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 APOJLOGY 
 
 FREEDOM OP THE PRESS, 
 
 TO WHICH ARE PREFIXED 
 
 REMARKS ON 
 
 BISHOP HORSLEY's SERMON, 
 
 Preached on the Thirtieth of January, 1793. 
 
 BY ROBERT HALL, A. M. 
 
 Shall Truth be silent, because Folly frowns ? YOUNG. 
 
 THE FOURTH EDITION. 
 
 HUDDERSFIELD: 
 
 Printed at the Office of William Moore, West -gate. 
 1819.
 
 Stack 
 Annex 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 Pag* 
 
 On the Right of Public Discussion, . . 17 
 
 SECTION II. 
 On Associations, 24 
 
 SECTION III. 
 On a Reform of Parliament, .... 30 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 On Theories and the Rights of Man, . . 40 
 
 SECTION V. 
 On Dissenters, 50 
 
 SECTION VI. 
 On the Causes of the present Discontents, 60
 
 ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 TO THE 
 
 THIRD EDITION. 
 
 SINCE this pamphlet was first published, the principles 
 it aims to support have received confirmation from such 
 a train of disastrous events, that it might have been hoped 
 we should have learned those lessons from misfortunes, 
 which reason had failed to impress. Uninstructed by our 
 calamities, we still persist in an impious attack on the li- 
 berties of France, and are eager to take our part in tjie 
 great drama of crimes which is acting on the continent of 
 Europe. Meantime the violence and injustice of the inter- 
 nal administration keeps pace with our iniquities abroad. 
 Liberty and truth are silenced. An unrelenting system 
 of prosecution prevails. The cruel and humiliating sen 
 tence passed upon Mr. Muir and Mr. Palmer, men of un- 
 blemished morals and of the purest patriotism, the outra- 
 ges committed on Dr. Priestley, and his intended removal 
 to America, are events which will mark the latter end of the 
 eighteenth century with indelible reproach. But what has 
 liberty to expect from a minister, who has the audacity to 
 assert the King's right to land as many foreign troops as 
 he pleases, without the previous consent of Parliament ! 
 If this doctrine be true, the boasted equilibrium of the 
 constitution, all the barriers which the wisdom of OUT 
 ancestors have opposed to the encroachments of arbitrary 
 power, are idle, ineffectual precautions. For we have 
 only to suppose for a moment, an inclination in the royal 
 breast to overturn our liberties, and of what avail is the 
 nicest internal arrangement against a foreign force. Our 
 constitution, on this principle, is the absurdest system 
 that was ever conceived ; pretending liberty for its object, 
 yet providing no security against the great antagonist and
 
 Vl ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 destroyer of liberty, the employment of military power 
 by the chief magistrate. Let a foreign army be introdu- 
 ced into this or any other country, and quartered upon 
 the subject without his consent, and what is the,re want- 
 ing, if such were the design of the prince, to complete 
 the subjection of that country ? Will armed foreigners 
 be overawed by written laws or unwritten customs, by the 
 legal limitations of power, the paper lines of demarkation ? 
 But Mr. Pitt contends, that though the sovereign may 
 land foreign troops at his pleasure, he cannot subsist them 
 without the aid of Parliament. He may overrun his domi- 
 nions with a mercenary army it seems, but after he has 
 subdued his subjects, he is compelled to have recourse to 
 them for supplies. What a happy contrivance ! Unfor- 
 tunately, however, it is found that princes with the unli- 
 mited command of armies, have hit upon a nearer and 
 more efficacious method of raising supplies than by an 
 act of Parliament. But it is needless any farther to ex- 
 pose the effrontery, or detect the sophistry, of this shame- 
 less apostate. The character of Pitt is written in sun 
 beams. A veteran in frauds- while in the bloom of youth, 
 betraying first, and then persecuting his earliest friends 
 and connexions, falsifying every promise, and violating 
 every political engagement, ever making the fairest pro- 
 fessions a prelude to the darkest actions, punishing with 
 the utmost rigour the publisher of the identical paper he 
 himself had circulated*-, are traits in the conduct of Pitt, 
 which entitle him to a fatal pre-eminence in guilt. The 
 qualities of this man balance in an extraordinary manner, 
 and sustain each other : the influence of his station, the 
 extent of his enormities "invests with a kind of splendour, 
 and the contempt we feel for his meanness and duplicity, 
 is lost in the dread of his machinations, and the abhorrence 
 of his crimes. Too long has he insulted the patience of 
 his countrymen ; nor ought we when we observe the in- 
 
 * Mr. HOLT, a printer, at Newark, is now imprisoned in Newgate for two 
 years, for reprinting verbatim, An Address to the People on Reform, which 
 was sanctioned for certain, and probably written by the Duke of RICHMOUB 
 and Mr. PITT.
 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. vii 
 
 difference with which the iniquities of Pitt's administra- 
 tion are viewed, to reproach the Romans for tamely sub- 
 mitting- to the tyranny of Caligula or Domitian. 
 
 We hafl fondly hoped a mild philosophy was about to 
 diffuse over the globe, the triumph of liberty and peace. 
 But, alas! these hopes are fled. The Continent presents 
 little but one wide picture of desolation, misery, and 
 crimes: " on the earth distress of nations and perplexity, 
 men's hearts failing 1 "them for fear, and for looking after 
 those things which are coming on the earth. " 
 
 That the seeds of public convulsions are sown in every 
 country of Europe (our own not excepted) it were vain 
 to deny, seeds which without the wisest precautions, and 
 the most conciliating counsels, will break out, it is to be 
 feared, in the overthrow of all governments. How this 
 catastrophe may be averted, or how, should that be impos- 
 sible, its evils may be mitigated and diminished, demands 
 the deepest consideration of every European -statesman. 
 The ordinary routine of ministerial chicanery is quite un- 
 equal to the task. A philosophic comprehension of mind, 
 which, leaving the beaten road of politics, will adapt itself 
 to new situations, and profit by the vicissitudes of opinion, 
 equally removed from an attachment to antiquated forms, 
 and useless innovations, capable of rising above the emer- 
 gency of the moment, to the most remote consequences of 
 a transaction ; combining the past, the present, and the 
 future, and knowing how to defend with firmness, or con- 
 cede with dignity ; these are the qualities which the situa- 
 ation of Europe renders indispensible. It would be a 
 mockery of our present ministry to ask whether they 
 possess those qualities. 
 
 With respect to the following apology for the freedom 
 of the press, the author begs leave to claim the reader's 
 indulgence to its numerous imperfections, and hopes he 
 will recollect, as an excuse for the warmth of his expres 
 sions, it is an eulogium on a dead friend.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE accidental detention of the following pamphlet 
 in the press longer than was expected, gave me an oppor- 
 tunity before it was published, of seeing Bishop Horsley's 
 Sermon, preached before the House of Lords, on the 30th 
 of January; and as its contents are relevant to my subject, 
 a few remarks upon it may not be ill-timed or improper. 
 His Lordship sets out with a severe censure of that " free- 
 dom of dispute," on matters of " such high importance as 
 the origin of government, and the authority of sovereigns," 
 in which he laments, it has been the "folly of this country 
 for several years past," to indulge. If his Lordship has 
 not inquired into those subjects himself, he can with little 
 propriety pretend to decide in so imperious and peremp- 
 tory a manner ; unless it be a privilege of his office to dog- 
 matise without examination, or he has discovered some 
 nearer road to truth than that of reasoning and argument. 
 It seems a favourite point with a certain description of 
 men, to stop the progress of inquiry, and throw mankind 
 back into the darkness of the middle ages, from a persua- 
 sion, that ignorance will augment their power, as objects 
 look largest in a mist. There is in reality no other 
 foundation for that alarm, which the Bishop expresses. 
 Whatever is not comprehended under revelation, falls un- 
 der the inspection of reason ; and since from the whole 
 course of providence, it is evident, all political events, and 
 all the revolutions of government, are effected by the in- 
 strumentality of men, there is no room for supposing them 
 too sacred to be submitted to the human faculties. The 
 more minds there are employed in tracing their principles 
 and effects, the greater probability will there be of the 
 science of civil policy, as well as every other, attaining 
 to perfection.
 
 PREFACE. ix 
 
 Bishop Horsley, determined to preserve the character 
 of an original, presents us with a new set of political prin- 
 ciples, and endeavours to place the exploded doctrine of 
 passive obedience and non-resistenceupon a new founda- 
 tion. By a curious distinction between the ground of 
 authority and obedience, he rests the former on human 
 compact, the latter on divine obligation. " It is easy to 
 understand, " he says, " that the principle of the private 
 citizen's submission, must be quite a distinct thing from 
 the principle of the sovereign's public title. And for this 
 plain reason ; The principle of submission to bind the con- 
 science of every individual, must be something universally 
 known." He then proceeds to inform us, that the kingly 
 title in England is founded on the act of settlement; but 
 that as thousands and tens of thousands of the people have 
 never heard of that act, the principle which compels their 
 allegiance, must be something distinct from it, with which 
 they may all be acquainted. In this reasoning, he evidently 
 confounds the obligation of an individual to submit to the 
 existing authority, with that of the community collectively 
 considered. For any particular number of persons to set 
 themselves by force to oppose the established practice of 
 a state, is a plain violation of the laws of morality, as it 
 would be productive of the utmost disorder ; and no go- 
 vernment could stand, were it permitted to individuals, to 
 counteract the general will, of which in ordinary cases, 
 legal usages are the interpreter. In the worst state of 
 political society, if a people have not sufficient wisdom or 
 courage to correct its evils and assert their liberty, the at- 
 tempt of individuals to force improvements upon them, is 
 a presumption which merits the severest punishment. 
 Social order would be inevitably dissolved, if any man de- 
 clined a practical acquiescence in every political regulation 
 which he did not personally approve. The duty of sub- 
 mission is, in this light, founded on principles which hold 
 under every government, and are plain and obvious. But 
 the principle which attaches a people to their allegiance, 
 collectively considered, must exactly coincide with the
 
 X PREFACE. 
 
 title to authority; as must be evident from the very meaning; 
 of the term authority, which as distinguished from force, 
 signifies a right to demand obedience. Authority and obe- 
 dience are correlative terms, and consequently in all res- 
 pects correspond, and are commensurate with each other. 
 
 " The divine right," his Lordship says, " of the first 
 magistrate in every polity to the citizen's obedience, is not 
 of that sort which it were high treason to claim for the 
 sovereign of this country. It is a right which in no coun- 
 try can be denied, without the highest of all treasons. 
 The denial of it were treason against the paramount au- 
 thority of God." To invest any human power with these 
 high epithets, is ridiculous at least, if not impious. The 
 right of a prince to the obedience of his subjects, where 
 ever it exists, may be called divine, because we know the 
 divine Being is the patron of justice and order ; but in that 
 sense, the authority of a petty constable is equally divine; 
 nor can the term be applied with any greater propriety to 
 supreme than to subordinate magistrates. As to " submis- 
 sion being among the general rules which proceed from the 
 will of God, and have been impressed upon the conscience 
 of every man by the original constitution of the world," 
 nothing more is comprehended under this pomp of words, 
 .than that submission is, for the most part, a duty a sub- 
 lime and interesting discovery ! The minds of princes 
 are seldom of the firmest texture; and they who fill their 
 heads with the magnificent chimera of divine right, prepare 
 a victim, where they intend a God. Some species of 
 government is essential to the well-being of mankind ; 
 submission to some species of government is consequently 
 a duty ; but what kind of government shall be appointed, 
 and to what limits submission shall extend, are mere 
 human questions, to be adjusted by mere human reason 
 and contrivance. 
 
 As the natural consequence of divine right, his Lordship 
 proceeds to inculcate the doctrine of passive obedience 
 and non-resistence, in the most unqualified terms; assu- 
 ming it as a principle to be acted upon, under governments
 
 PREFACE. *1 
 
 the most oppressive, in which he endeavours to shelter 
 himself under the authority of Paul. The apostolic ex- 
 hortation, as addressed to a few individuals, and adapted 
 to the local circumstances of Christians at that period, ad- 
 mits an easy solution; but to imagine it prescribes the duty 
 of the Roman empire, and is intended to subject millions 
 to the capricious tyranny of one man, is a reflection as 
 well on the character of Paul, as on Christianity itself. 
 
 On principles of reason, the only way to determine the 
 agreement of any thing- with the will of God, is to consider 
 its influence on the happiness of society; so that in this 
 view, the question of passive obedience is reduced to a 
 simple issue : Is it best for the human race that every tyrant 
 and usurper be submitted to without check or contronl ? 
 It ought likewise to be remembered that if the doctrine of 
 passive obedience be true, princes should be taught it, and 
 instructed, that to whatever excesses of cruelty and ca- 
 price they proceed, they may expect no resistence on the 
 part of the people. If this maxim appear to be conducive 
 to general good, we may fairly presume it concurs with the- 
 will of the Deity ; but if it appear pregnant with the most 
 mischievous consequences, it must disclaim such support. 
 From the known perfections of God, we conclude he wills 
 the happiness of mankind ; and though he condescends 
 not to interpose miraculously, that that kind of civil polity 
 is most pleasing in his eye, which is productive of the 
 greatest felicity. 
 
 On a comparison of free with arbitrary governments, we 
 perceive the former are distinguished from the latter, by 
 imparting a much greater share of happiness to those who 
 live under them ; and this in a manner too uniform to be 
 imputed to chance or secret causes. He who wills the end 
 must will the means which ascertain it. His Lordship en- 
 deavours to diminish the dread of despotic government, by 
 obserying, that in its worst state, it is attended with more 
 good than ill, and that the " end of government under all 
 its abuses is generally answered by it. " Admitting this to 
 be true, it is at best but a consolation proper to be applied
 
 Xil PREFACE. 
 
 where there is no remedy, and affords no reason why we 
 should not mitigate political as well as other evils, when it 
 lies in our power. We endeavour to correct the diseases 
 of the eye, or of any other organ, though the malady be 
 not such as renders it useless. 
 
 The doctrine of passive obedience is so repugnant to 
 the genuine feelings of human nature, that it can never be 
 completely acted on : a secret dread that popular ven- 
 geance will awake, and nature assert her rights, imposes 
 a restraint, which the most determined despotism is not 
 able to shake off. The rude reason of the multitude may 
 be perplexed, but the sentiments of the heart are not easily 
 perverted. 
 
 In adjusting the different parts of his theory, the learned 
 Bishop appears a good deal embarrassed. " It will be 
 readily admitted," he says, (p. 9.) "that of all sovereigns, 
 none reign by so fair and just a title, as those who derive 
 their claim, from some such public act (as the act of set- 
 tlement) of the nation which they govern." That there 
 are different degrees injustice, and even in divine right, 
 (which his Lordship declares all sovereigns possess) is a 
 very singular idea. Common minds would be ready to 
 imagine, however various the modes of injustice may be, 
 justice were a thing absolute and invariable, nor would 
 they conceive, how " a divine right, a right the denial of 
 which is high treason against the authority of God, " can 
 be increased by the act of a nation. But this is not all. 
 It is no just inference (he tells us) that the obligation up- 
 on the private citizen to submit himself to the authority 
 thus raised, arises wholly from the act of the people con- 
 ferring it, or from their compact with the person on whom 
 it is conferred. But if the sovereign derives his claim from 
 this act of the nation, how comes it that the obligation of 
 the people to submit to his claim, docs not spring from the 
 same act? Because " in all these causes," he affirms "the 
 act of the people is only the means which Providence em- 
 ploys to advance the new sovereign to his station." In 
 the hand of the Supreme Being, the whole agency of men
 
 PREFACE! Xlii 
 
 may be considered as an instrument ; but to make it ap- 
 pear that the right of dominion, is independent of the 
 people ; men must be shown to be instruments in political 
 affairs, in a more absolute sense than ordinary. A divine 
 interposition of a more immediate kind, must be shown, 
 or the mere consideration of God's being the original 
 source of all power, will be a weak reason for absolute 
 submission. Anarchy may have power as well as despot- 
 ism, and is equally a link in the great chain of causes and 
 effects. 
 
 It is not a little extraordinary, that Bishop Horsley, the 
 apologist of tyranny, the patron of passive obedience, 
 should affect to admire the British constitution, whose 
 freedom was attained by a palpable violation of the princi- 
 ples for which he contends. He will not say the Barons 
 at Runnymead, acted on his maxims, in extorting the 
 magna charta from King John, or in demanding its con- 
 firmation from Henry the Third. If he approve of their 
 conduct, he gives up his cause, and is compelled at least 
 to confess the principles of passive obedience were not 
 true at that time ; if he disapprove of their conduct, he 
 must, to be consistent, reprobate the restraints which it 
 imposed on kingly power. The limitations of monarchy, 
 which his Lordship pretends to applaud, were effected by 
 resistance ; the freedom of the British constitution flowed 
 from a departure from passive obedience, and was there- 
 fore stained with high treason " against the authority of 
 God." To these conclusions he must inevitably come, 
 unless he can point out something peculiar to the spot of 
 Runnymead, or to the reign of King John, which confines 
 the exception of the general doctrine of submission, to that 
 particular time and place. With whatever colours the 
 advocates of passive obedience may varnish their theories, 
 they must of necessity be enemies to the British constitu- 
 tion. Its spirit they detest; its corruptions they cherish; 
 and if at present they affect a zeal for its preservation, it 
 is only because they despair of any form of government 
 being ever ejected in its stead, which will give equal per-
 
 X JV PREFACE. 
 
 manence to its abuses. Afraid to destroy it at once, they 
 take a malignant pleasure in seeing it waste by degrees 
 under the pressure of internal malady. 
 
