the face of day, and in defiance of the wisest 
 legislative provisions] We confess our trepi- 
 dation at seeing the Toleration Act in the hands 
 of Lord Sidmouth ; and should be very glad if 
 it were fairly back in the statute book, and the 
 sedulity of this well-meaning nobleman diverted 
 into another channel. 
 
 The alarm and suspicion of the Dissenters 
 upon these measures are wise and rational. 
 They are right to consider the Toleration Act 
 as their palladium ; and they may be certain 
 that in this country there is always a strong 
 party read}', not only to prevent the further ex- 
 tension of tolerant principles, but to abridge (if 
 they dared) their present operation within the 
 narrowest limits. Whoever makes this a\- i 
 tempt, will be sure to make it under professions \ 
 of the most earnest regard for mildness and | 
 toleration, and with the strongest declarations 
 of respect for King William, the Revolution, 
 and the principles which seated the House of 
 Brunswick on the throne of these realms ; — 
 and then will follow the clauses for whipping 
 Dissenters, imprisoning preachers, and sub- 
 jecting them to rigid qualifications, &c. &c. 
 &c. The infringement on the militia acts is a 
 mere pretence. The real object is to diminish 
 the number of Dissenters from the Church of 
 England, by abridging the liberties and privi- 
 leges they now possess. This is the project 
 which we shall examine, for we sincerely be- 
 lieve it to be the project in agitation. The 
 mode in which it is proposed to attack the Dis- 
 senters is, first, by exacting greater qualifica- 
 tions in their teachers : next, by preventing the 
 interchange or itinerancy of preachers, and 
 fixing them to one spot. 
 
 It can never, we presume, be intended to 
 subject dissenting ministers to any kind of the- 
 ological examination. A teacher examined in 
 doctrinal opinions, by another teacher who dif- 
 fers from him, is so very absurd a project, that 
 we entirely acquit Lord Sidmouth of any in- 
 tention of this sort. We rather presume his 
 lordship to mean, that a man who professes to 
 teach his fellow creatures, should at least have 
 
 * Hints on Toleration, in Five Essays, ^c. suggested for 
 the consideration of Lord Viscouvt Sidmouth. and the Dis- 
 senters. By Philagatharches. London. 1610. 
 
 made some progress in human learning;— 
 that he should not be wholly without educa- 
 tion ; — that he should be able at least to read 
 and write. If the test is of this very ordinary 
 nature, it can scarcely exclude many teachers 
 of religion ; and it was hardly ^"orth while, for 
 the very insignificant diminution of numbers 
 which this must occasion to the dissenting 
 clergy, to have raised all the alarm which this 
 attack upon the Toleration Act has occasioned. 
 
 But, without any reference to the magnitude 
 of the effects, is the principle right ] or, What 
 is the meaning of religious toleration 1 That 
 a man should hold, without pain or penalty, 
 any religious opinions, — and choose for his 
 instruction, in the business of salvation, any 
 guide whom he pleases ; — care being taken 
 that the teacher and the doctrine injure neither 
 the policy nor the morals of the countr}% We 
 maintain that perfect religious toleration ap- 
 plies as much to the teacher as the thing 
 taught; and that it is quite as intolerant to 
 make a man hear Thomas, who wants to hear 
 John, as it would be to make a man profess 
 Arminian, who wished to profess Calvinistical 
 principles. What right has any government to 
 dictate to any man who shall guide him to 
 heaven, any more than it has to persecute the 
 religious tenets by which he hopes to arrive 
 there 1 You believe that the heretic professes 
 doctrines utterly incompatible with the true 
 spirit of the gospel; — first you burnt him for 
 this, — then you whipt him, then you fined 
 him, — then you put him in prison. All this 
 did no good ; — and, for these hundred years 
 last past, you have let him alone. The heresy 
 is now firmly protected by law ; — and you know 
 it must he preached : — What matters it then, 
 who preaches it 1 If the evil must be commu- 
 nicated, the organ and instrument through 
 which it is communicated cannot be of much 
 consequence. It is true, this kind of persecu- 
 tion against persons, has not been quite so 
 much tried as the other against doctrines ; but 
 the folly and inexpediency of it rest precisely 
 upon the same grounds. 
 
 Would it not be a singular thing if the friends 
 of the Church of England were to make the 
 most strenuous efforts to render their enemies 
 eloquent and learned 1 — and to found places of 
 education for Dissenters 1 But, if their learn- 
 ing would not be a good, why is their ignorance 
 an evin — unless it be necessarily supposed, 
 that all increase of learning must bring men 
 over to the Church of England; in which sup- 
 position, the Scottish and Catholic universities, 
 and the college at Hackney, would hardly ac- 
 quiesce. Ignorance surely matures and quick- 
 ens the progress, by insuring the dissolution 
 of absurdity. Rational and learned Dissenters 
 remain : — religious mobs, under some ignorant 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 91 
 
 fanatic of the day, become foolish overmuch, — 
 dissolve, and return to the Church. The Uni- 
 tarian, who reads and writes gets some sort of 
 discipline, and returns no more. 
 
 What connection is there (as Lord Sid- 
 mouth's plan assumes) between the zeal and 
 piety required for religious instruction and the 
 common attainments of literature 1 But, if 
 knowledge and education are required for re- 
 ligious instruction, why be content with the 
 common elements of learning 1 why not require 
 higher attainments in dissenting candidates for 
 orders; and examine them in the languages 
 in which the books of their religion are con- 
 veyed"? 
 
 A dissenting minister of vulgar aspect and 
 homely appearance, declares that he entered 
 into that holy office because he felt a call; — 
 and a clergyman of the Establishment smiles 
 at him for the declaration. But it should be 
 remembered, that no minister of the Establish- 
 ment is admitted into orders, before he has been 
 expressly interrogated by the bishop whether 
 he feels himself called to that sacred office. 
 The doctrine of calling, or inward feeling, is 
 quite orthodox in the English Church; — and, 
 in arguing this subject in Parliament, it will 
 hardly be contended, that the Episcopalian only 
 is the judge when that call is genuine, and 
 when it is only imaginary. 
 
 The attempt at making the dissenting clergy 
 stationary, and persecuting their circulation, 
 appears to us quite as unjust and inexpedient 
 as the other measure of qualifications. It ap- 
 pears a gross inconsistency to say — "I admit 
 that what you are doing is legal, — but you must 
 not do it thoroughly and eflectually. I allow 
 you to propagate your heresy, — but I object to 
 all means of propagating it which appear to 
 be useful and effisctive." If there are any oj^her 
 grounds upon which the circulation of the dis- 
 senting clergy is objected to, let these grounds 
 be stated and examined; but to object to their 
 circtilation merely because it is the best method 
 of effecting the object which you allow them to 
 effi;ct, does appear to be rather unnatural and 
 inconsistent. 
 
 It is persumed, in this argument, that the 
 only reason urged for the prevention of itiner- 
 ant preachers is the increase of heresy ; for, 
 if heresy is not increased by it, it must be im- 
 material to the feelings of Lord Sidmoulh, and 
 of the imperial Parliament, whether Mr. Shuf- 
 flebottom preaches at Bungay, and Mr. Ringle- 
 tub at Ipswich ; or whether an artful vicissitude 
 is adopted, a'nd the order of insane predication 
 reversed. 
 
 But, supposing all this new interference to 
 be just, what good will it dol You find a dis- 
 senting preacher, whom you have prohibited, 
 still continuing to preach, — or preaching at 
 Ealing when he ought to preach at Acton ; — 
 his number is taken, and the next morning he 
 is summoned. Is it believed that this descrip- 
 tion of persons can be put down by fine and 
 imprisonment 1 His fine is paid for him; and 
 he returns from imprisonment ten times as 
 much sought after and as popular as he was 
 before. This is a receipt for making a stupid 
 preacher popular, and a popular preacher more 
 popular, but can have no possible tendency to 
 
 prevent the mischief against which it is level- 
 ed. It is precisely the old history of perse- 
 cution against opinions turned into a perse- 
 cution against persons. The prisons will be 
 filled, — the enemies of the Church made ene- 
 mies of the state also, — and the Methodists 
 rendered ten times more actively mad than 
 they are at present. This is the direct and 
 obvious tendency of Lord Sidmouth's plan. 
 
 Nothing dies so hard and rallies so often as 
 intolerance. The fires are put out, and no liv- 
 ing nostril has scented the nidor of a human 
 creature roasted for faith ; — then, after this, the 
 prison doors were got open, and the chains 
 knocked off; and now Lord Sidmouth only 
 begs that men who disagree with him in re- 
 ligious opinions may be deprived of all civil 
 offices and not be allowed to hear the preachers 
 they like best. Chains and whips he would 
 not hear of; but these mild gratifications of 
 his bill every orthodox mind is surely entitled 
 to. The hardship would indeed be great if a 
 churchman were deprived of the amusement 
 of putting a dissenting parson in prison. We 
 are convinced Lord Sidmouth is a very amia- 
 ble and well-intentioned man : his error is not 
 the error of his heart, but of his time, above 
 which few men ever rise. It is the error of 
 some four or five hundred thousand English 
 gentlemen of decent education and worthy 
 characters, who conscientiously believe that 
 they are punishing, and continuing incapaci- 
 ties, for the good of the state ; while they are, 
 in fact (though without knowing it), only grati- 
 fying that insolence, hatred, and revenge, which 
 all human beings are unfortunately so ready to 
 feel against those who will not conform to their 
 own sentiments. 
 
 But. instead of making the dissenting church- 
 es less popular, why not make the English 
 church more popular, and raise the English 
 clergy to the privileges of the Dissenters 1 In 
 any parish of England, any layman, or clergy- 
 man, by paying sixpence, can open a place of 
 worship, — provided it be not the worship of the 
 Church of England. If he wishes to attack the 
 doctrines of the bishop or the incumbent, he is 
 not compelled to ask the consent of any person; 
 but if, by any evil chance, he should be per- 
 suaded of the truth of those doctrines, and build 
 a chapel or mount a pulpit to support them, he 
 is instantly put in the spiritual court; for the 
 regular incumbent, who has a legal monopoly 
 of this doctrine, does not choose to suflfer any 
 interloper; and without his consent, it is ille- 
 gal to preach the doctrines of the church within 
 his precincts.* Now this appears to us a great 
 
 * It might be supposed that the general interests of 
 the Church would outweigh the particular interests of 
 the rector; and that any clergyman would be glad to 
 see places of worship opened within his parish for the 
 doctrines of the Established Church. The fact, how- 
 ever, is directly the reverse. It is scarcely possible to 
 obtain permission from the established clergyman of the 
 parish to open a chapel there ; and, when it is granted, 
 it is granted upon very hard and interested conditions. 
 The parishes of St. George— of St. James— of Mary-le- 
 bone— andof St. Anne's, in London— may, in the parish 
 churches, chapels of ease, and mercenary chapels, con- 
 tain, perhaps, one-hundredlh part of their Episcopalian 
 inhabitants. Let the rectors, lay and clerical, meet 
 together, and give notice that any clergyman of the 
 Church of England, approved by the bishop, may preach 
 there ; and we will venture to say, that places of wor- 
 
92 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 and manifest absurdity, and a disadvantage 
 against the Established Church which very few 
 establishments could bear. The persons who 
 preach and who build chapels, or for whom 
 chapels are built, among the Dissenters, are 
 active clever persons, with considerable talents 
 for that kind of employment. These talents 
 have, with them, their free and unbounded 
 scope; while in the English Church they are 
 wholly extinguished and destroyed. Till this 
 evil is corrected, the Church contends with fear- 
 ful odds against its opponents. On the one 
 side, any man who can command the attention 
 of a congregation — to whom nature has given 
 the animal and inleilectual qualifications of a 
 preacher — such a man is the member of every 
 corporation ; — all impediments are removed ; — 
 there is not a single position m Great Britain 
 which he may not take, provided he is hostile 
 to the Established Church. In the other case, 
 if the English Church were to breed up a Mas- 
 sillon or a Bourdalouc, he finds every place 
 occupied, and every where a regular and re- 
 spectable clergyman ready to put him in the 
 spiritual court, if he attracts, within his pre- 
 cincts, any attention to the doctrines and wor- 
 ship of the Established Church. 
 
 The necessity of having the bishop's consent 
 would prevent any improper person from 
 preaching. That consent should be withheld, 
 not capriciously, but for good and lawful cause 
 to be assigned. 
 
 The profits of an incumbent proceed from 
 fixed or voluntary contributions. The fixed 
 could not be affected; and the voluntary ought 
 to vary according to the exertions of the in- 
 cumbent and the good will of the parishioners ; 
 but, if this is wrong, pecuniary compensation 
 might be made (at the discretion of the ordina- 
 ry) from the supernumerary to the regular cler- 
 gyman.* 
 
 Such a plan, it is true, would make the 
 Church of England more popular in its nature ; 
 and it ought to be made more popular, or it 
 will not endure for another half century. There 
 are two methods; the Church must be made 
 more popular or the Dissenters less so. To 
 cflTect the latter object by force and restriction 
 is unjust and impossible. The only remedy 
 seems to be, to grant to the Church the same 
 privileges which are enjoyed by the Dissenters, 
 and to excite, in one party, that competition of 
 talent which is of such palpable advantage to 
 the other. 
 
 A remedy suggested by some well-wishers to 
 the Church, is the appointment of men to bene- 
 
 sViipcapalile of containing 20,000'persons would be built 
 within ten years. But, in these cases, the interest of 
 the rector and'of the Establishment is not the same. A 
 chapel belonging to the Swedenborgians, or Methodists 
 of the New Jerusalem, was offered, two or three years 
 since, in London, to a clergyman of the Establishment. 
 The proprietor was tired of his irrational tenants, and 
 wished for better doctrine The rector (since a digni- 
 tary), with every possible compliment to the fitness of 
 the person in question, positively refuseduhe applica- 
 tion; and the church remains in the hands of Metho- 
 dists. No particular blame is intended, by this anec- 
 dote, against the individual rector. He acted as many 
 have done before and since; but the incumbent clergy- 
 man ought to possess no such power. It is his interest, 
 but not the interest of the Establishment. 
 
 * All this has been since placed on a better footing. 
 
 fices who have talents for advancing the inter- 
 ests of religion ; but, till each particular patron 
 can be persuaded to care more for the general 
 good of the Church than for the particular good 
 of the person whom he patronizes, little expec- 
 tation of improvement can be derived from this 
 quarter. 
 
 The competition between the Established 
 clergy, to which this method would give birth, 
 would throw the incumbent in the back-ground 
 only when he was unfit to stand forward, — im- 
 moral, negligent, or stupid. His income would 
 still remain; and, if his influence were super- 
 seded by a man of better qualities and attain- 
 ments, the general good of the Establishment 
 would be consulted by the change. The bene- 
 ficed clergyman would always come to the 
 contest with great advantages ; and his defici- 
 encies must be very great indeed, if he lost the 
 esteem of his parishioners. But the contest 
 would rarely or never take place, where the 
 friends of the Establishment were not numer- 
 ous enough for all. At present, the selfish 
 incumbent, who cannot accommodate the fif- 
 tieth part of his parishioners, is determined that 
 no one else shall do it for him. It is in such 
 situations that the benefit to the Establishment 
 would be greatest, and the injury to the ap- 
 pointed minister none at all. 
 
 We beg of men of sense to reflect, that the 
 question is not whether they wish the English 
 Church to stand as it now is, but whether the 
 English Church can stand as it now is ; and 
 whether the moderate activity here recom- 
 mended is not the minimum of exertion neces- 
 sary for its preservation. At the same time, 
 we hope nobody will rate our sagacity so very 
 low as to imagine we have much hope that any 
 measure of the kind will ever be adopted. Ml 
 establishmoits die of dignify. They are too proud 
 to think themselves ill, and to take a little 
 physic. 
 
 To show that we have not misstated the ob- 
 stinacy or the conscience of sectaries, and the 
 spirit with which they will meet the regulations 
 of Lord Sidmouth, we will lay before our 
 readers the sentiments of Philagatharches — a 
 stern subacid Dissenter. 
 
 " I shall not here enter into a comprehensive 
 discussion of the nature of a call to the minis- 
 terial office ; but deduce my proposition from a 
 sentiment admitted equally by conformists and 
 nonconformists. It is essential to the nature 
 of a call to preach ' that a man be moved by the 
 Holy Ghost to enter upon the work of the min- 
 istry :' and, if the Spirit of God operate power- 
 fully upon his heart to contrain him to appear 
 as a public teacher of religion, who shall com- 
 mand him to desist 1 We have seen that the 
 sanction of the magistrate can give no autho- 
 rity to preach the gospel ; and if he were to 
 forbid our exertions, we must persist in the 
 work ; we dare not relinquish a task that God 
 has required us to perform ; we cannot keep 
 our consciences in peace, if our lips are closed 
 in silence, while the Holy Ghost is moving our 
 hearts to proclaim the tidings of salvation: — 
 'Yea, woe is unto me,' saith St. Paul, 'if I 
 preach not the gospel.' Thus, when the Jewish 
 priests had taken Peter and John into custody, 
 and after examining them concerning their doc 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 trine, 'commanded them not to speak at all, 
 nor to teach in the name of Jesus,' these apos- 
 tolical champions of the cross undauntedly 
 replied, 'Whether it be right in the sight of God 
 to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge 
 ye : for we cannot but speak the things which 
 we have seen and heard.' Thus, also, in our 
 da}'-, when the Holy Ghost excites a man to 
 preach the gospel to his fellow sinners, his 
 message is sanctioned by an authority which is 
 'far above all principality and power;' and, 
 consequently, neither needs the approbation of 
 subordinate rulers, nor admits of revocation by 
 their countermanding edicts. 
 
 "3dly. He who receives a license should not 
 expect to derive from it a testimony of qualifi- 
 cation to preach. 
 
 "It would be grossly absurd to seek a testi- 
 mony of this description from any single indi- 
 vidual, even though he were an experienced 
 veteran in the service cf Christ; for aH are 
 fallible ; and, under some unfavourable prepos- 
 session, even the wisest or the best of men 
 might give an erroneous decision upon the 
 case. But this observation will gain additional 
 force when we suppose the power of judging 
 transferred to the person of the magistrate — 
 We cannot presume that a civil ruler under- 
 stands as much of theology as a minister of 
 the gospel. His necessary duties prevent him 
 from critically investigating questions upon 
 divinity; and confine his attention to that par- 
 ticular department which society has deputed 
 him to occupy ; and hence to expect at his 
 hands a testimony of qualification to preach 
 would be almost as ludicrous as to require an 
 obscure country curate to fill the office of Lord 
 Chancellor. 
 
 " But again— admitting that a magistrate 
 who is nominated by the sovereign to issue 
 forth licenses to dissenting ministers, is com- 
 petent to the task of judging of their natural 
 and acquired abilities, it must still remain a 
 doubtful question whether they are moved to 
 preach by the influences of the Holy Ghost; 
 for it is the prerogative of God alone to 'search 
 the heart and try ihe reins' of the children of 
 men. Consequently, after every effort of the 
 ruling powers to assume to themselves the 
 right of judging whether a man be or be not 
 qualified to preach, the most essential property 
 of the call must remain to be determined by 
 the conscience of the individual. 
 
 "It is further worthy of observation that the 
 talents of a preacher may be acceptable to 
 many persons, if not to him who issues the 
 license. The taste of a person thus high in 
 office may be too refined to derive gratification 
 from any but the most learned, intelligent, and 
 accomplished preachers. Yet, as the gospel 
 is sent to the poor as well as to the rich, per- 
 haps hundreds of preachers may be highly 
 acceptable, much esteemed, and eminently 
 useful in their respective circles, who would 
 be despised as men of mean attainments by 
 one whose mind is well stored with literature, 
 and cultivated by science. From these re- 
 marks, I infer, that a man's own judgment 
 must be the criterion, in determining what line 
 of conduct to pursue before he begins to 
 preach ; and the opinion of the people to whom 
 
 he ministers must determine v/hether it be 
 desirable that he should continue to fill their 
 pulpit."— (168— 173.) 
 
 The sentiments of Philagatharches are ex- 
 pressed still more strongly in a subsequent 
 passage. 
 
 " Here a question may arise — what line of 
 conduct conscientious ministers ought to pur- 
 sue, if laws were to be enacted, forbidding 
 either all dissenting ministers to preach, or 
 only lay preachers ; or forbidding to preach 
 in an unlicensed place ; and, at the same 
 time, refusing to license persons and places, 
 except under such security as the property 
 of the parties would not meet, or under limi- 
 tations to which their consciences could not 
 accede. What has been advanced ought to 
 outweigh every consideration of temporal 
 interest; and if the evil genius of persecu- 
 tion were to appear again, I pray God that 
 we might all be faithful to Him who hath called 
 us to preach the gospel. Under such circum- 
 stances, let us continue to preach : if fined, let 
 us pay the penalt)', and persevere in preach- 
 ing ; and, when unable to pay the fine, or 
 deeming it impolitic so to do, let us submit to 
 go quietly to prison, but with the resolution 
 still to preach upon the first opportunity, and, 
 if possible, to collect a church even within 
 the precincts of the gaol. He who, by these 
 zealous exertions, becomes the honoured in- 
 strunient of converting one sinner unto God, 
 will find that single seal to his ministerial la- 
 bours an ample compensation for all his suf- 
 ferings. In this manner the venerable apostle 
 of the Gentiles both avowed and proved his 
 sincere attachment to the cause in which he 
 had embarked : — ' The Holy Ghost witn'^sseth, 
 in every city, that bonds and afflictions abide 
 me. But none of these things move me, neither 
 count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might 
 finish my course with joy, and the ministry 
 which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to 
 testify the gospel of the grace of God.' 
 
 "In the early ages of Christianity martyr- 
 dom was considered an eminent honour ; and 
 many of the primitive Christians thrust them- 
 selves upon the notice of their heathen per- 
 secutors, that they might be brought to sufl^er 
 in the cause of that Redeemer whom they 
 ardently loved. In the present day Christiana 
 in general incline to estimate such rash ardour 
 as a species of enthusiasm, and feel no dispo- 
 sition to court the horrors of persecution ; yet, 
 if such dark and tremendous days were to 
 return in this age of the world, ministers 
 should retain their stations; they should be 
 true to their charge; they should continue 
 their ministrations, each man in his sphere, 
 shining with all the lustre of genuine godli- 
 ness, to dispel the gloom in which the nation 
 would then be enveloped. If this line of con- 
 duct were to be adopted, and acted upon with 
 decision, the cause of piety, of nonconformity, 
 and of itinerant preaching, must eventually 
 triumph. All the gaols in the country would 
 speedily be filled: those houses of correction 
 which were erected for the chastisement of the 
 vicious in the community, would be replen- 
 ished with thousands of the most pious, active, 
 and useful men in the kingdom, whose cha- 
 
94 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 rasters are held in general esteem. But the 
 ultimate result of such despotic proceedings is 
 beyond the ken of human prescience :— pro- 
 bably, appeals to the public and the legislature 
 would teem from the press, and, under such 
 circumstances, might diffuse a revolutionary 
 spirit throughout the country."— (239— 243.) 
 
 We quote these opinions at length, not be- 
 cause they are the opinions of Philagatharches, 
 but because we are confident that they are the 
 opinions of ten thousand hot-headed fanatics, 
 and that they would firmly and conscientiously 
 be acted upon. 
 
 Philagatharches is an instance (not uncom- 
 mon, we are sorry to say, even among the most ] 
 rational of the Protestant Dissenters) of a love j 
 of toleration combined with a love of persecu- 
 tion. He is a Dissenter, and earnestly demands i 
 religious liberty for that body of men ; but as j 
 for the Catholics, he would not only continue 
 their present disabilities, but load them with 
 every new one that could be conceived. He| 
 
 expressly says that an Atheist or a Deist may 
 be allowed to propagate their doctrines, but 
 not a Catholic ; and then proceeds with all the 
 customary trash against that sect which nine 
 schoolboys out of ten now know how to refute. 
 So it is with Philagatharches ; — so it is with 
 weak men in every sect. It has ever been our 
 object, and (in spite of misrepresentation and 
 abuse) ever shall be our object, to put down 
 this spirit — to protect the true interests, and to 
 diffuse the true spirit, of toleration. To a well- 
 supported national Establishment, effectually 
 discharging its duties, we are very sincere 
 friends. If any man, after he has paid his 
 contribution to this great security for the exist- 
 ence of religion in any shape, chooses to adopt 
 a religion of his own, that man should be per- 
 mitted to do so without let, molestation, or dis- 
 qualification for any of the offices of life. We 
 apologize to men of sense for sentiments so 
 trite ; and patiently endure the anger which 
 they will excite among those with whom they 
 will pass for original. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 CHARLES FOX/ 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 1811.] 
 
 Thocgh Mr. Fox's history was, of course, 
 as muoh open to animadversion and rebuke 
 as any other book, the task, we think, Avould 
 have become any other person better than Mr. 
 Rose. The whole of Mr. Fox's life w.t.s spent 
 in opposing the profligacy and exposing the 
 ignorance of his own court. In the first half 
 of his political career, while Lord North was 
 losing America, and in the latter half, while 
 Mr. Pitt was ruinirrg Europe, the creatures of 
 the government were eternally exposed to the 
 attacks of this discerning, dauntless, and most 
 powerful speaker. Folly and corruption never 
 had a more terrible enemy in the English 
 House of Commons — one whom it was so im- 
 possible to bribe, so hopeless to elude, and so 
 difiicult to answer. Now it so happened that, 
 during the whole of this period, the historical 
 critic of Mr. Fox was employed in subordinate 
 oflJices of government; — that the detail of taxes 
 passed through his hands ; — that he amassed 
 a large fortune by those occupations ; — and 
 that, both in the measures which he support- 
 ed, and in the friends from whose patronage 
 he received his emoluments, he was complete- 
 ly and perpetually opposed to Mr. Fox. 
 
 Again, it must be remembered, that very 
 great people have very long memories for the 
 injuries which they receive, or which they 
 think they receive. No speculation was so 
 good, therefore, as to vilify the memory of 
 Mr. Fox, — nothing so delicious as to lower 
 him in the public estimation, — no service so 
 likely to be well rewarded — so eminently grate- 
 ful to those of whose favour Mr. Rose'had so 
 often tasted the sweets, and of the value of 
 whose patronage he must, from long experi- 
 ence, have been so thoroughly aware. 
 
 We are almost inclined to think that we 
 might at one time have worked ourselves up 
 to suspect Mr. Rose of being actuated by some 
 of these motives : — not because we have any 
 reason to think worse of that gentleman than 
 of most of his political associates, but merely 
 because it seemed to us so very probable that 
 he should have been so influenced. Our sus- 
 picions, however, were entirely removed b}' 
 the frequency and violence of his own pro- 
 testations. He vows so solemnly that he has 
 no bad motive in writing his critique, that we 
 find it impossible to withhold our belief in his 
 purity. But Mr. Rose does not trust to his 
 protestations alone. He is not satisfied with 
 assurances that he did not write this book 
 from any bad motive, but he informs us that 
 his motive was excellent, — and is even obliging 
 enough to tell us what that motive was. The 
 Earl of Marchmont, it seems, was Mr. Rose's 
 friend. To Mr. Rose he left his manuscripts ; 
 and among these manuscripts was a narrative 
 
 * A Vindication of Mr. Fox's History of the Early Part 
 of the Reign of James the Second. By Samuel Hey wood, 
 Serjeant-at-Law. London. Johnson & Co. 1811. 
 
 written by Sir Patrick Hume, an ancestor of 
 the Earl of Marchmont, and one of the leaders 
 in Argyle's rebellion. Of Sir Patrick Hume 
 Mr. Rose conceives (a little erroneously to be 
 sure, but he assures us he does conceive) Mr. 
 Fox to have spoken disrespectfully ; and the 
 case comes out, therefore, as clearly as possi- 
 ble, as follows. 
 
 Sir Patrick was the progenitor, and Mr. 
 Rose was the friend and sole executor, of the 
 Earl of Marchmont; and therefore, says Mr. 
 Rose, I consider it as a sacred duty to vindi- 
 cate the character of Sir Patrick, and, for that 
 purpose, to publish a long and elaborate cri- 
 tique upon all the doctrines and statements 
 contained in Mr. Fox's history ! This appears 
 to us about as satisfactory an explanation of 
 Mr. Rose's authorship as the exclamation of the 
 traveller was of the name of Stony Stratford. 
 
 Before Mr. Rose gave way to this intense 
 value for Sir Patrick, and resolved to write a 
 book, he should have inquired what accurate 
 men there were about in society; and if he 
 had once received the slightest notice of the 
 existence of Mr. Samuel Heywood, serjeant- 
 at-law, we are convinced he would have trans- 
 fused into his own will and testament the feel- 
 ings he derived from that of Lord Marchmont, 
 and devolved upon another executor the sacred 
 and dangerous duty of vindicating Sir Patrick 
 Hume. 
 
 The life of Mr. Rose has been principally 
 employed in the painful, yet perhaps neces- 
 sary, duty of increasing the burdens of his 
 fellow-creatures. It has been a life of detail, 
 onerous to th£ subject — onerous and lucrative 
 to himself. It would be unfair to expect from 
 one thus occupied any great depth of thought, 
 or any remarkable graces of composition ; but 
 we have a fair right to look for habits of pa- 
 tient research and scrupulous accuracy. We 
 might naturally expect industry in collecting 
 facts, and fidelity in quoting them ; and hope, 
 in the absence of commanding genius, to re- 
 ceive a compensation from the more humble 
 and ordinary qualities of the mind. How far 
 this is the case, our subsequent remarks will 
 enable the reader to judge. We shall not ex- 
 tend them to any great length, as we have 
 befoi-e treated on the same subject in our re- 
 view of Mr. Rose's work. Our great object 
 at present is to abridge the observations of 
 Serjeant Heywood. For Serjeant Heywood, 
 though a most respectable, honest, and en- 
 lightened man, really does require an abridger. 
 He has not the talent of saying what he has 
 to say quickly ; nor is he aware that brevity 
 is in writing what charity is to all other vir- 
 tues. Righteousness is worth nothing without 
 the one, nor authorship without the other. But 
 whoever will forgive this little defect will find 
 in all his productions great learning, immacu- 
 late honesty, and the most scrupulous accu 
 
96 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH, 
 
 racy. Whatever detections of Mr. Rose's in- 
 accuracies are made in this Review are to be 
 entirely given to him ; and we confess our- 
 selves quite astonished at their number and 
 extent. 
 
 "Among the modes of destroying persons 
 (says Mr. Fox, p. 14-,) in such a situation 
 (/. e. monarchs deposed), there can be little 
 doubt but that adopted by Cromwell and his 
 adherents is the leant dishonourable. Edward 
 II., Richard II., Henry VI., Edward V., had 
 none of them long survived their deposal; 
 but this was the first instance, in our history 
 at least, when of such an act it could be truly 
 said it was not done in a corner." 
 
 What Mr. Rose can find in this sentiment to 
 quarrel with, we are utterly at a loss to con- 
 ceive. If a human being is to be put to death 
 unjustly, is it no mitigation of such a lot that 
 the death should be public 1 Is any thing 
 better calculated to prevent secret torture and 
 cruelty ] And would Mr. Rose, in mercy to 
 Charles, have preferred that red-hot iron 
 should have been secretly thrust into his en- 
 trails 1 — or that he should have disappeared 
 as Pichegru and Toussaint have disappeared 
 in our times 1 The periods of the Edwards 
 and Henrys were, it is true, barbarous periods : 
 but this is the very argument Mr. Fox uses. 
 All these murders, he contends, were immoral 
 and bad ; but that where the manner was the 
 least objectionable, was the murder of Charles 
 the First, — because it was public. And can 
 any human being doubt, in the first place, that 
 these crimes would be marked by less in- 
 tense cruelty if they were public; and, second- 
 ly, that they would become less frequent, where 
 the perpetrators incurred responsibility, than 
 if they were committed by an uncertain hand 
 in secrecy and concealment 1 There never 
 was, in short, not only a more innocent, but a 
 more obvious sentiment; and to object to it 
 in the manner which Mr. Rose has done, is 
 surely to love Sir Patrick Hume too much, — 
 if there can be any excess in so very com- 
 mendable a passion in the breast of a sole 
 executor. 
 
 Mr. Fox proceeds to observe, that "he who 
 has discussed this subject with foreigners, 
 must have observed, that the act of the execu- 
 tion of Charles, even in the minds of those 
 who condemn it, excites more admiration than 
 disgust." If the sentiment is bad, let those 
 who feel it answer for it. Mr. Fox only as- 
 serts the fact, and explains, without justifying 
 it. The only question (as concerns Mr. Fox) 
 is, whether such is, or is not, the feeling of 
 foreigners; and whether that feeling (if it ex- 
 ists) is riglitly explained 1 We have no doubt 
 either of the fact or of the explanation. The 
 conduct of Cromwell and his associates was 
 iiot to be excused in the main act ; but, in the 
 manner, it ims magnanimous. And among 
 the servile nations of the Continent, it must 
 naturally excite a feeling of joy and won- 
 der, that the power of the people had for 
 once been felt, and so memorable a lesson 
 read to those whom they must naturally con- 
 sider as the great oppressors of mankind. 
 
 The most unjustifiable point of Mr. Rose's 
 accusation, however, is still to come. "If 
 
 such high praise," says that gentleman, "was, 
 in the judgment of Mr. Fox, due to Cromwell 
 for the publicity of the proceedings against the 
 king, how would he have found language suf- 
 ficiently commendatory to express his admi- 
 ration of the magnanimity of those who 
 brought Lewis the Sixteenth to an open triall" 
 Mr. Rose accuses Mr. Fox, then, of approving 
 the execution of Lewis the Sixteenth : but, on 
 the 20th of December, 1792, Mr. Fox said, in 
 the House of Commons, in the presence of Mr. 
 Rose, 
 
 " The proceedings with respect to the royal 
 family of France are so far from being mag- 
 nanimity, justice, or merc}^ that they are di- 
 rectly the reverse ; they are injustice, cruelty, 
 and pusillanimity." And afterwards declared 
 his wish for an address to his majesty, to 
 which he would add an expression "of our 
 abhorrence of the proceedings against the 
 royal family of France, in which, I have no 
 doubt, we shall be supported by the whole 
 countr}'. If there can be anj^ means suggested 
 that will be better adapted to produce the 
 unanimous concurrence of thi? House, and of 
 all the country, with respect to the measure 
 now under consideration in Paris, I should be 
 obliged to any person for his better suggestion 
 upon the subject." Then, after stating that such 
 address, especially if the Lords joined in it, must 
 have a decisive influence in France, he added, 
 "I have said thus much in order to contradict 
 one of the most cruel misrepresentations of 
 what I had before said in our late debates ; 
 and that my language may not be interpreted 
 from the manner in which other gentlemen 
 have chosen to answer it. I have spoken 
 the genuine sentiments of my heart, and I 
 anxiously wish the House to come to some re- 
 solution upon the subject." And on the follow- 
 ing day, when a copy of instruction sent to 
 Earl Gower, signifying that he should leave 
 Paris, was laid before the House of Commons, 
 Mr. Fox said, "he had heard it said, that the 
 proceedings against the King of France are 
 unnecessary. He would go a great deal far- 
 ther, and say, he believed them to be highly 
 unjust ; and not only repugnant to all the com- 
 mon feelings of mankind, but also contrary to 
 all the fundamental principles of law." — (p. 
 20, 21.) 
 
 On Monday the 28th January, he said, — 
 
 "With regard to that part of the communi- 
 cation from his majesty, which related to 
 the late detestable scene exhibited in a neigh- 
 bouring country, he could not suppose there 
 were two opinions in that House ; he knew 
 they were all ready to declare their ab- 
 horrence of that abominable proceeding." — 
 (p. 21.) 
 
 Two days afterwards, in the debate on the 
 message, Mr. Fox pronounced the condemna- 
 tion and execution of the king to be 
 
 — "an act as disgraceful as any that histoiy 
 recorded : and whatever opinions he might at 
 any time have expressed in private conversa- 
 tion, he had expressed none certainly in that 
 House on the justice of bringing kings to trial: 
 revenge being unjustifiable, and punishment 
 useless, where it could not operate either by 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 97 
 
 ^' 
 
 way of prevention or example; he did not 
 view with less detestation the injustice and 
 inhiimanity that had been committed towards 
 that unhappy monarch. Not only were the 
 rules of criminal justice — rules that more than 
 any other ought to be strictly observed — viola- 
 ted with respect to him: not only was he tried 
 and condemned without existing law, to which 
 he was personally amenable, and even con- 
 trary to laws that did actually exist, but the 
 degrading circumstances of his imprisonment, 
 the unnecessary and insulting asperity with 
 which he had been treated, the total want of re- 
 publican magnanimity in the ivhole transaction, 
 (for even in that House it could be no offence 
 to say, that there might be such a thing as 
 magnanimity in a republic,) added every ag- 
 gravation to the inhumanity and injustice." 
 
 That Mr. Fox had held this language in the 
 House of Commons, Mr. Rose knew perfectly 
 well, when he accused that gentleman of ap- 
 roving the murder of the King of Fra*ice. 
 hatever be the faults imputed to Mr. Fox, 
 duplicity and hj'pocrisy were never among the 
 number ; and no human being ever doubted 
 but that Mr. Fox, in this instance, spoke his 
 real sentiments : but the love of Sir Patrick 
 Hume is an overwhelming passion; and no 
 man who gives way to it, can ever say into 
 what excesses he may be hurried. 
 
 Non simul cuiquam conceditur, amare et sapere. 
 
 The next point upon which Sergeant Hey- 
 wood attacks Mr. Rose, is that of General 
 Monk. Mr. Fox says of Monk, "that he ac- 
 quiesced in the insult so meanly put upon the 
 illustrious corpse of Blake, under whose au- 
 spices and command he had performed the 
 most creditable services of his life." This 
 story, Mr. Rose says, rests upon the authority 
 of Neale, in his History of the Puritans. This 
 is the first of many blunders made by Mr. 
 Rose itpon this particular topic : for Anthony 
 Wood, in his Fasti Oxonienses, enumerating 
 Blake among the bachelors, says, "His body 
 was taken up, and, with others, buried in a pit 
 in St, Margarefs church-yard adjoining, near to 
 the back door of one of the prebendaries of 
 Westminster, in lohich place it now remaineth, 
 enjoying no other monument but what it reared 
 by its valour, which time itself can hardly 
 efface." But the difficulty is to find how the 
 denial of Mr. Rose affects Mr. Fox's assertion. 
 Mr. Rose admits that Blake's body was dug tip 
 by an order of the king ; and does not deny 
 that it was done with the acquiescence of 
 Monk. But if this be the case, Mr. Fox's po- 
 sition that Blake was insulted, and that Monk 
 acquiesced in the insult, is clearly made out. 
 Nor has Mr. Rose the shadow of an authority 
 for saying that the corpse of Blake was rein- 
 terred luith great decorum. Kennet is silent 
 •upon the subject. We have already given 
 Serjeant Heywood's quotation from Anthony 
 Wood; and this statement, for the present, 
 rests entirely upon the assertion of Mr. Rose ; 
 and upon that basis will remain to all eternity. 
 
 Mr. Rose, who, we must say, on all occa- 
 sions through the whole of this book, makes 
 the greatest parade of his accuracy, states that 
 the bodies of Cromwell, Ireton, and Blake, 
 13 
 
 were taken up at the same time ; whereas the 
 fact is, that those of Cromwell and Ireton were 
 taken up on the 26th of January, and that of 
 Blake on the 10th of September, nearly nine 
 months afterwards. It may appear frivolous 
 to notice such errors as these ; but they lead 
 to very strong suspicions in a critic of history 
 and of historians. They show that those ha- 
 bits of punctuality, on the faith of which he 
 demands implicit confidence from his readers, 
 really do not exist ; they prove that such a 
 writer will be exact only when he thinks the 
 occasion of importance, and as he himself is 
 the only judge of that importance, it is neces- 
 sary to examine his proofs in every instance, 
 and impossible to trust him anywhere. 
 
 Mr. Rose remarks that, in the weekly paper 
 entitled Mercurius Rusticus, No. 4, where an 
 account is given of the disinterment of Crom- 
 well aijd Ireton, not a syllable is said respect- 
 ing the corpse of Blake. This is very true ; 
 but the reason (which does not seem to have 
 occurred to Mr. Rose) is, that Blake's corpse 
 was not touched till six months afterwards. 
 This is really a little too much. That Mr. 
 Rose should quit his usual pursuits, erect him- 
 self into an historical critic, perch upon the 
 body of the dead lion, impugn the accuracy of 
 one of the greatest, as well as most accurate 
 men of his time, — and himself be guilty of 
 such gross and unpardonable negligence, looks 
 so very much like an insensibility to shame, 
 that we should be loth to characterize his con- 
 duct by the severe epithets which it appears 
 to merit, and which, we are quite certain. Sir 
 Patrick, the defendee, would have been the 
 first to bestow upon it. 
 
 The next passage in Mr. Fox's work ob- 
 jected to is that which charges Monk, at the 
 trial of Argyle, " with having produced letters 
 of friendship and confidence to take away the 
 life of a nobleman, the zeal and cordiality of 
 whose co-operation with him, proved by such 
 documents, was the chief ground of his exe- 
 cution." This accusation, says Mr. Rose, 
 rests upon the sole authority of Bishop Bur- 
 net; and yet no sooner has he said this, than 
 he tells us, Mr. Laing considers the bishop's 
 authority to be confirmed by Cunningham and 
 Baillie, both contemporary writers. Into Cun- 
 ningham or Baillie Mr. Rose never looks to 
 see Avhether or not they do really confirm the 
 authority of the bishop ; and so gross is his 
 negligence, that the very misprint from Mr. 
 Laing's work is copied, and page 431 of Baillie 
 is cited instead of 451. If Mr. Rose had really 
 taken the trouble of referring to these books, 
 all doubt of the meanness and guilt of Monk 
 must have been instantly removed. " Monk 
 was moved," says Baillie, "/o send down four 
 or five of Ar gyle's letters to himself and others, 
 promising liis full compliance with them, that 
 the king should not reprieve him." — Baillie'' s 
 Letters, p. 451. "He endeavoured to make 
 his defence," says Cunningham; "-bat chiefly 
 by the discoveries of Monk was condemned of 
 high treason, and lost his head." — Cunning- 
 haul's History, i. p. 13. 
 
 Would it have been more than common de- 
 cency required, if Mr. Rose, who had been ap- 
 prised of the existence of these authorities, had 
 
98 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 had recourse to them, before he impugned the 
 accuracy of Mr. Fox 1 Or is it possible to read, 
 without some portion of contempt, this slovenly 
 and indolent corrector of supposed inaccura- 
 cies in a man, not only so much greater than 
 himself in his general nature, but a man who, 
 as it turns out, excels Mr. Rose in his own little 
 arts of looking, searching, and comparing ; and 
 is as much his superior in the retail qualities 
 which small people arrogate to themselves, as 
 he was in every commanding faculty to the rest 
 of his fellow creatures'? 
 
 Mr. Rose searches Thurloe's State Papers ; 
 but Serjeant Heyvvood searches them after 
 Mr. Rose: and, by a series of the plainest 
 references, proves the probability there is that 
 Argyle did receive letters which might mate- 
 rially have affected his life. 
 
 To Monk's duplicity of conduct may be 
 principally attributed the destruction of his 
 friends, who were prevented, by their confi- 
 dence in him, from taking measures to secure 
 themselves. He selected those among them 
 whom he thought fit for trial — sal as a commis- 
 sioner upon their trial— and interfered not to 
 save the lives eren of those with whom he had 
 Jived in habits of the greatest kindness. 
 
 "I cannot," says a witness of the most un- 
 question ble authority, "I cannot forget o/ic/)ns- 
 sage that I saiv. Monk and his wife, before they 
 were moved to the Tower, while they were yet I 
 prisoners at Lambeth House, came one evening 
 10 the garden, and caused them to be brought 
 (town, only to stare at them ; which was such a 
 barbarism, for that man who had betrayed so 
 )nany poor men to death and misery, that never 
 hurt him, but had honoured him, and trusted 
 their lives and interests with him, to glut his 
 bloody eyes with beholding them in their bond- 
 age, as no story can parallel the inhumanity 
 of." — (p. 83.) Hutrhinsou's Memoirs, 378. 
 
 This, however, is the man whom Mr. Fox, at 
 the distance of a century and a half, may not 
 mark with infamy, without incurring, from the 
 candour of Mr. Rose, the imputation of repub- 
 lican principles; — as if attachment to monarchy 
 could have justified, in Monk, the coldness, 
 cruelt)', and treachery of his character, — as if 
 ihe historian became the advocale,or the enemy 
 of any form of government, by praising the 
 good, or blaming the bad men which it might 
 produce Serjeant Hey wood sums up the whole 
 article as follows : 
 
 " Having examined and commented upon the 
 evidence produced by Mr. Rose, than which 'it 
 is hardly possible,' he says, 'to conceive that 
 stronger could be formed in any case to estab- 
 lish a negative,' we now safely assert that Mr. 
 Fox had fully informed himself upon the sub- 
 ject before he wrote, and was amply justified 
 in the condemnation of Monk, and the conse- 
 quent severe censures upon him. It has been 
 already demonstrated that the character of 
 Monk had been truly given, when of him he 
 said, ' the army had fallen into the hands of 
 one, than whom a baser could not be found in 
 its lowest ranks.' The transactions between 
 l>im and Argyle for a certain period of time 
 were such as must naturally, if not necessarily, 
 have led them into an epistolary correspond- 
 ence; and it was in exact conformity with 
 
 Monk's character and conduct to the regicides, 
 that he should betray the letters written to him, 
 in order to destroy a man whom he had, in the 
 latter part of his command in Scotland, both 
 feared and hated. If the fact of the production 
 of these letters had stood merely on the testi- 
 mony of Bishop Burnet, we have seen that 
 nothing has been produced by Mr. Rose and 
 Dr. Campbell to impeach it; on the contrary, 
 an inquiry into the authorities and documents 
 they have cited, strongly confirm it. But, as 
 before observed, it is a surprising instance of 
 Ml-. Rose's indolence, that he should state the 
 question to depend now, as it did in Dr. Camp- 
 bell's time, on the bishop's authority solely. 
 But that authority is, in itself, no light one 
 Burnet was almost eighteen years of age at the 
 time of Argyle's trial; he was never an unob- 
 serving spectator of public events ; he was 
 probably at Edinburgh, and, for some years 
 afterwards, remained in Scotland, with ample 
 means of information respecting events which 
 had taken place so recently. Baillie seems 
 also to have been upon the spot, and expressly 
 confirms the testimony of Burnet. To these 
 must be added Cunningham, v/ho, writing as a 
 person perfectly acquainted with the circum- 
 stances of the transaction, says it was owing 
 to the interference of Monk, who had been his 
 great friend in Oliver's time, that he was sent 
 back to Scotland, and brought to trial ; and that 
 he was condemned chiefly by his discoveries. 
 We may now ask where is the improbability 
 of this story, when related of such a man ] and 
 what ground there is for not giving credit to a 
 fact attested by three witnesses of veracity, each 
 writing at a distance, and separate from each 
 other? In this instance Bishop Burnet is so 
 confirmed, that no reasonable being, who will 
 attend to the subject, can doubt of the fact he 
 relates being true; and we shall hereafter prove 
 that the general imputation against his accu- 
 racy, made by Mr. Rose, is totally without 
 foundation. If facts so proved are not to be 
 credited, historians may lay aside their pens, 
 and every man must content himself with the 
 scanty pittance of knowledge he may be able 
 to collect for himself in the very limited 
 sphere of his own immediate observation." — 
 (p. 86—88.) 
 
 This, we think, is conclusive enough : but 
 we are happy to be enabled, out of our own 
 store, to set this part of the question finally to 
 rest, by an authority which Mr. Rose himself 
 will probably admit to be decisive. Sir George 
 Mackenzie, the great tory lawyer of Scotland in 
 that day, and Lord Advocate to Charles II. 
 through the greater part of his reign, was the 
 leading counsel for Argyle on the trial alluded 
 to. In 1678, this learned person, who was then 
 Lord Advocate to Charles, published an elabo- 
 rate treatise on the criminal law of Scotland; 
 in which, when treating of probation, or evi- 
 dence, he observes, that missive letters, not 
 written, but only signed by the party, should 
 not be received in evidence; and immediately 
 adds, "And yet the Marquis of Argyle ivas con- 
 vict of treason upon letters wihttev by hiim 
 TO General Monk; these letters being only 
 subscribed by him, and not holograph, and the 
 subscription being proved per coniparationem 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 99 
 
 literarum ; which were very hard in other cases," 
 &c. — Mackenzie's Criminals, first edit. p. 524, 
 Part II. tit. 25, § 3. Now this, we conceive, is 
 neither more nor less than a solemn profes- 
 sional report of the case,— and leaves just as 
 little room for doubt as to the fact, as if the 
 original record of the trial had been recovered. 
 
 Mr. Rose next objects to Mr. Fox's assertion, 
 that " the king kept from his cabal ministry the 
 real state of his connection with France — and 
 from some of them the secret of what he was 
 pleased to call his religion ;" and Mr. Fox 
 doubts whether to attribute this conduct to 
 the habitual treachery of Charles, or to an ap- 
 prehension that his ministers might demand 
 for themselves some share of the French 
 money; which he was unwilling to give them. 
 In answer to this conjecture, Mr. Rose quotes 
 Barillon's Letters to Lewis XIV., to show that 
 Charles's ministers were fully apprised of his 
 money transactions with France. The letters 
 so quoted were, however, written seven years 
 after the cabal ministry were inpoiver — for Barillon 
 did not come to England as ambassador till 
 1677 — and these letters were not written till 
 after that period. Poor Sir Patrick — It was 
 for thee and thy defence this book was 
 written ! ! ! ! 
 
 Mr. Fox has said, that from some of the 
 ministers of the cabal the secret of Charles's 
 religion was concealed. It was known to Ar- 
 lington, admitted by Mr. Rose to be a concealed 
 Catholic ; it was known to Clifford, an avowed 
 Catholic; Mr. Rose admits it not to have been 
 known to Buckingham, thongh he explains the 
 reserve, with respect to him, in a different way. 
 He has not, however, attempted to prove that 
 Lauderdale or Ashley were consulted; — on the 
 contrary, in Colbert's letter of the 25th August, 
 1670, cited by Mr. Rose, it is stated that Charles 
 had proposed the traite simule, which should be 
 a repetition of the former one in all things, 
 except the article relative to the king's declaring 
 himself a Catholic, and that the Protestant mi- 
 nisters, Buckingham, Ashley, Cooper, and Lau- 
 derdale, should be brought to be parties to it: — 
 Can there be a stronger proof (asks Serjeant 
 Hey wood), that they were ignorant of the same 
 treaty made the year before, and remaining 
 then in force"? Historical research is. cer- 
 tainly not the peculiar talent of Mr. Rose ; and 
 as for the official accuracy of which he is so 
 apt to boast, we would have Mr. Rose to remem- 
 ber, that the term official accuracy has of late 
 days become one of very ambiguous import. 
 Mr. Rose, we can see, would imply by it the 
 highest possible accuracy — as we see office pens 
 advertised in the window of a shop, by way of 
 excellence. The public reports of those, how- 
 ever, who have been appointed to look into the 
 manner in which public offices are conducted, 
 by no means justify this usage of the term ; — 
 and we are not without apprehensions, that 
 Dutch politeness, Carthaginian faith, Boeotian 
 genius, and official accuracy, may be terms 
 equally current in the world ; and that Mr. Rose 
 may, without intending it, have contributed to 
 make this valuable addition to the mass of our 
 ironical phraseology. 
 
 Speaking of the early part of James's reign, 
 Mr. Fox says, it is by no means certain that he 
 
 had yet thoughts of obtaining for his religion, 
 any thing more than a complete toleration ; and 
 if Mr. Rose had understood the meaning of the 
 French word etablisscment, one of his many in- 
 correct corrections of Mr. Fox might have been 
 spared. A system of religion is said to be es- 
 tablished when it is enacted and endowed by 
 Parliament; but a toleration (as Serjeant Hey- 
 wood observes) is established, when it is recog- 
 nised and protected by the supreme power. 
 And in the letters of Barillon, to which Mr. Rose 
 refers for the justification of his attack upon 
 Mr. Fox, it is quite manifest that it is in this 
 latter sense that the word etablissement is used; 
 and that the object in view was, not the substi- 
 tution of the Catholic religion for the Estab- 
 lished Church, but merely its toleration. In the 
 first letter cited by Mr. Rose, James says, that 
 " he knew well he should never be in safety 
 unless liberty of conscience for them should be 
 fully established in England." The letter of the 
 24th of April is quoted by Mr. Rose, as if the 
 French king had written, the establishment of the 
 Catholic religion ; whereas the real words are, 
 the establishment of the free exercise of tite Catholic 
 religion. The world are so inveterately resolved 
 to believe, that a man who has no brilliant 
 talents must be accurate, that Mr. Rose, in re- 
 ferring to authorities, has a great and decided 
 advantage. He is, however, in point of fact, as 
 lax and incorrect as a poet ; and it is absolutely 
 necessary, in spite of every parade of line, and 
 page, and number, to follow him in the most 
 minute particular. The Serjeant, like a blood- 
 hound of the old breed, is always upon his 
 track ; and always looks if there are any such 
 passages in the page quoted, and if the passages 
 are accurately quoted or accurately translated. 
 Nor will he by any means be content with 
 official accuracy, nor submit to be treated, in his- 
 torical questions, as if he were hearing finan- 
 cial statements in the House of Commons. 
 
 Barillon writes, in another letter to Lewis 
 XIV. — "What your majesty has most besides 
 at heart, that is to say, for the establishment of 
 a free exercise of the Catholic religion." On 
 the 9th of May, Lewis writes to Barillon, that 
 he is persuaded Charles will employ all his 
 authority to establish the free exercise of the 
 Catholic religion : he mentions also, in the 
 same letter, the Parliament consenting to the 
 free exercise of our religion. On the 15th of 
 June, he writes to Barilion— " There now re- 
 mains only to obtain the repeal of the penal Icnvs 
 in favour ''of the Catholics, and the free exercise 
 of our religion in all his states." Immediately 
 after Monmouth's execution, when his views 
 of success must have been as lofty as they 
 ever could have been, Lewis writes — " It will 
 be easy to the King of England, and as useful 
 for the security of his reign as for the repose 
 of his conscience, to re-establish the exercise 
 of the Catholic religion." In a letter of Ba- 
 rillon, July 16th, Sunderland is made to say, 
 that the king would always be exposed to the 
 indiscreet zeal of those who would inflame the 
 people against the Catholic religion, so long as 
 it should not be more fulhj established. The 
 French expression is ta7it qiCelle ne sera pas 
 plus pleinement e^atjUe ,- and this Mr. Rose ha.s 
 had the modesty to translate, till it shall be com- 
 
100 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 pletely established, and to mark the passage 
 with Italics, as of the greatest importance to 
 his argument. These false quotations and 
 translations being detected, and those passages 
 of early writers, from which Mr. Fox had made 
 \ip his opinion, brought to light, it is not possible 
 to doubt, but that the object of James, before 
 Monmouth's defeat, was not the destruction of 
 the Protestant, but the toleration of the Catho- 
 lic religion; and after the execution of Mon- 
 mouth, Mr. Fox admits, that he became more 
 bold and sanguine upon the subject of religion. 
 
 We do not consider those observations of 
 Serjeant He}T\^ood to be the most fortunate in 
 his book, where he attempts to show the re- 
 publican tendency of Mr. Rose's principles. 
 Of any disposition to principles of this nature, 
 we most heartily acquit that right honourable 
 gentleman. He has too much knowledge of 
 mankind to believe their happiness can be pro- 
 moted in the stormy and tempestuous regions 
 of republicanism; and, besides this, that sys- 
 tem of slender pay, and deficient perquisites, 
 to which the subordinate agents of govern- 
 ment are confined in republics, is much too 
 painful to be thought of for a single instant. 
 
 We are afraid of becoming tedious by the 
 enumeration of blunders into which Mr. Rose 
 has fallen, and which Serjeant Heywood has 
 detected. But the burthen of this sole execu- 
 tor's song is accuracy — his own oflicial accu- 
 racy — and the little dependence which is to be 
 placed on the accuracy of Mr. Fox. We will 
 venture to assert, that, in the whole of his 
 work, he has not detected Mr. Fox in one shi- 
 gle error. Whether Serjeant Heywood has 
 been more fortunate with respect to Mr. Rose, 
 might be determined, perhaps with suthcient 
 certainty, by our previous extracts from his 
 remarks. But for some indulgent readers, 
 these may not seem enough : and we must pro- 
 ceed in the task, till we have settled Mr. Rose's 
 pretensions to accuracy on a still firmer foun- 
 dation. And if we be thought minutely se- 
 vere, let it be remembered tliat Mr. Rose is 
 himself an accuser; and if there is justice 
 upon earth, every man has a right to pull sto- 
 len goods out of the pocket of him who cries, 
 '•Slop thief I" 
 
 In the story which Mr. Rose states of the 
 seat in Parliament sold for five pounds (Jour- 
 nal of the Commons, vol. v.), he is wrong, both 
 in the sum and the volume. The sum is four 
 pounds; and it is told, not in the fifth A-olume, 
 but the first. Mr. Rose states, that a perpetual 
 excise was granted to the crown, in lieu of the 
 profits of the court of wards ; and adds, that 
 the question in favour of the crown was car- 
 ried by a majority of two. The real fact is, 
 that the half only of an excise upon certain 
 articles was granted to government in lieu of 
 these profits ; and this grant was carried with- 
 out a division. An attempt was made to grant 
 the other half, and this was negatived by a ma- 
 jority of two. The Journals are open ; — Mr. 
 Rose reads them ; — he is oflicially accurate. 
 What can the meaning be of these most ex- 
 traordinary mistakes'? 
 
 Mr. Rose says that, in 1679, the writ de Jias- 
 retico comburendo had been a dead letter for 
 more than a century. It would have been ex- 
 
 tremely agreeable to Mr. Bartholomew Legate, 
 if this had been the case ; for, in 1612, he was 
 burnt at Smithfield for being an Arian. Mr. 
 Wightman would probably have participated 
 in the satisfaction of Mr. Legate ; as he was 
 burnt also, the same year, at Lichfield, for the 
 same ofl^ence. With the same correctness, 
 this scourge of historians makes the Duke of 
 Lauderdale, who died in 1682, a confidential 
 adviser of James II. after his accession in 1689. 
 In page 13, he quotes, as written by Mr. Fox, 
 that which was written by Lord Holland. 
 This, however, is a familiar practice with him. 
 Ten pages afterward, in Mr. Fox's History, he 
 makes the same mistake. " Mr. Fox added" — 
 whereas it was Lord Holland that added. The 
 same mistake again, in p. 147 of his own book; 
 and after this, he makes Mr. Fox the person 
 who selected the appendix of Barillon's pa- 
 pers; whereas it is particularly stated in the 
 preface to the History, that this appendix was 
 selected by Laing. 
 
 Mr. Rose aflirms, that compassing to levy 
 war against the king was made high treason 
 by the statute of 25 Edward the Third; and, 
 in support of this aflirmation, he cites Coke 
 and Blackstoue. His stern antagonist, a pro- 
 fessional man, is convinced he has read nei- 
 ther. The former says, "a compassing to levy 
 war is no treason" (Inst. 3, p. 9 ;) and Black- 
 stone, "a bare conspiracy to levy war does 
 not amount to this species of treason." (Com. 
 iv. p. 82.) This really does not look as if the 
 Serjeant had made out his assertion. 
 
 Of the bill introduced in 1685, for the pre- 
 servation of the person of James II., Mr. Rose 
 observes — " Mr. Fox has not told us for which 
 of our modern statutes this bill was used as a 
 model; and it will be diflicult for any one to 
 show such an instance." It might have been 
 thought, that no prudent man would have made 
 such a challenge, without a tolerable certainty 
 of the ground upon which it was made. Ser- 
 jeant Hevwood answers the challenge by cit- 
 ing the 36 Geo. III. c. 7, which is a mere copy 
 of the act of James. 
 
 In the fifth section of Mr. Rose's work is 
 contained his grand attack upon Mr. Fox for 
 his abuse of Sir Patrick Hume ; and his obser- 
 vations upon this point admit of a fourfold an- 
 swer. 1st, Mr. Fox does not use the M-ords 
 quoted by Mr. Rose ; 2dly, He makes no men- 
 tion whatever of Sir Patrick Hume in the pas- 
 sage cited by Mr. Rose ; 3dh', Sir Patrick 
 Hume is attacked by nobody in that history; 
 4thly, If he had been so attacked he would 
 have deserved it. The passage from Mr. Fox 
 is this: — 
 
 "In recounting the failure of his expedition, 
 it is impossible for him not to touch upon what 
 he deemed the misconduct of his friends; and 
 this is the subject upon which, of all others, 
 his temper must have been most irritable. A 
 certain description of friends (the words de- 
 scribing them are omitted) were all of them, 
 M-ithout exception, his greatest enemies, both 
 
 to betray and destroy him : and and 
 
 (the names again omitted) were the greatest 
 cause of his rout, and his being taken, though 
 not designedly, he acknowledges, but by igno- 
 rance, cowardice, and faction. This sentence 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 101 
 
 liad scarce escaped him, when, notwithstand- 
 ing the qualif3-ing words with which his can- 
 dour has acquitted the last mentioned persons of 
 intentional treachery, it appeared too harsh to 
 his gentle nature; and, declaring himself dis- 
 pleased with the hard epithets he had used, he 
 desires that they may be put out of any ac- 
 count that is to be given of these transactions." 
 — Hei/wood, p. 365, 366. 
 
 Argyle names neither the description of 
 friends who were his greatest enemies, nor the 
 two individuals who were the principal cause 
 of the failure of his scheme. Mr. Fox leaves 
 the blanks as he finds them. But two notes 
 are added by the editor, which Mr. Rose might 
 have observed are marked with an E. In the 
 latter of them we are told, that Mr. Fox ob- 
 serves, in a private letter, " Cochrane and Hume 
 certainly filled up the two principal blanks." 
 But is this communication of a private letter 
 any part of Mr. Fox's history] And would it 
 not have been equally fair in Mr. Rose to have 
 commented upon any private conversation of 
 Mr. Fox, and then to have called it his history 1 
 Or, if Mr. Fox had filled up the blanks in the 
 body of his history, does it follow that he adopts 
 Argyle's censure because he shows against 
 whom it is levelled ] Mr. Rose has described 
 the charge against Sir Patrick Hume to be, of 
 faction, cowardice, and treachery. Mr. Rose 
 has more than once altered the terms of a pro- 
 position before he has proceeded to answer it ; 
 and, in this instance, the charge of treachery 
 against Sir Patrick Hume is not made either 
 in Argyle's letter, Mr. Fox's text, or the editor's 
 note, or any where but in the imagination of 
 Mr. Rose. The sum of it all is, that Mr. Rose 
 first supposes the relation of Argyle's opinion 
 to be the expression of the relator's opinion, 
 that Mr. Fox adopts Argyle's insinuations be- 
 cause he explains them ; — then he looks upon 
 a quotation from a privale letter, made by the 
 editor, to be the same as if included in a work 
 intended for publication by the author ; — then 
 he remembers that he is the sole executor of 
 Sir Patrick's grandson, whose blank is so 
 filled up; — and goes on blundering and blub- 
 bering, — grateful and inaccurate, — teeming 
 with false quotations and friendly recollections 
 to the conclusion of his book. Multa gemens 
 ignQminiam. 
 
 Mr. Rose came into possession of the Earl 
 of Marchmonl's papers, containing, among 
 other things, the narrative of Sir Patrick Hume. 
 He is very severe upon Mr. Fox for not having 
 been more diligent in searching for original 
 papers; and observes, that if any application 
 had been made to him (Mr. Rose), this narra- 
 tive should have been at Mr. Fox's service. 
 We should be glad to know, if Mr. Rose saw a 
 person tumbled into a ditch, whether he would 
 wait for a regular application till he pulled 
 him out? Or, if he happened to espy the lost 
 piece of silver for which the good woman was 
 diligently sweeping the house, would he wait 
 for formal interrogation before he imparted his 
 discovery, and suffer the lady to sweep on till 
 the question had been put to him in the most 
 Bolemn forms of politeness 1 The established 
 practice, we admit, is to apply, and to apply 
 vigorously and incessantly, for sinecure places 
 
 and pensions — or they cannot be had. This is 
 true enough. But did any human being ever 
 think of carrying this practice into literature, 
 and compelling another to make interest for 
 papers essential to the good conduct of his 
 undertaking? We are perfectly astonished at 
 Mr. Rose's conduct in this particular; and 
 should have thought that the ordinary exercise 
 of his good nature would have led him to a 
 very different way of acting. 
 
 " On the ivhole, and tipon the most attentive con- 
 sideration of every tiling xchich has been imitlcn 
 upon the subject, there does not appear to have 
 been any intention of applying torture in the 
 caseof the Earl of Argyle." (i\osc, p. 182.) If 
 this every ^/n'wghad included the following extract 
 from Barillon, the above cited, and very dis- 
 graceful inaccuracy of Mr. Rose would have 
 been spared. "The Earl of Argyle has been 
 executed at Edinburgh, and has left a full con- 
 fession in writing, in which he discovers all 
 those who have assisted him with money, and 
 have aided his designs. This has saved him 
 from the torture." And Argyle, in his letter to 
 Mrs. Smith, confesses he has made discoveries. 
 In his very inaccurate history of torture in the 
 southern part of this island, Mr. Rose says, 
 that except in the case of Felton, — in the at- 
 tempt to introduce the civil law in Henry VI.'s 
 reign, — and in some cases of treason in Mary's 
 reign, torture was never attempted in this 
 country. The fact, however, is, that in the 
 reign of Henry VIII., Anne Askew was tor- 
 tured by the chancellor himself. Simson was 
 tortured in 1558 ; Francis Throgmorton in 
 1571 ; Charles Baillie, and Banastie, the Duke 
 of Norfolk's servant, were tortured in 1581; 
 Campier, the Jesuit, was put upon the rack; 
 and Dr. Astlow is supposed to have been 
 racked in 1558, So much for Mr. Ruse as the 
 historian of punishments. We have seen him, 
 a few pages before, at the stake, — where he 
 makes quite as bad a figure as he does now 
 upon the rack. Precipitation and error are 
 his foibles. If he were to write the history of 
 sieges, he would forget the siege of Troy; — if 
 he were making a list of poets, he would leave 
 out Virgil: — Csesar would not appear in his 
 catalogue of generals; — and Newton would be 
 overlooked in his collection of eminent mathe- 
 maticians. 
 
 In some cases, Mr. Rose is to be met only 
 with flat denial. Mr. Fox docs not call the sol- 
 diers who were defending James against Ar- 
 gyle authorized assassins : but he uses that ex- 
 pression against the soldiers who were murder- 
 ing the peasants, and committing every sort of 
 licentious cruelty in the twelve counties given 
 up to military execution ; and this Mr. Rose 
 must have known, by using the most ordinary 
 diligence in the perusal of the text, — and 
 would have known it in any other history than 
 that of Mr. Fox. 
 
 "Mr. Rose, in his concluding paragraph, 
 boasts of his speaking 'impersonally,' and he 
 hopes it will be allowed justly, when he makes 
 a general observation respecting the proper 
 province of histor}^ But the last sentence 
 evidently shows that, though he might be 
 speaking justly, he was not speaking impev 
 sonalhj, if by that word is meant, without refe 
 i2 
 
102 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 rence to any person. His words are, 'But 
 history cannot connect itself with party, with- 
 out forfeiting its name ; without departing from 
 the truth, the dignity, and the usefulness of its 
 functions.' After the remarks he has made in 
 some of his preceding pages, and the apology 
 he has offered for Mr. Fox, in his last preceding 
 paragraph, for having been mistaken in his 
 view of some leading points, there can be no 
 difficulty in concluding, that this general ob- 
 servation is meant to be applied to the histori- 
 cal work. The charge intended to be insinu- 
 ated must be, that, in Mr. Fox's hands, history 
 has forfeited the name by being connected with 
 party; and has departed from the truth, the 
 dignity, and the usefulness of its functions. It 
 ■were to be wished that Mr. Rose had explained 
 himself more fully; for, after assuming that 
 the application of this observation is too ob- 
 vious to be mistaken, there still remains some 
 diificulty with respect to its meaning. If it is 
 confined to such publications as are written 
 under the title of histories, but are intended to 
 serve the purposes of a party; and truth is 
 sacrificed, and facts perverted, to defend and 
 give currency to their tenets, we do not dispute 
 its propriety; but, if that is the character which 
 Mr. Rose would give to Mr. Fox's labours, he 
 has not. treated him with candour, or even 
 commo-n justice. Mr. Rose has never, in any 
 one instance, intimated that Mr. Fox has wil- 
 fully departed from truth, or strayed from the 
 proper province of history, for the purpose of 
 indulging his private or party feelings. But, 
 if Mr. Rose intends that the observation should 
 be applied to all histories, the authors of which 
 have felt strongly the influence of political 
 connections and principles, what must become 
 of most of the histories of England ] Is the 
 title of historian to be denied to Mr. Hume? 
 and in what class are to be placed Echard, 
 Kennet, Rapin, Dalrymple, or Macpherson ] 
 In this point of view the principle laid down is 
 too broad. A person, though connected with 
 party, may write an impartial history of events 
 which occurred a century before; and, till this 
 last sentence, Mr. Rose has not ventured to 
 intimate that Mr. Fox has not done so. On the 
 contrary, he has declared his approbation of a 
 great portion of the work ; and his attempts to 
 discover material errors in the remainder have 
 uniformly failed in every particular. If it 
 might be assumed that there existed in the book 
 no faults, besides those which the scrutinizing 
 eye of Mr. Rose has discovered, it might be 
 justly deemed the most perfect work that ever 
 came from the press; for not a single devia- 
 tion from the strictest duty of an historian has 
 been pointed out ; while instances of candour 
 and impartiality present themselves in almost 
 every page; and Mr. Rose himself has ac- 
 knowledged and applauded many of them." — 
 (pp. 422—424.) 
 
 These extracts from both books are sufficient 
 to show the nature of Serjeant Heywood's ex- 
 amination of Mr. Rose,— the boldness of this 
 latter gentleman's assertions, — and the extreme 
 inaccuracy of the researches upon which these 
 assertions are founded. If any credit could be 
 gained from such a book as Mr. Rose has pub- 
 
 lished, it could be gained from accuracy alone. 
 Whatever the execution of his book had been, 
 the world would have remembered the infinite 
 disparity of the two authors, and the long po- 
 litical opposition in which they lived — if that, 
 indeed, can be called opposition, where the 
 thunderbolt strikes, and the clay yields. They 
 would have remembered also that Hector was 
 dead; and that every cowardly Grecian could 
 now thrust his spear into the hero's body. But 
 still, if Mr. Rose had really succeeded in ex- 
 posing the inaccuracy of Mr. Fox, — if he 
 could have fairly shown that authorities were 
 overlooked, or slightly examined, or wilfully 
 perverted, — the incipient feelings to which 
 such a controversy had given birth must have 
 yielded to the evidence of facts ; and Mr. Fox, 
 however qualified in other particulars, must 
 have appeared totally defective in that laborious 
 industry and scrupulous good faith so indis- 
 pensable to every historian. But he absolutely 
 comes out of the contest not worse even in a 
 single tooth or nail — unvilified even by a wrong 
 date — without one misnomer proved upon him 
 — immaculate in his years and days of the 
 month — blameless to the most musty and 
 limited pedant that ever yellowed himself 
 amidst rolls and records. 
 
 But how fares it with his critic? He rests 
 his credit with the world as a man of labour, — 
 and he turns out to be a careless inspector of 
 proofs, and an historical sloven. The species 
 of talent which he pretends to is humble, — 
 and he possesses it not. He has not done that 
 which all men may do, and which every man 
 ought to do, who rebukes his superiors for 
 not doing it. His claims, too, it should he 
 remembered, to these every-day qualities, are 
 by no means enforced with gentleness and 
 humility. He is a braggadocio of minuteness 
 — a swaggering chronologer; — a man bristling 
 up with small facts — prurient with dates — 
 wantoning in obsolete evidence — loftily dull, 
 and haughty in his drudgery; — and yet all this 
 is pretence. Drawing is no very unusual 
 power in animals ; but he cannot draw ; he is 
 not even the ox which he is so fond of being. 
 In attempting to vilify Mr. Fo.x, he has only 
 shown us that there was no labour from which 
 that great man shrunk, and that no object con- 
 nected with his history was too minute for his 
 investigation. He has thoroughly convinced 
 us that Mr. Fox was as industrious, and as ac- 
 curate, as if these were the only qualities upon 
 which he had ever rested his hope of fortune 
 or of fame. Such, indeed, are the customary 
 results when little people sit down to debase 
 the characters of great men, and to exalt them- 
 selves upon the ruins of what they have pulled 
 down. They only provoke a spirit of inquiry, 
 which places every thing in its true light and 
 magnitude, — shows those who appear little to 
 be still less, and displays new and unexpected 
 excellence in others who were before known 
 to excel. These are the usual consequences 
 of such attacks. The fame of Mr. Fox has 
 stood this, and will stand much ruder shocks. 
 
 NoH hiemes illam, non flabra neqtie imhres 
 Convellunt ; immota manet, multosque per annot 
 Multa viritm volvens durando sascula vincit. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 103 
 
 MAD QUAKERS." 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 1814.] 
 
 The Quakers always seem to succeed in any 
 institution which they undertake. The gaol at 
 Philadelphia will remain a lasting monument 
 of their skill and patience ; and, in the plan 
 and conduct of this retreat for the insane, they 
 have evinced the same wisdom and perse- 
 verance. 
 
 The present account is given us by Mr. 
 Tuke, a respectable tea-dealer, living in York, 
 — and given in a manner which we are quite 
 sure the most opulent and important of his 
 customers could not excel. The long account 
 of the subscription, at the beginning of the 
 book, is evidently made tedious for the Quaker 
 market; and Mr. Tuke is a little too much 
 addicted to quoting. But, with these trifling 
 exceptions, his book does him very great 
 credit; — it is full of good sense and humanity, 
 right feelings and rational views. The retreat 
 for insane Quakers is situated about a mile 
 from the city of York, upon an eminence com- 
 manding the adjacent country, and in the midst 
 of a garden and fields belonging to the institu- 
 tion. The great principle on which it appears 
 to be conducted is that of kindness to the pa- 
 tients. It does not appear to them, because a 
 man is mad upon one particular subject, that 
 he is to be considered in a state of complete 
 mental degradation, or insensible to the feel- 
 ings of kindness and gratitude. When a mad- 
 man does not do what he is bid to do, the 
 shortest method, to be sure, is to knock him 
 down; and straps and chains are the species 
 of prohibition which are the least frequently 
 disregarded. But the Society of Friends seem 
 rather to consult the interest of the patient 
 than the ease of his keeper; and to aim at the 
 government of the insane, by creating in them 
 the kindest disposition towards those who have 
 the command over them. Nor can any thing 
 be more wise, humane, or interesting, than the 
 strict attention to the feelings of their patients 
 •which seems to prevail in their institutions. 
 The following specimens of their disposition 
 upon this point we have great pleasure in lay- 
 ing before our readers : — 
 
 " The smallness of the court," says Mr. Tuke, 
 "would be a serious defect, if it was not 
 generally compensated by taking such patients 
 as are suitable into the garden ; and by fre- 
 quent excursions into the city, or the surround- 
 ing country, and into the fields of the institu- 
 tion. One of these is surrounded by a walk 
 interspersed with trees and shrubs. 
 
 "The superintendent has also endeavoured 
 to furnish a source of amasement to those pa- 
 
 * Description of the Retreat, an Institution near York, 
 for Insane Persons of the Society of Friends. Containing 
 are account of its Origin and Progress, the Modes of Treat- 
 ment, and a Statement of Cases. By Samuel Tuke. 
 York, 1813. 
 
 tients whose walks are necessarily more cir 
 cumscribed, by supplying each of the courts 
 with a number of animals, such as rabbits, 
 sea gulls, hawks, and poultry. These crea- 
 tures are generally very familiar with the 
 patients ; and it is believed they are not only 
 the means of innocent pleasure, but that the 
 intercourse with them sometimes tends to 
 awaken the social and benevolent feelings." — 
 (p. 9.5, 96.) 
 
 Chains are never permitted at the Retreat; 
 nor is it left to the option of the lower attend- 
 ants when they are to impose an additional 
 degree of restraint upon the patients; and this 
 compels them to pay attention to the feelings 
 of the patients, and to attempt to gain an influ- 
 ence over them by kindness. Patients who 
 are not disposed to injure themselves are merely- 
 confined by the strait waistcoat, and left to 
 walk about the room, or lie down on the bed, 
 at pleasure ; and even in those cases where 
 there is a strong tendency to self-destruction, 
 as much attention is paid to the feelings and 
 ease of the patient as is consistent with his 
 safety. 
 
 "Except in cases of violent mania, which is 
 far from being a frequent recurrence at the 
 Retreat, coercion, when requisite, is considered 
 as a necessary evil; that is, it is thought ab- 
 stractedly to have a tendency to retard the cure, 
 by opposing the influence of the moral reme- 
 dies employed. It is therefore used very spar- 
 ingly; and the superintendent has often assured 
 me, that he would rather run some risk than 
 have recourse to restraint where it was not 
 absolutely necessary, except in those cases 
 where it was likely to have a salutary moral 
 tendency. 
 
 "I feel no small satisfaction in stating, upon 
 the authority of the superintendents, that dur- 
 ing the last year, in which the number of pa- 
 tients has generally been sixty-four, there has 
 not been occasion to seclude, on an average^ 
 two patients at one time. I am also able to 
 state, that although it is occasionally necessary 
 to restrain, by the waistcoat, straps, or other 
 means, several patients at one time, yet that 
 the average number so restrained does not ex- 
 ceed four, including those who are secluded. 
 
 "The safety of those who attend upon the 
 insane is certainly an object of great import- 
 ance ; but it is worthy of inquiry whether it 
 may not be attained without materially inter- 
 fering with another object,— the recovery of the 
 patient. It may also deserve inquiry, whether 
 the extensive practice of coercion, which ob- 
 tains in some institutions, does not arise from 
 erroneous views of the character of insane 
 persons; from indifference to their comfort; 
 or from having rendered coercion necessarv 
 by previous unkind treatment. 
 
104 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 "The power of judicious kindness over this 
 unhappy class of society is much greater than 
 is generally imagined. It is, perhaps, not too 
 much to apply to kind treatment the words of 
 our great poet, — 
 
 The claspin; 
 
 ' She can unlock 
 charm, and thaw the numbing spell.' 
 
 JMlLTON. 
 
 "In no instances has this power been more 
 strikingly displayed, or exerted with more 
 beneficial effects, jhan in those deplorable 
 cases in which the patient refuses to take food. 
 The kind persuasions and ingenious arts of the 
 superintendents have been singularly success- 
 ful in overcoming this distressing symptom; 
 and very few instances now occur in which it 
 is necessary to employ violent means for sup- 
 plying the patient with food. 
 
 " Some patients, who refuse to partake of the 
 family meals, are induced to eat by being taken 
 into the larder, and there allowed to help them- 
 selves. Some are found willing to eat when 
 food is left with them in their rooms, or when 
 they can obtain it unobserved by their attend- 
 ants. Others, whose determination is stronger, 
 are frequently induced, by repeated persuasion, 
 to take a small quantity of nutritious liquid; 
 and it is equally true in these, as in general 
 cases, that every breach of resolution weakens 
 the power and disposition to resistance. 
 
 " Sometimes, however, persuasion seems to 
 strengthen the unhappy determination. In one 
 of these cases the attendants were completely 
 wearied with their endeavours ; and, on remov- 
 ing the food, one of them took a piece of meat 
 which had been repeatedly offered to the pa- 
 tient, and threw it under the fire-grate, at the 
 same time exclaiming that she should not have 
 it. The poor creature, who seemed governed 
 by the rule of contraries, immediately rushed 
 from her seat, seized the meat from the ashes, 
 and devoured it. For a short time she was 
 induced to eat, by the attendants availing 
 themselves of this contrary disposition ; but it 
 was soon rendered unnecessary by the removal 
 of this unhappy feature of the disorder."-— (p. 
 166, 167, 168, 169.) 
 
 When it is deemed necessary to apply any 
 mode of coercion, such an overpowering force 
 is employed as precludes all possibility of suc- 
 cessful resistance ; and most commonly, there- 
 fore, extinguishes every idea of making any 
 at all. An attendant upon a madhouse ex- 
 poses himself to some risk — and to some he 
 ought to expose himself, or he is totally unfit 
 for his situation. If the security of the attend- 
 ants were the only object, the situation of the 
 patients would soon become truly desperate. 
 The business is, not to risk nothing, but not to 
 risk too much. The generosity of the Quakers, 
 and their courage in managing mad people, 
 are placed, by this institution, in a very strik- 
 ing point of view. This cannot be better illus- 
 trated than by the two following cases: — 
 
 "The superintendent was one day walking 
 in a field adjacent to the house, in company 
 with a patient who was apt to be vindictive on 
 veiy slight occasions. An exciting circum- 
 stance occurred. The maniac retired a few 
 paces, and seized a large stone, which he im- 
 jnediately held up, as in the act of throwing 
 
 At his companion. The superintendent, in no 
 degree rulHed, fixed his eye upon the patient, 
 and in a resolute tone of voice, at the same 
 time advancing, commanded him to lay down 
 the stone. As he approached, the hand of the 
 lunatic gradually sunk from its threatening 
 position, and permitted the stone to drop to the 
 ground. He then submitted to be quietly led 
 to his apartment." 
 
 " Some years ago, a man, about thirty-four 
 5'ears of age, of almost herculean size and 
 "figure, was brought to the house. He had 
 been aiHicted several times before; and so 
 constantly, during the present attack, had he 
 been kept chained, that his clothes were con- 
 trived to be taken ofl' and put on by means of 
 strings, without removing his manacles. They 
 were, however, taken off when he entered the 
 Retreat, and he was ushered into the apart- 
 ment where the superintendents were supping. 
 He was calm: his attention appeared to be 
 arrested by his new situation. He was de- 
 sired to join in the repast, during which he 
 behaved with tolerable propriety. After it was 
 concluded the superintendent conducted him 
 to his apartment, and told him the circum- 
 stances on which his treatment would depend; 
 that it was his anxious wish to make every 
 inhabitant in the house as comfortable as pos- 
 sible; and that he sincerely hoped the patient's 
 conduct woitld render it unnecessaiy for him 
 to have i-ecourse to coercion. The maniac was 
 sensible of the Irindness of his treatment. He 
 promised to restrain himself; and he so com- 
 pletely succeeded, that, duringhis stay, no coer- 
 cive means were ever employed towards him. 
 This case affords a striking example of the effi- 
 cacy of mild treatment. The patient was fre- 
 quently very vociferous, and threatened his at- 
 tendants, who, in their defence, were very desir- 
 ous of restraining him by the jacket. The super- 
 intendent on these occasions went to his apart- 
 ment: and though the first sight of him seemed 
 rather to increase the patient's irritation, yet, 
 after sitting some time quietly beside him, the 
 violent excitement subsided, and he would 
 listen with attention to the persuasions and 
 arguments of his friendly visitor. ' After such 
 conversations the patient Avas generally better 
 for some days or a week; and in about four 
 months he was discharged perfectly recovered. 
 "Can it be doubted that, in this case, the 
 disease had been greatly exasperated by the 
 mode of management! or that the subsequent 
 kind treatment; had a great tendency to pro- 
 mote his recovery]"— (p. 172, 173, 146, 147.) 
 And yet, in spite of this apparent contempt 
 of danger, for eighteen years not a single acci- 
 dent has happened to the keepers. 
 
 In the day room the sashes are made of 
 cast-iron, and give to the building the security 
 of bars, without their unpleasant appearance. 
 With the same laudable attention to the feel- 
 ings of these poor people, the straps of their 
 strait waistcoats are made of some showy 
 colour, and are not unfrequently considered 
 by them as ornaments. No advantage what- 
 ever has been found to arise from reasoning 
 with patients on their particular delusions: it 
 is found rather to exasperate than convince 
 them. Indeed, that state of mind would hardly 
 
WORKS OF TOE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 105 
 
 deserve the name of insanity where argument 
 was sufficient for the refutation of error. 
 
 The classification of patients accordmg to 
 their degree of convalescence is very properly 
 attended to at the Retreat, and every assist- 
 ance given to returning reason by the force of 
 example. We were particularly pleased with 
 the following specimens of Quaker sense and 
 humanity : — 
 
 "The female superintendent, who possesses 
 an uncommon share of benevolent activity, 
 and who has the chief management of the fe- 
 male patients, as well as of the domestic de- 
 partment, occasionally gives a general invita- 
 tion to the patients to a tea-party. All who 
 attend dress in their best clothes, and vie with 
 each other in politeness and propriety. The 
 best fare is provided, and the visitors are 
 treated with all the attention of strangers. The 
 evening generally passes in the greatest har- 
 mony and enjoyment. It rarely happens Hiat 
 any unpleasant circumstance occurs. The 
 patients control, in a wonderful degree, their 
 different propensities; and the scene is at 
 once curious and affectingly gratifying. 
 
 " Some of the patients occasionally pay visits 
 to their friends in the city; and female visitors 
 are appointed every month by the committee 
 to pay visits to those of their own sex, to con- 
 verse with them, and to propose to the super- 
 intendents, or the committee, any improve- 
 ments which may occur to them. The visitors 
 sometimes take tea with the patients, who are 
 much gratified with the attention of their 
 friends, and mostly behave with propriety. 
 
 "It will be necessary here to mention that 
 the visits of former intimate friends have fre- 
 quently been attended with disadvantage to 
 the patients, except when convalescence had 
 so far advanced as to afford a prospect of a 
 speedy return to the bosom of society. It is, 
 however, very certain that, as soon as reason 
 begins to return, the conversation of judicious 
 indifferent persons greatly increases the com- 
 fort, and is considered almost essential to the 
 recovery of many patients. On this account 
 the convalescents of every class are frequently 
 introduced into the society of the rational 
 parts of the family. They are also permitted 
 to sit up till the usual time for the family to 
 retire to rest, and are allowed as much liberty 
 as their state of mind will admit."— (p. 178, 
 179.) 
 
 To the effects of kindness in the Retreat are 
 superadded those of constant employment. 
 The female patients are employed as much as 
 possible in sewing, knitting, and domestic 
 affairs ; and several of the convalescents assist 
 the attendants. For the men are selected those 
 species of bodily employments most agreeable 
 to the patient, and most opposite to the illu- 
 sions of his disease. Though the effect of 
 fear is not excluded from the institution, yet 
 the love of esteem is considered as a still more 
 powerful principle. 
 
 "That fear is not the only motive which 
 
 operates in producing self-restraint in the 
 
 minds of maniacs, is evident from its being 
 
 often exercised in the presence of strangers 
 
 14 
 
 who are merely passing through the house; 
 and which, I presume, can only be accounted 
 for from that desire of esteem which has been 
 stated to be a powerful motive to conduct. 
 
 "It is, probably, from encouraging the action 
 of this principle, that so much advantage has 
 been found, m this institution, from treating 
 the patient as much in the manner of a rational 
 being as the state of his mind will possibly 
 allow. The superintendent is particularly at- 
 tentive to this point in his conversation with 
 the patients. He introduces such topics as he 
 knows will most interest them ; and which, at 
 the same time, allows them to display their 
 knowledge to the greatest advantage. If the 
 patient is an agriculturist, he asks him ques- 
 tions relative to his art; and frequently con- 
 sults him upon any occasion in which his 
 knowledge may be useful. I have heard one 
 of the worst patients in the house, who, pre- 
 viously to his indisposition, had been a consi- 
 derable grazier, give very sensible directions 
 for the treatment of a diseased cow. 
 
 " These considerations are undoubtedly very 
 material as they regard the comfort of insane 
 persons ; but they are of far greater import- 
 ance as they relate to the cure of the disorder. 
 The patient, feeling himself of some conse- 
 quence, is induced to support it by the exertion 
 of his reason, and by restraining those dispo- 
 sitions which, if indulged, would lessen the 
 respectful treatment he receives, or lower his 
 character in the eyes of his companions and 
 attendants. 
 
 " They who are unacquainted with the cha- 
 racter of insane persons are very apt to con- 
 verse with them in a childish, or, which is 
 worse, in a domineering'manner; and hence 
 it has been frequently remarked, by the pa- 
 tients at the Retreat, that a stranger Vv'ho has 
 visited them seemed to imagine they were 
 children. 
 
 " The natural tendency of such treatment is 
 to degrade the mind of the patient, and to 
 make him indifferent to those moral feelings 
 which, under judicious direction and encou- 
 ragement, are found capable, in no small de- 
 gree, to strengthen the power of self-restraint, 
 and which render the resort to coercion in many 
 cases unnecessary. Even when it is absolutely 
 requisite to employ coercion, if the patient pro- 
 mises to control himself on its removal, great 
 confidence is generally placed upon his word. 
 I have known patients, such is their sense of 
 honour and moral obligation under this kind 
 of engagement, hold, for a long time, a suc- 
 cessful struggle with the violent propensities 
 of their disorder ; and such aitempts ought to 
 be sedulously encouraged by the attendant. 
 
 " Hitherto we have chiefly considered those 
 modes of inducing the patient to control his 
 , disordered propensities which arise from an 
 application to the general powers of the mind; 
 but considerable advantage may certainly be 
 derived, in this part of moral managemtnt, 
 from an acquaintance Avith the previous habits, 
 manners, and prejudices of the individual. 
 Nor must we forget to call to our aid, in en- 
 i deavouring to promote self-restraint, the mild 
 ! but powerful influence of the precepts of our 
 holy religion. Where these have been strongly 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 106 
 
 imbued in early life, they become little less 
 than principles of our nature : and their re- 
 straining power is frequently felt, even under 
 the delirious excitement of insanit)^ To en- 
 courage the influence of religious principles 
 over the mind of the insane is considered of 
 great consequence as a means of cure. For 
 this purpose, as well as for others still more 
 important, it is certainly right to promote in 
 the patient an attention to his accustomed 
 modes of paying homage to his Maker. 
 
 " Many patients attend the religious meet- 
 ings of the society held in the city; and most 
 of them are assembled, on a first day after- 
 noon, at which time the superintendent reads 
 to them several chapters in the Bible. A pro- 
 found silence generally ensues ; during which, 
 as well as at the time of reading, it is very 
 gratifying to observe their orderly conduct, 
 and the degree in which those who are much 
 disposed to action restrain their difierent pro- 
 pensities." — (p. 158 — 161.) 
 
 Very little dependence is to be placed on me- 
 dicine alone for the cure of insanity. The ex- 
 perience, at least, of this well-governed insti- 
 tution is very unfavourable to its etiicacy. 
 Where an insane person happens to be dis- 
 eased in body as well as in mind, medicine is 
 not only of as great importance to him as to 
 any other person, but much greater ; for the 
 diseases oi" the body are commonly found to 
 aggravate those of the mind ; but against mere 
 insanity, unaccompanied by bodily derange- 
 ment, it appears to be almost powerless. 
 
 There is one remedy, however, which is very 
 frequently employed at the Retreat, and which 
 appears to have been attended with the hap- 
 piest eflect, and that is the warm bath, — the 
 least recommended, and the most important, 
 of all remedies in melancholy madness. Un- 
 der this mode of treatment, the number of re- 
 coveries, in cases oi melancholia, has been very 
 unusual ; though no advantage has been found 
 from it in the case of mania. 
 
 At the end of the work is given a table of 
 all the cases which have occurred in the insti- 
 tution from its first commencement. It appears 
 that, from its opening in the year 1796 to the 
 end of 1811, 149 patients have been admitted. 
 Of this number 61 have been recent cases: 
 31 of these patients have been maniacal; of 
 ■whom 2 have died, 6 remain, 21 have been 
 discharged perfectly recovered, 2 so much im- 
 proved as not to require further confinement. 
 The remainder, 30 recent cases, have been 
 those of melancholy madness ; of whom 5 have 
 died, 4 remain, 19 have been discharged cured, 
 and 2 so much improved as not to require 
 further confinement. The old cases, or, as 
 they are commonly termed, incurable cases, 
 are divided into 61 cases of mania, 21 of me- 
 lancholia, and 6 of dementia ; afibrding the 
 following tables : — 
 
 " Mania. 
 «11 died. 
 31 remain in the house. 
 5 have been removed by their friends im- 
 proved. 
 10 have been discharged perfectly recovered. 
 4 so much improved as not to require fur- 
 ther confinement," 
 
 " Melancholia. 
 " 6 died. 
 6 remain. 
 
 1 removed somewhat improved. 
 6 perfectly cured. 
 
 2 so much improved as not to require fur- 
 
 ther confinement." 
 
 " Dementia. 
 « 2 died. 
 2 remain. 
 2 discharged as unsuitable objects." 
 
 The following statement shows the ages of 
 patients at present in the house : — 
 " 15 to 20 inclusive 2 
 20 to 30 — 8 
 
 30 to 40 — 12 
 40 to 50 — 7 
 
 60 to 70 — 11 
 70 to 80 — 4 
 
 80 to 90 — 2" 
 
 Of 79 patients it appears that 
 
 " 12 went mad from disappointed afiections. 
 
 2 from epilepsy. 
 49 from constitutional causes. 
 
 8 from failure in business. 
 
 4 from hereditary disposition to madness. 
 
 2 from injury of the skull. 
 
 1 from mercury. 
 
 1 from parturition." 
 
 The following case is extremely curious: 
 and we wish it had been authenticated by name, 
 place, and signature. 
 
 " A young woman, who was employed as a 
 domestic servant by the father of the relator 
 when he was a boy, became insane, and at 
 length sunk into a 3tate of perfect idiocy. In 
 this condition she remained for many years, 
 when she was attacked by a typhus fever; 
 and my friend, having then practised some 
 time, attended her. He was surprised to ob- 
 serve, as the fever advanced, a development 
 of the mental poM-ers. During that period of 
 the fever, when others were delirious, this 
 patient was entirely rational. She recognised 
 in the face of her medical attendant the son of 
 her old master, whom she had known so many 
 years before; and she related many circum- 
 stances respecting his family, and others which 
 had happened to herself in her earlier days. 
 But, alas ! it was only the gleam of reason. 
 As the fever abated, clouds again enveloped 
 the mind : she sunk into her former deplora- 
 ble state, and remained in it until her death, 
 which happened a few years afterwards. I 
 leave to the metaphysical reader further spe- 
 culation on this, certainly, very curious case." 
 -(p. 137.) 
 
 Upon the whole, we have little doubt that 
 this is the best managed asylum for the insane 
 that has ever yet been established ; and a part 
 of the explanation no doubt is, that the Quakers 
 take more pains than other people with their 
 madmen. A mad Quaker belongs to a small 
 and rich sect ; and is, therefore, of greater im- 
 portance than any other mad person of th<s 
 same degree in life. After every allowance, 
 however, which can be made for the feelings 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDP^EY SMITH. 
 
 107 
 
 of sectaries, exercised towards their own dis- 
 ciples, the Quakers, it must be allowed, are a 
 very charitable and humane people. They are 
 always ready with their money, and, what is 
 of far more importance, with their time and 
 attention, for every variety of human mis- 
 fortune. 
 
 They seem to set themselves down systema- 
 tically before the difficulty, with the wise con- 
 viction that it is to be lessened or subdued only 
 by great labour and thought; and that it is 
 always increased by indolence and neglect. 
 In this instance, they have set an example of 
 courage, patience, and kindness, which cannot 
 be too highly commended, or too widely dif- 
 
 fused ; and which, we are convinced, will gra- 
 dually bring into repute a milder and better 
 method of treating the insane. For the aver- 
 sion to inspect places qf this sort is so great, 
 and the temptation to neglect and oppress the 
 insane so strong, both from the love of power, 
 and the improbability of detection, that we 
 have no doubt of the existence of great abuses 
 in the interior of many madhouses. A great 
 deal has been done for prisons ; but the order 
 of benevolence has been broken through by 
 this preference ; for the voice of misery may 
 sooner come up from a dungeon, than the op- 
 pression of a madman be healed by the hand 
 of justice. f 
 
 AMEmCA.* 
 
 [Edinburoh Review, 1818.] 
 
 These four books are all very well worth 
 reading, to any person who feels, as we do, 
 the importance and interest of the subject of 
 which they treat. They contain a great deal 
 of information and amusement ; and will pro- 
 bably decide the fate, and direct the footsteps, 
 of many human beings, seeking a better lot 
 than the Old World can afford them. Mr. Hall 
 is a clever, lively man, very much above the 
 common race of writers ; with very liberal and 
 reasonable opinions, which he expresses with 
 great boldness, — and an inexhaustible fund of 
 good humour. He has the elements of wit in 
 him ; but sometimes is trite and llat when he 
 means to be amusing. He writes verses, too, 
 and is occasionally long and metaphysical: 
 but, upon the whole, we think highly of Mr. 
 Hall ; and deem him, if he is not more than 
 twent)'-five years of age, an extraordinary 
 young man. He is not the less extraordinary 
 for being a lieutenant of Light Dragoons — as 
 it is certainly somewhat rare to meet with an 
 original thinker, an indulgent judge of man- 
 ners, and a man tolerant of neglect and famili- 
 arity, in a youth covered with tags, feathers, 
 and martial foolery. 
 
 Mr. Palmer is a plain man, of good sense 
 and slow judgment. Mr. Bradbury is a bota- 
 nist, who li^ed a good deal among the savages, 
 but worth ationding to. Mr. FearoJi is a much 
 abler writer than either of the two last, but no 
 
 * 1. Travels in Canada and the United States, in 1816 
 and 1817. Bii Lieutenant Francis Hall, 14tli Light 
 Dragoons, IL P. London. Longman & Co. 1818. 
 
 2. Journal of Travels in the United States of JVvrth Ame- 
 rica, and in Lower Canada, performed in the year 1617, S;c. 
 S:c. By John Palmer. London. Sherwood, Neely & 
 Jones. 1818. 
 
 3. A J^arrative of a Journey of Five Thousand Mies 
 through the Eastern and Western States of America ; con- 
 tained in Eight Reports, addressed to the Thirty-nine Eng- 
 lish Families by whom the Author was deputed, in June, 
 1817, to ascertain whether any and what Part of the United 
 States would be suitable for their Residence. With Re- 
 marks on Mr. Birkheck's " J\rotcs" and "Letters." By 
 Henry Eradshaw Fearon. London. Longman & Co. 
 1818. 
 
 4. Travels in the Interior of America, in the years 1809, 
 1810, and 1811, S^-c. By John Bradbury, F. L S. Lond. 
 8vo. London. Sherwood, Neely & Jones. 1817. 
 
 lover of America, — and a little given to exag- 
 geration in his views of vices and prejudices. 
 Among other faults with which our govern- 
 ment is chargeable, the vice of impertinence 
 has lately crept into our cabinet; and the 
 Americans have been treated with ridicule and 
 contempt. But they are becoming a little too 
 powerful, we take it, for this cavalier sort of 
 management; and are increasing with a rapi- 
 dity which is really no matter of jocularity to 
 us, or the other powers of the Old World. In 
 1791, Baltimore contained 13,000 inhabitants; 
 in 1810, 46,000 ; in 1817, 60,000. In 1790, it pos- 
 sessed 13,000 tons of shipping ; in 1798, 59,000 ; 
 in 1805,72,000; in 1810, 103,444. The pro- 
 gress of Philadelphia is as follows : — 
 
 Houses. Inhabitants. 
 "In 1683 there were in the city 80 and 60O 
 
 1700 700 5,000 
 
 1749 2,076 15,000 
 
 1760 _ . . . . 2,969 20,000 
 
 1769 4,474 30,000 
 
 1776 5,460 40,000 
 
 1783 6,000 42.000 
 
 1806 13,000 90,000 
 
 1810 22,769 100,000 
 
 "Now it is computed there are at least 
 120,000 inhabitants in the city and suburbs, of 
 which 10,000 are free coloured people." — Pal- 
 mer, p. 254, 255. 
 
 The population of New York {the city), in 
 1805, was 60,000; it is now 120,000. Their 
 shipping, at present, amounts to 300,000 tons. 
 The population of the state of New York was, 
 at the accession of his present majesty, 87,000, 
 and is now nearly 1,000,000. Kentucky, first 
 settled in 1773, had, in 1792, a population of 
 100,000; and in 1810, 406,000. Morse reckons 
 the whole population of the western territory, 
 in 1790, at 6,000; in 1810 it was near half a 
 million ; and will probably exceed a million in 
 1820. These, and a thousand other equally 
 
 tThe Society of Friends havel>een extremely fortu- 
 nate in the choice of their male and female superintend- 
 ents at the asylum, Mr. and Mrs. Jephson. It is not easy 
 to find a greater combination of good sense a. id good 
 feeling than these two persons possess : — I)ut then the 
 merit of selecting them rests with their employers 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 strongs proofs of their increasing strength, tend 
 to extinguish pleasantry, and provoke thought. 
 
 We were surprised and pleased to find from 
 these accounts that the Americans on the Red 
 River and the Arkansas River have begun to 
 make sugar and wine. Their importation of 
 wool into this countr}^ is becoming also an 
 object of some consequence; and they have 
 inexhaustible supplies of salt and coal. But 
 one of the great sources of wealth in America 
 is and will be an astonishing command of in- 
 land navigation. The Mississippi, flowing 
 from the north to the Gulf of Mexico, through 
 seventeen degrees of latitude; the Ohio and 
 the Alleghany almost coirnecting it with the 
 Northern Lakes; the Wabash, the Illinois, the 
 Missouri, the Arkansas, the Red River, flowing 
 from the confines of New Mexico ; — these 
 rivers, ah navigable, and most of them already 
 frequented by steamboats, constitute a facility 
 of internal communication not, we believe, to 
 be paralleled in the whole world. 
 
 One of the great advantages of the American 
 government is its cheapness. The American 
 king has about 5000/. per annum, the vice-king 
 1000/. They hire their Lord Liverpool a't 
 
 not the influence of sense and character, but 
 the influence of money and punch. 
 
 A very disgusting feature in the character 
 of the present English government is its ex- 
 treme timidity, and the cruelty and violence to 
 which its timidity gives birth. Some hot- 
 headed young person, in defending the princi- 
 ples of liberty, and attacking those abuses 
 to which all governments are liable, passes 
 the bounds of reason and moderation, or is 
 thought to have passed them by those whose 
 interest it is to think so. What matters it 
 whether he has or has notl You are strong 
 enough to let him alone. With such institu- 
 tions as ours he can do no mischief; perhaps 
 he may owe his celebrity to your opposition ; 
 or, if he must be opposed, write against him, 
 — set Candidus, Scrutator, Vindex, or any of 
 the conductitious penmen of government to 
 write him down ; — any thing but the savage 
 spectacle of a poor wretch, perhaps a very 
 honest man, contending in vain against the 
 weight of an immense government, pursued 
 by a jealous attorney, and sentenced, by some 
 candidate, perhaps, for the favour of the crown, 
 to the long miseries of the dungeon.* A still 
 
 bout a thousand per annum, and their Lord more flagrant instance may be found in our 
 
 Sidraouth (a good bargain) at the same sum 
 Their Mr. Crokers are inexpressibly reason- 
 able, — somewhere about the price of an Eng- 
 lish doorkeeper, or bearer of a mace. Life, 
 hov.ever, seems to go on very well, in spite of 
 these low salaries; and the purposes of go- 
 vernment to be very fairly answered. What- 
 ever may be the evils of universal suffrage in 
 other countries, they have not yet been felt in 
 America; and one thing at least is established 
 by her expeiience, that this institution is not 
 necessarily followed by those tumults, the 
 dread of which excites so much apprehension 
 in this country. In the most democratic states, 
 where the payment of direct taxes is the only 
 qualification of a voter, the elections are car- 
 ried on with the utmost tranquiUity; and the 
 ■whole business, b}' taking votes in each parish 
 or section, concluded all over the state in a 
 single day. A great deal is said by Fearon 
 about Caucus, the cant word of the Americans 
 for the committees and party meetings in 
 which the business of the elections is prejiared 
 — the influence of which he seems to consider 
 as prejudicial. To us, however, it appears 
 to be nothing more than the natural, fair, and 
 unavoidable influence Avhich talent, popularity 
 and activity alwaj's must have upon such 
 occasions. What other influence can the 
 leading characters of the democratic party in 
 Congress possibly possess 1 Bribery is entirely 
 out of the question — equally so is the influence 
 of family and fortune. What then can they 
 do, with their caucus or without it, but recom- 
 mend 1 And what charge is it against the 
 American government to saj' that those mem- 
 bers of whom the people have the highest 
 opinion meet together to consult whom they 
 shall recommend for president, and that their 
 recommendation is successful in their differ- 
 ent states'? Could any friend to good order 
 wish other means to be employed, or other re- 
 sults to folloM'l No statesman can Avish to 
 cxcludft influence, but only bad influence; — 
 
 late suspensions of the habeas corpus act. 
 Nothing vras trusted to the voluntar)^ activity 
 of a bi-ave people, thoroughly attached to their 
 government — nothing to the good sense and 
 prudence of the gentlemen and yeomen of the 
 country — nothing to a little forbearance, pa- 
 tience, and watchfulness. There was no other 
 security but despotism; nothing but the aliena- 
 tion of that right which no king nor minister 
 can love, and which no human beings but the 
 English have had the valour to win, and the 
 prudence to keep. The contrast between our 
 government and that ( f the Americans, upon 
 the subject of suspending the habeas corpus, 
 is drawn in so very able a manner by Mr. 
 Hall, that we must give the passage at large. 
 
 " It has ever been the policy of the federal- 
 ists to 'strengthen the hands of government.' 
 No measure can be imagined more efl^ectual 
 for this purpose, than a law which gifts the 
 ruling powers with infallibility; but no sooner 
 was it enacted, than it revealed its hostility to 
 the principles of the American system, by 
 
 * A great deal is said aliout the independence and in- 
 tegrity of English judges. In causes between individuals 
 they are strictly independent and upright ; hut they have 
 strong temptations to be otherwise, in cases where the 
 crown prosecutes for libel. Such cases often involve 
 questions of party, and are viewed with great passion 
 and agitation by "the minister and his friends. Judges 
 have often favours to ask for their friends and families, 
 and dignities to aspire to for themselves. It is human 
 nature, that such powerful motives should create a great 
 bias against the prisoner. Suppose the chief justice of 
 any court to be in an infirm state of health, and a go- 
 vernment libel-cause to be tried by one of the puisne 
 judges.— of what immense importance is it to that man 
 to be called a strong friend to government— how injuri- 
 ous to his natural and fair hopes to be called lukewarm, 
 or addicted to popular notions— and how easily the run- 
 ners of the government would attach such a character to 
 him! The useful inference from these observations is, 
 that, in all government cases, the jury, instead of being 
 influenced bv the cant phrases about the integrity of 
 English judges, should suspect the operation of such 
 motives— watch the judge with the most acute jealousy 
 —and compel him to be honest, by throwing themselves 
 into the opposite scale whenever he is inclined to be 
 otherwise. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 109 
 
 generating oppression under the cloak of de- 
 fending social order. 
 
 " If there ever was a period vrhen circnm- 
 stances seemed to justify what are called ener- 
 getic measures, it was during the administra- 
 tions of Mr. Jefferson and his successor. A 
 disastrous war began to rage, not only on tlie 
 frontiers, but in the very penetralia of the re- 
 public. To oppose veteran troops, the ablest 
 generals, and the largest fleets in the world, 
 the American government had raw recruits, 
 officers who had never seen an enemy, half a 
 dozen frigates, and a population unaccustomed 
 to sacrifices, and impatient of taxation. To 
 crown these disadvantages, a most important 
 section of the Union, the New England states, 
 openly set up the standard of separation and 
 rebellion. A convention sat for the express 
 purpose of thwarting the measures of govern- 
 ment; while the press and puVpit thundered 
 every species of denunciation against whoever 
 should assist their own country in the hour 
 of danger.* And this was the work, not of 
 jacobins and democrats, but of the stanch 
 friends of religion and social order, who had 
 been so zealously attached to the government, 
 while it was administered by their own party, 
 Ihat they suffered not the popular breath ' to 
 visit the president's breech too roughly.' 
 
 " The course pursued, both by Mr. Jefferson 
 and Mr. Madison throughout this season of 
 difficulty, merits the gratitude of their country, 
 and the" imitation of all governments pretend- 
 ing to be free. 
 
 " So far were they from demanding any ex- 
 traordinary powers from Congress, that they 
 did not even enforce, to their full extent, those 
 with which they were by the constitution in- 
 vested. The process of reasoning, on which 
 they probably acted, may be thus stated. The 
 majority of the nation is with us, because the 
 war is national. The interests of a minority 
 suffer; and self-interest is clamorous when 
 injured. It carries its opposition to an ex- 
 treme inconsistent with its political duty. 
 Shall we leave it in an undisturbed career of 
 faction, or seek to put it down with libel and 
 sedition laws ] In the first case it will grow 
 bold from impunity; its proceedings will be 
 more and more outrageous : but every step it 
 takes to thwart us will be a step in favour of 
 the enemy, and, consequently, so much ground 
 lost in public opinion. But, as public opinion 
 is the only instrument by which a minority 
 can convert a majority to its views, impunity, 
 by revealing its motives, affords the surest 
 chance of defeating its intent. In the latter 
 case, we quit the ground of reason to take 
 that of force ; we give the factious the advan- 
 tage of seeming, persecuted; by repressing 
 
 * "In Boston, nssociations were entered into for the 
 purpose of preventing the filling up of governnient 
 loans. Individuals disposed to subscribe were obliged 
 to do it in secret, and conceal their names, as if the 
 action had been dishonest." — Vide 'Olive Branch,' p. 
 307. At tlie same time, immense runs were made by 
 the Boston banks on those of the Central and Southern 
 states ; while the specie thus drained was transmitted to 
 Canada, in payment for smuggled goods and British eo- 
 vernment bills, which were drawn in Quebec, and dis- 
 posed of in great numbers, on advantageous terms, to 
 moneyed men in the states. Mr. Henry's mi.ssion is the 
 best proof of the result anticipated by our government 
 from those proceedings in New England. 
 
 intemperate discussion, we confess ourselves 
 liable to be injured by it. If we seek to shield 
 our reputation by a libel-law, we acknowledge, 
 either that our conduct will not bear investi- 
 gation, or that the people are incapable of 
 distinguishing betwixt truth and falsehood : 
 but for a popular government to impeach the 
 sanctity of the nation's judgment is to over- 
 throw the pillars of its own elevation. 
 
 "The event triumphantly proved the cor- 
 rectness of this reasoning. The federalists 
 awoke from the delirium of factious intoxica- 
 tion, and found themselves covered with con- 
 tempt and shame. Their country had been 
 in danger, and they gloried in her distress. 
 She had exposed herself to privations from 
 which they had extracted profit. In her tri- 
 umphs they had no part, except that of having 
 mourned over and depreciated them. Since 
 the war federalism has been scarcely heard 
 of."— ifo//, 508— 511. 
 
 The Americans, we believe, are the first 
 persons who have discarded the tailor in the 
 administration of justice, and his auxiliary 
 the barber — two persons of endless importance 
 in codes and pandects of Europe. A judge 
 administers justice, without a calorific wig 
 and particoloured gown, in a coat and panta- 
 loons. He is obe\ed, however; and life and 
 property are not badly protected in the United 
 States. We shall be denounced by the lau- 
 reate as atheists and jacobins; but we must 
 say, that we have doubts whether one atom 
 of useful influence is added to men in impor- 
 tant situations by any colour, quantity, or con- 
 figuration of cloth and hair. The true pro- 
 gress of refinement, we conceive, is to discard 
 all the mountebank drapery of barbarous 
 ages. One row of gold and fur falls ofiT after 
 another from the robe of power, and is picked 
 up and worn by the parish beadle and the ex- 
 hibitor of wild beasts. Meantime, the afflicted 
 wiseacre mourns over equality of garment ; 
 and wotteth not of two men, whose doublet.s 
 have cost alike, how one shall command and 
 the other obey. 
 
 The dress of lawyers, however, is, at all 
 events, of less importance than their charges. 
 Law is cheap in America: in England, it is 
 better, in a mere pecuniary point of view, to 
 give up forty pounds than to contend for it in 
 a court of common law. It costs that sum in 
 England to win a cause; and, in the court of 
 equity, it is better to abandon five hundred or 
 a thousand pounds than to contend for it. We 
 mean to say nothing disrespectful of the chan- 
 cellor — who is an upright judge, a very great 
 lawyer, and zealous to do all he can ; but we 
 believe the Court of Chancery to be in a state 
 which imperiously requires legislative con ec- 
 tion. We do not accuse it of any malversa- 
 tion, but of a complication, formality, entan- 
 glement, and delay, which the life, the wealth, 
 and the patience of man cannot endure. How 
 such a subject comes not to have been taken 
 up in the House of Commons, we are wholly 
 at a loss to conceive. We feel for climbing 
 boys as much as anybody can do ; but what 
 is a climbing boy in a chimney to a full-grown 
 suitor in the Master's office. And whenc<; 
 comes it, in the midst of ter. thousand com 
 K 
 
no 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 passions and charities, that no Wilberforce, 
 or Sister Fry, has started up for the suitors in 
 Chancery 1* and M'h}-, in the name of these 
 afflicted and attorne3'-'n-orn people, are there 
 united in their judge three or four offices, any 
 one of which is sufricient to occupy the whole 
 time of a very able and active man 7 
 
 There are no very prominent men at present 
 in America ; at least none -whose fame is 
 strong enough for exportation. Monroe is a 
 man of plain, unaffected good sense. Jeffer- 
 son, -n-e believe, is still alive ; and has always 
 been more remarkable, perhaps, for the early 
 share he took in the formation of the republic, 
 than from any very predominant superiority 
 of understanding. Mr. Hall made him a 
 visit : — 
 
 " I slept a night at Monticello, and left it in 
 the morning with such a feeling as the travel- 
 ler quits the mouldering remains of a Grecian 
 temple, or the pilgrim a fountain in the desert. 
 It would indeed argue great torpor both of 
 imderstanding and heart, to have looked with- 
 out veneration and interest on the man who 
 drew up the declaration of American indepen- 
 dence ; who shared in the councils by which 
 her freedom was established; whom "the un- 
 bought voice of his fellow-c'tizens called to the 
 exercise of a dignity from which his own mo- 
 deration impelled him, when such example 
 was most salutar}-, to withdraw; and who, 
 while he dedicates the evening of his glorious 
 days to the pursuits of science and literature, 
 shuns none of the humbler duties of private 
 life ; but, having filled a seat higher than that 
 of kings, succeeds with graceful dignity to 
 that of the good neighbour, and becomes the 
 friendly adviser, lawyer, physician, and even 
 gardener of his vicinity. This is the * still 
 small voice' of philosophy, deeper and holier 
 than the lightnings and earthquakes which 
 have preceded it. What monarch would ven- 
 ture thus to exhibit himself in the nakedness 
 of his humanity] On what royal brow would 
 the laurel replace the diadem?" — Hall, 3S4, 
 385. 
 
 Mr. Fearon dined -uith another of the Ex- 
 Kings, Mr. Adams. 
 
 " The ex-president is a handsome old gen- 
 tleman of eighty-lour; — his lady is seveutj-- 
 six; — she has the reputation of superior ta- 
 .ents, and great literary acquirements. I was 
 not perfectly a stranger here; as, a few days 
 previous to this, I had received the honour of 
 an hospitable reception at their mansion. 
 Upon the present occasion the minister (the 
 day being Sunday) was of the dinner part}-. 
 As the table of a 'late King' may amuse 
 some of you, take the following particulars : — 
 first course, a pudding made of Indian corn, 
 molasses, and butter; — second, veal, bacon, 
 neck of mutton, potatoes, cabbages, carrots, 
 
 * This is still one of the great uncorrected evils of the 
 country. Nolhins can be so utterly absurd as to leave 
 the head of the Court of Chancery apolitical officer, and 
 to subject forty millions of litieated property to all the 
 delays and interruptions which are occasioned by his 
 present multiplicity of offices. (1S39.)— The Chancellor 
 is Speaker of the House of Lords; he might as well be 
 wade Archbishop of Canterbury j— it in one of the great- 
 eei of eiisting lollies. 
 
 I and Indian beans ; Madeira wine, of which 
 I each drank two glasses. We sat down to din- 
 j ner at one o'clock; at two, nearly all went 
 ' a second time to church. For tea, we had 
 I pound-cake, sweet bread and butter, and bread 
 ( made of Indian corn and rj-e (similar to our 
 I brown home-made). Tea was brought from 
 ' the kitchen, and handed round by a neat, white 
 ' servant-girl. The topics of conversation were 
 j various — England, America, religion, politics, 
 literature, science. Dr. Priestley, Miss Edge- 
 I worth, Mrs. Siddons, Mr. Kean, France, Shak- 
 speare. Moore, Lord Byron, Cobbett, American 
 Revolution, the traitor General Arnold. 
 
 I " The establishment of this political patri- 
 arch consists of a house two stories high, con- 
 taining, I believe, eight rooms ; of two men and 
 three maid-servants ; three horses, and a plain 
 carriage. How great is the contrast between 
 this individual — a man of knowledge and in- 
 formation — without pomp, parade, or vicious 
 and expensive establishments, as compared 
 
 I with the costly trappings, the depraved cha- 
 racters, and the profligate expenditure of 
 
 I house, and ! What a lesson in this 
 
 ■ does America teach ! There are now in this 
 land no less than three Cincinnati!" — Fearon, 
 111—113. 
 
 The travellers agree, we think, in complain- 
 ing of the insubordination of American child- 
 ren — and do not much like American ladies. 
 In their criticisms upon American gasconade, 
 theyforget that vulgar people of all countries aie 
 full of gasconade. The Americans love titles. 
 j The following extract from the Boston Senti- 
 jnel of last August (1817), is quoted by Mr 
 I Fearon. 
 
 I " ' Dinner to Mr. Adams. — Yesterday a pub- 
 lic dinner was given to the Hon. John Q. 
 I Adams, in the Exchange Coffee-House, by 
 j his fellow-citizens of Boston. The Hon. Wm. 
 Gray presided, assisted by the Hon. Harrison 
 I Gray Otis, George Blake, Esq., and the Hon. 
 I Jonathan Mason, vice-presidents. Of the 
 [ guests were, the Hon. Mr. Adams, late presi- 
 I dent of the United States, his Excellency Go- 
 I vernor Brooks, his Honour Lt. Gov. Phillips, 
 Chief Justice Parker, Judge Story, President 
 Kirkland, Gen. Dearborn, Com. Hull, Gen. 
 Miller, several of the reverend cXergy, and 
 many public officers, and strangers of emi- 
 nence.' " 
 
 They all, in common with j\Ir. Birkbeck, 
 seem to be struck with the indolence of the 
 American character. Mr. Fearon makes the 
 j charge ; and gives us below the right expla- 
 j nation of its cause. 
 
 '• The life of boarders at an American tavern 
 presents the most senseless and comfortless 
 ! mode of killing time which I have ever seen. 
 I Every house of this description that I have 
 I been in, is thronged to excess ; and there is 
 j not amauAvho appears to have a single earth- 
 j ly object in view, except spitting, and smoking 
 segars. I have not seen a book in the hands 
 I of any person since I left Philadelphia. Ob- 
 jjectionable as these habits are, they afford de- 
 I cided evidence of the prosperity of that coun- 
 1 try, vrhich can admit so large a body of its 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 Ill 
 
 citizens to waste in indolence three-fourths of 
 their lives, and would also appear to hold out 
 encouragement to Englishmen with English 
 habits, who could retain their industry amid a 
 nation of indolence, and have sufficient firmness 
 to live in America, and yet bid defiance to the 
 deadly example of its natives." — Fearon, p. 
 252, 253. 
 
 Yet this charge can hardly apply to the north- 
 eastern parts of the Union. 
 
 The following sample of American vulgarity 
 is not unentertaining. 
 
 "On arriving at the tavern door the landlord 
 makes his appearance. — Landlord. Your ser- 
 vant, gentlemen, this is a fine day. — Answer. 
 Very fine. — Land. You've got two nice creatures,- 
 they are right elegant matches. Ans. Yes, we 
 bought them for matches. — Land. They cost a 
 heap of dollars, (a pause, and knowing look) ; 
 200 I calculate. Ans. Yes, they cost a good sum. 
 Land. Possible! (a pause); going westward to 
 Ohio, gentlemen? Ans. We are going to Phila- 
 delphia. — Land. Philadelphia, ah ! that's a 
 dreadful large place, three or four times as big 
 as Lexington. Ans. Ten times as large. — Land. 
 Is it, by George ! what a mighty heap of houses, 
 (a pause) ; bat I reckon you was not reared in 
 Philadelphia. Ans. Philadelphia is not our 
 native place. — Land. Perhaps au-ay up in 
 Canada. Ans. No; we are from England. — 
 Land. Is it possible ! well, I calculated you were 
 I'rom abroad, (pause) ; how long have you been 
 from the old country? Ans. We left England 
 last March. — Land. And in August here you are 
 in Keniuclc. Well, I should have guessed you 
 had been in the state some years; you speak 
 almost as good English as we do! 
 
 "This dialogue is not a literal copy; but it 
 embraces most of the frequent and improper 
 applications of words used in the back country, 
 with a few New England phrases. By the log- 
 house farmer and tavern keeper, they are used 
 as often, and as erroneously, as they occur in 
 the above discourse." — Palmer, p. 129, 1.30. 
 
 This is of course intended as a representation 
 of the manners of the low, or, at best, the mid- 
 dling class of people in America. 
 
 The four travellers, of whose works we are 
 giving an account, made extensive tours in 
 every part of America, as well in the old as in 
 the new settlements; and, generally speaking, 
 we should say their testimony is in favour of 
 American manners. We must except, perhaps, 
 Mr. Fearon; — and yet he seems to have very 
 little to say against them. Mr. Palmer tells us 
 that he found his companions, officers and far- 
 mers, unobtrusive, civil and obliging; — that 
 what the servants do for you, they do with ala- 
 crity;— that at their tables d'hote ladies are treat- 
 ed with great politeness. We have real plea- 
 sure in making the following extract from Mr. 
 Bradbury's tour. 
 
 " In regard to the manners of the people west 
 of the Alleghanies, it would be absurd to expect 
 that a general character could be now formed, 
 or that it w)ll be, for many years yet to come. 
 The population is at present compouTided of a 
 great number of nations, not yet amalgamated, 
 consisting of emigrants from every state in the 
 Union, mixed with English, Irish, Scotch, Dutch, 
 
 Swiss, Germans, French and almost from every 
 country in Europe. In some traits they partake 
 in common with the inhabitants of the Atlantic 
 states, which results from the nature of their 
 government. That species of hauteur which 
 one class of society in some countries shows 
 in their intercourse with the other, is here utterly 
 unknown. By their constitution, the existence 
 of a privileged order, vested by birth with here- 
 ditary privileges, honours or emoluments, is for 
 ever interdicted. If, therefore, we should here 
 expect to find that contemptuous feeling in man 
 for man, we should naturally examine amongst 
 those clothed with judicial or military authority; 
 but we should search in vain. The justice on 
 the bench, or theofticer in the field, is respected 
 and obeyed whilst discharging the functions of 
 his oflice, as the representative or agent of the 
 law, enacted for the good of all,- but should he 
 be tempted to treat even the least wealthy of his 
 neighbours or fellow-citizens with contumely, 
 he would soon find that he could not do it with 
 impunity. Travellers- from Europe, in passing 
 through the western country, or indeed any part 
 of the United States, ought to be previously ac- 
 quainted with this part of the American charac- 
 ter, and more particularly if they have been in 
 the habit of treating with contempt, or irritating 
 with abuse, those whom accidental circum- 
 stances may have placed in a situation to ad- 
 minister to their wants. Let no one hei-e in- 
 dulge himself in abusing the waiter or ostler at 
 an inn; that waiter or ostler is probably a citizen, 
 and does not, nor cannot conceive, that a situa- 
 tion in which he discharges a duty to society, 
 not in itself dishonourable, should subject him 
 to insult: but this feeling, so far as I have ex- 
 perienced, is entirely defensive. I have travelled 
 near 10,000 miles in the United States, and 
 never met with the least incivility or affront. 
 
 "The Americans, in general, are accused by 
 travellers of being inquisitive. If this be a 
 crime, the western people are guilty; but, for 
 my part, I may say that it is a practice that I 
 never was disposed to complain of, because I 
 always found them as ready to answer a question 
 as to ask one, and therefore I always came ofl^a 
 gainer by this kind of barter; and if any tra- 
 veller does not, it is his own fault. As this leads 
 me to notice their general conduct to strangers, 
 I feel myself bound, by gratitude and regard to 
 truth, to speak of their hospitality. In my tra^ 
 vels through the inhabited parts of the United 
 States, not less than 2C00 miles was through 
 parts where there were no taverns, and where 
 a traveller is under the necessity of appealing 
 to the hospitality of the inhabitants. In no one 
 instance has my appeal been fruitless ; although, 
 in many cases, the furnishing of a bed has been 
 evidently attended with inconvenience, and in a 
 great many instances no remuneration would 
 be received. Other European travellers have 
 experienced this liberal spirit of hospitality, and 
 some have repaid it by calumny." — Bradhuiy, 
 p. 304—306. 
 
 We think it of so much importance to do 
 justice to other nations, and to lessen that hatred 
 and contempt which race feels for race, that we 
 subjoin two short passages from Mr. Hall to ths 
 same effect. 
 
112 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 "I had bills on Philadelphia, and applied to a 
 respectable storekeeper, that is, tradesman, of the 
 village, to cash me one; the amount, however, 
 was beyond any remittance he had occasion to 
 make, but he immediately offered me whatever 
 sum I might require for my journey, with no 
 better security than my word for its repayment 
 at Philadelphia: he even insisted on my taking 
 more than I mentioned as sufHcient. I do not 
 believe this trait of liberality would surprise an 
 American ; for no one in the states, to whom I 
 mentioned it, seemed to consider it as more 
 than any stranger of respectable appearance 
 'might have looked for, in similar circumstan- 
 ces: but it might well surprise an English 
 traveller, who had been told, as I had, that the 
 Americans never failed to cheat and insult every 
 Englishman who travelled through their coun- 
 try, especially if ihey knew him to be an oflicer. 
 This latter particular they never failed to inform 
 themselves of, for they are by no means bashful 
 in inquiries: but if the discovery operated in 
 any way upon their behaviour, it was rather 
 to my advantage; nor did I meet with a sin- 
 gle instance of incivility betwixt Canada and 
 Charleston, except at the Shenandoah Point, 
 from a drunken English deserter. My testimony 
 in this particular, will certainly not invalidate 
 the complaints of many other travellers, who, I 
 doubt not, have frequently encountered rude 
 treatment, and quite as frequently deserved it; 
 but it will at least prove the possibility of tra- 
 versing the United States without insult or 
 interruption, and even of being occasionally 
 surprised by liberality and kindness." — Hall, p. 
 255, 256. 
 
 " I fell into very pleasant society at Washing- 
 ton. Strangers who intend staying some days 
 in a town, usually take lodgings at a boarding- 
 house, in preference to a tavern: in this way 
 they obtain the best society the place affords; 
 for there are always gentlemen and frequently 
 ladies, either visitors or temporary residents, 
 who live in this manner to avoid the trouble of 
 housekeeping. At Washington, during the sit- 
 tings of Congress, the boarding-houses are di- 
 vided into messes, according to the political 
 principles of the inmates, nor is a stranger 
 admitted without some introduction, and the 
 consent of the whole company. I chanced to 
 join a democratic mess, and name a few of its 
 members with gratitude, for the pleasure their 
 society gave me — Commodore Decatur and his 
 lady, the Abbe Correa, the great botanist and 
 plenipotentiary of Portugal, the Secretary of the 
 Navy, the Secretary of the Navy Board, known 
 'as the author of a humorous publication entitled 
 '.fohn Bull and Brother Jonathan,' with eight 
 or ten members of Congress, principally from 
 the western states, which are generally consi- 
 dered as most decidedly hostile to England, but 
 whom I did not on this account find less good- 
 humouied and courteous. It is from thus living 
 in daily intercourse with the leading characters 
 of the country, that one is enabled to judge with 
 some degree of certainty of the practices of its 
 government; for to know the paper theory is 
 nothing, unless it be compared with the instru- 
 ments employed to carry it into eflect. A poli- 
 tical constitution mav be nothing but a cabalistic 
 
 form, to extort money and power from the people; 
 but then the jugglers must be in the dark, and 
 " no admittance behind the curtain." This way 
 of living affords, too, the best insight into the 
 best part of society: for if in a free nation the 
 depositaries of the public confidence be ignorant 
 or vulgar, it is a very fruitless search to look 
 for the opposite qualities in those they represent; 
 whereas, if these be well-informed in mind and 
 manners, it proves at the least an inclination 
 towards knowledge and refinement in the gene- 
 ral mass of citizens by whom they are selected. 
 My own experience obliges me to a favourable 
 verdict in this particular. I found the little circle 
 into which I had happily fallen full of good sense 
 and good humour, and never quitted it without 
 feeling myself a gainer, on the score either of 
 useful information or of social enjoyment." — 
 /7a//, p. 329—331. 
 
 In page 252 Mr. Hall pays some very hand- 
 some compliments to the gallantry, high feeling 
 and humanity of the American troops. Such 
 passages reflect the highest honour upon Mr. 
 Hall. They are full of courage as well as kind- 
 ness, and will never be forgiven at home. 
 
 Literature the Americans have none — no na- 
 tive literature, we mean. It is all imported. They 
 had a Franklin, indeed; and may afford to live 
 for half a century on his fame. There is, or 
 was a Mr. Dwight, who wrote some poems; 
 and his baptismal name was Timothy. There 
 is also a small account of Virginia by Jefferson, 
 and an epic by Joel Barlow; and some pieces 
 of pleasantry by Mr. Irving. But why should 
 the Americans write book's, when a six weeks' 
 passage brings them, in their own tongue, our 
 sense, science and genius, in bales and hogs- 
 heads? Prairies, steam-boats, grist-mills, are 
 their natural objects for centuries to come. 
 Then, when they have got to the Pacific Ocean 
 — epic poems, plays, pleasures of memory and 
 all the elegant gratifications of an ancient people 
 who have tamed the wild earth, and set down 
 to amuse themselves. — This is the natural 
 march of human affairs. 
 
 The Americans, at least in the old states, are 
 a very religious people: but there is no sect 
 there which enjoys the satisfaction of excluding 
 others from civil offices; nor does any denomi- 
 nation of Christians take for their support a 
 tenth of produce. Their clergy, however, are 
 respectable, respected, and possess no small 
 share of influence. The places of worship in 
 Philadelphia in 1810, were as follows: — Pres- 
 byterian, 8; Episcopalian, 4; Methodists, 5; 
 Catholic, 4; Baptist, 5; Quakers, 4; Fighting 
 Quakers, 1 ; Lutheran, 3; Calvinist,3; Jews, 2; 
 Universalists, 1 ; Swedish Lutheran, 1; Mora- 
 vian, 1; Congregationalists, 1; Unitarians, 1; 
 Covenanters, 1 ; Black Baptists,! ; Black Epis- 
 copalians, 1 ; Black Methodists, 2. The Metho- 
 dists, Mr. Palmer tells us, are becoming the most 
 numerous sect in the United States. 
 
 Mr. Fearon gives us this account of the state 
 of religion at New York. 
 
 "Upon this interesting topic I would repeat, 
 what, indeed, you are already acquainted with, 
 that legalli/ there is the most unlimited liberty. 
 There is no state religion, and no government 
 i prosecution of individuals -for conscience sake 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 113 
 
 Whether those halcyon days, which I think 
 ■would attend a similar state of things in Eng- 
 land, are in existence here, must be left for 
 future observation. There are five Dutch Re- 
 formed churches; six Presbyterian; three As- 
 sociated Reformed ditto, one Associated Pres- 
 byterian; one Reformed ditto; five Methodist; 
 two d'Mo fur blacks; one German Reformed; one 
 Evangelical Lutheran; one Moravian; four 
 Trinitarian Baptist; one Universalist; two Ca- 
 tholic; three Quaker; eight Episcopalian; one 
 Jews' Synagogue; and to this I would add a 
 small meeting which is but little known, at 
 ■which the priest is dispensed with, every mem- 
 ber following what they call the apostolic plan 
 of instructing each other, and ' building one 
 another up in their most holy faith.' The Pres- 
 byterian and Episcopalian, or Church of Eng- 
 land sects, take the precedence in numbers and 
 in respectability. Their ministers receive from 
 two to eight thousand dollars per annum. All 
 the churches are well filled: they are the fash- 
 ionable places for display,- and the sermons and 
 talents of the minister offer never-ending sub- 
 jects of interest when social converse has been 
 exhausted upon the bad conduct and inferior 
 nature of niggars (negroes); the price of flour 
 at Liverpoof; the capture of the Giierriere,- and 
 the battle of New Orleans. The perfect equali- 
 ty of all sects seems to have deadened party 
 feeling: controversy is but little known." — 
 Fearon, p. 45, 46. 
 
 The absence of controversy, Mr. Fearon 
 seems to imagine, has produced indifference; 
 and he heaves a sigh to the memory of depart- 
 ed oppression. " Can it be possible (he asks) 
 that the non-existence of religious oppression 
 has lessened religious knowledge, and made 
 men superstitiously dependent upon outward 
 form, instead of internal purity 1" To which 
 question (a singular one from an enlightened 
 man like Mr. Fearon), we answer, that the ab- 
 sence of religious oppression has not lessened 
 religious knowledge, but theological animosity; 
 and made men more dependent upon pious ac- 
 tions, and less upon useless and unintelligible 
 ■wrangling.* 
 
 The great curse of America is the institution 
 of slavery — of itself far more than the foulest 
 blot upon their national character, and an evil 
 which counterbalances all the excisemen, licens- 
 ers, and tax-galherers of England. No virtu- 
 ous man ought to trust his own character, or 
 the character of his children, to the demoral- 
 izing effects produced by commanding slaves. 
 Justice, gentleness, pity and humility soon give 
 ■way before them. Conscience suspends its func- 
 tions. The love of command — the impatience 
 of restraint, get the better of every other feel- 
 ing; and cruelty has no other limit than fear. 
 
 '" There must doubtless,' says Mr. Jefferson, 
 'be an unhappy influence on the manners of 
 the people produced by the existence of slavery 
 among us. The whole commerce between mas- 
 
 * Mr. Fearon mentions a religious lottery for building 
 a Presliylerian church. What will Mr. Littleton say to 
 this? he'i?! hardly prepared, we suspect, for this union of 
 Cnl vin and the Little Go. Every advantage will be made 
 of it by the w\x and eloquence of his fiscal opponent; — 
 aor w;ll it pass unheeded by Mr. Bish. 
 15 
 
 ter and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most 
 boisterous passions; the most unremitting des- 
 potism on the one part, and degrading submis- 
 sions on the other. Our children see this, and 
 learn to imitate it; for man is an imitative ani- 
 mal. The parent storms, the child looks on, 
 catches the lineainents of wrath, puts on the 
 same airs in the circle of smaller slaves, gives 
 loose to the worst of passions; and thus nursed, 
 educated, and daily exercised in tyranny, can- 
 not but be stamped by it with odious peculiari- 
 ties. The man must be a prodigy who can 
 retain his morals and manners undepraved by 
 such circumstances.' — Notes, p. 241." — Hall, p. 
 459. 
 
 The following picture of a slave song is quot- 
 ed by Mr. Hall from the "Letters on Virginia." 
 
 " 'I took the boat this morning, and crossed 
 the ferry over to Portsmouth, the small town 
 which I told you is opposite to this place. It 
 was court-day, and a large crowd of people was 
 gathered about the door of the court-house. I 
 had hardly got upon the steps to look in, when 
 my ears were assailed by the voice of singing; 
 and turning round to discover from what quarter 
 it came, I saw a group of about thirty negroes, 
 of diflerent sizes and ages, following a rough- 
 looking white man, who sat carelessly lolling in 
 his sulky. They had just turned round ihe cor- 
 ner, and were coming up the main street to pass 
 by the spot where I stood, on their way out of 
 town. As they came nearer, I saw some of 
 them loaded with chains to prevent their escape; 
 while others had hold of each other's hands, 
 strongly grasped, as if to support themselves in 
 their affliction. I particularly noticed a poor 
 mother, with an infant suckling at her breast 
 as she walked along, while two small children 
 had hold of her apron on either side, almost 
 running to keep up with the rest. They came 
 along singing a little wild hymn, of sweet and 
 mournful melody, flying, by a divine instinct of 
 the heart, to the consolation of religion, the last 
 refuge of the unhappy, to support them in their 
 distress. The sulky now stopped before the 
 tavern, at a little distance beyond the court- 
 house, and the driver got out. ' My dear sir,' 
 said I to a person who stood near me, 'can you 
 tell me what these poor people have been doing? 
 What is their crime] and what is to be their 
 punishment 1' ' 0,' said he, 'it's nothing at all 
 but a parcel of negroes sold to Carolina; and 
 that man is their driver, who has bought them ' 
 'But what have they done, that they should bu 
 sold into banishment r 'Done,' said he, 'no- 
 thing at all, that I know of; their masters wanted 
 money, I suppose, and these drivers give good 
 prices.' Here the driver having supplied him- 
 self with brandy, and his horse wiih water, 
 (the poor negroes, of course, wanted nothing,) 
 stepped into his chair again, cracked his whi[i, 
 and drove on, while the miserable exiles fol- 
 lowed in funeral procession behind him.' " 
 Hall, 358—360 
 
 The law by which slaves are governed in tlie 
 Carolinas, is a provincial law as old as 1740, 
 but made perpetual in 1783. By this law it is 
 enacted, that every negro shall be presumed a 
 slave, unless the contrary appear. The 9th 
 clause allows two justices of the peace, and 
 
]14 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 three freeholders, power to put them to any 
 manner of death; the evidence against them 
 may be without oath. — No slave is to traffic on 
 his own account. — Any per.-^on murdering a 
 slave is to pay 100/. — or 14/. if he cuts out the 
 tongue of a slave. — Any white man meeting 
 seven slaves together on an high road, may 
 give them twenty lashes each. — No man must 
 leach a slave to write, under penally of 100/. 
 currency. We have Mr. Hall's authority for 
 the existence and enforcement of this law at the 
 present day. Mr. Fearon has recorded some 
 facts still more instructive. 
 
 " Observing a great many coloured people, par- 
 ticularly females, in these boats, I concluded that 
 they were emigrants, who had proceeded thus 
 far on their route towards a settlement. The fact 
 proved to be, that fourteen of the flats were 
 freighted with human beings for sale. They 
 had been collected in the several states by slave 
 dealers, and shipped from Kentucky for a mar- 
 ket. They were dressed up to the best advan- 
 tage, on the same principle that jockeys do 
 horses upon sale. The following is a specimen 
 of advertisements on this subject. 
 
 'twenty dollars rewaed 
 
 "'Will be paid for apprehending and lodging 
 in jail, or delivering to the subscriber, the fol- 
 lowing slaves, belonging to Joseph Irvix, of 
 Ibtrvilk. — TOM, a very light mulatto, blue eyes, 
 5 feet 10 inches high, appears to be about 
 35 years of age ; an artful fellow — can read 
 and write, and preaches occasionally. — CHAR- 
 LOTTE, a black wench, round and full faced, 
 tall, straight and likely — about 2.5 years of age, 
 and wife of the above-named Tom. — These 
 slaves decamped from their owner's plantation 
 on the night of the 14th September inst.' " — 
 Fearon, p. 270. 
 
 "The three 'African churches,' as they are 
 called, are for all those native Americans who 
 are black, or have any shade of colour darker 
 than white. These persons, though many of them 
 are possessed of the rights of citizenship, are not 
 admitted into the churches which are visited by 
 ■whites. There exists a penal law, deeply writ- 
 ten in the mind of the whole white population, 
 which subjects their coloured fellow-citizens to 
 unconditional contumely and never-ceasing in- 
 sult. No respectabilit}', however unquestionable, 
 — no property, however large, — no character, 
 however unblemished, will gain a man, whose 
 body is (in American estimation) cursed with 
 even a twentieth portion of the blood of his 
 African ancestry, admission into society!!! 
 They are considered as mere Pariahs — as out- 
 casts and vagrants upon the face of the earth! 
 I make no reflection upon these things, but 
 leave the facts for your consideration." — Ibid., 
 p. 168, 169. 
 
 That such feelings and such practices should 
 exist among men who know the value of liberty, 
 and profess to understand its principles, is the 
 consummation of wickedness. Every Ameri- 
 can who loves his country, should dedicate his 
 -whole life, and every faculty of his soul, to 
 efface this foul slain from its character. If 
 nations rank according to their wisdom and 
 llieir virtue, what right has the American, a 
 
 scourger and murderer of slaves, to compare 
 himself with the least and lowest of the Eu- 
 ropean nations? — much more with this great 
 and humane country, where the greatest lord 
 dare not lay a finger upon the meanest peasant? 
 What is freedom, where all are not free? where 
 the greatest of God's blessings is limited, with 
 impious caprice, to the colour of the body? 
 And these are the men who taunt the English 
 with their corrupt Parliament, with their buying 
 and selling votes. Let the world judge which 
 is the most liable to censure — we who, in the 
 midst of our rottenness, have torn oft' the 
 manacles of slaves all over the world; — or 
 they who, with their idle purity and useless 
 perfection, have remained mute and careless, 
 while groans echoed and whips clanked round 
 the very walls of their spotless Congress. We 
 wish well to America — we rejoice in her pros- 
 perity — and are delighted to resist the absurd 
 impertinence with which the character of her 
 people is often treated in this country: but the 
 existence of slavery in America is an atrocious 
 crime, with which no measures can be kept — 
 for which her situation affords no sort of apology 
 — which makes liberty itself distrusted, and the 
 boast of it disgusting. 
 
 As for emigration, every man, of course, must 
 determine for himself. A carpenter under thirty 
 years of age, who finds himself at Cincinnati 
 with an axe over his shoulder, and ten pounds 
 in his pocket, will get rich in America, if the 
 change of climate does not kill him. So will a 
 farmer who emigrates early with some capital. 
 Bui any person with tolerable prosperity here 
 had better remain where he is. There are 
 considerable evils, no doubt, in England: but 
 it would be madness not to admit that it is, 
 upon the whole, a very happy country, — and we 
 are much mistaken if the next twenty years 
 will not bring with it a great deal of internal 
 improvement. The country has long been 
 groaning under the evils of the greatest foreign 
 war we were ever engaged in; and we are just 
 beginning to look again into our home affairs. 
 Political economy has made an astonishing pro- 
 gress since they were last investigated; and 
 every session of Parliament brushes off some 
 of the cobwebs and dust of our ancestors.* 
 The Apprentice Laws have been swept away; 
 the absurd nonsense of the Usury Laws will 
 probably soon follow; Public Education and 
 Saving Banks have been the invention of these 
 last ten years ; and the strong fortress of bigotry 
 has been rudely assailed. Then, with all its 
 defects, we have a Parliament of inestimable 
 value. If there be a place in any country where 
 500 well-educated men can meet together and 
 talk with impunity of public affairs, and if what 
 they say is published, that country must im- 
 prove. It is not pleasant to emigrate into a 
 country of changes and revolution, the size and 
 integrity of whose empire no man can predict. 
 
 * In a scarcity which occurred little more than twenty 
 years ago, every judge, (except the lord chancellor, then 
 Justice of the Common Pleas, and Serjeant Rem n^ton,) 
 when they charged the grand jury, attriljuted the scarcity 
 to the combinations of the farmers ; and complained of it 
 as a very ser ous evil. Such doctrines would not now be 
 tolerated in the mouth of a schoolboy. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 115 
 
 The Americans are a very sensible, reflecting 
 people, and have conducted their afiairs ex- 
 tremely well; but it is scarcely possible to con- 
 ceive that such an empire should very long 
 remain undivided, or that the dwellers on the 
 Columbia should have common interest with 
 the navigators of the Hudson and the Delaware. 
 England is, to be sure, a very expensive coun- 
 try; but amillionof millions has been expended 
 in making it habitable and comfortable; and 
 this is a constant source of revenue, or, what is 
 the same thing, a constant diminution of ex- 
 pense to every man living in it. The price an 
 Englishman pays for a turnpike road is not 
 equal to the tenth part of what the delay would 
 cost him without a turnpike. The New River 
 Company brings water to every inhabitant of 
 London at an infinitely less price than he could 
 dip for Jt out of the Thames. No country, in 
 
 fact, is so expensive as one which human be- 
 ings are just beginning to inhabit; — where there 
 are no roads, no bridges, no skill, no help, no 
 combination of powers, and no force of capital. 
 How, too, can any man lake upon himself to 
 say that he is so indifferent to his country that 
 he will not begin to love it intensely, when he 
 is 5000 or 6000 miles from it? And what a 
 dreadful disease Nostalgia must be on the banks 
 of the Missouri ! Severe and painful poverty 
 will drive us all anywhere: but a wise man 
 should be quite sure that he has so irresistible 
 a plea, before he ventures on the Great or the 
 Little Wabash. He should be quite sure that 
 he does not go there from ill temper — or to be 
 pitied — or to be regretted — or from ignorance of 
 what is to happen to him — of because he is a 
 poet — but because he has not enough to eat here, 
 and is sure of abundance where he is going. 
 
116 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 GAME LAWS.* 
 
 [Edinbuhgh Review, 1819.] 
 
 The evil of the Game Laws, in their present 
 state, has long been felt, and of late years has 
 certainly rather increased than diminished. We 
 believe that they cannot long remain in their 
 present state; and we are anxious to express 
 our opinion of those changes which they ought 
 to experience. 
 
 We thoroughly acquiesce in the importance 
 of encouraging those field sports which are so 
 congenial to the habits of Englishmen, and 
 which, in the present state of society, afford the 
 only effectual counterbalance to the allurements 
 of great towns. We cannot conceive a more 
 jiernicious condition for a great nation, than 
 that its aristocracy should be shut up from one 
 year's end to another in a metropolis, while the 
 iiiass of its rural inhabitants are left to the 
 management of factors and agents. A great 
 man returning from London to spend his sum- 
 mer in the country, diffuses his intelligence, 
 improves manners, communicates pleasure, re- 
 strains the extreme violence of subordinate 
 politicians, and makes the middling and lower 
 classes better acquainted with, and more attach- 
 ed to their natural leaders. At the same time, 
 a residence in the country gives to the makers 
 of laws an opportunity of studying those interests 
 ■which they may afterwards be called upon to 
 protect and arrange. Nor is it unimportant to 
 the character of the higher orders themselves, 
 that they should pass' a considerable part of the 
 year in the midst of these their larger families; 
 that they should occasionally be thrown among 
 simple, laborious, frugal people, and be stimu- 
 lated to resist the prodigality of courts, by view- 
 ing with their own eyes the merits and the 
 ■wretchedness of the poor. 
 
 Laws for the preservation of game are not 
 only of importance, as they increase the amuse- 
 ments of the country, but they may be so con- 
 structed as to be jierfecily just. The game 
 ■which my land feeds is certainly mine; or, in 
 other words, the game which all the land feeds 
 certainly belongs to all the owners of the land; 
 and the only practical way of dividing it is, to 
 give to each proprietor what he can take on his 
 own ground. Those who contribute nothing to 
 the support of the animal, can have no possible 
 right to a share in the distribution. To say of 
 animals, that they are ferw Naturu, means only, 
 that the precise place of their birth and nurture 
 is not k-nown. How they shall be divided, is a 
 matter of arrangement among those whose col- 
 lected property certainly has produced and fed 
 them ; but the case is completely made out 
 against those who have no land at all, and who 
 cannot, therefore, have been in the slightest de- 
 gree instrumental to their production. If a large 
 
 • Jliret Lett^ > on the Game Latvs. Rest Fenner, Black & 
 Co. London, 1&18. 
 
 pond were divided by certain marks into fo-ar 
 parts, and allotted to that number of proprietors, 
 the fish contained in that pond would be, in the 
 same sense, yf?-^ Naturd. Nobody could tell in 
 which particular division each carp had been 
 born and bred. The owners would arrange 
 their respective rights and pretensions in the 
 best way they could; but the clearest of all pos- 
 sible propositions would be, that the four pro- 
 prietors, among them, made a complete title to 
 all the fish; and that nobody but them had the 
 smallest title to the smallest share. This we 
 say in answer to those who contend that there 
 is no foundation for any system of game laws; 
 that animals born wild are the property of the 
 public ; and that their appropriation is nothing 
 but tyranny and usurpation. 
 
 In addition to these arguments, it is perhaps 
 scarcely necessary to add, that nothing which 
 is worth having, which is accessible, and sup- 
 plied only in limited quantities, could exist at 
 all, if it was not considered as the property of 
 some individual. If every body might take 
 game wherever they found it, there would soon 
 be an end of every species of game. The ad- 
 vantage would not be extended to fresh classes, 
 but be annihilated for all classes. Besides all 
 this, the privilege of killing game could not be 
 granted without the privilege of trespassing on 
 landed property; — an intolerable evil, which 
 would entirely destroy the comfort and privacy 
 of a country life. 
 
 But though a system of game laws is of great 
 use in promoting country amusements, and 
 may, in itself, be placed on a footing of justice, 
 its effects, we are sorry to say, are by no means 
 favourable to the morals of the poor. 
 
 It is impossible to make an uneducated man 
 understand in what manner a bird hatched no- 
 body knows where, — to-day living in my field, 
 to-morrow in yours, — should be as strictly pro- 
 perty as the goose whose whole history can be 
 traced, in the most authentic and satisfactory 
 manner, from the egg to the spit. The argu- 
 ments upon which this depends are so contrary 
 to the notions of the poor, — so repugnant to 
 their passions, — and, perhaps, so much above 
 their comprehension, that they are totally una- 
 vailing. The same man who would respect an 
 orchard, a garden or an hen-roost, scarcely 
 thinks he is committing any fault at all in in- 
 vading the game-covers of his richer neigh- 
 bour; and as soon as he becomes wearied of 
 honest industry, his first resource is in plunder- 
 ing the rich magazine of hares, pheasants and 
 partridges — the top and bottom dishes, which on 
 every side of his village are running and flying 
 before his eyes. As these things cannot be 
 done with safety in the day, they must be done 
 in the night; — and in this manner a lawless 
 marauder is often formed, who proceeds from 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 117 
 
 one infrinpement of law and property to an- 
 other, till he becomes a thoroughly bad and 
 corrupted member of society. 
 
 These few preliminary observations lead na- 
 turally to the two principal considerations which 
 are to be kept in view, in reforming the game 
 laws ; — to preserve, as far as is consistent with 
 justice, the amusements of the rich and to di- 
 minish, as much as possible, the temptations of 
 the poor. And these ends, it seems to us, will 
 be best answered, 
 
 1. By abolishing qualifications. 2. By giving 
 to every man a property in the game upon his 
 land. 3, By allowing game to be bought by any 
 body, and sold by its lawful possessors.* 
 
 Nothing can be more grossly absurd than the 
 present state of the game laws, as far as they 
 concern the qualification for shooting. In Eng- 
 land, no man can possibly have a legal right to 
 kill game, who has not 100/. a year in land rent. 
 With us in Scotland, the rule is not quite so 
 inflexible, though in principle not very difl^erent. 
 But we shall speak to the case which concerns 
 by far the greatest number : and certainly it is 
 scarcely possible to imagine a more absurd and 
 capricious limitation. For what possible reason 
 is a man, who has only 90/. per annum in land, 
 not to kill the game which his own land nou- 
 rishes ? If the legislature really conceives, as 
 we have heard surmised by certain learned 
 squires, that a person of such a degree of for- 
 tune should be confined to profitable pursuits, 
 and debarred from that pernicious idleness into 
 ■which he would be betrayed by field sports, it 
 would then be expedient to make a qualification 
 for bowls or skittles — to prevent small land- 
 owners from going to races or following a pack 
 of hounds — and to prohibit to men of a certain 
 income, every other species of amusement as 
 well as this. The only instance, however, in 
 which this paternal care is exercised, is that in 
 which the amusement of the smaller landowner 
 is supposed to interfere with those of his richer 
 neighbour. He may do what he pleases, and 
 elect any other species of ruinous idleness but 
 that in which the upper classes of society are 
 his rivals. 
 
 i Nay, the law is so excessively ridiculous in 
 the case of small landed proprietors, that on a 
 property of less than 100/. per annum, no human 
 being has the right of shooting. It is not con- 
 fined but annihilated. The lord of the manor 
 may be warned off by the proprietor; and the 
 proprietor may be informed against by any 
 body who sees him sporting. .The case is still 
 stronger in the instance of large farms. In 
 Northumberland, and on the borders of Scot- 
 land, there are large capitalists who farm to the 
 amount of two or three thousand per annum, 
 who have the permission of their distant non- 
 resident landlords to do what they please with 
 the game, and yet who dare not fire otf a gun 
 upon their own land. Can any thing he more 
 utterly absurd and preposterous, than that the 
 landlord and the wealthy tenant together cannot 
 make up a title to the hare which is fattened 
 upon the choicest produce of their land ? That 
 the landlord, who can let to farm the fertility of 
 the land for growing wheat, cannot let to farm 
 
 its power of growing partridges 1 That he may 
 reap by deputy, but cannot on that manor shoot 
 by deputy] Is it possible that any respectable 
 magistrate could fine a farmer for killing a hare 
 upon his own grounds with his landlord's con- 
 sent, without feeling that he was violating every 
 feeling of common sense and justice 1 
 
 Since the enactment of the game laws, there 
 has sprung up an entirely new species of pro- 
 perty, which of course is completely overlooked 
 by their provisions. An Englishman may pos- 
 sess a million of money in funds or merchan- 
 dize — may be the Baring or the //o/?e of Europe 
 — provide to government the sudden means of 
 equipping fleets and armies, and yet be without 
 the power of smiting a single partridge, though 
 invited by the owner of the game to participate 
 in his amusement. It is idle to say that the 
 difficulty may be got over by purchasing land: 
 the question is, upon what principle of justice 
 can the existence of the difliculty be defended] 
 If the right of keeping men-servants was con- 
 fined to persons who had more than 100/. a year 
 in the funds, the difficulty might be got over by 
 every man who would change his landed pro- 
 perly to that extent. But what could justify so 
 capricious a partiality to one species of pro- 
 perty 1 There might be some apology for such 
 laws at the time they were made; but there can 
 be none for their not being now accommodated 
 to the changes which time has introduced. If 
 you choose to exclude poverty from this species 
 of amusernent, and to open it to wealth, why is 
 it not opened to every species of wealth ] What 
 amusement can there be morally lawful to an 
 holder of turnip land, and criminal in a posses- 
 sor of exchequer bills'! What delights ought 
 to be tolerated to long annuities, from which 
 wheat and beans should be excluded? What 
 matters whether it is scrip or short-horned cattle! 
 If the locus quo is conceded — if the trespass is 
 waived — and if the qualification for any amuse- 
 ment is wealth, let it be any probable wealth — 
 Dives agris, dices positis in/amore nummis. 
 
 All this has since been established. 
 
 It will be very easy for any country gentleman 
 who wishes to monopolize to himself the plea- 
 sures of shooting, to let to his tenant every other 
 right attached to the land, except the right of 
 killing game; and it will be equally easy, in 
 the formation of a new game act, to give to the 
 landlord a summary process against his tenant, 
 if such tenant fraudulently exercises the privi- 
 leges he has agreed to surrender. 
 
 The case which seems most to alarm coun- 
 try gentlemen, is that of a person possessing a 
 few acres in the heart of a manor, who might, 
 byplanting food of which they are fond, allure 
 the game into his own little domain, and thus 
 reap an harvest prepared at the expense of the 
 neighbour who surrounded him. But, under 
 the present game laws, if the smaller posses- 
 sion belongs to a qualified person, the danger 
 of intrusion is equally great as it would be un- 
 der the proposed alteration ; and the danger from 
 the poacher would be the same in both cases. 
 But if it is of such great consequence to keep 
 clear from all interference, may not such apjiece 
 of land be rented or bought! Or, may not the 
 food which tempts the game be sown in the same 
 abundance in the surrounding as in the enclosed 
 
118 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 land Afcer all, it is only common justice, that 
 be whose property is surrounded on every side 
 by a preserver of game, whose corn and turnips 
 are demolished by animals preserved for the 
 amusement of his neighbour, should himself be 
 entitled to that share of game which plunders 
 upon his land. The complaint which the landed 
 grandee makes is this. "Here is a man who 
 has only a twenty-fourth part of the land, and 
 be expects a twenty-fourth part of the game. 
 He is so captious and litigious, that he will not 
 be contented to supply his share of the food 
 without requiring his share of what the food pro- 
 duces. I want a neighbour who has talents only 
 for suffering, not one who evinces such a fatal 
 disposition for enjoying." Upon such princi- 
 ples as these, many of the game laws have been 
 constructed, and are preserved. The interfer- 
 ence of a very small property with a very large 
 one ; the critical position of one or two fields, 
 is a very serious source of vexation on many 
 other occasions besides those of game. He 
 who possesses a field in the middle of my pre- 
 mises, may build so as to obstruct my view; 
 and may present to me the hinder parts of a 
 barn, instead of one of the finest landscapes in 
 nature. Nay, he may turn his fields into tea- 
 gardens, and destroy my privacy by the intro- 
 duction of every species of vulgar company. 
 The legislature, in all these instances, has pro- 
 vided no remedy for the inconveniences which 
 a small property, by such intermixture, may in- 
 flict upon a large one, but has secured the same 
 rights to unequal proportions. It is very diffi- 
 cult to conceive why these equitable principles 
 are to be violated in the case of game alone. 
 
 Our securities against that rabble of sports- 
 men which the abolition of qualifications might 
 be supposed to produce, are, the consent of the 
 owner of the soil as an indispensable prelimi- 
 nary, guarded by heavy penalties — and the price 
 of a certificate, rendered, perhaps, greater than 
 it is at present. It is impossible to conceive 
 why the owner of the soil, if the right of game 
 IS secufed to him, has not a right to sell, or grant 
 the right of killing it to whom he pleases — just 
 as much as he has the power of appointing 
 whom he pleases to kill his ducks, pigeons and 
 chickens. The danger of making the poor idle 
 IS a mere pretence. It is monopoly calling in 
 the aid of hypocrisy, and tyranny veiling itself 
 in the garb of philosophical humanity. A poor 
 man goes to wakes, fairs and horse-races, with- 
 out pain and penalty; a little shopkeeper, when 
 his work is over, may go to a buUbait, or to the 
 cock-pit; but the idea of his pursuing an hare, 
 even with the consent of the landowner, fills the 
 Bucolic senator with the most lively apprehen- 
 sions of relaxed industry and ruinous dissipation. 
 The truth is,ifa poor man does not oflend against 
 morals or religion, and supports himself and his 
 family without assistance, the law has nothing 
 to do with his amusements. The real barriers 
 against increase of sportsmen (if the proposed 
 alteration were admitted), are, as we have before 
 said, the prohibition of the landowner; the tax 
 to the state for a certificate ; the necessity of 
 labouring for support. — Whoever violates none 
 of these rights, and neglects none of these duties 
 in his sporting, sports without crime ;-^and to 
 punish him would be gross and scandalous ty- 
 ranny 
 
 The next alteration which we would propose 
 is that game should be made property; that is, 
 that every man should have aright to the game 
 found upon his land — and that the violation of 
 it should be punished as poaching now is, by 
 pecuniary penalties, and summary conviction 
 before magistrates. This change in the game 
 laws would be an additional defence of game: 
 for the landed proprietor has now no other 
 remedy against the qualified intruder upon his 
 game, than an action at law for a trespass on 
 the land; and if the trespasser has received no 
 notice, this can hardly be called any remedy at 
 all. It is now no uncommon practice for per- 
 sons who have the exterior, and perhaps the 
 fortunes of gentlemen, as they are travelling 
 from place to place, to shoot over manors where 
 they have no property, and from which, as 
 strangers, they cannot have been warned. In 
 such case (which, we repeat again, is by no 
 means one of rare occurrence), it would, under 
 the reformed system, be no more difficult for the 
 lord of the soil to protect his game, than it would 
 be to protect his geese and ducks. But though 
 game should be considered as property it should 
 still be considered as the lowest species of pro- 
 perty — because it is in its nature more vague 
 and mutable than any other species of property, 
 and because depredations upon it are carried on 
 at a distance from the dwelling, and without 
 personal alarm to the proprietors. It would be 
 very easy to increase the penalties, in proportion 
 to the number of oflTences committed by the same 
 individual. 
 
 The punishments which country gentlemen 
 expect by making game property, are the pun- 
 ishments affixed to offences of a much higher 
 order: but country gentlemen must not be al- 
 lowed to legislate exclusively on this, more than 
 on any other subject. The very mention of 
 hares and partridges in the country, too often 
 puts an end to common humanity and common 
 sense. Game must be protected; but protected 
 without violating those principles of justice, 
 and that adaptation of punishment to crime, 
 which (incredible as it may appear), are of in- 
 finitely greater importance than the amusements 
 of country gentlemen. 
 
 We come now to the sale of game. — The 
 foundation on which the propriety of allowing 
 this partly rests, is the impossibility of prevent- 
 ing it. There exists, and has s'prung up since 
 the game laws, an enormous mass of wealth, 
 which has nothing to do with land. Do the 
 country gentlemen imagine that it is in the 
 power of human laws to deprive the three per 
 cents of pheasants'? That there is upon earth, 
 air, or sea, a single flavour (cost what crime it 
 may to procure it), that mercantile opulence 
 will not procure 1 Increase the difficulty, and 
 you enlist vanity on the side of luxury; and 
 make that be sought for as a display of wealth, 
 which was before valued only for the gratifica- 
 tion of appetite. The law may multiply penal- 
 ties by reams. Squires may ifret and justices 
 commit, and gamekeepers and poachers con- 
 tinue their nocturnal wars. There must be 
 game on Lord Mayor's day, do what you will. 
 You may multiply the crimes by which it is pro- 
 cured ; but nothing can arrest its inevitable pro- 
 gress, from the wood of the esquire to the spit 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 119 
 
 of the citizen. The late law for preventing the 
 sale of game produced some little temporary 
 difficulty in London at the beginning of the sea- 
 son. The poulterers were alarmed, and came 
 to some resolutions. But the alarm soon began 
 to subside and the difficulties to vanish. In 
 another season, the law will be entirely nugatory 
 and forgotten. The experiment was tried of 
 increased severity, and a law passed to punish 
 poachers with transportation who were caught 
 poaching in the night time with arms. What 
 has the consequence beenl — Not a cessation of 
 poaching, but a succession of village guerillas; 
 — an internecive war between the gamekeepers 
 and marauders of game: — the whole country 
 flung into brawls and convulsions, for the unjust 
 and exorbitant pleasures of country gentlemen. 
 The poacher hardly believes he is doing any 
 wrong in taking partridges and pheasants. He 
 would admit the justice of being transported for 
 stealing sheep; and his courage in such a 
 transaction would be impaired by a conscious- 
 ness he was doing wrong: but he has no such 
 feeling in taking game; and the preposterous 
 punishment of transportation makes him despe- 
 rate, and not timid. Single poachers are gathered 
 into large companies, for their mutual protec- 
 tion; and go out, not only with the intention of 
 taking game, but of defending what they take 
 •with their lives. Such feelings soon produce a 
 rivalry of personal courage, and a thirst of re- 
 venge between the villagers and the agents of 
 power. We extract the following passages on 
 this subject from the Three Letters on the Game 
 Laws. 
 
 "The first and most palpable effi3ct has natu- 
 rally been, an exaltation of all the savage and 
 desperate features in the poacher's character. 
 The war between him and the gamekeeper has 
 necessarily become a ' helium internecivum.' A 
 marauder may hesitate perhaps at killing his 
 fellow man, when the alternative is only six 
 months' imprisonment in the county jail ; but 
 when the alternative is to overcome the keeper, 
 or to be torn from his family and connections, 
 and sent to hard labour at the antipodes, we 
 cannot be much surprised that murders and 
 midnight combats have considerably increased 
 this season; or that information, such as the 
 following, has frequently enriched the columns 
 of the country newspapers." 
 
 '"Poaching. — Richard Barnett was on Tues- 
 day convicted before T. Clutterbuck, Esq., of 
 keeping and using engines or wires for the de- 
 struction of game in the parish of Dunkerton, 
 and fined 5/. He was taken into custody by C. 
 Coates, keeper to Sir Charles Bamfylde, Bart., 
 who found upon him seventeen wire-snares. 
 The new act that has just passed against these 
 illegal practices, seems only to have irritated 
 the offenders, and made them more daring and 
 desperate. The following is a copy of an anony- 
 mous circular letter, which has been received 
 by several magistrates, and other eminent cha- 
 racters in this neighbourhood. 
 
 "'Take notice. — We have lately heard and 
 seen that there is an act passed, arid whatever 
 poacher is caught destroying the game, is to be 
 transported for seven years. — This is English 
 liberty! 
 
 " 'iVow, we do swear to each other, that the 
 
 Vol. I.-n 
 
 first of our company that this law is inflicted 
 on, that there shall not one gentleman's seat 
 in our country escape the rage of fire. We are 
 nine in number, and we will burn every gentle- 
 man's house of note. The first that impeaches 
 shall be shot. We have sworn not to impeach. 
 You may think it a threat, but they will find it 
 reality. The game-laws were too severe be- 
 fore. The Lord of all men sent these animals 
 for the peasants as well as for the prince. God 
 will not let his people be oppressed. He will 
 assist us in our undertaking, and we will exe- 
 cute it with caution.'" — Bath Paper. 
 
 "'Death of a Poacheii. — On the evening 
 of Saturday se'ennight, about eight or nine 
 o'clock, a body of poachers, seven in number, 
 assembled by mutual agreement on the estate 
 of the Hon. John Dutton at Sherborne, Glouce- 
 stershire, for the purpose of taking hares and 
 other game. With the assistance of two dogs, 
 and some nets and snares which they brought 
 with them, they had succeeded in catching nine 
 hares, and were carrying them awa^', when 
 they were discovered by the gamekeeper and 
 seven others who were engaged with him in 
 patroling the different covers, in order to pro- 
 tect the game from nightly depredators. Imme- 
 diately on perceiving the poachers, the keeper 
 summoned them in a civil and peaceable man- 
 ner to give up their names, the dogs, imple- 
 ments, &c. they had with them, and the game 
 they had taken ; at the same time assuring 
 them, that his party had firearms (which were 
 produced for the purpose of convincing and 
 alarming them), and representing to them the 
 folly of resistance, as, in the event of an affray, 
 they must inevitably be overpowered by supe- 
 rior numbers, even without firearms, which 
 they were determined not to resort to unless 
 compelled in self-defence. Notwithstanding this 
 remonstrance of the keeper, the men unanimous- 
 ly refused to give up on any terms, declaring, 
 that if they were followed, they would give them 
 "a brush," and would repel force by force. The 
 poachers then directly took off their great coats, 
 threw them down with the game, &c. behind 
 them, and approached the keepers in an atti- 
 tude of attack. A smart contest instantly en- 
 sued, both parties using only the sticks or blud- 
 geons they carried: and such was the confusion 
 during the battle, that some of the keepers were 
 occasionally struck by their own comrades 
 in mistake for their opponents. After they 
 had fought in this manner about eight or ten 
 minutes, one of the poachers named Robert 
 Simmons, received a violent blow upon his left 
 temple, which felled him to the ground, where 
 he lay, crying out murder, and asking for mer 
 cy. The keepers very humanely desired that 
 all violence might cease on both sides: upon 
 which three of the poachers took to flight and 
 escaped, and the remaining three, together with 
 Simmons, Avere secured by the keepers. Sim- 
 mons, by the assistance of the other men, walked 
 to the keeper's house, -where he was placed in a 
 chair: but he soon after died. His death was 
 no doubt caused by the pressure of blood upon 
 the brain, occasioned by the rupture of a vessel 
 from the blow he had received. The three 
 poachers who had been taken were committed 
 , to Northleach prison. The inquest upon the 
 
120 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 body of Simmons -vras taken on Monday, before 
 VV. Trigge, Gent., Coroner; and the above ac- 
 count is extracted from the evidence given upon 
 that occasion. The poachers were all armed 
 with bludgeons, except the deceased, who had 
 provided himself with the thick part of a flail, 
 made of firm knotted crabtree, and pointed at 
 the extremit}', in order to thrust with, if occa- 
 sion required. The deceased was an athletic 
 muscular man, very active, and about twenty- 
 eight years of age. He resided at Bowie, in 
 Oxfordshire, and has left a wife but no child. 
 The three prisoners were heard in evidence; 
 and all concurred in stating that the keepers 
 were in no way blameable, and attributed their 
 disaster to their own indiscretion and impru- 
 dence. Several of the keepers' party were so 
 much beat as to be now confined to their beds. 
 The two parties are said to be total strangers 
 to each other, consequently no malice prepense 
 could have existed between ihem; and as it 
 appeared to the jury, after a most minute and 
 deliberate investigation, that the confusion dur- 
 ing the affray was so great, that the deceased 
 was as likely to be struck by one of his own 
 party as by the keepers', they returned a ver- 
 dict of — Manslaughter against some person or 
 persons unknown.' 
 
 " Wretched as the first of these productions 
 is, I think it can scarcely be denied, that both 
 its spirit and its probable consequences are 
 wholly to be ascribed to the exasperation natu- 
 rally consequent upon the severe enactment just 
 alluded to. And the last case is at least a strong 
 proof that severity of enactment is quite inade- 
 quate to correct the evil." — (P. 3.56-359.) 
 
 Poaching will exist in some degree, let the 
 laws be what they may; but the most certain 
 method of checking the poacher seems to be by 
 underselling him. If game can be lawfully sold, 
 the quantity sent to market will be increased, 
 the price lowered, and, with that, the profits and 
 temptations of the poacher. Not only would the 
 prices of the poacher be lowered, but we much 
 doubt if he would find any sale at all. Licenses 
 to sell game might be confined to real poulterers, 
 and real occupiers of a certain portion of land. 
 It might be rendered penal to purchase it from 
 any but licensed persons; and in this way the 
 facility of the lawful, and the danger of the un- 
 lawful trade, would either annihilate the poach- 
 er's trade, or reduce his prices so much, that it 
 would be hardly worth his while to carry it on. 
 What poulterer in London, or in any of the large 
 towns, would deal with poachers, and expose 
 liimself to indictment for receiving stolen goods, 
 when he might supply his customers at fair 
 prices by dealing with the lawful proprietor of 
 gamel Opinion is of more power than law. 
 Such conduct would soon become infamous; 
 and every respectable tradesman would be 
 shamed out of it. The consumer himself would 
 rather buy his game of a poulterer ^. an increase 
 of price, than pick it up clandestinely, and at a 
 great risk, though a somewhat smaller price, 
 from porters and boothkeepers. Give them a 
 chance of getting it fairly, and they will not get 
 it unfairly. At present, no one has the slightest 
 shame at violating a law which every body feels 
 JO be absurd and unjust. 
 
 Poultry-houses are sometimes robbed; — but 
 
 stolen poultry is rarely ofl^ered to sale ; — at least, 
 nobody pretends that the shops of poulterers and 
 the tables of moneyed gentlemen are supplied 
 by these means. Out of one hundred geese that 
 are consumed at Michaelmas, ninety-nine come 
 into the jaws of the consumer by honest means ; 
 — and yet, if it had pleased the country gentle- 
 men to have goose laws as well as game laws; 
 — if goose-keepers had been appointed, and the 
 sale and pnrchase of this savoury bird prohi- 
 bited, the same enjoyments would have been 
 procured by the crimes and convictions of the 
 poor; and the periodical gluttony of Michaelmas 
 have been rendered as guilty and criminal, as it 
 is indigestible and unwholesome. Upon this 
 subject we shall quote a passage from the very 
 sensible and spirited letters before ui 
 
 "In favourable situations, game would be 
 reared and preserved for the express purpose of 
 regularly supplying the market in fair and open 
 competition ; which would so reduce its price, 
 that I see no reason why a partridge should be 
 dearer than a rabbit, or a hare and pheasant than 
 a duck or goose. This is about the proportion 
 of price which the animals bear to each other in 
 France, where game can be legally sold, and is 
 regularly brought to market; and where, by the 
 way, game is as plentiful as in any cultivated 
 country in Europe. The price so reduced would 
 never be enough to compensate the risk and pe- 
 nalties of the unlawful poacher, who must there- 
 fore be driven out of the market. Doubtless, the 
 great poulterers of London and the commercial 
 towns, who are the principal instigators of poach- 
 ing, would cease to have any temptation to con- 
 tinue so, as they could fairly and lawfully pro- 
 cure game for their customers at a cheaper rate 
 from the regular breeders. They would, as they 
 now do for rabbits and wild-fowl, contract with 
 persons to rear and preserve them for the regu- 
 larf supply of their shops, which would be a much 
 more commodious and satisfactory, an^ less 
 hazardous way for them, than the irregular and 
 dishonest and corrupting methods now pursued. 
 It is not saying very much in favour of human 
 nature to assert, that men in respectable stations 
 of society had rather procure the same ends by 
 honest than dishonest means. Thus would all 
 the temptations to offend against the game laws, 
 arising from the change of society, together with 
 the long chain of moral and political mischiefg, 
 at once disappear. 
 
 " But then, in order to secure a sufl5cient breed 
 of game for the supply of the market, in fair and 
 open competition, it will be necessary to author- 
 ize a certain number of persons, likely to breed 
 game for sale, to take and dispose of it when 
 reared at their expense. For this purpose, I 
 would suggest the propriety of permitting by law 
 occupiers of land to take and kill game, for sale 
 or otherwise, on their ou-n occupations only, un- 
 less, (if tenants,) they are specifically prohibited 
 by agreement with their landlord; reserving the 
 game and the power of taking it to himself, (as 
 is now frequently done in leases.) This per- 
 mission should not, of course, operate during 
 the current leases, unless by agreement. With 
 this precaution, nothing could be fairer than 
 such an enactment; for it is certainly at the ex- 
 pense of the occupier that the game is raised and 
 maintained : and unless he receive an equivalent 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 121 
 
 for it, either by abatement of rent upon agree- 
 ment, or by permission to take and dispose of it, 
 he is certainly an injured man. "Whereas it is 
 perfectly just that the owner of the land should 
 have the option either to increase his rent by 
 leaving the disposal of his game to his tenant, 
 or vice versa. Game would be held to be (as in 
 fact it is) an outgoing from the land, like tithe 
 and other burdens, and therefore to be consi- 
 dered in a bargain ; and land would either be let 
 game-free, or a special reservation of it made by 
 agreement. 
 
 "Moreover, since the breed of game must 
 always depend upon the occupier of the land, 
 who may, and frequently does, destroy every 
 head of it, or prevent its coming to maturity, 
 unless it is considered in his rent; the license 
 for which I am novvcontending, by affording an 
 inducement to preserve the breed in particular 
 spots, would evidently have a considerable ef- 
 fect in increasing the stock of game in other 
 parts, and in the country at large. There would 
 be introduced a general system of protection 
 depending upon individual interest, instead of a 
 general system of destruction. I have, therefore, 
 very little doubt that the provision here recom- 
 mended would, upon the whole, add facilities to 
 the amusements of the sportsman, rather than 
 subtract from them. A sportsman without land 
 might also hire from the occupier of a large 
 tract of land the privilege of shooting over it, 
 ■which would answer to the latter as well as 
 sending his game to the market. In short, he 
 might in various ways get a fair return, to which 
 he is well entitled for the expense and trouble 
 incurred in rearing and preserving that particu- 
 lar species of stock upon his land." — (P. 337 — 
 339.) 
 
 There are sometimes 400 or .500 head of game 
 killed in great manors on a single day. We 
 think it highly probable the greater part of this 
 harvest (if the game laws were altered) would 
 go to the poulterer, to purchase poultry or fish 
 for the ensuing London season. Nobody is so 
 poor and so distressed as men of very large for- 
 tunes, who are fond of making an unwise dis- 
 play to the world; and if they had recourse to 
 these means of supplying game, it is impossible 
 to suppose that the occupation of the poacher 
 could be continued. — The smuggler can com- 
 pete with the spirit merchant on account of the 
 great duty imposed by the revenue; but where 
 there is no duty to be saved, the mere thief — 
 the man who brings the article to market with 
 a halter around his neck — the man of whom it 
 is disreputable and penal to buy — who hazards 
 life, liberty and property, to procure the articles 
 which he sells; such an adventurer can never 
 be long the rival of him who honestly and fairly 
 produces the articles in which he deals. — Fines, 
 imprisonments, concealment, loss of character, 
 are great deductions from the profits of any 
 trade to which they attach, and great discou- 
 ragement to its pursuit. 
 
 It is not the custom at present for gentlemen 
 to sell their game; but the custom would soon 
 begin, and public opinion soon change. It is 
 not unusual for men of fortune to contract with 
 their gardeners to supply their own table and to 
 send the residue to market, or to sell their veni- 
 son ; and the same thing might be done with the 
 16 
 
 manor. If game could be bought, it would not 
 be sent in presents: — barn-door fowls are never 
 so sent, precisely for this reason. 
 
 The price of game would, under the system 
 of laws of which we are speaking, be further 
 lowered by the introduction of foreign game, the 
 sale of which, at present prohibited, would tend 
 very much to the preservation of English game 
 by underselling the poacher. It would not be 
 just, if it were possible, to confine any of the 
 valuable productions of nature to the use of 
 one class of men, and to prevent them from 
 becoming the subject of barter, when the pro- 
 prietor wished so to exchange them. It would 
 be just as reasonable that the consumption of 
 salmon should be confined to the proprietors of 
 that sort of fishery — that the use of charr should 
 be limited to the inhabitants of the lakes — that 
 maritime Englishmen should alone eat oysters 
 and lobsters as that every other class of the 
 community than landowners should be prohibit- 
 ed from the acquisition of game. 
 
 It will be necessary, whenever the game laws 
 are revised, that some of the worst punishments 
 now inflicted for an inMngement of these laws 
 should be repealed. To transport a man for 
 seven years, on account of partridges, and to 
 harass a poor wretched peasant in the Crown 
 Oflice, are very preposterous punishments for 
 such offences; humanity revolts against then?. — 
 they are grossly tyrannical — and it is disgrace- 
 ful that they should be sufl^ered to remain on our 
 statute books. But the most singular of till 
 abuses, is the new class of punishments which 
 the squirarchy have themselves enacted against 
 depredations on game. The law says, that an 
 unqualified man who kills a pheasant, shall pay 
 five pounds ; but the squire says he shall be shot; 
 — and accordingly he places a spring-gun in the 
 path of the poacher, and does all he can to take 
 away his life. The more humane and mitigated 
 squire mangles him with traps; and the supra- 
 fine country gentleman only detains him in ma- 
 chines, which prevent his escape, but do not 
 lacerate their captive. Of the gross illegality of 
 such proceedings, there can be no reasonable 
 doubt. Theirimmorality and cruelty are equally 
 clear. If they are not put down by some decla- 
 ratory law, it will be absolutely necessary that 
 the judges, in their invaluable circuits of Oyer 
 and Terminer, should leave two or three of his 
 majesty's squires to a fate too vulgar and indeli- 
 cate to be alluded to in this journal. 
 
 Men have certainly a clear right to defend 
 their property; but then it must be by such 
 means as the law allows: — their houses by pis- 
 tols, their fields by actions for trespass, their 
 game by information. There is an end of law, 
 if every man is to measure out his punishment 
 for his own wrong. Nor are we able to distin- 
 guish between the guilt of two persons, — the one 
 of whom deliberately shoots a man whom he 
 sees in his fields — the other of whom purposely 
 places such instruments as he knows will shoot 
 trespassers upon his fields. Better that it should 
 be lawful to kill a trespasser face to face ihau 
 to place engines which will kill him. The tres- 
 passer may be a child — a wom^n — a son or 
 friend. The spring-gun cannot accommodate 
 itself to circumstances,— the squire or the game 
 keeper may. 
 
122 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 These, then, are our opinions respecting the 
 alterations in the game laws, which, as they now 
 stand, are perhaps the only system which could 
 possibly render the possession of game so very 
 insecure as it now is. We would give to every 
 man an absolute property in the game upon his 
 land, with full power to kill — to permit others to 
 kill — and to sell; — we would punish any viola- 
 tion of that property by summary conviction, and 
 pecuniary penalties — rising in value according 
 to the number of offences. This would of course 
 abolish all qualifications; and we sincerely be- 
 lieve it would lessen the profits of selling game il- 
 legal ly, so as very materially to lessen the number 
 of poachers. It would make game as an article 
 of food, accessible to all classes, without infring- 
 ing the laws. It would limit the amusement of 
 
 country gentlemen within the boundaries of jus- 
 tice — and would enable the magistrate cheerful- 
 ly and conscientiously to execute laws, of the 
 moderation and justice of which he must be tho- 
 roughly convinced. To this conclusion, too, we 
 have no doubt we shall come at the last. After 
 many years of scutigeral folly — loaded prisons* 
 — nightly battles — poachers tempted — and fami- 
 lies ruined, these principles will finally prevail, 
 and make law once more coincident with rea- 
 son and justice. 
 
 * In the course of the last year, no fewer than twelve 
 hundred persons were committed for offences against tho 
 game ; besides those wlio ran away from their families 
 for the fear of commitment. This is no slight quantity of 
 misery 
 
 BOTANY BAY.* 
 
 [Ebinbuugh Review, 1819.] 
 
 This land of convicts and kangaroos is be- 
 ginning to rise into a very fine and flourishing 
 settlement : — And great indeed must be the natu- 
 ral resources, and splendid the endowments of 
 that land that has been able to survive the sys- 
 tem of neglectf and oppression experienced 
 from the mother country, and the series of igno- 
 rant and absurd governors that have been se- 
 lected for the administration of its affairs. But 
 mankind live and flourish not only in spite of 
 storms and tempests, but (which could not have 
 been anticipated previous to experience) in 
 spite of colonial secretaries expressly paid to 
 watch over their interests. The supineness 
 and profligacy of public officers cannot always 
 overcome the amazing energy with which hu- 
 man beings pursue their happiness, nor the sa- 
 gacity with which they determine on the means 
 by which that end is to be promoted. Be it our 
 care, however, to record for the future inhabit- 
 ants of Australasia, the political sufferings of 
 their larcenous forefathers; and let them appre- 
 ciate, as they ought, that energy which founded 
 a mighty empire in spite of the afliicting blun- 
 
 * 1. ^ Statistical. Historical andFolitical Description of the 
 Colony of New South Wales, and its dependent Settlements 
 in Van Die7nen\<: Land; vjith a particular Enumeration of 
 the Advantages which these colonies offer for Emigration. 
 a7id their Superiority in many respects over those possessed 
 by the United States of America. By W. C. Wentworth, 
 Esq., a Native of the Colony. Whiltaker. London, 1819. 
 
 2. I^etter to Viscount Sidmouth, Secretary of State for the 
 Home Department, on the Transportation Laws, the State of 
 the Hulks, and of the Colonies in New South Wales. By 
 the Hon. Henry Grey Bennet, M. P. Ridgway. London, 
 1819. 
 
 3. O'Hara's History of New South Wales. Hatchard. 
 London, 1818. 
 
 t One and no small excuse for the misconduct of colo- 
 nial secretaries is, the enormous quantity of business by 
 which they are distracted. There should be two or three 
 <fblonial secretaries instead of one : the office is dreadfully 
 overweighed. The government of the colonies is com- 
 uionly a series of blunders. 
 
 ders and marvellous cacosconomy of their go- 
 vernment. 
 
 Botany Bay is situated in a fine climate, rather 
 Asiatic than European, — with a great variety of 
 temperature, — but favourable on the whole to 
 health and life. It, conjointly with Van Die- 
 men's Land, produces coal in great abundance, 
 fossil salt, slate, lime, plumbago, potter's clay; 
 iron; white, yellow and brilliant topazes; alum 
 and copper. These are all the important fossil 
 productions which have been hitherto disco- 
 vered; but the epidermis of the country has 
 hardly as yet been scratched; and it is most 
 probable that the immense mountains which 
 divide the eastern and western settlements, Ba- 
 thurst and Sydney, must abound with every spe- 
 cies of mineral wealth. The harbours are ad- 
 mirable; and the whole world, perhaps, cannot 
 produce two such as those of Port Jackson and 
 Derwent. The former of these is land-locked 
 for fourteen miles in length, and of the most 
 irregular form ; its soundings are more than 
 sufficient for the largest ships; and all the na- 
 vies of the world might ride in safety within it. 
 In the harbour of Derwent there is a road-stead 
 forty-eight milec in length, completely land- 
 locked; — varying in breadth from eight to two 
 miles, — in depth from thirty to four fathoms, — 
 and affording the best anchorage the whole way 
 
 The mean heat, during the three summer 
 months, December, January, and February, is 
 about 80° at noon. The heat which such a de- 
 gree of the thermometer would seem to indicate, 
 is considerably tempered by the sea-breeze, 
 which blows with considerable force from nine 
 in the morning till seven in the evening. The 
 three autumn months are March, April and 
 May, in which the thermometer varies from 55° 
 at night to 75° at noon. The three winter months 
 are June, July, and August. During this inter- 
 
WOKKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 123 
 
 val, the mornings and evenings are very chilly, 
 and the nights excessively cold; hoar-frosts are 
 frequent ; ice, half an inch thick, is found twenty 
 miles from the coast; the mean temperature, at 
 daylight, is from 40° to 45,° and at noon, from 
 •')5° to 60°. In the three months of spring, the 
 thermometer varies from 60° to 70°. The cli- 
 mate to the westward of the mountains is colder. 
 Heavy falls of snow take place during the win- 
 ter; the frosts are more severe, and the winters 
 of longer duration. All the seasons are much 
 more distinctly marked, and resemble much 
 more those of this country. 
 
 Such is the climate of Botany Bay; and, in 
 this remote part of the earth, Nature (having 
 made horses, oxen, ducks, geese, oaks, elms, 
 and all regular and useful productions for the 
 rest of the world), seems determined to have a 
 bit of play, and to amuse herself as she pleases. 
 Accordingly, she makes cherries with the stone 
 on the outside; and a monstrous animal, as tali 
 as a grenadier, with the head of a rabbit, a tail 
 as big as a bed-post, hopping along at the rate 
 of five hops to a mile, with three or four young 
 kangaroos looking out of its false uterus to see 
 what is passing. Then comes a quadruped as 
 big as a large cat, with the eyes, colour and 
 skin of a mole, and the bill and wcb-feet of a 
 duck— puzzling Dr. Shaw, and rendering the 
 latter half of his life miserable, from his otter 
 inability to determine whether it was a bird or 
 a beast. Add to this a parrot, with the legs of 
 a sea-gull; a skate with the head of a shark; 
 and a bird of such monstrous dimensions, that 
 a side bone of it will dine three real carniverous 
 Englishmen; — together with many other pro- 
 ductions that agitate Sir Joseph, and fill him 
 with mingled emotions of distress and delight. 
 
 The colony has made the following pro- 
 gress: — 
 
 Stock ill 17SS. 
 
 
 Stock in 1P17. 
 
 Horned Cattle 
 
 5 
 
 Do. - 44,753 
 
 Horses - 
 
 7 
 
 Do. - 3,072 
 
 Sheep - - - 
 
 29 
 
 Do. - 170,920 
 
 Hogs - - - 
 
 74 
 
 Do. - 17,843 
 
 Land in cultivation acres. Do. - 47,504 
 Inhabitants - - 1000 Do. - 20,379 
 
 The colony has a bank, with a capital of 
 20,000/.; anewspaper; andacapital(the townof 
 Sydney) containing about 7000 persons. There 
 is also a Van Diemen's Land Gazette. The 
 perusal of these newspapers, which are regu- 
 larly transmitted to England, and may be pur- 
 chased in London, has afforded us considerable 
 amusement. Nothing can paint in a more lively 
 manner the state of the settlement, its disadvan- 
 tages and prosperities, and the opinions and 
 manners which prevail there. 
 
 " On Friday, Mr. James Squires, settler and 
 brewer, wailed on his excellency at Govern- 
 ment House, with two vines of hops taken 
 from his own grounds, &c.— As a public recom- 
 pense for the unremitted attention shown by the 
 grower in bringing this valuable plant to such 
 a high degree of perfection, his excellency has 
 directed a cow to be given to Mr. Squires from 
 the government herd." — O'Hara, p. 255. 
 
 " To Parents and Guardians. 
 "A person who flatters herself her character 
 will bear the strictest scrutiny, being desirous 
 
 of receiving into her charge a proposed number 
 of children of her own sex, as boarders, respect- 
 fully acquamts parents and guardians that she 
 is about to situate herself either in Sydney or 
 Paramatta, of which notice will be shortly given. 
 She doubts not, at the satne time, that 'her as- 
 siduity in the inculcation of moral principles in 
 the youthful mind, joined to an unremitting at- 
 tention and polite diction, will insure to her the 
 much-desired confidence of those who may 
 thinkproper to favour her with such a charge. — 
 Inquiries on the above subject will be ans\vered 
 by G. Howe, at Sydney, who will make known 
 the name of the advertiser." — (p. 270.) 
 
 " Lost, 
 " (supposed to be on the governor's wharf,) 
 two small keys, a tortoise shell comb, and a 
 packet of papers. Whoever may have found 
 them, will, on delivering them to the printer, 
 receive a reward of half a gallon of spirits." — 
 (p. 272.) 
 
 " To the ruhlic. 
 "As we have no certainty of an immediato 
 supply of paper, we cannot promise a publica- 
 tion next week." — (p. 290.) 
 
 " Fashionable Intelligence, Sept. 1th. 
 "On Tuesday his excellency the late gover- 
 nor, and Mrs. King, arrived in town from Para- 
 matta; and yesterday Mrs. King returned thither, 
 accompanied by Mrs. Putland." — {Ibid.) 
 
 " To be sold by private Contract, by Mr. Bevan, 
 
 "An elegant four-wheeled chariot, with plated 
 mounted harness for four horses complete; and 
 handsome lady's side-saddle and bridle. May 
 be viewed, on application to Mr. Bevan." — 
 (p. 347.) 
 
 " From the Derwent Star. 
 " Lieutenant Lord, of the Royal Marines, who, 
 at'ter the death of Lieutenant-Governor Collins, 
 succeeded to the command of the settlement at 
 Hobart Town, arrived at Port Jackson in the 
 Hunter, and favours us with the perusal of the 
 ninth number published of the Derwent Star and 
 Van Diemen's Laiid Intelligencer ,- from which 
 we copy the following extracts." — (p. 353.) 
 
 "A Card. 
 "The subscribers to the Sydney Race Course 
 are informed that the Stewards have made ar- 
 rangements for two balls during the race week, 
 viz., on Tuesday and Thursday. — Tickets, at 
 7s. Qd. each, to be had at Mr. E. Wills's, George 
 Street. — An ordinary for the subscribers and 
 theirfriendseachdayof the races, at Mr. Wills's. 
 Dinner on table at five o'clock." — (p. 356.) 
 
 " The Ladies' Cup. 
 " The ladies' cup, which was of very superior 
 workmanship, won by Chase, was presented 
 to Captain Richie by Mrs. M'Quarie; who, ac- 
 companied by his excellency, honoured each 
 day's race with her presence, and who, with 
 her usual affability, was pleased to preface the 
 donation with the following short address. — 'In 
 the name of the Ladies of New South Wales, I 
 have the pleasure to present you with this cup. 
 Give me leave to congratulate you on being the 
 successful candidate for it; and to hope that it 
 
124 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 is a prelude to future success and lasting pros- 
 perity.'" — (p. 357.) 
 
 "Butchers. 
 "Now killing, at Matthew Pimpton's, Cum- 
 berland street, Rocks, beef, mutton, pork, and 
 Iamb. By retail, Is. 4r/. per lib. Mutton by the 
 carcass, Is. per lib. sterling, or 14rf. currency; 
 warranted to weigh from 10 lib. to 12 lib. per 
 quarter. Lamb per ditto. — Captains of ships 
 supplied at the wholesale price, and with punc- 
 tuality. — KB. Beef, pork, mutton, and lamb, at 
 E. Lamb's, Hunter street, at the above prices." 
 -(p. 376.) 
 
 "Salt Pork and Flair from OtaJielte. 
 "On sale, at the warehouse of Mrs. S. Willis, 
 96 George street, a large quantity of the above 
 articles, well cured, being the Mercury's last 
 importation from Oiaheite. The terms per cask 
 are 10c?. per lib. sterling, or Is. currency. — 
 N.B. For the accommodation of families, it will 
 be sold in quantities not less than 112 lib." — (p. 
 377.) 
 
 "Painting. — A Card. 
 " Mr. J. W. Lewin begs leave to inform his 
 friends and the public in general, that he intends 
 opening an academy for painting on the days of 
 Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, from the hours 
 of 10 to 12 in the forenoon. — Terms 5s. a les- 
 son: Entrance 20s. — N.B. The evening academy 
 for drawing continued as usual." — (p. 384.) 
 
 "Sale of Rams. 
 "Ten rams of the Merino breed, lately sold 
 by auction from the flocks of John M'Arthur, 
 Esq., produced upwards of 200 guineas." — (p. 
 388.) 
 
 "Mrs. Jones's Vacation Ball, December I2th. 
 
 " Mrs. Jones, with great respect, informs the 
 parents and guardians of the young ladies en- 
 trusted to her tuition, that the vacation ball is 
 fixed for Tuesday the 22d instant, at the semi- 
 nary, No. 45 Castlereagh street, Sydney. Tickets 
 7s. 6c?. each."— (p. 388^) 
 
 "Sporting Intelligence. 
 
 "A fine hunt took place the 8th instant at the 
 Nepean, of which the following is the account 
 given by a gentleman present. ' Having cast off 
 by the government hut on the Nepean, and 
 drawn the cover in that neighbourhood for a 
 native Dog unsuccessfully, we tried the forest 
 ground for a Kangaroo, which we soon found. 
 It went off in excellent style along the sands by 
 the river side, and crossed to the Cow-pasture 
 Plains, running a circle of about two miles; 
 then recrossed, taking a direction for Mr. Camp- 
 bell's stock-yard, and from thence at the back 
 of Badge Allen Hill, to the head of Boorrooba- 
 ham Creek, where he was headed; from thence 
 he took the main range of hills between the 
 Badge Allen and Badge Allenabinjee, in a 
 straight direction for Mr. 'i'hrosbey's farm, 
 where the hounds ran into him; and he was 
 killed, after a good run of about two hours.' — 
 The weight of the animal was upwards of 120 
 lib."— (p. 380.) 
 
 Of the town of Sydney, Mr. Went worth ob- 
 serves, that there are in it many public build- 
 ings, as well as houses of individuals, that would 
 
 not disgrace the best parts of London ; but this 
 description we must take the liberty to consider 
 as more patriotic than true. We rather suspect 
 it was penned before Mr. Wentworih was in 
 London; for he is (be it said to his honour) a 
 native of Botany Bay. The value of lands (in 
 the same spirit he adds) is half as great in 
 Sydney as in the best situations in London ; and 
 is daily increasing: The proof of this which 
 Mr. Wentworth gives is, that "it is not a com- 
 modious house which can be rented for 100/. 
 per annum unfurnished." The town of Sydney 
 contains two good public schools, for the educa- 
 tion of 224 children of both sexes. There are 
 establishments, also, for the diffusion of educa- 
 tion in every populous district throughout the 
 colony; the masters of these schools are allowed 
 stipulated salaries from the Orphans' fund. Mr. 
 Wentworth states that one-eighth part of the 
 whole revenue of the colony is appropriated to 
 the purposes of education ; this eighth he com- 
 putes at 2500/. Independent of these institutions, 
 there is an Auxiliary Bible Society, a Sunday 
 School, and several good private schools. This 
 is all as it should be : the education of the poor, 
 important everywhere, is indispensable at Bota- 
 ny Bay. Nothing but the earliest attention to 
 the habits of children can restrain the erratic 
 finger from the contiguous scrip, or prevent the 
 hereditary tendency to larcenous abstraction. 
 The American arrangements respecting the 
 education of the lower orders is excellent. 
 Their unsold' lands are surveyed, and divided 
 into districts. In the centre of every district, 
 an ample and well-selected lot is provided for 
 the support of future schools. We wish this 
 had been imitated in New Holland; for we are 
 of opinion that the elevated nobleman, Lord 
 Sidmouth, should imitate what is good and wise, 
 even if the Americans are his teachers. Mr. 
 Wentworth talks of 15,000 acres set apart for 
 the support of the Female Orphan Schools; 
 which certainly does sound a little extravagant: 
 but then 50 or 100 acres of this reserve are 
 given as a portion to each female orphan; so 
 that all this pious tract of ground will be soon 
 married away. This dotation of women, in a 
 place where they are scarce, is amiable and 
 foolish enough. There is a school also for the 
 education and civilization of the natives, we 
 hope not to the exclusion of the children of con- 
 victs, who have clearly a prior claim upon pub- 
 lic charity. 
 
 Great exertions have been made in public 
 roads and bridges. The present governor has 
 wisely established toll-gates in all the principal 
 roads. No tax can be more equitable, and no 
 money more beneficially employed. The herds 
 of wild cattle have either perished through the 
 long droughts, or been destroyed by the remote 
 settlers. They have nearly disappeared ; and 
 their extension is a good rather than an evil. A 
 very good horse fiir cart or plough may now be 
 bought for 51. to 10/.; working oxen for the same 
 price ; fine young breeding ewes from 1/. to 3/., 
 according to the quality of the fleece. So lately 
 as 1808, a cow and calf were sold by public 
 auction for 105/.; and the price of middling 
 cattle was from 80/. to 100/. A breeding mare 
 was, at the same period, worth from 150 to 200 
 guineas; and ewes from 10/. to 20/. The inhabit- 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 125 
 
 ants of New South Wales have now 2000 years 
 before them of cheap beef and mutton. The 
 price of land is of course regulated by its situa-' 
 tion and quality. Four years past, an hundred 
 and fifty acres of very indifferent ground, about 
 three quarters of a mile from Sydney, were 
 sold, by virtue of an execution, in lots of 12 
 acres each, and averaged 14/. per acre. This 
 is the highest price given for land not situated 
 in a town. The general average of unimproved 
 land is .5/. per acre. In years when the crops 
 have not suffered from flood or drought, wheat 
 sells for 9s per bushel; maize for 3s. 6c/.; barley 
 for 5s.; oats for 4s. 6d.; potatoes for 6s. per cwt. 
 By the last accounts received from the colony, 
 mutton and beef were 6cl. per lib.; veal 8d.; pork 
 9(/. Wheat 8s. 8d. per bushel; oats 4s., and 
 barley 5s. per ditto. Fowls 4s. 6c?. per couple ; 
 ducks 6s. per diito ; geese 5s. each ; turkeys 7s. 
 6c/. each ; eggs 2s Gd. per dozen ; butter 2s. 6f/. 
 per lib. There are manufacturers of coarse 
 woollen cloths, hats, earthenware, pipes, salt, 
 candles, soap. There are extensive breweries 
 and tanneries; and all sorts of mechanics and 
 artificers necessary for an infant colony. Car- 
 penters, stone masons, bricklayers, wheel and 
 plough Wrights, and all the most useful descrip- 
 tion of artificers, can earn from 8s. to 10s. per 
 day. Great attention has been paid to the im- 
 provement of wool; and it is becoming a very 
 considerable article of export to this country. 
 
 The most interesting circumstance in the 
 accounts lately received from Botany Bay, is 
 the discovery of the magnificent river on the 
 western side of the Blue Mountains. The pub- 
 lic are aware that a fine road has been made 
 from Sydney to Bathurst, and a new town 
 founded at the foot of a western side of these 
 mountains, a distance of 140 miles. The coun- 
 try in the neighbourhood of Bathurst has been 
 described as beautiful, fertile, open, and emi- 
 nently fit for all the purposes of a settlement. 
 1"he object was to find a river; and such an one 
 has been found, the description of which it is 
 impossible to read without the most lively in- 
 terest. The intelligence is contained in a dis- 
 patch from Mr. Oxley, surveyor-general of the 
 settlement, to the governor, dated 30th August, 
 1817. 
 
 '" On the 19th, we were gratified by falling in 
 with a river running through a most beautiful 
 country, and which I would have been well con- 
 tented to have believed ihe river we were in 
 search of. Accident led us down this stream 
 about a mile, when we were surprised by its 
 junction with a river coming from the south, of 
 such width and magnitude, as to dispel all 
 doubts as to this last being the river we had so 
 long anxiously looked for. Short as our resour- 
 ces were, we could not resist the temptation this 
 oeautiful country ofi~ered us to remain two days 
 on the junction of the river, for the purpose of 
 examining the vicinity to as great an extent as 
 possible. 
 
 "'Our examination increased the satisfac- 
 tion we had previously felt. As far as the eye 
 could reach in every direction, a rich and pic- 
 turesque country extended, abounding in lime- 
 stone, slate, good timber and every other requi- 
 site that could render an iincullivaied country 
 desirable. The soil cannot be excelled; whilst 
 
 a noble river of ihe first magnifude affords the 
 means of conveying its productions from one 
 part to the other. Where I quitted it, its course 
 was northerly; and we were then north of the 
 parallel of Port Stevens, being in latitude 32° 
 45' south, and 148° 58' east longitude. 
 
 " ' It appeared to me that the Macquarrie had 
 taken a north-north-west course from Bathurst, 
 and that it must have received immense acces- 
 sions of water in its course from that place. 
 Weviewed it at a period best calculated to form 
 anacc urate judgment of its importance, when 
 itwas neither swelled by floods beyond its na- 
 turial and usual height, nor contracted within 
 limits by summer droughts. Of its magnitude 
 when it should have received the streains we 
 had crossed, independent of any it may receive 
 from the east, which, from the boldness and 
 height of the country, I presume must be at 
 least as many, some idea may be formed, when 
 at this point it exceeded in breadth and apparent 
 depth, the Hawkesbury at Windsor. Many of 
 the branches were of grander and more ex- 
 tended proportion than the admired one on the 
 Nepean river from the Warragambia to Emu 
 plains. 
 
 " ' Resolving to keep as near the river as pos- 
 sible during the remainder of our course to 
 Bathurst, and endeavour to ascertain, at least 
 on the west side, what waters fell into it, on the 
 22d we proceeded up the river; and between the 
 point quitted and Bathurst, crossed the sources 
 of numberless streams, all running into the 
 Macquarrie. Two of them were nearly as large 
 as that river itself at Bathurst. The country 
 whence all these streams derive their source 
 was mountainous and irregular, and appeared 
 equally so on the east side of the Macquarrie. 
 This description of country extended to the im- 
 mediate vicinity of Bathurst; but to the west of 
 those lofty ranges the country was broken into 
 low, grassy hills and fine valleys, watered by 
 rivulets rising on the west side of the moun- 
 tains, which, on their eastern side, pour the.ir 
 waters directly into the Macquarrie. 
 
 '"These westerly streams appeared to me to 
 join that which I had at first sight taken for the 
 Macquarrie ; and when united, fall into it at the 
 point at which it was first discovered on the 
 19th inst. 
 
 " ' We reached this place last evening, with- 
 out a single accident having occurred during 
 the whole progress of the expedition, which 
 from this point has encircled, with the parallels 
 of 34° 0' south and 32° south, and between the 
 meridians of 149° 43' and 143° 40' east, a space 
 of nearly one thousand miles.'" — Wentwarth, 
 pp. 72—75. 
 
 The nearest distance from the point at which 
 Mr. Oxley left ofl", to any part of the western 
 coast, is very little short of 2000 miles. The 
 Hawkesbury, at Windsor, (to which he com- 
 pares his new river in magnitude,) is 250 yards 
 in breadth, and of sufficient depth to float a 74 
 gun ship. At this point it has 2000 miles in a 
 straight line to reach the ocean ; and if it winds 
 as rivers commonly do wind, it has a space to 
 flow over of between 5000 and 6000 miles. The 
 course and direction of the river have since be- 
 come the object of two expeditions, one by land 
 under Mr. Oxley, the other by sea under Lieu 
 l2 
 
126 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 tenant King, to the results of -srhichwe look for- 
 ward with great interest. Enough of the country 
 on the western side of the Blue Mountains has 
 been discovered, to show that the settlement 
 has been made on the wrong side. The space 
 between the Mountains and the Eastern Sea is 
 not above 40 miles in breadth, and the five or 
 siy miles nearest the coast are of verv barren 
 land. The country, on the other side, is bound- 
 Jess, fertile, well watered, and of very great 
 beaut}-. The importance of such a river as the 
 Macquarrie is incalculable. We cannot help 
 remarking here, the courtly appellations in 
 which Geography delights; — the river Hawhes- 
 hury; the town of Windsor on its banks; Bailiurst 
 Plains ; Nepean River. Shall we never hear of 
 the Gulf of Tiernty ; Brougham Point; or the 
 Straits of Mackiniush on the river Grty? 
 
 'J'he mistakes which have been made in set- 
 tling this fine colony are of considerable im- 
 portance, and such as must very seriously retard 
 its progress to power and opulence. The first 
 we shall mention is the settlement on the 
 Hawkesbury. Every work of nature has its 
 characteristic defects. Marshes should be sus- 
 pected of engendering disease — a volcanic 
 country of eruptions — rivers of overliowiug. A 
 very little portion of this kind of reflection would 
 have induced the disposers of land in New 
 South Wales to have become a little better 
 acquainted with the Hawkesbury before they 
 granted land on its banks, and gave that direc- 
 tion to the tide of seti]ement and cultivation. It 
 turns out that the Hawkesbury is the embou- 
 chure through which all the rain that falls on 
 the eastern side of the Blue Mountain makes its 
 way to the sea; and accordingly, without any 
 -■warning, or any fall of rain on the settled part 
 of the river, the stream has often risen from 70 
 to 90 feet above its common level. 
 
 "These inundations often rise seventy or 
 eighty feet above low water mark; and the in- 
 stance of what is still emphatically termed 'the 
 great flood,' attained an elevation of ninety-three 
 leet. The chaos of confusion and distress that 
 jiresents itself on these occasions cannot be 
 easily conceived by any one who has not been 
 a witness of its horrors. An immense expanse 
 of water, of which the eye cannot in many di- 
 rections discover the limits, everywhere inter- 
 spersed with growing timber, and crowded with 
 poultr}', pigs, horses, cattle, slacks and houses, 
 liaving frequently men, women and children, 
 clinging to them for protection and shrieking 
 out in an agony of despair for assistance: — 
 such are the principal objects by which these 
 scenes of death and devastation are charac- 
 terized. 
 
 "These inundations are not periodical, but 
 they most generally happen in the month of 
 March. Within the last two years there have 
 •been no fewer than four of them, one of which 
 was nearly as high as the great flood. In the 
 six years preceding, there had not been one. 
 Since the establishment of the colony, they have 
 happened, upon an average, about once in three 
 years 
 
 "The principal cause of them is the conti- 
 guity of this river to the Blue Mountains. The 
 Grose and Warragambia rivers, from which 
 two sources it derives its principal supply, issue 
 
 direct from these mountains; and the Nepean 
 river, the other principal branch of it, runs along 
 •the base of them for fifty or sixty miles ; and re- 
 ceives, in its progress, from the innumerable 
 mountain torrents connected with it, the whole 
 of the rain which these mountains collect in 
 that great extent. That this is the principal 
 cause of these calamitous inundations has been 
 fully proved; for shortly after the plantation of 
 this colony, the Hawkesburj' overflowed its 
 banks (which are in general about thirty feet 
 in height,) in the midst of harvest, when not a 
 single drop of rain had fallen on the Port Jack- 
 son side of the mountains. Another great cause 
 of the inundations which take place in this and 
 the other rivers in the colony, is the small fall 
 that is in them and the consequent slowness of 
 their currents. The current in the Hawkesbur}-, 
 even when the tide is in full ebb, does not exceed 
 two miles an hour. The water, therefore, which 
 during the rains rushes in torrents from the 
 mountains, cannot escape with sufficient rapidi- 
 ty; and from its immense accumulation soon 
 overtops the banks of the river and covers the 
 whole of the low country." — Wtntworth, pp. 
 24-26. 
 
 It appears to have been a great oversight not 
 to have built the town of Sydney upon a regular 
 plan. Ground was granted, in the first instance, 
 without the least attention to this circumstance; 
 and a chaos of pigstyes and houses was pro- 
 duced, which subsequent governors have found 
 it extremely diificult to reduce to a state of order 
 and regularity. 
 
 Regularity is of consequence in planning a 
 metropolis; but fine buildings are absurd in the 
 infant state of any country. The various go- 
 vernors have unfortunately displayed rather too 
 strong a taste for architecture — forgetting that 
 the real Palladio for Botany Bay, in its present 
 circumstances, is he who keeps out the sun, wind 
 and rain with the smallest quantity of bricks 
 and mortar. 
 
 The appointment of Governor Bligh appears 
 to have been a very serizats misfortune to the 
 colony — at such an immense distance from the 
 mother-country, with such an uncertainty of 
 communication, and with a population so pecu- 
 liarly circumstanced. In these extraordinary 
 circumstances, the usual jobbing of the treasury 
 should really be laid aside, and some little at- 
 tention paid to the selection of a proper person. 
 It is common, we know, to send a person who 
 is somebody's cousin; but, when a new empire 
 is to be founded, the treasury should send out. 
 into some other part of the town, for a man ot 
 sense and character. 
 
 Another very great absurdity which has been 
 committed at Botany Bay, is the diminution of 
 their strength and resources by the foundation 
 of so m.any subordinate settlements. No sooner 
 had the settlers unpacked their boxes at Port 
 Jackson, than a Iresh colony was settled in 
 Norfolk Island under Lieutenant King, which 
 was afterwards abandoned, after considerable 
 labour and expense, from the want of a harbour: 
 besides four or five settlements on the main 
 land, two or three thousand persons, under a 
 lieutenant-governor, and regular officers, are 
 settled in Van Diemen's Land. The difficulties 
 of a new colony are such, that the exertions of 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 127 
 
 all the arms and legs are wanted merely to 
 cover their bodies and fill their bellies: the 
 passage from one settlement to another, neces- 
 sary for common intercourse, is a great waste 
 of strength; ten thousand men, within a given 
 compass, will do much more for the improve- 
 ment of a country than the same number spread 
 over three times the space — will make more 
 miles of roads, clear more acres of wood, and 
 build more bridges. The judge, the windmill, 
 and the school, are more accessible; and one 
 judge, one windmill, and one school, may do 
 instead of two; — there is less waste of labour. 
 We do not, of course, object to the natural ex- 
 pansion of a colony over uncultivated lands — 
 the more rapidly that takes place the greater is 
 the prosperity of the settlement; but we repro- 
 bate the practice of breaking the first population 
 of a colony, by the interposition of government, 
 into small detached portions, placed at great 
 intervals. It is a bad economy of their re- 
 sources; and as such, is very properly objected 
 to by the committee of the House of Commons. 
 
 This colony appears to have suffered a good 
 deal from the tyranny as well as the ignorance 
 of its governors. On the 7th of December, 1816, 
 Governor Macquarrie issued the following or- 
 der: — 
 
 " His excellency is also pleased further to 
 declare, order and direct, that in consideration 
 of the premises, the under-mentioned sums, 
 amounts and charges, and no more, with re- 
 gard to and upon the various denominations of 
 work, labour and services, described and set 
 forth, shall be allowed, claimed or demandable 
 withm this territory and its dependencies in 
 respect thereof." — Wenhvorth, pp. 105, 106. 
 
 And then follows a schedule of every species 
 of labour, to each of which a maximum is af- 
 fixed. We have only to observe, that a good 
 stout inundation of the Hawkesbury would be 
 far less pernicious to the industry of the colony 
 than such gross ignorance and absurdity as this 
 order evinces. Young surgeons are examined 
 in Surgeon's Hall on the methods of cutting off 
 legs and arms before they are allowed to prac- 
 tise surgery. An exainination on the principles 
 of Adam Smith, and a license from Mr. Ricardo, 
 seem to be almost a necessary preliminary for 
 the appointment of governors. We must give 
 another specimen of Governor Macquarrie's 
 acquaintance with the principles of political 
 economy. 
 
 "General Orders, 
 "His excellency has observed, with much 
 concern, that, at the present time of scarcity, 
 most of the garden ground attached to the allot- 
 ments, whereon different descriptions of per- 
 sons have been allowed to build huts, are totally 
 neglected, and no vegetable growing thereon : 
 — as such neglect in the occupiers, points them 
 out as unfit to profit by such indulgence, those 
 who do not put the garden ground attached to 
 the allotments they occupy in cultivation, on 
 or before the 10th day of July next, will be dis- 
 possessed (except in cases wherein ground is 
 held by lease), and more industrious persons 
 put in possession of them; as the present ne- 
 cessities of the settlement require every exer- 
 tion being used to supply the wants of families, 
 
 by the ground attached to their dwellings being 
 made as productive as possible. — By command 
 of his excellency. G. Blaxwell, Sec. Govern- 
 ment House, Sydney, June "Zlst, 1806." — O'Eara, 
 p. 275. 
 
 This compulsion to enjoy, this despotic bene- 
 volence, is something quite new in the science 
 of government. 
 
 The sale of spirits was, first of all, mono- 
 polized by the government, and then let out 
 to individuals for the purpose of building an 
 hospital. Upon this subject Mr. Bennet ob- 
 serves, — 
 
 " Heretofore all ardent spirits brought to the 
 colony were purchased by the government, and 
 served out at fixed prices to the officers, civil 
 and military, according to their ranks; hence 
 arose a discreditable and gainful trade on the 
 part of these officers, their wives and mis- 
 tresses. The price of spirits at times was so 
 high, that one and two guineas have been given 
 for a single bottle. The thirst after ardent 
 spirits became a mania among the settlers: all 
 the writers on the state of the colony, and all 
 who have resided there, and have given testi- 
 mony concerning it, describe this rage and 
 passion for drunkenness as prevailing in all 
 classes, and as being the principal foundation 
 of all the crimes committed there. This ex- 
 travagant propensity to drunkenness was taken 
 advantage of by the governor, to aid him in 
 the building of the hospital. Mr. Wentworth, 
 the surgeon, Messrs. Riley and Blaxwell, ob- 
 tained permission to enter a certain quantity of 
 spirits ;—^they were to pay a duty of five or 
 seven shillings a gallon on the quantity they in- 
 troduced, which duty was to be set apart for the 
 erection of the hospital. To prevent any other 
 spirits from being landed, a monopoly was 
 given to these contractors. As soon as the 
 agreement was signed, these gentlemen sent 
 off to Rio Janeiro, the Mauritius and the East 
 Indies, for a large quantity of rum and arrack, 
 which they could purchase at 'about the rate of 
 2s. or 2s. 6f/. per gallon, and disembarked it at 
 Sydney. From there being but few houses 
 that were before permitted to sell this poison, 
 they abounded in every street; and such was the 
 enormous consumption of spirits, that money 
 was soon raised to build the hospital, which 
 was finished in 1814. Mr. Marsden informs 
 us, that in the small town of Paramatta, thir- 
 teen houses were licensed to deal in spirits, 
 though he should think five at the utmost would 
 be amply sulUcient for the accommodation of 
 the public." — Bennet, pp. 77-79. 
 
 The whole coast of Botany Bay and Van 
 Diemen's Land abounds with whales; and, ac- 
 cordingly, the duty levied upon train oil pro- 
 cured by the subjects in New South Wales, or 
 imported there, is twenty times greater than 
 that paid by the inhabitants of this country; 
 the duty on spermaceti oil, imported, is sixty 
 times greater. The duty levied on train oil, 
 spermaceti and head matter, procured by the 
 inhabitants of Newfoundland, is only three 
 times the amount of that which is levied on 
 the same substance procured by British sub- 
 jects residing in the United Kingdom. The 
 duty levied on oil procured by British subjectis 
 residing in the Bahama or Bermuda islands, or 
 
128 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMTH. 
 
 on the plantations of North America, is only 
 eight times the amount on train oil, and twelve 
 times the amount on spermaceti, of that which 
 is levied on the same substances taken by 
 British subjects within the United Kingdom. 
 The duty, therefore, which is payable on train 
 oil in vessels belonging to this colony is nearly 
 seven times greater than that which is payable 
 on the same description of oil taken in vessels 
 belonging to the island of Newfoundland, and 
 considerably more than double of that which is 
 payable on the same commodity taken in ves- 
 sels belonging to the Bahama or Bermuda 
 islands, or to the plantations in North Ame- 
 rica; while the duty which is levied on sperm- 
 aceti oil, procured in vessels belonging to this 
 colony, is five times the amount of that which 
 is levied on vessels belonging to the above- 
 mentioned places, and twenty times the amount 
 of that which is levied on vessels belonging to 
 Newfoundland. The injustice of this seems to 
 us to be quite enormous. The statements are 
 taken from Mr. Wentworth's book. 
 
 The inhabitants of New South Wales have 
 no trial by jury; the governor has not even a 
 council to restrain him. There is imposed in 
 this country a very heavy duly on timber and 
 coals exported; but for which, says Mr. Went- 
 •worth, some hundred tons of these valuable 
 productions would have been sent annually to 
 the Cape of Good Hope and India, since the 
 vessels which have been in the habit of trading 
 between those countries and the colony have 
 always returned in ballast. The owners and 
 consignees would gladly have shipped cargoes 
 of timber and coals, if they could have derived 
 the most minute profit from the freight of them. 
 
 The Australasians grow corn; and it is neces- 
 sarily their staple. The Cape is their rival in 
 the corn trade. The food of the inhabitants of 
 the East Indies is rice; the voyage to Europe is 
 too distant for so bulky an article as corn. The 
 supply to the government stores furnished the 
 cultivators of New South Wales with a market 
 in the first instance, which is now become too 
 insignificant for the great excess of the supply 
 above the consumption. Population goes on 
 •with immense rapidity; but while so much new 
 and fertile land is before them, the supply con- 
 tinues in the same proportion greater than the 
 demand. The most obvious method of affording 
 a market for this redundant corn is by encourag- 
 ing distilleries within the colony ; a measure re- 
 peatedly pressed upon the government at home, 
 but hitherto as constantly refused. It is a mea- 
 .sure of still greater importance to the colony, 
 because its agriculture is subjected to the effects 
 both of severe drought and extensive inunda- 
 tions, and the corn raised for the distillers would 
 be a magazine in times of famine. A recom- 
 mendation to this effect was long since made by 
 a committee of the House of Commons; but, as 
 it was merely a measure for the increase of 
 human comforts, was stuffed into the improve- 
 ment baskets and forgotten. There has been in 
 all governments a great deal of absurd canting 
 about the cunsumpiion of spirits. We believe 
 the best plan is to let people drink what they 
 like, and wear what they like; to make no 
 sumptuary laws either for the belly or the back. 
 la the first place laws against rum and rum 
 
 water are made by men who can change a wet 
 coat for a dry one whenever they choose, and 
 who do not often work up to their knees in mud 
 and water; and, in the next place, if this stimu- 
 lus did all the mischief it is thought to do by the 
 wise men of claret, its cheapness and plenty 
 would rather lessen than increase the avidity 
 with which it is at present sought for. 
 
 The governors of Botany Bay have taken the 
 liberty of imposing what taxes they deemed 
 proper, without any other authority than their 
 own ; and it seemed very frivolous and vexa- 
 tious not to allow this small effusion of despot- 
 ism in so remote a corner of the globe; but it 
 was noticed by the opposition in the House of 
 Commons, and reluctantly confessed and given 
 up by the administration. This great portion 
 of the earth begins civil life with noble princi- 
 ples of freedom : — may God grant to its inha- 
 bitants that wisdom and courage which are 
 necessary for the preservation of so great a 
 good ! 
 
 Mr. Wentworth enumerates, among the evils 
 to which the colony is subjected, that clause in 
 the last settlement of the East India Company's 
 charter, which prevents vessels of less than 300 
 tons burden from navigating the Indian seas ; a 
 restriction from which the Cape of Good Hope 
 has been lately liberated, and which ought, in 
 the same manner, to be removed from New 
 South Wales, where there cannot be for many 
 years to come sufficient capital to build vessels 
 of so large a burden. 
 
 "The disability," says Mr. Wentworth, "might 
 be removed by a simple order in council. When- 
 ever his majesty's government shall have freed 
 the colonists from this useless and cruel pro- 
 hibition, the following branches of commerce 
 would then be opened to them. First, they 
 would be enabled to transport, in their own ves- 
 sels, their coals, timbers, spars, flour, meat, &c. 
 to the Cape of Good Hope, the Isle of France, 
 Calcutta, and many other places in the Indian 
 seas; in all of which, markets more or less 
 extensive exist for those various other produc- 
 tions which the colony might furnish. Secondly, 
 they would be enabled to carry directly to Can- 
 ton the sandal wood, beche la mer, dried seal 
 skins, and, in fact, all the numerous productions 
 which the surrounding seas and islands afford 
 for the China market, and return freighted with 
 cargoes of tea, silks, nankeens, &c.; all of which 
 commodities are in great demand in the colony, 
 and are at present altogether furnished by East 
 India or American merchants, to the great detri- 
 ment and dissatisfaction of the colonial. And, 
 lastly, they would be enabled, in a short time, 
 from the great increase of capital which these 
 important privileges would of themselves occa- 
 sion, as well as attract from other countries, to 
 open the fur-trade with the northwest coast of 
 America, and dispose of the cargoes procured 
 in China,— a trade which has hitherto been ex- 
 clusively carried on by the Americans and 
 Russians, although the colonists possess a local 
 superiority for the prosecution of this valuable 
 branch of commerce, which would insure them 
 at least a successful competition with the sub- 
 jects of those two na.lions."-^We!iiwoi-th, pp. 
 317, 318. 
 
 The means which Mr- Wentworth proposes 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 for improving the condition of Botany Bay, are 
 — trial by jury — colonial assemblies, with whom 
 the right of taxation should rest — the establish- 
 ment of distilleries, and the exclusion of foreign 
 .spirits — alteration of duties, so as to place New 
 South Wales upon the same footing as other 
 colonies — removal of the restriction to navigate 
 the Indian seas in vessels of a small burden — 
 improvements in the courts of justice — en- 
 couragement for the growth of hemp, flax, to- 
 bacco and wine; and, if a colonial assembly 
 cannot be granted, that there should be no 
 taxation without the authority of Parliament. 
 
 In general, we agree with Mr. Wentworth in 
 his statement of evils, and in the remedies he 
 has proposed for them. Many of the restric- 
 tions upon the commerce of New South Wales 
 are so absurd that they require only to be stated 
 in Parliament to be corrected. The fertility of 
 the colony so far exceeds its increase of popu- 
 lation, and the difficulty of finding a market for 
 corn is so great — or rather the impossibility so 
 clear — that the measure of encouraging domes- 
 tic distilleries ought to be had recourse to. The 
 colony, with a soil fit for every thing, must, as 
 Mr. Wentworth proposes, grow other things 
 besides corn, and excite that market in the in- 
 terior which It does not enjoy from without. 
 The want of demand, indeed, for the excess of 
 corn, will soon effect this without the interven- 
 tion of government. Government, we believe, 
 have already given up the right of taxation 
 without the sanction of Parliament; and there 
 is an end, probably, by this time, to that griev- 
 ance. A council and a colonial secretary they 
 have also expressed their willingness to con- 
 cede. Of trial by jury and a colonial assembly, 
 we confess that we have great doubts. At some 
 future time they must come, and ought to come. 
 The only question is, is the colony fit for such 
 institutions at present? Are there a sufficient 
 number of respectable persons to serve that 
 office in the various settlements T If the English 
 law is to be followed exactly, to compose a jury 
 of twelve persons, a panel of forty-eight must 
 be summoned. Could forty-eight intelligent 
 convicted men, be found in every settlement of 
 New South Wales? or must they not be fetched 
 from great distances, at an enormous expense 
 and inconvenience ] Is such an institution cal- 
 culated for so very young a colony? A good 
 government is an excellent thing; but it is not 
 the first in the order of human wants. The 
 first want is to subsist; the next to subsist in 
 freedom and comfort; first to live at all, then to 
 live well. A parliament is still a greater de- 
 mand upon the wisdom and intelligence and 
 opulence of a colony than trial by jury. Among 
 the twenty thousand inhabitants of New South 
 Wales, are there ten persons out of the employ 
 of government whose wisdom and prudence 
 could reasonably be expected to advance the 
 interests of the colony without embroiling it 
 with the mother-country? Who has leisure, in 
 such a state of affairs, to attend such a parlia- 
 ment? Where wisdom and conduct are so rare, 
 every man of character, we will venture to say, 
 has, like strolling players in a barn, six or seven 
 important parts to perform. Mr. M'Arthur, who, 
 from his character and understanding, would 
 probably be among the first persons elected to 
 17 
 
 the colonial legislature, besides being a very 
 spirited agriculturist, is, we have no doubt, 
 justice of the peace, curator and rector of a 
 thousand plans, charities and associations, to 
 which his presence is essentially necessary. 
 If he could be cut into as many pieces as a tree 
 is into planks, all his subdivisions would be 
 eminently useful. When a member of Parlia- 
 ment, and what is called a really respectable 
 country gentleman, sets off to attend his duty in 
 our Parliament, such diminution of intelligence 
 as is produced by his absence, is, God knows, 
 easily supplied; but in a colony of 20,000 per- 
 sons, it is impossible this should be the case. 
 Some time hence, the institution of a colonial 
 assembly will be a very wise and proper mea- 
 sure, and so clearly called for, that the most 
 profligate members of administration will nei- 
 ther be able to ridicule nor refuse it. At pre- 
 sent we are afraid that a Botany Bay parliament 
 would give rise to jokes ; and jokes at present 
 have a great agency in human affairs. 
 
 Mr. Bennei concerns himself with the settle- 
 ment of New Holland, as it is a school for 
 criminals; and, upon this subject, has written 
 a very humane, enlightened and vigorous pam- 
 phlet. The objections made to this settlement 
 by Mr. Bennet are, in the first place, its enor- 
 mous expense. The colony of New South 
 Wales, from 1788 to 1815 inclusive, has cost 
 this country the enormous sum of 3,465,983/. 
 In the evidence before the transportation com- 
 mittee, the annual expense of each convict, 
 from 1791 to 1797, is calculated at 33/. 9s. 5}d. 
 per annum, and the profits of his labour are 
 stated to be 20/. The price paid for the trans- 
 port of convicts has been, on an average, 37/. 
 exclusive of food and clothing. It appears, 
 hewever, says Mr. Bennet, by an account laid 
 before Parliament, that in the year 1814, 109,- 
 746/. were paid i"or the transport, food and cloth- 
 ing of 1016 convicts, which will make the cost 
 amount to about 108/. per man. In 1812, the 
 expenses of the colony were 176,000/.; in 1813, 
 235,000/.; in 1814,231,362/.; but in 1815 they 
 had fallen to 150,000/. 
 
 The cruelty and neglect in the transportation 
 of convicts have been very great — and in this 
 way a punishment inflicted which it never was 
 in the contemplation of law to enact. During 
 the first eight years, according to Mr. Bennet's 
 statements, one-tenth of the convicts died on the 
 passage; on the arrival of three of the ships, 
 200 sick were landed, 281 persons having died 
 on board. These instances, however, of crimi 
 nal inattention to the health of the convicts no 
 longer take place; and it is mentioned rather 
 as an history of what is past than a censure 
 upon any existing evil. 
 
 In addition to the expense of Botany Bay, 
 Mr. Bennet contends that it wants the very 
 essence of punishment, terror; that the common 
 people do not dread it; that instead of prevent- 
 ing crimes, it rather excites the people to their 
 commission, by the hopes it afltjrds of bettering 
 their condition in a new country. 
 
 "All those who have had an opportunity of 
 witnessing the effect of this system of trans- 
 portation agree in opinion, that it is no longer 
 an object of dread — it has, in fact, generally 
 ceased to be a punishment: true it is, to a fa- 
 
130 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 thcr of a family, to the mother who leaves her 
 children, this perpetual separation from those 
 whom they love and whom they support, is a 
 cruel blow, and when I consider the merciless 
 character of the law which inflicts it, a severe 
 penalty: but by far the greater number of per- 
 sons who suffer this punishment, rcfjjard it in 
 quite a different light. Mr. Cotton, the ordinary 
 of Newgate, informed the police committee last 
 year, ' that the generality of those who are 
 transported consider it as a party of pleasure — 
 as going out to see the world; they evince no 
 penitence, no contrition, but seem to rejoice in 
 the thing, — many of them to court it. I have 
 heard them, when the sentence of transporta- 
 tion has been passed by the recorder, return 
 thanks for it, and seem overjoyed at their sen- 
 tence: the very last party that went off, when 
 they were put into the caravan, shouted and 
 huzzaed, and were very joyous : several of ihem 
 called out to the keepers who were there in the 
 yard, the first fine Sunday we will have a glo- 
 rious kangaroo hunt at the Bay, — seeming to 
 anticipate a great deal of pleasure.' He was 
 asked if those persons were married or single, 
 and his answer was, 'by far the greater number 
 of them were unmarried. Some of them are 
 anxious that their wives and children should 
 follow ihem; others care nothing about either 
 wives or children, and are glad to get rid of 
 them.'" — Bennel, pp. 60, 61 
 
 It is a scandalous injustice in this colony, 
 that persons transported for seven years, have 
 no power of returning when that period is ex- 
 pired. A strong active man may sometimes 
 work his passage home; but what is an old man 
 or an aged female to do T Suppose a convict 
 ■were to be confined in prison for seven years, 
 and then told he might get out if he could climb 
 over the walls, or break open the locks, what in 
 general would be his chance of liberation ] But 
 no lock nor doors can be so secure a means of 
 detention as the distance of Botany Bay. This 
 is a downright trick and fraud in the adminis- 
 tration of criminal justice. A poor wretch who 
 is banished from his country for seven years, 
 should be furnished with the means of return- 
 ing to his country when these seven years are 
 expired. — If it is intended he should never re- 
 turn, his sentence should have been banishment 
 for life. 
 
 The most serious charge against the colony, 
 as a place for transportation, and an experimei 
 in criminal justice, is the extreme prolligacy of 
 manners which prevails there, and the total 
 want of reformation among the convicts. Upon 
 this subject, except in the regular letters offi- 
 cially varnished and filled with fraudulent beati- 
 tudes for the public eye, there is, and there can 
 'be, but one opinion. New Soutli Wales is a 
 sink of wickedness, in which the great majority 
 of convicts of both sexes become infinitely 
 more depraved than at the period of their arri- 
 val. How, as Mr. Bennet very justly observes, 
 can it be otherwise? The lelon, transported to 
 the American plantations, became an insulated 
 rogue among honest men. He lived for years 
 in the family of some industrious planter, 
 without seeing a picklock, or indulging in plea 
 KHiit dialogues on the delicious burglaries of 
 his youth. He imperceptibly glided into honest 
 
 habits, and lost not only the tact for pockets, but 
 the wish to investigate their contents. But in 
 Botany Bay, the felon, as soon as he gets out of 
 the ship, meets with his ancient trull, with the 
 footpad of his heart, the convict of his affec- 
 tions, — the man whose hand he has often met 
 in the same gentleman's pocket — the being 
 whom he would choose from the whole world 
 to take to the road, or to disentangle the locks 
 of Bramah. It is impossible that vice should 
 not become more intense in such society. 
 
 Upon the horrid state of morals now preva- 
 lent in Botany Bay, we would counsel our read- 
 ers to cast their eyes upon the account given by 
 Mr. Marsden, in a letter, dated July, 1815, to 
 Governor Macquarrie. It is given at length in 
 the appendix to Mr. Bennel's book. A more 
 horrid picture of the state of any settlement 
 was never penned. It carries with it an air of 
 truth and sincerity, and is free from all enthu- 
 siastic cant. 
 
 "I now appeal to your excellency," (he says, 
 at the conclusion of his letter,) " whether, under 
 such circumstances any man of common feel- 
 ing, possessed of the least spark of humanity 
 or religion, who stood in the same official rela- 
 lation that I do to these people, as their spiritual 
 pastor and magistrate, could enjoy one happy 
 moment from the beginning to the end of the 
 week ! 
 
 "I humbly conceive that it is incompatible 
 with the character and wish of the British na- 
 tion, that her own exiles should be exposed to 
 such privations and dangerous temptations, 
 when she is daily feeding the hungry and cloth- 
 ing the naked, and receiving into her friendly, 
 and I may add pious bosom, the stranger, whe- 
 ther savage or civilized, of every nation under 
 heaven. I'here are, in the whole, under the two 
 principal superintendents, Messrs. Rouse and 
 Cakes, one hundred and eight men, and one hun- 
 dred and fifty women, and several children; 
 and nearly the whole of them have to find lodg- 
 ings for themselves when they have performed 
 their government tasks. 
 
 "I trust that your excellency will be fully 
 persuaded, that it is totally impossible for the 
 magistrate to support his necessary authority, 
 and to establish a regular police, under such a 
 weight of accumulated and accumulating evils. 
 I am as sensible as any one can be, that the dif- 
 ficulty of removing these evils will be very great; 
 at the same time, their number and influence 
 may be greatly lessened, if (he abandoned male 
 and female convicts are lodgedin barracks, and 
 placed under the eye of the police, and the num- 
 ber of licensed houses is reduced, 'i'ill some- 
 thing of this kind is done, all attempts of the 
 magistrate, and the public administration of re- 
 ligion, will be attended with little benefit to the 
 general good. I have the honour to be, your 
 excellency's most obedient, humble servant, 
 Samuel Mahsdf.n." — Bennet, p. 134. 
 
 Thus much for Botany Bay. As a mere colo- 
 ny, it is too distant and too expensive; and, in 
 future, will of course involve us in many of 
 those just and necessary wans, which deprive 
 Englishmen so rapidly of their comforts, and 
 make England scarcely worth living in. If con- 
 sidered as a place of reform for criminals, its 
 distance, expense, and the society to which it 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 131 
 
 dooms the objects of the experiment, are insu- 
 perable objections to it. It is in vain to say, 
 that the honest people in New South Wales will 
 soon bear a greater proportion to the rogues, 
 and the contamination of bad society will be 
 less fatal. This only proves that it may be a 
 good place for reform hereafter, not that it is a 
 good one now. One of the principal reasons 
 for peopling Botany Bay at all, was, that it 
 would be an admirable receptacle, and a school 
 of reform, for our convicts. It turns out, that 
 for the first half century, it will make them 
 worse than they were before, and that, after that 
 period, they may probably begin to improve. 
 A marsh, to be sure, may be drained and culti- 
 vated; but no man who has his choice, would 
 select it in the mean time for his dwelling-place. 
 The three books are all books of merit. Mr. 
 O'Hara's is a bookseller's compilation, done in 
 a useful and pleasing manner. Mr. Wentworth 
 is full of information on the present state of 
 Botany Bay. The humanity, the exertions and 
 
 the genuine benevolence of Mr. Bennet, are too 
 well known to need our commendation 
 
 All persons who have a few guineas in their 
 pocket, are now running away from Mr. Nicho- 
 las Vansittart to settle in every quarter of the 
 globe. Upon the subject of emigration to Bota- 
 ny Bay, Mr. Wentworth observes, 1st, that any 
 respectable person emigrating to that colony, 
 receives as much land gratis as would cost him 
 400/. in the United Slates; 2dly, he is allowed 
 as many servants as he may require, at one- 
 third of the wages paid for labour in America; 
 3dly, himself and family are victualled at the 
 expense of government for six months. He cal- 
 culates that a man, wife and two children, with 
 an allowance of five Ions for themselves and 
 baggage, could emigrate to Botany Bay for 100/. 
 including every expense, provided a whole ship 
 could be freighted ; and that a single man could 
 I be taken out thither for 30/. These points are 
 I worthy of serious attention to those who are 
 I shedding their country. 
 
 CHIMNEY SWEEPEES.* 
 
 [EniNBuncH Review, 1819.] 
 
 An excellent and well-arranged dinner is a I 
 most pleasing occurrence, and a great triumph 
 of civilized life. It is not only the descending! 
 morsel and the enveloping sauce — but the rank, I 
 wealth, wit and beauty which surround the | 
 meats— the learned management of light and | 
 heat — the silent and rapid services of the attend- j 
 ants — the smiling and sedulous host, proflering 
 gusts and relishes— the exotic bottles — the em- 1 
 bossed plate — the pleasant remarks — the hand- 
 some dresses — the cunning artifices in fruit and 
 farina! The hour of dinner, in short, includes 
 every thing of sensual and intellectual gratifica- 
 tion which a great nation glories in producing. I 
 
 In the midst of all this, who knows that the 
 kitchen chimney caught fire half an hour before 
 dinner! — and that a poor little wretch, of six or 
 seven years old, was sent up in the midst of the 
 flames to put it out 1 We could not, previous 
 to reading this evidence, have formed a concep- 
 tion of the miseries of these poor wretches, or 
 that there should exist, in a civilized country, a 
 class of human beings destined to such extreme 
 and varied distress. We will give a short epi- 
 tome of what is developed in the evidence before 
 the two Houses of Parliament' 
 
 Boys are made chimney sweepers at the early 
 age of five or six. 
 
 Liflk boi/sfor small Jlues, is a common phrase 
 in the cards left at the door by itinerant chimney 
 sweepers. Flues made to ovens and coppers 
 are often less than nine inches square; and it 
 
 *A^cou/lt cfihe Proceedings cfthe Society for sttperseding 
 the j\'tcessi>.rj of Climbing Boys. Baldwin, &c. Loidoii, 
 
 may be easily conceived how slender the frame 
 of that human body must be, which can force 
 itself through such an aperture. 
 
 "What is the age of the youngest boys who 
 have been employed in this trade, to your know- 
 ledge? About five years of age: I know one 
 now between five or six years old; it is the 
 man's own son in the Strand : now there is an- 
 other at Somer's Town, 1 think, said he was 
 between four and five, orabout five; Jack Hall, 
 a little lad, takes him about. — Did you ever 
 know any female children employed ! Yes, I 
 know one now. About two years ago there was 
 a woman told me she had climbed scores of 
 times, and there is one at Paddington now 
 whose father taught her to climb: but I have 
 often heard talk of them when I v/as an appren- 
 tice, in ditferent places. — What is the smallest 
 sized flue you have ever met with in the course 
 of yourexperience? Abouteightinches by nine; 
 these they are always obliged to climb in this 
 posture {describing it), keeping the arms up 
 straight; if they slip their arms down, they get 
 jammed in; unless they get their arms close 
 over their head they cannot climb." — Lord's 
 Minuien, No. 1. p. 8. 
 
 The following is a specimen of the manner in 
 which they are taught this art of climbing 
 chimneys. 
 
 "Do you remember being taught to climb 
 chimneysl Yes.— What did you feel upon the 
 first attempt to climb a chimney? The first 
 chimney I went up, they told me there was some 
 plum-pudding and money up at the top of it, and 
 thai is the way they enticed me up; and when I 
 
132 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 got up, I would not let the other boy get from 
 under me to get at it; I thought he would get it; 
 I could not get up, and shoved the pot and half 
 the chimnej' down into the yard. — Did you expe- 
 rience any inconvenience to your knees, or your 
 elbows 1 Yes, the skin was oif my knees and 
 elbows too, in climbing up the new chimneys 
 they forced me up. — How did they force you up! 
 When I got up, I cried out about my sore knees. 
 — Were you beat or compelled to go up by any 
 violent means 1 Yes, when I went to a narrow 
 chimney, if I could not do it, I durst not go 
 home; when I used to come down, my master 
 would well beat me with the brush; and not 
 only my master, but when he used to go with 
 the journeymen, if we could not do it, they used 
 to hit us three or four times with the brush." — 
 ifW.s' Minutes, No. 1. p. 5. 
 
 In practising the art of climbing they are often 
 crippled. 
 
 "You talked of the pargetting to chimneys; 
 are many chimneys pargettedl There used to 
 be more than are now; we used to have to go 
 and sit all a-twist to parge them, according to the 
 floors, to keep the smoke from coming out ; then 
 I could not straighten my legs; and that is the 
 reason that many are cripples, — from parging 
 and stopping the holes." — Lords' Minutes,No. 1. 
 p. 17. 
 
 They are often stuck fast in a chimney, and, 
 after remaining there many hours, are cut out. 
 
 "Have you known, in the course of your 
 practice, boys stick in chimneys at alii Yes, 
 frequently. — Did you ever know an instance of. 
 a boy being suffocated to death ? No ; I do not 
 recollect anyone at present, but I have assisted 
 in taking boys out when they have been nearly 
 exhausted. — Did you ever know an instance of its 
 being necessary to break open a chimney to take 
 the boy out ] O yes. — Frequently? Monthly I 
 might say,- it is done with a cloak, if possible, that 
 it should not be discovered ; a master in general 
 wishes it not to be known, and therefore speaks to 
 the people belonging to the house not to mention 
 it, for it was merely the boy's neglect; they often 
 say it was the boy's neglect. — Why do they say 
 that? The boy's climbing shirt is often very 
 bad; the boy coming down, if the chimney be 
 very narrow, and numbers of them are only nine 
 inches, gets his shirt rumpled underneath him, 
 and he has no power after he is fixed in that 
 way {with- his hand up.) Does a boy frequently 
 stick in the chimney ] Yes, I have known more 
 instances of that the last twelvemonth than be- 
 fore. — Do you ever have to break open in the 
 inside of a room? Yes, I have helped to break 
 through into a kitchen chimney in a dining 
 room." — Lards' Minutes, p. 34. 
 
 To the same effect is the evidence of John 
 Daniels, {Minutes, p. 100,) and of James Lud- 
 ford, {Lords' Minutes, p. 147.) 
 
 "You have swept the Penitentiary? I have. 
 — Did you ever know a boy stick in any of the 
 chimneys there? Yes, I have. — Was it one of 
 your boys? It was. — Was there one or two that 
 stuck"! Two of them. — How long did they stick 
 there? Two hours. — How were they got out? 
 They were cut out. — Was there any danger 
 ■while they were in that situation? It was the 
 core .''rom the pargetting of the chimney, and 
 the rubbish that the labourers had thrown down, 
 
 that stopped them, and when they got it aside 
 them, they could not pass. — They both stuck 
 together! Yes." — Lords' Minutes, \>. 147. 
 
 One more instance we shall give from the 
 evidence before the Commons. 
 
 "Have you heard of any accidents that have 
 recently happened to climbing boys in the small 
 flues? Yes; I have often met with accidents 
 myself M'hen I was a boy; there was lately one 
 in Mary-le-bone, where the boy lost his life in a 
 flue, a boy of the name of Tinsey (his father 
 was of the same trade); that boy I think was 
 about eleven or twelve years old. — Was there 
 a coroner's inquest sat on the body of that boy 
 you mentioned? Yes, there was; he was an 
 apprentice of a man of the name of Gay. — 
 How many accidents do you recollect which 
 were attended with loss of life to the climbing 
 boys? I have heard talk of many more than I 
 know of; I never knew of more than three 
 since I have been at the trade, but I have heard 
 talk of many more. — Of twenty or thirty? I 
 cannot say; I have been near losing my own 
 life several times." — Commons' Report, p. 53. 
 
 We come now to burning little chimney 
 sweepers. A large party are invited to dinner 
 — a great display is to be made; — and about an 
 hour before dinner, there is an alarm' that the 
 kitchen chimney is on fire ! It is impossible to 
 put off the distinguished personages who are 
 expected. It gets very late for the soup and fish 
 — the cook is frantic — all e3'es are turned upon 
 the sable consolation of the master chimney 
 sweeper — and up into the midst of the burning 
 chimney is sent one of the miserable little in- 
 fants of the brush! There is a positive pro- 
 hibition of this practice, and an enactment of 
 penalties in one of the acts of Parliament which 
 respects chimney sweepers. But what matter 
 acts of Parliament, when the pleasures of gen- 
 teel people are concerned ? Or what is a toasted 
 child, compared to the agonies of the mistress 
 of the house with a deranged dinner? 
 
 " Did you ever know a boy get burnt up a 
 chimney? Yes. — Is that usuaP Yes, I have 
 been burnt myself, and have got the scars on 
 my legs; a year ago I was up a chimney in 
 Liquor Pond Street; I have been up more than 
 forty chimneys ivhere I have been burnt- — Did 
 your master or the journeymen ever direct you 
 to go up a chimney that was on fire? Yes, it is 
 a general case. — Do they compel you to go up 
 a chimney that is on fire? Oh yes, it was the 
 general practice for two of us to stop at home 
 on Sunday to be ready in case of a chimney 
 being a-fire. — You say it is general to compel 
 the boys to go up chimneys on fire? Yes, boys 
 get very ill-treated if they do not go up." — Lords' 
 Minutes, p. .34. 
 
 " Were you ever forced up a chimney on 
 fire ? Yes, I was forced up one once, and, be- 
 cause I could not do it, I was taken home and 
 well hided with a brush by the journeyman. — 
 Have you frequently been burnt in ascending 
 chimneys on fire? Three times.— Are such 
 hardships as you have described common in 
 the trade with other boys? Yes, they are." — 
 Ibid., p. 100. 
 
 " What is the price for sending a boy up a 
 chimney badly on fire? The price allowed is 
 five shillings, but most of them charge half a 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 133 
 
 guinea. — Is any part of that given to the boyl 1 
 No, but very often the boy gets half a crown , | 
 and then the journeyman has half, and his mis- 
 tress takes the other part to take care of against 
 Sunday.— Have you never seen water thrown 
 down from the top of a chimney when it is on 
 firel Yes.— Is not that generally done "! Yes; 
 I have seen that done twenty times, and the boy 
 in the chimney; at the time when the boy has 
 hallooed out, 'It is so hot I cannot go any fur- 
 ther;' and then the expression is, with an oath, 
 'Stop, and I will heave a pail of water down.' " 
 —Ibid., p. 39. 
 
 Chimney sweepers are subject to a peculiar 
 sort of cancer, which often brings them to a 
 premature death. 
 
 "He appeared perfectly willing to try the 
 machines everywhere? I must say the man 
 appeared perfectly willing; he had a fear that 
 he and his family would be ruined by them; but 
 I must say of him that he is very different from 
 other sweeps I have seen ; he attends very much 
 to his own business; he was as black as any 
 boy he had got, and unfortunately in the course 
 of conversation he told me he had got a cancer; 
 he was a fine healthy strong looking man; he told 
 me he dreaded having an operation performed, 
 but his father died of the same complaint, and 
 his father was sweeper to King George the 
 Second." — Lords' Minutes, p. 84. 
 
 " What is the nature of the particular dis- 
 eases! The diseases that we particularly no- 
 ticed, to which they were subject, were of a 
 cancerous description. In what part? The 
 scrotum in particular, &c. — Did you ever hear 
 of cases of that description that were fatal 1 No, 
 I do not think them as being altogether fatal, 
 unless they will not submit to the operation ; 
 they have such a dread of the operation that 
 they will not submit to it, and if they do not let 
 it be perfectly removed they will be liable to the 
 return of it. To what cause do you attribute 
 that disease? I think it begins from a want of 
 care : the scrotum being in so many folds or 
 crevices, the soot lodges in them and creates an 
 itching, and I conceive, that hy scratching it and 
 tearing it, the soot gets in and creates the irrita- 
 bility; which disease we know by the name of 
 the chimney sweeper's cancer, and is always 
 lectured upon separately as a distinct disease. 
 — Then the committee understands that the phy- 
 sicians who are entrusted with the care and 
 management of those hospitals think that dis- 
 ease of such common occurrence, that it is 
 necessary to make it a part of surgical educa- 
 tion? Most assuredly; I remember Mr. Cline 
 and Mr. Cooper were particular on that subject. 
 — Without an operation there is no cure? I 
 conceive not; I conceive without the operation 
 it is death; for cancers are of that nature that 
 unless you extirpate them entirely they will 
 never be cured." — Commons' Rep. pp. 60, 61. 
 
 In addition to the life they lead as chimney 
 sweepers, is superadded the occupation of night- 
 men. 
 
 "{By a Lord.) Is it generally the custom 
 that many masters are likewise nightmen ? Yes: 
 I forgot that circumstance, which is very griev- 
 ous; I have been lied round the middle and let 
 down several privies, for the purpose of fetching 
 watches and such things; it is generally made 
 
 the practice to take the smallest boy, to let him 
 through the hole without taking up the seat, and 
 to paddle about there until he finds it; they do 
 not take a big boy, because it disturbs the stat." 
 — Lords'' Minutes, p. 38. 
 
 The bed of these poor little wretches is often 
 the soot they have swept in the day. 
 
 " How are the boys generally lodged ; where 
 do they sleep at night? Some masters maybe 
 better than others, but I know I have slept on 
 the soot that was gathered in the day myself. — 
 Where do boys generally sleep? Never on a 
 bed; I never slept on a bed myself while I was 
 apprentice — Do they sleep in cellars? Yes, 
 very often : I have slept in the cellar myself on 
 the sacks I took out. — What had you to cover 
 you? The same. — Had you any pillow? No 
 further than my breeches and jacket under my 
 head. How were you clothed? When I was 
 apprentice we had a pair of leather breeches 
 and a small flannel jacket. Any shoes and 
 stockings? Ohdear,no; no stockings.— Had you 
 any other clothes for Sunday ? Sometimes we 
 had an old bit of a jacket, that we might wash 
 out ourselves, and a shirt." — Lords' Minutes, 
 p. 40. 
 
 Girls are occasionally employed as chimney 
 sweepers. 
 
 "Another circumstance, which has not been 
 mentioned to the committee, is, that there are 
 several little girls employed; there are two of 
 the name of Morgan at Windsor, daughters of 
 the chimney sweeper, who is employed to sweep 
 the chimneys of the castle; another instance at 
 Uxbridge, and at Brighton, and at Whitechapel 
 (which was some years ago), and at Hadley 
 near Barnet, and Witham in Essex, and else- 
 where." — Commons' Report, p. 71. 
 
 Another peculiar danger to which chimney 
 sweepers are exposed, is the rottenness of the 
 pots at the top of chimneys;— for they must as- 
 cend to the very summit, and show their brushes 
 above them, or there is no proof that the work is 
 properly completed. These chimney-pots from 
 their exposed situation, are very subject to de- 
 cay; and when the poor little wretch has worked 
 his way up to the top, pot and boy give way 
 together, and are both shivered to atoms. There 
 are many instances of this in the evidence be- 
 fore both Houses. When they outgrow the pow- 
 er of going up a chimney, they are fit for nothing 
 else. The miseries they have suffered lead to 
 nothing. They are not only enormous, but un- 
 profitable: having suffered, in what is called the 
 happiest part of life, every misery which an 
 human being can suffer, they are then cast out 
 to rob and steal, and given up to the law. 
 
 Not the least of their miseries, while their 
 trial endures, is their exposure to cold. It will 
 easily be believed that much money is not ex- 
 pended on the clothes of a poor boy stolen from 
 his parents, or sold by them for a few shillings, 
 and constantly occupied in dirty work. Yet the 
 nature of their occupations renders chimney 
 sweepers peculiarly susceptible of cold. And 
 as chimneys must be swept very early, at four 
 or five o'clock of a winter morning, the poor 
 boys are shivering at the door, and attempting 
 by repeated ringings to rouse ihe profligate foot- 
 man ; but the more they ring the more the foot- 
 man does not come. 
 
134 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 "Do the}' go out in the winter time without 
 stockings? Oh yes. — Always? I never saw one 
 go out loith stockings; I have known masters 
 make their boys pull ofT their leggins, and cut 
 off the feet, to keep their feet warm when they 
 have chilblains. — Are chimney sweepers' boys 
 peculiarly subject to chilblains] Yes; I believe 
 it is owing to the weather: they often go out at 
 two or three in the morning, and their shoes are 
 generally very bad. Do they go out at that hour 
 at Christmas? Yes; a man will have twenty 
 jobs at four, and twenty more at five or six. — 
 Are chimneys generally swept much about 
 Christmastime? Yes; they are in general; it 
 is left to the Christmas week. — Do you suppose 
 it is frequent that, in the Christmas week, boys 
 are out from three o'clock in the morning to 
 nine or ten? Yes, further than that; I have 
 known that a boy has been only in and out 
 again directly all day till five o'clock in the 
 evening. — Do you consider the journeymen and 
 masters treat those boys generally with greater 
 cruelty than other apprentices in other trades 
 are treated? They do, most horrid and shock- 
 ing." — Lords' Minutes, p. 33. 
 
 The following is the reluctant evidence of a 
 master. 
 
 "At what hour in the morning did your boys 
 go out upon their employment? According to 
 orders. — At any time? To be sure; suppose a 
 nobleman wished ta have his chimney done 
 before four or five o'clock in the morning, it 
 was done, or how were the servants to get their 
 things done? — Supposing you had an order to 
 attend at four o'clock in the morning in the 
 month of December, you sent your boy ? I was 
 generally with him, or had a careful follower 
 with him. Do you think those early hours 
 beneficial for him? I do; and I have heard 
 that ' early to bed and early to rise, is the way 
 to be healthy, wealthy and wise.' — Did they 
 always get in as soon as they knocked? No; 
 it would be pleasant to the profession if they 
 could. — How long did they wait ? Till the ser- 
 vants please to rise. — How long might that be? 
 According how heavy they were to sleep. — 
 How long was that? It is impossible to say; 
 ten minutes at one house, and twenty at ano- 
 ther. — Perhaps half an hour? U'e cannot see 
 in the dark how the minutes go. — Do you think it 
 healthy to let them stand there twenty minutes 
 at four o'clock in the morning in the winter 
 time? He has a cloth to wrap himself in like 
 a mantle, and keep himself warm." — Lords' 
 Minutes, pp. 138, 139. 
 
 We must not forget sore eyes. Soot lodges 
 on their eyelids, produces irritability, which 
 requires friction ; and the friction of dirty hands 
 of course increases the disease. The greater 
 proportion of chimney sweepers are in conse- 
 quence blear-eyed. The boys are very small, but 
 they are compelled to carry heavy loads of soot. 
 
 "Are you at all lame yourself? No: but lam 
 'knapped-kneed' with carrying heavy loads 
 when I was an apprentice. That was the oc- 
 casion of it? It was. In general, are persons 
 employed in your trade either stunted or knock- 
 kneed by carrying heavy loads during their 
 childhood? It is owing to their masters a great 
 deal ; and when they climb a great deal it makes 
 them weak." — Cumntons' Report, p. 58, 
 
 In climbing a chimney, the great hold is by 
 the knees and elbows. A young child of 6 or 
 7 years old, working with knees and elbows 
 against hard bricks soon rubs off the skin from 
 these bony projections, and is forced to climb 
 high chimneys with raw and bloody knees and 
 elbows. 
 
 "Are the boys' knees and elbows rendered 
 sore when they first begin to learn to climb? 
 Yes, they are, and pieces out of them. — Is that 
 almost generally the case? It is; there is not 
 one out of twenty who is not; and they are sure 
 to take the scars to their grave: I have some 
 now. — Are they usually compelled to continue 
 climbing while those sores are open ? Yes; the 
 way they use to make them hard is that way. — 
 Might not this severity be obviated by the use of 
 pads in learning to climb ? Yes ; but they con- 
 sider in the business, learning a boy, that he is 
 never thoroughly learned until the boy's knees 
 are hard after being sore; then they consider it 
 necessary to put a pad on, from seeing the boys 
 have bad knees; the children generally walk 
 stifi-kneed. — Is it usual among the chimney 
 sweepers to teach their boys to learn by means 
 of pads? No; they learn them with nearly 
 naked knees.— Is it done in one instance in 
 twenty ? No, nor one in fifty." — Lords' Minutes, 
 p. 32. 
 
 According to the humanity of the master, the 
 soot remains upon the bodies of the children, 
 unwashed off, for any time from a week to a 
 year. 
 
 "Are the boys generally washed regularly? 
 No, unless they wash themselves. — Did not 
 your master take care you were washed? No. 
 — Not once in three months? No, not once a 
 year. — Did not he find you soap? No; lean 
 take my oath on the Bible that he never found 
 me one piece of soap during the time I was 
 apprentice." — Lords' Minutes, p. 41. 
 
 The life of these poor little wretches is so 
 miserable, that they often lie sulking in the 
 flues unwilling to come out. 
 
 "Did you ever see severity used to boys that 
 were not obstinate and perverse ? Yes. — Very 
 often? Yes, very often. The boys are rather 
 obstinate; some of them are; some of them will 
 get half-way up the chimney, and will not go 
 any further, and then the journeyman will swear 
 at them to come down, or go on ; but the boys 
 are too frightened to come down; they halloo 
 out, we cannot get up, and they are afraid to 
 come down; sometimes they will send for ano- 
 ther boy, and drag them down; sometimes get 
 up to the top of the chimney, and throw down 
 water, and drive them down; then, when they 
 get them down, they will begin to drag, or beat, 
 or Icick them about the house; then, when they 
 get home, the master will beat them all round 
 the kitchen afterwards, and give them no break- 
 fast, perhaps." — Lords' Minutes, pp. 9, 10. 
 
 When a chimney boy has done sufficient 
 work for the master he must work for the man; 
 and he thus becomes for sev^eral hours after his 
 morning's work a perquisite to the journeyman. 
 "It is frequently the perquisite of the journey- 
 man, when the first labour of the day on account 
 of the master is finished, to 'call the streets,' in 
 search of employment on their own account, 
 with the apprentices, whose labour is thus ua- 
 
WOKKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 135 
 
 reasonably extended, and whose limbs are weak- 
 ened and distorted by the weights which they 
 have to carry, and by the distance which they 
 have to walk. John Lawless says, ' I have 
 known a boy to Ciimb from twenty to thirty 
 chimneys for his masler in the morning; he 
 has then been sent out instantly with the jour- 
 neyman, who has kept him out till three or four 
 o'clock, till he has accumulated from six to eight 
 bushels of soot.'" — Lords' Report, p. 24. 
 
 The sight of a little chimney sweeper often 
 excites pity: and they have small presents made 
 to them at the houses where they sweep. These 
 benevolent alms are disposed of in the following 
 manner: — 
 
 " Do the boys receive little presents of money 
 from people often in your trade 1 Yes, it is in 
 general the custom. — Are they allowed to keep 
 that for their own use 1 Not the whole of it, — 
 the jonrneymen take what they think proper. 
 The journeymen are entitled to half by the 
 master's orders; and whatever a boy may get, 
 if two boys and one journeyman are sent to a 
 large house to sweep a number of chimneys, 
 and after they have done, there should be a 
 shilling or eighteen pence given to the boys, the 
 journeyman has his full half, and the two boys in 
 general have the other. Is it usual or customary 
 for the journeymen to play at chuck farthing or 
 other games with the boysT Frequently.— Do 
 they win the money from the boys ? Frequently: 
 the children give their money to the journeymen 
 to screen for them. — What do you mean by 
 screening 1 Such a thing as sifting the soot, — 
 The child is tired, and he says, ' Jem, I will give 
 you two-pence if you will sift my share of the 
 soot ;' there is sometimes twenty or thirty bushels 
 to sift. Do you think the boys retain one quar- 
 ter of that given them for their own use ? No." 
 — Lords' Minutes, p. 35. 
 
 To this most horrible list of calamities is to 
 be added the dreadful deaths by which chimney 
 sweepers are often destroyed. Of these we | 
 once thought of giving two examples; one from 
 London, the other from our own town of Edin- 
 burgh: but we confine ourselves to the latter. 
 
 "James Thomson, chimney-sweeper. — One 
 day, in the beginning of June, witness and panel 
 (that is, the master, the party accused) had been 
 sweeping vents together. About four o'clock 
 in the alternoon, the panel proposed to go to 
 Albany street, where the panel's brother was 
 cleaning a vent, with the assistance of Frazer, 
 whom he had borrowed from the panel for the 
 occasion. When witness and panel got to the 
 house in Albany street, they found Frazer, who 
 had gone up the vent between eleven and twelve 
 o'clock, not yet come down. On entering the 
 house they found a mason making a hole in the 
 wall. Panel said, what was he doing 1 I sup- 
 pose he has taken a lazy fit. The panel called 
 to the boy, ' What are you doing] what's keep- 
 ing you V The boy answered that he could not 
 come. The panel worked a long while, some- 
 times persuading him, sometimes threatening 
 and swearing at the boy to get him down. Panel 
 then said, ' I will go to a hardware shop and get 
 a barrel of gunpowder, and blow you and the 
 vent to the devil, if you do not come down.' — 
 Panel then began to slap at the wall — witness 
 tnen went up a ladder, and spoke to the boy 
 
 through a small hole in the wall previously 
 made by the mason — but the boy did not answer 
 Panel's brother told witness to come down, as 
 the boy's master knew best how to manage him. 
 Witness then threw off his jacket, and put a 
 handkerchief about his head, and said to the 
 panel, let me go up the chimney to see what's 
 keeping him. The panel made no answer, but 
 pushed witness away from the chimney, and 
 continued bullying the boy. At this time the 
 panel was standing on the grate, so that witness 
 could not go up the chimney; witness then said 
 to panel's brother, there is no use for me here, 
 meaning that panel would not permit him to use 
 his services. He prevented the mason making 
 the hole larger, saying. Stop, and I'll bring him 
 down in five minutes' time. Witness then put 
 on his jacket, and continued an hour in the 
 room, diirins; all which time the panel continued 
 bullying the hoy. Panel then desired witness to 
 go to Reid's house to get the loan of his boy 
 Alison. Witness went to Reid's house, and 
 asked Reid to come and speak to panel's bro- 
 ther. Reid asked if panel was there] Witness 
 answered he was; Reid said he would send his 
 boy to the panel, but not to the panel's brother. 
 Witness and Reid went to Albany street; and 
 when they got into the room, panel took his head 
 out of the chimney and asked Reid if he would 
 lend him his boy; Reid agreed; witness then 
 returned to Reid's house for his boy, and Reid 
 called after him, 'Fetch down a set of ropes 
 with you.' By this time witness had been ten 
 minutes in the room, during which time panel 
 was swearing, and asking what's keeping you, 
 you scoundrel! When witness returned with 
 the boy and ropes, Reid t(jok hold of the rope, 
 and having loosed it, gave Alison one end, and 
 directed him to go up the chimney, saying, do 
 not go farther than his feet, and when you get 
 there fasten it to his foot. Panel said nothing 
 all this time. Alison went up, and having fast- 
 ened the rope, Reid desired him to come down; 
 Reid took the rope and pulled, but did not bring 
 down the boy; the rope broke! Alison was 
 sent up again with the other end of the rope, 
 which was fastened to the boy's foot. When 
 Reid was pulling the rope, panel said, 'You 
 have not the strength of a cat;' he took the 
 rope into his own hands, pulling as strong as he 
 could. Having pulled about a quarter of an hour, 
 panel and Reid fastened the rope round a crow 
 bar, which they applied to the wall as a lever, 
 and both pulled with all their strength for about 
 a quarter of an hour longer, when it broke. — 
 During this time witness heard the boy cry, and 
 say, ' My God Almighty !' Panel said, ' If I had 
 you here, I would God Almighty you.' Witness 
 thought the cries were in agony. The master 
 of the house brought a new piece of rope, and 
 the panel's brother spliced an eye on it. Reid 
 expressed a wish to have it fastened on both 
 thighs, to have greater purchase. Alison was 
 sent up for this purpose, but came down, and 
 said he could not get it fastened. Panel then 
 began to slap at the wall. After striking a long 
 while at the wall, he got out a large stone; he 
 then put in his head and called to Frazer, 'Do 
 you hear, you sirl' but got no answer: he then 
 put in his hands, and threw down deceased's 
 breeches. He then came down from the ladder 
 
136 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 At this time the panel was in a state of perspi- 
 ration: he sat down on a stool, and the master 
 of the house gave him a dram. Witness did 
 not hear panel make any remarks as to the 
 situation of the boy Frazer. Witness thinks 
 ihat, from panel's appearance, he knew that the 
 boy was dead." — Commons' Report, pp. 136 — 
 138. 
 
 We have been thus particular in stating the 
 case of the chimney sweepers, and in founding 
 it upon the basis of facts, that we may make an 
 answer to those protligate persons who are al- 
 ways ready to fling an air of ridicule upon the 
 labours of humanity, because they are desirous 
 that what they have not virtue to do themselves, 
 should appear to be foolish and romantic when 
 done by others. A still higher degree of depra- 
 vity than this, is to want every sort of compas- 
 sion for human misery, when it is accompanied 
 by filth, poverty and ignorance, — to regulate 
 humanity by the income tax, and to deem the 
 bodily wretchedness and the dirty tears of the 
 poor, a fit subject for pleasantry and contempt. 
 We should have been loath to believe that such 
 deep-seated and disgusting immorality existed 
 in these days ; but the notice of it is forced upon 
 us. Nor must we pass over a set of marvel- 
 lously weak gentlemen who discover democracy 
 and revolution in every effort to improve the 
 condition of the lower orders, and to lake off a 
 little of the load of misery from those points 
 where it presses the hardest. Such are the 
 men into whose heart Mrs. Fry has struck the 
 deepest terror, — who abhor Mr. Bentham and 
 his penitentiary; Mr. Bennet and his hulks; 
 Sir James Mackintosh and his bloodless assizes ; 
 Mr. Tuke and his sweeping machines, — and 
 every human being who is great and good 
 enough to sacrifice his quiet to his love for his 
 fellow-creatures. Certainly we admit that hu- 
 manity is sometmaes the veil of ambition or of 
 faction; but we have no doubt that there are a 
 great many excellent persons to whom it is 
 misery to see misery, and pleasure to lessen it; 
 and who, by calling the public attention to the 
 worst cases, and by giving birth to judicious 
 
 legislative enactments for their improvement, 
 have made, and are making, the world some- 
 what happier than they found it. Upon these 
 principles we join hands with the friends of the 
 chimney sweepers, and most heartily wish for 
 the diminution of their numbers, and the limi- 
 tation of their trade. 
 
 We are thoroughly convinced, there are many 
 respectable master chimney sweepers; though 
 we suspect their numbers have been increased 
 by the alarm which their former tyranny excited, 
 and by the severe laws made for their coercion : 
 but even with good masters the trade is mise- 
 rable, — with bad ones it is not to be endured; 
 and the evidence already quoted shows us how 
 many of that character are to be met with in the 
 occupation of sweeping chimneys. 
 
 After all, we must own that it was quite right 
 to throw out the bill for prohibiting the sweep- 
 ing of chimneys by boys — because humanity is 
 a modern invention; and there are many chim- 
 neys in old houses which cannot possibly be 
 swept in any other manner. But the construc- 
 tion of chimneys should be attended to in some 
 new building act; and the treatment of boys be 
 watched over with the most severe jealousy of 
 the law. Above all, those who have chimneys 
 accessible to machiner)% should encourage the 
 use of machines,* and not think it beneath their 
 dignity to take a little trouble, in order to do a 
 great deal of good. We should have been very 
 glad to have seconded the views of the Climbing 
 Society, and to have pleaded for the complete 
 abolition of climbing boys, if we could consci- 
 entiously have done so. But such a measure, 
 we are convinced from the evidence, could not 
 be carried into execution without great injury to 
 property, and great increased risk of fire. The 
 lords have investigated the matter with the 
 greatest patience, humanity and good sense; 
 and they do not venture, in their report, to re- 
 commend to the House the abolition of climbing 
 boys. 
 
 * Tho price of a machine is fifteen sliilliug*. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 13T 
 
 AMERICA.* 
 
 [Edinburgh Retiew, 1820.] 
 
 This is a book of character and authority ; 
 but it is a very large book; and therefore we 
 think we shall do an acceptable service to our 
 readers, by presenting them with a short epi- 
 tome of its contents, observing the same order 
 which has been chosen b)^ the author. The 
 whole, we conceive, will form a pretty complete 
 picture of America, and teach us how to appre- 
 ciate that country, either as a powerful enemy 
 or a profitable friend. The first subject with 
 which Mr. Seybert begins, is the population of 
 the United States. 
 
 Pupulution. — As representatives and direct 
 taxes are apportioned among the different states 
 in proportion to their numbers, it is provided 
 for in the American constitution, that there 
 shall be an actual enumeration of the people 
 every ten years. It is the duty of the marshals 
 in each state to number the inhabitants of their 
 respective districts: and a correct copy of the 
 lists, containing the names of the persons re- 
 turned, must be set up in a public place within 
 each district, before they are transmitted to the 
 secretary of state: — they are then laid before 
 Congress by the president. Under this act three 
 census, or enumerations of the people, have 
 been already laid before Congress — for the 
 years 1790, 1800 and 1810. In the year 1790, 
 the population of America was 3,921,326 per- 
 sons, of whom 697,697 were slaves. In 1800, 
 the numbers were 5,319,762, of which 896,849 
 were slaves. In 1810, the numbers were 7,239,- 
 903, of whom 1,191,364 were slaves; so that at 
 a rate at which free population has proceeded 
 between 1790 and 1810, it doubles itself, in the 
 United Slates, in a very little more than 22 
 years. The slave population, according to its 
 rate of proceeding in the same time, would be 
 doubled in about 26 years. The increase of the 
 f^lave population in this statement is owing to 
 the importation of negroes between 1800 and 
 1808, especially in 1806 and 1807, from the ex- 
 pected prohibition against importation. The 
 number of slaves was also increased by the ac- 
 quisitions of territory in Louisiana, where they 
 constituted nearly half the population. From 
 1801 to 1811, the inhabitants of Great Britain 
 acquired an augmentation of 14 per cent.; the 
 Americans, within the same period, were aug- 
 mented 36 per cent. 
 
 Emigration seems to be of very little import- 
 ance to the United States. In the" year 1817, by 
 far the most considerable year of emigration, 
 there arrived in ten of the principal ports of 
 America, from the old world, 22,000 persons as 
 passengers. Thenumberofemigi-ants,from 1790 
 to 1810, is not supposed to have exceeded 6000 
 
 * Statiitical Annals of Oie United States of America. By 
 .Adam Seybert, 4to. Philadelphia, 1S18. 
 18 
 
 per annum. None of the separate states have 
 been retrograde during these three enumerations, 
 though some have been nearly stationary. The 
 most remarkable increase is that of New York, 
 which has risen from 340,120 in the year 1790, 
 to 959,049 in the year 1810. The emigration 
 from the eastern to the western states is calcu- 
 lated at 60,000 persons per annum. In all the 
 American enumerations, the males uniformly 
 predominate in the proportion of about 100 to 
 92. We are better off in Great Britain and Ire- 
 land, — where the women were to the men, by 
 the census of 1811, as 110 to 100. The density 
 of population in the United States is less than 
 4 persons to a square mile; that of Holland, 
 in 1803, was 275 to the square mile; that of 
 England and Wales, 169. So that the fifteen 
 provinces which formed the union in 1810, 
 would contain, if they were as thickly peopled 
 as Holland, 135 million souls. 
 
 The next head is that of Trade and Commerce. 
 — In 1790, the exports of the United States were 
 above 19 millions of dollars; in 1791, above 20 
 millions; in 1792, 26 millions ; in 1793, 33 mil- 
 lions of dollars. Prior to 1795, there was no 
 discrimination, in the American treasury ac- 
 counts, between the exportation of domestic, 
 and the re-exportation of foreign articles. In 
 1795, the aggregate value of the merchandize 
 exported was 67 millions of dollars, of which the 
 foreign produce re-exported was 26 millions. 
 In 1800, the total value of exports was 94 mil- 
 lions; in 1805, 101 millions; and in 1808, when 
 they arrived at their maximum, 108 million 
 dollars. In the year 1809, from the effects of 
 the French and English orders in council, the 
 exports fell to 52 millions of dollars; in 1810 
 to 66 millions ; in 1811, to 61 millions; In the 
 first year of the war with England, to 38 mil- 
 lions ; in the second to 27; in the year 1814, 
 when peace was made, to 6 millions. So that 
 the exports of the republic, in six years, had 
 tumbled down from 108 to 6 millions of dollars; 
 after the peace, in the years 181.5-16-17, the 
 exports rose to 52, 81,87 million dollars. 
 
 In 1817, the exportation of cotton was 85 
 million pounds. In 1815, the sugar made on 
 the banks of the Mississippi was 10 million 
 pounds. In 1792, when the wheat trade was at 
 the maximum, a million and a half of bushels 
 were exported. The proportions of the exports 
 to Great Britain, Spain, France, Holland and 
 Portugal, on an average of ten years ending 
 1812, are as 27, 16, 13, 12 and 7; the actual 
 value of exports to the dominions of Great 
 Britain, in the three years ending 1804, were 
 consecutively, in millions of dollars, 16, 17, 13. 
 
 Imports. — in 1791, the imports of the United 
 States were 19 millions; on an average of three 
 consecutive years, ending 1804 inclusive, thej 
 m2 
 
138 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 were 68 millions; in 1806-7, they were 138 
 millions; and in 1815, 133 millions of dollars. 
 The annual value of the imports, on an average 
 of three years ending 1804, was 75,000,000, of 
 which the dominions of Great Britain furnished 
 nearly one half. On an average of three years 
 ending in 1804, America imported from Great 
 Britain to the amount of about 36 millions, and 
 returned goods to the amount of about 23 mil- 
 lions. Cf rlainly these are countries that have 
 some belter employment for their time and 
 energy than cutting each other's throats, and 
 may meet for more profitable purposes. — The 
 American imports from the dominions of Gi'eat 
 Britain, before the great American war, amount- 
 ed to about 3 millions sterling; soon after the 
 war, to the same. From 1805 to 1811, bolh in- 
 clusive, the average annual exportation of Great 
 Britain to all parts of the world, in real value, 
 was about 43 millions sterling, of which one- 
 fifth, or nearly 9 millions, was sent to America. 
 
 Tonnage and Navigation. — Before the revolu- 
 tionary war, the American tonnage, whether 
 ownecl by British or American subjects, was 
 about 127,000 tons; immediately after that war, 
 108,000. In 17S9, it had amounted to 437,733 
 tons, of which 279,000 was .'\merican property. 
 In 1790, the total was 605,825, of which 354,000 
 was American. In 1816, the tonnage, all Ame- 
 rican, was 1,300,000. On an average of three 
 years, from 1810 to 1812, both inclusive, the 
 registered tonnage of the British empire was 
 2,459,000 ; or little more than double the Ame- 
 rican. 
 
 Lands. — All public lands are surveyed before 
 they a^-e offered for sale, and divided into town- 
 ships of six miles square, which are subdivided 
 into thirty-six sections of one mile square, con- 
 taining each 640 acres. The following lands 
 are excepted from the sales. One thirty-sixth 
 part of the lands, or a section of 640 acres in 
 each township, is uniformly reserved for the 
 support of schools ; seven entire townships, con- 
 taining each 23,000 acres, have been reserved 
 in perpetuity for the support of learning: all salt 
 springs and lead mines are also reserved. The 
 Mississippi, tlie Ohio, and all the navigable 
 rivers and waters leading into either, or into the 
 river St. Lawrence, remain common highways, 
 and forever free to all the citizens of the United 
 States, without payment of any tax. All the 
 other public lands, not thus excepted, are offered 
 for public sale in quarter sections of 160 acres, 
 at a price not less than two dollars per acre, 
 and as much more as they will fetch by public 
 auction. It was formerly the duty of the secre 
 tary of the treasury to superintend the sales of 
 lands. In 1812, an office, denominated the 
 General Land-Otiice, was instituted. The public 
 lands sold prior to the opening of the land-ofiices, 
 amounted to one million and a half of acres. 
 The aggregate of the sales since the opening of 
 the land-offices, N. W. of the river Ohio, to the 
 end of September, 1817, amounted to 8,469,644 
 acres; and the purchase-money to 18,000,000 
 dollars. The lands sold since the opening of 
 the land-offices in the Mississippi territory, 
 amount to 1,600,000 acres. The stock of un- 
 sold land on hand is calculated at 400,000,000 
 acres. In the year 1817 there were sold above 
 two millions of acres. 
 
 Post- Office.— In 1789, the number of post- 
 offices in the United States was 75; the amount 
 of postage 38,000 dollars ; the miles of post-road 
 1800. In 1817, the number of post-offices was 
 3,459; the amount of postage 961,000 dollars; 
 and the extent of post-roads 51,600 miles. 
 
 Revenue. — The revenues of the United States 
 are derived from the customs; from duties on 
 distilled spirits, carriages, snuff, refined sugar, 
 auctions, stamped paper, goods, wares and mer- 
 chandise manufactured within the United States, 
 household furniture, gold and silver watches 
 and postage of letters; from money arising from 
 the sale of public lands and from fees on letters- 
 patent. The following are the duties paid at 
 the custom-house for some of the principal arti- 
 cles of importation:— 7^ per cent, on dyeing 
 drugs, jewellery and watch-work; 15 per cent, 
 on hempen cloth and on all articles manu- 
 factured from iron, tin, brass and lead — on but- 
 tons, buckles, china, earthenware and glass, 
 except window glass; 25 per cent, on cotton 
 and woollen goods and cotton twist; 30 per 
 cent, on carriages, leather and leather manu- 
 factures, &c. 
 
 The average annual produce of the customs, 
 between 1801 and 1810, both inclusive, was 
 about twelve millions of dollars. In the year 
 
 1814, the customs amounted onli/ to four mil- 
 lions; and, in the year 1815, the first year after 
 the war, rose to thirty-seven millions. From 
 1789 to 1814, the customs have constituted 65 
 per cent, of the American revenues; loans 26 
 per cent.; and all other branches 8 to 9 per cent. 
 They collect their custoins at about 4 per cent.; 
 — the English expense of collection is 6/. 2^. 6d. 
 per cent. 
 
 The duty upon spirits is extremely trifling to 
 the consumer— not a penny per gallon. The 
 number of distilleries is about 15,000. The 
 licenses produce a very inconsiderable sum. 
 The tax laid upon carriages in 1814, varied 
 from fifty dollars to one dollar, according to the 
 value of the machine. In the year 1801, there 
 were more than fifteen thousand carriages of dif- 
 ferent descriptions paying duty. The furniture- 
 tax seems to have been a very singular species 
 of tax, laid on during the last war. It was an ad 
 valorem duty upon all the furniture in any man's 
 possession, the value of which exceeded 600 
 dollars. Furniture cannot be estimated without 
 domiciliary visits, nor domiciliary visits allowed 
 without tyranny and vexation. An information 
 laid against a new arm-chair, or a clandestine 
 sideboard — a search-warrant, and a conviction 
 consequent upon it — have much more the ap- 
 pearance of English than American libertj'. 
 The license for a watch, too, is purely English. 
 A truly free Englishman walks out covered with 
 licenses. It is impossible to convict him. He 
 has paid a guinea for his powdered head — a 
 guinea for the coat of arms upon his seals — a 
 three guinea license for the gun he carries upon 
 his shoulder to shoot game: and is so fortified 
 with permits and official sanctions, that the most 
 eagle-eyed informer cannot obtain the most tri- 
 fling advantage over him. 
 
