THE ENGLISH GOVERNMENT AND CONSTITUTION, LONDON rUlSTED BY SrOTTISWOODE AND CO. SEW-STREET SQUARE AN ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH GOVERNMENT ANTI CONSTITUTION FROM THE REIGN OF HENRY VII. TO THE PRESENT TIME. BY JOHN, EARL RUSSELL. ' Methinks I see in my mind a noble and puissant nation rousing herself like a strong man after sleep, and shaking her invincible locks ; methinks I see her as an eagle renewing her mighty yo\ith, and kindling her nndazzled eyes at the full midday beam, purging and unsealing her long-abused sight at the fountain itself of heavenly radiance, while the whole noise of timorous and flocking birds, with those also that love the twilight, flutter about, amazed at what she means, and in their envious gabble would prognosticate a year of sects and scliisms.' MiLTOX. NEW EDITION. LONDON : LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. THE LIBRARY KSI university of CALIFORNIA W/ / SANTA BARBARA U^ TO THE MEMORY OP CHARLES, EAIIL GREY, TIIF. CONSTANT FUIEND OF MH. FOX IN rrnLic and in private life; rm; rNi)\iiNTi;i) ciiAJirroN of oivii, and hkliciot-s FRr.rnoM IN all TLME.S ANn in all I'lUCUMSTANCES ; I'lIF. ICNLIOIITENKI) LOVF.Ii OF HIS COUNTUV IN ALL IIFIt PERILS AND PEUPLEXITIKS, THIS HOOK IS DEDICATED AS A TOKEN OF AFFECTION AN» AUMIUATION, l!Y THE AUTHOR, THE LIBRARY Ka UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA , SANTA BARBARA U^ TO THE MEMORY «»F CHARLES, EARL GREY, THE CONSTANT FRIEND OF MR. FOX IN PUBLIC AND IN PRIVATE LIFE; THE UNDAUNTED CHAMPION OF CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN ALL TIMES AND IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES ; THE ENLIGHTENED LO\'ER OF HIS COUNTRY IN ALL HER PERILS AND PERPLEXITIES, THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED AS A TOKEN OF AFFECTION AND ADMIRATION, BY THE AUTHOR. PREFACE TO THE PRESENT EDITION, I HAVE ATTEMPTED in the present edition to perform the task which I had till now aban- doned as hopeless — namely, to amalgamate the recent with the earher work ; and instead of giving the retrospect from 1820 to 1864 in the shape of an Introduction, I have placed it at the end as a concluding chapter. Besides this leading difference, some addi- tions and many omissions distinguish the pre- sent fi'om the last edition. E. ^ '' '\ CONTENT^S: CHAPTER I. ■ PAGE FIRST PRINCIPLES OF THE ENGLISH GOVERNMENT AND CONSTITUTION ....... 1 CHAPTER II. HENRY THE SEVENTH 12 CHAPTER III. HENRY THE EIGHTH 16 CHAPTER IV. THE REFORMATION . 21 CHAPTER V. QUEEN ELIZABETH ....... 26 CHAPTER VI. JAMES THE FIRST . . . . . •. .31 CHAPTER VII. CHARLES THE FIRST ...... 38 CHAPTER VIII. CAUSES OF THE DISSOLUTION OF THE ENGLISH FORM OF GOVERNMENT UNDER CHARLES THE FIRST . . 56 a •^fSf CONTEXTS. CHAPTER IX. PAGE CROMWELL, CHARLES THE SECOND, AND JAMES THE SECOND CHAPTER X. 59 THE REVOLUTION (•••*•• b"l CH^^PTER XI. DEFINITIONS OF LIBERTY 68 CHAPTER XII. CIVIL LIBERTY . . • f 69 CHAPTER XIII. PERSONAL LIBERTY . . . . . . . 77 CHAPTER XIV. POLITICAL LIBERTY ....... 87 CHAPTER XV. LAWYERS . . . . . 98 CHAPTER XVl. RISE OF PUBLIC CREDIT UPON THE BASIS OF A FREE CONSTITUTION . . . . . . .100 CHAPTER XVII. PARTY ......... 104 CHAPTER XVIII. WILLIAM AND MARY. ANNE . . . . .112 CHAPTER XIX, IMPEACHMENT. — BILLS OF PAINS AND PENALTIES . .117 CHAPTER XX. GEORGE THE FIRST AND GEORGE THE SECOND , . 124 CONTENTS. XI CHAPTER XXI. PAGE GEORGE THE THIRD. — BEGINNING OF HIS REIGN. AMERICAN WAR 132 CHAPTER XXII. THE SENSE OF JUSTICE 135 CHAPTER XXIII. OF AN EXTREME REMEDY AGAINST THE ABUSES OF POWER ; AND OF MODERATION IN THE USE OF THE REMEDY . . . . . . .137 CHAPTER XXIV. CRIMINAL LAW 140 CHAPTER XXV. PUBLIC SCHOOLS . 145 CHAPTER XXVI. POOR-LAWS . . 150 CHAPTER XXVII. WAR WITH THE FRENCH REPUBLIC . . . .153 CHAPTER XXVIII. LIBERTY, THE GREAT SOURCE OF THE WEALTH OF NA- TIONS, AND ESPECIALLY OF THAT OF ENGLAND . 155 CHAPTER XXIX. NATIONAL DEBT .161 CHAPTER XXX. THAT A FREE GOVERNMENT REQUIRES PERPETUAL JEA- LOUSY AND FREQUENT RENOVATION . . .168 CHAPTER XXXI. CONSTITUTION OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS . . .172 Xll CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXXII. PAGE STANDING ARMY ISt) CHAPTER XXXIII. OF THE INFLUENCE OF JURIES IN INTERPRETING AND MODIFYING THE LAWS . . . . . 194 CHAPTER XXXIV. INFLUENCE OF THE CROWN ..... 200 CHAPTER XXXV. LII'.ERTY OF THE PRESS. — PROBABLE FATE OF THE ENG- LISH CONSTITUTION . . ... . . 204 CONCLUDING CH AFTER . .210 NOTES . . . .279 THE ENGLISH GOYERNMENT AND CONSTITUTION. CHAPTER I. FIEST PEINCIPLES OF THE ENGLISH GOVERNMENT AND CONSTITUTION. ' It is now the generally received opinion, and I think a probable opinion, that to the provisions of that reign (viz. of Henry the Seventh) we are to refer the origin, both of the unlimited power of the Tudor?, and of the liberties wrested by our ancestors from the Stuarts ; that tj'ranny was their immediate, and liberty their remote consequence ; but he must have great confidence in his own sagacit3% who can satisfy himself that, unaided by subsequent events, he could from a consideration of the causes have foreseen the succession of effects so different.' — Fox's His tori/ of James II. It would undoubtedly have required a sagacity of no ordinary kind to have predicted, at the com- mencement of the arbitrary sway of the House of Tudor, the course of weak misrule and daring op- position,— of fierce contention, and not less cruel victory, which, marking with a line of blood the history of the Stuart dynasty, at length ended in a peaceable revolution, and the establishment of regular liberty. But those who have seen the harvest can have no doubt that the seed was in the ground ; and at this day it ought to be ^dthin our power to point out Avhat were the elements of freedom in the state of England, during the reign of the Tudors, which have been since developed in her matchless B 2 FIRST PRINCIPLES OF THE CH. I. constitution. Among them, we may, without hesita- tion, enumerate the follomng circumstances. In the first place, the sovereignty of England did not reside in the King solely. All matters of great state importance were made subjects of deliberation in the King's high court of Parliament, which was called together expressly for that purpose. In case of war, it was the business of that assembly to con- sider of means for carrying it on : if the succession was disputed, or a regency required, an appeal was made to their judgment ; and all laws intended to be permanently binding on the people received the sanction of their authority. Nor did the princes of the House of Tudor attempt by any means to diminish or undervalue the importance of Parliament. The crown of Henry the Seventh rested on a Par- liamentary Act. Henry the Eighth repeatedly employed the name, and acknowledged the power of Parliament to change the succession. In the reign of Elizabeth, the offence of saying that the Queen by the authority of Parliament had not power to dispose of the succession to the crown was made high treason during her life, and a misdemeanour with forfeiture of o-oods and chattels after her decease. Thus, however arbitrary the acts of these sovereigns, nothing was taken from the reverence due to the Parliament, the great council of the King, the grand inquest of the nation, and the highest court in the kingdom. The power given to Henry the Eighth, to issue proclamations equal in valichty to laws, was indeed a direct blow to parliamentary government. But this Act was in force only eight years, and con- tained a proviso that these proclamations should not be contrary to the established laws of the realm. During the reigns of Mary and Elizabeth, the Par- liament, however subservient, was yet a principal instrument in carrying on the government. Hence arose a necessity, not indeed that a King of England CH. I. ENGLISH COxVSTITUTION. 3 should relinquish all hope of exercising tyrannical power, but that, if successful, he must have his Lords and Commons accomplices in his tyranny. If these bodies therefore should ever claim practically that share in the state Avhich the laws virtually allowed them, or if they should refuse their support to the measures of the CroAvn, the King must either sub- mit to their claims, or by discontinuing parliaments, give fair warning to the people that the form of government was changed. Secondly. The nobility were not separated from the people by odious distinctions, like the other feudal nobility of Europe. Various causes have been assigned for this difference ; without discussing them, I shall content myself with stating the fact. It would not be correct to suppose, however, that the feudal system has not existed in England in a very odious shape. After the Conquest, the feudal tenure seems to have been adopted by all the principal landholders of England, in a great council held in the year 1086.* Wardships, liveries, primer seisins, and ouster-lemains, values and forfeitures of max-riage, fines for alienation, tenures by homaoe, knight -service and escuage, as well as aids for marrying the King's daughter, and knighting his son, all ligaments of the feudal system, are enume- rated as part of the law of England, by the Act of Charles II., which abolishes them. Happily, how- ever, the system was not allowed to throw its roots very deep into the soil. A practice, which Avas growing general, of sub-infeudations, or granting inferior feuds by the mesne lords, Avith the same conditions as the chief, was restrained by the Act of Quia emptores (18 Edw. I.), which directs that upon all sales, or grants of land in fee, the sub- tenant shall hold, not of the innnediate, but of the * Blackstone, h. ii. c. 4. B 2 4 FIRST PRINCIPLES OF THE ctj. I. superior lord. A corrective to the tyranny of the feudal system was also to be found in the constitu- tion of our county courts, the cradle of our liberties, in which are to be found the origin of our juries, and the model of our parliaments. Here the free tenants met to do justice between man and man ; and here, it is probable, they deliberated on the means of affording the assistance they were bound to give, to defend their country against an enemy. Thus much with respect to the free tenants. The state of the villeins is, pei'haps, a subject of still more importance. The main difference between the two classes was this. The free tenant held his land, on condition of performing certain fixed ser- vices ; the villein also frequently held land, but was bound to perform services, base in their nature, and generally undefined in their extent. Here was real servitude. How soon it began to be abrogated we know not, but we are told by Sir Thomas Smith, who was secretary to Edward VI. and Queen Eliza- beth, that in all his time he never knew any instance of a villein in gross, that is, of a villein transferable by sale, and not attached to the soil, in the king- dom ; and that the few villeins attached to the soil who remained, were such only as had belonged to bishops, monasteries, and other ecclesiastical corpor- ations. The last claim of villenage recorded in our courts, was in the fifteenth year of James I. This great change, which had been silently operating in the condition of the people of England, is probably to be attributed to various causes, — the absence of foreign armies, — the necessity of conciliating the people during the civil wars, — and above all, the "(^ inherent justice and jwety of the nation. ^^ ~' There were several ways in which a villein at- tached to the soil could obtain his freedom. He might be manumitted. Or if his lord brouo-ht an action agamst him, the lord was supposed to allow I ^a. Mit,'%'^ im^ . I rs. T. ENGLISH CONSTITUTION. his freedom. Or if he went into a town and settled there, he, in a certain time, enjoyed its immunities, and became free. Or, lastly, if he could show that, for time out of mind, he and his ancestors had been registered in the roll of the lord's court, as having possession of the land he held, he obtained a pre- scriptive right against his lord. This was done by producing a copy of the court roll, and hence tlie term copyholder. It has been supposed by some that copyhold was known before the conquest. At whatever time it originated, the early prevalence of freedom is nobly characteristic of the English na- tion. Villenao-e was known in France till near the end of the eighteenth century ; in Spain it was only abolished in the nineteenth ; in Germany it is hardly extinct ; in Kussia it was abolished by the present Emperor, to his immortal honour, in 1864. But the spirit of the Eno;lisli^jDeople, and the equality of the "common-7aw, have always Been a just corrective of .-~-.. the degrading institutions and customs imported y£^ from other countries. Magna Charta itself is a,*"^ noble and singular proof of the ^s^ipipathy .then <;^ existing between the barons and the people of Eng-\ >> land. Philippe de Comines speaks of the humanity \ %.. with which the nobility treated the people in the civil wars. It would seem that Englishmen have always felt that, if the order of civil society required the relations of supei-ior and inferior ranks, nature conferred feelings and capacities with unpartial justice upon all. Intimately connected with this spirit, is the ab- ^ sence of any distinction between gentleman and - roturier. Sir Thomas Smith is perliaps the first author who takes notice of the difference of the title of gentleman in England and on the Continent. I subjoin an extract from his work: — 'Ordinarily .j the King doth only make knights and create barons, ^. or liigher degrees ; for as for gentlemen, they be "^ > ^n^ 6 FIRST PRINCIPLES OF THE CH. I. made good cheap in England. For whosoever A studieth the laws of tli,e realm, who stndieth in the ^ J universities, who professes liberal sciences, and, to ibe short, who can live idly and without manual / labour, and will bear the port, charge, and counte- I ance of a gentleman, he shall be called Master, for ' that is the title which men give to esquires and other gentlemen, and shall be taken for a gentleman : for true it is with us as is said, Tanti eris aliis quanti tibi feceris ; and, if need be, a king of heralds shall also give him, for money, arms newly made and in- vented, the title whereof shall pretend to have been found by the said herald in perusing and viewing of old registers, where his ancestors, in times past, had been recorded to bear the same. ... A man may make doubt and question whether this manner of making gentlemen is to be allowed or no ; and for my part I am of that 025inion, that it is not amiss. For, first, the prince loseth nothing by it, as he should do, if it were as in France : lor the yeoman or husbandman is no more subject to taile or tax in England than the gentleman : no, in every payment to the King, the gentleman is more charged, which he beareth the gladlier, and dareth not gainsay for to save and keep his honour and reputation.'* — ' The law,' says Mr. Hallam, ' has never taken notice of gentlemen.f From the reign of Henry III., at least, the legal equality of all ranks below the peer- age was, to every essential purpose, as complete as at present. Compare two writers nearly contem- porary, — Bracton with Beaumanoir, and mark how the customs of Eno-land and France are disting^uish- able m this respect. The Frenchman ranges the * 'De Repulilica Anglorum,' raged by marrying villeins, or lib. i. c. 20, 21 others as burgesses. But the t The iStatute of Merton cer same Act allows that such mar- tainly aliords an exeejition to this riages, if made by the ward's con- remark, when it speaks of the sent after fourteen years of age, wards of noblemen being dispa- are legal. — J. B. CH. I. ENGLISH CONSTITUTION. 7 people under three divisions, — the noble, the free, and the servile ; our countryman has no generic class but freedom and villenage. No restraint seems ever to have lain upon marriage. The purchase of land held by knight-service was always open to all freemen. From the besrinning our law has been no resjjecter of persons. It screens not the gentleman of ancient lineage from the judgment of an ordinary jury, nor from ignominious punishment. It confers not, nor ever did confer, those unjust immunities from public burthens which the superior orders ar- rogated to themselves upon the Continent. Thus, while the privileges of our Peers, as hereditary legislators of a free people, are incomparably more valuable and dignified, they are far less invidious in their exercise than those of any other nobility in Europe. It is, I am firmly persuaded, to this jiccu- llarly democratical character of the English monarchy that we are indebted for its long permanence, its regular improvement, and its present vigour. It is a singular, a providential circumstance, that, in an ao-e Avhen the gradual march of civilization and com- merce was so little foreseen, our ancestors, deviating from the usages of neighbouring countries, should, as if deliberately, have guarded against that expan- sive force, which, in bursting through obstacles improvidently opposed, has scattered havoc over Europe.' * Thus we see that the nobility of England formed no separate caste. Their sons, not excepting the eldest, were, in all respects, pai^t and parcel of the commons of the land. It was decided, by votes of Parlia- ment, both in the reign of Henry VIII. and in that of Elizabeth, that the eldest son of the Earl of Bed- ford was entitled to sit in the House of Commons. No decision could well be more auspicious. The * Middle Ages, vol. ii. p. 19. 8 FIRST PRINCIPLES OF THE CH. I. heirs to a peerage, instead of feeling that petty pride, and indulging that insolent ignorance, which high rank has so great a tendency to breed, were mem- bers of an assembly in which they deliberated with the knights, citizens, and burgesses of the land : they thus imbibed the feelings, and became acquainted with the wants of the people. When a struggle was to be made for freedom, many of them sympathised in the cause ; scarcely any quitted their country ; thus their importance survived even the democratic revolution of 1649. Thirdly. The last and the greatest element of freedom which existed in England was the constitu- tion of her House of Commons. Some persons, in- deed, have considered that all virtue was taken away from that body by a law of Henry VL, which limits the right of voting in counties to forty-shilling free- holders ; and have dated the fall of the liberties of England from the period when villenage was gra- dually giving way to freedom. To such an opinion I certainly do not subscribe. Nor is it my intention to enter here into any controversy respecting the origin of our representation ; a discussion belonging properly to an earlier period than that we are now speaking of. The points to whicli I shall now confine my remai'ks are the Principle of Representation, and the Nature of our own Representation generally. It has been observed, that in the ancient com- monwealths, the people, who decided on public affairs, were all of a higher order than those of the poorer class, who in England read newspapers and take an interest in political questions. But this is a complete mistake. Slaves, it is true, had nothing to do with political functions, but the poorest arti- sans, who were free, had a voice in the public coun- cils. The manner in which their votes were to be given formed a difficulty which the ancient statas did not altogether successfully vanquish. It the CH. I. ENGLISH CONSTITUTION. 9 promiscuoiis multitude were admitted, with equal suffrages, into the public assemblies, as at Athens, the decisions were hasty, passionate, unjust, and ca- pricious. If a method was adopted, as that of centu- i ries at Rome, of giving a weight to property against ^1 I numbers, it was difficult to avoid putting the scale ^^ entirely in the hands of the rich, enabling them to outvote the poor, and thus making an odious dis- ^ tinction between the richer and poorer, higher and ^ *^ lower classes of the community. This evil was V greatly felt at T^.ome, and the expedient of setting ^^p another and independent assembly, which decided ^fby numbers only, was a very rude and a very im- jv/ V:^ perfect remedy.* ^"VT;.^ The principle of representation nearly, if not en- ; V^ tirely, overcomes these obstacles. A certain number ^*?^^^ ^ , "^ ^ ^^ of persons are chosen by the people at large, whose ^i^ ^ , S^ Vj;^ commission it is to watch over the interests of the J!/^community. Consisting naturally and inevitably of , ,. .^ v^ - ^ persons of some fortune and education, they are notr^^ ^ and if the members of it are always capable of being % ^ re-elected, it will evidently become enlightened on/^ 5;^ all the interests, and capable of discussing, ^-ith abi- lity, all the great movements of the State. The most powerful minds in the nation will be brought ^ 1 * See Hume's Essays. Essay on some Eemarkable Customs. ' My soul aches To know, when two authorities are up, Neither supreme, how soon confusion May enter 'twixt the gap of both. Coriolanv.s, act iii. ^i ^^r] fel- 10 FIRST PRINCIPLES OF THE CH. I. to bear on any important measure of policy or jus- tice ; and, at the same time, the humblest individual 'in the country is _§ure, through some channel or other, to find a hearing for his injuries in the pre- ' sence oF'the representatives of the whole people. It is essential to remark, that in the English House of Commons the knights sate in the same assembly with the citizens and burgesses. There are few things in our early Constitution of more im- , portance than this. Cities and toAvns, however ne-_ cessarv their assistan'ce lor o-ranting aids and taxes, . are not likely to obtain, in a feudal country, that A' I "Hnd of respect from the other bodies in the State" wmch would enable them to claim a large share of political power. The separation of the mercantile class from the rest of the community was perhaps one of the chief causes of the failure of the Spanish, and other early constitutions similar to our OAvn. It is at the j^resent day (1865) the greatest defect in the constitution of Prussia, depriving the Senate of all popular character, and the House of Representa- tives of their proper weight, and the moderating in- fluence of men of landed property. But in England, the knights, who represented the landed property of the country, gave a stability and compactness to the frame of the House of Commons, and placed it on a broad foundation, not easily shaken by any king who should attempt its overthrow. The sitting of the knights, citizens, and burgesses in one assembly, was perhaps partly owing to that equality of civil rights, which has before been men- tioned ; no imaginary distinction separated the coun- try knight of ancient lineage from the city merchant of recent fortune. It was not, however, always the rule, and has rather been established by one of those happy unions of fortune and counsel to which the English Constitution owes so much ; — I know not, indeed, if I ought to call it fortune. It was a part ciT. r. ENGLISH CONSTITUTION, 11 of the practical wisdom of our ancestors to alter and vary the form of our institutions as they went on ; to suit them to the circumstances of the time, ai)d reform them according to the dictates of experience. They never ceased to work upon our frame of go- vernment, as a sculptor fashions the model of a favourite statue. iLiOB.iir.t'.tliat till of late years had fallen into disuse, and the disuse w^s attended with evils of the most alarming magnitude. fiji/J/, iO ^lSlAi\ v^ -. w^ />tm n J ^%>r ( 4^ I hj0\^ $\i/wyn^^^ ^ _> ^ C^/t#i (> / ♦^ /:■ 12 CHAPTEE II. HENEY THE SEVENTH. ' The King, to speak of him in terms equal to his deserving, was one of the best sort of wonders, a wonder for wise men. He had parts, both in his virtues and his fortune, not so fit for a common- place as for observation.' — Lord Bacon, Life and Reign of Henry VII. The battle of Bosworth Field put an end to the long and destructive contest which had wasted the blood, and disfigured the fair face of England, in the quarrel between the Houses of York and Lan- caster. Such a contention is little less disgraceful to mankind than it would have been to have made the white and red roses the subject, instead of the symbols, of hostility, and affords but too much ground for the assertion of a democratic writer, that hereditary right has caused as long and as sanguinary wars as elective monarchy. Henry, who was crowned in the field of battle, lost no time in proving he was as well able to keep, as to acquire a throne. He unmediately summoned a parliament, and obtained from them the passing of a statute, not declaring that he was lawful heir to the crown ; not asserting the right of conquest, or of election ; but enacting ' that the inheritance of the crown should rest, remain, and abide in the king.' He procured this statute to be confirmed by the Pope's bull. In the same spirit of peace and moderation he caused many exceptions to be inserted in_ the Acts for attainting the adherents of King Richard. A fcAv years afterwards he procured a law to be passed, declaring that no one should be called in question for obeying a king de facto. He CH. ir. HENRY THE SEVENTH. 13 thus quieted the minds of his subjects, and added more to the stabihty of liis government than he could possibly have done by displaying what Bacon calls the wreath of five,-^to wit, his own descent, and that of his queen, the claim of conquest, and the authorities, parliamentary and papal. Among these titles, that of the House of York seems to have given him Httle satisfaction, and he took care not to crown his queen for a considerable time after his marriage. Indeed, it is certain that, whether from prejudice or policy, his Lancastrian partialities in- fluenced his conduct during the whole of his reign. One of Henry's first endeavours was to procure a law to jDrevent conspiracies among the great, and riots among the people. In a parliament assembled in the third year of his reign, Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury and Chancellor of the kingdom, spoke the following words : — ' His Grace (^. e. the King) saith, that it is not the blood spilt in the field that Avill save the blood in the city ; nor the marshal's sword that "will set this kingdom in perfect peace ; but that the true way is to stop the seeds of sedition and rebellion at the beginnings, and for that purpose to devise, confirm, and quicken good and wholesome laws against riots and unla"\vful assemblies of people, and all combinations and confederacies of them by liveries, tokens, and other badges of factious depen- dence ; that the peace of the land may by these ordinances, as by bars of iron, be soundly bound in and strengthened, and all force, both in court, country, and private houses, be suppressed.' The chief laAV passed by Parliament with the view here explained, Avas an Act confirming the authority of the Star Chamber in certain cases. The Star Chamber, composed of prelates, peers, counsellors, and judges, had an undefined jurisdic- tion without the intervention of a jury over many offences not capital, and over actions proving a 14 HENEY THE SEVENTH. CH. n. design to commit offences not actually committed. * But that which was principally aimed at by this Act,' says Lord Bacon, 'was force and the two chief supports of force, combination of multitudes, and maintenance or headsliip of great persons.' The danger to liberty, of entrusting power so large and arbitrary to persons named by the CroAvn, does not appear to have struck any one at this time ; and Lord Bacon is la^dsh in his praises of the Star Chamber, calling it one of the sagest and noblest institutions of this kingdom. But long civil war induces a people to surrender liberty for peace, as long peace induces them to encounter even civil war for liberty. One of the next Acts of the Par- liament was the sanction of an arbitrary tax. This species of tax, known by the name of Benevolence, had been raised by Edward IV., ^\athout the con- sent of Parliament, and abolished by Richard III. in a very remarkable statute. It was now revived by Act of Parliament on the occasion of a war "with France. But the real object was to amass money ; for Henry had scarcely landed in France when he concluded a peace by which he was to receive 745,000 ducats (about £186,000 sterling) and a tribute of 25 crowns yearly. This reign was much disturbed by rebellion. At- tachment to the House of York, and the burthen of taxes, seem to have been the chief causes of discon- tent. Bacon attributes an insurrection in the North to respect for the memory of Richard III., — a proof ^ that his government, iu that part of the kingdom at least, had not been very oppressive. The chief end of Henry's administration was to J ,i restrain the inordinate power of the great barons. ; ' Two laws enacted for tins purpose, the'onenfacili- V^ I I tating the sale of entailed lands by what fs^called 1 1 ,22 ^ TfiE EEFORMATION. CH. IV. of Canterbury, with Ci'oiAwell, many of tlie»Peers, and a large number of the educated class, endea- voured to conduct the nation, step by step, to abjure the errors and superstitions of the Roman Catholic worship. At the same tune, they were obliged, even for the sake of the cause they favoured, to retain many ceremonies to Avhich the people were attached, and which the English reformers copied from the lioman Church, as the Koman Church had originally copied some of their ceremonies from the heathen worship. The first step which Henry took against the " ~ ^ Church of Eome after the divorce was the dissolu- tion of the monasteries. The motive which induced him to adopt this measure was probably a spirit of rapacity ; for with all his power he found it a very , ..difficult matter to squeeze money from his subjects. With the sum to be derived from the sale of the monasteries, he proposed to make harboui's all round - the coast of England ; a plausible pretext, rather than a bona fide reason, for his confiscatiQO§.