 Whatever bears the semblance of reasoning in Bishop 
 Horsley's discourse, will be found, I trust, to have received 
 a satisfactory answer ; but to animadvert with a becoming 
 severity on the temper it displays, is a less easy task. To 
 render him the justice he deserves in that respect, would 
 demand all the fierceness of his character. 
 
 We owe him an acknowledgment for the frankness 
 with which he avows his decided preference of the clergy 
 of France to the dissenters in England ; a sentiment we 
 have often suspected, but have seldom had the satisfaction 
 of seeing openly professed before. 
 
 " None," he asserts, " at this season, are more entitled 
 to our offices of love, than those with whom the difference 
 is wide in points of doctrine, discipline, and external rites ; 
 those venerable exiles the prelates and clergy of the fallen 
 church of France." Far be it from me to intercept the 
 compassion of the humane from the unhappy of any na- 
 tion, tongue, or people ; but the extreme tenderness he 
 professes for the fallen church of France, is well con- 
 trasted by his malignity towards dissenters. Bishop Hors- 
 ley is a man of sense ; and though doctrine, discipline, 
 and external rites, comprehend the whole of Christianity.; 
 his tender, sympathetic heart is superior to prejudice, 
 and never fails to recognize, in a persecutor, a friend and 
 a brother Admirable consistence in a Protestant Bishop, 
 to lament over the fall of that antichrist whose overthrow 
 is represented by unerring inspiration, as an event the 
 most splendid and happy ! It is a shrewd presumption 
 against the utility of religious establishments that they too 
 often become seats of intolerance, instigators to persecu- 
 tion, nurseries of Bonners and of Horsleys. 
 
 His Lordship closes his invective against dissenters, and 
 Dr. Priestley in particular, by presenting a prayer in the 
 spirit of an indictment. We are happy to hear of his 
 Lordship's prayers, and are obliged to him for remember-
 
 PREFACE. XV 
 
 ing us in them ; but should be more sanguine in our expec- 
 tation of benefit, if we were not informed, the prayers of 
 the righteous only avail much. " Miserable men," he tells 
 us, we " are in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of 
 iniquity." With respect to the first, we have plenty of 
 that article, since he has distilled his own ; and if the bonds 
 of iniquity are not added, it is only because they are not 
 within the reach of his mighty malice. 
 
 When we reflect on the qualities which distinguish this 
 prelate, that venom that hisses, and that meanness that 
 creeps, the malice that attends him to the sanctuary, and 
 pollutes the altar, we feel a similar perplexity with that 
 which springs from the origin of evil. But if we recollect 
 on the other hand, that instruction may be conveyed by 
 negatives, and that the union in one character of nearly 
 all the dispositions human nature, ought not to possess, 
 may be a useful warning, at least, we shall cease to wonder 
 at the existence and elevation of Dr. Horsley. Characters 
 of his stamp, like a plague or a tempest, may have their 
 uses in the general system, if they recur not too often. 
 
 It is time to turn from this disgusting picture of sancti- 
 monious hypocrisy and priestly insolence, to address a 
 word to the reader on the following pamphlet. The poli- 
 tical sentiments of Dr. Horsley are in truth of too little 
 consequence in themselves, to engage a moments curiosity, 
 and deserve attention only as they indicate the spirit of 
 the times. The freedom with which I have pointed out 
 the abuses of government, will be little relished by the 
 pusillanimous and the interested, but is, I am certain, of 
 that nature, which it is the duty of the people of England 
 never to relinquish, or suffer to be impaired by any human 
 force or contrivance. In the present crisis of things, the 
 danger to liberty is extreme, and it is requisite to address 
 a warning voice to the nation, that may disturb its slum- 
 bers, if it cannot heal its lethargy. When we look at the 
 distraction and misery of a neighbouring country, we be- 
 hold a scene that is enough to make the most hardy repub- 
 lican tremble at the idea of a revolution. Nothing but an
 
 Xvi PREFACE. 
 
 obstinate adherence to abuses, can ever push the people 
 of England to that fatal extremity. But if the state of things 
 continues to grow worse and worse, if the friends of re- 
 form, the true friends of their country, continue to be 
 overwhelmed by calumny and persecution, the confusion 
 will probably be dreadful, the misery extreme, and the 
 calamities that await us too great for human calculation. 
 
 What must be the guilt of those men, who can calmly 
 contemplate the approach of anarchy or despotism, and 
 rather choose to behold the ruin of their country, than re- 
 sign the smallest pittance of private emolument and advan- 
 tage. To reconcile the disaiFected, to remove discontents, 
 to allay animosities, and open a prospect of increasing 
 happiness and freedom, is yet in our power. But if a con- 
 trary course be taken, the sun of Great Britain is set for 
 ever, her glory departed, ahd her history added to the cata- 
 logue of the mighty empires which exhibit the instability 
 of all human grandeur, of empires which after they rose by 
 virtue to be the admiration of the world sunk by corrup- 
 tion into obscurity and contempt. If any thing shall then 
 remain of her boasted constitution, it will display magnifi- 
 cence in disorder, majestic desolation, Babylon in ruins, 
 where, in the midst of broken arches and fallen columns, 
 posterity will trace the monuments only of our ancient 
 freedom !
 
 AN 
 
 APOLOGY, <fcc. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 ON THE RIGHT OF PUBLIC DISCUSSION. 
 
 SOLON, the celebrated legislator of Athens, we are told, enacted a 
 jaw for the capital punishment of every citizen who should continue 
 neuter when parties ran high in that republic. He considered, it should 
 seem, the declining lo take a decided part on great and critical occasions, 
 an indication of such a culpable indifference to the interests of the com- 
 monwealth, as could be expiated only by death. While we blame the 
 rigour of this law, we must confess the principle, on which it was 
 founded, is just and solid. In a political contest, relating to particular 
 men or measures, a well-wisher to his country may be permitted to re- 
 main silent ; but when the great interests of a nation are at stake, ii be- 
 comes every man to act with firmness and vigour. I consider the present 
 as a season of this nature, and shall therefore make no apology for laying 
 before the public, the reflections it has suggested. 
 
 The most capital advantage an enlightened people can enjoy is the 
 liberty of discussing every subject which can fall within the compass of 
 the human mind ; while this remains, freedom will flourish ; but should 
 it be lost or impaired, its principles will neither be well understood or 
 long retained. To render the magistrate a judge of truth, and engage 
 his authority in the suppression of opinions, shows an inattention to the 
 nature and design of political society. When a nation forms a govern- 
 ment, it is not wisdom but power which they place in the hands of the 
 magistrate ; from whence it follows, his concern is only with those objects 
 which power can operate upon. On this account the administration of 
 Justice, the protection of property, and the defence of every member 
 of the community from violence and outrage, fall naturally within the 
 province of the civil ruler, for these may all be accomplished by power; 
 bul an attempt to distinguish truth from error, and to countenance one!
 
 18 
 
 set of opinions to the prejudice of another, is to apply power in a man- 
 ner mischievous and absurd. To comprehend the reasons on which the 
 right of public discussion is founded, it is requisite to remark the differ- 
 ence between sentiment and conduct. The behaviour of men in soci- 
 ety will be influenced by motives drawn from the prospect of good and 
 evil ; here then is the proper department of government, as it is capable 
 of applying that good and evil by which actions are determined. Truth, 
 on the contrary, is quite of a different nature, being supported only by 
 evidence, and, as when this is presented, we cannot withhold our assent, 
 so where this is wanting, no power or authority can command it. 
 
 However some may affect to dread controversy, it can never be oi 
 ultimate disadvantage to the interests of truth, or the happiness of man- 
 kind. Where it is indulged in its full extent, a multitude of ridiculous 
 opinions will, no doubt, be obtruded upon the public ; but any ill influ- 
 ence they may produce cannot continue long, as they are sure to be op- 
 posed with at least equal ability, and that superior advantage which is 
 ever attendant on truth. The colours with which wit or eloquence may 
 have adorned a false system will gradually die away, sophistry be de- 
 trrtod, and every thing estimated at length according to its true value. 
 Publications besides, like every thing else that is human, are of a mixed 
 nature, where truth is often blended with falsehood, and important hints 
 suggested in the midst of much impertinent or pernicious matter; nor is 
 there any way of separating the precious from the vile but tolerating the 
 the whole. Where the right of unlimited inquiry is exerted, the human 
 faculties will be upon the advance; where it is relinquished, they will 
 be of necessity at a stand, and will probably decline. 
 
 If we have recourse to experience, that kind of enlarged experience 
 in particular which history furnishes, we shall not be apt to entertain 
 any violent alarm at the greatest liberty of discussion : we shall there see 
 that to this we are indebted for those improvements in arts and sciences, 
 which have meliorated in so great a degree the condition of mankind. 
 The middle ages, as they are called, the darkest period of which \ve 
 have any particular accounts, were remarkable for two things ; the ex- 
 treme ignorance that prevailed, and an excessive veneration for recei- 
 ved opinions; circumstances, which, having been always united, ope- 
 rate on each other, it is plain, as cause and effect The whole compass 
 of' ^cience was in those times subject to restraint ; every new opinion was 
 locked upon as dangerous. To affirm the globe we inhabit to be round, 
 *vas deemed heresy, and for asserting its motion, the immortal Galileo 
 was confined in the prisons of the inquisition. Yet, it is remarkable,
 
 19 
 
 so little are the human faculties fitted for restraint, that its utmost rigour 
 was never able to effect a thorough unanimity, or to preclude the most 
 alarming discussions and controversies. For no sooner was one point 
 settled than another was started, and as the articles on which men pro- 
 fessed to differ were always extremely few and subtle, they came the 
 more easily into contact, and their animosities were the more violent and 
 concentrated. The shape of the tonsure, or manner in* which a monk 
 should shave his head, would then throw a whole kingdom into convul- 
 sions. In proportion as the world has become more enlightened, this 
 unnatural policy of restraint has retired, the sciences it has entirely aban- 
 doned, and has taken its last stand on religion and politics. The first 
 of these was long considered of a nature so peculiarly sacred, that every 
 attempt to alter it, or to impair the reverence for its received institutions, 
 was regarded under the name of heresy as a crime of the first magni- 
 tude. Yet, dangerous as free inquiry may have been looked upon, 
 when extended to the principles of religion, there is no department where 
 it was more necessary, or its interference more decidedly beneficial. 
 By nobly daring to exert it when all the powers on earth were combined 
 in its suppression, did Luther accomplish that Reformation which drew 
 forth primitive Christianity, long hidden and concealed under a load of 
 abuses, to the view of an awakened and astonished world. So great 
 is the force of truth when it has once gained the attention, that all tlw 
 arts and policy of the court of Rome, aided throughout every part of 
 Europe, by a veneration for antiquity, the prejudices of the vulgar, 
 and the cruelty of despots, were fairly baffled and confounded by the 
 opposition of a solitary monk. And had this principle of free inquiry 
 been permitted in succeeding times to have full scope, Christianity would 
 at this period have been much better understood, and the animosity of 
 sects considerably abated. Religious toleration has never been com- 
 plete even in England ; but having prevailed more here than perhaps 
 in any other country, there is no place where the doctrines of religion 
 have been set in so clear a light, or its truth so ably defended. The 
 writings of deists have contributed much to this end. Whoever will 
 compare the late defences of Christianity by Locke, Butler, or Clark, 
 with those of the ancient apologists, will discern in the former far more 
 precision and an abler method of reasoning than in the latter, which 
 must be attributed chiefly to the superior spirit of inquiry by which mo- 
 dern times are distinguished. Whatever alarm then may have been 
 taken at the liberty of discussion, religion it is plain hath been a gainer 
 by it; its abuses corrected, and its divine authority settled on a firmer 
 basis than ever.
 
 20 
 
 Though I have taken the liberty of making these preliminary remarks 
 on the influence of free inquiry in general, what I have more immedi- 
 ately in view is, to defend its exercise in relation to government. This 
 being an institution purely human, one would imagine it were the proper 
 province for freedom of discussion in its utmost extent. It is surely just 
 that every one should have a right to examine those measures by which 
 the happiness of all may be affected. The control of the public mind 
 over the conduct of ministers exerted through the medium of the press, 
 has been regarded by the best wrkers both in our country and on the con- 
 tinent, as the. main support of our liberties. While this remains we 
 cannot be enslaved; when it is impaired or diminished, we shall soon 
 cease to be free. 
 
 Under pretence of its being seditious to express any disapprobation 
 of the/orm of our government, the most alarming attempts are made 
 to wrest the liberty of the press out of our hands. It is far from being 
 my intention to set up a defence of republican principles, as I am per- 
 suaded whatever imperfections may attend the. British constitution, it is 
 competent to all the ends of government, and the best adapted of any 
 to the actual situation of this kingdom. Yet I am convinced there is 
 no crime in being a republican, and that while he obeys the la\vs, every 
 man has a right to entertain what sentiments he pleases on our form of 
 government, and to discuss this with the same freedom as any other 
 topic. In proof of this, I shall beg the reader's attention to the follow- 
 ing arguments. 
 
 1. We may apply to this point in particular, the observation that has 
 been made on the influence of free inquiry in general, that it will issue 
 in the firmer establishment of truth, and the overthrow of error. Every 
 thing that is really excellent will bear examination, it will even invite 
 it, and the more narrowly it is surveyed, to the more advantage will il 
 appear. Is our constitution a good one, it will gain in our esteem by 
 the severest inquiry. Is it bad, then its imperfections should be laid 
 open and exposed. Is it, as is generally confessed, of a mixed nature 
 excellent in theory, but defective in its practice; freedom of discussion 
 will be still requisite to point out the nature and source of its corrup- 
 tions and apply suitable remedies. If our constitution be that perfect 
 model of excellence it is represented, it may boldly appeal to the reason 
 of an enlightened age, and need not rest on the support of an implicit 
 faith. 
 
 2. Government is the creature of the people, and that which they 
 have created they surely have a right to examine. The great Author 
 of Nature having placed the right of dominion in no particular hands,
 
 21 
 
 hath left every point relating to it to be settled by the consent and appro- 
 bation of mankind. In spite of the attempts of sophistry to conceal the ori- 
 gin of political right, it must inevifably rest at length on the acquiescence 
 of the people. In the oase of individuals it is extremely plain. If one man 
 should overwhelm another with superior force, and after completely sub- 
 duing him under the name of government, transmit him in thiscondi- 
 tion to his heirs, every one would exclaim against such a piece of injus- 
 tice. But whether the object of his oppression be one, or a million, 
 can make no difference in its nature, the idea of equity having no rela- 
 tion to that of numbers. Mr. Burke, with some other authors, are 
 aware that an original right of dominion can only be explained by resolv- 
 ing it into the will of the people, yet contend that it becomes inalien- 
 able and independent by length of time and prescription. This fatal 
 mistake appears to me to have arisen from confounding the right of domi- 
 nion with that of private property. Possession for a certain time, it is 
 true, vests in the latter a complete right, or there would be no end to 
 vexatious claims ; not to mention that it is of no consequence to society 
 where property lies, provided its regulations be clear, and its posses- 
 sion undisturbed. For the same reason it is of the essence of private 
 property, to be held for the sole use of the owner, with liberty to employ 
 it in what way he pleases, consistent with thesafety ofthe community. But 
 the right of dominion has none of the qualities that distinguish private 
 possession. It is never indifferent to the community in whose hands it 
 is lodged ; nor is it intended in any 1 degree for the benefit of those who 
 conduct it. Being derived from the will ofthe people, explicit or im-_ 
 plied, and existing solely for their use, it can no more become inde- 
 pendent of that will, than water can arise above its source. But if 
 we allow the people are the true origin of political power, it is absurd 
 to require them to resign the right of discussing any question that can 
 arise either upon its forms or its measures, as this would put it forever 
 out of their power to revoke the trust which they have placed in the hands 
 of their rulers. 
 
 3. If it be a crime for a subject of Great Britain to express his dis* 
 approbation of that form of government under which he lives, the same 
 conduct must be condemned in the inhabitant of any other country. 
 Perhaps it will be said, a distinction ought to be made on account of 
 the superior excellence of the British constitution. This superiority I 
 am not disposed to contest ; yet cannot allow it to be a proper reply, as 
 it takes for granted that which is supposed to be matter of debate and 
 inquiry, Let a government be ever so despotic, it is a chance if those 
 
 P
 
 who share in the administration, are not loud in proclaiming its excel- 
 lence. Go into Turkey, and the Pachas of the provinces will pro- 
 bably tell you, that the Turkish government is the most perfect in the 
 world. II" the excellency ot a constitution then is assigned as the reason 
 that none should be permitted to censure it, who, I ask, is to determine 
 on this its excellence? If you reply every man's own reason will deter- 
 mine ; you concede the very point I am endeavouring to establish, the 
 liberty of free inquiry : if you reply, our rulers, you admit a principle 
 that equally applies to every government in the world, and will lend 
 no more support to the British constitution than to that of Turkey or 
 Algiers. 
 