 America has borrowed, between 1791 and 
 
 1815, one hundred and seven millions of dol 
 lars, of which forty-nine millions were bor- 
 rowed in 1813 and 1814. The internal revenue 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY S.MITH. 
 
 139 
 
 in the year 1815 amounted to ei?;ht million 
 dollars; the gross revenue of the same year, 
 including the loan, to fifty-one million dollars. 
 
 Army. — During the late war with Great Brit- 
 tain, Congress authorized the raising of 62,000 
 men for the armies of the United States,— 
 though the actual number raised never amount- 
 ed to half that force. In February, 1815, the 
 army of the United States did not amount to 
 more than 32,000 men; in January, 1814, to 
 23,000.* The recruiting service, as may be 
 easily conceived, where the wages of labour 
 are so high, goes on very slowly in America. 
 The military peace establishment was fixed in 
 1815 at 10,000 men. The Americans are fortu- 
 nately exempt from the insanity of garrisoning 
 little rocks and islands all over the world ; nor 
 would they lavish millions upon the ignoble end 
 of the Spanish Peninsula — the most useless and 
 extravagant possession with which any Eu- 
 ropean power was ever afflicted. In 1812, any 
 recruit honourably discharged from the service, 
 was allowed three months' pay, and 160 acres 
 of land. In 1814, every non-commissioned 
 ofEcer, musician and private, who enlisted and 
 was afterwards honourably discharged, was al- 
 lowed, upon such discharge, 320 acres. The 
 enlistment was for five years, or during the war. 
 The widow, child or parent of any person en- 
 listed, who was killed, or died in the service of 
 the United States, was entitled to receive the 
 same bounty in land. 
 
 Every free white male between eighteen and 
 forty-five, is liable to be called out in the militia, 
 which is stated, in official papers, to amount to 
 748,000 persons. 
 
 Navy.— On the 8th of June, 1781, the Ameri- 
 cans had only one vessel of war, the Alliance,- 
 and that was thought to be too expensive ; it was 
 sold! The attacks of the Barbary powers first 
 roused them to form a navy; which, in 1797, 
 amounted to three frigates. In 1814, besides a 
 great increase of frigates, four seventy-fours 
 were ordered to be built. In 1816, in conse- 
 quence of some brilliant actions of their fri- 
 gates, the naval service had become very popu- 
 lar throughout the United States. One million 
 of dollars was appropriated annually, for eight 
 years to the gradual increase of the navy; nine 
 seventy-fours,-j- and twelve forty-four gun-ships 
 were ordered to be built. Vacant and unappro- 
 priated lands belonging to the United States, fit 
 to produce oak and cedar, were to be selected 
 for the use of the navy. The peace establish- 
 ment of the marine corps was increased, and 
 six navy yards were established. We were 
 surprised to find Dr. Seybert complaining of a 
 want of ship timber in America. "Many per- 
 sons (he says) believe that our stock of live oak 
 is very considerable ; but upon good authority 
 we have been told, in 1801, that supplies of live 
 oak from Georgia will be obtained with great 
 difficulty, and that the larger pieces are very 
 scarce." In treating of naval aflTairs, Dr. Sey- 
 bert, with a very different purpose in view, pays 
 the following involuntary tribute to the activity 
 
 * Peace with Great Britain was signed in December, 
 1814, at Ghent. 
 
 t The American seventy-four gtm ships are as big as 
 our first-rates, and their frigates nearly as big as ships of 
 the line. 
 
 and effect of onr late naval warfare against the 
 Americans. 
 
 "For a long time the majority of the people 
 of the United States was opposed to an exten- 
 sive and permanent naval establishment; and 
 the force authorized by the legislature, until very 
 lately, was intended for temporary purposes. A 
 navy was considered to be beyond the financial 
 means of our country; and it was supposed the 
 people would not submit to be taxed for its sup- 
 port. Our brilliant success in the late war has 
 changed the public sentiment on this subject: 
 many persons who formerly opposed the navy, 
 now consider it as an essential means for our 
 defence. The late transactions on the borders 
 of the Chesapeake Bay, cannot be forgotten; 
 the extent of that immense estuary enabled the 
 enemy to sail triumphant into the interior of 
 the United States. For hundreds of miles along 
 the shores of that great bay, our people were in- 
 sulted; our towns were ravaged and destroyed; 
 a considerable population was teased and irri- 
 tated; depredations were hourly committed by 
 an enemy who could penetrate into the bosom 
 of the country, without our being able to molest 
 him whilst he kept on the water. By the time 
 a sufficient force was collected to check his 
 operations in one situation, his ships had al- 
 ready transported him to another, which was 
 feeble, and offered a booty to him. An army 
 could make no resistance to this mode of war- 
 fare; the people were annoyed; and they suf- 
 fered in the field only to be satisfied of their 
 inability to check those who had the dominion 
 upon our waters. The inhabitants who were in 
 the immediate vicinity, were not alone affected 
 by the enemy; his operations extended their 
 influence to our great towns on the Atlantic 
 coast; domestic intercourse and internal com- 
 merce were interrupted, whilst that with foreign 
 nations was, in some instances, entirely sus- 
 pended. The treasury documents for 1814, ex- 
 hibit the phenomenon of the State of Pennsyl- 
 vania not being returned in the list of the 
 exporting states. We were not only deprived 
 of revenue, but our expenditures were very 
 much augmented. It is probable the amount 
 of the expenditures incurred on the borders of 
 the Chesapeake would have been adequate to 
 provide naval means for the defence ol those 
 waters: the people might then have remained 
 at home, secure from depredation in the pur- 
 suit of their tranquil occupations. The ex- 
 penses of the government, as well as of indi- 
 viduals, were very much augmented for every 
 species of transportation. Every thing had to 
 be conveyed by land carriage. Our communi- 
 cation with the ocean was cut off. One thou- 
 sand dollars were paid for the transportation of 
 each of the thirty-two pounder cannon from 
 Washington city to Lake Ontario for the public 
 service. Our roads became almost impassable 
 from the heavy loads which were carried over 
 them. Thesefacts should induce us, in times 
 of tranquillity, to provide for the national de- 
 fence, and execute such internal improvements 
 as cannot be effected during the agitations of 
 war." — (p. 679.) 
 
 Expenditure. — The President of the United 
 Stales receives about 6000/. a year; the Vice- 
 President about 600/.; the deputies to Congress 
 
140 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 have 8 dollars per day, and 8 dollars for every 
 20 miles of journey. The first clerk of the 
 House of Representatives receives about 750/. 
 per annum ; the Secretary of State, 1200/.; the 
 Postmaster-General, 7.50/.; the Chief Justice of 
 the United States, 1000/.; a Minister Plenipo- 
 tentiary, 2200/. per annum. There are, doubt- 
 less, reasons why there should be two noblemen 
 appointed in this country as postmasters-gene- 
 ral, with enormous salaries, neither of whom 
 know a twopenny post letter from a general 
 one, and where further retrenchments are stated 
 to be impossible. This is clearly a case to 
 which that impossibility extends, i3ut these are 
 matters where a prostration of understanding 
 is called for; and good subjects are not to rea- 
 son, but to pay. If, however, we were ever to 
 indulge in the Saxon practice of looking into 
 our own affairs, some important documents 
 might be derived from these American salaries. 
 Jonathan, for instance, sees no reason why the 
 first clerk of his House of Commons should 
 derive emoluments from his situation to the 
 amount of 600(7. or 7000/. per annum : but 
 Jonathan is vulgar and arithmetical. The total 
 expenditure of the United States varied, between 
 1799 and 1811, both inclusive, from 11 to 17 
 millions of dollars. From 1812 to 1814, both 
 inclusive, and all these years of war with this 
 country, the expenditure was consecutively, 22, 
 29, and 38 millions of dollars. The total ex- 
 penditure of the United States, for 14 years 
 from 1791 to 1814, was .33o millions of dollars ; 
 of which, in the three last years of war with 
 this country, fr(^m 1812 to 1814, there were ex- 
 pended 100 millions of dollars, of which only 
 35 were supplied by revenue, the rest by loans 
 and government paper. The sum total received 
 by the American treasury from the 3d of March, 
 l'789, to the 31st of March, 1816, is 354 millions 
 of dollars; of which 107 millions have been 
 raised by loan, and 222 millions by the customs 
 and tonnage: so that, exclusive of the revenue 
 derived from loans, 222 parts out of 247 of the 
 American revenue have been derived from fo- 
 reign commerce. In the mind of any sensible 
 American, this consideration ought to prevail 
 over the few splendid actions of their half dozen 
 frigates, which must, in a continued war, have 
 been, with all their bravery and activity, swept 
 from the face of the ocean by the superior force 
 and equal bravery of the English. It would be 
 the height of madness in America to run into 
 another naval war with this country, if it could 
 be averted by any other means than a sacrifice 
 of proper dignity and character. They have, 
 comparatively, no land revenue; and, in spile 
 of the Franklin and Guerrlere, though lined 
 with cedar and mounted with brass cannon, 
 they must soon be reduced to the same state 
 which has been described by Dr. Seybert, and 
 from which they were so opportunely extricated 
 by the treaty of Ghent. David Porter and Ste- 
 phen Decatur are very brave men; but they 
 will prove an unspeakable misfortune to their 
 country, if they inflame Jonathan into a love of 
 naval glory, and inspire him with any other 
 love of war than that which is founded upon a 
 determination not to submit to serious insult 
 and injury. 
 
 We can inform Jonathan what are the inevi- 
 
 table con segueti ces nf being too fond of glory; — 
 Taxes upon every article which enters into the 
 mouth, or covers the back, or is placed under the 
 foot — taxes upon every thing which it is pleasant 
 to see, hear, feel, smell, or taste — taxes upon 
 ivarmth, light and locomotion — taxes on every thing 
 on earth, and the waters under the earth — mi every 
 thing that comes from abroad, or is grown at 
 home — taxes on the raw material — taxes on every 
 fresh value that is added to it by the industry of 
 man — taxes on the sauce which pampers man's 
 appetite, and the drug that restores him to health 
 — on the ermine ivhich decorates the judge, and 
 the rope which hangs the criminal — on the poor 
 man's salt, and the rich man's spice — on the brass 
 nails nf the coffin, and the ribbons of the bride — 
 at bed or board, couchant or levant, we must pay. 
 — The school-boy whips his taxed top — the beard- 
 less youth manages his taxed horse, with a taxed 
 bridle, on a taxed road: — and the dying English- 
 man, pouring his medicine, which has paid 7 per 
 cent., into a spoon that has paid \^ per cent., — 
 flings himself back upon his chintz bed, which 
 has paid 22 per cent., — and expires in the arms 
 of an apothecary, who has paid a -license of a 
 hundred pounds fur the privilege of putting him 
 to death. His whole property is then immediately 
 taxed from 2 to \0 per cent. Besides the probate, 
 large fees are demanded for burying him in the 
 chancel; his virtues are handed down to posterity 
 on taxed marble ; and he is then gathered to his 
 fathers, — to be taxed no more. In addition to all 
 this, the habit of dealing with large sums will 
 make the government avaricious and profuse; 
 and the system itself will infallibly generate 
 the base vermin of spies and informers, and a 
 still more pestilent race of political tools and 
 retainers of the meanest and most odious 
 description; — while the prodigious patronage 
 which the collecting of this splendid revenue 
 will throw into the hands of government, will 
 invest it with so vast an influence, and hold out 
 such means and temptations to corruption, as 
 all the virtue and public spirit, even of repub- 
 licans, will be unable to resist. 
 
 Every wise Jonathan should remember this, 
 when he sees the rabble huzzaing at the heels 
 of the truly respectable Decatur, or inflaming 
 the vanity of that still more popular leader, 
 whose justification has lowered the character of 
 his government with all the civilized nations of 
 the world. 
 
 Dei/.— America owed 42 million dollars after 
 the Revolutionary war; in 1790, 79 millions; in 
 1803,70 millions; and in thebeginningof Janu- 
 ary, 1812, the public debt was diminished to 45 
 million dollars. After the last war with Eng- 
 land, it had risen to 123 millions ; and so it stood 
 on the 1st of January, 1816. The total amount 
 carried to the credit of the commissioners of the 
 sinking fund, on the 31st of December, 1816, was 
 about 34 millions of dollars. 
 
 Such is the land of Jonathan — and thus has 
 it been governed. In his honest endeavours to 
 better his situation, and in his manly purpose 
 of resisting injury and insult we most cordially 
 sympathize. We hope he will always continue 
 to watch and suspect his government as he now 
 does — remembering that it is the constant ten- 
 dency of those entrusted with power, to con- 
 ceive that they enjoy it by their own merits, 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 141 
 
 and for their own use, and not by delegation, 
 and for the benefit of others. Thus far we are 
 the friends and admirers of Jonathan. But he 
 must not grow vain and ambitious; or allow 
 himself to be dazzled b}^ that galaxy of epithets 
 by which his orators and newspaper scribblers 
 endeavour to persuade their supporters that they 
 are the greatest, the most refined, the most en- 
 lightened and most moral people upon earth. 
 The effect of this is unspeakably ludicrous on 
 this side of the Atlantic — and, even on the other, 
 we shall imagine, must be rather humiliating 
 to the reasonable part of the population. The 
 Americans are a brave, industrious and acute 
 people ; but they have, hitherto, given no indi- 
 cations of genius, and made no approaches 
 to the heroic, either in their morality or cha- 
 racter. They are but a recent ofiset, indeed, 
 from England; and should make it their chief 
 boast, for many generations to come, that they 
 are sprung from the same race with Bacon and 
 Shakspeare and Newton. Considering their 
 numbers, indeed, and the favourable circum- 
 stances in which they have been placed, they 
 have yet done marvellously little to assert the 
 honour of such a descent, or to show that their 
 English blood has been exalted or refined by 
 their republican training and institutions. — 
 Their Franklins and Washingtons, and all the 
 other sages and heroes of their Revolution, 
 were born and bred subjects of the King of 
 England, — and not among the freest or most 
 valued of his subjects. And since the period 
 of their separation, a far greater proportion of 
 their statesmen and artists and political writers 
 have been foreigners than ever occurred before 
 in the history of any civilized and educated 
 people. During the thirty or forty years of 
 their independence, they have done absolutely 
 nothing for the Sciences, for the Arts, for Lite- 
 rature, or even for the statesman-like studies of 
 
 Politics or Political Economy. Confining our- 
 selves to our own countr)', and to the period 
 that has elapsed since ihey had an independent 
 existence, we would ask, where are their Foxes, 
 their Burkes, their Sheridans, their Windhams, 
 their Homers, their WilberforcesT — where their 
 Arkwrights, their Watts, their Davys?— their 
 Robertsons, Blairs, Smiths, Stewarts, Paleys, 
 and Malthuses"? — their Porsons, Parrs, Bur- 
 neys, or Bloomfields? — their Scolts, Rogers's, 
 Campbells, Byrons, Moores, or Crabbesl — 
 their Siddons's, Kembles, Keans, or O'Neilsl — 
 their Wilkies, Lawrences, Chantrys? — or their 
 parallels to the hundred other names that have 
 spread themselves over the world from our 
 little island in the course of the last thirty 
 years, and blest or delighted mankind by their 
 works, inventions or examples? In so far as 
 we know, there is no such parallel to be pro- 
 duced from the whole annals of this self- 
 adulating race. In the four quarters of the 
 globe, who reads an American book? or goes 
 to an American play? or looks at an American 
 picture or statue? What does the world yet 
 owe to American physicians or surgeons'! 
 What new substances have their chemists dis- 
 covered? or what old ones have they analyzed? 
 What new constellations have been discovered 
 by the telescopes of Americans? What have 
 they done in the mathematics? Who drinks 
 out of American glasses ? or eats from Ameri- 
 can plates? or wears American coats or gownsi 
 or sleeps in American blankets? Finally, under 
 which of the old tyrannical governments of Eu- 
 rope is every sixth man a slave, whom his fel- 
 low-creatures may buy and sell and torture ? 
 
 When these questions are lairly and favour- 
 ably answered, their laudatory epithets may be 
 allowed: but till that can be done, we would 
 seriously advise them to keep clear of super- 
 latives. 
 
142 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 IRELAND/ 
 
 [Edinbuegh Review, 1820.] 
 
 These are all the late publications that treat 
 of Irish interests in general, — and none of them 
 are of first-rate importance. i\Tr. Gamble's Tra- 
 vels in Ireland are of a very ordinary description 
 — low scenes and low humour making up the 
 principal part of the narrative. There are 
 readers, however, whom it will amuse; and the 
 reading market becomes more and more exten- 
 sive, and embraces a greater variety of persons 
 every day. Mr. Whitelaw's History of Dublin 
 is a book of great accuracy and research, highly 
 creditable to the industry, good sense and be- 
 nevolence of its author. Of the Travels of Mr. 
 Christian Curwen, we hardly know what to say. 
 He is bold and honest in his politics — a great 
 enemy to abuses — vapid in his levity and plea- 
 santry', and intinitely too much inclined to de- 
 claim upon common-place topicsof morality and 
 benevolence. But, with these drawbacks, the 
 book is not ill written; and may be advantage- 
 ously read by those who are desirous of informa- 
 tion upon the present state of Ireland. 
 
 So great and so long has been the misgo- 
 vernment of that country, that we verily believe 
 the empire ■would be much stronger if every 
 thirg was open sea between England and ihe 
 Atlantic, and if skates and codfish swam over 
 the fair land of Ulster. Such jobbing, such 
 profligacy — so much direct tyranny and oppres- 
 sion — such an abuse of God's gifts — such a 
 profanation of God's name for the purposes of 
 bigotry and party spirit, cannot be exceeded in 
 the history of civilized Europe, and will long 
 remain a monument of infamy and shame to 
 England. But it will be more useful to suppress 
 the indignation which the very name of Ireland 
 inspires, and to consider impartially those causes 
 which have marred this fair portion of the crea- 
 tion, and kept it wild and savage in the midst of 
 improving Europe. 
 
 The great misfortune of Ireland is, that the 
 mass of the people have been given up for a 
 century to a handful of Protestants, by whom 
 they have been treated as Heluts, and subjected 
 to every species of persecution and disgrace. 
 The suifTenngs of the Catholics have been so 
 loudly chaunled in the very streets, that it is al- 
 most needless to remind our readers that, during 
 the reigns of George I. and Genrge II., the Irish 
 Roman Catholics were disabled from holding 
 any civil or military office, from voting at elec- 
 tions, from admission into corporations, from 
 practising law or physic. A younger brother, 
 by turning Protestant, might deprive his elder 
 
 » 1. Wl,ite!au's History of the City qf Dublin. 4to Ca- 
 dell and Davies. 
 
 2. Obserralicns on the Slate of Trelani. principally di- 
 recteri to iti Agriculture and Kurnl Population; in a smes rf 
 Letters urritten on a Tour through that Country. In 2 vols. 
 By J. C. Curwen, Esq., M. P. London, Itia 
 
 3. Gamble's Views of Society in Ireland. 
 
 brother of his birthright; by the same process, 
 he might force his father, under the name of a 
 liberal provision, to yield up to him a part of 
 his landed property: and, if an eldest son, he 
 might, in the same v.-ay, reduce his father's fee- 
 simple to a life estate. A papist was disabled 
 from purchasing freehold lands — and even from 
 holding long leases — and any person might take 
 his Catholic neighbour's house by paying .5/. for 
 it. If the child of a Catholic father turned Pro- 
 testant, he was taken away from his father and 
 put into the hands of a Protestant relation. No 
 papist could purchase a freehold, or lease for 
 more than thirty years — or inherit from an in- 
 testate Protestant — nor from an intestate Catho- 
 lic — nor dwell in Limerick or Galwa)' — nor hold 
 an advowson, nor buy an annuity for life. 50/. 
 was given for discovering a popish archbishop 
 — 30/. fqr a popish clergyman — and 10s. for a 
 schoolmaster. No one was allowed to be trustee 
 for Catholics ; no Catholic was allowed to take 
 more than two apprentices; no papist to be so- 
 licitor, sheriff, or to serve on grand juries. 
 Horses of papists might be seized for the militia; 
 for which militia papists were to pay double, 
 and to find Protestant substitutes. Papists were 
 prt)hibited from being present at vestries, or 
 from being high or petty constables; and, when 
 resident in towns, they were compelled to find 
 Protestant watchmen. Barristers and solicitors 
 marrying Catholics, were exposed to the penal- 
 ties of Catholics. Persons plundered by pri- 
 vateers during a war with any popish prince, 
 were reimbursed by a levy on the Catholic in- 
 habitants where they lived. All popish priests 
 celebrating marriages contrary to 12 Geo. Leap. 
 3, were to be hanged. 
 
 The greater part of these incapacities are re- 
 moved, though many of a very serious and op- 
 pressive nature still remain. But the grand 
 misfortune is, that the spirit which these op- 
 pressive laws engendered remains. The Pro- 
 testant still looks upon the Catholic as a 
 degraded being. The Catholic does not yet 
 consider himself upon an equality with his for- 
 mer tyrant and taskmaster. That religious 
 hatred which required all the prohibiting vigi- 
 lance of the law for its restraint, has found in 
 the law its strongest support; and the spirit 
 which the law first exasperated and embittered, 
 continues to act long after the original slimulus 
 is withdrawn. The law which prevented Ca- 
 tholics from serving on grand juries is repealed ; 
 but Catholics are not called upon grand juries 
 in the proportion in which they are entitled, by 
 their rank and fortune. The Duke of Bedford 
 did all he could to give them the benefit of those 
 laws which are already passed in their favour. 
 But power is seldom entrusted in this country 
 to one of the Duke of Bedford's liberality; and 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 every thing has fallen back in the hands of his 
 successors into the ancient division of the pri- 
 vileged and degraded castes. We do not mean 
 Jo cast any reflection upon the present secretary 
 for Ireland, whom we believe to be upon this 
 subject a very liberal politician, and on all sub- 
 jecis an honourable and excellent man. The 
 government under which he serves allows him 
 to indulge in a little harmless liberality; but it 
 is perfectly understood that nothing is intended 
 to be done for the Catholics; that no loaves and 
 fishes will be lost by indulgence in Protestant 
 insolence and tyranny; and, therefore, among 
 the generality of Irish Protestants, insolence, 
 tyranny and exclusion continue to operate. 
 Ho\vever eligible the Catholic may be, he is not 
 elected; whatever barriers may be thrown down, 
 he does not advance a i-tep. He was first kept 
 out by law; he is now kept out by opinion and 
 habit. They have been so long in chains, that 
 nobody believes they are capable of using their 
 hands and feet. 
 
 It is not, however, the only or the worst misfor- 
 tune of the Catholics, that the relaxations of the 
 law are hitherto of little benefit to them ; the law 
 is not yet sufficiently relaxed. A Catholic, as 
 every body knows, cannot be made sheriff; can- 
 not be in Parliament; cannot be a director of 
 the Irish Bank; cannot fill the great departments 
 of the law, the army and the navy; is cut off 
 from all the high objects of human ambition, 
 and treated as a marked and degraded person. 
 
 The common admission now is, that the Ca- 
 tholics are to the Protestants in Ireland as about 
 4 to I — of which Protestants, not more than one 
 half he]ox\g to the Church of Ireland. This, then, 
 is one of the most striking features in the state 
 of Ireland. That the great mass of the popula- 
 tion is completely subjugated and overawed by 
 a handful of comparatively recent settlers, — in 
 whom all the power and patronage of the coun- 
 try are vested, — who have been reluctantly com- 
 pelled to desist from still greater abuses of 
 authority, — and who look with trembling appre- 
 hension to the increasing liberality of the Par- 
 liament and the country towards these unfortu- 
 nate persons whom they have always looked 
 upon as their property and their prey. 
 
 Whatever evils may result from these pro- 
 portions between the oppressor and the op- 
 pressed — to whatever dangers a country so 
 situated may be considered to be exposed — these 
 evils and dangers are rapidly increasing in Ire- 
 land. The proportion of Catholics to Protestants 
 is infinitely greater novv than it was thirty years 
 ago, and is becoming more and more favourable 
 to the former. By a return made to the Irish 
 House of Lords in 1732, the proportion of Ca- 
 tholics to Protestants was not 2 to 1. It is now 
 (as we have already observed) 4 to 1 ; and the 
 causes which have thus altered the proportion 
 in favour of the Catholics are sufficiently ob- 
 vious to any one acquainted with the state of 
 Ireland. The Roman Catholic priest resides: 
 his income .entirely depends upon the number 
 of his flock; and he must exert himself, or he 
 starves. There is some chance of success, 
 therefore, in his efforts to convert; but the Pro- 
 testant clergyman, if he were equally eager, has 
 little or no probability of persuading so much 
 larger a proportion of the population to come 
 
 over to his church. The Catholic clergyman 
 belongs to a religion that has always been more 
 desirous of gaining proselytes than the Pro- 
 testant church; and he is animated by a sense 
 of injury and a desire of revenge. Another rea- 
 son for the disproportionate increase of Catho- 
 lics is, that the Catholics will marry upon means 
 which the Protestant considers as insufficient 
 for marriage. A few potatoes and a shed of 
 turf are all that Luther has left for the Roman- 
 ist ; and, when the latter gets these, he instantly 
 begins upon the great Irish manufacture of chil- 
 dren. But a Protestant belongs to the sect that 
 eats the fine flour, and leaves the bran to others; 
 he must have comforts, and he does not marry 
 till he gets them. He would be ashamed, if he 
 were seen living as a Catholic lives. This is 
 the principal reason why the Protestants who 
 remain attached to their church do not increase 
 so fast as the Catholics. But in common minds, 
 daily scenes, the example of the majority, the 
 power of imitation, decide their habits, religious 
 as well as civil. A Protestant labourer who 
 w^orks among Catholics, soon learns to think 
 and act and talk as they do — he is not proof 
 against the eternal panegyric which he hears of 
 Father G'Leary. His Protestantism is rubbed 
 away; and he goes at last, after some little re- 
 sistance, to the chapel, where he sees every 
 body else going. 
 
 These eight Catholics not only hate the ninth 
 man, the Protestant of the Establishment, for 
 the unjust privileges he enjoys — not only remem- 
 ber that the lands of their fathers were given to 
 his father — but they find themselves forced to 
 pay for the support of his religion. In the 
 wretched state of poverty in which the lower 
 orders of Irish are plunged, it is not without 
 considerable effort that they can pay the few 
 shillings necessary for the suppcfrt of their Ca- 
 tholic priest; and when this is effected, a tenth 
 of the potatoes in the garden is to be set out 
 for the support of a persuasion, the introduction 
 of which into Ireland they consider as the great 
 cause of their political inferiority, and all their 
 manifold wretchedness. In England, a labourer 
 can procure constant employment — or he can, 
 at the worst, obtain relief from his parish. 
 Whether lithe operates as a tax upon him. is 
 known only to the political ecoiiomist: if he 
 does pay it. he does not know that he pays it; 
 and the burthen of supporting the clergy is at 
 least kept out of his view. But, in Ireland, the 
 only method in which a poor man lives, is by 
 taking a small portion of land, in which he can 
 grow potatoes: seven or eight months out of 
 twelve, in many parts of Ireland, there is no 
 constant employment of the poor: and the po- 
 tato farm is all that shelters them from absolute 
 famine. If the pope were to come in person, and 
 seize upon every tenth potato, the poor peasant 
 would scarcely endure it. With what patience 
 then, can he see it tossed into the cart of the 
 heretic rector who has a church without a con- 
 gregation, and a revenue without duties? 
 
 We do not say whether these things are right 
 or wrong — whether they want a remedy at all 
 — or what remedy they want ; but we paint them 
 in those colours in which they appear to the eye 
 of poverty and ignorance, without saying whe- 
 I iher those colours are false or true. Nor is tho 
 
144 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 case at all comparable to that of Dissenters pay- 
 ing tithe in England; which case is precisely 
 the reverse of what happens in Ireland, for it is 
 the contribution of a very small minority to the 
 religion of a very lar^e majority; and the num- 
 bers on either side make all the difference in 
 the argument. To exasperate the poor Catholic 
 still more, the rich grazier of the parish — or the 
 squire in his parish — pay no tithe at all for their 
 grass land. Agistment tithe is abolished in 
 Ireland; and the burthen of supporting two 
 churches seems to devolve upon the poorer 
 Catholics, struggling with plough and spade in 
 small scraps of dearly-rented land. Tithes seem 
 to be collected in a more harsh manner than 
 they are collected in England. The minute sub- 
 divisions of land in Ireland — the little connection 
 which the Protestant clergyman commonly has 
 with the Catholic population of his parish, have 
 made the introduction of tithe proctors very 
 general — sometimes as the agent of the clergy- 
 man — sometimes as the lessee or middleman 
 between the clergyman and the cultivator of 
 the land: but, in either case, practised, dexter- 
 ous estimators of tithe. The English clergymen 
 in general, are far from exacting the whole of 
 what is due to them, but sacrifice a little to the 
 love of popularity or to the dread of odium. 
 A system of tithe-proctors established all over 
 England (as it is in Ireland,) would produce 
 general disgust and alienation from the Esta- 
 blished Church. 
 
 " During the administration of Lord Halifax," 
 says Mr. Hardy, in quoting the opinion of Lord 
 Charlemont upon tithes paid by Catholics, " Ire- 
 land was dangerously disturbed in its south- 
 ern and northern regions. In the south princi- 
 pally, in the counties of Kilkenny, Limerick, 
 Cork and Tipperary, the White Boys now made 
 their first appearance; those White Boys, who 
 have ever since occasionally disturbed the pub- 
 lic tranquillity, without any rational method 
 having been as yet pursued to eradicate this 
 disgraceful evil. When we consider that the 
 very same district has been for the long space 
 of seven-and-lwenty years liable to frequent 
 returns of the same disorder into which it has 
 continuallj' relapsed, in spite of all the violent 
 remedies from time to time administered by our 
 political quacks, we cannot doubt but that some 
 real, peculiar and topical cause must exist; and 
 yet, neither the removal nor even the investiga- 
 tion of this cause has ever once been seriously 
 attempted. Laws of the most sanguinary and 
 unconstitutional nature have been enacted; the 
 country has been disgraced and exasperated 
 by frequent and bloody executions; and the 
 gibbet, that perpetual resource of weak and 
 cpjel legislators, has groaned under the multi- 
 tude of starving criminals ; yet, while the cause 
 is suffered to exist, the eflects will ever follow. 
 The amputation of limbs will never eradicate 
 a prurient humour, which must be sought in its 
 source, and there remedied." 
 
 "I wish," continues Mr. Wakefield, "for the 
 sake of humanity, and for the honour of the 
 Irish character, that the gentlemen of that coun- 
 try would take this matter into their serious 
 consideration. Let them only for a moment 
 place themselves in the situation of the half- 
 famished cotter, surrounded by a wretched fami- 
 
 ly, clamorous for food ; and judge what his feel- 
 ings must be, when he sees the tenth part of the 
 produce of his potato garden exposed at harvest 
 time to public cuni; or, if he have given a pro- 
 missory note for the payment of a certain sum 
 of money, to compensate for such tithe when it 
 becomes due, to hear the heart-rending cries of 
 his offspring clinging round him, and lamenting 
 for the milk of which they are deprived, by the 
 cows being driven to the pound, to be sold to dis- 
 charge the debt. Such accounts are not the 
 creation of fancy; the facts do exist, and are 
 but too common in Ireland. Were one of them 
 transferred to canvas by the hand of genius, 
 and exhibited to English humanity, that heart 
 must be callous, indeed, that could refuse its 
 sympathy. I have seen the cow, the favourite 
 cow, driven away, accompanied by the sighs, 
 the tears and the imprecations of a whole fami- 
 ly, who were paddling after, through wet and 
 dirt, to take their last affectionate farewell of 
 this their only friend and benefactor, at the 
 pound gate. I have heard with emotions which 
 I can scarcely describe, deep curses repeated 
 from village to village as the cavalcade pro- 
 ceeded. I have witnessed the group pass the 
 domain walls of the opulent grazier, whose 
 numerous herds were cropping the most luxu- 
 riant pastures, while he M-as secure from any 
 demand for the tithe of their food, looking on 
 with the most unfeeling indifference." — Wake- 
 field, p. 486. 
 
 In Munster, where tithe of potatoes is exact- 
 ed, risings against the system have constantly 
 occurred during the last forty years. In Ulster, 
 where no such tithe is required, these insurrec- 
 tions are unknown. The double church which 
 Ireland supports, and that painful visible con- 
 tribution towards it which the poor Irishman is 
 compelled to make from his miserable pittance, 
 is one great cause of those never-ending in- 
 surrections, burnings, murders and robberies, 
 which have laid waste that ill-fated country for 
 so many years. The unfortunate consequence 
 of the civil disabilities, and the church payments 
 under which the Catholics labour, is a rooted 
 antipathy to this country. They hate the Eng- 
 lish government from historical recollection, 
 actual sufferings and disappointed hope ; and 
 till they are better treated, they will continue to 
 hate it. At this moment, in a period of the 
 most profound peace, there are twenty-five 
 thousand of the best disciplined and best ap- 
 pointed troops in the world in Ireland, with 
 bayonets fixed, presented arms, and in the atti- 
 tude of present war: nor is there a man too 
 much — nor would Ireland be tenable without 
 them. When it was necessary last year (or 
 thought necessary) to put down the children of 
 reform, we were forced to make a new levy 
 of troops in this country — not a man could 
 be spared from Ireland. The moment they 
 had embarked, Peep-of-day Boys, Heart-of-Oak 
 Boys, Twelve-o'clock Boys,Heart-of-Flint Boys, 
 and all the bloody boyhood of the Bog of Allen, 
 would have proceeded to the ancient work of 
 riot, rapine and disaffection. Ireland, in short, 
 till her wrongs are redressed, and a more liberal 
 policy is adopted towards her, will always be a 
 cause of anxiety and suspicion to this country; 
 and, in some moment of our weakness and de- 
 
WOKKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 U 
 
 pression, will forcibly extort what she woukl 
 now receive with gratitude and exultation. 
 
 Ireland is situated close to another island of 
 greater size, speaking the same language, very 
 superior in civilization, and the seat of govern- 
 ment. The consequence of this is the emigra- 
 tion of the richest and most powerful part of the 
 community — a vast drain of wealth — and the 
 absence of all that wholesome influence which 
 the representatives of ancient families residing 
 upon their estates, produce upon their tenantry 
 and dependents. Can any man imagine that 
 the scenes which have been acted in Ireland 
 within these last twenty years, would have 
 taken place, if such vast proprietors as the 
 Uuke of Devonshire, the Marquis of Hertford, 
 the Marquis of Lansdowne, Earl Fitzwilliam, 
 and many other men of equal wealth, had been 
 in the constant habit of residmgupon their Irish, 
 as they are upon their English estates'? Is it of 
 no consequence to the order and the civilization 
 of a large district, whether the great mansion is 
 inhabited by an insignificant, perhaps a mis- 
 chievous, attorney, in the shape of agent, or 
 whether the first and greatest men of the United 
 Kingdoms, after the business of Parliament is 
 over, come with their friends and families, to 
 exercise hospitality, to spend large revenues, to 
 diffuse information and to improve manners! 
 This evil is a very serious one to Ireland; and, 
 as far as we see, incurable. For if the present 
 large estates were, by the dilapidation of fami- 
 lies, to be broken to pieces and sold, others 
 equally great would, in the free circulation of 
 property, speedily accumulate; and the moment 
 any possessor arrived at a certain pitch of tor- 
 tune, he would probably choose to reside in the 
 better country,— near the Parliament or the 
 court. 
 
 This absence of great proprietors in Ireland 
 necessarily brings with it, or if not necessarily, 
 has actually brought with it, the employment 
 of middlemen, which forms one other standing 
 and regular Irish grievance. We are well aware 
 of all that can be said in defence of middle- 
 men ; that they stand between the little farmer 
 and the great proprietor, as the shop-keeper 
 does between the manufacturer and consumer; 
 and, in fact, by their intervention, save time, and 
 therefore expense. This may be true enough 
 in the abstract; but the particularnatureof land 
 must be attended to. The object of the man who 
 makes cloth is to sell his cloth at the present 
 market, for as high a price as he can obtain. If 
 that price is too high, it soon falls; but no injury 
 is done to his machinery by the superior price 
 he has enjoyed for a season — he is just as able 
 to produce cloth with it, as if the profits he en- 
 joyed had always been equally moderate ; he 
 has no fear, therefore, of the middlemen, or of 
 any species of moral machinery which may help 
 to obtain for him the greatest present prices. 
 The same would be the feeling of any one who 
 let out a steam-engine, or any other machine, 
 for the purposes of manufacture ; he would natu- 
 rally take the highest price he could get: for he 
 might either let his machine for a price propor- 
 tionate to the work it did, or the repairs, estima- 
 ble with the greatest precision, might be thrown 
 upon the tenant; in short, he could hardly ask 
 any rent too higti for his machine which a re- 
 19 
 
 sponsible person would give; dilapidation would 
 be so visible, and so calculable in such in- 
 stances, that any secondary lease, or subletting, 
 would be rather an increase of security than a 
 source of alarm. Any evil from such a practice 
 would be improbable, measurable and reme- 
 diable. In land, on the contrary, the object is 
 not to get the highest prices absolutely, but to 
 get the highest prices which will not injure the 
 machine. One tenant may offer and pay double 
 the rent of another, and in a few years leave the 
 land in a state which will effectually bar all fu- 
 ture offers of tenancy. It is of no use to fill a 
 lease full of clauses and covenants; a tenant 
 who pays more than he ought to pay, or who pays 
 even to the last farthing which he ought to pay, 
 will rob the land, and injure the machine, in 
 spite of all the attorneys in England. He will 
 rob it even if he means to remain upon it — 
 driven on by present distress, and anxious to 
 put oflT the day of defalcation and arrear. The 
 damage is often difficult of detection — not easily 
 calculated, not easily to be proved; such for 
 which juries (themselves, perhaps, farmers) 
 would not willingly give sntlicient compensa- 
 tion. And if this is true in England, it is much 
 more strikingly true in Ireland, where it is ex- 
 tremely difficult to obtain verdicts for breaches 
 of covenant in leases. 
 
 The only method then of guarding the machine 
 from real injury is, by giving to the actual oc- 
 cupier such advantage in his contract, that he 
 is unwilling to give it up — that he has a real 
 interest in retaining it, and is not driven by the 
 distresses of the present moment to destroy the 
 future productiveness of the soil. Any rent 
 which the landlord accepts more than this, or 
 any system by which more rent than this is ob- 
 tained, is to borrow money upon the most usu- 
 rious and profligate interest — to increase the 
 revenue of the present day by the absolute ruin 
 of the property. Such is the effect produced by 
 a middleman : he gives high prices that he may 
 obtain higher from the occupier; more is paid 
 by the actual occupier than is consistent with 
 the safely and preservation of the machine; the 
 land is runout, and in the end, that maximum of 
 rent we have described is not obtained: and not 
 only is the property injured by such a system, 
 but in Ireland the most shocking consequences 
 ensue from it. There is little manufacture in 
 Ireland ; the price of labour is low, the demand 
 for labour irregular. If a poor man is driven, 
 by distress of rent, from his potato garden, he 
 has no other resource — all is lost: he will do the 
 impossible (as the French say) to retain it: and 
 subscribe any bond, and promise any rent. The 
 middleman has no character to lose; and he 
 knew, when he took up the occupation, that it 
 was one with which pity had nothing to do. On 
 he drives; and backward the poor peasant re- 
 cedes, losing something at every step, till he 
 comes to the very brink of despair; and then 
 he recoils and murders his oppressor, and is a 
 White boij or a Right boy : — the soldier shoots 
 him, and the judge hangs him. 
 
 In the debate which took place in the Irisn 
 House of Commons, upon the bill for preventing 
 tumultuous risings and assemblies, on the 3isl 
 of January, 1787,the attorney-general submitted 
 to the House the following narrative of facts. 
 N 
 
146 
 
 WOKKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 "The commencement," said he, "was in one 
 or two parishes in the countv of Kerr\'; and 
 they proceeded thus. The people assembled m 
 a Catholic chapel, and then took an oalh to 
 obey the laws of Captain Right, and to starve the 
 clergy. They then proceeded to the next pa- 
 rishes, on the following Sunday, and there swore 
 the people in the same manner; with this addi- 
 tion, that they (the people last sworn) should, 
 on the ensuing Sunday, proceed to the chapels 
 of their next neighbouring parishes, and swear 
 the inhabitants of those parishes in like manner. 
 Proceeding in this manner they very soon went 
 through the province of Munster. The first 
 object was the refornudion of tithes. They swore 
 not to give more than a certain price per acre; 
 not to assist, or allow them to be assisted, in 
 drawing the tithe, and to permit no proctor. 
 They next took upon them to prevent the collec- 
 tion of parish cesses; next to nominate parish 
 clerks, and in some cases curates: to say what 
 church should or should not be repaired; and 
 in one case to threaten that they would burn a 
 nev.i church, if the old one were not given for a 
 mass-house. At last, they proceeded to regulate 
 the price of lands; to raise the price of labour; 
 and to oppose the collection of the hearth money, 
 and other taxes. Bodies of 5000 of them have 
 been seen to march through the country un- 
 armed, and if met by any magistrate, they never 
 offered the smallest rudeness or offence,- on the 
 contrary, they had allov.-ed persons charged with 
 crimes to be taken from amongst them by the 
 magistrate ahme, unaided by any force." 
 
 "The attorney-general said he was well ac- 
 quainted with the province of Munster, and that 
 it was impossible for human wretchedness to 
 exceed that of the peasantry of that province. 
 The unhappy tenantry were ground to powder 
 by relentless landlords; that^ far from being 
 able to give the clergy their just dues, they had 
 net food nor raiment I'or themselves — the land- 
 lord grasped the whole; and sorry was he to 
 add, that, not satisfied with the present extortion, 
 some landlords had been so base as to instigate 
 the insurgents to rob the clergy of their tithes, 
 not in order to alleviate the distresses of the 
 tenantry, but that they might add the clergy's 
 .share to the cruel rack-rents they already paid. 
 The poor people of Munster lived in a more ab- 
 ject state of poverty than human nature could be 
 supposed equal to bear." — Grattan's Speeches, vol. 
 i. 292. 
 
 We are not, of course, in such a discussion, 
 to be governed by names. A middleman might 
 be tied up by the strongest legal restriction, as 
 to the price he was to exact from the under- 
 tenants, and then he would be no more perni- 
 cious to the estate than a steward. A steward 
 might be protected in exactions as severe as the 
 most rapacious middleman; and then, of course, 
 it would be the same thing under another name. 
 The practice to which we object is, the too 
 common method in Ireland of extorting the last 
 farthing which the tenant is willing to give for 
 land, rather than quit it: and the machinery 
 by which such practice is carried into effect, is 
 that of the middleman. It is not 'only that it 
 ruins the land; it ruins the people also. They 
 are made so poor — brought so near the ground 
 -that they can sink no lower; and burst out at 
 
 last into all the acts of desperation and revenge 
 for which Ireland is so notorious. Men who 
 have money in their pockets, and find that they 
 are improving in their circumstances, don't do 
 these things. Opulence, or the hope of opulence 
 or coinfort, is the parent of decency, order and 
 submission to the laws. A landlord in Ireland 
 understands the luxury of carriages and horses; 
 but has no relish for the greater luxury of sur- 
 rounding himself with a moral and grateful 
 tenantry. The absent proprietor looks only to 
 revenue, and cares nothing for the disorder and 
 degradation of a country which he never means 
 to visit. There are very honourable exceptions 
 to this charge: but there are too many living in- 
 stances that it is just. The rapacity of the Irish 
 landlord induces him to allow of the extreme 
 division of his lands. When the daughter mar- 
 ries, a little portion of the little farm is brolceii 
 oflT— another corner for Patrick, and another lor 
 Dermot — till the land is broken into sections, 
 upon one of which an English cow could not 
 stand. Twenty mansions of misery are thus 
 reared instead of one. A louder cry of oppres- 
 sion is lifted up to Heaven; and fresh enemies 
 to the English name and power are multiplied 
 on the earth. The Irish gentlemen, too, ex- 
 tremely desirous of political influence, multiply 
 freeholds and split votes ; and this propensity 
 tends of course to increase the miserable re- 
 dundance of living beings, under which Ireland 
 is groaning. Among the manifold wretchedness 
 to which the poor Irish tenant is liable, we 
 must not pass over the practice of driving for 
 rent. A lets land to B, who lets it to C, who 
 lets it again to D. D pays C his rent, and C 
 j pays B. But if B fails to pay A, he cattle of 
 B, C, D are all driven to the pound, and after 
 . the interval of a few days, sold by auction. A 
 I general driving of this kind very frequently 
 I leads to a bloody insurrection. It may be 
 ranked among the classical grievances of Ire- 
 ' land. 
 
 I Potatoes enter for a great deal into the pre- 
 I sent condition of Ireland. They are much 
 1 cheaper than wheat; and it is so easy to rear a 
 ! family upon them, that there is no check to 
 population from the difiiculty of procuring food. 
 The population, therefore, goes on with a ra- 
 pidity approaching almost to that of new coun- 
 tries, and in a much greater ratio than the 
 j improving agriculture and manufactures of the 
 1 country can find employment for it. All degrees 
 [ of all nations begin with living in pig-styes. 
 The king or the priest first gets out of them; 
 j then the noble, then the pauper, in proportion 
 as each class becomes more and more opulent. 
 Better tastes arise from better circumstances; 
 and the luxury of one period is the wretched- 
 ness and poverty of another. English peasants, 
 in the time of Henry the Seventh, were lodged 
 as badly as Irish peasants now are; but the 
 population was limited by the difiiculty of pro- 
 curing a corn subsistence. The improvements 
 of this kingdom vrere more rapid; the price of 
 labour rose; and, with it, the luxury and com- 
 fort of the peasant, who is now decently lodged 
 and clothed, and who would think himself in the 
 last stage of wretchedness, if he had nothing 
 but an iron pot in a turf house, and plenty of 
 potatoes in it. The use of the potato was intro- 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 147 
 
 duced into Ireland when the wrelched accommo- 
 dation of her own peasantry bore some propor- 
 tion to the state of those accommodations all 
 over Europe. But they have increased their 
 population so fast, and, in conjunction with the 
 oppressive government of Ireland retarding im- 
 provement, have kept the price of labour so low, 
 that the Irish poor have never been able to 
 emerge from their mud cabins, or to acquire 
 any taste for cleanliness and decency of appear- 
 ance. Mr. Curwen has the following descrip- 
 tion of Irish cottages. 
 
 "These mansions of miserable existence, for 
 so they may truly be described, conformably to 
 our general estimation of those indispensable 
 comforts requisite to constitute the happiness of 
 rational beings, are most commonly composed 
 of two rooms on the ground floor, a most ap- 
 propriate term, for they are literary on the 
 earth ; the surface of which is not unfrequently 
 reduced a foot or more, to save the expense of 
 so much outward walling. The one is a refec- 
 tory, the other the dormitory. The furniture of 
 the former, if the owner ranks in the upper part 
 of the scale of scantiness, will con.'~ist of a 
 kitchen dresser, well provided and highly deco- 
 rated wilh crockery — not less apparently the 
 pride of the husband than the result of female 
 vanity in the wife : which, wilh a table, a chest, 
 a few stools and an iron pot, complete the calo- 
 logue of conveniences generally found as be- 
 longing to the cabin; while a spinning-wheel, 
 furnished by the Linen Board, and a loom, or- 
 nament vacant spaces, that otherwise would 
 remain unfurnished. In fitting up the latter, 
 which cannot, on any occasion, or by any dis- 
 play, add a feather to the weight or importance 
 expected to be excited by the appearance of the 
 former, the inventory is limited to one, and 
 sometimes two beds, serving for the repose of 
 the whole family ! However downy these may 
 be to limbs impatient for rest, their coverings 
 appeared to be very slight; and the whole of 
 the apartment created reflections of a very pain- 
 ful nature. Under such privations, with a wet 
 mud floor, and a roof in tatters, how idle the 
 search for comforts!*' — Curwen, I. 112, 113. 
 
 To this extract we shall add one more on the 
 same subject. 
 
 "The gigantic figure, bare-headed before me, 
 had a beard that would not have disgraced an 
 ancient Israelite — he was without shoes or 
 stockings — and almost a sans-culotte — with a 
 coat or rather a jacket, that appeared as if the 
 first blast of wind would tear it to tatters. 
 Though his garb was thus tattered he had a 
 manly commanding countenance. I asked per- 
 mission to see the inside of his cabin, to which 
 I received his most courteous assent. On 
 stooping to enter at the door I was stopped and 
 found that permission from another was neces- 
 sary before I could be admitted. A pig, which 
 was fastened to a stake driven into the floor, 
 with length of rope sufficient to permit him the 
 enjoyment of sun and air, demanded some cour- 
 tesy, which I showed him, and was suffered to 
 enter. The wife was engaged in boiling thread; 
 and by her side, near the fire, a lovely infant 
 was sleeping, without any covering, on a bare 
 board. Whether the fire gave additional glow 
 to the countenance of the babe, or that Nature 
 
 impressed on its unconscious cheek ablush that 
 the lot of man should be exposed to such pri- 
 vations, I will not decide : but if the cause be 
 referable to the latter, it was in perfect unison 
 with my own feelings. Two or three other 
 children crowded round the mother: on their 
 rosy countenances health seemed established 
 in spile of filth and ragged garments. The dress 
 of the poor woman was barely sufficient to sa- 
 tisfy decenc}'. Her countenance bore the im- 
 pression of a set melancholy, tinctured with an 
 appearance of ill health. The hovel, which 
 did not exceed twelve or fifteen feet in length 
 and ten in breadth, was half obscured by smoke 
 — chimney or window I saw none; the door 
 served the various purposes of an inlet to light, 
 and the outlet to smoke. The furniture consist- 
 ed of two stools, an iron pot and a spinning- 
 wheel — while a sack stuffed with straw, and a 
 single blanket laid on planks, served as a bed 
 for the repose of the whole family. Need I 
 attempt to describe my sensations'? The state- 
 ment alone cannot fail of conveying, to a mind 
 like yours, an adequate idea of them — I could 
 not long remain a witness to this acme of hu- 
 man misery. As I left the deplorable habita- 
 tion, the mistress followed me to repeat her 
 thanks for the trifle I had bestowed. This gave 
 me an opportunity of observing her person 
 more particularly. She was a tall figure, her 
 countenance composed of interesting features, 
 and with every appearance of having once been 
 handsome. 
 
 "Unwilling to quit the village without first 
 satisfying myself whether what I had seen was 
 a solitary instance, or a sample of its general 
 state; or whether the extremity of poverty I had 
 just beheld had arisen from peculiar improvi- 
 dence and want of management in one wretch- 
 ed family; I went into an adjoining habitation, 
 where I found a poor old woman of eighty, 
 whose miserable existence was painfully con- 
 tinued by the maintenance of her granddaugh- 
 ter. Their condition, if possible, was more de- 
 plorable."— C»mw, I. 181. 183. 
 
 This wretchedness, of which all strangers who 
 visit Ireland are so sensible, proceeds certainly, 
 in great measure, from their accidental use of a 
 food sochcap, that it encourages population to an 
 extraordinary degree, lowers the price of labour, 
 and leaves the multitudes which it calls into 
 existence almost destitute of every thing but 
 food. Many more live in consequence of the 
 introduction of potatoes ; but all live in greater 
 wretchedness. In the progress of population, 
 the potato must, of course, become at last as dif- 
 ficult to be procured as any other food ; and then 
 let the political economist calculate what the 
 immensity and wretchedness of a people must 
 be where the farther progress of population is 
 checked by the difficulty of procuring potatoes. 
 
 The consequence of the long mismanagement 
 and oppression of Ireland, and of the singular 
 circumstances in which it is placed, is, that it is 
 a semi-barbarous country: — more shame to those 
 who have thus ill treated a fine country, and a 
 fine people; but it is part of the present case of 
 Ireland. The barbarism of Ireland is evinced 
 by the frequency and ferocity of duels, — the he- 
 reditary clannish feuds of the common people, 
 — and "the fights to which they give birth, — the 
 
148 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 atrocious cruelties practised in the insurrections 
 of the common people — and their proneness to 
 insurrection. The lower Irish live in a state of 
 greater wretchedness than any other people in 
 Europe, inhabiting so fine a soil and climate. 
 It is difficult, often impossible, to execute the 
 processes of law. In cases where gentlemen 
 are concerned, it is often not even attempted. 
 The conduct of under-sheriffs is often very cor- 
 rupt.* We are afraid the magistracy of Ireland 
 is very inferior to that of this country; the spirit 
 of jobbing and bribery is very widely diffused, 
 and upon occasions when the utmost purity pre- 
 vails in the sister kingdom. Military force is 
 necessary all over the country, and often for the 
 most common and just operations of govern- 
 ment. The behaviour of the higher to the lower 
 orders is much less gentle and decent than in 
 England. Blows from superiors to inferiors 
 are more frequent, and the punishment for such 
 aggression more doubtful. The word gentleman 
 seems, in Ireland, to put an end to most pro- 
 cesses of law. Arrest a gentleman !!!! — take 
 out a warrant against a gentleman — are modes 
 of operation not very common in the adminis- 
 tration of Irish justice. If a man strikes the 
 meanest peasant in England, he is either knock- 
 ed down in his turn, or immediately taken before 
 a masiistrate. It is impossible to live in Ireland 
 ■without perceiving the various points in which 
 it i.s inferior in civilization. Want of unity in 
 feeling and interest among the people, — irrita- 
 bility, violence and revenge, — want of comfort 
 and cleanliness in the lower orders, — habitual 
 disobedience to the law, — want of confidence 
 m magistrates, — corruption, venality, the per- 
 petual necessity of recurring to military force, 
 — all carry hack the observer to that remote and 
 early condition of mankind, which an English- 
 man can learn only in the pages of the antiquary 
 or the historian. We do not draw this picture 
 for censure but for truth. We admire the Irish, 
 — feel the most sincere pity for the state of Ire- 
 land, and think the conduct of the English to 
 that country to have been a system of atrocious 
 cruelty and contemptible meanness. With such 
 a climate, such a soil and such a people, the in- 
 feriority of Ireland to the rest of Europe is di- 
 rectly chargeable to the long wickedness of the 
 English government. 
 
 A direct consequence of the present uncivi- 
 lized state of Ireland, is that very liltle English 
 capital travels there. The man who deals in 
 steam-engines and warps and woofs, is naturally 
 alarmed by Peep-of-Day Boys, and nocturnal 
 Carders; his object is to buy and sell as quicklly 
 and quietly as he can; and he will naturally 
 bear hi;j;h taxes and rivalry in England, or emi- 
 grate to any part of the Continent, orto America, 
 rather than plunge into the tutnult of Irish poli- 
 tics and passions. There is nothing which Ire- 
 land wants more than large manufacturing towns 
 to take off its superfluous population. But in- 
 ternal peace must come first, and then the arts 
 of peace will lollow. The foreign manufac- 
 turer will hardly think of embarking his capital 
 ■where he cannot be sure that his existence is 
 safe. Anoihercheck to the manufacturing great- 
 ness of Ireland, is the scarcity — not of coal — 
 
 ' Tlie difficulty often is to catcli the slieriff. 
 
 but of good coal, cheaply raised ; an article in 
 which (in spile of papers in the Irish Transac- 
 tions) they are lamentably inferior to the Eng- 
 lish. 
 
 Another consequence from some of the 
 causes we have stated, is the extreme idleness 
 of the Irish labourer. There is nothing of the 
 value of which the Irish seem to have so little 
 notion as that of time. They scratch, pick, dan- 
 dle, stare, gape, and do any thing but strive and 
 wrestle with the task belbre them. The most 
 ludicrous of all human objects is an Irishman 
 ploughing. — A gigantic figure — a seven foot 
 machine for turning potatoes into human na- 
 ture, wrapt up in an immense great coat, and 
 urging on two starved ponies, with dreadful im- 
 precations, and uplifted shillala. The Irish crow 
 discerns a coming perquisite, and is not inatten- 
 tive to the proceedings of the steeds. The fur- 
 row which is to be the depository of the future 
 crop, is not unlike, either in depth or regularity, 
 to those domestic furrows which the nails of tlie 
 meek and much-injured wife plough, in some 
 family quarrel, upon the cheeks of the deserv- 
 edly punished husband. The weeds seem to 
 fall contentedly, knowing that they have ful- 
 filled their destiny, and left behind them, for the 
 resurrection of the ensuing spring, an abundant 
 and healthy progeny. The whole is a scene of 
 idleness, laziness and poverty, of which it is 
 impossible, in this active and enterprising coun- 
 try, to form the most distant conception ; but 
 strongly indicative of habits, ■whether second- 
 ary or original, which will long present a pow- 
 erful impediment to the improvement of Ireland. 
 
 The Irish character contributes something to 
 retard *he improvements of that country. The 
 Irishman has many good qualities: he is brave 
 witty, generous, eloquent, hospitable and open 
 hearted ; but he is vain, ostentatious, extrava- 
 gati., and fond of display— light in counsel — 
 deficient in perseverance — without skill in pri- 
 vate or public economy — an enjoyer, not an 
 acquirer — one who despises the slow and patient 
 virtues — who wants the superstructure without 
 the loundation — the result without the previous 
 operation — the oak without the acorn and the 
 three hundred years of expectation. The Irish 
 are irascible, prone to debt and to fight, and 
 very impatient of the restraints of law. Such 
 a people are not likely to keep their eyes 
 steadily upon the main chance, like the Scotch 
 or the Dutch. England strove very hard, at 
 one period, to compel the Scotch to pay a 
 double church; — but Sawney took his pen and 
 ink; and finding what a sum it amounted to, 
 became furious, and drew his sword. God for- 
 bid the Irishman should do the same! the re- 
 medy, now, would be worse than the disease; 
 but if the oppressions of England had been 
 more steadily resisted a century ago, Ireland 
 would not have been the scene of poverty, 
 misery and distress which it now is. 
 
 The Catholic religion, among other causes, 
 contributes to the backwardness and barbarism 
 of Ireland. Its debasing superstition, childish 
 ceremonies, and the profound submission to the 
 priesthood which it teaches, all tend to darken 
 men's minds, to impede the progress of know- 
 ledge and inquiry, and to prevent Ireland from 
 becoming as free, as powerful, and as rich as 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 149 
 
 the sister kingdom. Though sincere friends to 
 Catholic emancipation, we are no advocates for 
 the Catholic religion. We should be very glad 
 to see a general conversion to Protestantism 
 among the Irish; but we do not think that vio- 
 lence, privations and incapacities are the pro- 
 per methods of making proselytes. 
 
 Such, then, is Ireland, at this period,— a land 
 more barbarous than the rest of Europe, because 
 it has been worse treated and more cruelly op- 
 pressed. Many of the incapacities and priva- 
 tions to which the Catholics were exposed, have 
 been removed by law; but, in such instances, 
 they are still incapacitated and deprived by cus- 
 tom. Many cruel and oppressive laws are still 
 enforced against them. A ninth part of the 
 population engrosses all the honours of the 
 country; the other nine pay a tenth of the pro- 
 duct of the earth for the support of a religion in 
 which they do not believe. There is little capi- 
 tal in the country. The great and rich men 
 are called by business, or allured by pleasure, 
 into England; their estates are given up to fac- 
 tors, and the utmost farthing of rent extorted 
 from the poor, who, if they give up the land, 
 cannot get employment in manufactures, or 
 regular employment in husbandry. The com- 
 mon people use a sort of food so very cheap, 
 that they can rear families, who cannot procure 
 employment, and who have little more of the 
 comforts of life than food. The Irish are light- 
 minded — want of employment has made them 
 idle — they are irritable and brave — have a keen 
 remembrance of the past wrongs they have 
 suffered, and the present wrongs they are suf- 
 fering from England. The consequence of all 
 this is, eternal riot and insurrection, a whole 
 army of soldiers in time of profou!id peace, and 
 general rebellion whenever England is busy 
 with other enemies, or off her guard! And 
 thus it will be while the same causes continue 
 to operate, for ages to come, — and worse and 
 worse as the rapidly increasing population of 
 the Catholics becomes more and more nume- 
 rous. 
 
 The remedies are, time and justice; and that 
 justice consists in repealing all laws which 
 make any distinction between the two religions; 
 in placing over the government of Ireland, not 
 the stupid, amiable, and insignificant noblemen 
 who have too often been sent there, but men 
 who feel deeply the wrongs of Ireland, and who 
 have an ardent wish to heal them; who will 
 take care that Catholics, when eligible, shall be 
 elected;* who will share the patronage of Ire- 
 land proportionally among the two parties, and 
 give to just and liberal laws the same vigour of 
 execution which has hitherto been reserved only 
 for decrees of tyranny, and the enactments of 
 oppression. The injustice and hardship of sup- 
 porting two churches must be put out of sight, 
 if it cannot or ought not to be cured. The po- 
 litical economist, the moralist and the satirist, 
 must combine to teach moderation and superin- 
 tendence to the great Irish proprietors. Public 
 talk and clamour may do something for the poor 
 Irish, as it did for the slaves in the West Indies. 
 Ireland will become more quiet under such 
 
 * Great merit is due to the Whigs for the patronage be- 
 stowed oil Catholics. 
 
 treatment, and then more rich, more comfortable, 
 and more civilized; and the horrid spectacle of 
 folly and tyranny which it at present exhibits, 
 may in time be removed from the eyes of Europe. 
 
 There are two eminent Irishmen now in the 
 House of Commons, Lord Castlereagh and Mr. 
 Canning, who will subscribe to the justness of 
 every syllable we have said upon this subject; 
 and who have it in their power, by making it 
 the condition of their remaining in office, to 
 liberate their native country and raise it to its 
 just rank among the nations of the earth. Yet 
 the court buys them over, year after year, by 
 the pomp and perquisites of ofhce, and year 
 after year they come into the House of Com- 
 mons, feeling deeply and describing powerfully, 
 the injuries of five millions of theircountrymen, 
 — and continue members of a government that 
 inflicts those evils, under the pitiful delusion 
 that it is not a cabinet question, — as if the 
 scratchings and quarrellings of kings and 
 queens could alone cement politicians together 
 in indissoluble unity, while the fate and fortune 
 of one-third of the empire might be compliment- 
 ed away from one minister to another, without 
 the smallest breach in their cabinet alliance. 
 Politicians, at least honest politicians, should be 
 very flexible and accommodating in little things, 
 very rigid and inflexible in great things. And 
 is this not a great thing] Who has painted it 
 in finer and more commanding eloquence thaa 
 Mr. Canning? Who has taken a more sensible 
 and statesmanlike view of our miserable and 
 cruel policy than Lord Castlereagh] You 
 would think, to hear them, that the same planet 
 could not contain them and the oppressors of 
 their country, — perhaps not the same solar 
 system. Yet for money, claret and patronage, 
 they lend their countenance, assistance and 
 friendship, to the ministers who are the stern 
 and inflexible enemies to the emancipation of 
 Ireland! 
 
 Thank God that all is not profligacy and cor- 
 ruption in the history of that devoted people — 
 and that the name of Irishman does not always 
 carry with it the idea of the oppressor or the 
 oppressed — the plunderer or the plundered — the 
 tyrant or the slave. Great men hallow a whole 
 people and lift up all who live in their time. 
 What Irishman does not feel proud that he has 
 lived in the days of Grattan] who has not 
 turned to him for comfort, from the false friends 
 and open enemies of Ireland] who did not re- 
 member him in the days of its burnings and 
 wastings and murders] No government ever 
 dismayed him — the world could not bribe him 
 — he thought only of Ireland — lived for no other 
 object — dedicated to her his beautiful fancy, his 
 elegant wit, his manly courage and all the 
 splendour of his astonishing eloquence. He 
 was so born and so gifted, that poetry, foreiisic 
 skill, elegant literature and all the highest at- 
 tainments of human genius, were within his 
 reach; but he thought the noblest occupation of 
 a man was to make other men happy and free; 
 and in that straight line he went on for <ifly 
 years, without one side-look, without one yield- 
 ing thought, without one motive in his heart 
 which he might not have laid open to the view 
 of God and man. He .is gone !— but there is not 
 a single day of his honest life of which every g> «d 
 sf 2 
 
150 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 Irishman would not be more proud, than of the I the annual deserters and betrayers of their na- 
 •whole political existence of his countrymen — | tive land. 
 
 SPRING-GUNS.* 
 
 [EDixBunoH Review, 1821.] 
 
 When- Lord Dacre (then Mr. Brand) brought 
 into the House of Commons his bill for the 
 amendment of the game laws, a system of 
 greater mercy and humanity was in vain re- 
 commended 10 that popular branch of the legis- 
 lature. The interests of humanity, and the inte- 
 rests of the lord of the manor, were not, however, 
 opposed to each other; nor any attempt made 
 to deny the superior importance of the last. No 
 such bold or alarming topics were agitated ; but it 
 was contended that, if laws were less ferocious, 
 there would be more partridges — if the lower 
 orders of mankind were not torn from their 
 families and banished to Botany Bay, hares and 
 pheasants would be increased in number, or, at 
 least, not diminished. It is not, however, till 
 after long experience that mankind ever think 
 of recurring to humane expedients for elfecting 
 their objects. The rulers who ride the people 
 never think of coaxing and petting till they have 
 worn out the lashes of their whips, and broken 
 the rowels of their spurs. The legislators of 
 the trigger replied, that two laws had lately 
 passed which would answer their purpose of 
 preserving game: the one, an act for transport- 
 ing men found with arms in their hands for the 
 purposes of killing, game in the night; the other, 
 an act for rendering the buyers of the game 
 equally guilty with the seller, and for involving 
 both in the same penalty. Three seasons have 
 elapsed since the last of these laws was passed ; 
 and we appeal to the experience of all the great 
 towns in England, whether the ditticulty of pro- 
 curing game is m the slightest degree increased 1 
 — whether hares, partridges and pheasants are 
 not purchased with as much facility as before 
 the passing this act? — whether the price of such 
 unlawful commodities is even in the slightest 
 degree increased? Let the Assize and Sessions' 
 calendars bear witness, whether the law for 
 transporting poachers has not had the most 
 direct tendency to encourage brutal assaults and 
 ferocious murders. There is hardly now a jail- 
 delivery in which some gamekeeper has not 
 murdered a poacher — or some poacher a game- 
 keeper. If the question conceined the payment 
 of tive pounds, a poacher would hardly risk his 
 life rather than be taken ; but when he is to go 
 to Botany Bay for seven years, he summons 
 together his brother poachers— they get brave 
 from rum, numbers and despair— and a bloody 
 battle ensues. 
 
 Another method by which it is attempted to 
 
 * The Shooter's Guide. By J. B. Johnson. 12mo. Ed- 
 Urards and Kiiibb, ISIU. 
 
 defeat the depredations of the poacher, is by set- 
 ting spring-guns to murder any person who 
 comes within their reach ; and it is to this last 
 new feature in the supposed game laws, to which, 
 on the present occasion, we intend principally 
 to confine our notice. 
 
 We utterly disclaim all hostility to the game 
 laws in general. Game ought to belong to those 
 who feed it. All the landowners in England 
 are fairly entitled to all the game in England. 
 These laws are constructed upon a basis of 
 substantial justice; but there is a great deal of 
 absurdity and tyranny mingled with them, and 
 a perpetual and vehement desire on the part of 
 the country gentlemen to push the provisions of 
 these laws up to the highest point of tyrannical 
 severity. 
 
 " Is it lawful to put to death by a spring-gun, 
 or any other machine, an unqualified person 
 trespassing upon your woods or fields in pursuit 
 of game, and who has received due notice of 
 your intention, and of the risk to which he is 
 exposed?" This, we think, is stating the ques- 
 tion as fairly as can be stated. We purposely 
 exclude gardens, orchards and all contiguity to 
 the dwelling-house. We exclude, also, all fe- 
 lonious intention on the part of the deceased. 
 The object of his expedition shall be proved to 
 be game ; and the notice he received of his dan- 
 ger shall be allowed to be as complete as pos- 
 sible. It must also be part of the case, that the 
 spring-gun was placed there for the express 
 purpose of defending the game, by killing or 
 wounding the poacher, or spreading terror, or 
 doing any thing that a reasonable man ought to 
 know would happen from such a proceeding. 
 
 Suppose any gentleman were to give notice 
 that all other persons must abstain from his 
 manors; that he himself and his servants pa- 
 raded the woods and fields with loaded pistols 
 and blunderbusses, and would shoot any body 
 who fired at a partridge ; and suppose he were 
 to keep his word, and shoot through the head 
 some rash trespasser who defied this bravado, 
 and was determined to have his sport : — Is there 
 any doubt that he would be guilty of murder? 
 We suppose no resistance on the part of the 
 trespasser; but that, the moment he passes the 
 line of demarcation with his dogs and gun, he 
 is shot dead by the proprietor of the land from 
 behind a tree. If this is not murder, what is 
 murder ? We will make the case a little better 
 for the homicide squire. It shall be night; the 
 poacher, an unqualified person, steps over the 
 line of demarcation with his nets and snares, 
 and is instantly shot through the head by the 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 151' 
 
 pislol of the proprietor. We have no doubt 
 that this would be murder — that it ought to be 
 considered as murder, and punished as murder. 
 We think this so clear that it would be a waste 
 of time 10 argue it. There is no kind of resist- 
 ance on the part of the deceased ; no attempt to 
 run away; he is not even challenged: but in- 
 stantly shot dead by the proprietor of the wood, 
 for no other crime than the intention of killing 
 game unlawfully. We do not suppose that any 
 man, possessed of the elements of law and com- 
 mon sense, would deny this to be a case of 
 murder, let the previous notice to the deceased 
 have been as perfect as it could be. It is true, 
 a trespasser in a park may be killed ; but then 
 il is when he will not render himself to the 
 keepers, upon a hue and cry to stand to the 
 king's peace. But deer are property, game is 
 not; and this power of slaymg deer-stealers is 
 by the 21st Edward I., r/e Makfadoribus in Parcis, 
 and by 3d and 4th William & Mary, c. 10. So 
 rioters may be killed, house-burners, ravishers, 
 felons refusing to be arrested, felons escaping, 
 felons breaking jail, men resisting a civil pro- 
 cess—may all be put to death. All these cases 
 of justifiable homicide are laid down and ad- 
 mitted in our books. But who ever heard that 
 to pistol a poacher was justifiable homicide 1 It 
 has long been decided that it is unlawful to kill 
 a dog who is pursuing game in a manor. "To 
 decide the contrary," says Lord Ellenborough, 
 "would outrage reason and sense." (Vere «;. 
 Lord Cawdor and King, 11 East, 3GS.) Pointers 
 have always been treated by the legislature 
 with great delicacy and consideration. To 
 " ivish to be a dog and to bai/ the vioon" is not 
 quite so mad a wish as the poet thought il. 
 
 If these things are so, what is the difference 
 between the act of firing yourself, and placing 
 an engine which does the same thing"! In the 
 one case your hand pulls the trigger; in the 
 other, it places the wire which communicates 
 with the trigger, and causes the death of the 
 trespasser. There is the same intention of slay- 
 ing in both cases — there is precisely the same 
 human agency in both cases ; only the steps are 
 rather more numerous in the latter case. As to 
 the bad efl^ects of allowing proprietors of game 
 to put trespassers to death at once, or to set 
 guns that will do it, we can have no hesitation 
 in saying, that the first method, of giving the 
 power of life and death to esquires, would be 
 by far the most humane. For, as we have ob- 
 served in a previous Essay on the Game Laws, 
 a live armigeral spring-gun would distinguish 
 an accidental trespasser from a real poacher — 
 a woman or a boy from a man — perhaps might 
 spare a friend or an acquaintance — or a father 
 of a family with ten children — or a small free- 
 holder who voted for administration. But this 
 new rural artillery must destroy, without mercy 
 and selection, every one who approaches it. 
 
 In the case of Hot i-ersus Wilks, Esq., the four 
 judges. Abbot, Bailey, Holroyd and Best, gave 
 their opinions serw/Zffz on points connected with 
 this question. In this case, as reported in Chet- 
 wynd's edition of Burn's Justice, 1820, vol. ii. 
 p. 500, Abbot, C. J. observes as follows : — 
 
 "I cannot say that repeated and increasing 
 acts of aggression may not reasonably call for 
 increased means of defence and protection. I 
 
 believe that many of the persons who cause en- 
 gines of this description to be placed in their 
 grounds, do not do so with an intention to injure 
 any person, but really believe that the publica- 
 tion of notices will prevent any person from 
 sustaining an injury ; and that no person having 
 the notice given him, will be weak and foolish 
 enough to expose himself to the perilous conse- 
 quences of his trespass. Many persons who 
 place such engines in their grounds, do so for 
 the purpose of preventing, by means of terror, 
 injury to their property, rather than from any 
 motive of doing malicious injury." 
 
 " Increased means of defence and protection," 
 but increased (his lordship should remember) 
 from the payment of five pounds to instant death 
 — and instant death inflicted, not by the arm of 
 law, but by the arm of the proprietor; — could 
 the Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench in- 
 tend to say, that the impossibility of putting an 
 end to poaching by other means would justify 
 the infliction of death upon the ofi^enderl Is he 
 so ignorant of the philosophy of punishing, as 
 to imagine he has nothing to do but to give ten 
 stripes instead of two, an hundred instead of 
 ten, and a thousand, if an hundred will not do 7 
 to substitute the prison for pecuniary fines, and 
 the gallows instead of the jail ! It is impossible 
 so enlightened a judge can forget, that the sym- 
 pathies of mankind must be consulted; that it 
 would be wrong to break a person upon the 
 wheel for stealing a penny loaf, and that grada- 
 tions in punishments must be carefully accom- 
 modated to gradations in crime; that if poaching 
 is punished more than manlcind in general think 
 it ought to be punished, the fault will either es- 
 cape with impunity, or the delinquent be driven 
 to desperation ; that if poaching and murder are 
 punished equally, every poacher will be an as- 
 sassin. Besides, too, if the principle is right in 
 the unlimited and unqualified manner in which 
 the chief justice puts il — if defence goes on in- 
 creasing with aggression, the legislature at least 
 must determine upon their equal pace. If an 
 act of Parliament made it a capital ofi^ence to 
 poach upon a manor, as it is to commit a bur- 
 glary in a d^-elling-house, it might then be as 
 lawful to shoot a person for trespassing upon 
 your manor as it is to kill a thief for breaking 
 into your house. But the real question is — and 
 so in sound reasoning his ka-dship should have 
 put it — "If the law at this moment determines 
 the aggression to be in such a state that it merits 
 only a pecuniary fine after summons and proof, 
 has any sporadic squire the right to say, that it 
 shall be punished with death, before any sum- 
 mons and without any proof?" 
 
 It appears to us, too, very singular to say 
 that many persons who cause engines of this 
 description to be placed in their ground, do not 
 do so with an intention of injuring any person, 
 but really believe that the publication of notices 
 will prevent any person from sustaining an 
 injury, and that no person, having the notice 
 given him, will he weak and foolish enough to 
 expose himself to the perilous consequences of 
 his trespass. But if this is the real belief of 
 the engineer — if he thinks the mere notice wi:l 
 keep people awa}- — then he must think it a 
 mere inutility that" the guns should be placed 
 at ail; if he thinks that many will be deterred, 
 
152 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 and a few come, then he must mean to shoot 
 those few. He who believes his gun will never 
 be called upon to do its duty, need set no gun, 
 and trust to rumour of their being set, or being 
 loaded for his protection. Against the gun 
 and the powder we have no complaint; they 
 are perfectly fair and admissible: our quarrel 
 is with the bullets. He who sets a loaded gun, 
 means that it should go off if it is touched. 
 But what signifies the mere empty wish that 
 there may be no mischief, when I perform an 
 action which my common sense tells me may 
 produce the worst mischief] If I hear a great 
 noise in the street, and fire a bullet to keep 
 people quiet, I may not, perhaps, have intended 
 to kill; I may have wished to have produced 
 quiet by mere terror, and I may have expressed 
 a strong hope that my object has been effected 
 without the destruction of human life. Still I 
 have done that which every man of sound in- 
 tellect knows is likely to kill; and if any one 
 falls from . my act, I am guilty of murder. — 
 "Further," (says Lord Coke,) "if there be an 
 evil intent, though that intent extendeth not to 
 death, it is murder. Thus, if a man, knowing 
 that many people are in the street, throw a 
 stone over the wall, intending only to frighten 
 ihem, or to give them a little hurt, and there- 
 upon one is killed — this is murder — for he had 
 an ill intent; though that intent extended not to 
 death, and though he knew not the party slain." 
 (3 Inst. fi~i.) If a man is not mad, he must be 
 presumed to foresee common consequences if 
 he puts a bullet into a spring gun — he may be 
 supposed to foresee that it will kill any poacher 
 who touches the wire — and to that consequence 
 he must stand. We do not suppose all pre- 
 servers of game to be so bloodily inclined that 
 they would prefer the death of a poacher to 
 his staying away. Their object is to preserve 
 game ; they have no objection to preserve the 
 Jives of their fellow-creatures, also, if both can 
 exist at the same time; if not, the least worthy 
 of God's creatures must fall — the rustic without 
 a soul — not the Christian partridge — not the 
 immortal pheasant — not the rational woodcock, 
 or the accountable hare. 
 
 The chief justice quotes the instance of 
 glass and spikes fixed upon walls. He cannot 
 mean to infer from this, because the la^v con- 
 nives at the infliction of such small punish- 
 ments for the protection of property, that it 
 does allow, or ought to allow, proprietors to 
 proceed to the punishment of death. Small 
 means of annoying trespassers may be con- 
 sistently admitted by the law, though more 
 severe ones are forbidden, and ought to be for- 
 bidden; unless it follows, that what is good in 
 any degree, is good in the highest degree. You 
 may correct a servant boy with a switch; but 
 if you bruise him sorely, you are to be indicted 
 — if you kill him, you are hanged. A black- 
 smith corrected his servant with a bar of iron ; 
 the boy died, and the blacksmith was executed. 
 (Grey's Case, Kel. 64, 65.) A woman kicked 
 and stamped on the belly of her child — she 
 was found guilty of murder. (1 Eud, P. C. 
 261.) Si inunnderate suo jure utaiur, tunc reus 
 homkidii sit. There is, besides, this additional 
 difference in the two cases put by the chief 
 justice, that no publication of notices can be so 
 
 plain, in the case of the guns, as the sight of 
 the glass or the spikes; fur a trespasser may 
 not believe in the notice which he receives, or 
 he may think he shall see a gun, and so avoid 
 it, or that he may have the good luck to avoid 
 it, if he does not see it; whereas, of the pre- 
 sence of the glass or the spikes he can have no 
 doubt; and he has no hope of placing his hand 
 in any spot where they are not. In the one 
 case, he cuts his fingers upon full and perfect 
 notice, the notice of his own senses ; in the 
 other case, he loses his life after a notice which 
 he may disbelieve, and by an engine which he 
 may hope to escape. 
 
 Mr. Justice Bailey observes, in the same case, 
 that it is not an indictable oflence to set spring- 
 guns: perhaps not. It is not an indictable offence 
 to go about with a loaded pistol, intending to shoot 
 any body who grins at you; but if you do it, you 
 are hanged; many inchoate acts are innocent, 
 the consummation of which is a capital offence. 
 This is not a case where the motto applies 
 of Vvlcnti nun fd injuria. The man does not 
 will to be hurt, but he wills to get the game; 
 and, with that rash confidence natural to many 
 I characters, believes he shall avoid the evil and 
 Igain the good. On the contrary, it is a case 
 ' which exactly arranges itself under the maxim, 
 I Quando aliquid prohibetur ex direcio, pro/iibelur 
 I et per obliquurn. Give what notice he may, the 
 j proprietor cannot lawfully shoot a trespasser 
 (who neither runs nor resists) with a loaded 
 pistol; — he cannot do it ex diredo,- — how then 
 j can he do \iper obliquum, by arranging on the 
 ' ground the pistol which commits the murder? 
 j Mr. Justice Best delivers the following opin- 
 ,ion. His lordship concluded as follows: — 
 I " This case has been discussed at the bar, as 
 j if these engines were exclusively resorted to 
 jfor the protection of game; but I consider them 
 las lawfully applicable to the protection of every 
 species of property against unlawful trespass- 
 ; ers. But if even they might not lawfully bs 
 used for the protection of game, I, for one, 
 j should be extremely glad to adopt such means, 
 I if they were found suflScient for that purpose; 
 because I think it a great object that gentlemen 
 should have a temptation to reside in the coun- 
 j try, amongst their neighbours and tenantry, 
 whose interests must be materially advanced by 
 such a circumstance. The links of society are 
 thereby better preserved, and the mutual advan- 
 tage and dependence of the higher and lower 
 classes of society, existing between each other, 
 more beneficially maintained. We have seen, 
 in a neighbouring country, the baneful conse- 
 quences of the non-residence of the landed 
 gentry; and in an ingenious work, lately pub- 
 lished by a foreigner, we learn the fatal effects 
 of a like system on the Continent. By preserv- 
 ing game, gentlemen are tempted to reside in 
 the country; and, considering that the diversion 
 of the field is the only one of which they can 
 partake on the estates, I am of opinion that, for 
 the purpose I have stated, it is of essential im- 
 portance that this species of properly should 
 be inviolably protected." 
 
 If this speech of Mr. Justice Best is correctly 
 reported, it follows, that a man may put his fel- 
 low-creatures to death for any infringement of 
 his property — for picking the s'-oes and black- 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 153 
 
 berries off his hedges — for breaking a few dead 
 sticks out of them by night or by day— with re- 
 sistance or without resistance — with warning or 
 without warning; — a strange method this of 
 keeping up the links of society, and maintain- 
 ing the dependence of the lower upon the higher 
 classes. It certainly is of importance that gen- 
 tlemen should reside on their estates in the 
 country ; but not that gentlemen with such opin- 
 ions as these should reside. The more they are 
 absent from the country, the less strain will 
 there be upon those links to which the learned 
 judge alludes— the more firm that dependence 
 upon which he places so just a value. In the 
 case of Dean versus Clayton, Bart., the Court of 
 Common Pleas were equally divided upon the 
 lawfulness of killing a dog coursing an hare by 
 means of a concealed dog-spear. We confess 
 that we cannot see the least diSerence between 
 transfixing with a spear, or placing a spear so 
 that it will transfix; and, therefore, if Vere ver- 
 sus Lord Cawdor and King is good law, the ac- 
 tion could have been maintained in Dean versus 
 Clayton; but the solemn consideration concern- 
 ing the life of the pointer is highly creditable to 
 all the judges. They none of them say that it 
 is lawful to put a trespassing pointer to death 
 under any circumstances, or that they them- I 
 selves wo'uld be glad to do it; they all seem j 
 duly impressed with the recollection that they , 
 are deciding the fate of an animal faithfully | 
 ministerial to the pleasures of the upper classes 
 of society; there is an awful desire to do their 
 duty, and a dread of any rash and intemperate 
 decision. Seriously speaking, we can hardly 
 believe this report of Mr. Justice Best's speech 
 to be correct; yet we take it from a book which 
 guides the practice of nine-tenths of all the 
 magistrates in England. Does a judge, — a cool, 
 calm man, in whose hands are the issues of life 
 and death — from whom so many miserable, 
 trembling human beings await their destiny — 
 does he tell us, and tell us in a court of justice, 
 that he places such little value on the life of 
 man, that he himself would plot the destruction 
 of his fellow-creatures for the preservation of 
 a kw hares and partridges] " Nothing which 
 falls from me" (says Mr. Justice Bailey) "shall 
 have a tendency to encourage the practice." — 
 " I consider them" (says Mr. Justice Best) " as 
 lawfully applicable to the protection of every 
 species of property; but even if they might not 
 lawfully be used for the protection of game, / 
 for one should be extremely glad to adopt them, 
 if they were found sufficient for that purpose." 
 Can any man doubt to which of these two ma- 
 gistrates he would rather entrust a decision on 
 his life, his liberty and h'is possessions? We 
 should be very sorry to misrepresent Mr. Jus- 
 tice Best, and will give to his disavowal of 
 such sentiments, if he does disavow them, all 
 the publicity in our power; but we have cited 
 his very words conscientiously and correctly, 
 as they are given in the Law Report. We have 
 no doubt he meant to do his duty; we blame 
 not his motives, but his feelings and his reason- 
 ing. 
 
 Let it be observed that, in the whole of this 
 
 case, we have put every circumstance in favour 
 
 of the murder. We have supposed it to be in 
 
 the night time; but a man may be shot in the 
 
 20 
 
 day* by a spring-gun. We have supposed the 
 deceased to be a poacher; but he may be a very 
 innocent man, who has missed his way — an 
 unfortunate botanist, or a lover. We have sup- 
 posed notice; but it is a very possible event 
 that the dead man may have been utterly igno- 
 rant of the notice. This instrument, so highly 
 approved of by Mr. Justice Best — this knitter 
 together of the difl'erent orders of society — is 
 levelled promiscuously against the guilty or the 
 innocent, the ignorant and the informed. No 
 man who sets such an infernal machine, believes 
 that it can reason or discriminate ; it is made to 
 murder all alike, and it does murder all alike. 
 
 Blackstone says, that the law of England, 
 like that of every other well-regulated commu- 
 nity, is tender of the public peace, and careful 
 of the lives of the subjects; "that it will not 
 sufl^er with impunity any crime to be prevented 
 by death, U7ikss the same, if committed, would 
 also be punished bi/ death." {Commentaries, vol. 
 iv. 182.) "The law sets so high a value upon 
 the life of a man, that it always intends some 
 misbehaviour in the person who takes it away, 
 unless by the cominand, or express permission 
 of the law." — "And as to the necessity which 
 excuses a man who kills another se defendendo. 
 Lord Bacon calls even that necessitas culpabilis." 
 {Commentaries, vol. iv. p. 187.) So far this 
 luminary of the law. — But the very amusements 
 I of the rich are, in the estimation of Mr. Justice 
 ■ Best, of so great importance, that the poor are 
 to be exposed to sudden death who interfere 
 with them. There are other persons of the 
 same opinion with this magistrate respecting 
 the pleasures of the rich. In the last session 
 of Parliament a bill was passed, entitled " An 
 act for the summary punishment, in certain 
 cases, of persons wilfully or maliciously damag- 
 ing, or committing trespasses on public or pri- 
 vate property." Anno prima — (a bad specimen 
 of what is to happen) — Georgii IV. Regis, cap. 
 56. In this act it is provided, that "if any per- 
 son shall wilfully, or maliciously, commit any 
 damage, injury, or spoil, upon any building, 
 fence, hedge, gate, stile, guide-post, milestone, 
 tree, wood, underwood, orchard, garden, nursery- 
 ground, crops, vegetables, plants, land, or other 
 matter or thing growing or being therein, or to 
 or upon real or personal property of any nature 
 or kind soever, he may be immediately seized 
 by any bod}', without a warrant, taken before a 
 magistrate, and fined (according to the mischief 
 he has done) to the extent of .5/.; or, in default 
 of payment, may be committed to tlie jail for 
 three months." And at the end comes a clause, 
 exempting from the operation of this act all 
 mischief done in hunting, and by shooters who 
 are qualified. This is surely the most impudent 
 piece of legislation that ever crept into the sta- 
 tute-book; and, coupled with Mr. Justice Best's 
 declaration, constitutes the followingaflectionate 
 relation between the different orders of society. 
 Says the higher link to the lower, "If you meddle 
 with my game, I will immediately murder you; 
 — if you commit the slightest injury upon my 
 real or personal property, I will take you before 
 a magistrate, and fine you five pounds. I am in 
 
 * Large damages have been given for wounds inflicted 
 by spring-guns set in a garden in the day-lime, where the 
 party wouiided had no notice 
 
154 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 Parliament, and )'ou are not; and I have just 
 brought in an act of Parliament for that purpose. 
 Bat so important is it to you that my pleasures 
 should not be interrupted, that I have exempted 
 myself and friends from the operation of this 
 act; and we claim the right (without allowing 
 you any sucli summary remedy) of riding over 
 your fences, hedges, gates, stiles, guide-posts, 
 milestones, woods, underwoods, orchards, gar- 
 dens, nursery-grounds, crops, vegetables, plants, 
 lands or other matters or things growing or 
 being thereupon — including your children and 
 yourselves, if you do not get out of the way." 
 Is there, upon earth, such a mockery of justice 
 as an act of Parliament, pretending to protect 
 property, sending a poor hedge-breaker to jail, 
 and specially exempting from its operation the 
 accusing and the judging squire, who, at the 
 tail of the hounds, have that morning, perhaps, 
 ruined as much wheat and seeds as would pur- 
 chase fuel a whole year for a whole village? 
 
 It cannot be urged, in extenuation of such a 
 murder as we have described, that the artificer 
 of death had no particular malice against the 
 deceased; that his object was general, and his 
 indignation leveled against offenders in the 
 aggregate. Every body knows that there is a 
 malice by implication of law. 
 
 "In general, any formal design of doing mis- 
 chief may be called malice; and therefore, not 
 such killing only as proceeds from premeditated 
 hatred and revenge against the person killed, 
 but also, in many other cases, such as is ac- 
 companied with those circumstances that show 
 the heart to be; perversely wicked, is adjudged 
 to be of malice prepense." — 2 Haw. c 31. 
 
 "For where the law makes use of the term, 
 malice aforethought, as descriptive of the crime 
 of murder, it is not to be understood in that 
 narrow restrained sense in which the modern 
 use of the word inalicc is apt to lead one, agDrin- 
 ciple of malevolence to particulars; for the law, 
 by the term malice, malilia, in this instance, 
 meaneth, that the fact hath been attended with 
 such circumstances as are the ordinary symp- 
 toms of a wicked heart, regardless of social 
 duty, and fatally bent upon mischief." — Fast. 
 25fi, 257. 
 
 Ferocity is the natural weapon of the com- 
 mon people. If gentlemen of education and 
 property contend with them at this sort of war- 
 fare, ihey will probably be defeated in the end. 
 If spring-guns are generally set — if the common 
 people are murdered by them, and the legisla- 
 ture does not interfere, the posts of gamekeeper 
 and lord of the manor will soon be posts of 
 honour and danger. The greatest curse under 
 heaven (witness Ireland) is a peasantry demo- 
 ralized by the barbarity and injustice of their 
 rulers. 
 
 It is expected by some persons, that the se- 
 vere operation of these engines Avill put an end 
 to the trade of a poacher. This has always 
 been predicated of every fresh operation of se- 
 verity, that it was to put an end to poaching. 
 But if this argument is good for one thing, it is 
 good for another. Let the first pickpocket who 
 is taken be hung alive by the ribs, and let him 
 
 be a fortnight in wasting to death. Let us seize 
 a little grammar boy, who is robbing orchards, 
 tie his arms and legs, throw over him a delicate 
 puff paste, and bake him in a bun-pan in aa 
 oven. If poaching can be extirpated by inten- 
 sity of punishment, why not all other crimes? 
 If racks and gibbets and tenter-hooks are the 
 best method of bringing back the golden age, 
 why do we refrain from so easy a receipt for 
 abolishing every species of wickedness? The 
 best way of answering a bad argument is not 
 to stop It, but to let it go on in its course till it 
 leaps over the boundaries of common sense. 
 There is a little book called Beccaria on Crimea 
 and Puni'shme7its, which we strongly recom- 
 mend to the attention of Mr. Justice Best. He 
 who has not read it, is neither fit to make laws, 
 nor to administer them when made. 
 
 As to the idea of abolishing poaching altoge- 
 ther, we will believe that poaching is abolished 
 when it is found impossible to buy game; or 
 when they have risen so greatly in price, that 
 none but people of fortune can buy them. But 
 we are convinced this never can, and never 
 will happen. All the traps and guns in the 
 world will never prevent the wealth of the mer- 
 chant and manufacturer from commanding the 
 game of the landed gentleman. You may, in 
 the pursuit of this visionary purpose, render 
 the common people savage, ferocious and vin- 
 dictive; you may disgrace your laws by enor- 
 mous punishments, and the national diaracter 
 by these new secret assassinations; but you 
 will never separate the wealthy glutton from 
 his pheasant. The best way is, to take what 
 you want, and sell the rest fairly and openl)^ 
 This is the real spring-gun and steel trap which 
 will annihilate, not the unlawful trader, but the 
 unlawful trade. 
 
 There is a sort of horror in thinking of a 
 whole land filled with lurking engines of death 
 — machinations against human life under every 
 green tree — traps and guns in every dusky defl 
 and bosky bourn — iheferse imluru, the lords of 
 manors eyeing their peasantry as so many butts 
 and marks, and panting to hear the click of the 
 trap, and to see the flash of the gun. How any 
 human being, educated in liberal knowledge 
 and Christian feeling, can doom to certain de- 
 struction a poor wretch tempted by the sight 
 of animals that naturally appear to him to be- 
 long to one person as well as another, we are 
 at a loss to conceive. We cannot imagine how 
 he could live in the same village, and see the 
 widow and orphans of the man whose blood he 
 had shed for such a trifle. We consider a per- 
 son who could do this, to be deficient in the very- 
 elements of morals — to want that sacred regard 
 to human life which is one of the corner stones 
 of civil society. If he sacrifices the life of man 
 for his mere pleasures, he would do so, if he 
 dared, for the lowest and least of his passions. 
 He may be defended, perhaps, by the abomi- 
 nable injustice of the game laws — though we 
 think and hope he is not. But there rests upon 
 his head, and there is marked in his account, 
 the deep and indelible sin of blood-guiltiness. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 P E I S N S .* 
 
 [Edi:sburgh Review, 1821.] 
 
 There are, in every county in England, large j 
 public schools, maintained at the expense of ] 
 the county, for the encouragement of profligacy 
 and vice, and for providing a proper succession 
 of house-breakers, profligates and thieves. They ! 
 are schools, too, conducted without the smallest ' 
 degree of partiality or favour; there being no 
 man (however mean his birth, or obscure his 
 situation,) who may not easily procure admis- 
 sion to them. The moment any young person 
 evinces the slightest propensity for these pur- 
 suits, he is provided with food, clothing and 
 lodging, and put to his studies under the most 
 accomplished thieves and cut-throats the county 
 can supply. There is not, to be sure, a formal 
 arrangement of lectures, after the manner of our 
 universities; but the petty larcenous stripling, 
 being left destitute of every species of employ- 
 ment and locked up with acconijjlished villains 
 as idle as himself, listens to their pleasant nar- 
 rative of successful crimes, and pants for the 
 hour of freedom, that he may begin the same 
 bold and interesting career. 
 
 This is a perfectly true picture of the prison 
 establishments of many counties in England, 
 and was so, till very lately, of almost all; and 
 the eflects so completely answered the design, 
 that, in the year 1818, there were committed to 
 the jails of the United Kingdom more than one 
 hundred and seven thousand persons If a num- 
 ber supposed to be greater than that of all the 
 commitments in the other kingdoms of Europe 
 put together. 
 
 The bodily treatment of prisoners has been 
 greatly improved since the time of Howard. 
 There is still, however, much to do; and the 
 attention of good and humane people has been 
 lately called to their state of moral discipline. 
 
 It is inconceivable to what a spirit of party 
 this has given birth; — all the fat and sleek peo- 
 ple, — the enjoyers, — the mumpsimus, and " well 
 as we are" people, are perfectly outrageous at 
 Leing compelled to do their duty, and'to sacri- 
 fice time and money to the lower orders of man- 
 kind. Their first resource was, to deny all the 
 facts which were brought forward for the pur- 
 poses of amendment; and the alderman's sar- 
 casm of the Turkey carpet in jails was bandied 
 from one hard-hearted and fat-witted gentleman 
 
 * 1. Thoughtton the Criminal Frisons of this Country. oc- 
 rnsioned by the Bill now in the House of Cmmnons^for Con- 
 solidating: ami amending tlie Laws relating to Prisons; ivilli 
 lome Kemarksnn the Practice nfloolcingto the Taslc-Mastirof 
 thePrisonralhtr than tn the Ciiaplainfor tlte Reformation if 
 Offenders; and if purchasing the Work of those w/wm t/ie 
 Lav) has condemned to Hard Labour as a Funislnnent, by 
 allowing tlitm to spend a Portion of their Earnings during 
 tiieir hnprisonment. By George Hollbrd, Esq. M. P. Riv- 
 iiigtoii. lf-21. 
 
 2. Gurney on Prisons. Constable and Co. 1S19. 
 
 3. Report of Society for bettering the Condition of Prisons. 
 Bensley. 1&20. 
 
 t Report of Trison Society, xiv. 
 
 to another : but the advocates of prison improve- 
 ment are men in earnest — not playing at reli- 
 gion, but of deep feeling, and of indefatigable 
 industry in charitable pursuits. Mr. Buxton 
 went in companj' with men of the most irre- 
 proachable veracity; and found, in the heart of 
 the metropolis, and in a prison of which the 
 very Turkey carpet alderman was an official 
 visitor, scenes of horror, filth and cruelty, which 
 would have disgraced even the interior of a 
 slave-ship. 
 
 This dislike of innovation proceeds sometimes 
 from the disgust excited by false humanity, cant- 
 ing hypocrisy, and silly enthusiasm. It pro- 
 ceeds, also, from a stupid and indiscriminate 
 horror of change, whether of evil for good, or 
 good for evil. There is also much party spirit 
 in these matters. A good deal of these hurnane 
 projects and institutions originates from Dis- 
 senters. The plunderers of the public, the job- 
 bers, and those who sell themselves to some 
 great man, who sells himself to a greater, all 
 scent from afar the danger of political change — 
 are sensible that the correction of one abuse may 
 lead to that of another — leel uneasy at any visi- 
 ble operation of public spirit and justice — hate 
 and tremble at a man who exposes and rectifies 
 abuses from a sense of duty — and think, if such 
 things are suflered to be, that their candle-ends 
 and cheese-parings are no longer safe : and these 
 sagacious persons, it must be said for them, are 
 not very wrong in this feeling. Providence, 
 which has denied to them all that is great and 
 good, has given them a fine tact for the pre- 
 servation of their plunder: their real enemy is 
 the spirit of inquiry — the dislike of wrong — the 
 love of right — and the courage and diligence 
 which are the concomitants of these virtues. 
 When once this spirit is up, it may be as well 
 directed to one abuse as another. To say you 
 must not torture a prisoner with bad air and 
 bad food, and to say you must not tax me with 
 out my consent or that of my representative, are 
 both emanations of the same principle, occur 
 ring to the samesortof understanding, congenial 
 to the same disposition, published, protected 
 and enforced by the saiue qualities. This it is 
 that really excites the horror against Mrs. Fry, 
 Mr. Gurney, Mr. Bennet, and I\Ir. Buxton. 
 Alarmists such as we have described have no 
 particular wish that prisons should be dirty, 
 jailers cruel, or prisoners wretched; they care 
 little about such matters either way ; but all their 
 malice and meanness are called up into action 
 when they see secrets brought to light, and 
 abuses giving way before the difi'usion of intel 
 ligence, and the aroused feelings of justice and 
 compassion. As for us, we have neither love 
 of change, nor fear of it; but a love of what is 
 just and wise, as far as we are able to find it 
 out. In this spirit we shall offer a few observa- 
 
156 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 tfons upon prisons, and upon the publications 
 before us. 
 
 The new law should keep up the distinction 
 between jails and houses of correction. One 
 of each should exist in every country, either at 
 a disiance from each other, or in such a state 
 of juxtaposition that they mij^ht be under the 
 same governor. To the jail should be committed 
 all persons accused of capital offences, whose 
 trials would come on at the assizes ; to the house 
 of correction, all offenders whose cases would 
 be cognizable at the Quarter Sessions. Sen- 
 tence of imprisonment in the house of cor- 
 rection, after trial, should carry with it hard 
 labour; sentence of imprisonment in the jail, 
 after trial, should imply an exemption from 
 compulsory labour. There should be no com- 
 pulsory labour in jails — only in houses of cor- 
 rection. In using the term.s Jail and House of 
 Correction, we shall always attend to these dis- 
 tinctions. Prisoners for trial should not only 
 not be compelled to labour, but they should have 
 every indulgence shown to them compatible 
 ■with safety. No chains — much better diet than 
 they commonly have — all possible access to 
 their friends and relations — and means of earn- 
 ing money if they choose it. The broad and 
 obvious distinction between prisoners before 
 and after trial should constantly be attended to; 
 to violate it is gross tyranny and cruelty. 
 
 The jails for men and women should be so 
 far separated, that nothing could be seen or 
 heard from one to the other. The men should 
 be divided into two classes: Is/, those v^'ho are 
 not yet tried; 2d, those who are tried and con- 
 victed. The first class should be divided into 
 those who are accused as misdemeanants and 
 as felons; and each of these into first raisde- 
 meanants and second misdemeanants, men of 
 better and worse character; and the same with 
 felons. The second class should be divided 
 into. Is/, persons condemned to death; 2t//(/, per- 
 sons condemned for transportation; 3(//y, first 
 class of confined, or men of the best character 
 under sentence of confinement; Ath/i/, second 
 cutifined, or men of worse character under sen- 
 tence of confinement. To these are to be added 
 separate places for king's evidence, boys, luna- 
 tics, and places for the first reception of prison- 
 ers, before they can be examined and classed: 
 — a chapel, hospital, yards and workshops for 
 such as are willing to work. 
 
 The classifications in jails will then be as 
 follows: — 
 
 Men before Trial. Men after Trial. 
 
 \sf Misdemeanants. Sentenced to death. 
 2f/ Ditto. Ditto transportation. 
 
 Is/ Felons. Is/ Confined. 
 
 2t? Ditto. 2fi? Confined. 
 
 Other Divisions in a Jail. 
 
 King's Evidence. 
 
 Criminal Lunatics. 
 
 Boys. 
 
 Prisoners on their first reception. 
 
 And the same divisions for Women. 
 But there is a division still more important 
 than any of these; and that is, a division into 
 much smaller numbers than ai-e gathered to- 
 gether in prisons: — 40, 50 and even 70 and 80 
 felons, are often placed together in one yard and 
 
 live together for months previous to their trial. 
 Any classification of offences, while there is 
 such a multitude living together of one class, is 
 perfectly nugatory and ridiculous ; no character 
 can escape from corruption and extreme vice 
 in such a school. The law ought to be peremp- 
 tory against the confinement of more than fifteen 
 persons together of the same class. Unless 
 some measure of this kind is resorted to, all re- 
 formation in prisons is impossible.* 
 
 A very great, and a very neglected object in 
 prisons, is diet. There should be, in every jail 
 and house of correction, four sorts of diet; — Is/, 
 Bread and water; 2dly, Common prison diet, to 
 be settled by the magistrates ; 3rf/y, Best prison 
 diet, to be settled by ditto; 4//;/y, Free diet, from 
 which spirituous liquors altogether and fer- 
 mented liquors in excess, are excluded. All 
 prisoners, before trial, should be allowed best 
 prison diet and be upon free diet if they could 
 afford it. Every sentence for imprisonment 
 should expressly mention to which diet the pri- 
 soner is confined; and no other diet should be, 
 on any account, allowed to such prisoner after 
 his sentence. Nothing can be so preposterous 
 and criminally careless as the way in which per- 
 sons confined upon sentence are suffered to live 
 in prison. Misdemeanants, who have money 
 in their pockets, may be seen in many of our 
 prisons with fish, buttered veal, rump steaks 
 and every other kind of luxury; and as the 
 practice prevails of allowing them to purchase 
 a pint of ale each, the rich prisoner purchases 
 many pints of ale in the name of his poorer 
 brethren and drinks them himself. A jail should 
 be a place of punishment, from which men re- 
 coil with horror — a place of real suffering, pain- 
 ful to the memory, terrible to the imagination; 
 but if men can live idly, and live luxuriously, 
 in a clean, well-aired, well-warmed, spac'ous 
 habitation, is it any wonder that they set the 
 law at defiance, and brave that magistrate who 
 restores them to their former luxury and ease"? 
 There are a set of men well known to jailers, 
 called Familymen, who are constantly returning 
 to jail, and vvho may be said to spend the greater 
 part of their life there, — up to the time when 
 they are hanged. 
 
 Miiiutes of Evidence taken before Select Com' 
 mittee on Gaols 
 
 "Mr. William Beeby, Keeper of the Neve 
 Clerkenwell Prison. — Have you many prisoners 
 that return to you on re-commitmenti A vast 
 number; some of them are frequently dis- 
 charged in the morning and I have them back 
 again in the evening; or they have been dis- 
 charged in the evening, and I have had them 
 back in the morning." — Evidence before the Conv 
 mittee of the House of Commons in 1819, p. 278. 
 
 "FnANcis CossT, Esq., Chairman of the Mid' 
 dlesex Quarter-sessions. — Has that opinion been 
 confirmed by any conduct you have observed 
 in prisoners that have come before you for 
 trial ? I only judge from the opposite thing, that, 
 going into a place where they can be idle, and 
 well protected from any inconveniences of the 
 weather and other things that poverty is open 
 
 *We should much prefer solitary imprisonment; but 
 are at present speaking of the regulations in jails where 
 tliat system is excluded. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 157 
 
 to, they are not amended at all ; they laugh at it 
 frequently, and desire to go to the house of cor- 
 rection. Once or twice, in the early part of the 
 winter, upon sending a prisoner for two months, 
 he has asked whether he could not stay longer, 
 or words to that effect. It is an insulting way 
 of saying they like it." —Evidence before f he Com- 
 niittee of the House of Commons in 1819, p. 28.5. 
 
 The fact is, that a thief is a very dainty gen- 
 tleman. Mule parta cito dilabuntur. He does 
 not rob to lead a life of mortification and self- 
 denial. The difficulty of controlling his appe- 
 tites, in ail probability, first led him to expenses, 
 which made him a thief to support them. Hav- 
 ing lost character and become desperate, he 
 orders crab and lobster and veal cutlets at a 
 public house, while a poor labourer is refresh- 
 ing himself with bread and cheese. The most 
 vulnerable part of a thief is his belly; and there 
 is nothing he feels more bitterly in confinement 
 than a long course of water-gruel and flour- 
 puddings. It is a mere mockery of punishment 
 to say, that such a man shall spend his money in 
 luxurious viands, and sit down to dinner with 
 fetters on his feet, and fried pork in his stomach. 
 
 Restriction to diet in prisons is still more 
 necessary, when it is remembered that it is im- 
 possible to avoid making a prison, in some 
 respects, more eligible than the home of a cul- 
 prit. It is almost always more spacious, cleaner, 
 better ventilated, better warmed. All these ad- 
 vantages are inevitable on the side of the prison. 
 The means, therefore, that remain of making a 
 prison a disagreeable place, are not to be ne- 
 glected; and of these, none are more powerful 
 than the regulation of diet. If this is neglected, 
 the meaning of sentencing a man to prison will 
 be this — and it had better be put in these 
 words — 
 
 " Prisoner at the bar, you are fairly convicted, 
 by a jury of your country, of having feloniously 
 stolen two pigs, the property of Stephen Muck, 
 farmer. The court having taken into conside- 
 ration the frequency and enormity of this of- 
 fence, and the necessity of restraining it with 
 the utmost severity of punishment, do order and 
 adjudge that yon be confined for six months in 
 a house larger, better aired, and warmer than 
 5'our own, in company with 20 or 30 young per- 
 sons in as good health and spirits as yourself. 
 You need do no work, and you may have any 
 thing for breakfast, dinner and supper, you can 
 buy. In passing this sentence, the court hope 
 that your example will be a warning to others; 
 and that eviUdisposed persons will perceive, 
 from your suffering, that the laws of their 
 country are not to be broken with impunity." 
 
 As the diet, according to our plan, is always 
 to be a part of the sentence, a judge will, of 
 course, consider the nature of the offence for 
 which the prisoner is committed, as well as the 
 quality of the prisoner: and we have before 
 stated, that all prisoners, before trial, should be 
 upon the best prison diet, and unrestricted as to 
 what they could purchase, always avoiding in- 
 temperance. 
 
 'J'hese gradations of diet being fixed in all 
 prisons, and these definitions of Jail and House 
 of Correction being adhered to, the punishment 
 of imprisonment may be apportioned with the 
 gieatest nicety, either by the statute, or at the 
 
 discretion of the judge, if the law chooses to 
 give him that discretion. There will be — 
 
 Imprisonment for diflTsrent degrees of time. 
 
 Imprisonment solitary, or in company, or in 
 darkness. 
 
 In jails without labour. 
 
 In houses of correction with labour. 
 
 Imprisonment with diet on bread and water. 
 
 Imprisonment with common prison diet. 
 
 Imprisonment with best prison diet. 
 
 Imprisonment with free diet. 
 
 Every sentence of the judge should state diet, 
 as well as light or darlcness, time, place, solitude, 
 society, labour or ease; and we are strongly of 
 opinion, that the punishment in prisons should 
 be sharp and short. We would, in most cases, 
 give as much of solitary confinement as would 
 not injure men's minds, and as much of bread 
 and water diet as would not injure their bodies. 
 A return tb prison should be contemplated with 
 horror — horror, not excited by the ancient filth, 
 disease and extortion of jails; but by calm, 
 well-regulated, well-watched austerity — by the 
 gloom and sadness wisely and intentionally 
 thrown over such an abode. Six weeks of 
 such sort of imprisonment would be much 
 more efficacious than as many months of jolly 
 company and veal cutlets. 
 
 It appears, by the Times newspaper of the 
 24lh of June, 1821, that two persons, a man and 
 his wife, were committed at the Surrey Sessions 
 for three years. If this county jail is bad, to 
 three years of idleness and good living — if it is 
 a manufacturing jail, to three years of regular 
 labour, moderate living and accumulated gains. 
 They are committed principally for a warning 
 to others, partly for their own good. Would not 
 these ends have been much more effectually 
 answered, if they had been committed for nine 
 months, to solitary cells upon bread and water; 
 the first and last month in dark cellsl If this 
 is too severe, then lessen the duration still 
 more, and give them more light days and fewer 
 dark ones; but we are convinced the whole 
 good sought may be better obtained in much 
 shorter periods than are now resorted to. 
 
 For the purpose of making jails disagreeable, 
 the prisoners should remain perfectly alone all 
 night, if it is not thought proper to render their 
 confinement entirely solitary during the whole 
 period of their imprisonment. Prisoners dis- 
 like this — and therefore it should be done; it 
 would make their residence in jails more dis- 
 agreeable, and render them unwilling to return 
 there. At present, eight or ten women sleep in 
 a room with a good fire, pass the night in 
 sound sleep or pleasant conversation ; and this 
 is called confinement in a prison. A prison is 
 a place where men, alter trial and sentence, 
 should be made unhappy by public lawful enact- 
 ments, not so severe as to injure the soundness 
 of mind or body. If this is not done, prisons 
 are a mere invitation to the lower classes to 
 wade through felony and larceny to belter ac- 
 commodations than they can procure at home. 
 And here, as it appears to us, is the mistake of 
 the many excellent men who busy themselves 
 (and wisely and humanely busy thcmselvesj 
 about prisons. Their first object seems to be 
 the reformation of the prisoners, not the refor- 
 mation of the public; whereas the first object 
 O 
 
158 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 should be, the discomfort and discontent of their 
 prisoners; that they should become a warnins:, 
 feel unhapp5^, and resolve never to act so again 
 as to put themselves in the same predicament; 
 and then as much reformation as is compatible 
 with this the belter. If a man says to himself, 
 this prison is a comfortable place, while he says 
 to the chaplain or the visitor that he will come 
 there no more, we confess we have no great 
 confidence in his public declaration; but if he 
 says "this is a place of misery and sorrow, )-ou 
 shall not catch me here again," there is much 
 reason to believe he will be as good as his 
 word; and he then becomes (which is of much 
 more consequence than his own reformation) 
 a warning to others. Hence it is we object to 
 that spectacle of order and decorum — carpen- 
 ters in one shop, tailors in another, weavers in 
 A third, sitting down to a meal by ring of bell, 
 and receiving a regular portion of their earnings. 
 We are afraid it is better than real life on the 
 other side of the wall, or so very little worse 
 that nobody will have any fear to encounter it. 
 In Bury jail, which is considered as a pattern 
 jail, the prisoners under a sentence of contine- 
 ment are allowed to spend their weekly earnings 
 (two, three, and four shillings per week) in fish, 
 tobacco and vegetables ; so states the jailer in 
 his examination before the House of Commons 
 — and we have no doubt it is well meant; but 
 is it punishment 1 We were most struck, in 
 reading the evidence of the jail committee be- 
 fore the House of Commons, with the opinions 
 ofthe jailer of the Devizes jail, and with the prac- 
 tice of the magistrates who superintend it.* 
 
 "Mr. T. BnuTToy, Governor of the Gaol at 
 Devizes. — Does this confinement in solitude 
 make prisoners more averse to return to pri- 
 son! I think it docs. — Does it make a strong 
 impression upon them? I have no doubt of it. 
 — Does it make them more obedient and orderly 
 while in gaoH I have no doubt it does. — Do 
 you consider it the most effectual punishment 
 you can make use of] I do. — Do you think it 
 has a greater effect upon the minds of prisoners 
 than any apprehensions of personal punishment] 
 I have no doubt of it.— Ha ve you any dark cells for 
 the punishmentof refractory prisoners] I have. 
 — Do you find it necessary occasionally to use 
 them] Very seldom. — Have you, in any in- 
 stance, been obliged to use the dark cell, in the 
 case of the same prisoner twice ] Only on one 
 occasion, I think. — What length of time is it 
 necessary tc confine a refractory prisoner to 
 bring him to his senses] Less than one daj'. — 
 Do you think it essential, for the purpose of 
 keeping up the discipline of the prison, that you 
 should have it in your power to have recourse 
 to the punishment of dark cells] I do; I con- 
 sider punishment in a dark cell for one day, has 
 a greater effect upon a prisoner than to keep 
 him on bread and water for a month." — Evi- 
 dence before the Committee of the House of Com- 
 mons in 1819, p. 359. 
 
 The evidence of the governor of Gloucester 
 jail is to ihe same effect. 
 
 " Mr. Tuo-nAs Cpx>-ingha>i, Keeper of Glouces- 
 ter Gaol. — Do you attribute the want of those 
 
 * The Winchester and Devizes jails seem to us to be 
 conducted upon better principles than any other, though 
 BVF;a thtse arc liy no m^ans -tvliat jails should he 
 
 certificates entirely to the neglect of enforcing 
 the means of solitary confinement] I do most 
 certainly. Soinetimes, -where a certificate has 
 not been granted, and a prisoner has brought a 
 certificate of good behaviour for one year, Sir 
 George and the committee ordered one pound 
 or a guinea from the charity. — Does that arise 
 from your apprehension that the prisoners have 
 not been equally reformed, or only from the 
 want of the means of ascertaining such refor- 
 mation? It is for want of not knowing; and 
 we cannot ascertain it, from their working iu 
 numbers. — They may be reformed] Yes, but 
 we have not the means of ascertaining it. There 
 is one thing I do which is not provided for by 
 the rules, and which is the only thing in which 
 I deviate from the rules. When a man is com- 
 mitted for a month, I never give him any work; 
 he sits in solitude, and walks in the yard by him- 
 self for air; he has no other food but his bread 
 and water, except twice a week a pint of peas 
 soup. I never knew an instance of a inan com- 
 ing in a second time who had been committed 
 for a month. I have done that for these seventeen 
 or eighteen years. — What has been the result 1 
 They dread so much coming in again. If a man 
 is committed for six weeks we give him work. 
 Do you appi-ehend that solitary confinement for 
 a month, without einployment, is the most bene- 
 ficial means of working reform ] I conceive it 
 is. — Can it operate as the means of reform, any 
 more than it operates as a system of punish- 
 ment ] It is only for small offences they com- 
 mit for a month. — Would not the same eifect be 
 produced by corporeal punishment] Corporeal 
 punishment may be absolutely necessary some- 
 times; but I do not think corporeal punishment 
 would reform them so much as solitary confine- 
 ment. — Would not severe corporeal punishment 
 have the same effect] No, it would harden 
 them more than any thing else. — Do you think 
 benefit is derived from the opportunity of reflec- 
 tion afforded by solitary confinement] Yes. — 
 And very low diet also] Yes." — Evidence be- 
 fore (he Committee of the House of Commons in 
 "1819, p. 391. 
 
 We must quote, also, the evidence of the go- 
 vernor of Horsley jail. 
 
 "Mr. William Stokes, Governor of the House 
 of Correction at Horslei/.—Bo you observe any 
 difference in the conduct of prisoners who are 
 employed, and those who have no employment! 
 Yes, a good deal; I look upon it, from what judg- 
 ment I can form, and I have been a long while 
 in it, that to take a prisoner and discipline him 
 according to the rules as the law allows, and if 
 he -have no work, that that man goes through 
 tnore punishment in one month than a man who 
 is employed and receives a portion of his labour 
 three months; but still I should like to have em- 
 ployment, because a great number of limes I 
 took men away, who have been in the habit of 
 earning sixpence a week to buy a loaf, and put 
 them in solitary confinement; and the punish- 
 ment is a great deal more without work. — Which 
 of the prisoners, those that have been employed, 
 or those unemployed, do you think would go out 
 of the prison the better men ! I think, that let 
 me have a prisoner, and I never treat any one 
 with severity, any further than that they should 
 be obedient, and to let them see that I will do 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 my duty, I have reason to believe, that, if a pri- 
 soner is committed under my care, or any other 
 man's care, to a house of correction, and he has 
 to go under the discipline of the law, if he is in 
 for the value of a month or six weeks, that man 
 is in a great deal better state than though he 
 stays for six months ; he gets hardened by being 
 in so long, from one month to another. — You are 
 speaking now of solitude without labour; do you 
 think he would go out better, if he had been em- 
 ployed during the month you speak ofl No, 
 nor half; because I never task those people, in 
 order that they should not say I force them to 
 do more than they are able, that they should not 
 slight it; for if they perform any thing in the 
 hounds of reason, I never find fault with them. 
 The prisoner who is employed, his time passes 
 smooth and comfortable, and he has a propor- 
 tion of his earnings, and he can buy additional 
 diet; but if he has no labour, and kept under the 
 discipline of the prison, it is a tight piece of 
 punishment to go through. — Which of the two 
 should you think most likely to return immedi- 
 ately to habits of labour on their own account? 
 The dispositions of all men are not alike; but 
 my opinion is this, if they are kept and disci- 
 plined according to the rules of the prison, and 
 have no labour, that one month will do more 
 than six; I am certain, that a man who is kept 
 there without labour once, will not be very ready 
 JO come there again." — Evidence hffore the Cuni- 
 mitfee of the House of Commons, pp. 398, 399. 
 
 Mr. Gurney and Mr. Buxton both lay a great 
 stress upon the quiet and content of prisoners, 
 upon their subordination and the absence of all 
 plans of escape; but, where the happiness of 
 prisoners is so much consulted, we should be 
 much more apprehensive of a conspiracy to 
 break into, than to break out of, prison. The 
 mob outside may, indeed, envy the wicked ones 
 within ; but the felon who has left, perhaps, 
 a scolding wife, a battered cottage, and six 
 starving children, has no disposition to escape 
 from regularity, sufficient food, employment 
 which saves him money, warmth, ventilation, 
 cleanliness and civil treatment. These symp- 
 toms, upon which these respectable and excel- 
 lent men lay so much stress, ai-e by no means 
 proofs to us that prisons are placed upon the 
 best possible footing. 
 
 The governor of Bury jail, as well as Mr. 
 Gurney, insist much upon the iew prisoners 
 who return to the jail a second time, the manu- 
 facturing skill which they acquire there, and the 
 complete reformation of manners for which the 
 prisoner has afterwards thanked him the go- 
 vernor. But this is not the real criterion of the 
 excellence of a jail, nor the principal reason 
 why jails were instituted. The great point is, 
 not the average recurrence of the same prison- 
 ers, but the paucity or frequency of commit- 
 ments, upon the whole. You may make a jail 
 such an admirable place of education, that it 
 may cease to be infamous to go there. Mr. 
 Holford tells us (and a very curious anecdote it 
 is,) that parents actually accuse their children 
 falsely of crimes, in order to get them into the 
 Philanthropic C'harity ! and that it is conse- 
 quently a rule with tiie governors of that cha- 
 rity never to receive a child upon the accusa- 
 tion of the parents alone. But it is quite obvious 
 
 what the next step will be, if the parents cannot 
 get their children in by fibbing. They will take 
 good care that the child is really qualified for the 
 Philanthropic, by impelling him to those crimes 
 which are the passport to so good an education. 
 
 " If on the contrary, the offender is to be pun- 
 ished simply by being placed in a prison, where 
 he is to be well lodged, well clothed, and well 
 fed, to be instructed in reading and writing, to 
 receive a moral and religious education, and to 
 be brought up to a trade ; and if this prison is 
 to be within the reach of the parents, so that they 
 may occasionally visit their child, and have tlie 
 satisi"aciion of knowing, from time to time, that 
 all these advantages are conferred upon him, 
 and that he-is exposed to nohardships, although 
 the confinement and the discipline of the prison 
 may be irksome to the boy ; yet the parents may 
 be apt 10 congratulate themselves on having 
 got him off their hands into such a good berth, 
 and maybe considered by other pai-ents as hav- 
 ing drawn a prize in the lottery of huinan life 
 by their son's conviction. This reasoning is not 
 theoretical, but is founded in some degree upon 
 experience. Those who have been in the habit 
 of attending the committee of the Philanthropic 
 Society know, that parents have often accused 
 their children of crimes falsely, or have exag- 
 gerated their real offences, for the sake of induc- 
 ing that society to take them; and so frequent 
 has been this practice, that it is a rule with 
 those who manage that institution, never to 
 receive an object upon the representation of its 
 parents, unless supported by other strong testi- 
 mony." — Hoford, pp. 44, 45. 
 
 It is quite obvious that, if men were to appear 
 a,gain, six months after they were hanged, hand- 
 somer, richer, and more plump than before exe- 
 cution, the gallows would cease to be an object 
 of terror. But here are men who come out of 
 jail, and say, 'Look at us, — we can read and 
 write, we can make baskets and shoes, and we 
 went in ignorant of every thing: and we have 
 learnt to do without strong liquors, and have no 
 longer any objection to work; and we did work 
 in the jail, and have saved mone}', and here it is." 
 What is thereof terror and detriment in all this] 
 and how are crimes to be lessened if they are 
 thus rewarded'! Of schools there cannot be 
 too man)'. Penitentiaries, in the hands of wise 
 men, may be rendered excellent institutions ; 
 but a prison must be a prison — a place of sor- 
 row and wailing; which should be entered with 
 horror, and quitted with earnest resolution never 
 to return to such misery; with that deep impres- 
 sion, in short, of the evil which breaks out into 
 perpetual warning and exhortation to others. 
 This great point effected, all other reformation 
 must do the greatest good. 
 
 There are some very sensible observations 
 upon this point in Mr. Holford's book, who upon 
 the whole has, we think, best treated the sub- 
 ject of prisons, and best understands them. 
 
 "In former times, men were deterred from 
 pursuing the road that led to a prison, by the ap- 
 prehension of encountering there disease and 
 hunger, of being loaded with heavy irons, and 
 of remaining without clothes to cover them, or 
 abed to lie on; we have done no more than 
 what justice required in relieving the inmates 
 of a prison from these hardships ; but there is 
 
160 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 no reason ihat they should be freed from the fear 
 of all other sufferings and privations. And I 
 hope that those whose duty it is to take up the 
 consideration of these subjects, will see, that in 
 penitentiaries, offenders should be subjected to 
 separate confinement, accompanied by such 
 work as may be found consistent with that sys- 
 tem of imprisonment ; that in jails or houses of 
 correction, they should perform that kind of la- 
 bour which the law has enjoined; and that in 
 prisons of both descriptions, instead of being 
 allowed to cater for themselves, they should be 
 sustained by such food as the rules and regula- 
 tions of the establishment should have provided 
 for them; in short, that prisons should be con- 
 sidered as places of punishment, and not as 
 scenes of cheerful industry, where a compro- 
 mise must be made with the prisoner's appetite 
 to make him do the common workof a journey- 
 man or manufacturer, and the labours of the 
 spinning-wheel and the loom must be alleviated 
 by indulgence."* 
 
 Tnis is good sound sense; and it is a pity 
 that it is preceded by the usual nonsense about 
 " Ihe tide of Hasp hem }^ and sedition." If Mr. Hol- 
 ford is an observer of tides and currents, whence 
 comes it that he observes only those which set 
 one way^ Whence comes it that he says no- 
 thing of the tides of canting and hypocrisy 
 which are flowing with such rapidity? — of abject 
 political baseness and sycophancy — of the dis- 
 position so prevalent among Englishmen, to sell 
 their conscience and their country to the Mar- 
 quis of Londonderry for a living for the second 
 
 * " Tliat I am guilty of no exaggeration in thus describ- 
 ing a prison conducted upon the principles now coining 
 into fashion, will be evident to any person who will turn 
 to the latter part of the article, ' I'enitentiary, JVIillbank," 
 in Mr. Buxton's Book on Prisons. He there states what 
 passed in conversation between himself and the gover- 
 nor of Bury jail, (whic)ijail, by the bye, he praises as one 
 tif the three best prisons he has ever seen, and strongly 
 recommends to our imitation at Millbank.) Having ob- 
 served that the governor of Bury jail had mentioned his 
 liaving counted .34 spinning-wheels in full activity when 
 lie lett that jail at 5 o'clock in the morning on the preced- 
 ing day, iMr. Buxton proceeds as follows : — ' After'he had 
 seen tlie Millbank Penitentiary, I asked him what would 
 be tlie consequence, if the regulations there used were 
 adopted by him V ' The consequence would be,' he replied, 
 ' that every wheel would l>e slopped.' Mr. l^uxton then 
 adds, 'I would not be considered as supposing that the 
 l)risoners will altogether refuse to work at Millbank — 
 they will work during the stated hours ; but the present 
 incentive being wanting, the laboiHT will, I apprehend, be 
 languid and desultory.' I shall not, on my part, under- 
 take to say that they will do as much work as will be 
 done in those prisons in which work is the primary ob- 
 ject; but, besides the encouragement of the portion of 
 earnings laid up for them, they know that diligence is 
 among the qualities that will recommend them to the mer- 
 cy of the crown, and that thewantof it is, by the rules and 
 regulations of the prison, an offence to be punislied. The 
 governor of Bury jail, wlio is a very intelligent man, 
 must have spoken hastily, in his eagerness to support his 
 i)W\\ system, and did not, I conceive, give himself credit 
 lor as much power and authority in liis prison as he 
 really possesses. It is not to lie wondered at, that the 
 keepers of prisons should like the new system: there is 
 less trouble in the care of a manufactory than in that of a 
 jail ; but 1 am surprised to find that so much reliance is 
 placed in argument on the declaration of some of these 
 officers, that the prisoners are quieter where their work 
 is encouraged, by allowing them to spend a portion of 
 their earnings. It may naturally be expected, that 
 offenders will be least discontented, and consequently 
 least turbulent, where their punishment is lightest, or 
 where, to use Mr. Buxton's own words, 'by making 
 labour productive of comiort or convenience, you do 
 much towards rendering it agreeable ;' but I must be per- 
 mitted to doubt, whether these are the prisons of which 
 men will live inmost dread." — Holford, pp. tS — 60. 
 
 son — or a silk gown for the nephew — or for a 
 frigate for my brother the captain I How comes 
 our loyal careerist to forget all these sorts of 
 tides T 
 
 There is a great confusion, as the law now 
 stands, in the government of jails. The justices 
 are empowered, by several statutes, to make 
 subordinate regulations for the government of 
 the jails ; and the sheriff supersedes those regu- 
 lations. Their respective jurisdictions and 
 powers should be clearly arranged. 
 
 The female prisoners should be under the 
 care of a matron, with proper assistants. Where 
 this is not the case, the female part of the prison 
 is often a mere brothel for the turnkeys. Can 
 any thing be so repugnant to all ideas of re- 
 formation, as a male turnkey visiting a solitary 
 female prisoner "? Surely, women can take care 
 of women as effectually as men can take care 
 of men ; or, at least, women can do so properly 
 assisted by men. This want of a matron is a 
 very scandalous and immoral neglect in any 
 prison system. 
 
 The presence of female visitors, and instruc- 
 tors for the women, is so obviously advantageous 
 and proper, that the offer of forming such an 
 institution must be gladly and thankfully re- 
 ceived by any body of magistrates. That they 
 should feel any jealousy of such interference is 
 too absurd a supposition to be made or agreed 
 upon. Such interference may not effect all that » 
 zealous people suppose it will effect; but, if it 
 does any good, it had better be. 
 
 Irons should never be put upon prisoners 
 before trial; after trial, we cannot object to the 
 humiliation and disgrace which irons and a 
 parti-coloured prison dress occasion. Let them 
 be a part of solitary confinement, and let the 
 words "Solitary Confinement," in the sentence, 
 imply permission to use them. The judge then 
 knows what he inflicts. 
 
 We object to the office of prison inspector, for 
 reasons so very obvious, that it is scarcely neces- 
 sary to enumerate them. The prison inspector 
 would, of course, have a good salary; that, in 
 England, is never omitted. It is equally matter 
 of course that he would be taken from among 
 treasury retainers ; and that he never would look 
 at a prison. Every sort of attention should be 
 paid to the religious instruction of these unhappy 
 people; but the poor chaplain should be paid a 
 little better; — every possible duty is expected 
 from him — and he has one hundred per annum. 
 
 Whatever money is given to prisoners, shoukl 
 be lodged with the governor for their benefit, to 
 be applied as the visiting magistrates point out 
 — no other donations should be allowed or ac- 
 cepted. 
 
 If voluntary work before trial, or compulsory 
 work after trial, is the system of a prison, there 
 shotrld be a task-master; and it should be re- 
 membered, that the principal object is not profit. 
 
 Wardsmen, selected in each yard among the 
 best of the prisoners, are very serviceable. If 
 prisoners work, they should work in silence. At 
 all times, the restrictions upon seeing friends 
 should be very severe; and no food should be 
 sent from friends. 
 
 Our general system then is — that a prison 
 should be a place of real punishment; but 
 of known, enacted, measurable and mear.ure 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH, 
 
 161 
 
 punishment. A prisoner (not for assault, or 
 refusing to pay parish dues, but a bad felonious 
 prisoner), should pass a part of his three months 
 in complete darkness ; the rest in complete soli- 
 tude, perhaps in complete idleness, (for solitary 
 idleness leads to repentance, idleness in com- 
 pany to vice.) He should be exempted from 
 cold, be kept perfectly clean, have sufficient 
 food to prevent hunger or illness, wear the 
 prison dress and moderate irons, have no com- 
 munication with any body but the officers of 
 the prison and the magistrates, and remain 
 otherwise in the most perfect solitude. We 
 strongly suspect this is the way in which a bad 
 man is to be made afraid of pnsons ; nor do we 
 think that he would be less inclined to receive 
 moral and religious instruction than any one 
 of seven or eight carpenters in jail, working at 
 a common bench, receiving a part of their earn- 
 ings, and allowed to purchase with them the 
 delicacies of the season. If this system is not 
 resorted to, the next best system is severe work, 
 ordinary diet, no indulgences, and as much 
 seclusion and solitude as are compatible with 
 work; — always remarking, that perfect sanity 
 of mind and body are to be preserved. 
 
 To this system of severity in jails there is 
 but one objection. The present duration of 
 punishments was calculated for prisons con- 
 ducted upon very different principles; — and if 
 the discipline of prisons was rendered more strict, 
 ■we are not sure that the duration of imprison- 
 ment would be practically shortened; and the 
 punishments would then be quite atrocious and 
 disproportioned. There is a very great disposi- 
 tion, both in judges and magistrates, to increase 
 the duration of imprisonment; and, if that is 
 done, it will be dreadful cruelty to increase the 
 bitternegs as well as the time. We should think, 
 for instance, six months' solitary imprisonment 
 to be a punishment of dreadful severity; but 
 we find, from the House of Commons' report, 
 that prisoners are sometimes committed by 
 county magistrates for two years* of solitary 
 confinement. And so it may be doubted, whe- 
 ther it is not better to wrap up the rod in flannel, 
 and make it a plaything, as it really now is, than 
 to show how it may be wielded with effectual 
 severity. For the pupil, instead of giving one 
 or two stripes, will whip his patient to death. — 
 But if this abuse were guarded against, the real 
 way to improve would be, now we have made 
 prisons healthy and airy, to make them odious 
 and austere — engines of punishment and ob- 
 jects of terror. 
 
 In this age of charity and of prison improve- 
 ment, there is one aid to prisoners which appears 
 
 * House of Commons' Report, 353. 
 
 to be wholly overlooked; and that is, the means 
 of regulating their defence, and providing them 
 witnesses for their trial. A man is tried for 
 murder, or for house-breaking or robbery with- 
 out a single shilling in his pocket. The non- 
 sensical and capricious institutions of the Eng- 
 lish law prevent him from engaging counsel to 
 speak in his defence, if he had the wealth of 
 Croesus; but he has no money to employ even 
 an attorney, or to procure a single witness, or 
 to take out a subpcena. The judge, we are told, 
 is his counsel; — this is sufficiently absurd; but 
 it is not pretended that the judge is his witness. 
 He solemnly declares that he has three or four 
 witnesses who could give a completely different 
 colour to the transaction ; — but they are sixty or 
 seventy miles distant, working for their daily 
 bread, and have no money for such a journey, 
 nor for the expense of a residence of some days 
 in an assize town. They do not know even the 
 time of the assize, nor the modes of tendering 
 their evidence if they could come. When every 
 thing is so well marshaled against him on the 
 opposite side, it would be singular if an inno- 
 cent man, with such an absence of all means 
 of defending himself, should not occasionally 
 be hanged or transported : and accordingly we 
 believe that such things have happened.* Let 
 any man, immediately previous to the assizes, 
 visit the prisoners for trial, and see the many 
 wretches who are to answer to the most serious 
 accusations, without one penny to defend them- 
 selves. If it appeared probable, upon inquiry, 
 that these poor creatures had important evidence 
 which they could not bring into court for want 
 of money, would it not be a wise application of 
 compassionate funds, to give them this fair 
 chance of establishing their innocence? — It 
 seems to us no bad finale of the pious labours 
 of those who guard the poor from ill-treatment 
 during their imprisonnoent, to take care that 
 they are not unjustly hanged at the expiration 
 of the term. 
 
 I * From the Clonmell Advertiser it appears, that John 
 Brien, alias Captain Wheeler, was fountl guilty of murder 
 at the late assizes for the county of AVaterford. Previous 
 to his execution he made the following eont'ession : — 
 
 "I now again most solemnly aver, in the presence of 
 that God by whom I will soon be judged, and who sees 
 the secrets of my heart, that only three, viz , Morgan 
 Brien, Patrick Brien and my unfortunate self, committed 
 the horrible crimes of murder and burning at Bally- 
 garron, and that the four unlbrtunate men who have be- 
 fore suifered for them, were not m the smallest- degree 
 accessary to them. I have been the cause for whic^h they 
 have innocently suffered death. I have contracted a 
 death of justice with them — and the only and least re- 
 stitution I can make them, is thus publicly, solemidy, and 
 with death before my eyes, to acquit their memory of any 
 guilt in the crimes for which I shall deservedly suffer: 1 '»• 
 —Philanthropist, No. 6. 208. 
 
 Ptreunt et imputantur. 
 
162 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 PEISONS.* 
 
 [Edinbckoh Review, 1822.] 
 
 Tnr.RE never was a society calculated, upon 
 the whole, to do more good than the Society for 
 the Improvement of Prison Discipline; and, 
 hitherto, it has been conducted with equal en- 
 ergy and prudence. If now, or hereafter, there- 
 fore, we make any criticisms on their proceed- 
 ings, these must not be ascribed to any defi- 
 ciency of good will or respect. We may differ 
 from the- society in the means — our ends, we 
 are proud to say, are the same. 
 
 In the improvement of prisons, they consider 
 the small number of recommitments as the great 
 lest of amelioration. Upon this subject we 
 liave ventured to differ from them in a late 
 number; and we see no reason to alter our 
 opinion. It is a mistake, and a very serious 
 and fundamental mistake, to suppose that the 
 principal object in jails is the reformation of the 
 offender. The principal object undoubtedly is, 
 to prevent the repetition of the offence by the 
 punishment of the offender; and, therefore, it 
 is quite possible to conceive that the offender 
 himself may be so kindly, gently and agreeably 
 led to reformation, by the efforts of good and 
 amiable persons, that the effect of the punish- 
 ment may be destroyed, at the same time that 
 the punished may be improved. A prison may 
 lose its terror and discredit, though the prisoner 
 may return from it a better scholar, a better 
 artificer, and a better man. The real and only 
 test, in short, of a good prison system is, the 
 diminution of offences by the terror of the pun- 
 ishment. If it can be shown, that in propor- 
 tion as attention and expense have been era- 
 ployed upon the improvement of prisons, the 
 number of commitments has been diminished, 
 this indeed would be a convincing proof that 
 such care and attention were well employed. 
 But the very reverse is the case; the number 
 of commitments within these last ten years 
 having nearly doubled all over England. 
 
 The following are stated to be the committals 
 in Norfolk county jail. From 1796 to 1815, the 
 number averaged about 80. 
 
 In 1816 it was 134 
 
 1817 - 142 
 
 1818 • 159 
 
 1819 - 161 
 
 1820 - 223.— iJejoor/, p. 57. 
 In Stafford'^hire. the commitments have gradu- 
 ally increased from 195 to 1815, to 443 in 1820 
 — though the jail has been built since How- 
 ard's time, at an expense of 30,000/. — {Report, 
 p. 67.) In Wiltshire, in a prison which has 
 
 * 1. The Third Kej,ort of the CommilKe nf the Society for 
 i)ie Improvement of Prooji Discipline, and for the Reforma- 
 tion of Juvenile Offenders. London, lt'21. 
 
 2. Remarks upon Prison Discipline, ^c Sfc, in a Letter 
 addressed to the Lord- Lieutenant and Magistrates of tlie 
 County of Essex. By C. C. Western, Esq. M P. -Loudon, 
 1621. 
 
 cost the county 40,000/., the commitments have 
 increased from 207 in 1817 to 504 in 1821. 
 Within this perriod, to the eternal scandal and 
 disgrace of our laws, 378 persons have been 
 committed for game offences — constituting a 
 sixth part of all the persons committed; — so 
 much for what our old friend, Mr. Justice Best, 
 would term the unspeakable advantages of 
 country gentlemen residing upon their own 
 property ! 
 
 When the committee was appointed in the 
 county of Essex, in the year 1818, to take into 
 consideration the state of the jail and houses 
 of correction, they found that the number of 
 prisoners annually committed had increased, 
 wiihin the ten preceding years, from 559 to 
 1993; and there is little doubt (adds Mr. West- 
 ern) of this proportion being a tolerable speci- 
 men of the whole kingdom. We are far fi'om 
 attributing this increase solel}'^ to the imper- 
 fection of prison discipline. Increase of popu- 
 lation, new statutes, the extension of the breed 
 of pheasants, landed and mercantile distress, 
 are very operative causes. But the increase 
 of commitments is a stronger proof against the 
 present state of prison discipline, than the de- 
 crease of recommitments is in its favour. — 
 We may, possibly, have made some progress 
 in the art of teaching him who has done 
 wrong to do so no more; but there is no proof 
 that we have learnt the more important art of de- 
 terring those from doing wrong who are doubt- 
 ing whether they shall do it or not, and who, of 
 course, will be principally guided in their de- 
 cision by the sutTerings of those who have pre- 
 viously yielded to temptation. 
 
 There are some assertions in the report of 
 the society, to which we can hardly give 
 credit, — not that we have the slightest sus- 
 picion of any intentional misrepresentation, but 
 that we believe there must be some uninten- 
 tional error. 
 
 "The Ladies' Committees visiting Newgate 
 and the Borough Compter, have ccmtinued to 
 devote themselves to the improvement of the 
 female prisoners, in a spirit worthy of their 
 enlightened zeal and Christian charity. The 
 beneficial effects of their exertions have been 
 evinced by the progressive decrease in the 
 number of female prisoners recommitted, which 
 has diminished, since the visits of the ladies to 
 Newgate, no less than 40 per cent." 
 
 That is, that Mrs. Fry and her friends have 
 reclaimed forty women out of every hundred, 
 who, but for them, would have reappeared in 
 jails. Nobody admires and respects .Mrs. Fry 
 more than we do; but this fact is scarcely cre- 
 dible; and, if accurate, ought, in justice to the 
 reputation of the society and its real interests, 
 to have been thoroughly substantiated by names 
 and documents. The ladies certainly lay claim 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 163 
 
 to no such extraordinary success in their own 
 report quoted in the Appendix : but speak 
 with becoming modesty and moderation of the 
 result of their labours. The enemies of all 
 these reforms accuse the reformers of enthu- 
 siasm and exaggeration. It is of the greatest 
 possible consequence, therefore, that their state- 
 ments should be correct, and their views prac- 
 tical; and that all strong assertions should be 
 supported by strong documents. The English 
 are a calm, reflecting people; they will give 
 time and money when they are convinced; but 
 they love dates, names and certificates. In the 
 midst of the most heart-rending narratives, 
 Bull requires the day of the month, the year 
 of our Lord, the name of the parish and the 
 countersign of three or four respectable house- 
 holders. After these affecting circumstances, 
 he can no longer hold out; but gives way to 
 the kindness of his nature — puffs, blubbers and 
 subscribes i 
 
 A case is stated in the Hertford house of 
 correction, which so much more resembles the 
 sudden conversions of the Methodist Maga- 
 zine, than the slow and uncertain process by 
 which repentance is produced in real life, that 
 we are a little surprised the society should have 
 inserted it. 
 
 "Two notorious poachers, as well as bad men, 
 were committed for three months, for not pay- 
 ing the penalty after conviction, but who, in 
 consequence of extreme contrition and good 
 conduct, were, at the intercession of the clergy- 
 men of their parish, released before the expira- 
 tion of their term of punishment. Upon leaving 
 the house of correction, they declared that they 
 had been completely brought to their senses — 
 spoke with gratitude of the benefit they had 
 derived from the advice of the chaplain, and 
 promised, upon their return to their parish, that 
 they would go to their minister, express their 
 thanks for his interceding for them; and more- 
 over that they would, for the future, attend their 
 duty regularly at church. It is pleasing to add, 
 that these promises have been faithfully fulfil- 
 led."— J/?/), io Third Report, pp. 29,30. 
 
 Such statements prove nothing, but that the 
 clergyman who makes them is an amiable man, 
 and probably a college tutor. Their introduction 
 however, in the report of a society depending 
 upon public opinion for success, is very detri- 
 mental. 
 
 It is not fair to state the recommitments of 
 one prison, and compare them with those of 
 another, perhaps very differently circumstanced, 
 —the recommitments, for instance, of a county 
 jail, where offences are generally of serious 
 magnitude, with those of a borough, where the 
 most trifling faults are punished. The import- 
 ant thing would be, to give a table of recom- 
 mitments, in the same prison, for a series of 
 years, — the average of recommitments, for ex- 
 ample, every five years in each prison for twen- 
 ty years past. If the society can obtain this, it 
 wiilbe a document of some importance, (though 
 of less, perhaps, than they would consider it to 
 be.) At present they tell us, that the average 
 of recommitments in certain prisons is 3 per 
 cent.: in certain other prisons 5 per cent.: but 
 what were they twenty years ago in the same 
 prison 1 — what wer^i they five years ago? If 
 
 recommitments are to be the test, we must know 
 whether these are becoming, m any given pri- 
 son, more or less frequent, before we can deter- 
 mine whether that prison is better or worse 
 governed than former!}'. Recommitments will 
 of course be more numerous where prisoners 
 are received from large towns, and from the 
 resorts of soldiers and sailors ; because it is in 
 these situations that we may expect the most 
 hardened offenders. The different nature of the 
 two soils which grow the crimes, must be con- 
 sidered before the produce gathered into prisons 
 can be justly compared. 
 
 The quadruple column of the state of prisons 
 for each year, is a very useful and important 
 document; and we hope, in time, the society 
 will give us a general and particular table of 
 commitments and recommitments carried back 
 for twenty or thirty years; so that the table may 
 contain (of Gloucester jail, for instance,) 1st, 
 the greatest number it can contain; 2dly, the 
 greatest num.ber it did contain at anyone period 
 in each year; 3dl3-, its classification; 4thly, the 
 greatest number committed in any given year; 
 Sthl}', four averages of five years each, taken 
 from the twenty years preceding, and stating 
 the greatest number of commitments; 6thly, the 
 greatest number of recommitments in the year 
 under view; and four averages of recommit- 
 ments, made in the same manner as the average 
 of the commitments; and then totals at the bot- 
 tom of the columns. Tables so constructed 
 would throw great light upon the nature and 
 efficacy of imprisonment. 
 
 We wish the society would pay a little more 
 attention to the question of solitary imprison- 
 ment, both in darkness and in light; and to the 
 extent to which it may be carried. Mr. West- 
 ern has upon this subject some ingenious ideas. 
 
 "It appears to me, that if relieved from these 
 impediments, and likewise from any idea of the 
 necessity of making the labour of prisoners 
 profitable, the detail of corrective prison discip- 
 line would not be difficult for any body to chalk 
 out. 1 would first premise, that the only pun- 
 ishment for refractory conduct, or any misbe- 
 haviour in the gaol, should, in my opinion, be 
 solitary confinement; and that, instead of being 
 in a dark hole, it should be in some part of the 
 house where they could fully see the light of the 
 day; and I am not sure that it might not be 
 desirable, in some cases, if possible, that they 
 should see the surrounding country and mov 
 ing objects at a distance, and every thing that 
 man delights in, removed, at the same time, 
 from any intercourse or word or look with any 
 human being, and quite out of the reach of being 
 themselves seen. I consider such confinement 
 would be a punishment very severe, and calcu- 
 lated to produce a far better effect than dark- 
 ness. All the feelings that are good in men 
 would be much more likely to be kept alive; the 
 loss of liberty, and all the blessings of life which 
 honesty will insure, more deeply to be felt. 
 There would not be so much danger of any de- 
 linquent sinking into that state of sullen, insen- 
 sible condition, of incorrigible obstinacy, which 
 sometimes occurs. If he does, under those 
 circumstances, we have a right to keep him out 
 of the way of mischief, and let him there remain. 
 But I believe such solitary confinement as I 
 
164 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 have described, with scanty fare, would very 
 rarely fail of its effect." — Western's Eemarks^Tpp. 
 59, 60. 
 
 There is a good deal in this; it is we\l worth 
 the trial; and we hope the society will notice it 
 in their next report. 
 
 It is very difficult to hit upon degrees ; but we 
 cannot help thinking the society lean too much 
 to a system of indulgence and education in jails. 
 We shall be very glad to see them more stern 
 and Spartan in their discipline. They recom- 
 mend work, and even hard work; but they do 
 not insist upon it, tliat the only work done in 
 jails by felons should be hard, dull and uninte- 
 resting; they do not protest against the conver- 
 sion of jails into schools and manufactories. 
 I-ook, for example, to " Preston House of Cor- 
 rection." 
 
 " Preston House of Correction is justly distin- 
 guished by the industry which prevails. Here 
 an idle hand is rarely to be found. There were 
 lately 150 looms in full employ, from each of 
 which the average weekly earnings are 5s. 
 About 150 pieces of cotton goods are worked 
 ofTper week. A considerable proportion of the 
 looms are of the prisoners' own manufacture. 
 In one month, an inexperienced workman will 
 he able to earn the cost of his gaol allowance 
 of food. Weaving has these advantages over 
 other prison labour: the noise of the shuttle 
 prevents conversation, and the progress of the 
 work constantly requires the eye. The ac- 
 counts of this prison contained in the Appen- 
 dix, deserve particular attention, as there ap- 
 pears to be a balance of clear profit to the 
 county, from the labour of the prisoners, in the 
 year, of 1398/. 9s. Id. This sum was earned by 
 weaving and cleaning cotton only; the prison- 
 ers being besides employed in tailoring, white- 
 washing, flagging, slating, painting, carpenter- 
 ing and labourers' work, the earnings of which 
 are not included in the above account." — Third 
 Report, pp. 21, 22. 
 
 "At Worcester county gaol, the system of 
 employment is admirable. Every article of 
 dress worn by the prisoners is made from the 
 raw material; sacking and bags are the only 
 articles made for sale." — lb. p. 23. 
 
 "In many prisons, the instruction of the pri- 
 soners in reading and writing has been attend- 
 ed with excellent eflecls. Schools have been 
 formed at Bedford, Durham, Chelmsford, Win- 
 chester, Hereford, Maidstone, Leicester house 
 of correction, Shrewsbury, Warwick, Worces- 
 ter, &c. Much valuable assistance has been 
 derived in this department from the labours of 
 respectable individuals, especially females, act- 
 ing under the sanction of the magistrates, and 
 direction of the chaplain." — lb. pp. 30, 31. 
 
 We again enter our decided protest against 
 these modes of occupation in prisons; they are 
 certainly better than mere idleness spent in so- 
 ciety; but they are not ihe kind of occupations 
 which render prisons terrible. We would ban- 
 ish all the looms of Preston jail, and substitute 
 nothing but the tread-wheel, or the capstan, or 
 some species of labour where the labourer 
 could not see the results of his toil, — where it 
 was as monotonous, irksome and dull as pos- 
 sible, — pulling and pushing, instead of reading 
 and writing, — no share of the profits — not a sin- 
 
 gle shilling. There should be no tea and sugar, 
 — no assemblage of female felons round the 
 washing-tub, — Nothing but beating hemp, and 
 pulling oakum, and pounding bricks, — no work 
 but what was tedious, unusual and unfeminine. 
 Man, woman, boy and girl, should all leave the 
 jail, unimpaired, indeed, in health, but heartily 
 wearied of their residence; and taught, by sad 
 experience, to consider it as the greatest misfor- 
 tune of their lives to return to it. We have the 
 strongest belief that the present lenity of jails, 
 the education carried on there — the cheerful 
 assemblage of workmen — the indulgence in 
 diet — the shares of earnings enjoyed by prison- 
 ers, are one great cause of the astonishingly 
 rapid increase of commitments. 
 
 Mr. Western, who entirely agrees with us 
 upon these points, has the following judicious 
 observations upon the severe system: — 
 
 "It may be imagined by some persons, that 
 the rules here prescribed are too severe; but 
 such treatment is, in my opinion, the tenderest 
 mercy, compared with that indulgence which is 
 so much in practice, and which directly tends 
 to ruin, instead of saving, its unfortunate vic- 
 tim. This severity it is which in truth forms 
 the sole effective means which imprisonment 
 gives; only one mitigation, therefore, if such it 
 may be termed, can be admissible, and that is, 
 simply to shorten the duration of the imprison- 
 ment. The sooner the prisoner comes out the 
 better, if fully impressed with dread of what he 
 has suffered, and communicates information to 
 his friends what they may expect if they get 
 there. It appears to me, indeed, that one great 
 and primary object we ought to have in view 
 is, generally, to shorten the duration of impri- 
 sonment, at the same time that we make it such 
 a punishment as is likely to deter, correct and 
 reform; shorten the duration of imprisonment 
 before trial, which we are called upon, by every 
 principle of moral and political justice, to do; 
 shorten also the duration of imprisonment after 
 trial, by the means here described; and I am 
 satisfied our prisons would soon lose, or rather 
 would never see, half the number of their pre- 
 sent inhabitants. The long duration of impri- 
 sonment, where the discipline is less severe, 
 renders it perfectly familiar, and, in conse- 
 quence, not only destitute of any useful influ- 
 ence, but obviously productive of the worst 
 eflects ; yet this is the present practice; and I 
 think, indeed, criminals are now sentenced to a 
 longer period of confinement than formerly. 
 
 "The deprivation of liberty certainly is a 
 punishment under any circumstances; but the 
 system generally pursued in our gaols might 
 rather be considered as a palliative of that pun- 
 ishment, than to make it effectual to any good 
 purpose. An idle life, society unrestrained, 
 with associates of similar character and habits, 
 better fare and lodgings in many cases, and 
 in few, if any, worse than falls to the lot of 
 the hard-working and industrious peasant; and 
 very often much better than the prisoners were 
 in the enjoyment of before they were appre- 
 hended. 
 
 " I do not know what could be devised more 
 agreeable to all the different classes of offenders 
 than this sort of treatment: the old hardened 
 sinner, the juvenile offender, or the idle vaga- 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 165 
 
 bond, who runs away and leaves a sick wife 
 and family to be provided for by his parish, 
 alike have little or no apprehension, at present, 
 of any imprisonment to which they may be sen- 
 tenced; and thus are the most effective means 
 we possess to correct and reform rendered 
 totally unavailable, and even perverted, to the 
 more certain ruin of those who might be restored 
 to society good and valuable members of it. 
 
 "There are, it is true, various occupations 
 now introduced into many prisons, but which, I 
 confess, I think of very little use ; drawing and 
 preparing straws, platting, knitting, heading 
 pins, &c., weaving and working at a trade even, 
 as it is generally carried on — prisoners coaxed 
 to the performance of it, the task easy, the re- 
 ward immediate — afford rather the means of 
 passing away the time agreeabl}'. These occu- 
 pations are, indeed, better than absolute idleness, 
 notwithstanding that imprisonment may be ren- 
 dered less irksome thereby. I am far from 
 denying the advantage, still less would I be sup- 
 posed to derogate from the merits of those who, 
 with every feeling of humanity, and with inde- 
 fatigable pains, in many instances, have esta- 
 blished such means of employment; and some 
 of them for women, with washing, &c., amount 
 to hard labour; but I contend that, for men, they 
 are applicable only to a house of industry and 
 by no means suited to the corrective discipline 
 which should be found in a prison. Individuals 
 are sent here to be punished and for that sole 
 purpose; in many cases for crimes which have 
 induced the forfeiture of life: they are not sent 
 to be educated, or apprenticed to a trade. The 
 horrors of dungeon imprisonment, to the credit 
 of the age, no longer exist. But, if no cause of 
 dread is substituted, by what indication of com- 
 mon sense is it that we send criminals there at 
 all? If prisons are to be made into places in 
 which persons of both sexes and all ages may 
 be well fed, clothed, lodged, educated and taught 
 a trade, where they may find pleasant society, 
 and are required not to take heed for the mor- 
 rov.r, the present inhabitants should be turned 
 out, and the most deserving and industrious of 
 our poorest fellow-subjects should be invited to 
 take their place, which I have no doubt they 
 would be eager to do." — Western, pp. 13-17. 
 
 In these sentiments we most cordially agree. 
 They are well worth the most serious attention 
 of the society. 
 
 The following is a sketch from Mr. Western's 
 book of what a prison life should be. It is im- 
 possible to write with more good sense, and a 
 more thorough knowledge of the subject. 
 
 "The operations of the day should begin with 
 the greatest punctuality at a given hour; and as 
 soon as the prisoners have risen from their 
 beds, they should be, according to their several 
 classes, marched to the workhouses, where they 
 should be kept to hard labour two hours at 
 least; from thence they should be taken back to 
 wash, shave, comb and clean themselves; thence 
 to the chapel to hear a short prayer, or the go- 
 vernor or deputy should read to them in their 
 respective day-rooms; and then their breakfast, 
 •which may, altogether, occupy an hour and a 
 half or more. I have stated, in a former part of 
 my letter, that the hours of meals and leisure 
 should be in solitude, in the sleeping cells of the 
 
 prison ; but I presume, for the moment, this may 
 not always be practicable. I will, therefore, 
 consider the case as if the classes assembled at 
 meal-times in the different day-rooms. After 
 breakfast they should return to hard labour for 
 three or four hours, and then take another hour 
 for dinner; labour after dinner two or three 
 hours, and their supper given them to eat in 
 solitude in their sleeping cells. 
 
 "This marching backwards and forwards to 
 chapel and mill-house, &c., may appear objec- 
 tionable, but it has not been so represented to 
 me in the prisons where it actually now takes 
 place; and it is, to ray apprehension, materially 
 useful in many respects. The object is to keep 
 the prisoners in a state of constant motion, so 
 that there shall be no lounging time or loitering, 
 which is always favourable to mischief or cabal. 
 For the same reason it is I propose two hours' 
 labour the moment they are up, and before 
 washing, &c., that there may be no time lost, 
 and that they may begin the day by a portion 
 of labour, which will tend to keep them quiet 
 and obedient the remainder of it. Each interval 
 for meal, thus occurring between labour hours, 
 has also a tendency to render the mischief of in- 
 tercourse less probable, and at the same time the 
 evening association, which is most to be appre- 
 hended in this respect, is entirely cut off. The 
 frequent moving of the prisoners from place to 
 place keeps the governor and sub-ofiicers of the 
 prison in a similar state of activity and atten- 
 tion, which is likewise of advantage, though 
 their numbers should be such as to prevent 
 their duty becoming too arduous or irksome. 
 Their situation is not pleasant and theiriespon- 
 sibility is great. An able and attentive governor, 
 who executes all his arduous duties with unre- 
 mitting zeal and fidelity, is a most valuable 
 public servant and entitled to the greatest re- 
 spect. He must be a man of no ordinary capa- 
 city, with a liberal and comprehensive mind, 
 possessing a control over his own passions, 
 firm and undaunted, a character that commands 
 from those under him, instinctively, as it were, 
 respect and regard. In vain are our buildings, 
 and rules, and regulations, if the choice of a 
 governor is not made an object of primary and 
 most solicitous attention and consideration. 
 
 "It does not appear to me necessary for the 
 prisoners to have more than three hours' leisure, 
 inclusive of meal-times; and I am convinced 
 the close of the day must be in solitude. Eight 
 or ten hours will have passed in company with 
 their fellow-prisoners of the same class (for I 
 am presuming that a separate compartment of 
 the workhouse will be allotted to each) where, 
 though they cannot associate to enjoy society 
 as they would wish, no gloom of solitude can 
 oppress them : there is more danger even then 
 of too close an intercourse and conversation, 
 though a ready cure is in that case to be found 
 by a wheel put in motion, the noise of which 
 speedily overcomes the voice. Some time after 
 Saturday night should be allowed to them, more 
 particularly to cleanse themselves and their 
 clothes, and they should have a bath, cold or 
 warm, if necessary; and on the Sunday they 
 should te dressed in their best clothes, and the 
 day should be spent wholly in the chapel, the 
 ceil, and the airing-ground ; the latter in presence 
 
166 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 of a day-watchman, as I have described to be in 
 practice at Warwick. I say nothing about 
 teaching to read, write, work, &c. &c.; any pro- 
 portion of time necessary for any useful pur- 
 pose may be spared from the hours of labour or 
 of rest, according to circumstances ; but I do not 
 place any reliance upon improvement in any 
 branch of education: they would not, indeed, be 
 there long enough. All I want them to learn is, 
 that there exists the means of punishment for 
 crime, and be fully impressed with dread of re- 
 petition of what they have undergone ; and a 
 short time will suffice for that purpose. Now, 
 if each successive day was spent in this manner, 
 can it be doubted that the frequent commission 
 of crime would be checked, and more done to 
 deter, correct and reform than could be accom- 
 plished by any other punishment 1 A period of 
 such discipline, longer or shorter, according to 
 the nature of the otience, would surely be suffi- 
 cient for any violation of the law short of mur- 
 der, or that description of outrage which is likely 
 to lead on to the perpetration of it. This sort of 
 treati:nent is not to be overcome: it cannot be 
 braved, or laughed at, or disregarded, by any 
 force of animal spirits, however strong or vigo- 
 rous of mind or body the individual may be. 
 The dull, unvarying course of hard labour, with 
 hard fare and seclusion, must in time become 
 so painfully irksome, and so wear and distress 
 him, that he will inevitably, in the end, be sub- 
 dued." — Western, pp. 61-69. 
 
 There is nothing in the Report of the Prison 
 Society so good as this. 
 
 The society very properly observe upon the 
 badness of town jails, and the necessity for 
 their suppression. Most towns cannot spare the 
 funds necessary for building a good jail. Shop- 
 keepers cannot spare the time for its superin- 
 icndence; and hence it happens that town jails 
 are almost always in a disgraceful state. The 
 society frequently allude to the diffusion of 
 tracts. If education is to be continued in jails, 
 and tracts are to be dispersed, we cannot help 
 lamenting that the tracts, though full of good 
 principles, are so intolerably stupid — and all 
 apparently constructed upon the supposition, 
 that a thief or a peccant ploughman is inferior 
 in common sense to a boy of five years old. The 
 story generally is, that a labourer with six chil- 
 dren has nothing to live upon but mouldy bread 
 and dirty water; yet nothing can exceed his 
 cheerfulness and content — no murmurs — no 
 discontent: of mutton he has scarcely heard — 
 of bacon he never dreams: furfurous bread 
 and the water of the pool constitute his food, 
 establish his felicity, and excite his warmest 
 gratitude. The squire or parson of the parish 
 always happens to be walking by and overhears 
 him praying for the king and the members for 
 the county, and for all in authority ; and it gene- 
 rally ends with their offering him a shilling, 
 ■which this excellent man declares he does not 
 ■want, and will not accept! These are the 
 pamphlets which Goodies and Noodles are dis- 
 persing with unwearied diligence. It would be 
 a great blessing if some genius would arise who 
 had a talent of writing for the poor. He would 
 be of more value than many poets living upon 
 the banks of lakes — or even (though we think 
 highly of ourselves) of greater value than many 
 
 reviewing men living in the garrets of the 
 north. 
 
 The society offer some comments upon the 
 prison bill now pending, and which unfortu- 
 nately* for the cause of prison improvement, 
 has been so long pending in the legislature. In 
 the copy of this bill, as it stands at present, 
 nothing is said of the limitation of numbers in 
 any particular class. We have seen forty felons 
 of one class in one yard belbre trial. If this 
 is to continue, all prison improvement is a mere 
 mockery. Separate sleeping cells should be 
 enacted positively, and not in words, which 
 leave this improvement optional. If any visit- 
 ing justice dissents from the majority ,f it should 
 be lawful for him to give a separate report upon 
 the state of the prison and prisoners to the judge 
 or the quarter sessions. All such reports of 
 any visiting magistrate or magistrates, not ex- 
 ceeding a certain length, should be pulblished 
 in the county papers. The chairman's report 
 to the secretary of state should be published in 
 the same manner. The great panacea is pub- 
 licity; it is this which secures compliance with 
 wise and just laws, more than all the penalties 
 they contain for their own preservation. 
 
 We object to the reading and writing clause. 
 A poor man, who is lucky enough to have his 
 son committed for a felony, educates him, under 
 such a system, for nothing ; while the virtuous 
 simpleton on the other side of the wall is pay- 
 ing by the quarter for these attainments. He 
 sees clergymen and ladies busy with the larce- 
 nous pupil ; while the poor lad, who respects 
 the eighth commandment, is consigned, in some 
 dark alley, to the frowns and blows of a ragged 
 pedagogue. It would be the safest way, where 
 a prisoner is kept upon bread and water alone, 
 to enact that the allowance of bread should not 
 be less than a pound and a half for men, and a 
 pound for women and boys. We strongly re- 
 commend, as mentioned in a previous number, 
 that four sorts of diet should be enacted for 
 every prison; 1st, Bread and water; 2d, Better 
 prison diet; 3d, Best prison diet; 4th, Free diet 
 — the second and third to be defined by the 
 visiting magistrates. All sentences of impri- 
 sonment should state to which of these diets the 
 prisoner is to be confined; and all deviation 
 from it on the part of the prison officers should 
 be punished with very severe penalties. The 
 regulation of prison diet in a prison is a point 
 of the very highest importance ; and to ask of 
 visiting magistrates that they should doom to 
 bread and water a prisoner whom the law has 
 left at liberty to purchase whatever he has the 
 money to procure, is a degree of severity which 
 it is hardly fair to expect from country gentle- 
 men, and, if expected, those expectations will 
 not be fulfilled. The whole system of diet, one 
 of the main-springs of all prison discipline, will 
 get out of order, if its arrangement is left to the 
 interference of magistrates and not to the sen- 
 tence of the judge. Free diet and bread diet 
 need no interpretation : and the jailer will take 
 care to furnish the judge with the definitions of 
 
 county of York, with a prison under presentment, 
 n waiting nearly three years for this bill, in order 
 
 tias been waiting nearly three years tor this bill, in order 
 to proceed upon the improvement of their county jail. 
 
 fit would be an entertainbig change in human affairs 
 to determine every thing by miTwritiis. They are almost 
 always 'n the right. 
 
M'OEKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 167 
 
 >etfer prison diet and test prison diet A know- 
 ledge of the diet-prescribed in a jail is absolntely 
 necessary for the justice of the case. Diet dif- 
 fers so much in different prisons, that six weeks 
 in one prison is as severe apunishment as three 
 months in another. If any country gentleman, 
 engaged in legislation for prisons, is inclined to 
 undervalue the importance of these regulations, 
 let him appeal to his own experience, and re- 
 member, in the vacuity of the country, how 
 often he thinks of his dinner, and of what there 
 will be for dinner ; and how much his amenity 
 and courtesy for the evening depend upon the 
 successful execution of this meal. But there is 
 nobody so gluttonous and sensual as a thief; 
 and he will feel much more bitterly fetters on 
 his mouth than his heels. It sometimes hap- 
 pens that a gentleman is sentenced to imprison- 
 ment for manslaughter in a duel, or for a libel. 
 Are visiting justices to dcom such a prisoner to 
 bread and water, or are they to make an invidi- 
 ous distinction between him and the other pri- 
 soners? The diet should be ordered by the judge, 
 or it never will be well ordered — or ordered at 
 all: 
 
 The most extraordinary clause in the bill is 
 the following — 
 
 " And be it further enacted, that in case any 
 criminal prisoner shall be guilty of any repeated 
 ofTence against the rules of the prison, or shall 
 he guilty of any greater offence which the jailer 
 or keeper is not by this act empowered to pun- 
 ish, the said jailer or keeper shall report the 
 same to the visiting justices, or one of them, for 
 the time being; and such justices, or one of 
 them, shall have power to inquire upon oath, 
 and determine concerning any such offence so 
 reported to him or them, and shall order the 
 offender to be punished, either by moderate 
 •whipping, repeated whippings, or by close con- 
 finement, for any term not exceeding .' — 
 Act, p. 21. 
 
 Upon this clause, any one justice may order 
 repeated whippings for any ofl'ence greater than 
 that which the jailer may punish. Our respect 
 for the committee will only allow us to say, that 
 we hope this clause will be reconsidered. We 
 beg leave to add, that there should be a return 
 to the principal secretary of^state of recommit- 
 ments as well as commitments. 
 
 It is no mean pleasure to see this attention to 
 jail-discipline travelling from' England to the 
 detestable and despotic governments of the con- 
 tinent, — to see the health and life of captives 
 admitted to be of any importance, — to perceive 
 that human creatures in dungeons are of more 
 consequence than rats and black beetles. All 
 this is new — is some little gained upon ty- 
 ranny; and for it we are indebted to the labours 
 of the Prison Society. Still the state of prisons, 
 on many parts of the continent, is shocking be- 
 yond all description. 
 
 It is a most inconceivable piece of cruelty and 
 absurdity in the English law, that the prisoner's 
 counsel, when he is tried for any capital felony, 
 is not allowed to speak for him; and this we 
 hope the new prison bill will correct. Nothing 
 can be more ridiculous in point of reasoning, or 
 more atrociously cruel and unjust in point of 
 fact. Any number of counsel maybe employed 
 to take away the poor man's life. They are at 
 
 full liberty to talk as long as they like; but not 
 a syllable is to be uttered in his defence — not a 
 sentence to show why the prisoner is not to be 
 hung. This practice is so utterly ridiculous to 
 any body but lawyers (to whom nothing that is 
 customary is ridiculous), that men not versant 
 with courts of justice will not believe it. It is, 
 indeed, so utterly inconsistent with the common 
 cant of the humanity of the English law. that it 
 is often considered to be the mistake of the nar- 
 rator, rather than the imperfection of the sys- 
 tem. We must take this opportunity, therefore, 
 of making a few observations on this very 
 strange and anomalous practice. 
 
 The common argument used in its defence is 
 that the judge is counsel fur the prisoner. But 
 the defenders of this piece of cruel and barbar- 
 ous nonsense must first mak'e their election, 
 whether they consider the prisoner to be, by 
 this arrangement, in a better, a worse or an 
 equally good situation as if his counsel were 
 allowed to plead for him. If he is in a worse 
 situation, why is he so placed 1 Why is a man, 
 in a solemn issue of life or death, deprived of 
 any fair advantage which any j-uitor in any 
 court of justice possesses'' This is a plea of 
 guilty to the charge we make against the prac- 
 tice; and its advocates, by such concession, are 
 put out of court. But, if it is an advantage, or 
 no disadvantage, whence comes it that the 
 choice of this advantage, in the greatest of all 
 human concerns, is not left to the party or to 
 his friends] If the question concerns a foot- 
 path — or a fat ox — every m^n may tell his own 
 story, or employ a barrister to tell it for him. 
 The law leaves the litigant to decide on the 
 method most conducive to his own interest. 
 But, when the question is whether he is to Hve 
 or die, it is at once decided for him that his 
 counsel are to be dumb! And yet, so ignorant 
 are men of their own interests, that there is not 
 a single man tried who would not think it a 
 great privilege if counsel were allowed to speak 
 in his favour, and who would not be supremely 
 happy to lay aside the fancied advantage of 
 their silence. And this is true not merely of 
 ignorant men; but there is not an Old Bailey 
 barrister who would not rather employ another 
 Old Bailey barrister to speak for him, than en- 
 joy the advantage (as the phrase is) of having 
 the judge for his counsel. But in what sense, 
 after all, is the judge counsel for the prisoner? 
 He states, in his summing up, facts as they 
 have been delivered in evidence; and he tells 
 the jury upon what points they are to decide: 
 he mentions what facts are in favour of the 
 prisoner, and what bear against him; and he 
 leaves the decision to the jury. Does he do 
 more than this in favour of the prisoner? Does 
 he misstate? does he mislead? does he bring 
 forward arguments on one side of the question, 
 and omit equally important arguments on the 
 other? If so, he is indeed counsel for the pri- 
 soner; but then who is judge? who takes care 
 of the interests of the public? But the truth is, 
 he does no such thing; he does merely what we 
 have stated him to do; and would he do less, 
 could he do less, if the prisoner's counsel spoke 
 for him? If an argument was just, or an in- 
 ference legitimate, he would not omit the one, or 
 refute the other, because they had been put or 
 
168 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 drawn in the speech of the prisoner's counsel. 
 He would be no more prejudiced against the 
 defendant in a criminal than in a civil suit. He 
 would select from the speeches of both counsel 
 all that could be fairly urged for or against the 
 defendant, and he would reply to their fallacious 
 reasonings. The pure administration of justice 
 requires of him, in either case, the same con- 
 duct. Whether the whole bar spoke for the 
 prisoner, or whether he was left to defend him- 
 self, what can the judge do, or what ought he to 
 do, but to state to the jury the facts as they are 
 given in evidence, and the impression these 
 facts have made upon his own mind? In the 
 mean time, while the prisoner's counsel have 
 been compelled to be silent, the accuser's, the 
 opposite party, have enjoyed an immense ad- 
 vantage. In considering what bears against 
 the prisoner, the judge has heard, not only the 
 suggestions of his own understanding, but he 
 has been exposed to the able and artful reason- 
 ing of a practised advocate, who has been pre- 
 viously instructed in the case of which the 
 judge never heard a syllable before he came 
 into court. Suppose it to be a case depending 
 upon circumstantial evidence; in how many 
 new points of view may a man of genius have 
 placed those circumstances, which would not 
 have occurred to the judge himself! How 
 many inferences may he have drawn, which 
 would have been unnoticed but for the efforts 
 of a man whose bread and fame depend upon 
 his exertions, and who has purposely, and on 
 contract, flung the whole force of his under- 
 standing into one scale! In the mean time, the 
 priscmer can say nothing, for he has not the gift 
 of learned speech; his counsel can say nothing, 
 though he has communicated with the prisoner, 
 and could place the whole circumstances, per- 
 haps, in the fairest and clearest point of view 
 for the accused party. By the courtesy of Eng- 
 land this is called /u6/(ce — we in the north can- 
 not admit of the correctness of the appellation. 
 It seems utterly to be forgotten, in estimating 
 this practice, that two understandings are better 
 than one. The judge must inevitably receive many 
 new views against the prisoner by the speech 
 of one counsel, and lose many views in favour 
 of the prisoner by the silence of the other. We 
 are not to suppose (like ladies going into court 
 in an assize town) that the judge would have 
 thought of every thing which the counsel against 
 the prisoner has said, and which the counsel 
 for the prisoner would have said. The judge, 
 wigged and robed as he is, is often very inferior 
 *jn aculeness to either of the persons who are 
 pleading under him — a cold, slow, parchment 
 and precedent man, without passions or prse- 
 cordia, — perhaps a sturdy brawler for church 
 and king, — or a quiet man of ordinary abilities, 
 steadily, though perhaps conscientiously, fol- 
 lowing those in power through thick and thin — 
 through right and wrong. Whence comes it 
 that the method of getting at truth, which is so 
 excellent on all common occasions, should be 
 considered as so improper on the greatest of all 
 occasions, where the life of a man is concerned] 
 If an acre of land is to be lost or won, one man 
 says all that can be said on one side of the ques- 
 tion — another on the other; and the jury, aided 
 by the impartiality of the judge, decide. The I 
 
 wit of man can devise no better method of disen- 
 tangling ditficulty, exposing falsehood, and de- 
 lecting truth. ''Tell me why I am hurried away to 
 a premature death, and no man suffered to speak in 
 my defence, V)hen at this very moment, and in my 
 hearing, all the eloquence of the bar, on the other 
 side of your justice hall, is employed in defending 
 a path or a hedge? Is a foot of land dearer to any 
 man than my life is to vie? The civil plaintiff has 
 not trusted the smallest part of his fate or for- 
 tune to his own efforts,- and will you grant me no 
 assistance of superior wisdom, who have suffered a 
 long famine to purchase it — who am broken by 
 prison — broken by chains — and so shamed by this 
 dress of guilt, and abashed by the presence of my 
 superiors, that I have no words which you could 
 hear without derision — that I could not give way 
 fur a moment to the fulness and agitation of my 
 rude heart without moving your contempt?" Su 
 spoke a wretched creature to a judge in our 
 hearing! and what answer could be given but 
 "Jailer, take him awayl" 
 
 We are well aware that a great decency of 
 language is observed by the counsel employed 
 against the prisoner, in consequence of the 
 silence imposed upon the opposite counsel; but 
 then, though there is a decency as far as con- 
 cerns impassioned declamation, yet there is no 
 restraint, and there can be no restraint, upon 
 the reasoning powers of a counsellor. He may 
 put together the circumstances of an imputed 
 crime in the most able, artful and ingenious 
 manner, without the slightest vehemence or 
 passion. We have no objection to this, if any 
 counter statement were permitted. We want 
 only fair play. Speech for both sides, or speech 
 for none. The first would be the wiser system ; 
 but the second would be clear from the intolera- 
 ble cruelty of the present. We see no harm 
 that would ensue, if both advocates were to fol- 
 low their own plan without restraint. But, if 
 the feelings are to be excluded in all causes of 
 this nature (which seems very absurd), then let 
 the same restraint be exacted from both sides. 
 It might very soon be established, as the eti- 
 quette of the bar, that the pleadings on both 
 sides were expected to be calm, and to consist 
 of reasoning upon the facts. In high treason, 
 where the partiality of the judge and power of 
 the court are suspected, this absurd incapacity 
 of being heard by counsel is removed. No 
 body pretends to say, in such cases, that the 
 judge would be counsellor the prisoner; and 
 yet, how many thousand cases are there in a 
 free country which have nothing to do with high 
 treason, and where the spirit of party, unknown 
 to himself, may get possession of a judge? 
 Suppose any trial for murder to have taken 
 place in the Manchester riots, — will any man 
 say that the conduct of many judges on such a 
 question ought not to have been watched with 
 the most jealous circumspection ] Would any 
 prisoner — would any fair mediator between the 
 prisoner and the public — be satisfied at such a 
 period with the axiom that the judge is counsel 
 for the prisoner? We are notsaying that there is 
 no judge who might not be so trusted, but that 
 all judges are not, at all times, to be so intrusted. 
 We are not saying that any judge would wil- 
 fully do wrong; but that many nright be led to 
 do wrong by passions and prejudices of which 
 
 . V 
 u 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 169 
 
 they were unconscious ; and that the real safe- 
 guard to the prisoner, the best, the only safe- 
 guard, is full liberty of speech for the counsel 
 he has employed. 
 
 What would be the discipline of that hospi- 
 tal where medical assistance was allowed in all 
 trifling complaints, and withheld in every case 
 of real danger? where Bailey and Halford were 
 lavished upon stomach-aches and refused in 
 typhus fever? where the dying patient beheld 
 the greatest skill employed upon trifling evils of 
 others, and was told, because his was a case of 
 life and death, that the cook or the nurse was to 
 be his physician? 
 
 Suppose so intolerable an abuse (as the at- 
 torney and solicitor-general would term it) had 
 been established, and that a law for its correc- 
 tion was now first proposed, entitled an Ad to 
 prevent the Counsel fur Prisoners from being heard 
 in their Defence ! ! ! 
 
 What evil would result from allowing counsel 
 to be heard in defence of prisoners ? Would 
 too many people be hung from losing that valu- 
 able counsellor, the judge ? or would too few 
 people be hung? or would things remain much 
 as they are at present? We never could get 
 the admirers of this practice to inform us what 
 the results would be of deviating from it; and 
 we are the more particularly curious upon this 
 point, because our practice is decidedly the re- 
 verse, and we find no other results from it than 
 a fair administration of criminal justice. In all 
 criminal cases that require the intervention of 
 a jury in Scotland, a prisoner must have, 1st, a 
 copy of the indictment, which must contain a 
 minute specification of the ofl^ence charged ; 
 2dly, a list of witnesses; 3dly, a list of the as- 
 size; and, 4thly, in every question that occurs, 
 and in all addresses to the jury, the prisoner's 
 counsel has the last word. Where is the boasted 
 mercy of the English law after this ? 
 
 The truth is, it proceeds from the error which, 
 in all dark ages, pervades all codes of laws, of 
 confounding the accused with the guilty. In the 
 early part of our state trials, the prisoners were 
 not allowed to bring evidence against the wit- 
 nesses of the crown. For a long period after 
 this, the witnesses of the prisoner were not suf- 
 fered to be examined upon oath. One piece of 
 cruelty and folly has given way after another. 
 Each has been defended by the attorney and 
 solicitor-general for the time, as absolutely 
 necessary to the existence of the state, and the 
 most perfect performance of our illustrious an- 
 cestors. The last grand hope of every foolish 
 person is the silence of the prisoner's counsel. 
 In the defence of this, it will be seen what stu- 
 pidity driven to despair can achieve. We beg 
 pardon for this digression; but flesh and blood 
 cannot endure the nonsense of lawyers upon 
 this subject. 
 
 The society have some very proper remarks 
 upon the religious instructions of the chaplain — 
 an appointment of vast importance and utility; 
 unfortunately very ill paid, and devolving en- 
 tirely upon the lower clergy. It is said that the 
 present Bishop of Gloucester, Dr. Ryder, goes 
 into jails and busies himself with the temporal 
 ■wretchedness and the eternal welfare of the 
 prisoners. If this is so, it does him great 
 honour, and is a noble example to all ranks of 
 2? 
 
 clergy who are subject to him. Above all, do 
 not let us omit the following beautiful anecdote, 
 while we are talking of good and pious men. 
 
 "The committee cannot refrain from extract- 
 ing from the report of the Paris Society, the 
 interesting anecdote of the excellent P6re Jous- 
 sony, who being sent, by the Consul at Algiers, 
 to minister to the slaves, fixed his residence in 
 their prison; and, during a period of thirty 
 years, never quitted his post. Being compelled 
 to repair to France, for a short period, he re- 
 turned again to the prison, and at length resign- 
 ed his breath in the midst of those for whose 
 interests he had laboured, and who were dearer 
 to him than life." — Report, p. 30. 
 
 It seems to be a very necessary part of the 
 prison system, that any poor person, when ac- 
 quitted, should be passed to his parish ; and 
 that all who are acquitted should be immediately 
 liberated. At present, a prisoner, after acquit- 
 tal, is not liberated till the grand jury are dis- 
 missed,* in case (as it is said) any more bills 
 should be preferred against him. This is really 
 a considerable hardship; and we do not see, 
 upon the same principle, why the prisoner may 
 not be detained for another assize. To justify 
 such a practice, notice should, at all events. Be 
 given to the jailer of intention to prefer other 
 charges against him. To detain a man who is 
 acquitted of all of which he has been accused, 
 and who is accused of nothing more, merely 
 because he may he accused of something more, 
 seems to be a great perversion of justice. The 
 greatest of all prison improvements, however, 
 would be the delivery of jails four times in the 
 year. It would save expense; render justice 
 more terrible, by rendering it more prompt; 
 facilitate classification, by lessening numbers ; 
 keep constantly alive, in the minds of wicked 
 men, the dread of the law; and diminish the 
 unjust sufferings of those who, after long im- 
 prisonment, are found innocent. 
 
 " From documents," says Mr. Western, "upon 
 the table of the House of Commons in 1819, 1 
 drew out an account, which I have already ad- 
 verted to in part, but which I shall restate here, 
 as it places, in a strong point of view, the ex- 
 tent of injustice, and inconsistency, too, arising 
 out of the present system. It appeared that, at 
 the Maidstone Lent Assizes of that year there 
 were one hundred and seventy-seven prisoners 
 for trial; of these, seventeen were in prison be- 
 fore the 1st of October, eighty-three before the 
 1st of January, the shortest period of confine- 
 ment before trial being six months of the former, 
 three months of the latter. Nothing can show 
 us more plainly the injustice of such confine- 
 ment than the known fact of six months' impri- 
 sonment being considered a suflicient punish- 
 ment for half the felonies that are committed* 
 but the case is stronger, when we consider the 
 number acquitted; seventeenof the twenty-seven 
 first mentioned were acquitted, nine of the seven 
 teen were discharged, not being prosecuted, or 
 having no bill found against them. On the 
 other side it appeared, that twenty-five con 
 victed felons were sentenced to six months' im 
 prisonment, or under, the longest period of 
 whose confinement did not, therefore, exceed 
 
 ' Tliis has since lieen clone away with. 
 
170 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 the shortest of the seventeen acquitted, or that 
 of the nine, against whom no charge was ad- 
 duced; there were ihree, who, after being about 
 seven months in prison, were then discharged, 
 whilst various convicted felons suffered six- 
 sevenths only of the punishment, including the 
 time before trial as well as after condemnation. 
 By the returns from the Lent Assizes at Chelms- 
 ford, the same year, the cases were not less 
 striking than those of Maidstone: the total num- 
 ber was one hundred and sixty-six; of these, 
 twenty-five were in prison before the 1st of Oc- 
 tober, of whom eleven were acquitted, and of 
 these eleven, six were discharged without any 
 indictment preferred; two were in prison eight 
 months; three, seven months and fifteen days. 
 three, six months and fifteen days. On the other 
 hand, sixteen convicted of felony, were consi- 
 dered to be sufl^iciently punished by imprisonment 
 >inder six months. Upon the whole, it appeared 
 that four hundred and five persons had been in 
 gaol before the 1st of October, whilst eight hun- 
 dred convicted felons were sentenced to a lighter 
 punishment, to a shorter duration of imprison- 
 ment, than these four hundred and five had ac- 
 tually undergone. 
 
 "It is a curious fact, that, upon an average, 
 more than one-third of the total number com- 
 mitted for trial are acquitted. In the seven 
 years ending 1819, seventy-two thousand two 
 hundred and sixteen persons were committed ; I 
 of these, fourteen thousand two hundred and | 
 ninety-one were acquitted on trial, eleven thou- 1 
 sand two hundred and seventy-four were dis- 
 charged, there being no prosecutions, or no bills 
 found against them. This large proportion of 
 acquittals aggravates the evil and injustice of 
 long confinement before trial; but were it other- 
 wise, what possible right can we have to detain 
 a man in custody six months, upon any charge 
 exhibited against him, before he is brought to 
 trial 1 What excuse or palliation can be found 
 for so barbarous a violation of all the principles 
 of justice and humanity] How contemptible 
 it is, by way of defence, to talk of the inexpe- 
 diency of increasing the number of the judges, 
 the expense, inconvenience, trouble, &c.! It is 
 wrong to contend with such arguments against 
 the unanswerable claims of justice, as it is only 
 to admit they are entitled to weight. The fact 
 is, we are so completely under the influence of 
 habitual respect for established practice, that 
 ■we do not stop to question the possibility of the 
 existence of any serious defects in the adminis- 
 tration of the law that can be capable of remedy. 
 The public attention has never been earnestly 
 and steadily fixed and devoted to the attainment 
 of a better system." — Wester?!, pp. 80—83. 
 
 The public cannot be too grateful to Mr. 
 Western for his labours on this subject. We 
 strongly recommend his tract for general cir- 
 culation. It is full of stout good sense, without 
 one particle of nonsense or fanaticism: — good 
 English stuff, of the most improved and best 
 sort. Lord Londonderry has assented to the 
 measure; and his assent does him and the 
 government very great credit. It is a measure 
 of first-rate importance. The multiplicity of 
 imprisonments is truly awful. 
 
 Within the distance of ten miles round Lon- 
 don, thirty-one fairs are annually held, which 
 
 continue eighty days within the space of seven 
 months. The" effect of these fairs, in filling 
 the prisons of the metropolis, it is easy to ima- 
 gine; and the topic is very wisely and properly- 
 brought forward by the society. 
 
 Nothing can be so absurd as the reasoning 
 used about Jlask houses. They are suffered to 
 exist, it seems, because it is easy to the officers 
 of justice to find, in such places, the prisoners 
 of whom they are in search! But the very 
 place where the thief is found is most probably 
 the place which made him a thief. If it facili- 
 tates the search, it creates the necessity for 
 searching, and multiplies guilt while it pro- 
 motes detection. Wherever thieves are known 
 to haunt, that place should be instantly purged 
 of thieves. 
 
 We have pushed this article to a length 
 which will prevent us from dwelling upon that 
 part of the plan of the Prison Society which 
 embraces the reformation of juvenile delin- 
 quents, of whom it is calculated there are 
 not less than 8000 in London who gain their 
 livelihood by thieving. To this subject we 
 may, perhaps, refer in some future number. 
 We must content ourselves at present with a 
 glimpse at the youthful criminals of the metro- 
 polis. 
 
 "Upon a late occasion (in company with Mr. 
 Samuel Hoare, the chairman of the Society for 
 the Reform of Juvenile Delinquents), I visited, 
 about midnight, many of those receptacles of 
 thieves which abound in this metropolis. We 
 selected the night of that day in which an exe- 
 cution had taken place; and our object was, to 
 ascertain whether that terrible demonstration 
 of rigour could operate even a short suspen^ 
 sion of iniquity, and keep for a single nigh 
 the votaries of crime from their accustomed 
 orgies. In one room, I recollect, we found a 
 large number of children of both sexes, the 
 oldest under eighteen years of age, and in the 
 centre of these a man who had been described 
 to me by the police as one of the largest sellers 
 of forged bank-notes. At another part, we were 
 shown a number of buildings, into which only 
 children were allowed to enter, and in which, 
 if you could obtain admission, which you can- 
 not, you would see scenes of the most flagrant, 
 the most public, and the most shocking de- 
 bauchery. Have I not, then, a right to say, 
 that you are growing crimes at a terrible rate, 
 and producing those miscreants who are to dis- 
 turb the public peace, plunder the public pro- 
 perty, and to become the scourge and the dis- 
 grace of the country?" — Dux/on, pp. 66, 67. 
 
 Houses dedicated to the debauchery of chil- 
 dren, where it is impossible to enter ! ! ! Whence 
 comes this impossibility 7 
 
 To show that their labours are not needlessly 
 continued, the society make the following state- 
 ment of the present state of prisons: — 
 
 " But although these considerations are highly 
 encouraging, there is yet much to accomplish 
 in this work of national improvement. So ex- 
 tensive are the defects of classification, that in 
 thirty gaols, constructed for the confinement of 
 2985 persons, there were, at one time in the last 
 year, no fewer than 5837 prisoners; and the 
 whole number imprisoned ii those gaols, dur. 
 ing that period, amounted to 2o,703 There are 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 171 
 
 yet prisons where idleness and its attendant 
 evils reign unrestrained — where the sexes are 
 not separated— where all distinctions of crime 
 are confounded — where few can enter, if uncor- 
 rupted, without pollution; and, if guilty, with- 
 out incurring deeper stains of criminality. — 
 There are yet prisons which receive not the 
 pious visits of a Christian minister — which the 
 light of knowledge never enters— and where 
 the truths and consolations of the Gospel are 
 never heard. — There are yet prisons where, for 
 the security of the prisoners, measures are re- 
 sorted to as revolting to British feeling as they 
 are repugnant to the spirit and letter of English 
 law." — Report, pp. 6.3, 64. 
 
 With this statement we take our leave of the 
 subject of prisons, thoroughly convinced that, 
 since the days of their cleanliness and salu- 
 
 brity, they have been so managed as to become 
 the great school for crimes and wretchedness ; 
 and that the public, though beginning to awake, 
 are not yet sufficiently aware of this fact, and 
 sufficiently alarmed at it. Mrs. Fry is an ami- 
 able, excellent woman, and ten thousand times 
 belter than the infamous neglect that preceded 
 her; but hers is not the method to stop crimes. 
 In prisons, which are really meant to keep the 
 multitude in order, and to be a terror to evil 
 doers, there must be no sharing of profits — no 
 visiting of friends — no education but religious 
 education — no freedom of diet — no weavers' 
 looms or carpenters' benches. There must be 
 a great deal of solitude; coarse food; a dress 
 of shame; hard, incessant, irksome, eternal la- 
 bour; a planned and regulated and unrelenting 
 exclusion of happiness and comfort. 
 
172 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 PEESECUTING BISHOPS. 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 1822.] 
 
 It is a great, point in any question to clear 1 
 away encumbrances, and to make a naked 
 circle about the object in dispute, so that there 
 may be a clear view of it on every side. In 
 pursuance of this disencumbering process, we 
 shall first acquit the bishop of all wrong inten- 
 tions. He has a very bad opinion of the prac- 
 tical effects of high Calvinistic doctrines upon 
 the common peOple ; and he thinks it his duty 
 to exclude those clergymen who profess them 
 from his diocese. There is no moral wrong 
 in this. He has accordingly devised no fewer 
 than eighty-seven interrogatories, by which he 
 thinks he can detect the smallest taint of Cal- 
 vinism that may lurk in the creed of the can- 
 didate ; and in this also, whatever Ave may 
 think of his reasoning, we suppose his pur- 
 pose to be blameless. He believes, finally, 
 that he has legally the power so to in- 
 terrogate and exclude ; and in this perhaps 
 he is not mistaken. His intentions, then, are 
 good, and his conduct, perhaps, not amenable 
 to the law. All this we admit in his favour: 
 but against him we must maintain, that his 
 conduct upon the points in dispute has been 
 singularly injudicious, extremely harsh, and, 
 in its effects (though not in its intentions), 
 very oppressive and vexatious to the clergy. 
 
 We have no sort of intention to avail our- 
 selves of an anonymous publication to say 
 unkind, uncivil, or disrespectful things to a 
 man of rank, learning, and character — we 
 hope to be guilty of no such impropriety; but 
 we cannot believe we are doing wrong in 
 ranging ourselves on the weaker side, in the 
 cause of propriety and justice. The mitre 
 protects its wearer from indignity; but it does 
 not secure impunity. 
 
 It is a strong presumption that a man is 
 wrong, when all his friends, whose habits na- 
 
 * 1. j9ff Appeal to the Legislature and Public ; or, the Le- 
 iralitn of the Eiirhtii-secen Qticstinns prupnseil bit Dr. Her- 
 bert Mirsh, the Bi-hup vf reterhnrovgh, to Candidates for 
 Hiilii Order.--, and for I.i'-ni.'i\<. irithin that Diocese, consi- 
 dered. 2.1 FiUtioii. LcitulMii, S.M-ly, 1821. 
 
 2. A Speech, delivered in tite Iloune of Lords, on Friday, 
 June 7, 1822, bij Herbert, Lord Bishop of Peterborotigrh, on 
 the Presentation of a Petition a/rainst his Examination 
 Questions : with Explanatory J\rotes, a Supplement, and a 
 Copy of the Qaestions. Lontlnn, Rivington. 1822. 
 
 3. The IVrongs of the Clergy of the Diocese of Peterbo- 
 rough stated and illustrated. Ry the Rev. T. S. Grim- 
 SHAWR, M. A., Rector of Burton, Northamptonshire ; and 
 Vicar of Biddenham, Bedfordshire. London, Seely, 1822. 
 
 4. Episcop'l Innovation : or, the Test of Modern Ortho- 
 doxy, in Eighty-seven Questions, imposed, as Articles of 
 Faith, upon Candidates for Licenses and for Holy Orders, 
 in the Diocese of Peterborough ; with a distinct Answer to 
 each Question, and General Reflections Relative to their II- 
 leir-al Structure and Pernicious Tendency. London, Seely, 
 1§'20. 
 
 5. Official Correspondence between the Right Rev. Her- 
 bert, Lord Bishop of Peterborough, and the Rev. John 
 Oreen, respecting his JVomination to the Curacy of Bla- 
 therwycke, in the Diocese of Peterborough, and County of 
 J^orthampton : Also, between His Grace Charles, Lord 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Rev. Henry H'iUiam 
 J^evile, M. A., Rector of Blatherwvcke, and of Cottesmore 
 in the County of Rutland. 182L 
 
 turally lead them to coincide with him, think 
 him wrong. If a man were to indulge in 
 taking medicine till the apothecary, the drug- 
 gist, and the physician, all called upon him to 
 abandon his philo-cathartic propensities — if he 
 were to gratify his convivial habits till the 
 landlord demurred and the waiter shook his 
 head — we should naturally imagine that ad- 
 vice so wholly disinterested was not given be- 
 fore it was wanted, and that it merited some 
 little attention and respect. Now, though the 
 Bench of Bishops certainly love power, and 
 love the church, as well as the Bishop of 
 Peterborough, yet not one defended him — not 
 one rose to say, " I have done, or I would do 
 the same thing." It was impossible to be pi'e- 
 sent at the last debate on this question, without 
 perceiving that his lordship stood alone — and 
 this in a very gregarious profession, that ha- 
 bitually combines and butts against an oppo- 
 nent with a very extended front. If a lawyer 
 is wounded, the rest of the profession pursue 
 him, and put him to death. If a churchman is 
 hurt, the others gather i-ound for his protection, 
 stamp with their feet, push with their horns, 
 and demolish the dissenter who did the mis- 
 chief. 
 
 The bishop has at least done a very un- 
 usual thing in his Eighty-seven Questions. 
 The two archbishops, and we believe every 
 other bishop, and all the Irish hierarchy, ad- 
 mit curates into their dioceses without any 
 such precautions. The necessity of such se- 
 vere and scrupulous inquisition, in short, has 
 been apparent to nobody but the Bishop of 
 Peterborough ; and the authorities by which he 
 seeks to justify it are any thing but satisfac- 
 tory. His lordship states^ that forty years ago, 
 he was himself examined by written inter- 
 rogatories, and that he is not the only bishop 
 who has done it ; but he mentions no names ; 
 and it was hardly worth while to state such 
 extremely slight precedents for so strong a de- 
 viation from the common practice of the 
 church. 
 
 The bishop who rejects a curate upon the 
 Eighty-seven Questions is necessarily and in- 
 evitably opposed to the bishop who ordained 
 him. The Bishop of Gloucester ordains a 
 young man of twenty-three years of age, not 
 thinking it necessary to put to him these inter- 
 rogatories, or putting them perhaps, and ap- 
 proving of answers diametrically opposite to 
 those that are required by the Bishop of Peter- 
 borough. The young clergyman then comes 
 to the last-mentioned bishop, and the bishop, 
 after puHing him to the question, says, "You 
 are unfit for a clergyman,"— though, ten days 
 before, the Bishop of Gloucester has made him 
 one ! It is bad enough for ladies to pull caps, 
 but still worse for bishops to pull mitres. 
 Nothing can be more mischievous or indecent 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 173 
 
 than such scenes; and no man of common 
 prudence, or knowledge of the -world, but must 
 see that they ought immediately to be put a 
 stop to. If a man is a captain in the army in 
 one part of England, he is a captain in all. 
 The general who commands north of the 
 Tweed does not say. You shall never appear 
 in my district, or exercise the functions of an 
 officer, if you do not answer eighty-seven 
 questions on the art of war, according to my 
 notions. The same officer who commands a 
 ship of the line in the Mediterranean, is con- 
 sidered as equal to the same office in the 
 North Seas. The sixth commandment is sus- 
 pended, by one medical diploma, from the 
 north of England to the south. But, by this 
 new system of interrogation, a man may be 
 admitted into orders at Barnet, rejected at 
 Stevenage, re-admitted at Brogden, kicked out 
 as a Calvinist at Witham Common, and hail- 
 ed as an ardent Arminian on his arrival at 
 York. 
 
 It matters nothing to say that sacred things 
 must not be compared with profane. In their 
 importance, we allow, they cannot; but in their 
 order and discipline they may be so far com- 
 pared as to say, that the discrepancy and con- 
 tention which would be disgraceful and per- 
 nicious in worldly affairs, should, in common 
 prudence, be avoided in the affairs of religion. 
 Mr. Greenough has made a map of England, 
 according to its geological varieties; — blue for 
 the chalk, green for the cla^', red for the sand, 
 and so forth. Under this system of Bishop 
 Marsh, we must petition for the assistance of 
 the geologist in the fabrication of an ecclesias- 
 tical map. All the Arminian districts must 
 be purple. Green for one theological extre- 
 mity — sky-blue for another — as many colours 
 as there are bishops — as many shades of these 
 colours as there are archdeacons — a tailor's 
 pattern card — the picture of vanity, fashion, 
 and caprice ! 
 
 The bishop seems surprised at the resist- 
 ance he meets with ; and yet, to what purpose 
 has he read ecclesiastical history, if he expects 
 to meet with any thing but the most determined 
 opposition 1 Does he think that every stm-dy su- 
 pralapsarian bullock whom he tries to sacrifice 
 to the genius of orthodoxy, will not kick, and 
 push, and toss ; that he will not, if he can, 
 shake the axe from his neck, and hurl his 
 mitred butcher into the airl His lordship has 
 undertaken a task of which he little knows the 
 labour or the end. We know these men fully 
 as well as the bishop; he has not a chance of 
 success against them. If one motion in Par- 
 liament will not do, they will have twenty. 
 They will ravage, roar, and rush, till the very 
 chaplains, and the masters and Misses Peter- 
 borough request his lordship to desist. He is 
 raising up a storm in the English church, of 
 which he has not the slightest conception; 
 and which will end, as it ought to end, in his 
 lordship's disgrace and defeat. 
 
 The longer we live, the more we are con- 
 vinced of the justice of the old saying, that an 
 ounce of mother ivit is worth apotmd of clergy ; 
 that discretion, gentle manners, common sense, 
 and good nature, are, in men of high ecclesias- 
 tical station, of far greater importance than 
 
 the greatest skill in discriminating between 
 sublapsarian and supi'alapsarian doctrines. 
 Bishop Marsh should remember, that all men 
 wearing the mitre work by character, as well 
 as doctrine ; that a tender regard to men's 
 rights and feelings, a desire to avoid sacred 
 squabbles, a fondness for quiet, and an ardent 
 wish to make everybody happy, would be of 
 far more value to the Church of England than 
 all his learning and vigilance of inquisition. 
 The Irish tithes will probably fall next session 
 of Parliament; the common people are regu- 
 larly receding from the Church of England — 
 baptizing, burying, and confirming for them- 
 selves. Under such circumstances, what 
 would the worst enemy of the English church 
 require ] — a bitter, bustling, theological bishop, 
 accused by his clergy of tyranny and oppres- 
 sion — the cause of daily petitions and daily 
 debates in the House of Commons — the idoue- 
 ous vehicle of abuse against the Establish- 
 ment — a stalking-horse to bad men for the 
 introduction of revolutionary opinions, mis- 
 chievous ridicule, and irreligious feelings. 
 Such will be the advantages which Bishop 
 Marsh Avill secure for the EL%lish Establish- 
 ment in the ensuing session. It is inconceiv- 
 able how such a prelate shakes all the upper 
 works of the church, and ripens it for dissolu- 
 tion and decay. Six such bishops, multiplied 
 by eighty-seven, and working with five hun- 
 dred and twent3'-two questions, would fetch 
 every thing to the ground in less than six 
 months. But what if it pleased Divine Provi- 
 dence to afflict every prelate with the spirit of 
 putting eight)'-seven queries, and the two 
 archbishops with the spirit of putting twice as 
 many, and the Bishop of Sodor and Man Avith 
 the spirit of putting only fort^'-three queries ! — 
 there would then be a grand total of two thou- 
 sand three hundred and thirt)--five interroga- 
 tions flying about the English church ; and 
 sorely vexed would the land be with Question 
 and Answer. 
 
 We will suppose this learned prelate, with- 
 out meanness or undue regard to his worldly 
 interests, to fee! that fair desire of rising in his 
 profession, which any man, in any profession, 
 may feel without disgrace. Does he forget that 
 his character in the ministerial circles will 
 soon become that of a violent, impracticable 
 man — whom it is impossible to place in the 
 highest situations — who has been trusted with 
 too much alreadj', and must be trusted with no 
 more 1 Ministers have something else to do 
 with their time, and with the time of Parlia- 
 ment, than to waste them in debating squabbles 
 between bishops and their clergy. They natu- 
 rally wish, and, on the whole, reasonably 
 expect, that every thing should go on silently 
 and quietly in the church. They have no ob- 
 jection to a learned bishop ; but they deprecate 
 one atom more of learning than is compatible 
 with moderation, good sense, and the soundest 
 discretion. It must be the grossest ignorance 
 of the world to suppose, that the cabinet has 
 any pleasure in watching Calvinists. 
 
 The bishop not only puts the question, but 
 
 he actually assigns the limits within which 
 
 they are to be answered. Spaces are left in the 
 
 paper of interrogations, to which limits tb/* 
 
 f 2 
 
174 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 an:v'sr is to be confined; — two inches to ori- 
 ginal sin; an inch and a half to justification; 
 three quarters to predestination ; and to free 
 will only a quarter of an inch. But if his lord- 
 ship gives them an inch they will take an ell. 
 His lordship is himself a theological writer, 
 and by no means remarkable for his concise- 
 ness. To deny space to his brother theologians, 
 who are writing on the most difficult subjects, 
 not from choice, but necessity; not for fame, 
 but for bread; and to award rejection as the 
 penalty of prolixity, does appear to us no slight 
 deviation from Christian gentleness. The 
 tyranny of calling for such short answers is 
 very strikingly pointed out in a letter from Mr. 
 Thurtell to the Bishop of Peterborough; the 
 style of which pleads, we think, very power- 
 fully in favour of the writer. 
 
 " Beccles, Suffolk, August 28.' A, 1821. 
 
 " My Lord — I ought, in the first place, to 
 apologise for delaying so long to answer your 
 lordship's letter: but the difficulty in which I 
 was involved, by receiving another copy of 
 your lordship's Questions, with positive direc- 
 tions to give short answers, may be sufficient to 
 account for that delay. 
 
 "It is my sincere desire to meet your lord- 
 ship's wishes, and to obey your lordship's di- 
 rections in every particular; and I would 
 therefore immediately have returned answers, 
 without any 'restrictions or modifications,' to 
 the Questions which your lordship has thought 
 fit to send me, if, in so doing, I could have dis- 
 charged the obligations of my conscience, by 
 showing what my opinions really arc. But it 
 appears to me, that the Questions proposed to 
 me by your lordship are so constructed as to 
 elicit only two sets of opinions ; and that by 
 answering them in so concise a manner, I 
 should be representing myself to your lordship 
 as one who believes in either of two particular 
 creeds, to neither of which I do rea//;/ subscribe. 
 For instance, to answer Question I. chap, li., in 
 the manner your lordship desires, I am reduced 
 to the alternative of declaring, either that ' man- 
 kind are a mass of mere corruption,' which 
 expresses more than I intend, or of leaving 
 room for the inference, that they are only par- 
 tially corrupt, which is opposed to the plainest 
 declarations of the Homilies; such as these, 
 'Man is altogether spotted and defiled' (Horn. on 
 Nat.), ' without a spark of goodness in him' 
 (Serm. on Mis. of Man, &c.). 
 
 "Again, bv answering the Quest'ors com- 
 prised in tiic chapter on 'Free Will,' according 
 to your lordship's directions, I am compelled 
 to acknowledge either that man has such a 
 share m the work of his own salvation as to 
 exclude the sole agency of God, or that he has 
 no share whatever; when the Homilies for Ro- 
 gation Week and Whitsunday positively de- 
 clare, that God is the 'only Worker,' or, in 
 other words, sole Agent ; and at the same time 
 assign to man a certain share in the work of 
 his own salvation. In short, I could, with your 
 lordship's permission, point out twenty Ques- 
 tion;., involving doctrines of the utmost im- 
 portance, which I am unable to answer, so as to 
 convey my real sentiments, without more room 
 for explanation than the printed sheet affords. 
 
 I "In this view of the subject, therefore, and 
 j in the most deliberate exercise of my judgment, 
 I deem it indispensable to my acting with that 
 candour and truth with which it is my wish 
 and duty to act, and with which I cannot but 
 believe your lordship desires I should act, to 
 state my opinions in that language which ex- 
 presses them most fully, plainly, and unre- 
 servedly. This I have endeavoured to do in 
 the answers now in the possession of your 
 lordship. If any further explanation be re- 
 quired, I am most willing to give it, even to a 
 minuteness of opinion beyond what the Arti- 
 cles require. At the same time, I would humbly 
 and respectfully appeal to your lordship's can- 
 dour, whether it is not hard to demand my decided 
 opinion upon points irhich have been the themes of 
 volumes : upon xchich the most pious and learned 
 men of the church have conscientiously differed; and 
 upon which the Articles in the judgment of Bishop 
 Burnet have pronounced no definite sentence. To 
 those Articles, my lord, I have already sub- 
 scribed; and I am willing again to subscribe 
 to every one of them, 'in its literal and gram- 
 matical sense,' according to his majesty's decla- 
 ration prefixed to them. 
 
 " I hope, therefore, in consideration of the 
 above statement, that your lordship will not 
 compel me, by the conciseness of my answers, 
 to assent to the doctrines which I do not be- 
 lieve, or to expose myself to inferences which 
 do not fairly and legitimately follow from my 
 opinions. " I am, my Lord, &c. &c." 
 
 We are not much acquainted with the prac- 
 tices of courts of justice; but, if we remember 
 right, when a man is going to be hanged, the 
 judge lets him make his defence in his own 
 way, without complaining of its length. We 
 should think a Christian bishop might be 
 equally indulgent to a man who is going to be 
 ruined. The answers are required to be clear, 
 concise, and correct — short, plain, and positive. 
 In other words, a poor curate, extremely agitated 
 at the idea of losing his livelihood, is required 
 to write with brevity and perspicuity on the fol- 
 lowing subjects; — Redemption by Jesus Christ 
 — Original Sin — FreeW'ill — Justification — Jus- 
 tificatioQ in reference to its causes — Justifica- 
 tion in reference to the time when it takes 
 place — Everlasting Salvation — Predestination 
 — Regeneration on the 'Se.w Birth — Renova- 
 tion, and the Holy Trinity. As a specimen of 
 these questions, the answer to which is required 
 to be so brief and clear, we shall insert the fol- 
 lowing quotation: — 
 
 " Section II. — Of Justification in reference to its 
 cause. 
 
 " 1. Does not the eleventh Article declare, that 
 we are 'justified by Faith only?' 
 
 " 2. Does not the expression ' Faith only' deri /e 
 additional strength from the negative ex- 
 pression in the same Article 'and not for 
 our own works V 
 
 "3. Does not therefore the eleventh Article ex- 
 clude good works from all share in the office 
 of Justifying? Or can we so construe the 
 term 'Faith' in that Article, as to make it 
 include good works 1 
 
 "4. Do not the twelfth and thirteenth Articles 
 further exclude them,- the one by asserting 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 175 
 
 that good works follow afier Justification, 
 the other by maintaining that they cannot 
 precede if? 
 "5. Can that, which never precedes an effect, 
 be reckoned among the causes of that effect 1 
 "6. Can we then, consistently with our Articles, 
 reckon the performance of good works 
 among the causes of Justification, whatever 
 qualilying epithet be used with the term 
 cause ?" 
 We entirely deny that the Calvinistical 
 clergy are bad members of their profession. 
 We maintain that as many instances of good, 
 serious, and pious men — of persons zealously 
 interesting themselves in the temporal and 
 spiritual welfare of their parishioners are to 
 be found among them, as among the clergy 
 who put an opposite interpretation on the 
 Articles. The Articles of Religion are older 
 than Arminianism, eo nomine. The early re- 
 formers leant to Calvinism ; and would, to a 
 man, have answered the bishop's questions in 
 a way which would have induced him to refuse 
 them ordination and curacies; and those who 
 drew up the Thirty-nine Articles, if they had 
 not prudently avoided all precise interpretation 
 of their creed on free-will, necessity, absolute 
 decrees, original sin, reprobation, and election, 
 would have, in all probability, given an inter- 
 pretation of them like that which the bishop 
 considers as a disqualification for holy orders. 
 Laud's Lambeth Articles were illegal, mis- 
 chievous, and are generally condemned. The 
 Irish clergy in 1641 drew up one hundred and 
 four articles as the creed of their church ; and 
 these are Calvinistic, and not Arminian. They 
 were approved and signed by Usher, and never 
 abjured by him ; though dropped as a test or 
 qualification. Usher was promoted (even in 
 the days of Arminianism) to bishoprics and 
 archbishoprics — so little did a Calvinistic inter- 
 pretation of the Articles in a man's own breast, 
 or even an avowal of Calvinism, beyond what 
 was required by the Articles, operate even then 
 as a disqualification for the cure of souls, or 
 of any other office in the church. Throughout 
 Charles II. and William III.'s time, the best 
 men and greatest names of the church not only 
 allowed latitude in interpreting the Articles, 
 but thought it would he wise to diiriinish their 
 number, and render them more lax than they 
 are; and be it observed, that these latitudina- 
 rians leant to Arminianism rather than to high 
 Calvinism ; and thought, consequently, that the 
 Articles, if objectionable at all, were exposed 
 to the censure of being "too Calvinistic," 
 rather than too Arminian. How preposterous, 
 therefore, to twist them, and the subscription 
 to them required by law, by the machinery of 
 a long string of explanatory questions, into a 
 barrier against Calvinists, and to give the 
 Arminians a monopoly in the church ! 
 
 Archbishop Wake, in 1710, after consulting 
 all the bishops then attending Parliament, 
 thought it incumbent on him "to employ the 
 authority which the ecclesiastical laws then in force, 
 and the custom and laws of the realm, vested in him," 
 and taking care that "no unworthy person might 
 hereafter be admitted into the sacred ministry of the 
 church " and he drew up twelve recommenda- 
 tions to the bishops of England, in which he 
 
 earnestly exhorts them not to ordain persons 
 of bad conduct or character, or incompetent 
 learning; but he does not require from the 
 candidates for holy orders or preferment, any 
 explanation whatever of the Articles which 
 they had signed. 
 
 The correspondence of the same eminent 
 prelate with Professor Turretin in 1718, and 
 with Mr. Le Clerc and the pastors and profes- 
 sors of Geneva in 1719, printed in London, 
 1782, recommends union among Protestants, 
 and the omission of controverted points in 
 confessions of faith, as a means of obtaining 
 that union; and a constant reference to the 
 practice of the Church of England is made in 
 elucidation of the charily and wisdom of such 
 policy. Speaking of men who act upon a 
 contrary principle he says, quaulum poLu'a 
 insana cfi^^vm ! 
 
 These passages, we think, are conclusive 
 evidence of the practice of the church till 
 1719. For Wake was not only at the lime 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, but both in his 
 circular recommendations to the bishops of 
 England, and in his correspondence with fo- 
 reign churches, was acting in the capacity of 
 metropolitan of the Anglican church. He, a 
 man of prudence and learning, publicly boasts 
 to Protestant Europe, that his church does not 
 exact, and that he de facto has never avowed, 
 and never will, his opinions on those very 
 points upon which Bishop Marsh obliges every 
 poor curate to be explicit, upon pain of expul- 
 sion from the church. 
 
 It is clear, then, the practice was, to extract 
 subscription and nothing else, as the test of 
 orthodoxy — to that Wake is an evidence. As 
 far as he is authority on a point of opinion, it 
 is his conviction that his practice was whole- 
 some, wise, and intended to preserve peace in 
 the church; that it would be wrong at least, 
 if not illegal, to do otherwise ; and that the ob- 
 servance of this forbearance is the only method 
 of preventing schism. The Bishop of Peter- 
 borough, however, is of a different opinion; 
 he is so thoroughly convinced of the pernicious 
 effects of Calvinistic doctrines, that he does 
 what no^other bishop does, or ever did do, for 
 their exclusion. This may be either wise or 
 injudicious, but it is at least zealous and bold; 
 it is to encounter rebuke, and opposition, from 
 a sense of dtity. It is impossible to deny this 
 merit to his lordship. And we have no doubt, 
 that, in pursuance of the 'same theological 
 gallantry, he is preparing a set of interroga- 
 tories for those clergymen who are presented 
 to benefices in his diocese. The patron will 
 have his action of Quare impedit, it is true; and 
 the judge and jury will decide whether the 
 bishop has the right of interrogation at all ; 
 and whether Calvinistical answers to his inter- 
 rogatories disqualify any man from holding 
 preferment in the Church of England. It' 
 either of these points are given against the 
 Bishop of Peterborough, he is in honour and 
 conscience bound to give up his examination 
 of curates. If Calvinistic ministers are, in the 
 estimation of the bishops, so dangerous as 
 curates, they are of course m nch more dangerous 
 as rectors and vicars. He has as much right to 
 examine one as the other. Why then does he 
 
176 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 pass over the greater danger, and guard against 
 the lessl Wh}^ does he not show his zeal 
 when he would run some risk, and where the 
 excluded person (if excluded unjustly) could 
 appeal to the laws of his country 1 If his con- 
 duct is just and right, has he any thing to fear 
 from that appeal 1 What should we say of a 
 police officer who acted in all cases of petty 
 larceny, where no opposition was made, and 
 let off all persons guilty of felony who threat- 
 ened to knock him down ] If the bishop values 
 his own character, he is bound to do less, — or 
 to do more. God send his choice may be right ! 
 The law, as it stands at present, certainly af- 
 fords very unequal protection to rector and 
 to curate ; but if the bishop will not act so as 
 to improve the law, the law must be so changed 
 as to improve the bishop ; an action of Quare 
 impedit must be given to the curate also — and 
 then the fury of interrogation will be calmed. 
 
 We are aware that the Bishop of Peterbo- 
 rough, in his speech, disclaims the object of 
 excluding the Calvinists by this system of in- 
 terrogation. We shall take no other notice of 
 his disavowal, than expressing our sincere 
 regret that he ever made it; but the question 
 is not at all altered by the intention of the inter- 
 rogator. Whether he aims at the Calvinists 
 only, or includes them with other heterodox 
 respondents — the fact is, they are included in 
 the proscription, and excluded from the church. 
 The practical effect of the practice being, that 
 men are driven out of the church, who have 
 as much right to exercise the duties of cler- 
 gymen as the bishop himself. If heterodox 
 opinions are the great objects of the bishop's 
 apprehensions, he has his ecclesiastical courts, 
 where regular process may bring the offender 
 to punishment, and from whence there is no ap- 
 peal to higher courts. This woiald be the fair 
 thing to do. The curate and the bishop would 
 be brought into the light of day. and subjected 
 to the wholesome restraint of public opinion. 
 
 His lordship boasts that he has excluded 
 only two curates. So the Emperor of Hayti 
 boasted that he had only cut off two persons' 
 heads for disagreeable behaviour at his table. 
 In spite of the paucity of the visitors'executed, 
 the example operated as a considerable impe- 
 diment to conversation; and the intensity of 
 the punishment was found to be a full compen- 
 sation for its rarity. How many persons have 
 been deprived of curacies which they might 
 have enjoyed, but for the tenour of these in- 
 terrogatories 1 How many respectable cler- 
 gymen have been deprived of the assistance of 
 curates connected with them by blood, friend- 
 ship, or doctrine, and compelled to choose per- 
 sons, for no other qualification than that they 
 could pass through the eye of the bishop's 
 needle 1 Violent measures are not to be 
 judged of merely by the number of times they 
 have been resorted to, but by the terror, mise- 
 ry, and restraint which the severity is likely to 
 have produced. 
 
 We never met with any style so entirely 
 clear of all redundant and vicious ornament, 
 as that which the ecclesiastical Lord of Peter- 
 borough has adopted towards his clergy. It, 
 in fact, may be all reduced to these few 
 words — " Reverend Sir, I shall do what I 
 
 please. Peterborough." — Even in the House 
 of Lords, he speaks what we must call very 
 plain language. Among other things, he says, 
 that the allegations of the petitions are false. 
 Now, as every bishop is, besides his other 
 qualities, a gentleman ; and as the word false 
 is used only by laymen, who mean to hazard 
 their lives by the expression ; and as it cannot 
 be supposed that foul language is ever used 
 because it can be used with personal impunity, 
 his lordship must, therefore, be intended to 
 mean not fulse, but mislaken — not a wilful de- 
 viation from truth, but an accidental and un- 
 intended departure from it. 
 
 His lordship talks of the drudgery of wading 
 through ten pages of answers to his eighty- 
 seven questions. Who has occasioned this 
 drudgery, but the person who means to be so 
 much more active, useful, and important, than 
 all other bishops, by proposing questions 
 which nobody has thought to be necessary but 
 himself] But to be intolerably strict and 
 harsh to a poor curate, who is trying to earn a 
 morsel of hard bread, and then to complain of 
 the drudgery of reading his answers, is much 
 like knocking a man down with a bludgeon, 
 and then abusing him for splashing you with 
 his blood, and pestering you with his groans. 
 It is quite monstrous, that a man who inflicts 
 eighty-seven new questions in theology upon 
 his fellow-creatures, should talk of the drudgery 
 of reading their answers. 
 
 A curate — there is something which excites 
 compassion in the very name of a curate ! ! ! 
 How any man of purple, palaces, and prefer- 
 ment, can let himself loose against this poor 
 workman of God, we are at a loss, to conceive, 
 — a learned man in a hovel, with sermons and 
 saucepans, lexicons and bacon, Hebrew books 
 and ragged children — good and patient — a com- 
 forter and a preacher — the first and purest 
 pauper in the hamlet, and yet showing, that, 
 in the midst of his worldly miser}-, he has the 
 heart of a gentleman, and the spirit of a Chris- 
 tian, and the kindness of a pastor ; and this 
 man, though he has exercised the duties of a 
 clergyman for twenty years — though he has 
 most ample testimonies of conduct from cler- 
 gymen as respectable as any bishop — though 
 an archbishop add his name to the list of wit- 
 nesses, is not good enough for Bishop Marsh ; 
 but is pushed out in the street, with his wife 
 and children, and his little furniture, to sur- 
 render his honour, his faith, his conscience, 
 and his learning — or to starve 1 
 
 An obvious objection to these innovations 
 is, that there can be no end to them. If eight)'- 
 seven questions are assumed to be necessary 
 by one bishop, eight hundred may be con- 
 sidered as the minimum of interrogation by 
 another. When once the ancient faith-marks 
 of the church are lost sight of and despised, 
 any misled theologian may launch out on the 
 boundless sea of polemical vexation. 
 
 The Bishop of Peterborough is positive, that 
 the Arminian interpretation of the articles is 
 the right interpretation, and that Calvinists 
 should be excluded from it; but the country 
 gentlemen who are to hear these matters de- 
 bated in the Lower House, are to leraember, 
 that other bishops have written upon these 
 
WORKS OF THE KEY. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 177 
 
 points before the Bishop of Peterborough, and 
 have arrived at conclusions diametrically op- 
 posite. When curates are excluded because 
 their answers are Calvinistical, a careless lay- 
 man might imagine that this interpretation of 
 the Articles had never been heard of before in 
 the church — that it was a gross and palpable 
 perversion of their sense, which had been 
 scouted by all writers on church matters, from 
 the day the Articles were promulgated, to 
 this hour — that such an unheard-of molester 
 as a Calvinistical curate had never leapt over 
 the pale before, and been detected browsing 
 in the sacred pastures. 
 
 The following is the testimony of Bishop 
 Sherlock : — 
 
 " ' The church has left a latitude of sense to 
 prevent schisms and breaches upon every 
 ditferent opinion. It is evident the Church of 
 England has so done in some articles, ^^hich 
 are most liable to the hottest disputes; which 
 yet are penned with that temper as to be will- 
 ingly subscribed by men of ditferent apprehen- 
 sions in those matters.' — Sherlock's Dcfeyiceof 
 Stilling fleet's UnreasonahltJUss of Separation" 
 
 Bishop Cleaver, describing the difficulties 
 attending so great an undertaking as the for- 
 mation of a national creed, observes : — 
 
 "'These difficulties, however, do not seem 
 to have discouraged the great leaders in this 
 work from forming a design as wise as it was 
 liberal, that of framing a confession, which, 
 in the enumeration and method of its several 
 articles, should meet the approbation, and en- 
 gage the consent, of the whole reformed world. 
 
 " ' If, upon trial, it was found that a compre- 
 hension so extensive could not be reduced to 
 practice, still as large a comprehension as 
 could be contrived, within the narrower limits 
 of the kingdom, became, for the same reasons 
 which first suggested the idea, at once an ob- 
 ject of prudence and duty, in the formation 
 and government of the English church.' 
 
 "After dwelling on the means necessary to 
 accomplish this object, the bishop proceeds to 
 remark: — 'Such evidently appears to have 
 been the origin, and such the actual complexion 
 of the confession comprised in the Articles of 
 our church; the true scope and design of which 
 will not, I conceive, be correctly apprehended in 
 any other view than that of one drawn up and 
 adjusted with an intention to comprehend the as- 
 sent of all, rather than to exclude that of any 
 who concurred in the necessity of a reforniation. 
 
 "'The means of comprehension intended 
 were, not any general ambiguity or equivoca- 
 tion of terms, hut a prudent forbearance in all 
 parties not to insist on the full extent of their 
 opinions in matters not essential or fundamental ,- 
 and 171 all cases to wave, as much as possible, 
 tenets which might divide, where they wish to 
 unite.' — Remarks on the Design and Formation 
 of the Articles of the Church of England, by 
 William, Lord Bishop of Bangor, ISO'2." — 
 pp. 23—25. 
 
 We will finish with Bishop Horsley. 
 
 " It has been the fashion of late to talk 
 
 about Arminianism as the system of the 
 
 Church of England, and of Calvinism as 
 
 something opposite to it, to which the church 
 
 23 
 
 is hostile. That I may not be misunderstood 
 in what I have stated, or may have occasion 
 further to say upon this subject, I must here 
 declare, that I use the words Arminianism and 
 Calvinism in that restricted sense in which 
 they are now generally taken, to denote the 
 doctrinal part of each system, as unconnected 
 with the principles either of Arminians or 
 Calvinisis upon church discipline and church 
 government. This being premised, I assert, 
 what I often have before asserted, and by 
 God's grace I will persist in the assertion to 
 my dying day, that so far is it from the truth 
 that the Church of England is decidedly Ar- 
 minian, and hostile to Calvinism, that the truth 
 is this, that upon the principal points in dispute 
 between the Arminians and the Caluinists upon 
 all the points of doctrine characteristic of the two 
 sects, the Church of England maintains aii ab- 
 solute neutrality ; her articles explicitly assert 
 nothing but what is believed both by Arminians 
 and by Calvinists. The Calvinists indeed hold 
 some opinions relative to the same points, 
 which the Church of England has not gone 
 the length of asserting in her Articles; but 
 neither has she gone the length of explicitly 
 contradicting those opinions ; insomuch that 
 there is nothing to hinder the Arrninian and the 
 highest suprulapsarian Calvinists from walking 
 together in the Cliurch of England and Ireland 
 as friends and brothers, f they both apprfjve the 
 discipline of the church, uyid both are willing to 
 submit to it. Her discipline has been approved ; 
 it has been submitted to; it has been in former 
 times most ably and zealously defended by the 
 highest supralapsarian Calvinists. Such was 
 the great Usher; such was Whitgift ; such 
 were many more, burning and shining lights 
 of our church in her early days (when first 
 she shook off the Papal tyranny), long since 
 gone to the resting place of the spirits of the 
 just. — Bishop HoBSLEv's Charges, p. 216." — 
 pp. 25, 26. 
 
 So that these unhappy curates are turned 
 out of their bread for an exposition of the Ar- 
 ticles which such men as Sherlock, Cleaver, 
 and Horsley think may be fairly given of their 
 meaning. We do not quote their authority to 
 show that the right interpretation is decided, 
 but that it is doubtful — that there is a balance 
 of authorities — that the opinion which Bishop 
 Marsh has punished with poverty and degra- 
 dation, has been considered to be legitimate, 
 by men at least as wise and learned as him- 
 self. In fact, it is to us perfectly clear, that 
 the Articles were originally framed to prevent 
 the very practices which Bishop Marsh has 
 used for their protection — they were purpose- 
 ly so worded, that Arminians and Calvinists 
 could sign them without blame. They were 
 intended to combine both these descriptions 
 of Protestants, and were meant principally for 
 a bulwark against Catholics. 
 
 " Thus," says Bishop Burnet, "was the doc- 
 trine of the church cast into a short and plain 
 form ; in which they took care both to esta- 
 blish the positive articles of religion, and to 
 cut off the errors formerly introduced in the 
 time of popery, or of late broached by the 
 Anabaptists and enthusiasts of Germany; 
 
178 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 avoiding ilie niceties of schoolmen, or the peremp- 
 ioriness of the ivriters of controversy ,• leaving, in 
 matters that are more justly controvertible, a 
 liberty to divines to follow their private opinions, 
 without thereby disturbing the peace of the 
 church." — History of the Reformation, Book I. 
 part ii. p. 168, folio edition. 
 
 The next authorit)- is that of Fuller. 
 
 "In the convocation now sittinsj, wherein 
 Alexander Nowel, Dean of St. Paul's, was pro- 
 locutor, the nine-and-thirty Articles were com- 
 posed. For the main they agree with those 
 set forth in the reign of King Edward the 
 Sixth, though in some particulars allowing 
 more liberty to dissenting judgments. For 
 instance, in this King's Articles it is said, that 
 it is to be believed that Christ went down to 
 hell (to preach to the spirits there) ; which 
 last clause is left out in these Articles, and 
 men left to a latitude concerning the cause, 
 time, and manner of his descent. 
 
 "Hence some have unjustly taxed the com- 
 posers for too much favour extended in their 
 large expressions, clean through the contex- 
 ture of these Articles, which should have tied 
 men's consciences up closer, in more strict 
 and particularizing propositions, which indeed 
 proceeded from their commendable 7noderation. 
 Children's clothes ought to be made of the 
 biggest, because after«-ards their bodies vrill 
 grow up to their garments. Thus the Articles 
 of this English Protestant Church, in the in- 
 fancy thereof, they thought good to draw up in 
 general terms, foreseeing that posterity would 
 grow up to fill the same : I mean these holv 
 men did prudently prediscover, that ditlerence's 
 in judgments would unavoidably happen m the 
 church, a/id were loath to unchurch any, and 
 drive them off from an ecclesiastical communion, 
 for such petty difference^!, which made them pen 
 the Articles in comprehensive words, to take in 
 all who, differing in the branches, meet in the 
 root of the same religion. 
 
 "Indeed most of them had formerly been 
 sufferers themselves, and cannot be said, in 
 compiling these Articles, (an acceptable ser- 
 vice, no doubt,) to offer to God what cost them 
 nothing, some having paid imprisonment, 
 others exile, all losses in their estates, for this 
 their experimental knowledge in religion, 
 which made them the more mercful and tender 
 in stating those points, seeing such who them- 
 selves have been most patient in bearing, will 
 be most pitiful in burdening the consciences 
 of others." — See Filler's Church History, 
 book ix. p. 72, folio edit. 
 
 But this generous and pacific spirit gives 
 no room for the display of zeal and theologi- 
 cal learning. The gate of admission has been 
 left too widely open. I may as well be without 
 power at all, if I cannot force my opinions 
 upon other people. What was purposely left 
 indefinite, I must make definite and exclusive. 
 Questions of contention and difference must 
 be laid before the servants of the church, and 
 nothing like neutrality in theological metaphj^- 
 sics allowed to the ministers of the Gospel. I 
 come not to bring peace, &c. 
 
 The bishop, however, seems to be quite sa- 
 
 tisfied with himself, when he states, that he. 
 has a right to do what he has done — ^just as if 
 a man's character with his fellow-creatures 
 depended upon legal rights alone, and not 
 upon a discreet exercise of those rights. A 
 man may persevere in doing what he has a 
 right to do, till the chancellor shuts him up in 
 Bedlam, or till the mob pelt him as he passes. 
 It must be presumed, that all men whom the 
 law has invested with rights, nature has in- 
 vested with common sense, to use those rights. 
 For these reasons, children have no rights till 
 they have gained common sense, and old men 
 have no rights after they lose their common 
 sense. All men are at all times accountable 
 to their fellow-creatures for the discreet exer- 
 cise of every right they possess. 
 
 Prelates are fond of talking of my see, my 
 clergy, my diocese, as if these things belonged 
 to them, as their pigs and dogs belonged to 
 them. They forget that the clergy, the dio- 
 cese, and the bishops themselves, all exist 
 only for the public good ; that the public are a 
 third, and principal party in the whole con- 
 cern. It is not simply the tormenting Bishop 
 versus the tormented Curate, but the public 
 against the system of tormenting; as tending 
 to bring scandal upon religion and religious 
 men. By the late alteration in the laws, the 
 labourers in the vineyard are given up to th^ 
 power of the inspectors of the vineyard. If 
 he has the meanness and malice to do so, an 
 inspector may worry and plague to death any 
 labourer against whom he may have conceived 
 an antipathy. As often as such cases are de- 
 tected, we believe they will meet, in either 
 House of Parliament, with the severest repre- 
 hension. The noblemen and gentlemen of 
 England will never allow their parish clergy 
 to be treated with cruelty, injustice, and ca- 
 price, by men who were parish clergymen 
 themselves yesterday, and who were trusted 
 with power for veri' different puqjoses. 
 
 The Bishop of Peterborough complains o* 
 the insolence of the answers made to him. 
 This is certainly not true of Mr. Grimshawe, 
 Mr. Neville, or of the author of the Appeal. 
 They have answered his lordship with great 
 force, great manlines|| but with perfect re- 
 spect. Does the bishop expect that humble 
 men, as learned as himself, are to be driven 
 from their houses and homes by his new the- 
 ology, and then to send him letters of thanks 
 for the kicks and cuffs he has bestowed upon 
 them 1 Men of very small incomes, be it 
 known unto his lordship, have ver}' often verv 
 acute feelings ; and a curate trod on feels a 
 pang as great as when a bishop is refuted. 
 
 We shall now give a specimen of some an- 
 swers, which, we believe, would exclude a 
 curate from the diocese of Peterborough, and 
 contrast these answers with the articles of the 
 church to which they refer. The 9th Article 
 of the Church of England is upon Original 
 Sin. Upon this point his lordship puts the 
 following question : — 
 
 "Did the Fall of Adam produce such an 
 effect on his posterity, that mankind became 
 thereby a mass of mere corruption, or of abso- 
 lute and entire depravity ? Or is the effect 
 only such, that we are very far gone from or;- 
 
WORKS* OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 ginal righteousness, and of our own nature 
 inclined to evil f 
 
 Excluding Answer. The Mntk Article. 
 
 " The fall of " Original Sin standeth not in the 
 Adam produced following of Adam (as the Pela- 
 snch an effect on gians do vainly talk) ; but it is the 
 his posterity, that fault or corruption of the nature of 
 mankind became every man, that naturally is engen- 
 thereby a mass of dered of the offspring of Adam, 
 mere corruption, whereby man is very far gone from 
 or of absolute and original righteousness, and is of his 
 entire depravity." own nature inclined to evil, so that 
 the flesh lusteth always contrary to 
 the spirit ; and therefore, in every 
 person born into the world, it de- 
 serveth God's wrath and damna- 
 tion." 
 The 9th Question, Cap. 3d, on Free Will, is 
 as follows: — Is it not contrary to Scripture to 
 say, that man has no share in the work of his 
 salvation ] 
 
 Excluding Answer. Tenth Article. 
 
 " It is quite " The condition of man after the 
 agreeable to Scrip- fall of Adam is such, that he cannot 
 ture to say, that turn and prepare himself, by his 
 man has no share own natural strength and good 
 in the work of his works, to faith, and calling upon 
 own salvation." God. Wherefore, we have no 
 power to do good works pleasant 
 and acceptable to God, without the 
 grace of God by Christ preventing 
 us, that we may have a good will, 
 and working with us when we have 
 that good will." 
 On Redemption, his lordship has the follow- 
 ing question, Cap. 1st, Question 1st: — Did 
 Christ die for all men, or did he die only for a 
 chosen few] 
 
 Excluding Answer. Part of Article Seventeenth. 
 
 " Christ did not " Predestination to life is the ever- 
 liie for all men, lasting purpose ofGod, whereby (be- 
 
 but only for a cho- fore the foundations of the world 
 sen few." were laid) he hath constantlydecreed 
 
 by his counsel, secret to us, to deli- 
 ver from curse and damnation those 
 whom he hath chosen in Christ out 
 of mankind, and to bring them by 
 Christ unto everlasting salvation, 
 as vessels made to honour." 
 
 Now, whether these answers are right' or 
 wrong, we do not presume to decide; but we 
 cannot help saying, there appears to be some 
 little colour in the language of the Articles for 
 the errors of the respondent. It does not ap- 
 pear at first sight to be such a deviation from 
 the plain, literal, and grammatical sense of 
 the Articles, as to merit rapid and ignomi- 
 nious ejectment from the bosom of the church. 
 
 Now we have done with the Bishop. We 
 give him all he asks as to his legal right; and 
 only contend, that he is acting a very indis- 
 creet and injudicious part — fatal to his quiet — 
 fata! to his reputation as a man of sense — 
 blamed by ministers— blamed by all the Bench 
 of Bishops — vexatious to the clergy, and 
 highly injurious to the church. We mean no 
 personal disrespect to the Bishop; we are as 
 Ignorant of him as of his victims. We should 
 have been heartily glad if the debate in Parlia- 
 ment had put an end to ■ these blameable ex- 
 cesses; and our only object, in meddling with 
 the question, is to restrain the arm of power 
 withm the limits of moderation and justice — 
 one of the great objects which first led to the 
 establishment of this Journal, and which, we 
 hope, will always continue to characterize its 
 eiforts. 
 
 BOTANY BAY; 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 1823.] 
 
 Mr. Bigge's Report is somewhat long, and 
 a little clumsy; but it is altogether the pro- 
 duction of an honest, sensible, and respectable 
 man, who has done his duty to the public, and 
 justified the expense of his mission to the fifth 
 or pickpocket quarter of the globe. 
 
 What manner of man is Governor Mac- 
 quarrie ?— Is all that Mr. Bennet says of him 
 in the House of Commons true'? These are 
 the questions which Lord Bathurst sent Mr. 
 Bigge, and very properly sent him, 28,000 
 miles to answer. The answer is, that Go- 
 vernor Macquarrie is not a dishonest man, 
 nor a jobber; but arbitrary, in many things 
 scandalously negligent, very often wrong- 
 headed, and, upon the whole, very defi- 
 cient in that good sense, and vigorous under- 
 standing, which his new and arduous situation 
 so manifestly requires. 
 
 * 1. Letter to Earl Bathurst, By the Honourable II. 
 Grev Bennet, M. P. 
 
 2. Report of the Commissioner of Inquiry into the state 
 ef the Colony of J\rew South Wales. Ordered by the 
 House of Commons to be printed, IQth June, 1822. 
 
 Ornamental architecture in Botany Bay! 
 how it could enter into the head of any human 
 being to adorn pirblic buildings at the Bay, or 
 to aim at any other architectural purpose but 
 the exclusion of wind and rain, we are utterly 
 at a loss to conceive. Such an expense is not 
 only lamentable for the waste of property it 
 makes in the particular instance, but because 
 it destroys that guarantee of sound sense 
 which the government at home must require 
 in those who preside over distant colonies \ 
 man who thinks of pillars and pilasters, when 
 half the colony are wet through for want of 
 any covering at all, cannot be a wise or pru 
 dent person. He seems to be ignorant, thai 
 the prevention of rheumatism in all young 
 colonies is a much more important object 
 than the gratification of taste, or the display 
 of skill. 
 
 "I suggested to Governor Macqliarrie the ex 
 pediency of stopping all work then in progress 
 that was merely of an ornamental nature, and 
 of postponing its execution till other more im- 
 
180 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 portant buildings were finished. With this 
 view it was, that I recommended to the go- 
 vernor to stop the progress of a large church, 
 the foundation of which had been laid pre- 
 vious to my arrival, and which, by the esti- 
 mate of Mr. Greenway the architect, would 
 have required six years to complete. By a 
 change that I recommended, and which the 
 governor adopted, in the destination of the 
 new court-house at Sydney, the accommodation 
 of a new church is probably by this time 
 secured. As I conceived that considerable 
 advantage had been gained by inducing Go- 
 vernor Macquarrie to suspend the progress of 
 the larger church, I did not deem it necessary 
 to make any pointed objection to the addition 
 of these ornamental parts of the smaller one; 
 though I regretted to observe in this instance, 
 as well as in those of the new stables at Syd- 
 ney, the turnpike-gate house and the new 
 fountain there, as well as in the repairs of an 
 old church at Paramatta, how much more the 
 embellishment of these places had been consi- 
 dered by the governor than the real and press- 
 ing wants of the colony. The buildings that I 
 had recommended to his early attention in 
 Sydney were, a new gaol, a school-house, and 
 a market-house. The defects of the first of 
 these buildings will be more particularly 
 pointed out when I come to describe the build- 
 ings that have been erected in New South 
 Wales. It is sufficient for me now to observe, 
 that they were striking, and of a nature not to 
 be remedied by additions or repairs. The 
 other two were in a state of absolute ruin; 
 they were also of undeniable importance and 
 necessity. Having left Sydney in the month 
 of November, 1820, with these impressions, 
 and with a belief that the suggestions I had 
 made to Governor Macquarrie respecting them 
 had been partly acted upon, and would con- 
 tinue to be so during my absence in Van Die- 
 men's Land, it was not without much surpi'ise 
 and regret that I learnt, during my residence 
 in that settlement, the resumption of the work 
 at the large church in Sydney, and the steady 
 continuation of the others that I had objected 
 to, especially the governor's stables at Sydney. 
 I felt the greater surprise in receiving the in- 
 formation respecting this last-mentioned struc- 
 ture, during my absence in Van Diemen's 
 Land, as the governor himself had, upon 
 many occasions, expressed to me his own 
 regret at having ever sanctioned it, and his 
 consciousness of its extravagant dimensions 
 and ostentatious character." — Report, pp. 51, 
 Ji2. 
 
 One of the great difficulties in Botany Bay 
 is to find proper employment for the great 
 mass of convicts M-ho are sent out. Governor 
 Macquarrie selects all the best artisans, of 
 every description, for the use of government; 
 and puts the poets, attorneys, and politicians, 
 up to auction. Tlie evil consequences of this 
 are manifold. In the first place, from possess- 
 ing so many of the best artificers, the gover- 
 nor is necessarily turned into a builder; and 
 immense drafts are drawn upon the treasury 
 at home, for buildings better adapted for Re- 
 gent street than the Bay. In the next place, 
 the poor settler, finding that the convict attor- 
 
 ney is very awkward at cutting timber, or 
 catching kangaroos, soon returns him upon 
 the hands of government, in a much worse 
 plight than that in which he was received. 
 Not only are governors thus debauched into 
 useless and expensive builders, but the colo- 
 nists, who are scheming and planning with all 
 the activity of new settlers, cannot find work- 
 men to execute their designs. 
 
 What two ideas are more inseparable than 
 beer and Britannia? — what event more aw- 
 fully important to an English colony than the 
 erection of its first brewhouse 1 — and yet it 
 required, in Van Diemen's land, the greatest 
 solicitation to the government, and all the in- 
 fluence of Mr. Bigge, to get it effijcted. The 
 government, having obtained possession of 
 the best workmen, keep them ; their manu- 
 mission is much more infrequent than that 
 of the useless and unprofitable convicts; in 
 other words, one man is punished for his skill, 
 and another rewarded for his inutility. Guilty 
 of being a locksmith — guilty of stone-masonry, 
 or brick-making; — these are the second ver- 
 dicts brought in, in New South Wales ; and 
 upon them is regulated the duration or miti- 
 gation of punishment awarded in the mother 
 country. At the very period when the gover- 
 nor assured Lord Bathurst, in his despatches, 
 that he kept and employed so numerous a 
 gang of workmen, only because the inhabit- 
 ants could not employ them, Mr. Bigge in- 
 forms us, that their services would have been 
 most acceptable to the colonists. Most of the 
 settlers, at the time of Mr. Bigge's arrival, 
 from repeated refusals and disappointments, 
 had been so convinced of the impossibility of 
 obtaining workmen, that they had ceased to 
 make application to the governor. Is it to be 
 believed that a governor, placed over a land 
 of convicts, and capable of guarding his limbs 
 from any sudden collision with odometrous 
 stones, or vertical posts of direction, should 
 make no distinction between the simple con- 
 vict and the double and treble convict — the 
 man of three juries, who has three times ap- 
 peared at the Bailey, trilarcenous — three times 
 driven over the seas ? 
 
 " I think it necessary to notice the want of 
 attention that has prevailed, until a very late 
 period, at Sydney, to the circumstances of 
 those convicts who have been transported a 
 second and a third time. Although the know- 
 ledge of these facts is transmitted to the hulk- 
 lists, or acquired witlu)ut difficulty during the 
 passage, it never has occurred to Governor 
 Macquarrie or to the superintendent of con- 
 victs, to make any difference in the condition 
 of these men, not even to disappoint the views 
 that they may be supposed to have indulged 
 by the success of a criminal enterprise in Eng- 
 land, and by transferring the fruits of it to 
 New South Wales. 
 
 "To accomplish this very simple but im- 
 portant object, nothing more is necessary than 
 to consign these men to any situation rather 
 than that which their friends had selected for 
 them, and distinctly to declare in the presence 
 of their comrades at the first muster on their 
 arrival, that no consideration or favour woub' 
 be shown to those who had violated the law a 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 181 
 
 second time, and that the mitigation of their 
 sentences must be indefinitely postponed." 
 Report, p. 19. 
 
 We were not a little amused at Governor 
 Macquarrie's laureate — a regular Mr. Southey 
 — who, upon the king's birth-day, sings the 
 praises of Governor Macquarrie.* The case 
 of this votary of Apollo and Mercury was a 
 case for life ; the offence a menacing epistle, 
 or, as low people call it, a ihreatening kiter. 
 He has been pardoned, however — bursting his 
 shackles, like Orpheus of old, with song and 
 metre, and is well spoken of by Mr. Bigge, 
 but no specimen of his poetry given. Oneof 
 the best and most enlightened men in the set- 
 tlement appears to be Mr. Marsden, a clergy- 
 man at Paramatta. Mr. Bennet represents 
 him as a gentleman of great feeling, Avhose 
 life is embittered by the scenes of horror and 
 vice it is his lot to witness at Paramatta. In- 
 deed, he says of himself, that, in consequence 
 of these things, " he does not enjoy one happy 
 moment from the beginning to the end of the 
 week !" This letter, at the time, produced a 
 very considerable sensation in this countr}'. 
 The idea of a man of refinement and feeling 
 wearing away his life in the midst of scenes 
 of crime and debauchery to which he can 
 apply no corrective, is certainly a very me- 
 lancholy and aftecting picture ; but there is 
 no story, however elegant and eloquent, which 
 does not require, for the purposes of justice, 
 to be turned to the other side, and viewed in 
 reverse. The Rev. Mr. Marsden (says Mr. 
 Bigge), ht'mg himself accustomed to traffic in 
 spirits, must necessarily feel displeased at 
 having so many public houses licensed in the 
 neighbourhood. — (p. 14.) 
 
 "As to Mr. Marsden's troubles of mind 
 (says the governor), and pathetic display of 
 sensibility and humanity, they must be so 
 deeply seated, and so far removed from the 
 surface, as to escape all possible observation. 
 His habits are those of a man for ever en- 
 gaged in some active, animated pursuit. No 
 man travels more from town to town, or from 
 house to house. His deportment is at all 
 times that of a person the most gay and happy. 
 When I was honoured with his society, he 
 was by far the most cheerful person I met in 
 the colony. Where his hours of sorrow were 
 spent, it is hard to divine ; for the variety of 
 his pursuits, both in his own concerns, and in 
 those of others, is so extensive, in farming, 
 grazing, manufactories, transactions, that, with 
 his clerical duties, he seems, to use a common 
 phrase, to have his hands full of work. And 
 the particular subject to which he imputes 
 this extreme depression of mind, is, besides, 
 one for which few people here will give him 
 much credit."— Macquarrie's Letter to Lord Sid- 
 mouth, p. 18. 
 
 There is certainly a wide difference between 
 a man of so much feeling that he has not a 
 moment's happiness from the beginning to the 
 end of the week, and a little, merry, bustling 
 clergyman, largely concerned in the sale of 
 rum, and brisk at a bargain for barley. Mr. 
 Bigge's evidence, however, is very much in 
 
 f^ide Report, p. 146. 
 
 favour of Mr. Marsden. He seems to think 
 him a man of highly respectable character 
 and superior understanding, and that he has 
 been dismissed from the magistracy by Gover- 
 nor Macquarrie, in a very rash, unjustifiable, 
 and even tyrannical manner; and in tliese 
 opinions, we must say, the facts seem to bear 
 out the report of the commissioner. 
 
 Colonel Macquarrie not only dismisses ho- 
 nest and irreproachable men in a country 
 where their existence is scarce, and their ser- 
 vices inestimable, but he advances convicts 
 to the situation and dignity of magistrates. 
 Mr. Bennet lays great stress upon this, and 
 makes it one of his strongest charges against 
 the governor; and the commissioner also 
 takes part against it. But we confess we 
 have great doubts on the subject; and are by 
 no means satisfied that the system of the go- 
 vernor was not, upon the whole, the wisest 
 and best adapted to the situation of the colony. 
 Men are governed by words ; and by the infa- 
 mous word convict are comprehended crimes 
 of the most different degrees and species of 
 guilt. One man is transported for stealing 
 three hams and a pot of sausages ; and in the 
 next berth to him on board the transport is a 
 young surgeon, who has been engaged in the 
 mutiny at the Nore ; the third man is for ex- 
 torting money ; the fourth was in a respecta- 
 ble situation of life at the time of the Irish 
 rebellion, and was so ill read in history as to 
 imagine that Ireland had been ill-treated by 
 England, and so bad a reasoner as to suppose 
 that nine Catholics ought not to pay tithes to 
 one Protestant. Then comes a man who set 
 his house on fire, to cheat the Phosnix office ; 
 and, lastly, the mo3t glaring of all human vil- 
 lains, a poacher, driven from Europe, wife and 
 child, by thirty lords of manors, at the Quarter 
 Sessions, for killing a partridge. Now, all 
 these are crimes no doubt — particularly the 
 last ; but they are surely crimes of very dif- 
 ferent degrees of intensity, to which different 
 degrees of contempt and horror are attached — 
 and from which those who have committed 
 them may, by subsequent morality, emanci- 
 pate themselves, with different degrees of diffi- 
 culty, and with more or less of success. A 
 warrant granted by a reformed bacon stealer 
 wcAild be absurd ; but there is hardly any rea- 
 son why a foolish, hot-brained young block- 
 head, who chose to favour the mutineers at 
 the Nore, when he was sixteen years of age, 
 may not make a very loyal subject, and a ve'ry 
 respectable and respected magistrate when he 
 is forty years of age, and has cast his Jacobin 
 teeth, and fallen into the practical jobbing and 
 loyal baseness which so commonly developes 
 itself about that period of life. Therefore, to 
 say that a man must be placed in no situation 
 of trust or elevation, as a magistrate, merely 
 because he is a convict, is to govern mankind 
 with a dictionary, and to surrender sense and 
 usefulness to sound. Take the following case, 
 for instance, from Mr. Bigge : — 
 
 " The next person, from the same class, that 
 was so distinguished by Governor Macquarrie, 
 was the Rev. Mr. Fulton. He was transported 
 by the sentence of a court martial in Ireland, 
 during the Rebellion ; and on his arrival in 
 
 Q 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 New South Wales in the year 1800, was sent 
 to Norfolk Island to ofliciate as chaplain. 
 He returned to New South Wales in the year 
 1804, and performed the duties of chaplain at 
 Sydney and Paramatta. 
 
 " In the divisions that prevailed in the colo- 
 ny previous to the arrest of Governor Bligh, 
 Mr. Fulton took no part; but, happening to 
 form one of his family when the person of the 
 governor was menaced with violence, he cou- 
 rageously opposed himself to the military 
 party that entered the house, and gave an ex- 
 ample of courage and devotion to the authority 
 of Governor Bligh, which, if partaken either 
 by the officer or his few adherents, would 
 have spared him the humiliation of a personal 
 arrest, and rescued his authority from the dis- 
 grace of open and violent suspension." — Re- 
 port, pp. 83, 84. 
 
 The particular nature of the place, too, must 
 be remembered. It is seldom, we suspect, 
 that absolute dunces go to the Bay, but com- 
 monly men of active minds, and considerable 
 talents in their various lines — who have not 
 learnt, indeed, the art of self-discipline and 
 control, but who are sent to learn it in the 
 bitter school of adversity. And when this 
 medicine produces its proper effect — when 
 sufficient time has been given to show a tho- 
 rough change in character and disposition — a 
 young colony really cannot afford to dispense 
 with the services of any person of superior 
 talents. Activity, resolution, and acuteness, 
 are of such immense importance in the hard 
 circumstances of a new state, that they must 
 be eagerly caught at, and employed as soon as 
 they are discovered. Though all may not be 
 quite so unobjectionable as could be wished — 
 
 " Res dura, et regni novitas me talia cogunt 
 Moliri"— 
 
 as Colonel Macquarrie probably quoted to 
 Mr. Commissioner Bigge. As for the conduct 
 of those extra-moralists, who come to settle in 
 a land of crime, and refuse to associate with 
 a convict legally pardoned, however light his 
 original offence, however perfect his subse- 
 quent conduct — we have no toleration for such 
 folly and foppery. To sit down to dinner Avith 
 men who have not been tried for their lives is 
 a luxury which cannot be enjoyed in such a 
 country. It is entirely out of the question ; 
 and persons so dainty, and so truly admira,ble, 
 had better settle at Clapham Common than at 
 Botany Bay. Our trade in Australasia is to 
 turn scoundrels into hone n men. If 3'ou come 
 among us, and bring with you a good charac- 
 ter, and will lend us your society, as a stimu- 
 lus and reward to men recovering from degra- 
 dation, you will confer the greatest possible 
 Ijenefit upon the colony ; but if you turn up 
 your nose at repentance, insult those unhappy 
 people with your character, and fiercely stand 
 up as a moral bully, and a virtuous braggado- 
 cio, it would have been far better for us if 
 Providence had directed yo.u to any other part 
 of the globe than to Botany Bay — which was 
 colonized, not to gratify the insolence of Pha- 
 risees, but to heal the contrite spirit of repent- 
 ant sinners. Mr. Marsden, who has no hap- 
 piness from six o'clock Monday morning, till 
 
 the same hour the week following, will not 
 meet pardoned convicts in society. We have 
 no doubt Mr. Marsden is a very respectable 
 clergyman ; but is there not something very 
 different from this in the Gospel 1 The most 
 resolute and inflexible persons in the rejection 
 of pardoned convicts were some of the march- 
 ing regiments stationed at Botany Bay — men, 
 of course, who had uniformly shunned, in the 
 Old World, the society of gamesters, prosti- 
 tutes, drunkards, and blasphemers — who had 
 ruined no tailors, corrupted no wives, and had 
 entitled themselves, by a long course of so- 
 lemnity and decorum, to indulge in all the in- 
 solence of purity and virtue. 
 
 In this point, then, of restoring convicts to 
 society, we side, as far as the principle goes, 
 with the governor; but we are far from under- 
 taking to say that his application of the prin- 
 ciple has been on all occasions prudent and 
 judicious. Upon the absurdity of his con- 
 duct in attempting to force the society of the 
 pardoned convicts upon the undetected part 
 of the colony, there can be no doubt. These 
 are points upon which eveiy body must be 
 allowed to judge for themselves. The great- 
 est monarchs of Europe cannot control opinion 
 upon those points — sovereigns far exceeding 
 Colonel Lachlan Macquarrie, in the antiquity 
 of their dynasty, and the extent, wealth, and 
 importance of their empire. 
 
 " It was in vain to assemble them" (the par- 
 doned convicts), " even on public occasions, at 
 Government House, or to point them out to the 
 especial notice and favour of strangers, or to 
 favour them with particular marks of his own 
 attention upon these occasions, if they still 
 continued to be shunned, or disregarded by the 
 rest of the company. 
 
 " With the exception of the Reverend Mr. 
 Fulton, and, on some occasions, of Mr. Red- 
 fern, I never observed that the other persons 
 of this class participated in the general atten- 
 tions of the company; and the evidence of 
 Mr. Judge-Advocate Wylde and Major Bell 
 both prove the embarrassment in which they 
 were left on occasions that came within their 
 notice. 
 
 " Nor has the distinction that has been con- 
 ferred upon them by Governor Macquarrie 
 produced any effect in subduing the prejudices 
 or objections of the class of free inhabitants 
 to associate with them. One instance only 
 has occurred, in which the wife of a respecta- 
 ble individual, and a magistrate, has been 
 visited by the wives of the officers of the gar- 
 rison, and by a few of the married ladies of 
 the colony. It is an instance that reflects 
 equal credit upon the individual herself, as 
 upon the feelings and motives of those by 
 whom she has been so noticed; but the cir- 
 cumstances of her case were very peculiar, 
 and those that led to her introduction to society 
 jrere very much of a personal kind. It has 
 'generally been thought, that such instances 
 would have been more numerous if Governor 
 Macquarrie had allowed every person to have 
 followed the dictates of their own judgment 
 upon a subject, on which, of all others, men 
 are least disposed to be dictated to, and most 
 disposed to judge for themselves. 
 
WORKS OF THE RE\". SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 183 
 
 " Although the emancipated convicts, whom j 
 he has selected from their class, are persons 
 who generally bear a good character in New 
 South Wales, j^et that opinion of them is by 
 no means universal. Those, however, who 
 entertained a good opinion of them would 
 have proved it by their notice, as Mr. M'Arthur 
 has been in the habit of doing, by the kind and 
 marked notice that he took of Mr. Fitzgerald ; 
 and those who entertained a different opinion, 
 would not have contracted an aversion to the 
 principle of their introduction, from being 
 obliged to witness what they considered to be 
 an indiscreet and erroneous application of 
 it." — Report, p. 150. 
 
 We do not think Mr. Bigge exactly seizes 
 the sense of Colonel Macquarrie's phrase, 
 when the colonel speaks of restoring men to 
 the rank of society they have lost. Men may 
 either be classed by wealth and education, or 
 by character. All honest men, M'hether counts 
 or cobblers, are of the same rank, if classed 
 by moral distinctions. It is a common phrase 
 to say that such a man can no longer be 
 ranked among honest men; that he has been 
 degraded from the class of respectable per- 
 sons ; and, therefore, by restoring a convict to 
 the rank he has lost, the governor may very 
 fairly be supposed to mean the moral rank. 
 In discussing the question of granting offices 
 of trust to convicts, the importance of the 
 Scekrafi must not be overlooked. Their num- 
 bers are very considerable. They have one- 
 eighth of all the granted land in the colony ; 
 and there are among them individuals of very 
 large fortune. Mr. Redfern has 2600 acres, 
 Mr. Lord 4365 acres, and Mr. Samuel Terry 
 19,000 acres. As this man's history is a spe- 
 cimen of the mud and dirt out of which great 
 families often arise, let the Terry Filii, the 
 future warriors, legislators, and nobility of 
 the Bay, learn from what, and whom, they 
 sprang. 
 
 " The first of these individuals, Samuel 
 Terry, was transported to the colony when 
 young. He was placed in a gang of stone- 
 masons at Paramatta, and assisted in the 
 building of the gaol. Mr. Marsden states, that 
 during this period he was brought before him 
 for neglect of duty, and punished ; but, by his 
 industry in other ways, he was enabled to set 
 up a small retail shop, in which he continued 
 till the expiration of his term of service. He 
 then repaired to Sydney, where he extended 
 his business, and, by marriage, increased his 
 capital. He for many years kept a public 
 house and retail shop, to which the smaller 
 settlers resorted from the country, and where, 
 after intoxicating themselves with spirits, they 
 signed obligations and powers of attorney to 
 confess judgment, which were always kept 
 ready for execution. By these means, and by 
 an active use of the common arts of over- 
 reaching ignorant and worthless men, Samuel 
 Terry has been able to accumulate a consider- 
 able capital, and a quantity of land in New 
 South Wales, inferior only to that which is 
 held by Mr. D'Arcy Wentworth. He ceased, 
 at the late regulations introduced by the ma- 
 gistrates at Sydney, in February, 1820, to sell 
 
 spirituous liquors, and he is now become one 
 of the principal speculators in the purchase 
 of investments at Sydney, and lately esta- 
 blished a water-mill in the swampy plains be- 
 tween that town and Botany Bay, which did 
 not succeed. Out of the 19,000 acres of land 
 held by Samuel Terr)^ 140 only are said to be 
 cleared; but he possesses 1450 head of horned 
 cattle, and 3800 sheep." — Report, p. 141. 
 
 Upon,. the subject of the New South Wales 
 Bank, Mr. Bigge observes, — 
 
 "Upon the first of these occasions, it became 
 an object both with Governor Macquarrie and 
 Mr. Judge-Advocate Wyld, who took an active 
 part in the establishment of the bank, to unite 
 m its favour the support and contributions of 
 the individuals of all classes of the colony. 
 Governor Macquarrie felt assured that, without 
 such co-operation, the bank could not be esta- 
 blished; for he was convinced that the eman- 
 cipated convicts were the most opulent mem- 
 bers of the community. A committee was 
 formed for the purpose of drawing up the 
 rules and i-egulations of the establishment, in 
 which are to be found the names of George 
 Howe, the printer of the Sydney Gazette, who 
 was also a retail dealer; Mr. Simon Lord, and 
 Mr. Edward Eager, all emancipated convicts, 
 and the last only conditionally. 
 
 " Governor Macquarrie had always under- 
 stood, and strongly wished, that in asking for 
 the co-operation of all classes of the commu- 
 nity in the formation of the bank, a share in 
 its direction and management should also be 
 communicated to them." — Report, p. 150. 
 
 In the discussion of this question, we be- 
 came acquainted with a piece of military 
 etiquette, of which we were previously igno- 
 rant. An officer, invited to dinner by the 
 governor, cannot refuse, unless in case of 
 sickness. This is the most complete tyranny 
 we ever heard of. If the officer comes out to 
 his duty at the proper minute, with his proper 
 number of buttons and epaulettes, what mat- 
 ters it to the governor or any body else, where 
 he dines 1 He may as well be ordered what 
 to eat, as where to dine — be confined to the 
 upper or under side of the meat — be denied 
 grav}', or refused melted butter. But there is 
 no end to the small tyranny and puerile vexa- 
 tions of a military life. 
 
 The mode of employing convicts upon their 
 arrival appears to us very objectionable. If a 
 man is skilful as a mechanic, he is added to 
 the government gangs ; and in proportion to 
 his skill and diligence, his chance of manu- 
 mission, or of remission of labour, is lessened. 
 If he is not skilful, or not skilful in any trade 
 wanted by government, he is applied for by 
 some settler, to whom he pays from 5s. to 10s. 
 a Aveek; and is then left at liberty to go where, 
 and work for whomsoever, he pleases. In the 
 same manner, a convict who is rich is applied 
 for, and obtains his weekly liberty and idle- 
 ness by the purchased permission of the per- 
 son to whom he is consigned. 
 
 The greatest possible inattention or igno- 
 rance appears to have prevailed in manumit- 
 ting convicts for labour — and for such labour! 
 not for cleansing Augean stables, or drain'rg 
 
184 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 Pontine marshes, or clamming out a vast 
 length of the Adriatic, but for working five 
 weeks with a single horse and cart in making 
 the road to Bathurst Plains. Was such labour 
 worth five pounds'? And is it to be under- 
 stood, that liberty is to be restored to any man 
 who will do five pounds' worth of work in 
 Australasia] Is this comment upon trans- 
 portation to be circulated in the cells of New- 
 gate, or in the haunts of those persons who 
 are doomed to inhabit them ] 
 
 "Another principle by which Governor 
 Macquarrie has been guided in bestowing 
 pardons and indulgences, is that of considering 
 them as rewards for any particular labour or 
 enterprise. It was upon this principle, that 
 the men who were emplo3'ed in working upon 
 the Bathurst road, in the year 1815, and those 
 who contributed to that operation by the loan 
 of their own carts and horses, or of those that 
 they procured, obtained pardons, emancipa- 
 tions, and tickets of leave. To 39 men who 
 were employed as labourers in this work, 
 three free pardons were given, one ticket of 
 leave, and 35 emancipations ; and two of them 
 only had held tickets of leave before they com- 
 menced their labour. Seven convicts received 
 emancipations for supplying horses and carts 
 for the carriage of provisions and stores as 
 the party was proceeding; six out of this 
 number having previously held tickets of 
 leave. 
 
 "Eight other convicts (four of whom held 
 tickets of leave) received emancipations for 
 assisting with carts, and one horse to each, in 
 the transport of provisions and baggage for 
 the use of Governor Macquarrie and his suite, 
 on their journey from the river Nepean to 
 Bathurst, in the year 1816; a service that did 
 not extend beyond the period of five weeks, 
 and was attended with no risk, and very little 
 exertion. 
 
 "Between the months of Januar\% 1816, and 
 June, 1818, nine convicts, of whom six held 
 tic-iets of leave, obtained emancipations for 
 sending carts and horses to convey provisions 
 and baggage from Paramatta to Bathurst, for 
 the use of Mr. Oxley, the surveyor-general, in 
 his *\vo expeditions into the interior of the 
 couiitry. And in the same period, 23 convict 
 labourers and mechanics obtained emancipa- 
 tions for labour and service performed at 
 Bathurst. 
 
 "The nature of the services performed by 
 these convicts, and the manner in which some 
 of them were recommended, excited much 
 surprise in the colony, as Avell as great suspi- 
 cion of the purity of the channels through 
 which the recommendations passed." — Report, 
 pp. 122, 123. 
 
 If we are to judge from the number of jobs 
 detected by Mr. Bigge, Botany Bay seems very 
 likely to do justice to the mother-country from 
 whence it sprang. Mr. Redfern, surgeon, 
 seems to use the public i-hubarb for his pri- 
 vate practice. Mr. Hutchinson, superintend- 
 ent, makes a very comfortable thing of the 
 assignment of convicts. Major Druit was 
 lound selling their own cabbages to goveru- 
 
 mcnt in a very profitable manner; and many 
 comfortable little practices of this nature are 
 noticed by Mr. Bigge. 
 
 Among other sources of profit, the superin- 
 tendent of convicts was the banker ; two 
 occupations wliich seem to be eminently com- 
 patible with each other, inasmuch as they 
 afford to the superintendent the opportunity 
 of evincing his impartiality and loading with 
 equal labour every convict, without reference 
 to their banking accounts, to the profit they 
 afford, or the trouble they create. It appears, 
 however (very strangely), from the report, 
 that the money of convicts was not always 
 recovered with the same readiness it was 
 received. , 
 
 Mr. Richard Fitzgerald, in September, 1819, 
 was comptroller of provisions in Emu Plains, 
 storekeeper at Windsor, and superintendent 
 of government works at the saine place. He 
 was also a proprietor of land and stock in the 
 neighbourhood, and kept a public house in 
 Windsor, of which an emancipated Jew was 
 the ostensible manager, upon whom Fitzgerald 
 gave orders for goods and spirits in payment 
 for labour on the public works. These two 
 places are fifteen miles distant from each 
 other, and convicts are to be watched and 
 managed at both. It cannot be imagined that 
 the convicts are slow in observing or follow- 
 ing these laudable examples; and their con- 
 duct will add another instance of the vigilance 
 of Macquarrie's government. 
 
 "The stores and materials used in the dif- 
 ferent buildings at Sydney are kept in a ma- 
 gazine in the lumber yard, and are distributed 
 according to the written requisitions of the 
 different overseers that are made during the 
 day, and that are addressed to the storekeeper 
 in "the lumber yard. They are conveyed from 
 thence to the buildings by the convict mecha- 
 nics; and no account of the expenditure or 
 employment of the stores is kept by the over- 
 seers, or rendered to the storekeeper. It was 
 only in the early part of the year 1820 that an 
 account was opened by him of the different 
 materials used in each work or building; and 
 in February, 1821, this account was consider- 
 ably in arrear. The temptation, therefore, that 
 is afforded to the convict mechanics who 
 work in the lumber yard, in secreting tools, 
 stores, and implements, and to those who work 
 at the different buildings, is very great, and 
 the loss to government is considerable. The 
 tools, moreover, have not latterly been mus- 
 tered as they used to be once a month, except 
 where one of the convicts is removed from 
 Sydney to another station." — Report, pp. 36, 
 37. 
 
 If it was right to build fine houses in a new 
 colony, common sense seems to point out a 
 control upon the expenditure, with such a de- 
 scription of workmen. What luust become 
 of that country where the buildings are use- 
 less, the governor not wise, the public the 
 paymaster, the accounts not in existence, and 
 all the artisans thieves 1 
 
 An horrid practice prevailed, of the convicts 
 accepting a sum of money from the captain, 
 in their voyage out, in lieu of their regular 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 185 
 
 ration of provisions. This ought to be re- 
 strained by the severest penalties. 
 
 What is it that can be urged for Governor 
 Macquarrie, after the following picture of the 
 hospital at Paramatta? It not only justifies 
 his recall, but seems to require (if there are 
 means of reaching such neglect) his severe 
 punishment. 
 
 " The women, who had become most pro- 
 fligate and hardened by habit, were associated 
 in" their daily tasks with those who had very 
 lately arrived, to whom the customs and 
 practices of the colony were yet unknown, 
 and who might have escaped the consequences 
 of such pernicious lessons, if a little care, and 
 a small portion of expense, had been spared 
 in providing them with a separate apartment 
 during the hours of labour. As a place of 
 employment, the factory of Paramatta was 
 not only very defective, but very prejudicial. 
 The insufficient accommodation that it afibrded 
 to those females who might be well disposed 
 presented an early incitement, if not an ex- 
 cuse, for their resorting to indiscriminate 
 prostitiition ; and on the evening of their 
 arrival at Paramatta, those who were not 
 deploring their state of abandonment and dis- 
 tress, were traversing the streets in search of 
 the guilty means of future support. The state 
 in which the place itself was kept, and the 
 state of disgusting filth in which I found it, 
 both on an early visit after my arrival, and on 
 one preceding my departure ; the disordered, 
 unruly, and licentious appearance of the 
 women, manifested the little degree of control 
 in which the female convicts were kept, and 
 the little attention that was paid to any thing 
 beyond the mere performance of a certain 
 portion of labour." — Report, p. 70. 
 
 It might naturally be supposed, that any 
 man sent across the globe with a good salary, 
 for the express purpose of governing, and, if 
 possible, of reforming convicts, would have 
 preferred the morals of his convicts to the 
 accommodation of his horses. Let Mr. Bigge, 
 a very discreet and moderate man, be heard 
 upon these points. 
 
 "Having observed, in Governor Macquarrie's 
 answer to Mr. Marsden, that he justified the 
 delay that occurred, and was still to take place, 
 in the construction of a proper place of recep- 
 tion for the female convicts, by the vv'ant of 
 any specific instructions from your lordship 
 to undertake such a building, and which he 
 states that he solicited at an early period of 
 nis government, and considered indispensable, 
 I felt it to be my duty to call to the recollection 
 of Governor Macquarrie, that he had under- 
 taken several buildings of much less urgent 
 necessity than the factory at Paramatta, with- 
 out waiting for any such indispensable author- 
 ity: and I now find that the construction of it 
 was announced by him to your lordship in the 
 year 1817, as then in his contemplation, with- 
 out making any specific allusion to the evils 
 which the want of it had so long occasioned; 
 that the contract for building it was announced 
 to the public on the 21st May, 1818, and that 
 your lordship's approval of it was not signified 
 until the 24th August, 1818, and could not 
 34 
 
 have reached Governor Macquarrie's hands 
 until nearly a year after the work had been 
 undertaken. It appears, therefore, that if want 
 of authority had been the sole cause of the 
 delay in building the factory at Paramatta, 
 that cause would not only have operated in the 
 month of March, 1818, but it would have con- 
 tinued to operate until the want of authority 
 had been formally supplied. Governor Mac- 
 quarrie, however, must be conscious, that after 
 he had stated to Mr. Marsden in the year 1815, 
 and with an appearance of regret, that the 
 want of authority prevented him from under- 
 taking the construction of a building of such 
 undeniable necessity and importance as the 
 factory at Paramatta, he had undertaken sev- 
 eral buildings, which, though useful in them- 
 selves, were of less comparative importance; 
 and had commenced, in the month of August, 
 1817, the laborious and expensive construction 
 nf his own stables at Sydney, to which I have 
 already alluded, without any previous commu- 
 nication to your lordship, and in direct oppo- 
 sition to an instruction that must have then 
 reached him, and that forcibly warned him of 
 the consequences." — Report, p. 71. 
 
 It is the fashion very much among the tories 
 of the House of Commons, and all those who 
 love the efiects of public liberty, without know- 
 ing or caring how it is preserved, to attack 
 every person who complains of abuses, and to 
 accuse him of gross exaggeration. No sooner 
 is the name of any public thief, or of any tor- 
 mentor, or oppressor, mentioned in that hon- 
 ourable house, than out bursts the spirit of 
 jobbing eulogium, and there is not a virtue 
 under heaven which is not ascribed to the de- 
 linquent in question, and vouched for by the 
 most irrefragable testimony. If Mr. Bennet or 
 Sir Francis Burdett had attacked them, and 
 they had now been living, how many honour- 
 able members would have vouched for the 
 honesty of Dudley and Empson, the gentleness 
 of Jeff'ries, or the genius of Blackmore ] What 
 human virtue did not Aris and the governor of 
 Ilchester gaol possess 1 Who was not ready 
 to come forward to vouch for the attentive 
 humanity of Governor Macquarrie 1 What 
 scorn and wit would it have produced from 
 the treasury bench, if Mr. Bennet had stated 
 the superior advantages of the horses over the 
 convicts'! — and all the horrors and immorali- 
 ties, the filth and wretchedness, of the female 
 prison of Paramatta 1 Such a case, proved 
 as this now is beyond the power of contradic- 
 tion, ought to convince the most hardy and 
 profligate scoffers, that there is really a great 
 deal of occasional neglect and oppression in 
 the conduct of public servants; and that in 
 spite of all the official praise, which is ever 
 ready for the perpetrators of crime, there is a 
 great deal of real malversation which should 
 be dragged to the light of day, by the exertions 
 of bold and virtuous men. If we had found, 
 from the report of Mr. Bigge, that the charges 
 of Mr. Bennet were without any, or without 
 adequate foundation, it would have given us 
 great pleasure to have vindicated the governor; 
 but Mr. Bennet has proved his indictment. It 
 is impossible to read the foregoing quotation, 
 
186 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 and not to perceive that the conduct and pro- 1 
 ceedings of Governor Macquarrie imperiously 
 required the exposure tliey have received ; and | 
 that it -n-ould have been much to the credit of i 
 government if he had been removed long ago ; 
 from a situation -n-hich, but for the exertions 
 of Mr. Bennet, we believe he would have held 
 to this day. 
 
 The sick, from Mr. Bigge's report, appear 
 to have fared as badly as the sinful. Good 
 water was scarce, proper persons to wait upon 
 the patients could not be obtained; and so nu- 
 merous were the complaints from this quarter, 
 that the governor makes an order for tlie ex- 
 clusion of all hospital grievances and com- 
 plaints, except on one day in the month — dropsy 
 swelling, however, fever burning, and ague 
 shaking, in the mean lime, without waiting for 
 the arrangements of Governor Macquarrie, or 
 consulting the Mollia tempora fandi. 
 
 In permitting individuals to distil their own 
 grain, the government of Botany Bay appears 
 to us to be quite right. It is impossible, in 
 such a colony, to prevent unlawful distillation 
 to a considerable extent; and it is as well to 
 raise upon spirits (as something must be 
 taxed) that slight duty which renders the con- 
 traband trade not worth following. Distilla- 
 tion, too, always insures a magazine against 
 famine, by which IS'ew South Wales has more 
 than once been severely visited. It opens a 
 market for grain where markets are very dis- 
 tant, and where redundance and famine seem 
 very often to succeed each other. The cheap- 
 ness of spirits, to such working people as know 
 how to use them with moderation, is a great 
 blessing; and we doubt whether that modera- 
 tion, after the first burst of ebriet}-, is not just 
 as likely to be learnt in plenty as in scarcitA'. 
 
 We were a little surprised at the scanty 
 limits allowed to convicts for sleeping on board 
 the transports. Mr. Bigge (of whose sense 
 and humanity we really have not the slightest 
 doubt) states eighteen inches to be quite sutR- 
 cient — twice the length of a small sheet of 
 letter-paper. The printer's devil, who carries 
 our works to the press, informs us, that the 
 allowance to the demons of the type is double 
 foolscap length, or twenty-four inches. The 
 great cit}- upholsterers generally consider six 
 feet as barely sufficient for a person just rising 
 in business, and assisting occasionally at offi- 
 cial banquets. 
 
 Mrs. Fry's* system is well spoken of by Mr. 
 Bigge ; and its useful effect in promotin? order 
 and decency among floating convicts fully ad- 
 mitted. 
 
 * We are sorry it should have been imasined, from 
 some of our late observations on prison discipline, that 
 we meant to disparage the exertions of Mrs. Fry. For 
 prisoners before trial, it is perfect ; but where imprison- 
 ment is intended for punishment, and not for detention, 
 it requires, as we have endeavoured to show, a very 
 different system. The Prison Society (an excellent, ho- 
 nourable, and most useful institution of some of the best 
 men in England) have certainly, in their first numbers, 
 fallen into the common mistake of supposing that the re- 
 formation of the culprit, and not the prevention of the 
 crime, was the main object of imprisonment ; and have, 
 in consequence, taken some false views of the method 
 of treating prisoners— the exposition of which, after the 
 usual manner of flesh and blood, makes them a little 
 angry. But, in objects of so high a nature, what matters 
 vho is right— the only question is, what is right f 
 
 In a voyage to Botan) Ba} by Mr. Read, he 
 states that, winle the convict vessel lay at 
 anchor, about to sail, a boat from shore reached 
 the ship, and from it stepped a clerk of the 
 Bank of England. The convicts felicitated 
 themselves upon the acquisition of so gentle- 
 man-like a companion; but it soon turned out 
 that the visitant had no intention of making so 
 long a voyage. Finding that thej* were not to 
 have the pleasure of his compan)-, the convicts 
 very naturally thought of picking his pockets ; 
 the necessity of which professional measure 
 was prevented by a speedy distribution of their 
 contents. Forth from his hill-case, this votary 
 of Plutus drew his nitid Newlaads ; all the 
 forgers and utterers were mustered on deck; 
 and to each of them was well and truly paid 
 into his hand a five pound note ; less accepta- 
 ble, perhaps, than if privately removed from 
 the person, but still joyfully received. This 
 was well intended on the part of the directors: 
 but the consequences it is scarcely necessary 
 to enumerate; a large stock of mm was im- 
 mediately laid in from the circumamtjieni slop 
 boats; and the materials of constant intoxica- 
 tion secured for the rest of the voyage. 
 
 The following account of pastoral convicts 
 is striking and picturesque : — 
 
 "I obserA-ed that a great many of the con 
 victs in Van Diemen's Land wore jackets ana 
 trowsers of the kangaroo skin, and sometimes 
 caps of the same material, which they obtain 
 from the stock-keepers who are emplov-ed in 
 the interior of the countrj-. The labour of se- 
 veral of them diffisrs, in this respect, from that 
 of the convicts in New South Wales, and is 
 rather pastoral than agricultural. Permission 
 having been given, for the last five years, to 
 the settlers to avail themselves of the ranges 
 of open plains and valleys that he on eitlier 
 side of the road leading from Austin's Ferry 
 to Launceston, a distance of 120 miles, their 
 flocks and herds have been committed to the 
 care of convict shepherds and stock-keepers, 
 who are sent to these cattle ranges, distant 
 sometimes thirty or forty miles from their mas- 
 ters' estates. 
 
 "The boundaries of these tracts are de- 
 scribed in the tickets of occupation by which 
 they are held, and which are made renewable 
 every year, on payment of a fee to the lieute- 
 nant governor's clerk. One or more convicts 
 are stationed on them, to attend to the flocks 
 and cattle, and are supplied with wheat, tea, 
 and sugar, at the monthly visits of the owner. 
 They are allowed the use of a musket and a 
 few cartridges to defend themselves against 
 the natives ; and they have also dogs, with 
 which they hunt the kangaroos, whose flesh 
 they eat, and dispose of their skins to persons 
 passing from Hobart Town to Launceston, in 
 exchange for tea and sugar. They thus obtain 
 a plentiful supply of food, and sometimes suc- 
 ceed in cultivating a ie^ vegetables. Their 
 habitations are made of turf and thatched, as 
 the bark of the dwarf eucahTJtus, or gum-trees 
 of the plains ; and the interior, in Van Die- 
 men's Land, is not of sufficient expanse to form 
 covering or shelter." — Report, pp. 107, 108. 
 