^^ Those of the nobility who had adopted the opinions of the reformers, gave willingly in to the measure, and no doubt their zeal was quickened by the share they got of the spoil. The abuses which prevailed in the .monasteries were not, however, a groundless pre- text. The relations of the visitors who were ap- r_ . ' pointed by the King to reform the monasteries, and report their state, display gi'ounds for believing that they were anytlyu^ rather than seminarieg of piety ► ^' ■S-^^ and morality.* . • \ C'^Ueviv/v(^- ;. .^ /> /^ » - ^"""^ , The next steps taken in the road of reformation/ T^ were some directions respecting the worship of * Burnet, Hist, of Eef., book tunity of replying. It would be «' i- p- 198. Dr. Lingard, indeed, difficult, on the other hand, to refu.ses credit to those charges: suppose all the facts alleged to _^, he observes with truth that they be fabrications. Monks and nuns were ex parte statements, to ' are not infallibly or impeccable .which the accused had no oppor- beings, a f'/'i- 7j^ ~'*^ jp ^ CH. IV. THE REFORMATION. 23 ^ images and praying to saints, and, what was much more important, a permission to the people to read a translation of the Bible, in St. Paul's Church, /^f /" i The peoplg flocked to the place, and one person w.is C/^ - ^^\^ generally chosen to read aloud to the rest, till the ^Ts^ ^ alarm ed at the concourse, forbade the prac-^^ tice, as a disturbance to the service of the church. The destruction of some of the images exposed to* the public sevei'al scandalous cheats.* ^ The outset of the Reformation in England was | marked by a more cruel and insupportable religious tyranny than had ever subsisted under the Papal dominion. In the times of Popery, the articles' of ^y faitH were placed in the custody of the priest ; and the people received from him some knowledge of the doctrines of Christianity, some notion of the duties of morality, and an unbounded reverence for the authority and magnificence of the Church. But Henry VIII., after partly removing the veil of ignorance from the eyes of his people, required them not to go a single step fui'ther than he himself did ; and commanded the nation by Act of Parlia- ment to believe six articles of faith therein laid down, and whatever else the King might choose to \ or dain. r i To punish men for their opinions on speculative . • ^gxiigles^fjbelief, is one of the luxuries "wETch tyranny" 1 has inventecT in modern tunes. >Dionysius and Do- / y- y]/^ mitian knew notIiing'~o? it. It was enjoyed by \ Henry to its full extent. He was not, like Philip II. i # tf or Charles" IX., merely the minister of bigotry of ■ - * which he was himself the disciple. He taught from his own mouth the opinions which were to regulate his subjects ; he contained in his own breast the rule of orthodoxy; and he had the triumph of confuting the heretic whom he afterwards had the gratification to burn. * Note (A) at the end of the vohime. 24 THE EEFORMATION. cu. iv. The religion established by Henry VIII. was so far from being the reformed church of Luther or of Calvin, that he prided himself on maintaining the Roman Catholic faith after he had shaken off the supremacy of the Pope. His ordinances indeed vibrated for a short time betAveen the old and the new rehgion, as he listened more to Cranmer or to Gardiner ; but the law of the Six Articles, which contains the creed he finally imposed on his people, maintains and confirms all the 1 e adin g articl es of the Homan belief. They were as follows : — First, That, in the sacrament of the altar, after the consecration, thei'e remained no substance of bread and mue, but under these forms the natural body and blood of Christ were present. Secondly, That communion in both kinds was not necessary to salvation to all persons by the law of God. , Thirdly, That priests after the order of priesthood might not marry by the law of God.^ Fourthly, /'~ That vows of chastity ought to b^v^bse^^ed by^the laAV of God. Fifthly, That the use of private masses ought to be continued ; which, as it w^as agreeable to God's law, so men received great benefit by them. Sixthly, That auricular confession was ex- pedient and ncQess^giry, and ought tp he retained in the Church. \: ■''■■^■^'■^; C'K- /iitHciht^Hi^'n^4> The actual Reformatit»n in England was the work ^"^ of the Duke of Somerset, Protector, in the early > part of the reign of Edward VI. In the first year "^ of that reign, he sent visitors to persuade the people -^ not to pray to saints, to procure that images should be broken ; and to exhort the nation generally, to leave oif the use of the mass, dirges, and prayers in a foreign language. By Act of ^Parliament in the same year he prohibited speaking against giving the sacrament in both kinds ; in that "and the two fol- lowing years he established the liturgy of the Church of England. The law of the six articles was re- .CH. IV. THE EEFORMATIOX. 25 pealed. The Reformation in England was thus made by the Crown and the aristocracy. The people, though agitated by religious disputes, seem to have been hardly ripe for so great a revolution. Insurrections of a serious nature took place in Devonshire, Norfolk, and elscAvhere. The preach- ing of the Roman Catholic priesthood produced so strong an impression, that all the means of authority were put in motion to counteract it. The clergy were first ordered not to preach out of their parishes Avithout a licence, which of coui-se was granted only to the favoured sect; and this not proving sufficient, preaching was altogether prohibited,* — a singular step in the history of the Reformation ! On the other hand, Mary, on succeeding to the throne, found it an easy matter to revive the ancient Avorship. Nor did she hesitate to call frequent new Parliaments, who each went beyond the former in the road of reconciliation. The first refused to re- establish the law of the six articles ; but only one year afterwards, the nation was formally reconciled to the Church of Rome, and the Parliament thanked the Pope for pardoning their long heresy. He said, with equal candour and truth, that he ought to thank them for putting a rich country again under his dominion. * Bui-net, Hist Kef. % 26 CHAPTER V. QUEEN ELIZABETH. ' Sur ce sanglant tUitre, ou cent heros p^rirent, Sur ce trone glissant, dont cent rois descendirent, line femme, a ses pieds enchainant les destms, De I'eclat de son r^gne ^tonnait les humains. C'<^tait Elisabeth ; elle dout la prudence, De I'Europe a son ehoix fit pencher la balance, Et fit aimer son joug a I'Anglois indompt^ Qui ne pent ni servir, ni vivre en liberie. Ses peuples sous son regne ont oubli^ leurs pertes ; De leurs troupeaux feconds leurs plaines sont couTcrtes, Les guerets de leurs bles, les raers de leurs vaisseaux, lis sont craints sur la terre, ils sont rois sur les eaux. Leur flotte imperieuse, asservissant Neptune, Des bouts de I'uniTers appelle la Fortune ; Londres jadis barbare est le centre des arts, Le magasin du monde, et le temple de Mars.' ■ LaHenriade, chant 1. Queen Elizabeth is the greatest of English, per- haps of all modern sovereigns. In a period remark- able for long and sanguinary wars, she made her name respected abroad, without a waste of blood or trea- sure ; and, in a time of great political ferment, she maintained the most absolute authority at home, without any loss of the affections of her people. She obtained glory without conquest, and unlimited power without odium. The means by which results so extraordinary were obtained, comprise all the springs of her foreign and domestic policy. Three principal sources of her fame and success, however, may be discerned. First. — She made herself the head of the Pro- testant interest in Europe. To do this, it was not CH. V. QUEEN ELIZABETH. 27 necessary to place herself in the front of a con- federacy of belligerent powers. It was sufficient to give the sanction of the name of England, a rich and united kingdom, to the cause which she sup- ported. The spirit and enterprise of her subjects, with some assistance from her, did the rest. By this policy, also, she pleased the popular feeling of her kingdom, and opened a channel in which all the restless action of her nobility and gentry might be borne out and find a current. The national fame was likewise a gainer by the reputation acquired by English knights and soldiers, in fighting against the League in France, and Philip II. in the Nether- lands. The country assumed her proper station in the van of the defenders of liberty ; the blood of Sir Philip Sidney was shed in the cause of the freedom of the world ; and tyrants trembled at the name of Elizabeth and of England. Secondly. — She took care not to ask too much money of the people. Her treaties with Henry IV. and with the Netherland States resemble more the hard bargain of a Swiss Canton than the generous alliance of a powerful and friendly sovereign. She well knew that Parliament held the purse, and must, therefore, become absolute master of a distressed or expensive sovereign. In her situation economy was power. Happy would it have been for Leo X., for Charles I., for Louis XVL, if they and their im- mediate predecessors had been aware of this key- stone of their fate ! The Reformation, the civil wars of England, and the revolution in France, had their rise in disordered finances. Men may perhaps submit to be oppressed, but will not easily consent to pay a dear price for the oppression. Thirdly. — She yielded to the popular voice, and cultivated popular favour, whenever it could be done with dignity and safety. She could be severe and kind by turns. Thus, having at one time excited ^ i 4 •• '(?, 28 QUEEN ELIZABETH. CH. V. great murmurs among the House of Commons by forbidding liberty of speecb, she soon thought pro- per to revoke her commands. But nothing shows her policy better than her conduct respecting mo- nopolies. There was hardly any article of which a monopoly was not granted by the Crown. The evil grew so grievous that even Elizabeth's House of Commons echoed w4th angry speeches and universal complaint. The Queen instantly yielded. She did not acknowledge that the debates of the House of Commons had any weight with her, but she informed them, through her Secretary of State, that she consented to quash those monopolies that were illegal, and to submit to an inquiry with re- spect to the rest. Secretary Cecil made an apology to the House for having compared them to a schoolj._ and said, he By no means intended to deny the freedom of speech.* In her manners also the Queen took care to show the greatest confidence in the people. No one knew better how to buy the nation's heart with a phrase, to declare, on occasion, that her treasure was better in her subjects' purses than in her own coffers, and that her best guards were the affections of her people. She was well aware that nothing is so pleasing as the condescension, of supreme power. She therefore displayed her greatness by the pomp of her state, and her goodness by the affability of her language. By such means Queen Elizabeth was enabled to maintain a stable authority over an unquiet people in a restless age. France was distracted by civil war ; the King of Spain was employed in a bootless and bloody quarrel with his insurgent subjects in the Netherlands ; Germany was shaken in every limb by the Beformation ; but the Queen of Eng- * Note.(B) at the end of the Tolume. CH. V. QUEEN ELIZABETH. 29 land reaped the reward of prudence and courage in the tranquillity and affectionate obedience of her kingdom and people. Her power was enormous. When the Commons remonstrated, she speedily dis- solved them. At one time she told them not to meddle in affairs of state. Still less did she permit any proposal of alteration in the Church ; and she repeatedly imprisoned, or procured to be imprisoned, those who gainsayed her high pleasure in these mat- ters.* She dispensed Avith those laws Avhich were unpalatable to her, and regulated the behaviour of her people by ordinance and arbitrary mandate. She forbade the cultivation of woad, as offensive to her royal nostrils. The Court of Star Chamber and the Court of High Commission not being sufficiently arbitrary, it was ordered that every person who im- ported forbidden books, or committed other offences specified, should be punished by martial law. Those who employed the press as an organ of discussion were speedily condemned. Mr. John Udall, a Puri- tan minister, charged with having written ' a slander- ous and infamous libel against the Queen's Majesty,' was tried for a felony, and convicted. The sentence was never executed, but the poor man, after several years' confinement, died in prison. The judge told the jury to find him only author of the book, for the offence of writing it had been already determined to be felony by the judges. A gentleman who had written a book to dissuade the Queen from marrying a French prince, was sentenced by a law of Queen Mary to lose his hand. A Puritan of the name of Penry was condemned and executed for seditious papers found in his pocket. Struck by these arbi- trary proceedings, Mr. Hume has compared the government of Elizabeth to the modern government of Turkey, and remarking that, in both cases, the *lsote (C) at the end of the volume. 30 QUEEN ELIZABETH. CH. v. sovereign was deprived of the power of levying money on his subjects, he asserts ' that in both countries this Hraitation, unsupported by other pri- vileges, appears rather prejudicial to the people.' It is needless to say much on this fanciful analogy, so unworthy of a great historian. Did it ever happen that a Turkish house of commons prevailed on the Sultan to correct the extortion of his pashas, as the English House of Commons induced Elizabeth to surrender the odious monopolies? Did Queen Elizabeth ever put to death the holders of those monopolies without trial, in order to seize their ill- gotten wealth ? In fact, the authority of the House of Commons made some advances during the reign of Elizabeth. The very weight of the power that was used to crush their remonstrances shows the strength of their resistance. The debates of the House of Commons during this reign fill a volume and a half of the old parliamentary history. An attentive observer of this country, at that period, would scarcely have failed to remark, that the force of free institutions was suspended, but not destroyed, by the personal influence of Elizabeth ; and while he acknowledged that no sovereign ever carried the art of reigning further, he would perceive that the nation had granted her a lease for life of arbitrary poAver, but had not alienated for ever the inheritance of freedom. It was happy for the country that Queen Eliza- beth found it her interest to embrace the Protestant religion, and that, by the foolish as well as atrocious plots of the Koman Catholics, she was forced to cultivate still more strongly the aflTections of the Protestant party. Boast as we may of our Consti- tution, had Queen Elizabeth been a Roman Catholic, or James 11. a Protestant, there would have been no liberty in England. '>>VM^t^ 31 CHAPTER VI. ^ JAMES THE FIRST. 'Every one pointed to her (Queen Elizabeth's) white hairs, and said with that peaceable Leontius, " When this snow melteth, tiiere will be a flood." ' — HalVs Sermons. During the latter years of Elizabeth, all classes of people were unpatient for the accession of her suc- cessor. There is nothing so irksome to mankind as continued demands for a long series of years from the same person npou their admiration and their gratitude. In proportion as the novelty wears out, weariness succeeds to wonder, and envy to weariness; the many, like fastidious ci'itics, begin to find faults where they saw nothing but beauties before, and some are angry that there are so few faults to find. The young love to censure what the old extrava- gantly praised, and the giddy are disgusted Avith the monotony of excellence. There might perhaps, however, be other causes why the English nation should desire the reign of James. A new spirit had arisen during the latter years of Elizabeth, both in religion and politics. A large party, known by the name of Puritans, had been formed, or rather, in- creased and united, who aimed at a further reforma- tion in the Church. The llomish ceremonies, which had been preserved in our form of worship, found no indulgence in the minds of this stern sect ; and, had the Puritans been able to execute their wishes, the power and revenues of the bishops would have been submitted to their crucible. Their bold and uncom- promising principles led them also to free principles 32 JAMES THE FIEST. ch. vi. of government; their understandings quickly stripped a king of his divinity, and their hearts raised the subject to a level with the sovereign. Besides the progress of these opinions, a new standard of political right had been introduced by the general study of Greek and Roman authors. Not only had the glories of the ancient republics kindled a flame in the breasts of generous men, but the diffusion of classical knowledge ixad prepared the upper classes of society to require more enlightened methods of proceeding, and a more regular distribution of powers and privileges than had ever before been found necessary. The community was advanced in wealth, in arts, in literature, and in morals. Above all, the Reformation was a perpetual source of in- quiry and discussion ; the minds of men had taken a start towards improvement, and nothing could stop their course. The reforms which this new world manifestly de- manded, were naturally postponed till after the death of Elizabeth. Her age and her reputation merited, her vigour and experience enjoined, for- bearance. But James, a foreign king, without re- putation of glory or of firmness, did not enforce by his character the same submission. A resolution seems to have been taken to insist upon all the ancient privileges of Parliament, together with all the legal liberties of the subject ; and if these should be found incompatible with the old prerogatives of the Crown, or the new pretensions of the Tudor dynasty, to make the King yield to his people, and not the people to the King. James soon had ample occasion to remark the disposition of his subjects. Not all the rejoicings which attended his march, nor the new honours wdiich he so lavishly threw away, could disguise the truth. A petition from upwards of a thousand clergymen of the Puritan persuasion was presented to the King on his road to London, praying for ' a CH. VI. JAMES THE FIRST. 33 reformation in the church service, ministry, livings, and discipline.' He issued writs for the calling of a Parliament, accompanied with instructions to the people what kind of persons they should elect, com- manding them not to choose ovitlaws, and bidding them send the returns to his Court of Chancery., there to be examined and judged. In pursuance of these instructions, the election of a Sir Francis Goodwin, chosen for the county of Buckingham, an outlaw, was declared to be void ; a new writ was issued from the Chancery, and Sir John Fortescue was returned in his room. The Commons declared the election of Sir Francis Goodwin to be valid, and that all matters concerning the election of IMembers of Parliament were cognizable in the House of Commons only. This had been an old subject of dispute with Queen Elizabeth ; the precedents were assertions on both sides, and no decisive conclusion. The Commons had voted that the ' discussing and adjudging of such like differences belonged only to the House ; ' and had passed a resolution that out- laws might be elected : the Judges had declared that they could not, and Queen Elizabeth had com- plained to her last House of Commons that outlaws were admitted. James, after contesting the point, proposed that both Goodwin and Fortescue should be set aside, and a new writ should be issued hy the warrant of the House. The right of the Commons to decide in all matters of election was thus admitted. In the same Parliament, a warden of the Fleet was arrested by the House for ha^^ng imprisoned a member ; a compensation for wardship and purvey- ance was proposed ; and a conference with the Lords was desired on the subject of religion. The instruc- tions given by the Commons to those who were to conduct the conference are remarkable. A relaxa- tion is desired for such as were unable to reconcile themselves to the cross in baptism, the rino- in mar- D 34 JAMES THE FIKST. CH. VI. riage, and the surplice ; but on the subjects of faith, and the sacraments, every person in the kingdom is to be required by Parhament to conform to the law of imiformity. So far were the ideas of these re- formers from real tolei'ation ! James was alarmed at each and all of the pretensions of the Commons, and there remains a draft of a very able addi-ess reported from a Select Committee of that House (though never adopted by the House itself), com- plaining of the misinformation he had received, and entering at large into every subject which had been discussed. They mention the ill-treatment they had received on the subject of their privileges during the latter years of Queen Elizabeth ; attribute their acquiescence to respect for her sex and age ; and express their surprise and sorrow that in this first Parliament of King James, their rights should have been more invaded than ever.* The session ended without any decisive resiilt : except tonnage and poundage, the King obtained no supply ; and except on the question of new Avrits, the Commons got no redress. The alarm of the Gunpowder Plot produced plen- tiful grants to the King. At the end of December, 1609, James dissolved his Parliament, and with the exception of a session of two months in 1614, more than ten years passed over without any sitting of Parliament. Forced loans, arbitrary taxes from private persons, and new monopolies, supplied the wants of his treasury in the interval. At length, in the year 1620, a Parliament met, to which every Englishman ought to look back with reverence. Having first voted the King two subsidies, and having discouraged all recurrence to past complaints, they set themselves vigorously to examine the pre- * Mr. Hume, has laboured, but which, it seems, makes against without success, to weaken the his theory, authority of this document, CH. VI. JAMES THE FIRST. 33 sent grievances of the subject. James adjourned them, and imprisoned Sir Edwin Sandys, one of their most useful members. Undismayed by this step, they petitioned the King, on liis next meeting, to defend his son-in-law the Elector Palatine against the Catholic interest of Europe, to break off the match of his son with Spain, and to turn his sword against that formidable power. James threatened the Commons with punishment: they maintained their privileges : he told them they were derived * from the grace and permission of our ancestors and us.' To this pretension they returned the following memorable answer : — ' The Commons, now assembled in Parliament, being justly occasioned thereunto, concerning sun- dry liberties, franchises, privileges, and jurisdictions of Parliament, do make this protestation following : — That the liberties, franchises, privileges, and jurisdic- tions of Parliament are the ancient and undoubted birthright and inheritance of the subjects of England; and the arduous and urgent affairs concerning the King, State, and the defence of the realm, and of the Church of England, and the making and main- tenance of laws, and redress of mischiefs and griev- ances, which daily happen within this realm, are proper subjects and matter of counsel and debate in Parliament ; and that in the handling and proceed- ing of those businesses, every member of the House hath, and of right ought to have, freedom of speech, to propound, treat, reason, and bring to conclusion the same; that the Commons in Parliament have like liberty and freedom to treat of those matters in such order as in their judgments shall seem fittest ; and that every such member of the said House hath like freedom from all impeachment, imprisonment, and molestation (other than by the censure of the House itself) for or concerning any bill, speaking, reasoning, or declaring of any matter or matters, D 2 36 JAMES THE riEST. CH. VT. touching the Parliament, or Parliament business ; and that if any of the said members be complained of and questioned for anything said or done in Par- liament, the same is to be showed to the King, by the advice and assent of all the Commons assembled in Parliament, before the King give credence to any private information.' James, greatly Avroth at this proceeding, sent for the Journal of the House of Commons to liis council, and tore out the protestation with his own hand. He dissolved the Parliament ; he imprisoned Coke, Selden, Pym, Phillips, and Mallory,* all members of the dissolved House of Commons. He was not aware that the force of the protestation he tore out was not in the parchment or the letters of a book, but in the hearts and minds of his subjects ; and he little expected that, by confining the persons of a few commoners, he was preparing the imprisonment and death of his son. If we look at the position of the adverse parties at this time, we shall see that James was attempt- ing, most unseasonably, a neAv mode of government. The nature of the Gothic monarchies was generally the same. The king, who had first ruled together with his people in rude harmony, came, in time, to exercise certain poAvers of government which he called prerogative; and the people who, in early times, assembled on every occasion to discuss griev- ances, and laws, and treaties, became in the progress of civilization divided into cities, and had their pri- vileges set down in general and particular charters which they called their liberties. Both prerogative and privilege were liable to misconstruction, and sometimes overflowed their banks ; but the King always spoke with respect of the liberties of his subjects, even Avhen he illegally imprisoned their * The people should have these John Hampden, the founders of names by heart. They ■were, with the liberties of England. CH. VI. JAMES THE FIRST. 