 4. An inquiry respecting the comparative excellence of civil constitu- 
 tions can be forbidden on no other pretence, than that of its tending to 
 sedition and anarchy. This plea, however, will have little weight with 
 those who reflect, to how many ill purposes it has been already applied ; 
 and that when the example has been once introduced of suppressing opi- 
 nions on account of their imagined ill tendency, it has seldom been con- 
 fined within any safe or reasonable bounds. The doctrine of tendencies 
 is extremely subtle and complicated. Whatever would diminish our 
 veneration for the Christian religion, or shake our belief in the being of 
 a God, will be allowed to be of a very evil tendency; yet lew, I ima- 
 gine, who are acquainted with history, would \\in\i to see the writings 
 of sceptics or deists suppressed by law; being persuaded it would be 
 lodging a very dangerous power in the hands of the magistrate, and the 
 truth is best supported by its own evidrnco. This dread of certain opi- 
 nions, on account of their tendency, has been the copious spring of all 
 those religious wars and persecutions, which are the disgrace and cala- 
 mity of modern times. 
 
 Whatever danger may result from the freedom of political debate in 
 some countries, no apprehension from that quarter need be entertained 
 in our own. Free inquiry will never endanger the existence of a good 
 government ; scarcely will it be able to work the overthrow of a bad one. 
 So uncertain is the issue of all revolutions, so turbulent and bloody the 
 wenes that too often usher them in, the prejudice on the side of an 
 ancient establishment so great, and the interests involved in its support 
 so powerful, that while it provides in any tolerable measure for the hap- 
 piness of the people, it may defy ail the efforts of its enemies. 
 
 The real danger to every free government is less from its enemies 
 than from itself. Should it resist the most temperate reforms, and 
 maintain its abuses with obstinacy, imputing complaint to faction, ca-
 
 lumniating its friends, and smiling only on its flatterers, should it en- 
 courage informers, and hold out rewards to treachery, turning every 
 man into a spy, and every neighbourhood into the seat of an inquisition, 
 let it not hope it can can long conceal its tyranny under the mask of 
 freedom. These are the avenues through which despotism must enter ; 
 these are the arts at which integrity sickens and freedom turns pale.
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 ON ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 THE associations that have been formed in various parts of the 
 Kingdom, appear to me to have trodden very nearly in the steps I have 
 been describing. Nothing could have justified this extraordinary mode 
 of combination but the actual existence of those insurrections and plots, 
 of which no traces have appeared, except in a speech from the throne. 
 They merit a patent for insurrections, who have discovered the art of 
 conducting them with so much silence and secrecy, that in the very places 
 where they are affirmed to have happened, they have been heard of only 
 by rebound from the cabinet. Happy had it been for the repose of unof- 
 fending multitudes, if the Associators had been able to put their mobs 
 in possession of this important discovery before they set them in motion. 
 
 No sooner had the ministry spread an alarm through the kingdom 
 against republicans and levellers, than an assembly of court-sycophants 
 with a placeman at their head, entered into what they termed, an asso- 
 ciation at the Crown and Anchor Tavern, whence they issued accounts 
 of their proceedings. This was the primitive, the metropolitan associ- 
 ation, which, with lew exceptions, gave the tone to the succeeding, who 
 did little more than copy its language and its spirit. As the popular 
 ferment has it may be hoped by this time in some measure subsided, it 
 may not be improper to endeavour to estimate the utility, and develope 
 the principles of these societies. 
 
 1. The first particular that engages the attention, is their singular 
 and unprecedented nature. The object is altogether new. The poli- 
 tical societies that have been hitherto formed, never thought of interfe- 
 ring with the operations of law, but were content with giving by their 
 union, greater force and publicity, to their sentiments. The diffusion 
 of principles was their object, not the suppression , and, confiding in the 
 justness of their cause, they challenged their enemies into the field of 
 controversy. These societies on the other hand are combined with an 
 express view to extinguish opinions, and to overwhelm freedom of in- 
 quiry by the terrors of criminal prosecution. They pretend not to en- 
 lighten the people by the spread of political knowledge, or to confute tlie
 
 25 
 
 errors of the system they wish to discountenance : they breathe only tne 
 language of menace : their element is indictment and prosecution, and 
 their criminal justice formed on the model of Rhadamanthus the poetic 
 judge of Hell. 
 
 Castigatque, audit que, dolos subigitque fateri. 
 
 2. They are not only new in their nature and complexion, but are 
 unsupported by any just pretence of expedience, or necessity. The 
 British constitution hath provided ample securities for its stability and 
 permanence. The prerogatives of the crown in all matters touching its 
 dignity are of a nature so high and weighty as may rather occasion alarm 
 than need corroboration. The office of Attorney General is created for the 
 very purpose of prosecuting sedition, and he has the peculiar privilege 
 of filing a bill against offenders, in the King's name, without the inter- 
 vention of a grand Jury. If the public tranquillity be threatened, the 
 King can embody the militia as well as station the military in the sus- 
 pected places ; and when to this is added the immense patronage and in- 
 fluence which flows from the disposal of seventeen millions a year, it 
 must be evident the stability of the British Government can never be 
 shaken by the efforts of any minority whatever. It comprehends with- 
 in itself all the resources of defence, which the best civil polity ought to 
 possess. The permanence of every government must depend, however, 
 after all, upon opinion, a general persuasion of its excellence, which 
 can never be increased by its assuming a vindictive and sanguinary as- 
 pect. While it is the object ef the people's approbation it will be con- 
 tinued, and to support it much beyond that period, by mere force and 
 terror, would be impossible were it just, and unjust were it possible. 
 The law hath amply provided against overt acts of sedition and disorder, 
 and to suppress mere opinions by any other method than reasoning and 
 argument is the height of tyranny. Freedom, of thought being intimate- 
 ly connected with the happiness and dignity of man in every stage of his 
 being, is of so much more importance than the preservation of any con- 
 stitution, that to infringe the former under pretence of supporting the 
 latter, is to sacrifice the means to the end. 
 
 3. In attempting to define the boundary which separates the liberty 
 of the press from its licentiousness, these societies have undertaken a 
 task which they are utterly unable to execute. The line that divides 
 them is too nice and delicate to be perceived by every eye, or to be drawn 
 by every rude and unskilful hand. When a public outrage against the 
 laws is committed, the crime is felt in a moment ; but to ascertain the 
 qualities which compose a libel, aiid to apply with exactness the general
 
 idea to every instance and example which may occur, demands an effort 
 of thought and reflection, little likely to be exerted by the great mass of 
 mankind. Bewildered in a pursuit which they are incapable of conduct- 
 ing with propriety, taught to suspect treason and sedition in every page 
 they read, and in every conversation they hear, the necessary effect of 
 such an employment must be to perplex the understanding, and degrade 
 the heart. An admirable expedient for transforming a great and gene- 
 rous people into a contemptible tribe of spies and informers! 
 
 For private individuals to combine together at all with a view to 
 quicken the vigour of criminal prosecution is suspicious at least, if not 
 illegal; in a case where the liberty of the press is concerned, all such 
 combinations are utterly improper. The faults and the excellencies of 
 a book are often so blended, the motives of a writer so difficult to ascer- 
 tain, and the mischiefs of servile restraint so alarming, that the crimi- 
 nality of a book should always be left to be determined by the particu- 
 lar circumstances of the case. As one would rather see many crimi- 
 nals escape, than the punishment of one innocent person, so it is infinite- 
 ly better a multitude of errors should be propagated than one truth be 
 suppressed. 
 
 If the suppression of Mr. Paine's pamphlet be the object of these soci- 
 eties they are ridiculous in the extreme; for the circulation of his works 
 ceased from the moment they were declared a libel ; if any other publi- 
 cation be intended, they are premature and impertinent, in presuming 
 to anticipate the decision of the courts. 
 
 4. Admitting however the principle on which they are founded to be 
 ever so just and proper, they are highly impolitic. All violence exerted 
 towards opinions which falls short of extermination, serves no other 
 purpose than to render them more known, and ultimately to increase 
 the zeal and number of their abettors. Opinions that are false may be 
 dissipated by the force of argument ; when they are true, their punish- 
 ment draws toward them infallibly more of the public attention, and 
 enables them to dwell with more lasting weight and pressure on the 
 mind. The progress of reason is aided in this case, by the passions, 
 and finds in curiosity, compassion and resentment, powerful auxiliaries. 
 When public discontents are allowed to vent themselves in reason- 
 ing and discourse, they subside into a calm ; but their confinement in 
 the bosom is apt to give them a fierce and deadly tincture. The rea- 
 son of this is obvious : as men are seldom disposed to complain till they 
 at least imagine themselves injured, so there is no injury which they 
 will remember so long or resent so deeply, as that of being threatened
 
 27 
 
 \ 
 
 into silence. This seems like adding triumph to oppression, and insult 
 to injury. The apparent tranquillity which may ensue, is delusive and 
 ominous; it is that awful stillness which nature feel?, while she is await- 
 ing the discharge of the gathered tempest. 
 
 The professed object of these associations is to strengthen the hands 
 of government : bnt there is one way in which it may strengthen its own 
 hands most effectually ; recommended by a very venerable authority, 
 though one from which it hath taken but few lessons, " He that hath 
 clean hands, saith a sage adviser, shall grow stronger and stronger." 
 If the government wishes to become more vigorous, let it first become 
 more pure, lest an addition to its strength should only increase its 
 capacity for mischief. 
 
 There is a characteristic feature attending these associations, which 
 is sufficient to acquaint us with their real origin and spirit, that is the 
 silence almost total, which they maintain respecting political abuses. 
 Had they been intended as their title imports, merely to furnish an an- 
 tidote to the spread of republican schemes and doctrines, they would 
 have loudly asserted the necessity of reform, as a conciliatory principle, 
 a centre of union, in which the virtuous of all descriptions might have 
 concurred. But this, however conducive to the good of the people, 
 would have defeated their whole project, which consisted in availing 
 themselves of an alarm which they had artfully prepared, in order to 
 withdraw the public attention from real grievances to imaginary dan- 
 gers. The Hercules of reform had penetrated the augean stable of 
 abuses; the fabric of corruption, hitherto deemed sacred, began to tot- 
 ter, and its upholders were apprehensive their iniquity was almost full. 
 In this perplexity they embraced an occasion afforded them by the 
 spread of certain bold speculations (speculations which owed their suc- 
 cess to the disorders of Government) to diffuse a panic, and to drown 
 the justest complaints in unmeaning clamour. The plan of associating, 
 thus commencing in corruption, and propagated by imitation and by 
 fear, had for its pretext the fear of republicanism ; for its object the 
 perpetuity of abuses. Associations in this light may be considered as 
 mirrors placed to advantage for reflecting the finesses and tricks of the 
 ministry. At present they are playing into each others hands, and no 
 doubt find great entertainment in deceiving the nation. But let them 
 be aware lest it should be found, after all, none are so much duped as 
 themselves. Wisdom and truth, the offspring of the sky, are immortal ; 
 but cunning and deception the meteors of the earth, after glittering for 
 a moment must pass away.
 
 28 
 
 Tlie candour and sincerity of these associators is of a piece with their 
 other virtues ; lor while they profess to be combined in order to prevent 
 riots and insurrections, attempted to be raised by republicans and level- 
 lers, they can neither point out the persons to whom that description 
 applies, nor mention a single riot that was not fomented by their prin- 
 ciples and engaged on their side. There have been three riots in Eng- 
 land of late on a political account, one at Birmingham, one at Man- 
 chester, and one at Cambridge; each of which has been levelled 
 against dissenters and friends of reform*. 
 
 The Crown and Anchor association, as it was first in order of time, 
 seems also determined by pushing to a greater length the maxims of 
 arbitrary power, to maintain its pre-eminence in every other respect. 
 The divine right of monarchy, the sacred anointing of kings, passive 
 obedience and non-resistence, are the hemlock and night-shade which 
 these physicians have prescribed for the health of the nation ; and are 
 yet but a specimen of a more fertile crop which they have promised out 
 of the hot-bed of their depravity. The opinions which they have as- 
 sociated to suppress, are contained, they tell us, in the terms liberty 
 and equality ; after which they proceed to a dull harangue on the mis- 
 chiefs that must flow from equalizing property. All mankind, they 
 gravely tell us, are not equal in virtue, as if that were not sufficiently 
 evident from the existence of their society. The notion of equality in 
 property was never seriously cherished in the mind of any man, unless 
 for the purpose of calumny : and the term transplanted from a neigh- 
 bour ing country, never intended there any thing more than equality of 
 rights as opposed to feudal oppression and hereditary distinction?. 
 An equality of rights may consist with the greatest inequality between 
 the thing, to which those rights extend. It belongs to the very nature 
 of property, for the owner to have a full and complete right to that 
 which he possesses, and consequently for all properties to have equal 
 
 * The conduct of an honourable member of the House of Commons, re- 
 specting HIP last of these was extremely illiberal, He informed the house, 
 that the riot at Cambridge was nothing more than that the mob compelled Mr. 
 Musjrave one of his constituents, who had been heard to speak seditious 
 words, to sing God save theKing-ra statement in which he was utterly mis- 
 taken. Mr. ATusijraTp, with whom I have the pleasure of being well acquaint- 
 e<l, was neither guilty of uttering seditious discourse, nor did he, I am certain, 
 comply with the requisition. His whole crime consists in the love of his 
 country and a zeal for parliamentary reform. It would be happy for this na- 
 tion, if a portion only, of the integrity and disinterested virtue which adorn 
 his character, could be infused into our great men.
 
 rights; but \vlio is so ridiculous as to infer from thence, that the 
 possessions themselves are equal. A more alarming idea cannot be 
 spread among the people, than that there is a large party ready to abet 
 them ia any enterprise of depredation and plunder. As all men do not 
 know that the element of the associators is calumny, they are really in 
 danger for a while of being believed, and must thank themselves if they 
 should realize the plan of equality their own malice has invented. 
 
 I am happy to find that Mr. Law, a very respectable gentleman, 
 who had joined the Crown and Anchor society, has publicly withdrawn 
 his name, disgusted with their conduct; by whom we are informed they 
 receive anonymous letters, vilifying the characters of persons of the 
 first eminence, and that they are in avowed alliance with the ministry 
 for prosecutions, whom they intreaf ID order the Solicitor-General to 
 proceed on their suggestions. When such a society declares " itself 
 to be unconnected with any political party," our respect for human 
 nature impels us to believe it, and to hope their appearance may be con- 
 sidered as an era in the annals of corruption, which will transmit their 
 names to posterity with the encomiums they deserve. With sycophants 
 so base and venal, no argument or remonstrance can be expected to 
 have any success. It is in vain to apply to reason when it is perverted 
 and abused, to shame when it is extinguished, to a conscience which 
 has ceased to admonish: I shall therefore leave them in the undisturbed 
 possession of that true philosophical indifference which steels them 
 against the reproaches of their own hearts, and the contempt of all 
 honest men. 
 
 All the associations, it is true, do not breathe the spirit which disgraces 
 that of the Crown and Anchor. But they all concur in establishing a 
 political test, on the first appearance of which the friends of liberty 
 should make a stand. The opinions proposed may be innocent ; but 
 the precedent is fatal, and the moment subscription becomes the price 
 of security, the rubicon is passed. Emboldened by the success of this 
 expedient, its authors will venture on more vigorous measures : test 
 will steal upon test ; the bounds of tolerated opinion will be continually 
 narrowed, till we awake under the fange of a relentless despotism.
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 ON A REFORM OF PARLIAMENT. 
 
 WH ATE VER difference of opinion may take place in points of less 
 importance, there is one in which the friends of freedom are entirely 
 agreed, that is, the necessity of reform in the representation. The theory 
 of the English constitution presents three independent powers ; the king 
 as executive head, with a negative in the legislature, an hereditary House 
 of Peers, and an assembly of Commons who are appointed to represent 
 the nation at large. From this enumeration it is plain, the people of 
 England can have no liberty, that is, no share in forming the laws, but 
 what they exert through the medium of the last of those bodies ; nor 
 then, but in proportion to its independence of the other. The indepen- 
 dence, therefore, of the House of Commons, is the column on which 
 the whole fabric of our liberty rests. Representation may be consider- 
 ed as complete when it collects to a sufficient extent, and transmits with 
 perfect fidelity, the real sentiments of the people ; but this it may fail of 
 accomplishing through various causes. If its electors are but a handful 
 of people, and of a peculiar order and description ; if its duration is 
 sufficient to enable it to imbibe the spirit of a corporation ; if its inte- 
 grity be corrupted by the treasury influence, or warped by the prospect 
 of places and pensions ; it may, by these means, not only fail of the end 
 of its appointment, but fall into such an entire dependence on the execu- 
 tive branch, as to become a most dangerous instrument of arbitrary 
 power. The usurpation of the emperors at Rome would not have been 
 safe, unless it had concealed itself behind the formalities of a senate. 
 