 A London thief, clothed in kangaroo's skins, 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 187 
 
 lodged under the bark of the dwarf eucalyptus, I 
 and keeping sheep, fourteen thousand miles 
 from Piccadilly, with a crook bent into the 
 shape of a picklock, is not an uninteresting I 
 picture ; and an engraving of it might have a 
 very salutary effect — provided no engraving 
 were made of his convict master, to whom the 
 sheep belong. 
 
 Tlie Maroon Indians were hunted by dogs — 
 the fugitive convicts are recovered by the 
 natives. 
 
 "The native blacks that inhabit the neigh- 
 bourhood of Port Hunter and Port Stephens 
 have become very active in retaking the fugi- 
 tive convicts. They accompany the soldiers 
 who are sent in pursuit, and, by the extraordi- 
 nary strength of sight they possess, improved 
 by their daily exercise of it in pursuit of kan- 
 garoos and opossums, they can trace to a 
 great distance, and with wonderful accuracy, 
 the impressions of the human foot. Nor are 
 they afraid of meeting the fugitive convicts in 
 the woods, when sent in their pursuit, without 
 the soldiers ; by their skill in throwing their 
 long and pointed wooden darts, they wound 
 and disable them, strip them of their clothes, 
 and bring them back as prisoners, by un- 
 known roads and paths, to the Coal river. 
 
 "They are rewarded for these enterprizes 
 by presents of maize and blankets ; and, not- 
 withstanding the apprehensions of revenge 
 from the convicts whom they bring back, they 
 continue to live in Newcastle and its neigh- 
 bourhood ; but are observed to prefer the so- 
 ciety of the soldiers to that of the convicts." 
 — Report, p. 117. 
 
 Of the convicts in New South Wales, Mr. 
 Bigge found about eight or nine in an hundred 
 to be persons of respectable character and 
 conduct, though the evidence respecting them 
 is not quite satisfactory. But the most strik- 
 ing and consolatory passage in the whole re- 
 port is the following : — 
 
 " The marriages of the native-born youths 
 with female convicts are very rare ; a circum- 
 stance that is attributable to the general disin- 
 clination to early marriage that is observable 
 amongst them, and partly to the abandoned 
 and dissolute habits of the female convicts; 
 but chiefly to a sense of pride in the native- 
 born youths, approaching to contempt for the 
 vices and depravity of the convicts, even when 
 manifested in the persons of their own pa- 
 rents." — Report, p. 105. 
 
 Every thing is to be expected from these 
 feelings. They convey to the mother-country 
 the first proof that the foundations of a mighty 
 empire are laid. 
 
 We were somewhat surprised to find Go- 
 vernor Macquarrie contending with Mr. Bigge, 
 that it was no part of his, the governor's duty, 
 to select and separate the useless from the 
 useful convicts, or to determine, except in par- 
 ticular cases, to whom they are to be assigned. 
 In other words, he wishes to effect the cus- 
 tomary separation of salary and duty — the 
 grand principle which appears to pervade all 
 human institutions, and to be the most invin- 
 cible of all human abuses. Not only are 
 
 church, king, and state, allured by this prin- 
 ciple of vicarious labour, but the pot-boy has 
 a lower pot-boy, who, for a small portion of 
 the small gains of his principal, arranges, with 
 inexhaustible sedulity, the subdivided portions 
 of drink, and, intensely perspiring, disperses, 
 in bright pewter, the frothy elements of joy. 
 
 There is a very awkward story of a severe 
 flogging inflicted upon three freemen by Go- 
 vernor Macquarrie, without complaint to, or 
 intervention of, any magistrate ; a fact not de- 
 nied by the governor, and for which no ade- 
 quate apology, nor any thing approaching to an 
 adequate apology, is offered. These Asiatic 
 and Satrapical proceedings, however, we have 
 reason to think, are exceedingly disrelished by 
 London juries. The profits of having been 
 unjustly flogged at Botany Bay (Scarlett for 
 the plaintiff ) is good property, and would fetch 
 a very considerable sum at the auction mart. 
 The governor, in many instances, appears to 
 have confounded diversity of opinion upon 
 particular measures, with systematic opposi- 
 tion to his government, and to have treated as 
 disaffected persons those whom, in favourite 
 measures, he could not persuade by his argu- 
 ments, nor influence by his example, and on 
 points where every man has a right to judge 
 for himself, and where authority has no legi- 
 timate right to interfere, much less to dictate. 
 
 To the charges confirmed by the statement of 
 Mr. Bigge, Mr. Bennet adds, from the evidence 
 collected by the gaol committee, that the fees 
 in the governor's court, collected by the au- 
 thority "of the governor, are most exorbitant 
 and oppressive; and that illegal taxes are col- 
 lected under the sole authority of the governor. 
 It has been made, by colonial regulations, a 
 capital offence to steal the wild cattle ; and, in 
 1816, three persons were convicted of stealing 
 a wild bull, the property of our sovereign lord 
 the king. Now our sovereign lord the king 
 (whatever be his other merits or demerits) is 
 certainly a very good-natured man, and would 
 be the first to lament that an unhappy convict 
 was sentenced to death for killing one of his 
 wild bulls on the other side of the world. The 
 cases of Mr. Moore and of William Stewart, 
 as quoted by Mr. Bennet, are very strong. If 
 they are answerable, they should be answered. 
 The concluding letter to'Mr. Stewart is, to us, 
 the most decisive proof of the unfitness of 
 Colonel Macquarrie for the situation in which 
 he was placed. The ministry at home, after 
 the authenticity of the letter was proved, should 
 have seized upon the first decent pretext of 
 recalling the governor, of thanking him, in the 
 name of his sovereign, for his valuable ser- 
 vices (not omitting his care of the wild bulls), 
 and of dismissing him to lialf pay — and in- 
 significance. 
 
 As to the trial by jur3% we cannot agree with 
 Mr. Bennet, that it would be right to introduce 
 it at present, for reasons we have given in a 
 previous article, and which we see no reason 
 for altering. The time of course will come 
 when it would be in the highest degree unjust 
 and absurd to refuse to that settlement the be- 
 nefit of popular institutions. But they are too 
 young, too few, and too deficient for such civi- 
 lized machinery at present. " I cannot come to 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 serve upon the jnry — the waters of the Hawks- 
 bury are out, and I have a mile to swim— the kan- 
 garoos will break into my corn — the convicts 
 have robbed me — my little boy has been bitten 
 by an ornithorynchus paradoxus — I have sent 
 a man fifty miles with a sack of flour to buy 
 a pair of breeches for the assizes, and he is 
 not returned." These are the excuses which, 
 in new colonies, always prevent trial by jury ; 
 and make it desirable for the first half century 
 of their existence, that they should live under 
 the simplicity and convenience of despotism — 
 such modified despotism (we mean) as a Bri- 
 tish House of Commons (always containins; 
 men as bold and honest as the member for 
 Shrewsbury) will permit, in the governors of 
 their distant colonies. 
 
 Such are the opinions formed of the conduct 
 of Governor Macquarrie by Mr. Bigge. Not 
 the slightest insinuation is made against the 
 integrity of his character. Though almost 
 every body else has a job, we do not perceive 
 that any is imputed to this gentleman ; but he 
 is negligent, expensive, arbitrary, ignorant, 
 and clearly deficient in abilities for the task 
 committed to his charge. It is our decided 
 opinion, therefore, that Mr. Bennet has ren- 
 dered a valuable service to the public, in at- 
 tacking and exposing his conduct. As a gen- 
 tleman and an honest man, there is not the 
 smallest charge against the governor; but a 
 gentleman, and a very honest man, may very 
 easily ruin a very fine colony. The colony 
 itself, disencumbered of Colonel Lachlan Mac- 
 quarrie, will probably become a very fine em- 
 pire ; but we can scarcely believe it is of any 
 present utility as a place of punishment. The 
 liistory of emancipated convicts, who have 
 made a great deal of money by their industry 
 and their speculations, necessarily reaches 
 this countrj^ and prevents men who are goad- 
 ed by want, and hovering between vice and 
 virtue, from looking upon it as a place of suf- 
 fering — perhaps leads them to consider it as 
 the land of hope and refuge, to them unattain- 
 able, except by the commission of crime. And 
 so they lift up their heads at the bar, hoping 
 to be transported, — 
 
 "Stahant orantes primi transmittere cursum 
 Tendebanlque inaiius, ripse ullerioris amore." 
 
 It is not possible, in the present state of the 
 law, that these enticing histories of convict 
 prosperity should be prevented, by one uniform 
 system of severity exercised in New South 
 Wales, upon all transported persons. Such 
 dilTerent degrees of guilt are included under 
 the term of convict, that it AvouJd violate every 
 
 feeling of humanity, and eveiy principle of 
 justice, to deal out one measure of punish- 
 ment to all. We strongly suspect that this is 
 the root of the evil. We want new gradations 
 of guilt to be established by law — new names 
 for those gradations — and a difierent measure 
 of good and evil treatment attached to those 
 denominations. In this manner, the mere 
 convict, the rogue and convict, and the incorrigi- 
 ble convict, would expect, upon their landing, 
 to be treated with very difierent degrees of se- 
 verity. The first might be merely detained in 
 New South Wales without labour or coercion ; 
 the second compelled, at all events, to work 
 out two-thirds of his time, without the possi- 
 bility of remission; and the third be destined 
 at once for the Coal River.* If these conse- 
 quences steadily followed these gradations of 
 conviction, they would soon be understood by 
 the felonious world at home. At present, the 
 prosperity of the best convicts is considered 
 to be attainable by all ; and transportation to 
 another hemisphere is looked upon as the re- 
 novation of fallen fortunes, and the passport 
 to wealth and power. 
 
 Another circumstance, which destroys all 
 idea of punishment in transportation to New 
 South Wales, is the enormous expense which 
 that settlement would occasion, if it really 
 was made a place of punishment. A little 
 wicked tailor arrives,, of no use to the ar- 
 chitectural projects of the governor. He is 
 turned over to a settler, who leases this sarto- 
 rial Borgia his liberty for five shillings per 
 week, and allows him to steal and snip, what, 
 when, and where he can. The excuse for all 
 this mockery of law and justice is, that the 
 expense of his maintenance is saved to the 
 government at home. But the expense is not 
 saved to the country at large. The nefarious 
 needleman writes home, that he is as com- 
 fortable as a finger in a thimble ! that though 
 a fraction only of humanity, he has several 
 wives, and is filled every day with rum and 
 kangaroo. This, of course, is not lost upon 
 the shop-board ; and, for the saving of fifteen 
 pence per day, the foundation of many crimi- 
 nal tailors is laid. What is true of tailors, is 
 true of tinkers and all other trades. The 
 chances of escape from labour, and of manu- 
 mission in the Bay, we may depend upon it, 
 are accurately reported, and perfectly under- 
 stood in the flash-houses of St. Giles ; and, 
 while Earl Bathurst is full of jokes and joy, 
 public morals are thus sapped to their foun- 
 dation. 
 
 'This practice is now resorted to. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 189 
 
 GAME LAWS.' 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 1823. 
 
 About the time of the publication of this | Poachers who go out at night cannot, of 
 little pamphlet of Mr. Herbert, a committee of l course, like regular tradesmen, proportion the 
 the House of Commons published a Report on supply to the demand, but having once made a 
 the Game Laws, containing a great deal of | contract, they kill all they can ; and hence it 
 very curious information respecting the sale of [ happens that the game market is sometimes 
 game, an epitome of which we shall now lay i very much overstocked, and great quantities 
 before our readers. The country higglers who of game either thrown away, or disposed of 
 collect poultry, gather up the ganie from the j by Irish hawkers to the common people at very 
 depots of the poachers, and transmit it in the | inferior prices, 
 same manr 
 
 ages, to the L,onaon poulterers, uy wuuiu u is | (q dispose ot poultry 
 
 distributed to the public; and this traffic is car- | you are obliged to dispose of game 1 It de- 
 ried on (as far as game is concerned) even | pends upon the weather; often, when there is 
 from the distance of Scotland. The same bu- a considerable quantity on hand, and owing to 
 siness is carried on by the porters of stage the weather, it will not keep till the following 
 coaches ; and a great deal of game is sold clan- [ (Jay, I am obliged to take any price that is 
 destinely by lords of manors, or by game- j o(feped; but wecan always turn either poultry- 
 keepers, without the knowledge of lords of j qj- game into some price or other; and if it 
 
 iner as poultry, and in the same pack- i « Does it ever happen to you to be obliged 
 le London poulterers, by whom it is \ tQ dispose of poultry at the same low prices 
 
 manors ; and principally, as the evidence states. 
 
 from Norfolk and Suffolk, the great schools of Jmndreds of heads of game would be spoiled 
 
 Steel traps and spring guns. The supply of 
 game, too, is proved to be quite as regular as 
 the supply of poultry ; the number of hares 
 and partridges supplied rather exceeds that of 
 pheasants; but any description of game may 
 be had to any amount. Here is a part of the 
 evidence. 
 
 " Can you at any time procure any quantity 
 of game 1 I have no doubt of it. — If you were 
 to receive almost an unlimited order, could you 
 execute it] Yes, 1 would supply the whole 
 city of London, any fixed day once a week, all 
 the year through, so that every individual in- 
 habitant should have game for his table. — Do 
 you think you could procure a thousand phea- 
 sants 1 Yes ; I would be bound to produce ten 
 thousand a week. — You would be bound to pro- 
 vide every family in London with a dish of 
 game 1 Yes ; a partridge, or a pheasant, or a 
 hare, or a grouse, or something or other. — How 
 would you set about doing it 1 I should, of 
 course, request the persons with whom I am 
 in the habit of dealing, to use their influence to 
 bring me what they could by a certain day ; I 
 should speak to the dealers and the mail-guards, 
 and coachmen, to produce a quantity ; and I 
 .should send to my own connections in one or 
 two manors where I have the privilege of sel- 
 ling for those gentlemen : and should send to 
 Scotland to say, that every week the largest 
 quantity they could produce was to be sent. — 
 teing but a petty salesman, I sell a very small 
 quantity; but I have had about 4000 head direct 
 from one man. — Can you state the quantity of 
 game which has been sent to you during the 
 yearl No ; I may say, perhaps, 10,000 head ; 
 mine is a limited trade; I speak comparatively 
 to that of others; I only supply private fa- 
 milies." — Report, p. 20. 
 
 was not for the Irish hawkers, hundreds and 
 
 * Ji Letter to theCltairman of the Committee of the House 
 of Comvions, on the Game Laics. By tlie Hon. and Rev. 
 William Herbert. Ridgway, 1923. 
 
 and thrown away. It is out of the power of ■ 
 any person to conceive for one moment the 
 quantity of game that is hawked in the streets. 
 I have had opportunity more than other per- 
 sons of knowing this; for I have sold, I may 
 say, more game than any other person in the 
 city; and we serve hawkers indiscriminately, 
 persons who come and purchase probably six 
 fowls or turkeys and geese, and they will buy 
 heads of game with them." — Report, p. 22. 
 
 Live birds are sent up as well as dead; eggs 
 as well as birds. The price of pheasants' 
 eggs last year was 8s. per dozen ; of partridges' 
 eggs, 2?. The price of hares was from 3s. to 
 5s. Gil. ; of partridges, from l.«. Gd. to 2s. Gd. ; of 
 pheasants, from 5s. to 5s. 6(/. each, and some- 
 times as low as Is. 6d. 
 
 " What have you given for game this year? 
 It is very low indeed; I am sick of it; I do not 
 think I shall ever deal again. We have got 
 game this season as low as half-a-crown a 
 brace (birds), and pheasants as low as 7s. a 
 brace. It is so plentiful there has been no end 
 to spoiling it this season. It is so plentiful, it 
 is of no use. In war time it was worth hav- 
 ing; then they fetched 7s. and 8s. a brace."— 
 Report, p. 33. 
 
 All the poulterers, too, even the most re- 
 spectable, state that it is absolutely necessary 
 they should carry on this illegal traffic in the 
 present state of the game laws; because their 
 regular customers for poultry would infallibly 
 leave any poulterer's shop from whence they 
 could not be supplied with game. 
 
 "I have no doubt that it is the general wish 
 at present of the trade not to deal in the article ; 
 but they are all, of course, compelled from 
 their connections. If they cannot get game 
 from one person, they can from another. 
 
 " Do you believe that poulterers are not to 
 Je found who would take out licenses, and 
 
190 
 
 WOEKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 would deal with thage very persons, for the 
 purposes of obtaining a greater profit than they 
 would have dealing as you would dol I think 
 the. poulterers in general are a respectable set 
 of men, and would not countenance such a 
 thing; they feel now that they are driven into 
 a corner; that there maybe men who would 
 countenance irregular proceedings, I have no 
 doubt. — Would it be their interest to do so, 
 considering the penalty] No, I think not. The 
 poulterers are perfectly well aware that they 
 are committing a breach of the law at present. 
 — Do you suppose that those persons, respecta- 
 ble as they are, who are now committing a 
 breach of the law, would not equally commit 
 that breach if the law were altered 1 No, cer- 
 tainly not; at present it is so connected with 
 their business that they cannot help it. — You 
 said just now, that they were driven into a 
 corner; what did you mean by that 1 We are 
 obliged to aid and abet those men who commit 
 those depredations, because of the constant 
 demand for game, from different customers 
 whom we supply with poultry. — Could you 
 carry on your business as a poulterer, if you 
 refused to supply game? By no means; be- 
 cause some of the first people in the land re- 
 quire it of me." — Report, p. 15. 
 
 When that worthy errorist, Mr. Bankes, 
 brought in his bill of additional severities 
 against poachers, there was no man of sense 
 and reflection who did not anticipate the fol- 
 lowing consequences of the measure. 
 
 " Do you find that less game has been sold 
 in consequence of the bill rendering it penal 
 to sell game 1 Upon my word, it did not make 
 the slightest difference in the world. — Not im- 
 mediately after it was made] No; I do not 
 think it made the slightest difference. — It did 
 not make the slightest sensation ] No, I never 
 sold a bird less. — Was not there a resolution 
 of the poulterers not to sell game ] I was sec- 
 retary to that committee. — What was the con- 
 sequence of that resolution ] A great deal of 
 ill blood in the trade. One gentleman who just 
 left the room did not come into my ideas. I 
 never had a head of game in my house ; all 
 my neighbours sold it; and as we had people 
 on the watch, who were ready to watch it into 
 the houses, it came to this, we were prepared 
 to bring our actions against certain individuals, 
 after sitting, perhaps from three to fourmonths, 
 every week, which we did at the Crown and 
 Anchor in the Strand, but we did not proceed 
 with our actions, to prevent ill blood in the 
 trade. We regularly met, and, as we con- 
 ceived at the time, formed a committee of the 
 most respectable of the trade. I was secretary 
 of that committee. The game was sold in the 
 city, in the vicinity of the Royal Exchange, 
 cheaper than ever was known, because the 
 people at our end of the town were afraid. I, 
 as a point of honour, never had it in my house. 
 I never had a head of game in my house that 
 season. — What was the consequence] — I lost 
 my trade, and gave oflTence to gentlemen ; a 
 nobleman's steward, or butler, or cook, treated 
 it as contumely ; 'Good God, what is the use 
 of your running your head against the wall ]' — 
 You were obliged to begin the trade again ] 
 Yes, and sold more than ever." — Repor', p. 18. 
 
 These consequences are confirmed by the 
 evidence of every person before the committee. 
 
 All the evidence is very strong as to the fact, 
 that dealing in game is not discreditable; that 
 there are a great number of respectable per- 
 sons, and, among the rest, the first poulterers in 
 London, who buy game knowing it to have 
 been illegally procured, but who would never 
 dream of purchasing any other article procured 
 by dishonesty. 
 
 " Are there not, to your knowledge, a great 
 many people in this town who deal in game, 
 by buying or selling it, that would not on any 
 account buy or sell stolen property ] Cer- 
 tainly ; there are many capital tradesmen, poul- 
 terers, who deal in game, that would have 
 nothing to do with stolen property ; and yet I 
 do not think there is a poulterer's shop in Lon- 
 don where they could not get game, if they 
 wanted it. — Do you think any discredit attaches 
 to any man in this town for buying or selling 
 game ] I think none at all : and I do not think 
 that the men to whom I have just referred 
 would have any thing to do with stolen goods. 
 Would it not, in the opinion of the inhabitants 
 of London, be considered a very different thing 
 dealing in stolen game, or stolen poultry ] 
 Certainly. — The one would be considered dis- 
 graceful, and the other not ] Certainly ; they 
 think nothing of dealing in game; and the 
 farmers in the country will not give informa- 
 tion ; they will have a hare or two of the very 
 men who work for them, and they are afraid to 
 give us information." — Report, p. 3L 
 
 The evidence of Daniel Bishop, one of the 
 Bow Street officers, who has been a good deal 
 employed in the apprehension of poachers, is 
 curious and important, as it shows the enor- 
 mous extent of the evil, and the ferocious spirit 
 which the game laws engender in the common 
 people. " The poachers," he says, " came 16 
 miles. The whole of the village from which 
 they were taken were poachers ; the constable 
 of the village, and the shoemaker, and other 
 inhabitants of the village. I fetched one man 
 22 miles. There was the son of a respectable 
 gardener; one of these was a sawyer, and an- 
 other a baker, who kept a good shop there. If 
 the village had been alarmed, we should have' 
 had some mischief; but we were all prepared 
 with fire-arm.s. If poachers have a spite with 
 the gamekeeper, that would induce them to go 
 out in numbers to resist him. This party I 
 speak of had something in their hats to distin- 
 guish them. They take a delight in setting to 
 with the gamekeepers ; and talk it over after- 
 wards how they served so and so. They 
 fought with the butt-ends of their guns at Lord 
 Howe's; they beat the gamekeepers shocking- 
 ly." — "Does it occur to you (Bishop is asked) 
 to have had more applications, and to have de- 
 tected more persons this season than in any 
 former one ] Yes ; I think within four months 
 there have been twenty-one transported that I 
 have been at the taking of, and through one 
 man turning evidence in each case, and without 
 that they could not have been identified ; the 
 gamekeepers could not, or would not, identify 
 them. The poachers go to the public house 
 and spend their money; if they have a good 
 night's work, they will go and get drunk with 
 
WORKS 01 TRt: eeV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 191 
 
 the money. The gangs are connected together 
 at different public houses, just like a club at a 
 public house ; they are all sworn together. If 
 the keeper took one of them, they would go and 
 attack him for so doing." 
 
 Mr. Stafford, chief clerk of Bow Street, says, 
 "All the offences against the game laws which 
 are of an atrocious description I think are gen- 
 erally reported to the public orRce in Bow 
 Street, more especially in cases where the 
 keepers have either been killed, or dangerously. 
 woundeJ,and the assistance of an officer from 
 Bow Street is required. The applications have 
 been much more numerous of late years* than 
 they were formerly. Some of them have been 
 cases of murder ; but I do not think many have 
 amounted to murder. There are many in- 
 stances in which keepers have been very ill 
 treated — they have been wounded, skulls have 
 been fractured, and bones broken ; and they 
 have been shot at. A man takes an hare, or a 
 pheasant, with a very different feeling from 
 that with which he would take a pigeon or a 
 fowl out of a farm-yard. The number of per- 
 sons that assemble together is more for the 
 purpose of protecting themselves against those 
 that may apprehend them, than from any idea 
 that they are actually committing depredation 
 upon the property of another person ; they do 
 not consider it as property. I think there is a 
 sense of morality and a distinction of crime ex- 
 isting in the men's minds, although they are 
 mistaken about it. Men feel that if they go in 
 a great body together, to break into a house, or 
 to rob a person, or to steal his poultry, or his 
 sheep, they are committing a crime against that 
 man's property; but I think with respect to the 
 game, they do not feel that they are doing any 
 thing which is wrong ; but think they have 
 committed no crime when they have done the 
 thing, and their only anxiety is to escape detec- 
 tion." In addition, Mr. Stafford states that he 
 remembers not one single conviction under Mr. 
 Bankcs's Jet against buying game ; and not one 
 conviction for buying or selling game Avithin 
 the last year has been made at Bow Street. 
 
 The inferences from these facts are exactly 
 as we predicted, and as every man of common 
 sense must have predicted — that to prevent the 
 sale of game is absolutely impossible. If game 
 is plentiful, and cannot be obtained at any law- 
 ful market, an illicit trade will be established, 
 which it is utterly impossible to prevent by any 
 increased severity of the laws. There never was 
 a more striking illustration of the necessity of 
 attending to public opinion in all penal enact- 
 ments. Mr. Bankes (a perfect representative 
 of all the ordinary notions about forcing man- 
 kind by pains and penalties) took the floor. To 
 buy a partridge (though still considered as in- 
 ferior to murder) was visited with the very 
 heaviest infliction of the law ; and yet, though 
 game is sold as openly in London as apples 
 and oranges, though three years have elapsed 
 
 * It is only of late years that men have been trans- 
 ported for shooting at night. There are instances of 
 men who have been transported at the Sessions for 
 night poaching, who made no resistance at all when 
 taken ; but then their characters as old poachers 
 weighed against them— characters estimated probably 
 hy the very lords of manors who had lost their game. 
 This disgraceful law is the occasion of all the murders 
 committed fur game. 
 
 f ''nee this legislative mistake, the oflicers of thi 
 police can hardly recollect a single instance 
 where ^he information has been laid, or the 
 penalty lev-ed • and why 1 because every man's 
 feelings and "very man's understanding tell 
 him, that it is a moFt absurd and ridiculous 
 tyranny to prevent one man, who has more 
 game than he wants, from exchanging it with 
 another man, who has more money than he 
 wants — because magistrates will not (if they 
 can avoid it) inflict such absurd penalties — be- 
 cause even common informers know enough of 
 the honest indignation of mankind, and are too 
 well aware of the coldness of pump and pond to 
 act under the bill of the Lycurgus of Corfe 
 Castle. 
 
 The plan now proposed is, to undersell the 
 poacher, which may be successful or unsuc- 
 cessful ; but the threat is, if you attempt this 
 plan there will be no game — and if there, is no 
 gam^ there will be no country gentlemen. We 
 deny every part of this enthymeme — the last 
 proposition as well as the first. We really 
 cannot believe that all our rural mansions would 
 be deserted, although no game was to be found 
 in their neighbourhood. Some come into the 
 country for health, some for quiet, for agricul- 
 ture, for economy, from attachment to family 
 estates, from love of retirement, from the neces- 
 sity of keeping up provincial interests, and 
 from a vast variety of causes. Partridges and 
 pheasants, though they form nine-tenths of 
 human motives, still leave a sinall residue, 
 which may be classed under some other head. 
 Neither is a great proportion of those whom 
 the love of shooting brings into the country of 
 the smallest value or importance to the country. 
 A colonel of the Guards, the second son just 
 entered at Oxford, three diners out from Pic- 
 cadilly — Major Rock, Lord John, Lord Charles, 
 the colonel of the regiment quartered at the 
 neighbouring town, two Irish peers, and a Ger- 
 man baron; — if all this honourable company 
 proceed with fustian jackets, dog-whistles, and 
 chemical inventions, to a solemn destruction of 
 pheasants, how is the country benefited by 
 their presence 1 or how would earth, air, or 
 sea, be injured by their annihilation? There 
 are certainly many valuable men brought into 
 the country by a love of shooting, who, coming 
 there for that purpose, are useful for many bet- 
 ter purposes ; but a vast multitude of shooters 
 are of no more service to the country than the 
 ramrod which condenses the charge, or the 
 barrel which contains it. We do not deny that 
 the annihilation of the game laws would thin 
 the aristocratical population of the country ; but 
 it would not thin that population so much as is 
 contended^; and the loss of many of the persons 
 so banished would be a good rather than a 
 misfortune. At all events, we cannot at all 
 comprehend the policy of alluring the better 
 classes of society into the country, by the 
 temptation of petty tyranny and injustice, or of 
 monopoly in sports. How absurd it would be 
 to offer to the higher orders the exclusive use 
 of peaches, nectarines, and apricots, as the pre- 
 mium of rustication — to put vast quantities of 
 men into prison as apricot eaters, apricot bu}- 
 ers, and apricot sellers — to appoint a regular 
 day for beginning to eat, and another for lea v< 
 
192 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 ingoff— to have a lord of the manor for green 
 gages — and to rage with a penalty of five 
 pounds against the unqualified eater of the 
 gage ! And yet the privilege of shooting a set 
 of wild poultry is stated to be the bonus for the 
 residence of country gentlemen. As far as 
 this immense advantage can be obtained with- 
 out the sacrifice of justice and reason, well and 
 good — but we would not oppress any order of 
 Society, or violate right and wrong, to obtain any 
 population of squires, however dense. If is the 
 grossest of all absurdities to say the present 
 state of the law is absurd and unjust; but it 
 must not be altered, because the alteration 
 would drive gentlemen out of the country ! If 
 gentlemen cannot breathe fresh air without in- 
 justice, let them putrefy in Cranborne Alley. 
 Make just laws, and let squires live and die 
 where they please. 
 
 The evidence collected in the House of Com- 
 mons respecting the game laws is so striking 
 and so decisive against the gentlemen of the 
 trigger, that their only resource is to represent 
 it as not worthy of belief. But why not worthv 
 of belief] It is not stated what part of it is 
 incredible. Is it the plenty of game in London 
 for sale? the unfrequency of convictions 1 the 
 occasional but frequent excess of supply above 
 demand in an article supplied by stealing? or 
 its destruction when the sale is not without 
 risk, and the price extremely low ? or the readi- 
 ness of grandees to turn the excess of their 
 game into fish or poultry ? All these circum- 
 stances appear to us so natural and so likely, 
 that we should, without any evidence, have but 
 little doubt of their existence. There are a 
 few absurdities in the evidence of one of the 
 poulterers ; but, with this exception, we see no 
 reason whatever for impugning the credibility 
 and exactness of the mass of testimony pre- 
 pared by the committee. 
 
 It is utterly impossible to teach the common 
 people to respect property in animals bred the 
 possessor knows not where — which he cannot 
 recognize by any mirk, which may leave him 
 the next moment, which are kept, not for his 
 profit, but for his amusement. Opinion never 
 will be in favour cf such property; if the 
 animus fnrandi exists, the propensitj' will be 
 gratified by poaching. It is in vain to increase 
 the severity of the protecting laws. They make 
 the case weaker, instead of stronger ; and are 
 more resisted and worse executed, exactly in 
 proportion as they are contrary to public opi- 
 nion : — the case of the game laws is a memo- 
 rable lesson upon the philosophy of legisla- 
 tion. If a certain degree of punishment does 
 not cure the offence, it is supposed, by the 
 Bankes School, that there is nothing to be 
 done but to multiply this punishment by two, 
 and then again and as^ain, till the object is ac- 
 complished. The effici-mt maximum of pun- 
 ishment, however, is not what the legislature 
 chooses to enact, bid what the great mass of man- 
 kind think the maximum ouaht to be. The moment 
 the punishment passes this Rubicon, it becomes 
 less and less, instead of greater and greater. 
 Juries and magistrates will not commit — in- 
 formers* are afraid of public indignation — 
 
 * There is a rem:irknlile instance of this in the new 
 Turnpike Act. The penally for taking more than the 
 
 poachers will not submit to be sent to Botany 
 Bay without a battle — blood is shed for phea- 
 sants — the public attention is called to this pre- 
 posterous state of the law — and even ministers 
 — (whom nothing pesters so much as the in- 
 terests of humanity) are at least compelled to 
 come forward and do what is right. Apply 
 this to the game laws. It was before penal to 
 sell game : within these few years it has been 
 made penal to buy it. From the scandalous 
 cruelty of the law, night poachers are trans- 
 ported for seven years. And yet, never was so 
 much game sold, or such a spirit of ferocious 
 resistance excited to the laws. One-fourth of 
 all the commitments in Great Britain are for 
 offences against the game laws. There is a 
 general feeling that some alteration must take 
 place — -a feeling not only among Reviewers, 
 who never see nor eat game, but among the 
 double-barreled, shot-belted members of the 
 House of Commons, who are either alarmed 
 or disgusted by the vice and misery which 
 their cruel laws and childish passion for 
 amusement are spreading among the lower 
 orders of mankind. 
 
 It is said, "In spite of all the game sold, 
 there is game enough left ; let the laws there- 
 fore remain as they are ;" and so it was said 
 formerly, " There is sugar enough ; let the 
 slave trade remain as it is." But at what ex- 
 pense of human happiness is this quantity of 
 game or of sugar, and this state of poacher 
 law and slave law, to remain ! The first object 
 of a good government is, not that rich men 
 should have their pleasures in perfection, but 
 that all orders of men should be good and 
 happy; and if crowded covies and chuckling 
 cock-pheasants are only to be procured by 
 encouraging the common people in vice, and 
 leading them into cruel and disproportionate 
 punishment, it is the duty of the government 
 to restrain the cruelties which the country 
 members, in reward for their assiduous loyalty, 
 have been allowed to introduce into the game 
 laws. 
 
 The plan of the new bill (long since antici- 
 pated, in all its provisions, by the acute author 
 of the pamphlet before us,) is, that the public 
 at large should be supplied by persons licensed 
 by magistrates, and that all qualified persons 
 should be permitted to sell their game to these 
 licensed distributors ; and there seems a fair 
 chance that such a plan would succeed. The 
 questions are. Would sufficient game come into 
 the hands of the licensed salesman? Would 
 the licensed salesinan confine himself to the 
 purchase of game froiu qualified persons ? — 
 Would buyers of game purchase elsewhere 
 than from the licensed salesman ? Would the 
 poacher be under-sold by the honest dealer? — 
 Would game remain in the same plenty as be- 
 fore ? It is understood that the game laws are 
 to remain as they are; with this only differ- 
 
 lesral number of outside passengers is ten pounds per 
 head, if the cnachnian is in part or wholly the owner. 
 This will rarely be levied ; because it is too much. A 
 penalty of 100/. would produce perfect impunity. The 
 ma.ximum of practical severity would have been about 
 five pounds. Any magistrate would cheerfully levy 
 thi.s sum ; while douhlin? it will produce reluctance in 
 the judge, resistance in the oulprit, and unwillingness 
 in the informer. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 193 
 
 ence, that the qualified man can sell to the 
 licensed man, and the licentiate to the public. 
 
 It seems probable to us, that vast quantities 
 of game would, after a little time, find their way 
 into the hands of licensed poulterers. Great 
 people are very often half eaten up by their es- 
 lablisments. The quantity of game killed in a 
 large shooting party is very great; to eat it is 
 impossible, and to dispose of it in presents 
 very troublesome. The preservation of game 
 is verv expensive ; and, when it could be bought, 
 it would be no more a compliment to send it as 
 a present than it would be to send geese and 
 fowls. If game were sold, very large shooting 
 establishments might be made to pay their own 
 expenses. The shame is made by the law ; 
 there is a disgrace in being detected and fined. 
 If that barrier were removed, superfluous par- 
 tridges would go to the poulterers as readily 
 as superfluous venison does to the venison 
 butcher — or as a gentleman sells the corn and 
 mutton off" his farm which he cannot consume. 
 For these reasons, we do not doubt that the 
 shops of licensed poulterers would be full of 
 game in the season ; and this part of the argu- 
 ment, we thinic, the arch-enemy. Sir John Shel- 
 ley, himself would concede to us. 
 
 The next question is, From whence they 
 would procure it 1 A. license for selling game, 
 granted by country magistrates, would, from 
 their jealousy upon these subjects, be granted 
 only to persons of some respectability and pro- 
 perty. The purchase of game from unqualified 
 persons would, of course, be guarded against 
 by very heavy penalties, both personal and pe- 
 cuniary ; and these penalties would be inflicted, 
 because opinion would go with them. " Here 
 is a respectable tradesman," it would be said, 
 « who might have bought as much game as he 
 pleased in a lawful manner, but who, in order 
 to increase his profits by buying it a little 
 cheaper, has encouraged a poacher to steal it." 
 Public opinion, therefore, would certainly be 
 in favour of a very strong punishment ; and a 
 licensed vender ol" game, who exposed himself 
 to these risks, would expose himself to the loss 
 of liberty, property, character, and license.— 
 The persons interested to put a stop to such a 
 practice, would not be the paid agents of gov- 
 ernment, as in cases of smuggling ; but all the 
 gentlemen of the country, the customers of the 
 tradesman for fish, poultry, or whatever else he 
 dealt in, would have an interest in putting down 
 the practice. In all probability, the practice 
 would become disreputable, like the purchase 
 of stolen poultry ; and this would be a stronger 
 barrier than the strongest laws. There would, 
 of course, be some exceptions to this statement. 
 A few shabby people would, for the chance of 
 gaining sixpence, incur the risk of ruin and dis- 
 grace ; but it is probable that the general prac- 
 tice would be otherwise. 
 
 For the same reasons, the consumers of 
 game would rather give a little more for it to a 
 licensed poulterer, than expose themselves to 
 severe penalties by purchasing from poachers. 
 The great mass of London consumers are sup- 
 plied now, not from shabby people, in whom 
 they can have no confidence — not from hawk- 
 ers and porters, but from respectable trades- 
 men, in whose probitv they have the most per- 
 ' 25 
 
 feet confidence. Men will brave the law for 
 pheasants, but not for sixpence or a shilling; 
 and the law itself is much more diflicult to be 
 braved, when it allows pheasants to be bought 
 at some price, than when it endeavours to ren- 
 der them utterly inaccessible to wealth. All 
 the licensed salesmen, too, would have a direct 
 interest in stopping the contraband trade of 
 game. They would lose no character in doing 
 so ; their informations would be reasonable and 
 respectable. 
 
 If all this is true, the poacher would have 
 to compete with a great mass of game fairly 
 and honestly poured into the market. He 
 would be selling with a rope about his neck, to 
 a person who bought with a rope about his 
 neck; his description of customers would be 
 much the same as the customers for stolen 
 poultry, and his profits would be very materi- 
 ally abridged. At present, the poacher is in 
 the same situation as the smuggler would be, 
 if rum and brandy could not be purchased of 
 any fair trader. The great check to the profits 
 of the smuggler are, that if you want his com- 
 modities, and will pay an higher price, you 
 may have them elsewhere without risk or dis- 
 grace. But forbid the purchase of these luxu- 
 ries at any price. Shut up the shop of the 
 brandy merchant, and you render the trade of 
 the smuggler of incalculable value. The ob- 
 ject of the intended bill is, to raise up precisely 
 the same competition to the trade of the poach- 
 er, by giving the public an opportunity of buy- 
 ing lawfully and honestly the tempting articles 
 in which he now deals exclusively. Such an 
 improveinent would not, perhaps, altogether 
 annihilate his trade; but it would, in all proba- 
 bility, act as a very material check upon it. 
 
 The predominant argument against all this 
 is, that the existing prohibition against buying 
 game, though partially violated, does deter many 
 persons from coming into the market; that if 
 this prohibition were removed, the demand for 
 game would be increased, the legal supplv 
 would be insufficient, and the residue would, 
 and must be, supplied by the poacher, whose 
 trade would, for these reasons, be as lucrative 
 and flourishing as before. But it is only a few 
 years since the purchase of game has been 
 made illegal : and the market does not appear 
 to have been at all narrowed by the prohibition ; 
 not one head of game the less has been sold by 
 the poulterers; and scarcely one single con- 
 viction has taken place under that law. How. 
 then, would the removal of the prohibition, and 
 the alteration of the law, extend the market 
 and increase the demand, when the enactment 
 of the prohibition has had no eflect in narrow- 
 ing it 1 But if the demand increases, why not 
 the legal supply also? Game is increased 
 upon an estate "by feeding them in winter, by 
 making some abatement to the tenants for 
 guarding against depradations, by a large ap- 
 paratus of gamekeepers and spies — In short by 
 expense. But if this pleasure of shooting, so 
 natural to country gentlemen, is made to pay 
 its own expenses, by sending superfluous game 
 to market, more men, it is reasonable to sup- 
 pose, will thus preserve and augment their 
 game. The love of pleasure and amusement 
 will produce in the owners of game that desire 
 R 
 
194 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 to multiply game, which the love of gain does 
 in the farmer to multiply poultry. Many gen- 
 tlemen of small fortune will remember, that 
 they cannot enjoy to any extent this pleasure 
 without this resource; that the legal sale of 
 poultry will discountenance poaching; and 
 Ihey will open an account with the poulterer, 
 not to get richer, but to enjoy a great pleasure 
 without an expense, in which, upon other terms, 
 they could not honourably and conscientiously 
 indulge. If country gentlemen of moderate 
 fortune will do this (and we think after a little 
 time they will do it), game may be multiplied 
 and legally supplied to any extent. Another 
 keeper, and another bean-stack, will produce 
 their proportional supply of pheasants. The 
 only reason why the great lord has more game 
 
 per acre than the little squire is, that he spends 
 more money per acre to preserve it. 
 
 For these reasons, we think the experiment 
 of legalizing the sale of game ought to be tried. 
 The game laws have been carried to a pitch 
 of oppression which is a disgrace to the coun- 
 try. The prisons are half filled with peasants, 
 shut up for the irregular slaughter of rabbits 
 and birds — a sufficient reason for killing a 
 weasel, but not for imprisoning a man. Some- 
 thing should be done; it is disgraceful to a 
 government to stand by, and see such enormous 
 evils without interference. It is true, they are 
 not connected with the struggles of party; but 
 still, the happiness of the common people, what- 
 ever gentlemen may say, ought every now and 
 then to be considered. 
 
WORKS OF THE EEV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 195 
 
 CHUEL TREATMENT OE UNTRIED PRISONEES. 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 1824/ 
 
 It has been the practice, all over England, 
 for these last fifty years,f not to compel prison- 
 ers to work before guilt was proved. Within 
 these last three or four years, however, the 
 magistrates of the North Riding of Yorkshire, 
 considering it improper to support any idle 
 person at the county expense, have resolved, 
 that prisoners committed to the house of cor- 
 rection for trial, and requiring county sujjport, 
 should work for their livelihood ; and no sooner 
 was the treadmill brought into fashion, than 
 that machine was adopted in the North Riding 
 as the species of labour by which such prison- 
 ers were to earn their maintenance. If these 
 magistrates did not consider themselves em- 
 powered to burden the county rates for the 
 support of prisoners before trial, who would 
 not contribute to support themselves, it does 
 not appear, from the publication of the reve- 
 rend chairman of the sessions, that any opi- 
 nions of counsel were taken as to the legality 
 of so putting prisoners to work, or of refusing 
 them maintenance if they choose to be idle; 
 but the magistrates themselves decided that 
 such was the law of the land. Thirty miles 
 off, however, the law of the land was differently 
 interpreted; and in the Castle of York large 
 sums were annually expended in the mainte- 
 nance of idle prisoners before trial, and paid 
 by the different Ridings, without remonstrance 
 or resistance.t 
 
 Such was the state of affairs in the county 
 of York before the enactment of the recent 
 prison bill. After that period, enlargements 
 and alterations were necessary in the county 
 jail; and it was necessary also for these ar- 
 rangements, that the magistrates should know 
 whether or not they were authorized to main- 
 tain such prisoners at the expense of the 
 county, as, being accounted able and unwilling 
 to work, still claimed the county allowance. 
 To questions proposed upon these points to 
 three barristers, the following answers were 
 returned : — 
 
 " 2dly, I am of opinion, that the magistrates 
 are empowered, and are compelled to main- 
 tain, at the expense of the county, such prison- 
 ers befure trial as are able to work, unable to 
 maintain themselves, and not willing to work; 
 and that they have not the power of compell- 
 
 * \.A Letter to the Right Honourable Robert Peel, one 
 of His Majesty's Prhieipal Secretaries of State, ^c. ^-c. ^-c. 
 on Prison Labour. By John Headlam, M. A., Chairiii;in 
 of the Quarter Sessions for the North Ridine of the 
 County of York. London. Hatchard and Son, 1823. 
 
 2. Information and Observations, respecting the proposed 
 Improvements at York Castle. Printed by°Order of the 
 Committee of Magistrates. September, 1823. 
 
 f Headlam, p. 6. 
 
 t We mention the case of the North Riding, to convince 
 our readers that the practice of condemning prisoners to 
 work before trial has existed in some parts of Eneland ; 
 for in questions like this we have always found it more 
 difficuh to prove the existence of the facts, than to prove 
 that they were mlBchievous and unjust. 
 
 ing such prisoners to work, either at the tread- 
 mill, or any other species of labour. 
 
 "J. Gurnet. 
 "Lincoln s Inn Fields, 2d September, 1823." 
 
 "I think the magistrates are empowered, 
 under the tenth section (explained by the 37th 
 and 38th), to maintain prisoners before trial. 
 who are able to work, unable to maintain 
 themselves by their own means, or by employ- 
 ment which they themselves can procure, and 
 not willing to work ; and I think also, that the 
 words " shall be lawful," in that section, do 
 not leave them a discretion on the subject, but 
 are compulsory. Such prisoners can only be 
 employed in prison labour with their own 
 consent; and it cannot be intended that the 
 justices may force such consent, by withhold- 
 ing from them the necessaries of life, if they 
 do not give it. Even those who are convicted 
 cannot be employed at the treadmill, which I 
 consider as a species of severe labour. 
 
 " September Uh, 1823." "J.Parke. 
 
 "2dly, As to the point of compelling prison- 
 ers confined on criminal charges, and receiv- 
 ing relief from the magistrates, to reasonable 
 labour ; to that of the treadmill for instance, 
 in which, when properlj^ conducted, there is 
 nothing severe or unreasonable ; had the ques- 
 tion arisen prior to the late act, I should with 
 confidence have said, I thought the magistrates 
 had a compulsory power in this respect. 
 Those who cannot live without relief in a jail, 
 cannot live without labour out of it. Labour 
 then is their avocation. Nothing is so injuri- 
 ous to the morals and habits of the prisoner 
 as the indolence prevalent in prisons; nothing 
 so injurious to good order in the prison. The 
 analogy between this and other cases of public 
 support is exceedingly strong; one may almost 
 consider it a general principle, that those who 
 live at the charge of the community shall, as 
 far as they are able, give the community a 
 compensation through their labour. But the 
 question does not depend on mere abstract 
 reasoning. The stat. 19 Ch. 2, c. 4, sec. 1, en- 
 titled, 'An Act for Relief of poor Prisoners, 
 and setting them on work,' speaks of persons 
 committed for felony and other misdemeanours 
 to the common jail, who many times perish 
 before trial,- and then proceeds as to setting 
 poor prisoners on work. Then stat. 31 G. 3, 
 c. 46, sec. 13, orders money to be raised for 
 such prisoners of every description, as, being 
 confined within the said jails, or other places 
 of confinement, are not able to work. A late 
 stat. (52 G. 3, c. 160) orders parish relief to 
 such debtors on mesne process in jails, not 
 county jails, as are not able to support them- 
 selves ; but says nothing of finding or com- 
 pelling work. Could it be doubted, that if the 
 justices were to provide work, and the prisoner 
 refused it, such debtors might, like any other 
 
196 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDIVEY SMITH. 
 
 parish paupers, be refused the relief mentioned 
 by the statute 1 In all the above cases, the 
 authority to insist on the prisoner's labour, as 
 the condition and consideration of relief grant- 
 ed him, is, I think, either expressed, or neces- 
 sarily implied; and thus viewing the subject, 
 I think it was in the power of magistrates, 
 prior to the late statute, to compel prisoners, 
 subsisting in all or in part on public relief, to 
 work at the treadmill. The objection com- 
 monly made is, that prisoners, prior to trial, 
 are to be accounted innocent, and to be de- 
 tained, merely that they may be secured for 
 trial ; to this the ansvv'cr is obvious, that the 
 labour is neither meant as a punishment or a 
 disgrace, but simply as a compensation for the 
 relief, at their own request, afforded them. 
 Under the present statute, I, however, have no 
 doubt, that poor prisoners are entitled to public 
 support, and that there can be no compulsory 
 labour prior to trial. The two statutes advert- 
 ed to (19 Ch. 2, c. 4, and 31 G. 3) are, as far 
 as this subject is concerned, expressly re- 
 pealed. The legislature then had in contem- 
 plation the existing power of magistrates to 
 order labour before trial, and having it in con- 
 templation, repeals it; substituting (sec. 38) a 
 power of setting to labour only sentenced per- 
 sons. The 13th rule, too (p. 177), speaks of 
 labour as connected with convicted prisoners, 
 and sec. 37 speaks in general terms of persons 
 committed for trial, as labouring with their 
 own consent. In opposition to these clauses, 
 I think it impossible to speak of implied 
 power, or power founded on general reasoning 
 or analogy. So strong, however, are the argu- 
 ments in favour of a more extended authority 
 in justices of the peace, that it is scarcely to 
 be doubted, that Parliament, on a calm revision 
 of the subject, would be willing to restore, in 
 a more distinct manner than it has hitherto 
 been enacted, a general discretion on the sub- 
 ject. Were this done, there is one observation 
 I will venture to make, which is, that should 
 some unfortunate association of ideas render 
 the treadmill a matter of ignominy to common 
 feelings, an enlightened magistracy would 
 scarcely compel an untried prisoner to a spe- 
 cies of labour which would disgrace him in 
 his own mind, and in that of the public. 
 
 " S. W. NlCOLL. 
 
 "Ybr/c, August 21th, 1823." 
 
 In consequence, we believe, of these opinions, 
 the North Riding magistrates, on the 13th of 
 October (the new bill commencing on the 1st 
 of September), passed the following resolu- 
 tion : — "That persons committed for trial, who 
 are able to work, and have the means of em- 
 ployment offered them by the visiting magis- 
 trates, by which they may earn their support, 
 but who obstinately refuse to work, shall be 
 allowed bread and water only." 
 
 By this resolution they admit, of course, 
 that the counsel are right in their interpreta- 
 tion of the present law; and that magistrates 
 are forced to maintain prisoners before trial 
 who do not choose to work. The magistrates 
 say, however, by their resolution, that the food 
 shall be of the plainest and humblest kind, 
 bread and water; meaning, of course, that 
 
 such prisoners should have a sufficient quantity 
 of bread and water, or otherwise the evasion 
 of the law would be in the highest degree 
 mean and reprehensible. But it is impossible 
 to suppose any such thing to be intended by 
 gentlemen so highly respectable. Their inten- 
 tion is not that idle persons before trial shall 
 starve, but that they shall have barely enough of 
 the plainest food for the supportof life and health. 
 
 Mr. Headlam has written a pamphlet to 
 show that the old law was very reasonable 
 and proper ; that it is quite right that prisoners 
 before trial, who are able to support them- 
 selves, but unwilling to work, should be com- 
 pelled to work, and at the treadmill, or that all 
 support should be refused them. We are en- 
 tirely of an opposite opinion ; and maintain 
 that it is neither-legal nor expedient to compel 
 prisoners before trial to work at the treadmill, 
 or at any species of labour, and that those who 
 refuse to work should be supported upon a 
 plain, healthy diet. We impute no sort of 
 blame to the magistrates of the North Riding, 
 or to Mr. Headlam, their chairman. We have 
 no doubt but that they thought their measures 
 the wisest and the best for correcting evil, and 
 that they adopted them in pursuance of what 
 they thought to be their duty. Nor do we 
 enter into any discussion with Mr. Headlam, 
 as chairman of a Quarter Sessions, but as the 
 writer of a pamphlet. It is only in his capa- 
 city of author that we have any thing to do 
 with him. In answering the arguments of 
 Mr. Headlam, we shall notice, at the same 
 time, a few other observations commonly re- 
 sorted to in defence of a system which we be- 
 lieve to be extremely pernicious, and pregnant 
 with the worst consequences ; and so thinking, 
 we contend against it, and in support of the 
 law as it now stands. 
 
 We will not dispute with Mr. Headlam, 
 whether his exposition of the old law is right 
 or wrong: because time cannot be more un- 
 profitably employed than in hearing gentlemen 
 who are not lawyers discuss points of law. 
 We dare to say Mr. Headlam knows as much 
 of the laws of his country as magistrates iu 
 general do ; but he will pardon us for believ- 
 ing, that for the moderate sum of three guineas 
 a much better opinion of what the law is now, 
 or was then, can be purchased, than it is in the 
 power of Mr. Headlam, or any other county 
 magistrate, to give for nothing — Cuilibet in arte 
 sua credendum est. It is concerning the expe- 
 diency of such laws, and upon that point 
 alone, that we are at issue with Mr. Headlam; 
 and do not let this gentleman suppose it to be ' 
 any answer to our remarks to state Avhat is 
 done in the prison in which he is concerned, 
 now the law is altered. The question is, 
 whether he is right or wrong in his reasoning 
 upon what the law ought to be ; we wish to ' 
 hold out such reasoning to public notice, and 
 think it important it should be refuted — doubly ■ 
 important, when it comes from an author, the ■ 
 leader of the quorum, who may say with the 
 pious iEneas, — 
 
 Uiueque ipse miserrima vidi, 
 
 Et quorum pars magna fui. ; 
 
 If, in this discussion, we are forced to insist I 
 upon the plainest and most elementary truths, j 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 197 
 
 the fault is not with us, but with those who 
 forget them ; and who refuse to be any longer 
 restrained by those principles which have hith- 
 erto been held to be as clear as they are im- 
 portant to human happiness. 
 
 To begin, then, with the nominative case 
 and the verb — we must remind those advo- 
 cates for the treadmill, a parte ante (for which 
 the millers a parte post we have no quarrel), 
 that it is one of the oldest maxims of common 
 sense, common humanity, and common law, 
 to consider every man as innocent till he is 
 proved to be guilty ; and not only to consider 
 him to be innocent, but to treat him as if he 
 was so ; to exercise upon his case not merely 
 a barren speculation, but one which produces 
 practical effects, and which secures to a pri- 
 soner the treatment of an honest, unpunished 
 man. Now, to compel prisoners before trial 
 to work at the treadmill, as the condition of 
 their support, must, in a great number of in- 
 stances, operate as a very severe punishment. 
 A prisoner may be a tailor, a watchmaker, a 
 bookbinder, a printer, totally unaccustomed to 
 any such species of labour. Such a man may 
 be cast into jail at the end of August,* and not 
 tried till the March following; is it no punish- 
 ment to such a man to walk up hill like a turn- 
 spit dog, in an infamous machine, for six 
 months ? and yet there are gentlemen who 
 suppose that the common people do not con- 
 sider this as punishment ! — that the gayest and 
 most joyous of human beings is a treader, 
 untried by a jury of his countrymen, in the 
 fifth month of lifting up the leg, and striving 
 against the law of gravity, supported by the 
 glorious information which he receives from 
 the turnkey, that he has all the time been 
 grinding flour on the other side of the wall! 
 If this sort of exercise, necessarily painful to 
 sedentary persons, is agreeable to persons ac- 
 customed to labour, then make it voluntary — 
 give the prisoners their choice — give more 
 money and more diet to those who can and 
 will labour at the treadmill, if the treadmill 
 (now so dear to magistrates) is a proper pun- 
 ishment for untried prisoners. The position 
 we are contending against is, that all poor 
 prisoners who are able to work should be put 
 to worlrupon the treadmill, the inevitable con- 
 sequence of which practice is, a repetition of 
 gross injustice by the infliction of undeserved 
 punishment; for punishment, and severe pun- 
 ishment, to such persons as we have enume- 
 rated, we must consider it to be. 
 
 But punishments are not merely to be esti- 
 mated by pain to the limbs, but by the feelings 
 of the mind. Gentlemen punishers are some- 
 times apt to forget that the common people 
 have any mental feelings at all, and think, if 
 body and belly are attended to, that persons 
 under a certain income have no right to likes 
 and dislikes. The labour of the treadmill is 
 irksome, dull, monotonous, and disgusting to 
 the last degree. A man does not see his work. 
 
 f Mr. Headlam, as we understand him. would extend 
 this labour to all poor prisoners before trial in jails whicli 
 are delivered twice a year at the assizes, as well as to 
 houses of correction delivered four times a year at the 
 SeKsions ; t. e not to extend the labour, but to refuse all 
 
 does not know what he is doing, what progress 
 he is making; there is no room for art, con- 
 trivance, ingenuity, and superior skill — all 
 which are the cheering circumstances of hu- 
 man labour. The husbandman sees the field 
 gradually subdued by the plough ;' the smith 
 beats the rude mass of iron by degrees into 
 its meditated shape, and gives it a meditated 
 utility ; the tailor accommodates his parallelo- 
 gram of cloth to the lumps and bumps of the 
 human body, and, holding it up, exclaims, 
 " This will contain the lower moiety of an hu- 
 man being." But the treader does nothing but 
 tread; he sees no change of objects, admires 
 no new relation of parts, imparts no new qua- 
 lities to matter, and gives to it no new ar- 
 rangements and positions ; or, if he does, he 
 sees and knows it not, but is turned at once 
 from a rational being, by a justice of peace, 
 into a prhnum mobile, and put upon a level 
 with a rush of water or a puff of steam. It 
 is impossible to get gentlemen to attend to the 
 distinction between raw and roasted prisoners, 
 without which all discussion on prisoners is 
 perfectly ridiculous. Nothing can be more 
 excellent than this kind of labour for persons 
 to whom you mean to make labour as irksome 
 as possible ; but for this very reason, it is the 
 labour to which an untried prisoner ought not 
 to be put. 
 
 It is extremely uncandid to say that a man 
 is obstinately and incorrigibly idle, because 
 he will not submit to such tiresome and de- 
 testable labour as that of the treadmill. It is 
 an old feeling among Englishmen that there is 
 a difference betvv^een tried and untried per- 
 sons, between accused and convicted persons. 
 These old opinions were in fashion before this 
 new magistrate's plaything was invented ; and 
 we are convinced that many industrious per- 
 sons, feeling that they have not had their trial, 
 and disgusted with the nature r f the labour, 
 would refuse to work at the treadmill, who 
 would not be averse to join in any common 
 and fair occupation. Mr. Headlam says, that 
 labour may be a privilege as well as a punish- 
 ment. So may taking physic be a privilege, 
 in cases where it is asked for as a charitable 
 relief, but not if it is stutfed down a man's 
 throat whether he say yea or nay. Certainly 
 labour is not necessarily a punishment: no- 
 body has said it is so ; but Mr. Headlam's la- 
 bour is a punishment, because it is irksome, 
 infamous, unasked for, and undeserved. This 
 gentleman, however, observes, that committed 
 persons have offended the laws ,- and the senti- 
 ment expressed in these words is the true key 
 to his pamphlet and his system — a perpetual 
 tendency to confound the convicted and the 
 accused. 
 
 "With respect to those sentenced to labour 
 as a punishment, I apprehend there is no dif- 
 ference of opinion. All are agreed that it is 
 a great defect in any prison where such con- 
 victs are unemployed. But as to all other pri- 
 soners, whether debtors, persmis committed for 
 trial, or convicts not sentenced to hard labour, 
 if they have no means of subsisting them- 
 selves, and must, if discharged, "ither labour 
 for their livelihood or apply for parochial re- 
 lief, it seems unfair to society at large, an<1 
 b2 
 
198 
 
 WOEKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 especially to those who maintain themselves 
 by honest industr)', that those who, by offend- 
 ing the laws, have subjected themselves to impri- 
 sonment, should be lodged, and clothed, and 
 fed, without being called upon for the same 
 exertions, which others have to use to obtain 
 such advantages." — Headlam, pp. 23, 24. 
 
 Now nothing can be more unfair than to sav 
 that such men have offended the laws. Thai 
 is the very question to be tried, whether they 
 have offended the laws or not 1 It is merely 
 because this little circumstance is taken for 
 granted, that we have any quarrel at all with 
 Mr. Headlam and his school. 
 
 "I can make," says Mr. Headlam, "every 
 delicate consideration for the rare case of a 
 person perfectly innocent being committed to 
 jail on suspicion of crime. Such person is 
 deservedly an object of compassion, for hav- 
 ing fallen under circumstances which subject 
 him to be charged with crime, and, conse- 
 quently, to be deprived of his liberty : but if 
 he has been in the habit of labouring for his 
 bread before his commitment, there does not 
 appear to be any addition tq his misfortune in 
 being called upon to work for his subsistence 
 in prison." — Headlam, p. 24. 
 
 And yet Mr. Headlam describes this very 
 punishment, which does not add to the mis- 
 fortunes of an innocent man, to be generally 
 disagreeable, to be dull, irksome, to excite a strong 
 dislike, to be a dull, monotonous labour, to be a 
 contrivance which connects the idea of discomfm-t 
 with a jail. (p. 36.) So that Mr. Headlam looks 
 upon it to be no increase of an innocent man's 
 misfortunes, to be constantly employed upon 
 a dull, irksome, monotonous labour, which ex- 
 cites a strong dislike, and connects the idea of 
 discomfort Avith a jail. We cannot stop, or 
 stoop to consider, whether beating hemp is 
 more or less dignified than working in a mill. 
 The siinple rule is this, — whatever felons do, 
 men not yet proved to be felons should not be 
 compelled to do. It is of no use to look into 
 laws become obsolete by alteration of man- 
 ners. For these fifty years past, and before 
 the invention of treadmills, untried men were 
 not put upon felons' work ; but with the mill 
 came in the mischief Mr. Headlam asks. 
 How can men be employed upon the ancient 
 trades in a prison? — certainly they cannot; 
 but are human occupations so few, and is the 
 ingenuity of magistrates and jailers so limited, 
 that no occupations can be found for innocent 
 men, but those which are shameful and odious 1 
 Does Mr. Headlam really believe, that grown 
 up and baptized persons are to be satisfied 
 M'ith such arguments, or repelled by such dif- 
 ficulties 1 
 
 It is some compensation to an acquitted per- 
 son, that the labour he has gone through un- 
 justly in jail has taught hmi some trade, given 
 him an insight into some species of labour in 
 which he may hereafter improve himself; but 
 Mr. Headlam's prisoner, after a verdict of ac- 
 quittal, has learnt no other art than of walking 
 op hill; he has nothing to remember or re- 
 compense him but three months of undeserved 
 and unprofitable torment. The verdict of the 
 'ury ha« pronounced him steady in his morals ; 
 
 the conduct of the justices has made him stiff 
 in his joints. 
 
 But it is next contended by some persons, 
 that the poor prisoner is not compelled to 
 work, because he has the alternative of starv- 
 ing, if he refuses to work. You take up a 
 poor man upon suspicion, deprive him of all 
 his usual methods of getting his livelihood, 
 and then giving him the first view of the tread- 
 mill, he of the quorum thus addresses him: — 
 "My amiable friend, we use no compulsion 
 with untried prisoners. You are free as air 
 till you are found guilty ; only it is my duty to 
 inform you, as you have no money of your 
 own, that the disposition to eat and drink 
 which you have allowed you sometimes feel, 
 and upon which I do not mean to cast any 
 degree of censure, cannot possibly be grati- 
 fied but by constant grinding in this machine. 
 It has its inconveniences, I admit ; but balance 
 them against the total want of meat and drink, 
 and decide for yourself. You are perfectly at 
 liberty to make your choice, and I by no means 
 wish to influence your judgment." But Mr. 
 NicoU has a curious remedy for all this mise- 
 rable tyranny; he says it is not meant as a 
 punishment. But if I am conscious that I 
 never have committed the offence, certain that I 
 have never been found guilty of it, and find 
 myself tossed into the middle of an infernal 
 machine, by the folly of those who do not 
 know how to use the power entrusted to them, 
 is it any consolation to me to be told, that it is 
 not intended as a punishment, that it is a lucu- 
 bration of justices, a new theory of prison dis- 
 cipline, a valuable county experiment going 
 on at the expense of my arms, legs, back, 
 feelings, character, and rights ? We must tie 
 those prsegustant punishers down by one 
 question. Do you mean to inflict any degree 
 of punishment upon persons merely for being 
 suspected] — or at least any other degree of 
 punishment than that without which criminal 
 justice cannot exist, detention! If you do, 
 why let any one out upon bail ? For the ques- 
 tion between us is not, how suspected persons 
 are to be treated, and whether or not they are 
 to be punished; but how suspected poor per- 
 sons are to be treated, who want county sup- 
 port in prison. If to be suspected is deserving 
 of punishment, then no man ought to be let 
 out upon bail, but evei-y one should be kept 
 grinding from accusation to trial; and so ought 
 all prisoners to be treated for offences not bail- 
 able, and who do not want the county allov/- 
 ance. And yet no grinding philosopher con- 
 tends, that all suspected persons should be put 
 in the mill — but only those who are too poor 
 to find bail, or buy provisions. 
 
 If there are, according to the doctrines of 
 the millers, to be two punishments, the first for 
 being suspected of committing the ofl'ence, 
 and the second for committing it, there should 
 be two trials as well as two punishments. Is 
 the man really suspected, or do his accusers 
 only pretend to suspect him! Are the sus- 
 pecting of better character than the suspected 1 
 Is it a light suspicion which may be atoned 
 for b}' grmding a peck a day ! Is it a bushel 
 easel or is it one deeplj^ criminal, which re- 
 quires the flour to be ground fine enough for 
 
WORKS OF THE RE\^ SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 199 
 
 French rolls ? But we must put an end to 
 such absurdities. 
 
 It is very untruly stated, that a prisoner, be- 
 fore trial, not compelled to work, and kept 
 upon a plain diet, merely sufficient to main- 
 tain him in health, is better off than he was 
 previous to his accusation; and it is asked, 
 with a triumphant leer, whether the situation 
 of any man ought to be improved, merely be- 
 cause he has become an object of suspicion 
 to his fellow-creatures 1 This happy and for- 
 tunate man, however, is separated from his 
 wife and family; his liberty is taken away; 
 he is confined within four walls ; he has the 
 reflection that his family are existing upon a 
 precarious parish support, that his little trade 
 and property are wasting, that his character 
 has become infamous, that he has incurred 
 ruin by the malice of others, or by his own 
 crimes, that in a {evr weeks he is to forfeit his 
 life, or be banished from every thing he loves 
 upon earth. This is the improved situation, 
 and the redundant happiness which requires 
 the penal circumvolutions of the justice's 
 mill to cut off so unjust a balance of gratifi- 
 cation, and bring him a little nearer to what 
 he was before imprisonment and accusation. 
 It would be just as reasonable to say, that an 
 idle man in a fever is better off than a healthy 
 man who is well and earns his bread. He 
 may be better off if you look to the idleness 
 alone, though that is doubtful; but is he better 
 (iff if all the aches, agonies, disturbances, de- 
 liriums, and the nearness to death, are added 
 to the lotl 
 
 Mr. Headlam's panacea for all prisoners be- 
 fore trial is the treadmill : we beg his pardon — 
 for all poor prisoners ; bat a man who is about 
 tn be tried for his life, often wants all his leisure 
 time to reflect upon his defence. The exertions 
 of every man within the walls of a prison are 
 necessarily crippled and impaired. What can 
 a prisoner answer who is taken hot and reeking 
 from the treadmill, and asked what he has to 
 say in his defence ; his answer naturally is — 
 "I have been grinding corn instead of thinking 
 of my defence, and have never been allowed 
 the proper leisure to think of protecting my 
 character and my life." This is a very strong 
 feature of cruelty and tyranny in the mill. We 
 ought to be sure that every man has had the 
 fullest leisure to prepare for his defence, that 
 his mind and body have not been harassed by 
 vexations and compulsory employment. The 
 public purchase, at a great price, legal accu- 
 racy, and legal talent, to accuse a man who has 
 not, perhaps, one shilling to spend upon his 
 defence. It is atrocious cruelly not to leave 
 him full leisure to write his scarcely legible 
 letters to his witnesses, and to use all the 
 melancholy and feeble means which suspected 
 poverty can employ for its defence against the 
 long and heavy arm of power. 
 
 A prisoner, upon the system recommended 
 by Mr. Headlam, is committed, perhaps at the 
 end of August, and brought to trial the March 
 following; and, after all, the bill is either thrown 
 out by the grand jury, or the prisoner is fully 
 acquitted ; and it has been found, we believe, 
 by actual returns, that, of committed prisoners, 
 about a half are actually acquitted, or their ac- 
 
 cusations dismissed by the grand jury. This 
 may be very true, say the advocates of this 
 system, but we know that many men who are 
 acquitted are guilty. They escape through 
 some mistaken lenity of the law, or some cor- 
 ruption of evidence ; and as they have not had 
 their deserved punishment after trial, we are 
 not sorry they had it before. The English law 
 says, better many guilty escape, than that one 
 innocent man perish; but the humane notions 
 of the mill are bottomed upon the principle, 
 that all had better be punished lest any escape. 
 They evince a total mistrust in the jurispru- 
 dence of the country, and say the results of 
 trial are so uncertain, that it is better to punish 
 all the prisoners before they come into court. 
 Mr. Headlam forgets that general rules are not 
 beneficial in each individual instance, but 
 beneficial upon the whole; that they are pre- 
 served because they do much more good than 
 harm, though in some particular instances they 
 do more harm than good ; yet no respectable 
 man violates them on that account, but holds 
 them sacred for the great balance of advantage 
 they confer upon mankind. It is one of the 
 greatest crimes, for instance, to take away the 
 life of a man ; yet there are many men whose 
 death would be a good to society, rather than 
 an evil. Every good man respects the pro- 
 perty of others ; yet to take from a worthless 
 miser, and to give it to a virtuous man in dis- 
 tress, would be an advantage. Sensible men 
 are never staggered when they see the excep- 
 tion. They know the importance of the rule, 
 and protect it most eagerly at the very moment 
 when it is doing more harm than good. The 
 plain rule of justice is, that no man should be 
 punished till he is found guilty; but because 
 Mr. Headlam occasionally sees a bad man 
 acquitted under this rule, and sent out unpun- 
 ished upon the world, he forgets all the general 
 good and safety of the principle are debauched 
 by the exception, and applauds and advocates 
 a system of prison discipline which renders 
 injustice certain, in order to prevent it from 
 being occasional. 
 
 The meaning of all preliminary imprison- 
 ment is, that the accused person should be 
 forthcoming at the time of trial. It was never 
 intended as a punishment. Bail is a far better 
 invention than imprisonment, in cases where 
 the heavy punishment of the offence would not 
 induce the accused person to run away from 
 any bail. Now, let us see the enormous dif- 
 ference this new style of punishment makes 
 between two men, whose only difference is, that 
 one is poor and the other rich. A and B are 
 accused of some bailable offence. A has no 
 bail to offer, and no money to support himself 
 in prison, anu takes, therefore, his four or five 
 months in the treadmill. B gives bail, appears 
 at his trial, and both are sentenced to two 
 months' imprisonment. In this case, the one 
 suffers three times as much as the other for the 
 same offence : but suppose A is acquitted and 
 B found guilt}', — the innocent man has then 
 laboured in the treadmill five months because 
 he was poor, and the guilty man labours two 
 months because he was rich. We are aware 
 that there must be, even without the treadmiJl, 
 a great and an inevitable difference between 
 
200 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 men (in pari delicto), some of whom can give 
 bail, and some not ; but that difference becomes 
 infinitely more bitter and objectionable, in pro- 
 portion as detention before trial assumes the 
 character of severe and deo^rading punishment. 
 
 If motion in the treadmill was otherwise as 
 fascinating as millers describe it to be, still the 
 mere degradation of the punishment is enough 
 to revolt every feeling of an untried person. 
 It is a punishment consecrated to convicted 
 felons — and it has every character that such 
 punishment ought to have. An untried person 
 feels at once, in getting into the mill, that he is 
 put to the labour of the guilty ; that a mode of 
 employment has been selected for him, which 
 renders him infamous before a single fact or 
 argument has been advanced to establish his 
 guilt. If men are put into the treadmill before 
 trial, it is literally of no sort of consequence 
 whether they are acquitted or not. Acquittal 
 does not shelter them from punishment, for 
 they have already been punished. It does not 
 screen them from infamy, for they have already 
 been treated as if they were infamous; and the 
 association of the treadmill and crimes is not 
 to be got over. This machine flings all the 
 power of juries into the hands of the magis- 
 trates, and makes every simple commitment 
 more terrible than a conviction ; for, in a con- 
 viction, the magistrate considers whether the 
 offence has been committed or not ; and does 
 not send the prisoner to jail unless he thinks 
 him guilty; but in a simple commitment, n 
 man is not sent to jail because the magistrate 
 is convinced of his guilt, but because he thinks 
 a fair question may be made to a jury whether 
 the accused person is guilty or not. Still, how- 
 ever, the convicted and the suspected both go 
 to the same mill; and he who is there upon the 
 doubt, grinds as much flour as the other whose 
 guilt is established by a full examination of 
 conflicting evidence. 
 
 Where is the necessity for such a violation 
 "f common sense and common justice? No- 
 l)ody asks for the idle prisoner before trial more 
 than a very plain and moderate diet. Offer him. 
 if you please, some labour M'hich is less irk- 
 :;ome, and less infamous than the treadmill, — 
 bribe him by improved diet, and a share of the 
 earnings ; there will not be three men out of an 
 hundred v/ho would refuse such an invitation, 
 and spurn at such an improvement of their 
 condition. A little humane attention and per- 
 suasion, among men who ought, upon every 
 principle of justice, to be considered as inno- 
 cent, we should have thought much more con- 
 sonant to English justice, and to the feelings 
 of English magistrates, than the rack and wheel 
 of Cubilt.* 
 
 Prison discipline is an object of considerable 
 importance; but the common rights of mankind, 
 iind the common principles of justice, and hu- 
 manity, and liberty, are of greater consequence 
 even than prison discipline. Right and wrong, 
 innocence and guilt, must not be confounded, 
 that a prison-fancying justice may bring his 
 friend into the prison and say, "Look what a 
 
 *It is singular enough, that we use these observations 
 tn reviewing the pamphlet and system of a gentleman 
 remarkable for the urbanity of his manners, and the mild- 
 liesB and liumanity of his disposition. 
 
 I spectacle of order, silence, and decornm we 
 have established here! no idleness, all grind- 
 ing ! — we produce a penny roll every second — 
 our prison is supposed to be the best regulated 
 prison in England, — Cubitt is making us a new- 
 wheel of forty felon power, — look how white 
 the flour is, all done by untried prisoners — as 
 innocent as lambs !" If prison discipline is to 
 supersede every other consideration, why are 
 pennyless prisoners alone to be put into the 
 mill before trial 1 If idleness in jails is so 
 pernicious, why not put all prisoners in the 
 treadmill, the rich as well as those who are 
 unable to support themselves "? Why are the 
 debtors left out 1 If fixed principles are to be 
 given up, and prisons turned into a plaything 
 for magistrates, nothing can be more unpictu- 
 resque than to see one-half of the prisoners 
 looking on, talking, gaping, and idling, while 
 their poorer brethren are grinding for dinners 
 and suppers. 
 
 It is a very weak argument to talk of the 
 prisoners earning their support, and the ex- 
 pense to a county of maintaining prisoners 
 before trial, — as if any rational man could ever 
 expect to gain a farthing by an expensive mill, 
 where felons are the moving power, and jus- 
 tices the superintendents, or as if such a trade 
 must not necessarily be carried on at a great 
 loss. If it were just and proper that prisoners, 
 before trial, shoujd be condemned to the mill, 
 it would be of no consequence whether the 
 county gained or lost by the trade. But the in- 
 justice of the practice can never be defended 
 by its economy ; and the fact is, that it increases 
 expenditure, while it violates principle. We 
 are aware, that by leaving out repairs, altera- 
 tions, and first costs, and a number of little 
 particulars, a very neat account, si2;ned by a 
 jailer, may be made up. which shall make the 
 mill a miraculous combination of mercantile 
 speculation and moral improvement; but we 
 are too old for all this. We accuse nobody of 
 intentional misrepresentation. This is quite 
 out of the question with persons so highly re- 
 spectable; but men are constantly misled by 
 the spirit of system, and egregiously deceive 
 themselves — even very good and sensible 
 men. 
 
 Mr. Headlam compares the case of a pri- 
 soner before trial, claiming support, to that of 
 a pauper claiming relief from his parish. But 
 it seems to us thaf no two cases can be more 
 dissimilar. The prisoner was no pauper be- 
 fore you took him up, and deprived him of his 
 customers, tools, and market. It is by your 
 act and deed that he is fallen into a state of 
 pauperism ; and nothing can be more prepos- 
 terous, than first to make a man a pauper, and 
 then to punish him for being so. It is true, 
 that the apprehension and detention of the pri 
 soner were necessary for the purposes of 
 criminal justice ; but the consequences arising 
 from this necessary act cannot be imputed io 
 the prisoner. He has brought it upon him- 
 self, it will be urged; but that remains to be 
 seen, and will not be known till he is tried; 
 and till it is known you have no right to take 
 it for granted, and to punish him as if it were 
 proved. 
 
 There seems to be in the minds of some 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 201 
 
 gentlemen a notion, that when once a person 
 is in prison, it is of little consequence how he 
 is treated afterwards. The tyranny which pre- 
 vailed, of putting a person in a particular 
 dress before trial, now abolished by act of Par- 
 liament, was justified by this train of reason- 
 ing: — The man has been rendered infamous 
 by imprisonment. He cannot be rendered 
 more so, dress him as you will. His character 
 is not rendered worse by the treadmill, than it 
 is by being sent to the place where the tread- 
 mill is at work. The substance of this way 
 of thinking is, that when a fellow-creature is 
 in the frying-pan, there is no harm in pushing 
 him into the fire; that a little more misery — a 
 little more infamy — a few more links, are of 
 no sort of consequence in a prison-life. If this 
 monstrous style of reasoning extended to hos- 
 pitals as well as prisons, there would be no 
 harm in breaking the small bone of a man's 
 leg, because the large one was fractured, or in 
 peppering with small shot a person who was 
 wounded with a cannon-ball. The principle 
 is, because a man is very wretched, there is no 
 harm in making him a little more so. The 
 steady answer to all this is, that a man is im- 
 prisoned before trial, solely for the purpose of 
 securing his appearance at his trial ; and that 
 no punishment nor privation, not clearly and 
 candidly necessary for that purpose, should be 
 inflicted upon him. I keep you in prison, 
 because criminal justice would be defeated by 
 your flight, if I did not: but criminal justice 
 can go on very well without degrading you to 
 hard and infamous labour, or denying you any 
 reasonable gratification. For these reasons, 
 the first of those acts is just, the rest are mere 
 tyranny. 
 
 Mr. NicoU, in his opinion, tells us, that he 
 has no doubt Parliament would amend the 
 bill, if the omission was stated to them. We, 
 on the contrary, have no manner of doubt that 
 Parliament would treat such a petition with 
 the contempt it deserved. Mr. Peel is too much 
 enlightened and sensible to give any counte- 
 nance to such a great and glaring error. In 
 this case, — and we wish it were a more fre- 
 quent one — the wisdom comes from within, 
 and the error from without the walls of Par- 
 liament. 
 
 A prisoner before trial who can support him- 
 self, ought to be allowed every fair and rational 
 enjoyment which he can purchase, not incom- 
 patible with prison discipline. He should be 
 allowed to buy ale or wine in moderation, — to 
 use tobacco, or any thing else he can pay for 
 within the above-mentioned limits. If he can- 
 not support himself, and declines work, then 
 he should be supported upon a very plain, but 
 still a plentiful diet (something better, we think, 
 than bread and water); and all prisoners be- 
 fore trial should be allowed to work. By a 
 liberal share of earnings (or rather by rewards, 
 for there would be no earnings), and also by 
 26 
 
 an improved diet, and in the hands of humane 
 magistrates,* there would soon appear to be no 
 necessity for appealing to the treadmill till 
 trial was over. 
 
 This treadmill, after trial, is certainly a very 
 excellent method of punishment, as far as we 
 are yet acquainted with its effects. We think, 
 at present, however, it is a little abused; and 
 hereafter it is our intention to express our 
 opinion upon the limits to which it ought to be 
 confined. Upon this point, however, we do 
 not much differ from Mr. Headlam ; although, 
 in his remarks on the treatment of prisoners 
 before trial, we think he has made a very 
 serious mistake, and has attempted (without 
 knowing what lie was doing, and meaning, we 
 are persuaded, nothing but what was honest 
 and just) to pluck up one of the ancient land- 
 marks of human justice.j- 
 
 * AH masistrntes should remember, that nothing is 
 more easy to a person entrusted with power than to con- 
 vince iiirasi'lf it is his duly to tr(^at liis fellow-creatures 
 with severity and rigour. — and th"=n to persuade him- 
 self that he is doing it very reluctantly, and contrary to 
 his real I'eelini:. 
 
 ■{■ We hope this article will conciliate our old friend 
 Mr. Roscoe ; who is very an^ry with us for some of our 
 former lucubrations on prison discipline,-^and, above all, 
 because we are not grave enough for hint. T!ie difTer- 
 ence is thus stated : — Six ducks are stolen. Mr Roscoe 
 would commit the man to prison for six weeks, perhaps, 
 — reason with him. nr^uc with him, give him tracts, 
 send clerirynien to lijni. work him gently at some useful 
 trade, and try to turn him from the habit of stealin;; 
 poultry. fFe would keep him hard at work twelve hours 
 every "day at the treadmill, feed him only so as not to 
 impair his health, and then give him as much of Mr. 
 Roscoe's system as was compatible with our own; and 
 we think our method would diminish the number of 
 duck-stealers more etlectually than that of the historian 
 of Leo X. The primary duck-steal. t would, we think, 
 he as effectually deterred from repeatiiiix the ort'ence by 
 the terror (if our iuijirisoiiment, as bv the e.vcel'.ence of 
 Mr. P.I.St i,.-'s ■■iliicatidn— :!ii(l, what i,<'of iiiiiriil"! v sreatrT 
 cons-ciui'i;r... iiiiiiiiiii'rable dnrk-stealers would be pre- 
 
 it IS tolly (.1 say it d<ies not lessen it. It did not stop the 
 murder of Mrs. Donatty; but how many Mrs. Donattys 
 has it kept alive ! When we recommend severity, we 
 recommend, of course, that degree of severity which 
 will not e.\cite compassion fur the suiferer, and lessen 
 the horror of the crime. This i-; why we do not recom- 
 mend torture and amputation of limlis. When a man 
 has been proved to have coioiniU.d a crime, it is expe- 
 dient that society should make use of that man for the 
 diminution of crime : he belongs to them for that pur- 
 pose. Our primary duly, in such a case, is so to treat 
 the culprit that many other persons may be rendered 
 better, or prevented from being worse by dread of the 
 same treatment; and, mtking this the principal object, 
 to combine with it as much as possible the improvement 
 of the individual. The ruffian who killed Mr. Mumford 
 was hung within forty-eight hours. Upon Mr. Roscoe's - 
 principles, this was wrong : for it certainly was not the 
 way to reclaim the man :— We say, on the contrary, the 
 object was to do any thing with the :nan which would 
 render murders less frequent, and that the conversion of 
 the man was a mere trifle compared to this. His death 
 probably prevented the necessity of reclaiming a dozen 
 murderers. That death will not, indeed, prevent all 
 murders in that county ; but many vv'ho have seen it, 
 and many who have heard of it, will swallow their re- 
 venge from the dread of being hanged. Mr. Roscoe is 
 very severe upon our style ; but poor dear Mr. Roscoe 
 should remember that men have different tastes, and 
 difierent methods of going to work. We feel these mat- 
 ters as deeply as he does. But why so cross upjn thin 
 or any other subject? 
 
202 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 AMEEICA. 
 
 [Edixbukgh Review, 1824.] 
 
 Theue is a set of miserable persons in 
 England, who are dreadfully afraid of America 
 and every thing American — whose great de- 
 light is to see that country ridiculed and 
 vilified — and who appear to imagine that all 
 the abuses which exist in this country acquire 
 additional vigour and chance of duration from 
 every book of travels which pours forth its 
 venom and falsehood on the United States. 
 We shall from time to time call the attention 
 of the public to this subject, not from any 
 party spirit, but because we love truth, and 
 praise excellence wherever we find it ; and 
 because we think the example of America 
 will in many instances tend to open the e3-es 
 of Englishmen to their true interests. 
 
 The economy of America is a great and im- 
 portant object for our imitation. The salary- 
 of Mr. Bagot, our late ambassador, was, we 
 believe, rather higher than that of the Presi- 
 dent of the United States. The vice-president 
 receives rather less than tlie second clerk of 
 the House of Commons ; and all salaries, civil 
 and militar}', are upon the same scale; and 
 yet no country is better served than America! 
 Mr. Hume has at last persuaded the English 
 people to look a little into their accounts, and 
 to see how sadly they are plundered. But 
 we ought to suspend our contempt for Ame- 
 rica, and consider whether we have not a 
 very momentous lesson to learn from this 
 wise and cautious people on the subject of 
 economy. 
 
 A lesson upon the importance of religious 
 toleration, we are determined, it would seem, 
 not to learn, — either from America, or from 
 any other quarter of the globe. The High 
 Sheriff of New York, last year, was a .Tew. It 
 was with the utmost difhculty that a bill was 
 carried this j-ear to allow the first Duke of 
 England to carry a gold stick before the king 
 — because he was a Catholic ! — and yet we 
 think ourselves entitled to indulge in imperti- 
 nent sneers at America, — as if civilization did 
 not depend more upon making wise laws for 
 the promotion of human happiness, than in 
 having good inns, and post-horses, and civil 
 M-aiters. The circumstances of the Dissenters' 
 marriage bill are such as woirld excite the 
 contempt of a Choctaw or Cherokee, if he 
 could oe brought to understand them. A cer- 
 tain class of Dissenters beg they may not be 
 compelled to say that they marry in the name 
 of the Trinity, because they do not believe in 
 
 * 1. Travel" throw^h Part of Ihe. United States avd 
 Canada, in ISIS and 1S19. By John M. Duxcan, A. B. 
 Glasgow, 1823. 
 
 2. Letters from J^'orth America, written during a Tour 
 »n the United States and Canada. By Adam Hodgson. 
 Lnnrion, 1S24. 
 
 3. ,in Excursion thromrh the United States and Canada, 
 during the years 1622-3. By an English Genlleman. 
 London, 1824. 
 
 the Trinit)-. Never mind, say the corruption- 
 ists, you must go on saying you marry in the 
 name of the Trinity, whether you believe in 
 it or not. We know that such a protestatiou 
 from you will be false: but, unless you make 
 it, your wives shall be concubines, and your 
 children illegitimate. Is it possible to con- 
 ceive a greater or more useless tyranny than 
 this 1 
 
 " In the religious freedom which America 
 enjoys, I see a more unquestioned superiority. 
 In Britain we enjoy toleration, but here they 
 enjoy liberty. If government has a right to 
 grant toleration to any particular set of reli- 
 gious opinions, it has also a right to take it 
 away; and such a right with regard to opinions 
 exclusively religious I would deny in all cases, 
 because totally inconsistent with the nature of 
 religion, in the proper meaning of the word, 
 and equally irreconcilable with civil liberty, 
 rightly so called. God has given to each of 
 us his inspired word, and a rational mind to 
 which that word is addressed. He has also 
 made known to us, that each for himself must 
 answer at his tribunal for his principles and 
 conduct. What man, then, or body of men, 
 has aright to tell me, 'You do not think aright 
 on religious subjects, but we will tolerate your 
 error 1' The answer is a most obvious one, 
 ' Who gave you authority to dictate 1 — or what 
 exclusive claim have you to infallibility'!' If 
 my sentiments do not lead me into conduct 
 inconsistent with the welfare of my fellow- 
 creatures, the question as to their accuracy or 
 fallacy is one between God and my own con- 
 science; and, though a fair subject for argu- 
 ment, is none for compulsion. 
 
 " The Inquisition undertook to regulate as- 
 tronomical science, and kings and parliaments 
 have with equal propriety presumed to legis- 
 late upon questions of theology. The world 
 has outgrown the former, and it will one day 
 be ashamed that it has been so long of out- 
 growing the latter. The founders of the 
 American republic saw the absurdity of em- 
 ploying the attorney-general to refute deism 
 and infidelity, or of attempting to influence 
 opinion on abstract subjects by penal enact- 
 ment ; they saw also the injustice of taxing 
 the whole to support the religious opinions of 
 the few, and have set an example which older 
 governments will one day or other be com- 
 pelled to follow. 
 
 "In America the question is not. What is 
 bis creed] — but, what is his conduct! Jews 
 have all the privileges of Christians; Episco- 
 palians, Presbyterians, and Independents, meet 
 on common ground. No religious test is re- 
 quired to qualify for public office, except in 
 some cases a mere verbal assent to the truth 
 of the Christian religion ; and in everj^ court 
 throughout the counfrj', it is optional whether 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITPI. 
 
 203 
 
 you give 3'our affirmation or your oath." — 
 Dunca7i's Travels, II. 328—330, 
 
 In fact, it is hardly possible for any nation 
 to show a greater superiority over another 
 tlian the Americans, in this particular, have 
 done over this country. They have fairly and 
 completely, and probably for ever, extinguished 
 that spirit of religious persecution which has 
 been the employment and the curse of man- 
 kind for four or five centuries ; not only that 
 persecution which imprisons and scourges 
 for religious opinions, but the tyranny of in- 
 capacitation, which, by disqualifying from 
 civil offices, and cutting a man off from the 
 lawful objects of ambition, endeavours to 
 strangle religious freedom in silence, and to 
 enjoy all the advantages, without the blood, 
 and noise, and fire of persecution. What 
 passes in the mind of one mean blockhead is 
 the general history of all persecution. "This 
 man pretends to know better than me — I can- 
 not subdue him by argument; but I will take 
 care he shall never be mayor or alderman of 
 the town in which he lives; I will never con- 
 sent to the repeal of the test act or to Catholic 
 emancipation ; I will teach the fellow to differ 
 from me in religious opinions !" So says the 
 Episcopalian to the Catholic — and so the 
 Catholic says to the Protestant. But the 
 wisdom of America keeps them all down — 
 secures to them all their just rights— giv^es to 
 each of them their separate pews, and bells, 
 and steeples — makes them all aldermen in 
 their turns — and quietly extinguishes the fa- 
 gots which each is preparing for the combus- 
 tion of the other. Nor is this indifference to 
 religious subjects in the American people, but 
 pure civilization — a thorough comprehension 
 of what is best calculated to secure the public 
 happiness and peace — and a determination 
 that this happiness and peace shall not be 
 violated by the insolence of any human being, 
 in the garb, and under the sanction, of reli- 
 gion. In this particular, the Americans are at 
 the head of all the nations of the world : and 
 at the same time they are, especially in the 
 Eastern and Midland States, so far from being 
 indifferent on subjects of religion, that they 
 may be most justly characterized as a very 
 religious people : but they are devout without 
 being unjust (the great problem in religion) ; 
 an higher proof of civilization than painted 
 tea-cups, water-proof leather, or broadcloth at 
 two guineas a yard. 
 
 America is exempted, by its very newness 
 as a nation, from many of the evils of the old 
 governments of Europe. It has no mischiev- 
 ous remains of feudal institutions, and no 
 violations of political economy sanctioned by 
 time, and older than the age of reason. If a 
 man finds a partridge upon his ground eating 
 his corn, in any part of Kentucky or Indiana, 
 he may kill it, even if his father is not a doc- 
 tor of divinity. The Americans do not exclude 
 their own citizens from any branch of com- 
 merce which they leave open to all the rest of 
 the world. 
 
 "One of them said, that he was well ac- 
 quainted v/ith a British subject, residing at 
 Newark, Upper Canada, who annually smug- 
 
 gl d from 500 to 1000 chests of tea into that 
 province from the United States. He men- 
 tioned the name of this man, who he said was 
 growing very rich in consequence; and he 
 stated the manner in which the fraud was 
 managed. Now, as all the tea ought to be 
 brought from England, it is of course very 
 expensive; and therefore the Canadian tea 
 dealers, after buying one or two chests at 
 Montreal or elsewhere, which have the cus- 
 tom-house mark upon them, fill them up ever 
 afterwards with tea brought from the United 
 States. It is calculated that near 10,000 chests 
 are annually consumed in the Canadas, of 
 which not more than 2000 or 3000 come from 
 Europe. Indeed, when I had myself entered 
 Canada, I was told that of every fifteen pounds 
 of tea sold there thirteen were smuggled. The 
 profit upon smuggling this article is from 50 
 to 100 per cent., and with an extensive and 
 wild frontier like Canada, cannot be prevented. 
 Indeed it every year increases, and is brought 
 to a more perfect system. But I suppose that 
 the English government, which is the perfec- 
 tion of wisdom, Avill never allow the Canadian 
 merchants to trade direct to China, in order 
 that (from pure charity) the whole profit of 
 the tea trade may be given up to the United 
 States." — Excursion, pp. 394, 395. 
 
 "You will readily conceive, that it is with 
 no small mortification that I hear these Ame- 
 rican merchants talk of sending their ships to 
 London and Liverpool, to take in goods or 
 specie, with which to purchase tea for the 
 supply of European ports, almost within sight 
 of our own shores. They often taunt me, 
 asking me what our government can possibly 
 mean by prohibiting us from engaging in a 
 profitable trade, which is open to them and to 
 all the world 1 or where can be our boasted 
 liberties, while we tamely submit to the infrac- 
 tion of our natural rights, to supply a mono- 
 poly as absurd as it is unjust, and to humour 
 the caprice of a company who exclude their 
 fellow-subjects from a branch of commerce 
 which they do not pursue themselves, but 
 leave to the enterprise of foreigners, or com- 
 mercial rivals'! On such occasions I can 
 only reply, that both our governments and 
 people are growing wiser; and that if the 
 charter of the East'lndia Company be renew- 
 ed, when it next expires, I will allow them to 
 infer, that the people of England have liitle 
 influence in the administration of their own 
 afMrs."— Hodgson's Letters, II. 128, 129. 
 
 Though America is a confederation of re- 
 publics, they are in many cases much more 
 amalgamated than the various parts of Great 
 Britain. If a citizen of the United States can 
 make a shoe, he is at liberty to make a shoe 
 any where between Lake Ontario and New 
 Orleans,— he may sole on the Mississippi- 
 heel on the Missouri— measure Mr. Birkbeck 
 on the little Wabash, or take (which our best 
 politicians do not find an easy matter) the 
 length of Munroe's foot on the banks of the 
 Potomac. But wo to the cobbler, who, having 
 made Hessian boots for the aldermen of New- 
 castle, should venture to invest with these co- 
 riaceous integuments the leg of a liege subjecl 
 at York. A yellow ant in a nest of red ants 
 
204 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 a butcher's dog in a fox-kennel — a mouse in a 
 bee-hive, — all feel the effects of untimely in- 
 trusion ; — but far prefera,ble their fate to that 
 of the misguided artisan, who, misled by six- 
 penny histories of England, and conceiving 
 his country to have been united at the Hept- 
 archy, goes forth from his native town to stitch 
 freely within the sea-girt limits of Albion. 
 Him the mayor, him the alderman, him the 
 recorder, him the quarter sessions would Avor- 
 ry. Him the justices before trial would long 
 to get into the treadmill ;* and would much 
 lament that, by a recent act, they could not do 
 so, even with the intruding tradesman's con- 
 sent ; but the moment he was tried, they would 
 push him in with redoubled energy, and leave 
 him to tread himself into a conviction of the 
 barbarous institutions of his corporation- 
 divided country. 
 
 Too much praise cannot be given to the 
 Americans for their great attention to the sub- 
 ject of education. All the public lands are 
 surveyed according to the direction of Con- 
 gress. They are divided into townships of 
 six miles square, by lines running with the 
 cardinal points, and consequently crossing 
 each other at right angles. Every township 
 is divided into 36 sections, each a mile square, 
 and containing 640 acres. One section in 
 each township is reserved, and given in per- 
 petuity for the benefit of common schools. In 
 addition to this, the states of Tennessee and 
 Ohio have received grants for the support of 
 colleges and academies. The appropriation 
 generally in the new states for seminaries of 
 the higher orders, amounts to one-fifth of those 
 for common schools. It appears from Sey- 
 bert's Statistical Annals, that the land in the 
 states and territories on the east side of the 
 Mississippi, in which appropriations have 
 been made, amounts to 237,300 acres ; and 
 according to the ratio above mentioned, the 
 aggregate on the east side of the Mississippi 
 is 7,900,000. The same system of appropria- 
 tion applied to the Avest, will make, for schools 
 and colleges, 6,600,000 ; and the total appropria- 
 tion for literary purposes, in the new states 
 and territories, 14,.500,000 acres, which, at two 
 
 * This puts IIS in niind of our friend Mr. Heanlam, 
 Wtio, we hear, has written an answer to our Observa- 
 tions on tlie Treadmill, before Trial. It would have been 
 a very easy thins for us to have hiiiiL' Mr. Hearilain upas a 
 spectacle to the United IsliiL'doiiis of l^ngland, t~cotland. 
 and Ireland, the princip:ilit\ of V\;ilc?. ami the town of 
 I?erwick-on-Tvveed ; but we hnve no wish to make a 
 worthy and respectable man ridirulnus. Tor these rea- 
 sons we have not even looked at his pamphlet, and we 
 decline entering into a controversy upon a point, where, 
 among men of sense and humanity (who have not heat- 
 ed Itiemselves in the dispute), tViere cannot possibly be 
 any ditfercnce of opinion. All memliers of both hoiises 
 of Parliament were unanimous in their condemnation 
 of the odious and nonsensical practice of working pri- 
 soners in the treadmill before trial. It had not one sinele 
 advocate Mr. lleadlam and the magistrates of the 
 North Riding, in their eagerness to save a relic of their 
 prison system, forgot themselves so fir as to petition to 
 be entrusted with the power of putting prisoners to work 
 before trial, with their otrn consent— Wie leL'islature was, 
 "We will not trust you," — the severest practical rebuke 
 ever received by any public body. We will leave it to 
 others to determine whether it was deserved. We have 
 no doubt the great body of magistrates meant well. They 
 must have meant well— but they have been sadly misled, 
 and have thrown odium on the subordinate administra- 
 tion of justice, which it is far from deserving on other 
 (iccasious, in their hands. This strange piece of nonsense 
 is, hov^ever, now well ended.— iJejaissoct in pact! 
 
 dollars per acre, would be 29,000,000 dollars. 
 These facts are very properly quoted by Mr. 
 Hodgson ; and it is impossible to speak too 
 highly of their value and importance. They 
 quite put into the back ground every thing 
 which has been done in the Old World for the 
 improvement of the lower orders, and confer 
 deservedly upon the Americans the character 
 of a Avise, a reflecting, and a virtuous people. 
 
 It is rather surprising that such a people, 
 spreading rapidly over so A^ast a portion of 
 the earth, and cultivating all the liberal and 
 useful arts so successfully, should be so ex- 
 tremely sensitive and touchy as the Ameri- 
 cans are said to be. We really thought at 
 one time they would haA'e fitted out an arma- 
 ment against the Edinburgh and Quarterly 
 RevicAvs, and burnt down Mr. Murray's and 
 Mr. Constable's shops, as Ave did the American 
 Capitol. We, hoAvever, remember no other 
 anti-American crime of which Ave Avere guilty, 
 than a preference of Shakspeare and Milton 
 over Joel BarloAV and Timothy Dwight. That 
 opinion we must still take the liberty of retain- 
 ing. There is nothing in Dwight comparable 
 to the finest passages of Paradise Lost, nor is 
 Mr. Barlow ever humorous or pathetic, as the 
 great bard of the English stage is humorous 
 and pathetic. We have always been strenu- 
 ous* advocates for, and admirers of, America 
 — not taking our ideas from the overweening 
 vanit}^ of the weaker part of the Americans 
 themseh^es, but from Avhat Ave haA"e observed 
 of their real energy and wisdom. It is very 
 natural that we Scotch, who live in a little, 
 shabby, scraggy corner of a remote island, 
 Avith a climate which cannot ripen an apple, 
 should be jealous of the aggressive pleasantry 
 of more favoured people ; but that Americans, 
 who have done so much for themselves, and 
 received so much from nature, should be flung 
 into such convulsions by English reviews and 
 magazines, is really a sad specimen of Colum- 
 bian juvenility. We hardly dare to quote the 
 following account of an American route, for 
 fear of having our motives misrepresented, — 
 and strongly suspect that there are but fcAV 
 Americans Avho could be brought to admit that 
 a Philadelphia or Boston concern of this na- 
 ture is not quite equal to the most brilliant 
 assemblies of London or Paris. 
 
 "A tea party is a serious thing in this coun- 
 tiT ; and some of those at AA-hich I have been 
 present, in New York and elseA^•here, have been 
 on a very large scale. In the modern houses 
 the two principal apartments are on the first 
 floor, and communicated by large folding 
 doors, which on gala days throw wide their 
 ample portals, couA^erting the two apartment 
 into one. At the largest party Avhich I ha\e 
 
 * Ancient women, whether in or out of breeches, will 
 of course imagine that we are the enemies of the insti- 
 tutions of our country, because we are the admirers of 
 the institutions of America : but circumstances differ. 
 American institutions are too new, English institutions 
 are ready made to our hands. If we were to build the 
 house afresh, we might perhaps avail ourselves of the 
 improvements of a new plan ; but we have no sort of 
 wish to pull down an excellent house, strong, warm, and 
 comfortable, because, upon second trial, we might be 
 able to alter and amend it,— a principle which would 
 perpetuate demolition and construction. Our plan, 
 where circumstances are tolerable, is to sit down and 
 enjoy ourselvea. 
 
WORKS OF THE KEY. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 205 
 
 seen, there were about thirty young ladies 
 present, and more than as many gentlemen. 
 Every sofa, chair, and footstool, were occupied 
 by the ladies, and little enough room some of 
 them appeared to have after all. The gentle- 
 men were obliged to be content with walking 
 up and down, talking now with one lady, now 
 with another. Tea was brought in by a cou- 
 ple of blacks, carrying large trays, one covered 
 with cups, the other with cake. Slowly making 
 the round, and retiring at intervals for addi- 
 tional supplies, the ladies were gradually gone 
 over ; and after much patience the gentlemen 
 began to enjoy the beverage ' which cheers 
 but not inebriates;' still walking about, or 
 leaning against the wall, with the cup and 
 saucer in their hand. 
 
 " As soon as the first course was over, the 
 hospitable trays again entered, bearing a chaos 
 of preserves — peaches, pineapples, ginger, 
 oranges, citrons, pears, &c. in tempting dis- 
 play. A few of the young gentlemen now 
 accompanied the revolution of the trays, and 
 sedulously attended to the pleasure of the 
 ladies. The party was so numerous that the 
 period between the commencement and the 
 termination of the round was sufficient to jus- 
 tify a new solicitation : and so the ceremony 
 continued, with very little intermission, during 
 the whole evening. Wine succeeded the pre- 
 serves, and dried fruit followed the wine ; 
 which, in its turn, was supported by sand- 
 wiches in name of supper, and a forlorn hope 
 of confectionary and frost work. I pitied the 
 poor blacks, who, like Tantalus, had such a 
 profusion of dainties the whole evening at 
 their finger ends, without the possibility of 
 partaking of them. A little music and dancing 
 gave variety to the scene ; which to some of 
 us was a source of considerable satisfaction ; 
 for when a number of ladies were on the floor, 
 those who cared not for the dance had the 
 pleasure of getting a seat. About eleven 
 o'clock I did myself the honour of escorting a 
 lady home, and was well pleased to have an 
 excuse for escaping." — Duncan's Travels, II. 
 279, 280. 
 
 The coaches must be given up ; so must 
 the roads, and so must the inns. They are of 
 course what these accommodations are in all 
 new countries ; and much like what English 
 great-grandfathers talk about as existing in 
 this country at the first period of their recol- 
 lection. The great inconvenience of Ameri- 
 can inns, however, in the eyes of an English- 
 man, is one which more sociable travellers 
 must feel less acutely — we mean the impossi- 
 bility of being alone, of having a room sepa- 
 rate from the rest of the company. There is 
 nothing which an Englishman enjoys more 
 than the pleasure of sulkiness, — of not being 
 forced to hear a word from any body which 
 may occasion to him the necessity of replying. 
 It is not so much that Mr. Bull disdains to 
 talk, as that Mr. Bull has nothing to say. His 
 forefathers have been out of spirits for six or 
 seven hundred years, and, seeing nothing but 
 fog and vapour, he is out of spirits too ; and 
 when there is no selling or buying, or no busi- 
 ness to settle, he prefers being alone and look- 
 ing at the fire. If any gentleman was in dis- 
 
 tress, he would v.'illingly lend an helping hand ; 
 but he thinks it no part of neighbourhood to 
 talk to a person because he happens to be near 
 him. In short, with many excellent qualities, 
 it must be acknowledged that the English are 
 the most disagreeable of all the nations of 
 Europe, — more surly and morose, with less 
 disposition to please, to exert themselves for 
 the good of society, to make small sacrifices, 
 and to put themselves out of their way. They 
 are content with Magna Charta and trial by 
 jury: and think they are not bound to excel 
 the rest of the world in small behaviour, if 
 they are superior to them in great institutions. 
 
 We are terribly afraid that some Americans 
 spit upon the floor, even when that floor is 
 covered by good carpets. Now, all claims to 
 civilization are suspended till this secretion is 
 otherwise disposed of. No English gentleman 
 has spit upon the floor since the Heptarchy. 
 
 The curiosity for which the x\mericans are 
 so much laughed at, is not only venial, but 
 laudable. Where men live in woods and 
 forests, as is the case, of course, in remote 
 American settlements, it is the duty of every 
 man to gratity the inhabitants by telling them 
 his name, place, age, office, virtues, crimes, 
 children, fortune, and remarks : and with fel- 
 low-travellers, it seems to be almost a matter 
 of necessity to do so. When men ride toge- 
 ther for 300 or 400 miles through the woods 
 and prairies, it is of the greatest importance 
 that the}' should be able to guess at subjects 
 most agreeable to each other, and to multiply 
 their common topics. Without knowing who 
 your companion is, it is difficult to know both 
 what to say and what to avoid. You may talk 
 of honour and virtue to an attorney, or con- 
 tend with a Virginia planter that men of a fair 
 colour have no rig^ht to buy and sell men of a 
 dusky colour. The following is a lively de- 
 scription of the rights of interrogation, as un- 
 derstood and practised in America. 
 
 " As for the inquisitiveness of the Americans, 
 I do not think it has been at all exaggerated. — 
 They certainly are, as they profess to be, a 
 very inquiring people ; and if we may some- 
 times be disposed to dispute the claims of their 
 love of knowing to the character of a liberal 
 curiosity, we must at least admit that they 
 make a most liberal use of every means in 
 their power to gratify it. I have seldom, how- 
 ever, had any difficulty in repressing their 
 home questions, if I wished it, and without 
 offending them; but I more frequently amused 
 myself by putting them on the rack ; civilly, 
 and apparently unconsciously, eluded their in- 
 quiries for a time, and then awakening their 
 gratitude by such a discovery of myself as I 
 might choose to make. Sometimes a man 
 would place himself at my side in the wilder- 
 ness, and ride for a mile or two without the 
 smallest communication between us, except 
 a slight nod of the head. He would then, per- 
 haps, make some grave remark on the wea- 
 ther, and if I assented, in a monosyllable, he 
 would stick to my side for anothei mile or 
 two, when he would commence his attack. 
 'I reckon, stranger, you do not belong to these 
 parts'?' — 'No, sir; I am not of Alabama.'- 
 'I guess you are from the north 1' — 'No, sir, 
 
206 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 I am not from the north.' — ' I guess you found 
 the roads mighty muddy, and the creeks swim- 
 ming. You are come a long way, I guess 1' — 
 ' No, not so very far; we have travelled a few 
 hundred miles since we turned our faces west- 
 ward.' — 'I guess you have seen Mr. , or 
 
 General V (mentioning the names of 
 
 some well-known individuals in the middle 
 and southern states, who M-ere to serve as 
 guide-posts to detect our route) ; but, ' I have 
 not the pleasure of knowing any of them,' or, 
 ' I have the pleasure of knowing all,' equally 
 defeated his purpose, but not his hopes. 'I 
 reckon, stranger, you have had a good crop 
 of cotton this yearl' — 'I am told, sir, the 
 crops have been unusually abundant in Caro- 
 lina and Georgia.' — 'You grow tobacco, then, 
 I guess?' (to track me to Virginia). 'No; I 
 do not grow tobacco.' Here a modest in- 
 quirer would give up in despair, and trust to 
 the chapter of accidents to develope my name 
 and history; but I generally rewarded his mo- 
 desty, and excited his gratitude, by telling him 
 I would torment him no longer. 
 
 " The courage of a thorough-bred Yankee* 
 would rise with his dirhculties ; and after a 
 decent interval, he would resume : ' I hope 
 no otfence, sir ; but you know we Yankees 
 lose nothing for want of asking. I guess, 
 stranger, you are from the old country 1' — 
 ' Well, my friend, you have guessed right at 
 last, and I am sure you deserve something for 
 your perseverance; and no^v I suppose it will 
 save us both trouble if I proceed to the second 
 part of the story, and tell you where I am go- 
 ing. I am going to New Orleans.' This is 
 really no exaggerated picture : dialogues, not 
 indeed in these very words, but to ihis effect, 
 occurred continually; and some of them more 
 minute and extended than I can venture upon 
 in a letter. I ought, however, to say, that 
 many questions lose much of their familiarity 
 when travelling in the wilderness. 'Where 
 are you from?' and 'whither are j'ou boundl' 
 do not appear impertinent interrogations at 
 sea ; and often in the western wilds I found 
 myself making inquiries which I should have 
 thought very free and easy at home." — Hodg- 
 son's Letters, H. 32—35. 
 
 In all new and distant settlements the forms 
 of law must, of course, be very limited. No 
 justice's Avarrant is current in the Dismal 
 Swamp ; constables are exceedingly puzzled 
 in the neighbourhood of the Mississippi ; and 
 there is no treadmill, either before or after 
 trial, on the Little Wabash. The consequence 
 of this is, that the settlers take the law into 
 their own hands, and give notice to a justice- 
 proof delinquent to quit the territory, — if this 
 notice is disobeyed, they assemble and whip 
 the culprit, and this failing, on the second visit 
 they cut off his ears. In short. Captain Rock 
 has his descendants in America. Mankind 
 cannot live together without some approxima 
 tion to justice ; and if the actual government 
 will not govern well, or cannot govern well, 
 is too wicked or too weak to do so — then men 
 prefer Rock to anarchy. The following is th 
 
 * " In America, the term Yankee is applied to the na- 
 I'es of New England only, and is eenerally used with 
 1 air of pleasantry. 
 
 best account we have seen of this system of 
 irregular justice. 
 
 " After leaving Carlyle, I took the Shawnee- 
 town road, that branches off to the S. E., and 
 passed the Walnut Hills, and Moore's Prairie. 
 These two places had a year or two before 
 been infested by a notorious gang of robbers 
 and forgers, who had fixed themselves in these 
 wild parts in order to avoid justice. As the 
 country became more settled, these despera- 
 does became more and more troublesome. The 
 inhabitants, therefore, took that method of get- 
 ting rid of them that had been adopted not 
 many years ago in Hopkinson and Henderson 
 counties, Kentucky, and which is absolutely 
 necessary in new and thinly settled districts, 
 where it is almost impossible to punish a 
 criminal according to legal forms. 
 
 "On such occasions, therefore, all the quiet 
 and industrious men of a district form them- 
 selves into companies, under the name of ' Regu- 
 lators.' They appoini officers, put themselves 
 under their orders, and bind themselves to 
 assist and stand by each other. The first step 
 they then take is to send notice to any notori- 
 ous vagabonds, desiring them to quit the state 
 in a certain number of days, under the penalty 
 of receiving a domiciliary visit. Should the 
 person who receives the notice refuse to com- 
 ply, they suddenly assemble, and, when unex- 
 pected, go in the night-time to the rogue's 
 house, take him out, tie him to a tree, and 
 give him a severe whipping, every one of the 
 party striking him a certain number of times. 
 
 "This discipline is generally sufficient to 
 drive off the culprit ; but should he continue 
 obstinate, and refuse to avail himself of an- 
 other warning, the Regulators pay him a se- 
 cond visit, inflict a still severer whipping, with 
 the addition probably of cutting off both his 
 ears. No culprit has ever been knoAvn to re- 
 main after a second visit. For instance, an 
 old man, the father of a family, all of whom 
 he educated as robbers, fixed himself at 
 Moore's Prairie, and committed numerous 
 thefts, &c. &c. He was hard enough to re- 
 main after the first visit, when both he and 
 his sons received a whipping. At the second 
 visit the Regulators punished him very severe- 
 ly, and cut off his ears. This drove him ofi', 
 together with his whole gang, and travellers 
 can now pass in perfect safety where it was 
 once dangerous to travel alone. 
 
 "There is also a company of Regulators 
 near Vincennes, who have broken up a noto- 
 rious gang of coiners and thieves who had 
 fixed themselves near that place. These ras- 
 cals, before they were driven off, had parties 
 settled at different distances in the woods, and 
 thus held communication and passed horses 
 and stolen goods from one to another, from 
 the Ohio to Lake Erie, and from thence into 
 Canada or the New England States. Thus it 
 was next to impossible to detect the robbers, 
 or to recover the stolen property. 
 
 "This practice of Regulating seems very 
 strange to an European. I have talked with 
 some of the chief men of the Regulators, who 
 all lamented the necessity of such a system. 
 They very sensibly remarked, that when the 
 1 country became more thickly settled, there 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 would no longer be any necessity for such 
 proceedings, and that they should all be de- 
 lighted at being able to obtain justice in a 
 more formal manner. I forgot to mention, 
 that the rascals punished have sometimes pro- 
 secuted the Regulators for an assault. 1 he 
 juries, however, knowing the bad character 
 of the prosecutors, would give but trifling 
 damages, which, divided among so many, 
 amounted to next to nothing for each indivi- 
 dual." — Excursion, pp. 233 — 236. 
 
 This same traveller mentions his having 
 met at table three or four American ex-kings— - 
 presidents who had served their time, and had 
 retired into private life ; he observes also upon 
 the effect of a democratical government in pre- 
 venting mobs. Mobs are created by opposi- 
 tion to the wishes of the people :— but when 
 the wishes of the people are consulted so com- 
 pletely as they are consulted in America— all 
 motives for the agency of mobs are done 
 away. 
 
 "It is, indeed, entirely a government of 
 opinion. Whatever the people wish is done. 
 If they want any alteration of laws, tariffs, 
 &c., they inform their representatives, and it 
 there be a majority that wish it, the alteration 
 is made at once. In most European countries 
 there is a portion of the population denomi- 
 nated the moJ, who, not being acquainted with 
 real liberty, give themselves up to occasional 
 fits of licentiousness. *But in the United States 
 there is no mob, for every man feels himself 
 free. At the time of Burr's conspiracy, Mr. 
 Jefferson said, that there was little to be ap- 
 
 prehended from it, as every man 
 
 felt himself a 
 
 part of the general sovereignty. The event 
 proved the truth of this assertion ; and Burr, 
 who in any other country would have been 
 hanged, drawn, and quartered, is at present 
 leading an obscure life in the city of New 
 York, despised by every on&:'— Excursion, 
 p. 70. 
 
 It is a real blessing for America to be ex- 
 empted from that vast burthen of taxes, the 
 consequences of a long series of foolish, just 
 and necessary wars, carried on to please kings 
 and queens, or the waiting maids and waiting 
 lords and gentlemen, who have always go- 
 verned kings and queens in the old world. 
 The Americans owe this good to the newness 
 of their government ; andlhough there are few 
 classical associations, or historical recollec- 
 tions in the United States, this barrenness is 
 well purchased by the absence of all the feudal 
 nonsense, inveterate abuses, and profligate 
 debts of an old country. 
 
 "The good effects of a free government are 
 visible throughout the whole country. There 
 are no tithes, no poor-rates, no excise, no 
 heavy internal taxes, no commercial monopo- 
 lies. An American can make candles if he 
 have tallow, can distil brandy if he have grapes 
 or peaches, and can make beer if he have malt 
 and hops, without asking leave of any one, 
 and much less with any fear of incurring pun- 
 ishment. How would a farmer's wife there 
 be astonished, if told that it was contrary to 
 law for her to make soap out of the potass ob- 
 tained on the farm, and of the grease she her- 
 
 self had saved ! When an American has made 
 these articles, he may build his little vessel, 
 and take them without hinderance to any part 
 of the world ; for there is no rich company of 
 merchants that can say to him, ' You shall not 
 trade to India ; and you shall not buy a pound 
 of tea of the Chinese ; as, by so doing, you 
 would infringe upon our privileges.' In con- 
 sequence of this freedom, all the seas are co- 
 vered with their vessels, and the people at 
 home are active and independent. I never 
 saw a beggar in any part of the United States ; 
 nor was I ever asked for charity but once— - 
 and that was by an Irishman." — Excursion, pp. 
 70,71. 
 
 America is so differently situated from the 
 old governments of Europe, that the United 
 States afford no political precedents that are 
 exactly applicable to our old governments. 
 There is no idle and discontented population. 
 When they have peopled themselves up to the 
 Mississippi, they cross to the Missouri, and 
 will go on until they are stopped by the West- 
 ern Ocean ; and then, when there are a num- 
 ber of persons who have nothing to do, and 
 nothing to gain, no hope for lawful industry 
 and great interest in promoting changes, we 
 may consider their situation as somewhat 
 similar to our own, and their example as touch- 
 ing us more nearly. The changes in the con- 
 stiWion of the particular states seem to be 
 very frequent, very radical, and to us very 
 alarming; — they seem, however, to be thought 
 very little of in that country, and to be very 
 little heard of in Europe. Mr. Duncan, in the 
 following passage, speaks of them with Euro- 
 pean feelings. 
 
 " The other great obstacle to the prosperity 
 of the American nation, universal suffrage,* 
 will not exhibit the full extent of its evil ten- 
 dency for a long time to come ; and it is pos- 
 sible that ere that time some antidote may be 
 discovered, to prevent or alleviate the mischief 
 which we might naturally expect from it. It 
 does, however, seem ominous of evil, that so 
 little ceremony is at present used with the 
 constitutions of the various states. The peo- 
 ple of Connecticut, not contented with having 
 prospered abundantly under their old system, 
 have lately assembled a convention, composed 
 of delegates from all parts of the country, in 
 which the former order of things has been con- 
 demned entirely, and a completely new con- 
 stitution manufactured; which, among other 
 things, provides for the same process being 
 again gone through, as soon as the profanum 
 vulgus takes it into his head to desire it.f A 
 sorry legacy the British Constitution would 
 be to us, if it were at the mercy of a meeting 
 of delegates, to be summoned whenever a ma- 
 jority of the people took a fancy for a new 
 one ; and I am afraid, that if the Americans 
 continue to cherish a fondness for such repairs, 
 the Highlandman's pistol, with its new slock, 
 
 * In the greater number of the States, every white 
 person, 21 years of age, who has paid taxes for one year, 
 is a voler; in others^ some additional qua hficaions are 
 required, but they are not such as materially to limit the 
 
 ""rThf people of the State of New York have subse- 
 quently taken a similar fancy to clout the cauldron. 
 (1822J 
 
208 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 lock, and barrel, %vill bear a close resemblance 
 to what is ultimately produced." — Dunccm's 
 Travels, U. 335, 336. 
 
 In the Excursion there is a list of the Ame- 
 rican navy, -which, in conjunction Avith the 
 navy of France, will one day or another, v.e 
 fear, settle the Catholic question in a way not 
 (^ite agreeable to the Earl of Liverpool for the 
 time being, nor very creditable to the wisdom 
 of those ancestors of whom we hear, and from 
 whom we suffer so much. The regulations of 
 the American navy seem to be admirable. 
 The states are making great exertions to in- 
 crease this navy; and since the capture of so 
 many English ships, it has become the fa- 
 vourite science of the people at large. Their 
 flotillas on the lakes completely defeated ours 
 during the last war. 
 
 Fanaticism of every description seems to 
 rage and flourish in America, which has no 
 establishment, in about the same degree which 
 it does here under the nose of an established 
 church ; — they have their prophets and pro- 
 phetesses, their preaching encampments, fe- 
 male preachers, and every variety of noise, 
 foil)', and nonsense, like ourselves. Among 
 the most singular of these fanatics, are the 
 Harmonites. Rapp, their founder, was a dis- 
 senter from the Lutheran church, and there- 
 fore, of course, the Lutheran clergy of Stut- 
 gard (near to which he lived) began to put Mr. 
 Rapp in white sheets, to prove him guilty of 
 theft, parricide, treason, and all the usual crimes 
 of which men dissenting from established 
 churches are so often guilty, — and delicate 
 hints were given respecting fagots ! Stutgard 
 abounds with underwood and clergy; and — 
 away went Mr. Rapp to the United States, and, 
 with a great multitude of followers, settled 
 about twent)'-four miles from our countryman, 
 Mr. Birkbeck. His people have here built a 
 large town, and planted a vineyard, where they 
 make very agreeable wine. They carry on 
 also a very extensive system of husbandry, 
 and are the masters of many flocks and herds. 
 They have a distillery, brewery, tannery, make 
 hats, shoes, cotton and woollen cloth, and 
 every thing necessary to the comfort of life. 
 Every one belongs to some particular trade. 
 But in bad weather, when there is danger of 
 losing their crops, Rapp blows a horn, and 
 calls them all together. Over every trade 
 there is a head man, who receives the money 
 and gives a receipt, signed by Rapp, to whom 
 all the money collected is transmitted. When 
 any of these workmen wants a hat or a coat, 
 Rapp signs him an order for the garment, for 
 which he goes to the store, and is fitted. They 
 have one large store where these manufac- 
 tures are deposited. This store is much re- 
 sorted to by the neighboitrhood, on account of 
 the goodness and cheapness of the articles. 
 They have built an excellent house for their 
 founder, Rapp, — as it might have been pre- 
 dicted they would have done. The Harmonites 
 profess equality, communit)' of goods, and ce- 
 libacy; for the'men and women (let Mr. Mal- 
 thus hear this) live separately, and are not 
 allowed the slightest intercourse. In order to 
 keep up their numbers, they have once or 
 
 twice sent over for a supply of Germans, as 
 they admit no Americans, of any intercourse 
 with whom they are very jealous. Harmonites 
 dress and live plainly. It is a part of tlieir 
 creed that they should do so. Rapp, however, 
 and the head men have no such particular 
 creed for themselves, and indulge in wine, 
 beer, grocery, and other irreligious diet. Rapp 
 is both governor and priest, — preaches to them 
 in church, and directs all their proceedings in 
 their working hours. In short, Rapp seems to 
 have made use of the religious propensities of 
 mankind, to persuade one or two thousand 
 fools to dedicate their Ha'cs to his service ; and 
 if they do not get tired, and fling their prophet 
 into a horse-pond, they will in all probability 
 disperse as soon as he dies. 
 
 Unitarians are increasing very fast in the 
 United States, not being kept down by charges 
 from bishops and archdeacons, their natural 
 enemies. 
 
 The author of the Excursion remarks upon 
 the total absence of all games in America. No 
 cricket, foot-ball, nor leap-frog — all seems solid 
 and profitable. 
 
 "One thing that I could not help remarking 
 with regard to the Americans in general, is the 
 total want of all those games and sports that 
 obtained for our country the appellation of 
 ' Merry England.' Although children usually 
 transmit stories and sports from one genera- 
 tion to another, and although many of our nur- 
 sery games and tales are supposed to have 
 been imported into England in the vessels of 
 Hengist and Horsa, yet cur brethren in the 
 United States seem entirely to have forgotten 
 the childish amusements of our common an- 
 cestors. In America I never saw even the 
 schoolboys playing at any game whatsoever. 
 Cricket, foot-ball, quoits, &c., appear to be 
 utterly unknown; and I believe that if an 
 American were to see grown-up men playing 
 at cricket, he would express as much astonish- 
 ment as the Italians did when some English- 
 m.en played at this finest of all games, in the 
 Cascina at Florence. Indeed, that joyous 
 spirit which, in our country, animates not only 
 childhood, but also maturer age, can rarely or 
 never be seen among the inhabitants of the 
 United States." — Excursion, pp. 502, 503. 
 
 These are a few of the leading and promi- 
 nent circumstances respecting America, men- 
 tioned in the various works before us: of 
 which works we can recommend the Letters 
 of Mr. Hudson, and the Excursion into Cana- 
 da, as sensible, agreeable books, written in a 
 very fair spirit. 
 
 America seems, on the whole, to be a coun- 
 try possessing vast advantages, and little in- 
 conveniences ; they have a cheap government, 
 and bad roads; they pay no tithes, and have 
 stage-coaches without springe. They have no 
 poor laws and no monopolies — but their inns 
 are inconvenient, and travellers are teased 
 with questions. They have no collections in 
 the fine arts ; but they have no lord-chancellor, 
 and they can go to law without absolute ruin. 
 They cannot make Latin verses, but they ex- 
 pend immense sums in the education of the 
 poor. In all this the balance is prodigiously 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 209 
 
 in their favour: but then comes the great dis- 
 grace and danger of America — the existence 
 of slavery, which, if not timously corrected, 
 will one day entail (and ought to entail) a 
 bloody servile war upon the Americans — 
 which will separate America into slave states 
 and states disclaiming slavery,, and which re- 
 mains at present as the foulest blot in the mo- 
 ral character of that people. An high-spirited 
 nation, who cannot endure the slightest act of 
 foreign aggression, and who revolt at the very 
 shadow of domestic tyranny — beat with cart- 
 whips, and bind with chains, and murder for 
 the merest trifles, wretched human beings who 
 are of a more dusky colour than themselves ; 
 
 and have recently admitted into their Union a 
 new state, with the express permission of in- 
 grafting this atrocious wickedness into their 
 constitution ! Nu one can admire the simple 
 wisdom and manly firmness of the Americans 
 more than we do, or more despise the pitiful 
 propensity which exists among government 
 runners to vent their small spite at their cha- 
 racter; but on the subject of slavery, the con- 
 duct of America is, and has been, most repre- 
 hensible. It is impossible to speak of it with 
 too much indignation and contempt; but for 
 it, we should look forward with unqualified 
 pleasure to such a land of freedom, and such 
 a magnificent spectacle of human happiness. 
 
 BENTHAM ON FALLACIES.* 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 1825.] 
 
 There are a vast number of absurd and mis- 
 chievous fallacies, which pass readily in the 
 world for sense and virtue, while in truth they 
 tend only to fortify error and encourage crime. 
 Mr. Bentham has enumerated the most con- 
 spicuous of these in the book before us. 
 
 Whether it is necessary there should be a 
 middleman between the cultivator and pos- 
 sessor, learned economists have doubted; but 
 neither gods, men, nor booksellers can doubt 
 the necessity of a middleman between Mr. 
 Bentham and the public. Mr. Bentham is 
 long; Mr. Bentham is occasionally involved 
 and obscure; Mr. Bentham invents new and 
 alarming expressions ; Mr. Bentham loves di- 
 vision and subdivision — and he loves method 
 itself, more than its consequences. Those 
 only, therefore, who know his originality, his 
 knowledge, his vigour, and his boldness, will 
 recur to the works themselves. The great 
 mass of readers will not purchase improve- 
 ment at so dear a rate; but will choose rather to 
 become acquainted with Mr. Bentham throu;jh 
 the mediunr of reviews — after that eminent 
 philosopher has been washed, trimmed, shaved, 
 and forced into clean linen. One great use of 
 a review, indeed, is lo make men wise in ten 
 pages, who have no appetite for an hundred 
 pages; to condense nourishment, to work with 
 pulp and essence, and to guard the stomach 
 from idle burden and unmeaning bulk. For 
 half a page, sometimes for a whole page, Mr. 
 Bentham writes with a power which few can 
 equal ; and by selecting and omitting, an admi- 
 rable style may be formed from the text. 
 Using this liberty, we shall endeavour to give 
 an account of Mr. Bentham's doctrines, for the 
 most part in his own words. Wherever any 
 expression is particularly happy, let it be con- 
 sidered to be Mr. Beniham's: — the dulness we 
 take to ourselves. 
 
 Our Wise Ancestors — the Wisdom of our Ances- 
 tors — the Wisdom of Ages — Venerable Antiquity — 
 
 * The Book of Fallacies: from Uvjinished Papers of 
 Jeremy Bentham, By a Friend. London, J. and H. L. 
 Hunt. 1824. 
 
 37 
 
 Wisdom of Old Times. — This mischievous and 
 absurd fallacy springs from the grossest per- 
 version of the meaning of words. Experience 
 is certainly the mother of wisdom, and the old 
 have, of course, a greater experience than the 
 young; but the question is, who are the old? 
 and who are the young 1 Of individuals living 
 at the same period, the oldest has, of course, 
 the greatest experience; but among generations 
 of men the reverse of this is true. Those who 
 come first (our ancestors), are the young peo- 
 ple, and have the least experience. We have 
 added to their experience the experience of 
 many centuries ; and, therefore, as far as expe- 
 rience goes, are wiser, and more capable of 
 forming an opinion than they were. The real 
 feeling should be, vol can we be so presump- 
 tuous as to put our opinions in opposition to 
 those of our ancestors 1 but can such young, ig- 
 norant, inexperienced persons as our ancestors 
 necessarily were, be expected to have under- 
 stood a subject as well as those who have seen 
 so much more, lived so much longer, and 
 enjoyed the experience of so many centuries'? 
 All this cant, then, about our ancestors- is 
 merely an abuse of words, by transferring 
 phrases true of contemporary men to succeed- 
 ing ages. Whereas (as we have before ob- 
 served) of living men the oldest has, ceteris 
 paribus, the most experience; of generations, 
 the oldest has, ccetcris paribus, the least expe- 
 rience. Our ancestors, up to the Conquest, 
 were children in arms; chubby boys ia the 
 time of Edward the First; striplings under 
 Elizabeth; men in the reign of Queen Anne; 
 and u-c only are the white-bearded, silver-headed 
 ancients, who have treasured up, and are pre 
 pared to profit by, all the experience which 
 human life can supply. We are not disputing 
 with our ancestors the palm of talent, in which 
 they may or may not be our superiors, but the 
 palm of experience, in which it is utterly im- 
 possible they can be our superiors. And yet, 
 whenever the chancellor comes forward to pro- 
 tect some abuse, or to oppose some plan which 
 has the increase of human happiness for it» 
 s2 
 
210 
 
 WORKfe' OJS -^hT EFV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 object, his first appeal is always to ih? wisdor^ ] 
 of our ancestors; and he himself, and manv i 
 noble lords who vole with him, are, to this 
 hour, persuaded that all alterations and amend- 
 ments on their devices are an unblushing con- 
 troversy between youthful temerity and mature 
 experience! — and so, in truth, they are — only 
 that much-loved magistrate mistakes the young 
 for the old, and the old for the young — and is 
 guilty of that very sin against experience which 
 he attributes to the lovers of innovation. 
 
 We cannot of course be supposed to main- 
 tain that our ancestors wanted wisdom, or that 
 they were necessarily mistaken in their insti- 
 tutions, because their means of information 
 were more limited than ours. But we do con- 
 fidently maintain that when we find it expe- 
 dient to change any thing which our ancestors 
 have enacted, we are the experienced persons, 
 and not they. The quantity of talent is always 
 varying in any great nation. To say that we 
 are more or less able than our ancestors, is an 
 assertion that requires to be explained. All 
 the able men of all ages, M'ho have ever lived 
 in England, probably possessed, if taken alto- 
 gether, more intellect than all the able men now 
 in England can boast of. But if authority must 
 be resorted to rather than reason, the question is, 
 AVhatwas the wisdom of that single age which 
 enacted the law, compared with the wisdom of 
 the age which proposes to alter ill What are 
 the eminent men of one and the other period 1 
 If you say that our ancestors were wiser than us, 
 mention your date and year. If the splendour of 
 names is equal, are the circumstances the samel 
 If the circumstances are the same, we have a su- 
 periority of experience, of which the diflerence 
 between the two periods is the measure. It is 
 necessary to insist upon this ; lor upon sacks of 
 wool, and on benches forensic, sit grave men, 
 and agricolous persons in the Commons, crying 
 out "Ancestors, Ancestors ! horlic non! Saxons, 
 Danes, save us! Fiddlefrig, help us! Howel, 
 ■Ethelwolf,protect us." — Any cover for nonsense 
 — any veil for trash — any pretext for repelling 
 the innovations of conscience and of duty! 
 
 " So long as they keep to vague generalities — 
 ■so long as the two objects of comparison are 
 each of them taken in the lump — wise ances- 
 tors in one lump, ignorant and foolish mob of 
 modern times in the other — the weakness of 
 the fallacy may escape detection. But let them 
 assign for the period of superior wisdom any 
 determinate period whatsoever, not only will 
 the groundlessness of the notion be apparent 
 (class being compared with class in that period 
 and the present one), but, unless the antecedent 
 period be, comparatively speaking, a very 
 modern one, so wide will be the disparity, and 
 to such an amount in favour of modern times, 
 that, in comparison of the lowest class of the 
 people in modern limes (always supposing 
 ihem proficients in the art of reading, and their 
 proficiency employed in the reading of news- 
 papers), the very highest and best informed 
 class of these wise ancestors will turn out to 
 De grossly ignorant. 
 
 " Take, for example, any year in the reign 
 of Henry the Eighth, from 1509 to 1546. At 
 that time the House of Lords would probably 
 have been in pos-session of by far the larger 
 
 p-opctio^: of what little instruction the ag? 
 oi-%i\''ed . in the House of Lords, among the 
 laiiy it 'nigbt even then be a question whe- 
 ther, witho'cf- exception, thtir lordships were 
 all 01 thcio ab'e co ntucL as to read. But 
 even supposiuf \\\?xa eU in the fullest posses- 
 sion of that uselul ait. po!'tiCi»l science being 
 the science in question, wha* instrucdon on 
 the subject could they ii.°et cith ?t ti.^t tiine 
 of day? 
 
 " On no one branch of lOgislr^iou ■^'as ?ny 
 book extant from which, with regard !o tnc cii- 
 cumstances of the then present times, any useful 
 instruction could be derived: distributive law, 
 penal law, international law, political economy, 
 so far from existing as sciences, had scarcely ob- 
 tained a name : in all those departments, under 
 the head otquid faciendum, a mere blank : the 
 whole literature of the age consisted of a mea- 
 ger chronicle or two, containing short memo- 
 randums of the usual occurrences of war and 
 peace,battles, sieges, executions, revels, deaths, 
 births, processions, ceremonies, and other ex- 
 ternal events ; but with scarce a speech or an 
 incident that could enter into the composition 
 of any such work as a history of the human 
 mind — with scarce an attempt at investigation 
 into causes, characters, or the state of the 
 people at large. Even when at last, little by 
 little, a scrap or two of political instruction 
 came to be obtainable, the proportion of error 
 and mischievous doctrine mixed up with it was ' 
 so great, that whether a blank unfilled might 
 not have been less prejudicial than a blank 
 thus filled, may reasonably be matter of doubt. 
 
 " If we come down to the reign of James 
 the First, we shall find that Solomon of his 
 time eminently eloquent as Avell as learned, 
 not only among crowned but among uncrown- 
 ed heads, marking out for prohibition and pu- 
 nishment the practices of devils and witches, 
 and without any the slightest objection on the 
 part of the great characters of that day in 
 their high situations, consigning men to death 
 and torment for the misfortune of not being so 
 well acquainted as he was with the composi- 
 tion of the Godhead. 
 
 " Under the name of exorcism, the Catholic 
 liturgy contains a form of procedure for driving 
 out devils ; — even with the help of this instru- 
 ment, the operation cannot be performed with 
 the desired success, but by an operator quali- 
 fied by holy orders for the working of this as 
 well as so many other wonders. In our da3's 
 and in our country the same object is attained, 
 and beyond compa.rison more effectually, by 
 so cheap an instrument as a common news- 
 paper: before this talisman, not only devils 
 but ghosts, vampires, witches, and all their 
 kindred tribes, are driven out of the land, ne- 
 ver to return again ! The touch of the holy 
 water is not so intolerable to them as the bare 
 smell of printers' ink." — (pp. 74 — 77.) 
 
 Fallacy of irrevocable Laios. — A law, says 
 Mr. Bentham, (no matter to what effect,) is 
 proposed to a legislative assembly, who are 
 called upon to reject it, upon the single ground, 
 that by those who in some former period ex- 
 ercised the same power, a regulation was made, 
 having for its object to preclude for ever, or 
 to the end of an ttnexpired period, all succeed- 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 211 
 
 in^ legislators from enacting a law to any 
 such effect as that now proposed. 
 
 Now it appears quite evident that, at every 
 period of time, every legislature must be en- 
 dowed with all those powers which the exi- 
 gency of the times may require : and any at- 
 tempt to infringe on this power is inadmissible 
 and absurd. The sovereign power, at any one 
 period, can only form a blind guess at the 
 measures which may be necessary for any 
 future period: but by this principle of immu- 
 table laws, the government is transferred from 
 those who are necessarily the best judges of 
 what they want, to others who can know little 
 or nothing about the matter. The thirteenth 
 century decides for the fourteenth. The four- 
 teenth makes laws for the fifteenth. The 
 tifteenth hermetically seals up the sixteenth, 
 which tyrannizes over the seventeenth, which 
 again tells the eighteenth how it is to act, un- 
 der circumstances which cannot be foreseen, 
 and how it is to conduct itself in exigencies 
 which no human wit can anticipate, 
 
 " Men who have a century more of expe- 
 rience to ground their judgments on, surrender 
 their intellect to men who had a century less 
 experience, and who, unless that deficiency 
 constitutes a claim, have no claim to pre- 
 ference. If the prior gentlemen were, in re- 
 spect of intellectual qualification, ever so much 
 superior to the subsequent generation — if it 
 understood so much better than the subsequent 
 generation itself the interest of that subsequent 
 generation — could it have been in an equal 
 degree anxious to promote that interest, and 
 consequently equally attentive to those facts 
 with which, though in order to form a judg- 
 ment it ought to have been, it is impossible 
 that it should have been acquainted? In a 
 word, will its love for that subsequent gene- 
 ration be quite so great as that same genera- 
 lion's love for itself? 
 
 " Not even here, after a moment's deliberate 
 reflection, will the assertion be in the afiirma 
 tive. And yet it is their prodigious anxiety 
 for the welfare of their posterity that produces 
 the propensity of these sages to tie up the 
 hands of this same posterity for evermore — to 
 act as guardians to its perpetual and incurable 
 weakness, and take its conduct for ever out 
 of its own hands. 
 
 "If it be right that the conduct of the 19th 
 century should be determined not by its own 
 judgment, but by that of the ISth, it will be 
 equally right that the conduct of the 20th cen- 
 tury should be determined, not by its- own 
 judgment, but by that of the 19th. And if the 
 same principle were still pursued, what at 
 length would be the consequence? — that in 
 process of time the practice of legislation 
 would be at an end. The conduct and fate of 
 all men would be determined by those who 
 neither knew nor cared any thing about the 
 matter; and the aggregate body of the living 
 would remain for ever in subjection to an in- 
 exorable tyranny, exercised as it were by the 
 aggregate body of the dead." — (pp. 84 — 86.) 
 
 The despotism, as Mr. Bentham well ob- 
 serves, of Nero or Caligula, would be more 
 
 tolerable than an irrevocable law. The despot, 
 through fear or favour, or in a lucid interval, 
 might relent; but how are the Parliament, 
 who made the Scotch Union, for example, to 
 be awakened from that dust in which they re- 
 pose — the jobber and the patriot, the speaker 
 and the doorkeeper, the silent voters and the 
 men of rich allusions — Cannings and cultiva- 
 tors, Barings and Beggars — making irrevoca- 
 ble laws for men who toss their remains about 
 with spades, and use the relics of these legis- 
 lators to give breadth to brocoli,and to aid the 
 vernal eruption of asparagus ? 
 
 If the law is good, it will support itself; if 
 bad, it should not be supported by the irrevo- 
 cable thcori/, which is never resorted to but as 
 the veil of abuses. All living men must pos- 
 sess the supreme power over their own happi- 
 ness at every particular period. To suppose 
 that there is any thing which a whole nation 
 cannot do, which they deem to be essential to 
 their happiness, and that they cannot do it, 
 because another generation, long ago dead and 
 gone, said it must not be done, is mere non- 
 sense. While you are captain of the vessel, 
 do what you please ; but the moment you quit 
 the ship, I become as omnipotent as you. You 
 may leave me as much advice as you please, 
 but you cannot leave me commands; though, 
 in fact, this is the only meaning which can be 
 applied to what are called irrevocable laws. 
 It appeared to the legislature for the time being 
 to be of immense importance to make such 
 and such a law. Great good was gained, or 
 great evil avoided by enacting it. Pause be- 
 fore jrou alter an institution which has been 
 deemed to be of so much importance. This 
 is prudence and common sense; the rest is 
 the exaggeration of fools, or the artifice of 
 knaves, who eat up fools. What endless non- 
 sense has been talked of our navigation laws ! 
 What wealth has been sacrificed to either be- 
 fore they were repealed ! How impossible it 
 appeared to Noodledom to repeal them ! They 
 were considered of the irrevocable class — a 
 kind of law over which the dead only were 
 omnipotent, and the living had no power. 
 Frost, it is true, cannot be put off by act of 
 Parliament, nor can spring be accelerated by 
 any majority of both houses. It is, however, 
 quite a mistake to suppose that any alteration 
 of any of the articles of union is as much out 
 •of the jurisdiction of Parliament as these, 
 meteorological changes. In eveiy year, and 
 every day of that year, living men have a 
 right to make their own laws, and manage 
 their own affairs ; to break through the tyranny 
 of the ante-spirants — the people who breathed 
 before them, — and to do what they please for 
 themselves. Such supreme power cannot, 
 indeed, be well exercised by the people at 
 large ; it must be exercised therefore by the 
 delegates, or Parliament whom the people 
 choose ; and such Parliament, disregarding 
 the superstitious reverence for irrevocable laivs, 
 can have no other criterion of wrong and right 
 than that of public utility. 
 
 When a law is considered as immutable, 
 and the immutable law happens at the same 
 time to be too foolish and mischievous to he 
 endured, instead of being repealed, it is cJaJir 
 
212 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 destinely evaded, or openly violated ; and thus 
 the authority of all law is weakened. 
 
 Where a nation has been ancestorially 
 bound by foolish and improvident treaties, 
 ample notice must be given of their termina- 
 tion. Where the state has made ill-advised 
 grants, or rash bargains with individuals, it is 
 necessary to grant proper compensation. The 
 most ditiicult case, certainly, is that of the 
 union of nations, where a smaller number of 
 the weaker nation is admitted into the larger 
 senate of the greater nation, and will be over- 
 powered if the question comes to a vote ; but 
 the lesser nation must run this risk : it is not 
 probable that any violation of articles will take 
 place, till they are absolutely called for by ex- 
 treme necessit}\ But let the danger be what 
 it may, no danger is so great, no supposition 
 so foolish, as to consider any human law as 
 irrevocable. The shifting attitude of human 
 affairs would often render such a condition an 
 intolerable evil to all parties. The absurd 
 jealousy of our countrymen at the union se- 
 cured heritable jurisdiction to the owners ; 
 nine-and-thirty years afterwards they were 
 abolished, in the very teeth of the act of union, 
 and to the evident promotion of the public 
 good. 
 
 Continuity of a Laiu hy Oath. — The sove- 
 reign of England at his coronation takes an 
 oath to maintain the laws of God, the true 
 profession of the gospel, and the Protestant 
 religion as established by law, and to preserve 
 to the bishops and clergy of this realm the 
 rights and privileges which by law appertain 
 to them, and to preserve inviolate the doctrine, 
 discipline, worship, and government of the 
 church. It has been suggested that by this 
 oath the king stands precluded from granting 
 those indulgences to the , Irish Catholics, 
 which are included in the bill for their eman- 
 cipation. The true meaning of these pro- 
 visions is of course to be decided, if doubtful, 
 by the same legislative authority which enacted 
 them. But a different notion, it seems, is now 
 afloat. The king for the time being (we are 
 putting an imaginary case) thinks, as an indi- 
 vidual, that he is not maintaining the doctrine, 
 discipline, and rights of the Church of Eng- 
 land, if he grants any extension of civil rights 
 to those who are not members of that church ; 
 that he is violating his oath by so doing. This 
 oath, then, according to this reasoning, is the 
 great palladium of the church. As long as it 
 remains inviolate the church is safe. How, 
 then, can any monarch who has taken it ever 
 consent to repeal if? How can he, consistent- 
 ly with his oath for the preservation of the 
 privileges of the church, contribute his part 
 to throw down so strong a bulwark as he 
 deems this oath to bel The oath, then, can- 
 not be altered. It must remain under all cir- 
 cumstances of society the same. The king, 
 who has taken it, is bound to continue it, and 
 1o refuse his sanction to any bill for its future 
 alteration ; because it prevents him, and, he 
 must needs think, will prevent others from 
 granting dangerous immunities to the enemies 
 of the church. 
 
 Here, then, is an irrevocable law — a piece 
 oi absurd tyranny exercised by the rulers of 
 
 Queen Anne's time upon the government of 
 1825 — a certain art of potting and preserving 
 a kingdom, in one shape, attitude and flavour — 
 and in this way it is that an institution appears 
 like old Ladies' Sweetmeats and made Wines 
 — Apricot Jam 1822 — Currant Wine 1819— 
 Court of Chancery 1427 — Penal Laws against 
 Catholics 1676. The difference is, that the an- 
 cient woman is a better judge of mouldy com- 
 modities than the illiberal part of his majesty's 
 ministers. The potting lady goes sniffing 
 about and admitting light and air to prevent 
 the progress of decay; while to him of the 
 woolsack, all seems doubly dear in proportion 
 as it is antiquated, worthless, and unusable. 
 It ought not to be in the power of the sovereign 
 to tie up his own hands, much less the hands 
 of his successors. If the sovereign is to op- 
 pose his own opinion to that of the two other 
 branches of the legislature, and himself to 
 decide what he considers to be for the benefit 
 of the Protestant church, and what not, a king 
 who has spent his whole life in the frivolous 
 occupation of a court, may, by perversion of 
 understanding, conceive measures most salu- 
 tary to the church to be most pernicious ; and 
 persevering obstinately in his own error, may 
 frustrate the wisdom of his Parliament, and 
 perpetuate the most inconceivable folly! If 
 Henry VIII. had argued in this manner, we 
 should have had no reformation. If George 
 III. had always argued in this manner, the Ca- 
 tholic code would never have been relaxed. 
 And thus, a king, however incapable of form- 
 ing an opinion upon serious subjects, has 
 nothing to do but to pronounce the word coyi- 
 scicnce, and the whole power of the country is 
 at his feet. 
 
 Can there be greater absurdity than to say 
 that a man is acting contrary to his conscience 
 who surrenders his opinion, upon any subject, 
 to those who must understand the subject bel- 
 ter than himself] I think my ward has a 
 claim to the estate; but the best lawyers tell 
 me he has none. I think my son capable of 
 undergoing the fatigues of a military life; but 
 the best physicians say he is much too weak. 
 My Parliament say this measure will do the 
 church no harm ; but I think it very pernicious 
 to the church. Am I acting contrary to my 
 conscience because I apply much higher in- 
 tellectual powers than my own to the investi- 
 gation and protection of these high interests 1 
 
 "According to the form in which it is con- 
 ceived, any such engagement is in effect either 
 a check or a license : — a license under the ap- 
 pearance of a check, and for that very reason 
 but the more efficiently operative. 
 
 "Chains to the man in power? Yes: — but 
 only such as he figures with on the stage: to 
 the spectators as imposing, to himself as light 
 as possible. Modelled by the wearer to suit 
 his own purposes, they serve to rattle, but not 
 to restrain. 
 
 "Suppose a king of Great Britain and Ire- 
 land to have expressed his fixed determination, 
 in the event of any proposed law being ten- 
 dered to him for his assent, to refuse such 
 assent, and this not on the persuasion that the 
 law would not be 'for the utility of the sub- 
 jects,' but that by his coronation oath he stands 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 213 
 
 precluded from so doing: — the course proper 
 to be taken by Parliament, the course pointed 
 out by principle and precedent, would be, a 
 vote of abdication : — a vote declaring the king 
 to have abdicated his royal authority, and that, 
 as in case of death or incurable mental de- 
 rangement, now is the time for the person next 
 in succession to take his place. 
 
 " In the celebrated case in which a vote to 
 this effect was actually passed, the declaration 
 of abdication was in lawyers' language a fic- 
 tion — in plain truth a falsehood — and that 
 falsehood a mockery ; not a particle of his 
 power was it the wish of James to abdicate, to 
 part with ; but to increase it to a maximum was 
 the manifest object of all his efforts. But in 
 the case here supposed, with respect to a part, 
 and that a principal part of the royal authority, 
 the will and purpose to abdicate are actually 
 declared : and this, being such a part, without 
 which the remainder cannot, 'to the utility of 
 the subjects,' be exercised, the remainder must 
 of necessity be, on their part, and for their 
 sake, added."— (pp. 110, 111.) 
 
 Self-trumpeter^ s fallacy. — Mr. Bentham ex- 
 plains the self-trumpeter's fallacy as follows. 
 
 " There are certain men in office who, in 
 discharge of their functions, arrogate to them- 
 selves a degree of probity, which is to exclude 
 all imputations and all inquiry. Their asser- 
 tions are to be deemed equivalent to proof; 
 their virtues are guarantees for the faithful 
 discharge of their duties ; and the most implicit 
 confidence is to be reposed in them on all oc- 
 casions. If you expose any abuse, propose 
 any reform, call for securities, inquiiy, or mea- 
 sures to promote publicity, they set up a cry 
 of surprise, amounting almost to indignation, 
 as if their integrity were questioned, or their 
 honour wounded. With all this, they dexte- 
 rously mix up intimations, that the most exalted 
 patriotism, honour, and perhaps religion, are 
 the only sources of all their actions." — (p. 120.) 
 
 Of course every man will try what he can 
 effect by these means ; but (as Mr. Bentham 
 observes) if there be any one maxim in politics 
 more certain than another, it is that no possi- 
 ble degree of virtue in the governor can render 
 it expedient for the governed to dispense with 
 good laws and good institutions. Madame de 
 Stael (to her disgrace) said to the Emperor of 
 Russia, " Sire, your character is a constitution 
 for your country, and your conscience its 
 guarantee." His reply was, "Quand cela 
 serait, je ne serais jamais qu'un accident 
 heureux;" and this we think one of the truest 
 and most brilliant replies ever made by mo- 
 narch. 
 
 Laudatory Personalities. — "The object of lau- 
 datory personalities is to effect the rejection 
 of a measure on account of the alleged good 
 character of those who oppose it; and the 
 argument advanced is, ' The measure is ren- 
 dered unnecessary by the virtue of those who 
 are in power — their opposition is sufficient 
 authority for the rejection of the measure. The 
 measure proposed implies a distrust of the 
 members of his majesty's government ; but so 
 great is their integrity, so complete their disin- 
 
 terestedness, so uniformly do they prefer the 
 public advantage to their own, that such a 
 measure is altogether unnecessary. Their 
 disapproval is sufficient to warrant an opposi- 
 tion ; precautions can only be requisite where 
 danger is apprehended ; here, the high charac- 
 ter of the individuals in question is a sufficient 
 guarantee against any ground of alarm.'" — 
 (pp. 123, 124.) 
 
 The panegyric goes on increasing with the 
 dignity of the lauded person. All are honour^ 
 able and delightful men. The person who 
 opens the door of the office is a person of ap- 
 proved fidelity; the junior clerk is a model of 
 assiduity; all the clerks are models — seven 
 years' models, eight years' models, nine years' 
 models and upwards. The first clerk is a pa- 
 ragon — and ministers the very perfection of 
 probity and intelligence ; and as for the highest 
 magistrate of the state, no adulation is equal to 
 describe the extent of his various merits ! It 
 is too condescending, perhaps, to refute such 
 folly as this. But we would just observe that 
 if the propriety of the measure in question be 
 established by direct arguments, these must be 
 at least as conclusive against the character of 
 those who oppose it as their character can be 
 against the measure. 
 
 The eflTect of such an argument is, to give 
 men of good or reputed good character the 
 power of putting a negative on any question 
 — not agreeable to their inclinations. 
 
 " In every public trust, the legislator should, 
 for the purpose of prevention, suppose the 
 trustee disposed to break the trust in every 
 imaginable way in which it would be possible 
 for him to reap, from the breach of it, any per- 
 sonal advantage. This is the principl'^ on 
 which public institutions ought to be formed; 
 and when it is applied to all men indiscrimi- 
 nately, it is injurious to none. The practical 
 inference is, to oppose to such possible (and 
 what u-ill always be probable) breaches of 
 trust every bar that can be opposed, consist- 
 ently with the power requisite for the efficient 
 and due discharge of the trust. Indeed, these 
 arguments, drawn from the supposed virtues 
 of men in power, are opposed to the first prin- 
 ciples on which all laws proceed. 
 
 "Such allegations of individual virtue are 
 never supported by specific proof, are scarce 
 ever susceptible of specific disproof; and spe- 
 cific disproof, if offered, could not be admitted 
 in either house of Parliament. If attempted 
 elsewhere, the punishment would fall, not on 
 the unworthy trustee, but on him by whom the 
 unworthiness had been proved." — (pp. 12.5, 
 126.) 
 
 Fallacies of pretended Danger. — ^Imputation of 
 bad design— of bad character— of bad motives 
 — of inconsistency — of suspicious connections. 
 
 The object of this class of fallacies is to 
 draw aside attention from the measure to the 
 man, and this in such a manner, that, for some 
 real or supposed defect in the author of the 
 measure, a corresponding defect shall be im- 
 puted to the measure itself. Thus " the author 
 of the measure entertains a bad design: there- 
 fore the measure is bad. His character is bad. 
 
214 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 therefore the measure is bad ; his motive is 
 bad, I will vote against the measure. On for- 
 mer occasions, this same person who proposed 
 the measure was its enemy, therefore the mea- 
 sure is bad. He is on a footing of intimacy 
 with this or that dangerous man, or has been 
 seen in his company, or is suspected of enter- 
 taining some of his opinions, therefore the 
 measure is bad. He bears a name that at a 
 former period was borne by a set of men now 
 no more, by whom bad principles were enter- 
 tained — therefore the measure is bad !" 
 
 Now, if the measure be really inexpedient, 
 ■why not at once show it to be so ! If the 
 measure is good, is it bad because a bad man 
 is its author"? If bad, is it good because a 
 good man has produced it 1 What are these 
 arguments, but to say to the assembly who are 
 to be the judges of any measure, that their 
 imbecility is too great to allow them to judge 
 of the measure by its own merits, and that 
 they must have i-ecourse to distant and feebler 
 probabilities for that purpose 1 
 
 "In proportion to the degree of efhciency 
 ■with -which a man suffers these instruments 
 of deception to operate upon his mind, he 
 enables bad men to exercise over him a sort 
 of power, the thought of w^hich ought to cover 
 him with shame. Allow this argument the 
 effect of a conclusive one, you put it into the 
 power of any man to draw you at pleasure 
 from the support of every measure, which in 
 your own eyes is good, to force you to give 
 your support to any and every measure which 
 in your own eyes is bad. Is it good? — the 
 bad man embraces it, and, by the supposition, 
 you reject it. Is it badT — he vituperates it, 
 and that suffices for driving you into its em- 
 brace. You split upon the rocks, because he 
 has avoided them ; you miss the harbour, 
 because he has steered into if? Give your- 
 self up to any such blind antipathy, you are 
 no less in the power of your adversaries, 
 than if, by a correspondently irrational sym- 
 pathy and obsequiousness, you put yourself 
 into the power of your friends." — (pp. 132, 
 133.) 
 
 "Besides, nothing but laboi'ious applica- 
 tion, and a clear and comprehensive intellect, 
 can enable a man, on any given subject, to 
 employ successfully relevant arguments drawn 
 from the subject itself. To employ person- 
 alities, neither labour nor intellect is required. 
 In this sort of contest, the most idle and the 
 most ignorant are quite on a par with, if not 
 superior to, the most industrious and the most 
 highly gifted individuals. Nothing can be 
 more convenient for those who would speak 
 without the trouble of thinking. The same 
 ideas are brought forward over and over 
 again, and all that is required is to vary the 
 turn of expression. Close and relevant argu- 
 ments have very liule hold on the passions, 
 and serve rather to quell than to inflame 
 them ; while in personalities there is always 
 something stimulant, whether on the part of 
 him who praises or him who blames. Praise 
 forms a kind of connection between the party 
 praising and the party praised, and vitupera- 
 tion gives an air of courage and independence 
 to the party who blames. 
 
 "Ignorance and indolence, friendship and 
 enmity, concurring and conflicting interest, 
 servility and independence, all conspire to 
 give personalities the ascendency they so un- 
 happily maintain. The more we lie under the 
 influence of our own passions, the more -we 
 rely on others being affected in a similar 
 degree. A man who can repel these injuries 
 with dignity, may often convert them into tri- 
 umph : ' Strike me, but hear,' says he, and the 
 fury of his antagonist redounds to his own 
 discomfiture." — (pp. 141, 142.) 
 
 No Innovation! — To say that all new things 
 are bad, is to say that all old things were bad 
 in their commencement: for of all the old 
 things ever seen or heard of, there is not one 
 that was not once new. Whatever is now 
 establishment was once innovation. The first 
 inventor of pews and parish clerks was no 
 doubt considered as a Jacobin in his day. 
 Judges, juries, criers of the court, are all the 
 inventions of ardent spirits, who filled the 
 world M'ith alarm, and were considered as the 
 great precursors of ruin and dissolution. No 
 inoculation, no turnpikes, no reading, no writ- 
 ing, no popery ! The fool saj'eth in his heart, 
 and crieth with his mouth, " I will have nothing 
 new !" 
 
 Fallacy of Distrust. — " Whafs at the Bot- 
 tom?^'' — This fallacy begins with a virtual 
 admission of the propriety of tire measure 
 considered in itself, and thus demonstrates its 
 own futility, and cuts up from under itself the 
 ground which it endeavours to make. A mea- 
 sure is to be rejected for something that, by 
 bare possibility, may be found amiss in some 
 other measure ! This is vicarious reproba- 
 tion ; upon this principle Herod instituted his 
 massacre. It is the argument of a driveller 
 to other drivellers, who says. We are not able 
 to decide upon the evil when it arises — our 
 only safe way is to act upon the general ap- 
 prehension of evil. 
 
 Official Malefactor's Screen. — "Attack us — you 
 attack Government." 
 
 If this notion is acceded to, every one who 
 derives at present any advantage from misrule 
 has it in fee-simple ; and all abuses, present 
 and future, are without remedy. So long as 
 there is any thing amiss in conducting the 
 business of government, so long as it can be 
 made better, there can be no other mode of 
 bringing it nearer to perfection, than the indi- 
 cation of such imperfections as at the time 
 being exist. 
 
 "But so far is it from being true that a 
 man's aversion or contempt for the hands by 
 which the powers of government, or even for 
 the system under which they are exercised, is 
 a proof of his aversion or contempt towards 
 government itself, that, even in proportion to 
 the strength of that aversion or contempt, it is 
 a proof of the opposite afl^ection. What, in 
 consequence of such contempt or aversion, 
 he wishes for, is, not that there be no hands at 
 all to exercise these powers, but that the hands 
 may be better regulated; — not that those 
 powers should not be exercised at all, but that 
 they should be better exercised ; — not that, iu 
 the exercise of them, no rules at all should ba 
 
WORKS OF THE REY. SYD^El SIVIttiI 
 
 215 
 
 pursued, but that the rules by which they are 
 exercised should be a better set of rules. 
 
 "All government is a trust; every branch 
 of government is a trust ; and immemorially 
 acknowledged so to be : it is only by the mag- 
 nitude of the scale that public differ from pri- 
 vate trusts. I complain of the conduct of a 
 person in the character of guardian, as domes- 
 tic guardian, having the care of a minor or 
 insane person. In so doing, do I say that 
 guardianship is a bad institution'? Does it 
 enter into the head of any one to suspect me 
 of so doing 1 I complain of an individual in 
 the character of a commercial agent, or as- 
 signee of the effects of an insolvent. In so 
 doing, do I say that commercial agency is a 
 bad thing! that the practice of vesting in the 
 hands of trustees or assignees the effects of 
 an insolvent, for the purpose of their being 
 divided among his creditors, is a bad practice? 
 Does any such conceit ever enter into the head 
 of man, as that of suspecting me of so doing?" 
 —(pp. 162, 163.) 
 
 There are no complaints against govern- 
 ment in Turkey — no motions in Parliament, 
 no Morning Chronicles, and no Edinburgh 
 Reviews : yet, of all countries in the world, it 
 is that in Avhich revolts and revolutions are 
 the most frequent. 
 
 It is so far from true, that no good govern- 
 ment can exist consistently with such dis- 
 closure, that no good government can exist 
 without it. It is quite obvious, to all who are 
 capable of reflection, that by no other means 
 than by lowering the governors in the estima- 
 tion of the people, can there be hope or chance 
 of beneficial change. To infer from this wise 
 endeavour to lessen the existing rulers in the 
 estimation of the people, a wish of dissolving 
 the government, is either artifice or error. 
 The physician who intentionally weakens the 
 patient by bleeding him has no intention he 
 should perish. 
 
 The greater the quantity of respect a man 
 receives, independently of good conduct, the 
 less good is his behaviour likely to be. It is 
 the interest, therefore, of the public, in the 
 case of each, to see that the respect paid to 
 him should, as completely as possible, depend 
 upon the goodness of his behaviour in the 
 execution of his trust. But it is, on the con- 
 trary, the interest of the trustee, that the re- 
 spect, the money, or any other advantage he 
 receives in virtue of his office, should be as 
 great, as secure, and as independent of conduct 
 as possible. Soldiers expect to be shot at; 
 public men must expect to be attacked, and 
 sometimes unjustly. It keeps up the habit of 
 considering their conduct as exposed to scru- 
 tiny ; on the part of the people at large, it 
 keeps alive the expectation of witnessing 
 such attacks, and the habit of looking out for 
 them. The friends and supporters of govern- 
 ment have always greater facility in keeping 
 and raising it up, than its adversaries have 
 for lowering it. 
 
 Accusation-scarer's Device. — "Infamy must at- 
 tach somewhere." 
 
 This fallacy consists in representing the 
 character of a calumniator as necessarily and 
 justiy attaching upon him who, having made a 
 
 charge of irisconduct cgarii'=t any persons 
 possessed of political pcwei or mfiuehce, fails 
 of producing evidence sufiicieni for their con- 
 viction. 
 
 '' If taken as a general proposition, applying 
 to all public accusations, notliing can be more 
 mischievous as well as fallacious. Supposing 
 the charge unfounded, the delivery of it may 
 have been accompanied with mala fides (con- 
 sciousness of its injustice), with temerity only, 
 or it may have been perfectly blameless. It is 
 in the first case alone that infamy can with 
 propriety attach upon him v/ho brings it for- 
 ward. A charge really groundless may have 
 been honestly believed to be well founded, z.e. 
 believed with a sort of provisional credence, 
 sufficient for the purpose of engaging a man 
 to do his part towards the bringing about an 
 investigation, but without suflicient reasons. 
 But a charge may be perfectly groundless 
 without attaching the smallest particle of 
 blame upon him who brmgs it forward. Sup- 
 pose him to have heard from one or more, 
 presenting themselves to him in the character 
 of percipient witnesses, a story which, either 
 in tofo, or perhaps only in circumstances, though 
 in circumstances of the most material import- 
 ance, should prove false and mendacious — 
 how is the person who hears this, and acts 
 accordingly, to blame] What sagacity can 
 enable a man previously to legal investigation, 
 a man who has no power that can enable him 
 to insure correctness or completeness on the 
 part of this extrajudicial testimony, to guard 
 against deception in such a easel" — (pp. 
 18.5, 186.) 
 
 Fallacy of false Consolation. — ''What is the 
 matter with you? — What would you have? 
 Look at the people there, and theo-c; think how 
 much better off you are than they are. Your 
 prosperity and liberty are objects ^f their envy ; 
 your institutions models of their imitation." 
 
 It is not the desire to look to the bright side 
 that is blamed: but when a particular suffer- 
 ing, produced by an assigned cause, has been 
 pointed out, the object of many apologists is 
 to turn the eyes of inquirers and judges into 
 any other quarter in preference. If a man's 
 tenants were to come with a general encomium 
 on the prosperity of the country, instead of a 
 specified sum, would it be accepted ? In a 
 court of justice, in an action for damages, did 
 ever any such device occur as that of pleading 
 assets in the hands of a thiixl person ] There 
 is, in fact, no country so poor and so Avretched 
 in every element of prosperity, in which mat- 
 ter for this argument might not be found. 
 Were the prosperity of the country tenfold as 
 great as at present, the absurdity of the argu 
 ment would not in the least degree be lessened. 
 Why should the smallest evil be endured, 
 which can be cured; because others suffer pa- 
 tiently under greater evils 1 Should the small- 
 est improvement attainable be neglected, be- 
 cause others remain contented in a state of 
 still greater inferiority ] 
 
 "Seriously and pointedly in the character 
 of a bar to any measure of relief, no, nor to 
 the most trivial improvement, can it over be 
 employed. Suppose a bill brought in for con 
 
216 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 verting an impassable road any where into a 
 passable one, would any man stand up to op- 
 pose it, who could find nothing better to urge 
 against it than the multitude and goodness of 
 the roads we have already 1 No : when in the 
 character of a serious bar to the measure in 
 hand, be that measure what it may, an argu- 
 ment so palpably inapplicable is employed, it 
 can only be for the purpose of creating a di- 
 version; — of turning aside the minds of men 
 from the subject really in hand, tft a picture, 
 which, by its beauty, it is hoped, may engross 
 the attention of the assembly, and make them 
 forget for the moment for what purpose they 
 came there."— (pp. 196, 197.) 
 
 The Quietisf, or no Comp/ai77f. — " A neAV law 
 or measure being proposed in the character of 
 a remedy for some incontestable abuse or evil, 
 an objection is frequently started to the foUoM"- 
 ing effect: — 'The measure is unnecessary. 
 Nobody complains of disorder in that shape, 
 in which it is the aim of your measure to pro- 
 pose a remedy to it. But even when no cause 
 of complaint has been I'ound to exist, especi- 
 ally under governments which admit of com- 
 plaints, men have in general not been slow to 
 complain ; much less where any just cause of 
 complaint has existed.' The argument amounts 
 to this : — Nobody complains, therefore nobody 
 suffers. It amounts to a veto on all measures 
 of precaution or prevention, and goes to es- 
 tablish a maxim in legislation directly opposed 
 to the most ordinary prudence of common life ; 
 — it enjoins us to build no parapets to a bridge 
 till the number of accidents has raised an uni- 
 versal clamour." — (pp. 190, 191.) 
 
 Procrastinaiors Argument. — " Wait a little, 
 this is not the time.'" 
 
 This is the common argument of men, who, 
 being in reality hostile to a measure, are 
 ashamed or afraid of appearing to be so. To- 
 day is the plea — eternal exclusion commonly 
 the object. It is the same sort of quirk as a 
 plea of abatement in law^which is never em- 
 ployed but on the side of a dishonest defendant, 
 whose hope it is to obtain an ultimate triumph, 
 by overwhelming his adversary with despair, 
 impoverishment, and lassitude. Which is 
 the properest day to do good ? which is the pro- 
 perest day to remove a nuisance? we answer, 
 the verj' first day a man can be found to propose 
 the removal of it; and whoever opposes the 
 removal of it on that day will (if he dare) op- 
 pose it on every other. There is in the minds 
 of many feeble friends to virtue and improve- 
 ment, an imaginary period for the removal of 
 evils, which it would certainly be worth while 
 to wait for, if there was the smallest chance of 
 its ever arriving — a period of unexampled 
 peace and prosperity, when a patriotic king 
 and an enlightened mob united their ardent 
 efforts for the amelioration of human affairs ; 
 when the oppressor is as delighted to give up 
 ine oppression, as the oppressed is to be libera- 
 ted from it ; when the difficulty and unpopu- 
 larity would be to continue the evil, not to 
 abolish it ! These are the periods when fair- 
 weather philosophers are willing to venture 
 out, and hazard a little for the general good. 
 But the history of human nature is so contrary 
 to all this, that almost all improvements are 
 
 made after the bitterest resistance, and in the 
 midst of tumults and civil violence — the worst 
 period at which they can be made, compared 
 to which any period is eligible, and should be 
 seized hold of by the friends of salutary re- 
 form. 
 
 Snail's Pace argument. — " One thing at a 
 time ! Nut too fast ! Slow and sure ! — ^Import- 
 ance of the business — extreme difficulty of the 
 business — danger of innovation — need of cau- 
 tion and circumspection — impossibility of fore- 
 seeing all consequences — danger of precipita- 
 tion — every thing should be gradual — one thing 
 at a time — this is not the time — great occupa- 
 tion at present — wait for more leisure — peo- 
 ple well satisfied — no petitions presented — no 
 complaints heard — no such mischief has yet 
 taken place — stay till it has taken place! — 
 Such is the prattle which the magpie in office, 
 who, understanding nothing, yet understands 
 that he must have something to say on every 
 subject, shouts out among his auditors as a 
 succcdaneum to thought." — (pp. 203, 204.) 
 
 Vague Generalities. — Vague generalities com- 
 prehend a numerous class of fallacies resorted 
 to by those who, in preference to the determi- 
 nate expressions which they might use, adopt 
 others more vague and indeterminate. 
 
 Take, for instance, the terms, government, 
 laws, morals, religion. Every body Avill admit 
 that there are in the world bad governments, 
 bad laws, bad morals, and bad religions. The 
 bare circumstance, therefore, of being engaged 
 in exposing the defects of government, law, 
 morals, and religion, does not of itself afford 
 the slightest presumption that a writer is 
 engaged in any thing blamable. If his at- 
 tack is only directed against that which is 
 bad in each, his eflx)rts may be productive of 
 good to any extent. This essential distinction, 
 however, the defender of abuses uniformly 
 takes care to keep out of sight ; and boldly im- 
 putes to his antagonists an intention to sub- 
 vert all government, Icnv, morals, and religion. 
 Propose any thing with a view to the improve- 
 ment of the existing practice, in relation to 
 law, government, and religion, he will treat you 
 with an oration upon the necessity and utility 
 of law, government, and religion. Among the 
 several cloudy appellatives which have been 
 commonly employed as cloaks for misgovem- 
 ment, there is none more conspicuous in this 
 atmosphere of illusion than the word order. 
 As often as any measure is brought forward 
 which has for its object to lessen the sacrifice 
 made by the many to the few, social o^-der is the 
 phrase commonly opposed to its progress. 
 
 " By a defalcation made from any part of 
 the mass of factitious delay, vexation, and ex- 
 pense, out of which, and in proportion to which, 
 lawj'ers' profit is made to flow — by any defal- 
 cation made from the mass of needless and 
 worse than useless emolument to office, Avith 
 or without service or pretence of service — by 
 any addition endeavoured to be made to the 
 quantity, or improvement in the quality of ser- 
 vice rendered, or time bestowed in service ren- 
 dered in return for such emolument — by every 
 endeavour that has for its object the persuading 
 the people to place their fate at the disposal of 
 any other agents than those in whose hands 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 breach of trust is certain, due fulfilment of it 
 morally and physically impossible — social or- 
 der is said to be endangered, and threatened to 
 be destroyed."— (p. 234.) 
 
 In the same way establishment is a word in 
 use to protect the bad parts of establishments, 
 by charging those who wish to remove or alter 
 them with a wish to subvert all good establish- 
 ments. 
 
 Mischievous fallacies also circulate from 
 the convertible use of what Mr. B. is pleased to 
 call dj^slogistic and eulogistic terms. Thus a 
 vast concern is expressed for the liberty of the 
 press, and the utmost abhorrence for its licen- 
 tiousness: but then, by the licentiousness of 
 the press is meant every disclosure by which 
 any abuse is brought to light and exposed to 
 shame — by the liberty of the press is meant only 
 publications from which no such inconvenience 
 is to be apprehended; and the fallacy consists 
 in employing the sham approbation of liberty 
 as a mask for the real opposition to all free 
 discussion. To write a pamphlet so ill that 
 nobody will read it ; to animadvert in terms 
 so weak and insipid upon great evils, that no 
 disgust is excited at the vice, and no appre- 
 hension in the evil-doer, is a fair use of the 
 liberty of the press, and is not only pardoned 
 by the friends of government, but draws from 
 them the most fervent eulogium. The licen- 
 tiousness of the press consists in doing the 
 thing boldly and well, in striking terror into 
 the guilty, and in rousing the attention of the 
 public to the defence of their highest interests. 
 This is the licentiousness of the press held in 
 the greatest horror by timid and corrupt men, 
 and punished by semianimouSjSemicadaverous 
 judges, with a captivity of many years. In 
 the same manner the dyslogistic and eulogistic 
 fallacies are used in the case of reform. 
 
 " Between all abuses whatsoever, there ex- 
 ists that connection ; — between all persons 
 who see each of them any one abuse in which 
 an advantage results to himself, there exists, 
 in point of interest, that close and sufficiently 
 understood connection, of which intimation 
 has been given already. To no one abuse can 
 correction be administered without endanger- 
 ing the existence of every other. 
 
 "If, then, with this inward determination 
 not to suffer, so far as depends upon himself, 
 the adoption of any reform which he is able to 
 prevent, it should seem to him necessary or 
 advisable to put on, for a cover, the profession 
 or appearance of a desire to contribute to such 
 reform — in pursuance of the device or fallacy 
 here in question, he will represent that which 
 goes by the name of reform as distinguisha- 
 ble into two species ; one of them a fit subject 
 for approbation, the other for disapprobation. 
 That which he thus professes to have marked 
 for approbation, he will accordingly, for the 
 expression of such approbation, characterize 
 by some adjunct of the eulogistic cast, such as 
 moderate, for example, or temperate, or prac- 
 tical, or practicable. 
 
 "To the other of these nominally distinct 
 species, he will, at the same time, attach some 
 adjunct of the dyslogistic cast, such as violent, 
 intemperate, extravagant, outrageous, theoreti- 
 cal, speculative, and so forth. ^ 
 28 
 
 "Thus, then, in profession and to appearance, 
 there are in his conception of the matter two 
 distinct and opposite species of reform, to one 
 of which his approbation, to the other his dis- 
 approbation is attached. But the species to 
 which his approbation is attached is an empty 
 species — a species in which no individual is, 
 or is intended to be, contained. , 
 
 "The species to which his disapprobation is 
 attached is, on the contrary, a crowded species, 
 a receptacle in which the whole contents of the 
 genus — of the genus Reform are intended to be 
 included."— (pp. 277, 278.) 
 
 Anti-rational Fallacies. — When reason is in 
 opposition to a man's interests, his study will 
 naturally be to render the faculty itself, and 
 whatever issues from it, an object of hatred 
 and contempt. The sarcasm and other figures 
 of speech employed on the occasion are di- 
 rected not merely against reason but against 
 thought, as if there were something in the 
 faculty of thought that rendered the exercise 
 of it incompatible with useful and successful 
 practice. Sometimes a plan, which would not 
 suit the official person's interest, is without 
 more ado pronounced a speculative one ; and, 
 by this observation, all need of rational and 
 deliberate discussion is considered to be super- 
 seded. The first effort of the corruptionist is 
 to fix the epithet speculative upon any scheme 
 which he thinks may cherish the spirit of 
 reform. The expression is hailed with the 
 greatest delight by bad and feeble men, and 
 repeated with the most unwearied energy; and, 
 to the word speculative, by way of reinforce- 
 ment, are added, theoretical, visionary, chimerical, 
 romantic, Utopian. 
 
 " Sometimes a distinction is taken, and there- 
 upon a concession made. The plan is good in 
 theory, but it would be bad in practice, i. e. its 
 being good in theory does not hinder its being 
 bad in practice. 
 
 "Sometimes, as if in consequence of a farther 
 progress made in the art of irrationality, the 
 plan is pronounced to be too good to be practica- 
 ble; and its being so good as it is, is thus repre- 
 sented as the very cause of its being bad in 
 practice. 
 
 " In short, such is the perfection at which 
 this art is at length arrived, that the very cir- 
 cumstance of a plan's being susceptible of the 
 appellation of a plan, has been gravely stated 
 as a circumstance sufficient to warrant its being 
 rejected, if not with hatred, at any rate with a 
 sort of accompaniment, which, to the million, 
 is commonly felt still more galling — with con- 
 tempt." — (p. 296.) 
 
 There is a propensity to push theory too far; 
 but what is the just inference? not that theo- 
 retical propositions (i.f. all propositions of any 
 considerable comprehension or extent) should, 
 from such their extent, be considered to be false 
 in toto, but only that, in the particular case, 
 inquiry should be made whether, supposing the 
 proposition to be in the character of a rule 
 generally true, an exception ought to be taken 
 out of it. It might almost be imagined that 
 there was something wicked or unwise in thu 
 exercise of thought; for everybody feels a 
 necessity for disclaiming it. "I ara not g'.ven 
 
218 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 to speculation ; I am no friend to theories." 
 Can a man disclaim theory, can he disclaim 
 speculation, without disclaiming thought 1 
 
 The description of persons by whom this 
 fallacy is chiefly employed are those who, re- 
 garding a plan as adverse to their interests, 
 and not finding it on the ground of general 
 utility exposed to any predominant objection, 
 have recourse to this objection in the character 
 of an instrument of contempt, in the view of 
 preventing those from looking into it who might 
 have been otherwise disposed. It is by the fear 
 of seeing it practised that they are drawn to 
 speak of it as impracticable. " Upon the face 
 of it (exclaims some feeble or pensioned gen- 
 tleman), it carries that air of plausibility, that, 
 if you were not upon your guard, might engage 
 you to bestow more or less of attention upon 
 it; but were you to take the trouble, you would 
 find that (as it is with all these plans which 
 promise so much) practicability would at last 
 be wanting to it. To save yourself from this 
 trouble, the wisest course you can take is to 
 put the plan aside, and to thjnk no more about 
 the matter." This is always accompanied with 
 a peculiar grin of triumph. 
 
 The whole of these fallacies maybe gathered 
 together in a little oration, which we will de- 
 nominate the 
 
 Noodle's Oration. 
 "What would our ancestors say to this, sir? 
 How does this measure tally with their institu- 
 tions 1 How does it agree with their expe- 
 rience] Are we to put the wisdom of yesterday 
 in competition with the wisdom of centuries'? 
 (Hear, hear .') Is beardless youth to show no 
 respect for the decisions of mature age ? {Lovd 
 aies of hear ! hear!) If this measure is right, 
 would it have escaped the wisdom of those 
 Saxon progenitors to whom we are indebted 
 for so many of our best political institutions ? 
 Would the Dane have passed it over? Would 
 the Norman have rejected it? Would such a 
 notable discovery have been reserved for these 
 modern and degenerate times? Besides, sir, 
 if the measure itself is good, I ask the honour- 
 able gentleman if this is the time for carrying 
 it into execution — whether, in fact, a more un- 
 fortunate period could have been selected than 
 that which he has chosen ? If this were an 
 ordinary measure, I should not oppose it with 
 so much vehemence; but, sir, it calls in ques- 
 tion the wisdom of an irrevocable law — of a 
 law passed at the memorable period of the 
 Revolution. What right have we, sir, to break 
 down this firm column, on which the great 
 men of that day stamped a character of eter- 
 nity? Are not all authorities against this mea- 
 sure, Pitt, Fox, Cicero, and the Attorney and 
 Solicitor-General? The proposition is new, 
 "sir ; i* 13 the first time it was ever heard in this 
 house. I am not prepared, sir — this house is 
 not prepared, to receive it. The measure im- 
 plies a distrust of his majesty's government; 
 their disapproval is sufScient to warrant oppo- 
 sition. Precaution only is requisite where 
 danger is apprehended. Here the high cha- 
 racter of the individuals in question is a sufii- 
 cient guarantee against any ground of alarm. 
 Give not, then, your sanction to this measure ; 
 
 for, whatever be its character, if you do give 
 your sanction to it, the same man by whom 
 this is proposed, will propose to you others to 
 which it will be impossible to give your con- 
 sent. I care very little, sir, for the ostensible 
 measure ; but what is there behind ? What are 
 the honourable gentleman's future schemes ? 
 If we pass this bill, what fresh concessions 
 may he not require? What farther degrada- 
 tion is he planning for his country ? Talk of 
 evil and inconvenience, sir! look to other 
 countries — study other aggregations and socie- 
 ties of men, and then see whether the laws of 
 this country demand a remedy, or deserve a 
 panegyric. Was the honourable gentleman 
 (let me ask him) always of this way of think- 
 ing ? Do I not remember when he was the 
 advocate in this house of very opposite 
 opinions ? I not only quarrel with his present 
 sentiments, sir, but I declare very frankly I do 
 not like the party with which he acts. If his 
 own motives were as pure as possible, they 
 cannot but suffer contamination from those 
 with whom he is politically associated. This 
 measure may be a boon to the constitution, but 
 I will accept no favour to the constitution from 
 such hands. (Loud cries of hear ! hear!) I pro- 
 fess myself, sir, an honest and upright member 
 of the British Parliament, and I am not afraid 
 to profess myself an enemy to all change, and 
 all innovation. I am satisfied with things as 
 they are ; and it will be my pride and pleasure 
 to hand dovyn this country to my children as I 
 received it from those who preceded me. The 
 honourable gentleman pretends to justify the 
 severity with which he has attacked the noble 
 lord who presides in the Court of Chancery. 
 But I say such attacks are pregnant with mis- 
 chief to government itself. Oppose ministers, 
 you oppose government: disgrace ministers, 
 you disgrace government: bring ministers into 
 contempt, you bring government into contempt; 
 and anarchy and civil war are the conse- 
 quences. Besides, sir, the measure is unne- 
 cessary. Nobody complains of disorder in that 
 shape in which it is the aim of your measure 
 to propose a remedy to it. The business is 
 one of the greatest importance ; there is need 
 of the greatest caution and circumspection. 
 *Do not let us be precipitate, sir ; it is impossi- 
 ble to foresee all consequences. Every thing 
 should be gradual ; the example of a neighbour- 
 ing nation should fill us with alarm ! The 
 honourable gentleman has taxed me with illibe- 
 rality, sir. I deny the charge. I hate innova- 
 tion, but I love improvement. I am an enem}' 
 to the corruption of government, but I defend 
 its influence. I dread reform, but I dread it 
 only when it is intemperate. I consider the 
 liberty of the press as the great palladium of 
 the constitution ; but, at the same time, I hold 
 the licentiousness of the press in the greatest 
 abhorrence. Nobody is more conscious than 
 I am of the splendid abilities of the honourable 
 mover, but I tell him at once, his scheme is 
 too good to be practicable. It savours of 
 Utopia. It looks well in theory, but it won't do 
 in practice. It will not do, I repeat, sir, in 
 practice; and so the advocates of the measure 
 will find, if, unfortunately, it should find its way 
 through Parliament. (Cheers.) The source of 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 219 
 
 that corruption to which the honourable mem- 
 ber alludes, is in the minds of the people; so 
 rank and extensive is that corruption, that no 
 political reform can have any effect in remov- 
 ing it. Instead of reforming others — instead 
 of reforming the state, the constitution, and 
 every thing that is most excellent, let each man 
 reform himself! let him look at home, he will 
 find there enough to do, without looking abroad, 
 and aiming at what is out of his power. (Loud 
 cheers.) And now, sir, as it is frequently the 
 custom in this house to end with a quotation, 
 and as the gentleman who preceded me in the 
 debate has anticipated me in my favourite 
 quotation of the 'Strong pull and the long 
 pull,' I shall end with the memorable words of 
 the assembled Barons — Nolumus leges .MngUcE 
 mutari" 
 
 "Upon the whole, the following are the 
 characters which appertain in common to all 
 the several arguments here distinguished by 
 the name of fallacies : — 
 
 " 1. Whatever be the measure in hand, they 
 are, with relation to it, irrelevant. 
 
 « 2. They are all of them such, that the ap- 
 plication of these irrelevant arguments affords 
 a presumption either of the weakness or total 
 absence of relevant arguments on the side on 
 which they are employed. 
 
 " 3. To any good purpose they are all of 
 them unnecessary. 
 
 " 4. They are all of them not only capable 
 of being applied, but actually in the habit of 
 being applied, and with advantage, to bad pur- 
 poses, viz., to the obstruction and defeat of all 
 such measures as have for their object the 
 
 removal of the abuses or other imperfections 
 still discernible in the frame and practice of 
 the government. 
 
 " 5. By means of their irrelevancy, they all 
 of them consume and misapply time, thereby 
 obstructing the course and retarding the pro- 
 gress of all necessary and useful business. 
 
 " 6. By that irritative quality which, in 
 virtue of their irrelevancy, with the improbity 
 or weakness of which it is indicative, they 
 possess, all of them, in a degree more or less 
 considerable, but in a more particular degree 
 such of them as consist in personalities, they 
 are productive of ill-humour, which in some 
 instances has been productive of bloodshed, 
 and is continually productive, as above, of 
 waste of time and hinderance of business. 
 
 " 7. On the part of those who, whether in 
 spoken or written discourses, give utterance 
 to them, they are indicative either of impro- 
 bity or intellectual weakness, or of a contempt 
 for the understanding of those on whose minds 
 they are destined to operate. 
 
 " 8. On the part of those on Avhom they 
 operate, they are indicative of intellectual 
 weakness ; and on the part of those in and by 
 whom they are pretended to operate, they are 
 indicative of improbity, viz., in the shape of 
 insincerity. 
 
 " The practical conclusion is, that in pro- 
 portion as the acceptance, and thence the 
 utterance, of them can be prevented, the un- 
 derstanding of the public will be strengthened, 
 the morals of the public will be purified, and 
 the practice of government improved." — (pp. 
 359, 360.) 
 
 WATERTOK* 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 1826.] 
 
 Mr. Watehtox is a Roman Catholic gen- 
 tleman of Yorkshire, of good fortune, who, 
 instead of passing his life at balls and assem- 
 blies, has preferred living with Indians and 
 monkeys in the forests of Guiana. He ap- 
 pears in early life to have been seized with an 
 unconquerable aversion to Piccadilly, and to 
 that train of meteorological questions and 
 answers, w^hich forms the great staple of 
 polite English conversation. From a dislike 
 to the regular form of a journal, he throws 
 his travels into detached pieces, which he, 
 rather affectedly, calls Wanderings — and of 
 which we shall proceed to give some account. 
 
 His first Wandering was in the year 1812, 
 through the wnlds of Demerara and Essequibo, 
 a part of ci-devant Dutch Guiana, in South 
 America. The sun exhausted him by day, the 
 
 * Wanderings in South .America, the JVorth-West of the 
 United States, and the .Antilles, in the years 1812, 1816, 
 1820, and 1824 ; with Original Instructions for the perfect 
 Preservation of Birds, S^r., for Cabinets of J^atural 
 History. By Charles Wate^ton, Esq. London. 
 Mawman. 4to. 1825. 
 
 musquitoes bit him by night ; but on went Mr. 
 Charles Waterton ! 
 
 The first thing which strikes us in this ex- 
 traordinary chronicle, is the genuine zeal and 
 inexhaustible delight with which all the bar- 
 barous countries he visits are described. He 
 seems to love the forests, the tigers, and the 
 apes ; — to be rejoiced that he is the only man 
 there ; that he has left his species far away ; 
 and is at last in the midst of his blessed 
 baboons ! He writes Avith a considerable 
 degree of force and vigour; and contrives to 
 infuse into his reader that admiration of the 
 great works, and undisturbed scenes of na- 
 ture, which animates his style, and has influ- 
 enced his life and practice. There is some- 
 thing, too, to be highly respected and praised 
 in the conduct of a country gentleman, who, 
 instead of exhausting life in the chaje, has 
 dedicated a considerable portion of it to the 
 pursuit of knowledge. There are so many- 
 temptations to complete idleness, in the life of 
 a country gentleman, so many examples of it, 
 and so much loss to the community from it, 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 that every exception from the practice is de- 
 serving of great praise. Some country gen- 
 tlemen must remain to do the business of their 
 counties ; but, in general, there are many 
 more than are wanted; and, generally speak- 
 ing also, they are a class who should be 
 stimulated to greater exertions. Sir Joseph 
 Banks, a squire of large fortune in Lincoln- 
 shire, might have given up his existence to 
 double-barrelled guns and persecutions of 
 poachers — and all the benefits derived from 
 his wealth, industry, and personal exertion in 
 the cause of science would have been lost to 
 the community. 
 
 Mr. Waterton complains, that the trees of 
 Guiana are not more than six yards in circum- 
 ference — a magnitude in trees which it is not 
 easy for a Scotch imagination to reach. 
 Among these, pre-eminent in height rises the 
 mora — upon whose top branches, when naked 
 by age, or dried by accident, is perched the 
 toucan, too high for the gun of the fowler ; — 
 around this are the green heart, famous for 
 hardness; the tough hackea; the ducalabali, 
 surpassing mahogany; the ebony and letter- 
 wood, exceeding the most beautiful woods of 
 the Old World ; the locust-tree, yielding copal; 
 and the hayawa and olou-trees, furnishmg 
 sweet-smelling resin. Upon the top of the 
 mora grows the fig-tree. The bush-rope 
 joins tree and tree, so as to render the forest 
 impervious, as, descending from on high, it 
 takes root as soon as its extremity touches the 
 ground, and appears like shrouds and stays 
 supporting the mainmast of a line-of-battle 
 ship. 
 
 Demerara yields to no country in the world 
 In her birds. The mud is flaming with the 
 scarlet curlew. At sunset, the pelicans return 
 from the sea to the courada trees. Among 
 the flowers are the humming-birds. The 
 columbine, gallinaceous, and passerine tribes 
 people the fruit-trees. At the close of day, 
 the vampires, or winged bats, suck the blood 
 of the traveller, and cool him by the flap of 
 their wings. Nor has nature forgotten to 
 amuse herself here in the composition of 
 snakes: — the camoudi has been killed from 
 thirty to forty feet long ; he does not act by 
 venom, but by size and convolution. The 
 Spaniards affirm that he grows to the length 
 of eighty feet, and that he will swallow a bull ; 
 but Spaniards love the superlative. There is 
 a whipsnake of a beautiful green. The labarri 
 snake of a dirty brown, M-ho kills you in a few 
 minutes. Every lovely colour under heaven 
 is lavished upon the counachouchi, the most 
 venomous of reptiles, and known by the name 
 of the bush-master. Man and beast, says Mr. 
 Waterton, fly before him, and allow him to 
 pursue an undisputed path. 
 
 We consider the following description of the 
 various sounds in these wild regions as very 
 striking, and done with very considerable 
 powers of style. 
 
 " He whose eye can distinguish the various 
 beauties of uncultivated nature, and whose 
 ear is not shut to the wild sounds in the 
 woods, will be delighted in passing up the 
 river Demerara. Every now and then, the 
 anaam or tinamou sends forth one long and 
 
 plaintive whistle from the depth of the forest, 
 and then stops ; whilst the yelping of the 
 toucan, and the shrill voice of the bird called 
 pi-pi-yo, are heard during the interval. The 
 campanero never fails to attract the attention 
 of the passenger : at a distance of nearly three 
 miles you may hear this snow-white bird 
 tolling every four or five minutes, like the 
 distant convent bell. From six to nine in the 
 morning, the forests resound with the mingled 
 cries and strains of the feathered race ; after 
 this they gradually die away. From eleven to 
 three, all nature is hushed as in a midnight 
 silence, and scarce a note is heard, saving 
 that of the campanero and the pi-pi-yo ; it is 
 then that, oppressed by the solar heat, the 
 birds retire to the thickest shade, and wait for 
 the refreshing cool of evening. 
 
 " At sundown the vampires, bats, and goat- 
 suckers, dart from their lonely retreat, and 
 skim along the trees on the river's bank. The 
 different kinds of frogs almost stun the ear 
 with their hoarse and hollow-sounding croak- 
 ing, while the owls and goatsuckers lament 
 and mourn all night long. 
 
 " About two hours before daybreak you will 
 hear the red monkey moaning as though in 
 deep distress ; the houtou, a solitary bird, and 
 only found in the thickest recesses of the 
 forest, distinctly articulates, ' houtou, houtou,' 
 in a low and plaintive tone, an hour before 
 sunrise ; the maam whistles about the same 
 hour; the hannaquoi, pataca, and maroudi 
 announce his near approach to the eastern 
 horizon, and the parrots and paroquets confirm 
 his arrival there." — (pp. 13 — 15.) 
 
 Our good Quixote of Demerara is a little 
 too fond of apostrophizing : — " Traveller ! dost 
 thou think] Reader! dost thou imagined" 
 Mr. Waterton should remember, that the 
 whole merit of these violent deviations from 
 common style depends upon their rarity, and 
 that nothing does, for ten pages together, but 
 the indicative mood. This fault gives an air 
 of affectation to the writing of Mr. Waterton, 
 which we believe to be foreign from his cha- 
 racter and nature. We do not wish to deprive 
 him of these indulgences altogether; but 
 merely to put him upon an allowance, and 
 upon such an allowance as will give to these 
 figures of speech the advantage of surprise 
 and relief. 
 
 This gentleman's delight and exultation al- 
 ways appear to increase as he loses sight of 
 European inventions, and comes to something 
 purely Indian. Speaking of an Indian tribe, 
 he says, — 
 
 "They had only one gun, and it appeared 
 rusty and neglected ; but their poisoned wea- 
 pons were in fine order. Their blow-pipes 
 hung from the roof of the hut, carefully sus- 
 pended by a silk grass cord ; and on taking a 
 nearer view of them, no dust seemed to have 
 collected there, nor had the spider spun the 
 smallest web on them ; which showed that they 
 were in constant use. The quivers were close 
 by them, with the jaw-bone of the fish pirai 
 tied by a string to their brim, and a small 
 wicker-basket of wild cotton, which hung 
 down to the centre ; they were nearly full oi 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 221 
 
 poisoned arrows. It was with difficulty these 
 Indians could be persuaded to part with any of 
 the Wourali poison, though a good price was 
 offered for it : they gave us to understand that 
 it was powder and shot to them, and very diffi- 
 cult to be procured." — (pp. 34, 35.) 
 
 A wicker-basket of wild cotton, full of poi- 
 soned arrows, for shooting fish ! This is In- 
 dian with a vengeance. We fairly admit that, 
 in the contemplation of such utensils, every 
 trait of civilized life is completely and effectu- 
 ally banished. 
 
 One of the strange and fanciful objects of 
 Mr. Waterton's journey was, to obtain a better 
 knowledge of the composition and nature of the 
 Wourali poison, the ingredient with which the 
 Indians poison their arrows. In the wilds of 
 Essequibo, far away from any European set- 
 tlements, there is a tribe of Indians known by 
 the name of Macoushi. The Wourali poison is 
 used by all the South American savages, be- 
 twixt the Amazon and the Oroonoque ; but the 
 Macoushi Indians manufacture it with the 
 greatest skill, and of the greatest strength. A 
 vine grows in the forest called Wourali ; and 
 from this vine, together with a good deal of 
 nonsense and absurdity, the poison is prepared. 
 When a native of Macoushia goes in quest of 
 feathered game, he seldom carries his bow and 
 arrows. It is the blow-pipe he then uses. The 
 reed grows to an amazing length, as the part 
 the Indians use is from 10 to 11 feet long, and 
 no tapering can be perceived, one end being as 
 thick as another; nor is there the slightest ap- 
 pearance of a knot or joint. The end which is 
 applied to the mouth is tied round with a small 
 silk grass cord. The arrow is from nine to 
 ten inches long; it is made out of the leaf of 
 a palm-tree, and pointed as sharp as a needle : 
 about an inch of the pointed end is poisoned : 
 the other end is burnt to make it still harder; 
 and wild cotton is put round it for an inch and 
 a half. The quiver holds from 500 to 600 ar- 
 rows, is from 12 to 14 inches long, and in 
 shape like a dice-box. With a quiver of these 
 poisoned arrows over his shoulder, and his 
 blow-pipe in his hand, the Indian stalks into 
 the forest in quest of his feathered game. 
 
 "These generally sit high up in the tall and 
 tufted trees, but still are not out of the Indian's 
 reach ; for his blow-pipe, at its greatest eleva- 
 tion, will send an arrow three hundred feet. 
 Silent as midnight he steals under them, and so 
 cautiously does he tread the ground, that the 
 fallen leaves rustle not beneath his feet. His 
 ears are open to the least sound, while his 
 eye, keen as that of the lynx, is employed in 
 finding out the game in the thickest shade. 
 Often he imitates their cry, and decoys them 
 from tree to tree, till they are within range of 
 his tube. Then taking a poisoned arrow from 
 his quiver, he puts it in the blow-pipe, and col- 
 lects his breath for the fatal puff. 
 
 " About two feet from the end through which 
 he blows, there are fastened two teeth of the 
 acouri, and these serve him for a sight. Silent 
 and swift the arrow flies, and seldom fails to 
 pierce the object at which it is sent. Some- 
 times the wounded bird remains in the same 
 tree where it was shot, but in three minutes 
 falls down at the Indian's feet. Should he take 
 
 wing, his flight is of short duration, and the 
 Indian following in the direction he has gone, 
 is sure to find him dead. 
 
 "It is natural to imagine that, when a slight 
 wound only is inflicted, the game will make its 
 escape. Far otherwise; the Wourali poison 
 instantaneously mixes with blood or water, so 
 that if you wet your finger, and dash it along 
 the poisoned arrow in the quickest manner 
 possible, you are sure to carry off some of the 
 poison. 
 
 " Though three minutes generally elapse be- 
 fore the convulsions come on in the wounded 
 bird, still a stupor evidently takes place sooner, 
 and this stupor manifests itself by an apparent 
 unwillingness in the bird to move. This was 
 very visible in a dying fowl." (pp. 60 — 62.) 
 
 The flesh of the game is not in the slightest 
 degree injured by the poison ; nor does it ap- 
 pear to be corrupted sooner than that killed by 
 the gun or knife. For the larger animals, an 
 arrow with a poisoned spike is used. 
 
 "Thus armed with deadly poison, and hun- 
 gry as the hyena, he ranges through the forest 
 in quest of the wild beasts' track. No hound 
 can act a surer part. Without clothes to fetter 
 him, or shoes to bind his feet, he observes the 
 footsteps of the game, where an European eye 
 could not discern the smallest vestige. He 
 pursues it through all its turns and windings, 
 with astonishing perseverance, and success 
 generally crowns his efforts. The animal, after 
 receiving the poisoned arrow, seldom retreats 
 two hundred paces before it drops. 
 
 "In passing over land from the Essequibo to 
 the Demerara we fell in with a herd of wild 
 hogs. Though encumbered with baggage, and 
 fatigued with a hard day's walk, an Indian got 
 his bow ready, and let fly a poisoned arrow at 
 one of them. It entered the cheek-bone, and 
 broke off. The wild hog was found quite dead 
 about one hundred and seventy paces from the 
 place where he had been shot. He afforded us 
 an excellent and wholesome supper." — (p. 65.) 
 
 Being a Wotirali poison fancier, Mr. Water- 
 ton has recorded several instances of the power 
 of his favourite drug. A sloth poisoned by it 
 went gently to sleep, and died! a large ox, 
 weighing one thousand pounds, was shot with 
 three arrows; the poison took effect in four 
 minutes, and in twenty-five minutes he was 
 dead. The death seems to be very gentle ; and 
 resembles more a quiet apoplex}', brought on by 
 hearing a long story, than any other kind of 
 death. If an Indian happens to be wounded 
 with one of these arrows, he considers it ascer- 
 tain death. We have reason to congratulate our- 
 selves, that our method of terminating disputes 
 is by sword and pistol, and not by these medi- 
 cated pins; which, we presume, will become 
 the weapons of gentlemen in the new republics 
 of South America. 
 
 The second journey of Mr. Walerton, in the 
 year 1816, was to Pernambuco, in the southern 
 hemisphere, on the coast of Brazil, and from 
 thence he proceeds to Cayenne. His plan was 
 to have ascended the Amazon from Para, and 
 get into the Rio Negro, and from thence to have 
 returned towards the source of the Essequibo, 
 in order to examine the Crystal Mountains, and 
 to look once more for Lake Parima, or the 
 t2 
 
222 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 White Sea; but on arriving at Cayenne, he 
 found that to beat up the Amazon would be long 
 and tedious; he left Cayenne, therefore, in an 
 American ship for Paramaribo, went through 
 the interior to Coryntin, stopped a few days at 
 New Amsterdam, and proceeded to Demerara. 
 " Leave behind you" (he says to the traveller) 
 "your high-seasoned dishes, your wines, and 
 your delicacies; carry nothing but what is 
 necessary for your own comfort, and the object 
 in view, and depend upon the skill of an Indian, 
 or your own, for fish and game. A sheet, about 
 twelve feet long, ten wide, painted, and with 
 loop-holes on each side, will be of great ser- 
 vice: in a few minutes you can suspend it be- 
 twixt two trees in the shape of a roof. Under 
 this, in your hammock, you may defy the pelt- 
 ing shower, and sleep heedless of the dews of 
 night. A hat, a shirt, and a light pair of 
 trowsers, will be all the raiment you require. 
 Custom will soon teach you to tread lightly and 
 barefoot on the little inequalities of the ground, 
 and show you how to pass on, unwounded, 
 amid the mantling briars." — (pp. 113, 113.) 
 
 Snakes are certainly an annoyance ; but 
 the snake, though high-spirited, is not quarrel- 
 some ; he considers his fangs to be given for 
 defence, and not for annoyance, and never in- 
 flicts a wound but to defend existence. If you 
 tread upon him, he puts you to death for your 
 clumsiness, merely because he does not under- 
 stand what your clumsiness means; and cer- 
 tainly a snake, who feels fourteen or fifteen 
 stone stamping upon his tail, has little time for 
 reflection, and may be allowed to be poisonous 
 and peevish. American tigers generally run 
 away— from which several respectable gentle- 
 men in Parliament inferred, in the American 
 war, that American soldiers would run away 
 also! 
 
 The description of the birds is very animated 
 and interesting; but how far does the gentle 
 reader imagine the cainpanero may be heard, 
 whose size is that of a jay 1 Perhaps 300 yards. 
 Poor innocent, ignorant reader! unconscious 
 of what nature has done in the forests of Cay- 
 enne, and measuring the force of tropical into- 
 nation by the sounds of a Scotch duck ! The 
 campanero may be heard three miles ! — this 
 single little bird being more powerful than the 
 belfry of a cathedral, ringing for a new dean — 
 just appointed on account of shabby politics, 
 small understanding, and good family ! 
 
 "The fifth species is the celebrated campa- 
 nero of the Spaniards, called dara by the In- 
 dians, and bell-bird by the English. He is about 
 the size of the jay. His plumage is white as 
 snow. On his forehead rises a spiral tube 
 jiearly three inches long. It is jet black, dotted 
 all over with small white feathers. It has a 
 communication with the palate, and when 
 filled with air, looks like a spire ; when empty, 
 it becomes pendulous. His note is loud and 
 clear, like the sound of a bell, and may be heard 
 at the distance of three miles. In the midst of 
 these extensive wilds, generally on the dried 
 top of an aged mora, almost out of gun reach, 
 you will see the campanero. No sound or song 
 from any of the winged inhabitants of the forest, 
 
 not even the clearly pronounced 'Whip-poor- 
 Will,' from the goatsucker, causes such as- 
 tonishment as the toll of the campanero. 
 
 " With many of the feathered race he pays 
 the common tribute of a morning and an even- 
 ing song; and even when the meridian sun has 
 shut in silence the mouths of almost the whole 
 of animated nature, the campanero still cheers 
 the forest. You hear his toll, and then a pause 
 for a minute, then another toll, and then a 
 pause, again, and then a toll, and again a 
 pause."— (pp. 117, 118.) 
 
 It is impossible to contradict a gentleman 
 who has been in the forests of Cayenne; but 
 we are determined, as soon as a campanero is 
 brought to England, to make him toll in a pub- 
 lic place, and have the distance measured. 
 The toucan has an enormous bill, makes a 
 noise like a puppy dog, and lays his eggs in 
 hollow trees. How astonishing are the freaks 
 and fancies of nature! To what purpose, we 
 say, is a bird placed in the woods of Cayenne, 
 with a bill a yard long, making a noise like a 
 puppy dog, and laying eggs in hollow trees 1 
 The toucans, to be sure, might retort, to what 
 purpose were gentlemen in Bond street created? 
 To what purpose were certain foolish, prating 
 members of Parliament created ? — pestering the 
 House of Commons with their ignorance and 
 folly, and impeding the business of the country ? 
 There is no end of such questions. So we will 
 not enter into the metaphysics of the toucan. 
 The houtou ranks high in beauty ; his whole 
 body is green, his wings and tail blue ; his 
 crown is of black and blue; he makes no nest, 
 but rears his young in the sand. 
 
 " The cassique, in size, is larger than the 
 starling ; he courts the society of man, but dis- 
 dains to live by his labours. When nature 
 calls for support, he repairs to the neighbour- 
 ing forest, and there partakes of the store of 
 fruits and seeds, which she has produced in 
 abundance for her aerial tribes. When his 
 repast is over, he returns to man, and pays the 
 little tribute which he owes him for his protec- 
 tion ; he takes his station on a tree close to his 
 house; and there, for hours together, pours 
 forth a succession of imitative notes. His 
 own song is sweet, but very short. If a toucan 
 be yelping in the neighbourhood, he drops it, 
 and imitates him. Then he will amuse his 
 protector with the cries of the diff'erent species 
 of the woodpecker; and when the sheep bleat, 
 he will distinctly answer them. Then comes 
 his own song again, and if a puppy dog or a 
 guinea fowl interrupt him, he takes them off 
 admirably, and by his different gestures during 
 the time, you would conclude that he enjoys 
 the sport. 
 
 "The cassique is gregarious, and imitates 
 any sound he hears with such exactness that 
 he goes by no other name than that of mock- 
 ing-bird amongst the colonists."— (pp. 127, 
 128.) 
 
 There is no end to the extraordinary noises 
 of the forest of Cayenne. The woodpecker, in 
 striking against the tree with his bill, makes a 
 sound so loud, that Mr. Waterton says it re- 
 minds you more of a wood-cutter than a bird. 
 While lying in your ham-mock, you hear the 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 223 
 
 goatsucker lamenting like one in deep distress 
 — a stranger would take it for a Weir murdered 
 by Thurtell. 
 
 "Suppose yourself in hopeless sorrow, begin 
 with a high loud note, and pronounce, 'ha, ha, 
 ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,' each note lower and lower, 
 till the last is scarcely heard, pausing a mo- 
 ment or two betwixt every note, and you will 
 have some idea of the moaning of the largest 
 goatsucker in Demerara." — (p. 141.) 
 
 One species of the goatsucker cries, " Who 
 are you 1 who are you '!" Another exclaims, 
 " Work away, work away." A third, " Willy 
 come go, Willy come go." A fourth, " Whip 
 poor Will, whip poor Will." It is very flatter- 
 ing to us that they should all speak English! — 
 though we cannot much commend the elegance 
 cf their selections. The Indians never destroy 
 these birds, believing them to be the servants 
 of Jumbo, the African devil. 
 
 Great travellers are very fond of triumphing 
 over civilized life ; and Mr. Waterton does not 
 omit the opportunity of remarking, that nobody 
 ever stopt him in the forests of Cayenne to ask 
 him for his license, or to inquire if he had an 
 hundred a year, or to take away his gun, or to 
 dispute the limits of a manor, or to threaten 
 him with a tropical justice of the peace. We 
 hope, however, that in this point we are on the 
 eve of improvement. Mr. Peel, who is a man 
 of high character and principles, may depend 
 upon it that the time is come for his interfer- 
 ence, and that it will be a loss of reputation to 
 him not to interfere. If any one else can and 
 will carry an alteration through Parliament, 
 there is no occasion that the hand of govern- 
 ment should appear; but some hand must ap- 
 pear. The common people are becoming fero- 
 cious, and the perdricide criminals are more 
 numerous than the violators of all the branches 
 of the Decalogue. 
 
 " The king of the vultures is very handsome, 
 and seems to be the only bird which claims 
 regal honours from a surrounding tribe. It is 
 a fact be}'ond all dispute, that when the scent 
 of carrion has drawn together hundreds of the 
 common vultures, they all retire from the car- 
 cass as soon as the king of the vultures makes 
 his appearance. When his majesty has satis- 
 fied the cravings of his royal stomach with the 
 choicest bits from the most stinking and cor- 
 rupted parts, he generally retires to a neigh- 
 bouring tree, and then the common vultures 
 return in crowds to gobble down his leavings. 
 The Indians, as well as the whites, have ob- 
 served this ; for when one of them, who has 
 learned a little English, sees the king, and 
 wishes you to have a proper notion of the bird, 
 he says, 'There is the governor of the carrion 
 crows.' 
 
 "Now, the Indians have never heard of a 
 personage in Demerara higher than that of go- 
 vernor; and the colonists, through a common 
 mistake, call the vultures carrion crows. 
 Hence the Indian, in order to express the do- 
 minion of this bird over the common vultures, 
 tells you he is governor of the carrion crows. 
 The Spaniards have also observed it, for, 
 through all the Spanish Main, he is called Rey 
 de Zamuros, king of the vultures." — (p. 146.) 
 
 This, we think, explains satisfactorily the 
 origin of kingly government. As men have 
 " learnt from the dog the physic of the field," 
 they may probably have learnt from the vulture 
 those high lessons of policy upon which, in 
 Europe, we suppose the whole happiness of 
 society, and the very existence of the human 
 race, to depend. 
 
 Just before his third journey, Mr. Waterton 
 takes leave of Sir Joseph Banks, and speaks 
 of him with affectionate regret. " I saw," (says 
 Mr. W.) "with sorrow, that death was going to 
 rob us of him. We talked of stuffing quad- 
 rupeds ; I agreed that the lips and nose ought 
 to be cut off, and stuffed with wax." This is 
 the way great naturalists take an eternal fare- 
 well of each other! Upon stuffing animals, 
 however, we have a word to say. Mr. Water- 
 ton has placed at the head of his book the pic- 
 ture of what he is pleased to consider a nonde- 
 script species of monkey. In this exhibition 
 our author is surely abusing his stuffing talents, 
 and laughing at the public. It is clearly the 
 head of a master in chancery — whom we have 
 often seen backing in the House of Commons 
 after he has delivered his message. It is fool- 
 ish thus to trifle with science aud natural his- 
 tor}'. Mr. Waterton gives an interesting ac- 
 count of the sloth, an animal of which he 
 appears to be fond, and whose habits he has 
 studied with peculiar attention. 
 
 "Some years ago I kept a sloth in my room 
 for several months. I often took him out of 
 the house and placed him upon the ground, iu 
 order to have an opportunity of observing his 
 motions. If the ground were rough, he would 
 pull himself forwards, by means of his fore 
 legs, at a pretty good pace: and he invariably 
 shaped his course towards the nearest tree. 
 But if I put him upon a smooth and well-trod- 
 den part of the road, he appeared to be in 
 trouble and distress : his favourite abode was 
 the back of a chair; and after getting all his 
 legs in a line upon the topmost part of it, he 
 would hang there for hours together, and often, 
 with a low and inward cry, would seem to in- 
 vite me to take notice of him." — (p. 164.) 
 
 The sloth, in its wild state, spends its life in 
 trees, and never leaves them but from force or 
 accident. The eagle to the sky, the mole to 
 the ground, the sloth to the tree; but what is 
 most extraordinary, he lives not vpon the 
 branches, but under them. He moves sus- 
 pended, rests suspended, sleeps suspended, and 
 passes his life in suspense — like a young 
 clergyman distantly related to a bishop. Strings 
 of ants may be observed, says our good travel- 
 ler, a mile long, each carrying in its mouth a 
 green leaf the size of a sixpence ! he does not 
 say whether this is a loyal procession, like 
 Oak-apple Day, or for what purpose these 
 leaves are carried ; but it appears, while they 
 are carrying the leaves, that three sorts of ant- 
 bears are busy in eating them. The habits of 
 the largest of these three animals are curious, 
 and to us new. We recommend tne account 
 to the attention of the reader. 
 
 He is chiefly found in the inmost recesses 
 of the forest, and seems partial to the low and 
 swampy parts near creeks, where the Trocly 
 
224 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 tree grows. There he goes up and down in 
 quest of ants, of which there is never the least 
 scarcity; so that he soon obtains a sutficient 
 supply of food, with very little trouble. He 
 cannot travel fast; man is superior to him in 
 speed. Without swiftness to enable him to 
 escape from his enemies, without teeth, the 
 possession of which would assist him in self- 
 defence, and without the power of burrowing 
 in the ground, by which he might conceal him- 
 self from his pursuers, he still is capable of 
 ranging through these wilds in perfect safety ; 
 nor does he fear the fatal pressure of the ser- 
 pent's fold, or the teeth of the famished jaguar. 
 Nature has formed his fore legs wonderfully 
 thick, and strong, and muscular, and armed 
 his feet with three tremendous sharp and 
 crooked claws. Whenever he seizes an ani- 
 mal with these formidable weapons, he hugs 
 it close to his body and keeps it there till it 
 dies through pressure, or through want of food. 
 Nor does the ant-bear, in the mean time, suffer 
 much from loss of aliment, as it is a well- 
 known fact, that he can go longer without food 
 than perhaps any other animal, except the land 
 tortoise. His skin is of a texture that perfectly 
 resists the bite of a dog ; his hinder parts are 
 protected by thick and shaggy hair, while his 
 immense tail is large enough to cover his 
 whole body. 
 
 "The Indians have a great dread of coming 
 in contact with the ant-bear; and, after dis- 
 abling him in the chase, never thinly of approach- 
 ing him till he be quite dead." — (pp 171, 172.) 
 
 The vampire measures about 26 inches from 
 wing to wing. There are two species, large 
 and small. The large suck men, and the 
 smaller, birds. Mr. W. saw some fowls which 
 had been sucked the night before, and they 
 •were scarcely able to walk. 
 
 "Some years ago I went to the river Pauma- 
 ron with a Scotch gentleman, by name Tarbet. 
 We hung our hammocks in the thatched loft 
 of a planter's house. Next morning I heard 
 this gentleman muttering in his hammock, and 
 now and then letting fall an imprecation or 
 two, just about the tiiue he ought to have been 
 saying his morning prayers. 'What is the 
 matter, sirl' said I, softly ; 'is any thing amissl' 
 — 'What's the matter 1' answered he, surlily; 
 ' why, the vampires have been sucking me to 
 death.' As soon as there was light enough, I 
 went to his hammock, and saw it much stained 
 with b'ood. ' There,' said he, thrusting his 
 foot out of the hammock, ' see how these in- 
 fernal imps have been drawing my life's blood.' 
 On examining his foot, I found the vampire 
 had tapped his great toe : there was a wound 
 somewhat less than that made by a leech; the 
 blood was still oozing from it; I conjectured 
 he might have lost from ten to twelve ounces 
 of blood. Whilst examining it, I think I put 
 him into a worse humour, by remarking, that 
 an European surgeon would not have been so 
 generous as to have blooded him without mak- 
 ing a charge. He looked up in my face, but 
 did not say a word : I saw he M'as of opinion 
 that I had belter have spared this piece of ill- 
 timed levity." — (pp. 176, 177.) 
 
 The story which follows this account is 
 
 vulgar, unworthy of Mr. Waterton, and should 
 have been omitted. 
 
 Every animal has its enemies. The land 
 tortoise has two enemies, man, and the boa- 
 constrictor. The natural defence of the tor- 
 toise is to draw himself up in his shell, and to 
 remain quiet. In this state, the tiger, how- 
 ever famished, can do nothing with him, for 
 the shell is too strong for the stroke of his paw. 
 Man, however, takes him home and roasts 
 him — and the boa-constrictor swallows him 
 whole, shell and all, and consumes him slowly 
 in the interior, as the Court of Chancery does 
 a great estate. 
 
 The danger seems to be much less with 
 snakes and wild beasts, if you conduct your- 
 self like a gentleman, and are not abruptly in- 
 trusive. If you will pass on gently, you may 
 walk unhurt within a yard of the Labairi 
 snake, who would put you to death if you 
 rushed upon him. The taguan knocks you 
 down with a blow of his paw, if suddenly in- 
 terrupted, but will run away, if you will give 
 him time to do so. In short, most animals 
 look upon man as a very ugly customer; and, 
 unless sorely pressed for food, or from fear 
 of their own safety, are not fond of attacking 
 him. Mr. Waterton, though much given to sen- 
 timent, made a Labairi snake bite itself, but no 
 bad consequences ensued — nor would any bad 
 consequences ensue, if a court-martial were 
 to order a sinful soldier to give himself a 
 thousand lashes. It is barely possible that 
 the snake had some faint idea of whom and 
 what he was biting. 
 
 Insects are the curse of tropical climates. 
 The bete rouge lays the foundation of a tre- 
 mendous ulcer. In a moment you are covered 
 with ticks. Chigoes bury themselves in your 
 flesh, and hatch a colony of young chigoes in 
 a few hours. They will not live together, but 
 every chigoe sets up a separate ulcer, and has 
 his own private portion of pus. Flies get en- 
 try into your mouth, into your eyes, into your 
 nose; you eat flies, drink flies, and breathe 
 flies. Lizards, cockroaches, and snakes, get 
 into the bed; ants eat up the books; scor- 
 pions sting you on the foot. Every thing 
 bites, stings, or bruises; every second of your 
 existence you are wounded by some piece of 
 animal life that nobody has ever seen before, 
 except Swammerdam and Meriam. An insect 
 with eleven legs is swimming in your teacup, 
 a nondescript with nine wings is struggling in 
 the small beer, or a caterpillar with several 
 dozen eyes in his belly is hastening over the 
 bread and butter! All nature is alive, and 
 seems to be gathering all her entomological 
 hosts to eat you up, as you are standing, out 
 of your coat, waistcoat, and breeches. Such 
 are the tropics. All this reconciles us to our 
 dews, fogs, vapour, and drizzle — to our apo- 
 thecaries rushing about with gargles and 
 tinctures — to our old, British, constitutional 
 coughs, sore throats, and swelled faces. 
 
 We come now to the counterpart of St. 
 George and the Dragon. Every one knows 
 that the large snake of tropical climates 
 throws himself upon his prey, twists the folds 
 of his body round the victim, presses him to 
 death, and then eats him. Mr. Waterton wanted 
 
WORK& OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 235 
 
 a large snake for the sake of his skin ; and 
 it occurred to him that the success of this sort 
 of combat depended upon who began first, and 
 that if he could contrive to fling himself upon 
 the snake, he was just as likely to send the 
 snake to the British Museum, as the snake, if 
 allowed the advantage of prior occupation, 
 was to eat him up. The opportunities which 
 Yorkshire squires have of combating with the 
 boa constrictor are so few, that Mr. Waterton 
 must be allowed to tell his own story in his 
 own manner. 
 
 " We went slowly on in silence, without 
 moving our arms or heads, in order to pre- 
 vent all alarm as much as possible, lest the 
 snake should glide ofl^, or attack us in self- 
 defence. I carried the lance perpendicularly 
 before me, with the point about a foot from 
 the ground. The snake had not moved ; and 
 on getting up to him, I struck him with the 
 lance on the near side, just behind the neck, 
 and pinned him to the ground. That moment 
 the negro next to me seized the lance and held 
 it firm in its place, while I dashed head fore- 
 most into the den to grapple with the snake, 
 and to get hold of his tail before he could do 
 any mischief. 
 
 " On pinning him to the ground with the 
 lance, he gave a tremendous loud hiss, and 
 the little dog ran away, howling as he went. 
 We had a sharp fray in the den, the rotten 
 sticks flying on all sides, and each party 
 struggling for superiority. I called out to the 
 second negro to throw himself upon me, as I 
 found I was not heavy enough. He did so, 
 and the additional weight was of great service. 
 I had now got firm hold of his tail ; and after 
 a violent struggle or two, he gave in, finding 
 himself overpowered. This was the moment 
 to secure him. So, while the first negro con- 
 tinued to hold the lance firm to the ground, 
 and the other was helping ms, I contrived to 
 unloose my braces, and with them tied up the 
 snake's mouth. 
 
 "The snake, now finding himself in an un- 
 pleasant situation, tried to better himself, and set 
 resolutely to work, but we overpowered him. 
 We contrived to make him twist himself round 
 the shaft of the lance, and then prepared to 
 convey him out of the forest. I stood at his 
 head, and held it firm under my arm ; one ne- 
 gro supported the belly, and the other the tail. 
 In this order we began to move slowly towards 
 home, and reached it after resting ten times : 
 for the snake was too heavy for us to support 
 him without stopping to recruit our strength. 
 As we proceeded onwards with him, he fought 
 hard for freedom, but it was all in vain." — 
 (pp. 202—204.) 
 
 One of these combats we should have 
 thought sufficient for glory, and for the inte- 
 rest of the British Museum. But Hercules 
 killed two snakes, and Mr. Waterton would 
 not be content with less. 
 
 " There M-as a path where timber had for- 
 merly been dragged along. Here I observed 
 a young coulacanara, ten feet long, slowly 
 moving onwards; I saw he was not thick 
 enough to break my arm, in case he got twist- 
 ed round it. There was not a moment to be 
 lost. I laid hold of his tail with the left hand, 
 
 one knee being on the ground ; with the right 
 I took off" my hat, and held it as you would 
 hold a shield for defence. 
 
 " The snake instantly turned, and came on 
 at me, with his head about a yard from the 
 ground, as if to ask me what business I had 
 to take liberties with his tail. I let him come, 
 hissing and open-mouthed, within two feet of 
 my face, and then, with all the force I was 
 master of, I drove my fist, shielded by my hat, 
 full in his jaws. He was stunned and con- 
 founded by the blow, and ere he could recover 
 himself, I had seized his throat Avith both 
 hands, in such a position that he could not 
 bite me ; I then allowed him to coil himself 
 round my body, and marched off" with him as 
 my lawful prize. He pressed me hard, but not 
 alarmingly so."— (pp. 206, 207.). 
 
 When the body of the large snake began to 
 smell, the vultures immediately arrived. The 
 king of the vultures first gorged himself, and 
 then retired to a large tree, while his subjects 
 consumed the remainder. It does not appear 
 that there was any favouritism. When the 
 king was full, all the mob vultures ate alike; 
 neither could Mr. Waterton perceive that there 
 was any division into Catholic and Protestant 
 vultures, or that the majority of the flock 
 thought it essentially vulturish to exclude one- 
 third of their numbers from the blood and en- 
 trails. The vulture, it is remarkable, never 
 eats live animals. He seems to abhor every 
 thing Avhich has not the relish of putrescence 
 and flavour of death. The following is a cha- 
 racteristic specimen of the little inconveni- 
 ences to which travellers are liable, who sleep 
 on the feather beds of the forest. To see a rat 
 in a room in Europe insures a night of horror. 
 Every thing is by comparison. 
 
 " About midnight, as I was lying awake, and 
 in great pain, I heard the Indian say, ' Massa, 
 massa, you no hear tiger V I listened atten- 
 tively, and heard the softly sounding tread of 
 his feet as he approached us. The moon had 
 gone down ; but every now and then we could 
 get a glance of him by the light of our fire; he 
 was the jaguar, for I could see the spots on 
 his body. Had I wished to have fired at him, 
 I was not able to take a sure aim, for I was in 
 such pain that I could not turn myself in my 
 hammock. The Indian would have fired, but 
 I would not allow him to do so, as I wanted to 
 see a little more of our new visitor; for it is 
 not every day or night that the traveller is 
 favoured with an undisturbed sight of the 
 jaguar in his own forests. 
 
 " Whenever the fire got low, the jaguar 
 came a little nearer, and when the Indian re- 
 newed it, he retired abruptly; sometimes he 
 would come within twenty yards, and then we 
 had a view of him, sitting on his hind legs 
 like a dog; sometimes he moved slowly to 
 and fro, and at other times we could hear him 
 mend his pace, as if impatient. At last the 
 Indian, not relishing the idea of having such 
 company in the neighbourhood, could contain 
 himself no longer, and set up a most tremen- 
 dous yell. The jaguar bounded off'Iike a lace- 
 horse, and returned no more; it appeared by 
 the print of his feet next morning that he was 
 a full-grown jaguar."— (pp. 212, 213.) 
 
226 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 We have seen Mr. Waterton fling himself 
 upon a snake; we shall now mount him upon 
 a crocodile, undertaking that this shall be the 
 last of his feats exhibited to the reader. He 
 had baited for a cayman or crocodile, the hook 
 was swallowed, and the object was to pull the 
 animal up and to secure him. "If 3'ou pull 
 him up," sa}' the Indians, " as soon as he sees 
 you on the brink of the river, he will run at 
 you and destroy j'ou." "Never mind," says 
 our traveller, "pull away, and leave the rest 
 to me." And accordingly he places himself 
 xipon the shore with the mast of the canoe in 
 his hand, ready lo force it down the throat of the 
 crocodile as soon as he makes his appearance. 
 
 " By the time the cayman was within two 
 yards of me, I saw he was in a state of fear 
 and perturbation; I instantly dropped the 
 mast, sprung up, and jumped on his back, turn- 
 ing half round as I vaulted, so that I gained 
 my seat with my face in a right position. I 
 immediately seized his fore legs, and, by main 
 force, twisted them on his back; thus they 
 served me for a bridle. 
 
 "He now seemed to have recovered from 
 his surprise, and probably fancying himself in 
 hostile company, he began to plunge furiously, 
 and lashed the sand with his long and power- 
 ful tail. I was out of reach of the strokes of 
 it, by being near his head. He continued to 
 plunge and strike, and make my seat very un- 
 comfortable. It must have been a fine sight 
 for an unoccupied spectator. 
 
 " The people roared out in triumph, and were 
 so vociferous, that it was some time before they 
 heard me tell them to pull me and my beast of 
 burden farther in land. I was apprehensive the 
 rope might break, and then theie would have 
 been ever}- chance of going down to the regions 
 under water with the cayman. That would 
 have been more perilous than Arion's marine 
 morning ride : — 
 
 ' Delphini insidens, vatia caerula sulcal Arion.' 
 
 " The people now dragged us above forty 
 yards on the sand ; it was the first and last 
 time I was ever on a cayman's back. Should 
 It be asked how I managed to keep my seat, I 
 Avould answer — I hunted some years with Lcrd 
 Darlington's fox hounds." — (pp. 231, 232.) 
 
 The Yorkshire gentlemen have long been 
 famous for their equestrian skill ; but Mr. Wa- 
 terton is the first among them of whom it 
 could be said, that he has a fine hand upon a 
 crocodile. This accursed animal, so ridden 
 by Mr. Waterton, is the scourge and terror of 
 all the large rivers in South America near the 
 line. Their boldness is such, that a cayman 
 has sometimes come out of the Oroonoque, at 
 Angustura, near the public walks where the 
 people were assembled, seized a full-grown 
 man, as big as Sir William Curtis after din- 
 ner, and hurried him into the bed of the river 
 for his food. The governor of Angustura 
 witnessed this circumstance himself. 
 
 OurEboracic traveller had now been nearly 
 eleven months in the desert, and not in vain. 
 Shall we express our doubts, or shall we con- 
 fidently stale at once the immense wealth he 
 had acquired ! — a prodigious variety of in- 
 sects, two hundred and thirty birds, ten land- 
 lortoises. five armadillos, two large serpents, 
 
 a sloth, an ant-bear, and a cayman. At Liver- 
 pool, the custom-house officers, men ignorant 
 of Linnffius, got hold of his collection, detained 
 it six weeks, and, in spite of remonstrances t9 
 the treasury, he was forced to pay very high 
 duties. This is really perfectly absurd ; that 
 a man of science cannot bring a pickled ar- 
 madillo, for a collection of natural histor}', 
 without paying a tax for it. This surely must 
 have happened in the dark days of Nicolas. 
 We cannot doubt but that such paltry exac- 
 tions have been swept awa}', by the manly 
 and liberal policy of Robinson and Huskisson. 
 Tliat a great people should compel an indivi- 
 dual to make them a payment before he can 
 be permitted to land a stuffed snake upon their 
 shores, is, of all the paltiy custom-house rob- 
 beries we ever heard of, the most mean and 
 contemptible — but Major rerum urdo na&ciiur. 
 
 The fourth journey of Mr. Waterton is to 
 the United States. It is pleasantly written ; 
 but our author does not appear as much at 
 home among men as among beasts. Shooting, 
 stuffing, and pursuing are his occupations. 
 He is lost in places where there are no bushes, 
 snakes, nor Indians — but he is full of good and 
 amiable feeling wherever he goes. We can- 
 not avoid introducing the following passage: — 
 
 " The steamboat from Quebec to Montreal 
 had above five hundred Irish emigrants on 
 board. They were going ' they hardly knew 
 whither,' far away from dear Ireland. It made 
 one's heart ache to see them all huddled to- 
 gether, without any expectation of ever revisit- 
 ing their native soil. We feared that the sor- 
 row of leaving home for ever, the miserable 
 accommodations on board the ship which had 
 brought them away, and the tossing of the 
 angry ocean, in a long and dreary voyage, 
 would have rendered them callotis to good be- 
 haviour. But it was quite otherwise. They 
 conducted themselves with great propriety. 
 Every American on board seemed to feel for 
 thrm. And then ' they were so full of wretch- 
 edness. Need and oppression stared within 
 their eyes. Upon their backs hung ragged 
 miser}% The world was not their friend.' 
 'Poor, dear Ireland,' exclaimed an aged fe- 
 male, as I was talking to her, 'I shall never 
 see it any more !' " — (pp. 259, 260.) 
 
 And thus it is in every region of the earth ! 
 There is no country where an Englishman can 
 set his foot, that he does not m.eet these mise- 
 I rable victims of English ci^uelt}^ and oppres- 
 sion — banished from their country by the stu- 
 pidity, bigotry, and meanness of the English 
 people, who trample on their liberty and con- 
 science, because each man is afraid, in an- 
 other reign, of being out of favour, and losing 
 his share in the spoil. 
 
 We are always glad to see America praised 
 (slavery excepted). And yet there is still, we 
 fear, a party in this country, who are glad to 
 pay their court to the timid and the feeble, by 
 sneering at this great spectacle of human hap- 
 piness. We never think of it without con- 
 sidering it as a great lesson to the people of 
 England, to look into their own afl'airs, to 
 watch and to suspect their rulers, and not to 
 be defrauded of happiness and money by pom- 
 pous names, and false pretences. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 227 
 
 " Our western brother is in possession of a 
 country replete with every thing that can con- 
 tribute to the happiness and comfort of man- 
 kind. His code of laws, purified by experi- 
 ence and common sense, has fully answered 
 the expectations of the public. By acting up 
 to the trae spirit of this code, he has reaped 
 immense advantages from it. His advance- 
 ment, as a nation, has been rapid beyond all 
 calculation; and, young as he is, it may be 
 remarked, without any impropriety, that he is 
 now actually reading a salutary lesson to the 
 rest of the civilized world." — (p. 273.) 
 
 Now, what shall we say, after all, of Mr. 
 Waterton 1 That he has spent a great part of 
 his life in wandering in the wild scenes he de- 
 scribes, and that he describes them with enter- 
 taining zeal and real feeling. His stories draw 
 largely sometimes on our faith; but a man 
 
 who lives in the woods of Cayenne must do 
 many odd things, and see many odd things — 
 things utterly unknown to the dwellers in 
 Hackney and Highgate. We do not want to 
 rein up Mr. Waterton too tightly — because we 
 are convinced he goes best with his head free. 
 But a little less of apostrophe, and some faint 
 suspicion of his own powers of humour, 
 would improve this gentleman's st}rle. As it 
 is, he has a considerable talent at describing. 
 He abounds with good feeling; and has writ- 
 ten a very entertaining book, which hurries 
 the reader out of his European parlour, into 
 the heart of tropical forests, and gives, over 
 the rules and the cultivation of the civilized 
 parts of the earth, a momentary superiority to 
 the freedom of the savage, and the wild b'jau- 
 ties of nature. We honestly recommend the 
 book to our readers : it is Avell worth the perusal. 
 
 MAN TRAPS AND SPRING GUNS/ 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 1821.] 
 
 Most of our readers will remember, that we 
 very lately published an article upon the use 
 of steel traps and spring guns ; and, in the 
 course of discussion, had occasion to animad- 
 vert upon the report of Mr. Justice Best's 
 judgment, in the case of Ilott and Wilkes, as 
 reported in Chetwynd's Edition of Burn's Jus- 
 tice, published in the spring of the present year. 
 In the Morning Chronicle, of the 4th of June, 
 1821, Mr. Justice Best is reported to have made 
 the following observations in the King's 
 Bench:— 
 
 " Mr. Justice Best said, Mr. Chetwynd's book 
 having been mentioned by my learned brother 
 Bayley, I must take this opportunity, not with- 
 out some pain, of adverting to what I am re- 
 ported, in his work, to have said in the case 
 of Ilott V. Wilkes, and of correcting a most 
 gross misrepresentation. I am reported to 
 have concurred with the other judges, and to 
 have delivered my judgment at considerable 
 length, and then to have said, ' This case has 
 been discussed at the bar, as if these engines 
 were exclusively resorted to for the protection 
 of game; but I consider them as lawfully ap- 
 plicable to the protection of every species of 
 property against unlawful trespassers.' This 
 is not what I stated ; but the part which I wish 
 more particularly to deny, as ever having said, 
 or even conceived, is this — ' But if even they 
 might not lawfully be used for the protection 
 of game, I, for one, should be extremely glad 
 to adopt such means, if they were found suffi- 
 cient for that purpose.' I confess I am sur- 
 prised that this learned person should sup- 
 pose, from the note of any one, that any per- 
 son who ever sat in a court of justice as a 
 
 * Peports of Cases argued and determined in the Court 
 cf Kind's Bench, in Hilary Term, GOlh Gen. III. 1820.— 
 By RicHAKD V. Barnkwall, of Lincoln's Inn, Esq.,Bar- 
 rister-at-Iaxv, and Edward H. Alderson, of the Inner 
 Temple, Esq., Barrister-at-iaw. Vol. III. Part II. 
 London, 16^. 
 
 judge could talk such wicked nonsense as I 
 am made to talk; and I am surprised that he 
 should v^enture to give the authority he does 
 for what he has published; for I find, that the 
 reference he gives in the appendix to his book 
 is 3 Barn, and Aid. 304, where there is a cor- 
 rect report of that case, and where it will bo 
 found that every word uttered by me is directly 
 contrary to what I am supposed, by Mr. Chet- 
 wynd's statement of the case, to have said. 1 
 don't trouble the court with reading the whole 
 of what I did say on that occasion, but I will 
 just say that I said — ' My brother Bayley has 
 illustrated this case by the question which he 
 asked, namely, Can you indict a man for put- 
 ting spring guns in his enclosed field 1 I think 
 the question put by Lord Chief Justice Gibbs, 
 in the case of Dean v. Clayton, in the Com- 
 mon Pleas, a still better illustration, viz. Can 
 you justify entering into enclosed lands to take 
 away guns so set? If both these questions 
 must be answered in the negative, it cannot be 
 unlawful to set spring guns in an enclosed 
 field, at a distance from any road, giving such 
 notice that they are set as to render it in the 
 highest degree probable that all persons in the 
 neighbourhood must know that they are so se:. 
 Humanity requires that the fullest notice pof- 
 sible should be given; and the law of England 
 will not sanction what is inconsistent with hu- 
 manity.' A popular work has quoted this re- 
 port from Mr. Chetwynd's work, but has omit- 
 ted this important line (which omission re- 
 minds one of the progress of a thing, the name 
 of which one does not choose to mention), 
 ' that I had concurred in what had fallen from 
 the other judges ; and omitting that line, they 
 state, that one had said, ' It is my opinion, that 
 with notice, or without notice, this might bf 
 done.' Now, concurring with the other judger, 
 it is impossible I should say that. It is right 
 that this should be corrected ; not that I enter- 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 tain any angry feeling, for too much time has 
 elapsed since then for any anger to remain on 
 my mind ; but all I claim, with respect to the 
 observations made in that work, severe as they 
 are (and I, for one, feel that I should deserve 
 no mercy if I should ever entertain such doc- 
 trines), is, that I may not be misrepresented. 
 It is not necessary for me, in this place, to say, 
 that no man entertains more horror of the doc- 
 trine than I am supposed to have laid down than 
 I do, that the life of man is to be treated lightly 
 and indifferently, in comparison with the pre- 
 servation of game, and the amusement of sport- 
 ing; that the laws of humanity are to be vio- 
 lated for the sake merely of preserving the 
 amusement of game. I am sure no man can 
 justly impute to me such wicked doctrines. 
 It is unnecessary for me to say, that I enter- 
 tain no such sentiments ; and therefore I hope 
 I shall be excused, not on account of my own 
 feelings, but as far as the public are interested 
 iu the character of a judge, in saying, that no 
 person should blame a judge for what has been 
 ■unjustly put into his mouth." 
 
 His lordship's speech is reported in the New 
 Tunes of the same date, as follows : — 
 
 "Mr. Justice Best said, 'My brother Bayley 
 has quoted Mr. Chetwynd's edition of Burn : I 
 am surprised that the learned author of that 
 work should have made me talk such mis- 
 chievous nonsense, as he has given to the 
 public, in areport of my judgment, in the case 
 of Ilott and Wilkes. I am still more surprised, 
 that he should have suffered this judgment to 
 remain uncorrected, after he had seen a true 
 report of the case in Barnewall and Alderson, 
 to which report he has referred in his appen- 
 dix.' Mr. Chetw3'nd's report has the follow- 
 ing passage: — 'Mr. Justice Best concurr;d 
 with the other judges.' His lordship con- 
 cluded as follows : — ' Tliis case has been dis- 
 cussed at the bar, as if these inquiries were 
 exclusively resorted to for the protection of 
 game; but I considered them as lawfully ap 
 
 sistent with the statement, by those who will 
 read the case in 'Barnewall and Alderson.' I 
 will only trouble the court with the passage 
 which will be found in the report of my judg- 
 ment, in ' 3 Barnewall and Alderson, 319 :' 'It 
 cannot be unlawful to set spring guns in an 
 enclosed field, at a distance from any road, 
 giving such notice that they are set, as to ren- 
 der it in the highest degree probable tliat all 
 persons in the neighbourhood must know that 
 they are so set. Humanity required that the 
 fullest notice possible should be given ; and the 
 law of England will not sanction what is in- 
 consistent with humanity.' I have taken the 
 first opportunity of sa)ang this, because I think 
 it of importance to the public that such a mis- 
 representation of the opinion of one of the 
 judges should not be circulated without some 
 notice." 
 
 We subjoin the report of Messrs. Barnewall 
 and Alderson, here alluded to, and allowed by 
 Mr. Justice Best to be correct: — 
 
 "Best, J. The act of the plaintiff could only 
 occasion mere nominal damage to the wood of 
 the defendant. The injur}' that the plaintiff's 
 trespass has brought upon himself is extremely 
 severe. In such a case, one cannot, without 
 pain, decide against the action. But we must 
 not allow our feelings to induce us to lose 
 sight of the principles which are essential to 
 the rights of property. The prevention of in- 
 trusion upon property is one of these rights ; 
 and every proprietor is allowed to use the force 
 that is absolufeli/ necessary to vindicate it. If 
 he uses more force than is ahsohitely necessary, 
 he renders himself responsible lor all the con- 
 sequences of the excess. Thus, if a man 
 comes on my land, I cannot lay hands on him 
 to remove him, until I have desired him to go 
 off. If he will not depart on request, I cannot 
 proceed immediatel)' to beat him, but must en- 
 deavour to push him off. If he is too powerful 
 for me, I cannot use a dangerous weapon, but 
 must first call in aid other assistance. I am 
 
 plicable to the protection of every species of | speaking of out-door property, and of cases in 
 
 property against unlawful trespassers. But 
 if even they might not lawfully he used for the 
 protection of game, I for one should he extremely 
 glad to adopt such measures, if they were found 
 Kuffieient for that purpose!! 
 
 "A popular periodical work contains the 
 passage just cited, with the omission of the 
 words ' concurred with the other judges.' Of 
 this omission I have reason to complain, be- 
 cause, if it had been inserted, the writer of the 
 article could not have said, ' It follows, that a 
 man may put his fellow-creatures to death for 
 any infringement of his property, for picking 
 the sloes and blackberries off his hedges; for 
 breaking a few dea,d sticks out of them by 
 night or by day, luith resistance or without re- 
 sistance, with ivarning or irithout warning! 
 The judges with whom Mr. Chetwynd makes 
 me concur in opinion, all gave their judgment 
 on the ground of due notice being given. I 
 do not complain of the other observations con- 
 tained in this work; they would have been 
 deserved by me had I ever uttered such an 
 opinion as the report of Mr. Chetwynd has 
 Ftated me to have delivered. The whole of 
 ^■hat I said will be found to be utterly incon- 
 
 which no felony is to be apprehended. It 
 evident, also, that this doctrine is only appli- 
 cable to trespasses committed in the presence 
 of the owner of the property trespassed on. 
 When the owner and his servants are absent 
 at the time of the trespass, it can only be re- 
 pelled by the terror of spring guns, or other 
 instruments of the same kind. There is, in 
 such cases, no possibility of proportioning the 
 resisting force to the obstinacy and violence 
 of the trespasser, as the owner of the close 
 may and is required to do where he is present. 
 There is no distinction between the mode of 
 defence of one species of out-door property and 
 another (except in cases where the taking or 
 breaking into the property amounts to felony). 
 If the owner of woods cannot set spring guns 
 in his woods, the owner of an orchard, or of a 
 field with potatoes or turnips, or any other 
 crop usually the object of plunder, cannot set 
 them in such field. How, then, are these kinds 
 of property to be protected, at a distance from 
 the residence of the owner, in the night, and 
 in the absence of his servants 1 It has been 
 said, that the law has provided remedies for 
 any injuries to such things by action. But the 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 crffender must be detected before he can be 
 subjected to an action ; and the expense of 
 continual watching for this purpose would often 
 exceed the value of the property to be protect- 
 ed. If -we look at the subject in this point of 
 view, we may find, amongst poor tenants, who 
 are prevented from paying their rents by the 
 plunder of their crops, men who are more 
 objects of our compassion than the wanton 
 trespasser, who brings on himself the injury 
 ■which he suffers. If an owner of a close can- 
 not set spring guns, he cannot put glass bot- 
 tles or spikes on the top of a wall, or even 
 have a savage dog, to prevent persons from 
 entering his yard. It has been said, in argu- 
 ment, that you may see the glass bottles or 
 spikes; and it is admitted, that if the exact 
 spot where these guns are set was pointed out 
 to the trespasser, he could not maintain any 
 action for the injury he received from one of 
 them. As to seeing the glass bottles or spikes, 
 tha't must depend on the circumstance whether 
 it be light or dark at the time of the trespass. 
 But what difference does it make, whether the 
 trespasser be told the gun is set in such a spot, 
 or that there are guns in different parts of such 
 a field, if he has no right to go on any part of 
 that field? It is absurd to say you may set 
 the guns, provided you tell the trespasser ex- 
 actly where they are set, because then the set- 
 ting them could answer no purpose. My bro- 
 ther Bayley has illustrated this case, by the 
 question which he asked, namely. Can you 
 indict a man for putting spring guns in his 
 enclosed field 1 I think the question put by 
 Lord C. J. Gibbs, in the case of the Common 
 Pleas, a still better illustration, viz.: Can you 
 justify entering into enclosed lands, to take 
 away guns so set? If both these questions 
 must be answered in the negative, it cannot be 
 unlawful to set spring guns in an enclosed 
 field, at a distance from any road, giving such 
 notice that the}^ are set as to render it in the 
 highest degree probable that all persons in the 
 neighbourhood must know that they are so set. 
 Humanity requires that the fullest notice pos- 
 sible should be given : and the law of England 
 will not sanction what is inconsistent with hu- 
 manity. It has been said in argument, that it 
 is a principle of law, that you cannot do in- 
 directly what you are not permitted to do di- 
 rectly. This principle is not applicable to the 
 case. You cannot shoot a man that comes on 
 your land, because you may turn him off by 
 means less hurtful to him ; and, therefore, if 
 you saw him walking in your field, and were 
 to invite him to proceed on his walk, knowing 
 that he must tread on a wire, and so shoot 
 himself with a spring gun, you would be liable 
 to all the consequences that would follow. 
 The invitation to him to pursue his walk is 
 doing indirectly what, by drawing the trigger 
 of a gun with your own hand, is done directly. 
 But the case is just the reverse, if, instead of 
 inviting him to walk on your land, you tell 
 him to keep off, and warn him of what will 
 follow if he does not. It is also said, that it is 
 a maxim of law, that you must so use your 
 own property as not to injure another's. This 
 maxim I admit; but I deny its application to 
 the case of a man who comes to trespass on 
 
 my property. It applies only to cases where 
 a man has only a transient property, such as 
 in the air or water that passes over his land, 
 and which he must not corrupt by nuisance; 
 or where a man has a qualified property, as in 
 land near another's ancient windows, or in 
 land over which another has a right of way. 
 In the first case, he must do nothing on his 
 land to stop the light of the windows, or, in the 
 second, to obstruct the way. This case has 
 been argued, as if it appeared in it that the 
 guns were set to preserve game; but that is 
 not so : they were set to prevent trespasses on 
 the lands of the defendant. Without, however, 
 saying in whom the property of game is vested, 
 I sa3% that a man has a right to keep persons 
 off his lands, in order to preserve the game. 
 Much money is expended in the protection of 
 game ; and it would be hard, if, in one night, 
 when the keepers are absent, a gang of poach- 
 ers might destroy what has been kept at so 
 much cost. If you do not allow men of landed 
 estates to preserve their game, you will not 
 prevail on them to reside in the country. Their 
 poor neighbours will thus lose their protection 
 and kind offices ; and the government the sup- 
 port that it derives from an independent, en- 
 lightened, and unpaid magistracy." 
 
 As Mr. Justice Best denies that he did say 
 what a very respectable and grave law publi- 
 cation reported him to have said, and as Mr. 
 Chetwynd and his reporter have made no 
 attempt to vindicate their report, of course our 
 observations cease to be applicable. There is 
 certainly nothing in the term report of Mr. 
 Justice "Best's speech which calls for any de- 
 gree of moral criticism; — nothing but what a 
 respectable and temperate judge might fairly 
 have uttered. Had such been the report cited 
 in Burn, it never would have drawn from us 
 one syllable of reprehension. 
 
 We beg leave, however, to observe, that we 
 have never said that it was Mr. Justice Best's 
 opinion, as reported in Chetwynd, that a man 
 might be put to death loUhnut notice, but with- 
 out warning ; by which we meant a very dif- 
 ferent thing. If notice was given on boards, 
 that certain grounds were guarded by watch- 
 men with fire-arms, the watchmen, feeling per- 
 haps some little respect for human life, would 
 probably call out to the man to stand and de- 
 liver himself up : — " Stop, or I'll shoot you !" 
 " Stand, or you are a dead man !" — or some 
 such compunctious phrases as the law compels 
 living machines to use. But the trap can give 
 no such warning — can present to the intruder 
 no alternative of death or surrender. Now, 
 these different modes of action in the dead or 
 the living guard, is what we alluded to in the 
 words without warning. We meant to cha- 
 racterize the ferocious,"unrelenting nature of 
 the means used — and the words are perfectly 
 correct and applicable, after all the printed 
 notices in the world. Notice is the communi- 
 cation of something about to happen, after some 
 little interval of time. Warning is the com- 
 munication of some imminent danger. Nobody- 
 gives another notice that he will immediately 
 shoot him through the head— or warns him 
 that he will be a dead man in less than thirty 
 years. This, acd not the disingenuous pur- 
 U 
 
230 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 pose ascribed to us by Mr. Justice Best, is the 
 explanation of the offending words. We are 
 ihoroughly aware that Mr. Justice Best was an 
 advocate for notice, and never had the most 
 distant intention of representing his opinion 
 otherwise : and we really must say, that (if the 
 report had been correct) there never was a 
 judicial speech where there was so little ne- 
 cessity for having recourse to the arts of mis- 
 representation. We are convinced, however, 
 that the report is not correct — and we are 
 heartily glad it is not. There is in the Morn- 
 ing Chronicle an improper and offensive 
 phrase, which (now we know Mr. Justice 
 Best's style better) we shall attribute to the 
 reporters, and pass over without further notice. 
 It would seem, from the complaint of the 
 learned judge, that we had omitted something 
 in the middle of the quotation from Chetwynd ; 
 whereas we have quoted every word of the 
 speech as Chetwynd has given it, and only 
 began our quotation after the preliminary ob- 
 servations, because we had not the most dis- 
 tant idea of denying that Mr. Justice Best con- 
 sidered ample notice as necessary to the le- 
 gality of these proceedings. 
 
 There are passages in the Morning Chronicle 
 already quoted, and in the term report, which 
 we must take the liberty of putting in juxtapo- 
 sition to each other. 
 
 Mr. Justice Best 
 in the Morning 
 Chronicle of the 
 4th of June, ISil. 
 It is not necessa- 
 ry for me in this 
 place to say, that 
 no man entertains 
 more horror of the 
 doctrine I am sup- 
 posed to have laid 
 down than I do, 
 that the life of man 
 is to be treated 
 lightly and indif- 
 ferently, in compa- 
 rison with the pre- 
 servation of game 
 and the amuse- 
 ment of sporting — 
 that the laws of 
 humanity are to be 
 violated for the 
 sake merely of pre- 
 serving the amuse- 
 ment of game. I 
 am sure no man 
 can justly impute 
 to me such wicked 
 doctrines; it is un- 
 necessary for me 
 to say I entertain 
 no such senti- 
 ments. 
 
 In Barnewall and 
 Alderson there is a 
 correct report of 
 that case. — Morn. 
 Chron. 
 
 Mr. Justice Best in the Term Reports, 
 Barnewall and jilderson. 
 
 When the owner and his servants 
 are absent at the time of the tres- 
 pass, it can only be repelled by the 
 terror of spring guns, or other in- 
 struments of the same kind. There 
 is, in such cases, no possibility of 
 proportioning the resisting force to 
 the obstinacy and violence of the 
 trespasser, as the owner of the 
 close may, and is required to do, 
 when he is present. — 317. 
 
 Without saying in whom the pro- 
 perty of game is vested, I say that 
 a man has a right to keep persons 
 off his lands, in order to preserve 
 the game. Much money is e.xpend- 
 ed on the protection of game; and 
 it would be hard if, in one night, 
 when the keepers are absent, a gang 
 of poachers might destroy what has 
 been kept at so much cost.— 320. 
 
 If an owner of a close cannot set 
 spring guns, he cannot put glass 
 bottles or spikes on the top of a 
 wall.— 318. 
 
 If both these questions must be 
 answered in the negative, it cannot 
 be unlawful to set spring guns in an 
 enclosed field, at a distance from any 
 road ; giving such notice that they 
 are set, as to render it in the highest 
 degree probable that all persons in 
 the neighbourhood must know they 
 are so set. Humanity requires that 
 the fullest notice possible should be 
 given ; and the law of England will 
 not sanction what is inconsistent 
 with humanity. — Barnewall andM- 
 derson, 319. 
 
 There is, perhaps, some little inconsistency 
 in these opposite extracts; but we have not the 
 .«;mallest wish to insist upon it. We are tho- 
 roughly and honestly convinced that Mr. Jus- 
 tice Best's horror at the destruction of human 
 life for the mere preservation of game is quite 
 sincere. It is impossible, indeed, that any 
 human being, of common good nature, could 
 
 entertain a different feeling upon the subject, 
 when it is earnestly pressed upon him; and 
 though, perhaps, there may be judges upon the 
 bench more remarkable for imperturbable 
 apathy, we never heard Mr. Justice Best ac- 
 cused of ill-nature. In condescending to notice 
 our observations, in destroying the credit of 
 Chetwynd's report, and in withdrawing the 
 canopy of his name from the bad passions of 
 country gentlemen ; he has conferred a real 
 favour upon the public. 
 
 Mr. Justice Best, however, must excuse us 
 for saying, that we are not in the slightest 
 degree convinced by his reasoning. We shall 
 suppose a fifth judge to have delivered his 
 opinion in the case of Ilott against Wilkes, and 
 to have expressed himself in the following 
 manner. But we must caution Mr. Chetwynd 
 against introducing this fifth judge in his next 
 edition of Burn's Justice ; and we assure him 
 that he is only an imaginary personage. 
 
 " My Brother Best justly observes, that pre- 
 vention of intrusion upon private pro'perty is a 
 right which every proprietor may act upon, 
 and use force to vindicate — the force absolutely 
 necessary for such vindication. If any man 
 intrude upon another's lands, the proprietor 
 must first desire him to go off, then lay hands 
 upon the intruder, then push him off; and if 
 that will not do, call in aid or other assistance, 
 before he uses a dangerous weapon. If the 
 proprietor uses more force than is absolutely 
 necessary, he renders himself responsible for 
 all the consequences of the excess. In this 
 doctrine I cordially concur; and admire (I am 
 sure, with him) the sacred regard which our 
 law everywhere exhibits for the life and safety 
 of man — its tardiness and reluctance to pro- 
 ceed to extreme violence; but my learned 
 brother then observes as follow i^: — 'It is evi- 
 dent, also, that this doctrine is only applicable 
 to trespasses committed in the presence of the 
 owner of the property trespassed upon. When 
 the owner and his servants are absent at the 
 time of the trespass, it can only be repelled by 
 the terror of spring guns, or other instruments 
 of the same kind.' If Mr. Justice Best means, 
 by the terror of the spring guns, the mere alarm 
 that the notice excites — or the powder without 
 the bullets — noise without danger — it is not 
 worth while to raise an argument upon the 
 point; for, absent or present, notice or no no- 
 tice, such means must always be lawful. But 
 if my brother Best means that in the absence 
 of the proprietor, the intruder may be killed by 
 such instruments, after notice, this is a doctrine 
 to which I never can assent; because it rests 
 the life and security of the trespasser upon the 
 accident of the proprietor's presence. In that 
 presence there must be a most cautious and 
 nicely graduated scale of admonition and harm- 
 less compulsion ; the feelings and safety of the 
 intruder are to be studiously consulted ; but if 
 business or pleasure call the proprietor away, 
 the intruder may be instantly shot dead by ma- 
 chinery. Such a state of law, I must be per- 
 mitted to say, is too incongruous for this or any 
 other country. 
 
 "If the alternative is the presence of the 
 owner and his servants or such dreadful con- 
 sequences as these, why are the owner or 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 231 
 
 his servants allowed to be absent 1 If the ulti- 
 mate object in preventing such intrusions is 
 pleasure in sporting, it is better that pleasure 
 should be rendered more expensive, than that 
 the life of man should be rendered so preca- 
 rious. But why is it impossible to proportion 
 the resisting force to the obstinacy of the tres- 
 passer in the absence of the proprietor 1 Why 
 may not an intruder be let gently down into 
 five feet of liquid mud 1 — why not caught in a 
 box which shall detain him till the next morn- 
 ing? — why not held in a toothless trap till the 
 proprietor arrives? — such traps as are sold in 
 all the iron shops in this city ? We are bound, 
 according to my brother Best, to inquire if 
 these means have been previously resorted to; 
 for upon his own principle, greater violence 
 must not be used, where less will suffice for the 
 removal of the intruder. 
 
 "There are crops, I admit, of essential im- 
 portance to agriculture, which will not bear 
 the expense of eternal vigilance; and if there 
 are districts where such crops are exposed to 
 such serious and disheartening depredation, 
 that may be a good reason for additional seve- 
 rity ; but then it must be the severity of the 
 legislator, and not of the proprietor. If the le- 
 gislature enacts fine and imprisonment as the 
 punishment for stealing turnips, it is not to be 
 endured that the proprietor should award to 
 this crime the punishment of death. If the 
 fault is not sufficiently prevented by the punish- 
 ments already in existence, he must wait till 
 the frequency and flagrancy of the offence 
 attract the notice, and stimulate the penalties 
 of those who make laws. He must not make 
 laws (and thpse very bloody laws) for himself. 
 " I do not say that the setter of the trap or 
 gun allures the trespasser into it; but I say 
 that the punishment he intends for the man 
 who trespasses after notice, .is death. He 
 covers his spring gun with furze, and gives it 
 the most natural appearance he can; and in 
 that gun he places the slugs by which he means 
 to kill the trespasser. This killing of an un- 
 challenged, unresisting person, I really cannot 
 help considering to be as much murder as if 
 the proprietor had shot the trespasser with his 
 gun. GifVing it all the attention in my power, 
 I am utterly at a loss to distinguish between 
 the two cases. Does it signify whose hand or 
 whose foot pulls the string which moves the 
 trigger? — the real murderer is he who pre- 
 pares the instrument of death, and places it in 
 a position that such hand or foot may touch it, 
 for the purposes of destruction. My brother 
 Holroyd says, the trespasser who has had a 
 notice of guns being set in the wood is the real 
 voluntary agent who pulls the trigger. But I 
 most certainly think that he is not. He is the 
 animal agent, but not the rational agent — he 
 does not intend to put himself to death; but he 
 foolishly trusts in his chance of escaping, and 
 is any thing but a voluntary agent in firing the 
 gun. If a trespasser were to rush into a wood, 
 meaning to seek his own destruction — to hunt 
 for the wire, and when found, to pull it, he 
 V mid indeed be the agent, in the most philo- 
 sophical sense of the word. But, after enter- 
 ing the wood, he does all he can to avoid the 
 gtik keeps clear of every suspicious place, 
 
 and is baffled only by the superior cunning of 
 him who planted the gun. How the firing of 
 the gun then can be called his act — his volun- 
 tary act — I am at a loss to conceive. The 
 practice has unfortunately become so common, 
 that the first person convicted of such a mur- 
 der, and acting under the delusion of right, 
 might be a fit object for royal mercy. Still, in 
 my opinion, such an act must legally be con- 
 sidered as murder. 
 
 "It has been asked, if it be an indictable 
 oflTence to set such guns iu a man's own ground : 
 but let me first put a much greater question — 
 Is it murder to kill any man with such instru- 
 ments ? If it is, it must be indictable to set 
 them. To place an instrument for the purpose 
 of committing murder, and to surrender (as in 
 such cases you must surrender) all control 
 over its operation, is clearly an indictable 
 offence. 
 
 " All ray brother judges have delivered their 
 opinions as if these guns were often set for 
 the purposes of terror, and not of destruction. 
 To this I can only say, that the moment any 
 man puts a bullet into his spring gun, he has 
 some other purpose than that of terror; and 
 if he does not put a bullet there, he can never 
 be the subject of argument in this court. 
 
 "My Lord Chief Justice can see no distinc- 
 tion between the case of tenter-hooks upon a 
 wall, and the placing of spring guns, as far as 
 the lawfulness of both is concerned. But the 
 distinctions I take between the case of tenter- 
 hooks upon a wall, and the setting of spring 
 guns, are founded — 1st, in the magnitude of 
 the evil inflicted; 2dly. in the great diflerence 
 of the notice which the trespasser receives ; 
 3dly, in the very difterent evidence of crimi- 
 nal intention in the trespasser ; 4thly, in the 
 greater value of the property invaded; 5thly, 
 in the greater antiquity of the abuse. To cut 
 the fingers, or to tear the hand, is of course a 
 more pardonable injury than to kill. The 
 trespasser, in the daytime, sees the spikes ; 
 and by day or night, at all events, he sees or 
 feels the wall. It is impossible he shoiild not 
 understand the nature of such a prohibition, 
 or imagine that his path lies over this wall ; 
 whereas the victim of the spring gun may 
 have gone astray, may not be able to read, or 
 may first cross the armed soil in the night 
 time, when he cannot read; — and so he is 
 absolutely without any notice at all. In the 
 next place, the slaughtered man may be per- 
 fectly innocent in his purpose, which the 
 scaler of the walls cannot be. No man can 
 get to the top of a garden wall without a crimi- 
 nal purpose. A garden, by the common con- 
 sent and feeling of mankind, contains more 
 precious materials than a Avood, or a field, and 
 may seem to justify a greater jealousy and 
 care. Lastly, and for these reasons, perhaps, 
 the practice of putting spikes and glass bot- 
 tles has prevailed for this century past ; and 
 the right so to do has become, from time, and 
 the absence of cases, (for the plaintiff, in such 
 a case, must acknowledge himself a thief,) 
 inveterate. But it is quite impossible, because 
 in some trifling instances, and in much more 
 pardonable circumstances, private vengeance 
 has usurped upon the province of law, that 1 
 
232 
 
 WORKS OF THE RE^^ SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 can, from such slight abuses, confer upon pri- 
 vate vengeance the power of life and death. 
 On the contrary, I think it my imperious duty 
 ro contend, that punishment for such offences 
 as these is to be measured by the law, and not 
 by the exaggerated notions which any indivi- 
 dual may form of the importance of his own 
 pleasures. It is my duty, instead of making 
 one abuse a reason for another, to recall the 
 law back to its perfect state, and to restrain as 
 much as possible the invention and use of 
 private punishments. Indeed, if this wild 
 sort of justice is to be tolerated, I see no sort 
 of use in the careful adaptation of punish- 
 ments to crimes, in the humane labours of the 
 lawgiver. Every lord of a manor is his own 
 Lycurgus, or rather his own Draco, and the 
 great purpose of civil life is defeated. Inter 
 nova tormentorum ge7iei a machinasque exiiiaks, 
 silent leges. 
 
 " Whatever be the law, the question of hu- 
 manity is a separate question. I shall not 
 state all I think of that person, who, for the 
 preservation of game, would doom the inno- 
 cent — or the guilty intruder, to a sudden death. 
 I will not, however (because I am silent re- 
 specting individuals), join in any undeserved 
 panegyric of the humanity of the English 
 law. I cannot say, at the same moment, that 
 the law of England allows such machines to 
 be set after public notice ; and that the. law of 
 England sanctions nothing but what is hu- 
 mane. If the law sanctions such practices, it 
 sanctions, in my opinion, what is to the last 
 degree odious, unchristian, and inhumane. 
 
 " The case of the dog or bull I admit to be 
 an analogous case to this : and I say, if a man 
 were to keep a dog of great ferocity and power, 
 for the express purpose of guarding against 
 trespass in woods or fields, and that dog was 
 to kill a trespasser, it would be murder in the 
 person placing him there for such a purpose. 
 It is indifferent to me whether the trespasser 
 is slain by animals or machines, intentionally 
 brought there for that purpose : he ought not 
 to be slain at all. It is murder to use such a 
 punishment for such an offence. If a man 
 puts a ferocious dog in his yard, to guard his 
 house from burglary, and that dog strays into 
 the neighbouring field and there worries the 
 man, there wants, in this case, the murderous 
 and malicious spirit. The dog was placed in 
 the 3'ard for the legal purpose of guarding the 
 house against burglary ; for which crime, if 
 
 caught in the act of perpetrating it, a man 
 may legally be put to death. There was no 
 primary intention here of putting a mere tres- 
 passer to death. So, if a man keep a ferocious 
 bull, not for agricultural purposes, but for the 
 express purpose of repelling trespassers, and 
 that bull occasion the death of a trespasser, it 
 is murder: the intentional injliction of death 
 by any means for such sort of offences consti- 
 tutes the murder .■ a right to kill for such rea- 
 sons cannot be acquired by the foolhardiness 
 of the trespasser, nor by any sort of notice or 
 publicity. If a man were to blow a trumpet 
 all over the country, and say that he would 
 shoot any man who asked him how he did, 
 would he acquire a right to do so by such no- 
 tice ] Does mere publication of an unlawful 
 intention make the action lawful which fol- 
 lows 1 If notice is the principle which con- 
 secrates this mode of destroying human beings, 
 I wish my brothers had been a little inore 
 clear, or a little more unanimous, as to what 
 is meant by this notice. Must the notice be 
 always actual, or is it sufficient that it is pro- 
 bable ? May these guns act only against 
 those who have read the notice, or against all 
 who might hare read the notice? The truth 
 is, that the practice is so enormous, and the 
 opinions of the most learned men so various, 
 that a declaratory law upon the subject is im- 
 periously required.* Common humanity re- 
 quired it, after the extraordinary diflerence of 
 opinion which occun-ed in the case of Dean 
 and Clayton. 
 
 " For these reasons, I am compelled to differ 
 from my learned brothers. We have all, I am 
 sure, the common object of doing justice in 
 such cases as these ; we can have no possible 
 motive for doing otherwise. Where such a 
 superiority of talents and numbers is against 
 me, I must of course be wrong ; but I think it 
 better to publish my own errors, than to sub- 
 scribe to opinions of the justice of which I 
 am not convinced. To destroy a trespasser 
 with such machines, I think would be mur- 
 der; to set such uncontrollable machines for 
 the purpose of committing this murder, I think 
 would be indictable; and I am, therefore, of 
 opinion, that he who suffers from sjuch ma 
 chines has a fair ground of action, in spite of 
 any notice ; for it is not in the power of no- 
 tice to make them lawful." 
 
 * This has been dona 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 HAMILTON'S METHOD OF TEACHITs^G LANGUAGES.* 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 1S26.] 
 
 We have nothing whatever to do with Mr. 
 Hamilton personally. He may be the wisest 
 or the weakest of men ; most dexterous or most 
 unsuccessful in the exhibition of his system; 
 modest and proper, or prurient and preposte- 
 rous in its commendation ; — by none of these 
 considerations is his system itself affected. 
 
 The proprietor of Ching's Lozenges must 
 necessarily have recourse to a newspaper, to 
 rescue from oblivion the merit of his vermi- 
 fuge medicines. In the same manner, the 
 Amboyna tooth-powder must depend upon the 
 Herald and the Morning Post. Unfortunately, 
 the system of Mr. Hamilton has been intro- 
 duced to the world by the same means, and has 
 exposed itself to those suspicions which hover 
 over splendid discoveries of genius, detailed 
 in the daily papers, and sold in sealed boxes 
 at an infinite diversity of prices — but with a 
 perpetual inclusion of the stamp, and with an 
 equitable discount for undelayed payment. 
 
 It may have been necessary for Mr. Hamil- 
 ton to have had recourse to these means of 
 making known his discoveries, since he may 
 not have had friends whose names and au- 
 thority might have attracted the notice of the 
 public ; but it is a misfortune to which his 
 system has been subjected, and a difficulty 
 which it has still to overcome. There is also 
 a singular and somewhat ludicrous condition 
 of giving warranted lessons,- by which is meant, 
 we presume, that the money is to be returned, 
 if the progress is not made. We should be 
 curious to know how poor Mr. Hamilton would 
 protect himself from some swindling scholar, 
 who, having really learnt all that the master 
 professed to teach, should counterfeit the gross- 
 est ignorance of the Gospel of St. John, and 
 refuse to construe a single verse, or to pay a 
 farthing \ 
 
 Whether Mr. Hamilton's translations are 
 good or bad, is not the question. The point to 
 determine is, whether very close interlineal 
 translations are helps in learning a language! 
 not whether Mr. Hamilton has executed these 
 translations faithfully and judiciously. Whe- 
 ther Mr. Hamilton is or is not the inventor of 
 the system which bears his name, and what 
 his claims to originality may be, are also ques- 
 tions of very second-rate importance ; but they 
 merit a few observations. That man is not 
 the discoverer of any art who first says the 
 thing ; but he who says it so long, and so loud. 
 
 * I. The Gospel of St. John, in Latin, adapted to the 
 Jiamiltonian System, by an Analytical and Interlineary 
 Translation. Executed under the immediate Direction of 
 James Hamilton. London, 1824. 
 
 2. The Gospel of St. John, adapted to the Hamiltonian 
 System, by an .Analytical and Interlineary Translation 
 from the Italian, with full Instructions for its Use, even 
 hii those who are wholly ignorant of the Language. For 
 the Use of Schools. ByJAMKs Hamilton, Author of the 
 Hamiltonian System. London, 1S25. 
 30 
 
 and so clearly, that he compels mankind to 
 hear him — the man who is so deeply impressed 
 with the importance of the discovery that he 
 will take no denial, but, at the risk of fortune 
 and fame, pushes through all opposition, and 
 is determined that what he thinks he has dis- 
 covered shall not perish for want of a fair 
 trial. Other persons had noticed the effect of 
 coal-gas in producing light; but Winsor wor- 
 ried the town with bad English for three win- 
 ters before he could attract any serious atten- 
 tion to his views. Many persons broke stone 
 before Macadam, but Macadam felt the disco- 
 very more strongly, stated it more clearly, per- 
 severed in it with greater tenacity, wielded his 
 hammer, in short, with greater force than other 
 men, and finally succeeded in bringing his 
 plan into general use. 
 
 Literal translations are not only not used in 
 our public schools, but are generally discoun- 
 tenanced in them. A literal translation, or 
 any translation of a school-book, is a contra- 
 band article in English schools, which a 
 school-master would instantly seize, as a cus- 
 tom-house officer would a barrel of gm. Mr. 
 Hamilton, on the other hand, maintains, by 
 books and lectures, that all boys ought to be 
 allowed to work with literal trai.slations, and 
 that it IS by far the best method of learning a 
 language. If Mr. Hamilton's system is just, it 
 is sad trifling to deny his claim to originality, 
 by stating that Mr. Locke has said the same 
 thing, or that others have said die same thing, 
 a century earlier than Hamilttn. They have 
 all said it so feebly, that th"ir observations 
 have passed sub sikntlo ,- and if Mr. Hamilton 
 succeeds in being heard and followed, to him 
 be the glory — because froii. him have pro- 
 ceeded the utility and the adi^antage. 
 
 The works upon this subject on this plan, 
 published before the time of Mr. Hamilton, are 
 Montanus's edition of the r)ible, with Pignini's 
 interlineary Latin version , Lubin's New Tes- 
 tament having the Greek interlined with Latin 
 and German ; Abbe L'Ohvet's Pensees de Ci- 
 ceron ; and a French wc rk by the Abbe Ra- 
 don villiers, Paris, 17C8— and Locke upon Edu- 
 cation. 
 
 One of the first principles of Mr. Hamilton 
 is, to introduce very strict literal, interlinear 
 translations, as aids to lexicons and dictiona- 
 ries, and to make so much use of them as that 
 the dictionary or lexjcon will be for a long 
 time little required. We will suppose the lan- 
 guage to be the Italian, and the book selected 
 to be the Gospel of St. John. Of this Gospel 
 Mr. Hamilton has published a key, of which 
 the following is an extract : — 
 
 „ , Nel princ^pio era il Verbo, e il 
 
 In the hegimiing was the Word, and the 
 
 Verbo era appresso Dio, e il Verbo era Dio 
 
 Word was near to God, and the Word was Goa 
 
234 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 "4 
 
 „o Qnesto era nel priucipio appresso Dio. ' 
 This was in the beginning near to God. 
 
 ,, „ Per mezzo di lui tutte le cose furon | 
 By means of him all the things were ^ 
 fatte: e senza di lui nulla fu fatto di 
 made: and without of him nothing was made of 
 cio, che e stato fatto. 
 that, which is been made. 
 
 In lui era la vita, e la vita era 
 hi him ivas the I'fe, arid the life was 
 la luce degli uomini : 
 the light of the men .• 
 
 „g E la luce splende tra le tenebre, 
 A7id the light shines anwngthe darknesses, 
 e le tf!nebre hauno non ammessa la. 
 and the darknesses have not admitted her. 
 
 ,j „ Vi fu un uomo mandate da Dio che 
 The) e was a man sent by God, who 
 nomava si Giovanni, 
 did name hi mself John. 
 
 j,„ Questo venne qual testimone, affin di 
 This came like as witness, in order of 
 rendere testimonianza alia luce, onde per 
 to render testimony to the light, whence by 
 mezzo di lui tutti credessero. 
 means of him all might believe." 
 
 In this way Mr. Hamilton contends (and ap- 
 pears to us to contend justly), that the language 
 may be acquired with much greater ease and 
 despatch, than by the ancient method of begin- 
 ning with grammar, and proceeding with the 
 dictionary. We will presume at present, that 
 the only object is to read, not to write, or speak 
 Italian, and thai the pupil instructs himself 
 from the key without a master, and is not 
 taught in a class. We wish to compare the 
 plan of finding the English word in such a 
 Literal translation, to that of finding it in dic- 
 tionaries — and the method of ending with 
 grammar, or of taking the grammar at an 
 advanced period of kaowledge in the language, 
 rather than at the beginning. Every one will 
 admit, that of all the disgusting labours of life, 
 the labour of lexicon and dictionary is the 
 most intolerable. IN'or is there a greater ob- 
 ject of compassion than a fine boy, full of 
 animal spirits, set down in a bright sunny day, 
 with an heap of unkno vn words before him, 
 to be turned into English, before supper, by 
 the help of a ponderous dictionary alone. The 
 object in looking into a dictionary can only be 
 to exchange an unknown sound for one that is 
 known. Now, it seems indisputable, that the 
 sooner this exchange is made the better. The 
 greater the number of such exchanges which 
 can be made in a given time, the greater is the 
 progress, the more abundant the copia verbo- 
 rum obtained by the scholar. Would it not be 
 of advantage if the dictionaiy at once opened 
 at the required page, and if a self-moving in- 
 dex at once pointed to the requisite word ? Is | 
 any advantage gained to the i\ orld by the time 
 emplo3-ed first in finding the letter P, and then j 
 in finding the three guiding letters P RI? i 
 This appears to us to be pure loss of time, ■ 
 justifiable only if it is inevitable ; and even 
 ufier this is done, what an infi.iite multitude ' 
 of difiiculties are heaped at once upon the 
 wretched beginner! Instead of being reserved 
 for his greater skill and maturity in the lan- 
 {^age, he must employ himself in discovering 
 
 in which of many senses which his dictionary 
 presents the word is to be used ; in consider- 
 ing the case of the substantive, and the syn- 
 taxical arrangement in which it is to be placed, 
 and the relation it bears to other words. The 
 loss of time in the merely mechanical part of 
 the old plan is immense. We doubt very 
 much, if an average boy, between ten and 
 fourteen, will look out or find more than sixty 
 words in an hour; we say nothing at present 
 of the time employed in thinking of the mean- 
 ing of each word when he has found it, but of 
 the mere naked discovery of the word in the 
 lexicon or dictionar}*. It must be remembered, 
 we say an average boy — not what Master 
 Evans, the show boy, can do, nor what Master 
 Macarthy, the boy who is whipt every day, can 
 do, but some boy between Macarthy and 
 Evans ; and not what this medium boy can 
 do, while his mastigophorous superior is 
 frowning over him ; but what he actually does, 
 when left in the midst of noisy boys, and with 
 a recollection, that, by sending to the neigh- 
 bouring shop, he can obtain any quantity of 
 unripe gooseberries upon credit. Now, if this 
 statement be true, and if there are 10,000 words 
 in the Gospel of St. John, here are 160 hours 
 employed in the mere digital process of turn- 
 ing over leaves ! But, in much less time than 
 this, any boy of average quickness might learn, 
 by the Hamiltonian method, to construe the 
 whole four Gospels, with the greatest accu- 
 racy, and the most scrupulous correctness. 
 The interlineal translation of course spares 
 the trouble and time of this mechanical la- 
 bour. Immediately under the Italian word is 
 placed the English word. The unknown 
 sound therefore is instantly exchanged for one 
 that is known. The labour here spared is of 
 the most irksome nature; and it is spared at 
 a time of life the most averse to such labour; 
 and so painful is this labour to many boys, 
 that it forms an insuperable obstacle to their 
 progress. They prefer to be flogged, or to be 
 sent to sea. It is useless to say of any medi- 
 cine that it is valuable, if it is so nauseous 
 that the patient flings it away. You must give 
 me, not the best medicine 3'ou have in your 
 shop, but the best you can get me to take. 
 
 We have hitherto been occupied with find- 
 ing the word ; we will now suppose, after run- 
 ning a dirty finger down many columns, and 
 after many sighs and groans, that the word is 
 found. We presume the little fellow working 
 in the true orthodox manner without any trans- 
 lation; he is in pursuit of the Greek word 
 BiKkw, and, after a long chase, seizes it as 
 greedily as a bailiS" possesses himself of a fu- 
 gacious captain. But alas ! the vanity of 
 human wishes ! — the never suflicicntly to be 
 pitied stripling has scarcely congratulated him- 
 self upon his success, when he finds Boikko) to 
 contain the following meanings in Hederick's 
 Lexicon: — 1. Jacio; 2. Jaculor; 3. Ferio ; 4. 
 Figo ; 5. Saucio ; 6. Attingo ; 7. Projicio ; 8. 
 Emitto; 9. Profundo ; 10. Pono; 11. Immitto; 
 12. Trado; 13. Committo ; 14. Condo ; 15. 
 .'Edifico; 16. Verso; 17. Flecto. Suppose the 
 little rogue, not quite at home in the Latin 
 tongue, to be desirous of affixing English sig- 
 nifications to these various words, he has then, 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 235 
 
 at the moderate rate of six meanings to every 
 Latin word, one hundred and two meanings to 
 the word Buxxai ; or if he is content with the 
 Latin, he has then only seventeen.* 
 
 AVords, in their origin, have a natural or 
 primary sense. The accidental associations 
 of the people who use it, afterwards give to that 
 word a great number of secondary meanings. 
 In some words the primary meaning is very 
 common, and the secondary meaning very 
 rare. In other instances it is just the reverse ; 
 and in very many the particular secondary 
 meaning is pointed out by some preposition 
 which accompanies it, or some case by which 
 it is accompanied. But an accurate translation 
 points these things out gradually as it proceeds. 
 The common and most probable meanings 
 of the word Baxxai, or of any other word, are, 
 in the Hamiltonian method, insensibly but 
 surely fixed on the mind, which, by the lexi- 
 con method, must be done by a tentative pro- 
 cess, frequently ending in gross error, noticed 
 with peevishness, punished with severity, con- 
 suming a great deal of time, and for the most 
 part only corrected, after all, by the accurate 
 viva, voce translation of the master — or, in other 
 words, by the Hamiltonian method. 
 