37 persons ; and the people professed their veneration for monarchy, even Avhen they deposed their king. Queen Elizabeth, acting in this spirit, abjured the notion of infringing the rights of her subjects, at the same time that she occasionally encroached upon, and always narrowly confined, the rights she professed to maintain. She acknowledged the liber- ties of the people without doubt or hesitation, but made use of her own dictionary for the definition ; of the term. James attempted a new system : he ' denied the existence of privileges altogether, except by sufferance ; and without possessing the wisdom of an ordinary man, he claimed, in an inquiring age, the infallibility of the Deity. * As it is atheism and blasphemy,' he said, ' in a creature to dispute what the Deity may do, so it is presumption and sedition in a subject to dispute what a king may do in the height of his power. Good Christians will be content with God's Avill^ rovoalcd in His word^ andgood subjects will" relaeed George I. entirely in the hands of the Whigs. At the same period, the financial diffi- culties which followed the winding-up of the war, and the great practical talents of Walpole as a statesman, contributed to give a greater importance to the House of Commons than ever, and to place within that House, if I may so express myself, the centre of gravity of the State. Besides these causes, much weight and authority, according to the opinion of Speaker Onslow, were added to the House of Commons by the Septennial Act. We now find, therefore, a party ruling the coun- try through the House of Commons ; a species of government which has been assailed with vehe- mence, with plausibility, eloquence, and wit, by Swift, and Bolingbroke, and the whole Tory party in the reigns of George I. and II. ; by Lord Bute and the King's friends in the commencement of the reign of George III., and by a party of Parlia- mentary reformers at a later period. The sum of their objections to it is this: — That it mixes and confounds the functions of the King with those of the House of Commons ; that the King hereby loses his prerogative of choosing his own servants, and becomes a slave to his powerful subjects ; whilst, on the other hand, the House of Commons, by interfering in the executive government, open their door to corruption, and, instead of being the vigilant guardians of the public purse, become the accomplices of an ambitious oligarchy. Now this objection, if good, is fatal to our whole constitu- tion ; for we have seen, in reviewing the reign of Charles I., that a King whose servants are quite independent of Parliament, and a Parliament Avhich is adverse to all abuses of power, cannot exist to- gether : submission from one of the parties, or civil war, must ensue. 126 GEORGE THE FIRST AND CH. XX. The question, then, for us to consider is, not whether the government of the two first Princes of the House of Brunswick was a corruption of the old English constitution, but whether it was upon the whole a good or an evil form of government. The first consideration that must strike us is, that the liberty of the subject was maintained. The chief exceptions to this remark are, the sus- pension of the Habeas Corpus Act on the discovery of Layer's plot, and the attainder of Bishop Atter- bury. Of the latter I have already spoken. The suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act on Layer's plot has always seemed to me unnecessary ; but it is impossible to form any correct judgment on this point, and it must not be forgotten that all the chief Jacobites of England were at that time intrig-uino: at Rome to bring in the Pretender. These exceptions to the general liberty of the subject are trifling and temporary ; few periods in the history of any nation have been so little disturbed by violations of personal freedom as that of the administration of AValpole. Another remark nearly allied to the fbrmer is, that the triumph of party was not marked in Eng- land as it has been in nearly every republic that ever existed, ancient or modern, by a cruel and unsparing persecution of their adversaries. The history of the divisions of the parties of aristocracy and democracy in the minor States of Greece, — of the parties of Marius and Sylla, of Caesar and Antony and Octavius at Rome, — of the Guelfs and the Ghibelines, the Bianchi and the Neri, in Italy, — of the Catholics and the Huguenots in France, — is a history of proscriptions, confiscations, massacres, and murders; but the reign of the first Prince of the House of Hanover, is a time when little severity, and still less rancour, is to be found. Although many of the Tories were known to be adverse to the Protestant CH. XX. GEORGE THE SECOND. 127 settlement, yet little was done against them, besides the banishment of Bolingbroke, Ormond, and Atter- bury. The temper of Walpole inclined him to mildness and moderation. He knew many who corresponded with the Pretender, of whom he took no notice. It is said that, one day, Wyndham, or Shippen, made a violent speech, which excited a murmur, and a cry of ' Tower ! ' ' Tower ! ' among his opponents. Sir Robert Walpole rose : * I know the honourable gentleman expects me to move that he be sent to the Tower; I shall disappoint his expectations, however, for I shall do no such thing.' The strength of Walpole's administration lying chiefly with the House of Lords and the aristocratic part of the country, he was enabled to carry on for many years a pacific system. Peace, at all times a blessing, was then most desirable. The politic union between England and France took away all the fears so long inspired by the overgrown ambi- tion of Louis XIV. of seeing Europe enslaved, and a king forced upon us by foreign powers. Thus the country, uncUsturbed either by invasions of liberty at home, or by wars abroad, enjoyed a respite from the violent contests in which she had so long been engaged. And, upon the whole, the people had reason to be satisfied with the govern- ment of Walpole. Montesquieu, who has most contributed to spread an admiration of the English constitution over the Continent, and to hold it out as a fit model for imitation, took his notions of it from this period. At the same time, however, there was a fault in the temper of Walpole's govern- ment, the most fatal of any to the permanence of a spirit of freedom in a nation. With the view of soothing the angry passions which disturbed the early part of his career, he gradually Aveakened, and had nearly extinguished, every large and liberal 128 GEORGE THE FIRST AND CH. XX. feeling in politics. To maintain ' ovir bappy es- tablishment' was the great end of his adminis- tration ; an object wliich, however praiseworthy, was little calculated to excite vigour of thought, or energy of character. For this, jjerhaps, no blame is justly imputable to him. What we may complain of, with truth, is, that in his choice of means he showed a low opinion of human nature, and ad- dressed himself rather to the interested views of individuals, than to any public sense of the benefit of the whole. Thus he went on depraving the times in which he lived, and the times again de- praving him, till the State was divided into a num- ber of low parties and petty chiefs. The administration of Walpole fell at last by unjust clamours about the right of search, and a general impatience for change. No government can withstand a combination of the stupid and the foolish, or, as Henry VIII. termed them, the ' dull party' and the ' rash party.' In England, the Tory party had always had the benefit of the weight and influence of the stupid part of the nation. The unlettered squires embraced with cordiality the notion of the divine right of kings. Addison has given a perfect picture of one of them in a number of the ' Freeholder.' The dog that has the sagacity to worry a dissenter, the squire's complaints of the pro- gress of trade and commerce, and his resolution to resist any government that is not for non-resistance, are characteristic of the Tory country-gentlemen of that day. Even at the time of the dissolution of "VValpole's administration, Pulteney, in talking of the disposal of places, said, that the Tories, not being men of calculation, or acquainted with foreign lan- guages, did not pretend to the liigher offices of the State. The Whigs, on the other hand, had in their origin dei'ived some support from the folly of man- kind. The wisdom of Somers, and the steady pa- CH. XX. GEORGE THE SECOND. 129 triotism of Lord Cavendish, did not excite so much enthusiasm as the handsome person of the Duke of Monmouth ; and the story of the warming-pan brought as many adherents to the cause of the Revo- lution, as the Habeas Corpus Act and the Bill of Rights. The foolish were, however, naturally es- tranged from Walpole by his calm conduct, and the unpretending wisdom of his measures. They united themselves with the stupid, and formed, as might have been expected, an overwhelming majority in the nation. It is astonishing to see how little, after twenty- five years of power, could be brought against Wal- pole, even when his enemies were in office. His conduct in the South Sea business appeal's upon the whole to have been extremely judicious. Corruption in boroughs to an extent at which their posterity would not blush, is indeed related by the Secret Committee. Large sums, too, the disposal of which his agents persisted in keeping secret, are unac- counted for. The attempt to indemnify them from all proceedings in order to get evidence from them against their principal, failed in the House of Lords. The effect of the long stagnation of public spirit in the country is lamentably seen in the changes of ministry which took place after the resignation of Walpole. Principle seems to have made no part of the faith of statesmen ; and all political contention was reduced to a scramble for office, between little bands of men whose rank and fortune only rendered their conduct more contemptible. Lord Melcombe's diary affords a faithful and very disgusting picture of the manner in which these small factions rose alternately one upon the other, forming every day new combinations, and varying their connections in every possible way, without ever deviating into an honest and consistent line of public rectitude. It is singular, and at the same time melancholy to 130 GEORGE THE FIRST AND CH. XX. observe how much influence was retained by a per- son so totally devoid of clearness of head, and even of common manly sf)irit, as the Duke of Newcastle. By intriguing to overturn Walpole, his colleague, and by bargaining in boroughs, he became the most powerful amongst the Whigs. But his incapacity and dishonesty were one of the chief causes of the ruin of the party, who did not for a long time recover the disgrace of having served under such a chief. There is one man, however, whose life forms an exception to these remarks, and who did much to waken the country from the lethargy into which it was plunged. I mean, of course. Lord Chatham. He was in almost every respect the reverse of Wal- pole. Walpole lowered the tone of public men, till it became unequal to any generous effort : Chatham raised his voice against selfishness and corruption, and his invectives even now make the cheeks tingle with indignation. Walpole acted upon the love of ease, the prudence, and the timidity of mankind : Chatham appealed to their energy, their integrity, and their love of freedom. It must be acknowledged that Walpole had some merits which Lord Chatham wanted. He pursued from the beginning one steady and, upon the whole, useful line of State-policy: Lord Chatham acted from the impulse of the moment; and if he followed his feeling of the day, he little cared how inconsistent it might be with his former sentiments. Walpole seemed to aim at what was most expedient ; Chatham, at what was most striking: the former secured the guarantee of France to the Protestant succession ; the latter attacked her pos- sessions and humbled her name. Walpole looked to prosperity, Chatham to glory ; the one carefully amassed the means which the other magnificently dis- sipated. Walpole was successful nearly to the end of his life. The cause of his long power is to be found both in the steadiness of his conduct, and his CH. XX. GEORGE THE SECOND. T31 care to unite together a large and respected party in favour of his government. Lord Chatham succeeded in nothing after the accession of George III. He had neither sufficient consistency of character to in- spire confidence in those who were to act with him, nor did he set a proper value on the importance o£ party in this country. If Walpole had thought too much of individuals, Lord Chatham consulted them too little. Provided he made up his mind to a mea- sure, he seems to have thought that he could always find men to carry it into effect. His temper made him reject or quarrel with those who were best fitted by integrity and general views to assist him, but who differed with him in the smallest point ; and he sought aid from others Avho flattered, jidiculed, betrayed, and supplanted him. Hence it was that the political character of Eng- land was not raised out of the mire into which it had fallen, by the splendid talents, generous virtues, and lofty views of the first William Pitt, Earl of Chatliam. K 2 132 CHAPTER XXI. GEOEGE THE THIRD.— BEGINNING OFHISEEIGK— AMERICAN WAR. 'Moreover, I have a maxim, that the extinction of party is the origin of faction. — Letter of Horace Walpole to Mr. Montague, Dec. 11, 1760. When George III. came to the throne, little ap- parent alteration took place in the internal govern- ment of the country. An Act was passed to continue the judges in their offices notwithstanding the demise of the Crown. Although it was obvious that such an Act diminished in no way the power of George III., but only took away one means of influence from liis successor, yet this measure was represented as an act of unparalleled generosity on the part of the young King. As a proof of royal patriotism, it is nothing ; and as an addition to the liberties of the subject, it is not worth mentioning. The Act of William III., which made the judges independent of the pleasure of the Crown, and gave them their offices during good behaviour, was the true security for their independence. What has been done since has been merely ornament. The important feature of the new reign was the experiment of a new project of government. Among other disastrous consequences of the want of public spirit in England, was a total neglect of the political education of the young King; hence he came to be placed in the hands of men who had but re- cently shaken from their minds their allegiance to the House of Stuart. It occurred to these persons that, in the general blight of political virtue and public CH. XXI. GEORGE THE THIRD. 133 confidence, an opportunity was afforded for raising the household standard of the sovereign, and rallyino- around his person the old relics of the Jacobite part/, with the addition of all who, in the calculation of chances, might think the favour of the sovereign as good an interest as the countenance of any minister whatever. To foi-m and consolidate this party, they studiously spread all the doctrines which place the whole virtue of a monarchy in the supreme sanctity of the royal person. They endeavoured to obtain a certain number of seats in the House of Commons, which, with the help of a proportionate quantity of patronage, might make the tenure of any minis- try uncertain. They made loud professions of honesty and of conscience, which, when examined, consisted in an obstinate adjherence to certain narrow- minded tenets, and did not prevent the most shame- ful violations of sincerity and truth, whenever it suited their purpose to deceive and to betray. They assiduously planted their maxims of government in the mind of their royal pupil ; and as he was natu- rally slow, obedient, good-tempered, and firm, he too easily admitted, and too constantly retained, the lessons of his early masters. Almost everything conspired to favour the pro- jects of this mischievous faction. The disunion of the Whigs ; the contemptible character of the Duke of Newcastle ; the inconsistency and vanity of Lord Chatham ; the decay of Jacobitism ; the predilec- tion of the people in favour of the young King, the first of his family born in England, all strengthened the new sect. The prejudice of the nation against Lord Bute, as a Scotchman, was the only set-off against a host of favourable circumstances. ^ The system had flourished for some years in full vigour, when Mr. Burke gave the powerful exposi- tion and the sound and statesmanlike refutation of it, which we read in the ' Thoughts on the present 134 GEORGE THE THIRD. CH. XXI. Discontents.' Tliis, which is one of the few stan- dard works on the practical art of government which the world possesses, did not and could not immediately destroy the monster which it attacked. But it rendered a service to this country scarcely less essential, by instilling into the minds of young politicians, who at that time were greatly increas- ing in number throughout the country, those wise and beneficial principles which their Whig ances- tors had practised, but which the old intriguers of that day had entirely forgotten. The American War, disastrous as it was to the councils and to the arms of the country, was emi- nently useful in reviving the spirit of liberty. The speeches of Lord Chatham, the speech on conci- liation with America of Mr. Burke, and above all the fervid eloquence of Mr. Fox, revived the genius of the Whig party, and made them truly that ' con- servatory of free principles ' which they must ever be, if they aspii-e to their proper place in the Com- monwealth. 1 135 CHAPTER XXII. THE SENSE OF JUSTICE. * Sous quelque idee de l^gerete et d'inconsideration qu'on se plaise a nous representer le peuple, j'ai eprouve que souvent il embrasse a la verity certaines vues, vers lesquelles il se porte avec ehaleur, ou plutot avec fureur ; mais que ces vues ont pourtant toiijours pour objet quelque interet commun, et d'une certaine generalite, jamais un interet purement partieulier, comme peuvent etre les ressentimens et les passions d'un seul homme, ou d'un petit nombre de personnes. Je hasarde nieme de dire, que sur ce point le juge le moins faillible est la voix de ce peuple meme.' — Sully, 1. 14. One of the conditions necessary for the mainte- nance of that species of freedom which excludes all arbitrary power, is, that the people should be ready to take part with the weak oppressed, against the powerful oppressor. Madame de Stael remarks of the French people of her own day, that they per- ceive unmediately where power lies, and always range themselves on that side. The truth of this observation may be demonstrated by referring to the events of the Kevolution, or attending to what happens in any one year in France. The quality essential to freedom, however, is one directly the reverse. The people ought to feel a continual j ealousy of, power ; and when th ey see any man born^ down unjustly, they ought to perceive immediately, that the cause of that man is the cause of the whole nation. This is happily the case with the English people. Nothing but the sympathy of the people could have raised to such importance and celebrity the cause of Hampden, when he refused to pay a few shillings to the Crown. The imprisonment of a ]\Ir. Francis Jenkes, for making a patriotic speech in the Com- mon Council of London, roused the indignation 136 THE SENSE OF JUSTICE. CH. xxit. of all lovers of their country, and was the immediate cause of the Habeas Corpus Act. Such, too, was the case of John Wilkes. Mr. Wilkes, though detested and despised by good men, as a hypocrite in public and a profligate in private life, was defended by all who loved their country, when arbitrary measures were resorted to for the purpose of oppressing him. He was arrested by virtue of a general warrant, wherein his name was not mentioned, and he was designated only as the author of the ' North Briton,' No. 45. At the same time his papers were seized, and he was by this means discovered to be the author of an obscene Hbel, called the ' Essay on Woman.' It is evident that the authority to issue general warrants was a very dangerous power, and might have been used to renew those arbitrary arrests which took place under the Stuarts. Hence all the friends of free- dom espoused the cause of Wilkes. Lord Chatham, then Mr. Pitt, spoke with abhorrence of the man and of his works, but with indignation of the means that had been used to oppress him ; and the coun- try who would have rejoiced to have seen him le- gally punished, would not allow him to be unjustly persecuted. They felt not for Wilkes, but for the law ; they would have praised the jury which con- victed him ; they censured the minister who op- pressed him ; and in the cry of Wilkes and Liberty, they adopted a contemptible person for the sake of a sacred principle. A motion against general warrants was defeated by a small majority in the House of Commons ; but Wilkes obtained at length large damages against the ministers who had abused their power, and put an end to general warrants for ever. So I trust it may always be, when any individual, however humble, however odious, or however despicable, is pursued by illegal or unjust methods ! 1 137 CHAPTER XXIII. OF AN EXTRE]\IE REMEDY AGAINST THE ABUSES OF POWER ; AND OF MODERATION IN THE USE OF THE RExMEDY. . . . Esto Liberque ac sapiens. — Persius. As a very numerous body are found Incapable of transacting foreign affairs with that secrecy, or of deciding upon them with that celerity, Avhich the foreign relations of a State so often require, every ■wise State has found it expedient to transfer a large portion of power out of the hands of large numbers, and to entrust it to a single person or select council. Hence the great council of Venice was, by the advice of the wisest senators, excluded by degrees from all deliberations which required delicacy and despatch. Hence the Republic of Holland found it necessary to name a few persons to whom all foreign negotiations were confided. But for whatever purpose power may be confided to a few persons, or however worthy they may be of the trust reposed in them, human nature is such, that there ought always to remain with the people an extreme remedy by which they may punish the abuse, or restrain the power itself that has been abused. In States really free this extreme remedy will always be found to exist, either by custom or by law. Thus the Roman people, when they felt themselves aggrieved, retired to the Mons Sacer, or refused to be inscribed as soldiers in the army that was about to march against the foreign enemy. There could not be apparently two more dangerous expedients ; but such was the moderation of the 138 AGAINST THE ABUSES OF POWER. CH. xxiir. Roman people, that I know not they ever pushed their resistance beyond the bounds of reason. In- deed, the long period that elapsed before the plebeians could be elected to any office in the. State, and the many years that followed after the law passed allowing them to be military tribunes, before any plebeian Avas really chosen, are sufficient proofs of their temperance, both in advancing a claim and in making use of a right. The English have, in the same manner, an ex- treme remedy. If the king abuses a just, or at- tempts to exercise an oppressive power, the repre- sentatives of the people have the right to refuse the money required to carry on the government. This remedy, however, was for a long time far from being so efficacious as those employed by the Roman people. In spite of the resistance of the nation, Charles II. and James found means, with the aid of packed Parliaments, and drafts on the French treasury, to slip the bridle from their necks. In fact, until the expulsion of the Stuarts, our kings enjoyed a revenue independent of Parliament, which enabled them to keep their Commons out of sight in ordinary times. The parliamentary check was made perfect at the Revolution ; but the influence of the Crown in the body which ought to exercise it, has continually deadened its effect. The voice of the people, however, has sometimes enforced the consti- tutional interference of the House of Commons. The most remarkable instance, perhaps, of the use of this right took place at the end of the American war. The House of Commons declared, by a reso- lution, that the further prosecution of offensive war on the continent of North America tended to weaken this country, and to prevent a reconciliation with America. An address in conformity to this vote having been carried to the throne, and the King having returned a gracious answer, complying with CH. xxur. AGAINST THE ABUSES OF POWER. 139 the address, the House of Commons voted that they should consider as enemies of his Majesty and this country all those who should advise the further prosecution of the war in North America, for the purpose of reducing the revolted colonies to obedience by force. In this, as in a few other instances, although the word supplies is not men- tioned, it must always be understood ; and there is, in fact, a tacit menace of refusing supplies in every intei-ference of the House of Commons with the exercise of the prei'ogative. This power, it is quite clear, would enable the House of Commons, if so disposed, to declare them- selves the sovereigns, and to take away every efficient prerogative from the Crown; but such is the moderation of the English people, that they have never desired so formidable an increase of their own power or that of their representatives. At the Revolution, when the whole question was open, they did not take away a single grain of the powers necessary to maintain the monarchy. So, at the present day, the true reason why the Crown main- tains its prerogative and the House of Lords their privileges unimpaired lies in the temper of the nation. The country has a deep-rooted affection for kingly government, and would highly resent any attempt to change or destroy this keystone of the Constitution : nor, as far as I can observe, is this sentiment confined to particular orders of men ; it pervades the Avliole country from one end to the other. 