 The confused and inadequate state of our representation, at present, is 
 too obvious (o escape the attention of the most careless observer. While 
 through the fluctuation of human affairs, many towns of ancient note have 
 fallen into decay, and the increase of commerce has raised obscure hamlets 
 to splendour and distinction, the state of representation standing still a 
 midst these vast changes, points back to an order of things which no longer 
 subsists. The opulent towns of Birmingham, Manchester, and Leeds, 
 send no members to parliament; the decayed boroughs of Cornwall appoint
 
 31 
 
 a multitude of representatives. Old Sarum sends two members, though 
 there are not more than one or two families reside in it. The dispro- 
 portion between those who vote for representatives and the people at 
 large is so great, that the majority of our House of Commons is chosen by 
 less than eight thousand, in a kingdom consisting of as many millions, 
 Mr. Burgh, in his excellent political disquisitions, has made a very 
 laborious calculation on this head, from which it appears, that the affairs 
 of this great empire are decided by the suffrages of between five and 
 six thousand electors ; so that our representation instead of being co-ex- 
 tended with the people, fails of this in a proportion that is truly enor- 
 mous. The qualifications, moreover, that confer the right of election, 
 are capricious and irregular. In some places it belongs to the corpo- 
 ration, or to those whom they think proper to make free ; in some 
 to every house-keeper ; in others it is attached to a particular es- 
 tate, whose proprietor is absolute lord of the borough, of which he 
 makes his advantage, .by representing it himself, or disposing of it to 
 the best bidder. In counties, the right of election is annexed only to 
 one kind of property, that of freehold ; the proprietor of copyhold land 
 being entirely deprived of it though his political situation is precisely 
 the same. 
 
 The consequence of this perplexity in the qualifications of electors is 
 often a tedious scrutiny and examination before a committee of the 
 House of Commons, prolonged to such a length, that there is no time 
 when there are not some boroughs entirely unrepresented. These gross 
 defects in our representation have struck all sensible men very forcibly; 
 even Mr. Paley, a courtly writer in the main, declares, the bulk of the 
 inhabitants of this country have little more concern in the appointment 
 of parliament, than the subjects of the Grand Seignior at Constantinople. 
 
 On the propriety of the several plans which have been proposed to 
 remedy these evils, it is not for me to decide; I shall choose rather to 
 point out two general principles which ought, in my opinion, to per- 
 vade every plan of parliamentary reform ; the first of which respects 
 the mode of election, the second the independence of the elected. In 
 order to give the people a true representation, let its basis be enlarged, 
 and the duration of parliaments shortened. The first of these improve- 
 ments would diminish bribery and corruption, lessen the violence and 
 tumult of elections, and secure to the people a real, and unequivocal 
 organ for the expression of their sentiments. 
 
 Were every householder in town and country permitted to vote, the 
 number of electors would be so great, that as no art or industry would
 
 32 
 
 be able to bias their minds, so no sums of money would be sufficient to 
 \vin their suffrages. The plan which the Duke of Richmond recom- 
 mended was, if I mistake not, still more comprehensive, including all 
 that were of age, except menial servants. By this means, the different 
 passions and prejudices of men would check each other, the predomi- 
 nance of any particular or local interest be kept -down, and from the 
 whole there would result that general impression, which would con- 
 vey with precision the unbiassed sense of the people. 
 
 But besides this, another great improvement, in my opinion, would 
 be, to shorten the duration of parliament, by bringing it back to one 
 year. The Michel Gemote, or great council of the kingdom, was ap- 
 pointed to meet under Alfred twice a year, and by divers ancient sta- 
 tutes after the conquest, the king was bound to summon a parliament 
 every year or ofteuer, if need be; when to remedy the looseness of this 
 latter phrase, by the 16th of Charles the Second it was enacted, the 
 holding of parliaments should not be intermitted above three years at 
 most ; and iu the first of King William, it is declared as one of the 
 rights of the people, that for redress of all grievances and preserving the 
 laws, parliaments ought to be held frequently ; which was again reduced 
 to a certainty by another statute, which enacts, that a new parliament 
 shall be called within three years after the termination of the former. To 
 this term did they continue limited till the reign of George the First ; 
 when, after the rebellion f fifteen, the septennial act was passed, under 
 the. pretence of diminishing the expense of elections and preserving the 
 kingdom against the designs of the Pretender. A noble Lord observed, 
 on that occasion, he was at an utter loss to describe the nature of this 
 prolonged parliament, unless he were allowed to borrow a phrase from 
 the Athanasian Creed ; for it was, " neither created, nor begotten but 
 proceeding.' 1 Without disputing the upright intentions of the au- 
 thors of this act, it is plain, they might on the same principle have vo- 
 ted themselves perpetual, and their conduct will ever remain a monu- 
 ment of that short-sightedness in politics, which in providing for the 
 pressure of the moment puts to hazard the liberty and happiness of fu- 
 ture times. It is intolerable, that in so large a space of a man's life as 
 seven years, he should never be able to correct the error he may have 
 committed in the choice of a representative, but be compelled to see 
 him every year dipping deeper into corruption ; a helpless spectator of 
 the contempt of his interests, and the ruin of his country. During the 
 present period of parliaments a nation may sustain the greatest possible 
 changes ; may descend by a succession of ill counsels, from the highest
 
 33 
 
 pinnacle of its fortunes, to the lowest point of depression ; its treasure 
 exhausted, its credit sunk, and its weight almost completely annihilated 
 in the scale of empire. Ruin and felicity are seldom dispensed by the 
 same hand, nor is it likely any succour in calamity should flow from the 
 wisdom and virtue of those by whose folly and wickedness it was in- 
 curred. 
 
 The union between a representative and his constituents, ought to be 
 strict and entire ; but the septennial act has rendered it little more than 
 nominal. The duration of parliament sets its members at a distance 
 from the people, begets a notion of independence, and gives the minis- 
 ter ;o much leisure to insinuate himself into their graces, that before 
 the period is expired, they become very mild and complying. Sir Ro- 
 bert Walpole used to say. that " every man had his price ;" a maxim 
 on which he relied with so much security, that he declared he seldom 
 troubled himself with the election of members, but rather chose to stay 
 and buy them up when they came to market. A very interesting work, 
 lately published, entitled. "Anecdotes of Lord Chatham," unfolds some 
 parts of this my*terv of iniquity, which the reader will probably think 
 equally new and surprising. There is a regular office, it seems, that 
 of manager of the House of Commons, which generally devolves on 
 one of the secretaries of state, and consists in securing, at all events, a 
 majority in parliament by a judicious application of promises and bribes. 
 The sums disbursed by this honourable office are involved under the 
 head of Secret Service money; and so delicate is this employment of 
 manager of the House of Commons considered, that we have an account 
 in the above-mentioned treatise, of a new arrangement of ministrj, 
 which failed for no other reason, than that the different parties could 
 not agree on the proper person to fill it*. 
 
 * As 1 have taken my information on this head entirely on the authority of 
 the work called Anecdotes of Lord Chatham, the reader may not be displea- 
 sed with the following extract, vol. ii, page 121. " The management of the 
 " House of Commons, as it is called, is a confidential department, unknown 
 " to the constitution. In the public accounts it is immersed under the head 
 "of secret service money. It is usually given to the secretary of state when 
 " that pos- is filled by a commoner. The business of the department, is to 
 "distribute with art and policy amongst the members who have no osten- 
 "sible places, sums of money, for their support during the session ; besides 
 " contracts, lottery tickets, and other douceurs. It is no uncommon circum- 
 " stance, at the end of a session, for a gentleman to receive five hundred or 
 " a thousand pounds for his $erviees."
 
 34 
 
 This secret influence which prevails, must be allowed to be extreme- 
 ly disgraceful ; nor can it ever be effectually remedied, but by contract- 
 ing the duration of parliaments. 
 
 If it be objected to annual parliaments, that by this means the tu- 
 mult and riot attendant on elections, will be oflener repeated ; it ought 
 to be remembered, their duration is the chief source of these disorders. 
 Render a seat in the House of Commons of less value, and you di- 
 minish at once the violence of the struggle. In America, the election 
 of representatives takes place throughout that vast continent, in one day, 
 with the greatest tranquillity. 
 
 In a mixed constitution like ours, it is impossible to estimate 
 the importance of an independent parliament ; for as it is here our 
 freedom consists, if this baruier to the encroachments of arbitrary 
 power once fails, we can oppose no other. Should the king attempt 
 to govern without a parliament, or should the upper house pretend 
 to legislate, independently of the lower, we should immediately take 
 the alarm ; but if the House of Commons fall insensibly under the 
 control of the other two branches of the legislature, our danger is 
 greater, because our apprehensions may be less. The forms of a free 
 constitution surviving when its spirit is extinct, would perpetuate sla- 
 very by rendering it more concealed and secure. On this account, I 
 apprehend, did Montesquieu predict the loss of our freedom, from the le- 
 gislative power becoming more corrupt than the executive; a crisis to 
 which if it has not arrived already, it is hastening apace. The immortal 
 Locke, far from looking with the indifference too common on the abuses 
 in our representation, considered all improper influence exerted in that 
 quarter, as threatening the very dissolution of government. " Thus,''" 1 
 says he, " to regulate candidates and electors, and new model the 
 ways of election, what is it but to cut up the government by the roots, 
 and poison the very fountain of public securi/i/." 1 
 
 No enormity can subsist long without meeting with advocates ; on 
 which account we need not wonder, that the corruption of Parliament 
 has been justified under the mild denomination of influence, though it 
 must pain every virtuous mind to see the enlightened Paley engaged in 
 its defence. If a member votes consistent with his convictions, his con- 
 duct in that instance has not been determined by influence ; but if he 
 votes otherwise, give it what gentle name you please, he forfeits his inte- 
 grity ; nor is it possible to mark the boundaries which should limit his 
 compliance ; for if he may deviate a little, to attain the See of Winches- 
 ter, he may certainly step a little farther, to reach the dignity of Pri-
 
 35 
 
 mate. How familiar must the practice of corruption have become, 
 when a philosophical moralist, a minister of religion, of great talents 
 and virtue, in the calm retreat of his study, does not hesitate to become 
 its public apologist. 
 
 The necessity of a reform in the constitution of parliament is in nothing 
 more obvious than in the ascendency of the aristocracy. This Colossus 
 bestrides both houses of parliament ; legislates in one and exerts a domi- 
 neering influence over the other. It is humiliating at the approach of 
 an election, to see a whole county send a deputation to an Earl or 
 Duke, and beg a representative as you would beg an alms. A multi- 
 tude of laws have been framed, it is true, to prevent all interference of 
 peers in elections; but they neither are nor can be effectual, while the 
 House of Commons opens its doors to their sons and brethren. If our 
 liberty depends on (he balance and control of the respective orders in 
 the state, it must be extremely absurd, to blend them together, by pla- 
 , cing the father in one department of the legislature, and his family in 
 the other. v 
 
 Freedom is supposed by some to derive great security from the exis- 
 tence of a regular opposition ; an expedient which is, in my opinion, 
 both the offspring and the cherisher of faction. That a minister should 
 be opposed, when his measures are destructive to his country, can admit 
 of no doubt ; that a systematic opposition should be maintained against 
 any man, merely as a minister, without regard to the principles he may 
 profess, or the measures he may propose, which is intended by a regu- 
 lar opposition, appears to me a most corrupt and unprincipled maxim. 
 When a legislative assembly is thus thrown into parties, distinguished 
 by no leading principle, however warm and animated their debates, it 
 is plain, they display only a struggle for the emoluments of office. This 
 the people discern, and in consequence, listen with very little attention 
 to the representations of the minister on one hand, or the minority on the 
 other ; being persuaded the only real difference between them is that 
 the one is anxious to gain, what the other is anxious to keep. If a 
 measure be good it is of no importance to the nation from whom it pro- 
 ceeds; yet will it be esteemed by the opposition a point of honour, not 
 to let it pass without throwing every obstruction in its way. If we listen 
 (o the minister for the time being, the nation is always flourishing and 
 happy ; if we hearken to the opposition, it is a chance if it be not on the 
 brink of destruction. In an assembly convened to deliberate on the af- 
 fairs of a nation, how disgusting to hear the members perpetually talk 
 of their connexions, and their resolution to act with a particular set of
 
 36 
 
 men, when if they have happened by chance, to vote according to their 
 convictions rather than their party, half their speeches are made up of 
 apologies for a conduct so new and unexpected. When they see men 
 united who agree in nothing but their hostility to the minister, the people 
 fall at first into amazement and irresolution, till perceiving political de- 
 bate is a mere scramble for profit and power, they endeavour to become 
 as corrupt as their betters. It is not in that roar of faction which deaf- 
 ens the ear and sickens the heart, the still voice of Liberty is heard. 
 She turns from the disgusting scene, and regards these struggles as t he- 
 pangs and convulsions in which she is doomed to expire. 
 
 The era of parties, flowing from the animation of freedom, is ever 
 followed by an era of faction, which marks its feebleness and decay. 
 Parties are founded on principle, factions on men ; under the first, the 
 people are contending respecting the system that shall be pursued ; under 
 the second, they are candidates for servitude, and are only debating 
 whose livery they shall wear. The purest times of the Roman repub- 
 lic were distinguished by violent dissensions; but they consisted in the 
 jealousy of the several orders of the state among each other ; on the as- 
 cendant of the patricians on the one side, and the plebeians on the other ; 
 a useful struggle which maintained the balance and equipoise of the con- 
 stitution. In the progress of corruption things took a turn : the perma- 
 nent parties which sprang from the fixed principles of the government 
 were lost, and the citizens arranged themselves under the standard of 
 particular leaders, being bandied into factions, under Mariusor Sylla, 
 Caesar or Pompey; while the republic x stood by without any interest in 
 the dispute, a passive and helpless victim. The crisis of the fall of free- 
 dom in different nations, with respect to the causes that produce it, is 
 extremely uniform. After the manner of the ancient factions, we hear 
 much in England of the Bedford party, the Rockingham party, the 
 Portland party; when it would puzzle the wisest man to point out their 
 political distinction. The useful jealousy of the separate orders is ex- 
 tinct, being all melted down and blended into one mass of corruption. 
 The House of Commons looks with no jealousy on the House of Lords, 
 nor the House of Lords on the House of Commons ; the struggle in both 
 is maintained by the ambition of powerful individuals and families, be- 
 tween whom the kingdom is thrown as the prize, and the moment they 
 unite, they perpetuate its subjection and divide its spoils. 
 
 From a late instance, we see they quarrel only about the partition of 
 the prey, but are unanimous in defending it. To the honour of Mr. 
 Fox, and the band of illustrious patriots of which he is the leader, it
 
 37 
 
 will however be remembered, they stood firm against a host of oppo- 
 nents, when assailed by every species of calumny and invective, they had 
 nothing; to expect but the reproaches of the present and the admiration of 
 all future times. If any thing can re-kindle the sparks of freedom, 
 it will be the flame of their eloquence; if any thing can re-animate 
 her faded form, it will be the vigour of such minds. 
 
 The disordered state of our representation, it is acknowledged on all 
 hands, must be remedied, some time or other ; but it is contended 
 that it would be improper, at present, on account of the political ferment 
 that occupies the minds of men and the progress of republican princi- 
 ples; a plausible objection if delay can restore public tranquillity: 
 but unless I am greatly mistaken, it will have just a contrary effect. 
 It is hard to conceive, how the discontent that flows from the abuses of 
 government can be allayed by their being perpetuated. If they are of 
 such a nature that they can neither be palliated nor denied, and are 
 made the ground of invective against the whole of our constitution, are 
 not they its best friends who wish to cut off this occasion of scandal and 
 complaint. The Theory of our constitution, we say. and justly, has 
 been the admiration of the world; the cavils of its enemies, then, de- 
 rive their force entirely from the disagreement between that theory and 
 its practice ; nothing therefore remains, but to bring them as near as 
 human affairs will admit to a perfect correspondence. This will cut up 
 faction by the roots, and immediately distinguish those who wish to re- 
 form the constitution, from those who wish its subversion. Since the abuses 
 are real, the longer they are continued the more they will be known; the 
 discontented will always be gaining ground, and though repulsed will 
 return to the charge with redoubled vigour and advantage. Let reform 
 be considered as a chirurgical operation, if you please, but since the 
 constitution must undergo it or die, it is best to submit, before the re- 
 medy becomes as dangerous as the disease. The example drawn from 
 a neighbouring kingdom, as an argument for delay, ought to teach us 
 a contrary lesson. Had the encroachments of arbitrary power been 
 steadily resisted, and remedies been applied, as evils appeared, instead 
 of piling them up as precedents, the disorders of government could never 
 have arisen to that enormous height, nor would the people have been 
 impelled to the dire necessity of building the whole fabric of political 
 society afresh. It seems an infatuation in governments, that in tran- 
 quil times, they treat the people with contempt, and turn a deaf ear to 
 their complaints; till public resentment kindling, they find when it is too 
 late, that in their eagerness to retain every thing, they have lost all. 
 
 F
 
 The pretences of Mr. Pitt and his friends for delaying this great 
 business, are so utterly inconsistent, that it is too plain they are averse 
 in reality to its ever taking place. When Mr. Pitt is reminded that 
 he himself, at the beginning of his ministry, recommended parliamen- 
 tary reform, he replies, it was necessary then, on account of the cala- 
 mitous state of the nation, just emerged from an unsuccessful war, and 
 filled with gloom and disquiet. But unless the people are libelled, 
 they are now still more discontented ; with this difference, that their 
 uneasiness formerly arose from events but remotely connected with un- 
 equal representation ; but that this is now the chief ground of complaint' 
 It is absurd, however, to rest the propriety of reform on any turn of 
 public affairs. If it be not requisite to secure our freedom, it is vain 
 and useless ; but if it be a proper means of preserving that blessing, 
 the nation will need it as much in peace as in war. When we wish 
 to retain those habits, which we know it were best to relinquish, we 
 are extremely ready to be soothed with momentary pretences for delay, 
 though they appear, on reflection, to be drawn from quite opposite 
 topics, and therefore to be equally applicable to all times and seasons. 
 