 The recurrence to a translation is treated in 
 our schools as a species of imbecility and 
 meanness; just as if there was any other dig- 
 nity here than utility, any other object in learn- 
 ing languages, than to turn something you do 
 not understand, into something you do under- 
 stand, and as if that was not the best method 
 which effected this object in the shortest and 
 simplest manner. Hear upon this point the 
 judicious Locke : — " But if such a man cannot 
 be got, who speaks good Latin, and being able 
 to instruct your son in all these parts of know- 
 ledge, will undertake it by this method, the 
 next best is to have him taught as near this 
 way as may be — which is by taking some easy 
 and pleasant book, such as .-Esop's Fables, 
 and writing the English translation (made as 
 literal as it can be) in one line, and the Latin 
 words which answer each of them just over it 
 in another. These let him read every day over 
 and over again, till he perfectly understands 
 the Latin ; and then go on to another fable, till 
 he be also perfect in that, not omitting what he 
 is already perfect in, but sometimes reviewing 
 that, to keep it in his memory ; and when he 
 comes to Avrite, let these be set him for copies, 
 which, with the exercise of his hand, will also 
 advance him in Latin. This being a more im- 
 perfect way than by talking Latin unto him, 
 the formation of the verbs first, and afterwards 
 the declensions of the nouns and pronouns 
 perfectly learned by heart, may facilitate his 
 acquaintance with the genius and manner of 
 
 * In addition to the other needless difficulties and mise- 
 ries entailed upon children who are learning languages, 
 their Greek Lexicons give a Latin instead of an English 
 translation ; and a boy of twelve or thirteen years of 
 age, whose attainments in Latin are of course but mode- 
 rate, is expected to make it the vehicle of knowledge 
 for other langiiages. This is setting the short-sighted 
 and blear-eyed to lead the blind; and is one of those 
 afflicting pieces of absurdity which escape animadver- 
 sion, because they are, and have long been, of daily oc- 
 currence. Mr. Jones has published an English and 
 Greek Le.xicon, which we recommend to the notice of all 
 persons engaged in education, and not sacramented 
 against all improvement. 
 
 the Latin tongue, which varies the significa- 
 tion of verbs and nouns, not as the modern 
 languages do, by particles prefixed, but by 
 changing the last syllables. More than this of 
 grammar I think he need not have till he can 
 read himself ' Sanctii Minerva' — with Sciop- 
 pius and Perigonius's notes." — Locke on Edu- 
 cation, p. 74, folio. 
 
 Another recommendation which we have not 
 mentioned in the Hamiltonian system is, that it 
 can be combined, and is constantly combined, 
 with the system of Lancaster. The Key is pro- 
 bably sufficient for those who have no access to 
 classes and schools : but in an Hamiltonian 
 school during the lesson, it is not left to the op- 
 tion of the child to trust to the Key alone. The 
 master stands in the middle, translates accurate- 
 ly and literally the whole verse, and then asks 
 the boys the English of separate words, or chal- 
 lenges them to join the words together, as he 
 has done. A perpetual attention and activity 
 is thus kept up. The master, or a scholar 
 (turned into a temporary Lancasterian master), 
 acts as a living lexicon; and, if the thing is 
 well done, as a lively and animating lexicon. 
 How is it possible to compare this with the 
 solitary wretchedness of a poor lad of the desk 
 and lexicon, suffocated with the nonsense of 
 grammarians, overwhelmed with every species 
 of difficulty disproportioned to his age, and 
 driven by despair to peg top or marbles I 
 
 "Taking these principles as a basis, the 
 teacher forms his class o[ eight, fen, twenty or 
 one hundred. The number is of little moment, 
 it being as easy to teach a greater as a smaller 
 one, and brings them at once to the language 
 itself, by reciting, with a loud articulate voice, 
 the first verse thus : — In in, principio in begin- 
 ning, Verbum Word, erat was, et and, Verbum 
 Word, erat was, apud at, Deum God, el and, 
 Verbum Word, erat was, Deus God. Having 
 recited the verse once or twice himself, it is 
 then recited precisely in the same manner by 
 any person of the class whom he may judge 
 most capable ; the person copying his manner 
 and intonations as much as possible. — When 
 the verse has been thus recited, by s/a; or eight 
 persons of the class, the teacher recites the 2d 
 verse in the same manner, which is recited as 
 the former by any members of the class ; and 
 thus continues until he has recited from ten to 
 twelve verses, which usually constitute the first 
 lesson of one hour. — In three lessons, the first 
 Chapter may be thus readily translated, the 
 teacher gradually diminishing the number of 
 repetitions of the same verse till the fourth 
 lesson, when each member of the class trans- 
 lates his verse in turn from the mouth of the 
 teacher ; from which period ///y, sixty, or even 
 seventy, verses may be translated in the time 
 of a lesson, or one hour. At the seventh lesson, 
 it is invariably found that the class can trans- 
 late without the assistance of the teacher, far- 
 ther than for occasional correction, and for 
 those words which they may not have met in 
 the preceding chapters. But, to accomplish 
 this, it is absolutely necessary that every mem- 
 ber of the class know every word of all thi pre- 
 ceding lessons; which is, however, an easy 
 task, the words being always taught him in 
 class, and the pupil besides being able to refer 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 to the key whenever he is at a loss — the key 
 translated in the very words which the teacher ^ 
 has used in the class, from which, as was be- 
 fore remarked, he must never deviate. — In ttn 
 lessons, it will be found that the class can 
 readily translate the whole of the Gospel of 
 St. John, which is called the first section of 
 the course. — Should any delay, from any cause, 
 prevent them, it is in my classes always for j 
 account of teacher, M'ho gives the extra lesson 
 or lessons always gratis. — It cannot be too 
 deeply impressed on the mind of the pupil, that 
 a perfect knowledge of every word of his first 
 section is most important to the ease and com- 
 fort of his future progress. — At the end of ten 
 lessons, or first section, the custom of my es- 
 tablishments is to give the pupil the Epitome 
 Historias Sacra;, which is provided with a key 
 in the same manner. — It was first used in our 
 classes for the first and second sections ; we 
 now teach it in one section of ten lessons, 
 which we find easier than to teach it in two 
 sections before the pupil has read the Testa- 
 ment. — When he has read the Epitome, it will 
 be then time to give him the theory of the 
 verbs and other words which change their ter- 
 minations. — He has already acquired a good 
 practical knowledge of these things; the theory 
 becomes then very easy. — A grammar contain- 
 ing the declensions and conjugations, and 
 printed specially for my classes, is then put 
 into the pupil's hands, (not to be got by heart, 
 nothing is ever got by rote on this system,) 
 but that he may comprehend more readily his 
 teacher who lectures on grammar generally, 
 but especially on the verbs. From this time, 
 that is, from the beginning of the third section, 
 the pupil studies thp theory and construction 
 of the language as well as its practice. For 
 this purpose he reads the ancient authors, be- 
 ginning witk Ccesar, which, together with the 
 Sclecta e Profanis, fills usefully the third and 
 fourth sections. When these with the preced- 
 ing books are well known, the pupil will find 
 little difficulty in reading the authors usually 
 read in schools. The Jifih and sixth sections 
 consist of Virgil and Horace, enough of which 
 is read to enable the pupil to read them with 
 facility, and to give him correct ideas of Pro- 
 sody and Versification. Five or six months, 
 with mutual attention on the part of the pupil 
 and teacher, will be found sufficient to acquire 
 a knowledge of this language, which hitherto 
 has rarely been the result of as many years." 
 
 We have before said, that the Hamiltonian 
 system must not depend upon Mr. Hamilton's 
 method of carrying it into execution ; for in- 
 stance, he banishes from his schools the effects 
 of emulation. The boys do not take each 
 other's places. This, we tliink, is a sad ab- 
 surdity. A cook might as well resolve to 
 make bread without fermentation, as a peda- 
 gogue to carry on a school without emulation. 
 It must be a sad doughy lump without this 
 vivifying principle. Why are boys to be shut 
 out from a class of feelings to which society 
 owes so much, and upon which their conduct 
 in future life must (if they are worth any 
 thing) be so closely constructed] Poet A 
 writes verses to outshine poet B. Philosopher 
 C sets up roasting Titanium, and boiling 
 
 Chromium, that he may be thought more of 
 than philosopher D. Mr. Jackson strives to 
 out-paint Sir Thomas ; Sir Thomas Lethbridge 
 to overspeak Mr. Canning ; and so society 
 gains good chemists, poets, painters, speakers, 
 and orators ; and why are not boys to be emu- 
 lous as well as men ? 
 
 If a boy were in Paris, would he leani the 
 language better by shutting himself up to read 
 French books with a dictionary, or by con- 
 versing freely with all whom he met] and 
 what is conversation but an Hamiltonian 
 school? Every man you meet is a living 
 lexicon and grammar — who is perpetually 
 changing 3'our English into French, and per- 
 petually instructing you, in spite of yourself, 
 in the terminations of French substantives 
 and verbs. The analogy is still closer, if you 
 converse with persons of whom you can ask 
 questions, and who will be at the trouble of 
 correcting you. What madness would it be 
 to run away from these pleasing facilities, as 
 too dangerously easy — to stop your ears, to 
 double-lock the door, and to look out chickens, 
 taking a walk, and fine iveuther, in Boyer's 
 Dictionary — and then, by the help of Cham- 
 baud's Grammar, to construct a sentence which 
 should signify, "Come to my house, and eat 
 some chickens, if it is fine ?" But there is in 
 England almost a love of difficulty and need- 
 less labour. We are so resolute and industri- 
 ous in raising up impediments which ought to 
 be overcome, that there is a sort of suspicion 
 against the removal of these impediments, 
 and a notion that the advantage is not fairly 
 come by without the previous toil. If the 
 English were in a paradise of spontaneous 
 productions, they would continue to dig and 
 plough, though they were never a peach nor a 
 pine-apple the better for it. 
 
 A principal point to attend to in the Hamil- 
 tonian system, is the prodigious number of 
 words and phrases which pass through the 
 boy's mind, compared with those which are 
 presented to him by the old plan. As a talka- 
 tive boy learns French sooner in France than 
 a silent boy, so a translator of books learns 
 sooner to construe, the more he translates. 
 An Hamiltonian makes, in six or seven les- 
 sons, three or four hundred times as many 
 exchanges of English for French or Latin, as 
 a grammar schoolboy can do ; and if he loses 
 50 per cent, of all he hears, his progress is 
 still, beyond all possibility of comparison, 
 more rapid. 
 
 As for pronunciation of living languages, 
 we see no reason M'hy that consideration should 
 be introduced in this place. We are decidedly 
 of opinion, that all living languages are best 
 learned in the countrj- where they are spoken, 
 or by living with those who come from that 
 country; but if that cannot be, Mr. Hamilton's 
 method is better than the grammar and dic- 
 tionary method. Cseteris paribus, Mr. Hamil- 
 ton's method, as far as French is concerned, 
 would be better in the hands of a Frenchman, 
 and his Italian method in the hands of an 
 Italian ; but all this has nothing to do with the 
 system. 
 
 " Have I read through Lilly] — have I learned 
 by heart that most atrocious momument of 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 237 
 
 SJJjsnrdity, the Westminster Grammar 1 — have 
 I been whipt fo'- the substantives 1 — whipt for 
 the verbs ] — and whipt for and with the inter- 
 jections 1 — have I picked the sense slowly, 
 and word by word, out of Hederickl — and 
 shall my son Daniel be exempt from all this 
 misery] — Shall a little unknown person in 
 Cecil Street, Strand, No. 35, pretend to tell me 
 that all this is unnecessary 1 — Was it possible 
 that I might have been spared all this ] — The 
 whole system is nonsense, and the man an 
 impostor. If there had been any truth in it, it 
 must have occurred to some one else before 
 this period." — This is a very common style of 
 observation upon Mr. Hamilton's system, and 
 by no means an uncommon wish of the 
 mouldering and decaying part of mankind, 
 that the next generation should not enjoy any 
 advantages from which they themselves have 
 been precluded. — "Ay, ay, ifs all mighty well — 
 but I went through this myself, and I am deter- 
 mined my children shall do the same." We are 
 convinced that a great deal of opposition to 
 improvement proceeds from this principle. 
 Crabbe might make a good picture of an un- 
 benevolent old man, slowly retiring from this 
 sublunary scene, and lamenting that the com- 
 ing race of men would be less bumped on the 
 roads, better lighted in the streets, and less 
 tormented with grammars and lexicons, than 
 in the preceding age. A great deal of compli- 
 ment to the wisdom of ancestors, and a great 
 degree of alarm at the dreadful spirit of inno- 
 vation, are soluble into mere jealousy and 
 envy. 
 
 But what is to become of a boy who has no 
 difficulties to grapple withl How enervated 
 will that understanding be, to which every 
 thing is made so clear, plain, and easy ; — no 
 hills to walk up, no chasms to step over ; every 
 thing graduated, soft, and smooth. All this, 
 however, is an objection to the multiplication 
 table, to Napier's bones, and to ever)^ invention 
 for the abridgment of human labom". There 
 is no dread of any lack of dilhculties. Abridge 
 intellectual labour by any process you please — 
 multiply mechanical powers to any extent — 
 there will be sufficient, and infinitely more 
 than sufficient, of laborious occupation for the 
 mind and body of man. Why is the boy to be 
 idle"! — By and by comes the book without a 
 key; by and by comes the lexicon. They do 
 come at last — though at a better period. But 
 if they did not come — if they were useless, if 
 language could be attained without them — 
 would any hum'an being wish to retain diffi- 
 culties for their own sake, which led to nothing 
 useful, and by the annihilation of which our 
 faculties were left to be exercised, by diffi- 
 culties which do lead to something useful — by 
 mathematics, natural philosophy, and every 
 branch of useful knowledge! Can any one 
 be so anserous as to suppose, that the faculties 
 of young men cannot be exercised, and their 
 industry and activity called into proper action, 
 because Mr. Hamilton teaches, in three or four 
 years, what has (in a more vicious system) 
 demanded seven or eight t Besides, even in 
 the Hamiltonian method it is very easy for 
 one boy to outstrip another. Why may not a 
 clever and ambitious boy employ three hours 
 
 upon his key by himself, while another boy 
 has only employed onel There is plenty of 
 corn to thrash, and of chaff to be winnowed 
 awa)', in Mr. Hamilton's system; the differ- 
 ence is, that every blow tells, because it is 
 properly directed. In the old way, half their 
 force was lost in air. There is a mighty fool- 
 ish apophthegm of Dr. Bell's,* that it is not 
 what is done for a boy that is of importance, 
 but what a boy does for himself. This is just 
 as wise as to sa.y, that it is not the breeches 
 which are made for a boy that can cover his 
 nakedness, but the breeches he makes for 
 himself. All this entirely depends upon a 
 comparison of the time saved, by showing the 
 boy how to do a thing, rather than by leaving 
 him to do it for himself. Let the object be, for 
 example, to make a pair of shoes. The boy 
 will effect this object much better if you show 
 him how to make the shoes, than if you merely 
 give him wax, thread, and leather, and leave 
 him to find out all the ingenious abridgments 
 of labour which have been discovered by 
 experience. The object is to turn Latin into 
 English. The scholar will do it much better 
 and sooner if the word is found for him, than 
 if he finds it — much better and sooner i." }'ou 
 point out the efl["cct of the terminations, and 
 the nature of the syntax, than if you leave him 
 to detect them for himself. The thing is at 
 last done by the pupil himself — for he reads the 
 language — which was the thing to be done. 
 Alfthe help he has received has only enabled 
 him to make a more economical use of his 
 time, and to gain his end sooner. Never be 
 afraid of wanting difficulties for your pupil; 
 if means are rendered more easy, more will 
 be expected. The animal will be compelled, 
 or induced to do all that he can do. Macadam 
 has made the roads better. Dr. Bell would 
 have predicted, that the horses would get too 
 fat ; but the actual result is, that they are com- 
 pelled to go ten miles an hour instead of eight. 
 "For teaching children, this, too, I think is 
 to be observed, that, in most cases, where they 
 stick, they ai-e not to be farther puzzled, by 
 putting them upon finding it out themselves ; 
 as by asking such questions as these, viz. — 
 which is the nominative case in the sentence 
 they are to construe 1 or demanding what 
 ' aufero' signifies, to lead them to the know- 
 lodge what 'abstulere' signifies, &c., when 
 they cannot readily tell. This wastes time 
 only ih disturbing them ; for whilst they are 
 learning, and apply themselves with attention, 
 they are to be kept in good humour, and every 
 thing made easy to them, and as pleasant as 
 possible. Therefore, wherever they are at a 
 stand, and are willing to go forwards, help 
 them presently over the difficulty, without any 
 rebuke or chiding; remembering that, where 
 harsher ways are taken, they are the effect 
 only of pride and peevishness in the teacher, 
 who expects children should instantly be mas 
 ters of as much as he knows ; whereas he 
 should rather consider, that his business is to 
 settle in them habits, not angrily to inculcate 
 rules." — Locke on Education, p. 74. 
 
 discovery. 
 
338 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 Suppose the first five books of Herodotus to I 
 be acquired by a key, or literal translation 
 after the method of Hamilton, so that the pupil 
 could construe them with the greatest accura- 
 cy; — we do not pretend, because the pupil 
 could construe this book, that he could construe 
 any other book equally easy; we merely say, 
 that the pupil has acquired, by these means, a 
 certain copia vcrborum, and a certain practical 
 knowledge of grammar, which must materially 
 diminish the diflicuhy of reading the next 
 book; that his difficulties diminish in a com- 
 pound ratio with every fresh book he reads 
 with a key — till at last he reads any common 
 book, without a key — and that he attains this 
 last point of perfection in a time incomparably 
 less, and with difficulties incomparably smaller, 
 than in the old method. 
 
 There are a certain number of French books, 
 which when a boy can construe accurately, he 
 may be said, for all purposes of reading, to be 
 master of the French language. No matter 
 how he has attained this power of construing 
 the books. If you try him thoroughly, and are 
 persuaded he is perfectly master of the books — 
 then he possesses the power in question — he 
 understands the language. Let these books, 
 for the sake of the question, be Telemachus, 
 the History of Louis XIV., the Henriade, the 
 Plays of Racine, and the Revolutions of Ver- 
 tot. We would have Hamillonian keys to all 
 these books, and the Lancasterian method of 
 instruction. We believe these books would 
 be mastered in one-sixth part of the lime, 
 by these means, that they would be by the 
 old method of looking out the words in the 
 dictionary, and then coming to say the lesson 
 to the master; and we believe that the boys, 
 long before they came to the end of this 
 series of books, would be able to do without 
 their keys — to fling away their cork-jackets, 
 and to swim alone. But boys who learn a 
 language in four or five months, it is said, 
 are apt to forget it again. Why, then, does 
 not a young person, who has been five or 
 six months in Paris, forget his French four or 
 five years afterwards ? It has been obtained 
 without any of that labour, which the objectors 
 to the Hamiltonian system deem to be so essen- 
 tial to memory. It has been obtained in the 
 midst of tea and bread and butter, and yet is 
 in a great measure retained for a whole life. 
 In the same manner, the pupils of this new 
 school use a colloquial living dictionary, and, 
 from every principle of youthful emulation, 
 contend with each other in catching the inter- 
 pretation, and in applying to the lesson before 
 them. 
 
 "If you wish hoys to remember any lan- 
 guage, make the acquisition of it very tedious 
 and disgusting." This seems to be an odd 
 rule : but if it is good for language, it must be 
 good also for every species of knowledge — 
 music, mathematics, navigation, architecture. 
 In all these sciences aversion should be the 
 parent of memory — impediment the cause of 
 perfection. If difficulty is the cause of memo- 
 r}% the boy who learns with the greatest diffi- 
 culty will rem.ember with the greatest tenacity; 
 — in other words, the acquisitions of a dunce 
 will be greater and more important than those 
 
 of a clever boy. Where is the love of diffi- 
 culty to end! Why not leave a boy to com- 
 pose his own dictionary and grammar? It is 
 not what is done for a boy, but what he does 
 for himself, that is of any importance. Are 
 there difficulties enough in the old method of 
 acquiring languages? Would it be better if 
 the difficulties were doubled, and thirty years 
 given to languages, instead of fifteen? All 
 these arguments presume the difficulty to be 
 got over, and then the memory to be improved. 
 But what if the difficulty is shrunk from? 
 What if it puts an end to power, instead of 
 increasing it; and extinguishes, instead of ex- 
 citing, application ? And when th-^se effects 
 are produced, you not only preclude all hopes 
 of learning, or language, but you put an end 
 for ever to all literary habits, and to all im- 
 provements from study. The boy who is lexi- 
 con-struck in early youth looks upon all books 
 afterwards with horror, and goes over to the 
 blockheads. Every boy would be pleased with 
 books, and pleased with school, and be glad to 
 forward the views of his parents, and obtain 
 the praise of his master, if he found it possible 
 to make tolerably easy progress; but he is 
 driven to absolute despair by gerunds, and 
 wishes himself dead ! Progress is pleasure — 
 activity is pleasure. It is impossible for a boy 
 not to make progress, and not to be active in 
 the Hamiltonian method; and this pleasing 
 state of mind we contend to be more favourable 
 to memory, than the languid, jaded spirit which 
 much commerce with lexicons never fails to 
 produce. 
 
 Translations are objected to in schools justly 
 enough, when they are paraphrases and not 
 translations. It is impossible, from a para- 
 phrase or very loose translation, to make any 
 useful progress — they retard rather than acce- 
 lerate a knowledge of the language to be ac- 
 quired, and are the principal causes of the 
 discredit into which translations have been 
 brought, as instruments of education. 
 
 Infandum Regina julies renovare dnlorem. 
 Regina, jubes renovare dolorein infandum. 
 
 Oh .' Qveen, thou orderest to renew grief not to be spoken of. 
 Oh ! Queen, in pursuance of your commands, T enter 
 
 The first of these translations leads us di- 
 rectly to the explication of a foreign language, 
 as the latter insures a perfect ignorance of it. 
 
 It is difficult enough to introduce any useful 
 novelty in education without enhancing its 
 perils by needless and untfenable paradox. 
 Mr. Hamilton has made an assertion in his 
 Preface to the Key of the Italian Gospel, which 
 has no kind of foundation in fact, and which 
 has afforded a conspicuous mark for the aim 
 of his antagonists. 
 
 "I have said that each word is translated by 
 its one sole undeviating meaning, assuming, as 
 an incontrovertible principle in all languages,, 
 that, with very few exceptions, each word has 
 one meaning only, and can usually be rendered 
 correctly into another by one word only, which 
 one word should serve for its representative at 
 at all times and on all occasions." 
 
 Now, it is probable that each word had ore 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 239 
 
 meaning only in its origin ; but metaphor and 
 association are so busy with human speech, 
 that the same word comes to serve in a vast 
 variety of senses, and continues to do so long 
 after the metaphors and associations which 
 called it into this state of activity are buried 
 in oblivion. Why may noljuhco be translated 
 order as well as command, or dolorem rendered 
 grief as well as sorrow? Mr. Hamilton has ex- 
 pressed himself loosely ; but he perhaps means 
 no more than to say, that in school translations, 
 the metaphysical meaning should never be 
 adopted, when the word can be rendered by its 
 primary signification. We shall allow him, 
 however, to detail his own method of making 
 the translation in question. 
 
 "Translations on the Hamiltonian system, 
 according to which this book is translated, 
 must not be confounded with translations made 
 according to Locke, Clarke, Sterling, or even 
 according to Dumarsais, Fremont, and a num- 
 ber of other Frenchmen, who have made what 
 have been and are yet sometimes called 
 literal, and interlineal translations. The latter 
 are, indeed, interlineal, but no literal translation 
 had ever appeared in any language before 
 those called Hamiltonian, that is, before my 
 Gospel of St. John from the French, the Greek, 
 and Latin Gospels, published in London, and 
 L'Hommond's Epitome of the Historia Sacra. 
 These and these only were and are truly 
 literal; that is to say, that every word is ren- 
 dered in English by a corresponding part of 
 speech, that the grammatical analysis of the 
 phrase is never departed from ; that the case 
 of every noun, pronoun, adjective, or particle, 
 and the mood, tense, and person of every verb, 
 are accurately pointed out by appropriate and 
 unchanging signs, so that a grammarian not 
 understanding one word of Italian, would, on 
 reading any part of the translation here given, 
 be instantly able to parse it. In the transla- 
 tions above alluded to, an attempt is made to 
 preserve the correctness of the language into 
 which the diflerent works are translated, but 
 the wish to conciliate this correctness with a 
 literal translation, has only produced a barba- 
 rous and uncouth idiom, while it has in every 
 case deceived the unlearned pupil by a trans- 
 lation altogether false and incorrect. Such 
 translations may, indeed, give an idea of what 
 is contained in the book translated, but they 
 will not assist, or at least very little, in ena- 
 bling the pupil to make out the exact meaning 
 of each word, which is the principal object of 
 Hamiltonian translations. The reader will un- 
 derstand this better by an illustration: A gen- 
 tleman has lately given a translation of Juvenal 
 according to the plan of the above-mentioned 
 authors, beginning with the words semper ego, 
 which he joins and translates, 'shall I always 
 be' — if his intention were to teach Latin words, 
 he might as well have said, ' shall I always eat 
 beef-steaks ^' — True, there is nothing about 
 beef-steaks in semper ego, but neither is there 
 about 'shall be :' the whole translation is on 
 the same plan, that is to say, that there is not 
 one line of it correct, I had almost said one 
 word, on which the pupil can rely, as the exact 
 equivalent in English of the Latin word above 
 it. Not so the translation here given. 
 
 "As the object of the author has been that 
 the pupil should know every word as well as 
 he knows it himself, he has uniformly given it 
 the one sole, precise meaning which it has in 
 our language, sacrificing everywhere the 
 beauty, the idiom, and the correctness of the 
 English language to the original, in order to 
 show the perfect idiom, phraseology, and pic- 
 ture of that original as in a glass. So far is 
 this carried, that where the English language 
 can express the precise meaning of the Italian 
 phrase only by a barbarism, this barbarism is 
 employed without scruple — as thus, 'e le tene- 
 bre non I'hanno ammessa.' — Here the word 
 tcnehre being plural, if you translate it dark- 
 ness, you not only give a false translation of 
 the word itself, which is used by the Italians 
 in the plural number, but what is much more 
 important, you lead the pupil into an error 
 about its government, it being the nominative 
 case to /!«7?»io, which is the third person plural; 
 it is therefore translated not darkness, but 
 darknesses." 
 
 To make these keys perfect, we rather think 
 there should be a free translation added to the 
 literal one. Not a paraphrase, but only so 
 free as to avoid any awkward or barbarous 
 expression. The comparison between the 
 free and the literal translation would immedi- 
 ately show to young people the peculiarities 
 of the language in which they were engaged. 
 
 Literal translation or key — Oh ! Queen, thou 
 orderest me to renew grief not to be spoken of. 
 
 Free — "Oh! Queen, thou orderest rae to 
 renew my grief, too great for utterance." 
 
 The want of this accompanying free trans- 
 lation is not felt in keys of the Scriptures, 
 because, in fact, the English Bible is a free 
 translation, great part of which the scholar 
 remembers. But in a work entirely unknown, 
 of which a key was given, as full of awkward 
 and barbarous expressions as a key certainly 
 ought to be, a scholar might be sometimes 
 puzzled to arrive at the real sense. We say 
 as full of awkward and barbarous expressions 
 as it ought to be, because we thoroughly ap- 
 prove of Mr. Hamilton's plan, of always 
 sacrificing English and elegance to sense, 
 when they cannot be united in the key. We 
 are rather sorry Mr. Hamilton's first essay has 
 been in a translation of the Scriptures, because 
 every child is so familiar with them, that it 
 may be difficult to determine whether the ap- 
 parent progress is ancient recollection or 
 recent attainment ; and because the Scriptures 
 are so full of Hebraisms and Syriacism^, and 
 the language so diflferent from that of Greek 
 authors, tha.t it does not secure a knowledge of 
 the language equivalent to the time employed 
 upon it. 
 
 The keys hitherto published by Mr. Hamil- 
 ton are the Greek, Latin, French, Italian, and 
 German keys to the Gospel of St. John. Per- 
 rin's Fables, Latin Historia Sacra, Latin, 
 French, and Italian Grammar, and Studia 
 Metrica. One of the difficulties under which 
 the system is labouring, is a want of more 
 keys. Some of the best Greek and Roman 
 classics should be immediately published, with 
 keys, and by very good scholars. We shall 
 now lay before cur readers an extract froir 
 
240 
 
 WOKKS OF THE REY. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 one of the public papers respecting the pro- 
 gress made in the Hamiltonian schools. 
 
 « Extract from the Morning Chronicle of Wed- 
 nesday, November, I6th, \%2b.— Hamiltonian 
 System. — We yesterday were present at an 
 examination of eight lads who have been under 
 Mr. Hamilton since some time in the month of 
 May last, with a view to ascertain the efficacy 
 of his system in communicating a knowledge 
 of languages. These eight lads, all of them 
 between the ages of twelve and fourteen, are 
 the children of poor people, who, when they 
 were first placed under Mr. Hamilton, pos- 
 sessed no other instruction than common 
 reading and writing. They were obtained 
 from a common country school, through the 
 interposition of a member of Parliament, who 
 takes an active part in promotmg charity 
 schools throughout the country ; and the 
 choice was dt termined by the consent of the 
 parents, and n >t by the cleverness of the boys. 
 
 "They have been employed in learning 
 Latin, French, ■ind latterly Italian ; and yes- 
 terday they were examined by several distin- 
 guished individuals, among whom we recog- 
 nized John Smith, Esq. IVL P.; G. Smith, Esq. 
 M. P.; Mr. J. Mill, the historian of British 
 India; Major Camac; Major Thompson ; Mr. 
 Cowell, &c. (Sec. They first read dilTerent 
 portions of the Gospefof St. John in Latin, 
 and of Cfesar's Commentaries, selected by the 
 visitors. The translation was executed with 
 an ease which it would be in vain to expect 
 in any of the boys who attend our common 
 schools, ( ven in' their third or fourth year ; 
 and proved, that the principle of exciting the 
 attention of l)oys to the utmost, during the 
 process by which the meaning of the Avords is 
 fixed in their memory, had given them a great 
 familiarity with so much of the language as is 
 contained in the books above alluded to. Their 
 knowledge of the parts of speech was respect- 
 able, but not so remarkable; as the Hamilto- 
 nian system follows the natural mode of 
 acquiring language, and only employs the 
 boys in analyzing, when they have already 
 attained a certain familiarity with any lan- 
 guage. 
 
 ■'The same experiments were repeated in 
 French and Italian with the same success, 
 and, upon the whole, we cannot but think the 
 success has been complete. It is impossible 
 to conceive a moi'e impartial mode of putting 
 an/ system to the test, than to make such an 
 e-Tperiment on the children of our peasantry." 
 
 Into the truth of this statement we have 
 rersonally inquired, and it seems to us to 
 have fallen short of the facts, from the laud- 
 able fear of overstating them. The lads 
 selected for the experiment were parish boys 
 of the most ordinary description, reading Eng- 
 lish worse than Cumberland curates, and 
 totally ignorant of the rudiments of any other 
 language. They were purposely selected for 
 the experiment "by a gentleman who defrayed 
 its expense, and who had the strongest desire 
 to put strictly to the test the efficacy of the 
 Hamiltonian system. The experiment was 
 begun the middle of May, 1825, and concluded 
 on the day of November in the same year 
 
 mentioned in the extract, exactly six months 
 after. The Latin books set before them were 
 the Gospel of St. John, and parts of Ctesar's 
 Commentaries ; some Italian book or bocks 
 (what we know not), and a selection of French 
 histories. The visitors put the boys on where 
 they pleased, and the translation was (as the 
 reporter says) executed with an ease which il 
 would be vain to expect in any of the boys 
 who attend our common schools, even in their 
 third or fourth year.* 
 
 From experiments and observations which 
 have fallen under our own notice, we do not 
 scruple to make the following assertions. If 
 there were keys to the four Gospels, as there 
 is to that of St." John, any boy or girl of ihirt'i-en 
 years of age, and of moderate capacity, study- 
 ing four hours a day, and beginning with an 
 utter ignorance even of the Greek character, 
 would learn to construe the four Gospels with 
 the most perfect and scrupulous accuracy, in 
 six weeks. Some children, utterly ignorant 
 of French or Italian, would learn to construe 
 the four Gospels, in either of these languages, 
 in three weeks ; the Latin in four weeks ; the 
 German in five weeks. We believe they 
 would do it in a class; but not to run any 
 risks, we will presume a master to attend 
 upon one student alone for these periods. We 
 assign a master principally, because the ap- 
 plication of a solitar} boy at that age could 
 not be depended upon; but if the sedulity of 
 the child were certain, he would do it nearly 
 as well alone. A greater time is allowed for 
 German and Greek, on account of the novelty 
 of the character. A person of mature habits, 
 eager and energetic in his pursuits, and read- 
 ing seven or eight hours per day, might, 
 though utterly ignorant of a letter of Greek, 
 learn to construe the four Gospels, with the 
 most punctilious accuracy in three weeks, by 
 the key alone. These assertions we make, 
 not of "the Gospels alone, but of any tolerably 
 easy book of the same extent. We mean to 
 be very accurate ; but suppose we are wrong 
 —add 10, 20, 30 per cent, to the time, an 
 average boy of thirteen, in an average school, 
 cannot construe the lour Gospels in two years 
 from the time of his beginning the language. 
 
 All persons would be glad to read a foreign 
 language, but all persons do not want the same 
 scrupulous and comprehensive knowledge of 
 grammar which a great Latin scholar pos- 
 sesses. Many persons may, and do derive 
 great pleasure and instruction from French, 
 German, and Italian books, who can neither 
 speak nor M-rite these languages — who know 
 that certain terminations, when they see them, 
 signify present or past time, but who, if they 
 wished to signify present or past time, could 
 not recall these terminations. For many pur- 
 poses and objects, therefore, very little gram- 
 mar is wanting. 
 
 The HamiUonian method begins with what 
 all persons want, a facility of construing, and 
 leaves every scholar to become afterwards 
 
 * We h^ve left with the bookseller the names of two 
 ffentlemen who have verified this account to us, and who 
 were present at the experiment. Their names will at 
 once put an end to all scepticism as to the fact. T^vo 
 more candid and enlightened judges could not be found. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 241 
 
 as profound in grammar as he (or those who 
 educate him) may choose ; whereas the old 
 method aims at making all more profound 
 grammarians than three-fourths wish to be, or 
 than nineteen-tM'entieths can be. One of the 
 enormous follies of the enormously foolish 
 education in England, is, that all young men 
 — dukes, fox-hunters, and merchants — are 
 educated as if they were to keep a school, and 
 serve a curacy; while scarcely an hour in the 
 Hamiltonian education is lost for any variety 
 of life. A grocer may learn enough of Latin 
 to taste the sweets of Virgil; a cavalry officer 
 may read and understand Homer, without 
 knowing that (««( comes from soi with a smooth 
 breathing, and that it is formed by an impro- 
 per reduplication. In the mean time, there 
 is nothing in that education which prevents 
 a scholar from knowing (if he wishes to 
 know) what Greek compounds draw back 
 their accents. He may trace verbs in Ifxi 
 from polysyllables in la, or derive endless 
 glory from marking down derivatives in 
 TTTce, changing the i of their primitives into 
 iota. 
 
 Thus in the Hamiltonian method, a good 
 deal of grammar necessarily impresses itself 
 upon the mind {chemin faisant), as it does in 
 the vernacular tongue, without any rule at all, 
 and merely by habit. How is it possible to 
 read many Latin keys, for instance, without 
 remarking, willingly or unwillingly, that the 
 first person of verbs end in o, the second in s, 
 the third in t ? — that the same adjective ends 
 in us or a, accordingly as the connected sub- 
 stantive is masculine or feminine, and other 
 such gross and common rules 1 An English- 
 man who means to say, / will go to London, 
 does not say, I could go to London. He never 
 read a word of grammar in his life ; but he 
 has learnt by habit, that the word go, signifies 
 to proceed or set forth, and by the same habit 
 he learns that future intentions are expressed 
 by Iwlll,- and by the same habit the Hamil- 
 tonian pupil, reading over, and comprehending 
 twenty times more words and phrases than 
 the pupil of the ancient system, insensibly but 
 infallibly fixes upon his mind many rules of 
 grammar. We are far from meaning to say, 
 that the grammar thus acquired will be suffi- 
 ciently accurate for a first-rate Latin and 
 Greek scholar ; but there is no reason why a 
 young person arriving at this distinction, and 
 educated in the Hamiltonian system, may not 
 carry the study of grammar to any degree of 
 minuteness and accurac}'. The only difference 
 is, that he begins grammar as a study, after he 
 has made a considerable progress in the lan- 
 guage, and not before — a very important 
 feature in the Hamiltonian system, and a very 
 great improvement in the education of chil- 
 dren. 
 
 The imperfections of the old system proceed 
 in a great measure from a bad and improvi- 
 dent accumulation of difficulties, which must 
 all, perhaps, though in a less degree, at one 
 time or another be encountered, but which may 
 be, and in the Hamiltonian system are, much 
 more wisely distributed. A boy who sits down 
 to Greek with lexicon and grammar, has to 
 31 
 
 master an unknown character of an unknown 
 language — to look out words in a lexicon, in 
 the use of which he is inexpert — to guess, by 
 many trials, in which of the numerous senses 
 detailed in the lexicon he is to use the word — 
 to attend to the inflexions of cases and tense — 
 to become acquainted with the syntax of the 
 language — and to become acquainted with 
 these inflexions and this syntax from books 
 written in foreign languages, and full of the 
 most absurd and barbarous terms, and this at 
 the tenderest age, when the mind is utterly un- 
 fit to grapple with any great difficulty; and 
 the boy, who revolts at all this folly and ab- 
 surdity, is set down for a dunce, and must go 
 into a marching regiment, or on board a man 
 of war ! The Hamiltonian pupil has his word 
 looked out for him, its proper sense ascer- 
 tained, the case of the substantive, the inflex- 
 ions of the verb pointed out, and the syntaxical 
 arrangement placed before his eyes. Where, 
 then, is he to encounter these difficulties T 
 Does he hope to escape them entirely! Cer- 
 tainly not, if it is his purpose to become a 
 great scholar; but he will enter upon them 
 when the character is familiar to his eye- 
 when a great number of Greek words are fa 
 miliar to his eye and ear — when he has practi- 
 cally mastered a great deal of grammar — • 
 when the terminations of verbs convey to him 
 difl^erent modifications of time, the termina- 
 tions of substantives different varieties of 
 circumstance — when the rules of grammar, in 
 short, are a confirmation of previous observa- 
 tion, not an irksome multitude of directions, 
 heaped up without any opportunity of imme- 
 diate application. 
 
 The real way of learning a dead language, 
 is to imitate, as much as possible, the method 
 in which a living language is naturally learnt. 
 When do we ever find a well-educated Eng- 
 lishman or Frenchman embarrassed by an 
 ignorance of the grammar of their respective 
 languages 1 They first learn it practically 
 and unerringly; and then, if they choose to 
 look back and sinile at the idea of having 
 proceeded by a number of rules without know- 
 ing one of them by heart, or being conscious 
 that they had any rule at all, this is a philoso- 
 phical amusement: but whoever thinks of 
 learning the grammar of their own tongue 
 before they are very good grammarians ? Let 
 us hear what Mr. Locke says upon this sub- 
 ject : — " If grammar ought to be taught at any 
 time, it must be to one that can speak the 
 language already; how else can he be taught 
 the grammar of it] This at least is evident, 
 from the practice of the wise and learned na- 
 tions amongst the ancients. They made it a 
 part of education to cultivate their own, not 
 foreign languages. The Greeks counted all 
 other nations barbarous, and had a contempt 
 for their languages. And though the Greek 
 learning grew in credit amongst the Romans 
 towards the end of their commonwealth, yet 
 it was the Roman tongue that was made the 
 study of their youth : their own language they 
 were to make use of, and therefore it was 
 their own language they were instructed and 
 exercised in. 
 
242 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 " But, more particularly, to determine the 
 proper season for grammar, I do not see how 
 it can reasonably be made any one's study, 
 but as an introduction to rhetoric. When it is 
 thought time to put any one upon the care of 
 polishing his tongue, and of speaking better 
 than the illiterate, then is the time for him to 
 be instructed in the rules of grammar, and not 
 before. For grammar being to teach men not 
 to speak, but to speak correctly, and according 
 to the exact rules of the tongue, which is one 
 part of elegancy, there is little use of the one 
 to him that has no need of the other. Where 
 I'hetoric is not necessary, grammar may be 
 spared. I know not why any one should waste 
 his time, and beat his head about the Latin 
 grammar, who does not intend to be a critic, 
 or make speeches, and write despatches in it. 
 When any one finds in himself a necessity or 
 disposition to study any foreign language to 
 the bottom, and to be nicely exact in the know- 
 ledge of it, it will be time enough to take a 
 grammatical survey of it. If his use of it be 
 only to understand some books Avrit in it, 
 without a critical knowledge of the tongue 
 itself, reading alone, as I have said, will attain 
 (hat end, without charging the mind with the 
 multiplied rules and intricacies of grammar." 
 — Locke 071 Education, p. 78, folio. 
 
 In the Eton Grammar, the following very 
 plain and elementary information is conveyed 
 to young gentlemen utterly ignorant of every 
 syllable of the language :— 
 
 "Nomina anomaia quae contrahuntur sunt, 
 'OKCTTxQyi, qu;E contrahuntur m omnibus, ut >o« 
 yio;, &c. Ohi-^crxBii, qua? in paucioribus casibus 
 contrahuntur, ut substantiva Barytonia in Jg. 
 Imparyliatria in ov^," &c. <S6C. 
 
 From the Westminster Grammar we make 
 Jhe following extract— and some thousand 
 rules, conveyed in poetry of equal merit, must 
 be fixed upon the mind of the youthful Gre- 
 cian, before he advances into the interior of 
 the language 
 
 " 0) finis thematis finis utriusque futuri est 
 Post liquidam in prinio, vel in unoqiioque secundo, 
 o) circuinflexum est. Ante w finale character 
 Explicitus ae primi est implicitusque futuri 
 to ilaque in quo <t quasi plexum est solitu in o-w." 
 
 Westminster Greek Grammar, 1814. 
 Such are the easy initiations of our present 
 methods of teaching. The Hamiltonian sys- 
 tem, on the other hand, 1 . teaches an unknown 
 tongue by the closest interlinear translation, 
 instead oi' leaving a boy to explore his way by 
 the lexicon or dictionary. 2. It postpones the 
 study of grammar till a considerable progress 
 has been made in the language, and a "great 
 degree of practical grammar has been ac- 
 quired. .3. It substitutes the cheerfulness and 
 competition of the Lancasterian system for 
 the dull solitude of the dictionar)^. By these 
 ineans, a boy finds he is making a progress, 
 and learning something from the very begin- 
 ning. He is not overwhelmed with the first 
 appearance of insuperable difficulties ; he re- 
 ceives some little pay from the first moment 
 of his apprenticeship, and is not compelled to 
 wait for remuneration till he is out of his 
 time. The student having acquired the great 
 art of imderstanding the sense of what is 
 written in another tongue, may go into the 
 study of the language as deeply and as exten- 
 sively as he pleases. The old system aims at 
 beginning with a depth and accuracy which 
 many men never will want, which disgusts 
 many from arriving even at moderate attain- 
 ments, and is a less easy, and not more certain 
 road to a profound skill in languages, than if 
 attention to grammar had been deferred to a 
 later period. 
 
 In fine, we are strongly persuaded, that the 
 time being given, this system will make better 
 scholars; and the degree of scholarship being 
 given, a much shorter time will be needed. 
 If there is any truth in this, it will make Mr. 
 Hamilton one of the most useful men of his 
 age; for if there is any thing which fills re- 
 flecting men with melancholy and regret, it is 
 the waste of mortal time, parental money, and 
 puerile happiness, in the present method of 
 pursuing Latin and Greek. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 U9 
 
 COUNSEL POU PUISONEES.* 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 1826.] 
 
 Oy the sixth of April, 1824, Mr. George 
 Lamb (a gentleman who is always the advo- 
 cate of whatever is honest and liberal) pre- 
 sented the following petition from several jury- 
 men in the habit of serving on juries at the 
 Old Bailey :— 
 
 " That your petitioners, fully sensible of the 
 invaluable privilege of jury trials, and desirous 
 of seeing them as complete as human institu- 
 tions will admit, feel it their duty to draw the 
 attention of the House to the restrictions im- 
 posed on the prisoner's counsel, which, they 
 humbly conceive, have strong claims to a le- 
 gislative remedy. With every disposition to 
 decide justly, the petitioners have found, by 
 experience, in the course of their attendances 
 as jurymen in the Old Bailey, that the opening 
 statements for the prosecution too frequently 
 leave an impression more unfavourable to the 
 prisoner at the bar than the evidence of itself 
 could have produced; and it has always 
 sounded harsh to the petitioners to hear it an- 
 nounced from the bench, that the counsel, to 
 whom the prisoner has committed his defence, 
 cannot be permitted to address the jury in his 
 behalf, nor reply to the charges which have, or 
 have not, been substantiated by the witnesses. 
 The petitioners have felt their situation pe- 
 culiarly painful and embarrassing when the 
 prisoner's faculties, perhaps surprised by such 
 an intimation, are too much absorbed in the 
 difficulties of his unhappy circumstances to 
 admit of an elTort towards his own justifica- 
 tion, against the statements of the prosecu- 
 tor's counsel, often unintentionally aggravated 
 through zeal or misconception ; and it is purely 
 with a view to the attainment of impartial 
 justice, that the petitioners humbly submit to 
 the serious consideration of the House the ex- 
 pediency of allowing every accused person 
 the full benefit of counsel, as in cases of mis- 
 demeanour, and according to the practice of 
 the civil courts." 
 
 With the opinions so sensibly and properly 
 expressed by these jurymen, we most cor- 
 dially agree. We have before touched inci- 
 dentally on this subject; but shall now give to 
 it a more direct and a fuller examination. 
 We look upon it as a very great blot in our 
 over-praised criminal code ; and no effort of 
 ours shall be wanting, fi'om time to time, for 
 its removal. 
 
 We have now the benefit of discussing these 
 subjects under the government of a home se- 
 cretary of state, whom we may (we believe) 
 fairly call a wise, honest, and high principled 
 man — as he appears to us, without wishing for 
 innovation, or having any itch for it, not to be 
 afraid of innovation,]- when it is gradual and 
 
 * Stockton on the Practice of not allowinjr Coitjisel for 
 Prisoners accused of Felony. "8vo. London, 1826. 
 t We must always excebt the Catholic question. Mr. 
 
 well considered. ' He is, indeed, almost the 
 only person we remember in his station, who 
 has not considered sound sense to consist in 
 the rejection of every improvement, and loy^ 
 ally to be proved by the defence of every ac- 
 cidental, imperfect, or superannuated institu- 
 tion. 
 
 If this petition of jurj-men be a real bona 
 fide petition, not the result of solicitation — 
 and we have no reason to doubt it — it is a 
 warning which the legislature cannot neglect, 
 if it mean to avoid the disgrace of seeing the 
 lower and middle orders of mankind making 
 laws for themselves, which the government is 
 at length compelled to adopt as measures of 
 their own. The judges and the Parliament 
 would have gone on to this day, hanging, by 
 wholesale, for the forgeries of bank notes, if 
 juries had not become weary of the continual 
 butchery, and resolved to acquit. The proper 
 execution of laws must always depend, in 
 great measure, upon public opinion ; and it is 
 undoubtedly most discreditable to any men in- 
 trusted with power, when the governed turn 
 round upon their governors, and say, "Your 
 laws are so cruel, or so foolish, we cannot, and 
 luill not act upon them." 
 
 The particular improvement, of allowing 
 counsel to those who are accused of felony, 
 is so far from being unnecessary, from any 
 extraordinary indulgence shown to English 
 prisoners, that we really cannot help suspect- 
 ing, that not a year elapses in which many in- 
 nocent persons are not found guilty. How is 
 it possible, indeed, that it can be otherwise? 
 There are seventy or eighty persons to be tried 
 for various offences at the assizes, who have 
 lain in prison for some months ; and fifty of 
 whom, perhaps, are of the lowest order of the 
 people, without friends in any better condition 
 than themselves, and without one single penny 
 to employ in their defence. How are they to 
 obtain witnesses 1 No attorney can be em- 
 ployed — no subpcena can be taken out; the 
 witnesses are fifty miles off, perhaps — totally 
 uninstructed — living from hand to mouth — ut- 
 terly unable to give up their daily occupaticn 
 to pay for their journey, or for their support 
 when arrived at the town of trial — and, if they 
 could get there, not knowing where to go, or 
 what to do. It is impossible but that a human 
 being, in such a helpless situation, must be 
 found guilty; for, as he cannot give evidence 
 for himself, and has not a penny to fetch those 
 who can give it for him, any story told against 
 him must be taken for true (however false) ; 
 
 Peel's opinions on this subject (sivinsr him credit forsn, 
 cerity) have always been a subject of real surprise l<j 
 us. It must surely be some mistake between the right 
 hnnouralile sentleman and his chaplain ! They have 
 been travelling tocether ; and some of the parson's no- 
 tions have been put in Mr. Peel's head by mistake. We 
 yet hope he will return them to their rightful owner. 
 
244 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 since it is impossible for the poor wretch to 
 contradict it. A brother or a sister may come 
 — and support every suffering and privation 
 themselves in coming ; but the prisoner can- 
 not often have such claims upon the persons 
 who have witnessed the transaction, nor any 
 other claims but those which an unjustly ac- 
 cused person has upon those whose testimohy 
 can exculpate him — and who probably must 
 starve themselves and their families to do it. 
 It is true, a case of life and death will rouse 
 the poorest persons, every now and then, to 
 extraordinary exertions, and they may tramp 
 through mud and dirt to the assize town to save 
 a life — though even this effort is precarious 
 enough : but imprisonment, hard labour, or 
 transportation, appeal less forcibly than death, 
 — and would often appeal for evidence in vain, 
 to the feeble and limited resources of extreme 
 poverty. Itisnot that a great proportion of those 
 accused are not guilty — but that some are not 
 — and are utterly without means of establish- 
 ing their innocence. We do not believe they 
 are often accused from wilful and corrupt per- 
 jury: but the prosecutor is himself mistaken. 
 The crime has been committed ; and in his 
 thirst for vengeance, he has got hold of the 
 wrong man. The wheat was stolen out of the 
 barn; and, amidst many other collateral cir- 
 cumstances, the witnesses (paid and brought 
 up by a wealthy prosecutor, who is repaid by 
 the county) swear that they saw a man, very 
 like the prisoner, with a sack of corn upon 
 his shoulder, at an early hour of the morning, 
 going from the barn in the direction of the 
 prisoner's cottage ! Here is one link, and a 
 very material link, of a long chain of circum- 
 stantial evidence. Judge and jury must give 
 it weight, till it is contradicted. In fact, the 
 prisoner did not steal the corn ; he was, to be 
 sure, out of his cottage at the same hour — and 
 that also is proved — but travelling in a totally 
 different direction, — and was seen to be so tra- 
 velling by a stage coachman passing by, and 
 by a market gardener. An attorney with 
 money in his pocket, whom every moment of 
 such employ made richer by six-and-eight 
 pence, would have had the two witnesses 
 ready, and at rack and manger, from the first 
 day of the assize ; and the innocence of the pri- 
 soner would have been established: but by 
 what possible means is the destitute, ignorant 
 wretch himself to find or to produce such wit- 
 nesses 1 or how can the most humane jury, 
 and the most acute judge, refuse to consider 
 him as guilty, till his witnesses are produced] 
 We have not the slightest disposition to exag- 
 gerate, and, on the contrarv, should be ex- 
 tremely pleased to be convinced that our ap- 
 prehensions Avere unfounded : but we have 
 often felt extreme pain at the hopeless and un- 
 protected state of prisoners ; and we cannot 
 find any answer to our suspicions, or discover 
 any means by which this perversion of jus- 
 tice, under the present state of the law, can be 
 prevented from taking place. Against the 
 prisoner are arra3-ed all the resources of an 
 angry prosecutor, who has certainly (let who 
 will be the culprit) suffered a serious injury. 
 He has his hand, too, in the public purse ; for 
 
 he prosecutes at the expense of the county. 
 He cannot even relent; for the magistrate is 
 bound over to indict. His Avitnesses cannot 
 fail him ; for they are all bound over by the 
 same magistrate to give evidence. He is out 
 of prison, too, and can exert himself. 
 
 The prisoner, on the other hand, comes into 
 court, squalid and depressed from long con- 
 finement — utterly unable to tell his own story 
 from want of words and want of confidence, 
 and is unable to produce evidence for want of 
 money. His fate accordingly is obvious ; — 
 and that there are many innocent men pu- 
 nished every year, for crimes they have not 
 committed, appears to us to be extremely pro- 
 bable. It is, indeed, scarcely possible it should 
 be otherwise : and, as if to prove the fact, every 
 now and then, a case of this kind is detected. 
 Some circumstances come to light between 
 sentence and execution ; immense exertions 
 are made by humane men ; time is gained, and 
 the innocence of the condemned person com- 
 pletely established. In Elizabeth Caning's 
 case, two women were capitally convicted, 
 ordered for execution — and at last found inno- 
 cent, and respited. Such, too, was the case of 
 the men who were sentenced ten years ago, 
 for the robbery of Lord Cowper's steward. 
 " I have myself (says Mr. Scarlett) often seen 
 persons I thought innocent convicted, and the 
 guilty escape, for want of some acute and in- 
 telligent counsel to show the bearings of the 
 difierent circumstances on the conduct and 
 situation of the prisoner." — (House of Com- 
 mons Debates, April "ibth, 1826.) We were de- 
 lighted to see, in this last debate, both Mr. 
 Brougham and Mr. Scarlett profess themselves 
 friendly to Mr. Lamb's motion. 
 
 But in how many cases has the injustice 
 proceeded without any suspicion being ex- 
 cited 1 and even if we could reckon upon men 
 being watchful in capital cases, where life is 
 concerned, we are afraid it is in such cases 
 alone that they ever besiege the secretary of 
 state, and compel his attention. We never 
 remember any such interference to save a 
 man unjustly condemned to the hulks or the 
 treadmill; and yet there are certainly more 
 condemnations to these minor punishments 
 than to the gallows : but then it is all one — 
 who knows or cares about it! If Harrison or 
 Johnson has been condemned, after regular 
 trial by jury, to six months' treadmill, because 
 Harrison and Johnson were without a penny 
 to procure evidence — who knows or cares 
 about Harrison or Johnson] how can they 
 make themselves heard] or in what way can 
 they obtain redress ] It worries rich and com- 
 fortable people to hear the humanity of our 
 penal laws called in question. There is talk 
 of a society for employing discharged prison- 
 ers : might not something be effected by a 
 society instituted for the purpose of providing 
 to poor prisoners a proper defence, and a due 
 attendance of witnesses ] But we must hasten 
 on from this disgraceful neglect of poor pri- 
 soners, to the particular subject of complaint 
 we have proposed to ourselves. 
 
 The proposition is. That the prisoner accused 
 of felony ought to have the same power of select- 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 245 
 
 tng counsel to speak for him as he has in cases 
 of treason and misdemeanour, and as defendants 
 have in all civil actions. 
 
 Nothing can be done in any discussion npon 
 any point of law in England, without quoting 
 Mr. Justice Blackstone. Mr. Justice Black- 
 stone, we believe, generally wrote his Com- 
 mentaries late in the evening, with a bottle 
 of wine before him; and little did he think, as 
 each sentence fell from the glass and pen, of 
 the immense influence it might hereafter exer- 
 cise upon the laws and usages of his country. 
 " It is" (says this favourite writer) " not at all 
 of a piece with the rest of the humane treat- 
 ment of prisoners by the English law; for upon 
 what face of reason can that assistance be de- 
 nied to save the life of a man, which yet is 
 allowed him in prosecutions for every petty 
 trespass 1" Nor, indeed, strictly speaking, js 
 it a part of our ancient law; for the Mirror, 
 having observed the necessity of counsel in 
 civil suits, who know how to forward and de- 
 fend the cause by the rules of law and cus- 
 toms of the realm, immediately subjoins "and 
 more necessary are they for defence upon in- 
 dictment and appeals of felony, than upon any 
 other venial crimes." To the authority of 
 Blackstone may be added that of Sir John 
 Hall, in HoUis's case ; of Sir Robert Atkyns, 
 in Lord Russell's case ; and of Sir Bartholo- 
 mew Shower, in the arguments for a New 
 Bill of Rights, in 1682. "In the name of God," 
 says this judge, "what harm can accrue to the 
 public in general, or to any man in particular, 
 that, in cases of State-treason, counsel should 
 not be allowed to the accused'? What rule 
 of justice is there to Avarrant its denial, when, 
 in a civil case of a halfpenny cake, he may 
 plead either by himself or by his advocate? 
 That the court is counsel for the prisoner can 
 be no effectual reason ; for so they are for 
 each party, that wght may be done." — (Somer's 
 Tracts, vol. ii. p. 568.) In the trial of Thomas 
 Rosewell, a dissenting clergyman, for high 
 treason in 1684, Judge Jeffries, in summing 
 up, confessed to the jury, "that he thought it 
 a hard case, that a man should have counsel 
 to defend himself for a twopenny trespass, 
 and his witnesses be examined upon oath ; 
 but if he stole, committed murder or felony, 
 nay, high treason, where life, estate, honour, 
 and all were concerned, that he should neither 
 have counsel, nor have his witnesses examin- 
 ed upon oath." — Howell's State Trials, vol. x. 
 p. 207. 
 
 There have been two capital errors in the 
 criminal codes of feudal Europe, from which 
 a great variety of mistake and injustice have 
 proceeded; the one, a disposition to confound 
 accusation with guilt; the other, to mistake a 
 defence of prisoners accused by the crown, for 
 disloyalty and disaffection to the crown ; and 
 from these errors our own code has been 
 slowly and gradually recovering, by all those 
 struggles and exertions which it always costs 
 to remove folhj sanctioned hy a7itiquify. In 
 the early periods of our history, the accused 
 person could oall no evidence : — then, for a 
 longtime, Ms evidence against the king could 
 not be examined upon oath ; consequently, he 
 
 might as well have producea none, as all the 
 evidence against him was upon oath. Till 
 the reign of Anne, no one accused of felony 
 could produce witnesses upon oath; and the old 
 practice was vindicated, in opposition to the new 
 one, introduced under the statute of that day, on 
 the grounds of humanity and tenderness to the 
 prisoner! because, as his witnesses were not re- 
 stricted byan oath, they were at liberty to indulge 
 in simple falsehood as much as they pleased; — 
 so argued the blessed defenders of nonsense in 
 those days. Then it was ruled to be indecent 
 and improper that counsel should be employed 
 against the crown; and, therefore, the prisoner 
 accused of treason could have no counsel. In 
 like manner, a party accused of felony could 
 have no counsel to assist him in the trial. 
 Counsel might indeed stay in the court, but 
 apart from the prisoner, with whom they could 
 have no communication. They were not 
 allowed to put any question, or to suggest any 
 doubtful point of law; but if the prisoner 
 (likely to be a weak, unlettered man) could 
 himself suggest any doubt in matter of law, 
 the court determined first if the question of 
 law should be entertained, and then assigned 
 counsel to argue it. In those times, too, the 
 jury were punishable if they gave a false ver- 
 dict against the king, but were not punishable 
 if they gave a false verdict against the pri- 
 soner. The preamble of the Act of 1696 runs 
 thus, — " Whereas it is expedient that persons 
 charged with high treason should make a full 
 and sufficient defeijce." Might it not be altered 
 to persons charged with any species or degree of 
 crime? All these errors have given way tu 
 the force of truth, and to the power of common 
 sense and common humanity — the Attorne)'- 
 and Solicitor General, for the time iDeing, al- 
 ways protesting against each alteration, and 
 regularly and officially prophesying the utter 
 destruction of the whole jurisprudence of Great 
 Britain. There is no man now alive, perhaps, 
 so utterly foolish, as to propose that prisoners 
 should be prevented from producing evidence 
 upon oath, and being heard by their counsel in 
 cases of high treason; and yet it cost a strug- 
 gle for seven sessions to get this measure 
 through the two houses of Parliament. But 
 mankind are much like the children they be- 
 get — they always make wry faces at what is 
 to do them good; and it is necessary some- 
 times to hold the nose, and force the medicine 
 down the throat. They enjoy the health and 
 vigour consequent upon the medicine; but 
 cuff the doctor, and sputter at his stuff! 
 
 A most absurd argument was advanced in 
 the honourable house, that the practice of em- 
 ploying counsel would be such an expense to 
 the prisoner ! — just as if any thing was so ex- 
 pensive as being hanged ! What a fine topic 
 for the ordinary ! " You are going" (says that 
 exquisite divine) " to be hanged to-morrow, it 
 is true, but consider what a sum you have 
 saved ! Mr. Scarlett or Mr. Brougham might 
 certainly have presented arguments to the 
 jury which would have insured your acquit- 
 tal ; but do you forget that gentlemen of their 
 eminence must be recompensed by large fees, 
 and that, if your life had been saved, you 
 X 2 
 
246 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 would actually have been out of pocket above | 
 20/. 1 You will noAV die with the conscious- [ 
 ness of having obeyed the dictates of a wise ' 
 economy ; and with a grateful reverence for 
 the laws of your country, which prevents you 
 from running into such unbounded expense — 
 so let us now go to prayers." 
 
 It is ludicrous enough to recollect, when the 
 employment of counsel is objected to on ac- 
 count of the expense to the prisoner, that the 
 same merciful law which, to save the prison- 
 er's money, has denied him counsel, and pro- 
 duced his conviction, seizes upon all his sav- 
 ings the moment he is convicted. 
 
 Of all false and foolish dicta, the most trite 
 and the most absurd is that which asserts that 
 the judge is counsel for the prisoner. We do 
 not hesitate to say that this is merely an un- 
 meaning phrase, invented to defend a perni- 
 cious abuse. The judge caimot be counsel for 
 the prisoner, ought not to be counsel for the 
 prisoner, never is counsel for the prisoner. 
 To force an ignorant man into a court of jus- 
 tice, and to tell him that the judge is his coun- 
 sel, appears to us quite as foolish as to set a 
 hungry man down to his meals, and to tell 
 him that the table was his dinner. In the first 
 place, a counsel should always have private 
 and previous communication with the pri- 
 soner, which the judge, of course, cannot have. 
 The prisoner reveals to his counsel how far 
 he is guilty, or he is not; states to him all the 
 circumstances of his case — and might often 
 enable his advocate, if his advocate were 
 allowed to speak, to explain a long string of 
 circumstantial evidence, in a manner favour- 
 able to the innocence of his client. Of all 
 these advantages, the judge, if he had every 
 disposition to befriend the prisoner, is of 
 course deprived. Something occurs to a pri- 
 soner in the course of the cause; he suggests 
 it in a whisper to his counsel, doubtful if it is 
 a wise point to urge or not. His counsel 
 thinks it of importance, and would urge it, if 
 his mouth were not shut. Can a prisoner 
 have this secret communication with a judge, 
 and take his advice, whether or not he, the 
 judge, shall mention it to the jury? The 
 counsel has (after all the evidence has been 
 given) a bad opinion of his client's case ; but 
 he suppresses that opinion; and it is his duty 
 to do so. He is not to decide ; that is the pro- 
 vince of the jury: and, in spite of his own 
 opinion — his client may be innocent. He is 
 brought there (or would be brought there if 
 the privilege of speech were allowed) for the 
 express purpose of saying all that could be 
 said on one side of the question. He is a 
 Aveight in one scale, and some one else holds 
 the balance. This is the way in which truth 
 is elicited in civil, and would be in criminal 
 cases. But does the Judge ever assume the 
 appearance of believing a prisoner to be in- 
 nocent whom he thinks to be guilty 1 If the 
 prisoner advances inconclusive or weak argu- 
 ments, does not the judge say they are weak 
 and inconclusive, and does he not often sum 
 up against his own client T How then is he 
 counsel for the prisoner 1 If the counsel for 
 ihe prisoner were to see a strong point, which 
 
 the counsel for the prosecution had missed, 
 would he supply the deficiency of his antago- 
 nist, and urge what had been neglected to be 
 urgedl But is it not the imperious duty of 
 the judge to do so? How then can these two 
 functionaries stand in the same relation to the 
 prisoner! In fact the only meaning of the 
 phrase is this, that the judge will not sufier 
 any undue advantage to be taken of the igno- 
 rance and helplessness of the prisoner — that 
 he will point out any evidence or circumstance 
 in his favour — and see that equal justice is 
 done to both parties. But in this sense he is 
 as much the counsel of the prosecutor as of 
 the prisoner. This is all the judge can do, or 
 even pretends to do ; but he can have no pre- 
 vious communication with the prisoner — he 
 can have no confidential communication in 
 court with the prisoner before he sums up; he 
 cannot fling the whole weight of his under- 
 standing into the opposite scale against the 
 counsel for the prosecution, and produce that 
 collision of faculties, which, in all other cases 
 but those of felony, is supposed to be the hap- 
 piest method of arriving at truth. Baron Gar- 
 row, in his charge to the grand jury at Exeter, 
 on the 16th of August, 1824, thus expressed 
 his opinion of a judge being coansel for the 
 prisoner. " It has been said, and truly said, 
 that in criminal courts, judges were counsel 
 for the prisoners. So undoubtedly they were, 
 as far as they could to prevent undue preju- 
 dice, to guard against improper influence be- 
 ing excited against prisoners ; but it was im- 
 possible for them to go fartlier than this ; for 
 they could not suggest the course of defence 
 prisoners ought to pursue ; for judges only 
 saw the depositions so short a time before the 
 accused appeared at the bar of their countrj^ 
 that it was quite impossible for them to act 
 fully in that capacity." The learned Baron 
 might have added, that it would be more cor- 
 rect to call the judge counsel for the prosecu- 
 tion ; for his only previous instructions were 
 the depositions for the prosecution, from which, 
 in the absence of counsel, he examined the evi- 
 dence against the prisoner. On the prisoner's 
 behalf he had no instructions at all. 
 
 Can any thing, then, be more flagrantly and 
 scandalously unjust, than, in a long case of 
 circumstantial evidence, to refuse to a prisoner 
 the benefit of counsel 1 A foot-mark, a word, 
 a sound, a tool dropped, all gave birth to the 
 most ingenious inferences ; and the counsel 
 for the prosecution is so far from being blame- 
 able for entering into all these things, that ihey 
 are all essential to the detection of guilt, and 
 they are all links of a long and intricate chain : 
 but if a close examination into, and a logical 
 statement of, all these circumstances be neces- 
 sary for the establishment of guilt, is not the 
 same closeness of reasoning and the same 
 logical statement necessary for the establish- 
 ment of innocence? If justice cannot be done to 
 society without the intervention of a pi^ctised 
 and ingenious mind, who may connect ah hese 
 links together, and make them clear to the ap- 
 prehension of a jury, ca»i justice be done to 
 the prisoner, unless similar practice and simi- 
 lar ingenuity are employed to detect the flaws 
 
WORKS OF THE KEY. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 247 
 
 of the chain, and to point out the disconnection | 
 of the circumstances ] 
 
 Is there any one gentleman in the House of 
 Commons, who, in yielding his vote to this 
 paltry and perilous fallacy of the judge being 
 counsel for the prisoner, does not feel, that, 
 were he himself a criminal, he would prefer 
 almost any counsel at the bar, to the tender 
 mercies of the judge 1 How strange that any 
 man who could make his election would 
 eagerly and diligently surrender this exquisite 
 privilege, and addict himself to the perilous 
 practice of giving fees to counsel ? Nor let 
 us forget, in considering judges as counsel for 
 the prisoner, that there have been such men as 
 Chief Justice Jeffries, Mr. Justice Page, and 
 Mr. Justice Alybone, and that, in bad times, 
 such men may reappear. " If you do not allow 
 me counsel, my lords (says Lord Lovat), it is 
 impossible for me to make any defence, by 
 reason of my infirmity. I do not see, I do not 
 hear. I come up to the bar at the hazard of my 
 life. I have fainted several times, I have been 
 up so early, ever since four o'clock this morn- 
 ing. I therefore ask for assistance; and if you 
 do not allow me counsel, or such aid as is ne- 
 cessary, it will be impossible for me to make 
 any defence at all." Though Lord Lovat's 
 guilt was evident, yet the managers of the im- 
 peachment felt so strongly the injustice which 
 •was done, that, by the hands of Sir W. Young, 
 the chief manager, a bill was brought into par- 
 liament, to allow counsel to persons impeached 
 by that house, which was not previously the 
 case ; so that the evil is already done away 
 with, in a great measure, to persons of rank: 
 it so happens in legislation, when a gentleman 
 suffers, public attention is awakened to the evil 
 of laws. Every man who makes laws says, 
 "This may be my case:" but it requires the 
 repeated efforts of humane men, or, as Mr. 
 North calls them, dilettanti philosophers, to 
 awaken the attention of lawmakers to evils 
 from which they are themselves exempt. We 
 do not say this to make the leaders of mankind 
 unpopular, but to rouse their earnest attention 
 in cases where the poor only are concerned, 
 and where neither good nor evil can happen to 
 themselves. 
 
 A great stress is laid upon the moderation 
 of the opening counsel ; that is, he does not 
 conjure the farmers in the jury-box, by the love 
 ■which they bear to their children — he does not 
 declaim upon blood-guiltiness — he does not 
 describe the death of Abel by Cain, the first 
 murderer — he does not describe scattered 
 brains, ghastly wounds, pale features, and hair 
 clotted with gore — he does not do a thousand 
 things, which are not in English taste, and 
 which it would be very foolish and very vulgar 
 to do. We readily allow all this. But yet, if 
 it be a cause of importance, it is essentially 
 necessary to our counsellor's reputation that 
 his man should be hung ! And accordingly, 
 with a very calm voice, and composed manner, 
 and with many expressions of candour, he sets 
 himself to comment astutely upon the circum- 
 stances. Distant events are immediately con- 
 nected ; meaning is given to insignificant facts ; 
 new motives are ascribed to innocent actions ; 
 
 farmer gives way after farmer in the jury-box ; 
 and a rope of eloquence is woven round the 
 prisoner's neck ! Every one is delighted with 
 the talents of the advocate; and because there 
 has been no noise, no violent action, and no 
 consequent perspiration, he is praised for his 
 candour and forbearance, and the lenity of our 
 laws is the theme of universal approbation. 
 In the mean time, the speech-maker and the 
 prisoner know better. 
 
 We should be glad to know of any nation in 
 the world, taxed by kings, or even imagined by 
 poets (except the English), who have refused 
 to prisoners the benefit of counsel. Why is 
 the voice of humanity heard every where else, 
 and disregarded here 1 In Scotland, the accused 
 have not only counsel to speak for them, but a 
 copy of the indictment, and a list of the wit- 
 nesses. In France, in the Netherlands, in the 
 whole of Europe, counsel are allotted as a 
 matter of course. Every where else but here, 
 accusation is considered as unfavourable to 
 the exercise of human faculties. It is admitted 
 to be that crisis in which, above all others, an 
 unhappy man wants the aid of eloquence, wis- 
 dom, and coolness. In France, the Napoleon 
 code has provided not only that counsel should 
 be allowed to the prisoner, but that, as with us in 
 Scotland, his counsel should have the last word. 
 
 It is a most affecting; moment in a court of 
 justice, when the evidence has all been heard, 
 and the judge asks the prisoner what he has to 
 say in his defence. The prisoner, who has (by 
 great exertions, perhaps of his friends) saved 
 up money enough to procure counsel, says to 
 the judge, "that he leaves his defence to his 
 counsel." We have often blushed for English 
 humanity to hear the reply. "Your counsel 
 cannot speak for you, you must speak for 
 yourself;" and this is the reply given to a poor 
 girl of eighteen — to a foreigner — to a deaf 
 man — to a stammerer — to the sick — to the fee- 
 ble — to the old— to the most abject and ignorant 
 of human beings ! It is a reply, we must say, 
 at which common sense and common feeling 
 revolt: — for it is full of brutal cruelty, and of 
 base inattention, of those who make laws, to 
 the happiness of those for whom laws were 
 made. We wonder that any juryman can con- 
 vict under such a shocking violation of all 
 natural justice. The iron age of Clovis and 
 Clottaire can produce no more atrocious viola- 
 tion of every good feeling, and every good 
 principle. Can a sick man find strength and 
 nerves to speak before a large assembly"! — can 
 an ignorant man find words'! — can a low man 
 find confidence 1 Is not he afraid of becoming 
 an object of ridicule! — can he believe that his 
 expressions will be understood! How often 
 have we seen a poor wretch, struggling against 
 the agonies of his spirit, and the rudeness of 
 his conceptions, and his awe of better dressed 
 men and better taught men, and the shame 
 which the accusation has brought upon his 
 head, and the sight of his parents and children 
 gazing at him in the court, for the last time, 
 perhaps, and after a long absence! The 
 mariner sinking in the wave does not want a 
 helping hand more than does this poor wretch. 
 But help is denied to all! Age cannot have iu 
 
248 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 nor ignorance, nor the modesty of women ! 
 One hard, uncharitable rule silences the de- 
 fenders of the wretched, in the worst of human 
 evils; and at the bitterest of human moinents, 
 mercy is blotted out from the ways of men ! 
 
 Suppose a crime to have been committed 
 under the influence of insanity; is the insane 
 man, now convalescent, to plead his own 
 insanity 1 — to offer arguments to show that he 
 must have been madl — and, by the glimmer- 
 ings of his returning reason, to prove that, at a 
 former period, that same reason was utterly 
 extinct] These are the cruel situations into 
 which judges and courts of justice are thrown 
 by the present state of the law. 
 
 There is a judge now upon the bench, who 
 never took away the life of a fellow creature 
 ■without shutting himself up alone and giving 
 the most profound attention to every circum- 
 stance of the case! and this solemn act he 
 always premises with his own beautiful prayer 
 to God, that he will enlighten him with his 
 Divine Spirit in the exercise of this terrible 
 privilege ! Now would it not be an immense 
 satisfaction to this feeling and honourable ma- 
 gistrate, to be sure that every witness on the 
 side of the prisoner had been heard, and that 
 every argument which could be urged in his 
 favour had been brought forward, by a man 
 whose duty it was to see only on one side of 
 the question, and whose interest and reputation 
 were thoroughly embarked in this partial exer- 
 tion 1 If a judge fails to get at the truth, after 
 these instruments of investigation are used, his 
 failure must be attributed to the limited powers 
 of man — not to the want of good inclination, 
 or wise institutions. We are surprised that 
 such a measure does not come into Parliament, 
 with the strong recommendation of the judges. 
 It is surely better to be a day longer on the cir- 
 cuit, than to murder rapidly in ermine. 
 
 It is argued, that, among the various pleas 
 for mercy that are offered, no prisoner has ever 
 urged to the secretary of state the disadvantage 
 of having no counsel to plead for him ; but a 
 prisoner who dislikes to undergo his sentence, 
 naturally addresses to those who can reverse 
 it such arguments only as will produce, in the 
 opinion of the referee, a pleasing effect. He 
 does not therefore find fault with the established 
 system of jurisprudence, but brings forward 
 facts and arguments to prove his own inno- 
 cence. Besides, how few people there are who 
 can elevate themselves from the acquiescence 
 in what is, to the consideration of what ought to 
 be; and if they could do so, the way to get rid 
 of a punishment is not (as we have just ob- 
 served) to say, " You have no right to punish 
 me in this manner," but to say, " I am innocent 
 of the offence." The fraudulent baker at Con- 
 stantinople, who is about to be baked to death 
 in his own oven, does not complain of the se- 
 verity of baking bakers, but promises to use 
 more flour and less fraud. 
 
 Whence comes it (we should like to ask Sir 
 John Singleton Copley, who seems to dread so 
 much the conflicts of talent in criminal cases) 
 Ihat a method of getting at truth which is found 
 so serviceable in civil cases, should be so much 
 objected to in criminal cases 1 Would you 
 
 have all this wrangling and bickering, it is 
 asked, and contentious eloquence, when the 
 life of a man is concerned] Why not, as well 
 as when his property is concerned] It is 
 either a good means of doing justice, or it is- 
 not, that two understandings should be put in 
 opposition to each other, and that a third should 
 decide between them. Does this open every 
 view which can bear upon the question ] Does 
 it in the most effectual manner watch the judge, 
 detect perjury, and sift evidence ' If not, why 
 is it suffered to disgrace our civil institutions] 
 If it eflect all these objects, why is it not incor- 
 porated into our criminal law] Of what im- 
 portance is a little disgust at professional tricks, 
 if the solid advantage gained is a nearer ap- 
 proximation to truth ] Can any thing be more 
 preposterous than this preference of taste to 
 justice, and of solemnity to truth] What an 
 eulogium of a trial to say, "I am by no means 
 satisfied that the jury were right in finding the 
 prisoner guilty; but every thing was carried 
 on with the utmost decorum. The verdict was 
 wrong; but there was the most perfect pro- 
 priety and order in the proceedings. The man 
 will be unfairly hanged; but all was genteel!" 
 If solemnity is what is principally wanted in a 
 court of justice, we had better study the man- 
 ners of the old Spanish Inquisition ; but if 
 battles with the judge, and battles among the 
 counsel, are the best method, as they certainly 
 are, of getting at the truth, better tolerate this 
 philosophical Billingsgate, than persevere, 6c- 
 cause the life of a man is at stake, in solemn 
 and polished injustice. 
 
 Why would it not be just as wise and equita- 
 ble to leave the defendant without counsel in 
 civil cases — and to tell him that the judge was 
 his counsel] And if the reply is to produce 
 such injurious effects as are anticipated upon 
 the minds of the jury in criminal cases, why 
 not in civil cases also] In twenty-eight cases 
 out of thirty, the verdict in civil cases is cor- 
 rect ; in the two remaining cases, the error 
 may proceed from other causes than the right 
 of reply; and yet the right of reply has existed 
 in all. In a vast majority of cases, the verdict 
 is for the plaintiff, not because there is a right 
 of reply, but because he who has it in his 
 power to decide whether he will go to law or 
 not, and resolves to expose himself to the 
 expense and trouble of a lavsuit, has probably 
 a good foundation for his claim. Nobody, of 
 course, can intend to say that the majority of 
 verdicts in favour of plaintiffs are against jus- 
 tice, and merely attributable to the advantage 
 of a last speech. If this were the case, the 
 sooner advocates are turned out of court the 
 better — and then the improvement of both civil 
 and criminal law would be an abolition of all 
 speeches ; for those who dread the effect of the 
 last word upon the fate of the prisoner, must 
 remember that there is at present always a last 
 speech against the prisoner ; for, as the counsel 
 for the prosecution cannot be replied to, Ats is 
 the last speech. 
 
 There is certainly this difference between a 
 civil and a criminal case — that in one a new 
 trial can be granted, in the other not. But you 
 must first make up your mind whether this 
 
WORKS OF THE REV, SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 240 
 
 system of contentious investigation by opposite 
 advocates is or is not the best method of getting 
 at truth : if it be, the more irremediable the 
 decision, the more powerful and perfect should 
 be the means of deciding; and then it would 
 be a less oppression if the civil defendant were 
 deprived of counsel than the criminal prisoner. 
 When an error has been committed, the ad- 
 vantage is greater to the latter of these per- 
 sons than to the former; — the criminal is not 
 tried again, but pardoned; while the civil de- 
 fendant must run the chance of another jury. 
 
 If the effect of reply, and the contention of 
 counsel, have all these baneful consequences 
 in felony, why not also in misdemeanour and 
 high treason 1 Half the cases at sessions are 
 cases of misdemeanour, where counsel are em 
 ployed, and half-informed justices preside in 
 stead of learned judges. There are no com 
 plaints of the unfairness of verdicts, though 
 there are every now and then of the severity 
 of punishments. Now, if the reasoning of Mr. 
 Lamb's opponents were true, the disturbing 
 force of the prisoner's counsel must fling every 
 thing into confusion. The court for misde- 
 meanours must be a scene of riot and per- 
 plexity; and the detection and punishment of 
 crime must be utterly impossible : and yet in 
 the very teeth of these objections, such courts 
 of justice are just as orderly in one set of 
 offences as the other; and the conviction of a 
 guilty person just as certain and as easy. 
 
 The prosecutor (if this system were altered) 
 would have the choice of counsel ; so he has 
 now — with this difference, that, at present, his 
 counsel cannot be answered nor opposed. It 
 would be better, in all cases, if two men of 
 exactly equal talent could be opposed to each 
 other; but as this is impossible, the system 
 must be taken with this inconvenience; but 
 there can be no inequality between counsel so 
 great as that between any counsel and the 
 prisoner pleading for himself. "It has been 
 lately my lot," says Mr. Denman, " to try two 
 prisoners who were deaf and dumb, and who 
 could only be made to understand what was 
 passing by the signs of their friends. The 
 cases were clear and simple; but if they had 
 been circumstantial cases, in what a situation 
 would the judge and jury be placed, when the 
 prisoner could have no counsel to plead for 
 him." — Debates of the House of Commons, Jlpril 
 25, 1826. 
 
 The folly of being counsel for yourself is so 
 notorious in civil cases, that it has grown into 
 a proverb. But the cruelty of the law compels 
 a man, in criminal cases, to be guilty of a 
 much greater act of folly, and to trust his life 
 to an advocate, who, by the common sense of 
 mankind, is pronounced to be inadequate to 
 defend the possession of an acre of land. 
 
 In all cases it must be supposed, that rea- 
 sonably convenient instruments are selected to 
 effect the purpose in view. A judge may be 
 commonly presumed to understand his profes- 
 sion, and a jury to have a fair allowance of 
 common sense; but the objectors to the im- 
 provement we recommend appear to make no 
 such suppositions. Counsel are always to make 
 flashy addresses to the passions. Juries are to 
 32 
 
 be so much struck with them, that they are 
 always to acquit or to condemn, contrary to 
 justice ; and judges are always to be so biassed, 
 that they are to fling themselves rashly into the 
 opposite scale against the prisoner. Many 
 cases of misdemeanour consign a man to in- 
 famy, and cast a blot upon his posterity. 
 Judges and juries must feel these cases as 
 strongly as any cases of felony; and yet, in 
 spite of this, and in spite of the free permis- 
 sion of counsel to speak, they preserve their 
 judgment, and command their feelings sur- 
 prisingly. Generally speaking, we believe none 
 of these evils would take place. Trumpery 
 declamation would be considered as discredit- 
 able to the counsel, and would be disregarded 
 by the jury. The judge and jury (as in civil 
 cases) would gain the habit of looking to the 
 facts, selecting the arguments, and coming to 
 reasonable conclusions. It is so in all other 
 countries — and it would be so in this. But the 
 vigilance of the judge is to relax, if there is 
 counsel for the prisoner. Is, then, the relaxed 
 vigilance of the judges complained of, in high 
 treason, in misdemeanour, or in civil cases'? 
 This appears to us really to shut up the debate, 
 and to preclude reply. Wliy is the practice so 
 good in all other cases, and so pernicious in 
 felony alone] This question has never re- 
 ceived'even the shadow of an answer. There 
 is no one objection against the allowance of 
 counsel to prisoners in felony, which does not 
 apply to them in all cases. If the vigilance 
 of judges depend upon this injustice to the 
 prisoner, then, the greater injustice to the 
 prisoner, the more vigilance ; and so the true 
 method of perfecting the Bench would be, to 
 deny the prisoner the power of calling wit- 
 nesses, and to increase as much as possible 
 the disparity between the accuser and the 
 accused. We hope men are selected for the 
 Judges of Israel, whose vigilance depends upon 
 belter and higher principles. 
 
 There are three methods of arranging a 
 trial, as to the mode of employing counsel — 
 that both parties should have counsel, or nei- 
 ther — or only one. The first method is the 
 best; the second is preferable to the last; and 
 the last, which is our present system, is the 
 worst possible. If counsel were denied to 
 either of the parties, if it be necessary that 
 any system of jurisprudence should be dis- 
 graced by such an act of injustice, they should 
 rather be denied to the prosecutor than to the 
 prisoner. 
 
 But the most singular caprice of the law 
 is, that counsel are permitted in very high 
 crimes, and in very small crimes, and de- 
 nied in crimes of a sort of medium descrip- 
 tion. In high treason, where you mean to 
 murder Lord Liverpool, and to levy war 
 against the people, and to blow up the two 
 houses of Parliament, all the lawyers of West- 
 minster Hall may talk themselves dry, and the 
 jury deaf. Lord Eldon, when at the bar, has 
 been heard for nine hours on such subjects. 
 If, instead of producing the destruction of fiv<; 
 thousand people, you are indicted for the mur- 
 der of one person, here human faculties, from 
 the diminution of guilt, are supposed to be so 
 
250 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 clear and so unclouded, that the prisoner is 
 quite adequate to make his own defence, and 
 no counsel are allowed. Take it then upon 
 that principle ; and let the rule, and the reason 
 of it, pass as sufficient. But if, instead of 
 murdering the man, you have only libelled 
 him, then, for some reason or another, though 
 utterly unknown to us, tlie original imbecility 
 of faculties in accused persons i respected, 
 and counsel are allowed. Was ever such non- 
 sense defended by public men in grave assem- 
 blies ■? The prosecutor, too (as Mr. Horace 
 Twiss justly observes), can either allow or 
 disallow counsel, by selecting his form of pro- 
 secution ; — as where a mob has assembled to 
 repeal, by riot and force, some unpopular statute, 
 and certain persons had continued in that as- 
 sembly for more than an hour after proclama- 
 lior. to disperse. That might be treated as 
 levying war against the king, and then the 
 prisoner would be entitled to receive (as Lord 
 George Gordon did receive) the benefit of 
 counsel. It might also be treated as a sedi- 
 tious riot; then it would be a misdemeanour, 
 and counsel would still be allowed. But if 
 government had a mind to destroy the prisoner 
 effectually, they have only to abstain from the 
 charge of treason, and to introduce into the 
 indictment the aggravation, that the prisoner 
 had continued with the mob for an hour after 
 proclamation to disperse ; this is a felony, the 
 prisoner's life is in jeopardy, and counsel are 
 effectually excluded. It produces, in many 
 other cases disconnected with treason, the 
 most scandalous injustice. A receiver of 
 stolen goods, who employs a young girl to rob 
 her master, may be tried for the misdemea- 
 nour; the young girl taken afterwards would 
 be tried for the felony. The receiver would 
 be punishable only with fine, imprisonment, 
 or whipping, and he could have counsel to 
 defend him. The girl indicted for felony, and 
 liable to death, would enjoy no such advantage. 
 
 In the comparison between felony and trea- 
 son, there are certainly some arguments why 
 counsel should be allowed in felony rather 
 than in treason. Persons accused of treason 
 are generally persons of education and rank, 
 accustomed to assemblies, and to public speak- 
 ing, while men accused of felony are com- 
 monly of the lowest of the people. If it be 
 true, that judges, in cases of high treason, are 
 more liable to be influenced by the crown, and 
 to lean against the prisoner, this cannot apply 
 to cases of misdemeanour, or to the defendants 
 in civil cases ; but if it be necessary, that 
 judges should be watched in political cases, 
 how often are cases of felony connected with 
 political disaffection ? Every judge, too, has 
 his idiosyncrasies, which require to be watched. 
 Some hate Dissenters — some mobs ; some 
 have one weakness, some another; and the 
 ultimate truth is, that no court of justice is 
 safe, unless there is some one present whose 
 occupation and interest it is to watch the safe- 
 ty of the prisoner. Till then, no man of right 
 feeling can be easy at the administration of 
 justice, and the punishment of death. 
 
 Two men are accused of one offence ; the 
 one dexterous, bold, subtile, gifted with speech, 
 
 and remarkable for presence of mind; the 
 other timid, hesitating, and confused — is there 
 any reason why the chances of these two men 
 for acquittal should be, as they are, so very 
 different? Inequalities there will be in the 
 means of defence under the best system, but 
 there is no occasion the law should make 
 these greater than they are left by chance or 
 nature. 
 
 But (it is asked) what practical injustice is 
 done — what practical evil is there in the pre- 
 sent system] The great object of all law is, 
 that the guilty should be punished, and that 
 the innocent should be acquitted. A very 
 great majority of prisoners, we admit, are 
 guilty — and so clearly guilty, that we believe 
 the)' would be found guilty under any system; 
 but among the number of those who are tried, 
 some are innocent, and the chance of establish- 
 ing their innocence is very much diminished 
 by the privation of counsel. In the course 
 of twenty or thirty years, among the whole 
 mass of English prisoners, we believe many 
 are found guilty who are innocent, and who 
 would not have been found guilty, if an able 
 and intelligent man had watched over their 
 interest, and represented their case. If this 
 happen only to two or three every year, it is 
 quite a sufficient reason why the law should 
 be altered. That such cases exist we firmly 
 believe ; and this is the practical evil — per- 
 ceptible to men of sense and reflection ; but 
 not likely to become the subject of general 
 petition. To ask why there are not peti- 
 tions — why the evil is not more noticed, is 
 mere parliamentary froth and ministerial 
 juggling. Gentlemen are rarely hung. If 
 they were so, there would be petitions without 
 end for counsel. The creatures exposed to 
 the cruelties and injustice of the law are 
 dumb creatures, who feel the evil without be- 
 ing able to express their feeling. Besides, 
 the question is not, whether the evil is found 
 out, but whether the evil exist. Whoever 
 thinks it is an evil, should vote against it, 
 whether the sufferer from the injustice dis- 
 cover it to be an injustice, or whether he suffer 
 in ignorant silence. When the bill was en- 
 acted, which allowed counsel for treason, there 
 was not a petition from one end of England 
 to the other. Can there be a more shocking 
 answer from the ministerial bench, than to 
 say. For real evil we care nothing — only for 
 detected evil 1 We will set about curing any 
 wrong which affects our popularity and power : 
 but as to any other evil, we wait till the peo- 
 ple find it out; and, in the mean time, commit 
 such evils to the care of Mr. George Lamb, 
 and of Sir James Mackintosh. We are sure 
 so good a man as Mr. Peel can never feel in 
 this manner. 
 
 Howard devoted himself to his country. It 
 was a noble example. Let two gentlemen on 
 the ministerial side of the house (we only ask 
 for two) commit some crimes, which will ren- 
 der their execution a matter of painful neces- 
 sit}'. Let them feel, and report to the house, 
 all the injustice and inconvenience of having 
 neither a copy of the indictment, nor a list of 
 witnesses, nor counsel to defend them. We 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 251 
 
 •nill venture to say, that the evidence of two 
 such persons would do more for the improve- 
 ment of the criminal law, than all the orations 
 of Mr. Lamb or the lucubrations of Beccaria. 
 Such evidence would save time, and bring the 
 question to an issue. It is a great duty, and 
 ought to be fulfilled — and, in ancient Rome, 
 would have been fulfilled. 
 
 The opponents always forget that Mr. Lamb's 
 plan is not to compel prisoners to have counsel, 
 but to allow them to have counsel, if they choose 
 to do so. Depend upon it, as Dr. Johnson 
 says, when a man is going to be hanged, his 
 faculties are wonderfully concentrated. If it 
 be really true, as the defenders of Mumpsimus 
 observe, that the judge is the best counsel for 
 the prisoner, the prisoner -will soon learn to 
 employ him, especially as his lordship works 
 without fees. All that we want is an option 
 given to the prisoner — that a man, left to adopt 
 his own means of defence in every trilling 
 civil right, may have the same power of se- 
 lecting his own auxiliai'ies for higher interests. 
 
 But nothing can be more unjust than to 
 speak of judges, as if they were of one stan- 
 dard, and one heart and head pattern. The 
 great majority of judges, we have no doubt, 
 are upright and pure; but some have been 
 selected for flexible politics — some are pas- 
 sionate — some are in a hurry — some are vio- 
 lent churchmen — some resemble ancient fe- 
 males — some have the gout — some are eighty 
 years old — some are blind, deaf, and have lost 
 the power of smelling. All one to the unhappy 
 prisoner — he has no choice. 
 
 It is impossible to put so gross an insult 
 upon judges, jurymen, grand jurymen, or any 
 person connected with the administration of 
 justice, as to suppose that the longer time to 
 be taken up by speeches of counsel constitutes 
 the grand bar to the proposed alteration. If 
 three hours would acquit a man, and he is 
 hanged because he is only allowed two hours 
 for his defence, the poor man is as much mur- 
 dered as if his throat had been cut before he 
 came into court. If twelve judges cannot do 
 the most perfect justice, other twelve must be 
 appointed. Strange administration of criminal 
 law, to adhere obstinately to an inadequate 
 number of judges, and to refuse any improve- 
 ment which is incompatible with this arbitrary 
 and capricious enactment. Neither is it quite 
 certain that the proposed alteration would cre- 
 ate a greater demand upon the time of the 
 court. At present the counsel makes a defence 
 by long cross-examinations and examinations 
 in chief of the witnesses, and the judge allows 
 a greater latitude than he would do, if the 
 counsel of the prisoner were permitted to 
 speak. The counsel by these oblique methods, 
 and by stating false points of law for the ex- 
 press purpose of introducing facts, endeavours 
 to obviate the injustice of the law, and takes 
 up more time by this oblique, than he would do 
 by a direct defence. But the best answer to 
 this objection of time (which, if true, is no ob- 
 jection at all) is, that as many misdemeanours 
 as felonies are tried in a given time, though 
 counsel are allowed in the former, and not in 
 the latter case. 
 
 One excuse for the absence of counsel is, 
 that the evidence upon which the prisoner is 
 convicted is always so clear, that the counsel 
 cannot gainsay it. This is mere absurdity. 
 There is not, and cannot be, any such rule. 
 Many a man has been hung upon a string of 
 circumstantial evidence, which not only very 
 ingenious men, but very candid and judicious 
 men, might criticise and call in question. If 
 no one were found guilty but upon such evi- 
 dence as would not admit of a doubt, half the 
 crimes in the world would be unpunished. 
 This dictum, by which the present practice has 
 often been defended, was adopted by Lord 
 Chancellor Nottingham. To the lot of this 
 chancellor, however, it fell to pass sentence of 
 death upon Lord Stafford, whom (as Mr. Den- 
 man justly observes) no court of justice, not 
 even the house of lords (constituted as it was 
 in those days), could have put to death, if he 
 had had counsel to defend him. 
 
 To improve the criminal law of England, 
 and to make it really deserving of the incessant 
 eulogium which is lavished upon it, we would 
 assimilate trials for felony to trials for high 
 treason. The prisoner should not only have 
 counsel, but a copy of the indictment and a 
 list of the witnesses, many days antecedent to 
 the trial. It is in the highest degree unjust 
 that I should not see and study the description 
 of the crime with which I am charged, if the 
 most scrupulous exactness be required in that 
 instrument which charges me with crime. If 
 the place where, the time irhen, and the manner 
 how, and the persons by whom, must all be 
 specified with the most perfect accuracy, if any 
 deviation from this accuracy is fatal, the pri- 
 soner, or his legal advisers, should have a full 
 opportunity of judging whether the scruples 
 of the law have been attended to in the forma- 
 tion of the indictment; and they ought not to 
 be confined to the hasty and imperfect con- 
 sideration which can be given to an indictment 
 exhibited for the first time in court. Neither 
 is it possible for the prisoner to repel accusa- 
 tion till he knows who is to be brought against 
 him. He may see suddenly, stuck up in the 
 witness's box, a man who has been writing 
 him letters, to extort money from the threat of 
 evidence he could produce. The character of 
 such a witness would be destroyed in a mo- 
 ment, if the letters were produced; and the 
 letters would have been produced, of course, 
 if the prisoner had imagined such a person 
 would have been brought forward by the pro- 
 secutor. It is utterly impossible for a pri- 
 soner to know in what way he may be assailed, 
 and against what species of attacks he is to 
 guard. Conversations may be brought against 
 him which he has forgotten, and to which he 
 could (upon notice) have given another colour 
 and complexion. Actions are made to bear 
 upon his case, which (if he had known they 
 would have been referred to) might have been 
 explained in the most satisfactory manner. 
 All these modes of attack are pointed out by 
 the list of witnesses transmitted to the prisoner, 
 and he has time to prepare his answer, as it is 
 j perfectly just he should have. This is justice, 
 I when a prisoner has ample means of compel. 
 
J52 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 ling the attendance of his witnesses ; when his 
 written accusation is put into his hand, and he 
 Has time to study it — when he knows in what 
 Planner his guilt is to be proved, and when he 
 has a man of practised understanding to state 
 his facts, and prefer his arguments. Then 
 criminal justice may march on boldly. The 
 judge has no stain of blood on his ermine ; and 
 the phrases which English people are so fond 
 of lavishing upon the humanity of their laws 
 will have a real foundation. At present this 
 part of the law is a mere relic of the barbarous 
 injustice by which accusation in the early part 
 of our jurisprudence was always confounded 
 with guilt. The greater part of these abuses 
 have been brushed away, as this cannot fail 
 soon to be. In the mean time, it is defended 
 (as every other abuse has been defended) by 
 men who think it their duty to defend every 
 
 thing which is, and to dread every thing which 
 is not. We are told that the judge does what 
 he does not do, and ought not to do. The most 
 pernicious effects are anticipated in trials of 
 felony, from that which is found to produce 
 the most perfect justice in civil causes, and in 
 cases of treason and misdemeanour: we are 
 called upon to continue a practice without 
 example in any other country, and are re- 
 quired by lawyers to consider that custom as 
 humane, which every one who is not a lawyer 
 pronounces to be most cruel and unjust — and 
 which has not been brought forward to general 
 notice, only because its bad effects are con- 
 fined to the last and lowest of mankind.* 
 
 * All tins nonsense is now put an end to. Counsel is 
 allowed to the prisoner, and Jliey are permitted to speak 
 in his defence. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 253 
 
 CATHOLICS.* 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 1827.] 
 
 If a poor man were to accept a guinea upon 
 the condition that he spoke all the evil he could 
 of another whom he believed to be innocent, 
 and whose imprisonment he knew he should 
 prolong, and whose privations he knew he 
 should increase by his false testimony, would 
 not the person so hired be one of the worst and 
 basest of human beings 1 And would not his 
 guilt be aggravated, if, up to the moment of re- 
 ceiving his aceldama, he had spoken in terms 
 of high praise of the person whom he subse- 
 quently accused ] Would not the latter feature 
 of the case prove him to be as much without 
 shame as the former evinced him to be without 
 principle 1 Would the guilt be less, if the person 
 so hired were a man of education 1 Would it be 
 less if he were above want 1 Would it be less, if 
 the profession and occupation of his life were to 
 decide men's rights, or to teach them morals and 
 religion] Would it be less by the splendourof the 
 bribe "? Does a bribe of 3000/. leave a man in- 
 nocent, whom a bribe of .30/. would cover with 
 infamy 1 You are of a mature period of life, 
 when the opinions of an honest man ought to 
 be, and are fixed. On Monday you were a bar- 
 rister or a country clergyman, a serious and 
 temperate friend to religious liberty and Catho- 
 lic emancipation. In a few weeks from this 
 time you are a bishop, or a dean, or a judge — 
 publishmg and speaking charges and sermons 
 against the poor Catholics, and explaining 
 away this sale of your soul by every species 
 of falsehood, shabbiness, and equivocation. 
 You may carry, a bit of ermine on your shoul- 
 der, or hide the lower moiety of the body in a 
 silken petticoat — and men may call you Mr. 
 Dean, or My Lord; but you have sold your 
 honour and your conscience for money; and, 
 though better paid, you are as base as the 
 witness who stands at the door of the judg- 
 ment-hall, to swear whatever the suborner will 
 put into his mouth, and to receive whatever he 
 will put in his pocket.f 
 
 When soldiers exercise, there stands a goodly 
 portly person out of the ranks, upon whom all 
 e3'-es are directed, and whose signs and motions, 
 in the performance of the manual exercise, all 
 the soldiers follow. The Germans, we believe, 
 call him a Flus;elma'n. We propose Lord Nu- 
 gent as a political flugelman; — he is always 
 consistent, plain and honest, steadily and 
 
 * 1. A Plain Stalemevt hi support of the Political Claims 
 of the Roman Catholics; in a Letter to the Rev. Sir Oeorn-e 
 Lee, Bart. By Lord Nugent, Memlipr of Parliamenl for 
 Avlesbury. London, Hookhain. 1826. 
 
 '2. A Letter to Viscount Milton, M P. By One of his 
 Constinienls. London, Ridgway. 1827. 
 
 3. Change by the ir.hbishop of Cashel. Dublin, Milli- 
 ken. 
 
 t It is very f:ir from our intention to say tliat all who 
 were for the Catholics, and are now against them, have 
 made this change from base motives; it is equally far 
 from our intention not to say that many men of both 
 professions have subjected themselves to this shocking 
 impulatio.n. 
 
 straightly pursuing his object without hope oi 
 fear, under the influence of good feelings and 
 high principle. The House of Cominons does 
 not contain within its walls a more honest, up- 
 right man. 
 
 We seize upon the opportunity which this 
 able pamphlet of his lordship affords us, to 
 renew our attention to the Catholic question. 
 There is little new to be said ; but we must not 
 be silent, or, in these days of baseness and ter- 
 giversation, we shall be supposed to have de- 
 serted our friend the Pope ; and they will say 
 of us, Prostant venules apiid Lambeth et Whitehall. 
 God forbid it should ever be said of us with 
 justice — it is pleasant to loll and roll, and to 
 accumulate — to be a purple and fine linen man, 
 and to be called by some of those nicknames 
 which frail and ephemeral beings are so fond 
 of accumulating upon each other; — but the 
 best thing of all is to live like honest men, and 
 to add something to the cause of liberality, jus- 
 tice, and truth. 
 
 The Letter to Lord Milton is very well and 
 very pleasantly written. We were delighted 
 with the liberality and candour of the Arch- 
 bishop of Cashel. The charge is in the high- 
 est degree creditable to hiiu. lie must lay his 
 account for the furious hatred of bigots, and 
 the incessant gnawing of rats. 
 
 There are many men who (thoroughly aware 
 that the Catholic question must be ultimately 
 carried) delay their acquiescence till the last 
 moment, and wait till the moment of peril and 
 civil war before they yield. That this moment 
 is not quite so remote as was supposed a 
 twelvemonth since, the events now passing in 
 the world seem to afford the sti-ongest proof. 
 The truth is, that the disaffected state of Ii-eland 
 is a standing premium for war with every cabi- 
 net in Europe which has the most distant in- 
 tention of quarrelling with this country for any 
 other cause. " If we are to t!;o to ivar, let us do so 
 when the discontents of Ireland are at their greatest 
 height, before any spirit of concession has been shown 
 by the British cabinet." Does any man imagine 
 that so plain and obvious a principle has not 
 been repeatedly urged on the French cabinet? 
 — that the eyes of the Americans are shut upon 
 the state of^ Ireland — and that that great and 
 ambitious republic will not, in case of war, 
 aim a deadly blow at this most sensitive part 
 of the British empire? We should really say, 
 that England has firlly as much to fear from 
 Irish fraternization with America as with 
 France. The lansruage is the same; the Ame- 
 ricans have preceded them in the struggle; the 
 number of emigrant and rebel Irish is very 
 great in America; and all parties are sure of 
 perfect toleration under the protection of Ame 
 rica. We are astonished at the madness and folly 
 of ('englishmen, who do not perceive that both 
 France and America are only waiting for a cou- 
 Y 
 
254 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 venicrit opportunity to go to war with this coun- 
 try; and that one of the first blows aimed at our 
 independence would be the invasion of Ireland. 
 
 "We should like to argue this matter with a 
 regular tory lord, whose members vote steadily 
 against the Catholic question. "I wonder that 
 mere fear does not make you give up the Ca- 
 tholic question ! Do you mean to put this fine 
 place in danger — the venison — the pictures — 
 the pheasants — the cellars — the hot-house and 
 the grapery! Should you like to see six or 
 seven thousand French or Americans landed 
 in Ireland, and aided by a universal insurrec- 
 tion of the Catholics? Is it worth your while 
 to run the risk of their success 1 What evil 
 from the possible encroachment of Catholics, 
 by civil exertions, can equal the danger of such 
 a position as this? How can a man of your 
 carriages, and horses, and hounds, think of 
 putting your high fortune in such a predica- 
 ment, and crying out, like a schoolboy or a 
 chaplain, "Oh, we shall beat them! we shall 
 put the rascals down !" No Popery, I admit to 
 your lordship, is a very convenient cry at an 
 election, and has answered your end; but do 
 not push the matter too far: to bring on a civil 
 war for no popery is a very foolish proceeding 
 in a man who has two courses, and a remove ! 
 As you value your side-board of plate, your 
 broad riband, your pier glasses — if obsequious 
 domestics and large rooms are dear to you — if 
 you love ease and flattery, titles and coats of 
 arms — if the labour of the French cook, the 
 dedication of the expecting poet, can move you 
 — if you hope for a long lite of side-dishes — 
 if you are not insensible to the periodical arri- 
 val of the turtle fleets — emancipate the Catho- 
 lics! Do it for your ease, do it for your indo- 
 lence, do it for your safety — emancipate and 
 eat, emancipate and drink — emancipate, and 
 preserve the rent-roll and the family estate !" 
 
 The mo:,r common excuse of the Great Shab- 
 by is, that the Catholics are their own enemies 
 — that ihi violence of Mr. O'Connell and Mr. 
 Shiel have ruined their cause — that, but for 
 these boisterous courses, the question would 
 have been carried before this time. The an- 
 swer to this nonsense and baseness is, that the 
 very reverse is the fact. The mild and the 
 long-suffering may suffer for ever in this world. 
 If the Catholics had stood with their hands be- 
 fore them simpering at the Earls of Liverpool 
 and the Lords Bathurst of the moment, they 
 would not have been emancipated till the year 
 of our Lord four thousand. As long as the pa- 
 tient will suffer, the cruel will kick. No trea- 
 son — no rebellion— but as much stubbornness 
 and stoutness as the law permits — a thorough 
 intimation that you know what is your due, 
 and that you are determined to have it if you 
 can lawfvUy get it. This is the conduct we 
 recommend to the Irish. If they go on with- 
 holding, and forbearing, and hesitating whether 
 this is the time for the discussion or that is the 
 time, they will be laughed at for another cen- 
 tury as fools — and kicked for another century 
 as slaves. "I must have my bill paid (says 
 the sturdy and irritated tradesman) ; your mas- 
 ter has put me off' twenty times under different 
 pretences. I know he is at home, and I will 
 iif.it quit the premises till I get the money." 
 
 Many a tradesman gets paid in this manner, 
 who would soon smirk and smile himself into 
 the gazette, if he trusted to the promises of the 
 great. 
 
 Can any thing be so utterly childish and 
 foolish as to talk of the bad taste of the Catho- 
 lic leaders'? — as if, in a question of conferring 
 on, or withholding important civil rights from 
 seven millions of human beings, any thing 
 could arrest the attention of a wise man but 
 the good or evil consequences of so great a 
 measure. Suppose Mr. S. does smell slightly 
 of tobacco — admit Mr. L. to be occasionally 
 stimulated by rum and water — allow that Mr. 
 F. was unfeeling in speaking of the Duke of 
 York — what has all this nonsense to do with 
 the extinction of religious hatred and the paci- 
 fication of Ireland 1 Give it if it is right, rC' 
 fuse it if it is wrong. How it is asked, or how 
 it is given or refused, is less than the dust of the 
 balance. 
 
 What is the real reason why a good honest 
 tory, living at ease on his possessions, is an 
 enemy to Catholic emancipation 1 He admits 
 the Catholic of his own rank to be a gentle- 
 man, and not a bad subject — and about theo- 
 logical disputes an excellent tory never troubles 
 his head. Of what importance is it to him 
 whether an Irish Catholic or an Irish Protest- 
 ant is a judge in the King's Bench at Dublin ? 
 None; but lam afraid for the chiireh of Ireland, 
 says our alarmist. Why do you care so much 
 for the church of Ireland, a country you never 
 live in ? — dnsu-er — 7 do not care so much for the 
 chnr<h of Ireland, if I was sure the church of Eng- 
 land xvovld not be destroyed. — And is it for the 
 Church of England alone that you fear? — An- 
 stver — Not quite to that, but I am afraid ice should 
 all be lost, thai every thing would be overturned, and 
 that I should lose my rank and my estate. Here, 
 then, we say, is a long series of dangers, which 
 (if there were any chance of their ever taking 
 place) would require half a century for their 
 development; and the danger of losing Ireland 
 by insurrection and invasion, which may hap- 
 pen in six months, is utterly overlooked and 
 forgotten. And if a foreign influence should 
 ever be fairly established in Ireland, how many 
 hours would the Irish church, how many months 
 would the English church, live after such an 
 event? How much is any English title worth 
 after such an event — any English family — any 
 English estate? We are astonished that the 
 brains of rich Englishmen do not fall down 
 into their bellies in talking of the Catholic 
 question — that they do not reason through the 
 cardia and the pylorus — that all the organs of 
 digestion do not become intellectual. The de- 
 scendants of the proudest noblemen in Englanci 
 may become beggars in a foreign land from 
 this disgraceful nonsense of the Catholic ques- 
 tion—fit only for the ancient females of a mar- 
 ket town. 
 
 What alarms us in the state of England is 
 the uncertain basis on which its prosperity is 
 placed — and the prodigious mass of hatred 
 which the English government continues, by 
 its obstinate bigotry, to accumulate — eisht htin- 
 dred and forty millions sterling of debt. The 
 revenue depending upon the demand for the 
 shoes, stockings, and breeches of Europe — a"d 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 255 
 
 seven millions of Catholics in a state of the 
 greatest fury and exasperation. We persecute 
 as if we did not mce a shilling — we spend as if 
 we had no disaffection. This, by possibility, 
 may go on ; but it is dangerous walking — the 
 chance is, there will be a fall. No wise man 
 should take such a course. All probabilities 
 are against it. We are astonished that Lord 
 Hertford and Lord Lowther, shrewd and calcu- 
 lating tories, do not see that it is nine to one 
 against such a game. 
 
 It is not only the event of war we fear in the 
 military struggle with Ireland ; but the expense 
 of war, and the expenses of the English go- 
 v^ernment, are paving the way for future revo- 
 lutions. The world never yet saw so extravagant 
 a government as the government of England. 
 Not only is economy not practised — but it is 
 despised; and the idea of it connected with 
 disaffection, Jacobinism, and Joseph Hume. 
 Every rock in the ocean where a cormorant 
 can perch is occupied by our troops — has a 
 governor, deputy-governor, store-keeper, and 
 deputy-store-keeper — and will soon have an 
 archdeacon and a bishop. Military colleges, 
 with thirty-four professors, educating seventeen 
 ensigns per annum, being half an ensign for 
 each professor, with every species of nonsense, 
 athletic, sartorial, and plumigerous. A just and 
 necessary war costs this country about one 
 hundred pounds a minute; whipcord fifteen 
 thousand pounds; red tape seven thousand 
 pounds ; lace for drummers and fifers, nineteen 
 thousand pounds ; a pension to one man who 
 has broken his head at the Pole; to another 
 who has shattered his leg at the Equator; sub- 
 sidies to Persia; secret service-money to Thi- 
 bet ; an annuity to Lady Henry Somebody and 
 her seven daughters — the husband being shot 
 at some place where we never ought to have 
 had any soldiers at all ; and the elder brother 
 returning four members to Parliament. Such 
 a scene of extravagance, corruption, and ex- 
 pense as must paralyze the industry, and mar 
 the fortunes, of the most industrious, spirited 
 people that ever existed. 
 
 Few men consider the historical view which 
 will be taken of present events. The bubbles 
 of last year; the fishing for half-crowns in 
 Vigo Bay ; the Milk Muffin and Crumpet Com- 
 panies; the Apple, Pear, and Plum Associa- 
 tions; the National Gooseberry and Current 
 Company; will all be remembered as instan- 
 ces of that partial madness to which society is 
 occasionally exposed. What will be said of 
 all the intolerable trash which is issued forth 
 at public meetings of No Popery 1 The follies 
 of one century are scarcely credible in that 
 which succeeds it. A grandmamma of 1827 
 IS as wise as a very wise man of 1727. If the 
 world lasts till 1937, the grandmammas of that 
 period will be far wiser than the tip-top No- 
 Popery men of this day. That this childish 
 nonsense will have got out of the drawing- 
 room, there can be no doubt. It will most pro- 
 bably have passed through the steward's room 
 — and butler's pantry, into the kitchen. This 
 is the case with ghosts. They no longer loll 
 on couches and sip tea ; but are down on their 
 knees scrubbing with the scullion — or stand 
 sweating, and basting with the cook. Mrs. 
 
 Abigail turns up her nose at them, and the 
 housekeeper declares for flesh and blood, and 
 will have none of their company. 
 
 It is delicious to the persecution-fanciers to 
 reflect that no general bill has passed in favour 
 of the Protestant Dissenters. They are still 
 disqualified from holding any office — and are 
 only protected from prosecution by an annual 
 indemnity act. So that the sword of Damocles 
 still hangs over them — not suspended, indeed, 
 by a thread, but by a cart-rope — still it hangs 
 there an insult, if not an injury, and prevents 
 the painful idea from presenting itself to the 
 mind of perfect toleration, and pure justice. 
 There is the larva of tyranny, and the skeleton 
 of malice. Now this is all we presume to ask 
 for the Catholics — admission to Parliament, 
 exclusion from every possible oflice by law, 
 and annual indemnity for the breach of law. 
 This is surely much more agreeable to feeble- 
 ness, to littleness, and to narrowness, than to 
 say the Catholics are as free and as eligible as 
 ourselves. 
 
 The most intolerable circumstance of the 
 Catholic dispute is, the conduct of the Dissent- 
 ers. Any man may dissent from the Church 
 of England, and preach against it, by paying 
 sixpence. Almost every tradesman in a mar- 
 ket town is a preacher. It must absolutely be 
 ride and tie with them ; the butcher must 
 hear the baker in the morning, and the baker 
 listen to the butcher in the afternoon, or there 
 would be no congregation. We have often 
 speculated upon the peculiar trade of the 
 preacher from his style of action. Some have 
 a tying-up or parcel-packing action; some 
 strike strongly against the anvil of the pulpit; 
 some screw, some bore, some act as if they 
 were managing a needle. The occupation of 
 the preceding week can seldom be mistaken. 
 In the country, three or four thousand Ranters 
 are sometimes encamped, supplicating in reli- 
 gious platoons, or roaring psalms out of wag- 
 gons. Now all this freedom is very proper ; 
 because, though it is abused, yet in truth there 
 is no other principle in religious matters, than 
 to let men alone as long as they keep the peace. 
 Yet we should imagine this unbounded license 
 of Dissenters should teach them a little charity 
 towards the Catholics, and a little respect for 
 their religious freedom. But the picture of 
 sects is this — there are twenty fettered men in 
 a jail, and every one is employed in loosening 
 his own fetters with one hand, and riveting 
 those of his neighbour with the other. 
 
 "'It', then,' says a minister of our own 
 church, the Reverend John Fisher, rector of 
 Wavenden, in this county, in a sermon pub- 
 lished some years ago, and entitled 'The 
 Utility of the Church"^Establishment, and its 
 Safety consistent with Religious Freedom' — 
 'If, then, the Protestant religion could have ori- 
 ginally worked its way in this country against 
 numbers, prejudices, iDigotry, and interest; if, 
 in times of its infancy, the power of the prince 
 could not prevail against it; surely, when 
 confirmed by age, and rooted in the affections 
 of the people— when invested with authority, 
 and in full enjoyment of wealth and power- 
 when cherished by a sovereign who holds his 
 very throne by this sacred tenure, and whosr 
 
256 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 conscientious attachment to it well warrants 
 the title of Defender of the Faith — surely any 
 attack upon it must he contemptible, any alarm 
 of danger must be imaginary.' " — Lord Nngent's 
 Letter, p. 1 8. 
 
 To go into a committee upon the state of the 
 Catholic laws is to reconsider, as Lord Nugent 
 justly observes, passages in our domestic his- 
 t®ry, which bear date about 270 years ago. 
 Now,what human plan, device, or invention, 270 
 years old, does not require reconsideration 1 If 
 a man drest as he drest 270 years ago, the pug- 
 dogs in the street would tear him to pieces. If 
 he lived in the houses of 270 years ago, unre- 
 vised and uncorrected, he would die of rheu- 
 matism in a week. If he listened to the ser- 
 mons of 270 years ago, he would perish with 
 sadness and fatigue; and when a man cannot 
 make a coat or a cheese, for 50 years together, 
 without making them better, can it be said that 
 laws made in those days of ignorance, and 
 framed in the fury of religious hatred, need no 
 revision, and are capable of no amendment. 
 
 We have not the smallest partiality for the 
 Catholic religion; quite the contrary. That it 
 should exist at all — that all Catholics are not 
 converted to the Protestant religion — we con- 
 sider to be a serious evil ; but there they are, 
 with their spirit as strong, and their opinions as 
 decided, as your own ; the Protestant part of 
 the cabinet have quite given up all idea of put- 
 ting them to death; what remains to be done? 
 We all admit the evil; the object is to make it 
 as little as possible. One method commonly 
 resorted to, we are sure, does not lessen, but 
 increase the evil; and that is, to falsify histo- 
 ry, and deny plain and obvious facts, to the 
 injury of the Catholics. No true friend to the 
 Protestant religion, and to the Church of Eng- 
 land, will ever have recourse to such disin- 
 genuour arts as these. 
 
 " Our histories have not, I believe, stated what 
 is untrue of Queen Mary, nor, perhaps, have 
 they very much exaggerated what is true of 
 her; but our arguers, whose only talk is of 
 Smithfield, are generally very uncandid in what 
 they conceal. It would appear to be little known 
 that the statutes which enabled Mary to burn 
 those who had conformed to the church of her 
 father and brother, were Protestant statutes, 
 declaring the common law against heresy, and 
 framed by her father Henry the Eighth, and 
 confirmed and acted upon by order of council 
 of her brother Edward the Sixth, enabling that 
 mild and temperate young sovereign to burn 
 divers misbelievers, by sentence of commis- 
 sioners (little better, says Neale, than a Pro- 
 testant Inquisition) appointed to ' examine and 
 search after all Anabaptists, Heretics, or con- 
 temners of the Book of Common Prayer.' It 
 would appear to be seldom considered, that her 
 zeal might very possibly have been warmed by 
 the circumstance of both her chaplains having 
 been imprisoned for their religion, and herself 
 ariiitrarily detained, and her safety threatened, 
 during the short but persecuting reign of her 
 brother. The sad evidences of the violence of 
 those days are by no means confined to her 
 acts. The fagots of persecution were not kin- 
 dled by Papists only, nor did they cease to blaze 
 When the power of using them as instruments 
 
 of conversion ceased to be in Popish hands. 
 Cranmer himself, in his dreadful death, met 
 with but equal measure for the flames to which 
 he had doomed several who denied the spiritual 
 supremacy of Henry the Eighth; to which he 
 had doomed also a Dutch Arian, in Edward the 
 Sixth's reign ; and to which, with great pains 
 and difficulty, he had persuaded that prince to 
 doom another miserable enthusiast, Joan Bo- 
 cher, for some metaphysical notions of her own 
 on the divine incarnation. 'So that on both 
 sides' (says Lord Herbert of Cherbury) ' it grew 
 a bloody time.' Calvin burned Servetus at Ge- 
 neva, for 'discoursing concerning the Trinity 
 contrary to the sense of the whole church ; and 
 thereupon set forth a book wherein he giveth 
 an account of his doctrine, and of whatever 
 else had passed in this alTair, and teacheth that 
 the sword may be lawfully employed against 
 heretics.' Yet Calvin was no Papist. John 
 Knox extolled in his writings, as 'the godly 
 fact of James Melvi!,' the savage murderer by 
 which Cardinal Beaton -was made to expiate his 
 many and cruel persecutions; a murder to 
 which, by the great popular eloquence of Knox, 
 his fellow labourers in the vineyard of refor- 
 mation, Lesly and Melvil, had been excited ; 
 and yet John Knox, and Lesly and Melvil, were 
 no Papists. Henry the Eighth, whose one vir- 
 tue was impartiality in these matters, (if an 
 impartial and evenly balanced persecution of 
 all sects be a virtue,) beheaded a chancellor 
 and a bishop, because having admitted his civil 
 supremacy, they doubted his spiritual. Of the 
 latter of them Lord Herbert says, 'The pope, 
 who suspected not perchance, that the bishop's 
 end was so near, had, for more testimony of his 
 favour to him as disaffection to our king, sent 
 him a cardinal's hat; but unseasonably, his 
 head being oflf.' He beheaded the Countess 
 of Salisbury, because at upwards of eighty 
 years old she wrote a letter to Cardinal Pole, 
 her own son : and he burned Barton, the 'Holy 
 Maid of Kent,' for a prophecy of his death. 
 He burned four Anabaptists in one day for op- 
 posing the doctrine of infant baptism ; and he 
 burned Lambert, and Anne Ascue, and Beleri- 
 can, and Lassells, and Adams, on another day, 
 for opposing that of transubstantiation ; with 
 many others of lesser note, who refused to sub- 
 scribe to his Six Bloody Articles, as they were 
 called, or whose opinions fell short of his, or 
 exceeded them, or who abided b)' opinions after 
 he had abandoned them; and all this after the 
 Reformation. And yet Henry the Eighth was 
 the sovereign who first delivered ul from the 
 yoke of Rome. 
 
 "In later times, thousands of Protestant Dis- 
 senters of the four great sects were made to 
 languish in loathsome prisons, and hundreds 
 to perish miserably, during the reign of Charles 
 the Second, under a Protestant high church go- 
 vernment, who then first applied, in the prayer 
 for the Parliament, the epithets of ' most reli- 
 gious and gracious,' to a sovereign whom they 
 knew to be profligate and unprincipled beyond 
 example, and had reason to suspect to be a con- 
 cealed Papist. 
 
 "Later still. Archbishop Sharpe was sacri- 
 ficed by the murderous enthsiasm of certain 
 Scotch Covenanters, who yet appear to have 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 367 
 
 sincerely believed themselves inspired by Hea- 
 ven to this act of cold-blooded barbarous as- 
 sassination. 
 
 "On subjects like these, silence on all sides, 
 and a mutual interchange of repentance, for- 
 giveness, and oblivion, is wisdom. But to quote 
 grievances on one side only, is not honesty." — 
 Lord Nugent's Letter, pp. 24 — 27. 
 
 Sir Richard Birnie can only attend to the 
 complaints of individuals ; but no cases of 
 swindling are brought before him so atrocious 
 as the violation of the treaty of Limerick, and 
 the disappointment of those hopes, and the 
 frustration of that arrangement; which hopes, 
 and which arrangements, were held out as 
 one of the great arguments for the union. 
 The chapter of English fraud comes next to 
 the chapter of English cruelty, in the his- 
 tory of Ireland — and both are equally dis- 
 graceful. 
 
 Nothing can be more striking than the conduct 
 of the parent legislature to the legislature of the 
 West Indian Islands. " We cannot leave you to 
 yourselves upon these points" (says the English 
 government); " the wealth of the planter and the 
 commercial prosperity of the island are not the 
 only points to be looked to. We must look to 
 the general rights of humanity, and see that 
 they are not outraged in the case of the poor 
 slave. It is impossible we can be satisfied, till 
 we know that he is placed in a state of progress 
 and amelioration." How beautiful is all this ! 
 and how wise, and how humane and affecting 
 are our efforts throughout Europe to put an end 
 to the slave trade? Wherever three or four 
 negotiators are gathered together, a British di- 
 plomate appears among them, with some arti- 
 cle of kindness and pity for the poor negro. All 
 is mercy and compassion, except when wretch- 
 ed Ireland is concerned. The saint who swoons 
 at the lashes of the Indian slave is the en- 
 courager of No-Popery meetings, and the hard, 
 bigoted, domineering tyrant of Ireland. 
 
 See the folly of delaying to settle a question 
 which, in the end, must be settled, and, ere long, 
 to the advantage of the Catholics. I^ow the 
 price rises by delay! This argument is ex- 
 tremely well put by Lord Nugent. 
 
 "I should observe that two occasions have 
 already been lost of granting these claims, 
 coupled with what -were called securities, such 
 as never can return. In 1808, the late Duke of 
 Norfolk and Lord Grenville, in the one house, 
 and Mr.Ponsonby and Mr. Grattan, in the other, 
 were authorized by the Irish Catholic body to 
 propose a negative to be vested in the crown 
 upon the appointment of their bishops. Mr. 
 Perceval, the chancellor, and the spiritual 
 bench, did not see the importance of this op- 
 portunity. It was rejected; the Irish were dri- 
 ven to despair; and in the same tomb with the 
 question of 1808 lies forever buried the veto. 
 The same was the fate with what were called 
 the ' wings' attached to Sir Francis Burdett's 
 bill of last year. I voted for them, not for the 
 sake certainly of extending the patronage of 
 the crown over a new body of clerg}', nor yet 
 for the sake of diminishing the popular cha- 
 racter of elections in Ireland, but because Mr. 
 O'Connell, and because some of the Protestant 
 friends of the measure who knew Ireland the 
 33 
 
 best, recommended them; and because I be- 
 lieved, from the language of some who sup- 
 ported it only on these conditions, that they 
 offered ihe fairest chance for the measure being 
 carried. I voted for them as the price of Ca- 
 tholic emancipation, for which I can scarcely 
 contemplate any Irish price that I would not 
 pay. With the same object, I would vote for 
 them again; but I shall never again have the 
 opportunity. For these also, if they were 
 thought of any value as securities, the events 
 of this year in Ireland have shown you that 
 you have lost for ever. And the necessity of 
 the great measure becomes every day more ur- 
 gent and unavoidable." — Lord Nugent's Letter, 
 pp. 71, 72. 
 
 Can any man living say that Ireland is not 
 in a much more dangerous state than it was 
 before the Catholic convention began to exist? 
 that the inflammatory state of that country is 
 not becoming worse and worse? — that those 
 men whom we call demagogues and incendia- 
 ries have not produced a very considerable and 
 alarming effect upon the Irish population? 
 Where is this to end? But the fool lifteth up 
 his voice in the coffee-house, and sayeth, " We 
 shall give them an hearty thrashing : let them 
 arise — the sooner the better — we will soon put 
 them down again." The fool sayeth this in 
 the coffee-house, and the greater fool praiseth 
 him. But does Lord Stowell say this 1 does 
 Mr. Peel say this ? does the Marquis of Hertford 
 say this? do sensible, calm, and reflecting men 
 like these, not admit the extreme danger of 
 combating against invasion and disaffection, 
 and this with our forces spread in active hos- 
 tility over the whole face of the globe ? Can 
 they feel this vulgar, hectoring certainty of 
 success, and stupidly imagine that a thing can- 
 not be because it has never yet been ? because 
 we have hitherto maintained our tyranny in 
 Ireland against all Europe, that we are always 
 to maintain it ? And then, what if the struggle 
 does at last end in our favour? Is the loss of 
 English lives and of English money not to be 
 taken into account? Is this the way in which 
 a nation overwhelmed with debt, and trembling 
 whether its looms and ploughs will not be over- 
 matched by the looms and ploughs of the rest 
 of Europe — is this the way in M'hich such a 
 country is to husband its resources ? Is the 
 best blood of the land to be flung away in a 
 war of hassocks and surplices ? Are cities to 
 be summoned for the Thirty-nine Articles, and 
 men to be led on to the charge by professors of 
 divinity ? The expense of keeping such a coun- 
 try must be added to all other enormous ex- 
 penses. What is really possessed of a country 
 so subdued? four or five yards round a sentr}'- 
 box, and no more. And in twenty years' time 
 it is all to do over again — another war — another 
 rebelliiin, and another enormous and ruinously 
 expensive contest, with the same dreadful un- 
 certainty of the issue ! It is forgotten, too, that 
 a new feature has arisen in the history of this 
 country. In all former insurrections in Ireland 
 no democratic party existed in England. The 
 efl^orts of government were left free and unim- 
 peded. ■ But suppose a stoppage in your manu- 
 factures coincident with a rising of the Irish 
 Catholics, when every soldier is employed ia 
 I ? 
 
258 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 the sacred duty of Papist-hunting. Can any 
 man contemplate such a state of things without 
 horror] Can any man say that he is taken by 
 surprise for such a combination] Can any 
 man say that any danger to church or state is 
 comparable to this ] But for the prompt inter- 
 ference of the military in the early part of 1826, 
 three or four hundred thousand starving manu- 
 facturers would have carried ruin and destruc- 
 tion over the north of England, and over Scot- 
 land. These dangers are inseparable from an 
 advanced state of manufactures — but they need 
 not the addition of other and greater perils, 
 which need not exist in any country too wise 
 and too enlightened for persecution. 
 
 Where is the weak point in these plain ar- 
 guments 1 Is it the remoteness of the chance 
 of foreign war ? Alas ! we have been at war 
 35 minutes out of every hour since the peace 
 of Utrecht. The state of war seems more 
 natural to man than the state of peace ; and if 
 we turn from general probabilities to the state 
 of Europe — Greece to be liberated — Turkey to 
 be destroyed — Portugal and Spain to be made 
 free — the wounded vanity of the French, the 
 increasing arrogance of the Americans, and 
 our own philopolemical folly, are endless scenes 
 of war. We believe it at all times a belter 
 speculation to make ploughshares into swords 
 than swords into ploughshares. If war is cer- 
 tain, we believe insurrection to be quite as 
 certain. We cannot believe but that the French 
 or Americans would, in case of war, make a 
 serious attempt upon Ireland, and that all Ire- 
 land would rush, tail foremost, into insurrec- 
 tion. 
 
 A new source of disquietude and war has 
 lately risen in Ireland. Our saints are evan- 
 gelical people, or serious people, or by what- 
 ever name they are to be designated, have taken 
 the field in Ireland against the pope, and are 
 converting in the large way. Three or four 
 Irish Catholic prelates take a post-chaise, and 
 curse the converters and the converted. A 
 battle royal ensues with shillelas : the police- 
 man comes in, and, reckless of Lambeth or the 
 Vatican, makes no distinction between what is 
 perpendicular, and what is hostile, but knocks 
 down every body and every thing which is up- 
 right; and so the feud ends for the day. We 
 have no. doubt but that these efforts will tend to 
 bring things to a crisis much sooner between 
 the parties, than the disgraceful conduct of the 
 cabinet alone would do. 
 
 " It is a charge not imputed by the laws of 
 England, nor by the oalhs which exclude the 
 Catholics : for those oaths impute only spirit- 
 ual errors. But it is imputed, which is more 
 to the purpose, by those persons who approve 
 of the excluding oaths, and wish them retained. 
 But, to the whole of this imputation, even if no 
 other instance could be adduced, as far as a 
 strong and remarkable example can prove the 
 negative of an assumption which there is not a 
 single example to support — the full, and suffi- 
 cient, arid incontestable answer is Canada. 
 Canada, which, until you can destroy the me- 
 mory of all 'hat now remains to you of your 
 sovereignty on the North American continent, 
 is an answer practical, memorable, ditiicult to 
 be accounted for, but blazing as the sun itself 
 
 in sight of the whole world, to the whole charge 
 of divided allegiance. At your conquest of 
 Canada, you found it Roman Catholic; you had 
 to choose for her a constitution in chuixh and 
 state. You were wise enough not to thwart 
 public opinion. Your own conduct towards 
 Presbyterianism in Scotland was an example 
 for imitation; your own conduct towards Ca- 
 tholocism in Ireland was a beacon for avoid- 
 ance; and in Canada you established and 
 endowed the religion of the people. Canada 
 was your only Roman Catholic colony. Your 
 other colonies revolted ; they called on a Catho- 
 lic power to support them, and Ihey achieved 
 their independence. Catholic Canada, with 
 what Lord Liverpool would call her half-alle- 
 giance, alone stood by you. She fought by 
 your side against the interference of Catholic 
 France. To reward and encourage her loyalty, 
 you endowed in Canada bishops to say mass, 
 and to ordain others to say mass, whom, at thai 
 very time, your laws would have hanged for 
 saying mass in England; and Canada is still 
 yours in spite of Catholic France, in spite of 
 her spiritual obedience to the pope, in spite of 
 Lord Liverpool's argument, and in spite of the 
 independence of all the states that surround 
 her. This is the only trial you have made. 
 Where you allow to the Roman Catholics their 
 religion undisturbed, it has proved itself to be 
 compatible with the most faithful allegiance. 
 It is only where you have placed allegiance 
 and religion before them as a dilemma, that 
 they have preferred (as who will say they ought 
 not?) their religion to their allegiance. How 
 then stands the imputation 1 Disproved by 
 history, disproved in all states where both reli- 
 gions co-exist, and in both hemispheres, and 
 asserted in an exposition by Lord Liverpool, 
 solemnly and repeatedly abjured by all Catho- 
 lics, of the discipline of their church." — Lord 
 NH<renl's Letter, pp. 3.5, 36. 
 
 Can any man who has gained permission to 
 take off his strait-waistcoat, and been out of 
 Bedlam three weeks, believe that the Catholic 
 question will be set to rest by the conversion 
 of the Irish Catholics to the Protestant religion? 
 The best chance of conversion will be gained 
 by taking care that the point of honour is not 
 against conversion. 
 
 " We may, I think, collect from what we 
 know of the ordinary feelings of men that, by 
 admitting all to a community of political bene- 
 fits, we should remove a material impediment 
 that now presents itself to the advances of 
 proselytism to our established mode of worship ; 
 particularly assuming, as we do, that it is the 
 purest, and that the disfranchised mode is sup- 
 ported only by superstition and priestcraft. By 
 external pressure and restraint, things are com- 
 pacted as well in the moral as in the physical 
 world. Where a sect is at spiritual variance 
 with the established church, it only requires an 
 abridgment of civil privileges to render it at 
 once a political faction. Its members become 
 instantly pledged, some from enthusiasm, some 
 from resentment, and many from honourable 
 shame, to cleave with desperate fondness to the 
 suffering fortunes of an hereditary religion. Is 
 this human nature, or is it not 1 Is it a natural 
 or an unnatural feeling for the representative 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 259 
 
 of an ancient Roman Catholic family, even if 
 in his lieart he rejected the controverted tenets 
 of his early faith, to scorn an open conformity 
 to ours, so long as such conformity brings with 
 it the irremovable suspicion that faith and con- 
 science may have bowed to the base hope of 
 temporal advantage?. _Every man must feel 
 and act for himself: bot", in my opinion, a good 
 man might be put to difficulty to determine 
 whether more harm is not done by the example 
 of one changing his religion to his worldly 
 advantage, than good by his openly professing 
 confortpity from what we think error to what 
 we think truth."— iorrf Nugent's Letter, pp. 54, 
 55. 
 
 " We will not be bullied out of the Catholic 
 question." This is a very common text, and 
 requires some comment. If you mean that the 
 sense of personal danger shall not prevent you 
 from doing what you think right — this is a 
 worthy and proper feeling, but no such motive 
 is suspected, and no such question is at issue. 
 Nobody doubts but that any English gentleman 
 would be ready to join his No-Popery corps, 
 and to do his duty to the community, if the 
 government required it; but the question is, Is 
 it worth while in the government to require if? 
 Is it for the general advantage that such a war 
 should be carried on for such an object 1 It is 
 a question not of personal valour, but of politi- 
 cal expediency. Decide seriously if it is worth 
 the price of civil war to exclude the Catholics, 
 and act accordingly; taking it for granted that 
 you possess, and that every body supposes you 
 to possess, the vulgar attribute of personal 
 courage ; but do not draw your sword like a 
 fool, from the unfounded apprehension of being 
 called a coward. 
 
 We have great hopes of the Duke of Cla- 
 rence. Whatever else he may be, he is not a 
 bigot — not a person who thinks it necessary to 
 show respect to his royal father, by prolonging 
 the miseries and incapacities of six millions of 
 people. If he ascends the throne of these 
 realms, he must stand the fire of a few weeks' 
 clamour and unpopularity. If the measure is 
 passed by the end of May, we can promise his 
 royal highness it will utterly be forgotten be- 
 fore the end of June, Of all human nonsense, 
 it is surely tiie greatest to talk of respect to the 
 late king — respect to the memory of the Duke 
 of York — by not voting for the Catholic ques- 
 tion. Bad enough to burn widows when the 
 husband dies — had enough to burn horses, 
 dogs, butlers, footmen, and coachmen, on the 
 funeral pile of a Scythian warrior — but to offer 
 lip the happiness of seven millions of people to 
 the memory of the dead, is certainly the most 
 insane sepulchral oblation of which history 
 makes mention. The best compliment to these 
 deceased princes, is to remember their real 
 good qualities, and to forget (as soon as we can 
 forget it) that tliese good qualities were tar- 
 nished by limited and mistaken views of reli- 
 gious liberty. 
 
 Persecuting gentlemen forget the expense of 
 persecution'; whereas, of all luxuries, it is the 
 most expensive. The Ranters do not cost us 
 a farthing, because thev are not disqualified by 
 ranting. The Methodists and Unitarians are 
 gratis. The Irish Catholics, supposing every 
 
 alternate year to be war, as it has been for the 
 last century, will cost us within these next 
 twenty years, forty millions of money. There 
 are 20,000 soldiers there in time of peace; in 
 war, including the militia, their numbers will 
 be doubled — and there must be a very formida- 
 ble fleet in addition. Now, when the tax paper 
 comes round, and we are to make a return of 
 the greatest number of horses, buggies, ponies, 
 dogs, cats, bulfinches, and canary birds, &c., 
 and to be taxed accordingly, let us remember 
 how well and wisely our money has been 
 spent, and not repine that we have purchased, 
 by severe taxation, the high and exalted plea- 
 sures of intolerance and persecution. 
 
 It is mere unsupported and unsupportable 
 nonsense to talk of the exclusive disposition 
 of the Catholics to persecute. The Protestants 
 have murdered, and tortured, and laid waste as 
 much as the Catholics. Each party, as it 
 gained the upper hand, tried death as the 
 remedy for heresy — both parties have tried it 
 in vain. 
 
 A distinction is set up between civil rights, 
 and political power, and applied against the 
 Catholics : the real difference between these 
 two words is, that civil comes from a Latin 
 word, and political from a Greek one; but if 
 there is any difference in their meaning, the 
 Catholics do not ask for political power, but 
 for eligibility to political power. The Catho- 
 lics have never prayed, or dreamt of praying, 
 that so many of the judges and king's counsel 
 should necessarily be Catholics ; but that no 
 law should exist which prevented them from 
 becoming so, if a Protestant king chose to 
 make them so. Eligibility to political power is 
 a civil privilege, of which we have no more 
 right to deprive any man than of any other 
 civil privilege. The good of the state may 
 require that all civil rights may be taken from 
 Catholics ; but to say that eligibility to political 
 power is not a civil right, and that to take it 
 away without grave cause, would not be a 
 great act of injustice, is mere declamation. 
 Besides, what is called political power, and 
 what are called civil rights, are given or with- 
 holden, without the least reference to any prin- 
 ciple, but by mere caprice. A right of voting 
 is given — this is political power; eligibility to 
 the office of alderman or bank director is re- 
 fused — this is a civil right: the distinction is 
 perpetually violated, just as it has suited the 
 state of parties for the moment. And here a 
 word or two on the manner of handling the 
 question. Because some offices must be filled 
 with Catholics, all would be: this is one topic. 
 A second is, because there might be inconve- 
 nience from a Catholic king or chancellor, 
 that, therefore, there would be no inconve- 
 nience from Catholic judges or Serjeants. In 
 talking of establishments, they always take 
 care to blend the Irish and English estdMish- 
 ments, and never to say which is meant, though 
 the circumstances of hoih are as different as 
 possible. It is always presumed, that sects 
 holding opinions contrary to the establishmcn., 
 are hostile to the establishment; meaning by 
 the word hostile, that they are combined, or 
 ready to combine, for its destruction. It n 
 contended ibai the Catholics would not be sati» 
 
260 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 fied by these concessions ; meaning, therebj', 
 that many would not be so — but forgetting to 
 add, that many ivould be quite satisfied — all 
 more satisfied, and less likely to run into rebel- 
 lion. It is urged that the mass of Catholics 
 are indifferent to the question ; whereas (never 
 mind the cause) there is not a Catholic plough- 
 boy, at this moment, who is not ready to risk 
 his life for it, nor a Protestant stable-boy, who 
 does not give himself airs of superiority over 
 any papistical cleaner of horses, who is scrub- 
 bing with him under the same roof. 
 
 The Irish were quiet under the severe code 
 of Queen Anne — so the half-murdered man 
 left on the ground bleeding by thieves is quiet; 
 and he only moans, and cries for help as he 
 recovers. There was a method which would 
 have made the Irish still more quiet, and efl^ec- 
 tually have put an end to all further solicita- 
 tion respecting the Catholic question. It was 
 adopted in the case of the wolves. 
 
 They are forming societies in Ireland for the 
 encouragement of emigration, and striving, 
 and successfully striving, to push their redun- 
 dant population into Great Britain. Our busi- 
 ness is to pacify Ireland — to give confidence to 
 capitalists — and to keep their people where 
 they are. On the day the Catholic question 
 ■was passed, all property in Ireland would rise 
 20 per cent. 
 
 Protestants admit that there are sectaries sit- 
 ting in Parliament, who differ from the Church 
 of England as much as the Catholics ; but it 
 is forgotten that, according to the doctrine of 
 the Church of England, the Unitarians are con- 
 sidered as condemned to eternal punishment in 
 another world — and that many such have seats 
 in Parliament. And can anything be more 
 preposterous (as far as doctrine has any in- 
 fluence in these matters) than that men, whom 
 we believe ;o be singled out as objects of God's 
 eternal vengeance, should have a seat in our 
 national councils : and that Catholics, whom 
 we believe may be saved, should not 1 
 
 The only argument which has any appear- 
 ance of iceight, is the question of divided alle- 
 giance ; and, generally speaking, we should 
 say it is the argument which produces the 
 greatest effect in the country at large. Eng- 
 land, in this respect, is in the same state, at 
 least, as the whole of Catholic Europe. Is not 
 the allegiance of every French, every Spanish, 
 and every Italian Catholic (who is not a Ro- 
 man,) divided ] His king is in Paris, or Madrid, 
 or Naples, while his high-priest is at Rome. 
 We speak of it as an anomaly in politics ; 
 ■whereas, it is the state, and condition of almost 
 the whole of Europe. The danger of this 
 divided allegiance, they admit, is nothing, as 
 long as it is confined to purely spiritual con- 
 efirns ; but it may extend itself to temporal 
 matters, and so endanger the safety of the state. 
 This danger, however, is greater in a Catholic 
 than in a Protestant country; not only on ac- 
 count of the greater majority upon whom it 
 might act: but because there are objects in a 
 ('atholic country much more desirable, and 
 attainable, than in a country like England, 
 where Popery does not exist, or Ireland, where 
 ■it is humbled, and impoverished. Take, for 
 instance, the freedom of the Galilean Church. 
 
 What eternal disputes did this object give birth 
 to"? What a temptation to the Pope to infringe 
 in rich Catholic countries! How is it possible 
 his holiness can keep his hands from picking 
 and stealing] It must not be imagined that 
 Catholicism has been any defence against the 
 hostility and aggression of the Pope ; he has 
 cursed and excommunicated every Catholic 
 state in Europe, in their turns. Let that emi- 
 nent Protestant, Lord Bathurst, state any one 
 instance where, for the last century, the Pope 
 has interfered with the temporal concerns of 
 Great Britain. We can mention, and his lord- 
 ship will remember, innumerable instances 
 where he might have done so, if such were the 
 modern habit and policy of the court of Rome. 
 But the fact is, there is no court of Rome, and 
 no Pope. There is a wax-work Pope, and a 
 wax-work court of Rome. But popes of flesh 
 and blood Jaave long since disappeared ; and 
 in the same way, those great giants of the city 
 exist no more, but their truculent images are 
 at Guildhall. We doubt if there is in the trea- 
 sury of the Pope change for a guinea — we are 
 sure there is not in his armory one gun which 
 will go off. We believe, if he attempted to 
 bless any body whom Dr. Doyle cursed, or to 
 curse any body whom Dr. Doyle blessed, that 
 his blessings and curses would be as power- 
 less as his artillery. Dr. Doyle* is the Pope 
 of Ireland ; and the ablest ecclesiastic of that 
 country will always be its Pope — and that Lord 
 Bathurst ought to know — most likely does 
 know. But what a waste of life and time, to 
 combat such arguments ! Can my Lord Bath- 
 urst be ignorant 1 Can any man, who has the 
 slightest knowledge of Ireland, be ignorant, 
 that the portmanteau which sets out every 
 quarter for Rome, and returns from it, is an 
 heap of ecclesiastical matters, which have no 
 more to do with the safety of the country, than 
 they have to do with the safety of the moon — 
 and which but for the respect to individual 
 feelings, might all be published at Charing 
 Cross 1 Mrs. Flanagan, intimidated by sto- 
 mach complaints, wants a dispensation for 
 eating flesh. Cornelius Oh Bowel has intermar- 
 ried by accident with his grandmother; and 
 finding that she is really his grandmother, his 
 conscience is uneas)\ Mr, Mac Toolcy, the 
 priest, is discovered to be married : and to have 
 two sons, Castor and Pollux Mac Toolcy. Three 
 or four schools-full of little boys have been 
 cursed for going to hear a Methodist preacher- 
 Bargains for shirts and toe-nails of deceased 
 saints — surplices and trencher-caps blessed by 
 the Pope. These are the fruits of double alle- 
 giance — the objects of our incredible fear, and 
 the cause of our incredible folly. There is not 
 a syllable which goes to or comes from the 
 court of Rome, which, by a judicious expendi- 
 ture of sixpence by the year, would not be open 
 to the examination of every member of the 
 
 *" Of this I can with great truth assure you; and 
 my testimony, if not entitled to respect, should not be 
 utterly disregarded, that papal influence will never in- 
 duce the Catholics of this country either to continue 
 tranquil, or to be disturbed, either to aid or to oppos<j 
 the government ; and that your lordship can contribute 
 much more than the Pope to secure their allegiance, or 
 to render them disaffected." — 1>t. DoyU's Letter lo Lord 
 Liverpool, 113. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 261 
 
 cabinet. Those who use such arguments know 
 the answer to them as well as we do. The 
 real evil they dread is the destruction of the 
 church of Ireland, and, through that, of the 
 Church of England. To which we reply, that 
 such danger must proceed from the regular 
 proceedings of Parliament, or be effected by 
 insurrection and rebellion. The Catholics, re- 
 stored to civil functions, would, we believe, be 
 more likely to cling to the church than to Dis- 
 senters. If not, both Catholics and Dissenters 
 *must be utterly powerless against the over- 
 whelming English interests and feelings in the 
 house. Men are less inclined to run into rebel- 
 lion, in proportion as they have less to com- 
 plain of; and, of all other dangers, the greatest 
 to the Irish and English church establishments, 
 and to the Protestant faith throughout Europe, 
 is to leave Ireland ni its present state of discontent. 
 If the intention is to wait to the last, before 
 concession is made, till the French or Ameri- 
 cans have landed, and the holy standard has 
 been unfurled, we ought to be sure of the terms 
 which can be obtained at such a crisis. This 
 game was plaj^ed in America. Commissioners 
 were sent in one year to offer and to press what 
 would have been most thankfully received the 
 year before; but they were always loo late. 
 The rapid concessions of England were out- 
 stripped by the more rapid exactions of the 
 colonies ; and the commissioners returned with 
 the melancholy history, that they had humbled 
 themrelves before the rebels in vain. If you 
 ever mean to concede at all, do it when every 
 concession will be received as a favour. To 
 wait till you are forced to treat, is as fliean in 
 principle as it is dangerous in effect. 
 
 Then, how many thousand Protestant Dis- 
 senters are there who pay a double allegiance 
 to the king, and to the head of their church, 
 who is not the king! Is not Mr. William 
 Smith, member for Norwich, the head of the 
 Unitarian Church 1 Is not Mr. Wilberforce the 
 head of the Clapham Church! Are there not 
 twenty preachers at Leeds, who regulate all the 
 proceedings of the Methodists ! The gentle- 
 men we have mentioned are eminent, and most 
 excellent men ; but if any thing at all is to be 
 apprehended from this divided allegiance, we 
 should be infinitely more afraid of some Jaco- 
 binical fanatic at the head of Protestant vota- 
 ries — some man of such character as Lord 
 George Gordon — thau we should of all the 
 efforts of the Pope. 
 
 As so much evil is supposed to proceed from 
 not obeying the king as head of the church, 
 it might be supposed to be a very active office 
 — that the king was perpetually interfering with 
 the affairs of the church — and that orders were 
 in a course of emanation from the throne 
 which regulated the fervour, and arranged 
 the devotion, of all the members of the Church 
 of England. But we really do not know 
 what orders are ever given by the king to 
 the church, except the appointment of a fast- 
 day once in three or four years ; — nor can 
 we conceive (for appointment to bishoprics 
 is out of the question) what duties there 
 would be to perform, if this allegiance were 
 paid, instead of being withholJen. Supremacy 
 appears to us to be a mere name, without ex- 
 
 ercise of power — and allegiance to he a duty 
 without any performance annexed. If any one 
 will say what ought to be done, which is not 
 done, on account of this divided allegiance, we 
 shall belter understand the magnitude of the 
 evil. Till then, we shall consider it as a lucky 
 Protestant phrase, good to look at, like the 
 mottos and ornaments on cake, but not fit to 
 be eaten. 
 
 Nothing can be more unfair than to expect, 
 in an ancient church like that of the Catholics, 
 the same uniformity as in churches which 
 have not existed for more than two or three 
 centuries. The coats and waistcoats of the 
 reign of Henry VIII. bear some resemblance to 
 the same garments of the present day ; but, as 
 you recede, you get to the skins of wild beasts, 
 or the fleeces of sheep, for the garments of 
 savages. In the same way, it is extremely 
 difficult for a church, which has to do with the 
 counsels of barbarous ages, not to be detected 
 in some discrepancy of opinion ; while in 
 younger churches, every thing is fair and fresh, 
 and of modern date and figure; and it is not 
 the custom among theologians to own their 
 church in the wrong. " No religion can stand, 
 if men, without regard to their God, and with 
 regard only to controversy, shall rake out of 
 the rubbish of antiquity the obsolete and quaint 
 follies of the sectarians, and affront the majesty 
 of the Almighty, with the impudent catalogue 
 of their devices ; and it is a strong argument 
 against the proscriplive system, that it helps to 
 continue this shocking contest. Theologian 
 against theologian, polemic against polemic, 
 until the two madmen defame their common 
 parent, and expose their common religion." — 
 Grattan's Speech on the Catholic Question, 1805. 
 
 A good-natured and well-conditioned person 
 has pleasure in keeping and distributing any 
 thing that is good. If he detects any thing with, 
 superior flavour, he presses and invites, and is 
 not easy till others participate ; — and so it is 
 with political and religious freedom. It is a 
 pleasure to possess it, and a pleasure to com- 
 municate it to others. There is something 
 shocking in the greedy, growling, guzzling mo- 
 nopoly of such a blessing. 
 
 France is no longer a nation of atheists ; and 
 therefore, a great cause of offence to the Irish 
 Roman Catholic clergy is removed. Naviga- 
 tion by steam renders all shores more accessi- 
 ble. The union among Catholics is consoli- 
 dated ; all the dangers of Ireland are redoubled ; 
 every thing seems tending to an event fatal to 
 England — fatal (whatever Catholics may fool- 
 ishly imagine) to Ireland — and which will 
 subject them both to the dominion of France. 
 
 Formerly a poor man might be removed 
 from a parish if there was the slightest danger 
 of his becoming chargeable; a hole in his coat 
 or breeches excited suspicion. The church- 
 wardens said, "He has cosl us nothing, but he 
 may cost us something; and we must not live 
 even in the apprehension of evil." All this is 
 changed ; and the law now says, " Wait till you 
 are hurt ; time enough to meet the evil when it 
 comes; you have no right to do a certain evil 
 to others, to prevent an uncertaia evil to yr ur- 
 selves." The Catholics, however, are told that 
 what they do ask is objected to, from the feat 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 of what they may ask ; that they must do with- 
 out that which is reasonable, for fear they should 
 ask what is unreasoyiable. " I would give you a 
 penny (says the miser to the beggar), if I was 
 quite sure you would not ask me for half a 
 crown." 
 
 " Nothing, I am told, is now so common on 
 the continent as to hear our Irish policy dis- 
 cussed. Till of late the extent of the disabili- 
 ties was but little understood, and less regarded, 
 partly because, having less liberty themselves, 
 foreigners could not appreciate the deprivations, 
 and partly because the pre-eminence of Eng- 
 land was not so decided as to draw the eyes of 
 the world on all parts of our system. It was 
 scarcely credited that England, that knight- 
 errant abroad, should play the exclusionist at 
 nome ; that every where else she should declaim 
 against oppression, but contemplate it without 
 emotion at her doors. That her armies should 
 march, and her orators philippize, and her poets 
 sing against continental tyranny, and yet that 
 laws should remain extant, and principles be 
 operative within our gates, which are a bitter 
 satire on our philanthropy, and a melancholy 
 negation of our professions. Our sentiments 
 have been so lofty, our deportment to foreigners 
 so haughty, we have set up such liberty and 
 such morals, that no one could suppose that we 
 were hypocrites. Still less could it be foreseen 
 that a great moralist, called Joseph Surface, 
 kept a ' little milliner' behind the scenes, we 
 too should be found out at length in taking the 
 diversion of private tyranny after the most 
 approved models for that amusement." — Letter 
 to Lord Milton, pp. 50, 51. 
 
 We sincerely hope — we firmly believe — it 
 never will happen ; but if it were to happen, 
 why cannot England be just as happy with 
 Ireland being Catholic, as it is with Scotland 
 being Presbyterian 1 Has not the Church of 
 England lived side by side with the Kirk, with- 
 out crossing or jostling, for these last hundred 
 years 1 Have the Presbyterian members enter- 
 ed into any conspiracy for mincing bishoprics 
 and deaneries into synods and presbyteries? 
 And is not the Church of England tenfold more 
 rich and more strong than when the separation 
 took place ? But however th'is may be, the real 
 danger, even to the church of Ireland, as we 
 have before often remarked, is the refusal of 
 Catholic emancipation. 
 
 It would seem, from the phrenzy of many 
 worthy Protestants, whenever the name of Ca- 
 tholic is mentioned, that the greatest possible 
 diversity of religious opinions existed between 
 the Catholic and the Protestant — that they were 
 as different as fish and flesh — as alkali and acid 
 — as cow and cart-horse ; whereas it is quite 
 clear, that there are many Protestant sects 
 whose difference from each other is much more 
 marked, both in church discipline and in tenets 
 of faith, than that of Protestants and Catholics. 
 We maintain that Lambeth, in these two points, 
 
 is quite as near to the Vatican as it is to the 
 Kirk — if not much nearer. 
 
 Instead of lamenting the power of the priests 
 over the lower orders of the Irish, we ought to 
 congratulate ourselves that any influence can 
 affect or control them. Is the tiger less formi- 
 dable in the forest than when he has been 
 caught and taught to obey a voice, and tremble 
 at an handl But we overrate the power of 
 the priest, if we suppose that the upper orders 
 are to encounter all the dangers of treason and 
 rebellion, to confer the revenues of the Protest- 
 ant church upon the Catholic clergy. If the 
 influence of the Catholic clergy upon men of 
 rank and education is so unbounded, why can- 
 not the French and Italian clergy recover their 
 possessions, or acquire an equivalent for them 1 
 They are starving in the full enjoyment of an 
 influence which places (as we think) all the 
 wealth and power of the country at their feet — 
 an influence which, in our opinion, overpowers 
 avarice, fear, ambition, and is the master of 
 every passion which brings on change and 
 movement in the Protestant world. 
 
 We conclude with a few words of advice to 
 the different opponents of the Catholic ques- 
 tion. 
 
 To the No-Popery Fool. 
 
 You are made use of by men who laugh at 
 you, and despise you for your folly and igno- 
 rance ; and who, the moment it suits their 
 purpose, will consent to emancipation of the 
 Catholics, and leave you to roar and bellow No 
 Popery ! to vacancy and the moon. 
 To the No-Popery Rogue. 
 
 A shameful and scandalous game, to sport 
 with the serious interests of the country, in 
 order to gain some increase of public power ! 
 To the Honest No-Popery People. 
 
 We respect you very sincerely — out are 
 astonished at your existence. 
 To the Base. 
 
 Sweet children of turpitude, beware ! the 
 old anti-popery people are fast perishing away. 
 Take heed that you are not surprised by an 
 emancipating king, or an emancipating admin- 
 istration. Leave a locus panitenttce .' — prepare 
 a place for retreat — get ready your equivoca- 
 tions and denials. The dreadful day may yet 
 come, when liberality may lead to place and 
 power. We understand these matters here. 
 It is the safest to be moderately base — to be 
 flexible in shame, and to be always ready for 
 what is generous, good, and just, when any 
 thing is to be gained by virtue. 
 To the Catholics. 
 
 Wait. Do not add to your miseries by a mad 
 and desperate rebellion. Persevere in civil 
 exertions, and concede all you can concede. 
 All great alterations in human affairs are pro- 
 duced by compromise. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 NECKAE'S LAST YIEWS. 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 1803.] 
 
 If power could be measured by territory, or 
 counted by population, the inveteracy, and the 
 disproportion which exists between France and 
 England, must occasion to every friend of the 
 latter country the most serious and well-found- 
 ed apprehensions. Fortunately however for 
 us, the question of power is not only what is 
 the amount of population 1 but, how is that 
 population governed 1 How far is a confidence 
 in the s/aAi/iYy of political institutions establish- 
 ed by an experience of their wisdom ? Are the 
 various interests of society adjusted and pro- 
 tected by a system of laws thoroughly tried, 
 gradually ameliorated, and purely administer- 
 ed ? What is the degree of general prosperity 
 evinced by that most perfect of all criteria, ge- 
 neral credit 1 These are the considerations to 
 which an enlightened politician, who speculates 
 on the future destinyjof nations, will direct his 
 attention, more than to the august and impos- 
 ing exterior of territorial dominion, or to those 
 brilliant moments, when a nation, under the 
 influence of great passions, rises above its 
 neighbours, and above itself, in military re- 
 nown. 
 
 If it be visionary to suppose the grandeur 
 and safety of the two nations as compatible 
 and co-existent, we have the important (though 
 the cruel) consolation of reflecting, that the 
 French have yet to put together the very ele- 
 ments of a civil and political constitution ; that 
 they have to experience all the danger and all 
 the inconvenience which result from the rash- 
 ness and the imperfect views of legislators, 
 who have every thing to conjecture, and every 
 thing to create ; that they must submit to the 
 confusion of repeated change, or the greater 
 evil of obstinate perseverance in error; that 
 they must live for a century in that state of 
 perilous uncertainty in which every revolution- 
 ized nation remains, before rational liberty be- 
 comes feeling and habit, as well as law, and is 
 written in the hearts of men as plainly as in 
 the letter of the statute ; and that the opportu- 
 nity of beginning this immense edifice of hu- 
 man happiness is so far from being presented 
 to them at present, that it is extremely problem- 
 atical whether or not they are to be bandied 
 from one vulgar usurper to another, and remain 
 for a century subjugated to the rigour of a 
 military government, at once the scorn and the 
 scourge of Europe.-j- 
 
 To the more pleasing supposition, that the 
 First Consul will make use of his power to 
 give his country a free constitution, we are in- 
 debted for the work of M. Neckar now before 
 us, a work of which good temper is the charac- 
 teristic excellence : it every where preserves 
 
 * Derniires Vvesde Pvlitiques, etde Finance. Par M. 
 Necl<ar. An 10, 1802. 
 
 t k\\ this is, iinfortunatelj', as true now as it was 
 wl)en written thirty years ago. 
 
 that cool impartiality which it is so difficult to 
 retain in the discussion of subjects connected 
 with recent and important events ; modestly 
 proposes the results of reflection; and, neither 
 deceived nor wearied by theories, examines the 
 best of all that mankind have said or done for 
 the attainment of rational liberty. 
 
 The principal object of M. Neckar's book is 
 to examine this question, "An opportunity of 
 election supposed, and her present circumstan- 
 ces considered — what is the best form of go- 
 vernment which France is capable of receiv- 
 ing V and he answers his own query by giving 
 the preference to a Republic One and Indivisible. 
 
 The work is divided into four parts. 
 
 1. An Examination of the present constitu- 
 tion of France. 
 
 2. On the best form of a Republic One and 
 Indivisible. 
 
 3. On the best form of a Monarchical Go- 
 vernment. 
 
 4. Thoughts upon Finance. 
 
 From the misfortune which has hitherto at- 
 tended all discussions of present constitutions 
 in France, M. Neckar has not escaped. The 
 subject has proved too rapid for the author; 
 and its existence has ceased before its proper- 
 ties were examined. This part of the work, 
 therefore, we shall entirely pass over : because, 
 to discuss a mere name, is an idle waste of 
 time; and no man pretends that the present 
 constitution of France can, with propriety, be 
 considered as any thing more. We shall pro- 
 ceed to a description of that form of a republi- 
 can government which appears to M. Neckar 
 best calculated to promote the happiness of that 
 country. 
 
 Every department is to be divided into five 
 parts, each of which is to send one member. 
 Upon the eve of an election, all persons paying 
 200 livres of government taxes in direct con- 
 tribution, are to assemble together, and choose 
 100 members from their own number, who 
 form what M. Neckar calls a chamber of indi- 
 cation. This chamber of indication is to pre- 
 sent five candidates, of whom the people are 
 to elect one; and the right of voting in this 
 latter election is given to every body engaged 
 in a wholesale or retail business ; to all super- 
 intendents of manufactures and trades; to all 
 commissioned and non-commissioned officers 
 and soldiers who have received their discharge ; 
 and to all citizens paying, in direct contribu- 
 tion, to the amount of twelve livres. Votes 
 are not to be given in one spot, but before the 
 chief magistrate of each commune where the 
 voter resides, and there inserted in registers; 
 from a comparison of which, the successful 
 candidate is to be determined. The municipal 
 officers are to enjoy the right of rcromnunding 
 one of these candidates to the people, wiio are 
 free to adopt their recommendation OJ not. a?. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 they may think proper. The right of voting is 
 confined to qualified single men of twenty-five 
 years of age : married men of the same de- 
 scription may vote at any age. 
 
 To this plan of election we cannot help 
 thinking there are many great and insuperable 
 objections. The first and infallible conse- 
 quence of it would be, a devolution of the 
 whole elective franchise upon the chamber of 
 indication, and a complete exclusion of the 
 people from any share in the privilege : for the 
 chamber bound to return five candidates, would 
 take care to return four out of the five so tho- 
 roughly objectionable, that the people would 
 be compelled to choose the fifth. Such has 
 been the constant effect of all elections so con- 
 stituted in Great Britain, where the power of 
 conferring the office has always been found to 
 be vested in those who named the candidates, 
 not in those who selected an individual from 
 the candidates named. 
 
 But if such were not the consequences of a 
 double election ; and if it were so well consti- 
 tuted, as to retain that character which the 
 legislature meant to impress upon it, there are 
 other reasons which would induce us to pro- 
 nounce it a very pernicious institution. The 
 only foundation of political liberty is the spirit 
 of the people; and the only circumstance 
 which makes a livelj^ impression upon their 
 senses, and powerfully reminds them of their 
 importance, their power, and their rights, 
 is the periodical choice of their represen- 
 tatives. How easily that spirit may be to- 
 tally extinguished, and of the degree of abject 
 fear and slavery to which the human race may 
 be reduced for ages, every man of reflection is 
 sufficiently aware : and he knows that the pre- 
 servation of that feeling is, of all other objects 
 of political science, the most delicate and the 
 most difficult. It appears to us, that a people 
 who did not choose their representatives, but 
 only those who chose their representatives, 
 would very soon become indifferent to their 
 elections altogether. To deprive them of their 
 power of nominating their own candidate, 
 would be still worse. The eagerness of the 
 people to vote, is kept alive by their occasional 
 expulsion of a candidate who has rendered 
 himself objectionable, or the adoption of one 
 who knows how to render himself agreeable 
 to them. They are proud of being solicited 
 personally by a man of family or wealth. The 
 uproar even, and the confusion and the clamour 
 of a popular election in England, have their 
 use: they give a stamp to the names. Liberty, 
 Constitution, and People : they infuse sentiments 
 which nothing but violent passions and gross 
 objects oi sense coidd infuse ; and which would 
 never exist, perhaps, if the sober constituents 
 were to sneak, one by one, into a notary's office 
 to deliver their votes for a representative, or 
 were to form the first link in that long chain 
 of causes and efl^ects, which, in this compound 
 kind of elections, ends with choosing a mem- 
 ber of parliament. 
 
 "Above all things (saj'S M. Neckar) languor 
 IS the most deadly to a republican government; 
 for when such a political association is anima- 
 ted neither by a kind of instinctive afl^ection 
 <br its beaut3-, nor by the continual homage of 
 
 reflection to the happy union of order and 
 liberty, the public spirit is half lost, and with it 
 the republic. The rapid brilliancy of despot- 
 ism is preferred to a mere complicated ma- 
 chine, from which every symptom of life and 
 organization is fled." 
 
 Sickness, absence, and nonage, would (even 
 under the supposition of universal sufl"rage) re- 
 duce the voters of any country to one fourth 
 of its population. A qualification much lower 
 than that of the payment of twelve livres in 
 direct contribution, would reduce that fourth 
 one half, and leave the number of voters in 
 France three millions and a half, which, divided 
 by 600, gives between five and six thousand 
 constituents for each represensative; a num- 
 ber not amounting to a third part of the voters 
 for many counties in England, and which cer- 
 tainly is not so unwieldy as to make it neces- 
 sary to have recourse to the complex mechan- 
 ism of double elections. Besides, too, if it 
 could be believed that the peril were consider- 
 j able, of gathering men together in such masses, 
 we have no hesitation in saying, that it would 
 be infinitely preferable to thin their numbers, 
 I by increasing the value of the qualification, 
 than to obviate the apprehended bad eff'ects, by 
 j complicating the system of election. 
 I M. Neckar (much as he has seen and ob- 
 served,) is clearly deficient in that kind of ex- 
 perience which is gained by living under free 
 governments: he mistakes the riots of a free, 
 for the insurrections of an enslaved people ; 
 I and appears to be impressed with the most tre- 
 mendous notions of an English election. The 
 difference is, that the tranquillity of an arbi- 
 trary government is rarely disturbed, but from 
 I the most serious provocations, not to be expi- 
 I ated by any ordinary vengeance. The excesses 
 I of a free people are less important, because 
 their resentments are less serious ; and they 
 can commit a great deal of apparent disorder 
 with very little real mischief. An English mob, 
 which, to a foreigner, might convey the belief 
 of an impending massacre, is often contented 
 by the demolition of a few windows. 
 I The idea of diminishing the number of con- 
 stituents, rather by extending the period of non- 
 , age to twenty-five years, than b}' increasing the 
 lvalue of the qualification, appears to us to be 
 new and ingenious. No person considers him- 
 : self as so completely deprived of a share in 
 I the government, who is to enjoy it when he be- 
 I comes older, as he would do, were that privi- 
 lege deferred till he became richer; lime 
 comes to all, wealth to few. 
 
 This assembly of representatives, as M. 
 [Neckar has constituted it, appears to us to be 
 ; in extreme danger of turning out to be a mere 
 collection of country gentlemen. Every thing 
 is determined by territorial extent and popula- 
 tion; and as the voters in towns must, in any 
 single division, be almost always inferior to the 
 country voters, the candidates will be returned 
 in virtue of large landed property ; and that in- 
 finite advantage which is derived to a popular 
 assembly, from the variety of characters of 
 which it is composed, would be entirely lost 
 under the system of M. Neckar. The sea-ports, 
 the universities, the great commercial towns, 
 should all have their separate oigans in iha 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 265 
 
 parliament of a great country. There should 
 be some means of bringing in active, able, 
 young men, who would submit to the labour of 
 business, from the stimulus of honour and 
 wealth. Others should be there, expressly to 
 speak the sentiments, and defend the interests 
 of the executive. Every popular assembly 
 must be grossly imperfect, that is not composed 
 of such heterogeneous materials as these. Our 
 own parliament may perhaps contain within 
 itself too many of that species of representa- 
 tives, who could never have arrived at the dig- 
 nity under a pure and perfect system of elec- 
 tion; but, for all the practical purposes of go- 
 vernment, amidst a great majority fairly elected 
 by the people, we should always wish to see a 
 certain number of the legislative body repre- 
 senting interests very distinct from those of the 
 people. 
 
 The legislative part of his constitution M. 
 Neckar manages in the following manner. 
 There are two councils, the great and the little. 
 The great council is composed of five mem- 
 bers from each department, elected in the man- 
 ner we have just described, and amounting to 
 the number of six hundred. The assembly is 
 re-elected every five years. No, qualification* 
 of property is necessary to its members, who 
 receive each a salary of 12,000 livres. No one 
 is eligible to the assembly before the age of 
 twenty-five years. The little national council 
 consists of one hundred members, or from that 
 number to one hundred and twenty; one for 
 each department. It is re-elected every ten 
 years ; its members must be thirty years of age ; 
 and they receive the same salary as the mem- 
 bers of the great council. For the election of 
 the little council, each of the five chambers of 
 indication, in every department, gives in the 
 name of one candidate ; and, from the five so 
 named, the same voters \vho choose the great 
 council select one. 
 
 The municipal oflicers enjoy, in this election, 
 the same right of recommending one of the can- 
 didates to the people; a privilege which they 
 would certainly exercise indirectly, without a 
 law, wherever they could exercise it with any 
 effect, and the influence of which the sanction 
 of the law would at all times rather diminish 
 than increase. 
 
 The grand national council commences all 
 deliberations which concern public order, and 
 the interest of the state, with the exception of 
 those only which belong to finance. Neverthe- 
 less, the executive and the little council have 
 it in their power to propose any law for the con- 
 sideration of the grand council. When a law 
 has passed the two councils, and received the 
 sanction of the executive senate, it becomes 
 binding upon the people. If the executive 
 senate disapprove of any law presented to them 
 for their adoption, they are to send it back to 
 the two councils for their reconsideration ; but 
 if it pass these two bodies again, with the ap- 
 probation of two-thirds of the members of each 
 assembly, the executive has no longer the 
 power of withholding its assent. All measures 
 of financt! are to initiate with government. 
 
 * Nothing can be more absurd than our qualification 
 for parliament : it is nothing but a foolish and expen- 
 sive lie on parchment. 
 
 34 
 
 We believe M. Neckar to be right in his idea 
 of not exacting any qualification of property in 
 his legislative assemblies. When men are left 
 to choose their own governors, they are guided 
 in their choice by some one of those motives 
 which has always commanded their homage 
 and admiration : — if they do not choose wealth, 
 they choose birth or talents, or military fame ; 
 and of all these species of pre-eminence, a large 
 popular assembly should be constituted. In 
 England, the laws, requiring that members of 
 parliament should be possessed of certain pro- 
 perty, are (except in the instance of members 
 for counties) practically repealed. 
 
 In the salaries of the members of the two 
 councils, with the exception of the expense, 
 there is, perhaps, no great balance of good or 
 harm. To some men it would be an induce- 
 ment to become senators; toothers, induced by 
 more honourable motives, it would afford the 
 means of supporting that situation without dis- 
 grace. Twenty-five years of age is certainly 
 too late a period for the members of the great 
 council. Of what astonishing displays of elo- 
 quence and talent should we have been de- 
 prived in this country under the adoption of a 
 similar rule! 
 
 The institution of two assemblies constitutes 
 a check upon the passion and precipitation by 
 which the resolutions of any single popular as- 
 sembly may occasionally be governed. The 
 chances, that one will correct the other, do not 
 depend solely upon their dividnality, but upon 
 the difiTerent ingredients of which they are com- 
 posed, and that difference of system and spirit, 
 which results from a difference of conforma- 
 tion. Perhaps M. Neckar has not sufficiently 
 attended to this consideration. The difference 
 between his two assemblies is not very mate- 
 rial ; and the same popular fury which marked 
 the proceedings of the one, would not be very 
 sure of meeting with an adequate corrective in 
 the dignified coolness and wholesome gravity 
 of the other. 
 
 All power which is tacitly allowed to devolve 
 upon the executive part of a government, from 
 the experience that it is most conveniently 
 placed there, is both safer, and less likely to be 
 complained of, than that which is conferred 
 upon it by law. If M. Neckar had placed some 
 agents of the executive in the great council, all 
 measures of finance would, in fact, have otigi- 
 nated in them, without any exoilusive right to 
 such initiation; but the right of initiation, from 
 M. Neckar's contrivance, is likely to excile that 
 discontent in the people, which alone can render 
 it dangerous and objectionable. 
 
 In this plan of a republic, every thing seems 
 to depend upon the purity and the moderation 
 of its governors. The executive has no con- 
 nection with the great council; the members of 
 the great council have no motive of hope, or 
 interest, to consult the wishes of the executive. 
 The assembly, which is to give example to the 
 nation, and enjoy its confidence, is composed of 
 six hundred men, whose passions have no other 
 control than that pure love of the public, which 
 it is hoped they may possess, and that cool inves- 
 tigation of interests, which it is hoped they may 
 pursue. 
 
 Of the effects of such a constitution, every 
 Z 
 
266 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 thing must be conjectured; for experience ena- 
 bles us to make no assertion respecting it. 
 Thero is only one government in the modern 
 world, which, from the effects it has produced, 
 and the time it has endured, can with justice be 
 called good and free. Its constitution, in books, 
 contains the description of a legislative assem- 
 bly, similar to that of M. Neckar's. Happily, 
 perhaps, for the people, the share they have 
 really enjoyed in its election, is much less ample 
 than that allotted to them in this republic of the 
 closet. How long a really popular assembly 
 Would tolerate any rival and co-existing power 
 m the state — for what period the feeble execu- 
 tive, and the untitled, unblazoned peers of a 
 republic, could not stand against it — whether 
 any institutions, compatible with the essence 
 and meaning of a republic, could prevent it 
 from absorbing all the dignity, the popularity 
 and the power of the state, — are questions that 
 we leave for the resolution of wiser heads ; with 
 the sincerest joy, that we have only a theoretical 
 interest in stating them.* 
 
 The executive senate is to consist of seven ; 
 and the right of presenting the candidates, and 
 selecting from the candidates alternately from 
 one assembly to the other, i. c. on a vacancy, 
 the great council present three candidates to 
 the little council, who select one from that 
 number; and, on tlie next vacancy, by the in- 
 version of this process, the little council pre- 
 sent, and the great council select; and so alter- 
 nately. The members of the executive must 
 be thirty-five years of age. Their measures 
 are determined by a majority. The president, 
 called the Consul, has a casting vote: his sal- 
 ary is fixed at 300,000 livres; that of all the 
 other senators at 60,000 livres. The office of 
 consul is annual. Every senator enjoys it in 
 his turn. Every year one senator goes out, 
 unless re-elected; which he may be once, and 
 even twice, if he unites three-fourths of the 
 votes of each council in his favour. The exe- 
 cutive shall name to all civil and military of- 
 fices, except to those of mayors and municipali- 
 ties. Political negotiations, and connections 
 with foreign countries, fall under the direction 
 of the executive. Declarations of war or 
 peace, when presented by the executive to the 
 legislative body, are to be adopted, the first by 
 a majority of three-fifths, the last by a simple 
 majority. The parade, honours, and ceremo- 
 nies of the executive, devolve upon the consul 
 alone. The members of the senate, upon going 
 out of office, become members of the little 
 council, to the number of seven. Upon the 
 vacation of an eighth senator, the oldest ex- 
 senator in the little council resigns his seat to 
 make room for him. All responsibility rests 
 upon the consul alone, who has a right to stop 
 the proceedings of a majority of the executive 
 senate, by declaring them unconstitutional; 
 and if the majority persevere, in spite of this 
 declaration, the dispute is referred to and de- 
 cided by a secret committee of the little coun- 
 cil. 
 
 M. Neckar takes along with him the same 
 mistake through the whole of his constitution, 
 
 by conferring the choice of candidates on one 
 body, and the election of the member on an- 
 other: so that though the alternation would take 
 place between the two councils, it would turn 
 out to be in an order directly opposite to that 
 which was intended. 
 
 We perfeclly acquiesce in the reasons M. 
 Neckar has alleged for the preference given to 
 an executive constituted of many individuals, 
 rather than of one. The prize of supreme 
 power is too tempting to admit of fair play in 
 the game of ambition ; and it is wise to lessen 
 its value by dividing it : at least it is wise to 
 do so under a form of government that cannot 
 admit the better expedient of rendering the ex- 
 ecutive hereditary ; an expedient (gross and 
 absurd as it seems to be) the best calculated, 
 perhaps, to obviate the effects of ambition upon 
 the stability of governments, by narrowing the 
 field on which it acts, and the object for which 
 it contends. The Americans have determined 
 otherwise, and adopted an elective presidency: 
 but there are innumerable circumstances, as 
 M. Neckar very justly observes, which render 
 the example of America inapplicable to other 
 governments. America is a federative repub- 
 lic, and the extensive jurisdiction of the indi- 
 vidual states exonerates the president from so 
 great a portion of the cares of domestic go- 
 vernment, that he may almost be considered 
 as a mere minister of foreign affairs. America 
 presents such an immediate, and such a seduc- 
 ing species of provision to all its inhabitants, 
 that it has no idle discontented populace, its 
 population amounts only to six millions, and it 
 is not condensed in such masses as the popu- 
 lation of Europe. After all, an experiment of 
 twenty years is never to be cited in politics ; 
 nothing can be built upon such a slender infer- 
 ence. Even if America were to remain sta- 
 tionary, she might find that she had presented 
 too fascinating and irresistible an object to hu- 
 man ambition: of course, that peril is increas- 
 ed by every augmentation of a people, who are 
 hastening on, with rapid and irresistible pace, 
 to the highest eminences of human grandeur. 
 Some contest for power there must be in every 
 free state : but the contest for vicarial and de- 
 puted power, as it implies the presence of a 
 moderator and a master, is more prudent than 
 the struggle for that which is original and su- 
 preme. 
 
 The difl^culty of reconciling the responsi- 
 bility of the executive with its dignity, M. 
 Neckar foresees ; and states, but does not reme- 
 dy. An irresponsible executive, the jealousy 
 of a republic would never tolerate ; and its 
 amenability to punishment, by degrading it in 
 the eyes of the people, diminishes its power. 
 
 All the leading features of civil liberty are 
 copied from the constitution of this country, 
 with hardly any variation. 
 
 Having thus finished his project of a repub- 
 lic, M. Neckar proposes the government of this 
 country as the best model of a temperate and 
 hereditary monarchy; pointing out such alter- 
 ations in it as the genius of the French people, 
 the particular circumstances in M-hich they are 
 placed, or the abuses which have crept into 
 our policy, may require. From one or the 
 other of these motives he re-establishes the 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 267 
 
 salique law ;* forms his elections after the 
 same manner as that previously described in 
 his scheme of a republic; and excludes the 
 clergy from the house of peers. This latter 
 assembly M. Neckar composes of 250 heredi- 
 tary peers chosen from the best families in 
 France, and of 50 assistant peers enjoying that 
 dignity for life only, and nominated by the 
 crown. The number of hereditary peers is 
 limited as above; the peerage goes only in the 
 male line ; and upon each peer is perpetually 
 entailed landed property to the amount of 
 30,000 livres. This partial creation of peers 
 for life only, appears to remedy a very material 
 defect in the English constitution. An heredi- 
 tary legislative aristocracy not only adds to the 
 dignity of the throne, and establishes that gra- 
 dation of ranks which is, perhaps, absolutely 
 necessary to its security, but it transacts a con- 
 siderable share of the business of the nation, 
 as well in the framing of laws as in the dis- 
 charge of its juridical functions. But men of 
 rank and wealth, though ihey are interested by 
 a splendid debate, will not submit to the drudg- 
 ery of business, much less can they be supposed 
 conversant in all the niceties of law questions. 
 It is therefore necessary to add to their number 
 a certain portion of novi homines, men of estab- 
 lished character for talents, and upon whom 
 the previous tenor of their lives has necessa- 
 rily impressed the habits of business. The 
 evil of this is, that the title descends to their 
 posterity, without the talents and the utility 
 that procured it; and the dignity of the peerage 
 is impaired by the increase of its numbers : 
 not only so, but as the peerage is the reward 
 of military, as well as the earnest of civil ser- 
 vices, and as the annuity commonly granted 
 with it is only for one or two lives, we are in 
 some danger of seeing a race of nobles wholly 
 dependent upon the crown for their support, 
 and sacrificing their political freedom to their 
 necessities. These evils are elfectually, as it 
 should seem, obviated by the creation of a ccr. 
 tain-[ number of peers for life only ; and the in- 
 crease of power which it seems to give to the 
 crown, is very fairly counteracted by the ex- 
 clusion of the episcopacy, and the limitation 
 of the hereditary peerage. As the weight of 
 business in the upper house would principally 
 devolve upon the created peers, and as they 
 would hardly arrive at that dignity without 
 having previously acquired great civil or mili- 
 tary reputation, the consideration they would 
 enjoy would be little inferior to that of the 
 other part of the aristocracy. When the no- 
 blesse of nature are fairly opposed to the noblesse 
 created by political institutions, there is little 
 fear that the former should suffer by the com- 
 parison. 
 
 If the clergy are suffered to sit in the lower 
 house, the exclusion of the episcopacy from 
 the upper house is of less importance : but, in 
 some part of the legislative bodies, the inter- 
 
 * A iinst sensible and valuable law, banishing gal- 
 lantry and chivalry from rahinets, and preventing the 
 amiab.e antics of grave statesmen. 
 
 t The most useless and offensive tumour in the body 
 politic, ie the titled son of a great man whose merit has 
 placed him in the peerage. The name, face, and per- 
 haps the pension, remain. The da'mon is gone ; or 
 there is a slight flavour from the cask, but it is empty. 
 
 ests of the church ought unquestionably to be 
 represented. This consideration M. Neckar 
 wholly passes over.* 
 
 Though this gentleman considers an heredi- 
 tary monarchy as preferable in the abstract, he 
 deems it impossible that such a government 
 could be established in France, under her pre- 
 sent circumstances, from the impracticability 
 of establishing with it an hereditary aristocra- 
 cy; because the property, and the force of 
 opinion, which constituted their real power, are 
 no more, and cannot be restored. Though we 
 entirely agree with M. Neckar, that an heredi- 
 tary aristocracy is a necessary part of temperate 
 monarchy, and that the latter must exist upon 
 the base of the former, or not at all — we are by 
 no means converts to the very decided opinion 
 he has expressed of the impossibility of restor- 
 ing them both to France. 
 
 We are surprised that M. Neckar should at- 
 tempt to build any strong argument upon the 
 durability of opinions in nations that are about 
 to undergo, or that have recently undergone, 
 great political changes. What opinion was 
 there in favour of a republic in 17801 Or 
 against it in 1794] Or, what opinion is there 
 now in favour of it in 1802? Is not the tide 
 of opinions, at this moment, in France, setting 
 back with a strength equal to its flow! and is 
 there not reason to presume, that, for some time 
 to come, their ancient institutions may be 
 adored with as much fury as they were de- 
 stroyed ? If opinion can revive in favour of 
 kings (and M. Neckar allows it may), why not 
 in favour of nobles 1 It is true their property 
 is in the hands of other persons ; and the whole 
 of that species of proprietors will exert them- 
 selves to the utmost to prevent a restoration so 
 pernicious to their interests. The obstacle is 
 certainly of a very formidable nature. But 
 why this weight of property, so weak a weapon 
 of defence to its ancient, should be deemed so 
 irresistible in the hands of its present possessors, 
 we are at a loss to conceive; unless, indeed, it 
 be supposed, that antiquity of possession di- 
 minishes the sense of right and the vigour of 
 retention ; and that men will struggle harder to 
 keep what they have acquired only yesterday, 
 than that which they have possessed, by them- 
 selves or their ancestors, for six centuries. 
 
 In France, the inferiority of the price of 
 revolutionary lands to others, is immense. Of 
 the former species, church land is considerably 
 dearer than the forfeited estates of emigrants. 
 Whence the difference^of price, but from the 
 estimated difference of security? Can any fact 
 display more strongly the state of public opinion 
 with regard to the probability of a future resto- 
 ration of these estates, either partial or total '' 
 and can any circumstance facilitate the execu- 
 tion of such a project more than the general 
 belief that it will be executed'? M. Neckar 
 allows, that the impediments to the formation 
 of a republic are very serious ; but thinks they 
 would all yield to the talents and aclivity of 
 Buonaparte, if he were to dedicate himself to 
 
 * The parochial clergy are as much unrepresented in 
 the English Parliament as they are in the Parliament 
 of Brobdignag. The bishops make just what laws they 
 please, and the bearing they may have on the happiness 
 of the clergy at large never for one moment comes .n»o 
 the serious consideration of Parl-ament. 
 
268 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SIDNEY SMITH. 
 
 Ihe superintendence of such a government 
 during the period of its infancy : of course, 
 therefore, he is to suppose the same power 
 dedicated to the formation of an hereditary 
 monarchy: or his parallel of difficulties is un- 
 just, and his preference irrational. Buonaparte 
 could represent the person of a monarch, during 
 his life, as well as he could represent the execu- 
 tive of a republic ; and if he could overcome 
 the turbulence of electors, to whom freedom 
 was new, he could appease the jealousy that 
 his generals would entertain of the returning 
 nobles. Indeed, without such powerful inter- 
 vention, this latter objection does not appear to 
 us to he by any means insuperable. If the his- 
 tory of our own restoration were to be acted 
 over again in France, and royalty and aristo- 
 cracy brought back by the military successor 
 of Buonaparte, it certainly could not be done 
 without a veiy liberal distribution of favours 
 among the great leaders of the army. 
 
 Jealousy of the executive is one feature of a 
 republic; in consequence, that government is 
 clogged with a multiplicity of safeguards and 
 restrictions, which render it unfit for investi- 
 gating complicated details, and managing ex- 
 tensive relations with vigour, consistency, and 
 despatch. A republic, therefore, is better fitted 
 for a little state than a large one. 
 
 A love of equality is another very strong 
 principle in a republic ; therelbre it does not 
 tolerate hereditary honour or wealth ; and all 
 the eflect produced upon the minds of Ihe people 
 by this fiictitious power is lost, and the govern- 
 ment weakened ; but, in proportion as the 
 government is less able to command, the people 
 should be more willing to obey; therelbre a 
 republic is better suited to a moral than an im- 
 moral people. 
 
 A people vvho have recently experienced great 
 evils from the privileged orders and from mon- 
 archs, love republican forms so much, that the 
 warmth of their inclination supplies, in some 
 degree, the defect of their institutions. Inune- 
 diatcbj, therefore, upon the destruction of des- 
 potism, a republic may be preferable to a limited 
 monarchy. 
 
 And yet, though narrowness of territory, 
 purity of morals, and recent escape from des- 
 potism, appear to be the circumstances which 
 most strongly recommend a republic, M. Neckar 
 proposes it to the most numerous and the most 
 profligate people in Europe, who are disgusted 
 with Ihe very name of liberty, from the incredi- 
 ble evils they have suffered in pursuit of it. 
 
 Whatever be the species of free government 
 adopted by France, she can adopt none without 
 the greatest peril. The miserable dilemma in 
 which men living under bad governments are 
 placed, is, that, without a radical revolution, 
 they may never be able to gain liberty at all; 
 and, with it, the attainment of liberty appears 
 to be attended with almost insuperable difficul- 
 ties. To call upon a nation, on a sudden, totally 
 destitute of such knowledge and experience, to 
 perform all the manifold functions of a free 
 tonstitufion, is to entrust valuable, delicate, and 
 abstruse mechanism, to the rudest skill and the 
 grossest ignorance. Public acts may confer 
 liberty; but experience only can teach a people 
 to use it; and, till they have gained that expe- 
 
 rience, they are liable to tvxmult, to jealousy, to 
 collision of powers, and to every evil to which 
 men are exposed, who are desirous of preserv- 
 ing a great good, without knowing how to set 
 about it. In an old established system of liberty, 
 like our own, the encroachments which one de- 
 partment of the state makes on any other, ar« 
 slow, and hardly intentional ; the political feel- 
 ings and the constitutional knowledge which 
 every Englishman possesses, create a public 
 voice, which tends to secure the tranquillity of 
 the whole. Amid the crude sentiments and 
 new-born precedents of sudden liberty, the 
 crown might destroy the commons, or the 
 commons the crown, almost before the people 
 had formed any opinion of the nature of their 
 contention. A nation grown free in a single 
 day, is a child born with the limbs and the 
 vigour of a man, who would take a drawn sword 
 for his rattle, and set the house in a blaze, that 
 he might chuckle over the splendour. 
 
 Why can factious eloquence produce such 
 limited effects in this country 1 Partly because 
 we are accustomed to it, and know how to ap- 
 preciate it. We are acquainted with popular 
 assemblies; and the language of our Parlia- 
 ment produces the effect it ought upon public 
 opinion, because long experience enables us to 
 conjecture the real motives by which men are 
 actuated; to separate the vehemence of party 
 spirit from the language of principle and truth; 
 and to discover whom we can trust, and whom 
 we cannot. The want of all this, and of much 
 more than this, must retard, for a very long pe- 
 riod, the practical enjoyment of liberty in 
 France, and present very serious obstacles to 
 her prosperity; obstacles little dreamed of by 
 men who seem to measure the happiness and 
 future grandeur of France by degrees of lon- 
 gitude and latitude, and who believe she might 
 acquire liberty with as much facility as she 
 could acquire Switzerland or Naples. 
 
 M. Neckar's observations on the finances of 
 France, and on finance in general, are useful, 
 entertaining, and not above the capacity of 
 every reader. France, he says, at the begin- 
 ning of 1781, had 438 millions of revenue; 
 and, at present 540 millions. The state paid, 
 in 1781, about 21.') millions in pensions, the in- 
 terest of perpetual debts, and debts for life. It 
 pays, at present, 80 millions in interests and 
 pensions; and owes about 12 millions for anti- 
 cipations on the public revenue. A considera- 
 ble share of the increase of the revenue is 
 raised upon the conquered countries; and the 
 people are liberated from tithes, corvees, and 
 the tax on salt. This, certainly, is a magnifi- 
 cent picture of finance. The best informed 
 people at Paris, who would be very glad to con- 
 sider it as a copy from life, dare not contend 
 that it is so. At least, we sincerely ask pardon 
 of M. Neckar. if our information as to this 
 point be not correct : but we believe he is gene- 
 rally considered to have been misled by the 
 public financial reports. 
 
 In addition to the obvious causes which keep 
 the interest of money so high in France, M. 
 Neckar states one which we shall present to 
 our readers : — 
 
 "There is one means for the establishment 
 of credit," he says, " equally important witlj 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 269 
 
 the others which I have stated — a sentiment of 
 respect for morals, sufficiently diffused to over- 
 awe the government, and intimidate it from 
 treating with bad faith any solemn engagements 
 contracted in the name of the state. It is this 
 respect for morals which seems at present to have dis- 
 appeared? a respect which the Revolution has 
 destroyed, and which is unquestionably one of 
 the firmest supports of national faith." 
 
 The terrorists of this country are so ex- 
 tremely alarmed at the power of Buonaparte, 
 that they ascribe to him resources which M. 
 Neckarvery justly observ^es to be incompati- 
 ble — despotism and credit. Now, clearl}-, if he 
 is so omnipotent in France as he is represented 
 to be, there is an end of all credit; for nobody 
 will trust him whom nobody can compel to pay; 
 and if he establishes a credit, he loses all that 
 temporary vigour which is derived from a re- 
 volutionary government. Either the despotism 
 or the credit of France directed against this 
 country would be highly formidable; but, both 
 together, can never be directed at the same 
 time. 
 
 In this' part of his work, M. Neckar very 
 justly points out one of the most capital defects 
 of Mr. Pitt's administration ; who always sup- 
 posed that the power of France was to cease 
 
 with her credit, and measured the period of her 
 existence by the depreciation of her assignats. 
 Whereas, France was never more powerful 
 than when she was totally unable to borrow a 
 single shilling in the whole circumference of 
 Europe, and when her assignats were not worth 
 the paper on which they were stamped. 
 
 Such are the principal contents of M. Neck- 
 ar's very respectable work. Whether, in the 
 course of that work, his political notions ap- 
 pear to be derived from a successful study of 
 the passions of mankind, and whether his plan 
 for the establishment of a republican govern- 
 ment in France, for the ninth or tenth time, 
 evinces a more sanguine, or a more sagacious 
 mind, than the rest of the world, we would ra- 
 ther our readers should decide for themselves, 
 than expose ourselves to any imputation of ar- 
 rogance, by deciding for them. But when we 
 consider the pacific and impartial disposition 
 which characterizes the Last Hews on Politics 
 and Finance, the serene benevolence which it 
 always displays, and the pure morals M'hich it 
 always inculcates, we cannot help entertaining 
 a high respect for its venerable author, and feel- 
 ing a fervent wish, that the last views of every 
 public man may proceed from a heart as up- 
 right, and be directed to objects as good. 
 z2 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 CATTEAU, TABLEAU DES ETATS EANOIS. 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 1803.] 
 
 The object of this book is to exhibit a pic- 
 ture of the kingdom of Denmark, under all its 
 social relations, of politics, statistics, science, 
 morals, manners, and every thing which can 
 influence its character and importance, as a 
 free and independent collection of human 
 beings. 
 
 This book is, upon the whole, executed with 
 great diligence and good sense. Some sub- 
 jects of importance are passed over, indeed, 
 with too much haste; but if the publication 
 had exceeded its present magnitude, it would 
 soon have degenerated into a mere book of 
 reference, impossible to be read, and fit only, 
 like a dictionary, for the purposes of occasional 
 appeal : It would not have been a picture pre- 
 senting us with an interesting epitome of the 
 whole; but a typographical plan, detailing, 
 with minute and fatiguing precision, every 
 trifling circumstance, and every subordinate 
 feature. We should be far from objecting to a 
 much more extended and elaborate perform- 
 ance than the present; because those who 
 read, and those who write, are now so nume- 
 rous, that there is room enough for varieties 
 and modifications of the same subject: but 
 information of this nature, conveyed in a form 
 and in a size adapted to continuous reading, 
 gains in surface what it loses in depth, — and 
 gives general notions to many, though it can- 
 not afford all the knowledge which a few have 
 it in their power to acquire, from the habits 
 of more patient labour, and more profound 
 research. 
 
 This work, though written at a period when 
 enthusiasm or disgust had thrown most men's 
 minds oflT their balance, is remarkable, upon 
 the whole, for sobriety and moderation. The 
 observations, though seldom either strikingly 
 ingenious or profound, are just, temperate, and 
 always benevolent. We are so far from per- 
 ceiving any thing like extravagance in Mr. 
 Catteau, that we are inclined to think he is 
 occasionally too cautious for the interests of 
 truth; that he manages the court of Den- 
 mark with too much delicacy; and exposes, 
 by distant and scarcely perceptible touches, 
 that which it was his duty to have brought 
 out boldly and strongly. The most disa- 
 greeable circumstance in the style of the 
 book is, the author's compliance with that 
 irresistible avidity of his country to declaim 
 upon common-place subjects. He goes on, 
 mingling bucolic details and sentimental efl'u- 
 sions, melting and measuring, crying and cal- 
 c»ilating, in a manner which is very bad, if it 
 is poetry, and worse if it is prose. In speaking 
 of the mode of cultivating potatoes, he cannot 
 avoid calling the potato a modest vegetable: and 
 
 * Tableaux des Etatf Danois. Par Jean Pierrk Cat- 
 XEAU. 3 tomes. 1802. & Paris. 
 
 when he comes to the exportation of horses 
 from the duchy of Holstein, we learn that 
 "these animals are dragged from the bosom of 
 their peaceable and modest country, to hear, in 
 foreign regions, the sound of the warlike trum- 
 pet; to carry the combatant amid the hostile 
 ranks; to increase the eclat of some pompous 
 procession ; or drag, in gilded car, some 
 favourite of fortune." 
 
 We are sorry to be compelled to notice 
 these untimely efi'usions, especially as they 
 may lead to a suspicion of the fidelity of the 
 work; of which fidelity, from actual examina- 
 tion of many of the authorities referred to, we 
 have not the most remote doubt. Mr. Catteau 
 is to be depended upon as securely as any 
 writer, going over such various and extensive 
 ground, can ever be depended upon. He is 
 occasionally guilty of some trifling inaccura- 
 cies ; but what he advances ij commonly de- 
 rived from the most indisputable authorities ; 
 and he has condensed together a mass of infor- 
 mation, which will render his book the most 
 accessible and valuable road of knowledge, to 
 those who are desirous of making any re- 
 searches respecting the kingdom of Den- 
 mark. 
 
 Denmark, since the days of piracy, has 
 hardly been heard of out of the Baltic. Mar- 
 garet, by the union of Calmar, laid the founda- 
 tion of a monarchy, which (could it have been 
 preserved by hands as strong as those which 
 created it) would have exercised a powerful 
 influence upon the destinies of Europe, and 
 have strangled, perhaps in the cradle, the in- 
 fant force of Russia. Denmark, reduced to 
 her ancient bounds by the patriotism and 
 talents of Gustavus Vasa, has never since 
 been able to emerge into notice by her own 
 natural resources, or the genius of her minis- 
 ters and her monarchs. During that period, 
 Sweden has more than once threatened to give 
 laws to Europe; and, headed by Charles and 
 Gustavus, has broke out into chivalrous enter- 
 prises, with an heroic valour, which merited 
 wiser objects, and greater ultimate success. 
 The spirit of the Danish nation has, for the 
 last two or three centuries, been as little car- 
 ried to literature or to science, as to war. 
 They have written as little as they have done. 
 With the exception of Tycho Brahe and a 
 volume of shells, there is hardly a Danish 
 book, or a Danish writer, known five miles 
 from the Great Belt. It is not sufficient to say, 
 that there are many authors read and admired 
 in Denmark : there are none that have passed 
 the Sound, none that have had energy enough 
 to force themselves into the circulation of Eu- 
 rope, to extort universal admiration, and live, 
 without the aid of municipal praise, and local 
 approbation. From the period, however, of the 
 first of the Bernstorfl^s, Denmark has made a 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 271 
 
 great spring, and has advanced more within 
 the last twenty or thirty years, than for the 
 three preceding centuries. The peasants are 
 now emancipated; the laws of commerce, 
 foreign and interior, are simplified and ex- 
 panded ; the transport of corn and cattle is 
 made free ; a considerable degree cf liberty is 
 granted to the press; and slavery is to cease 
 this very year in their West Indian possessions. 
 If Ernest Bernstorff was the author of some 
 less considerable measures, they are to be 
 attributed more to the times, than to the defects 
 of his understanding, or of his heart. To this 
 great minister succeeded the favourite Struen- 
 see, and to him Ove Guildberg: the first, with 
 views of improvements, not destitute of libe- 
 rality or genius, but little guided by judgment, 
 or marked by moderation ; the latter, devoid 
 of that energy and firmness which were ne- 
 cessary to execute the good he intended. In 
 1788, when the king became incapahle of bu- 
 siness, and the crown-prince assumed the go- 
 vernment, Count Andrew Bernstorfl^, nephew 
 of Ernest, was called to the ministry: and, 
 while some nations were shrinking from the 
 very name of innovation, and others overturn- 
 ing every establishment and violating every 
 principle, Bernstorff steadily pursued, and ulti- 
 mately effected, the gradual and bloodless 
 amelioration of his country. His name will 
 ever form a splendid epoch in the history of 
 Denmark. The spirit of economical research 
 and improvement which emanated from him 
 still remains; while the personal character of 
 the prince of Denmark, and the zeal with 
 which he seconded the projects of his favourite 
 minister, seem to afford a guarantee for the 
 continuation of the same system of adminis- 
 tration. 
 
 In his analysis of the present state of Den- 
 mark, Mr. Catteau, after a slight historical 
 sketch of that country, divides his subject into 
 sixteen sections. 
 
 1. Geographical and physical qualities of 
 the Danish territory : 2. Form of Government: 
 3. Administration: 4. Institutions relative to 
 government and administration : 5. Civil and 
 criminal laws, and judiciary institutions : 6. 
 Military system, land, army, and marine : 7. 
 Finance : 8. Population : 9. Productive indus- 
 try, comprehending agriculture, the fisheries, 
 . and the extraction of mineral substances : 10. 
 Manufacturing industry: 11. Commerce, in- 
 terior and exterior, including the state of the 
 great roads, the canals of navigation, the mari- 
 time insurances, the bank, &c. &c. : 12. Es- 
 tablishments of charity and public utility : 13. 
 Religion: 14. Education : 15. Language, cha- 
 racter, manners, and customs: 16. Sciences 
 and arts. — This division we shall follow. 
 
 From the southern limits of Holstein to the 
 southern extremity of Norway, the Danish do- 
 minions extend to 300 miles* in length, and 
 
 * The mile alluded to here, nnd through the whole of 
 the book, is the Danish mile, 15 to a decree, or 4000 toises 
 in round numbers : the ancient mile of" Norway is much 
 more considerable. It may be as well to mention here, 
 that the Danes reckon their money by rixdollars, marks, 
 and schellings. A rixdollar contains 6 marks, and a mark 
 16 schellincs ; 20 schellinjrs are equal to one livre ; con- 
 teiiuently, the pound sterling is equal to 4 r. 4 m. 14 sch., 
 or nearly 5 rixdollars. 
 
 are, upon an average, from about 50 to 60 in 
 breadth ; the whole forms an area of about 
 8000 square miles. The western coast of 
 Jutland, from Riba to Lemvig, is principally 
 alluvial, and presents much greater advan- 
 tages to the cultivator than he has yet drawn 
 from it. The eastern coast is also extremely 
 favourable to vegetation. A sandy and barren 
 ridge stretching from north to south, between 
 the two coasts, is unfavourable to every spe- 
 cies of culture, and hardly capable of support- 
 ing the wild and stunted shrubs which lan- 
 guish upon its surface. Towards the north, 
 where the Jutland peninsula terminates in the 
 Baltic, every thing assumes an aspect of bar- 
 renness and desolation. It is Arabia, without 
 its sun or its verdant islands ; but not without 
 its tempests or sands, which sometimes over- 
 whelm what little feeble agriculture they may 
 encounter, and convert the habitual wretched- 
 ness of the Jutlanders into severe and cruel 
 misfortune. The Danish government has at- 
 tempted to remedy this evil, in some measure, 
 by encouraging the cultivation of those kinds 
 of shrubs which grow on the sea-shore, and 
 by their roots give tenacity and aggregation 
 to the sand. The Elymus Arenaria, though 
 found to be the most useful for that purpose, 
 is still inadequate to the prevention of the ca- 
 lamity.* 
 
 The Danish isles are of a green and pleasant 
 aspect. The hills are turfed up to the top, or 
 covered with trees ; the valleys animated by 
 the passage of clear streams ; and the whole 
 strikingly contrasted with the savage sterility, 
 or imposing grandeur, of the scenes on the op- 
 posite coast of Jutland. All the seas of Den- 
 mark are well stored with fish ; and a vast 
 number of deep friths and inlets aflxirds a cheap 
 and valuable communication with the interior 
 of the country. 
 
 The Danish rivers are neither numerous nor 
 considerable. The climate, genei-ally speaking, 
 is moist and subject to thick fogs, which al- 
 most obscure the horizon. Upon a mean of 
 twenty-six years, it has rained for a hundred 
 and thirty days every year, and thundered for 
 thirteen. Their summer begins with June, and 
 ends with September. A calm serene sky, and 
 an atmosphere free from vapours, are very 
 rarely the lot of the inhabitants of Denmark ; 
 but the humidity with which the air is impreg- 
 nated is highly favourable to vegetation ; and 
 all kinds of corn and grass are cultivated 
 there with great success. To the south of 
 Denmark are the countries of Sleswick and 
 Holstein. Nature has divided these countries 
 into two parts ; the one of which is called 
 Geetfiland, the other Marsddand. Geetsland is 
 the elevated ground situated along the Baltic. 
 The soil resembles that of Denmark. The di- 
 vision of Marschland forms a band or stripe, 
 which extends from the Elbe to the front^iers 
 of Jutland, an alluvium gained and preserved 
 from the sea, by a labour which, though vigi- 
 lant and severe, is repaid by the most ample 
 
 * There is a Danish work, by Professor Viborg. upon 
 those plants which grow in sand. It has been very ac- 
 tively distributed in .Jutland, by the Danish administra- 
 tion, and might be of considerable service in Norfolk, 
 and other parte of Great Britain 
 
273 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 profits. The sea, however, in all these allu- 
 vial countries, seldom forgets his original 
 rights. Marschland, in the midst of all its 
 tranquillity, fat, and silence, was invaded by 
 this element in the year 1634, with the loss of 
 whole villages, many thousands of horned cat- 
 tle, and 1500 human beings. 
 
 Nature is as wild and grand in Norway as 
 she is productive in Marschland. Cataracts 
 amid the dark pines ; the eternal snow on the 
 mountains ; seas that bid adieu to the land, 
 and stretch out to the end of the world ; an end- 
 less succession of the great and the terrible, — 
 leave the eye and the mind without repose. 
 The climate of Norway is extremely favoura- 
 ble to the longevity of the human race, and 
 sufficiently so to the life of many animals do- 
 mesticated by man. The horses are of good 
 breed ; the horned cattle excellent, though 
 small. Crops of grain are extremely precari- 
 ous, and often perish before they come to ma- 
 turity.* 
 
 In 1660, the very year in which this happier 
 country was laying the foundations of rational 
 liberty by the wise restrictions imposed upon 
 its returning monarch, the people of Denmark, 
 by a solemn act, surrendered their natural 
 rights into the hands of their sovereign, en- 
 dowed him with absolute power, and, in express 
 words, declared him, for all his political acts, 
 accountable only to him to whom all kings 
 and governors are accountable. This revolu- 
 tion, similar to that effected by the king and 
 people at Stockholm in 1772, was not a change 
 from liberty to slavery ; but from a worse sort 
 of slavery to a better ; from the control of an 
 insolent and venal senate, to that of one man : 
 it was a change which simplified their degra- 
 dation, and, by lessening the number of their 
 tyrants, put their servitude more out of sight. 
 There ceased immediately to be an arbitrary 
 monarch in every parish, and the distance of 
 the oppressor either operated as a diminution 
 of the oppression, or was thought to do so. 
 The same spirit, to be sure, which urged them 
 to victory over one evil, might have led them 
 on a little farther to the subjugation of both ; 
 and they might have limited the king, by the 
 same powers which enabled them to dissolve 
 the senate. But Europe, at that period, knew 
 no more of liberty than of galvanism ; and the 
 peasants of Denmark no more dreamt of be- 
 coming free than the inhabitants of Paris do 
 at this moment. 
 
 At present, Denmark is in theory one of the 
 most arbitrary governments on the face of the 
 earth. It has remained so ever since the revo- 
 lution to which we have just alluded ; in all 
 which period the Danes have not, by any im- 
 portant act of rebellion, evinced an impatience 
 of their yoke, or any sense that the enormous 
 power delegated to their monarchs has been 
 improperly exercised. In fact, the Danish go- 
 vernment enjoys great reputation for its for- 
 bearance and mildness; and sanctifies, in a 
 certain degree, its execrable constitution, by 
 the moderation with which it is administered. 
 
 * We shall takn little notice of Iceland in this review, 
 from the attpiilinii we mean to pay to that suliject in 
 the review of " Voyasre en Ireland, fait par ordre de sa 
 Majeste Danoise," 5 vols. 1802. 
 
 We regret extremely that Mr. Catteau has 
 given us, upon this curious subject of the 
 Danish government, such a timid and sterile 
 dissertation. Many governments are despotic 
 in law, which are not despotic in fact ; not be- 
 cause they are restrained by their own mode- 
 ration, but because, in spite of their theoretical 
 omnipotence, they are compelled, in many 
 important points, to respect either public 
 opinion or the opinion of other balancing pow- 
 ers, which, without the express recognition of 
 law, have gradually sprung up in the state. 
 Russia, and Imperial Rome, had its piixtorian 
 guards. Turkey has its uhlema. Public opi- 
 nion almost always makes some exceptions to 
 its blind and slavish submission ; and in bow- 
 ing its neck to the foot of a suhan, stipulates 
 how hard he shall tread. The very fact of en- 
 joying a mild government for a century and a 
 hair, must, in their own estimation, have given 
 the Danes a sort of right to a mild govern- 
 ment. Ancient possession is a good title in all 
 cases ; and the King of Denmark may have 
 completely lost the power of doing many just 
 and many unjust actions, from never having 
 exercised it in particular instances. What 
 he has not done for so long a period, he may 
 not dare to do now ; and he may in vain pro- 
 duce constitutional parchment, abrogated by 
 the general feelings of those Avhom they were 
 intended to control. Instead of any informa- 
 tion of this kind, the author of the Tableau has 
 given us at full length the constitutional act 
 of 1660, and has aiforded us no other knowledge 
 than we could procure from the most vulgar 
 histories ; as if state papers were the best 
 place to look for constitutions, and as if the 
 rights of king and people were really adjusted, 
 by the form and solemnity of covenant and 
 pacts ; by oaths of allegiance, or oaths of coro- 
 nation. 
 
 The king has his privy council, to which he 
 names whom he pleases, with the exception 
 of the heir-apparent, and the princes of the 
 blood, who sit there of right. It is customary, 
 also, that the heads of colleges should sit 
 there. These colleges are the offices in which 
 the various business of the state is carried on. 
 The chancelry of Denmark intei-prets all laws 
 which concern privileges in litigation, and the 
 different degrees of authority belonging to va- 
 rious public bodies. It watches over the in- 
 terests of church and poor: issues patents, 
 edicts, grants, letters of naturalization, legiti- 
 macy, and nobility. The archives of the state 
 are also under its custody. The German 
 chancelry has the same powers and privileges 
 in Sleswick and Holstein, which are fiefs of 
 the empire. There is a college for foreign af- 
 fairs ; two colleges of finance ; and a college 
 of economy and commerce; which, divided 
 into four parts, directs its attention to four ob- 
 jects : 1. Manufacturing industry: 2. Com- 
 merce: 3. Productions: 4. Possessions in the 
 East Indies. All projects and speculations, 
 relative to any of these objects, are referred to 
 this college ; and every encouragement given 
 to the prosecution of such as it may approve. 
 There are two other colleges, which respec- 
 tively manage the army and navy. The total 
 number is nine. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 273 
 
 The court of Denmark is on a footing of 
 great sinaplicity. The pomp introduced by- 
 Christian IV., who modelled his establishments 
 after those of Louis XIV., has been laid aside, 
 and a degi"ee of economy adopted, much more 
 congenial to the manners of the people, and 
 the resources of the country. The hereditary 
 nobility of Denmark may be divided into those 
 of the ancient, those of the modern fiefs, and 
 the personal nobility. The first class are only 
 distinguished from the second, by the more 
 extensive privileges annexed to their fiefs ; as 
 it has been the policy of the court of Denmark, 
 in latter times, not to grant such immunities 
 to the possessors of noble lands as had been 
 accorded to them at earlier periods. Both of 
 these classes, however, derive their nobility 
 from their estates, which are inalienable, and 
 descend according to the laws of primogeni- 
 ture. In the third class, nobility derives from 
 the person, and not from the estate. To pre- 
 vent the female noblesse from marrying be- 
 neath their rank, and to preserve the dignity 
 of their order, nine or ten Protestant nunne- 
 ries have been from time to time endowed, in 
 each of which about twelve noble women are 
 accommodated, who, not bound by any vow, 
 find in these societies an economical and ele- 
 gant retirement. The nobility of Norway 
 have no fiefs. The nobility of Holstein and 
 Sleswick derive their nobility from their fiefs, 
 and are possessed of very extensive privileges. 
 Every thing which concerns their common 
 interest is discussed in a convention held 
 periodically in the town of Keil; during the 
 vacations of the convention, there is a perma- 
 nent deputation resident in the same town. 
 Interests so well watched by the nobles them- 
 selves, are necessarily respected by the court 
 of Denmark. The same institution of free 
 nunneries for the female nobility prevails in 
 these provinces. Societies of this sort might 
 perhaps be extended to other classes, and to 
 other countries with some utility. The only 
 objection to a nunnery is, that those who 
 change their mind cannot change their situa- 
 tion. That a number of unmarried females 
 should collect together into one mass, and 
 subject themselves to some few rules of con- 
 venience, is a system which might afford great 
 resources and accommodation to a number of 
 helpless individuals, without proving injurious 
 to the community ; unless, indeed, any very 
 timid statesman shall be alarmed at the pro- 
 gress of celibacy, and imagine that the increase 
 and multiplication of the human race may be- 
 come a mere antiquated habit. 
 
 The lowest courts in Denmark are com- 
 posed of a judge and a secretary, both chosen 
 by the landed proprietors within the jurisdic- 
 tion, but confirmed by the king, in whose name 
 all their proceedings are carried on. These 
 courts have their sessions once a week in 
 Denmai'k, and are attended by 'four or five 
 burgesses or farmers, in the capacity of asses- 
 sors, who occasionally give their advice upon 
 subjects of Avhich their particular experience 
 may entitle them to judge. From this juris- 
 diction there is appeal to a higher court, held 
 every month in different places in Denmark, 
 by judges paid by the crown. The last appeal 
 35 
 
 for Norway and Denmark is to the Hoiesie 
 Rett, or supreme court, fixed at Copenhagen, 
 which is occupied for nine months in the 
 year, and composed half of noble, half of 
 plebeian judges. This is the only tribunal in 
 which the advocates plead viva voce,- in all the 
 others, litigation is carried on by writing. 
 The king takes no cognisance of pecuniary 
 suits determined by this court, but reserves to 
 himself a revision of all its sentences which 
 affect the life or honour of the subject. It has 
 always been the policy of the court of Den- 
 mark to render justice as cheap as possible. 
 We should have been glad to have learned 
 from Mr. Catteau, whether or not the cheap- 
 ness of justice operates as an encouragement 
 to litigation ; and whether (which we believe 
 is most commonly the case) the quality of 
 Danish justice is not in the ratio of the price. 
 But this gentleman, as we have before re- 
 marked, is so taken up by the formal part of 
 institutions, that he has neither leisure nor 
 inclination to say much of their spirit. The 
 Tribunal of Conciliation, established since 1795, 
 is composed of the most intelligent and re- 
 spectable men in the vicinage, and its sessions 
 are private. It is competent to determine 
 upon a great number of civil questions ; and 
 if both parties agree to the arrangement pro- 
 posed by the court, its decree is registered, and 
 has legal authority. If the parties cannot be 
 brought to agreement by the amicable inter- 
 ference of the mediators, they are at full 
 liberty to prosecute their suit in a court of 
 justice. All the proceedings of the Tribunal 
 of Conciliation are upon unstamped paper, 
 and they cannot be protracted longer than 
 fifteen days in the country, and eight days in 
 the towns, unless both parties consent to a 
 longer delay. The expenses, which' do not 
 exceed three shillings, are not payable, but in 
 case of reconciliation. During the three years 
 preceding this institution, there came before 
 the courts of law, 25,521 causes; and, for the 
 three years following, 9653, making the asto- 
 nishing difference of fifteen thousand eight hun- 
 dred and sixty-three lawsuits. The idea of this 
 court was taken from the Dutch, among whom 
 it likewise produced the most happy effects. 
 And when we consider what an important 
 point it is, that there should be time for dis- 
 putants to cool ; the strong probability there 
 is, that four or five impartial men from the 
 vicinage will take a right view of the case, 
 and the reluctance that any man must feel to 
 embark his reputation and property in opposi- 
 tion to their opinion, we cannot entertain a 
 doubt of the beauty and importance of the 
 invention. It is hardly possible that it should 
 be bad justice which satisfies both parties, and 
 this species of mediation has no validity but 
 upon such condition. It is curious, too, to 
 remark, how much the progress of rancoui 
 obstructs the natural sense of justice; it ap- 
 pears that plaintiff and defendant were loth 
 satisfied in 15,868 causes : if all these causes 
 had come on to a regular hearing, and the 
 parties been inflamed by the expense and the 
 publicity of the quarrel, we doubt if there 
 would have been one single man out of the 
 whole number who would have acknowledged 
 
274 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 that his cause was justly given against 
 him. 
 
 There are some provisions in the criminal 
 law of Denmark, for the personal liberty of 
 the subject, which cannot be of much import- 
 ance, so long as the dispensing power is vested 
 in the crown ; however, though they are not 
 much, they are better than nothing; and have 
 probably some effect in offences merely crimi- 
 nal, where the passions and interests of the 
 governors do not interfere. Mr. Catteau con- 
 siders the law which admits the accused to 
 bail, upon finding proper security, to be unjust, 
 because the poor cannot avail themselves of 
 it. But this is bad reasoning : for every coun- 
 try has a right to impose such restrictions and 
 liens upon the accused, that they shall be 
 forthcoming for trial ; at the same time, those 
 restrictions are not to be more severe than the 
 necessity of the case requires. The primary 
 and most obvious method of security is im- 
 prisonment. Whoever can point out any 
 other method of effecting the same object, less 
 oppressive to himself and as satisfactory to 
 the justice of the country, has a right to re- 
 quire that it be adopted; whoever cannot, 
 must remain in prison. It is a principle that 
 should never be lost sight of, that an accused 
 person is presumed to be innocent; and that 
 no other vexation should be imposed upon 
 him than what is absolutely necessary for the 
 purposes of future investigation. The im- 
 prisonment of a poor man, because he cannot 
 find bail, is not a gratuitous vexation, but a 
 necessary severity; justified only, because no 
 other nor milder mode of security can, in that 
 particular instance, be produced. 
 
 Inquisitorial and penal torture is, in some 
 instances, allowed by the laws of Denmark : 
 the former, after having been abolished, was 
 re-established in 1771. The corporations have 
 been gradually and covertly attacked in Den- 
 mark, as they have been in Great Britain. 
 The peasants, who had before been attached 
 to the soil, were gradually enfranchised be- 
 tween 1788 and 1800; so that, on the first day 
 of the latter year, there did not remain a single 
 slave in the Danish dominions; or, to speak 
 more correctly, slavery was equalized among 
 all ranks of people. We need not descant on 
 the immense importance of this revolution; and 
 if Mr. Catteau had been of the same opinion, we 
 should have been spared two pages of very bad 
 declamation ; beginning, in the true French 
 style, with "oh toi," and going on with what 
 might be expected to follow such a beginning. 
 
 The great mass of territorial proprietors in 
 Denmark are the signiors, possessing fiefs with 
 very extensive privileges and valuable exemp- 
 tions from taxes. Many persons hold lands 
 under these proprietors, with interests in the 
 land of very different descriptions. There are 
 some cultivators who possess freeholds, but 
 the number of these is very inconsiderable. 
 The greater number of farmers are what the 
 French call Metayers, put in by the landlord, 
 furnished with stock and seed at his expense, 
 and repaying him in product, labour, or any 
 other manner agreed on in the contract. This 
 is the first, or lowest stage of tenantry, and 
 is the surest sign of a poor country. The I 
 
 feudal system never took root very deeply in 
 Norway: the greater part of the lands are 
 freehold, and cultivated by their owners. 
 Those which are held under the few privileged 
 fiefs which still exist in Norway, are subjected 
 to less galling conditions than farms of a simi- 
 lar tenure in Denmark. Marriage is a mere 
 civil contract among the privileged orders : 
 the presence of a priest is necessary for its 
 celebration among the lower orders. In every 
 large town, there are two public tutors ap- 
 pointed, who, in conjunction with the magis- 
 trates, watch over the interests of wards, at 
 the same time that they occupy themselves 
 with the care of the education of children 
 within the limits of their jurisdiction. Natural 
 children are perhaps more favoured in Den- 
 mark than in any other kingdom of Europe ; 
 they have half the portion which the law 
 allots to legitimate children, and the whole if 
 there are no legitimate. 
 
 A veiy curious circumstance took place in 
 the kingdom of Denmark, in the middle of the 
 last century, relative to the infliction of capital 
 punishments upon malefactors. They were 
 attended from the prison to the place of execu- 
 tion by priests, accompanied by a very nu- 
 merous procession, singing psalms, &c. &c. : 
 which ended, a long discourse was addressed 
 by the priest to the culprit, who was hung as 
 soon as he had heard it. This spectacle, and 
 all the pious cares bestowed upon the cri- 
 minals, so far seduced the imaginations of the 
 common people, that many of them committed 
 murder purposely to enjoy such inestimable 
 advantages, and the government was positively 
 obliged to make hanging dull as well as deadly, 
 before it ceased to be an object of popular 
 ambition. 
 
 In 1796, the Danish land forces amounted 
 to 74,654, of which 50,880 were militia.* 
 Amongst the troops on the Norway establish- 
 ment, is a regiment of skaters. The pay of a 
 colonel in the Danish service is about 1740 
 rixdollars ^er anrauOT, with some perquisites; 
 that of a private 6 schellings a day. The 
 entry into the Danish states from the German 
 side is naturally strong. The passage between 
 Lubeck and Hamburg is only eight miles, and 
 the country intersected by marshes, rivers, 
 and lakes. The straits of the Baltic afford 
 considerable security to the Danish isles ; and 
 there are very few points in which an army 
 could penetrate through the Norway moun- 
 tains to overrun that country. The principal 
 fortresses of Denmark are Copenhagen, 
 Rendsbhurg, Gluchstadt, and Frederickshall. 
 In 1801, the Danish navy consisted of 3 ships 
 of SO guns, 12 of 74, 2 of 70, 3 of 64, and 2 of 
 60 ; 4 frigates of 40, 3 of 36, 3 of 24, and a 
 number of small vessels ; in all, 22 of the line, 
 and 10 frigates. f 
 
 * The militia is not embodied in regiments by itself, 
 but divided among the various regiments of the line. 
 
 ■f In 1791, the Swedish army amounted to 47,000 men, 
 regulars and militia ; their navy to not more than 16 
 ships of the line : before ihe war it was about equal to 
 the Danish navy. The author of Voyage des deux Fran- 
 gais places the reiular troops of Russia at 250,000 men 
 exclusive of euards and garrisons; and her navy, as it 
 existpd in 1791, at 30 frigates, and 50 sail of the line, of 
 which 8 were of 110 guns. Thia is a brief picture of the 
 forces of the Baltic powers. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 275 
 
 The revenues of Denmark are derived from 
 the interest of a capital formed by the sale of 
 crown lands ; from a share in the tithes ; from 
 the rights of fishing and hunting let to farm ; 
 from licenses granted to the farmers to distil 
 their own spirits ; from the mint, post, turn- 
 pikes, lotteries, and the passage of the Sound. 
 About the year 1750, the number of vessels 
 which passed the Sound both ways, was 
 annually from 4000 to 5000; in 1752, the 
 number of 6000 was considered as very ex- 
 traordinary. They have increased since in 
 the following ratio : — 
 
 1770 - - 7,736 
 1777 - - 9,047 
 1783 - - 11,166 
 1790 - - 9,734 
 1796 - - 12,113 
 1800 - - 9,048 
 In 1770, the Sound duties amounted to 
 459,890 rixdollars ; and they have probably 
 been increased since that period to about half 
 a million. To these sources of revenue are 
 to be added, a capitation tax, a land tax, a tax 
 on rank, a tax on places, pensions, and the 
 clergy; the stamps, customs, and excise; con- 
 stituting a revenue of 7,270,172 rixdollars.* 
 The following is a table of the expenses of the 
 Danish government. 
 
 Rixdollars. 
 
 The court 250,000 
 
 The ininnr branches of the royal family - 180.000 
 Civil servants . - . . . 
 
 Secret service money and pensions 
 Army ---.... 
 
 Navy --..... 
 
 East India colonies . . . . 
 
 Bounties to commerce and manufactures 
 Annuities ------ 
 
 Buildings and repairs - - - - 
 
 Interest of the public debt - - . 
 Sinking fund ------ 
 
 Total 
 
 6,525,500 
 
 The state of the Danish debt does not ap- 
 pear to be well ascertained. Voyage des deux 
 Frangais makes it amount to 13,645,046 rix- 
 dollars. Catteau seems to think it must have 
 been above 20,000,000 rixdollars at that period. 
 The Danish government has had great re- 
 course to the usual expedient of issuing paper 
 money. So easy a method of getting rich has 
 of course been abused; and the paper was, in 
 the year 1790, at a discount of 8, 9, and 10 
 per cent. There is, in general, a great want 
 of specie in Denmark; for, though all the 
 Sound duties are paid in gold and silver, the 
 government is forced to export a considerable 
 quantityof the precious metals, for the payment 
 of its foreign debts and agents ; and, in spite 
 of the rigid prohibitions to the contrary, the 
 Jews, who swarm at Copenhagen, export 
 Danish ducats to a large value. The court of 
 Denmark has no great credit out of its own 
 dominions, and has always experienced a con- 
 siderable difficulty in raising its loans in 
 
 *Upon the subject of the Danish revenues, see Tozp's 
 Introduction to the Statistics, edited and improved by 
 Heins;, 1799, tom xi. From this work. Mr. Catteau has 
 taken his information concerning the Danish revenues. 
 See also the ICth cap. vol. ii. of Voyage des deux Frangais, 
 which is admirable for extent and precision of informa- 
 tion. In general, indeed, this work cannot be too much 
 attended to by those who wish to become acquainted 
 v^nhihc statistics of the north of Europe. 
 
 Switzerland, Genoa, and Holland, the usual 
 markets it has resorted to for that purpose. 
 
 In the census taken in 1769, the return was 
 as follows : — 
 
 In Denmark 785,690 
 
 Norway 722,141 
 
 Iceland 46,201 
 
 Ferro Isles 4,754 
 
 Sleswick 243,605 
 
 Holstein 134,665 
 
 Oldenbourg and Delmenhurst - 79,071 
 
 2,017.127 
 
 This census was taken during the summer, 
 a season in -which great numbers of sailors 
 are absent from their families ; and as it does 
 not include the army, the total ought, perhaps, 
 to be raised to 2,225,000. The present popula- 
 tion of the Danish states, calculating from the 
 tables of life and death, should be about two 
 millions and a half; the census lately taken 
 has not yet been published. From registers 
 kept for a number of years, it appears that the 
 number of marriages were to the whole popula- 
 tion, as 1 to 125; and the number of births to 
 the whole population, were as 1 to 32 or 33 ; 
 of deaths, as 1 to 38. In 1797, in the diocese 
 of Vibourg, out of 8600 children, 80 were 
 bastard : in the diocese of Fionia, 280 out of 
 1146. Out of 1356, dead in the first of these 
 dioceses, 100 had attained the age of 80, and 
 one of 100. In 1769, the population of the 
 towns was 144,105; in 1787, it was 142,880. 
 In the first of these years, the population of 
 the country was 641,485; and in the latter, 
 667,165. The population of Copenhagen con- 
 sisted, in the year 1799, of 42,142 males, and 
 41,476 females. The deaths exceeded the 
 births, says Mr. Catteau ; and to prove it, he 
 exhibits a table of deaths and births for six 
 years. Upon calculating this table, however, 
 it appears, that the sum of the births, at Co- 
 penhagen, during that period, exceeds the sum 
 of the deaths by 491, or nearly 82 per annum; 
 about j^\ff^ of the whole population of the city. 
 The whole kingdom increases 70x75-, or nearly 
 2^3 in a year.* There is no city in Denmark 
 proper, except Copenhagen, which has a po- 
 pulation of more than 5000 souls. The density 
 of population in Denmark proper is about 
 1300 to the square mile.f The proportion of 
 births and deaths in the duchies is the same 
 as in Denmark ; that of marriages, as 1 to 115. 
 Altona, the second city in the Danish domi- 
 nions, has a population of 20,000. The density 
 of population in Marschland is 6000 per square 
 mile. The paucity of inhabitants in Norway 
 is not merely referable to the difiiculties of sub- 
 sistence, but to the administrative system 
 established there, and to the bad state of its 
 civil and economical laws. It has been more 
 than once exposed to the horrors of famine, by 
 the monopoly of the commerce of grain esta 
 blished there, from which, however, it has at 
 length been delivered. The proportion of 
 births to the living, is as 1 to 35 ; that of deaths 
 to the living, as 1 to 49.:); So thai the whole 
 
 * The average time in which old countries double their 
 population is stated by Adam Smith to be about 500 
 year.«. 
 
 •I The same rule is used here as in p. 279. 
 
 J This proportion is very remarkable proof of thq 
 longevity of the Norwegians. 
 
276 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 Danish dominions increase, every year, by 
 about 25^3-; and Norway, which has the worst 
 climate and soil, by about jJj ? exceeding the 
 common increase by nearly ^i^ of the whole 
 population. Out of 26,197 persons who died 
 in Denmark in 1799, there were 165 between 
 80 and 100; and out of 18,354 who died in 
 Norway the same year, there were 208 indi- 
 viduals of the same advanced age. The 
 country population is to the town population 
 'in the ratio of 13 to 137. In some parts of 
 Nordland and Finmarken, the population is as 
 low as 15 to the square mile. 
 
 Within the last twenty or thirty years, the 
 Danes have done a great deal for the improve- 
 ment of their country. The peasants, as we 
 have before mentioned, are freed from the soil. 
 The greater part of the clerical, and much of 
 the lay tithes are redeemed, and the corvees 
 and other servile tenures begin to be commuted 
 for money. A bank of credit is established 
 at Copenhagen, for the loan of money to per- 
 sons engaged in speculations of agriculture 
 and mining. The interest is 4 per cent., and 
 the money is repaid by instalments in the 
 course of from 21 to 28 years. In the course 
 of 12 years, the bank has lent about three mil- 
 lions of rixdoUars. The external and domestic 
 commerce of grain is now placed upon the 
 most liberal footing. The culture of potatoes 
 (ce fruit modeste) has at length found its way 
 into Denmark, after meeting with the same 
 objections which it experienced at its first in- 
 troduction from every nation in Europe. Hops 
 are a good deal attended to in Fionia, though 
 enough are not yet grown for the supply of 
 the country. Tobacco is cultivated in the en- 
 virons of Fredericia, in Jutland, by the indus- 
 trious descendants of a French colony planted 
 there by Frederick IV. Very little hemp and 
 flax are grown in the Danish dominions. They 
 had veterinary schools previous to the present 
 establishment of them in Great Britain. In- 
 deed, there was a greater necessity for them in 
 Denmark; as no country in Europe has suf- 
 fered so severely from diseases among its 
 animals. The decay of the woods begins to 
 be very perceptible ; and great quantities, both 
 for fuel and construction, are annually im- 
 ported from the other countries bordering the 
 Baltic. They have pit-coal ; but, either from 
 its inferior quality, or their little skill in work- 
 ing it, they are forced to purchase to a con- 
 siderable amount from England. The Danes 
 have been almost driven out of the herring 
 market by the Swedes. Their principal ex- 
 port of this kind is dried fish; though, at Altona, 
 iheir fisheries are carried on with more ap- 
 pearance of enterprise than elsewhere. The 
 districts of Hedemarken, Hodeland, Toten, and 
 Roraerige, are the parts of Norway most cele- 
 brated for the cultivation of grain, which prin- 
 cipally consists of oats. The distress in Nor- 
 way is sometimes so great, that the inhabitants 
 are compelled to make bread of various sorts 
 of lichens, mingled with their grain. It has 
 lately been discovered that the Lichen rangif- 
 erus, or rein-deer's moss, is extremely well 
 calculated for that purpose. The Norway 
 fisheries bring to the amount of a million and 
 a half of rixdollars annually into the country. 
 
 The most remarkable mines in Norway are, 
 the gold mines of Edsvold. the silver mines of 
 Konigsberg, the copper mines of Raeraas, and 
 the iron mines of Arendal and Kragerae, the 
 cobalt mines of Fossum, and the black-lead 
 mines of Englidal. The court of Denmark is 
 not yet cured of the folly of entering into com- 
 mercial speculations on its own account. From 
 the year 1769 to 1792, 78,000 rixdollars per 
 annum have been lost on the royal mines alone. 
 Norway produces marble of different colours, 
 very beautiful granites, mill, and whet-stones, 
 and alum. 
 
 The principal manufactures of Denmark are 
 those of cloth, cotton-printing, sugar refining, 
 and porcelain ; of which latter manufactures, 
 carried on by the crown, the patient proprie- 
 tors hope that the profits may at some future 
 period equal the expenses. The manufactories 
 for large and small arms are at Frederick- 
 •waerk and Elsineur ; and, at the gates of Co- 
 penhagen, there has lately been erected a cot- 
 ton spinning-mill upon the construction so 
 well known in England. AtTendern, in Sles- 
 wick, there is a manufacture of lace ; and very 
 considerable glass manufactories in several 
 parts of Norway. All the manufacturing arts 
 have evidently travelled from Lubeck and 
 Hamburg; the greater part of the manufac- 
 turers are of German parentage; and vast 
 numbers of manufacturing Germans are to be 
 met with, not only in Denmark, but throughout 
 Sweden and Russia. 
 
 The Hoi stein canal, uniting the Baltic and 
 the North Sea, is extremely favourable to the 
 interior commerce of Denmark, by rendering 
 unnecessary the long and dangerous voyage 
 round the peninsula of Jutland. In the year 
 1785, there passed through this canal 409 
 Danish, and 44 foreign ships. In the year 
 1798, 1086 Danish, and 1164 foreign. This 
 canal is so advantageous, and the passage 
 round Jutland so very bad, that goods, before 
 the creation of the canal, were very often sent 
 by land from Lubeck to Hamburg. The 
 amount of cargoes despatched from Copenha- 
 gen for Iceland, between the years 1764 and 
 1784, was 2,560,000 rixdollars; that of the 
 returns, 4,665,000. The commerce with the 
 isles of Foeroe is quite inconsiderable. The 
 exports from Greenland, in the year 1787, 
 amounted to 168,475 rixdollars; its imports 
 to 74,427. None of these possessions are suf- 
 fered to trade with foreign nations, but through 
 the intervention of the mother country. The 
 cargoes despatched to the Danish West Indies 
 consist of all sorts of provisions, of iron, of 
 copper, of various Danish manufactures, and 
 of some East India goods. The returns are 
 made in sugar, rum, cotton, indigo, tobacco, 
 and coffee. There are about 75 vessels em- 
 ployed in this commerce, from the burden of 
 40 to 200 tons. 
 
 If the slave trade, in pursuance of the laws 
 to that etTect, ceases in the Danish colonies, 
 the establishments on the coast of Africa will 
 become rather a burden than a profit. What 
 measures have been taken to insure the aboli- 
 tion, and whether or not the philanthropy of 
 the mother country is likely to be defeated by 
 the interested views of the colonists, are deli- 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 cate points, which Mr. Catteau, who often 
 seems to think more of himself than of his 
 reader, passes over with his usual timidity and 
 caution. The present year is the period at 
 which all further importation of negroes ought 
 to cease ; and if this wise and noble law be 
 really carried into execution, the Danes will 
 enjoy the glory of having been the first to 
 erase this foulest blot in the morality of Europe, 
 and to abolish a wicked and absurd traffic, 
 which purchases its luxuries at the price of 
 impending massacre, and present oppression. 
 Deferred revenge is always put out to com- 
 pound interest, and exacts its dues with more 
 than Judaical rigour. The Africans have 
 begun with the French : 
 
 Jam prozimus ardet 
 
 VcaUgon. 
 
 Tea, rhubarb, and porcelain are the princi- 
 pal articles brought from China. The factories 
 in the East Indies send home cotton cloths, 
 silk, sugar, rice, pepper, ginger, indigo, opium, 
 and arrack. Their most important East Indian 
 settlement is Fredericksnager.* Denmark, 
 after having been long overshadowed by the 
 active industry of the Hanseatic towns, and 
 embarrassed by its ignorance of the true prin- 
 ciples of commerce, has at length established 
 important commercial connections with all the 
 nations of Europe, and has regulated those 
 connections by very liberal and enlightened 
 principles. The regulations for the customs, 
 published in 1791, are a very remarkable 
 proof of this assertion. Every thing is there 
 arranged upon the most just and simple prin- 
 ciples ; and the whole code evidences the 
 striking progress of mercantile knowledge in 
 that country. In looking over the particulars 
 of the Danish commerce, we were struck with 
 the immense increase of their freightage dur- 
 ing the wars of this country ; a circumstance 
 which should certainly have rendered them 
 rather 'ess disposed to complain of the vexa- 
 tions imposed upon the neutral powers during 
 such periods.f In the first six months of the 
 year 1796, 5032 lasts of Danish shipping were 
 taken up by strangers for American voyages 
 only. The commercial tonnage of Denmark 
 is put at about 85,000 lasts. 
 
 There appears to exist in the kingdom of 
 Denmark, according to the account of Mr. 
 Catteau, a laudable spirit of religious tolera- 
 tion; such as, in some instances, we might 
 copy, with great advantage, in this island. It 
 is not, for instance, necessary in Denmark, 
 that a man should be a Lutheran, before he 
 can be the mayor of a town ; and, incredible 
 as it may seem to some people, there are many 
 officers and magistrates, who are found capable 
 of civil trusts, though they do not take the 
 sacraments, exactly in the forms prescribed 
 by the established church. There is no doubt, 
 
 * We should very willingly have eone through every 
 branch of the Danish commerce, if we had not been ap- 
 prehensive of extending this article too far. Mr. Catteau 
 gives no general tables of the Danish exports and im- 
 ports. A German work places them, for the year 1768, 
 ^s follows:— Exports, 3,067,051 rixdollars ; imports, 
 3,215.085. — Ur. Kunden, par Oatspari. 
 
 tTo say nothing of the increased sale of Norway tim- 
 ber, out of 66,000 lasts exported from Norway, 1799, 
 76,000 came to Great Britain. 
 
 however, of the existence of this very extraor- 
 dinary fact; and, if Mr. Catteau's authority is 
 called in question, we are ready to corroborate 
 it by the testimony of more than one dozen 
 German statists. The Danish church consists 
 of 13 bishops, 237 archpriests, and 2462 priests. 
 The principal part of the benefices are, in 
 Norway, in the gift of the crown. In some 
 parts of Denmark, the proprietors of the pri- 
 vileged lands are the patrons ; in other parts, 
 the parishes. The revenues of the clergy are 
 from the same sources as our own clergy. 
 The sum of the church revenues is computed 
 to be 1,391,895 rixdollars ; which is little more 
 than 500 for each clergyman.* The court of 
 Denmark is so liberal upon the subject of sec- 
 taries, that the whole royal family and the 
 Bishop of Seland assisted at the worship of the 
 Calvinists in 1789, when they celebrated, in the 
 most public manner, the centenary of the 
 foundation of their church. In spite of this 
 tolerant spirit, it is computed that there are not 
 more than 1800 Calvinists in the whole Danish 
 dominions. At Christianfield, on the frontiers 
 of Sleswick and Jutland, there is a colony of 
 Northern Quakers, or Hernhutes, of which 
 Mr. Catteau has given a very agreeable 
 account. They appear to be characterized by 
 the same neatness, order, industry, and ab- 
 surdity, as their brethren in this country ; tak- 
 ing the utmost care of the sick and destitute, 
 and thoroughly persuaded that by these good 
 deeds, aided by long pockets and slouched hats, 
 they are acting up to the true spirit of the 
 Gospel. The Greenlanders were converted to 
 Christianity by a Norwegian priest, named 
 .John Egede. He was so eminently successful 
 in the object of his mission, and contrived to 
 make himself so very much beloved, that his 
 memory is still held among them in the highest 
 veneration ; and they actually date their chro- 
 nology from the year of his arrival, as we do 
 ours from the birth of our Saviour. 
 
 There are, in the University of Copenhagen, 
 seven professors of theology, two of civil law, 
 two of mathematics, one of Latin and rhetoric, 
 one of Greek, one of oriental languages, one 
 of history, five of medicine, one of agriculture, 
 and one of statistics. They enjoy a salary of 
 from 1000 to 1500 rixdollars, and are well 
 lodged in the university. The University of 
 Copenhagen is extremely rich, and enjoys an 
 income of 3,000,000 rixdollars. Even Mr. 
 Catteau admits that it has need of reform. In 
 fact, the reputation of universities is almost 
 always short-lived, or else it survives their 
 merit. If they are endowed, professors be- 
 come fat-witted, and never imagine that the 
 arts and sciences are any thing else but in- 
 comes. If universities, slenderly endowed, 
 are rendered famous by the accidental occur- 
 rence of a few great teachers, the number of 
 scholars attracted there by the reputation of 
 the place, makes the situation of a professor 
 worth intriguing for. The learned pate is not 
 fond of ducking to the golden fool. He who 
 has the best talents for getting the office, has 
 most commonly the least for filling it; and 
 
 * The Jews, however, a.e still prohibited from elite* 
 ing the kingdom of Norway. 
 2 A. 
 
278 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 men are made moral and mathematical teach- 
 ers by the same trick and filthiness with which 
 they "are made tide-waiters, and clerks of the 
 kitchen. 
 
 The number of students in the University 
 of Copenhagen is about 700 : they come not 
 only from Denmark, but from Norway and 
 Iceland : the latter are distinguished as well 
 for the regularity of their manners, as for the 
 intensity of their application; the instruments 
 of which application are furnished to them by 
 a library containing 60,000 volumes. The 
 Danes have primary schools established in 
 the towns, but which have need of much re- 
 form, before they can answer all the beneficial 
 ends of such an institution. We should have 
 been happy to have learned from Mr. Catteau, 
 the degree of information diffused among the 
 lower orders in the Danish dominions ; but 
 upon this subject he is silent. In the Univer- 
 sity of Keil there is an institution for the in- 
 struction of schoolmasters ; and in the list of 
 students in the same university, we were a 
 good deal amused to find only one student 
 dedicating himself to belles lettres. 
 
 The people of Holstein and Sleswick are 
 Dutch in their manners, character, and ap- 
 pearance. Their language is in general the 
 low German ; though the better sort of peo- 
 ple in the towns begin to speak high German.* 
 In Jutland and the isles, the Danish language 
 is spoken : within half a century this language 
 has been cultivated with some attention : be- 
 fore that period, the Danish writers preferred to 
 make use of the Latin or the German language. 
 It is in the island of Finland that it is spoken 
 with the greatest purity. The Danish charac- 
 ter is not agreeable. It is marked by silence, 
 phlegm, and reserve. A Dane is the excess 
 and extravagance of a Dutchman; more 
 breeched, more ponderous, and more satur- 
 nine. He is not often a bad member of society 
 in the great points of morals, and seldom a 
 good one in the lighter requisites of manners. 
 His understanding is alive only to the useful 
 and the profitable; he never lives for what is 
 merely gracious, courteous, and ornamental. 
 His faculties seem to be drenched and slack- 
 ened by the eternal fogs in which he resides ; 
 he is never alert, elastic, nor serene. His state 
 of animal spirits is so low, that what in other 
 countries would be deemed dejection, proceed- 
 ing from casual misfortune, is the habitual 
 tenour and complexion of his mind. In all 
 the operations of his understanding, he must 
 have time. He is capable of undertaking 
 great journeys ; but he travels only a foot 
 pace, and never leaps nor runs. He loves 
 arithmetic better than lyric poetry, and affects 
 Cocker rather than Pindar. He is slow to 
 speak of fountains and amorous maidens ; but 
 can take a spell at porisms as well a;, another ; 
 and will make profound and extensive com- 
 binations of thought, if you pay him for it, 
 and do not insist that he shall either be brisk 
 or brief. There is something, on the contrary. 
 
 * Mr. Catteau s description of Heligoland is entertain- 
 ing. In an island containing a population of 2000, there 
 is neither horse, cart, nor plough. We could not have 
 imagined the possibility of such a fact in any part of 
 Furope. 
 
 extremely pleasing in the Norwegian style of 
 character. The Norwegian expresses firm 
 ness and elevation in all that he says and does. 
 In comparison with the Danes, he has always 
 been a free man ; and you read his history in 
 his looks. He is not apt, to be sure, to for- 
 give his enemies ; but he does not deserve 
 any ; for he is hospitable in the extreme, and 
 prevents the needy in their wants. It is not 
 possible for a writer of this country to speak 
 ill of the Norwegians ; for, of all strangers, 
 the people of Norway love and admire the 
 British the most. In reading Mr. Catteau's 
 account of the congealed and blighted Lap- 
 landers, we were struck with the infinite de- 
 light they must have in dying ; the only cir- 
 cumstance in which they can enjoy any supe- 
 riority over the rest of mankind; or which 
 tends, in their instance, to verify the theory 
 of the equality of human condition. 
 
 If we pass over Tycho Brahe, and the well 
 known history of the Scaldes, of the chronicles 
 of Isleif, Saemunder, Hiinfronde, Snorro, Sturle- 
 son, and other Islandic worthies, the list of 
 Danish literati will best prove that they have 
 no literati at all. Are there twenty persons in 
 Great Britain who have ever heard of Longo- 
 montanus, Nicholas Stenaonis, Sperling Lau- 
 renburg, Huitfeild, Gramn, Holberg, Lange- 
 beck, Carstens, Suhm, Kofod, Anger 1 or of 
 the living Wad, Fabricius, Hanch, Tode, and 
 Zagga 1 We do not deny merit to these various 
 personages ; many of them may be much ad- 
 mired by those who are more conversant in 
 Danish literature than we can pretend to be : 
 but they are certainly not names on which the 
 learned fame of any country can be built very 
 high. They have no classical celebrity and 
 diffusion : they are not an universal language ; 
 they have not enlarged their original dominion, 
 and become the authors of Europe instead of 
 the authors of Denmark. It would be loss of 
 time to speak of the fine arts in Denmark : 
 they hardly exist. 
 
 We have been compelled to pass over many 
 parts of Mr. Catteau's book more precipitately 
 than we could have wished; but we hope we 
 have said and exhibited enough of it, to satisfy 
 the public that it is, upon the whole, a very 
 valuable publication. The two great requisites 
 for his undertaking, moderation and industry, 
 we are convinced this gentleman possesses in 
 an eminent degree. He represents every thing 
 without prejudice, and he represents every thing 
 authentically. The same cool and judicious 
 disposition which clears him from the spirit 
 of party, makes him perhaps cautious in excess. 
 We are convinced that every thing he says 
 is true ; but we have been sometimes induced 
 to suspect that we do not see the whole truth. 
 After all, perhaps, he has told as much truth 
 as he could do, compatibly with the opportunity 
 of telling any. A person more disposed to 
 touch upon critical and offensive subjects 
 might not have submitted as diligently to the 
 investigation of truth, with which passion 
 was not concerned. How few writers are, at 
 the same time, laborious, impartial, and in- 
 trepid ! 
 
 We cannot conclude this article without 
 expressing the high sense we' entertain of the 
 
WORKS OF THE REV, SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 279 
 
 importance of such researches as those in 
 which Mr. Catteau has been engaged. They 
 must form the basis of all interior regulations, 
 and ought principally to influence the conduct 
 of every country in its relations towards fo- 
 reign powers. As they contain the best esti- 
 mate of the wealth and happiness of a people, 
 they bring theory to the strictest test ; and 
 measure, better than all reasoning, the wisdom 
 with which laws are made, and the mildness 
 with which they are administered. If such 
 judicious and elaborate surveys of the state 
 of this and other countries in Europe, had 
 been made from time to time for the last two 
 
 centuries, they would have quickened and 
 matured the progress of knowledge, and the 
 art of governing by throwing light on the spi- 
 rit and tendency of laws; they would have 
 checked the spirit of officious interference in 
 legislation ; have softened persecution, and 
 expanded narrow conceptions of national po- 
 licy. The happiness of a nation would have 
 been proclaimed by the fulness of its garners, 
 and the multitudes of its sheep and oxen ; and 
 rulers might sometimes have sacrificed their 
 schemes of ambition, or their unfeeling splen- 
 dour, at the detail of silent fields, empty har- 
 bours, and famished peasants. 
 
 THOUGHTS ON THE RESIDENCE OE THE CLERGY.* 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 1803.] 
 
 This pamphlet is the production of a gen- 
 tleman who has acquired a right to teach the 
 duties of the clerical character by fulfilling 
 them ; and who has exercised that right in the 
 present instance, with honour to himself, and 
 benefit to the public. From the particular 
 character of understanding evinced in this 
 work, we should conceive Dr. Sturges to pos- 
 sess a very powerful claim to be heard on all 
 questions referable to the decision of practi- 
 cable good sense. He has availed himself of 
 his experience to observe ; and of his observa- 
 tion, to judge well : he neither loves his pro- 
 fession too little, nor too much ; is alive to its 
 interests, without being insensible to those of 
 the community at large; and treats of those 
 points where his previous habits might render 
 a little intemperance venial, as well as proba- 
 ble, with the most perfect good humour and 
 moderation. 
 
 As exceptions to the general and indisputa- 
 ble principle of residence. Dr. Sturges urges 
 the smallness of some livings; the probability 
 that their incumbents be engaged in the task 
 of education, or in ecclesiastical duty, in situa- 
 tions where their talents may be more appro- 
 priately and importantlj' employed. Dr. Stur- 
 ges is also of opinion, that the power of en- 
 forcing residence, under certain limits, should 
 be invested in the bishops ; and that the acts 
 prohibiting the clergy to holder cultivate land 
 should be in a great measure repealed. 
 
 We sincerely hope that the two cases sug- 
 gested by Dr. Sturges, of the clergyman who 
 may keep a school, or be engaged in the duty 
 of some parish not his own, will be attended 
 to in the construction of the approaching bill, 
 and admitted as pleas for non-residence. It 
 certainly is better that a clergyman should do 
 the duty of his own benefice, rather than of 
 any other. But the injury done to the com- 
 munity, is not commensurate with the vexa- 
 tion imposed upon the individual. Such a 
 'measure is either too harsh, not to become 
 
 * Tnoughts on the Residence of the Clergy. 
 Stubges, LL. U. 
 
 John 
 
 obsolete; or, by harassing the clergy with a 
 very severe restriction, to gain a very dispro- 
 portionate good to the community, would bring 
 the profession into disrepute, and have a ten- 
 dency to introduce a class of men into the 
 church, of less liberal manners, education, and 
 connection ; points of the utmost importance, 
 in our present state of religion and wealth. 
 Nothing has enabled men to do wrong with 
 impunity so much as the extreme severity of 
 the penalties with which the law has threatened 
 them. The only method to insure success to 
 the bill for enforcing ecclesiastical residence, 
 is to consult the convenience of the clergy in 
 its construction, as far as is possibly consist- 
 ent with the object desired, and even to sacri- 
 fice something that ought to be done, in order 
 that much may be done. Upon this principle, 
 the clergyman should not be confined to his 
 parsonage-house, but to the precincts of his 
 parish. Some advantage would certainly at- 
 tend the residence of the clergy in their official 
 mansions; but, as we have before observed, 
 the good one party would obtain, bears no sort 
 of proportion to the evil the other would 
 suffer. 
 
 Upon the propriety of investing the bench 
 of bishops with a power of enforcing resi- 
 dence, we confess ourselves to entertain very 
 serious doubts. A bishop has frequently a 
 very temporary interest in his diocese : he has 
 favours to ask; and he must grant them. 
 Leave of absence will be granted to powerful 
 intercession; and refused, upon stronger pleas, 
 to men without friends. Bishops are frequently 
 men advanced in years, or immersed in study. 
 A single person who compels many others to 
 their duty, has much odium to bear, and much 
 activity to exert. A bishop is subject to ca- 
 price, and enmity, and passion, in common 
 with other individuals; there is some danger, 
 also, that his power over the clergy may be 
 converted to a political purpose. From innu- 
 merable causes, which might be reasoned 
 upon to great length, we are apprehensive the 
 object of the legislature will be entirely frus- 
 
280 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDXEY SMITH. 
 
 trated in a few years, if it be committed to 
 espiscopal superintendence and care ; though, 
 upon the first view of the subject, no other 
 scheme can appear so natural and so wise. 
 
 Dr. Sturges observes, that after all the con- 
 ceivable justifications of non-residence are 
 enumerated in the act, many others must from 
 time to time occur, and indicate the propriety 
 of vesting somewhere a discretionary power. 
 If this be true of the penalties by which the 
 clergy are governed, it is equally true of all 
 other penal laws ; and the law should extend 
 to every offence the contingency of discre- 
 tionary omission. The objection to this sys- 
 tem is, that it trusts too much to the sagacity 
 and the probity of the judge, and exposes a 
 country to the partial, lax, and corrupt admi- 
 nistration of its laws. It is certainly incon- 
 venient, in many cases, to have no other guide 
 to resort to but the unaccommodating man- 
 dates of an act of Parliament: yet, of the two 
 inconveniences, it is the least. It is some pal- 
 liation of the evils of discretionary power, 
 that it should be exercised (as by the court 
 of chancery) in the face of da}-, and that the 
 moderator of law should himself be moderated 
 by the force of precedent and opinion. A 
 bishop will exercise his discretionary power 
 in the dark ; he is at full liberty to depart to- 
 morrow from the precedent he has established 
 to-day; and to apply the same decisions to 
 different, or different decisions to the same cir- 
 cumstances, as his humour or interest may 
 dictate. Such power may be exercised well 
 under one judge of extraordinary integrity; 
 but it is not very probable he will find a pro- 
 per successor. To suppose a series of men 
 so much superior to temptation, and to con- 
 struct a system of church government upon 
 such a supposition, is to build upon sand, with 
 materials not more durable than the founda- 
 tion. 
 
 Sir William Scott has made it very clear, by 
 his excellent speech, that it is not possible, in 
 the present state of the revenues of the En- 
 glish church, to apply a radical cure to the 
 evil of non-residence. It is there stated, that 
 
 out of 11,700 livings, there are 6000 under 
 80/. per annum ,- many of those, 20/., 30/., and 
 some as low as 21. or 3/. per annum. In such 
 a slate of endowment, all idea of rigid resi- 
 dence is out of the question. Emoluments 
 which a footman would spurn, can hardly re- 
 compense a scholar and a gentleman. A mere 
 palliation is all that can be applied; and these 
 are the ingredients of which we wish such a 
 palliation should be composed : — 
 
 1. Let the clergymen have the full liberty of 
 farming, and be put in this respect exactly upon 
 a footing with laymen. 
 
 2. Power to reside in any other house in 
 the parish, as well as the parsonage-house, and 
 to be absent five months in the year. 
 
 3. Schoolmasters, and ministers bona fide 
 discharging ministerial functions in another 
 parish, exempt from residence. 
 
 4. Penalties in proportion to the value of 
 livings, and number of times the offence has 
 been committed. 
 
 5. Common informers to sue as at present; 
 though probably it might be right to make the 
 name of one parishioner a necessarj' addition; 
 and a proof of non-residence might be made to 
 operate as a nonsuit in an action for tithes. 
 
 . 6. No action for non-residence to lie where 
 the benefice was less than 60/1 per annum; 
 and the powers of bishops to remain precisely 
 as they are. 
 
 These indulgences would leave the clergy 
 without excuse, would reduce the informations 
 to a salutarj- number, and diminish the odium 
 consequent upon them, by directing their ef- 
 fects against men who regard church prefer- 
 ment merely as a source of revenue, not as an 
 obligation to the discharge of important duties. 
 
 We venture to prognosticate, that a bill of 
 greater severity either will not pass the House 
 of Commons, or will fail of its object. Con- 
 sidering the times and circumstances, we are 
 convinced we have stated the greatest quan- 
 tum of attainable good; which of course will 
 not be attained, by the customary error, of at- 
 tending to what is desirable to be done, rather 
 than to what it is practicable to do. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 281 
 
 TRAVELS FROM PALESTINE/ 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 1807.] 
 
 In the year 1432, many great lords in the 
 dominions of Burgundy, holding offices under 
 Duke Philip le Bon, made a pilgrimage to Je- 
 rusalem. Among them was his first esquire- 
 carver La Brocquiere, who, having performed 
 many devout pilgrimages in Palestine, re- 
 turned sick to Jerusalem, and during his con- 
 valescence, formed the bold scheme of return- 
 ing to France over land. This led him to 
 traverse the western parts of Asia, and East- 
 ern Europe; and, during the whole journey, 
 except towards the end of it, he passed through 
 the dominions of the Musselmen. The execu- 
 tion of such a journey, even at this day, 
 would not be without difficulty; and it was 
 then thought to be impossible. It was in vain 
 that his companions attempted to dissuade 
 him ; he was obstinate ; and, setting out, over- 
 came every obstacle ; returned in the course 
 of the year 1433, and presented himself to the 
 Duke in his Saracen dress, and on the horse 
 which had carried him during the whole of 
 his journey. The duke, after the fashion of 
 great people, conceiving that the glory of his 
 esquire-carver was his own, caused the work 
 to be printed and published. 
 
 The following is a brief extract of this va- 
 liant person's peregrinations. " After perform- 
 ing the customary pilgrimages, we went," says 
 La Brocquiere, " to the mountain where Jesus 
 fasted forty days ; to Jordan, where he was 
 baptized; to the church of St. Martha, where 
 Lazarus was raised from the dead ; to Bethle- 
 hem, where he was born ; to the birth-place of 
 St. John the Baptist; to the house of Zacha- 
 riah ; and, lastly, to the hoi)'' cross, where the 
 tree grew that formed the real cross." From 
 Jerusalem the first gentleman-carver betook 
 himself to Mount Sinai, paying pretty hand- 
 somely to the Saracens for that privilege. 
 These infidels do not appear to have ever pre- 
 vented the Christian pilgrims from indulging 
 their curiosity and devotion in visiting the 
 most interesting evangelical objects in the 
 Holy Land ; but, after charging a good round 
 price for this gratification, contented them- 
 selves with occasionally kicking them, and 
 spitting upon them. In his way to Mount Si- 
 nai, the esquire-carver passed through the Val- 
 ley of Hebron, where he tells us, Adam was 
 created; and from thence to Gaza, where they 
 showed him the columns of the building which 
 Samson pulled down; though, of the identity 
 of the building, the esquire seems to entertain 
 some doubts. At Gaza five of his companions 
 fell sick and returned to Jerusalem. The se- 
 cond day's journey in the desert the carver 
 fell ill also, — returned to Gaza, where he was 
 
 * The Travels of Bertrandon de la Brncquiire, First Es- 
 quire-Carver to Philip le Bon, Duke of Burgundy, during 
 t'-ie years 1432, 1433.— Translated from the French, by 
 Thomas Johnes. Esq. 
 
 cured by a Samaritan, — and finding his way 
 back to Jerusalem, hired some pleasant lodg 
 ings on Mount Sion. 
 
 Before he proceeded on his grand expedi- 
 tion over land, he undertook a little expedition 
 to Nazareth, hearing, first of all, divine service 
 at the Cordeliers, and imploring, at the tomb 
 of our lady, her protection for his journey. 
 From Jerusalem their first stage was Acre, 
 where they gave up their intended expedition, 
 and repaired to Baruth, whence Sir Samson 
 de Lalaing and the author sallied afresh, un- 
 der better auspices, to Damascus. He speaks 
 with great pleasure of the valley where Noah 
 built the ark, through which valley he passed 
 in his way to Damascus ; upon entering which 
 town he was knocked down by a Saracen for 
 wearing an ugly hat, — as he probably would 
 be in London for the same offence in the year 
 1807. At Damascus, he informs us the Chris- 
 tians are locked up every night, — as they are 
 in English workhouses, night and day, when 
 they happen to be poor. The greatest misfor- 
 tune attendant upon this Damascene incarce- 
 ration, is the extreme irregularity with wnich 
 the doors are opened in the morning, their 
 janitor having no certain hour of quitting his 
 bed. At Damascus, he saw the place where 
 St. Paul had a vision. " I saw also," says he, 
 " the stone from which St. George mounted his 
 horse, wh(m he went to combav the dragon. 
 It is two feet square ; and they say that, when 
 formerly the Saracens attempted to carry it 
 away, in spite of all the strength they era- 
 ployed, they could not succeed." After hav- 
 ing seen Damascus, he returns witn Sir Sam- 
 son to Baruth ; and communicates his inten- 
 tions of returning over land to France to his 
 companions. They state to him the astonish- 
 ing difficulties he will have to overcome in the 
 execution of so extraordinary a project; but 
 the admirable carver, determined to make no 
 bones, and to cut his way through every ob- 
 stacle, persists in his scheme, and bids them a 
 final adieu. He is determined, however, not 
 to be baffled in his subordinate expedition to 
 Nazareth ; and, having now got rid of his timid 
 companions, accomplishes it with ease. We 
 shall here present our readers with an extract 
 from this part of his journal, requesting them 
 to admire the nai'f manner in which he speaks 
 of the vestiges of ecclesiastical history. 
 
 "Acre, though in a plain of about four 
 leagues in extent, is surrounded on three sides 
 by mountains, and on the fourth by the sea. 
 I made acquaintance there with a Venetian 
 merchant called Aubert Franc, who received 
 me well, and procured me much useful infor- 
 mation respecting my two pilgrimages, by 
 which I profited. With the aid of his advice, 
 I took the road to Nazareth; and, having 
 crossed an extensive plain, came to the foun- 
 2a2 
 
282 
 
 WORKS OF THE KEV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 tain, the water of which our Lord changed into 
 ■wine at the marriage of Archetreclin ; it is 
 near a village where St. Peter is said to have 
 been born. 
 
 "Nazareth is another large village, built 
 between two mountains ; but the place where 
 the angel Gabriel came to announce to the 
 Virgin Mary that she would be a mother, is in 
 a pitiful state. The church that had been there 
 built is entirely destroyed ; and of the house 
 wherein our lady was when the angel ap- 
 peared to her, not the smallest remnant exists. 
 
 " From Nazareth I went to Mount Tabor, 
 the place where the transfiguration of our Lord, 
 and many other miracles took effect. These 
 pasturages attract the Arabs who come thither 
 W'ith their beasts; and I was forced to engage 
 four additional men as an escort, two of whom 
 were Arabs. The ascent of the mountain is 
 rugged, because there is no i-oad; I performed 
 it on the back of a mule, but it took me two 
 hours. The summit is terminated by an al- 
 most circular plain of about two bow-shots in 
 length, and one in width. It was formerly en- 
 closed with walls, the ruins of which, and the 
 ditches, are still visible : within the wall, and 
 around it, were several churches, and one es- 
 pecially, where, although in ruins, full pardon 
 for vice and sin is gained. 
 
 " We went to lodge at Samaria, because I 
 wished to see the lake of Tiberias, where it is 
 said St. Peter was accustomed to fish ; and, 
 by so doing, some pardons may be gained, for 
 it was the ember week of September. The 
 Moucreleftme to myself the whole day. Sa- 
 maria is situated on the extremity of a moun- 
 tain. We entered at the close of day, and left 
 it at midnight to visit the lake. The Moucre 
 had proposed this hour to evade the tribute 
 exacted from all who go thither; but the 
 night hindered me from seeing the surround- 
 ing country. 
 
 "I went first to Joseph's Well, so called 
 from his being cast into it by his brethren. 
 There is a handsome mosque near it, which I 
 entered with my Moucre, pretending to be a 
 Saracen. 
 
 "Further on is a stone bridge over the Jar- 
 don, called Jacob's Bridge, on account of a 
 house hard by, said to be the residence of that 
 patriarch. The river flows from a gentle lake 
 situated at the foot of a mountain to the north- 
 west, on which Naracardin has a very hand- 
 some castle." — (pp. 122 — 128.) 
 
 From Damascus, to which he returns after 
 his expedition to Nazareth, the first carver of 
 Philip le Bon sets out with the caravan for 
 Bursa. Before he begins upon his journe}', 
 he expatiates with much satisfaction upon the 
 admirable method of shoeing horses at Damas- 
 cus, — a panegyric which certainly gives us 
 the lowest ideas of that art in the reign of 
 Philip le Bon ; for it appears that, out of fifty 
 days, his horse was lame for twenty-one, owing 
 to this ingenious method of shoeing. As a 
 mark of gratitude to the leader of the caravan, 
 the esquire presents him with a pot of green 
 ginger; and the caravan proceeds. Before it 
 has advanced one day's journey, the esquire, 
 however, deviates from the road, to pay his 
 devoirs to a miraculous image of our Lady of 
 
 Serdenay, which always sweats — not ordinary 
 sudorific matter — but an oil of great ecclesias- 
 tical efficacy. While travelling with the cara- 
 van, he learnt to sit cross-legged, got drunk 
 privately, and was nearly murdered by some 
 Saracens, who discovered that he had money. 
 In some parts of Syria, M. de la Brocquiere 
 met with an opinion, which must have been 
 extremely favourable to the spirit of proselyt- 
 ism, in so very hot a country — an opinioa 
 that the infidels have a very bad smell, and that 
 this is only to be removed by baptism. But as 
 the baptism was according to the Greek ritual, 
 by total immersion, Bertrandon seems to have 
 a distant suspicion that this miracle may be 
 resolved into the simple phenomenon of wash- 
 ing. He speaks well of the Turks, and repre- 
 sents them, to our surprise, as a very gay, 
 laughing people. We thought Turkish gravity 
 had been almost proverbial. The natives of 
 the countries through which we passed pray 
 (says he) for the conversion of Christians ; 
 and especially request that there may be never 
 sent among them again such another terrible 
 man as Godfrey of Boulogne. At Couhongue 
 the caravan broke up ; and here he quitted a 
 Mameluke soldier, who had kept him company 
 during the whole of the journey, and to whose 
 courage and fidelity Europe, Philip le Bon, and 
 Mr. Johnes of Hafod, are principally indebted 
 for the preservation of the first esquire-carver. 
 
 "I bade adieu," he says, " to my Mameluke. 
 This good man, whose name was Mohammed, 
 had done me innumerable services. He was 
 very charitable, and never refused alms when 
 asked in the name of God. It was through 
 charity he had been so kind to me ; and I must 
 confess that, without his assistance, I could 
 not have performed my journey without in- 
 curring the greatest danger; and that had it 
 not been for his kindness, I should often have 
 been exposed to cold and hunger, and much 
 embarrassed with my horse. 
 
 " On taking leave of him, I was desirous of 
 showing my gratitude; but he would not ac- 
 cept of any thing except a piece of our fine 
 European cloth to cover his head, which seem- 
 ed to please him much. He told me all the 
 occasions that had come to his knowledge, on 
 which, if it had not been for him, I should have 
 run risks of being assassinated, and warned 
 me to be very circumspect in my connections 
 with the Saracens, for that there were among 
 them some as wicked as the Franks. I write 
 this to recall to my reader's memory, that the 
 person who, from his love to God, did me so 
 many and essential kindnesses, was a man 
 not of our faith."— (pp. 196, 197.) 
 
 For the rest of the journe}',he travelled with 
 the family of the leader of the caravan, without 
 any occurrence more remarkable than those 
 we have already noticed; — arrived at Con- 
 stantinople, and passed through Germany to 
 the court of Philip le Bon. Here his narrative 
 concludes. Nor does the carver vouchsafe to 
 inform us of the changes which time had made 
 in the appetite of that great prince,— whether 
 veal was more pleasing to him than lamb, — if 
 his favourite morsels were siiil in request, — 
 if animal succulence were as grateful to him 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 283 
 
 as before the departure of the carver,— or if 
 this semisanguineous partiality had given way 
 to a taste for cinereous and torrefied meats. 
 All these things the first esquire-carver might 
 have said, — none of them he does say, — nor 
 does Mr. Johnes of Hafod supply, by any 
 antiquarian conjectures of his own, the dis- 
 tressing silence of the original. Saving such 
 
 omissions, there is something pleasant in the 
 narrative of this arch-divider of fowls. He is 
 an honest, brave, liberal man; and tells his 
 singular story with great brevity and plainness. 
 We are obliged to Mr. Johnes for the amuse- 
 ment he has afforded us ; and we hope he will 
 persevere in his gentlemanlike, honourable, 
 and useful occupations. 
 
 LETTER* ON THE CURATE'S SALARY BILL.t 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 
 
 The poverty of curates has long been a 
 favourite theme with novelists, sentimental 
 tourists, and elegiac poets. But notwith- 
 standing the known accuracy of this class of 
 philosophers, we cannot help suspecting that 
 there is a good deal of misconception in the 
 popular estimate of the amount of the evil. 
 
 A very great proportion of all the curacies 
 in England are filled with men to whom the 
 emolument is a matter of subordinate import- 
 ance. They are filled by young gentlemen 
 who have recently left college, who of course 
 are able to subsist as they had subsisted for 
 seven years before, and who are glad to have 
 an opportunity, on any terms, of acquiring a 
 practical familiarity with the duties of their 
 profession. They move away from them to 
 higher situations as vacancies occur ; and 
 make way for a new race of ecclesiastical 
 apprentices. To those men, the smallness of 
 the appointment is a grievance of no very 
 great magnitude ; nor is it fair with relation to 
 them, to represent the ecclesiastical order as 
 degraded by the indigence to which some of 
 its members are condemned. With regard, 
 again, to those who take curacies merely as a 
 means of subsistence, and with the prospect 
 of remaining permanently in that situation, it 
 is certain that by far the greater part of them 
 are persons born in a very humble rank in 
 society, and accustomed to no greater opulence 
 than that of an ordinary curate. There are 
 scarcely any of those persons who have taken 
 a degree in an university, and not very many 
 who have resided there at all. Now the son 
 of a small Welsh farmer, who works hard 
 every day for less than 40?. a year, has no 
 great reason to complain of degradation or 
 disappointment, if he get from 50?. to 100/. 
 for a moderate portion of labour one day in 
 seven. The situation, accordingly, is looked 
 upon by these people as extremely eligible ; 
 and there is a great competition for curacies, 
 even as they are now provided. The amount 
 
 * A Letter to the Right Honourable Spencer Perceval, on 
 a Subject convected with his Bill, now under Discussion in 
 Parliament, for improving the Situation of Stipendiary 
 Curates. 8vo. Hatcliard, London. 1808. 
 
 I Now we are all dead, it may be amusing to state 
 that I was e.xcited to this article by Sir William Scott, 
 who brousht nie the book in his pocket; and begged I 
 would attend to it, carefully concealing his name; my 
 own opinions happened entirely to agree with his. 
 
 of the evil, then, as to the curates themselves, 
 cannot be considered as very enormous, when 
 there are so few who either actually feel, or 
 are entitled to feel, much discontent on the 
 subject. The late regulations about residence, 
 too, by diminishing the total number of cu- 
 rates, will obviously throw that office chiefly 
 into the hands of the well educated and com- 
 paratively independent young men, who seek 
 for the situation rather for practice than pro- 
 fit, and do not complain of the want of emolu- 
 ment. 
 
 Still we admit it to be an evil, that the resi- 
 dent clergyman of a parish should not be ena- 
 bled to hold a respectable rank in society from 
 the regular emoluments of his office. But it 
 is an evil which does not exist exclusively 
 among curates ; and which, wherever it exists, 
 we are afraid is irremediable, without the de- 
 struction of the Episcopal church, or the aug- 
 mentation of its patrimony. More than one- 
 half of the livings in England are under 801. 
 a year ; and the whole income of the church, 
 including that of the bishops, if thrown into a 
 common fund, would not aflR)rd above ISOLfor 
 each living. Unless Mr. Perceval, therefore, 
 will raise an additional million or two for the 
 church, there must be poor curates, — and poor 
 rectors also; and unless he is to reduce the 
 Episcopal hierarchy to the republican equality 
 of our Presbyterian model, he must submit to 
 very considerable inequalities in the distribu- 
 tion of this inadequate provision. 
 
 Instead of applying any of these remedies, 
 however, — instead of proposing to increase 
 the income of the church, or to raise a fund 
 for its lowest servants by a gejieral assess- 
 ment upon those who are more opulent, — in- 
 stead of even trying indirectly to raise the pay 
 of curates, by raising their qualifications in 
 respect of regular education, Mr. Perceval has 
 been able, after long and profound study, to 
 find no better cure for the endemic poverty of 
 curates, than to ordain all rectors of a certain 
 income to pay them one-fifth part of their 
 emoluments, and to vest certain alarming 
 powers in the bishops for the purpose of con- 
 trolling their appointment. Now this scheme, 
 it appears to us, has all the faults which it is 
 possible for such a scheme to have. It is 
 unjust and partial in its principle, — it is evi- 
 dently altogether and utterly ineflicient for the 
 
284 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 correction of the evil in question, — and it in- 
 troduces other evils infinitely greater than that 
 which it vainly proposes to abolish. 
 
 To this project, however, for increasing the 
 salary of curates, Mr. Perceval has been so 
 long and so obstinately partial, that he re- 
 turned to the charge in the last session of Par- 
 liament, for the third time ; and experienced, 
 in spite of his present high situation, the same 
 defeat which had baffled him in his previous 
 attempts. 
 
 Though the subject is gone by once more 
 for the present, we cannot abstain from be- 
 stowing a little gentle violence to aid its 
 merited descent into the gulf of oblivion, and 
 to extinguish, if possible, that resurgent prin- 
 ciple which has so often disturbed the serious 
 business of the country, and averted the atten- 
 tion of the public from the great scenes that 
 are acting in the world — to search for some 
 golden medium between the selfishness of the 
 sacred principal, and the rapacity of the sacred 
 deputy. 
 
 If church property is to be preserved, that 
 precedent is not without danger which dis- 
 poses at once of a fifth of all the valuable 
 livings in England. We do not advance this 
 as an argument of any great importance 
 against the bill, but only as an additional rea- 
 son why its utility should be placed in the 
 clearest point of view, before it can attain the 
 assent of well-wishers to the English establish- 
 ment. 
 
 Our first and greatest objection to such a 
 measure, is the increase of power which it 
 gives to the bench of bishops, — an evil which 
 may produce the most serious effects, by 
 placing the whole body of the clergy under the 
 absolute control of men who are themselves 
 so much under the influence of the crown. 
 This, indeed, has been pretty eff"ectually ac- 
 complished, by the late residence bill of Sir 
 William Scott; and our objection to the pre- 
 sent bill is, that it tends to augment that ex- 
 cessive power before conferred on the prelacy. 
 
 If a clergyman lives in a situation which is 
 destroying his constitution, he cannot ex- 
 change with a brother clergyman without the 
 consent of the bishop ; in whose hands, under 
 such circumstances, his life and death are 
 actually placed. If he wishes to cultivate a 
 little land for his amusement or better sup- 
 port, — he cannot do it without the license of 
 the bishop. If he wishes to spend the last 
 three or four months with a declining wife or 
 child at some spot where better medical assist- 
 ance can be procured — he cannot do so with- 
 out permission of the bishop. If he is struck 
 with palsy, or racked with stone — the bishop 
 can confine him in the most remote village in 
 England. In short, the power which the 
 bishops at present possess over their clergy 
 is so enormous, that none but a fool or a mad- 
 man would think of compromising his future 
 happiness, by giving the most remote cause 
 of offence to his diocesan. We ought to re- 
 collect, however, that the clergy constitute a 
 body of 12 or 15,000 educated persons; that 
 the whole concern of education devolves upon 
 them; that some share of the talents and in- 
 formation which exist in the country must 
 
 naturally fall to their lot ; and that the com- 
 plete subjugation of such a body of men can- 
 not, in any point of view, be a matter of in- 
 difference to a free country. 
 
 It is in vain to talk of the good character 
 of bishops. Bishops are men ; not always the 
 wisest of men ; not always preferred for emi- 
 nent virtues and talents, or for any good rea- 
 son whatever known to the public. They are 
 almost always devoid of striking and indeco- 
 rous vices ; but a man may be very shallow, 
 very arrogant, and very vindictive, though a 
 bishop ; and pursue with unrelenting hatred a 
 subordinate clergyman, whose principles he 
 dislikes,* and whose genius he fears. Bishops, 
 besides, are subject to the infirmities of old age, 
 like other men ; and in the decay of strength 
 and understanding, will be governed as other 
 men are, by daughters and wives, and who- 
 ever ministers to their daily comforts. We 
 have no doubt that such cases sometimes oc- 
 cur; and produce, whenever they do occur, a 
 very capricious administration of ecclesiasti- 
 cal affairs.f As the power of enforcing resi- 
 dence must be lodged somewhere, why not 
 give the bishop a council, consisting of two- 
 thirds eccle-siastics, and one-third laymen: and 
 meeting at the same time as the sessions and 
 deputy sessions ;— the bishop's license for non- 
 residence to issue, of course, upon their re- 
 commendation. Considering the vexatious 
 bustle of a new, and the laxity of an aged 
 bishop, we cannot but think that a diocese 
 would be much more steadily administered 
 under this system than by the present means. 
 
 Examine the constitutional effects of the 
 power now granted to the bench. What hin- 
 ders a bishop from becoming in the hands of 
 the court a very important agent in all county 
 elections 1 Avhat clergyman would dare to re- 
 fuse him his vote? But it will be said that no 
 bishop will ever condescend to such sort of 
 intrigues : — a most miserable answer to a most 
 serious objection. The temptation is admit- 
 ted, — the absence of all restraint ; the danger- 
 ous consequences are equally admitted; and 
 the only preservative is the personal charac- 
 ter of the individual. If this style of reason- 
 ing were general, what would become of law, 
 constitution, and every wholesome restraint 
 which we have been accumulating for so 
 many centuries'? We have no intention to 
 speak disrespectfully of constituted authori- 
 ties ; but when men can abuse power with 
 impunity, and recommend themselves to their 
 superiors by abusing it, it is but common 
 sense to suppose that power will be abused; 
 if it is, the country will hereafter be convulsed 
 to its very entrails, in tearing away that poAver 
 from the prelacy which has been so iraprovi- 
 dently conferred upon them. It is useless to 
 talk of the power they anciently possessed. 
 They have never possessed it since England 
 has been what it now is. Since we have en- 
 joyed practically a free constitution, the 
 bishops have, in point of fact, possessed little 
 or no power of oppression over their clergy. 
 
 * Bold laiisuage for the year 1808. 
 
 1 1 have seen in the course of my life, as the mind of 
 the prelate decayed, wife bishops, daughter bishops, but. 
 ler bishops, and even cook and housekeeper bishops. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 285 
 
 It must be remembered, however, that we 
 are speaking only of probabilities : the fact 
 may turn out to be quite the reverse ; the 
 power vested in the bench may be exercised 
 for spiritual purposes only, and with the great- 
 est moderation. We shall be extremely happy 
 to find that this is the case; and it will reflect 
 great honour upon those who have corrected 
 the improvidence of the legislature by their 
 own sense of propriety. 
 