140 CHAPTEK XXIV. CRIMINAL LAW. ' The discretion of a judge is the law of tyrants : it is always un- known: it is different in different men: it is casual, and depends upon constitution, temper, passion. In the best, it is oftentimes caprice ; in the worst, it is every vice, folly, and passion to which human nature is liable.' — Lord Camden, Until the years which followed the peace of 1815, our legislators were so much engrossed by political events, that criminal law met wdth little attention. Thus a merchant or squire went into the House of Commons, exasperated by the loss of his broad- cloth, or the robbery of his fish, and immediately endeavoured to restrain the crime by severe pe- nalties. Mr. Burke used to relate that, being stopt one night as he was leaving the House of Commons, and requested by the clerk at the table to stay to make a House, asked what was the business in question. — ' Oh ! sir,' said the clerk, ' it 's only a new capital felony.' Hence it was that, every man judging that to be the most deadly offence by which he was himself a sufferer, the Parliament permitted the statute-book to be loaded with the penalty of death for upwards of two hundred offences. Among the crimes so punishable, we find the offences of cutting down a tree ; being found with the face blackened upon the high road ; being in company with the persons called gipsies. These continued to be capital crimes till the year 1820, and one of them at least still longer. These extreme cases are not, however, the most mischievous. The absurdity of the law is an anti- CH. XXIV. CKIMINAL LAW. 141 dote to its cruelty. There were other offences, punishable with death, which are really in them- selves very serious crimes, but not of so atrocious a character as to reconcile any humane man to their being visited with so severe a penalty. Of this kind are many offences against the bankrupt laws ; pri- vately stealing from the person ; stealing from a dwelling-house to the amount of 40^.; privately steal- ing from a shop to the amount of 5 s. ; and many others. The mischiefs produced by these sanguinary laws were not however, as might have been expected, a very great frequency of capital punishment, and general insensibility in the people. The evils peculiarly felt were two : — First, as it is justly stated by Mr. Justice Blackstone, there is a general disposition not to convict of a crime to which an inordinate punishment is affixed. Cases were in- niunerable in which juries have found goods of great value, and even £10 and £20 notes, to be under forty or five shillings value, in order not to convict a thief of a capital offence.* Mr. Harmer, who had been solicitor for two thou- sand persons condemned to death, informed the Criminal Law Committee that an old offender always preferred being tried for a capital offence, as it gave him a better chance of an acquittal. It is instruc- tive to reflect that something of the same kind happened at Athens. A criminal, when convicted, was asked before the people how he would be punished; and an old offender always named the most severe punishment, to excite compassion in his judges. It was partly because Socrates, instead of following this custom, replied that his sentence ought to be that he should be kept all his life at the expense of the State, that he was condemned to death. Notwithstanding this well-known disposition of * See the excellent speech of Mr. Buxton on the Forgery Bill, 1821. 142 CRIMINAL LAW. CH. xxiv. human nature, so accustomed were we to rely on the efficacy of capital punishments, that in any discus- sion on repealing a criminal law, the question in many men's minds always was, not whether the offence Avas actually prevented by that law, but w^hether' the offence is sufficiently grave to deserve that it should be prevented by so severe a method. People are apt to consult their own sense of this matter, instead of looking to that of jurymen. Secondly. Another great evil in the former state of the law was its uncertainty. Two men, for in- stance, were tried at Launceston for sheep-stealing : both were found guilty ; one was condemned to death, and the other to be transported for seven years. It is e^adent there is no proportion in the punishments. What is the reason ? The one had a good character, the other a bad one. So that in England a man was hanged, not for the crime of which he was found guilty, but for the general course of his life. Now this is a matter upon which the prisoner was not tried. Such a system leads to injustice, cruelty, and confusion. It takes away the only motive for capital punishment, viz. the ben.efit of example. It does little or nothing towards the re- pression of the crime punished. It makes the pun- ishment of death useless, and therefore cruel; for every criminal will hope that his character will not be found so bad as to make him forfeit his life. It puts a man upon his trial for actions which the law does not profess to try, and upon which he cannot be prepared with a defence. Thus it happened a few years ago, that a man of notoriously bad cha- racter, after going through a course of larceny and burglary with impunity, was at last, to the great sur- prise of his neighbours, his jury, and liis prosecutor, hanged for cutting down young trees.* * See the evidence respecting this case given hefore the Criminal Law Committee. CH. XXIV. CRIMINAL LAW. 143 Many persons however, till a recent period, thought it extremely dangerous to admit that our law was in such a state as to require reform. Absolute sovereigns have not been affected by this dangei*. The King of Prussia (Frederick the Great), during part of his long reign, placed his whole system of law under discussion, and during a remaining portion a project of new laws was under the eye of the pub- lic for general criticism and consideration ; the King thus taking away from the authority of the old law without substituting anything in its place. Catherine of Russia, and Napoleon, were the authors of new codes. Many of the sovereigns of Europe have altered their whole criminal jurisprudence. Why is it, that all tliese governments have undertaken the task without fear or hesitation, and that a party in England was so long fearful of any innovation what- ever in our old system ? The reason I believe to be this, — that a very large portion of the higher ranks in England never have understood, and never will understand, the real security of the English Govern- ment. These persons, seeing authority continually attacked, imagined that the throne would be sub- verted, if any part of our bad laws were removed. They were not aware that the real foundation of royalty and aristocracy in England is the opinion the people have of their utility to the country, and that the retaining any absurd or bigoted or cruel statute, instead of preserving, undermines and de- stroys the respect paid to the assemblies which have the charge of improving and amending, as well as of strengthening and preserving, the volume of our laws. ^ The question of secondary punishments is the most difficult of any. The words of Mr. Harmer afford perhaps the best rule, shortly expressed, on this subject. ' If I were asked,' said this gentleman, in an examination before a committee of the House 144 CKIMINAL LAW. CH. xxir. of Commons, ' what description of punishments would, in my opinion, be productive of benefit, I would answer. Such as might force the delinquent into a course of discipline wholly opposite to his habits. Idleness is assuredly a part of his character, which industry would counteract. Set him to labour. He is probably debauched, and abstinence would be advantageous to both his mind and his body : apply it. He has been accustomed to disso- lute companions, separation from whom would essen- tially ameliorate him : keep him in solitude. He has hitherto rioted in uncontrolled liberty of action. I propose that he should be subjected to restraint, and the observance of a proper decorum.' 145 CHAPTER XXV. PUBLIC SCHOOLS. ' As it is in the body, so it is in the mind ; practice makes it what it is ; and most even of those excellences, which are looked on as na- tural endowments, will be found, when examined into more narrowly, to be the product of exercise, and to be raised, to that pitch only by repeated actions.' — Locke, of the Conduct of the TJnderstandmg . The education of youth, which has employed so many pens, produced so many sublime writings, and undergone so little practical alteration, is not to be thoroughly discussed in a few words. Some remarks, suggested rather by observation of the world than by any original speculation, may perhaps be allowed. Men of enlarged views, and hearts glowing with the love of mankind, have often conceived that youth might be taught more knowledge than is dis- tributed and less vice than is permitted or winked at in the public schools of England. With this pro- ject in their heads, and the most laudable love of their children in their hearts, many parents have given their children a private education. They have instructed them in ten branches of knowledge instead of two, and have preserved their morals and their health during the first eighteen, or perhaps twenty years of their life. But how often have we seen these promising flowers drop off without being succeeded by fruit in due season ! The lessons which are learnt by a boy in the lingering and life- less manner of a private study, without the excite- ment of emulation, perhaps without the fear of correction, make no lasting impression on the mind. The restraint of a nursery of twenty years, gives a zest to the pleasures and the vices for an indulgence m which boyhood alone can be any palliation. The L 146 PUBLIC SCHOOLS. CH. XXV. period when tlie talents and strength of the man ought to be unfolded is wasted in the new pursuits of idleness and debauchery. At the same time, the habits contracted at home, where the young patrician met with no equal, unfit him for the rub of the great world, and fix for ever those defects of temper which early contradiction and early society might have ex- tirpated. Such is often, though not certainly, the result of an education intended to produce a prodigy of perfection, and laid out with the hope of givmg its unhappy object a pre-eminence over the ill-trained generation of his equals and contemporaiies. The mistake in these instances seems to arise from the want of considering, that the object of education is not only to store the mind, but to form the character. It is of little use that a boy has a smattering of mi- neralogy, and is very fluent at botanical names ; it will be of no avail to him to talk of argil and poly- andria, if he cries when he loses at marbles, and is lifeless or timid when he is obliged to play a game at cricket. Now, a public school does form the character. It brings a boy from home, where he is a darling, where his folly is wit, and his obstinacy spirit, to a place where he takes rank according to his real powers and talents. If he is sulky, he is neglected ; if he is angry, he gets a box on the ear. His character, in short, is prepared for the buffetings of grown men, — for the fagging of a lawyer, or the fighting of a sol- dier. Now, this is of much more importance than the acquisition of mere knoAvledge. Many men only begin to acquire their knowledge between twenty and thirty, few men change their characters after twenty. Considering the question in this view, it is of little importance to enumerate the names of • eminent men in England who have not been brought up at public schools. Many of these rose from middle life, and to them my argument does not apply. The son of a tradesman or a farmer meets hardships enough, without being sent to any school : lie is CH. XXV. PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 147 ordered to serve a customer, or look after the liay- makers ; and learns practical life much sooner than any gentleman's son can possibly do. If the view that has been here opened is a right one, parents ought to beware how they withhold from their sons, if sufficiently strong and healthy, the advantages of a public school. The democratic character of the nobility of England, the democracy of the aristocracy, if I may be allowed so to call it, is very much to be attributed to the gregarious education they receive. In this manner, her public schools form a part of the constitution of the country. If they produce some vice, and a good deal of rudeness, they subdue pride, selfishness, and conceit ; they create emulation, friendship, a love of truth, and a manly strength of mind. Let anyone watch the education of a youth of high expectations in Spain or Italy : he will see hun followed everywhere by a servile flatterer, under the name of a preceptor, learning nothing but the varnish and the falsehood of the Avorld, — the idol of his parents, and the torment of their friends. Men of sense, who have undergone this dangerous ordeal, all speak with envy and admiration of the public schools of England. Let it be granted, however, that more may be taught by pi-ivate tuition. I am far from agreeing that, for this reason, the boy of the pi'ivate tutor will have any advantage over the boy of the public school. His knowledge will be out of place ; his exertions of mind will fail of their efi^ect, because they will not fit in with the minds of other men. His superiority in some branches of learning will be unheeded, and his inferiority in others Avill make him ridiculous. Upon the whole, there is perhaps no point from which a man can start, in any profes- sion or pursuit, so advantageous as a complete and thorough knowledge of what is knoAvn by other young men, among whom he wishes to excel. L 2 148 PUBLIC SCHOOLS. CH. xxv. It being conceded that a boy of high expec- tations ought to be brought up at school, I am not disposed to contend that the education of our public schools is exactly what is right, or that it is all that is right. These schools were insti- tuted at a time when all knowledge was contained in the Grreek and Latin classics, and no sound opinion or polished taste was to be found out of the learned languages. From this gi-oundwork, how- ever, the moderns have raised a prodigious edifice, both of science and of literature, of the whole of which our school education, from eight to eighteen, takes no notice whatever. The first thing, however, it must be admitted, is to learn how to learn : ' Ilfaut apprendre a apprendre ; ' and for this it is requisite that the first thing taught should be difficult to ac- quix*e and be retained when it is acquired. I know nothing so good for this purpose as the Latin gram- mar. Boys, it is said, do not understand it. They do understand, however, that a nominative case goes before the verb ; and they come in a short time to learn where each part of speech must be placed, and how it depends upon another. If Mr. Locke is right in his estimate of the importance of words, this is a point of great consequence. And who can doubt that he is right? It is to a dogged application to the Latin grammar perhaps that the precision of men, when compared to women, in this country, is in great part to be attributed.* The Latin grammar learnt, easy prose, then the poetry of Virgil, some arithmetic, the Greek gram- mar. Homer, some geometry, and a little geography, might come in their due order. Above all, I would make boys learn faithfully an abridgment of the History of England, and of the first and last volumes of Blackstone. * I hear "mXh pleastire that have agreed upon an improved the masters of our public schools Latin grammar. (1864.) » CH. XXV. PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 149 French should be learnt early, in order to ac- quire the pronunciation, and because it is the general language of Europe ; German and other lan- guages, as far as it is possible. It will be sufficient to lay a foundation for learning, at a more mature age, those parts of knowledge that are likely to be sought voluntarily, and may be acquired easily. I know not whether it would be practicable to in- troduce improvements of the kind I have mentioned into our great public schools. If the masters should resist, what could be easier than to make a founda- tion for a certain number of boys, with the qualifica- tions of being the sons of poor officers, who might afterwards choose their profession ; and to institute at the same place a school where education might be conducted in a manner suitable to the knowledge of the present age ?* As it is at present, there is no doubt that women of the hio;her ranks have much more knowledire and information, when their education is attended to, than men have. But I cannot see any reason why our boys should not, wliile they have the ad- vantages of public schools, at the same time be taught to do a sum in the rule-of-three, and make themselves masters of the fact that James I. was not the son of Queen Elizabeth.f * This is done to some extent made or making, and the process at Wellington College. (1864.) -will be greatly accelerated by the t All the improvements sug- excellent Report of the Public gested in this chapter, written Schools Commission. (1864.) forty-five years ago, are either 150 CHAPTER XXVI. POOR-LAWS. ' Generally it is to be foreseen {provided) that the population of a kingdom, especially if it be not mown down by wars, exceed not the stock of the kingdom by which it is to be maintained.' — Bacon. There was nothing, perhaps, in the whole state of England, which forty years ago was more threaten- ing to its tranquillity, and the permanence of its Constitution, than the administration of the poor- laws. The perversion which had been made of them from the orio;inal meaning of the statute of Eliza- beth, had at length fallen most heavily upon those who thought to draw from that abuse a selfish gain. The statute of the 49th of Elizabeth seems to have had its rise in a general increase of idle poor tlu'oughout the country. The notion that this in- crease was owino^ to the dissolution of the monas- teries is now given up ; it having been clearly shown that the same complaint was made in Spain about the same time.* It is more probable that the introduction of legal order, and the cessation of in- ternal war not long before, both in England and Spain, threw upon society a great number of vaga- bonds, Avho were accustomed to live by vagrancy and plunder. The Act of Elizabeth directed that the old and impotent should be provided for, and that the strong and healthy should be set to work. The first of these two directions is the law of a tender and humane people, and will, I hope, ever remain upon the statute-book of England. The * This important fact was first brought to light in the ' Edin- burgh Review.' en. XXVI. POOR LAWS. 151 second direction is not equally easy of execution. A few casual I)eggars, indeed, might be provided for in this way ; but when, from stoppage of trade, or any other cause, there exists a superabundant popu- lation, it is manifest that anv work which could be done by the unemployed, would only be augmenting the stock of a market already overflowing. When this was found to be actually the case, the overseers, instead of furnishing work, supplied the unemployed with money. With the fluctuations of commerce, the issue of a fictitious currency, the vast increase of taxes, and, above all, in the years of scarcity during the great war, a new difficulty arose : — men who had large families found themselves unable to support them, although they were themselves em- ployed, from the very low rate of wages compared wath the price of food. Instead of a rise of wages, the natural and obvious remedy for such an e\'il, it was agreed that a cei'tain sum of money should be paid for the support of each child at the house of his father. In this provision, introduced under the pressure of temporary distress, the farmer saw a means of reducing the price of labour. Having the market of labourers overstocked, and therefore at his command, he refused to give to the unmarried labourer more than was sufficient to support life ; he gave the same to the married labourer, and paid out of the poor-rates the exact sum necessary for the subsistence of the labourer's children. By this scheme the ignorant employer thought he had re- duced the price of labour to the lowest possible : and there have not been Avanting men of enlightened minds disposed to exalt the scheme as the perfection of rural economy. The natural consequence of such a scheme, however, was in the first place to lower the character of the labourer : to make him pass his life in dependence, and see himself, instead of being able to rear an industrious family from the savings 152 POOR-LAWS. CH. XXVI. of his wages, reduced to the condition of a public mendicant. This consequence, perhaps, might not have given any disquiet to the employer ; but there is another as certain and as necessary : and that is, that marriages will no longer be regulated by the demand for labour ; and that a labourer, seeing that his children will be fed out of the public fund, will marry when it suits his inclination, without a penny in his pocket. Hence an immense growing popula- tion, with a defective and diminishing market; a rapid supply, without any adequate demand. And there existed forty years ago no apparent reason why the evil should not continue to increase, until, at length, the whole profits of cultivating the land were swal- lowed up by the expense of maintaining a colony of useless mouths. If that had happened, the farmer and the labourers must have fallen together; and there would have been thrown upon society a num- ber of people ignorant of all duties, deprived of all sense of independence, and accustomed to derive their means of subsistence without labour from the public funds. Such a result, it is manifest, would have been more calamitous than any revolution that has yet happened in the world. Happily, the farmers at length felt the evil themselves, and endea- voured, by one way or another, to apply a remedy. The evils of the jjoor-laws at length became so great as to incline men to wish for their total repeal. But I am inclined to think that, great as was the mischief of the former system, the entire abolition of the poor-laws would have been still greater. In a country subject to such violent transitions from the revolutions of trade and commerce, it would be cruel and inhuman to expose the labouring classes t* the ruin that would follow a period of agricultural or manufacturing distress. The poor-laws required to be pruned, not rooted up : the use of the knife, and not of the axe. Happily the true remedy was at length applied. 153 CHAPTER XXVII. WAE WITH THE FEENCH EEPUBLIC. ' It is imprudent to attack a people who are divided amongst themselves, with a view of conquering them, in consequence of their disunion. ' There was such disunion in the Eoman repuhlic between the people and the nobihty, that the inhabitants of Veii, together with the Etruscans, thought that they could extinguish the Eoman name by taking advantage of these dissensions. Having raised an army therefore, and made incursions upon the territory of Eome, the senate sent against them Cneius ManHus and Marcus Fabius, whose army en- camping near the enemy, the people of Veii did not cease from attack- ing, both by arms and by reproaches, the Eoman name ; and such was their rashness and insolence, that the Eomans, who were disunited, became united, and engaging the enemy, defeated and routed them. We see therefore how much men deceive themselves, as we have before observed, in the line of conduct they adopt, and how it frequently hap- pens that, in thinking to obtain an object, they lose it. The people of Veii beUeved, that by attacking the Eomans disunited, they should defeat them ; and the attack, on the contrary, caused the union of the Eomans, and their own ruin : for the causes of dissension in repul Jics are generally idleness and peace ; the causes of union are fear and war. . . . The people of Veii therefore were deceived in their opinion, and were, in short, in one day overcome by the Eomans. And so for the future will be deceived whoever, in a similar way, and for a simi- lar cause, shall think to oppress a nation.' — Machiavel, Discourses. The war against France, undertaken in 1793, ex- emplified at its commencement the wise observa- tions which I have Quoted from Machiavel. The more apparent the attempts of the Allied Powers to regulate her internal government, the greater her vigour, the more brilliant her victories, the more extensive her conquests. At length, tempted by- military trophies and successful treaties, she confided herself to a sovereign who, abusing his genius and his force, endeavoured to make himself despotic lord of the whole continent of Europe. The Whig 154 WAR WITH THE FRENCH EEPUBLIC. CH. xxvii. ministry of 1806 found it impossible to make peace with him ; and, with few exceptions, all parties in Eno-land agreed in thinkino; the continuance of the war just and necessary. The Spanish people, in 1808, rose in the same cause which the French people had defended in 1793 — the cause of national independence. At length, drunk with unexampled power and glory, and irritated by a perpetual thirst of action, the Emperor of France carried his great army of conquerors to perish amid the frosts of Russia. The nations roused themselves, restored national governments, and hurled the conqueror from the throne. The republic had triumphed, the uni- versal monarchy was defeated. lo5 CHAPTER XXVIII. LIBERTY THE GREAT SOURCE OF THE WEALTH OF NATIONS, AND ESPECIALLY OF TH/iT OF ENGLAND. ' Liberty, the parent, of commerce ; the parent of wealth ; the parent of knowledge ; the parent of every virtue ! ' — Speech of Sir James Mackintosh, on the Foreign Enlist7nent Bill. The object of political economy, it is well known, is the wealth of nations. Quesnay, who is generally styled the inventor of this branch of knowledge, considei-ed agricultural labour as the only source of public wealth : Smith superseded him, and taught that wealth consisted in all material products. He therefore called the labour which raised such pro- ducts from the earth, or which added a value to them by industry, productive labour; while he styled the labour which neither created such pro- ducts, nor added a value to them, unproductive. The first class included agriculturists and manufac- turers ; the second, kings, judges, clergy, soldiers, actors, &c. M. Say has since amended this definition, and has proposed to include under the head of pro- ductive labour, all labour which is useful, whether of body or mind. Thus he considers the labour of a professor of civil law as valuable as that of a weaver of stockings. M. Say, however, though he makes this distinction, very soon loses sight of it, and in the rest of his work we find little traces of the opinion. The opinion of Adam Smith still re- mains the corner-stone of his own system, and of that of his disciples. Withoixt discussing these definitions, which are not very scientific, I conceive the object of political econoiny to be, to remove obstacles that may impede the progress of a nation to wealth. 