 A similar delusion is practised in the conduct of public affairs. If 
 the people be tranquil and composed and have not caught the passion 
 of reform , it is impolitic, say the ministry, to disturb their minds, 
 by agitating a question that lies at rest: if they are awakened, and 
 touched with a conviction of the abuse, we must wait, say they, till 
 the ferment subsides, and not lessen our dignity by seeming to yield to 
 popular clamour : if we are at peace, and commerce flourishes, it is 
 concluded we cannot need any improvement, in circumstances so pros- 
 perous and happy : if, on the other hand, we are at war, and our 
 affaire unfortunate, an amendment in the representation is dreaded, as 
 it would seem an acknowledgment, that our calamities flowed from 
 the ill-conduct of parliament. Now, as the nation must always be in 
 one or other of these situations, the conclusion is, the period of reform 
 can never arrive at all. 
 
 This pretence for delay will appear the more extraordinary, in the 
 British ministry, from a comparison of the exploits they have perform- 
 ed, with the task they decline. They have found time for involving 
 us in millions of debt ; for "cementing a system of corruption, that 
 reaches from the cabinet to the cottage ; for carrying havoc and devas- 
 tation to the remotest extremities of the globe ; for accumulating taxes 
 which famish the peasant and reward the parasite ; for bandying the 
 whole kingdom into factions, to the ruin of all virtue and public spirit ;
 
 39 
 
 for the completion of these achievements they have suffered no oppor- 
 tunity to escape them. Elementary treatises on time, mention various 
 arrangements and divisions, but none have ever touched on the chrono- 
 logy of statesmen. These are a generation, who measure their time 
 not so much by the revolutions of the sun, as by the revolutions of 
 power. There are two eras particularly marked in their calendar; 
 the one the period they are in the ministry, and the other when they 
 are out ; which have a very different effect on their sentiments and 
 reasoning;. Their course coimnerrces in the character of friends to the 
 
 O 
 
 people, whose grievances they display in all the colours of variegated 
 diction. But the moment they step over the threshold of St. James's, 
 they behold every thing in a new light ; the taxes seem lessened, the 
 people rise from their depression, the nation flourishes in peace and 
 plenty, and every attempt at improvement is like heightening the 
 beauties of paradise, or mending tfie air of elysium.
 
 40 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 ON THEORIES AND THE RIGHTS OF MAN. 
 
 AMONG the many alarming symptoms of the . present time, it is 
 not the least, that there is a prevailing disposition to hold in contempt, 
 the Theory of liberty as false and visionary. For my own part, it is 
 my determination never to be deterred by an obnoxious name, from an 
 open avowal of any principles that appear useful and important. 
 Were the ridicule now cast on the Rights of Man confined to a mere 
 phrase, as the title of a book, it were of little consequence ; but when 
 that is made the pretence for deriding the doctrine, it is matter of 
 serious alarm. 
 
 To place the rights of man as the basis of lawful government, is not 
 peculiar to Mr. Paine ; but was done more than a century ago by men, 
 of no less eminence than Sidney and Locke. It is therefore extremely 
 disingenuous to impute the system to Mr. Paine as its author. His 
 structure may be false and erroneous, but the foundation was laid by 
 other hands. That there are natural rights, or in other "words, a 
 certain liberty which men may exercise, independent of^permission 
 from society, can scarcely be doubted by those who comprehend the 
 meaning of the terms. Ev^ry man must have a natural right to use 
 his limbs in what manner he pleases, that is not injurious to another. In 
 like manner he must have a right to worship God after the mode he thinks 
 acceptable ; or in other words, he ought not to be compelled to con- 
 sult any thing but his own conscience. These are a specimen of those 
 rights which may properly be termed natural ; for, as philosophers 
 speak of the primary qualities of matter, they cannot be increased or 
 diminished. We cannot conceive, the right of using our limbs to be 
 created by society, or to be rendered more complete by any human 
 agreement or compact. 
 
 But there still remains a question, whether this natural liberty must 
 not be considered as entirely relinquished when we become members 
 of society. It is pretended, the moment we quit a state of nature, as 
 we have given up the control of our actions in return for the superior
 
 41 
 
 advantages of law and government ; we can never appeal again to 
 any original principles, but must rest content with the advantages that 
 are secured by the terms of the society. These are the views which dis- ; 
 tinguish the political writings of Mr. Burke, an author whose splendid 
 and unequalled powers have given a vogue and fashion to certain 
 tenets, which from any other pen would have appeared abject and 
 contemptible. In the field of reason the encounter would not be diffi- 
 cult, but who can withstand the fascination and the magic of his elo- ' 
 quence. The excursions of his genius are immense. His imperial 
 fancy has laid all nature under tribute, and has collected riches from 
 every scene of the creation, and every walk of art. His eulogium on 
 the Queen of France is a masterpiece of pathetic composition; so 
 select are its images, so fraught with tenderness, and so rich with 
 colours, " dipt in heaven," that he who can read it without rapture 
 may have merit as a reasoner, but must resign all pretensions to taste 
 and sensibility. His imagination is in truth only too prolific: a world 
 of itself, where he dwells in the midst of chimerical alarms, is the 
 dupe of his own enchantment, and starts, like Prospero, at the spec- 
 tres of his own creation. 
 
 His intellectual views in general, however, are wide and variega- 
 ted rather than distinct ; and the light he has let in on the British con- 
 stitution in particular, resembles the coloured effulgence of a painted 
 medium, a kind of mimic twilight, solemn and soothing to the senses, 
 but better fitted for ornament than use. 
 
 A book has lately been published, under the title of Happpiness and 
 Rights, written by Mr. Hey, a respectable member of the University 
 of Cambridge, whose professed object is, with Mr. Burke, to over- 
 turn the doctrine of natural rights. The few remarks I may make 
 upon it are less on account of any merit in the work itself, than on 
 account of its author, who being a member of considerable standing in 
 the most liberal of our universities, may be presumed to speak the 
 sentiments of that learned body. The chief difference between his 
 theory and Mr. Burke's seems to be the denial of the existence of any 
 rights that can be denominated natural, which Mr. Burke only suppo- 
 ses resigned on the formation of political society. The rights, says 
 Mr. Hey, " I can conjecture (for it is but a conjecture) to belong to me 
 as a mere man, are so uncertain, and comparitively so unimportant, 
 while the rights I fed myself possessed of in civil society are 
 so great, so numerous, and many of them so well defined, 
 that I am strongly inclined to consider society, as creating or gic-
 
 42 
 
 ing my rights rather than recognizing and securing what I could 
 have claimed if J had lived in an unconnected state," p. 137. 
 
 As government implies restraint, it is plain a portion of our freedpm 
 is given up, by entering into it ; the only question can then be, how 
 far this resignation extends, whether to a part or to the whole. This 
 point may, perhaps, be determined by the following reflections. 
 
 1. The advantages that civil power can produce to a community are 
 partial. A small part, in comparison of the condition of man, can fall 
 within its influence. Allowing it to be a rational institution, it must 
 have that end in view, which a reasonable man would propose by ap- 
 pointing it ; nor can it imply any greater sacrifice than is strictly neces- 
 sary to its attainment. But on what account is it requisite to unite in 
 political society. Plainly to guard against the injury of others ; for were 
 there no injustice among mankind, no protection would be needed ; no 
 public force necessary, every man might be left without restraint or 
 control. The attainment of all possible good then is not the purpose 
 of laws, but to secure us from external injury and violence ; and as the 
 means must be proportioned to the end ; it is absurd to suppose, by sub- 
 mitting to civil power, with a view to some particular benefits, we 
 should be understood to hold all our advantages dependent upon that 
 authority. Civil restraints imply nothing more, than a surrender of our 
 liberty in some points, in order to maintain it undisturbed in others of 
 more importance. Thus we give up the liberty of repelling force by 
 force, in return for a more equal administration of jusiice than private 
 resentment would permit. But there are some rights which cannot with 
 any propriety be yielded up to human authority, because they are per- 
 fectly consistent with every benefit its appointment can procure. The 
 free use of our faculties in distinguishing truth from falsehood, the exer- 
 tion of corporeal powers without injury to others, the choice of a reli- 
 gion and worship, are branches of natural freedom which no govern- 
 ment can justly alter or diminish, because their restraint cannot conduce 
 to that security which is its proper object. Government, like every 
 other contrivance, has a specific end ; it implies the resignation of just 
 as much liberty as is needful to attain it : whatever is demanded more, 
 is superfluous, a leaning to tyranny, which ought to be corrected by 
 withdrawing it. The relation of master and servant, of pupil and in- 
 structor, of the respective members of a family to their head, all include 
 some restraint, some abridgment of natural liberty. But in these cases 
 it is not pretended, the surrender is total, and why should this be sup- 
 posed to take place in political society, which is one of the relations of 
 human life: this would be to render the foundation infinitely broader 
 than the superstructure.
 
 43 
 
 2. From the notion that political society precludes an appeal to na- 
 tural rights, the greatest absurdities must ensue. If that idea be just, 
 it is improper to say of any administration, it is despotic or oppressive, 
 unless it has receded from its first form and model. Civil power can 
 never exceed its limits, until it deviates into a new track. For if every 
 portion of natural freedom be given up by yielding to civil authority, we 
 can never claim any other liberties than those precise ones which were 
 ascertained in its first formation. The vassals of despotism may com- 
 plain, perhaps, of the hardships which they suffer, but, unless it appear 
 they are of a new kind, no injury is done them ; for no right is violated. 
 Rights are either natural or artificial ; the first cannot be pleaded after 
 they are relinquished, and the second cannot be impaired but by a de- 
 parture from ancient precedents. If a man should be unfortunate enough 
 to live under the dominion of a prince, who, like the monarchs of Per- 
 sia, could murder his subjects at will, he may be unhappy, but cannot 
 complain ; for. on Mr. Key's theory, he never had any rights but what 
 were created by society, and on Mr. Burke's he has for ever relin- 
 quished them. The claims of nature being set aside, and the constitu- 
 tion of the government despotic from the beginning, his misery involves 
 no injustice, and admits of no remedy. It requires little discernment 
 to see that this theory rivets the chains of despotism, and shuts out from 
 the political world the smallest glimpse of emancipation or improvement. 
 Its language is, he that is a slave let him be a slave still. 
 
 3. It is incumbent on Mr. Burke and his followers to ascertain the 
 time when natural rights are relinquished. Mr. Hey is content with 
 tracing their existence to society, while Mr. Burke, more moderate of 
 the two, admitting their foundation in nature, only contends that regu- 
 lar government absorbs and swallows them up, bestowing artificial ad- 
 vantages in exchange. But at what period it may be inquired shall we 
 date this wonderful revolution in the social condition of man. If we say 
 it was as early as the first dawn of society, natural liberty had never 
 any existence at all, since there are no traces even in tradition of a 
 period when men were utterly unconnected with each other. If we say 
 this complete surrender took place with the first rudiments of law and 
 government in every particular community, on what principle were sub- 
 sequent improvements introduced. Mr. Burke is fond of resting our 
 iberties on Magna Charta and the Bill of Rights ; but he ought to re- 
 member, that as they do not carry us to the commencement of our go- 
 vernment, which was established ages before, our forefathers had long 
 ago resigned their natural liberty. If those famous stipulations only re 

 
 44 
 
 cognized such privileges as were in force before, they have no claim to 
 be considered as the foundations of our constitution ; but if (hey formed 
 an era in the annals of freedom they must have been erected on the basis 
 of those natural rights which Mr. Burke ridicules and explodes. When 
 our ancestors made those demands, it is evident they did not suppose 
 an appeal to the rights of nature precluded. Every step a civilized 
 nation can take towards a more equal administration, is either an asser- 
 tion of its natural liberty, or a criminal encroachment on just authority. 
 The influence of government on the stock of natural rights, may be com- 
 pared to that of a manufactory on the rude produce ; it adds nothing to 
 its quantity, but only qualifies and fits it for use. Political arrangement 
 is more or Jess perfect in proportion as it enables us to exert our natural 
 liberty to the greatest advantage ; if it is diverted to any other purpose, 
 is made the instrument of gratifying the passions of a few, or imposes 
 greater restraint than its object prescribes, it degenerates into tyranny 
 and oppression. 
 
 The greatest objection to these principles is their perspicuity, which 
 makes them ill relished by those whose interest it is to hide the nature 
 of government from vulgar eyes, and induce a persuasion, that it is a 
 secret which can only be unfolded to the initiated under the conduct of 
 Mr. Burke, the great Hierophant and revealer of the mysteries. A 
 mystery and a trick are generally two sides of the same object, accord- 
 ing as it is turned to the view of the beholder. 
 
 The doctrine of Mr. Locke and his followers is founded on the natu- 
 ral equality of mankind ; for as no man can have any natural or inherent 
 right to rule any more than another, it necessarily follows, that a claim 
 to dominion, wherever it is lodged, must be ultimately referred back 
 to the explicit or implied consent of the people. Whatever source of 
 civil authority is assigned different from this, will be found to resolve 
 itself into mere force. But as the natural equality of one generation is 
 the same with that of another, the people have always the same right to 
 new model their government, and set aside their rulers. This right, 
 like every other, may be exerted capriciously and absurdly ; but no hu- 
 man power can have any pretensions to intercept its exercise. For civil 
 rulers cannot be considered as having any claims, that are co-extended 
 with those of the people, nor as forming a party separate from the nation. 
 They are appointed by the community to execute its will, not to oppose 
 it; to manage the public, not to pursue any private or particular inte- 
 rests. Are all the existing authorities in a state, to lie then, it may be 
 said, at the mercy of the populace, liable to be dissipated by the first
 
 45 
 
 % 
 
 breath of public discontent? By no means: they are to be respected 
 and obeyed, as interpreters of the public will. Till they are set aside 
 by the unequivocal voice of the people, they are a law to every member 
 of the community. To resist them is rebellion ; and for any particular 
 set of men to attempt their subversion by force, is a heinous crime, as 
 they represent and embody the collective majesty of the state. They 
 are the exponents, to usa the language of algebra, of the precise quan- 
 tity of liberty the people have thought fit to legalize and secure. But 
 though they are a law to every member of the society separately consi- 
 dered, they cannot bind the society itself, or prevent ,it, when it shall 
 think proper, from forming an entire new arrangement ; a right that 
 no compact can alienate or diminish, and which has been exerted as 
 often as a free government has been formed. On this account, in re- 
 solving the right of dominion into compact. Mr. Locke appears to me 
 somewhat inconsistent, or he has expressed himself with less clearness 
 and accuracy than was usual with that great philosopher. There must 
 have been a previous right to insist on stipulations, in those who formed 
 them ; nor is there any reason why one race of men is not as competent 
 to that purpose as another. 
 
 With the enemies of freedom, it is a usual artifice to represent the 
 sovereignty of the people as a license to anarchy and disorder. But the 
 tracing up civil power to that source will not diminish our obligation to 
 obey ; it only explains its reasons, and settles it on clear determinate 
 principles. It turns blind submission into rational obedience, tempers 
 the passion for liberty with the love of order, and places mankind in a 
 happy medium, between the extremes of anarchy on the one side, and 
 oppression on the other. It is the polar star that will conduct us safe 
 over the ocean of political debate and speculation, the law of laws, the 
 legislator of legislators. 
 
 To reply to all the objections that have been advanced against this 
 doctrine, would be a useless task, and exhaust tho patience of the reader ; 
 but there is one drawn from the idea of a majority, much insisted on by 
 Mr. Burke, and Mr. Hey, of which the latter gentleman is so ena- 
 moured, that he has spread it out into a multitude of pages. They assert, 
 that the theory of natural rights, can never be realized, because every 
 member of the community cannot concur in the choice of a government, 
 and the minority being compelled to yield to the decisions of the majority, 
 are under tyrannical restraint. To this reasoning it is a sufficient an- 
 swer, that if a number of men are to act together at all, the necessity of 
 being determined by the sense of the majority, in the last resort, is so
 
 46 
 
 obvious, that it is always implied. An exact concurrence of many par- 
 ticular wills, is impossible, and therefore when each taken separately 
 has precisely the same influence, -there can be no hardship in suffering 
 the result to remain at issue, till it is determined by the coincidence of 
 the greater number. The idea of natural liberty at least, is so little 
 violated by this method of proceeding, that it is no more than what takes 
 place every day in the smallest society, where the necessityof being de- 
 termined by the voice of the majority, is so plain, that it is scarcely ever 
 reflected upon. The defenders of the rights of man, mean not to contend 
 for impossibilities. We never hear of a right to fly. or to make two 
 and two five. If the majority of a nation approve its government, it 
 is in this respect as free as the smallest association or club; any thing 
 beyond which must be visionary and romantic. 
 
 The next objection Mr. Hey insists upon is, if possible, still more 
 frivolous, turning on the case of young persons during minority. He 
 contends, that as some of these have more sense than may be found 
 among common mechanics, and the lowest of the people, natural right 
 demands their inclinations to be consulted in political arrangements. 
 Were there any method of ascertaining exactly the degree of under- 
 standing possessed by young persons during their minority, so as to dis- 
 tinguish early intellects from the less mature, there would be some force 
 in the objection ; in the present case, the whole supposition is no more 
 than one of those chimeras which this gentleman is ever fond of combat- 
 ing, with the same gravity, and to as little purpose, as Don Quixote 
 his windmill. 
 