 It is contended by the friends of this law, 
 that the respectability of the clergy depends in 
 some measure on their wealth; and that, as 
 the rich bishop reflects a sort of worldly con- 
 sequence upon the poor bishop, and the rich 
 rector upon the poor rector ; — so, a rich class 
 of curates could not fail to confer a greater 
 degree of importance upon that class of men 
 in general. This is all very well, if you in- 
 tend to raise up some new fund in order to 
 enrich curates : but you say that the riches 
 of some constitute the dignity of the whole ; 
 and then you immediately take away from the 
 rector the superfluous wealth which, according 
 to your own method of reasoning, is to deco- 
 rate and dignify the order of men to whom 
 he belongs ! The bishops constitute the first 
 class in the church ; the benefi^ced clergy the 
 second; the curates the last. Why are you 
 to take from the second to give to the last] 
 Why not as well from the first* to give to the 
 second — if you really mean to contend that 
 the first and second are already too rich 1 
 
 It is not true, however, that the class of rec- 
 tors is generally either too rich, or even rich 
 enough. There are 6000 livings below 80/. 
 per annum, which is not very much above the 
 average allowance of a curate. If every rec- 
 tor, however, who has more than 500/. is 
 obliged to give a fifth part to a curate, there 
 seems to be no reason why every bishop who 
 has more than 1000/. should not give a fifth 
 part among the poor rectors in his diocese. It 
 is in vain to say this assessment upon rectors 
 is reasonable and right, because they may re- 
 side and do duty themselves, and then they 
 will not need a curate ; — that their non-resi- 
 dence, in short, is a kind of delinquency for 
 which they compound by this fine to the 
 parish. If more than half of the rectories in 
 England are under 80/. a year, and some thou- 
 sands of them under 40/., pluralities are abso- 
 lutely necessary ; and clergymen, who have not 
 the gift of ubiquity, must be non-resident at 
 some of them. Curates, therefore, are not the 
 deputies of negligent rectors ; — they are an 
 order of priests absolutely necessary in the 
 present form of the Church of England: and 
 a rector incurs no shadow of delinquency by 
 employing one, more than the king does by 
 appointing a lord-lieutenant of Ireland, or a 
 commissioner to the General Assembly of the 
 Church of Scotland, instead of doing the duty 
 of these offices in person. If the legislature, 
 therefore, is to interfere to raise the natural, 
 i. e. the actual wages of this order of men, at 
 the expense of the more opulent ministers of 
 the Gospel, there seems to be no sort of reason 
 for exempting the bishops from their share in 
 
 ♦ The first unfortuiiatelv make the laws. 
 
 this pious contribution, or for refusing to make 
 a similar one for the benefit of all rectors who 
 have less than 100/. per annum. 
 
 The true reason, however, for exempting 
 my lords the bishops from this imposition is, 
 that they have the privilege of voting upon all 
 bills brought in by Mr. Perceval, and of ma- 
 terially affecting his comfort and security by 
 their parliamentary control and influence. 
 This, however, is to cure what you believe to 
 be unjust, by means which you must know to 
 be unjust; to fly out against abuses which 
 may be remedied without peril, and to con- 
 nive at them when the attempt at a remedy is 
 attended with political danger; to be mute and 
 obsequious towards men who enjoy church pro- 
 perty to the amount of 8 or 19,000?. per an- 
 num ; and to be so scandalized at those who 
 possess as many hundreds, that you must melt 
 their revenues down into curacies, and saA'e 
 to the eye of political economy the spectacle 
 of such flagrant inequality! 
 
 In the same style of reasoning, it may be 
 asked why the lay improprietors are not com- 
 pelled to advance the salary of their perpetual 
 curacies, up to a fifih of their estates'? The 
 answer, too, is equally obvious — Many lay im- 
 proprietors have votes in both houses of Par- 
 liament; and the only class of men this 
 cowardly reformation attacks, is that which 
 has no means of saying any thing in its own 
 defence. 
 
 Even if the enrichment of curates were the 
 most imperious of all duties, it might very 
 well be questioned, whether a more unequal and 
 pernicious mode of fulfilling it could be devised 
 than that enjoined by this bill. Curacies are 
 not granted for the life of the curate ; but for 
 the life or incumbency or good-liking of the 
 rector. It is only rectors worth 500/. a-year 
 who are compelled by Mr. Perceval to come 
 down with a fifth to their deputy ; and these 
 form but a very small proportion of the whole 
 non-resident rectors ; so that the great multi- 
 tude of curates must remain as poor as for- 
 merly, — and probably a liitle more discontented. 
 Suppose, however, that one has actually entered 
 on the enjoyment of 250/. per annum. His 
 wants, and his habits of ex'pense, are enlarged 
 by this increase of income. In a year or two 
 his rector dies, or exchanges his living; and 
 the poor man is reduced, by the eff'ects of com- 
 parison, to a much worse state than before the 
 operation of the bill. Can any person say that 
 this is a wise and eflfectual mode of ameliorat- 
 ing the condition of the lower clergy? To us 
 it almost appears to be invented for the express 
 purpose of destroying those habits of economy 
 and caution, which are so indispensably neces- 
 sary to their situation. If it is urged that the 
 curate, knowing his wealth only to be tempo- 
 rary, will make use of it as a means of laying 
 up a fund for some future day, — we admire the 
 good sense of the man : but what becomes of 
 all the provisions of the bill] what becomes 
 of that opulence which is to confer respecta- 
 bility upon all around it, and to radiate even 
 upon the curates of Wales] The money was 
 I expressly given to blacken his coat, — to render 
 I him convex and rosy, — to give him a sort of 
 pseudo-rectorial appearance, and to dazzle tb 
 
288 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 parishioners at the rate of 250?. per annum. 
 The poor man, actuated by those principles of 
 common sense which are so contrary to all the 
 provisions of the bill, chooses to make a good 
 thing of it, because he knows it will not last; 
 wears his old coat, rides his lean horse, and 
 defrauds the class of curates of all the advan- 
 tages which they were to derive from the sleek- 
 ness and splendour of his appearance. 
 
 It is of some importance to the welfare of a 
 parish, and the credit of the church, that the 
 curate and his rector should live upon good 
 terms together. Such a bill, however, throws 
 between them elements of mistrust and hatred, 
 which must render their agreement highly im- 
 probable. The curate would be perpetually 
 prying into every little advance which the 
 rector made upon his tithes, and claiming his 
 proportionate increase. No respectable man 
 could brook such inquisition ; some, we fear, 
 would endeavour to prevent its effects by clan- 
 destine means. The church would be a per- 
 petual scene of disgraceful animosities; and 
 the ears of the bishop never free from the 
 clamours of rapacity and irritation. 
 
 It is some slight defect in such a bill, that it 
 does not proportion reward to the labour done, 
 but to the wealth of him for whom it is done. 
 The curate of a parish containing 400 persons, 
 may be paid as much as another person who 
 has the care of 10,000; for, in England, there 
 is very little proportion between the value of a 
 living, and the quantity of duty to be performed 
 by its clergyman. 
 
 The bill does not attain its object in the best 
 way. Let the bishop refuse to allow of any en- 
 rate upon a living above .500/. per annum, who is 
 not a Master of Arts of one of the universities. 
 Such curates will then be obtained at a price 
 which will render it worth the while of such 
 men to take curacies ; and such a degree and 
 situation in society will secure good curates 
 much more effectually than the complicated 
 provisions of this bill : for, prima facie, it ap- 
 pears to us much more probable, that a curate 
 should be respectable, who is a Master of Arts 
 in some English university, than if all that we 
 knew about him was, that he had a fifth of the 
 profits of the living. The object is, to fix a 
 good clergyman in a parish. The law will not 
 trust the non-resident rector to fix both the price 
 and the person; but fixes the price, and then 
 leaves him the choice of the person. Our plan 
 IS, to fix upon the description of person, and 
 then to leave the price to find its level ; for the 
 good price by no means implies a good person, 
 but the good person will be sure to get a good 
 price. 
 
 Where the living will admit of it, we have 
 commonly observed that the English clergy are 
 desirous of putting in a proper substitute. If 
 this is so, the bill is unnecessary; for it pro- 
 ceeds on the very contrary supposition, that 
 the great mass of opulent clergy consult no- 
 thing but economy in the choice of their 
 curates. 
 
 It is very galling and irksome to any class 
 of men to be compelled to disclose their pri- 
 vate circumstances; a provision contained in, 
 and absolutely necessary to this bill, under 
 which the diocesan can alway compel the 
 
 minister to disclose the full value of his 
 living. 
 
 After ally however, the main and conclusive 
 objection to the bill is, that its provisions are 
 drawn from such erroneous principles, and 
 betray such gross ignorance of human nature, 
 that though it would infallibly produce a 
 thousand mischiefs foreseen and not foreseen, 
 it would evidently have no effect whatsoever 
 in raising the salaries of curates. We do not 
 put this as a case of common buyer and seller; 
 we allow that the parish is a third party, having 
 an interest;* we fully admit the right of the le- 
 gislature to interfere for their relief. We only 
 contend, that such interference would be neces- 
 sarily altogether ineffectual, so long as men 
 can be found capable of doing the duty of cu- 
 rates, and willing to do it for less than the 
 statutory minimum. 
 
 If there is a competition of rectors for cu- 
 rates, it is quite unnecessary and absurd to 
 make laws in favour of curates. The demand 
 for them will do their business more effectually 
 than the law. If, on the contrary (as the fact 
 plainly is), there is a competition of curates for 
 employment, is it possible to prevent this order 
 of men from labouring under the regulation 
 price 1 Is it possible to prevent a curate from 
 pledging himself to his rector, that he will 
 accept only half the legal salar)', if he is so 
 fortunate as to be preferred among an host of 
 rivals, who are willing to engage on the same 
 terms 1 You may make these contracts illegal: 
 What then 1 Men laugh at such prohibitions ; 
 and they always become a dead letter. In nine 
 instances out of ten, the contract would be 
 honourably adhered to; and then what is the 
 use of Mr. Perceval's lawl Where the con- 
 tract was not adhered to, whom would the law 
 benefit ? — A man utterly devoid of every par- 
 ticle of honour and good faith. And this is 
 the new species of curate, who is to reflect dig- 
 nity and importance upon his poorer brethren! 
 The law encourages breach of faith between 
 gambler and gambler; it arms broker against 
 broker : — but it cannot arm clergyman against 
 clergyman. Did any human being before, ever 
 think of disseminating such a principle atnong 
 the teachers of Christianityl Did any eccle- 
 siastic law, before this, ever depend for its 
 success upon the mutual treachery of men who 
 ought to be examples to their fellow-creatures 
 of every thing that is just and upright. 
 
 We have said enough already upon the ab- 
 surdity of punishing all rich rectors for non- 
 residence, as for a presumptive delinquency. 
 A law is already passed, fixing what shall be 
 legal and sufficient causes for non-residence. 
 Nothing can be more unjust, then, than to 
 punish that absence which you admit to be 
 legal. If the causes of absence are too nume- 
 rous, lessen them ; but do not punish him who 
 has availed himself of their existence. We 
 deny, however, that they are too numerous. 
 There are 6000 livings out of 11,000 in the 
 English church under 801. per annum ; many 
 
 * We remember Horace's description of ttie misery of 
 a paristi where there is no resident clergyman. 
 
 " Illacrymabiles 
 
 TJrsentnr, i^nniique lonp4 
 Nocte, ettrmt ^ma vote sarro." 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 287 
 
 of these 20?., many 30/. per annum. The whole 
 task of education at the university, public 
 schools, private families, and in foreign travel, 
 devolves upon the clergy. A great part of the 
 literature of their country is in their hands. 
 Residence is a very proper and necessary mea- 
 sure ; but, considering all these circumstances, 
 it requires a great deal of moderation and 
 temper to carry it into effect, vVlthout doing 
 more mischief than good. At present, how- 
 ever, the torrent sets the other way. Every 
 lay plunderer, and every fanatical coxcomb, is 
 forging fresh chains for the English clergy; 
 and we should not be surprised, in a very little 
 time, to see them absenting themselves from 
 their benefices by a kind of day-rule, like 
 prisoners in the king's bench. The first bill, 
 which was brought in by Sir William Scott, 
 always saving and excepting the power granted 
 to the bishops, is full of useful provisions, and 
 characterized throughout by great practical 
 wisdom. We have no doubt but that it has, 
 xtpon the whole, improved the condition of the 
 English church. Without caution, mildness, 
 or information, however, it was peculiarly un- 
 
 fortunate to follow such a leader. We are 
 extremely happy the bill was rejected. We 
 have seldom witnessed more of ignorance and 
 error stuffed and crammed into so very narrow 
 a compass. Its origin, we are confident, is 
 from the Tabernacle; and its consequences 
 would have been, to have sown the seeds of 
 discord and treachery in an ecclesiastical con- 
 stitution, which, under the care of prudent and 
 honest men, may always be rendered a source 
 of public happiness. 
 
 One glaring omission in this bill we had 
 almost forgotten to mention. The chancellor 
 of the exchequer has entirely neglected to 
 make any provision for that very meritorious 
 class of men, the lay curates, who do all the 
 business of those offices, of which lazy and 
 non-resident placemen receive the emoluments. 
 So much delicacy and conscience, however, 
 are here displayed on the subject of pocketing 
 unearned emoluments, that we have no doubt 
 the moral irritability of this servant of the 
 crown will speedily urge him to a species of 
 reform, of which he may be the object as well 
 as the mover. 
 
 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY EOR THE 
 SUPPRESSION OE VICE.* 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 1809.] 
 
 A SOCIETY that holds out as its object the 
 suppression of vice, must at first sight con- 
 ciliate the favour of every respectable person; 
 and he who objects to an institution calculated 
 apparently to do so much good, is bound to 
 give very clear and satisfactory reasons for 
 his dissent from so popular an opinion. We 
 certainly have, for a long time, had doubts of 
 its utility; and now think ourselves called 
 upon to state the grounds of our distrust. 
 
 Though it were clear that individual inform- 
 ers are useful auxiliaries to the administration 
 of the laws, it would by no means follow that 
 these informers should be allowed to com- 
 bine, — to form themselves into a body, — to 
 make a public purse, — and to prosecute under 
 a common name. An informer, whether he 
 is paid by the week, like the agents of this 
 society — or by the crime, as in common cases — 
 is, in general, a man of a very indifferent 
 character. So much fraud and deception are 
 necessary for carrying on his trade — it is so 
 odious to his fellow subjects, — that no man of 
 respectability Avill ever undertake it. It is 
 evidently impossible to make such a character 
 '"therwise than odious. A man who receives 
 
 * Statement of the Proceedings of the Society for the 
 Stippression of Vice, from Julii 9 to JVovewber 12, read at 
 their General Meeting, held JVovember 12, 1804. With an 
 .Appendix, containing the Plan of the Society, Sfc. S^c. S^c. 
 London. 1804. 
 
 Jin Address to the Public from the Society for the Sup- 
 pression of yice, instituted in London. 1802. Part the 
 Second. Containing an Account of the Proceedings of tlu 
 Speiety from its original Institution. London. 1804. 
 
 weekly pay for prying into the transgressions 
 of mankind, and bringing them to conse- 
 quent punishment, will always be hated by 
 mankind ; and the office must fall to the lot of 
 some men of desperate fortunes and ambigu- 
 ous character. The multiplication, therefore, 
 of such officers, and the extensive patronage 
 of such characters, may, by the management 
 of large and opulent societies, become an evil 
 nearly as great as the evils they would sup- 
 press. The alarm which a private and dis- 
 guised accuser occasions in a neighbourhood, 
 is known to be prodigious, not only to the 
 guilty, but to those who may be at once inno- 
 cent, and ignorant, and timid. The destruction 
 of social confidence is another evil, the conse- 
 quence of information. An informer gets 
 access to my house or family, — worms my 
 secret out of me, — and then betrays me to the 
 magistrate. Now, all these evils may be 
 tolerated in a small degree, while, in a greater 
 degree, they would be perfectly intolerable. 
 Thirty or forty informers roaming about the 
 metropolis, may frighten the mass of offenders 
 a little, and do some good : ten thousand in 
 formers would either create an insurrection, 
 or totally destroy the confidence and cheerful- 
 ness of private life. AVhatever may be said, 
 therefore, of the single and insulated informer, 
 it is quite a new question when we come to a 
 corporation of informers supported by large 
 contributions. The one may be a good, the 
 other a very serious evil; the one legal, the 
 other wholly out of the contemplation of law, — 
 
WOKKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 which often, and very wisely, allows individu- 
 als to do what it forbids to many individuals 
 assembled. 
 
 If once combination is allowed for the sup- 
 pression of vice, where are its limits to be ? 
 Its capital may as well consist of 100,OOOZ. iper 
 annum, as of a thousand: its numbers may 
 increase from a thousand subscribers, which 
 this society, it seems, had reached in its 
 second year, to twenty thousand : and, in that 
 case, what accused persons of an inferior 
 condition of life would have the temerity to 
 stand against such a society 1 Their man- 
 dates would very soon be law ; and there is 
 no compliance into which they might not 
 frighten the common people, and the lower 
 orders of tradesmen. The idea of a society 
 of gentlemen, calling themselves an associa- 
 tion for the suppression of vice, would alarm 
 any small offender to a degree that would 
 make him prefer any submission to any re- 
 sistance. He would consider the very fact of 
 being accused by them, as almost sufficient to 
 ruin him. 
 
 An individual accuser accuses at his own 
 expense ; and the risk he runs is a good 
 security that the subject will not be harassed 
 by needless accusations, — a security which, 
 of course, he cannot have against such a 
 society as this, to whom pecuniary loss is an 
 object of such little consequence. It must 
 never be forgotten, that this is not a society 
 for punishing people who have been found to 
 transgress the law, but for accusing persons of 
 transgressing the law; and that before trial, 
 the accused person is to be considered as 
 innocent, and is to have every fair chance of 
 establifhing his innocence. He must be no 
 common defendant, however, who does not 
 contend against such a society with very fear- 
 ful odds ; — the best counsel engaged for his 
 opponents, — great practice in the particular 
 court, and particular species of cause, — wit- 
 nesses thoroughly hackneyed in a court of 
 justice, — and an unlimited command of money. 
 It by no means follows, that the legislature, in 
 allowing individuals to be informers, meant 
 to subject the accused person to the superior 
 weight and power of such societies. The 
 very influence of names must have a con- 
 siderable weight with the jury. Lord Dart- 
 mouth, Lord Radstock, and the Bishop of 
 Durham, versus a Whitechapel butcher or a 
 publican ! Is this a fair contest before a jury] 
 It is not so even in London ; and what must it 
 be in the country, where a society for the sup- 
 pression of vice may consist of all the prin- 
 cipal persons in the neighbourhood? These 
 societies are now established in York, in 
 Reading, and in many other lai'ge towns. 
 Wherever this is the case, it is far from 
 improbable that the same persons, at the 
 Quarter or Town Sessions, may be both 
 judges and accusers; and still more fatally 
 so, if the off"ence is tried by a special jury. 
 This is already most notoriously the case in 
 societies for the preservation of game. They 
 prosecute a poacher; — the jury is special; 
 and the poor wretch is found guilty by the 
 very same persons who have accused him. 
 If it is lawful for respectable men to com- 
 
 bine for the purpose of turning informers, it 
 is lawful for the lowest and most despicable 
 race of informers to do the same thing ; and 
 then it is quite clear that every species of 
 wickedness and extortion would be the conse- 
 quence. We are rather surprised that no 
 society of perjured attorneys and fraudulent 
 bankrupts has risen up in this metropolis, for 
 the suppression of vice. A chairman, deputy- 
 chairman, subscriptions, and an annual ser- 
 mon would give great dignity to their proceed- 
 ings ; and they would soon begin to take some 
 rank in the world. 
 
 It is true that it is the duty of grand juries 
 to inform against vice ; but the law knows the 
 probable number of grand jurymen, the times 
 of their meeting, and the description of per- 
 sons of whom they consist. Of voluntary 
 societies it can know nothing, — their numbers, 
 their wealth, or the character of their mem- 
 bers. It may therefore trust to a grand jury 
 what it would by no means trust to an un- 
 known combination. A vast distinction is to 
 be made, too, between official duties and 
 voluntary duties. The first are commonly 
 carried on with calmness and moderation; 
 the latter often characterized, in their execu- 
 tion, by rash and intemperate zeal. 
 
 The present society receives no members 
 but those who are of the Church of England. 
 As we are now arguing the question generally, 
 we have a right to make any supposition. It 
 is equally free, therefore, upon general princi- 
 ples, for a society of sectarians to combine 
 and exclude members of the Church of Eng- 
 land; and the suppression of vice may thus 
 come in aid of Methodism, Jacobinism, or 
 of any set of principles, however perilous, 
 either to church or state. The present society- 
 may, perhaps, consist of persons whose senti- 
 ments on these points are rational and respecta- 
 ble. Combinations, however, of this sort may 
 give birth to something far different ; and such a 
 supposition is the fair way of trying the question. 
 
 We doubt if there be not some mischief in 
 averting the fears and hopes of the people 
 from the known and constituted authorities of 
 the country to those self-created powers ; — a 
 society that punishes in the Strand, — another 
 which rewards at Lloyd's Coffee-house ! If 
 these things get to any great height, they throw 
 an air of insignificance over those branches 
 of the government to whom these cares pro- 
 perly devolve, and Avhose authority is by 
 these means assisted, till it is superseded. It 
 is supposed that a project must necessarily be 
 good, because it is intended for the aid of law 
 and government. At this rate, there should be 
 a society in aid of the government, for pro- 
 curing intelligence from foreign parts, with 
 accredited agents all over Europs , There 
 should be a voluntary transport board, and a 
 gratuitous victualling office. There should be 
 a duplicate, in short, of every department of 
 the state, — ^the one appointed by the king, the 
 other by itself. There should be a real Lord 
 Glenbervie in the woods and forests,- -and with 
 him a monster, a voluntary Lord Glenbervie, 
 serving without pay, and guiding gratis, with 
 secret counsel, the axe of his prototype. If it 
 be asked, who are the constituted authorities 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 289 
 
 whoarelegallyappointed to watch over morals, 
 and whose functions the society usurp 1 our an- 
 swer is, that there are in England about 12,000 
 clergy, not unhandsomely paid for persuading 
 the people, and about 4000 justices, 30 grand 
 juries, and 40,000 constables, whose duty and 
 whose inclination it is to compel them to do 
 right. Under such circumstances, a voluntary 
 moral society does indeed seem to be the purest 
 result of volition ; for there certainly is not the 
 smallest particle of necessity mingled with its 
 existence. 
 
 It is hardly possible that a society for the 
 suppression of vice can ever be kept within 
 the bounds of good sense and moderation. If 
 there are many members who have really be- 
 come so from a feeling of duty, there will ne- 
 cessarily be some who enter the society to 
 hide a bad character, and others whose object 
 it is to recommend themselves to their betters 
 by a sedulous and bustling inquisition into the 
 immoralities of the public. The loudest and 
 noisiest suppressors will always carry it against 
 the more prudent part of the community ; the 
 most violent will be considered as the most 
 moral ; and those who see the absurdity will, 
 from the fear of being thought to encourage 
 vice, be reluctant to oppose it. 
 
 It is of great importance to keep public 
 opinion on the side of virtue. To their autho- 
 rized and legal correctors, mankind are, on 
 common occasions, ready enough to submit ; 
 but there is something in the self-erection of 
 a voluntary magistracy which creates so much 
 disgust, that it almost renders vice popular, 
 and puts the offence at a premium. We have 
 no doubt but that the immediate effect of a 
 voluntary coinbination for the suppression of 
 vice, is an involuntary combination in favour 
 of the vices to be suppressed ; and this is a 
 very serious drawback from any good of 
 which such societies may be the occasion ; 
 for the state of morals, at any one period, de- 
 pends much more upon opinion than law ; 
 and to bring odious and disgusting auxiliaries 
 to the aid of virtue, is to do the utmost possi- 
 ble good to the cause of vice. We regret that 
 mankind are as they are ; and we sincerely 
 wish, that the species at large were as com- 
 pletely devoid of every vice and infirmity as 
 the president, vice-president, and committee of 
 the suppressing society; but, till they are thus 
 regenerated, it is of the greatest consequence 
 to teach them virtue and religion in a manner 
 which will not make them hate both the one 
 and the other. The greatest delicacy is re- 
 quired in the application of violence to moral 
 and religious sentiment. We forget that the 
 object is, not to produce the outward compli- 
 ance, but to raise up the inward feeling, which 
 secures the outward compliance. You may 
 drag men into church by main force, and pro- 
 secute them for buying a pot of beer, — and cut 
 them off from the enjoyment of a leg of mut- 
 ton ; — and you may do all this, till you make 
 the common people hate Sunday, and the 
 clergy, and religion, and every thing which re- 
 lates to such subjects. There are many crimes, 
 indeed, where persuasion cannot be waited for, 
 and where the untaught feelings of all men go 
 along with the violence of the law. A robber 
 37 
 
 and a murderer must be knocked on the head 
 like mad dogs ; but we have no great opinion 
 of the possibility of indicting men into piety, 
 or of calling in the quarter sessions to the aid 
 of religion. You may produce outward con- 
 formity by these means ; but you are so far from 
 producing (the only thing worth producing) 
 the inward feeling, that you incur a great risk 
 of giving birth to a totally opposite sentiment. 
 
 The violent modes of making men good, 
 just alluded to, have been resorted to at pe- 
 riods when the science of legislation was not so 
 well understood as it now is ; or when the 
 manners of the age have been peculiarly 
 gloomy or fanatical. The improved know- 
 ledge, and the improved temper of later times, 
 push such laws into the back ground, and 
 silently repeal them. A suppressing society, 
 hunting every where for penalty and informa- 
 tion, has a direct tendency to revive ancient 
 ignorance and fanaticism, — and to re-enact 
 laws, which, if ever they ought to have existed 
 at all, were certainly calculated for a very dif- 
 ferent style of manners, and a very different 
 degree of information. To compel men to go 
 to church, under a penalty, appears to us to be 
 absolutely absurd. The bitterest enemy of 
 religion will necessarily be that person who 
 is driven to a compliance with its outward 
 ceremonies, by informers and justices of the 
 peace. In the same manner, any constable 
 who hears another swear an oath, has a right 
 to seize him, and carry him before a magistrate, 
 where he is to be fined so much for each exe- 
 cration. It is impossible to carry such laws 
 into execution ; and it is lucky that it is im- 
 possible, — for their execution would create an 
 infinitely greater evil than it attempted to 
 remedy. The common sense and common 
 feeling of mankind, if left to themselves, would 
 silently repeal such laws ; and it is one of the 
 evils of these societies, that they render ab- 
 surdity eternal, and ignorance indestructible. 
 Do not let us be misunderstood : upon the ob- 
 ject to be accomplished, there can be but one 
 opinion ; — it is only upon the means employed, 
 that there can be the slightest difference of 
 sentiment. To go to church is a duty of the 
 greatest possible importance ; and on the blas- 
 phemy and vulgarity of swearing, there can 
 be but one opinion. But such duties are not 
 the objects of legislation ; they must be left to 
 the general state of public sentiment; which 
 sentiment must be influenced by example, by 
 the exertions of the pulpit and the press, and. 
 above all, by education. The fear of God can 
 never be taught by constables, nor the plea- 
 sures of religion be learnt from a common in- 
 former. 
 
 Beginning with the best intentions in the 
 world, such societies must, in all probability, 
 degenerate into a receptacle for every species 
 of tittle-tattle, impertinence, and malice. Men, 
 whose trade is rat-catching, love to catch rats ; 
 the bug-destroyer seizes on his bug with de- 
 light ; and the suppressor is gratified by find- 
 ing his vice. The last soon becomes a mere 
 tradesman like the others ; none of them mo- 
 ralize, or lament that their respective evils 
 should exist in the world. The public feeling 
 is swallowed up in the pursuit of a daily occu^ 
 2B 
 
290 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 pation, and in the display of a technical skill. 
 Here, then, is a society of men, who invite 
 accusation, — who receive it (almost unknown 
 to themselves) with pleasure, — and who, if they 
 hate dulness and inoccupation, can have very 
 little pleasure in the innocence of their fellow 
 creatures. The natural consequence of all 
 this is, that (besides that portion of rumour 
 which every member contributes at the weekly 
 meeting), their table must be covered with 
 anonymous lies against the character of indi- 
 viduals. Every servant discharged from his 
 master's service, — every villain who hates the 
 man he has injured, — every cowardly assassin 
 of character, — now knows where his accusa- 
 tions will be received, and where they cannot 
 fail to produce some portion of the mischievous 
 effects which he wishes. The very first step 
 of such a society should be, to declare, in the 
 plainest manner, that they would never receive 
 any anonymous accusation. This would be 
 the only security to the public, that they were 
 not degrading themselves into a receptacle for 
 malice and falsehood. Such a declaration 
 would inspire some species of confidence ; and 
 make us belieye that their object was neither 
 the love of power, nor the gratification of un- 
 charitable feelings. The society for the sup- 
 pression, however, have done no such thing. 
 They request, indeed, the signature of the in- 
 formers whom they invite ; but they do not (as 
 they ought) make that signature an indispen- 
 sable condition. 
 
 Nothing has disgusted us so much in the 
 proceedings of this society, as the control 
 which they exercise over the amusements of 
 the poor. One of the specious titles under 
 which this legal meanness is gratified is. Pre- 
 vention of Cruelty to Animals. 
 
 Of cruelty to animals, let the reader take the 
 following specimens : — 
 
 Running an iron hook in the intestines of 
 an animal; presenting this first animal to 
 another as his food; and then pulling this se- 
 cond creature up, and suspending him by the 
 barb in his stomach. 
 
 Riding a horse till he drops, in order to see 
 an innocent animal torn to pieces by dogs. 
 
 Keeping a poor animal upright for many 
 weeks, to communicate a peculiar hardness to 
 liis flesh. 
 
 Making deep incisions into the flesh of 
 another animal, while living, in order to make 
 the muscles more firm. 
 
 Immersing another animal, while living, in 
 hot water. 
 
 Now we do fairly admit, that such abomi- 
 nable cruelties as these are worthy of the inter- 
 ference of the law : and that the society should 
 have punished them, cannot be matter of sur- 
 prise to any feeling mind. — But stop, gentle 
 reader! these cruelties are the cruelties of the 
 suppressing committee, not of the poor. You 
 must not think of punishing these. — The first 
 of these cruelties passes under the pretty 
 name of angling , — and therefore there can be 
 no harm in it — the more particularly as the 
 president himself has one of the best preserved 
 trout streams in England. — The next is hunt- 
 ing . — and as many of the vice-presidents and 
 of the committee hunt, it is not possible there 
 
 can be any cruelty in hunting.* The next is,' 
 a process for making brawn — a dish never 
 tasted by the poor, and therefore not to be dis- 
 turbed by indictment. The fourth is the mode 
 of crimping cod ; and the fifth of boiling lob- 
 sters ; all high-life cruelties, with which a jus- 
 tice of the peace has no business to meddle. 
 The real thing which calls forth the sympa- 
 thies, and harrows up the soul, is to see a 
 number of boisterous artisans baiting a bull, 
 or a bear ; not a savage hare, or a carnivorous 
 stag, — but a poor, innocent, timid bear ; — not 
 pursued by magistrates, and deputy lieutenants, 
 and men of education, — but by those who 
 must necessarily seek their relaxation in noise 
 and tumultuous merriment, — by men whose 
 feelings are blunted, and whose understanding 
 is wholly devoid of refinement. The society 
 detail, with symptoms of great complacenc}^ 
 their detection of a bear-beating in Black-boy 
 Alley, Chick Lane, and the prosecution of the 
 offenders before a magistrate. It appears to 
 us, that nothing can be more partial and un- 
 just than this kind of proceedings. A man of 
 ten thousand a year may worry a fox as much 
 as he pleases, — may encourage the breed of a 
 mischievous animal on purpose to worry it; 
 and a poor labourer is carried before a ma- 
 gistrate for paying sixpence to see an exhibi- 
 tion of courage between a dog and a bear ! 
 Any cruelty may be practised to gorge the 
 stomachs of the rich, — none to enliven the 
 holidays of the poor. We venerate those 
 feelings which really protect creatures sus- 
 ceptible of pain, and incapable of complaint. 
 But heaven-born pity, now-a-days, calls for 
 the income tax, and the Court Guide; and 
 ascertains the rank and fortune of the tor- 
 mentor before she M'eeps for the pam of the 
 sufierer. It is astonishing how the natural 
 feelings of mankind are distorted by false 
 theories. Nothing can be more mischievous 
 than to say, that the pain indicted by the dog 
 of a man of quality is not (when the strength 
 of the two animals is the same) equal to that 
 produced by the cur of a butcher. Haller, in 
 his Pathology, expressly says, that the animal 
 bitten knows no difference in the quality of the 
 biting animaVs master; and it is now the uni- 
 versal opinion among all enlightened men, 
 that the misery of the brawner would be very 
 little diminished, if he could be made sensible 
 that he was to be eaten up only by persons of 
 the first fashion. The contrary supposition 
 seems to us to be absolute nonsense; it is the 
 desertion of the true Baconian philosophy, and 
 the substitution of mere unsupported conjec- 
 ture in its place. The trespass, however, 
 which calls forth all the energies of a sup- 
 pressor, is the sound of a fiddle. That the 
 
 * " How reasonable creatures" (says the society) 
 " can enjoy a pastime which is the cause of such sufTer- 
 ines to brute animals, or how they can consider them- 
 selves entitled, for their own amusement, to stimulate 
 those animals, by means of the antipathies which Pro- 
 vidence has thought proper to place between them, to 
 worry and tear, and often to destroy each other, it is 
 ditficult to conceive. So inhuman a practice, by a retri- 
 bution peculiarly just, tends obviously to render the 
 human character brutal and ferocious," &c. &r. 
 (Address, p 71, 72.) We take it for cranted, that the 
 reader sees clearly that no part of this description can 
 possibly apply to the case ot hunting. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 291 
 
 common people are really enjoying them- 
 selves, is now beyond all doubt: and away 
 rush secretar}% president, and committee, to 
 clap the cotillon into the compter, and to bring 
 back the life of the poor to its regular standard 
 of decorous gloom. The gambling houses of 
 St. James's remain untouched. The peer 
 ruins himself and his family -wath impunity; 
 while the Irish labourer is privately whipped 
 for not making a better use of the excellent 
 moral and religious education which he has 
 received in the days of his youth ! 
 
 It is not true, as urged by the society, that 
 the vices of the poor are carried on in houses 
 of public resort, and those of the rich in their 
 own houses. The society cannot be ignorant 
 of the innumerable gambling houses resorted 
 to by men of fashion. Is there one they have 
 suppressed, or attempted to suppress 1 Can 
 any thing be more despicable than such dis- 
 tinctions as these 1 Those who make them 
 seem to have for other persons' vices all the 
 rigour of the ancient Puritans — without a par- 
 ticle of their honesty, or their courage. To 
 suppose that any society will ever attack the 
 vices of people of fashion, is wholly out of the 
 question. If the society consisted of trades- 
 men, they would infallibly be turned off by the 
 vicious customers whose pleasures they inter- 
 rupted : and what gentlemen so fond of sup- 
 pressing, as to interfere with the vices of good 
 company, and inform against persons who 
 were really genteell He knows very well 
 that the consequence of such interference 
 would be a complete exclusion from elegant 
 society; that the upper classes could not and 
 would not endure it; and that he must imme- 
 diately lose his rank in the world, if his zeal 
 subjected fashionable offenders to the slightest 
 inconvenience from the law. Nothing, there- 
 fore, remains, but to rage against the Sunday 
 dinners of the poor, and to prevent a brick- 
 layer's labourer from losing, on the seventh 
 day, that beard which has been augmenting 
 the other six. We see at the head of this 
 society the names of several noblemen, and of 
 other persons moving in the fashionable world. 
 Is it possible they can be ignorant of the in- 
 numerable offences against the law and mo- 
 rality which are committed b)' their own 
 acquaintances and connections 1 Is there one 
 single instance where they have directed the 
 attention of the society to "this higher species 
 of suppression, and sacrificed men of consi- 
 deration to that zeal for virtue v.'hich watches 
 so acutely over the vices of the poor? It 
 would give us very little pleasure to sec a 
 duchess sent to the Poultry compter ; but if we 
 saw the society flying at such high game, we 
 should at least say they were honest and 
 courageous, whatever judgment we might 
 form of their good sense. At present they 
 should denominate themselves a society for 
 ^uppressing the vices of persons whose income 
 does not exceed 500/. jper annum; and then, to 
 put all classes upon an equal footing, there 
 must be another society of barbers, butchers, 
 and bakers, to return to the higher classes that 
 moral characier, by which they are so highly 
 benefited. 
 
 To show how impossible it is to keep such 
 
 societies within any kind of bounds, we shall 
 quote a passage respecting circulating libra- 
 ries, from their proceedings. 
 
 "Your committee have good reasons for 
 believing, that the circulation of their notices 
 among the printsellers, warning them against 
 the sale or exhibition of indecent representa- 
 tions, has produced, and continues to produce, 
 the best efiects. 
 
 " But they have to lament that the extended 
 establishments of circulating libraries, how- 
 ever useful they may be, in a variety of 
 respects, to the easy and general diffusion of 
 knowledge, are extremely injurious to morals 
 and religion, by the indiscriminate admission 
 which they give to works of a prurient and 
 immoral nature. It is a toilsome task to any 
 virtuous and enlightenedmind, to wade through 
 the catalogues of these collections, and much 
 more to select such books from them as have 
 only an apparent bad tendency. But your 
 committee being convinced that their attention 
 ought to be directed to those institutions which 
 possess such powerful and numerous means 
 of poisoning the minds of young persons, and 
 especially of the female youth, have therefore 
 begun to make some endeavours towards their 
 better regulation." — Statement of the Proceedings 
 /or 1804, pp. 11, 12. 
 
 In the same spirit, we see them writing to a 
 country magistrate in Devonshire, respecting 
 a wake advertised in the public papers. No- 
 thing can be more presumptuous than such 
 conduct, or produce, in the minds of impartial 
 men, a more decisive impression against the 
 society. 
 
 The natural answer from the members of 
 the society (the only answer they have ever 
 made to the enemies of their institution) will 
 be, that we are lovers of vice, — desirous of 
 promoting indecency, of destroying the Sab- 
 bath, and of leaving mankind to the unre- 
 strained gratification of their passions. We 
 have only very calmly to reply, that we are 
 neither so stupid nor so wicked as not to con- 
 cur in every scheme which has for its object 
 the preservation of rational religion and sound 
 morality ; — but the scheme must be well con- 
 certed, — and those who are to carry it into 
 execution must deserve our confidence, from 
 their talents and their character. Upon reli- 
 gion and morals depends the happiness of 
 mankind; — but the fortune of knaves and the 
 power of fools are sometimes made to rest on 
 the same apparent basis ; and we will never 
 (if we can help it) allow a rogue to get rich, 
 or a blockhead to get powerful, under the 
 sanction of these awful words. We do not by 
 any means intend to apply these contemptuous 
 epithets to the Society for the Suppression. 
 That there are among their number some very 
 odious hypocrites, is not impossible; that 
 many men who believe they come there from 
 the love of virtue, do really join the society 
 from the love of power, we do not doubt: but 
 we see no reason to doubt that the great mass 
 of subscribers consists of persons who have 
 very sincere intentions of doing good. That 
 they have, in some instances, done a great 
 deal of good, we admit with the greatest 
 
293 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 pleasure. We believe, that in the hands of 
 truly honest, intrepid, and above all, discreet 
 men, such a societ}^ might become a valuable 
 institution, improve in some degree the public 
 morals, and increase the public happiness. 
 So many qualities, however, are required to 
 carry it on well, — the temptations to absurdity 
 and impertinence are so very great, — that we 
 ever despair of seeing our wishes upon this 
 subject realized. In the present instance, our 
 object has been to suppress the arrogance of 
 suppressors, — to keep them within due bounds, 
 
 — to show them that to do good requires a 
 little more talent and reflection than they are 
 aware of, — and, above all, to impress upon 
 them that true zeal for virtue knows no dis- 
 tinction between the rich and the poor; and 
 that the cowardly and the mean can never be 
 the true friends of morality, and the promoters 
 of human happiness. If they attend to these 
 rough doctrines, they will ever find in the 
 writers of this journal their warmest ad- 
 mirers, and their most sincere advocates and 
 friends. 
 
 CHARACTEES OF FOX/ 
 
 [Edi.vbukgh Review, 1809.] 
 
 This singular work consists of a collection 
 of all the panegyrics passed upon Mr. Fox, 
 after his decease, in periodical publications, 
 speeches, sermons, or elsewhere, — in a pane- 
 gyric upon Mr. Fox by Philopatris himself, — 
 and in a volume of notes by the said Philo- 
 patris upon the said panegyric. 
 
 Of the panegyrics, that by Sir James Mack- 
 intosh appears to us to be by far the best. It 
 is remarkable for good sense, acting upon a 
 perfect knowledge of his subject, for simpli- 
 city, and for feeling. Amid the languid or 
 turgid efforts of mediocrity, it is delightful to 
 notice the skill, attention, and resources, of a 
 superior man, — of a man, too, who seems to 
 feel what he writes, — who does not aim at 
 conveying his meaning in rhetorical and orna- 
 mental phrases, but who uses plain words to 
 express strong sensations. We cannot help 
 wishing, indeed, that Sir James Mackintosh 
 had been more diffuse upon the political cha- 
 racter of Mr. Fox, the great feature of whose 
 life was the long and unwearied opposition 
 which he made to the low cunning, the profli- 
 gate extravagance, the sycophant mediocrit}', 
 and the stupid obstinacy of the English court. 
 
 To estimate the merit and the difficulty of 
 this opposition, we must remember the enor- 
 mous influence which the crown, through the 
 medium of its patronage, exercises in the re- 
 motest corners of the kingdom, — the number 
 of --ubjects whom it pays, — the much greater 
 number whom it keeps in a state of expecta- 
 tion, — and the ferocious turpitude of those 
 mercenaries whose present profits and future 
 hopes are threatened by honest, and exposed 
 by eloquent men. It is the easiest of all things, 
 too. in this country, to make Englishmen be- 
 lieve that those who oppose the government 
 wish to ruin the country. The English are a 
 very busy people ; and, with all the faults of 
 their governors, they are still a very happy 
 people. They have, as they ought to have, a 
 perfect confidence in the administration of 
 justice. The rights which the difierent classes 
 
 * Characters of the late Charles James Fox. By Phi- 
 LOPATBis Vabvicensis. 2 vols, 8vo. 
 
 of mankind exercise the one over the other 
 are arranged upon equitable principles. Life, 
 libert}', and property are protected from the 
 violence and caprice of power. The visible 
 and immediate stake, therefore, for which 
 English politicians play, is not large enough 
 to attract the notice of the people, and to call 
 them off from their daily occupations, to in- 
 vestigate thoroughly the characters and mo- 
 tives of men engaged in the business of legis- 
 lation. The people can only understand, and 
 attend to the last results of a long series of 
 measures. They are impatient of the details 
 which lead to these results ; and it is the 
 easiest of all things to make them believe that 
 those who insist upon such details are actuated 
 only by factious motives. We are all now 
 groaning under the weight of taxes : but how 
 often was Mr. Fox followed by the curses of 
 his country for protesting against the two 
 wars which have loaded us wUh these taxes 1 
 — the one of which wars has made America 
 independent, and the other rendered France 
 omnipotent. The case is the same with all 
 the branches of public libert}'. If the broad 
 and palpable question were, whether every 
 book which issues from the press should be 
 subjected to the license of a general censor, 
 it would be impossible to blacken the charac- 
 ter of any man who, so called upon, defended 
 the liberty of publishing opinions. But, when 
 the attorney-general lor the time being ingra- 
 tiates himself with the court, by nibbling at 
 this valuable privilege of the people, it is very 
 easy to treat hostility to his measures as a 
 minute and frivolous opposition to the govern- 
 ment, and to persuade the mass of mankind 
 that it is so. In fact, when a nation has be- 
 come free, it is extremely difficult to persuade 
 them that their freedom is only to be preserved 
 by perpetual and minute jealousy. They do 
 not observe that there is a constant, perhaps 
 an unconscious, effort, on the part of their 
 governors, to diminish, and so ultimately to 
 destroy, that freedom. They stupidly imagine 
 that what is, will always be; and, consented 
 with the good they have already gained, are 
 easily persuaded to suspect and vilify those 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 friends — the object of whose life it is to pre- 
 serve that good, and to increase it. 
 
 It was the lot of Mr. Fox to fight this battle 
 for the greater part of his life ; in the course 
 of which time he never was seduced by the 
 love of power, wealth, or popularity, to sacri- 
 fice the happiness of the many to the interest 
 of the few. He rightly thought, that kings, and 
 all public officers, were instituted only for the 
 good of those over whom they preside ; and 
 he acted as if this conviction was always 
 present to his mind; disdaining and with- 
 standing that idolatrous tendency of mankind, 
 by which they so often not only suffer, but 
 invite ruin from that power which they them- 
 selves have wisely created for their own hap- 
 piness. He loved, too, the happiness of his 
 countrymen more than their favour ; and while 
 others were exhausting the resources, by flat- 
 tering the ignorant prejudices and foolish 
 passions of the country, Mr. Fox was content 
 to be odious to the people, so long as he could 
 be useful also. It will be long before we \vit- 
 ness again such pertinacious opposition to the 
 alarming power of the crown, and to the fol- 
 lies of our public measures, the necessary 
 consequence of that power. That such oppo- 
 sition should ever be united again with such 
 extraordinary talents, it is, perhaps, in vain 
 to hope. 
 
 One little exception to the eulogium of Sir 
 James Mackintosh upon Mr. Fox, we cannot 
 help making. We are no admirers of Mr. 
 Fox's poetry. His Vers de Societe appears to 
 us flat and insipid. To write verses was the 
 only thing which Mr. Fox ever attempted to 
 do, without doing it well. In that single in- 
 stance he seems to have mistaken his talent. 
 
 Immediately after the collection of panegy- 
 rics which these volumes contain, follows the 
 eulogium of Mr. Fox by Philopatris himself; 
 and then a volume of notes upon a variety of 
 topics which this eulogium has suggested. Of 
 the laudatory talents of this Warwickshire 
 patriot, we shall present our readers with a 
 specimen. 
 
 " Mr. Fox, though not an adept in the use 
 of political wiles, was very unlikely to be the 
 dupe of them. He was conversant in the 
 ways of man, as well as in the contents of 
 books. He was acquainted with the peculiar 
 language of states, their peculiar forms, and 
 the grounds and effects of their peculiar 
 usages. From his earliest youth, he had in- 
 vestigated the science of politics in the greater 
 and the smaller scale ; he had studied it in 
 the records of history, both popular and rare 
 — in the conferences of ambassadors — in the 
 archives of royal cabinets — in the minuter 
 detail of memoirs — and in collected or strag- 
 gling anecdotes of the wrangles, intrigues, and 
 cabals, which, springing up in the secret re- 
 cesses of courts, shed their baneful influence 
 on the determinations of sovereigns, the for- 
 tune of favourites, and the tranquillity of king- 
 doms. But that statesmen of all ages, like 
 priests of all religions, are in all respects 
 alike, is a doctrine the propagation of which 
 he left, as an inglorious privilege, to the misan- 
 thrope, to the recluse, to the factious incen- 
 diary, and to the unlettered multitude. For 
 
 himself he thought it no very extraordinary 
 stretch of penetration or charity, to admit that 
 human nature is everywhere nearly as capable 
 of emulation in good, as in evil. He boasted 
 of no very exalted heroism, in opposing the 
 calmness and firmness of conscious integrity 
 to the shufiling and slippery movements, the 
 feints in retreat, and feints in advance, the 
 dread of being over-reached, or detected in 
 attempts to over-reach, and all the other humi- 
 liating and mortifying anxieties of the most 
 accomplished proficients in the art of diplo- 
 macy. He reproached himself for no guilt, 
 when he endeavoured to obtain that respect 
 and confidence which the human heart una- 
 voidably feels in its intercourse with persons 
 who neither wound our pride, nor take aim at 
 our happiness, in a war of hollow and ambi- 
 guous words. He was sensible of no weak- 
 ness in believing that politicians, who, after 
 all, ' knew only as they are known,' may, like 
 other human beings, be at first the involuntary- 
 creatures of circumstances, and seem incor- 
 rigible from the want of opportunities or in- 
 citements to correct themselves; that, bereft 
 of the pleas usually urged in vindication of 
 deceit, by men who are fearful of being de- 
 ceived, they, in their oflicial dealings with him, 
 would not wantonly lavish the stores they had 
 laid up for huckstering in a traflic, which, 
 ceasing to be profitable, would begin to be 
 infamous; and that, possibly, here and there, 
 if encouraged by example, they might learn 
 to prefer the shorter process, and surer results 
 of plain dealing, to the delays, the vexations, 
 and the uncertain or transient success, both of 
 old-fashioned and new-fangled chicanery." — 
 (I. 209—211.) 
 
 It is impossible to read this singular book 
 without being everj'where struck with the 
 lofty and honourable feelings, the enlightened 
 benevolence, and sterling honesty with which 
 it abounds. Its author is everj^where the cir- 
 cumspect friend of those moral and religious 
 principles upon which the happiness of so- 
 ciety rests. Though he is never timid, nor 
 prejudiced, nor bigoted, his piety, not prudish 
 and full of antiquated and affected tricks, pre- 
 sents itself with an earnest aspect, and in a 
 manly form ; obedient to reason, prone to in- 
 vestigation, and dedicated to honest purposes 
 The writer, a clergyman, speaks of himself as 
 a very independent man, who has always ex- 
 pressed his opinion without any fear of con- 
 sequences, or any hope of bettering his con- 
 dition. We sincerely believe he speaks the 
 truth; and revere him for the life he has led. 
 Political independence — discouraged enough 
 in these times among all classes of men — is 
 sure, in the timid profession of the church, to 
 doom a man to eternal poverty and obscurity. 
 
 There are occasionally, in Philopatris, a 
 great vigour of style and felicity of expres- 
 sion. His display of classical learning is 
 quite unrivalled — his reading various ana 
 good; and we may observe, at intervals, a 
 talent for wit, of which he might have availea 
 himself to excellent purpose, had it been com- 
 patible with the dignified style in which he 
 generally conveys his sentiments. With aii' 
 these exce*llent qualities of head and heart, we 
 2b2 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 have seldom met with a writer more full of 
 faults than Philopatris. There is an event re- 
 corded in the Bible, which men who write 
 books should keep constantly in their remem- 
 brance. It is there set forth, that many cen- 
 turies ago, the earth was covered with a great 
 flood, by which the whole of the human race, 
 with the exception of one family, were de- 
 stroyed. It appears also, that from thence, a 
 great alteration was made in the longevity of 
 mankind, who, from a range of seven or eight 
 hundred years, which they enjoyed before the 
 flood, were confined to their present period of 
 seventy or eighty years. This epoch in the 
 history of man gave birth to the twofold divi- 
 sion of the antediluvian and postdiluvian style 
 of writing, the latter of which naturally con- 
 tracted itself into those inferior limits which 
 ■were better accommodated to the abridged du- 
 ration of human life and literary labour. Now, 
 to forget this event, — to write without the fear 
 of the deluge before his eyes, and to handle a 
 subject as if mankind could lounge over a 
 pamphlet for ten years, as before their sub- 
 mersion, — is to be guilty of the most grievous 
 error into which a writer can possibly fall. 
 The author of this book should call in the aid 
 of some brilliant pencil, and cause the dis- 
 tressing scenes of the deluge to be portrayed 
 in the most lively colours for his use. He 
 should gaze at Noah and be brief. The ark 
 should constantly remind him of the little time 
 there is left for reading ; and he should learn, 
 as they did in the ark, to crowd a great deal 
 of matter into a very little compass. 
 
 Philopatris must not only condense what he 
 says into a narrower compass, but he must 
 say it in a more natural manner. Some per- 
 sons can neither stir hand nor foot without 
 making it clear that they are thinking of them- 
 selves, and laying little traps for approbation. 
 In the course of two long volumes, the Patriot 
 of Warwick is perpetually studying modes 
 and postures : — the subject is the second con- 
 sideration, and the mode of expression the 
 first. Indeed, whole pages together seem to 
 be mere exercises upon the English language, 
 to evince the copiousness of our synonymes, 
 and to show the various methods in which 
 the parts of speech can be marshalled and 
 arrayed. This, which would be tiresome 
 in the ephemeral productions of a newspa- 
 per, is intolerable in two closely printed 
 volumes. 
 
 Again, strange as it may appear to this au- 
 thor to say so, he must not fall into the fre- 
 quent mistake of rural politicians, by sup- 
 posing that the understandings of all Europe 
 are occupied with him and his opinions. His 
 ludicrous self-importance is perpetually de- 
 stroying the effect of virtuous feeling and just 
 observation, leaving his readers with a dispo- 
 sition to laugh, where they might otherwise 
 learn and admire. 
 
 " I have been asked, why, after pointing out 
 by name the persons who seemed to me most 
 qualified for reforming our penal code, I de- 
 clined mentioning such ecclesiastics as might 
 with propriety be employed in preparing for 
 the use of the churches a grave and impres- 
 sive discourse on the authority of human laws ; 
 
 and as other men may ask the same question 
 which my friend did, I have determined, after 
 some deliberation, to insert the substance of 
 my answer in this place. 
 
 " If the public service of our church should 
 ever be directly employed in giving eflect to 
 the sanctions of our penal code, the ofBce of 
 drawing up such a discourse as I have ven- 
 tured to recommend wpuld, I suppose, be as- 
 signed to more than one person. My eccle- 
 siastical superiors will, I am sure, make a 
 wise choice. But they will hardly condemn 
 me for saying, that the best sense expressed in 
 the best language may be expected from the 
 Bishops of Landaff, Lincoln, St. David's, 
 Cloyne, and Norwich, the Dean of Christ 
 Church, and the President of Magdalen Col- 
 lege, Oxford. I mean not to throw the slightest 
 reproach upon other dignitaries whom I have 
 not mentioned. But I should imagine that 
 few of my enlightened contemporaries hold an 
 opinion different from my own, upon the mas- 
 culine understanding of a Watson, the sound 
 judgment of a Tomlin, the extensive erudition 
 of a Burgess, the exquisite taste and good na- 
 ture of a Bennet, the calm and enlightened 
 benevolence of a Bathurst, the various and 
 valuable attainments of a Cyril Jackson, or 
 the learning, wisdom, integrity, and piety of a 
 Martin Routh."— (pp. 524, 525.) 
 
 In the name of common modesty, what 
 could it have signified whether this author had 
 given a list of ecclesiastics whom he thought 
 qualified to preach about human laws 1 what 
 is his opinion worth ? who called for it 1 who 
 wanted it ? how many millions will be influ- 
 enced by it ? — and who, oh gracious Heaven ! 
 who are a Burgess, — o Tomlin, — a Bennet, — a 
 Cyril Jackson, — a IVf artin Routh ? — A Tom, — a 
 Jack, — a Harry, — a Peter! All good men 
 enough in their generation doubtless they are. 
 But what have they done for the broad a? 
 what has any one of them perpetrated, which 
 will make him be remembered, out of the 
 sphere of his private virtues, six months after 
 his decease 7 Surely, scholars and gentlemen 
 can drink tea with each other, and eat bread 
 and butter, without all this laudatory crack- 
 ling. 
 
 Philopatris has employed a great deal of 
 time upon the subject of capital punishments, 
 and has evinced a great deal of very laudable 
 tenderness and humanity in discussing it. We 
 are scarcely, however, converts to that system 
 which would totally abolish the punishment 
 of death. That it is much too frequently in- 
 flicted in this country, we readily admit ; but 
 we suspect it will be always necessary to re- 
 serve it for the most pernicious crimes. Death 
 is the most terrible punishment to the common 
 people, and therefore the most preventive. It 
 does not perpetually outrage the feelings of 
 those who are innocent, and likely to remain 
 innocent, as would be the case from the spec- 
 tacle of convicts working in the highroads 
 and public places. Death is the most irrevo- 
 cable punishment, which is in some sense a 
 good ; for, however necessary it might be to 
 inflict labour and imprisonment for life, it 
 would never be done. Kings and legislatures 
 would take pity after a great lapse of years ; 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 295 
 
 the punishment would be remitted, and its pre- 
 ventive efficacy, therefore, destroyed. We 
 agree with Philopatris, that the executions 
 should be more solemn ; but still the English 
 are not of a very dramatic turn, and the thing 
 must not be got up too finely. Philopatrist 
 and Mr. Jeremy Bentham before him, lay a 
 vast stress upon the promulgation of laws, 
 and treat the inattention of the English govern- 
 ment to this point as a serious evil. It may 
 be so — but we do not happen to remember any 
 man punished for an offence which he did not 
 know to be an offence ; though he might not 
 know exactly the degree in which it was 
 punishable. Who are to read the laws to the 
 people 1 who would listen to them if they 
 were readl who would comprehend them if 
 they listened 1 In a science like law there 
 must be technical phrases known only to pro- 
 fessional men : business could not be carried 
 on without them : and of what avail would it 
 be to repeat such phrases to the people 1 
 Again, what laws are to be repeated, and in 
 what places 1 Is a law respecting the number 
 of threads on the shuttle of a Spitalfields 
 weaver to be read to the corn-growers of the 
 Isle of Thanet 1 If not, who is to make the 
 selection 1 If the law cannot be comprehended 
 by listening to the viva voce repetition, is the 
 reader to explain it, and are there to be law 
 lectures all over the kingdom 1 The fact is, 
 that the evil does not exist. Those who are 
 most likely to commit the offence soon scent out 
 
 the newly devised punishments, and have been 
 long thoroughly acquainted with the old ones. 
 Of the nice applications of the law they are 
 indeed ignorant ; but they purchase the requi- 
 site skill of some man whose business it is to 
 acquire it ; and so they get into less mischief 
 by trusting to others than they would do if 
 they pretended to inform themselves. The- 
 people, it is true, are ignorant of the laws; 
 but they are ignorant only of the laws that do 
 not concern them. A poacher knows nothing 
 of the penalties to which he exposes himself' 
 by stealing ten thousand pounds from the pub- 
 lic. Commissioners of public boards are 
 unacquainted with all the decretals of our 
 ancestors respecting the wiring of hares ; but 
 the one pockets his extra per centage, and the 
 other his leveret, with a perfect knowledge of 
 the laws — the particular laws which it is his 
 business to elude. Philopatris will excuse us 
 for differing from him upon a subject where 
 he seems to entertain such strong opinions. 
 We have a real respect for all his opinions : — 
 no man could form them who had not a good 
 heart and a sound understanding. If we have 
 been severe upon his style of writing, it is be- 
 cause we know his weight in the common- 
 wealth: and we wish that the many young 
 persons who justly admire and imitate him 
 should be turned to the difficult task of imi- 
 tating his many excellences, rather than the 
 useless and easy one of copying his few de- 
 fects. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ON THE HISTOEICAL WORK OE THE 
 RIGHT HONOURABLE CHARLES JAMES EOX.* 
 
 [Edinbukgh Review, 1809.] 
 
 This is an extraordinary performance in 
 itself; — but the reasons assigned for its publi- 
 cation are still more extraordinary. A per- 
 son of Mr. Rose's consequence — incessantly 
 occupied, as he assures us, " with official du- 
 ties, which take equally," according to his ele- 
 gant expression, " from the disembarrassment 
 of the mind and the leisure of time," — thinks it 
 absolutely necessary to explain to his country 
 the motives which have led him to do so idle 
 a thing as to M-rite a book. He would not 
 have it supposed, however, that he could be 
 tempted to so questionable an act by any light 
 or ordinary consideration. Mr. Fox and other 
 literary loungers may write from a love of 
 fame, or a relish for literature ; but the official 
 labours of Mr. Rose can only be suspended by 
 higher calls. All his former publications, he 
 informs us, originated in a "sense of public 
 duty;" and the present, in "an impulse of pri- 
 
 ♦ Gbserxmfinns nn the Historical Work of the Hifflit 
 Honourable Charles James For. By the Right Honourable 
 Gkorge Rose. pp. 215. Ifith a J^arrative of the Events 
 ■which occurred in the Enterprise of the Earl'of Argyle in 
 1&S5. By Sir Patrick Hu.me. London. 1809. 
 
 vate friendship." An ordinary reader may, 
 perhaps, find some difficulty in comprehending 
 how Mr. Rose could be " impelled by private 
 friendship," to publish a heavy quarto of po- 
 litical observations on Mr. Fox's history: — and 
 for our own part, we must confess, that after 
 the most diligent perusal of his long explana- 
 tion, we do not in the least comprehend it yet. 
 The explanation, however, which is very cu- 
 rious, it is our duty to lay before our readers. 
 
 Mr. Rose was much patronised by the late 
 Earl of Marchmont, who left him his family 
 papers, with an injunction to make use of 
 them, " if it should ever become necessary." 
 Among these papers was a narrative by Sir 
 Patrick Hume, the earl's grandfather, of 'he 
 occurrences which befell him and his associ- 
 ates in the unfortunate expedition undertaken 
 by the Earl of Argyle in 1685. Mr. Fox, in 
 detailing the history of that expedition, has 
 passed a censure, as Mr. Rose thinks, on the 
 character of Sir Patrick; and, to obviate the 
 effects of that censure, he now finds it "ne- 
 cessary" to publish this volume. 
 
 All this sounds very chivalrous and affec- 
 
296 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 tionate ; but we have three little remarks to 
 make. In the first place, Mr. Fox passes no 
 censure on Sir Patrick Hume. In the second 
 place, this publication does by uo means obvi- 
 ate the censure of which Mr. Rose complains. 
 And, thirdly, it is utterly absurd to ascribe Mr. 
 Rose's part of the volume, in which Sir Pat- 
 rick Hume is scarcely ever mentioned, to any 
 anxiety about his reputation. 
 
 In the first place, it is quite certain that Mr. 
 Fox passes no censure on Sir Patrick Hume. 
 On the contrary, he says of him, that " he had 
 early distinguished himself in the cause of 
 liberty;" and afterwards rates him so very 
 highly as to think it a sufficient reason for 
 construing some doubtful points in Sir John 
 Cochrane's conduct favourably, that " he had 
 always acted in conjunction with Sir Patrick 
 Hume, who is proved by the subsequent events, 
 and, indeed, by the whole tenour of his life and con- 
 duct, to have been uniformly sincere and zealous in 
 the cause of his country," Such is the deliberate 
 and unequivocal testimony which Mr. Fox has 
 borne to the character of this gentleman ; and 
 such the historian, whose unjust censures have 
 compelled the Riglit Honourable George Rose 
 to indite 250 quarto pages, out of pure regard 
 to the injured memory of this ancestor of his 
 deceased patron. 
 
 Such is Mr. Fox's opinion, then, of Sir Pat- 
 rick Hume; and the only opinion he anywhere 
 gives of his character. With regard to his con- 
 duct, he observes, indeed, in one place, that he 
 and the other gentlemen engaged in the enter- 
 prise appear to have paid too little deference 
 to the opinion of their noble leader; and nar- 
 rates, in another, that, at the breaking up of 
 their little army, they did not even stay to rea- 
 son with him, but crossed the Clyde with such 
 as would follow them. Now, Sir Patrick's 
 own narrative, so far from contradicting either 
 of these statements, confirms them both in the 
 most remarkable manner. There is scarcely 
 a page of it that does not show the jealous and 
 controlling spirit which was exercised towards 
 their leader; and, with regard to the conclud- 
 ing scene, Sir Patrick's own account makes 
 infinitely more strongly against himself and 
 Sir John Cochrane, than the general state- 
 ment of Mr. Fox. So far from staying to argue 
 with their general before parting with him, it 
 appears that Sir Patrick did not so much as 
 see him; and that Cochrane, at whose sugges- 
 tion he deserted him, had in a manner ordered 
 that unfortunate nobleman to leave their com- 
 pany. The material words of the narrative 
 are these : — 
 
 " On coming down to Kilpatrick, I met Sir 
 John (Cochrane), with others accompanieing 
 him; who takeing vtee by the hand, turned mee, 
 saying, My heart, goe you with mee ? Whither 
 goe you, said I? Over Glide bj" boate, said 
 he. — I: Wher is Argyle 1 I must see him. — 
 He : He is gone away to his owne countrey, 
 }-ou cannot see him. — I : How comes this 
 change of resolution, and that wee went not 
 together to Glasgow 1 — He: It is no time to 
 answer questions, but I shall satisfy you after- 
 ward. To the boates wee came, filled 2, and 
 rnved over," &c. — " An honest gentleman who 
 
 was present, told mee afterward the manner 
 of his parting with the Erie. Argyle being in 
 the roome with Sir John, the gentleman com- 
 ing in, found confusion in the Erie's counte- 
 nance and speach. In end he said, Sir John, I 
 pray advise mee what shall I doe; shall I goe 
 over Glide with you, or shall I goe to my owne 
 countrey] Sir John answered, My Lord, I 
 have told you my opinion ; you have some High- 
 landers here about you; it is best you goe to your 
 owne countrey with them, for it is to no purpose for 
 you to go over Glide. My lord, faire you well. 
 Then call'd the gentleman, Come away. Sir ,• 
 ivho followed him ivhen I met uith him." — Sir P. 
 Hume's Narrative, pp. 63, 64. 
 
 Such are all the censures which Mr. Fox 
 passes upon this departed worthy ; and such 
 the contradiction which Mr. Rose now thinks it 
 necessar}' to exhibit. It is very true that Mr. 
 Fox, in the course of his narrative, is under 
 the necessity of mentioning, on the credit of 
 all the historians who have treated of the sub- 
 ject, that Arg}ie, after his capture, did express 
 himself in terms of strong disapprobation both 
 ofSir Patrick Hume and of Sir John Cochrane; 
 and said, that their ignorance and misconduct 
 were, though not designedly, the chief cause of 
 his failure. Mr. Fox neither adopts nor rejects 
 this sentiment. He gives his own opinion, as 
 we have already seen, in terms of the highest 
 encomium, on the character of Sir Patrick 
 Hume, and merely repeats the expressions of 
 Argyle as he found them in Wodrow and the 
 other historians, and as he was under the ne- 
 cessity of repeating them, if he was to give 
 any account of the last words of that unfortu- 
 nate nobleman. It is this censure of Argyle, 
 then, perhaps, and not any censure of Mr. Fox's, 
 that Mr. Rose intended to obviate by the publi- 
 cation before us. But, upon this supposition, 
 how did the appearance of Mr. Fox's book con- 
 stitute that necessity which compelled the tender 
 conscience of Lord Marchmont's executor to 
 give to the world this long-lost justification of 
 his ancestor 1 The censure did not appear for 
 the first time in Mr. Fox's book. It was re- 
 peated, during Sir Patrick's own life, in all the 
 papers of the time, and in all the historians 
 since. Sir Patrick lived nearly forty good 
 years after this accusation of Argyle was mado 
 public ; and thirty-six of those years in great 
 credit, honour, and publicity. If he had 
 thought that the existence of such an accusa- 
 tion constituted a kind of moral necessity for 
 the publication of his narrative, it is evident 
 that he would himself have published it ; and 
 if it was not necessary then, while he was 
 alive, to sufier by the censure of his leader, or 
 to profit by its refutation, it is not easy to iin- 
 derstand how it should be necessary now, when 
 130 years have elapsed from the date of it, and 
 the bones of its author have reposed for nearly 
 a century in their peaceful and honoured 
 monument. 
 
 That the narrative never was published be- 
 fore, though the censure, to which it is supposed 
 to be an antidote, had been published for more 
 than a century, is a pretty satisfactory proof 
 that those who were most interested and best 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 qualified to judge, either did not consider the 
 censure as very deadly, or the antidote as very 
 effectual. We are very well contented to leave 
 it doubtful which of these was the case ; and 
 we are convinced that all the readers of Mr. 
 Rose's book will agree that it is still very 
 doubtful. Sir Patrick, in his narrative, no 
 doubt, says that Argyle was extremely arrogant, 
 self-willed, and obstinate ; but it is equally cer- 
 tain, that the earl said to him that he was 
 jealous, disobedient, and untractable. Both 
 were men of honour and veracity; and, we 
 doubt not, believed what they said. It is even 
 possible that both may have said truly; but, at 
 this distance of time, and with no new evidence 
 but the averment of one of the parties, it would 
 be altogether ridiculous to pretend to decide 
 which may have come nearest to an impartial 
 statement. Before the publication of the pre- 
 sent narrative, it is plain from Wodrow, Bur- 
 net, and other writers, that considerable blame 
 was generally laid on Argyle for his perempto- 
 riness and obstinacy; and, now that the narra- 
 tive is published, it is still more apparent than 
 ever that he had some ground for the charges 
 he made against his officers. The whole 
 tenour of it shows that they were constantly in 
 the habit of checking and thwarting him; and 
 we have already seen that it gives a very lame 
 and unsatisfactory account of their strange 
 desertion of him, when their fortunes appeared 
 to be desperate. 
 
 It is perfectly plain, therefore, we conceive, 
 that the publication of Mr. Fox's book consti- 
 tuted neither a necessity nor an intelligible in- 
 ducement for the publication of this narrative; 
 and that the narrative, now that it is published, 
 has no tendency to remove any slight shade 
 of censure that history may have thrown over 
 the temper or prudence of Sir Patrick Hume. 
 But, even if all this had been otherwise — if 
 Mr. Fox had, for the first time, insinuated a 
 censure on this defunct whig, and if the narra- 
 tive had contained the most complete refuta- 
 tion of such a censure, — this might, indeed, 
 have accounted for the publication of Sir 
 Patrick's narrative ; but it could not have ac- 
 counted at all for the publication of Mr. Rose's 
 book — the only thing to be accounted for. The 
 narrative is given as an appendix of 65 pages 
 to a volume of upwards of 300. In publishing 
 the narrative, Mr. Rose did not assume the 
 character of "an author," and was not called 
 upon, by the responsibility of that character, 
 to explain to the world his reasons for " sub- 
 mitting himself to their judgment." It is only 
 for his book, then, exclusive of the narrative, 
 that Mr. Rose can be understood to be offering 
 any apology; and the apology he offers is, that 
 it sprung from the impulse of private friend- 
 ship. When the matter is looked into, how- 
 ever, it turns out, that though private friendship 
 may, by a great stretch, be supposed to have 
 dictated the publication of the appendix, it can 
 by no possibility account, or help to account, 
 for the composition of the book. Nay, the ten- 
 dency and tenour of the book are such as this 
 ardent and romantic friendship must necessa- 
 rily condemn. It contains nothing whatever 
 in praise or in defence of Sir Patrick Hume; 
 but it contains a very keen, and not a very 
 38 
 
 candid, attack upon his party and his principles. 
 Professing to be published from anxiety to vin- 
 dicate and exalt the memory of an insurgent 
 revolution whig, it consists almost entirely of 
 an attempt to depreciate whig principles, and 
 openly to decry and vilify such of Mr. Fox's 
 opinions as Sir Patrick Hume constantly ex- 
 emplified in his actions. There never was an 
 effect, we believe, imputed to so improbable a 
 cause. 
 
 Finally, we may ask, if Mr. Rose's view, in 
 this publication, was merely to vindicate the 
 memory of Sir Patrick Hume, why he did not 
 put into Mr. Fox's hands the information which 
 would have rendered all vindication unneces- 
 sary 1 It was known to all the world, for 
 several years, that Mr. Fox was engaged in the 
 history of that period; and if Mr. Rose really 
 thought that the papers in his custody gave a 
 different view of Sir Patrick's conduct from 
 that exhibited in the printed authorities, was it 
 not his duty to put Mr. Fox upon his guard 
 against being misled by them, and to commu- 
 nicate to him those invaluable documents to 
 which he could have access in no other way 1 
 Did he doubt that Mr. Fox would have candour 
 to state the truth, or that he would havt stated 
 with pleasure any thing that could exalt the 
 character of a revolution whig? Did he 
 imagine that any statement of his could ever 
 obtain equal notoriety and effect with a state- 
 ment in Mr. Fox's history? Or did he poorly 
 withhold this information, that he might detract 
 from the value of that history, and have to 
 boast to tiie public that there was one point 
 upon which he was better informed than that 
 illustrious statesman 1 As to the preposterous 
 apology which seems to be hinted at in the 
 book itself, viz., that it was Mr. Fox's business 
 to have asked for these papers, and not Mr. 
 Rose's to" have oflTered them, we shall only 
 observe, that it stands on a point of etiquette, ' 
 which would scarcely be permitted to govern 
 the civilities of tradesmen's wives ; and that it 
 seems not a little unreasonable to lay Mr. Fox 
 under the necessity of asking for papers, the 
 very existence of which he could have no 
 reason to expect. This narrative of Sir Pat- 
 rick Hume has now lain in the archives of 
 his family for 130 years, unknown and unsus 
 pected to all but its immediate proprietor; and, 
 distinguished as Sir Patrick was in his day in 
 Scotland, it certainly does not imply any extra- 
 ordinary stupidity in Mr. Fox, not to know, by 
 intuition, that there were papers of his in exist- 
 ence which might afford him some light on the 
 subject of his history. 
 
 We may appear to have dwelt too long on 
 these preliminary considerations, since the 
 intrinsic value of Mr. Rose's observations cer- 
 tainly will not be affected by the truth or the 
 fallacy of the motives he has assigned for pub- 
 lishing them. It is impossible, however, not 
 to see that, when a writer assigns a false 
 motive for his coming forward, he is commonly 
 conscious that the real one is discreditable: 
 and that to expose the hollowness of such a 
 pretence, is to lay the foundation of a whole- 
 some distrust of his general fairness and tem- 
 per. Any body certainly had a right to publish 
 remarks on Mr. Fox's work — and nobody a 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 better right than Mr. Rose ; and if he had stated 
 openlj', that all the habits and connections of 
 his life had led him to wish to see that work 
 discredited, no one would have been entitled to 
 complain of his exertions in the cause. When 
 he chooses to disguise this motive, however, 
 and to assign another which does not at all 
 account for the phenomenon, we are so far 
 from forgetting the existence of the other, that 
 we are internally convinced of its being much 
 stronger than we should otherwise have sus- 
 pected; and that it is only dissembled, because 
 it exists in a degree that could not have been 
 decently avowed. For the same reason, there- 
 fore, of enabling our readers more distinctly 
 to appreciate the intellect and temper of 
 this right honourable author, we must say 
 a word or two more of his Introduction, 
 before proceeding to the substance of his 
 remarks. 
 
 Besides the edifying history of his motive 
 for writing, we are favoured, in that singular 
 piece, with a number of his opinions upon 
 points no way connected with Mr. Fox or his 
 history ; and with a copious account of his 
 labours and studies in all kinds of juridical 
 and constitutional learning. In order to con- 
 firm an opinion that a minute knowledge of our 
 ancient history is not necessary to understand 
 our actual constitution, he takes an unintelligi- 
 ble survey of the progress of our government, 
 from the days of King Alfred, — and quotes 
 Lord Coke, Plowden, Doomsday Book, Lord 
 Ellesmere, Rymer's Fa2dera, Dugdale's Ori- 
 gines, the Rolls of Parliament, Whitelock, and 
 Abbot's Records; but, above all, "a report 
 which I made several years ago on the state 
 of the records in my custody." He then goes 
 on, in the most obliging manner, to inform his 
 readers that " Vertot's Account of the Revolu- 
 tions of Rome has been found very useful by 
 persons who have read the Roman History ; 
 but the best model that I have met with for 
 such a work as appears to me to be much 
 wanted, is a short History of Poland, which I 
 translated nearly forty years ago, but did not 
 publish ; the manuscript of which his majesty 
 at the time did me the honour to accept; and 
 it probably is still in his majesty's library." — 
 Introduction, pp. xxiv. xxv. 
 
 Truly all this is very interesting, and very 
 much to the purpose: — but scarcely more so 
 than eight or nine pages that follow, containing 
 a long account of the conversations which 
 Lord Marchmont had with Lord Bolingbroke, 
 about the politics of Queen Anne's ministers, 
 and which Mr. Rose now gives to the world 
 from his recollection of various conversations 
 between himself and Lord Marchmont. He 
 tells us, moreover, that, " accustomed as he has 
 been to official accuracy in statement," he had 
 naturally a quick eye for mistakes in fact or 
 in deduction; — that "having long enjoyed the 
 confidence and affectionate friendship of Mr. 
 Pitt," he has been more scrupulous than he 
 would otherwise have been in ascertaining the 
 grounds of his animadversions on the work of 
 his great rival; — and that, notwithstanding all 
 this anxiety, and the want of "disembarrass- 
 ment of mind" and "leisure of time," he has 
 compiled this volume in about as many weeks 
 
 as Mr. Fox took years to the work on which it 
 comments ! 
 
 For the Observations themselves, we must 
 say that we have perused them with conside- 
 rable pleasure — not certainly from any extra- 
 ordinary gratification which we derived from 
 the justness of the sentiments, or the elegance 
 of the style, but from a certain agreeable sur- 
 prise which we experienced on finding how 
 few parts of Mr. Fox's doctrine were considered 
 as vulnerable, even by Mr. Rose ; and in how 
 large a proportion of his freest and strongest 
 observations that jealous observer has ex- 
 pressed his most cordial concurrence. The 
 Right Honourable George Rose, we rather be- 
 lieve, is commonly considered as one of the* 
 least whiggish or democratical of all the pub- 
 lic characters who have lived in our times ; 
 and he has himself acknowledged, that a long 
 habit of political opposition to Mr. Fox had 
 perhaps given him a stronger bias against his 
 favourite doctrines than he might otherwise 
 have entertained. It was, therefore, no slight 
 consolation to us to find that the true princi- 
 ples of English liberty had made so great a 
 progress in the opinions of all men in upper 
 life, as to extort such an ample admission of 
 them, even from a person of Mr. Rose's habits 
 and connections. As we fear, however, that 
 the same justness and liberality of thinking 
 are by no means general among the more ob- 
 scure retainers of party throughout the country, 
 we think it may not be without its use to quote 
 a few of the passages to which we have 
 alluded, just to let the vulgar tories in the 
 provinces see how much of their favourite 
 doctrines has been abjured by their more en- 
 lightened chief and leaders in the seat of go- 
 vernment. 
 
 In the first place, there are all the passages 
 (which it would be useless and tedious to re- 
 cite) in which the patriotism and public virtue 
 of Sir P. Hume are held up to the admiration 
 of posterity. Now, Sir P. Hume, that true and 
 sincere lover of his country, whose "talents 
 and virtues his sovereign acknowledged and 
 rewarded," and " whose honours have been 
 attended by the sufirage of his country and the 
 approbation of good men," was, even in the 
 reign of Charles, concerned in designs analo- 
 gous to those of Russell and Sydney; — and, 
 very soon after the accession of James, and 
 (as Mr. Rose thinks) before that monarch had 
 done any thing in the least degree blameable, 
 rose up openly in arms, and endeavoured to 
 stir up the people to overthrow the existing 
 government. Even Mr. Fox hesitated as to 
 the M'isdom and the virtue of those engaged in 
 such enterprises ; — and yet Mr. Rose, profess- 
 ing to see danger in that writer's excessive 
 zeal for liberty, writes a book to extol the pa- 
 triotism of a premature insurgent. 
 
 After this we need not quote our author's 
 warm panegyrics on the Revolution — "that , 
 glorious event to which the measures of James 
 vecessarily led," — or on the character of Lord 
 Sommers, " whose wisdom, talents, political 
 courage and virtue, would alone have been suffi- 
 cient to insure the success of that measure." 
 It may surprise some of his political admirers 
 a little more, however, to find him professing 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDJ^EY SMITH. 
 
 299 
 
 ;hat he "concurs with Mr. Fox as to the expe- 
 diency of the bill of exclusion," (that boldest 
 and most decided of all whig measures) ; and 
 thinks " that the events which took place in 
 the next reign afford a strong justification of 
 the conduct of the promoters of that measure." 
 When his tory friends have digested that sen- 
 timent, they may look at his patriotic invec- 
 tives against the degrading connection of the 
 two last of the Stuart princes with the court 
 of France ; and the " scandalous profligacy ly 
 which Charles and his successor betrayed the 
 best interests of their country for miserable 
 stipends." There is something very edifying, 
 indeed, though we should fear a little alarm- 
 ing to courtly tempers, in the warmth with 
 which our author winds up his diatribe on 
 this interesting subject. " Every one," he ob- 
 serves, " who carries on a clandestine corre- 
 spondence with a foreign power, in matters 
 touching the interests of Great Britain, is pri- 
 ma fade guilty of a great moral, as well as po- 
 litical, crime. If a subject, he is a traitor to 
 his king and his country ; and if a monarch, 
 Jte is a traitor to the crown which he icears, and to 
 the empire which he governs. There may, by 
 possibility, be circumstances to extenuate the 
 former; there can be none to lessen our de- 
 testation of the latter."— (pp. 149, 150.) 
 
 Conformably to these sentiments, Mr. Rose 
 expresses his concurrence with all that Mr. 
 Fox says of the arbitrary and oppressive mea- 
 sures which distinguished the latter part of 
 Charles's reign ; — declares that " he has mani- 
 fested great temperance and forbearance in 
 the character which he gives of Jefferies ; — 
 and understated the enormity of the cruel and 
 detestable proceedings of the Scottish govern- 
 ment, in its unheard of acts of power, and the 
 miseries and persecutions which it inflicted ;" 
 admits that Mr. Fox's work treated of a period 
 *'in which the tyranny of the sovereign at home 
 was not redeemed by any glory or success 
 abroad ;" — and speaks of the Revolution as the 
 era " when the full measure of the monarch's 
 tyrannical usurpations made 7-esistance a duty para- 
 mount to every consideration of personal or public 
 danger." 
 
 It is scarcely possible, we conceive, to read 
 these, and many other passages which might 
 be quoted from the work before us, without 
 taking the author for a whig ; and it certainly 
 is not easy to comprehend how the writer of 
 them could quarrel with any thing in Mr. 
 Fox's history, for want of deference and vene- 
 ration for the monarchical part of our consti- 
 tution. To say the truth, we have not always 
 been able to satisfy ourselves of the worthy 
 author's consistency; and holding, as we are 
 inclined to do, that his natural and genuine 
 sentiments are liberal and manly, we can only 
 account for the narrowness and unfairness of 
 some of his remarks, by supposing them to 
 originate from the habits of his practical poli- 
 tics, and of that long course of opposition, in 
 which he learned to consider it a duty to his 
 party to discredit every thing that came from 
 the advocate of the people. We shall now say 
 a word or two on the remarks themselves, 
 which, as we have already noticed, will be 
 found to be infinitely fewer, and more insigni- 
 
 ficant, than any one, looking merely at the 
 bulk of the volume, could possibly have con- 
 jectured. 
 
 The first, of any sort of importance, is made 
 on those passages in which Mr. Fox calls the 
 execution of the king " a far less violent mea- 
 sure than that of Lord Straflbrd;" and says, 
 " that there ivas something in the splendour and 
 magnanimity of the act, which has served to 
 raise the character of the nation in the opinion 
 of Europe in general." Mr. Rose takes great 
 offence at both these remarks ; and says, that 
 the constitution itself was violated by the exe- 
 cution of the king, while the case of Lord 
 Strafford was but a private injury. We are 
 afraid Mr. Rose does not perfectly understand 
 Mr. Fox, — otherwise it would be difficult not 
 to agree with him. The grossness of Lord 
 Strafibrd's case consisted in this, that a bill of 
 attainder was brought in, after a regular pro- 
 ceeding by impeachment had been tried against 
 him. He was substantially acquitted, by the 
 most unexceptionable process known in our 
 law, before the bill of attainder came to declare 
 him guilty, and to punish him. There was 
 here, therefore, a most flagrant violation of all 
 law and justice, and a precedent for endless 
 abuses and oppressions. In the case of the 
 king, on the other hand, there could be no vio- 
 lation of settled rules or practice ; because the 
 case itself was necessarily out of the purv^iew 
 of every rule, and could be drawn into no pre- 
 cedent. The constitution, no doubt, was ne- 
 cessarily destroyed or suspended by the trial ; 
 but Mr. Rose appears to forget that it had been 
 destroyed or suspended before, by the war, or 
 by the acts of the king which brought on the 
 war. If it was lawful to fight against the king, 
 it must have been lawful to take him prisoner: 
 after he was a prisoner, it was both lawful and 
 necessary to consider what should be done 
 with him ; and every deliberation of this sort 
 had all the assumption, and none of the fair- 
 ness of a trial. Yet Mr. Rose has himself 
 told us, that " there are cases in which resist- 
 ance becomes a paramount duty ;" and pro- 
 bably is not prepared to say, that it was more 
 violent and criminal to drive King James from 
 the throne in 1688, than to wrest all law and 
 justice to take the life of Lord Strafford in 
 1641. Yet the constitution was as much 
 violated by the forfeiture of the one sove- 
 reign, as by the trial and execution of the 
 other. It was impossible that the trial of King 
 Charles might have terminated in a sentence 
 of mere deprivation ; and if James had fought 
 against his people, and been conquered, he 
 might have been tried and executed. The con- 
 stitution was gone for the time, in both cases, 
 as soon as force was mutually appealed to ; 
 and the violence that followed thereafter, to 
 the person of the monarch, can receive no ag- 
 gravation from any view of that nature. 
 
 With regard, again, to the loyal horror which 
 Mr. Rose expresses, when Mr. Fox speaks of 
 the splendour and magnanimity of the pro- 
 ceedings against the king, it is probable that 
 this zealous observer was not aware, that his 
 favourite " prerogative writer," Mr. Hume, ha'l 
 used the same, or still loftier expressions, iri 
 relation to the same event. Some of the words 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 of that loyal and unsuspected historian are as 
 follows: — "the pomp, the dignity, the cere- 
 mony of this transaction, correspond to the 
 greatest conceptions that are suggested in the 
 annals of human kind ; — the delegates of a 
 great people sitting in judgment upon their 
 supreme magistrate, and trying him for his 
 mismanagement and breach of trust."* Cor- 
 dially as we agree with Mr. Fox in the unpro- 
 fitable severity of this example, it is impossi- 
 ble, we conceive, for any one to consider the 
 great, grave, and solemn movement of the 
 nation that led to it, or the stern and dispas- 
 sionate temper in which it was conducted, 
 without feeling that proud contrast between 
 this execution and that of all other deposed 
 sovereigns in history, — which led Mr. Fox, in 
 common with Mr. Hume, and every other 
 writer on the subject, to make use of the ex- 
 pressions which have been alluded to. 
 
 When Mr. Rose, in the close of his remarks 
 upon this subject, permits himself to insinu- 
 ate, tliat if Mr. Fox thought such high praise 
 due to the publicity, &c., of King Charles's 
 trial, he must have felt unbounded admiration 
 at that of Lewis XVI., he has laid himself open 
 to a charge of such vulgar and uncandid un- 
 fairness, as was not to have been at all ex- 
 pected from a person of his rank and descrip- 
 tion. If Lewis XVI. had been openly in arms 
 against his people, — if the Convention had 
 required no other victim — and had settled into 
 a regular government as soon as he was re- 
 moved, — there might have been more room 
 for a parallel, — to which, as the fact actually 
 stands, every Briton must listen with indigna- 
 tion. Lewis XVI. was wantonly sacrificed to 
 the rage of an insane and bloodthirsty faction, 
 and tossed to the executioner among the com- 
 mon supplies for the guillotine. The publi- 
 city and parade of his trial were assumed from 
 no love of justice, or sense of dignity; but 
 from a low principle of profligate and clamo- 
 rous defiance to every thing that had become 
 displeasing: and ridiculous and incredible as 
 it would appear of any other nation, we have 
 not the least doubt that a certain childish emu- 
 lation of the avenging liberty of the English 
 had its share in producing this paltry copy of 
 our grand and original daring. The insane 
 coxcombs who blew out their brains, after a 
 piece of tawdry declamation, in some of the 
 provincial assemblies, were about as like Cato 
 or Hannibal, as the trial and execution of 
 Lewis was like the condemnation of King 
 Charles. Our regicides were serious and ori- 
 ginal at least, in the bold, bad deeds which 
 they committed. The regicides of France 
 were poor theatrical imitators, — intoxicated 
 with blood and with power, and incapable even 
 of forming a sober estimate of the guilt or the 
 consequences of their actions. Before leav- 
 ing this subject, we must remind our readers 
 that Mr. Fox unequivocally condemns the exe- 
 cution of the king; and spends some time in 
 showing that it was excusable neither on the 
 ground of present expediency nor future warn- 
 ing. After he had finished that statement, he 
 proceeds to sa}^ that notwithstanding what the 
 more reasonable part of mankind may think, 
 ♦ Hume's History, vol. vii. p. 141. 
 
 it is to be doubted, whether that proceeding 
 has not served to raise the national character 
 in the eyes of foreigners, &c. ; and then goes 
 on to refer to the conversations he had him- 
 self witnessed on that subject abroad. A man 
 must be a very zealous royalist, indeed, to dis- 
 believe or be offended with this. 
 
 Mr. Rose's next observation is in favour of 
 General Monk; upon whom he is of opinion 
 that Mr. Fox has been by far too severe, — at 
 the same time that he fails utterly in obviating 
 any of the grounds upon which that severity 
 is justified. Monk was not responsible alone, 
 indeed, for restoring the king, without taking 
 any security for the people ; but as wielding 
 the whole power of the army, by which that 
 restoration was eflfected, he is certainly chiefly 
 responsible for that most Criminal omission. 
 As to his indifference to the fate of his com- 
 panions in arms, Mr. Rose does, indeed, quote 
 the testimony of his chaplain, who wrote a 
 complimentary life of his patron, to prove 
 that, on the trial of the regicides, he behaved 
 with great moderation. We certainly do not 
 rate this testimony very highly; and do think 
 it far more than compensated by that of Mrs. 
 Hutchinson, who, in the life of her husband, 
 says, that on the first proceedings against the 
 regicides in the House of Commons, "Monk 
 sate still, and had not one word to interpose 
 for any man, but was as forward to set vengeance 
 on foot as any one."* And a little afterwards 
 she adds, apparently from her own personal 
 knowledge and observation, that "before the 
 prisoners were brought to the Tower, Monk 
 and his wife came one evening to the garden, 
 and caused them to be brought down, only to 
 stare at them, — which was such a behaviour 
 for that man, who had betrayed so many of 
 those that had honoured and trusted him, &c., 
 as no story can parallel the inhumanity of."f 
 With regard again to Mr. Fox's charge of 
 Monk's tamely acquiescing in the insults so 
 meanly put on the illustrious corps of his old 
 commander Blake, it is perfectly evident, even 
 from the authorities referred to by Mr. Rose, 
 that Blake's body was dug up by the king's 
 order, among others, and removed out of the 
 hallowed precincts of Westminster, to be re- 
 interred, with twenty more, in one pit at St. 
 Margaret's. 
 
 But the chief charge is, that on the trial of 
 Argyle, Monk spontaneously sent down some 
 confidential letters, which turned the scale of 
 evidence against that unfortunate nobleman. 
 This statement, to which Mr. Fox is most ab- 
 surdly blamed for giving credit, is made on 
 the authority of the three historians Vho lived 
 nearest to the date of the transaction, and who 
 all report it as quite certain and notorious. 
 These historians are Burnet, Baillie, and Cun- 
 ningham; nor are they contradicted by any 
 one writer on the subject, except Dr. Camp- 
 bell, who, at a period comparatively recent, 
 and without pretending to have discovered any 
 new document on the subject, is pleased to dis- 
 believe them upon certain hypothetical and ar- 
 gumentative reasons of his own. These rea- 
 sons Mr. Laing has examined and most satis- 
 factorily obviated in his history ; and Mr. Rose 
 ♦ Life of Colonel Hutchinson, p. 372. f Ibid. p. 378. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 has exerted incredible industry to defend. The 
 Scottish recoi'ds for that period have perished ; 
 and for this reason, and because a collection 
 of pamphlets and newspapers of that age, in 
 Mr. Rose's possession, make no mention of the 
 circumstance, he thinks fit to discredit it alto- 
 gether. If this kind of scepticism were to be 
 indulged, there would be an end of all reliance 
 on history. In this particular case, both Bur- 
 net and Baillie speak quite positively, from 
 the information of contemporaries ; and state a 
 circumstance that would very well account 
 for the silence of the formal accounts of the 
 trial, if any such had been preserved, viz., that 
 Monk's letters were not produced till after the 
 evidence was finished on both sides, and the 
 debate begun on the result; — an irregularity, 
 by the way, by much too gross to have been 
 charged against a public proceeding without 
 any foundation. 
 
 Mr. Rose's next observation is directed ra- 
 ther against Judge Blackstone than against 
 Mr. Fox; and is meant to show, that this 
 learned person was guilty of great inaccuracy 
 in representing the year 1679 as the era of 
 good laws and bad government. It is quite 
 impossible to follow him through the dull de- 
 tails and feeble disputations by which he la- 
 bours, to make it appear that our laws were 
 not very good in 1679, and that they, as well 
 as the administration of them, were much 
 mended after the Revolution. Mr. Fox's, or 
 rather Blackstone's remark is too obviously 
 and strikingly true in substance, to admit of 
 any argument or illustration.* 
 
 The next charge against Mr. Fox is for say- 
 ing, that if Charles II.'s ministers betrayed 
 him, he betrayed them in return; keeping, 
 from some of them at least, the secret of what 
 
 * Mr. Rose talks a great deal, and justly, about the 
 advantages of the judges not being removable at plea- 
 sure ; and, with a great air of erudition, informs us, 
 that after 6 Charles, all the commissions were made 
 quamdiu nobis placiierit. Mr. Rose's researches, we fear, 
 do not often go beyond the records in his custody. If he 
 had looked into Rushworth's Collection, he would have 
 found, that, in 1641, King Charles agreed to make the 
 commission, gtiamdiu se bene gesserint ; and that some 
 of those illegally removed in the foUovv'ing reign, though 
 not otSciating in court, stilt retained certain functions in 
 consequence of that appointment. The following is the 
 passage, at p. 1265, vol. iii. of Rushworth : "After the 
 passingof these votes (IRth December, 1640) against the 
 judges, and transmitting them to the House of Peers, 
 and their concurring with the House of Commons therein, 
 an address was made unto the king shortly after, that 
 Iiis majesty, for the future, would not make any judge 
 by patent during' pleasure ; i)ut that they may hold their 
 places hereafter, quamdiu se bene gesserint ; and his ma- 
 jesty did really grant the same. And in his speech to 
 both houses of Parliamer^t, at the time of giving his 
 royal assent to two bills, one to take away the High 
 Commission Court, and the other the Court of Star- 
 Chamher, and regulating the power of the council table, 
 he hath this passage ; ' If you consider what I have 
 done this Parliament, discontents will not sit in your 
 hearts ; for I hope you remember, that I have granted, 
 that the judges hereafter shall hold their places quamdiu 
 se bene gesserint.' And likewise, his gracious majesty 
 King Charles the Second observed the same rule and 
 method in granting patents to judges, quamdiu se bene 
 ge.vserint ; as appears upon record in the Rolls ; viz., to 
 .Sergeant Slide to be Lord Chief Justice of the King's 
 Bench, Sir Orlando Bridgeman to be Lord Chief Baron, 
 and afterwards to be Lord Chief Justice of Common 
 Pleas; to Sir Robert Forster, and others. Mr. Sergeant 
 Archer, now living, notwithstanding his removal, still en- 
 joys his patent, being quamdiu se bene gesserint ; and re- 
 ceives a share in the profits of the court, as to fees and 
 other proceedings, by virtue of his said patent : and his 
 name is used in those fines, &.C., as a judge of that court." 
 
 he was pleased to call his religion, and the 
 state of his connections with France. After 
 the furious attack which Mr. Rose has made 
 in another place upon this prince and his 
 French connections, it is rather surprising to 
 see with what zeal he undertakes his defence 
 against this very venial sort of treachery, of 
 concealing his shame from some of his more 
 respectable ministers. The attempt, however, 
 is at least as unsuccessful as it is unaccount- 
 able. Mr. Fox says only, that some of the 
 ministers were not trusted with the secret ; 
 and both Dalrymple and Macpherson say, that 
 none but the Catholic counsellors Avere admit- 
 ted to this confidence. Mr. Rose mutters, that 
 there is no evidence of this ; and himself pro- 
 duces an abstract of the secret treaty between 
 Lewis and Charles, of May, 1670, to which the 
 subscriptions of four Catholic ministers of the 
 latter are affixed ! 
 
 Mr. Fox is next taxed with great negligence 
 for saying, that he does not know what 
 proof there is of Clarendon's being privy to 
 Charles receiving money from France; and 
 very long quotations are inserted from the 
 correspondence printed by Dalrymple and 
 Macpherson — which do not prove Clarendon's 
 knowledge of any mone)'' being received, though 
 the}' do seem to establish that he must have 
 known of its being stipulated for. 
 
 After this comes Mr. Rose's grand attack ; 
 in which he charges the historian with his 
 whole heavy artillery of argument and quota- 
 tion, and makes a vigorous effort to drive him 
 from the position, that the early and primary 
 object of James's reign was not to establish 
 popery in this country, but in the first place 
 to render himself absolute : and that, for a 
 considerable time, he does not appear to have 
 aimed at any thing more than a complete tole- 
 ration for his own religion. The grounds 
 upon which this opinion is maintained by Mr. 
 Fox are certainly very probable. There is, in 
 the first place, his zeal for the Church of Eng- 
 land during his brother's life, and the violent 
 oppressions by which he enforced a Protestant 
 test in Scotland ; secondly, the fact of his carry- 
 ing on the government and the persecution of 
 nonconformist's by Protestant ministers; and, 
 thirdly, his addresses to his Parliament, and 
 the tenour of much of his correspondence with 
 Lewis. In opposition to this, Mr. Rose quotes 
 an infinite variety of passages from Barillon's 
 correspondence, to show in general the un- 
 feigned zeal of this unfortunate prince for his 
 religion, and his constant desire to glorify and 
 advance it. Now, it is perfectly obvious, in 
 the first place, that Mr. Fox never intended to 
 dispute James's zeal for popery ; and, in the 
 second place, it is very remarkable, that in the 
 first serc/i passages quoted by Mr. Rose, nothing 
 more is said to be in the king's contemplation 
 than the complete toleration of that religion. 
 " The free exercise of the Catholic religion in 
 their own houses," — the abolition of the penal 
 laws against Catholics, — " the free exercise 
 of that religion," &c. «Scc., are the only objects 
 to which the zeal of the king is said to be 
 directed ; and it is not till after the suppression 
 of Monmouth's rebellion, that these phrase^ 
 are exchanged for "a resolution to establish the 
 ?C 
 
302 
 
 WORKS OF THL KEY. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 Catholic )-eIigio7i," or " to get that religion esta- 
 blished;" though it would be fair, perhaps, to 
 interpret some even of these phrases with re- 
 ference to those which precede them in the 
 correspondence ; especiallj^ as, in a letter from 
 Lewis to Barillon, so late as 20th August, 
 1685, he merely urges the great expediency 
 of James establishing "the free exercise" of that 
 religion. 
 
 After all, in reality, there is not much sub- 
 stantial difference as to this point between the 
 historian and his observer. Mr. Fox admits 
 most explicitly, that James was zealous in the 
 cause of popery; and that after Monmouth's 
 execution, he made attempts equally violent 
 and undisguised to restore it. Mr. Rose, on 
 the other hand, admits that he was exceeding- 
 ly desirous to render himself absolute ; and 
 that one ground of his attachment to popery 
 probably was, its natural athnity with an arbi- 
 traiy government. Upon which of these two 
 objects he set the chief value, and which of 
 them he wished to make subservient to the 
 other, it is not perhaps now very easy to de- 
 termine. In addition to the authorities referred 
 to by Mr. Fox, however, there are many more 
 which tend directly to show that one great 
 ground of his antipathy to the reformed reli- 
 gion was, his conviction that it led to rebellion 
 and republicanism. There are very many 
 passages in Barillon to this elfect; and, in- 
 deed, the burden of all Lewis's letters is to 
 convince James that "the existence of mo- 
 narchy" in England depended on the protec- 
 tion of the Catholics. Barillon says (Fox, 
 App. p. 125), that "the king often declares 
 publicly, that all Calvinists are naturally ene- 
 mies to royalty, and above all, to royalty in 
 England." And Burnet observes (vol. i. 
 p. 73), that the king told him, "that among 
 other prejudices he had against the Protestant 
 religion, this was one, that his brother and 
 himself being in many companies in Paris 
 incognito (during the Commonwealth), where 
 there were Protestants, he found they were all 
 alienated from them, and great admirers of 
 Cromwell ; so he believed they were all rebels in 
 their hearts." It will not be forgotten either, 
 tha» m his first address to the council, on his 
 accession, he made use of those memorable 
 words : — "I know the principles of the Church 
 of England are for monarchy, and therefore I 
 shall always take care to defend and support 
 it." While he retained this opinion of its 
 loyalty, accordingly, he did defend and sup- 
 port it; and did persecute all dissidents from 
 its doctrine, at least as violently as he after- 
 wards did those who opposed popery. It was 
 only when he found that the orthodox doc- 
 trines of non-resistance and jus divinum would 
 not go all lengths, and that even the bishops 
 would not send his proclamation to their 
 clergy, that he came to class them with the 
 rest of the heretics, and to rely entirely upon 
 the slavish votaries of the Roman supersti- 
 tion. 
 
 The next set of remarks is introduced for 
 ihe purpose of showing that Mr. Fox has gone 
 rather too far, in stating that the object both 
 of Charles and James in taking money from 
 Lewis was to render themselves independent 
 
 of Parliament, and to enable them to govern., 
 without those assemblies. Mr. Rose admits 
 that this was the point which both monarchs 
 were desirous of attaining; and merely says, 
 that it does not appear that either of them ex- 
 pected that the calling of Parliaments could 
 be entirely dispensed with. There certainly 
 is not here any worthy subject of contention. 
 
 The next point is, as to the sums of money 
 which Barillon says he distributed to the 
 whig leaders, as well as to the king's minis- 
 ters. Mr. Rose is very liberal and rational on 
 this subject; and thinks it not unfair to doubt 
 the accuracy of the account which this minis- 
 ter renders of his disbursements. He even 
 quotes two passages from Mad. de Sevigne, to 
 show that it was the general opinion that he 
 had enriched himself greatly by his mission 
 to England. In a letter written during the 
 continuance of that mission, she says, " Baril- 
 lon s'en va, &c. ; son emploi est admirable cetle 
 annee ; il mangera nnqiiante mille francs ; rnais 
 it sait bien ou les prendre." And after his final 
 return, she says he is old and rich, and looks 
 without envy on the brilliant situation of M. 
 D' A vans. "The only inference he draws from 
 the discussion is, that it should have a little 
 shaken Mr. Fox's confidence in his accuracy. 
 The answer to which obviously is, that his 
 mere dishonesty, where his private interest 
 was concerned, can afford no reason for doubt- 
 ing his accuracy where it was not affected. 
 
 In the concluding section of his remarks, 
 Mr. Rose resumes his eulogium on Sir Patrick 
 Hume, — introduces a splendid encomium on 
 the Marquis of Montrose, — brings authority 
 to show that torture was used to extort con- 
 fession in Scotland even after the Revolu- 
 tion, — and then breaks out into a high tory 
 rant against Mr. Fox, for supposing that the 
 councillors who condemned Argj'le might not 
 be very easy in their consciences, and for call- 
 ing tho-se who were hunting down that noble- 
 man's dispersed followers "authorized assas- 
 sins." James, he says, was their lauful sove- 
 7-eign; and the parties in question having been 
 in open rebellion, it was the evident duty of 
 all who had not joined with them to suppress 
 them. We are not very fond of arguing gene- 
 ral points of this nature; and the question 
 here is fortunatelj- special and simple. If the 
 tyranny and oppression of James in Scotland — 
 the unheard-of enormity of which Mr. Rose 
 owns that Mr. Fox has understated — had al- 
 ready given that country a far juster title to 
 renounce him than England had in 1688; then 
 James was not " their lawful sovereign" in any 
 sense in which that phrase can be understood 
 by a free people; and those whose cowardice 
 or despair made them submit to be the instru- 
 ments of the tyrant's vengeance on one who 
 had armed for their deliverance, may very in- 
 nocently be presumed to have suffered some 
 remorse for their compliance. With regard, 
 again, to the phrase of "authorized assassins." 
 it is plain, from the context of Mr. Fox, that 
 it is not applied to the regular forces acting 
 against the remains of Argyle's armc;/ follow- 
 ers, but to those individuals, whether military 
 or not, who pursued the disanned and soli- 
 tary fugitives, for the purpose of butchering 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 them in cold blood, in their caverns and moun- 
 tains. 
 
 Such is the substance of Mr. Rose's obser- 
 vations ; which certainly do not appear to us 
 of any considerable value — though they indi- 
 cate, throughout, a laudable industry, and a 
 still more laudable consciousness of infe- 
 riority, — together with (what we are deter- 
 mined to believe) a natural disposition to 
 liberality and moderation, counteracted by the 
 littleness of party jealousy and resentment. 
 We had noted a great number of petty mis- 
 representations and small inaccuracies; but 
 in a work which is not likely either to be 
 much read, or long remembered, these things 
 are not worth the trouble of correction. 
 
 Though the book itself is very dull, how- 
 ever, we must say that the Appendix is very 
 entertaining. Sir Patrick's narrative is clear 
 and spirited; but what delights us far more, is 
 another and more domestic and miscellaneous 
 narrative of the adventures of his family, from 
 the period of Argyle's discomfiture till their 
 return in the train of King William. This is 
 from the hand of Lady Murray, Sir Patrick's 
 grand-daughter; and is mostly furnished from 
 the information of her mother, liis favourite 
 and exemplary daughter. There is an air of 
 cheerful magnanimity and artless goodness 
 about this little history, which is extremely 
 engaging : and a variety of traits of Scottish 
 simplicity and homeliness of character, which 
 recommend it, in a peculiar manner, to our 
 national feelings. Although we have already 
 enlarged this article beyond its proper limits, 
 we must give our readers a few specimens of 
 this singular chronicle. 
 
 After Sir Patrick's escape, he made his way 
 to his own castle, and was concealed for some 
 time in a vault under the church, where his 
 daughter, then a girl under twenty, went alone, 
 every night, with an heroic fortitude, to com- 
 fort " and feed him. The gaiety, however, 
 which lightened this perilous intercourse, is to 
 us still more admirable than its heroism. 
 
 " She went every night by herself, at mid- 
 night, to carry him victuals and drink; and 
 stayed with him as long as she could to get 
 home before day. In all this time, my grand- 
 father showed the same constant composure, 
 and cheerfulness of mind, that he continued to 
 possess to his death, which was at the age of 
 eighty-four; all which good qualities she in- 
 herited from him in a high degree. Often did 
 they laugh heartily in that doleful habitation, at 
 different accidents that happened. She at that 
 time had a terror for a churchyard, especially 
 in the dark, as is not uncommon at her age, 
 by idle nursery stories ; but when engaged by 
 concern for her father, she stumbled over the 
 graves every night alone, without fear of any 
 kind entering her thoughts, but for soldiers 
 and parties in search of him, which the least 
 noise or motion of a leaf put her in terror for. 
 The minister's house was near the church. 
 The first night she went, his dogs kept such a 
 barking as put her in the utmost fear of a dis- 
 covery. My grandmother sent for the minister 
 next day, and, upon pretence of a mad dog, 
 got him to hang all his dogs. There was also 
 difficulty of getting victuals to carry him, with- 
 
 out the servants suspecting: the only way it 
 was done, was by stealing it off her plate at 
 dinner, into her lap. Many a diverting story 
 she has told about this, and other things of the 
 like nature. Her father liked sheep's head; 
 and, while the children were eating their broth, 
 she had conveyed most of one into her lap. 
 When her brother Sandy (the late Lord March 
 mont) had done, he looked up with astonish- 
 ment and said, 'Mother, will you look at 
 Grizzel; while we have been eating our brolh, 
 she has eat up the whole sheep's head.' This 
 occasioned so much mirth among them, that her 
 father, at night, ivas greatly entertained by it ; and 
 desired Sandy might have a share in the next." — 
 App. p. [v.] 
 
 They then tried to secrete him in a low room 
 in his own house ; and, for this purpose, to con- 
 trive a bed concealed under the floor, which 
 this affectionate and light-hearted girl secretly 
 excavated herself, by scratching up the earth 
 with her nails, " till she left not a nail on her 
 fingers," and carrying it into the garden at 
 night in bags. At last, however, they all got 
 over to Holland, where they seem to have lived 
 in great poverty, — but in the same style of 
 magnanimous gaiety and cordial affection, of 
 which some instances have been recited. This 
 admirable young woman, who lived afterwards 
 with the same simplicity of character in the 
 first society in England, seems to have exerted 
 herself in a way that nothing but affection 
 could have rendered tolerable, even to one bred 
 up to drudgery. 
 
 "All the time they were there" (says his 
 daughter), "there was not a week my mother 
 did not sit up two nights, to do the business 
 that was necessary. She went to market ; 
 v/ent to the mill to have their corn ground, 
 which, it seems, is the way with good mana- 
 gers there; dressed the linen; cleaned the 
 house ; made ready dinner; mended the child- 
 ren's stockings, and other clothes ; made what 
 she could for them ; and, in short, did every 
 thing. Her sister Christian, who was a year 
 or two younger, diverted her father and mother, 
 and the rest, who were fond of music. Out of 
 their small income they bought a harpsichord 
 for little money (but is a Kucar*), now in my 
 custody, and most valuable. My aunt played 
 and sung well, and had a great deal of life and 
 humour, but no turn to business. Though my 
 mother had the same qualifications, and liked 
 it as well as she did, she was forced to drudge; 
 and many jokes used to pass betwixt the sisters 
 about their different occupations" — p. [ix.] 
 
 "Her brother soon afterwards entered into 
 the Prince of Orange's guards : and her con- 
 stant attention was to have him appear right in 
 his linen and dress. They wore little point 
 cravats and cuffs, which many a night she sat 
 up to have in as good order for him as any in 
 the place; and one of their greatest expenses 
 was in dressing him as he ought to be. As 
 their house was always full of the unfortunate 
 banished people like themselves, they seldom 
 went to dinner, without three, or four, or five 
 of them, to share with them ; and many a hun- 
 dred times I have heard her say, she could 
 
 An eminent maker of that time. 
 
304 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 never look back upon their manner of living 
 there, without thinking it a miracle. They had 
 no want, but plenty of every thing they desired, 
 and much contentment; and always declared 
 It the most pleasing part of her life, though 
 they were not without their little distresses; 
 but to them they were rather jokes than grievances. 
 The professors, and men of learning in the 
 place, came often to see my grandfather. The 
 best entertainment he could give them was a 
 glass of alabast beer, which was a better kind 
 of ale than common. He sent his son An- 
 drew, the late Lord Kimmerghame, a boy, to 
 draw some for them in the cellar: he brought 
 it up with great diligence ; but in the other 
 hand the spigot of the barrel. My grandfather 
 said, 'Andrew, what is that in your hand?' 
 When he saw it he run down with speed; but 
 the beer was all run out before he got there. 
 This occasioned much mirth; though, perhaps, 
 they did not well know where to get more." — 
 pp. [x. xi.] 
 
 Sir Patrick, we are glad to hear, retained this 
 kindly cheerfulness of character to the last; 
 and, after he was an earl and chancellor of 
 Scotland, and unable to stir with gout, had 
 himself carried to the room where his children 
 and grandchildren were dancing, and insisted 
 on beating time with his foot. Nay, when 
 dying at the advanced age of eighty-four, he 
 could not resist his old propensity to joking, 
 but uttered various pleasantries on the disap- 
 pointment the worms would meet with, when, 
 after boring through his thick cofFm, they 
 would find little but bones. 
 
 There is, in the Appendix, besides these 
 narrations, a fierce attack upon Burnet, which 
 is full of inaccuracies and ill temper; and 
 some interesting particulars of Monmouth's 
 imprisonment and execution. We dare say 
 Mr. Rose could publish a volume or two of 
 very interesting tracts; and can venture to 
 predict that his collections will be much more 
 popular than his observations. 
 
 DISTURBANCES AT MADEAS; 
 
 [Edinbukgh Review, 1810.] 
 
 The disturbances which have lately taken 
 place in our East Indian possessions, would, 
 at any period, have excited a considerable de- 
 gree of alarm ; and those feelings are, of 
 course, not a little increased by the ruinous 
 aspect of our European aff"airs. The revolt 
 of an army of eighty thousand men is an event 
 which seems to threaten so nearly the ruin of 
 the country in which it happens, that no com- 
 mon curiosity is excited as to the causes which 
 could have led to it, and the means by which 
 its danger was averted. On these points, we 
 shall endeavour to exhibit to our readers the 
 informaticn aflbrded to us by the pamphlets 
 ■whose titles we have cited. The first of these 
 is understood to be written by an agent of Sir 
 George Barlow, sent over for the express pur- 
 pose of def-inding his measures : the second is 
 most probably the production of some' one of 
 the dismissed officers, or, at least, founded upon 
 their representations ; the third statement is by 
 Mr. Petrie, — and we most cordially recommend 
 it to the perusal of our readers. It is charac- 
 terized, throughout, by moderation, good sense, 
 and a feeling of duty. We have seldom read 
 a narrative, which, on the first face of it, look- 
 ed so much like truth. It has, of course, pro- 
 duced the ruin and dismissal of this gentleman, 
 though we have not the shadow of doubt, that 
 if his advice had been followed, every unplea- 
 
 * JVarrative of the Origin and Proffress of the Dissen- 
 sinits; at the Presidency of Madras, founded on Original 
 Papers and Correspondence. Lloyd, London, ISIO. 
 
 .Sccovnt of the Origin and Progress of the late Discon- 
 tents of the Army nn the Madras Establishment. Cadell 
 and Davies, London, 1810. 
 
 Statement of Farts delivered to the Right Honourable 
 Lord Minto. By William Petrie Esq. Stockdale, 
 London, 1810. 
 
 sant occurrence which has happened in India 
 might have been effectually prevented. 
 
 In the year 1802, a certain monthly allow- 
 ance, proportioned to their respective ranks, 
 was given to each officer of the coast army, to 
 enable him to provide himself with camp 
 equipage; and a monthly allowance was also 
 made to the commanding officers of the native 
 corps, for the provision of the camp equipage 
 of these corps. This arrangement was com- 
 monly called the tent contract. Its intention (as 
 the pamphlet of Sir George Barlow's agent 
 very properly states) was to combine facility 
 of movement in military operations with views 
 of economy. In the general revision of its 
 establishments, set on foot for the purposes of 
 economy by the Madras government, this con- 
 tract was considered as entailing upon them a 
 very unnecessary expense ; and the then com- 
 mander-in-chief, General Craddock, directed 
 Colonel Munro, the quartermaster-general, to 
 make a report to him upon the subject. The 
 report, which was published almost as soon as 
 it was made up, recommends the abolition of 
 this contract; and, among other passages for 
 the support of this opinion, has the following 
 one : — 
 
 "Six years' experience of the practical 
 effects of the existing S3'stem of the camp 
 equipage equipment of the native army, has 
 atibrded means of forming a judgment relative 
 to its advantages and efficiency which were 
 not possessed by the persons who proposed 
 its introduction ; and an attentive examination 
 of its operations during that period of time 
 has suggested the following observations re- 
 garding it : — " 
 
 After stating that the contract is needlessly 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 305 
 
 expensive— that it subjects the Company to 
 the same charges for troops in garrison as for 
 those in the field — the report proceeds to state 
 the following observation, made on the autho- 
 rity of six years' experience and attentive examina- 
 lion. 
 
 " Thirdly. By granting the same allowances 
 in peace and war for the equipment of native 
 corps, while the expenses incidental to that 
 charge are unavoidably much greater in war 
 ihan peace, it places the interest and duty of 
 officers commanding native corps in direct 
 opposition to one another. It makes it their 
 interest that their corps should not be in a 
 state of efficiency fit for field service, and 
 therefore furnishes strong inducements to 
 neglect their most important duties." — Accurate 
 and Authentic Narrative, pp. 117, 118. 
 
 Here, then, is not only a proposal for re- 
 ducing the emoluments of the principal offi- 
 cers of the Madras army, but a charge of the 
 most flagrant nature. The first they might 
 possibly have had some right to consider as a 
 hardship ; but, when severe and unjust invec- 
 tive was superadded to strict retrenchment — 
 when their pay and their reputation were 
 diminished at the same time — it cannot be 
 considered as surprising, that such treatment, 
 on the part of the government, should lay the 
 foundation for a spirit of discontent in those 
 troops who had recently made such splendid 
 •additions to the Indian empire, and establish- 
 ed, in the progress of these acquisitions, so 
 high a character for discipline and courage. 
 It must be remembered, that an officer on 
 European and one on Indian service are in 
 very different situations, and propose to them- 
 selves very different objects. The one never 
 thinks of making a fortune by his profession, 
 while the hope of uhimately gaining an inde- 
 pendence is the principal motive for which 
 the Indian officer banishes himself from his 
 country. To diminish the emoluments of his 
 profession is to retard the period of his return, 
 and to frustrate the purpose for which he ex- 
 poses his life and health in a burning climate, 
 on the other side of the world. We make 
 these observations, certainlv without any idea 
 of denying the right of the Easi tnaia Com- 
 pany to make any retrenchments they may 
 think proper,. but to show that it is a right 
 which ought to be exercised with great deli- 
 cacy and with sound discretion — that it should 
 only be exercised when the retrenchment is of 
 real importance — and above all, that it should 
 always be accompanied with every mark of 
 suavity and conciliation. Sir George Barlow, 
 on the contrary, committed the singular 
 prudence of stigmatizing the honour, and 
 wounding the feelings of the Indian officers 
 At the same moment that he diminishes their 
 emoluments he tells them, that the India Com- 
 pany take away their allowances for tents, 
 because those allowances have been abused 
 in the meanest, most profligate, and most un- 
 soldier-like manner ; for this and more than 
 this is conveyed in the report of Colonel 
 Munro, published by order of Sir George Bar- 
 low. If it was right, in the first instance, to 
 diminish the emoluments of so vast an army, 
 
 it was certainly indiscreet to give such reasons 
 for it. If any individual had abused the ad- 
 vantages of the tent-contract, he might have 
 been brought to a court-martial ; and, if his 
 guilt had been established, his punishment, we 
 will venture to assert, would not have occa- 
 sioned a moment of complaint or disaffection 
 in the army ;' but that a civilian, a gentleman 
 accustomed only to the details of commerce, 
 should begin his government, over a settle- 
 ment with which he was utterly unacquainted, 
 by telling one of the bravest set of officers in 
 the world, that, for six years past, they had 
 been, in the basest manner, sacrificing their 
 duty to their interest, does ap.pear to us an in- 
 stance of indiscretion which, if frequently 
 repeated, would soon supersede the necessity 
 of any further discussion upon Indian affairs. 
 The whole transaction, indeed, appears to 
 have been gone into with a disregard to the 
 common professional feelings of an army, 
 which is to us utterly inexplicable. The 
 opinion of the commander-in-chief. General 
 Macdowall, was never asked upon the sub- 
 ject; not a single witness was examined; the 
 whole seems to have depended upon the 
 report of Colonel Munro, the youngest staff- 
 officer of the army, published in spite of the 
 earnest remonstrance of Colonel Capper, the 
 adjutant-general, and before three days had 
 been given him to substitute his own plan, 
 which Sir George Barlow had promised to 
 read before the publication of Colonel Munro's 
 report. Nay, this great plan of reduction was 
 never even submitted to the military board, by 
 whom all subjects of that description were, 
 according to the orders of the court of dii'ectors, 
 and the usage of the service, to be discussed 
 and digested, previous to their coming before 
 government. 
 
 Shortly after the promulgation of this very 
 indiscreet paper, the commander-in-chief. Ge- 
 neral Macdowall, received letters from almost 
 all the officers commanding native corps, 
 representing, in terms adapted to the feelings 
 of each, the stigma which was considered to 
 attach to them individually, and appealing to 
 the authority of the commander-in-chief for 
 redress against such charges, and to his per- 
 sonal experience for their falsehood. To these 
 letters the general replied, that the orders in 
 question had been prepared icithout any refer- 
 ence to his opinion, and that, as the matter was 
 so far advanced, he deemed it inexpedient to 
 interfere. The officers commanding corps, 
 finding that no steps were taken to remove the 
 obnoxious insinuations, and considering that, 
 while they remained, an indelible disgrace was 
 cast upon their characters, prepared charges 
 against Colonel Munro. These charges were 
 forwarded to General Macdowall, referred by 
 him to the judge advocate general, and re- 
 turned, with his objections to them, to the 
 officers who had preferred the charges. For 
 two months after this period. General Mac- 
 dowall appears to have remained in a state of 
 uncertainty, as to whether he would or would 
 not bring Colonel Munro to a court-martial 
 upon the charges preferred against him by the 
 commanders of corps. At last, urged by tne 
 discontents of the army, he determined in the 
 2 c 2 
 
306 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 affirmative ; and Colonel Munro was put in 
 arrest, preparatory to his trial. Colonel Munro 
 then appealed directly to the governor, Sir 
 George Barlow; and was released by a posi- 
 tive order from him. It is necessary to state, 
 that all appeals of officers to the government 
 in India always pass through the hands of the 
 commander-in-chief; and this appeal, there- 
 fore, of Colonel Munro, directed to the govern- 
 ment, was considered by General Macdowall 
 as a great infringement of military discipline. 
 We have very great doubts whether Sir George 
 Barlow was not guilty of another great mistake 
 in preventing this court-martial from taking 
 place. It is iindoubtedly true, that no servant 
 of the public is amenable to justice for doing 
 what the government orders him to do ; but 
 he is not entitled to protection under the pre- 
 tence of that order, if he has done something 
 which it evidently did not require of him. If 
 Colonel Munro had been ordered to report 
 upon the conduct of an individual officer, — 
 and it could be proved that, in gratification of 
 private malice, he had taken that opportunity 
 of stating the most infamous and malicious 
 falsehoods, — could it be urged that his conduct 
 might not be fairly scrutinized in a court of 
 justice, or a court-martial 1 If this were other- 
 wise, any duty delegated by government to an 
 individual would become the most intolerable 
 source of oppression : he might gratify every 
 enmity and antipathy — indulge in every act of 
 malice — vilify and traduce every one whom 
 he hated — and then shelter himself under the 
 plea of public service. Every body has a 
 right to do what the supreme power orders 
 him to do ; but he does not thereby acquire a 
 right to do what he has not been ordered to do. 
 Colonel Munro was directed to make a report 
 upon the state of the army: the officers whom 
 he has traduced accuse him of reporting 
 something utterly different from the state of 
 the army — something which he and every 
 body else knew to be different — and this for 
 the malicious purpose of calumniating their 
 reputation. If this was true, Colonel Munro 
 could not plead the authority of government; 
 for the authority of government was afforded 
 to him for a very different purpose. In this 
 view of the case, we cannot see how the dig- 
 nity of government was attacked by the pro- 
 posal of the court-martial, or to what other 
 remedy those who had suffered from his abuse 
 of his power could have had recourse. Colonel 
 Munro had been promised, by General Mac- 
 dowall, that the court-martial should consist 
 of king's oflicers : there could not, therefore, 
 have been any rational suspicion that his trial 
 Avould have been unfair, or his judges unduly 
 influenced. 
 
 Soon after Sir George Barlow had shown 
 this reluctance to give the complaining officers 
 an opportunity of re-establishing their injured 
 character. General Macdowall sailed for Eng- 
 land, and left behind him, for publication, an 
 order, in which Colonel Munro was repri- 
 manded for a violent breach in military disci- 
 pline, in appealing to the governor otherwise 
 than through the customary and prescribed 
 channel of the commander-in-chief. As this 
 paper is very short, and at the same time very 
 
 necessary to the right comprehension of this 
 case, we shall lay it before our readers. 
 
 " G. O. by the Commander-in-chief. 
 
 "The immediate departure of Lieutenant 
 General Macdowall from Madras will prevent 
 his pursuing the design of bringing Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Munro, quartermaster-general, to trial, 
 for disrespect to the commander-in-chief, for 
 disobedience of orders, and for contempt of 
 military authority, in having resorted to the 
 power of the civil government, in defiance of 
 the judgment of the officer at the head of the 
 army, who had placed him under arrest, on 
 charges preferred against him by a number 
 of officers commanding native corps, in conse- 
 quence of which appeal direct to the honourable 
 the president in council, Lieutenant-General 
 Macdowall has received positive orders from 
 the chief secretary to liberate Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Munro from arrest. 
 
 "Such conduct on the part of Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Munro, being destructive of subordi- 
 nation, subversive of military discipline, a 
 violation of the sacred rights of the com- 
 mander-in-chief, and holding out a most dan- 
 gerous example to the service, Lieutenant- 
 General Macdowall, in support of the dignity 
 of the profession, and his own station and 
 character, feels it incumbent on him to express 
 his strong disapprobation of Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Munro's unexampled proceedings, and con- 
 siders it a solemn duty imposed upon him to 
 reprimand Lieutenant-Colonel Munro in gene- 
 ral orders; and he is hereby reprimanded 
 accordingly. (Signed) T. Boles, d. a. g." — 
 Aicur. (^ Julh. Nar. pp. 68, 69. 
 
 Sir George Barlow, in consequence of this 
 paper, immediately deprived General Mac- 
 dowall of his situation of commander-in-chief, 
 which he had not yet resigned, though he had 
 quitted the settlement; and as the official sig- 
 nature of the deputy adjutant-general appeared 
 to the paper, that officer also was suspended 
 from his situation. Colonel Capper, the adju- 
 tant-general, in the most honourable manner 
 informed Sir George Barlow, that he was the 
 culpable and responsible person; and that the 
 name of his deputy only appeared to the paper 
 in consequence of his positive order, and be- 
 cause he himself happened to be absent on 
 shipboard with General Macdowall. This 
 generous conduct on the part of Colonel Cap- 
 per involved himself in punishment, without 
 extricating the innocent person whom he in- 
 tended to protect. The Madras government, 
 always swift to condemn, doomed him to the 
 same punishment as Major Boles ; and he 
 was suspended from his office. 
 
 This paper we have read over with great 
 attention ; and we really cannot see wherein 
 its criminality consists, or on what account it 
 could have drawn down upon General Mac- 
 dowall so severe a punishment as the priva- 
 tion of the high and dignified office which 
 he held. The censure upon Colonel Munro 
 was for a violation of the regular etiquette 
 of the army, in appealing to the governor 
 otherwise than through the channel of the 
 commander-in-chief. This was an entirely 
 new' offence on the part of Colonel Munro. 
 
WORKS OF THE KEV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 307 
 
 Sir George Barlow had given no opinion upon 
 it; it had not been discussed between him 
 and the commander-in-chief; and the com- 
 mander-in-chief was clearly at liberty to act 
 in this point as he pleased. He does not repri- 
 mand Colonel Munro for obeying Sir George 
 Barlow's orders ; for Sir George had given no 
 orders upon the subject ; but he blames him 
 for transgressing a well-known and important 
 rule of the service. We have great doubts if 
 he was not quite right in giving this reprimand. 
 But at all events, if he was wrong, — if Colonel 
 Munro was not guilty of the offence imputed, 
 still the erroneous punishment which the 
 general had inflicted merited no such severe 
 retribution as that resorted to by Sir George 
 Barlow. There are no reflections in the 
 paper on the conduct of the governor or the 
 government. The reprimand is grounded en- 
 tirely upon the breach of that military disci- 
 pline which it was undoubtedly the business 
 of General Macdowall to maintain in the most 
 perfect purity and vigour. Nor has the paper 
 any one expression in it foreign to this pur- 
 pose. We were, indeed, not a little astonished 
 at reading it. We had imagined that a 
 paper, which drew after it such a long train 
 of dismissals and suspensions, must have 
 contained a declaration of war against the 
 Madras government, — an exhortation to the 
 troops to throw ofi' their allegiance, — or an 
 ftdvice to the natives to drive their intrusive 
 masters away, and become as free as their 
 forefathers had left them. Instead of this, we 
 find nothing more than a common reprimand 
 from a commander-in-chief to a subordinate 
 ofhcer, for transgressing the bounds of his 
 duty. If Sir George Barlow had governed 
 kingdoms six months longer, we cannot help 
 thinking he would have been a little more 
 moderate. 
 
 But whatever difference of opinion there 
 may be respecting the punishment of General 
 Macdowall, we can scarcely think there can 
 be any with regard to the conduct observed 
 towards the adjutant-general and his deputy. 
 They were the subordinates of the commander- 
 in-chief, and were peremptoril}^ bound to pub- 
 lish any general orders which he might com- 
 mand them to publish. They would have 
 been liable to very severe punishment if they 
 had not ; and it appears to us the most flagrant 
 outrage against all justice to convert their 
 obedience into a fault. It is true, no subordi- 
 nate officer is bound to obey any order which 
 is plainly, and to any common apprehension, 
 illegal ; but then the illegality must be quite 
 manifest; the order must imply such a contra- 
 diction to common sense, and such a violation 
 of duties superior to the duty of military 
 obedience, that there can be scarcely two 
 opinions on the subject. Wherever any fair 
 doubt can be raised, the obedience of the 
 inferior officer is to be considered as proper 
 and meritorious. Upon any other principle, 
 his situation is the most cruel imaginable : 
 he is liable to the severest punishment, even 
 to instant death, if he refuses to obey; and if 
 he does obey, he is exposed to the animadver- 
 sion of the civil power, which teaches him 
 that he ought to have canvassed the order. — 
 
 to have remonstrated against it, — and, in case 
 this opposition proved ineffectual, to have 
 disobeyed it. We have no hesitation in pro- 
 nouncing the imprisonment of Colonel Capper 
 and Major Boles to have been an act of great 
 severity and great indiscretion; and such as 
 might very fairly give great otfence to an army, 
 who saw themselves exposed to the same 
 punishments, for the same adherence to their 
 duties. 
 
 "The measure of removing Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Capper and Major Boles," says Mr. 
 Petrie, "was universally condemned by the 
 most respectable ofhcers in the army, and not 
 more so by the officers in the Company's ser- 
 vice, than by those of his majesty's regiments. 
 It was felt by all as the introduction of a most 
 dangerous principle, and setting a pernicious 
 example of disobedience and insubordination 
 to all the gradations of military rank and 
 authority; teaching inferior officers to ques- 
 tion the legality of tlie orders of their superiors, 
 and bringing into discussion questions which 
 may endanger the very existence of govern- 
 ment. Our proceedings at the time operated 
 like an electric shock, and gave rise to combi- 
 nations, associations, and discussions, preg- 
 nant with danger to every constituted authoritj 
 in India. It was observed that the removal 
 of General Macdowall (admitting the expe- 
 diency of the measure) sufficiently vindicated 
 the authority of government, and exhibited to 
 the army a memorable proof that the supreme 
 power is vested in the civil authority. 
 
 "The offence came from the general, and 
 he was punished for it; but to suspend from 
 the service the mere instruments of office, for 
 the ordinary transmission of an order (o the 
 army, was universally condemned as an act 
 of inapplicable severity, which might do infi- 
 nite mischief, but could not accomplish any 
 good or beneficial purpose. It was to court 
 unpopularity, and adding fuel to the flame, 
 which was ready to burst forth in every divi- 
 sion of the army ; that to vindicate the mea- 
 sure on the assumed illegality of the order, is 
 to resort to a principle of a most dangerous 
 tendency, capable of being extended in its ap- 
 plication to purposes subversive of the foun- 
 dations of all authority, civil as well as mili- 
 tary. If subordinate officers are encouraged 
 to judge of the legality of the orders of their 
 superiors, we introduce a precedent of incal- 
 culable mischief, neither justified by the spirit 
 nor practice of the laws. Is it not better to 
 have the responsibility on the head of the 
 authority which issues the order, except in 
 cases so plain that the most common capacity 
 can judge of their being direct violations of 
 the established and acknowledged laws 7 Is 
 the intemperance of the expressions, the indis- 
 cretions of the opinions, the .'"flammafory 
 tendency of the order, so eminently dangerous, 
 so evidently calculated to excite to mutiny and 
 disobedience, so strongly marked with features 
 of criminality, as not to be mistaken ? Was 
 the order, I beg leave to ask, of this descrip- 
 tion, of such a nature as to justify the adjutant- 
 general and his deputy in their refusal to pub- 
 lish it, to disobey the order of the commander- 
 in-chief, to revolt from his authority, and lo 
 
308 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDiNiJii oMITH. 
 
 complain of him to the government'? Such 
 were the views I took of that unhappy trans- 
 action ; and, as I foresaw serious mischief 
 from the measure, not only to the discipline 
 of the army, but even to the security of the 
 civil government, it was my duty to state my 
 opinion to Sir G. Barlow, and to use every 
 argument which my reason suggested, to pre- 
 vent the publication of the order. In this I 
 completely failed ; the suspension took effect ; 
 and the match was laid that has communicated 
 the flame to almost every military mind in 
 India. I recorded no dissent; for, as a formal 
 opposition could only tend to exonerate myself 
 from a certain degree of responsibility, with- 
 out effecting any good public purpose, and 
 might probably he misconstrued or miscon- 
 ceived by those to whom our proceedings were 
 made known, it was a more honourable dis- 
 charge of my duty to relinquish this advan- 
 tage, than to comply with the mere letter of 
 the order respecting dissents. I explained this 
 motive of my conduct to Sir G. Barlow." — 
 Statement of Facts, pp. 20—23. 
 
 After these proceedings on the part of the 
 Madras government, the disaffection of the 
 troops rapidly increased; absurd and violent 
 manifestoes were published by the general 
 officers; government was insulted; and the 
 army soon broke out into open mutiny. 
 
 When the mutiny was fairly begun, the con- 
 duct of the Madras government in quelling it, 
 seems nearly as objectionable as that by which 
 it had been excited. The governor, in attempt- 
 ing to be dignified, perpetually fell into the most 
 puerile irritability ; and wishing to be firm, 
 was guilty of injustice and violence. Invita- 
 tions to dinner were made an affair of state. 
 Long negotiations appear respecting whole 
 corps of officers who refused to dine with Sir 
 George Barlow ; and the first persons in the 
 settlement were employed to persuade them to 
 eat the repast which his excellency had pre- 
 pared for them. A whole school of military 
 lads were sent away, for some trifling display 
 of partiality to the cause of the army; and 
 every unfortunate measure recurred to, which 
 a weak understanding and a captious temper 
 could employ to bring a government into con- 
 tempt. Officers were dismissed ; but dismissed 
 without trial, and even without accusation. 
 The object seemed to be to punish somebody: 
 whether it was the right or the wrong person 
 ■was less material. Sometimes the subordinate 
 was selected, where the principal was guilty; 
 sometimes the superior was sacrificed for the 
 ungovernable conduct of those who were un- 
 der his charge. The blows were strong 
 enough ; but they came from a man who shut 
 his eyes, and struck at random: — conscious 
 that he must do something to repel the danger ; 
 — but so agitated by its proximity that he could 
 not look at it, or take a proper aim. 
 
 Among other absurd measures resorted to 
 by this new eastern emperor, was the notable 
 expedient of imposing a test upon the officers 
 of the army, expressive of their loyalty and 
 attachment to the government ; and as this 
 was done at a time when some officers were in 
 open rebellion, others fluctuating, and many 
 ,>lmost resolved to adhere to their duty, it had 
 
 the very natural and probable effect of unitmg 
 them all in opposition to government. To 
 impose a test, or trial of opinions, is at all 
 times an unpopular species of inquisition ; and 
 at a period when men were hesitating whether 
 they should obey or not, was certainly a very 
 dangerous and rash measure. It could be no 
 security ; for men who would otherwise rebel 
 against their government, certainly would not 
 be restrained by any verbal barriers of this 
 kind ; and, at the same time that it promised 
 no effectual security, it appeared to increase 
 the danger of irritated combination. This 
 very rash measure immediately produced the 
 strongest representations and remonstrances 
 from king's officers of the most unquestionable 
 loyalty. 
 
 " Lieutenant-Colonel Vesey, commanding at 
 Palamcotah, apprehends the most fatal conse- 
 quences to the tranquillity of the southern pro- 
 vinces, if Colonel Wilkinson makes any hos- 
 tile movements from Trichinopoly. In different 
 letters he states, that such a step must inevi- 
 tably throw the company's troops into open 
 revolt. He has ventured to write in the 
 strongest terms to Colonel Wilkinson, entreat- 
 ing him not to march against the southern 
 troops, and pointing out the ruinous conse- 
 quences which may be expected from such a 
 measure. 
 
 " Lieutenant-Colonel Stuart in Travancore, 
 and Colonel Forbes in Malabar, have written, 
 that they are under no apprehension for the 
 tranquillity of those provinces, or for the fide- 
 lity of the company's troops, if government 
 does not insist on enforcing the orders for the 
 signature of the test ; but that, if this is at- 
 tempted, the security of the country will be 
 imminently endangered. These orders are to 
 be enforced ; and I tremble for the conse- 
 quences." — Statement of Facts, pp. 53, 54. 
 
 The following letter from the Honourable 
 Colonel Stuart, commanding a king's regi- 
 ment, was soon after received by Sir George 
 Barlow : — 
 
 "The late measures of government, as car- 
 ried into effect at the Presidency and Trichi- 
 nopoly, have created a most violent ferment 
 among the corps here. At those places where 
 the European force was so far superior in 
 number to the native, the measure probably 
 was executed without difficulty; but here, 
 where there are seven battalions of sepoys, 
 and a company and a half of artillery, to our 
 one regiment, I found it totally impossible to 
 carry the business to the same length, parti- 
 cularly as any tumult among our own corps 
 would certainly bring the people of Travan- 
 core upon us. 
 
 " It is in vain, therefore, for me, with the 
 small force I can depend upon, to attempt to 
 stem the torrent here by any acts of violence. 
 
 "Most sincerely and anxiously do I wish 
 that the present tumult may subside, without 
 fatal consequences; which, if the present vio- 
 lent measures are continued, I much fear will 
 not be the case. If blood is once spilt in the 
 cause, there is no knowing where it may end; 
 and the probable consequences will be, that 
 India will be lost for ever. So many officers 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 309 
 
 discontents -were confined almost exclusively 
 to the southern division of the army ; that the 
 troops composing the subsidiary force, those 
 in the ceded districts, in the centre, and a part 
 of the northern division, were all untainted 
 by those principles which had misled the rest 
 of the army." — Statement of Facts, pp. 27, 28. 
 
 All those violent measures, then, the spirit 
 and wisdom of which have been so much ex- 
 tolled, were not measures of the consequences 
 of which their author had the most distant 
 suspicion. They were not the acts of a man 
 who knew that he must unavoidably, in the 
 discharge of his duty, irritate, but that he 
 could ultimately overcome that irritation. 
 They appear, on the contrary, to have pro- 
 ceeded from a most gross and scandalous 
 ignorance of the opinions of the army. He 
 expected passive submission, and met with 
 universal revolt. So far, then, his want of 
 intelligence and sagacity are unquestionably 
 proved. He did not proceed with useful mea- 
 sures, and run the risk of a revolt, for which 
 he was fully prepared; but he carried these 
 measures into execution, firmly convinced 
 that they would occasion no revolt at all.* 
 
 The fatal nature of this mistake is best ex- 
 emplified by the means recurred to for its 
 correction. The grand expedient relied upon 
 was to instigate the natives, men and officers, 
 to disobey their European commanders ; an 
 expedient by which present safety was secured 
 at the expense of every principle upon which 
 the permanence of our Indian empire rests. 
 There never was in the world a more singular 
 spectacle than to see a few thousand Europeans 
 governing so despotically fifty or sixty mil- 
 lions of people, of different climate, religion, 
 and habits — forming them into large and well- 
 disciplined armies — and leading them out to 
 the further subjugation of the native powers 
 of India. But can any words be strong 
 enough to paint the rashness of provoking a 
 mutiny, which could only be got under by 
 teaching these armies to act against their Eu- 
 ropean commanders, and to use their actual 
 strength in overpowering their officers'? — or, 
 is any man entitled to the praise of firmness 
 and sagacity, who gets rid of a present danger 
 by encouraging a principle which renders that 
 danger more frequent and more violent ? We 
 will venture to assert, that a more unwise or 
 a more unstatesmanlike action was never 
 committed by any man in any country; and 
 we are grievously mistaken, if any length of 
 time elapse before the evil consequences of it 
 are felt and deplored by every man who deems 
 the welfare of our Indian colonies of any im 
 portance to the prosperity of the mother coun 
 try. We cannot help contrasting the manage- 
 ment of the discontent of the Madras army, 
 with the manner in which the same difficulty 
 was got over with the army at Bengal. A 
 little increase of attention and emolument to 
 the head of that army, under the management 
 of a man of rank and talents, dissipated ap 
 
 of the army have gone to such lengths, that, 
 unless a general amnesty is granted, tranquil- 
 lity can never be restored. 
 
 "The honourable the governor in council 
 will not, I trust, impute to me any other mo- 
 tives for having thus given my opinion. I am 
 actuated solely by anxiety for the public good 
 and the benefit of my country ; and I think it 
 my duty, holding the responsible situation I 
 now do, to express my sentiments at so awful 
 a period. 
 
 " Where there are any prospects of success, 
 it might be right to persevere; but, where 
 every day's experience proves, that the more 
 coercive the measures adopted, the more vio- 
 lent are the consequences, a different and 
 more conciliatory line of conduct ought to be 
 adopted. I have the honour, &c." — Statement 
 of Fads, pp. 55, 56. 
 
 "A letter from Colonel Forbes, commanding 
 in Malabar, states, that to prevent a revolt in 
 the province, and the probable march of the 
 company's troops towards Seringapatam, he 
 had accepted of a modification in the test, to 
 be signed by the officers on their parole, to 
 make no hostile movements until the pleasure 
 of the government was known. — Disapproved 
 by government, and ordered to enforce the 
 former orders." — Statement of Facts, p. GI. 
 
 It can scarcely be credited, that in spite of 
 these repeated remonstrances from officers, 
 whose loyalty and whose knowledge of the sub- 
 ject could not be suspected, this test was or- 
 dered to be enforced, and the severest rebukes 
 inflicted upon those who had presumed to 
 doubt of its propriety, or suspend its operation. 
 Nor let any man say that the opinionative 
 person who persevered in this measure saw 
 more clearly and deeply into the consequence 
 of his own measures than those who were 
 about him; for unless Mr. Petrie has been 
 guilty, and repeatedly guilty, of a most down- 
 right and wilful falsehood, Sir George Barlow 
 had not the most distant conception, during all 
 these measures, that the army would ever 
 venture upon revolt. 
 
 " Government, or rather the head of the go- 
 vernment, was never correctly informed of the 
 actual state of the army, or I think he would 
 have acted otherwise; he was told, and he 
 was willing to believe, that the discontents 
 were confined to a small part of the troops ; 
 that a great majority disapproved of their 
 proceedings, and were firmly and unalterably 
 attached to government." — Statement of Facts, 
 pp. 23, 24. 
 
 In a conversation which Mr. Petrie had with 
 Sir George Barlow upon the subject of the 
 army — and in the course of which he recom- 
 mends to that gentleman more lenient mea- 
 sures, and warns him of the increasing disaf- 
 fection of the troops — he gives us the following 
 account of Sir George Barlow's notions of the 
 then state of the army: — 
 
 " Sir G. Barlow assured me I was greatly 
 misinformed ; that he could rely upon his in- _ _ _ 
 
 telligence; and would produce to council the Georee Barlow, junior, churchwarden of St G^'-ge^^^^ 
 ° .' J ' . , f e Hanover Square, — an office so nobly filled by uiblet and 
 
 must satisfactory and unequivocal prools ot j^g^^g . j, ^^^ ^^ j^u^e affliction to see so incapable a 
 the fidelity of nine-tenths of the army ; that I man at the head of the Indian empire. 
 
 We should have been alarmed to have 
 
310 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 pearances which the sceptred pomp of a mer- 
 chant's clerk would have blown up into a 
 rebellion in three weeks ; and yet the Bengal 
 army is at this moment in as good a state of 
 discipline, as the English fleet to which Lord 
 Howe made such abject concessions — and in 
 a state to be much more permanently depended 
 upon than the army which has been so effec- 
 tually ruined by the inconveniently great soul 
 of the present governor of Madras. 
 
 Sir George Barlow's agent, though faithful 
 to his employment of calumniating those who 
 were in any degree opposed to his principal, 
 seldom loses sight of sound discretion, and 
 confines his invectives to whole bodies of men, 
 except where the dead are concerned. Against 
 Colonel Capper, General Macdowall, and Mr. 
 Roebuck, who are now no longer alive to 
 answer for themselves, he is intrepidly severe; 
 in all these instances he gives a full loose to 
 his sense of duty, and inflicts upon them the 
 severest chastisement. In his attack upon the 
 civilians, he is particularly careful to keep to 
 generals ; and so rigidly does he adhere to this 
 principle, that he does not support his asser- 
 tion, that the civil service was disaffected as 
 well as the military, by one single name, one 
 single fact, or by any other means whatever, 
 than his o*n affirmation of the fact. The 
 truth (as might be supposed to be the case 
 from such sort of evidence) is diametrically 
 opposite. Nothing could be more exemplary, 
 during the whole of the rebellion, than the con- 
 duct of the civil servants ; and though the 
 courts of justice were interfered with,— though 
 the most respectable servants of the company 
 were punished for the verdicts they had given 
 as jurymen, — though many were dismissed for 
 the slightest opposition to the pleasure of go- 
 vernment, even in the discharge of official 
 duties, where remonstrance was absolutely ne- 
 cessary, — though the greatest provocation was 
 given, and the greatest opportunity afforded to 
 the civil servants for revolt, — there is not a 
 single instance in which the shadow of disaf- 
 fection has been proved against any civil ser- 
 vant. This we say, from an accurate exami- 
 nation of all the papers which have been 
 published on the subject; and we do not hesi- 
 tate to affirm, that there never was a more 
 unjust, unfounded, and profligate charge made 
 against any body of men; nor have we 
 often witnessed a more complete scene of 
 folly and violence, than the conduct of the 
 Madras government to its civil servants, 
 exhibited during the whole period of the 
 mutiny. 
 
 Upon the whole, it appears to us, that the 
 Indian army was ultimately driven into revolt 
 by the indiscretion and violence of the Madras 
 government; and that every evil which has 
 happened might, with the greatest possible fa- 
 cility, have been avoided. 
 
 We have no sort of doubt that the governor 
 always meant well; but, we are equally certain 
 that he almost always acted ill ; and where in- 
 capacity rises to a certain height, for all prac- 
 tical purposes the motive is of very little con- 
 sequence. That the late Gen. Macdowall was 
 ji weak man, is unquestionable. He was also 
 iiTitated (and not without reason), because he 
 
 was deprived of a seat in council, which the 
 commanders before him had commonly en- 
 joyed. A little attention, however, on the part 
 of the government — the compliment of con- 
 sulting him upon subjects connected with his 
 profession — any of those little arts which are 
 taught, not by a consummate political skill, but 
 dictated by common good nature, and by the 
 habit of mingling with the world, would have 
 produced the effects of conciliation, and em- 
 ployed the force of General Macdo wall's au- 
 thority in bringing the army into a better 
 temper of mind. Instead of this, it appears to 
 have been almost the object, and if not the 
 object, certainly the practice of the Madras 
 government, to neglect and insult this officer. 
 Changes of the greatest importance wtere made 
 without his advice, and even without any com- 
 munication with him ; and it was too visible 
 to those whom he was to command, that he 
 himself possessed no sort of credit with his 
 superiors. As to the tour which General Mac- 
 dowall is supposed to have made for the pur- 
 pose of spreading disaffection among the 
 troops, and the part which he is represented 
 by the agents to have taken in the quarrels of 
 the civilians with the government, we utterly 
 discredit these imputations. They are unsup- 
 ported by any kind of evidence ; and we believe 
 them to be mere inventions, circulated by the 
 friends of the Madras government. General 
 Macdowall appears to us to have been a weak, 
 pompous man ; extremely out of humour ; of- 
 fended with the slights he had experienced; 
 and whom any man of common address might 
 have managed with the greatest ease : but we 
 do not see, in any part of his conduct, the 
 shadow of disloyalty and disaffection ; and we 
 are persuaded that the assertion would never 
 have been made, if he himself had been alive 
 to prove its injustice. 
 
 Besides the contemptuous treatment of Gen. 
 Macdowall, we have great doubts whether the 
 Madras government ought not to have suffered 
 Colonel Munro to be put upon his trial ; and 
 to punish the officers who solicited that trial 
 for the purgation of their own characters, 
 appears to us (whatever the intention was) to 
 have been an act of mere tyranny. We think, 
 too, that General Macdowall was very hastily 
 and unadvisedly removed from his situation ■, 
 and upon the unjust treatment of Colonel 
 Capper and Major Boles there can scarcely be 
 two opinions. In the progress of the mutiny, 
 instead of discovering in the Madras govern- 
 ment any appearances of temper and wisdom, 
 they appear to us to have been quite as much 
 irritated and heated as the army, and to have 
 been betrayed into excesses nearly as criminal, 
 and infinitely more contemptible and puerile. 
 The head of a great kingdom bickering with 
 his officers about invitations to dinner — the 
 commander-in-chief of the forces negotiating 
 that the dinner should be loyally eaten — the 
 obstinate absurdity of the test — the total want 
 of selection in the objects of punishment — and 
 the wickedness, or the insanity, of teaching the 
 Sepoy to rise against his European officer — the 
 contempt of the decision of juries in civil 
 cases — and the punishment of the juries them- 
 selves ; such a system of conduct as this would 
 
WORKS OF THE REV, SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 311 
 
 infallibly doom any individual to punishment, 
 if it did not, fortunately for him, display pre- 
 cisely that contempt of men's feelings, and that 
 passion for insulting multitudes, which is so 
 congenial to our present government at home, 
 and which passes now so currently for wisdom 
 and courage. By these means, the liberties 
 of great nations are frequently destroyed — and 
 destroyed with impunity to the perpetrators of 
 the crime. In distant colonies, however, go- 
 vernors who attempt the same system of 
 tyranny are in no little danger from the indig- 
 
 nation of their subjects; for though men will 
 often yield up iheir happiness to kings who 
 have been always kings, they are not inclined 
 to show the same deference to men who have 
 been merchants' clerks yesterday, and are 
 kings to-day. From a danger of this kind, the 
 governor of Madras appears to us to have very 
 narrowly escaped. We sincerely hope that 
 he is grateful for his good luck; and that he 
 will now awake from his gorgeous dreams of 
 mercantile monarchy, to good nature, modera- 
 tion, and common sense. 
 
 BISHOP OF LINCOLN^S* CHARGE.t 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 1813.] 
 
 R is a melancholy thing to see a man, clothed in 
 soft raiment, lodged in a public palace, endowed with 
 a rich portion of the product of other 7nen's industry, 
 using all the hrfluence of his splendid situation, how- 
 ever conscientiously, to deepen the ignorance, and 
 inflame the fu7-y, of his fellow-creatures. These are 
 the miserable results of that policy which has been so 
 frequently pursued for these fifty years past, of 
 placing men of mean, or middling abilities, in high 
 ecclesiastical stations. In ordinary times, it is of 
 less importance who fills them ; but when the bitter 
 period arrives, in ivhich the people must give up some 
 of their darling absurdities; — when the senseless 
 clamour, which has been carefully handed doionfrom 
 father fool to son fool, can be no longer indulged ; — 
 ■when it is of incalculable importance to turn the 
 people to a better way of thinking ; the greatest im- 
 pediments to all amelioration are too often found 
 among those to ii'hose coxmcils, at such periods, the 
 country ought to look for ivisdom and peace. We 
 will suppress, however, the feelings of indig- 
 nation which such productions, from such 
 men, naturally occasion. We will give the 
 Bishop of Lincoln credit for being perfectly 
 sincere ; — we will suppose, that every argu- 
 ment he uses has not been used and refuted 
 ten thousand times before; and we will sit 
 down as patiently to defend the religious liber- 
 ties of mankind, as the reverend prelate has 
 done to abridge them. 
 
 We must begin with denying the main posi- 
 tion upon which the Bishop of Lincoln has 
 built his reasoning — The Catholic religion is not 
 tolerated in England. No man can be fairly 
 said to be permitted to enjoy his own worship 
 •who is punished for exercising that worship. 
 His lordship seems to have no other idea of 
 punishment, than lodging a man in the Poultry 
 compter, or flogging him at the cart's tail, or 
 fining him a sum of money ; — just as if inca- 
 pacitating a man from enjoying the dignities 
 and emoluments to which men of similar con- 
 
 * ^ Charge delivered to the Clerinj of the Diocese of Lin- 
 eoln, at the Triennial Visitation of that Diocese in May, 
 June, and Jiilii, 1812. By George Tomline, D.D., F.R.S'., 
 I.nrrt Bishop (if Lincoln. London. Cadell and Co. 4to. 
 
 fit is impossible to conceive the mischief which this 
 mean aud cunning prelate did at this period. 
 
 I dition, and other faith, may fairly aspire, was 
 not frequently the most severe and galling of 
 all punishments. This limited idea of the 
 nature of punishments is the more extraordi- 
 nary, as incapacitation is actually one of the 
 most common punishments in some branches 
 of our law. The sentence of a court-martial 
 frequently purports, that a man is rendered for 
 ever incapable of serving his majesty, &c. &c. ; 
 and a person not in holy orders, who performs 
 the functions of a clergyman, is rendered for 
 ever incapable of holding any preferment in the 
 church. There are, indeed, many species of 
 offence for which no punishment more appo- 
 site and judicious could be devised. It would 
 be rather extraordinary, however, if the court, 
 in passing such a sentence, were to assure the 
 culprit, " that such incapac.tation was not by 
 them considered as a punishment ; that it was 
 only exercising a right inherent in all govern- 
 ments, of determining who should be eligible 
 for office and who ineligible." His lordship 
 thinks the toleration complete, because he sees 
 a permission in the statutes for the exercise of 
 the Roman Catholic worship. He sees the per- 
 mission — but he does not choose to see the 
 consequences to which they are exposed who 
 avail themselves of this permission. It is the 
 liberality of a father who says to a son, " Do as 
 you please, my dear boy; follow your own in- 
 clination. Judge for yourself; you are free as 
 air. But remember, if you marry that lady, I 
 will cut you off with a shilling." We have 
 scarcely ever read a more solemn and frivolous 
 statement than the Bishop of Lincoln's anti- 
 thetical distinction between persecution and 
 the denial of political power. 
 
 " It is sometimes said, that Papists, being 
 excluded from power, are consequently perse- 
 cuted; as if exclusion from power and reli- 
 gious persecution were convertible terms. But 
 surely this is to confound things totally distinct 
 in their nature. Persecution inflicts positive 
 punishment upon persons who hold certain 
 religious tenets, and endeavours to accomplish 
 the renunciation and extinction of those tenets 
 by forcible means : exclusion from power is 
 entirely negative in its operation — it only de- 
 
312 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 Clares that those wlio hold certain opinions shall 
 not fill certain situations ; but it acknowledges 
 men to be perfectly free to hold those opinions. 
 Persecution compels men toadopt a prescribed 
 faith, or to suffer the loss of liberty, property, 
 or even life : exclusion from power prescribes 
 no faith ; it allows men to think and believe as 
 they please, without molestation or interfer- 
 ence. Persecution requires men to worship 
 God in one and in no other way : exclusion 
 from power neither commands nor forbids any 
 mode of divine worship — it leaves the busi- 
 ness of religion, where it ought to be left, to 
 every man's judgment and conscience. Per- 
 secution proceeds from a bigoted and sangui- 
 nary spirit of intolerance; exclusion from 
 power is founded in the natural and rational 
 principle of self-protection and self-preserva- 
 tion, equally applicable to nation?^ and to indi- 
 viduals. History informs us of tlie mischiev- 
 ous and fatal effects of the one, and proves the 
 expediency and necessity of the other." — fpp. 
 
 16, ir.) 
 
 We will venture to say, there is no one sen- 
 tence in this extract which does not contain 
 either a contradiction, or a misstatement. For 
 how can that law acknowledge men to be per- 
 fectly free to hold an opinion, which excludes 
 from desirable situations all who do hold that 
 opinion 1 How can that law be said neither 
 to molest, nor interfere, which meets a man in 
 every branch of industry and occupation, to 
 institute an inquisition into his religious opi- 
 nions 1 And how is the business of religion 
 left to every man's judgment and conscience, 
 where so powerful a bonus is given to one set 
 of religious opinions, and such a mark of in- 
 famy and degradation fixed upon all other 
 modes of belief? But this is comparatively a 
 very idle part of the question. Whether the 
 present condition of the Catholics is or is not 
 to be denominated a perfect state of toleration, 
 is more a controversy of words than things. 
 That they are subject to some restraints, the 
 bishop will admit : the important question is, 
 whether or not these restraints are necessary 1 
 For his lordship will, of course, allow, that 
 every restraint upon human liberty is an evil 
 in itself; and can only be justified by the su- 
 perior good which it can be shown to produce. 
 My lord's fears upon the subject of Catholic 
 emancipation are conveyed in the following 
 paragraph : — 
 
 « It is a principle of our constitution, that the 
 king should have advisers in the discharge of 
 every part of his royal functions— and is it to 
 be imagined that Papists would advise mea- 
 sures in support of the cause of Protestantism 1 
 A similar observation may be applied to the 
 two Houses of Parliament: would popish peers 
 or popish members of the House of Commons, 
 enact laws for the security of the Protestant 
 government] Would they not rather repeal 
 the whole Protestant code, and make Popery 
 again the established religion of the country'" 
 -(p. 14.) 
 
 And these are the apprehensions which the 
 clergy of the diocese have prayed my lord to 
 make public. 
 
 Kind Providence never sends an evil without 
 a remedy : — and arithmetic is the natural cure 
 for the passion of fear. If a coward can be 
 made to count his enemies, his terrors may be 
 reasoned with, and he may think of ways and 
 means of counteraction. Now, might it not 
 have been expedient that the reverend prelate, 
 before he had alarmed his country clergy with 
 the idea of so large a measure as the repeal 
 of Protestantism, should have counted up the 
 probable number of Catholics who would be 
 seated in both houses of Parliament] Does 
 he believe that there would be ten Catholic 
 peers, and thirty Catholic commoners ] But, 
 admit double that number (and more, Dr. 
 Duigenan -himself would not ask), — will the 
 Bishop of Lincoln seriously assert, that he 
 thinks the Whole Protestant code in danger of 
 repeal from such an admixture of Catholic 
 legislators as this 1 Does he forget, amid the 
 innumerable answers which may be made to 
 such sort of apprehensions, what a picture he 
 is drawing of the weakness and versatility of 
 Protestant principles 1 — that an handful of 
 Catholics, in the bosom of a Protestant legis- 
 lature, is to overpower the ancient jealousies, 
 the fixed opinions, the inveterate habits of 
 twelve millions of people 1 — that the king is to 
 apostatize, the clergy to be silent, and the Par- 
 liament be taken by surprise 1 — that the nation 
 is to go to bed over night, and to see the Pope 
 walking arm in arm with Lord Castlereagh the 
 next morning] — One would really suppose, 
 from the bishop's fears, that the civil defences 
 of mankind were, like their military bulwarks 
 transferred, by superior skill and courage, in 
 a few hours, from the vanquished to the victoi 
 — that the destruction of a church was like the 
 blowing up of a mine, — deans, prebendaries, 
 churchwardens and overseers, all up in the air 
 in an instant. Does his lordship really ima- 
 gine, when the mere, dread of the Catholics 
 becoming legislators has induced him to 
 charge his clergy, and his agonized clergy, to 
 extort from their prelate the publication of 
 the charge, that the full and mature danger 
 will produce less alarm than the distant suspi- 
 cion of it has done in the present instance ] — 
 that the Protestant writers, whose pens are 
 now up to the feather in ink, will, at any future 
 period, yield up their church, without passion, 
 pamphlet, or pugnacity ] We do not blame 
 the Bishop of Lincoln for being afraid; but 
 we blame him for not rendering his fears in- 
 telligible and tangible — for not circumscribing 
 and particularizing them by some individual 
 case — for not showing us how it is possible 
 that the Catholics (granting their intentions to 
 be as bad as possible) should ever be able to 
 ruin the Church of England. His lordship 
 appears to be in a fog; and, as daylight breaks 
 in upon him, he will be rather disposed to dis- 
 own his panic. The noise he hears is not 
 roaring, — but braying; the teeth and the mane 
 are all imaginary; there is nothing but ears. 
 It is not a lion that stops the way, but an ass. 
 
 One method his lordship takes, in handling 
 this question, is by pointing out dangers that 
 are barely possible, and then treating of them as 
 if they deserved the active and present atten- 
 tion of serious men. But if no measure is to 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 313 
 
 be carried into execution, and if no provision 
 is safe in which the minute inspection of an 
 ingenious man cannot find the possibility of 
 danger, then all human action is impeded, and 
 no human institution is safe or commendable. 
 The king has the power of pardoning, — and so 
 every species ofgulitmay remain unpunished: 
 he has a negative upon legislative acts, and so 
 no law may pass. None but Presbyterians 
 may be returned to the House of Commons, — 
 and so the Church of England may be voted 
 down. The Scottish and Irish members may 
 join together in both houses, and dissolve both 
 unions. If probability is put out of sight, — 
 and if, in the enumeration of dangers, it is 
 sufficient to state any which, by remote con- 
 tingency, may happen, then is it time that we 
 should begin to provide against all the host of 
 perils which we have just enumerated, and 
 which are many of them as likely to happen, 
 as those which the reverend prelate has stated 
 in his charge. His lordship forgets that the 
 Catholics are not asking for election but for 
 eligibility — not to be admitted into the cabinet, 
 but not to be excluded from it. A century may 
 elapse before any Catholic actually becomes a 
 member of the cabinet; and no event can be 
 more utterly destitute of probability, than that 
 they should gain an ascendency there, and 
 direct that ascendency against the Protestant 
 interest. If the bishop really wishes to know 
 upon what our security is founded; it is vpon 
 the prodigious and decided superiority of the Pro- 
 testant interest in the British nation, and in the 
 United Parliament. No Protestant king would 
 select such a cabinet, or countenance such 
 measures ; no man would be mad enough to 
 attempt them; the English Parliament and the 
 English people would not endure it for a mo- 
 ment. No man, indeed, but under the sanctity 
 of the mitre, would have ventured such an ex- 
 travagant opinion. — Wo to him, if he had been 
 only a dean. But, in spite of his venerable 
 office, we must express our decided belief, that 
 his lordship (by no means averse to a good 
 bargain) would not pay down five pounds, to 
 receive fifty millions for his posterity, when- 
 ever the majority of the cabinet should be 
 (Catholic emancipation carried) members of 
 the Catholic religion. And yet, upon such 
 terrors as these, which, when put singly to 
 him, his better senses would laugh at, he has 
 thought fit to excite his clergy to petition, and 
 done all in his power to increase the mass of 
 hatred against the Catholics. 
 
 It is true enough, as his lordship remarks, 
 that events do not depend upon laws alone, but 
 upon the wishes and intentions of those who 
 administer these laws. But then his lordship 
 totally puts out of sight two considerations — 
 the improbability of Catholics ever reaching 
 the highest offices of the state— and those fixed 
 Protestant opinions of the country, which 
 would render any attack upon the established 
 church so hopeless, and therefore, so impro- 
 bable. Admit a supposition (to us perfectly j 
 ludicrous, but still necessary to the bishop's [ 
 argument), that the cabinet council consisted | 
 entirely of Catholics, we should even then have | 
 no more fear of their making the English i 
 40 
 
 people Catholics, than we should have of a cabi- 
 net of butchers making the Hindoos eat beef. 
 The bishop has not stated the true and great 
 security for any course of human actions. It 
 is not the word of the law, nor the spirit of 
 the government, but the general way of think- 
 ing among the people, especially when that 
 way of thinking is ancient, exercised upon 
 high interests, and connected with striking 
 passages in history. The Protestant church 
 does not rest upon the little narrow founda- 
 tions where the Bishop of Lincoln supposes it 
 to be placed : if it did, it would not be worth 
 saving. It rests upon the general opinion en- 
 tertained by a free and reflecting people, that 
 the doctrines of the church are true, her pre- 
 tensions moderate, and her exhortations useful. 
 It is accepted by a people who have, from good 
 taste, an abhorrence of sacerdotal mummery; 
 and from good sense, a dread of sacerdotal 
 ambition. Those feelings, so generally diffused, 
 and so clearly pronounced on all occasions, 
 are our real bulwarks against the Catholic re- 
 ligion, and the real cause which makes it so 
 safe for the best friends of the church to di- 
 minish (by abolishing the test laws) so very 
 fertile a source of hatred to the state. 
 
 In the 15th page of his lordship's charge, 
 there is an argument of a very curious nature. 
 
 "Let us suppose," (says the Bishop of Lin- 
 coln), "that there had been no test laws, no 
 disabling statutes, in the year 1745, when an 
 attempt was made to overthrow the Protestant 
 government, and to place a popish sovereign 
 upon the throne of these kingdoms ; and let 
 us suppose, that the leading men in the houses 
 of Parliament, that the ministers of state, and 
 the commanders of our armies, had then been 
 Papists. Will any one contend, that that for- 
 midable rebellion, supported as it was by a 
 foreign enemy, would have been resisted 
 with the same zeal, and suppressed with the 
 same facility, as when all the measures were 
 planned and executed by sincere Protestants 1" 
 (p. 15.) 
 
 And so his lordship means to infer, that it 
 would be foolish to abolish the laws against 
 the Catholics note, because it would have been 
 foolish to have abolished them at some other 
 period ; — that a measure must be bad, because 
 there was formerly a combination of circum- 
 stances, when it would have been bad. His 
 lordship might, with almost equal propriety, 
 debate what ought to be done if Julius Cassar 
 were about to make a descent upon our coasts ; 
 or lament the impropriety of emancipating 
 the Catholics, because the Spanish Armada 
 was putting to sea. The fact is that Julius 
 Caesar is dead — the Spanish Armada was de- 
 feated in the reign of Queen Elizabeth — for 
 half a century there has been no disputed suc- 
 cession — the situation of the world is changed 
 — and, because it is changed, we can do now 
 what we could not do then. And nothing can 
 be more lamentable than to see this respecta- 
 ble prelate wasting his resources in putting 
 imaginary and inapplicable cases, and reason- 
 ing upon their solution, as if they had any- 
 thing to do with present affairs. 
 '2D 
 
314 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 These remarks entirely put an end to the 
 common mode of arguing a GuUelmo. What 
 did King William do 1 — what would King 
 William say 1 &c. King William was in a 
 veiy difierent situation from that in which we 
 are placed. The whole world was in a very 
 different situation. The great and glorious 
 authors of the Revolution (as they are com- 
 monly denominated) acquired their greatness 
 and their glory, not by a superstitious reverence 
 for inapplicable precedents, but by taking hold 
 of present circumstances to lay a deep founda- 
 tion for libert}'; and then using old names for 
 new things, they left the Bishop of Lmcoln, 
 and other good men, to suppose that they had 
 been thinking all the time about ancestors. 
 
 Another species of false reasoning, which 
 pervades the Bishop of Lincoln's charge, is 
 this : He states what the interests of men are, 
 and then takes it for granted that they will 
 eagerly and actively pursue them ; laying 
 totally out of the question the probability or im- 
 probability of their effecting their object, and the 
 influence which this balance of chances must 
 produce upon their actions. For instance, it is 
 the interest of the Catholics that our church 
 should be subservient to theirs. Therefore, 
 says his lordship, the Catholics will enter into 
 a conspiracy against the English church. But, 
 is it not also the decided interest of his lord- 
 ship's butler that he should be bishop, and the 
 bishop his butler 1 That the crozier and the 
 corkscrew should change hands, — and the 
 washer of the bottles which they had emptied 
 become the diocesan of learned divines 1 What 
 has prevented this change, so beneficial to the 
 upper domestic, but the extreme improbability 
 of success, if the attempt were made ; an im- 
 probability so great that we will venture to 
 say, the very notion of it has scarcely once 
 entered into the understanding of the good 
 man. Why, then, is the reverend prelate, who 
 lives on so safely and contentedly with John, 
 so dreadfully alarmed at the Catholics 1 And 
 why does he so completely forget, in their in- 
 stance alone, that men do not merely strive to 
 obtain a thing because it is good, but always 
 mingle with the excellence of the object a con- 
 sideration of the chance of gaining if? 
 
 The Bishop of Lincoln (p. 19) states it as 
 an argument against concession to the Catho- 
 lics, that we have enjoyed " internal peace and 
 entire freedom from all religious animosities 
 and feuds since the Revolution." The fact, 
 however, is not more certain than conclusive 
 against his view of the question. For, since 
 that period, the worship of the church of Eng- 
 land has been abolished in Scotland — the cor- 
 poration and test acts repealed in Ireland — 
 and the whole of this king's reign has been 
 one series of concessions to the Catholics. 
 Relaxation, then (and we wish this had been 
 remembered at the charge), of penal laws, on 
 subjects of religious opinion, is perfectly com- 
 patible with internal peace and exemption from 
 religious animosity. But the bishop is always 
 fond of lurking in generals, and cautiously 
 avoids coming to any specific instance of the 
 dangers which he fears. 
 
 •' It is declared in one of the 39 Articles, 
 that the king is head of our church, without 
 
 being subject to any foreign power; and it is 
 expressly said that the Bishop of Rome has no 
 jurisdiction within these realms. On the con- 
 trary. Papists assert, that the pope is supreme 
 head of the whole Christian church, and that 
 allegiance is due to him from every individual 
 member, in all spiritual matters. This direct 
 opposition to one of the fundamental princi- 
 ples of the ecclesiastical part of our constitu- 
 tion, is alone sufficient to justify the exclusion 
 of Papists from all situations of authority. 
 They acknowledge, indeed, that obedience in 
 civil matters is due to the king. But cases 
 must arise, in which civil and religious duties 
 will clash ; and he knows but little of the influ- 
 ence of the Popish religion over the mind of 
 its votaries, who doubts which of these duties 
 would be sacrificed to the other. Moreover, 
 the most subtle casuistry cannot always dis- 
 criminate between temporal and spiritual 
 things ; and in truth, the concerns of this life 
 not unfrequently partake of both characters." — 
 (pp. 21, 22.) 
 
 We deny entirely that any case can occur, 
 where the fexposition of a doctrine purely spe- 
 culative, or the arrangement of a mere point 
 of church discipline, can interfere with civil 
 duties. The Roman Catholics are Irish and 
 English citizens at this moment ; but no such 
 case has occurred. There is no instance in 
 which obedience to the civil magistrate has 
 been prevented, by an acknowledgment of the 
 spiritual supremacy of the pope. The Catho- 
 lics have given (in an oath which we suspect 
 the bishop never to have read) the most solemn 
 pledge, that their submission to their spiritual 
 ruler should never interfere with their civil 
 obedience. The hypothesis of the Bishop of 
 Lincoln is, that it must very often do so. The 
 fact is, that it has never done so. 
 
 His lordship is extremely angry with the 
 Catholics for refusing to the crown a veto upon 
 the appointment of their bishops. He forgets, 
 that in those countries of Europe where the 
 crown interferes with the appointment of bish- 
 ops, the reigning monarch is a Catholic, — 
 which makes all the difference. We sincerely 
 wish that the Catholics would concede this 
 point; but we cannot be astonished at their 
 reluctance to admit the interference of a Pro- 
 testant prince with their bishops. What would 
 his lordship say to the interference of any 
 Catholic power with the appointment of the 
 English sees? 
 
 Next comes the stale and thousand times re- 
 futed charge against the Catholics, that they 
 think the pope has the power of dethroning 
 heretical kings ; and that it is the duty of every 
 Catholic to use every possible means to root 
 out and destroy heretics, &c. To all of which 
 may be returned this one conclusive answer, 
 that the Catholics are ready to deny these doc- 
 trines upon oath. And as the whole contro- 
 versy is, whether the Catholic shall, by means 
 of oaths, be excluded from certain offices in 
 the state ; — those who contend that the con- 
 tinuation of these excluding oaths is essential 
 to the public safety, must admit, that oaths are 
 binding upon Catholics, and a security to the 
 state that what they swear to is true. 
 
 It is right to keep these things in view — and 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 315 
 
 to omit no opportunity of exposing and coun- 
 teracting that spirit of intolerant zeal or intol- 
 erable time-serving, which has so long dis- 
 graced and endangered this country. But the 
 truth is, that we look upon this cause as already 
 gained;— and while we warmly congratulate 
 the nation on the mighty step it has recently 
 made towards increased power and entire 
 security, it is impossible to avoid saying a 
 ■word upon the humiliating and disgusting, but 
 at the same time most edifying spectacle, 
 which has lately been exhibited by the anti- 
 Catholic addressers. That so great a number 
 of persons should have been found with such 
 a proclivity to servitude (for honest bigotry 
 had but little to do with the matter), as to rush 
 forward with clamours in favour of intolerance, 
 upon a mere surmise that this would be ac- 
 counted as acceptable service by the present 
 possessors of patronage and power, affords a 
 more humiliating and discouraging picture 
 of the present spirit of the country, than 
 any thing else that has occurred in our re- 
 membrance. The edifying part of the spec- 
 
 tacle is the contempt with which their officious 
 devotions have been received by those whose 
 favour they were intended to purchase, — and 
 the universal scorn and derision with which 
 they were regarded by independent men of all 
 parties and persuasions. The catastrophe, we 
 think, teaches two lessons ; — one to the time- 
 servers themselves, not to obtrude their servi- 
 lity on the government, till they have reason- 
 able ground to think it is wanted; — and the 
 other to the nation at large, not to imagine that 
 a base and interested clamour in favour of 
 what is supposed to be agreeable to govern- 
 ment, however loudly and extensively sounded, 
 affords any indication at all, either of the ge- 
 neral sense of the country, or even of what is 
 actually contemplated by those in the adminis- 
 tration of its affairs. The real sense of the 
 country has been proved, on this occasion, to 
 be directly against those who presumptuously 
 held themselves out as its organs; — and even 
 the ministers have made a respectable figure, 
 compared with those who assumed the charac- 
 ter of their champions. 
 
 MADAME D'EPINAY.* 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 1818.] 
 
 There used to be in Paris, under the ancient 
 regime, a few women of brilliant talents, who 
 violated all the common duties of life, and 
 gave very pleasant little suppers. Among 
 these supped and sinned Madame d'Epinay — 
 the friend and companion of Rousseau, Dide- 
 rot, Grimm, Holbach, and many other literary 
 persons of distinction of that period. Her 
 principal lover was Grimm ; with whom was 
 deposited, written in feigned names, the history 
 of her life. Grimm died — his secretary sold 
 the history — the feigned names have been ex- 
 changed for the real ones — and her works now 
 appear abridged in three volumes octavo. 
 
 Madame d'Epinay, though far from an im- 
 maculate character, has something to say in 
 palliation of her irregularities. Her husband 
 behaved abominably; and alienated, by a series 
 of the most brutal injuries, an attachment 
 •which seems to have been very ardent and 
 sincere, and which, with better treatment, 
 would probably have been lasting. For, in all 
 her aberrations. Mad. d'Epinay seems to have 
 had a tendency to be constant. Though ex- 
 tremely young when separated from her hus- 
 band, she indulged herself with but two lovers 
 for the rest of her life; — to the first of whom she 
 seems to have been perfectly faithful, till he 
 left her at the end often or twelve years ; — and 
 to Grimm, by whom he was succeeded, she 
 appears to have given no rival till the day of 
 her death. The account of the life she led, 
 both with her husband and her lovers, brings 
 
 * Memoires et Correspondence de Madame d'Epinay. 
 3 vols. 8vo. Paris, 1818. 
 
 upon the scene a great variety of French cha- 
 racters, and lays open very completely the 
 interior of French life and manners. But 
 there are some letters and passages which 
 ought not to have been published ; which a 
 sense of common decency and morality ought 
 to have suppressed ; and which, we feel as- 
 sured, would never have seen the light in this 
 country. 
 
 A French woman seems almost always to 
 have wanted the flavour of prohibition, as a ne- 
 cessary condiment to human life. The provided 
 husband was rejected, and the forbidden hus- 
 band introduced in ambiguous light, through 
 posterns and secret partitions. It was not the 
 union to one man that was objected to — for 
 they dedicated themselves with a constancy 
 which the most household and parturient wo- 
 man in England could not exceed ; — but the 
 thing wanted was the wrong man, the gentle- 
 man without the ring — the master unsworn to 
 at the altar — Ihe person unconsecrated by 
 priests — 
 
 " Oh! let me taste thee unexcisetl by kings." 
 
 The following strikes us as a very lively 
 picture of the ruin and extravagance of a fash- 
 ionable hoiise in a great metropolis. 
 
 "M. d'Epinay a complete son domestique. 
 II a trois laquais, et moi deux ; je n'en ai pas 
 voulu davantage. II a un valet de chambre; 
 et il vouloit aussi que je prisse une seconde 
 femme, mais comme je n'en ai que faire, j'ai 
 tenu bon. Enfin les ofRciers, les femmes, les 
 valets se montent au nombre de seize. Quoique 
 la vie que je mene soit asiez uniforme, j'espere 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 n'ptre pas obligee d'en changer. Celle de M. 
 d'Epiiiay est differente. Lorsqu'il est leve, son 
 valet de chambre se met en devoir de I'accom- 
 moder. Deux laquais sent debout a attendre 
 ordres. Le premier secretaire vient avec 
 I'intenlion de lui rendre compte des lettres 
 qu'il a rejues de son departement, et qu'il est 
 charge d'ouvrir; il doit lire les reponses et les 
 faire signer; mais il est interrompu deux cents 
 fois dans cette occupation par toutes sortes 
 d'especes imaginables. C'est un maquignon 
 qui a des chevaux uniques a vendre, mais qui 
 sont retenus par un seigneur; ainsi il estvenu 
 pour ne pas manquer a sa parole; car on lui 
 en donneroit le double, qu'on ne pourroit faire 
 affaire. II en fait une description seduisante, 
 on demande le prix. Le seigneur un tel en 
 offre soixante louis. — Je I'ous en donne cent. — 
 Cela est inutile, a moins qu'il ne se dedise. 
 Cependant Ton conclut a cent louis sans les 
 avoir vus, car le lendemain le seigneur ne 
 manque pas de se dedire : voila ce que j'ai vu 
 et entendu la semaine derniere. 
 
 "Ensuite c'est un polisson qui vient brailler 
 un air, et a qui on accorde sa protection pour 
 le faire entrer a I'Opera, apres lui avoir donne 
 quelques lecons de bon goiit, et lui avoir appris 
 ce que c'est que la proprete du chant fran§ois ; 
 c'est une demoiselle qu'on fait attendre pour 
 savoir si je suis encore la. Je me leve et je 
 m'en vais; les deux laquais ouvrent les deux 
 battans pour me laisser sortir, moi qui passe- 
 rois alors par le trou d'une aiguille; et les 
 deux estafiers crient dans I'anti-chambre : Ma- 
 dame, messieurs, voila. madame. Tout le 
 monde se range en hale, et ces messieurs sont 
 des marchands d'etoffes, des marchands d'in- 
 strumens, des bijoutiers, des colporteurs, des 
 laquais, des decroteurs, des creanciers ; enfin 
 tout ce que vous pouvez imaginer de plus ridi- 
 cule et de plus affligeant. Midi ou une heure 
 Sonne avant que cette toilette soit achevee, et 
 le secretaire, qui, sans doute, salt par experi- 
 ence I'inipossibilite de rendre un compte de- 
 taille des affaires, a un petit bordereau qu'il 
 remet entre les mains de son maitre pour I'in- 
 struire de ce qu'il doit dire a I'assemblee. Une 
 autre fois il sort a pied ou en fiacre, rentre a 
 deux heures, fait comme un bruleur de maison, 
 dine tete a tete avec moi, ou admet en tiers 
 son premier secretaire qui lui parle de la 
 necessite de fixer chaque article de depense, 
 de donner des delegations pour tel ou tel objet. 
 La seule reponse est: Nous verrons cela. 
 Ensuite il court le monde et les spectacles; et 
 il soupe en ville quand il n'a personne a souper 
 chez lui. Je vois que mon temps de repos 
 est fini."— I. pp. 308—310. 
 
 A very prominent person among the early 
 friends of Madame d'Epinay is Mademoiselle 
 d'Ette, a woman of great French respectabi- 
 lity, and circulating in the best society; and, 
 as we are painting French manners, we shall 
 make no apology to the serious part of our 
 English readers, for inserting this sketch of 
 her history and character by her own hand. 
 
 * Je connois, me dit-elle ensuite, votre fran- 
 chise et votre discretion : dites-moi naturelle- 
 irient quelle opinion on a de moi dans le monde. 
 La meilleure, lui dis-je, et telle que vous ne 
 
 pourriez la conserver si vous pratiquiez la 
 morale que vous venez de me precher. Voila. 
 oil je vous attendois, me dit-elle. Depuis dix 
 ans que j'ai perdu ma mere, je fus seduite par 
 le chevalier de Valory qui m'avoit vu, pour 
 ainsi dire, elever; mon extreme jeunesse et la 
 confiance que j'avois en lui ne me permirent 
 pas d'abord de me defier de ses veus. Je fus 
 longtemps a m'en apercevoir, et lorsque je 
 m'en aperpus, j'avois pris tant de goiit pour 
 lui, que je n'eus pas la force de lui resister. 
 II me vint des scrupules ; il les leva, en me 
 promettant de m'epouser. II y travailla en 
 effet ; mais voyant I'opposition que sa familie 
 y apportoit, a cause de la disproportion d'age 
 et de mon peu de fortune; et me trouvant, 
 d'ailleurs, heureuse comme j'etois, je fus la 
 premiere a etouffer mes scrupules, d'autant 
 plus qu'il est assez pauvre. II commengoit 
 a faire des reflexions, je lui proposai de con- 
 tinuer a vivre comme nous etions; il I'accepta. 
 Je quittai ma province, et je le suivis a Paris ; 
 vous voyez comme j'y vis. Quatre fois la se- 
 maine il passe sa journee chez moi; le reste 
 du temps nous nous contenlons reciproque- 
 ment d'apprendre de nos nouvelles, a moins 
 que le hasard ne nous fasse rencontrer. Nous 
 vivons heureux, contens; peut-etre ne le se- 
 rions nous pas tant si nous etions maries." — 
 L pp. Ill, 112. 
 
 This seems a very spirited, unincumbered 
 way of passing through life; and it is some 
 comfort, therefore, to a matrimonial English 
 reader, to find Mademoiselle d'Ette kicking the 
 chevalier out of doors towards the end of the 
 second volume. As it is a scene very edifying 
 to rakes, and those who decry the happiness 
 of the married state, we shall give it in the 
 words of Madame d'Epinay. 
 
 "Une nuit, dont elle avoit passe la plus 
 grande partie dans I'inquietude, elle entre chez 
 le chevalier: il dormoit; elle le reveille, s'as- 
 sied sur son lit, et entame une explication 
 avec toute la violence et la fureur qui I'ani- 
 moient. Le chevalier, apres avoir employe 
 vainement, pour le calmer, tous les moyens 
 que sa bonte naturelle lui suggera, lui signifia 
 enfin tres-precisement qu'il alloit se separer 
 d'elle pour toujours, et fuir un enfer auquel il 
 ne pouvoit plus tenir. Cette confidence, qui 
 n'etoit pas faite pour I'appaiser, redoubla sa 
 rage. Puis-qu'il est ainsi, dit-elle, sortez tout 
 a I'heure de chez moi; vous deviez partir dans 
 quatre jours, c'est vous rendre service de vous 
 faire partir dans I'instant. Tout ce qui est ici 
 m'appartient; le bail est en mon nom: il ne 
 me convient plus de vous souffrir chez moi : 
 levez-vous, monsieur, et songez a ne rien em- 
 porter sans ma permission." — IL pp. 193, 194. 
 
 Our English method of asking leave to sepa- 
 rate from Sir William Scott and Sir John Nicol 
 is surely better than this. 
 
 Any one who provides good dinners for 
 clever people, and remembers what they say, 
 cannot fail to write entertaining Memoires. 
 Among the early friends of Madame d'Epinay 
 was Jean Jacques Rousseau, — she lived with 
 him in considerable intimacy; and no small 
 part of her book is taken up with accounts of 
 his eccentricity, insanity, and vice. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 317 
 
 « Nous avons debute par V Engagement teme- la solitude a deja agite f 3- bi e. II se pla nt de 
 rafr., comedie nou^ellejde M. Rousseau, ami | tout le monde. ^^^^erot ^"^^ . 3^^^^^ 
 deFrancueilqui nous I'a presente._ L'auteur ne va jamais e voir MG mm e^^^^^^^^ 
 
 a joue un role dans sa piece. Quoique ce ne 
 soit qu'une comedie de societe, elle a eu un 
 grand succes. Je doute cependant qu'elle put 
 reussir au theatre ; mais c'est I'ouvrage d'^un 
 homme de beaucoup d'esprit, et peut-etre d'un 
 homme singulier. Je ne sais pas trop cepen- 
 dant si c'est ce que j'ai vu de l'auteur ou de 
 la piece qui me fait juger ainsi. II est com- 
 plimenteur sans etre poli, ou au moins sans 
 en avoir I'air. II paroit ignorer les usages du 
 monde -, mais il est aise de voir qu'il a infini- 
 ment d'esprit. II a le teint brun : et des yeux 
 pleins de feu animent sa physionomie. ^ Lors- 
 qu'il a parle et qu'on le regarde, il paroit joli ; 
 mais lorsqu'on se le rappelle, c'est toujours en 
 laid. On dit qu'il est d'une mauvaise sante, 
 el qu'il a des souffrances qu'il cache avec soin, 
 par je ne sais quel principe de vanite ; c'est 
 apparemment ce qui lui donne, de temps en 
 temps, I'air farouche. M. de Bellegarde, avec 
 qui il a cause long-temps, ce matin, en est en- 
 chante, et I'a engage a nous venir voir sou- 
 vent. J'en suis bien aise ; je me promets 
 de profiler beaucoup de sa conversation." — 
 I. pp. 175, 176. 
 
 Their friendship so formed, proceeded to a 
 great degree of intimacy. Madame d'Epinay 
 admired his genius, and provided him with 
 hats and coats ; and, at last, was so far de- 
 luded by his declamations about the country, 
 as to fit him up a little hermit cottage, where 
 there were a great many birds, and a great 
 many plants and flowers — and Avhere Rous- 
 seau was, as might have been expected, su- 
 premely miserable. His friends from Paris 
 did not come to see him. The postman, the 
 butcher, and the baker, hate romantic scenery; 
 duchesses and marchionesses were no longer 
 found to scramble for him. Among the real 
 inhabitants of the country, the reputation of 
 reading and thinking is fatal to character; and 
 Jean Jacques cursed his own successful elo- 
 quence which had sent him from the suppers 
 and flattery of Paris to smell to daffodils, 
 watch sparrows, or project idle saliva into 
 the passing stream. Very few men who have 
 gratified, and are gratifying their vanity in a 
 great metropolis, are qualified to quit it. Few 
 have the plain sense to perceive that they 
 must soon inevitably be forgotten, — or the for- 
 titude to bear it when they are. They repre- 
 sent to themselves imaginary scenes of de- 
 ploring friends and dispirited companies, — 
 but the ocean might as well regret the drops 
 exhaled by the sunbeams. Life goes on ; and 
 whether the absent have retired into a cottage 
 or a grave, is much the same thing. — In Lon- 
 don, as in law, de non apparentibus, el non exist- 
 entibns cadcm est ratio. 
 
 This is the account Madame d'Epinay gives 
 of Rousseau soon after he had retired into the 
 hermitage. 
 
 "J'ai ete il y a deux jours a la Chevrette, 
 pour terminer quelques affaires avant de m'y 
 etablir avec mes enfans. J'avois fait prevenir 
 Rousseau de mon voyage : il est yenu me voir. 
 Je crois qu'il a besoin de ma presence, et que 
 
 le Baron d'Holbach I'oublie; Gauffecourt et 
 moi seulement avons encore des egards^ pour 
 lui, dit-il ; j'ai voulu les justifier ; cela n'a pas 
 reussi. J'espere qu'il sera beaucoup plus a la 
 Chevrette qu'a I'Hermitage. Je suis persuadee 
 qu'il n'y a que fa§on de prendre cet homme 
 pour le rendre heureux; c'est de feindre de ne 
 pas prendre garde a lui, et s'en occuper sans 
 cesse; c'est pour cela que je n'insistai point 
 pour le retenir, lorsqu'il m'eut dit qu'il^vouloit 
 s'en retourner a I'Hermitage, quoiqu'il fut tard et 
 malgre le mauvais temps."— II. pp. 253, 254. 
 
 Jean Jacques Rousseau seems, as the reward 
 of genius and fine writing, to have claimed an 
 exemption from all moral duties. He borrowed 
 and begged, and never paid ;— put his children 
 in a poor-house— betrayed his friends— insulted 
 his benefactors— and was guilty of every spe- 
 cies of meanness and mischief. His vanity 
 was so great, that it was almost impossible to 
 keep pace with it by any activity of attention ; 
 and his suspicion of all mankind amounted 
 nearly, if not altogether, to insanity. The fol- 
 lowing anecdote, however, is totally clear of 
 any symptom of derangement, and carries only 
 the most rooted and disgusting selfishness. 
 
 " Rousseau vous a done dit qu'il n'avoit pas 
 porte son ouvrage a Paris 1 II en a menti, car 
 il n'a fait son voyage que pour cela. J'ai regu 
 hier une lettre de Diderot, qui peint votre her- 
 mite comme si je le voyois. II a fait ces deux 
 lieues a pied, est venu s'etablir chez Diderot 
 sans I'avoir prevenu, le tout pour faire avec 
 lui la revision de son ouvrage. Au point ou 
 ils en etoient ensemble, vous conviendrez que 
 cela est assez etrange. Je vois, par certains 
 mots echappes a mon ami dans sa lettre, qu'il y 
 a quelque sujet de discussion entre eux ; mais 
 comme il ne s'explique point, je n'y comprends 
 rien. Rousseau I'a tenu impitoyablement a 
 I'ouvrage depuis le Samedi dix heures du matin 
 jusqu'au Lundi onze heures du soir, sans lui 
 donner a peine le temps de boire ni manger. 
 La revision finie, Diderot cause avec lui d'un 
 plan qu'il a dans la tete, et prie Rousseau de 
 I'aider a arranger un incident qui n'est pas en- 
 core trouve a sa fantaisie. Cela est trop diffi- 
 cile, repond froidement Thermite, il est tard, 
 je ne suis point accoutume ■ — ■"— ■»"" 
 
 veiller. Bon 
 
 soir, je pars 
 
 demain a six heures du matin, il 
 
 est temps de dormir. II se leve, va se coucher, 
 et laisse Diderot petrifie de son precede. Voila 
 cet homme que vous croyez si pen^tre de vos 
 legons. Ajoutez a cette reflexion un propos 
 singulier de la femme de Diderot, dont je vous 
 prie de faire votre profit. Cette femme n'est 
 qu'une bonne femme, mais elle a la tact juste. 
 Voyant son mari desole le jour du depart de 
 Rousseau, elle lui en demande la raison ; il la 
 lui dit : C'est le manque de delicatesse de eel 
 homme, ajoute-t-il, qui m'afflige; il me fait 
 travailler comme un manceuvre, je^ne ra'en 
 serois, je crois, pas aper(;u, s'il ne m'avoit re 
 fuse aussi sechement de s'occuper pourmoi un 
 quart-d'heure . . . Vous etes etonne de cela, lui 
 repond sa femme, vous ne le connoissez done 
 pasi II est devors d'envie ; il enrage quani 
 2d3 
 
318 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 il paroit quelque chose de beau qui n'est pas 
 de lui. On lui verra faire un jaur quelques 
 grands forfaits plutot que de se laisser ignorer. 
 TeneZ, je ne jurerois pas qu'il ne se rangeat 
 du parti des Jesuites, et qu'il n'enterprit leur 
 apologie."— II. pp. 60, 61. 
 
 The horror which Diderot ultimately con- 
 ceived for him, is strongly expressed in the 
 following letter to Grimm, — written after an 
 interview which compelled him, with many 
 pangs, to renounce all intercourse with a man 
 who had, for years, been the object of his ten- 
 derest and most partial feelings. 
 
 " Get homme est un forcene. Je I'ai vu, je 
 lui ai reproche, avec toute la force que donne 
 I'honnetete et une sorte d'interet qui reste au 
 fond du cceur d'un ami qui lui est devoue de- 
 puis long-temps, I'enormite de sa conduite ; les 
 pleurs verses aux pieds de Madame d'Epinay, 
 dans le moment meme oil il la chargeoit pres 
 de moi des accusations les plus graves ; cette 
 odieuse apologie qu'il vous a envoyee, et oii il 
 n'y pas une seule des raisons qu'il avoit a dire ; 
 cette lettre projectee pour Saint-Lambert, qui 
 devoit le tranquilliser sur des sentimens qu'il 
 se reprochoit, et ou, loin d'avouer une passion 
 nee dans son cceur son malgre lui, il s'ex- 
 cuse d'avoir alarme Madame d'Houdetot sur la 
 sienne. Que sais-je encore ? Je ne suis point 
 content de ses responses ; je n'ai pas eu le 
 courage de le lui temoigner j'ai mieux aime 
 lui laisser la miserable consolation de croire 
 qu'il m'a trompe. Qu'il vive! II a mis dans 
 sa defense un emportement froid qui m'a 
 afSige. J'ai peur qu'il ne soit endurci. 
 
 "Adieu, mon ami; soyons et continuous 
 d'etre honnetes gens : I'etat de ceux qui ont 
 cesse a I'etre me fait peur. Adieu, mon ami ; 
 
 je vous embrasse bien tendrement Je ne 
 
 jette dans vos bras comme un homme effraye ; 
 je tiiche en vain de faire de la poesie, mais cet 
 homme me revient tout a travers mon travail ; 
 j1 me trouble, et je suis comme si j'avois a cote 
 de moi un damne ; il est damne, cela est silr. 
 
 Adieu, mon ami Grimm, viola Teffet que 
 
 je ferois sur vous, si je devenois jamais im 
 mechant: en verite,j'aimerois mieux etre mort. 
 II n'y a peut-etre pas le sens commun dans 
 tout ce que je vous ecris, mais je vous avoue 
 que je n'a- jamais eprouve un trouble d'ame 
 si terribk que cela que j'ai. 
 
 " Oh ! mon ami, quel spectacle que celui 
 d'un homme mechant et bourrele ! Brulez, 
 dechirez ce papier, qu'il ne retombe plus sous 
 vos yeux; que je ne revoie plus cet homme 
 U, il me feroit croire aux diables et a I'enfer. 
 Si je suis jamais force de retourner chez lui, 
 je suis sur que je fremirai tout le long du che- 
 min: j'avois la fievre en revenant. Je suis 
 fache de ne lui avoir pas laisse voir I'horreur 
 qu'il m'inspiroit, et je ne me reconcilie avec 
 moi qu'en pensant, que vous, avec toute votre 
 fermete, vous ne I'aiiriez pas pu a ma place ; 
 je ne sais pas s'il ne m'auroit pas tue. On 
 entendoit ses cris jusqu'au bout du jardin; et 
 je le voyois ! Adieu, mon ami, j'irai domain 
 vous voir; j'irai chercher un homme de bien, 
 au})res duquel je m'asseyc, qui me rassure, et 
 qui chasse de mon ame je ne sais quoi d'in- 
 fernal qui la tourmente et qui s'y est attache. 
 Les poe'.es ont bien fait de mettre un inter- 
 
 valle immense entre le ciel et les enfers. En 
 verite, la main rae tremble." — III. pp. 148, 149. 
 
 Madame d'Epinay lived, as we before ob- 
 served, with many persons of great celebrity. 
 We could not help smiling, among many 
 others, at this anecdote of our countryman, 
 David Hume. At the beginning of his splen- 
 did career of fame and fashion at Paris, the 
 historian was persuaded to appear in the cha- 
 racter of a sultan ; and was placed on a sofa 
 between two of the most beautiful women of 
 Paris, who acted for that evening the part of 
 inexorables, whose favour he was supposed to 
 be soliciting. The absurdity of this scene can 
 easily be conceived. 
 
 " Le celebre David Hume, grand et gros his- 
 toriographe d'Angleterre, connu et estime par 
 ses ecrits, n'a pas autant de talens pour ce 
 genre d'amusemens auquel toutes nos jolies 
 femmes I'avoient decide propre. II fit son debut 
 chez Madame de T * * * ; on lui avoit destine 
 le role d'un sultan assis entre deux esclaves, 
 employant toute son eloquence pour s'en faire 
 aimer; les trouvant inexorables, il devoit 
 chercher le sujet de leurs peines et de leur re- 
 sistance : on le place sur un sopha entre les 
 deux plus jolies femmes de Paris, il les regarde 
 attentivement, il se frappe le ventre et les ge- 
 noux a plusieurs reprises, et ne trouve jamais 
 autre chose a leur dire que . Eh bien ! mes de- 
 moiselles .... Eh bien ! vous voild done .... Ek 
 bien! vous voild .... vous voild id? .... Cette 
 phrase dura un quart-d"heure,sans qu'il put en 
 sortir. Une d'elles se leva d'impatience : Ah! 
 dit-clle, je m'en etois bien doutee, cet homme 
 n'est bon qu'a manger du veau ! Dupuis ce 
 temps il est relegue au role de spectateur, et 
 n'en est pas moins fete et cajole. C'est en ve- 
 rite une chose plaisante que le role qu'il joue 
 ici ; malheureusement pour lui, ou plutot pour 
 la dignitephilosophique, car, pour lui, il paroit 
 s'accommoder fort de ce train de vie ; il n'y 
 avoit aucune manie dominante dans ce pays 
 lorsqu'il y est arrive ; on I'a regarde comme 
 une trouvaille dans cette circonstance, et I'ef- 
 fervescence de nos jeunes tetes s'est tournee 
 de son cote. Toutes les jolies femmes s'en sont 
 emparees ; il est de tons les soupers fins, et il 
 n'est point de bonne fete sans lui : en un mot, 
 il est pour nos agreables ce que les Genevois 
 sont pour moi." — III. pp. 284, 285. 
 
 There is always some man, of whom the 
 human viscera stand in greater dread than of 
 any other person, who is supposed, for the time 
 being, to be the only person who can dart his 
 pill into their inmost recesses ; and bind them 
 over, in medical recognisance, to assimilate 
 and digest. In the Trojan war, Podalirius and 
 Machaon were what Dr. Baillie and Sir Henry 
 Halford now are — they had the fashionable 
 practice of the Greek camp; and, in all pro- 
 bability, received many a guinea from Aga- 
 memnon dear to Jove, and Nestor the tamer 
 of horses. In the time of Madame d'Epinay, 
 Dr. Tronchin, of Geneva, was in vogue, and 
 no lady of fashion could recover without 
 writing to him, or seeing him in person. To 
 the Esculapius of this very small and irritable 
 republic, Madame d'Epinay repaired; and, 
 after a struggle between life and death, and 
 Dr. Tronchin, recovered her health. During 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 319 
 
 her residence at Geneva, she became acquaint- 
 ed with Voltaire, of whom she has left the 
 following admirable and original account — the 
 truth, talent, and simplicity of which, are not 
 a little enhanced by the tone of adulation or 
 abuse which has been so generally employed 
 in speaking of this celebrated person. 
 
 "Eh bien ! mon ami, je n'aimerois pas a 
 vivre de suite avec lui; il n'anul principe ar- 
 rete, il compte trop sur sa memoire, et il en 
 abuse souvent ; je trouve qu'elle fait tort quel- 
 qucfois a sa conversation ; il redit plus qu'il 
 ne dit, et ne laisse jamais rien a faire aux 
 autres. II ne sait point causer, et il humilie 
 I'amour-propre ; il dit le pour et le centre, tant 
 qu'on veut, toujours avec de nouvelles graces 
 a la verite, et neanmoins il a toujours I'air de 
 se moquer de tout, jusqu'a lui-meme. II n'a 
 nulle philosophic dans la tete ; il est tout he- 
 risse de petits prejuges d'enfans ; on les lui 
 passeroit peut-etre en faveur de ses graces, du 
 brilliant de son esprit et de son originalite, s'il 
 ne s'affichoit pas pour les secouer tous. II a 
 des inconsequences plaisantes, et il est au 
 milieu de tout cela tres-amusant a voir. Mais 
 je n'aime point les gens qui ne font que 
 m'amuser. Pour madame sa niece, elle est 
 tout-a-fait comique. 
 
 " II paroit ici depuis quelques jours un livre 
 qui a vivement echauffe les t^tes, et qui cause 
 des discussions fort interessantes entre differ- 
 entes personnes de ce pays, parce que Ton 
 pretend que la constitution de leur gouverne- 
 ment y est interessee : Voltaire s'y trouve 
 mele pour des propos assez vifs qu'il a tenu a 
 ce sujet contre les pretres. La grosse niece 
 trouve fort mauvais que tous les magistrats 
 n'ayent pas pris fait et cause pour son oncle. 
 Elle jette tour a tour ses grosses mains et ses 
 petits bras par dessus sa tete, maudissant avec 
 des cris inhumains les lois, les republiques, et 
 surtout ces polissons de republicains qui vont 
 a pied, qui sont obliges de souffrir les criail- 
 leries de leurs pretres, et qui se croient libres. 
 Cela est tout-a-fait bon a entendre et a voir." 
 III. pp. 196, 197. 
 
 Madame D'Epinay was certainly a woman 
 of very considerable talent. Rousseau accuses 
 her of writing bad plays and romances. This 
 may be ; but her epistolary style is excellent 
 — her remarks on passing events lively, acute, 
 and solid — and her delineation of character 
 admirable. As a proof of this, we shall give 
 her portrait of the Marquis de Croisniare, one 
 of the friends of Diderot and the Baron d'Hol- 
 bach. 
 
 "Je lui crois bien soixante ans; il ne les 
 
 paroit pourtant pas. II est d'une taille mddiocre, 
 sa figure a du etre tres-agreable : elle se dis- 
 tingue encore par un air de noblesse et d'ais- 
 ance, qui repand de la grace sur tout sa 
 personne. Sa physionomie a de la finesse. 
 Ses gestes, ses attitudes ne sont jamais 
 recherches ; mais ils sont si bien d'accord 
 avec la tournure de son esprit, qu'ils semblent 
 ajouter a son originalite. II parle des choses 
 les plus serieuses et les plus importantes d'un 
 ton si gai, qu'on est souvent tente de ne rien 
 croire de ce qu'il dit. On n'a presque jamais 
 rien a citer de ce qu'on lui entcnd dire ; mais 
 lorsqu'il parle, on ne veut rien perdre de ce 
 qu'il dit ; s'il se tait, on desire qu'il parle 
 encore. Sa prodigieuse vivacite, et une sin- 
 guliere aptitude a toutes sortes de talens et de 
 connoissances, I'ont porte a tout voir et a tout 
 connoitre; au moyen de quoi vous comprenez 
 qu'il est fort instruit. II a bien lu, bien vu, et 
 n'a retenu que ce qui valoit la peine de I'etre. 
 Son esprit annonce d'abord plus d'agrement 
 que de solidite, mais je crois que quiconque 
 le jugeroit frivole lui feroit tort. Je le soup- 
 conne de renfermer dans son cabinet les epines 
 des roses qu'il distribue dans la societe : assez 
 constamment gai dans le monde, seul je le 
 crois melancolique. On dit qu'il a I'ame aussi 
 tendre qu'honnete ; qu'il sent vivement et qu'il 
 se livre avec impetuosite a ce qui trouve le 
 chemin de son coeur. Tout le monde ne lui 
 plait pas ; il faul pour cela de I'originalite, ou 
 des vertus distinguees, ou de certains vices 
 qu'il appelle passions ; neanmoins dans le 
 courant de la vie, il s'accommode de tout. 
 Beaucoup de curiosite et de la facilite dans le 
 caractere (ce qui va jusqu'a la foiblesse) 
 I'entrainent souvent a negliger ses meilleurs 
 amis et a les perdre de \'\ie, pour se livrer a 
 des gouts factices et passagers : il en rit avec 
 eux ; mais on voit si clairement qu'il en rougit 
 avec lui-meme, qu'on ne pent lui savoir 
 mauvais gre de ses disparates." — III. pp. 324 
 —326. 
 
 The portrait of Grimm, the French Boswell, 
 voL iii. p. 97, is equally good, if not superior; 
 but we have already extracted enough to show 
 the nature of the work, and the talents of the 
 author. It is a lively, entertaining book, — 
 relating in an agreeable manner the opinions 
 and habits of many remarkable men — mingled 
 with some very scandalous and improper pas- 
 sages, Avhich degrade the whole work. But if 
 all the decencies and delicacies of life were in 
 one scale, and five francs in the other, what 
 French bookseller would feel a single momeni 
 of doubt in making his selection ' 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 rOOR-LAWS.' 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 1820.] 
 
 Oun readers, we fear, will require some 
 apology for being asked to look at anything 
 upon the poor-laws. No subject, we adi 
 can be more disagreeable, or more trite. But, 
 unfortunately, it is the most important of all 
 the important subjects which the distressed 
 state of the country is now crowding upon our 
 notice. 
 
 A pamphlet on the poor-laws generally con- 
 tains some little piece of favourite nonsense, 
 by which we are gravely told this enormous 
 evil may be perfectly cured. The first gentle- 
 man recommends little gardens ; the second 
 cows; the third a village shop; the fourth a 
 spade ; the fifth Dr. Bell, and so forth. Every 
 man rushes to the press with his small morsel 
 of imbecility; and is not easy till he sees his 
 impertinence stitched in blue covers. In this 
 list of absurdities, we must not forget the pro- 
 ject of supporting the poor from national funds, 
 or, in other words, of immediately doubling the 
 expenditure, and introducing every possible 
 abuse into the administration of it. 
 
 Then there are worthy men, who call upon 
 gentlemen of fortune and education to become 
 overseers — meaning, we suppose, that the pre- 
 sent overseers are to perform the higher duties 
 of men of fortune. Then merit is set up as 
 the test of relief; and their worships are to 
 enter into a long examination of the life and 
 character of each applicant, assisted, as they 
 doubtless would be, by candid overseers, and 
 neighboars divested of every feeling of malice 
 and partiality. The children are next to be 
 taken from their parents, and lodged in im- 
 mense pedagogueries of several acres each, 
 where they are to be carefully secluded from 
 those fathers and mothers they are commanded 
 to obey and honour, and are to be brought up 
 in virtue by the churchwardens. — And this is 
 gravely intended as a corrective of the poor- 
 laws ; as if (to pass over the many other ob- 
 jections which might be made to it,) it would 
 not set mankind populating faster than carpen- 
 ters and bricklayers could cover in their child- 
 ren, or separate twigs to be bound into rods foi: 
 their flagellation. An extension of the poor- 
 laws to personal property is also talked of. 
 We should be very glad to see any species of 
 property exempted from these laws, but have 
 no wish that any which is now exempted should 
 be subjected to their influence. The case 
 would infallibly be like that of the income-tax, 
 — the more easily the tax was raised, the more 
 
 * 1. Safe Method far rendering' Income arising from Per- 
 sonal Property arailable to the Poor-Laws. Longman 
 &Co. 1819. 
 
 2. Summary Revieic of the Report and Eridence relative 
 to the Poor-Laws. By S. W. Njool. York. 
 
 3. Essajt on the Prorticabilily of modifying the Poor-Laws. 
 Sherwood. 1819. 
 
 4. Consideration.': on the Poor-Latcs. By John Davison, 
 A. M. Oxford. 
 
 I profligate would be the expenditure. It is pro- 
 posed also that alehouses should be diminished, 
 and that the children of the poor should be 
 catechized publicly in the church, — both very 
 respectable and proper suggestions but of them- 
 selves hardly strong enough for the evil. We 
 have every wish that the poor should accus- 
 tom themselves to habits of sobriety; but we 
 cannot help reflecting, sometimes, that an ale- 
 house is the only place where a poor tired 
 creature, haunted with every species of wretch- 
 edness, can purchase three or four times a 
 year three pennyworth of ale — a liquor upon 
 M'hich wine-drinking moralists are always ex- 
 tremely severe. We must not forget, among 
 other nostrums, the eulogy of small farms — in 
 other words, of small capital, and profound ig- 
 norance in the arts of agriculture ; — and the 
 evil is also thought to be curable by periodical 
 contributions from men who have nothing, and 
 can earn nothing without charity. To one of 
 these plans, and perhaps the most plausible, 
 Mr. Nicol has stated, in the following passage, 
 objections that are applicable to almost all the 
 rest. 
 
 "The district school would no doubt be well 
 superintended and well regulated; magistrates 
 and country gentlemen would be its visitors. 
 The more excellent the establishment, the 
 greater the mischief; because the greater the 
 expense. We may talk what we will of econ- 
 omy, but where the care of the poor is taken 
 exclusively into the hands of the rich, compa- 
 rative extravagance is the necessary conse- 
 quence: to say that the gentleman, or even the 
 overseer, would never permit the poor to live 
 at the district school, as they live at home, is 
 saying far too little. English humanity M^ill 
 never see the poor in any thing like Avant, when 
 that want is palpably and visibly brought be- 
 fore it : first, it will give necessaries, next com- 
 forts ; until its fostering care rather pampers, 
 than merely relieves. The humanity itself is 
 highly laudable; but if practised on an exten- 
 sive scale, its consequences must entail an al- 
 most unlimited expenditure. 
 
 " Mr. Locke computes that the labour of a 
 child from 3 to 14, being set against its nourish- 
 ment and teaching, the result would be exone- 
 ration of the parish from expense. Nothing 
 could prove more decisively the incompetency 
 of the board of trade to advise on this question. 
 Of the productive labour of the workhouse, I 
 shall have to speak hereafter; I will only ob- 
 serve in this place, that after the greatest care 
 and attention bestowed on the subject, after ex- 
 pensive looms purchased, &c., the 50 boys of 
 the blue coat school earned in the year 181G, 
 59/. \Qs. 3(/.; the 40 girls earned, in the same 
 time, 40/. 7.*. Qd. The ages of these children 
 are from 8 to 16. They earn about one pound 
 in the year, and cost about twenty. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 321 
 
 "The greater the call for labour in public 
 institutions, be they prisons, workhouses, or 
 schools, the more difficult to be procured that 
 labour must be. There will thence be both 
 much less of it for the comparative numbers, 
 and it will afford a much less price ; to get any- 
 labour at all, one school must underbid an- 
 other. 
 
 " It has just been observed, that ' the child 
 of a poor cottager, half clothed, half fed, with 
 the enjoyment of home and liberty, is not only 
 happier but better than the little automaton of 
 a parish workhouse:' and this I believe is ac- 
 curately true. I scarcely know a more cheer- 
 ing sight, though certainly many more elegant 
 ones, than the youthful gambols of a village 
 green. They call to mind the description given 
 by Paley of the shoals of the fry of fish : ' They 
 are so happy that they know not what to do 
 with themselves ; their attitude, their vivacity, 
 their leaps out of the water, their frolics in it, 
 all conduce to show their excess of spirits, and 
 are simply the effects of that excess.' 
 
 "Though politeness may be banished from 
 the cottage, and though the anxious mother may 
 sometimes chide a little too sharply, yet here 
 both maternal endearments and social affection 
 exist in perhaps their greatest vigour: the at- 
 tachments of lower life, where independent of 
 attachment there is so little to enjoy, far out- 
 strip the divided if not exhausted sensibility 
 of the rich and great ; and in depriving the 
 poor of these attachments, we may be said to 
 rob them of their little all. 
 
 " But it is not to happiness only I here refer ; 
 it is to morals. I listen with great reserve to 
 that system of moral instruction, which has 
 not social affection for its basis, or the feelings 
 of the heart for its ally. It is not to be con- 
 cealed, that every thing may be taught, yet no- 
 thing learned, that systems planned with care, 
 and executed with attention, may evaporate 
 into unmeaning forms, where the imagination 
 is not roused, or the sensibility impressed. 
 
 "Let us suppose the children of the 'district 
 school,' nurtured with that superabundant care 
 which such institutions, when supposed to be 
 well conducted, are wont to exhibit ; they rise 
 with the dawn ; after attending to the calls of 
 cleanliness, prayers follow ; then a lesson ; 
 then breakfast ; then work, till noon liberates 
 them, for perhaps an hour, from the walls of 
 their prison to the walls of their prison court. 
 Dinner follows ; and then, in course, work, les- 
 sons, supper, prayers ; at length, after a day 
 dreary and dull, the counterpart of every day 
 which has preceded, and of all that are to fol- 
 low, the children are dismissed to bed. — This 
 system may construct a machine, but it will 
 not form a man. Of what does it consist 7 of 
 prayers parroted without one sentiment in ac- 
 cord with the words uttered : of moral lectures 
 which the understanding does not comprehend, 
 or the heart feel ; of endless bodily constraint, 
 intolerable to youthful vivacity, and injurious 
 to the perfection of the human frame. — The 
 cottage day may not present so imposing a 
 scene; no decent uniform; no well trimmed 
 locks; no glossy skin; no united response of 
 hundreds of conjoined voices; no lengthened 
 procession, misnamed exercise ; but if it has 
 41 
 
 less to strike the eye, it has far more to engage 
 the heart. A trifle in the way of cleanliness 
 must suffice ; the prayer is not forgot ; it is per- 
 haps imperfectly repeated, and confusedly un- 
 derstood ; but it is not muttered as a vain 
 sound ; it is an earthly parent that tells of a 
 heavenly one ; duty, love, obedience, are not 
 words without meaning, when repeated by a 
 mother to her child : to God, the great unknown 
 Being that made all things, all thanks, all praise, 
 all adoration is due. The young religionist 
 may be in some measure bewildered by all 
 this; his notions may be obscure, but his feel- 
 ings will be roused, and the foundation at least 
 of true piety will be laid. 
 
 "Of moral instruction, the child may be 
 taught less at home than at school, but he will 
 be taught better; that is, whatever he is taught 
 he will feel : he will not have abstract proposi- 
 tions of duty coldly presented to his mind ; but 
 precept and practice will be conjoined; what 
 he is told it is right to do will be instantly done. 
 Sometimes the operative principle on the child's 
 mind will be love, sometimes fear, sometimes 
 habitual sense of obedience ; it is always some- 
 thing that will impress, always something that 
 will be remembered." 
 
 There are two points which we consider as 
 now admitted by all men of sense, — Is', That 
 the poor-laws must be abolished ; 2rf/y, That 
 they must be very gradually abolished.* We 
 hardly think it worth while to throw away pen 
 and ink upon any one who is still inclined to 
 dispute either of these propositions. 
 
 With respect to the gradual abolition, it must 
 be observed, that the present redundant popu- 
 lation of the country has been entirely produced 
 by the poor-laws : and nothing could be so 
 grossly unjust as to encourage people to such 
 a vicious multiplication, and then, when you 
 happen to discover your folly, immediately to 
 starve them into annihilation. You have been 
 calling upon your population for two hundred 
 years to beget more children — furnished them 
 with clothes, food, and houses — taught them to 
 lay up nothing for matrimony, nothing for 
 children, nothing for age — but to depend upon 
 justices of the peace for every human want. 
 The folly is now detected; but the people, who 
 are the fruit of it, remain. It was madness to 
 call them in this manner into existence; but 
 it would be the height of cold-blooded cruelty 
 to get rid of them by any other than the most 
 gentle and gradual means ; and not only would 
 it be cruel, but extremely dangerous, to make 
 the attempt. Insurrections of the most san- 
 guinary and ferocious nature would be the 
 immediate consequence of any very sudden 
 change in the system of the poor-laws; not 
 partial, like those which proceeded from an 
 impeded or decaying state of manufactures, 
 but as universal as the poor-laws themselves^ 
 
 * I am not quite so wrong in this as I seem to be, nor 
 after all our experience am I satisfied that there has not 
 been a good deal of rashness and precipitation in the 
 conduct of this admirable measure. You have not been 
 able to carry the law into manufacturing countries. 
 Parliament will compel you to soften some of the more 
 severe clauses. It has been the nucleus of general in- 
 surrection and chartism. The Duke of Wellington 
 wisely recommended that the experiment should be- 
 first tried in a few counties round the metropolis. 
 
322 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMTH. 
 
 and as ferocious as insurrections always are 
 ■which are led on by hunger and despair. 
 
 These observations may serve as an answer 
 to those angry and impatient gentlemen, who 
 are always crying out, What has the committee 
 of the House of Commons done? — What have 
 they to show for their labours? — Are the rates 
 lessened I — Are the evils removed 1 The com- 
 mittee of the House of Commons would have 
 shown themselves to be a set of the most con- 
 temptible charlatans, if they had proceeded 
 with any such indecent and perilous haste, or 
 paid the slightest regard to the ignorant folly 
 which required it at their hands. They have 
 very properly begun, by collecting all possible 
 information upon the subject; by consulting 
 speculative and practical men ; by leaving time 
 for the press to contribute whatever it could of 
 thought or knowledge to the subject; and by 
 introducing measures, the effects of which will 
 be, and are intended to be, gradual. The lords 
 seemed at first to have been surprised that the 
 poor-laws v/ere not abolished before the end of 
 the first session of Parliament ; and accordingly 
 set up a little rival committee of their own, 
 which did little or nothing, and will not, we 
 believe, be renewed. We are so much less 
 sanguine than those noble legislators, that we 
 shall think the improvement immense, and a 
 subject of very general congratulation, if the 
 poor-rates are perceptibly diminished, and if 
 the system of pauperism is clearly going down 
 in twenty or thirty years hence. 
 
 We thmk, upon the whole, that government 
 has been fortunate in the selection of the gen- 
 tleman who is placed at the head of the com- 
 mittee for the revision of the poor-laws; or 
 rather, we should say, (for he is a gentleman 
 of very independent fortune), who has consented 
 that he should be placed there. Mr. Sturges 
 Bourne is undoubtedly a man of business, and 
 of very good sense : he has made some mis- 
 takes ; but, upon the whole, sees the subject as 
 a philosopher and a statesman ought to do. 
 Above all, we are pleased with his good nature 
 and good sense in adhering to his undertaking, 
 after the Parliament has flung out two or three 
 of his favourite bills. Many men would have 
 .surrendered so unthankful and laborious an 
 undertaking in disgust; but Mr. Bourne knows 
 better what appertains to his honour and cha- 
 racter, and, above all, what he owes to his 
 country. It is a great subject; and such as will 
 secure to him the gratitude and favour of pos- 
 terity, if he brings it to a successful issue. 
 
 We have stated our opinion that all remedies, 
 without gradual abolition, are of little impor- 
 Jance. W'ith a foundation laid for such gradual 
 abolition, every auxiliary improvement of the 
 poor-laws (while they do remain) is worthy the 
 attention of Parliament: and, in suggesting a 
 few alterations as fit to be immediately adopted, 
 we wish it to be understood, that we have in 
 view the gradual destruction of the system, as 
 well as its amendment while it continues to 
 operate. 
 
 It seems to us, then, that one of the first and 
 greatest improvements of this unhappy system 
 would be a complete revision of the law of set- 
 tlement. Since Mr. East's act for preventing 
 the removal of the poor till they are actually 
 
 chargeable, any man may live where he pleases, 
 until he becomes a beggar, and asks alms of 
 the place where he resides. To gain a settle- 
 ment, then, is nothing more than to gain a right 
 of begging: it is not, as it used to be before Mr. 
 East's act, a power of residing where, in the 
 judgment of the resident, his industry and exer- 
 tion will be best rewarded; but a power of tax- 
 ing the industry and exertions of other persons 
 in the place where his settlement falls. This 
 privilege produces all the evil complained of in 
 the poor-laws ; and instead, therefore, of being 
 conferred with the liberality and profusion 
 which it is at present, it should be made of very 
 difficult attainment, and liable to the fewest 
 possible changes. The constant policy of our 
 courts of justice has been, to make settlements 
 easily obtained. Since the period we have be- 
 fore alluded to, this has certainly been a very 
 mistaken policy. It would be a far wiser 
 course to abolish all other means of settlement 
 than those of birth, parentage, and marriage — 
 not for the limited reason slated in the com- 
 mittee, that it would diminish the law expenses, 
 (though that, too, is of importance,) but because 
 it would invest fewer residents with the fatal 
 privilege of turning beggars, exempt a greater 
 number of labourers from the moral corruption 
 of the poor-laws, and stimulate them to exertion, 
 and economy, by the fear of removal if they are 
 extravagant and idle. Of ten men who leave 
 the place of their birth, four, probably, get a 
 settlement by yearly hiring, and four others by 
 renting a small tenement; while two or three 
 may return to the place of their nativity, and 
 settle there. Now, under the present system, 
 here are eight men setded where they have a 
 right to beg without being removed. The pro- 
 bability is, that they will all beg; and that their 
 virtue will give way to the incessant temptation 
 of the poor-laws : but if these men had felt from 
 the very beginning, that removal from the place 
 where they wished most to live would be the 
 sure consequence of their idleness and extrava- 
 gance, the probability is, that they would have 
 escaped the contagion of pauperism, and been 
 much more useful members of society than 
 they now are. The best labourers in a village 
 are commonly those who are living where they 
 are legally settled, and have therefore no right to 
 ask charity— for the plain reason, that they have 
 nothing to depend upon but their own exertions: 
 in short, for them the poor-laws hardly exist; 
 and they are such as the great mass of English 
 peasantry would be, if we had escaped the curse 
 of these laws altogether. 
 
 It is incorrect to say, that no labourer would 
 settle out of the place of his birth, if the means 
 of acquiring a settlement were so limited. Many 
 men begin the world with strong hope and 
 much confidence in their own fortune, and 
 without any intention of subsisting by charity; 
 but they see others subsisting in greater ease, 
 without their foil — and their spirit gradually 
 sinks to the meanness of mendicity. 
 
 An affecting picture is sometimes drawn of a 
 man falling into want in the decline of life, and 
 compelled to remove from the place where he 
 has spent the greatest part of his days. These 
 things are certainly painful enough to him who 
 has the misfortune to witness them. But they 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 323 
 
 must be taken upon a large scale; and the 
 whole good and evil which they produce dili- 
 gently weighed and considered. The question 
 then will be, whether any thing can be more 
 really humane, than to restrain a system which 
 relaxes the sinews of industry, and places the 
 dependence of laborious men upon any thing 
 but themselves. We must not think only of 
 the wretched sufferer who is removed, and, at 
 the sight of his misfortunes, call out for fresh 
 facilities to beg. We must remember the in- 
 dustry, the vigour, and the care which the dread 
 of removal has excited, and ihe number of per- 
 sons who owe their happiness and their wealth 
 to that salutary feeling. The very person, who, 
 in the decline of life, is removed from the spot 
 where he has spent so great a part of his time, 
 would, perhaps, have been a pauper half a cen- 
 tury before, if he had been afflicted with the 
 right of asking alms in the place where he 
 lived. 
 
 It has been objected, that this plan of abolish- 
 ing all settlements but those of birth, would 
 send a man, the labour of whose youth had 
 benefited some other parish, to pass the useless 
 part of his life in a place for which he existed 
 only as a burden. Supposing that this were 
 the case, it would be quite sufficient to answer, 
 that any given parish would probably send 
 away as many useless old men as it received; 
 and, after all, little inequalities must be borne 
 for the general good. But, in truth, it is rather 
 ridiculous to talk of a parish not having bene- 
 fited by the labour of the man who is returned 
 upon their hands in his old age. If such parish 
 resembles niostof those in England, the absence 
 of a man for thirty or forty years has been a 
 great good instead of an evil ; they have had 
 many more labourers than they could employ ; 
 and the very man whom they are complaining 
 of supporting for his few last years, would, in 
 all probability, have been a beggar forty years 
 before, if he had remained among them ; or, by 
 pushing him out of work, would have made 
 some other man a beggar. Are the benefits de- 
 rived from prosperous manufactures limited to 
 the parishes which contain them 1 The indus- 
 try of Halifax, Huddersfield, or Leeds, is felt 
 across the kmgdom as far as the Eastern Sea. 
 The prices of meat and corn at the markets of 
 York and Malion are instantly affected by any 
 increase of demand and rise of wages in the 
 manufacturing districts to the west. They 
 have benefited these distant places, and found 
 labour for their superfluous hands by the pros- 
 perity of their raanufaciures. Where, then, 
 would be the injustice, if the manufacturers, in 
 the time of stagnation and poverty, were re- 
 turned to their birth settlements 7 But as the 
 law now stands, population tumors, of the most 
 dangerous nature, may spring up in a parish : 
 — a manufacturer, concealing his intention, may 
 settle there, take 200 or 300 apprentices, fail, 
 and half ruin the parish which has been the 
 scene of his operations. For these reasons, 
 ■we strongly recommend to Mr. Bourne to nar- 
 row as much as possible, in all his future bills, 
 the means of acquiring seitlements,* and to re- 
 duce them ultimately to parentage, birth and 
 
 ' Tbis has been done. 
 
 marriage — convinced that, in so doing, he will, 
 in furtherance of the great object of abolishing 
 the poor-laws, be only limiting the right of beg- 
 ging, and preventing the resident and almsman 
 from being (as they now commonly are) one 
 and the same person. But, before we dismiss 
 this part of the subject, we must say a few 
 words upon the methods by which settlements 
 are now gained. 
 
 In the settlement by hiring it is held, that a 
 man has a claim upon the parish for support 
 where he has laboured for a year; and yet 
 another, who has laboured there for twenty 
 years by short hirings, gains no settlement at 
 all. When a man was not allowed to live 
 where he was not settled, it was wise to lay 
 hold of any plan for extending settlements. But 
 the whole question is now completely changed; 
 and the only point which remains is, to find out 
 what mode of conferring settlements produces 
 the least possible mischief. We are convinced 
 it is by throwing every possible difficulty in the 
 way of acquiring them. If a settlement here- 
 after should not be obtained in that parish in 
 which labourers have worked for many years, 
 it will be because it contributes materially to 
 their happiness that they should not gain a 
 settlement there ; and this is a full answer to 
 the apparent injustice. 
 
 Then, upon what plea of common sense 
 should a man gain a power of taxing a parish 
 to keep him, because he has'rented a tenement 
 often pounds a year there? or, because he has 
 served the office of clerk, or sexton, or hog- 
 ringer, or bought an estate of thirty pounds 
 value? However good these various pleas 
 might be for conferring settlements, if it was 
 desirable to increase the facility of obtaining 
 them, they are totally inefficacious if it can be 
 shown that the means of gaining new settle- 
 ments should be confined to the limits of the 
 strictest necessity. 
 
 These observations (if they have the honour 
 of attracting his attention) will show Mr. Bourne 
 our opinion of his bill for giving the privilege 
 of settlement only to a certain length of resi- 
 dence. In the Jirst place, such a bill would be 
 the cause of endless vexation to the poor, from 
 the certainty of their being turned out of their 
 cottages, before they pushed their legal taproot 
 into the parish ; and, secondly, it would rapidly 
 extend all the evils of the poor laws, by identi- 
 fying, much more than they are at present 
 identified, the resident and the settled man — the 
 very opposite of the policy which ought to be 
 pursued. 
 
 Let us suppose, then, that we have got rid of 
 all the means of gaining a settlement, or right 
 to become a beggar, except by birth, parentage, 
 and marriage ; (or the wife, of course, must fall 
 into the settlement of the husband; and the 
 children, till emancipated, must be removed, if 
 their parents are removed. This point gained, 
 the task of regulating the law expenses of the 
 poor-laws would be nearly accomplished: for 
 the most fertile causes of dispute would be 
 removed. Every first settlement is an inex- 
 haustible source of litigation and expense to 
 the miserable rustics. Upon the simple fact, 
 for example, of a farmer hiring a ploughman 
 for a year, arise the following afflicting (.ties- 
 
324 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 lions : — Was it an expressed contract 1 Was it 
 an implied contract 1 M'as it an implied hiring 
 of the ploughman, rebutted by circumstances? 
 Was the ploughman's contract for a year's 
 prospective service 1 Was it a customary hir- 
 ing of the ploughman 1 Was it a retrospective 
 hiring of the ploughman ! Was it a condi- 
 tional hiring 1 Was it a general hiring "? Was 
 it a special, or a special yearly hiring, or a 
 special hiring with wages reserved weekly 1 — 
 Did the farmer make it a special conditional 
 hiring with warning, or an exceptive hiring? 
 Was the service of the ploughman actual or 
 contractive 1 Was there any dispensation ex- 
 pressed or implied 1 — or was there a dissolution 
 implied 1 — by new agreement 1 — or mutual con- 
 sent? — or by justices ? — or by any other of the 
 ten thousand means which the ingenuity of 
 lawyers has created ? Can any one be sur- 
 prised, after this, to learn, that the amount of 
 appeals for removals, in the four quarter ses- 
 sions ending Mid-summer, 1817, were four 
 thousand seven hundred y* Can any man doubt 
 that it is necessary to reduce the hydra to as 
 few heads as possible ? or can any other objec- 
 tion be slated to such reduction, than the 
 number of attorneys and provincial counsel, 
 whom it will bring into the poor-house ? Mr. 
 Nicol says, that the greater number of modes 
 of settlement do not increase litigation. He 
 may just as well say, that the number of the 
 streets in the Seven Dials does not increase the 
 difficulty of finding the way. The modes of 
 settlement we leave, are by far the simplest, 
 and the evidence is assisted by registers. 
 
 Under the head of law expenses, we are 
 convinced a great deal may be done, by making 
 some slight alteration in the law of removals. 
 At present, removals are made without any 
 warning to the parties to whom the pauper is 
 removed; and the first intimation which the 
 defendant parish receives of the projected in- 
 crease of their population is, by the arrival of 
 the father, mother, and eight or nine children at 
 the overseer's door — where they are tumbled 
 out, with the justice's order about their necks, 
 and left as a spectacle to the assembled and 
 indignant parishioners. No sooner have the 
 poor wretches become a little familiarized to 
 their new parish, than the order is appealed 
 against, and they are recarted with the same 
 precipitate indecency — Quo fata trahunt, retra- 
 hunlque. 
 
 No removal should ever take place without 
 due notice to the parish to which the pauper is 
 to be removed, nor till the time in which it may 
 be appealed against is passed by. Notice to be 
 according to the distance — either by letter, or 
 personally; and the decision should be made 
 by the justices at their petty sessions, with as 
 much care and attention as if there were no 
 appeal from their decision. An absurd notion 
 prevails among magistrates, that they need not 
 take much trouble in the investigation of re- 
 movals, because their errors may be corrected 
 by a superior court; whereas, it is an object of 
 great importance, by a fair and diligent inves- 
 tigation in the nearest and cheapest court, to 
 convince the country people which party is 
 
 ♦ Commons' Report, 1817 
 
 right and which is wrong : and in this manner 
 to prevent them from becoming the prey of law 
 vermin. We are convinced that this subject 
 of the removal of poor is well worthy a short 
 and separate bill. Mr. Bourne thinks it would 
 be very difficult to draw up such a bill. We 
 are quite satisfied we could draw up one in ten 
 minutes that would completely answer the end 
 proposed, and cure the evil complained of. 
 
 We proceed to a number of small details, 
 which are well worth the attention of the legis- 
 lature. Overseers' accounts should be given 
 in quarterly, and passed by the justices, as they 
 now are, annually. The office of overseer 
 should be triennial. The accounts which have 
 nothing to do with the poor, such as the con- 
 stable's account, should be kept and passed 
 separately from them ; and the vestry should 
 have the power of ordering a certain portion 
 of the superfluous poor upon the roads. But 
 we beseech all speculators in poor-laws to re- 
 member, that the machinery they must work 
 with is of a very coarse description. An over- 
 seer must always be a limited, uneducated 
 person, but little interested in what he is about, 
 and with much business of his own on his 
 hands. The extensive interference of gentle- 
 men with those matters is quite visionary and 
 impossible. If gentlemen were tide-waiters, the 
 custom-house would be better served ; if gen- 
 tlemen would become petty constables, the 
 police would be improved; if bridges were 
 made of gold, instead of iron, they would not 
 rust. But there are not enough of these arti- 
 cles for such purposes. 
 
 A great part of the evils of the poor-laws, 
 has been occasioned by the large powers in- 
 trusted to individual justices. Every body is 
 full of humanity and good-nature when he can 
 relieve misfortune by putting his hand — in his 
 neighbour's pocket. Who can bear to see a 
 fellow-creature suffering pain and poverty, when 
 he can order other fellow-creatures to relieve 
 him ? Is it in human nature, that A should see 
 B in tears and misery, and not order C to assist 
 him ? Such a power must, of course, be liable 
 to every degree of abuse ; and the sooner the 
 power of ordering relief can be taken out of 
 the hands of magistrates, the sooner shall we 
 begin to experience some mitigation of the 
 evils of the poor-laws. The special-vestry bill 
 is good for this purpose, as far as it goes ; but 
 it goes a very little way ; and we much doubt 
 if it will operate as any sort of abridgment to 
 the power of magistrates granting relief. A 
 single magistrate must not act under this bill 
 but in cases of special emergency. But every 
 case of distress is a case of special emergen- 
 cy: and the double magistrates, holding their 
 petty sessions at some little alehouse, and over- 
 whelmed with all the monthly business of the 
 hundred, cannot possibly give to the pleadirigs 
 of the overseer and pauper half the attention 
 they would be able to aflford them at their own 
 houses. 
 
 The common people have been so much 
 accustomed to resort to magistrates for relief, 
 that it is certainly a delicate business to vvean 
 them from this bad habit; but it is essential to 
 the great objects which the poor-committee 
 have in view, that the power of magistrates of 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 325 
 
 ordering relief should be gradually taken 
 When this is once done, half the difficulties of 
 the abolition are accomplished. We will sug- 
 gest a few hints as to the means by which this 
 desirable end may be promoted. 
 
 A poor man now comes to a magistrate any 
 day in the week, and any hour in any day, to 
 complain of the overseers, or of the select 
 committee. Suppose he were to be made to 
 wait a little, and to feel for a short time the bit- 
 terness of that poverty which, by idleness, ex- 
 travagance, and hasty marriage, he has proba- 
 bly brought upon himself. To effect this object, 
 we would prohibit all orders for relief, by jus- 
 tices, between the 1st and 10th of the month; 
 and leave the poor entirely in the hands of the 
 overseers, or of the select vestry, for that 
 period. Here is a beginning — a gradual aboli- 
 tion of one of the first features of the poor- 
 Jaws. And it is without risk of tumult ; for 
 no one will run the risk of breaking the laws 
 for an evil to which he anticipates so speedy a 
 termination. This Decameron of overseers' 
 despotism, and paupers' suffering, is the very 
 thing wanted. It will teach the parishes to 
 administer their own charity responsiblj% and 
 to depend upon their own judgment. It will 
 teach the poor the miseries of pauperism and 
 dependence ; and will be a warning to unmar- 
 ried young men not hastily and rashly to place 
 themselves, their wives and children, in the 
 same miserable situation ; and it will effect all 
 these objects gradually, and without danger. 
 It would of course be the same thing on prin- 
 ciple, if relief were confined to three days be- 
 tween the 1st and the 10th of each month; 
 three between the 10th and the 20th ; three 
 between the 20th and the end of the month ; — 
 or in any other manner that would gradually* 
 crumble away the power, and check the gratui- 
 tous munificence of justices, — give authority 
 over their own affairs to the heads of the parish, 
 and teach the poor, by little and little, that they 
 must suffer if they are imprudent. It is under- 
 stood in all these observations, that the over- 
 seers are bound to support their poor without 
 any order of justices ; and that death arising 
 from absolute want should expose those oflicers 
 to very severe punishments, if it could be traced 
 to their inhumanity and neglect. The time must 
 come when we must do without this ; but we 
 are not got so far yet — and are at present only 
 getting rid of justices, not of overseers. 
 
 Mr. Davison seems to think that the plea of 
 old age stands upon a different footing, with 
 respect to the poor-laws, from all oiher pleas. 
 But why should this plea be more favoured 
 than that of sickness 1 why more than losses 
 in trade, incurred by no imprudence 1 In 
 reality, this plea is less entitled to indulgence. 
 Every man knows he is exposed to the help- 
 lessness of age; but sickness and sudden ruin 
 are very often escaped — comparatively seldom 
 happen. Why is a man exclusively to be pro- 
 tected against that evil which he must have 
 foreseen longer than any other, and has had 
 the lor.gest time to guard against 1 Mr. Davi- 
 son's objections to a limited expenditure are 
 
 * All gradation and caution have been banished since 
 the reform bill — rapid high-prissure wisdom is the only 
 iigent in public affairs. 
 
 much more satisfactory. These we shall lay 
 before our readers ; and we recommend them 
 to the attention of the committee. 
 
 " I shall advert next to the plan of a limitation 
 upon the amount of rates to be assessed in fu- 
 ture. This limitation, as it is a pledge of some 
 protection to the property now subjected to the 
 maintenance of the poor against the indefinite 
 encroachment which otherwise threatens it, is, 
 in that light, certainly a benefit ; and supposing 
 it were rigorously adhered to, the very know- 
 ledge, among the parish expectants, that there 
 was some limit to their range of expectation, 
 some barrier which they could not pass, might 
 incline them to turn their thoughts homeward 
 again to the care of themselves. But it is an 
 expedient, at the best, far from being satisfac- 
 tory. In the first place, there is much reason 
 to fear that such a limitation would not eventu- 
 ally be maintained, after the example of a simi- 
 lar one having failed before, and considering 
 that the urgency of the applicants as long as 
 they retain the principle of dependence upon 
 the parish unqualified in any one of its main 
 articles, would probably overbear a mere bar- 
 rier of figures in the parish account. Then 
 there would be much real difficulty in the pro- 
 ceedings, to be governed by such a limiting 
 rule. For the use of the limitation would be 
 chiefly, or solely, in cases where there is some 
 struggle between the ordinary supplies of the 
 parish rates, and the exigencies of the poor, or 
 a kind of run and pressure upon the parish by 
 a mass of indigence: and in circumstances of 
 this kind, it would be hard to know how to dis- 
 tribute the supplies under a fair proportion to 
 the applicants, known or expected ; hard to 
 know how much might be granted for the pre- 
 sent, and how much should be kept in reserve 
 for the remainder of the year's service. The 
 real intricacy in such a distribution of account 
 would show itself in disproportions and ine- 
 qualities of allowance, impossible to be avoid- 
 ed; and the applicants would have one pretext 
 more for discontent. 
 
 "The limitation itself in many places would 
 be only in words and figures. It would be set, 
 I presume, by an average of certain preceding 
 years. But the average taken upon the preced- 
 ing years might be a sum exceeding in its real 
 value the highest amount of the assessments of 
 any of the averaged years, under the great 
 change which has taken place in the value of 
 money itself. A given rate, or assessment 
 nominally the same, or lower, might in this way 
 be a greater real money value than it was some 
 time before. In many of the most distressed 
 districts, where the parochial rates have nearly 
 equalled the rents, a nominal average would, 
 therefore, be no effectual benefit ; and yet it is 
 in those districts that the alleviation of the bur- 
 then is the most wanted. 
 
 "It is manifest also that a peremptory re- 
 striction of the whole amount of money appli- 
 cable to the parochial service, though abun- 
 dantly justified in many districts by their par- 
 ticular condition being so impoverished as to 
 make the measure, for them, almost a measure 
 of necessity, if nothing can be substituted for 
 it; and where the same extreme necessity doei» 
 I not exist, still justified by the prudence of pre-. 
 2E 
 
326 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 venting in some way the interminable increase 
 of the parochial burthens ; still, that such a re- 
 striction is an ill-adjusted measure in itself, and 
 would, in many instances, operate very inequi- 
 tably. It would fall unfairly in some parishes, 
 where the relative state of the poor and the 
 parish might render an increase of the relief as 
 just and reasonable as it is possible for any 
 thing to be under the poor-laws at all. It would 
 deny to many possible fair claimants the whole, 
 or a part, of that degree of relief commonly 
 granted elsewhere to persons in their condition, 
 on this or that account of claim. Leaving the 
 reason of the present demands wholly unim- 
 peached, and unexplained; directing no distinct 
 warning or remonstrance to the parties, in the 
 line of their affairs, by putting a check to their 
 expectations upon positive matters implicated 
 in their conduct; which would be speaking to 
 them in a definite sense, and a sense applicable 
 to all: this plan of limitation would nurture the 
 whole mass of the claim in its origin, and deny 
 the allowance of it to thousands, on account of 
 reasons properly affecting a distant quarter, of 
 which they know nothing. The want of a clear 
 method, and of a good priiwiple at the bottom 
 of it, in this direct compulsory restriction, ren- 
 ders it, I think, wholly unacceptable, unless it 
 be the only possible plan that can be devised 
 for accomplishing the same end. If a parish 
 had to keep its account with a single dependant, 
 the plan would be much more useful in that 
 case. For the ascertained fact of the total 
 amount of his expectations might set his mind 
 to rest, and put him on a decided course of pro- 
 ■viding for himself. But, in the limitation pro- 
 posed to be made, the ascertained fact is of a 
 general amount only, not of each man's share 
 in it. Consequently, each man has his indefi- 
 nite expectations left to him, and every separate 
 specific ground of expectation remaining as 
 before." 
 
 Mr. Davison talks of the propriety of refusing 
 to find labour for able labourers after the lapse 
 often years, as if it was some ordinary bill he 
 was proposing, unaccompanied by the slightest 
 risk. It is very easy to make such laws, and 
 to propose them ; but it would be of immense 
 difficulty to carry them into execution. Done 
 it must be, every body knows that ; but the real 
 merit will consist in discovering the gradual 
 and gentle means by which the difficulties of 
 getting pai-ish labour may be increased, and 
 the life of a parish pauper be rendered a life of 
 salutary and deterring hardship. A law that 
 rendered such request for labour perfectly law- 
 ful for ten years longer, and then suddenly 
 abolished it, would merely bespeak a certain, 
 general, and violent insurrection for the year 
 1830. The legislator, thank God, is in his 
 nature a more cunning and gradual animal. 
 
 Before we drop Mr. Davison, who writes like 
 a very sensible man, we wish to say a few 
 words about his style. If he would think less 
 about it, he would write much better. It is 
 always as plethoric and full-dressed as if he 
 were writing a treatise ikfinibus bonorurn et ma- 
 lorum. He is sometimes obscure ; and is occa- 
 sionally apt to dress up common-sized thoughts 
 in big clothes, and to dwell a little too long in 
 proving what every man of sense knows and 
 
 admits. We hope we shall not offend Mr. Da- 
 vison by these remarks ; and we have really no 
 intention of doing so. His views upon the 
 poor-laws are, generally speaking, very correct 
 and philosophical; he writes like a gentleman, 
 a scholar, and a man capable of eloquence ; 
 and we hope he will be a bishop. If his mitred 
 productions are as enlightened and liberal as 
 this, we are sure he will confer as much honour 
 on the bench as he receives from it. There is 
 a good deal, however, in Mr. Davison's book 
 about the "virtuous marriages of the poor." 
 To have really the charge of a family as a hus- 
 band and father, we are told — to have the privi- 
 lege of laying out his life in their service, is the 
 poor man's boast, — " his home is the school of 
 his sentiments," &c. &c. This is viewing 
 human life through a Claude Lorraine glass, 
 and decorating it with colours which do not 
 belong to it. A ploughman marries a plough- 
 woman because she is plump ; generally uses 
 her ill ; thinks his children an incumbrance ; 
 very often flogs them; and, for sentiment, has 
 nothing more nearly approaching to it, than the 
 ideas of broiled bacon and mashed potatoes. 
 This is the state of the lower orders of mankind 
 — deplorable, but true — and yet rendered much 
 worse by the poor-laws. 
 
 The system of roundsmen is much com- 
 plained of; as well as that by which the labour 
 of paupers is paid, partly by the rate, partly by 
 the master — and a long string of Sussex juS' 
 tices send up a petition on the subject. But 
 the evil we are suffering under is an excess of 
 population. There are ten men applying for 
 work, when five only are wanted ; of course, 
 such a redundance of labouring persons must 
 depress the rate of their labour far beyond 
 what is sufficient for the support of their fami- 
 lies. And how is that deficiency to be made up 
 but from the parish rates, unless it is meant 
 suddenly and immediately to abolish the whole 
 system of the poor-laws'? To state that the 
 rate of labour is lower than a man can live by, 
 is merely to state that we have had, and have, 
 poor-laws — of which this practice is at length 
 the inevitable consequence ; and nothing could 
 be more absurd than to attempt to prevent, by 
 acts of Parliament, the natural depreciation of 
 an article which exists in much greater abun- 
 dance than it is wanted. Nor can any thing 
 be more unjust than the complaint, that rounds- 
 men are paid by iheir employers at an inferior 
 rate, and that the difference is made up by the 
 parish funds. A roundsman is commonly an 
 inferior description of labourer who cannot 
 get regularly hired ; — he comes upon his parish 
 for labour commonly at those periods when 
 there is the least to do ; — he is not a servant of 
 the farmer's choice, and probably does not suit 
 him ; — he goes off to any other labour at a mo- 
 ment's warning, when he finds it more profit- 
 able ; — and the farmer is forced to keep nearly 
 the same number of labourers as if there were 
 no roundsmen at all. Is it just, then, that a 
 labourer, combining every species of imper- 
 fection, should receive the same wages as a 
 chosen, regular, stationary person, who is 
 always ready at hand, and Avhom the farmer 
 has selected for his dexterity and character? 
 Those persons who do not, and cannot em 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 337 
 
 ploy labourers, have no kind of right to com- 
 plain of the third or fourth part of the wages 
 being paid by the rates ; for if the fanners did 
 not agree among themselves to take such occa- 
 sional labourers, the whole of their support 
 must be paid by the rates, instead of one-third. 
 The order is, that the pauper shall be paid such 
 a sum as will support himself and family; and if 
 this agreement to take roundsmen was not enter- 
 ed into by the farmers, they must be paid, by the 
 ratesj the whole of the amount of the order, for 
 doing nothing. If a circulating labourer, there- 
 fore, with three children, to whom the justices 
 would order 12.';. per week, receives 8s. from 
 his employer, and is. from the rates, the parish 
 is not burdened by this system to the amount 
 of 4s., but relieved to the amount of 8s. A 
 parish manufacture, conducted by overseers, is 
 infinitely more burdensome to the rates than 
 any system of roundsmen. There are undoubt- 
 edly a few instances to the contrary. Zeal and 
 talents will cure the original defects of any 
 system ; but to suppose that average men can 
 do what extraordinary men hav^e done, is the 
 cause of many silly projects and extravagant 
 blunders. Mr. Owen may give his whole heart 
 and soul to the improvement of one of his 
 parochial parallelograms ; but who is to suc- 
 ceed to Mr. Owen's enthusiasm 1 Before we 
 have quite done with the subject of roundsmen, 
 we cannot help noticing a strange assertion of 
 Mr. Nicol, that the low rate of wages paid by 
 the master is an injustice to the pauper — that 
 he is cheated, forsooth, out of 8s. or 10s. per 
 week by this arrangement. Nothing, however, 
 can possibly be more absurd than such an alle- 
 gation. The whole country is open to him. 
 Can he gain more anywhere else 1 If not, this 
 is the market price of his labour; and what 
 right has he to complain 1 or how can he say 
 he is defrauded 1 A combination among far- 
 mers to lower the price of labour would be 
 impossible, if labour did not exist in much 
 greater quantities than was wanted. All such 
 things, whether labour, or worsted stocking, or 
 broadcloth, are, of course, always regulated by 
 the proportion between the supply and demand. 
 Mr. Nicol cites an instance of a parish in Suf- 
 folk, where the labourer receives sixpence from 
 the farmers, and the rest is made up by the 
 rates; and for this he reprobates the conduct 
 of the farmers. But why are they not to take 
 labour as cheap as they can get itl Why are 
 they not to avail themselves of the market 
 price of this, as of any other commodity 1 The 
 rates are a separate consideration ; let them 
 supply what is wanting; but the farmer is right 
 to get his iron, his wood, and his labour, as 
 cheap as he can. It would, we admit, come 
 nearly to the same thing, if lOOl. were paid in 
 
 wages rather than 25/. in wages, and 751. by 
 rate ; but then, if the farmers were to agree to 
 give wages above the market price, and suffi- 
 cient for the support of the labourers without, 
 any rate, such an agreement could never be 
 adhered to. The base and the crafty would 
 make their labourers take less, and fling hea- 
 vier rates upon those who adhered to the con- 
 tract; whereas, the agreement, founded upon 
 giving as little as can be given, is pretty sure 
 of being adhered to; and he who breaks it, 
 lessens the rate to his neighbour, and does not 
 increase it. The problem to be solved is this : 
 If you have ten or twenty labourers who say 
 they can get no work, and you cannot dispute 
 this, and the poor-laws remain, what better 
 scheme can be devised, than that the farmers 
 of the parish should employ them in their 
 turns'?— and what more absurd than to sup- 
 pose that farmers so employing them should 
 give one farthing more than the market price 
 for their labour ? 
 
 It is contended, that the statute of Elizabeth, 
 rightly interpreted, only compels the overseer 
 to assist the sick and old, and not to find labour 
 for strong and healthy men. This is true 
 enough ; and it would have been eminently 
 useful to have attended to it a century past: 
 but to find employment fur all who apply, is 
 now, by long use, become a practical part of 
 the poor-laws, and will require the same care 
 and dexterity for its abolition as any other part 
 of that pernicious system. It would not be 
 altogether prudent suddenly to tell a million of 
 stout men, with spades and hoes in their hands, 
 that the 43d of Elizabeth had been miscon- 
 strued, and that no more employment would be 
 found for them. It requires twenty or thirty 
 years to state such truths to such numbers. 
 
 We think, then, that the diminution of the 
 claims of settlement, and of the authority of 
 justices, coupled with the other subordinate 
 improvements we have stated, will be the best 
 steps for beginning the abolition of the poor- 
 laws. When these have been taken, the de- 
 scription of persons entitled to relief may be 
 narrowed by degrees. But let no man hope t9 
 get rid of these laws, even in the gentlest and 
 wisest method, without a great deal of misery, 
 and some risk of tumult. If Mr. Bourne thinks 
 only of avoiding risk, he will do nothing. Some 
 risk must be incurred : but the secret is gra- 
 dation ; and the true reason for abolishing these 
 laws is, not that they make the rich poor, but 
 that they make the poor poorer.* 
 
 The boldness of modern lejislatinn lias thrown all 
 my caution into the background. Was it wise lo en- 
 counter such a Tiskf Is the dancer overl Can the 
 vital parts of the bill be maintained? 
 
WORKS OF THE KEY. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 PUBLIC CHAEACTEES OE 1801, 1801* 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 1602.] 
 
 The design of this book appeared to us so 
 extremely reprehensible, and so capable, even 
 in the hands of a blockhead, of giving pain to 
 families and individuals, that we considered it 
 as a fair object of literary police, and had pre- 
 pared for it a very severe chastisement. Upon 
 the perusal of the book, hoTvever, we were en- 
 tirely disarmed. It appears to be written by 
 some very innocent scribbler, who feels him- 
 self under the necessity of dining, and who 
 preserves, throughout the whole of the work, 
 that degree of good humour, which the terror 
 of indictment by our lord the king is so well 
 calculated to inspire. It is of some import- 
 ance, too, that grown-up country gentlemen 
 should be habituated to read printed books ; 
 and such may read a story book about their 
 living friends, who would read nothing else. 
 
 * Public Characters of 1801—1802. Richard Pliillips, 
 Bt. Paul's. 1 vol. 8vo. 
 
 We suppose the booksellers have authors 
 at two difierent prices. Those who do write 
 grammatically, and those w^ho do not ; and that 
 they have not thought fit to put any of their 
 best hands upon this work. Whether or not 
 there may be any improvement on this point 
 in the next volume, we request the biographer 
 will at least give us some means of ascertain- 
 ing when he is comical, and when serious. 
 In the life of Dr. Rennell, we find this pas- 
 sage : — 
 
 " Dr. Rennell might well look forward to the 
 highest dignities in the establishment; but, if 
 our information be right, and we have no rea- 
 son to question it, this is what he by no means 
 either expects or courts. There is a primitive 
 simplicity in this excellent man, which much 
 resembles that of the first prelates of the Chris- 
 tian church, who were with great difficulty pre- 
 vailed upon to undertake the episcopal office.** 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 329 
 
 ANASTASIUS. 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 1821.] 
 
 AxASTAsius is a sort of oriental Gil Bias, 
 ■who is tossed about from one state of life to 
 another, — sometimes a beggar in the streets 
 of Constantinople, and, at others, an officer of 
 the highest distinction under an Egyptian Bey, 
 — with that mixture of good and evil, of loose 
 principles and popular qualities, which, against 
 our moral feelings and better judgment, ren- 
 der a novel pleasing, and an hero popular. 
 Anastasius is a greater villain than Gil Bias, 
 merely because he acts in a worse country, 
 and under a worse government. Turkey is a 
 country in the last stage of Castkreagh-ery and 
 Vansitlartism ; it is in that condition to which 
 we are steadily approaching — a political _^«is/i; 
 —the sure result of just and necessary wars, 
 interminable burthens upon aflectionate peo- 
 ple, green bags, strangled sultanas, and mur- 
 dered mobs. There are, in the world, all 
 shades and gradations of tyranny. The' Turk- 
 ish, or last, puts the pistol and stiletto in ac- 
 tion. Anastasius, therefore, among his other 
 pranks, makes nothing of two or three mur- 
 ders ; but they are committed in character, 
 and are suitable enough to the temper and 
 disposition of a lawless Turkish soldier; and 
 this is the justification of the book, which is 
 called wicked but for no other reason than be- 
 cause it accurately paints the manners of a 
 people become wicked from the long and un- 
 corrected abuses of their government. 
 
 One cardinal fault which pervades this 
 work is, that it is too long; — in spite of the 
 numerous fine passages with which it abounds, 
 there is too much of it ; — and it is a relief, not 
 a disappointment, to get to the end. Mr. Hope, 
 too, should avoid humour, in which he certain- 
 ly does not excel. His attempts of that nature 
 are among the most serious parts of the book. 
 With all these objections, (and we only men- 
 tion them in case Mr. Hope writes again,) 
 there are few books in the English language 
 which contain passages of greater power, feel- 
 ing, and eloquence than this novel, — which de- 
 lineate frailty and vice with more energy and 
 acuteness, or describe historical scenes with 
 such bold imagery, and such glowing language. 
 Mr. Hope will excuse us, — but we could not 
 help exclaiming, in reading it. Is this Mr. 
 Thomas Hope? — Is this the man of chairs 
 and tables — the gentleman of sphinxes — the 
 CEdipus of coal-boxes — he who meditated on 
 muffineers and planned pokers 1 — Where has 
 he hidden all this eloquence and poetry up to 
 this hour ] — How is it that he has, all of a 
 sudden, burst out into descriptions which 
 would not disgrace the pen of Tacitus — and 
 displayed a depth of feeling and a vigour of 
 imagination which Lord Byron could not 
 
 * Anastasius ; or. Memoirs of a Oreek, written in the 
 .18th Century. London. Murray. 3 vols. 8vo. 
 42 
 
 excel ? We do not shrink from one syllable 
 of this eulogium. The work now before us 
 places him at once in the highest list of elo- 
 quent writers, and of superior men. 
 
 Anastasius, the hero of the tale, is a native 
 of Chios, the son of the drogueman to the 
 French consul. The drogueman, instead of 
 bringing him up to make Latin verses, sufier- 
 ed him to run wild about the streets of Chios, 
 where he lives for some time a lubberly boy, 
 and then a profligate youth. His first exploit 
 is to debauch the daughter of his acquaintance, 
 from whom (leaving her in a state of preg- 
 nancy) he runs away, and enters as a cabin 
 boy in a Venetian brig. The brig is taken by 
 Maynote pirates : the pirates by a Turkish 
 frigate, by which he is landed at Nauplia, and 
 marched away to Argos, where the captain, 
 Hassan Pacha, was encamped with his army. 
 
 " I had never seen an encampment : and the 
 novel and striking sight absorbed all my fa- 
 culties in astonishment and awe. There 
 seemed to me to be forces sufficient to subdue 
 the whole world: and I knew not which most 
 to admire, the endless clusters of tents, the 
 enormous piles of armour, and the rows of 
 threatening cannon, which I met at every step, 
 or the troops of well mounted spahees, who, 
 like dazzling meteors, darted by us on every 
 side, amid clouds of stifling dust. The very 
 dirt with which the nearer horsemen bespat- 
 tered our humble troop, was, as I thought, im- 
 posing; and every thing upon which I cast 
 my eyes gave me a feeling of nothingness, 
 which made me shrink within myself like a snail 
 in its cell. I envied not only those who were 
 destined to share in all the glory and success 
 of the expedition, but even the meanest fol- 
 lower of the camp, as a being of a superior 
 order to myself; and, when suddenly there 
 arose a loud flourish of trumpets, which, end- 
 ing a concert of cymbals and other warlike 
 instruments, re-echoed in long peals from all 
 the surrounding mountains, the clank shook 
 every nerve in my body, thrilled me to the very 
 soul, and infused in all my veins a species of 
 martial ardour so resistless, that it made me 
 struggle with my fetters, and try to tear them 
 asunder. Proud as I was by nature, I would 
 have knelt to whoever had offered to liberate 
 my limbs, and to arm my hands with a sword 
 or a battleaxe."— (I. 36, 37.) 
 
 From his captive state he passes into the 
 service of Mavroyeni, Hassan's drogueman, 
 with whom he ingratiates himself, and becomes 
 a person of consequence. In the service of 
 this person, he receives from old Demo, a 
 brother domestic, the following admirable 
 lecture on masters : — 
 
 " ' liisten, young man,' said he, ' whether you 
 like it or not. For my own part, I have always 
 2e2 
 
330 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 had too much indolence, not to make it my 
 study throughout life rather to secure ease 
 than to labour for distinction. It has, there- 
 fore, been my rule to avoid cherishing in my 
 patron any outrageous admiration of my capa- 
 city, which would have increased my depend- 
 ence while it lasted, and expose me to perse- 
 cution on wearing out: — but you, I see, are of 
 a different mettle : I therefore may point out 
 to you the surest way to that more perilous 
 height, short of which your ambition, I doubt, 
 will not rest satisfied. When you have com- 
 passed it, you may remember old Demo, if 
 _ you please. 
 
 " ' Know first that all masters, even the least 
 lovable, like to be loved. All wisti to be served 
 from affection rather than dut}-. It flatters 
 their pride, and it gratifies their selfishness. 
 They expect from this personal motive a greater 
 devotion to their interest, and a more unlimited 
 obedience to their commands. A master looks 
 upon mere fidelity in his sen-ant as his due — 
 as a thing scarce worth his thanks : but at- 
 tachment he considers as a compliment to his 
 merit, and if at all generous, he will reward it 
 with liberality. Mavroyeni is more open than 
 any body to this species of flatter)-. Spare it 
 not, therefore. If he speak to you kindly, let 
 your face brighten up. If he talk to \'ou of his 
 own affairs, though it should only be to dispel 
 the tedium of conveying all day long other 
 men's thoughts, listen with the greatest eager- 
 ness. A single yawn, and you are undone! 
 Yet let not curiosity appear your motive, but 
 the delight only of being honoured with his 
 confidence. The more you appear grateful 
 for the least kindness, the often er you will re- 
 ceive important favours. Our ostentatious 
 drogueman will feel a pleasure in raising your 
 astonishment. His vanity knows no bounds. 
 Give it scope, therefore. When he comes 
 home choking with its suppressed ebullitions, 
 be their ready and patient receptacle : — do 
 more ; discreetly help him on in venting his 
 conceit ; provide him with a cue ; hint what 
 j-ou heard certain people, not knowing you to 
 be so near, sa)" of his capacity, his merit, and 
 his influence. He wishes to persuade the 
 world that he completely rules the pasha. Tell 
 him not flatly he does, but assume it as a thing 
 of general notoriety. Be neither too candid 
 in )-our remarks, nor too fulsome in your flat- 
 tery. Too palpable deviations from fact might 
 appear a satire on 3'our master's understand- 
 ing. Should some disappointment evidently 
 ruflie his temper, appear not to conceive the 
 possibility of his vanity having received a 
 mortification. Preserve the exact^ medium 
 between too cold a respect, and too presump- 
 tuous a forwardness. However much Ma- 
 vro3-eni may caress you in private, never 
 seem quite at ease with him in public. A 
 master still likes to remain master, or, at least, 
 to appear so to others. Should you get into 
 some scrape, wait not to confess your impru- 
 dence, until concealment becomes impossible; 
 nor try to excuse the offence. Rather than 
 that you should, by so doing, appear to make 
 light of your guilt, exaggerate your self-up- 
 braidings, and throw yourself entirely upon 
 the drogueman's mercy. On aU occasions 
 
 take care how you appear cleverer than your 
 lord, even in the splitting of a pen ; or, if you 
 cannot avoid excelling him in some trifle, give 
 his own tuition all the credit of your profi- 
 ciency. Many things he will dislike, only 
 because they come not from himself. Vindi- 
 cate not your innocence when unjustly re- 
 buked: rather submit for the moment; and 
 trust that, though Mavroyeni never will ex- 
 pressly acknowledge his error, he will in due 
 time pay you for your forbearance.' " — (I. 43 
 -45-) 
 
 In the course of his service with Mavroyeni, 
 he bears arms against the Arnools, under the 
 Captain Hassan Pacha; and a very animated 
 description is given of his first combat. 
 
 "I undressed the dead man completely. — 
 When, however, the business which engaged 
 all my attention was entirely achieved, and 
 that human body, of which, in the eagerness 
 for its spoil, I had only thus far noticed the 
 separate limbs one by one, as I stripped them, 
 all at once struck my sight in its full dimen- 
 sions, as it lay naked before me ; — when I con- 
 templated that fine athletic frame, but a moment 
 before full of life and vigour unto its fingers' 
 ends, now rendered an insensible corpse by the 
 random shot of a raw youth whom in close 
 combat its little finger might have crushed, I 
 could not help feeling, mixed with my exulta- 
 tion, a sort of shame, as if for a cowardly ad- 
 vantage obtained over a superior being; and, 
 in order to make a kind of atonement to the 
 shade of an Epirote — of a kinsman — I ex- 
 claimed with outstretched hands, 'Cursed be 
 the paltry dust which turns the warrior's arm 
 into a mere engine, and, striking from afar an 
 invisible blow, carries death no one knows 
 whence to no one knows whom ; levels the 
 strong with the weak, the brave with the das- 
 tardly ; and, enabling the feeblest hand to wield 
 its fatal lightning, makes the conqueror sla}' 
 without anger, and the conqueror die without 
 glory.' "—(I. 54, 55.) 
 
 The campaign ended, he proceeds to Constan- 
 tinople with the drogueman, where his many 
 intrigues and debaucheries end with the drogue- 
 man's turning him out of doors. He lives for 
 some time at Constantinople in great miserj'; 
 and is driven, among other expedients, to the 
 trade of quack-doctor. 
 
 "One evening, as we were returning from 
 the Blacquemes, an old woman threw herself 
 in our wa3% and, taking hold of my master's 
 garments, dragged him almost by main force 
 after her into a mean-looking habitation just 
 by, where lay on a couch, apparently at the 
 last gasp, a man of foreign features. 'I have 
 brought a physician,' said the female to the 
 patient, ' who, perhaps, may relieve \'ou.' ' Why 
 will you' — answered he faintly — 'still persist 
 to feed idle hopes ! I have lived an outcast: 
 suffer me at least to die in peace; nor disturb 
 my last moments by vain illusions. My soul 
 pants to rejoin the Supreme Spirit ; arrest not 
 its flight ; it would only be delaying my eternal 
 bliss!' 
 
 " As the stranger spoke these words — which 
 struck even Yacoob sufficiently to make him 
 suspend his professional grimace — the last 
 
WORKS OF THE KEV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 331 
 
 beams of the selling sun darted across the 
 casement of the window upon his pale yet 
 swarthy features. Thus visited, he seemed for 
 a moment to revive. 'I have always,' said he, 
 'considered my fate as connected with the 
 great luminary that rules the creation. I have 
 always paid it due worship, and firmly believed 
 I could not breathe my last while its rays shone 
 upon me. Carry me, therefore, out, that I may 
 take my last farewell of the heavenly ruler of 
 my earthly destinies !' 
 
 "We all rushed forward to obey the man- 
 date; but the stairs being too narrow, the 
 woman only opened the window, and placed 
 the dying man before it, so as to enjoy the full 
 view of the glorious orb, just in the act of 
 dropping beneath the horizon. He remained 
 a few moments in silent adoration; and me- 
 chanically we all joined him in fixing our eyes 
 on the object of his worship. It set in all its 
 splendour; and when its golden disk had en 
 tirely disappeared, we looked round at the 
 Parsee. He, too, had sunk into everlasting 
 rest."— (I. 103, 104.) 
 
 From the dispensation of chalk and water, 
 he is then ushered into a Turkish jail, the de- 
 scription of which, and of the plague with 
 which it is visited, are very finely written ; and 
 we strongly recommend them to the attention 
 of our readers. 
 
 "Every day a capital, fertile in crimes, pours 
 new offenders into this dread receptacle ; and 
 its high walls- and deep recesses resound every 
 instant with imprecations and curses, uttered 
 in all the various idioms of the Ottoman 
 empire. Deep moans and dismal yells leave 
 not its frightful echoes a moment's repose. 
 From morning till night, and from night till 
 morning, the ear is stunned with the clang of 
 chains, which the galley-slaves wear while 
 confined in their cells, and which they still 
 drag about when toiling at their tasks. Linked 
 together two and two for life, should they sink 
 under their sufferings, they still continue un- 
 severed after death ; and the man doomed to 
 live on, drags after him the corpse of his dead 
 companion. In no direction can the eye es- 
 cape the spectacle of atrocious punishments 
 and of indescribable agonies. Here, perhaps, 
 you see a wretch whose stiliened limbs refuse 
 their office, stop suddenly short in the midst of 
 his labour, and as if already impassible, defy 
 the stripes that lay open his flesh, and wait in 
 total immobility the last merciful blow that is 
 to end his misery; while there, you view his 
 companion foaming with rage and madness, 
 turn against his own person his desperate 
 hands, tear his clotted hair, rend his bleeding 
 bosom, and strike his skull, until it burst, 
 against the wall of hisdungeon."->-(I. 110, 111.) 
 
 A few survived. 
 
 " I was among these scanty relics. I who, 
 indifferent to life, had never stooped to avoid 
 the shafts of death, even when they flew 
 thickest around me, had more than once laid 
 my finger on the livid wound they inflicted, 
 had probed it as it festered ; I yet remained un- 
 hurt: for sometimes the plague is a magnani- 
 mous enemy, and, while it seldom spares the 
 pusillanimous victim whose blood, running 
 
 cold ere it is tainted, lacks the energy neces- 
 sary to repel the infection when at hand, it will 
 pass him by who dares its utmost fury, and 
 advances undaunted to meet its raised dart." — 
 (I. 121.) 
 
 In this miserable receptacle of guilty and 
 unhappy beings, Anastasius forms and cements 
 the strongest friendship with a young Greek, 
 of the name of Anagnosti. On leaving the 
 prison, he vows to make every exertion for the 
 liberation of his friend — vows that are for- 
 gotten as soon as he is clear from the prison 
 walls. After being nearly perished with 
 hunger, and after being saved by the charity 
 of an hospital, he gets into an intrigue with a 
 rich Jewess — is detected — pursued — and, to 
 save his life, turns Mussulman. This exploit 
 performed, he suddenly meets his friend Anag- 
 nosti — treats him with disdain — and, in a quar- 
 rel which ensues between them, stabs him to 
 the heart. 
 
 " 'Life,' says the dying Anagnosti, 'has long 
 been bitterness: death is a welcome guest: I 
 rejoin those that love me, and in a better place. 
 Already, methinks, watching my flight, they 
 stretch out their arms from heaven to their 
 dying Anagnosti. Thou, — if there be in thy 
 breast one spark of pity left for him thou once 
 namedst thy brother ; for him to whom a holy 
 tie, a sacred vow Ah! suffer not the starv- 
 ing hounds in the street See a little hal- 
 lowed earth thrown over my wretched corpse.' 
 These words were his last." — (I. 209.) 
 
 The description of the murderer's remorse 
 is among the finest passages in the work. 
 
 "From an obscure aisle in the church I 
 beheld the solemn service ; saw on the field 
 of death the pale stiff corpse lowered into its 
 narrow cell, and hoping to exhaust sorrow's 
 bitter cup, at night, when all mankind hushed 
 its griefs, went back to my friend's final rest- 
 ing-place, lay down upon his silent grave, and 
 watered with my tears the fresh-raised hollow 
 mound. 
 
 " In vain ! Nor my tears nor my sorrows 
 could avail. No offerings nor penance could 
 purchase me repose. Wherever I went, the 
 beginning of our friendship and its issue still 
 alike rose in view; the fatal spot of blood still 
 danced before my steps, and the reeking dagger 
 hovered before my aching eyes. In the silent 
 darkness of the night I saw the pale phantom 
 of my friend stalk round my watchful couch, 
 covered with gore and dust: and even during 
 the unavailing riots of the day, I still beheld 
 the spectre rise over the festive board, glare on 
 me with piteous look, and hand me whatever I 
 attempted to reach. But whatever it presented 
 seemed blasted by its touch. To my wine it 
 gave the taste of blood, and to my bread the 
 rank flavour of death !"— (L 212, 213.) 
 
 We question whether there is in the English 
 language a finer description than this. We 
 request our readers to look at the very beauti- 
 ful and affecting picture of remorse, pp. 214, 
 215, vol. i. 
 
 Equally good, but in another way, is the de- 
 scription of the opium coflTee-house. 
 
 "In this tchartchee might be seen any day a 
 numerous collection of those whom private 
 
332 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 sorrows have driven to a public exhibition of 
 insanity. There each reeling idiot might take 
 his neighbour by the hand, and say, 'Brother, 
 and what ailed thee, to seek so dire a cure V 
 There did I, with the rest of its familiars, now 
 take my habitual station in my solitary niche, 
 like an insensible, motionless idol, sitting with 
 sightless eyeballs staring on vacuity. 
 
 "One day, as I lay in less entire absence 
 than usual under the purple vines of the porch, 
 admiring the gold-tipped domes of the majestic 
 Sulimanye, the appearance of an old man with 
 a snow-white beard, reclining on the couch 
 beside me, caught my attention. Half plunged 
 in stupor, he every now and then burst out 
 into a wild laugh, occasioned by the grotesque 
 phantasms which the ample dose of madjoon 
 he had just swallowed was sending up to his 
 brain. I sat contemplating him with mixed 
 curiosity and dismay, when, as if for a moment 
 roused from his torpor, he took me by the 
 hand, and fixing on my countenance his dim, 
 vacant eyes, said, in an impressive tone, 
 'Young man, thy days are yet few; take the 
 advice of one who, alas ! has counted many. 
 Lose no lime ; hie thee hence, nor cast behind 
 one lingering look : but if thou hast not the 
 strength, why tarry even here 1 Thy journey 
 is but half achieved. At once go on to that 
 large mansion before thee. It is thy ultimate 
 destination : and by thus beginning where thou 
 must end at last, thou mayest at least save both 
 thy time and thy money.'" — (I. 215, 216.) 
 
 Lingering in the streets of Constantinople, 
 Anastasius hears that his mother is dead, and 
 proceeds to claim that heritage which, by the 
 Turkish law in favour of proselytes, had de- 
 volved upon him. 
 
 "How often," he exclaims (after seeing his 
 father in the extremity of old age) — " how often 
 does it happen in life, that the most blissful 
 moments of our return to a long-left home are 
 those only that just precede the instant of our 
 arrival ; those during which the imagination 
 still is allowed to paint in its own unblended 
 colours the promised sweets of our reception ! 
 How often, after this glowing picture of the 
 phantasy, does the reality which follows appear 
 cold and dreary ! How often do even those 
 who grieved to see us depart, grieve more to 
 see us return ! and how often do we ourselves 
 encounter nothing but sorrow, on again behold- 
 ing the once happy, joyous promoters of our 
 own hilarity, now mournful, disappointed, and 
 themselves needing what consolation we may 
 bring!"— (I. 239, 240.) 
 
 During his visit to Chios, he traces and de- 
 scribes the dying misery of Helena, whom he 
 had deserted, and then debauches her friend 
 Agnes. From thence he sails to Rhodes, the 
 remnants of which produce a great deal of 
 eloquence and admirable description. — (pp. 
 275, 276, vol. i.) From Rhodes he sails to 
 Egypt; and chap. 16 contains a short and 
 very well written history of the origin and 
 progress of the Mameluke government. The 
 flight of Mourad, and the pursuit of this chief 
 in the streets of Cairo (p. 325, vol. i.), would 
 be considered as very fine passages in the best 
 histories of antiquity. Our limits prevent us 
 
 from quoting them. Anastasius then becomes 
 a Mameluke ; marries his master's daughter, 
 and is made a kiashef. In the numerous 
 skirmishes into which he falls in his new 
 military life, it falls to his lot to shoot, from 
 an ambush, Assad, his inveterate enemy. 
 
 "Assad, though weltering in his blood, was 
 still alive: but already the angel of death 
 flapped his dark wings over the traitor's brow. 
 Hearing footsteps advance, he made an effort 
 to raise his head, probably in hopes of ap- 
 proaching succour: but beholding, but recog- 
 nising only me, he felt that no hopes remained, 
 and gave a groan of despair. Life Avas flow- 
 ing out so fast, that I had only to stand still — 
 my arms folded in each other, — and with a 
 steadfast eye to watch its departure. One in- 
 stant I saw my vanquished foe, agitated by a 
 convulsive tremor, open his eyes and dart at 
 me a glance of impotent rage; but soon he 
 averted them again, then gnashed his teeth, 
 clenched his fist, and expired." — (II. 92.) 
 
 We quote this, and such passages as these, 
 to show the great power of description which 
 Mr. Hope possesses. The vindictive man 
 standing with his arms folded, and watching 
 the blood flowing from the wound of his 
 enemy, is very new and very striking. 
 
 After the death of his wafe, he collects his 
 property, quits Egypt, and visits Mekkah, and 
 acquires the title and prerogatives of an 
 Hadjee. After this he returns to the Turkish 
 capital, renews his acquaintance with Spiri- 
 dion, the friend of his youth, who in vain 
 labours to reclaim him, and whom he at last 
 drives away, disgusted with the vices and 
 passions of Anastasius. We then find our 
 .oriental profligate fighting as a Turkish cap- 
 tain in Egypt, against his old friends the 
 Mamelukes ; and afterwards employed in 
 Wallachia, under his old friend Mavroyeni, 
 against the Russians and Austrians. In this 
 part of the work, w-e strongly recommend to 
 our readers to look at the Mussulmans in a 
 pastry-cook's shop during the Rhamadam, vol. 
 ii. p. i 64 ; the village of beggars, vol. ii. p. 266 ; 
 the death of the Hungarian officer, vol. ii. p. 
 327; and, in the last days of Mavroyeni, vol. 
 ii. p. 356 ; — not forgetting the walk over a field 
 of battle, vol. ii. p. 252. The character of 
 Mavroyeni is extremely well kept up through 
 the whole of the book ; and his decline and 
 death are drawn in a very spirited and masterly 
 manner. The Spiridion part of the novel we 
 are not so much struck M'ith ; we entirely ap- 
 prove of Spiridion, and ought to take more 
 interest in him ; but we cannot disguise the 
 melancholy truth that he is occasionally a little 
 long and tiresome. The next characters as- 
 sumed by Anastasius are, a Smyrna debauchee, 
 a robber of the desert, and a Wahabee. After 
 serving some time with these sectaries, he re- 
 turns to Smyrna, — finds his child missing 
 whom he had left there, — traces the little boy 
 to Egypt, — recovers him, — then loses him by 
 sickness, — and wearied of life, retires to end 
 his days in a cottage in Carinthia. For strik- 
 ing passages in this part of the novel, we refer 
 our readers to the description of the burial- 
 places near Constantinople, vol. iii. 11—1.3; 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 333 
 
 the account of Djezzar Pacha's retirement to 
 his harem during the revolt, — equal to any- 
 thing in Tacitus ; and, above all, to the land- 
 ing of Anastasius with his sick child, and the 
 death of the infant. It is impossible not to 
 see that this last picture is faithfully drawn 
 from a sad and cruel reality. The account of 
 the Wahabees is very interesting, vol. iii. 128; 
 and nothing is more so than the story of Eu- 
 phrosyne. Anastasius had gained the affec- 
 tions of Euphrosyne, and ruined her reputa- 
 tion; he then wishes to cast her off, and to 
 remove her from his house. 
 
 "'Ah no!' now cried Euphrosyne, convul- 
 sively clasping my knees, ' be not so barba- 
 rous ! Shut not )rour own door against her 
 against whom you have barred every once 
 friendly door. Do not deny her whom you 
 have dishonoured the only asylum she has 
 left. If I cannot be your wife, let me be your 
 slave, your drudge. No service, however 
 mean, shall I recoil from when you command. 
 At least before you I shall not have to blush. 
 In your eyes I shall not be what I must seem 
 in those of others ; I shall not from you in- 
 cur the contempt which I must expect from 
 my former companions; and my diligence 
 to execute the lowest offices you may require, 
 will earn for me, not only as a bare alms at 
 your hands, that support which, however 
 scanty, I can elsewhere only receive as an 
 unmerited indulgence. Since I did a few days 
 please your eye, I may still please it a few 
 days longer: — perhaps a few days longer, 
 therefore, I may still wish to live ; and when 
 that last blessing, your love, is gone by, — 
 when my cheek, faded with grief, has lost the 
 last attraction that could arrest your favour, 
 then speak, then tell me so, that, burthening 
 vou no longer, I may retire — and die !' " — (III. 
 64, 65.) 
 
 Her silent despair, and patient misery, when 
 she finds that she has not only ruined herself 
 with the world, but lost his affections also, 
 have the beauty of the deepest tragedy. 
 