156 THE WEALTH OF NATIONS. CH. xxvm. In entering upon the enquiry how this object may best be effected, let us take a view of those States which history or a recent time exhibits to our view as peculiarly prosperous, or peculiarly wretched. In the latter, we should perceive a languor, a dis- taste to labour, an indifference to emulation, narrow parsimony, and a wretched way of living ; in the former, we should observe incessant activity, vigorous enterprise, the arts flourishing, learning encouraged, comfort and ease diffused through every class. Pro- ceeding to enquire into the circumstances which produced this difference, we should find liberty to be the great exciting cause of industry in the States whose prosperity has been the most remarkable. It appears certain, that wherever the spirit of the Government itself has not repressed the love of gain, as at Sparta, the industry of free citizens has ex- celled the efforts of slaves, deprived of motives by the jealousy of their masters. Let us turn our eyes to the proud merchants of Florence, Venice, and Holland, making their little States the envy and terror of great monarchies. Let us refer, on the other hand, to the people of France, living in wretched dependence on arbitrary taxes, and forced to conceal their food from di-ead of their Government. Let us pause a moment to consider what was, forty years ago, the different situation of England and Spain. By the report of a committee of the Cortes, it appeared that the utmost amount of taxation which, in their jvidg- ment, Spain could bear, was about £6,000,000 ; in the same year, England and Scotland cannot have paid less than £60,000,000, and, including poor-rates and county-rates, nearer £70,000,000. What was the cause of this prodigious difference of wealth? Was it that the English laws on trade and commerce were so greatly superior in wisdom to those of the Spaniards? This can hardly be alleged to be the case : our own laws on these subjects were, up to the CH. XXVIII. THE WEALTH OF NATIONS. 157 peace of 1814, the products of protection and pro- hibition, the most absurd and irrational of any sys- tem of national economy. Is it that Spain entirely ne- glected the new lights of the age ? On the contrary, she endowed a professorship of political economy in the University of Salamanca ; a step which was not taken so early, that I know, by any other great State in Europe. She has had, in the course of the last century, ministers who had the most enlightened views of public wealth ; but despotism blasted all their efforts, and every tree they planted, after a few feeble shoots, withered and died beneath its poisonous influence; — the very desire of accumulation was wanting, for all the privileges of civilisation, the expanded mind and generous knowledge of freemen, were forbidden by the Inquisition. England, on the other hand, blest with equal laws, and affording scope for the expansion of the best faculties of man, has been rewarded for her liberality by the efforts which industry, genius, and talent will always make when not impeded by despotic or bad government. But let us listen on this subject to two great orators, at a period when the exertions of the coun- try to retrieve its losses during the American War had been crowned with unexampled success. Mr. Pitt, the minister, said — * Such are the circumstances which appear to me to have contributed most immediately to our present prosperity. But these again are connected with others yet more important. They are obviously and necessarily connected -with, the duration of peace, the continuance of which, on a secure and permanent footing, must ever be the first object of the foreign policy of this country. They are connected still more with its internal tranquillity, and mth the natural effects of a free but well-regulated govern- ment. What is it which has produced, in the last hundred years, so rapid an advance beyond what can 158 THE WEALTH OF NATIONS. CH. xxvili. be traced in any other period of our history ? What but that, during that time, under the mild and just government of the illustrious princes of the family now on the throne, a general calm has prevailed through the country beyond what was ever before experienced ? And we have also enjoyed, in greater purity and perfection, the benefit of those original principles of our Constitution, which were ascertained and established by the memorable events that closed the century preceding ? This is the great and governing cause, the operation of which has given scope to all the other circumstances which I have enumerated. It is this union of liberty with law which, by raising a barrier equally firm against the encroachments of power and the violence of popidar commotion, afibrds to property its just security, pro- duces the exertion of genius and labour, the extent and solidity of credit, the circulation and increase of capital ; which forms and upholds the national cha- racter, and sets in motion all the springs which actuate the great mass of the community through all its various descriptions. The laborious industry of those useful and extensive classes, the peasantry and yeomanry of the country; the skill and ingenuity of the artificer; the experiments and unprovements of tlie wealthy proprietor of land ; the bold specula- tions and successful adventures of the opulent mer- chant and enterprising manufacturer ; — these are all to be traced to the same course, and all derive from hence both their encouragement and their reward. On this point, therefore, let us principally fix our attention ; let us preserve this first and most essen- tial object, and every other is in our power ! Let us remember that the love of the Constitution, though it acts as a sort of natural instinct in the hearts of Englishmen, is strengthened by reason and reflec- tion, and every day confirmed by experience ; that it is a Constitution which we do not merely admu'C cii. XXVIII. THE "WEALTH OF NATIONS. 159 from traditional reverence, wliich we do not flatter from prejudice or habit, but which we cherish and value because we know that it practically secures the tranquillity and welfare both of individuals and of the public, and provides, beyond any other frame of government which has ever existed, for the real and useful ends which form at once the only true foundation and only rational object of all political societies.' Mr. Fox, the leader of Opposition, on the other hand, 'took occasion to pay a compliment to the eloquence of Mr. Pitt, and to the philosophical prin- ciples of government on which he had argued. He said the i-ight hon. gentleman had enumerated the causes of national prosperity with truth and splen- dour. He subscribed to his statement cordially, and, if he did not himself go over the same ground, it was because he had nothing to add to what had been already said. But he begged to be understood that these reasons were all applicable to the pro- sperity of the country, not merely to the prosperity of the revenue. The right hon. gentleman had fairly said that, above all, they were to be ascribed to the hapj^y form of our Constitution.'* We may be satisfied with the testimony of two such witnesses to the fact, that our free constitution is the source of our prosperity. The first and main cause of the wealth of nations, then, is liberty. Passing from this part of the sub- ject, the next great incentive to industry is order. This can only be procured by the union of religion, morality, and law. It is order which assures to every one the tranquil possession of the Avealth that he may have acquired; it is the regular authority of the law which confers a value on a house in Middlesex above one in Turkey. Who Avould lay * Parliamentary Debates, 1792. 1 60 THE WEALTH OF NATIONS. CH. xxvm. out his capital in purchasing the fee-simple of the finest estate in the wilds of Tartary ? Connected with order, and the respect paid to property by the law, is good faith on the part of the Government. Any man would prefer the security of a banker of Amsterdam to that of an Arab chief; or the word of a London coal-merchant, to the most solemn bond of the Sultan of Bokhara. These three things, therefore, may be considered as the true springs of national wealth — freedom, order, and public faith. Next to these great motive powers, is a wise dis- position of the economical laws of the nation. The whole of the precepts, however, to be given on this subject resolve themselves into one — remove all ob- stacles to industry. As far as wealth is concerned, the fewer restrictions the better. This is the great truth proved by Smith, and his coadjutors in France and England, in opposition to the absurdities of the mercantile system. ' Laissez faire, et laissez passer,' said the French merchant to Colbert ; and after two centuries of struggle against restrictions, monopohes, protections, bounties, diiFerential duties, and regulations for di- recting industry and fixing wages, we can say nothing more wise or more concise. 161 CHAPTER XXIX. NATIONAL DEBT. ' The common people do not work for pleasure generally, but from necessity. Cheapness of provisions makes them more idle ; less woi-k is then done, it is then more in demand, proportionally, and of course the price rises. Dearness of provisions obliges the manufacturer to •work more days and more hoiu-s ; thus more work is done than equals the usual demand ; of course it becomes cheaper, and the manufac- tures in consequence.' — Franklin's Political Fragments. ' It may now be affirmed, without fear of contradiction, that wo find it as easy to pay the interest of eight hundred millions, as our ancestors found it a century ago to pay the interest of eighty mil- lions.' — Macaulay's History, vol. vi., ed. of 1864. The capital of the national debt, at the accession of George L, and when all the accounts of the great War of the Succession may be supposed to have been settled, amounted to £54,000,000, the interest to £3,351,000. Sir Robert Walpole instituted a sinking fund, on Avhich great eulogiums were made, and of which great hopes were entertained. In 1739 the capital of the debt was £46,954,000, the interest £1,963,000; so that he diminished the in- terest about £1,400,000, and the capital about £7,000,000.^ The Spanish War, however, which commenced in 1739, increased the capital of the debt by £31,300,000, and the interest by £1,096,000. The peace which followed diminished the capital by £3,700,000, and the interest by £664,000. But in 1763, after the Seven Years' War, the national debt amounted to £146,000,000. From that time to the breaking out of the Ameri- can War, the national debt was diminished by £10,739,000. At the close of the American War the national debt amounted to £257,000,000. M 162 NATIONAL DEBT. CH. xxix. The celebrated sinking fund of Mr. Pitt, esta- blished in 1786, reduced the national debt, during the peace, by £4,751,000, and the interest by £143^000. On the 5th of January, 1817, after the close of the war, the national debt amounted to ^848,282,247. In four years from that tune, that is, on the 5th of January, 1821, the debt amounted to £845,100,931, being a diminution of little more than three millions.* During more than a year of this time a new sinking fund had been in operation, voted by Parliament to amount to £5,000,000 a year. Such has been the alternate progress of national debt and sinking fund — the one advancing by giant steps, and the other, although much vaunted, never having, in the course of a century, made half the progress that Avas made by the national debt in the single vear 1815. He must be a sano-uine man in- deed who expects the sinking fund to overtake his ojiponent. Such being the state of the case, it is more than ever necessary to examine what this debt is, what are its effects on the prosperity of the country, and what is likely to be the idtimate result. This last enquiry is indeed one of great uncertainty. Causes the most unlooked-for may intervene, and entirely change the direction of political events. The first operation of the national debt is as fol- lows: — The minister borrows, we will say £300, of a merchant who has the money in his coffers. He engages to pay £15 of interest. For this purpose he lays a tax of £5 on a landed proprietor, another £5 on a farmer, and another £5 on a tradesman, all supposed for the present to have equal incomes, and to pay the tax equally. The first operation of the tax is generally the following: — The farmer and * Account of the Total Amount and Ireland, presented to the of the National Debt of England House of Commons, Sess. 1821. CH. XXIX. NATIONAL DEBT. 163 tradesman add the tax to the price of their com- modity. Thus the tradesman pays a part of the tax of the farmer, and the farmer part of that of the tradesman. A tax, it is evident, still remains upon the shoulders of each. The tradesman and farmer must therefore either work harder, and produce more of their own commodity, or they must be contented with less profits, retrench their expenses, and buy less of the commodities of their neighbour. The firs;'' takes place in a flourishing condition of a community, and the second in a poor, Aveak, and exhausted state. It is by the continual efforts of men to produce more, and to accumulate, that a country rises to prosperity ; it is by the saving and narrowing of accumulation and expense that a nation falls into decay. There is another manner in which a tax is paid that is still worse. It is by diminishing the profits of a particular trade. Thus, if a tax of great amount had been laid on shoe-buckles, the sellers of that article, unable to obtain the payment of the tax, would have been obliged to content themselves with less profit. The trade which is thus unequally taxed is soon abandoned. We must not lose sight, however, either of the landed proprietor or the stockholder. The proprietor, it is e\ddent, must pay, besides his own part, a part of the tax of the farmer and the tradesman, and he has no means of repaying himself. For this reason the economists supposed that the proprietors of land paid all the taxes. But they may, if they please, retrench their consumption, and that too with much more ease than the tradesman ; as a livery-servant is more easily parted with than an artisan. The stockholder, in the meantime, if he is a con- sumer, pays to the tradesman and the farmer part of the tax which is raised for his benefit. But he has greater facilities of avoiding expense than any other branch of the community. M 2 164 NATIONAL DEBT. CH. xxix. There can be little doubt that, for a certain time, a national debt is beneficial in its effects. It pro- motes a rapid circulation of money ; it brings new capitalists into the market, A\ath more enterprise and more invention than the old proprietors of land ; it oblio;es the labourer to work harder, and at the same time produces new demands for labour. But when the national taxes have increased to a certain amount, these effects are nearly reversed. Prices are so pro- digiously increased to the consumer, that all prudent men retrench both their consumption and their em- ployment of labour. The greater projiortion of the general income of the country is transferred from the hands of men who have the means of laying it out in agriculture or manufactures, into the hands of great merchants whose capital overflows the market, and returns again upon the land in the shape of mortgages. There is, at the same time, a great want of money in some quarters, and a great abundance in others. Such are the effects of a large national debt upon individuals. But there is another view in which this debt is an umnixed evil. I mean, as it impairs and exhausts the resources of the State. The expenses of former wars render it at last difficult for a nation to raise taxes for its defence. So much of the rent of the landholder is taken from him, that the minister dares not ask for more, as it would be equivalent to the confiscation of the land itself. Mr. Hume has speculated with great ingenuity on the consequence of the national debt arriving at this pitch. He supposes that one of three methods must be resorted to. The first is, that the scheme of some projector should be adopted, Avhich could only tend to increase the confusion and dismay, and the nation would thus 'die of the doctor.' The next is a national bankruptcy — a plan that he seems to look upon with some approbation. The third, and last, is, that the nation should persevere in jiaying the full I en. XXIX. NATIONAL DEBT. 165 interest. He speculates on such a determination, and compares it in the following manner with his two former suppositions : — ' These two events, supposed above, are calamitous, but not the most calamitous. Thousands are thereby sacrificed to the supply of millions. But we are not without danger that the contrary event may take place, and that millions may be sacrificed for ever to the temporary safety of thousands. Our popular government, perhaps, Avill render it dangerous for any man to venture on so desperate an expedient as that of a voluntary bankruptcy. And though the House of Lords be altogether composed of proprietors of land, and the House of Commons chiefly, and consequently can neither of them be supposed to have great pi-opertv in the funds ; yet the connection of the members may be so great with the proprietors, as to render them more tenacious of public faith than prudence, policy, or even justice, strictly speaking, requires. . . . The balance of power in Europe, our grand- fathers, our fathers, and we, have all esteemed too unequal to be preserved without our attention and assistance. But our children, Aveary of the struggle, and fettered -wath encumbrances, may sit down secure, and see their neighbours oppressed and conquered : till at last they themselves and their creditors lie both at the mercy of the conqueror.' * The picture of things at home he draws in the following man- ner : — ' No expedient remains for preventing or sup- pressing insurrections but mercenary armies : no expedient at all remains for resisting tyrannv : elections are swayed by bribery and corruption alone : and the middle power between king and people being totally removed, a grievous despotism will prevail. The landholders, despised for their * This course, thus forf-.^pen 'wise policy ; Init it is, in fact, the liy Mr. Hunif, lias been lately poll /y of the Tories, in the reign reconimendeil as a new ;ind a of Queen Anne. (1864.) 1G6 NATIONAL DEBT. CH. xxix. poverty, and hated for their oppressions, will be utterly unable to make any opposition to it.'* If we look to foreign nations, we shall see that Venice, after wars of glory, arrived, in the begin- ning of the last century, at that stage of decay of w^hich Mr. Hume speaks. Her revenue was not sufficient to pay the interest of her debt. She sus- pended payment, but still was unable to support the expense of her government. It requires, however, more space than we have here, to examine the complicated causes of her downfall. Holland Avas also borne down in her latter years by the Aveight of her debt. It is still enormous in proportion to her wealth and population. France beo;an the Revolution with a debt she could not support. By a summary process, in the middle of the Avar, she virtually abolished the greater part of it. No country, hoAvever, has yet been precisely in the situation of England. Commerce and credit are not confined to a spot, but run through every vein in her body ; and a national bankruptcy Avould give a sudden check to industry, the effects of Avhich would not easily be repaired. Very mistaken notions prevail Avith respect to the good effects Avhich would follow from applying a sponge to the debt. Of these mistakes, none is more mischie\'ous than the notion which many en- tertain and inculcate, that the labourer who receives I8s. a week, of which several are consumed by the taxes on beer, &c., AA^ould, if these taxes were taken off, receive the same 18s., and obtain more than twice as much for them. The real price of labour, it must be recollected, is regulated by the supply and demand. The money-price, of course, will vary Avith the money-price of the provisions, house-rent, clothes, candles, &c., which are required for the * Hume's Essays. Essay on Public Credit. CH. XXIX. NATIONAL DEBT. 167 maintenance of the labourer. If the demand for labour remains the same, and by a reduction of taxes the articles Avhich the labourer uses are re- duced in price from I8s. to 8^., his wages will fall from 18^. to 8s. But it will be said that the farmer and manufacturer, having more capital to lay out on labour, the reduction of taxes will bring an increased demand. This, indeed, may ultimately be the case ; but it is not likely that such effect would follow a sudden stoppage of the j^ayment of the dividends. So many consumers are spread over this country, Avho derive their income, either directly or indirectly, from the funds, that the first effect of a national bankruptcy would be a great diminutioia of demand, and a general depreciation of agricul- tural and manufactured produce throughout the country. Happily, we have not at present any reason to fear that we shall be placed in the ugly alternative of national bankruptcy or national ruin. But we must not, for this reason, undervalue the CAdl of a great national debt. An income-tax of two shillings in the pound would not be more than sufficient to pay the interest of sums borrowed to pay the expense of our American and French wars, and no one would think lightly of the burthen of that tax greatly increased in order to defray the expenses of fresh wars. 168 CHAPTER XXX. THAT A FREE GOVERN]\IENT REQUIRES PERPETUAL . JEALOUSY, AND FREQUENT RENOA^ATION. ' Le goiivernement d'Angleterre est plus sage parce qu'il y a rm corps qui rexamine continuellement, et. qui s' examine continuelle- ment lui-meme : et telles sont ses erreurs, qu'elles ne sont jamais longues, et que par I'esprit d' attention qu'elles donnent a la nation, elles sont souvent utiles.' — Montesquieu, Grandeur et Decadence des Bomains, chap. viii. All experience of human nature teaches us the fact, that men who possess a superiority, real or imaginary, over their fellow-creatures, will abuse the advantages they enjoy. A man cannot drive a one-horse chaise without looking down upon those who walk on foot ; much less can a mortal be en- trusted with the uncontrolled guidance of an em- pire, and not be guilty of insolence or oppression tOAvards those who are styled his subjects. The History we have been reviewing is pregnant with examples of the encroachments of power, and the decline of virtue in those who are appointed to govern. The House of Tudor enlarged their prerogative beyond the boundaries of all former times ; the House of Stuart improved upon those bad precedents, and claimed, de jure, that despotic authority which the Tudors had exercised de facto. When this sin was washed away in the blood of the royal martyr, Cromwell, who had been ap- pointed to command the forces of a free Common- wealth against an ambitious Sovereign, made use of the influence he had obtained to set iip his own authority still higher tlian that of England's here- ditary kings. When Charles II. was restored to CH. XXX. A FREE GOVERNMENT, ETC. 169 the throne of his father, by the indulgence of a forgiving nation, he imposed upon her a yoke at once more galling and more degrading than that of any former monarch. William III. passed his life in continual struggles with his subjects to ob- tain new prerogatives or prevent fresh restrictions on the royal power. When, by the accession of the House of Hanover, the Whigs at length be- came completely triumphant, they also fell oif from virtue, and the martyrs and patriots of the seven- teenth century were succeeded in the eighteenth by a race of pettifoggers and peculators. Nothing can show more clearly the necessity of perpetual jealousy than the corruption of the Whig party : inheriting all the great principles of liberty, and forming the only free government of any import- ance in Europe, power proved to them a Capua, and success induced them to forget the means and neglect the qualities by which they had ob- tained it. It is true, that the continual agitation of public questions in England has in it something very alann- ing to persons at a distance. I remember when the question of the Liberty of the Press was dis- cussed in the Spanish Cortes of 1811, an orator, who spoke against a free press, held out the fate of England as a warning, and asked the assembly if they wished to see as many factions, and as many tumults, as prevailed in Great Britain. But these things are more dreadful in appearance than in reality. Tavern-speeches, contested elections, field- meetings, and tumultuary processions, often seem to portend the instant destruction of the order of society ; but the sound and the smoke are greater than the mischief, and the people, accustomed to the noise, pursue their occupations with as much composure as the crew of a frigate manoeuvre the vessel amid the roar of the Avind. The evils of 170 A FREE GOVERNMENT CH. xxx. despotism, through less striking, occasion far more suffering : the one is like an eruption of the skin, of little importance, though visible to every eye ; the other is a mortal, deep-seated disease, which unseen attacks the noblest and most vital parts of the frame. These observations apply, in my opinion, to the agitated question of Parliamentary Reform. It ap- pears to many, even in England, that the discus- sion of this subject is fraught with the mightiest dangers, and cannot terminate but in the convul- sion of society. It aj^pears to me, on the contrary, that these discussions arising out of the state of the people, and carried on with the whole nation for an audience, so far from being mischievous, tend to excite that spirit of enquiry and investigation which is necessary to the freedom of the State. AVhether Keform is carried or not, it cannot but be of the utmost service to direct the attention of the people to the conduct of the House of Commons, and to oblige them to become, either by their con- stitution or by the fear of shame, the vigilant guardians of the public interests. The discussion of the question of Reform -will beneficially serve to prevent that stagnation of the public mind, and that blind confidence in the depositories of power, Avhich are fatal to a free State.* One melancholy reflection seems to result from what has been said. Liberty, which requires per- petual agitation, perpetual jealousy, and perpetual change, must be exposed to more hazards, and therefore be less durable in its nature than des- potism, which to subsist requii-es only to be un- altered. A despotism, indeed, which is founded upon ignorance, and which carefully excludes the external light, may, if not invaded from without, * Written in 1821, but applicable in some degree to 1865. CH. XXX. REQUIRES PERPETUAL JEALOUSY. 171 he the most permanent of all governments ; for the debasement of the peojjle, Avhich is one of its means of immediate government, is likewise a security against any future change. It would seem, indeed, that freedom, like all the best and finest produc- tions of this world, is one of the most frail and ti'ansitory. But let not despotism boast her ad- vantage : half a century of freedom within the cir- cuit of a few miles of i-ock, brings to perfection more of the greatest qualities of our nature, displays more fully the capacity of man, exhibits more examples of heroism and magnanimity, and emits more of the divine light of poetry and philosophy, than thousands of years and millions of people col- lected in the greatest empire of the world can ever see accomplished in the darkness of despotism. 