 The period of minority it is true, varies in different countries, and 
 is perhaps best determined every where by ancient custom and habit. 
 An early maturity may confer on sixteen, more sagacity than is, some- 
 times, found at sixty ; tut what then ? A wise government having for 
 its object, human nature at large, will be adapted, not to its accidental 
 deviations, but to its usual aspects and appearances. For an answer 
 to his argument against natural rights, drawn from the exclusion of 
 women from political power, I beg leave to refer the author to the in- 
 genious Miss Wolstencroft, the eloquent patroness of female claims; 
 unless, perhaps, every other empire may appear mean in the estimation 
 of those, who possess, with an uncontrolled authority, the empire of 
 the heart. 
 
 " The situation," says Mr. Hey, (p. 137.) " in which any man 
 finds himself placed, when he arrives at the power of reflecting, ap- 
 pears to be the consequence of & vast train of events ; extending back-
 
 47 
 
 wards hundreds or thousands of years, for aught he can tell, and totally 
 baffling all the attempts at comprehension by human faculties. 
 
 From hence he concludes, all inquiry into the rights of man should be 
 forborne. " What rights this Being (God) may have possibly intend- 
 ed that I might claim from beings like myself, if he had thought pro- 
 per that I had lived amongst them in an unconnected state, that is to 
 say, what are the rights of a mere man, appears a question involved 
 in such obscurity, that I cannot trace even any indication of that Be- 
 ing having intended me to inquire into it." 
 
 If any thing be intended by these observations, it is, that we ought 
 never to attempt to meliorate our condition, till we are perfectly ac- 
 quainted with its causes. But as the subjects of the worst government 
 are, probably as ignorant of the train of events for some thousands of 
 years back, as those who enjoy the best, they are to rest contented, it 
 seems, until they can clear up that obscurity, and inquire no farther. 
 
 It would seem strange to presume an inference good, from not know- 
 ing how we arrived at it. Yet this seems as reasonable as to suppose 
 the political circumstances of a people fit and proper, on account of our 
 inability to trace the causes that produced them. To know the source 
 of an evil, is only of consequence, as it may chance to conduct us to 
 the remedy. But the whole paragraph I have quoted, betrays the ut- 
 most perplexity of thought ; confounding the civil condition of indivi- 
 duals, with the political institution of a society. The former will be 
 infinitely various in the same community, arising from the different cha- 
 racter, temper, and success of its members : the latter unites and per- 
 vades the whole, nor can any abuses attach to it, but what may be dis- 
 played and remedied. 
 
 It is perfectly disingenuous in this author, to represent his adversa- 
 ries, as desirous of committing the business of legislation indiscrimi- 
 nately to the meanest of mankind. * He well knows the wildest de- 
 mocratieal writer contends for nothing more than popular government, 
 
 * " A man whose bands and ideas have been usefully confined for thirty or 
 forty years to the labour and management of a farm, or the construction of 
 a wall, or piece of cloth, does indeed, in one respect, appear superior to an 
 infant three months old. The man could make a law of some sorter other j 
 the infant could not. The man could in any particular circumstances of a 
 nation, say those words, We will go to war, or we will not go to war; the 
 infant could not. JJut the difference between them is more in appearance 
 than in any useful reality. The man is totally unqualified to judge what 
 ought to b.e enacted for Iavr." Hey, p, 31.
 
 48 
 
 by representation. If the labouring part of the people are not com- 
 petent to chuse legislators, the English constitution is essentially wrong 5 
 especially in its present state, where the importance of each vote is en- 
 hanced by the paucity of the electors. 
 
 After the many examples of misrepresentation which this author has 
 furnished, his declamations on the levelling system cannot be matter of 
 surprise. An equality of right is perfectly consistent with the utmost 
 dispropsrtion between the objects to which they extend. A peasant 
 may have the same right to the exertion of his faculties with a Newton ; 
 but this will notfill up the vast chasm that separates them. 
 
 The ministry will feel great obligations to Mr. Hey, for putting off 
 the evil day of reform to aiar distant period, a period so remote, that 
 they may hope before it is completed, their names and their actions will 
 be buried in friendly oblivion. He indulges a faint expectation, he tells 
 us?, that the practice of governments may be improved " in two or 
 three thousand years." 1 * 
 
 A smaller edition of this work has lately been published, considera- 
 bly abridged, for the use of the poor, who, it may be feared, will be 
 very little benefited by its perusal. Genuis may dazzle, eloquence 
 may persuade, reason may convince ; but to render popular cold and 
 comfortless sophistry, unaided by those powers, is an hopeless attempt. 
 
 I have trespassed, I am afraid, too far on the patience of my read- 
 ers, in attempting to expose the fallacies by which the followers of Mr. 
 Burke perplex the understanding, and endeavour to hide in obscurity 
 the true sources of political power. Were there indeed any impropri- 
 ety in laying them open, the blame would not fall on the friends of free- 
 dom, but on the provocation afforded by the extravagance and absurd- 
 ity of its enemies. If princely power had never been raised to a level 
 with the attributes of the divinity, by Filmer, it had probably never 
 been sunk as low as popular acquiescence by Locke. The confused 
 mixture of liberty and oppression, which ran through the feudal system, 
 prevented the theory of government from being closely inspected ; par- 
 ticular rights were secured, but the relation of the people to their rulers 
 was never explained on its just principles, till the transfer of supersti- 
 tion to civil power, shocked the common sense of mankind, and awaken- 
 ed their inquiries. They drew aside the veil, and where they were 
 taught to expect a mystery, they discerned a fraud. There is however 
 no room to apprehend any evil from political investigation, that will 
 not be greatly overbalanced by its advantages. For besides that truth 
 is always beneficial j tame submission to usurped power, has hitherto
 
 49 
 
 been the malady of human nature. The dispersed situation of mankind, 
 their indolence and inattention, and the opposition of their passions and 
 interests, are circumstances which render it extremely difficult for them 
 to combine in resisting tyranny with success. In the field of govern- 
 ment, as in that of the world, the tares of despotism were sown while 
 men slept ! The necessity of regular government, under some form or 
 other, is so pressing, that the evil of anarchy is of short duration. Ra- 
 pid, violent, destructive in its course, it is an inundation which fed by no 
 constant spring, soon dries up and disappears. The misfortune on 
 these occasions, is, that the people, for want of understanding the prin- 
 ciples of liberty, seldom reach the true source of their misery ; but after 
 committing a thousand barbarities, only change their roasters, when 
 they should change their system.
 
 SECTION V. 
 
 ON DISSENTERS. 
 
 OF that foul torrent of insult and abuse, which it has lately been the 
 lot of the friends of liberty to sustain, a larger portion hath fallen to 
 the share of dissenters than any other description of men. Their sen- 
 timents have been misrepresented, their loyalty suspected, and their 
 most illustrious characters held up to decision and contempt. The 
 ashes of the dead have been as little spared as the merit of the living ; 
 and the same breath that has attempted to depreciate the talents and 
 virtues of a Priestley, is employed to blacken the memory of a Price. 
 The effusions of a distempered loyalty, are mingled with execrations on 
 that unfortunate sect ; as if an attachment to the King were to be mea- 
 sured by an hatred to Dissenters. Without any shadow of criminality, 
 they are doomed to sustain perpetual insult and reproach ; their repose 
 disturbed, and their lives threatened and endangered. If dissent be 
 in truth, a crime of such magnitude, that it must not be tolerated, let 
 there be at least a punishment prescribed by law, that they may know 
 what they have to expect, and not lie at the mercy of an enraged and 
 deluded populace. It is natural to inquire into the cause of this ex- 
 treme virulence against a particular class of the community, who are 
 distinguished from others, only by embracing a different form and sys- 
 tem of worship. 
 
 In the practice of the moral virtues, it will hardly be denied, that 
 they are at least as exemplary as their neighbours; \\hile in the more 
 immediate duties of religion, if there be any distinction, it lies in their 
 carrying to a greater height, sentiments of seriousness and devotion. 
 The nature of their public conduct will best appear from a rapid sur- 
 yey of some of those great political events in which it has had room 
 to display itself; where, though our history has been ransacked to sup- 
 ply invective, it will be seen, their merits more than compensate for 
 any errors they may have committed. Their zeal in opposing Charles, 
 has been an eternal theme of reproach ; but it should be remembered,
 
 51 
 
 that when that resistance first took place, the parliament consisted for 
 the most part of churchmen, and was fully justified in its opposition, by 
 the arbitrary measures of the court. Had the pretensions of Charles been 
 patiently acquiesced in, our government had long ago been despotic. 
 
 What medium might have been found between tame submission and 
 open hostility, and whether matters were not afterwards pushed to an 
 extremity against the unfortunate monarch, it is not for me to determine 
 nor does it concern the vindication of Dissenters. For long before the 
 final catastrophe which issued in the king's death, the favourable inten- 
 tions of parliament were over-ruled by the ascendency of Cromwell ; the 
 parliament itself oppressed by his arms, and the influence both of church- 
 men and dissenters, bent under military usurpation. The execution of 
 Charles was the deed of a faction, condemned by the great body of the 
 puritans as a criminal severity. But whatever blame they may be sup- 
 posed to have incurred on account of their conduct to Charles, the merit 
 of restoring monarchy in his son was all their own. The entire force 
 of the empire was in their hands ; Monk himself of their party ; the 
 parliament, the army all puritans ; yet were they disinterested enough 
 to call the heir to the throne, and yield the reins into his hands, with no 
 other stipulation, than that of liberty of conscience ; which he violated 
 with a baseness and ingratitude peculiar to his character. All the ro- 
 turn he made them for the recovery of his power, consisted in depriving 
 two thousand of their ministers, and involving the whole body in a per- 
 secution, by which not less than ten thousand are supposed to have pe* 
 rished in imprisonment and want. But their patriotism was not to be 
 shaken by these injuries. When towards the latter end of Charles the 
 Second's reign the character of his successor inspired a dread of the es- 
 tablishment of popery, to avert that evil they cheerfully acquiesced in an 
 exclusion from all places of emolument and trust ; an extraordinary in- 
 stance of magnanimity. When James the Second began to display arbi- 
 trary views, dissenters were among the first to take the alarm, regard- 
 ing with jealousy, even an indulgence when it flowed from a dispen- 
 sing power. The zeal with which they co-operated in bringing about- 
 the revolution, the ardour with which they have always espoused its 
 principles, are too well known to need any proof, and can only be ren- 
 dered more striking by a contrast with the conduct of the high church 
 party. The latter maintained in its utmost extent the doctrine of 
 passive obedience and non-resistance ; were incessantly engaged in 
 intrigues to overturn the revolution, and affirmed the doctrine of divine 
 right to be an ancient and indisputable tenet of the English church.
 
 52 
 
 Whoever wishes (o ascertain the existence of those arts, by which they 
 embroiled the reigu of King William, may see them displayed at large 
 in Burnet's History of his own Times. 
 
 The attachment of dissenters to the house of Hanover, was signalized 
 in a manner too remarkable to be soon forgotten. In the rebellions of 
 fifteen and forty-five, they ventured on a breach of the law, by raising 
 and officering regiments out of their own body; for which the parlia- 
 ment were reduced to the awkward expedient of passing an act of in- 
 demnity. This short sketch of their political conduct, as it is sufficient 
 to establish their loyalty beyond suspicion, so may it well augment our 
 surprise at the extreme obloquy and reproach with which they are treat- 
 ed. Mr. Hume a competent judge, if ever there was one, of political 
 principles, and who was far from being partial to dissenters, candidly 
 confesses that to them we are indebted for the preservation of liberty. 
 
 The religious opinions of dissenters are so various, that there is per- 
 haps no point in which they are agreed, except in asserting the rights 
 of conscience against all human control and authority. From the time 
 of Queen Elizabeth, under whom they began to make their appearance, 
 their views of religious liberty have gradually extended, commencing at 
 first with a disapprobation of certain rites and ceremonies, the remains of 
 papal superstition. Their total separation from the church did not take 
 place for more than a century, till despairing of seeing it erected on a com- 
 prehensive plan, and being moreover persecuted for their difference of 
 sentiment, they were compelled at last, reluctantly to withdraw. Having 
 been thus directed by a train of events into the right path, they pushed 
 their principles to their legitimate consequences, and began to discern 
 the impropriety of all religious establishments whatever, a sentiment in 
 which they are now nearly united. On this very account, however, 
 of all men they are least likely to disturb the peace of society ; for they 
 claim no other liberty than what they wish the whole human race to 
 possess, that of deciding on every question where conscience is con- 
 cerned. It is sufferance they plead for, not establishment ; protection, 
 not splendour. A disposition to impose their religion on others cannot 
 be suspected in men, whose distinguishing religious tenet, is the disa- 
 vowal of all human authority. 
 
 Their opinion respecting establishments is founded upon reasons 
 which appear to them weighty and solid. They have remarked, that 
 in the three first and purest ages of religion, the church was a stranger 
 to any alliance with temporal powers ; that far from needing their aid 
 Christianity never flourished so much as while they were combined to
 
 53 
 
 suppress it ; and that the protection of Constant ine though well intended, 
 diminished from its purity, more than it added to its splendour. 
 
 The only pretence for uniting Christianity with civil government, is 
 the support it yields to the peace and good order of society. But this 
 benefit will be derivqd from it, at least in as great a degree, without 
 an establishment as with it. Religion, if it have any power, operates 
 on the conscience of men. Resting solely on the belief of invisible re- 
 alities, and having for its object the good and evil of eternity, it can 
 derive no additional weight or solemnity from human sanctions; but 
 will appear to the most advantage upon hallowed ground, remote from 
 the noise and tumults of worldly policy. Can it be imagined that a 
 dissenter, who believes in divine revelation, does not feel the same mo- 
 ral restraints, as if he had received his religion from the hands of par- 
 liament? Human laws may debase Christianity, but can never im- 
 prove it ; and being able to add nothing to its evidence, they 'can add 
 nothing to its force. 
 
 Happy had it been, however, had civil establishments of religion been 
 useless only, instead of being productive of the greatest evils. But 
 when Christianity is established by law, it is requisite to give the pre- 
 ference to some particular system: and as -the magistrate is no better 
 judge of religion than others, the chances are as great of his lending 
 his sanction to the false as to the true. Splendour and emolument must 
 likewise be in some degree attached to the national church : which are 
 a strong inducement to its ministers to defend it, be it ever so remote 
 from the truth. Thus error becomes permanent, and that sejt of opini- 
 ons which happens to prevail when the establishment is formed, conti- 
 nues in spite of superior light and improvement, to be handed down 
 without alteration from age to age. Hence the disagreement between 
 the public creed of the church and the private sentiments of its minis- 
 ters ; an evil crowing out of the very nature of an hierarchy, and not 
 likely to be remedied before it brings the clerical character into the ut- 
 most contempt. Hence the rapid spread of infidelity in various part* 
 of Europe ; a natural and never-failing consequence of the corrupt al- 
 liance between church and state. Wherever we turn our eyes, we 
 shall perceive the depression of religion is in proportion to the elevation 
 of the hierarchy. In France, where the establishment had attained the 
 utmost splendour, piety had utterly decayed ; in England, where the 
 hierarchy is less splendid, more remains of the latter; and in Scotland, 
 whose national church is one of the poorest in the world, a greater 
 sense of religion appears among the inhabitants, than in either of 
 the former. It must likewise be plain to every observer, that piety 
 
 H
 
 flourishes much more among dissenters, than among the members of an/ 
 establishment whatever. This progress of things is so natural, thai 
 nothing seems wanting in any country, to render the thinking part of the 
 people infidels but a splendid establishment. It will always ultimately 
 debase the clerical character, and perpetuate both in discipline and doc- 
 trine, every error and abuse. 
 
 Turn a Christian society into an established church, and it is no lon- 
 ger a voluntary assembly for the worship of God ; it is a powerful corpo- 
 ration, full of such sentiments, and passions, as usually distinguish those 
 bodies ; a dread of innovation, an attachment to abuses, a propensity 
 to tyranny and oppression. Hence the convulsions that accompany re- 
 ligious reform, where the truth of the opinions in question is little re- 
 garded, amidst the alarm that is felt for the splendour, opulence, and 
 power, which they are the means of supporting. To this alliance of 
 Christianity with civil power, it is owing that ecclesiastical history pre- 
 sents a chaos of crimes ; and that the progress of religious opinions, 
 which left to itself had been calm and silent, may be traced in blood. 
 
 Among the evils attending the alliance of church and state, it is not 
 the least that it begets a notion of their interests having some kind of 
 inseparable though mysterious connexion; so that they who are dissatis- 
 fied with the one, must be enemies to the other. Our very language 
 is tinctured with this delusion, in which church and king are blended 
 together with an arrogance that seems copied from Cardinal Wolsey's 
 Ego et rex ineus, I and my king ; as if the establishment were of more 
 consequence than the sovereign who represents the collective majesty of 
 the state. Let the interference of civil power be withdrawn, and the 
 animosity of sects will subside for want of materials to inflame it, nor 
 will any man suspect his neighbour for being of a different religion 
 more than for being of a different complexion from himself. The prac- 
 tice of toleration it is true has much abated the violence of those con- 
 vulsions which, for more than a century from the beginning of the re- 
 formation, shook Europe to its base ; but the source and spring of in- 
 tolerance is by no means exhausted. The steam from that infernal pit 
 will issue through the crevices, until they are filled up with the ruins 
 of all human establishments. 
 