 " Nothing but the most unremitting tender- 
 ness on my part could in some degree have 
 revived her drooping spirits. — But when, after 
 my excursion, and the act of justice on Sophia, 
 in which it ended, I reappeared before the 
 still trembling Euphrosyne, she saw too soon 
 that that cordial of the heart must not be ex- 
 pected. One look she cast upon my counte- 
 nance, as I sat down in silence, sufficed to 
 inform her of my total change of sentiments ; — 
 and the responsive look by which it was met, 
 tore for ever from her breast the last seeds of 
 hope and confidence. Like the wounded snail, 
 she shrunk within herself, and thenceforth, 
 cloaked in unceasing sadness, never more ex- 
 
 panded to the sunshine of joy. With her 
 buoyancy of spirits she seemed even to lose 
 all her quickness of intellect, nay, all her 
 readiness of speech : so that, not only fearing 
 to embark with her in serious conversation, 
 but even finding no response in her mind to 
 lighter topics, I at last began to nauseate her 
 seeming torpor and dulness, and to roam 
 abroad even more frequently than before a 
 partner of my fate remained at home, to count 
 the tedious hours of my absence; while she, 
 poor, miserable creature, dreading the sneers 
 of an unfeeling world, passed her time under 
 my roof in dismal and heart-breaking solitude. 
 — Had the most patient endurance of the most 
 intemperate sallies been able to soothe my 
 disappointment and to soften my hardiness, 
 Euphrosyne';; angelic sweetness must at last 
 have conquered: but, in my jaundiced eye, 
 her resignation only tended to strengthen the 
 conviction of her shame ; and I saw in her 
 forbearance nothing but the consequence of 
 her debasemxcnt, and the consciousness of her 
 guilt. 'Did her heart,' thought I, 'bear wit- 
 ness to a purity on which my audacity dared 
 first to cast a blemish, she could not remain 
 thus tame, thus spiritless, under such an ag- 
 gravation of my wrongs ; and either she would 
 be the first to quit my merciless roof, or, at 
 least, she would not so fearfully avoid giving 
 me even the most unfounded pretence for 
 denying her its shelter. — She must merit her 
 sufferings, to bear them so meekly !' — Hence, 
 even when moved to real pity by gentleness 
 so enduring, I seldom relented in my apparent 
 sternness." — (III. 72 — 74.) 
 
 With this, we end our extracts from Anasta- 
 sius. We consider it as a work in which great 
 and extraordinary talent is evinced. It abounds 
 in eloquent and sublime passages, — in sense, — 
 in knowledge of history, — and in knowledge 
 of human character; — but not in wit. It is 
 too long; and if this novel perishes, and is 
 forgotten, it will be solely on that account. 
 If it is the picture of vice, so is Clarissa Har- 
 lowe, and so is Tom Jones. There are no 
 sensual and glowing descriptions in Anasta- 
 sius, — nothing which corrupts the morals by 
 inflaming the imagination of youth ; and we 
 are quite certain that every reader ends this 
 novel with a greater disgust at vice, and a 
 more thorough conviction of the necessity of 
 subjugating passion, than he feels from read- 
 ing either of the celebrated works we have 
 just mentioned. The sum of our eulogium is, 
 that Mr. Hope, without being very successful 
 in his story, or remarkably skilful in the 
 delineation of character, has written a novel, 
 which all clever people of a certain age 
 should read, because it is full of marvellously 
 fine things. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 SCAMETT^S POOE BILL* 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 1821.] 
 
 We are friendly to the main principle of Mr. 
 Scarlett's bill ; but are rather surprised at the 
 unworkmanlike manner in which he has set 
 about it. 
 
 To fix a maximum for the poor-rates, we 
 should conceive to be an operation of suffi- 
 cient difficulty and novelty for any one bill. 
 There was no need to provoke more prejudice, 
 to rouse more hostility, and create more alarm, 
 than such a bill would naturally do. But Mr. 
 Scarlett is a very strong man ; and before he 
 works his battering-ram, he chooses to have 
 the wall made of a thickness worthy of his 
 blow — capable of evincing, by the enormity of 
 its ruins, the superfluity of his vigour, and the 
 certainty of his aim. Accordingly, he has in- 
 troduced into his bill a number of provisions, 
 which have no necessary, and, indeed, no near 
 connection with his great and main object ; 
 but which are sure to draw upon his back all 
 the Sir Johns and Sir Thomases in the House 
 of Commons. It may be right, or it may be 
 wrong, that the chargeable poor should be re- 
 moved; but why introduce such a controverted 
 point into a bill framed for a much more im- 
 portant object, and of itself calculated to pro- 
 duce so much difTerence of opinion ! , Mr. 
 Scarlett appears to us to have beeu not only 
 indiscreet in the introduction of such hetero- 
 geneous matter, but very much mistaken in 
 the enactments which that matter contains. 
 
 "And be it further enacted, that from and 
 after the passing of this act, it shall not be 
 lawful for any justice of peace or other per- 
 son to remove, or cause to be removed, any 
 poor person or persons from any parish, 
 township or place, to any other, by reason of 
 such person or persons being chargeable to 
 such parish, township or place, or being unable 
 to maintain him or themselves, or under colour 
 of such person or persons being settled in any 
 other parish, township or place, any law or 
 statute to the contrary notwithstanding : Pro- 
 vided always, that nothing in this act shall in 
 any wise be deemed to alter any law now in 
 force for the punishment of vagrants, or for 
 removing poor persons to Scotland, Ireland, or 
 the Isles of Guernsey, Jersey, and Man. — And 
 be it further enacted, that in all cases w^here 
 any poor person, at the time of the passing of 
 this act, shall be resident in any parish, town- 
 ship or place, where he is not legally settled, 
 
 * 1. Letter to James Scarlett, Esq., .V. P., on his Bill 
 relativa- to the Poor-Laws. By a Surrey Magistrate. 
 London, 1821. 
 
 2. An J^ddress to the Imperial Parliament, vpon the 
 Prai-ti/.al Means of erndually Jiholishing the Poor-Laus, 
 and f ducatina the Poor Syslematicollv. Illustrated by an 
 Jlccou-nt of the Colonies of Fredericks- Oord in Holland, 
 X7!d of the Common .Mountain in the Sovth of Ireland. 
 H'i'h General Observations. Third Kdition. By Wil- 
 Z.IAM Hfhbert Saunders, Ksq. London, 1821. 
 
 3. Cn Povperism and the Poor-Laics. H'ith a Supple- 
 ment. London, 182L 
 
 and shall be receiving relief from the over- 
 seers, guardians, or directors of the poor of 
 the place of his legal settlement, the said over- 
 seers, guardians, or directors, are hereby 
 required to continue such relief, in the same 
 manner, and by the same means, as the same 
 is now administered, until one of his majesty's 
 justices of the peace, in or near the place of 
 residence of such poor person, shall, upon ap- 
 plication to him, either by such poor person, 
 or any other person on his behalf, for the con- 
 tinuance thereof, or by the said overseers, 
 guardians, or directors of the poor, paying 
 such relief, for the discharge thereof, certify 
 that the same is no longer necessaiy." — BUI, 
 pp. .3, 4.) 
 
 Now, here is a gentleman, so thoroughly 
 and so justly sensible of the evils of the poor- 
 laws, that he introduces into the House of 
 Commons a very plain, and very bold measure 
 to restrain them ; and yet, in the very same 
 bill, he abrogates the few impediments that 
 remain to universal mendicity. The present 
 law says, " Before you can turn beggar in the 
 place of your residence, you must have been 
 born there, or you must have rented a farm 
 there, or served an office ;" but Mr. Scarlett 
 says, " You may beg anywhere where you 
 happen to be. I will have no obstacles to 
 your turning beggar ; I will give every facility 
 and every allurement to the destruction of 
 your independence." We are quite confident 
 that the direct tendency of Mr. Scarlett's en- 
 actments is to produce these effects. Labourers 
 living in one place, and settled in another, are 
 uniformly the best and most independent cha- 
 racters in the place. Alarmed at the idea of 
 being removed from the situation of their 
 choice, and knowing they have nothing to de- 
 pend upon but themselves, they are alone 
 exempted from the degrading influence of the 
 poor-laws, and frequently arrive at independ- 
 ence by their exclusion from that baneful pri- 
 vilege which is offered to them by the incon- 
 sistent benevolence of this bill. If some are 
 removed, after long residence in parishes 
 where they are not settled, these examples 
 only insure the beneficial effects of which we 
 have been speaking. Others see them, dread 
 the same fate, quit the mug, and grasp the 
 flail. Our policy, as we have explained in a 
 previous article, is directly the reverse of that 
 of Mr. Scarlett. Considering that a poor man, 
 since Mr. East's bill, if he asks no charity, has 
 a right to live where he pleases, and that a 
 settlement is now nothing more than a beggar's 
 ticket, we would gradually abolish all means 
 of gaining a settlement, but those of birth, 
 parentage, or marriage ; and this method 
 would destroy litigation as efijectually as the 
 method proposed by Mr. Scarlett.* 
 
 • Tbia has since been done. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 335 
 
 Mr. Scarlett's plan, too, we are firmly per- 
 suaded, would completely defeat his own 
 intentions ; and would inflict a greater injury 
 upon the poor than this very bill, intended to 
 prevent their capricious removal. If his bill 
 had passed, he could not have passed. His 
 post-chaise on the northern circuit would have 
 been impeded by the crowds of houseless vil- 
 lagers, driven from their cottages by landlords 
 rendered merciless by the bill. In the mud — 
 all in the mud (for such cases made and pro- 
 vided) would they have rolled this most excel- 
 lent counsellor. Instigated by the devil and 
 their own malicious purposes, his Avig they 
 would have polluted, and tossed to a thousand 
 winds the paichment bickerings of Doe and 
 Roe. Mr. Scarlett's bill is so powerful a mo- 
 tive to proprietors for the depopulation of a 
 village — for preventing the poor from living 
 where they wish to live, — that nothing but the 
 conviction that such a bill would never be 
 suffered to pass, has prevented those effects 
 from already taking place. Landlords would, 
 in the contemplation of such a bill, pull down 
 all the cottages of persons not belonging to the 
 parish, and eject the tenants ; tt\e most vigor- 
 ous measures would be taken to prevent any 
 one from remaining or coming who was not 
 absolutely necessary to the lord of the soil. 
 At present, cottages are let to anybody: be- 
 cause, if they are burthensome to the parish, 
 the tenants can be removed. But the impos- 
 sibility of doing this would cause the imme- 
 diate demolition of cottages ; prevent the 
 erection of fresh ones where they are really 
 wanted ; and chain a poor man for ever to the 
 place of his birth, without the possibility of 
 moving. If everybody who passed over Mr. 
 Scarlett's threshold were to gain a settlement 
 for life in his house, he would take good care 
 never to be at home. We all boldly let our 
 frieirds in, because we know we can easily get 
 them out. So it is witli the residence of the 
 poor. Their present power of living where 
 they please, and going where they please, 
 entirely depends upon the possibility of their 
 removal when they become chargeable. If 
 any mistaken friend were to take from them 
 this protection, the whole power and jealousy 
 of property would be turned against their 
 locomotive liberty ; they would become ad- 
 scripli glebce, no more capable of going out 
 of the parish than a tree is of proceeding, with 
 its roots and branches, to a neighbouring wood. 
 
 The remedy here proposed for these evils 
 is really one of the most extraordinary we ever 
 remember to have been introduced into any 
 act of Parliament. 
 
 " And whereas it may happen, that in seve- 
 ral parishes or townships now burdened with 
 the maintenance of the poor settled and re- 
 siding therein, the owners of lands or inha- 
 bitants may, in order to remove the residence of the 
 labouring jioor from such parishes or places, 
 destroy the cottages and habitations therein, 
 now occupied by the labourers and their 
 families: And whereas, also, it may happen, 
 that certain towns and villages, maintaining 
 their own poor, may, by the residence therein 
 of labourers employed and working in other 
 parishes or townships lying near the said 
 
 towns and villages, be charged with the burden 
 of maintaining those who do not work, and 
 before the passing of this act were not settled 
 therein : For remedy thereof, be it enacted, by 
 the authority aforesaid, that, in either of the 
 above cases, it shall be lawful for the justices, 
 at any quarter-sessions of the peace held for 
 the county in which such places shall be, upon 
 the complaint of the overseers of the poor of 
 any parish, town or place, that by reason of 
 either of the causes aforesaid, the rates for the 
 relief of the poor of such parish, town, or 
 place, have been materially increased, whilst 
 those of any other parish or place have been 
 diminished, to hear and fully to inquire into 
 the matter of such complaint; and in case 
 they shall be satisfied of the truth thereof, then 
 to make an order upon the overseers of the 
 poor of the parish or township, whose rates 
 have been diminished by the causes aforesaid, 
 to pay to the complainants such sum or sums, 
 from'time to time,, as the said justices shall 
 adjudge reasonable, not exceeding, in any 
 case, together with the existing rates, the 
 amount limited by this act, as a contribution 
 towards the relief of the poor of the parish, 
 town, or place, whose rates have been in- 
 creased by the causes aforesaid ; which order 
 shall continue in force until the same shall 
 be discharged by some future order of ses- 
 sions, upon the application of the overseers 
 paying the same, and proof that the occasion 
 for it no longer exists: Provided, always, that 
 no such order shall be made, without proof of 
 notice in writing of such intended application, 
 and of the grounds thereof, having been served 
 upon the overseers of the poor of the parish or 
 place, upon whom such order is prayed, four- 
 teen days at the least before the first day of 
 the quarter-sessions, nor unless the justices 
 making such order shall be satisfied that no 
 money has been improperly or unnecessarily 
 expended by the overseers of the poor praying 
 for such order; and that a separate and distinct 
 account has been kept by them of the addi- 
 tional burden which has been thrown upon 
 their rates by the causes alleged." — (^Bill, pp. 
 4, 5.) 
 
 Now this clause, we cannot help saying, ap- 
 pears to us to be a receipt for universal and 
 interminable litigation all over England— a 
 perfect law-hurricane — a conversion of all 
 flesh into plaintiffs and defendants. The parish 
 A. has pulled down houses, and burthened the 
 parish B.; B. has demolished to the misery of 
 C; which has again misbehaved itself in the 
 same manner to the oppression of other letters 
 of the alphabet. All run into parchment, and 
 pant for revenge and exoneration. Though 
 the fact may be certain enough, the causes 
 which gave rise to it may be very uncertain ; 
 and assuredly will not be admitted to have 
 been those against which the statute has de- 
 nounced these penalties. It will be alleged, 
 therefore, that the houses were not pulled 
 down to get rid of the poor, but because they 
 were not worth repair — because they obstruct- 
 ed the squire's view— because rent was not 
 paid. All these motives must go before the 
 sessions, the last resource of legislators — the 
 unhappy quarter-sessions pushed to the ei 
 
336 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 tremity of their wit by the plump contradictions 
 of parish perjury. 
 
 Another of the many sources of litigation, in 
 this clause, is as follows : — A certain number 
 of workmen live in a parish M., not being 
 settled in it, and not working in it before the 
 passing of this act. After the passing of this 
 act, they become chargeable to M., whose poor- 
 rates are increased. M. is to find out the 
 parishes relieved from the burthen of these 
 men, and to prosecute at the quarter-sessions 
 for relief. But suppose the burthened parish 
 to be in Yorkshire, and the relieved parish in 
 Cornwall, are the quarter-sessions in Yorkshire 
 to make an order of annual payment upon a 
 parish in Cornwall'? and Cornwall, in turn, 
 upon Yorkshire] How is the money to be 
 transmitted'? What is the easy and cheap 
 remedy, if neglected to be paid ■? And if all 
 this could be effected, what is it, after all, but 
 the present system of removal rendered ten 
 times more intricate, confi'sed and expensive! 
 Perhaps Mr. Scarlett means, that the parishes 
 where these men worked, and which may hap- 
 pen to be within the jurisdiction of the justices, 
 are to be taxed in aid of the parish M., in pro- 
 portion to the benefit they have received from 
 the labour of men whose distresses they do not 
 relieve. We must have, then, a detailed ac- 
 count of how much a certain carpenter work- 
 ed in one parish, how much in another; and 
 enter into a species of evidence absolutely 
 interminable. We hope Mr. Scarlett will not 
 be angry with us : we entertain for his abilities 
 and character the highest possible respect ; 
 but great lawyers have not leisure for these 
 trifling details. It is very fortunate that a 
 clause so erroneous in its view should be so 
 inaccurate in its construction. If it were easy 
 to comprehend it, and possible to execute it, it 
 would he necessary to repeal it. 
 
 The shortest way, however, of mending all 
 this, will be entirely to omit this part of the 
 bill. We earnestly, but with very little hopes 
 of success, exhort Mr. Scarlett not to endanger 
 the really important part of his project, by the 
 introduction of a measure which has little to do 
 with it, and which any quarter-session country 
 squire can do as well or better than himself. 
 The real question introduced by his bill is, 
 whether or not a limit shall be put to the poor- 
 laws ; and not only this, but whether their 
 amount shall be gradually diminished. To 
 this better and higher part of the law, we shall 
 now address ourselves. 
 
 In this, however, as well as in the former 
 part of his bill, Mr. Scarlett becomes frighten- 
 ed at his own enactments, and repeals himself. 
 Parishes are first to relieve every person ac- 
 tually resident within them. This is no sooner 
 enacted than a provision is introduced to 
 relieve them from this expense, tenfold more 
 burthensome and expensive than the present 
 cystem of removal. In the same manner, a 
 maximum is very wisely and bravely enacted; 
 and in the following clause is immediately 
 repealed. 
 
 "Provided, also, and be it further enacted, 
 that if, by reason of any unusual scarcity of 
 provisions, epidemic disease, or any other 
 
 cause of a temporary or local nature, it shall 
 be deemed expedient by the overseers of the 
 poor, or other persons having, by virtue of any 
 local act of Parliament, the authority of over- 
 seers of the poor of any parish, township, or 
 place, to make any addition to the sum assessed 
 for the relief of the poor, beyond the amount 
 limited by this act, it shall be lawful for the 
 said overseers, or such other persons, to give 
 public notice in the several churches, and 
 other places of worship, within the same pa- 
 rish, township, or place, and if there be no 
 church or chapel within such place, then in 
 the parish church or chapel next adjoining the 
 same, of the place and time of a general meet- 
 ing to be held by the inhabitants paying to the 
 relief of the poor within such parish, town- 
 ship, or place, for the purpose of considering 
 the occasion and the amount of the proposed 
 addition ; and, if it shall appear to the majority 
 of the persons assembled at such meeting, that 
 such addition shall be necessary, then it shall 
 be lawful to the overseers, or other persons 
 having power to make assessments, to increase 
 the assessment by the additional sum proposed 
 and allowed, at such meeting, and for the jus- 
 tices, by whom such rate is to be allowed, upon 
 due proof upon oath to be made before them, 
 of the resolution of such meeting, and that the 
 same was held after sufficient public notice to 
 allow such rate with the proposed addition, 
 specifying the exact amount thereof, with the 
 reasons for allowing the same, upon the face 
 of the rate."— (B?7/, p. 3.) 
 
 It would really seem, from these and other 
 qualifying provisions, as if Mr. Scarlett had 
 never reflected upon the consequences of his 
 leadingenactments tillhehad penned them; and 
 that he then set about finding how he could 
 prevent himself from doing what he meant to do. 
 To what purpose enact a maximum, if that 
 maximum may at any time be repealed by the 
 majority of the parishioners ? How will the 
 compassion and charity which the poor-laws 
 have set to sleep be awakened, when such' a 
 remedy is at hand as the repeal of the maxi- 
 mum by a vote of the parish 1 Will ardent 
 and amiable men form themselves into volun- 
 tary associations to meet any sudden exigency 
 of famine and epidemic disease, when this 
 sleepy and sluggish method of overcoming the 
 evil can be had recourse to? As soon as it 
 becomes really impossible to increase the poor 
 fund by law — when there is but little, and there 
 can be no more, that little will be administered 
 with the utmost caution; claims will be mi- 
 nutely inspected ; idle manhood will not receive 
 the scraps and crumbs which belong to failing 
 old age; distress will make the poor provident 
 and cautious ; and all the good expected from 
 the abolition of the poor-laws will begin to 
 appear. But these expectations will be entirely 
 frustrated, and every advantage of Mr. Scar- 
 lett's bill destroyed,' by this fatal facility of 
 eluding and repealing it. 
 
 The danger of insurrection is a circumstance 
 worthy of the most serious consideration, in 
 discussing the propriety of a maximum. Mr. 
 Scarlett's bill is an infallible receipt for tumult 
 and agitation, whenever corn is a little dearer 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 537 
 
 than common.' "Repeal the maximum," will 
 be the clamour in every village; and woe be 
 to those members of the village vestry who 
 should oppose the measure. Whether it was 
 really a year of scarcity, and whether it was a 
 proper season for expanding the bounty of the 
 law, would be a question constantly and fierce- 
 ly agitated between the farmers and the poor. 
 If the maximum is to be quietly submitted to, 
 its repeal must be rendered impossible but to 
 the legislature. " Burn your ships, Mr. Scar- 
 lett. You are doing a wise and necessar3' 
 thing; don't be afraid of yourself. Respect 
 your own nest. Don't let clause A repeal 
 clause B. Be stout. Take care that the rat 
 lawyers on the treasury bench do not take the 
 oysters out of your bill, and leave you the 
 shell. Do not yield one particle of the wisdom 
 and philosophy of your measure to the country 
 gentlemen of the earth." 
 
 We object to a maximum which is not ren- 
 dered a decreasing maximum. If definite 
 sums were fixed for each village, which they 
 could not exceed, that sum would, in a very 
 few years, become a minimum, and an esta- 
 blished claim. If 80s. were the sum allotted 
 for a particular hamlet, the poor would very 
 soon come to imagine that they were entitled 
 to that precise sum, and the farmers that they 
 were compelled to give it. Any maximum 
 established should be a decreasing, but a very 
 slowly decreasing maximum, — perhaps it 
 should not decrease at a greater rate than lOs. 
 per cent, per annum. 
 
 It may be doubtful also, whether the first 
 bill should aim at repealing more than 20 per 
 cent, of the present amount of the poor-rates. 
 This would be eff'ected in forty years. Long 
 before that time, the good or bad effects of the 
 measure would be fairly estimated; if it is 
 wise that it should proceed, let posterity do the 
 rest. It is by no means necessary to destroy, 
 in one moment, upon paper, a payment which 
 cannot, without violating every principle of 
 justice, and every consideration of safety and 
 humanity, be extinguished in less than two 
 centuries. 
 
 It is important for Mr. Scarlett to consider 
 whether he will make the operation of his bill 
 immediate, or interpose two or three years 
 between its enactment and first operation. 
 
 We entirely object to the following clause ; 
 the whole of which ought to be expunged: — 
 
 "And be it further enacted, that it shall not 
 be lawful for any churchwarden, overseer, or 
 guardian of the poor, or any other person 
 having authority to administer relief to the poor, 
 to allow or give, or for any justice of the peace 
 to order, any relief to any person whatsoever, 
 who shall be married after the passing of this 
 act, for himself, herself, or any part of his or 
 her family, unless such poor person shall be 
 actually, at the time of asking such relief, by 
 reason of age, sickness, or bodily infirmity, 
 unable to obtain a livelihood, and to support 
 his or her family by work: Provided, always, 
 that nothing in this clause contained shall be 
 construed so as to authorize the granting 
 relief, or making any order for relief, in cases 
 where the same was not lawful before the 
 passing of this act." 
 
 43 
 
 Nothing in the whole bill will occasion so 
 much abuse and misrepresentation as this 
 clause. It is upon this that the radicals will 
 first fasten. It will, of course, be explained 
 into a prohibition of marriage to the poor ; and 
 will, in fact, create a marked distinction be- 
 tween two classes of paupers, and become a 
 rallying point for insurrection. In fact, it is 
 wholly unnecessary. As the funds for the re- 
 lief of pauperism decrease, under the opera- 
 tion of a diminishing maximum, the first to 
 whom relief is refused will be the young and 
 the strong; in other words, the most absurd 
 and extravagant consequences of the present 
 poor-laws will be the first cured. 
 
 Such, then, is our conception of the bill 
 which ought to be brought into Parliament — a 
 maximum regulated by the greatest amount of 
 poor-rates ever paid, and annually diminishing 
 at the rate of 10*. per cent, till they are reduced 
 20 per cent, of their present value ; with such 
 a preamble to the bill as will make it fair and 
 consistent for any future Parliament to con- 
 tinue the reduction. If Mr. Scarlett will bring 
 in a short and simple bill to this effect, and not 
 mingle with it any other parochial improve- 
 ments, and will persevere in such a bill for 
 two or three years, we believe he will carry 
 it; and we are certain he will confer, by such 
 a measure, a lasting benefit upon his country — 
 and upon none more than upon its labouring 
 poor. 
 
 We presume there are very few persons who 
 will imagine such a measure to be deficient fn 
 vigour. That the poor-laws should be stopped 
 in their fatal encroachment upon property, and 
 unhappy multiplication of the human species, 
 — and not only this, but that the evil should 
 be put in a state of diminution, would be an 
 improvement of our condition almost beyond 
 hope. The tendency of fears and objections 
 will all lie the other way; and a bill of this 
 nature will not be accused of inertness, but of 
 rashness, cruelty, and innovation. We can- 
 not now enter into the question of the poor- 
 laAvs, of all others that which has undergone 
 the most frequent and earnest discussion. Our 
 whole reasoning is founded upon the assump- 
 tion, that no system of laws was ever so com- 
 pletely calculated to destroy industry, foresight, 
 and economy in the poor; to extinguish com- 
 passion in the rich; and, by destroying th; 
 balance between the demand for, and supply 
 of, labour, to spread a degraded population 
 over a ruined land. Not to attempt the cure 
 of this evil, Avould be criminal indolence ; not 
 to cure it gradually and compassionately, 
 would be very wicked. To Mr. Scarlett 
 belongs the real merit of introducing the bill. 
 He will forgive us the freedom, perhaps the 
 severity, of some of our remarks. We arc 
 sometimes not quite so smooth as we ought to 
 be; but we hold Mr. Scarlett in very high 
 honour and estimation. He is the greatest 
 advocate, perhaps, of his time; and without 
 the slightest symptom of tail or whiskers- 
 dccorations, it is reported, now as character 
 istic of the English bar as wigs and gowns in 
 days of old — he has never carried his soul to 
 the treasury, and said. What will you give me 
 for thisl — he has never sold the Trarmifeelings 
 2F 
 
WORKS OF THE REV, SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 ami honourable motives of his youth and man- 
 hood for an annual sum of money and an 
 office — he has never taken a price for public 
 liberty and public happiness — he has never 
 touched the political Aceldama, and signed 
 the devil's bond for cursing to-morrow what 
 
 he has blessed to-day. Living in the midst of 
 men who have disgraced it. he has cast honour 
 upon his honourable profession; and has 
 sought dignity, not from the ermine and the 
 mace, but from a straight path and a spotless 
 life. 
 
 MEMOmS OF CAPTAIN EOCK. 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, li 
 
 This agreeable and wilty book is generally 
 supposed to have been written by Mr. Thomas 
 Moore, a gentleman of small stature, but full 
 of genius, and a steady friend of all that is 
 honourable and just. He has here borrowed 
 the name of a celebrated Irish leader, to typify 
 that spirit of violence and insurrection which 
 is necessarily generated by systematic oppres- 
 sion, and rudely avenges its crimes ; and the 
 picture he has drawn of its prevalence in that 
 unhappy country is at once piteous and fright- 
 ful. Its effect in exciting our horror and in- 
 dignation is in the long run increased, we 
 think, — though at first it may seem counter- 
 acted, by the tone of levity, and even jocularity, 
 under which he has chosen to veil the deep 
 sarcasm and substantial terrors of his story. 
 We smile at first, and are amused — and won- 
 der, as we proceed, that the humorous narra- 
 tive should produce conviction and pity — 
 shame, abhorrence, and despair ! 
 
 England seems to have treated Ireland much 
 in the same way as Mrs. Brownrigg treated 
 her apprentice — for which Mrs. Brownrigg is 
 hanged in the first volume of the Newgate 
 Calendar. Upon the whole, we think the ap- 
 prentice is better off than the Irishman : as 
 Mrs. Brownrigg merely starves and beats her, 
 without any attempt to prohibit her from going 
 to any shop, or praying at any church, appren- 
 tice might select; and once or twice, if we 
 remember rightly, Brownrigg appears to have 
 felt some compassion. Not so Old England, 
 who indulges rather in a steady baseness, uni- 
 form brutality, and unrelenting oppression. 
 
 Let us select from this entertaining little 
 book a short history of dear Ireland, such as 
 even some profligate idle member of the House 
 of Commons, voting as his master bids him, 
 may perchance throw his eye upon, and reflect 
 for a moment upon the iniquity to which he 
 'ends his support. 
 
 For some centuries after the reign of Henry 
 l!. the Irish were killed like ?ame, by persons 
 qualified or unqualified. Whether dogs were 
 ased does not appear quite certain, though it 
 is probable they were, spaniels as well as 
 pointers; and that, after a regular point by 
 Basto, well backed bv Ponto and Caesar, Mr. 
 O'Donnel or Mr. O'Leary bolted from the 
 .hicket, and were bagged by the English sports- 
 
 Memoirs of Captain Roek, the celebrated Irish Chief- 
 Min; with some Account of his JIncesturs. Written by 
 ■" Fourth Edition. 12mo. London, 1824. 
 
 man. With Henry II. came in tithes, to which, 
 in all probability, about one million of lives 
 may have been sacrificed in Ireland. In the 
 reign of Edward I., the Irish who were settled 
 near the English requested that the benefit of 
 the English laws might be extended to them ; 
 but the remonstrance of the barons with the 
 hesitating king was in substance this: — "You 
 have made us a present of these wild gentle- 
 men, and we particularly request that no mea- 
 sures may be adopted to check us in that full 
 range of tyranny and oppression in which we 
 consider the value of such a gift to consist. 
 You might as well give us sheep, and prevent 
 us from shearing the wool, or roasting the 
 meat." This reasoning prevailed, and the 
 Irish were kept to their barbarism, and the 
 barons preserved their live-stock. 
 
 " Read ' Orange faction' (says Captain Rock) 
 here, and you have the wisdom of our rulers, 
 at the end of near six centuries, in statu qvo. — 
 The grand periodic year of the stoics, at the 
 close of which every thing was to begin again, 
 and the same events to be all reacted in the 
 same order, is, on a miniature scale, repre- 
 sented in the history of the English govern- 
 ment in Ireland — every succeeding century 
 being but a renewed revolution of the same 
 follies, the same crimes, and the same turbu- 
 lence that disgraced the former. But ' Vive 
 I'ennemi !' say I : whoever miay suffer by such 
 measures. Captain Rock, at least, will prosper. 
 
 "And such was the result at the period of 
 which I am speaking. The rejection of a pe- 
 tition, so humble and so reasonable, was fol- 
 lowed, as a matter of course, by one of those 
 daring rebellions into which the revenge of an 
 insulted people naturally breaks forth. The 
 M'Cartys, the O'Briens, and all the other Macs 
 and O's, who have been kept on the alert by 
 similar causes ever since, flew to arms under 
 the command of a chieftain of my family ; and. 
 as the proffered handle of the sword had been 
 rejected, made their inexorable masters at least 
 feel its edge." — (pp. 23 — 25.) 
 
 Fifty years afterwards the same request 
 was renewed and refused. Up again rose Mac 
 and O. — a just and necessary war ensued; and 
 after the usual murders, the usual chains were 
 replaced upon the Irishry. All Irishmen were 
 excluded from every species of office. It was 
 high treason to marry with the Irish blood, and 
 highly penal to receive the Irish into religious 
 houses. War was waged also against their 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 Thomas Moores, Samuel Rogerses, and Walter 
 Scotts, who went about the country harping 
 and singing against English oppression. No 
 such turbulent guests were to be received. 
 The plan of making them poets-laureate, or 
 converting them to loyalty by pensions of 100/. 
 per annum, had not then been thought of. 
 They debarred the Irish even from the plea- 
 sure of running away, and fixed them to the 
 soil like negroes. 
 
 "I have thus selected," says the historian 
 of Rock, " cursorily and at random a few fea- 
 tures of the reigns preceding the Reformation, 
 in order to show what good use was made of 
 those three or four hundred years in attaching 
 the Irish people to their English governors ; 
 and by what a gentle course of alternatives 
 they were prepared for the inoculation of a 
 new religion, which was now about to be at- 
 tempted upon them by the same skilful and 
 friendly hands. 
 
 " Henry the Seventh appears to have been 
 the first monarch to whom it occurred, that 
 matters were not managed exactly as they 
 ought in this part of his dominions ; and we 
 find him — with a simplicity which is still fresh 
 and youthful among our rulers — expressing 
 his surprise that ' his subjects of this land 
 should be so prone to faction and rebellion, 
 and that so little advantage had been hitherto 
 derived from the acquisitions of his predeces- 
 sors, notwithstanding the fruitfulness and na- 
 tural advantages of Ireland.' — Surprising, in- 
 deed, that a policy, such as we have been 
 describing, should not have converted the 
 whole country into a perfect Atalantis of hap- 
 piness — should not have made it like the ima- 
 ginary island of Sir Thomas More, where 
 'tola insula velut una familia est T — most stub- 
 born, truly, and ungrateful must that people 
 be, upon whom, up to the very hour in which 
 I write, such a long and unvarying course of 
 penal laws, confiscations, and insurrection acts 
 has been tried, without making them in the 
 least degree in love with their rulers. 
 
 "Heloise tells her tutor Abelard, that the 
 correction which he inflicted upon her only 
 served to increase the ardour of her affection 
 for him; but bayonets and hemp are no such 
 ' amoris stinmlij — One more characteristic 
 anecdote of those times, and I have done. At 
 the battle of Knocktow, in the reign of Henry 
 VII., when that remarkable man, the Earl of 
 Kildare, assisted by the great O'Neal and 
 other Irish chiefs, gained a victory over Clan- 
 ricard of Connaught, most important to the 
 English government. Lord Gormanstown, after 
 the battle, in the first insolence of success, 
 said, turning to the Earl of Kildare, 'We have 
 now slaughtered our enemies, but to complete 
 the good deed, we must proceed yet further, 
 and — cut the throats of those Irish of our own 
 party !'* Who can wonder that the Rock family 
 were active in those times ?" — (pp. 33 — 35.) 
 
 Henry VIII. persisted in all these outrages, 
 and aggravated them by insulting the prejudices 
 of the people. Englmd is almost the only 
 country in the world (even at present), where 
 
 * Lpland givsjs Ibis anecdote on the authority of an 
 Ei'frlishm-.in. \ 
 
 there is not some favourite religious spot, 
 where absurd lies, httle bits of cloth, feathers, 
 rusty nails, splinters, and other invaluable 
 relics, are treasured up, and in defence of 
 which the whole population are willing to turn 
 out and perish as one man. Such was the 
 shrine of St. Kieran, the whole treasures of 
 which the satellites of that corpulent tyrant 
 turned out into the street, pillaged the sacred 
 church of Clonmacnoise, scattered the holy 
 nonsense of the priests to the winds, and 
 burnt the real and venerable crosier of St. 
 Patrick, fresh from the silversmith's shop, and 
 formed of the most costly materials. Modern 
 princes change the uniform of regiments ; Hen- 
 ry changed the religion of kingdoms, and was 
 determined that the belief of the Irish should 
 undergo a radical and Protestant conversion. 
 With what success this attempt was made, the 
 present state of Ireland is sufficient evi- 
 dence. 
 
 " Be not dismayed," said Elizabeth, on hear- 
 ing that O'Neal meditated some designs against 
 her government ; " tell my friends, if he arise, 
 it will turn to their advantage — ihcre ivill be 
 estates for those who tcant." Soon after this pro- 
 phetic speech, Munster was destroyed by fa- 
 mine and the sword, and near 600,000 acres 
 forfeited to the crown, and distributed among 
 Englishmen. Sir Walter Raleigh (the vir- 
 tuous and good) butchered the garrison of 
 Limerick in cold blood, after Lord Deputy 
 Gray had selected 700 to be hanged. There 
 were, during the reign of Elizabeth, three in- 
 vasions of Ireland by the Spaniards, produced 
 principally by the absurd measures of this 
 princess for the reformation of its religion. 
 The Catholic clergy, in consequence of these 
 measures, abandoned their cures, the churches 
 fell to ruin, and the people were left without 
 any means of instruction. Add to these cir- 
 cumstances the murder of M'Mahon, the im- 
 prisonment of M'Toole* and O'Dogherty, and 
 the kidnapping of O'Donnel — all truly Anglo- 
 Hibernian proceedings. The execution of the 
 laws was rendered detestable and intolerable 
 by the queen's officers of justice. The spirit 
 raised by these transactions, besides innume- 
 rable smaller insurrections, gave rise to the 
 great wars of Desmond and Hugh O'Neal; 
 which, after they had worn out the ablest 
 generals, discomfited the choicest troops, ex- 
 hausted the treasure, and embarrassed the 
 operations of Elizabeth, were terminated by 
 the destruction of these two ancient families, 
 and by the confiscation of more than half the 
 territorial surface of the island. The two laist 
 years of O'Neal's wars cost Elizabeth 140,000/. 
 per annum, though the whole revenue ol' 
 England at that period fell considerably short 
 of 500,000/. Essex, after the destruction of 
 Norris, led into Ireland an army of above 
 20,000 men, which was totally bafiled and dc- 
 
 * Thfre are not a few of the best and most humane 
 Enslishmen of the present day, who, when under th<i 
 influence nf fear or ansrer, would think it no great crim« 
 tn put to death people whose names begin with O or Mac 
 The violent doath of .Smith, Green, or Thomson, would 
 throw the neiffhhourhood into convulsions, and the resu- 
 I ir forms would be adhered to— but little would he really 
 thousht of the death of any body called O'Uosherlv o/ 
 f)'Toale. ' • 
 
340 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 stroyed by Tyrone, within two years of their 
 landing. Such was the importance of Irish 
 rebellions two centuries before the time in 
 which we live. Sir G. Carew attempted to 
 assassinate the Lugan earl — Mountjoy com- 
 pelled the Irish rebels to massacre each other. 
 In the course of a few months, 3000 men were 
 starved to death in Tyrone. Sir Arthur Chi- 
 chester, Sir Richard Manson, and other com- 
 manders, saw three children feeding on the 
 flesh of their dead mother. Such were the 
 golden days of good queen Bess ! 
 
 By the rebellions of Dogherty in the reign 
 of James I., six northern counties were con- 
 fiscated, amounting to 500,000 acres. In the 
 same manner, 64,000 acres were confiscated 
 in Athlone. The whole of his confiscations 
 amount to nearly a million of acres ; and if 
 Leland means plantation acres, they consti- 
 tute a twelfth of the whole kingdom according 
 to Newenham, and a tenth according to Sir 
 W. Petty. The most shocking and scanda- 
 lous action in the reign of James, was his at- 
 tack upon the whole property of the province 
 of Connaught, which he would have effected, 
 if he had not been bought off by a sum greater 
 than he hoped to gain by his iniquity, besides 
 the luxury of confiscation. The Irish, during 
 the reign of James I., suffered under the double 
 evils of a licentious soldieiy, and a religious 
 persecution. 
 
 Charles the First took a bribe of 120,000/. 
 from his Irish subjects, to grant them what in 
 those days were called graces, but in these 
 days would be denominated the elements of 
 justice. The money was paid, but the graces 
 were never granted. One of these graces is 
 curious enough: "That the clergy were not to 
 be permitted to keep henceforward any private 
 prisons of their own, but delinquents were to 
 be committed to the public jails." The idea 
 of a rector, with his own private jail full of 
 dissenters, is the most ludicrous piece of t}-- 
 ranny we ever heard of. The troops in the 
 beginning of Charles's reign were supported 
 by the weekly fines levied upon the Catholics 
 for non-attendance upon established worship. 
 The Archbishop of Dublin went himself, at 
 the head of a file of musketeers, to disperse a 
 Catholic congregation in Dublin, — which ob- 
 ject he eflected, after a considerable skirmish 
 with the priests. " The favourite object" 
 (says Dr. Leland, a Protestant clergyman, and 
 dignitary of the Irish church) " of the Irish 
 government and the English Parliament, was 
 the utter extermination of all the Catholic inha- 
 bitants of Ireland." The great rebellion took 
 place in this reign, and Ireland was one scene 
 of blood and cruelty and confiscation. 
 
 Cromwell began his career in Ireland by 
 massacreing for five days the garrison of Dro- 
 gheda, to whom quarter had been promised. 
 Two millions and a half of acres«\-ere confis- 
 cated. Whole towns were put up in lots, and 
 sold. The Catholics were banished from 
 three-fourths of the kingdom, and confined to 
 ( 'onnaught. After a certain day, every Catho- 
 lic found out of Connaught was to be punished 
 with death. Fleetwood complains peevishly 
 " that the people do not transport readily,'" — but 
 adds, " it is doubtless a work in which the Lord leill 
 
 appear." Ten thousand Irish were sent as re- 
 cruits to the Spanish army. 
 
 " Such was Cromwell's way of settling the 
 affairs of Ireland — and if a nation is to be 
 ruined, this method is, perhaps, as good as any. 
 It is, at least, more humane than the slow lin- 
 gering process of exclusion, disappointment, 
 and degradation, by which their hearts are worn 
 out rmder more specious forms of tyranny; 
 and that talent of despatch which Moliere at- 
 tributes to one of his physicians, is no ordi- 
 nary merit in a practitioner like Cromwell: — 
 ' C'est un homme expeditif, qui aime a depe- 
 cher ses malades ; et quand on a a mourir, cela 
 se fait avec lui le plus vite du monde.' A 
 certain military duke, who complains that Ire- 
 land is but half conquered, would, no doubt, 
 upon an emergency, try his hand in the same 
 line of practice, and, like that 'stern hero,' 
 Mirmillo, in the Dispensary, 
 
 ' While others meanly take whole months to slay, 
 Despatch the grateful patient in a day :' 
 
 " Among other amiable enactments against 
 the Catholics at this period, the price of five 
 pounds was set on the head of a Romish priest 
 — being exactly the same sum offered by the 
 same legislators for the head of a wolf. The 
 Athenians, we are told, encouraged the destruc- 
 tion of wolves by a similar reward (five 
 drachmas) ; but it does not appear that these 
 heathens bought up the heads of priests at the 
 same rate — such zeal in the cause of religion 
 being reserved for times of Christianity and 
 Protestantism."— (pp. 97—99.) 
 
 Nothing can show more strongly the light 
 in which the Irish were held by Cromwell, than 
 the correspondence with Henry Cromwell, 
 respecting the peopling of Jamaica from Ire- 
 land. Secretary Thurloe sends to Henry, the 
 lord-deputy in Ireland, to inform him, that "a 
 stock of Irish girls, and Irish young men, are 
 wanting for the peopling of Jamaica." The 
 answer of Henry Cromwell is as follows: — 
 " Concerning the supply of young men, al- 
 though we must use force in taking them up, 
 yet it being so much for their own good, and likely 
 to be of so great advantage to the public, it is 
 not the least doubted but that you may have 
 such a number of them as you may think fit 
 to make use of on this account. 
 
 "I shall not need repeat any thing respect- 
 ing the girls, not doubting to answer your ex- 
 pectations to the full in that ; and I think it 
 might be of like advantage to your affairs 
 there, and ours here, if you should think fit to 
 send 1500 or 2000 boys to the place above men- 
 tioned. We can xvell spare them: and who 
 knows that it may be the means of making 
 them Englishmen, I mean rather Christians. 
 As for the girls, I suppose you will make pro- 
 visions of clothes, and other accommodations 
 for them." Upon this, Thurloe informs Henry 
 Cromwell, that the council have voted 4000 
 girls, and as many boys, to go to Jamaica. 
 
 Every Catholic priest found in Ireland was 
 hanged, and five pounds paid to the informer. 
 
 "About the )'ear 1652 and 1653," says 
 Colonel Lawrence in his Interests of Ireland, 
 " the plague and famine had so swept away 
 whole counties, that a man might travel twenty 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 341 
 
 or thirty miles and not see a living creature, 
 either man, or beast, or bird, — they being all 
 dead, or had quitted those desolate places. 
 Our soldiers would tell stories of the places 
 where they saw smoke — it was so rare to see 
 either smoke by day, or fire or candle by night." 
 In this manner did the Irish live and die under 
 Cromwell, suffering by the sword, famine, pesti- 
 lence, and persecution, beholding the confisca- 
 tion of a kingdom and the banishment of a 
 race. " So that there perished (says S. W. 
 Petry) in the year 1641, 650,000 human beings, 
 whose blood somebody must atone for to God 
 and the king ! 1" 
 
 In the reign of Charles II., by the Act of Set- 
 tlement, four millions and a half of acres were 
 for ever taken from the Irish. "This country," 
 says the Earl of Essex, lord-lieutenant in 1675, 
 " has been perpetually rent and torn, since his 
 majesty's restoration. I can compare it to 
 nothing better than the flinging the reward on 
 the death of a deer among the packs of hounds 
 — where every one pulls and tears where he 
 can for himself." All wool grown in Ireland 
 was, by act of Parliament, compelled to be sold 
 to England; and Irish cattle were excluded 
 from England. The English, however, were 
 pleased to accept 30,000 head of cattle, sent as 
 a gift from Ireland to the sufferers in the great 
 fire ! — and the first day of the sessions, after 
 this act of munificence, the Parliament passed 
 fresh acts of exclusion against the productions 
 of that country. 
 
 "Among the many anomalous situations in 
 which the Irish have been placed, by those 
 'marriage vows, false as dicers' oaths,' which 
 bind their country to England, the dilemma in 
 which they found themselves at the Revolution 
 was not the least perplexing or cruel.* If they 
 were loyal to the king de jure, they were hanged 
 by the king, de fado ; and if they escaped with 
 life from the king de facto, it was but to be 
 plundered and proscribed by the king de jure 
 afterwards. 
 
 "Ilac gener atque socer coeant niercede suorum." — 
 
 Virgil. 
 
 " In a manner so summary, prompt, and high-mettled, 
 
 'Twixl father and son-iri-law matters were settled." 
 
 "In fact, most of the outlawries in Ireland 
 were for treason committed the very day on 
 which the Prince and Princess of Orange ac- 
 cepted the crown in the banqueting-house ; 
 though the news of this event could not possi- 
 bly have reached the other side of the Chan- 
 nel on the same day, and the lord-lieutenant 
 of King James, with an army to enforce obedi- 
 ence, was at that time in actual possession of 
 the government, — so little was common sense 
 consulted, or the mere decency of forms ob- 
 served by that rapacious spirit, which nothing 
 less than the confiscation of the whole island 
 could satisfy; and which having, in the reign 
 
 * " Among the persons most puzzled and perplexed by 
 the two opposite royal claims on their allegiance, were 
 the clergymen of the established church ; who, having 
 first prayed for King James as their lawful sovereign, as 
 soon as William was proclaimed, took to praying for liim; 
 but again, on the success of the Jacobite forces in the 
 north, very prudently prayed for King James once more, 
 ti)l the arrival of Schomberg, when, as far as his quar- 
 ters reached, they returned to praying for King William 
 again." 
 
 ' of James I. and at the restoration, despoiled 
 the natives of no less than ten millions six 
 hundred and thirty-six thousand eight hundred 
 and thirty-seven acres, now added to its plunder 
 I one million sixty thousand seven hundred and 
 j ninety-two acres more, being the am.ount, alto- 
 gether, (according to Lord Clare's calculation), 
 of the whole superficial contents of the island. 
 
 "Thus not only had all Ireland suffered con- 
 fiscation in the course of this century, but no 
 inconsiderable portion of it had been twice 
 and even thrice confiscated. Well might Lord 
 Clare say, ' that the situation of the Irish na- 
 tion, at the revolution, stands unparalleled in 
 the history of the inhabited world.'" — Cpp. Ill 
 —113.) 
 
 By the articles of Limerick, the Irish were 
 promised the free exercise of their religion ; 
 but from that period till the year 1788, every 
 year produced some fresh penalty against that 
 religion — some liberty was abridged, some 
 right impaired, or some suffering increased. 
 By acts in King William's reign, they were 
 prevented from being solicitors. No Catholic 
 was allowed to marry a Protestant ; and any 
 Catholic who sent a son to Catholic countries 
 for education was to forfeit all his lands. In 
 the reign of Queen Anne, any son of a Catho- 
 lic who chose to turn Protestant got possession 
 of his father's estate. No Papist was allowed 
 to purchase freehold property, or to take a 
 lease for more than thirty years. If a Protest- 
 ant dies intestate, the estate is to go to the 
 next Protestant heir, though all to the tenth 
 generation should be Catholic. In the same 
 manner, if a Catholic dies intestate, his estate 
 is to go to the next Protestant. No Papist is 
 to dwell in Limerick or Galway. No Papist 
 is to take an annuity for life. The widow of 
 a Papist turning Protestant to have a portion 
 of the chattels of deceased, in spite of any will. 
 Every Papist teaching schools to be presented 
 as a regular Popish convict. Prices of catch- 
 ing Catholic priests from 50s. to 10/., accord- 
 ing to rank. Papists are to answer all ques- 
 tions respecting other Papists, or to be com- 
 mitted to jail for twelve months. No trust to 
 be undertaken for Papists. No Papist to be 
 on grand juries. Some notion may he formed 
 of the spirit of those times, from an order of 
 the House of Commons, " that the sergeant-at- 
 arms should take into custody all Papists that 
 should presume to come into the gallery .'" 
 {Commons' Journal, vol. iii. fol. 976.) During 
 this reign, the English Parliament legislated 
 as absolutely for Ireland as they do now for 
 Rutlandshire — an evil not to be complained 
 of, if they had done it as justly. In the reign 
 of George L the horses of Papists M'ere seized 
 for the militia, and rode by Protestants , towards 
 which the Catholics paid double, and were 
 compelled to find Protestant substitutes. They 
 were prohibited from voting at vestries, or 
 being high or petty constables. An act of the 
 English Parliament in this reign opens as 
 follows : — " Whereas attempts have been lately 
 made to shake off the subjection of Ireland to 
 the imperial crown of these realms, be it en 
 acted," &c. &c. In the reign of George II. 
 four-sixths of the population were cut off' from 
 the rights of voting at elections, by the neces 
 2f3 
 
312 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 sity under which they were placed of taking 
 the oath of supremacy. Barristers and soli- 
 citors marrying Catholics are exposed to all 
 the penalties of Catholics. Persons robbed by 
 privateers during a war with a Catholic state, 
 are to be indemnified bya levy on the Catholic 
 inhabitants of the neighbourhood. All mar- 
 riages between Catholics and Protestants are 
 annulled. All Popish priests celebrating them 
 are to be hanged. " This system" (says Ar- 
 thur Young) " has no other tendency than that 
 of driving out of the kingdom all the personal 
 wealth of the Catholics, and extinguishing 
 their industry within it ! and the face of the 
 country, every object which presents itself to 
 travellers, tell him how effectually this has 
 been done." — Young's Tour in Ireland, vol. ii. 
 p. 48. 
 
 Such is the history of Ireland — for we are 
 now at our own times ; and the only remain- 
 ing question is, whether the system of improve- 
 ment and conciliation begun in the reign of 
 George III. shall be pursued, and the remain- 
 ing incapacities of the Catholics removed, or 
 all these concessions be made insignificant by 
 an adherence to that spirit of proscription 
 which they professed to abolish 1 Looking to 
 the sense and reason of the thing, and to the 
 ordinary working of humanity and justice, 
 when assisted, as they are here, by self-interest 
 and worldly policy, it might seem absurd to 
 doubt of the result. But looking to the facts 
 and the persons by which we are now sur- 
 rounded, we are constrained to say that we 
 greatly fear that these incapacities never will 
 be removed, till they are removed by fear. 
 What else, indeed, can we expect when we see 
 them opposed by such enlightened men as Mr. 
 Peel — faintly assisted by men of such admira- 
 Dle genius as Mr. Canning — when royal dukes 
 consider it as a compliment to the memory of 
 their fathers to continue this miserable system 
 of bigotry and exclusion, — when men act igno- 
 miniously and contemptibly on this question, 
 whc' do so on no other question, — when al- 
 most the only persons zealously opposed to 
 this general baseness and fatuity are a few 
 whigs and reviewers, or here and there a vir- 
 tuous poet, like Mr. Moore 1 We repeat again, 
 that the measure never will be effected but by 
 fear. In the midst of one of our just and 
 necessary wars, the Irish Catholics will com- 
 pel this country to grant them a great deal 
 more than they at present require, or even 
 contemplate. We regret most severely the 
 protraction of the disease, and the danger of 
 the remedy ; — but in this way it is that human 
 affairs are carried on ! 
 
 We are sorry we have nothing for which to 
 praise the administration on the subject of the 
 Catholic question — but, it is but justice to say, 
 that they have been very zealous and active in 
 detecting fiscal abuses in Ireland, in improving 
 mercantile regulations, and in detecting Irish 
 jobs. The commission on which Mr. Wallace 
 presided has been of the greatest possible 
 utility, and does infinite credit to the govern- 
 m-ent. The name of Mr. Wallace, in any com- 
 mission, has now become a pledge to the pub- 
 lic that there is a real intention to investigate 
 
 and correct abuse. He stands in the singular 
 predicament of being equally trusted by the 
 rulers and the ruled. It is a new era in go- 
 vernment, when such men are called into 
 action; and, if there were not proclaimed and 
 fatal limits to that ministerial liberality — which, 
 so far as it goes, we welcome without a grudge, 
 and praise without a sneer — we might yet 
 hope that, for the sake of mere consistency, 
 they might be led to falsify our forebodings. 
 But alas ! there are motives more immediate, 
 and therefore irresistible; and the time is not 
 yet come, when it will be believed easier to 
 govern Ireland by the love of the many than by 
 the power of the few — when the paltry and 
 dangerous machinery of bigoted faction and 
 prostituted patronage may be dispensed with, 
 and the vessel of the state be propelled by the 
 natural current of popular interests and the 
 breath of popular applause. In the mean 
 lime, we cannot resist the temptation of gracing 
 our conclusion with the following beautiful 
 passage, in which the author alludes to the 
 hopes that were raised at another great era of 
 partial concession and liberality — that of the 
 revolution of 1782, — when, also, benefits were 
 conferred which proved abortive because they 
 were incomplete — and balm poured into the 
 wound, where the envenomed shaft was yet left 
 to rankle. 
 
 "And here," says the gallant Captain Rock, — 
 "as the free confession of weaknesses consti- 
 tutes the chief charm and use of biography — I 
 will candidly own that the dawn of prosperity 
 and concord, which I now saw breaking over 
 the fortunes of my country, so dazzled and de- 
 ceived my youthful eyes, and so unsettled every 
 hereditary notion of what I owed to my name 
 and family, that — shall I confess it? — I even 
 hailed with pleasure the prospects of peace 
 and freedom that seemed opening around me ; 
 nay, was ready, in the boyish enthusiasm of 
 the moment, to sacrifice all my own personal 
 interest in all future riots and rebellions, to the 
 one bright, seducing object of my country's 
 liberty and repose. 
 
 "When I contemplated such a man as the 
 venerable Charlemont, whose nobility was to 
 the people like a fort over a valley — elevated 
 above them solely for their defence ; who in- 
 troduced the polish of the courtier into the 
 camp of the freeman, and served his country 
 with all that pure, Platonic devotion, which a 
 true knight in the times of chivalry proffered 
 to his mistress ; — when I listened to the elo- 
 quence of Grattan, the very music of freedom — 
 her first, fresh matin song, after a long night 
 of slavery, degradation, and sorrow ; — when I 
 saw the bright offerings whicn he brought to 
 the shrine of his country, — wisdom, genius, 
 courage, and patience, invigorated and embel- 
 lished by all those social and domestic virtues, 
 without which the loftiest talents stand isolated 
 in the moral waste around them, like the pillars 
 of Palmyra towering in a wilderness I — when 
 I reflected on all this, it not only disheartened 
 me for the mission of discord which I had un- 
 dertaken, but made me secretly hope that it 
 might be rendered unnecessary; and that a 
 country, which could produce such men and 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 313 
 
 achieve such a revolution, might yet — in spite 
 of the Joint efforts of the government and my 
 family — take her rank in the scale of nations, 
 and be happy! 
 
 " My father, however, who saw the momen- 
 tary dazzle by which I was affected, soon drew 
 me out of this false light of hope in which I 
 lay basking, and set the truth before me in a 
 way but too convincing and ominous. 'Be 
 not deceived, boy,' he would say, 'by the fal- 
 lacious appearances before you. Eminently 
 grefit and good as is the man to whom Ireland 
 
 owes this short era of glory, our work, believe 
 me, will last longer than his. We have a 
 power on our side that 'will not willingly let 
 us die;' and, long after Grattan shall have 
 disappeared from earth, — like that arrow shot 
 into the clouds by Alcestes, effecting nothing, 
 but leaving a long train of light behind him, — 
 the family of the Rocks will continue to flourish 
 in all their native glory, upheld by the ever- 
 watchful care of the legislature, and foster- 
 ed bv that 'nursing-mother of Liberty,' the 
 Church.' " 
 
 GEANBY.* 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 1826. 
 
 There is nothing more amusing in the spec- 
 tacles of the present day, than to see the Sir 
 Johns and Sir Thomases of the House of Com- 
 mons struck aghast by the useful science and 
 wise novelties of Mr. Huskisson and the chan- 
 cellor of the exchequer. Treason, Disaffection, 
 Atheism, Republicanism, and Socinianism — 
 the great guns in the Noodle's park of artillery 
 — they cannot bring to bear upon these gentle- 
 men. Even to charge with a regiment of an- 
 cestors is not quite so efficacious as it used to 
 be; and all that remains, therefore, is to rail 
 against Peter M'Culloch and political econo- 
 my! In the mean time, day after day, down 
 goes one piece of nonsense or another. The 
 most approved trash, and the most trusty cla- 
 mours, are found to be utterly powerless. Two- 
 penny taunts and trumpery truisms have lost 
 their destructive omnipotence ; and the ex- 
 hausted commonplace-man, and the afflicted 
 fool, moan over the ashes of imbecility, and 
 strew flowers on the urn of ignorance! Gene- 
 ral Elliot found the London tailors in a state 
 of mutiny, and he raised from them a regiment 
 of light cavalry, which distinguished itself in 
 a very striking manner at the battle of Minden. 
 In humble imitation of this example, we shall 
 avail ourselves of the present political disaf- 
 fection and unsatisfactory idleness of many 
 men of rank and consequence, to request their 
 attention to the Novel of Granby — written, as 
 we have heard, by a young gentleman of the 
 name of Lister,-|- and from which we have de- 
 rived a considerable deal of pleasure and en- 
 tertainment. 
 
 The main question as to a novel is — did it 
 amuse t were you surprised at dinner coming 
 so soon ] did you mistake eleven for ten, and 
 twelve for eleven? were you too late to dress T 
 and did you sit up beyond the usual hour? If 
 a novel produces these effects, it is good ; if it 
 does not — story, language, love, scandal itself, 
 cannot save it. It is only meant to please ; and 
 it must do that, or it does nothing. Now 
 
 * Oranby. A Jfovcl in Three Volumes. London, Col- 
 burn, 18-26. 
 
 + This is the gentleman who now keeps the keys of 
 Life and Death, the Janitor of the world. 
 
 Granby seems to us to answer this test ex- 
 tremely well ; it produces unpunclualit}'-, makes 
 the reader too late for dinner, impatient of con- 
 tradiction, and inattentive, — even if a bishop 
 is making an observation, or a gentleman 
 lately from the Pyramids, or the Upper Cata- 
 racts, is let loose upon the drawing-room. The 
 objection, indeed, to these compositions, when 
 they are well done, is, that it is impossible to do 
 any thing, or perform any human duty, while 
 we are engaged in them. Who can read Mr. 
 Hallam's Middle Ages, or extract the root of 
 an impossible quantity, or draw up a bond, 
 when he is in the middle of Mr. Trebeck and 
 Lady Charlotte Duncan ? How can the boy's 
 lesson be heard, about the Jove-nourished 
 Achilles, or his six miserable verses upon Dido 
 be corrected, when Henry Granby and Mr. 
 Courtenay are both making love to Miss Jer- 
 myn? Common life palls in the middle of 
 these artificial scenes. All is emotion when 
 the book is open — all dull, flat, and feeble when 
 it is shut. 
 
 Granb)^ a young man of no profession, living 
 with an old uncle in the country, falls in love 
 with Miss Jermyn,and Miss Jermyn with him; 
 but Sir Thomas and Lady Jermyn, as the 
 young gentleman is not rich, having discover- 
 ed, by long living in the world and patient 
 observation of its ways, that young people are 
 commonly Malthus-proof and have children, 
 and that young and old must eat, very naturally 
 do what they can to discourage the union. The 
 young people, however, both go to town — meet 
 at balls — flutter, blush, look and cannot speak 
 — speak and cannot look, — suspect, misinter- 
 pret, are sad and mad, peevish and jealous, 
 fond and foolish; but the passion, after all, 
 seems less near to its accomplishment at the 
 end of the season than the beginning. The 
 uncle of Granby, however, dies, and leaves to 
 his nephew a statement accompanied with the 
 requisite proofs — that Mr. Tyrrel.the supposed 
 son of Lord Malton, is illegitimate, and that 
 he, Granby, is the heir to Lord Malton's for- 
 tune. The second volume is now far advanced, 
 and it is time for Lord Malton to die. Accord- 
 ingly Mr. Lister very judiciously despatches 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 344 
 
 him ; Granby inherits the estate— his virtues 
 (for what shows off virtue like landl) are 
 discovered by the Jermyns— and they marry in 
 the last act. 
 
 Upon this slender story, the author has suc- 
 ceeded in making a very agreeable and inte- 
 resting novel ; and he has succeeded, we think, 
 chiefly, by the very easy and natural picture 
 of manners, as they really exist among the 
 tipper classes ; by the description of new cha- 
 racters judiciously drawn and faithfully pre- 
 served; and by the introduction of many strik- 
 ing and well-managed incidents ; and we are 
 particularly struck throughout the whole with 
 the discretion and good sense of the author. 
 He is never nimious ; there is nothing in ex- 
 cess ; there is a good deal of fancy and a great 
 deal of spirit at work, but a directing and 
 superintending judgment rarely quits him. 
 
 We would instance, as a proof of his tact 
 and talent, the visit at Lord Daventry's, and 
 the description of characters of which the party 
 is composed. There are absolutely no events ; 
 nobody runs away, goes mad, or dies. There 
 is little of love, or of hatred ; no great passion 
 comes into play ; but nothing can be farther 
 removed from dulness and insipidity. Who 
 has ever lived in the world without often 
 meeting the Miss Cliftons 1 
 
 "The Miss Cliftons were good-humoured 
 girls ; not handsome, but of pleasing manners, 
 and sufficiently clever to keep up the ball of 
 conversation very agreeably for an occasional 
 half hour. They were always au courant du 
 jour, and knew and saw the first of every thing 
 — were in the earliest confidence of many a 
 bride elect, and could frequently tell that a 
 marriage was ' off' long after it had been an- 
 nounced as 'on the tapis' in the morning 
 papers— always knew something of the new 
 opera, or the new Scotch novel, before any 
 body else did — were the first who made fizgigs, 
 or acted charades— contrived to have private 
 views of most exhibitions, and were supposed 
 to have led the fashionable throng to the 
 Caledonian Chapel, Cross Street, Hatton Gar- 
 den. Their employments were like those of 
 most other girls; "they sang, played, drew, 
 rode, read occasionall}', spoiled much muslin, 
 manufactured purses, handscreens, and reti- 
 cules for a repository, and transcribed a con- 
 siderable quantity of music out of large fair 
 print into diminutive manuscript. 
 
 " Miss Clifton was clever and accomplished; 
 rather cold, but very conversable; collected 
 seals, franks, and anecdotes of the day; and 
 Avas a greater retailer of the latter. Anne was 
 odd and entertaining; was a formidable quiz- 
 zer, and no mean caricaturist; liked fun in 
 most shapes; and next to making people 
 laugh, had rather they stared at what she said. 
 Maria was the echo of the other two: vouched 
 for all Miss Clifton's anecdotes, and led the 
 laugh at Anne's repartees. They M-cre plain, 
 and they knew it; and cared less about it than 
 young ladies usually do. Their plainness, 
 however, would have been less striking, but 
 for that hard, pale, par-boiled town look,— that 
 stamp of fashion, with which late hours and 
 hot rooms generally endow the female face." 
 —(pp. 103—105.) 
 
 Having introduced our reader to the Miss 
 Cliftons, we must make him acquainted with 
 Mr. Trebeck, one of those universally appear- 
 ing gentlemen and tremendous table tyrants, 
 by whom London society is so frequently go- 
 verned: — 
 
 " Mr. Trebeck had great powers of enter- 
 tainment, and a keen and lively turn for 
 satire; and could talk down his superiors, 
 whether in rank or talent, with very imposing 
 confidence. He saw the advantages of being 
 formidable, and observed with derision how 
 those whose malignity he pampered with 
 ridicule of others, vainly thought to purchase 
 by subserviency exemption for themselves. 
 He had sounded the gullibility of the world ; 
 knew the precise current value of pretension; 
 and soon found himself the acknowledged 
 umpire, the last appeal, of many contented 
 followers. 
 
 " He seldom committed himself by praise or 
 recommendation, but rather left his example 
 and adoption to work its way. As for censure 
 he had both ample and witty store ; but here 
 too he often husbanded his remarks, and where 
 it was needless or dangerous to define a fault, 
 could check admiration by an incredulous 
 smile, and depress pretensions of a season's 
 standing by the raising of an eyebrow. He 
 had a quick perception of the foibles of others, 
 and a keen relish for bantering and exposing 
 them. No keeper of a menagerie could better 
 show off a monkey than he could an ' original.' 
 He could ingeniously cause the unconscious 
 subject to place his own absurdities in the 
 best point of view, and would cloak his deri- 
 sion under the blandest cajolery. Imitators he 
 loved much; but to baffle them— more. He 
 loved to turn upon the luckless adopters of 
 his last folly, and see them precipitately back 
 out of the scrape into which himself had led 
 them. . 
 
 "In the art of cutting he shone unrivalled: 
 he knew the 'when,' the 'where,' and the 
 ' how.' Without affecting useless short-sight- 
 edness, he could assume that calm but wan- 
 dering gaze which veers, as if unconsciously, 
 round the proscribed individual ; neither fix- 
 ing, nor to Tse fixed; not looking on vacancy, 
 nor on any one object; neither occupied nor 
 abstracted ; a look which perhaps excuses you 
 to the person mt, and, at any rate, prevents 
 him from accosting you. Originality was his 
 idol. He wished to astonish, even if he did 
 not amuse ; and had rather say a silly thing 
 than a commonplace one. He was led by this 
 sometimes even to approach the verge of 
 rudeness and vulgarity ; but he had consider- 
 able tact, and a happy hardihood, which gene- 
 rallv carried him through the difficulties into 
 which his fearless love of originality brought 
 him. Indeed, he well knew that what would, 
 in the present condition of his reputation, be 
 scouted in any body else, would pass current 
 with the world in him. Such was the iar- 
 famed and redoubtable Mr. Trebeck. —(pp. 
 109—112.) 
 
 This sketch we think exceedingly clever. 
 But we are not sure that its merit is fully sus- 
 tained by the actual presentment of its subject. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 345 
 
 He makes his debut at dinner very character- 
 istically, by gliding in quietly after it is half 
 over; but in the dialogue which follows with 
 Miss Jermyn, he seems to us a little too reso- 
 lutely witty, and somewhat affectedly odd — 
 though the whole scene is executed with spirit 
 and talent. 
 
 " The duke had been discoursing on cookery, 
 when Mr. Trebeck turned to her, and asked in 
 a low tone if she had ever met the duke before 
 — 'I assure you,' said he, 'that upon that sub- 
 ject he is well worth attending to. He is sup- 
 posed to possess more true science than any 
 amateur of his day. By the bye, what is the 
 dish before you 1 It looks well, and I see you 
 are eating some of it. Let me recommend it 
 to him upon your authority ; I dare not upon 
 my own.' — 'Then pray do not use mine.' — 
 'Yes, I will, with your permission; I'll tell 
 him you thought, by what dropped from him 
 in conversation, that it would exactly suit the 
 genius of his taste. Shall H Yes. — Duke,' 
 (raising his voice a little, and speaking across 
 the table,) — ' Oh, no ! how can you V — ' Why 
 noti — Duke,' (with a glance at Caroline,) 
 ' will you allow me to take wine with you V — 
 ' I thought,' said she, relieved from her trepida- 
 tion, and laughing slightly, ' you would never 
 say any thing so very strange.' — ' You have too 
 good an opinion of me; I blush for my un- 
 worthiness. But confess, that in fact you were 
 rather alarmed at the idea of being held up to 
 such a critic as the recommender of a bad 
 dish.' — 'Oh, no, I was not thinking of that; 
 but I hardly know the duke: and it would 
 have seemed so odd; and perhaps he might 
 have thought that I had really told you to say 
 soraethingof that kind.' — 'Of course he would; 
 but you must not suppose that he would have 
 been at all surprised at it. I'm afraid you are 
 not aware of the full extent of your privileges, 
 and are not conscious how many things young 
 ladies can, and may, and will do.' — ' Indeed I 
 am not — perhaps you will instruct me.' — ' Ah, 
 I never do that for any body. I like to see 
 young ladies instruct themselves. It is better 
 for them, and much more amusing to me. 
 But, however, for once I will venture to tell 
 you, that a very competent knowledge of the 
 duties of women maj', with proper attention, 
 be picked up in a ball room.' — ' Then I hope,' 
 said she, laughing, ' you will attribute my defi- 
 ciency to my little experience of ball. I have 
 only been at two.' — ' Only two ! and one of 
 them I suppose a race ball. Then you have 
 not yet experienced any of the pleasures of a 
 London season] Never had the dear delight 
 of seeing and being seen, in a well of tall 
 people at a rout, or passed a pleasant hour at 
 a ball upon a staircase 1 I envy you. You 
 have much to enjo5\' — 'You do not mean that 
 I really have T' — 'Yes — really. But let me 
 give you a caution or two. Never dance with 
 any m.an without first knowing his character 
 and condition, on the word of two credible 
 chaperons. At balls, too, consider what you 
 come for — to dance of course, and not to con- 
 verse ; therefore, never talk yourself, nor 
 encourage it in others.' — ' I'm afraid I can only 
 ^"Swer for myself.' — ' Why, if foolish, well- 
 meaniug people will choose to be entertaining, 
 
 I question if you have the power of frowning 
 them down in a very forbidden manner: but I 
 would give them no countenance neverthe- 
 less.' — ' Your advice seems a little ironical.' — 
 ' Oh, you may either follow it or reverse it — 
 that is its chief beauty. It is equally good 
 taken either way.' — After a slight pause, he 
 continued — 'I hope you do not sing, or play, 
 or draw, or do any thing that every body else 
 does.' — 'I am obliged to confess that I do a 
 little — very little — in each.' — 'I understand 
 your "very little:" I'm afraid you are accom- 
 plished.' — 'You need have no fear of that. 
 But why are you an enemy to all accomplish- 
 ments'!' — 'All accomplishments'! Nay, surely, 
 you do not think me an enemy to all ? What 
 can you possibly take me fori' — 'I do not 
 know,' said she, laughing slightly. — 'Yes, I see 
 you do not know exactly what to make of me 
 — and you are not without your apprehensions. 
 I can perceive that, though you try to conceal 
 them. — But never mind. I am a safe person 
 to sit near — sometimes. I am to-day. This is 
 one of my lucid intervals. I'm much better, 
 thanks to my keeper. There he is, on the 
 other side of the table — the tall man in black,' 
 (pointing out Mr. Bennet,) 'a highly respect- 
 able kind of person. I came with him here 
 for change of air. How do j'ou think I look 
 at present 1' — Caroline could not answer him 
 for laughing. — ' Nay,' said he, ' it is cruel to 
 laugh on such a subject. It is very hard that 
 you should do that, and misrepresent my 
 meaning too.' — 'Well then,' said Caroline, 
 resuming a respectable portion of gravity; 
 'that I may not he guilty of that again, what 
 accomplishments do you allow to be tolerable 1' 
 — ' Let me see,' said he, with a look of consi- 
 deration ; ' you may play a waltz with one 
 hand, and dance as little as you think conve- 
 nient. You may draw caricatures of your 
 intimate friends. You may not sing a note of 
 Rossini; nor sketch gateposts and donkeys 
 after nature. You may sit to a harp, but you 
 need not play it. You must not paint minia- 
 tures nor copy Swiss costumes. But j^ou may 
 manufacture any thing — from a cap down to 
 a pair of shoes — always remembering tha.t the 
 less useful your work the better. Can you 
 remember all this V — ' I do not know,' said 
 she, ' it comprehends so much ; and I am 
 rather puzzled between the "mays" and "must 
 nots." However, it seems, according to your 
 code, that very little is to be required of me ; 
 for you have not mentioned any thing that I 
 positively must do' — 'Ah, well, I can reduce 
 all to a very small compass. You must be an 
 archeress in the summer, and a skater in the 
 winter, and play well at billiards all the year; 
 and if you do these extremely well, my admira- 
 tion will have no bounds.' — 'I believe I must 
 forfeit all claim to your admiration then, for 
 unfortunately I am not so gifted.' — 'Then you 
 must place it to the account of your other 
 gifts.' — ' Certainly — Avhen it comes.' — ' Oh it is 
 sure to come, as you well know: but, never- 
 theless, I like that incredulous look extremely.' 
 — He then turned away, thinking probably 
 that he had paid her the compliment of sufTi 
 cient attention, and began a conversation with 
 the duchess, which was carried on in such a 
 
346 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 well-regulated under tone, as to be perfectly 
 inaudible to any but themselves." — (pp. 92 — 
 99.) 
 
 The bustling importance of Sir Thomas 
 Jermyn, the fat duke and his right hand man, 
 the blunt toad-eater, Mr. Charlecote, a loud 
 noisy sportsman, and Lady Jermyn's worldly 
 prudence, are all displayed and managed with 
 considerable skill and great power of amusing. 
 One little sin against good taste, our author 
 sometimes commits — an error from Avhich Sir 
 Walter Scott is not exempt. We mean the 
 humour of giving characteristic names to per- 
 sons and places; for instance, Sir Thomas 
 Jermyn is Member of Parliament for the town 
 of Rottenborough. This very easy and appel- 
 lative jocularity seems to us, we confess, to 
 savour a little of vulgarity ; and is therefore 
 quite as unworthy of Mr. Lister, as Dr. Dryas- 
 dust is of Sir Walter Scott. The plainest 
 names which can be found (Smith, Thomson, 
 Johnson, and Simson, always excepted) are 
 the best for novels. Lord Chesterton we have 
 often met with ; and suffered a good deal from 
 his lordship: a heavj% pompous, meddling 
 peer, occupying a great share of the conversa- 
 tion — saying things in ten words which re- 
 quired only two, and evidently convinced that 
 he is making a great impression ; a large man, 
 with a large head, and very landed manner; 
 knowing enough to torment his fellow-crea- 
 tures, not to instruct them — the ridicule of 
 young ladies, and the natural butt and target 
 of wit. It is easy to talk of carnivorous ani- 
 mals and beasts of prey ; but does such a man, 
 who lays waste a whole party of civilized 
 beings by prosing, reflect upon the joy he 
 spoils, and the misery he creates, in the course 
 of his life? and that any one who listens to 
 him through politeness, would prefer tooth- 
 ache or earache to his conversation ? Does 
 he consider the extreme uneasiness which 
 ensues, when the company have discovered a 
 man to be an extremely absurd person, at the 
 same time that it is absolutely impossible to 
 convey, by words or manner, the most distant 
 suspicion of the discovery! And then, who 
 punishes this bore 1 What sessions and what 
 assizes for him 1 What bill is found against 
 him] Who indicts him? When the judges 
 have gone their vernal and autumnal rounds 
 — the sheep-stealer disappears — the swindler 
 gets ready for the Bay — the solid parts of the 
 murderer are preserved in anatomical collec- 
 tions. But, after twenty years of crime, the 
 bore is discovered in the same house, in the 
 same attitude, eating the same soup, — unpu- 
 nished, untried, undissected — no scaffold, no 
 skeleton — no mob of gentlemen and ladies to 
 gape over his last dying speech and confes- 
 sion. 
 
 The scene of quizzing the country neigh- 
 bours is well imagined, and not ill executed; 
 though there are many more fortunate pas- 
 sages in the book. The elderly widows of the 
 metropolis beg, through us, to return their 
 thanks to Mr. Lister for the following agree- 
 able portrait of Mrs. Dormer. 
 
 " It would be difhcult to find a more pleasing 
 example than Mrs. Dormer, of that much 
 libelled class of elderly ladies of the world, 
 
 who are presumed to be happy only at the 
 card table; to grow in bitterness as they 
 advanced in years, and to haunt, like restless 
 ghosts, those busy circles which they no 
 longer either enliven or adorn. Such there 
 may be ; but of these she was not one. She 
 was the frequenter of society, but not its slave. 
 She had great natural benevolence of disposi- 
 tion ; a friendly vivacity of manners, which 
 endeared her to the young, and a steady good 
 sense, which commanded the respect of her 
 contemporaries ; and many, who did not agree 
 -with her on particular points, were willing to 
 allow that there was a good deal of reason in 
 Mrs. Dormer's prejudices. She was, perhaps, a 
 little blind to the faults of her friends ; a defect 
 of which the world could not cure her; but 
 she was very kind to their virtues. She was 
 fond of young people, and had an unimpaired 
 gaiety about her, Avhich seemed to expand in 
 the contact with them ; and she was anxious 
 to promote, for their sake, even those amuse- 
 ments for which she had lost all taste herself. 
 She was — but after all, she will be best de- 
 scribed by negatives. She was not a match- 
 maker, or mischief-maker; nor did she plume 
 herself upon her charit)-, in implicitly believ- 
 ing only just half of what the world says. 
 She was no retailer of scandalous 'on diisJ 
 She did not combat wrinkles with rouge ; nor 
 did she labour to render years less respected 
 by a miserable afiectation of girlish fashions. 
 She did not stickle for the inviolable exclusive- 
 ness of certain sects ; nor was she afraid of 
 being known to visit a friend in an unfashion- 
 able quarter of the town. She was no wor- 
 shipper of mere rank. She did not patronize 
 oddities ; nor sanction those who delight in 
 braving the rules of common decency. She 
 did not evince her sense of propriety, by 
 shaking hands with the recent defendant in a, 
 crim. con. cause ; nor exhale her devotion in 
 Sunday routs."— (pp. 243, 244.) 
 
 Mrs. Clotworthy, we are afraid, will not be 
 quite so well pleased Avith the description of 
 her rout. Mrs. Clotworthy is one of those 
 ladies who have ices, fiddlers, and fine rooms, 
 biit no fine friends. But fine friends may 
 always be had, where there are ices, fiddlers, 
 and fine rooms: and so, with ten or a dozen 
 stars and an Oonalaska chief; and, followed 
 by all vicious and salient London, Mrs. Clot- 
 Avorthy takes the field. 
 
 " The poor woman seemed half dead with 
 fatigue alread}' ; and Ave cannot A'enture to say 
 whether the prospect of fi\'e hours more of 
 this high-wrought enjoyment tended much to 
 brace her to the task. It was a brilliant sight. 
 and an interesting one, if it could have been 
 viewed from some fair vantage ground, Avith 
 ample space, in coolness and in quiet. Rank, 
 beauty, and splendour, Avere richly blended. 
 The gay attire ; the glittering jewels ; the more 
 resplendent features they adorned, and too 
 frequently the rouged cheek of the sexage- 
 narian ; the vigilant chaperon ; the fair but 
 languid form Avhich she conducted ; Avell curled 
 heads, well propped Avith starch ; well Avhis- 
 kered guardsmen ; and here and there fat, good- 
 humoured, elderly gentlemen, with stars upon 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 347 
 
 their coats ; — all these united in one close 
 medley — a curious piece of living mosaic. 
 Most of them came to see and be seen ; some 
 of the most youthful professedly to dance ; 
 yet how could they ? at any rate they tried. — 
 They stood, if they could, with their vis-a-vis 
 facing them, — and sidled across — and back 
 again, and made one step — or two if there was 
 room, to the right or left, and joined hands, 
 and set — perhaps, and turned their partners, 
 or dispensed with it if necessary — and so on 
 to the end of ' La Finale ;' and then comes a 
 waltz for the few who choose it — and then 
 another squeezy quadrille — and so on — and on, 
 till the weary many 'leave ample room and 
 verge enough' for the persevering few to figure 
 in with greater freedom. 
 
 "But then they talk; oh! ay! true, we must 
 not forget the charms of conversation. And 
 what passes between nine-tenths of them ! 
 Remarks on the heat of the room ; the state 
 of the crowd; the impossibility of dancing, 
 and the propriety nevertheless of attempting 
 it ; that on last Wednesday was a bad Almack's, 
 and on Thursday a worse Opera; that the new 
 ballet is supposed to be good; mutual inquiries 
 how they like Pasta, or Catalan!, or whoever 
 the syren of the day may be ; whether they 
 have been at Lady A.'s, and whether they are 
 going to Mrs. B.'s ; whether they think Miss 
 Such-a-one handsome ! and what is the name 
 of the gentleman talking to her ; whether Ros- 
 sini's music makes the best quadrilles, and 
 whether Collinet's band are the best to play 
 them. There are many who pay in better 
 coin ; but the small change is much of this 
 description." — (L 249 — 251.) 
 
 We consider the following description of 
 London, as it appears to a person walking 
 home after a rout, at four or five o'clock in 
 the morning, to be as poetical as any thing 
 written on the forests of Guiana, or the falls 
 of Niagara: — 
 
 " Gran by followed them with his eyes ; and 
 now, too full of happiness to be accessible to 
 any feelings of jealousy or repining, after a 
 short reverie of the purest satisfaction, he left 
 the ball, and sallied out into the fresh cool air 
 of a summer morning — suddenly passing from 
 the red glare of lamp-light, to the clear sober 
 brightness of returning day. He walked cheer- 
 fully onward, refreshed and exhilarated by the 
 air of morning, and interested with the scene 
 around him. It was broad day-light, and he 
 viewed the town under an aspect in which it 
 is alike presented to the late retiring votary 
 of pleasure, and to the early rising sons of 
 business. He stopped on the pavement of 
 Oxford street, to contemplate the effect. The 
 whole extent of that long vista, unclouded by 
 the mid-day smoke, was distinctly visible to 
 his eye at once. The houses shrunk to half 
 their span, while the few visible spires of the 
 adjacent churches seemed to rise less distant 
 than before, gaily tipped with early sunshine, 
 and much diminished in apparent size, but 
 heightened in distinctness and in beauty. Had 
 it not been for the cool gray tint which slightly 
 mingled with every object, the brightness was 
 almost that of noon. But the life, the bustle 
 
 the busy din, the flowing tide of human exist- 
 ence, were all wanting to complete the simili- 
 tude. All was hushed and silent; and this 
 mighty receptacle of human beings, which a 
 few short hours would wake into active energy 
 and motion, seemed like a city of the dead. 
 
 " There was little to break this solemn illu- 
 sion. Around were the monuments of human 
 exertion, but the hands which formed them 
 were no longer there. Few, if any, were the 
 symptoms of life. No sounds were heard but 
 the heavy creaking of a solitary wagon ; the 
 twittering of an occasional sparrow; the mo- 
 notonous tone of the drowsy watchman ; and 
 the distant rattle of the retiring carriage, fading 
 on the ear till it melted into silence : and the 
 eye that searched for living objects fell on 
 nothing but the giim great-coated guardian of 
 the night, muflled up into an appearance of 
 doubtful character between bear and man, and 
 scarcely distinguishable, by the colour of his 
 dress, from the brown flags along which he 
 sauntered."— (pp. 297—299.) 
 
 One of the most prominent characters of 
 the book, and the best drawn, is that of Tyrrel, 
 son of Lord Malton, a noble blackleg, a titled 
 gamester, and a profound plotting villain — a 
 man, in comparison of whom, nine-tenths of 
 the persons hung in Newgate are pure and per- 
 fect. The profound dissimulation and wicked 
 artifices of this diabolical person are painted 
 with great energy and power of description. 
 The party at whist made to take in Granby is 
 very good, and that part of the story where 
 Granby compels Tyrrel to refund what he has 
 won of Courtenay is of first-rate dramatic ex- 
 cellence; and if any one wishes for a short 
 and convincing proof of the powers of the 
 writer of this novel — to that scene we refer 
 him. It shall be the taster of the cheese, and 
 we are convinced it will sell the whole article. 
 We are so much struck with it, that we advise 
 the author to consider seriously whether he 
 could not write a good play. It is many years 
 since a good play has been written. It is about 
 time, judging from the common economy of 
 nature, that a good dramatic writer should ap- 
 pear. We promise Mr. Lister sincerely, that 
 the Edinburgh Review shall rapidly undeceive 
 him if he mistakes his talents; and that his 
 delusion shall not last beyond the first tragedy 
 or comedy. 
 
 The picture at the exhibition is extremely 
 well managed, and all the various love-tricks 
 of attempting to appear indifferent, are, as 
 well as we can remember, from the life. 
 But it is thirty or forty years since we have 
 been in love. 
 
 The horror of an affectionate and dexterous 
 mamma is a handsome young man without 
 money: and the following lecture deserves to 
 be committed to memory by all managing 
 mothers, and repeated at proper intervals to 
 the female progeny. 
 
 " ' True, my love, but understand me. I don't 
 wish you positively to avoid him. I would not 
 go away, for instance, if I saw him coming, or 
 even turn my head that I might not see him as 
 he passed. That would be too broad and 
 marked. People might notice it. It woulu 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 ]oo\c particular. We should never do an)' thing ' 
 that looks parliadar. Ne, I would answer him 
 civilly and composedly whenever he spoke to 
 me, and then pass on, just as you might in the 
 case of any body else. But I leave all this to I 
 your own tact and discretion, of which nobody 
 has more for her age. I am sure you can j 
 enter into all these niceties, and that my obser- 
 vations will not be lost upon you. And now, 
 my love, let me mention another thing. You 
 must get over that little embarrassment which 
 I see you show whenever you meet him. It 
 was very natural and excusable the first time, 
 considering our long acquaintance with him and 
 the General: but we must make our conduct 
 conform to circumstances ; so trj' to get the bet- 
 ter of this little flutter: it does not look well, and 
 might be observed. There is no quality more 
 valuable in a young person than self-posses- 
 sion. So you must keep down these blushes,' 
 said she, patting her on the cheek, ' or I believe 
 I must rouge )'ou : — though it would be a 
 thousanii pities, with the prett}' natural colour 
 3-0U have. But )'ou must remember what I 
 have been saying. Be more composed in your 
 behaviour. Try to adopt the manner which I 
 do. It may be difficult ; but you see I con- 
 trive it, and I have known Mr. Granby a great 
 deal longer than you have, Caroline.'" — (pp. 
 21, 22.) 
 
 These principles are of the highest practical 
 importance in an age when the art of marrj-ing 
 daughters is carried to the highest pitch of 
 excellence, when love must be made to the 
 young men of fortune, not only by the young 
 lady, who must appear to be dying for him, but 
 by the father, mother, aunts, cousins, tutor, 
 gamekeeper, and stable-boy — assisted by the 
 parson of the parish, and the churchwardens. 
 If any of these fail, Dives pouts, and the match 
 is off. 
 
 The merit of this writer is, that he catches 
 delicate portraits, which a less skilful artist 
 would pass over, from not thinking the fea- 
 tures sufficiently marked. We are struck, 
 however, with the resemblance, and are pleased 
 with the conquest of difficulties — we remem- 
 ber to have seen such faces, and are sensible 
 that they form an agreeable variety to the ex- 
 pression of more marked and decided cha- 
 racter. Nobody, for instance, can deny that he 
 is acquainted with Miss Darrell. 
 
 "Miss Darrell was not strictly a beauty. She 
 had not, as was frequently observed by her 
 female friends, and unwillingly admitted by 
 her male admirers, a single trulj' good feature 
 in her face. But who could quarrel with the 
 tou.i ensemble? who but must be dazzled with 
 the graceful animation with which those fea- 
 tures were lighted up 1 Let critics hesitate to 
 
 pronounce her beautiful; at any rate they 
 must allow her to be fascinating. Place a 
 perfect stranger in a crowded assembly, and 
 she would first attract his eye ; correcter beau- 
 ties would pass unnoticed, and his first atten- 
 tion would be riveted by her. She was all 
 brilliancy and effect ; but it were hard to say 
 she studied it; so little did her spontaneous, 
 airy graces convey the impression of premedi- 
 tated practice. She was a sparkling tissue of 
 little affectations, which, however, appeared so 
 interwoven with herself, that their seeming 
 artlessness disarmed one's censure. Strip 
 them away, and you destroyed at once the 
 brilliant being that so much attracted 3-ou ; and 
 it thus became difficult to condemn what you 
 felt unable, and, indeed, unwilling, to remove. 
 With positive affectation, malevolence itself 
 could rarely charge her ; and prudish censure 
 seldom exceeded the guarded limits of a dry 
 remark, that Miss Darrell had ' a good deal 
 of manner.' 
 
 "Eclat she sought and gained. Indeed, she 
 was both formed to gain it, and disposed to 
 desire it. But she required an extensive sphere. 
 A ball-room was her true arena; for she waltz- 
 ed 'a rai-iV,' and could talk enchantingly about 
 nothing. She was devoted to fashion, and all 
 its fickleness, and went to the extreme when- 
 ever she could do so consistently with grace. 
 But she aspired to be a leader as well as a fol- 
 lower; seldom, if ever, adopted a mode that 
 was unbecoming to herself, and dressed to suit 
 the genius of her face." — (pp. 28, 29.) 
 
 Tremendous is the power of a novelist ! If 
 four or five men are in a room, and show a 
 disposition to break the peace, no human ma- 
 gistrate (not even Mr. Justice Bayley) could 
 do more than bind them over to keep the peace, 
 and commit them if they refused. But the 
 writer of the novel stands with a pen in his 
 hand, and can run an}^ of them through the 
 body, — can knock down any one individual, 
 and keep the others upon their legs ; or, like 
 the last scene in the first tragedy written by a 
 young man of genius, can put them all to 
 death. Now, an author possessing such ex- 
 traordinary privileges, should not have allowed 
 Mr. Tyrrel to strike Granby. This is ill-ma- 
 naged; particularly as Granby does not return 
 the blow, or turn him out of the house. Nobody 
 should suffer his hero to have a black ej-e, or 
 to be pulled by the nose. The Iliad would 
 never have come down to these times if Aga- 
 memnon had given Achilles a box on the 
 ear. We should have trembled for the J3neid, 
 if any Tyrian nobleman had kicked the pious 
 .(Eneas in the 4th book. ^Eneas may have de- 
 served it ; but he could not have founded the 
 Roman empire after so distressing an accident. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 549 
 
 ISLAND OF CEYLON.* 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 1803.] 
 
 It is now little more than half a century 
 since the English first began to establish them- 
 selves in any force upon the peninsula of 
 India; and we at present possess in that coun- 
 try a more extensive territory, and a more nu- 
 merous population, than any European power 
 can boast of at home. In no instance has the 
 genius of the English, and their courage, shone 
 forth more conspicuously than in their contest 
 with the French for the empire of India. The 
 numbers on both sides were ahvays inconsider- 
 able ; but the two nations were fairly matched 
 against each other, in the cabinet and in the 
 field ; the struggle was long and obstinate ; and, 
 at the conclusion, the French remained mas- 
 ters of a dismantled town, and the English of 
 the grandest and most extensive colony that 
 the world has ever seen. To attribute this 
 success to the superior genius of Clive, is not 
 to diminish the reputation it confers on his 
 country, which reputation must of course be 
 elevated by the number of great men to which 
 it gives birth. But the French were by no 
 means deficient in casualties of genius at that 
 period, unless Bussy is to be considered as a 
 man of common stature of mind, or Dupleixto 
 be classed with the vulgar herd of politicians. 
 Neither was Clive (though he clearly stands 
 forward as the most prominent figure in the 
 group) without the aid of some military men 
 of very considerable talents. Clive extended 
 our Indian empire; but General Lawrence 
 preserved it to be extended; and the former 
 caught, perhaps, from the latter, that military 
 spirit by which he soon became a greater 
 soldier than him, without whom he never 
 ■would have been a soldier at all. 
 
 Gratifying as these reflections upon our 
 prowess in India are to national pride, they 
 bring with them the painful reflection, that so 
 considerable a portion of our strength and 
 wealth is vested upon such precarious founda- 
 tions, and at such an immense distance from 
 the parent country. The glittering fragments 
 of the Portuguese empire, scattered up and 
 down the East, should teach us the instability 
 of such dominion. We are (it is true) better 
 capable of preserving what we have obtained, 
 than any other nation which has ever colonized 
 in Southern Asia: but the object of ambition 
 is so tempting, and the perils to which it is 
 exposed so numerous, that no calculating mind 
 can found any durable conclusions upon this 
 branch of our commerce, and this source of 
 our strength. 
 
 In the acquisition of Ceylon, we have ob- 
 tained the greatest of all our wants — a good 
 
 * J^n ^ceonnt of the fsland of Ceylov. By Robert 
 Percival, Esq., of his Majesty's Nineteenth Regiment 
 of Foot. London, C. and R. Baldwin. 
 
 harbour. For it is a very singular fact, that, 
 in the whole peninsula of India, Bombay is 
 alone capable of affording a safe retreat to 
 ships during the period of the monsoons. 
 
 The geographical figure of our possessions 
 in Ceylon is whimsical enough : we possess 
 the whole of the sea-coast, and enclose in a pe- 
 riphery the unfortunate King of Candia, whose 
 rugged and mountainous dominions may be 
 compared to a coarse mass of iron, set in a 
 circle of silver. The Popilian ring, in which 
 this votary of Buddha has been so long held 
 by the Portuguese and Dutch, has infused the 
 most vigilant jealousy into the government, 
 and rendered it as difficult to enter the king- 
 dom of Candia, as if it were Paradise or China ; 
 and yet, once there, always there; for the dif- 
 ficulty of departing is just as great as the diffi- 
 culty of arriving; and his Candian excellency, 
 wh^ has used every device in his power to 
 keep them out, is seized with such an affection 
 for those who baffle his defensive artifices, 
 that he can on no account suffer them to de- 
 part. He has been known to detain a string 
 of four or five Dutch embassies, till various 
 members of the legation died of old age at his 
 court, while they were expecting an answer to 
 their questions, and a return to their presents :* 
 and his majesty once exasperated a little 
 French ambassador to such a degree, by the 
 various pretences under which he kept him at 
 his court, that this lively member of the corps 
 diplomatique, one day, in a furious passion, 
 attacked six or seven of his majesty's largest 
 elephants sword in hand, and would, in all 
 probability, have reduced them to mince-meat, 
 if the poor beasts had not been saved from the 
 unequal combat. 
 
 The best and most ample account of Ceylon 
 is contained in the narrative of Robert Knox, 
 who, in the middle of the 17th century, was 
 taken prisoner there (while refitting his ship) 
 at the age of nineteen, and remained nineteen 
 years on the island, in slavery to the King of 
 Candia. During this period, he learnt the 
 language, and acquired a thorough knowledge 
 of the people. The account he has given of 
 them is extremely entertaining, and written in 
 a very simple and unaffected stjde ; so much 
 so, indeed, that he presents his reader with a 
 very grave account of the noise the devil 
 makes in the woods of Candia, and of the fre- 
 quent opportunities he has had of hearing him. 
 
 Mr. Percival does not pretend to deal with 
 the devil; but appears to have used the fair 
 and natural resources of observation and good 
 sense, to put together an interesting description 
 of Ceylon. There is nothing in the book very 
 animated, or very profound, but it is without 
 
 Knox's Ceylon. 
 2G 
 
350 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 pretensions; and if it does not excite attention 
 b}' any unusual powers of description, it never 
 disgusts by credulity, wearies by prolixity, or 
 offends by affectation. It is such an accoi».t 
 as a plain military man of diligence and com- 
 mi>n sense might be expected to compose; and 
 narratives like these we must not despise. To 
 military men we have been, and must be, in- 
 debted for our first acquaintance with the inte- 
 rior of many countries. Conquest has explored 
 more than ever curiosity has done ; and the 
 path for science has been commonly opened 
 by the sword. 
 
 We shall proceed to give a very summary 
 abstract of the principal conlenls of Mr. Per- 
 cival's book. 
 
 The immense accessions of territory which 
 the English have acquired in the East Indies 
 since the American war, rendered it absolutely 
 necessary, that some effort should be made to 
 obtain possession of a station where ships might 
 remain in safety during the violent storms in- 
 cidental to that climate. As the whole of that 
 large tract which we possess alor.-g the Coro- 
 mandel coast presents nothing but open roads, 
 all vessels are obliged, on the approach of 
 the monsoons, to stand out in the open seas ; and 
 there are many parts of the coast that can be 
 approached only during a few months of the 
 year. As the harbour of Trincomalee, which 
 is equally secure at all seasons, afforded the 
 means of obviating these disadvantages, it is 
 evident that, on the first rupture with the Dutch, 
 our countrymen would attempt to gain posses- 
 sion of it. A body of troops was, in conse- 
 quence, detached in the year 1795, for the 
 conquest of Ceylon, which (in consequence 
 of the indiscipline which political dissension 
 had introduced among the Dutch troops) was 
 effected almost without opposition. 
 
 Ceylon is now inhabited by the English ; 
 the remains of the Dutch, and Portuguese, the 
 Cinglese or natives, subject to the dominion 
 of the Europeans ; the Candians, subject to the 
 king of their own name ; and the Vaddahs, or 
 wild men, subject to no power. A Ceylonese 
 Dutchman is a course, grotesque species of 
 animal, whose native apathy and phlegm is 
 animated only by the insolence of a colonial 
 tyrant: his principal amusement appears to 
 consist in smoking; but his pipe, according to 
 Mr. Percival's account, is so seldom out of his 
 mouth, that his smoking appears to be almost 
 as much a necessary function of animal life as 
 his breathing. His day is eked out with gin, 
 ceremonious visits, and prodigious quantities of 
 gross food, dripping with oil and butter; his mind, 
 just able to reach from one meal to another, is 
 incapable of farther exertion ; and, after the pant- 
 ing and deglutition of a long protracted dinner, 
 reposes on the sweet expectation that, in a few 
 hours, the carnivorous toil will be renewed. 
 He lives only to digest, and, while the organs 
 of gluttony perform their office, he has not a 
 wish beyond ; and is the happy man which 
 Horace describes: — 
 
 ■ in seipso totus, tots, aiqvt 
 
 rotundus. 
 
 The descendants of the Portuguese differ 
 materially from the Moors, Malabars, and other 
 Mahometans. Their great object is to show 
 
 the world they are Europeans and Christians. 
 Unfortunately, their ideas of Christianity are so 
 imperfect, that the only mode they can hit upon 
 of displaying their faith, is by wearing hats and 
 breeches, and by these habiliments they con- 
 sider themselves as showing a proper degree 
 of contempt, on various parts of the body, to- 
 wards Mahomet and Buddha. They are lazy, 
 treacherous, effeminate, and passionate to ex- 
 cess ; and are, in fact, a locomotive and ani- 
 mated farrago of the bad qualities of all 
 tongues, people, and nations, on the face of 
 the earth. 
 
 The Malays, whom we forgot before to enu- 
 merate, form a very considerable portion of 
 the inhabitants of Ceylon. Their original em- 
 pire lies in the peninsula of Malacca, from 
 whence they have extended themselves over 
 Java, Sumatra, the Moluccas, and a vast num- 
 ber of other islands in the peninsula of India. 
 It has been many years customary for the 
 Dutch to bring them to Ceylon, for the purpose 
 of carrying on various branches of trade and ' 
 manufacture, and in order also to employ them 
 as soldiers and servants. The Malays are the 
 most vindictive and ferocious of living beings. 
 They set little or no value on their own exist- 
 ence, in the prosecution of their odious pas- 
 sions; and having thus broken the great tie 
 which renders man a being capable of being 
 governed, and fit for society, they are a constant 
 source of terror to all those who have any 
 kind of connection or relation with them. A 
 Malay servant, from the apprehension excited 
 by his vindictive disposition, often bec,omes 
 the master of his master. It is as dangerous 
 to dismiss him as to punish him; and the 
 rightful despot, in order to avoid assassination, 
 is almost compelled to exchange characters 
 with his slave. It is singular, however, that 
 the Malay, incapable of submission on any 
 other occasion, and ever ready to avenge in- 
 I suit with death, submits to the severest military 
 I discipline with the utmost resignation and 
 meekness. The truth is, obedience to his offi- 
 cers forms part of his religious creed; and 
 the same man who would repay the most in- 
 significant insult with death, will submit to be 
 lacerated at the halbert with the patience of a 
 martyr. This is truly a tremendous people ! 
 When assassins and blood-hounds will fall into 
 rank and file, and the most furious savages 
 submit (with no diminution of their ferocity) 
 to the science and discipline of war, they only 
 want a Malay Bonaparte to lead them to the 
 conquest of the world. Our curiosity has al- 
 ways been very highly excited by the accounts 
 of this singular people; and we cannot help 
 ' thinking, that, one day or another, when they 
 j are more full of opium than usual, they tcill 
 run a mvck from Cape Comorin to the Caspian. 
 Mr. Percival does not consider the Ceylonese 
 as descended from the continentals of the 
 peninsula, but rather from the inhabitants of 
 the Maldive Islands, whom they very much 
 resemble in complexion, features, language, 
 and manners. 
 
 "The Ceylonese (says Mr. Percival) are 
 courteous and polite in their demeanour, evcD 
 to a degree far exceeding their civilization. In 
 several qualities they are greatly superior lo 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 351 
 
 all other Indians who have fallen within the 
 sphere of my observation. I have already ex- 
 empted them from the censure of stealing and 
 lying, which seem to be almost inherent in the 
 nature of an Indian. They are mild, and by 
 no means captious or passionate in their in- 
 tercourse with each other; though, when once 
 their anger is roused, it is proportionably fu- 
 rious and lasting. Their hatred is indeed 
 mortal, and they will frequently destroy them- 
 selves to obtain the destruction of the detested 
 object. One instance will serve to show the 
 extent to which this passion is carried. If a 
 Ceylonese cannot obtain money due to him by 
 another, he goes to his debtor, and threatens 
 to kill himself if he is not instantly paid. This 
 threat, which is sometimes put in execution, 
 reduces the debtor, if it be in his power, to 
 immediate compliance with the demand : as, 
 by their law, if any man causes the loss of 
 another man's life, his own is the forfeit. ' An 
 eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,' is a pro- 
 verbial expression continually in their mouths. 
 This is, on other occasions, a very common 
 mode of revenge among them; and a Cey- 
 lonese has often been known to contrive to kill 
 himself in the company of his enemy, that the 
 latter might suiter for it. 
 
 "This dreadful spirit of revenge, so incon- 
 sistent with the usually mild and humane sen- 
 timents of the Ceylonese, and much more con- 
 genial to the bloody temper of a Malay, still 
 continues to be fostered by the sacred cus- 
 toms of the Candians. Among the Cinglese, 
 however, it has been greatly mitigated by 
 their intercourse with Europeans. The despe- 
 rate mode of obtaining revenge which I have 
 just described, has been given up, from having 
 been disappointed of its object ; as, in all those 
 parts under our dominion, the European modes 
 of investigating and punishing crimes are en- 
 forced. A case of this nature occurred at 
 Caltura in 1799. A Cinglese peasant hap- 
 pening to have a suit or controversy with an- 
 other, watched an opportunity of going to bathe 
 in company with him, and drowned himself, 
 with the view of having his adversary put to 
 death. The latter was upon this taken up, and 
 sent to Columbo to take his trial for making 
 away with the deceased, upon the principle of 
 having been the last seen in his company. 
 There was, however, nothing more than pre- 
 sumptive proof against the culprit, and he was 
 of course acquitted. This decision, however, 
 did not by any means tally with the sentiments 
 of the Cinglese, who are as much inclined to 
 continue their ancient barbarous practice, as 
 their brethren the Candians, although they are 
 deprived of the power." — (pp. 70 — 72.) 
 
 The warlike habits of the Candians make 
 them look with contempt on the Cinglese, 
 who are almost entirely unacquainted with the 
 management of arms. They have the habit 
 und character of mountaineers — warlike, hardy, 
 enterprising, and obstinate. They have, at 
 various times, proved themselves very formi- 
 dable enemies to the Dutch ; and in that kind 
 of desultory warfare, which is the only one 
 their rugged country will admit of, have cut 
 off large parties of the troops of both these 
 nations. The King of Candia, as we have be- 
 
 fore mentioned, possesses only the middle of 
 the island, which nature, and his Candian ma- 
 jesty, have rendered as inaccessible as possi- 
 ble. It is traversable only by narrow wood- 
 paths, known to nobody but the natives, 
 strictly watched in peace and war, and where 
 the best troops in the world might be shot in 
 any quantities by the Candian marksmen, 
 without the smallest possibility of resisting 
 their enemies ; because there would not be the 
 smallest possibility of finding them. The King 
 of Candia is of course despotic ; and the his- 
 tory of his life and reign presents the same 
 monotonous ostentation, and baby-like caprice, 
 which characterize oriental governments. In 
 public audiences he appears like a great fool, 
 squatting on his hams; far surpassing ginger 
 bread in splendour; and, after asking some 
 such idiotical question, as whether Europe is 
 in Asia or Africa, retires with a flourish of 
 trumpets very much out of tune. For his pri- 
 vate amusements, he rides on the nose of an 
 elephant, plays with his jewels, sprinkles his 
 courtiers with rose-water, and feeds his gold 
 and silver fish. If his tea is not sweet enough, 
 he impales his footman ; and smites off the 
 heads of half a dozen of his noblemen, if he 
 has a pain in his own. 
 
 — la-jng yjig (says Aristotle) TEXJoiflsy fiix-rta-Tov rav 
 y^ilgt<rT(,v TTsimcey. Polit. 
 
 The only exportable articles of any import- 
 ance which Ceylon produces, are pearls, cinna- 
 mon, and elephants. Mr. Percival has pre- 
 sented us with an extremely interesting account 
 of the pearl fishery, held in Condatchy Bite, 
 near the island of Manaar, in the straits which 
 separate Ceylon from the main land. 
 
 " There is perhaps no spectacle which the 
 island of Ceylon affords more striking to an 
 European, than the bay of Condatchy, during 
 the season of the pearl fishery. This desert 
 and barren spot is at that time converted into 
 a scene, which exceeds, in novelty and variety, 
 almost any thing I ever witnessed. Several 
 thousands of people of different colours, coun- 
 tries, castes, and occupations, continually pass- 
 ing and repassing in a busy crowd ; the vast 
 number of small tents and huts erected on the 
 shore, with the bazaar or market-place before 
 each ; the multitude of boats returning in the 
 afternoon from the pearl banks, some of them 
 laden with riches ; the anxious expecting coun- 
 tenances of the boat-owners, while the boats 
 are approaching the shore, and the eagerness 
 and avidity with which they run to them when 
 arrived, in hopes of a rich cargo ; the vast 
 numbers of jewellers, brokers, merchants of 
 all colours and all descriptions, both natives 
 and foreigners, who are occupied in some way 
 or other with the pearls, some separating and 
 assorting them, others weighing and ascer- 
 taining their number and value, while others 
 are hawking them about, or drilling and boring 
 them for future use ; — all these circumstances 
 tend to impress the mind with the value and 
 importance of that object, which can of itself 
 create this scene. 
 
 "The bay of Condatchy is the most central 
 rendezvous for the boats employed in the 
 
352 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 fishery. The banks where it is carried on ex- 
 tend several miles along the coast from Manaar 
 southward off Arippo, Condatchy, and Pompa- 
 ripo. The principal bank is opposite to Con- 
 datchy, and lies out at sea about twenty miles. 
 The first step, previous to the commencement 
 of the fishery, is to have the different oyster 
 banks surveyed, the state of the oysters ascer- 
 tained, and a report made on the subject to 
 government. If it has been found that the 
 quantity is sufficient, and that they are arrived 
 at a proper degree of maturity, the particular 
 banks to be fished that year are put up for sale 
 to the highest bidder, and are usually pur- 
 chased by a black merchant. This, however, 
 is not always the course pursued : government 
 sometimes judges it more advantageous to fish 
 the banks on its own account, and to dispose 
 of the pearls afterwards to the merchants. 
 When this plan is adopted, boats are hired for 
 the season on account of government, from 
 different quarters ; the price varies considera- 
 bly according to circumstances, but is usually 
 from five to eight hundred pagodas for each 
 boat. There are, however, no stated prices, 
 and the best bargain possible is made for each 
 boat separately. The Dutch generally followed 
 this last system; the banks were fished on 
 government account, and the pearls disposed 
 of in diflerent parts of India or sent to Europe. 
 When this plan was pursued, the governor and 
 council of Ceylon claimed a certain per cent- 
 age on the value of the pearls ; or, if the 
 fishing of the banks was disposed of by public 
 sale, they bargained for a stipulated sum to 
 themselves over and above what was paid on 
 account of government. The pretence on 
 which they founded their claims for this per- 
 quisite, was their trouble in surveying and 
 valuing the banks."— (pp. 59—61.) 
 
 The banks are divided into six or seven por- 
 tions, in order to give the oysters time to grow, 
 which are supposed to attain their maturity in 
 about seven years. The period allowed to the 
 merchant to complete his fishery is about six 
 weeks, during which period all the boats go 
 out and return together, and are subject to 
 very rigorous laws. The dexterity of the di- 
 vers is very striking; they are as adroit in the 
 use of their feet as their hands ; and can pick 
 up the smallest object under water with their 
 toes. Their descent is aided by a great stone, 
 which they slip from their feet when they ar- 
 rive at the bottom, where they can remain 
 about two minutes. There are instances, how- 
 ever, of divers, who have so much of the 
 aquatic in their nature, as to remain under 
 water for five or six minutes. Their great 
 encmv is the ground-shark; for the rule of 
 eat and be eaten, which Dr. Darwin called the 
 great law of nature, obtains in as much force 
 fathoms deep beneath the waves as above 
 them: this animal is as fond of the legs of 
 Hindoos, as Hindoos are of the pearls of oys- 
 ters ; and as one appetite appears to him much 
 more natural, and less capricious than the 
 other, he never fails to indulge it. Where for- 
 tune has so much to do with peril and profit, 
 of course there is no deficiency of conjurers, 
 who, by divers enigmatical grimaces, endea- 
 vour to ostracise this submarine invader. If 
 
 they are successful they are well paid in pearls ; 
 and when a shark indulges himself with the 
 leg of a Hindoo, there is a witch who lives at 
 Colang, on the Malabar coast, who always 
 bears the blame. 
 
 A common mode of theft practised by the 
 common people engaged in the pearl fishery, 
 is by swallowing the pearls. Whenever any 
 one is suspected of having swallowed these pre- 
 cious pills of Cleopatra, the police apotheca- 
 ries are instantly sent for ; a brisk cathartic is 
 immediately despatched after the truant pearl, 
 with the strictest orders to apprehend it, in 
 whatever corner of the viscera it may be found 
 lurking. Oyster lotteries are carried on here to 
 a great extent. They consist in purchasing a 
 quantity of the oysters unopened, and running 
 the chance of either finding or not finding 
 pearls in them. The European gentlemen 
 and officers who attend the pearl fishery, 
 through duty or curiosity, are particularly 
 fond of these lotteries, and frequently make 
 purchases of this sort. The whole of this ac- 
 count is very well written, and has afforded us 
 a great degree of amusement. By what curious 
 links, and fantastical relations, are mankind 
 connected together! At the distance of half 
 the globe, a Hindoo gains his support b}-- 
 groping at the bottom of the sea, for the mor- 
 bid concretion of shell-fish, to decorate the 
 throat of a London alderman's wife. It is said 
 that the great Linnaeus had discovered the 
 secret of infecting oysters with this perligenous 
 disease : what is become of the secret we do 
 not know, as the only interest we take in 
 oysters is of a much more vulgar, though, per- 
 haps, a more humane nature. 
 
 The principal woods of cinnamon lie in the 
 neighbourhood of Columbo. They reach to 
 within half a mile of the fort, and fill the 
 whole surrounding prospect. The grand gar- 
 den near the town is so extensive, as to occu- 
 py a tract of country from 10 to 15 miles in 
 length. 
 
 "Nature has here concentrated both the 
 beauty and the riches of the island. Nothing 
 can be more delightful to the eye than the 
 prospect which stretches around Columbo. 
 The low cinnamon trees which cover the plain, 
 allow the view to reach the groves of ever- 
 greens, interspersed with tall clumps, and 
 bounded everywhere with extensive ranges of 
 cocoa-nut and other large trees. The whole 
 is diversified with small lakes and green 
 marshes, skirted all round with rice and pas- 
 ture fields. In one part, the intertwining cin- 
 namon trees appear completel}'' to clothe the 
 face of the plain; in another, the openings 
 made by the intersecting footpaths just serve 
 to show that the thick underwood has been 
 penetrated. One large road, which goes out 
 at the west gate of the fort, and returns by the 
 gate on the south, makes a winding circuit of 
 seven miles among the woods. It is here that 
 the officers and gentlemen belonging to the 
 garrison of Columbo take their morning ride, 
 and enjoy one of the finest scenes in nature." — 
 (pp. 336, 337.) 
 
 As this spice constitutes the wealth of Cey- 
 lon, great pains are taken to ascertain its 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 353 
 
 qualities, and propagate its choicest kinds. 
 The prime sort is obtained from the Laurus 
 Cinnamonum. The leaf resembles the laurel 
 in shape, but is not of so deep a green. When 
 chewed it has the smell and taste of cloves. 
 There are several different species of cinna- 
 mon trees on the island; but four sorts only 
 are cultivated and barked. The picture which 
 we have just quoted from Mr. Percival, of a 
 morning ride in a cinnamon wood, is so en- 
 chanting, that we are extremely sorry the 
 addition of aromatic odours cannot with ve- 
 racity be made to it. The cinnamon has, un- 
 fortunately, no smell at all but to the nostrils of 
 the poet. Mr. Percival gives us a very inte- 
 resting account of the process of making up 
 cinnamon for the market, in which we are 
 sorry our limits will not permit us to follow 
 him. The different qualities of the cinnamon 
 bundles can only be estimated by the taste ; 
 an ofnce which devolves upon the medical 
 men of the settlement, who are employed for 
 several days together in cheunng cinnamon, the acrid 
 juice of which excoriates the mouth, and puts 
 them to the most dreadful tortures. 
 
 The island of Ceylon is completely divided 
 into two parts by a very high range of moun- 
 tains, on the two sides of which the climate 
 and the seasons are entirely different. These 
 mountains also terminate completely the effect 
 of the monsoons, which set in periodically 
 from opposite sides of them. On the west 
 side, the rains prevail in the months of May, 
 June, and July, the season when they are felt 
 on the Malabar coast. This monsoon is usual- 
 ly extremely violent during its continuance. 
 The northern parts of the island are very little 
 affected. In the months of October and No- 
 vember, when the opposite monsoon sets in 
 on the Coromandel coast, the north of the 
 island is attacked ; and scarcely any impres- 
 sion reaches the southern parts. The heat 
 during the day is nearly the same throughout 
 the year: the rainy season renders the nights 
 much cooler. The climate, upon the v/hole, 
 is much more temperate than on the continent 
 of India. The temperate and healthy climate 
 of Ceylon is, however, confined to the sea- 
 coast. In the interior of the country, the ob- 
 structions which the thick woods oppose to 
 the free circulation of air, render the heat al- 
 most insupportable, and generate a low and 
 malignant fever, known to Europeans by the 
 name of the Jungle fever. The chief harbours 
 of Ceylon are Trincomalee, Point de Galle, 
 nnd, at certain seasons of the year, Columbo. 
 The former of these, from its nature and situa- 
 tion, is that which stamps Ceylon one of our 
 most valuable acquisitions in the East Indies. 
 As soon as the monsoons commence, every 
 vessel caught by them in any other part of the 
 Bay of Bengal is obliged to put to sea imme- 
 diately, in order to avoid destruction. At these 
 seasons, Trincomalee alone, of all the parts 
 on this side of the peninsula, is capable of 
 affording to vessels a safe retreat ; which a 
 vessel from Madras may reach in two days. 
 These circumstances render the value of 
 Trincomalee much greater than that of the 
 M'hole island ; the revenue of which will cer- 
 tainly be hardly sufficient to defray the expense 
 45 
 
 of the establishments kept up there. The 
 agriculture of Ceylon is, in fact, in such an 
 imperfect state, and the natives have so little 
 availed themselves of its natural fertility, that 
 great part of the provisions necessary for its 
 support are imported from Bengal. 
 
 Ceylon produces the elephant, the buffalo, 
 tiger, elk, wild-hog, rabbit, hare, flying-fox, and 
 musk-rat. Many articles are rendered entirely 
 useless by the smell of musk, which this latter 
 animal communicates in merely running over 
 them. Mr. Percival asserts (and the fact has 
 been confirmed to us by the most respectable 
 authority), that if it even pass over a bottle of 
 wine, however well corked and sealed up, the 
 wine becomes so strongly tainted with musk, 
 that it cannot be used; and a whole cask may 
 be rendered useless in the same manner. 
 Among the great variety of birds, we were 
 struck with Mr. Percival's account of the 
 honey-bird, into whose body the soul of a com- 
 mon informer appears to have migrated. It 
 makes a loud and shrill noise, to attract the 
 notice of anybody whom it may perceive; and 
 thus inducing him to follow the course it 
 points out, leads him to the tree where the bees 
 have concealed their treasure ; after the apiary 
 has been robbed, this feathered scoundrel 
 gleans his reward from the hive. The list of 
 Ceylonese snakes is hideous; and we become 
 reconciled to the crude and cloudy land in 
 which we live, from reflecting, that the indis- 
 criminate activity of the sun generates what is 
 loathsome, as well as what is lovely; that the 
 asp reposes under the rose; and the scorpion 
 crawls under the fragrant flower and the lus- 
 cious fruit. 
 
 The usual stories are repeated here, of the 
 immense size and voracious appetite of a cer- 
 tain species of serpent. The best history of 
 this kind we ever remember to have read, was 
 of a serpent killed near one of our settlements, 
 in the East Indies ; in whose body they found 
 the chaplain of the garrison, all in black, the 
 
 Rev. Mr. (somebody or other, whose name 
 
 we have forgotten), and who, after having been 
 missing for above a week, was discovered in 
 this very inconvenient situation. The domi- 
 nions of the King of Candia are partly defended 
 by leeches, which abound in the woods, and 
 from which our soldiers suffered in the most 
 dreadful manner. The Ceylonese, in compen- 
 sation for their animated plagues, are endowed 
 with two vegetable blessings, the cocoa-nut 
 tree and the talipot tree. The latter affords a 
 prodigious leaf, impenetrable to sun or rain, 
 and large enough to shelter ten men. It is a 
 natural umbrella, and is of as eminent service 
 in that country as a great-coat tree would be 
 in this. A leaf of <he talipot tree is a tent to 
 the soldier, a parasol to the traveller, and a 
 book to the scholar.* The cocoa tree affords 
 bread, milk, oil, wine, spirits, vinegar, yeast, 
 sugar, cloth, paper, huts, and ships. 
 
 We could with great pleasure croceed to 
 give a farther abstract of this very agreeable 
 and interesting publication, which we .very 
 strongly recommend to the public. It is writ- 
 ten with great modesty, entirely without pre 
 
 All books are written upon it in Ley Ion 
 2 G 3 
 
354 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 tensions, and abounds with curious and import- 
 ant information. Mr. Percival will accept our 
 best thanks for the amusement he has afforded 
 us. When we can praise with such justice, 
 we are always happy to do it; and regret that 
 the rigid and independent honesty which we I 
 
 have made the very basis of our literary un- 
 dertaking, should so frequently compel us to 
 speak of the authors who come before us, in a 
 style so different from that in which we have 
 vindicated the merits of Mr. Percival. 
 
 DELPIIINE.* 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 1£03.] 
 
 This dismal trash, which has nearly dislo- 
 cated the jaws of every critic among us with 
 gaping, has so alarmed Bonaparte, that he has 
 seized the whole impression, sent Madame de 
 Stael out of Paris, and, for aught we know, 
 sleeps in a night-cap of steel, and dagger- 
 proof blankets. To us it appears rather an 
 attack upon the Ten Commandments than the 
 government of Bonaparte, and calculated not 
 so much to enforce the rights of the Bourbons, 
 as the benefits of adultery, murder, and a great 
 number of other vices, which have been some- 
 hov/ or other strangely neglected in this coun- 
 try, and too much so (according to the ap- 
 parent opinion of Madame de Stael) even in 
 France. 
 
 It happens, however, fortunately enough, 
 that her book is as dull as it could have been 
 if her intentions had been good; for wit, dex- 
 terity, and the pleasant energies of the mind, 
 seldom rank themselves on the side of virtue 
 and social order; while vice is spiritual, elo- 
 quent, and alert, ever choice in expression, 
 happy in allusion, and judicious in arrange- 
 ment. 
 
 The story is simply this. — Delphine, a rich 
 young widow, presents her cousin Matilda de 
 Vernon with a considerable estate, in order to 
 enable her to marry Leonce Mondeville. To 
 this action she is excited by the arts and the 
 intrigues of Madame de Vernon, an hackneyed 
 Parisian lady, who hopes, by this marriage, to 
 be able to discharge her numerous and pressing 
 debts. Leonce, who, like all other heroes of 
 novels, has fine limbs, and fine qualities, comes 
 to Paris — dislikes Matilda — falls in love with 
 Delphme, Delphine with him ; and they are 
 upon the eve of jilting poor Matilda, when, 
 from some false reports spread abroad respect- 
 ing the character of Delphine (which are ag- 
 gravated by her own imprudences, and by the 
 artifices of Madame Vernon), Leonce, not in a 
 fit of honesty, but of revenge, marries the lady 
 whom he came to marry. Soon after, Madame 
 de Vernon dies — discovers the artifices by 
 which she had prevented the union of Leonce 
 and Delphine — and then, after this catastrophe, 
 which ought to have terminated the novel, 
 come two long volumes of complaint and 
 despair. Delphine becomes a nun — runs 
 
 * Delphine. By Madame de Stael Holstein. I on- 
 ion. Mawinan. 6 vols. 12mo. 
 
 away from the nunnery with Leonce, who is 
 taken by some French soldiers, upon the sup- 
 position that he has been serving in the French 
 emigrant army against his country — is shot, 
 and upon his dead body falls Delphine as dead 
 as he. 
 
 Making every allowance for reading this 
 book in a translation, and in a very bad trans- 
 lation, we cannot but deem it a heavy per- 
 formance. The incidents are vulgar; the cha- 
 racters vulgar, too, except those of Delphine 
 and Madame de Vernon. Madame de Stael 
 has not the artifice to hide what is coming. 
 In travelling through a flat country, or a flat 
 book, we see our road before us for half the 
 distance we are going. There are no agree- 
 able sinuosities, and no speculations whether 
 we are to ascend next, or descend ; what new 
 sight we are to enjoy, or to which side we are 
 to bend. Leonce is robbed and half murdered; 
 the apothecary of the place is certain he will 
 not live; we were absolutely certain that he 
 would live, and could predict to an hour the 
 time of his recovery. In the same manner 
 we could have prophesied every event of the 
 book a whole volume before its occurrence. 
 
 This novel is a perfect Jllexandtian. The 
 two last volumes are redundant, and drag their 
 wounded length: it should certainly have ter- 
 minated where the interest ceases, at the death 
 of Madame de Vernon ; but, instead of this, 
 the scene-shifters come and pick up the dead 
 bodies, wash the stage, sweep it, and do every 
 thing which the timely fall of the curtain 
 should have excluded from the sight, and left 
 to the imagination of the audience. We hum- 
 bly apprehend, that young gentlemen do not in 
 general make their tutors the confidants of 
 their passion ; at least we can find no rule of 
 that kind laid down either by Miss Hamilton 
 or Miss Edgeworth, in their treatises on educa- 
 tion. The tutor of Leonce is Mr. Barton, a 
 grave old gentleman, in a peruke and snuff- 
 coloured clothes. Instead of writing to this 
 solemn personage about second causes, the 
 ten categories, and the eternal fitness of things, 
 the young lover raves to him, for whole pages, 
 about the white neck and auburn hair of his 
 Delphine; and, shame to tell! the liquorish 
 old pedagogue seems to think these amorous 
 ebullitions the pleasantest sort of writing in 
 usum Delphini that he has yet met with. 
 
 By altering one word, and making only one 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 355 
 
 raise quantity,* we shall change the rule of 
 Horace to 
 
 "Nee fehris intersit nisi dignus vindice nodus 
 
 Inciderit." 
 
 Delphine and Leonce have eight very bad ty- 
 phus fevers between them, besides hamoptoe, 
 hemorrhage, deliqumm animi, singultus, hysteria, 
 and fa'.minei nlulatus, or screams innumerable. 
 Now, that there should be a reasonable allow- 
 ance of sickness in every novel, we are will- 
 ing to admit, and will cheerfully permit the 
 heroine to be once given over, and at the point 
 of death; but we cannot consent, that the in- 
 terest which ought to be excited by the feel- 
 ings of the mind should be transferred to the 
 sufferings of the body, and a crisis of perspi- 
 ration be substituted for a crisis of passion. 
 Let us see difficulties overcome, if our appro- 
 bation is required; we cannot grant it to such 
 cheap and sterile artifices as these. 
 
 The characters in this novel are all said to 
 be drawn from real life ; and the persons for 
 whom they are intended are loudly whispered 
 at Paris. Most of them we have forgotten ; 
 but Delphine is said to be intended for the au- 
 thoress, and Midame de Vernon (by a slight 
 sexual metamorphosis) for Talleyrand, minis- 
 ter of the French republic for foreign affairs. 
 As this lady (once the friend of the authoress) 
 may probably exercise a considerable influ- 
 ence over the destinies of this country, we 
 shall endeavour to make our readers a little 
 better acquainted with her; but we must first 
 remind them that she was once a bishop, a 
 higher dignity in the church than was ever at- 
 tained by any of her sex since the days of 
 Pope Joan ; and that though she swindles 
 Delphine out of her estate with a considerable 
 degree of address, her dexterity sometimes 
 fails her, as in the memorable instance of the 
 American commissioners. Madame de Stael 
 gives the following description of this pasto- 
 ral metropolitan female : 
 
 "Though she is at least forty, she still ap- 
 pears charming even among the young and 
 beautiful of her own sex. The paleness of 
 her complexion, the slight relaxation of her 
 features, indicate the languor of indisposition, 
 and not the decay of years ; the easy negli- 
 gence of her dress accords with this impres- 
 sion. Every one concludes, that when her 
 health is recovered, and she dresses with more 
 care, she must be completely beautiful : this 
 change, however, never happens, but it is al- 
 ways expected; and that is sufficient to make 
 the imagination still add something more to the 
 natural effect of her charms." — (Vol. I. p. 21.) 
 
 Nothing can be more execrable than the 
 manner in which this book is translated. The 
 bookseller has employed one of our countiy- 
 men for that purpose, who appears to have 
 been very lately caught. The contrast between 
 the passionate exclamations of Madame de 
 Stael, and the barbarous vulgarities of poor 
 Sawney, produces a mighty ludicrous effect. \ 
 One of the heroes, a man of high fastidious 
 temper, exclaims in a letter to Delphine, "I 
 
 * PerhapsJ a fault of all others which the English are 
 least disposed to pardon. A youn? man, who, on a pub- 
 lic occasion, makes a false quantity at the outset of life, 
 can seldom or never get over it. 
 
 cannot endure this Paris ; I have met with ever 
 so many people whom my soul abhors." And tht 
 accomplished and enraptured Leonce termi- 
 nates one of his letters thus: "Adieu! Adieu, 
 my dearest Delphine ! I will give you a call to- 
 morrow." We doubt if Grub street ever im 
 ported from Caledonia a more abominable 
 translator. 
 
 We admit the character of Madame de Ver- 
 non to be drawn with considerable skill. There 
 are occasional traits of eloquence and pathos 
 in this novel, and very many of those obser- 
 vations upon manners and character, which 
 are totally out of the reach of all who have 
 lived not long in the world, and observed it 
 well. 
 
 The immorality of any book (in our estima- 
 tion) is to be determined by the general im- 
 pression it leaves on those minds, whose prin- 
 ciples, not yet ossified, are capable of affording 
 a less powerful defence to its influence. The 
 most dangerous effect that any fictitious cha- 
 racter can produce, is when two or three of its 
 popular vices are varnished over with every 
 thing that is captivating and gracious in the 
 exterior, and ennobled by association with 
 splendid virtues : this apology will be more 
 sure of its effect, if the faults are not against 
 nature, but against society. The aversion to 
 murder and cruelty could not perhaps be so 
 overcome ; but a regard to the sanctity of mar- 
 riage vows, to the sacred and sensitive delicacy 
 of the female character, and to numberless re- 
 strictions important to the well-being of our 
 species, may easily be relaxed by this subtle and 
 voluptuous confusion of good and evil. It is 
 in vain to say the fable evinces, in the last act, 
 that vice is productive of misery. We may 
 decorate a villain with graces and felicities 
 for nine volumes, and hang him in the last 
 page. This is not teaching virtue, but gilding 
 the galloM's, and raising up splendid associa- 
 tions in favour of being hanged. In such an 
 union of the amiable and the vicious, (espe- 
 cially if the vices are such, to the commission 
 of which there is no v/ant of natural disposi- 
 tion,) the vice will not degrade the man, but 
 the man will ennoble the vice. We shall 
 wish to be him we admire, in spite of his vices, 
 and, if the novel be well written, even in con- 
 sequence of his vice. There exists, through the 
 whole of this novel, a show of exquisite sen- 
 sibility to the evils which individuals suffer by 
 the inflexible rules of virtue prescribed by so- 
 ciety, and an eager disposition to apologize 
 for particular transgressions. Such doctrine 
 is not confined to Madame de Stael; an Arca- 
 dian cant is gaining fast upon Spartan gravity; 
 and the. happiness diffused, and the beautiful 
 order established in society, by this unbending 
 discipline, are wholly swallowed up in com- 
 passion for the unfortunate and interesting in- 
 dividual. Either the exceptions or the rule 
 must be given up : every highwayman who 
 thrusts his pistol into a chaise window has 
 metwiih unforeseen misfortunes ; and every loose 
 matron who flies into the Arms of her GrevHk 
 was compelled to marry an old man whom sh<; 
 detested, by an avaricious and unfeeling fa- 
 ther. The passions want not accelerating, but 
 i-etarding machinery. This fatal and foolisii 
 
356 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 sophistry has power enough over every heart, 
 not to need the aid of fine composition, and 
 well-contrived incident — auxiliaries which Ma- 
 dame de Stael intended to bring forward in the 
 cause, though she has fortunately not suc- 
 ceeded. 
 
 M. de Serbellone is received as a guest into 
 the house of M. d'Ervins, whose wife he de- 
 bauches as a recompense for his hospitality. 
 Is it possible to be disgusted with ingratitude 
 and injustice, when united to such an assem- 
 blage of talents and virtues as this man of pa- 
 per possesses 1 Was there ever a more de 
 lightful, fascinating adulteress than Madame 
 d'Ervins is intended to be 1 or a povero cornuto 
 less capable of exciting compassion than her 
 husband] The morality of all this is the old 
 morality of Farquhar, Vanburgh, and Con- 
 greve — that every witty man may transgress 
 the seventh commandment, which was never 
 meant for the protection of husbands who la- 
 bour under the incapacity of making repartees. 
 In Matilda, religion is always as unamiable as 
 dissimulation is graceful in Madame de Ver- 
 non, and imprudence generous in Delphine. 
 This said Delphine, with her fine auburn hair, 
 and her beautiful blue or green eyes (we forget 
 which), cheats her cousin Matilda out of her 
 lover, alienates the affections of her husband, 
 and keeps a sort of assignation house for Ser- 
 bellone and his rhcre amie, justifying herself 
 by the most touching complamts against the 
 rigour of the world, and using the customary 
 phrase&, umon of sotds, married in the eye of hea- 
 ven, &c. &c. &c., and such like diction, the 
 
 types of which Mr. Lane, of the Minerva Press, 
 very prudently keeps ready composed, in order 
 to facilitate the printing of the Adventures of 
 Captain C and Miss F , and other in- 
 teresting stories, of which he, the said inimi- 
 table Mr. Lane, of the Minerva Press, well 
 knows these sentiments must make a part. 
 Another perilous absurdity which this useful 
 production tends to cherish, is the common no- 
 tion, that contempt of rule and order is a proof 
 of greatness of mind. Delphine is everywhere 
 a great spirit struggling with the shackles im- 
 posed upon her in common with the little 
 world around her; and it is managed so that 
 her contempt of restric'.ions shall always ap- 
 pear to flow from the extent, variety, and splen- 
 dour of her talents. The vulgarity of this he- 
 roism ought in some degree to diminish its 
 value. Mr. Colquhoun, in his Police of the 
 Metropolis, reckons up above 40,000 heroines 
 of this species, most of whom, we dare to say, 
 have at one time or another reasoned like the 
 sentimental Delphine about the judgments of 
 the world. 
 
 To conclude — Our general opinion of this 
 book is, that it is calculated to shed a mild 
 lustre over adultery; by gentle and convenient 
 gradation, to destroy the modesty and the cau- 
 tion of women ; to facilitate the acquisition of 
 easy vices, and encumber the difficulty of vir- 
 tue. What a Avretched qualification of this 
 censure to add, that the badness of the princi- ' 
 pie is alone corrected by the badness of the 
 style, and that this celebrated lady would have 
 been very guilty, if she had not been very dull ! 
 
 MISSION TO ASHANTEE.* 
 
 [Edixbukgh Review, 1819.] 
 
 Cape Coast Castle, or Cape Corso, is a 
 factorj' of Africa, on the Gold Coast. The 
 Portuguese settled here in 1610, and built the 
 citadel ; from which, in a few years after- 
 wards, they were dislodged by the Dutch. In 
 1661, it was demolished by the English under 
 Admiral Holmes ; and by the treaty of Breda, 
 it was made over to our government. The 
 latitude of Cape Coast Castle is 5° 6' north ; 
 the longitude 1° 51' west. The capital of the 
 kingdom of Ashantee is Coomassie, the lati- 
 tude of which is about 6° 30' 20" north, and 
 the longitude 2° 6' 30" west. The mission 
 quitted Cape Coast Castle on the 22d of April, 
 and arrived at Coomassie about the 16th of 
 May — halting two or three days on the route, 
 and walking the whole distance, or carried by 
 hammock-bearers at a foot-pace. The dis- 
 tance betM'een the fort and the capital is not 
 more than 150 miles, or about as far as from 
 
 * Mission from Cape Coast Castle to Askantee, with a 
 Stnti.^tiral Accouvt of that Kirtfrdom, and GeoTraphical 
 J^utires of other Parts of the fiiterior of Africa. Hv T. 
 EDWAnn BowDicH, Esq., Conductor. Xjondon, Mur- 
 lav, 1819. 
 
 Durham to Edinburgh ; and yet the kingdom 
 of Ashantee was, before the mission of Mr. 
 Bowdich, almost as much unknown to us as 
 if it had been situated in some other planet. 
 The country which surrounds Cape Coast 
 Castle belongs to the Fantees ; and, about the 
 year 1807, an A.shantee army reached the 
 coast for the first time. They invaded Fan tee 
 again in 1811, and, for the third time, in 1816. 
 To put a stop to the horrible cruelties com- 
 mitted by the stronger on the weaker nation ; 
 to secure their own safety, endangered by the 
 Ashantees ; and to enlarge our knowledge of 
 Africa — the government of Cape Coast Castle 
 persuaded the African committee to send a 
 deputation to the kingdom of Ashantee ; and 
 of this embassy the publication now before us 
 is the narrative. The embassy walked through 
 a beautiful country, laid waste by the recent 
 wars, and arrived in the time we have men- 
 tioned, and without meeting with any remark- 
 able accident at Coomassie, the capital. The 
 account of their first reception there we shall 
 lay before our readers. 
 " We entered Coomassie at two o'clock, pass- 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 ing under a fetish, or sacrifice of a dead sheep, 
 wrapped up in red silk, and suspended be- 
 tween two lofty poles. Upwards of 5000 peo- 
 ple, the greater part warriors, met us with 
 awful bursts of martial music, discordant only 
 in its mixture ; for horns, drums, rattles, and 
 gong-gongs, were all exerted with a zeal bor- 
 dering on frenzy, to subdue us by the first im- 
 pression. The smoke which encircled Us from 
 the incessant discharges of musketry, confined 
 our glimpses to the foreground ; and we were 
 halted whilst the captains performed their 
 Pyrrhic dance, in the centre of a circle formed 
 by their warriors ; where a confusion of flags, 
 English, Dutch, and Danish, were waved and 
 flourished in all directions ; the bearers plung- 
 ing and springing from side to side, with a 
 passion of enthusiasm only equalled by the 
 captains, who followed them, discharging their 
 shining blunderbusses so close, that the flags 
 now and then were in a blaze ; and emerging 
 from the smoke with all the gesture and dis- 
 tortion of maniacs. Their followers kept up 
 the firing around us in the rear. The dress 
 of the captains was a war cap, with gilded 
 rams' horns projecting in front, the sides ex- 
 tended beyond all proportion by immense 
 plumes of eagles' feathers, and fastened under 
 the chin with bands of cowries. Their vest 
 was of red cloth, covered with fetishes and 
 saphies in gold and silver ; and embroidered 
 cases of almost every colour, which flapped 
 against their bodies as they moved, intermixed 
 with small brass bells, the horns and tails of 
 animals, shells, and knives ; long leopards' 
 tails hung down their backs, over a small bow 
 covered with fetishes. They wore loose cot- 
 ton trowsers, with immense boots of a dull red 
 leather, coming half way up the thigh, and 
 fastened by small chains to their cartouch or 
 waist belt; these were also ornamented with 
 bells, horses' tails, strings of amulets, and in- 
 numerable shreds of leather; a small quiver 
 of poisoned arrows hung from their right 
 wrist, and they held a long iron chain between 
 their teeth with a scrap of Moorish writing 
 aflixed to the end of it. A small spear was 
 in their left hands, covered with red cloth and 
 silk tassels ; their black countenances height- 
 ened the effect of this attire and completed a 
 figure scarcely human. 
 
 " This exhibition continued about half an 
 hour, when we were allowed to proceed, en- 
 circled by the warriors, whose numbers, with 
 the crowds of people, made our movement as 
 gradual as if it had taken place in Cheapside ; 
 the several streets branching off" to the right 
 presented long vistas crammed with people ; 
 and those on the left hand being on an accli- 
 vity, innumerable rows of heads rose one 
 above another: the large open porches of the 
 houses, like the fronts of stages in small thea- 
 tres, were filled with the better sort of females 
 and children, all impatient to behold white 
 men for the first time ; their exclamations were 
 drowned in the firing and music, but their ges- 
 tures were in character with the scene. When 
 we reached the palace, about half a mile from 
 the place where we entered, we were again 
 halted, and an open file was made, through 
 which the bearers were passed, to deposit the 
 
 presents and baggage in the house assigned to 
 us. Here we were gratified b}^ observing seve- 
 ral of the caboceers (chiefs) pass by with their 
 trains, the novel splendour of which astonished 
 us. The bands, principally composed of 
 horns and flutes, trained to play in concert, 
 seemed to soothe our hearing into its natural 
 tone again by their wild melodies ; whilst the 
 immense umbrellas, made to sink and rise 
 from the jerkings of the bearers, and the 
 large fans waving around, refreshed us with 
 small currents of air, under a burning sun, 
 clouds of dust, and a density of atmosphere 
 almost sutTocating. We were then squeezed, 
 at the same funeral pace, up a long street, to 
 an open-fronted house, where we were desired 
 by a royal messenger to wait a further invita- 
 tion from the king." — (pp. 31 — 33.) 
 
 The embassy remained about four months, 
 leaving one of their members behind as a 
 permanent resident. Their treatment, though 
 subjected to the fluctuating passions of bar- 
 barians, was, upon the whole, not bad; and a 
 foundation appears to have been laid for fu- 
 ture intercourse with the Ashantees, and a 
 mean opened, through them, of becoming bet- 
 ter acquainted with the interior of Africa. 
 
 The Moors, who seem (barbarians as they 
 are) to be the civilizers of internal Africa, 
 have penetrated to the capital of the Ashan- 
 tees : they are bigoted and intolerant to Chris- 
 tians, but not sacrificers of human victims in 
 their religious ceremonies ; — nor averse to 
 commerce ; and civilized in comparison to 
 most of the idolatrous natives of Africa. From 
 their merchants who resorted from various 
 parts of the interior, Mr. Bowdich employed 
 himself in procuring all the geographical 
 details which their travels enabled them to 
 aflTord. Timbuctoo they described as inferior 
 to Houssa, and not at all comparable to Boornoo. 
 The Moorish influence was stated to be pow-er- 
 ful in it, but not predominant. A small river 
 goes nearly round the town, overflowing in the 
 rains, and obliging the people of the saourbs 
 to move to an eminence in the centre of the 
 town where the king lives. The king, a 
 Moorish negro called JBillabahada, had a few 
 double-barrelled guns, which were fired on 
 great occasions ; and gunpowder was as dear 
 as gold. Mr. Bowdich calculates Houssa to 
 be N. E. from the Niger 20 days' journey of 
 18 miles each day; and the latitude and lon- 
 gitude to be 18° 59' N. and 3° 59' E. Boornoo 
 was spoken of as the first empire in Africa. 
 The Mahometans of Sennaar reckon it among 
 the four powerful empires of the world; 
 the other three being Turkey, Persia, and 
 Abyssinia. 
 
 The Niger is only known to the Moors by 
 the name of the Quolla, pronounced as Quorra 
 by the negroes, who, from whatever countries 
 they come, all spoke of this as the largest river 
 with which they were acquainted; and it was 
 the grand feature in all the routes to Ashantee, 
 whether from Houssa, Honrnoo, or the interme- 
 diate countries. The Niger, after leaving the 
 lake Dibbri, was invariably described as divid- 
 ing into two large streams ; the Quolla, or the 
 greater division, pursuing its course south- 
 eastward, till it joined the Bahr Jbiad ; and 
 
358 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 the other branch running northward of east, 
 near to Timbuctoo, and dividing again soon af- 
 terwards — the smaller division running north- 
 •wards by Yahoodce, a place of great trade, and 
 the larger running directly eastward, and en- 
 tering the lake Caudi under the name of Gam- 
 baroo. '-The variety of this concurrent evi- 
 dence respecting the Gambaroo, made an im- 
 pression on my mind," says Mr. Bowdich, "al- 
 most amounting to conviction." The same 
 author adds, that he found the Moors very cau- 
 tious in their accounts ; declining to speak un- 
 less they were positive — and frequently refer- 
 ring doubtful points to others whom they knew 
 to be better acquainted with them. 
 
 The character of the present king is, upon 
 the whole, respectable ; but he is ambitious, 
 has conquered a great deal, and is conquering 
 still. He has a love of knowledge ; and was 
 always displeased when the Eui'opean objects 
 which attracted his attention were presented 
 to him as gifts. His motives, he said, ought to 
 be better understood, and more respect paid 
 to his dignity and friendship. He is acute, 
 capricious, and severe, but not devoid of hu- 
 manity; and has incurred unpopularity on 
 some occasions, by limiting the number of 
 human sacrifices more than was compatible 
 with strict orthodoxy. His general subjects 
 of discourse with the mission were war, legis- 
 lation, and mechanics. He seemed very de- 
 sirous of standing well in the estimation of his 
 European friends ; and put ofl' a conversation 
 once because he was a little tipsy, and at 
 another time because he felt himself cross and 
 out of temper. 
 
 The king, four aristocratical assessors, and 
 the assembly of captains, are the three estates 
 of the Ashantee government. The noble quar- 
 tumvirate, in all matters of foreign policy, 
 have a veto on the king's decisions. They 
 watch, rather than share, the domestic admi- 
 nistration ; generally influencing it by their 
 opinion, rather than controlling it by their au- 
 thority. In exercising his judicial functions, 
 the king always retires in private with the 
 arisr,i,cracy, to hear their opinions. The course 
 of succession in Ashantee is the brother, the 
 sister's son, the son, and the chief slave. 
 
 The king's sisters may marry, or intrigue 
 with any person they please, provided he is 
 very strong and handsome ; and these elevated 
 and excellent women are always ready to set 
 an example of submission to the laws of their 
 country. The interest of money is about 300 
 per cent. A man may kill his own slave ; or 
 an inferior, for the price of seven slaves. Tri- 
 fling thefts are punished by exposure. The 
 property of the wife is distinct from that of the 
 husband — though the king is heir to it. Those 
 accused of witchcraft are tortured to death. 
 Slaves, if ill treated, are allowed the liberty of 
 transferring themselves to other masters. 
 
 The Ashantees believe that an higher sort 
 of god takes care of the whites, and that they 
 are left to the care of an inferior species of 
 deities. Still the black kings and black nobi- 
 lity are to go to the upper gods after death, 
 where they are to enjoy eternally the state and 
 luxury which was their portion on earth. For 
 this reason a certain number of cooks, butlers, 
 
 and domestics of ever}' description, are sacri-- 
 ficed on their tombs. They have two sets of ■ 
 priests : the one dwell in the temples, and 
 communicate with the idols ; the other species 
 do business as conjurors and cunning men, 
 tell fortunes, and detect small thefts. Half 
 the offerings to the idols are (as the priests 
 say) thrown into the river, the other half they 
 claim as their own. The doors of the temples 
 are, from motives of the highest humanity, 
 open to runaway slaves ; but shut, upon a fee 
 paid by the master to the priest. Ever}' per- 
 son has a small set of household gods, bought 
 of the Fetishmen. They please their gods by 
 avoiding particular sorts of meat ; but the 
 prohibited viand is not always the same. 
 Some curry favour by eating no veal ; some 
 seek protection by avoiding pork ; others say, 
 that the real monopoly which the celestials 
 wish to establish, is that of beef — and so they 
 piously and prudently rush into a course of 
 mutton. They have the customary nonsense 
 of lucky days, trial by ordeal, and libations 
 and relics. The most horrid and detestable 
 of their customs is their sacrifice of human 
 victims, and the tortures preparatory to it. 
 This takes place at all their great festivals, or 
 customs, as they are called. — Some of these 
 occur every twenty-one days; and there are 
 not fewer than a hundred victims immolated 
 at each. Besides these, there are sacrifices at 
 the death of every person of rank, more or less 
 bloody according to their dignity. On the 
 death of his mother, the king butchered no 
 less than three thousand victims ; and on his 
 own death this number would probably be 
 doubled. The funeral rites of a great captain 
 were repeated weekly for three months ; and 
 200 persons, it is said, were slaughtered each 
 time, or 2400 in all. The author gives an ac- 
 count of the manner of these abominations, in 
 one instance of which he was an unwilling 
 spectator. On the funeral of the mother of 
 Quatchie Quofie, which was by no means a 
 great one, — 
 
 " A dash of sheep and rum was exchanged 
 between the king and Quatchie Quofie, and 
 the drums announced the sacrifice of the vic- 
 tims. All the chiefs first visited them in turn; 
 I was not near enough to distinguish where- 
 fore. The executioners wrangled and struggled 
 for the ofiice : and the indifierence with which 
 the first poor creature looked on, in the torture 
 he was from the knife passed through his 
 cheeks, was remarkable. The nearest execu- 
 tioner snatched the sword from the others, the 
 right hand of the victim was then lopped, off, 
 he was thrown down, and his head was sawed 
 rather than cut off: it was cruelly prolonged, 
 I will not say wilfully. Twelve more were 
 dragged forward, but we foi-ced our way 
 through the crowd, and retired to our quarters. 
 Other sacrifices, principally female, were made 
 in the bush where the body was buried. It is 
 usual to ' wet the grave' with the blood of a 
 freeman of respectability. All the retainers 
 of the family being present, and the heads of 
 all the victims deposited in the bottom of the 
 grave, several are unsuspectingly called on in 
 a hurry to assist in placing the coffin or bas- 
 ket ; and just as it rests on the head or skulls. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 359 
 
 a slave from behind stuns one of these free- 
 men by a violent blow, followed by a deep 
 gash in the back part of the neck, and he is 
 rolled in on the top of the body, and the grave 
 instantly filled up."— (pp. 287, 288.) 
 
 "About a hundred persons, mostly culprits 
 reserved, are generally sacrificed, in different 
 quarters of the town, at this custom (that is, 
 at the feast for the new year). Several slaves 
 were also sacrificed at Bantama, over the large 
 brass pan, their blood mingling with the vari- 
 ous vegetable and animal matter within (fresh 
 and putrefied), to complete the charm, and 
 produce invincible fetish. All the chiefs kill 
 several slaves, that their blood may flow into 
 the hole from whence the new yam is taken. 
 Those who cannot aflbrd to kill slaves, take 
 the head of one already sacrificed, and place 
 it on the hole."— (p. 279.) 
 
 The Ashantees are very superior in disci- 
 pline and courage to the water-side Africans : 
 they never pursue when it is near sunset; the 
 general is always in the rear, and the fugi- 
 tives are instantly put to death. The army is 
 prohibited, during the active part of the cam- 
 paign, from all food but meal, which each man 
 carries in a small bag by his side, and mixes 
 in his hands with the first water he comes to; 
 no fires are allowed, lest their position should 
 be betrayed; they eat little select bits of the 
 first enemy's heart whom they kill; and all 
 wear ornaments of his teeth and bones. 
 
 In their buildings, a mould is made for re- 
 ceiving the clay, by two rows of stakes placed 
 at a distance equal to the intended thickness 
 of the wall: the interval is then filled with 
 gravelly clay mixed with water, which, with 
 the outward surface of the frame-work, is plas- 
 tered so as to exhibit the appearance of a thick 
 mud wall. The captains have pillars which 
 assist to support the roof, and form a prosce- 
 nium, or open front. The steps and raised 
 floors of the rooms are clay and stone, with a 
 thick la3'er of red earth, washed and painted 
 daily. 
 
 " While the walls are still soft, they formed 
 moulds or frame-works of the patterns in deli- 
 cate slips of cane, connected by grass. The 
 two first slips (one end of each being inserted 
 in the soft wall) projected the relief, com- 
 monly mezzo: the interstices were then filled 
 up with the plaster, and assumed the appear- 
 ance depicted. The poles or pillars were 
 sometimes encircled by twists of cane, inter- 
 secting each other, which, being filled up with 
 thin piaster, resembled the lozenge and cable 
 ornaments of the Anglo-Norman order; the 
 quatre-foil was very common, and by no means 
 rude, from the symmetrical bend of the cane 
 •which formed it. I saw a few pillars (after 
 they had been squared with the plaster), with 
 numerous slips of cane pressed perpendicular- 
 ly on to the wet surface, which, being covered 
 again with a very thin coat of plaster, closely 
 resembled fluting. When they formed a large 
 arch, they inserted one end of a thick piece of 
 cane in the wet clay of the floor or base, and, 
 bending the other over, inserted it in the same 
 manner; the entablature was filled up with 
 wattle-work plastered over. Arcades and 
 
 piazzas were common. A white wash, very 
 frequently renewed, was made from a clay in 
 the neighbourhood. Of course the plastering 
 is very frail, and in the relief frequently dis- 
 closes the edges of the cane, giving, however, 
 a piquant effect, auxiliary to the ornament. 
 The'doors were an entire piece of cotton wood, 
 cut with great labour out of the stems or but- 
 tresses of that tree ; battens variously cut and 
 painted were afterwards nailed across. So 
 disproportionate was the price of labour to 
 that of provision, that I gave but two tokoos 
 for a slab of cotton wood, five feet by three. 
 The locks they use are from Houssa, and quite 
 original: one will be sent to the British Mu- 
 seum. Where they raised a first floor, the 
 under room was divided into two by an inter- 
 secting wall, to support the rafters for the 
 upper room, which were generally covered 
 with a frame-work thickly plastered over with 
 red ochre. I saw but one attempt at flooring 
 with plank ; it was cotton wood shaped en- 
 tirely with an adze, and looked like a ship's 
 deck. The windows were open wood-work, 
 carved in fanciful figures and intricate pat- 
 terns, and painted red ; the frames were fre- 
 quently cased in gold, about as thick as 
 cartridge paper. What surprised me most, 
 and is not the least of the many circumstances 
 deciding their great superiority over the gene- 
 rality of negroes, was the discovery that every 
 house had its cloacsc, besides the common 
 ones for the lower orders without the town." 
 —(pp. 305, 306.) 
 
 The rubbish and offal of each house are 
 burnt every morning at the back of the street ; 
 and they are as nice in their dwellings as in 
 their persons. The Ashantee loom is precisely 
 on the same principles as the English : the 
 firmness, variety, brilliancy, and size of their 
 cloths are astonishing. They paint white 
 cloths, not inelegantly, as fast as an European 
 can write. They excel in pottery, and are 
 good goldsmiths. Their weights are very 
 neat brass casts of almost every animal, fruit, 
 and vegetable, known in the country. The 
 king's scales, blow-pan, boxes, weights, and 
 pipe-tongs were neatly made of the purest 
 gold. They work finely in iron, tan leather, 
 and are excellent carpenters. 
 
 Mr. Bowdich computes the number of men 
 capable of bearing arms to be 204,000. The 
 disposable force is 150,000; the population a 
 million ; the number of square miles 14,000. 
 Polygamy is tolerated to the greatest extent ; 
 the king's allowance is 3333 wives; and the 
 full complement is always kept up. Four of 
 the principal streets in Coomassie are half a 
 mile long, and from 50 to 100 yards wide 
 The streets were all named, and a superior 
 captain in charge of each. The street where 
 the mission was lodged was called Apperemsoo, 
 or Cannon Street; another street was called 
 Daebrim, or Great Market Street ; another. Pri- 
 son Street, and so on. A plan of the town is 
 given. The Ashantees persisted in raying 
 that the population of Coomassie was above 
 100,000; but this is thought, by the gentlemen 
 of the mission, to allude rather to the popula- 
 tion collected on great occasions, than the 
 permanent residents, not computed by tJiern at 
 
360 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 more than 15,000. The markets were daily ; 
 and the articles for sale, beef, mutton, wild- 
 hog, deer, monkeys' flesh, fowls, yams, plan- 
 tains, corn, sugarcane, rice, peppers, vegetable 
 butter, oranges, papaiis, pine-apples, bananas, 
 salt and dried fish, large snails smoke-dried ; 
 palm wine, rum, pipes, beads, looking-glasses ; 
 sandals, silk, cotton cloth, powder, small pil- 
 ars, white and blue thread, and calabashes. 
 The cattle in Ashantee are as large as English 
 cattle; their sheep are hairy. They have no 
 implement but the hoe ; have two crops of 
 corn in the year; plant their yams at Christ- 
 mas, and dig them up in September. Their 
 plantations, extensive and orderly, have the 
 appearance of hop gardens well fenced in, and 
 regularly planted in lines, Avith a broad walk 
 around, and a hut at each wicker-gate, where 
 a slave and his family reside to protect the 
 plantation. All the fruits mentioned as sold in 
 the market grew in spontaneous abundance, 
 as did the sugarcane. The oranges were of a 
 large size and exquisite flavour. There were 
 no coroa trees. The berry which gives to 
 acids (he flavour of sweets, making limes 
 taste like honey, is common here. The castor- 
 oil plant rises to a large tree. The cotton tree 
 sometimes rises to the height of 1.50 feet. 
 
 The great obstacle to the improvement of 
 commerce with the Ashantee people (besides 
 the jealousy natural to barbarians) is our re- 
 jection of the slave trade, and the continuance 
 of that detestable traffic by the Spaniards. 
 While the mission was in that country, one 
 thousand slaves left Ashantee for two Spanish 
 schooners on the coast. — How is an African 
 monarch to be taught that he has not a right 
 to turn human creatures into rum and tobacco 1 
 or that the nation which prohibits such an in- 
 tercourse are not his enemies 1 To have free 
 access to Ashantee, would command Dag- 
 wumba. The people of Inta and Dagwumba 
 being commercial, rather than warlike, an in- 
 tercourse with them would be an intercourse 
 with the interior, as far as Timbuctoo and 
 Houssa northwards, and Cassina, if not Boor- 
 noo, eastwards. 
 
 After the observations of Mr. Bowdich, se- 
 nior officer of the mission, follows the narra- 
 tive of Mr. Hutchinson, left as charge d'af- 
 faires, upon the departure of the other gentle- 
 men. Mr. Hutchinson mentions some Avhite 
 men residing at Yenne, Avhom he supposes to 
 have been companions of Park ; and Ali Baba, 
 a man of good character and consideration, 
 upon the eve of departure from these regions, 
 assured him, that there were two Europeans 
 then resident at Timbuctoo. — In his observa- 
 tions on the river Gaboon, Mr. Bowdich has 
 the following information on the present state 
 of the slave trade : — 
 
 " Three Portuguese, one French, and two 
 large Spanish ships, visited the river for slaves 
 during oixr stay; and the master of a Liver- 
 pool vessel assured me that he had fallen in 
 with twenty-two between Gaboon and the Con- 
 go. Their grand rendezvous is Mayumba. 
 The Portuguese of St. Thomas's and Prince's 
 Islands send small schooner boats to Gaboon 
 Cor slaves, which are kept, after they are trans- 
 jjorted this short distance, until the coast is 
 
 clear for shipping them to America. A third 
 large Spanish ship, well armed, entered the 
 river the night before we quitted it, and hurried 
 our exit, for one of that character was commit- 
 ting piracy in the neighbouring rivers. Having 
 suffered from falling into their hands before, I 
 felicitated myself on the escape. We were 
 afterwards chased and boarded by a Spanish 
 armed schooner, with three hundred slaves on 
 board ; they only desired provisions." 
 
 These are the most important extracts from 
 this publication, which is certainly of conside- 
 rable importance, from the account it gives us 
 of a people hitherto almost entirely unknown ; 
 and from the light which the very diligent and 
 laborious inquiries of Mr. Bowdich have 
 thrown upon the geography of Africa, and the 
 probability held out to us of approaching the 
 great kingdoms on the Niger, by means of an 
 intercourse by no means difficult to be esta- 
 blished with the kingdoms of Inta and Dag- 
 wumba. The river Volta flows into the Gulf 
 of Guinea, in latitude 7° north. It is naviga- 
 ble, and by the natives navigated for ten days, 
 to Odentee. Now, from Odentee to Sallagha, 
 the capital of the kingdom of Inta, is but four 
 days' journey ;'^nd seven days' journey from 
 Sallagha, through the Inta Jam of Zengoo, is 
 Yahndi, the capital of Dagwumba. Yahndi is 
 described to be beyond comparison larger than 
 Coomassie, the houses much better built and 
 ornamented. The Ashantees who had visited 
 it, told Mr. Bowdich they had frequently lost 
 themselves in the streets. The king has been 
 converted by the Moors, who have settled 
 themselves therein great numbers. Mr. Lucas 
 calls it the Mahometan kingdom of Degomba ; 
 and it was represented to him as peculiarly 
 wealthy and civilized. The markets of Yahndi 
 are described as animated scenes of commerce, 
 constantly crowded with merchants from al- 
 most all the countries of the interior. It seems 
 to us, that the best way of becoming acquainted 
 with Africa, is not to plan such sweeping ex- 
 peditions as have been lately sent out by go- 
 vernment, but to submit to become acquainted 
 with it by degrees, and to acquire by little and 
 little a knowledge of the best methods of arrang- 
 ing expeditions. The kingdom of DagAvumba, 
 for instance, is not 200 miles from a well-known 
 and regular water carriage, on the Volta. 
 Perhaps it is nearer, but the distance is not 
 greater than this. It is one of the most com- 
 mercial nations in Africa, and one of the most 
 civilized; and yet it is utterly unknown, ex- 
 cept by report, to Europeans. Then why not 
 plan an expedition' to Dagwumba 1 The ex- 
 pense of which would be very trifling, and the 
 issue known in three or four months. The in- 
 formation procured from such a wise and 
 moderate undertaking, would enable any future 
 mission to proceed with much greater ease 
 and safety into the interior; or prevent them 
 from proceeding, as they hitherto have done, 
 to their own destruction. We strongly be- 
 lieve, with Mr. Bowdich, that this is the right 
 road to the Niger. 
 
 Nothing in this world is created in vain : 
 lions, tigers, conquerors, have their use. Am- 
 bitious monarchs, who are the curse of civi- 
 lized nations, are the civilizers of savage people. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 With a number of little independent hordes, 
 civilization is impossible. They must have a 
 common interest before there can be peace ; 
 and be directed by one will before there can 
 be order. When mankind are prevented from 
 daily quarrelling and fighting, they first begin 
 to improve; and all this, we are afraid, is 
 only to be accomplished, in the first instance. 
 
 by some great conqueror. We sympathize, 
 therefore, with the victories of the King of 
 Ashantee — and feel ourselves, for the first 
 time, in love with military glory. The ex- 
 emperor of the French would, at Coomassie, 
 Dagwumba, or Inta, be an eminent benefactor 
 to the human race. 
 
 WITTMAN'S TRAVELS. 
 
 [Edinburgh Review, 1803.] 
 
 Dr. Wittman was sent abroad with the 
 military mission to Turkey, towards the spring 
 of 1799, and remained attached to it during 
 its residence in the neighbourhood of Con- 
 stantinople, its march through the desert, and 
 its short operations in Egypt. The military 
 mission, consisting of General Koehler, and 
 some officers and privates of the artillery and 
 engineers, amounting on the whole to seventy, 
 were assembled at Constantinople, June, 1799, 
 which they left in the same month of the fol- 
 lowing year, joined the grand vizier at Jaffa in 
 July, and entered Egypt with the Turks in 
 April, 1801. After the military operations 
 were concluded there. Dr. Wittman returned 
 home by Constantinople, Vienna, &c. 
 
 The travels are written in the shape of a 
 journal, which begins and concludes with the 
 events which we have just mentioned. It is 
 obvious that the route described by Dr. Wittman 
 is not new: he could make no cursory and 
 superficial observations upon the people whom 
 he' saw, or the countries through which he 
 passed, with which the public are not already 
 familiar. If his travels were to possess any 
 merit at all, they were to derive that merit 
 from acctirate physical researches, from copi- 
 ous information on the state of medicine, sur- 
 gery, and disease in Turkey ; and above all, 
 perhaps, from gratifying the rational curiosity 
 which all inquiring minds must feel upon the 
 nature of the plague, and the indications of 
 cure. Dr. Wittman, too, was passing over 
 the same ground trodden by Bonaparte in 
 his Syrian expedition, and had an ample 
 opportunity of inquiring its probable object, 
 and the probable success which (but for the 
 heroic defence of Acre) might have attended 
 it ; he was on the theatre of Bonaparte's im- 
 puted crimes, as well as his notorious defeat; 
 and might have brought us back, not anile 
 conjecture, but sound evidence of events 
 which must determine his character, who may 
 determine our fate. We should have been 
 happy also to have found in the travels of Dr. 
 Wittman a full account of the tactics and 
 mana-uvres of the Turkish army; and this it 
 would not have been difficult to have obtained 
 through the medium of his military com- 
 
 * Travels in Turkey, ^sid Minor, and Syria, S^c, and 
 into Errvpt. By William Wittman, M. D. 1803. Lon- 
 don. Phillips. 
 
 panions. Such appear to us to be the sub- 
 jects, from an able discussion of which. Dr. 
 Wittman might have derived considerable 
 reputation, by gratifying the ardour of tempo- 
 rary curiosity, and adding to the stock of per- 
 manent knowledge. 
 
 Upon opening Dr. Wittman's book, we 
 turned, with a considerable degree of interest, 
 to the subject of JalTa; and to do justice to the 
 doctor, we shall quote all that he has said upon 
 the subject of Bonaparte's conduct at this place. 
 
 "After a breach had been eflfected, the French 
 troops stormed and carried the place. It was 
 probably owing to the obstinate defence made 
 by the Turks, that the French commander-in- 
 chief was induced to give orders for the horrid 
 massacre which succeeded. Four thousand 
 of the wretched inhabitants who had sur- 
 rendered, and who had in vain implored the 
 mercy of their conquerors, were, together 
 with a part of the late Turkish garrison of 
 El-Arish (amounting, it has been said, to five 
 or six hundred), dragged out in cold blood, 
 fo^ir days after the French had obtained possession 
 of Jaffa, to the sand hills, about a league dis- 
 tant, in the way to Gaza, and there most 
 inhumanly put to death. I have seen the 
 skeletons of these unfortunate victims, which 
 lie scattered over the hills ; a modern Golgotha, 
 which remains a lasting disgrace to a nation 
 calling itself civilized. It would give pleasure 
 to the author of this work, as well as to every 
 liberal mind, to hear these facts contradicted 
 on substantial evidence. Indeed, I am sorry 
 to add, that the charge of cruelty against the 
 French general does not rest here. It having 
 been reported, that, previously to the retreat 
 of the French army from Syria, their com- 
 mander-in-chief had ordered all the French 
 sick at JaflTa to be poisoned, I was led to make 
 the inquiry to which every one who should 
 have visited the spot would naturally have 
 been directed, respecting an act of such sin 
 gular, and, it should seem, wanton inhumanity. 
 It concerns me to have to state, not only that 
 such a circumstance was positively asserted 
 to have happened, but that, while in Egypt, an 
 individual was pointed out to us, as having 
 been the executioner of these diaooncal com 
 mands."— (p. 128.) 
 
 Now, in this passage. Dr. Wittman olfers no 
 2H 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDXEY SMITH. 
 
 other evidence whatever of the massacre, than 
 that he liad seen the skeletons scattered over 
 the hills, and that the fact M-as ttniversally 
 believed. But how does Dr. Wittman know 
 what skeletons those were which he saw ] 
 An oriental camp, affected by the plague, 
 leaves as many skeletons behind it as a mas- 
 sacre. And though the Turks bury their dead, 
 the doctor complains of the very little depth 
 at which they are interred; so that jackals, 
 high winds, and a sandy soil, might, Avith great 
 facility, undo the work of Turkish sextons. 
 Let any one read Dr. Wittman's account of 
 the camp near Jaffa, where the Turks remained 
 so long in company with the military mission, 
 and he will immediately perceive that, a year 
 after their departure, it might have been mis- 
 taken, with great ease, for the scene of a 
 massacre. The spot which Dr. Wittman saw 
 might have been the spot where a battle had 
 been fought. In the turbulent state of Syria, 
 and amidst the variety of its barbarous inhabit- 
 ants, can it be imagined that eveiy bloody 
 battle, with its precise limits and circumscrip- 
 tion, is accurately committed to tradition, and 
 faithfully reported to inquirers 1 Besides, why 
 scattered among hills? If 5000 men were 
 marched out to a convenient spot and mas- 
 sacred, their remains would be heaped up in a 
 small space, a mountain of the murdered, a 
 vast bridge of bones and rottenness. As the 
 doctor has described the bone scenery, it has 
 much more the appearance of a battle and 
 pursuit than of a massacre. After all, this 
 gentleman lay eight months under the walls 
 of Jaffa; whence comes it he has given us 
 no better evidence! Were 5000 men mur- 
 dered in cold blood by a division of the French 
 army, a year before, and did no man remain 
 in Jaffa, who said, I saw it done — I was pre- 
 sent when they were marched out — I went the 
 next day, and saw the scarcely dead bodies of 
 the victims'? If Dr. Wittman received any 
 such evidence, why did he not bring it forward] 
 If he never inquired for such evidence, how is 
 he qualified to write upon the subject 1 If he 
 inquired for it and could not find it, how is the 
 fact credible ? 
 
 This autho'- cannot make the same excuse 
 as Sir Robea Wilson, for the suppression of 
 his evidence, as there could be no probability 
 that Bonaparte would wreak his vengeance 
 upon Soliman Aga, Mustapha Cawn, Sidi 
 Mahomet, or any given Turks, upon whose 
 positive evidence Dr. Wittman might have 
 rested his accusation. Two such wicked acts 
 as the poisoning and the massacre, have not 
 been committed within the memory of man ; — 
 within the same memor)',no such extraordinary 
 person nas appeared, as he who is said to have 
 committed them; and yet, though their com- 
 mission must have been public, no one has 
 yet said, Vidi ego. The accusation still rests 
 upon hearsa}'. 
 
 At the same time, widely disseminated as 
 this accusation has been over Europe, it is 
 extraordinary that it has not been contradicted 
 in print: and, though Sir Robert Wilson's 
 book must have been read in France, that no 
 officer of the division of Bon has come for- 
 ward in vindication of a criminal who could 
 
 repay incredulity so well. General Andreossi, 
 who was with the First Consul in Syria, treats 
 the accusations as conteinptible falsehoods. 
 But though we are convinced he is a man of 
 character, his evidence has certainly less 
 weight, as he may have been speaking in the 
 mask of diplomacy. As to the general circu- 
 lation of the report, he must think much 
 higher of the sagacity of multitudes than we 
 do, who would convert this into a reason of 
 belief. ^ Whoever thinks it so easy to get at 
 truth in the midst of passion, should read the 
 various histories of the recent rebellion in 
 Ireland; or he ma)'', if he chooses, believe, 
 with thousands of worthy Frenchmen, that the 
 infernah was planned by Mr. Pitt and Lord 
 Melville. As for us, we will state what appears 
 to us to be the truth, should it even chance to 
 justify a man in whose lifetime Europe can 
 know neither happiness nor peace. 
 
 The story of the poisoning is given by Dr. 
 Wittman precisely in the same desultor}' man- 
 ner as that of the massacre. "An individual 
 was pointed out to us as the executioner of 
 these diabolical commands." By how many 
 persons was he pointed out as the executioner ? 
 by persons of what authority? and of what 
 credibility ] Was it asserted from personal 
 knowledge, or merely from rumour ] Whence 
 comes it that such an agent, after the flight of 
 his employer, was not driven away by the 
 general indignation of the army? If Dr. 
 Wittman had combined this species of infor- 
 mation with his stories, his conduct would 
 have been more just, and his accusations 
 would have carried greater weight. At pre- 
 sent, when he, who had the opportunity of tell- 
 ing us so much, has told vts so little, we are 
 rather less inclined to believe than we were 
 before. We do not say these accusations are 
 not true, but that Dr. Wittman has not proved 
 them to be true. 
 
 Dr. Wittman did not see more than two 
 cases of plague : he has given both of them 
 at full length. The S}Tnptoms were, thirst, 
 headache, vertigo, pains in the limbs, bilious 
 vomitings, and painful tumours in the groins. 
 The means of cure adopted were, to evacuate 
 the primae vice ; to give diluting and refreshing 
 drinks; to expel the redundant bile by emetics; 
 and to assuage the pain in the groin by fomenta- 
 tions and anodynes ; both cases proved fatal. 
 In one of the cases, the friction with warm oil 
 was tried in vain ; but it was thought useful 
 in the prevention of plague : the immediate 
 effect produced was, to throw the person 
 rubbed into a verj' copious perspiration. A 
 patient in typhus, who was given over, re- 
 covered after this discipline was administered. 
 
 The boldness and enterprise of medical men 
 are quite as striking as the courage displayed 
 in battle, and evinces how much the power of 
 encountering danger depends upon habit. — 
 Many a militarj' veteran would tremble to feed 
 upon pvs; to sleep in sheets running with 
 water ; or to draw up the breath of feverish 
 patients. Dr. White might not, perhaps, have 
 marched up to a batterj- with great alacrity; 
 but Dr. White, in the year 1801, inoculated 
 himself in the arms, with recent matter taken 
 from the bubo of a pestiferous patient, and 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 rtibbed the same matter upon different parts 
 of his body. With somewhat less of courage, 
 and more of injustice, he wrapt his Arab ser- 
 vant in the bed of a person just dead of the 
 plague. The doctor died; and the doctor's 
 man (perhaps to prove his master's theory, 
 that the plague was not contagious) ran awa)^ 
 The bravery of our naval officers never pro- 
 duced any thing superior to this therapeutic 
 heroism of the doctor's. 
 
 Dr. Wittman has a chapter which he calls 
 An Historical Journal of the Plague ; but the in- 
 formation which it contains amounts to nothing 
 at all. He confesses that he has had no expe- 
 rience in the complaint; that he has no remedy 
 to offer for its cure, and no theory for its 
 cause.* The treatment of the minor plague 
 of Egypt, ophthalmia, was precisely the me- 
 thod common in this country ; and was gene- 
 rally attended with success, where the remedies 
 were applied in time. 
 
 Nothing can be conceived more dreadful 
 than was the situation of the military mission 
 in the Turkish camp ; exposed to a mutinous 
 Turkish soldiery, to infection, famine, and a 
 scene of the most abominable filth and putre- 
 faction ; and this they endured for a 3-ear and 
 a half, with the patience of apostles of peace, | 
 rather than \va.r. Their occupation was to I 
 teach diseased barbarians, who despised them, 
 and thought it no small favour that they should 
 be permitted to exist in their neighbourhood. 
 They had to witness the cruelties of despotism, 
 and the passions of armed and ignorant multi- 
 tudes ; and all this embellished with the fair 
 probability of being swept off, in some grand 
 engagement, by the superior tactics and ac- 
 tivity of the enemy to whom the Turks were 
 opposed. To the filth, irregularity, and tumult 
 of a Turkish camp, as it appeared to the 
 British officers in 1800, it is curious to oppose 
 the picture of one drawn by Busbequius in the 
 middle of the sixteenth century : " Turcae in 
 proximis campis tendebant; cum vero in eo 
 loco tribus mensibus vixerim,fuit mihi facultas 
 videndorum ipsorum castrorum, et cognos- 
 cendee aliqua ex parte disciplinse ; qua de re 
 nisi pauca attingam, habeas fortasse quod me 
 accuses. Sumpto habitu Christianis homini- 
 bus in illis locis usitato, cum uno aut altero 
 comite quacunque vagabar ignotus : primum 
 videbam summo ordine cuj usque corporis 
 milites suis locis distributos, et, qiiod vix cre- 
 dat, qui nostratis militice consuetudinem novit, 
 summum erat ubique silentium, summa quies, 
 rixa nulla, nullum cujusquam insolens factum: 
 sed ne nox quidem aut vitulatio per lasciviam 
 aut ebrietatem emissa- Ad hcec summa mundi- 
 ties, nulla sterquilinia, nulla purgamenta, nihil 
 quod oculos aut nares offenderet. Quicquid 
 est hujusmodi, aut defodiunt Turcffi, aut procul 
 a conspectu submovent. Sed nee ullas com- 
 potationes aut convivia, nullum aleoe genus, 
 magnum nostratis militise flagitium, videre 
 erat: nulla lusoriarum chartanarn, neque tes- 
 serarum damna norunt Turcee." — iugeri Bus- 
 bequii, Epist. 3, -p. 187. Hanovia. 1622, There 
 
 * One fact mentioned by Dr. Wittman appears to be 
 curious ;— that Constantinople was nearly free from 
 plague duiingthe interruption of ils communication with 
 Egypt. 
 
 is at present, in the Turkish arm)', a curious 
 mixture of the severest despotism in the com- 
 mander, and the most rebellious insolence in 
 the soldier. When the soldier misbehaves, 
 the vizier cuts his head off, and places it un- 
 der his arm. When the soldier is dissatisfied 
 with his vizier, he fires his ball through his 
 tent, and admonishes him, by these messen- 
 gers, to a more pleasant exercise of his au- 
 thority. That such severe punishments should 
 not confer a more powerful authority, and give 
 birth to abetter discipline, is less extraordinary, 
 if we reflect, that we hear only that the punish- 
 ments are severe, not that they are steady, and 
 that they are just ; for, if the Turkish soldiers 
 were always punished with the same severity 
 when they were in fault, and never but then, it is 
 not in human nature to suppose, that the Turk- 
 ish army would long remain in as contemptible 
 a state as it now is. But the governed soon 
 learn to distinguish between systematic energy, 
 and the excesses of casual and capricious cru- 
 elty; the one awes them into submission, the 
 other rouses them to revenge. 
 
 Dr. Wittman, in his chapter on the Turkish 
 army, attributes much of its degradation to the 
 altered state of the corps of Janissaries ; the 
 original constitution of which corps was cer- 
 tainly both curious and wise. The children 
 of Christians made prisoners in the predatory 
 incursions of the Turks, or procured in any 
 other manner, were exposed in the public 
 markets of Constantinople. Any fanner or 
 artificer was at liberty to take one into his 
 service, contracting with government to pro- 
 duce him again when he should be wanted : 
 and in the mean time to feed and clothe him, 
 and to educate him to such works of labour as 
 are calculated to strengthen the body. As the 
 Janissaries were killed off, the government 
 drew upon this stock of hardy orphans for its 
 levies ; who, instead of hanging upon weeping 
 parents at their departure, came eagerly to the 
 camp, as the situation which they had always 
 been taught to look upon as the theatre of 
 their future glory, and towards which all their 
 passions and affections had been bent, from 
 their earliest years. Arrived at the camp, they 
 received at first low pay, and performed me- 
 nial offices for the little division of Janissaries 
 to which they were attached: "Ad Gianizaros 
 rescriptus primo meret menstruo stipendio, 
 paulo plus minus, unius ducati cum dimidio. 
 Id enim militi novitio, et rudi satis esse cen- 
 sent. Sed tamen ne quid victus necessitati 
 desit, cum ea decuria, in cujus contuernium 
 adscitus est, gratis cibum capit, ea conditione, 
 ut in culina reliquoque ministerio ei decurife 
 serviat; usum armorum adeptus tyro, cnedum 
 tamen suis contubernalibus honore neque sti- 
 pendio par unam in solavirtute, se illis sequan- 
 di, spem habet: utpote si militice quce prima 
 se obtulerit, tale specimen sui dederit, ut dignus 
 judicetur, qui tyrocinio exemptus, honoris 
 gradu et stipendii magnitudine, reliquis Gian- 
 izaris par habeatur. Qua quidem spe plerique 
 tyrones impulsi, multa praeclare audent, et 
 fortitudine cum veteranis certant." — Busbequi- 
 us, De Re Mil. cont. Turc. histit. Consilium.* The 
 
 * This is a very spirited appeal to liis countrymen on 
 the tremendous power of ths Turks ; and, with tlie sub- 
 
364 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMTH. 
 
 same author observes, that there was no rank 
 or dignity in the Turkish army, to which a 
 common Janissary might not arrive, by his 
 courage or his capacity. This last is a most 
 powerful motive to exertion, and is, perhaps, 
 one leading cause of the superiority of the 
 French arms. Ancient governments promote, 
 from numberless causes which ought to have 
 no concern with promotion : revolutionary go- 
 vernments, and military despotisms, can make 
 generals of persons who are fit for generals: 
 to enable them to be unjust in all other in- 
 stances, they are forced to be just in this. 
 What, in fact, are the sultans and pashas of 
 Paris, but Janissaries raised from the ranks 1 
 At present, the Janissaries are procured from 
 the lowest of the people, and the spirit of the 
 corps is evaporated. The low state of their 
 armies is in some degree imputable to this ; 
 but the principal reason why the Turks are no 
 longer as powerful as they were, is, that they 
 are no longer enthusiasts, and that war is now 
 become more a business of science than of 
 personal courage. 
 
 The person of the greatest abilities in the 
 Turkish empire is the capitan pasha; he has 
 disciplined some ships and regiments in the 
 European fashion, and would, if he were well 
 seconded, bring about some important reforms 
 in the Turkish empire. But what is become 
 of all the reforms of the famous Gazi Hassan] 
 The blaze of partial talents is soon extin- 
 guished. Never was there so great a prospect 
 
 stimtinn of France for Turkey, is so applic;ible to the 
 prei^ent times that it might be spolien in Parliament with 
 great effect. 
 
 of improvement as that afforded by the exer 
 tions of this celebrated man, who, in spite of 
 the ridicule thrown upon him by Baron de 
 Tott, was such a man as the Turks cannot 
 expect to see again once in a century. He 
 had the whole power of the Turkish empire at 
 his disposal for fifteen years; and, after re- 
 peated efforts to improve the army, abandoned 
 the scheme as totally impracticable. The cele- 
 brated Bonneval, in his time, and De Tott 
 since, made the same attempt with the same 
 success. They are not to be taught ; and six 
 months after his death, every thing the present 
 capitan pasha has done will be immediately 
 pulled to pieces. The present grand vizier is 
 a man of no ability. There are some very 
 entertaining instances of his gross ignorance 
 cited in the 133d page of the Travels. Upon 
 the news being communicated to him that the 
 earth was round, he observed that this could 
 not be the case : for the people and the objects 
 on the other side would in that case fall otf; 
 and that the earth could not move round the 
 sun ; for if so, a ship bound from Jaffa to Con- 
 stantinople, instead of proceeding to the capital, 
 would be carried to London, or elsewhere. We 
 cannot end this article without confessing with 
 great pleasure the entertainment we have re- 
 ceived from the work which occasions it. It 
 is an excellent lounging-book, full of pleasant 
 details, never wearying by prolixity, or offend- 
 ing by presumption, and is apparently the pro- 
 duction of a respectable, worthy man. So far 
 we can conscientiously recommend it to the 
 pixblic ; for any thing else, 
 
 Non cuivis homini contingit adire, &c. &c. &c. 
 
SPEECHES. 
 
 CATHOLIC CLAIMS. 
 
 A Speech at a Meeting of the Clergy of the Archdeaconr y of the East Riding of Yorkshire, held at Be- 
 verley, in that Riding, on Monday, April II, 1825, /or the Purpose of Petitioning Parliament, ^t.* 
 
 Mn. Archdeacox, — It is very disagreeable to 
 me to differ from so many worthy and respect- 
 able clergymen here assembled, and not only 
 to differ from them, but, I am afraid, to stand 
 alone among them. I would much rather vote 
 in majorities, and join in this, or any other po- 
 litical chorus, than to stand unassisted and 
 alone, as I am now doing. I dislike such meet- 
 ings for such purposes — I wish I could recon- 
 cile it to my conscience to stay away from 
 them, and to my temperament to be silent at 
 them ; but if they are called by others, I deem 
 it right to attend — if I attend I must say what 
 I think. If it is unwise in us to meet in taverns 
 to discuss political subjects, the fault is not 
 mine, for I should never think of calling such 
 a meeting. If the subject is trite, no blame is 
 imputable to me: it is as dull to me to handle 
 such subjects, as it is to you to hear them. 
 The customary promise on the threshold of an 
 inn is good entertainment for man and horse. 
 — If there is any truth in any part of this sen- 
 tence at the Tiger, at Beverley, our horses at 
 this moment must certainly be in a state of 
 much greater enjoyment than the masters who 
 rode them. 
 
 It will be some amusement, however, to this 
 meeting, to observe the schism which this 
 question has occasioned in my own parish of 
 Londesborough. My excellent and respecta- 
 ble curate, Mr. Milestones, alarmed at the effect 
 of the pope upon the East Riding, has come 
 here to oppose me, and there he sta.nds, breath- 
 ing war and vengeance on the Vatican. We 
 had some previous conversation on this sub- 
 ject, and, in imitation of our superiors, we 
 
 agreed not to make it a cabinet question Mr. 
 
 Milestones, indeed, with that delicacy and pro- 
 priety which belong.to his character, expressed 
 some scruples upon the propriety of voting 
 against his rector, but I insisted he should come 
 and vote against me. I assured him nothing 
 would give me more pain than to think I had 
 prevented, in any man, the free assertion of 
 honest opinions. That such conduct, on his 
 part, instead of causing jealousy and animosi- 
 ty between us, could not, and would not fail to 
 increase my regard and respect for him. 
 
 I beg leave, sir, before I proceed on this sub- 
 ject, to state what I mean by Catholic emanci- 
 pation. I mean eligibility of Catholics to all 
 civil offices, with the usual exceptions intro- 
 
 * I was left at tlii.s meeting in a minority of one. A 
 poor clerpyiii.in whispered to me, tliat he was quite of 
 my way of thinking, but, had nine children. 1 begged 
 he would remain a Protestant. 
 
 duced into all bills— jealous safeguards for the 
 preservation of the Protestant church, and for 
 the regulation of the intercourse with Rome — 
 and, lastly, provision lor the Catholic clergy. 
 
 I object, sir, to the law as it stands at pre- 
 sent, because it is impolitic, and because it is 
 unjust. It is impolitic, because it exposes this 
 country to the greatest danger in time of war. 
 Can you believe, sir, can any man of the most 
 ordinary turn for observation, believe, that the 
 monarchs of Europe mean to leave this coun- 
 try in the quiet possession of the high station 
 which it at present holds ? Is it not obvious 
 that a war is coming on between the govern- 
 ments of law and the governments of despot- 
 ism 1 — that the weak and tottering race of the 
 Bourbons will (whatever our wishes may be) 
 be compelled to gratify the wounded vanity of 
 the French, by plunging them into a war with 
 England. Already they are pitying the Irish 
 people, as you pity the West Indian slaves — 
 already they are opening colleges for the recep- 
 tion of Irish priests. Will they wait for your 
 tardy wisdom and reluctant liberality 1 Is not 
 the present state of Ireland a premium upon 
 early invasion ? Does it not hold out the most 
 alluring mvitation to your enemies to begin ? 
 And if the flag of any hostile power in Europe 
 is unfurled in that unhappy country, is there 
 one Irish peasant who will not hasten to join 
 itl — and not only the peasantry, sir; the peas- 
 antry begin these things, but the peasantry do 
 not end them — they are soon joined by an 
 order a little above them — and then, after a 
 trifling success, a still superior class think it 
 worth while to try the risk: men are hurried 
 into a rebellion, as the oxen are pulled into the 
 cave of Cacus — tail foremost. The mob first, 
 who have nothing to lose but their lives, of 
 which every Irishman has nine — then comes 
 the shopkeeper — then the parish priest — then 
 the vicar-general — then Dr. Doyle, and, lastly, 
 Daniel O'Connell. But if the French were to 
 make the same blunders respecting Ireland as 
 Napoleon committed, if wind and weather pre- 
 served Ireland for you a second time, still all 
 your resources would be crippled by watching 
 Ireland. The force employed for this might 
 liberate Spain and Portugal, protect India, or 
 accomplish any great purpose of offence or 
 defence. 
 
 War, sir, seems to be almost as natural a 
 state to mankind as peace; but if you could 
 hope to escape war, is there a more powerful 
 receipt for destroying the prosperity of any 
 country than these eternal jealousies and di.s- 
 2 u 2 365 
 
366 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV, SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 tinctions between the two religions'? What 
 man will carry his industry and his capital 
 into a country where his }'ard measure is a 
 sword, his pounce-box a powder-flask, and his 
 ledger a return of killed and wounded 1 Where 
 a cat will get, there I know a cotton-spinner 
 will penetrate ; but let these gentlemen wait till 
 a few of their factories have been burnt down, 
 till one or two respectable merchants of Man- 
 chester have been carded, and till they have 
 seen the cravatists hanging the shanavists in 
 cotton twist. In the present fervour for spin- 
 ning, ourang-outangs, sir, would be employed 
 to spin, if ihey could be found in sufficient 
 quantities ; but miserably will those reasoners 
 be disappointed who repose upon cotton — not 
 upon justice — and who imagine this great 
 question can be put aside, because a few hun- 
 dred Irish spinners are gaining a morsel of 
 bread by the overtlowing industry of the Eng- 
 lish market. 
 
 But what right have yon to continue these 
 rules, sir, these laws of exclusion 1 What ne- 
 cessity can j'ou show for it ] Is the reigning 
 monarch a concealed Catholic? — Is his suc- 
 cessor an open one ? — Is there a disputed suc- 
 cession]— Is there a Catholic pretender ] If 
 some of these circumstances are said to have 
 justified the introduction, and others the con- 
 tinuation of these measures, why does not the 
 disappearance of all these circumstances jus- 
 tify the repeal of the restrictions? If you must 
 be unjust — if it is a luxury you cannot live 
 without — reserve your injustice for the weak, 
 and not for the strong — persecute the Unitari- 
 ans, muzzle the Ranters, be unjust to a few 
 thousand sectaries, not to six millions— gal- 
 vanize a frog, don't galvanize a tiger. 
 
 If you go into a parsonage house in the 
 country, Mr. Archdeacon, you see sometimes a 
 style and fashion of furniture which does very 
 well for us, hut which has had its day in Lon- 
 don. It is seen in London no more; it is ban- 
 ished to the provinces ; from the gentlemen's 
 houses of the provinces these pieces of furni- 
 ture, as soon as they are discovered to be un- 
 fashionable, descend to the farm-houses, then 
 to cottages, then to the faggot-heap, then to 
 the dunghill. As it is with furniture, so is it 
 with arguments. I hear at country meetings 
 many arguments against the Catholics which 
 are never heard in London; their London ex- 
 istence is over — they are only to be met with in 
 the provinces, and there they are fast hastening 
 down, with clumsy chairs and ill-fashioned 
 sofas, to another order of men. But, sir, as 
 they are not yet gone where I am sure they are 
 going, I shall endeavour to point out their de- 
 fects, and to accelerate their descent. 
 
 Many gentlemen now assembled at the Tiger 
 Inn, at Beverley, believe that the Catholics do 
 not keep faith with heretics; these gentlemen 
 ought to know that Mr. Pitt put this very ques- 
 tion to six of the leading Catholic universities 
 in Europe. He inquired of them whether this 
 tenet did or did not constitute any part of the 
 Catholic faith. The question received from 
 these universities the most decided negative; 
 they denied that such doctrine formed any part 
 of the creed of Catholics. Such doctrine, sir, 
 w denif' upon oath, in the bill now pending in 
 
 Parliament, a copy of which Thold in my hand. 
 The denial of such a doctrine upon oath is the 
 only means by which a Catholic can relieve 
 himself from his present incapacities. If a 
 Catholic, therefore, sir, will not take the oath, 
 he is not relieved, and remains where you wish 
 him to remain ; if he does take the oath, you 
 are safe from his peril: if he has no scruple 
 about oaths, of what consequence is it whether 
 this bill passes, the very object of which is to 
 relieve him from oaths ? Look at the fact, sir. 
 Do the Protestant cantons of Switzerland, living 
 under the same state with the Catholic cantons, 
 complain that no faith is kept with heretics T 
 Do not the Catholics and Protestants in the 
 kingdom of the Netherlands meet in one com- 
 mon Parliament? Could they pursue a com- 
 mon purpose, have common friends, and com- 
 mon enemies, if there was a shadow of truth in 
 this doctrine imputed to the Catholics? The 
 religious affairs of this last kingdom are man- 
 aged with the strictest impartiality to both sects? 
 ten Catholics and ten Protestants (gentlemen 
 need not look so much surprised to hear it), 
 positively meet together, sir, in the same room. 
 They constitute what is called the religious 
 committee for the kingdom of the Netherlands, 
 and so extremely desirous are they of preserving 
 the strictest impartiality, that they have chosen 
 a Jew for their secretary. Their conduct has 
 been unimpeachable and unimpeached ; the 
 two sects are at peace with each other; and 
 the doctrine, that no faith is kept with heretics, 
 would, I assure you, be very little credited at 
 Amsterdam or the Hague, cities as essentially- 
 Protestant as the town of Beverley. 
 
 Wretched is our condition, and still more 
 wretched the condition of Ireland, if the Catho- 
 lic does not respect his oath. He serves on 
 grand and petty juries in both countries ; we 
 trust our lives, our liberties, and our properties, 
 to his conscientious reverence of an oath, and 
 yet, when it suits the purposes of party to bring 
 I forth this argument, we say he has no respect 
 for oaths. The right to a landed estate of 
 3000/. per annum was decided last week, in 
 York, by a jury, the foreman of which was a 
 Catholic ; does any human being, harbour a 
 thought, thai this gentleman, whom we all 
 know and respect, would, under any circum- 
 stances, have thought more lightly of the obli- 
 gation of an oath, than his Protestant brethren 
 of the box ? We all disbelieve these arguments 
 of Mr, A. the Catholic, and of Mr. B. the Catho- 
 lic : but we believe them of Catholics in gen- 
 eral, of the abstract Catholics, of the Catholic 
 of the Tiger Inn, at Beverley, the formidable un- 
 known Catholic, that is so apt to haunt our 
 clerical meetings. 
 
 I observe that some gentlemen who argue 
 this question, are very bold about other offices, 
 but very jealous lest Catholic gentlemen should 
 become justices of the peace. If this jealousy 
 is justifiable anywhere, it is justifiable in Ire- 
 land, where some of the best and most respect- 
 able magistrates are Catholics 
 • It is not true that the Roman Catholic reli- 
 gion is what it was, I meet that assertion with 
 a plump denial. The pope does not dethrone 
 kings, nor give away kingdoms, does not ex- 
 tort money, has given up, in some instances, 
 

 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMI 
 
 quent ruin of En?la 
 
 36,7 
 
 the nomination of bishops to Catholic princes, 
 in some, I believe, to Protestant princes; Pro- 
 testant worship is now carried on at Rome. In 
 the Low Countries, the seat of the Duke of 
 Alva's cruelties, the Catholic tolerates the Pro- 
 testant, and sits with him in the same Parlia- 
 ment—the same in Hungary — the same in 
 France. The first use which even the Spanish 
 people made of their ephemeral libert}^ was to 
 destroy the Inquisition. It was destroyed also 
 by the mob of Portugal. I am so far from 
 thinking the Catholic not to be more tolerant 
 than he was, that I am much afraid the English, 
 who gave the first lesson of toleration to man- 
 kind, will very soon have a great deal to learn 
 fjom their pupils. 
 
 Some men quarrel with the Catholics, be- 
 cause their language was violent in the Asso- 
 ciation ; but a groan or two, sir, after two hun- 
 dred years of incessant tyranny, may surely be 
 forgiven. A few warm phrases to compensate 
 the legal massacre of a million of Irishmen are 
 not unworthy of our pardon. All this hardly 
 deserves the eternal incapacity of holding civil 
 offices. Then they quarrel with the Bible Scfci- 
 ety; in other words they vindicate that ancient 
 tenet of their church, that the Scriptures are not 
 to be left to the unguided judgment of the laity. 
 The objection to Catholics is, "that they did what 
 Catholics ought to do — and do not many pre- 
 lates of our church object to the Bible Society, 
 and contend that the Scriptures ought not to be 
 circulated without the comment of the Prayer 
 Book and the Articles ! If they are right, the 
 Catholics are not wrong; and if the Catholics 
 are wrong, they are in such good company, that 
 ■we ought to respect their errors. 
 
 Why not pay their clergy 1 the Presbyterian 
 clergy in the north of Ireland are paid by the 
 state : the Catholic clergy of Canada are pro- 
 vided for: the priests of the Hindoos are, I 
 believe, in some of their temples, paid by the 
 Company. You must surely admit that the 
 Catholic religion (the religion of two-thirds of 
 Europe), is better than no religion. I do not 
 regret that the Irish are under the dominion of 
 the priests. I am glad that so savage a people 
 as the lower orders of Irish are under the do- 
 minion of their priests; for it is a step gained 
 to place such beings under any influence, and 
 the clergv are always the first civilizers of man- 
 kind. The Irish are deserted by their natural 
 aristocracy, and I should wish to make their 
 priesthood respectable in their appearance, and 
 easy in their circumstances. A government 
 provision has produced the most important 
 changes in the opinions of the Presbyterian 
 clergy of the north of Ireland, and has changed 
 them from levellers and Jacobins into reasona- 
 ble men ; it would not fail to improve most 
 materially the political opinions of the Catholic 
 priests. This cannot, hoAvever, be done, with- 
 out the emancipation of the laity. No priest 
 would dare to accept a salary from government, 
 unless this preliminary was settled. I am 
 aware it would give to government a tremen- 
 dous power in that country; but I must choose 
 the least of two evils. The great point, as phy- 
 sicians say, in some diseases, is to resist the 
 tendency to death. The great object of our day 
 is to prevent the loss of Ireland, and the conse- 
 
 ■.l<t6' obviate the tendency 
 to death ; we will first"^Keej7 the patient ali 
 and then dispute about his dofit and his medi- 
 cine. 
 
 Suppose a law were passed, that no clergy- 
 man who had ever held a living in the East 
 Riding, could be made a bishop. Many gentle- 
 men here (who have no hopes of ever being 
 removed from their parishes) would feel the 
 restriction of the law as a considerable degra- 
 dation. We should soon be pointed at as a 
 lower order of clergymen. It would not be 
 long before the common people would find some 
 fortunate epithet for us, and it would not be long 
 either before we should observe in our brethren 
 of the north and west an air of superiority, 
 which would aggravate not a little the justice 
 of the privation. Every man feels the insult 
 thrown upon his caste ; the insulted party falls 
 lower, everybody else becomes higher. There 
 are heart-burnings and recollections. Peace 
 flies from that land. The volume of parlia- 
 mentary evidence I have brought here is loaded 
 with the testimony of witnesses of all ranks and 
 occupations, stating to the House of Commons 
 the undoubted effects produced upon the lower 
 order of Catholics by these disqualifying laws, 
 and the lively interest they take in their re- 
 moval. I have seventeen quotations, sir, from 
 this evidence, and am ready to give any gen- 
 tleman my references ; but I forbear to read 
 them, from compassion to my reverend breth- 
 ren, who have trotted many miles to vote 
 against the pope, and who will trot back in the 
 dark, if I attempt to throw additional light upon 
 the subject. 
 
 I have also, sir, a high-spirited class of gen- 
 tlemen to deal with, who will do nothing from 
 fear, who admit the danger, but think it dis- 
 graceful to act as if they feared it. There is a 
 degree of fear, which destroys a man's faculties, 
 renders him incapable of acting, and makes 
 him ridiculous. There is another sort of fear, 
 which enables a man to foresee a coming evil, 
 to measure it, to examine his powers of resist- 
 ance, to balance the evil of submission against 
 the evils of opposition or defeat, and if he thinks 
 he must be ultimately overpowered, leads him 
 to find a good escape in a good time. I can see 
 no possible disgrace in feeling this sort of fear, 
 and in listening to its suggestions. But it is 
 mere cant to say, that men will not be actuated 
 by fear in such questions as these. Those who 
 pretend not to fear now, would be the first to 
 fear upon the approach of danger ; it is always 
 the case with this distant valour. Most of the 
 concessions which have been given to the Irish 
 have been given to fear. Ireland would have 
 been lost to this country, if the British legisla- 
 ture had not, with all the rapidity and precipi- 
 tation of the truest panic, passed those acts 
 which Ireland did not ask, but demanded in the 
 time of her armed associations. I should not 
 think a man brave, but mad, who did not fear 
 the treasons and rebellions of Ireland in \\me 
 of war. I should think him not dastardly, but 
 consummately wise, who provided against them 
 in time of peace. The Catholic question has 
 made a greater progress since the opening of 
 this Parliament than I ever remember it to havR 
 made, and it has made that progress from fejir 
 
368 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 alone. The House of Commons were aston- 
 ishexl by the union of the Irish Catholics. They 
 saw that ("atholic Ireland had discovered her 
 strength, and stretched out her limbs, and felt 
 manly powers, and called for manly treatment ; 
 and the House of Commons wisely and practi- 
 cally yielded to the innovations of time, and the 
 shifting attitude of human affairs. 
 
 I admit the church, sir, to be in great danger. 
 I am sure the state is so also. My remedy for 
 these evils is, to enter into an alliance with the 
 Irish people — to conciliate the clergy, by giving 
 them pensions — to loyalize the laity, by putting 
 them on a footing with the Protestant. My 
 remedy is the old one, approved of from the 
 beginning of the world, to lessen dangers, by 
 increasing friends, and appeasing enemies. I 
 think it most probable, that under this system 
 of crown patronage, the clergy will be quiet. 
 A Catholic layman, who finds all the honours of 
 the state open to him, will not, I think, run into 
 treason and rebellion — will not live with a rope 
 about his neck, in order to turn our bishops out, 
 and put his own in ; he may not, too, be of 
 opinion that the utility of his bishop will be 
 four times as great, because his income is four 
 times as large ; but whether he is or not, he 
 will never endanger his sweet acres (large mea- 
 sure) for such questions as these. Anti-Trini- 
 tarian Dissenters sit in the House of Com- 
 mons, whom we believe to be condemned to the 
 punishments of another world. There is no 
 limit to the introduction of Dissenters into 
 both houses — Dissenting Lords or Dissenting 
 Commons. What mischief have Dissenters 
 for this last century and a half plotted against 
 the Church of England 1 The Catholic lord 
 and the Catholic gentleman (restored to their 
 fair rights) will never join with levellers and Ico- 
 noclasts. You will find them defending you 
 liereafler against your Protestant enemies. — 
 The crosiiT in any hand, the mitre on any head, 
 are more tolerable in the eyes of a Catholic 
 than doAological Barebones and tonsured Crom- 
 well. 
 
 Wc preach to our congregations, sir, that a 
 tree is known by its fruits. By the fruits it 
 produces I will judge your system. What has 
 it done for Ireland 1 New Zealand is emerg- 
 ing — Otaheite is emerging — Ireland is not 
 emerging — she is still veiled in darkness — her 
 children, safe under no law, live in the very 
 shadow of death. Has your system of exclu- 
 sion made Ireland rich 1 Has it made Ireland 
 loyal 1 Has it made Ireland freel Has it 
 made Ireland happy 1 How is the wealth of 
 Ireland proved! Is it by the naked, idle, suf- 
 fering savages, who are slumbering on the mud 
 Ilo(n- of their cabins 1 In what does the loyalty 
 of Ireland consist 1 Is it in the eagerness with 
 which they would range themselves under the 
 hostijp banner of any invader, for your destruc- 
 tion and for your distress! Is it liberty when 
 men breathe and move among the bayonets of 
 English soldiers 1 Is their happiness and their 
 history any thing but such a tissue of murders, 
 burnings,hanging, famine, and disease, as never 
 existed before in the annals of the world ? — 
 This is the system which, I am sure, with very 
 different intentions, and different views of its 
 effects, you are met this day to uphold. These 
 
 are the dreadful consequences, which those 
 laws your petition prays may be continued, 
 have produced upon Ireland. From the prin- 
 ciples of that system, from the cruelty of those 
 laws, I turn, and turn with the homage of my 
 whole heart, to that memorable proclamation 
 which the head of our church — the present mo- 
 narch of these realms — has lately made to his 
 hereditary dominions of Hanover — Thatnovian 
 should be subjected to civil incapacities on account of 
 religious opinions. Sir, there have been many 
 memorable things done in this reign. Hostile 
 armies have been destroyed ; fleets have been 
 captured; formidable combinations have been 
 broken to pieces — but this sentiment, in the mouth 
 of a king, deserves more than all glories and 
 victories the notice of that historian who is des- 
 tined to tell to future ages the deeds of the Eng- 
 lish people. I hope he will lavish upon it 
 every gem which glitters in the cabinet of genius, 
 and so uphold it to the world that it will be re. 
 membered when Waterloo is forgotten, and 
 when the fall of Paris is blotted out from the 
 memory of man. Great as it is, sir, this is not 
 the only pleasure I have received in these lat- 
 ter daj's. I have seen, within these few weeks, 
 a degree of Avisdom in our mercantile laws, 
 such superiority to vulgar prejudice, views so 
 just and so profound, that it seemed to me as if 
 I was reading the works of a speculative econo- 
 mist, rather than the improvement of a practical 
 politician, agreed to by a legislative assembly, 
 and upon the eve of being carried into execu- 
 tion, for the benefit of a great people. Let who 
 will be their master, I honour and praise the 
 ministers who have learnt such a lesson. I re- 
 joice that I have lived to see such an improve- 
 ment in English affairs — that the stubborn resis- 
 tance to all improvement — the contempt of all 
 scientific reasoning, and the rigid adhesion to 
 every stupid error which so long characterized 
 the proceedings of this country, are fast giving 
 away to better things, under better men, placed 
 in better circumstances. 
 
 I confess it is not without severe pain that, 
 in the midst of all this expansion and improve- 
 ment, I perceive that in our profession we are 
 still calling for the same exclusion — still ask- 
 ing that the same fetters maybe riveted on our 
 fellow-creatures — still mistaking what consti- 
 tutes the weakness and misfortune of the 
 church, for that which contributes to its glory, 
 its dignity, and its strength. Sir, there are two 
 petitions at this moment in this house, against 
 two of the wisest and best measures which 
 ever came into the British Parliament, against 
 the impending corn law and against the Catholic 
 emancipation — the one bill intended to increase 
 the comforts, and the other to allay the bad pas- 
 sions of man. — Sir, I am not in a situation of life 
 to do much good, but I will take care that I will 
 not willingly do any evil. — The wealth of the 
 Riding should not tempt me to petition against 
 either of those bills. With the corn bill, I have 
 nothing to do at this time. Of the Catholic 
 emancipation bill, I shall say, that it will be 
 the foundation stone of a lasting religious 
 peace; that it will give to Ireland not all that 
 it wants, but what it most wants, and without 
 which no other boon will be of any avail. 
 
 When this bill passes, it will be a signal to 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 all the religious sects of that unhappy country 
 to lay aside their mutual hatred, and to live in 
 peace, as equal men should live under equal 
 law — when this bill passes, the Orange flag 
 will fall — when this bill passes, the Green flag 
 
 of the rebel will fall — when this bill passes, no people. 
 
 other flag will fly in the land of Erin than that 
 flag which blends the lion with the harp— that 
 flag which, wherever it does fly, is the sign of 
 freedom and of joy — the only banner in Europe 
 which floats over a limited king and a free 
 
 SPEECH AT THE TAUNTON EEFORM MEETING-^ 
 
 Mr. Bailtft, — This is the greatest measure 
 which has ever been before Parliament in my 
 time, and the most pregnant with good or evil 
 to the country; and though I seldom meddle 
 with political meetings, I could not reconcile it 
 to my conscience to be absent from this. 
 
 Every year, for this half century, the ques- 
 tion of reform has been pressing upon us, till 
 it has swelled up at last into this great and 
 awful combination ; so that almost every city 
 and every borough in England are at this mo- 
 ment assembled for the same purpose, and are 
 doing the same thing we are doing. It damps 
 the ostentation of argument and mitigates the 
 pain of doubt, to believe (as I believe) that the 
 measure is inevitable; the consequences may 
 be good or bad, but done it must be ; I defy the 
 most determined enemy of popular influence, 
 either now or a little time from now, to prevent 
 a reform in Parliament. Some years ago, by 
 timely concession, it might have been prevent- 
 ed, if members had been granted to Birming- 
 ham, Leeds, and Manchester, and other great 
 towns, as opportunities occurred, a spirit of 
 conciliation would have been evinced, and the 
 people might have been satisfied with a reform, 
 which though remote would have been gradual ; 
 but with the customary blindness and insolence 
 of human beings, the day of adversity was for- 
 gotten, the rapid improvement of the people 
 was not noticed ; the object of a certain class 
 
 * 1 was a sincere frienri to reform ; I am so still. It 
 was a great deal too violent — but ttie only justification 
 is, that you cannot reform as you wish, by liegrees ; 
 you must avail yourself of the few opportunities that 
 present themselves. The reform carried, it became the 
 business of every honest man to turn it to good, and to 
 see that the people (drunk with their new'power) did 
 not ruin our ancient institutions. We have been in 
 considerable danger, and that danger is not over. What 
 alarms me most is the large price paid by both parties 
 for popular favour. The yeomanry were put down : 
 nothing could be more grossly absurd— the people were 
 rising up against the poor-laws, and such an e.xcellent 
 and permanent force was abolished because they were 
 not deemed a proper force to deal with popular insur- 
 rections. You may just as well oliject to put out a lire 
 with pond water because pump water is better for the 
 purpose : I say, put out the fire with the first water you 
 can get ; but the truth is, radicals don't like armed yeo- 
 men : tliey have an ugly homicide appearance. Again, 
 —a million of revenue is given up in the nonsensical 
 penny-post scheme, to please my old, excellent, and 
 universally dissentient friend, Noah Warburton. I ad- 
 mire the whig ministry, and think they have done more 
 good things than all the ministries since the Revolu- 
 tion ; but these concessions are sad and unworthy 
 marks of weakness, and fill reasonable men with just 
 alarm. All this folly has taken place since they have 
 become ministers upon principles of chivalry arid eal- 
 lantry ; and the tories, too, for fear of the people, have 
 been much too quiet. There is only one principle of 
 public conduct — Do what you thinkrirrht, avd take place 
 and power as an accident. Upon any other plan, office is 
 Bhabbiness, labour, and sorrow. 
 47 
 
 of politicians was to please the court and to 
 gratify their own arrogance by treating every 
 attempt to expand the representation, and to 
 increase the popular influence, with every spe- 
 cies of contempt and obloquy: the golden op- 
 portunity was lost ; and now proud lips must 
 swallow bitter potions. 
 
 The arguments and the practices (as I re- 
 member to have heard Mr. Huskisson say), 
 which did very well twenty years ago, will not 
 do now. The people read too much, think too 
 much, see too many newspapers, hear too 
 many speeches, have their eyes too intensely 
 fixed upon political events. But if it was pos- 
 sible to put off parliamentary reform a week 
 ago, is it possible nowl When a monarch 
 (whose amiable and popular manners have, I 
 verily believe, saved us from a- revolution) ap- 
 proves the measure — when a minister of exalt- 
 ed character plans and fashions it — when a 
 cabinet of such varied talent and disposition 
 protects it — when such a body of the aristocra- 
 cy vote for it — when the hundred-horse power 
 of the press is labouring for it; — who does not 
 know, after this, (whatever be the decision of 
 the present Parliament,) that the measure is 
 virtually carried — and that all the struggle 
 between such annunciation of such a plan, 
 and its completion, is tumult, disorder, disaf- 
 fection, and (it may be) political ruin] 
 
 An honourable member of the honourable 
 house, much connected with this town, and 
 once its representative, seems to be amazingly 
 surprised, and equally dissatisfied, at this com- 
 bination of king, ministers, nobles, and people, 
 against his opinion: — like the gentleman who 
 came home from serving on a jury very much 
 disconcerted, and complaining he had met with 
 eleven of the most obstinate people he had ever 
 seen in his life, whom he found it absolutely 
 impossible by the strongest arguments to bring 
 over to his way of thinking. 
 
 They tell you, gentlemen, that you hai^e grown 
 rich and powerful with these rotten boroughs, 
 and that it would be madness to part with 
 them, or to alter a constitution which had pro- 
 duced such happy effects. There happens, 
 gentlemen, to live near my parsonage a labour 
 ing man, of very superior character and under 
 standing to his fellow-labourers ; and who has 
 made such good use of that superiority, thai 
 he has saved what is (for his station in life) 
 a very considerable sum of money, and if his 
 existence is extended to the common period, 
 he will die rich. It happens, however, that he, 
 is (and long has been) troubled with violent 
 stomachic pains, for which he has hitherto ob« 
 
370 
 
 WORKS OF THE RT. S\T)NEV SMITH. 
 
 taincd no relief, an-l which reallr are thi 
 and torment of his life. Now, if my er 
 labourer were lo send for a physician. 
 coDsuIt him rctpcciin;; this malady, u 
 not be very singular lanjuaje if oar 
 were to say to him, ** Mvp't^d fri«"nd, v 
 ly will not b- ----.-. . . 
 these pain*; i 
 
 •n-n '"i ! it to the ma^s of mankind. And 
 It is, that as often as misf.rMn" 
 ni home, or imitation eic:v - is 
 
 .'!■ r .' r,-r ,rrn i> r' irn ,r,- \ f.,^ 
 r Will 
 
 of erePk' 
 
 YoU i i.'civ u.:i av>i be ^vo I.^ul.sh a.iJ - 
 rreet as to pirt with the pains in y 
 
 mach?** — Why, what would be the an . . ri : 
 
 the rustic to this nonsensical monition ? - \fr.. . «<> contcnird wiih this reluni*. J'-ruap* not, 
 .'ter of rhubarb! (he would say) I am not ric -sir: I never hope to content men whose paroe 
 
 inconsequence of the pains in r- r-r«T to be con'" ■■ ' ' •' ih-y arc not 
 
 but in spite of the pains in my - --d. I am sui 'tit will then 
 
 y ,K„';H hir- V"*! !**i tirTT-s r "-Tivlr b* cir'*. I am 
 
 IhH Iu liic t\-\Mi^r<i tTid Corfu ■ 
 the Ffonse of Commons, but t.> f 
 -"■ '-It and hononraWe member^ v. ... 
 contained within its walls. I 
 
 .•: l-vy. 
 
 Th-y tell you of the few men of na- 
 character who have sat for borouijhs; ' 
 thing is said of those m<«an w^ men 
 who are sent down ererr dav by ihei: 
 
 rraiir masifr-- • > '•■'.•..,, ... ,. i 
 
 !«ary wars, t 
 
 '■\ It !>iich a III 1 .'" 
 
 IS the repcnl i ! ;- 
 
 ;, lie of the srniii'.,-!'?r; 
 
 I be carried on faintly, and 
 
 1 would snon feel that your 
 
 r ihey would 
 
 .T rh"nf«* is 
 
 ainne, there 
 "n would let 
 
 ' -- -^r mar- 
 . ; who 
 
 not a 
 
 •uffer, 
 
 from ih-- arrijfnulai.on <.f ba ! 
 
 men. Bit, Mr. BaififT, if this ,< 
 
 it really wer»» a tjrcnt pohtinl i:.. 
 
 cities o'f lOO.ftOO men shouM have no 
 
 «entatives, b»'cau<'» xYin^f r>'pf«**<'nr.Tii v 
 
 1 for political ditrhf - ' ■ • 
 
 il parks: that t';- 
 
 • :\n\ sold like av . 
 ! merchant 
 
 n and bnv ' 
 • twenty m 
 ^ ; •. ■: can such a'^^'-vri'i,):)-. • 
 before ih* people? M'i*e nr 
 
 -sanf with human aflTairj. may • 
 "jch theori'^s to each oth^r in rf^'irem- 
 can the people crer be tanpht that i; 
 thev should be boniht and sold ! Ca- 
 hemenrr of rloqurnt d<*mocrats be r 
 «nrh arguments and theories! V,-\^ '\ ■ 
 of honest and limifd men be r- 
 gam'")t« and th''or»es? The r: 
 Kivcnmcn! s looked at by all t . 
 l»-it- It is impowibfe lo explain, dei'e.- 
 
 ■. irnl sj we tnu 1 ,'h)-*ever 
 
 r), proceed i > m:il.-e laws 
 
 . ;:;... we are sure, will not be Jet 
 
 r^-»-- j alone. 
 
 I c'e I We raieht really ima?ine. from the objec- 
 
 wksA ,b, 
 
 ; . Confer, and the sSeiuV ani re-.(w-otai>!e 
 
 '.• gentlemen, who will probnbly have 
 
 ■ ^-^-ive;— it may be true of the trades- 
 
 L'sfH-T. it may b« just of the coun- 
 
 n of frz — it is any thinj but true 
 
 • pie. The English are a 
 
 ^. money-loving. money-?et- 
 
 ■. mt to be qniel— and wmuI i 
 
 qu.c: ;:' -.hey -.rcre not surroanded by erila 
 
WORKS OP THE REV. roXET SMITH. 
 
 4/1 
 
 .f ,_.V _-_ 
 
 ■mxtaU. be b*s«»e55 — - 
 ppose lo ib«tt the 
 
 be a lack o: 
 ~ to be C031- 
 
 XTi cai ID ibese esMsmoas 
 
 -7-irabm^ raMcry, aad dMie 
 
 ie»o^ lotilkorecMk- 
 
 ■■XTpie of cospcBsaikm 
 
 laT^s in the folfo-riag i>- 
 r^—rH 25 fir *s s?«rf 
 
 :>?$t of all taleats, geadc. 
 
 : oar afliir^ 'h---!y. *-:- 
 
 re, aboaad as moc'. 
 
 :i. I 
 
 : JUS- 
 
 thus orranirM. will eipress more £*. 
 
 The 
 
 C(: h- 
 
 t;. i. 
 and 
 
 . rv>us leciing o: ctttj ii<i>- 
 
 ;o coafott&vi 
 
 of W 
 
 ai one . 
 
 of ihf irs, «n<i ti>r no 
 
 of all reasons, that r 
 
 it Thr<? ven- ssra- i 
 
 in<r in an a•^■>:lv cC tem^r .. 
 
 ment of corjvir.i'ions co . 
 
 thirtv i»ersons, s^lii lo ihe r TTr-r^v^t-i ^i » t >. 
 
 who are ihea-iflves perhaps scM to xJie gorern- i 
 
 r are niio.i br a popniar 
 ;n npris*j: micisi^r, anj 
 cace. 
 
372 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 SPEECH AT TAUNTON. 
 
 Mr. CttAmjiATf, — I am particularly happy to 
 assist on this occasion, because I think that the 
 accession of the present king is a marked and 
 important era in English histor)'. Another 
 coronation has taken place since I have been 
 iQ the world, but I never assisted at its celebra- 
 tion. I saw in it a change of masters, not a 
 change of system. I did not understand the joy 
 which it occasioned. I did not feel it, and I did 
 not counterfeit what I did not feel. 
 
 I think very dilTerently of the accession of his 
 present majesty. I believe I see in that acces- 
 sion a great probability of serious improvement, 
 and a great increase of public happiness. The 
 evils which have been long complained of by 
 bold and intelligent men are now universally 
 admitted. The public feeling, which has been so 
 oftenappealedto, is now intensely excited. The 
 remedies which have so often been called for 
 are now at last vigorously, wisely and faith- 
 fully applied. I admire, gentlemen, in the pre- 
 sent king, his love of peace — I admire in him 
 his disposition to economy, and I admire in 
 him, above all, his failhtlil and honorable con- 
 duct to those who happen to be his ministers. 
 He was, I believe, quite as faithful to the Duke 
 of Wellington as to Lord Grey, and would, I 
 have no doubt, be quite as faithful to the politi- 
 cal enemies of Lord Grey (if he thought fit to 
 employ them), as he is to Lord Grey himself. 
 There is in this reign, no secret influence, no 
 double ministry — on whomsoever he confers 
 the otfice, to him he gives that confidence with- 
 out which the office cannot be holden with 
 honour, nor executed with efl"ect. He is not 
 only a peaceful king, and an economical king, 
 but he is an honest king. So far, I believe, 
 every individual of this company will go with 
 me. There is another topic of eulogiura, on 
 which, before I sit down, I should like to say 
 a few words — I mean the willingness of our 
 present king to investigate abuses and to re- 
 form them. If this subject is not unpleasant, I 
 -will offer upon it a very few observations — a 
 few, because the siibject is exhausted, and be- 
 cause, if it were not, I have no right, from my 
 standing or my situation in this countjs to de- 
 tain you long upon that or any other subject. 
 
 In criticising this great question of reform, I 
 think there is some injustice done to its authors. 
 Men seem to suppose that a minister can sit 
 down and make a plan of reform with as much 
 ease and as much exactness, and with as com- 
 plete a gratification of his own will, as an 
 architect can do in building or altering a house. 
 But a minister of state (it should be in justice 
 observed), works in the midst of hatred, injus- 
 tice, violence, and the worst of human passions 
 — his works are not the works of calm and 
 unembarrassed wisdom — they are not the best 
 that a dreamer of dreams can imagine. It is 
 enough if they are the best plans which the 
 passions, parties, and prejudices of the times 
 in which he acts will permit. In passing are- 
 form bill, the minister overthrows the long and 
 deep interest which powerful men have in 
 
 existing abuses — he subjects himself to the 
 deepest hatred, and encounters the bitterest op- 
 position. Auxiliaries he must have, and auxili- 
 aries he can only find among the people — not 
 the mob — but the great mass of those who have 
 opinions worth hearing, and property worth de- 
 fending — a greater mass, I am happy to say, in 
 this country than exists in any other country on 
 the face of the earth. Now, before the mid- 
 dling orders will come forward with one great 
 impulse, they must see that something is of- 
 fered them worth the price of contention ; they 
 must see that the object is great and the gain 
 serious. If you call them in at all, it must not 
 be to displace one faction at the expense of 
 another, but to put down all factions — to sub- 
 stitute purity and principle for corruption — to 
 give to the many that political power which the 
 few have unjustly taken to themselves — to get 
 rid of evils so ancient and so vast that any 
 other arm than the public arm would be lifted 
 up against them in vain. This, then, I say, is 
 one of the reasons why ministers have been 
 compelled to make their measures a little more 
 vigorous and decisive than a speculative phi- 
 losoper, sitting in his closet, might approve of. 
 They had a mass of opposition to contend with 
 which could be encountered only by a general 
 exertion of public spirit — they had a long-suf- 
 fering and an often deceived public to appeal 
 to, who were determined to suffer no longer, 
 and to be deceived no more. The alternative 
 was to continue the ancient abuses, or to do 
 what they have done — and most firmly do I be- 
 lieve that you and I, and the latest posterity of 
 us all, will rejoice in the decision they have 
 made. Gradation has been called for in re- 
 form : we might, it is said, have taken thirty or 
 forty years to have accomplished what we have 
 done in one year. 'It is not so much the mag- 
 nitude of what you are doing we object to, as 
 the suddenness.' But was not gradation ten- 
 dered 1 Was it not said by the friends of re- 
 form — 'Give us Birmingham and Manchester, 
 and M'e will be satisfied]' and what was the 
 answer 1 'No Manchester, no Birmingham, 
 no reform in any degree — all abuses as they 
 are — all perversions as we found them — the 
 corruptions which our fathers bequeathed us 
 we will hand down unimpaired and unpurified 
 to our children.' But I would say to the gra- 
 duate philosopher, — ' How often does a reform- 
 ing minister occur?' and if such are so com., 
 mon that you can command them when you 
 please, how often does a reforming monarch 
 occur 1 and how often does the conjunction 
 occur 1 Are }^ou sure that a people, bursting 
 into new knowledge, and speculating on every 
 public event, will wait for your protracted re- 
 form 7 Strike while the iron is hot — up with 
 the arm, and down with the hammer, and up 
 again with the arm, and down again with the 
 hammer. The iron is hot — the opportunity 
 exists now — if you neglect it, it may not return 
 for an hundred years to come. 
 
 There is an argument I have often heard, and 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 that is this — Are we to be afraid 1 — is this mea- 
 sure to be carried by intimidation 1 — is the 
 House of Lords to be overau^ed 1 But this 
 style of argument proceeds from confounding 
 together two sets of feelings which are entirely 
 distinct — personal fear and political fear. If 
 I am afraid of voting against this bill, because 
 a mob may gather about the house of Lords— 
 because stones may be flung at my head — be- 
 cause my house may be attacked by a mob, I 
 am a poltroon, and unfit to meddle with public 
 affairs ; but I may rationally be afraid of pro- 
 ducing great public agitation — I may be honour- 
 ably afraid of flinging people into secret clubs 
 and conspiracies — I may be wisely afraid of 
 making the aristocracy hateful to the great body 
 of the people. This surely has no more to do 
 with fear than a loose identity of name ; it is in 
 fact prudence of the highest order; the delibe- 
 rate reflection of a wise man who does not like 
 M'hat he is going to do, but likes still less the 
 consequence of not doing it, and who, of two 
 evils, chooses the least. 
 
 There are some men much afraid of what is 
 to happen : my lively hope of good is, I con- 
 fess, mingled with very little apprehension, but 
 of one thing I must be candid enough to say 
 that I am much afraid, and that is of the opinion 
 now increasing, that the people are become in- 
 different to reform ; and of that opinion I am 
 afraid, because I believe in an evil hour it may 
 lead some misguided members of the upper 
 house of Parliament to vote against the bill. 
 As for the opinion itself, I hold it in the utmost 
 
 contempt. The people are waiting in virtuous 
 patience for the completion of the bill, because 
 they know it is in the hands of men who do not 
 mean to deceive them. I do not believe they have 
 given up one atom of reform — I do not believe 
 that a great people were ever before so firmly 
 bent upon any one measure. I put it to any man 
 of common sense, whether he believes it possi- 
 ble, after the king and Parliament have acted as 
 they have done, that the people will ever be 
 content with much less than the present bill 
 contains. If a contrary principle is acted upon, 
 and the bill attempted to be got rid of altogether, 
 I confess I tremble for the consequences, which 
 I believe will be of the worst and most painful 
 description; and this I say deliberately, after 
 the most diligent and extensive inquiry. — 
 Upon that diligent inquiry I repeat again my 
 firm conviction, that the desire of reform has 
 increased, not diminished ; that the present re- 
 pose is not indifference, but the calmness of 
 victory, and the tranquillity of success. When 
 I see all the wishes and appetites of created 
 beings changed, when I see an eagle, that after 
 long confinement, has escaped into the air, 
 come back to his cage and his chains, — when 
 I see the emancipated negro asking again for 
 the hoe which has broken down his strength, 
 and the lash which has tortured his body, I will 
 then, and not till then, believe that the English 
 people will return to their ancient degradation 
 — that they will hold out their repentant hands 
 for those manacles which at this moment lay 
 broken into links at their feet. 
 
 SPEECH AT TAUNTON. 
 
 [From the " Taunton Courier" of October 12th, 1831.] 
 
 The RETEUENn Stdnet Smith rose and said: 
 — Mr. Bailiff, I have spoken so often on this 
 subject, that I am sure both you and the gen- 
 tlemen here present will be obliged to me for 
 saying but little, and that favour I am as will- 
 ing to confer, as you can be to receive it. I 
 feel most deeply the event which has taken 
 place, because, by putting the two houses of 
 Parliament in collision with each other, it will 
 impede the public business, and diminish the 
 public prosperity. I feel it as a churchman, 
 because I cannot but blush to see so many dig- 
 nitaries of the church arrayed against the wishes 
 and happiness of the people. "I feel it more than 
 all, because I believe it will sow the seeds of 
 deadly hatred between the aristocracy and the 
 great mass of the people. The loss of the bill 
 I do not feel, and for the best of all possible 
 reasons — because I have not the slightest idea 
 that it is lost. I have no more doubt, before 
 the expiration of the winter, that this bill will 
 pass, than I have that the annual tax bills -nill 
 pass, and greater certainty than this no man can 
 have, for Franklin tells us, there are but two 
 things certain in this world — death and taxes. 
 As for the possibility of the House of Lords 
 preventing ere long a reform of Parliament, I 
 
 hold it to be the most absurd notion that ever 
 entered into human imagination. I do not 
 mean to be disrespectful, but the attempt of the 
 lords to stop the progress of reform, reminds 
 me very forcibly of the great storm of Sidmouth, 
 and of the conduct of the excellent Mrs. Part- 
 ington on that occasion. In the winter of 1824, 
 there set in a great flood upon that town — the 
 tide rose to an incredible height — the waves 
 rushed in upon the houses, and ever}'- thing 
 was threatened with destruction. In the midst 
 of this sublime and terrible storm, Dame Part- 
 ington, who lived upon the beach, was seen at 
 the door of her house with mop and pattens, 
 trundling her mop, squeezing out the sea-water, 
 and vigorously pushing away the Atlantic 
 Ocean. The Atlantic was roused. Mrs. Part- 
 ington's spirit was up ; but I need not tell you 
 that the contest was unequal. The Atlantic 
 Ocean beat Mrs. Partington. She was excel- 
 lent at a slop, or a puddle, but she should not 
 have meddled with a tempest. Gentlemen, be 
 at your ease — be quiet and steady. You will 
 beat Mrs. Partington. 
 
 They tell you, gentlemen, in the debates by 
 which we have been latelj^ occupied, that the 
 bill is not justified by experience. T do net 
 2 I 
 
374 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 think this true, but if it were true, nations are 
 sometimes compelled to act without experience 
 for their guide, and to trust to their own saga- 
 city for the anticipation of consequences. The 
 instances where this countr)' has been compel- 
 led thus to act ha\re been so eminently success- 
 ful, that I see no cause for fear, even if we 
 were acting in the manner imputed to us by our 
 enemies. What precedents and what experi- 
 ence were there at the Reformation, when the 
 country, M'ith one unanimous effon, pushed out 
 the pope, and his grasping and ambitious cler- 
 gy ? — What experience, when, at the Revolu- 
 tion, we drove away our ancient race of kings, 
 and chose another family more congenial to 
 our free principles? — And yet to those two 
 events, contrary to experience, and unguided 
 by precedents, we owe all our domestic happi- 
 ness, and civil and religious freedom — and 
 having got rid of corrupt priests and despotic 
 kings, by our sense and our courage, are we 
 now to be intimidated by the awful danger of 
 extinguishing boroughmongers, and shaking 
 from our necks the ignominious yoke which 
 their baseness has imposed upon us 1 Go on, 
 they say, as you have done for these hundred 
 years last past. I answer, it is impossible — 
 five hundred people now write and read where 
 one hundred wrote and read fifty years ago. 
 The iniquities and enormities of the borough 
 system are now known to the meanest of the 
 people. You have a different sort of men to 
 deal with — you must change because the beings 
 
 whom you govern are changed. After all, and 
 to be short, I must say that it has always ap- 
 peared to me to be the most absolute nonsense 
 that we cannot be a great, or a rich and happy 
 nation, without suffering ourselves to be bought 
 and sold every five years like a pack of negro 
 slaves. I hope I am not a very rash man, but 
 I would launch boldly into this experiment 
 without any fear of consequences, and I believe 
 there is not a man here present who would not 
 cheerfully embark with me. As to the enemies 
 of the bill, who pretend to be reformers, I know 
 them, I believe, better than you do, and I ear- 
 nestly caution you against them. You will have 
 no more of reform than they arc compelled to 
 grant — you will have no reform at all, if they 
 can avoid it — you will be hurried into a war to 
 turn your attention from reform. They do not 
 understand you — they will not believe in the 
 improvement you have made — they think the 
 English of the present day are as the English 
 of the times of Queen Anne or George the First. 
 They know no more of the present state of their 
 own country, than of the state of the Esquimaux 
 Indians. Gentlemen, I view the ignorance of 
 the present state of the country with the most 
 serious concern, and I believe they will one day 
 or another waken into conviction with horror 
 and dismay. I will omit no means of rousing 
 them to a sense of their danger; for this object 
 I cheerfully sign the petition proposed by Dr. 
 Kinglake, which I consider to be the wisest and 
 most moderate of the two. 
 
 SPEECH BY THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH 
 
 Stick to the bill — it is your Magna Charta, 
 and your Runnymede. King John made a pre- 
 sent to the barons. King William has made a 
 similar present to you. Never mind, common 
 qualities good in common times. If a man 
 does not vote for the bill he is unclean — the 
 plague-spot is upon him ; push him into the 
 lazaretto of the last century, with Wetherell 
 and Saddler ; purify the air before you approach 
 him ; bathe your hands in chloride of lime, if 
 you have been contaminated by his touch. 
 
 So far from its being a merely theoretical 
 improvement, I put it to any man, who is him- 
 self embarked in a profession, or has sons in 
 the same situation, if the unfair influence of 
 boroughmongers has not perpetually thwarted 
 him in his lawful career of ambition, and pro- 
 fessional emolument 1 " I have been in three 
 general engagements at sea," said an old sailor 
 — "have been twice wounded; — I commanded 
 the boats when the French frigate, the Astho- 
 XABE, was cut out so gallantly." "Then you 
 are made a post captain 1" " No. I was very 
 near it ; but — Lieutenant Thomson cut me out, 
 as I cut out the French frigate ; his father is 
 town clerk of the borough of which Lord 
 
 F is member, and there my chance 
 
 was finished." In the same manner, all over 
 England, you will find great scholars rotting on 
 curacies — brave captains starving in garrets — 
 
 profound lawyers decayed and mouldering in 
 the inns of court, because the parsons, warriors, 
 and advocates of boroughmoneers must be 
 crammed to saturation, before there is a morsel 
 of bread for the man who does not sell his votes, 
 and put his country up to auction ; and though 
 this is of every day occurrence, the borough 
 system, we are told, is no practical evil. 
 
 Who can bear to walk through a slaughter- 
 house 1 blood, garbage, stomachs, entrails, legs, 
 tails, kidneys, horrors — I often walk a mile 
 about to avoid it. What a scene of disgust and 
 horror is an election — the base and infamous 
 traffic of principles — a candidate of high cha- 
 racter reduced to such means — the perjury and 
 evasion of agents — the detestable rapacity of 
 voters — the ten days' dominion of mammon 
 and Belial. The bill lessens it — begins the 
 destruction of such practices — affords soma 
 chance, and some means of turning public 
 opinion against bribery, and of rendering it iw 
 famous. 
 
 But the thing I cannot, and will not bear, i! 
 this; — what right has this lord, cr that marquis 
 to buy ten seats in Parliament, in the shape of 
 boroughs, and then to make laws to govern me 1 
 And how are these masses of power re-distri- 
 buted 1 The eldest son of my lord is just come 
 from Eton — he knows a good deal about .-Eneas, 
 and Dido, Apollo, and Daphne— and that is all; 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 375 
 
 and to this b03',his father gives a six hundredth 
 part of the power of making laws, as he would 
 give him a horse, or a double-barreled gun. 
 Then Vellum, the steward, is put in — an admi- 
 rable man; — he has raised tbe estates — watched 
 the progress of the family road, and canal bills 
 — and Vellum shall help to rule over the people 
 of Israel. A neighbouring country gentleman, 
 Mr. Plumpkin, hunts with my lord — opens him 
 a gate or two, while the hounds are running — 
 dines with my lord— agrees with my lord — 
 wishes he could rival the Southdown sheep of 
 ray lord — and upon Plumpkin is conferred a 
 portion of the government. Then there is a 
 distant relation of the same name, in the coun- 
 ty militia, with white teeth, who calls up the 
 carriage at the opera, and is always wishing 
 O'Connell was hanged, drawn, and quartered — 
 then a barrister, who has written an article in 
 the Quarterly, and is very likely to speak, and 
 refute M'Culloch; and these five people, in 
 whose nomination I have no more agency than 
 I have in the nomination of the toll-keepers of 
 the Bosphorus, are to make laws for me and 
 my family — to put their hands in my purse, and 
 to sway the future destinies of this country; 
 and when the neighbours step in, and beg per- 
 mission to say a few words before these persons 
 are chosen, there is an universal cry of ruin, 
 confusion, and destruction; — we have become 
 a great people under Vellum and Plumpkin — 
 under Vellum and Plumpkin our ships have 
 covered the ocean — under Vellum and Plump- 
 kin our armies have secured the strength of the 
 hills — to turn out Vellum and Plumpkin is not 
 reform, but revolution. 
 
 Was there ever such a ministry 1 Was there 
 ever before a real ministry of the people ] Look 
 at the condition of the country when it was 
 placed in their hands : the state of the house 
 when the incoming tenant took possession: 
 windows broken, chimneys on fire, mobs round 
 the house threatening to pull it down, roof tum- 
 bling, rain pouring in. Ii was courage to occu- 
 py it; it was a miracle to save it; it will be the 
 glory of glories to enlarge and expand it, and to 
 make itthe eternal palace of wise and temperate 
 freedom. 
 
 Proper examples have been made among the 
 unhappy and misguided disciples of Swing: a 
 rope hail been carried round O'Connell's legs, 
 and a ring inserted in Cobbett's nose. Then 
 the game laws ! ! ! Was ever conduct so shabby 
 as that of the two or three governments Avhich 
 preceded that of Lord Grey ! The cruelties and 
 enormities of this code had been thoroughly 
 exposed; and a general conviction existed of 
 the necessity of a change. Bills were brought 
 in by various gentlemen, containing some tri- 
 fling alteration in this abominable code, and 
 even these were sacrificed to the tricks and 
 manoeuvres of some noble Nimrod, who availed 
 himself of the emptiness of tlie town in July, 
 and flung out the bill. Government never 
 stirred a step. The fulness of the prisons, the 
 wretchedness and demoralization of the poor, 
 never came across them. The humane and 
 considerate Peel never once oifered to extend 
 his aegis over them. It had nothing to do with 
 the state of party; and some of their double- 
 barreled voters might be offended. In the mean 
 
 time, for every ten pheasants which fluttered in 
 the wood, one English peasant was rotting in 
 jail. No sooner is Lord Althorp chancellor of 
 the exchequer, than he turns out of the house a 
 trumpery and (perhaps) an insidious bill for 
 the improvement of die game laws; and in an 
 instant offers the assistance of government for 
 the abolition of the whole code. 
 
 Then look at the gigantic Brougham, sworn 
 in at 12 o'clock, and before G, has a bill on the 
 table abolishing the abuses of a court which 
 has been the curse of the people of England 
 for centuries. For twenty-five long years did 
 Lord Eldon sit in that court, surrounded with 
 misery and sorrow, which he never held up a 
 finger to alleviate. The widow and the orphan 
 cried to him as vainly as the town crier cries 
 when he oflers a small reward for a full purse ; 
 the bankrupt of the court became the lunatic of 
 the court; estates mouldered away, and man- 
 sions fell down ; but the fees came in, and all 
 was well. But in an instant the iron mace of 
 Brougham shivered to atoms this house of 
 fraud and of delay; and this is the man who 
 will help to govern you; who bottoms his repu- 
 tation on doing good to you ; who knows, that 
 to reform abuses is the safest basis of fame and 
 the surest instrument of power; who uses the 
 highest gifts of reason, and the most splendid 
 eflbrts of genius, to rectify those abuses, which 
 all the genius and talent of the profession* have 
 hitherto been employed to justify, and to pro- 
 tect. Look to Brougham, and turn you to that 
 side where he waves his long and lean finger ; 
 and mark well that lace which nature has mark- 
 ed so forcibly — which dissolves pensions — 
 turns jobbers into honest men — scares away 
 the plunderer of the public — and is a terror to 
 him who doeth evil to the people. But, above 
 all, look to the northern earl, victim, before this 
 honest and manly reign, of the spitefulness of 
 the court. You may now, for the first time, 
 learn to trust in the professions of a minister; 
 you are directed by a man who prefers charac- 
 ter to place, and who has given such unequivo- 
 cal proofs of honesty and patriotism, that his 
 image ought to be amongst your household 
 gods, and his name to be lisped by your chil- 
 dren ; two thousand years hence it will be a le- 
 gend like the fable of Perseus and Andromeda; 
 Britannia changed to a mountain — two hundred 
 rotten animals menacing her destruction, till a 
 tall earl, armed with schedule A., and followed 
 by his page Russell, drives them into the deep, 
 and delivers over Britannia in safety to crowds 
 of ten-pound renters, who deafen the air Avith 
 their acclamations. Forthwith, Latin verses 
 upon this — school exercises — boys whipt, and 
 all the usual absurdities of education. Don't 
 part with an administration composed of Lord 
 Grey and Lord Brougham; and not only these, 
 but look at them all — the mild wisdom of Lans- 
 downe — the genius and extensive knowledge of 
 Holland, in whose bold and honest life there is 
 no varying or shadow of change — the unexpect- 
 ed and exemplary activity of Lord Melbourne 
 — and the rising parliamentary talents of Stan 
 le}\ You are ignorant of your best interests, 
 
 * Lord Lyndhurst is an exception ; I firmly believe hft 
 had MO wish to perpetuate the abuses of the Court lif, 
 Chancery. 
 
376 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 if every vote you can bestow is not given to 
 such a ministry as this. 
 
 You will soon find an alteration of behaviour 
 in the upper orders when elections become 
 real. You will find that you are raised to the 
 importance to which you ought to be raised. 
 The merciless ejector, the rural tyrant, will be 
 restrained within the limits of decency and hu- 
 manity, and will improve their own characters, 
 at the same time that they better your condition. 
 
 It is not the power of aristocracy that will be 
 destroyed by these measures, but the unfair 
 power. If the Duke of Newcastle is kind and 
 obliging to liis neighbours, he will probably 
 lead his neighbours ; if he is a man of sense, he 
 will lead them more certainly, and to a better 
 purpose. All this is as it should be ; but the 
 Duke of Newcastle, at present, by buying cer- 
 tain old houses, could govern his neighbours, 
 and legislate for them, even if he had not five 
 grains of understanding, and if he were the most 
 churlish and brutal man under heaven. The 
 present state of things renders unnecessary all 
 those important virtues, which rich and well- 
 born men, under a better system, would exer- 
 cise for the public good. The Duke of New- 
 castle (I mention him only as an instance,) 
 Lord Exeter will do as well, but either of those 
 noblemen, depending not upon walls, arches, 
 and abutments, for their power — but upon mer- 
 cy, charity, forbearance, indulgence, and exam- 
 ple — would pay this price, and lead the people 
 by their affections ; one would be the god of 
 Stamford, and the other of Newark. This union 
 of the great with the many is the real healthy 
 state of a country; such a country is strong to 
 invincibility — and this strength the borough 
 system entirely destroys. 
 
 Cant words creep in, and affect quarrels ; the 
 changes are rung between revolution and re- 
 form ; but, first settle whether a wise govern- 
 ment ought to attempt the measure — whether 
 any thing is wanted — whether less would do — 
 and, having settled this, mere nomenclature 
 becomes of very little consequence. But, after 
 all, if it is revolution, and not reform, it will 
 only induce me to receive an old political toast, 
 in a twofold meaning, and with twofold pleasure. 
 When King William and the great and glorious 
 "''levolution are given, I shall think not only of 
 escape from bigotry, but exemption from cor- 
 ruption ; and I shall thank Providence, which 
 has given us a second King William for the 
 destruction of vice, as the other, of that name, 
 was given us for the conservation of freedom. 
 
 All formal political changes, proposed by 
 these very men, it is said, were mild and gentle, 
 compared to this ; true, but are you on Satur- 
 day night to seize your apothecary by the throat, 
 and to say to him, " Subtle compounder, frau- 
 dulent posologistjdidnot you order me a drachm 
 of this medicine on Monday morning, and now 
 you declare that nothing short of an ounce can 
 do me any good V " True enough," would he of 
 the phials reply, "bul you did not take the drarhm 
 iin Monday morning — that makes all the differ- 
 ence, my dear sir ; if you had done as I advised 
 you at first, the small quantity of medicine 
 would have sufficed; and instead of being in a 
 night-gown and slippers up stairs, you would 
 have been walking vigorously in Piccadilly. Do 
 
 as you please — and die if you please ; but don't 
 blame me because you despised my advice, and 
 by your own ignorance and obstinacy have en- 
 tailed upon yourself tenfold rhubarb, and unli- 
 mited infusion of senna." 
 
 Now see the consequences of having a manly 
 leader, and a manly cabinet. Suppose they 
 had come out with a little ill-fashoned seven 
 months' reform ; what would have been the con- 
 sequence ? The same opposition from the to- 
 ries — that would have been quite certain — and 
 not a single reformer in England satisfied with 
 the measure. You have now a real reform, 
 and a fair share of power delegated to the people. 
 
 The anti-reformers cite the increased power 
 of the press — this is the very reason why I want 
 an increased power in the House of Commons. 
 The Times, Herald, Advertiser, Globe, Sun, 
 Courier, and Chronicle, are an heptarchy, 
 which govern this country, and govern it be- 
 cause the people are so badly represented. I 
 am perfectly satisfied, that with a fair and ho- 
 nest House of Commons the power of the press 
 would diminish — and that the greatest authority 
 would centre in the highest place. 
 
 Is it possible for a gentleman to get into 
 Parliament, at present, without doing things he 
 is utterly ashamed of — without mixing himself 
 up with the lowest and basest of mankind? 
 Hands, accustomed to the scented lubricity of 
 soap, are defiled with pitch, and contaminated 
 with filth. Is there not some inherent vice in a 
 government, which cannot be carried on but 
 with such abominable wickedness, in which no 
 gentleman can mingle without moral degrada- 
 tion ; and the practice of crimes, the very im- 
 putation of which, on other occasions, he would 
 repel at the hazard of his life? 
 
 "What signifies a small majority in the house ? 
 The miracle is, that there should have been 
 any majority at all ; that there was not an im- 
 mense majority on the other side. It was a 
 very long period before the courts of justice in 
 Jersey could put down smuggling; and why 7 
 The judges, counsel, attorneys, crier of the 
 court, grand and petty jurymen, were all smug- 
 glers, and the high sheriff and the constable 
 were running goods every moonlight night. 
 
 How are you to do without a government? 
 And what other government, if this bill is ulti- 
 mately lost, could possibly be found? How 
 could any country defray the ruinous expense 
 of protecting with troops and constables, the 
 Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel, who 
 literally would not be able to walk from the 
 Horse Guards to Grosvenor Square, without 
 two or three regiments of foot to screen them 
 from the mob; and in these hol!o\v squares the 
 hero of Waterloo would have to spend his po- 
 litical life. By the whole exercise of his splen- 
 did military talents, by strong batteries at 
 Bootle's, and White's, he might, on nights of 
 creat debate, reach the House of Lords; but Sir 
 Robert would probably be cut off", and nothing 
 could save his Twist and Lewis. 
 
 The great majority of persons returned by 
 the new boroughs would either be men of high 
 reputation for talents, or persons of fortune 
 known in the neighborhood; they have pro- 
 perly and character to lose. Why are they .to 
 plunge into mad and revolutionary projects of 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 377 
 
 pillaging the public creditor"? It is not the in- 
 terest of any such man to do it ; he would lose 
 more by the destruction of public credit than 
 what he would gain by a remission of what he 
 paid for the interest of the public debt. And if 
 it is not the interest of any one to act in this 
 manner, it is not the interest of the mass. How 
 man}^, also, of these new legislators would there 
 be, who were not themselves creditors of the 
 state ] Is it the interest of such men to create 
 a revolution, by destroying the constitutional 
 power of the House of Lords, or of the king"? 
 Does there exist in persons of that class, any 
 disposition for such changes 1 Are not all 
 feelings, and opinions, and prejudices, on the 
 opposite side 1 The majority of the new mem- 
 bers will be landed gentlemen : their genus is 
 utterly distinct from the revolutionary tribe; 
 they have molar teeth; they are destitute of the 
 carnivorous and incisive jaws of political ad- 
 venturers. 
 
 There will be mistakes at first, as there are 
 in all changes. All young ladies will imagine 
 (as soon as this bill is carried) that they will 
 be instantly married. Schoolboys believe that 
 gerunds and supines will be abolished, and 
 that currant tarts must ultimately come down 
 in price ; the corporal and sergeant are sure of 
 double pay; bad poets will expect a demand for 
 their epics ; fools will be disappointed, as they 
 always are ; reasonable men, who know what 
 to expect, will find that a very serious good has 
 been obtained. 
 
 What good to the hewer of wood and the 
 drawer of water 1 How is he benefited, if Old 
 Sarum is abolished, and Birmingham members 
 created ^ But if you ask this question of reform, 
 you must ask it of a great numberof other mea- 
 sures. How is he benefited b}^ Catholic emanci- 
 pation, by the repeal of the Corporation and Test 
 Act, by the Revolution of 168S, by any great po- 
 litical change! by a good government 1 In the 
 firstplace, if many are benefited, and the lower 
 orders are not injured, this alone is reason 
 enough for th« change. But the hewer of wood 
 and the drawer of water arc benefited by reform. 
 Reform will produce economy and investiga- 
 tion ; there will be fewer jobs, and a less lavish 
 expenditure ; wars will not be persevered in for 
 years after the people are tired of them ; taxes 
 will be taken off the poor and laid upon the rich : 
 democratic habits will be more common in a 
 country where the rich are forced to court the 
 poor for political power; cruel and oppressive 
 punishments (such as those lor night poaching), 
 will be abolished. If you steal a pheasant, you 
 will be punished as you ought to be, but not sent 
 away from your wife and children for seven 
 years. Tobacco will be 2f/. per lb. cheaper. Can- 
 dles will fall in price. These last results of an 
 improved government will be felt. We do not 
 pretend to abolish poverty or to prevent wretch- 
 edness ; but if peace, economy, and justice are 
 the results of reform, a number of small bene- 
 fits, or rather of benefits which appear small to 
 us but not to them, will accrue to millions of 
 people; and the connection between the exis- 
 tence of John Russell, and the reduced price of 
 bread and cheese, will be as clear as it has been 
 the object of his honest, wise, and useful life to 
 make it. 
 
 48 
 
 Don't be led away by such nonsense ; all 
 things are dearer under a bad government, and 
 cheaper under a good one. The real question 
 they ask you is. What difference can any 
 change of government make to youl They 
 want to keep the bees from buzzing and sting- 
 ing, in order that they may rob the hive in 
 peace. 
 
 Work well ! How does it work well, when 
 every human being in doors and out (except 
 the Duke of Wellington), says it must be made 
 to work better, or it will soon cease to work at 
 all ? It is little short of absolute nonsense to 
 call a government good, which the great mass 
 of Englishmen would before twenty years were 
 elapsed, if reform were denied, rise up and 
 destroy. Of what use have all the cruel laws 
 been of Perceval, Eldon, and Castlereagh, to 
 extinguish reform 1 Lord John Russell and 
 his abettors, would have been committed to jail 
 twenty years ago for half only of his present 
 reform ; and nov/ relays of the people would drag 
 them from London to Edinburgh ; at which latter 
 city we are told by Mr. Dundas, that there is no 
 eagerness for reform. Five minutes before 
 Moses struck the rock, this gentleman would 
 have said that there was no eagerness for water. 
 
 There are two methods of making altera- 
 tions: the one is to despise the applicants, to 
 begin with refusing every concession, then to 
 relax by making concessions w^hich are always 
 too late ; by offering in 1831 what is then too 
 late, but would have been cheerfully accepted 
 in 18.30 — gradually to O'Connellize the country, 
 till at last, after this process has gone on for 
 some time, the alarm becomes too great, and 
 every thing is conceded in hurry and confusion. 
 In the mean time fresh conspiracies have been 
 hatched by the long delay, and no gratitude is 
 expressed for what has been extorted by fear. 
 In this way, peace was concluded with America, 
 and emancipation granted to the Catholics ; and 
 in this way the war of complexion will be 
 finished in the West Indies. The other method 
 is, to see at a distance that the thing must be 
 done, and to do it effectually, and at once ,- to 
 take it out of the hands of the common people, 
 and to carry the measure in a manly liberal 
 manner, so as to satisfy the great majority — 
 The merit of this belongs to the administration 
 of Lord Grey. He is the only minister I know 
 of who has begun a great measure in good 
 time, conceded at the beginning of twenty 
 years what would have been extorted at the 
 end of it, and prevented that folly, -fiolence, 
 and ignorance, which emanate from a long de- 
 nial and extorted concession of justice to great 
 masses of human beings. I believe the question 
 of reform, or any dangerous agitation of it, is 
 set at rest for thirty or forty years ; and this is 
 an eternity in politics. 
 
 Boroughs are not the power proceeding from 
 wealth. Many men, who have no boroughs, are 
 infinitely richer than those who have — but it is 
 the artifice of wealth in seizing hold of certain 
 localities. The boroughmonger is like rheuma- 
 tism, which ow§s its power not so much to the 
 intensity of the pain as to its peculiar position ; 
 a little higher up, or a little lower down, the 
 same pain would be trifling ; but it fixes in 
 the joints, and gets into the head-quarters of 
 2i2 
 
378 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 motion and activity. The boroiighmonger 
 knows the importance of arthritic positions; 
 he disdains muscle, gets into the joints, and 
 lords it over the whole machine by felicity of 
 place. Other men are as rich — but those 
 riches are not fixed in the critical spot. 
 
 I live a good deal with all ranks and descrip- 
 tions of people; I am thoroughly convinced 
 that the parly of democrats and republicans is 
 very small and contemptible; that the English 
 love their institutions — that they love not only 
 this king, (who would not love himi) but the 
 kingly office — that they have no hatred to the 
 aristocracy. I am not airaid of trusting Eng- 
 lish happiness to English gentlemen. I believe 
 that the half million of new voters will choose 
 much better for the public than the twenty or 
 thirty peers, to whose usurped power they suc- 
 ceed. 
 
 If any man doubts the power of reform, let 
 him take these two memorable proofs of its 
 omnipotence. First, but for the declaration 
 against it, I believe the Duke of Wellington 
 might this day have been in office; and, se- 
 condly, in the whole course of the debates at 
 county meetings, and in Parliament, there are 
 not twenty men who have declared against re- 
 form. Some advance an inch, some a foot, 
 some a yard — but nobody stands still — nobody 
 says. We ought to remain just where we were 
 — every body discovers that he is a reformer, 
 and has long been so — and appears infinitely 
 delighted with this new view of himself. No- 
 body appears without the cockade — bigger or 
 less — but always the cockade. 
 
 An exact and elaborate census is called for 
 — vast information should have been laid upon 
 the table of the House — great time should have 
 been given for deliberation. All these objec- 
 tions, being turned into English, simply mean, 
 that the chances of another year should have 
 been given for defeating the bill. In that time 
 the Poles maybe crushed, the Belgians organ- 
 ized, Louis Philip dethroned; war may rage 
 all over Europe — the popular spirit may be 
 diverted to other objects. It is certainly pro- 
 voking that the ministry foresaw all these pos- 
 sibilities, and determined to model the iron 
 while it was red and glowing. 
 
 It is not enough that a political institution 
 
 works well practically: it must be defensible; 
 it must be such as will bear discussion, and 
 not excite ridicule and contempt. It might 
 work well for aught I know, if, like the savages 
 of Onelashka, we sent out to catch a king: but 
 who could defend a coronation by chase? who 
 can defend the payment of 40,000/. for the 
 three-hundredth part of the power of Parlia- 
 ment, and the re -sale of this power to govern- 
 ment for places to the Lord Williams, and 
 Lord Charles's, and others of the Anglophagil 
 Teach a million of the common people to read 
 — and such a government (work it ever so 
 well) must perish in twenty years. It is im- 
 possible to persuade the mass of mankind, that 
 there are not other and better methods of go- 
 verning a country. It is so complicated, so 
 wicked, such envy and hatred accumulate 
 against the gentlemen who have fixed them- 
 selves on the joints, that it cannot fail to perish, 
 and to be driven as it is driven from the coun- 
 try, by a general burst of hatred and detesta- 
 tion. I meant, gentlemen, to have spoken for 
 another half-hour, but I am old and tired. 
 Thank me for ending — but, gentlemen, bear 
 with me fur another moment ; one word before 
 I end. I am old, but I thank God I have lived 
 to see more than my observations on human 
 nature taught me I had any right to expect 
 I have lived to see an honest king, in whose 
 word his ministers can trust; who disdains 
 to deceive those men whom he has called 
 to the public service, but makes common 
 cause with them for the common good ; and 
 exercises the highest powers of a ruler for the 
 dearest interests of the state. I have lived to 
 see a king with a good heart, who, surrounded 
 by nobles, thinks of common men ; who loves 
 the great mass of English people, and wishes 
 to be loved by them ; who knows that his real 
 power, as he feels that his happiness, is found- 
 ed on their affection. I have lived to see a 
 king, who, without pretending to the pomp of 
 superior intellect, has the wisdom to see, that 
 the decayed institutions of human policy 
 require amendment; and who, in spite of cla- 
 mor, interest, prejudice, and fear, has the man- 
 liness to carry these Avise changes into imme- 
 diate execution. Gentlemen, farewell: shout 
 for the king. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 379 
 
 EALLOT. 
 
 j It is possible, and perhaps not very difficult, 
 
 I to invent a machine, by the aid of which 
 
 electors may vote for a candidate, or for two 
 
 ; or three candidates, out of a greater number, 
 
 I without its being discovered for whom they 
 
 i vote ; it is less easy than the rabid and foam- 
 
 ! ing radical supposes; but I have no doubt it 
 
 { may be accomplished. In Mr. Grote's dagger 
 
 I ballot box, which has been carried round the 
 
 I country by eminent patriots, you stab the 
 
 card of your favourite candidate with a dagger. 
 
 I have seen another, called the mouse-trap 
 
 ballot box, in which you poke 3'our finger into 
 
 the trap of the member you prefer, and are 
 
 caught and detained till the trap-clerk below 
 
 (who knows by means of a wire when you are 
 
 caught) marks your vote, pulls the liberator, 
 
 and releases you. Which may be the most 
 
 eligible of these two methods I do not pretend 
 
 to determine, nor do I think my excellent friend 
 
 Mr. Babbage has as yet made up his mind on 
 
 the subject; but, by some means or other, I 
 
 have no doubt the thing may be done. 
 
 Landed proprietors imagine they have a 
 right to the votes of their tenants; and in- 
 stances, in every election, are numerous where 
 tenants have been dismissed for voting con- 
 trary to the wishes of their landlords. In the 
 same manner strong combinations are made 
 against tradesmen who have chosen to think 
 and act for themselves in political matters, 
 rather than yield their opinions to the solici- 
 tations of their customers. There is a great 
 deal of tyranny and injustice in all this. I 
 should no more think of asking what the po- 
 litical opinions of a shopkeeper were, than of 
 asking whether he was tall or short, or large 
 or small : for a difference of 2^ per cent., I 
 would desert the most aristocratic butcher that 
 ever existed, and deal with one who 
 
 " Shook the arsenal and fulmined over Greece." 
 
 On the contrary, I would not adhere to the 
 man who put me in uneasy habiliments, how- 
 ever great his veneration for trial by jury, or 
 however ardent his attachment to the liberty 
 of the subject. A tenant I never had; but I 
 firmly believe that if he had gone through cer- 
 tain pecuniary formalities twice a year, I 
 should have thought it a gross act of tyranny 
 to have interfered either with his political or 
 his religious opinions. 
 
 I distinctly admit that every man has a right 
 to do what he pleases with his own. I cannot, 
 by law, prevent any one from discharging his 
 tenants and changing his tradesmen for po- 
 litical reasons ; but I may judge whether that 
 man exercises his right to the public detri- 
 ment, or for the public advantage. A man has 
 a right to refuse dealing with any tradesman 
 who is not five feet eleven inches high ; but if 
 he acts upon this rulq, he is either a madman 
 or a fool. He has a right to lay waste his 
 own estate, and to make it utterly barren ; but 
 I have also a right to point him out as one 
 
 who exercises his right in a manner very in- 
 jurious to society. He may set up a religious 
 or a political test for his tradesmen ; but ad- 
 mitting his right, and deprecating all inter- 
 ference of law, I must tell him he is making 
 the aristocracy odious to the great mass, and 
 that he is sowing the seeds of revolution. His 
 purse may be full, and his fields may be wide ; 
 but the moralist will still huld the rod of public 
 opinion over his head, and tell the money- 
 bloated blockhead that he is shaking those 
 laws of property which it has taken ages to 
 extort from the wretchedness and rapacity of 
 mankind; and that what he calls his own will 
 not long be his own, if he tramples too heavily 
 upon human patience. 
 
 All these practices are bad; but the facts 
 and the consequences are exaggerated. 
 
 In the first place, the plough is not a politi- 
 cal machine : the loom and the steam-engine 
 are furiously political, but the plough is not. 
 Nineteen tenants out of twenty care nothing 
 about their votes, and pull olf their opinions as 
 easily to their landlords as they do their hats. 
 As far as the great majority of tenants are 
 concerned, these histories of persecution are 
 mere declamatory nonsense ; they have no 
 more predilection for whom they vote than the 
 organ pipes have for w'hat tunes they are to 
 play. A tenant dismissed for a fair and just 
 cause often attributes his dismissal to political 
 motives, and endeavours to make himself a 
 martyr with the public : a man who ploughs 
 badly, or who pays badly, says he is dismissed 
 for his vote. No candidate is willing to allow 
 that he has lost his 'election by his demerits ; 
 and he seizes hold of these stories, and circu- 
 lates them with the'greatest avidity : they are 
 stated in the House of Commons ; John Rus- 
 sel and Spring Rice fall a-crying : there is 
 lamentation of liberals in the land; and many 
 groans for the territorial tyrants. 
 
 A standing reason against the frequency of 
 dismissal of tenants is, that it is always inju- 
 rious to the pecuniary interests of a landlord 
 to dismiss a tenant; the properly always suf- 
 fers in some degree by a going off tenant ; and 
 it is therefore always the interest of a land- 
 lord not to change when the tenant does his 
 duty as an agriculturalist. 
 
 To part with tenants for political reasons 
 always makes a landlord unpopular. The Con- 
 stitutional, price 4(/.; the Cato, at 3Ar/. ; and the 
 Lucius Junius Brutus, at 2d., all set upon the 
 unhappy scutiger ; and the squire, unused to 
 be pointed at, and thinking that all Europe and 
 part of Asia are thinking of him and his farm- 
 ers, is driven to the brink of suicide and de- 
 spair. That such things are done is not denied . 
 that they are scandalous when they are done 
 is equally true; but these an. reasons why 
 such acts are less frequent than they are com- 
 monly represented to be. In the same manner, 
 there are instances of shopkeepers being ma- 
 terially injured in their business from the 
 
380 
 
 WORKS OF THE RFV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 votes the}'- have ^iven ; but the facts themselves, 
 as v.'ell as the consequences, are grossly ex- 
 aggerated. If shopkeepers lose tory, they gain 
 whig customers ; and it is not always the vote 
 ■which does the mischief, but the low, vulgar 
 impertinence and the unbridled scurrility of a 
 man who thinks that, by dividing to mankind 
 their rations of butter and of cheese, he has 
 qualified himself for legislation, and that he 
 can hold the rod of empire because he has 
 wielded the 3'ard of mensuration. I detest all 
 inquisition into political opinions, but I have 
 very rarely seen a combination against any 
 tradesman who modestly, quietly, and con- 
 scientiously took his own line in politics. But 
 Brutus and butteruun, cheesemonger and Cato, 
 do not harmonize well together; good taste is 
 offended, the coxcomb loses his friends, and 
 general disgust is mistaken for combined op- 
 pression. Shopkeepers, too, are very apt to cry 
 out before they are hurt : a man who sees, after 
 an election, one of his customers buying a pair 
 of gloves on the opposite side of the way, 
 roars out that his honesty will make him a 
 bankrupt, and the county papers are filled with 
 letters from Brutus, Publicola, Hampden, and 
 Pyra. 
 
 This interference with the freedom of voting, 
 bad as it is, produces no political deliberation ; 
 it does not make the tories stronger than the 
 whigs, nor the whigs than the tories, for both 
 are equally guilty of this species of tyranny; 
 and any particular system of measure fails or 
 prevails, much as if no such practice existed. 
 The practice had better not be at all, but if a 
 certain quantity of the evil does exist, it is 
 better that it should be equally divided among 
 both parties, than that it should be exercised 
 by one for the depression of the other. There 
 are politicians always at a white heat, who 
 suppose that there are landed tyrants only on 
 one side of the question; but human life has 
 been distressingly abridged by the flood: there 
 is no time to spare; it is impossible to waste 
 it upon such senseless bigotry. 
 
 If a man is sheltered from intimidation, is it 
 at all clear that he Avould vote from any better 
 motive than intimidation"? If you make so 
 tremendous an experiment, are you sure of at- 
 taining )-our object? The landlord has perhaps 
 said a cross word to the tenant ; the candidate 
 for whom the tenant votes in opposition to his 
 landlord has taken his second son for a foot- 
 man, or his father knew the candidate's grand- 
 father: how many thousand votes, sheltered 
 (as the ballotists suppose) from intimidation, 
 would be given from such silly motives as 
 these T how many would be given from the 
 mere discontent of inferiority? or from that 
 strange simious schoolboy passion of giving 
 pain to others, even when the author cannot be 
 lound oat? — motives as pernicious as any 
 which could proceed from intimidation. So 
 that all voters screened by ballot would not be 
 screened for any public good. 
 
 The radicals, (I do not use this word in any 
 offensive sense, for I know many honest and 
 excellent men of this way of thinking), — but 
 the radicals praise and admit the lawful influ- 
 f-nce of wealth and power. They are quite 
 •sati:jfied L' a rich man of popular manners 
 
 gains the votes and affections of nis oependants ; 
 but why is this not as bad as intimidation ? 
 The real object is to vote for the good politi- 
 cian, not for the kind-hearted or agreeable man ; 
 the mischief is just the same to the country 
 whether I am smiled into a corrupt choice or 
 frowned into a corrupt choice, — what is it to 
 me whether my landlord is the best of land- 
 lords, or the most agreeable of men ? I must 
 vote for Joseph Hume, if I think Joseph more 
 honest than the marquis. The more mitigated 
 radical may pass over this, but the real carni- 
 vorous variety of the animal should declaim 
 as loudly against the fascinations as against 
 the threats of the great. The man who pos- 
 sesses the land should never speak to the man 
 who tills it. The intercourse between landlord 
 and tenant should be as strictly guarded as that 
 of the sexes in Turkey. A funded duenna 
 should be placed over every landed grandee. — 
 And then intimidation ! Is intimidation con- 
 fined to the aristocracy? Can any thing be 
 more scandalous and atrocious than the in- 
 timidation of mobs ? Did not the mob of Bris- 
 tol occasion more ruin, wretchedness, death, 
 and alarm, than all the ejection of tenants, and 
 combinations against shopkeepers, from the 
 beginning of the century ? and did not the 
 Scotch philosophers tear off the clothes of the 
 tories in Mintoshire ? or at least such clothes 
 as the customs of the country admit of being 
 worn ? — and did not they, without any reflec- 
 tion at all upon the customs of the country, 
 wash the tory voters in the river? 
 
 Some sanguine advocates of the ballot contend 
 that it would put an end to all canvassing: 
 why should it do so? Under the ballot, I can- 
 vass (it is true) a person who may secretly 
 deceive me. I cannot be sure he will not do 
 so — but I am sure it is much less likely he will 
 vote against me, when I have paid him all the 
 deference and attention which a representative 
 bestows on his constituents, than if I had total- 
 ly neglected him: to any other objections he 
 may have against me, at least I will not add 
 that of personal incivility. 
 
 Scarcely is any great virtue practised with- 
 out some sacrifice; and the admiration which 
 virtue excites seems to proceed from the con- . 
 templation of such sufferings, and of the exer- 
 tions by which they are endured : a tradesman 
 suffers some loss of trade by voting for his 
 country; is he not to vote? he might suffer 
 some loss of blood in fighting for his country; 
 is he not to fight? Every one would be a good 
 Samaritan, if he was quite sure his compassion 
 would cost him nothing. We should all be he- 
 roes, if it was not for blood and fractures ; all 
 saints, if it were not for the restrictions and priva- 
 tions of sanctity ; all patriots, if it were not for 
 the losses and misrepresentations to which pa- 
 triotism exposes us. The ballotists are a set of 
 Englishmen glowing with the love of England 
 and the love of virtue, but determined to ha- 
 zard the most dangerous experiments in politics, 
 rather than run the risk of losing a penny in 
 defence of their exalted feelings. 
 
 An abominable tyranny exercised by the bal- 
 lot is, that it compels those persons to conceal • 
 their votes, who hate all concealment, and who 
 glory in the cause they support. If you are 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 381 
 
 afraid to go in at the front door, and to say in 
 a clear voice what you have to say, go in at 
 the back door, and say it in a whisper — but 
 this is not enough for you ; you make me, who 
 am bold and honest, sneak in at the back door 
 as well as yourself: because you are afraid of 
 selling a dozen or two of gloves less than usual, 
 ■you compel me, who have no gloves to sell, or 
 who would dare and despise the loss,if I had, to 
 hide the best feelings of my heart, and to lower 
 myself down to your mean morals. It is as 
 if a few cowards, who could only fight behind 
 walls and houses, were to prevent the whole 
 regiment from showing a bold front in the field : 
 what right has the coward to degrade me who 
 am no coward, and put me in the same shame- 
 ful predicament with himself] If ballot is es- 
 tablished, a zealous voter cannot do justice to 
 his cause ; there will be so many false Hamp- 
 dens, and spurious Catos, that all men's actions 
 and motives will be mistrusted. It is in the 
 power of any man to tell me that my colours 
 are false, that I declaim with stimulated 
 warmth, and canvass with fallacious zeal ; 
 that I am a tory, though I call Russell for ever, 
 or a whig, in spite of my obstreperous pane- 
 gyrics of Peel. It is really a curious condition 
 that all men must imitate the defects of a few, 
 in order that it may not be known who have 
 the natural imperfection, and who put it on 
 from conformity. In this way, in former days, 
 to hide the gray hairs of the old, every body 
 was forced to wear powder and pomatum. 
 
 It must not be forgotten that, in the ballot, 
 concealment must be absolutely conipulsory. It 
 would never do to let one man vote openly, 
 and another secretly. You may go to the edge 
 of the box, and say, " I vote for A.," but who 
 knows that your ball is not put in for B.] 
 There must be a clear, plain opportunity for 
 telling an undiscoverable lie, or the whole in- 
 vention is at an end. How beautiful is the 
 progress of man ! — printing has abolished 
 ignorance — gas put an end to darkness — 
 steam has conquered time and distance — it 
 remained for Grote and his box to remove the 
 incumbrance of truth from human transac- 
 tions. May we not look now for more little 
 machines to abolish the other cardinal virtues. 
 But if all men are suspected; if things are 
 so contrived that it is impossible to know what 
 men really think, a serious impediment is 
 created to the formation of good public opinion 
 in the multitude. There is a town (No. 1.) in 
 which live two very clever and respectable 
 men, Johnson and Pelham, small tradesmen, 
 men always willing to run some risk for the 
 public good, and to be less rich, and more 
 honest than their neighbours. It is of con- 
 siderable consequence to the formation of opi- 
 nion in this town, as an example, to know how 
 Johnson and Pelham vote. It guides the af- 
 fections, and directs the understandings, of the 
 whole population, and materially affects public 
 opinion in this town ; and in another borough. 
 No. 2, it would be of the highest importance 
 to public opinion if it were certain how Mr. 
 Smith, the ironmonger, and Mr. Rnlcrers, the 
 London carrier, voted; because th'^v are both 
 thoroughly honest men, and of excel lent under- 
 standing for their condition of life. Now, the 
 
 tendency of ballot would be to destroy all the 
 Pelhams, Johnsons, Rodgers's, and Smiths, to 
 sow a universal mistrust, and to exterminate 
 the natural guides and leaders of the people: 
 political influence, founded upon honour and 
 ancient honesty in politics, could not grow up 
 under such a system. No man's declarations 
 could get believed. It would be easy to whis 
 per away the character of the best men ; and 
 to assert, that in spite of all his declarations, 
 which are nothing but a blind, the romantic 
 Rodgers has voted on the other side, and is in 
 secret league with our enemies. 
 
 " Who brought that mischievous profligate 
 villain into Parliament] Let us see the names 
 of his real supporters. Who stood out against 
 the strong and uplifted arm of power 1 Who 
 discovered this excellent and hitherto unknown 
 person] Who opposed the man whom we all 
 know to be one of the first, men in the coun- 
 try]" Are these fair and useful questions to 
 be veiled hereafter in impenetrable mystery ] 
 Is this sort of publicity of no good as a re- 
 straint] is it of no good as an incitement to 
 and a reward for exertions ] Is not public 
 opinion formed by such feelings ] and is it not 
 a dark and demoralizing system to draw this 
 veil over human actions; to say to the mass, 
 be base, and you will not be despised ; be vir- 
 tuous, and you will not be honoured] Is this 
 the way in which Mr. Grote would foster the 
 spirit of a bold and indomitable people ] Was 
 the liberty of that people established by fraud J 
 Did America lie herself into independence] 
 Was it treachery which enabled Holland to 
 shake off the yoke of Spain ] Is there any in- 
 stance since the beginning of the world M-here 
 human liberty has been established by little 
 systems of trumpery and trick] These are 
 the weapons of monarchs against the people, 
 not of the people against monarchs. With 
 their own right hand, and with their mighty 
 arm, have the people gotten to themselves the 
 victory, and upon them may they ever depend ; 
 and then comes Mr. Grote, a scholar and gen- 
 tleman, and knowing all the histories of public 
 courage, preaches cowardice and treachery to 
 England ; tells us that the bold cannot be free, 
 and bids us seek for liberty by clothing our- 
 selves in the mask of falsehood, and trampling 
 on the cross of truth.* 
 
 If this shrinking from the performance of 
 duties is to be tolerated, voters are not the only 
 persons who would recur to the accommodat- 
 ing convenience of ballot. A member of Par- 
 liament, who votes against government, can 
 get nothing in the army, navy, or church, or 
 at the bar, for his children or himself; they 
 are placed on the north wall, and starved for 
 their honesty. Judges, too, suffer for their un- 
 popularity — Lord Kilwarden was murdereci, 
 Lord Mansfield burnt down ; but voters, for- 
 getting that they are only trustees for those 
 who have no vote, require that they themselves 
 should be virtuous with impunity, and that all 
 the penalties of austerity and Catonism should 
 fall upon others. I am awaic »hat it is of the 
 greatest consequence to the constituent that 
 
 * Mr. Grote is a very worthy, honost, and able man ; 
 and, if the world were a chess-board, would i)e an im- 
 portant politician. 
 
382 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 he should be made acquainted with the con- 
 duct of his representative ; hut I maintain, that 
 to know, without the fear of mistake, what the 
 conduct of individuals has been in their fulfil- 
 ment of the great trust of electing members of 
 Parliament, is also of the greatest importance 
 in the formation of public opinion; and that, 
 when men acted in the dark, the power of dis- 
 tinguishing between the bad and the good 
 would be at an end. 
 
 To institute ballot, is to apply a very dan- 
 gerous innovation to a temporary evil ; for it 
 is seldom, but in very excited times, that these 
 acts of power are complained of which the 
 ballot is intended to remedy. There never 
 was an instance in this country where parties 
 were so nearly balanced ; but all this will pass 
 away, and, in a very few years, either Peel 
 will swallow Lord John, or Lord John will pas- 
 ture upon Peel; parties will coalesce, the 
 Duke of Wellington and Viscount Melbourne 
 meet at the same board, and the lion lie down 
 with the lamb. In the mean time a serious 
 and dangerous political change is resorted to 
 for the cure of a temporary evil, and we may 
 be cursed with ballot when we do not want it, 
 and cannot get rid of it. 
 
 If there is ballot there can be no scrutiny, 
 the controlling power of Parliament is lost, 
 and the members are entirely in the hands of 
 returning officers. 
 
 An election is hard run — the returning offi- 
 cer lets in twenty votes which he ought to'have 
 excluded, and the opposite candidate is un- 
 justly returned. I petition, and as the law now 
 stands, the return would be amended, and I, 
 who had the legitimate majority, should be 
 seated in Parliament. But how could justice 
 be done if the ballot obtained, and if the re- 
 turning officer were careless or corrupt] 
 Would you put all the electors upon their 
 oathl Would it be advisable to accept any 
 oath where detection was impossible 1 and 
 could any approximation to truth be expected 
 under such circumstances, from such an in- 
 quisition ? It is true, the present committees 
 of the House of Commons are a very unfair 
 tribunal, but that tribunal may and will be 
 amended; and bad as that tribunal is, nobody 
 can be insane enough to propose that we are to 
 take refuge in the blunders or the corruptions of 
 600 returning officers, 100 of whom are Irish. 
 It is certainly in the power of a committee, 
 when incapacity or villany of the returning 
 officer has produced an unfair return, to annul 
 the whole election, and to proceed again dc 
 novo : but how is this justi or what satisfaction 
 is this to me, who have unquestionably a law- 
 ful majority, and who ask of the House of 
 Commons to examine the votes, and to place 
 in their house the man who has combined the 
 greatest number of suffrages 1 The answer of 
 the House of Commons is, " One of you is un- 
 doubtedly the rightful member, but we have so 
 framed our laws of election, that it is impos- 
 sible to find out which that man is; the loss 
 and penalties ought only to fall upon one, but 
 Ihey must fall upon both; we put the well- 
 doer and the evij-dner precisely in the same 
 situation ; there shall be no election ;" and this 
 rna}' happen ten times running. 
 
 Purity of election, the fair choice of repre- 
 sentatives, must be guarded either by the co- 
 ercing power of the House of Gammons exer- 
 cised upon petitions, or it must be guarded by 
 the watchful jealousy of opposite parties at 
 the registrations; but if (as the radicals sup- 
 pose) "ballot gives a power of perfect conceal- 
 ment, whose interest is it to watch the regis- 
 trations 1 If I despair of distinguishing my 
 friends from my foes, why should I take any 
 trouble about registrations? Why not leave 
 every thing to that great primum mobile of all 
 human affairs, the barrister of six years' 
 standing? 
 
 The answer of the excellent Benthamites to 
 all this is, " What you say may be true enough 
 in the present state of registrations, but we 
 have another scheme of registration to which 
 these objections Avill not apply." There is . 
 really no answering this paulo-post legisla- 
 tion. I reason now upon registration and re- 
 form which are in existence, which I have 
 seen at work for several years. What new 
 improvements are in the womb of time, or (if 
 time has no womb) in the more capacious 
 pockets of the followers of Bentham, I know 
 not: when I see them tried, I will reason upon 
 them. There is no end to these eternal 
 changes ; we have made an enormous revolu- 
 tion within the last ten 3-ears, — let us stop a little 
 and secure it, and prevent it from being turned 
 into ruin ; I do not say the reform bill is final, 
 but I want a little time for breathing; and if 
 there are to be any more changes, let them be 
 carried into execution hereafter by those little 
 legislators who are now receiving every day 
 after dinner a cake or a plumb, in happy ig- 
 norance of Mr. Grote and his ballot. I long 
 for the quiet times of Log, Avhen all' the English 
 common people are making calico, and all 
 the English gentlemen are making long and 
 short verses, with no other interruption of 
 their happiness than when false quantities are 
 discovered in one or the other. 
 
 What is to become of petitions if ballot is 
 established 1 Are they to be open as they now 
 are, or are they to be conducted by ballot ! 
 Are the radical shopkeepers and the radical 
 tenant to be exposed (as they say) to all the 
 fury of incensed wealth and power, and is that 
 protection to be denied to them in petitions, 
 which is so loudly demanded in the choice, of 
 representatives 1 Are there to be two distinct 
 methods of ascertaining the opinions of the 
 people, and these completel}' opposed to each 
 other] A member is chosen this week by a 
 large majority of voters who vote in the dark, 
 and the next week, when men vote in the light 
 of day, some petition is carried totally opposite 
 to all those principles for which the member 
 with invisible votes was returned to Parlia- 
 ment. How, under such a system, can Parlia- 
 ment ever ascertain what the wishes of the 
 people really arel The representatives are 
 radicals, the petitioners eminently conserva- 
 tive ; the voice is the voice of Jacob, but the 
 hands are the hands of Esau. 
 
 And if the same protection is adopted for 
 petitions as is given in elections, and if both . 
 are conducted by ballot, how is the House of 
 Commons to deal with petitions ] When it is 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 383 
 
 intended particularly that a petition should 
 attract the attention of the House of Commons, 
 some member bears witness to the respecta- 
 bility or the futility of the signatures ; and 
 how IS it possible, without some guides of this 
 kind, that the House could form any idea of 
 the value and importance of the petition"? 
 