172 CHAPTER XXXI. CONSTITUTION OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. ' It is true that wliat is settled by custom, though it be not good, at least it is fit. And those things -which have gone long together are, as it were, confederate within themselves. Whereas new things piece not so well ; but thoTigh they help by their utility, yet they trouble by their unconformity. All this is true if time stood still : which contrariwise moveth so round, that a froward retention of eustom is as turbulent a thina: as an innovation ; and they that reverence too much old times are but a scorn to the new. It were good, therefore, that men in their innovations would follow the ex- ample of time itself, which, indeed, innovateth greatly, but quietly.' — Lord Bacon. "We have hitherto said scarcely anything of the con- stitution of the House of Commons. From the time of Edward I. it has been composed of knights who represented the freeholders or landed property of counties, and of citizens and burgesses, who repre- sented the commercial interests of cities and boroughs. What these boroughs so distinguished were, is a question lost in remote antiquity. It appears clear, however, that the writ sent to the sheriff merely directed him to send to Parliament bvir^esses for the boroughs within his countv, and that the sheriff is- sued his precept to such of the places called boroughs as he thought fit. Whether they were so called from charter or prescription is uncertain. This service being attended by wages to the members, was considered as a burden ; and several boroughs petitioned and obtained leave to be relieved from it. During the contest of the Houses of York and Lancaster, however, the House of Commons having become of more importance, and having not unfre- en. XXXI. HOUSE OF COMMONS. 173 quently a voice in the disposal of the crown, the privilege of electing members to have a seat in it grew into a desirable privilege. The Charter of W^enlock, granted by Edward IV., which is said to be the first in which the privilege of sending members to Parliament is expressly mentioned, grants that privilege as a matter of favour, and as a reward of services performed by the proprietor of the borough. A little before this, the right of voting at county elections was restrained to 40s. freeholders, on ac- count, it is said, of the tumults and affrays which were likely to occur at those elections — a proof that they were already objects of interest. The kings of the House of Tudor, it will be recollected, although they raised themselves above the people, acted not ■vdthout, but through the Parliament. The House of Commons began to debate according to present forms under the sovereigns of this family. During the reign of Elizabeth, it happened, for the first time, that a member was found guilty of bribing the returning officer. In the reign of James, after four hundred years' discontinuance, Agmondesham was restored to the privilege of sending members. Wendover and Marlow were restored at the same time. Amongst the arguments in favour of their right, we find the follomng, in an abstract of the case drawn in 21 Jac. I.*—' Thirdly, the use in these ancient times being, that the burgesses, attend- ing in Parliament, were maintained at the charge of the boroughs; when the boroughs grew poor, the boroughs only for that reason neglected to send their burgesses to the Parliament ; therefore, now seeing they were contented to undei'go that burthen, or to choose such burgesses as should bear their own charges, there was no reason to deny that petition. Lastly, it was urged in behalf of the burgesses, that * Browne Willis, Notitia Parliament aria, vol. i. p. 120. 174 CONSTITUTION OF THE CH. XXXI. the liberty of sending burgesses to Parliament is a liberty of "that uatvire and quality, that it cannot be lost by neglect of any borough ; for every burgess so sent is a member of the great council of the kingdom, maintained at the charge of the borough ; and if such a neglect may be permitted in one borough, so may it be in more, and consequently in all the boroughs in England ; and then it might follow that, for want of burgesses, there would be no Parlia- ment.' In consequence of this decision, there was re- turned, for Wendover, Mr. John Hampden, ' who beareth the charge.' In this and the succeeding reio-n, the folio wins; boroughs were restored by Par- liament : — Ilchester . . 18 Jac. I Agmondesham . 21 Jac. I Wendover . Ditto. Great Marlow . Ditto. Cockermoiith . . 16 Car. I Okehampton . Ditto. Honiton . . Ditto. Ashbiirton . Ditto. Milbome Port . Ditto. Malton . . Ditto. Northallerton . Ditto. Seaford . . Ditto. Twenty-four were restored by the Sovereign himself: these apparently were willing to bear the charge. Fifty-one boroughs that had sent members have never been restored at all. From the reign of Henry YIII. to the accession of Charles I., the House of Commons received an addition of 156 members. In Cornwall alone, Edward VI. added 12 members, Mary 4, and Elizabeth 10. Cornwall, it appears, was chosen as the best place to fix these members, because the Crown, in right en. XXXI. HOUSE OP COMMONS. 175 of the duchy, had great influence there, by means both of mines and lands. Tliese additions clearly show the desire of the Crown to obtain dependents within the House of Commons. Such unhealthy ex- crescences, however, did not prevent the Petition of Right, or guard the throne from the Roundheads. At a time when projects were teeming on all sub- jects, for the amendment of the whole body of the law, of the Church, of the State, and even of the calendar, it was not to be expected that the House of Commons should be without its reformer. Especially it was to be expected that a plan should be recom- mended for making representation equal and uniform. Accordingly, a proposal of this nature came from the masters of all reforms of that day — the army. The plan was adopted in its chief principles by Cromwell in the two Parliaments he called after becoming Protector; but neither the temper of the times, nor the genius of the man, permitted the experiment to be made in such a manner as to give it the slightest value. From the first of these two Parliaments Cromwell experienced a decided opposition to his authority ; and it was dissolved because it presumed to discuss the question whether the government should be in a single person. In the second, after various means used to influence the electors, no person was allowed to enter ^nthout a certificate from the Council of State, and thus 100 members were excluded. Richard Cromwell, either discouraged by these essays, or yielding to the growing partiality for old forms and methods, assembled a Parliament in the ancient manner. Lord Shaftesbury, however, Avho was the first after the Restoration to violate the independence of Parliament, by insisting that all returns should be judged of in Chancery, was also the first to renew and keep alive the doctrine of Parliamentary reform. In a paper published after his death, he complains not only of the undue 176 CONSTITUTION OF TUE CH. xxxi. length of Parliaments, and the corrupt practices of boroughs, but insists on the great speculative griev- ance that Cornwall sent more members than Wales. Some of his friends, and especially Mr. Samuel Johnson, chaplain to Lord Russell, endeavoured to move the question at the Revolution, but both the great parties studiously avoided the discussion. From that time to that of Lord Chatham, the prin- ciple of reform, though favoured by some illustrious men, chiefly Tories, seems to have slept in peace ; at the same time, however, the grievance greatly increased. Borouschs became more and more venal : and the number of placemen in a house of 556 mem- bers is said to have been not less than 200. But the people take little or no interest in the question of reform, or indeed in any question purely constitu- tional, except when they are suflEering real evils from misgovernment. It should be mentioned, how- ever, that in 1745 a Tory motion for annual Par- liaments, intended probably to shake the Hanover succession, was rejected by a majority of only 32. Lord Chatham, finding from experience how diffi- cult it was to rouse the House of Commons to a due sense of ministerial abuses, proposed, as a measure of expediency, that a hundred members for counties should be added to the representative body. This plan was obviously founded on utility only : in the plu-ase of its illustrious author, it was a plan * to in- fuse new life into the Constitution.' The American war having placed the misrule of our statesmen in a glaring light, Mr. Pitt, in 1781, in 1782, and in 1785, made motions in the House of Commons itself in favour of different plans of reform ; all, however, professing to amend only a part of the representation, and resting, like those of his father, on the basis of utility and experience. There Avere, however, other doctrines afloat. Dr. Jebb, and, after him, Mr. Cartw^ight, broached the CH. XXXI. HOUSE OF COMMONS. 177 theory of personal representation ; which, following out the principles of Mr. Locke, pretended to estal)- lish, as a natural and indefeasible right, the claim of every man to have a vote. Neither this theory, however, nor the plan of Mr. Pitt, which was sup- ported by Home Tooke and all the temperate- reformers of that day, met with any success. Mr. Pitt became at first cold, and then totally silent on the subject. The question slept till the French devolution, which disturbed everything, woke it anew. A so- ciety, consisting of many of the ablest men of that day, drew up the paper called the Petition of the Friends of the People. This was no less than a bill of indictment against the governing assembly of Great Britain. The history and the state of the boroughs is minutely detailed ; and an elaborate attempt is made to show that a few individuals have the command of the House of Commons, and of course it follows, of the persons and purses of every man in Britain. There is one pai't of this statement, however, which is manifestly irrelevant to the sub- ject. A large number of county members and others are enumerated as elected by the influence of peers or certain wealthy commoners. It is alleged, that not only do 84 persons nominate directly 157 mem- bers, but that 70 others, by indu-ect influence, in counties and large towns, return 150 more; and thus a pretended proof is given, that a few persons elect a majority of the House of Commons. Now every one who knows England, knows that the free- holders of the same political opinions in a county, whether magistrates or shopkeepers, generally agree to give their votes to the same candidate. The qualities which they seek for in a candidate, it is also known, are, generally, not eloquence, or even abilities, but sense, integrity, and property. Pro- perty itself is supposed, in some manner, to be a N 178 CONSTITUTION OF THE cn. xxxi. guarantee of character. It therefore happens, that the person among them who has most land, if he has other common requisites, is the member ; and if that person happens to be a Peer, then his brother or his son. Thus it is not the tenants only of a man of pi'operty, but his party in conjunction with his tenants, who make him knight of the shire. A complaint, therefore, that the eldest son of a certain Peer is always returned member for a covmty in Avliich he has a large estate, instead of the wisest shopkeeper or labourer in the county, is not a griev- ance fit to be stated to the House of Commons, although it might make part of an essay on the character of the English people, or of a general treatise on human nature. Laying this objection aside, however, the main scope of the petition admits of this answer : — ' You complain of the formation of the House of Com- mons, such as it has existed from the Revolution to the present time. You prove that the frame of our government during that time has been a corru})t combination for private purposes. But our fathers and our grandfathers have told us, that during that time they were very free and very happy. Their testimony is confirmed by the ablest lawyers, the greatest philosophers, the most enthusiastic poets of the times. Your theory goes to overthrow the testimony of Blackstone, Montesquieu, Thomson, Cowper, and a hundred otliers, who have declared England to be in their time in the enjoyment of complete freedom. Now government is a matter of experience, and not of speculation ; we ^Yi\l, there- fore, rest contented with things as they are.' Such an objection as this appears to me to be sound. For the complaint is made, not of a single or particular grievance, but of the majority of the governing body of the State, such, or nearly such, as they had existed for a hundred years of liberty CH. xxxr. HOUSE OF COMMONS. 179 and glory. To exi)lain this furtlier : if a petition ■were presented complaining of the bankrupt laAvs, it clearly would not be a good objection to say, ' Our ancestors have been free and happy with the bank- rupt laws, therefore we will not change them.' But if a petition were presented, stating that the division of our government into three powers was a most absurd one ; that it was ridiculous to give one man as much power as 658 representatives of the whole people : that it was out of all reason to admit into the House of Lords a spendthrift or an idiot, because his father had been a statesman or a favourite ; that the veto of the king was a barbarous invention un- worthy of a polished nation ; we should answer, ' The theory may be bad, but the practice has been excellent.' Mr. Fox, fully sensible of the weight of this answer, came forward in 1797 and put the question upon totally different grounds. He declared the situation of the country to be so perilous as almost to make him despair of the safety of the State. He argued, that the conduct of the ministers had been such as to brino; the commonwealth to utter ruin : and no expedient remained but to recur to first principles, and reconstitute the State. Admitting the evil to have been fully as great as Mr. Fox represented it, his reasoning was far from proving the propriety of the remedy. For that evil certainly did not arise from disreo-ardino; the voice of the people in the "American and French wars. ' Liberty is in danger of becoming unpopular to Englishmen,' says Mr. Burke, in the American war. ' In short,' says Mr. Fox, during the French war, ' liberty is not popular. The country is divided (very un- equally, I admit) betwixt the majority, who are subdued by fears or corrupted by hopes ; and the minority, who are Avaiting sulkily for opportunities N 2 180 CONSTITUTION OF THE CH. xxxi. of violent remedies.' * What a strange resource, then, to make the Leoislature more democratic ! But when we are examinmg the principles of the English Government, it is necessary to endeavour, as far as we are able, to lay down some general rules for the formation of the asseml)ly of the Com- mons of a limited monarchy. A few may suffice, both for the author and tlie reader. First, All parts of the country, and all classes of the people, ought to have a share in elections. If this is not the case, the excluded part or class of the nation will become of no importance in the eyes of the rest ; its favour will never be courted in the country, and its interests ^vill never be vigilantly guarded in the Legislature. Consequently, in pro- portion to the general freedom of the community will be the discontent excited in the deprived class, b}' the sentence of nullity and inactivity pronounced upon them. Every system of uniform suffrage, ex- cept universal, contains this dark blot. And uni- versal suffrage, in pretending to avoid it, gives the whole power to the highest and the lowest, to money and to multitude, and thus disfranchises the middle class, the most disinterested, the most independent, and the most unprejudiced of all. It is not neces- sary, however, although every class ought to have an influence in elections, that every member of every class should have a vote. A butcher at Hackney, who gives his vote perhaps once in twelve years at an election for the county of MidfUesex, has scarcely any advantage over another butcher at the same place, who has no vote at all. And even if he had, the interest of the State in these matters is the chief thing to be consulted; and that is as well served by _ * Letter to Lord Holland. are full of avowals that he had See also Mr. Fox's Speeches at become unpopular by his op- tho beginning of the war, which position to it. CH. XXXI. HOUSE OF COMMONS. 181 the suflfrage of some of each class, as by that of all of each class. It is an aro-ument too ajrainst makino; the ri appre- hending, his be the triumph to have i)reci]iitated those results ; be mine the consolation that to the utmost and the latest of my power I have opposed them.^:}: * Parliamentary Debates, vol. 309; and for Plan, see Appendix, xli. p. 1105. in the i^aine volume. t Hansard's Parliamentary J Parliamentary Debates, new Debates, new series, vol. v. p. series, vol. vii. p. 136. 222 CONCLUDING CHAPTER. Thus encoiirao;ed and thus warned, I neglected neither the encouraiiement nor the warninfj. There were e\'idently two modes in which reform might be approached. The one was to consider the right of voting as a personal privilege possessed by every man of sound mind, and of years of dis- cretion, as an inherent inalienable right, belong- ing to him as a member of a free country. Ac- cording to this theory, the votes of the whole male adult population form the only basis of legitimate government. Other political writers and eminent statesmen, while of opinion that a free and full representation of the people forms a necessary condition of free government, acknowledge no personal right of voting as inalienable and essential. They consider that the purpose to be attained is good government; the free- dom of the people within the State, and their secu- rity from without ; and that the best mode of attain- ing these ends is the problem to be solved. It seemed to me that these last reasoners were in the right. A rej»resentation which should produce bad, hasty, passionate, unjust, and ignorant de- cisions, could not conduce to that welfare of the people which is the supreme law. If it be said that no part of the property of the peo|)le ought to be levied in taxes by the Government, without tlie con- sent expressed or implied of the whole community, it may be answered that a man's life and liberty are as valuable to him as his pro])erty ; vet no one con- tends that the judicial body and the jury in criminal trials should be selected bv universal suifrajxe. On the contrary, the greatest care is taken to place on the judicial bench men qualified by learning and experience, and to form the list of the jury out of a portion of the community whose station in life affords some security for their average intelligence, information, and honesty. Similar care ought to COXCLUDIXG CHAPTER. 223 be taken to entrust to a portion of the community, qualified by honesty and inteUigence, the mighty power of selecting the House of Commons. The theory of ^Ir. ]MiIl. that eyery man ouo-ht to haye a yote, but a yote weighted according to a sort of handicap, seems to me yisionaiy in the extreme. I cannot perceiye, should it be once admitted in prinoi[)le that in order to form a free goyernment it is necessary that eyery man should haye a yote, that it is practicable, or possible, to put eyery man's yote into a scale : to count a merchant or a banker for more yoices than a baker or a grocer, and still less, how it is possible to gauge the intellect of labourers or artisans of superior talent or know- ledge, and enter them as weighing more than a fundholder or a merchant, a landholder or a (jreat capitalist, whose mind has not been cultiyated. or whose talents haye ne-\er been yery brioht. For, besides the interminable disputes, the neyer-endino- jealousies, the aj^peal of a wise baker against a foolish banker, the doubt and suspicion thrown upon the integrity of the examiners, who in fact must decide the election between the Liberal and Conseryatiye candidate, — is there, after all, any reason to say that a man who knows the higher mathematics, who can calculate compound interest, who is wonderful in his knowledge of geography, is a better elector of a member for the county than the man who goes to market eyery Saturday, or is at the coyert ^ide eyery ^londay morning ? After all, were not the distinctions made by our ancestors, that a man who has a freehold of 40^. a year shall yote for the county, and a man who pays scot and lot shall yote for the borough, and that those who haye not these qualifications shall not yote. — were not these dis- tinctions much more simple, much less inyidious, much more attainable by industry and thrift, and after all quite as philosophical a basis of represen- 224 CONCLUDING CHAPTER. tation as the metaphysical categories of modern times ? * ' It seemed to me at least that it would be sufficient to lay down some such conditions as the following, as necessary qualifications for the body of electors. 1. That thev should be of averao;e intellio-ence. 2. That they should, upon the whole, form a secu- rity for stability of pro})erty. 3. That although bribery cannot be altogether excluded, the body of electors, as a mass, should not be tainted by corru]>tion. 4. That the electoral body should be identified with the general sense of the community — in short, ■wdth the public opinion of the time. Such being the objects in view, there were two modes by Avhich they Avere to be sought. One mode Avould be by the definition of the franchise ; the other, by the distribution of the seats. It appeared to me that the first mode alone would not be sufficient. In large cities, population would outweigh pro- perty. In large counties, property would control population. To complete the House of Commons, there were required some seats where property could support the claims of an intelligence not popular with the masses, and possibly not rich in land or funds. In the old system, jNIr. Burke, defeated at Bristol, had been returned for ISIalton ; Mr. Fox, nearly overpowered at Westminster, had been returned for Orkney ; Mr. Grey, rejected by Northumberland, had found a seat at Ajipleby. Such a resource, I thought, should not be entirely lost. It Avas desirable, in short, as it appeared to me, while sweeping away gross abuses, to avail ourselves, as far as possible, of the existing frame and body of our institutions. * See Note J. CO.NX'LUDING CIIArXER. 225 Thus, if the due weight and influence of property- could be maintained by preserving the representa- tion of a portion of the small boroughs with an im- proved franchise, it was desirable rather to build on the old foundations than to indulge our fancy or our conceit in choosino; a new site and erectins; on new sod — perhaps on sand — an edifice entirely dif- ferent from all which had hitherto existed. At the same time, I was deeply impressed with the conviction of Lord Grey, that none but a large measure would be a safe measure ; that to nibble at disfranchisement, and to cramp reform by pedantic adherence to exisitino; rio-hts, Avould be to deceive expectation, to whet appetite, and to bring on that revolution which it was our object to avert. I endeavoured, therefore, to cut away what was rotten, to preserve what was worth preserving, and to introduce what would strengthen and improve. I have now before me the plan which I framed in accordance with Ijord Durham's desire. It is in- dorsed on the back in Lord Durham's handwritino- — No. I. Lord John RusseWs Plan* And in my handwriting — Submitted to Lord Durham, Lord Duncannon, and Sir James Graham. Dec. 1830. J. R. The plan itself, which is Avritten on a sheet of writing-paper, is in the i aside. It contains the fol- lo'wing heads, with some alterations and erasures in pencil : — * What is Iiere in italics is in the MS. ip the hand'svTitiDg of Lord Durham. 226 COXCLUDINa CHAPTER. Fift^ boroughs of tlie smallest Umion, according to the cen- ts of 1821, to be disfranchised. II. Eifty more of the least con- aij^%'me to send in future only- one member to Parliament. III. In all ^lities and bi*)«mughs wni<^i preserve tSe right of Seiid- ing nS^nl^ers to Pa^iament, [w- sons quSHfied to serv^on juriesS to have tli^ rio-ht of votniper Province should, by the breaking down of the barrier between it and England, and by its natural fertility and richness, greatly in- crease beyond that of the Lower, justice and policy would alike require some change of the equality built upon a shifting soil. This is what has now happened. It will task the wisdom of Parliament to fix the foundations of the new building, but the omens are favourable. Many subjects of great importance occupied at this time the attention of Parliament. Ireland had been treated in 1829 as Mr. Pitt had proposed she should be treated in 1800. But this long denial of justice had produced discontent and disaffection ; had caused rural outrages of the most atrocious character ; had left the country a prey to tyranny on the part of the landlords, plots and con- spiracies on the part of the priests and the peasantiy. Lord Anglesey, when Lord Lieutenant, had said that the King had no party in Ireland but the King's troops. CONCLUDING CIIAl'TER. 2.33 The Governments of Lord Melbourne and his suc- cessors did much to remedy what could only be re- medied by time and justice. The tithe question was settled, and the burden, removed from the peasantry, was placed upon the landlords. A yjoor-law, which is in fact not so much a law of charity as a law of jmblic order, was carried. An Encumbered Estate Act, introduced in 1847, and afterwards amended by Sir John liomilly, opened the way to improved rela- tions of landlord and tenant. The rio'ht of votino; in counties, taken away from the serfs called forty- shilling freeholders in 1829, was given to occupiers rated at £12 a year. A sum of eight millions ster- ling was distributed by the Imperial Government during the potato famine of 1848. The measure introduced in 1835, granting a por- tion of the Church Revenues of Ireland to purposes of Education, was unpopular in England, and v/as not carried in the House of Lords. But it is hardly possible that a Church Establishment should be [)re- served undiminished for about one-ninth of the pojni- lation of Ireland. When England shall examine this question dispassionately, it may be expected that, although the State will not entano-le itself with the support of a Roman Catholic clergy, as Mi-. Pitt projected, the whole people of Ireland will be allowed to derive some benefit from so large a revenue. National Education and Public Improvements of various kinds might receive at least a portion of the revenue raised from the land for the benefit of the people. In 1828 and 1829, Parliament had thrown open the doors of office and of the Legislature to Protestant and Roman Catholic Dissenters from the Established Church. From 1831 to 1841, ten years had been devoted to the grant of political and municipal privileges in the three kingdoms. 254 COXCLUDING CHAPTER. In 1840, the period had arrived for reducing du- ties of customs, abolishing monopoly, and freeing commerce from many restrictions. The two Humes — jNIr. Joseph Hume, the Member of Parliament, and Mr. Deacon Hume, an officer of the Board of Customs — opened the road along which the free-trade army marched first in doubtful battle, but ultimately in assured triumj^h. ]Mr. Charles Yilliers, ]\Ir. Cobden, and Mr. Bright moved the total and immediate repeal of the Corn Laws. The Whig Ministry, without going this length, pro})Osed that the sliding scale of duties on wheat should be exchano-ed for eio-ht shillino-s fixed Cj <_? O duty ; that the ]»rohibition of foreign sugar should be deduced to a dififerential duty of twelve shillings a hundredweight, and the protective duty on timber, instead of ten shillings on colonial and fifty-five s-hillino-s on Baltic timber, should be twentv shillinos on colonial and fifty shilhngs on Baltic timber. But the proposal for the admission of foreign sugar was rejected by a Protectionist majority of thirty-six, and, on a dissolution, a majority of ninety-one seated Sir Bol)ert Peel as the head of a new administration. But if the Protectionists counted on Sir Robert Peel to confirm the reign of monopoly, they were wofully deceived. It is true that, with characteristic prudence, he left for a time unassailed the corn of the landed gentry and the sugar of the West Indian colo- nies. But he struck down all the minor monopolies, and advancing like a great general, left the fortresses of corn and sugar held by mere garrisons in a con- qiiered country. Thus it happened that, in 1846, the introduction of foreign corn was sanctioned with a duty, not of eight shillings, but of one shilling, and Sir Robert Peel, amid the ciirses of his party, but the applause of the people, conferred an inestimable benefit on his country. CONCLUDING CnATTEi;. 