 The alliance between church and state is in a political point of view 
 extremely suspicious, and much better fitted to the genius of an arbitra- 
 ry than a free government. To the former it may yield a powerful 
 support; to the latter it must ever prove dangerous. The spiritual 
 submission it exacts is unfavourable to mental vigour, and prepares the
 
 55 
 
 way for a servile acquiescance in the encroachments of civil authority. 
 This is so correspondent with facts, that the epithet high church, when 
 applied to politics, is familiarly used in our language to convey the no- 
 tion of arbitrary maxims of government. 
 
 As far as submission to civil magistrates is a branch of moral virtue, 
 Christianity will under every form be sure to enforce it ; for among the 
 various sects and parties into which ks profession is divided, there sub- 
 sists an entire agreement respecting the moral duties which it prescribes. 
 To select therefore and endow a particular order of clergy to teach the 
 duties of submission is useless as a mean to secure the peace of society, 
 though well fitted to produce a slavish subjection. Ministers of that de- 
 scription, considering themselves as allies of the state, yet having no ci- 
 vil department, will be disposed on all occasions to strike in with the 
 current of the court ; nor are they likely to confine the obligation to obe- 
 dience within any just and reasonable bounds. They will insensibly be- 
 come an army of spiritual janizaries. Depending, as they every where 
 must, upon the sovereign, his prerogative can never be exalted too high 
 for their emolument, nor can any better instruments be contrived for 
 the accomplishment of arbitrary designs. Their compact and united 
 form, composing a chain of various links which hangs suspended from 
 the throne, admirably fits them for conveying that impression that may 
 sooth, inflame, or mislead the people. 
 
 These are the evils which in my opinion attach to civil establishments 
 of Christianity. They are indeed often mitigated by the virtue of their 
 members, and among thf English clergy in particular as splendid exam- 
 ples of virtue and talents might be produced as any which the annals of 
 human nature can afford, but in all our reasonings concerning men, we 
 must lay it down as a maxim, that greater part are moulded by circum- 
 stances. If we wish to see the true spirit of an hierarchy, we have 
 only to attend to the conduct of what is usually termed the high-church 
 party. 
 
 While they had sufficient influence with the legislature, they impelled 
 it. to persecute ; and now that a more enlightened spirit has brought that 
 expedient into disgrace, they turn to the people, and endeavour to in- 
 flame their minds by the arts of calumny and detraction. When the 
 dissenters applied for the repeal of the corporation and test-acts, an alarm 
 was spread of the church being in danger, artd their claim was defeated. 
 From the Jate opposition of the Bishops to the repeal of the penal sta- 
 tutes, we learn they have lost the power rather than the inclination to 
 persecute, or they would be happy to abolish the monuments of a spirit
 
 56 
 
 they ceased to approve. The nonsense and absurdity comprised in that 
 part of our laws would move laughter in a company of peasants; but 
 nothing is thought mean or contemptible which is capable of being forged 
 into a weapon of hostility against dissenters. To perpetuate laws which 
 there is no intention to execute, is certainly the way to bring law into 
 contempt ; but the truth is, that unwilling to relinquish the right of per- 
 secution, though they have no immediate opportunity of exerting it, they 
 retain these statutes as a body in reserve, ready to be. brought into the 
 field on the first occasion that shall offer. 
 
 The prejudice entertained against us, is not the work of a day, but 
 the accumulation of ages, flowing from the fixed antipathy of a nume- 
 rous and powerful order of men, distributed through all the classes of 
 society ; nor is it easy to conceive to what a pitch popular resentment 
 may be inflamed by artful management and contrivance. Our situation 
 in this respect bears a near resemblance to that of primitive Christians, 
 against whom, though in themselves the most inoffensive of mankind, 
 the malice of the populace was directed, to a still greater degree, by 
 similar arts, and upon similar principles. The clamour of the fanatic 
 rabble, the devjut execration of dissenters, will remind the reader of 
 ecclesiastical history of the excesses of pagan ferocity, when the people, 
 instigated by their priests, were wont to exclaim, Christianas ad leonex. 
 There is the less hope of this animosity being allayed, from its having 
 arisen from permajient causes. That .Christianity is a simple institu- 
 tion, unallied to worldly power, that a church is a voluntary society, 
 invested with a right to choose its own officer?, and acknowledging no 
 head but Jesus Christ, that ministers are brethren whose emolument 
 should be confined to.thc voluntary contributions of the people, are max- 
 ims drawn from so high an authority, that it may well be apprehended 
 the church is doomed to vanish before them. Under these circumstan- 
 cVs, whatever portion of talents or of worth dissenters may possess, serves 
 only to render them more hated, because more formidable. Had they 
 merely revelled with the wanton, and drunk with the drunken ; had they 
 been clothed with curses, they might hav e been honoured and esteemed 
 , notwithstanding as true sons of the church ; but their dissent is a crime 
 too indelible in the eyes of their enemies for any virtue to alleviate, or 
 any merit to efface. 
 
 Till the test business was agitated, however, we were not aware of 
 our labouring under such a weight of prejudice. Confiding 1 in the mild- 
 ness of the times, and conscious that every trace of resentment was va- 
 nished from our own breasts, we fondly imagined those of churchmen
 
 were equally replete with sentiments of generosity and candour. We 
 accordingly ventured on a renewal of our claim as men, and as citizens ; 
 but had not proceeded far before we were assailed witli the bitterest ne- 
 proaches. The innocent design of relieving ourselves from a diswrace- 
 ful proscription, was construed by our enemies into an attack on the 
 church and state. Their opposition was both more violent and more 
 formidable than was expected. They let us see, that however languid- 
 ly the flame of their devotion may burn, that of resentment and parly 
 spirit, like vestal fire, must never be extinguished 1 in their temples. 
 Calumnies continued to be propagated, till they produced the riots at 
 Birmingham, that ever memorable era in the annals of bigotry and 
 fanaticism, when Europe beheld, with astonishment and regret, the 
 outrage sustained by philosophy in the most enlightened of countries, 
 and in the first of her sons! When we hear such excesses as these jus- 
 tified and applauded, we seem to be falling back apace into the dark- 
 ness of the middle ages. 
 
 The connexion between civil and religious liberty is too intimate to 
 make it surprising, that they who are attached to the one, should be 
 friendly to the other. The dissenters have accordingly seldom failed to 
 lend their support to men, who seemed likely to restore the vigour of a 
 sinking constitution. Parliamentary reform has been cherished by them 
 with an ardour equal to its importance. This part of their harrcter 
 inflames opposition still farther ; and affords a pretext to their enemies 
 for overwhelming the cause of liberty under an obnoxious name. The 
 reproach on this head, however, is felt as an honour, when it appears 
 by their conduct, they despair of attacking liberty with success, while 
 the reputation of dissenters remains undiininished. The enmity of the 
 vicious is the test of virtue. 
 
 Dissenters are reproached with the appellation of republicans ; but 
 the truth of the charge has neither appeared from facts, or been* sup- 
 ported by any reasonable evidence. Among them, as among other 
 classes (and in no greater proportion) there are persons to be found, no 
 doubt, who, without any hostility to the present government, prefer in 
 theory a republican to a monarchical form : a point on which the most 
 nilightened men in all ages have entertained very different opinions. 
 In a government like ours, consisting of three simple element-. | . th:< 
 variety of sentiment may naturally be expected to take place, so il an\ 
 predilection be felt toward one mqre than another, tliat partiality srem* 
 most commendable which inclines to the republican part. At most it :, 
 only the love of liberty to excess. The mixture of monarchy and nobiht)
 
 
 58 
 
 is chiefly of use as it gives regularity, order, and stability to popular fret 1 - 
 dom. Were we, however, without any proof, to admit that dissenters 
 are more tinctured with republican principles than others, it might be 
 considered as the natural effect of the absurd conduct of the legislature. 
 Exposed to pains and penalties, excluded from all offices of trust, pro- 
 scribed by the spirit of the present reign, menaced and insulted where- 
 ever they appear, they must be more than men if they felt no resent- 
 ment, or were passionately devoted to the ruling powers. To expect 
 affection in return for injury, is to gather where they have not scattered, 
 and reap where they have not sown. The superstition of dissenters is 
 not so abject as to prompt them to worship the constitution through fear. 
 Yet as they have not forgotten the benefits it imparted, and the pro- 
 tection it afforded till of late, they are too much its friends (o flatter its 
 defects, or defend its abuses. Their only wish is to see it reformed, 
 and reduced to its original principles. 
 
 In recent displays of loyalty they must acknowledge themselves ex- 
 tremely defective. They have never plundered their neighbours to show 
 their attachment to the King; nor has their zeal for religion ever broke 
 out into oaths and execrations. They have not proclaimed their re- 
 spect for regular government by a breach of the laws ; or attempted to 
 maintain tranquillity by riots. These beautiful specimens of loyalty 
 belong to the virtue and moderation of the high-church party alone, 
 with whose character they perfectly correspond. 
 
 In a scurrilous paper which has been lately circulated with malignant 
 industry, the dissenters at large, and Dr. Price in particular, are ac- 
 cused, with strange affrontery, of having involved us in the American 
 war ; when it is well known they ever stood aloof from that scene of 
 guilt and blood. 
 
 Had their remonstrances been regarded, the calamities of that war 
 had never been incurred ; but what is of more consequence in the esti- 
 mation of anonymous scribblers, there would have remained one lie 
 less to swell the catalogue of their falsehoods. 
 
 From the joy which dissenters have expressed at the French revolu- 
 tion, it has been most absurdly inferred, that they wish for a similar 
 event in England ; without considering that such a conclusion is a libel 
 on the British constitution, as it must proceed on a supposition that our 
 government is as despotic as the ancient monarchy of France. To 
 imagine the feelings must be the same when the objects are so differ- 
 ent, shows a most lamentable degree of malignity and folly. 
 
 Encompassed as dissenters are by calumny and reproach, they have
 
 59 
 
 still the satisfaction to reflect, that these have usually been the lot of 
 distinguished virtue; and that in the corrupt slate of men's interests and 
 passions, the unpopularity of a cause is rather a presumption of its 
 excellence. 
 
 They will be still more happy if the frowns of the world should be 
 the means of reviving that spirit of evangelical piety which once distin- 
 guished them so highly. Content if they can gain protection, without 
 being so romantic as to aspire to praise ; they will continue firm, I 
 doubt not, in those principles which they have hitherto acted on, unse- 
 duced by rewards, and unshaken by dangers. From the passions of 
 their enemies, they will appeal to the judgment of posterity ; a more 
 impartial tribunal. Above all, they will calmly await the decision of 
 the Great Judge, before whom both they and their enemies must appear, 
 and the springs and sources of their mutual animosity be laid open ; 
 when the clouds of misrepresentation being scattered, it will be seen 
 they are a virtuous and oppressed people, who are treading, though 
 with unequal steps, in the path of those illustrious prophets, apostles, 
 and martyrs, of whom the world was not worthy. In the mean time 
 they are far from envying the popularity and applause which may be 
 acquired in a contrary course ; esteeming the reproaches of freedom 
 above the splendours of servitude.
 
 * 
 
 SECTION VI. 
 
 QN THE CAUSES OF THE PRESENT DISCONTENTS. 
 
 WE have arrived, it is a melancholy truth which can no longer be 
 concealed, we have at length arrived at that crisis when nothing but 
 speedy and effectual reform can save us from ruin. An amendment in 
 the representation is wanted, as well to secure the liberty we already 
 possess, as to open the way for the removal of those abuses which per- 
 vade every branch of the administration. The accumulation of debt 
 and taxes, to a degree unexampled in any other age or country, has so 
 augmented the influence of the crown, as to destroy the equipoise and 
 balance of the constitution. The original design of the funding system 
 which commenced in the reign of King William, was to give stability 
 to the revolution, by engaging the inonied interest to embark on its 
 bottom. It immediately advanced the influence of the crown, which 
 the Whigs then exalted as much as possible, as a countervail to the in- 
 terest of the pretender. 
 
 The mischief of this short-sighted policy cannot be bettor described 
 than in the language of Bolingbroke. " Few men," says he, " at that 
 time looked forward enough to foresee the consequences of the new con- 
 stitution of the revenue, that was soon afterwards formed ; nor of the 
 method of the funding system that immediately took place : which, ab- 
 surd as they are, have continued since, till it has become scarce possible 
 to alter them. Few people, I say, foresaw how the multiplication of 
 faxes, and the creation of funds would increase yearly the power of the 
 crown, and bring our liberties, by a natural and necessary progression, 
 into a more real, though less apparent danger, than they were in before 
 the revolution ; a due reflection on the experience of other ages and 
 countries, would have pointed out national corruption as the natural 
 and necessary consequence of investing the crown with the management 
 of so vast a revenue ; and also, the loss of liberty as the natural and ne- 
 cessary consequence of national corruption*."' 
 
 * Letter ii. on the Study of History.
 
 61 
 
 If there be any (ruth in these reflections, how must our apprehensions 
 be heightened by the prodigious augmentation of revenue and debt, 
 since the time of George the First. What a harvest has been reaped 
 from the seeds of corruption then sown ! The revenue is now upwards 
 of seventeen millions, and though nine are employed to. pay the interest 
 of the national debt, this is small consolation, when we reflect that that 
 debt is the remnant of wasteful, destructive wars, and that till there is 
 a change in the system, we are continually liable to similar calamiti -. 
 The multiplied channels through which seventeen millions of money must 
 flow into the treasury, the legion of officers it creates, the patronage its 
 expenditure on the several branches of the administration supplies, have 
 rendered the influence of the crown nearly absolute and decisive. The 
 control of parliament sink* under this pressure into formality: the ba- 
 lance of the different orders becomes a mere theory, which serves to 
 impose upon ignorance and varnish corruption. There is no power in 
 the state that can act as a sufficient antagonist to the silent irresistible 
 force of royal patronage. 
 
 The influence of the crown, by means of its revenue, is more danger- 
 ous than prerogative, in proportion as corruption operates after a more 
 concealed manner than force. A violent act of prerogative is sensibly 
 felt, and creates an alarm ; but it is the nature of corruption to lay ap- 
 prehension asleep, and to effect its purposes while the forms of liber- 
 ty remain undisturbed. The first employs force to enslave the peo- 
 ple: the second employs ;L: people to enslave themselves. The most 
 determined enemy to freedom can wish for nothing more than the conti- 
 nuance of present abuses. While the semblance of representation can 
 be maintained, while popular delusion can b? kept up, he will spare 
 the extremities of liberty. He aims at a higher object, that of striking 
 at the heart. 
 
 A, fatal lethargy has long been spreading amongst us, attended, as is 
 natural, with a prevailing disposition both in and out of parliament, to 
 treat plans of reform with contempt. After the accession, place and 
 pension bills were frequently passed by the commons, though njected 
 bv the lords; nothing of that nature is now ever attempted. A standing 
 army in time of peace was a subject of frequent complaint, and is ex 
 pressly provided against by the bill of rights : it is now become a par t 
 of the constitution; for though the nominal direction be placed in parli. 
 ament the mutiny bill passes as a nntter of course, the forces are never 
 disbanded; the more completely ; to detach them from the community, 
 barracks are erected; and martial law is established in its utmost sevc- 
 
 I
 
 . 62 
 
 rity. If freedom can survive this expedient, copied from the practice 
 of foreign despots, it will be an instance of unexampled good fortune. 
 Mr. Hume terms it a mortal distemper in the British constitution of 
 which it must inevitably perish. 
 
 To whatever cause it be owing, it is certain the measures of admi- 
 nistration have, during the present reign, leaned strongly towards arbi- 
 trary power. The decision on the Middlesex election was a blow aimed 
 at the vitals of the constitution. Before the people had time to recover 
 .from their panic, they were plunged into the American war a war of 
 pride and ambition, and ending in humiliation and disgrace. The spi- 
 rit of the government is so well understood, that the most violent even 
 of the clergy, are content to drop their animosity, to turn tlieir affec- 
 tions into a new channel, and to devote to the house of Hanover, the 
 flattery and the zeal by which they ruined the race of Stuart. There 
 cannot be a clearer symptom of the decay of liberty than the dread of 
 speculative opinions; which is at present carried to a length in this na- 
 tion that can scarcely be exceeded. Englishmen were accustomed till 
 of late, to make political speculation the amusement of leisure, and the 
 employment of genius ; they are now taught to fear it more than death. 
 Under the torpid touch of despotism the patriotic spirit has shrunk into 
 a narrow compass; confined to gaze with admiration on the proceed- 
 ings of parliament, and listen to the oracles of the minister with silence, 
 acquiescence, and pious awe. Abuses are sacred, and the pool of cor- 
 ruption must putrify in peace. Persons who a few years back were 
 clamorous for reform, are making atonement for having been betrayed 
 into any appearance of virtue, by a quick return to their natural charac- 
 ter. Is not the kingdom peopled \vith spies and informers? Are not 
 inquisitorial tribunals erected in every corner of the land? A stranger 
 who beholding a whole nation filled with alarm, should inquire the 
 cause of the commotion, would be a little surprised on being informed, 
 that instead of any appearance of insurrections, or plots, a pamphlet 
 had only been published. In a government upheld by so immense a 
 revenue, and boasting a constitution declared to be the envy of the world, 
 this abject distrust of its own power, is more than a million lectures on 
 corruptions and abuses. The wisdom of ages, the master piece of human 
 policy, complete in all its parts, and that needs no reformation, can 
 hardly support itself against a sixpenny pamphlet, devoid it is said, of 
 truth or ability! To require sycophants to blush, is exacting too great a 
 departure from the decorum of their character ; but common sense might 
 be expected to remain, after shame is extinguished.
 