 These observations apply with equal force 
 to the communications between the represen- 
 tative and the constituent. It is the radical 
 doctrine that a representative is to obey the 
 instructions of his constituents. He has been 
 elected under the ballot by a large majority; 
 an open meeting is called, and he receives in- 
 structions in direct opposition to all those 
 principles upon which he has been elected. 
 Is this the real opinion of his constituents ] 
 and if he receives his instructions for a ballot 
 meeting, who are his instructors "? The lowest 
 men in the town, or the wisest and the best ? — 
 But if ballot is established for elections only, and 
 all communications between the constituents 
 on one side, and Parliament and the represen- 
 tatives on the other, are carried on in open meet- 
 ings, then are there two publics according to 
 the radical doctrines, essentially different from 
 each other; the one acting under the influence 
 of the rich and powerful, the other free ; and 
 if all political petitions are to be carried on by 
 ballot, how is Parliament to know who peti- 
 tions, or the member to know who instructs 1 
 
 I have hitherto spoken of ballot, as if it 
 were, as the radicals suppose it to be, a mean 
 of secrecy ; their very cardinal position is, that 
 landlords, after the ballot is established, will 
 give up in despair all hopes of commanding 
 the votes of their tenants. I scarcely ever 
 heard a more foolish and gratuitous as- 
 sumption. Given up 1 Why should they be 
 given up"? I can give many reasons why 
 landlords should never exercise this unrea- 
 sonable power, but I can give no possible 
 reason why a man determined to do so should 
 be baffled by the ballot. When two great 
 parties in the empire are combating for the 
 supreme power, does Mr. Grote imagine, that 
 the man of woods, forests, and rivers, — that 
 they who have the strength of the hills, — are 
 to be baffled by bumpkins thrusting a little pin 
 into a little card in a little box 1 that England 
 is to be governed by political acupunctura- 
 tion"? 
 
 A landlord who would otherwise be guilty 
 of the oppression will not change his purpose, 
 because you attempt to outwit him by the in- 
 vention of the ballot; he will become, on the 
 contrar}^, doubly vigilant, inquisitive, and 
 severe. " I am a professed radical," said the 
 tenant of a great duke to a friend of mine, 
 *' and the duke knows it ; but if I vote for his 
 candidates, he lets me talk as I please, live 
 with whom I please, and does not care if I 
 dine at a radical dinner every day in the week. 
 If there was a ballot, nothing could persuade 
 the duke, or the duke's master, the steward, 
 that I was not deceiving them, and I should 
 lose my farm in a wf>ek." This is the real 
 history of what would take place. The single 
 lie on the hustings would not suffice ; the con- 
 cealed democrat who voted against his land- 
 lord must talk with the wrong people, sub- 
 
 ' scribe to the wrong club, huzza at the wrong 
 ' dinner, break the wrong head, lead (if he 
 wished to escape from the watchful jealousy 
 of his landlord) a long life of lies between 
 every election ; and he must do this, not only 
 eundo, in his calm and prudential state, but re- 
 deimdo from the market, warmed with beer and 
 expanded by alcohol ; and he must not only 
 carry on his seven years of dissimulation be- 
 fore the world, but in the very bosom of his 
 family, or he must expose himself to the dan- 
 gerous garrulity of wife, children, and ser- 
 vants, from whose indiscretion every kind of 
 evil report would be carried to the ears of the 
 watchful steward. And when once the ballot 
 is established, mere gentle, quiet lying will not 
 do to hide the tenant who secretly votes 
 against his landlord; the quiet passive liar 
 will be suspected, and he will find, if he does 
 not wave his bonnet and strain his throat in fur- 
 therance of his bad faith, and lie loudly, that he 
 has put in a false ball in the dark to very little 
 purpose. I consider a long concealment of 
 political opinion from the landlord to be nearly 
 impossible for the tenant; and if you conceal 
 from the landlord the only proof he can have 
 of his tenant's sincerity, you are taking from the 
 tenant the only means he has of living quietly 
 upon his farm. You are increasing the jea- 
 lousy and irascibility of the tyrant, and mul- 
 tiplying instead of lessening the number of 
 his victims. 
 
 Not only you do not protect the tenant who 
 wishes to deceive his landlord, by promising 
 one way and voting another, but you expose all 
 the other tenants who have no intention of de- 
 ceiving, to all the evils of mistake and misre- 
 presentation. The steward hates a tenant, and 
 a rival wants his farm : they begin to whisper 
 him out of favour, and to propagate rumours 
 of his disaflection to the blue or the yellow 
 cause; as matters now stand he can refer to 
 the poll-book, and show how he has voted. 
 Under the ballot his security is gone, and he 
 is exposed, in common with his deceitful neigh- 
 bour, to that suspicion from which none can 
 be exempt when all vote in secret. If ballot 
 then answered the purpose for which it was 
 intended, the number of honest tenants whom 
 it exposed to danger would be as great as the 
 number of deceitful tenants whom it screened. 
 
 But if landlords could fee prevented from 
 influencing their tenants in voting, by threat- 
 ening them with the loss of farms ; — if public 
 opinion were too strong to allow of such threats, 
 what would prevent a landlord from refusing 
 to take, as a tenant, a man whose political 
 opinion did not agree with his ov/nT what 
 would prevent him from questioning, long 
 before the election, and cross-examining his 
 tenant, and demanding certificates of his be- 
 haviour and opinions, till he had, according 
 to all human probability, found a man who 
 felt as strongly as himself upon political sub 
 jects, and who would adhere to those opinion? 
 with as much firmness and tenacity"? What 
 would prevent, for instance an Orange landlord 
 from filling his farms with Orange tenants, and 
 from cautiously rejecting every Catholic tenant 
 who presented himself plough in hand? But 
 if this practice were to obtain generally, nf 
 
384 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 cautiously selecting tenants from their politi- 
 cal opinion, what would become of the seven- 
 fold shield of the ballot 1 Not only this tenant 
 is not continued in the farm he already holds, 
 but he finds, from the severe inquisition into 
 which men of property are driven by the in- 
 vention of ballot, that it is extremely difficult 
 for a man whose principles are opposed to 
 those of his landlord, to get any farm at all. 
 
 The noise and jollity of a ballot mob must 
 be such as the very devils would look on with 
 delight. A set of deceitful wretches, wearing 
 the wrong colours, abusing their friends, pelt- 
 ing the man for whom they voted, drinking 
 their enemies' punch, knocking down persons 
 with whom they entirely agreed, and roaring 
 out eternal duration to principles they abhor- 
 red. A scene of wholesale bacchanalian fraud, 
 a posse comiialus of liars, which would disgust 
 any man with a free government, and make 
 him sigh for the monocracy of Constantinople. 
 
 All the arguments which apply to suspected 
 tenants apply to suspected shopkeepers. Their 
 condition under the ballot would be infinite!}' 
 worse than under the present system ; the 
 veracious shopkeeper would be suspected, 
 perhaps without having his vote to appeal to 
 for his protection, and the shopkeeper who 
 meant to deceive must prop up his fraud, by 
 accommodating his whole life to the first de- 
 ceit, or he would have told a disgraceful false- 
 hood in vain. The political persecutors would 
 not be baffled by the ballot ; customers, who 
 think they have a right to persecute tradesmen 
 now, would do it then; the only diflerence 
 would be that more would be persecuted then 
 on suspicion, than are persecuted now from a 
 full knowledge of every man's vote. Inquisi- 
 tors would be exasperated by this attempt of 
 their victims to become invisible, and the 
 search for delinquents M"ould be more sharp 
 and incessant. 
 
 A state of things may (to be sure) occur 
 where the aristocratic part of the voters may 
 be desirous, by concealing their votes, of pro- 
 tecting themselves from the fury of the multi- 
 tude; but precisely the same objection obtains 
 against ballot, whoever may be the oppressor 
 or the oppressed. It is no defence; the single 
 falsehood at the hustings will not suflice. Hy- 
 pocrisy for seven years is impossible; the 
 multitude will be just as jealous of preserving 
 the power of intimidation, as aristocrats are 
 of preserving the power of property, and will 
 in the same way redouble their vicious activity 
 from the attempt at destro^'ing their empire 
 by ballot. 
 
 Ballot could not prevent the disfranchise- 
 ment of a great number of voters. The shop- 
 keeper, harassed by men of both parties, 
 equally consuming the articles in which he 
 dealt, would seek security in not voting at all, 
 and of course, the ballot could not screen the 
 disobedient tenant whom the landlord re- 
 quested to stay away from the poll. Mr. Grote 
 has no box for this ; but a remedy for securing 
 the freedom of election, which has no power 
 to prevent the voter from losing the exercise 
 of his franchise altogether, can scarcely be 
 considered as a remedy at all. There is a 
 uiethod, indeed, by which this might be reme- 
 
 died, if the great soul of Mr. Grote will stoop 
 to adopt it. Why are the acts of concealment 
 to be confined to putting in a balll Why not 
 vote in a domino, taking off the vizor to the 
 returning oflicer only 1 or as tenant Jenkins 
 or tenant Hodge might be detected by their 
 stature, why not poll in sedan chairs with the 
 curtains closely drawn, choosing the chairman 
 by ballot 1 
 
 What a flood of deceit andvillany comes in 
 with ballot ! I admit there are great moral 
 faults under the present system. It is a serious 
 violation of duty to vote for A. when you think 
 B. the more worthy representative ; but the 
 open voter, acting luider the influence of his 
 landlord, commits only this one fault, great as 
 it is ; — if he vote for his candidate, the land- 
 lord is satisfied, and asks no other sacrifice of 
 truth and opinion ; but if the tenant votes 
 against his landlord under the ballot, he is 
 practising every day some fraud to conceal 
 his first deviation from truth. The present 
 method may produce a vicious act, but the 
 ballot establishes a A'icious habit ; and then it 
 is of some consequence, that the law should 
 not range itself on the side of vice. In the 
 open voting, the law leaves you fairly to 
 choose between the dangers of giving an 
 honest, or the convenience of giving a dis- 
 honest vote ; but the ballot law opens a booth 
 and asylum for fraud, calling upon all men to 
 lie b)^ beat of drum, forbidding open honesty, 
 promising impunity for the most scandalous 
 deceit, and encouraging men to take no other 
 view of virtue than whether it pays or does 
 not pay ; for it must always be remembered 
 and often repeated, and said and sung to Mr. 
 Grote, that it is to the degraded liar only that 
 the box Avill be useful. The man who per- 
 forms what he promises needs no box. The 
 man who refuses to do what he is asked to do 
 despises the box. The liar, who says he will 
 do what he never means to do, is the only man 
 to whom the box is useful, and for whom this 
 leaf out of the Punic pandects is to be inserted 
 in our statute book; the other vices will begin 
 to look up, and to think themselves neglected, 
 if falsehood obtains such flattering distinction, 
 and is thus defended by the solemn enact- 
 ments of law. 
 
 Old John Randolph, the American orator, 
 was asked one day at a dinner party in Lon- 
 don, v.-hether the ballot prevailed in his st^te 
 of Virginia — " I scarcely believe," he said, 
 " we have such a fool in all Virginia, as to ' 
 mention even the vote by ballot ; and I do not 
 hesitate to say that the adoption of the ballot 
 would make any nation a nation of scoundrels, 
 if it did not find them so." John Randolph 
 was right; he felt that it was not necessary 
 that a people should be false in order to be 
 free ; universal hypocrisy would be the conse- 
 quence of ballot : we should soon say on 
 deliberation what David only asserted in his 
 haste, that all 7nen were liars. 
 
 This exclamation of old Randolph applied 
 to the method of popular elections, which I 
 believe has always been by open voice in 
 Virginia; but the assemblies voted, and the 
 judges were chosen by ballot; and in the j^ear 
 1830, upon a solemn review of their institu- 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 385 
 
 tions, ballot was entirely abolished in every 
 instance throughout the slate, and open voting 
 substituted in its place. 
 
 Not only would the tenant under ballot be 
 constantly exposed to the suspicions of the 
 landlord, but the landlord would be exposed to 
 the constant suspicions and the unjust misre- 
 presentation of the tenant. Every tenant who 
 was dismissed for a fair and a just cause, 
 would presume he was suspected, would attri- 
 bute his dismissal to political motives, and 
 endeavour to make himself a martyr with the 
 public ; and in this way violent hatred would 
 be by the ballot disseminated among classes 
 of men on whose agreement the order and 
 happiness of England depend. 
 
 AH objections to ballot which are important 
 in England apply with much greater force to 
 Ireland, a country of intense agitation, fierce 
 passions, and quick movements. Then how 
 would the ballot box of Mr. Grote harmonize 
 with the confessional box of Father O'Leary 1 
 
 I observe Lord John Russell, and some im- 
 portant men as well as him, saying, "We hate 
 ballot, but if these practices continue, we shall 
 be compelled to vote for it." What ! vote for 
 it, if ballot is no remedy of these evils 1 Vote 
 for it, if ballot produces still greater evils than 
 it cures 1 That is (says the physician), if 
 fevers increase in this alarming manner, I 
 shall be compelled to make use of some medi- 
 cine which will be of no use to fevers, and 
 will at the same time bring on diseases of a 
 much more serious nature. I shall be under 
 the absolute necessity of putting out your 
 eyes, because I cannot prevent j^ou from being 
 lame. In fact, this sort of language is utterly 
 unworthy of the sense and courage of Lord 
 John ; he gives hopes where he ought to create 
 absolute despair. This is that hovering be- 
 tween two principles which ruins political 
 strength by lowering political character, and 
 creates a notion that his enemies need not 
 fear such a man, and that his friends cannot 
 trust him. No opinion could be more unjust 
 as applied to Lord John ; but such an opinion 
 will grow if he begins to value himself more 
 "Upon his dexterity and finesse, than upon those 
 fine, manly, historico-Russell qualities he most 
 imdoubtedly possesses. There are two beauti- 
 ful words in the English language, — yes and 
 no; he must pronounce them boldly and em- 
 ph'atically ; stick to yes and no to the death ; 
 for yes and no lay his head down upon the 
 ■ scaffold, where his ancestors have laid their 
 heads before, and cling to his j'es and no in 
 spite of Robert Peel and John Wilson, and 
 Joseph, and Daniel, and Fergus, and Stevens 
 himself. He must do as the Russells always 
 have done, advance his firm foot on the field 
 of honour, plant it on the line marked out by 
 justice, and determine in that cause to perish 
 or to prevail. 
 
 In clubs, ballot preserves secrecy ; but in 
 clubs, after the barrister has blackballed the 
 colonel, he most likely never hears of the 
 colonel again : he does not live among people 
 who are calling out for seven years the colonel 
 for ever ; nor is there any one who, thinking 
 he has a right to the barrister's suffrage, ex- 
 ercises the most incessant vigili^nce to detect 
 49 
 
 whether or not he has been defrauded of it. I 
 do not say that ballot can never in any in- 
 stance be made a mean of secrecy and safety, 
 but that it cannot be so in popular elections. 
 Even in elections, a consummate hypocrite 
 who was unmarried, and drank water, might 
 perhaps exercise his timid patriotism with 
 impunity; but the instances would be so rare, 
 as to render ballot utterly inefficient as a ge- 
 neral protection against the abuses of power. 
 
 In America, ballot is nearly a dead letter; 
 no protection is wanted : if the ballot protects 
 any one, it is the master, not the man. Some 
 of the states have no ballot, — some have ex- 
 changed the ballot for open voting. 
 
 Bribery carried on in any town now would 
 probably be carried on with equal success 
 under the ballot. The attorney (if such a sys- 
 tem prevailed) would say to the candidate, 
 " There is my list of promises ; if you come in 
 I will have 5000/., and if you do not, you shall 
 pay me nothing." To this list, to which I 
 suppose all the venal rabble of the town to 
 have put their names, there efther is an oppo- 
 sition briber)' list, or there is not : if there is 
 not, the promisers, looking only to make 
 money by their vote, have every inducement 
 to keep their word. If there is an opposite 
 list, the only trick which a promiser can play 
 is to put down his name upon both lists: but 
 this trick would be so easily detected, so much 
 watched and suspected, and would even in the 
 vote market render a man so infamous, that it 
 never would be attempted to any great extent. 
 At present, if a man promises his vote to A., 
 and votes for B., because he can get more 
 money by it, he does not become infamous 
 among the bribed, because they lose no money 
 by him ; but where a list is found, and a cer- 
 tain sum of money is to be divided among that 
 list, every interloper lessens the receipts of all 
 the rest ; it becomes their interest to guard 
 against fraudulent intrusion ; and a man who 
 puts his name upon more lists than the votes 
 he was entitled to give, Avould soon be hunted 
 down by those he had robbed. Of course 
 there would be no pay till after the election, 
 and the man who having one vote had put 
 himself down on two lists, or having two votes 
 had put himself down on three lists, could 
 hardly fail to be detected, and would, of course, 
 lose his political accldama. There must be 
 honour among thieves ; the mob regularly 
 inured to bribery under the canopy of the bal- 
 lot, would for their own sake soon introduce 
 rules for the distribution of the plunder, and 
 infuse, with their customary energy, the 
 morality of not being sold more than once at 
 every election. 
 
 If ballot were established, it would be re- 
 ceived by the upper classes with the greatest 
 possible suspicion, and every effort would be 
 made to counteract it and to get rid of it. 
 Against those attacks the inferior orders would 
 naturally wish to strengthen themselves, and 
 the obvious means would be by extending the 
 number of voters; and so comes on universal 
 sufirage. The ballot would fail : it would be 
 found neither to prevent intimidation nor 
 bribery. Universal suffrage would cure both, 
 as a teaspoonful of prussic acid is a certain 
 2 K 
 
386 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 cure for the most formidable diseases ; but 
 universal suifrage would in all probability be 
 the next step. "The 200 richest voters of 
 Bridport shall not beat the 400 poorest voters. 
 Every body who has a house shall vote, or 
 every body who is twenty-one shall vote, and 
 then the people will be sure to have their way 
 — we will blackball every member standing 
 for Bridgewater who does not promise to vote 
 for universal suffrage." 
 
 The ballot and universal suffrage are never 
 mentioned by the radicals without being 
 coupled together. Nobody ever thinks of 
 separating them. Any person who attempted 
 to separate them at torchlight or sunlight 
 meetings would be hooted down. It is pro- 
 fessedly avowed that ballot is only wanted for 
 ulterior purposes, and no one makes a secret 
 of what those ulterior purposes are: not only 
 Avould the gift of ballot, if universal suffrage 
 were refused, not be received with gratitude, 
 but it would be received with furious indigna- 
 tion and conteijipt, and universal suffrage be 
 speedily extorted from you. 
 
 There would be this argument also for uni- 
 versal suffrage, to which I do not think it very 
 easy to find an answer. The son of a man 
 who rents a house of ten pounds a year is 
 often a much cleverer man than his father ; 
 the wife more intelligent than the husband. 
 Under the system of open voting, these persons 
 are not excluded from want of intellect, but for 
 want of independence, for they v/ould neces- 
 sarily vote with their principal; but the mo- 
 ment the ballot is established, according to the 
 reasoning of the Grote school, one man is as 
 independent as another, because all are con- 
 cealed, and so all are equally entitled to offer 
 their suffrages. This cannot sow dissensions 
 in families; for how, ballotically reasoning, 
 can the father find it outi or, if he did find it 
 out, how has any father, ballotically speaking, 
 a right to control the votes of his family ? 
 
 I have often drawn a picture in my own 
 mind of a Balloto-Grotical family voting and 
 promising under the new system. There is 
 one vacancy, and three candidates, tory, whig, 
 and radical. Walter Wiggins, a small artificer 
 of shoes, for the moderate gratuity of five 
 pounds promises his own vote, and that of the 
 chaste Arabella his wife, to the tory candidate; 
 he, Walter AViggins, having also sold, for one 
 .sovereign, the vote of the before-named Ara- 
 bella to the whigs. Mr. John Wiggins, a tailor, 
 the male progeny of Walter and Arabella, at 
 the solicitation of his master, promises his 
 vote to the whigs, and persuades his sister 
 Honoria to make a similar promise in the same 
 cause. Arabella, the wife, yields implicitly to 
 the wishes of her husband. In this way, be- 
 fore the election, stand committed the highly 
 moral family of Mr. Wiggins. The period for 
 lying arrives, and the mendacity machine is 
 exhibited to the view of the Wigginses. What 
 happens? Arabella, who has in the interim 
 been chastised by her drunken husband, votes 
 secretly for the rifdicals, having been sold both 
 to whig and tory. Mr. John Wiggins, pledged 
 beyond redemption to whigs, votes for the 
 Tory; and Honoria, extrinsically furious in the 
 cause of whigs, is persuaded by her lover to 
 
 vote for the radical member. The following 
 table exhibits the state of this moral family 
 before and after the election : — 
 
 Walter Wissins sells himself once and his wife twice. 
 Arabella Wiggins, sold to tory and whig, votes for rad- 
 ical. 
 John Wiseins. promised to whig, votes for tory. 
 Honoria Wiggins, promised to whig, voteB for radical. 
 
 In this way the families of the poor, under the 
 legislation of Mr. Grote, Avill become schools 
 for good faith, openness, and truth. What are 
 Chrysippus and Grantor, and all the moralists 
 of the whole world, compared to Mr. Grote 1 
 
 It is urged that the lower order of voters, 
 proud of such adistinction, will not be anxious 
 to extend it to others ; but the lower order of 
 voters will often find that they possess this 
 distinction in vain — that wealth and education 
 are too strong for them; and they will call in 
 the multitude as auxiliaries, firmly believing 
 that they can curb their inferiors and conquer 
 their superiors. Ballot is a mere illusion, but 
 universal suffrage is not an illusion. The 
 common people will get nothing by the one, 
 but they will gain every thing, and ruin every 
 thing, by the last. 
 
 Some members of Parliament who mean to 
 vote for ballot, in the fear of losing their seats, 
 and who are desirous of reconciling to their 
 conscience such an act of disloyalty to man- , 
 kind, are fond of saying that ballot is harm- 
 less ; that it will neither do the good nor the 
 evil that i^ expected from it ; and that the peo- 
 ple may fairly be indulged in such an innocent 
 piece of legislation. Never was such folly and 
 madness as this ; ballot will be the cause of 
 interminable hatred and jealousy among the 
 different orders of mankind; it will familiarize 
 the English people to a long tenour of deceit; 
 it will not answer its purpose of protecting the 
 independent voter; and the people, exasperated 
 and disappointed by the failure, will indemnify 
 themselves by insistingupon unlimited suffrage. 
 And then it is talked of as an experiment, as 
 if men Avere talking of acids and alkalies, and 
 the galvanic pile ; as if Lord John could get 
 on the hustings and say, "Gentlemen, you see 
 this ballot does not answer; do me the favour 
 to give it up, and to allow yourselves to be re- 
 placed in the same situation as the ballot found 
 you." Such, no doubt, is the history of na- 
 tions and the march of human affairs; and, in 
 this way, the error of a sudden and foolish 
 largess of power to the people might, no doubt, 
 be easily retrieved. The most unpleasant of 
 all bodily feelings is a cold sweat; nothing 
 brings it on so surely as perilous nonsense in 
 politics. I lose all warmth from the bodily 
 frame when I hear the ballot talked of as aa 
 e.rperiment. 
 
 I cannot at all understand what is meant by 
 this indolent opinion. Votes are coerced now ; 
 if votes are free, will the elected be the samel 
 if not, will the difference of the elected be un- 
 important? Will not the ballot stimulate the 
 upper orders to fresh exertions? and are their 
 increased jealousy and interference of no im- 
 portance ? If ballot, after all, is found to hold 
 out a real protection to the voter, is universal 
 lying of no importance? I can understand 
 what is meant by calling ballot a great good. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 or a great evil ; but, in the mighty contention 
 for power which is raging in this country, to 
 call it indifferent appears to me extremely 
 foolish in all those in whom it is not extremely 
 dishonest. 
 
 If the ballot did succeed in enabling the 
 fewer order of voters to conquer their betters, 
 so much the worse. In a town consisting of 
 700 voters, the 300 most opulent and powerful 
 (and therefore probably the best instructed) 
 would make a much better choice than the 
 remaining 400 ; and the ballot would, in that 
 case, do more harm than good. In nineteen 
 cases out of twent}^ the most numerous party 
 would be in the wrong. If this is the case, 
 why give the franchise to all 1 why not con- 
 fine it to the first division 1 because even with all 
 the abuses which occur, and in spite of them, the 
 great mass of the people are much more satisfied 
 with having a vote occasionally controlled than with 
 having none. Man}' agree with their superiors, 
 and therefore feel no control. Many are per- 
 suaded by their superiors, and not controlled. 
 Some are indifferent which way they exercise 
 the power, though they would not like to be 
 utterly deprived of it. Some guzzle away their 
 vote, some sell it, some brave their superiors, 
 a few are threatened and controlled. The 
 election, in different wa3's, is affected by the 
 superior influence of the upper orders; and 
 the great mass (occasionally and justly com- 
 plaining) are, beyond all doubt, better pleased 
 than if they had no votes at all. The lower 
 orders always have it in their power to rebel 
 against their superiors ; and occasionally they 
 will do so, and have done so, and occasionally 
 and justly carried elections* against gold, and 
 birth, and education.. But it is madness to 
 make laws of society which attempt to shake 
 off the great laws of nature. As long as men 
 love bread, and mutton, and broadcloth, wealth, 
 in a long series of years, must have enormous 
 effects upon human affairs, and the strongbox 
 will beat the ballot box. Mr. Grote has both, 
 but he miscalculates their respective powers. 
 Mr. Grote knows the relative values of gold 
 and silver ; but by what moral rate of exchange 
 is he able to tell us the relative values of li- 
 berty and truth ? 
 
 It is hardly necessary to say any thing about 
 
 ♦ The 400 or SOO VJfirg I'jain?! life 200 are right about 
 as often as ji'ri'?s are right in differing from judges ; and 
 tbat is vary seldom. 
 
 universal suffrage, as there is no act of folly 
 or madness which it may not in the beginning 
 produce. There would be the greatest risk 
 that the monarchy, as at present constituted, 
 the funded debt, the established church, titles, 
 and hereditary peerage, would give way before 
 it. Many really honest men may wish for 
 these changes; I know, or at least believe, 
 that wheat and barley would grow if there was 
 no Archbishop of Canterbury, and domestic 
 fowls would breed if our Viscount Melbourne 
 was again called Mr. Lamb; but they have 
 stronger nerves than I have who would ven- 
 ture to bring these changes about. So few 
 nations have been free, it is so difficult to 
 guard freedom from kings, and mobs, and pa- 
 triotic gentlemen ; and we are in such a very 
 tolerable state of happiness in England, that I 
 think such changes would be very rash ; and I 
 have an utter mistrust in the sagacity and pene- 
 tration of political reasoners who pretend to 
 foresee all the consequences to which they 
 would give birth. When I speak of the toler- 
 able state of happiness in which we live in 
 England, I do not speak merely of nobles, 
 squires, and canons of St. Paul's, but of dri- 
 vers of coaches, clerks in offices, carpenters, 
 blacksmiths, butchers, and bakers, and most 
 men who do not marry upon nothing, and 
 become burdened with large families before 
 they have arrived at years of maturity. The 
 earth is not sufficiently fertile for this: 
 Difflcilem victum fundit durissima tellus. 
 
 After all, the great art in politics and war is 
 to choose a good position for making a stand. 
 The Duke of Wellington examined and forti- 
 fied the lines of Torres Vedras a year before 
 he had any occasion to make use of them, and 
 he had previously marked out Waterloo as the 
 probable scene of some future exploit. The 
 people seem to be hurrying on through all the 
 well-known steps to anarchy; they must be 
 stopped at some pass or another: the first is 
 the best and most easily defended. The peo- 
 ple have a right to ballot or to any thing else 
 which will make them happy; and they have 
 a right to nothing which will make them un- 
 happy. They are the best judges of their im- 
 mediate gratifications, and the worst judges of 
 what would best conduce to their interests for 
 a series of years. Most earnestly and consci- 
 entiously wishing their good, I say, No Ballot. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 FIEST LETTER TO ARCHDEACON SINGLETON, 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL COMMISSION. 
 
 Mt deah Sir, 
 
 As you do me the honour to ask my opinion 
 respecting the constitution and proceedings of 
 the ecclesiastical commission, and of their con- 
 duct to the dignitaries of the church, I shall 
 write to you without any reserve upon this 
 subject. 
 
 The first thing which excited my surprise, 
 was the constitution of the commission. As 
 the reform was to comprehend every branch 
 of churchmen, bishops, dignitaries, and paro- 
 chial clergymen, I cannot but think it would 
 have been much more advisable to have added 
 to the commission some members of the two 
 lower orders of the church — they would have 
 supplied that partial knowledge which appears 
 in so many of the proceedings of the commis- 
 sioners to have been wanting — they would 
 have attended to those interests (not episcopal) 
 which appear to have been so completely over- 
 looked — and they would have screened the 
 commission from those charges of injustice 
 and partiality which are now so generally 
 brought against it. Theie can be no charm in 
 the name of bishop — the man who was a cu- 
 rate yesterday is a bishop to-day. There are 
 many prebendaries, many rectors, and many 
 vicars, who would have come to the reform 
 of the church with as much integrity, wisdom, 
 and vigour as any bishop on the bench ; and 
 I 1 elieve, with a much stronger recollection 
 thrt all the orders of the church were not to 
 be sacrificed to the highest ; and that to make 
 their work respectable, and lasting, it should 
 in all (even in its minutest provisions), be 
 founded upon justice. 
 
 All the interests of the church in the com- 
 mutation of tithes are entrusted to one paro- 
 chial clergyman ;* and I have no doubt, from 
 what I hear of him, that they will be well pro- 
 tected. Why could not one or two such men 
 have been added to the commission, and a ge- 
 neral impression been created, that government 
 in this momentous change had a parental feel- 
 ing for all orders of men whose interests might 
 be aff"ected by if? A ministry may laugh at 
 this, and think if they cultivate bishops, that 
 Ihey may treat the other orders of the church 
 with contempt and neglect ; but I say, that to 
 create a general impression of justice, if it be 
 not what common honesty requires from any 
 ministry, is what common sense points out to 
 them. It is strength and duration — it is the 
 
 * The Rev. Mr. Jones is the commissioner appointed 
 by the Archliisliop of Canterbury to watch over the in- 
 terests of the church. 
 
 only power which is worth having — in the 
 struggle of parties it gives victory, and is re- 
 membered, and goes down to other times. 
 
 A mixture of difli'erent orders of clergy in the 
 commission would at least have secured a de- 
 cent attention to the representations of all ; for 
 of seven communications made to the com- 
 mission by cathedrals, and involving very se- 
 rious representations respecting high interests, 
 six were totally disregarded, and the receipt 
 of the papers not even acknowledged. 
 
 I cannot help thinking that the commission- 
 ers have done a great deal too much. Reform 
 of the church was absolutely necessar}- — it 
 cannot be avoided, and ought not to be post- 
 poned ; but I would have found out Avhat really 
 gave off"ence, have applied a remedy, removed 
 the nuisance, and done no more. I would not 
 have operated so largely on an old, and (I 
 fear) a decaying building. I would not, in 
 days of such strong political excitement, and 
 amidst such a disposition to universal change, 
 have done one thing more than was absolutely 
 necessary to remove the odium against the 
 establishment, the only sensible reason for is- 
 suing any commission at all ; and the means 
 which I took to efiect this, should have agreed, 
 as much as possible, with institutions already 
 established. For instance, the public were 
 disgusted w' ith the spectacle of rich prebenda- 
 ries enjoying large incomes, and doing little 
 or nothing for them. The real remedy for 
 this would have been to have combined wealth 
 and labour ; and as each of the present preben- 
 daries fell off", to have annexed the stall to 
 some large and populous parish. A preben- 
 dary of Canterbury or of St. Paul's, in his pre- 
 sent state, may make the church unpopular; 
 but place him as rector of a parish, with 8000 
 or 9000 people, and in a benefice of little or 
 no value, he Avorks for his wealth, and the 
 odium is removed. In like manner the pre- 
 bends, which are not the property of the resi- 
 dentiaries, might have been annexed to the ' 
 smallest livings of the neighbourhood where 
 the prebendal estate was situated. The inter- 
 val which has elapsed since the first furious 
 demand for reform, would have enabled the 
 commissioners to adopt a scheme of much 
 greater moderation than might perhaps have 
 been possible at the first outbreak of popular 
 indignation against the church; and this sort 
 of distribution would have given much more 
 general satisfaction than the plan adopted by 
 commissioners; for though money, in the es- 
 timation of philosophers, has no ear-mark, it 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 has a very deep one in the opinion of the mul- 
 titude. The riches of the church of Durham 
 were most hated in the neighbourhood of Dur- 
 ham ; and there such changes as I have pointed 
 out would have been most gladly received, 
 and would have conciliated the greatest favour 
 to the church. The people of Kent cannot 
 see why their Kentish estates, given to the ca- 
 thedral of Canterbury, are to augment livings 
 in Cornwall. The citizens of London see 
 some of their ministers starving in the city, 
 and the profits of the extinguished prebends 
 sent into Northumberland. These feelings 
 may be very unphilosophical, but they are the 
 feelings of the mass; and to the feelings of 
 the mass the reforms of the church ought to 
 be directed. In this way the evil would have 
 been corrected where it was most seen and 
 noticed. All patronage would have been left 
 as it was. One order of the church would not 
 have plundered the other. Nor would all the 
 cathedrals in England have been subjected to 
 the unconciliating empire, and unwearied en- 
 ergy of- one man. 
 
 Instead of this quiet and cautious mode of 
 proceeding, all is change, fusion and confu- 
 sion. New bishops, new dioceses, confiscated 
 prebends — clergymen changing bishops, and 
 bishops clergymen — mitres in Manchester, 
 Gloucester turned into Bristol. Such a scene 
 of revolution and commutation as has not been 
 seen since the days of Ireton and Cromwell ! and 
 the singularity is, that all this has been effected 
 by men selected from their age, their dignity, 
 and their known principles, and from whom 
 the considerate part of the community ex- 
 pected all the caution and calmness which 
 these high requisites seemed to promise, and 
 ought to have secured. 
 
 The plea of making a fund is utterly unte 
 nable — the great object was not to make a fund ; 
 and there is the mistake into which the com- 
 mission have fallen : the object was not to add 
 10/. or 20/. per annum to a thousand small liv- 
 ings, and to diminish inequalities in a ratio so 
 trifling that the public will hardly notice it ; a 
 very proper thing to do if higher interests were 
 not sacrificed to it; but the great object was to 
 remove the causes of hatred from the church, 
 by lessening such incomes as those of Canter- 
 bury, Durham, and London, exorbitantly and 
 absurdly great — by making idleness work — and 
 by these means to lessen the envy of laymen. 
 It is impossible to make a fund which will raise 
 the smaller livings of the church into any thing 
 like a decent support for those who possess 
 them. The whole income of the church, epis- 
 copal, prebendal, and parochial, divided among 
 the clergy, would not give to each clergyman 
 an income equal to that which is enjoyed by 
 the upper domestic of a great nobleman. The 
 method in which the church has been paid, and 
 must continue to be paid, is by unequal divi- 
 sions. All the enormous changes which the 
 commission is making will produce a very tri- 
 fling difference in the inequality, while it will 
 accustom more and more those enemies of the 
 church, who are studying under their right 
 rev. masters, to the boldest revolutions in ec- 
 clesiastical affairs. Out of 10,478 benefices, 
 there are 297 of about 40/. per annum value, 
 
 1,629 at about 75/. and 1,602 at about 125/.; to 
 raise all these benefices lo200/. per annum,would 
 require an annual sum of 371,29.3/.; and upon 
 2,878 of those benefices there are no houses ; and 
 uponl,728 no houses fit for residence. Whatdif- 
 ference in the apparent inequality of the church 
 would this sum of 371,293/. produce, if it could 
 be raised 1 or in what degree would it lessen 
 the odium which that inequality creates ! The 
 case is utterly hopeless ; and yet with all their 
 confiscations the commissioners are so far 
 from being able to raise the annual sum of 
 371,000/., that the utmost they expect to gain is 
 130,000/. per annum. 
 
 It seems a paradoxical statement, but the 
 fact is, that the respectability of the church, as 
 well as of the bar, is almost entirely preserved 
 by the unequal division of their revenues. A 
 bar of one hundred lawyers travel the northern 
 circuit, enlightening provincial ignorance, cur- 
 ing local partialities, diffusing knowledge, 
 and dispensing justice in their route : it is 
 quite certain that all they gain is not equal to 
 all that they spend; if the profits were equally 
 divided there would not be six and eight-pence 
 for each person, and there would be no bar at all. 
 At present, the success of the leader animates 
 them all — each man hopes to be a Scarlett or 
 a Brougham — and takes out his ticket in a lot- 
 tery by which the mass must infallibly lose, 
 trusting (as mankind are so apt to do) to his 
 good fortune, and believing that the prize is re- 
 served for him, disappointment and defeat for 
 others. So it is with the clergy ; the whole in- 
 come of the church, if equally divided, would 
 be about 250/. for each minister. Who would 
 go into the church and spend 1,200/. or 1,500/. 
 upon his education, if such were the highest 
 remuneration he could ever look to? At pre- 
 sent, men are tempted into the church by the 
 prizes of the church, and bring into that church 
 a great deal of capital, which enables them to 
 live in decency, supporting themselves, not 
 with the money of the public, but with their 
 own money, which, but for this temptation, 
 would have been .carried into some retail trade. 
 The officers of the church would then fall down 
 to men little less coarse and ignorant than 
 agricultural labourers — the clergyman of the 
 parish would soon be seen in the squire's 
 kitchen ; and all this would take place in a 
 country where poverty is infamous. 
 
 In fact, nothing can be more unjust and idle 
 than the reasoning of many laymen upon 
 church matters. You choose to have an es- 
 tablishment — God forbid you should choose 
 otherwise! and you wish to have men of de- 
 cent manners, and good education, as the min- 
 isters of that establishment; all this is very 
 right: but are you willing to pay them as such 
 men ought to be paid] Are you willing to pay 
 to each clergyman, confining himself to one 
 spot, and giving up all his time to the care of 
 one parish, a salary of 500/. per annum 1 To do 
 this would require three millions to be added 
 to the present revenues of the church; and 
 such an expenditure is impossible! What 
 then remains, if you will have a clergy and 
 will not pay them equitably and separately, 
 than to pay them unequally and by lottery? 
 and yet this very inequality, which secures to 
 2k2 
 
390 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 you a respectable clerofy upon the most eco- 
 nomical terms, is considered by laymen as a 
 gross abuse. It is an abuse, however, ■which 
 they have not the spirit to extinguish by in- 
 creased munificence to their clergy, nor jus- 
 tice to consider as the only other method by 
 ■which all the advantages of a respectable es- 
 tablishment can be procured; but they use it 
 at the same time as a topic for sarcasm, and 
 a source of economy. 
 
 This, it -tt'iU be said, is a mammonish vie^w 
 of the subject; it is so, but those -who make 
 this objection, forget the immense efliect ivhich 
 mammon produces upon religion itself. Shall 
 the Gospel be preached by men paid by the 
 state ■? shall these men be taken from the lo^wer 
 orders and be meanly paid ? shall they he men 
 of learning and education 1 and shall there be 
 some magnificent endowments to allure such 
 men into the church ? Which of these methods 
 is the best for diffusing the rational doctrines 
 of Christianity? not in the age of the apostles, 
 not in the abstract, timeless, nameless, place- 
 less land of the philosophers, but in the year 
 1837, in the porter-brewing, cotton-spinning, 
 tallow-melting kingdom of Great Britain, burst- 
 ing with opulence, and flying from poverty as 
 the greatest of human evils. Many diflferent 
 answers may be given to these questions, but 
 they are questions which, not ending in mam- 
 mon, have a powerful bearing on religion, and 
 deserve the deepest consideration from its 
 disciples and friends. Let the comforts of the 
 clergy go for nothing. Consider their state 
 only as religion is afl^ected by it. If upon this 
 principle I am forced to allot to some an opu- 
 lence which my clever friend the Examiner 
 would pronounce to be apostolical, I cannot 
 help it; I must take this people with all their 
 follies, and prejudices, and circumstances, and 
 carve out an establishment best suited for 
 them, however unfit for early Christianity in 
 barren and conquered Judea. 
 
 Not only will this measure of the commis- 
 f^ion bring into the church a lower and worse 
 educated set of men, but it will have a ten- 
 dency to make the clergy fanatical. You 
 will have a set of ranting, raving pastors, who 
 will wage war against all the innocent plea- 
 sures of life, vie with each other in extrava- 
 gance of zeal, and plague j^our heart out with 
 their nonsense and absurdity : cribbage must 
 be played in caverns, and sixpenny whist take 
 refuge in the howling wilderness. In this way 
 low men doomed to hopeless poverty, and 
 galled by contempt, will endeavour to force 
 themselves into station and significance. 
 
 There is an awkward passage in the memo- 
 rial of the church of Canterbury, ■which deserves 
 some consideration from him to whom it is 
 directed. The Archbishop of Canterbury, at 
 his consecration, takes a solemn oath that he 
 will maintain the rights and liberties of the 
 church of Canterbury ; as chairman, however, 
 of the ne-\^' commission, he seizes the patron- 
 age of that church, takes two-thirds of its 
 revenues, and abolishes two-thirds of its mem- 
 bers. That there is an answer to this I am 
 very willing to believe, but I cannot at present 
 find out what it is ; and this attack upon the 
 levenues and members of Canterbury, is not 
 
 obedience to an act of Parliament, but the very 
 act of Parliament, which takes away, is recom- 
 mended, drawn up, and signed by the person 
 who has sworn he will never take away; and 
 this little apparent inconsistency is not con- 
 fined to the Archbishop of Canterbury, but is 
 shared equally by all the bishop commission- 
 ers, who have all (unless I am grie%^ously 
 mistaken) taken similar oaths for the preser- 
 vation of their respective chapters. It would 
 be more easy to see our way out of this little 
 embarrassment, if some of the embarrassed 
 had not, unfortunately, in the parliamentary 
 debates on the Catholic question, laid the 
 greatest stress upon the king's oath, applauded 
 the sanctity of the monarch to the skies, reject' 
 ed all comments, called for the oath in its plain 
 meaning, and attributed the safety of the Eng- 
 lish church to the solemn vow made by the 
 king at the altar to the Archbishops of Canter- 
 bury and York, and the other bishops. I 
 should be very sorry if this were not placed 
 on a clear footing, as fools will be imputing to 
 our church the^m et rcUgiosa CuUiditas, which 
 is so commonly brought against the Catholics. 
 
 TTrbem quam dicunt Romam, MelibtEe, piitavi 
 Stultus ego huic nostrs siniilem. 
 
 The words of Henry VIII., in endowing the 
 cathedral of Canterbury, are thus given in the 
 translation. " We, therefore, dedicating the 
 aforesaid close, site, circle, and precinct to the 
 honour and glory of the Holy and undivided 
 Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, have 
 decreed that a certain Cathedral and Metro- 
 politan Church, with one Dean, Presbyter, and 
 twelve Prebendaries Presbyters ; these verily 
 and for ever to serve Almighty God shall be 
 created, set up, settled, and established; and 
 the same aforesaid Cathedral and Metropolitan 
 Church, with one Dean, Presbyter, and twelve 
 Prebendaries Presbyters, with other Ministers 
 necessary for divine worship, by the tenor of 
 these presents in realit)% and plenitude of 
 force, we do create, set up, settle, and establish, 
 and do command to be established and to be 
 in perpetuity, and inviolably maintained and 
 upheld by these presents." And this is the 
 church, the rights and liberties of which the 
 archbishop at his consecration sivears to main- 
 tain. Nothing can be more ill-natured among 
 politicians, than to look back into Hansard's 
 Debates, to see what has been said by par- 
 ticular men upon particular occasions, and 
 to contrast such speeches with present opi- 
 nions — and therefore I forbear to introduce 
 some inviting passages upon taking oaths in 
 their plain and obvious sense, both in debates 
 on the Catholic question and upon that fatal 
 and Mezentian oath which binds the Irish to 
 the English church. 
 
 It is quite absurd to see how all the cathe- 
 drals are to be trimmed to an exact Procrustes 
 pattern ; — quiela movere is the motto of the com- 
 mission : — there is to be everywhere a dean, 
 and four residentiaries ; but St. Paul's and 
 Lincoln have at present only three residentia- 
 ries, and a dean, who officiates in his turn as 
 a canon : — a fourth must be added to each. 
 Whyl nobody wants more prebendaries; St. 
 Paul's and Lincoln go on very well as they 
 are. It is not for the lack of prebendaries, it 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 391 
 
 is for idleness, that the Church of England is 
 unpopular ; but in the lust of reforming, the 
 commission cut and patch property as they 
 would cut figures in pasteboard. This little 
 piece of wanton change, however, gives to two 
 of the bishops, who are commissioners as well 
 as bishops, patronage of a thousand a year 
 each ; and though I am willing not to consider 
 this as the cause of the recommendation, yet I 
 must observe it is not very common that the 
 same persons should bring in the verdict and 
 receive the profits of the suit. No other arch- 
 deacons are paid in such a manner, and no 
 other bishops out of the commission have re- 
 ceived such a bonus.* 
 
 I must express my surprise that nothing in 
 this commission of bishops, either in the bill 
 which has passed, or in the report which pre- 
 ceded it, is said of the duties of bishops. A 
 bishop is not now forced by law to be in his 
 diocese or to attend his duty in Parliament — 
 he may be entirely absent from both ; nor are 
 there wanting instances within these six years 
 where such has been the case. It would have 
 been very easy to have placed the repairs of 
 episcopal palaces (as the concurrent leases of 
 bishops are placed) under the superintendence 
 of deans and chapters ; but though the bishops' 
 bill was accompanied by another bill, contain- 
 ing the strictest enactments for the residence 
 of the clergy, and some very arbitrary and 
 unjust rules for the repair of their houses, it 
 did not appear upon the face of the law that 
 the bishops had any such duties to perform ; 
 and j^et I remember the case of a bishop, dead 
 not six years ago, who was scarcely ever seen 
 in the House of Lords, or in his diocese ; and 
 I remember well also the indignation with 
 which the inhabitants of a great cathedral 
 town spoke of the conduct of another bishop 
 (now also deceased), who not only never 
 entered his palace, but turned his horses into 
 the garden. When I mention these instances, 
 I am not setting myself up as the satirist of 
 bishops. I think, upon the M^hole, they do 
 their duty in a very exemplary manner, but 
 they are not, as the late bills Avould have us 
 to suppose, impeccable. The church commis- 
 sioners should not have suffered their reports 
 and recommendations to paint the other 
 branches of the church as such slippery trans- 
 gredient mortals, and to leave the world to ima- 
 gine that bishops may be safely trusted to their 
 own goodness without enactment or control. 
 
 This squabble about patronage is said to be 
 disgraceful. Those who mean to be idle, and 
 insolent, because they are at peace, may look 
 out of the window and say, " This is a dis- 
 graceful squabble between bishops and chap- 
 ters ;" but those who mean to be just, should 
 ask, Who begins? the real disgrace of the squab- 
 ble is in the attack, and not in the defence. 
 If any man puts his hand into my pocket to 
 take my property, am I disgraced if I prevent 
 him? Churchmen are ready enough to be 
 submissive to their superiors ; but were they 
 to submit to a spoliation so gross, acconi- 
 
 * This extravagant pay of archdeacons is taken, re- 
 ni-imber, from that fund for the ausmentation of small 
 Sivines, for the establishment of which all the divisions 
 aiid coiiliscations have been made. 
 
 panied with ignominy and degradation, and to 
 bear all this in submissive silence ; — to be ac- 
 cused of nepotism by nepotists, who were 
 praising themselves indirectly by the accusa- 
 tion, and benefiting themselves directly by the 
 confiscation founded on it; — the real disgrace 
 would have been to have submitted to this: 
 and men are to be honoured, not disgraced, 
 who come forth, contrary to their usual habits, 
 to oppose those masters whom, in common 
 seasons, they would willingly obey ; but who, 
 in this matter, have tarnished their dignity, 
 and forgotten what they owe to themselves 
 and to us. 
 
 It is a very singular thing that the law al- 
 ways suspects judges, and never suspects 
 bishops. If there is any way in which the 
 partialities of the judge may injure laymen, 
 the subject is fenced round with all sorts of 
 jealousies, and enactments, and prohibitions — 
 all partialities are guarded against, and all 
 propensities watched. Where bishops are 
 concerned, acts of Parliament are drawn up 
 for beings who can never possibly be polluted 
 by pride, prejudice, passion, or interest. Not 
 otherwise would be the case with judges, if 
 they, like the heads of the church, legislated 
 for themselves. 
 
 Then comes the question of patronage ; can 
 any thing be more flagrantly unjust, than that 
 the patronage of cathedrals should be taken 
 away and conferred upon the bishops 1 I do 
 not want to go into a long and tiresome history 
 of episcopal nepotism, but it is notorious to 
 all, that bishops confer their patronage upon 
 their sons, and sons-in-law, and all their rela- 
 tions ; and it is really quite monstrous in the 
 face of the world, who see this every day, and 
 every hour, to turn round upon deans and 
 chapters, and to say to them, " We are credibly 
 informed that there are instances in your 
 chapters where preferment has not been given 
 to the most learned men you can find, but to 
 the sons and brothers of some of the prebend- 
 aries. These things must not be — we must 
 take these benefices into our own keeping;" 
 and this is the language of men swarming 
 themselves with sons and daughters, and who, 
 in enumerating the advantages of their sta- 
 tions, have always spoken of the opportuni- 
 ties of providing for their families as the 
 greatest and most important. It is, I admit, 
 the duty of every man, and of every body, to 
 present the best man that can be found to any 
 living of which he is the patron ; but if this 
 duty has been neglected, it has been neglected 
 by bishops quite as much as by chapters ; and 
 no man can open the " Clerical Guide" and 
 read two pages of it, without seeing that the 
 bench of bishops are the last persons from 
 whom any remedy of this evil is to be ex- 
 pected. 
 
 The legislature has not always taken the 
 same view of the comparative trust-worthiness 
 of bishops and chapters as is taken by the 
 commission. Bishops' leases for years are 
 for twentj'-one years, renewable every seven 
 When seven years are expired, if the present 
 tenant will not renew, the bishop may grant a 
 concurrent lease. How does his lordship act 
 on such occasions ] He generally asks two 
 
•J92 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNIIY SMITH. 
 
 years' income for the renewal, when chapters, 
 not having the privilege of granting such con- 
 curring leases, ask only a year and a half; and 
 if the bishop's price is not given, he puts a 
 son, or a daughter, or a trustee, into the estate, 
 and the price of the lease deferred is money 
 saved for his family. But unfair and exorbi- 
 tant terms may be asked by his lordship, and 
 the tenant may be unfairly dispossessed — 
 therefore, the legislature enacts that all those 
 concurrent leases must be countersigned by 
 the dean and chapter of the diocese — making 
 them the safeguards against episcopal rapa- 
 city ; and, as I hear from others, not making 
 them so in vain. These sorts of laws do not 
 exactly correspond with the relative views 
 taken of both parties by the ecclesiastical 
 commission. This view of chapters is of 
 course overlooked by a commission of bishops, 
 just as all mention of bridles would be omitted 
 in a meeting of horses ; but in this view, 
 chapters might be made eminently useful. In 
 what profession, too, are there no gradations'! 
 Why is the Church of England to be nothing 
 but a collection of beggars and bishops — the 
 Right Reverend Dives in the palace, and Laza- 
 rus in orders at the gate, doctored by dogs, 
 and comforted with crumbs 1 
 
 But to take away the patronage of existing 
 prebendaries is objectionable for another class 
 of reasons. If it is right to take away the pa- 
 tronage of my cathedral and to give it to the 
 bishop, it is at least unjust to do so with my 
 share of it during my life. Society have a 
 right to improve, or to do what they think an 
 improvement, but then they have no right to 
 do so suddenly and hastily, to my prejudice ! 
 After securing to me certain possessions by one 
 hundred statutes passed in six hundred years — 
 after having clothed me in fine garments, and 
 conferred upon me pompous names, they have 
 no right to turn round upon me all of a sud- 
 den to say. You are not a dean nor a canon- 
 residentiary, but a vagabond and an outcast, 
 and a morbid excrescence upon society. This 
 would not be a reform, but the grossest tyran- 
 ny and oppression. If a man cannot live 
 under the canopy of ancient law, where is he 
 safe 1 how can he see his way, or lay out his 
 plan of life ] 
 
 "Dubitant homines serere atqiie impendere curas." 
 
 You tolerated, for a century, the wicked 
 traffic in slaves, legislated for that species of 
 property, encouraged it by premiums, defended 
 it in your courts of justice — West Indians 
 bought and sold, trusting (as Englishmen al- 
 ways ought to trust) in parliaments. Women 
 ■went to the altar, promised that they should 
 be supported by that property; and children 
 were born to it, and young men were educated 
 with it: but God touched the hearts of the 
 English people, and they would have no slaves. 
 The scales fell from their eyes, and they saw 
 the monstrous wickedness of the trafhc; but 
 then they said, and said magnificently, to the 
 West Indians, "We mean to become wiser 
 and better, but not at your expense; the loss 
 shall be ours, and we will not involve you in 
 ruin, because we are ashamed of our fornmr 
 cruelties, and have learnt a belter lesson of 
 
 humanity and wisdom." And this is the way 
 in which improving nations ought to act, and 
 this is the distinction between reform and 
 revolution. 
 
 Justice is not changed by the magnitude or 
 minuteness of the subject. The old cathedrals 
 have enjoyed their patronage for seven hun- 
 dred years, and the new ones since the time 
 of Henry VIII.; which latter period even 
 gives a much longer possession than ninety- 
 nine out of a hundred of the legislators, who 
 are called upon to plunder us, can boast for 
 their own estates. And these rights, thus 
 sanctioned, and hallowed by time, are torn 
 from their present possessors without the least 
 warning, or preparation, in the midst of all 
 that fever of change which has seized upon 
 the people, and which frightens men to the 
 core of their hearts ; and this spoliation is 
 made, not by low men rashing into the plunder 
 of the church and state, but by men of admi- 
 rable and unimpeached character in all the 
 relations of life — not by rash men of new- 
 politics, but by the ancient conservators of 
 ancient law — by the archbishops and bishops 
 of the land, high official men, invented and cre- 
 ated, and put in palaces to curb the lawless 
 changes, and the mutations, and the madness 
 of mankind ; and to crown the whole, the lu- 
 dicrous is added to the unjust, and what they 
 take from the other branches of the church 
 they confer upon themselves. 
 
 Never dreaming of such sudden revolutions 
 as these, a prebendar}^ brings up his son to 
 the church, and spends a large sum of money 
 in his education, which, perhaps, he can ill 
 afford. His hope is (wicked wretch !) that, 
 according to the established custom of the 
 body to which he (immoral man !) belongs, 
 the chapter will (when his turn arrives), if 
 his son be of fair attainments and good cha- 
 racter, attend to his nefarious recommenda- 
 tion, and confer the living upon the 3'oung 
 man; and in an instant all his hopes are de- 
 stroyed, and he finds his preferment seized 
 upon, under the plea of public good, by a 
 stronger churchman than himself. I can call 
 this by no other name than that of tyranny 
 and oppression. I know veiy well that this is 
 not the theory of patronage ; but who does bet- 
 ter T — do individual patrons 1 — do colleges who 
 give in succession! — and as for bishops, lives 
 there the man so weak and foolish, so little 
 observant of the past, as to believe (when 
 this tempest of purity and perfection has 
 blown over) that the name of Bloomfield will 
 not figure in those benefices from which the 
 names of Copleston, Blomberg, Taite, and 
 Smith, have been so virtuously excluded 1 I 
 have no desire to make odious comparisons 
 between the purity of one set of patrons and 
 another, but they are forced upon me by the 
 injustice of the commissioners. I must either 
 make such comparisons or yield up, without 
 remonstrance, those rights to which I am fairly 
 entitled. 
 
 It may be said that the bishops will do bet- 
 ter in future ; that now the public eye is upon 
 them, they will be ashamed into a more lof^y 
 and anti-nepotic spirit; but, if the argument 
 of past superiority is given up, and the hope 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 393 
 
 of future amendment resorted to, why may we 
 not improve as well as our masters 1 but the 
 commission says, " These excellent men 
 (meaning themselves) have promised to do 
 better, and we have an implicit confidence in 
 their word : we must have the patronage of the 
 cathedrals." In the mean time we are ready 
 to promise as well as the bishops. 
 
 With regard to that common newspaper 
 phrase, the public eye — there's nothing (as the 
 bench well know) more wandering and slip- 
 pery than the public eye. In five years hence, 
 the public eye will no more see what descrip- 
 tion of men are promoted by bishops, than it 
 will see what doctors of law are promoted by 
 the Turkish Ulhema; and at the end of this 
 period (such is the example set by the com- 
 mission), the public eye, turned in every direc- 
 tion, may not be able to see any bishops at all. 
 
 In many instances, chapters are better pa- 
 trons than bishops, because their preferment 
 is not given exclusively to one species of in- 
 cumbents. I have a diocese now in my pri- 
 vate eye which has undergone the following 
 changes. The first of three bishops whom I 
 remember was a man of careless, easy temper, 
 and how patronage went in those early days 
 maybe conjectured by the following letters; 
 which are not his, but serve to illustrate a 
 system : 
 
 THE BISHOP TO LOHD A . 
 
 My dear Lord, 
 
 I have noticed with great pleasure the be- 
 haviour of your lordship's second son, and am 
 most happy to have it in my power to offer to 
 him the living of * * *. He will find it of 
 considerable value ; and there is, I understand, 
 a very good house upon it, &c. &c. 
 
 This is to confer a living upon a man of 
 real merit out of the family; into which family, 
 apparently sacrificed to the public good, the 
 living is brought back by the second letter: — 
 
 THE SAME TO THE SAME, A TEAR AFTEH. 
 
 My dear Lord, 
 
 Will you excuse the liberty I take in soli- 
 citing promotion for my grandson ] He is an 
 officer of great skill and gallantry, and can 
 bring the most ample testimonials from some 
 of the best men in the profession : the Arethusa 
 frigate is, I understand, about to be commis- 
 sioned ; and if, &c. &c. 
 
 Now I am not saying that hundreds of pre- 
 bendaries have not committed such enormities 
 and stupendous crimes as this (a declaration 
 which will fill the whig cabinet with horror) ; 
 all that I mean to contend for is, that such is 
 the practice of bishops quite as much as it is 
 of inferior patrons. 
 
 The second bishop was a decided enemy of 
 Calvinistical doctrines, and no clergyman so 
 tainted had the slightest chance of preferment 
 in his diocese. 
 
 The third bishop could endure no man 
 whose principles were not strictly Calvinistic, 
 and who did not give to the articles that kind 
 of interpretation. Now here were a great 
 mass of clergy naturally alive to the emolu- 
 ments of their profession, and not knowing 
 50 
 
 which way to look or stir, because they de- 
 pended so entirely upon the will of one person. 
 Not otherwise is it with a very whig bishop, 
 or a very tory bishop ; but the worst case is 
 that of a superannuated bishop ; here the pre- 
 ferment is given away, and must be given 
 away by wives and daughters, or by sons, or 
 by butlers, perhaps, and valets, and the poor 
 dying patron's paralytic hand is guided to the 
 signature of papers, the contents of which he 
 is utterly unable to comprehend. In all such 
 cases as these, the superiority of bishops as 
 patrons will not assist that violence which the 
 commissioners have committed upon the pa- 
 tronage of cathedrals. 
 
 I never heard that cathedrals had sold the 
 patronage of their preferment; such a prac- 
 tice, however, is not quite unknown among 
 the higher orders of the church. When the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury consecrates an in- 
 ferior bishop, he marks some piece of prefer- 
 ment in the gift of the bishop as his own. 
 This is denominated an option; and when the 
 preferment falls, it is not only in the gift of the 
 archbishop, if he is alive, but in the gift of his 
 representatives if he is not. It is an absolute 
 chattel, which, like any other chattel, is part 
 of the archbishop's assets ; and if he died in 
 debt, might be taken and sold for the benefit 
 of his creditors — and wnhin the memory of 
 man such options have been publicly sold by 
 auction — and if the present Archbishop of 
 Canterbury were to die in debt to-morrow, such 
 might be the fate of his options. What Arch- 
 bishop Moore did with his options I do not 
 know, but the late Archbishop Sutton very 
 handsomely and properly left them to the pre- 
 sent — a bequest, however, which would not 
 have prevented such options from coming to 
 the hammer, if Archbishop Sutton had not 
 cleared off, before his death, those incum- 
 brances which, at one period of his life, sat so 
 heavily upon him. 
 
 What the present archbishop means to do 
 with them, I am not informed. They are not 
 alluded to in the church returns, though they 
 must be worth some thousand pounds. The 
 commissioners do not seem to know of their 
 existence — at least they are profoundly silent 
 on the subject; and the bill which passed 
 through Parliament in the summer for the 
 regulation of the emoluments of bishops, does 
 not make the most distant allusion to them. 
 When a parallel was drawn between two spe- 
 cies of patrons — which ended in the confisca- 
 tion of the patronage of cathedrals — when two 
 archbishops helped to draw the parallel, and 
 profited by the parallel, I have a perfect right 
 to state this corrupt and unabolished practice 
 of their own sees — a practice which I never 
 heard charged against deans and chapters.* 
 
 I do not mean to imply, in the most remote 
 degree, that either of the present archbishops 
 have sold their options, or ever thought of it. 
 Purer and more high-minded gentlemen do not 
 exist, nor men more utterly incapable of doing 
 any thing unworthy of their high station ; and 
 
 * Can any thins be more shnbby in a government iesis- 
 lating upon church abuses, than to pass over such scan- 
 dals as these existing in high places? Two years ha vo 
 passed, and they are unnoticed 
 
394 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 I am convinced the Archbishop of Canterbury* 
 will imitate or exceed the munificence of his 
 predecessor: but when twenty-four public 
 bodies are to be despoiled of their patronage, 
 we must look not only to present men, but 
 historically, to see how it has been adminis- 
 tered in times of old, and«in times also recently 
 past; and to remember, that at this moment, 
 when bishops are set up as the most admirable 
 lispensers of patronage — as the only persons 
 fit to be intrusted with it — as marvels, for 
 whom law and justice and ancient possessions 
 ought to be set aside, that this patronage (very 
 valuabh because selected from the whole 
 diocese) of the two heads of the church is 
 liable to all the accidents of succession — that 
 it may fall into the hands of a superannuated 
 wife, of a prolligate son, of a weak daughter, 
 or a rapacious creditor — that it may be brought 
 to the hammer, and publicly bid for at an 
 auction, like all the other chattels of the palace; 
 and that such have been the indignities to 
 which this optional patronage has been ex- 
 posed, from the earliest days of the church to 
 this moment. Truly, men who live in houses 
 of glass (especially where the panes are $o 
 large) ought not to fling stones ; or if they do, 
 they should be specially careful at whose head 
 they are flung. 
 
 And then the patronage which is not seized 
 — the patronage which the chapter is allowed 
 to present to its own body — may be divided 
 without their consent. Can any thing be more 
 thoroughly lawless, or unjust than this — that 
 my patronage during my life shall be divided 
 without my consent] How do my rights 
 during my life differ from those of a lay patron, 
 who is tenant for life 1 and upon what principle 
 of justice or common sense is his patronage 
 protected from the commissioners' dividing 
 power to which mine is subjected] That one 
 can sell, and the other cannot sell, the next 
 presentation, would be bad reasoning if it were 
 good law ; but it is not law, for an ecclesiasti- 
 cal corporation, aggregate or sole, can sell a 
 next presentation as legally as a lay life-tenant 
 can do. They have the same power of selling 
 as laymen, but they never do so; that is, they 
 dispense their patronage with greater propriety 
 and delicacy, which, in the estimate of the 
 commissioners, seems to make their right 
 weaker, and the reasons for taking it away 
 more powerful. 
 
 Not only are laymen guarded by the same 
 act which gives the power of dividing livings 
 to the commissioners, but bishops are also 
 guarded. The commissioners may divide the 
 livings of chapters without their consent ; but 
 before they can touch the living of a bishop, 
 his consent must be obtained. It seems, after 
 a few of those examples, to become a little 
 clearer, and more intelligible, why the appoint- 
 ment of any other ecclesiastics than bishops 
 was so disagreeable to the bench. 
 
 ♦ The options of the Archbishop of York are compara- 
 tively trifling. I never heard, at any period, tliat they 
 have been sold ; but they remain, like those of Canter- 
 bury, in the absolute possession of the archbishop's re- 
 presentatives after his death. I will answer for it that 
 I he present archbishop will do every thina; with them 
 which becomes his high station and high character. 
 They ought to be abolished by act of Parliament. 
 
 The reasoning, then, is this : If a good living 
 is vacant in the patronage of a chapter, they 
 will only think of conferring it on one of their 
 body or their friends. If such a living falls to 
 the gift of a bishop, he will totally overlook 
 the interests of his sons and daughters, and 
 divide the living into small portions for the 
 good of the public; and with these sort of 
 anilities, whig leaders, whose interest it is to 
 lull the bishops into a reform, pretend to be 
 satisfied; and upon this intolerable nonsense 
 they are not ashamed to justify spoliation.* 
 
 A division is set up between public and pri- 
 vate patronage, and it is pretended that one is 
 holden in trust for the public, the other is pri- 
 vate property. This is mere theory — a slight 
 film thrown over convenient injustice. Henry 
 VIII. gave to the Duke of Bedford much of his 
 patronage. Roger de Hoveden gave to the 
 church of St. Paul's much of his patronage 
 before the Russells were in existence. The 
 duke has the legal power to give his prefer- 
 ment to whom he pleases — so have we. We 
 are both under the same moral and religious 
 restraint to administer that patronage properly 
 — the trust is precisely the same to both ; and 
 if the public good requires it, the power of 
 dividing livings without the consent of patrons 
 should be given in all instances, and not con- 
 fined as a mark of infamy to cathedrals alone. 
 This is not the real reason of the difference : 
 bishops are the active members of the com- 
 mission — they do not choose that their own 
 patronage should be meddled with, and they 
 know that the laity would not alloAv for a mo- 
 ment that their livings should be pulled to 
 pieces by bishops ; and that if such a proposal 
 were made, there would be more danger of the 
 bishop being pulled to pieces than the living. 
 The real distinction is, between the weak and 
 the strong — between those who have power to 
 resist encroachment, and those who have not. 
 This is the reason Avhy we are selected for 
 experiment, and so it is with all the bill from 
 beginning to end. There is purple and fine 
 linen in every line of it. 
 
 Another strong objection to the dividing 
 power of the commission is this : according 
 to the printed bill brought forward last ses- 
 sion, if the living is not taken by some mem- 
 bers of the body, it lapses to the bishop. Sup- 
 pose, then, the same person to be bishop and 
 commissioner, he breaks the living into little 
 pieces as a commissioner, and after it is re- 
 jected in its impoverished state by the chapter, 
 he gives it away as bishop of the diocese. 
 The only answer that is given to such objec- 
 tions is, the impeccability of bishops : and upon 
 this principle the whole bill has been con- 
 structed, and here is the great mistake about 
 bishops. They are, upon the whole, very good 
 and worthy men; but they are not (as many 
 ancient ladies suppose) wholly exempt from 
 human infirmities; they have their malice, 
 hatred, uncharitableness, persecution and 
 interest like other men; and an administra- 
 tion who did not think it more magnificent to 
 laugh at the lower clergy, than to protect them, 
 
 * These reasonings have had their effect, and many 
 early acts of injustice of the commission have beeu 
 subsequently corrected. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 395 
 
 should suffer no ecclesiastical bill to pass 
 through Parliament without seriously consi- 1 
 dering how its provisions may affect the hap- 
 piness of poor clergymen pushed into living 
 tombs, and pining in solitude — 
 
 Vates procul atqiie in sola relegant 
 Pascua, post montem oppositum, et trans flumina lata. 
 
 There is a practice among some bishops, 
 which may as well be mentioned here as any- 
 where else, but which, I think, cannot be too 
 severely reprobated. They send for a clergy- 
 man, and insist upon his giving evidence re- 
 specting the character and conduct of his 
 neighbour. Does he hunt! Does he shoot 1 
 Is he in debtl Is he temperate] Does he 
 attend to his parish ] &c. &c. Now what is 
 this, but to destroy for all clergymen the very 
 elements of social life— to put an end to all 
 confidence between man and man — and to dis- 
 seminate among gentlemen, who are bound to 
 live in concord, every feeling of resentment, 
 hatred and suspicion ] But the very essence 
 of tyranny is to act as if the finer feelings, 
 like the finer dishes, were delicacies only for 
 the rich and great, and that little people have 
 no taste for them and no right to them. A 
 good and honest bishop (I thank God there 
 are many who deserve that character!) ought 
 to suspect himself, and carefully to watch his 
 own heart. He is all of a sudden elevated 
 from being a tutor, dining at an early hour 
 with his pupil (and occasionally, it is believed, 
 on cold meat), to be a spiritual lord; he is 
 dressed in a magnificent dress, decorated with 
 a title, flattered by chaplains, and surrounded 
 by little people looking up for the things which 
 he has to give away ; and this often happens 
 to a man who has had no opportunities of 
 seeing the world, whose parents were in very 
 humble life, and who has given up all his 
 thoughts to the Frogs of Aristophanes and the 
 Targum of Onkelos. How is it possible that 
 such a man should not lose his head1 that he 
 should not swell 1 that he should not be 
 guilty of a thousand follies, and worry and 
 tease to death (before he recovers his common 
 sense) an hundred men as good and as wise 
 and as able as himself 1* 
 
 The history of the division of Edmonton 
 has, I understand, been repeatedly stated in 
 the commission — and told, as it has been, by 
 a decided advocate, and with no sort of evi- 
 dence called for on the other side of the ques- 
 tion, has produced an unfair impression against 
 chapters. The history is shortly this : — Be 
 sides the mother church of Edmonton, there 
 are two chapels — Southgate and Winchmore 
 Hill chapel. Winchmore Hill chapel was 
 built by the society for building churches 
 upon the same plan as the portions of Mary- 
 lebone are arranged; the clergyman was to 
 be remunerated by the lease of the pews, and 
 if curates with talents for preaching had been 
 placed there, they might have gained 200/. per 
 annum. Though men of perfectly respectable 
 
 and honourable character, they were not 
 endov^'ed with this sort of talent, and they 
 gained no more than 90/. to 100/. per annum. 
 The Bishop of London applied to the cathedral 
 of St. Paul's, to consent to 250/. per annum in 
 addition to the proceeds from the letting of the 
 pews, or that proportion of the whole of the 
 value of the living, should be allotted to the 
 chapel of Winchmore ; and at the same time 
 we received an application from the chapel at 
 Southgate, that another considerable portion, I 
 forget what, but believe it to have been rather 
 less (perhaps 200/.), should be allotted to them, 
 and the whole living severed into three parishes. 
 Now the living of Edmonton is about 1,350/. 
 annum, besides surplice fees; but this 
 
 * Since writine this, and after declining the living for 
 myself, 1 have had the pleasure of seeing it presented in 
 an undivided state to my amiable and excellent friend, 
 Mr. Taite, wlio, after a long life of moods and tenses, 
 has acquired (as he has deserved) ease and opulence in 
 bis old age. 
 
 per 
 
 1,350/. depends upon a corn rent of lOs. 3d. 
 per bushel, present valuation, which, at the 
 next valuation would, in the opinion of emi- 
 nent land surveyors whom we consulted, be 
 reduced to about 6s. per bushel, so that the 
 living, considering the reduction also of all 
 voluntary offerings to the church, Avould be 
 reduced one half, and this half Avas to b<; 
 divided into three, and one or two curates 
 (two curates by the present bill) to be kept by 
 the vicar of the old church ; and thus three 
 clerical beggars were, by the activity of the 
 Bishop of London, to be established in a dis- 
 trict where the extreme dearness of all provi- 
 sions is the plea for making the see of London 
 double in value to that of any bishopric in the 
 country. To this we declined to agree ; and 
 this, heard only on one side, with the total 
 omission of the'changing value of the benefice 
 from the price of corn, has most probably 
 been the parent of the clause in question. 
 The right cure for this and all similar cases 
 would be to give the bishop a power of allot- 
 ting to such chapels as high a salary as to any 
 other curate in the diocese, taking, as part of 
 that salary, whatever was received from the 
 lease of the pews, and to this no reasonable 
 man could or would object: hut this is not 
 enough — all must bow to one man — "Chapters 
 must be taught submission. No pamphlets, 
 no meeting of independent prebendaries, to 
 remonstrate against the proceedings of their 
 superiors — no opulence and ease but mine." 
 
 Some effect was produced also upon the 
 commission, by the evidence of a prelate, who 
 is both dean and bishop,* and who gave it as 
 his opinion that the patronage of bishops was 
 given upon better principles than that of chap- 
 ters, which, translated into fair EngUsh, is no 
 more than this — that the said witness, not 
 meaning to mislead, but himself deceived, has 
 his own way entirely in his diocest, and can 
 only have it partially in his chapter. 
 
 There is a rumour that these reasorings, 
 with which they were assailed from so many 
 quarters in the last session of Parliameni, 
 have not been without their effect, and that Jt 
 is the intention of the commissioners only t.» 
 take away the patronage from the cathedrals 
 exactly in proportion as the numbers of their 
 members are reduced. Such may be the inten- 
 tion of the commissioners ; but as that inten- 
 
 * This prelate stated it as his opinion to the comrnix- 
 sion, that in future all prelates ought to declare thai thflv 
 held their patronage in trust for the public. 
 
396 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 tion has not been publicly notified, it depends 
 only upon report; and the commissioners have 
 changed their minds so often, that they may 
 alter their intentions twenty times again before 
 the meeting of Parliament. The whole of my 
 observations in this letter are grounded upon 
 their bills nf last year — which I-ord John Rus- 
 sell stated his intention of re-introducing at 
 the beginning of this session. If they have 
 any new plans, they ought to have published 
 them three months ago — and to have given to 
 the clergy an ample opportunity of consider- 
 ing them : but this they take the greatest care 
 never to do. The policy of the government 
 and of the commissioners is to hurry their 
 bills through with such rapidity, that veiy little 
 time is given to those who suffer by them for 
 consideration and remonstrance, and we must 
 be prepared for the worst beforehand. You 
 are cashiered and confiscated before you can 
 look about you — if you leave home for six 
 weeks, in these times, you find a commissioner 
 in possession of your house and ofiice. 
 
 A report has reached my ears, that though 
 all other cathedrals are to retain patronage 
 exactly equal to their reduced numbers, a 
 separate measure of justice is to be used for 
 St. Paul's; that our numbers are to be aug- 
 mented by a fifth ; and our patronage reduced 
 by a third; and this immediately on the passing 
 of the bill. That the Bishop of Exeter, for 
 instance, is to receive his augmentation of 
 patronage only in proportion as the prebend- 
 aries die off, and the prebendaries themselves 
 will, as long as they live, remain in the same 
 proportional state as to patronage ; and that 
 when they are reduced to four (their stationary 
 number), they will retain one-third of all the 
 patronage the twelve now possess. Whether 
 this is wise or not, is a separate question, but 
 at least it is just; the four who remain cannot 
 with any colour of justice complain that they 
 do not re ain all the patronage which was 
 divided a nong twelve; but at St. Paul's not 
 only are our numbers to be augmented by a 
 fifth, bi c the patronage of fifteen of our best 
 livings is to be instantly conferred upon the 
 Bishop of London. This little epuodc of plunder 
 involves three separate acts of gross injustice : 
 in the first place, if only our numbers had been 
 augmented by a fifth (in itself a mere bonus 
 to commissioners), our patronage would have 
 been reduced one-fifth in value. Secondly, 
 <me-third of the preferment is to be taken 
 away immediately, and these two added to- 
 gether make eight-fifteenths, or more than 
 one-half of our whole patronage. So that, 
 when all the cathedrals are reduced to their 
 reformed numbers, each cathedral will enjoy 
 jirecisely the same proportion of patronage as 
 it now does, and each member of every other 
 cathedral will have precisely the same means 
 of promoting men of merit or men of his own 
 family, as is now possessed; while less than 
 half of these advantaa:es will remain to St. 
 Paul's. Thirdly, if the Bishop of London 
 were to wait (as all the other bishops bj' this 
 arrangement must wait) till the present patrons 
 die off, the injustice would be to the future 
 body; but by this scheme, every present in- 
 *Mirabent of St. Paul's is instantly deprived of 
 
 eight-fifteenths of his patronage ; while every 
 other member of every" other cathedral (as far 
 as patronage is concerned) remains precisely 
 in the same state in which he was before. 
 Why this blow is levelled against St. Paul's I 
 cannot conceive; still less can I imagine why 
 the Bishop of London is not to wait, as all 
 other bishops are forced to wait, for the death 
 of the present patrons. There is a reason, 
 indeed, for not waiting, by which (had I to do 
 with a person of less elevated character than 
 the Bishop of London) I would endeavour to 
 explain this precipitate seizure of patronage — 
 and that is, that the livings assigned to him in 
 this remarkable scheme are all very valuable, 
 and the incumbents all veiy old. But I shall 
 pass over this scheme as a mere supposition, 
 invented to bring the commission into disre- 
 pute, a scheme to which it is utterly impos- 
 sible the commissioners should ever affix their 
 names. 
 
 I should have thought, if the love of what 
 is just had not excited the commissioner bish- 
 ops, that the ridicule of men voting such com- 
 fortable things to themselves as the prebendal 
 patronage would have alarmed them ; but they 
 want to sacrifice with other men's hecatombs, 
 and to enjoy, at the same time, the character 
 of great disinterestedness, and the luxury of un- 
 just spoliation. It was thought necessary to 
 make a fund; and the prebends in the gift of 
 the bishops* were appropriated to that purpose. 
 The bishops who consented to this have then 
 made a great sacrifice — true, but they have 
 taken more out of our pockets than they have 
 disbursed from their own ; where then is the 
 sacrifice 1 They must either give back the 
 patronage or the martyrdom, if they choose to 
 he martyrs — which I hope they will do — let 
 them give us back our patronage : if they pre- 
 fer the patronage, they must not talk of being 
 martyrs — they cannot effect this double sensu- 
 ality, and combine the sweet flavour of rapine 
 with the aromatic odour of sanctity. 
 
 We are told, if you agitate these questions 
 among yourselves, you willhavethe democratic 
 Philistines come down upon you, and sweep 
 you all away together. Be it so; I am quite 
 ready to be swept away when the time comes. 
 Every body has his favourite death ; some de- 
 light in apoplexy, and others prefer marasmus. 
 I would infinitely rather be crushed by demo- 
 crats, than, under the plea of the public good, 
 be mildly and blandly absorbed by bishops. 
 
 I met the other day, in an old Dutch chroni- 
 cle, with a passage so apposite to this subject, 
 that though it is somewhat too light for the oc- 
 casion, I cannot abstain from quoting it. There 
 was a great meeting of all the clergy at Dor- 
 drecht, and the chronicler thus describes it, 
 which I give in the language of the transla- 
 tion : — " And there was great store of bishops 
 in the town, in their robes goodly to behold, 
 
 * The bishops have, however, secured for themselves 
 all the livings which were in the separate gifts of pre- 
 bendaries and deans, and they have received from the 
 crown a very large contribution of valuable patronage ; 
 why or wherefore, is known only to the unfathomable 
 wisdom of ministers. The glory of martyrdom can be 
 confined only at best to the bishops of the old cathedrals, 
 for there are scarcely any separate prebends in the new 
 cathedrals. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 and all the great men of the state were there, 
 and folks poured in in boats on the Meuse, the 
 Merve, the Rhine, and the Linge, coming from 
 the Isle of Beverlandt, and Isselmond, and from 
 all quarters in the Bailiwick of Dort ; Armi- 
 nians and Gomarists, with the friends of John 
 Barneveldt and of Hugh Grote. And before 
 my lords the bishops, Simon of Gloucester, who 
 was a bishop in those parts, disputed with 
 Vorstius, and Leoline the Monk, and many 
 texts of Scripture were bandied to and fro; 
 and when this was done, and many proposi- 
 tions made, and it waxed towards twelve of 
 the clock, my lords the bishops prepared to 
 set them down to a fair repast, in which was 
 great store of good things — and among the rest 
 a roasted peacock, having, in lieu of a tail, the 
 arms and banners of the archbishop, which 
 was a goodly sight to all who favoured the 
 church — and then the archbishop would say a 
 grace, as was seemly to do, he being a very holy 
 man ; but ere he had finished, a great mob of 
 townspeople and folks from the country, who 
 were gathered under the window, cried out, 
 Bread! bread! for there was a great famine, 
 and wheat had risen to three times the ordinary 
 price of the slekh ;* and when they had done 
 crying Bread! bread! they called out No bish- 
 ops! — and began to cast up stones at the win- 
 dows. Whereat my lords the bishops were in 
 a great fright, and cast their dinner out of the 
 window to appease the mob, and so the men of 
 that town were well pleased, and did devour 
 the meats with great appetite ; and then you 
 might have seen my lords standing with emp- 
 ty plates, and looking wistfully at each other, 
 till Simon of Gloucester, he who disputed with 
 Leoline the Monk, stood up among them and 
 said, ' Good my lords, it is your pleasure to stand 
 here fasting, and that those ivho count lower in the 
 church than you do should feast and fluster ? Let us 
 order to us the dinner of the deans and canons, which 
 is making ready for them iu the chamber below.'' 
 And this speech of Simon of Gloucester pleased 
 the bishops much; and so they sent for the 
 host, one William of Ypres, and told him it 
 was for the public good, and he, much fearing 
 the bishops, brought them the dinner of the 
 deans and canons ; and so the deans and ca- 
 nons went away without dinner, and were 
 pelted by the men of the town, because they 
 had not put any meat out of the window like 
 the bishops; and when the count came to hear 
 of it, he said it was a pleasant conceit, and 
 that the bishops were right cunning men, and had 
 ding'd the canons ivell," 
 
 When I talk of sacrifices, I mean the sacri- 
 fices of the bishop commissioners, for we are 
 given to understand that the great mass of 
 bishops were never consulted at all about these 
 proceedings; that they are contrary to every 
 thing which consultations at Lambeth, previ- 
 ous to the commission, had led them to expect ; 
 and that they are totally disapproved of by 
 them. The voluntary sacrifice, then (for it is 
 no sacrifice, if it is not voluntary), is in the 
 bishop commissioners only ; and besides the 
 indemnification which they have voted to 
 
 * A measure in the Bailiwick of Dort, containing two 
 gallons one pint Englisli dry measure 
 
 themselves out of the patronage of the cathe- 
 drals, they wdll have all that never-ending pa- 
 tronage, which is to proceed from the working 
 of the commission, and the endowments be- 
 stov/ed upon ditferent livings. So much for 
 episcopal sacrifices ! 
 
 And who does not see the end and meaning 
 of all this ] The lay commissioners, who are 
 members of the government, cannot and will 
 not attend — the Archbishops of York and Can- 
 terbury are quiet and amiable men, going fast 
 down in the vale of life — some of the members 
 of the commission are expletives — some must 
 be absent in their dioceses — the Bishop of 
 London is passionately fond of labour, has 
 certainly no aversion to power, is of quick 
 temper, great ability, thoroughly versant in 
 ecclesiastical law, and always in London. He 
 will become the commission, and when the 
 church of England is mentioned, it will only 
 mean Charles James, of London, who will enjoy 
 a greater power than has ever been possessed 
 by any churchman since the days of Laud, and 
 will become the Church of Ejigland here upon 
 earth. As for the commission itself, there is 
 scarcely any power which is not given to it. 
 They may call for every paper in the world, 
 and every human creature who possesses it ; 
 and do what they like to one or the other. It 
 is hopeless to contend with such a body; and 
 most painful to think that it has been esta- 
 blished under a whig government.* A com- 
 mission of tory churchmen, established for 
 such purposes, should have been framed with 
 the utmost jealousy, and with the most cautious 
 circumscription of its powers, and with the 
 most earnest wish for its extinction when the 
 purposes of its creation were answered. The 
 government have done every thing in their 
 power to make it vexatious, omnipotent, and 
 everlasting. This immense power, flung into 
 the hands of an individual, is one of the many 
 foolish consequences which proceed fiom the 
 centralization of the bill, and the unwillingness 
 to employ the local knowledge of the bishops 
 in the process of annexing dignified to paro- 
 chial preferment. 
 
 There is a third bill concodted by the com- 
 mission-bishops, in which the great principle 
 of increasing the power of the bench has cer- 
 tainly not been lost sight of. , a 
 
 brother clergyman, falls ill suddenly in the 
 country, and he begs his clerical neighbour to 
 do duty for him in the afternoon, thinking it 
 better that there should be single service in 
 two churches, than two services in one, and 
 none in the other. The clergyman who ac- 
 cedes to this request, is liable to a penalty of 5/. 
 There is an harshness and ill nature in this — 
 a gross ignorance of the state of the poorer 
 clergy — an hard-heartedness produced by the 
 long enjoyment of wealth and power, which 
 makes it quite intolerable. I speak of it as it 
 stands in the bill of last year.f 
 
 If a clei-gyman has a living of 4001. per an- 
 num, and a population of two thousand per- 
 
 * I am speaking here of the permanent commission es- 
 tablished by act of Parliament in 1835. The commission 
 for reporting had come to an end six months b.^fo'e thi« 
 letter was written. 
 
 t This is also given up. 
 
 2L 
 
398 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 sons, the lishop can compel him to keep a 
 curate, to whom he can allot any salarj' which 
 he may allot to an}' other curate ; in other 
 words, he may take away half the income of 
 the clerg}'man, and instantly Piin him — and 
 this without any complaint from the vestry; 
 with every testimonial of the most perfect satis- 
 faction of the parish in the labours of a minis- 
 ter, who may, perhaps, be dedicating his whole 
 life to their improvement. I think I remember 
 that the Bishop of London once attempted this 
 before he was a commissioner, and was de- 
 feated. I had no manner of doubt that it would 
 speedily become the law, after the commission 
 had begun to operate. The Bishop of London 
 is said to have declared, after this trial, that )/ 
 it teas not law it should soon be law .* and lau; 
 you will see, it will become. In fact he can 
 slip into any ecclesiastical act of Parliament 
 any thing he pleases. There is nobody to 
 heed or contradict him ; provided the power of 
 bishops is extended by it; no bishop is so un- 
 genteel as to oppose the act of his right re- 
 verend brother; and there are not many men 
 who have knowledge, eloquence, or force of cha- 
 racter to stand up against the Bishop of Lon- 
 don, and, above all, of industrj- to watch him. 
 The ministr}-, and the lay lords, and the House 
 of Commons, care nothing about the matter; 
 and the clergj' themselves, in a state of the 
 greatest ignorance as to what is passing in 
 the world, find their chains heavier and heavier, 
 without knowing who or what has produced 
 the additional incumbrance. A good honest 
 whig minister should have two or three stout- 
 hearted parish priests in his train to watch the 
 bishop's bills, and to see that they were con- 
 structed on other principles than that bishops 
 can do no icrong, and cannot have loo much power. 
 The whigs do nothing of this, and yet they 
 complain that they are hated by the clergy, 
 and that in all elections the clergy are their 
 bitterest enemies. Suppose they were to try 
 a little justice, a little notice, and a little pro- 
 tection. It would take more time than quiz- 
 zing, and contempt, but it might do some good. 
 
 The bishop puts a great number of questions 
 to his clergy^ which they are to be compelled, 
 by this new law of the commission, to answer, 
 under a penally; and if they do answer them, 
 they incur, perhaps, a still heavier penaltv. 
 " Have 3'ou had two services in your church 
 €i\\ the ^earl" — " I decline to answer." — "Then 
 I fine you 20^." — "I have only had one ser- 
 vice." — " Then I fine you 250/.'' In what other 
 profession are men placed between this double 
 fire of penalties, and compelled to criminate 
 themselves ? It has been disused in England, 
 I believe, ever since the time of Laud and the 
 Star Chamber.f 
 
 By the same bill, as it first emanated from 
 the commission, a bishop could compel a 
 clergj-man to expend three years' income upon 
 a house in which he had resided, perhaps, fifty 
 years, and in which he had brought up a large 
 
 * The Hishop of London denies that he ever said this ; 
 but the Bisliop of London affects short sharp sayinss. 
 seasoned, I am afraid, sometimes with a little indiscre- 
 tion ; and these sayings are not necessarily forgotten be- 
 cause he forgets them. 
 
 tThis attempt upon the hippiness and independence 
 of the clergy has been abandoned. 
 
 family. With great difficulty, some slight mo- 
 dification of this enormous power was obtained, 
 and it was a little improved in the amended 
 bill.* In the same way an attempt was made 
 to trj' delinquent clerg}'men, by a jury of cler- 
 gymen, nominated by the bishop, but this was 
 too bad, and was not endured for an instant; 
 still it showed the same love of power and the 
 same principle of ivipeccability, for the bill is 
 expressly confined to all suits and complaints 
 against persons below the dignity and degree of 
 bishops. The truth is, that there are very few 
 men in either House of Parliament (ministers, 
 or any one else), who ever think of the happi- 
 ness and comfort of the working clergy, or be- 
 stow one thought upon guarding them from 
 the increased and increasing power of their 
 encroaching masters. What is called taking 
 care of the church is taking care of the bish- 
 ops; and all bills for the management of the 
 clergy are left to the concoction of men who 
 very naturally believe they are improving the 
 church when they are increasing their own 
 power. There are many bishops too generous, 
 loo humane, and too Christian, to oppress a 
 poor clergyman ; but I have seen (I am sorry 
 to say) many grievous instances of partiality, 
 rudeness, and oppression-! I have seen clergy- 
 men treated by them with a violence and con- 
 tempt which the lowest servant in the bishop's 
 establishment would net have endured for a 
 single moment; and if there is a helpless, 
 friendless, wretched being in the communit}-, 
 it is a poor clergyman in the country with a 
 large family. If there is an object of compas- 
 ! sion, he is one. If there is any occasion in 
 I life where a great man should la}- aside his 
 office, and put on those kind looks, and use 
 those kind words which raise the humble from 
 the dust, these are the occasions when those 
 best parts of the Christian character ought to 
 be displayed. 
 
 I would instance the unlimited power which 
 a bishop possesses over a curate, as a very 
 unfair degree of power for any man to possess. 
 Take the following dialogue which represents 
 a real event. 
 
 Bishop. — Sir, I understand you frequent the 
 meetings of the Bible Society. 
 
 Curate. — Yes, my lord, I do. 
 
 Bishop. — Sir, I tell you plainly, if you con- 
 tinue to do so, I shall silence you from preach- 
 ing in my diocese. 
 
 Curate. — My lord, I am very sorry to incur 
 your indignation, but I frequent that society 
 
 * I perceive that the Archbishop of Canterbury borrows 
 money for the improvement of his palace, and pays the 
 principal ofl' in forty years. This is quite as soon as a 
 debt incurred for such public purposes ought to be paid 
 off, and the archbishop has done riehtly to take that pe- 
 riod. In process of time I think it very likely that this 
 indulgence will be extended to country clergymen, who 
 are compelled to pay off the debts for' buildings (which 
 they are compelled to undertake) in twenty years ; and 
 by the new bill, not yet passed, this indulgence is extend- 
 ed to thirty years. Why poor clergymen have been 
 compelled for the last five years to pay off the incum- 
 brances at the rate of one-twentieth per annum, and are 
 now (:onipelled to pay them off, or will, when the bill 
 passes, be so compelled, at the rate of one-thirtieth per 
 annum, when the archbishop lakes forty years to do the 
 same thing, and has made that bargain in the year 1831, 
 I really cannot tell. A clergyman who does not reside, 
 is forced to piy off his building debt in ten years. 
 
 + What bishops like best in their clergy is a dropping- 
 dowD deadness of manner. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 399 
 
 upon principle, becaiise I think it eminently 
 serviceable to the cause of the Gospel. 
 
 Bishop. — Sir, I do not enter into your reasons, 
 but tell you plainly, if you continue to go there 
 you shall be silenced. 
 
 The young man did go, and was silenced — 
 and as bishops have always a great deal of 
 clever machinery at work of testimonials and 
 bene-ikcessits, and always a lawyer at their 
 elbow, under the name of a secretary, a curate 
 excluded from one diocese is excluded from 
 all. His remedy is an appeal to the archbishop 
 from the bishop ; his worldly goods, however, 
 amount to ten pounds ; he never was in Lon- 
 don ; he dreads such a tribunal as an arch- 
 bishop — he thinks, perhaps, in time, the bishop 
 may be softened — if he is compelled to restore 
 him, the enmity will be immortal. It would 
 be just as rational to give to a frog or a rabbit, 
 upon which the physician is about to experi- 
 ment, an appeal to the Zoological Society, as 
 to give to a country curate an appeal to the 
 archbishop against his purple oppressor. 
 
 The errors of the bill are a public concern — 
 the injustice of the bill is a private concern. 
 Give us our patronage for life.* Treat the 
 cathedrals all alike, with the same measure of 
 justice. Don't divide livings in the patronage 
 «f present incumbents without tiieir consent — 
 or do the same with all livings. If these points 
 are attended to in the forthcoming bill, all com- 
 plaiiU of unfairness and injustice will be at an end. 
 I shall still think, that the commissioners have 
 been very rash and indiscreet, that they have 
 evinced a contempt for existing institutions, 
 and a spirit of destruction which will be 
 copied to the life hereafter, by commissioners 
 of a very different description. Bishops live 
 in high places with high people, or with little 
 people who depend upon them. They walk 
 delicately, like Agag. They hear only one 
 sort of conversation, and avoid bold, reckless 
 men, as a lady veils herself from rough breezes. 
 I am half inclined to think, sometimes, that 
 the bishop-commissioners really think that 
 they are finally settling the church ; that the 
 House of Lords will be open to the bench for 
 ages ; and that many archbishops in succes- 
 sion will enjoy their fifteen thousand pounds a 
 year in Lambeth. I wish I could do for the 
 bishop-commissioners what his mother did for 
 .^neas, in the last days of Troy: — 
 
 " Omnem qu8B nunc obducta tuenti 
 Mortales helietat visus tibi, et huniida circum 
 Caligat, nubein eripiam. 
 Apparent din facies," &c. itc. 
 
 It is ominous for liberty, when Sydney and 
 Russell cannot agree ; but when Lord John 
 Russell, in the House of Commons, said, that 
 we showed no disposition to make any sacri- 
 fices for the good of the church, I took the 
 liberty to remind that excellent person that he 
 must first of all prove it to be for the good of 
 the church that our patronage should be taken 
 away by the bishops, and then he might find 
 fault with us for not consenting to the sacrifice. 
 
 I have little or no personal nor pecuniary 
 interest in these things, and have made all 
 possible exertion (as two or three persons in 
 
 * This has now been given to us. 
 
 the power well know) that they should not 
 come before the public. I have no son nor 
 son-in-law in the church, for whom I want any 
 patronage. If I were young enough to survive 
 any incumbent of St. Paul's, my own prefer- 
 ment is too agreeably circumstanced to make 
 it at all probable I should avail myself of the 
 opportunity. I am a sincere advocate for 
 church reform; but I think it very possible, 
 and even very easy, to have removed all odium 
 from the establishment in a much less violent 
 and revolutionary manner, without committing 
 or attempting such flagrant acts of injustice, 
 and without leaving behind an odious court of 
 inquisition, which will inevitably fall into the 
 hands of a single individual, and will be an 
 eternal source of vexation, jealousy, and 
 change. I give sincere credit to the commis- 
 sioners for good intentions — how can such 
 men have intended anything but good] And 
 I firmly believe that they are hardly conscious 
 of the extraordinary predilection they have 
 shown for bishops in all their proceedings ; it 
 is like those e'rrors in tradesmen's bills of 
 M'hich the retail arithmetician is really uncon- 
 scious, but which, somehow or another, always 
 happen to be in his own favour. Such men 
 as the commissioners do not say this patronage 
 belongs justly to the cathedrals, and we will 
 take it away unjustly for ourselves ; but, after 
 the manner of human nature, a thousand weak 
 reasons prevail, which would have no effect, 
 if self-interest were not concerned; they are 
 practising a deception on themselves, and sin- 
 cerely believe they are doing right. When I 
 talk of spoil and plunder, I do not speak of the 
 intention, but of the effect, and the precedent. 
 
 Still the commissioners are on the eve of 
 entailing an immense evil upon the countrj', 
 and unfortunately, they have gone so far, that 
 it is necessary they should ruin the cathedrals, 
 to preserve their character for consistency. 
 They themselves have been frightened a great 
 deal too much by the mob; have overlooked 
 the chances in their favour produced by delay : 
 have been afraid of being suspected (as tories) 
 of not doing enough; and have allowed them- 
 selves to be hurried on by the constitutional 
 impetuosity of one man, who cannot be brought 
 to believe that wisdom often consists in leav- 
 ing alone, standing still and doing nothing. 
 From the joint operation of all these causes, 
 all the cathedrals of England will, in a few 
 weeks, be knocked about our ears. You, Mr. 
 Archdeacon Singleton, will sit like Caius 
 Marius on the ruins, and we shall lose for ever 
 the wisest scheme for securing a well-educated 
 clergy upon the most economical terms, and 
 for preventing that low fanaticism which is 
 the greatest curse upon human happiness, and 
 the greatest enemy of true religion. We shall 
 have all the evils of an establishment, and 
 none of its good. 
 
 You tell me I shall be laughed at as a rich 
 and overgrown churchman; be it so. I have 
 been laughed at a hundred times in my life, 
 and care little or nothing about it. If I am 
 well provided for now — I have had my full 
 share of the blanks in the lottery as the prizes. 
 Till thirty years of age I never received a 
 farthing from the church ; then 50/. per aP''nrr» 
 
400 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 fur two years — then nothing for ten years — 
 then 500/. per annum, increased for two or 
 three years to 800/., till, in my grand climac- 
 teric, I was made canon of St. Paul's ; and 
 before that period, I had built a parsonage- 
 house with farm offices for a large farm, which 
 cost me 4,000/., and had reclaimed another 
 from ruins at the expense of 2,000/. A lawyer, 
 or a physician in good practice, would smile 
 at this picture of great ecclesiastical wealth, 
 and yet I am considered as a perfect monster 
 of ecclesiastical prosperity. 
 
 I should be very sorry to give offence to the 
 dignified ecclesiastics Avho are in the commis- 
 sion ; I hope they will allow for the provoca- 
 tion, if 1 have been a little too warm in the 
 defence of St. Paul's, which I have taken a 
 solemn oath to defend. I was at school and 
 college with the Archbishop of Canterbury; 
 fifty-three years ago he knocked me down with 
 the chess-board for check-mating him — and 
 now he, is attempting to take away my patron- 
 age. I believe these are the only two acts 
 of violence he ever committed in his life : the 
 interval has been one of gentleness, kindness, 
 and the most amiable and high-principled 
 courtesy to his clergy. For the Archbishop 
 of York, I feel an affectionate respect — the 
 result of that invariable kindness I have re- 
 ceived from him: and who can see the Bishop 
 of London without admiring his superior ta- 
 lents — being phased with his society, without 
 admitting that, upon the u-hoh* the public is 
 benefited by h.s ungovernable passion for 
 business ; and »vithout receiving the constant 
 workings of a really good heart, as an atone- 
 ment for the occasional excesses of an impe- 
 tuous disposition ? I am quite sure if the tables 
 had been turned, and if it had been his lot, as 
 a canon, to fight against the encroachments of 
 bishops, that he would have made as stout a 
 defence as I have done — the only difference is 
 that he would have done it with much greater 
 talent. 
 
 As for my friends the whigs, I neither wish 
 to ofiend them nor any body else. I consider 
 myself to be as good a \vhig as any amongst 
 them. I was a whig before many of them 
 were born — and while some of them were 
 tones and waverers. I have always turned 
 out to fight their battles, and when I saw no 
 other clergyman turn out but myself — and this 
 in times before liberality was well recompensed, 
 
 * I have heard that the Bishop of London employs eight 
 hours per day in the joverninent d'his diocese— in which 
 no part of Asia, Africa, or America is included. The 
 wnrki is, I believe, tal^inc one day with another, go- 
 verned in about a third of that time. 
 
 and therefore in fashion, when the smallest 
 appearance of it seemed to condemn a church- 
 man to the grossest of obloquy, and the most 
 hopeless poverty. It may suit the purpose of 
 the ministers to flatter the bench ; it dees not 
 suit mine. I do not choose in my old age to 
 be tossed as a prey to the bishops ; I have not 
 deserved this of my whig friends. I know 
 very well there can be no justice for deans and 
 chapters, and that the momentary lords of the 
 earth will receive our statement with derision 
 and persiflage — the great principle which is 
 now called in for the government of mankind. 
 Nobody admires the general conduct of the 
 whig administration more than I do. They 
 have conferred, in their domestic policy, the 
 most striking benefits on the country. To 
 say that there is no risk in what they have 
 done is mere nonsense — there is great risk; 
 and all honest men must balance to counteract 
 it — holding back as firmly down hill as they 
 pulled vigorously up hill. Still, great as the 
 risk is, it was worth while to incur it in the 
 poor-law bill, in the tithe bill, in the corpora- 
 tion bill, and in the circumscription of the 
 Irish Protestant Church. In all these matters, 
 the whig ministry, after the heat of party is 
 over, and when Joseph Hume and Wilson 
 Croker* are powdered into the dust of deatji, 
 will gain great and deserved fame. In the 
 question of the church commission they have 
 behaved with the grossest injustice ; delighted 
 to see this temporary delirium of archbishops 
 and bishops, scarcely believing their eyes, 
 and carefully suppressing their laughter, when 
 they saw these eminent conservatives laying 
 about them with the fury of Mr. Tyler or Mr. 
 Straw; they have taken the greatest care not 
 to disturb them, and to give them no offence: 
 " Do as you like, my lords, with the chapters 
 and the parochial clergy; you will find some 
 pleasing morsels in the ruins of the cathe- 
 drals. Keep for yourselves any thing you 
 like — whatever is agreeable to you cannot be 
 unpleasant to us." In the mean time, the old 
 friends of, and the old sufferers for, liberty, do 
 not understand this new meanness, and are 
 not a little astonished to find their leaders 
 prostrate on their knees before the lords of the 
 church, and to receive no other answer from 
 them than that, if they are disturbed in their 
 adulation, they will immediately resign ! 
 
 I remain, my dear Sir, with sincere good 
 will and respect, yours, 
 
 Stdnet Smith. 
 
 * I meant no harm by the comparison, but I have made 
 two bitter enemies by it. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 401 
 
 SECOND LETTEE TO AUCHDEACON SINGLETON. 
 
 Mr DEAR Sir, 
 
 It is a long time since you heard from me, 
 and in the mean time the poor Church of Eng- 
 land has been trembling, from the bishop Mho 
 sittethupon the throne, to the curate who rideth 
 upon the hackney horse. I began -writing on 
 the subject to avoid bursting from indignation ; 
 and, as it is not my habit to recede, I will go 
 on till the Church of England is either up or 
 down — semianimous on its back, or vigorous 
 on its legs. 
 
 Two or three persons have said to me — 
 " Why, after writing an entertaining and suc- 
 cessful letter to Archdeacon Singleton, do you 
 venture upon another, in which you may pro- 
 bably fail, and be weak or stupid?" All this 
 I utterly despise ; I write upon these matters 
 not to be entertaining, but because the subjects 
 arc very important, and because I have strong 
 opinions upon them. If what I write is liked, 
 so much the better ; but liked or not liked, sold 
 or not sold, Wilson Crockered or not M^ilson 
 Crockered, I will write. If you ask me who 
 excites me, I answer you, it is that judge who 
 stirs good thoughts in honest hearts — under 
 whose warrant I impeach the wrong, and by 
 whose help I hope to chastise it. 
 
 There are, in most cathedrals, two sorts of 
 prebendaries — the one resident, the other non- 
 resident. It is proposed by the church com- 
 mission to abolish all the prebendaries of the 
 latter and many of the former class ; and it is 
 the prebendaries of the former class, the resi- 
 dent prebendaries, whom I wish to save. 
 
 The non-resident prebendaries never come 
 near the cathedral ; they are just like so many 
 country gentlemen ; the difference is, that their 
 appointments are elective, not hereditar}^ 
 They have houses, manors, lands, and every 
 appendage of territorial wealth and import- 
 ance. Their value is very different. I have 
 one, Neasdon, near Willesdon, which consists 
 of a quarter of an acre of land, worth a few 
 shillings per annum, but animated by the 
 burden of repairing a bridge, which some- 
 times costs the luifortunate prebendary fifty 
 or sixty pounds. There are other non-resi- 
 dent prebendaries, however, of great value ; 
 and one, I believe, which would be worth, if 
 the years or lives were run out, from 40,000/. 
 to 60,000/. per annum. 
 
 Not only do these prebendaries do nothing, 
 and are never seen, but the existence of the 
 preferment is hardly known ; and the abolition 
 of the preferment, therefore, would not in any 
 degree lessen the temptation to enter into the 
 church, while the mass of these preferments 
 would make an important fund for the im- 
 provement of small livings. The residentiary 
 prebendaries, on the contrary, perform all the 
 services of the cathedral church ; their exist- 
 51 
 
 ence is known, their preferment coveted, and 
 to get a stall, and to be preceded by men with 
 silver rods, is the bait which the ambitious 
 squire is perpetually holding out to his second 
 son. What prebendary is next to come into 
 residence, is as important a topic to the cathe- 
 dral town, and ten miles around it, as what 
 the evening or morning star may be to the as- 
 tronomer. I will venture to say, there is not 
 a man of good humour, sense, and worth, 
 within ten miles of Worcester, who does not 
 hail the rising of Archdeacon Singleton in the 
 horizon as one of the most agreeable events 
 of the year. If such sort of preferments are 
 extinguished, a very serious evil (as I have 
 often said before) is done to the church — the 
 service becomes unpopular, further spoliation 
 is dreaded, the whole system is considered to 
 be altered and degraded, capital is withdrawn 
 from the church, and no one enters into the 
 profession but the sons of farmers and little 
 tradesmen, who would be footmen if they were 
 not vicars — or figure on the coach-box if they 
 were not lecturing from the pulpit. 
 
 But what a practical rebuke to the commis- 
 sioners, after all their plans and consultations 
 and carvings of cathedral preferment, to leave 
 it integral, and untouched! It is some com- 
 fort, however, to me, to think that the persons 
 of all others to whom this preservation of ca- 
 thedral property would give the greatest plea- 
 sure, are the ecclesiastical commissioners 
 themselves. Can any one believe that the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, or the Bishop of 
 London, really Mashes for the confiscation of 
 any cathedral property, or that they were 
 driven to it by any thing but fear, mingled, 
 perhaps, with a little vanity of playing the part 
 of great reformers! They cannot, of course, 
 say for themselves what I say for them; but 
 of what is really passing in the ecclesiastical 
 minds of these great personages, I have no 
 more doubt than I have of what passes in the 
 mind of the prisoner Avhen the prosecutor re- 
 commends and relents, and the judge says he 
 shall attend to the recommendation. 
 
 What harm does a prebend do, in a politico- 
 economical point of view 1 The alienation of 
 the property for three lives, or twenty-one 
 years, and the almost certainty that the tenant 
 has of renewing, give him sufficient interest 
 in the soil for all purposes of cultivation,* and 
 a long series of elected clergymen is rather 
 
 * The church, it has been urged, do not plant — they do 
 not extend their woods ; but almost all cathedrals pos- 
 sess woods, and regularly plant a succession, so as to 
 keep them up. A single evening of dice and hazard does 
 not doom their woods to sudden destruction ; a life 
 tenant does not cut down all the timber to make the 
 most of his estate ; the woods of ecclesiastical bodies aro 
 managed upon a fixed and settled plan, and considering 
 the sudden prodigalities of laymen, 1 should not be afrajij 
 of a comparison. 
 
 2l2 
 
402 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 more likely to produce valuable members of I 
 the community than a long series of begotten 
 squires. Take, for instance, the cathedral of 
 Bristol, the -whole estates of which are about 
 equal to keeping a pack of fox-hounds. If this 
 had been in the hands of a country gentleman ; 
 instead of precentor, succentor, dean, and 
 t'.anons, and sexton, you would have had 
 huntsman, whipper-in, dog-feeders, and stop- 
 pers of earths ; the old squire full of foolish 
 opinions, and fermented liquids, and a young 
 gentleman of gloves, waistcoats and panta.- 
 loons: and hov\^ many generations might it be 
 before the fortuitous concourse of noodles 
 would produce such a man as Professor Lee. 
 one of the prebendaries of Bristol, and by far 
 the most eminent oriental scholar in Europe 1 
 The same argument might be applied to every 
 cathedral in England. How many hundred 
 coveys of squires would it take to supply as 
 much knowledge as is condensed in the heads 
 of Dr. Copplestone or Mr. Taite, of St. Paul's 1 
 and what a strange thing it is that such a man 
 as Lord John Russell, the whig leader, should 
 be so squirrel-minded as to wish for a move- 
 ment without object or end I Saving there can 
 be none, for it is merely taking from one ec- 
 clesiastic to give it to another ; public clamour, 
 to which the best men must sometimes yield, 
 does not require it: and so far from doing any 
 good, it would be a source of infinite mischief 
 to the establishment. 
 
 If you were to gather a parliament of curates 
 on the hottest Sunday in the year, after all the 
 services, sermons, burials, and baptisms of the 
 day were over, and to ofier them such increase 
 of salaiy as would be produced by tlie confis- 
 cation of the cathedral property, I am con- 
 vinced they would reject the measure, and 
 prefer splendid hope, and the expectation of 
 good fortune in advanced life, to the trifling 
 improvement of poverty which such a fund 
 could afford. Charles James, of London, was 
 a curate; the Bishop of Winchester was a 
 curate; almost every rose-and-shovel man has 
 been a curate in his time. All curates hope 
 to draw great prizes. 
 
 I am surprised it doe.s not strilce the moun- 
 taineers how very much the great emoluments 
 of the church are llung open to the lowest 
 ranks of the community. Butchers, bakers, 
 publicans, schoolmasters, are perpetually 
 seeing their children elevated to the mitre. 
 Let a respectable baker drive through the city 
 from the west end of the town, and let him 
 cast an eye on the battlements of Northumber- 
 land House, has his little muffin-faced son the 
 smallest chance of getting in among the Per- 
 cies, enjoying a share of their luxury and 
 splendour, and of chasing the deer with hound 
 and horn upon the Cheviot Hills! But let 
 him drive his alum-steeped loaves a little 
 farther, till he reaches St. Paul's church3'ard, 
 and all his thoughts are changed when he sees 
 that beautiful fabric; it is not impossible that 
 his little penny roll may be introduced into 
 that splendid oven. Young Crumpet is sent 
 to school — takes to his books — spends the 
 best years of his life, as all eminent English- 
 men do, in making Latin verses — knows that 
 Ihe crum in crum-pet is long, and the jie'. short 
 
 — goes to the University — gets a prize for an 
 Essay on the Dispersion of the Jews — takes 
 orders — becomes a bishop's chaplain — has a 
 young nobleman for his pupil — publishes an 
 useless classic, and a serious call to the un- 
 converted — and then goes through the Elysian 
 translations of prebendary, dean, prelate, and 
 the long train of purple, profit, and power. 
 
 It will not do to leave only four persons in 
 each cathedral, upon the supposition that such 
 a number will be sufficient for all the men of 
 real merit who ought to enjoy such prefer- 
 ment ; we ought to have a steady confidence 
 that the men of real merit will always bear a 
 small proportion to the whole number; and 
 that in proportion as the whole number is les- 
 sened, the number of men of merit provided 
 for will be lessened also. If it were quite cer- 
 tain that ninety persons would be selected, the 
 most remarkable for conduct, piety, and learn- 
 incT, ninety offices might be sutficieut; but cut 
 of these ninety are to be taken tutors to dukes 
 and marquises, paid in this way by the public ; 
 bishop's chaplains, running tame about the 
 palace; elegant clergymen, of small under- 
 standing, who have made themselves accept- 
 able in the drawing-rooms of the mitre 1 
 Billingsgate controversialists, who have tossed 
 and gored an Unitarian. So that there remain 
 but a few rewards tor men of real merit — yet 
 these rewards do infinite good ; and in this 
 mixed, checkered way, human afi'airs are con- 
 ducted. 
 
 No man at the beginning of the reform could 
 tell to what excesses the new power conferred 
 upon the multitude would carry them ; it was 
 not safe for a clerg}-man to appear in the 
 streets. I bought a blue coat, and did not 
 despair in time of looking like a layman. All 
 this is passed over. Men are returned to their 
 senses upon the subject of the church, and I 
 utterly deny that there is any public feeling 
 whatever which calls for the destruction of the 
 resident prebends. Lord John Russell has 
 pruned the two luxuriant bishoprics, and has 
 abolished pluralities: he has made a very 
 material alteration in the state of the church : 
 not enough to please Joseph Hume, and the 
 tribunes of the people, but enough to satisfy 
 every reasonable and moderate man, and, 
 therefore, enough to satisfy himself. What 
 another generation may choose to do, is 
 another question : I am thoroughly convinced 
 that enough has been dene for the present. 
 
 Viscount Melbourne declared himself quite 
 satisfied with the church as it is ; but if the 
 public had any desire to alter it, they might do 
 as they pleased. He might have said the 
 same thing of the monarchy, or of any other 
 of our institutions; and there is in the declara- 
 tion a permissiveness and good humour which, 
 in public men, have seldom been exceeded. 
 Carelessness, however, is but a poor imitation 
 of genius, and the formation of a wise and 
 well-reflected plan of reform conduces more to 
 the lasting fame of a minister than that aftected 
 contempt of duty whicli every man sees to be 
 mere vanity, and a vanity of no very high 
 description. 
 
 But, if the truth must be told, our viscount 
 is somewhat of an impostor. Every thing 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 403 
 
 about him seems to betoken careless desola- 
 tion: any one would suppose from his man- 
 ner that he was playing at chuck-farthing 
 with human happiness ; that he was always 
 on the heel of pastime ; that he would giggle 
 away the great charter, and decide by the 
 method of tee-totura whether my lords the 
 bishops should or should not retain their seats 
 in the House of Lords. All this is the mere 
 vanity of surprising, and making us believe 
 that he can play with kingdoms as other men 
 can with nine-pins. Instead of this lofty nebulo, 
 this miracle of moral and intellectual felicities, 
 he is nothing more than a sensible, honest 
 man, who means to do his duty to the sove- 
 reign and to the country : instead of being the 
 ignorant man he pretends to be, before he 
 meets the deputation of tallow-chandlers in the 
 morning, he sits up half the night talking with 
 Thomas Young about melting and skimming, 
 and then, though he has acquired knowledge 
 enough to work ofi'a whole vat of primeLeices- 
 ter tallow, he pretends next morning not to 
 know the ditference between a dip and a 
 mould. In the same way, when he has been 
 employed in reading acts of Parliament, he 
 would persuade you that he has been reading 
 ClegJiorn on the Beatitudes, or Pickler on the Nine 
 Difficult Points. Neither can I allow to this 
 minister (however he may be irritated by the 
 denial) the extreme merit of indifference to the 
 consequences of his measures. I believe him 
 to be conscientiously alive to the good or evil 
 that he is doing, and that his caution has more 
 than once arrested the gigantic projects of the 
 Lycurgus of the Lower House. I am sorry to 
 hurt any man's feelings, and to brush away 
 the magnificent fabric of levity and gaiety he 
 has reared ; but I accuse our minister of 
 honesty and diligence; I deny that he is care- 
 less or rash : he is nothing more than a man 
 of good understanding, and good principle, 
 disguised in the eternal and somewhat weari- 
 some affectation of a political roue. 
 
 One of the most foolish circumstances at- 
 tending this destruction of cathedral property, 
 is the great sacrifice of the patronage of the 
 crown ; the crown gives up eight prebends of 
 Westminster, two at Worcester, 1,500?. per 
 annum at St. Paul's, two prebends at Bristol, 
 and a great deal of other preferment all over 
 the kingdom; and this at a moment when such 
 extraordinary power has been suddenly con- 
 ferred upon the people, and when every atom 
 of power and patronage ought to be husbanded 
 for the crown. A prebend of Westminster for 
 my second son would soften the Catos of 
 Cornhill, and lull the Gracchi of the metropo- 
 litan boroughs. Lives there a man so absurd 
 as to suppose that government can be carried 
 on without those gentle allurements? You 
 may as well attempt to poultice off the humps 
 of a camel's back, as to cure mankind of these 
 little corruptions. 
 
 I am terribly alarmed by a committee of 
 cathedrals now sitting in London, and plan- 
 ning a petition to the legislature to be heard 
 by counsel. They will take such high ground, 
 and talk a language so utterly at variance with 
 the feelings of the age about church pro- 
 perty, that I am. much afraid they will do more 
 
 harm than good. In the time of Lord George 
 Gordon's riots, the Guards saul they did not 
 care for the mob, if the gentlemen volunteers 
 behind would be so good as not to hold their 
 muskets in such a dangerous manner. I don't 
 care for popular clamour, and think it might 
 now be defied ; but I confess the gentlemen 
 volunteers alarm me. They have, unfortunately, 
 too, collected their addresses, and published 
 them in a single volume ! ! ! 
 
 I should like to know how many of our in- 
 stitutions at this moment, besides the cathe- 
 drals, are under notice of destruction. I will, 
 before I finish my letter, endeavour to procure 
 a list ; in the mean time I will give you the 
 bill of fare with which the last session opened, 
 and I think that of 1838 will not be less copious. 
 But at the opening of the session of 1837, when I 
 addressed my first letter to you, this was the 
 state of our intended changes : — The law of 
 copyright was to be recreated by Serjeant 
 Talfourd ; church rates abolished by Lord John 
 Russell, and imprisonment for debt by the at- 
 torney-general ; the Archbishop of Canterbury 
 kindly undertook to destroy all the cathedrals, 
 and Mr. Grote was to arrange our voting by 
 ballot; the septennial act was to be repealed 
 by Mr. Williams, corn laws abolished by Mr. 
 Clay, and the House of Lords reformed by Mr. 
 Ward ; Mr. Hume remodelled county rates, 
 Mr. Ewart put an end to primogeniture, and 
 Mr. Tooke took aAvay the exclusive privileges 
 of Dublin, Oxford, and Cambridge ; Thomas 
 Duncombe was to put an end to the proxies of 
 the lords, and Serjeant Prime to turn the uni- 
 versities topsy-turvy. Well may it be said 
 that 
 
 " Man never continueth in one stay." 
 
 See how men accustom themselves to large 
 and perilous changes. Ten years ago, if a 
 cassock or a hassock had been taken from the 
 establishment, the current of human affairs 
 would have been stopped till restitution had 
 been made. In a fortnight's time. Lord John 
 Russell is to take possession of, and to re-parti- 
 tion all the cathedrals in England ; and what 
 a prelude for the young queen's coronation ! 
 what a medal for the august ceremony I — the 
 fallen Gothic buildings on one side of the gold, 
 the young Protestant queen on the other : — 
 
 " Victoria Ecclesiie Victrix." 
 And then, when she is full of noble devices, and 
 of all sorts enchantingly beloved, and amid the 
 solemn swell of music, when her heart beats 
 happily, and her eyes look majesty, she turn.<j 
 them on the degraded ministers of the Gospe), 
 and shudders to see she is stalking to the throne 
 of her Protestant ancestors over the broken 
 altars of God. 
 
 Now, remember, I hate to overstate my case. 
 I do not say that the destruction of cathedrals 
 will put an end to railroads : I believe that good 
 mustard and cress, sovv'n after liord John's bill 
 is passed, will, if duly watered, continue to 
 grow. I do not say that the country has no 
 right, after the death of individual incumbents, 
 to do what they propose to do ; — I merely say 
 that it is inexpedient, uncalled for, and mis- 
 chievous — that the lower clergy, for whose 
 sake it is proposed to be done, do rot desir« 
 
404 
 
 WORKS OF THE KEY. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 it — that the bishop commissioners, who pro- 
 posed it, would be heartily glad if it was put 
 an end to — that it will lower the character of 
 those who enter into the church, and accustom 
 the English people to large and dangerous con- 
 fiscations : and I would not have gentlemen of 
 the money-bags, and of wheat and bean land, 
 forget that the church means many other things 
 than Thirty-nine Articles, and a discourse of 
 five-and-twenty minutes' duration on the Sab- 
 bath. It means a check to the conceited rash- 
 ness of experimental reasoners — an adhesion 
 to old moral landmarks — an attachment to the 
 happiness we have gained from tried institu- 
 tions, greater than the expectation of that 
 which ij promised by novelty and change. 
 The lou ! cry of ten thousand teachers of jus- 
 tice and worship, that cry Avhich masters the 
 Borgias and Calilincs of the world, and guards 
 from devastation the best works of God — 
 Ma^na testantur voce per orbein 
 Discite justiliaiii iiioniti et iion teninere divos. 
 
 In spite of his uplifted chess-board, I cannot 
 let my old school-fellow, the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, off, without harping a little upon 
 his oath, which he has taken to preserve the 
 rights and property of the church of Canter- 
 bury : I am quite sure so truly good a man, as 
 from the bottom of my heart I believe him to 
 be, has some line of argument by which he de- 
 fends himself; but till I know it, I cannot of 
 course say I am convinced by it. The com- 
 mon defence for breaking oaths is, that they 
 are contracts made with another party, which 
 the Creator is called to witness, and from 
 which the swearer is absolved, if those for 
 whom the oath is taken choose to release him 
 from his obligation. With whom, then, is the 
 contract made by the archbishop ^ Is it with 
 the community at large ] If so, nothing but 
 an act of Parliament (as the community at 
 large have no other organ) could absolve him 
 from his oath; but three years before any act 
 is passed, he puts his name to a plan for 
 taking away two-thirds of the property of the 
 church of Canterbury. If the contract is not 
 made witli the community at large, but with 
 the church of Canterbury, every member of it 
 is in decided hostility to his scheme. O'Con- 
 nell takes an oath that he will uot injure nor 
 destroy the Protestant church; but in promot- 
 ing the destruction of some of the Irish bish- 
 oprics, he may plead that he is sacrificing 
 a part to preserve the whole, and benefiting, 
 not injuring, the Protestant establishment. But 
 the archbishop does not swear to a general 
 truth, where the principle may be preserved, 
 though there is an apparent deviation from the 
 words ; but he swears to a very narrow and 
 limited oath, that he will not alienate the pos- 
 sessions of the church of Canterbury. A friend 
 of mine has suggested to me that his grace has, 
 perhaps, forgotten the oath ; but this cannot be, 
 for the first Protestant in Europe of course 
 makes a memi-randura in his pocket-book of 
 all the oaths he takes to do, or to abstain. The 
 oath, however, inay be less present to the arch- 
 bishop's memory, from the fact of his not 
 having taken the oath in person, but by the 
 'nedium of a gentleman sent down by the coach 
 u» 'ake it for him — a practice which, though I 
 
 believe it to have been long established in the 
 church, surprised me, I confess, not a little. 
 A proxy to vote, if you please — a proxy to con- 
 sent to arrangements of estates, if wanted; but 
 a proxy sent down in the Canterbury fly, to 
 take the Creator to witness that the archbishop, 
 detained in town by business or pleasure, will 
 never violate that foundation of piety over 
 which he presides — all this seems to me an act 
 of the most extraordinary indolence ever re- 
 corded in history. If an ecclesiastic, not a 
 bishop, may express any opinion on the reforms 
 of the church, I recommend that archbishops 
 and bishops should take no more oaths by 
 proxy; but as they do not wait upon the sove- 
 reign or the prime minister, or even any of 
 the cabinet, by proxy, that they should also 
 perform all religious acts in their own person. 
 This practice would have been abolished in 
 Lord John's first bill, if other grades of church- 
 men as well as bishops had been made com- 
 missioners. But the motto was — 
 
 " Peace to the palaces— war to the manses." 
 
 I have been informed, though I will not an- 
 SAver for the accuracy of the information, that 
 this vicarious oath is likely to produce a scene 
 which would have puzzled the Ditdor Dnbi- 
 tantium. The attorney who took the oath for 
 the archbishop, is, they say, seized with reli- 
 gious horrors at the approaching confiscation 
 of Canterbury property, and has in vain ten- 
 dered back his 6s. Sd. for taking the oath. The 
 arclibishop refuses to accept it; and feeling 
 himself light and disencumbered, wisely keeps 
 the saddle upon the back of the writhing and 
 agonized scrivener. I have talked it over with 
 several clergymen, and the general opinion is, 
 that the scrivener Avill suffer. 
 
 I cannot help thinking that a great opportu- 
 nity opens itself for improving the discipline 
 of the church, by means of those chapters 
 which Lord .lohn Kussell* is so anxious to de- 
 stroy; divide the diocese among the members 
 of the chapter, and make them responsible for 
 the superintendence and inspection of the 
 clergy in their various divisions under the su- 
 preme control of the bishop ; by a few addi- 
 tions they might be made the bishops' council 
 for the trial of delinquent clergymen. They 
 might be made a kind of college for the gene- 
 ral care of education in the diocese, and ap- 
 
 * I nnly mention Lord John Russell's name so often, 
 berriii?e thi" riinnagenient of the church measures de- 
 Vdlvi's upon liiiii. Ife is. heyond all comparison, the 
 alili'sl iii:ii) ill tlir wliolf aiiininistralion, and to such a 
 dt'LTfc is 111- <n|ii'rior, that the sovernment could not 
 exist a niuiiiPiit williout him. If the foreign secretary 
 were to retire, we sliould no lonffer be niliblinir ourselves 
 into disiirace on the coast of Spain. If the amiable Lord 
 Glenelfr were to leave us. we should feel secure in our 
 colonial i)ossessions. If Mr. Sprins Rice were to go into 
 holyonlers, great would he the joy of the three per cents. 
 A decent, good-looking head of the ffovernment might 
 easily enough be found in lieu of Viscount Melbourne ; 
 hut ill five minutes after the departure of Lord John, the 
 whole whig government would be dissolved into sparks 
 of liberality and splinters of reform. There are six re- 
 markable men, who. in different methods and in different 
 deffrees, are now aflecting the interests of this coun- 
 try— the Duke of Wellinston, Lord John Russell. Lord 
 Brougham, Lord Lyndliiirst, Sir Robert Peel, and O'Con- 
 nell. fJreater powers than all these are the phlegm of 
 the English people— the great mass of good sense and 
 intelligence diffused among them — and the number of 
 those who have something to lose, and have not the 
 slightest intention of losing it. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 405 
 
 plied to a thousand useful purposes, which 
 would have occurred to the commissioners, if 
 they had not been so dreadfully frightened, 
 and to the government, if their object had been, 
 not to please the dissenters, but to improve the 
 church. 
 
 The Bishop of Lincoln has lately published 
 a pamphlet on the church question. His lord- 
 ship is certainly not a man full of felicities 
 and facilities, imitating none, and inimitable 
 of any; nor does he work with infinite agita- 
 tion of wit. His creation has blood without 
 head, bones without marrow, eyes without 
 speculation. He has the art of saying nothing 
 in many words beyond any man that ever 
 existed; and when he seems to have made a 
 proposition, he is so dreadfully frightened at 
 it, that he proceeds as quickly as possible, in 
 the ensuing sentence, to disconnect the subject 
 and the predicate, and to avert the dangers he 
 has incurred : — but as he is a bishop, and will 
 be therefore more read than I am, I cannot 
 pass him over. His lordship tells us, that it 
 was at one time under consideration of the 
 commissioners whether they should not tax 
 all benefices above a certain value, in order to 
 raise a fund for the improvement of smaller 
 livings ; and his lordship adds, with the great- 
 est innoJence, that the considerations which 
 principally weighed with the commissioners 
 in inducing them not to adopt the plan of taxa- 
 tion, was that they understood the clergy in 
 general to be decidedly averse to it; so that 
 the plan of the commission was, that the 
 greater benefices should pay to the little, while 
 the bishops themselves — the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury with his 15,000/. a year, and the 
 Bishop of London with his 10,000/. a year — 
 were not to subscribe a single farthing for that 
 purpose. Why does John, Bishop of Lincoln, 
 mention these distressing schemes of the com- 
 mission, which we are certain would have 
 been met with a general yell of indignation 
 from one end of the kingdom to another 1 
 Surely it must have occurred to this excellent 
 prelate that the bishops would have been com- 
 pelled, by mere shame, to have contributed to 
 the fund which they were about to put upon 
 the backs of the more opulent parochial clergy; 
 surely a moment's reflection must have taught 
 them that the safer method by far was to con- 
 fiscate cathedral property. 
 
 The idea of abandoning this taxation, be- 
 cause it was displeasing to the clergy at large, 
 is not unentertaining as applied to a commis- 
 sion who treated the clergy with the greatest 
 contempt, and did not even notice the com- 
 munications from cathedral bodies upon the 
 subject of the most serious and extensive 
 confiscations.* 
 
 * Upon this subject I think it right to introduce the 
 fnllowin? letters, the first of which was published Jan. 
 23, 1838 :— 
 
 TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES. 
 
 " Sir,— I feel it to be consistent with my duty, as secre- 
 tary to the church commissioners, to notice a statement 
 emanating from a quarter which would seem to srive it 
 authenticity— that, of seven chapter memorials addressed 
 to the board, the receipt of one was only acknowledsed. 
 
 "It (s strictly within my province to acknowledge 
 communications made to tiie commissioners as a body, 
 either directly or through mc; and it i« part of their 
 
 " The plan of taxation, therefore," says the 
 bishop, " being abandoned, it was evident that 
 the funds for the augmentation of poor livings, 
 and for the supply of the spiritual wants of 
 populous districts, must be drawn from the 
 episcopal and cathedral revenues ; that is, 
 from the revenues from which the legislature 
 seems to have a peculiar right to draw the 
 funds for the general supply of the religious 
 wants of the people ; because they arise from 
 benefices, of which the patronage is either 
 actually in the crown, or is derivative IVom the 
 crown. In the case of the episcopal revenues, 
 the commissioners had already carried the 
 principle of redistribution as far as they 
 thought that it could, with due allowance for 
 the various demands upon the incomes of the 
 bishops, be carried. The only remaining 
 source, thcrefoi-e, was to be found in the 
 cathedral revenues; and the commissioners 
 proceeded, in the execution of the duties pre- 
 scribed to them, to consider in what manner 
 
 general instructions to me that I should do so in all 
 cases. 
 
 " To whatever extent, therefore, the statement may be 
 true, or whatever may be its value, it is clear that it 
 cannot attach to the commissioners, but that I alone aui 
 responsible. 
 
 "In the execution of my office, I have endeavoured, 
 in the midst of my other duties, to conduct an extensive 
 correspondence in accordance to what I knew to be the 
 feelings and wishes of the commissioners, and to treat 
 every party in communication with them with attention 
 and respect. 
 
 "If, at some period of more than usual pressure, any 
 
 accidental omission may have occurred, or may hereafter 
 
 occur, involving an appearance of discourtesy, it is for 
 
 me to offer, as I now do, explanation and apology. 
 
 " I am, sir, your obedient humble servant, 
 
 "C. K. Murray. 
 
 " Whitehall Place, Jan. 21." 
 
 TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES. 
 
 " Sir,— A more indiscreet and extraordinary communi- 
 cation than that which appears in your own paper of the 
 23d instant, signed by Mr. C. K. Murray, I never read. 
 '^pparet domus intus.' It is now clear how the commis- 
 sion has been worked. Where communications from the 
 oldest ecclesiastical bodies, upon the most important of 
 all subjects to them and to the kingdom, were received 
 by the greatest prelates and nnhlernen of the land, acting 
 under the king's commission, I should have thought that 
 answers suitable to the occasion would, in each case, 
 have been dictated by the commission; that such an- 
 swers would have been entered on the minutes, and 
 read on the board-day next ensuing. 
 
 "Is Mr. C. K. Murray quite sure that this, which is 
 done at all boards on the most trifling subjects, was not 
 done at his board, in the most awful confiscation ever 
 known in England f Is he certain that spoliation was in 
 no instance sweetened by civility, and injustice never 
 vanished by forms t Were all the decencies and proprie- 
 ties, which ought to regulate the intercourse of such 
 great bodies, left without a single inquiry from the com- 
 missioner, to a gentleman who seems to have been seized 
 with six distinct fits of oblivion on six separate occasions, 
 any one of which required all that attention to decorum 
 and that accuracy of memory for which secretaries are 
 selected and paid 1 
 
 "According to Mr. C. K. Murray's account, the only 
 order he received from the board was, 'If any preben- 
 dary calls, or any cathedral writes, desiring not to be 
 destroyed, just say the communication has 'een re- 
 ceived;' and even this, Mr Murray tells us, he nas riot 
 done, and that no one of the king's conmiissioners — 
 archbishnps, bishops, marquises, earls— ever asked him 
 whether he had done it or not- though any one of these 
 great people would have swooned away at the idea of 
 not answering the most trifling communication from any 
 other of these great people. 
 
 "Whatever else these commissioners do, they had 
 better not bring their secretary forward again. They 
 may feel wind-bound by public opinion, but they must 
 choose, as a sacrifice, a better Iphigenia than Mr. C. K. 
 Murray. 
 
 "Sydney Smith '* 
 
406 
 
 WORKS or THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 those rerenues might be rendered conducive 
 to the efficiency of the established church." 
 
 This is very good episcopal reasoning; but 
 is it true? The bishops and commissioners 
 wanted a fund to endow small livings; they 
 did not touch a farthing of their own incomes, 
 only distributed them a little more equally; 
 and proceeded lustily at once to confiscate 
 cathedral property. But why was it neces- 
 sary, if the fund for small livings was such a 
 paramount consideration, that the future arch- 
 bishops of Canterbury should be left with two 
 palaces, and 15,000/. per annum? Why is 
 every future bishop of London to have a 
 palace in Fulham, a house in St. James's 
 Square, and 10,000/. a-year? Could not all 
 the episcopal functions be carried on well and 
 effectually with the half of these incomes 1 
 Is it necessary that the Archbishop of Canter- 
 bur}^ should give feasts to aristocratic London; 
 and that the domestics of the prelacy should 
 stand wiA swords and bag-wigs round pig, 
 and turkey, and venison, to defend, as it were, 
 the orthodox gastronome from the fierce Uni- 
 tarian, the fell Baptist, and all the famished 
 children of dissent? I don't object to all this; 
 because I am sure that the method of prizes 
 and blanks is the best method of supporting 
 a church, which must be considered as very 
 slenderly endowed, if the whole were equally 
 divided among the parishes ; but if my opinion 
 w^ere different — if I thought the important im- 
 provement was to equalize preferment in tlie 
 English church — that such a measure was not 
 the one thing foolish, but the one thing need- 
 ful — I should take care, as a mitred commis- 
 sioner, to reduce my own species of preferment 
 to the narrowest limits, before I proceeded to 
 confiscate the property of any other grade of 
 the church. I could not, as a conscientious 
 man, leave the Archbishop of Canterbury with 
 15,000/. a-year, and make a fund by annihilat- 
 ing residentiaries at Bristol of 500/. This 
 comes of calling a meeting of one species of 
 cattle only. The horned cattle say, — "If you 
 want any meat, kill the sheep ; don't meddle 
 with us, there is no beef to spare." They said 
 this, however, to the lion; and the cunning 
 animal, after he had gained all the information 
 necessary for the destruction of the muttons, 
 and learned how well and widely they pastured, 
 and how they could be most conveniently 
 eaten up, turns round and informs the cattle, 
 who took him for their best and tenderest 
 friend, that he means to eat them up also. 
 Frequently did Lord John meet the destrojdng 
 bishops ; much did he commend their daily 
 heaps of ruins ; sweetly did they smile on 
 each other, and much charming talk was there 
 of meteorology and catarrh, and the particular 
 cathedral they were pulling down at each 
 period;* till one fine day, the home secretary, 
 with a voice more bland, and a look more 
 ardently aflectionate, than that which the 
 masculine mouse bestows on his nibbling 
 female, informed them that the government 
 meant to take all the church property into 
 their own hands, to pay the rates out of it, and 
 
 * "What cathedral are we pulling down to-day 1 
 was the standing question at the commission. 
 
 deliver the residue to the rightful possessors. 
 Such an effect, they say, was never before 
 produced by a coup de theatre. The commission 
 was separated in an instant : London clinched 
 his fist ; Canterbury was hurried out by his 
 chaplains, and put into a warm bed; a solemn 
 vacancy spread itself over the face of Glouces- 
 ter; Lincoln was taken out in strong hys- 
 terics. — What a noble scene Serjeant Talfourd 
 would have made of this ! Why are such 
 talents wasted on Ion and the Athenian Captive? 
 
 But, after all, what a proposition ! " You 
 don't make the most of your money: I will 
 take your property into my hands, and see if 
 I cannot squeeze a penny out of it: you shall 
 be regularly paid all you now receive, only if 
 any thing more can be made of it, that we will 
 put into our own pockets." — "Just pull off 
 your neck-cloth, and lay your head under the 
 guillotine, and I will promise not to do you any 
 harm : just get ready for confiscation ; give up 
 the management of all your property ; make 
 us the ostensible managers of every thing; 
 let us be informed of the most minute value 
 of all, and depend upon it, we will never injure 
 you to the extent of a single farthing." — "Let 
 me get my arms about you," says the bear ; " I 
 have not the smallest intention of squeezing 
 you." — "Trust your finger in my moifth," says 
 the mastiff; " I will not fetch blood." 
 
 Where is this to end? If government are 
 to take into their own hands all property which 
 is not managed with the greatest sharpness 
 and accuracy, they may squeeze l-8th per 
 cent, out of the Turkey Company ; Spring Rice 
 would become director of the Hydro-imper- 
 vious Association, and clear a few hundreds 
 for the treasury. The British Roasted Apple 
 Society is notoriously mismanaged, and Lord 
 John and Brother Lister, by a careful selection 
 of fruit, and a judicious management of fuel, 
 would soon get it up to par. 
 
 I think, however, I have heard at the Politi- 
 cal Economy Club, where I have sometimes 
 had the honour of being a guest, that no trades 
 should be carried on by governments. That 
 they have enough to do of their own, without 
 undertaking other persons' business. If any 
 savings in the mode of managing ecclesiasti- 
 cal leases could be made, great deduction from 
 these savings must be allowed for the jobbing 
 and Gaspillage of general boards, and all the 
 old servants of the church, displaced by this 
 measure, must receive compensation. 
 
 The whig government, they will be vexed to 
 hear, would find a great deal of patronage 
 forced upon them by this measure. Their fa- 
 vourite human anima', the barrister of six 
 years' standing, would be called into action. — 
 The whole earth is, in fact, in commission, and 
 the human race, saved from the flood, are de- 
 livered over to barristers of six years' stand- 
 ing. The onus probandi now lies upon any man 
 who says he is not a commissioner; the only 
 doubt on seeing a new man among the whigs 
 is, not whether he is a commissioner or not, 
 but whether it is tithes, poor-laws, boundaries 
 of boroughs, church leases, charities, or any 
 of the thousand human concerns Avhich are 
 now worked by commissioners, to the infinite 
 comfort and satisfaction of mankind, who seem 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 407 
 
 in these days to have found out the real secret 
 of life — the one thing wanting to sublunary 
 happiness — the great principle of commission, 
 and six years' harristration. 
 
 Then, if there is a belter method of working 
 ecclesiastical estates — if any thing can be 
 gained for the church — why is not the church 
 to have iti why is it not applied to church 
 purposes ] M'hat right has the state to seize it ? 
 If I give you an estate, I give it you not only 
 in its present state, but I give to you all the 
 improvements which can be made upon it — 
 all that mechanical, botanical, and chemical 
 knowledge may do hereafter for its improve- 
 ment — all the ameliorations which care and 
 experience can suggest, in setting, improving, 
 and collecting your rents. Can there be such 
 miserable equivocation as to say — I leave you 
 your property, but I do not leave to you all the 
 improvements which your own wisdom, or the 
 wisdom of your fellow-creatures, will enable 
 you to make of your property 1 How utterly 
 unworthy of a whig government is such a dis- 
 tinction as this ! 
 
 Suppose the same sort of plan had been 
 adopted in the reign of Henry VIII., and the 
 legislature had said, — You shall enjoy all you 
 now have, but every farthing of improved 
 revenue, after this period, shall go into the 
 pocket of the state — it would have been im- 
 possible by this time that the church could 
 have existed at all: and why may not such a 
 measure be as fatal hereafter to the existence 
 of a church, as it would have been to the pre- 
 sent generation, if it had been brought forward 
 at the time of the Reformation ] 
 
 There is some safety in dignity. A church 
 is in danger when it is degraded. It costs 
 mankind much less to destroy it when an in- 
 stitution is associated with mean, and not with 
 elevated ideas. I should like to see the subject 
 in the hands of H. B. I would entitle the 
 print — 
 
 '•The Bishops' Saturday Night; or. Lord John 
 Russell at the Pay-Table." 
 
 The bishops should be standing before the 
 pay-table, and receiving their weekly allow- 
 ance ; Lord John and Spring Rice counting, 
 ringing, and biting the sovereigns, and the 
 Bishop of Exeter insisting that the chancellor 
 of the exchequer has given him one which 
 v^as not weight. Viscount Melbourne, in high 
 chuckle, should be standing, with his hat on, 
 and his back to the fire, delighted with the con- 
 test; and the deans and canons should be in 
 the back-ground, waiting till their turn came, 
 and the bishops were paid ; and among them 
 a canon, of large composition, urging them on 
 not to give way too much to the bench. Per- 
 haps I should add the president of the board 
 of trade, recommending the truck principle to 
 the bishops, and offering to pay them in has- 
 socks, cassocks, aprons, shovel-hats, sermon- 
 cases, and such like ecclesiastical gear. 
 
 But the madness and folly of such a measure 
 are in the revolutionary feeling which it ex- 
 cites. A government taking into its hands 
 such an immense value of property ! What a 
 lesson of violence and change to the mass of 
 mankind ! Do you want to accustom English- 
 
 men to lose all confidence in the permanence 
 of their institutions — to inure them to great 
 acts of plunder — and to draw forth all the 
 latent villanies of human nature 1 The whig 
 leaders are honest men, and cannot mean this, 
 but these foolish and inconsistent measures are 
 the horn-book and infantile lessons of revolu- 
 tion; and remember, it requires no great time 
 to teach mankind to rob and murder on a great 
 scale. 
 
 I am astonished that these ministers neglect 
 the common precaution of a foolometer,* with 
 which no public man should be unprovided; I 
 mean, the acquaintance and society of three or 
 four regular British fools as a test of public 
 opinion. Every cabinet minister should judge 
 of all his measures by his fooloineter, as a na- 
 vigator crowds or shortens sail by the baro- 
 meter in his cabin. I have a very valuable in- 
 strument of that kind myself, which I have 
 used for many years; and I would be bound to 
 predict, with the utmost nicety, by the help of 
 this machine, the precise elfect which any 
 measure would produce upon public opinion. 
 Certainly, I never saw any thing so decided as 
 the effects produced upon my machine by the 
 rate bill. No man who had been accustomed 
 in the smallest degree to handle philosophical 
 instruments could have doubted of the storm 
 which was coming on, or of the thoroughly 
 un-English scheme in which the ministry had 
 so rashly engaged themselves. 
 
 I think, also, that it is a very sound argu- 
 ment against this measure of church rates, 
 that estates have been bought liable to these 
 payments, and that they have been deducted 
 from the purchase-monej'. And what, also, 
 if a dissenter were a republican as well as a 
 dissenter — a case which has sometimes hap- 
 pened; and what if our anti-monarchical dis- 
 senter were to object to the expenses of kingly 
 government] Are his scruples to be respected, 
 and his taxes diminished, and the queen's 
 privy purse to be subjected and exposed to the 
 intervening and economical squeeze of govern- 
 ment commissioners 1 
 
 But these lucubrations upon church rates 
 are an episode ; I must go back to John, Bishop 
 of Lincoln. All other cathedrals are fixed at 
 four prebendaries; St. Paul's and Lincoln, 
 having only three, are increased to the regula- 
 tion pattern of four. I call this useless and 
 childish. The Bishop of Lincoln says, there 
 were more residentiaries before the Reforma- 
 tion ; but if for three hundred years three resi- 
 dentiaries have been found to be sufficient, 
 what a strangely feeble excuse it is for adding 
 another, and diverting 3000/. per annum from 
 the small living fund, to say, that there were 
 more residentiaries three hundred years ago. 
 Must every thing be good and right that is 
 
 * Mr. Fox very often used to say, " I wonder what 
 I^rd B. will think of this." Lord B. hnppened to be a 
 very stupid person, and the curiosity of Mr. Fox's friends 
 was naturally excited to know why he attached such 
 importance to the opinion of such an ordinary common- 
 place person. "His niijiiinn," said Mr. Fox, "is of much 
 more importance tlian ymi are aware of lie is in exact 
 representative of all lOiniiicn-iiUR-e English prejudices, 
 and what Lord B. thinks fif any measure, the great ma- 
 jority of English people will think of it." It would be a 
 good thing if every cabinet of philosophers had a Lord B. 
 among them. 
 
408 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 done by bishops? Is there one rule of right 
 for them, and another for the rest of the world"! 
 Now here are two commissioners, whose ex- 
 press object is to constitute, out of the large 
 emoluments of the dignitaries, a fund for the 
 poorer parochial clergy ; and in the very heat 
 and fervour of confiscation, they build up two 
 new places, utterly useless and uncalled for, 
 take 3000/. from the charity fund to pay them, 
 and they give patronage of these places to them- 
 selves. Is there a single epithet in the lan- 
 guage of invective which would not have been 
 levelled at lay commissioners who had at- 
 tempted the same thing] If it is necessary to 
 do so much for archdeacons, why mi^ht not 
 one of the three residentaries be archdeacon 
 in virtue of his prebend 1 If government make 
 bishops, they may surely be trusted to make 
 archdeacons. I am very willing to ascribe 
 good motives to these commissioners, who are 
 really worthy and very sensible men, but I am 
 perfectly astonished that they were not deterred 
 from such a measure by appearances, and 
 by the motives which, whether rightly or 
 wrongly, would be imputed to them. In not 
 acting so as to be suspected, the Bishop of 
 London should resemble Cesar's wife. In 
 other respects, this excellent prelate would not 
 have exactly suited for the partner of that great 
 and self-wiiled man ; and an idea strikes me, 
 that it is not impossible he might have been in 
 the senate-house instead of Ccesar. 
 
 Lord John Russell gives himself great credit 
 for not having confiscated church property, 
 but merely remodelled and redivided it. I ac- 
 cuse him not of plunder, but I accuse him of 
 taking the Church of England, rolling it about 
 as a cook does a piece of dough, with a rolling 
 pin, cutting a hundred different shapes with all 
 the plastic fertility of a confectioner, and 
 without the most distant suspicion that he can 
 ever be wrong, or ever be mistaken : with 
 a certainty that he can anticipate the conse- 
 quences of every possible change in human 
 affairs. There is not a better man in Eng- 
 
 land than Lord John Russell; but his fail- 
 ure is, that he is utterly ignorant of all moral 
 fear; there is nothing he would not undertake. 
 I believe he would perform the operation for 
 the stone — build St. Peter's — or assume (with 
 or -without ten minutes' notice) the command 
 of the Channel fleet; and no one Avould disco- 
 ver by his manner that the patient had died — 
 the church tumbled down — and the Channel 
 fleet been knocked to atoms. I believe his 
 motives are always pure, and his measures 
 often able; but they are endless, and never 
 done with that pedetentous pace and pedeten- 
 tous mind in which it behoves the wise and 
 virtuous improver to walk. He alarms the 
 wise liberals ; and it is impossible to sleep 
 soundly while he has the command of the 
 watch.* 
 
 Do not say, my dear Lord John, that I am too 
 severe upon you. A thousand years have scarce 
 sufliced to make our blessed England what it 
 is; an hour may lay it in the dust; and can 
 you, with all your talents, renovate its shattered 
 splendour — can you recall back its virtues — 
 can you vanquish time and fate 7 But, alas ! 
 you want to shake the world, and to be the 
 thunderer of the scene ! 
 
 Now what is the end of what I have written ? 
 Why every body was in a great fright ; and a 
 number of bishops, huddled together, and talk- 
 ing of their great sacrifices, began to destroy 
 other people's property, and to take other peo- 
 ple's patronage : and all the fright is over now ; 
 and all the bishops are very sorry for what 
 they have "done, and regret extremely the de- 
 struction of the cathedral dignitaries, but don't 
 know how to get out of the foolish scrape. The 
 whig ministry persevere to please Joseph and 
 his brethren, and the destroyers ; and the good 
 sense of the matter is to fling out the dean and 
 chapter bill, as it now stands, and to bring in 
 another next year — making a fund out of all 
 the non-resident prebends, annexing some of 
 the others, and adopting many of the enact- 
 ments contained in the present bill. 
 
 Tlimi) LETTEE TO AUCHDEACON SIXGLETOK 
 
 Mr DEAR Sir, 
 
 I HOPE this is the last letter }'ou will receive 
 from me on church matters. I am tired of the 
 subject; so are you; so is every body. In 
 spite of many bishops' charges, I am unbroken ; 
 and remain entirely of the same opinion as I 
 was two or three years since — that the muti- 
 lation of deans and chapters is a rash, foolish, 
 and imprudent measure. 
 
 I do not think the charge of the Bishop of 
 London successful, in combating those argu- 
 ments which have been used against the im- 
 pending dean and chapter bill; but it is quiet, 
 gentleman-like, temperate, and written in a 
 
 manner which entirely becomes the high oflSce 
 and character which he bears. 
 
 I agree with him in saying that the plurality 
 and residence bill is, upon the whole, a very 
 good bill; — nobody, however, knows better 
 than the Bishop of London the various changes 
 it has undergone, and the improvements it has 
 received. I could point out fourteen or fifteen 
 very material alterations for the better, since 
 it came out of the hands of the commission, 
 and all bearing materially vpon the happiness and 
 
 * AnottiPr peculiarity of the Russells is, that they ne- 
 ver alter their opinions : they are an excellent race, but 
 they must l>e trepanned before they can be convinced. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 409 
 
 comfort of the parochial clergy. I will mention 
 only a few: — the bill, as originally introduced, 
 gave the bishop a power, when he considered 
 the duties of the parish to be improperly per- 
 formed, to suspend the clergyman and appoint 
 a curate with a salary. Some impious per- 
 sons thought it not impossible that occasionally 
 such a power might be maliciously and vin- 
 dictively exercised, and that some check to it 
 should be admitted into the bill ; accordingly, 
 under the existing act, an ecclesiastical jury 
 is to be summoned, and into that jury the de- 
 fendant clergyman may introduce a friend of 
 his own. 
 
 If a clerg)^man, from illness or any other 
 overwhelming necessity, was prevented from 
 having two services, he was exposed to an 
 information and penalty. In answering the 
 bishop, he was subjected to two opposite sets 
 of penalties — the one for saying yes ; the other 
 for saying no : he was amenable to the need- 
 less and impertinent scrutiny of a rural dean 
 before he was exposed to the scrutiny of the 
 bishop. Curates might be forced upon him 
 by subscribing parishioners, and the certainty 
 of a schism established in the parish ; a curate 
 might have been forced upon present incum- 
 bents by the bishop without any complaint 
 made ; upon men who took, or, perhaps, bought 
 their livings under very different laws ; all 
 these acts of injustice are done away M-ith, but 
 it is not to the credit of the framers of the bill 
 that they were ever admitted, and they com- 
 pletely justify the opposition with which the 
 bill was received by me and by others. I add, 
 however, with great pleasure, that when these 
 and other objections were made, they were 
 heard with candour, and promised to be reme- 
 died by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the 
 Bishop of London and Lord John Russell. 
 
 I have spoken of the power to issue a com- 
 mission to inquire into the well-being of any 
 parish: a vindictive and malicious bishop 
 might, it is true, convert this, which was in- 
 tended for the protection, to the oppression of 
 the clergy — afraid to dispossess a clergyman 
 of his own authority, he might attempt to do 
 the same thing under the cover of a jury of 
 his ecclesiastical creatures. But I can hardly 
 conceive such baseness in the prelate, or such 
 infamous subserviency in the agents. An 
 honest and respectable bishop will remember 
 that the very issue of such a commission is a 
 serious slur upon the character of a clergyman ; 
 he will do ail he can to prevent it by. private 
 monition and remonstrance; and if driven to 
 such an act of power, he- will, of course, state 
 to the accused clergyman the subjects of ac- 
 cusation, the names of his accusers, and give 
 him ample time for his defence. If, upon 
 anonymous accusation, he subjects a clergy- 
 man to such an investigation, or refuses to 
 him any advantage which the law gives to 
 every accused person, he is an infamous, de- 
 graded, and scandalous t3Tant: but I cannot 
 believe there is such a man to be found upon 
 the bench. 
 
 There is in this new bill a very humane 
 clause, (though not introduced by the commis- 
 sion), enabling the widow of the deceased 
 clergynjan to retain possession of the parson- 
 52 
 
 age-house for two months after the death of 
 the incumbent. It ought, in fairness, to be 
 extended to the heirs, executors, and adminis- 
 trators of the incumbent. It is a great hard- 
 ship that a family settled in a parish for fifty 
 years, perhaps, should be torn up by the roots 
 in eight or ten days ; and the interval of two 
 months, allowing time for repairs, might put 
 to rest many questions of dilapidation. 
 
 To the bishop's power of intruding a curate, 
 without any complaint on the part of the parish 
 that the duty has been inadequately performed, 
 I retain the same objections as before. It is 
 a power which, without this condition, will be 
 unfairly and partially exercised. The first 
 object I admit is not the provision of the 
 clergyman, but the care of the parish ; but one 
 way of taking care of parishes is to take care 
 that clergymen are not treated with tyranny, 
 partiality, and injustice ; and the best way of 
 eff'ecting this is to remember that their supe- 
 riors have the same human passions as other 
 people, and not to trust them with a power 
 which may be so grossly abused, and which 
 (incredible as the Bishop of London may 
 deem it) has been, in some instances, grossly 
 abused. 
 
 I cannot imagine what the bishop means by 
 saying, that the members of cathedrals do not, 
 in virtue of their oiTice, bear any part in the 
 parochial instruction of the people. This is a 
 fine deceitful word, the word parochial, and 
 eminently calculated to coax the public. If 
 he means simply that cathedrals do not belong 
 to parishes, that St. Paul's is not the parish 
 church of Upper Puddicomb, and that the 
 vicar of St. Fiddlefrid does not oificiate in 
 Westminster Abbey : all this is true enough, 
 but do they not in the most material points 
 instruct the people precisely in the same man- 
 ner as the parochial clergy? Are not prayers 
 and sermons the most important means of 
 spiritual instruction! And are there not 
 eighteen or twenty services in every cathedral 
 for one which is heard in parish churches 1 
 I have very often counted in the afternoon of 
 week days in St. Paul's 150 people, and on 
 Sundays it is full to suffocation. Is all this to 
 go for nothing ] and what right has the Bishop 
 of London to suppose that there is not as much 
 real piety in cathedrals, as in the most road- 
 less, postless, melancholy, sequestered hamlet 
 preached to by the most provincial, seques- 
 tered, bucolic clergyman in the queen's domi- 
 nions? 
 
 A number of little children, it is true, do not 
 repeat a catechism of which they do not com- 
 prehend a word; but it is rather rapid and 
 wholesale to say, that the parochial clergy an; 
 spiritual instructors of the people, and that thi; 
 cathedral clergy are only so in a very restrict- 
 ed sense. I say that in the most material 
 points and acts of instruction, they are much 
 more laborious and incessant than any paro- 
 chial clergy. It might really be supposed, 
 from the Bishop of London's reasoning, that 
 some other methods of instruction took place 
 in cathedrals than prayers and sermons can 
 affcrd; that lectures were read on chemistry, 
 or essons given on dancing; or that it was a 
 Me-'hanics' Institute, or a vast receptacle for 
 2M 
 
410 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 hexameter and pentameter boys. His own 
 most respectable chaplain, who is often there 
 as a member of the body, will tell him that the 
 prayers are strictly adhered to, according to 
 the rubric, with the diiference only that the 
 service is beautifully chanted instead of being 
 badly read; that instead of the atrocious bawl- 
 ing of parish churches, the anthems are sung 
 with great taste and feeling : and if the preach- 
 ing is not good, it is the fault of the Bishop of 
 London, who has the whole range of London 
 preachers from whom to make his selection. 
 The real fact is, that, instead of being some- 
 thing materially different from the parochial 
 clergy, as the commissioners wish to make 
 them, the cathedral clergy are fellow-labourers 
 with the parochial clergy, outworking them 
 ten to one ; but the commission having pro- 
 vided snugly for the bishops, have, by the merest 
 accident in the world, entangled themselves in 
 this quarrel with cathedrals. 
 
 "Had the question," says the bishop, "been 
 proposed to the religious part of the commu- 
 nity, whether, if no other means were to be 
 found, the effective cure of souls should be 
 provided for by the total suppression of those 
 ecclesiastical corporations which have no 
 cure of souls, nor bear any part in the paro- 
 chial labours of the clergy ; that question, I 
 verily believe, would have been carried in the 
 affirmative by an immense majority of suf- 
 frages." But suppose no other means could be 
 found for the effective cure of souls than the 
 suppression of bishops, does the Bishop of 
 London imagine that the majority of suffrages 
 would have been less immense 1 How idle 
 to put such cases. 
 
 A pious man leaves a large sum of money 
 in Catholic times for some purposes which 
 are superstitious, and for others, such as 
 preaching and reading prayers, which are ap- 
 plicable to all times ; the superstitious usages 
 are abolished, the pious usages remain : now 
 the bishop must admit, if you take half or any 
 part of this money from clergymen to whom it 
 was given, and divide it for similar purposes 
 among clergy to whom it was not given, you 
 deviate materially from the intentions of the 
 founder. These foundations are made in loco: 
 in many of them the locus was, perhaps, the 
 original cause of the gift. A man who founds 
 an almshouse at Edmonton does not mean 
 that the poor of Tottenham should avail them- 
 selves of it; and if he could have anticipated 
 such a consequence, he would not have en- 
 dowed any almshouse at all. Such is the 
 respect for property, that the Court of Chan- 
 cery, when it becomes impracticable to carry 
 the will of the donor into execution, always 
 attend to the cy pres, and apply the charitable 
 fund to a purpose as germane as possible to 
 the intention of the founder; but here, when 
 men of Lincoln have left to Lincoln cathedral, 
 and men of Hereford to Hereford, the com- 
 missioners seize it all, melt it into a common 
 mass, and disperse it over the kingdom. 
 Surely the Bishop of London cannot contend 
 that this is not a greater deviation from the 
 will of the founder than if the same people, 
 remaining in the same place, receiving all the 
 founder gave them, and doing all things not 
 
 forbidden by the law, which the founder order- 
 ed, were to do something more than the founder 
 ordered, were to become the guardians of 
 education, the counsel to the bishop, and the 
 curators of the diocese in his old age and 
 decay. 
 
 The public are greater robbers and plunder- 
 ers than any one in the public ; look at the whole 
 transaction ; it is a mixture of meanness and 
 violence. The country choose to have an 
 established religion, and a resident parochial 
 clergy, but they do not choose to build houses 
 for their parochial clergy, or to pay them in 
 many instances more than a butler or a coach- 
 man receives. How is this deficiency to be 
 supplied 1 The heads of the church propose 
 to this public to seize upon estates which 
 never belonged to the public, and which were 
 left for another purpose; and by the seizure 
 of these estates to save that which ought to 
 come out of the public purse. 
 
 Suppose Parliament were to seize upon all 
 the almshouses in England, and apply them 
 to the diminution of the poor-rate, what a num- 
 ber of ingenious arguments might be pressed 
 into the service of this robbery: "Can any 
 thing be more revolting than that the poor of 
 Northumberland should be starving while the 
 poor of the suburban hamlets are dividing the 
 benefactions of the pious dead] 'We want 
 for these purposes all that loe can obtain from 
 whatever soxirces derived,^" I do not deny the 
 right of parliament to do this, or any thing 
 else; but I deny that it would be expedient, 
 because I think it better to make any sacrifices, 
 and to endure any evil, than to gratify this ra- 
 pacious spirit of plunder and confiscation- 
 Suppose these commissioner prelates firm 
 and unmoved, when we were all alarmed, had 
 told the public that the parochial clergy were 
 badly provided for, and that it was the duty 
 of that public to provide a proper support 
 for their ministers ; — suppose the commission- 
 ers, instead of leading them on to confisca- 
 tions, had warned their fellow subjects against 
 the base economy, and the perilous injustice 
 of seizing on that which was not their OAvn ; — 
 suppose they had called for water and Avashed 
 their hands, and said, " We call you all to wit- 
 ness that we are innocent of this great ruin ;" 
 — does the Bishop of London imagine that 
 the prelates who made such a stand would 
 have gone down to posterity less respected 
 and less revered than those men upon whose 
 tombs it must (after all the enumerations of 
 their virtues) be written, that under their au- 
 spices and by their counsels the destruction of the 
 Ens:Ush church began ? Pity that the Archbishop 
 of Canterbury had not retained those feelings, 
 when, at the first meeting of bishops, the 
 Bishop of London proposed this holy innovation 
 upon cathedrals, and the head of our church 
 declared, with vehemence and indignation, 
 that nothing in the earth would induce him to 
 consent to it. 
 
 Si mens non leva fuisset, 
 Trojaque nunc stares, Priamique arx alta maneres. 
 
 "But," says the Lord Bishop of London, 
 "you admit the principle of confiscation by 
 proposing the confiscation and partition of 
 prebends in the possession of non-residents." 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 411 
 
 I am thinking of something else, and I see all 
 of a sudden a great blaze of light; I behold a 
 great number of gentlemen in short aprons, 
 neat purple coats, and gold buckles, rushing 
 about with torches in their hands, calling each 
 other " my lord," and setting fire to all the 
 rooms in the house, and the people below de- 
 lighted with the combustion; finding it impos- 
 sible to turn them from their purpose, and 
 finding that they are all what they are, by di- 
 vine permission; I endeavour to direct their 
 holy innovations into another channel ; and I 
 say to them, " my lords, had not you better set 
 fire to the out of door offices, to the barns and 
 stables, and spare this fine library and this 
 noble drawing-room "? Yonder are several 
 cow-houses of which no use is made ; pray 
 direct your fury against them, and leave this 
 beautiful and venerable mansion as you found 
 it." If I address the divinely permitted in 
 this manner, has the Bishop of London any 
 right to call me a brother i»cendiary 1 
 
 Our holij innovator, the Bishop of London, 
 has drawn a very atfecting picture of sheep 
 having no shepherd, and of millions who have 
 no spiritual food; our wants, he says, are most 
 imperious ; even if we were to tax large 
 livings, we must still have the money of the 
 cathedrals : no plea will exempt you, nothing 
 can Slop us, for the formation of benefices, 
 and the endowment of new ones. We want 
 (and he prints it in italics) for these purposes 
 " all that we can obtain from tvhatevcr sovrces de- 
 rived." I never remember to have been more 
 alarmed in my life than by this passage. I 
 said to myself, the necessities of the church 
 have got such complete hold of the imagina- 
 tion of this energetic prelate, who is so capti- 
 vated by the holiness of his innovations, that 
 all grades and orders of the church and all 
 present and future interests will be sacrificed 
 to it. I immediately rushed to the acts of Par- 
 liament, which I always have under my pil- 
 low, to see at once the worst of what had hap- 
 pened. I found present revenues of the 
 bishops all safe ; that is some comfort, I said 
 to myself; Canterbury, 24,000Z. or 25,000/. per 
 annum ; London, 18,000/. or 20,000/. I began 
 to feel some comfort : " things are not so bad ; 
 the bishops do not mean to sacrifice to sheep 
 and shepherds' money their present revenues ; 
 the Bishop of London is less violent and head- 
 strong than I thought he would be." I looked 
 a little further, and found that 15,000/. per an- 
 num is allotted to the future Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, 10,000/. to the Bishop of London, 
 8000/. to Durham, and 8000/. each to Winches- 
 ter and Ely. "Nothing of sheep and shepherd 
 in all this," I exclaimed, and felt still more 
 comforted. It was not till after the bishops 
 were taken care of, and the revenues of the 
 cathedrals came into full view, that I saw the 
 perfect development of the sheep and shepherd 
 principle, the deep and heartfelt compassion 
 for spiritual labourers, and that inward groan- 
 ing for the destitute state of the church, and 
 that firm purpose, printed in italics, of taking 
 for these purposes all that could he obtained from 
 whatever sonree derived ; and even in this deli- 
 cious rummage of cathedral property, where 
 all the fine church feelings of the bishop's 
 
 heart could be indulged without costing the 
 poor sufferer a penny, stalls for archdeacons 
 in Lincoln and St. Paul's are, to the amount 
 of 2000/. per annum, taken from the sheep and 
 shepherd fund, and the patronage of them di- 
 vided between two commissioners, the Bishop 
 of London, and the Bishop of Lincoln, instead 
 of being paid to additional labourers in the vine- 
 yard. 
 
 Has there been any difficulty, I would ask, 
 in procuring archdeacons upon the very mode- 
 rate pay they now receive 1 Can any clergy- 
 man be more thoroughly respectable than the 
 present archdeacons in the see of London T 
 but men bearing such an office in the church, 
 it may be said, should be highly paid, and 
 archbishops, who could very well keep up 
 their dignity upon 7000/. per annum, are to be 
 allowed 15,000/. I make no objection to all 
 this ; but then what becomes of all these 
 heart-rending phrases of sheep and shepherd, and 
 drooping vineyards, and flocks without spiritual con- 
 solation / The bishop's argument is, that the 
 superfluous must give way to the necessary; 
 but in fighting, the bishop should take great 
 care that his cannons are not seized, and 
 turned against himself. He has awarded to 
 the bishops of England a superfluity as great 
 as that which he intends to take from the 
 cathedrals ; and then, when he legislates for an 
 order to which he does not belong, begins to 
 remember the distresses of the lower clergy, 
 paints them with all the colours of impassioned 
 eloquence, and informs the cathedral institu- 
 tions that he must have every farthing he can 
 lay his hand upon. Is not this as if one, afl^ected 
 powerfully by a charity sermon, were to put 
 his hands into another man's pocket, and cast, 
 from what he had extracted, a liberal contri- 
 bution into the plate ] 
 
 I beg not to be mistaken ; I am very far 
 from considering the Bishop of London as a 
 sordid and interested person ; but this is a 
 complete instance of how the best of men de- 
 ceive themselves, where their interests are 
 concerned. I have no doubt the bishop firmly 
 imagined he was doing his duty; but there 
 should have been men of all grades in the 
 commission, some one to say a word for cathe- 
 drals and against bishops. 
 
 The bishop says " his antagonists have al- 
 lowed three canons to be sufficient for St. 
 Paul's, and, therefore, four must be sufficient 
 for other cathedrals." Sufficient to read the 
 prayers and preach the sermons, certainly, and 
 so would o»tc be; but not sufficient to excite, 
 by the hope of increased rank and wealth, 
 eleven thousand parochial clergy. 
 
 The most important and cogent arguments 
 against the dean and chapter confiscations are 
 passed over in silence in the bishop's charge. 
 This, in reasoning, is ahvays the wisest and 
 most convenient plan, and which all young 
 bishops should imitate after the manner of this 
 wary polemic. I object to the confiscation be- 
 cause it will throw a great deal more of capital out 
 of the parochicd church than it will bring into it, 
 i am very sorry to come forward with so 
 homely an argument, which shocks so many 
 clergymen, and particularly those with the 
 largest incomes, and the best bishoprics; bui 
 
412 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 the truth is, the greater number of clergymen 
 go into the church in order that thej^ may de- 
 rive a comfortable income from the church. 
 Such men intend to do their duty, and they do 
 it; but the duty is, however, not the motive, 
 but the adjunct. If I was writing in gala and 
 parade, I would not hold this language; but 
 we are in earnest, and on business; and as 
 very rash and hasty changes are founded upon 
 contrary suppositions of the pure disinterested- 
 ness and perfect inattention to temporals in 
 the cleigy, we must get down at once to the 
 solid rock without heeding how we disturb the 
 turf and the flowers above. The parochial 
 clergy maintain their present decent appear- 
 ance quite as much by their own capital as 
 by the income they derive from the church. 
 I will now state the income and capital of 
 seven clergymen, taken promiscuously in this 
 neighbourhood: — No. 1. Living 200/., capital 
 12,0007.; No. 2. Living 8007., capital 15,000.'.; 
 No. 3. Living 500/., capital 12,000/. ; No. 4. Liv- 
 ing 150/., capital 10,000/.; No. 5. Living 800/., 
 capital 12,000/.; No. 6. Living 150/., capital 
 1000/.; No. 7. Living 600/., capital 16,000/. I 
 have diligently inquired into the circumstances 
 of seven Unitarian and Wesleyan ministers, 
 and I question much if the whole seven could 
 make up 6000/. between them; and the zeal 
 of enthusiasm of this last division is certainly 
 not inferior to that of the former. Now here 
 is a capital of 72,000/. carried into the church, 
 which the confiscations of the commissioners 
 Avould force out of it, by taking away the good 
 things which were tlie temptation to its intro- 
 duction. So that, by the old plan of paying 
 by lottery, instead of giving a proper compe- 
 tence to each, not only do you obtain a paro- 
 chial clergy upon much cheaper terms ; but, 
 from the gambling propensities of human na- 
 ture, and the irresistible tendency to hope that 
 they shall gain the great prizes, you tempt men 
 into your service who keep up their credit and 
 yours, not by 5'our allowance, bat by their own 
 capital; and to destroy this wise and well- 
 working arrangement, a great number of 
 bishops, marquises, and .John Russells, are 
 huddled into a chamber, and, after proposing a 
 scheme which will turn the English church 
 into a collection of consecrated beggars, we 
 are informed by the Bishop of London that it 
 is an Jioly innnvation, 
 
 I have no manner of doubt, that the imme- 
 diate effect of passing the dean and chapter 
 bill will be, that a great number of fathers and 
 uncles, judging, and properly judging, that the 
 church is a very altered and deterioriated pro- 
 fession, will turn the industry and capital of 
 their eUvcs into another channel. My friend, 
 Robert Eden, says " this is of the earth earthy:" 
 be it so; I cannot help it, I paint mankind as 
 I find them, and am not answerable for their 
 defects. When an argument, taken from real 
 life, and the actual condition of the world, is 
 brought among the shadowy discussions of 
 ecclesiastics, it always occasions terror and 
 dismay ; it is like J^iUeas stepping into Cha- 
 ron's boat, which carried only ghosts and 
 spirits. 
 
 Gerauit sub pondere cymba 
 Butilis, 
 
 The whole plan of the Bishop of London 
 is a ptochogony — a generation of beggars. He 
 purposes, out of the spoils of the cathedral, to 
 create a thousand livings, and to give to the 
 thousand clergymen 130/. per annum each; a 
 Christian bishop proposing, in cold blood, to 
 create a thousand livings of 130/. per annum 
 each ; — to call into existence a thousand of the 
 most unhappy men on the face of the earth, — 
 the sons of the poor, without hope, without the 
 assistance of private fortune, chained to the 
 soil, ashamed to live with their inferiors, unfit 
 for the society of the better classes, and drag- 
 ging about the English curse of poverty, with- 
 out the smallest hope that they can ever shake 
 it off. At present, such livings are filled by 
 young men who have better hopes — who have 
 reason to expect good property — who look for- 
 ward to a college or a family living — who are 
 the sons of men of some substance, and hope 
 so to pass on to something better — who exist 
 under the delusion of being hereafter deans 
 and prebendaries — who are paid once by 
 money, and three times by hope. Will the 
 Bishop of London promise to the progeny of 
 any of these thousand victims of the holy hi- 
 novat'ion that, if they behave well, one of them 
 shall have his butler's place; another take care 
 of the cedars and hyssops of his garden ? 
 Will he take their daughters for his nursery- 
 maids ? and may some of the sons of these 
 " labourers of the vineyard" hope one day to 
 ride the leadei-^ from St. James's to Fulham ? 
 Here is hope — here is room for ambition — a 
 field for genius, and a ray of amelioratiori ! 
 If these beautiful feelings of compassion are 
 throbbing under the cassock of the bishop, he 
 ought, in common justice to himself, to make 
 them known. 
 
 If it were a scheme for giving ease and in- 
 dependence to any large bodies of clergymen, 
 it might be listened to; but the revenues of 
 the English church are such as to render this 
 wholly and entirely out of the question. If 
 you place a man in a village in the country, 
 require that he should be of good manners and 
 well educated ; that his habits and appearance 
 should be above those of the farmers to whom 
 he preaches, if he has nothing else to expect 
 (as would be the case in a church of equal 
 division) ; and if, upon his village income, he 
 is to support a wife and educate a family, 
 without any power of making himself known 
 in a remote and solitary situation, such a per- 
 son ought to receive 500/. per annum, and be 
 furnished with a house. There are about 
 10,700 parishes in England and Wales, whose 
 average income is 285/. per annum. Now, to 
 provide these incumbents with decent houses, 
 to keep them in repair, and to raise the income 
 of the incumbent to 500/. per annum, would 
 require (if all the incomes of the bishops, deans 
 and chapters of separate dignitaries, of sine- 
 cure rectories, were confiscated, and if the 
 excess of all the livings in England above 
 500/. per annum were added to them,) a sura 
 of two millions and a half in addition to the 
 present income of the whole church; and no 
 power on earth could persuade the present 
 Parliament of Great Britain to grant a single 
 shilling for that purpose. Now, is it possible 
 
WOEKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 413 
 
 to pay such a church upon any other principle 
 than that of unequal division 1 The proposed 
 pillage of the cathedral and college churches 
 (omitting all consideration of the separate estate 
 ofdignitaries) would amount, divided among all 
 the benefices in England, to about 51. l'2s. 6^rf. per 
 man : and this, which would not stop an hiatus 
 in a cassock, and would drive out of the paro- 
 chial church ten times as much as it brought 
 into it, is the panacea for pauperism recom- 
 mended by her majesty's commissioners. 
 
 But if this plan were to drive men of capital 
 out of the church, and to pauperize the English 
 clergy, where would the harm be 1 Could not 
 all the duties of religion be performed as well 
 by poor clergymen as by men of good sub- 
 stance ? My great and serious apprehension 
 is, that such would not be the case. There 
 would be the greatest risk that your clergy 
 would be fanatical, and ignorant; that their 
 habits would be low and mean, and that they 
 would be despised. 
 
 Then a picture is drawn of a clergyman 
 with 130/. per annum, who combines all moral, 
 physical, arid intellectua,l advantages, a learned 
 man, dedicating himself intensely to the care 
 of his parish — of charming manners and dig- 
 nified deportment — six feet two inches high, 
 beautifully proportioned, with a magnificent 
 countenance, expressive of all the cardinal 
 virtues and the Ten Commandments, — and it is 
 asked, with an air of triumph, if such a man 
 as this will fall into contempt on account of 
 his poverty 1 But substitute for him an ave- 
 rage, ordinary, uninteresting minister; obese, 
 dumpy, neither ill-natured nor good-natured; 
 neither learned nor ignorant, striding over the 
 stiles to church, with a second-rate wife — dusty 
 and deliquescent — and four parochial children, 
 full of catechism and bread and butter; or let 
 him be seen in one of those Shem-Ham-and- 
 Japhet buggies — made on Mount Ararat soon 
 after the subsidence of the waters, driving in the 
 High Street of Edmonton ;* — among all his pe- 
 cuniary, saponaceous, oleaginous parishioners. 
 Can any man of common sense say that all 
 these outward circumstances of the ministers 
 of religion have no bearing on religion itself] 
 
 I ask the Bishop of London, a man of honour 
 and conscience as he is, if he thinks five years 
 will elapse before a second attack is made upon 
 deans and chapters] Does he think, after 
 reformers have tasted the flesh of the church, 
 that they will put up with any other diet ? Does 
 he forget that deans and chapters are but 
 mock turtle — that more delicious delicacies re- 
 main behind 1 Five years hence he v>'ill at- 
 tempt to make a stand, and he will be laughed 
 at and eaten up. In this very charge the 
 bishop accuses the lay commissioners of an- 
 other intended attack upon the property of the 
 church, contrary to the clearest and most ex- 
 plicit stipulations (as he says) with the heads 
 of the establishment. 
 
 Much is said of the conduct of the commis- 
 sioners, but that is of the least possible conse- 
 quence. They may have acted for the best, 
 
 * \ pnristi wliicli tlie Bishop of London has the greatest 
 desire to divide into little Iiits ; l)Ut which appears (jiiite as 
 fit to preserve its intecrity as St. James's, St. George's, 
 or Kensington, all in tlie patronage of the bishop. 
 
 according to the then existing circumstances; 
 they may seriously have intended to do their 
 duty to the contrary ; and I am far from saying 
 or thinking they did not ; but without the least 
 reference to the commissioners, the question 
 is. Is it wise to pass this bill, and to justify 
 such an open and tremendous sacrifice of 
 church property] Does public opinion now 
 call for any such measure ] is it a wise distri- 
 bution of the funds of an ill-paid church] and 
 will it not force more capital out of the paro- 
 chial part of the church than it brings into it] 
 If the bill is bad, it is surely not to pass out of 
 compliment to the feelings of the Archbishop 
 of Canterbury. If the project is hasty, it is 
 not to be adopted to gratify the Bishop of Lon- 
 don. The mischief to the church is surely a 
 greater evil than the stultification of the com- 
 missioners, &c. If the physician has pre- 
 scribed hastily, is the medicine to be taken to 
 the death or disease of the patient] If the 
 judge has condemned improperly, is the crimi- 
 nal to be hung, that the wisdom of the magis- 
 trate may not be impugned]* 
 
 But why are the commissioners to be stulti- 
 fied by the rejection of the measure] The 
 measure may have been very good when it 
 was recommended, and very objectionable now. 
 I thought, and many men thought, that the 
 church was going to pieces — that the afl^ections 
 of the common people were lost to the esta- 
 blishment; and that large sacrifices must be 
 instantly made, to avert the effects of this tem- 
 porary madness ; but those days are gone by 
 — and with them ought to be put aside mea- 
 sures, which might have been wise in those 
 daj's, but are wise no longer. 
 
 After all, the Archbishop of Canterbury and 
 the Bishop of London are good and placable 
 men; and will ere long forget and forgive the 
 successful eflbrts of their enemies in defeating 
 this mis-ecclesiastic law. 
 
 Suppose the commission were now begin- 
 ning to sit for the first time, will any man 
 living say that they would make such reports 
 as they have made] and that they would seri- 
 ously propose such a tremendous revolution 
 in church property ] And if they would not, 
 the inference is irresistible, that, to consult the 
 feelings of two or three churchmen, we are 
 complimenting away the safety of the church. 
 Milton asked where the nymphs were when 
 Lycidas perished ] I ask where the bishops 
 are when the remorseless deep is closing over 
 the head of their beloved establishment ]-(- 
 
 You must have read an attack upon me by 
 the Bishop of Gloucester, in the course of 
 which he says that I have not been appointtd 
 to my situation as canon of St. Paul's for my 
 piety and learning, but because I am a scofler 
 and a jester. Is not this rather strong for a 
 bishop, and does it not appear to you, Mr. 
 Archdeacon, as rather too close an imitation 
 of that language which is used in the apostolic 
 
 * "Ader the trouble the commissioners have taken 
 (says Sir Roljert), after the oljloquy they have incurred," 
 &e. &c. &c. 
 
 t What is the use of pulilisliin? separate chnrjes, as 
 
 the Bishops of Winchester, Oxford, and Rochester have 
 
 done? Why do not the dissentient lii^hops form into a 
 
 firm phalan.Y to save Ihe churdi and f.ing out the bin 1 
 
 2 TH 2 
 
414 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 occupation of trafficking in fish ? Whether I 
 have been appointed for my piety or not, must 
 depend upon what this poor man means by 
 piety. He means by that word, of course, a 
 defence of all the tyrannical and oppressive 
 abuses of the church which have been swept 
 away within the last fifteen or twenty years 
 of mj' life ; the corporation and test acts ; the 
 penal laws against the Catholics ; the com- 
 pulsory marriages of dissenters, and all those 
 disabling and disqualifying laws which were 
 the disgrace of our church, and which he has 
 always looked up to as the consummation of 
 human wisdom. If piety consisted in the de- 
 fence of these — if it was impious to struggle 
 for their abrogation, I have, indeed, led an 
 ungodly life. 
 
 There is nothing pompous gentlemen are so 
 much afraid of as a little humour. It is like 
 the objection of certain cephalic animalcule 
 to the use of small-tooth combs, — " Finger and 
 thumb, precipitate powder, or any thing else 
 you please ; but for Heaven's sake no small- 
 tooth combs !" After all, I believe, Bishop 
 Monk has been the cause of much more 
 laughter than ever I have been; I cannot ac- 
 count for it, but I never see him enter a room 
 without exciting a smile on every countenance 
 within it. 
 
 Dr. Monk is furious at my attacking the 
 heads of the church ; but how can I help it? 
 If the heads of the church are at the head of 
 the mob; if I find the best of men doing that 
 which has in all times drawn upon the worst 
 enemies of the human race the bitterest curses 
 of history, am I to stop because the motives 
 of these men are pure, and their lives blame- 
 less ? I wish I could find a blot in their lives, 
 or a vice in their motives. The whole power 
 of the motion is in the character of the movers: 
 i'eeble friends, false friends, and foolish friends, 
 all cease to look upon the measure, and say, 
 Would such a measure have been recom- 
 mended by such men as the prelates of Can- 
 terbury and London, if it were not for the 
 public advantage 1 And in this way, the great 
 good of a religious establishment, nov/ ren- 
 dered moderate and compatible with all men's 
 liberties and rights, is sacrificed to names ; 
 ond the church destroyed from good breeding 
 and etiquette ! the real truth is, that Canter- 
 bury and London have been frightened — they 
 have overlooked the eflect of time and delay — 
 they have been betrayed into a fearful and 
 ruinous mistake. Painful as it is to teach men 
 who ougnt, to teach us, the legislature ought, 
 while there is yet time, to awake and read 
 them this lesson. 
 
 It is dangerous for a prelate to write; and 
 whoever does it ought to be a very wise one. 
 He has speculated why I v/as made a canon 
 of St. Paul's. Suppose I were to follow his 
 example, and, going through the bench of 
 bishops, were to ask for what reason each man 
 had been made a bishop ; suppose I were to 
 go into the county of Gloucester, &c. &c. 
 &c.!!!! 
 
 1 was afraid the bishop would attribute my 
 promotion to the Edinburgh Review ; but upon 
 the subject of promotion by reviews, he pre- 
 serves an im.penetrabic silence. If my excel- 
 
 lent patron Earl Grey had any reasons of this 
 kind, he may at least be sure that the reviews 
 commonly attributed to me were really written 
 by me. I should have considered myself as 
 the lowest of created beings to have disguised 
 myself in another man's wit, and to have 
 received a reward to which I was not en- 
 titled.* 
 
 I presume that what has drawn ;ipon me the 
 indignation of this prelate, is the observations 
 I have from time to time made on the conduct 
 of the commissioners ; of which he positivel}' 
 asserts himself to have been a member; but 
 whether he was, or was not a member, I 
 utterly acquit him of all possible blame, and 
 of every species of imputation which may 
 attach to the conduct of the commissioner. In 
 using that word, I have always meant the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of Lon- 
 don, and Lord John Russell ; and have, honestly 
 speaking, given no more heed to the Bishop 
 of Gloucester than if he had been sitting in a 
 commission of Bonzes in the court of Pekin. 
 
 To read, however, his lordship a lesson of 
 g:ood manners, I had prepared for him a chas- 
 tisement which would have been echoed from 
 the Sca^rave, who banqueteth in the castle, to 
 the idiot who spitteth over the bridge at Glou- 
 cester; but the following appeal struck my 
 eye, and stopped my pen: — "Since that time, 
 my inadequate qualifications have sustained 
 an appalling diminution, by the afi^ection of 
 my eyes, which have impaired my vision, and 
 the progress of which threatens to consign me 
 to darkness ; I beg the benefit of your prayers 
 to the Father of all mercies, that he will restore 
 me to better use of the visual organs, to be 
 employed on his service ; or that he will in- 
 wardly illumine the intellectual vision, with a 
 particle of that divine ray, which his Holy 
 Spirit can alone impart." 
 
 It might have been better taste, perhaps, if 
 a mitred invalid, in describing his bodily in- 
 firmities before a church full of clergymen, 
 whose prayers he asked, had been a little 
 more sparing in the abuse of his enemies; but 
 a good deal must be forgiven to the sick. I 
 wish that every Christian was as well aware 
 as this poor bishop of what he needed from 
 divine assistance; and in the supplication for 
 the restoration of his sight and the improve- 
 ment of his understanding, I must fervently 
 and cordially join. 
 
 I was much amused with what old Her- 
 mannf says of the Bishop of London's ^schy- 
 lus. " We find," he says, "a great arbdrariness 
 of proceeding, and inuch boldness of innovation, 
 guided by no svre principle ;" here it is : (jiialis at> 
 incepto. He begins with jEschylus, and ends 
 with the Church of England ; begins with pro- 
 fane, and ends with holy innovations — scratch- 
 
 * I understand that the bishop bursts into fears every 
 now and then, and says that T have set him the name of 
 Simon, and that all the bishops now call him finion. 
 Simon of Gloucester, however, after all, is a real writer, 
 and how could I know that Dr. Monk's name was Si- 
 mon'? When tutor in Lord Corrington's family, he was 
 called by the endearinc, though somewhat unmnjeslic 
 name of Dirk ; and if I had thought about his name at 
 all. I shotild have caPed him Richard of Gloucester 
 
 + Ueber die behandlunsr der Griechischen Dichler bei 
 den Efielundern, Von Gottfried Hermann. Wieniar 
 Jahrbucher, vol. liv. 1831. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 415 
 
 ing out old readings which everj^ commentator 
 had sanctioned, abolishing ecclesiastical dig- 
 nities which every reformer had spared; 
 thrusting an anapest into a verse which will 
 not bear it; and intruding a canon into a 
 cathedral which does not want it; and this is 
 the prelate by whom the proposed reform of 
 the church has been principally planned, and 
 to whose practical wisdom the legislature is 
 called upon to defer. The Bishop of London 
 is a man of very great ability, humane, pla- 
 cable, generous, munificent, very agreeable, 
 hut not to be trusted with great interests where 
 calmness and judgment are required; unfor- 
 tunately, my old and amiable school-fellow, the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, has melted away 
 before him, and sacrificed that wisdom on 
 which we all founded our security. 
 Much writing and much talking are very 
 
 tiresome ; and, above all, they are so to men 
 who, living in the world, arrive at those rapid 
 and just conclusions which are only to be 
 made by living in the world. This bill passed, 
 every man of sense acquainted with human 
 affairs must see, that, as far as the church is 
 concerned, the thing is at an end. From Lord 
 John Russell, the present improver of the 
 church, we shall descend to Hume, from Hume 
 to Roebuck, and after Roebuck we shall re- 
 ceive our last improvements from Dr. Wade : 
 plunder will follow after plunder, degradation 
 after degradation. The church is gone, and 
 what remains is not life, but sickness, spasm, 
 and struggle. 
 
 Whatever happens, I am not to blame; I 
 have fought my fight. — Farewell. 
 
 Sydney Smith. 
 
416 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDINEY SMITH. 
 
 LETTER 
 
 CHARACTER OF SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH. 
 
 My VT.kn Sir, 
 
 Yiiu ask for some of your late father's letters : 
 I am sorry to say I have none to send you. 
 Upon principle, I keep no letters except those 
 on business. I have not a single letter from 
 him, nor from any human being in my posses- 
 sion. 
 
 The impression which the great talents and 
 amiable qualities of your father made upon me, 
 will remain as long as I remain. When I turn 
 from living spectacles of stupidit}-, ignorance, 
 and malice, and wish to think better of the 
 world — I remember my great and benevolent 
 friend Mackintosh. 
 
 The first points of character which every 
 body noticed in him were the total absence of 
 envy, hatred, malice, and unclxiritableness. 
 He could not hate — he did not know how to set 
 about it. The gall-bladder was omitted in his 
 composition, and if he could have been per- 
 suaded into any scheme of revenging himself 
 upon an enemy, I am sure (unless he had been 
 narrowly watched) it would have ended in pro- 
 claiming the good qualities, and promoting the 
 interests of his adversary. Truth had so much 
 more power over him than anger, that (what- 
 ever might be the provocation) he could not 
 misrepresent, nor exaggerate. In questions 
 of passion and party, he stated facts as they 
 were, and reasoned fairly upon them, placing 
 his happiness and pride in equitable discrimi- 
 nation. Very fond of talking, he heard patient- 
 ly, and, not averse to intellectual display, did 
 not forget that others might have the same in- j 
 clination as himself. | 
 
 Till subdued by age and illness, his conver- 1 
 sation was more brilliant and instructive than 
 that of any human being I ever had the good 
 fortune to be acquainted with. His memory 
 (vast and prodigious as it was) he so managed 
 as to make it a source of pleasure and instruc- 
 tion, rather than that dreadful engine of colloqui- 
 al oppression into which it is sometimes erected. 
 He remembered things, words, thoughts, dates, 
 and every thing that was wanted. His lan- 
 guage was beautiful, and might have gone from 
 the fireside to the press; but though his ideas 
 M'ere always clothed in beautiful language, the 
 clothes were sometimes too big for the body, 
 and common thoughts were dressed in better 
 and larger apparel than they deserved. He 
 ceriHinlv had this fault, but it was not one of 
 frequent commission. 
 
 He had a method of putting things so mildly 
 and interrogatively, that he always procured 
 the readiest reception for his opinions. Ad- 
 dicted to reasoning in the company of able men, 
 he had two valuable habits, which are rarely 
 
 met with in great reasoners — he never broke in 
 upon his opponent, and always avoided strong 
 and vehement assertions. His reasoning com- 
 monly carried conviction, for he was cautious 
 in his positions, accurate in his deductions, 
 aimed only at truih. The ingenious side was 
 commonly taken by some one else ; the inter- 
 ests of truth were protected by Mackintosh. 
 
 His good-nature and candour betrayed him 
 into a morbid habit of eulogizing every body — • 
 a habit which destroyed the value of commen- 
 dations, that might have been to the young (if 
 more sparingly distributed) a reward of virtue 
 and a motive to exertion. Occasionally he took 
 fits of an opposite nature; and I have seen him 
 abating and dissolving pompous gentlemen 
 with the most successful ridicule. He certainly 
 had a good deal of humour; and I remember, 
 amongst many other examples of it, that he kept 
 us for two or three hours in a roar of laughter, 
 at a dinner-party at his own house, playing 
 upon the simplicity of a Scotch cousin, who 
 had mistaken me for my gallant synonym, the 
 hero of Acre. I never saw a more perfect 
 comedy, nor heard ridicule so long and so well 
 sustained. Sir James had not only humour, 
 but he had wit also ; at least, new and sudden 
 relations of ideas flashed across his mind in 
 reasoning, and produced the same efl^ect as wit, 
 and would have been called wit, if a sense of 
 their utility and importance had not often over- 
 powered the admiration of novelty, and entitled 
 them to the higher name of wisdom. Then the 
 great thoughts and fine sayings of the great 
 men of all ages were intimately present to his 
 recollection, and came out dazzling and delight- 
 ing in his conversation. Justness of thinking 
 was a strong feature in his understanding; he 
 had a head in which nonsense and error could 
 hardly vegelate: it was a soil utterly unfit for 
 them. If his display in conversation had been 
 only in maintaining splendid paradoxes, he 
 would soon have wearied those he lived with ; 
 but no man could live long and intimately with 
 your father without finding that he was gaining 
 upon doubt, correcting error, enlarging the 
 boundaries, and strengthening the foundations 
 of truth. It was worth while to listen to a 
 master, whom not himself, but nature had ap- 
 pointed to the office, and who taught what it 
 was not easy to forget, by methods which it 
 was not easy to resist. 
 
 Curran, the master of the rolls, said to Mr. 
 Grattan, "You would be the greatest man of 
 your age, Grattan, if you would buy a few yards 
 of red^ape, and tie up your bills and papers." 
 This was the fault or misfortune of your excel- 
 lent father; he nev^er knew the use of red tape, 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 417 
 
 and was utterly unfit for the common business 
 of life. That a guinea represented a quantity 
 of shillings, and that it would barter for a quan- 
 tity of cloth, he was well aware; but the accu- 
 rate number of the baser coin, or the just mea- 
 surement of the manufactured article, to which 
 he was entitled for his gold, he could never 
 learn, and it was impossible to teach him. 
 Hence his life was often an example of the an- 
 cient and melancholy struggle of genius, with 
 the difficulties of existence. 
 
 I have often heard Sir James Mackintosh 
 say of himself, that he was born to be the pro- 
 fessor of an university. Happy, and for ages 
 celebrated, would have been the university, 
 which had so possessed him, but in this view he 
 was unjust to himself. Still, however, his style 
 of speaking in Parliament was certainly more 
 academic than forensic; it was not sufficiently 
 short and quick for a busy and impatient as- 
 sembly. He often spoke over the heads of his 
 hearers — was loo much in advance of feeling 
 for their sympathies, and of reasoning for their 
 comprehension. He began too much at the 
 beginning, and went too much to the right and 
 left of the question, making rather a lecture or 
 a dissertation than a speech. His voice was 
 bad and nasal; and though nobody was in re- 
 ality more sincere, he seemed not only not to 
 feel, but hardly to think what he was saying. 
 
 Your father had very little science, and no 
 great knowledge of physics. His notions of 
 his early pursuit — the study of medicine — were 
 imperfect and antiquated, and he was but an 
 indifferent classical scholar, for the Greek lan- 
 guage has never crossed the Tweed in any great 
 force. In history the whole stream of time was 
 open before him ; he had looked into every 
 moral and metaphysical question from Plato to 
 Paley, and had waded through morasses of in- 
 ternational law, where the step of no living 
 man could follow him. Political economy is 
 of modern invention; I am old enough to recol- 
 lect when every judge on the bench (Lord El- 
 don and Serjeant Runnington excepted,) in their 
 charges to the grand juries, attributed the then 
 high prices of corn to the scandalous combina- 
 tion of farmers. Sir James knew what is com- 
 monly agreed upon by political economists, 
 without taking much pleasure in the science, 
 and with a disposition to blame the very specu- 
 lative and metaphysical disquisitions into which 
 it has wandered, but with a full conviction also 
 (which many able men of his standing are 
 without) of the immense importance of the sci- 
 ence to the welfare of society. 
 
 I think (though, perhaps, some of his friends 
 may not agree with me in this opinion) that he 
 was an acute judge of character, and of the 
 good as well as evil in character. He was, in 
 truth, with the appearance of distraction and of 
 one occupied with other things, a very minute 
 observer of human nature; audi have seen him 
 analyze, to the very springs of the heart, men 
 who had not the most distant suspicion of the 
 sharpness of his vision, nor a belief that he could 
 read any thing but books. 
 
 Sufficient justice has not been done to his po- 
 litical integrity. He was not rich, was from the 
 northern part of the island, possessed great fa- 
 cility of temper, and had therefore every excuse 
 53 
 
 for political lubricity, which that vice (more 
 common in those days than I hope it will ever 
 be again) could possibly require. Invited by 
 every party, upon his arrival from India, he re- 
 mained steadf^ast to his old friends the whigs, 
 whose admission to office, or enjoyment of po- 
 litical power, would at that period have been 
 considered as the most visionary of all human 
 speculations; yet, during his lifetime, every 
 body seemed more ready to have forgiven the ter- 
 giversation of which he was not guilty, than to 
 admire the actual firmness he had displayed. 
 With all this he never made the slightest efforts 
 to advance his interests with his political 
 friends, never mentioned his sacrifices nor his 
 services, expressed no resentment at neglect, 
 and was therefore pushed into such situations as 
 fall to the lot of the feeble and delicate in a crowd. 
 
 A high merit in Sir James Mackintosh was 
 his real and unalfected philanthropy. He did 
 not make the improvement of the great mass 
 of mankind an engine of popularity, and a step- 
 ping stone to power, but he had a genuine love 
 of human happiness. Whatever might assuage 
 the angry passions, and arrange the conflicting 
 interests of nations; -whatever could promote 
 peace, increase knowledge, extend commerce, 
 diminish crime, and encourage industry; what- 
 ever could exalt human character, and could 
 enlarge human understanding ; struck at once 
 at the heart of your father, and roused all his 
 faculties. I have seen him in a moment when 
 this spirit came upon him — like a great ship 
 of war — cut his cable, and spread his enormous 
 canvass, and launch into a wide sea of reason- 
 ing eloquence. 
 
 But though easily warmed by great schemes 
 of benevolence and human improvement, his 
 manner was cold to individuals. There was 
 an apparent want of heartiness and cordiality. 
 It seemed as if he had more affection for the 
 species than for the ingredients of which it was 
 composed. He was in reality very hospitable, 
 and so fond of company, that he was hardly 
 happy out of it; but he did not receive his friends 
 with that honest joy which warms more than 
 dinner or wine. 
 
 This is the good and evil of your father 
 which comes uppermost. If he had been arro- 
 gant and grasping; if he had been faithless and 
 false; if he had always been eager to strangle 
 infant genius in its cradle ; always ready to be- 
 tray and to blacken those with whom he sat at 
 meat; he would have passed many men, who, 
 in the course of his long life, have passed him ; 
 but, without selling his soul for pottage, if he 
 only had had a little more prudence for the pro- 
 motion of his interests, and more of angry pas- 
 sions for the punishment of those detractors 
 who envied his fame and presumed upon his 
 sweetness; if he had been more aware of his 
 powers, and of that space which nature intended 
 him to occup)' : he would have acted a greas 
 part in life, and remained a character in his- 
 tory. As it is, he has left, in many of the bes; 
 men in England, and of the continent, the deep- 
 est admiration of his talents, his wisdom, his 
 knowledge and his benevolence. 
 
 I remain, my dear Sir, 
 
 Very truly vours, 
 
 SYDNEY SMITIi. 
 
418 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 A LETTER 
 
 LORD JOHN RUSSELL. 
 
 Mr Lord, 
 
 Though, upon the whole, your residence and 
 plurality bill is a good bill, and although I think 
 it (thanks to your kind attention to the sugges- 
 tions of various clergymen) a much belter bill 
 than that of last year, ihere are still some 
 important defects in it, which deserve amend- 
 ment and correction. 
 
 Page 13, Sec. 31. — It would seem, from this 
 section, that the repairs are to depend upon the 
 will of the bishop, and not upon the present law 
 of the land. A bishop enters into the house 
 of a non-resident clergyman, and finds it neither 
 papered, nor painted — he orders these decora- 
 tive repairs. In the mean time the court of 
 Queen's Bench have decided that substantial 
 repairs, only, and not decorative repairs, can 
 be recovered by an incumbent from his prede- 
 cessor ; the following words should be added ; — 
 • Provided, always, that no other repairs shall be 
 required by the bishop, than such as any incum- 
 bent could recover as dilapidations from the 
 person preceding him in the said benefice. 
 
 Page 19, Sec. 42. — Incumbents are to answer 
 questions transmitted by the bishop, and these 
 are to be countersigned by the rural dean. — 
 This is another vexation to the numerous cata- 
 logue of vexations entailed upon the rural 
 clergy. Is every man to go before the rural 
 dean, twenty or thirty miles off, perhaps ] Is 
 he to go through a cross examination b}' the 
 rural dean, as to the minute circumstance of 
 twenty or thirty questions, to enter into reason- 
 ings upon them, and to produce witnesses ? 
 This is a most degrading and vexatious enact- 
 ment, if all this is intended; but if the rural 
 dean is to believe the assertion of every clerg}'- 
 man upon his word only, why may not the 
 bishop do so : and what is gained by the enact- 
 ment] But the commissioners seem to have 
 been a set of noblemen and gentlemen, who met 
 once a-week, to see how they could harass the 
 working clergy, and how they could make 
 every thing smooth and pleasing to the bishops. 
 
 The clause for holding two livings, at the in- 
 terval of ten miles, is perfectly ridiculous. If 
 you are to abolish pluralities, do it at once, or 
 leave a man only in possession of such bene- 
 fices as he can serve himself; and then the dis- 
 tance should be two miles, and not a yard more. 
 But common justice requires that there 
 should be exceptions to your rules. For two 
 hundred years pluralities within certain distan- 
 ces have been allowed ; acting under the faith 
 of these laws, livings have been bought and be- 
 queathed to clergymen, tenable with other pre- 
 ferments in their possession — upon faith in 
 these laws, men and women have married — 
 educated their children — laid down a certain 
 
 plan of life, and adopted a certain rate of ex- 
 pense, and ruin comes upon them in a moment 
 from this thoughtless inattention to existing 
 interests. I know a man whose father dedicated 
 all he had saved in a long life of retail trade, to 
 purchase the next presentation to a living of 
 800/. per annum, tenable under the old law, with 
 another of 500/. given to the son by his college. 
 The whole of this clergyman's life and pros- 
 pects (and he has an immense family of chil- 
 dren) are cut to pieces by your bill. It is a 
 wrong thing, you will say, to hold two livings ; 
 I think it is, but why did not you, the legisla- 
 ture, find this out fifty years ago 1 Why did 
 you entice this man into the purchase of plu- 
 ralities, by a venerable laxity of two hundred 
 years, and then clap him into gaol from the new 
 virtue of yesterday 1 Such reforms as these 
 make wisdom and carefulness useless, and turn 
 human life into a mere scramble. 
 
 Page 32, Sec. 69.— There are the strongest 
 possible objections to this clause. The living 
 is 410/. per annum, the population above 2000 
 — perhaps, as is often the case, one third of 
 them dissenters. A clergyman does his duty 
 in the most exemplary manner — dedicates his 
 life to his parish, from whence he derives his 
 whole support — there is not the shadow of a 
 complaint against him. The bishop has, by this 
 clause, acquired a right of thrusting a curate 
 upon the rector at the expense of a fifth part 
 of his whole fortune. This, I think, an abomi. 
 nable piece of tyranny; and it will turn out 
 to be an inexhaustible source of favouritism 
 and malice. In the bishop's bill I have in vain 
 looked for a similar clause, — "That if the 
 population is above 800,000, and the income 
 amounts to 10,000/., an assistant to the bishop 
 may be appointed by the commissioners, and a 
 salary of 2000/. per annum allotted to him." 
 This would have been honest and manly, to 
 have begun with the great people. 
 
 But mere tyranny and episcopal malice are 
 not the only evils of this clause, nor the 
 greatest evils. Everybody knows the extreme 
 activity of that part of the English church which 
 is denominated evangelical, and their industry 
 in bringing over every body to their habits of 
 thinking and acting; now see what will hap- 
 pen from the following clause: " And when- 
 ever the population of any benefice shall 
 amount to 2000, and it shall be made appear to 
 the satisfaction of the bishop, that a stipend can 
 be provided for the payment of a curate, by 
 voluntary contribution or otherwise, without 
 charge to the incumbent, it shall be lawful for 
 the bishop to require the spiritual person, hold- 
 ing the same, to nominate a fit person to be 
 licensed as such curate, whatever may be the 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 419 
 
 annual value of such benefice ; and if, in either 
 of the said cases, a fit person shall not be nomi- 
 nated to the bishop within two months after his 
 requisition for that purpose shall have been de- 
 livered to the incumbent, it shall be lawful for 
 the bishop to appoint and license a curate." A 
 clause worthy of the Vicar of Wrexhill himself. 
 Now what will happen ] The bishop is a Calvi- 
 nistic bishop ; wife, children, chaplains, Calvin- 
 ized up to the teeth. The serious people of the 
 parish meet together, and agree to give an hun- 
 dred pounds per annum, if Mr. Wilkinson is ap- 
 pointed. It requires very little knowledge of 
 human nature to predict, that at the expiration 
 of two months Mr. Wilkinson will be the man ; 
 and then the whole parish is torn to pieces with 
 jealousies, quarrels, and comparisons between 
 the rector and the delightful Wilkinson. The 
 same scene is acted (muiatis mutandis), where 
 the bishop sets his face against Calvinistic prin- 
 ciples. The absurdity consists in suffering the 
 appointment of a curate by private subscrip- 
 tion ; iu other w^ords, one clergyman in a parish 
 by nomination, the other by election; and, in this 
 way, religion is brought into contempt by their 
 jealousies and quarrels. Little do you know, 
 my dear lord, of the state of that country you 
 govern, if you suppose this will not happen. I 
 have now a diocese in my eye, where, I am posi- 
 tively certain, that in less than six months after 
 the passing of this bill, there will not be a sin- 
 gle parish of 2000 persons, in which you will 
 not find a subscription curate, of evangelical 
 habits, canting and crowing over the regular 
 and established clergyman of the parish. 
 
 In the draft of the fifth report, upon which, I 
 presume your dean and chapter bill is to be 
 founded, I see the rights of patronage are to be 
 conceded to present incumbents. This is very 
 high and honourable conduct in the commis- 
 sioners, and such as deserves the warmest 
 thanks of the clergy ; it is always difficult to re- 
 tract, much more dilhcult to retract to inferiors; 
 but it is very virtuous to do so when there 
 can be no motive for it but a love of justice. 
 
 Your whole bill is to be one of retrenchment, 
 and amputation; why add fresh canons to St. 
 Paul's and Lincoln ! Nobody w^anls them ; 
 the cathedrals go on perfectly well without them; 
 they take away each of them 1500/. or 1600/. 
 per annum, from the fund for the improvement 
 of small livings ; they give, to be sure, a consi- 
 derable piece of patronage to the Bishops of 
 London and Lincoln, who are commissioners, 
 and they preserve a childish and pattern-like 
 uniformity in cathedrals. But the first of these 
 motives is corrupt, and the last silly : and, there- 
 fore, they cannot be your motives. 
 
 You cannot plead the recommendation of the 
 commission for the creation of these new 
 canons, for you have flung the commission 
 overboard ; and the reformers of the church are 
 no longer archbishops and bishops, but Lord 
 John Russell — not those persons to whom the 
 crown has entrusted the task, but Lord Martin 
 Luther, bred and born in our own island, and 
 nourished by the Woburn spoils and confisca- 
 tions of the church. The church is not with- 
 out friends, but those friends have said there 
 can be no danger of measures which are sanc- 
 tioned by the highest prelates of the church ; 
 
 but 3'ou have chased away the bearers, and 
 taken the ark into your own possession. Do 
 not forget, however, if you have deviated from 
 the plan of your brother commissioners, that 
 you have given to them a perfect right to op- 
 pose you. 
 
 This unfair and wasteful creation of new 
 canons, produces a great and scandalous injus- 
 tice to St. Paul's and Lincoln, in the distribu- 
 tion of their patronage. The old members of 
 all other cathedrals will enjoy the benefit of 
 survivorship, till they subside into the magic 
 number of four; up to that point, then, every 
 fresh death will add to the patronage of the re- 
 maining old members ; but in the churches of 
 Lincoln and St. Paul's, the old members will 
 immediately have one-fifth of their patronage 
 taken away by the creation of a fifth canon to 
 share it. This injustice and. partiality are so 
 monstrous, that the two prelates in question 
 will see that it is necessary to their own cha- 
 racter to apply a remedy. Nothing is more 
 easy than to do so. Let the bishop's canon have 
 no share in the distribution of the patronage, til' 
 after the death of all those who were residentia- 
 ries at the passing of the bill. 
 
 Your dean and chapter bill will, I am afraid, 
 cut down the great preferments of the church 
 too much. 
 
 Take for your fund only the non-resident 
 prebends, and leave the number of resident 
 prebends as they are, annexing some of them 
 to poor livings with large populations. I am 
 sure this is all (besides the abolition of plurali- 
 ties), which ought to be done, and all that would 
 be done, if the commissioners were to begin tie 
 novo from this period, when bishops have reco- 
 vered from their fright, dissenters shrunk into 
 their just dimensions, and the foolish and 
 exaggerated expectations from reform have 
 vanished away. The great prizes of the church 
 induce men to carry, and fathers and uncles to 
 send into the church considerable capitals, and 
 in this way, enable the clergy to associate with 
 gentlemen, and to command that respect which, 
 in all countries, and above all in this, depends 
 so much on appearances. Your bill, abolishing 
 pluralities, and taking away, at the same time. 
 so many dignities, leaves the Church of Eng- 
 land so destitute of great prizes, that, as far as 
 mere emolument has any influence, it will be 
 better to dispense cheese and butter in small 
 quantities to the public, than to enter into the 
 church. 
 
 There are admirable men, whose honest and 
 beautiful zeal carries them into the church 
 without a moment's thought of its emoluments. 
 Such a man, combining the manners of a gen- 
 tleman with the acquirements of a scholar, 
 and the zeal of an apostle, would overawe mer- 
 cantile grossness, and extort respect from inso- 
 lent opulence; but I am talking of average 
 vicars, mixed natures, and eleven thousand 
 parish priests. If you divide the great emolu- 
 ments of the church into little portions, suth 
 as butlers and head game-keepers receive, you 
 very soon degrade materially the style andcha 
 racter of the English clergy. If I were dictator 
 of the church, as Lord Durham is to be of 
 Canada, I would preserve the resident, and abo- 
 lish, for the purposes of a fund, the non-resident 
 
420 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 prebends. This is tlie principal and most im- 
 portant alteration in your dean and chapter bill, 
 which it is not too late to make, and for which 
 every temperate and rational man ought to 
 strive. 
 
 You will, of course, consider me as a defender 
 of abuses. I have all my life been just the con- 
 trary, and I remember, with pleasure, thirty 
 years ago, old Lord Stowell saying to me, " Mr. 
 Smith, you would have been a much richer man 
 if you had joined us." I like, my dear lord, the 
 road you are travelling, but I don't like the pace 
 you are driving ; too similar to that of the son 
 ofNimshi. I always feel inclined to cry out, 
 Gently, John, gently down hill. Put on the drag. 
 We shall be over if you go so quick — you'll do 
 us a mischief. 
 
 Remember, as a philosopher, that the Church 
 of England now is a very ditferent institution 
 from what it was twenty years ago. It then op- 
 pressed every sect ; they are now all free — all 
 exempt from the tyranny of an establishment; 
 and the only real cause of complaint for dissen- 
 ters is, that they can no longer find a grievance 
 and enjoy the distinction of being persecuted. 
 I have always tried to reduce them to this state, 
 and I do not pity them. 
 
 You have expressed your intention of going 
 beyond the fifth report, and limiting deans to 
 2000/. per annum, and canons to 1000/. This 
 is, I presume, in conformity with the treatment 
 of the bishops, who are limited to from 4500/., to 
 5000/. per annum; and it wears a fine appear- 
 ance of impartial justice ; but for the dean and 
 canon the sum is a maximum — in bishops it is a 
 maximum and minimum too; a bishop cannot 
 have less than 4500/., a canon may have as little 
 as the poverty of his church dooms him to, but 
 he cannot have more than 1 000/. ; but there may 
 be canonries of 500/., or 600/., or 700/. per annum, 
 and a few only of 1000/.; many deaneries of 
 from 1000/. to 1500/. per annum; and only a 
 very few above 2000/. If you mean to make 
 the world believe that you are legislating for 
 men without votes, as benevolently as you did 
 for those who have votes in Parliament, you 
 should make tip the allowance of every canon 
 to 1000/., and every dean to 2000/. per annum, 
 or leave them to the present lottery of blanks and 
 prizes. Besides, too, do I not recollect some 
 remarkable instances, in your bishop's act, of 
 deviation from this rigid standard of episcopal 
 wealth 1 Are not the archbishops to have the 
 enormous sums of 15,000/. and 12,000/. per an- 
 num ? is not the Bishop of London to have 
 10,000/. per annum 1 Are not all these three 
 prelates commissioners 1 And is not the rea- 
 son alleged for the enormous income of the 
 Bishop of Tjondon, that everything is so expen- 
 sive in the metropolis 1 Do not the deans of 
 St. Paul's and Westminster, then, live in Lon- 
 don alsol And can the Bishop of London sit 
 in his place iai the House of Lords, and not urge 
 
 for those dignitaries the same reasons which 
 were so successful in securing such ample 
 emoluments for his own seel My old friend, 
 the Bishop of Durham, has 8000/. per annum se- 
 cured to him. I am heartily glad of it ; what pos- 
 sible reason can there be for giving him more 
 than other bishops, and not giving the Dean of 
 Durham more than other deans 1 that is, of leav- 
 ing to him one half of his present income. It is 
 impossible this can be a clap-trap for Joseph 
 Hume, or a set-off against the disasters of Cana- 
 da ; you are too honest and elevated for this. I 
 cannot comprehend what is meant by such 
 gross partiality and injustice. 
 
 Why are the economists' so eagerly in the 
 field ] The public do not contribute one half- 
 penny to the support of deans and chapters ; it 
 is not proposed by any one to confiscate the 
 revenues of the church ; the whole is a question 
 of distribution, in what way the revenues of the 
 church can be best administered for the public 
 good. But whatever may bethe respective 
 shares of Peter or Paul, the public will never be 
 richer or poorer by one shilling. 
 
 When your dean and chapter bill is printed, 
 I shall take the liberty of addressing you again. 
 The clergy naturally look with the greatest 
 anxiety to these two bills; they think that you 
 will avail yourself of this opportunity to punish 
 them for their opposition to your government 
 in the last elections. They are afraid that your 
 object is not so much to do good as to gratify 
 your vanity, by obtaining the character of a 
 great reformer, and that (now the bishops are 
 provided for) you will varnish over your politi- 
 cal mistakes by increased severity against the 
 church, or, apparently struggling for their good, 
 see with inexpressible delight the clergy deli- 
 vered over to the tender mercies of the radicals. 
 These are the terrors of the clergy. I judge you 
 with a very different judgment. You are a re- 
 ligious man, not unfriendly to the church ; and 
 but for that most foolish and fatal error of the 
 church rates (into which you were led by a man 
 who knows no more of England than of Meso- 
 potamia), I believe you would have gone on 
 well with the church to the last. There is a 
 genius in action, as well as diction ; and be- 
 cause you see political evils clearly, and attack 
 them bravely, and cure them wisely, you are a 
 man of real genius, and are most deservedly 
 looked up to as the leader of the whig party in 
 this kingdom. I wish, I must confess, you 
 were rather less afraid of Joseph and Daniel; 
 but God has given you a fine understanding, 
 and a fine character ; and I have so much con- 
 fidence in your spirit and honour, that I am sure 
 you would rather abandon your bills altogether, 
 than suffer the enemies of the church to convert 
 them into an engine of spoil and oppression. 
 I am, &c. 
 
 SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 481 
 
 SERMON 
 
 DUTIES OF THE QUEEN. 
 
 Daniel, iv. 31. 
 
 ■ OH KING, THY KINGDOM IS DEPARTED FROM THEE. 
 
 I DO not think I am getting out of tVie fair 
 line of duly of a minister of the gospel, if, at 
 the beginning of a new reign, I take a short 
 review of the moral and religious state of the 
 country ; and to point out what those topics 
 are which deserve the most serious considera- 
 tion of a wise and a Christian people. 
 
 The death of a king is always an awful les- 
 son to mankind; and it produces a more 
 solemn pause, and creates more profound re- 
 flection than the best lessons of the best teach- 
 ers. 
 
 From the throne to the tomb — wealth, splen- 
 dour, flattery, all gone! The look of favour — 
 the voice of power, no more; — the deserted 
 palace — the wretched monarch on his funeral 
 bier — the mourners ready — the dismal march 
 of death prepared. Who are we, and what are 
 •we ■? and for what has God made us 1 and why 
 are we doomed to this frail and unquiet exist- 
 ence 1 Who does not feel all this 1 in whose 
 heart does it not provoke appeal to and depend- 
 ence on God 1 before whose eyes does it not 
 bring the folly and nothingness of all things 
 human 1 
 
 But a good king must not go to his grave 
 
 •without that reverence from the people which 
 
 his virtues deserved. And I will state to you 
 
 what those virtues were, state it to you honestly 
 
 and fairly; for I should heartily despise my- 
 
 : self, if from this chair of truth I would utter 
 
 ' one word of panegyric of the great men of the 
 
 t earth, which I could not aver before the throne 
 
 s; of God. 
 
 The late monarch, whose loss we have to 
 deplore, was sincere and honest in his political 
 • relations ; he put his trust really Avhere he put 
 his trust ostensibly — and did not attempt to un- 
 dermine, by secret means, those to whom he 
 trusted publicly the conduct of affairs ; and I 
 must beg to remind you that no vice and no 
 virtue are indifferent in a monarch; human 
 beings are very imitative ; there is a fashion in 
 the higher qualities of our minds, as there is 
 in the lesse;- considerations of life. It is by no 
 means indifferent to the morals of the people 
 at large, whether a tricking perfidious king is 
 placed on the throne of these realms, or whether 
 the sceptre is swayed by one of plain and 
 manly character, walking ever in a straight 
 line, on the firm ground of truth, under the 
 searching eye of God. 
 
 The late king was of a sweet and Christian 
 disposition ; he did not treasure up little ani- 
 mosities, and indulge in vindictive feelings; he 
 had no enemies but the enemies of the coun- 
 try ; he did not make the memory of a king a 
 fountain of wrath; the feelings of the indivi- 
 dual (where they required any control) were in 
 perfect subjection to the just conception he had 
 formed of his high duties ; and every one near 
 him found it was a government of principle, 
 and not of temper; not of caprice, not of ma- 
 lice couching in high places, and watching an 
 opportunity of springing on its victim. 
 
 Our late monarch had the good nature of 
 Christianity; he loved the happiness of all the 
 individuals about him, and never lost an op- 
 portunity of promoting it ; and where the heart 
 is good, and the mind active, and the means 
 ample, this makes a luminous and beautiful 
 life, which gladdens the nations, and leads 
 them, and turns men to the exercise of virtue, 
 and the great work of salvation. 
 
 We may honestly say of our late sovereign 
 that he loved his country, and was sensibly 
 alive to its glory and its happiness. When he 
 entered into his palaces he did not say, "All 
 this is my birthright; I am entitled to it — it is 
 my due — how can I gain more splendour? how 
 can I increase all the pleasures of the senses V 
 but he looked upon it all as a memorial that 
 he was to repay by example, by attention, and 
 by watchfulness over the public interests, the 
 affectionate and lavish expenditure of his sub- 
 jects ; and this was not a decision of reason, 
 but a feeling, which hurried him away. When- 
 ever it was pointed out to him that England 
 could be made more rich, or more happy, or 
 rise higher in the scale of nations, or be better 
 guided in ihe straight path of the Christian 
 faith, on all such occasions he rose above him- 
 self; there was a warmth, and a truth, and an 
 honesty, which it was impossible to mistake; 
 the gates of his heart were flung open, and that 
 heart throbbed and beat for the land which his 
 ancestors had rescued from slavery, and go- 
 verned with justice : — but he is gone — and let 
 fools praise conqueroi's, and say the great ISa- 
 poleon pulled down this kingdom and destroyed 
 that army, we will thank God tor a king who 
 has derived his quiet glory from the peace of 
 his realm, and who has founded his own hap- 
 piness upon the happiness of his people. 
 2N 
 
423 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 But the world passes on, and a new order of 
 things arises. liet lis take a short view of those 
 duties which devolve upon the young queen, 
 whom Providence has placed over us — what 
 ideas she ought to form of her duties — and on 
 what points she should endeavour to place the 
 glories of her reign. 
 
 First and foremost, I think, the new queen 
 should bend her mind to the very serious con- 
 sideration of educating the people. Of the 
 importance of this, I think no reasonable doubt 
 can exist; it does not, in its effects, keep pace 
 Avith the exaggerated expectations of its inju- 
 dicious advocates, but it presents the best 
 chance of national improvement. 
 
 Reading and writing are mere increase of 
 power. They may be turned, I admit, to a 
 good, or a bad purpose; but for several years 
 of his life the child is in your hands, and you 
 may give to that power what bias you please : 
 thou shalt not kill — thou shalt not steal — thou 
 shalt not bear false witness; — by how many 
 fables, by how much poetry, by how many 
 beautiful aids of imagination, may not the fine 
 morality of the Sacred Scriptures be engraven 
 on the minds of the young"? I believe the arm 
 of the assassin may be often stayed by the les- 
 sons of his early life. When I see the village 
 school, and the tattered scholars, and the aged 
 master or mistress teaching the mechanical art 
 of reading or writing, and thinking that they 
 are teaching that alone, I feel that the aged in- 
 structor is protecting life, insuring property, 
 fencing the altar, guarding the throne, giving 
 space and liberty to all the fine powers of man, 
 and lifting him up to his own place in the order 
 of creation. 
 
 There are, I am sorry to sa}-, many countries 
 in Europe, which have taken the lead of Eng- 
 land in the great business of education, and it 
 is a thoroughly commendable, and legitimate 
 object of ambition in a sovereign to overtake 
 them. The names too, of malefactors, and the 
 nature of their crimes are subjected to the sove- 
 reign ; — how is it jiossible that a sovereign, with 
 the fine feelings of youth, and with all the gentle- 
 ness of her sex, should not ask herself, whether 
 the human being whom she dooms to death, or 
 at least does not rescue from death, has been 
 properly warned in early youth of the horrors 
 of that crime for which his life is forfeited ? 
 "Did he ever receive any education at all? — 
 — did a father and mother watch over him ? — 
 was he brought to places of worship 1 — was the 
 Word of God explained to him ? — was the book 
 of knowledge opened to him 1 — Or am I, the 
 fountain of mercy, the nursing-mother of my 
 people, to send a forsaken wretch from the 
 streets to the scaffold, and to prevent, by un- 
 principled cruelty, the evils of unprincipled ne- 
 glect!" 
 
 Many of the objections found against the 
 general education of the people are utterly un- 
 tenable ; where all are educated, education can- 
 not be a source of distinction and a subject for 
 pride. The great source of labour is want; 
 and as long as the necessities of life call for 
 labour — labour is sure to be supplied. All 
 these fears are foolish and imaginary ; the great 
 use and the great importance of education pro- 
 perly conducted are, that it creates a great bias 
 
 in favour of virtue and religion, at a period of 
 life when the mind is open to all the impres- 
 sions which superior wisdom may choose to 
 affix upon it ; the sum and mass of these ten- 
 dencies and inclinations make a good and vir- 
 tuous people, and draw down upon us the bless- 
 ing and protection of Almighty God. 
 
 A second great object which I hope will be 
 impressed upon the mind of this royal lady is, 
 a rooted horror of war — an earnest and pas- 
 sionate desire to keep her people in a state of 
 profound peace. The greatest curse which can 
 be entailed upon mankind is a state of war. 
 All the atrocious crimes committed in years of 
 peace — all that is spent in peace by the secret 
 corruptions, or by the thoughtless extravagance 
 of nations, are mere trifles compared with the 
 gigantic evils which stalk over the world in a 
 state of war. God is forgotten in war — every 
 principle of Christian charity trampled upon — 
 human labour destroyed — human industry ex- 
 tinguished; — you see the son and the husband 
 and the brother dying miserably in distant lands 
 — you see the waste of human aflfections — you 
 see the breaking of human hearts — yon hear 
 the shrieks of widows and children after the 
 battle — and you walk over the mangled bodies 
 of the wounded calling for death. I would say 
 to that royal child, worship God, by loving 
 peace — it is not your humanity to pity a beggar 
 by giving him food or raiment — / can do that; 
 that is the charity of the humble, and the un- 
 known — widen you your heart for the more ex- 
 panded miseries of mankind — pity the mothers 
 of the peasantry who see their sons torn away 
 from their families — pity your poor subjects 
 crowded into hospitals, and calling in their last 
 breath upon their distant country and their 
 young queen — pity the stupid, frantic folly of 
 human beings who are always ready to tear 
 each other to pieces, and to deluge the earth 
 with each other's blood ; this is your extended 
 humanity — and this the great field of your com- 
 passion. Extinguish in your heart the fiendish 
 love of military glory, from which your sex 
 does not necessarily exempt you, and to which 
 the wickedness of flatterers may urge you. Say 
 upon your death-bed, "I have made few orphans 
 in my reign — I have made hvf widows — my 
 object has been peace. I have used all the 
 weight of my character, and all the power of my 
 situation, to check the irascible passions of 
 mankind, and to turn them to the arts of honest 
 industry: this has been the Christianity of my 
 throne, and this the Gospel of my sceptre ; in 
 this way I have strove to worship my Redeemer 
 and my Judge." 
 
 I would add (if any addition were wanted as 
 a part of the lesson to youthful royalty), the 
 utter folly of all wars of ambition, where the 
 object sought for — if attained at all — is com- 
 monly attained at manifold its real value, and 
 often wrested, after short enjoyment, from its 
 possessor, by the combined indignation and just 
 vengeance of the other nations of the world. It 
 is all misery, and folly, and impiety, and cru- 
 elty. The atrocities, and horrors, and disgusts 
 of war, have never been half enough insisted 
 upon by the teachers of the people; but the 
 worst of evils and the greatest of follies, have 
 been varnished over with specious names, and 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 423 
 
 the gigantic robbers and murderers of the world 
 have been hoiden up, for their imitation, to the 
 weak eyes of youth. May honest counsellors 
 keep this poison from the mind of the young 
 queen. May she love what God bids, and do 
 ■what makes men happy! 
 
 I hope the queen willlove the national church, 
 and protect it ; but it must be inapressed upon 
 her mind, that every sect of Christians have as 
 perfect a right to, the free exercise of their wor- 
 ship as the church itself — that there must be no 
 invasion of the privileges of other sects, and no 
 contemptuous disrespect of their feelings — that 
 the altar is the very ark and citadel of freedom. 
 
 Some persons represent old age as miserable, 
 because it brings with it the pains and infirmi- 
 ties of the body ; but what gratification to the 
 mind may not old age bring with it in this 
 country of wise and rational improvement ] I 
 have lived to see the immense improvements 
 of the Church of England; all its powers of 
 persecution destroyed— its monopoly of civil 
 offices expunged from the book of the law, and 
 ail its unjust and exclusive immunities leveled 
 to the ground. The Church of England is now 
 a rational object of love and admiration — it is 
 perfectly compatible with civil freedom — it is an 
 institution for worshipping God, and not a cover 
 for gratifying secular insolence, and minister- 
 ing to secular ambition. It will be the duty of 
 those to whom the sacred trust of instructing 
 our youthful queen is entrusted, to lead her at- 
 tention to these great improvements in our reli- 
 gious establishments ; and to show to her how 
 possible, and how wise it is, to render the solid 
 advantages of a national church compatible 
 with the civil rights of those who cannot assent 
 to its doctrines. 
 
 Then again, our youthful ruler must be very 
 slow to believe all the exaggerated and violent 
 abuse v^hich religious sects indulge in against 
 each other. She will find, for instance, that the 
 Catholics, the great object of our horror and 
 aversion, have (mistaken as they are) a great 
 deal more to say in defence of their tenets than 
 those imagine who indulge more in the luxury 
 of invective than in the labour of inquiry — 
 she will find in that sect, men as enlightened, 
 talents as splendid, and probity as firm, as in 
 our own church ; and she will soon learn to ap- 
 preciate, at its just value, that exaggerated 
 hatred of sects which paints the Catholic faith 
 (the religion of two-thirds of Europe) as utterly 
 incompatible with the safety, peace and order 
 of the world. 
 
 It will be a sad vexation to all loyal hearts 
 and to all rationally pious minds, if our sove- 
 reign should fall into the common error of mis- 
 taken fanaticism for religion: and in this way 
 fling an air of discredit upon real devotion. It 
 is, I am afraid, unquestionably the fault of the 
 age; her youth and her sex do not make it 
 more improbable, and the warmest efforts of 
 that description of persons will not be wanting 
 to gain over a convert so illustrious, and so 
 important. Should this take place, the conse- 
 quences will be serious and distressing — the 
 land will be inundated with hypocrisy — absurd- 
 ity will be heaped upon absurdity — there will 
 be a race of folly and extravagance for royal 
 lavour, and he who is farthest removed from 
 
 reason will make the nearest approach to dis- 
 tinction ; and then follow the usual conse- 
 quences ; a weariness and disgust of religion 
 itself, and the foundation laid for an age of im- 
 piety and infidelity. Those, then, to whom 
 these matters are delegated, will watch care- 
 fully over every sign of this excess, and guard 
 from the mischievous intemperance of enthu- 
 siasm those feelings and that understanding, 
 the healthy state of which bears so strongly 
 and intimately upon the happiness of a whole 
 people. 
 
 Though I deprecate the bad effects of fanati- 
 cism, I earnestly pray that our young sovereign 
 may evince herself to be a person of deep re- 
 ligious feeling : what other cure has she for all 
 the arrogance and vanity which her exalted 
 position must engender 1 for all the flattery and 
 falsehood with which she must be surrounded 1 
 for all the soul-corrupting homage with which 
 she is met at every moment of her existence 1 
 what other cure than to cast herself down in 
 darkness and solitude before God — to say that 
 she is dust and ashes — and to call down the 
 pity of the Almighty upon her difficult and 
 dangerous life] This is the antidote of kings 
 against the slavery and the baseness which 
 surround them — they should think often of 
 death — and the foll}'^ and nothingness of the 
 world, and they should humble their souls be- 
 fore the Master of masters, and the King of 
 kings ; praying to Heaven for wisdom and 
 calm reflection, and for that spirit of Christian 
 gentleness which exalts command into an em- 
 pire of justice, and turns obedience into a ser- 
 vice of love. 
 
 A wise man struggling with adversity is said 
 by some heathen writer to be a spectacle on 
 which the gods might look down with pleasure 
 — but where is there a finer moral and religious 
 picture, or one more deserving of divine fa- 
 vour, than that of which, perhaps, we are now 
 beginning to enjoy the blessed reality 1 
 
 A young queen, ^t that period of life which 
 is commonly given up to frivolous amusement, 
 sees at once the great principles by which she 
 should be guided, and steps at once into the 
 great duties of her station. The importance 
 of educating the lower orders of the people is 
 never absent from her mind; she takes up this 
 principle at the beginning of her life, and in 
 all the change of servants, and in all the strug- 
 gle of parties, looks to it as a source of per- 
 manent improvement. A great object of her 
 affections is the preservation of peace; she 
 regards a state of war as the greatest of all 
 human evils, thinks that the lust of conquest 
 is not a glory but a bad crime; despises the 
 folly and miscalculations of war, and is will- 
 ing to sacrifice every thing to peace, but the 
 clear honour of her land. 
 
 The patriot queen, whom I am painting, re- 
 verences the national church — frequents its 
 worship, and regulates her faith by its precepts ; 
 but she withstands the encroachments, and 
 keeps down the ambition natural to establish- 
 ments, and, by rendering the privileges of the 
 church compatible with the civil freedom of all 
 sects, confers strength upon, and adds duration 
 to, that wise and magnificent institution. And 
 then this youthful monarch, profoundly but 
 
424 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 wisely religious, disdaining hypocrisy, and far 
 above the childish follies of false piety, casts 
 herself upon God, and seeks from the Gospel 
 of his blessed Son a path for her steps and a 
 comfort for her soul. Here is a picture which 
 warms every English heart, and would bring 
 all this congregation upon their bended knees 
 before Almighty God to pray it may be realized. 
 What limits to the glory and happiness of our 
 native land, if the Creator should in his mercy 
 have placed in the heart of this royal woman 
 the rudiments of wisdom and mercy ; and if, 
 
 giving them time to expand, and to bless our 
 children's children with her goodness. He 
 should grant to her a long sojourning upon 
 earth, and leave her to reign over us till she is 
 well stricken in years? What glory! what 
 happiness! what joy! what bounty of God ! 
 I of course can only expect to see the begin- 
 ning of such a splendid period; but when I do 
 see it, I shall exclaim with the Psalmist, — 
 " Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in 
 peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." 
 
 THE LAWYER THAT TEMPTED CHUIST. 
 
 A SERMON PREACHED IN THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH AT ST. PETER, YORK, BEFORE THE 
 HON. SIR JOHN BAYLEY, KNT., ONE OF HIS MAJESTy's JUSTICES OF THE COURT OF 
 king's bench, and the HON. SIR JOHN HULLOCK, KNT., ONE OF HIS MAJESTY's 
 BARONS OF THE COURT OF EXCHEQUER. AUG. 1, l824. 
 
 LcKE X. 25. 
 
 "Jnd, behold, a certain Jatvycr stood up, and tempted him, saying, blaster, ichat shall I do to inherit 
 
 eternal life?" 
 
 This lawyer, who is thus represented to have 
 tempted our blessed Saviour, does not seem to 
 have been very much in earnest in the ques- 
 tion which he asked : his object does not ap- 
 pear to have been the acquisition of religious 
 knowledge, but the display of human talent. 
 He did not say to himself, I will now draw near 
 to this august being; I will inform myself from 
 the fountain of truth, and frnm the very lips of 
 Christ; I will learn a lesson of salvation ; but 
 it occurred to him, that in such a gathering to- 
 gether of the Jews, in such a moment of public 
 agitation, the opportunity of display' was not to 
 be neglected : full of that internal confidence 
 •which men of talents so ready, and so exercised, 
 are sometimes apt to feel, he approaches our 
 Saviour with all the apparent modesty of inter- 
 rogation, and, saluting him with the appellation 
 of Master, prepares, with all professional acute- 
 ness, for his humiliation and defeat. 
 
 Talking humanly, and we must talk humanly, 
 for our Saviour was then acting an human part, 
 the experiment ended as all must wish an ex- 
 periment to end, where levity and bad faith are 
 on one side, and piety, simplicity, and goodness 
 on the other : the objector was silenced, and one 
 of the brightest lessons of the Gospel elicited, 
 for the eternal improvement of mankind. 
 
 Still, though we wish the motive for the 
 question had been better, we must not forget 
 the question, and we must not forget who asked 
 the question, and we must not forget who an- 
 swered it, and what that answer was. The 
 question was the wisest and best that ever 
 came from the mouth of man ; the man who 
 asked it was the very person who ought to 
 have asked it ; a man overwhelmed, probably. 
 
 I with the intrigues, the bustle, and business of 
 life, and, therefore, most likely to forget the in- 
 , terests of another world : the answerer was our 
 I blessed Saviour, through whose mediation, you, 
 I and I, and all of us, hope to live again ; and the 
 j answer, remember, was plain and practical : 
 j not flowery, not metaphysical, not doctrinal ; 
 but it said to the man of the law, if you wish 
 to live eternally, do your duty to God and man ; 
 live in this world as you ought to live; make 
 yourself fit for eternity; and then, and then 
 only, God will grant to you eternal life. 
 
 There are, probably, in this church, many 
 persons of the profession of the law, who have 
 often_ asked before, with better faith than their 
 brother, and who do now ask this great question, 
 "What shallldotoinherit eternal life?" I shall, 
 therefore, direct to them some observations on 
 the particular duties they owe to society, be- 
 cause I think it suitable to this particular sea- 
 son, because it is of much more importance to 
 tell men how they are to be Christians in detail, 
 than to exhort them to be Christians general- 
 ly ; because it is of the highest utility to avail 
 ourselves of these occasions, to show to classes 
 of mankind what those virtues are which they 
 have more frequent and valuable opportunities 
 of practising, and what those faults and vices 
 are to which they are more particularly exposed. 
 It falls to the lot of those who are engaged in 
 the active and arduous profession of the law, 
 to pass iheir lives in great cities, amidst severe 
 and incessant occupation, requiring all the fa- 
 culties, and calling forth, from time to time, 
 many of the strongest passions of our nature. 
 In the midst of all this, rivals are to be watched, 
 superiors are to be cultivated, connections 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEiT SMITH. 
 
 425 
 
 cherished; some portion of life must be given 
 to society, and some little to relaxation and 
 amusement. When, then, is the question to be 
 asked, " What shall I do to inherit eternal life V 
 what leisure for the altar, what time for God 1 
 I appeal to the experience of men engaged in 
 this profession, whether religious feelings and 
 religious practices are not, without any specu- 
 lative disbelief, perpetually sacrificed to the 
 business of the world. Are not the habits of 
 devotion gradually displaced by other habits of 
 solicitude, hurry, and care, totally incompatible 
 with habits of devotion 1 Is not the taste for 
 devotion lessened? Is not the time for devo- 
 tion abridged "! Are you not more and more 
 conquered against your warnings and against 
 your will, not, perhaps, without pain and com- 
 punction, by the mammon of life? and what is 
 the cure for this great evil to which your pro- 
 fession exposes you ? The cure is, to keep a 
 sacred place in your heart, where Almighty 
 God is enshrined, and where nothing human 
 can enter ; to say to the world, " Thus far shalt 
 thou go, and no farther ;" to remember you are a 
 lawyer, without forgetting you are a Christian ; 
 to wish for no more wealth than ought to be 
 possessed by an inheritor of the kingdom of 
 heaven ; to covet no more honour than is suit- 
 able to a child of God; boldly and bravely to 
 set yourself limits, and to show to others you 
 have limits, and that no professional eagerness 
 and no professional activity shall ever induce 
 you to infringe upon the rules and practices of 
 religion : remember the text ; put the great ques- 
 tion really, which the tempter of Christ only pre- 
 tended to put. In the midst of your highest 
 success, in the most perfect gratification of 
 your vanity, in the most ample increase of your 
 wealth, fail down at the feet of Jesus, and say, 
 " Master, whatshall I do to inherit eternal life 1" 
 The genuine and unaffected piety of a lawyer 
 is, in one respect, of great advantage to the 
 general interests of religion ; inasmuch as to 
 the highest member of that profession a great 
 .share of church patronage is entrusted, and to 
 him we are accustomed to look up in the sen- 
 ate, for the defence of our venerable establish- 
 ment; and great and momentous would be the 
 loss to this nation, if any one, called to so high 
 and honourable an office, were found deficient 
 in this ancient, pious, and useful zeal for the 
 established church. In talking to men of your 
 active lives and habits, it is not possible to an- 
 ticipate the splendid and exalted stations for 
 which any one of you may be destined. Fifty 
 years ago, the person at the head of his pro- 
 fession, the greatest lawyer now in England, 
 perhaps in the world, stood in this church, on 
 such occasions as the present, as obscure, as 
 unknown, and as much doubting of his future 
 prospects, as the humblest individual of the 
 profession here present. If Providence reserve 
 such honours for any one who may now chance 
 to hear me, let him remember that there is re- 
 quired at his hands a zeal for the established 
 church, but a zeal tempered by discretion, com- 
 patible with Christian charity, and tolerant of 
 Christian freedom. All human establishments 
 are liable to err, and are capable of improve- 
 ment : to act as if you denied this, to perpetuate 
 any infringement upon the freedom of other 
 54 
 
 sects, however vexatious that infringement, and 
 however safe its removal, is not to defend an 
 establishment, but to expose it to unmerited 
 obloquy and reproach. Never think it neces- 
 sary to be weak and childish in the highest 
 concerns of life ; the career of the law opens 
 to you many great and glorious opportunities 
 of promoting the Gospel of Christ, and of doing 
 good to your fellow-creatures ; there is no situ- 
 ation of that profession in which you can be 
 more great and more glorious than when, in 
 the fulness of years, and the fulness of honours, 
 you are found defending that church which 
 first taught you to distinguish between good 
 and evil, and breathed into you the elements of 
 religious life ; but when you defend that church, 
 defend it with enlarged wisdom, and with the 
 spirit of magnanimity; praise its great excel- 
 lencies ; do not perpetuate its little defects ; be its 
 liberal defender, be its wise patron, be its real 
 friend. If you can be great and bold in humaa 
 affairs, do not think it necessary to be narrow 
 and timid in spiritual concerns ; bind yourself 
 up with the real and important interests of the 
 church, and hold yourself accountable to God 
 for its safety; but yield up trifles to the altered 
 state of the world. Fear no change which les- 
 sens the enemies of that establishment, fear no 
 change which increases the activity of that es- 
 tablishment, fear no change which draws down 
 upon it the more abundant pra3^ers and bless- 
 ings of the human race. 
 
 Justice is found, experimentally, to be most 
 effectually promoted by the opposite eflx)rts of 
 practised and ingenious men, presenting to the 
 selection of an impartial judge the best argu- 
 ments for the establishment and explanation of 
 truth. It becomes, then, under such an arrange- 
 ment, the decided duty of an advocate to use all 
 the arguments in his power to defend the cause 
 he has adopted, and to leave the effects of those 
 arguments to the judgment of others. How- 
 ever useful this practice may be for the promo- 
 tion of public justice, it is not without danger 
 to the individual whose practice it becomes. It 
 is apt to produce a profligate indifl^erence to 
 truth in higher occasions of life, where truth 
 cannot, for a moment, be trifled with, much less 
 callously trampled on, much less suddenly and 
 totally yielded up to the basest of human mo- 
 tives. It is astonishing what unworthy and in- 
 adequate notions men are apt to form of the 
 Christian faith. Christianity does not insist 
 upon duties to an individual, and forget the du- 
 ties which are owing to the great mass of indi- 
 viduals, which we call our country ; it does not 
 teach you how to benefit your neighbour, and 
 leave you to inflict the most serious injuries 
 upon all whose interest is bound up with you 
 in the same land : I need not say to this con- 
 gregation that there is a wrong and a right in 
 public affairs, as there is a wrong and a right 
 in private affairs. I need not prove that in any 
 vote, in any line of conduct which affects the 
 public interest, every Christian is bound, most 
 solemnly and most religiously, to follow the 
 dictates of his conscience. Let it be for, let it 
 be against, let it please, let it displease, no 
 matter with whom it sides, or what it thwarts, 
 it is a solemn duty, on such occasions, to act 
 from the pure dictalesof conscience, and to ba 
 2n2 
 
426 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 as faithful to the interests of the great mass of 
 5'our fellow-creatures, as you would be to the 
 interests of any individual of that mass. Why, 
 then, if there is any truth in these observations, 
 can that man be pure and innocent before God, 
 can he be quite harmless and respectable before 
 men, who, in mature age, at a moment's notice, 
 sacrifices to wealth and power all the fixed and 
 firm opinions of his life ; who puts his moral 
 principles to sale, and barters his dignity and 
 his soul for the baubles of the world 1 If these 
 temptations come across you, then remember 
 the memorable words of the text, "What shall 
 I do to inherit eternal lifel" not this— don't do 
 this ; it is no title to eternity to suffer deserved 
 shame among men ; endure any thing rather 
 than the loss of character, cling to character 
 as your best possession, do not envy men who 
 pass you in life, onU' because they are under 
 less moral and religious restraint than yourself. 
 Your object is not fame, but honourable fame ; 
 your object is not wealth, but wealth worthily 
 obtained ; your object is not power, but power 
 gained fairly and exercised virtuously. Long- 
 suffering is a great and important lesson in 
 human life ; in no part of human life is it more 
 necessary than in your arduous profession. 
 The greatest men it has produced have been at 
 some period of their professional lives ready 
 to faint at the long and apparently fruitless 
 journey; and if you look at those lives, you 
 will find they have been supported by a con- 
 fidence (under God) in the general effects of 
 character and industry. They have withstood 
 the allurement of pleasure, which is the first 
 and most common cause of failure; they have 
 disdained the little arts and meannesses which 
 carry base men a certain way, and no further ; 
 they have sternly rejected, also, the sudden 
 means of growing basely rich and dishonoura- 
 bly great, with which every man is at one time 
 or another sure to be assailed; and then they 
 have broken out into light and glory at the last, 
 exhibiting to mankind the splendid spectacle of 
 great talents long exercised by difficulties, and 
 high principles never tainted with guilt. 
 
 After all, remember that your profession is 
 a lottery, in which you may lose as well as win ; 
 and you must take it as a lottery, in which, 
 after every eflbrt of your own, it is impossible 
 to command success ; for this you are not ac- 
 countable, but you are accountable for your 
 purity: you are accountable for the preserva- 
 tion of your character. It is not in every man's 
 power to say, I will be a great and successful 
 lawyer, but it is in every man's power to say, 
 that he will (with God's assistance) be a good 
 Christian, and an honest man. Whatever is 
 moral and religious is in your own power. 
 If fortune deserts you, do not desert yourself; 
 do not undervalue inward consolation ; con- 
 nect God with your labour ; remember you are 
 Christ's servant; be seeking always for the in- 
 heritance of immortal life. 
 
 I must urge you by another motive, and 
 hind you by another obligation, against the 
 sacrifice of public principle. A proud man 
 
 suffered degradation ; he may hide it by in- 
 creased zeal and violence, or varnish it over 
 by simulated gaiety ; he may silence the world, 
 but he cannot always silence himself. If this 
 is only a beginning, and you mean, hence- 
 forward, to trample all principle under foot, 
 that is another thing; but a man of fine parts 
 and nice feelings is trying a very dangerous 
 experiment with his happiness, who means to 
 preserve his general character, and indulge in 
 one act of baseness. Such a man is not made 
 to endure scorn and self-reproach ; it is far 
 from being certain that he will be satisfied with 
 that unscriptural bargain in which he has 
 gained the honours of the world, and lost the 
 purity of his soul. 
 
 It is impossible in the profession of the law 
 but that many opportunities must occur for the 
 exertion of charity and benevolence. I do not 
 mean the charity of money, but the charity of 
 time, labour and attention ; the protection of 
 those whose resources are feeble, and the in- 
 formation of those whose knowledge is small. 
 In the hands of bad men, the law is sometimes 
 an artifice to mislead, and sometimes an engine 
 to oppress. In j-our hands it may be, from 
 time to time, a buckler to shield, and a sanctua- 
 ry to save; you may lift up oppressed humility, 
 listen patiently to the injuries of the wretched, 
 vindicate their just claims, maintain their fair 
 rights, and show, that in the hurry of business 
 and the struggles of ambition, you have not 
 forgotten the duties of a Christian, and the 
 feelings of a man. It is in j'our power, above 
 all other Christians, to combine the wisdom of 
 the serpent with the innocence of the dove, 
 and to fulfil, with greater acuteness and more 
 perfect efl"ect than other men can pretend to, 
 the love, the lessons and the law of Christ. 
 
 I should caution the 3'ounger part of this 
 profession (who are commonly selected for it 
 on account of their superior tatents) to culti- 
 vate a little more diffidence of their own pow- 
 ers, and a little less contempt for received 
 opinions, than is commonly exhibited at the 
 beginning of their career ; mistrust of this na- 
 ture" teaches moderation in the formation of 
 opinions, and prevents the painful necessity 
 of inconsistency and recantation in future life. 
 It is not possible that the ablest young men, at 
 the beginning of their intellectual existence, 
 can anticipate all those reasons, and dive into 
 all those motives, which induce mankind to 
 act as they do act, and make the world such as 
 we find it to be ; and though there is, doubt- 
 less, much to alter, and much to improve in 
 human aflfairs, yet you will find mankind not 
 quite so wrong as, in the first ardour of youth, 
 you supposed them to be; and)'ou will find, as 
 you advance in life, many new lights to open 
 upon you, which nothing but advancing in life 
 could ever enable you to observe. I say this, not 
 to check originality and vigour of mind, which 
 are the best chattels and possessions of the 
 world, but to check that eagerness which ar- 
 rives at conclusions without sufficient pre- 
 mises ; to prevent that violence which is not un- 
 
 i 
 
 when he has obtained the reward, and accepted 1 commonly atoned for in after-life by the sacri- 
 the wages of baseness, enters into a severe ac- j fice of all principle and all opinions ; to lessen 
 count with himself, and feels clearly that he has I that contempt which prevents a young man 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 427 
 
 from improving his own understanding, by 
 making a proper and prudent use of the un- 
 derstandings of his fellow-creatures. 
 
 There is another unchristian fault which must 
 be guarded against in the profession of the 
 law, and that is, raisanthrop)', an exaggerated 
 opinion of the faults and follies of mankind. 
 It is naturally the worst part of mankind who 
 are seen in courts of justice, and with whom 
 the professors of the law are most conversant. 
 The perpetual recurrence of crime and guilt 
 insensibly connects itself with the recollections 
 of the human race: mankind are always 
 painted in the attitude of sutfering and in- 
 flicting. It seems as if men were bound to- 
 gether by the relations of fraud and crime ; 
 but laws are not made for the quiet, the good, 
 and the just ; you see and know little of them 
 in your profession, and, therefore you forget 
 them ; you see the oppressor, and you let loose 
 your eloquence against him ; but you do not 
 see the man of silent charity, who is alwa)'s 
 seeking out objects of compassion : the faith- 
 ful guardian does not come into a court of jus- 
 tice, nor the good wife, nor the just servant, 
 nor the dutiful son ; you punish the robbers 
 who ill-treated the wayfaring man, but you 
 know nothingof the good Samaritan who bound 
 up his wounds. The lawyer who tempted his 
 Master, had heard, perhaps, of the sins of the 
 woman at the feast, without knowing that she 
 had poured her store of precious ointment on 
 the feet of Jesus. 
 
 Upon those who are engaged in studying the 
 laws of their country, devolves the honourable 
 and Christian task of defending the accused; 
 a sacred duty never to be yielded up, never to 
 be influenced by any vehemence, nor intensity 
 of public opinion. In these times of profound 
 peace, and unexampled prosperity, there is 
 little danger in executing this duty, and little 
 temptation to violate it; but human affairs 
 change like the clouds of heaven ; another year 
 may find us, or may leave us, in all the perils 
 and bitterness of internal dissension, and upon 
 one of you may devolve the defence of some 
 accused person, the object of men's hopes and 
 fears, the single point on which the eyes of a 
 whole people are bent. These are the occa- 
 sions which try a man's inward heart, and se- 
 parate the dross of human nature from the 
 gold of human nature. On these occasions, 
 never mind being mixed up for a moment with 
 the criminal and the crime ; fling yourself 
 back upon great principles, fling yourself back 
 upon God; yield nat one atom to violence, 
 suffer not the slightest encroachments of in- 
 justice, retire not one step before the frowns 
 of power, tremble not, for a single instant, at 
 the dread of misrepresentation. The great 
 interests of mankind are placed in your hands ; 
 it is not so much the individual you are defend- 
 ing ; it is not so much a matter of conse- 
 quence whether this or that is proved to be a 
 crime, but on such occasions, you are often 
 called upon to defend the occupation of a de- 
 fender, to take care that the sacred rights be- 
 longing to that character are not destroyed, that 
 that best privilege of your profession, which so 
 much secures our regard, and so much re- 
 dounds to your credit, is never soothed by flat- ; 
 
 tcry, never corrupted by favour, never chilled 
 by fear. You may practise this wickedness 
 secretly, as you may any other wickedness; 
 you may suppress a topic of defence, or soften 
 an attack upon opponents, or weaken your 
 own argument, and sacrifice the man who has 
 put his trust in you, rather than provoke the 
 powerful by the triumphant establishment of 
 unwelcome innocence ; but if you do this, you 
 are a guilty man before God. It is better to 
 keep within the pale of honour, it is better to 
 be pure in Christ, and to feel that you are pure 
 in Christ; and if the praises of mankind are 
 sweet, if it is ever allowable to a Christian to 
 breathe the incense of popular favour, and to 
 say it is grateful, and good, it is when the 
 honest, temperate, unyielding advocate, who 
 has protected innocence from the grasp of 
 power, is followed from the hall of judgment 
 by the prayers and blessings of a grateful 
 people. 
 
 These are the Christian excellencies which 
 t?ie members of the profession of the law have, 
 above all, an opportunity of cultivating; this 
 is )-our tribute to the happiness of your fellow- 
 creatures, and these your preparations for 
 eternal life. Do not lose God in the fervour 
 and business of the world; remember that the 
 churches of Christ are more solemn and more 
 sacred than your tribunals ; bend not before 
 the judges of the king, and forget the Judge of 
 judges ; search not other men's hearts without 
 heeding that your own hearts will be searched ; 
 be innocent in the midst of subtilty ; do not 
 carry the lawful arts of your profession beyond 
 your profession ; but when the robe of the 
 advocate is laid aside, so live that no man 
 shall dare to suppose yo\ir opinions venal, or 
 that your talents and energy may be bought for 
 a price ; do not heap scorn and contempt upon 
 your declining years, by precipitate ardour for 
 success in your profession ; but set out with a 
 firm determination to be unknown, rather than 
 ill-known ; and to rise honestly if you rise at 
 all. Let the world see that you have risen, 
 because the natural probity of your heart leads 
 you to truth ; because the precision and extent 
 of your legal knowledge enable you to find the 
 right w^ay of doing the right thing; because a 
 thorough knowledge of legal art and legal form 
 is, in your hands, not an instrument of chi- 
 canery, but the plainest, easiest and shortest 
 way to the end of strife. Impress upon your- 
 selves the importance of your profession ; con- 
 sider that some of the greatest and most im- 
 portant interests of the M'orld are committed to 
 your care ; that you are our protectors against 
 the encroachments of power; that you are the 
 preservers of freedom, the defenders of weak- 
 ness, the unravellers of cunning, the investi- 
 gators of artifice, the humblers of pride and 
 the scourges of oppression; when you are 
 silent, the sword leaps from its scabbard, and 
 nations are given up to the madness of eternal 
 strife. In all the civil difiiculties of life, men 
 depend upon your exercised faculties, and your 
 spotless integrity; and they require of you an 
 elevation above all that is mean, and a spirit 
 which will never yield when it ought not to 
 yield. As long as your profession retains its 
 character for learning, the rights of mankind 
 
428 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 will be well arranged ; as long as it retains its 
 character for virtuous boldness, those rights 
 will be well defended; as long as it preserves 
 itself pure and incorruptible on other occasions 
 not connected with your professions, those 
 talents will never be used to the public injury 
 which were intended and nurtured for the pub- 
 lic good. I hope you will weigh these obser- 
 
 vations, and apply them to the business of the 
 ensuing week, and beyond that, in the common 
 occupations of your professions; always bear- 
 ing in your minds the emphatic words of the 
 tex;t. and often in the hurry of your busy, active 
 lives, honestly, humbly, heartily exclaiming to 
 the Son of God, " Master, what shall I do to 
 inherit eternal life 1" 
 
 THE JUDGE THAT SMITES CONTRARY TO THE LAW. 
 
 A SERMON PREACHED IN THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OP SAINT PETER, VORK, BEFORE 
 THE HON. SIR JOHN BAYLEY, KNT., AND THE HON. SIR GEORGE SOWLEY HOLROYD, 
 KNT., JUSTICES OF THE COURT OF KINg's BENCH, MARCH 28, 1824. 
 
 Acts xxiii. 3. 
 
 " SiHcst thou here to judge me after the law, and commandcst thou me to be smitten, contrary to the law? 
 
 With these bold words St. Paul repressed 
 the unjust violence of that ruler who would 
 have silenced his arguments and extinguished 
 his zeal for the Christian faith. Knowing well 
 the misfortunes which awaited him, prepared 
 for deep and various calamity, not ignorant of 
 the violence of the Jewish multitude, not un- 
 used to suffer, not unwilling to die, he had not 
 prepared himself for the monstrous spectacle 
 of perverted justice ; but loosing that spirit to 
 whose fire and firmness we owe the very exist- 
 ence of the Christian faith, he burst into that 
 bold rebuke which brought back the extrava- 
 gance of power under the control of law, and 
 branded it with the feelings of shame: "Sittest 
 thou here to judge me after the law, and com- 
 mandcst thou me to be smitten, contrary to the 
 lawT" 
 
 I would observe that, in the Gospels, and the 
 various parts of the New Testament, the words 
 of our Saviour and of St. Paul, when they 
 contain any opinion, are always to be looked 
 upon as lessons of wisdom to us, however in- 
 cidentally they may have been delivered, and 
 however shortly they may have been expressed. 
 As their words were to be recorded by inspired 
 writers, and to go down to future ages, nothing 
 can have been said without reflection and de- 
 sign. Nothing is to be lost, every thing is to 
 be studied: a great moral lesson is often con- 
 veyed in a few words. Read slowly, think 
 deeply, let every word enter into your soul, for 
 it was intended for your soul. 
 
 [ take these words of St. Paul as a con- 
 demnation of that man who smites contrary to 
 the law; as a praise of that man \vho judges 
 according to the law ; as a religious theme 
 upon the importance of human justice to the 
 happiness of mankind; and, if it be that theme, 
 it is appropriate to this place, and to the so- 
 lemn public duties of the past and the ensuing 
 week, over which some here present will pre- 
 
 side, at which many here present will assist, 
 and which almost all here present will witness. 
 
 I will discuss, then, the importance of judg- 
 ing, according to the law, or, in other words, 
 of the due administration of justice upon the 
 character and happiness of nations. And in 
 so doing, I will begin with stating a few of 
 those circumstances which may mislead even 
 good and conscientious men, and subject them 
 to the unchristian sin of smiting contrary to 
 the law. I will state how that justice is puri- 
 fied and perfected by which the happiness and 
 character of nations are affected to a good 
 purpose. 
 
 I do this with less fear of being misunder- 
 stood, because I am speaking before two great 
 magistrates, who have lived much among us ; 
 and whom — because they have lived much 
 among us — we have all learned to respect and 
 regard, and to whom no man fears to consider 
 himself as accountable, because all men see 
 that they, in the administration of their high 
 office, consider themselves as deeply and daily 
 accountable to God. 
 
 And let no man say, "Why teach such 
 things 1 do you think they must not have oc- 
 curred to those to whom they are a concern V 
 I answer to this, that no man preaches novel- 
 ties and discoveries ; the object of preaching 
 is, constantly to remind mankind of what man- 
 kind are constantly forgetting; not to supply 
 the defects of human intelligence, but to fortify 
 the feebleness of human resolutions, to recall 
 mankind from the by-paths where they turn, 
 into that broad path of salvation which all 
 know, but few tread. These plain lessons the 
 humblest ministers of the Gospel may teach, 
 if they are honest, and the most powerful 
 Christians will ponder, if they are wise. No 
 man, whether he bear the sword of the law, or 
 whether he bear that sceptre which the sword 
 of the law cannot reach, can answer for his 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 own heart to-morrow, and can say to the teach- 
 er, — " Thou warnest me, thou teachest me, in 
 vain." 
 
 A Christian judge, in a free land, should, 
 with the most scrupulous exactness, guard him- 
 self from the influence of those party feelings, 
 upon which, perhaps, the preservation of poli- 
 tical liberty depends, but by which the better 
 reason of individuals is often blinded and the 
 tranquillity of the public disturbed. I am not 
 talking of the ostentatious display of such feel- 
 ings ; I am hardly talking of any gratification 
 of which the individual himself is conscious, 
 but I am raising up a wise and useful jealousy 
 of the encroachment of those feelings, which, 
 when they do encroach, lessen the value of the 
 most valuable, and lower the importance of the 
 most important men in the country. I admit it 
 to be extremely difficult to live amidst the agi- 
 tations, contests, and discussions of a free peo- 
 ple, and to remain in that state of cool, pas- 
 sionless, Christian candour which society 
 expect from their great magistrates; but it is 
 the pledge that magistrate has given, it is the 
 life he has taken up, it is the class of qualities 
 which he has promised us, and for which he 
 has rendered himself responsible; it is the 
 same fault in him which want of courage 
 would be in some men, and want of moral re- 
 gularity in others. It runs counter to those 
 very purposes, and sins against those utilities 
 for which the very office was created; without 
 these qualities, he who ought to be cool, is 
 heated ; he who ought to be neutral, is partial ; 
 the ermine of justice is spotted ; the balance of 
 justice is unpoised; tlie fillet of justice is torn 
 off; and he who sits to judge after the law, 
 smites contrary to the law. 
 
 And if the preservation of calmness amidst 
 the strong feelings by which a judge is sur- 
 rounded be difficult, is it not also honourable"! 
 and would it be honourable if it were not diffi- 
 cult ] Why do men quit their homes, and give 
 up their common occupations, and repair to 
 the tribunal of justice! Why this bustle and 
 business, why this decoration and display, and 
 why are we all eager to pay our homage to the 
 dispensers of justice! Because we all feel 
 that there must be, somewhere or other, a check 
 to human passions; because we all know the 
 immense value and importance of men in whose 
 placid equity and mediating wisdom we can 
 trust in the worst of times ; because we cannot 
 cherish too strongly and express too plainly 
 that reverence we feel for men who can rise 
 up in the ship of the state, and rebuke the 
 storms of the mind, and bid its angry passions 
 be still. 
 
 A Christian judge, in a free land, should not 
 only keep his mind clear from the violence of 
 party feelings, but he should be very careful to 
 preserve his independence, by seeking no pro- 
 motion, and asking no favours from those who 
 govern; or at least, to be (which is an experi- 
 ment not without danger to his salvation) so 
 thoroughly confident of his motives and his 
 conduct, that he is certain the hope of favour 
 to come, or gratitude for favour past, will never 
 cause him to swerve from the strict line of duty. 
 It is often the lot of a judge to be placed, not 
 only between the accuser and the accused, not 
 
 only between the complainant and him against 
 whom it is complained, but between the govern- 
 ors and the governed, between the people and 
 those whose lawful commands the people are 
 bound to obey. In these sort of contests it un- 
 fortunately happens that the rulers are some- 
 times as angry as the ruled ; the whole eyes 
 of a nation are fixed upon one man, and upon 
 his character and conduct the stability and 
 happiness of the times seem to depend. The 
 best and firmest magistrates cannot tell how 
 they may act under such circumstances, but 
 every man may prepare himself for acting 
 well under such circumstances, by cherishing 
 that quiet feeling of independence, which re- 
 moves one temptation to act ill. Every man 
 may avoid putting himself in a situation where 
 his hopes of advantage are on one side, and 
 his sense of duty on the other; such a temp- 
 tation may be viithstood, but it is better it should 
 not be encountered. Far better that feeling 
 which says, " I have vowed a vow before God ; 
 I have put on the robe of justice ; farewell ava- 
 rice, farewell ambition; pass me who will, 
 slight me who will, I live henceforward only 
 for the great duties of life ; my business is on 
 earth, my hope and my reward are in God." 
 
 He who takes the office of a judge, as it now 
 exists in this country, takes in his hands a 
 splendid gem, good and glorious, perfect and 
 pure. Shall he give it up mutilated, shall he 
 mar it, shall he darken it, shall it emit no light, 
 shall it be valued at no price, shall it excite no 
 wonder 1 Shall he find it a diamond, shall he 
 leave it a stone? What shall we say to the 
 man who would wilfully destroy with fire the 
 magnificent temple of God, in which I am now 
 preaching 1 Far worse is he who ruins the 
 moral edifices of the world, which lime and 
 toil, and many prayers to God, and many suf- 
 ferings of men, have reared ; who puts out the 
 light of the times in which he lives, and leaves 
 us to wander amid the darkness of corruption 
 and the desolation of sin. There may be, there 
 probably is, in this church, some young man 
 who may hereafter fill the office of an English 
 judge, when the greater part of those who hear 
 me are dead, and mingled with the dust of the 
 grave. Let him remember my words, and let 
 them form and fashion his spirit; he cannot 
 tell in what dangerous and awful times he may 
 be placed ; but as a mariner looks to his com- 
 pass in the calm, and looks to his compass in 
 the storm, and never keeps his eyes ofl'his com- 
 pass, so, in every vicissitude of a judicial life, 
 deciding for the people, deciding against the 
 people, protecting the just rights of kings, or 
 restraining their unlawful ambition, let him 
 ever cling to that pure, exalted and Christian 
 independence which towers over the little mo- 
 tives of life ; which no hope of favour can influ 
 ence, which no effort of power can coniinl. 
 
 A Christian judge in a free country should 
 respect, on every occasion, those popular in- 
 stitutions of justice which were intended for 
 his control, and for our security; to see hum- 
 ble men collected accidentally from the neigh- 
 bourhood, treated with tenderness and cour- 
 tesy by supreme magistrates of deep learning 
 and practised understanding, from whose 
 views they are, perhaps, at that moment dif- 
 
430 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 fering and whose directions they do not choose 
 to follow ; to see at such times eveiy disposi- 
 tion to warmth restrained, and every tendency 
 to contemptuous feeling kept back ; to witness 
 this submission of the great and wise, not 
 when it is extorted by necessity, but when it 
 is practised with willingness and grace, is a 
 spectacle which is very grateful to English- 
 men, which no other country sees, which, 
 above all things, shows that a judge has a 
 pure, gentle, and Christian heart, and that he 
 never wishes to smite contrary to the law. 
 
 May I add the great importance in a judge 
 of courtesy to all men, and that he should, on 
 all occasions, abstain from unnecessary bit- 
 terness and asperity of speech. A judge al- 
 ways speaks with impunitjs and always speaks 
 with effect. His words should be weighed, 
 because they entail no evil upon himself, and 
 much evil upon others. The language of pas- 
 sion, the language of sarcasm, the language 
 of satire, is not, on such occasions, Christian 
 language ; it is not the language of a judge. 
 There is a propriety of rebuke and condemna- 
 tion, the justice of which is felt even by him 
 who suffers under it; but when magistrates, 
 under the mask of law, aim at the offender 
 more than the offence, and are more studious 
 of inflicting pain than repressing error or 
 crime, the office suffers as much as the judge ; 
 the respect for justice is lessened; and the 
 school of pure reason becomes the hated thea- 
 tre of mischievous passion. 
 
 A Christian judge who means to be just, 
 must not fear to smite according'to the law; 
 he must remember that he beareth not the 
 sword in vain. Under his protection we live, 
 under his protection we acquire, under his 
 protection we enjoy. Without him, no man 
 would defend his character, no man would 
 preserve his substance; proper pride, just 
 gains, valuable exertions, all depend upon his 
 firm wisdom. If he shrink from the severe 
 duties of his office, he saps the foundation of 
 social life, betrays the highest interests of the 
 world, and sits not to judge according to the law. 
 
 The topics of mercy are the smallness of 
 the offence — the infrequency of the ofience; 
 the temptations to the culprit,- the moral weak- 
 ness of the culprit, the severity of the law, the 
 error of the law, the different state of society, 
 the altered state of feeling, and, above all, 
 the distressing doubt whether a human being 
 in the lowest abyss of poverty and ignorance 
 has not done injustice to himself, and is not 
 perishing away from the want of knowledge, 
 the want of fortune, and the want of friends. 
 AH magistrates feel these things in the early 
 exercise of their judicial power, but the 
 Christian judge always feels them, is always 
 tender when he is going to shed human blood ; 
 retires from the business of men, communes 
 with his own heart, ponders on the work of 
 death, and prays to that Saviour who redeemed 
 him, that he may not shed the blood of man in 
 vain. 
 
 These, then, are those faults which expose 
 a man to the danger of smiting contrary to 
 the law ; a judge must be clear from the spirit 
 of party, independent of all favour, well in- 
 clined to the popular institutions of his coun- 
 
 try; firm in applying the rule, merciful in 
 making the exception; patient, guarded in his 
 speech, gentle and courteous to all. Add his 
 learning, his labour, his experience, his pro- 
 bity, his practised and acute faculties, and this 
 man is the light of the world, who adorns hu- 
 man life, and gives security to that life which 
 he adorns. 
 
 Now we see the consequence of that state 
 of justice which this character implies, and 
 the explanation of all that deserved honour we 
 confer on the preservation of such a charac- 
 ter, and all the wise jealousy we feel at 
 the slightest injury or deterioration it may 
 experience. 
 
 Tlie most obvious and important use of this 
 perfect justice is, that it makes nations safe : 
 under common circumstances, the institutions 
 of justice seem to have little or no bearing 
 upon the safety and security of a country, but 
 in periods of real danger, when a nation, sur- 
 rounded by foreign enemies, contends not for 
 the boundaries of empire, but for the very be- 
 ing and existence of empire, then it is that 
 the advantages of just institutions are disco- 
 vered. Every man feels that he has a country, 
 that he has something worth preserving, and 
 worth contending for. Instances are remem- 
 bered where the weak prevailed over the 
 strong ; one man recalls to mind when a just 
 and upright judge protected him from unlaw- 
 ful violence, gave him back his vineyard, re- 
 buked his oppressor, restored him to his rights, 
 published, condemned, and rectified the wrong. 
 This is what is called country. Equal rights 
 to unequal possessions, equal justice to the 
 rich and poor ; this is what men come out to 
 fight for, and to defend. Such a country has 
 no legal injuries to remember, no legal mur- 
 ders to revenge, no legal robbery to redress ; 
 it is strong in its justice ; it is then that the 
 use and object of all this assemblage of gen- 
 tlemen and arrangement of juries, and the de- 
 served veneration in which we hold the cha- J 
 racter of English judges, are understood in 
 all their bearings, and in their fullest effects : 
 men die for such things — they cannot be sub- 
 dued by foreign force where such just prac- 
 tices prevail. The sword of ambition is 
 shivered to pieces against such a bulwark. 
 Nations fall where judges are unjust, because 
 there is nothing Avhich the multitude think 
 worth defending ; but nations do not fall which 
 are treated as we are treated, but they rise as 
 we have risen, and they shine as we have 
 shone, and die as we have died, too much used 
 to justice, and too much used to freedom, to 
 care for that life which is not just and free. 
 I call you all to witness if there is any exag- 
 gerated picture in this ; the sword is just 
 sheathed, the flag is just furled, the last sound 
 of the trumpet has just died away. You all 
 remember what a spectacle this country ex- 
 hibited: one heart, one voice — one weapon, 
 one purpose. And why? Because this coun- 
 tr}' is a country of the law ; because the judge 
 is a judge for the peasant as well as for the 
 palace; because every man's happiness is 
 guarded by fixed rules from tyranny and ca- 
 price. This town, this week, the business of 
 the few next days, would explain to any en- 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 431 
 
 lightened European why other nations did fall 
 in the storms of the world, and why we did 
 iwt fall. The Christian patience you may 
 witness, the impartiality of the judgment-seat, 
 the disrespect of persons, the disregard of 
 consequences. These attributes of justice do 
 not end with arranging )'Our conflicting rights, 
 and mine ; they give strength to the English 
 people, duration to the English name; they 
 turn the animal courage of this people into 
 moral and religious courage, and present to 
 the lowest of mankind plain reasons and strong 
 motives why they should resist aggression 
 from without, and bend themselves a living 
 rampart round the land of their birth. 
 
 There is another reason why every wise 
 man is so scrupulously jealous of the charac- 
 ter of English justice. It puts an end to civil 
 dissension. What other countries obtain by 
 bloody wars, is here obtained by the decisions 
 of our own tribunals; unchristian passions 
 are laid to rest by these tribunals ; brothers 
 are brothers again ; the Gospel resumes its 
 empire, and because all confide in the pre- 
 siding magistrate, and because a few plain 
 men are allowed to decide upon their own 
 conscientious impression of facts, civil dis- 
 cord, years of convulsion, endless crimes are 
 spared ; the storm is laid, and those who came 
 in clamouring for revenge, go back together 
 in peace from the hall of judgment to the loom 
 and the plough, to the senate and the church. 
 
 The whole tone and tenourof public morals 
 are affected by the state of supreme justice; 
 it extinguishes revenge, it communicates a 
 spirit of purity and uprightness to inferior 
 magistrates ; it makes the great good, by taking 
 away impunity; it banishes fraud, obliquity, 
 and solicitation, and teaches men that the law 
 is their right. Truth is its handmaid, freedom 
 is its child, peace is its companion; safety 
 walks in its steps, victory follows in its train : 
 it is the brightest emanation of the Gospel; it 
 is the greatest attribute of God ; it is that cen- 
 tre round which human motives and passions 
 turn : and justice, sitting on high, sees genius 
 
 and power, and wealth and birth, revolving 
 round her throne ; and teaches their paths, and 
 marks out their orbits, and warns with a loud 
 voice, and rules with a strong arm, and carries 
 order and discipline into a world, which, but 
 for her, would only be a wild waste of pas- 
 sions. Look what we are, and what just laws 
 have done for us : — a land of piety and charity; 
 — a land of churches and hospitals and altars ; 
 — a nation of good Samaritans ; — a people of 
 universal compassion. All lands, all seas, 
 have heard we are brave. We have just 
 sheathed that sword which defended the world ; 
 we have just laid down that buckler which 
 covered the nations of the earth. God blesses 
 the soil with fertility; English looms labour 
 for every climate. All the waters of the globe 
 are covered with English ships. We are 
 softened by fine arts, civilized by humane 
 literature, instructed by deep science ; and 
 every people, as they break their feudal chains, 
 look to the founders and fathers of freedom 
 for examples which may animate, and rules 
 which may guide. If ever a nation was happy 
 — if ever a nation was visibly blessed by God 
 — if ever a nation was honoured abroad, and 
 left at home under a government (which we 
 can now conscientiously call a liberal govern- 
 ment) to the full career of talent, industry, 
 and vigour, we are at this moment that people 
 — and this is our happy lot. — First, the Gospel 
 has done it, and then justice has done it; and 
 he who thinks it his duty to labour that this 
 happy condition of existence may remain, 
 must guard the piety of these times, and he 
 must watch over the spirit of justice which 
 exists in these times. First he must take care 
 that the altars of God are not polluted, that 
 the Christian faith is retained in purity and in 
 perfection ; and then turning to human afrairs, 
 let him strive for spotless, incorruptible jus- 
 tice ; — praising, honouring, and loving tht just 
 judge, and abhorring, as the worst ene/iiy of 
 mankind, him who is placed there to " judge 
 after the law, and who smitcb conlrur_, to the 
 law." 
 
432 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 A LETTEE TO THE ELECTOES, 
 
 THE CATHOLIC QUESTION. 
 
 Why is not a Catholic to be believed on his 
 oath? 
 
 What says the law of the land to this extra- 
 vagant piece of injustice 1 It is no challenge 
 against a juryman to say he is a Catholic ; he 
 sits in judgment upon your life and your pro- 
 perty. Did any man ever hear it said that 
 such or such a person was put to death, or that 
 he lost his property, because a Catholic Avas 
 among the jurymen? Is the question ever 
 puti Does it ever enter into the mind of the 
 attorney or the counsellor to inquire of the 
 faith of the jury ? If a man sell a horse, or a 
 house, or a field, does he ask if the purchaser 
 is a Catholic] Appeal to your own experi- 
 ence, and try by that fairest of all tests, the 
 justice of this enormous charge. 
 
 We are in tre'aty with many of the powers 
 of Europe, because we believe in the good 
 faith of Catholics. Two-thirds of Europe are, 
 in fact. Catholics ; are they all perjured ! For 
 the first fourteen centuries all the Christian 
 world were Catholics ; did they live in a con- 
 stant state of perjury 1 I am sure these objec- 
 tions against the Catholics are often made by 
 very serious and honest men, but I much 
 doubt if Voltaire has advanced any thing 
 against the Christian religion so horrible, as 
 to say that two-thirds of those who profess it 
 are unfit for all the purposes of civil life; for 
 who is fit to live in society who does not 
 respect oaths 1 But if this imputation be true, 
 what folly to agitate such questions as the 
 civil emancipation of the Catholics. If they 
 are always ready to support falsehood by an 
 appeal to God, why are they suff"ered to breathe 
 the air of England, or to drink of the waters 
 of England] Why are they not driven into 
 the howling wilderness] But now they pos- 
 sess, and bequeath, and witness, and decide 
 civil rights ; and save life as physicians, and 
 defend property as lawyers, and judge property 
 as jurymen ; and you pass laws, enabling them 
 to command all your fleets and armies,* and 
 then you turn round upon the very man whom 
 j'ou have made the master of the European 
 seas, and the arbiter of nations, and tell him 
 he is not to be believed on his oath. 
 
 I have lived a little in the world, but I never 
 happened to hear a single Cathohc even sus- 
 pected of getting into ofiice by violating his 
 oath; the oath which they are accused of 
 violating is an insuperable barrier to them 
 all. Is there a more disgraceful spectacle in 
 
 * There is no law lo prevent a Catholic from having 
 the coinmand of a British fleet or a British army. 
 
 the world than that of the Duke of Norfolk 
 hovering round the House of Lords in the 
 execution of his office, which he cannot enter 
 as a peer of the realm ] disgraceful to the 
 bigotry and injustice of his country, to his own 
 sense of duty, honourable in the extreme; he 
 is the leader of a band of ancient and high- 
 principled gentlemen, who submit patiently to 
 obscurity and privation, rather than do vio- 
 lence to their conscience. In all the fury of 
 party, I never heard the name of a single 
 Catholic mentioned, who was suspected of 
 having gained, or aimed at, any political ad- 
 vantage, by violating his oath. I have never 
 heard so bitter a slander supported by the 
 slightest proof. Every man in the circle of 
 his acquaintance has met Avith Catholics, and 
 lived Avith them probably as companions. If 
 this immoral lubricity Avere their characteristic, 
 it Avould surely be perceived in common life. 
 Every man's experience Avould corroborate 
 the imputation; but I can honestly say that 
 some of the best and most excellent men I 
 have ever met with have been Catholics ; per- 
 fectly alive to the evil and inconvenience of 
 their situation, but thinking themselves bound 
 by the law of God and the laAV of honour, not 
 to avoid persecution by falsehood and apos- 
 tasy. But why (as has been asked ten thou- 
 sand times before) do you lay such a stress 
 upon these oaths of exclusion, if the Catholics 
 do not respect oaths ] You compel me, a 
 Catholic, to make a declaration against tran- 
 substantiation, for AA'hat purpose but to keep 
 me out of Parliament] Why, then, I respect 
 oaths and declarations, or else I should perjure 
 myself, and get into Parliament; and if I do 
 not respect oaths, of Avhat use is it to enact 
 them in order to keep me out ] A farmer has 
 some sheep, Avhich he chooses to keep from a 
 certain field, and to effect this object, he builds 
 a Avail : there are tAvo objections to his pro- 
 ceeding ; the first is, that it is for the good of 
 the farm that the sheep should come into the 
 field ; and so the wall is not only useless, but 
 pernicious. The second is, that he himself 
 thoroughly believes at the time of building the 
 wall, that all the sheep are in the constant 
 habit of leaping over such walls. His first 
 intention Avith respect to the sheep is absurd, 
 his means more absurd, and his error is 
 perfect in all its parts. He tries to do that 
 Avhich, if he succeeds, Avill be very foolish, and 
 tries to do it by means which he himself, at 
 the time of using them, admits to be inade- 
 quate to the purpose ; but I hope this objection 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 433 
 
 to the oaths of Catholics is disappearing; I 
 believe neither Lord Liverpool nor Mr. Peel 
 (a very candid and honourable man), nor the 
 archbishops (who are both gentlemen), nor 
 Lord Eldon, nor Lord Stowell (whose Protest- 
 antism nobody calls in question), would make 
 such a charge. It is confined to provincial 
 violence, and to the politicians of the second 
 table. I remember hearing the Catholics from 
 the hustings of an election accused of disre- 
 garding oaths, and within an hour from that 
 time, I saw five Catholic voters rejected, be- 
 cause they would not take the oath of supre- 
 macy; and these were not men of rank who 
 tendered themselves, but ordinary tradesmen. 
 The accusation was received with loud huz- 
 zas ; the poor Catholics retired unobserved 
 and in silence. No one praised the conscien- 
 tious feelings of the constituents ; no one 
 rebuked the calumny of the candidate. This 
 is precisely the way in which the Catholics 
 are treated; the very same man Mho encou- 
 rages among his partisans the doctrine that 
 Catholics are not to be believed upon their 
 oaths, directs his agents upon the hustings to 
 be very watchful that all Catholics should be 
 prevented from voting, by tendering to them 
 the oath of supremacy, which he is certain not 
 one of them will take. If this is not calumny 
 and injustice, I know not what human conduct 
 can deserve the name. 
 