255 On tliis occasion, as on that of the Catholic Relief Bill, Sir Robert Peel was the first to give credit to those by whom he had long been op})osed. ' I said bel'ore, and I said truly,' he declared, ' that in proposing onr measures of commercial policy I had no wish to rob others of the credit jnstly due to them. I must say, Avith reference "to honourable gentlemen ojtposite, as I say with reference to our- selves, that neither of us is the party which is justly entitled to the credit of them. There has been a combination of parties generally opposed to each other, and that combination and the influence of Government have led to their ultimate success ; but the name which ought to be associated with the suc- cess of these measures is not the name of the noble Lord, the organ of the party of which he is the leader, nor is it mine. The name Avhieh ought to be, and Avill be associated with the success of those measures, is the name of one who, acting, I believe, from pure and disinterested motives, has, with untiring enerofv, T 1 1 » made appeals to our reason, and has enforced those appeals with an eloquence the more to be admired because it was unaffected and unadorned ; the name Avliich ought to be chiefly associated with the success of these measures is the name of Richakd Cobden.'* This just tribute did the highest honour to the f\iir- ness and magnanimous candour of the statesman who uttered it. In the same year, 1846, the Ministry Avhich suc- ceeded him swept away the differential duties on sugar, and reduced those duties in a manner which Avill be presently explained. In 1848, the Navigation LaAvs Avere repealed ; and on that occasion Sir James Graham, in a memorable speech, recorded the benefits of the repeal of the corn laws, and celebrated the triumphs of free trade. * Parliamentary Debates, third series, vol. Ixxxvii. p. 1054. 256 CONCLUDING CHAPTER. Some of the fruits of this signal change of policy, partly sanctioned by the very Parliament which had been elected to defend the Corn Laws and to gua- rantee the gains of protection, and partly carried into effect by the succeeding Parliament, remain to be recorded. But other beneficial reforms must be added to the o;lorious catalogue. In 1861, a Treaty of Commerce with France broke the fetters which restrained our intercourse with a cuuntry abounding in wine, in oil, in silk, in beautiful fabrics, but deficient in coal, in iron, and in cheap manufactures. In this task, the Emperor of the French pro- posed, and the British Cabinet accepted, the plan of the Treaty ; but Richard Cobden was the chief worker in carrying the design into effect. Nor was the measure merely one of free trade. Two nations, the foremost in the world for intellect, for triumphs in peace, and for triumphs in war, were thereby connected by a thousand links which may, it is to be hoped, convert a relation of ancient hos- tilitv into one of friendly and peaceful rivalry. Tlie results of these free-trade and financial mea- sures remain to be noticed. Let us first take the official value of the imports and exports of British, Colonial, and Foreign goods in 1842, 1853, and 1863 — in short, the whole extent of our commerce : — Imports— 1842 £ 65,253,286 18r)3 123,099,313 18G3 171,913,852 Exports— 1842 £113.841,802 1853 242,072,224 „ 1863 313,113,188 Next, the real value of Exports of British and Irish manufacture : — CONCLUDING CHAriER. 257 1842 1853 1803 £47,381,023 98,9;!:3,781 146,489,768 The real value of some few of the more impor- tant articles of British manufacture may next be recorded : — 1842 1853 1S63 £ £ Cotton Goods . . . 13,907,884 25,817,249 39,.424,010 Earthenware and Por- celain • . . . . 000,430 1,338,370 1,334,275 Hardware and Cutlery 1,398.487 3,665,051 3,826,784 Linen Manufactures . 2,346,749 4.758,432 0,509,970 Machinery .... 554,653 1,985,536 4,365,023 Iron and Steel . . . 2,457,717 10,845,422 13.111,477 Woollen Yarn 637,305 1.450,786 5,005,432 Woollen Manufactures 5 185,045 10,172,182 15,518,842 Silk, thrown and manu- factured .... 590.1.89 2,044,361 2,229,691 It will be recollected that, in 1823, Mr. Iluskis- son contended, amid a storm of obloquy, that silk manufacturers could, after due time for preparation, withstand a competition protected by a duty of only 30 per cent. ; that, in 1845, Sir Kobert Peel reduced the protection to 10 per cent. ; and that, in 1861, Mr. Gladstone took it away altoo;ether. Yet, in 1823, the declared value of the total of British silk goods exported amounted only to i?35 1,409; and, in 1863, the thrown and manufac- tured silk exported amounted in value to £2,229,000. Let us take two further articles, sugar and ships. In 1841, I had proposed to reduce the duties on co- lonial and foreign sugar to 24^. and 36^. respectively, thus giving colonial sugar a protection of 12^. a cwt. This was rejected as insufficient. In 1846 I pro- posed a duty of 14^. a CAvt. on Muscovado sugar of the British colonies, and, instead of the prohibitory s 258 CONCLUDING CHAPTEE. duty of 63^. on foreign sugars, a duty on foreign Muscovado sugar of 21.ride. And yet, if impartial reason had been listened to, how many fruitless wars might have been spared, how much blood and treasure mio;ht have been saved to the nations of the world ! When I come to sum up, even in an imperfect catalogue, the many improvements which have taken place in the United Kingdom, her Colonies, and Foreign Relations since 1824, I find Parlia- ment reformed. Slavery abolished. Test and Cor- poration Acts repealed, Roman Catholic disabili- ties repealed, Jewish disabilities partially repealed, Tithes commuted in England and Ireland : Muni- cipal Corporations reformed in England, Scotland, and Ireland ; Poor Law reformed in England, en- acted in Scotland and Ireland, Bishops' revenues equalised in England ; large sums made applicable CONCLUDING CIIAPTEn. 2f)9 to spiritual destitution and small livings ; Educa- tion of the poor promoted; Customs duties reduced from many hundred to twelve ; differential duties abolished ; j)rotective duties repealed or reduced ; Corn Laws repealed ; Taxes on glass, soap, coals, candles, paper, newspaper stamps, and many other articles, repealed. Independence of I>el- gium and Greece established. Unity of Italy re- cognised. Turning in my mind these various changes which have been accomj)lished by the regular working of Parliamentary Government, and seeing in 1863 so very different a state of public feeling from that which prevailed in 1817, in 1819, and in 1830, I remarked, in a speech in Scotland, that the people seemed to have adopted a motto inscribed on a stone, at the side of the road at the top of one of their Scotch mountains, ' Kest, and be thankful.' I added, that for my part I was not disposed to quarrel with that feeling of the people at that time ; although, doubtless, there were other hills to be . climbed, and other roads to be made. It was suffi- ciently obvious, I thought, without my pointing it out, that neither the road-maker nor the traveller, when he has got to the top of the hill, though he may rest his Aveary limbs, and contemplate for a time with gratitude and admiration the space he has tra- versed, and the prospect around him, thinks of making a per[)etual bivouac on the summit he has reached. He may hope, indeed, that his future course may be less arduous, the rocks less steep, the torrents less difficult to traverse, the marsh less unsafe to the tread ; but he will still move on after his period of re})ose, and pursue his journey, all the more confident in his path from the success he has already achieved. But, to drop metaphor, it seems no violent as- sumption to suppose, after overcoming the strength 270 CONCLUDING CHAPTER. of resistance armed with legislative power in the bo- roughs disfranchised by the Reform Act, — the force of religious prejudices entrenched in the Acts which excluded Roman Catholics, Protestant Dissenters, and Jews from the privileges of the Constitution — the powerful combination of interests Avhich guarded the Corn Laws and all other monopolies, — that after the victorious issue of all these contests, the remain- insr struo'?rs, now no more, who contributed by his inHuence, by his abilities, by the mastery Avhich he obtained over the minds of young statesmen of the Conservative party, to guide the struggling bark of his country into the haven of safety. I do not need to speak of his powerful understanding, of his ready memory for all which could illustrate or enforce the con- clusions to which he desired to lead the sos^ereign assembly of the empire ; of his eloquence when eloquence was required ; of his still more prevailing- power of marshalling ftxcts, of giving life to statis- tical details ; of the ability he showed in unproving CONCLUDING CHAPTER. 275 the currency, in restoring the finances, in main- taining the dignity of Government. For this Inight himinary has not so far sunk into the twiliglit of past years but that its radiance still cheers and warms the horizon it has left. But there is a singularity in the career of Sir Robert Peel which will long startle and perplex the readers of the history of these times. His father, on a solemn occasion, declared that he had devoted him, as a successor of Pitt, to the service of his country. Twice he Avas the undisputed head of the Tory i)arty, — a Minister in possession of the confi- dence of the Crown, the leader of a compact majority of the House of Commons. TAvdce he risked, twice he lost the eminence of power, and the adhesion of a party majority. Tlie first time he did so to give peace to Ire- land, and avoid a dangerous conflict. He said, at the conclusion of a speech to which I have ah-eady alluded, — ' I am Avell aware that the fate of this measure cannot now be altered : if it succeed, the credit Avill belong to others ; if it fail, the respon- sibility will devolve upon me and those with whom I have acted. These chances, with the loss of private friendship, and the alienation of public confidence, I must have foreseen and calculated upon before I ventured to recommend these mea- sures. I assure the House that, in conducting them, I have met with tlie severest blow which it has ever been my lot to experience ; but I am convinced that the time will come, though 1 may not live to see it, Avhen full justice will be done by men of all parties to the motives upon Avhich 1 have acted, — when this question will be fully settled, and when others Avill see that I had no altcrnntive but to act as I have acted. They Avill then admit that the course which I have followed, and Avhich I am still prepared to follow, whatever imijutation it may t2 276 CONCLUDING CIIAPTEB. expose me to, is the only course which is now ne- cessary for the diminution of the undue, illegiti- Tiate, and dangerous power of the Roman Catholics, and for the maintenance and permanent security of Protestant interests.' * On his last surrender of power, having lost the confidence of his party in that year upon the Corn question, as he had lost it in 1829 upon the Catholic question, he said, at the conclusion of his s})eech on the 29th June 1846 — ' Within a few hours, pro- bably, that power which I have held for a period of five years Avill be surrendered into the hands of another, — without repining, without complaint on my part, with a more lively recollection of the support and confidence I have received dvu'ing several years, than of the opposition which, during a recent period, I have encountered. In relinquish- ing power, I shall leave a name severely censured, I fear, by many Avho, on public grounds, deeply regret the severance of party ties, — deeply regret that severance, not from interested or personal motives, but from a firm conviction that fidelity to party engagements, the existence and maintenance of a great party, constitutes a poAverful instrument of government. I shall surrender power, severely cen- sured also by others who, from no interested mo- tives, adhere to the principle of Protection, consi- derino- the maintenance of it to be essential to the welfare and interests of the country. I shall leave a name execrated by every mono})olist, who, from less honourable motives, clamours for Protection be- cause it conduces to his own immediate benefit ; but it may be that I shall leave a name sometimes remembered v>ith expressions of goodwill in the abodes of those whose lot it is to labour, and to earn their daily bread by the sweat of their brow, when they shall recruit their exhausted strength * Parliamentar}- Debates, new series, vol. xx. p. 1290. CONCLUDING CIIAPTER. 277 with abundant and untaxed food, the sweeter be- cause it is no longer leavened by a sense of in- justice.'* No one, 1 think, can doubt that on the first occasion, the justice and expediency of removing Roman Catholic disalnlities — on the second, the justice and expediency of repealing the Corn Laws, had fully penetrated his clear and sagacious mind. To give effect to his convictions, he forfeited the confidence of that i)arty which had nurtured his talents, and adopted him as its chosen child and champion. In this sense — ' Fuit in parentem Splendide mendax ' But he had another parent, of stronger affinity and paramount claims : his country, her Avelfare, her safety, had a right to his filial duty, and for her sake he twice made a sacrifice for which he de- serves her perpetual and grateful connnemoration. But, having made the sacrifice of opinions deeply rooted, and party ties warmly cherished, no one can doubt, I think, that he did right when, on the first occasion on which the want of confidence displayed itself, he surrendered office. To have relied on old opponents to support him in measures which, in 1831, must have been measures of Parliamentary reform, and, in 1846, measures for the abolition of the differential sugar duties and the repeal of the Navigation Laws, would have been a weak and unworthy course. A resignation of power was the only fit consummation of a career which could not otherwise have been unquestioned in its mo- tives, or, indeed, have borne peace to his own bosom, f But Sir Robert Peel was to me only a public man. There are others among the departed who * Parliamentary Debates, vol. Lsxxix. p. 1054. t See Note L. 278 CONCLUDING CHAPTER. by me must be ever loved, ever honoured, ever mourned: — Lord Holland, the inheritor of Mr. Fox's pnnciples, the attached friend of Lord Grey ; Lord Lansdowne, the temperate and AA-ise promoter of every liberal reform ; Lord Althorp, the honest- est, the most disinterested of statesmen. Holland, Lansdowne, Althorp, Melbourne, Carlisle, have been friends by the side of whom I have contended on some of the gravest affairs involvino- the fate of a nation, with whom I have lived and conversed in hours of the most familiar society, and on all occasions, public or private, grave or gay, with entire confidence, Avith mutual trust, without a drop of the gall of envy or of jealousy. To their eminent, to their happy and amiable qualities, I should like to have given a full and grateful testimony. But I must refrain : it is the object of this Chapter to point out that Earl Grey, Avith the generation of statesmen Avho have guided the nation since the close of the great Avar, — AA'hose task it has been to heal its Avounds, and bring plenty to be the com- panion of peace, — haAe not deserved ill of their country. 279 NOTES. — "^ — Si^ Note (A). Page 23. O ' ' For tlieir images, some of them were brought to^ '^'l^rj London, and were there at St. Paul's Cross, in the sights "J ^ « of all the people, broken ; that they might be fully con- " ' • \ < vinced of the juggling impostures of the monks. And A ' in particular, the crucifix of Boxley, in Kent, commonly > ~. -» ^ called the Hood of Grace, to which many pilgrimages cr had been made ; because it was observed sometimes to ^ .'•x X<, bow, and to lift itself up, to shake and to stir head, hands,,.'' j!^ P and feet, to roll the eyes, move the lips, and bend tlic a ' T)rows ; all which were looked on by the abused multi^- - [/^ ; tude, as the efi'ects of a divine power. These were now*> - \ - publicly discovered to have been cheats. For the spring^ \ {v • were showed by which all these motions were made.'- ^ v. Upon which, John Hilsey, then Bishop of Rochester, ' • '^ ^ • made a sermon, and broke the rood in pieces. There was also another famous imposture discovered at Hailes,'^ in Gloucestershire ; where "the blood of Christ was"^ showed in a vial of crystal, which the people sometimes \^ saw, but sometimes they could not see it : so they were'S v^^i^ made_beli e;ve, that they were not capable of so si gnal a ^^ "f^ favour asjbng^agjbhey were in mortal sin ; and sotheyV- continued to make presents, till they bribed Heaven t^^ give them the sight of so blessed a relic. This was now<*^ discovered to have been the blood of a duck, which they^ renewed every week: and the one side of the vial was.^ ?*? ^ so very thick, that there was no seeing through it, but ^ ^*^ the other was clear and transpui'ent : and it was so y "' placed near the altar, that one in a secret place beliind could turn either side of it outward. So when they had drained the jiilgrims that came thither of all they had brought with them, then they afforded them the favour of turning the clear side outward : who upoiis. that went^ & ^<^: ./'^s^^^^ 280 NOTES. home very well satisfied with their iournev, and the ex- pense they had been at. There was brought out of Wales a huge image of wood, called Darrel Gatheren, of which one Ellis Price, visitor of the diocese of St. Asaph, gave this account : On the 6th of April 1537, " That the people of the country had a great supersti- tion for it, and many pilgrimages were made to it : so that, the day before he ^s'rote, there were reckoned to be above five or six hiindred pilgrims there : some brought oxen and cattle, and some brought money ; and it was generally believed, that if any oifered to that image, he had power to deliver his soul from hell." So it was ordered to be lirought to London, where it served for fuel to burn Friar Forrest. There was an huare imaore of Our Lady at Worcester, that was had in great rever- ence ; which, when it was stripped of some veils that covered it, was found to be the statue of a bishop.' — Burnet's History of the Reformation, vol. i. p. 242. ' But the richest shrine in England was that of Thomas Beckett, called St. Thomas of Canterbury the Martyr. For three hundred years he was accounted one of the greatest saints in heaven, as may appear from the accounts in the Ledger-books, of the offerings made to the three greatest altars in Chi-ist's Church, Canterbury. The one was to Clu-ist, the other to the Virgin, and the third to St. Thomas. Li one year there was offered at Christ's altar £'3. 2s. 6d. ; to the Virgin's altar, £6S. 5s. 6d. ; but to St. Thomas's altars, £832. 12s. Sd. But the next year the odds grew greater : for there was not a penny offered at Christ's altar, and at the Virgin's only £4. Is. Sd. ; but at St. Thomas's, £954. 6s. Sd. By such offerings, it came that his shrine was of inestim- able value. There was one stone offered there by Louis VII. of France, who came over to visit it in a pilgrimage, that Avas believed the richest in Europe.' — Burnefs History of the Reformation, vol. i. p. 244. Note (B). Page 28. The following speech of Secretary Cecil, on mono- polies, is altogether characteristic of the reign of Elizabeth : — Mr. Secretary Cecil stood up, and said, ' There needs NOTES. 281 no supply of the memory of the Speaker ; but, because it pleased him to desire some that be about him to aid liis delivery, and because the rest of my fellows be silent, I will take upon me to deliver something which I both then heard and since know. I was present vdih the rest of my fellow-councillors, and the message was the same that hath been told you ; and the cause hath not succeeded from any particular course thought upon, but from private informations of some particular per- sons. I have been very inquisitive of them, and of the cause why more impoi'tunity was now used than afore ; which, I am afraid, comes by being acquainted "with some course of proceeding in this House. There are no patents now of force which shall not presently be revoked ; for what patent soever is granted, there shall be left to the overthrow of that patent a liberty agreeable to the law. There is no patent if it be malum in se, but the Queen was ill apprised in her grant. But all to the generality be unacceptable, I take it, there is no patent whereof the execution has not been injurious. Would that they had never been granted ! I hope there shall never be more. (All the House said, Amen.) In particular, most of these patents have been sujiported by letters of assistance from Her Majesty's Privy Council : but whosoever looks upon them shall find, that they carry no other style than with relation to the patent. I dare assure you, from henceforth there shall be no more granted. They shall all be revoked. But to whom do they repair with these letters ? To some out- house, to some desolate ^vidow, to some simple cottage, or poor ignorant people, who rather than they would be troubled, and undo themselves by coming up hither, ■will give anything in reason for these caterpillars' satisfaction. The notice of this is now public, and you will perhaps judge this to be a tale to serve the time. But I would have all men to know thus much, that it is no jesting with a court of Parliament, neither dares any man (for my own part I dare not) so mock and abuse all the states of this kingdom, in a matter of this consequence and importance. I say, therefore, there shall be a proclamation general throughout the realm, to notify Her Majesty's resolution in this behalf And because you may eat your nieat more savoury than you 282 NOTES. have done, every man sliall have salt as good and cheap as he can buy it or make it, freely, without danger of that patent, which shall be presently revoked. The same benefit shall they have which have cold stomachs, both for cicpia vit(e and aqua coinposita, and the like. And they that have weak stomachs, for their satisfac- tion shall have \'inegar and elegar, and the like, set at liberty. Train-oil shall go the same way ; oil of blubber shall march in equal rank ; brushes and bottles endure the like judgment. The patent for pouldayy, if it be not called in, it shall be. Woad, which, as I take it, is not restrained either by law or statute, but only by pro- clamation, (I mean from the former so\^dng,) though for the saving thereof it might receive good disputation, yet, for your satisfaction, the Queen's pleasure is to revoke that proclamation ; only she prayeth thus much, that when she cometh on progress to see you in your counties, she be not driven out of your towns by suffer- ing it to infect the air too near them. Those that desire to go sprucely in their rulfs may, at less charge than accustomed, obtain their wish ; the patent for starch, which hath so much been prosecuted, shall now be repealed. But, not to make any farther performance of the well-uttered and gravely and truly delivered speech of the Speaker, I must crave your favours a little longer to make an apology for myself. I have held the favour of this House as dear as my life, and I have been told that I deserved to be taxed yesterday of the House. I protest my zeal to have the business go forward in a right and hopeful course ; and my fear to displease Her Majesty by a harsh and rash proceeding made me so much to lay aside my discretion, that I said, it might rather be termed a school than a council, or to that effect. But by this speech, if any think I called him schoolboy, he both wrongs me and mistakes me. ' Shall I tell you what Demosthenes said to the clamours which the Athenians made ? That they were pueriles et dirjnos pueris. And yet that was to a popular State. And I wish that whatsoever is here spoken may be buried "v\athin these walls. Let us take example of the Je^\'ish synagogue, who would always sepeUre senaium cum honore, and not blast their own follies and imperfections. If any man in this House speak wisely, we do him great NOTES. 283 wrong to interrupt him ; if foolishly, let us hear him out, — we shall have the more cause to tax him. And I do heartily pray that no member of this House may/>Zz had governed like tyrants, and Elizabeth like a good l«/w-jO*j,jj3atriot. He attacked tliis, as he did all other established ... *^'^^t^nions, from a love of argument and_ of paradox. He « is to the Whig writers and his^tofians "wli^ "Bayle is to Jifj^/l/f'.i tbe ancient and modern philosophers. Sometimes he ^*til'f g'oes so far_as to doubt the benefit of libertjaltogettiej '' */ But it IS time to pass tn Sir Waltci' Mil (Imay .'— TPhat for so gracious a dealing it was our bounden duties to ^. yield unto Her Majesty our most humble and hearty thanks, and to beseech Almighty God to enlarge her days as the pnly sta^^qfjour^felisit^,; and not only so, HBut tolearn also, \>j this example, how to behave oui-- *^ selves hereafter ; and not, under the pretence of liberty, to forget our bounden duty to so gracious a Queen. True it is, that nothing can be well concluded in a < ' council, where there is not allowed, in debating of causes ' brought in, deliberation, liberty, and freedom of speech ; otherwise, if in consultation men be either interrupted ^ ^«- or terrified, so as they cannot, nor dare not, speak their . , ^ if"' opinions freely, like as that council cannot but be reputed for a servile council ; even so all the proceedings therein ^'^ shall be rather to satisfy the wills of a few, than to de- termine that which shall be just and reasonable. But herein we may not forget to put a difference between liberty of speech and licentious speech ; for by the one men deliver their opinions fi-eely, and mth this caution, that all be spoken pertinently, modestly, reverently, and discreetly ; the othej" contrariwise uttereth all imper- tinently, rashly, arrogantly, and irreverently, without respect of person, time, or place ; and though freedom of speech hath always been used in this great council of Parliament, and is a thing most necessary to be preserved NOTES. 