 63 
 
 Whoever seriously contemplates the present infatuation of the people, 
 and the character of their, leaders will be tempted to predict the speedy 
 downfal of liberty. They cherish to excess the forms, while they re- 
 press the spirit of the constitution : they persecute freedom and adorn its 
 sepulchre. When corruption has struck its roots so deep, it may be 
 doubted whether even the liberty of the press be not of more detriment 
 than advantage. The prints which are the common sources of informa- 
 tion, are replete with falsehood ; virtue is calumniated ; and hardly any 
 characters safe from their blast, but those whom infamy cannot sink 
 lower. The greater part, no doubt, are in the pay of ministry, or 
 their adherents. Thus delusion spreads, and the people are instructed 
 to confound anarchy wilh reform, their friends with their oppressors. 
 Who can hear without indignant contempt, the ministers annual eulo- 
 gium on the English constitution. Is the parliament so ignorant then 
 that it needs to go to school every session to learn those elements of poli- 
 tical knowledge which every Briton understands ? Or is the nature of 
 the British constitution a secret in the breast of the ministry to be opened 
 with the budget. Indisputable excellence wants no encomium ; but this 
 flattery is intended to bury in an admiration of its merit, all remem- 
 brance of its defects. Whatever remains of beauty or vigour it possesses, 
 are held in no estimation but as they produce an acquiescence in abuses. 
 it is its imperfections only ministers admire ; its corruptions that solace 
 them. The topics of their encomium are as absurd as the purpose is in- 
 famous. The flourishing state of trade and manufactures is displayed 
 in proof of the unequalled excellence of the British constitution, without 
 reflecting that a temporary decay will support with equal force an oppo- 
 site conclusion. For if we owe present prosperity to the nature of the 
 government, recent calamities must be traced to the same source, and 
 that constitution which is now affirmed to be the best, must be allowed 
 during the American war to have been the worst. That there is a con- 
 nexion between commercial prosperity and the nature of a government 
 must be admitted ; but its operation is gradual and slow, not felt from 
 year to year, but to be traced by the comparison of one age and country 
 with another. But allowing that our wealth may increase along with 
 the increase of abuses, the nation we hope is not so sordid as to look 
 upon wealth as the supreme good ; however well that idea may corres- 
 pond with the views of a ministry, who seem determined to leave us no 
 other. Freedom, as it animates industry by securing its rewards, opens 
 a path to wealth ; but if that wealth be suffered to debase a people, and 
 , render them venal and dependent, it will silently conduct them back
 
 again to misery and depression. Rome was never more opulent that; 
 on the eve of departing liberty. Her vast wealth svas a sediment that 
 remained on the turning of the tide. 
 
 It is singular enough, but I hope not ominous, that the flattery be- 
 stowed by the poets of antiquity on the ruling powers, resembles in every 
 thing but its elegance, the adulation of modern sycophants. The extent 
 of empire, the improvement of arts, t!.e diffusion of opulence and splen- 
 dour ; are the topics with which Horace adorned the praises of Augustus : 
 but the penetration of Tacitus developes amidst these flattering appear- 
 ances, the seeds of ruin. The florid bloom but ill concealed that fatal 
 malady which preyed upon the vitals. , 
 
 Between the period of national honour and complete degeneracy, there 
 is usually an interval of national vanity, during which examples of virtue 
 are recounted and admired without being imitated. The Romans were 
 never more proud of their ancestors than when they ceased to resemble 
 them. From being the freest and most high-spirited people in the 
 world, they suddenly fell into the tamest and most abject submission. 
 Let not the name of Britons, my countrymen, too much elate you; nor 
 ever think yourselves safe while you abate one jot of that holy jealdusy 
 by whieh your liberties have been hitherto secured. The richer the in- 
 heritance bequeathed you, the more it merits your care for its preserva- 
 tion. The possession must be continued by the spirit with which it wa , 
 acquired at first ; and as it was gained by vigilance, it will be lost by 
 supineness. A degenerate race repose on the merit of their forefathers; 
 the virtuous create a fund of their own. The former look back upou 
 their ancestors to hide their shame ; the latter look forward to posterity 
 to levy a tribute of admiration. In vain will you confide in the forms 
 of a free constitution. Unless you re-animate those forms with fresh 
 vigour, they will be melancholy memorials of what you once were, and 
 haunt you with the shade of departed liberty. A silerrt stream of cor- 
 ruption poured over the whole land, has tainted every branch of the ad- 
 ministration with decay. On your temperate, but manly exertions <K 
 pend the happiness and freedom of the latest posterity. That Assembly 
 which sits by right of representation, will be little inclined to oppose 
 your will, expressed in a firm, decisive manner. You may be deaf- 
 ened by clamour, misled by sophistry, or weakened by division, but you 
 caimot be despised with impunity. A vindictive ministry may hang the 
 terrors of criminal prosecution over the heads of a few with success ; but 
 at their peril will they attempt to intimidate a nation. The trick of as-
 
 65 
 
 sociations, of pretended plots, and silent insurrections, will oppose a 
 feeble barrier to the impression of the popular mihd. 
 
 The theory of the constitution in the most important particulars is a 
 satire on the practice. The theory provides the responsibility of minis- 
 ters as a check to the execution of ill designs : but in reality we behold 
 the basest of the tribe retreat fronUhe ruin of their country, loaded with 
 honours and with spoils. Theory tells us the parliament is free and in- 
 dependent ; experience will correct the mistake by showing its subser- 
 vience to the crown. We learn from the first, the legislature is chosen 
 by the unbiassed voice of all who can be supposed to have a will of their 
 own ; we learn from the last, the pretended electors are but a handful 
 of the people, who are never less at their own disposal than in t'ie bu- 
 siness of election. The theory holds out equal benefits to all, and equal 
 liberty, without any other discrimination, than that of a good and bad 
 subject : its practice brands with proscription and disgrace a numerous 
 class of inhabitants on account of their religion. In theory the severrl 
 orders of the state are A check on each other ; but corruption has' oiled 
 the wheels of that machinery, harmonized its motions, and enabled it to 
 bear with united pressure on the happiness of the people. 
 
 The principal remedy for the diseases of the state is undoubtedly a 
 reform in parliament; from which, as a central point, inferior improve- 
 ment's may issue ; but as I have already treated on that subject at large, 
 I shall not insist on it here. I cannot close this pamphlet, however, 
 without adverting for a moment, to a few of the principal objects which 
 well merit the attention of the legislature. 
 
 On abuses in the church, it is to little purpose to expatiate, as they 
 are too numerous to be detailed, and too inveterate to be corrected. 
 Unless it be a maxim that hon> ;ty "will endanger her existence, her 
 creeds ought in all reason to correspond with the sentiments of her mem- 
 bers. The world, it is to be feared, will be little edified by the exam- 
 ple of a church, which in compelling'its ministers to sub--"ribe opinions 
 that few of them believe, is a di-cipline of fraud. Nor is the collection 
 of tithes calculated to soften the odium. As a mode of union with thft 
 parishioners, they are fruitful of contention ; as a restraint on the improve- 
 ment of land, impolitic and oppressive ; as a remnant of the Jewish law, 
 superstitious and absurd. True magnanimity would instruct the clergy 
 to recede from a claim which they wil! probably IK- compelled shortly to 
 relinquish. But no reform, it seems, must tak^ pi ;'e in the church any 
 more than in the state, that its corruptions may keep pace with the pro- 
 gress of its ally.
 
 66 
 
 The condition of (lie poor in this country calls fur companion and 
 redress. Many of them, through the want of mental improvement, are 
 sunk almost beneath the level of humanity ; and their hard-earned pit- 
 tance is so diminished by taxes, that it is with the utmost difficulty they 
 can nourish their children, and utterly impossible to afford them educa- 
 tion. The poor laws enacted for their relief, by confining their indus- 
 try to a particular spot, and denying a privilege, common to the beasts 
 of the forest, of chusing the place they shall starve in, are an accumu- 
 lated oppression. Were industry allowed to find its level, were the 
 poor laws abolished, and a small proportion of that expence which 
 swells the tide of corruption, the splendours of the great, and the mise- 
 ries of war, bestowed on the instruction of the common people, the 
 happy effects vrould descend to the remotest posterity, and open a pros- 
 pect which humanity might delight to anticipate. In England we have 
 been adding wheel to wheel, and spring to spring, till we have ren- 
 dered the machine of government far too complicated ; forgetting in the 
 midst of wars, negociatious and factious disputes, that the true end of 
 civil polity is the happiness of the people. We have listened to every 
 breeze that moves along the surface of Europe, and descried danger 
 from afar ; while deaf to the complaints of the poor, we have beheld 
 ignorance, wretchedness, and barbarity multiply at home, without the 
 smallest regard. Is it possible to behold with patience the numberless 
 tribe of placemen, pensioners and sycophants who are enriched at the 
 public expence; a noxious spawn engendered by the corruptions of 
 government, and nourished by the diseases. Were our immense re- 
 venue conducive to the maintenance of royal dignity, or proportioned 
 lo the exigencies of the state, it would be borne with pleasure ; but at 
 present, it bids fair to be the purchase of our servitude. 
 
 Our laws in order to become a proper rule of civil life, much want 
 revision and amendment. They are moreover never promulgated. 
 For this omission Judge Blackslone assigns a very curious reason. 
 *' That being enacted by our representatives, every man is supposed in 
 the eye of the law, to be present in the legislature." It would be an 
 improvement on this delegated knowledge of the law, if the penalty 
 were also delegated ; and criminals punished by representation. The 
 laws in their present state, are so piled into volumes, encumbered with 
 precedents, and perplexed with intricacies, that they are often rather a 
 snare than a guide, and are a fruitful source of the injustice they are 
 intended to prevent. The expence is as formidable as the penalty : 
 nor is it to any purpose to say they are the same to the poo; 1 as to the
 
 67 
 
 rich, while by their delay, expence, and perplexity they are placed on 
 an eminence, which opulence only can ascend. The commendation 
 bestowed by foreigners so liberally on English jurisprudence was never 
 extended to our municipal code ; which is confused, perplexed, and 
 sanguinary in the extreme; but to the trial -by jury, and the dignified 
 impartiality which marks the conduct of judges. For want of gradual 
 improvements to enable it to keep pace with the progress of society, 
 the most useful operations of law are clouded by fictions*. 
 
 These are a few only of the maladies which indicate a bad habit of 
 the political body : nor can a true estimate be made of our situation so 
 much by adverting to particular evils, as by an attention to the general 
 aspect of affairs. The present crisis, in my apprehension, is the fullest 
 of terror and of danger, we have ever experienced. In the extension 
 of excise laws, in the erection of barracks, in the determined adherence 
 to abuses, displayed by parliament, in the desertion of pretended patri- 
 ots, the spread of arbitrary principles, the tame subdued spirit of the 
 nation, we behold the seeds of political ruin quickening into life. The 
 securities of liberty, as was long since remarked by Dr. Price, have 
 given way ; and what remains is little more than an indulgence which 
 cannot continue long when it ceases to be cherished in the affections of 
 the people. The little of public virtue that still subsists, is no match 
 for disciplined armies of corruption. The people are perishing for lack 
 of knowledge. Disquieted by imaginary alarms, insensible to real 
 danger that awaits them, they are taught to court that servitude, which 
 will be a source of misery to themselves, and to posterity. 
 
 Deplorable as the prospect is, a precarious hope may be founded, 
 perhaps, on the magnitude of abuses. There is, it has often been re- 
 marked an ultimate point both of elevation, and depression in the affairs 
 of Kingdoms, to which when they arrive they begin to turn of their 
 own accord, and to fall back into their ancient channels. We are cer- 
 tainly entitled to all the comfort that consideration is capable of afford- 
 ing. Taxation can hardly be more oppressive, representation more 
 venal and inadequate, the influence of the people more extinguished, or 
 falsehood and deception more triumphant than they are at present. 
 
 There is also .another circumstance attending the present crisis, which 
 if we are wise enough to improve it, may be of the utmost advantage. 
 Of the numberless political parties which have hitherto distracted our at- 
 tention, and divided our attachment, there now remain but two ; the 
 
 * See an excellent publication on this subject entitled Juridical Essays, 
 by Mr. Randall.
 
 68 
 
 patrons of corruption, and the friends of liberty; they who are waiting 
 ibr the disorders of government to ripen into arbitrary power ; and 
 they who are anxious to bring back the constitution (o its original prin- 
 ciples. The colours by which they are distinguish^; are too bold and 
 strong to be ever confounded, or if there could be any possible embar- 
 rassment in the choice, the ministry have condescended to remove that 
 obscurity, by pursuing an interest not only distinct from, but dire 'ly 
 opposed to that of the people. The clamour of Whigs and Tories 
 hath happily subsided ; and pretended patriots are at length so kind as 
 to unmask before the people, and stand forth in their native character, 
 the objects of just detestation. We cannot wish for better lessons of 
 public virtue than is furnished by the contrast of their vices. [ 
 
 On the present war, until the views of the ministry are more un- 
 folded, it behoves me to speak with tenderness and reserve. If nothing 
 more be intended than the maintenance of national "honour, and the faith 
 of treaties, it will merit the warmest support of every well-wisher to 
 his country. But if the re-establishment of the ancient government of 
 France be any part of the object; if it be a war with freedom, a con- 
 federacy of Kings against the rights of man ; it will be the last humili- 
 ation and disgrace that can be inflicted on Great Britain ; and were 
 there any truth in tales of incantation, to behold us engaged in such a 
 cause, were enough to disturb the repose of our ancestors, and move the 
 ashes of the dead ! The steps preparatory to the war, the inflamed 
 passions, and the character of our allies, afford an ill omen of the tem- 
 per with which it will be conducted. 
 
 The pretence respecting the Netherlands certainly entitles t!:e minis- 
 try to the praise of consistence. It is quite of a piece with the candour 
 and sincerity which affirmed the balance of Europe to be destroyed by 
 the seizure of Oczakow, but denied it was endangered by the conquest 
 of Poland, and the invasion of France. 
 
 The French revolution we cannot but remember was from the first an 
 object of jealousy to ministers. There needed not the late unhappy ex- 
 cesses, the masssacres of September, and the execution of Louis, to ex- 
 cite or display their hostility. It appeared in the insult and derision 
 of their retainers from the highest to the lowest. If they meant fairly 
 to the interests of general liberty, why that uneasiness at the fall of des- 
 potism in a neighbouring country ? Why render parliament a theatre 
 of abuse on a revolution whose commencement was distinguished by un- 
 exampled mildness and tranquillity? But this part of their conduct 
 was likewise consistent. Intent on the destruction of liberty in one
 
 69 
 
 country, they were disconcerted at seeing it revive in another. Before 
 they ventured to extinguish the dying taper, they waited for the sur- 
 rounding scene to be shut up in darkness. I am perfectly aware that 
 to speak in terms of decency and respect of the French revolution, is 
 to incur in the prevailing disposition of the times the last of infamies. 
 If >ve dare to rejoice at the emancipation of a great people from thral- 
 dom, it must be at the peril of the foulest imputations that imagination 
 can invent, or malignity apply. In contempt, however, of these calum- 
 nies, I am free to confess, the French revolution has always appeared 
 to me, and does still appear, the most splendid event recorded in the 
 annals of history. The friends of liberty contemplate the crimes and 
 disorders with which it has been stained* with the deepest regret ; 
 but they still hope they will in the result be more than compensated, by 
 the grandeur of its principles, and the beneficence of its effects. In- 
 stead of wishing for a similar event in England, they are intent on re- 
 form chiefly to avoid that necessity. Under every form of government 
 they know how to recognize the divine aspect of freedom, and without 
 it can be satisfied with none. The evils of anarchy and of despotism 
 are two extremes which they equally dread : and between which no 
 middle path can be found, but that of effectual reform. To avert the 
 calamities that await us on either side, the streams of corruption must 
 be drained off, the independence of parliament restored, the ambition 
 of aristocracy repressed, and the majesty of the people lift itself up. It 
 is possible to retreat from the brink of a precipice, but woe to that na- 
 tion which sleep upon it ! 
 
 * The execution of the King was certainly a most cruel and unjustifiable 
 transaction, alike repugnant to law, order, and humanity. Without being 
 conducive to any views of policy whatever, it seems to have been merely a 
 gratification of the most detestable passions. The treatment of the beautiful 
 and unfortunate Queen and of the royal family is barbarous and unmanly 
 in the extreme. When we look at their sufferings humanity weeps, and pity 
 forgets their crimes. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 W. MOORE, PRINTER, Ht'DDEBSFIELD.
 
 
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