 If you believe the oath of a Catholic, see 
 what he will swear, and what he will not 
 swear; read the oaths he already takes, and 
 say whether, in common candour or in com- 
 mon sense, you can require more security 
 than he otfers you. Before the year 1793, the 
 Catholic was subject to many more vexatious 
 laws than he now is; in that year an act 
 passed in his favour, but before the Catholic 
 could exempt himself from his ancient pains 
 and penalties, it was necessary to take an 
 oath. This oath was, I believe, drawn up by 
 Dr. Duigenan, the bitter and implacable enemy 
 of the sect ; and it is so important an oath, so 
 little known and read in England, that I can- 
 not, in spite of my wish to be brief, abstain 
 from quoting it. I deny your right to call no 
 Popery, till you are master of its contents. 
 
 "I do swear, that I do abjure, condemn, and 
 detest, as unchristian and impious, the prin- 
 ciple, that it is lawful to murder, destroy, or 
 any ways injure, any person whatsoever, for 
 or under the pretext of being a heretic; and I 
 do declare solemnly, before God, that I believe 
 no act, in itself unjust, immoral, or wicked, 
 can ever be justified or excused by or under 
 pretence or colour, that it was done either for 
 the good of the church, or in obedience to any 
 ecclesiastical power whatsoever. I also de- 
 clare that it is not an article of the Catholic 
 faith, neither am I thereby required to believe 
 or profess, that the pope is infallible; or that 
 I am bound to obey any order, in its own na- 
 ture immoral, though the pope, or any ecclesi- 
 astical power, should issue or direct such 
 order; but, on the contrary, I hold that it 
 M'ould be sinful in me to pay any respect or 
 obedience thereto. I further declare, that I do 
 not believe that any sin whatsoever committed 
 by me, can be forgiven at the mere will of any 
 55 
 
 pope or any priest, or of any persons whatso- 
 ever ; but that sincere sorrow for past sins, a 
 firm and sincere resolution to avoid future 
 guilt, and to atone to God, are previous and 
 indispensable requisites to establish a well- 
 founded expectation of forgiveness ; and that 
 any person who receives absolution, without 
 these previous requisites, so far from obtaining 
 thereby any remission of his sins, incurs the 
 additional guilt of violating a sacrament; and 
 I do swear, that I will defend, to the utmost of 
 my power, the settlement and arrangement of 
 property in this country, as established by the 
 laws now in being. — I do hereby disclaim, 
 disavow, and solemnly abjure any intention to 
 subvert the present church establishment, for 
 the purpose of substituting a Catholic esta- 
 blishment in its stead; and I do solemnly 
 swear, that I will not exercise any privilege to 
 which I am or may become entitled, to disturb 
 and weaken the Protestant religion, and Pro- 
 testant government in this kingdom. So help 
 me God." 
 
 This oath is taken by every Catholic in 
 Ireland, and a similar oath, allowing for the 
 difi"erence of circumstances of the two coun- 
 tries, is taken in England. 
 
 It appears from the evidence taken before 
 the two houses and lately printed, that if 
 Catholic emancipation were carried, there 
 would be little or no ditiiculty in obtaining 
 from the pope an agreement, that the nomina- 
 tion of the Irish Catholic bishops should be 
 made at home constitutionally by the Catho- 
 lics, as it is now in fact,* and in practice, and 
 that the Irish prelates would go a great way, 
 in arranging a system of general education, 
 if the spirit of proselytism, v.'hich now ren- 
 ders such a union impossible, were laid aside. 
 This great measure carried, the Irish Catholics 
 would give up all their endowments abroad, 
 if they receive for them an equivalent at 
 home ; for now Irish priests are fast resorting 
 to the continent for education, allured by the 
 endowments which the French government 
 are cunninglj' restoring and augmenting. The 
 intercourse with the see of Rome might and 
 would, after Catholic emancipation, be so 
 managed, that it should be open, upon grave 
 occasions, or, if thought proper, on every 
 occasion, to the inspection of commissioners. 
 There is no security compatible idth the safety 
 of their faith, which the Catholics are not will- 
 ing to give. But what is Catholic emancipa- 
 tion as far as England is concerned? not an 
 equal right to office with the member of the 
 Church of England, but a participation in the 
 same pains and penalties as those, to which 
 the Protestant dissenter is subjected by the 
 corporation and test acts. If the utility of 
 these last-mentioned laws is to be measured 
 by the horror and perturbation their repeal 
 would excite, they are laws of the utmost im- 
 portance to the defence of the English Church ; 
 but if it be of importance to the church that 
 pains and penalties should be thus kept sus- 
 pended over men's heads, then these bills ar«s 
 
 * The Catholic bishops, since the death of the Pretender, 
 are recommended either by the chapters or the parochial 
 clergy, to the pope ; and there is uo instance of hit 
 deviating from their choice. 
 
 2 
 
434 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV, SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 an effectual security against Catholics as well 
 as Protestants ; and the manacles so much 
 confided in are not taken off, but loosened, and 
 the prayer of a Catholic is this : — " I cannot 
 now become an alderman without perjury. I 
 pray of you to improve my condition so far, 
 that if I become an alderman I may be only 
 exposed to a penalty of 500/." There are two 
 common errors upon the subject of Catholic 
 emancipation ; the one, that the emancipated 
 Catholic is to be put on a better footing than the 
 Protestant dissenter, whereas he will be put 
 precisely on the same footing; the other, that he 
 is to be admitted to civil offices, without any 
 guard, exception, or reserve ; whereas, in the 
 various bills which have been from time to 
 lime brought forward, the legal wit of man 
 lias been exhausted to provide against every 
 surmise, suspicion, and whisper of the most 
 remote danger to the Protestant church. 
 
 The Catholic question is not an English 
 question, but an Irish one ; or rather it is no 
 otherwise an English question than as it is an 
 Irish one. As for the handful of Catholics 
 that are in England, no one, I presume, can 
 be so extravagant as to contend, if they were 
 the only Catholics we had to do with, that it 
 would be of the slightest possible consequence 
 to what offices of the state they were admitted. 
 It Avould be quite as necessary to exclude the 
 Sandemanians, who are sixteen in number, 
 or to make a test act against the followers of 
 Joanna Southcote, who amount to one hundred 
 and twenty persons. A little chalk on the wall, 
 and a profound ignorance of the subject, soon 
 raise a cry of no Popery; but I question if the 
 danger of admitting five popish peers and two 
 commoners to the benefits of the constitution 
 could raise a mob in any market-town in Eng- 
 land. Whatever good may accrue to England 
 from the emancipation, or evil may befall this 
 country for withholding emancipation, will 
 reach us only througli the medium of Ireland. 
 
 I beg to remind you, that in talking of the 
 Catholic religion, you must talk of the Catholic 
 religion as it is carried on in Ireland ; you have 
 nothing to do with Spain, or France, or Italy : 
 ihe religion you are to examine is the Irish 
 Catholic religion. You are not to consider 
 what it was, but what it is ; not what individu- 
 <ils profess, but what is generally professed ; 
 not what individuals do, but what is generally 
 practised. I constantly see, in advertisements 
 irom county meetings, all these species of 
 monstrous injustice played off" against the 
 Catholics. The Inquisition exists in Spain 
 and Portugal, therefore I confound place, and 
 vote against the Catholics of Ireland, where it 
 never did exist, nor was purposed to be insti- 
 tuted.* There have been many cruel persecu- 
 tions of Protestants by Catholic governments; 
 and, therefore, I will confound tim.e and place, 
 and vote against the Irish, who live centuries 
 after these persecutions, and in a totally differ- 
 ent country. Doctor this, or Doctor that, of 
 the Catholic Church, has written a very violent 
 
 * While M;iry was burning Protestanls in England, 
 not a single Protestant was executed in Ireland: and 
 yet the terrors of that reign are, at this moment, one 
 of the most operative causes of the exclusion of Irish 
 Catholics; 
 
 and absurd pamphlet; therefore I will confound 
 persons, and vote against the whole Irish 
 Catholic church, which has neither sanctioned 
 nor expressed any such opinions. I will con- 
 tinue the incapacities of men of this age, be- 
 cause some men, in distant ages, deserved ill 
 of other men in distant ages. They shall ex- 
 piate the crimes committed, before they were 
 born, in a land they never saw, by individuals 
 they never heard of. I will charge them with 
 every act of folly Avhich they have never sanc- 
 tioned and cannot control. I will sacrifice 
 space, time, and identity, to my zeal for the 
 Protestant Church. Now, in the midst of all 
 this violence, consider, for a moment, how you 
 are imposed upon by words, and what a serious 
 violation of the rights of your fellow-creatures 
 you are committing. Mr. Murphy lives in 
 Limerick, and Mr. Murphy and his son are 
 subjected to a thousand inconveniences and 
 disadvantages because they are Catholics. 
 Murphy is a wealthy, honourable, excellent 
 man ; he ought to be in the corporation ; he 
 cannot get in because he is a Catholic. His 
 son ought to be king's counsel for his talents, 
 and his standing at the bar; he is prevented 
 from reaching this dignity because he is a 
 Catholic. Why, what reasons do you hear for 
 all this ? Because Queen Mary, three hundred 
 years before the natal day of Mr. Murphy, 
 murdered Protestants in Smithfield ; because 
 Louis XIV. dragooned his Protestant subjects, 
 when the predecessor of Murphy's predecessor 
 was not in being; because men are confined 
 in prison in Madrid, twelve degrees more south 
 than Murphy has ever been in his life; all 
 ages, all climates, are ransacked to perpetuate 
 the slavery of Mui'phy, the ill-fated victim of 
 political anachronisms. 
 
 Suppose a barrister, in defending a prisoner, 
 were to say to the fudge, " My lord, I humbly 
 submit to your lordship that this indictment 
 against the prisoner cannot stand good in law; 
 and as the safety of a fellow-creature is con- 
 cerned, I request your lordship's patient atten- 
 tion to my objections. In the first place, the 
 indictment does not pretend that the prisoner 
 at the bar is himself guilty of the offence, but 
 that some persons of the same religious sect 
 as himself are so; in whose crime he cannot 
 (I submit), by any possibility, be implicated, 
 as these criminal persons lived three hundred 
 years before the prisoner was born. In the 
 next place, my lord, the iKime of several crimes 
 imputed to the prisoner is laid in countries to 
 which the jurisdiction of this court does not 
 extend; in France, Spain, and Italy, where 
 also the prisoner has never been; and as to 
 the argument used by my learned brother, that 
 it is only want of power, and not want of will, 
 and that the prisoner timtld commit the crime 
 if he could: I humbly submit, that the custom 
 of England has been to wait for the overt act 
 before pain and penalty are inflicted, and that 
 your lordship v/ould pass a most doleful assize, 
 if punishment depended upon evil volition ; 
 if men were subjected to legal incapacities 
 from the mere suspicion that they would do 
 harm if they could; and if it were admitted to 
 be sufficient proof of this suspicion, that men 
 of this faith in distant ages, different countries. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 435 
 
 and under different circumstances, had planned 
 evil, and when occasion offered, done it." 
 
 When are mercy and justice, in fact, ever to 
 return upon the earth, if the sins of the elders 
 are to be for ever visited on these who are not 
 even their children 1 Should the first act of 
 liberated Greece be to recommence the Trojan 
 war] Are the French never to forget the Si- 
 cilian vespers ; or the Americans the long war 
 waged against their liberties'? Is any rule 
 wise, which may set the Irish to recollect what 
 they have suffered? 
 
 The real danger is this — that you have four 
 Irish Catholics for one Irish Protestant. That 
 is the matter of fact, which none of us can 
 help. Is it better policy to make friends, ra- 
 ther than enemies, of this immense population! 
 I allow there is danger to the Protestant Church, 
 but much more danger, I am sure there is, in re- 
 sisting than admitting the claims of the Catho- 
 lics. If I might indulge in visions of glory, 
 and imagine myself an Irish dean or bishop, 
 with an immense ecclesiastical income ; if the 
 justice or injustice of the case were entirely 
 indifferent to me, and my only object were to 
 live at ease in ray possessions, there is no tnca- 
 swe for which I should be so anxious as that of 
 Catholic emancipation. The Catholics are now 
 extremely angry and discontented at being shut 
 out from so many offices and honours ; the in- 
 capacities to which they are subjected thwart 
 them in all their pursuits; they feel they are a 
 degraded caste. The Protestant feels he is a 
 privileged caste, and not only the Protestant 
 gentleman feels this, but every Protestant ser- 
 vant feels it, and takes care that his Catholic 
 fellow-servant shall perceive it. The difference 
 between the two religions is an eternal source 
 of enmity, ill-will, and hatred, and the Catho- 
 lic remains in a state of permanent disaffec- 
 tion to the government under which he lives. 
 I repeat that if I were a member of the Irish 
 church, I should be afraid of this position of 
 affairs. I should fear it in peace, on account 
 of riot and insurrection, and in war on account 
 of rebellion. I should think that my greatest 
 security consisted in removing all just cause 
 of complaint from the Catholic society, in en- 
 dearing them to the English constitution, by 
 making them feel, as soon as possible, that 
 they shared in its blessings. I should really 
 think my tithes and rny glebe, upon such a 
 plan, worth twenty years' purchase more than 
 under the present system. Suppose the Catho- 
 lic layman were to think it an evil, that his 
 own church should be less splendidly endowed 
 than that of the Protestant Church, whose 
 population is so inferior; yet if he were free 
 himself, and had nothing to complain of, he 
 would not rush into rebellion and insurrection, 
 merely to augment the income of his priest. 
 At present you bind the laity and clergy in one 
 common feeling of injustice ; each feels for 
 himself, and talks of the injuries of the other. 
 The obvious consequence of Catholic emanci- 
 pation would be to separate their interests. 
 But another important consequence of Catho- 
 lic emancipation would be to improve the con- 
 dition of the clergy. Their chapels would be 
 put in order, their incomes increased, and we 
 should hear nothing more of the Catholic 
 
 Church. If this measure were carried in 
 March, I believe by the January following, the 
 whole question would be as completely forgot- 
 ten as the sweating sickness, and that nine 
 Doctor Doyles, at the rate of thirty years to a 
 Doyle, would pass away one after the other, 
 before any human being heard another sylla- 
 ble on the subject. All men gradually yield to 
 the comforts of a good income. Give the Irish 
 archbishop 1200/. per annum ; the bishop 800/., 
 the priest 200/., the coadjutor 100/., per annum, 
 and the cathedral of Dublm is almost as safe 
 as the Cathedral of York.* This is the real 
 secret of putting an end to the Catholic ques- 
 tion ; there is no other; but, remember, I am 
 speaking of provision for the Catholic clergy 
 after emancipation, not before. There is not 
 an Irish clergyman of the Church of Rome who 
 would touch one penny of the public money 
 before the laity wei^e restored to civil rights, 
 and why not pay the Catholic clergy as well 
 as the Presbyterian clergy? Ever since the 
 year 1803, the Presbyterian clergy in the North 
 of Ireland have been paid by the government, 
 and the grant is annually brought forward in 
 Parliament ; and not only are the Presbyterians 
 paid, but one or two other species of Protest- 
 ant dissenters. The consequence has been 
 loyalty and peace. This way of appeasing 
 dissenters you may call expensive, but is there 
 no expense in injustice? You have at this 
 moment an army of 20,000 men in Ireland, 
 horse, foot, and artiller}', at an annual expense 
 of a million and a half of money; about one- 
 third of this sum would be the expense of the 
 allowance to the Catholic clergy; and this 
 army is so necessary, that the government dare 
 not at this moment remove a single regiment 
 from Ireland. Abolish these absurd and dis- 
 graceful distinctions, and a few troops of horse 
 to help the constables on fair days will be more 
 than sufficientfor the catholic limb of the empire. 
 Now for a very few of the shameful misre- 
 presentations circulated respecting the Irish 
 Catholics, for I repeat again that we have no- 
 thing to do with Spanish or Italian, but with 
 Irish Catholics ; it is not true that the Irish 
 Catholics refuse to circulate the Bible in Eng- 
 lish ; on the contrary, they have in Ireland 
 circulated several editions of the Scriptures 
 in English. In the last year, the Catholic pre- 
 lates prepared and put ibrth a stereotype edi- 
 tion of the Bible, of a small print and low 
 price, to insure its general circulation. They 
 circulate the Bible with their own notes, and 
 how, as Catholics, can they act otherwise 1 
 Are not our prelates and Bartlett's buildings 
 acting in the same manner? And must not 
 all churches, if they are consistent, act iii 
 
 * Isny almost, because I hate to overstate an argument, 
 and it is impossible to deny that there is dansrer to a 
 church, to which seven millions contribute larcely, and 
 in which six millions disbelieve : my argument merely is, 
 that such a church would be more safe in proportion as 
 it interfered less with the comforts and ease of its natu- 
 ral enemies, and rendered their position more desirable) 
 and agreeable. I firmly believe the Toleration Act to bo 
 quite as conducive to the security of the Church of Eng- 
 land as it is to the dissenters. Perfect toleration and the 
 abolition of every incapacity as a consequence of religious 
 opinions, are not, what is conmionly called, a receipt fof 
 innovation, but a receipt forthe quiet and permanence of 
 every establishment which has the real good sense tc 
 adopt it. 
 
436 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 the same manner 1 The Bibles Catholics quar- 
 rel with, are Protestant Bibles without notes, 
 or Protestant Bibles with Protestant notes, and 
 how can they do otherwise without giving up 
 their religion 1 They deny, upon oath, that the 
 infallibility of the pope is any necessary part 
 of the Catholic faith. They, upon oath, de- 
 clare that Catholic people are forbidden to -n-or- 
 ship images, and saints, and relics. They, 
 upon oath, abjure the temporal power of the 
 pope, or his right to absolve any Catholic from 
 his oath. They renounce, upon oath, all right 
 to forfeit lands, and covenant, upon oath, not 
 to destroy or plot against the Irish Protestant 
 Church. What more can any man want whom 
 any thing will content 1 
 
 Some people talk as if they were quite teased 
 and worried by the eternal clamours of the Ca- 
 tholics; but if you are eternally unjust, can you 
 expect any thing more than to be eternally 
 vexed by the victims of your injustice! You 
 ■want all the luxury of oppression without any 
 of its inconvenience. I should think the Catho- 
 lics very much to blame, if they ever ceased 
 to importune the legislature for justice, so long 
 as they could find one single member of Par- 
 liament who would advocate their cause. 
 
 The putting the matter to rest by an effort 
 of the county of York, or by any decision of 
 Parliament against them, is utterly hopeless. 
 Every 3'ear increases the Catholic population, 
 and the Catholic wealth, and the Catholic 
 claims, till j-ou are caught in one of those po- 
 litical attitudes to which all countries are occa- 
 sionally exposed, in which you are utterly 
 helpless, and must give way to their claims; 
 and if you do it then, you will do it badly ; you 
 may call it an arrangement, but arrangements 
 made at such times are much like the bargains 
 between an highwayman and a traveller, a 
 pistol on one side, and a purse on the other; 
 the rapid scramble of armed violence, and the 
 unqualified surrender of helpless timidity. If 
 you think the thing must be done at smne time or 
 another, do it when you are calm and powerful, and 
 when you need not do it. 
 
 There are a set of high-spirited men who 
 are very much afraid of being afraid; who 
 cannot brook tlie idea of doing any thing from 
 fear, and whose conversation is full of fire 
 and sword, when any apprehension of resist- 
 ance is alluded to. I have a perfect confi- 
 dence in the high and unyielding spirit, and in 
 the military courage of the English ; and I 
 have no doubt but that many of the countr}- 
 gentlemen, who now call out no Popery, would 
 fearlessly put themselves at the head of their 
 embattled yeomanr}', to control the Irish Catho- 
 lics. My objection to such courage is, that 
 it would certainly be exercised unjustly, and 
 probably exercised in vain. I should depre- 
 cate any rising of the Catholics as the most 
 grievous misfortune which could happen to 
 the empire and to themselves. They had far 
 better endure all they do endure, and a great 
 deal worse, than try the experiment. But if 
 the-j Jo try it, yuu may depend upon it, they will do 
 it at theii oivn time, and not at yours. They will 
 not select a fortnight in the summer, during a 
 profound peace, when corn and money abound, 
 and when the Catholics of Europe are uncon- 
 
 cerned spectators. If you make a resolution 
 to be unjust, you must make another resolu- 
 tion to be always strong, always vigilant, and 
 always rich ; you must commit no blunders, 
 exhibit no deficiencies, and meet with no mis- 
 fortunes ; you must present a square phalanx 
 of impenetrable strength, for keen-eyed revenge 
 is riding round your ranks ; and if one heart 
 falters, or one hand trembles, you are lost. 
 
 You may call all this threatening ; I am sure 
 I have no such absurd intention; but wish 
 onl)', in sober sadness, to point out what ap- 
 pears to me to be the inevitable consequences 
 of the conduct we pursue. If danger be not 
 pointed out and insisted upon, how is it to be 
 avoided] My firm belief is, that England 
 will be compelled to grant ignominiously what 
 she now refuses haughtily. Remember what 
 happened respecting Ireland in the American 
 war. In 1779, the Irish, whose trade was com- 
 pletely restricted by English laws, asked for 
 some little relaxation, some liberty to export 
 her own products, and to import the products 
 of other countries ; their petition was Hung out 
 of the house wilh the utmost disdain, and by 
 an immense majority. In April, 1782, 70,000 
 Irish volunteers were under arms, the repre- 
 sentatives of 170 armed corps met at Ulster, 
 and the English Parliament (the Lords and 
 Commons, both on the same day and with only 
 one dissentient voice, the ministers moving the 
 question) were compelled, in the most dis- 
 graceful and precipitate manner, to acknow- 
 ledge the complete independence of the Irish 
 nation, and nothing but the good sense and mode- 
 ration of Grattan prevented the separation of thi 
 two crowns. 
 
 It is no part of my province to defend every 
 error of the Catholic Church : I believe it has 
 man)' errors, though I am sure these errors 
 are grievously exaggerated and misrepre- 
 sented. I should think it a vast accession to 
 the happiness of mankind, if every Catholic 
 in Europe were converted to the Protestant 
 faith. The question is not, whether there 
 shall be Catholics, but the question (as they 
 do exist and you cannot get rid of them) is, 
 what are you to do with them 1 Are 3'ou to 
 make men rebels because you cannot make 
 them Protestants'? and are you to endanger 
 your state, because )'ou cannot enlarge your 
 church? England is the ark o liberty: the 
 English Church I believe to be one of the 
 best establishments in the world; but what is 
 to become of England, of its church, of its 
 free institutions, and the beautiful political 
 model it holds out to mankind, if Ireland 
 should succeed in connecting itself with any 
 other European power hostile to England 1 I 
 join in the cry of no Popery as lustily as any 
 man in the streets who does not know whether 
 the pope lives in Cumberland or Westmore- 
 land; but I know that it is impossible to keep 
 down European Popery, and European t}- 
 ranny, without the assistance, or with the op- 
 position of Ireland. If you give the Irish their 
 privileges, the spirit of the nation will over- 
 come the spirit of the church ; they will cheer- 
 fully serve you ag'kinst all enemies, and chant 
 a Te Dcum for your victories over all the Ca- 
 1 tholic armies of Europe. If it be true, as her 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 437 
 
 enemies say, that the Roman Catholic Church 
 is waging war all over Europe, against com- 
 mon sense, against public libei'ty ; selling the 
 people to the kings and nobles, and labouring 
 for the few against the many; all this is an 
 additional reason why I would foriify England 
 and Protestantism by every concession to Ire- 
 land : why I should take care that our attention 
 was not distracted, nor our strength wasted by 
 internal dissension ; why I would not paralyze 
 those arms which wield the sword of justice 
 among the nations of the world, and lift up the 
 buckler of safety. If the Catholic religion in 
 Ireland is an abuse, you must tolerate that 
 abuse, to prevent its extension and tyranny 
 over the rest of Europe. If you will take a 
 long view instead of a confined view, and look 
 generally to the increase of human happiness, 
 the best check upon the increase of Popery, the best 
 security for the cstublishnent of the Protcslant 
 Church is, that the British empire shall be preserved 
 in a state of the greatest strength, union and opu- 
 lence. My cr}r, then, is, no Popery ; therefore 
 emancipate the Catholics, that they may not 
 join with foreign Papists in time of war. 
 Church for ever ; therefoi-e emancipate the Ca- 
 tholics, that they may not help to pull it down. 
 King fw ever ; therefore emancipate the Catho- 
 lics, that they may become his loyal subjects. 
 Great Britain for ever; therefore emancipate 
 the Catholics, that they may not put an end to its 
 perpetuity. Our government is essentittUy Pro- 
 testant ; therefore, by emancipating the Catho- 
 lics, give up a few circumstances which have 
 nothing to do with the essence. The Catholics 
 are disguised enemies; therefore, by emancipa- 
 tion, turn them into open friends. They have 
 a double allegiance ; therefore, by emancipation, 
 make their allegiance to their king so grateful, 
 that they will never confound it with the spirit- 
 ual allegiance to their pope. It is very diffi- 
 cult for electors, who are much occupied by 
 other matters, to choose the right path amid 
 the rage and fury of faction ; but I give you 
 one mark, vote for a free altar ; give what the 
 law compels you to give to the establishment; 
 (that done,) no chains, no prisons, no bonfires 
 for a man's faith; and, above all, no modern 
 chains and prisons under the names of dis- 
 qualifications and incapacities, which are only 
 the crttel'y and tyranny of a more civilised age; 
 civil offices open to all, a Catholic or a Protest- 
 ant alderman, a Moravian, or a Church of 
 England, or a Wesleyan justice ; no oppression, 
 iw tyranny in belief : a free altar, an open road to 
 heaven ; no human insolence, no human narrowness, 
 hallowed by the name of God. 
 
 Every man in trade must have experienced 
 the difficulty of getting in a bill from an un- 
 willing paymaster. If you call in the morn- 
 ing, the gentleman is not up ; if in the middle 
 of the day, he is out; if in the evening, there 
 is company. If you ask mildly, you are indif- 
 ferent to the time of payment; if j'ou press, 
 you are impertinent. No time and no manner 
 can render such a message agreeable. So it 
 is with the poor Catholics ; their message is 
 so disagreeable, that their time and manner 
 can never be right. "Not this session. Not 
 tww ; on no account at the present time; any 
 other time than this. The great mass of the 
 
 Catholics are so torpid on the subject, that the 
 question is clearly confined to the ambition of 
 the few, or the whole Catholic population are 
 so leagued together, that the object is clearly 
 to intimidate the mother-country." In short, 
 the Catholics want justice, and we do not 
 mean to be just, and the most specious method 
 of refusal is, to have it believed that they are 
 refused from their own foil}', and not from our 
 fault. 
 
 What if O'Connell (a man certainly of ex- 
 traordinary talents and eloquence) is some- 
 times violent and injudicious"? What if 
 O'Gorman and O'Sullivan have spoken ill of 
 the Reformation 1 Is a great stroke of national 
 policy to depend on such childish considera- 
 tions as these! If these chains ought to re- 
 main, could I be induced to remove them by 
 the chaste language and humble deportment 
 of him who wears them"? If they ought to be 
 struck away, would I continue them, because 
 my taste was oflended by the coarse insolence 
 of a goaded and injured captive ■? Would I 
 make that great measure to depend on the irri- 
 tability of m)' own feelings, which ought to 
 depend upon policy and justice 1 The more 
 violent and the more absurd the conduct of 
 the Catholics, the greater the wisdom of eman- 
 cipation. If they were always governed 
 by men of consummate prudence and mode- 
 ration, your justice in refusing would be the 
 same, but your danger would be less. The 
 levity and irritability of the Irish character are 
 pressing reasons why all just causes of pro- 
 vocation should be taken away, and those high 
 passions enlisted in the service of the empire. 
 
 In talking of the spirit of the papal empire, 
 it is often argued that the ivill remains the 
 same ; that the pontiff would, if he could, exer- 
 cise the same influence in Europe ; that the 
 Catholic Church ivould, if it could, tyrannize 
 over the rights and opinions of mankind; but 
 if the power is taken away, what signifies the 
 Willi If the pope thunders in vain against 
 the kingdoms of the earth, of what consequence 
 is his disposition to thunder 1 If mankind are 
 too enlightened and too humane to submit to 
 the cruelties and hatreds of a Catholic priest- 
 hood ; if the Protestants of the empire are suf- 
 ficiently strong to resist it, why are we to alarm 
 ourselves with the barren volition, unseconded 
 by the requisite power? I hardly know in 
 what order or description of men I should 
 choose to confide, if they coidd do as they ivould; 
 the best security is, that the rest of the world 
 will not let them do as they wish to do; and 
 having satisfied myself of this, I am not very 
 careful about the rest. 
 
 Our government is called essentially Protest- 
 ant; but if it be essentially Protestant in the 
 imposition of taxes, it should be essentially 
 Protestant in the distribution of offices. The 
 treasury is open to all religions, Parliament 
 only to one. The tax-gatherer is the most in- 
 dulgent and liberal of human beings : he ex- 
 cludes no creed, imposes no articles; but 
 counts Catholic cash, pockets Protestant pa- 
 per; and is candidly and impartially oppres- 
 sive to every description of the Christian 
 world. Can any thing be more base than 
 when you want the blood or the money of th« 
 2o3 
 
433 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 Catholics, tc forgf!t tliat the_y are Catholics, and 
 to remember only that they are British sub- 
 jects ; and when they ask for the benefits of 
 the British constitution, to remember only that 
 they are Catholics, and to forget that they are 
 British subjects'? 
 
 No Popery was the cry of the great English 
 Revolution, because the increase and prevalence 
 of Popery in England would, at that period, 
 have rendered this island tributary to France. 
 The Irish Catholics were, at that period, 
 broken to pieces by the severity and military 
 execution of Cromwell, and by the penal laws. 
 They are since become a great and formidable 
 people. The same dread of foreign influence 
 makes it now necessary that they should be 
 restored to political rights. Must the friends 
 of rational liberty join in a clamour against the 
 Catholics now, because, in a very diflerent state 
 of the world, they excited that clamour a hun- 
 dred years ago ] I remember a house near 
 Battersea Bridge which caught fire, and there 
 was a general cry of "Water, water!" Ten 
 years after, the Thames rose, and the people 
 of the house were nearly drowned. Would it 
 not have been rather singular to have said to 
 the inhabitants, " I heard you calling for water 
 ten years ago, why don't you call for it now V 
 
 There are some men who think the present 
 limes so incapable of forming any opinions, 
 that they are always looking back to the wis- 
 dom of our ancestors. Now, as the Catholics 
 sat in the English Parliament to the reign of 
 Charles 11. and in the Irish Parliament, I believe, 
 till the reign of King William, the precedents 
 are more in their favour than otherwise ; and 
 to replace them in the Parliament seems rather 
 to return to, than to deviate from the practice 
 of our ancestors. 
 
 If the Catholics are priest-ridden, pamper 
 the rider, and he will not stick so close ; don't 
 torment the animal ridden, and his violence 
 will be less dangerous. 
 
 The strongest evidence against the Catho- 
 lics is that of Colonel John Irvine; he puts 
 every thing against them in the strongest light, 
 and Colonel John (with great actual, though, I 
 am sure, with no intentional exaggeration) does 
 not pretend to say there would be more than 
 forty-six members returned for Ireland who 
 were Catholics ; but how many members are 
 there in the House now returned by Catholics, 
 and compelled, from the fear of losing their 
 seats, to vote in favour of every measure which 
 concerns the Catholic Church 1 The Catholic 
 party, as the colonel justly observes, was form- 
 ed when you admitted them to the elective 
 franchise. The Catholic party are increasing 
 so much in boldness, that they will soon require 
 of the members they return, to oppose generally 
 any government hostile to Catholic emancipa- 
 tion, and they will turn out those who do not 
 comply with this rule. If this is done, the 
 phalanx so much dreaded from emancipation 
 is found at once without emancipation. This 
 consequence of resistance to the Catholic claims 
 is well worth the attention of those who make 
 use of the cry of no Popery, as a mere politi- 
 cal engine. 
 
 We are taun\eJ >vith our prophetical spirit, 
 because it is said by the advocates of the Ca- 
 
 tholic question that the thing must come to 
 pass; that it is inevitable: our prophecy, how- 
 ever, is founded, upon experience and common 
 sense, and is nothing more than the application 
 of the past to the future. In a few years' time, 
 when the madness and wretchedness of war 
 are forgotten, when the greater part of those 
 who have lost in war, legs and arms, health 
 and sons, have gone to their graves, the 
 same scenes will be acted over again in the 
 world. France, Spain, Russia, and America, 
 will be upon us. The Catholics will watch 
 their opportunity, and soon settle the question 
 of Catholic emancipation. To suppose that 
 any nation can go on in the midst of foreign 
 wars, denying common justice to seven mil- 
 lions of men, in the heart of the empire, awa- 
 kened to their situation, and watching for the 
 critical moment of redress, does, I confess, ap- 
 pear to me to be the height of extravagance. 
 To foretell the consequence of such causes, in 
 my humble apprehension, demands no more of 
 shrewdness than to point out the probable re- 
 sults of leaving a lighted candle stuck up in an 
 open barrel of gunpowder. 
 
 It is very difficult to make the mass of man- 
 kind believe that the state of things is ever to 
 be otherwise than they have been accustomed 
 to see it. I have very often heard old persons 
 describe the impossibility of making any one 
 believe that the American colonies could ever 
 be separated from this country. It was always 
 considered as an idle dream of discontented 
 politicians, good enough to fill up the periods of a 
 speech, but which no practical man, devoid of 
 the spirit of party, considered to be within thfl 
 limits of possibility. There was a period when 
 the slightest concession would have satisfied 
 the Americans ; but all the world was in heroics ; 
 one set of gentlemen met at the Lamb, and ano- 
 ther at the Lion: blood and treasure men, breath- 
 ing war, vengeance, and contempt ; and in eight 
 years afterwards, an awkward-looking gentle- 
 man in plain clothes walked up to the drawing- 
 room of St. James's, in the midst of the gentlemen 
 of the Lion and Lamb, and was introduced as 
 the ambassador from the United States of America, 
 
 You must forgive me if I draw illustrations 
 from common things — but in seeing swine 
 driven, I have often thought of the Catholic 
 question and of the diflferent methods of govern- 
 ing mankind. The object, one day, Avas to 
 drive some of these animals along a path, to a 
 field where they had not been before. The 
 man could by no means succeed ; instead of 
 turning their faces to the north, and proceeding 
 quietly along, they made for the east and west, 
 rushed back to the south, and positively refused 
 to advance ; a reinforcement of rustics was 
 called for; maids, children, neighbours, all 
 helped; a general rushing, screaming, and 
 roaring ensued ; but the main object was not 
 in the slightest degree advanced; after a long 
 delay, we resolved (though an hour before we 
 should have disdained such a compromise) to 
 have recourse to Catholic emancipation ; a 
 little boy was sent before them with a handful 
 of barley : a few grains were scattered in the 
 path, and the bristly herd were speedily and 
 safely conducted to the place of their destina- 
 tion. If, instead of putting Lord Stowell out of 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 439 
 
 breath Avith driving, compelling the Duke of 
 York to swear, and the chancellor to strike at 
 them with the mace, Lord Liverpool would 
 condescend, in his graceful manner, to walk 
 before the Catholic doctors with a basket of 
 barley, what a deal of ink and blood would be 
 saved to mankind. 
 
 Because the Catholics are intolerant we ivill be 
 iniokrant ; but did any body ever hear before 
 that a government is to imitate the vices of its 
 subjects? If the Irish were a rash, violent, 
 and intemperate race, are they to be treated 
 with rashness, violence, and intemperance 1 
 If they were addicted to fraud and falsehood, 
 are they to be treated by those who rule them 
 with fraud and falsehood] Are there to be 
 perpetual races in error and vice between the 
 people and the lords of the people 1 Is the su- 
 preme power always to find virtues among the 
 people; never to teach them by example, or 
 improve them by laws and institutions ? Make 
 all sects free, and let them learn the value of 
 the blessing to others, by their own enjoyment 
 of it; but if not, let them learn it by your vigi- 
 lance and firm resistance to every thing intole- 
 rant. Toleration will then become a habit 
 and a practice, ingrafted upon the manners of 
 a people, when they find the law too strong for 
 them, and that there is no use in being intole- 
 ranu 
 
 It is very true that the Catholics have a 
 double allegiance,* but it is equally true that 
 their second or spiritual allegiance has nothing 
 to do with civil policy, and does not, in the 
 most distant manner, interfere with their alle- 
 giance to the crown. What is meant by alle- 
 giance to the crown, is, I presume, obedience 
 to acts of Parliament, and a resistance lo those 
 who are constitutionally proclaimed to be the 
 enemies of the country. I have seen and heard 
 of no instance, for this century and a half last 
 past, where the spiritual sovereign has pre- 
 sumed to meddle with the affairs of the tempo- 
 ral sovereign. The Catholics deny him such 
 power by the most solemn oaths which the wit 
 of man can devise. In every war, the army 
 and navy are full of Catholic officers and sol- 
 diers ; and if their allegiance in temporal mat- 
 ters is unimpeachable and unimpeached, what 
 matters to whom they choose to pay spiritual 
 obedience, and to adopt as their guide in genu- 
 flexion and psalmody] Suppose these same 
 Catholics were foolish enough to be governed 
 by a set of Chinese moralists in their diet, this 
 would be a third allegiance ; and if they were 
 regula-ted by Brahmins in their dress, this 
 would be a fourth allegiance ; and if they re- 
 ceived the directions of the Patriarch of the 
 Greek Church, in educating their children, here 
 is another allegiance: and as long as they 
 fought, and paid taxes, and kept clear of the 
 quarter sessions and assizes, what matters 
 how many fanciful supremacies and frivolous 
 allegiances they choose to manufacture or ac- 
 cumulate for themselves ] 
 
 A great deal of time would be spared, if gen- 
 tlemen, before they ordered their post-chaises 
 
 * The same doiihle allegiance exists in every Catholic 
 country in Europe. The spiritual heart of the country 
 asnona French, Spanish, and Austrian Catholics, is the 
 pope ; the political head, the king or emperor. 
 
 for a no-Popery meeting, would read the most 
 elementary defence of these people, and inform 
 themselves even of the rudiments of the ques- 
 tion. If the Catholics meditate the resumption 
 of the Catholic property, why do they purchase 
 that which they know (if the fondest object of 
 their political life succeed) must be taken 
 away from them ? Why is not an attempt 
 made to purchase a quietus from the rebel who 
 is watching the blessed revolutionary moment 
 for regaining his possessions, and revelling in 
 the unbounded sensuality of mealy and waxy 
 enjoyments 1 But after all, who are the de- 
 scendants of the rightful possessors ] The 
 estate belonged to the O'Rourkes, who were 
 hanged, drawn and quartered in the time of 
 Cromwell: true, but before that, it belonged to 
 the O'Connors, who were hanged, drawn and 
 quartered in the time of Henry VII. The 
 O'SuUivans have a still earlier plea of suspen- 
 sion, evisceration and division. Who is the 
 rightful possessor of the estate 7 We forget 
 that Catholic Ireland has been murdered three 
 times over by its Protestant masters. 
 
 Mild and genteel people do not like the idea 
 of persecution, and are advocates for tolera- 
 tion ; but then they think it no act of intole- 
 rance to deprive Catholics of political power. 
 The history of all this is, that all men secretly 
 like to punish others for not being of the same 
 opinion with themselves, and that this sort of 
 privation is the only species of persecution, of 
 which the improved feeling and advanced 
 cultivation of the age will admit. Fire and 
 fagot, chains and stone walls, have been cla- 
 moured away ; nothing remains but to mortify 
 a man's pride, and to limit his resources, and 
 to set a mark upon him, by cutting him off 
 from his fair share of political power. By 
 this receipt, insolence is gratified, and humani- 
 ty is not shocked. The gentlest Protestant can 
 see, with dry eyes. Lord Stourton excluded 
 from Parliament, though he would abominate 
 the most distant idea of personal cruelty to Mr. 
 Petre. This is only to say that he lives in the 
 nineteenth, instead of the sixteenth century, 
 and that he is as intolerant in religious matters 
 as the state of manners existing in his age will 
 permit. Is it not the same spirit which wounds 
 the pride of a fellow-creature on account of his 
 faith, or which casts his body into the flames T 
 Are they any thing else but degrees and modi- 
 fications of the same principle 1 The minds 
 of these two men no more differ because 
 they differ in their degrees of punishment, than 
 their bodies differ, because one wore a doublet 
 in the time of Mary, and the other wears a coat 
 in the reign of George. I do not accuse them 
 of intentional cruelty and injustice; I am sure 
 there are very many excellent men who would 
 be shocked if they could conceive themselves 
 to be guilty of any thing like cruelty; but they 
 innocently give a wrong name to the bad spirit 
 which is within them, and think they are tole- 
 rant, because they are not as intolerant as they 
 could have been in other times, but cannot 
 be now. The true spirit is to search after God 
 and for another life with lowliness of heart; tii 
 fling down no man's altar, to punish no man's 
 prayer ; to heap no penalties and no pains on 
 those solemn supplications which, in divers 
 
440 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 longues, and in varied forms, and in temples 
 of a thousand shapes, but with one deep sense 
 of human dependence, men pour forth to God. 
 
 It is completely untrue that the Catholic re- 
 ligion is what it was three centuries ago, or 
 that it is unchangeable and unchanged. These 
 are mere words, without the shadow of truth to 
 support them. If the pope were to address a 
 bull to the kingdom of Ireland, excommunicat- 
 ing the Duke of York, and cutting him off from 
 the succession, for his Protestant effusion in 
 the House of Lords, he would be laughed at as 
 a lunatic in all the Catholic chapels in Dublin. 
 The Catholics would not now burn Protestants as 
 heretics. In many parts of Europe, Catholics 
 and Protestants worship in one church — Catho- 
 lics at eleven, Protestants at one; they sit in the 
 same Parliament, are elected to the same office, 
 live together without hatred or friction, under 
 equal laws. Who can see and know these 
 things, and say that the Catholic religion is 
 unchangeable and unchanged 1 
 
 I have often endeavoured to reflect upon the 
 causes which, from time to time, raised such 
 a clamour against the Catholics, and I think 
 the following are among the most conspicuous : 
 
 1. Historical recollections of the cruelties 
 inflicted upon the Protestants. 
 
 2. Theological differences. 
 
 3. A belief that the Catholics are unfriendly 
 to liberty. 
 
 4. That their morality is not good. 
 
 5. That they meditate the destruction of the 
 Protestant Church. 
 
 6. An unprincipled clamour by men who 
 have no sort of belief in the danger of emanci- 
 pation, but who make use of no Popery as a 
 political engine. 
 
 7. A mean and selfish spirit of denying to 
 others the advantages we ourselves enjoy. 
 
 8. A vindictive spirit or love of punishing 
 others, who offend our self-love by presuming, 
 on important points, to entertain opinions op- 
 posite to our own. 
 
 9. Stupid compliance with the opinions of 
 the majority. 
 
 10. To these I must, in justice and candour, 
 add, as a tenth cause, a real apprehension on 
 the part of honest and reasonable men, that it 
 is dangerous to grant farther concessions to the 
 Catholics. 
 
 To these various causes I shall make a short 
 reply, in the order in which I have placed 
 them. 
 
 1. Mere historical recollections are very 
 miserable reasons for the continuation of 
 penal and incapacitating laws, and one side 
 has as much to recollect as the other. 
 
 2. The state has nothing to do with questions 
 purely theological. 
 
 3. It is ill to say this in a country whose 
 free institutions were founded by Catholics, 
 and it is often said by men who care nothing 
 about free institutions. 
 
 4. It is not true. 
 
 o. Make their situation so comfortable, that 
 it will not be worth their while to attempt an 
 riiterprise so desperate. 
 
 6. This is an unfair political trick, because 
 it is too dangerous ; it is spoiling the table in 
 order to win the game. 
 
 The 7th and 8th causes exercise a great 
 share of influence in every act of intolerance. 
 The 9th must, of course, comprehend the 
 greatest number. 
 
 10. Of the existence of such a class of no 
 Poperists as this, it would be the height of in- 
 justice to doubt, but I confess it excites in me 
 a very great degree of astonishment. 
 
 Suppose, after a severe struggle, you put the 
 Irish down, if they are mad and foolish enough 
 to recur to open violence ; j'et are the retarded 
 industr}', and the misapplied energies of so 
 many millions of men to go for nothing ? Is it 
 possible to forget all the wealth, peace and 
 happiness which are to be sacrificed for twenty- 
 years to come, to these pestilential and dis- 
 graceful squabbles 1 Is there no horror in 
 looking forward to a long period in which men, 
 instead of ploughing and spinning, will curse 
 and hate, and burn and murder 1 
 
 There seems to me a sort of injustice and 
 impropriety in our deciding at all upon the 
 Catholic question. It should be left to those 
 Irish Protestants whose shutters are bullet- 
 proof; whose dinner-table is regularly spread 
 with knife, fork, and cocked pistol ; salt cellar 
 and powder-flask. Let the opinion of those 
 persons be resorted to, who sleep in sheet-iron 
 night-crtps ; who have fought so often and so 
 nobly before their scullery door, and defended 
 the parlour passage as bravely as Leonidas de- 
 fended the pass of Thermopylas. The Irish 
 Protestant members see and know the state of 
 their own country. Let their votes decide* 
 the case. We are quiet and at peace ; our 
 homes may be defended with a feather, and 
 our doors fastened with a pin ; and as ignorant 
 of what armed and insulted Popery is, as we 
 are of the state of New Zealand, we pretend to 
 regulate by our clamours the religious factions 
 of Ireland. 
 
 It is a very pleasant thing to trample upon 
 Catholics, and it is also a very pleasant thing 
 to have an immense number of pheasants run- 
 ning about your woods ; but there come thirty 
 or forty poachers in the night, and fight with 
 thirty or forty game preservers; some are 
 killed, some fractured, some scalped, some 
 maimed for life. Poachers are caught up and 
 hanged ; a vast body of hatred and revenge 
 accumulates in the neighbourhood of the great 
 man ; and he says " the sport is not worth the 
 candle. The preservation of game is a very 
 agreeable thing, but I will not sacrifice the 
 happiness of my life to it. This amusement, 
 like any other, may be purchased too dearly." 
 So it is with the Irish Protestants; they are 
 finding out that Catholic exclusion may be 
 purchased too dearly. Maimed cattle, fired 
 ricks, threatening letters, barricadoed houses, 
 to endure all this, is to purchase superiority at 
 too dear a rate, and this is the inevitable state 
 of two parties, the one of whom are unwilling 
 to relinquish their ancient monopoly of power, 
 Avhile the other party have, at length, disco- 
 vered their strength, and are determined to be 
 free. 
 
 Gentlemen (with the best intentions, I am 
 
 A ereat majority of Irish •neinbers voted for Catholic 
 emancipation. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 441 
 
 sure) meet together in a county town, and 
 enter into resolutions that no farther conces- 
 sions are to be made to the Catholics; but if 
 you will not let them into Parliament, why not 
 allow them to be king's counsel, or Serjeants 
 at law 1 Why are they excluded by law from 
 some corporations in Ireland, and admissible, 
 though not admitted, to others? I think, before 
 such general resolutions of exclusion are 
 adopted, and the rights and happiness of so 
 many millions of people disposed of, it would 
 be decent and proper to obtain some tolerable 
 information of what the present state of the 
 Irish Catholics is, and of the vast number of 
 insignificant offices from which they are ex- 
 cluded. Keep them from Parliament, if you 
 think it right, but do not, therefore, exclude 
 them from any thing else, to which you think 
 Catholics may be fairly admitted without 
 danger; and as to their content or discontent, 
 there can be no sort of reason why discontent 
 should not be lessened, though it cannot be 
 removed. 
 
 You are shocked by the present violence and 
 abuse used by the Irish Association; by whom 
 are they driven to it 1 and whom are you to 
 thank for it? Is there a hope left to them? 
 Is any term of endurance alluded to ] any scope 
 or boundary to their patience 1 Is the minister 
 •waiting for opportunities 1 Have they reason 
 to believe that they are wished well to by the 
 greatest of the great? Have they brighter 
 hopes in another reign? Is there one clear 
 spot in the horizon? any thing that you have 
 left to them, but that disgust, hatred and 
 despair, which, breaking out into wild elo- 
 quence, and acting upon a wild people, are 
 preparing every day a mass of treason and dis- 
 afiection, which may shake this empire to its 
 very centre ? and j'ou may laugh at Daniel 
 O'Connell, and treat him with contempt, and 
 turn his metaphors into ridicule ; but Daniel 
 has, after all, a great deal of real and powerful 
 eloquence; and a strange sort of misgiving 
 sometimes comes across me, that Daniel and 
 the doctor are not quite so great fools as many 
 most respectable country clergymen believe 
 them to be. 
 
 You talk of their abuse of the Reformation, 
 but is there any end to the obloquy and abuse 
 with which the Catholics are upon every point, 
 and from every quarter, assailed? Is there 
 any one folly, vice, or crime, ivhich the blind 
 fury of Protestants does not lavish upon them? 
 and do you suppose all this is to be heard in 
 silence, and without retaliation? Abuse as 
 much as you please, if you are going to eman- 
 cipate, but if you intend to do nothing for the 
 Catholics but to call them names, you must 
 not be put out of temper if you receive a few 
 ugly appellations in return. 
 
 The great object of men who love party bet- 
 ter than truth, is to have it believed that the 
 Catholics alone have been persecutors ; but 
 what can be more flagrantly unjust than to 
 take our notions of history only from the con- 
 quering and triumphant party? If you think 
 the Catholics have not their Book of Martyrs 
 as well as the Protestants, take the following 
 enumeration of some of their most learned and 
 careful writers. 
 
 The whole number of Catholics who have 
 sufiered death in England for the exercise of 
 the Roman Catholic religion since the Reforma- 
 tion : 
 
 Henry VIII., ... 59 
 
 Elizabeth, ... 204 
 
 James I., ... 25 
 
 Charles I., and ') 
 Commonwealth, 3 
 Charles II., 
 
 23 
 
 Total, ... 319 
 
 Henry VIII., with consummate impartial- 
 ity, burnt three Protestants and hanged four 
 Catholics for different errors in religion on the 
 same day, and the same place. Elizabeth 
 burnt two Dutch Anabaptists for some theo- 
 logical tenets, .luly 22, 1575, Fox the martyro- 
 logist vainly pleading with the queen in their 
 favour. In 1579, the same Protestant queen 
 cut off the hand of Stubbs, the author of a tract 
 against popish connection, of Singleton, the 
 printer, and Page, the disperser of the book. 
 Camden saw it done. Warburton properly 
 says it exceeds in cruelty any thing done by 
 Charles I. On the 4th of June, Mr. Elias 
 Th acker and Mr. John Capper, two ministers 
 of the Brownist persuasion, were hanged at St. 
 Edmundsbury, for dispersing books against 
 the Common Prayer. With respect to the 
 great part of the Catholic victims, the law was 
 fully and literally executed ; after being hanged 
 up, they were cut down alive, dismembered, 
 ripped up, and their bowels burnt before their 
 faces ; after which, they were beheaded and 
 quartered. The time employed in this butch- 
 ery was very considerable, and, in one in- 
 stance, lasted more than half an hour. 
 
 The uncandid excuse for all this is, that the 
 greater part of these men were put to death 
 for political, not for religious crimes. That 
 is, a law is first passed making it high treason 
 for a priest to exercise his function in England, 
 and so, when he is caught and burnt, this is 
 not religious persecution, but an oflence against 
 the state. We are, I hope, all too busy to need 
 any answer to such childish, uncandid reason- 
 ing as this. 
 
 The total number of those who suffered capi- 
 tally in the reign of Elizabeth, is stated by 
 Dodd, in his Church History,* to be one hun- 
 dred and ninety-nine; further inquiries made 
 their number to be two hundred and four: 
 fifteen of these were condemned for denying 
 the queen's supremacy; one hundred and 
 twenty-six for the exercise of priestly functions; 
 and the others for being reconciled to the 
 Catholic faith, or for aiding and assisting 
 priests. In this list, no person is included who 
 was executed for any plot, real or imaginary, 
 except eleven, who suffered for the pretended 
 plot of Rheims; a plot, which Dr. Milner justly 
 observes, was so daring a forgery, that even 
 Camden allows the sufferers to have been po- 
 
 * The total number of sufferers in the reisn of Queen 
 Mary, varies, I believe, from 200 in the Catholic to 280 in 
 the Protestant accounts. I recommend all young men 
 who wish to form some notion of what answer the 
 Catholics have to make, to read Milner's "Letters to a 
 Prebendary," and to follow the line of reading to which 
 his references lead. They will then learn the imporlanco 
 of that sacred maxim, jiudi alteram partem. 
 
442 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 litical victims. Besides these, mention is 
 made in the same work of ninety Catholic 
 priests, or laymen, who died in prison in the 
 same reign. "About the same time," he says, 
 "I find fiity gentlemen lying prisoners in York 
 Castle ; must of llicrn perished there, of vermin, 
 famine, hunger, thirst, dirt, damp, fever, whip- 
 ping, and broken hearts, the inseparable cir- 
 cumstances of prisons in those days. These 
 were every week, for a twelve-month together, 
 dragged by main force to hear the established 
 service performed in the castle chapel." The 
 Catholics were frequently, during the reign of 
 Elizabeth, tortured in the most dreadful man- 
 ner. In order to extort answers from Father 
 Campian, he was laid on the rack, and his 
 Hmbs stretched a little, to show him, as the 
 executioner termed it, what the rack was. He 
 persisted in his refusal; then for several days 
 successively, the torture was increased, and 
 on the last two occasions he was so cruelly 
 rent and torn, that he expected to expire under 
 the torment. While under the rack, he called 
 continually upon God. In the reign of the 
 Protestant Edward VI., Joan Knell was burnt 
 to death, and the year after, George Parry was 
 burnt also. In 1575, two Protestants, Peterson 
 and Turwort, (as before stated,) were burnt to 
 death by Elizabeth. In 1589, under the same 
 queen, Lewes, a Protestant, was burnt to death 
 at Norwich, where Francis Kett was also burnt 
 for religious opinions in 1589, under the same 
 great queen, who, in 1591, hanged the Protest- 
 ant Hacket for heresy, in Cheapside, and put 
 to death Greenwood, Barrow, and Penry, for 
 being Browitists. Southwell, a Catholic, was 
 racked ten times during the reign of this sister 
 of bloody Queen Mary. In 1592, Mrs. Ward 
 was hanged, drawn and quartered, for assisting 
 a Catholic priest to escape in a box. Mrs. 
 Lyne suffered the same punishment for har- 
 bouring a priest; and in 1586, Mrs. Clitheroe, 
 who was accused of relieving a priest, and re- 
 fused to plead, was pressed to death in York 
 Castle ; a sharp stone being placed underneath 
 her back. 
 
 Have not Protestants persecuted both Catho- 
 lics and their fellow Protestants in Germany, 
 Switzerland, Geneva, France, Holland, Sweden, 
 and England 1 Look to the atrocious punish- 
 ment of Leigh ton under Laud, for writing 
 against prelacy; first, his ear was cut off, then 
 his nose slit; then the other ear cut ofl', then 
 whipped again. Look to the horrible cruelties 
 exercised by the Protestant Episcopalians on 
 the Scottish Presbyterians, in the reign of 
 Charles II., of whom 8000 are said to have 
 perished in that persecution. Persecutions of 
 Protestants by Protestants, are amply detailed 
 by Chandler, in his History of Persecution ; by 
 Neale, in his History of the Pui-itans ; by Laing, 
 in his History of Scotland; by Penn, in his 
 Life of Fox ; and in Brandt's History of the 
 Reformation in the Low Countries; which 
 furnishes many very terrible cases of the suf- 
 ferings of the Anabaptists and Remonstrants. 
 In 1560, the Parliament of Scotland decreed, at 
 one and the same time, the establishment of 
 Calvinism, and the punishment of death against 
 the ancient religion : " With such indecent haste 
 (^ays Robertson) did the very persons who had 
 
 just escaped ecclesiastical tyranny, proceed to 
 imitate their example." Nothing can be so 
 absurd as to suppose, that in barbarous ages, 
 the excesses were all committed by one religious 
 party, and none by the other. The Huguenots 
 of France burnt churches, and hung priests, 
 wherever they found them. Froumenteau, one 
 of their own writers, confesses, that in the 
 single province of Dauphiny, they killed two 
 hundred and twenty priests, and one hundred 
 and twelve friars. In the Low Countries, 
 wherever Vandemcrk and Sonoi, lieutenants 
 of the Prince of Orange, carried their arms, 
 they uniformly put to death, and in cold blood, 
 all the priests and religious they could lay 
 their hands on. The Protestant Servetus was 
 put to death by the Protestants of Geneva, for 
 denying the doctrine of the Trinity, as the 
 Protestant Gentilis was, on the same score, by 
 those of Berne ; add to these, Felix Mans, Rot- 
 man, and Barnevald. Of Servetus, Melancthon, 
 the mildest of men, declared that he deserved' 
 to have his bowels pulled out, and his body 
 torn to pieces. The last fires of persecution 
 which were lighted in England, were by Pro- 
 testants. Bartholomew Legate, an Arian, was 
 burnt by order of King James in Smithfield, 
 on the 18th of March, 1612; on the 11th of 
 April, in the same year, Edward Weightman 
 was burnt at Litchfield, by order of the Pro- 
 testant Bishop of Litchfield and Coventry ; and 
 this man was, / believe, the last person who was 
 burnt in England for heresy. There was 
 another condemned to the fire for the same 
 heresy, but as pity was excited by the con- 
 stancy of these sufferers, it was thought better 
 to allow him to linger on a miserable life in 
 Newgate. Fuller, who wrote in the reign of 
 Charles II., and was a zealous Church of Eng- 
 land man, speaking of the burnings in qtiestion, 
 says, " It may appear that God was well pleased 
 with them." 
 
 There are, however, grievous faults on both 
 sides : and as there are a set of men, who, not 
 content with retaliating upon Protestants, deny 
 the persecuting spirit of the Catholics, I would 
 ask them what they think of the following code, 
 drawn up by the French Catholics against the 
 French Protestants, and carried into execution 
 for one hundred years, and as late as the year 
 1765, and not repealed till 17821 
 
 "Any Protestant clergyman remaining in 
 France three days, without coming to the 
 Catholic worship, to be punished with death. 
 If a Protestant sends his son to a Protestant 
 schoolmaster for education, he is to forfeit 250 
 livres a month, and the schoolmaster who re- 
 ceives him, 50 livres. If they sent their child- 
 ren to any seminary abroad, they were to forfeit 
 2000 livres, and the child so sent, became in- 
 capable of possessing property in France. To 
 celebrate Protestant worship, exposed the 
 clergyman to a fine of 2800 livres. The fine 
 to a Protestant for hearing it, was 1300 livres. 
 If any Protestant denied the authority of the 
 pope in France, his goods were seized for the 
 first offence, and- he was hanged for the second. 
 If any Comjnon Prayer-book, or book of Pro- 
 testant worship be found in the possession of 
 any Protestant, he shall forfeit 20 livres for the 
 first offence, 40 livres for the second, and shall 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 443 
 
 be imprisoned at pleasure for the third. Any 
 person bringing from beyond sea, or selling 
 any Protestant books of worship, to forfeit 100 
 livres. Any magistrates may search Protestant 
 houses for such articles. Any person, required 
 by a magistrate to take an oath against the 
 Protestant religion, and refusing, to be com- 
 mitted to prison, and if he afterwards refuse 
 again, to sutler forfeiture of goods. Any 
 person, sending any money over sea to the 
 support of a Protestant seminary, to forfeit his 
 goods, and be imprisoned at the king's pleasure. 
 Any person going over sea, for Protestant edu- 
 cation, to forfeit goods and lands for life. The 
 vessel to be forfeited which conveyed any 
 Protestant woman or child over sea, without 
 the king's license. Any person converting 
 another to the Protestant religion, to be put to 
 death. Death to any Protestant priest to come 
 into France ; death to the person who receives 
 him ; forfeiture of goods and imprisonment to 
 send money for the relief of any Protestant 
 clergyman : large rewards for discovering a 
 Protestant parson. Every Protestant shall 
 cause his child, within one month after birth, 
 to be baptized by a Catholic priest, under a 
 penalty of 2000 livres. Protestants were fined 
 4000 livres a-month for being absent from 
 Catholic worship, were disabled from holding 
 offices and employments, from keeping arms 
 in their houses, from maintaining suits at law, 
 from being guardians, from practising in law 
 or physic, and from holding offices, civil or 
 military. They were forbidden (bravo, Louis 
 XIV.!) to travel more than five miles from 
 home without license, under pain of forfeiting 
 all their goods, and they might not come to 
 court under pain of 2000 livres. A married 
 Protestant woman when convicted of being of 
 that persuasion was liable to forfeit two-thirds 
 of her jointure; she could not be executrix to 
 her husband, nor have any part of his goods ; 
 and during her marriage, she might be kept in 
 prison, unless her husband redeemed her at 
 the rate of 200 livres a-month, or the third part 
 of his lands. Protestants convicted of being 
 such, were, within three months after their 
 conviction, either to submit, and renounce their 
 religion, or, if required by four magistrates, to 
 abjure the realm, and if they did not depart, or 
 departing returned, were to sutfer death. All 
 Protestants were required, under the most tre- 
 mendous penalties, to swear that they con- 
 sidered the pope as the head of the church. If 
 they refused to take this oath, which might be 
 tendered at pleasure by any two magistrates, 
 they could not act as advocates, procureurs, or 
 notaries public. Any Protestant taking any 
 office, civil or military, was compelled to abjure 
 the Protestant religion ; to declare his belief in 
 the doctrine of transubstantiation, and to take 
 the Roman Catholic sacrament within six 
 months, under the penalty of 10,000 livres. 
 Any person professing the Protestant religion, 
 and educated in the same, was required, in six 
 months after the age of sixteen, to declare the 
 pope to be the head of the church ; to declare 
 his belief in transubstantiation, and that the 
 invocation of saints was according to the doc- 
 trine of the Christian religion ; failing this, he 
 could not hold, possess, or inherit landed pro- 
 
 perty; his lands were given to the nearest 
 Catholic relation. Many taxes were doubled 
 upon Protestants. Protestants keeping schools 
 were imprisoned for life, and all Protestants 
 were forbidden to come within ten miles of 
 Paris or Versailles. If any Protestant had a 
 horse worth more than 100 livres, any Catholic 
 magistrate might take it away, and search the 
 house of the said Protestant for arms." Is not 
 this a monstrous code of persecution ? Is it 
 any wonder, after reading such a spirit of 
 tyranny as is here exhibited, that the tendencies 
 of the Catholic religion should be suspected, 
 and that the cry of no Popery should be a 
 rallying sign to every Protestant nation in 
 
 Europe 1 Forgive, gentle reader, and 
 
 gentle elector, the trifling deception I have 
 practised upon you. This code is not a code 
 made by French Catholics against French 
 Protestants, but by English and Irish Protest- 
 ants against English and Irish Catholics ; I 
 have given it to you, for the most part, as it is 
 set forth in Burns' "Justice" of 1780: it was 
 acted upon in the beginning of the last king's 
 reign, and was notorious through the whole of 
 Europe, as the most cruel and atrocious system 
 of persecution ever instituted by one religious 
 persuasion against another. Of this code, Mr. 
 Burke says, that " it is a truly barbarous system; 
 where all the parts are an outrage on the laws 
 of humanity, and the rights of nature ; it is a 
 system of elaborate contrivance, as well fitted 
 for the oppression, imprisonment, and degra- 
 dation of a people, and the debasement of 
 human nature itself, as ever proceeded from 
 the perverted ingenuity of man." It is in vain 
 to say that these cruelties were laws of politi- 
 cal safety ; such has always been the plea for 
 all religious cruelties; by such arguments the 
 Catholics defended the massacre of St. Bartholo- 
 mew, and the burnings of Mary. 
 
 With such facts as these, the cry of persecu- 
 tion will not do ; it is unwise to make it, 
 because it can be so very easily, and so very 
 justly retorted. The business is, to forget and 
 forgive, to kiss and be friends, and to say 
 nothing of what has past, which is to the credit 
 of neither part}'. There have been atrocious 
 cruelties, and abominable acts of injustice on 
 both sides. It is not worth while to contend 
 who shed the most blood, or whether (as Dj-. 
 Sturgess objects to Dr. Milner) death by fire 
 is v.'orse than hanging or starving in prison 
 As far as England itself is concerned, the 
 balance may be better preserved. Cruelties 
 exercised upon the Irish go for nothing in 
 English reasoning; but if it were not uncandid 
 and vexatious to consider Irish persecutions* 
 as part of the case, I firmly believe there have 
 been two Catholics put to death for religious 
 causes in Great Britain for one Protestant who 
 has suff'ered; not that this proves much, be- 
 cause the Catholics have enjoyed the sovereign 
 power for so few years between this period 
 
 Thurloe writes to Henry Cromwell to catch up some 
 thousand Irish bovs, to send to the colonies. Henry 
 writes back he has done so; and desires to know whether 
 his highness would choose as many girls to be caught up . 
 and he adds, "doubtless it is a business, in which God 
 will appear." Suppose Moody Qneen Mary had caught 
 up and transported three or four thousand Protestant 
 boys and girls from the three ridings of Vorkshire 1 ! I ! ! ! 
 
444 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 a.id the Reformation, and certainly it must be 
 allowed that they were not inactive, during 
 that period, in the great work of pious com- 
 bustion. 
 
 It is, however, some extenuation of the 
 Catholic excesses, that their religion was the 
 religion of the whole of Europe, when the in- 
 novation began. They were the ancient lords 
 and masters of faith, before men introduced 
 the practice of thinking for themselves in these 
 matters. The Protestants have less excuse, 
 who claimed the right of innovation, and then 
 turned round upon other Protestants who acted 
 upon the same principle, or upon Catholics 
 who remained as they were, and visited them 
 ■with all the cruelties from which they had 
 themselves so recently escaped. 
 
 Both sides, as they acquired power, abused 
 it; and both learnt, from their sufferings, the 
 great secret of toleration and forbearance. If 
 you wish to do good in the times in which you 
 live, contribute your efforts to perfect this 
 grand work. I have not the most distant in- 
 tention to interfere in local politics, but I 
 advise you never to give a vote to any man, 
 
 whose only title for asking it is, that he means 
 to continue the punishments, privations, and 
 incapacities of any human beings, merely be- 
 cause they worship God in the way they think 
 best: the man who asks for your vote upon 
 such a plea, is, probably, a very weak man, who 
 believes in his own bad reasoning, or a very 
 artful man, who is laughing at you for your 
 credulity: at all events, he is a man who, 
 knowingly or unknowingly, exposes his country 
 to the greatest dangers, and hands down to 
 posterity all the foolish opinions and all the 
 l)ad passions which prevail in those times in 
 which he happens to live. Such a man is so 
 far from being that friend to the church which 
 he pretends to be, that he declares its safety 
 cannot be reconciled with the franchises of 
 the people ; for what worse can be said of the 
 Church of England than this, that wherever it 
 is judged necessary to give it a legal establish- 
 ment, it becomes necessary to deprive the 
 body of the people, if they adhere to their old 
 opinions, of their liberties, and of all their free 
 customs, and to reduce them to a state of civil 
 servitude ] Sidney Smith. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 US 
 
 A SERMON 
 
 ON THOSE 
 
 RULES OF CHRISTIAN CHARITY BY WHICH OUR OPINIONS 
 OF OTHER SECTS SHOULD BE FORMED: 
 
 PREACHED 
 
 BEFORE THE MAYOR AND CORPORATION, IN THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF BRISTOL, ON 
 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 183S. 
 
 I pcBiisn this sermon (or rather allow others to publish it), because many persons, who 
 know the city of Bristol better than I do, have earnestly solicited me to do so, and are con- 
 vinced it will do good. It is not without reluctance (as far as I myself am concerned) that I 
 send to the press such plain rudiments of common charity and common sense. 
 
 SxDjfET Smith. 
 Nov. 8, 1828. 
 
 Col. III. 12, 13. 
 
 Put on, as the elect of God, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-svffering, forbearing otu 
 another, and forgiving one another," 
 
 The Church of England, in its wisdom and 
 piety, has very properly ordained that a day 
 of thanksgiving should be set apart, in which 
 we may return thanks to Almighty God for the 
 mercies vouchsafed to this nation in their 
 escape from the dreadful plot planned for the 
 destruction of the sovereign and his Parlia- 
 ment, — the forerunner, no doubt, of such san- 
 guinary scenes as were suited to the manners 
 of that age, and must have proved the inevit- 
 able consequence of such enormous wicked- 
 ness and cruelty. Such an escape is a fair 
 and lawful foundation for national piety. And 
 it is a comely and Christian sight to see the 
 magistrates and high authorities of the land 
 obedient to the ordinances of the church, and 
 holding forth to their fellow-subjects a wise 
 example of national gratitude and serious de- 
 votion. This use of this day is deserving of 
 every commendation. The idea that Almighty 
 God does sometimes exercise a special provi- 
 dence for the preservation of a whole people 
 is justified by Scripture, is not repugnant to 
 reason, and can produce nothing but feelings 
 and opinions favourable to virtue and religion. 
 
 Another wise and lawful use of this day is 
 an honest self-congratulation that we have 
 burst through those bands which the Roman 
 Catholic priesthood would impose upon human 
 judgment ; that the Protestant Church not only 
 permits, but exhorts, every man to appeal from 
 human authority to the Scriptures; that it 
 makes of the clergy guides and advisers, not 
 masters and oracles ; that it discourages vain 
 and idle ceremonies, unmeaning observances, 
 and hypocritical pomp ; and encourages free- 
 dom in thinking upon religion, and simplicity 
 
 in religious forms. It is impossible that any 
 candid man should not observe the marked 
 superiority of the Protestants over the Catholic 
 faith in these particulars; and difficult that 
 any pious man should not feel grateful to 
 Almighty Providence for escape from danger 
 which would have plunged this country afresh 
 into so many errors and so many absurdities. 
 
 I hope, in this condemnation of the Catholic 
 religion (in which I most sincerely join its 
 bitterest enemies), I shall not be so far mis- 
 taken as to have it supposed that I would con- 
 vey the slightest approbation of any laws 
 which disqualify or incapacitate any class of 
 men from civil offices on account of religious 
 opinions. I regard all such laws as fatal and 
 lamentable mistakes in legislation ; they, are 
 mistakes of troubled times, and half-barbarous 
 ages. All Europe is gradually emerging from 
 their influence. This country has lately, with 
 the entire consent of its prelates, made a noble 
 and successful eflbrt, by the abolition of some 
 of the most obnoxious laws of this class. In 
 proportion as such example is followed, the 
 enemies of church and state will be diminish- 
 ed, and the foundation of peace, order, and 
 happiness be strengthened. These are my 
 opinions, which I mention, not to convert you, 
 but to guard myself from misrepresentation. 
 It is my duty, — it is my wish, — it is the sub- 
 ject of this "day to point out those evils of the 
 Catholic religion from which we have escaped; 
 but I should be to the last degree concerned, 
 if a condemnation of theological errors were 
 to be construed into an approbation of laws 
 which I cannot but consider as deeply marked 
 by a spirit of intolerance. Therefore, I beg 
 
446 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 3'ou to remember that I record these opinions 
 not for the purpose of converting any one to 
 them, which would be an abuse of the privi- 
 lege of addressing you from the pulpit; not 
 that I attach the slightest degree of importance 
 to them because they are mine ; but merely to 
 guard myself from misrepresentation upon a 
 point on which all men's passions are, at this 
 moment, so powerfully excited. 
 
 I have said that, at this moment, all men's 
 passions are powerfully excited on this sub- 
 ject. If this is true, it points out to me my 
 line of duty. I must use my endeavours to 
 guard against the abuse of this day; to take 
 care that the principles of sound reason are 
 not lost sight of; and that such excitement, 
 instead of rising into dangerous vehemence, 
 is calmed into active and useful investigation 
 of the subject. 
 
 I shall, therefore, on the present occasion, 
 not investigate generally the duties of charity 
 and forbearance, but of charity and forbearance 
 in religious matters ; of that Christian meek- 
 ness and humility which prevent the intrusion 
 of bad passions into religious concerns, and 
 keep calm and pure the mind intent upon 
 eternity. And remember, I beg of you, that 
 the rules I shall offer you for the observation 
 of Christian charity are general, and of uni- 
 Tersal application. What j'ou choose to do, 
 and which way you incline upon any particu- 
 lar question, are, and can be, no concern of 
 mine. It would be the height of arrogance 
 and presumption in me, or in any other minis- 
 ter of God's word, to interfere on such points; 
 I only endeavour to teach thdt spirit of forbear- 
 ance and charity, which (though it cannot 
 alwa)'S prevent differences upon religious 
 points) will ensure that these differences are 
 carried on with Christian gentleness. I have 
 endeavoured to lay down these rules for differ- 
 ence with care and moderation ; and, if you 
 will attend to them patiently, I think you will 
 agree with me, that, however the practice of 
 them may be forgotten, the propriety of them 
 cannot be denied. 
 
 It would always be easier to fall in with hu- 
 man passions than to resist them ; but the 
 ministers of God must do their duty through 
 evil report, and through good report; neither 
 prevented nor excited by the interests of the 
 present day. They must teach those general 
 truths which the Christian religion has com- 
 mitted to their care, and upon which the hap- 
 piness and peace of the world depend. 
 
 In pressing upon you the great duty of reli- 
 gious charity, the inutility of the opposite de- 
 fect of religious violence first offers itself to, 
 and, indeed, obtrudes itself upon my notice. 
 The evil of difference of opinion must exist; 
 it admits of no cure. The wildest visionary 
 does not now hope he can bring his fellow- 
 creatures to one standard of faith. If history 
 has taught us any one thing, it is that man- 
 kind, on such sort of subjects, will form their 
 own opinions. Therefore, to want charity in 
 religious matters is at least useless ; it hardens 
 error and provokes recrimination ; but it does 
 not enlighten those whom we wish to reclaim, 
 nor docs it extend doctrines which to us ap- 
 pear so clear and indisputable. But to do 
 
 wrong, and to gain nothing by it, are surely to 
 add folly to fault, and to proclaim an under- 
 standing not led by the mle of reason, as well 
 as a disposition unregulated by the Christian 
 faith. 
 
 Religious charity requires that we should 
 not judge any sect of Christians by the repre- 
 sentations of their enemies alone, without 
 hearing and reading what they have to say in 
 their own defence ; it requires only, of course, 
 to state such a rule to procure for it general 
 admission. No man can pretend to say that 
 such a rule is not founded upon the plainest 
 principles of justice — upon those plain princi- 
 ples of justice which no one thinks of violating 
 in the ordinary concerns of life ; and yet I fear 
 that rule is not always very strictly adhered to 
 in religious animosities. Religious hatred is 
 often founded on tradition, often on hearsay, 
 often on the misrepresentations of notorious 
 enemies ; without inquiry, without the slightest 
 examination of opposite reasons and authori- 
 ties, or consideration of that which the accused 
 party has to offer for defence or explanation. It 
 is impossible, I admit, to examine every thing ; 
 man}' have not talents, many have not leisure, 
 for such pursuits ; many must be contented 
 with the faith in which they have been brought 
 up, and must think it the best modification of 
 the Christian faith, because they are told it is 
 so. But this imperfect acquaintance with re- 
 ligious controversy, though not blameable 
 when it proceeds from want of power, and 
 want of opportunity, can be no possible justi- 
 fication of violent and acrimonious opinions. 
 I would say to the ignorant man, "It is not 
 your ignorance I blame ; you have had no 
 means, perhaps, of acquiring knowledge: the 
 circumstances of your life have not led to it — 
 may have prevented it; but then I must tell 
 you, if you have not had leisure to inquire, you 
 have no right to accuse. If you are unacquaint- 
 ed Avith the opposite arguments, — or, knowing, 
 cannot balance them, it is not upon you the 
 task devolves of exposing the errors, and im- 
 pugning the opinions of other sects." If cha- 
 rity is ever necessary, it is in those who know 
 accurately neither the accusation nor the de- 
 fence. If invective, — if rooted antipathy, in 
 religious opinions, is ever a breach of Chris- 
 tian rules, it is so in those who, not being able 
 to become Avise, are not willing to become 
 charitable and modest. 
 
 Any candid man, acquainted with religious 
 controversy, will, I think, admit that he has 
 frequently, in the course of his studies, been 
 astonished by the force of argiiments with 
 which that cause has been defended, which he 
 at first thought to be incapable of any defence 
 at all. Some accusations he has found to be 
 utterly groundless ; in others the facts and 
 arguments have been mis-stated ; in other in- 
 stances the accusation has been retorted ; in 
 many cases the tenets have been defended by 
 strong arguments and honest appeal to Scrip- 
 ture; in many with consummate acuteness 
 and deep learning. So that religious studies 
 often teach to opponents a greater respect for 
 each other's talents, motives, and acquire- 
 ments; exhibit the real difficulties of the sub< 
 ject ; lessen the surprise and anger which are 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 447 
 
 apt to he excited by opposition ; and, by these 
 means, promote that forgiving one another, 
 and forbearing one another, which are so 
 powerfully recommended by the words of my 
 text. 
 
 A great deal of mischief is done by not at- 
 tending to the limits of interference with each 
 other's religious opinions, — by not leaving to 
 the power and wisdom of God that which be- 
 longs to God alone. Our holy religion con- 
 sists of some doctrines which influence prac- 
 tice, and of others which are purely specula- 
 tive. If religious errors are of the former 
 description, they may, perhaps, be fair objects 
 of human interference ; but, if the opinion is 
 merely theological and speculative, there the 
 right of human interference seems to end, be- 
 cause the necessity for such interference 
 does not exist. Any error of this nature is 
 between the Creator and the creature, — be- 
 tween the Redeemer and the redeemed. If 
 buch opinions are not the best opinions which 
 can be found, God Almighty will punish the 
 error, if mere error seemeth to the Almighty 
 a fit object of punishment. Why may not 
 man wait if God waits 1 Where are we called 
 upon in Scripture to pursue men for errors 
 purely speculative ? — to assist Heaven in 
 punishing those offences which belong only to 
 Heaven] — in fighting unasked for what we 
 deem to be the battles of God, — of that patient 
 and merciful God, who pities the frailties we 
 do not pity — who forgives the errors we do 
 not forgive, — who sends i-ain upon the just 
 and the unjust, and maketh his sun to shine 
 upon the evil and the good 1 
 
 Another canon of religious charity is to re- 
 vise, at long intervals, the bad opinions we 
 have been compelled, or rather our forefathers 
 have been compelled, to form of other Christian 
 sects; to see whether the different bias of the 
 age, the more general diffusion of intelligence, 
 do not render those tenets less pernicious : 
 that which might prove a very great evil under 
 other circumstances, and in other times, may, 
 perhaps, however weak and erroneous, be 
 harmless in these times, and under these cir- 
 cumstances. We must be aware, too, that we 
 do not mistalce recollections for apprehen- 
 sions, and confound together what has passed 
 with what is to come, — history with futurity. 
 For instance, it would be the most enormous 
 abuse of this religious institution to imagine 
 that such dreadful scenes of wickedness are 
 to be apprehended from the Catholics of the 
 present day, because the annals of this coun- 
 try were disgraced by such an event two hun- 
 dred years ago. It would be an enormous 
 abuse of this day to extend the crimes of a 
 few desperate wretches to a Vv^hole sect; to 
 fix the passions of dark ages upon times of 
 refinement and civilization. All these are 
 mistakes and abuses of this day, which vio- 
 late every principle of Christian charity, en- 
 danger the peace of society, and give life and 
 perpetuity to hatreds, which must perish at 
 one time or another, and had better, for the 
 pea,ce of society, perish now. 
 
 It would be religiously charitable, also, to 
 consider whether the objectionable tenets, 
 which different sects profess, are in their 
 
 hearts as well as in their books. There is, 
 unfortunateh^, so much pride where there 
 ought to be so much humility, that it is diffi- 
 cult, if not almost impossible, to make religious 
 sects abjure or recant the doctrines they have 
 once professed. It is not in this .paanner, I 
 fear, that the best and purest churches are 
 ever reformed. But the doctrine gradually be- 
 comes obsolete ; and, though not disowned, 
 ceases in fact to be a distinguishing charac- 
 teristic of the sect which professes it. These 
 modes of reformation, — this silent antiquation 
 of doctrines, — this real improvement, which 
 the pfrties themselves are too wise not to feel, 
 though not wise enough to own, must, I am 
 afraid, be generally conceded to human in- 
 firmity. They are indulgences not unneces- 
 sarj' to many sects of Christians. The more 
 generous method would be to admit error 
 where error exists, to say these were the 
 tenets and interpretations of dark and igno- 
 rant ages; Avider inquiry, fresh discussion, 
 superior intelligence have convinced us we are 
 wrong ; we will act in future upon better and 
 wiser principles. This is what men do in 
 laws, arts, and sciences ; and happy for them 
 would it be if they used the same modest do- 
 cility in the highest of all concerns. But it 
 is, I fear, more than experience will allow us 
 to expect ; and therefore the kindest and most 
 charitable method is to allow religious sects 
 silently to improve without reminding them 
 of, and taunting them with, the improvement ; 
 without bringing them to the humiliation of 
 former disavowal, or the still more pernicious 
 practice of defending what they know to be 
 indefensible. The triumphs which proceed 
 from the neglect of these principles are not 
 (what they pretend to be) the triumphs of re- 
 ligion, but the triumphs of personal vanity. 
 The object is not to extinguish the dangerous 
 errors with as little pain and degradation as 
 possible to him who has fallen into the error, 
 but the object is to exalt ourselves, and to de- 
 preciate our theological opponents, as much 
 as possible, at an}'^ expense to God's service, 
 and to the real interests of truth and religion. 
 There is another practice not less common 
 than this, and equally uncharitable ; and that 
 is to represent the opinions of the most violent 
 and eager persons who can be met with, as 
 the common and received opinions of the 
 whole sect. There are, in everj^ denomination 
 of Christians, individuals, by whose opinion 
 or by whose conduct the great body would 
 very reluctantly be judged. Some men aim at 
 attracting notice by singularity; some are de- 
 ficient in temper; some in learning; some 
 push every principle to the extreme ; distort, 
 overstate, pervert; fill every one to whom' 
 their cause is dear with concern that it should 
 have been committed to such rash and intem- 
 perate advocates. If you wish to gain a vic- 
 tory over your antagonists, these are the men 
 whose writings you should study, whose opi- 
 nions you should dwell on, and should care- 
 fully bring forward to notice ; but if you wish, 
 as the elect of God, to put on kindness and 
 humbleness, meekness and long-suffering, — if 
 you wish to forbear and to forgive, it will then 
 occur to you that you should seek the tni-? 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 opinions of any sect from those only who are 
 approved of, and reverenced by that sect ; to 
 Avhose authority that sect defer, and by whose 
 arguments they consider their tenets to be 
 properly defended. This may not suit your 
 purpose, -if you are combating for victory; but 
 it is your duty if you are combating for truth; 
 it is the safe, honest, and splendid conduct of 
 him who never writes nor speaks on religious 
 subjects, but that he may ditluse the real bless- 
 ings of religion among his fellow-creatures, 
 and restrain the bitterness of controversy by 
 the feelings of Christian charity and forbear- 
 ance. 
 
 Let us also ask ourselves, when we are sit- 
 ting in severe judgment upon the faults, follies, 
 and errors of other Christian sects, M'hether it 
 is not barely possible that we have fallen into 
 some mistakes and misrepresentations! Let 
 us ask ourselves, honestly and fairly, whether 
 we are wholly exempt from prejudice, from 
 pride, from obstinate adhesion to what candour 
 calls upon us to alter, and to yield 1 Are 
 there no violent and mistaken members of 
 our own community, by whose conduct we 
 should be loath to be guided, — by whose 
 tenets we should not choose our faith should 
 be judged] Has time, that improves all, 
 found nothing in us to change for the bet- 
 ter? Amid all the manifold divisions of the 
 Christian world, are we the only Christians 
 who, without having any thing to learn from 
 the knowledge and civilization of the last three 
 centuries, have started up, without infancy, 
 and without error, into consummate wisdom 
 and spotless perfection 1 
 
 To listen to enemies as well as friends is a 
 rule which not only increases sense in com- 
 mon life, but is highly favourable to the in- 
 crease of religious candour. You find that 
 you are not so free froin faults as your friends 
 suppose, nor so full of faults as your enemies 
 suppose. You begin to think it not impossi- 
 ble that you may be as unjust to others as they 
 are to you ; and that the wisest and most 
 Christian scheme is that of mutual indulgence; 
 that it is better to put on, as the elect of God, 
 kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long- 
 suffering, forbearing one another, and forgiving 
 one another. 
 
 Some men cannot understand how they are 
 to be zealous if they are candid in religious 
 matters ; how the energy necessary for the one 
 virtue is compatible with the calmness which 
 the other requires. But remember that the 
 Scriptures carefully distinguish betAveen laud- 
 able zeal and indiscreet zeal; that the apostles 
 and epistolary writers knew they had as much 
 to fear from the over-excitement of some men as 
 from the supineness of others ; and in nothing 
 have they laboured more than in preventing 
 religion from arming human passions instead 
 of allaying them, and rendering those princi- 
 ples a source of mutual jealousy and hatred 
 which were intended for universal peace. I 
 admit that indifference sometimes puts on the 
 appearance of candour; but, though there is 
 d. counterfeit, 3'et there is a reality; and the 
 imitation proves the value of the original, be- 
 cause men only attempt to multiply the appear- 
 ances of useful and important things. The | 
 
 object is to be at the same time pious to Go^ 
 and charitable to man ; to render your own 
 faith as pure and perfect as possible, not only 
 without hatred of those who differ from you, 
 but with a constant recollection that it is possi- 
 ble, in spite of thought and study, that you may 
 have been mistaken, — that other sects may be 
 right, and that a zeal in his service, which 
 God does not want, is a very bad excuse for 
 those bad passions which his sacred word 
 condemns. 
 
 Lastly, I would suggest that many differences 
 between sects are of less importance than 
 the furious zeal of many men would make 
 them. Are the tenets of any sect of such a 
 description, that we believe they will be saved 
 under the Christian faith 1 Do they fulfil the 
 common duties of life 1 Do they respect pro- 
 perty 1 Are they obedient to the laws 1 Do 
 they speak the truth 1 If all these things are 
 right, the violence of hostility may surely sub- 
 mit to some little softness and relaxation ; 
 honest difference of opinion cannot call for 
 such entire separation and complete antipathy ; 
 such zeal as this, if it be zeal, and not some- 
 thing worse, is not surely zeal according to 
 discretion. 
 
 The arguments, then, which I have adduced 
 in support of the great principles of religious 
 charity are, that violence upon such subjects 
 is rarely or ever found to be useful; but gene- 
 rally to produce effects opposite to those which 
 are intended. I have observed that religious 
 sects are not to be judged from the represen- 
 tations of their enemies ; but that they are to 
 be heard for themselves, in the pleadings of 
 their best writers, not in the representations 
 of those whose intemperate zeal is a misfor- 
 tune to the sect to which they belong. If you 
 will study the principles of your religious 
 opponents, you will often find your contempt 
 and hatred lessened in proportion as you are 
 better acquainted with what you despise. Many 
 religious opinions, which are purely specu- 
 lative, are without the limits of human inter- 
 ference. In the numerous sects of Christianity, 
 interpreting our religion in very opposite 
 manners, all cannot be right. Imitate the for- 
 bearance and long-suffering of God, who 
 throws the mantle of his mercy over all, and 
 who will probably save, on the last day, the 
 piously right and the piously wrong, seeking 
 Jesus in humbleness of mind. Do not drive 
 religious sects to the disgrace (or to what they 
 foolishly think the disgrace) of formally disa- 
 vowing tenets the)' once professed, but concede 
 something to human weakness ; and, when 
 the tenet is virtually given up. treat it as if it 
 were actually given up ; and alv/ays consider 
 it to be very possible that you yourself may 
 have made mistakes, and fallen into erroneous 
 opinions, as well as any other sect to which 
 you are opposed. If you put on these dispo- 
 sitions, and this tenor of mind, you cannot be 
 guilty of any religious fault, take what part 
 you will in the religious disputes which ap- 
 pear to be coming on the world. If you choose 
 to perpetuate the restrictions upon your fellow- 
 creatures, no one has a right to call you bigoted ; 
 if you choose to do them away, no one has any 
 right to call you lax and indifferent ; you have 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 449 
 
 done your utmost to do right, and, -u'hether you 
 err, or do not err, in your mode of interpreting 
 the Christian religion, you show at least that 
 you have caught its heavenly spirit, — that you 
 have put on, as the elect of God, kindness, 
 humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, 
 forbearing one another, and forgiving one 
 another. 
 
 I have thus endeavoured to lay before you 
 the uses and abuses of this day; and, having 
 stated the great mercy of God's interference, 
 and tite blessings this country has secured to 
 itself in resisting the errors, and follies, and 
 superstitions of the Catholic Church, I have 
 endeavoured that this just sense of our own 
 superiority should not militate against the 
 sacred principles of Christian charity. That 
 charity which I ask for others, I ask also for 
 myself. I am sure I am preaching before 
 those who will think (whether they agree 
 with me or not) that I have spoken consci- 
 entiously, and from good motives, and from 
 honest feelings, on a very dilTicult subject, — 
 not sought for by me, but devolving upon 
 me in the course of duty ; — in which I should 
 have been heartily ashamed of myself (as 
 you would have been ashamed of me), if I 
 had thought only how to flatter and please, 
 or thought of any thing but what I hope I 
 
 always do think of in the pulpit, — that I am 
 placed here by God to tell the truth, and to do 
 good. 
 
 I shall conclude my sermon, (pushed, I am 
 afraid, already to an unreasonable length,) by 
 reciting to you a very short and beautiful apo- 
 logue, taken from the rabbinical writers. It is, 
 I believe, quoted by Bishop Taylor in his 
 " Holy Living and Dying." I have not now 
 access to that book, but I quote it to you from 
 memory; and should be made truly happy if 
 you would quote it to others from memory 
 also. 
 
 "As Abraham was sitting in the door of his 
 tent, there came unto him a Avayfaring man ; 
 and Abraham gave him water for his feet, and 
 set bread before him. And Abraham said unto 
 him, 'Let us now worship the Lord our God 
 before we eat of this bread.' And the wayfar- 
 ing man said unto Abraham, ''I will not wor- 
 ship the Lord thy God, for thy God is not my 
 God, but I will worship my God, even the God 
 of my fathers.' But Abraham was exceeding 
 wroth; -and he rose up to put the wayfaring 
 man forth from the door of his tent. And the 
 voice of the Lord Avas heard in the tent, — Abra- 
 ham, Abraham ! have I borne with this man 
 for threescore and ten years, and canst not 
 thou bear with him for one hour 1" 
 
 LETTERS ON THE SUBJECT OE THE CATHOLICS, 
 
 TO 
 
 MY BROTHER ABRAH^UI, WHO LRTIS IN THE COUNTRY. 
 BY PETER PLYMLEY. 
 
 LETTER L 
 
 Dear Abraham, 
 
 A WORTHIER and better inan than yourself 
 does not exist ; but I have always told )'ou, 
 from the time of our boyhood, that you Avere a 
 bit of a goose. Your parochial affairs are go- 
 verned Avith exemplary order and regularity ; 
 you are as powerful in the vestry as Mr. Per- 
 ceval is in the House of Commons, — and, I 
 must say, Avith much more reason ; nor do I 
 know any church where the faces and smock- 
 frocks of the congregation are so clean, or 
 their eyes so uniformly directed to the preacher. 
 There is another point upon which I Avill do 
 you ample justice ; and that is, that the eyes 
 so directed towards you are wide open ; for 
 the rustic has, in general, good principles, 
 though he cannot control his animal habits ; 
 and, however loud he may snore, his face is 
 perpetually turned towards the fountain of 
 orthodoxy. 
 
 Having done you this act of justice, I shall 
 proceed, according to our ancient intimacy 
 and familiarity, to explain to you my opinions 
 about the Catholics, and to reply to vours. 
 57 
 
 In the first place, my sweet Abraham, the 
 pope is not landed — nor are there any curates 
 sent out after him — nor has he been hid at St. 
 Alban's by the DoAvager Lady Spencer — nor 
 dined privately at Holland House — nor been 
 seen near Dropmore. If these fears exist 
 (which I do not believe), they exist only in the 
 mind of the chancellor of the exchequer; they 
 emanate from his zeal for the Protostant inte- 
 rest; and, though they reflect the highest 
 honour upon the delicate irritability of his 
 faith, must certainly be considered as more 
 ambiguous proofs of the sanity and \"igour of 
 his understanding. By this time, however, 
 the best informed clergy in the neighbourhood 
 of the metropolis are convinced tliat the rumour 
 is without foundation ; and, though the pope is 
 probably hovering about our coast in a fishing 
 smack, it is most likely he will fall a prey to 
 the vigilance of our cruisers ; and it is certair. 
 he has not yet polluted the Protestantism of our 
 soil. 
 
 Exactly in the same manner, the story of 
 
 the wooden gods seized at Charing Cross, by 
 
 an order from the Foreign Oflice, turns out td 
 
 be without the shadow of a foundation ; m- 
 
 2r 2 
 
450 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 stead of the angels and archangels, mentioned 
 by the informer, nothing was discovered but a 
 -wooden image of Lord Mulgrave, going down 
 to Chatham, as a head-piece for the Spanker 
 gnn-vessel; it was an exact resemblance of 
 his lordship in his military uniform ; and there- 
 fore as little like a god as can well be imagined. 
 Having set your fears at rest as to the extent 
 of the conspiracy formed against the Protestant 
 religion, I will now come to the argument 
 itself. 
 
 You say these men interpret the Scriptures 
 in an orthodox manner ; and that they eat their 
 God. — Very likely. All this may seem very 
 important to you, who live fourteen miles from 
 a market-town, and, from long residence upon 
 your living, are become a kind of holy ve- 
 getable ; and. in a theological sense, it is highly 
 important. Bi^t I want soldiers and sailors 
 for Ihe state ; I want to make a greater use than 
 I now can do of a poor country full of men ; I 
 want to render the military service popular 
 among the Irish; to check the power of 
 France ; to make every possible exertion for 
 the safety of Europe, which in twenty years' 
 time will be nothing but a mass of French 
 slaves; and then you, and ten thousand other 
 such boobies as you, call out — "For God's 
 sake, do not think of raising cavalry and in- 
 fantry in Ireland! .... They interpret the 
 Epistle to Timothy in a different manner from 
 what we do! ... . They eat a bit of wafer 
 every Sunday, which they call their God!" 
 .... I wish to my soul they ^-ould eat you, 
 and such reasoners as you are. What ! when 
 Turk, Jew, Heretic, Infidel, Catholic, Protest- 
 ant, are all combined against this country; 
 when men of every religious persuasion, and 
 no religious persuasion ; v.'hen the population 
 of half the globe is up in arms against us ; are 
 ■we to stand examining our generals and armies 
 as a bishop examines a candidate for holy or- 
 ders 1 and to suffer no one to bleed for Eng- 
 land who does not agree v/ith you about the 
 2d of Timothy 1 You talk about "the Catholics! 
 If you and your brotherhood have been able to 
 persuade the country into a continuation of 
 this grossest of all absurdities, you have ten 
 times the power which the Catholic clergy 
 ever had in their best days. Louis XIV., when 
 he revoked the Edict of Nanles, never thought 
 of preventing the Protestants from fighting his 
 battles; and gained accordingly some of his 
 most splendid victories by the talents of his 
 Protestant generals. No powder in Europe, but 
 yourselves, has ever thought, for these hundred 
 years past, of asking whether a bayonet is 
 Catholic, or Presbyterian, or Lutheran; but 
 whether it is sharp and well-tempered. A bigot 
 delights in jimiblic ridicule ; for he begins to 
 think he is a martyr. I can promise }-ou the 
 full enjoyment of this pleasure, from one ex- 
 tremity of Europe to the other. 
 
 lam as disgu-^trd with the nonsense of the Ro- 
 man Catholic religion as you can be; and no 
 man who talks such nonsense shall ever tithe 
 Ihe product of the earth, nor meddle with the 
 ecclesiastical establishment in any shape; — 
 but what have I to do with the speculative 
 nonsense of his theology, wlien the object is 
 , to elect the mayor of a counir}' tcvv-n, or to 
 
 appoint a colonel of a marching regiment? 
 Will a man discharge the solemn imperti- 
 nences of the one office Avith the less zeal, or 
 shrink from the bloody boldness of the other 
 with greater timidity, because the blockhead be- 
 lieves in all the Catholic nonsense of the real 
 presence. I am sorry there should be such 
 impious folly in the world, but I should be ten 
 times a greater fool than he is, if I refused, in 
 consequence of his folly, to lead him out 
 against the enemies of the state. Your^-hole 
 argument is MTong; the state has ntwhing 
 whatever to do with theological errors which 
 do not violate the common rules of morality, 
 and militate against the fair power of the ruler : 
 it leaves all these errors to you, and to such 
 as you. You have every tenth porker in your 
 parish for refuting them ; and take care that 
 you are vigilant and logical in the task. 
 
 I love the church as well as you do ; but you 
 totally mistake the nature of an establishment, 
 when you contend that it ought to be connected 
 with the military and civil career of every in- 
 dividual in the state. It is quite right that 
 there should be one clergym.an to eveiy parish 
 interpreting the Scriptures after a particular 
 manner, ruled by a regular hierarchy, and paid 
 with a rich proportion of haycocks and wheat- 
 sheafs. When I have laid this foundation for 
 a rational religion in the state — when I have 
 placed ten thousand v.-ell-educated men in dif- 
 ferent parts of the kingdom to preach it up, 
 and compelled every body to pay them, whether 
 they hear them or not — I havre taken such 
 measures as I know must always procure an 
 immense majority in favour of the established 
 church ; but I can go no farther. I cannot set 
 up a civil inquisition, and say to one, you 
 shall not be a butcher, because you are not or- 
 thodox; and prohibit another from brewing, 
 and a third from administering the law, and a 
 fourth from defending the country. If com- 
 mon justice did not prohibit me from such a 
 conduct, common sense would. The advan- 
 tage to be gained by quitting. the heresy v.ould 
 make it shameful to abandon it ; and men who 
 had once left the cluirch would continue in 
 such a state of alienation from a point of 
 honour, and transmit that spirit to the latest 
 posterity. This is just the effect your disqtiali- 
 fying laws have produced. They have fed Dr. 
 Rees and Dr. Kippis ; crowded the congrega- 
 tion of the Old Jewry to suffocation ; and ena- 
 bled every sublapsarian, and supralapsarian, 
 and semipelagian clergyman, to build himself 
 a neat brick chapel, and live with some distant 
 resemblance to the state of a gentleman. 
 
 You say the king's coronation oath will not 
 allow him to consent to any relaxation of the 
 Catholic laws — Why not relax the Catholic 
 lavi's as well as the laws against Protestant 
 dissenters 7 If one is contrary to his oath, the 
 other must be so too; for the spirit of the oath 
 is, to defend the church establishment ; which 
 the Quaker and the Presbyterian differ from 
 as much or more than the Catholic; and yet 
 his majesty has repealed the Corporation and 
 Test Act in Ireland, and done more for the 
 Catholics of both kingdoms than had been 
 done for them since the Reformation. In 1778 
 the ministers said nothing about the roya con 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 451 
 
 science; in 1793* no conscience; in 1804 no 
 conscience; the common feeling of humanity 
 and justice then seem to have had their fullest 
 influence upon the advisers of the crown; but 
 in 1807 — a year, I suppose, eminently fruitful 
 in moral and religious scruples, (as some j-ears 
 are fruitful in apples, some in hops, — it is con- 
 tended by the well-paid Jp,hn Bowles, and by 
 Mr. Perceval (who tried to be well paid), that 
 that is now perjury which we had hitherto 
 called policy and benevolence! Religious 
 liberty has never made such a stride as under 
 the reign of his present majesty; nor is there 
 any instance in the annals of our history, 
 where so many infamous and damnable laws 
 have been repealed as those against the Ca- 
 tholics, which have been put an end to by 
 him; and then, at the close of this useful po- 
 licy, his advisers discover that the very mea- 
 sures of concession and indulgence, or (to use 
 my own language), the measures of justice, 
 which he has been pursuing through the v.-hole 
 of his rei'^n, are contrary to the oath he takes 
 at its crmmencement! That oath binds his 
 majesty not to consent to any measure con- 
 trary to the interests of the established church ; 
 but who is to judge of the tendency of each 
 particular measure? Not the king alone; it 
 can never be the intention of this law that the 
 king, who listens to the advice of his Parlia- 
 ment upon a road bill, should reject it upon 
 the most important of all measures. What- 
 ever be his own private judgment of the ten- 
 dency of any ecclesiastical bill, he complies 
 most strictly with his oath, if he is guided in 
 that particular point by the advice of his Par- 
 liament, who may be presumed to understand 
 its tendency better than the king, or any other 
 individual. You say, if Parliament had been 
 ijnanimous in their opinion of the absolute 
 necessity for Lord Howick's bill, and the king 
 had thought it pernicious, he would have been 
 perjured if he had not rejected it. I sajs on 
 the contrary, his majesty would have acted in 
 the most conscientious manner, and have com- 
 plied most scrupulously with his oath,. if he 
 had sacrificed his own opinion to the opinion 
 of the great council of the nation; because the 
 probability was that such opinion was better 
 than his own ; and upon the same principle, 
 in common lifQ, you give up your opinion to 
 your physician, your lawyer, and your builder. 
 You admit this bill did not compel the king 
 to elect Catholic officers, but only gave him 
 the option of doing so if he pleased; but you 
 add, that the king was right In not trusting 
 such dangerous power to himself or his suc- 
 cessors. Now, you are either to suppose that 
 the king, for the time being, has a zeal for the 
 Catholic establishment, or that he has not. If 
 he has not, where is the danger of giving such 
 an option? If you suppose that he may be 
 influenced by such an admiration of the Ca- 
 tholic religion, M'hy did his present majesty, 
 in the year 1804, consent to that bill which 
 empowered the crown to station ten thousand 
 Catholic soldiers in any part of the kingdom, 
 and placed them absolutely at the disposal of 
 
 *TIieeQ feelincs of hurmnity and justice were at some 
 ferinds a little quickened liy the representations of 
 <(),0C0 armed volunteers. 
 
 the crown 1 If the King of England for the 
 time being is a good Protestant, there can be 
 no danger in making the Catholic eligible to 
 any thing ; if he is not, no power can possibly 
 be so dangerous as that conveyed by the bill 
 last quoted ; to which, in point of peril. Lord 
 Howick's bill is a mere joke. But the real 
 fact is, one bill opened a door to his majesty's 
 advisers for trick, jobbing, and intrigue; the 
 other did not. - 
 
 Besides, what folly to talk to me of an oath, 
 which, under all possible circumstances, is to 
 prevent the relaxation of the Catholic laws I 
 for such a solemn appeal to God sets all con- 
 ditions and contingencies at defiance. Sup- 
 pose Bonaparte was to retrieve the only very 
 great blunder he has made, and were to suc- 
 ceed, after repeated trials, in making an im- 
 pression upon Ireland, do you think we should 
 hear any thing of the impediment of a coro- 
 nation oath 1 or would the spirit of this country 
 tolerate for an hour such ministers, and such 
 ttnheard-of nonsense, if the most distant pros- 
 pect existed of conciliating the Catholics by 
 every species even of the most abject conces- 
 sion ? And yet, if your argument is good for 
 any thing, the coronation oath ought to reject, 
 at such a moment, every tendency to concilia- 
 tion, and to bind Ireland forever to the crowa 
 of France. 
 
 I found in your letter the usual remarks 
 about fire, fagot, and bloody Mary. Are you 
 aware, my dear priest, that there were as many 
 persons put to death tor religious opinions 
 under the mild Elizabeth as under the bloody 
 Maryl The reign of the former was, to be 
 sure, ten times as long; but I only mention the 
 fact, merely to show you that something de- 
 pends upon the age in which men live, as 
 well as on their religious opinions. Three 
 hundred years ago, men burnt and hanged each 
 other for these opinions. Time has softened 
 Catholic as well as Protestant; they both re- 
 quired it; though each perceives only his owni 
 improvement, and is blind to that of the other. 
 We are all the creatures of circumstances. I 
 know not a kinder and better man than your- 
 self; but you (if you had lived in those times) 
 would certainly have roasted your Catholic; 
 and I promise you, if- the first exciter of this 
 religious mob had been as powerful then as 
 he is now, you would soon have been elevated 
 to the mitre. I do not go the length of saying 
 that the world has suffered as much from Pro- 
 testant as from Catholic persecution ; far from 
 it: but you should remember the Catholics 
 had all the power, when the idea first started 
 up in the world that there could be two modes 
 of faith; and that it was much more natural 
 they should attempt to crush this diversity of 
 opinion by great and cruel efforts, than that 
 the Protestants should rage against those wno 
 differed from them, when the very basis of 
 their system was complete freedom in all spirit- 
 ual matters. 
 
 I cannot extend my letter any further at 
 present, but you shall soon hear from me 
 again. You tell me I am a party man. I hope 
 I shall always be so, when I see my counir\' 
 in the hands of a pert London joker and a se- 
 cond-rate lawyer. Of the first, no other good 
 
452 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 is known than that he makes pretty Latin 
 verses; the second seems to me to have the 
 head of a country parson, and the tongue of 
 an Old Bailey lawyer. 
 
 If I could see good measures pursued, I care 
 not a farthing who is in power; but I have a 
 passionate love for common justice, and for 
 common sense, and I abhor and despise every 
 man who builds up his political fortune upon 
 their ruin. 
 
 God bless you, reverend Abraham, and de- 
 fend you from the pope, and all of us from 
 that administration who seek power by oppos- 
 ing a measure which Burke, Pitt, and Fox all 
 considered as absolutely necessary to the exist- 
 ence of the country. 
 
 LETTER IL 
 
 Dear Abraham, 
 
 The Catholic not respect an oath! why not? 
 What upon earth has kept him out of Parlia- 
 ment, or excluded him from all the- offices 
 whence he is excluded, but his respect for 
 oaths 1 There is no law which prohibits a 
 Catholic to sit in Parliament. There could be 
 no such law; because it is impossible to find 
 out what passes in the interior of any man's 
 mind. Suppose it were in contemplation to 
 exclude all men from certain offices who con- 
 tended for the legality of taking tithes : the 
 only mode of discovering that fervid love of 
 decimation which I know you to possess would 
 be to tender you an oath "against that damna- 
 ble doctrine, that it is lawful for a spiritual 
 man to take, abstract, appropriate, subduct, or 
 lead away the tenth calf, sheep, lamb, ox, pi- 
 geon, duck," &c., &c., &c., and every other ani- 
 mal that ever existed, which of course the 
 lawyers would take care to enumerate. Now 
 this oath I am sure you would rather die than 
 take; and so the Catholic is excluded from 
 Parliament because he will not swear that he 
 disbelieves the leading doctrines of his reli- 
 gion I The Catholic asks you to abolish some 
 oaths which oppress him; your answer is, that 
 he does not respect oaths. Then why subject 
 him to the test of oaths 7 The oaths keep him 
 out of Parliament ; why then he respects them. 
 Turn which way .you will, either your laws 
 are nugatory, or the Catholic is bound by reli- 
 gious obligations as j'ou are ; but no eel in the 
 well-sanded fist of a cook-maid, upon the eve 
 of being skinned, ever twisted and writhed as 
 an orthodox parson does when he is compelled 
 by the gripe of reason to admit any thing in 
 favour of a dissenter. 
 
 I will not dispute with you whether the pope 
 be or be not the Scarlet Lady of Babylon. I 
 hope it is not so; because I am afraid it will 
 induce his majesty's chancellor of the exche- 
 quer to introduce several severe bills against 
 Popery, if that is the case ; and though he will 
 have the decency to appoint a previous com- 
 mittee of inquiry as to the fact, the committee 
 will be garbled, and the report infiaramatory. 
 Leaving this to be settled as he pleases to 
 settle it, I wish to inform you, that previously 
 lo the bill last passed in favour of the Catho- 
 
 lics, at the suggestion of Mr. Pitt, and for his 
 satisfaction, the opinions of six of the most 
 celebrated of the foreign Catholic universities 
 were taken as to the right of the pope to inter- 
 fere in the temporal concerns of any country. 
 The answer cannot possibly leave the shadow 
 of a doubt, even in the mind of Baron Ma- 
 seres ; and Dr. Rennel would be compelled to 
 admit it, if three bishops lay dead at the very 
 moment the question were put to him. To 
 this answer might be added also the solemn 
 declaration and signature of all the Catholics 
 in Great Britain. 
 
 I should perfectly agree with you, if the 
 Catholics admitted such a dangerous dispens- 
 ing power in the hands of the pope ; but they 
 all deny it, and laugh at it, and are ready to 
 abjure it in the most decided manner you can 
 devise. They obey the pope as the spiritual 
 head of their church ; but are you really so 
 foolish as to be imposed upon by mere names ? 
 — What matters it the seven-thousandth part 
 of a farthing who is the spiritual head of any 
 church 1 Is not ?vlr. Wilberforce at the head 
 of the church of Clapham 1 Is not Dr. Letsom 
 at the head of the Quaker church I Is not the 
 general assembly at the head of the church of 
 Scotland 1 How is the government disturbed 
 by these many-headed churches ] or in what 
 way is the power of the crown augmented by 
 this almost nominal dignity 1 
 
 The king appoints a fast-day once a year, 
 and he makes the bishops ; and if the govern- 
 ment would take half the pams to keep the 
 Catholics out of the arms of France that it 
 does to widen Temple Bar, or improve Snow 
 Hill, the king would get into his hands the 
 appointments of the titular bishops of Ireland. 
 
 — Both Mr. C 's sisters enjoy pensions 
 
 more than sufficient to place the two greatest 
 dignitaries of the Irish Catholic Church entirely 
 at the disposal of the crown. — Every body who 
 knows Ireland knows perfectly well, that 
 nothing would be easier, with the expenditure 
 of a little money, than to preseiwe enough of 
 the ostensible appointment in the hands of the 
 pope to satisfy the scruples of the Catholics, 
 while the real nomination remained with the 
 crown. But, as I have before said, the mo- 
 ment the very name of Ireland is mentioned, 
 the English seem to bid adieu to common 
 feeling, common prudence, and to common 
 sense, and to act with the barbarity of tyrants, 
 and the fatuity of idiots. 
 
 Whatever j-our opinion may be of the follies 
 of the Roman Catholic religion, remember they 
 are the follies of four millions of human 
 beings, increasing rapidly in numbers, wealth 
 and intelligence, who, if firmly united with 
 this countr}', would set at defiance the power 
 of France, and if once wrested from their 
 alliance with England, would in three years 
 render its existence as an independent nation 
 absolutely impossible. You speak of danger 
 to the establishment: I request to.knoAV when 
 the establishment was ever so much in danger 
 as when Hoche was in Bantry Bay, and 
 whether all the books of Bossuet, or the arts 
 of the Jesuits, were half so terrible 1 Mr. Per- 
 ceval and his parsons forgot all this, in their 
 horror lest twelve or fourteen old women may 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 453 
 
 be converted to holy water, and Catholic non- 
 sense. They never see that, while they are 
 saving these venerable ladies from perdition, 
 Ireland may be lost, England broken down, 
 and the Protestant Church, with all its deans, 
 prebendaries, Percevals and Rennels, be swept 
 into the vortex of oblivion. 
 
 Do not, I beseech you, ever mention to me 
 again the name of Dr. Duigenan. I have been 
 in every corner of Ireland, and have studied 
 its present strength and condition with no 
 common labour. Be assured Ireland does not 
 contain at this moment less than five millions 
 of people. There were returned in the year 
 1791 to the hearth tax 701,000 houses, and 
 there is no kind of question that there were 
 about 50,000 houses omitted in that return. 
 Taking, however, only the number returned 
 for the tax, and allowing the average of six to 
 a house (a very small average for a potato-fed 
 people), this brings the population to 4,200,000 
 people in the year 1751 ; and it can be shown 
 from the clearest evidence, (and Mr. Newen- 
 ham in his book shows it,) that Ireland for the 
 last fifty years has increased in its population 
 at the rate of 50 or 60,000 per annum ; which 
 leaves the present population of Ireland at 
 about five millions, after every possible deduc- 
 tion for cx/s'uis: circumsta7ucs,jnst and necessary 
 tt'flrs, monstrous and nnnatural rebcUions, and all 
 other sources of human destruction. Of this 
 population, two' out often are Protestants ; and* 
 the half of^ the Protestant population are dis- 
 senters, and as inimical to the church as the 
 Catholics themselves. In this state of things, 
 thumb-screws and whipping — admirable en- 
 gines of polic3% as they must be considered to 
 be — will not ultimately avail. The Catholics 
 will hang over you ; they will watch for the 
 moment; and compel you hereafter to give 
 them ten times as much, against your will, as 
 they would now be contented with, if it was 
 voluntarily surrendered. Remember what hap- 
 pened in the American war: when Ireland 
 compelled you to give her every thing she 
 asked, and to renounce, in the most explicit 
 manner, your claim of sovereignty over her. 
 God Almighty grant the folly of these present 
 men may not bring on such another crisis of 
 public affairs ! 
 
 What are your dangers which threaten the 
 establishment! — Reduce this declamation to a 
 point, and let us understand what you mean. 
 The most ample allowance does not calculate 
 that there would be more than twenty mem- 
 bers who were Roman Catholics in one house, 
 and ten in the other, if the Catholic emancipa- 
 tion were carried into eifect. Do you mean 
 that these thirty members would bring in a bill 
 to take away the tithes from the Protestant, 
 and to pay them to the Catholic clergy! Do 
 you mean that a Catholic general would march 
 ills army into the House of Commons and 
 purge it of Mr. Perceval and Mr. Duigenan 1 
 or, that the theological writers would become 
 all of a sudden more acute and more learned, 
 if the present civil incapacities were removed 1 
 Do you fear for your tithes, or your doctrines, 
 or your person, or the English constitution] 
 Every fear, taken separately, is so glaringly 
 absurd, that no man has fh<3 folly or the bold- 
 
 ness to state it. Every one conceals his igno- 
 rance, or his baseness, in a stupid general 
 panic, whi«h, when called on, he is utterly 
 incapable of explaining. Whatever you think 
 of the Catholics, there they are— you cannot 
 get rid of them ; your alternative is, to give 
 them a lawful place for stating their griev- 
 ances, or an unlawful one : if you do not admit 
 them to the House of Commons, they will hold 
 their Parliament in Potato-place, Dublin, and 
 be ten times as violent and inflammatory as 
 they would be in Westminster. Nothing would 
 give me such an idea of security, as to see 
 twenty or thirty Catholic gentlemen in Parlia- 
 ment, looked upon by all the Catholics as the' 
 fair and proper organ of their party. I should 
 have thought it the height of good fortune that 
 such a wish existed on their part, and the very 
 essence of madness and ignorance to reject it. 
 Can you murder the Catholics "! — Can you 
 neglect them! They are too numerous for 
 both these expedients. What remains to be 
 done is obvious to every human being — but to 
 that man who, instead of being a Methodist 
 preacher, is, for the curse of us, and our 
 children, and for the ruin of Troy, and the 
 miserv of good old Priam and his sons, become 
 a legislator and a politician. 
 
 A distinction, I perceive, is taken, by one 
 of the most feeble noblemen in Great Britain, 
 between persecution and the deprivation of 
 political power ; whereas, there is no more 
 distinction between these two things than 
 there is between him who makes the distinc- 
 tion and a booby. If I strip off the relic-co- 
 vered jacket of a Catholic, and give him 
 twenty stripes .... I persecute ; if I say, every 
 bodv in the town where you live shall be a 
 candidate for lucrative and honourable offices, 
 but you who are a Catholic .... I do not per- 
 secute ! — What barbarous nonsense is this ! as 
 if degradation was not as great an evil as 
 bodily pain, or as severe poverty; as if I could 
 not be as great a tyrant by saying. You shall 
 not enjoy — as by saying. You shall sufl^er. 
 The English, I believe, are as truly religious 
 as any nation in Europe ; I know no greater 
 blessing ; but it carries with it this evil in its 
 train, that any villain who will bawl out " The 
 church is in danger .'" may get a place, and a 
 good pension; and that any administration 
 who will do the same thing may bring a set ol 
 men into power who, at a moment of stationary 
 and passive piety, would be hooted by the very 
 boys in the streets. But it is not all religion; 
 it is, in great part, that narrow and exclusive 
 spirit which delights to keep the common 
 blessings of sun, and air, and freedom from 
 other human beings. "Your religion ha;s 
 always been degraded; you are in the dust, 
 and I will take care you never rise again. I 
 should enjoy less the possession of an earthly 
 good, by every additional person to whom it 
 was extended." You may not be aware of it 
 yourself, most reverend Abraham, but you 
 deny their freedom to the Catholics upon the 
 same principle that Sarah your wife refuses 
 to give the receipt for a ham oi a gooseberry 
 dumpling ; she values her receipts, not because 
 they secure to her a certain flavoui, cut be- 
 cause they remind her that her neighbours 
 
454 
 
 WORKS OF THE KEV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 want it : — a feeling laughable in a priestess, 
 shameful in a priest ; venial when it withholds 
 the blessings of a ham, tyrannical and exe- 
 crable when it narrows the boon of religious 
 freedom. 
 
 You spend a great deal of ink about the 
 character of the present prime-minister. Grant 
 you all that you write ; I say, I fear he will 
 ruin Ireland, and pursue a line of policy de- 
 structive to the true interest of his country; 
 and then you tell me, he is faithful to Mrs. 
 Perceval, and kind to the Master Percevals ! 
 These are, undoubtedly, the first qualifications 
 to be looked to in a time of the most serious 
 public danger; but somehow or another (if 
 public and private virtues must always be in- 
 compatible), I should prefer that he destroyed 
 the domestic happiness of Wood or Cockell, 
 owed for the veal of the preceding year, whip- 
 ped his boys, and saved his country. 
 
 The late administration did not do right; 
 they did not build their measures upon the 
 solid basis of facts. They should have caused 
 several Catholics to have been dissected after 
 death by surgeons of either religion ; and the 
 report to have been published with accompa- 
 nying plates. If the viscera, and other organs 
 of life, had been found to be the same as in 
 Protestant bodies ; if the provision of nerves, 
 arteries, cerebrum, and cerebellum, had been 
 the same as we are provided with, or as the 
 dissenters are now known to possess; then, 
 indeed, they might have met Mr. Perceval 
 upon a proud eminence, and convinced the 
 country at large of the strong probability that 
 the Catholics are really human creatures, en- 
 dowed with the feelings of men, and entitled to 
 all their rights. But instead of this wise and 
 prudent measure. Lord Howick, with his usual 
 precipitation, brings forward a bill in their 
 favour, without ofiering the slightest proof to 
 the country that they were any thing more than 
 horses and oxen. The person Avho shows the 
 lama at the corner of Piccadilly has the pre- 
 caution to write up — flowed by Sir Joseph Banks 
 to be a real quadruped: so his lordship might 
 have said — Allowed by the Bench of Bishops to he 
 real human creatures .-. . . I could write you 
 twenty letters upon this subject : but I am tired, 
 and so I suppose are you. Our friendship is 
 now of forty years' standing; you know me to 
 be a truly religious man ; but I shudder to see 
 religion treated like a cockade, or a pint of 
 beer, and made the instrument of a party. I 
 love the king, but I love the people as well as 
 the king; and if I am sorry to see his old age 
 molested, I am much more sorry to see four 
 millions of Catholics baffled in their just ex- 
 pectations. If I love Lord Grenville, and 
 Lord Howick, it is because they love their 
 country; if I abhor ******, it is because I 
 know there is but one man among them who 
 is not laughing at the e-normous folly and cre- 
 dulity of the country, and that he is an ignorant 
 and mischievous bigot. As for the light and 
 frivolous jester, of Avhom it is your misfortune 
 (O think so highly, learn, my dear Abraham, 
 '.hat this political Killigrew, just before the 
 >n-eaking-up of the last administration, was in 
 actual treaty with them for a place ; and if they 
 Ijad survived tv.'entj'-four hours longer, he 
 
 would have been now declaiming against the 
 cry of No Popery ! instead of inflaming it. — 
 With this practical comment on the baseness 
 of human nature, I bid you adieu ! 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 All that I have so often told you, Mr. Abra- 
 ham Plymley, is now come to pass. The 
 Scythians, in whom you and the neighbouring 
 country gentlemen placed such confidence, are 
 smitten hip and thigh ; their Bennmgsen put 
 to open shame; their magazines of train oil 
 intercepted, and we are waking from our dis- 
 graceful drunkenness to all the horrors of Mr. 
 Perceval and Mr. Canning .... We shall 
 now see if a nation is to be saved by school- 
 boy jokes and doggerel rhymes, by afi'ronting 
 petulance, and by the tones and gesticulations 
 of Mr. Pitt. But these are not all the auxilia- 
 ries on which we have to depend; to these his 
 colleague will add the strictest attention to the 
 smaller parts of ecclesiastical government, to 
 hassocks, to psalters, and to surplices; in the 
 last agonies of England, he will bring in a bill 
 to regulate Easter-oflerings ; and he will adjust 
 the stipends of curates,* when the flag of 
 France is unfurled on the hills of Kent. What- 
 ever can be done by very mistaken notions of 
 tfie piety of a Christian, and by very wretched 
 imitation of the eloquence of Mr. Pitt, will be 
 done by these two gentlemen. After all, if 
 they both really were what they both either 
 wish to be or wish to be thought; if the one 
 were an enlightened Christian, who drev/ from 
 the Gospel the toleration, the charity, and the 
 sweetness which it contains; and if the other 
 really possessed any portion of the great un- 
 derstanding of his Nisus who guarded him from 
 the weapons of the whigs, I should still doubt 
 if they could save us. But I am sure we are 
 not to be saved by religious hatred, and by re- 
 ligious trifling; by any psalmody, however 
 sweet; or by any persecutio'n, however sharp: 
 I am certain the sounds of Mr. Pitt's voice, and 
 the measure of his tones, and the movement 
 of his arms, will do nothing for us ; when these 
 tones, and movements, and voice bring us 
 always declamation without sense or know- 
 ledge, and ridicule without good humour or 
 conciliation. Oh, Mr. Plymle}% Mr. Plymley, 
 this never will do. Mrs. iVbraham Plymley, 
 my sister, will be led away captive by an 
 amorous Gaul ; and Joel Plymley, your first- 
 born, will be a French drummer. 
 
 Out of sight, out of mind, seems to be a pro- 
 verb which applies to enemies as well as 
 friends. Because the French army was no 
 longer seen from the cliffs of Dover ; because 
 the sound of cannon was no longer heard by 
 the debauched London bathers on the Sussex 
 coast; because the Morning Post no longer fixed 
 the invasion sometimes for Monday, sometimes 
 for Tuesday, sometimes (positively for the last 
 time of invading) on Saturday; because all 
 these causes of terror were suspended, you 
 
 *The reverend the chancellor of the exchequer has. 
 since this was written, found time, in the heat of the .ses- 
 sion, to write a book on the stipends of curates. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 4.'>5 
 
 conceived the power of Bonaparte to be at an 
 end, and were setting off for Paris, with Lord 
 Ilawkesbury the conqueror. — This is precisely 
 the method in which the English have acted 
 during the whole of the revolutionary war. If 
 Austria or Prussia armed, doctors of divinity 
 immediately printed those passages, out of 
 Habakkuk, in which the destruction of the 
 usurper by General Mack, and the Duke of 
 Brunswick, are so clearly predicted. If Bona- 
 parte halted, there was a mutiny, or a dysen- 
 ter}^. If any one of his generals were eaten 
 up by the light troops of Russia, and picked 
 (as their manner is) to the bone, the sanguine 
 spirit of this country displayed itself in all its 
 glory. What scenes of infamy did the Society 
 for the Suppression of Vice lay open to our 
 astonished eyes : tradesmen's daughters danc- 
 ing; pots of beer carried out between the first 
 and second lesson ; and dark and distant ru- 
 mours of indecent prints. Clouds of Mr. 
 Canning's cousins arrived by the waggon ; all 
 the contractors left their cards with Mr. Rose; 
 and every plunderer of the public crawled out 
 of his hole, like slugs and grubs, and worms, 
 after a shower of rain. 
 
 If my voice could have been heard at the 
 late changes, I should have said, "Gently; 
 patience ; stop a little ; the time is not yet 
 come ; the mud of Poland will harden, and the 
 bowels of the French grenadiers will recover 
 (heir tone. When honest}^ good sense, and 
 liberality have extricated you out of your pre- 
 sent embarrassment, then dismiss them as a 
 matter of course; but you cannot spare them 
 just now; don't be in too great a hurry, or 
 there will be no monarch to flatter, and no 
 country to pillage ; only submit for a little time 
 to be respected abroad ; overlook the painful 
 absence of the tax-gatherer for a few years ; 
 bear up nobly under the increase of freedom 
 and of liberal policy for a little time, and I 
 promise you, at the expiration of that period, 
 you shall be plundered, insulted, disgraced, 
 and restrained to your heart's content. Do 
 not imagine I have any intention of putting 
 servility and canting hj^pocrisy permanently 
 out of place, or of filling up with courage and 
 sense those offices which naturally devolve 
 upon decorous imbecility and inflexible cun- 
 ning: give us only a little time to keep ofi'the 
 hussars of France, and then the jobbers and 
 jesters shall return to their birth-right, and 
 public virtue be calle,d by its old name of 
 fanaticism."* Such is the advice I would have 
 offered to my infatuated countrymen ; but it 
 rained very hard in November, Brother Abra- 
 ham, and the bowels of our enemies were 
 loosened, and we put our trust in white fluxes, 
 and wet mud ; and there is nothing now to 
 oppose to the conqueror of the world, but a 
 
 * This isMr. Cannini^'s tprm for the detection ofpuhlic 
 abuses ; a term invented by him, and adopted by that 
 simious parasite who is always grinning at his heels. — 
 Nature descends down to infinite smallness. Mr. Can- 
 ning has his parasites ; an4 if you take a large buzzing 
 blue-liottle fly, and loolt at it in a microscope, you may 
 see 20 or 30 little ugly insects crawling about it, which 
 doubtless think their fly to be the bluest, grandest, mer- 
 riest, most important animal in the universe, and are 
 convii ced the world would be at an end if it ceased to 
 tiiizz. 
 
 small table wit, and the sallow surveyor of the 
 meltings. 
 
 You ask me, if I think it possible fon this 
 country to survive the recent misfortunes of 
 Europe? — I answer you without the slightest 
 degree of hesitation,, that, if Bonaparte lives, 
 and a great deal is not immediately done for 
 the conciliation of the Catholics, it does seem 
 to me absolutely impossible but that we must 
 perish ; and take this with you, that we shall 
 perish without exciting the slightest feeling of 
 present or future compassion, but fall amidst 
 the hootings and revilings of Europe, as a na- 
 tion of blockheads, Methodists, and old women. 
 If there were any great scenery, any heroic 
 feelings, any blaze of ancient virtue, any exalt- 
 ed death, any termination of England that 
 would be ever remembered, ever honoured ia 
 that western world, where liberty is now retir- 
 ing, conquest would be more tolerable, and 
 ruin more sweet; but it is doubly miserable to 
 become slaves abroad, because we would be 
 tyrants at home; to persecute, when we are 
 contending against persecution ; and to perish, 
 because we have raised up worse enemies 
 within, from our own bigotry, than we are ex- 
 posed to without from the unprincipled ambi- 
 tion of France. It is, indeed, a most silly and 
 afllicting spectacle to rage at such a moment 
 against our ov/n kindred and our own blood; 
 to tell them they cannot be honourable in war, 
 because they are conscientious in religion; to 
 stipulate (at the very moment when we should 
 buy their hearts and swords at any price) that 
 they must hold up the right hand in prayer, and 
 not the left; and adore one common God, by 
 turning to the east rather than to the west. 
 
 What is it the Catholics ask of you ? Do 
 not exclude us from the honours and emolu- 
 ments of the stale, because we worship God ia 
 one way, and you worship him in another, — in a 
 period of the deepest peace, and the fattest pros- 
 perity, this would be a fair request ; it should 
 be granted, if Lord Hawkesbury had reached 
 Paris, if Mr. Canning's interpreter had threat- 
 ened the Senate in an opening speech, or Mr. 
 Perceval explained to them the improvements 
 he meant to introduce into the Catholic reli- 
 gion ; but to deny the -Irish this justice now, 
 in the present state of Europe, and in the sum- 
 mer months, just as the season for destroying 
 kingdoms is coming on, is (beloved Abraham), 
 whatever you may think of it, little short of 
 positive insanity. 
 
 Here is a frigate attacked by a corsair of im- 
 mense strength and size, rigging cut, masts ia 
 danger of coming by the board, four foot water 
 in the hold, men dropping off very fast; in this 
 dreadful situation how do you think the captaia 
 acts (whose name shall be Perceval) ? He 
 calls all hands upon deck ; talks to them of 
 king, country, glory, sweethearts, gin, French 
 prison, wooden shoes, old England, and hearts 
 of oak; they give three cheers, rush to their 
 guns, and, after a tremendous conflict, succeed 
 in beating off the enemy. Not a .syllable of all 
 this ; this is not the manner in which the hon- 
 ourable commander goes to work; the first 
 thing he does is to secure 20 or 30 of his prime 
 sailors who happen to be Catholics, to clap 
 
456 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 them in irons, ana set over them a guard of as 
 many Protestants : having taken this admirable 
 method of defending himself against his infidel 
 opponents, he goes upon deck, reminds the sail- 
 ors, in a very hitler harangue, that they are of 
 different religions ; exhorts the Episcopal gun- 
 ner not to trust to the Presbyterian quarter-mas- 
 ter; issues positive orders that the Catholics 
 should he fired at upon the first appearance of 
 discontent ; rushes through blood and brains, ex- 
 amining his men in the catechism and 39 Arti- 
 cles, and positively forbids every one to spunge 
 or ram who has not taken the sacrament ac- 
 cording to the Church of England. Was it 
 right to take out a captain made of excellent 
 British stuff, and to put in such a man as this 7 
 Is not he more like a parson, or a talking law- 
 yer, than a thorough-bred seaman] And built 
 as she is of heart of oak, and admirably 
 manned, is it possible, with such a captain, to 
 save this ship from going to the bottom 1 
 
 You have an argument, I perceive, in com- 
 mon with many others, against the Catholics, 
 that their demands complied with would only 
 lead to farther exactions, and that it is better to 
 resist them now, before any thing is conceded, 
 than hereafter, when it is found that all conces- 
 sions are in vain. I wish the chancellor of the 
 exchequer, who uses this reasoning to exclude 
 others from their just rights, had tried its effica- 
 cy, not by his understanding, but by (what are 
 full of much better things) his pockets. Sup- 
 pose the person to whom he applied for the 
 meltings had withstood every plea of wife and 
 fourteen children, no business, and good cha- 
 racter, and refused him this paltry little office, 
 because he might hereafter attempt to get hold 
 of the revenues of the Duchy of Lancaster for 
 life; would not Mr. Perceval have contended 
 eagerly against the injustice of refusing mode- 
 rate requests, because immoderate ones may 
 hereafter be made? Would he not have said, 
 (and said truly,) leave such exorbitant attempts 
 as these to the general indignation of the Com- 
 mons, who will take care to defeat them when 
 they do occur; but do not refuse me the irons, 
 and the meltings now, because I may totally 
 Jose sight of all moderation hereafter. Leave 
 hereafter to the spirit and the wisdom of here- 
 after; and do not be niggardly now, from the 
 apprehension that men as wise as you should 
 be profuse in times to come. 
 
 You forget, Brother Abraham, that it is a 
 vast art (where quarrels cannot be avoided) to 
 turn the public opinion in your favour and to 
 the prejudice of your enemy; a vast privilege 
 to feel that you are in the right, and to make 
 him feel that he is in the wrong: a privilege 
 which makes you more than a man, and your 
 antagonist less; and often secures victory, by 
 convincing him who contends, that he must 
 submit to injustice if he submits to defeat. 
 Open every rank in the army and navy to the 
 Catholic; let him purchase at the same price 
 as the Protestant (if either Catholic or Protest- 
 ant can purchase such refined pleasures) the 
 privilege of hearing Lord Castlereagh speak 
 for three hours; keep his clergy from starving, 
 soften some of the most odious powers of the tith- 
 ii g-man, and you will for ever lay this formi- 
 dable question to rest. But if I am wrong, and 
 
 you must quarrel at last, quarrel upon just rather 
 than unjust grounds; divide the Catholic, and 
 unite the Protestant ; be just, and your own ex- 
 ertions will be more formidable and their exer- 
 tions less formidable; be just, and you will take 
 away from their party all the best and wisest 
 understandings of both persuasions, and knit 
 them firmly to your own cause. " Thrice is 
 he armed who has his quarrel just;" and ten 
 times as much may he be taxed. In the begin- 
 ning of any war, however destitute of common 
 sense, every mob will roar, and every lord of 
 the bedchamber address; but if you are en- 
 gaged in a war that is to last for years, and to 
 require important sacrifices, take care to make 
 the justice of your case so clear and so obvious, 
 that it cannot be mistaken by the most illiterate 
 country gentleman who rides the earth. No- 
 thing, in fact, can be so grossly absurd as the 
 argument which says, I will deny justice to 
 you now, because I suspect future injustice 
 from you. At this rate, you may lock a man 
 up in your stable, and refuse to let him out be- 
 cause you suspect that he has an intention, at 
 some future period, of robbing your hen-roost. 
 You may horsewhip him at Lady-day, because 
 you believe he will affront you at Midsummer. 
 You may commit a greater evil, to guard 
 against a less, which is merely contingent, and 
 may never happen. You may do what you 
 have done a century ago in Ireland, made the 
 Catholics worse than Helots, because you sus- 
 pected that they might hereafter aspire to be 
 more than fellow-citizens ; rendering their suf- 
 ferings certain from your jealousy, while yours 
 were only doubtful from their ambition; an am- 
 bition sure to be excited by the very measures 
 which were taken to prevent it. 
 
 The physical strength of the Catholics will 
 not be greater because you give them a share 
 of political power. You may, by these means, 
 turn rebels into friends ; but I do not see how 
 you make rebels more formidable. If they 
 taste of the honey of lawful power, they will 
 love the hive from whence they procure it ; if 
 they will struggle with us like men in the same 
 state for civil influence, we are safe. All that I 
 dread is, the physical strength of four millions 
 of men combined with an invading French 
 army. If you are to quarrel at last with this 
 enormous population, still put it off as long as 
 you can; you must gain, and cannot lose, by 
 the delay. The state of Europe cannot be 
 worse ; the conviction which the Catholics 
 entertain of your tyranny and injustice cannot 
 be more alarming, nor the opinions of your 
 own people more divided. Time, which pro- 
 duces such effect upon brass and marble, may 
 inspire one minister with modest}', and another 
 with compassion; every circumstance may be 
 better; some certainly will be so, none can be 
 worse ; and, after all, the evil may neverhappen. 
 
 You have got hold, I perceive, of all the vul- 
 gar English stories respecting the hereditary 
 transmission of forfeited property, and serious- 
 ly believe that every Catholic beggar wears 
 the terriers of his father's land next his skin, 
 and is only waiting for better times to cut the 
 throat of the Protestant professor, and get 
 drunk in the hall of his ancestors. There is 
 one irresistible answer to this mistake, and 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 457 
 
 that is, that the forfeitef" lands are purchased 
 indiscriminately by Catholic and Protestant, 
 and that the Catholic purchaser never objects 
 to such a title. Now the land (so purchased 
 by a Catholic) is either his own family estate, 
 or it is not. If it is, you suppose him so desi- 
 rous of coming into possession, that he resorts 
 to the double method of rebellion and purchase ; 
 if it is not his own family estate of which he 
 becomes the purchaser, 3'ou suppose him first 
 to purchase, then to rebel, in order to defeat the 
 purchase. These things may happen in Ire- 
 land; but it is totally impossible they can hap- 
 pen anywhere else. In fact, what land can any 
 man of any sect purchase in Ireland, but for- 
 feited property 1 In all other oppressed coun- 
 tries which 1 have ever heard of, the rapacity 
 of the conqueror was bounded by the territorial 
 limits in which the objects of his avarice were 
 contained; but Ireland has been actually con- 
 fiscated twice over, as a cat is twice killed by 
 a wicked parish-boy. 
 
 I admit there is a vast luxury in selecting a 
 particular set of Christians, and in worrying 
 them as a boy worries a puppy dog ; it is an 
 amusement in which all the young English 
 are brought up from their earliest days. I like 
 the idea of saying to men who use a different 
 hassock from me, that till they change their 
 has50ck, they shall never be colonels, alder- 
 men, or Parliament-men. While I am gratify- 
 ing my personal insolence respecting religious 
 forms, I fondle myself into an idea that I am 
 religious, and that I am doing my duty in the 
 most exemplary (as I certainly am in the most 
 easy) way. But then, my good Abraham, this 
 sport, admirable as it is, is become, with re- 
 spect to the Catholics, a little dangerous ; and 
 if we are not extremely careful in taking the 
 aihusement, we shall tumble into the holy 
 w^ater, and be drowned. As it seems neces- 
 sary to your idea of an established church to 
 have somebody to worry and torment, suppose 
 we were to select for this purpose William 
 Wilberforce, Esq., and the patent Christians 
 of Clapham. We shall by this expedient en- 
 joy the same opportunity for cruelty and in- 
 justice, without being exposed to the same 
 risks; we will compel them to abjure vital 
 clergymen by a public test, to deny that the 
 said William Wilberforce has any power of 
 working miracles, touching for barrenness or 
 any other infirmity, or thg,t he is endowed with 
 any preternatural gift whatever. We will 
 swear them to the doctrine of good works, 
 compel them to preach common sense, and to 
 hear it ; to frequent bishops, deans, and other 
 high churchmen ; and to appear (once in the 
 quarter at the least) at some melodrame, opera, 
 pantomime, or other light scenical representa- 
 tion; in short, we will gratify the love of inso- 
 lence and power; we will enjoy the old orthodox 
 sport of witnessing the impotent anger of men 
 compelled to submit to civil degradation, or to 
 sacrifice their notions of truth to ours. And 
 all this we may do without the slightest risk, 
 because their numbers are (as yet) not very 
 considerable. Cruelty and injustice must, of 
 course, exist ; but why connect them with 
 danger? Why torture a bull-dog when you 
 can get a frog or a rabbit 1 I am sure my 
 58 
 
 proposal will meet with the most universal 
 approbation. Do not be apprehensive of any 
 opposition from ministers. If it is a case of 
 hatred, we are sure that one man will defend 
 it by the Gospel ; if it abridges human free- 
 dom, we know that another will find precedents 
 for it in theRevolufion. 
 
 In the name of Heaven, what are we to gain 
 by suffering Ireland to be rode b'y that factioa 
 which now predominates over if! Why are 
 we to endanger our own church and state, not 
 for 500,000 Episcopalians, but for ten or twelve 
 great Orange families, who have been sucking 
 the blood of that country for these hundred 
 years last pasti and the folly of the Orange- 
 men* in playing this game themselves, is 
 almost as absurd as ours in plajang it for 
 them. They ought to have the sense to see 
 that their business now is to keep quietl^^ the 
 lands and beeves of which the fathers of the 
 Catholics were robbed in days of yore ; they 
 must give to their descendants the sop of 
 political power; by contending with them for 
 names, they will lose realities, and be com- 
 pelled to beg their potatoes in a foreign land, 
 abhorred equally by the English, who have 
 witnessed their oppression, and by the Catho- 
 lic Irish, who have smarted under them. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 Then comes Mr. Isaac Hawkins Brown (the 
 gentleman who dancedf so badly at the court 
 of Naples), and asks, if it is not an anomaly 
 to educate men in another religion than your 
 own! It certainly is our duty to get rid of 
 error, and above all, of religious error; but 
 this is not to be done per saltum, or the mea- 
 sure will miscarry, like the queen. It may be 
 very easy to dance away the royal embryo of 
 a great kingdom ; but Mr. Hawkins Brown 
 must look before he leaps, when his object is 
 to crush an opposite sect in religion ; false 
 Sjteps aid the one effect as much as they are 
 latal to the other; it will require not only the 
 lapse of Mr. Hawkins Brown, but the lapse of 
 centuries, before the absurdities of the Catho- 
 lic religion are larughed at as much as they 
 deserve to be ; but surely, in the mean time, 
 the Catholic religion is better than none ; foui 
 millions of Catholics are better than four mil- 
 lions of wild beasts; two hundred priests, 
 educated by our own government, are better 
 than the same number educated by the man 
 who means to destroy us. 
 
 The whole sum now appropriated by govern- 
 ment to the religious education of four millions 
 of Christians is 13,000/.; a sum about one 
 
 * Tliis remark bpsiiis to be sensibly felt in Ireland. 
 The Protestants in Ireland are ftist coming over to the 
 Catholic cause. 
 
 + In the third year of his present majesty, and in the 
 30th of his own ape, Mr. Isaac Hawkins Brown, then 
 upon his travels, danced one evenine at the court of 
 Naples. His dress was a volcanic silk with lava buttons. 
 Whether (as the Neapolitan wits said) he had studied 
 dancing under St. Vitus, or whether David, dancing in a 
 linen vest, was his model, is not known; but Mr. Brown 
 danced with such inconceivable alacrity and vigour, that 
 he threw the Queen of Naples into convulsions of laugh- 
 ter, which terminated in a miscarriage, and changed ihu 
 dynasty of the Neapulitan throne. 
 2Q 
 
458 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDJs^EY SMITH. 
 
 hundred times as large being appropriated in 
 the same country to about one-eighth part of 
 til's number of Protestants. When it was 
 proposed to raise this grant from 8,000Z. to 
 13,000/., its present amount, this sum was 
 objected to by that most indulgent of Chris- 
 tians, Mr. Spencer Perceval, as enormous; he 
 himself having secured for his ov,'n eating and 
 drinking, and the eating and drinking of the 
 Master and Miss Percevals, the reversionary 
 sum of 21,000/. a year of the public money, 
 and having just failed in a desperate and rapa- 
 cious attempt to secure to himself for life the 
 revenues of the Duchy of Lancaster ; and the 
 best of it is, that this minister, after abusing 
 his predecessors for their impious bounty to 
 the Catholics, has found himself compelled, 
 from the apprehension of immediate danger, 
 to grant the sum in question ; thus dissolving 
 his pearl* in vinegar, and destroying all the 
 value of the gift by the virulence and reluc- 
 tance with which it was granted. 
 
 I hear from some persons in Parliament, 
 and from others in the sixpenny societies for 
 debate, a great deal about unalterable laws 
 passed at the Revolution. When I hear any 
 man talk of an unalterable law, the only effect 
 it produces upon me is to convince me that he 
 is an unalterable fool. A law passed when 
 there were Germany, Spain, Russia, Sweden, 
 Holland, Portugal, and Turkey; when there 
 was a disputed succession ; when four or five 
 hundred acres were won and lost after ten 
 )'ears' hard fighting; when armies were com- 
 manded by the sons of kings, and campaigns 
 passed in an interchange of civil letters and 
 ripe fruit ; and for these laws, when the whole 
 state of the world is completely changed, we 
 are now, according to my Lord Hawkesbury, 
 to hold ourselves ready to perish. It is no 
 mean misfortune, in times like these, to be 
 forced to say any thing about such men as 
 Lord Hawkesbury, and to be reminded that we 
 are governed by them; but as I am driven to 
 it, I must take the liberty of observing, that 
 the wisdom and liberality of my Lord Hawkes- 
 bury are of that complexion which alwa3-s 
 shrinks from the present exercise of these 
 virtues, by praising the splendid examples of 
 them in ages past. If he had lived at such 
 periods, he would have opposed the Revolution 
 by praising the Reformation, and the Reforma- 
 tion by speaking handsomely of the crusades. 
 He gratifies his natural antipathy to great and 
 courageous measures, by playing off the wis- 
 dom and courage which have ceased to influ- 
 ence human affairs against that wisdom and 
 courage which living men would employ for 
 present happiness. Besides, it happens un- 
 fortunately for the warden of the Cinque 
 Ports, that to the principal incapacities under 
 which the Irish suffer, they were subjected 
 after that great and glorious revolution, to 
 which we are indebted for so many blessings, 
 and his lordship for the termination of so 
 many periods. The Catholics were not ex- 
 cluded from the Irish House of Commons, or 
 }nilitary commands, before the 3d and 4th of 
 
 * Perfectly ready at the same time to follow the other 
 half of Cleopatra's'example, and to swallow the solution 
 kiiuself. 
 
 William and Mary, and the 1st and 2d of 
 Queen Anne. 
 
 If the great mass of the people, environed 
 as they are on every side with Jenkinsons, 
 Percevals, Melvilles, and other perils, were to 
 pray for divine illumination and aid, what 
 more could Providence in its mercy do than 
 send them the example of Scotland ? For 
 what a length of years was it attempted to 
 compel the Scotch to change their religion : 
 horse, foot, artillery, and armed prebendaries, 
 v>ere sent out after the Presbyterian parsons 
 and their congregations. The Percevals of 
 those days called for blood; this call is never 
 made in vain, and blood M-as shed; but, to the 
 astonishment and horror of the Percevals of 
 those days, they could not introduce the Book 
 of Common Prayer, nor prevent that meta- 
 physical people from going to heaven their 
 true way, instead of our true way. With a 
 little oatmeal for food, and a little sulphur for 
 friction, allaying cutaneous irritation with the 
 one hand, and holding his Calvinistical creed 
 in the other, Sawney ran away to his flinty 
 hills, sung his psalm out of tune his own way, 
 and listened to his sermon of two hours long, 
 amid the rough and imposing melancholy of 
 the tallest thistles. But Sawney brought up 
 his itnbreeched offspring in a cordial hatred 
 of his oppressors ; and Scotland was as much 
 a part of the weakness of England then as 
 Ireland is at this moment. The true and the 
 only remedy was applied ; the Scotch, were 
 sufiered to worship God after their own tire- 
 some manner, without pain, penalty, and pri- 
 vation. No lightnings descended from hea- 
 ven ; the country was not ruined ; the world 
 is not yet come to an end ; the dignitaries, who 
 foretold all these consequences, are utterly 
 forgotten ; and Scotland has ever since been 
 an increasing source of strength to Great 
 Britain. In the six hundredth 3'ear of our 
 empire over Ireland, we are making laws to 
 transport a man, if he is found out of his 
 house after eight o'clock at night. That this is 
 necessary, I know too well; but tell me why 
 it is necessary 1 It is not necessary in Greece, 
 where the Turks are masters. 
 
 Are you aware, that there is at this moment 
 an universal clamour throughout the whole 
 of Ireland against the union] It is now one 
 month since I returned from that country ; I 
 have never seen so extraordinary, so alarming, 
 and so rapid a change in the sentiments of any 
 people. Those who disliked the union before 
 are quite furious against it now ; those who 
 doubted doubt no more ; those who were friend- 
 ly to it have exchanged that friendship for the 
 most rooted aversion ; in the midst of all this 
 (which is by far the most alarming symptom), 
 there is the strongest disposition on the part 
 of the northern dissenters to unite with the 
 Catholics, irritated by the faithless injustice 
 with which they have been treated. If this 
 combination does take place (mark what I say 
 to you), you will have meetings all over Ire- 
 land for the cry of No Union; that cry will 
 spread like wild-fire, and blaze over every op- 
 position ; and if this is the case, there is no 
 use in mincing the matter, Ireland is gone, and 
 the death-blow of England is struck ; and this 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 event may happen instantly — before Mr. Can- 
 ning and Mr. Hookham Frere" have turned 
 Lord Howick's last speech into doggerel 
 rhyme ; before " tlic near and dear relations" 
 have received another quarter of their pen- 
 sion, or Mr. Perceval conducted the curates' 
 salary bill safely to a third reading. — If the 
 mind of the English people, cursed as they 
 now are with that madness of religious dis- 
 sension which has been breathed into them for 
 the purpose of private ambition, can be alarm- 
 ed by any remembrances, and wained by any 
 events, they should never forget how nearly 
 Ireland was lost to this country during the 
 American war; that it was saved merely by 
 the jealousy of the Protestant Irish towards 
 tlie Catholics, then a much more insignificant 
 and powerless body than they now are. The 
 Catholic and the dissenter have since com- 
 bined together against you. Last war, the 
 winds, those ancient and unsnbsidized allies 
 of England ; the winds, upon which English 
 ministers depend as much for saving king-* 
 doms as washerwomen do for drying clothes ; 
 the winds stood your friends ; the French 
 could only get into Ireland in small numbers, 
 and the rebels were defeated. Since then, all 
 the remaining kingdoms of Europe have been 
 destroyed; and the Irish see that their national 
 independence is gone, without having received 
 any single one of those advantages which 
 they were taught to expect from the sacrifice. 
 All good things were to flow from the union ; 
 they have none of them gained any thing. 
 Every man's pride is wounded by it ; no man's 
 interest is promoted. In the seventh year of 
 that union, four million Catholics, lured by 
 all kinds of promises to jdeld up the separate 
 dignity and sovereignty of their country, are 
 forced to squabble with such a man as Mr. 
 Spencer Perceval for five thousand pounds 
 with which to educate their children in tlieir 
 own mode of worship ; he, the same Mr. Spen- 
 cer, having secured to his own Protestant 
 self a reversionary portion of the public mo- 
 ney amounting to four times that sum.., A 
 senior proctor of the University of Oxford, 
 the head of a house, or the examining chap- 
 lain to a bishop, may believe these things can 
 last; but every man of the world, whose im- 
 derstanding has been exercised in the business 
 of life, must see (and see with a breaking 
 heart) that they will soon come to a fearful 
 termination. 
 
 Our conduct to Ireland, during the whole 
 of this war, has been that of a man who sub- 
 scribes to hospitals, weeps at charity sermons, 
 carries out broth and blankets to beggars, and 
 then comes home and beats his wife and 
 children. We had compassion for the victims 
 of all other oppression and injustice, except 
 our own. If Switzerland was threatened, 
 aAvay went a treasury clerk with a hundred 
 thousand pounds for Switzerland ; large bags 
 of money were kept constantly under sailing 
 orders; upon the slightest demonstration to- 
 wards Naples, down went Sir William Hamil- 
 ton upon his knees, and begged for the love of 
 St. Januarius they would help us off with a 
 little money; all the arts of Machiavel were 
 resorted to, to persuade Europe to borrow; 
 
 troops were sent off in all directions to save 
 the Catholic and Protestant world ; the pope 
 himself was guarded by a regiment of English 
 dragoons ; if the Grand I-ama had been at hand, 
 he would have ha,d another; every Catholic 
 clergyman, who had the good fortune to be 
 neither Engfish nor Irish, was immediately 
 provided with lodgings, soup, crucifix, missal, 
 chapel-beads, relics, and holy water ; if Turks 
 had landed, Turks would have received an 
 order from the treasury for coffee, opium, ko- 
 rans, and seraglios. In the midst of all this 
 fury of saving and defending, this crusade for 
 conscience and Christianity, there was an uni- 
 versal agreement among all descriptions of 
 people to continue every species of internal 
 persecution ; to deny at home every just right 
 that had been denied before; to pummel poor 
 Dr. Abraham Rees and his dissenters ; and to 
 treat the unhappy Catholics of Ireland as if 
 their tongues were mule, their heels cloven, 
 their nature brutal, and designedly subjected 
 by Providence to their Orange masters. 
 
 How would my admirable brother, the Rev. 
 Abraham Plymley, like to be marched to a 
 Catholic chapel, to be sprinkled with the sanc- 
 tified contents of a pump, to hear a number 
 of false quantities in the Latin tongue, and to 
 see a number of persons occupied in making 
 right angles upon the breast and foreheads 
 And if all this would give you so much pain, 
 what right have you to march Catholic sol 
 diers to a place of worship where there is no 
 aspersion, no rectangular gestures, and where 
 they understand every word they hear, having 
 first, in order to get him to enlist, made a so- 
 lemn promise to the contrary ? Can you won- 
 der, after this, that the Catholic priest stops 
 the recruiting in Ireland, as he is now doing 
 to a most alarming degree ] 
 
 The late question concerning military rank 
 did not individually affect the lowest persons 
 of the Catholic persuasion; but do you ima- 
 gine that tliey do not sympathize with he 
 honour and disgrace of their superiors'? Do 
 you think that satisfaction and dissatisfaction 
 do not travel down from Lord Fingal to the 
 most potatoless Catholic in Ireland, and that 
 the glory or shame of the sect is not felt by 
 many more than these conditions personally 
 and corporally affect 1 Do you suppose that 
 the detection of Sir H. M., and the disappoint- 
 ment of Mr. Perceval in the matter of the Duchy 
 of Lancaster, did not affect every dabbler in 
 public property 1 Depend upon it these thingf 
 were felt through all the gradations of small 
 plunderers, down to him who filches a pound 
 of tobacco from the king's warehouses; while, 
 on the contrary, the acquittal of any noble and 
 official thief would not fail to diffuse the most 
 heartfelt satisfaction over the larcenous and 
 burglarious world. Observe, I do not say be- 
 cause the lower Catholics are affected by what 
 concerns their superiors, that they are not af- 
 fected by what concerns themselves. There 
 is no disguising the horrid truth ; there must he 
 some relaxation ivith respect to tithe: this is the 
 cruel and heart-rending price which must be 
 paid for national preservation. I feel how- 
 little existence will be worth having, if anv 
 alteration, however slight, is made in the pro- 
 
460 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 perty of Irish rectors ; I am conscious how 
 much such changes must atTect the daily and 
 hourly comforts of every'Englishman ; I shall 
 feel too happy if they leave Europe untouched, 
 and are not ultimately fatal to the destinies of 
 America; but lam madly bent upon keeping 
 foreign enemies out of the Britisn empire, and 
 my limited understanding presents me with no 
 other means of effecting my object. 
 
 You talk of waiting till another reign* before 
 any alteration is made ; a proposal full of 
 good sense and good nature, if the measure 
 in question were to pull down St. James's Pa- 
 lace, or to alter Kew Gardens. Will Bona- 
 parte agree to put off his intrigues, and his in- 
 ^rasion of Ireland 1 If so, I will overlook the 
 question of justice, and finding the danger sus- 
 pended, agree to the delay. I sincerely hope 
 this reign may last many years, yet the delay 
 of a single session of Parliament may be fa- 
 tal ; but if another year elapses without some 
 serious concession made to the Catholics, I 
 believe, before God, that all future pledges and 
 concessions will be made in vain. I do not think 
 that peace will do you any good under such 
 circumstances; if IBonaparte gives you a res- 
 pite, it will only be to get ready the gallows on 
 which he means to hang you. The Catholic 
 and the dissenter can unite in peace as well as 
 war. If the)r do, the gallows is ready ; and 
 your executioner, in spite of the most solemn 
 promises, will turn you off the next hour. 
 
 With every disposition to please (where to 
 please within fair and rational limits is an high 
 duty), it is impossible for public men to be 
 long silent about the Catholics: pressing evils 
 are not got rid of because they are not talked 
 of. A man may command his family to say 
 nothing more about the stone, and surgical 
 operations ; but the ponderous malice still lies 
 upon the nerve, and gets so big, that the patient 
 breaks his own law of silence, clamours for 
 the knife, and expires under its late operation. 
 Believe me, you talk foil}', when you talk of 
 suppressing the Catholic question. I wish to 
 God the case admitted of such a remedy: bad 
 as it s, it does not admit of it. If the wants of 
 the Catholics are not heard in the manly tones 
 of Lord Grenville, or the servile drawl of Lord 
 Citstlereagh, they will be heard ere long in the 
 madness of mobs, and the conliicts of armed 
 men. 
 
 I observe, it is now universally the fashion 
 to speak of the first personage in the state as 
 the great obstacle to the measure. In the first 
 place, I am not bound to believe such rumours 
 because I hear them ; and in the next place, I 
 object to such language as unconstitutional. 
 Whoever retains his situation in the ministry', 
 while the incapacities of the Catholics remain, 
 is the advocate for those incapacities ; and to 
 him, and to him only, am I to look for respon- 
 sibility. But waive this question of the Catho- 
 lics, and put a general case : How is a minister 
 of this country to act when the conscientious 
 scruples of his sovereign prevent the execution 
 of a measure deemed by him absolutely neces- 
 sary to the safety of the country 1 His conduct 
 is quite clear — he should resign. But what is 
 his successor to do 7 — Resign. But is the king 
 Ic he left without ministers, and is he in this 
 
 I manner to be compelled to act against his own 
 conscience? Uefore I answer this, pray tell 
 me, in my turn, what better defence is there 
 against the machinations of a wicked, or the 
 errors of a weak monarch, than the impossi- 
 bility of finding a minister who will lend him- 
 self to vice and folly 1 Every English monarch, 
 in such a predicament, woitld sacrifice his 
 opinions and views to such a clear expression 
 of the public will ; and it is one method in 
 which the constitution aims at bringing about 
 such a sacrifice. You may say, if you please, 
 the ruler of a state is forced to give up his 
 object, when the natural love of place and 
 power will tempt no one to assist him in its 
 attainment. This may be force; but it is force 
 without injury, and therefore without blame. 
 I am not to be beat out of these obvious rea- 
 sonings, and ancient constitutional provisions, 
 by the term conscience. There is no fantasy, 
 however wild, that a man may not persuade 
 himself that he cherishes from motives of 
 t^onscience; eternal war against impious 
 France, or rebellious America, or Catholic 
 Spain, may in times to come be scruples of 
 conscience. One English monarch may, from 
 scruples of conscience, wish to abolish every 
 trait of religious persecution ; another monarch 
 may deem it his absolute and indispensable 
 duty to make a slight provision for dissenters 
 out of the revenues of the Church of England. 
 So that j'ou see, Brother Abraham, there are 
 cases where it would be the duty of the best 
 and most loyal subjects to oppose the consci- 
 entious scruples of their sovereign, still taking 
 care that their actions were constitutional, and 
 their modes respectful. Then you come upon 
 me with personal questions, and say, that no 
 such dangers are to be apprehended now under 
 our present gracious sovereign, of whose good 
 qualities we must be all so well convinced. 
 All these sorts of discussions I beg leave to 
 decline; what I have said upon constitutional 
 topics, I mean of course for general, not for 
 particular application. I agree with you in all 
 the good you have said of the powers that be, 
 and I avail myself of the opportunity of point- 
 ing out general dangers to the constitution, at 
 a moment when we are so completely exempted 
 from their present influence. I cannot finish 
 this letter without expressing my surprise and 
 pleasure at your abuse of the servile addresses 
 poured in upon the throne; nor can I conceive 
 a greater disgust to a monarch, with a true 
 English heart, than to see such a question as 
 that of Catholic emancipation argued, not with 
 a reference to its justice or its importance, but 
 universally considered to be of no farther con- 
 sequence than as it aflects his own private 
 feelings. That these sentiments should be 
 mine, is not wonderful ; but how they come to 
 be yours, does, I confess, fill me with surprise. 
 Are you moved by the arrival of the Irish 
 brigade at Antwerp, and the amorous violence 
 which awaits Mrs. Plymleyl 
 
 LETTER V. 
 Dear Abhahawc, 
 I NEVKH met a parson in my life who did not 
 consider the Corporation and Test Acts as the 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 461 
 
 great bulwarks of the chitrch ; and 3^et it is now 
 just sixt3'-lbur years since bills of' indemnity 
 to destroy their penal etlects, or, in other words, 
 to repeal them, have been passed annually as 
 a matter of course. 
 
 Heti vatum ignara mcntes. 
 
 These bulwarks, without which no clergyman 
 thinks he could sleep with his accustomed 
 soundness, have actually not been in existence 
 since any man now living has taken holy 
 orders. Every year the indemnity act pardons 
 past breaches of these two laws, and prevents 
 any fresh actions of informers from coming to 
 a conclusion before the period for the next 
 indemnity bill arrives; so that these penalties, 
 by which alone the church remains in existence, 
 have not had one moment's operation for sixty- 
 four years. You will say the legislature, during 
 the whole of this period, has reserved to itself 
 thediscretionof suspending, or not suspending. 
 But had not the legislature the right of re- 
 enacting, if it was necessary 1 And now, when 
 you have kept the rod over these people (with 
 the most scandalous Abuse of all principle) for 
 sixt)'-four years, and not found it necessary to 
 strike once, is not that the best of all reasons 
 why the rod should be laid aside 1 You talk 
 to me of a very valuable hedge running across 
 your fields which you would not part with on 
 any account. I go down, expecting to find a 
 limit impervious to cattle, and highly useful 
 for the preservation of property; but, to my 
 utter astonishment, I find that the hedge was 
 cut down half a century ago, and that every 
 year the shoots are clipped the moment they 
 appear above ground: it appears, upon farther 
 inquiry, that the hedge never ought to have 
 existed at all ; that it originated in the malice 
 of antiquated quarrels, and was cut down be- 
 cause it subjected you to vast inconvenience, 
 and broke up your intercourse with a country 
 absolutely necessary to your existence. If the 
 remains of this hedge serve only to keep up an 
 irritation in your neighbours, and to remind 
 them of the feuds of former times, good nature 
 and good sense teach you that you ought to 
 grub it up, and cast it into the oven. This is 
 the exact state of these two laws ; and yet it is 
 made a great argument against concession to 
 the Catholics, that it involves their repeal ; 
 which is to say. Do not make me relinquish a 
 folly that will lead to my ruin ; because, if you 
 do, I must give up other follies ten times 
 greater than this. 
 
 I confess, with all our bulwarks and hedges, 
 it mortifies me to the very quick, to contrast 
 with our matchless stupidity and inimitable 
 folly, the conduct of Bonaparte upon the subject 
 of religious persecution. At the moment when 
 we are tearing the crucifixes from the necks of 
 the Catholics, and washing pious mud from the 
 foreheads of the Hindoos; at that moment this 
 man is assembling the very Jews at Paris, and 
 endeavouring to give them stability and import- 1 
 ance. I shall never be reconciled to mending 
 shoes in America; but I see it must be my lot, 
 and I will then take a dreadful revenge upon 
 Mr. Perceval, if I catch him preaching within 
 ten miles of me. I cannot for the soul of me 
 conceive Avhence this man has gained his 
 
 notions of Christianity; he has the most evan- 
 gelical charity for errors in arithmetic, and the 
 most inveterate malice against errors in con- 
 science. While he rages against those whom, 
 in the true spirit of the Gospel, he ought to in- 
 dulge, he forgets the only instance of severity 
 which that Gospel contains, and leaves the 
 jobbers, and contractors, and money-changers 
 at their seats, without a single stripe. 
 
 You cannot imagine, you say, that England 
 will ever be ruined and conquered; and for no 
 other reason that I can find, but because it 
 seems so very odd it should be ruined and 
 conquered. Alas ! so reasoned, in their time, 
 the Austrian, Russian and Prussian Plymleys. 
 But the English are brave; so were all these 
 nations. You might get together an hundred 
 thousand men individually brave; but without 
 generals capable of commanding such a ma- 
 chine, it would be as useless as a first-rate 
 man-of-war manned by Oxford clergymen, or 
 Parisian shopkeepers. I do not say this to the 
 disparagement of English othcers; they have 
 had no means of acquiring experience; but I 
 do say it to create alarm ; for we do not appear 
 to me to be half alarmed enough, or to entertain 
 that sense of our danger which leads to the 
 most obvious means of self-defence. As for 
 the spirit of the peasantry, in making a gallant 
 defence behind hedge-rows, and through plate- 
 racks and hen-coops, highly as I think of their 
 bravery, I do not know any nation in Europe 
 so likely to be struck with panic as the English ; 
 and this from their total unacquaintance with 
 the science of war. Old wheat and beans 
 blazing for twenty miles round; cart mares 
 shot; sows of Lord Somerville's breed running 
 wild over the country; the minister of the parish 
 wounded solely in his hinder parts; Mrs. 
 Plymley in fits; all these scenes of war an 
 Austrian or a Russian has seen three or four 
 times over; but it is now three centuries since 
 an English pig has fallen in a fair battle upon 
 English ground, or a farm-house been rifled, 
 or a clergyman's wife been subjected to any 
 other proposals of love than the connubial 
 endearments of her sleek and orthodox mate. 
 The old edition of Plutarch's Lives, which 
 lies in the corner of your parlour window, has 
 contributed to work you up to the most 
 romantic expectations of our Roman behaviour. 
 You are persuaded that Lord Amherst will 
 defend Kew Bridge like Codes; that some 
 maid of honour will break away from her 
 captivity, and swim over the Thames ; that the 
 Duke of York will burn his capitulating hand; 
 and little Mr. Sturges Bourne* give forty years' 
 purchase for Moulsham Hall, while the French 
 are encamped upon it. I hope we shall witness 
 all this, if the French do come ; but in the mean 
 time I am so enchanted with the ordinai-y 
 English behaviour of these invaluable persons 
 that I earnestly pray no opportunity may be 
 given them for Roman valour, and for those 
 very un-Roman pensions which they would 
 all, of course, take especial care to claim in 
 
 * There is nothins more ohjpctionahle in Plymley'a 
 I,etters than tlie abuse of Mr. Stiirses Bourne, who is an 
 hoiiouralile, able, anil excellent person ; but such are the 
 malevolent effects of party spirit. 
 2 a 3 
 
462 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 consequence. But whatever was our conduct, 
 if every ploughman was as great a hero as he 
 who was called from his oxen to save Rome 
 from her enemies, I should still say, that at 
 such a crisis you want the affections of all 
 your subjects in both islands ; there is no spirit 
 ■which you must alienate, no heart you must 
 avert; every man must feel he has a countrj^, 
 and that there is an urgent and pressing cause 
 why he should expose himself to death. 
 
 The effects of penal laws, in matters of reli- 
 gion, are never confined to those limits in 
 v/hich the legislature intended they should be 
 placed; it is not only that I am excluded from 
 certain offices and dignities because I am a 
 Catholic, but the exclusion carries with it a 
 certain stigma, which degrades me in the eyes 
 of the monopolizing sect, and the very name 
 of my religion becomes odious. These effects 
 are so very striking in England, that I solemnly 
 believe blue and red baboons to be more popu- 
 lar here than Catholics and Presbyterians ; they 
 are more understood, and there is a greater dis- 
 position to do something for them. When a 
 country squire hears of an ape, his first feeling 
 is to give it nuts and apples; when he hears 
 of a dissenter, his immediate impulse is to 
 commit it to the county jail, to shave its head, 
 lo alter its customary food, and to have it 
 privately whipped. This is no caricature, but 
 an accurate picture of national feelings, as they 
 degrade and endanger us at this very moment. 
 The Irish Catholic gentleman would bear his 
 legal disabilities with greater temper, if these 
 were all he had to bear — if they did not enable 
 every Protestant cheesemonger and tidewaiter 
 to treat him with contempt. He is branded on 
 the forehead with a red-hot iron, and treated 
 like a spiritual felon, because, in the highest 
 of all considerations, he is led by the noblest 
 of all guides, his own disinterested conscience. 
 
 Why are nonsense and cruelty a bit the better 
 because they are enacted? If Providence, 
 which gives wine and oil, had blessed us with 
 that tolerant spirit which makes the counte- 
 nance more pleasant and the heart more glad 
 than these can do; if our statute book had 
 never been defiled with such infamous laws, 
 the sepulchral Spencer Perceval would have 
 been hauled through the dirtiest horse-pond in 
 Hampstead, had he ventured to propose them. 
 But now persecution is good, because it exists ; 
 every law which originated in ignorance and 
 rnalice, and gratifies the passions from whence 
 it sprang, we call the wisdom of our ancestors ; 
 when such laws are repealed, they will be 
 cruelty and madness; till they are repealed, 
 they are policy and caution. 
 
 I was somewhat amused with the imputation 
 brought against the Catholics by the University 
 of Oxford, that they are enemies to liberty. I 
 immediately turned to my history of England, 
 and marked as an historical error that passage 
 in which it is recorded that, in the reign of 
 Queen Anne, the famous decree of the Univer- 
 sity of Oxford, respecting passive obedience, 
 was ordered, by the House of Lords, to be 
 burnt by the hands of the common hangman, 
 as contrary to the liberty of the subject, and 
 the law of the land. Nevertheless, I wish, 
 whatever be the modesty of those who impute, 
 
 that the imputation was a little more true; the 
 Catholic cause would not be quite so desperate 
 with the present administration, I fear, how- 
 ever, that the hatred to liberty in these poor 
 devoted wretches may ere long appear more 
 doubtful than it is at present to the vice-chan- 
 cellor and his clergy, inflamed, as they doubt- 
 less are, with classical examples of republican 
 virtue, and panting, as they always have been, 
 to reduce the power of the crown within nar- 
 rower and safer limits. What mistaken zeal 
 to attempt to connect one religion with free- 
 dom, and another with slavery ! M^'ho laid the 
 foundations of English liberty 1 What was the 
 mixed religion of Switzerland 1 What has the 
 Protestant religion done for liberty in Den- 
 mark, in Sweden, throughout the north of Ger- 
 many, and in Prussia] The purest religion in 
 the world, in my humble opinion, is the religion 
 of the Church of England ; for its preservation 
 (so far as it is exercised without intruding upon 
 the liberties of others), I am ready at this mo- 
 ment to venture my present life, and but 
 through that religion I have no hopes of any 
 other ; yet I am not forced to be silly because I 
 am pious ; nor will I ever join in eulogiums on 
 my faith, which every man of common reading 
 and common sense can so easily refute. 
 
 You have either done too much for the 
 Catholics (worthy Abraham), or too little; if 
 you had intended to refuse them political 
 power, you should have refused them civil 
 rights. After you had enabled them to acquire 
 property, after you had conceded to them all 
 that you did concede in 78 and 93, the rest is 
 wholly out of your power; you may choose 
 whether you will give the rest in an honour- 
 able or a disgraceful mode, but it is utterly out 
 of your power to withhold it. 
 
 In the last year, land to the amount of eight 
 humhcil thousnnd pounds was purchased by the 
 Catholics in Ireland. Do you think it possible 
 to be-Perceval, and be-Canning, and be-Castle- 
 reagh such a body of men as this out of their 
 common rights and their sense? Mr. George 
 Canning may laugh and joke at the idea of 
 Protestant bailiffs ravishing Catholic ladies, 
 under the 9ih clause of the sunset bill ; but if 
 some better remedy is not applied to the dis- 
 tractions of Ireland than the jocularity of Mr. 
 Canning, they will soon put an end to his pen- 
 sion, and to the pension of those "near and 
 dear relatives," for whose eating, drinking, 
 washing, and clothing, every man in the United 
 Kingdoms now pays his two-pence or three- 
 pence a year. You may call these observa- 
 tions coarse, if you please; but I have no idea 
 that the Sophias and Carolines of any man 
 breathing are to eat national veal, to drink 
 public tea, to wear treasury ribands, and then 
 that we are to he told that it is coarse to 
 animadvert upon this pitiful and eleemosynary 
 splendour. If this is right, why not me-ition 
 it? If it is wrong, why should not he who 
 enjoys the ease of supporting his sisters in this 
 manner bear the shame of it? Every body 
 seems hitherto to have spared a man who 
 never spares any body. 
 
 As for the enormous wax candles, and super- 
 stitious mummeries, and painted jackets of the 
 Catholic priests, I fear them not. Tell me that 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 463 
 
 the world will return again under the influence 
 of the small-pox; that Lord Castlereagh will 
 hereafter oppose the power of the court; that 
 Lord Howick and Mr. G rattan will do each of 
 them a mean and dishonourable action ; that 
 any bodjwho has heard Lord Redesdale speak 
 once will knowingly and willingly hear him 
 again ; that Lord Eldon has assented to the 
 fact of two and two making four, 'without 
 shedding tears, or expressing the smallest 
 doubt or scruple; tell me any other thing 
 absurd or incredible, but, for the love of com- 
 mon sense, let me hear no more of the danger 
 to be apprehended from the general diffusion 
 of Popery. It is too absurd ta' be reasoned 
 upon ; every man feels it is nonsense when he 
 hears it stated, and so does every man while he 
 is stating it. 
 
 I cannot imagine why the friends to the 
 church establishment should entertain such an 
 horror of seeing the doors of Parliament flung 
 open to the Catholics, and view so passively 
 the enjoyment of that right by the Presbyte- 
 rians, and by every other species of dissenter. 
 In their tenets, in their church government, in 
 the nature of their endowments, the dissenters 
 are infinitely more distant from the Church of 
 England than the Catholics are ; yet the dis- 
 senters have never been excluded from Parlia- 
 ment. There are 45 members in one house 
 and 16 in the other, who always are dissenters. 
 There is no law which would prevent every 
 member of the Lords and Commons from 
 being di:3enters. The Catholiae could not 
 bring into Parliament half the number of the 
 Scotch members; and yet one exclusion is of 
 such immense importance, because it has taken 
 place ; and the other no human being thinks of, 
 because no one is accustomed to it. I have 
 often thought, if the luisdom of our ancestors had 
 excluded all persons with red hair from the 
 House of Commons, of the throes and convul- 
 sions it would occasion to restore them to their 
 natural rights. What mobs and riots would it 
 produce ? To what infinite abuse and obloquy 
 would the capillary patriot be exposed ? what 
 •wormwood would distil from Mr. Perceval, 
 what froth would drop from Mr. Canning ; how 
 (I will not say my, but our Lord Hawke&bury, 
 for he belongs to us all), how our Lord Hawkes- 
 bury would work away about the hair of King 
 William and Lord Somers, and the authors of 
 the great and glorious Revolution; how Lord 
 Elton would appeal to the Deity and his own 
 virtues, and to the hair of his children: some 
 would say that red-haired men were supersti- 
 tious; some would prove they were atheists; 
 they would be petitioned against as the friends 
 of slavery, and the advocates for revolt; in 
 short, such a corrupter of the heart and the un- 
 derstanding is the spirit of persecution, and 
 these unfortunate people (conspired against by 
 their fellow-subjects of every complexion), if 
 they did not emigrate to countries where hair 
 of another colour was persecuted, would be 
 driven to the falsehood of perukes, or the hy- 
 pocrisy of the Tricosian fluid. 
 
 As for the dangers of tl»e church (in spite of 
 the staggering events which have lately taken 
 place), I have not yet entirely lost my confi- 
 dence in the power of common sense, and I 
 
 believe the church to be in no danger at all ; 
 but if it is, that danger is not from the Catho- 
 lies, but from the Methodists, and from that 
 patent Christianity which has been for some 
 time manufacturing at Clapham, to the preju- 
 dice of the old and admirable article prepared 
 by the church. I would counsel fuy lords the 
 bishops to keep their eyes upon that holy vil- 
 lage, and its hallowed vicinity; they will find 
 there a zeal in making converts far superior to 
 any thing which exists among the Catholics ; 
 a contempt for the great mass of English 
 clergy much more rooted and profound; and 
 a regular fund to purchase livings for those 
 groaning and garrulous gentlemen, whom they 
 denominate (by a standing sarcasm against 
 the regular church) gospel preachers, and 
 vital clergymen. I am too firm a believer in 
 the general propriety and respectability of the 
 English clergy, to believe they have much to 
 fear either from old nonsense, or from new ; 
 but if the church must be supposed to be in 
 danger, I prefer that nonsense which is grown 
 half venerable from time, the force of which 
 I have already tried and baffled, which at least 
 has some excuse in the dark and ignorant 
 ages in which it originatei^ The religious 
 enthusiasm manufactured by living men before 
 my own eyes disgusts my understanding as 
 much, influences my imagination not at all, 
 and excites my apprehensions much more. 
 
 I may have seemed to you to treat the situa- 
 tion of public aflairs with some degree of 
 levity; but I feel it deeply, and with nightly 
 and daily anguish; because I know Ireland; I 
 have known it all my life ; I love it, and I fore- 
 see the crisis to which it will soon be exposed. 
 Who can doubt but that Ireland will experience 
 ultimately from France a treatment to which 
 the conduct they have experienced from Eng- 
 land is the love of a parent, or a brother! 
 Who can doubt but that five years after he has 
 got hold of the country, Ireland will be tossed 
 away by Bonaparte as a present to some one 
 of his ruflian generals, who will knock the 
 head of Mr. Keogh against the head of Cardi- 
 nal Troy, shoot twenty of the most noisy block- 
 heads of the Roman persuasion, wash his 
 pug-dogs in holy water, and confiscate the salt 
 butter of the Milesian republic to the last tub? 
 Hut what matters this ] or who is wise enough 
 in Ireland to heed if! or v.-hen had common 
 sense mucli influence with my poor dear Irish? 
 Mr. Perceval does not know the Irish ; but I 
 know them, and I know that at every rash and 
 mad hazard, they will break the union, revenge 
 their wounded pride and their insulted religion, 
 and fling themselves into the open arms of 
 France, sure of dying in the embrace. And 
 now, what means have you of guarding against 
 this coming evil, upon which the future happi- 
 ness or misery of every Englishman depends! 
 Have you a single ally in the whole world T 
 Is there a vulnerable point in the French em- 
 pire where the astonishing resources oi tnai 
 people can be attracted and employed ] Have 
 you a ministry wise enough to comprehend 
 the danger, manly enough to believe unplea- 
 sant intelligence, honest enough to state their 
 apprehensions at the peril of their places 1 la 
 there anywhere the slightest disposition to joitt 
 
464 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 any measure of love, or conciliation, or ha|)e, 
 with that dreadful bill which the distractions 
 of Ireland have rendered necessary 1 At the 
 very moment that the last monarchy in Europe 
 has fallen, are we not governed by a man of 
 pleasantry, and a man of theology 1 In the 
 six hundredth year of our empire over Ireland, 
 have we any memorial of ancient kindness to 
 refer to I any people, any zeal, any country on 
 which we can depend I Have we any hope, 
 but in the winds of heaven, and the tides of 
 the sea? any prayer to prefer to the Irish, but 
 that they should forget and forgive their op- 
 pressors, who, in the very moment that they 
 are calling upon them for their exertions, 
 solemnly assure them that the oppression 
 shall still remain 1 
 
 Abraham, farewell ! If I have tired you, 
 remember how often you have tired me and 
 others. I do not think we really differ in 
 politics so much as you suppose ; or at least, 
 if we do, that difference is in the means, and 
 not in the end. We both love the constitution, 
 respect the king, and abhor the French. But 
 though you love the constitution, you would 
 perpetuate the abuses which have been en- 
 grafted upon it;4^hough you respect the king, 
 you would confirm his scruples against the 
 Catholics ; though you abhor the French, you 
 would open to them the conquest of Ireland. 
 My metiiod of respecting my sovereign is by 
 protecting his honour, his empire, and his last- 
 ing happiness ; I evince my love of the consti- 
 tution, by making it the guardian of all men's 
 rights and the source of their freedom; and I 
 prove my abhorrence of the French, by uniting 
 against them the disciples of every church in 
 the only remaining nation in Europe. As for 
 the men of whom I have been compelled, in 
 this age of mediocrity, to say so much, they 
 cannot of themselves be worth a moment's 
 consideration to you, to me, or to any body. 
 In a year after their death, they will be forgotten 
 as completely as if they had never been ; and 
 are now of no farther importance than as they 
 are the mere vehicles of carrying into effect 
 the common-place and mischievous prejudices 
 of the times in which they live. 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 Dear Atiraham, 
 
 What amuses me the most is, to hear of the 
 induls:enccs which the Catholics have received, 
 and their exorbitance in not being satisfied 
 with those indulgences: now if you complain 
 to me that a man is obtrusive and shameless 
 in his requests, and that it is impossible to 
 bring liim to reason, I must first of all hear 
 the whole cf your conduct towards him; for 
 you may have taken from him so much in the 
 first ill stance, that, in spite of a long series of 
 restifiit n, a vast latitude foR petition may still 
 remain liehind. 
 
 There is a village (no matter where) in 
 which the inhabitants, on one day in the year, 
 sit down to a dinner prepared at the common 
 expense; by an extraordinary piece of tyranny 
 (which Lord Hawkesbury would call the wis- 
 'lom of the village ancestors), the inhabitants 
 
 of three of the streets, about an hundred years 
 ago, seized upon the inhabitants of the fourth 
 street, bound them hand and foot, laid them 
 upon their backs, and compelled them to look 
 on while the rest were stuffing themselves 
 with beef and beer; the next year, the inhabit- 
 ants of the persecuted street (though they 
 contributed an equal quota of the expense) 
 were treated precisely in the same manner. 
 The tyranny grew into a custom ; and (as the 
 manner of our nature is) it was considered as 
 the most sacred of all duties to keep these 
 poor fellows without their annual dinner; the 
 village was so tenacious of this practice, that 
 nothing coulli induce them to resign it; every 
 enemy to it was looked upon as a disbeliever 
 in Divine Providence, and any nefarious 
 churchwarden who wished to succeed in his 
 election had nothing to do but to represent his 
 antagonist as an abolitionist, in order to frus- 
 trate his ambition, endanger his life, and throw 
 the village into a state of the most dreadful 
 commotion. By degrees, however, the ob- 
 noxious street grew to be so well peopled, and 
 its inhabitants so firmly united, that their op- 
 pressors, more afraid of injustice, were more 
 disposed to be just. At the next dinner they 
 are unbound, the year after allowed to sit up- 
 right, then a bit of bread and a glass of water; 
 till at last, after a long series of concessions, 
 they are emboldened to ask, in pretty plain 
 terms, that they may be allowed to sit down at 
 the bottom of the table, and to fill their bellies 
 as well as the rest. Forthwith a general cry 
 of shame and scandal: "Ten years ago, were 
 you not laid upon your backs 1 Don't you 
 I reineraber what a great thing you thought it to 
 get a piece of bread 1 How thankful you 
 were for cheese parings 1 Have you forgotten 
 that memorable era, when the lord of the manor 
 interfered to obtain for you a slice of the public 
 pudding] And now with an audacity only 
 equalled by your ingratitude, you have the 
 impudence to ask for knives and forks, and to 
 request, in terms too plain to be mistaken, that 
 you may sit down to table with the rest, and 
 be indulged even with beef and beer: there 
 are not more than half a dozen dishes which 
 we have reserved for ourselves; the rest has 
 been thrown open to you in the utmost profu- 
 sion; you have potatoes, and carrots, suet 
 dumplings, sops in the pan, and delicious toast 
 and Avater, in incredible quantities. Beef, 
 mutton, lamb, pork, and veal are ours; and if 
 you were not the most restless and dissatisfied 
 of human beings, you would never think of 
 aspiring to enjoy them." 
 
 Is not this, my dainty Abraham, the very 
 nonsense and the very insult which is talked 
 to and practised upon the Catholics 1 You are 
 surprised that men who have tasted of partial 
 justice should ask for perfect justice; that he 
 who has been robbed of coat and cloak will 
 not be contented with the restitution of one of 
 his garments. He would be a very lazy block- 
 head if he were content, and I (who, though 
 an inhabitant of the village, have preserved, 
 thank God, some swise of justice) most earn- 
 estly counsel these half-fed claimants to per- 
 severe in their just demands, till they are ad- 
 mitted to a more complete share of a dinner 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 4G5 
 
 for which they pay as much as the others ; and 
 if they see a little attenuated lawyer squabbling 
 at the head of their opponents, let them desire 
 him to empty his pockets, and to pull out all 
 the pieces of duck, fowl, and pudding, which 
 he has filched from the public feast, to carry 
 home to his wife and children. 
 
 You parade a great deal upon the vast con- 
 cessions made by this country to the Irish be- 
 fore the union. I deny that any voluntary 
 concession was ever made by England to Ire- 
 land. — What did Ireland ever ask that was 
 granted 1 What did she ever demand that was 
 refused 1 How did she get her mutiny bill — 
 a limited Parliament — a repeal of Poyning's 
 law — a constitution ? Not by the concessions 
 of England, but by her fears. When Ireland 
 asked for all these things upon her knees, her 
 petitions were rejected with Percevalism and 
 contempt : when she demanded them with the 
 voice of 60,000 armed men, they were granted 
 with every mark of consternation and dismay. 
 Ask of Lord Auckland the fatal consequences 
 of trifling with such a people as the Irish. He 
 himself was the organ of these refusals. — 
 As secretary to the lord-lieutenant, the inso- 
 lence and tyranny of this country passed 
 through his hands. Ask him if he remembers 
 the consequences. Ask him if he has forgotten 
 that memorable evening, when he came down 
 booted and mantled to the House of Commons, 
 when he told the House he was about to set 
 otffor Ireland that night, and declared, before 
 God, if he did not carry with him a compliance 
 with all their demands, Ireland Avas for ever 
 lost to this country. The present generation 
 have forgotten this ; but I have not forgotten 
 it; and I know, hasty and undignified as the 
 submission of England then was, that Lord 
 Auckland was right, that the delay of a single 
 day might very probably have separated the 
 two people for ever. The terms submission 
 and fear are galling terms, when applied from 
 the lesser nation to the greater; but it is the 
 plain historical truth, it is the natural conse- 
 quence of injustice, it is the predicament in 
 which every country places itself which leaves 
 such a mass of hatred and discontent by its 
 side. No empire is powerful enough to endure 
 it; it would exhaust the strength of China, and 
 sink it with all its mandarins and tea-kettles 
 to the bottom of the deep. By refusing them 
 justice now, when you are strong enough to 
 refuse them any thing more than justice, you 
 will act over again, with the Catholics, the same 
 scene of mean and precipitate submission 
 which disgraced you before America, and be- 
 fore the volunteers of Ireland. We shall live 
 to hear the Hampstead Protestant pronouncing 
 such extravagant panegyrics upon holy water, 
 and paying such fulsome compliments to the 
 thumbs and offals of departed saints, thatparties 
 will change sentiments, and Lord Henry Petty 
 and Sam Whitbread take a spell at No-Popery. 
 The wisdom of Mr. Fox was alike employed in 
 teaching his country justice when Ireland was 
 weak, and dignity when Ireland was strong. We 
 are fast pacing round the same miserable circle 
 ofruin and imbecility. Alas! where is our guide? 
 You say that Ireland is a millstone about 
 our necks ; that it would be better for us if Ire- 
 59 
 
 land were sunk at the bottom of the sea ; that 
 the Irish are a nation of irreclaimable savages 
 and barbarians. How often have I heard 
 these sentiments fall from the plump and 
 thoughtless squire, and from the thriving Eng- 
 lish shopkeeper, who has never felt the rod 
 of an Orange master upon his back. Ireland 
 a millstone about your neck! Why is it not 
 a stone of Ajax in )'our hand? I agree with 
 you most cordially, that, governed as Ireland 
 now is, it would be avast accession of strength 
 if the waves of the sea were to rise and ingulf 
 her to-morrow. At this moment, opposed as 
 we are to all the world, the annihilation of one 
 of the most fertile islands on the face of the 
 globe, containing five millions of human crea- 
 tures, would be one of the most solid advan- 
 tages which could happen to this country. I 
 doubt very much, in spite of all the just abuse 
 which has been lavished upon Bonaparte, 
 whether there is any one of his conquered 
 countries the blotting out of which would be 
 as beneficial to him as the destruction of Ire- 
 land would be to us : of countries, I speak, 
 differing in language from ihe French, little 
 habituated to their intercourse, and inflamed 
 with all the resentments of a recently conquered 
 people. Why will j^ou attribute the turbulence 
 of our people to any cause but the right — to 
 i any cause but your oAvn scandalous oppres- 
 sion 1 If you tie your horse up to a gate, and 
 beat him cruelfy, is he vicious because he kicks 
 youl If you have plagued and worried a 
 mastiff dog for years, is he mad because he 
 flies at you whenever he sees you ? Hatred is 
 an active, troublesome passion. Depend upon 
 it, whole nations have always some reason for 
 their hatred. Before you refer the turbulence 
 of the Irish to indurable defects in their cha- 
 racter, tell me if you have treated them as 
 friends and equals 1 Have you protected their 
 commerce 1 Have you respected their reli- 
 gion 1 Have you been as anxious for their 
 freedom as your own? Nothing of all this. 
 What then'' — Why, you have confiscated the 
 territorial surface of the country twice over; 
 3'ou have massacred and exported her inhabit- 
 ants ; you have deprived four-fifths of them 
 of every civil privilege ; you have at every 
 period made her commerce and manufactures 
 slavishly subordinate to your own ; and yet 
 the hatred which the Irish bear to you is the 
 result of an original turbulence of character, 
 and of a primitive, obdurate wildness, utterly 
 incapable of civilization. The embroidered 
 inanities and the sixth-form eflusions of Mr. 
 Canning, are really not powerful enough to 
 make me believe this ; nor is there any autho- 
 rity on earth (always excepting the Dean of 
 Christ-Church) which could make it credible to 
 me. I am sick of Mr. Canning. There is not a 
 ha'p'orth of bread to all this sugar and sack. I 
 love not the cretaceous and incredible counte 
 nance of his colleague. The only opinion in 
 which I agree with these two gentlemen, is that 
 which they entertain of each other; I am sure 
 that the insolence of Mr. Pitt, and the unbalanced 
 accounts of Melville, were far better than Ihn 
 perils of this new ignorance : — 
 
 Nonne fuit satins tristes Amaryllidis iras 
 Atque superba pati tastidia— nonne Menalcani, 
 Quamvis ille niffer ? 
 
466 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 In the midst of the most profound peace, the 
 secret articles of the treaty of Tilsit, in which 
 the destruction of Ireland is resolved upon, in- 
 «luce you to rob the Danes of their fleet. — After 
 the expedition sailed comes the treaty of Tilsit, 
 containing no article,* public or private, allud- 
 ing to Ireland. The state of the world, you tell 
 me, justified us in doing this. — Just God ! do 
 we think only of the state of the world when 
 there is an opportunity for robbery, for mur- 
 der, and for plunder; and do we forget the 
 state of the world when we are called upon to 
 be wise, and good, and just! Does the state 
 of the world never remind us, that we have 
 four millions of subjects whose injuries we 
 ought to atone for, and whose affections we 
 ought to conciliate 1 Does the state of the 
 world never warn us to lay aside our infernal 
 bigotry, and to arm every man who acknow- 
 ledges a God and can grasp a sword? Did it 
 never occur to this administration, that they 
 might virtuously get hold of a force ten times 
 greater than the force of the Danish fleet ? Was 
 there no other way of protecting Ireland, but 
 by bringing eternal shame upon Great Britain, 
 and by making the earth a den of robbers? See 
 what the men whom you have supplanted would 
 have done. They would have rendered the 
 invasion of Ireland impossible, by restoring to 
 the Catholics their long-lost rights ; they would 
 have acted in such a manner ;hat the French 
 would neither have wished for invasion, nor 
 dared to attempt it ; they would have increased 
 the permanent strength of the country while 
 they preserved its reputation unsullied. No- 
 thing of this kind your fiiends have done, be- 
 cause they are solem.nly pledged to do nothing 
 of this kind ; because to tolerate all religions, 
 and to equalize civil rights to all sects, is to 
 oppose some of the worst passions of our na- 
 ture — to plunder and to oppress is to gratify 
 them all. They wanted the huzzas of mobs, 
 and they have for ever blasted the fame of 
 England to obtain them. Were the fleets of 
 Holland, France, and Spain, destroyed by lar- 
 ceny? You resisted the power of 150 sail of 
 the line by sheer courage, and violated every 
 principle of morals from the dread of 15 hulks, 
 while the expedition itself cost you three times 
 more than the value of the larcenous matter 
 brought away. The French trample upon the 
 )aws of God and man, not for old cordage, but 
 for kingdoms, and always take care to be well 
 paid for their crimes. We contrive, under the 
 present administration, to unite moral with in- 
 tellectual deficiency, and to grow weaker and 
 worse by the same action. If they had any 
 evidence of the intended hostility of the Danes, 
 why was it not produced? Why have the na- 
 tions of Europe been allowed to feel an indig- 
 nation against this country beyond the reach 
 of all subsequent information ? Are these 
 limes, do you imagine, when we can trifle with 
 a year of universal hatred, dally with the curses 
 of Europe, and then regain a lost character at 
 pleasure, by the parliamentary perspiration*; 
 of the foreign secretary, or the solemn asseve- 
 rations o." the pecuniary Rose ? Believe me, 
 Abraham, it is not under such ministers as 
 
 ♦ This is now ccnipletely confessed to be tlie case by 
 ministers. 
 
 these that the dexterity of honest Englishmen 
 will ever equal the dexterity of French knaves; 
 it is not in their presence that the serpent of 
 Moses will ever swallow up the serpents of the 
 magicians. 
 
 Lord Hawkesbury says, that nothing is to be 
 granted to the Catholics from fear. What! 
 not even justice? Why not? There are four 
 millions of disaffected people within twenty 
 miles of your own coast. I fairly confess, that 
 the dread which I have of their physical 
 power, is with me a very strong motive for 
 listening to their claims. To talk of not 
 acting from fear is mere parliamentary cant. 
 From what motive but fear, I should be glad 
 to know, have all the improvements in our 
 constitution proceeded? I question if any 
 justice has ever been done to large masses of 
 mankind from any other motive. By what 
 other motives can the plunderers of the Baltic 
 suppose nati.ons to be governed in their inter- 
 course with each other? If I say, Give this 
 people what they ask because it is just, do 
 you think I should get ten people to listen to 
 me ? Would not the lesser of the two Jenkin- 
 sons be the first to treat me with contempt? 
 The only true way to make the mass of man- 
 kind see the beauty of justice, is by showing 
 to them in pretty plain terms the consequences 
 of injustice. If any body of French troops 
 land in Ireland, the whole population of that 
 country will rise against you to a man, and 
 you could not possibly survive such an event 
 three years. Such, from the bottom of my 
 soul, do I believe to be the present state of that 
 country; and so far does it appear to me to be 
 impolitic and unstatesmanlike to concede any 
 thing to such a danger, that if the Catholics, in 
 addition to their present just demands, were to 
 petition for the perpetual removal of the said 
 Lord Hawkesbury from his majesty's coun- 
 cils, I think, whatever might be the effect upon 
 the destinies of Europe, and however it might 
 retard our own individual destruction, that the 
 prayer of the petition should be instantly com- 
 plied with. Canning's crocodile tears shovild 
 not move me ; the hoops of the maids of 
 honour should not hide him. I would tear 
 him from the banisters of the back stairs, and 
 plunge him in the fishy fumes of the dirtiest 
 of all his Cinque Ports. 
 
 LETTER VIL 
 Dear Abrahajt, 
 
 Ix the correspondence which is passing be- 
 tween us, you are perpetually alluding to the 
 foreign secretary ; and in answer to the dan- 
 gers of Ireland, which I am pressing upon 
 your notice, you have nothing to urge but the 
 confidence which you repose in the discretion 
 and sound sense of this gentleman.* I can 
 
 * The attack upon virtue and morals in the debate 
 upon Copenhagen is brought forward with great ostenta- 
 tion by this gentleman's friends. But is Harlequin less 
 Harleq\iin because he acts well f I was present : he 
 leaped about, touched facts with his wand, turned yea 
 inio no, and no into yes; it was a pantomime well 
 played, but a pantomime; Harlequin deserves hightT 
 wages ihan he did two years ago ; is he therefore fit lor 
 serious parte ? 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 467 
 
 only saj', that I have listened to him long and 
 often, with the greatest attention; I have used 
 every exertion in my power to take a fair 
 measure of him, and it appears to me impos- 
 sible to hear him upon any arduous topic 
 without perceiving that he is eminently defi- 
 cient in those solid and serious qualities upon 
 which, and upon which alone, the confidence 
 of a great country can properly repose. He 
 sweats, and labours, and works for sense, and 
 Mr. Ellis seems always to think it is coming, 
 but it does not come ; the machine can't draw 
 up what is not to be found in the spring; 
 Providence has made him a light, jesting, 
 paragraph-writing man, and that he will re- 
 main to his dj'ing day. When he is jocular 
 he is strong, when he is serious he is like 
 Samson in a wig; any ordinary person is a 
 match for him; a song, an ironical letter, a 
 burlesque ode, an attack in the newspaper 
 upon Nicoll's eye, a smart speech of twenty 
 minutes, full of gross misrepresentations and 
 clever turns, excellent langurfge, a spirited 
 manner, lucky quotation, success in provoking 
 dull men, some half information picked up in 
 Pall Mall in the morning ; these are your 
 friend's natural weapons; all these things he 
 can do ; here I allow him to be truly great ; 
 nay, I will be just, and go still farther, if he 
 would confine himself to these things, and 
 consider the facetc and the playful to be the 
 basis of his character, he would, for that spe- 
 cies of man, be universally regarded as a 
 person of a very good understanding; call him 
 a legislator, a reasoner, and the conductor of 
 the affairs of a great nation, and it seems to 
 me as absurd as if a butterfly were to teach 
 bees to make honey. That he is an extraor- 
 dinary writer of small poetry, and a diner out 
 of the highest lustre, I do most readily admit. 
 After George Selwyn, and perhaps Tickell, 
 there has been no such man for this half cen- 
 tury. The foreign secretary is a gentleman, a 
 respectable as well as an highly agreeable 
 man in private life; but you may as well feed 
 me with decayed potatoes as console me for 
 the miseries of Ireland by the resources of his 
 sense and his disae'wn. It is only the public 
 situation which this gentleman holds which 
 entitles me or induces me to say so much 
 about him. He is a fly in amber; nobody 
 car's about the fly: the only question is, How 
 the devil did it get there 1 Nor do I attack 
 him from the love of glory, but from the love 
 of utility, as a burgomaster hunts a rat in a 
 Dutch dyke, for fear it should flood a province. 
 The friends of the Catholic question are, I 
 observe, extremely embarrassed in arguing 
 when they come to the loyalty of the Irish 
 Catholics. As for me, I shall go straight for- 
 ward to my object, and state what I have no 
 manner of doubt, from an intimate knowledge 
 of Ireland, to be the plain truth. Of the great 
 Roman Catholic proprietors, and of the Ca- 
 tholic prelates, there may be a few, and but a 
 few, who would follow the fortunes of England 
 at all events; there is another set of men who, 
 thoroughly detesting this country, have too 
 much properly and too much character to 
 lose, not to wait for some very favourable 
 event before they shov/ ihemselves; but the 
 
 great mass of Catholic population, upon the 
 slightest appearance of a French force in that 
 country, would rise upon you to a man. It is 
 the most mistaken policy to conceal the plain 
 truth. There is no loyalty among the Catho- 
 lics ; they detest you as their worst oppressors, 
 and they will continue to detest you till you 
 remove the cause of their hatred. It is in your 
 power in six months' time to produce a total 
 revolution of opinions among this people ; and 
 in some future letter I will show you that this 
 is clearly the case. At present, see what a 
 dreadful state Ireland is in. The common 
 toast among the low Irish is, the feast of the 
 passoj-cr. Some allusion to Bonaparte, in a 
 play lately acted at Dublin, produced thunders 
 of applause from the pit and the galleries; and 
 a politician should not be inattentive to the 
 public feelings expressed in theatres. Mr. 
 Perceval thinks he has disarmed the Irish; he 
 has no more disarmed the Irish than he has 
 resigned a shilling of his own public emolu- 
 ments. An Irish* peasant fills the barrel of 
 his gun full of tow dipped in oil, butters up 
 the lock, buries it in a bog, and allows the 
 Orange bloodhound to ransack his cottage at 
 pleasure. Be just and kind to the Irish, and 
 you will indeed disarm them : rescue them 
 from the degraded servitude in which they are 
 held by an handful of their own countrymen, 
 and you will add four millions of brave and 
 aff'ectionate men to your strength. Nightly 
 visits, Protestant inspectors, licenses to pos- 
 sess a pistol or a knife ami fork, the odious 
 vigour of the evangelicul Perceval — acts of 
 Parliament, drawn up by some English attor- 
 ney, to save you from the hatred of four mil- 
 lion people — the guarding yourselves from 
 universal disaffection by a police ; a confidence 
 in the little cunning of Bow Street, when you 
 might rest your security upon the eternal basis 
 of the best feelings ; this is the meanness and 
 madness to which nations are reduced when 
 they lose sight of the first elements of justice, 
 without which a country can be no more se- 
 cure than it can be healthy without air. I 
 sicken at such policy and such men. The 
 fact is, the ministers know nothing about the 
 present state of Ireland ; Mr. Perceval sees a 
 few clergymen, Lord Castlereagh a few gene- 
 ral officers, who take care, of course, to report 
 what is pleasant rather than what is true. As 
 for the joyous and lepid consul, he jokes upon 
 neutral flags and feuds, jokes upon Irish re- 
 bels, jokes upon northern, and western, and 
 southern foes, and gives himself no trouble 
 upon any subject; nor is the mediocrity of the 
 idolatrous deputy of the slightest use. Dis- 
 solved in grins, he reads no memorials upon 
 the state of Ireland, listens to no reports, asks 
 no questions, and is the 
 
 "Bourn from whom no traveller returns." 
 
 The danger of an immediate insurrection is 
 
 now, / bel!eve,-\ blown over. You have so strong 
 
 * No man who is not intimately acqaainted with the 
 Ir'sh, can tell to what a curious extent this concealment 
 of arms is carriiid. I have stated the exact mode in 
 which it is done. 
 
 1 1 know too miich, however, of the state of 'reland 
 not to speak tremblingly aScut this. I hope to God I am 
 right. 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 an army in Ireland, and the Irish are become 
 so much more cunning from the last insurrec- 
 tion, that you may perhaps be tolerably secure 
 just at present from that evil: but are you se- 
 cure from the efforts which the French may 
 make to throw a body of troops into Ireland ! 
 and do you consider that event to be difficult 
 and improbable'? From Brest Harbour to 
 Cape Si. Vincent, you have above three thou- 
 sand miles of hostile sea-coast, and twelve or 
 fourteen harbours quite capable of contain- 
 ing a sufficient force for the powerful invasion 
 of Ireland. The nearest of these harbours is 
 not two days' sail from the southern coast of 
 Ireland, with a fair leading wind; and the 
 farthest not ten. Five ships of the line, for so 
 very short a passage, might carry five or six 
 thousand troops with cannd»i and ammunition ; 
 and Ireland presents to their attack a southern 
 coast of more than 500 miles, abounding in 
 deep bays, admirable harbours, and disaffected 
 inhabitants. Your blockading ships may be 
 forced to come home for provisions and repairs, 
 or they may be blown ofl'in a gale of wind and 
 compelled to bear away for their own coast ; — 
 and you will observe, that the very same wind 
 •which locks you up in the British Channel, 
 ■when you are got there, is evidently favourable 
 for the invasion of Ireland. And yet this is 
 called government, and the people huzza Mr. 
 Perceval for continuing to expose his country 
 day after day to such tremendous perils as 
 these; cursing tlie men who would have given 
 up a question in theology to have saved us 
 from such a risk. The British empire at this 
 moment is in the state of a peach-blossom — if 
 the wind blows gently from one quarter, it sur- 
 vives; if furiously from the othei', it perishes. 
 A stiff breeze may set in from the north, the 
 Rochefort squadron will be taken, and the 
 minister will be the most holy of men ; if it 
 comes from some other point, Ireland is gone, 
 we curse ourselves as a set of monastic mad- 
 men, and call out for the unavailing satisfac- 
 tion of Mr. Perceval's head. Such a state of 
 political existence is scarcely credible; it is 
 the action of a mad young fool standing upon 
 one foot, and peeping down the crater of Mount 
 jEtna, not the conduct of a wise and sober 
 people deciding upon their best and dearest 
 interests: and in the name, the much injured 
 name, of Heaven, what is it all for that we 
 expose ourselves to these dangers] Is it that 
 ■we may sell more muslin? Is it that we may 
 acquire more territory 1 Is it that we may 
 strengthen what we have already acquired 1 
 No: nothing of all this; but that one set of 
 Irishmen may torture another set of Irishmen — 
 that Sir Phelim O'Callagan may continue to 
 whip Sir Toby M'Tackle, his next-door neigh- 
 bour, and continue to ravish his Catholic 
 daughters; and these are the measures which 
 the honest and consistent secretary supports ; 
 and this is the secretary whos-e genius, in the 
 estimation of Brother Abraham, is to extin- 
 guish ihe genius of Bonaparte. Pompey was 
 killed by a slave, Goliath smitten by a stripling, 
 Pyrrhus died by the hand of a woman ; tremble, 
 thou j^reat Gaul, from whose head an armed 
 Minerva leaps forth in the hour of danger; 
 tremble, thou scourge of God, a pleasant man 
 
 is come out against thee, and thou shall be laid 
 low by a joker of jokes, and he shall talk his 
 pleasant talk against thee, and thou shalt be no 
 more! 
 
 You tell me, in spite of all this parade of 
 sea-coast, Bonaparte has neither ships nor 
 sailors : but this is a mistake. He has not 
 ships and sailors to contest the empire of the 
 seas with Great Britain, but there remains 
 quite sufficient of the navies of France, Spain, 
 Holland, and Denmark, for these short excur- 
 sions and invasions. Do you think, too, that 
 Bonaparte does not add to his navy every year] 
 Do you suppose, with all Europe at his feet, that 
 he can find any difficulty in obtaining timber, 
 and that money will not procure for him any 
 quantity of naval stores he may want 1 The 
 mere machine, the empty ship, he can build as 
 well, and as quickly, as you can ; and though 
 he may not find enough of practised sailors to 
 man large fighting fleets— it is not possible to 
 conceive ihat^e can want sailors for such sort 
 of purposes as I have stated? He is at pre- 
 sent the despotic monarch of above twenty 
 thousand miles of sea-coast, and yet you sup- 
 pose he cannot procure sailors for the invasion 
 of Ireland. Believe, if you please, that such 
 a fleet met at sea by any number of our ships 
 at all comparable to them in point of force, 
 would be immediately taken; let it be so; I 
 count nothing upon their power of resistance, 
 only upon their power of escaping unobserved. 
 If experience has taught us any thing, it is the 
 impossibility of perpetual blockades. The in- 
 stances are innumerable, during the course of 
 this war, where whole fleets have sailed in and 
 out of harbour in spite of every vigilance uSed 
 to prevent it. I shall only mention those cases 
 where Ireland is concerned. In Decembe.-, 
 1796, seven ships of the line, and ten trans- 
 ports, reached Bantry Bay from Brest,' with- 
 out having seen an English ship in their pas- 
 sage. It blew a storm when they were off 
 shore, and therefore England still continues to 
 be an independent kingdom. You will observe 
 that at the very time the French fleet sailed out 
 of Brest harbour. Admiral Colpoys was cruis- 
 ing off there with a powerful squadron, and 
 still, from the particular circumstances of the 
 weather, found it impossible to prevent the 
 French from coming out. During the time that 
 Admiral Colpoys was cruising off Brest, Ad- 
 miral Richery,with six ships of the line, passed 
 him, and got safe into the harbour. At the 
 very moment when the French squadron was 
 lying in Bantry Ba3% Lord Bridport with his 
 fleet was locked up by a foul wind in the 
 Channel, and for several days could not stir to 
 the assistance of Ireland. Admiral Colpoys, 
 totally unable to find the French fleet, came 
 home. Lord Bridport, at the change of the 
 wind, cruised for them in vain, and they got 
 safe back to Brest, without having seen a 
 single one of these floating bulwarks, the pos- 
 session of which ■we believe will enable us 
 with impunity to set justice and common sense 
 at defiance. Such is the miserable and preca- 
 rious state of an anemocracy, of a people who 
 put their trust in hurricanes, and are governed 
 by wind. In August, 1798, three forty-gun 
 frigates landed 1100 men under Humbert, mak- 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 ing the passage from Rochelle to Killala with- 
 out seeing any English ship. In October of 
 the same year, four French frigates anchored 
 in Killala Bay with 2000 troops; and though 
 they did not land their troops, they returned to 
 France in safety. In the same month, a line 
 of battle ship, eight stout frigates, and a brig, 
 all full of troops and stores, reached the coast 
 of Ireland, and were fortunately, in sight of 
 land, destroyed, after an obstinate engagement, 
 by Sir John Warren. 
 
 If you despise the little troop which, in these 
 numerous experiments, did make good its land- 
 ing, take with you, if you please, this precis of 
 its exploits: eleven hundred men, commanded 
 by a soldier raised from the ranks, put to rout 
 a select army of 6000 men, commanded by 
 General Lake, seized their ordinance, ammuni- 
 tion, and stores, advanced 150 miles into a 
 country containing an armed force of 150,000 
 men, and at last surrendered to the viceroy, an 
 experienced general, gravely and cautiously 
 advancing at the head of all his chivalry and 
 of an immense army to oppose him. You 
 must excuse these details about Ireland, but it 
 appears to me to be of all other subjects the 
 most important. If we conciliate Ireland, we 
 can do nothing amiss ; if we do not, we can do 
 nothing well. If Ireland was friendly, we might 
 equally set at defiance the talents of Bonaparte 
 and the blunders of his rival, Mr. Canning; we 
 could then support the ruinous and silly bustle 
 of our useless expeditions, and the almost in- 
 credible ignorance of our commercial orders in 
 council. Let the present administration give 
 up but this one point, and there is nothing 
 which I would not consent to grant them. Mr. 
 Perceval shall have full liberty to insult the 
 tomb of Mr. Fox, and to torment every eminent 
 dissenter in Great Britain ; Lord Camden shall 
 have large boxes of plums; Mr. Rose receive 
 permission to prefix to his name the appella- 
 tive of virtuous; and to the Viscount Castle- 
 reagh* a round sum of ready money shall be 
 well and truly paid into his hand. Lastly, what 
 remains to Mr. George Canning, but that he 
 rides up and down Pall Mall glorious upon a 
 white horse, and that they cry out before him, 
 Thus shall it be done to the statesman who 
 hath written "The Needy Knife-Grinder," and 
 the German playl Adieu only for the present; 
 you shall soon hear from me again ; it is a sub- 
 ject upon which I cannot long be silent. 
 
 LETTER Vin. 
 
 Nothing can be more erroneous than to sup- 
 pose that Ireland is not bigger than the Isle of 
 Wight, or of more consequence than Guernsey 
 or Jersey ; and yet I am almost inclined to be- 
 lieve, from ttie general supineness which pre- 
 vails here respecting the dangerous state of 
 that country, that such is the rank which it 
 holds in our statistical tables. I have been 
 writing to you a great deal about Ireland, and 
 perhaps it may be of some use to state to you 
 concisely the nature and resources of the 
 country which has been the subject of our long 
 
 • Tliis is a very unjust imputation on Lord Castlereagh- 
 
 and strange correspondence. There were re- 
 turned, as I have before observed, to the hearth 
 tax, in 1791, 701,132* houses, which Mr. New- 
 enham shows from unquestionable documents 
 to be nearly 80,000 below the real number of 
 houses in that country. There are 27,457 
 square English miles in Ireland,f and more 
 than five millions of people. 
 
 By the last survey, it appears that the inha- 
 bited houses in England and Wales amount to 
 1,574,902, and the population to 9,343,578, 
 which gives an average of 5^ to each house, in 
 a country where the density of population is 
 certainly less considerable than in Ireland. It 
 is commonly supposed that two-fifihs of the 
 army and navy are Irishmen, at pet-iods when 
 political disaffection does not avert the Catho- 
 lics from the service. The current value of 
 Irish exports in 1807 was 9,314,854/. 175. 7d.; 
 a state of commerce about equal to the com- 
 merce of England in the middle of the reign of 
 George II. The tonnage of ships entered in- 
 ward and cleared outward in the trade of Ire- 
 land, in 1807, amounted to 1,567,430 tons. The 
 quantity of home spirits exported amounted to 
 10,284 gallons in 1796, and to 930,800 gallons 
 in 1804. Of the exports, which I have stated,' 
 provisions amounted to four millions, and linen 
 to about four millions and a half. There was 
 exported from Ireland, upon an average of two 
 years ending in January, 1804, 591,274 barrels 
 of barley, oats, and wheat; and by weight 
 910,848 cw.ts. of flour, oatmeal, barley, oats 
 and wheat. The amount of butter exported in 
 1804, from Ireland, was worth, in money, 
 1,704,680/. sterling. The importation of ale 
 and beer from the immense manufactures now 
 carrying on of these articles, was diminished 
 to 3209 barrels, in the year 1804, from 111,920 
 barrels, which was the average importation 
 per annum, taking from three years ending in 
 1792; and at present there is an export trade 
 of porter. On an average of the three years, 
 ending March, 1783, there were imported into 
 Ireland, of cotton wool, 3326 cwts., of cotton 
 yarn, 5405 lbs. ; but on an average of three 
 years, ending January, 1803, there were im- 
 ported, of the first article, 13,153 cwts., and of 
 the latter, 628,406 lbs. It is impossible to con- 
 ceive any manufacture more flourishing. The 
 export of linen has increased in Ireland from 
 17,776,862 yards, the average in 1770, to 
 43,534,971 yards, the amount in 1805. The 
 tillage of Ireland has more then trebled within 
 the last twenty-one years. The importation 
 of coals has increased from 230,000 tons in 
 1783, to 417,030 in 1804; of tobacco, from 
 3,459,861 lbs. in 1783, to 6,611,543 in 1804; of 
 tea, from 1,703,855 lbs. in 1783, to 3,358,256, in 
 1804; of sugar, from 143,117 cwts. in 1782, to 
 309,076, in 1804. Ireland now supports a 
 funded debt of above 64 millions, and it is 
 computed that more than three millions of 
 money are annually remitted to Irish absentees 
 resident in this country. In Mr. Foster's re- 
 
 * The cliecks to population were very trifling from th« 
 rebellion. It lasted two months : of his mnjesty's Irish 
 forces, there perished about 1600; of the rebels, 11,000 
 were killed in the field, and 2000 hanged or exported ; 
 400 loyal persons were assassinated. 
 
 + In England 49,450. 
 
 2R 
 
470 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 port, of 100 folio pages, presented to the House 
 of Commons in the year 1806, the total expen- 
 diture of Ireland is stated at 9,760,013/. Ire- 
 land has increased about two-thirds in its 
 population within twenty-five years, and yet, 
 and in about the same space of time, its ex- 
 ports of beef, bullocks, cows, pork, swine, but- 
 ter, wheat, barley, and oats, collectively taken, 
 have doubled; and this in spite of two years' 
 famine, and the presence of an immense army, 
 that is always at hand to guard the most valu- 
 able appanage of cur empire from joining our 
 most inveterate enemies. Ireland has the 
 greatest possible facilities for carrying on com- 
 merce with the whole of Europe. It contains, 
 "within a circuit of 750 miles, 66 secure har- 
 bours, and presents a western frontier against 
 Great Britain, reaching from the Frith of Clyde 
 north to the Bristol Channel south, and vary- 
 ing in distance from 20 to 100 miles; so that 
 the subjugation of Ireland would compel us to 
 guard with ships and soldiers a new line of 
 coast, certainl)^ amounting, with all its sinuosi- 
 ties, to more than 700 miles — an addition of po- 
 lemics, in our present state of hostility with all 
 the world, which must highly gratify the vigor- 
 ists, and give them an ample opportunity of 
 displaying that foolish energy upon Avhich 
 their claims to distinction are founded. Such 
 is the country which the right reverend the 
 chancellor of the exchequer would drive into 
 the arms of France, and for the conciliation of 
 which we are requested to wait, a^ if it were 
 one of those sinecure places which were given 
 to Mr. Perceval snarling at the breast, and 
 which cannot be abolished till his decease. 
 
 How sincerely and fervently have I often 
 wished that the Emperor of the French had 
 thought as Mr. Spencer Perceval does upon the 
 subject of government ; that he had entertained 
 doubts and scruples upon the propriety of ad- 
 mitting the Protestants to an equality of rights 
 with the Catholics, and that he had left in the 
 middle of his empire these vigorous seeds of 
 hatred and disafiection : but the world was 
 never yet conquered by a blockhead. One of 
 the very first measures we saw him recurring 
 to was the complete establishment of religious 
 liberty ; if his subjects fought and paid as 
 he pleased, he allowed them to believe as they 
 pleased; the moment I saw this, ray best hopes 
 were lost. I perceived in a moment the kind of 
 man we had to do with. I was well aware of 
 the miserable ignorance and foU}^ of this 
 country upon the subject of toleration; and 
 ever}"^ year has been adding to the success of 
 that game which it was clear he had the will 
 and the ability to play against us. 
 
 You say Bonaparte is not in earnest upon the 
 subject of religion, and that this is the cause 
 of his tolerant spirit ; but is it possible you can 
 intend to give us such dreadful and unamiable 
 notions of religion 1 Are we to understand 
 that the moment a man is sincere he is narrow- 
 minded ; that persecution is the child of belief; 
 and that a desire to leave all men in the quiet 
 and unpunished exercise of their own creed 
 can only exist in the mind of an infidel T 
 Thank God! I know many men whose prin- 
 ciples are as firm as they are expanded, who 
 cling tenaciously to their own modification of 
 
 the Christian faith, without the slightest dispo- 
 sition to force that modification upon other 
 people. If Bonaparte is liberal in subjects of 
 religion because he has no religion, is this a 
 reason why we should be illiberal because we 
 areChristians ] If heowes this excellentquality 
 to a vice, is that any reason why we may not 
 owe it to a virtue 1 Toleration is a great good, 
 and a good to be imitated, let it come from 
 whom it will. If a sceptic is tolerant, it only 
 shows that he is not foolish in practice as well 
 as erroneous in theory. If a religious man is 
 tolerant, it evinces that he is religious from 
 thought and inquir)', because he exhibits in his 
 conduct one of the most beautiful and import- 
 ant consequences of a religious mind, — an in- 
 violable charity to all the honest varieties of 
 human opinion. 
 
 Lord Sidmouth, and all the anti-Catholic 
 people, little foresee that they will hereafter be 
 the sport of the antiquary ; that their prophe- 
 cies of ruin and destruction from Catholic 
 emancipation will be clapped into the notes of 
 some quaint history, and be matter of plea- 
 santry even to the sedulous housewife and the 
 rural dean. There is always a copious sup- 
 ply of Lord Sidmouths in the world: nor is 
 there one single source of human happiness 
 against which they have not uttered the most 
 lugubrious predictions. Turnpike roads, navi- 
 gable canals, inoculation, hops, tobacco, the 
 Reformation, the Revolution — there are always 
 a set of worthy and moderately-gifted men, 
 who bawl out death and ruin upon every valu- 
 able change which the varying aspect of human 
 affairs absolutely and imperiously requires. I 
 have often thought that it would be extremely 
 useful to make a collection of the hatred and 
 abuse that all those changes have experienced, 
 which are now admitted to be marked improve- 
 ments in our condition. Such an history might 
 make folly a little more modest, and suspicious 
 of its own decisions. 
 
 Ireland, you say, since the union, is to be 
 considered as a part of the whole kingdom; 
 and therefore, however Catholics may predo- 
 minate in that particular spot, yet, taking the 
 whole empire together, they are to be consi- 
 dered as a much more insignificant quota of 
 the population. Consider them in what light 
 you please, as part of the whole, or by them- 
 selves, or in what manner may be most con- 
 sentaneous to the devices of your holy mind — 
 I say in a very few words, if you do not relieve 
 these people from the civil incapacities to 
 which they are exposed, you will lose them ; 
 or you must employ great strength and much 
 treasure in watching over them. In the pre- 
 sent state of the world, you can afl^ord to do 
 neither the one nor the other. Having stated 
 this, I shall leave you to be ruined, PufTendorf 
 in hand, (as Mr. Secretary Canning says,) and 
 to lose Ireland, just as you have found out what 
 proportion the aggrieved people should bear to 
 the whole population, before their calamities 
 meet with redress. As for your parallel cases, 
 I am no more afraid of deciding upon them than 
 I am upon their prototype. If ever any one 
 heresy should so far spread itself over the prin- 
 cipality of Wales that the established church 
 were left in a minority of one to four; if you 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 471 
 
 had subjected these heretics to very severe 
 civil privations; if the consequence of such 
 privations were an universal state of disaffec- 
 tion among that caseous and wrathful people; 
 and if, at the same time, you were at war with 
 all the world, how can you doubt for a moment 
 that I would instantly restore them to a state of 
 the most complete civil liberty 1 What matters 
 it under what name you put the same case? 
 Common sense is not changed by appellations. 
 I have said how I would act to Ireland, and I 
 would act so to all the world. 
 
 I admit that, to a certain degree, the govern- 
 ment will lose the affections of the Orangemen 
 by emancipating the Catholics ; much less, 
 however, at present, than three years past. 
 The few men, who have ill-treated the whole 
 crew, live in constant terror that the oppressed 
 people will rise upon them and carry the ship 
 into Brest : — they begin to find that it is a very 
 tiresome thing to sleep every night with cocked 
 pistols under their pillows, and to breakfast, 
 dine, and sup with drawn hangers. They 
 suspect that the privilege of beating and kick- 
 ing the rest of the sailors is hardly worth all 
 this anxiety, and that if the ship does ever fall 
 into the hands of the disaffected, all the cruel- 
 ties which they have experienced will be tho- 
 roughly remembered and amply repaid. To a 
 short period of disaffection among the Orange- 
 men, I confess I should not much object: my 
 love of poetical justice does carry me as far 
 as that; one summer's whipping, only one : 
 the thumb-screw for a short season; a little 
 light, easy torturing between Lady-day and 
 Michaelmas; a short specimen of Mr. Perce- 
 val's rigour. I have malice enough to ask this 
 slight atonement for the groans and shrieks 
 of the poor Catholics, unheard by any human 
 tribunal, but registered by the angel of God 
 against their Protestant and enlightened op- 
 pressors. 
 
 Besides, if you who count ten so often can 
 count five, you must perceive that it is better 
 to have four friends and one enemy than four 
 enemies and one friend; and the more violent 
 the hatred of the Orangemen, the more certain 
 the reconciliation of the Catholics. The dis- 
 affection of the Orangemen will be the Irish 
 rainbow; when I see it, I shall be sure that the 
 storm is over. 
 
 If those incapacities, from which the Ca- 
 tholics ask to be relieved, were to the mass of 
 them only a mere feeling of pride, and if the 
 question were respecting the attainment of 
 privileges which could be of importance only 
 to the highest of the sect, I should still say, 
 that the pride of the mass was very naturally 
 wounded by the degradation of their superiors. 
 Indignity to George Rose would be felt by the 
 smallest nummary gentleman in the king's 
 employ; and Mr. John Bannister could not be 
 indifferent to any thing which happened to 
 Mr. Canning. But the truth is, it is a most 
 egregious mistake to suppose that the Catholics 
 are contending merely for the fringes and fea- 
 thers of their chiefs. I will give you a list, 
 in my next letter, of those privations which 
 are represented to be of no consequence to 
 any body but Lord Fingal, and some twenty 
 or thirty of the principal persons of their sect. 
 In the mean time, adieu, and be wise. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 Dear Abraham, 
 
 No catholic can be chief governor or go- 
 vernor of this kingdom, chancellor or keeper 
 of the great seal, lord high-treasurer, chief of 
 any of the courts of justice, chancellor of the 
 exchequer, puisne judge, judge in the admi- 
 ralty, master of the rolls, secretary of state, 
 keeper of the privy seal, vice-treasurer or his 
 deputy, teller or cashier of exchequer, auditor 
 or general, governor or custos rotulorum of 
 counties, chief governor's secretary, privy 
 councillor, king's counsel, serjeant, attorney, 
 solicitor-general, master in chancery, provost 
 or fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, post- 
 master-general, master and lieutenant-general 
 of ordnance, commander-in-chief, general on 
 the staff, sheriir, sub-sheriff, mayor, bailiff, 
 recorder, burgess, or any other officer in a 
 cit}-, or a corporation. No Catholic can be 
 guardian to a Protestant, and no priest guar- 
 dian at all ; no Catholic can be a gamekeeper, 
 or have for sale, or otherwise, any arms or 
 warlike stores ; no Catholic can present to a 
 living, unless he chooses to turn Jew in order 
 to obtain that privilege; the pecuniary quali- 
 fication of Catholic jurors is made higher than 
 that of Protestants, and no relaxation of the 
 ancient rigorous code is permitted, unless to 
 those who shall take an oath prescribed by 13 
 & 14 Geo. III. Now if this is not picking the 
 plums out of the pudding, and leaving the 
 mere batter to the Catholics, I know not what 
 is. If it were merely the privy council, it 
 would be (I allow) nothing but a point of 
 honour for which the mass of Catholics were 
 contending, the honour of being chief mourn- 
 ers or pall-bearers to the country; but surely 
 no man will contend that every barrister may 
 not speculate upon the possibility of being a 
 puisne judge ; and that every shopkeeper must 
 not feel himself injured by his exclusion from 
 borough offices. 
 
 One of the greatest practical evils which the 
 Catholics sufler in Ireland, is their exclusion 
 from the offices of sherilf and deputy sheriff. 
 Nobody who is unacquainted with Ireland 
 can conceive the obstacles which this opposes 
 to the fair administration of justice. The for- 
 mation of juries is now entirely in the hands 
 of the Protestants: the lives, liberties, and 
 properties of the Catholics in the hands of the 
 juries ; and this is the arrangement for the ad- 
 ministration of justice in a country where re- 
 ligious prejudices are inflamed to the greatest 
 degree of animosity ! In this country, if a man 
 is a foreigner, if he sells slippers, and sealing 
 wax and artificial flowers, we are so tender of 
 human life, that we take care half the number 
 of persons who are to decide upon his fate 
 should be men of similar prejudices and feel- 
 ings with himself: but a poor Catholic in Ire- 
 land may be tried- by twelve Percevals, and 
 destroyed according to the manner of that gen- 
 tleman in the name of the Lord, and with all 
 the insulting forms of justice. I do not go the 
 length of saying that deliberate and wilful in- 
 justice is done. I have no doubt that the 
 Orange deputy-sheriff thinks it wottld be a 
 most unpardonable breach of his duty if he 
 did not summon a Protestant paneL I can 
 
472 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 easily believe that the Protestant panel may 
 conduct themselves very conscientiously in 
 hanging the gentleman of the crucifix; but I 
 blame the law which does not guard the Ca- 
 tholic against the probable tenour of those 
 feelings which must unconsciously influence 
 the judgments of mankind. I detest that state 
 of society which extends unequal degrees of 
 protection to different creeds and persuasions; 
 and I cannot describe to you the contempt I 
 feel for a man who, calling himself a states- 
 man, defends a system which fills the heart of 
 every Irishman with treason,, and makes his 
 allegiance prudence, not choice. 
 
 I request to know if the vestry taxes, in 
 Ireland, are a mere matter of romantic feeling, 
 which can affect only the Earl of FingaH In 
 a parish where there are four thousand Catho- 
 lics and fifty Protestants, the Protestants may 
 meet together in a vestry meeting, at which 
 no Catholic has the right to vote, and tax all 
 the lands in the paris>h Is. 6d. per acre, or in 
 the pound, I forget which, lor the repairs of 
 the church — and how has the necessity of 
 these repairs been ascertained 1 A Protestant 
 plumber has discovered that it wants new 
 leading; a Protestant carpenter is convinced 
 the timbers are not sound, and a glazier, who 
 hates holy water, (as an accoucher hates celi- 
 bacy because he gets nothing by it,) is em- 
 ployed to put in new sashes. 
 
 The grand juries in Ireland are the great 
 scene of jobbing. They have a power of 
 making a county rate to a considerable extent 
 for roads, bridges, and other objects of general 
 accommodation "You sufl^er the road to be 
 brought through my park, and I will have the 
 Dridge constructed in a situation where it "unll 
 make a beautiful object to your house. You 
 do my job, and I ■will do yours." These are 
 the sweet and interesting subjects which occa- 
 sionally occupy Milesian gentlemen while they 
 are attendant upon this grand inquest of jus- 
 tice. But there is a religion, it seems, even 
 in jobs ; and it will be highly gratifying to 
 Mr. Perceval to learn that no man in Ireland 
 who believes in seven sacraments can carry 
 a public road, or bridge, one yard out of the 
 direction most beneficial to the public, and 
 that nobody can cheat that public who does 
 not expound the Scriptures in the purest and 
 most orthodox manner. This will give plea- 
 sure to Mr. Perceval : but, from his unfairness 
 upon these topics, I appeal to the justice and 
 proper feelings of Mr. Huskisson. I ask him 
 if the human mind can experience a more 
 dreadful sensation than to see its own jobs 
 refused, and the jobs of another religion per- 
 petually succeeding? I ask him his opinion 
 of a jobless faith, of a creed which dooms a 
 man through life to a lean and plunderless in- 
 tegrity. He knows that human nature cannot 
 and will not bear it; and if we were to paint a 
 political Tartarus, it would be an endless series 
 of snug expectations and cruel disappoint- 
 ments. These are a few of many dreadful 
 inconveniences which the Catholics of all 
 ranks suffer from the lav.-s by which they are 
 at present oppressed. Besides, look at human 
 nature : — what is the history of all professions? 
 Joel is to be brought up to the bar: has Mrs. 
 
 Plymley the slightest doubt of his being chan- 
 cellor] Do not his two shrivelled aunts live 
 in the certainty of seeing him in that situa- 
 tion, and of cutting out with their own hands 
 his equity habiliments 1 And I could name a 
 certain minister of the Gospel who does not, 
 in the bottom of his heart, much differ from 
 these opinions. Do you think that the fathers 
 and mothers of the holy Catholic Church are 
 not as absurd as Protestant papas and ma- 
 mas ? The probability I admit to be, in each 
 particular case, that the sweet little blockhead 
 will in fact never get a brief; — but I will ven- 
 ture to say, there is not a parent from the 
 Giant's causeway to Bantr}^ Bay who does not 
 conceive that his child is the unfortunate vic- 
 tim of the exclusion, and that nothing short of 
 positive law could prevent his own dear pre- 
 eminent Paddy from rising to the highest ho- 
 nours of the state. So with the army, and 
 Parliament; in fact, few are excluded; but, in 
 imagination, all : you keep twenty or thirty 
 Catholics out, and you lose the affections of 
 four millions ; and, let me tell you, that recent 
 circumstances have by no means tended to 
 diminish in the minds of men that hope of 
 elevation bej-ond their own rank which is so 
 congenial to our nature; from pleading for 
 John Roe to taxing John Bull, from jesting for 
 Mr. Pitt and writing in the Anti-Jacobin, to 
 managing the affairs of Europe — these are 
 leaps which seem to justify the fondest dreams 
 of mothers and aunts. 
 
 I do not say that the disabilities to which 
 the Catholics are exposed amount to such in- 
 tolerable grievances, that the strength and in- 
 dustry of a nation are overwhelmed by them; 
 the increasing prosperity of Ireland fully de- 
 monstrates the contrary. But I repeat again, 
 what I have often stated in the course of our 
 correspondence, that your laws against the 
 Catholic are exactly in that state in which 
 you have neither the benefits of rigour nor of 
 liberality ; every law which prevented the 
 Catholics from gaining strength and wealth is 
 repealed; every law which can irritate re- 
 mains; if you were determined to insult the 
 Catholics, you should have kept them weak ; 
 if you resolved to give them sti-ength, you 
 should have ceased to insult them : — at present 
 your conduct is pure, unadulterated folly. 
 
 Lord Hawkesbury says, we heard nothing 
 about the Catholics till we began to mitigate 
 the laws against them ; when we relieved them 
 in part from this oppression they began to be 
 disaffected. This is very true; but it proves 
 just what I have said, that you have either 
 done too much, or too little; and as there 
 lives not, I hope, upon earth, so depraved a 
 courtier that he would load the Catholics with 
 their ancient chains, Avhat absurdity it is then 
 not to render their dispositions friendl}', when 
 you leave their arms and legs free ! 
 
 You know, and many Englishmen know, 
 what passes in China; but nobody knows or 
 cares what passes in Ireland. At the begin- 
 ning of the present reign, no Catholic could 
 realize property, or carry on any business ; 
 they were absolutely annihilated, and had no 
 more agency in the country than so many 
 trees. They were like Lord Mulgrave's elo 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 473 
 
 quence, and Lord Camden's wit; the legisla- 
 tive bodies did not know of their existence. 
 For these twenty-five years last past, the Ca- 
 tholics have been engaged in commerce ; 
 within that period the commerce of Ireland 
 has doubled : — there are four Catholics at work 
 for one Protestant, and eight Catholics at work 
 for one Episcopalian ; of course the propor- 
 tion Avhich Catholic wealth bears to Protestant 
 wealth is every year altering rapidly in favour 
 of the Catholics. I have already told you what 
 their purchases of land were the last year ; 
 since that period, I have been at some pains 
 to find out the actual state of the Catholic 
 wealth ; it is impossible, upon such a subject, 
 to arrive at complete accuracy; but I have 
 good reason to believe that there are at pre- 
 sent 2000 Catholics in Ireland, possessing an 
 income from 500/. upwards, many of these 
 with incomes of one, two, three, and four 
 thousand, and some amounting to fifteen and 
 twenty thousand per annum: — and this is the 
 kingdom, and these the people, for whose con- 
 ciliation we are to wait Heaven knows when, 
 and Lord Hawkesbury why! As for me, I 
 never think of the situation of Ireland, v/ith- 
 out feeling the same necessity for immediate 
 interference as I should do if I saw blood 
 flowing from a great artery. I rush to- 
 wards it with the instinctive rapidity of a man 
 desirous of preventing death, and have no 
 other feeling but that in a few seconds the 
 patient may be no more. 
 
 I could not help smiling, in the times of No- 
 Popery, to witness the loyal indignation of 
 man/ persons at the attempt made by the last 
 ministry to do something for the rehef of Ire- 
 land. The general cry in the country was, 
 that they would not see their beloved monarch 
 used ill in his old age, and that they would 
 stand by him to the last drop of their blood. 
 I respect good feelings, however erroneous be 
 the occasions on which they display them- 
 .selves ; and, therefore, I saw in all this as 
 much to admire as to blame. It was a species 
 of aflfection, however, which reminded me 
 very forcibly of the attachment displayed by 
 the servants of the Russian ambassador, at 
 the beginning of the last century. His excel- 
 lency happened to fall down in a kind of apo- 
 plectic fit, when he was paying a morning 
 visit in the house of an acquaintance. The 
 confusion was of course very great, and mes- 
 sengers were despatched, in every direction, 
 to find a surgeon, who, upon his arrival, de- 
 . clared that his excellency must be immediately 
 blooded, and prepared himself forthwith to 
 perform the operation ; the barbarous servants 
 of the embassy, who were there in great num- 
 bers, no sooner saw the surgeon prepared to 
 wound the arm of their master with a sharp 
 shining instrument, than they drew their 
 swords, put themselves in an attitude of de- 
 fence, and swore in pure Sclavonic, " that 
 they would murder any man who attempted 
 to do him the slightest injury; he had been a 
 very good master to them, and they would not 
 desert him in his misfortunes, or sutfer his 
 blood to be shed while he was off his guard, 
 and incapable of defending himself." By good 
 fortune, the secretary arrived about this period 
 
 of the dispute, and his excellency, relieved 
 from superfluous blood and perilous affection, 
 was, after much difficulty, restored to life. 
 
 There is an argument brought forward with 
 some appearance of plausibility in the House 
 of Commons, which certainly merits an an- 
 swer. You know that the Catholics now vote 
 for members of Parliament in Ireland, and 
 that they outnumber the Protestants in a very 
 great proportion ; if j^ou allow Catholics to sit 
 in Parliament, religion will be found to influ- 
 ence votes more than propert}^, and the greater 
 part of the 100 Irish members who are return- 
 ed to Parliament will be Catholics. Add to 
 these the Catholic members who are returned 
 in England, and you will have' a phalanx of 
 heretical strength which every minister will 
 be compelled to respect, and occasionally to 
 conciliate by concessions incompatible with 
 the interests of the Protestant Church. The 
 fact is, however, that you are at this moment 
 subjected to every danger of this kind which 
 you can possibly apprehend hereafter. If the 
 spiritual interests of the voters are more pow- 
 erful than their temporal interests, they can 
 bind down their representatives to support any 
 measures favourable to the Catholic religion, 
 and they can change the objects of their 
 choice till they have found Protestant members 
 (as they easily may do) perfectly obedient to 
 their wishes. If the superior possessions of 
 the Protestants prevent the Catholics from 
 uniting for a common political object, then 
 the danger you fear cannot exist; if zeal, on 
 the contrary, gets the better of acres, then the 
 danger at present exists, from the right of 
 voting already given to the Catholics, and it 
 will not be increased by allowing them to sit 
 in Parliament. There are, as nearly as I can 
 recollect, thirty seats in Ireland for cities and 
 counties, where the Protestants are the most 
 numerous, and where the members returned 
 must of course be Protestants. In the otlier 
 seventy representations, the wealth of the Pro- 
 testants is opposed to the number of the Ca- 
 tholics ; and if all the seventy members re- 
 turned were of the Catholic persuasion, they 
 must still plot the destruction of our religion 
 in the midst of 588 Protestants. Such terrors 
 would disgrace a cook-maid, or a toothless 
 aunt — when they fall from the lips of bearded 
 and senatorial men, they are nauseous, anti- 
 peristaltic, and emetical. 
 
 How can you for a moment doubt of the 
 rapid effects which would be produced by the 
 emancipation 1 — In the first place, to my cer- 
 tain knowledge, the Catholics have long since 
 expressed to his majesty's ministers their per- 
 fect readiness to vest in his majesty, either with, 
 the consent of the pope, or unthout it, if it cannot 
 he obtained, the nomination of the Catholic prelacy. 
 The Catholic prelacy in Ireland consists of 
 twenty-six bishops and the warden of Galway, 
 a dignitary enjoying Catholic jurisdiction. 
 The number of Roman Catholic priests in 
 Ireland exceeds one thousand. The expenses 
 of his peculiar worship, are, to a substantial 
 farmer or mechanic, five shillings per annum; 
 to a labourer (where he is not entirely ex- 
 cused), one shilling per annum ; this includes 
 the contribution of the whole family, and for 
 2b2 
 
474 
 
 WORKS OP THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 this the priest is bound to attend them when 
 sick, and to conless them when they apply to 
 hiin; he is also to keep his chapel in order, to 
 celebrate divine service, and to preach on 
 Sundays and holydays. In the northern dis- 
 trict a priest gains from 30/. to 50/.; in the 
 other parts of Ireland from 60/. to 90/. per an- 
 num. The best paid Catholic bishops receive 
 about 400/. per ann.; the others from 300/. to 
 350/. My plan is very simple ; I would have 
 .'300 Catholic parishes at 100/. per ann., 300 at 
 200/. per ann., and 400 at 300/. per ann.; this, 
 for the whole thousand parishes, would amount 
 to 190,000/. To the prelacy I would allot 
 20,000/. in unequal proportions, from 1000/. to 
 .000/.; and I would appropriate 40,000/. more 
 for the support of Catholic schools, and the 
 repairs of Catholic churches : the whole 
 amount of which sums is 250,000/., about the 
 expense of three days of one of our genuine, 
 good, English, just and necessary wars. The 
 clergy should all receive their salaries at the 
 Bank of Ireland, and I would place the whole 
 patronage in the hands of the crown. Now, I 
 appeal to any human being, except Spencer 
 Perceval, Esq., of the parish of Hampstead, 
 what the disaffection of a clergy would amount 
 to, gaping after this graduated bounty of the 
 crown, and whether Ignatius Loyola himself, 
 if he were a living blockhead instead of a dead 
 saint, could withstand the temptation of bounc- 
 ing from 100/. a year in Sligo, to 300/. in Tip- 
 peraryl This is the miserable sum of money 
 for which the merchants, and land-owners, 
 and nobilitj' of England are exposing them- 
 selves to the tremendous peril of losing Ire- 
 land. The sinecure places of the Roses and 
 the Percevals, and the "dear and near rela- 
 tions," put up to auction at thirty years' pur- 
 chase, would almost amount to the money 
 
 persons. Of what Protestants there are in 
 Ireland, the greatest part are gathered together 
 in Ulster, or they live in towns. In the coun- 
 try of the other three provinces the Catholics 
 see no other religion but their own, and are at 
 the least as fifteen to one Protestant. In the 
 diocese of Tuam, they are sixty to one; in the 
 parish of St. MullinS, diocese of Leghlin, there 
 are four thousand Catholics and one Protestant ; 
 in the town of Grasgenamaua, in the county 
 of Kilkenny, there are between four and five 
 hundred Catholic houses, and three Protestant 
 houses. In th? parish of Allen, county Kildare, 
 there is no Protestant, though it is very popu- 
 lous. In the parish of Arlesin, Queen's county, 
 the proportion is one hundred to one. In the 
 whole county of Kilkenny, by actual enumera- 
 tion, it is seventeen to one; in the diocese of 
 Kilmacduagh, province of Connaught, fifty-two 
 to one, by ditto. These I give you as a few 
 specimens of the present state of Ireland; — 
 and yet there are men impudent and ignorant 
 enough to contend that such evils require no 
 remedy, and that mild family man who dwell- 
 eth in Hampstead can find none but the cau- 
 tery and the knife, 
 
 omiie per ignem 
 
 Excoquitur vitium. 
 
 I cannot describe the horror and disgust 
 which I felt at hearing Mr. Perceval call upon 
 the then ministry for measures of vigour in 
 Ireland. If I lived at Hampstead upon stewed 
 meats and claret; if I walked to church every 
 Sunday before eleven young gentlemen of my 
 own begetting, with their faces washed, and 
 their hair pleasingly combed ; if the Almighty 
 had blessed me with every earthly comfort, — 
 how awfully would I pause before I sent forth 
 the flame and the sword over the cabins of the 
 
 I admit that nothing can be more reasonable | poor, brave, generous, open-hearted peasants 
 
 than to expect that a Catholic priest should 
 starve to death, genteelly and pleasantly, for 
 the good of the Protestant religion; but is it 
 equally reasonable to expect that he should do 
 so for the Protestant pews, and Protestant 
 brick and mortar 1 On an Irish Sabbath, the 
 bell of a neat parish church often summons to 
 church only the parson and an occasionally 
 conforming clerK; while, two hundred yards 
 off", a thousand Catholics are huddled together 
 in a miserable hovel, and pelted by all the 
 storms of heaven. Can any thing be more 
 distressing than to see a venerable man pour- 
 ing forth sublime truths in tattered breeches, 
 and depending for his food upon the little olTal 
 he gets from his parishioners ? I venerate a 
 human being who starves for his principles, 
 let them be what they may ; but starving for 
 any thing is not at all to the taste of the hon- 
 ourable flagellants; strict principles, and good 
 pay, is the motto of Mr. Perceval ; the one he 
 keeps in great measure for the faults of his 
 enemies, the other for himself. 
 
 There are parishes in Connaught in which 
 a Protestant was ncA-er settled, nor even seen ; 
 in that province, in Munster, and in parts of 
 Leinster, the entire peasantry for sixty miles 
 are Catholics; in these tracts, the churches are 
 frequently shut for want of a congregation, or 
 opened to an assemblage of from six to twenty 
 
 of Ireland ! How easy it is to shed human 
 blood — how easy it is to persuade ourselves 
 that it is our duty to do so — and that the de- 
 cision has cost us a severe struggle — how 
 much, in all ages, have wounds and shrieks 
 and tears been the cheap and vulgar resources 
 of the rulers of mankind — how difl^cult and 
 how noble it is to govern in kindness, and to 
 found an empire upon the everlasting basis of 
 justice and affection ! — But what do men call 
 vigour 1 To let loose hussars and to bring 
 up artillerj', to govern with lighted matches, 
 and to cut, and push, and prime — I call this, 
 not ■vigour, but the slolh of cruelty and ignorance. 
 The vigour I love consists in finding out 
 wherein subjects are aggrieved, in relieving 
 them, in studying the temper and genius of a 
 people, in consulting their prejudices, in se- 
 lecting proper persons to lead and manage 
 them, in the laborious, watchful, and difficult 
 task of increasing public happiness by alla)'- 
 ing each particular discontent. In this way 
 Hoche pacified La Yendc>e — and in this way 
 only will Ireland ever be subdued. But this, 
 in the eyes of Mr. Perceval, is imbecility and 
 meanness ; houses are not broken open — wo- 
 men are not insulted — the people seem all to 
 be happy ; they are not rode over by horses, 
 and cut by whips. Do you call this vigour ! — 
 Is this government 1 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 475 
 
 LETTER X. AND LAST. 
 
 You must observe that all I have said of the 
 effects whieh will be produced by giving sala- 
 ries to the Catholic clergy, only proceeds upon 
 the supposition that the emancipation of the 
 laity is effected : — without that, I am sure there 
 is not a clergyman in Ireland who would re- 
 ceive a shilling from government; he could 
 not do so, without an entire loss of credit 
 among the members of his own persuasion. 
 
 What you say of the moderation of the Irish 
 Protestant clergy in collecting tithes, is, I be- 
 lieve, strictly true. Instead of collecting what 
 the law enables them to collect, I believe they 
 seldom or ever collect more than two-thirds ; 
 and I entirely agree with you, that the abolition 
 of agistment tithe in Ireland by a vote of the 
 Irish House of Commons, and without any 
 remuneration to the church, was a most scan- 
 dalous and Jacobinical measure. I do not 
 blame the Irish clergy; but I submit to your 
 common sense, if it is possible to explain to 
 an Irish peasant upon what principle of justice, 
 or common sense, he is to pay every tenth 
 potato in his little garden to a clergyman in 
 whose religion nobody believes for twenty 
 miles around him, and who has nothing to 
 preach to but bare walls. It is true, if the 
 tithes are bought up, the cottager must pay 
 more rent to his landlord; but the same thing, 
 done in the shape of rent, is less odious than 
 when it is done in the shape of tithe; I do not 
 want to take a shilling out of the pockets of 
 the clergy, but to leave the substance of things, 
 and to change their names. I cannot see the 
 slightest reason why the Irish labourer is to be 
 relieved from the real onus, or from anything 
 else but the name of tithe. At present, he 
 rents only nine-tenths of the produce of the 
 land, which is all that belongs to the owner; 
 this he has at the market pi'lce ; if the land- 
 owner purchase the other tenth of the church, 
 of course he has a right to make a correspond- 
 ent advance upon his tenant. 
 
 I very much doubt, if you were to laj^ open 
 all civil offices to the Catholics, and to grant 
 salaries to their clergy, in the manner I have 
 stated, if the Catholic laity would give them- 
 selves much trouble about the advance of their 
 church ; for they would pay the same tithes 
 tinder one system that they do under another. 
 If you were to bring the Catholics into the 
 daylight of the world, to the high situations of 
 the army, the navy, and the bar, numbers of 
 them would come over to the established 
 church, and do as other people do ; instead of 
 that you set a mark of infamy upon them, rouse 
 every passion of our nature in favour of their 
 creed, and then wonder that men are blind to 
 the follies of the Catholic religion. There are 
 hardly any instances of old and rich families 
 among the Protestant dissenters ; when a man 
 keeps a coach, and lives in good company, he 
 comes to church, and gets ashamed of the 
 meeting-house ; if this is not the case with the 
 father, it is almost always the case with the 
 son. These things would never be so, if the 
 dissenters were in -practice as much excluded 
 from all the concerns of civil life, as the 
 Catholics are. If a rich young Catholic were 
 
 in Parliament, he would belong to White's and 
 to Brooke's, would keep race-horses, would 
 Avalk up and down Pall Mall, be exonerated of 
 his ready money and his constitution, become 
 as totally devoid of morality, honesty, know- 
 ledge, and civility, as Protestant loungers in 
 Pall Mall, and return home with a supreme 
 contempt for Father O'Leary and Father 
 O'Callaghan. lam astonished at the madness 
 of the Catholic clergy, in not perceiving that 
 Catholic emancipation is Catholic infidelity; 
 that to entangle their people in the intrigues 
 of a Protestant Parliament, and a Protestant 
 court, is to insure the loss of every man of 
 fashion and consequence in their community. 
 The true receipt for preserving their religion 
 is Mr. Perceval's receipt for destroying it ; it 
 is to deprive every rich Catholic of all the 
 objects of secular ambition, to separate him 
 from the Protestant, and to shut him up in his 
 castle, with priests and relics. 
 
 We are told, in answer to all our arguments, 
 that this is not a fit period, — that a period of 
 universal war is not the proper time for dan- 
 gerous innovations in the constitution; this is 
 as much as to say, that the worst time for 
 making friends is the period when you have 
 made many enemies ; that it is the greatest of 
 all errors to stop when you are breathless, and 
 to lie down when you are fatigued. Of one 
 thing I am quite certain: if the safety of 
 Europe is once completely restored, the Ca- 
 tholics may for ever bid adieu to the slightest 
 probability of effecting their object. Such men 
 as hang about a court not only are deaf to the 
 suggestions of mere justice, but they despise 
 justice; they -detest the word right; the only 
 word which rouses them is peril; where they 
 can oppress with impunit}^, they oppress for 
 ever, and call it loyalty and wisdom. 
 
 I am so far from conceiving the legitimate 
 strength of the crown would be diminished by 
 these abolitions of civil incapacities in conse- 
 quence of religious opinions, that my only ob- 
 jection to the increase of religious freedom is, 
 that it would operate ac a diminution of po- 
 litical freedom; the power of the crown is so 
 overbearing at this period, that almost the only 
 steady opposers of its fatal influence are men 
 disgusted by religious intolerance. Our esta- 
 blishments are so enormous, and so utterly 
 disproportioned to our population, that every 
 second or third man 3'ou meet in society gains 
 something from the public ; my brother the 
 commissioner, — my nephew the police justice, 
 — purveyor of small beer to the army in Ire- 
 land, — clerk of the mouth, — yeoman to the left 
 hand, — these are the obstacles which common 
 sense and justice have now to overcome. Add 
 to this, that the king, old and infirm, excites a 
 principle of very amiable generosity in his fa- 
 vour ; that he has led a good, moral, and reli- 
 gious life, equally removed from profligacy 
 and methodistical h}^pocrisy; that he has been 
 a good husband, a good father, and- a good 
 master; that he dresses plain, loves hunting 
 and farming, hates the French, and is, in all 
 his opinions and habits, quite English ; — these 
 feelings are heightened by the present situa- 
 tion of^ the world, and the yet unexploded cla- 
 mour of Jacobinism. In short, from the various 
 
476 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 sources of interest, personal regard, and na- 
 tional taste, such a tempest of lo3ralty has set 
 in upon the people, that the 47th proposition in 
 Euclid might now be voted down with as much 
 ease as any proposition in politics ; and, there- 
 fore, if Lord Hawkesbury hates the abstract 
 truths of science aS much as he hates concrete 
 truth in human affairs, now is his time for 
 getting rid of the multiplication table, and 
 passing a vote of censure upon the pretensions 
 of the hypothenusc. Such is the history of Eng- 
 lish parties at this moment; you cannot seri- 
 ousl}^ suppose that the people care for such 
 men as Lord Hawkesbury, Mr. Canning, and 
 Mr. Perceval, on their own account ; you can- 
 not really believe them to be so degraded as to 
 look to their safety from a man who proposes 
 to subdue Europe b}- keeping it without Jesu- 
 it's bark. The people, at present, have one 
 passion, and but one — 
 
 A Jove principium, Jovis omnia plena. 
 
 They care no more for the ministers I have 
 mentioned, than they do for those sturdy royal- 
 ists who, for 60/. per annum, stand behind his 
 majesty's carriage, arrayed in scarlet and in 
 gold. If the present ministers -opposed the 
 court instead of flattering it, they would not 
 command twenty votes. 
 
 Do not imagine by these observations, that 
 I am not loj^al ; without joining in the common 
 cant of the best of kings, I respect the king 
 most sincerely as a good man. His religion is 
 better than the religion of Mr. Perceval, his 
 old morality very superior to the old morality 
 of Mr. Canning, and I am quite certain he has 
 a safer understanding than both of them put 
 together. Loyalty, within the bounds of reason 
 and moderation, is one of the great instruments 
 of English happiness ; but the love of the king 
 may easilj^ become more strong than the love 
 of the 'kingdom, and we ma)' lose sight of the 
 public welfare in our exaggerated admiration 
 of him who is appointed to reign only for its 
 promotion and support. I detest Jacobinism ; 
 and if I am doomed to be a slave at all, I 
 would rather be the slave of a king than a 
 cobler. God save the king, you say, warms 
 your heart like the sound of a trumpet. I can- 
 not make use of so violent a metaphor; but I 
 am delighted to hear it, when it is the cry of 
 genuine affection; I am delighted to hear it, 
 when they hail not only the individual man, 
 but the outward and living sign of all English 
 blessings. These are noble feelings, and the 
 heart of every good man must go with them; 
 but God save the king, in these times, too often 
 means God save my pension and my place. 
 God give my sisters an allowance out of the 
 privy purse, — make me clerk of the irons, let 
 me survey the meltings, let me live upon the 
 fruits of other men's industry, and fatten upon 
 the plunder of the public. 
 
 What is it possible to say to such a man as 
 the gemleman of Hampstead, who really be- 
 lieves it feasible to convert the four million 
 Irish Catholics to the Protestant religion, and 
 considers this as the best remedy for the dis- 
 turbed state of Ireland 1 It is not possible to 
 answer such a man with arguments; we must 
 «nme out against him with beads, and a cowl, 
 
 and push him into an hermitage. It is really 
 such trash, that it is an abuse of the privilege 
 of reasoning to reply to it. Such a project is 
 well worthy the statesman who would bring 
 the French to reason by keeping them without 
 rhubarb, and exhibit to mankind the awful 
 spectacle of a nation deprived of neutral salts. 
 This is not the dream of a wild apothecary 
 indulging in his own opium ; this is not the 
 distempered fancy of a pounder of drugs, deli- 
 rious from smallness of profits ; but it is the 
 sober, deliberate, and systematic scheme of a 
 man to whom the public safety is entrusted, 
 and whose appointment is considered by many 
 as a masterpiece of political sagacity. What 
 a sublime thought, that no purge can now be 
 taken between the Weser and the Garonne; 
 that the bustling pestle is still, the canorous 
 mortar mute, and the bowels of mankind locked 
 up for fourteen degrees of latitude ! When, I 
 should be curious to know, were all the powers 
 of crudity and flatulence fully explained to his 
 majesty's ministers ] At what period was this 
 great plan of conquest and constipation fully 
 developed ? In whose mind was the idea of 
 destroying the pride and the plasters of France 
 first engendered 1 AVithout castor oil they 
 might, for some months, to be sure, have car- 
 ried on a lingering war; but can they do with- 
 out bark 1 Will the people live under a go- 
 vernment where antimonial powders cannot be 
 procured] Will they bear the loss of mercurj'1 
 " There's the rub." Depend upon it, the ab- 
 sence of materia medica will soon bring them 
 to their senses, and, the cry of Bourbon and 
 bolus burst forth from the Baltic to the Mediter- 
 ranean. 
 
 You ask me for any precedent in our history 
 wliere the oath of supremacy has been dis- 
 ])ensed with. It was dispensed with to the 
 Catholics of Canada, in 1774. They are only 
 required to take a simple oath of allegiance. 
 The same, I believe, was the case in Corsica. 
 The reason of such exemption was obvious ; 
 you could not possibly have retained either of 
 these countries without it. And what did it 
 signify, whether you retained them or not ? In 
 cases where you might have been foolish with- 
 out peril, j'ou were wise ; when nonsense and 
 bigotry threaten you with destruction, it is im- 
 possible to bring you back to the alphabet of 
 justice and common sense; if men are to be 
 fools, I would rather they were fools in little 
 matters than in great; dulness turned up with 
 temeritj-, is a livery all the worse for the 
 facings ; and the most tremendous of all things 
 is the magnanimity of a dunce. 
 
 It is not by any means necessarj', as 3'ou 
 contend, to repeal the Test Act if you give re- 
 lief to the Catholic ; what the Catholics ask 
 for is to be put on a footing with the Protestant 
 dissenters, which would be done by repealing 
 that part of the law which compels them to 
 take the oath of supremacy and to make the 
 declaration against transubstantiation ; they 
 would then come into Parliament as all other 
 dissenters are allowed to do, and the penal 
 laws to which they were exposed for taking 
 ofl!ice would be suspended every year, as they 
 have been for this half century past toM'ards 
 Protestant dissenters. Perhaps, after all, this 
 
WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 477 
 
 is tHe best method, — to continue the persecut- 1 
 ing law, and to suspend it every year, — a met 
 ihod which, while- it effectually destroys the 
 persecution itself, leaves to the great mass of 
 mankind the exquisite gratification of suppos- 
 ing that they are enjoying some advantage 
 from which a particular class of their fellow- 
 creatures are excluded. We manage the Cor- 
 poration and Test Acts at present much in the 
 same manner as if we were to persuade parish 
 boys, who had been in the habit of beating an 
 ass, to spare the animal, and beat the skin of 
 an ass stuffed with straw ; this would preserve 
 the semblance of tormenting without the re- 
 ality, and keep boy and beast m good humour. 
 
 How can you imagine that a provision for 
 the Catholic clergy affects the 5th article of 
 the Union 1 Surely I am* preserving the Pro- 
 testant church in Ireland, if I put it in a better 
 condition than that in which it now is. A tithe 
 proctor in Ireland collects his^tithes with a 
 blunderbuss, and carries his tenth hay-cock by 
 storm, sword in hand ; to give him equal value 
 in a more specific shape, cannot, I should ima- 
 gine, be considered as injurious to the church 
 of Ireland; and what right has that church to 
 complain, if Parliament chooses to fix upon 
 the empire the burthen of supporting a double 
 ecclesiastical establishment ■? Are the reve- 
 nues of the Irish Protestant clergy in the 
 slightest degree injured by such provision 1 On 
 the contrary, is it possible to confer a more 
 serious benefit upon thatchurch, than by quiet- 
 ing and contenting those who are at work for 
 its destruction! 
 
 It is impossible to think of the affairs of 
 Ireland without being forcibly struck with the 
 parallel of Hungary. Of her seven millions 
 of inhabitants, one-half were Protestants, Cal- 
 vinists, and Lutherans, many of the Greek 
 Church, and many Jews; such was the state 
 of their religious dissensions, that Mahomet 
 had often been called in to the aid of Calvin, 
 and the crescent often glittered on the walls of 
 B.uda and of Presburg. At last, in 1791, during 
 the most violent crisis of disturbance, a diet 
 was called, and by a great majority of voices 
 a decree was passed, which secured to all the 
 contending sects the fullest and freest exercise 
 of religious worship and education; ordained 
 (let it be heard in Hampstead) that churciies 
 and chapels should be erected for all on the 
 most p_erfectly equal terms, that the Protestants 
 of both confessions should depend upon their 
 spiritual superiors alone, liberated them from 
 swearing by the usual oath, " the holy Virgin 
 Mary, the saints, and chosen of God ;" and then, 
 the decree adds, " that public offices and horwurs, 
 ' high or lore, great or sinall, shall be given to natural 
 born Hungariatts who dcso-vc icell of their country, 
 and possess the other <]ualiJications, let their religion 
 be whaf it may." Such was the line of policy 
 pursued in a diet consisting of four hundred 
 members, in a state whose form of government 
 approaches nearer to our own than any other, 
 having a Roman Catholic establishment of 
 great wealth and power, and under the influence 
 of one of the most bigoted Catholic courts in 
 Europe. This measure has now the experience 
 of eighteen j^ears in its favour; it has under- 
 gone a trial of fourteen years of revolution, 
 
 such as the world never witnessed, and more 
 than equal to a century less convulsed. What 
 have been its effects 1 When the French 
 advanced like a torrent within a few days' 
 march of Vienna, the Hungarians rose in a 
 mass ; they formed what they called the sacred 
 insurrection, to defend their sovereign, their 
 rights and liberties, now common to all ; and 
 the apprehension of their approach dictated to 
 the reluctant Bonaparte the immediate signa- 
 ture of the treaty of Leobcn: the Romish hie- 
 rarchy of Hungary exists in all its former 
 splendour and opulence ; never has the slightest 
 attempt been made to diminish it; and those 
 revolutionary principles, to which so large a 
 portion of civilized Europe has been sacrificed, 
 have here failed in making the smallest suc- 
 cessful inroad. 
 
 The whole history of this proceeding of the 
 Hungarian diet is so extraordinary, and such 
 an admirable comment upon the Protestantism 
 of Mr. Spencer Perceval, that I must compel 
 you to read a few short extracts from the law 
 itself: — "The Protestants of both confessions 
 shall, in religious matters, depend upon their 
 own spiritual superiors alone. The Protestants 
 may likewise retain their trivial and grammar 
 schools. The church dues which the Pro- 
 testants have hitherto paid to the Catholic 
 parish priests, schoolmasters, or other such 
 otRcers, either in mone)^ productions, or labour, 
 shall in future entirely cease, and after three 
 months from the publishing of this law, be no 
 more anywhere demanded. In the building or 
 repairing of churches, parsonage-houses, and 
 schools, the Protestants are not obliged to assist 
 the Catholics with labour, nor the Catholics the 
 Protestants. The pious foundations and dona- 
 tions of the Protestants which already exi^t, 
 or which in future may be made for their 
 churches, ministers, schools and students, 
 hospitals, orphan-houses and poor, cannot be 
 taken from them under any pretext, nor yet 
 the care of them; but rather the unimpede I 
 administration shall be entrusted to those from 
 among them to whom it legally belongs, and 
 those foundations which may have been taken 
 from them under the last government, shall be 
 returned to them without delay; all affairs of 
 marriage of the Protestants are left to their 
 own consistories; all landlords and masters of 
 families, under the penalty of public prose- 
 cution, are ordered not to prevent their sub- 
 jects and servants, whether they be Catholic 
 or Protestant, from the observance of the 
 festivals and ceremonies of their religion," 
 &c. &c. «Scc. — By what strange chances are 
 mankind influenced! A little Catholic barrister 
 of Vienna might have raised the crv of no 
 Protestantism, and Hungary would have panted 
 for the arrival of a French army as much as 
 Ireland does at this moment; arms would have 
 been searched for; Lutheran and Calvinist 
 houses entered in the dead of the night; and 
 the strength of Austria exhausted in guarding 
 a country from M-hich, under the present liberal 
 system, she may expect, in a moment of danger 
 the most powerful aid; and let it be remem 
 .bered, that this memorable example of political 
 wisdom took place ai a period when many 
 great monarchies were yet unconquered iu 
 
478 
 
 WORKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 Europe; m ^'country where the two religious 
 parlies were equal in number; and where it is 
 impossible to suppose indifference in the party 
 which relinquished its exclusive privileges. 
 Under all these circumstances, the measure 
 w-as carried in the Hungarian diet by a ma- 
 jority of 280 to 120. In a few weeks, we shall 
 see every concession denied to the Catholics 
 by a much larger majority of Protestants, at a 
 moment M'hen evciy other power is subjugated 
 but ourselves, and in a country where the 
 oppressed are four times as numerous as their 
 oppressors. So much foi' the wisdom of our 
 ancestors — so much for the nineteenth century 
 — so much for the superiority of the English 
 over all the nations of the continent! 
 
 Are you not sensible, let me ask 3'ou, of the 
 absurdity of trusting the lowest Catholics with 
 offices correspondent to their situation in life, 
 and of denying snch privilege to the higher 1 
 A Catholic may serve in the militia, but a 
 Catholic cannot come into Pailiament; in the 
 latter case you suspect combination, and in 
 the former case you suspect no combination ; 
 you deliberately arm ten or twenty thousand 
 of the lowest of the Catholic people; — and the 
 moment you come to a class of men whose 
 education, honour, and talents, seem to render 
 all mischief less probable, then you see the 
 danger of employing a Catholic, and cling to 
 your investigating tests and disabling laws. 
 If you tell me you have enough of members of 
 Parliament, and not enough of militia, without 
 the Catholics, I beg leave to remind you, that, 
 by employing the physical force of any sect, at 
 the same time when you leave them in a state 
 of utter disaffection, you are not adding 
 strength to your armies, but weakness and 
 ruin : — if you want the vigour of their common 
 people, you must not disgrace their nobility, 
 and insult their priesthood. 
 
 I thought that the terror of the pope had 
 been confined to the limits of the nursery, and 
 merely employed as a means to induce j'oung 
 master to enter into his small clothes with 
 greater speed, and to cat his breakfast with 
 greater attention to decorum. For these pur- 
 poses, the name of the pope is admirable ; but 
 why push it beyond? Why not leave to Lord 
 Hawkesbury all farther enumeration of the 
 pope's pov/ers ? For a whole century, j'ou 
 have been exposed to the enmity of France, 
 and your succession was disputed in two 
 rebellions; what could the pope do at the 
 period when there was a serious struggle, 
 whether England should be Protestant or Ca- 
 tholic, and when the issue was completel}' 
 doubtful ? Could the pop.e induce the Irish tu 
 rise in 1715? Could he induce them to rise 
 in 1745? You had no Catholic enemy when 
 half this island was in arms; and what did 
 tlic pope attempt in the last rebellion in Ire- 
 land? But if he had as much power over the 
 minds of the Irish as Mr. Wilberforce has 
 over the mind of a young Methodist, converted 
 the preceding quarter, is this a reason why we 
 are to disgust men, who may be acted upon in 
 such a manner by a foreign power? or is it not 
 an additional reason why we should raise up 
 every barrier of affection and kindness against 
 the mischief of foreign influence ? But the 1 
 
 true answer is, the mischief does not exist 
 ^Jog and Magog have produced as much in- 
 fluence upon human affairs as the pope has 
 .done for this half century past; and by spoil- 
 ing him of his possessions, and degrading him 
 in the eyes of all Europe, Bonaparte has not 
 taken quite the proper method of increasing 
 his influence. 
 
 But why not a Catholic king, as well as a 
 Catholic member of Parliam.ent, or of the 
 cabinet? — Because it is probable that the one 
 would be mischievous, and the other not. A 
 Catholic king might struggle against the Pro- 
 testantism of the country, and if the struggle 
 Avas not successful, it would at least be dan- 
 gerous; but the efforts of any other Catholic 
 would be quite insignificant, and his hope of 
 success so small, that it is quite improbable 
 the effort would ever be made; my argument 
 is, that in so Protestant a country as Great 
 Britain, the character of her Parliaments and 
 her cabinet could not be changed by the few 
 Catholics who would ever find their way to 
 the one or the other. But. the power of the 
 crown is immeasurably greater than the power 
 which the Catholics could' obtain from any 
 other species of authority in the state; and it 
 does not follow, because the lesser degree of 
 power is innocent, that the greater should be 
 so too. As for the stress you lay upon the 
 danger of a Catholic chancellor, I have not the 
 least hesitation in saying, that his appointment 
 would not do a ten-thousandth part of the mis- 
 chief to the English church that might be done 
 by a methodistical chancellor of the true Clap- 
 ham breed; and I request to know, if it is 
 really so very necessary that a chancellor 
 should be of the religion of the Church of 
 England, how many chancellors j'ou have had 
 within the last century who have been bred up 
 in the Presbyterian religion ? — And again, how 
 many you have had who notoriously have 
 1 een without any religion at all? 
 
 Why are you to suppose that eligibility and 
 election are the same thing, and that all the 
 cabinet will be Catholics, whenever all the 
 cabinet may be Catholics ? You have a right, 
 you say, to suppose an extreme case, and to 
 argue ugon it — so have I: and I will suppose 
 that the hundred Irish members will one day 
 come down in a body, and pass a law com- 
 pelling the king to reside in Dublin. I will 
 suppose that the Scotch members, by a similar 
 stratagem, will lay England under a large 
 contribution of meal and sulphur; no measure 
 is without objection, if you sweep the whole 
 horizon for danger; it is not sufficient to tell * 
 me of what may happen, but you must show 
 me a rational probability that it will happen : 
 after all, I might, contrary to my real opinion, 
 admit all your dangers to exist; it is enough 
 for me to contend that all other dangers taken 
 together are not equal to the danger of losing 
 Ireland from disaffection and invasion. 
 
 I am astonished to see you, and many good 
 and well-meaning clergymen beside you, paini- 
 ng the Catholics in such detestable colours; 
 two-thirds, at least, of Europe are Cntholics, — 
 they are Christinns, though mistaken Chris- 
 tians; how can I possibly admit that any sect 
 of Christians, and above all, that the oldes* and 
 
WOEKS OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH, 
 
 479 
 
 the most numerous sect of Christians, are inca- 
 pable of fulfilling the common duties and rela- 
 tions of life : though I do differ from them in 
 many particulars, God forbid I should give 
 such a handle to infidelity, and subscribe to 
 such blasphemy against our common religion! 
 Do you think mankind never change their 
 opinions without formally expressing and con- 
 fessing that change] When you quote the 
 decisions of ancient Catholic councils, are you 
 prepared to defend all the decrees of English 
 convocations and universities since the reign 
 of Queen Elizabeth? I could soon make you 
 sick of your uncandid industry against the 
 Catholics, and bring you to allow that it is 
 better to forget times past, and to judge and 
 be judged by present opinions and present 
 practice. 
 
 I must beg to be excused from explaining 
 and refuting all the mistakes about the Catho- 
 lics made by my Lord Redesdale ; and I must 
 do that nobleman the justice to say, that he has 
 been treated with great disrespect. Could any 
 thing be more indecent than to make it a 
 morning lounge in Dublin to call upon his 
 lordship, and to cram him with Arabian-night 
 stories about ihe Catholics 1 Is this proper 
 behaviour to the representative of majesty, the 
 child of Themis, and the keeper of the con-. 
 science in West Britain 1 Whoever reads the I 
 letters of the Catholic bishops, in the appendix I 
 to Sir John Hippesly's very sensible book, will I 
 see to what an excess this practice must have | 
 been carried with the pleasing and Protestant j 
 nobleman whose name I have mentioned, and I 
 from thence I wish you to receive your answer | 
 about excommunication, and all the trash j 
 which is talked against the Catholics. 
 
 A sort of notion has, by some means or 
 another, crept into the world, that difference of 
 religion would render men unfit to perform 
 together the offices of common and civil life; 
 that Brother Wood and Brother Grose could 
 not travel together the same circuit if they dif- 
 fered in creed, nor Cockell and ]\Iingay be en- 
 gaged in the same cause if Cockell was a 
 Catholic and Mingay a Muggletonian. It is 
 supposed that Huskisson and Sir Harry Engle- 
 field would squabble behind the speaker's chair 
 about the Council of Lateran,and many a turn- 
 pike bill miscarry by the sarcastical contro- 
 versies of Mr. Hawkins Brown and Sir John 
 Throckmorton upon the real presence. I wish 
 I could see some of these symptoms of earnest- 
 ness upon the subject of religion ; but it reall}' 
 seems to me, that, in the present state of so- 
 ciety, men no more think about inquiring con- 
 cerning each other's faith than they do concern- 
 ing the colour of each other's skins. There 
 may have been times in England when the 
 quarter sessions would have been disturbed by 
 the theological polemics; but now, after a 
 Catholic justice had once been seen on the 
 bench, and it had been clearly ascertained that 
 he spoke English, had no tail, only a single row 
 of teeth, and that he loved port-wine, — after all' 
 the scandalous and infamous reports of his 
 physical conformation had been clearly proved 
 10 be false, — he would be reckoned a jolly fel- 
 low, and very superior in flavour to a sly Pres- 
 
 byterian. Nothing, in f^ict, can be more un- 
 candid and unphilosophical* than to say that a 
 man has a tail, because you cannot agree with 
 him upon religious subjects; it appears to be 
 ludicrous, but I am convinced it has don6 infi- 
 nite mischief to the Catholics, and made a very 
 serious impression upon the minds of many 
 gentlemen of large landed property. 
 
 In talking of the impossibility of Catholics 
 and Protestants living together with equal pri- 
 vilege under the same government, do you 
 forget the cantons of Switzerland] You might 
 have seen there a Protestant congregation 
 going into a church which had jusi been quitted 
 by a Catholic congregation ; and Twill venture 
 to say that the Swiss Catholics were more 
 bigoted to their religion than any people in the 
 whole world. Did the kings of Prussia ever 
 refuse to employ a Catholic ] Would Frede- 
 rick the Great have rejected an able man on 
 this account] We have seen Prince Czarto- 
 rinski, a Catholic secretary of state in Russia; 
 in former times, a Greek patriarch and an 
 apostolic vicar acted together in the most per- 
 fect harmony in Venice; and we have seen the 
 Emperor of Gennany in modern times entrust- 
 ing the care of his person and the command 
 of his guard to a Protestant prince, Ferdinand 
 of Wirtembcrg. But what are all these things 
 to Mr. Perceval] He has looked at human 
 nature from the top of Ilampstead Hill, and 
 has not a thought beyond the little sphere of 
 his own vision. " The snail," say the Hindoos, 
 "sees nothing but its own shell, and thinks it 
 the grandest palace in the universe." 
 
 I now take a final leave of this subject of 
 Ireland ; the only difficulty in discussing it is 
 a want of resistance, a -want of something 
 difficult to unravel, and something dark to 
 illumine; to agitate such a question is to beat 
 the air with a club, and cut down gnats with 
 a scimitar ; it is a prostitution of industry, and 
 a waste of strength. If a man says I have a 
 good place, and I do not choose to lose it, this 
 mode of arguing upon the Catholic question I 
 can well understand; but that any human be- 
 ing with an understanding two degrees elevated 
 above that of an Anabaptist preacher, should 
 conscientiously contend for the expediency 
 and propriety of leaving the Irish Catholics in 
 their present state, and of subjecting us to such 
 tremendous peril in the present condition of 
 the world, it is utterly out of my power to con- 
 ceive. Such a measure as the Catholic ques- 
 tion is entirely beyond the common game of 
 politics; it is a measure in which all parties 
 ought to acquiesce, in order to preserve the 
 place where, and the stake for which they play. 
 If Ireland is gone, where are jobs ] where are 
 reversions ] where is my brother, Lord Ardeni 
 where are my dear and near relations ? The 
 game is up, and the speaker of the House of 
 Commons will be sent as a present to the 
 menagerie at Paris. We talk of waiting from 
 particular considerations, as if centuries of 
 joy and prosperity were before us ; in the next 
 ten years our fate must be decided; we shall 
 know, long before that period, whether we can 
 
 ♦ Vide Lord Bacon, Loclte, and Duscartes. 
 
480 
 
 WORKS OP THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH. 
 
 bear up against the miseries by which we are 
 threatened, or not; and yet, in the very midst 
 of our crisis, we are enjoined to abstain from 
 the most certain means of increasing our 
 strength, and advised to wait for the remedy 
 till the disease is removed by death or health. 
 And now, instead of the plain and manly 
 policy of increasing unanimity at home, by 
 equalizing rights and privileges, what is the 
 ignorant, arrogant, and wicked system which 
 has been pursued 1 Such a career of madness 
 and of folly was, I believe, never run in so 
 short a period. The vigour of the ministry is 
 like the vigour of a grave-digger, — the tomb 
 becomes more ready and more wide for every 
 efiort which they make. There is nothing 
 which it is worth while either to take or to re- 
 tain, and a constant train of ruinous expedi- 
 tionj has been kept up. Every Englishman 
 felt proud of the integrity of his country ; the 
 character of the country is lost for ever. It is 
 of the utmost consequence to a commercial 
 people at war with the greatest part of Europe, 
 that there should be a free entry of neutrals 
 into the enemy's ports ; the neutrals who car- 
 rii;d our manufactures we have not only ex- 
 claded, but we have compelled them to declare 
 war against us. It was our interest to make a 
 good peace, or convince our own people that 
 it could not be obtained; we have not made a 
 peace, and we have convinced the people of 
 nothing but of the arrogance of the foreign 
 secretary; and all this has taken place in the 
 short space of a year, because a King's Bench 
 barrister and a writer of epigrams, turned into 
 ministers of state, were determined to show 
 country gentlemen that the late administration 
 had no vigour. In the mean time commerce 
 iitands still, manufactures perish, Ireland is 
 jnore and more irritated, India is threatened, 
 fresh taxes are accumulated upon the wretched 
 people, the war is carried on without it being 
 possible to conceive any one single object 
 which a rational being can propose to himself 
 by its continuation; and in the midst of this 
 unparalleled insanity we are told that the conti- 
 nent is to be reconqu&red by the want of rhu- 
 
 barb and plums.* A better spirit than exists 
 in the English people never existed in any 
 people in the world ; it has been misdirected, 
 and squandered upon party purposes in the 
 most degrading and scandalous manner; they 
 have been led to believe that they were bene- , 
 fiting the commerce of England by destroying 
 the commerce of America, that they were de- 
 fending their sovereign by perpetuating the 
 bigoted oppression of their fellow-subject; 
 their rulers and their guides have told them 
 that they would equal the vigour of France by 
 equalling her atrocity; and they have gone ou 
 wasting that opulence, patience, and courage, 
 which, if husbanded by prudent and moderate 
 counsels, might have proved the salvation of 
 mankind. The same policy of turning the 
 good qualities of Englishmen to their own 
 destruction, which made Mr. Pitt omnipotent, 
 continues his power to those who resemble 
 him only in his vices ; advantage is taken of 
 the loyalty of Englishmen, to make them 
 meanly submissive ; their piety is turned into 
 persecution, their courage into useless and 
 obstinate contention; they are plundered be- 
 cause they are ready to pay, and soothed into 
 asinine stupidity because they are full of vir- 
 tuous patience. If England must perish at 
 last, so let it be ; that event is in the hands of 
 God; we must dry up our tears and submit. 
 But that England should perish swindling and 
 stealing; that it should perish waging war 
 against lazar-houses, and hospitals ; that it 
 should perish persecuting with monastic bigot- 
 ry ; that it should calmly give itself up to be 
 ruined by the flashy arrogance of one man, 
 and the narrow fanaticism of another ; these 
 events are within the power of human beings, 
 and I did not think that the magnanimity of 
 Englishmen would ever stoop to such de- 
 gradations. 
 
 Longum vale ! 
 
 PETER PLYMLEY. 
 
 * Even Allen Park (accustomed as he has always been 
 to be delighied by all administrations) says it is too bad; 
 and Hall and Morris are said to have actually blushed in 
 one of the divisions. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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