285 amongst us, yet the sams was never, nor ong-lit to be, extended so far, as tliougli a man in this House may speak what and of whom he hst. The contrary whereof, both in our own days and in the days of our prede- cessors, by the punishment of such inconsiderate and disorderly speakers, hath appeared. And so to return, let this serve us for an example, to beware that we offend not in the like hereafter, lest that, in forgetting our duties so far, we may give just cause to our gracious Sovereign to think that this her clemency hath given occasion of further boldness, and thereby so much grieve and provoke her, as, contrary to her most gracious and mild consideration, she be constrained to change her natural clemency into necessary and just severity ; a thing that I trust shall never happen amongst w-ise and dutiful men, such as the membei-s of tliis House arc thought always to be.' This speech, with a ver}^ few alterations in language, would make a fair official speech in our own day. Note (D). Page 54. The same cause may have operated with Napoleon against the life of the Due d'Enghien. It is singular- also, that in the rest of the chapter, Machiavel seems to have given directions to persons in the situation of Cromwell and Bonaparte. He tells us, that those who have become ' tiirmnl ' of their country ought to examine what the people wish for, and that they will always find they >vish for two things : the one, revenge upon those who have been the cause of their servitude ; and the other, the Testoration of their liberty. In the first of these, the new prince may satisfy them completely. In the second, he may satisfy them in part. For if he analyses the wish of the people for liberty, he will find that a small part only desire it for the sake of power, and that the great majority only desire liberty that they may live in security. The few he may either I'emove, or raise to such posts and dignities as will satisfy them ; the many will be contented by the enactment of just laws, and a strict observance of them on the part of the sovereign. Thus, he says, the kings of France disposed of the arms and money of the State ; but in other 286 KOTES. things, obejecl tlie laws. IS'apoleon, who was a great reader of Machiavel, seems to have taken the ad^ace which is here given by the most profound of pohtical writers. Note (E). Page 76. It ma}" not be uninteresting to the reader, to read an account of two cases in which the poor man, with the law on his side, triumphed over the pretensions of the highest persons in the kingdom. The first is the more curious, as a relation of it is contained in a letter of Lord Thurlow to a nephew of Mr. Justice Foster. It was a prosecution against the Princess Ameha for stop- ping up a footpath in Richmond Park. ' Dear Sir, ' I ^T-ite, at the hazard of your thinking me imperti- nent, to give you. the pleasure of hearing that of your uncle, which, in all probability, you will not hear from him, — I mean the great honour and general esteem which he has gained, or rather accuiaulated, by his in- flexible and spirited manner of trjdng the Richmond cause, which has been so long depending, and so differently treated by other judges. You have heard what a deficiency there was of the special juiy, which was imputed to their back^vardness to serve a prosecu- tion ag-ainst the Princess. He has fined all the absentees £20 apiece. They made him wait two hoiu's, and, at- last, resort to a tales. When the prosecutors had gone through part of their evidence. Sir Richard Lloyd, who went do^^^I on the part of the Crown, said, that it was needless for them to go on upon the right, as the Crown was not prepared to try that, this being an indictment which could not possibly determine it, because the ob- struction was charged to be in the parish of Wimbledon, whereas it was, in truth, in Mortlake, which was a dis- tinct parish from Wimbledon. They maintained their own poor, upheld their own chui-ch, and paid tithes to their own parson ; and Domesday Book mentions Mort- lake. On the other side, it was said that Domesday Book mentions it as a baron's fee, and not as a parish ; and that the Sui-vey in the time of Henry VIII. mentions Wimbledon cum capellis suis anncxis, and, also, that a NOTES. 287 grant of it in the time of Edward VI. makes a pro\'ision of tithes for the vicar, to officiate in the chapel of Mort- lake. The judge turned to the jury, and said, he thouglit they Avere come there to try a right which the subject claimed to a way through Richmond Park, and not to caA-il about little law objections which have no relation to that right. He said, it is proved to be in Wimbledon parish ; but it would have been enough, if the place in which the obstruction was charged had been only re- puted to be in Wimbledon, because the defendant and jury must have been as sensible of that reputation as the prosecutors : but had it not been so, he should have thought it below the honour of the Crown, after this business had been depending three assizes, to send one of their select council, not to try the right, but to hinge upon so small a point as this. Upon which Sir Richard Lloyd made a speech, setting forth the gracious disposi- tion of the King in suffering this cause to be tried, which he could have suppressed ^vitl\ a single breath, by ordering a nolle lyrosequi to be entered. The judge said, he was not of that opinion. The subject is interested in such indictments as these, for continuing nuisances, and can have no remedy but tliis, if their rights be encroached upon ; wherefore he should think it a denial of justice to stop a prosecution for a nuisance, which his whole prerogative does not extend to pardon. After which, the evidence was gone through ; and the judo-e summed up shortly, but clearly, for the prosecutors.* ' It gave me, who am a stranger to him, great pleasure to hear that we have one English judge, whom nothin<>- can tempt or frighten, ready and able to hold up the laws of his country, as a great shield of the rights of the people. I presume it will give you still greater, to hear that your friend and relation is that judge : and that is the only apology I have to make for troubling you with this. ' I am, dear Sir, ' Tour most humble Servant, 'E. Thurlow.' 'I'ig-Tree Cowt, Inner Ttmple, April 11, 1758.' {Life of Sir 21. Foster, p. 85.) * The defendant was convicted. See Burr. 908, 909. 288 NOTES. The otter case is related of tlie father of Mr. Home Tooke, a ponlterer, in London. ' As Mr. Home hved in Xeyrport Street, he was, of course, a near neighbour to His Royal Highness Fre- deric, Prince of Wales, father to his present Majesty, who then kept his court at Leicester House. Some of the officers of the household, imagining that an outlet towards the market would be extremely convenient to them, as well as the inferior domestics, orders were immediately issued for this purpose. Accordingly, an adjoining wall was cut tlrrough, and a door placed in the opening, without any ceremony whatsoever, notwith- standing it was a palpable encroachment on, and violation of, the property of a private indi\'idual. In the midst of this operation, Mr. Home appeared, and calmly re- monstrated against so glaring an act of injustice, as the brick partition actually appertained to him, and the intended thoroughfare would lead through, and conse- quently depreciate the value of his premises. • It soon appeared, however, that the representations of a dealer in geese and turkeys, although backed by law and reason, had but little effect on those who acted in the name, and, in this instance, abused the authority of a prince, who was probably unacqiiainted wdth the circumstances of the transaction. ' On this, he appealed from " the insolence of office " to the justice of his country ; and, to the honour of our municipal jurisprudence, the event proved different from what it would have been, perhaps, in any other kingdom of Europe ; for a tradesman of Westminster triumphed over the heir-apparent of the English crown, and orders were soon after issued for the removal of the obnoxious door.' — Life of Home Tooke, vol. i. p. 11, . Note (F). Page 82. Mr. Hume makes what I conceive to be a remark cal- culated to mislead, when he says, in his history of Charles I. — ' Some men of the greatest parts and most extensive knowledge -that the nation at this time pro- duced, could not enjoy any peace of mind, because obhged to hear prayers offered up to the Di^-inity by a priest covered with a white hnen vestment.' NOTES. 289 The point is certainly ingenious, but, as I conceive, obtained by a sacrifice of candour. Both parties allowed that the surplice was in itself a matter of indifference. The objections to the orders concerning the surplice alleged on the part of the Puritans were three : — 1st. That as it was in its essence a matter of indiffer- ence, it ought not to be enjoined like an ai'ticle of faith, but every one should be left to do as he pleased. 2nd. That although in itself a matter of indifference, it was not so to the common people ; for many of them thought no worship to Grod could be effectual, unless performed in a consecrated garment, and thus the practice kept alive a superstitious notion. 3rd. Above all, the Puritans urged that no secular person had the right to give orders on this subject. Mr. Cartwright says, ' Christ, and no other, is head of the church. 'Ro civil magistrate, in councils or assemblies for church matters, can either be chief moderator, over- ruler, judge, or determiner ; nor has he such authority as that without his consent it should not be lawful for ecclesiastical persons to make church-orders or cere- monies. * In the same sense Mr. Axton, when examined by his bishop, said, ' I admit Her Majesty's supremacy so far as if there be any error in the governors of the church, she has power to reform it ; but I do not admit her to be an. ecclesiastical elder or church governor. 'f It is true, the Puritans would call the surplice ' idolatrous gear, ' and other worse names, when they had grown warm in con- troversy ; but they told Archbishop Parker that had the habits and a few ceremonies been left indifferent, they never would have left the chui-ch ; but ' it was the compelling these things by law made them separate.' J In fine, the doctrine of the Puritans, or Presbyterians, asserted the ' word of God contained in the Old and New Testament to be a perfect rule of faith and manners. '§ They maintained that the church ought to be governed by this rule only, — that ceremonies and observances * Neale, vol. i. p. 133. f Ibid. p. 260. I Neale, vol. i. p. 230. § Confession of Faith of Members of the Prophesyings. Neale, p. 276. U 290 NOTES. slioiild be as few as possible, and sliould not be imposed by command of any superior whatever, but left to the free choice of the church itself. They condemned not other churches that differed in ceremonies from theirs, but protested against all dictation on the subject. They held that 'no pastor ought to usurp dominion over another ; ' and that ' the pastor should be chosen by the congTegation.' * Thus we see that the question of the surplice was connected witlx a great scheme of ecclesiastical reform, — a scheme adopted and established in the native country of Ml-. Hume ; and which, whatever may be thought of its efficacy to make men better and wiser, was at least not uiiworthy of ' men of the greatest parts and most extensive knowledge.' Note (G). Page 83. This Act was passed in 1664. There is nothing more remarkable in our history, or less noticed, than the noble manner in which the Dissenters forgot, in favour of the common cause, the severity with which they were ^ treated. In 1672 they urged the House of Commons to pass the Test .Act without any clause in their favoui% contenting themselves with a motion for a separate bill of toleration, which was not likely to pass. After the persecution of the reigTi of Charles II. they joined the ■ church during the reign of James ; neither alienated by the harsh treatment they had received, nor allured by the indulgence ofiered on the part of the King. It is to be regretted that the church have found it inconsistent Tv-ith their duty to imitate the liberality and public spirit of their dissenting bretlu'en. Note (H). Page 213. Circular to the Austrian, Prussian, and Mussian Ministers, at Foreign Courts. — Layhach, May 21, 1821. .(Extract.) ' Les changements utiles ou necessaires dans la legisla- * Confession of Faith of the Prisoners in Newgate. Neale. NOTES. 29 I tion et dans raclrainistration des £tats ne doivent emaner que de la volonte libre, de rimpulsion rcflechie et eelaireo de ceux que Dieu a rendus responsables du pouvoir. Tout ce qui sort de cette ligne conduit necessairenient au desordre, aux bouleversements, a des niaiix bien plus insupportables que ceux que Ton pretend guerir. ' Penetres de cette verite eternelle, les souverains n'ontpas hesite a la proclamer avec franchise etrigueur ; ils ont declare, qu'en respectant les droits et I'indepen- dance du pouvoir legitime, ils regardaient comnie legale- ment nuUe et desavouee, par les principes qui constituent le Droit Public de I'Europe, touts pretendue reforme operee par la revoke et la force ouverte. lis ont agi, en consequence de cette declaration, dans les evenements de N^aples, dans ceux du Piemont, dans ceux meme qui, sous des circonstances tres-differentes, niais par des combinaisons egalenient criniinelles, viennent de li\Tei' la partie orientale de I'EurojDe a des convulsions incalculables.' Note (I). Page 214. A petition presented in February 1824, signed by all, or nearly all, the principal silk nianvifacturers of the City of London, may, in these days, excite some surprise. It was directed chiefly against Mr. Huskisson's proposed reduction of the prohibitory duty on manufactured silks to tliirty per cent, ad valorem. The petitioners stated, 'that they have learnt with the utmost surprise, that it has been proposed to adopt so important a measure as that of a reduction from 5.s". iSd. to >6d. per pound upon Italian and China raw silk ; from 4s. to 3tZ. per lb. on Bengal raw silk ; and from 14.s. 8(7. to 9s. Qd. per lb. upon Italian thrown silk, and the admission of foreign manu- factured silk goods to importation in this country with- out any j^revious communication with the important branches of the trade, all of which are thrown into the greatest consternation and alarm by the contemplated measure. '^ — Hansard'' s Debates, new series, vol. x. p. 371. On the 24th of February 1826, commenced the de- cisive debate and di^^Lsion which gave the victory to the cause of free trade. It was in tliis debate that Mr. U 2 292 • NOTES. Canning said — 'But it is singular to remark liow ready some people are to admire in a g'reat man the exception rather than the rule of liis conduct : such perverse wor- ship is like the idolatry of barbarous nations, who can see the noonday splendour' of the sun without emotion, but who when he is in eclipse come forward with hymns and cymbals to adore him. . . . Treading with unequal pace in his footsteps, I do not think it our duty to select by preference those footmarks in which, from the slip- periness of the times, he may have trodden awTy.' — Hmisard's Debates, vol. xiv. p. 856. The numbers on a division were — For a Committee to inquire ... 40 Against 222 Majority . . . 182 N'OTE (J). Page 224. The following extracts from Mr. Mill's work will show that I have not done him injustice. I quote from the Essay on Representative Government. [Page 172.] ' When two persons who have a joint interest in any business differ in opinion, does justice require that both opinions should be held of exactly equal value ? If -Rath equal virtue, one is superior to the other in knowledge and intelligence — or if with equal intelli- gence, one excels the other in virtue — the opinion, the judgment of the higher moral or intellectual being, is worth more than that of the inferior ; and if the in- stitutions of the country virtually assert that they are of the same value, they assert a thing which is not. One of the two, as the wiser or better man, has a claim to superior weight : the difficulty is in ascertaining which of the two it is ; a thing impossible as between individuals, but, taking men in bodies and in numbers, it can be done with a certain approach to accuracy. [Page 173.] 'Now, national affairs are exactly such a joint concern, with the difference, that no one need ever be called upon for a complete sacrifice of his o^vti opinion. It can always be taken into the calculation, and counted KOTES. 293 at a certain figure, a higher figure being assigned to the suffrages of those whose opinion is entitled to greater weight. There is not, in this arrangement, anything necessarily imddious to those to whom it assigns the lower degrees of influence. Entire exclusion from a voice in the common concerns is one thing : the concession to others of a more potential voice, on the ground of greater capacit^^for the management of the joint interests, is another. The two things are not merely different, they are incommensurable. Evei-y one has a right to feel insulted by being made a nobody, and stamped as of no account at all. No one but a fool, and only a fool of a pecuhar description, feels offended by the acknow- ledgment that there are others whose opinion, and even whose wish, is entitled to a greater amount of consider- ation than his. To have no voice in what are pai-tly his own concerns, is a thing which nobody willingly consents to ; but when what is partly his concern is also partly another's, and he feels the other to understand the subject better than himself, that the other's opinion should be counted for more than his own, accords with his expectations, and with the course of things which .in all other affairs of life he is accustomed to acquiesce in. It is only necessary that this superior influence should be assigned on grounds which he can comprehend, and of which he is able to perceive the justice. [Page 174.] ' The democracy, at least of this country, are not at present jealous of personal superiority ; but they are naturally, and most justly so, of that which is grounded on mere pecuniary circumstances. The only thing wlrich can justify reckoning one person's opinion as equivalent to more than one, is individual mental su- periority : and what is wanted, is some approximate means of ascertaining that. If there existed such a tiling as a really national education, or a trustworthy system of genei^al examination, education might be tested directly. In the absence of these, the nature of a per- son's occupation is some test. An employer of labour is on the average more intelligent than a labourer ; for he must labour with his head, and not solely mth his hands. 294 NOTES. A foreman is generally more intelligent than an ordinary labourer, and a labourer in tlie skilled trades than in the unskilled. A banker, merchant, or manufacturer, is likely to be more intelligent than a tradesman, because he has larger and more comphcated interests to manage. [Page 176.] ' The "local" or "middle-class" examina- tions for the degree of associate, so laudably and public- spiritedly established by the University of Oxford, and any similar ones which may be instituted by other com- petent bodies (pro^dded they are fairly open to all comers), afford a ground on which plurality of votes might ^dtli great advantage be accorded to those who have passed the test. All these suggestions are open to much discussion in the detail, and to objections which it is of no use to anticipate. The time is not come for giving to such plans a practical shape ; nor should I wish, to be bound by the particular proposals which I have made. But it is to me evident, that in this direc- tion lies the true ideal of representative government ; and that to work towards it, by the best practical con- trivances which can be found, is the path of real pohtical improvement. [Page 177.] ' Let me add, that I consider it an abso- lutely necessary part of the plurality scheme, that it be open to the poorest indi\-idual in the community to claim its privileges, if he can prove that, in spite of all diffi- culties and obstacles, he is, in point of intelligence, entitled to them. There ought to be voluntary exami- nations, at which any person whatever might present himself, might proA'e that he came up to the standard of knowledge and ability laid dowTi as sufficient, and be admitted, in consequence, to the plurality of votes. A privilege which is not refused to anyone who can show that he has realised the conditions on which in theory and principle it is dependent, would not necessarily be repugnant to anyone's sentiment of justice ; biit it would certainly be so, if, while conferred on general presump- tions not always infallible, it were denied to direct proof.' — John Stuart Mill: Rejjresentative Government. ( NOTES. 295 Note (K). Page 249. In the year 1832, capital piTnishment was abolished for cattle-stealing, horse-stealing, sheep-stealing, larceny to the value of £5 in a dwelling-house, coining, and for- gery (except of wills and powers-of-attorney to transfer stock) ; and the effect is apparent in the decrease in the number of capital sentences from 1,449 in 18o2, to 931 in 1833. It was further abolished — in 1833, for house- breaking ; in 1834, for returning from transportation ; and in 1835, for sacrilege, and letter-stealing by servants of the Post Office ; and, in consequence, a further great decrease is shown in the numbers sentenced to death in 1834-35-36 and 37. By the Acts passed in 1837 (1st Vict.), the offences subject to capital punishment Avere virtually reduced to the following : — murder, and attempts to murder ; rape and carnally abixsing girls under ten years of age ; unnatural offences ; burglary with, violence to persons ; robbery attended with cutting or wounding ; arson of dwelling-houses, endangering the lives of persons being therein. It remained also for treason ; piracy where murder was attempted ; showing false signals to cause shipwreck ; setting fire to Her Majesty's ships of war ; riot, and feloniously destroying buildings ; and enabezzle- ment by servants of the Bank of England. But these latter offences are of rare occurrence. Following the passing of these Acts, the number of capital sentences fell to 116 in 1838, and to 56 in 1839. In 1841 (4 and 5 Vict.) it was further abolished for rape &c., embezzlement &c., and riot &c. The average number of capital sentences for the folloAA^ng years, from 1840 up to 1861 inclusive, amounts only to 59"5. Under the Acts passed in 1861 for the Consolidation of the Criminal Statutes, murder and treason alone remain subject to capital sentence ; and the capital couA-ictions in each of the years 1862 and 1863 have been 29 (one in 1862 having been for an attempt to murder, committed before the Acts of 1861 came into operation). Home Office, 22/i6Z Novemher, 1864. 296 NOTES. Statement of the Number of Persons Sentenced to Death for Murder ; of the Total Number Sentenced to Death ; of the Num- ber Executed for Murder ; and of the Total Number Executed in each Year since 1823, inchxsive : with the Average of the Numbers for each Period of ten Years, 1823-32, 1833-42, 1843-52, 1853-62, and the Numbers for 1863, with tlie Proportion of the Average Numbers to the Population tor each Period of ten Y'ears. SENTENCED TO DEATH. EXECUTED. YEAR. For Murder. Total Number. For Murder. Total Number. 1823 . 12 968 10 54 1824 17 1,066 15 49 1825 12 1,036 10 50 1826 13 1,203 10 57 1827 12 1,526 11 70 1828 20 1,165 18 59 1829 13 1,384 13 74 1830 16 1,397 14 46 1831 14 1,601 12 52 1832 20 1,449 15 54 Average of the ten Years 14-9 1,279-5 12-8 56-5 Proportion of the " Average to Popu- lation . 1 one in one in one in one in j" 863,234 10,123 996,039 229,177 1833 . 9 931 6 33 1834 . 13 480 12 34 1835 . 24 523 21 34 1836 . 20 494 8 17 1837 . 11 438 8 8 1838 . 25 116 5 6 1839 . 12 56 10 11 1840 . 18 77 9 9 1841 . 20 80 9 10 1842 . 16 57 9 9 Average of the ter Years ^ 16-8 325-2 9-7 171 Proportion of the T Average to Popu- lation . 1 one in one m one in one in f 887,230 45,834 1,536,646 813,185 NOTES. 297 Statement of Persons Sentenced to Death, etc. — continued. SENTENCED TO DEATH. KXECirrED. YEAR. For Murder. Total Number. For Murder. Total Number. 1843 . 22 97 13 13 1844 . 21 57 16 16 1845 . 19 49 12 12 1846 . 13 56 6 6 1847 . 19 51 8 8 1848 . 23 60 12 12 1849 . 19 66 15 15 1850 . 11 49 6 6 1851 . 16 70 9 10 1852 . 16 61 9 9 Average of the ten Years 17-9 61-6 10-6 10-7 Proportion of the I Average to Popu- I lation . . J one in one in one in one in 945,300 274,692 1,596,309 1,581,390 1853 . 17 55 8 8 1854 . 11 49 5 5 1855 . 11 50 7 7 1856 . 31 69 16 16 1857 . 20 54 13 13 1858 . 16 53 11 11 1859 . 18 52 9 9 1860 . 16 48 12 12 1861 . 26 50 14 15 1862 . . 28 29 15 15 Average of the ten Years. 19-4 50-9 11- 111 Proportion of the 1 Average to Popu- ^• lation . . J • one in 979,222 one in 373,220 one in 1,726,992 one in 1,711,434 1863 . 29 29 22 22 N.B. — The Proportion to Popuhition is calculated on the mean numbers of two Censuses for each period, 1821 and 1831, 1831 and 1841, 1841 and 1851, 1851 and 1861. In 1855, one; in 1856, four; in 1858, three; and in each of the years 1860, 1862, and 1863, one of the numbers convicted of murder were foreigners. 298 »i KOTES. IRELAND. Statf.mext of the Number of Persons Sentenced to Deatli for Mur- der: of the Total Number Sentenced to Death; of the Number Executed for Murder ; of the Total Number Executed in each year since 1823, inclusive : with the Average of the Numbers for each period of ten Years, 1823-32, 1833-42, 1843-52, 1853-62, and the Numbers for 1863 ; with the Proportion of the Average Numbers to the Population for each period of ten Years. YEAR. SEXTEXCKD TO DEATH. EXECUTED. For Murder. Total Kumber. For Murder. 1823 1824 1825 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830 1831 1832 Average of the ten Years Proportion of the Average to Popu- lation . 1. 1833 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 Average of the ten Years Proportion of the Average to Popu- lation . I 21 49 17 28 22 33 28 28 27 19 241 295 181 281 346 211 224 262 307 319 one in 267,816 266-7 one in 27,313 18 41 9 17 12 16 21 14 25 17 19-0 one in 383,400 38 237 26 49 197 31 31 179 19 22 175 12 21 154 10 8 39 3 30 66 15 15 43 — 17 40 5 11 25 4 2,4-2 115-5 12-5 one in one in one in 329,390 69,015 637,700 Total Number. 61 60 18 34 37 21 38 39 37 39 38-4 one in 189,703 39 43 27 14 10 3 17 5 4 16-2 one in 492,053 NOTES. 299 Statement of Persons Sentenced to Death, etc. — continued. SESTEXCKD to DEATH. EXECUTED. YEAR. For Murder. Total Number. For aiurder. Total Number. 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 18.52 12 19 9 9 23 44 \\ 14 16 20 13 14 25 60 1 17 17 22 4 8 3 4 8 24 8 2 3 5 9 3 / 18 28 8 2 6 Average of the ten Years 15-6 I 20-5 6-4 8-6 Proportion of the Average to Popu- ■ lation . . J ! one in I 472,035 one in 359,207 one in 1,150,586 one in 855,250 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 13 4 4 6 5 5 2 5 1 6 15 6 3 8 8 8 2 7 2 6 7 3 2 4 2 1 4 9 4 3 4 2 1 4 1 1 Average of the ten Years 51 6-7 2-3 2-7 Proportion of the "1 Average to Popu- \ lation . . J one in 1,210,916 one in 921,742 one in 2,685,076 one in 2,287,287 1863 . 3 4 3 4 N.B. — The proportion to population is calculated on the mean numbers of two Censuses for each period, 1821 and 1831, 1831 and 1841, 1841 and 1851, 1851 and 1861. 300 NOTES. ]!^OTE (L). Page 277. It is a satisfaction to coBtend in honourable rivalry with sucli men as Sir Robert Peel. But in looking at some of the libels in wliicli lie and bis opponents were maligned, even very lately, I have often thought of the words of the Great Conde, as related by the Cardinal de Retz, on the occasion of his looking at some of the pamphlets and reviews in the Prince's room. ' M. le Prince, en voyant que j'y avals jete les yens, me dit : " Ces miserables nous ont fait, vous et moi, tels qu'ils auraient ete s'ils s'etaient trouvos dans nos places." ' The Cardinal adds very justly, — ' Cette parole est d'un grand sens.' * * Mem. de Ketz, t. 2. p. 343. LOXDOX PEIXTED BY SP0TTI8W00DE AXD CO NEW-8TEEET SQUARE /■> itw:.;.'^*/ ■ fWi*ii -J*N THE LIBRARY . ^ d UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA ) ' Santa Barbara I^C^ STACK COLLECTION THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW. J Ow-5,'65 (F4458s4)476D UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY llllllll AA 000 525 713 4